The burgeoning autonomous community of Catalonia has been struggling for political freedom from Spain for years. Now, according to Jordi Puigneró, Minister of Digital Policies and Public Administration, Catalonia is also angling for digital independence. “Just as the Internet brought us universal connectivity, blockchain will bring us new universal governance. It will affect the administration [of government], will affect the economy, and it will affect one thing which is very important in...

Last December, Hyperledger Executive Director Brian Behlendorf said 2019 was a year of “careful, prosaic BUIDLING.” Now, in an interview with CoinDesk’s Michael Casey in Davos, Switzerland, Behlendorf says a lot of what the blockchain ecosystem was building is getting closer to becoming a net positive for the world. Citing “double-digit” blockchain usage in the diamond trade for tracing provenance, a variety of blockchain-based digital identity projects and the rise of the central bank...

Akin Sawyerr, founder of Feleman Limited, an Africa-focused impact investment and advisory firm based in the Washington, D.C., area, spoke to CoinDesk at the Digital Money Forum. His message? That decentralized finance and governance can rebuild economies all over the world. “I have geographical purview over Africa. So a lot of what I’ve been working on is identifying opportunities around Africa,” he said at the forum held at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. “One of the big challenges you see across...

Chef Aarón Sánchez and IBM teamed up at CES 2020 to create a vision of a blockchain-based food chain. IBM’s Food Trust project, of which Sánchez is a part, aims to allow growers, grocers and cooks to track their food from seed to plate. The system, said IBM General Manager of Blockchain Services Jason Kelley, uses the blockchain simply because it is the cheapest way to get everyone – from the farmer in the field to a tech-loving chef like Sánchez – to connect. Rather than forcing each...

Joel Telpner, Chair of Fintech and Blockchain Practice Group at Sullivan & Worcester LLP, isn’t surprised that Facebook is getting a grilling on Capitol Hill. In fact, he’s pleased. “These are attacks on Facebook itself that really has nothing to do with crypto has nothing to with Libra it’s just Facebook being bad boys you know [they’re] concerned about [their] privacy policies,” he said. His point, quite simply, is that any scrutiny of crypto in DC is vital. “Parts of the hearing so far...