Sara Garg, Author at Exhibit Tech

How is the tracking of origin and safety of food possible with blockchain?

Blockchain allows peer-to-peer transactions to take place fairly, without a mediator such as from a bank or even a middleman in the agricultural sector. By eliminating the need for a single organization, innovation alters the way trust is granted – but rather trusting an authority, credibility is placed in cryptography and peer-to-peer system. It relates to the redevelopment of integrity between producers and consumers, which can lower transaction fees in the agro-food market. The blockchain creates a trustworthy process of recording transactions between anonymous participants. As a consequence, forgery and malfunctions can be traditional low. Furthermore, by combining smart contracts, issues can be confirmed in real-time (Haveson et al., 2017; Sylvester, 2019). Given the complex nature of the agro-food system, it aims to alleviate the challenge of the data generation process throughout the large supply chain. Thus, technology provides solutions to consumers, government, or other stakeholders’ worries about food quality and safety. Blockchain promotes transparency among all involved parties and makes it far easier to collect accurate data. Blockchain can record every step in an item’s value chain, from the establishment to extinction. Reliable data from the farming process is extremely valuable for producing data-driven facilities and payment solutions that will make farming smarter and less susceptible. This whitepaper analyzes blockchain technology applications in agriculture and food

Tracking the origin and safety of food Can users confidently say that an apple or a chicken bought from a retailer is safe? Despite the reality, those store representatives should have all necessary documentation and certificates, users cannot see how it was previously stored or whether it contains any harmful bacteria. As a consequence, blockchain can enable customers in mastering all they need to know about others. Because it is unrealistic for store leaders to take a single infected product, they must examine the product’s history of origin. All data will be kept by blockchain-based software, started with where and when this apple or meat was born, how it was fed, where it had been sent after, and so on. As a result, both customers and suppliers will know everything there is to understand regarding food, which will boost their trust and help to know precisely what they will be consuming. A relevant example is Walmart’s collaboration with IBM to build a blockchain agriculture supply chain. Each commodity in a store could be scanned by an expert to obtain detailed info about it. All are open and public to all parties.

Everyone is knowledgeable about Bitcoin cryptocurrency. It is already one of the world’s most successful cryptocurrencies. Even so, some other cryptocurrencies like- Agrolot, CarbonCoin, PavoCoin were made solely for the agricultural sector. It is used directly by farmers and has a lot of potentials.

Also read: Is green blockchain technology a way to go today?

Is MG Astor SUV the first car in India to have a blockchain-powered passport?

Car manufacturer MG, owned by Chinese auto company SAIC, will use blockchain to record driving data in a digital passport for its new SUV car model, MG Astor. The car will be commercialized in India and MG has partnered with Indian blockchain firm Koinearth for the project,

In the automotive industry, insurance rates and resale value can be impacted by driving data. In a world without asymmetric information, insurance companies could calculate an individual’s likelihood of getting into an accident based on their driving history. Similarly, people looking to purchase a used car would be able to accurately compare the quality of cars and rely on the stated mileage.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where information is fully shared, which results in higher insurance rates for good drivers and the classical lemons and plums problem in the used cars market.

Blockchain can resolve these issues because drivers could choose to share their driving data with insurers, which can be used to calculate fair insurance rates. For car sellers, sharing the data with potential purchasers about the car’s driving history and mileage will yield a more accurate price, and if drivers are unwilling to share the data, it might be a sign that the car should have a lower value.

MG’s partnership with Koinearth will record data in a digital passport, which drivers can access through MG’s app. Despite being operated by MG, users can choose with whom to share the data, and explicit consent is required before sending any information to other parties.

The digital passport gives cars a digital identity. Driving data such as gas consumption and speed are automatically recorded and stored on the passport. Other aspects that can influence the car’s “identity,” like maintenance services can be added to the app by the user. For the customer, the digital passport is simply an interface on the app, which shows the data the car has recorded. However, Praphul Chandra, chief executive officer of Koinearth, explained that it is at the center of a blockchain-based platform that connects various parties. In this case, the passport is created by MG Motors, but the data in it is owned by the user, meaning they will have to explicitly provide consent before someone else can access this data.

MG Astor will be the first car to be commercialized in India with a digital passport. Meanwhile, other initiatives are working on similar solutions. Leading names in the automotive industry, including Renault, Ford, GM, Honda, and BMW participate in a consortium, MOBI, that has been working on a Vehicle Identity Standard since 2019. The consortium conducted a proof of concept and the second version was released at the beginning of this year. In addition, Daimler developed a car wallet solution.

Also read: Is green blockchain technology a way to go today ?

how did crypto kitties emerge as a game changer for NFT?

NFTs have hit the era thanks to CryptoKitties. It’s a blockchain-based virtual game where players can implement, raise, and trade virtual cats. On a blockchain, cats were introduced worth millions. This awesome project appeared on every news channel. Maybe it was because the game was saturating and slowing down the Ethereum blockchain, or was it because people made insane profits. The rise of CryptoKitties combined with the 2017 cryptocurrency bull market, fanning the flames. People bought breeding and trading virtual cats at an astonishing rate. Many people became mindful of the possibility of non-fungible tokens as a result of this.

Blockchain games are considered to have unique advantages over traditional online games in that their gaming data and logic are transparently stored and executed on blockchains . These advantages particularly suit games with in-game payment and chance mechanisms, e.g., gambling, which often suffered from trust issues in traditional online environment. As a result, current designs of blockchain games mainly revolve around the generation, ownership, and trading of virtual assets.

Nonetheless, most of the current blockchain games lack playability. Possible reasons include that current blockchain platforms restrict developers from implementing complex game functions, current developers are paying insufficient attention to the players’ gaming experience, and lack a competitive market in the blockchain game industry. Not surprisingly, the popularity of CryptoKitties only lasted for a short period, too.

Gaming Rules

CryptoKitties game has five smart contracts: the Core contract, GeneScience contract, Offers contract, SalesAuction contract, and SiringAuction contract. The names of these contracts could be found on Etherscan. Based on these contracts, players can trade or transfer kitties with other players and breed new kitties.

2018–2019 — NFTs Prosper

The NFT environment expanded rapidly in 2018 and 2019. There are now over 100 projects in space and more on the way. NFT marketplaces are prospering, with OpenSea and SuperRare gaining ground. The trade volumes are small in comparison to other crypto markets, but they are growing very fast and have come a long way. As Web3 wallets such as Metamask continue improving, it is easier to integrate the NFT ecosystem. Characters (similar to domains), plot lines of virtual land, virtual apparel, event opening tickets, asteroid mining resources, and other functionalities are now readily accessible for NFTs.

The numerous NFT games and projects that are collaborating to make items easily deployable are by far the most exciting development in the space. For instance –, suppose a player in one game has a dagger that can be transferred to the next game and converted into a rare piece of fabric. The possibilities are truly limitless with integrations. 2021 is the year NFTs are the future in the blockchain era with accelerated growth, innovation, and progression.

How are colored coins related to NFTs?

To understand the history of assets, it is important to know how NFTs originated and accelerated growth at every stage and progression.

2012-2013: Colored Coins

Colored Coins could’ve been perceived as the very first NFTs to exist. Colored Coins are made of small bitcoin denominations that can be as small as a single satoshi, the smallest unit of a bitcoin. Colored Coins could be used to demonstrate a wide range of assets and have various applications, including:

Coupons
Real Estate
Possibility of creating your cryptocurrency
Distribute a company’s shares
Purchasing Subscriptions
Tokens of access
Collectibles on the internet Colored Coins epitomized a significant advancement in Bitcoin’s capabilities; however, their disadvantage was that they could only represent specific values if everyone agreed on their value. Colored Coins allowed further research and opened the way for NFTs. The enormous potential of putting physical assets onto distributed ledgers was obvious, but deployment requested a more flexible blockchain.

2014 — Counterparty

. Many people became aware of the tremendous growth for granting assets onto blockchains also as a core component of Colored Coins. People also realized that Bitcoin, in its present form, wasn’t intended to support these new features. Counterparty enabled asset creation, as well as a decentralized exchange and a crypto token with ticker XCP. It had several work and assets, like trading card play and meme trading.

2015 — Counterparty

Spells of Genesis’ founders were not only the first one issue in-game assets onto a blockchain via Counterparty, but they were also among the first to launch an ICO. So early, that ICOs were dubbed “crowdfunding.” Spells of Genesis funded development by issuing a token known as BitCrystals that served as the in-game currency.

Rare Pepes on Counterparty in October 2016

That was only a question of time before memes commenced to move to blockchain. People began issuing “rare pipes” as assets on the Counterparty platform in October of 2016. A Rare Pepe is a meme that showcases a frog character. Rare Pepes on Ethereum in March 2017 With the rise of Ethereum in popularity in early 2017, memes began to be traded there. In March of 2017, Peperium, a “decentralized meme marketplace and trading card game (TCG) that allowed anyone to create memes that live forever on IPFS and Ethereum,” was stated.

Cryptopunks — June 2017

As the trading of rare pepes on Ethereum became more popular, 2 “innovative technologists” planned to start their own NFT project with such a flair. John Watkinson and Matt Hall revealed that they could yield unique characters on the Ethereum blockchain. Characters would be limited to 10,000, and no two would be alike.

Also read: What are the powerful applications of Blockchain in Agriculture?

What are the powerful applications of Blockchain in Agriculture?

Tracking the origin and safety of food

Can users confidently say that an apple or a chicken bought from a retailer is safe? Despite the reality, those store representatives should have all necessary documentation and certificates, users cannot see how it was previously stored or whether it contains any harmful bacteria.

As a consequence, blockchain can enable customers in mastering all they need to know about others. Because it is unrealistic for store leaders to take a single infected product, they must examine the product’s history of origin. All data will be kept by blockchain-based software, started with where and when this apple or meat was born, how it was fed, where it had been sent after, and so on.

As a result, both customers and suppliers will know everything there is to understand regarding food, which will boost their trust and help to know precisely what they will be consuming. A relevant example is Walmart’s collaboration with IBM to build a blockchain agriculture supply chain. Each commodity in a store could be scanned by an expert to obtain detailed info about it. All are open and public to all parties.

Decentralization

Big companies everywhere in the world occupy the agricultural niche, and they can define their terms, set a price, and agree with farmers on what they will grow and breed the following season. Farmers believe it uneconomic to impose their terms because they’re more dependent on giant organizations. However, blockchain in agriculture has the power to completely transform the industry.

Getting security measures against potential raw material adulteration

Farmers must also be informed that they purchase high-quality grain, seeds, and compound feedstuff to breed healthy animals and ripe fruits and vegetables. Even then, the credibility of all raw materials is still not confirmed. As a result, blockchain plays a critical role. Farmers will struggle if they sell poor meat and crops, which will negatively affect both the farmer and the consumer. Farmers will be able to see what raw materials they will be buying, as well as any probable black spots, by using blockchain.

Quality assurance via the Internet of Things

The quality of animals and crops is also a critical step with all farmers, here’s where the Internet of Things can aid and add value. The level of irrigation, soil quality, the number of harmful pests, etc can all be tracked by attaching motion detectors to software applications. All of this data is stored in blockchain, and customers would be able to get information about the animal breeding process as well as crop cultivation from start to finish. Sensors easily notify all data to the cloud, where it is saved in the blockchain. Keep in mind that, in addition to equipment, you would need agricultural software, which you can learn around by analyzing the experience

Also read: Is cryptocurrency influencing the gaming industry?

What is the Future of Logistics with blockchain?

Understanding the past and observing the present enables extrapolation to what the future holds for the logistics Industry. Increased globalization, free trade, and outsourcing all contribute to a continuing and growing interest in logistics/SCM.

A McKinsey & Company study found that “By 2020, % of the world’s goods would be designed and produced in a country other than where they are consumed, up from 20 % today.” There will be a massive shift in the movement and consumption of goods, necessitating ever better management of the associated supply chain processes. With the recent pandemic, logistics services have become even more in demand, with everyone requiring online purchases due to the current lockdown.

This situation has demonstrated the effectiveness of this industry in keeping things running as smoothly as possible during a crisis. Consider a realm without logistics; it would be chaotic, even more so than life currently feels. Logistics has aided our personal development. Improvements in logistics services help the world run smoothly, allowing us to enjoy essential and luxury items from all over the world. This industry has often embraced technology and will continue to do so

Purchasing items online has become a simple process. It means that people can buy goods in a matter of minutes and have them delivered in a matter of minutes. With just an increase in competition, its warehouses that store the goods and the distribution network that gets them to each of us have seen a dramatic change. Purchasing items online has become a simple process. Because of the industry’s tenacity and foresight, those at home can maintain some semblance of normalcy in terms of getting what they need when they need it.

By definition, logistics is the art and science of obtaining, producing, and distributing material and products in the proper place and quantity.

Transport, Shipping, and Logistics Issues to be solved Using Blockchain

Technology Payment for transportation and risk management

The average amount of day’s sales in inventory in trucking is 36.9 days. Smart contract payment technology can reduce payment delays and disputes.

Administrative expenses

The cost of document processing and administration can reach 20%. blockchain aims to reduce transportation costs accounting for two-thirds of total costs. Blockchain-based technology can significantly help to reduce it.

Quality control and freight monitoring

Cold chain monitoring is a significant challenge for the pharmaceutical industry, where temperature variations affect 8.5 percent of global shipments. This figure can reach 20% in some countries.

Transparency and faith

Cargo thefts alone are estimated to cost the world $30 billion per year. The implementation of blockchain results in a reduction in illegal behavior and its detection throughout the supply chain. Blockchain enables transportation and logistics companies to run more efficient and cost-effective businesses.

How does blockchain revolutionize the agriculture sector ?

Among the most practical implementations to be built on the Blockchain is a massive challenge in agriculture, so one can perceive it as an opportunity. Consumers are more aware of food security, where Blockchain applications can play a crucial role in tackling many of agriculture’s most pressing issues.

Farmers are presently facing many difficulties in agriculture, but with the proper application of Blockchain technology, these issues can be solved:

Discord between the supplier and the seller
Scarcity of financial resources
Throughout food production and distribution, there is a lack of transparency.

NEED FOR BLOCKCHAIN IN THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Agriculture is a vital part of human society as well as the basis of today’s life. Agriculture’s strong links to the global market, bio-diversity, and human lives and history are undisputable. It is the world’s largest industry, employing over 1.3 billion people and valued at $5 trillion (ILO, n.d). (Goedde, 2015). Agriculture empowered us to grow our own food, and as a matter of fact, humans shifted focus from a hunter’s society to a self-sustaining one. Competition for economic resources and the role of agribusiness firms, the agricultural value chain includes a wide range of activities from farmer to consumer (farm equipment, seeds, fertilizer, insecticides). Agriculture can all be extensively divided into 3 main levels: production, industrial processing, and retail or wholesale distribution. Each process is linked to the next brings the value of business inputs or goods. Agriculture is highly dependent on limited resources such as water, agricultural land, and biodiversity. At each level of the supply chain, different players perform different functions, such as production companies, consumers, and groups that provide means of production such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. Natural resources, such as water, are depleting at an alarming level due to population growth and traditional agricultural methods. Agriculture consumes nearly 70% of the world’s available freshwater.

Advantages

Extensive Demand
Advantages in Competition
Opportunities that are appealing
Policy Assistance Growth Drivers
India, the world’s second-most populous country, must meet the consumption needs of approximately 1.20 million people.
This is a key demand driver for the country’s agricultural growth.
Demand is increasing as a result of rising worldwide economic needs and increased competition

All of these issues can be resolved with the help of cost-efficient intermediaries. Blockchain technology has the potential to completely transform agriculture. The Blockchain generates a permanent, ongoing history of events implemented and stored on each participating node. It is harder to reverse records since there is no centralized authority. Because it is a distributed decentralized account, it offers customers a transparent view which is very safe and nearly impossible to hack.

Also read: Is cryptocurrency influencing the gaming industry?

Is cryptocurrency influencing the gaming industry ?

Since the early 2000s, Technical specifications have exploded, and digital computer technology has advanced at such a rapid pace that any new batch of games, graphics, and consoles seems to blow the previous generation out of the water. The costs of infrastructure, servers, and the Internet have mostly plummeted that even the Internet at hyper-speed is now accessible and commonplace, and 3.2 billion active users have access to the Internet.
This gaming community has grown with players from all age groups. The introduction of smartphones has changed the traditional perspective of whom to play games. From elders playing Candy Crush Saga to children playing Pubg has
made the gaming industry one of the most profitable industries.

Also, the network of gamers has grown in a short period helping them make a good amount of money while playing games. Whether you are a 90’s kid or a 2k Kid, it doesn’t matter. What matters is how the gaming community has grown anonymously & changing the approach of people towards gaming platforms.
Generations have passed evolving our relationship with games to make sure we are
also a part of this fast-growing network

Needless to mention, the two rapidly emerging developments in the world right now are Cryptocurrency and Blockchain. Gamers worldwide are shifting to cryptocurrency-based gaming because along with playing the games, they provide them with a user-friendly gaming experience. These days, in every part of our lives, this emerging technology plays a major role and the gaming industry is no different.
As a result, digital currencies have begun to be used for payment mechanisms by most blockchain game developers around the globe. This is because it provides them with the fastest and shortest purchase relative to other payment schemes.
The token technology opened a way for the gaming and retail industry to benefit from various advantages. This is because gaming and crypto-currency tokens allow businesses to take advantage of both private and public blockchain in-game digital assets.
The gaming business is therefore known as one of the leading cryptocurrency contributors. Many gaming industries have in-game currencies for players that they can use to acquire, invest and earn when playing the game. In the form of fiat cash or gift cards, this digital currency is available to gamers. Inside the gaming sites, all this is typically open to players, so that they can pay a penny to make further purchases such as weapons, apparel, and more.
As the gaming industry continues to grow more cryptocurrency-integrated games,
more gamers will be interested in these gaming networks and digital currency use will likely rise gradually. Gamers who are not aware of cryptocurrencies will own a token balance in this way. As a result, advanced stages of their favorite game can be leveraged.
Thus, it can be said that blockchain is the future gaming industry

Also read: Is Polkadot the fourth Largest Cryptocurrency?

Is Polkadot the fourth Largest Cryptocurrency?

According to CoinMarketCap data, Polkadot (DOT) surpassed its ongoing recent gains both by Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETC) to rise as the 5th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Take a look at the explosive growth of decentralized finance, or Defi, this year, and it’s clear why Ethereum is dominating so many discussions in the enterprise space right now.

The native cryptocurrency of the second-largest blockchain, ether (ETH), is up 266 percent this year, more than twice as much as the soaring bitcoin (BTC).

However, many savvy digital-asset investors are hedging their bets by purchasing tokens connected with upstart blockchains that have the potential to overpower its Ethereum network, which is called the “world computer” due to its efficiency and programmability. A dot (DOT) of the Polkadot blockchain, whose co-founder Gavin Wood was a co-founder of Ethereum, also is such a token.

Polkadot is built around the idea of “parachains,” which are blockchains that can process many transactions per second than Ethereum due to their more sophisticated design. The word is brief for “parallel blockchains,” as per Peter Mauric, at Parity Technologies.

Developers, as per Polkadot investors, have used Moonbeam, a Boston firm that has designed its para chain to resemble a toolkit familiar to Ethereum developers. Interlay, which plans to launch a wrapped bitcoin project called “PolkaBTC” in 2021, and cross-chain liquidity supplier Balance, this will be the first Polkadot project, are two results presenting use cases to Polkadot.

Polkadot’s able to develop new blockchains is compelling from an investment standpoint, according to van Schreven.

Having supported Ethereum, van Schreven believes Polkadot’s “blank slate” will allow it to offer users brand-new robustness, certainty, and governance features.

The Polkadot platform’s token, DOT, performs three functions. It is staked to provide security for the relay chain, to be bonded to connect a chain to Polkadot as a para chain, and to be used for network governance.

All of this could lead to more developers adopting the network, which is one of the drivers for Ethereum’s growth, and Polkadot’s parachains would bring the advantage of that fact.

On even a week – average, Polkadot increased 49.74 pct, while at press time, Bitcoin and Ethereum increased by 0.49 % and 9.29 %.

DOT is raging right now, as it rises to the 4th spot in the market cap rankings. Even as the cryptocurrency exchange rally continues, there have been many significant movers and Polkadot’s DOT token is one of those. DOT has reversed Ripple’s XRP in market capitalization, per the data from leading analytics platform Coingecko, after a huge rise of 26 % 24hrs. This offers it, on market value, the current fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

DOT’s market cap currently stands at around $13.45 billion, while XRP’s at about $13.28 billion.

“POLKADOT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE NEXT ETHEREUM IN COMING YEARS!”

In recent days, its dramatic rise in the value of DOT, over 50% in the last 7 days, further propelled its market cap to greater levels. As per CoinGecko, DOT is currently selling for around $ 15, whereas XRP is at around $ 0.28.

Polkadot is also a proof-of-stake blockchain network and an Ethereum competitor. Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood developed the protocol and came online in May last year. It aims to solve the robustness and integration challenges of Ethereum.

For Decentralized Finance (Defi) investment purposes, Polkadot is now the most convenient alternative to Ethereum. Approximately 19 % of Defi projects that earned venture funding were focused on Polkadot between September to November 2020.

For now, as its owner, Ripple, is battling a legal dispute with the U.S. government, XRP is under pressure. The Securities and Exchange Commission reported last month that Ripple and two of its employees, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, were involved in unauthorized securities deals.

Polkadot also can analyze data more accurately, enabling decentralized applications that run without experiencing challenges of extensibility. In the future, alongside dApps, the crypto is likely to promote massive Defi protocols.

To understand, Polkadot is soaring, steadily, which could mean a good leap. It will be exciting to see where its value reaches in 2022.

Also read: Does Bitcoin in Business have a future?

Does Bitcoin in Business have a future ?

Along with the decentralized existence, cryptocurrencies are a threat to markets of today, taking them out of the grasp of government control. Signs that Bitcoin has entered into progressive culture include its position throughout the U.S. courtroom Drama series The Good Wife, in a drama called “Bitcoin for Dummies.” The blockchain is identified as “a platform that is secured without an authority, decentralized across several multiple computers, yet tamper-proof, and offers an obligated to maintain that is explicitly managed amongst individuals.” Fundamentally, by establishing a decentralized means to verify and authenticate, the blockchain enables the ability to cut off the middleman.

You don’t need to know how blockchain functions to own as many bitcoins or any digital currencies. That being said, the term is relatively simple. Its best approximation of as a total repository of any blockchain network ever made, where every cryptocurrency user has a copy that is periodically reviewed as new transactions take place.

Food Safety Measures

Walmart is among the soaring list of major organizations introducing blockchain technologies to optimize their performance. Last year, this multinational retailer formed a partnership with IBM for using blockchain to monitor the sources, protection, and authenticity of the food it sells. The platform aimed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of this challenge. Before blockchain, locating the sources of food could take Walmart one to two weeks, while the process can be carried out in 2 seconds mostly during the plan was controlled remotely in partnership with IBM. What that means is that, in the case of foodborne illness (insecurity induced through “Mad Cow” diseases and Avian flu should be fresh in everyone’s mind of users), retailers such As Walmart would be capable of deciding within only a few key buttons whether food packages come from a same compromised lot. Pandemics can be prevented.

Healthcare Industry – Transparency

Blockchain often is synonymous with confidentiality and thus can be implemented in the medical sector without privacy issues. No patient needs his or her information on the public register. However, this data can be encrypted; and its immutability and reliance on the previous ledger provide a safer choice than any physical database. Affordability for healthcare practitioners will also, in several cases, form the foundation of an appropriate diagnosis and treatment plan for patients. In an analysis conducted by Deloitte, blockchain was recognized as having the opportunity to position the patient at the forefront of the health sector while ensuring privacy and safety.

The blockchain can also be extended to education, used to verify attendance and identification for examinations conducted in remote locations. More comprehensive technologies could capture entire company processes and ensure their enforcement in the business and its impact will be ground-breaking.

Just as there was phenomenal exuberance in discovering what cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin might do, so would there be enthusiasm around the various applications for Ethereum. Bitcoin was the first of several cryptocurrencies, and Ethereum is only the first to leverage the blockchain in a versatile and effective manner.

Watch this space to know more about crypto trends and blockchain applications.

Also read: What is Burn and mint equilibrium in crypto world ?