Indian telecoms giant Tata Communications named the key barriers to blockchain adoption for businesses globally, in a survey published Dec. 12.
Part of a survey on emerging sectors — dubbed ‘The Cycle of Progress’ — Tata’s report noted concerns around costs, security and privacy as the “key adoption barriers for business decision makers” considering the implementation of new technologies.
The survey also highlighted a growing skills gap as one of the major challenges in the adoption of new technology, including blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The report also noted, however, that “[r]egardless of where their business is on its digital transformation journey, decision makers are firmly focused on the positive impact of technology.”
“The Cycle of Progress sounds a warning call for businesses, with a clear ‘perception versus reality’ gap emerging between different levels in organisations, as innovation gathers momentum,” Tata’s chief digital officer C.R. Srinivasan said, adding:
“This disparity highlights that directors and business unit heads must get better at informing the CEO of any challenges they are facing when rolling out new technologies such as IoT and AI.”
Blockchain, the company added, is being adopted by 44 percent of organizations that responded to the survey.
The comments come amid volatile times in India for the industry, especially regarding the legal status of cryptocurrency.
After the central bank instigated a ban on banks servicing industry businesses this spring, a court challenge remains underway.
In line with the emerging regulatory environment elsewhere, Indian lawmakers may ultimately prefer a heavily-legislated but legal cryptocurrency ecosystem over an outright ban, sources claimed this week.
Tata has engaged in blockchain research on a larger scale, also creating a dedicated whitepaper with advice for businesses looking to integrate the technology.
A separate forecast earlier this year meanwhile claimed blockchain in telecoms alone will become a $1 billion industry by 2023.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/corporate-blockchain-adoption-reaches-44-says-survey

A governmental committee in India has reportedly suggested that cryptocurrencies be legalized in the country, English-language local media TheNewIndianExpress (TNIE) reported on Dec. 26.
According to the article, an unnamed senior official who reportedly attended the panel’s meetings on cryptocurrencies stated:
“There is a general consensus that cryptocurrency cannot be dismissed as completely illegal. It needs to be legalized with strong riders.”
Previous Indian government panel meetings had reportedly suggested a complete ban on cryptocurrencies in the country earlier in December, stating that “any kind of dealing in such currencies should be treated as ‘illegal.’”
India’s government reportedly set up this most recent second inter-ministerial committee, which is led by Subhash Chandra Garg, the Department of Economic Affairs secretary, after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on banks dealing with crypto businesses and persons in April of this year.
While a previous committee had recommended a total crypto ban in March 2017, the new committee, TNIE writes, was set up to deal with the conflicting opinions on the RBI ban.
According to the TNIE, the committee has already had two meetings, and the next one is expected to take place in January.
This committee includes members of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, RBI, Securities and Exchange Board of India and the revenue secretary.
The official also noted that the members of the committee “have also taken inputs from cryptocurrency exchanges and experts,” concluding by stating that they will work on the legal aspects with India’s law ministry.
As Cointelegraph reported at the beginning of the current month, G20 countries have called for the taxation of cryptocurrencies and regulation preventing their use for money laundering, according to a document stipulated during a Buenos Aires summit.
Some of the members of the second Indian governmental committee, such as the RBI executive director Ganesh Kumar and Ministry of Finance officials, participated in those G20 meetings. Because of this, according to the article, “they are expected to include insights they gained from the global deliberations in their report.”
In October, news broke that the developers of India’s first Bitcoin (BTC) “ATM” were arrested on criminal charges. According to local mainstream media, the two — who are also founders of India’s first crypto exchange Unocoin — were booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery.
A press statement from India’s Central Crime Branch noted that since the ATM had not been approved by the government, it should not have been called an ATM. Prashant Mali, a cyber lawyer, explained that if “kiosk” had been written instead of “ATM,” the installation would have fallen into a grey area of the law.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/new-indian-governmental-committee-favors-legalizing-cryptocurrencies-media-reports

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will reportedly partner with blockchain-based telemedicine and telepsychology firm doc.com to expand free basic healthcare services across Eastern Africa. News of the partnership was shared with Cointelegraph in an email on Dec. 26.
In an officially sealed letter signed on Dec. 20 by Amado Philip de Andres, Regional Representative for UNODC’s Regional Office for Eastern Africa (ROEA), de Andres wrote that the organization is “willing to cooperate [...] in a new partnership.” Doc.com is a tech firm that offers blockchain-based 24/7 telemedicine and telepsychology platforms, allowing users to tokenize their personal data and sell it in return for access to the services.
Via the UN partnership, the company now reportedly plans to roll out both its platforms to the African market by the second quarter of 2019.
Up until now, the company has reportedly operated in 20 countries, most recently opening an office in the United States. Its data and healthcare service ecosystem uses an ERC20-compatible token dubbed “MTC,” which is currently tradable on several crypto exchanges, such as Singapore-based Coinbene and Kucoin.
According to statistics on the company website, over 130,000 users have to date used its telemedicine services and almost 70,000 have used its doc.com, “Emotions,” telepsychology platform.
Doc.com also reportedly plans this year to expand its services across a wider range of U.S. states, to launch its tokenized telemedicine service in the United Kingdom by March 2019, and to branch out to the Asian market, starting with India, by the end of 2019.
Aside from these expansion plans, the company states it plans to launch its in-house mainnet by Q1 2019 to replace its existing Ethereum-based ERC20 token system. It will also launch a subsidiary blockchain-based veterinary services system, dubbed “doc Pets,” in the U.S. by Q2 2019.
As previously reported, blockchain has been gaining increasing traction across healthcare and related sectors that involve highly sensitive data. In the field of genomics, several initiatives are harnessing the technology’s potential to provide a secure and equitable means of not only monetizing and managing the circulation of existing data, but of incentivizing its generation.
Earlier this month, a group of major U.S. healthcare companies formed an alliance to trial blockchain solutions that would improve data integrity and security and reduce costs — the latest of a series of similar approaches being developed globally.
For its part, the UN has long been exploring multiple –– largely humanitarian –– use cases for blockchain, beginning with its use of the Ethereum blockchain to transfer coupons based on cryptocurrencies to refugees in Syria, followed by a blockchain-based digital identity system designed to combat child trafficking globally.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/un-partnership-to-roll-out-blockchain-based-telemedicine-telepsychology-in-east-africa

Bitcoin (BTC) still has “lower to go” despite its bull run to above $4,000 last week, Morgan Creek Digital Assets founder Anthony Pompliano told CNBC on Dec. 26.
Speaking in an interview, Pompliano, who is also a frequent markets commentator on social media, became the latest figure to claim Bitcoin markets will only bottom out when the price drifts below $,3000.
“Short term, I actually think we have lower to go,” he told the network.
In November, Pompliano had predicted a plunge to $3,000 for BTC/USD, which subsequently occurred earlier this month.
Since then, prices across the crypto markets have taken off, with Bitcoin hitting its monthly high of almost $4,300 before correcting downwards to circle $3,782 at press time. Some altcoins gained much more, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ethereum (ETH) more than doubling their respective USD values in days.
Asked whether Bitcoin’s price was “correlated” with traditional or FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) stocks, Pompliano denied both assertions.
Like cryptocurrencies, FAANG stocks have tumbled in 2018, with traditional stocks following over the Christmas period.
“I definitely agree there are some psychological components at play as the stock market pulls down,” Pompliano continued, noting Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 was “zero” and “near zero” with the dollar index.
Last week, veteran trader Tone Vays warned that a close below the 50-month moving average would take Bitcoin down to at least $1,300, the high point of its bull run in 2013.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-price-will-go-below-3-000-anthony-pompliano-tells-mainstream-media

I Believe and see dogecoin as a potential coin with great future, but do you think that dogecoin will rise to $1 someday? Just thinking though.

I have been looking at Bitcoin cash and Ethereum recently, and I noticed that they are like having almost the same price, so I want to ask that between bitcoin cash and Ethereum, which is better to invest?

I have noticed something about Ethereum this few days since the mini green trend on coinmarketcap, Ethereum seems to be growing faster thank other coins, anyone known why?