Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:22 AM on Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
Gold-Backed Cryptocurrency Is Almost Here
Investors will soon be able to buy gold and stocks in the form of cryptocurrency, the same way they might buy Bitcoin.
Paxos, a New York-based firm that already offers a dollar-backed cryptocurrency (known as a stablecoin) as well as Bitcoin trading services, plans to introduce digital tokens backed by precious metals and publicly traded stocks sometime in 2019.
The company launched its stablecoin, Paxos Standard,
six months ago by tying cash reserves to a blockchain—a digital ledger
of transactions that is the backbone of any cryptocurrency. Now, it
wants to take “any type of asset and put it into a blockchain,†Paxos
CEO Chad Cascarilla told Fortune’s“Balancing the Ledger.†The goal is to move assets and settle transactions more quickly and securely and with lower fees, he added.
In order to make it work, Paxos has to ensure that it holds the same
amount of inventory—whether that’s dollars, precious metals, or
stocks—in the “real world†as are registered on the blockchain. “How you
do it with a gold token is how much gold you have in a vault equals how
many gold tokens outstanding,†Cascarilla explained. “How do you do it
with stocks? How many stocks do I have sitting in an account, equals how
many stocks in the blockchain.â€
Closest to reality is likely the tokenization of stock market
equities and bonds, assets which Paxos has already successfully tested
in blockchain transactions, Cascarilla said. “We’re getting pretty
close, and I think we’ll see it in 2019.â€
Cascarilla believes Paxos is the only cryptocurrency company with an
account at the Depository Trust Company, which holds the vast majority
of U.S. stocks and bonds, positioning the firm to potentially become the
first to bring stock trading to the blockchain. Still, Paxos, which was
the first virtual currency company to be licensed in New York, needs
additional approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
before it can roll out cryptocurrencies tied to more traditional
securities. It’s currently awaiting that approval—something the lengthy government shutdown did not help speed along.
Putting commodities on the blockchain is also underway, and “gold is
probably the most obvious,†Cascarilla said, adding that it would be
introduced “definitely this year.â€
Tokenizing precious metals opens up new possibilities that are
currently physically difficult—such as dividing up a gold bar into
smaller denominations, transporting heavy quantities more easily, or
lending the assets out more efficiently, Cascarilla explained. “Having
it sit in a vault but also having it be on a blockchain kind of bridges
those two worlds,†he said.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:54 AM on Monday, March 4th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
KPMG: Tech Execs See the Future- It’s Blockchain
Almost a full 50% of the executives polled (76% of whom are C-level executives — meaning they have titles like CTO, CEO, COO) firmly believed that blockchain is ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to change the way their company does business — within three years. That is a short time, especially in the business world.
By R.R. Hauxley
Plenty of people love blockchain.
Plenty more hate it. But the biggest chunk of people by far are those
who are neutral about it. They neither love it nor hate it. They’re just
waiting for the world to make up its mind — like when VHS fought
Betamax or Bluray fought HD-DVD. Well, the world is making up its mind
right quick — and the winner is blockchain.
A survey was recently released. A big, meaningful one. It was released by KPMG,
one of the top four auditor agencies in the world. They call it the
Technology Industry Innovation Survey and it polls over 740 gigantic
tech leaders across twelve countries around the world. The results are
fascinating.
Almost a full 50% of the executives polled (76% of whom are C-level
executives — meaning they have titles like CTO, CEO, COO) firmly
believed that blockchain is ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to change the way
their company does business — within three years. That is a short time, especially in the business world.
Taking that one step further, 41% of these higher-ups also believed
that, in these next three short years, the company they direct will, in
fact, implement blockchain tech.
Perhaps the most telling statistic, however, is the change from last
years survey. Despite the crypto bear market, despite hacks and scams,
the executives who were neutral last year are moving bullishly into the
blockchain believer category. Last year a full 42% of respondents were
neutral on all this and 30% even responded that blockchain changing
things would be “very likely.†Today the neutral camp has shrunk to 24%
— with the majority moving camp to the “we will use blockchain†side of
the story.
So you see, the battle between blockchain believers and
doubters is coming to a close. High powered executives running
multi-billion dollar companies (which produce products and services that
we all use) are learning about blockchain, believing in it, and will be
shaping their companies to use it — all in the next three years. It’s
high time, then, that those who are also neutral take a page from the
tech exec playbook and read “An Introduction to Blockchain.â€
These titans of industry are not making their decisions because of
tabloid headlines. They are educating themselves about blockchain with
proper guides. That is the only way to make proper profits. We should
follow such footsteps if we want to profit from blockchain too.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:58 AM on Friday, March 1st, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
10 Major Blockchain Trends in 2019
While cryptocurrencies took a hammering, 2018 was huge for Blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin and a myriad of other coins.
Blockchain has plenty of use cases outside of the cryptocurrency space with IBM, Oracle, and Amazon and other multi-billion dollar companies trying to capitalize on the disruptive technology.
Now, it’s time to find out what major Blockchain trends will define the current year.  Â
By: Alex Morris Â
From the Internet-of-Things (IoT) convergence to startups for the unbanked — find out what to expect from Blockchain in 2019
While cryptocurrencies took a hammering, 2018 was huge for Blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin and a myriad of other coins. Blockchain has plenty of use cases outside of the cryptocurrency space with IBM, Oracle, and Amazon and other multi-billion dollar companies trying to capitalize on the disruptive technology. Now, it’s time to find out what major Blockchain trends will define the current year.  Â
STOs replacing ICOs
Security tokens (STOs)
have been a hot topic in the crypto space, and it looks like they will
continue to be hot now that Overstock’s tZERO announced the launch of
the new STO platform on Jan. 21. The Blockchain-powered platform will
provide any company with the opportunity to raise funds by launching its
own STOs. Prior to that, the startup made an announcement about the
completion of its utility token distribution.
STOs, which combine the best features of the stock market and
cryptocurrencies, arose as a fully regulated alternative to ICOs, which
turned out to be the passing fad of 2017.
Tokenization creating more investment opportunities
The launch of the Estonia-based DEX,
which buys the shares of the biggest companies in the world in the form
of ERC20 tokens, proved that 2019 is all about tokenization. The
Ethereum-powered startup will allow non-US investors to engage in the US
stock market without any limitations pertaining to their location or
investment amount.
Crypto startup Zilliqa also recently introduced Hg Exchange, a fully regulated exchange that allows accredited investors to buy US stocks.
Tokenization already became a pervasive trend in 2018, going far
beyond the stock market, but this is the year when pretty much
everything will be tokenized – art, wine, real estate, etc.
Blockchain and IoT forming an alliance
Back in January, leading digital security company Gemalto released a report
that states that 23 percent of responders think that Blockchain
technology could be a boon for securing IoT-powered devices. Meanwhile,
almost 91 percent of businesses who do not utilize Blockchain consider
making use of the technology in the future.
The number of IoT-powered devices is expected
to reach 26.66 bln in 2019, but less than half of all businesses can
detect whether their device experienced a security breach.
IBM also illustrated the benefits for this convergence with the help of
their game-changing platform Watson IoT. Apart from bringing more
security to the table, Blockchain significantly simplifies the task of
managing different devices and increases the efficiency of the
transaction.
Wall Street transitioning from dabbling to actions
The fact that cryptocurrency prices took a nosedive in 2018 doesn’t
mean that the global financial industry is going to suddenly give up on
Blockchain. As U.Today reported earlier, Bakkt,
the ICE-backed exchange, was supposed to go live in January, but its
launch was eventually delayed due to the longest government shutdown in
history. Speaking of other ‘big-fish’ players, NASDAQ and the NYSE
plan to launch Bitcoin futures while also being keen on Blockchain.
Since the crypto hub died down, there is a good reason to believe that
2019 will be the year of exciting developments in the Blockchain space.
More decentralized exchanges appearing on the horizon
Decentralized exchanges, while actually living up to Satoshi’s
vision, have numerous usability issues that take a toll on their
popularity. There is no centralized authority that manages the users’
funds, but it’s also a double-edged sword problem – there is no way to
revert a certain transaction if private keys are stolen or lost. Keep in
mind that there are certain degrees of centralization. Case in point:
the Bancor DEX, which suffered from a $13.5 mln hack, though Charlie Lee later claimed that no decentralized exchange can lose its funds.
With that being said, major crypto startups – from Binance to Tron – have launched their own DEXs in order to spearhead the shift towards decentralization in the crypto world.
Governments will continue looking into Blockchain
The wide variety of Blockchain applications are being explored by
governments across the globe (even those ones who are openly hawkish
towards cryptocurrencies). China cracked down on Bitcoin, but this
country is hell-bent on becoming the leader in the Blockchain race.
Shanghai, Guangzhou and other major cities are all supporting Blockchain
developments. As reported by U.Today, the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology (MIIT) launched
an initiative to incentivize business who are working with the DLT
technology. Moreover, there are specific Blockchain guides in China for
educating government officials.
Estonia is yet another country
that is focused on the e-Estonia program that will digitize the
government. Meanwhile, Dubai could become the very first government that
is powered by Blockchain. The implementation of Blockchain could help Dubai save up to $1.5 bln per year by cutting the red herring and creating a fully paperless government.
Blockchain-powered startups banking the unbanked
Africa, where a substantial part of the population remains unbaked,
represents a breeding ground for different startups that utilize
Blockchain technology in order to increase economic inclusiveness. The Rohingya Project
went even further by using Blockchain to restore the identity of
stateless Rohingyas and give them access to banking services.
Real-word use cases beyond fintech
It is worth noting that Blockchain is the most disruptive technology
of the last decade, but it remains unknown to the general public. Yes,
along with Bitcoin, Blockchain was one of the buzzwords in the tech
space, but it’s all about real-world adoption. According to PwC research,
84 percent of companies have dipped their toes into Blockchain, but
they are not ready to embrace it due to numerous ‘trust issues.’ Those
who will be able to integrate Blockchain into their businesses will turn
out to be the true winners of 2019.
Scalability becoming one of the main issues
Without a doubt, scalability is one of the major bottlenecks of
Blockchain, which poses a major hindrance to mainstream adoption. That
became very evident when CryptoKitties, one of the best-known dApps,
created congestion on the Ethereum network. Bitcoin and Ethereum are
only able to handle seven and 25 TPS (this level of scalability doesn’t
hold a candle to mainstream payment processors in the likes of VISA).
Hence, many promising solutions, such as sharding and sidechains, are expected to be implemented in 2019. Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN),
for example, is witnessing growing popularity with major industry
players, with an eye-popping 830 percent surge in half a year. LN will
significantly boost Bitcoin adoption while solving scalability pain
points.
Blockchain jobs will become more common
Despite Bitcoin, the major use case of Blockchain, taking a hammering
in 2018, the number of Blockchain-related jobs continued to grow
throughout the year. Moreover, as reported by CNBC,
the salaries of Blockchain engineers skyrocketed to $175,000 per year,
which means that they receive the highest salaries in the software
development niche on par with AI specialists. According to Hired CEO
Mehul Patel, ‘there’s a ton of demand for Blockchain.’ On top of that,
Upwork, the leading freelance platform, had a 35,000 percent uptick in
the number of Blockchain freelancers (it’s the fastest-growing freelance
sector).
However, earning a six-figure salary is not an easy feat. Blockchain developers
have to code in numerous languages, including Go and Solidity. As
mentioned above, major companies do not want to miss the boat on
Blockchain, so they are striving to hire talented programmers.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:38 AM on Thursday, February 28th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
A blockchain-based home equity loan platform, Figure, has raised $65 million from various major financial and venture capital firms, tech news site TechCrunch reports on Feb. 27.
The firm, which was founded by SoFi founder and former CEO Mike Cagney, reportedly raised the funds from such majors as Morgan Creek, DST Global, DCM, Ribbit Capital and Nimble Ventures. The recent investment bumps the total funds raised by the firm up to $120 million, according to TechCrunch.
Cagney’s new firm, which reportedly has issued over 1,500 equity
lines, is purportedly targeting older clients who are “cash light and
rich in equity†or “CLAREs.†The company is currently lending $1.5
million per day, a figure which Cagney expects to double every few
months, reports American Banker.
The founder told American Banker, “At the end of 2019, Figure should
look like a robust financial platform that can meet the needs of our
customers.” Cagney also added that Figure is moving into other areas
like wealth management, checking accounts, and unsecured consumer loans.
Cagney’s former company SoFi is partnering with major United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase
to roll out crypto trading support. The partnership with Coinbase will
purportedly allow SoFi to launch crypto services by the second quarter
of this year. CEO Anthony Noto said in an interview:
“Our target audience wants to see what the price of cryptocurrency
is, and to buy it. They have a desire to do that and in many cases they
already are.â€
Noto assumed the role of SoFi CEO after Cagney stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations in 2017. Cagney told American Banker:
“One of the biggest takeaways is that at SoFi, we grew so fast and we
never really understood what we were going to grow into, and culture
never took a front seat. [At Figure] we have a very clear adherence to a
‘no-asshole’ policy.”
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:45 AM on Friday, February 22nd, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
Why 2019 May Become The Year Of Enterprise Blockchain
Last year, 95% of companies across different industries were investing in blockchain tech projects.
In 2019, those pilot projects are finally moving from the test stage to the end users.
Goldman Sachs, a former vocal skeptic of the blockchain, has launched a crypto-investing product for their clients in the end of last year.
Last year, 95% of companies across different industries were investing in blockchain tech projects. In 2019, those pilot projects are finally moving from the test stage to the end users. Goldman Sachs, a former vocal skeptic of the blockchain, has launched a crypto-investing product for their clients in the end of last year. Beyond investing and finance, major blockchain projects have been released in several other industries including cybersecurity, healthcare and agriculture.
Enterprises no longer question whether blockchain is even worth the attention, according to Sky Guo, CEO of Cypherium,
a startup offering enterprise-ready blockchain solutions. On the
contrary, Guo says they are now proactively seeking new ways of
incorporating this technology in their legacy systems. Henri Arslanian,
head of fintech and crypto department at PwC, said that
2018 ‘cleared the noise’ in the blockchain space, and 2019 will be the
year when big players enter the crypto world. Indeed, in the first
months of 2019, several major companies have signed off new partnerships
with blockchain startups (ING Bank and R3); invested in blockchain projects (Nasdaq and Symbiont); and new consortium partnerships emerged (Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and R3).
Further in 2019, we should see more
enterprise-level decentralized ledger technologies (DLTs) emerging on
the market as the underpinnings for those a strong.
1. Ready-to-use software is now available from top vendors
Amazon, IBM and most recently Oracle offer enterprise-grade blockchain solutions. R3 – an international blockchain consortium, also plans to unveil its platform, Enterprise Corda, later this year.
“Unlike the open-source blockchain
software, enterprise solutions come with better scaling mechanisms,
security, privacy and additional protocol changes that make them more
attractive to the private sector,†Guo
said. “In our case, we have improved upon the existing Ethereum
consensus mechanism to maximize decentralization and scalability,
without sacrificing one for the other. This, in turn, allows to achieve higher transaction speed and smart contract execution time.â€
The particular appeal of
enterprise-grade DLT is that it also enables unprecedented collaboration
opportunities not just within large organizations, but cross-company as
well. Several of the largest world food suppliers including Nestle,
Unilever, Walmart, Kroger and others, are working with IBM to create a global food tracing system on blockchain.
The collaboration is a crucial factor here to reach complete visibility
into the origins of potentially hazardous goods and rapidly trace the
source of contamination. Guo said enterprise-grade solutions set unified
standards for such collaboration, enabling faster adoption and better
interoperability between companies, ultimately benefiting everyone in
the industry.
2. Interoperability has significantly improved
Lack of connectivity mechanisms
between different types of blockchain solutions was a major roadblock to
wider adoption. But these days, tech companies are presenting new
viables ways for establishing connections between different ledgers.
Ripple has released an Interledger –
mid-ware arbitrary protocol that can “connect†different types of
ledgers, both distributed and traditional centralized ones. Its main
goal is to improve interoperability between financial institutions. The
additional benefit is that Interledger allows users to store aggregate
transaction data off a public blockchain by using a connector to
transfer funds between private versions of the Ripple network.
“Customer data privacy remains a sore
point for enterprises as they must constantly upgrade their systems to
remain compliant with emerging regulations,†Guo said. “By leveraging
blockchain businesses can actually reduce their data ownership. Customer
information recorded on the distributed ledger doesn’t have to change
hands when transactions are executed. Instead, users can simply grant
permission for access to those records whenever needed. This, in turn,
allows enterprises to remain compliant with less effort, and users can
benefit from greater privacy and security.â€
3. The overall improved understanding and sentiment around blockchain
Blockchain is no longer viewed as an abstract technology supporting crypto-currencies. Over a half (58%) of investors and 55% of consumers feel
that blockchain are optimistic about the blockchain’s potential for
money transfers. What’s more important though, is that customers’
perception of the blockchain is changing too. Per Deloitte survey,
only 18% of respondents in the US consider blockchain to be just “a
database for money†with little other applications outside the financial
industry. For the majority, it’s a promising new technology capable to
transform a multitude of business processes.
In fact, that’s how most businesses now view blockchain. According to
the same survey, 74% of companies state that they already have a
“compelling business case†for blockchain technology; 34% already
initiated a blockchain deployment.
As the sector clears of opportunistic
ICO projects and speculative use cases, Guo argues that enterprises are
becoming the key market players. And as more successful projects
emerge, legacy companies are feeling an increasing pressure to innovate
as well. With ready-to-use software and a burgeoning ecosystem of
blockchain consortiums joining the bandwagon has become easier than
ever.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:33 AM on Thursday, February 21st, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
Report: Bank of China Joins New Blockchain Platform for Property Buyers
Property development firm New World Development and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) will jointly launch a blockchain platform for home buyers with the Bank of China reportedly being the first bank user.
Property development firm New World Development and the Hong Kong
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) will jointly
launch a blockchain platform for home buyers with the Bank of China reportedly being the first bank user. The news was announced by local news outlet the Standard on Feb. 20.
The platform reportedly aims to replace paperwork operations — such
as signing the Provisional Sale and Purchase Agreement or a mortgage
application — with digital authorization. This will supposedly allow
users to send the purchaser’s authorized, encrypted and digitally signed
provisional agreement to selected banks.
Integration of distributed ledger technology (DLT) into
organizations’ internal processes is estimated to help reduce banks’
operating costs by 15 to 60 percent, while the platform itself expects
to see an increase in the number of users.
ASTRI CEO Hugh Chow reportedly said that DLT could reshape property
market operations, resulting in efficient and flexible property buying
procedures, while the HKMA argued that DLT “allows all […] users in
the ecosystem to share customer information and transaction histories
securely over a distributed data infrastructure, without compromising
customer privacy or sensitive business information.”
Last August, Bank of China — one of the four largest state-owned banks in China — partnered
with financial services corporation China UnionPay (CUP) to jointly
explore blockchain technology applications for payment systems. Within
the initiative, CUP was set to build a unified port for mobile
integrated financial services, where cardholders will be able to use a
QR code to spend, transfer and trade on a cloud flash payment app.
In January, China’s self-regulatory bank organization, the China Banking Association (CBA), announced
it will launch a blockchain-based platform to improve efficiency across
the sector. The project, formally dubbed the “China Trade Finance
Inter-bank Trading Blockchain Platform,†aims to use blockchain to
target trade finance, transactions and other financial services.
China has been actively adopting blockchain technology in various sectors. Recently, the country’s government issued
the “Guiding Opinions on Rural Service Revitalization of Financial
Services.†The new framework aims to use emerging technologies like
blockchain to “improve the identification, monitoring, early warning,
and disposal levels of agricultural credit risks.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:10 AM on Tuesday, February 19th, 2019
Coinbase has acquired blockchain analytics startup Neutrino as part of a wider push to offer more diverse crypto assets across borders.
“This is particularly important as we work with regulators and agencies in different countries to bring new assets there,†Coinbase’s director of engineering and product, Varun Srinivasan, told CoinDesk
Coinbase has acquired blockchain analytics startup Neutrino as part
of a wider push to offer more diverse crypto assets across borders.
“This is particularly important as we work with regulators and
agencies in different countries to bring new assets there,†Coinbase’s
director of engineering and product, Varun Srinivasan, told CoinDesk. He
added that Neutrino would help Coinbase identify “which new tokens are gaining value and gaining traction in the space.â€
Neutrino’s eight employees will move into Coinbase’s London office
this week, retaining their distinction as a separate entity in order to
continue serving external clients. Srinivasan said this acquisition will
help Coinbase research new assets while simultaneously ensuring the
cryptocurrency exchange can identify undesirable activity, like theft,
without handing over internal information to external
companies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The move comes just a few weeks after Israeli blockchain analytics
firm Whitestream identified a Coinbase account that was funneling
bitcoin donations to the Palestinian military-political group Hamas,
which the U.S. government deems a terrorist organization. Coinbase
declined to comment on this incident and Srinivasan said the Neutrino
acquisition was already in the works for some time.
Broadly speaking about the benefits of owning an in-house analytics
platform, Srinivasan said: “We are beefing up our abilities to do
compliance and to work with regulators on issues across the space.â€
Neutrino CEO Giancarlo Russo said in a statement that the acquisition
was an “important milestone†for innovation in Italy, where it is
based, adding:
“We decided to join Coinbase because we’re totally aligned with the
company’s mission of building an open financial system and we share the
same commitment to regulation, compliance and security in the
cryptocurrency space.â€
Compared to its competitors, such as Whitestream and Chainalysis,
Srinivasan said the Neutrino team was working much faster to include
features for cryptocurrencies beyond bitcoin. Plus, Neutrino’s European
connections could help Coinbase gain a foothold in that region.
“They’ve done a really good job of building up in the European
market,†Srinivasan said. “But we want to bring them to the American
market and the international market and introduce them to companies that
are doing all kinds of things with crypto that need blockchain
intelligence.â€
Srinivasan prefers the term “blockchain intelligence,†rather than
analytics because it includes the aim to predict trends based on data
insights, among other applications.
Rising sector
Blockchain analytics is becoming an increasingly important part of the broader cryptocurrency landscape.
Jonathan Levin, co-founder of the rival blockchain analytics firm
Chainalysis, told CoinDesk his company is now working with 100 clients
across the industry, including exchanges.
While Coinbase was busy acquiring Neutrino, Chainalysis raised a $30 million Series B and opened a new office in London, preparing to expand even further into the European market now that the European Union’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive is expected to inspire new compliance requirements in several countries.
“Our revenue in 2018 quadrupled,†Levin told CoinDesk, declining to
specify how much Chainalysis earned. “We’ve definitely seen an increase
in demand across the board. And that’s because we’ve seen greater
clarity in regulation, in APAC [the Asia-Pacific region] and in Europe.â€
Coinbase has a significant amount of historical data that could help
differentiate Neutrino from younger analytics startups. Overall,
Srinivasan said Coinbase is looking to become the “Google of cryptoâ€
with “many different products†across the sector.
Srinivasan also added that several other acquisitions are still in
the works related to smart contracts and diversifying crypto-asset
offerings.
“If we see a really great team that’s built a really great product,
like Neutrino, for example, you’ll see us go out and talk to them and
try to bring them into the Coinbase family to extend the suite of
products that we have,†Srinivasan said.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:59 AM on Friday, February 15th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
Mass Adoption is Coming: The Biggest US Automaker Turns to Blockchain to Help Save Millions in Identity Theft
General Motors Financial has partnered with blockchain company Spring Labs to help reduce identity theft.
It’s a move that could potentially save the car maker millions of dollars in fraud costs.
As CCN previously reported, 95% of carmakers expect to use blockchain technology in the next three years, but General Motors is leading the pack.
The partnership will see GM Financial, the finance branch of General
Motors, join Spring Labs’ Spring Founding Industry Partners Program. The
initiative is designed to advance the role of blockchain in data
sharing.
This is a huge nod towards real-world adoption of blockchain technology.
Very excited to officially unveil our partnership with @gmfinancial, one of the largest global providers of auto financing with operations in North America, South America, and Asia. https://t.co/DQ3HPpslXf
Speaking to Forbes,
GM Financial Chief Strategy Officer Mike Kanarios said he believes
blockchain technology will deliver a “better, faster, and cheaper
system†to identify fraud.
Solving a Million Dollar Problem
GM Financial is fighting a huge problem: synthetic identity fraud. It’s the fastest-growing form of identity theft in the US. Synthetic identity fraud is a process where someone blends various parts of people’s stolen data to create a new identity.
It’s effective and incredibly difficult to trace. By using synthetic
identity fraud, an individual can take out multiple credit cards or a
loan on a car.
“As the captive finance arm for General Motors and one of the world’s
largest auto finance providers, we are continually innovating and
evolving our fraud prevention and detection capabilities to better serve
and protect our customers and dealers.†GM Financial Chief Strategy Officer Mike Kanarios.
GM Financial is responsible for issuing loans, finance, and leasing
options. It has a presence in North America, South America, and Asia.
The company is a huge target for fraudsters and it reportedly loses
millions of dollars per year fighting identity theft.
General Motors isn’t just selling small-ticket items. If a fraudster
buys a car, it can be almost impossible to track them down to reclaim
the money. Blockchain technology could help identify and verify
individuals before they are approved for a car loan.
Blockchain technology could save General Motors millions in money lost to fraud.
Spring Labs: Raised $15 million to Kickstart Blockchain Adoption
Spring Labs is a blockchain startup that has already raised $15
million in seed money. It is developing the Spring Protocol, a
blockchain-based network which allows companies to share data and
information privately. The protocol ensures the underlying source of
data is never revealed.
To spur growth, Spring Labs launched the Spring Founding Industry
Partners Program. It has so far invited a handful of FinTech startups to
work together on research and development of its technology.
“We are excited to partner with GM Financial to create solutions on
our developing network to address vexing economic problems such as
identity fraud.†Adam Jiwan, CEO of Spring Labs.
The ultimate goal is to get companies to share information via the
Spring Protocol. By doing so, they can spot and stamp out cases of
identity fraud.
General Motors Leading the Charge in Blockchain
General Motors is one of the few Fortune 500 companies taking
meaningful steps in blockchain adoption. GM Financial is also a member
of the Hyperledger project, an initiative designed to drive real-world blockchain solutions.
62% of auto execs agree that blockchain will shake up the industry within three years, but it might be here sooner than they think.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:08 AM on Thursday, February 14th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
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companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
——————-
6 blockchain trends in 2019
2018 was yet another big year for blockchain
Organizations across many industries from retail to shipping are using the technology to counter disruptive threats, and push into new markets to create new revenue streams.
One of IBM Australia’s major projects is the work we are doing with Herbert Smith Freehills, Data61 and King & Wood Mallesons to pilot the Australian National Blockchain (ANB).
In this consortium, we are designing and building an enterprise-grade
blockchain to serve as the backbone to Australian business and address a
challenge that spans all industries – the age-old, but indispensable,
process of contracting.
The ANB will serve as an ecosystem for smart legal contracting,
bringing to life key terms and connecting these to the data sources and
business processes that they ultimately govern.
This is my third full year working solely on blockchain, and I am
often asked by organisations to help them anticipate market shifts and
changes in the competitive landscape.
So, what will this year hold for blockchain? Here are 6 blockchain trends we think you should look out for in the coming months.
1. Blockchain quietly goes mainstream
Consumers will begin to see blockchain applied to a variety of
everyday uses without even recognising it as blockchain. Much of this
exposure will come through supply chain projects, such as the ability to
scan a label on a food product – put in place by the food ecosystem to
enhance consumer trust and improve food safety and traceability.
2. Regulators flex their muscles
Expect to see government agencies worldwide issuing opinions as they
work to classify blockchain-based financial instruments and build
sustainable regulatory frameworks. For what is, in theory, a borderless
technology, borders are playing a big role.
3. Production-ready blockchain initiatives emerge in government
We fully expect to see state-led projects setting the tone in this
space and acting as the proving ground for subsequent federal
initiatives and whole-of-government work. This has started to emerge
with examples across governments in Delaware and Idaho in the United
States as well as the NSW government in Australia.
4. Engineers start skilling up
Blockchain proof of concept (POC) initiatives aren’t especially hard
but production-ready blockchains running live transactions across a
(sometimes very large) group of organisations need highly capable
software engineers.
Expect strong software engineers that turn their attention to
blockchain to become the new rock stars of the tech world in 2019.
Diverse and multi-disciplined tech teams will be as important as ever
too, to bring IOT, AI, analytics and other technologies together with
blockchain to unlock the next level of value that these networks should
bring for early adopters.
5. Blockchains get chatty
Blockchain networks to date, while sharing the same underlying
technology, typically remain siloed. But in 2019, as organisations
integrate their existing systems and business processes into these
solutions, this will in turn trigger the linkage between blockchain
solutions – likely at all levels of the tech stack.
Everyone knows that blockchain interoperability is a ‘must’ at some
point, the question is when and how it will manifest in solutions and
projects.
IBM is doing work in this space and we expect to see it becoming a
common ask from consortia and clients as we move through the year.
Standards are going to be crucial as part of this challenge too.
6. Consortiums become clearer
The word ‘consortium’ seems to get more airtime in relation to
blockchain than ever before. At the heart of consortiums, is
collaboration. Blockchain networks struggle to grow or trigger the
all-important network effect without collaboration.
Mobilising a consortium or business venture when you are establishing
governance models around shared data and distributed systems, as well
as encouraging fast product development and setting things up to scale,
is not easy.
This level of complexity is why the experience and expertise to guide
projects from a POC phase to a pilot and then to a production-ready
solution is becoming so valuable. Companies and people that know this
stuff and have done it before will be the ones to give consortiums
greater clarity and confidence this year.
Rupert Colchester is head of blockchain, at IBM Australia and New Zealand.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:54 AM on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
Blockchain Intelligence Firm Chainalysis Raises $30 Million From Accel, Others
New York-based blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by venture capital giant Accel, the company confirmed in a post on Feb. 12.
The fresh funding will reportedly be used to expand Chainalysis’ corporate operations, which include a proprietary Know Your Customer (KYC) product that allows financial institutions and digital asset trading platforms to vet and verify the identity of their clients.
The firm reports that the latest funding round was led by Accel, “with participation from existing investors.â€
Chainalysis reports that it also plans to open an office devoted to
research and development in London, with Accel partner Philippe Botteri
set to join the firm’s board of directors.
In an interview with American business magazine Fortune,
Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager revealed that, whereas 90 percent of
the firm’s revenue formerly came from clients in the law enforcement
sector — who used Chainalysis’ blockchain analytics tools to track
illicit use of cryptocurrencies — corporate clients now comprise the
lion’s share of the business, at 60 percent.
Aside from diversifying research and products, Gronager told Fortune
that Chainalysis was benefiting from the momentum of the burgeoning stablecoin sector. As previously reported, 2018 saw the proliferatingissuance and adoption of new stablecoins — a type of crypto asset designed to experience less price volatility — either by being notionally fiat-collateralized or via an algorithmic peg.
Chainalysis’ CEO remarked:
“Born out of the ashes of this [the crypto bear market and initial
coin offering downturn] was the stablecoin as another way to easily and
safely create tokens. This ability to trade U.S. dollars against crypto
is very powerful.â€
While not disclosing financial specifics, Gronager told Fortune that
Chainalysis’ revenue had grown threefold since April 2018, when it raised $16 million
from Benchmark Capital to increase the number of cryptocurrencies it
monitors. However, the company has yet to become profitable, he noted.
As reported, Chainalysis also conducts research into the blockchain sector. This January, a report from the firm argued that two — likely still active — organized hacker groups have reportedly stolen $1 billion in cryptocurrency, accounting for the majority of funds lost in crypto-related scams.
Chainalysis’ co-founder and chief operating officer, Jonathan Levin, notably declined to comment
as to whether the firm had contributed to the United States Department
of Justice investigation into the alleged use of Bitcoin (BTC)
to fund purported interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential elections.
In connection with said allegations, 12 Russian intelligence officers
were indicted in July 2018.
