One of the brains behind classic Nintendo game Star Fox is launching a blockchain-based online gambling service that could leave regulators stumped – and says he has raised $200,000 from the public to launch it. Argonaut Software founder Jez San’s Funfair project aims to put online gambling onto blockchain, the technology …

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has decided the time is ripe to start talking about what standards might be developed for distributed ledgers, aka Blockchain and fellow-travellers. The august body will therefore convene the The ITU-T Focus Group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology (FG DLT) for the …

Underpinning wholesale payment systems with distributed ledger technology (DLT) would introduce greater costs and risks for institutions than those which apply under existing wholesale payment systems, the Bank of Canada has said. However, a study carried out by the Bank of Canada, into the feasibility of using DLT to create …

In a well-timed release Acronis has announced its Backup 12.5 product with automated ransomware protection and data integrity checking via blockchain. Acronis Backup 12.5 comes in two editions – Standard and Advanced – with an easy in-place upgrade by changing licence keys. We might think of the Standard edition for smaller …

The European Commission plans to set up an observatory and forum on blockchain and distributer ledger technology (DLT) to help it understand what role public authorities should play in developing and helping uptake of the technologies. The plans raise concerns over the role that the Commission expects to play, said technology …

Attacks on Bitcoin just keep coming: ETH Zurich boffins have worked with Aviv Zohar of The Hebrew University in Israel to show off how to attack the crypto-currency via the Internet's routing infrastructure. That's problematic for Bitcoin's developers, because they don't control the attack vector, the venerable Border Gateway …

If you think the last couple of years have been tumultuous you ain't seen nothing yet – there's a tide of tech-enabled secretive and influential movements heading your way that could completely upend and reshape society. If they get their way. That's why on 23 May, Reg Lectures will be welcoming Jamie Bartlett – author of The …

IBM's fortunes are set to change, we're sure of it. After 20 straight quarters of sales decline, the business has launched Blockchain-as-a-Service. IBM Blockchain is a public cloud service for the building of "tailor-made blockchain solutions" on the IBM Cloud. According to Big Blue, customers could even trade paper using its …

So, you’re a developer with a great tech idea. You have a vision for a world-beating product, perhaps even one that defines a new category. But the journey from idea to execution is long, painful, and often expensive. The cloud can help developers realize their dreams while minimizing capital outlay. Here’s how. In the early …

Analysis Startup Gospel Technology is evangelising the use of Blockchain to secure and verify sharable data. Blockchain technology provides a way of doing this, claims Gospel, which says it's found a simpler way than any alternative methods. The early stage firm was founded in December last year by CEO Ian Smith, who was co-founder, …

Startup Storj (pronounced storage oddly enough) has an open source, distributed cloud object storage platform using blockchain technology and end-to-end cryptography across a peer-to-peer network to secure files. The network consists of the internet and a shared community of “farmers”, users who rent out their spare desktop …

The International Telecommunication Union has decided the time has come to consider whether Blockchain deserves its attention so it can be considered for future security standards. Study Group 17 of the Union's Standardization Sector (ITU-T), which is dedicated to security, has scheduled a workshop in March to “examine …

Logowatch From the world of fintech comes some momentous news. "We're excited to announce the next phase in the evolution of our brand: our new logo," writes Blockchain founder Peter Smith. Who? Blockchain, the company that's "on a mission to build an open, accessible and fair financial future, one piece of software at a time". If you' …

The financial sector's enthusiasm for blockchain technology might be misplaced, according to a pair of Australian distributed computing experts. The problem: if everyone in a consortium trusts each other, they don't need blockchains to protect themselves; if they don't, current blockchain protocols have a flaw that allows a …

IBM says it will partner with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a study of whether blockchain technology could be used to securely transfer medical information. Big Blue says that its Watson Health unit will work with the FDA on a study aimed at pitching a framework for the use of blockchain technologies to make the …

If you’ve had all the vision you can handle, and just want to know how to actually develop devices, applications and networks to exploit the internet of things, you really need to join us next March for Building IoT London. Between March 27 and 29, we’ll be bringing together an array of experts with extensive real world …

Analysis The value of distributed ledgers and blockchain tech to the financial sector has again come under the spotlight following the departure of several entities from prominent blockchain consortium R3: namely Goldman Sachs, Santander, Morgan Stanley and the National Australian Bank. All four left the consortium this month, and with …

Comment Acronis CEO Serguei Beloussov thinks data protection services have to stop being reactive and become active managers of data integrity, security and storage. Acronis is a storage software vendor whose original DNA was backup, separate from the storage of data, and which has progressed into collaboration and other data …