# July 2025
Construction Blockchain Newsletter
Welcome to our July CBC Newsletter! This month’s spotlight is on Bitcoin’s race against time, as quantum computing threatens to compromise nearly a third of its supply by 2030. A new BIP proposes migrating to quantum-resistant wallets. In the EU, a stablecoin loophole raises alarms despite MiCA’s rollout. Vietnam unveils NDAChain to anchor digital trust and sovereignty, while North American markets rally on pro-crypto momentum from Trump and the Fed. El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy remains under pressure, and Africa continues to prioritize blockchain for financial access over hype.
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World & Blockchain
Worldwide
The threat of quantum computing to Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundations is no longer theoretical. Experts warn that unless Bitcoin transitions to quantum-resistant algorithms, up to 30% of its supply—worth over $590 billion—could be vulnerable to stealth attacks by 2030. A new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) suggests freezing legacy wallets and migrating to quantum-safe formats like P2QRH. Developers are racing to implement upgrades before “Q-Day” arrives.
Europe
The stablecoin loophole that could expose the EU
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. The EU has led the way in setting a regulatory framework for crypto. Yet the risks that its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (Mica) sought to contain are now materialising.
Asia
Vietnam’s NDAChain Explained: Privacy, Trust, and Blockchain at Scale
In a bold leap toward digital sovereignty and technological leadership, Vietnam has launched NDAChain, its first national blockchain platform. Positioned as a secure and scalable foundation for digital identity, e-government, and supply chain systems, NDAChain is set to transform how Vietnam handles trust, privacy, and verification in the digital age.
North America
‘Trillions And Trillions’—Bitcoin Headed For A ‘Big’ July As Trump And Fed Create Perfect Crypto Price Storm
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have become a $3.4 trillion market this year as U.S. president Donald Trump helps drive the bitcoin price with a wild crypto prediction. Front-run Donald Trump, the White House and Wall Street by subscribing now to Forbes’ CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor where you can "uncover blockchain blockbusters poised for 1,000% plus gains!" The bitcoin price is nearing its all-time high of $112,000 per bitcoin, bouncing back from April lows of $75,000, with markets braced for a Federal Reserve flip.
South America
El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve fails to help the average citizen
El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve has had limited impact on the broader population, and the country’s loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may further complicate its Bitcoin strategy, according to Quentin Ehrenmann, general manager at My First Bitcoin, a non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on Bitcoin adoption.
Africa
While the West Chases Memecoins and ETFs, Africa is Building Blockchain Resilience
Asset managers involved in DeFi are promoting products that include staking, yield strategies, thematic ETFs, and even a product that tracks meme coins tied to US political sentiment. Billions are flowing into financial engineering for these products and services. Looking across Africa, blockchain is taking on a different role, one not of speculative assets, but of a store of value and a gateway to essential financial tools where traditional systems fall short.
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 & Carbon Tracking
Aurangzeb I., Yoon J. H., 2025
Material transportation and on-site assembly are the building lifecycle phases that produce significant carbon emissions. However, traditional methods for capturing and recording these emissions lack automation, traceability, and immutability. This limitation hinders project stakeholders from data-driven decision-makings to promote sustainable construction practices and effectively implement regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a proof of concept for a transformational emissions ledger system that integrates an AI-powered large multimodal model for automatic parsing of emission-relevant data and a blockchain-enabled smart contract for a traceable and immutable emissions ledger. The proposed solution enables project stakeholders to automatically generate an immutable emissions ledger recorded on blockchain during the material transportation and on-site assembly phases, thereby enhancing their ability to make informed decisions regarding carbon emissions management. Additionally, this system enables regulatory approaches, including subsidies and tax incentives, all anchored in an immutable emissions ledger based on blockchain.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2025.106286
Wang J., Li X., Chen C., Zhu W.,, 2025
Blockchain technology has been introduced to tackle the data issues arising from centralization in carbon management. However, current blockchain systems remain inefficient for carbon management in construction projects, falling short in scalability, security, and high throughput. Moreover, blockchain mainly serves as a database, so it is not easy to shape stakeholders’ low-carbon behaviors actively and directly. Thus, this paper designs a novel incentive mechanism (i.e., consensus mechanism with incentive design) in blockchain, Proof of Carbon Reduction (PoCR), to enhance blockchain system performance and promote low carbon practices among stakeholders. To this end, carbon reduction credit (CR credit) is first proposed to evaluate stakeholders’ carbon performance via the reporting and crowd-wisdom subsystems. Second, the optimized Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) with a novel block leader election algorithm and a fair reward allocation method is proposed for the transaction consensus process in the blockchain to reduce communication complexity while enhancing consistency using cryptographic techniques. Third, controlled experiments are conducted and research findings show that PoCR can achieve (1) effective low-carbon incentive, providing financial returns for low-carbon performance and enhancing income fairness, (2) excellent efficiency, reducing the quadratic message complexity of typical BFT-based protocols to 0(mn), and increasing the throughput over 10 % (Delegated BFT) and 25 % (Algorand) while reducing latency over 80 % (Practical BFT) and 20 % (Algorand), (3) enhanced security, outperforming existing protocols in anti-attack and anti-corruption capabilities. This paper contributes to both blockchain design and low-carbon incentive design, paving the way for decentralized low-carbon management in construction.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112684
EcoConstruct: a blockchain-based system for carbon trading in construction projects
Rathnayake B., Gunathilake L., Edirisinghe R., Perera S., 2025
The construction industry, contributing approximately 39% of global carbon emissions, faces challenges to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Traditional methods for estimating and managing carbon emissions suffer from inaccuracies, low transparency and data integrity issues, highlighting the need for trustworthy and efficient solutions. This paper aims to demonstrate how blockchains can enhance the accuracy of tracking carbon emissions and streamlining carbon trading, providing a robust system to manage and reduce carbon emissions effectively. A case study-based approach is adopted to develop a blockchain-based system (EcoConstruct) to track carbon emissions and circularity of construction materials and facilitate carbon trading in the industry. The implementation uses smart contract technology and the Beneficial Assets Ownership protocol in the Tezos blockchain to validate carbon emission tracking, carbon trading and circularity criteria. The system was evaluated and validated through expert feedback, ensuring its practical applicability and effectiveness. EcoConstruct demonstrates advancements in transparency, data integrity and efficiency in carbon estimation and trading. The system’s immutable ledger securely stores carbon emissions and their compensations using non-fungible tokens called carbon rewards. This system facilitates transparent and accountable carbon trading among stakeholders (clients, contractors and material suppliers). The findings highlight the potential of blockchains to overcome current challenges in carbon emissions management and trading in the construction industry.
Events Agenda
TUM Blockchain Conference 25
11-12 September 2025, Munich, Germany
The 3rd iteration of the TUM Blockchain Conference unites visionaries and thought leaders in a non-profit setting to transform Web3’s potential from promise to action through collaboration and open dialogue.
Consensus 2026
10-12 Feb 2026, Hong-Kong.
Since 2015, Consensus has been more than an event–it's the annual gathering of the tribes. It's where the most influential voices in blockchain, web3, and decentralized AI come together to drive innovation forward.
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Knowledge Upgrade
Blockchain technology as the answer to AI deepfakes
Over the last few years, deepfake attempts have increased along with their quality, placing an already fraught news environment at greater risk. Thankfully, there is a solution — blockchain technology — and in order to combat deepfakes, we will need to move on-chain. Fast.
Quantum computers could bring lost Bitcoin back to life: Here’s how
Quantum computing could enable the reverse engineering of private keys from publicly exposed ones, putting the security of Bitcoin holders at risk.
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