Welcome to the daily crypto news :
Rep. Davidson Sees Place for Blockchain in US Manufacturing Despite Congress’ Concerns;
Coinbase Legal Chief Wants Private Sector to Create US Digital Dollar;
Oxfam’s Blockchain-Based Agricultural Insurance Pays Farmers in Sri Lanka;
Ripple’s Xpring Invests in New Smart Contract Platform;
Æternity Releases Final Hard Fork Software to Compete with Ethereum;
Rep. Davidson Sees Place for Blockchain in US Manufacturing Despite Congress’ Concerns
United States pro-crypto Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH) has once again called for clear regulations of blockchain industry to maintain U.S. economic dominance.
On Nov. 4, Davidson published a letter in the Wall Street Journal in response to an Oct. 24 report on automation in manufacturing. The congressman urged the U.S. government to encourage innovators to stay in the country. The letter read:
“If we allow fear to stifle their efforts, we risk surrendering global superiority and sacrificing improvements in quality of living.”
Rust-belt woes in the face of changing manufacturing
The report to which Davidson was responding focused on concerns that robots and artificial intelligence were taking jobs from U.S. workers. Commenting on manufacturing in the Midwest, it reads:
“[T]here is compelling evidence that factory automation swung three key Rust Belt states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — in favor of Donald Trump in the 2016 election.”
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Coinbase Legal Chief Wants Private Sector to Create US Digital Dollar
Coinbase’s legal chief, Brian Brooks, feels that the United States government should take a step back and allow the private sector to create the U.S. digital dollar.
Private sector should build the technology
In a Fortune piece on Nov. 4, Brooks asked whether the U.S. government should create the digital dollar, or whether the private sector can do so more effectively. The answer to that question, according to Brooks, is also the best path forward, saying:
“The best path forward is one that harnesses our country’s remarkable capacity for innovation and also reflects government’s historical practice of setting broad guide rails for private innovation within the financial system. That means letting innovators invent, and letting government regulate. In short: the private sector should build the technology, and the public sector should set monetary policy.”
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Oxfam’s Blockchain-Based Agricultural Insurance Pays Farmers in Sri Lanka
The United Kingdom-based charity organization Oxfam International announced the success of its blockchain-based delivery system of microinsurance to paddy field farmers in Sri Lanka.
In a Nov. 4 press release, Etherisc announced that Oxfam’s blockchain-based insurance system had made pay-outs to Sri Lankan farmers who continue to risk losing their crops due to extreme weather events.
Blockchain reduces costs and increases pay-outs
Oxfam in Sri Lanka, together with its partners Etherisc and Aon plc, will now continue to seek solutions to some of the challenges that will present themselves as the new cropping season starts in the month of November.
In the past, issues such as lack of affordable and reliable insurance products, a lack of understanding about how insurance would help a farmer survive, and when and how a claim would be paid, have always acted as major barriers that prevented farmers from utilizing insurance.
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Ripple’s Xpring Invests in New Smart Contract Platform
Xpring, Ripple’s investment arm and tech incubator has completed a strategic investment into smart contract platform Flare Networks.
Joining the XRP ecosystem
On Nov. 5, Flare Networks reported that it secured a partnership and investment with Xpring that will enable the company to bring a “wealth of resources and partners to enhance and extend the Flare, Xpring and XRP ecosystems.”
The Flare Network, which has been over two years in the making, reportedly integrates the Ethereum Virtual Machine to enable public and private networks to leverage smart contracts.
Flare will soon release a draft token whitepaper detailing the construction and decentralized management of its native coin, which will be an algorithmically managed, pegged stablecoin. Xpring further explained:
“Flare’s native token will be an algorithmic stablecoin created in part by burning XRP, and payments for a contract can be made and received in XRP via Interledger, which will be integrated with Flare.”
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Æternity Releases Final Hard Fork Software to Compete with Ethereum
The core development team of blockchain platform Æternity announced the release of the software of its latest hard fork, namely Lima.
Æternity announced in a press release published on Nov. 5 that the introduction of Lima improves the network’s virtual machines, governance and naming system. The purpose of the update explicitly described in the announcement is to challenge Ethereum and other blockchain platforms.
A virtual machine ten times more efficient
The press release claims that Æternity is one of the most active blockchain developer communities measured by code activity. Core developers have now released the updated software and the majority of the network’s miners will choose whether they wish to upgrade or not.
The author of the announcement claims that the new Fast Æternity Transaction Engine virtual machine outperforms other blockchains and will feature better efficiency and 10 times less gas consumption when executing smart contracts. The update also completes the transition of the network’s governance to the native blockchain of Ethereum’s network.
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