Central Bank Digital Currencies in the past few years have been seen as a means by Govt.s to counter the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and at the same time solve some of the existing problems of Govt. issued fiat money. CBDCs today are being designed by various central banks in different parts of the world to reduce the cost of cross-border remittances, increase financial inclusion, reduce dependence on cash and even make programmable money using smart contracts. In this episode we look at what CBDCs are, what problems they solve and what are the key things to keep in mind when designing them. Also , from a technology perspective, we take a look at how blockchain technology fits into designing CBDCs.

Advertising industry has been plagued with several problems in recent years, leading to several billions of dollars being lost annually. With the potential to provide solutions to several problems that the industry is facing – from reducing ad fraud, improving transparency, to building more consumer centric and less intrusive advertising models, blockchain is facilitating the creation of a new advertising ecosystem that can change the rules of online advertising forever. In this episode, we discuss the various challenges that the advertising industry faces and how various blockchain and cryptocurrency projects are looking to find innovative solutions to them.

Blockchain technology is being utilized in the art industry today for various applications such as proving the ownership of a piece of art by recording it on the blockchain, to creating markeplaces where collectors and artists can be connected together to buy and sell art. In this episode we discuss various projects that are looking to solve different kinds of problems that have plagued artists ,art foundations, museums and art collectors for decades. Some of the projects discussed are – Verisart, BLKART, Maecenas, Scarab experiment, DADA Art.

The COVID-19 outbreak has broken existing supply chains for goods and services, inundated healthcare systems and deeply impacted economies around the globe. In this episode, we take a look at where blockchain technology stands in the midst of the COVID crisis. Can Bitcoin act as a safe haven asset in an economic meltdown? Are Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) likely to see a faster rollout to replace cash? Also, we look at how the medical supply chains have gotten disrupted by COVID-19 and if blockchains can help improve the existing systems. We explore some of the blockchain projects from around the world such as WHO’s MiPasa solution with IBM to develop a COVID Information Highway, projects for better tracking of COVID related medical supplies, managing charities and donations in China, to using a blockchain based identity solution to fight COVID in UAE.

In this Part 2 of our two part series on Blockchain basics, we cover the most fundamental technology terms of blockchain technology. We discuss what are blocks, signatures, mining and other popular concepts such as Zero knowledge proofs, Quantum resistance etc.

In this Part 1 of our two part series of Blockchain basics, we focus on the business aspects of the blockchain industry and explain some of the most fundamental terms and keywords that are used in this space – such as ICOs, Stablecoins, Exchanges, OTC markets, etc.

In this episode we explore a particularly interesting effort to scale blockchains at Layer 0 i.e. the network layer, with Dr. Uri Klarman, Co-founder & CEO, Bloxroute Labs. The network layer is the underlying set of technologies upon which the world wide web runs. Bloxroute Labs is a company trying to solve the scalability problem at the network layer by building a Blockchain Distribution Network or BDN. We took a deep dive into Bloxroute’s solution, discussing how their Blockchain Distribution Network works, how it allows scaling of blockchains at the network layer and how the company plans to monetize it.

Guest: Dr. Uri Klarman, Co-founder & CEO, Bloxroute Labs
Website: https://bloxroute.com/

The Media industry is a broad ecosystem with many different players from video sharing platforms to traditional broadcasters, to music creators to the various technology companies providing specific solutions for media companies. In an existing online media space, where the power of central companies is becoming increasingly dependent on social influencers, the industry faces several challenges around revenue sharing with content creators, censorship of information or even mangement of digital ownership rights of content creators.

In this episode we focus on various projects that are looking to solve different types problems in this ecosystem. We discuss projects such as LBRY, DTube and Props that are looking to tackle the online video space, and are looking to compete with companies such as Youtube. We take a closer look at the Theta project, that is looking to create an alternative video delivery network for better quality delivery, along with making it cheaper than existing CDNs. We also discuss some specific examples from the music industry where blockchain technology is being used for better management of ownership rights and distribution of royalties.

 

In this episode, we explore the buzzing new space of Decentralized Finance (Defi) with Anton Mozgovoy, ex CTO at the Humaniq project and currently at Jthereum. DeFi is an abbreviation of the phrase decentralized finance which generally refers to the digital assets and financial smart contracts, protocols, and decentralized applications (DApps). This includes payment systems, lending services, decentralized exchanges and many others. Defi continues to grow in popularity as a use case of blockchain technology as it looks to solve the problems of financial inclusion and banking the unbanked, something that legacy financial institutions have been unable to do.

Guest: Anton Mozgovoy, ex CTO at Humaniq
Website: https://mozgovoy.me/

Healthcare industry is a vast ecosystem, that includes several stakeholders like healthcare service providers, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, research institutions, drug suppliers and others. In this episode, we look at some of the key areas in the healthcare ecosystem where major problems currently exist, and we look at some of the various projects that are using blockchain technology to solve some of these problems.