# April 2025
Construction Blockchain Newsletter
Welcome to our April CBC Newsletter! This month's showcase key developments shaping the global blockchain landscape. From Deloitte’s $4 trillion tokenization forecast to new regulatory moves in Ghana and enforcement actions in Kuwait and the UK, blockchain continues to drive innovation—and scrutiny—worldwide. Here’s what’s happening across the globe this month in crypto and blockchain.
World & Blockchain
Worldwide
Over $4 trillion worth of real estate could be tokenized on blockchain networks during the next decade, potentially offering investors greater access to property ownership opportunities, according to a new report. The Deloitte Center for Financial Services predicts that over $4 trillion worth of real estate may be tokenized by 2035, up from less than $300 billion in 2024. The report, published April 24, estimates a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 27%.
North America
Canada’s Blockchain Advantage: Small Enough to Move Fast, Big Enough to Matter
Whoever wins the election April 28, Canada has the talent, history, and agility to become the first G7 nation to fully embrace a blockchain-forward future.
Asia
Kuwait Government Issues Warning as 1,000 Sites Found Illegally Mining Cryptocurrency
The Kuwait Ministry of Interior has issued a warning against cryptocurrency mining, after electricity usage data indicated that over 1,000 locations in the Gulf nation may be running mining rigs. Crypto mining has been illegal in Kuwait since July 2023, when the Capital and Markets Authority issued a circular banning all cryptocurrency activity, including transfers and trading.
Europe
UK drug dealers create their own cryptocurrency to launder dirty money
A gang involved in the drug trade has created its own cryptocurrency to launder dirty money in what may be the first known case of its kind in Britain. Organised criminals have long exploited the relative anonymity of mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to hide the origin of illicit funds.
Africa
Ghana's central bank announces moves to regulate cryptocurrency, sets deadline
Ghana's central bank sets September 2025 deadline for cryptocurrency regulation. Bank of Ghana seeks authority to license and regulate platforms and participants in the virtual asset space. Ghana joins other African nations in issuing directives on the use, purchase, and transaction of cryptocurrencies
Research & Development Digest
This monthly Research Digest features some notable papers produced or suggested by our academic and industry Members and Partners that we hope will be of interest.
Blockchain & Additive Manufacturing
Matey, S.V., Raut, D.N., Pansare, R.B. and Kant, R., 2025
Blockchain technology (BCT) can play a vital role in manufacturing industries by providing visibility and real-time transparency. With BCT adoption, manufacturers can achieve higher productivity, better quality, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The current study aims to prioritize the performance metrics and ranking of enablers that may influence the adoption of BCT in manufacturing industries through a hybrid framework. Through an extensive literature review, 4 major criteria with 26 enablers were identified. Pythagorean fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to compute the weights of the enablers and the Pythagorean fuzzy combined compromise solution (Co-Co-So) method was used to prioritize the 17-performance metrics. Sensitivity analysis was then carried out to check the robustness of the developed framework. According to the results, data security enablers were the most significant among the major criteria, followed by technology-oriented enablers, sustainability and human resources and quality-related enablers. Further, the ranking of performance metrics shows that data hacking complaints per year, data storage capacity and number of advanced technologies available for BCT are the top three important performance metrics. Framework robustness was confirmed by sensitivity analysis. The developed framework will contribute to understanding and simplifying the BCT implementation process in manufacturing industries to a significant level. Practitioners and managers may use the developed framework to facilitate BCT adoption and evaluate the performance of the manufacturing system.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-02-2024-0058
Oskolkov B., Kan C., Tian W., Law A. C. C. and Liu C., 2025
Cyber-enabled manufacturing systems are becoming increasingly data-rich, generating vast amounts of real-time sensor data for quality control and process optimization. However, this proliferation of data also exposes these systems to significant cyber-physical security threats. For instance, malicious attackers may delete, change, or replace original data, leading to defective products, damaged equipment, or operational safety hazards. False data injection attacks can compromise machine learning models, resulting in erroneous predictions and decisions. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to employ robust data processing techniques that can adapt to varying process conditions and detect anomalies in real-time. In this context, the incremental machine learning (IML) approaches can be valuable, allowing models to be updated incrementally with newly collected data without retraining from scratch. Moreover, although recent studies have demonstrated the potential of blockchain in enhancing data security within manufacturing systems, most existing security frameworks are primarily based on cryptography, which does not sufficiently address data quality issues. Thus, this study proposes a gatekeeper mechanism to integrate IML with blockchain and discusses how this integration could potentially increase the data integrity of cyber-enabled manufacturing systems. The proposed IML-integrated blockchain can address the data security concerns from both intentional alterations (e.g., malicious tampering) and unintentional alterations (e.g., process anomalies and outliers). The real-world case study results show that the proposed gatekeeper integration algorithm can successfully filter out over 80% of malicious data entries while maintaining comparable classification performance to standard IML models. Furthermore, the integration of blockchain enables effective detection of tampering attempts, ensuring the trustworthiness of the stored information.
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4067736
Liu, J., Zainudin, E.S., As’arry, A.B., Ismai M. and Zhang C., 2025
Recently, the widespread adoption of digital twin and blockchain technologies within the frameworks of Industry 4.0 and intelligent manufacturing has intensified the emphasis on globalization and social collaborative manufacturing. This study aims to address the fragmentation of global information and enhance the collaborative utilization and optimal sharing of underutilized manufacturing resources and capabilities through the development of the C4DPSC_DT platform. To meet these demands, our research focuses on the domain of 4D printing and introduces the blockchain-empowered C4DPSC_DT platform, which is based on dynamic supply and demand principles. This platform is meticulously analyzed to unveil its complex nature, characterized by the integration of physical entities, virtual twin representations, and collaborative services, forming five distinct attributes under this triadic fusion. To further enhance the adaptability of the C4DPSC_DT platform, we propose an adaptive collaborative microservice architecture. Additionally, to emphasize the collaborative service attributes of the platform, we introduce the blockchain-empowered C4DPSC framework. This framework incorporates a collaborative multi-chain blockchain structure and the HotStuff consensus algorithm, facilitating the creation of a secure, distributed, traceable, and transparent environment for sharing C4DP resources and collaboration in C4DP services, thereby establishing decentralized and trustworthy collaborative service connections. Moreover, we systematically decompose the collaborative process into five stages, providing a comprehensive lifecycle solution for the systematic analysis and understanding of the 4D Printing Service collaboration process. Finally, through detailed case studies, we empirically validate the exceptional performance of the C4DPSC_DT platform, confirming its superior functionality and robustness.
Events Agenda
Consensus 2025
May 14-16, 2025, Toronto, Canada
Consensus 2025 brings together 20,000+ builders, leaders, and innovators from over 100 countries, representing $4T in AUM. Called “The Super Bowl of Blockchain” by Forbes, it’s the premier event where Web3, AI, and blockchain’s biggest players make deals, spark trends, and shape the next bull run.
Paris Blockchain Week 2025
8–10 April 2025. Paris, France.
Paris Blockchain Week is Europe’s biggest blockchain and digital assets event, covering all aspects of blockchain technology, including NFTs."
2025 European Conference on Computing in Construction
14-17 July 2025. Porto, Portugal.
EC³ is the premier European Conference for information, communication and technological research, innovation and policy for the Construction Sector as a whole in Europe.
Knowledge Upgrade
Multi-CBDC Settlement Platform with Private Blockchain Integration
The European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the U.S. Federal Reserve, and the Bank of England have collaborated to establish a unified settlement platform that enables their digital currencies to interact across borders.
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Mastercard wants to become the “Venmo of crypto”: here’s how
Mastercard is decisively aiming towards the future of digital transactions and is doing so by betting on the blockchain.
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