In case you are experiencing information overload, here are some of our favorite blockchain updates from the past week :

United Nations Puts Blockchain at Center of New ‘High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation’

Blockchain technology’s inevitable growth has infiltrated the chambers of the United Nations where it will be exclusively considered under a newly developed panel. During its nine-month mandate, the panel will convene twenty leaders of industry, society and education to discuss the impact of this innovative technology on a global scale. Insofar as agreeable representation on the panel, confirmed co-chairman Jack Ma has been implementing blockchain tech throughout affiliates of his Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba since 2016. [source]

Square’s Cash App Beats Paypal’s Venmo with 3x Growth

Square’s Cash app, which only recently added cryptocurrency functionality in January, has defied Bitcoin’s steady price decline throughout the year and continues to see growth through user downloads. This comes at the same time statistics have been released showing downloads of Coinbase’s mobile app falling to their lowest known level among finance apps. Admittedly these data points open a conversation into the hurdles of designing a user experience that introduces new virtual currencies to the masses while also keeping the familiarity of fiat within reach. [source]

American Express is Eyeing Blockchain for a Proof-of-Payments System

After publicly supporting blockchain technology for the last few months, AmEx has filed a patent application exploring blockchain proof-of-payments technology. The credit card giant has made strides from its previous anti-Bitcoin stance in 2014 to embracing the growing tech. AmEx’s proposed platform is focused on approving or declining a user’s payment request with parameters similar to smart-contract deployment. [source]

HTC’s Blockchain Phone, Exodus, Coming This Quarter

While the phone will be available to the general public by the end of the year, HTC has announced early access to their new blockchain-powered smartphone aptly called Exodus. Future updates for the phone will include the ability to mine for crypto and securely hold personal wallet keys, but at the time of release it will solely contain a wallet. HTC is slated to price Exodus at $1,000- similar to competitor Sirin Lab’s blockchain phone, Finney, currently on track be released in November. [source]

Cartier Organizing Plan To Track Diamonds With Blockchain

The owner of Cartier diamonds, Richemont, is looking to track the origins of its supply by using blockchain technology. This move would not only provide transparency into Cartier’s supply chain but also validate the authenticity of a product that can at times be controversial. Richemont board member and renowned economist Jin Keyu explained in a speech the company’s intent to apply blockchain to all its parallel markets. Keyu suggested Richemont’s move comes from an understanding that the emergence of blockchain has broadly reshaped our economy as a whole.[source]

Stay tuned every week for continuous news updates from The Blockchain Complex!