Kayak makes blockchain push with new enterprise corporate travel offering

Travel search engine Kayak is dipping its toe into the water for corporate travel for large companies – and is looking to eliminate expense reporting for flights with a solution built on blockchain technology.

The company launched its free Kayak for Business tool in 2020 for small- and medium-sized organisations, with a full launch coming a year later. Yet the enterprise-focused solution – which understandably carries a much bigger prize – has come about through a...

13 September 2023 | Blockchain Applications

Celo touts Google Cloud win, confirms move to Ethereum layer-2 solution

Google bans cryptocurrency

The Celo Foundation, provider of a carbon-negative, Ethereum virtual machine-compatible (EVM) blockchain ecosystem, has announced that Google Cloud is running a validator on its network.

A validator participates in the running of the blockchain and helps maintain its security by staking their own crypto to support the network, and validating new transactions. Google Cloud joins contributors such as Deutsche Telekom – T-Systems is ranked as one of the top 10 validator groups –...

3 August 2023 | Blockchain

Researchers bet on blockchain to help protect cultural artifacts

A new project has launched which aims to use blockchain technologies and NFTs to help verify the provenance of cultural artifacts.

The project, called Salsal – or AGUR – is the brainchild of Adel Khalifi, professor of computer science at the University of Abu Dhabi, and Mark Altaweel, professor at the UCL institute of archaeology.

Salsal is aimed at cultural heritage collectors, such as museums. They, the ‘collector’, uploads a collection and submits it for...

1 August 2023 | Blockchain Applications

Deloitte and Chainalysis team up to bolster digital asset compliance for clients

Deloitte and blockchain data platform Chainalysis are collaborating to help mutual clients address compliance challenges within their digital asset ecosystems.

The two companies have announced a strategic alliance to meet market demand for risk management technology solutions and services. The partnership will combine Deloitte’s services, which help organisations manage forensic, investigative and compliance programs, with the Chainalysis platform and proprietary blockchain...

1 August 2023 | Blockchain Applications

Sabre56 signs deal with Bootstrap Energy to become ‘one of world’s largest blockchain operators’

Sabre56, a digital asset management consultant offering specialist design of blockchain data centres, has announced a five-year agreement with Bootstrap Energy in what the company describes as the ‘biggest single operations contract’ in the crypto mining industry to date.

The agreement with Bootstrap Energy is to provide miner operations at the 300MW Saxet Energy Park in Texas, which has the capacity to host approximately 100,000 ASICs (application-specific integrated...

31 July 2023 | Bitcoin

Ripple acquires custody infrastructure provider Metaco for $250m 

Ripple has announced the acquisition of Metaco, a Switzerland-based provider of digital asset custody and tokenisation technology, for $250 million (£201.1m).

The acquisition is aimed at expanding Ripple’s enterprise offerings, with Metaco promising enterprise-ready packages for financial service providers and corporates across multiple digital asset use cases around custody infrastructure.

The company’s primary product is Harmonize, cited by Ripple as the...

22 May 2023 | Blockchain

China to train half a million blockchain experts amid national research centre launch

Here’s a good example of how you can separate the blockchain signal from the crypto noise: China is to train 500,000 blockchain professionals after launching a national blockchain research centre in Beijing.

The centre, as reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) citing state-run media outlet Xinhua, will work with universities, research institutes and companies, as well as establish a ‘national-level blockchain network’ to connect existing blockchains in China as...

16 May 2023 | Development

What to look out for at Blockchain Expo Europe and NA 2022: Mastercard, UNICEF, Walmart and more

Umar Farooq, CEO of Onyx, JP Morgan’s digital assets business, made an interesting comment at a seminar held recently by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Most of crypto, he argued, was ‘still junk.’ “With the exception of a few dozen tokens, everything else that has been mentioned is either noise or, frankly is just going to go away,” Farooq added.

Put this alongside a recent statistic from S&P Global Market Intelligence that global private equity and venture...

15 September 2022 | Blockchain

How an idea of blockchain for power of attorney turned into a full document management solution

Smart contracts are a key method of digitising supply chains through blockchain technologies - but innovation does not have to stop at a single use case.

One example which has the potential to be transformed through blockchain is power of attorney (POA). It is an idea which has taken shape at certain hackathons, as well as being cited in certain legal blogs. Alongside the process being streamlined, it could also counteract potential issues with fraud.

As a Wikiversity...

25 May 2021 | Blockchain Applications

Featured: The Block’s list of innovative blockchain companies to look out for in 2021

Feature 2021 is going to be an exciting year for blockchain technologies. The launch of Ethereum 2.0, the ongoing volatility of Bitcoin and the intriguing use cases arising from DeFi will continue apace, while enterprise opportunities, from finance, to energy and sustainability, to the wider supply chain, remain.

The Block has selected seven companies to feature for 2021. Read their stories below:

Butterfly Protocol

Butterfly Protocol's goal is to provide a...

9 February 2021 | Blockchain Applications