Blockchain MIT

1.

Contracts, transactions and their records are an important part of our social, economic, legal and political systems. They protect our assets and define the boundaries of the organization. They formed and verified our personal identity and various historical events. They manage a series of activities between the state, organizations, communities and indivials. They direct all management and social activities. But these key tools and the bureaucracy that manages them have not kept pace with the digital transformation of the economy. It's like F1 racing in a big jam. In a digital world, our way of supervision and administrative control must be changed

blockchain has the potential to solve this problem. As the core supporting technology of bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger, which can effectively record the transaction records between the two parties, and can be verified and permanently saved. The ledger itself can be programmed to automatically trigger transaction completion

five basic principles of blockchain technology

1. Distributed database

each party on the blockchain can obtain all data and complete historical records. No one can control data or information. Each party can directly verify the records of all parties to the transaction without mediation

2. Point to point communication

each independent point can communicate directly without a central node. Each node can store information and transfer all information to all other nodes

3. Limited transparency

users who have access to the system can see every transaction and its value. Each node or user on the blockchain has a unique address composed of letters and numbers, which can be used as the identity of the user. Users can choose to remain anonymous or disclose their identity to others. Transactions occur between addresses on the blockchain

4. Records cannot be changed

once the transaction results enter the database, the account information will be updated accordingly, and the records cannot be changed, because these information are related to all previous transaction records (this is the source of the term "chain"). Various calculation algorithms and methods are used to ensure that the records in the database are permanent, sorted in chronological order, and can be seen by all other people in the network

5. Computational logic

the digital nature of the ledger means that blockchain transactions can be connected with computational logic, and can actually be realized by programming. All users can set algorithms and rules, so that transactions can be automatically triggered between nodes


with blockchain technology, we can imagine that in a new world, contracts are stored in a transparent shared database in the form of digital programming, and will not be deleted, tampered with or revised. In such a world, every protocol, every process, every task and every payment will have a digital record and a digital signature that can be identified, verified, stored and shared. Intermediaries such as lawyers, brokers and bankers are no longer necessary. Indivials, organizations, machines and algorithms can freely interact and trade with each other without friction. This is the infinite potential of blockchain

in fact, almost everyone has heard that blockchain will bring revolutionary impact on enterprises and redefine enterprises and economy. Although we are enthusiastic about the potential of blockchain, we are also worried about exaggeration. It's not just security issues (such as the collapse of a bitcoin exchange in 2014 and the recent hacker attacks) that worry us. The experience of research on technological innovation tells us that if there is a blockchain revolution in the future, there will be many obstacles - technological, governance, organizational and social obstacles. It is likely to lead to a big mistake to rashly apply blockchain technology innovation before we really understand blockchain thoroughly

we believe that it will take many years for blockchain to bring real changes to enterprises and governments. Because blockchain is not a "disruptive" technology, disruptive technology can impact the traditional business model with low-cost solutions, and can quickly replace traditional enterprises. We believe that blockchain is a basic technology: it has the potential to create a new foundation for our economic and social system. But its impact is very extensive, and it will take decades for blockchain to penetrate into economic and social infrastructure. The process of blockchain popularization will be graal, and this process and its strategic significance will be the focus of this paper

technology adoption mode

before discussing blockchain strategy and investment, let's recall the technology adoption process we know below, especially the adoption process of other basic technologies. One of the most relevant examples is the distributed computer network technology, that is, the adoption of TCP / IP protocol, which has laid the foundation for the development of the Internet

TCP / IP first appeared in 1972 and has been widely concerned in an independent application scenario: it is the basis for sending e-mail between researchers on ARPANET, which is the predecessor of the commercial Internet developed by the U.S. Department of defense. Before TCP / IP, the communication system architecture was built on the basis of "circuit switching". The connection between two parties or two machines must be preset and maintained through the switch. In order to ensure that any two nodes can communicate, telecom service providers and equipment manufacturers have invested billions of dollars in dedicated lines

TCP / IP has completely changed the above mode. The new protocol digitizes the information and decomposes it into many small packets, each packet contains address information. Once these packets are released into the network, they can reach the receiver by any route. The data sending point and receiving point in the network can decompose the data packets, combine the data packets again, and interpret the data. There is no need for dedicated lines or large-scale infrastructure. TCP / IP creates an open and shared public network, which has no central organization or main body responsible for maintenance and update

traditional telecom enterprises and related enterprises are suspicious of TCP / IP. Rarely imagine that data, information, audio and video can be established under the new system, and rarely imagine that the related system will be very safe and develop rapidly. However, from the late 1980s to the 1990s, more and more enterprises, such as sun, next, HP and silicon graphics, used TCP / IP to develop their internal LAN. By doing so, they have developed technologies that go beyond e-mail and graally replace traditional LAN technologies and standards. With the adoption of these newly developed technologies and tools, the proction efficiency of enterprises has been greatly improved< In the mid-1990s, the emergence of the world wide web made TCP / IP widely used. The newly founded high-tech enterprises began to provide relevant "tools" - hardware, software and related services, which are necessary for connecting with the current open network and exchanging information. Netscape has commercialized browsers, web servers and other tools and components. Sun company promotes the development of Java. With the exponential growth of information on the Internet, Infoseek, excite, Altavista, and Yahoo are leading users to use TCP / IP technology

once this basic infrastructure is widely accepted, the new generation of enterprises can seize the opportunity brought by low-cost Internet access to create more Internet services, which in turn helps to replace the original business model. CNET has moved news online. Amazon sells more books than any physical bookstore. Priceline and Expedia make it easier to buy tickets, and the whole purchase process is more transparent. These new enterprises expand their business at a very low cost, making traditional enterprises such as newspapers and physical retail stores feel unprecedented pressure

relying on the widespread Internet, enterprises can create novel and revolutionary applications, which are enough to fundamentally change the traditional business model and create value. These enterprises are built on the new P2P architecture, and generate value by coordinating the users of the distributed network. Imagine how eBay has changed the online retail business through auction mode, Napster has changed the music instry, Skype has changed the telecommunications instry, and Google has changed the Internet search by using the links formed by users to provide more accurate search results

many enterprises have used blockchain to track goods in the supply chain. Finally, it took more than 30 years for TCP / IP to become widely accepted - used alone, locally applied, replaced and transformed - and reshape our economy. Today, more than half of the world's most valuable listed companies are Internet driven, platform based business models. The foundation of our economy has fundamentally changed. Physical assets and proprietary intellectual property rights are no longer the guarantee of competitive advantage; Enterprises that lead economic development can play a key role, especially in organizing, influencing and coordinating a wide range of community networks, users and organizations

new system

blockchain, the P2P network at the top of the Internet, came into people's view as the core foundation of bitcoin in October 2008. Bitcoin is a virtual monetary system, which does not issue currency through the central authority, transfers ownership and confirms transactions. Bitcoin is the first practical application of blockchain technology

the similarities between blockchain and TCP / IP are obvious. Just as email allows people to exchange information, bitcoin allows people to trade with each other. The development and maintenance of blockchain is open, distributed and shared - just like TCP / IP. There's a group of volunteers around the world maintaining their core software. Like email, bitcoin has received enthusiastic support from people at the beginning, but only a relatively small number of people

TCP / IP greatly reces the cost of interconnection, thus creating new value for economic development. Similarly, blockchain can significantly rece transaction costs. Blockchain has the potential to become all transaction recording systems. If this becomes a reality, new enterprises based on blockchain technology will influence and control emerging instries, and the economy will experience fundamental changes again

let's first look at how enterprises operate. Recording transactions is the core work that every enterprise must do. These records track past activities and achievements and provide guidance for the future. They can not only let people understand how the enterprise operates internally, but also let people know how to keep in touch with the outside world. Every enterprise or organization has its own records, and these records are private and confidential. Many enterprises do not have a general ledger record of all activities of the enterprise; On the contrary, all records are scattered in various branches or departments within the enterprise. The problem is that it takes a long time to coordinate transactions between indivials and private ledgers

2. Government management
some countries have shown great interest in the blockchain technology of decentralized data management framework to store public data. For example, essentia is developing an e-government project with the Central Union of agricultural procers and forest owners in Finland, The project will apply blockchain technology to enable urban and rural residents in Finland to query various records, fully meet the needs of residents and employers, and improve the employment rate. In addition, the use of this technology can also improve the efficiency of government operation, so that residents can easily query ecation, public records, voting and other information
waste recycling
for example, an intelligent waste management system in China adopts the RFID technology of waltonchain company. Using this blockchain application of waltonchain, it can effectively monitor the waste level, so as to improve the management and operation efficiency and resource optimization
identity recognition
chug, a Swiss city known as "encryption Valley", has developed an identity authentication system with its partner uport by using blockchain technology, through which citizens can participate in online voting and proof of residence
border control
essentia has been in contact with the Dutch government, hoping to use its blockchain technology to establish a set of border inspection system for the Dutch government to check passengers between Amsterdam and London. At present, passengers of Eurostar high-speed rail between the two countries need to undergo border control checks at multiple locations. Essentia is working on a blockchain based solution that will securely store passenger data so that inspection records from the Netherlands can also be reviewed by UK Border agencies. Blockchain technology will ensure that the data has not been tampered with and is verifiable and accurate
health care
as we all know, medical records are very scattered and prone to errors. Inconsistent data processing process will make hospitals and clinics often forced to deal with some incorrect or incomplete patient records. For example, Medrec, a blockchain electronic medical record system developed by MIT, uses blockchain technology to promote data sharing. At the same time, it can also provide authentication and confidentiality services
enterprise management
as enterprise customers of Microsoft azure applications, they can make use of blockchain as a service (baas), which will enable enterprises to access smart contracts and blockchain applications in a secure hosting environment. According to media reports, Google is also developing a proprietary blockchain project to support its cloud based business. And alpha, Google's parent company, is developing a distributed accounting project that third parties will be able to use to store data related to Google's cloud services
medical data
medical centers that digitize patient records do not store data among multiple devices. They usually store data on centralized servers, which has become the main target of hackers. The wannacry attack on NHS hospital in the UK proves this. But in addition, even if the security risk is ignored, there is still the problem of fragmentation. At present, there are more than 50 different electronic medical record systems (EHR) operating in hospitals in different cities around the world, and there are usually dozens of different medical application systems in the same city. These independent systems can't perform interoperation, and the data of patients in each hospital can only be distributed in different data storage centers
in the case of patients' life and death, the lack of reliable medical data contrast and slow operation efficiency will be fatal. Essentia's application framework solves all these problems by using blockchain based system, which will store all clinical data of patients, and can access these data immediately regardless of geographical boundaries. In this system, the patient's medical record privacy can also be protected, and only the authorized medical personnel can access it in a specific period of time
Music Proction
one of the main advantages of blockchain technology is that it eliminates unnecessary middlemen or middlemen. The music instry is a typical example. In this instry, if artists are inefficient, they will get very low remuneration. At this time, a number of blockchain based projects have emerged to seek a fairer trading and business environment for music creators, such as artbit, a former gunshot rose drummer Matt Soren as director
carbon compensation
as a highly instrialized country, China's environmental change is huge. In March 2017, IBM and energy blockchain labs jointly launched the hyperledger fabric blockchain project to discover China's carbon assets, which not only creates a measurable and auditable system for tracking carbon emissions, but also provides a tradable market for companies seeking to offset energy consumption and stimulate green instrial practice
supply chain management
supply chain management is considered to be one of the better cases of applying blockchain, because it is very suitable for the express delivery of such goods from delivery to receipt or the whole process from manufacturer to store. IBM and Wal Mart have jointly launched a blockchain food safety alliance in China. The project is also jointly operated with Jingdong company, aiming to improve food delivery tracking and safety assurance, so as to make it easier to trace food safety issues
facts have proved that China is a mature experimental base for blockchain projects, and it is also the location of the world's first blockchain for agricultural procts (5.180, - 0.25, - 4.60%). Louis Dreyfus Co, a world-famous food trader, has established a blockchain technology project in cooperation with Dutch and French banks. Using this project technology, the transaction settlement is faster than traditional methods in the process of selling soybeans to China
diamond instry
De Beers Group, the world's most famous diamond company, has its own blockchain company and has started operation. Its purpose is to "establish a digital record for every diamond registered on the platform". Considering the origin of diamonds, the ethical standards of origin, and the risk of diamond quality, blockchain technology is a good choice, because every record of it is indelible, and it will ensure that the electronic data of each diamond is as permanent as itself
real estate transactions
currently, Ukraine is the first country to use blockchain technology to promote property transactions. Michael Arlington, the founder of techcrunch, a famous technology website and cryptocurrency player, remotely purchased and resold a real estate in Kiev through the smart contract of Ethereum blockchain. This transaction was completed by propy, a start-up company specializing in blockchain real estate transactions
fisheries
blockchain technology is now being used to support the development of sustainable fisheries. Illegal fishing is a common problem in this instry. The distributed ledger technology of blockchain provides a proof of the capture source, processing and sale mode. This "net to table" supply chain allows inspectors to determine whether the fish caught came from a human rights violation area or from a country affected by economic sanctions
art paintings
similar to diamond trading, the art instry relies on the provenance and authenticity of art works. Although the blockchain cannot identify whether a painting is an original or a fake, it can be used to prove the identity of the previous owner of the painting. In addition, blockchain technology is now also used as a means to obtain works of art. It can make tangible goods easily traded and exchanged anywhere in the world without physical transfer from a secure storage place
public facilities
in Freemantle, Australia, a project dedicated to distributed energy and water system management is using blockchain technology, and solar panels (3.340, - 0.06, - 1.76%) are being used in sunny areas to obtain electricity, which is then used to heat water and provide electricity, All these energy conversion and use information will be recorded in the blockchain data
in Chile, the National Energy Commission has started to use the blockchain technology as the verification of the country's energy use data, and some sensitive data will be stored in the blockchain. The application of this technology can be regarded as a means for the modernization and safe operation of power infrastructure in this South American country
LGBT rights
blockchain can help build a "pink economy" and help LGBT communities fight for their own rights without revealing people's identities. This is an extremely important issue, because crimes of discrimination against homosexual groups often occur, especially in countries notorious for human rights violations, Homosexuality is illegal, or at least not allowed
catastrophe bonds
catastrophe bonds may be the only hope for victims of earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Blockchain allows fast and transparent reconciliation between the parties, and can ensure that the system can continue to operate normally even under unmanned operation. Now, blockchain has been successfully used in the settlement mechanism of catastrophe bonds
tourism
local institutions in Hawaii are studying how to use blockchain technology to improve the economy, such as opening bitcoin and other monetary payment means to facilitate tourists' transaction of local goods and services. In this way, the Hawaiian government hopes to attract tourists, especially those from Asia, to spend more money in the local area and improve the economic development of Hawaii
homeland security
in 2016, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a project that will use blockchain technology as a means of secure storage and capture of data transmission. DHS uses Factom's blockchain technology to encrypt and store data captured by security cameras and other sensors. The application of this blockchain technology will greatly rece the risk of data leakage. At present, the project is still in progress
maritime transportation
it is self-evident that blockchain is used to record ship transportation data. At present, some local shipping projects have adopted distributed ledger technology. In the maritime logistics instry, blockchain technology can make the inevitable cumbersome management proceres in international trade more transparent and orderly. Maersk, one of the world's largest shippers, is a pioneer in the use of blockchain. Today, Yixing international shipping company Zim has also made follow-up use of blockchain technology.

3.

Recently, MIT announced that it will launch MIT financial technology laboratory with several top technology companies in the world on July 18, 2018. Its main research directions include blockchain development, privacy security, database, encryption system, etc. ant financial is the only Chinese founder

In an exclusive interview with people, Jiang Guofei, director of ant technology laboratory, said that the former NEC technology VP, who has been wandering in Tokyo Bay and New York Bay for the past 15 years, said that China and the United States are almost on the same starting line in the independent research and development of Frontier core technologies such as blockchain, This is a sight that has never been seen before“ Whether it is Tokyo Bay, New York Bay or San Francisco Bay, they all rise in the blowout of Japan and the United States' comprehensive national strength. Now it's time to go to China, so I'm back. "

content source: phoenix.com

4.

2018 has entered the countdown, and the first year of blockchain is coming to an end. In 2018, blockchain technology has received great attention all over the world, and the governments of various countries are actively making efforts in the field of blockchain in an attempt to seize the commanding height of the next instrial innovation. According to the blockchain instry yearbook, in terms of talent supply, there is a large shortage of blockchain talents, and there is a high demand for compound talents. In addition to social training and training, colleges and universities have started blockchain courses

for example, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of technology and University of California, Berkeley have begun to offer courses related to blockchain or digital currency. Moreover, many online courses and large-scale open online courses also began to provide relevant training services

it is true that as a "young" technology, the main force of future development of blockchain technology is bound to be young people. But at present, many practitioners in the blockchain instry are self-taught, without systematic professional knowledge training, or only one-sided talents in cryptography, programming, Internet technology, etc

and blockchain technology pays more attention to compound talents with multiple technologies, which may be the internal reason why blockchain talents are increasingly becoming just needed. In 2019, blockchain technical talents seem to have become new professionals, and will be highly competitive

5. Medrec researched by MIT, blockchain developed by the Netherlands, independent voting, anti canvassing, etc., blockchain applications in the insurance instry, proving the authenticity of insurers and insurance companies, etc., all use the regional chain technology to a certain extent, just like the high-speed rail, the track representation technology, and each car represents the application of technology

6.

With all walks of life have begun to enter the blockchain instry, blockchain has undoubtedly become the world's largest wind in 2018. Since 2014, more than a dozen top universities in Europe and America, including MIT, Stanford University and Princeton University, have successively opened blockchain courses

now, it is no longer limited to the teaching of blockchain technology, and some people are ready to challenge the traditional ecation mode with blockchain technology. According to the times of higher ecation, a group of scholars from Oxford University announced that they would establish the world's first blockchain University, Woolf University

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Course Platform demo according to the official website of Woolf University

actively promote the block chain credit certification

"hope the degree certificate will be widely recognized in the future"

however, there are no doubt many problems to be solved when applying an emerging technology to a new concept. Professor Michael sharens, a professor at the Open University of the UK, said that although the founding of Woolf university is a subversive force in the field of ecation, how to ensure high standards of teaching is a big problem. Although blockchain can ensure the teaching interaction between teachers and students, it can not guarantee the quality of teaching

in this regard, Dr. blocky told the media that the key to the quality of ecation is not whether there is a physical campus, but the ability of teachers. Of course, the school will also have relevant teaching quality supervision measures. First of all, only scholars with real doctoral degrees can join the platform as teachers, and they must upload certificates for verification

secondly, the top five colleges of the university will be composed of scholars with doctoral degrees from world-class universities. After the establishment of five high-quality colleges, Woolf will be open to other scholars one after another

in addition, a ranking system was established among colleges according to the number of teaching and the average score of students. Finally, the university will set up a review system for academic fraud and cheating, which will be regularly reviewed by the dean of the college

then, in addition to ensuring the quality of teaching, how can the academic records of blockchain obtain formal academic recognition

Dr. brocky said that blockchain can help the credit certification process, because the information records it provides are highly accurate and completely reliable. The European Commission has recently published a report on blockchain in ecation, but it will take some time to complete this process

before obtaining official permission, blockchain records will be temporarily used as a part of the application process. For the degree certification of early-stage students, the university will cooperate with existing universities and still use the traditional way to certify credits. In addition, at the initial stage of its establishment, the university will invite ecational institutions such as Oxford college to join the platform and make full use of their existing degree certification mechanism. At the same time, the University of Virginia Woolf has begun to actively seek ecation certification in the European Union and the United States, hoping that in the next 10 years, the degree certificate of Virginia Woolf University will be widely recognized

Dr. blocky said that Woolf university is the future ecation model, which combines online and offline ecation, and connects the world's outstanding students and teachers by building a global talent network“ I hope this model can improve the overall quality of ecation and provide a new way for students to acquire knowledge and achieve success, no matter where they are

7.

Load the coin and go overseas! Over the past few months, this seems to be the most popular topic among the smart minds in the currency circle

indeed, after the relevant ban, the innovators of the currency circle began to participate in the research of "currency" trading and "agent investment and private placement" and other hedging means, and made great achievements. However, this has not restrained the pace of many exchanges and money circle tycoons moving overseas, and the Machiya houses in Kyoto, Japan, and the cryptocurrency company registration applications in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) have also gone up

It's just that what's going up in Kyoto is the local house price (including the price of a big guy's house); And Minsk rises, it is its high-tech park (HTP) the intermediary company that agent registers offers

as soon as anything gets hot, the cost of all aspects will increase. So more intelligent people began to focus on Africa, an ancient and mysterious land

As one of the cradles of ancient human beings and civilizations in the world, Africa is also plagued by poverty and backwardness. Recently, this piece of land is being regarded as "the next blockchain center" by more people in the monetary circle. Many investors and entrepreneurs begin to shout, "blockchain related enterprises are constantly emerging here, and Africa, which is quite different from the traditional impression, may soon appear in front of people."

people always believe what they want to believe, even ignore the facts. From the current point of view, Africa should have a long way to go from the title of "blockchain center". If you want to go gold panning, you must think twice

we analyze it from four aspects:

the concept of management department is rigid

Cape Town is the second largest city in South Africa, which is famous for its beautiful natural landscape and wharf

just recently, a "blockchain Research Institute" was quietly established in Cape Town. According to media reports, the blockchain research institute does not do academic research. Its main work is to provide training services related to blockchain technology to some local start-ups. According to its insiders, they not only provide training services, but also provide blockchain consulting services to enterprises

in addition, the blockchain Research Institute has also carried out close cooperation with local financial institutions, including the Bank of Africa, Standard Bank of South Africa, etc. Interestingly, some managers of these banks have received relevant training in the "blockchain Research Institute"

in fact, this blockchain Research Institute is a very common ecational institution, and it is profitable. Its teaching ability is questionable. More importantly, there is no university offering blockchain related courses on the African continent, and there is no corresponding supply of blockchain talents. The vast majority of the people still know little about blockchain

in developed countries, blockchain courses have been implemented in Colleges and universities. According to incomplete statistics, dozens of universities such as Princeton University, Tsinghua University, Stanford University, Copenhagen University, MIT, Imperial University of London, Cambridge University and New York University have offered blockchain courses

if ecation can't keep up with it and there is no large supply of talents, the construction of instry will be inadequate. For the road of blockchain in the African continent, talent is a top priority

worrying about infrastructure

when it comes to blockchain, mining is an inevitable topic. Mining requires a lot of power consumption. The S9 miner usually consumes 1350 watts of power ring operation, which is equivalent to exhausting the life of a hair dryer

However, the price of electricity varies from country to country e to different factors, including local natural conditions, development level of proctivity and relevant welfare policies

according to a research result of an organization, the cost of mining in Africa is the lowest, and the average cost of digging out a bitcoin is $4626. The rest were South America (US $5456), Middle East (US $6249), Asia (US $6378) and Europe (US $6695)

does this mean that digital currency mining can be carried out on a large scale in Africa

The Research Report "people, power, planet" released by the African development group tells us the answer from the side: in Africa, one out of every three people has no electricity. According to the total population of Africa, about 621 million Africans have no electricity. According to its development trend, it will not be until 2080 for Africa to realize the power popularization of the whole continent. In terms of grid capacity, sub Saharan Africa is about 90 megawatts, which is even lower than South Korea, which has a fifth of its population

although the electricity price is cheap, the future of blockchain's large-scale implementation is unknown when the backward infrastructure has not completely rid the public of the problem of power shortage

content source: Phoenix Technology