amazon - Pwim.Net

Exclusive: How Significant is Consensus As-a-service Model?

While Amazon and Microsoft launched the blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform in 1H 2019, Hedera Hashgraph collaborated with IBM to launch a consensus as-a-service model. Is this the next upcoming tech trend for giants to follow?

Sami Mian, Head of Korea, and Japan of Hedera Hashgraph revealed the significance of the consensus as-a-service model! He also explained the consensus algorithm of Hedera Hashgraph and taught us a lesson comparing BFT and aBFT!

Readers are very interested in the collaboration between Hedera Hashgraph with IBM on the consensus as a service model. Can you talk more on this model and how does will transform the development of blockchain?

Hedera Hashgraph joined Hyperledger. We co-authored a whitepaper with IBM and released it in June. We’ve announced a fourth service on the Hedera Hashgraph platform. We had three services before, one was a cryptocurrency service supporting micro-payments. The other was a smart contract using the solidity coding language. Then the third one was file service.

We announced the fourth service called consensus as a service.

Essentially, we’re providing solution for centralized applications or applications built on private ledgers to have the benefit of decentralization.

Imagine you build an application on Hyperledger like Japanese and Korean companies. They’re building applications or proof of concepts on the private ledger. Companies want the privacy of a private ledger in which the data is not available on public ledgers. They have applications or proof of concept (POC), they are building already on Hyperledger. However, they want the benefit of a public ledger which is trust. In public blockchains, nodes are not only run by selected number of people. We heard from the market that they want the benefits of both and they want to run private applications. They want to run applications in a private ledger, but at the same time, they want to gain the trust element from the public ledger. We have a Hedera API. We’re going to allow Hyperledger applications to plug into our consensus as a service and decentralize their trust. You get the best of both worlds.

With regard to the Hedera Hashgraph mechanism, how does the no forking mechanism in Hedera Hashgraph work?

Hashgraph consensus algorithm is a patented algorithm. Dr. Leemon Baird invented the Hashgraph algorithm in 2015. A lot of people asked us why our platform isn’t open-sourced? Because we think stability is very important for the market. Stability means that we think the public platforms should not be allowed to fork. That’s because we’re an enterprise-grade platform.

If a company spends millions of dollars building a decentralized application, then we want that company to not be afraid of the platform itself forks. For example, if you have real estate being tokenized on the public platform and the public platform itself forks, then we don’t know whether the value should be doubled? Is it on one platform or both platforms? It causes a lot of instability. One way that we’re going to disallow forking is through our legal means, which is the patent of the Hashgraph algorithm.

Another way is what we call state proof. State proof is a mechanism that allows the community and the users to identify which ledger is the real ledger. Let’s say, Hedera Beta forked Ledger comes to the market. Then we have a mechanism called state proof that can tell everybody in the world that this is the real ledger, as opposed to the forked ledger.

Hedera Hashgraph began phase two of its community testing on the micro-payment. When would you expect the micro-payment will become a reality and which industry would benefit the most from this?

Micro-payment is one of the value propositions of Hedera, meaning being able to transfer less than a cent of value at hundreds of thousands of transactions per second (TPS) with finality. Up until now, traditional banking industries are not able to do that, because it costs way more to send it. You can’t send a cent in Bitcoin or Ethereum because of gas costs and miners.

Hashgraph allows microtransactions. The biggest use case in micro-transactions is definitely e-Commerce. All the transactions on the internet today are the most important use case. For example, you listen to one second of music, you pay 0.1 cents. For any IoT applications, you consume a little bit of data. For that data, you provide a little bit of value. Facebook came up with this Libra token. Presumably, they will start to pay people to watch their ads using the Libra token. That’s another way the micro-transactions can disseminate the internet. Anything of value whether it’s small pieces of data, two seconds of music, personal information, or putting a value on your identity, you can use microtransactions.

How Hedera Hashgraph will differentiate itself from the existing competitors in public blockchain like Conflux Chain, Algorand, and DFINITY?

The biggest difference between Hedera Hashgraph and everybody else is our split governance model. We have permissioned governance that is provided by the most trusted companies in the world and term-limited. We’re trying to build an enterprise-grade platform that is governed by experts. Yet we provide open consensus at the same time. You have the best of both worlds, the best of permissioned networks and permissionless networks. This is something that we believe no other platform has.

On top of that, we have the Hashgraph consensus algorithm. Now Hashgraph is tech-wise different to any other algorithm by miles, with hundreds of thousands of TPS, latency is three to seven seconds with finality. In terms of security, we have a feature called asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance (aBFT). Facebook is BFT so they’re not aBFT.

What’s the difference between BFT and aBFT?

Because of Libra, now people know what the word BFT is. It basically means that you can reach consensus even when they’re up to one-third malicious nodes. But BFT has vulnerabilities such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. aBFT provides strong assurances against certain classes of attacks, like DDoS attacks. Because each node comes to consensus independently of other nodes. You don’t necessarily need to sync. to come to a consensus, and that’s the difference between BFT and aBFT.

In terms of the blockchain revolution, Hedera Hashgraph refers to itself as the fourth generation of blockchain. Can you share with us the evolution of blockchain, and what are the elements for the fourth generation of blockchain at Hedera?

First, you had Bitcoin. People were like this is fantastic, we can transfer value. The second generation is blockchain which facilitates value transfer. People started to build a lot of stuff using blockchain as the underlying consensus algorithm.

The third generation is smart contracts. When Ethereum came out, people started to build smart contracts on it, programs that automatically run. But you still had the problem of not being able to order transactions in a completely decentralized and fairway. You still had the problem of not being able to create markets. Because a market is essentially where two people transact scarce resources. For example, in a stock market, it’s very important to know which person bought which asset first. You need to order the transactions and auctions are the same. There are many use cases that are not possible to build on existing blockchain platforms. Because there is no fair ordering, and up until third-generation technologies. We call Hedera Hashgraph the fourth generation DLT because it provides the fair ordering capability that allows markets to be built upon the platform.

Rainforest Foundation Uses Crypto to Protect the Brazilian Amazon

The Rainforest Foundation, founded in 1987, reached out to the cryptocurrency community to ask for their support to fight Brazil’s forest fires.

An announcement was made regarding a campaign to fight against the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon with the aid of the cryptocurrency community. The Rainforest Foundation has developed its own crypto – Bitseed in 2014 and has been embracing cryptocurrencies for years.

According to the Rainforest Foundation, the number of forest fires is up 278% from July 2018. The Rainforest Foundation has been seeking funding continuously of up to $100 million to combat deforestation.

The announcement also stated:

“Since Bolsonaro took office in January, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is up 75%, and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon have doubled compared to the past year. As guardians of our rainforests, its animals and its people, we are working with The Giving Block to form a coalition of crypto sponsors, donors and media partners who will help stop this devastation.”

The Foundation currently accepts donations in Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. They are also looking for crypto communities to sponsor projects and raise awareness.

English musician Sting is also one of the founders of the Rainforest Foundation and is currently working on a blockchain project to provide transparency for donors to track the work done by the foundation in the Amazon rainforest. The local communities that protect their rainforests will be rewarded with crypto.

Images via Shutterstock and Pixabay.com

Amazon Launches Virtual Clinic Called Amazon Care

This article is contributed by our content partner, Nexchange NOW.

Amazon, the world’s largest internet company by revenue, quietly launched a virtual health clinic for Seattle-area employees, CNBC reports.

The virtual clinic, named Amazon Care, offers a variety of services, from app-, video-, or chat-based telemedicine all the way to prescription drug delivery.

“We’re currently piloting a healthcare benefit designed to help Amazon employees get fast access to healthcare without an appointment, at the convenience of their schedules, at their preferred location (home, office, or virtual). Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection,” Amazon told CNBC in a statement.

There’s no word yet whether Amazon will be expanding this to employees outside of Seattle or even to the public, but as CNBC notes, tech companies have a habit of trying out new products on their employees before launch, so we’ll see how this goes. Amazon itself has been testing a lot of opportunities in health care, so it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

“Amazon is a company that is experimenting a lot with a variety of opportunities in health care,” said Glen Tullman, the executive chairman of Livongo, a health-care company specializing in treating diabetes, which works as a partner to Amazon. “It’s one to watch.”

Image via Nexchange NOWOriginal Article: http://www.nexchangenow.com/news/healthtech/70976/amazon-launches-virtual-clinic-called-amazon-care/

Purse.io Closes its Door After Six Years of Operations

In an unprecedented move, Purse.io announced that it would be closing its doors after 6 years of operations. Purse.io was one of the first disruptive successful blockchain startups focussing on retail consumers.

Purse.io enjoyed a golden reputation in the market with a high rate of engagement from its users who reportedly spent an average of 10 mins per visit. The company was also credited for accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment with tangible functions. The platform had features such as trading of cryptocurrency in exchange for gift cards, where steep discounts ranging from around 5% to 30% were provided by the platform to its users. This feature enabled users to buy real tangible products via the platform simultaneously saving money on such purchases.

Purse.io representative Eduardo in the press release mentioned that the company was grateful for the opportunity given by its supporters to build the infrastructure and products for the cryptocurrency community. The reason for the closure of Purse.io is not known and it is anticipated that the company burned through its funding of 1.3$ Million that it received in the year of 2015. This is just speculation considering the sudden and unexpected announcement and the fact that no explanation has been offered by Purse.io.

The company was supported by Roger Ver and had paved the way for the adoption and introduction of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash as modes of payment to new users and investors.

Update: Is it really the end for Purse.io? New April 24 announcements say otherwise.

Image by Tim Mossholder via Unsplash

Fintech not Big Tech: Square is a Greater Threat to Banks than Google and Amazon

A recent survey of 300 senior executives at US-based mid-sized financial institutions found that more than half of bank and credit union executives view Big Tech companies like Amazon and Google as significant threats to the banking industry.

Meanwhile only a third believe financial technology (fintech) firms will be a threat in the future but are they sleeping on Square?—Jack Dorsey’s financial technology venture whose stock price recently recorded a 20 month high, and the soaring price is being largely attributed to the firm’s integration of Bitcoin in its services.

What banks need to recognize is that while Amazon and Google are the perceived threats to the banking sector, they are actually on a path to become vendors or official distribution channels to banks—while Square will be their direct competitors. Unlike the institutions, Square’s acceptance and use of Bitcoin is also making it more marketable than ever to a highly desirable customer base.

Why Banks Should Worry about Square and not Google

As reported by the Wall Street Journal in November 2019, Google will begin offering checking accounts to consumers in 2020 as part of its push into financial services, The product, currently code-named “Cache,” will be run by Citigroup and small lender Stanford Federal Credit Union.

However, Google’s announced checking account is not designed to compete with banks’ checking accounts but instead actually enhances the banks’ services. In addition, Google has also launched an AI tool to help banks analyze their PPP loans, and has vastly improved its cloud services for financial institutions.

In contrast, Square Capital’s 75,000 PPP borrowers may give Square Capital new opportunities to rev up lending post-crisis. As Square’s base of large merchant continues to grow dramatically, the fintech is poised to take away a significant chunk of small lending volume for the banks.

Bitcoin Utility and the Cash App

As reported by Forbes on June 9, a recent survey of the banking industry indicates that Square may be a far greater threat to the traditional banking sector than Big Tech giants Amazon and Google.

The article suggests that Square’s surging growth and popularity come down to the number of Cash App services that can drive revenue, and its utility with Bitcoin making it attractive to older millennials and the Gen Xers.

Square has added a number of Cash App services that can drive revenue, and a recent push to highlight those features has helped it capitalize on them. According to Seeking Alpha, “Cash App is now used for tax refunds, stimulus deposit, and work paycheck deposit. Also, as retail investing surged during the stay-home period, Cash App has allowed people to buy equities and bitcoin with widely accessible features such as fractional investing and recurring purchases.”

Cash App’s P2P transfer network is its “best acquisition channel,” said CEO Jack Dorsey in a recent interview, because existing users bring in more consumers by sending and requesting funds.

According to Forbes, Cash App’s revenue for Q1 2020 was $528 million, three times its revenue for Q1 2019. In terms of Square’s Bitcoin news, a huge portion of the fintech firm’s revenue was in Bitcoin at $306 million, which also marked a $65 million increase year-over-year.

As the fiscal results show, the importance of Bitcoin to Square’s price growth cannot be overstated as the fintech firm is managing to capture a market that other virtual or challenger banks are not yet servicing.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is Worth More Than Bitcoin’s Market Cap

It was recently announced that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ wealth has surpassed that of Bitcoin’s market cap. This means that Bezos is worth over $171.6 Billion—exceeding his pre-divorce financial record.

Jeff Bezos: Explained

Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon, the online e-commerce platform that is known to sell everything from toys to tech.

Considered one of the Big Four technology companies, Amazon CEO Bezos’ capital surpasses that of Bitcoin’s Market Cap. Currently, the market worth of Bitcoin is approximately 117.81 billion US dollars, though this number fluctuates.

The Big Four technology companies known worldwide include Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Though many are curious to know more about the Amazon founder’s success, the company will not disclose any personal and sensitive information relating to Bezos’ wealth.

How Amazon Care is Crucial during COVID-19

Amazon Care was originally built to tailor to the needs of its Seattle-based employees. The latter found their pay to be at risk, due to COVID-19 complications. Therefore, the e-commerce company decided to create an app that employees can use if they had health concerns or worries during the pandemic.

Amazon Care, which can be accessed virtually, is convenient for employees and for anyone who wishes to download the application.

In light of the recent pandemic, Amazon Care is more useful and safe than a physical trip to the clinic. Patients can contact health e-commerce remotely: from home, from work, and pretty much from anywhere in the world.

Covid-19 has revolutionized the way the world conventionally conducts business and having access to healthcare online may be one of them.

Amazon Care

Jeff Bezos’ wealth contrasts with that of most businesses. The Seattle-based e-commerce offers a variety of services. What is interesting is that it even provides Amazon Care, which is basically telemedicine. In light of COVID-19, remote healthcare is very useful. Amazon Care also enables patients to register for prescription drug deliveries.

Blockchain Technology and COVID-19 Pandemic

With the coronavirus hitting countries from everywhere in the world, blockchain technology is also a useful method in ensuring that anyone who wishes to have a health consultation may do so virtually. This is a safer alternative, as the spread of COVID-19 is worse in certain parts of the world.

Blockchain technology remains a game-changer and ironically, the pandemic may be what the technology industry needs to popularize the adoption of blockchain globally.

‘Big Four’ Tech Amazon, Google, Apple & Facebook Grilled During US Antitrust Hearing

In an antitrust hearing with the Judiciary Committee of US Congress, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google testified, as a continuation of an unfinished legal conversation with lawmakers.

Shots Fired By US Congress

Topics that were discussed ranged from data privacy breaches to investigations of the companies’ treatment of their competitors.

The CEO tech moguls have been on the watchlist of Capitol Hill for quite some time, as US law enforcement has been hoping to update regulatory policies revolving around the technology industry. The ‘Big Four’ tech firms have also been taking heat from US officials for a litany of legal concerns, that range from consumer privacy breaches to a failure to adequately regulating the content on their platforms.

Because of the ever-shifting nature of the tech sector and the heap of documents and interviews gathered to build this case, the interrogation played over the course of 6 hours. The CEOs were interrogated virtually due to the current pandemic and the logistics involved with it. The anti-trust hearing was deemed a rare occasion by many, making it one of the most anticipated tech-policy hearings of all times.

Lawsuits Against Tech Empires Pile Up

Commonly referred to as the “Big Four” in the tech industry, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have been faced with heat from Capitol Hill on more than one occasion. In fact, US lawmakers have been looking to build a case pertaining to antitrust issues against them for quite some time.

The amount of lawsuits faced by the four tech multi-billion dollar companies have been heaping up and Congress can therefore no longer turn a blind eye. Complaints and lawsuits range from cryptocurrency ad breaches to abuse of their monopoly when dealing with competitors to putting their own personal gain over platform users’ rights. Earlier in the hearing, to defend his Facebook Company, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:

“We compete hard. We compete fairly. We try to be the best.”

Facebook and Google Slapped With $600M Lawsuit

Earlier this month, Facebook and Google were served with a $600 million class-action lawsuit pertaining to a 2018 cryptocurrency ad ban. The lawsuit was filed by a group of cryptocurrency companies and individuals who claimed that the ban placed by these social media behemoths were hurting their businesses.

The lawsuit, which is a no-win-no-fee case, is currently awaiting funding for official filing as the companies and individuals that are allegedly affected are said to be expecting more firms to join their ranks in the legal battle.

Facebook Admitted to Regulatory Issues in 2019

This is just the first of many cases of regulatory issues that Facebook has encountered as it keeps on building its tech empire. Previously, when instilling Libra as a digital currency of their own, powered by a Facebook-created version of blockchain, the social media company had admitted that there were regulatory issues that needed to be addressed and that were preventing the progress of launching Libra officially.

In Facebook’s previous appeal with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, it mentioned that “there can be no assurance that Libra or our associated products and services will be made available in a timely manner.”

Amazon Admits

As for Amazon, the American multinational tech company has been accused of favoring their own products over that of third sellers on their website. They also faced accusations of misleading the committee.

Previously, the e-commerce behemoth had told law enforcement officials that it did not tap data from third-party sellers to boost their own products’ performance on the site. However, reports were brought up by Democratic Republican Pramila Jayapal that indicated the contrary.

This prompted Bezos to admit potential fault. It was reported that this was the first time he had ever testified in front of Congress. He said:

“What I can tell you is we have a policy against using seller-specific data to aid our private label business. But I can’t guarantee you that policy has never been violated.”

Apple Packs Less Heat

As for CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, the business mogul faced less heat than his counterparts. However, he was grilled on how his company handled its App Store. Lawmakers repeatedly brought up Apple’s policy that enables them to get a 30 percent commission on its in-app sales and subscriptions, a fee that has negatively impacted Spotify.

Tech Adoption Fueled by COVID-19, Will Global Blockchain Adoption Be Accelerated Too?

Coronavirus has driven global economies and businesses to the ground, but one industry that has benefitted from the pandemic appears to be the tech sector.

With the coronavirus pandemic, China and US tech giants have boomed in business, with social distancing being emphasized globally. Although the future is uncertain for every business industry, digital trends have been accelerated and propelled forward by COVID-19. Speaking to CNBC, an analyst commented on the growing the digital trend in China:

“On the user behavior side, the pandemic gave an impetus to the penetration of several major digitization businesses, helping some of them grow significantly to reach the necessary scale and achieve economic efficiency in a short time.”

With contactless and digital transactions being encouraged, tech businesses, from e-commerces to video gaming industries, have boomed. American tech giants such as Zoom, Netflix, and Amazon have seen an increase in users, as everyone has taken to the new digital normal of doing everything from the safety of their home.

As the never-ending pandemic has shown how crucial technology is in the life of an average person, tech stocks have also risen in popularity, with most of the gains being allocated to American tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (Alphabet), and Microsoft. China’s Alibaba and Tencent have also outperformed this year, with Alibaba shares increasing by 30% this year.

With the emergence of technology accelerated by COVID-19, blockchain stands to benefit as well. With the US and China paving the way for technological innovations, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen had previously said that the emerging tech cold war would be won by the country who dominated in digital currencies and managed to normalize blockchain adoption.

While the rest of the world appears to be scrambling to establish regulatory frameworks revolving around blockchain, China has wasted no time in leveraging the decentralized ledger technology to fuel its businesses. The country’s entrepreneurs, startups, and local governments have implemented blockchain-powered projects everywhere. Chinese tech giant Alibaba has also brought blockchain to power hubs such as Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou through the Ant blockchain, a ledger technology operating with a smart contracts framework.

Jing Xiandong, chairman of Ant Group, has previously backed blockchain and called it “the digital upgrade.” He said:

“Blockchain will be the key infrastructure to reshape international trade and logistics. International trade involves many collaborators such as buyers, sellers, logistics, customs, taxation, bank insurance, etc.”

US Congress’ Attack on Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook Continues, Can Blockchain Benefit?

As the antitrust hearing with tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (Alphabet) continues, the question of whether decentralization will subsequently rise as a result of the legal tech-policy hearing has been brought up.

Why Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook are subject to Congress’ grilling

This week, the Antitrust Subcommittee has released a legal report that involved the Big Tech – Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook. US Congressmen have been grilling the tech giants for quite some time, as the tech industry continues to undergo extensive digital transformation.

US Congress has been aiming to sanction the Big Tech for quite some time, as lawsuit complaints directed towards them from competing tech companies have been piling up.

Concerns ranging from consumer privacy breaches to lack of content regulation have been brought up and laid out in the continued antitrust hearing. They include cryptocurrency ad breaches, an abuse of monopoly to crush existing competitors in the industry, and more.

Firms have on numerous occasions complained that the Big Four have leveraged their dominance in many instances to trample existent competition. As a result, the US Congress have been actively working to come up with regulations for Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook.

The released report, entitled Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets, reads:

“Although these firms have delivered clear benefits to society, the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has come at a price. These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it—a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another, or to engage in a form of their own private quasi regulation that is unaccountable to anyone but themselves.”

Can blockchain benefit from the antitrust hearing?

With the US Judiciary Committee actively working on imposing rules for Big Tech, the blockchain sector may stand to benefit. The proposed sanctions by US Congress will most certainly put a reign on Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook’s monopoly if passed, making way for blockchain technology’s rise in popularity.

The concentration of power on distributed ledger technology is technologically impossible, as all transactions are recorded on the block and can be accessed by at any time, removing the need for a third-party entity. Furthermore, most chains follow a decentralized principle.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had previously backed the blockchain industry and hinted that Twitter may be moving towards an open-source media protocol, where the security of content would be in the hands of individuals. He also backed Bitcoin and its underlying infrastructure and said:

“Blockchain and Bitcoin point to a world where content exists forever, where it’s permanent, doesn’t go away and exists forever on every single node that’s connected to it.”

Apple and Google ban Fortnite

At the time of writing, Apple and Google are both involved in a legal battle with Fortnite’s parent company Epic Games. The tech giants hold a 30% commission rate over Fortnite transactions operating on their platforms, a technicality that Epic Games has tried to loophole by employing a currency of its own.

Following this event, Apple and Google have both banned Fortnite from their respective app stores.

US Congress attempts to regulate Big Tech

In an attempt to update antitrust legislation and to lower the market dominance of the ‘Big Four Tech’ companies, legislators have proposed to label future acquisitions by “dominant platforms” as illegal, unless proven otherwise. The report reads:

“Subcommittee staff recommends that Congress consider shifting presumptions for future acquisitions by the dominant platforms. Under this change, any acquisition by a dominant platform would be presumed anticompetitive unless the merging parties could show that the transaction was necessary for serving the public interest and that similar benefits could not be achieved through internal growth and expansion.”

Microsoft’s Bill Gates on Big Tech Antitrust Hearing – Government Scrunity Inevitable with Tech Success

Bill Gates discussed the regulatory policies that were brought up in the antitrust hearing opposing US Congress and Big Tech – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google (Alphabet).

Bill Gates on antitrust Big Tech hearing

In an interview with CNBC, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates stated that during his leadership at the tech giant, he had been naïve in thinking that the company would not be scrutinized by the US government. He then disclosed that the chances of the outcome of the Big Tech antitrust hearing resulting in established regulations inhibiting Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google’s movements were “pretty high.” The multibillionaire said:

“Whenever you get to be a super-valuable company, affecting the way people communicate and even political discourse being mediated through your system and higher percentage of commerce — through your system — you’re going to expect a lot of government attention.”

Referencing the antitrust challenges that Microsoft experienced twenty years ago, Gates added:

“I was naive at Microsoft and didn’t realize that our success would lead to government attention.”

The Microsoft founder stated that currently, it appears as though “we’re in uncharted territory here,” as rules regarding Big Tech and emerging technology giants seem to be changing. Future regulation appears to be looming close and seems to be an inevitability, according to Gates.

Whether or not regulation would drive down technological innovation was also addressed by Gates. Many tech moguls have considered that as a concern, as anti-competitive killer acquisition clauses are currently being assessed by the House subcommittee.

How blockchain can benefit from the antitrust hearing

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have been facing heat by the US Congress in ongoing antitrust talks, as the US Judiciary Committee would like to see regulatory policies established for the Big Tech.

Topics that were discussed ranged from data privacy breaches to investigations pertaining to the companies’ treatment of their competitors. The Big Tech have been accused of strong-arming tech rival companies and driving down competition by leveraging their dominance in the sector.

With the US Judiciary Committee actively working on imposing rules for Big Tech, the blockchain sector may stand to benefit. The concentration of power on distributed ledger technology is technologically impossible, as all transactions are recorded on the block and can be accessed by at any time, removing the need for a third-party entity.