# August 2025
Construction Blockchain Newsletter
Welcome to our August CBC Newsletter! Avalanche led global blockchain transaction growth, spurred by U.S. government adoption, while the EU accelerated digital euro plans with Ethereum and Solana under review. In Seoul, police arrested a fugitive crypto scammer after a chance littering incident. The U.S. Commerce Department published GDP data to the blockchain, and Brazil prepared for a historic hearing on creating a national Bitcoin reserve. Research highlights include blockchain-enabled worker certification systems, undersea tunnel collapse risk assessment, and machine learning on blockchain for modular construction inspections. Upcoming events include the TUM Blockchain Conference and Consensus 2026.
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World & Blockchain
Worldwide
Avalanche’s transaction growth surpassed all other blockchain networks this week, signaling more investor mindshare rotating to the smart-contract blockchain’s utility token, as it also saw increasing governmental adoption. Avalanche, a smart contract blockchain designed to improve scalability and usability, has emerged as one of the fastest–growing blockchain networks.
Europe
European Union officials are accelerating plans for a digital euro in response to the recent passage of a stablecoin law in the United States, which has raised concerns about the competitiveness of a European digital currency.
Asia
Crypto scam fugitive caught after littering in Seoul
An alleged cryptocurrency scammer's five years on the run ended after he was arrested for littering near a train station in Seoul, police said Friday. Police said they only intended to arrest the man for throwing a cigarette butt, but they got suspicious when he begged them to let him go "just this once" and tried to escape. The man also refused to show his ID, pretended to take a phone call and offered police money in exchange for letting him go. Upon questioning, police found that he was wanted for allegedly defrauding 17.7 billion won ($13m; £9.5m) from 1,300 people through a cryptocurrency scam.
North America
US Publishes GDP on Blockchain—New Era of Immutable Economic Data Begins
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on Aug. 28 that it has published the second quarter 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) data to the blockchain—marking a first for a federal agency. The initiative began with the July 2025 data, which showed 3.3% annualized growth, according to revised estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Officials framed the move as a milestone in government use of blockchain technology.
South America
Brazil Sets Historic Bitcoin Reserve Hearing as South America Leads Crypto Revolution
Brazil's Chamber of Deputies will hold its first public hearing on creating a national Bitcoin reserve on August 20, 2025. The country appears ready to join a small group of nations exploring cryptocurrency as part of their financial strategy. Bill 4501/2024 would let Brazil spend up to 5% of treasury funds on Bitcoin, which equals about $15 billion given the central bank's $300 billion in reserves.
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 & Construction Safety
Kumi L., Jeong J., Jeong J., 2025
Construction sites are among the most hazardous workplaces globally, where safety violations and non-compliance frequently result in injuries and fatalities. A significant contributor to these risks is the improper management of worker certifications, which are essential for verifying that individuals are qualified to perform high-risk tasks. However, traditional certification management systems, such as paper-based records and manual verification, are prone to inefficiencies, delays, and forgery, increasing the risk of uncertified workers performing dangerous tasks. To address this problem, this study aims to develop and evaluate a blockchain-based certification management system designed to enhance safety compliance in the construction industry. By using blockchain’s immutability, transparency, and decentralized nature, the system ensures tamper-proof and efficient management of worker certifications. The proposed system was implemented using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, integrated with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for secure off-chain document storage. Core features include worker registration, real-time certification verification, and task authorization. A case study was conducted to assess the system’s effectiveness in a simulated construction project environment. Results demonstrated significant improvements in compliance enforcement, reduction in administrative delays, and cost-efficiency, with measurable decreases in verification time and transaction costs. This research concludes that blockchain technology presents a robust solution for certification management in the construction sector. It offers a transformative approach to advancing construction safety practices and lays the foundation for broader applications of blockchain in occupational health and safety.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2025.103784
Blockchain for Collapse Risk Assessment of Undersea Rock Tunnel
Liu S., Huang H., Qu L., Sun M., 2025
Risk assessment of undersea tunnel collapse is very important for tunnel construction safety. Because the existing methods cannot guarantee the accuracy and authenticity of relevant on-site data, they limit the effectiveness of dynamic risk assessment. To address this issue, a blockchain-based distributed information management solution for collapse risk assessment during undersea tunnel construction was proposed in this paper. The presented framework creates a risk assessment platform application for engineering projects, combines blockchain technology with the Bayesian network risk assessment process, and designs a number of smart contracts for creating Bayesian networks, reading node data, computing, and storing. This study emphasizes the following two aspects: (1) instead of utilizing external software, it has created a Bayesian network risk assessment model based on the Go language, which minimizes the chance of data manipulation and eliminates the need for repeated data transfers; and (2) in order to accomplish risk information collection, verification, and estimation, smart contracts appropriate for collapse risk assessment were developed. This has addressed concerns with transparency, tampering, and credibility in conventional safety risk assessment methods and improved risk management efficiency. The practicality of the framework was evaluated and proven by a real construction project in China’s Qingdao No.2 undersea tunnel, the longest undersea road tunnel in the world. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and dependability of the blockchain-based Bayesian network risk assessment method, along with its high throughput and low latency. It guarantees the veracity of risk assessments as well as the authenticity and transparency of collapse risk source information during tunnel construction.
https://doi.org/10.1061/AJRUA6.RUENG-1582
Dong Z., Lu W., 2025
Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) is an innovative off-site building method that improves productivity, safety, and sustainability by manufacturing standardized modules in factories for on-site assembly. MiC inspections demand high levels of accuracy, efficiency, and security due to the low fault tolerance in factory environments. However, existing approaches fail to comprehensively address these combined requirements. This research explores the application of the Machine Learning on Blockchain (MLOB) framework to real-world MiC inspection tasks, assessing its feasibility and effectiveness. Additionally, a scientific evaluation is conducted to quantitatively measure the performance of MLOB-based MiC inspections. The results demonstrate that MLOB significantly enhances inspection performance by improving decision-making, streamlining processes, and ensuring the integrity of both inspection logic and data. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to integrate MLOB into MiC inspections to consider the requirement on both accuracy, efficiency and security, providing a scalable and innovative solution for quality assurance 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
Quantum computers could bring lost Bitcoin back to life: Here’s how
Research and development of quantum computers is running at a fast pace, but is Bitcoin quantum-safe at this stage? Not yet, but developers are working to upgrade the network to mitigate possible quantum risks, including breaking encryption.
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