Russia after the company refused to hand over encryption keys to unscramble messages. In response, activists took to the streets with paper planes, launching the small colored origami models at the cold facade of the Kremlin.
Flying Planes for Internet Freedom
our stays in the police department for the 2nd night in a row – for throwing paper planes (in support of ) to FSB.
🙁
— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot)
The performance lasted no longer than fifteen minutes, and some protestors, including Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina, were arrested in the action. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov then urged protesters to come together in solidarity for internet freedom, and in unison on April 22, 2018:
“If you live in Russia and support free internet, fly a paper plane from your window at 7 PM local time today. Please collect the airplanes in your neighborhood an hour later – remember, today is Earth Day.”
The defiant CEO also voiced his satisfaction at the failed efforts of Russian authorities to crack down on the app:
“For [seven] days Russia has been trying to ban Telegram on its territory – with no luck so far. [I’m] thrilled we were able to survive under the most aggressive attempt of internet censorship in Russian history with almost 18 million IP addresses blocked.”
While they might not be effective at banning Telegram, the censorship seems to have had other consequences.
The Russian telecom regulator has said that it blocked Google net or IP addresses because the messaging service was using them, but this seems to have impacted other services, including Google, who have received reports from Russian users that they are unable to access some products.
Durov, who has committed himself to fighting against internet censorship, insists that there are ways around the prohibition, including proxies and VPNs. On his Telegram channel, he claims that he has started , in the form of , to companies and individuals that run and VPN.
Durov left Russia for Berlin in 2014 and has since become a vocal critic of Russian policies and censorship. One of the paper plane protestors, Alyokhina of Pussy Riot, The Daily Beast:
“Russia is an unpredictable country, where Putin’s officers now, by law, can break into your house or even shoot you in the street. [One] moment you are kidding with friends about paper planes, the next moment you are inside a cage, banging on the bars, calling for a prison guard to let you use the bathroom.”
The post appeared first on .
ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private financial institution, is making significant progress in its -related efforts that first came to light in 2016. According to a issued by the bank April 17, 2018, over 250 of its corporate customers have since “signed up on the Bank’s blockchain application.”
ICICI Bank Continues with Blockchain Drive
After setting up a new division to integrate blockchain technology across its banking services in June 2016, ICICI with EdgeVerve Systems to build a custom blockchain implementation for its application. By the end of 2016, ICICI had the country’s in partnership with Emirates NBD. The transaction allowed ICICI to successfully transfer funds in real time from its branch in Mumbai to an Emirates NBD branch in Dubai.
While the details of the blockchain implementation being used by ICICI has not been made public, the bank has confirmed that it is a distributed and immutable ledger, two primary principles of the technology. Transparency, one of the key advantages of using a blockchain, is also said to be in effect. The press release stated:
“It enables all the parties, buyers and sellers across domestic & international locations, all branches and locations of ICICI Bank in the country and overseas, to view the data in real time.”
Indian Banks Increasingly Adopt Blockchain Tech
ICICI Bank is not the only Indian financial institution testing blockchain technology. In fact, almost every single private Indian bank, including and , has announced the development of a blockchain-based application at some point.
Given that the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has openly praised blockchain technology on several occasions, it should perhaps come across as no surprise that public sector banks are also aggressively adopting the technology.
India’s largest government-owned financial institution, State Bank of India (SBI), is spearheading its own blockchain endeavor, albeit in partnership with several other banks, including ICICI Bank. The project, appropriately named ‘,’ has been under rapid development since February 2017 and boasts ten live projects with 35 local and international partners.
In October 2017, SBI announced that it would be implementing a beta of BankChain’s smart contract feature with KYC to follow soon after. The two programs were expected to be production ready by the end of 2018.
The fate of Digital Currencies is Cloudy in India
The news of increased blockchain adoption by banks in India comes at an when the future of digital currency in the region is uncertain.
According to a released by the RBI in early April 2018, “In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling virtual currencies.” Since cryptocurrency exchanges need to have business relations with banks to process fiat deposits and withdrawals, the move may very well eliminate the possibility of commercial trading in India.
Nevertheless, considering that the Indian banking system finds itself knee-deep in scams amounting to several millions of dollars, blockchain technology may finally help the sector right its course.
The post appeared first on .
