Day: September 7, 2025

News about blockchain has become a lot like the parable of blind men and an elephant, each man touching its different parts while missing its larger whole. That’s because, like the internet or democracy or money, blockchain is many overlapping things.

Blockchain is best known as the technology underpinning bitcoin and other virtual “coins,” but it’s also been deployed as a decentralized record of transactions, a peer-to-peer network, an immutable database, and much more. Its tamper-proof design has made it a key weapon in cybersecurity arsenals, used to maintain cryptocurrency, secure bank assets, safeguard patient health records and fortify IoT devices.

The technology’s emergence as a force to be reckoned with has prompted tens of thousands of projects that use the software to solve problems from fighting fraud in voting systems to streamlining supply chain management to building trust in online communities. The immutability of blockchains makes it impossible for bad actors to alter tamper with vote counts or repurpose content that’s been distributed by bots, thereby enhancing transparency and trust.

This report explores blockchain’s journalistic applications, examining both targeted solutions that use blockchain to store important metadata journalists and media companies need on a daily basis and hybrid blockchain models that introduce cryptocurrency, potentially disrupting the business model of news organizations. It also speculates about the emergence of government-deployed blockchains that secure citizens’ public data and smart contracts that rely on rules codified in computer code to automate processes like closing claims, notarizing documents and recording deeds.

An economic forecast is an estimate of future economic conditions. These estimates are used for a variety of purposes, including government budgeting and private investment decisions. An economic forecast can be based on a number of different methodologies, including econometric modeling and regression analysis. These models are based on the use of historical data to determine relationships between variables, such as income and consumption, or productivity and interest rates. Other methods include market research, business surveys and human behavioral studies.

The global economy is expected to slow slightly this year and next as tariffs weigh on trade, and monetary policy is tightened globally. However, a rebound in consumer spending should help balance these headwinds and keep inflation below target.

A key challenge for forecasters is to take into account non-cyclical factors that will influence the economy over a long period of time. For example, the increase in the population will alter patterns of consumption and government spending in most countries, as will the aging of this cohort. The impact of these changes is likely to be much greater over the longer term, and will depend on the rate at which new technologies can reduce the need for labor.

The accuracy of a long-range economic forecast depends on the ability to model and incorporate the effects of these non-cyclical factors. However, it is important to remember that research has shown that forecasters’ biases can also have a significant effect on the accuracy of their predictions. This is especially true when special current circumstances, such as a political crisis or natural disaster, impact on economic activity in ways that are not fully understood at the time of the forecast.