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ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – Banking and #Fintech on The #Blockchain $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:28 PM on Friday, December 14th, 2018

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.

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  • Fintech on Blockchain is fast disrupting the financial industry
  • The speed and scale of this disruption will mainly depend on the adoption of the new economy by the users

Gerald Fenech Contributor 

Fintech on Blockchain is fast disrupting the financial industry. The speed and scale of this disruption will mainly depend on the adoption of the new economy by the users. People have spoken, everyone is tired of black boxes, we want to be the ones to determine how much we pay for the transfer of information and finances between us.

Why long, expensive money/asset/information transfers with the participation of several intermediaries through multi-layer systems? We do not wait for days to send urgent mail across the world. We expect the technology to work for us. Then why should we accept long lead times for cross-border payments? Could it be a question of trust?

Perhaps, we still rely on traditional banks to provide consultancy, security or dispute resolutions. We rely on banks to protect us to ensure that the counterparty will meet obligations. Banks are seen by government institutions, as guarantors for safeguarding our rights and contract agreements.

But the problem remains; banks are slow at solving our problems and this slows down the markets.   Time costs money and, in order to validate each other, we are paying huge commissions to third parties for this process. Anonymity does not exist, yet we want to understand that those who we deal with go through a clear verification procedure to provide the legitimacy of transactions.

One interesting company which aims to offer change the way banking is done is Platio. It claims to be one of the first fully licensed companies that aims to provide the complete spectrum of services in its multi-asset banking system. Platio’s function is banking as a service and its  CFO, Irina Berkon certainly has her ideas clear on where blockchain and fintech are going.

“The future is in blockchainization and tokenization of the finance industry. Blockchain is the most convenient environment in which AML regulation can be applied. All transactions have trusted track records. The wide spread of blockchain in the finance industry results in self-regulation of the financial system and the best option for further development, Berkon says.

Now, let’s not confuse blockchain with unregulated crypto transactions. Legitimacy and regulation of all transactions is required. As soon as the asset is converted into cash, regulation must kick in.

For people in their early and mid-twenties, when reflecting on their parent’s life, though full of admiration for putting up what they had to in order to get where they wanted to go, feel that since tomorrow is never guaranteed, there is a little more emphasis on living in the moment whilst still planning and saving for the future.

The idea that a bank could be part of that, instead of being the nightmare that they tend to be, with inconvenient opening times and red tape galore is very intriguing. Now when I previously stated that there is a bigger sense of carpe diem with millenials, I do not mean in a frivolous way. Rather however they seem to invest more in wellness.

Millennials would perhaps gladly invest 20 minutes of their precious time into a TED talk, on the off chance that it might inspire us or change our perspective. A criticism aimed at forty-somethings like me would be that we will never bother to listen to someone not known to be an expert on a subject, talk about it. We would be full of questions like, “Why should I listen to him/her?” or “What does she/he know about anything?”

Moreso in today’s world of social media, where most of us seem so connected…but only on the surface, are really quite lonely. Again the idea of emotionally connecting to a bank is really quite radical. Moreover, a bank that goes the extra mile and tries to connect you to like-minded individuals or a community even to help them reach their full potential, their authentic self.

With other online banking apps and systems, like Revolut being such a hit, clearly there is a huge gap in the market that is yearning to be filled. Mazlow is meant to help to foster excellence and help twenty-somethings reach their full potential by not only being a bank, but also a mentor on their journey through life. To embark with them on their personal development journey.

Having been an entrepreneur from an early age, initially in the Sports & Entertainment sectors and more recently as an Ambassador for a Blockchain technology company, Mazlow founder Kash Amini said that  he came to realize that consumers are looking for much more than just a product or service.

Mazlow founder Kash AminiMazlow

“What is missing from most businesses, and particularly in finance, is a focus on authenticity and an investment in aesthetics that will cultivate and foster an emotional connection between the product or service and the ultimate end user, the consumer themselves”.

Mazlow claims to have pioneered the theory of the hierarchy of needs, the pinnacle of every human’s life being self-actualization – to be your own authentic self. They promise to help people to become their authentic self by helping them grow their community so they feel supported enough to succeed. Though it may seem like a millennial’s dreamboat, we struggle to see how speeches and a community can really lead to growth and so-called self-actualization.

Ever looking to the future, Mazlow also gives users access to 5 cryptocurrencies –  which is supposedly the next big horizon in finance and banking. Designed by a veteran entrepreneur, Mazlow is certainly promising and is definitely an original idea however it remains to be seen whether they can actually deliver on all that they pledge. A personal touch is certainly needed in the cold world of banking but catering to the specific niche of millennials may backfire altogether. After all, everyone wants to reach their potential, however, whether financial health really could lead to overall well being may be a bit of a stretch.

I am an established journalist with over 15 years of experience in politics, economy and sports journalism. I have now specialized in crypto and blockchain and have taken on several high profile jobs in this space.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/geraldfenech/2018/12/14/banking-and-fintech-on-the-blockchain/#3d54687d5bbe

Posted in All Recent Posts, Blockchain stocks, Canadian Blockchain Stocks, Smallcap Blockchain stocks, ThreeD, ThreeD Capital | Comments Off on ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – Banking and #Fintech on The #Blockchain $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – Top 5 #blockchain predictions for 2019 $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:01 AM on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018

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.

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– Decentralization of apps, not just of the ledger

– Off-chain components are important for enterprise class apps

– Recognizing the importance of non-technology issues

December 12, 2018 Emmanuel Thiriez

2018 has certainly been a year. As the days grow shorter, we can’t help but look forward to a brand new 2019 and all the amazing tech trends in store for us. Today. we’re kicking off a week of predictions for next year. First up: blockchain! Emmanuel Thiriez explains five of his predictions for distributed ledger tech for the new year.

Blockchain is an increasingly key technology for enterprises that require trustless transactions and secure record keeping. Enterprises can track transactions with greater confidence and security, and blockchain adoption – completely distinct from the cryptocurrency hype or doom – is steadily gaining in enterprise environments.

However, while the technical benefits of the blockchain technology are widely acknowledged, enterprises looking to make budget decisions and start test projects or full implementations should know where this technology is headed, what tools are needed and what challenges can be expected. I talked with Emmanuel Thiriez, founder of Amalto and Platform 6, with over 15 years of implementation and operation of enterprise applications for clients in various industries, to find out what someone “in the trenches” is seeing. Thiriez’s company has an impressive list of clients (Chevron, GE, Iron Mountain, Suez, Superior Propane, Thales) with B2B applications powered by Platform 6, a blockchain development platform.

Thiriez cautioned against overestimating the impact of blockchain in your organization “immediately,” but he is extremely bullish on the mid- and long-term prospects.

Overall, there’s every indication that enterprise adoption will continue to grow in 2019. According to Thiriez, the following 5 trends are key to blockchain success. He also brought up one highly visible blockchain project in 2019 to follow.

1. Decentralization of apps, not just of the ledger

Implementing blockchain to ensure the trustability and immutability of records is only part of the story. 2019 will see more decentralization of apps themselves. Too many applications using a blockchain ledger rely on a centralized application that represents a single point of failure and also a vulnerability that could allow tampering with the data – before it gets written to the ledger.

The same approach needs to be applied to the application’s logic, which must be decentralized with no single point of control. Each trading partner or member of the ecosystem runs their own app. Building such applications is no easy feat, but it is a required step to ensure wide blockchain adoption for business usage.

2. Off-chain components are important for enterprise class apps

Building enterprise apps is a complex project. Enterprise apps are often designed to operate in a global business or government environment, and need to display, manipulate, and store large amounts of complex data and to support automation of business processes with that data.

Applying blockchain technology is important. However, the blockchain ledger is only a small part of the overall enterprise app. Many off-chain components are also needed – user management, workflows, systems integration, user interface, APIs, security, event mediation, and many more.

In 2019, more and more only applications that are designed and architected beyond the blockchain ledger and its smart contracts will make the cut.

3. Recognizing the importance of non-technology issues

As is often the case with bleeding edge technologies, there are many non-technology issues to deal with. Ecosystem management, industry-specific practices, legal issues that have little to do with blockchain per se but everything to do with whether a blockchain implementation is successful or not.

This issue is highlighted by Forrester Principal analyst Martha Bennett, who states in her “Predictions 2019” blog post:

I often use the phrase, “blockchains are 80% business, 20% technology.” If anything, that 80% is on the low side, and we’ll continue to see projects held up or even fail because companies’ focus is on the 20%.

When implementing blockchain projects, companies that pay attention to these non-technology issues in 2019 will have greater success rates.

4. Blockchain and the Internet of Things

The convergence between blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) is picking up steam. IoT adoption is significantly increasing the number of devices and sensors that gather data, and many parties are typically involved in a business transaction based on that data.

Blockchain enables safe record-keeping through an immutable ledger, and permits decentralized operations and transactions while preserving trust between all players in the value chain. Look for the intersection of these two technologies to speed up implementation of both.

5. An evolving ecosystem

The blockchain ecosystem is continuing to evolve quickly. This past year saw the dominance of Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, and R3’s Corda as the major platforms in blockchain. It is clear that new platforms will continue to emerge with different strengths, and this will mean popularity of platforms will rise and fall. Having the ability to develop for different platforms, prototyping new ones as needed, will be a strength for enterprises. In other words, when evaluating blockchain technologies, there will be no one-size-fits-all in 2019, and companies have to be prepared to jump from one technology to the other.

Major projects will raise visibility for blockchain

Several prominent blockchain projects in 2019 will influence interest in the technology. A key one to watch is Walmart. To better ensure food safety, Walmart and Sam’s Club are requiring produce suppliers to trace their products using blockchain technology.

Can Walmart and its suppliers make sure that all the different complicated steps from farm-to-table are accurately and safely completed? If blockchain delivers as promised, this will significantly raise visibility.

Suppliers still have some time for implementation but the system outlined by Walmart is scheduled to be in place by the end of 2019.

Summary

Blockchain is evolving rapidly. 2019 will see new projects and new platforms continue to emerge. A key trend is more decentralization of apps themselves. Currently, too many apps using a blockchain ledger rely on a centralized application. Understanding of this issue is increasing. In a similar vein, paying attention to off-chain components as a key part of your blockchain project and being flexible in evaluating your blockchain platform will continue to be key pieces of success in the coming year.     Source: https://jaxenter.com/top-5-blockchain-predictions-2019-152880.html

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How Amazon $AMZN E-Commerce Giant Chose #Blockchain Over #Bitcoin $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:57 PM on Wednesday, November 21st, 2018

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.

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On November 13, Amazon was granted two crypto-related patents. While the American e-commerce pioneer, with a revenue of over $177 billion, has not chosen to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and major altcoins as a payment option despite public interest and competitors’ experience, it has not ignored the subject altogether. In fact, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing arm, has contributed to blockchain adoption.

Amazon and cryptocurrencies: refusal to accept BTC, unfulfilled plans for Amazon Coin

Amazon has a complex relationship with crypto. In April 2014, the e-commerce giant decided not to accept Bitcoin (BTC) citing customer preferences. Amazon payments head Tom Taylor told Recode in an interview:

“Obviously it gets a lot of press and we have considered it, […] but we’re not hearing from customers that it’s right for them and don’t have any plans within Amazon to engage Bitcoin.”

Curiously, the move came just few months after Overstock.com, one of Amazon’s rivals, became the first major retail company to introduce BTC as a payment option and found initial success, as its CEO Patrick Byrne claimed that Amazon would have to “follow suit.”

Taylor’s comment could have meant that the e-commerce giant would turn to cryptocurrencies once they see more exposure. However, the 2014 decision stays to date, regardless of the overall improved market capitalization and adoption, public petitions addressed to CEO Jeff Bezos, and some businesses being built around serving as the middlemen for Amazon customers willing to pay with digital currencies.

Nevertheless, Amazon has not distanced itself from engaging with crypto altogether. In May 2014, not long after announcing it had no plans for crypto, Amazon was awarded a Bitcoin-related patent for the use of digital currencies as payment for cloud computing services on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is worth noting, however, that the patent was filed back in March 2012, and crypto was mentioned as only one possible form of payment there.

In November 2017, the e-commerce giant was reported purchasing a number of crypto-related domain names including “amazoncryptocurrencies.com,” “amazoncryptocurrency.com,” and “amazonethereum.com.” It was also noted at the time that “amazonbitcoin.com” redirects to the original Amazon URL.

However, it could have been an attempt to shield the Amazon brand or avoid confusion with Amazon Coin, the company’s digital currency that was introduced in 2013 for Kindle e-book owners. The coin has not seen extensive use despite the documented public interest.

In April 2018, Amazon won a patent for a subscription feed system described as a “streaming data marketplace.” Essentially, the company claimed, it could “identify [Bitcoin] transaction participants” for governments and law enforcement. The document was filled in June 2014 and showed that while the e-commerce giant might accept the idea of dealing with crypto, it put strong emphasis on the Know Your Customer (KYC) side of the business. That, in turn, would neglect a major part of Bitcoin’s ideology and design.

Thus, Amazon has not shown itself to be exactly a pro-Bitcoin company. Nevertheless, its relationship with the underlying technology, blockchain, has proven to be much more fruitful.

Amazon and blockchain: major collaborations, contribution to adoption

On December 5, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a partnership with R3 — a major blockchain consortium of over 200 members — to allow its Corda platform to become one of the first distributed ledger technology solutions (DLT) on the AWS marketplace. Corda is an open-source DLT platform designed to work within finance to operate complex transactions and restrict access to transaction data. Basically, it allowed users to deploy decentralized applications (dApps) onto the AWS platform and to create new apps directly.

The news came as a shock, granted that just a few days before the announcement, AWS CEO Andy Jassy essentially criticized blockchain for not having use cases “beyond the distributed ledger,” noting that even those had very limited capabilities. Moreover, he reiterated the company’s policy not to “build technology because we think it is cool.”

He did add, however, that AWS was interested in ways that blockchain could benefit their customers:

“We are very intrigued by what customers are ultimately going to do there.”

Still, there were at least three blockchain-based platforms on the AWS marketplace before Corda’s arrival and Jassy’s speech, which shows that Amazon’s initial interest in blockchain arose earlier in 2017.

On April 19, 2018, AWS’s journey into blockchain continued. The cloud platform introduced its blockchain framework for Ethereum (ETH) and Hyperledger Fabric, allowing users to build and manage their own blockchain-powered DApps. Called AWS CloudFormation Templates, the tool was designed to avoid the time-consuming manual setup of one’s own blockchain network.

Next month, in May, AWS partnered up with ConsenSys, a blockchain incubator started by Ethereum’s co-founder Joseph Lubin. Specifically, the e-commerce company collaborated with Kaleido — a blockchain business cloud that aims to help firms accelerate the “entire journey from experimentation and PoCs [proofs-of-concept] to pilots and production,” and is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Together, they aim to offer simplified blockchain cloud platforms for its clients so that they can “focus on their scenario, [without having] to become PhDs in cryptography,” as Kaleido co-founder Steve Cerveny explained to CNBC.

Kaleido has since expanded to a full-stack platform dubbed “Kaleido Marketplace.” It reportedly “eliminates 80 percent of the custom code” needed to build a given blockchain project by providing an array of tools and protocols that are “plug-and-play,” spanning needs from back-end development to front-end app user interfaces.

Currently, there are around 25 blockchain-oriented platforms hosted on the AWS platform, some of which are also reporting promising results. For instance, in September, a blockchain system developed by Australia’s national science agency (CSIRO) and Sydney University claimed to have set a benchmark of 40,000 transactions per second during a test on Amazon Cloud — for comparison, BTC infrastructure normally scales up to eight transactions per second, while ETH blockchain capability is set at 15 transactions per second.

Amazon’s blockchain experiments have attracted recognition from mainstream players: for example, “Big Four” audit and consulting firm Deloitte has emphasized Amazon’s blockchain-related efforts in its October report, arguing that the e-commerce giant had been helping to stimulate technology adoption and contributing to improving the costs of operations on blockchain. Additionally, Bank of America (BoA) research analyst, Kash Rangan, told CNBC that blockchain is well-suited to some of the world’s largest corporations, noting:

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

Amazon’s latest advancement: more blockchain patents, crypto-related job ads

While Amazon has been acquiring both cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related patents, it is fair to take them with a grain of salt — as the industry is still young, a lot of players, like the aforementioned Bank of America (BoA), which currently has the most of such patents, are merely trying to mark the field before the others get there. Consequently, not all patents (blockchain-related or not) are going to be put to use any time soon. For instance, in 2016 Amazon was awarded a patent for a system to deliver goods through a chain of underground tunnels, a highly ambitious and costful goal that is probably not the company’s top priority.

On November 13, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published two more Amazon patents related to methods for protecting the integrity of digital signatures and improving distributed data storage, filed in April 2018 and December 2015 respectively.

The first patent document outlines a “signature delegation” method for “protecting the integrity of digital signatures and encrypted communications,” by allowing for the generation, distribution, validation, and revocation of one-time-use cryptographic keys. In the proposed system, these keys are arranged in what is known in cryptography as the so-called “Merkle Tree” structure, which is essentially a binary tree of hashes constructed from the bottom up.

Amazon’s second patent, is related to distributed data storage. The filing proposes a “grid encoding technique,” using groups of collected “shards,” where each shard represents a logical distribution of data items stored in a given grid. The patent filing suggests this method can help minimize storage redundancy.

While Amazon might be having more patents coming, the e-commerce giant is nowhere to be seen in the main part of patents, occupied by the likes of its Chinese counterpart Alibaba and IBM. Nevertheless, Amazon is set to continue its explanation of the technology, as the AWS platform continues hosting blockchain solutions, and the company is looking to expand its staff with more blockchain engineers.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/amazon-how-e-commerce-giant-chose-blockchain-over-bitcoin

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#Blockchain momentum is growing across Europe $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:16 AM on Wednesday, November 14th, 2018

Telefonica, Central Bank of Azerbaijan and others demonstrate that the blockchain momentum is growing across multiple industries in Europe

  • According to the IDC, “blockchain spending in Europe is now growing faster than anywhere else.”
  • Leading European companies are continuing to innovate with blockchain technology, progressing projects from proof of concept to production environments. And many, have selected IBM Blockchain as their partner of choice.

Blockchain in the enterprise

The attributes of blockchain technology are ideally suited to large networks of disparate partners. As such, it represents an attractive technology for large corporations and start-ups alike, with assets spread across the world in various forms.

The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology, which establishes a shared, immutable record of all the transactions that take place within a network. It then enables permissioned parties access to trusted data in real time.

‘By applying the technology to a variety of business processes, a new form of command and consent can be introduced into the flow of information, empowering multiple partners to collaborate and establishing a single shared view of a transaction without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality,’ according to an announcement released today by IBM.

IBM Blockchain

‘The hallmark of IBM’s blockchain business has been the ability to convene broad groups of network participants to embrace a collaborative platform approach to blockchain adoption,’ reads the announcement.

‘These clients are capitalising on the opportunity for greater trust and transparency using blockchain across a variety of industries, for example to better manage the reconciliation of international mobile phone roaming charges, securing digital identity for citizens, and complying with new European banking directives on customer communications.’

IBM has more than 500 blockchain projects globally, and is engaged across all industries. The company notes that European projects, in particular, are on the rise. According to the IDC, “blockchain spending in Europe is now growing faster than anywhere else”.

“From large enterprises to startups, across multiple industries, businesses across Europe are selecting IBM Blockchain,” said Andrew Darley, IBM Blockchain Platform Leader, Europe. “Clients are attracted by the production-readiness of the IBM Blockchain Platform, allowing them to run highly secure networks in any environment of their choosing, on premise, via IBM Cloud, or an increasing number of other industry cloud providers.”

Use cases

European clients are working with IBM to drive blockchain innovation in their industries:

Telefónica and IBM are collaborating in the development of a proof of concept based on IBM blockchain technology to help solve one of the major challenges of operators, the management of international mobile phone call traffic.

The project resolves in real time the veracity and traceability of the information generated by the different networks of the operators when they route an international call thanks to a decentralized platform to which all the operators that intervene in the process have access. As a consequence, fraudulent behaviors and discrepancies between the information recorded by each operator are significantly reduced.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan and IBM are developing a Digital Identification System based on Hyperledger Fabric for individuals and legal entities, to verify the reliability of the documents related to them, when individuals or legal entities turn to banks, credit providers and other organizations. The new system will simplify and automate the ‘Know Your Customer’ validation process, and will be used by both clients and credit organisations serving citizens of Azerbaijan.

Finnish retail cooperative S-Group is testing their Pike-perch radar solution, which is based on IBM Blockchain technology, as part of the retail group’s strategy to improve customer experience. Customers in Finland can trace a fillet of pike or perch freshwater fish back to its home waters using the QR Code on the package of “Kotimaista-kuhafile” fish, or by logging in to a tracking website.

PKO Bank Polski, together with KIR (Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa S.A. – Polish automated clearing house) and in partnership with IBM and Accenture, is using blockchain to help the bank achieve compliance with the European Union Payment Services Directive related to customer communication. Now the client documents and communications sent digitally to more than 5 million customers of the bank will be held in a highly secure blockchain-based repository.

The Central Securities Depository of Poland (Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartościowych, KDPW) has implemented their e-Voting solution in production, designed to encourage greater retail shareholder participation in company AGMs, and ensure transparency to regulators on the history of AGM agendas, and voting results.

Startup software developer Comgo.io, with support from IBM, is digitising the entire donation and spend process for NGOs using Hyperledger Fabric, a Linux Foundation project. NGO donors can see in real time what money has already been spent and the activities supported.

For example, when charity workers in India purchase hygiene products for the street children they support, the payment is tracked on a mobile phone, and written to the blockchain, allowing the approved people to see the transactions, and triggering the NGO responsible to verify that the children did actually receive the products.

The application enhances transparency to build a deeper connection between the donors and the charity, and helps donors to understand more about the work of the NGO. Comgo.io is implementing the application with 7 NGOs: Fundación Recover; Orden de Malta; Fundación Exit; Farmacéuticos sin Fronteras; KUBUKA; Itwillbe, and homelessentrepreneur.

Blockchain momentum

IBM attributes this blockchain momentum to the ease of use of the IBM Blockchain Platform and the open nature of the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework, coupled with the deep industry expertise of the organisation.

Another factor is the availability of services and developer resources on the ground in Europe, supporting clients, according to IBM: IBM Client Centres and Blockchain Garages in London and Böblingen; IBM Client Innovation Centres in Paris, Nice and Gronningen; an Industry Solution Centre in Montpellier; IBM Food Trust operational in Frankfurt; IBM Research centers in Zurich and Dublin, focused on cryptography, innovations in AI and optical imaging to help prove the identity and authenticity of objects, detect anomalies and support preventative maintenance in industrial environments; and at the Watson IoT Center in Munich, clients are engaged on projects to explore the convergence of IoT and blockchain, and how clients can automate business processes, gain competitive advantage, and create new business models, by embedding end point and sensor data into blockchain networks, to trigger smart contracts.

IBM’s Blockchain Starter Plan on IBM Cloud is also helping developers, startups and enterprises build blockchain proof-of-concepts quickly and affordably with an end-to-end blockchain development experience: a secure test environment, suite of education tools and modules and one-click network provisioning.

Source: https://www.information-age.com/blockchain-momentum-europe-123476474/

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ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca Acquires Securities of Imagination Park Entertainment Inc. $IP.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:16 PM on Friday, November 9th, 2018

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  • Acquired ownership and control of an aggregate of  4,750,000 common shares  and 4,750,000 common share purchase warrants  of Imagination Park Entertainment Inc.
  • Subject Units represented approximately 4.7% of all issued and outstanding common shares of the Company as of November 9, 2018 immediately following the transaction described above (or approximately 8.9% on a partially diluted basis, assuming exercise of the Subject Warrants only)

TORONTO, Nov. 09, 2018 — ThreeD Capital Inc. (“ThreeD” or “the Acquirer”) (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 that it has acquired ownership and control of an aggregate of  4,750,000 common shares (the “Subject Shares”) and 4,750,000 common share purchase warrants (the “Subject Warrants” and together with the Subject Shares, the “Subject Units”) of Imagination Park Entertainment Inc. (the “Company”) on November 9, 2018.  The Subject Units represented approximately 4.7% of all issued and outstanding common shares of the Company as of November 9, 2018 immediately following the transaction described above (or approximately 8.9% on a partially diluted basis, assuming exercise of the Subject Warrants only), resulting in a corresponding increase in the percentage of shares held by the Joint Actors as a result of the transaction.

Immediately before the transaction described above, the Acquirer held an aggregate of 900,000 common shares of the Company (the “Pre-Shares”), and convertible securities entitling the Acquirer to acquire an additional 2,400,000 common shares of the Company (the “Pre-Convertible Securities”) representing approximately 1.2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company (or approximately 4.2% on a partially diluted basis, assuming exercise of the Pre-Convertible Securities only).

Immediately following the transaction described above, the Acquirer held an aggregate of 5,650,000 common shares (the “Post-Shares”) and convertible securities entitling the Acquirer to acquire an additional 7,150,000 common shares of the Company (the “Post-Convertible Securities”), representing approximately 5.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company (or approximately 11.8% assuming exercise of such Post-Convertible Securities only).

The Subject Units were acquired in a private placement and not through the facilities of any stock exchange.  The holdings of securities of the Company by Inwentash and the Joint Actors are managed for investment purposes, and Inwentash and the Joint Actors could increase or decrease their investments in the Company at any time, or continue to maintain their current investment position, depending on market conditions or any other relevant factor. The aggregate consideration payable for the Subject Units was $570,000, or $0.12 per Subject Unit.

The trade was effected in reliance upon the exemption contained in Section 2.3 of National Instrument 45-106 on the basis that ThreeD is an “accredited investor” as defined herein.

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

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#Blockchain Technology Is “Underrated”: Ex- Google $GOOG CEO $IDK.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:19 AM on Friday, November 9th, 2018

  • Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of technology giant Google and executive chairman at Alphabet, has recently participated in a live event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global, where he expressed his optimistic view on the prospects of blockchain technology and, particularly, Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
  • Referred to Ethereum as a “powerful platform” with revolutionary but yet untapped potential.

by Tanya Chepkova

Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of technology giant Google and executive chairman at Alphabet, has recently participated in a live event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global, where he expressed his optimistic view on the prospects of blockchain technology and, particularly, Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. He referred to Ethereum as a “powerful platform” with revolutionary but yet untapped potential.

The private event sponsored by Village Global took place in San Francisco in September, but its details remained mostly undisclosed until Village Global decided this week to upload to YouTube a video recording of a conversation between a well-known economist, Tyler Cowen, and Eric Schmidt who was characterized in the description to the video as “one of the most influential technology executives in the world.”

During the conversation they discussed a variety of topics, from Antarctica to human life expectancy, and also Schmidt made a number of interesting remarks on blockchain technology.

When asked about his opinion on the blockchain, the billionaire investor said that there was no simple answer to the question of whether blockchain was overrated or underrated.

 “In the public format, overrated. In its technical use, underrated,” Schmidt explained and illustrated this with examples of problems that distributed ledger technology was able to solve. Also, “blockchain is a great platform for bitcoin and other currencies. And it’s a great platform for private banking transactions where people don’t trust each other.”

He also made specific mention of Ethereum by telling Cowen that this blockchain project seemed to be the most interesting and promising. Schmidt believes that Ethereum can be a “powerful platform” potentially able to upend both current business practices and the entire society.

While commenting on its major potential, Schmidt said,

“I think the most interesting stuff that’s going on are the beginning of execution on top of blockchain — the most obvious example being the capability of ethereum. And if ethereum can manage to figure out a way to do global synchronization of that activity, that’s a pretty powerful platform. That’s a really new invention.”

It’s worth mentioning that Schmidt was an early Bitcoin enthusiast. Back in 2014, he referred to Bitcoin as an amazing advancement and remarkable cryptographic achievement, while he had turned to bitcoins even earlier, in 2011, following the advice of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Source: https://cryptovest.com/news/sto-platform-istox-gets-support-from-singapore-bourse-sgx-state-fund-temasek/

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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

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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

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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

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ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca Announces Completion of Oversubscribed Private Placement to Raise $1,322,000 $NSM.ca $PEEK.ca $CKR.ca $ZC.ca $PNP.ca $VQS.ca $NXJ.ca $KXS.ca $PFM.ca $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:23 AM on Thursday, August 23rd, 2018

Threed capital

  • Announced that it has completed a non-brokered private placement  announced on August 3, 2018, pursuant to which it has issued 13,220,000 units at a price of $0.10 per Unit, to raise aggregate gross proceeds of $1,322,000

TORONTO, Aug. 23, 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 that it has completed a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) announced on August 3, 2018, pursuant to which it has issued 13,220,000 units (“Units”) at a price of $0.10 per Unit, to raise aggregate gross proceeds of $1,322,000.  Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”).  Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.15 until August 23, 2021.

All securities issued and issuable in connection with the Offering are subject to a statutory hold period expiring on December 24, 2018.

Insiders of the Company subscribed for an aggregate of 2,350,000 Units pursuant to the Offering.  Proceeds of the Offering will be used for investment purposes and general working capital.

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

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