Blockchain This Week: Will Reliance Jio, Facebook Partnership Accelerate Blockchain Adoption In India & More

The announcement of social media giant buying a 9.99% stake in Reliance Jio for INR 43,574 Cr ($5.7 Bn), has created a lot of buzz in the Indian tech ecosystem. Interestingly, the Jio offers a plethora of digital and internet businesses, including smart devices, cloud computing, big data analytics, broadband connectivity, internet of things, and blockchain among others.

From a blockchain perspective, in August last year, Reliance Jio had announced to have installed one of India’s largest blockchain networks with tens of thousands of nodes. At the time, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said that usage of blockchain technology will deliver unprecedented security, trust, automation and efficiency to almost any type of transaction.

Further, emphasising on data privacy, Ambani had said that blockchain technology would pave a path for creating a new model, where customer data is owned and controlled through technology and not by corporates, particularly the global corporations.

Earlier today, in a Facebook post, the founder Mark Zuckerburg said that the country is the middle of a major digital transformation and Jio has been instrumental in onboarding hundreds of millions of Indian consumers and small businesses online. He further said that the company will be providing digital tools to help businesses to communicate and grow their businesses, and create new opportunities.

Adding to this, Ambani in a separate video message said that together, the companies will accelerate India’s digital economy to empower, enable and enrich India. The question, however, remains whether the data of users and businesses from Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram will be compromised in the process.

At the same time, with Jio working on blockchain network with thousands of nodes, and Facebook working on Calibra project aiming to cover 1.7 Bn unbanked around the world. Hopefully, the future of India’s blockchain technology might look promising in the coming years.

Blockchain Graph Of The Week:

According to Deep Analysis report titled ‘Enterprise Blockchain – Market Forecast & Scenarios 2019-2024,’ the enterprise blockchain market is expected to touch $13.2 Bn by 2024. The report further said that the growth will be driven by blockchain infrastructure, business applications and consulting services.

Blockchain News Of The Week:

Here are the biggest blockchain-related headlines from across the world.

Everledger Launches Blockchain-Powered Diamond Tracking Platform  

London-based tech company Everledger launched a blockchain-powered platform that will help India and US-based Shairu & Atit Diamonds to access diamond carbon footprint information. With this platform, all the stakeholders, including mining companies, diamond manufacturers, brands and retailers will be able to trace a diamond’s origin as well as to ensure that it has been cut and polished in a LEED-certified diamond cutting facility.

In the coming days, it will be available not only for diamonds, but also for gemstones, apparel and wine among other classes of assets. The US-based Fred Meyer and Littman Jewelers will be the first retailers to use this feature.

GameTalkTalk Launches Blockchain Project For Gamers 

Social gaming App GameTalkTalk developed by South Korean Vinetree Corporation has launched a blockchain app for gamers. The new platform offers a reward-based social media (decentralised app) DApp, a matchmaking peer-to-peer gaming platform and a digital item exchange. The company said that in 2020 Q2, users worldwide will be able to receive the app’s internal digital assets, known as ‘stars’ for completing in-game tasks and downloading new games.

Ant Financial Launches Blockchain Platform For SMEs And Developers To Create DApps 

Alibaba’s Ant Financial recently launched OpenChain, a blockchain platform that offers small and micro enterprises (SMEs) and developers to tap into Ant Financial’s proprietary consortium of blockchain technologies and deploy blockchain-powered smart contracts and DApps with higher efficiency and lower cost.

Jin Ge, general manager of blockchain platform at Ant Financial in a press statement said that the company aims to help one million SMEs and developers to innovate and explore more use cases in the next three years.

Dentsu Turns To Blockchain To Reward Content Creators On Popular Apps 

In a bid to safeguard content creators from the stringent terms & conditions of media platforms such as YouTube, Japanese advertising firm Dentsu in partnership with research Kadokawa Ascii Research Laboratories turns to distributed ledger technology (DLT). In other words, the duo wants to reward content creators via blockchain technology, particularly the secondary creators who comment on Anime videos and Manga via live streaming apps.