We’ve probably never been as dependent on technology as we are now. Working from home, learning, communicating, shopping; think about the problem you have if your phone or laptop breaks down or the internet connection gets lost. According to Vodafone, data traffic has increased by as much as 50% in some areas, the top 4 social media channels by 20% and Netflix has lowered the quality of its streams by a quarter because it could not meet the demand. Although experts are already warning of the even faster-growing power of the already very powerful tech companies, such as Amazon and Facebook, it is also very nice to see how new technologies are used to combat corona.

Artificial Intelligence is used to predict pandemics and accelerate drug development, blockchain technology is now also used in various ways. In this blog 5 things for which blockchain technology is and can be used in the corona crisis.

The rapid advance of blockchain in technology was already a fact. In a previous blog, I wrote that 15% of healthcare executives were already implementing the technology, which is now gaining momentum. The Red Cross now allows donations in Bitcoin and global organizations such as the World Health Organization and my colleagues at the World Economic Forum are setting up one after another cooperation platform so that governments and organizations from different countries can work together.

Sharing Data

This cooperation is urgently needed because corona has no boundaries. Sharing data is currently extremely important to help governments and healthcare professionals make the right decisions, but “just sharing” is easier said than done. Not only because there is a lot of suspicion about the validity of data (the CIA even investigates whether China is publishing the correct numbers), but also simply because the data is stored in so-called data silos, which, according to experts, makes interoperability extremely difficult. Language barriers, cultural differences, privacy laws, and various other obstacles add to that and make it unnecessarily difficult for experts to do their important and urgent work at the moment.

The World Health Organization has taken the lead in setting up corona blockchain & AI platform MiPasa, in collaboration with IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft. Using big data, it predicts trends, detects outbreaks, and supports analysis. China, Europe, and several large hospitals such as the famous John Hopkins have already proactively joined.

Mapping the chain

One of the biggest problems that corona poses on a business level, is the insane disruption of many supply chains. Over 75% of companies now report, their supply chain has been compromised and often don’t know where the actual problem is, because the chain is often long and far from transparent. Not practical, if you want to know as a government, where your shipment of mouth masks currently is located. But it’s not just the face masks or disinfectant soap that has a hitch in the non-transparent disillusionment cable; over 5 million companies source parts or products from the Wuhan region in China, which was locked for a long time. Companies like Apple have almost all their production in sealed China and Dutch eCommerce giant Coolblue even canceled its affiliate program because it could no longer meet the demand due to the decreasing supply of products from China.

Supply Chain Transparency

One of the biggest breakthroughs that blockchain technology facilitates is supply chain transparency. This has already delivered great results worldwide; supermarkets like Albert Heijn and Carrefour that save millions of euros through efficiency gains, dozens of companies worldwide use IBM’s Food Trust blockchain platform to track food from seed to sale, tens of thousands of deaths are prevented by countering fake medicines and many other industries are booking through the strategic deployment of the technology, great progress in optimizing and shortening their supply chains. This is still in its infancy in many industries and one of McKinsey’s main recommendations is to make the chains transparent as soon as possible, to counteract the effects of the corona crisis as soon as possible.

Not only, according to Harvard Business Review, to know 24/7 where products are located in real-time, but also to counter fake products. In China, 31 million fake mouth masks have already been seized, which are supposed to save lives. Alipay has already set up a blockchain platform to track medical devices and the Dutch Tymlez started developing blockchain websites during the hackathon “Tech against Corona” to map the supply and demand of medical supplies. The World Economic Forum has launched a major initiative for all possible supply chains to make them more transparent, efficient, and trusted, precisely because they have also been proven to accelerate sustainability.

Farewell Fake news

Baking soda or drinking water every 15 minutes to combat corona, 5G, and ibuprofen which makes corona worse, hold your breath for 10 seconds to test whether you have corona, all Whatsapp messages from medical professors from Italy and China who give advice and the United States who used corona as a biological weapon to break down China’s power. We used to call this an urban legend, but in 2020 “fake news.” Due to our hyper-connectivity, these types of fake messages spread very quickly and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them from real ones. According to the World Health Organization, we must, therefore, watch out for a new virus: information disease, the rapid viral spread of fake news about corona.

Facebook and Instagram are already using fact-checkers. The Dutch Cybersprint, together with journalist Huib Modderkolk, is investigating fake websites that claim to communicate on behalf of RIVM. Worldwide, more and more organizations are using blockchain to prevent “fake corona news,” such as in China and Italy. The investigations into the prevention of ‘fake news’ with blockchain have been ongoing for some time; Frankwatching co-initiated the “Blockchain As FactChecker” study, with many groundbreaking results.

Is my donation effective?

Our confidence in practically everything; from media to food and from politics to each other, continues to decline. The number of donations to charities is also decreasing sharply and a sixth of the Dutch even distrust charities, often because of all the money that sticks to the bow and the opacity of the expenditure and impact of it. Corona has ensured that many people donate to charities again; Amazon founder Bezos donated $ 100 million, Microsoft founder Gates $ 100 million, and Twitter founder Dorsey even donated one billion. The big question remains; where does that money all go? Is it well spent? Unfortunately, there are too many examples of charity money, which has been misused, such as Oxfam Novib employees who paid for sex parties in Haiti.

Dozens of charities, including many in the Netherlands, are now busy putting donations on the blockchain. As with supply chains, the donation technology ensures great transparency for both donors and the organization itself. This not only strengthens the integrity of the organization but according to the Longfonds also the projects themselves, which can be executed much more efficiently. Receiving payments in cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin), which the Red Cross already offers, also ensures that the high transaction and banking costs are avoided.

The helping helicopter

The last big opportunity I see, where blockchain can provide wonderful support in coping with the corona crisis, is not yet operational but is already being discussed and studied a lot worldwide. Many governments are currently printing massive amounts of money to pump into their economies; Europe € 750 billion and the European countries individually already more than € 200 billion and the United States even € 2 trillion. In addition to supporting companies, support packages are also being made quickly for citizens, who are losing their jobs en masse due to the crisis. Almost 50 million unemployed people are already expected in the United States, Spain has already cost a million jobs and expectations in the Netherlands range from 1 to 2 million unemployed.

CBDC

Now in The Netherlands, we have the most beautiful social safety net in the world, but in countries where people do not have such a net, you see the immediate, urgent need of a rapidly growing group of people who can no longer pay their rent or even buy food. Two global discussions and developments are now suddenly accelerated by corona; those about basic income and those about a ‘Central Bank Digital Currency’ (CBDC); a digital variant of the Euro, Dollar, Yen, and all other currencies.
 
The discussion around basic income, also known as helicopter money, is now being conducted by many experts around the situation in America. Trump wants to give every American citizen $ 1000 within a few weeks to be able to buy necessary groceries. Something the US government has done during a few previous recessions. Now there are many studies that show and strongly recommend the positive effects of a basic income, as historian Rutger Bregman summed up nicely in the TED talk he gave at TEDxMaastricht. The problem surrounding the practical implementation lies in the payment. In America, the government wants to send money through traditional checks, which are sent by mail. A slow, fraud-prone, and costly process, which is far from convenient in these times. A CBDC could play a great role in this as it addresses all the problems of checks.

Digital Yen Develpment

China was already at the forefront of developing a digital Yen and has recently accelerated that process. Europe was also already working on a digital Euro and because of the corona crisis, the United States has finally started working on a Digital Dollar, probably to distribute the helicopter money digitally in the most efficient way possible. It is not yet known whether all this will succeed, but the chances are high, especially because of the pressure.

Many technological developments have a negative impact on our society, according to colleagues from the World Economic Forum and other organizations such as the IMF. Let’s hope that corona shows the positive side of technologies such as AI and blockchain and that we can get out safely again soon!

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

Becoming a co-owner of a Ferrari, a Picasso, or a special stock of bourbon; who doesn’t want this? So-called “tokenization” assets using blockchain technology is currently revolutionizing the investment world, and my World Economic Forum colleagues even expect 10% of global GDP to be stored on the blockchain in seven years from now. Why are assets so massively placed on the blockchain, and what does this “tokenize” entail?

If you “tokenize” something, it means converting something physical into digital tokens, which are then added to the blockchain. The latter guarantees secure transfer and transparency. If you want to buy or sell a house, you usually go through a cumbersome process with different parties such as a broker, notary, and bank and some parts of this process are not transparent. This is precisely because not the whole process is transparent. According to several studies, this is one of the main causes of the credit crisis 10 years ago. In addition, because several parties are involved, each with their own outdated systems and of course a certain urge to make money, these processes are expensive and slow.

That’s why there are currently many companies and governments, working to “tokenize” their assets on the blockchain. Every day, billions of assets are tokenized worldwide, from Japan to Luxembourg and South Africa, and institutions such as MIT, Oxford, and the Dutch Central Bank endorse the great benefits. Advantages such as transparency, but also the ability to act quickly 24/7 worldwide, without all those intermediaries, ensure the great interest. Also, because assets can be partially traded and assets that were previously illiquid, which are now and are therefore easy to trade, bring a whole wave of new trading opportunities to the global financial market.

Tokenizing

It is, therefore, not only real estate objects, cars, or art, but also things like copyrights, shares, metals, grains, and for example, music licenses that are tokenized. Tokenizing all of this not only facilitates fast transfers, but also global trade in them, and the use of blockchain technology means transactions cannot be erased or modified, ensuring security and confidence. Because you can also trade certain assets fractionally, the trade suddenly becomes available to small investors and people like you and me. For example, you can only buy a fraction of an Amazon stock of $2,000. The Amsterdam startup Bloqhouse has developed a platform with which you can buy fractional real estate and the Amsterdam startup The Share Council has a solution to simplify co-ownership.

Something that doesn’t keeps the amateur busy? Actually, many Dutch people already benefit from “tokenization.” Apple Pay, which was introduced by ING bank in the Netherlands, works through “tokenization” and payment provider Payvision, even expects that by 2023, more than half of all e-commerce transactions in the Netherlands will run through this technology.

Although you can create your own token on the blockchain with platforms like Fabix in 5 minutes, there are still many challenges for “tokenization.” The underlying blockchain technology is still in full development and that is why it is still far from mature in various areas. One of the biggest challenges at the moment are laws and regulations. Many countries are lagging behind, as a result of which there is not yet a clear definition of a token, good standardization is lacking, and all rights and obligations around it are still often unclear. How about, for example, if you want to transfer ownership of your holiday home in Spain to a Frenchman from a legal point of view? And fiscally?

Challenges

What if you share a real estate object or painting with 10 other owners, and 1 of the owners wants to sell his share? Or should maintenance be carried out? One of the biggest challenges currently still lies in education. While training and talking about blockchain with Bloqon, I notice that the knowledge about the technology is still very much in its infancy. In addition to the basics of operation, understanding the global impact and future applications for most people is still far from clear.

Tokenization

It is clear with all presented plans, that cool future applications are lurking. From tokenizing basketball teams, so that fans can also participate, to tokenizing a trip, so that you no longer have to show your passport, ticket, etc. while flying. Of course, there are also wonderful opportunities in the field of, for example, the ‘gig workers’; How nice would it be if you, as an Uber driver or Deliveroo deliverer, get a share in the company by means of tokenization and thus also a profit distribution? There are already startups such as Fairride and Lazooz that offer such solutions, but just like the underlying blockchain technology, it is still in its infancy. With the many amazing plans and rapid technological developments, we are on the eve of a special revolution in the field of ownership!

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

Counterfeit eggs and shrimps, sand sold as pepper and colored sugar water as apple juice. The scandals surrounding food fraud are becoming increasingly bizarre, sometimes concerning complete products, sometimes partial. Research has shown that 43% of American salmon is incorrectly labeled, 70% of the “Italian Extra Virgin” olive oil that is not at all, and that the chicken on the Subway consists of only 50% chicken meat. In China alone, more than half a million security breaches were discovered and died worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 500,000 people died last year.

In the Netherlands, too, our trust is constantly being damaged, by the “horse steaks” and constant stream of revelations by Dutch programs such as the Keuringsdienst van Waarde on “fake” sweet mashed potatoes and liquorish.

I was therefore not surprised that various studies show, that consumers no longer trust food, its producers and sellers. In the Netherlands, according to the FNLI, more than 75% of consumers mistrust their daily meal and its ingredients and think that 30% of the labels on food are incorrect. Not to mention the various quality marks, such as Fairtrade and Beterleven. Combined with the fact that consumers are starting to live more consciously, there is increasing pressure on food producers to ensure more openness and transparency.

Fake Product Industry

It is not only food scandals that cause a lot of deaths. Unfortunately every year, the number of people dying from fake medicines worldwide is growing fast. In Africa alone, the WHO calculated that 1 out of 10 medicines sold is fake, causing more than 100,000 deaths a year in the continent. According to the OECD, the fake product industry has now reached 500 billion worldwide and financed, among other things, the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2014, which claimed the lives of 191 people. In his manual, the terrorist organization Al Qaeda even recommended selling fake products to finance terrorist cells. The European Union recently calculated that 5% of imported products are counterfeit.

Trust is one of the most important parts of our society, which ensures that it continues to function. It is the glue that holds our world together and the cement of the foundation that sustains relationships and from which businesses can grow and thrive. Relationships between individuals, but also with organizations and governments. It ensures that we want to be part of something, invest talent, time and effort somewhere and do just that little bit more. Even though it is difficult to describe, we feel very clear when it is gone, with all its consequences.

‘without trust we cannot stand’’

Transparency & Trust

One of the key reasons why I am so incredibly enthusiastic about blockchain technology, is that it can revolutionize supply chains and in many areas can restore consumer confidence through transparency about the chain. Trust whether the product is genuine, whether it contains the ingredients it promises, but also by providing insight into where the product comes from and under what circumstances it was made. In the Netherlands, supermarket Albert Heijn is already doing this with her orange juice, supermarket Jumbo with the talapia fillet and spice distributor Verstegen with her nutmeg.

Many companies worldwide have put all their products on the blockchain; Bitcanna (where I am the CEO) does this with cannabis products, Nike with her shoes (CryptoKicks), Louis Vuitton with her bags, Porsche with her cars, DeBeers with diamonds and there are also several startups that deal with gold, medicines, clothing and wine put on the blockchain. According to Juniper research, this alone can save the food industry $ 31 billion.

This is not just about simply having consumers verify whether the product is genuine, according to Capgemini research, 89% of companies do so because of the efficiency benefits and associated cost savings that Albert Heijn and Carrefour have already made public. The transparency also gives the consumer a good idea of how the product is produced. According to Unilever’s CMO, this is not only important to map out the sustainability of the company and product, but consumers are also much more likely to purchase a product if they understand the production process.

RIFD Chips

The WWF, for example, uses its “bait to plate” project, through RIFD chips, to make it clear whether certain tuna has been sustainably caught or not, and supermarket chain Carrefour provides a glimpse into the chicken coop. If you stand in front of the shelf and you choose organic chicken meat, then you also want to be sure that this is it, for that higher price, right?

Personally, I find the possibility of mapping chains better, especially interesting because the waste of food, for example, can be prevented beautifully. In 2020, we still throw away one third of our food globally and blockchain technology already ensures that this is greatly reduced with its transparency. In many other areas too, it ensures that consumers regain confidence. Moreover, In governments by reducing corruption within elections and land ownership, in the media by combating “fake news” and various other matters. The technology certainly does not provide a solution to all the problems in this world, but in various areas, it is busy reducing one of the most important parts of our society; trust.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.