Growing usage of Blockchain Technology...

Microsoft has unveiled a new framework aimed at streamlining the blockchain proof-of-concept process.

In a new blog post, the company said it was appealing to firms that want to test the tech for possible applications in a more timely fashion, estimating that existing conditions could mean as much as $300k in expenses and development times as long as a year.

According to Microsoft, the framework entails the prototype blockchain network, relevant APIs, as well as a Hashing Service and a Signing Service to support the testing. Microsoft's Azure cloud service – one of the central planks of the company's blockchain strategy – sits at the heart of the framework.

Microsoft added that it intends to demo the new framework during CoinDesk's Consensus 2017 blockchain conference, which is being held next week in New York.

More here :http://www.coindesk.com/microsoft-unveils-new-framework-speed-blockchain-pocs/

Except for those folks living under rocks (sounds uncomfortable), everyone knows about or at least has heard of bitcoin. However, not everyone understands the technology of bitcoin, which extends well beyond Internet-based currency.

For the rock people, bitcoin is an Internet-based currency that allows for transparency with respect to each transfer of the currency through the use of a distributed database. Each transaction is locked in a block, and blocks are connected to form a "blockchain."

More here : http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84540.html

When this was tweeted by Andrew Miller in 2015, it rapidly became the go-to meme for anyone slightly cynical about the genuine use cases for Blockchain within the Internet of Things.

The idea of a self-actualized toaster with its own digital identity, probably provided by 21 Inc, became as much part of Blockchain popular culture as BitFury's Bitcoin-mining light bulb that never was or Slock.it's self-hiring bicycle.

If we are most likely to understand the Internet of Things (IoT) by describing how it relates to objects we use every day, such as toaster or bicycles, we miss the big picture: a futuristic global network of connected devices, transforming industrial and business processes in a way that we cannot yet comprehend.

More here : https://cointelegraph.com/news/internet-of-things-and-blockchain-technology-how-does-it-work

Kotak Mahindra Bank, one of India’s largest private banks, has successfully completed an end-to-end trade finance transaction with a client over a blockchain.

According to a report in Indian business daily Economic Times, ‘the first of its kind transaction’ sees the bank partner services giant Deloitte to complete the trade finance test with partner bank JP Morgan Singapore.

A traditionally paper-intensive process, trade finance transactions are enabled by a letter of credit (LC). The letter sees bank guaranteeing a buyer’s payment to a seller on an agreed date and is a critical document in any trade finance transaction, particularly in international transactions.

More here : https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/indian-bank-kotak-mahindra-implements-blockchain-trade-finance/

Bitcoin wallet and data company Blockchain has expanded its leadership team with two new executive hires.

Perhaps most notably is the addition of Sarah Maxwell, a former communications lead at Uber, who left the ridesharing giant in 2016 to join the staff of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Maxwell has been appointed to lead Blockchain's global communications team.

Before joining Uber in May 2014, Maxwell had been working as a White House staffer since 2010, and, prior to that, served as a senior account executive at the San Francisco-based BergDavis Public Affairs, according to her LinkedIn bio.

More here : http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-startup-blockchain-adds-uber-ubs-execs-to-leadership-team/