Alphabet is the biggest corporate investor in blockchain and crypto technology among the top 100 public companies over the last ten months.
The crypto market is currently taking a beating, but that hasn’t stopped companies of all sizes from continuing to invest in crypto and blockchain tech. According to Blockdata, Alphabet is the top investor in blockchain technology among the top 100 public companies.
Between September 2021 and June 2022, Google invested a staggering $1.5 billion in blockchain technology. Asset manager BlackRock came in second, with $1.17 billion. Morgan Stanley rounded out the top three with $1.11 billion.
Other top companies included Microsoft, Samsung, Goldman Sachs, PayPal, LG, Wells Fargo, and more.
Despite the current downturn, the continued support and investment from some of the world’s largest companies will help ensure the technology’s continued growth and adoption.
As companies race to adopt blockchain technology, JPMorgan is experimenting with using it for collateral settlements.
Despite being synonymous with cryptocurrency, blockchain has applications far beyond bitcoin and company. Thanks to its decentralized and immutable nature, financial institutions are eager to find ways to incorporate it in their operations. JPMorgan is looking to blockchain to handle collateral settlements, handling its first transaction on May 20.
According to Bloomberg, two of JPMorgan’s entities used the token representation of money market fund shares from BlackRock as collateral, transferring it on its private blockchain. The company sees an opportunity to give investors more flexibility with the kind of assets they can use for collateral, as well as when they can use them.
“What we’ve achieved is the friction-less transfer of collateral assets on an instantaneous basis,” Ben Challice, JPMorgan’s global head of trading services, told Bloomberg in an interview. Interestingly, despite BlackRock not being a counterparty, “they have been heavily involved since Day One, and are exploring use of this technology.”
JPMorgan has been blazing a trail in the financial world, being among the first to embrace new technologies. The company recently opened offices in the metaverse, becoming the first major bank to do so. With its use of blockchain, JPMorgan is continuing to innovate and embrace the changes new technology is bringing.
Google Cloud is working to become THE cloud provider for Web3 developers and apps, forming a team dedicated to Web3.
Web3 is the next major evolution of the web, and heavily relies on blockchain technology to improve security, privacy, and decentralization. Google clearly sees the potential, forming a new team focused on supporting Web3 developers, according to CNBC.
Amit Zavery, a vice president at Google Cloud, wrote an email to employees outlining the company’s plans:
“While the world is still early in its embrace of Web3, it is a market that is already demonstrating tremendous potential with many customers asking us to increase our support for Web3 and Crypto related technologies,” he wrote.
In a statement to CNBC, Zavery clarified that Google wasn’t interested in getting on the cryptocurrency bandwagon specifically, but is more interested in supporting blockchain technologies.
“We’re not trying to be part of that cryptocurrency wave directly. We’re providing technologies for companies to use and take advantage of the distributed nature of Web3 in their current businesses and enterprises.”
Google is currently in third place in the cloud market, behind AWS and Microsoft, although the company has a reputation for being popular among developers. Appealing to Web3 developers and establishing itself as their first option could be the company’s ticket to increasing its market share.
LG Electronics may be pivoting to the cryptocurrency market, adding crypto and blockchain to its corporate interests.
LG has been going through some major changes, as the company recently shut down its mobile division to focus on its core business. That core business is being expanded in new directions, however, with the company adding crypto and blockchain to its areas of focus.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the company is looking at “the development and selling of blockchain-based software” and “the sale and brokerage of cryptocurrency.” The wording has led to speculation the company could launch its own crypto exchange.
When asked about it, the company did not confirm or deny the possibility.
“Nothing has been decided yet,” a spokesperson said, “We just mentioned business areas in a broad manner.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the company’s plans to bring NFTs to Instagram, a move that is sure to draw praise and criticism.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are blockchain-based digital assets that can be created, bought, sold, and held. Some have already fetched millions of dollars, and led to many different companies and platforms looking for ways to cash in.
According to Engadget, Zuckerberg has said NFTs are coming to Instagram, although he’s still a little fuzzy on some of the details.
“We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” he said, without going into too many details. “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFT
Given Instagram’s popularity and Meta’s backing, it’s a safe bet the social media app could quickly become one of the most popular NFT destinations.
Salesforce employees are pushing back against the company’s plan to create an NFT platform.
Salesforce announced in early February that it was working to develop its own NFT platform and NFT Cloud. Co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor told employees at an online event. NFTs have become increasingly popular, with some fetching millions of dollars.
It seems Salesforce employees are not impressed with the plans, with hundreds of them signing an open letter of protest, according to Thompson Reuters Foundation News. The employees took multiple issues with the company’s plans, including the environmental impact of NFTs and their being “unregulated, highly speculative financial assets.”
The environmental concerns are becoming a common refrain of critics of blockchain-based tech. Mozilla was forced to abandon plans to accept cryptocurrency donations over crypto’s environmental impact, and Wikipedia is under similar pressure.
It remains to be seen if Salesforce will abandon its plans, or merely alter them to address employee concerns.
Square CEO Jack Dorsey and VC legend Marc Andreessen are fueding on Twitter over the future of web3.
Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet, based on blockchain technology. As such, web3 uses the features and characteristics of blockchain to improve traditionally weak areas, such as security and reliability. Instead of designing and deploying apps to run on a single server, web3 involves apps that are decentralized, running on blockchains, decentralized P2P servers, or both.
Given how early it is in the process of adopting web3, there’s still much discussion about the future of this evolution of the web. At least for Dorsey and Andreessen, that discussion has gotten rather intense.
Dorsey fired the open salvo, criticizing VCs — including Andreessen’s firm Andreessen Horowitz — for trying to own web3.
You don’t own “web3.”
The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.
Data breaches are becoming more and more frequent, and they are posing serious threats to the healthcare industry. Breaches in the healthcare industry are not only devastatin to patients whose data is compromised, but also to the hospitals that lose millions in revenue as well as suffer lasting damage to their reputations. Why are these data breaches so frequent, and what is the solution?
Insecure Data in the Healthcare Industry
Many hospitals are operating with heavily outdated cyber security systems, oftentimes without a team that is dedicated solely to data security. This lack of knowledge can lead to major holes in cyber security systems which allows for hackers to have easier access to sensitive patient data. Doctors are also more worried about their patients physical privacy, and so digital privacy is often overlooked, but many people don’t realize that lacking cyber security can directly compromise patients privacy.
There have been many attempts to increase the digital security systems in the healthcare system, with cybersecurity experts creating new updates to improve systems, but doctors are hesitant to install. Physicians are more inclined to believe that cybersecurity experts over exaggerate problems with digital security which leads to the hesitation in installing new updates, but this can lead to poorer treatment in patients as their information can be at risk of being compromised.
The rise of telehealth has also contributed to the rising frequency of data breaches in healthcare. Telehealth involves any medical practices that take place remotely. Patients enter their sensitive information into their computer or phone in order to have video call doctors appointments, or even receive medications delivered to their home. This input of data can be dangerous if necessary security measures are not in place.
The Solution to Data Breaches in Hospitals
Many hospitals are making the switch to blockchain and healthcare in order to increase their security. Blockchain applications store information in fragmented systems, which can make inputting private information safer than in previous years. The information is stored in fragments that hackers do not have easy access to. Patients can also communicate with providers remotely without worrying that third parties will have access to their information. This is due to the added security of the fragmented system that blockchain applications utilize.
In hospitals, blockchain applications can be used to store patient information from devices such as wearable monitors. These monitors can track information such as blood pressure or heart rate. The information is secured in a patient file that both the provider and patient have access to. This system means more transparency within the healthcare system, as well as a more organized way of seeing patient data. This can allow doctors to provide more efficient and effective care.
The Reward of Switching to Blockchain Applications
When hospitals suffer from a data breach, they can lose upwards of $6.5 million. This monetary damage can affect hospitals for years after the breach. More money is lost as patients are less willing to trust the company and revenue goes down. With the frequency of these data breaches occurring, hospitals cannot afford to be losing so much money in lost revenue. They could continue suffering from the reputation damage that often follows a cyber attack.
The added security benefits of blockchain and healthcare as well as the easy to use system makes it clear. Blockchain and healthcare is the key to a more secure future in medicine.
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has cast further doubt on cryptocurrencies, saying he doesn’t believe they are viable long-term.
Gensler has been working to establish the SEC as THE US regulatory authority for crypto. While some critics believe it’s an overreach, Gensler maintains that cryptocurrencies have much in common with securities.
In a new interview with The Washington Post, Gensler throws more cold water on the cryptocurrency market, saying he doesn’t believe it has much of a long-term future.
“History tells us that private forms of money don’t last long,” he said.
Gensler has a more positive view of the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies, crediting Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto with innovating and creating a catalyst for change in the financial markets. When referring to Nakamoto, he even used the respectful term “Nakamoto-san,” and said the innovation he created is helping bolster payment systems with distributed ledgers and decentralized lending.
Nonetheless, one thing is clear: If Gensler has his way, significant crypto regulation is on the horizon in the US. Gensler is a firm believer that the potential for things to go wrong warrants taking proactive measures to regulate the industry and head off potential issues.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait until there’s a spill in aisle three,” he said.
AWS has announced that Ethereum is now generally available on Amazon Managed Blockchain, providing a scalable, managed solution.
Ethereum is second only to bitcoin, in terms of market capitalization, and enjoys widespread name recognition. Amazon’s support of Ethereum comes amid growing acceptance of blockchain solutions and cryptocurrency among mainstream institutions.
AWS’ announcement is good news for Ethereum, making it easier for customers to build Ethereum-based applications, automate software upgrades and scale with demand.
With this launch, AWS customers can easily provision Ethereum nodes in minutes and connect to the public Ethereum main network and test networks such as Rinkeby and Ropsten. With Amazon Managed Blockchain, customers get secure networking, encryption at rest and transport, secure access to the network via standard open-source Ethereum APIs, fast and reliable syncs to the Ethereum blockchain, and durable elastic storage for ledger data. Amazon Managed Blockchain monitors node health, replaces unhealthy nodes, and automates Ethereum software upgrades, improving the availability of customers’ Ethereum infrastructure. In addition to DeFi applications, customers building analytical products such as smart contract monitoring tools and fraud detection software can also benefit from this scalable, highly available, and fully managed Ethereum service on Amazon Managed Blockchain.
The service is currently available in the US East (N. Virginia), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Europe (Ireland), and Europe (London) regions.
Blockchain App Factory announced that it developed a deFi exchange platform that offers security, speed, and transparency for every exchange with the power of distributed ledger technology.
One of the trends in the cryptocurrency and blockchain arena in 2021 has effectively shifted how all traditional financial services, including saving, trading, insurance, loans, and exchanges work is Decentralized Finance, providing services globally in a permissionless system built on the Blockchain infrastructure. One of the projects within this DeFi landscape is Decentralized Exchange platforms (DEX).
Built with Smart Contracts and integrated with Cryptocurrency wallets, DeFi DEXs automatically match buyers and sellers and provide fast and safe transactions for the users. This accessible and straightforward approach to managing funds was well accepted among users and is drawing more crypto enthusiasts to such platforms.
The product offers futuristic Defi exchange services like binance supported wallet, web3 browser extensions, coin swap protocol, tradability, and so on. The entire DeFi exchange is transparent, and the blocks allow to track every transaction. The unlimited trade option enables you to set the value for your purchase and alert you with a notification once the price hits the value. The trading view offers technical analysis to have a successful trading experience. Also, the user has the freedom to track successful trade wallets and the wallet of your interest.
Customized Tokens are generated from each exchange that allows the user to stake and invest through yield farming protocols for revenue generation. The interchangeable tokens will enable the user to swap tokens across any platform for a low cost. The product reaches the market cap of $97,333,797, which is fully diluted in the pool with a volume of $6,669,128.
The product’s liquidity pool supports a binance network, which allows for seamless trade options and stake tokens in the liquidity pool. The top exchanges are MXC.COM, Hoo, Uniswap (V2), Biloxi, and Hotbit. The protocol’s unique liquidity engine offers rewards to liquidity providers, and it is integrated with uniswap exchange. This product allows you to integrate third-party wallets of your interest.
“The barriers have broken down now in digital transformation because of people working from home and the need to adopt faster,” says Brenda Harvey, General Manager at IBM Asia Pacific. “We see continued growth of hybrid cloud and of cloud services after the pandemic. It’s touching every element of a company’s business processes from the inside out and the outside in.”
The benefits coming from new personalized services, workflow automation, infusing AI to help drive this more personal experience, are actually driving better business impact. When we think about hybrid cloud which enables you to leverage all of your investments across your infrastructure we’re actually seeing two and a half times value than traditional models. We’re also seeing the benefits from regulatory cloud and capabilities that we’re putting into our platforms. We just announced a financial services cloud and we’ll do the same with insurance and healthcare.
We’ll take the costs out of the regulatory risk and compliance while providing more value from a business perspective. We’ve had a number of relationships across multiple industries including BNP Paribas, MUFG Bank, Adobe, across telecom with Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Verizon, and even Schlumberger and Ernst & Young. Companies are seeing the value of these platforms. In fact, in the study, 94% of the respondents said that by 2022 they would have a new business platform model that would continue to power their business.
Barriers To Digital Transformation Have Broken Down
We see continued growth of hybrid cloud and of cloud services after the pandemic. It’s touching every element of a company’s business processes from the inside out and the outside in. The inside out includes HR, finance, risk compliance, procurement, supply chain. Then the outside in, marketing, sales, customer engagement, and customer service. With marketing at marketing events, we saw a 3X response into our Think Digital than previous years because we could have more reach. So now marketing is taking into account a digital transformation of the clients’ needs.
Customer service and engagement are the number one priority of our clients. They are building and investing in the contact center to improve the experience and drive more value. This cloud platform will bring in new capabilities with 5G such as IoT (internet of things), blockchain, and of course quantum capabilities. We’ll see the technology advance while the cultural change is advancing too. The barriers have broken down now in digital transformation because of people working from home and the need to adopt faster.
IBM: Barrier To Digital Transformation Have Broken Down
“Bitcoin as its implemented and implementation of blockchain and distributed ledger I assert is bad,” says VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. “Its purpose is almost all illicit and it’s an environmental crisis. This is a terrible implementation of blockchain. I’m not saying that blockchain is bad. I think it is revolutionizing. This is breakthrough innovative technology and how you do distributed secured trust. That’s powerful. We are huge believers strongly committed to blockchain and distributed leverage technology.”
Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, says that Bitcoin is bad, but blockchain, when done right, is revolutionizing in an interview with theCUBE at VMworld 2019 in San Francisco.
Bitcoin is Bad, Blockchain Is Revolutionizing
The idea of distributed ledger technology, immutable distributed trust, I’ve said I think of that, and blockchain is the underlying technology, as almost like public-private key encryption. If we go back 40 years before RSA it’s that important. This is breakthrough innovative technology and how you do distributed secured trust. That’s powerful. We are huge believers strongly committed to blockchain and distributed leverage technology. Why do I make my comments like I do on Bitcoin? Bitcoin as its implemented and implementation of blockchain and distributed ledger I assert is bad. It’s bad for two reasons.
One is it’s an environmental crisis. A single ledger if you and I transacted a penny I would consume enough energy to power your house for half a day. It’s incredible. This is a terrible implementation of blockchain. Secondly, the way it’s also done as well in this totally unregulated environment, almost all of its uses are for illicit and criminal purposes. That’s who’s trading in Bitcoin. So its purpose is almost all illicit and it’s an environmental crisis. I say bad. I’m not saying that blockchain is bad. I think it is revolutionizing. Studies have shown that over 95 percent of the uses of Bitcoin is criminal. Let’s go make it good. Do good engineering and engineer for good.
Partnership With Australian Stock Exchange and Digital Asset
We just announced on Sunday a partnership with the Australian Stock Exchange and Digital Asset. They’re leveraging the VMWare distributed ledger technology as part of their go-forward strategy for the stock exchange in Australia. That’s good. We’re making it suitable for enterprises meeting the regulatory requirements and we’re order plus magnitude better in terms of performance and energy consumption and we’re just getting started.
Bitcoin is Bad, Blockchain Is Revolutionizing, Says VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger
“In general, Libra is a force for good,” says PayPal Co-Founder and Affirm CEO Max Levchin. “It’s a really interesting experiment. I’m glad they’re doing it in a way that isn’t just Facebook because of all the headwind that Facebook has experienced with the regulators. There are many questions to ask about the practical applications. For example, if you are buying into Libra, does that create more opportunities to do as we call it, money fraud, or not?”
Max Levchin, PayPal co-founder and Affirm CEO, discusses Facebook’s Libracryptocurrency and how that is a good example of the use of blockchain technology in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:
Blockchain Technology Is Inevitable
I agree with David Marcus (the Co-creator of Libra and Head of Calibra) from his testimony where he very aptly pointed out that blockchain technology is inevitable. It’s been a hammer looking for nails for quite some time. We’re now starting to see real applications to the blockchain tech. I’m not speaking of Bitcoin or any one particular currency, just the idea of a public ledger is a very powerful idea. It will get put to good use. I think Libra is a good example of good use.
The most obvious application where Libre as a concept is being brought down to an individual level is cross-border payments. You could make some very very cheap remittances happen. If you look at costs being charged by companies to send money back home from wherever you are, you will see they’re making some enormous spreads. There are plenty of startups trying to attack that, like TransferWise where I’m an investor, for example. They’ve done a wonderful job in Europe. I think Libra could potentially just massively compress fees in that market and that’ll be very good.
Libra Is a Force For Good
In general, Libra is a force for good. It’s a really interesting experiment. I’m glad they’re doing it in a way that isn’t just Facebook because of all the headwind that Facebook has experienced with the regulators. But there are many many other questions to ask about the practical applications. For example, if you are buying into Libra, does that create more opportunities to do as we call it, money fraud, or not? It’s going to be a set of open problems for quite some time.
It’s the job of the US regulators to not trust large companies or any companies. I think their job is to audit, to regulate, and to provide equal treatment under the rule of law for everyone. Libra is a particularly interesting one because it’s not just a company, it’s Facebook’s sort of initiating this thing, and there’s this giant group of other companies coming together to govern it. So it perhaps is more complicated to regulate.
But I think, yes, government should take an extremely active stance in regulating this thing that Libre is and will be. Within that, they should not rely on this notion that Facebook is going to be a good company. They may be and I’m sure they will be, but they’re also going to act in their best interest. That is the assumption of a smart regulator. Companies will do the thing they need to do and our job is to protect consumers and make sure of equal competition.
Breaking Up Facebook Is a Terrible Idea
The real question that lawmakers are asking about Facebook, is it too big? That’s the underlying dynamic that they’re trying to explore. That question is a much harder question to answer. It is very very big. It is bigger than most nations. So in that sense, I think they’re right. It is hard to say Facebook is too big if you step back and ask who do they compete with. If you actually compare them to, for example, Chinese companies that they go up against in a world of ad spend, companies like Tencent are just are gargantuan. And Tencent is not at risk of being broken up by the Chinese government from last I checked. If you want a Facebook to compete to with companies like Tencent successfully I think breaking them up seems like a counterintuitive thing to do.
I think Facebook and all US company should absolutely be regulated. There’s a huge difference between being regulated and abiding by the set of laws and regulations and antitrust and all the stuff that the US government’s amassed over the last couple hundred years of how to behave in a sane way in a capitalist society with the rule of law. But breaking Facebook up does, in fact, hurt its ability to compete, internationally most importantly. I think breaking it up is a terrible idea, regulating it is exactly what the US government should be doing, and they should do a better job by the way.
Facebook’s Libra Is a Force For Good, Says PayPal Co-Founder Max Levchin
Facebook announced today a new digital wallet for a new digital currency. It is currently in a test phase and will launch live in 2020. Here is how Facebook explains the launch in its announcement release:
“Today we’re sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access and participate in the Libra network. The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app — and we expect to launch in 2020.”
“From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost. And, in time, we hope to offer additional services for people and businesses, like paying bills with the push of a button, buying a cup of coffee with the scan of a code or riding your local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass.”
A sneak peek at what the experience of using Calibra will be like.
This Is Designed From the Ground Up To Be a Great Medium Of Exchange
If you want to compare Libra with traditional cryptocurrencies the first big difference is that typically they are investment vehicles or investment assets rather than being great mediums of exchange. This is really designed from the ground up to be a great medium of exchange. Libra is a very high-quality form of digital money that you can use for everyday payments and cross-border payments, microtransactions and all kinds of different things.
There are a lot of issues that need to be solved. If you were to get out of the studio right now and ask anyone to send ten dollars on their mobile phones to Canada, they probably wouldn’t know where to start. This is 30 years after the web was invented and mobile broadband is available to so many people. We felt that it was time to try something new and this is the beginning of a long journey to launching this new network in this new digital currency.
Moving money around the world with Libra should be as easy and cheap as sending a text message.
When You Can Move More Value Around Profound Changes Might Happen
We are privileged. We live in a country that has a very stable currency and has very trusted institutions, easy ways to pay each other on mobile devices. That’s actually not the case for many people around the world. Definitely, cross-border payments are still very hard and very expensive. They cost an average of seven percent to send across one border. They sometimes take three or four days to clear. It is a very cumbersome and expensive process for many people around the world. If you think about it from a use case, cross-border payments are definitely going to be a primary use case.
But when you think about the effect that having an internet of value exists, or protocol for money on top of the existing internet, and all of the things that can be built on top of a low-cost system. Microtransactions are things that we’ve been talking about for decades and haven’t materialized because the amounts we are trying to transact are actually lower than the transaction fees. When all of these things change and you can move value around the Internet in a really easy way I think profound changes might happen.
There’s Never Been a Better Moment For Us To Do This
I have a slightly contrarian view on this (trust). I don’t think there’s ever been a better moment for us to do this because of the way we’re doing it. We’re actually going to launch this new blockchain at some point next year. We’ve launched a test net today that people can start experimenting with. This new blockchain is actually going to be decentralized and run by the members of an association.
We’re just going to be one among many to govern over this new network and currency. When you look at how much effort we’ve put to limit our influence and limit our control over this network I think it’s a new way of operating. We don’t have control over the network and we don’t have control over the currency. What we have control over is going to be the wallets that are going to operate within Facebook and on top of the network.
We Aren’t Going To Be the Defacto Wallet
We aren’t going to be the defacto wallet. There will be plenty of competition. To earn people’s trust we are going to have to make strong commitments notably on privacy, ensuring that financial data and social data never get commingled and really earn people’s trust over very long periods of time. There are going to be a number of wallets that are going to compete with us on the network we helped create.
Designed From the Ground Up To Be a Great Medium Of Exchange, Says Facebook Calibra Head David Marcus
Major ocean container carriers CMA CGM and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are joining TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform, jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM. With the addition of these carriers on the TradeLens platform, nearly half of the world’s ocean container cargo will be using blockchain technology to dramatically improve costs and efficiencies.
Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President of IBM Global Industries, Clients, Platforms & Blockchain at IBM, discusses the addition of major ocean carriers to the TradeLens blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform in an interview on Bloomberg:
Blockchain Technology Could Reduce Shipping Industry Costs By 20%
Essentially we announced yesterday that with the addition of MSC and CMA on to the TradeLens blockchain more than 50 percent of the volume of the containers of the world’s shipping industry will be on a blockchain that we’ve developed in collaboration with Maersk. What this means is full transparency and a massive reduction of paper exchange. An average shipment takes about 200 document exchanges between the multiple parties; the freight forwarders, the shippers, the carriers, customs, and ports.
The World Economic Forum estimates that’s about 20 percent wastage from inefficiencies in the supply chain. The technology of blockchain allows all these multiple parties to immutably store the records and advance the records as the shipments move. This means less wait times. It means carriers and shippers know where the goods are. It basically means things can be cleared a lot faster, all leading to bigger inclusion in the shipping industry.
Starting To See Blockchain Technology For Enterprise Really Scale
The whole ecosystem will benefit so much in terms of the efficiencies. If you think about it, rather than having to interface 200 document times, it occurs once by putting your data on the blockchain. This is a situation when the ROI for every single industry participant is very strong.
The second thing, which is really important and why we’re starting to see the blockchain technology for enterprise really scale in terms of what IBM has been building for our clients across numerous industries, is that there’s a level of security in here and there’s a level of speed and efficiency. It’s easy to actually set up these networks. The difference is that these solve problems that no one company could solve on their own.
Blockchain Technology Reducing Costs
The way that the system works is that all the participants pay a very small amount to belong to the blockchain. It is a flat rate but does change according to volume. It is a very de minimis amount and the real way that the blockchain works is by many many participants belonging to the network and by the fact that those participants have a reduced cost.
Another example of this is we have a blockchain in the consumer and retail industry called Food Trust which tracks provenance and sustainability of food built in conjunction with the industry. It allows food to be tracked and recalled in two seconds versus six days. That has got such a strong economic and consumer value. The other big payback is that for many of our clients they’re looking at the idea to have trackable, sustainable, consumer presentations. So you can put diamonds on a blockchain and say they aren’t conflict diamonds. This is very powerful for consumer provenance and sustainability.
Blockchain-Powered Shipping Industry Platform To Dramatically Reduce Costs
For the last five years, every spring CoinDesk has been hosting its blockchain technology conference Consensus in New York City. The idea is to bring together the top brands and developers in the cryptocurrency and blockchain spaces to learn what’s new and what’s next. The event has grown to include the surrounding Blockchain Week, which includes both official and unofficial events thanks to the volume of attendees.
What’s New in Blockchain?
Cryptocurrency is moving past the toddler stage and people are starting to pay more attention to the underlying blockchain technology as many are looking to make money from blockchain. The CryptoNouveau event was a great place to meet the top thinkers in the blockchain space and learn where they think the technology is going next.
David Chaum, inventor of eCash, was there representing the company he founded, Elixxir, and to talk about cMix, which uses blockchain to create a secure, anonymous, digital method of communication, payments and app creation and usage. This has the potential to be revolutionary because it couples speed with protection of metadata, something not many blockchain applications can yet claim.
Jules Miller, partner at IBM Blockchain Ventures and cofounder and parter at Prose Ventures, spoke about IBM’s Blockchain accelerator in her opening remarks. This was followed by a lightning round of short talks by other industry leaders.
Tomer Sofinzon, founder and CEO of 20|30, spoke about his company’s efforts to create a universal wallet, as well as the Pillar Project, which is an open-sourced, nonprofit blockchain application that will give consumers control over their own personal information and reshape the relationship between consumers and service providers.
Ryan Feit of SeedInvest discussed how his company is raising funds for highly vetted startups, which began with a movement to change securities laws to allow companies to raise funds online, opening the market to people who had previously lacked access to capital.
Sebastian Serrano announced Ripio’s launch of its all-in-one fintech platform, which serves South American populations who have traditionally not had access to banking and credit. The platform offers users access to peer-to-peer loans with smart contracts, digital banking and more.
Additional presenters at this lightning round event included Antonio Brasse of BlockQuake, a cryptocurrency network built on regulation and transparency, and Alex Mashinsky of Celsius Network, a cryptocurrency investing network that guarantees the highest returns on cryptocurrency investments thanks to their internal rules and methodologies. I also met Brian Zisk there and we talked about Chia, an environmentally friendly, enterprise-grade cryptocurrency.
Consensus: The Big Show, But Not the Only Show
Last year Consensus was packed. They ran out of room at 8500 people after expecting 4000. As a result, people made plans for auxiliary activities in the area and Consensus was much less crowded. There was a distinct lack of Lamborghinis parked out front, and from what I have been told the conversations were more prevalent and of a higher quality thanks to the lack of overcrowding of the space.
While not registered for the main event, I was able to get together with a number of industry professionals, speaking with companies like Tangem, which makes smart bank notes with high grade security and irretrievable private keys to keep a user’s cryptocurrency safe.
“We believe the bitcoin price has bottomed and we are now entering a bull market with a strong likelihood of surpassing prior bitcoin highs of $19,000,” Balina said. “The initial exchange offering (IEO) trend has been a strong catalyst for the new bull market. Exchanges now have the responsibility of doing due diligence on new token offerings before making them available to their audience. They are regulatory concerns around this in some jurisdictions, but we don’t think the trend will go away. However the investment returns might decrease as the IEO space becomes saturated.”
Blockchain week is a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world who are working on developments in the blockchain and cryptocurrency spaces, whether you attend official Consensus events or unofficial blockchain week events. Next year promises to be even better.
“For multinationals to issue their own currencies and request that their consumers purchase in that particular currency is not that outlandish,” says Blockchain Capital Limited co-founder Gavin Brown. “So perhaps with multinationals being what they are the fact that they are able now digitally and technologically to issue their own currencies and request their consumers to use it is perhaps not a sort of an unreasonable thing to think. It may not be the whole mission short term but certainly in the medium term for sure. I mean a Facebook coin is probably the next big one I think.”
Wherever There is Potential for Mistrust Blockchain Can Be a Solution
We’re still very early in the technology, so a lot of people obviously associate bitcoin with blockchain, which is the underlying technology, which is understandable. However, the thing that most people fail to realize is that blockchain technology can obviously be applied to many different sectors and many different industries. I’m really keen, especially in the UK where I do a lot of work in my Future Economies Research Center which is a run out of Manchester Metropolitan University.
What we do there is we look at various industries where blockchain is a really good solution to manage lots of things around provenance and trust, scalability, traceability and things like goods supply chains. Really, wherever you’ve got the potential for mistrust blockchain can be a potential solution.
There Are Now Over 2,000 Cryptocurrencies
Regarding cryptocurrencies, If you look overall there are over 2,000 coins in total now. If you look at fiat currencies, the money we use day-to-day, there are 180 fiat currencies recognized by the United Nations globally. Yet there are over 2,000 cryptocurrencies most of which are trying to be some kind of money replacement. So the general play and the way I perceive it is that we will have a shakeout phase as we do with any kind of technology and we’re likely to see it coalesce around either one or a handful of winners.
Those winners will obviously win big. Identifying who they’re going to be is obviously the challenge. That’s why for most people they’ll probably want to run a portfolio inside the crypto asset space to try and maximize their chances. This is almost similar to a sort of leverage private equity-type model the way you’re running lots of different plays, where most will lose, but if you get the winner then you win big.
A Facebook Coin is Probably the Next Big One
What we’re seeing really is the democratization of money. If you and I wanted to we could create a CNBC coin and within three hours we could have it up and running and when we transact with people we could request that we do it using that particular coin. It raises the question of will people trust that coin? They will trust it if they trust your brand and f they trust your products. For instance, Starbucks has over a billion dollars worth of assets on its balance sheet of people who prepaid for coffee on their charge cards in advance. That’s because they trust the brand, they like the product, and they’re confident it will be there.
For multinationals to, therefore, issue their own currencies and request that their consumers purchase in that particular currency is therefore not that outlandish. We live in an era where McDonald’s has got a higher credit rating than the country of Ireland. So perhaps with multinationals being what they are the fact that they are able now digitally and technologically to issue their own currencies and request their consumers to use it is perhaps not a sort of an unreasonable thing to think. It may not be the whole mission short term but certainly in the medium term for sure. I mean a Facebook coin is probably the next big one I think.
A Facebook Coin is Probably the Next Big One, Says Blockchain Capital Limited Co-founder
SXSW Interactive has evolved over the past decade that I have been going. For starters, I’ve watched ridesharing services come, go, and come back again, but it doesn’t seem to help the traffic situation either way. This year there were scooters on top of everything, which come with their own set of issues. It was bigger and more crowded than ever this year, but SXSW is still the best place to learn about the cutting edge of business and technology as well as the latest trends.
Of particular note this year was the first ever tracks for blockchain and cryptocurrency as well as one for the business of cannabis. Both sectors are red hot right now, and while cryptocurrency isn’t always at the forefront of the news cycle these days, blockchain is more popular than ever.
The great thing about SXSW is that you get to peer into the future of technologies and businesses that most people don’t yet know exist, or in some cases that we often just take for granted. Here are the 5 biggest takeaways from SXSW 2019:
1 – LinkedIn went way bigger than last year.
From a tradeshow booth at the SXSW trade show to an entire creator lounge at Brazos Hall, LinkedIn was all in for SXSW 2019. There were multiple stations for a series of creator speeches that included Brian Solis and his new book, Lifescale, Goldie Chan on brand reputation, and Rosanna Durruthy, LinkedIn’s Head of Diversity. Numerous LinkedIn creators were filming live content, which is only available to a very small test group at this time. There was even a fireside chat with Mindy Kaling about how to live your best work life, which included tips like owning who you are and focusing on focusing.
This was my 10th SXSW over the last 11 years, and I’ve watched the city grow and get significantly more and more crowded during that time. Popular ridesharing services entered the city, got kicked out and made way for new local ridesharing services, and then the original ridesharing services finally returned. What I wasn’t expecting this year was to see an onslaught of scooters and the dangers that they entailed. According to CNBC, the number of scooters in Austin during SXSW from five different companies was around 9000, solidifying the trend of ‘micro mobility’. It was concerning to see so many scooters and so few people wearing helmets or obeying traffic laws, but as with any new technology there’s always going to be a learning curve.
3 – Crypto/Blockchain and the Cannabiz were the new kids on the block.
This marked the first year that SXSW had official tracks for cryptocurrency / blockchain and cannabusiness. Unfortunately, they were mainly happening after the SXSW Interactive days, so many of the business and marketing folk didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about these growing industries. This year at SXSW was the second annual Just HODL It event, which featured speakers from multiple blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. Among them was my friend Adryenn Ashley from Loly.io, who is using blockchain to develop a revolutionary dating app. The main crypto and blockchain track focused on the future of these technologies, how policy will affect their use and implementation, and what the future might hold.
4 – The Mercedes TechSet Lounge is SXSW’s best kept secret.
The TechSet lounge, hosted by Mercedes this year, has been the best place to grab some downtime for the last 12 years at SXSW. The lounge’s co-hosts were Brian Solis and Stephanie Agresta. It’s one of the best kept secrets for a solid place to work, meet, network, get great coffee, recharge, and watch a full plate of speakers. Mercedes did a fabulous job with the lounge this year!
5 – Mental health tech like calm.com is the next big tech frontier.
By some estimates, one in four people worldwide will be affected by a mental health problem at some point in their lives. The tech folks, entrepreneurs, political enthusiasts, and the rest of the people who end up at a place like SXSW are often driven to their breaking point at times. It was great to see a number of SXSW panels dedicated to mental health themes this year, most notably Calm.com. Calm.com, which produced an app to help folks with mindfulness, meditation, sleeping, and more, is the first mental health unicorn company. Their booth at the trade show was all about relaxation — and it even featured a sloth!
The future of fintech is cloud, AI, blockchain, IoT, 6G and quantum computing, says Anton Ruddenklau, Global Co‐leader of FinTech at KPMG. Those are the technologies that are fueling the digital transformation and will be central to financial services in the UK and the world going forward.
Anton Ruddenklau, Global Co‐leader of FinTech at KPMG discusses the future of fintech in an interview by Charlie Barrett, who is the FinTech Lead at AWS:
By 2027 Large UK Banks Will Go Cloud Native
The first tipping point is 2027. That is the date that IDC predicted when large UK corporate banks go cloud-native. They base it on spend analysis they get from CIOs across the industry. They say that 75 percent of the industry would have gone cloud native, the other 25 percent would have gone bust. There is an interesting thing.
Just as a sidebar, we’ve seen one CEO who has already been fired in the last couple of weeks because they didn’t actually adhere to their cloud strategy, and that’s Sage. So it’s starting. People are getting serious about cloud.
If you move back from those dates, what do the CIOs say? By 2020 they will spend more money on cloud services and data than they will on legacy technology. That’s a big tipping point for us and the cloud providers in the industry full stop. By 2022 the analysis shows that people will spend more money and resources on digital propositions and products supported by data and cloud than they will on legacy. We are moving to really a digital economy on financial services.
Blockchain, IoT, 6G, and Quantum Computing
The other one is blockchain which we think which is roughly between 2022 and 2024. That will be predicated on a number of things. Our tipping point analysis shows that ten percent of consumers and SMEs will have adopted distributed ledger cryptocurrency and that whole gamut of tokenization.
Then the internet of things (IoT). The new 6G is coming down from the mobile operators which is specifically for sensor technology and location based services. That’s sort of early 2020s. That will really fuel up the connection of machine to machine and all the things we want to see as consumers coming through.
Quantum computing is also a big one that is a big question mark for people. It’s super nascent right now. If we believe what people are saying to us, by 2024 or 2025 the quantum will arrive and that will just change the bandwidth for everything including the distributed ledger which really needs a lot of power to really make it work at scale.
Machine Learning Baked Into Cloud Services
More nearterm, I think for us is machine learning being baked into cloud services and cloud data warehouses? We see the likes of Amazon really moving hard on that and bringing machine learning to the masses. You don’t need to be a data scientist to do it. I think that is a fundamental change that’s coming. The small and medium sized fintech firms can adopt that a lot quicker.
However, they don’t have the distribution in scale. The opportunity for us is to get the large banks to understand that. It comes back to new types of skills and moving IT from the back office to the front office.
“Bitcoin today is around $60 billion so I think it has the opportunity to replace gold as the dominant store of value in which case it can go up a hundredfold from where it is today,” says Lou Kerner, a founding partner of Crypto Oracle Strategic. “This is just a better store of value and if the world comes around to sharing that view and I think we’re on that path, then we are easily over 100,000 in three or four years I think in Bitcoin.”
What it’s evolved into today is a stored value. Today, the main stored value is gold, it’s a $9 trillion thing. Bitcoin today is around $60 billion so I think it has the opportunity to replace gold as the dominant store of value in which case it can go up a hundredfold from where it is today. Even if it becomes a strong second it can go a long way. It’s just a better way to store your value.
I think we just got ahead of ourselves. That’s what happened. I have a word that I use to describe the tendency of markets to become bubbles and the word I use to describe that is capitalism. There’s something called Amara’s law which is the impact of all technological changes overestimated in the short run and underestimated in the long run.
Bitcoin is the Yahoo of Its Day
Bitcoin and the broader kind of crypto category, which is this whole new computing platform of blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts and such, that the disruption from that is going to greater than the disruption we saw from the internet. Bitcoin is kind of the early leader, kind of like the Yahoo of its day. While it’s a massive thing it’s not the thing.
If this is a thing and we really believe that in 20 years it will have created trillions of dollars in value similar to how the internet has, then we are at the very beginning today and it’s going to be here (way up) in 20 years. That’s my forecast. The great thing about making 20-year forecasts is that nobody knows you are going to be wrong for a long time. If it’s going to be here in 20 years the only thing we know for sure is that the path to getting there is going to be like this:
If Bitcoin Becomes a Store of Value It Will Go Sky High
If you focus on where you are going to be in 20 years then all of this (up and down) is just noise. If this becomes a store of value, and we think it is well on the path… Gold has had a 5,000-year run. It’s a great run. What else has lasted 5,000 years? This is just a better store of value and if the world comes around to sharing that view and I think we’re on that path, then we are easily over 100,000 in three or four years I think in Bitcoin.
If you take a look at the history of currencies over time 100 percent of them up until 400 years ago went to zero. The truth is if you think about the dollar, it’s a Ponzi scheme. It’s fine, this is how governments work. Nobody thinks we are ever going to pay back the debt that we have. We are never going to pay back $20 trillion in debt. By the way, there’s going to be more tomorrow and more the day after.
Bitcoin Has Taken Over Second Place From Silver
The only way to maintain your purchasing power and the only thing that has held up has been gold. That’s how you store your value. Over time all currencies degrade and eventually they all go to zero. Today, $8 trillion is stored in gold, in value that people are saying I don’t want to hold the dollar. It’s part of a diversified portfolio generally. Silver is the second biggest store of value at about $50 billion and Bitcoin today is $60 billion. So it’s really kind of take over second place from silver as a store of value.
Bitcoin Struggles to Evolve But it Doesn’t Need To
Bitcoin started off to be a digital currency. It can still potentially become one but the problem as really the first iteration of a decentralized entity that achieved scale there’s not a functional governance. So Bitcoin really struggles to evolve. It doesn’t need to evolve to be a store of value, but it does need to evolve to be a digital currency. We think that there will be digital currencies.
We think that governments are going to issue their own digital currencies. But they will obviously be pegged to their regular currency and they will degrade over time. We think that pure digital non-government digital securities where you know how many dollars or whatever it is are going to be (is better). The problem is nobody knows how many dollars there are going to be tomorrow other than you know there are going to be more.
If Bitcoin Becomes a Store of Value Then it Will Be Over 100,000 in a Few Years
