Private Equity Moris Beracha Wuani

By Dennis Wafula  Advancements in blockchain technology are proving beneficial in the financial industry. The most recent progress is the introduction of the Finledger blockchain platform, which allows processing of promissory note loans. According to a news release dated May 21, this new application for this type of legal binding loan agreement will be very beneficial to the entire financial industry. The test stage involved four banks, DekaBank, dwpbank, DZ Bank, and Heleba, who used finledger technology to complete note transactions. Reportedly, the platform can reduce the processes involved when issuing such notes by more than 50%. Marion Spielmann, Head of Banking & Depositary at DekaBank, said:   “The opportunities offered by using a blockchain take the product promissory note loan to a whole new level. Together with the other institutes, we have now successfully implemented a digitization project that allows our customers and us to han...

By Daniel Palmer Starbucks is moving to give consumers more information on its coffee products using a blockchain system that will track beans from “farm to cup.” For the effort, the coffee chain is working with Microsoft to harness its Azure Blockchain Service in tracking coffee shipments from across the world, bringing “digital, real-time traceability” to its supply chains, according to an announcement from Microsoft. With the partnership, Microsoft’s blockchain service will record all changes along the journey of the coffee on a shared ledger, providing participants with a “more complete view” of the supply chain. Starbucks will use all that information to bring a new feature to its mobile app, giving consumers details on where the coffee was sourced and roasted, as well as on tasting notes. As part of its commitment to ethical sourcing, it’s also hoping that the blockchain system can help benefit growers too, by providing them with data...

  By Jeff Kauflin A new movement is pumping oxygen into the cryptocurrency industry despite asset prices that remain 75% lower than where they were in late 2017. It’s called DeFi, short for decentralized finance—it’s the notion that crypto entrepreneurs can recreate traditional financial instruments in a decentralized architecture, outside of companies’ and governments’ control. And with fresh allegations of misused funds against the centrally controlled cryptocurrency tether, the argument for decentralized applications has become even more relevant. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the original DeFi applications. Both are controlled by large networks of computers, not central authorities. Many investors use bitcoin like gold, as a store-of-value investment that protects against inflation, while Ethereum has been instrumental—and controversial—in helping startups crowdfund their operations. But newer apps are dominating the DeFi...

The Chinese tech giant has announced the universal accessibility of its Blockchain Service (BCS) platform, following its debut in China, to deploy blockchain apps at scale Huawei has announced that its Blockchain Service (BCS) platform, which has been designed to support and enable business to develop blockchain-based applications, has been made available on a global scale following its commercial launch in China in October. According to Huawei, the BCS platform, hosted on the Huawei Cloud website, offers decentralization, tamper resistance, traceability and transparency in transactions, providing businesses with the ability to "create, deploy and manage blockchain applications quickly and at minimal cost on Huawei Cloud". The BCS platform can be used for various use cases such as data, IoT and finance-related applications, as well as data transactions, identity authentication, proof of information (such as real estate and education), remote healthcare, food sou...

By William Suberg The research arm of Japanese technology giant Sony announced it had created a contactless cryptocurrency hardware wallet in a press release Tuesday, Oct. 23. The as yet unnamed device utilizes IC smart card technology popular in Japan to communicate with the Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrency network. The advantages, according to developers from Sony Computer Science Labs (SCSL), lie in dispensing with the need to attach the wallet to a host device via USB, as is the current standard for the industry. “In addition, it is possible to securely generate and store a private key with a highly reliable tamper-proof module within the IC card,” the release explains. Sony has joined many multinationals in experimenting with blockchain technology in recent years, releasing several solutions and applying for patents related to blockchain hardware. Beyond sending and receiving cryptocurrency, the latest hardware wallet offering is...