Algorand's Blockchain Based COVID-19 Global Survey Shares Real-Time Public Pandemic Data
Algorand, the first pure proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain created by cryptography pioneer and Turing award winner Silvio Micali, has launched a global Coronavirus (Covid-19) survey.
The company published a blog post on March 27 announcing its ‘IReportCovid’ survey app. The aim of the survey is to compile a public database to share information on the spread, status, and symptoms of the COVID-19 pandemic and give updates in “real-time.”
Global Blockchain database to fight COVID-19
According to Algorand, there is limited data coming directly from the general public about how COVID-19 is affecting them in real time, which could be useful data for studies on the pandemic as well as for public knowledge.
The survey is not invasive and asks for basic information that one would usually find on a doctor’s appointment card, such as age and gender, with the added a section to confirm if the respondent has been exposed, treated or tested for the coronavirus and their isolation status.
As the responses will be publicly posted on the Algorand blockchain, the information shared cannot be changed or tampered with, only updated by respondents if their situation changes. Algorand is encouraging everyone to take part in the survey, “even if you do not have symptoms and update when changes happen.”
Dr Tal Rabin, Head of Research, Algorand said that the IReport-Covid distinguishes itself from other applications and sources of information on coronavirus through “the combination of anonymous self-reporting and the constant retention of information on the blockchain.” She added, “Very little information is coming directly from the people in the community. I hope more people in the world will respond to the questionnaires in our app so that we can gather meaningful information.
After publishing aggregate statistics in the near future, Algorand plans to introduce tools for the community to build applications leveraging the collected data.
Algorand - First Blockchain to Defeat Trilemma
The blockchain trilemma was a term given to the pain points of trying to establish seamless transactions while maintaining all three critical properties—decentralization, security and scalability—which was originally believed to be impossible.
In an interview with Blockchain.News, Jing Chen, Chief Scientist of Algorand discussed how Algorand has solved the blockchain trilemma with its Byzantine agreement which would make it the first known platform to have all three critical properties optimised.
Chen said, “The alleged ‘trilemma’ says that among three important properties - decentralization, scalability and security, a public blockchain can hope to achieve just two of them, at most. This is not a mathematically-proven impossibility. Rather, it is used to emphasize the difficulty of achieving all three simultaneously. We believe it’s important for a public chain to achieve all three, and the Algorand blockchain does just that.”
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