Miscellaneous

${image_1} In spite of the global push for renewable energy, electric vehicles, and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, the threats of global warming and climate change continue to be extremely palpable in 2019. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that global temperatures could rise by at least two degrees over the next century, which has the potential to cause adverse weather changes and displace large pieces of currently inhabited coastal land. In the following article, we explore a few ways in which blockchain is aiding efforts against climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Improving Accountability ${image_2} A total of 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, each agreeing to combat climate change by incentivizing climate-resilient development and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Paris Agreement has attracted a fair amount of criticism for its lack of enforcement and effectiveness. In 2017, a year after the agreement was signed, British scientific journal, Nature, reported that none of the major industrialized nations had been meeting their pledged carbon reduction targets or “Nationally Determined Contributions” (NDCs). Given that the fight against climate change is an extremely time-sensitive process, the United Nations and other organizations are increasingly considering the use of cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence-based systems to hold nations accountable. “The United Nations Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat recognizes the general potential of Blockchain technology,” read a statement on the UNFCCC website. “In particular, transparency, cost-effectiveness and efficiency advantages, which in turn may lead to greater stakeholder integration and enhanced creation of global public goods are currently viewed as the main potential benefits. The secretariat, therefore, specifically supports initiatives that lead to innovation at the intersection of Blockchain and climate.” The Blockchain for Climate Foundation, meanwhile, advocates the use of blockchain technology because of its unique ability to improve transparency, accountability, and traceability of any item, ranging from products on a supply chain to greenhouse gas emissions. A Decentralized Way to Trade Carbon Credits Another way in which blockchain could prevent climate change is by offering a robust implementation method for the concept of carbon credits. Typically, ownership of a carbon credit gives the holder the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. Since larger companies are forced to purchase unused carbon credits from smaller ones, companies are incentivized to release less pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, governments around the world have struggled to create a platform that is able to facilitate the trade of credits between companies and even entire countries. The latter is perhaps the most significant since industrialized nations like China and South Africa may require more carbon credits than one that is predominantly agricultural. To meet this vision, IBM has partnered with Energy Blockchain Lab to build a blockchain platform for carbon asset trading in China. In March 2017, the two announced a blockchain-based green asset management platform, which would serve as a marketplace for carbon assets, including credits. By leveraging the technology’s strengths, carbon credits can be traced, validated, and traded in a peer-to-peer manner, without the need for intermediaries or centralization. Enabling International Green Activism At a smaller scale, blockchain technology can be used to improve the crowdfunding and collaborative aspects of climate change-related activism. Since blockchains are essentially distributed ledgers that can be read by all participants, they offer an unprecedented level of traceability of financial transactions. Contributors are, therefore, able to confirm that their financial donations are being utilized effectively and for the right purposes. Non-profit organizations also lose a tremendous amount of money to intermediaries and network fees in every step of a financial transaction. Credit card providers such as Visa and MasterCard charge anywhere between 1% and 3%, while PayPal can levy fees as high as 5% if foreign currencies are involved. Blockchain technology thrives in the absence of such intermediaries and, thus, can be a valuable resource in the battle against global warming. According to James Giancotti, CEO of Alluva, “As the world becomes increasingly aware of the adverse effects of climate change, we must explore all possible avenues to bring emissions and pollutants under control. In the coming years, blockchain will certainly prove to be instrumental in the united effort against global warming, primarily because it is uniquely positioned to improve transparency, cut costs, and enable new methods of trade.” Blockchain technology has already disrupted several sectors, including finance, supply chain, transport, and entertainment. Supplementary technologies such as smart contracts and decentralized applications, meanwhile, have started to extend the functionality of traditional web apps. Alluva, for instance, is leveraging blockchain to build the world’s largest analyst platform by incentivizing accurate price predictions of various assets. As for the energy sector and carbon emissions, time will reveal the different ways that these sectors can benefit from the technology in a similar fashion as well.

${image_1} WIIZ Led Lights & Electricals LLP a BIS & ISO-9001- registered company and a renowned supplier of LED products. Wiiz led has credits of successfully handling International projects in countries like UAE, KSA, Oman, Egypt, Qatar and Kuwait and are now looking forward to make a high impact in the Indian market which is expected to grow and reach more than $3500 million by 2022. The recognizable benchmarks which set us apart in the competitive LED market are the use of Aluminium PCB in Panels, higher lumen, use of metal body in the products and 100% BIS safety standards followed in our complete range of Indoor, outdoor, industrial and decorative lighting. We are in line with the government initiatives to boost LED adoption and spread awareness regarding lower power consumption of LED lighting products and to support this cause, we offer our high-quality products at highly affordable prices. ${image_2} We at our company follow a client focused and solution-oriented approach and have been illuminating spaces with our extensive range of latest LED lights backed up by an avid team of skilled professionals who strive to make lives of the customers brighter with affordable eco – friendly lighting solutions. The product range for indoor Includes slim round, square & rectangle panels, spot lights, down lights, Track lights and Tube lights. Our outdoor range focuses on street lights & flood lights and our Industrial range deals with bay lights and high power flood lights we also have complete range of stage lights, led strips and rope lights that are used for Decorations. We also specialize in providing bespoke LED products to suit the unique requirements of prestigious customers and closely work with realty companies & interior designers providing budget solutions for lighting and these specific needs have always remained our top priority as it keeps our research strong to innovate and meet the specific requirements of the customers. ${image_3} With high customer satisfaction ratio, unique approach and quality at par with International standards we have gained a lot of fame in various international & Indian markets in a very short span of time, The results of which WIIZ Led Lights & Electricals LLP garnered the eyeballs of industry by winning the award for “Best Lighting Solutions for Indoor and Outdoor” at the “Times Business Awards 2019”. The award was presented to the team WIIZ Led by famous actress Pooja Hegde in a glitzy award function in the presence of various media channels, nominated entities, jury members, audience and others. ${image_4} Feeling enormously motivated with this success recognition among the industry biggies and consider it as a reward for all the hardships put together by the team. In a conversation managing director Syed Imranuddin stated that, “This moment is definitely precious to us as this is not only a business recognition, but a catalyst to channelize our efforts for better customer satisfaction. We thrive to innovate and manufacture products that are exclusive in design, high in functionality, and energy-saving in usage. It is highly encouraging that the industry has welcomed us and we have secured our position in the Indian market to offer the users with quality products at affordable range”. WIIZ Led is looking to expand the reach to various parts of the country and are open for association with committed partners for dealerships & projects. ${image_5} For More details contact Wiiz Lights & Electricals LLP Plot No. 21A, Film Nagar,Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad-500033, Telangana State, India.Tel: +91 040-23378000 / +91 040-23379000 Email: info@wiizled.com

${image_1} India is one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world, with the number of smartphones expected to nearly double by 2022 from 468 million to a whooping 859 million. The tremendous growth in smartphones has given the country’s 1.2 billion population unprecedented access to a wide range of services through the Internet. On-demand video streaming is one such service that had, for the most part, eluded the Indian subcontinent - until recently. India, one of the biggest smartphone markets, has now opened its doors to the video streaming industry that’s capable of growing at a compounded rate of 18.7%. Explosive Digital Growth in India Reliance Jio, a telecom operator that officially debuted in 2016, has been the biggest catalyst in the digital transformation of India. Out of 493 million active Internet users in the country, 331 million are Jio subscribers. As a direct consequence of Jio’s disruptive plans and pricing for 4G mobile Internet, data consumption and penetration in India has only grown in the past year and is on track for record growth rate - especially for the VoD industry. However, there’s also the argument of “quality” of traffic. The majority of this 493 million active user base comes from rural India where services like on-demand streaming aren’t that popular. While many would believe that streaming services would not be technically feasible in these regions due to intermittent connectivity or lacking infrastructure, 65% of all video streaming traffic surprisingly comes from rural India. The data indicates that for a large chunk of the Indian population, on-demand streaming is the primary method of media consumption. In other words, there is currently not a lot of competition from alternatives like satellite television. Current Market Penetration by On-Demand Streaming Services in India ${image_2} Surprisingly, the Video-On-Demand (VoD) industry in India doesn’t have one of the usual names like Netflix and Amazon Prime on top. Instead, home-grown Hotstar takes the lead at 29%. Here are the top four players in the Indian VoD industry: Hotstar - 29% One of the oldest VoD services in India, Hotstar gained traction by offering live cricket broadcasts for free. Hotstar’s parent company, Star India, launched the service in 2014, in time for the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL), for which it had already acquired streaming rights. Hotstar made its mark in the Indian market before Western incumbents such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video gained a foothold in India. As a result, it continues to enjoy a first mover advantage, holding a whopping third of the total VoD market share. While this number will likely give way to competitors in the future, live sports is a defining feature for the service. JioTV - 23% Given that JioTV is completely free for all users with an active Jio mobile or broadband subscription, over 300 million users already enjoy immediate access to the service. By offering a complimentary VoD service with all high speed data plans, JioTV was able to grab a sizable chunk of the live television streaming market. However, with the number of new entrants joining the fray, JioTV will soon face tough competition. In such a scenario, the extensive capital reserves from its parent company Reliance should come handy. Amazon Prime Video - 10% Compared to Hotstar and JioTV, Amazon Prime Video is a premium service that focuses on originals and big-name productions. Amazon’s service offers two advantages, namely a significantly larger collection size and supplementary Prime benefits. Prime Video comes bundled with Amazon Prime, which includes perks like free delivery, next day shipping, Amazon Prime Music, and more. This makes it a very compelling purchase, especially considering that the yearly cost of Prime is about Rs. 999, roughly 12% of the American price. Netflix - 5% Netflix, the most well known video streaming service in perhaps the entire world, comes at a hefty price premium. In India, plans cost exactly the same as every other country. With so many free alternatives, it only makes sense that the company is serving a somewhat niche audience. The Indian market is currently flooded with dozens of other such video on demand streaming services. The vast majority of them are backed by established media houses, that are dabbling with the streaming market for the very first time. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen VoD services from big names like Balaji Telefilms (Alt Balaji), Viacom 18 (VOOT), and ZEE Media Corp (ZEE5) rise to the top. Surprisingly, a new crop of smaller startups like Zomato (Zomato Originals) and myNK have emerged to compete with the incumbents. Market Opportunities Rising As competition in the sector heats up, venture capitalists are increasingly looking to identify the most promising investment opportunities in their early-stages. As a result, the staggering number of new VoD startups in India presents a unique opportunity for venture capitalists and larger companies looking to dabble in the video business for the first time. According to Jackie Lam, Co-founder and COO of Oddup, “While live and insightful data is pivotal for almost any business today, players in the Video-On-Demand industry are perhaps able to benefit the most from it due to rapidly changing consumer preferences, increasing competition, and untapped demographics. High quality investment data on VoD startups is also an invaluable resource for venture capitalists and deal advisory teams looking to invest in the next startup unicorn or expand their portfolios.” Although Video-On-Demand has not attained critical mass yet, it’s already showing tremendous potential. For potential investors, venture capitalists, and large companies looking to find the next unicorn, this is perhaps the perfect moment to make a strategic investment, acquisition, or deal. Oddup tracks each movement of the global startup ecosystem in real-time to provide in-depth region and industry-specific insights. Investors can use this data to learn about emerging market opportunities while they’re still within reach, like Video-On-Demand services that are quickly gaining traction.

${image_1} Over the past few years, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have been the subject of much debate among regulators around the world. While a few critics of the technology have long held the position that cryptocurrency cannot compete with fiat currencies due to their decentralized and distributed nature, many are now realizing its sheer potential in use-cases such as cross-border trade and global financial inclusion. Governments are no exception to this, with many now suggesting, and even already developing, state-backed digital currencies to compete with the likes of Bitcoin. Governments Take a Positive Stance on Cryptocurrencies ${image_2} China famously termed initial coin offerings illegal in September 2017 and proceeded to clamp down on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the region. Prior to the ban, the Chinese Yuan accounted for almost 90% of global cryptocurrency trades. In 2018, however, The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced that the Yuan was being used in a mere 1% of Bitcoin transactions. Since then, however, several rumors surrounding the PBOC’s plan to launch a state-backed digital currency have emerged. The central bank digital currency (CBDC) will likely be backed by the Chinese renminbi fiat currency and may even replace notes and coins in the future. Countries like Japan, France, and Portugal, on the other hand, have made cryptocurrency trading much more attractive and accessible to the general public. Japan, for one, was the first nation to allow cryptocurrency to be used as a payment method and has since regulated the ecosystem to curb rampant fraud and hacks at various exchanges operating in the region. France and Portugal, meanwhile, have announced that crypto-to-crypto trades will not trigger a taxable event. The latter’s government has even exempted cryptocurrency from capital gains taxation. Banks Embrace Blockchain, Tokenized Future Even at the institutional level, banks, hedge fund management firms, and individual investors have reversed their cynical approach to the cryptocurrency market and are now actively embracing the technology. On several occasions, JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, claimed that cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, were fraudulent schemes that would eventually blow up. Dimon even went as far as stating that he would personally fire any JPMorgan trader who was trading Bitcoin. A few short months later, however, Dimon backpedaled in an interview with Fox Business, stating that he regretted making those comments and that he was aware of the potential implications of blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In 2019, JPMorgan Chase announced that it was developing its own digital currency called ‘JPM Coin’. Each token will reportedly be pegged to the value of one US dollar. In its JPM Coin announcement post, the bank echoed Dimon’s sentiment by stating, “We have always believed in the potential of blockchain technology and we are supportive of cryptocurrencies as long as they are properly controlled and regulated.” Bitcoin: A Hedge Against Geopolitical Turbulence ${image_3} Individual traders that typically deal with stocks, precious metals, and other traditional asset classes have also taken a keen interest in the crypto market. American investor, Anthony Pompliano, has repeatedly voiced support for Bitcoin, stating that 100% exposure to fiat assets is a bad idea due to the risk of hyperinflation or central bank failure. Given that countries like Greece, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela have experienced significant financial turmoil over the past few years alone, many believe that Bitcoin serves as the perfect diversification tool. Due to the US-China trade war, many institutional investors are moving their funds away from the stock market into more stable asset classes. Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, Barry Silbert, said, “It’s certainly interesting that that price [of Bitcoin] started its acceleration, moving up and to the right, when the trade discussions broke down.” Adoption and interest in the cryptocurrency market has also been sparked by decentralized applications like Alluva that offer the ability to participate in the digital currency ecosystem without any investment. Alluva, for one, is building the world’s largest analyst network by incentivizing individual investors for accurately predicting the price potential of various cryptoassets, and providing institutional investors the data they need to boost transparency in investment within the sector. As the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem continues to grow, it remains to be seen if the next ten years will be just as influential and positive as the past. One thing is certain, however - governments and institutions have finally realized the true potential of decentralization.

The next-generation Web 3.0 is under construction, backed by technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence and the semantic web. Once mature, the world will never be the same. ${image_1} I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analysing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A “Semantic Web”, which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy, and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The “intelligent agents” people have touted for ages will finally materialise” -Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of World Wide Web, in Weaving the Web, 1999. In the two decades since this statement, Berners-Lee’s dream is materialising. An intelligent web, where machines would ‘understand’ natural language, take appropriate action, and store this learning to become more intelligent, is steadily taking shape. The next-gen Web, or Web 3.0, would allow every transaction to be verified. It would also be decentralised, with no central authority. This decentralisation is being built through technologies like blockchain, decentralised apps or DApps, a decentralised UX, the InterPlanetary File System or IPFS, which is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol, etc. The above structure, along with artificial intelligence that is self-learning, would allow the Web to take inputs, learn, and give something back not known before. Like a faceless friend, philosopher, guide that is available everywhere, all the time. A key technology in realising this dream is blockchain, which in turn depends on three things: a strong infrastructure of public chains (blockchains where anyone can join and transact); ability to balance performance and decentralisation; and lower transaction costs. Among popular public blockchains are EOS, Ethereum, Libra, Bitcoin and Litecoin. A promising new public blockchain is Blackpearl.Chain. Founded by Jack Liu and Sarah Li, it aims to provide a third-genpublic chain that can solve blockchain’s ‘impossible’ triangle, to provide performance, security and decentralisation at the same time. Why should enterprises considerBlackpearl.Chain? “Blackpearl.chain’s public chain solution is cost effective with (10^-9)X less power consumption compared to Bitcoin,” says Sarah Li, CEO. Apart from being free to run, Li says the network is “100 per cent compatible with Ethereum, EOS, yet 1,000X faster than them. BlackPearl.Chain’s high throughput will enable enterprise applications to be implemented on the platform without bottlenecks”. ${image_2} Some enterprises create their own private blockchains, where the users are known and access controls well established. But many companies prefer to join public blockchains. Why? “Public blockchains are instantly accessible and extremely secure, because they’re being used by so many different people simultaneously,” says Marc Blinder, CEO of AIKON, an identity-as-a-service company. “Bitcoin processes billions of dollars of transactions every day and costs pennies to use. EOS processes 7 million transactions per day and businesses can use it on an ongoing basis by staking a few thousand EOS — that’s vastly cheaper and more secure than building and maintaining your own servers, even in the cloud.” AIKON has a SaaS product called ORE ID, which provides blockchain identity, cloud wallets and public chain interoperability with an easy to use API. “Businesses use ORE ID because it provides the best possible user experience for their customers… it’s easy for a company to start using blockchain — in weeks instead of months or years.” At its core, blockchain enables transactions in cryptocurrencies. And traders — or speculators — trade in digital currencies such as Biocoins or Altcoins through crypto exchanges. Companies like Cerus help manage and navigate the complex web of crypto exchanges. A Cerus account provides automatic access to over 35 integrated exchanges, capturing best prices available without the need for users to create or maintain their own accounts on these exchanges. Built on enterprise Java with an additional layer of blockchain integration, with underlying machine learning and AI technologies, Cerus “offers a fully customisable interface built to institutional trading quality”, says Chris Reinertsen, Co-founder of Cerus, and President of Rhythm Technologies (development & holding company for Cerus). “Tools and service modules within Cerus are built to scale to a user’s experience level, allowing them to tailor their trading interface and functionality to meet theneeds.” Experts predict that blockchain use cases will increase across industries, including finance, legal, and consumer products, among others, which will make blockchain and Web 3.0 mainstream to both consumers and corporations. ${image_3} However, with its complexity, Web 3.0 will take time to mature. Apart from some entities seeking to establish control-based systems (as is human nature), interoperability between different chains is an issue. Still, recent developments hold up hope for the future. In a blog, Gartner’s Avivah Litan points to the emergence of blockchain interoperability through innovations such as Hyperledger Besu, blockchain of blockchains Polkadot and Cosmos, and other innovations in portability of smart contracts across chains. Litan writes: “These developments in interoperability, smart contract portability and cross chain functionality, data privacy, and key management are taking us closer to mainstream blockchain and Web 3.0.” This article has been written by Alokesh Bhattacharyya from Times Group.