Tabacco Giant Wants To Use Blockchain To Track Tax Stamps

It has been revealed that Philip Morris Internatonal, a tobacco multinational, wants to use blockchain.

According to its global head of architecture and tech innovation, Nitin Manoharan, the main aim of the initiative is to use blockchain technology to track tax stamps on cigarette boxes.

Tax stamps are expensive costing $5.50 per pocket and an easily be counterfeited using high-resolution photocopier costing the industry and government about $100 million a year.

Estimated savings for the company is around $20 million by automating processes and reducing fraud with by leveraging blockchain technology according to Manoharan.

It was also revealed that the company will be using a permissionless blockchain or public chain which means anyone and everyone can participate in the validation of the network.

The company is not planning to build on top of any particular blockchain as of the moment but is considering Ethereum, Multichain and Hyperledger to build its own open blockchain network.

New Bill In Ohio Promotes Blockchain Government Adoption

A new bill that has been proposed by Republican state representative Rick Carfagna urges government agencies in Ohio to adopt blockchain technology.

House Bill 220 is reportedly a part of Ohio’s plan to provide legal framework for distributed ledger technology.

When passed into law could lead to the establishment of a decentralized online record for transactions such as car titles, licenses and other public records within the state.

Ohio is one of the few U.S. states to provide legal protection to companies developing new uses for blockchain and is shaping up to become one of the U.S. power houses in the blockchain related industry.

Back in November, Ohio become the first US state to allow businesses to pay taxes using Bitcoin.

XRP Called The Best Diversifier Digital Asset By Binance Report

According to a recent report released by the cryptocurrency research arm of Binance, Ripple is the best diversifier among digital assets with market cap above $3 billion.

The report draws this conclusion as Ripple showed less correlation with Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s price trends.

XRP is unlike the two dominant cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization, Bitcoin and Ethereum, which exhibits the highest positive correlations or what they call clusters.

Positive correlation means that prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum tend to move the same path and investors tends to get exposure to similar risk and gains.
Cryptocurrencies that display high positive correlations with each other form clusters whose prices tends to move together.

Singapore Police Rescues Would Be Victim of A Bitcoin Machine Scam

It has been reported that Singaporean police was able to rescue a 32-year-old man from being scammed by an elaborate Bitcoin machine scam.

Perpetuators were able to pull of the scam by posting false alerts from the authorities next to a Bitcoin machine inside Tampines One Mall.

The posters lured their target to call a phone number in which scammers impersonated authorities from China and demanded the victim to transfer a total of $1,000 Singaporean dollars worth of Bitcoin to their wallet.

Singaporean police discovered the elaborate scheme when a responsible citizen reported a 49-year-old man who was tearing down posters near a Bitcoin teller machine.

Authorities later realize that the man who was tearing down the poster has been an victim and was able to stop another man from falling victim to the scammers.

FedEx Executive Calls For Blockchain Standard For International Shipping Industry

In a conference held last April 24-25 FedEx’s Chief Information Officer, Robert Carter, has called on the shipping industry to create a standard for international shipping.

Carter said his statement in the Blockchain Revolution Global Conference during a panel discussion around the idea of creating and adopting a set of blockchain standards for shipping companies

According to him Standardized blockchains would make it easy for customs and border agents to create a chain of custody to track the provenance of goods in a much efficient and timely manner.

Standardize blockchains may lead to widespread adoption by cutting competition and making companies to work together.

It order to make this happen the three shipping giants, FedEx, DHL Express and UPS have come together to create the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) with the main aim of formulating a startdard for blockchain that could be used and implemented by everyone in the shipping industry.

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