Large Platforms Working on Blockchain to Improve Performance

The big platforms are working to modify the basic protocol to improve performance using blockchain and other distributed technologies. Alongside this, there is also the commitment of the big web and digital companies that have chosen to start projects on the blockchain and cryptocurrency.

This is another key phenomenon that will make its effects to be felt in 2020 - and that helps to recall the need for regulation. However, the choice to create a new platform in the face of a development perspective drains resources and risks weakening the real potential of blockchain development, but on the other hand, some of the reasons that drive different players to develop new innovative platforms compared to existing ones the blockchain world has made progress.

Libra, Internet of Value and The Unbanked

Facebook’s Libra aims to create a new global payment system, built on the Blockchain, "integrated" and supported, in terms of diffusion with the most popular applications of the social network. A perspective that will allow you to exchange the gobale currency of Libra through the applications of the social network, that is, to manage payments with an approach that wants to innovate both at the level of payment tools and services, as well as at the level of value or currency assets. And one of the most "powerful" factors of this announcement is that it proposes itself as a project with a global breath.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the 28 companies that have joined the Libra Association project has insisted very much on the potential of the project to address and give an innovative solution to the problem of unbanked, thanks to the simplicity of use, accessibility and the fact that it proposes as a true global currency. But we will see soon, the project, announced in June 2019, is expected to become operational in the second half of 2020. Another project on which a lot of attention and many expectations is then TON of Telegram: again the theme is that of the accessibility of services based on blockchain via social media. Again the release time is a few months.

Certify Provenance and Authenticity to Protect Markets like Italy

Blockchain technology can play a particularly important role in the digitization processes of SMEs and therefore in countries such as Italy. Is it just a business-size issue? Certainly not, the guaranteed provenance certification is an asset for our country. The damage caused by counterfeit goods on international markets, 1/3 of the holders of the rights to ownership of confiscated goods is Italian, after the USA and France, Italy is the 3rd country in the world in terms of damages related to the counterfeiting of goods and services.

Starting from this "Spada di Damocles" that constantly threatens The Made in Italy, Italy has asked some DLT-friendly organizations including OECD to participate in a Blockchain project for small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs. The MISE is working hard on a certain project that evaluates the development of Blockchain ecosystems at the national level, to understand the role of actors, public policies, funding sources, and in general the set of rules and governance to develop technology and apps.

Dapp and DeFi: The Internet of Value is Decentralized

Another theme on which the possibility of "unlocking" the potential of the Internet of Value is developed is the development of Decentralized Applications (DApps). This is where the "Decentralized Finance (DeFi)” applications are located that allow the financial world to develop new types of services without "central institutions" or without intermediation.

The basic tools are the wallet and the availability of valuable assets such as cryptocurrency or tokens and the ability to exchange and manage transactions via blockchain. New development paths open up for new business models. The DeFi phenomenon can be framed in four broad categories: Apps to create stablecoin such as makerDAO; Decentralized exchanges as in the case of Uniswap; Lending Apps and New Investment Forms such as Compound and PoolTogether; and Apps for tokenizing financial assets like Synthetix.