Blockchain-fanciers have been told to stop the "sexy noises" about its use in fintech and get real – though others remain hopeful the tech can hitch its cart to the techlash bandwagon. "The world we're talking to only sees the crypto hype, and at the moment they're also seeing the crypto demise," Lisa Short, founder of Changer …

Blockchain companies are upset with management consultant McKinsey for pointing out the technology is stubbornly stuck at base camp after years of hype. At the start of the year, McKinsey performed a reverse ferret on the much-hyped technology. Two years ago the expensive management consultant was promoting reckless …

HSBC claims to have settled three million foreign exchange (FX) transactions and made payments worth $250bn using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The bank said it had made "significant efficiencies" while using its DLT product, HSBC FX Everywhere, for the past year – suggesting the risk-averse financial sector is treating …

Though Blockchain has been touted as the answer to everything, a study of 43 solutions advanced in the international development sector has found exactly no evidence of success. Three practitioners including erstwhile blockchain enthusiast John Burg, a Fellow at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), looked at …

Seagate and IBM are using IBM's blockchain tech to verify a disk drive's authenticity using its electronic fingerprint. The blockchain drive, er, drive is apparently a way for the firm to deal with the problem of fake or counterfeit HDDs. These may be sold online and are typically relabelled old drive units with apparently …

Picture the scene. A father is returning home to his family, his face etched with anxiety, and darkened by shame. The family sits expectantly around an empty dinner table. “We’re so hungry,” the children cry out. “I’m… I’m so sorry,” the father replies. “My funding application to explore the potential of a distributed ledger …

An Australian government agency given AU$700,000 (just shy of US$500,000 or £380,000) to research applications of the blockchain has delivered its answer: don't bother. Anything you want to do with blockchain, you can already do better with existing technology. For every use of blockchain that you would consider today, there …

"Exodus" may be a fair description of HTC's customer base in recent years – once the reviewers' darling, it has fallen a long way. Earnings for the first half of 2018 were almost half the same period last year (PDF). HTC Exodus 1 HTC Exodus 1 So perhaps Exodus isn't the wisest choice of name for its first "blockchain phone …

Dutch security firm Gemalto has said its blockchain product, slated to pilot later this year, will keep personal data off the blockchain. According to the Dutch outfit, the forgettably named Trust ID Network is aimed at users and digital service providers that need verifiable Self-Sovereign Digital IDs where "attestations" …

AMD is crediting the continued success of Ryzen and Epyc processors, and Radeon graphics chips, in fueling its best quarter since 2011. The other-other CPU vendor turned in a massive Q2 FY2018 on Wednesday with big gains in both sales and net income. For the quarter, ending June 30: Revenues of $1.76bn were up 53 per cent …

Oracle confirmed a bunch of firms in financial services - traditionally a conservative sector - were among the first to test its blockchain platform that today was made generally available to all and sundry. The service, trailed at last year’s gabfest Oracle Open World, aims to provide a resilient, scalable and secure …

Strategy BoutiqueSo it wasn't a joke. HTC today vowed to launch its "Blockchain Phone", which it calls an "agent of decentralization". HTC confirmed overnight that the Exodus smartphone will ship in its third quarter – meaning some time before the end of September – without releasing specifications. Or even what advantages it promises for the …

Fujitsu has launched a fast-track blockchain consultancy service for companies to see whether their distributed ledger plans are pie in the sky or might actually be of some commercial benefit. The Japanese giant claims its scheme, in which concept prices start at €9,900, will propose to customers a minimum viable product in …

In an effort to demonstrate there are actual uses for blockchain technology, global professional services biz EY and Microsoft have teamed up to offer companies a way to manage rights and royalties. Though the system is designed to serve any industry that deals with intellectual property licensing and royalty payments, the …

One of Canada's largest utilities is planning to make blockchain companies bid for access to electricity. Hydro Quebec says it will set aside a 500MW block of power that will be reserved for companies that are "using cryptography as applied to blockchain technology." Access to that block will be subject to a bidding process …

All aboard the blockchain hypewagon – Microsoft announced today that it has begun using the technology to deal with royalty and digital rights contracts. While the shiny toy, which runs on Azure (of course), is interesting, lurking within the excited ramblings was an admission of how Xbox game publishers used to get their …

VMware’s published the content catalogues for its VMworld gabfests in Las Vegas (August) and Barcelona (November) and as usual has leaked a few insights into what it’s working on. Attendees at VMworld USA will have a chance to attend a session titled “VMware enterprise blockchain – getting started” and a workshop of the same …

BSides Tel AvivBlockchain technologies might be abused to create a takedown-resistant infrastructure for botnets. During a presentation at BSides Tel Aviv on Tuesday, security researcher Omer Zohar demonstrated proof-of-concept code for a fully functional command-and-control infrastructure built on top of the Ethereum network. Zohar was …