'We made an investment in [this company] because it is applying Blockchain for Digital Identity in a way that we believe could benefit financial services companies, including PayPal'
As of November, China led the world in new projects exploring distributed ledger technology, with 263 in progress - 25% of the total global figure, Chinese press is boasting
Which would make it total $2.9bn versus the $1.5bn spent on the stuff last year, say the number crunchers
Japanese giant plans to SoftBank aims to use TBCASoft’s application framework - the Cross-Carrier Identification System (CCIS) - to enable what it promises will be 'Blockchain-based identification and authentication services'
Proposes to combine those two technologies with payments solutions "to connect consumers and producers in complex supply chains" - and prove your business is working in sustainable way
A sobering analysis by 'MIT Technology Review' suggests 'more and more security holes are appearing in cryptocurrency and smart contract platforms' - and some 'are fundamental to the way they were built'
To get a sense of what that growth would mean if it happens: the same number for 2017 was only $1.9bn, says the market watcher
The UK filed just 2 patents from a total of 649 AI patents last year - less than 1%
Tech has yet to become the game-changer some expected, says the highly-respected consultancy - and should only be applied "when it is the simplest solution available"
Have banks found a solid use case at last for the tech?