i3 - March/April 2020 - 28

hardware manufacturing companies to make private
and secure IoT devices.

INTEGRATING BLOCKCHAIN
INTO WEB EXPERIENCES

Amy James, CEO of Alexandria Labs and co-inventor
of the Open Index Protocol, foresees that "blockchain
and other essential technologies will bring more
transparency and access to information than we have
ever seen." She cites blockchain's ability to timestamp
and filter information that will "increase the quality
of feeds" on the Web.
Her San Diego company's "Open Index Protocol"
creates a public space for content distribution on the
internet, which she described at the Digital Money
Forum as a "technical solution to the problem of
walled garden platforms monopolizing the Web."
"We're talking about 'Web 3.0,'" James explains,
acknowledging that OIP's blockchain component "is
just one piece of a larger puzzle. The way it relates to
consumer electronics is going to change the incentive
structure so that consumers have way more trust and
transparency." She expects that the "presence of more
big players [such as] Libra, the government of China
and Facebook prove that institutional interest is
clearly coming out of the shadows."
James adds, "Blockchain is in our sights. The last
five years of R&D have been so important to build the
solutions that will let it scale to mass adoption." She
believes that the
online explosion of
deep fakes will bolster the appetite for
blockchain-secured
protections.
"There's a palpable desire from consumers to own their
data and to trust the
data that they're seeing online," James
says. "The desire
from users is really strong and the blockchain technology is available to protect them."

"Blockchain will
take the internet
beyond just the
exchange of
information,"

INDUSTRIAL PERSPECTIVE

Even as consumer-oriented products enter the blockchain universe, much of the focus remains on enterprise applications.
IBM attracted attention to its "IBM Food Trust," a
blockchain system that digitizes transactions in food
supply chains providing value to food distributors as
well as stores and restaurants that track inventory
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sources. At a banquet during CES, IBM
traced the source of the ingredients for each
dish served during the dinner, which was
prepared by celebrity chef Aarón Sánchez.
At the end of the show, IBM unveiled a deal
with Tunisian olive oil producer CHO, which
will use the encrypted, decentralized database to track transactions and document
steps throughout a shipment's lifetime from
orchard to processor to delivery. It is similar
to another Food Trust blockchain process
that connects coffee farmers, traders, roasters
and brands. IBM is also working on blockchain-related food-supply applications with
Nestle and Walmart.
Sánchez said he was intrigued by blockchain's ability to track and identify ingredients from the farm to table. "For many years,
I've cooked with what I'd call nameless
ingredients," said Sánchez, who has
appeared on Food Network's Chopped and
FOX's Masterchef. He called blockchain "an
incredible source that allows us to not only
own the flavors but to own the ingredients.
That's something remarkable."
Other blockchain products at CES included
a new point-of-sale (POS) line-up from SecuX
Technology Inc., a Taiwan blockchain security provider. Its "Allin-One" cryptopayment solution enables brick-and-mortar retailers to accept different crypto coins/tokens through multiple wallet
mobile apps in a single device. The SecuX POS package includes
a mobile app, a terminal/module and a "hardware wallet" with a
military-grade secure element chip which recognizes cryptocurrency payments.
BalletCrypto fleshed out its first product, a non-electronic
physical cryptocurrency wallet, with multicurrency support.
Founder Bobby Lee, who was previously involved in Chinese
Bitcoin development, explained that Ballet supports activation
of multi-cryptocurrency on the same wallet and was not including any computer chips or electronic circuitry, which are not
suitable for long-term storage of cryptocurrency investments.
Essence Group updated its IoT security presence via a new
subsidiary, SigmaDots, which uses an edge software solution to
protect IoT ecosystems from cyberattacks using distributed
architecture and blockchain-based cybersecurity. The new features will form the basis for the cybersecurity of all of Essence
Group's products. SigmaDots has partnered with Telit to make
products more resilient to cyberattacks.

BLOCKCHAIN'S FINANCIAL/VALUE FOUNDATION

"Blockchain will take the internet beyond just the exchange of
information," Gulf Pearl's Gouran says. "It will facilitate the simplified transfer of value without the use of intermediaries such
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i3 - March/April 2020

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