Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: People, Culture and Tech
The headwind Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is facing seems to be getting stronger in Asia, as regulators in China, Korea, and India all expressed serious concerns about the stablecoin.
India’s commerce secretary launched a blockchain-based marketplace app for trading Indian coffee during a video conference on Thursday. A pilot project carried out in partnership with the Coffee Board of India and the International Coffee Organization, the marketplace app’s goal is to reduce the number of intermediaries between coffee growers and buyers, build farm-to-cup traceability, and help farmers increase their incomes by as much as 100 percent, said Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan during the video conference on March 28.
A group of 11 Indian banks have joined together to create a blockchain-based digital ledger system aimed at improving access to credit for micro-, small-, and medium-sized businesses.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiasts were excited about the announcement this week that President Donald Trump plans to name Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a longtime supporter of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, as his interim White House chief of staff before the end of the year. As a congressman, Mulvaney was a co-founder of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. When it comes to actually embracing cryptocurrencies, the U.S. has been generally skeptical. As a recent opinion piece in the Harvard Business Review by law firm Jones Day blockchain initiative leaders Stephen J. Obie and Mark W. Rasmussen noted: “Without clear regulations, cryptocurrency innovation in the United States is being stifled.…
