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Blockchain for Agriculture: Improving Supply Chain Efficiency and Access to Finance for Smallholder Farmers
Though blockchain applications in agriculture are still in early stages, they have intriguing potential that merits increased investment and exploration, says Nikki Brand. She discusses several innovative uses of the technology across the agriculture supply chain, and highlights new Stanford University research on the organizations and initiatives that are leveraging blockchain to drive social impact.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Blockchain-Based Platform Aims to Protect Intellectual Property of Emerging Markets Inventors and Entrepreneurs
With access to more than 1.5 million devices in 105 countries, plus another 44 million that are under contract to go live by the end of 2018, Spire (SPI), the token that powers UpChannel's mobile dApp marketplace and Android hardware wallet, and Loci (LOCI), a blockchain-based intellectual property (IP) platform, announced their plans to empower and protect inventors and entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Technology
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Viewpoint: Can blockchain be the foundation of sustainable social impact?
Blockchain can impact the way that we identify things and the way that we interact and with the digital world. It has the potential to create a more transparent and fair society.
- Categories
- Technology
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Inside the Jordan refugee camp that runs on blockchain
By letting a machine scan his iris, he confirmed his identity on a traditional United Nations database, queried a family account kept on a variant of the Ethereum blockchain by the World Food Programme (WFP), and settled his bill without opening his wallet.
- Categories
- Technology
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Block-chain based microfinancing for Kenyan food stall owners
IBM Research and Twiga Food will be extending access to microloans to 220 food stall retailers across Kenya using a block-chain based financing system.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- blockchain, fintech, microfinance
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Terra Incognita: Africa’s Crypto Boom Is Just Getting Started
Africa is often a forgotten continent in the tech world. However, blockchain is set to boom in a big way across the landscape; in fact, it has already begun to.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- blockchain, cryptocurrency
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Vietnam May Soon Emerge As One Of Southeast Asia’s Blockchain Innovation Hubs
Looking at financial inclusion alone, only 31% of adults in Vietnam have bank accounts. But smartphone ownership is on the rise, with 40% of the population expected to own these devices by 2021, which means app-based, blockchain financial services could bring the underbanked into the fold.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Kenya is finally softening its stance on blockchain technology
Kenya has for years regarded blockchain technology and digital currencies with suspicion, comparing bitcoin to a “pyramid scheme,” and emphasizing that it had no legal footing.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- blockchain, cryptocurrency
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