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Banks complete first syndicated loan on #blockchain $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:08 AM on Wednesday, November 7th, 2018

  • Spain’s BBVA and two partner banks have completed the first syndicated loan on the blockchain, providing a working example of how transactions in the $4.6tn-a-year market can be simplified and made faster using technology that underpins cryptocurrencies
  • Syndicated loans were identified early on as a key use for blockchain in financial services, since banks rely on outdated and inefficient processes including faxes to share information between different parties who are structuring complex agreements.

Laura Noonan

Spain’s BBVA and two partner banks have completed the first syndicated loan on the blockchain, providing a working example of how transactions in the $4.6tn-a-year market can be simplified and made faster using technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.

Syndicated loans were identified early on as a key use for blockchain in financial services, since banks rely on outdated and inefficient processes including faxes to share information between different parties who are structuring complex agreements.

Combining shared databases and cryptography, blockchain technology is the basis for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Banks have seized on the technology, which allows multiple parties to have simultaneous access to a constantly updated digital ledger that cannot be altered, as a way to cut costs and speed up many activities.

On Tuesday, BBVA used a private blockchain network to arrange a $150m syndicated loan for Red Electrica, the Spanish grid operator, with co-lenders MUFG of Japan and BNP Paribas of France. Legal advisers Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills also had access to the system which allowed all parties to exchange information instantly.

The information was time-stamped, to show exactly when each event occurred, and the network was secured with user codes. Once the contract was signed, it was given a unique identifier that was recorded on the Ethereum blockchain, preserving its authenticity.

BBVA says the blockchain technology, which is being rolled out on a pilot basis, simplifies and speeds up the process of completing syndicated loans from about two weeks to a day or two. Loan signing and documentation processing, which traditionally takes a few hours, can be done in minutes.

As well as the saving time, moving syndicated loans to the blockchain will also deliver a “huge reduction in internal costs” for clients, Ricardo Laiseca, BBVA’s head of global finance, told the FT. He said: “Everything is automatically recorded by the system, in terms of back office and operational costs.”

Mr Laiseca said that BBVA had a pipeline of “five or six” other syndicated loans that would be done over the blockchain in the coming months as the pilot continues.

“We are offering these technologies for collaboration with any other banks . . . This is not just for BBVA, we feel that as a second stage (we are) working on a new markets infrastructure which will be good for everyone.”

Another platform built by fintech group Finastra and pioneered by the UK’s NatWest is offering syndicated loan servicing over blockchain, using the Corda distributed ledger technology. which is due to go live on November 17. In the broader lending space, BBVA earlier this year issued the world’s first corporate loan by blockchain.

The banking industry’s single largest blockchain project remains the Interbank Information Network, where more than 75 banks led by JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada and ANZ are using distributed ledger technology for some interbank payments.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/2b12d338-e1d1-11e8-a6e5-792428919cee

How This #Blockchain Innovation Could Impact Billions $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:42 AM on Friday, October 26th, 2018

  • Everest, a blockchain startup that began generating revenue in 2017 and now has 12 employees, is working to provide people in the developing world with a blockchain identity that will connect everyone to the 21st-century economy.
  • Founder Bob Reid, 48, says, “Everest gives the average person the ability to prove who they are, exchange value with another individual or institution, and utilize technology provided by an organization, facility, or agent army.”

There are two social issues the team hopes to address with their technology, he says.

  1. Human Trafficking: By creating an identity utility for humanity, Everest aims to combat human trafficking by supplying a simple means for parents to enroll their children, then, in the case something bad happens, the parent has the ability to flag their children as “missing.” Further, by providing a simple mobile phone app, first responders and healthcare workers are able to screen individuals to make sure that they have not been reported as missing.
  2. Borrowing Costs for Low-Income People: In frontier and developing markets the cost of capital is artificially high because of the perceived higher risk profile due to a lack of verifiable identities of people. By providing everyone with a durable, verifiable identity, and an attached digital wallet, we are bridging those individuals into a digital economy where the cost of capital is dramatically reduced.

With two IPOs and two other successful exits under his belt, Reid has the credibility to back up that statement with action. Be sure to watch the full interview in the video player at the top of the article.

Athman Ali, CEO of impact investing firm 1000 Alternatives, has partnered with Everest to address some of the economic challenges facing people and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The partnership was originally focused on reducing transportation costs in the region—cut costs of transport and the cost of almost everything else will fall, too.

“We have since deepened our partnership to position the Everest platform for use by innovators, incubation hubs and social entrepreneurs to spur innovations in the various areas that 1000 Alternatives focuses towards achieving positive social impact,” Ali says.

The expanded relationship now includes another area with the potential to impact people in dramatic ways. “Legal identity, land titles tracking and documentation of ownership and transfers of assets remain a big challenge in African countries,” Ali says. “Opportunities to use the blockchain platform to improve services in education, health and livelihoods is another set of opportunities.”

For his part, Reid likes to start a conversation with context by providing some big numbers. He says, 1.1 billion lack an ID, 2.5 billion are unbanked and 5 billion don’t have a smartphone. He sees these big numbers as both problems to be solved and as an opportunity.

He hopes to take “people from the 9th-century economy to a 21st-century economy in one step,” suggesting that some of the people whom he hopes to help are operating in a barter economy today.

Everest will generate revenue in a variety of ways but has already begun by providing biometric identity verification, charging between two and seven cents per verification. There are a few other players in the space, he says, who are charging fees in the same range. The firm will also charge for financial transactions, perhaps $2 for a remittance or 0.5% fee on new microloans. In addition, business services will generate revenue from the sale of software development kits (SDKs) and access licenses. Everest will also provide integration services to help businesses connect legacy data to the new platform.

#cryptoforgood

Deeply optimistic, I’m an author, educator and speaker; I call myself a champion of social good. Through my work, I hope to help solve some of the world’s biggest problems–poverty, disease and climate change. My books—read over 1 million times—on using money for good, perso…

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2018/10/23/were-you-talking-to-a-human-in-your-last-job-interview/#70da79b65fdf

Use of #Blockchain in Major Industries by Numbers: Retail, Manufacturing, Finance, and Others $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:54 AM on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018

  • With billions of dollars being invested annually by major corporations in blockchain development, the emerging technology has become the focal point of the long-term vision of many companies internationally.
  • The exponential increase in demand and interest in blockchain technology has enabled multi-billion dollar markets for the blockchain in major sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, retail, supply chain, IoT, and payments.

Many startups, major conglomerates, supply chain operators, and distributors have attempted to integrate blockchain technology over the past two years, to increase transparency and reduce the power of central entities in data processing.

With billions of dollars being invested annually by major corporations in blockchain development, the emerging technology has become the focal point of the long-term vision of many companies internationally.

The exponential increase in demand and interest in blockchain technology has enabled multi-billion dollar markets for the blockchain in major sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, retail, supply chain, IoT, and payments.

Blockchain in manufacturing to be $566 million by 2025

On October 4, technology research firm ReportLinker disclosed in a research paper that the market for blockchain technology in the US manufacturing sector is expected to grow to $566 million by 2025, within the next seven years.

The researchers stated that the blockchain in manufacturing market is forecasted to be worth around $30 million by 2020, and the market will continue to grow at an annual growth rate of 80 percent, to $566 million by 2025.

While the report cited the increase in demand for blockchain-as-a-service (Baas) provided by technology conglomerates such as Microsoft and Intel as a major catalyst for the growth of the blockchain in manufacturing market, it cautiously suggested that the lack of regulatory clarity in the U.S. could limit the growth of the market.

Similarly, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a Big Four auditor, expressed its concerns in regards to regulatory uncertainty in the blockchain sector of the U.S., as it restricts the extent in which the blockchain can be integrated into the existing infrastructures of large conglomerates.

According to PwC blockchain head Steve Davies, many conglomerates and startups are exploring ways to integrate the blockchain at a commercial level. However, due to regulatory hurdles, companies are unable to commercialize the blockchain at a large scale:

“Businesses tell us that they don’t want to be left behind by blockchain, even if at this early stage of its development, concerns on trust and regulation remain. Blockchain by its very definition should engender trust. But in reality, companies confront trust issues at nearly every turn.”

China recognizes potential of blockchain technology in manufacturing

Other major cryptocurrency markets like Japan and South Korea have been encouraging the development of blockchain technology and utilization of decentralized systems across various industries.

South Korea recently recognized the blockchain as one of the three key technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, alongside big data and artificial intelligence (AI), as the government disclosed its plans to promote blockchain training to bring young talent into the fast-growing industry.

But, as $393 billion Alibaba chairman Jack Ma emphasized, China operates the world’s biggest manufacturing hub, which is actively shifting to smart manufacturing strategies and technologies to optimize the creation and distribution of products.

The “Made in China 2025” initiative, a strategic plan established by the government of China to implement sophisticated and advanced technologies to revolutionize China as an innovative hi-tech manufacturing powerhouse, is encouraging local firms to apply smart solutions, green development, and emerging disruptive technologies like the blockchain to efficiently manufacture products.

In a total of ten industries that include robotics, railway transport, hi-tech ship development, energy, agriculture, new material manufacturing, IT, and aerospace equipment manufacturing, the “Made in China 2025” strategy will deploy many innovative solutions.

Forest Tian, a venture capitalist and founder of Precision Intelligent Technology, said that China is moving to automation in manufacturing, which requires AI and data processing technologies like the blockchain to eliminate manual labor.

“The biggest trend in manufacturing is that automation is irreversible. There will be huge demand for these machines.”

At World AI Conference 2018, Ma firmly emphasized that if the blockchain, AI, and IoT projects fail to target the manufacturing industry, the three technologies will eventually fall behind.

“AI, Blockchain and IoT will be meaningless tech unless they can promote the transformation of the manufacturing industry, and the evolution of the society towards a greener and more inclusive direction.”

Depending on the stance of the Chinese government towards blockchain technology, the blockchain in manufacturing market of China could surpass $1 billion, given the current size of the smart manufacturing market of the nation.

Less than four months ago, Chinese government-run national television network CCTV characterized the blockchain as a revolutionary technology that could be 10 times more valuable than the Internet.

“Blockchain is the second era of the Internet. The value of blockchain is 10 times that of the Internet. Blockchain is the machine that produces trust.”

The State Council of China also requested local government agencies to speed up the development of the blockchain, which could encourage the use of the blockchain in smart manufacturing.

“To build a regional equity market in Guangdong, according to the opening up of the capital market, timely introduction of Hong Kong, Macao and international investment institutions to participate in transactions. We will vigorously develop financial technology and accelerate the research and application of blockchain and big data technologies under the premise of legal compliance.”

How blockchain in agriculture enables a $430 million market

A study entitled “Blockchain: Agriculture Market Forecast until 2023” released on October 4, estimated the blockchain in agriculture and food supply market to be worth around $60.8 million. By 2023, within the next five years, researchers at ReportLinker stated that the market will grow to $429.7 million, at a compound annual growth rate of 47.8 percent.

“The blockchain market is expected to grow, owing to the increase in the demand for supply chain transparency along the agriculture and food verticals.”

Already, influential food product suppliers such as Dairy Farmers of America’s food supply chain and Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, have started to utilize the blockchain to track certain products.

Intel, the $213 billion chip manufacturing giant, launched the Sawtooth Enterprise Blockchain in 2017, a decentralized network that prioritizes scalability and security to transfer seafood internationally with a higher level of transparency.

Hyperledger, a major blockchain consortium operated by the Linux Foundation, officially launched Sawtooth under the Hyperledger banner in January, to cooperate with its member conglomerates to test the blockchain.

With strong infrastructure being built by Intel, Hyperledger, and public blockchain projects, a growing number of food suppliers have started to run pilot tests on the blockchain. Walmart and Nestle, along with 10 corporations in the food industry have been working with IBM to operate IBM Food Trust, an initiative that utilizes the blockchain to improve the traceability of food products.

Frank Yiannas, Vice President of Food Safety at Walmart, said in an interview that the existing traceability systems employed by food suppliers are costly and impractical.

“We never had the intention of creating a product, all this started with the notion that we want to create a transparent food system. The way forward is decentralised as opposed to a supplier getting into a centralised database and putting data in there and the central authority owning the data. In this blockchain ecosystem, if you get into it and give data, it is your data, you own it.”

Considering the progress that has been made by 12 of the world’s largest food suppliers to actively test, utilize, and implement the blockchain, it can be said that the food supply industry could be one of the first sectors to see actual widespread adoption of blockchain technology.

Already, as IBM offering director and vice president of blockchain solutions Suzanne Livingston explained, IBM Food Trust and the 12 companies have tested the applicability of the blockchain for over a year, clearing 500,000 transactions.

“We have been in production for close to a year. We are working with a handful of companies. General availability will be announced in the third quarter. We can then onboard a higher volume of companies. We are starting on a small scale to make sure we’re getting it right. We are very close to being there.”

Biggest market of blockchain is retail, $2.3 billion market

In June, MarketsandMarkets published a new market research report “Blockchain in Retail Market by Provider, Application, Organization Size, and Region – Global Forecast to 2023,” disclosing that the blockchain in retail market is currently valued at $80 million.

By 2023, the researchers forecasted that the blockchain in retail market could grow to $2.339 billion, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 96.4%. That is, the highest CAGR and forecasted growth amongst any blockchain-related industry.

The study suggested that the U.S. will lead the blockchain in retail market in the years to come, as the government has acknowledged blockchain technology as an important component of its innovation economy. Leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers have also started to offer blockchain-related solutions to conglomerates.

“Retailers have recognized the blockchain technology’s potential for the efficiency of supply chain systems and started adopting the technology to develop business applications. Moreover, the US government is exploring the blockchain technology to boost the innovation economy.”

For retail, a blockchain network that is able to handle at least 50,000 transactions per second is required to facilitate large supply chains that support merchants.

The researchers said that major blockchain vendors including IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bitfury, Auxesis Group, Cegeka, BTL, Guardtime, Loyyal, and BigchainDB are actively developing business applications of the blockchain.

Blockchain in finance: $3 trillion

The offshore banking market, which is mostly dominated by financial institutions and banks that oversee savings accounts for high profile retail traders and institutional investors, is estimated to be valued at around $32 trillion.

Coinbase alum and crypto investment firm 1Confirmation founder Nick Tomaino stated during an interview that based on speculation alone, the blockchain in finance market could achieve several trillion dollars in valuation.

“I see investing and speculating as adoption. I think it is possible that crypto gets from $200 billion to several trillion on just that [speculation]. From my perspective, what I’m seeing globally in terms of viewing this new investable asset class I think that’s possible.”

Most banks that operate in the offshore banking sector generate profit from transaction fees that occur when processing large transactions. For a transaction that surpasses $1 million, even on Transferwise, a platform that eliminates hidden bank fees, it costs over $7,500 to process it.

If the blockchain disrupts the global financial system, it is highly likely that the technology significantly impacts the offshore banking market by providing decentralized alternatives to investors that need to transfer value.

On October 16, a Bitcoin investor sent 29,999 BTC, the largest BTC transaction in recent months worth about $194 million, with a $0.01 fee. Given that it costs around 1 percent of the transaction to clear a $1 million payment in fiat currency, to send a $194 million transaction could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars with legacy systems.

As such, Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said in a recent speech that Alibaba is closely studying blockchain technology to ensure that a cashless society in which everyone is inclusive can be established.

“I pay special attention to cashless society and blockchain technology. Mine and Alibaba’s job is we will move the world into a cashless society. The society can make everybody equal, inclusive to get the money they need, make sure it is sustainable, and is transparent. I hate corruption. I don’t have opportunity is ok. But I don’t want somebody through a dirty way take away my opportunity. This is why we want a cashless society.”

There exists several public blockchain projects, such as Ripple and Stellar, that are working with banks and payment service providers to leverage the blockchain as a base layer to process payments.

Chain, which was acquired by Stellar to create Interstellar, collaborated with Visa to implement the blockchain prior to its deal with Stellar. Ripple has secured a partnership with Banco Santander to process payments on its mobile application with the Ripple blockchain network.

If some public blockchain networks can secure a fraction of the market share of the offshore banking sector and traditional stores of value like gold, then a multi-trillion blockchain market in finance could be achieved.

So far, blockchain in retail is predicted to be the biggest market for the new technology by 2023 at $2.3 billion. With analysts expecting blockchain technology in agriculture to be worth $430 million, and $500 million in manufacturing, a rapid growth of the technology has been foreseen.

Blockchain in energy and insurance are also predicted by MarketsandMarkets to grow to $7 billion and $1,4 billion respectively by the end of 2023, at a compound annual growth rate of 84.9 percent.

The $7 billion growth target of the blockchain in energy industry assumes exponential development will continuously be made in the blockchain in energy market, which remains uncertain at the current phase of growth.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/use-of-blockchain-in-major-industries-by-numbers-retail-manufacturing-finance-and-others

Bank of America $BAC : #Blockchain Market Could Hit $7 Bln, Will Give Boost to Amazon$AMZN, Microsoft $MSFT $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:07 AM on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018

  • The Bank of America (BoA) has estimated that blockchain could be a $7 billion market and provide a major boost to corporate giants such as Microsoft and Amazon, CNBC reports Oct. 2.
  • While BoA’s analysts refrained from putting “a time stamp” on the industry becoming a major, multi-billion dollar addressable market, they reportedly based their estimates on a ballpark figure that two percent of corporate servers would be used to run blockchain at a cost of $5,500 annually.

By Marie Huillet

BoA research analyst Kash Rangan told CNBC that the technology is well-suited to some of the world’s largest corporations, noting for example that:

“Amazon will benefit from incremental cloud services demand from Blockchain implementation, while improved supply chain tracking should make Amazon’s retail operations more efficient.”

Rangan emphasized, however, that while many potential use cases for blockchain have been widely recognized, “full products/services have not yet been built out and are not used in production,” leaving the technology’s capacity to generate real-world capital still unproven.

Rangan added that the innovation of distributed ledger systems could take so-called “software as a service” (SaaS) models to the next level by implementing “blockchain as a service” (BaaS). Rangan chose Microsoft’s popular blockchain-based Azure platform as a salient example, stating:

“BaaS on Azure offers services such as smart contracts and other third party apps, and should benefit as use of blockchain on Azure increases.”

Among other high-profile beneficiaries poised to benefit from blockchain, BoA included Oracle, IBM, Salesforce.com, and VMware, as well as major players from the real estate and mortgage industries such such as Redfin, Zillow, and Lendingtree.

Notably, many of the firms recognized by BoA have already made major forays into the blockchain space.

Fresh data published late August revealed that IBM is vying with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba for the top spot on a new list ranking global entities by the number of blockchain-related patents they have filed to date. This summer, tech giant IBM closed a seminal five-year $740 million deal with the Australian government to use blockchain to improve data security and automation across federal departments.

Microsoft, for its part, first announced the launch of its Ethereum-based Azure cloud computing platform as early as 2015, and continues to improve on the product. Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud platform this spring introduced a framework for Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric that allows users to build and manage their own blockchain-powered decentralized applications (DApps).

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of-america-blockchain-market-could-hit-7-bln-will-give-boost-to-amazon-microsoft

ThreeD Capital $IDK.ca Announces New Vice President of Investments $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:11 AM on Monday, October 1st, 2018

Threed capital

  • Announced today the addition of Jordan Black, as Vice President, Investments.
  • Mr. Black is a Professional Engineer, with over 8 years’ experience as a consulting engineer
  • He is experienced in global financial markets and a successful equity, commodity, derivatives and cryptocurrency trader

TORONTO, Oct. 01, 2018 — ThreeD Capital Inc. (the “Company”) (CSE:IDK), a Canadian-based venture capital firm focused on investments in promising, early stage companies and ICOs with disruptive capabilities, is pleased to announce today the addition of Jordan Black, as Vice President, Investments.

Mr. Black is a Professional Engineer, with over 8 years’ experience as a consulting engineer.   He is experienced in global financial markets and a successful equity, commodity, derivatives and cryptocurrency trader. He is currently working with several early stage and mature blockchain companies.  Currently, Mr. Black is a business development manager at Metalyfe.com, providing business development and leadership skills to help scale the Metalyfe browser into the next internet paradigm shift. Mr. Black also consults with industrial scale cryptocurrency mining firms where he provides operational support.

Previously, at the consulting firm Tulloch Engineering, Mr. Black started the Geotechnical Engineering Division, where he provided design solutions, project management and supported the business development in renewable energy, infrastructure, and mining division.

Along with his appointment, pursuant to the Company’s stock option plan and subject to Canadian Stock Exchange approval, the Board has granted 200,000 stock options to Mr. Black, exercisable at $0.10 per share for a term of up to five years.  The options will vest quarterly over a period of 18 months.

About ThreeD Capital Inc.

ThreeD is a publicly-traded Canadian-based venture capital firm focused on opportunistic investments in companies in the Junior Resources, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain sectors.  ThreeD seeks to invest in early stage, promising companies and ICOs where it may be the lead investor and can additionally provide investees with advisory services, mentoring and access to the Company’s ecosystem.

For further information: Gerry Feldman, CPA, CA Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
[email protected] Phone: 416-941-8900 ext 106

#Blockchain And The Future Of Finance $IDK.ca #Blockstation $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:12 AM on Wednesday, September 12th, 2018
  • Formally, blockchain is a digital ledger technology (DLT), which focuses on recording and storing transactions of any type in a shared platform
  • Indeed, what if there was just one, unimpeachable version of the truth? That is the promise of blockchain technology

John E. Mulhall Brand Contributor

What if everyone involved in a financial transaction could share the same ledger—and it was always up to date? No need for reconciliations, with simultaneous settlements immediately available to all participants, and instant visibility into accounts receivable, the supply chain and virtually all relevant transactions.

Formally, blockchain is a digital ledger technology (DLT), which focuses on recording and storing transactions of any type in a shared platform.iStock

Indeed, what if there was just one, unimpeachable version of the truth? That is the promise of blockchain technology.

While blockchain is often mentioned in conjunction with cyptocurrency platforms like Bitcoin, the underlying technology goes way beyond those nascent digital currencies. Formally, blockchain is a digital ledger technology (DLT), which focuses on recording and storing transactions of any type in a shared platform.

What Is a Blockchain?

As the word suggests, a blockchain is a series of connected blocks, or boxes. Each block contains data involved in a specific transaction. As each transaction occurs, it is stored in a block and added to the chain. Together, the blocks form a distributed database that can hold a growing number of records—a blockchain.

But unlike a traditional database, in which information resides in unique repositories across multiple partners and must ultimately be reconciled, the distributed blockchain database creates a single, shared digital ledger.

To protect the integrity of data, each block must be validated by every participant and secured using electronic cryptography. Changes cannot be made without the approval of participants. Think of it as having a notary there to verify every transaction. This chronological chain of transactions thus provides a single source of secured, up-to-date information that all authorized parties can share.

For a quick explanation of how blockchain works, read Blockchain and the Future of Finance.

A Finance Windfall

The potential benefits for CFOs and their finance teams are compelling: New levels of data transparency, faster access to information and features like “smart contracts” will bring significant changes to financial operations. Among other things, the recent report from KPMG analysts identified the following benefits:

  • Increased efficiency: A single ledger that’s continuously synchronized throughout a network eliminates the need for reconciliations. KPMG research suggests as much as a 40 percent increase in efficiency due to straight-through, “single version of the truth” processing.
  • Reduced loss and fraud: Immutable records visible to all participants may improve data accuracy and security. This can help reduce the risk of fraud and show compliance through an audit trail.
  • Improved customer experience: Using blockchain to share information with clients and vendors may allow companies to serve customers more quickly and even find new sales opportunities. KPMG research predicts a 25 percent improvement in customer experience due to faster processing and use of digital channels.
  • Higher availability of capital: According to KPMG analysis, blockchain technology will reduce capital consumption due to quicker settlement of trades, straight-through processing, and and freed-up capital flows.

A New Future for CFOs

Blockchain is also going to have significant impact on financial operations. The KPMG analysts who have been studying the technology anticipate these key trends:

  • Work with existing systems: Blockchain will not replace current ERP systems overnight. However, it may take time to fully realize the benefits of blockchain’s real-time view of data.
  • Go private, then public: Finance organizations will start with private blockchains to retain sensitive data, but could eventually add permissioned blockchains for industry partners and even customers.
  • Mind the regulations gap: It’s going to take time for government regulators to understand the technology and its decentralization of financial activities.

Evaluating Blockchain for Your Business

Blockchain will have a big impact on core processes: Quote-to-cash, source-to-pay, and acquire-to-retire processes will all be affected.

But blockchain is not the latest new cure-all. It’s important for CFOs and executive leaders to address a number of questions about when and how blockchain implementation makes sense for their businesses, including:

  • What types of transactions are best handled by a blockchain technology?
  • What kind of infrastructure or new equipment will be required?
  • Who will manage a blockchain and new participants?
  • How can blockchain technology improve risk management?
  • What are the regulatory implications?

KPMG’s Financial Management practice and Digital Ledger Services team have developed a framework to facilitate answering these questions. To prepare for this new world, they can help you evaluate the role that blockchain can serve in your organization. To learn more, download their special report, Blockchain and the Future of Finance.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kpmg/2018/09/11/blockchain-and-the-future-of-finance/#4f5ac94f620f

Busting The Myths And Understanding The True Potential Of #Blockchain $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:51 AM on Monday, August 27th, 2018
  • There has been much excitement about the disruptive potential of blockchain technology, but there is also much confusion.
  • Some people think blockchain is used only with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or that it’s only used to enable nefarious, anonymous online transactions.
  • In reality, blockchain is one of several key technologies — along with the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and fog computing — that are revolutionizing businesses and transforming entire industries.
Maciej Kranz Incubates businesses and drives co-innovation at Cisco. IoT pioneer, investor, board member, author.

There has been much excitement about the disruptive potential of blockchain technology, but there is also much confusion. Some people think blockchain is used only with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or that it’s only used to enable nefarious, anonymous online transactions. In reality, blockchain is one of several key technologies — along with the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and fog computing — that are revolutionizing businesses and transforming entire industries. Together, these four technologies can drive new business models and deliver new value propositions while solving longstanding challenges with transparency and security in transactions that involve multiple parties and large amounts of data.

To understand the true potential for blockchain, we must first define the technology, then dispel some of the common myths and, lastly, examine some of its most exciting potential use cases.

What Is Blockchain?

Blockchain technology is a decentralized ledger that allows a shared set of computing systems to agree that a transaction between multiple parties is authentic. These outcomes are permanently recorded and consistently reconciled and updated in a cryptographically secure way. Because the ledger is distributed among all transaction participants, it exists simultaneously in multiple places, making it extremely difficult to manipulate entries or tamper with the data without the other parties noticing. Thus, what makes blockchain so important is its ability to automate trust and transparency among all parties using it.

Perhaps one of the most important innovations in the blockchain space is the reinvention of the smart contract. Smart contracts have existed for decades but are now being reimagined to operate and automate business processes in a fully decentralized fashion, enabling shared rules of engagement, conduct, and business processes to be automated and enforced ecosystem-wide. Smart contracts expanded blockchain applications beyond cryptocurrencies.

MYTH: Blockchain equals Bitcoin.

REALITY: Because blockchain technology is used in the bookkeeping for Bitcoin, many people equate the two or believe that blockchain is only used in the cryptocurrency world. Yes, both technologies originated together, but today cryptocurrencies are just one of many applications that can be run on top of blockchain.

REALITY: Blockchain used for Bitcoin is perhaps the most well-known example of a permissionless, public blockchain network in which anyone can participate. Cryptocurrencies use this type of blockchain technology because it allows all parties to track, verify and agree upon transactions, even when the individual participants remain anonymous. But this is just one of the blockchain models. Another one is a private, permissioned blockchain that is beginning to see an uptick in adoption. Some large enterprises — including Microsoft, Walmart and JPMorgan, among others — are beginning to deploy blockchain networks in which only known entities (such as partners, suppliers or customers) may participate. With a private, permissioned blockchain, a company uses protocols to achieve consensus and to verify and assemble blocks in blockchain. Such a blockchain can deliver thousands of transactions per second and provide granular management and control over who sees and accesses the transactions.

MYTH: A blockchain ledger cannot be altered.

REALITY: As previously mentioned, all parties have transparency into the transactions recorded in the blockchain ledger and each block is tied to the block before it. This transparency and visibility into a single source of truth makes blockchain extremely difficult, if not impossible to manipulate at scale. However, with that said, there is still much work to be done to ensure that blockchain networks are secure end to end. This starts with ensuring data and transactions entered in the blockchain ecosystem are adequately protected from manipulation. The infrastructure that the blockchain networks reside on must also have the necessary protections in place. In blockchain, you are only as strong as your weakest link. If integration points are compromised, then the entire blockchain ecosystem could be at risk.

MYTH: Blockchain is mainly applicable to the financial services industry.

REALITY: When discussing the potential for blockchain technology, most talk focuses on the financial services industry. In fact, new use cases for the technology are emerging almost daily across many different industries. Here are just a few:

• Ending counterfeiting in the supply chain: Companies are beginning to fight counterfeiting by implementing private blockchain ledgers throughout their supply chains. By creating a unique digital signature for each product or component, they can easily trace providence, chain of custody and transfer of ownership for end-to-end visibility. Similarly, supply chains can improve food safety and pinpoint the origins of tainted goods using a blockchain ledger.

• Managing electronic health records: Every year, deaths occur because of medical errors, some of which could be the result of health care providers not having a complete picture of a patient’s medical history. By maintaining health records in a private blockchain network, medical professionals can request permission to access a patient’s record to serve their specific purpose and record transactions on the decentralized ledger. This can help prevent catastrophic mistakes such as different physicians prescribing conflicting medications.

• Strengthening data privacy: Numerous large-scale data breaches like those at Equifax and Yahoo show that personal information is highly vulnerable when stored in online databases. With a federated digital identity model stored on a blockchain ledger, individuals could maintain more control over their personal information, giving businesses permission to access only the minimum amount of information necessary and enjoying the ability to know who has viewed their information.

These are only a few of the ways blockchain has the potential to disrupt and transform industries, positively impact our economy and even save lives. A variety of blockchain use cases are still in the proof-of-concept phase, but it’s increasingly clear that when paired with other leading technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence and fog computing, the potential to add new business value is nearly limitless.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/08/27/busting-the-myths-and-understanding-the-true-potential-of-blockchain/#71604e235113

Zebi Launches a #Blockchain Solution for #Education in #India $BTRU.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:52 AM on Wednesday, August 15th, 2018

By Cait Etherington August 14, 2018

  • India is already home to one of the fastest growing edtech markets in the world.
  • A recent announcement by Zebi, a Hyderabad-based blockchain startup, suggests that it may also be well positioned to become a leader in blockchain solutions for education.
  • With Zebi EduChain, Zebi plans to leverage blockchain technology to help educational institutions more effectively manage student records.

India’s Edtech Scene

A recent study by Google and KPMG predicts that India’s online education market will grow to USD 1.96 billion and around 9.6 million users by 2021 from USD 247 million and around 1.6 million users in 2016. The study, “Online Education in India: 2021,” further predicts that while reskilling is currently the largest edtech market in India, by 2021, both the K-12 and test prep markets will dominate. If potential for growth in India is huge, it has much to do with the region’s size. India has an estimated 260 million students enrolled in more than 1.5 million schools and 39,000 colleges and the region’s number of students and institutions is constantly growing. Currently, mobile learning is especially popular in India, which is home to approximately 290 million smartphone users and is expected to add another 180 million users by 2021. However, traditional approaches to online and mobile learning aren’t the only thing making headlines in India’s edtech scene. As Zebi’s early August announcement reveals, at least one Indian tech startup is now exploring the potential of adopting blockchain solutions for education.

Adopting Blockchain for Education

Blockchain enables digital information to be distributed but not copied. Simply put, blockchain technology has a fundamentally different foundation than traditional digital technologies because it rests upon a “distributed database” to which no single person has full access or control. Most people still associate blockchain with cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, but the technology offers a lot more than the ability to engage in financial transactions without the aid of banks.

Blockchain technology can also enable people to sign contracts and verify documents without relying on traditional third parties, and it is at the level of records management that blockchain is expected to have its greatest impacts on education. For example, colleges and universities currently spend thousands of dollars each year simply collecting, issuing, and verifying student transcripts. But what if student records could be easily verified and shared across institutions using blockchain technology instead? This is precisely the sort of solution that Zebi hopes to offer with the launch of Zebi EduChain.

Zebi’s Blockchain Solution

Zebi EduChain won’t be the first blockchain solution for education, but it will be the first one released in India. The solution is designed to offer a secure and tamper-proof way to manage educational records, and in a country with 260 million students, managing educational records is no small task. Among other things Zebi EduChain will help educational institutions assess the authenticity of candidate’s school and college certificates, which is currently a major challenge across India where there are multiple school systems operating in multiple languages. This is also no doubt why at least one large Indian institution, the International Institute of Information Technology in Basara, has already adopted Zebi’s technology.

In a news release issued last week, Babu Munagala, Zebi’s Founder and CEO, emphasized, “The issue of fake certificates is a big menace. It is quite tough for recruiters, higher educational institutions and other stakeholders to check the authenticity of a certificate. Blockchain can address this problem once and for all.” Babu also explained, “The educational institution that wants to join the platform will act as a node with full control on the data they own. They will receive requests from stakeholders to verify any certificate issued by them. They will vet the request and give an answer, checking their database. This simplifies the process in a most secure way.”

Whether or not blockchain technology eventually replaces registrar’s offices on college and university campuses is yet to be seen, but with solutions such as Zebi EduChain, it seems likely that how educational records are managed both within and across institutions is about to undergo a major overhaul.

Source: https://news.elearninginside.com/zebi-launches-a-blockchain-solution-for-education-in-india/

St-Georges Eco-Mining $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF Announces Termination of #ZeU’s Asset Purchase Agreement with Tiande and Updates Spin-Out Listing $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:45 AM on Monday, August 13th, 2018

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  • Subsidiary ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. has received a termination notice for the asset purchase agreement dated February 23, 2018, as amended May 17, 2018, among ZeU, Qingdao Tiande Technologies Limited, an affiliate of Beijing Tiande Technologies Limited’s
  • Termination notice received by ZeU was accompanied by a request to negotiate a new agreement.
  • A negotiation team composed of Vilhjalmur T. Vilhjalmsson and Mark Billings was appointed to review new proposals.

Montreal, Quebec / August 13, 2018 – St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. (CSE: SX) (OTC: SXOOF) (FSE: 85G1) announces that its subsidiary ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. (“ZeU”) has received a termination notice for the asset purchase agreement dated February 23, 2018, as amended May 17, 2018, among ZeU, Qingdao Tiande Technologies Limited, an affiliate of Beijing Tiande Technologies Limited’s (collectively “Tiande”), with the intervention of Guiyang Tiande Technologies Limited, pursuant to which ZeU agreed to purchase the rights (the “Rights”) to substantially all the intellectual property of Tiande, as more particularly described in St-Georges February 26 and May 22, 2018 press releases.

The termination notice received by ZeU was accompanied by a request to negotiate a new agreement. A negotiation team composed of Vilhjalmur T. Vilhjalmsson and Mark Billings was appointed to review new proposals. Unfortunately, despite significant concessions offered by ZeU to negotiate and finalize a new agreement, the demands made by Tiande were simply not possible to accommodate in terms of both commercial viability and securities regulations. The overriding and irreconcilable factor was the unprecedented demand by Tiande that St-Georges somehow bears alone the financial burden of the downturn in blockchain and cryptocurrency valuations over the past six months. These revised and unreasonable financial demands by Tiande rendered the transaction commercially impossible for ZeU and very unlikely to have received the acceptance of regulatory authorities during the listing process.

To this end, ZeU has commenced the process of consulting with its legal advisors to seek full reimbursement and compensation of its expenses, as well as, to review potential actions on behalf of its shareholders.

CURRENT STATUS OF ZEU

The current status of ZeU is as follows. First, it still holds an exclusive license to use Qingdao Tiande Technologies Limited and Beijing Tiande Technologies Limited’s (collectively “Tiande”) proprietary technologies, patents and know-how to develop and commercialize novel mineral commodity production chain control, tracking and trading exchanges. Second, as a result of work product over this past 6 months, ZeU has a number of meaningful commercial opportunities available to pursue, including MOU’s that have already been signed with clients that are still willing to negotiate definitive agreements. As such, ZeU intends to pursue its listing process on the CSE.

MANAGEMENT CHANGES TO FOCUS OPERATIONS

As a result of the continuing development of ZeU, the following changes will be implemented effective immediately, Mark Billings will assume the position of Executive Chairman of St-Georges and Vilhjalmur T. Vilhjalmsson will assume the position of Interim President & CEO to fully focus their efforts on following up on the legal status of the transaction termination, the mineral exploration and processing technology development within St-Georges. Frank Dumas will focus his time on St-Georges’ subsidiaries, ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. and Borealis EHF in the capacity of President to accelerate the numerous current opportunities and developments.

ZeU management understands that shareholders will have many questions over the coming days and will provide full accessibility via its CEO Verified Discussion Forum on AGORACOM at https://agoracom.com/ir/St-GeorgesEco-MiningTechnologies/forums/discussion where shareholders can post questions and/or read answers in a fully transparent manner. Shareholders are asked to post their questions and management will address them when the answers become available.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“Mark Billings”

MARK BILLINGS, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

About St-Georges

St-Georges is developing new technologies to solve the some of the most common environmental problems in the mining industry.

The Company controls directly or indirectly, through rights of first refusal, all of the active mineral tenures in Iceland. It also explores for nickel on the Julie Nickel Project & for industrial minerals on Quebec’s North Shore and for lithium and rare metals in Northern Quebec and in the Abitibi region. Headquartered in Montreal, St-Georges’ stock is listed on the CSE under the symbol SX, on the US OTC under the Symbol SXOOF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 85G1.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

The release contains forwarding looking information and statements as defined by law including, without limitation, Canadian securities laws and the “safe harbor” provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“forward-looking statements”), respecting St-Georges’ plans to spin-out its subsidiary ZeU. which is intended to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements including that the spin-out may not be completed as planned or at all due to failure to obtain shareholder or regulatory approval ,the inability to complete the Acquisition, raise sufficient capital to adequately fund ZeU or a decision of the board of St-Georges not to proceed, which decision can be made at any time prior to closing. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including, without limitation, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the timing and receipt of required approval and continued availability of capital and financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and St-Georges undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.

Copyright (c) 2018 TheNewswire – All rights reserved.

Privacy Revolution: How #Blockchain Is Reshaping Our Economy $SX $SX.ca $SXOOF $IDK.ca $AAO.ca $HPQ.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:29 AM on Wednesday, August 1st, 2018
Sherman Lee Contributor
  • Internet has provided an unparalleled means of communicating with people all over the world
  • There are more than 60 billion messages sent per day on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger combined as well as 269 billion emails sent on a daily basis
  • However, these platforms have slowly become centralized over time allowing them to become prime targets for hackers and other actors seeking to harvest our data. Both of them have continuously threatened users’ rights to privacy

Maintaining a Bitcoin farm in Canada. Lars Hagberg/AFP/Getty Images

The internet has provided an unparalleled means of communicating with people all over the world. There are more than 60 billion messages sent per day on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger combined as well as 269 billion emails sent on a daily basis. However, these platforms have slowly become centralized over time allowing them to become prime targets for hackers and other actors seeking to harvest our data. Both of them have continuously threatened users’ rights to privacy.

Blockchain technology’s disruptive force innovates the way our data are stored, allowing users to fully control personal details they would like to share in public. Leveraging the potential of blockchain technology and decentralization may well be the key to protecting our privacy.

Centralized Threat

Facebook’s recent Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal exhibited just how companies have harvested users’ private data for monetization purposes. An estimated 87 million users around the world have had their personal information used by analytical firms, making it one of the worst data breaches in social media history. While this isn’t new, it highlights the inadequate data protection that exists in our current platforms.

Technological advancement has revealed another way to manage our data through blockchain technology. But this method isn’t something novel, in fact, it harkens back to some of the earliest ideas of the internet. Decentralization set the stage for the unparalleled World Wide Web we know today. It is also a central feature of blockchain technology.

Distributed Privacy

Blockchain provides an infrastructure that allows a secure platform that provides multiple innovative use cases. The immutability and transparency that blockchain provides can gain back users’ right to privacy. However, this technology is still in its infancy.

More Than What’s On Paper: Returning The Favor

Some entrepreneurs are attempting to increase data privacy with advanced technologies that combine cryptography and blockchain. Projects such as Origo, Oasis, and Mainframe focus completely on preserving user privacy.

Baron Gong, founder of Origo, has been a privacy activist for years. Origo focuses on privacy protection of smart contracts through data computation technology. A zero knowledge proof system allows you to verify a claim without disclosing any data. Baron Gong explained, “In Origo Network, a lot of the applications we use will not be touching your data. We are touching a computational proof of your data. The blockchain does not store your data.” Users can be confident that their personal data will not be shared with multiple companies, a concerning issue surrounding centralized organizations. This is because Origo smart contracts are private whereas smart contracts like Ethereum are all public for the world to see. Although the implementation of GDPR is designed to prevent data retention by private companies, there is no way to guarantee personal data is completely deleted in a company’s data system. Blockchain’s trust-less consensus allows them to be certain that data is used properly and if wanted, deleted permanently.

Similarly, Oasis Labs designed the Ekiden system, which carries out off-chain smart contract execution within a trusted execution environment (TEE) node to maintain the same security as if it was on-chain. TEE is an isolated secure area of the main processor in which code and data are absolutely protected against software as well as hardware attacks. No one, not even the miner, can view the code being run.

Unlike current privacy coins like Monero and Zcash, securing privacy beyond the transactional level provides more real-world applications. These projects could possibly be of great benefit in finance, enterprise, and healthcare where contracts usually contain sensitive personal information.

Adoption of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain adoption has been rather slow at a local level. However, countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, and Switzerland have progressively adopted policies in support of blockchain technology and digital currencies. Estonia has also attracted some attention after initiating an E-residency program allowing citizens to register their data on the blockchain.

Of course, mass adoption also involves awareness. Mainframe, another project promoting privacy, launched the first-ever global physical airdrop. They held real-life events where they gave away $3 million worth of their tokens. There have been significant efforts to drive blockchain tech from mere cryptocurrency investment speculation to real-world implementation.

Leading venture capital firms all over the world, including FBG Capital, Zeroth Crypto, Rockaway Blockchain Capital, Chainfund Capital, Cluster Capital, Binance Labs, and Pantera Capital ,recognize the tremendous potential of blockchain tech. They invest and support numerous projects involving privacy to produce marketable products that give power back to the consumer.

Current blockchain and centralized networks has made users’ information vulnerable to potential loss or misuse. Some entrepreneurs have come up with projects that protect user’s data with advanced technologies, combining cryptography and blockchain technology. Implementation of this tech has been seen to be slowly adopted locally. With the support of venture funds and prominent entrepreneurs, this tech could give back the power and control of data to its own users.

Sherman Lee is a Partner at Zeroth.AI where he focuses on funding AI and blockchain companies, as well as a founder at Raven Protocol. Previously, he founded Rocco.AI and Good Audience.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shermanlee/2018/07/31/privacy-revolution-how-blockchain-is-reshaping-our-economy/#65bcb1681086