Enlarge / A user in Singaapore holding the TraceTogether device that can be used for COVID-19 contact tracing in lieu of a smartphone app. Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images The government of Singapore said this week it has used data gathered for COVID-19 mitigation purposes in criminal investigations, sparking privacy concerns about contact …
COVID-19 contact-tracing data is fair game for police, Singapore says Read More »
Filip Radwanski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic forced many to have virtual New Year’s Eve get-togethers, and that’s very clearly reflected in WhatsApp’s numbers. Facebook’s chat app set a record as 2020 came to a close, with 1.4 billion video and voice calls placed on New Year’s Eve 2020 — the most ever …
WhatsApp set an all-time record for calls on New Year’s Eve Read More »
This year 2020 has seen quite a variety of exciting developments in the blockchain space. To name just a few: the emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as major economic forces and sources of crypto network user tractions, the maturation of layer 2 Ethereum solutions and the rollout of a variety of …
Lessons in Failing to Apply Blockchain and AI to Combat COVID Read More »
Without any doubt, the year 2020 was unlike any other year in the 21st century: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global governments unstoppably printing money, “lockdowns” and “social distancing” becoming the new normal, protests against racial discrimination and police brutality, and so on and so forth. It even made some claim it to be “the worst …
Did Bitcoin prove itself to be a reliable store of value in 2020? Experts answer Read More »
It is often said that Julius Caesar brought the Roman Republic to an end when he crossed the Rubicon River with the 13th Legion of the Roman Republican Army on Jan. 10, 49 BC, starting the civil war that would leave him dictator. This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2020 Year in Review – a …
Why Crypto Crosses ‘The Chasm’ in a Post-Coronavirus World Read More »
Reflecting on 2020, I struggle to think of another year in recent decades with both so many all-time highs and all-time lows. From the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the global population to record-setting wildfires in the western United States to numerous other calamities, the world this year has often appeared figuratively and literally in flames. …
PATRICK T. FALLON via Getty Images After seeing record COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, Los Angeles County will use technology to help residents track and prove their vaccination records, Bloomberg reports. The public health department has teamed with startup Healthvana on an app that will that will store vaccination records in Google or Apple wallets. It …
LA residents can use their phones to provide COVID-19 vaccination proof Read More »
<div class=”featured_image_container”> </div> <strong>A municipality in the province of Sevilla, Spain, has launched its own cryptocurrency, which aims to encourage residents and merchants to arrange transactions with it in the midst of the coronavirus-driven economic impact.</strong> Spain’s Sevilla Municipality Launches ‘Elio’ Cryptocurrency to Boost Local Economy According to Europa Press, the City Council of Lebrija …
It is hard to imagine that just two years ago, the general discourse around central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, was mainly focused on the potential and possibility of issuing them. Even in 2019, the question was about whether we need state-owned cryptocurrencies, with only 70% of central banks worldwide studying the potential of issuing …
Did CBDCs affect the crypto space in 2020, and what’s next in 2021? Experts answer Read More »
It has been a blazing start to a new decade, with 13% more large, uncontrolled wildfires around the world this year compared with 2019. This has spelled dire consequences for CO2 levels, which have made worse a terrible COVID-19 pandemic that has led to unprecedented worldwide lockdowns that have rapidly pushed the economy toward digitization. …
The pandemic year ends with a tokenized carbon cap-and-trade solution Read More »
