A public-private consortium has come together in South Korea to employ blockchain technology in boosting the country’s medical tourism. According to local reports, the consortium will be launching a blockchain-powered platform to make this possible. The consortium is made up of seven institutions including Dong-A University Hospital, Pusan National University Hospital, Gosin University Gospel Hospital, Samyuk Busan Hospital, and payment brokerage company Knet Co. Ltd. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and this initiative is led by Busan Bank, which is located in the Busan Metropolitan City. Busan Bank announced on June 18 that they had signed a business agreement to…

Among many college students, blockchain has a branding problem. “I thought it was synonymous with Bitcoin,” says Andrea Christie, a graduate student at RMIT University (formerly known as Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Melbourne Technical College). “Like many people, I thought that blockchain was electronic money, and it was a scary concept.” After studying blockchain for the past year, however, Christie is seeing a much broader horizon for the technology. She’s now focused on studying the application of blockchain technology in the nonprofit sector. It could be used, for example, to track vouchers given to disaster victims to better understand what…

The Bank of Lithuania finished its research phase on the LBChain’s blockchain project that aims to provide a regulatory infrastructure. As of May 27, the Bank of Lithuania, or BoL, has finished the research phase of its blockchain-related project, LBChain. In the next phase, the institution will create a sandbox that mixes technological and regulatory infrastructure for the technology. The platforms used for the research phase include Hyperledger Fabric and Corda, which were developed by IBM Polska SP. Z.o.o and TietoEVRY. Adapting blockchain technology into different business sectors LBChain allowed market participants to test their business solutions in a controlled environment by…

Brave, the privacy-centric cryptocurrency-powered web browser has launched in-browser video calls featuring end-to-end encryption. The encrypted video service, dubbed ‘Brave Together’ can be used to make unlimited encrypted video calls featuring two participants. All Brave users can access the feature, with no account sign-ups needed. Brave revealed that video conferencing supporting more than two participants is currently being tested on Brave Nightly — the development version of the browser. Brave Together is based on the open-source encrypted video software Jitsi — which was vouched for by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2017. Video conferencing software demand spikes The move comes following an explosion in…

Always be wary when you see two technology buzzwords in one sentence. But the US Department of Transportation (DOT) makes some interesting cases for why the secure ledger tech of blockchain could help make drones safer and more accountable.In essence, there’s a lot to keep track of with drones, especially commercial drones that are carrying packages across the sky. So the DOT makes the case in a new paper for how sharing that information securely could keep everyone better informed. Quick refresher on blockchain. It’s essentially an encrypted database that exists in multiple synchronized copies. You can’t add or change something in…

The privacy and security of consumer data are highly essential in 2020 and beyond, to maintain the credibility of systems and foster trust among its users. In this case, the user has sole ownership of their data and has the right to decide on whether to share such data. Nonetheless, the latter has not been the case since some communication systems are either hacked, or the company itself willingly shares user data. In 2019, for instance, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), a Russian company was hacked, and unauthorized access was gained to 100 million customer records. Verizon Communications was also hacked in 2016 due to…

Rapid Supplier Connect is designed to help health systems and government agencies identify and onboard alternative vendors when certain supplies and PPE are in shortage. BM this week launched Rapid Supplier Connect, a blockchain-based network it says can help healthcare organizations, whether hospitals or government agencies, address equipment shortages during the pandemic by helping them find alternative suppliers. WHY IT MATTERS Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in the state hardest hit by COVID-19, and the Worldwide Supply Chain Federation are two organizations that have joined the network so far, according to IBM.   The goal of the initiative is…