Welcome to this week's Digital Bytes where we cover the following articles:
Are we to see two versions of digital intellectual property - an NFT and a DDC? - as the Year of the Tiger roars in, it could be a big year for blockchain and Digital Assets in China. With China launching its digital Yuan (CBDC) and announcing that it is to officially back a new breed of NFT-style digital assets (called DDCs) using a blockchain-powered platform, will we see two versions of non- fungible Digital Assets being created?
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and two decades of economic, political and social crisis, is crypto the ‘shot in the arm’ the West needs? - in part one of this essay we discuss how increasing digitality has coincided with a relative decline in US and Western hegemony, and how the tools that made democracies successful in the 20th Century appear to be undermining them in the 21st Century as the authoritarian regimes they compete with appear on the ascendancy.
Digital wallets for Digital Assets are on their way - whilst digital wallets from the likes of PayPal and Apple have been around for years, we are seeing a growing demand and, indeed, need for digital wallets to enable one to transact with Digital Assets. The Chinese currently have over 260 million people holding a digital wallet that enables them to use the Chinese digital Yuan, and this number is set to grow as the Chinese CBDC is positioned to be officially launched at the 2022 winter Olympics.
Where is crypto going? - crypto has been around for over ten years but is it still just Bitcoin, or is there a bigger strategic opportunity here and what's missing in terms of making that happen?
Jonny Fry / James Tylee of Digital Bytes by Team Blockchain on Cyber.FM 2nd February 2022 ft: Haydn Jones, PwC