Huawei’s blockchain-powered smart city, NASA drone blockchain project and other blockchain initiatives

05.09.2020 ForkLog

Blockchain technology remains one of the hottest trends among financial, government, and commercial organisations around the world. News about new projects and initiatives in this area arrives daily. ForkLog magazine provides an overview of the most compelling recent initiatives.

Huawei to launch a blockchain-based smart city

One of the largest telecoms companies in the world, Huawei signed a cooperation agreement with Beijing authorities as part of a project to launch a blockchain-based smart city.

The system is designed to increase the efficiency of municipal services and improve the business climate in Beijing. In addition to distributed ledger technology, the project will employ 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

Huawei will create a proprietary Huawei Cloud Blockchain network that enables real-time data management and feedback.

In 2019, Huawei and Beijing authorities jointly created a blockchain system using Big Data technology, linking 50 municipal departments and enabling interagency data exchange. In the future, this system will cover real estate management, healthcare, and other areas, and will facilitate effective communication between local authorities and citizens.

Australia’s three largest banks to digitise bank guarantees on the blockchain

Three of Australia’s largest banks founded the company Lygon to help financial institutions digitise bank guarantees using blockchain technology. The Australian Financial Review reports.

The project involves Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation. Other participants include Scentre Group and technology giant IBM.

Digitised bank guarantees will be placed in the IBM Hyperledger system. With new technologies, the processing and issuance of documents will take just one day.

Shinhan Bank to implement ICON’s decentralized identity technology

The oldest financial institution in South Korea, Shinhan Bank entered into a partnership with ICONLOOP, a unit of the ICON blockchain project, to issue certificates attesting to compliance with KYC (“Know Your Customer”).

Mobile users will be able to apply decentralized identity (DID) technology to open bank accounts. This will be possible through the ICONLOOP-developed Zzeung app.

Such certificates help avoid redundant KYC checks and enable remote bank account opening.

NASA to use blockchain to improve communication among drones

Two American tech companies are developing a blockchain-based solution for NASA that could be used for the agency’s drone fleet.

Orbit Logic and the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Development received a $124,800 grant from NASA. The funds will support the project “Reconstruction and Mapping of Space Communication Using Blockchain Ledgering”.

The solution described in the project uses blockchain to transfer data among network satellites. This approach ensures uninterrupted communication, improves coordination and efficiency of communications between system components.

Indian farmers use blockchain for supplying products to the UAE

Food industry companies from the United Arab Emirates are working on the Agriota E-Marketplace blockchain system, which will enable obtaining agricultural products directly from India.

Using the new platform, Indian farmers will be able to supply to the UAE grains, seeds, fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs. The blockchain is intended to ensure transparency and verifiability of operations. The Agriota E-Marketplace will also implement an escrow capability.

The platform is developed by Indian company CropData Technology with the support of DMCC — Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.

Turkey’s largest logistics operator deploys TradeLens blockchain platform

Turkish port and logistics operator YILPORT Holding has begun using the TradeLens blockchain platform, created with the participation of IBM and the Danish logistics giant Maersk.

Data integration between YILPORT and TradeLens began in July 2020. The company believes that the new technology will make information and container cargo management more transparent and efficient.