Luxury brand conglomerate, Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy otherwise known as LVMH, has stepped into the blockchain space as it announced to launch a blockchain-powered platform, Aura, for authenticating high-end luxury goods.

LVMH, the owner of the iconic Louis Vuitton label, controls over 60 luxury brands across various categories like watches, jewelry, perfumes and cosmetics, fashion and leather goods, selective retailers, even wines and spirits.

The group reported revenues of $53 billion in 2018 only, in addition to Louis Vuitton, another LVMH brand Parfums Christian Dior, has struck a partnership with the blockchain software technology company, ConsenSys and Microsoft for their blockchain endeavor.

LVMH recruited a full-time blockchain team, which purportedly has been operating in secrecy for over a year now, working in alliance with ConsenSys and Microsoft Azure.

READ ALSO: Ivy League Professor’s Crypto Has the Solution to Blockchain Scalability

The partnership resulted in the platform named, AURA, a cryptographic provenance platform specifically designed to serve the entire luxury industry with powerful product tracking and tracing services. According to the press release:

AURA makes it possible for consumers to access the product history and proof of authenticity of luxury goods — from raw materials to the point of sale, all the way to second-hand markets.

AURA is a new blockchain, based off of the permissioned version of the Ethereum blockchain, called Quorum. Designed through JP Morgan’s partnership with the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, Quorum specifically focuses on data privacy as well as transparency.

READ ALSO: JPM Coin is the Evidence of Trust in Blockchain Technology

The technology can store unique information about every product stored on a shared ledger and customers are then able to use the brand’s official application to obtain a certificate, offering details about its background.

According to reports, AURA will also offer ethical and environmental information, instructions for product care and warranty services.

It is expected to go live later in May or June with Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior initially, however, it will be extended to LVMH’s other 60-plus luxury brands and eventually those of its competitors.

READ ALSO: “Blockchain is Useless” Crypto Community Reacts to CTO’s Remarks

The team behind AURA hopes that in the near future it will be used by rival luxury brands as well, which will enable them to offer tailor-made services and strengthen customer loyalty. According to Ken Timsit, managing director of ConsenSys Solutions:

AURA is a groundbreaking innovation for the luxury industry. ConsenSys is proud to contribute and to work with LVMH on an initiative that will serve the entire luxury industry, protecting the interests, integrity, and privacy of each brand.

Although not much was revealed regarding the platform but it is expected that AURA will be used to prove the authenticity of LVMH’s luxury products, allowing for the tracking of origins to the point of sale.

The second stage of the project, according to reports, will explore the protection of creative intellectual property, in addition to exclusive offers, events for customers and anti-advertising fraud.

READ ALSO: Coffee Over Blockchain – Starbucks & Microsoft Tracks Production

However it is not the first to propose the idea of an authenticity-tracking blockchain, there are other luxury brands provenance platforms out there. The French startup Arianee claims to be building perpetual relationships between brands and owners made of trust, respect and transparency.

The startup boasts former employees and advisors from luxury brands such as Tiffany’s, Omega, Balenciaga and the Richemont group.

READ ALSO: PepsiCo Gets 28% Efficiency Boost Through Zilliqa Blockchain

The team behind Arianee created a new blockchain, which was a copy of Ethereum, thus combining both permissioned and permission-less elements through its use of a consensus mechanism, it’s calling “proof-of-authority.

” It is permissionless in the sense that users who are interested in selling their products to one another can interact with the blockchain, but the verification of the ledger and issuance of new tokens is controlled by the participating businesses.

Furthermore there have been other high-end brands that are turning to blockchain technology for the reason of provenance. Recently, the premium scotch whiskey brand Ailsa Bay, which is owned by William Grant & Sons (WG&S) and has yearly revenue of about $80 million, was in the news for releasing world’s first scotch whisky tracked with a blockchain-based system.

Getting funding for their startups is not an easy feat for blockchain entrepreneurs.

Despite the rising prevalence of blockchain in today’s world, it still isn’t enough to push blockchain at the forefront of investment. More startup companies are turning to outside funding in order to gain the money they need to run their digital business.

Unfortunately for them, it's not that easy to ask investors to fund a blockchain startup. This is what blockchain investors look for in a startup before they decide to take the plunge.

Real innovation
Blockchain may be an innovation all in itself, but that isn't enough for investors who want real innovation from an individual company. Real innovation, in this case, can be defined as something new and unique that a company has managed to come up with using current or upcoming technology.

Blockchain is a technology that can potentially contribute to the modernization of our businesses and our economy. And it's involving very fast.Based on this statement, it would seem like investors are the ones not having enough projects to invest in.

If entrepreneurs can focus more on developing their blockchain-capable businesses more, they will be able to attract investors who are specifically looking for something new created out of blockchain technology.

Tech connectivity
Investors are not interested in using blockchain in isolation. They are interested in seeing how blockchain can be used in relation to other technology, such as artificial intelligence, for instance.Although both have remained as standalone technologies in the last decade, more and more academics have been trying to combine the two.

The convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence could lead to several benefits in various sectors, including healthcare and finance, the two sectors that see the most identity fraud cases in recent years.

With blockchain and AI integrated together, companies in these sectors can create an encrypted method of storing sensitive data that can then be securely unlocked using the knowledge and sophistication of AI.

This is just one example of the way blockchain can be used to improve existing technology and even create an entirely new technology altogether.

Useful solutions
Investors are also interested in a startup that can suggest and develop useful blockchain solutions that even the mainstream public can accept and adapt.Many companies use the word blockchain as a buzzword in order to entice investors, which is why many investors tend to avoid those.

These investors prefer companies or projects building something with the core value that comes from a set of functions native to blockchain and cannot be attained in the absence of blockchain.

Valuable data
Another thing that investors look for in a startup is valuable data. Valuable data can lead to valuable discoveries, and at the same time, help create projections and forecasts for specific startup products. Like any serious investor, most investors prefer to invest in a product when it’s still fresh on the market, as long as its forecasts are positive.

One of the biggest problems with blockchain startups is that they try too hard to look for problems to solve, instead of solving problems that are already in front of them. Investors want someone with a clear vision for what they're building, a balanced skill set, and an ability to get things done.

Attentive Founders
Lastly, investors are attracted to startups with founders who are attentive to industry happenings and are quick to adapt their business based on current situations.

The reason for this is two-fold. One, staying updated on whatever's happening within the industry ensures investors that the founders themselves are interested in blockchain and are thus motivated to improve the sector.

Two, knowing how to adapt to remain sustainable and profitable is extremely vital in running a business in the digital realm.Just using the word blockchain in your business proposal is not enough to secure funding from investors. If you can integrate all these factors that affect the decision-making process of investors, you'll stand a better chance of getting your company funded.




Chris Porteous

See Chris Porteous's Profile 

I'm a serial entrepreneur and owner of three internet ventures, including My SEO Sucks. A contributor to ZeroHedge, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes, Inc.com, and dozens of other media outlets, I believe in SEO as a product. I developed a proprietary technology fueling the #1 rankings of My SEO Sucks clients. In guest speaking ventures across North American, I advocate for organic search traffic as the backbone of any comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

More businesses plan to use blockchain in future. A survey by Big Four auditing firm KPMG found that 48 percent of C-level executives believe blockchain is likely to change the way they do business in the next three years, while 41 percent of respondents said they are likely to use the technology in their companies.

For fresh graduates planning to venture into this hot sub-industry, the following information will come in useful. KPMG has recently released what it deems to be the top four skill sets for those planning a career in blockchain.

Blockchain refers to the secure and transparent ledger behind technologies such as cryptocurrency. A vague term just a few years ago, the technology and its capabilities are now more understood by businesses.

It’s expanding business models, piloting projects and presenting new solutions to many companies. But to succeed, they require graduate talent.

“Like any emerging technology, having the right talent is paramount to driving results,” the report states. “Blockchain projects will not succeed or scale without a multifaceted team that goes beyond technologists.

We expect more universities to integrate blockchain into future coursework, which will help prepare both end users as well as those who will be responsible for building, deploying and managing blockchain.

”And these talented individuals should possess these following skills:

1. Business acumen

From IT to finance, procurement to mailroom, blockchain will have an impact on every organisational role. A person working in blockchain needs to understand a business deeply as the technology works in such a way that each entity has a unique view and access. Failing to do this will result in a blockchain project without a compelling use case.

2. Tech literacy

Knowing the cloud, protocols, consensus, ERPs and networks aren’t enough. Future blockchain employees should also know when to use different tools and platforms, as well as how blockchain interacts within an existing technology ecosystem and vice versa. Some knowledge of coding like JavaScript, HTML and Solidity will be important for those planning to work on the development side of blockchain, too.

3. Data analysis

One of blockchain’s greatest benefits is data. The report says the key to success lies in those who can understand and make use of this to be presented to a variety of people across the business.

4. Hacker mentality

A blockchain worker must be open to explore and experiment by “hacking the problem” from a business and technology perspective. This means working collaboratively in a workshop-type setting to think through the business objectives, implications and value story for each of the participants and then define the architecture and overall solution flow.

Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed creator of bitcoin, has filed registrations with the U.S. Copyright Office supporting his claims of authorship over the original bitcoin code and the Satoshi white paper.

The registrations, which are visible here and here, pertain specifically to “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and “Bitcoin,” meaning the original 2009 code.A press release sent to CoinDesk states:

“In the future, Wright intends to assign the copyright registrations to Bitcoin Association to hold for the benefit of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin Association is a global industry organization for Bitcoin businesses. It supports BSV and owns the Bitcoin SV client software.”

Founding President Jimmy Nguyen commented in the release:

“We are thrilled to see Craig Wright recognized as author of the landmark Bitcoin white paper and early code. Better than anyone else, Craig understands that Bitcoin was created be a massively scaled blockchain to power the world’s electronic cash for billions of people to use, and be the global data ledger for the biggest enterprise applications. We look forward to working with Craig and others to ensure his original vision is recognized as Bitcoin and is realized through BSV.”

To be clear, registration does not imply ownership nor is this an official patent. The copyright process allows anyone to register anything in an effort to prepare, say, for lawsuits associated to ownership.

Computer code and white papers can be copyrighted insofar as they are considered literary works and, as the copyright office writes: “In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created.

 You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.”In other words you, the reader, could register this post and I would have to fight you in court to contest it.Jerry Brito, executive director at advocacy group Coin Center, tweeted:

Jerry Brito@jerrybrito

Registering a copyright is just filing a form. The Copyright Office does not investigate the validity of the claim; they just register it. Unfortunately there is no official way to challenge a registration. If there are competing claims, the Office will just register all of them.

Neeraj K. Agrawal@NeerajKACraig Wright filed a copyright registration for the Bitcoin whitepaper https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=15&ti=1,15&Search_Arg=bitcoin&Search_Code=FT%2A&CNT=25&PID=nzoD_881lnuCunVeTvIfD742gwJ8&SEQ=20190521081301&SID=1 …



5345:27 AM - May 21, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy

294 people are talking about this

“People register things for a reason. They want to exploit it and they want the credit for it,” said David H. Faux, Esq., an intellectual property attorney in New York City. “Someone dishonest would register the Bitcoin white paper to put it on his website and get speaking engagements.

But at some point it would catch up with him.”“The market takes care of itself,” said Faux.When asked for comment noted Wright critic Jameson Lopp said “LOL.”CoinDesk has contacted Wright’s representatives and the Copyright Office for further comment.UPDATE – Wright wrote:

“BTC is not bitcoin. Bitcoin is set in stone and does not change. Where there is a protocol change, there is developer control which is the exact opposite of what bitcoin is about. BTC is passing off as Bitcoin. It is an air drop copy that has been designed to slowly alter the protocol allowing the system to be anonymized to such an extent that criminal activity can happen. The goal is to create a system that allows people to commit crimes, extort money, have automated ransomware and worse. This is not the goal of Bitcoin.”

Craig Wright image via CoinDesk archives

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

The latest online search data shows that the residents of Japan and South Korea “lead the world” in overall interest for topics related to “blockchain” and “Ethereum.”This, according to the ConsenSys SEO Team, which published the results of its global search interest study on May 20th, 2019.

The Team at ConsenSys, a Brooklyn, New York-based Ethereum-focused development studio, compared search interest in regions throughout the world for terms including “ bitcoin ”, “cryptocurrency”, among others.

“Huge Spike” In Bitcoin-related Search Interest In Venezuela

According to ConsenSys ’ report, overall search interest for Bitcoin remains strong in the US and the UK. However, Bitcoin-related search interest is the highest in Brazil. ConsenSys’ SEO Team also confirmed that there has been “a huge spike” in online search interest for Bitcoin in Venezuela, a country suffering from one of the worst economic crises in its history.

Taiwan: Ethereum And Blockchain Search Interest “Outranks Even Bitcoin”

Although it’s not possible to obtain accurate crypto-related search interest data for mainland China (due to the Great Firewall of China ), ConsenSys’ report revealed that online searches related to blockchain and Ethereum are “growing fast” in Taiwan (officially the Republic of China).

Notably, search interest for distributed ledger technology (DLT) and Ethereum “outrank even Bitcoin” in Taiwan.ConsenSys’ report also noted that Japan is the “highest ranking nation” for ‘ blockchain ’ searches. According to data obtained by ConsenSys’ SEO Team, 39% of crypto-related searches in Japan were for “blockchain”, 30% for Ethereum, 29% for Bitcoin, and only 3% for cryptocurrency.

Russia Has “Most Even Search Trend Spread”

The SEO Team at ConsenSys also found that Russia “exhibits one of the most even search trend spreads in the world.” This, as online search interest in the Russian Federation for Bitcoin stood at 37%, 34% for blockchain, 26% for Ethereum, and 3% for cryptocurrency.





Researchers at ConsenSys’ concluded:

The high ranking of searches for blockchain and Ethereum suggests that Russians are already looking beyond just cryptocurrency and store of value in their attempts to harness decentralization.

“US Lagging Behind Badly In Blockchain”

ConsenSys’ SEO Team also mentioned that the US is “lagging behind badly in blockchain search term diversity with ‘Bitcoin’ dominating 70% of searches." Meanwhile, search interest in the US for ‘cryptocurrency’ came in second “at just 13%”; Ethereum at 10%; and ‘blockchain’ at 7%.According to ConsenSys’ SEO Team:

The US exhibits a brand name bias with these numbers, suggesting that the technology isn’t understood until a ‘brand’ like Bitcoin or Ethereum introduces the concept to households.

Interestingly, ConsenSys’ report revealed that the UK had a “very similar spread to the United States.” In the UK, 'Bitcoin' accounted for 68% of all crypto-related searches; searches for 'cryptocurrency' came in second at 13%; 'Ethereum' at 11%; and 'blockchain' at 8%.

The blockchain story is beginning a new chapter, one in which the questions executives are asking are tougher, more granular, more grounded, and more pragmatic. 

The question for executives is no longer, "Will blockchain work?" but, "How can we make blockchain work for us?

" SINCE the first blockchain advocates began promoting the technology’s capabilities over a decade ago, leaders across industries have often seemed unsure what to do with it. But in 2019, something unmistakable appears to be happening.

What has emerged is a shared recognition that blockchain is real—and that it can serve as a pragmatic solution to business problems across industries and use cases. This is not some far-flung vision held by long-standing believers in the technology. Even leaders wary of tech-based solutions have come to see the larger, transformational importance of the technology.

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Though blockchain hasn’t reached its full potential, savvy executives surveyed for Deloitte’s 2019 global blockchain survey are confident about new and evolving use cases; they continue to see the technology as a connecting platform that can enable many business processes.

Since our last survey,1 respondents report that overall corporate blockchain investment is growing across most sectors as new, practical applications gain traction.

Like young college graduates quickly adjusting their expectations after entering the workforce, executives have seen time and practical considerations refine and define their view of what is possible in using blockchain into what is plausible—and what is practical.

What we’re seeing in 2019 is the continuing evolution of blockchain from a capable yet underdeveloped technology into a more refined and mature solution poised to deliver on its initial promise to disrupt.The question for executives is no longer, “Will blockchain work?” but, “How can we make blockchain work for us?”Overview and methodology statementDeloitte conducted this survey between February 8 and March 4, 2019, primarily as a research vehicle to gain greater insights into the overall attitudes and investments in blockchain as a technology. The release of the survey highlights in this article reflects those opinions and perceptions around blockchain and the potential impact of the technology in the future.

The information shared provides summaries of a subset of the overall data and insights collected.

The survey polled a sample of 1,386 senior executives in a dozen countries (Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States) at companies with US$500 million or more in annual revenue for US respondents and at companies with US$100 million or more in annual revenue for respondents outside of the United States.

Respondents had at least a broad understanding of blockchain and were familiar with and able to comment on their organizations’ investment plans.

Between February 18 and March 8, 2019, we also administered the survey to executives at a group of 31 blockchain emerging disruptors to gauge their attitudes and investments in blockchain as a technology. All of these emerging disruptor respondents had revenue of less than US$50 million.Show more

2019 survey highlights
Last year’s survey showed blockchain adoption reaching a turning point: Momentum had begun shifting from “blockchain tourism” and exploration toward the building of practical business applications.

Financial services and, more specifically, the financial technology (fintech) sector were leading in blockchain development, while other industries were cautious in their search for use cases to provide a return on investment to justify the cost and effort of implementing blockchain solutions.

Today, fintech remains a blockchain leader, but more organizations in more sectors—such as technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and health care, and government—are expanding and diversifying their blockchain initiatives. Still, despite these advances, progress remains measured in the wake of blockchain’s first cyclical rise and fall, and the resulting attitude shifts following the initial blockchain buzz.

On a positive note, this year’s survey reveals continued strong investment, with those willing to invest US$5 million or more in new blockchain initiatives over the next 12 months, holding steady at 40 percent (up a point from 2018). Simultaneously, 53 percent of respondents say that blockchain technology has become a critical priority for their organizations in 2019—a 10-point increase over last year (see figure 1).

Moreover, 83 percent see compelling use cases for blockchain, up from 74 percent (figure 2), and respondents’ overall attitudes toward blockchain have strengthened meaningfully.





Download the full 52 pdf report here: 
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/2019-global-blockchain-survey/DI_2019-global-blockchain-survey.pdf

Instagram Data Breach Reports Prove You Should Skip Facebook’s Crypto

Another day, another Facebook data leak affecting millions of dubious users. This time around, security researcher Anurag Sen discovered a public Amazon Web Services (AWS) database containing the contact information of more than 49 millionInstagram accounts, TechCrunch reports. For those out of the loop, Facebook is the monopolistic owner of Instagram and most other things social media.

DETAILS OF THE INSTAGRAM DATA LEAK

The exposed database includes public information from Instagram accounts such as the number of followers, likes, and shares of a particular user. More concerning, though, is the inclusion of email addresses and phone numbers of numerous account owners – information that Instagram allegedly keeps private.

Chtrbox, a social media marketing firm, owns the database. As part of the data, the company calculated a net worth for each account using public information and presumably reached out with offers through the suspiciously obtained contact information.Facebook has had little to say on the matter, telling TechCrunch:

“We’re looking into the issue to understand if the data described – including email and phone numbers – was from Instagram or from other sources.”

46 0 DAYS SINCE FACEBOOK’S LAST PRIVACY ACCIDENT

This latest Instagram snafu further proves that Facebook either doesn’t care or doesn’t know how to secure user privacy. Just last month, security firm UpGaurd revealed that you could find hundreds of millions of private Facebook user records through public third-party databases on Amazon. Sound familiar?

In the past five years, Facebook has leaked the private information of its users on several different occasions. August 2017 saw hackers obtain and sell email addresses and phone numbers of around 6 million Instagram users. In September 2018, Facebook security vulnerabilities enabled malicious parties to gather the personal information of almost 50 million users. And, who could forget the ridiculous Cambridge Analytica debacle?

Throw in Facebook’s risky, plaintext storage of passwords, and you paint a picture that’s drastically different than the company’s new “privacy-focused” brand.

YOU CAN’T TRUST FACEBOOK WITH ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY CRYPTOCURRENCY

Facebook’s crypto launch is right around the corner, but the recent data leak serves as a swift reminder to stay the hell away.Project Libra, the social media company’s secretive cryptocurrency project, has been in the works for more than a year. Initially, a payment system between Whatsapp users, the product has ballooned into a $1 billion conglomerate courting potential investments from payment processors like Visa and Mastercard.





But even big-name investments can’t help Facebook’s anti-privacy image. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company has seen a decline in job acceptance rates. Additionally, the social media platform’s user base is following a similar trend, losing 15 million users since 2017.




Facebook usage continues to fall due to constant privacy blunders. | Source: Edison Research

Now more than ever, people care about the secrecy of their online personas. Although Facebook is starting to talk the privacy talk, it’s clear that the company isn’t prepared to walk the privacy walk.

Facebook’s cryptocurrency is already taboo because the company is completely centralized and even the hint of another security breach isn’t helping Mark Zuckerberg’s case.

Bitfinex announced today its first foray into the increasingly popular business of initial exchange offerings (IEOs).

A new Bitfinex service called Tokinex will announce its first token launch this Thursday, followed by the debut of a second token on June 13.“What it means to be an exchange has evolved alongside the maturing crypto market. It has become an entire ecosystem, not just limited to the remit of trading digital assets,” said Jean Louis van der Velde, CEO of Bitfinex and Ethfinex.

BitFinex follows other major exchanges like OKCoin, KuCoin and Binance into this new line of business. Thus far there have been a few advantages to fundraising with an IEO over an initial coin offering (ICO). Most notably, the arrangement usually comes with a commitment from the exchange to handle all Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks on a startup’s behalf.

IEOs also usually come with a commitment by the exchange to promote the offering to its pool of customers.These services usually are contingent on hefty fees, but startups approved to run on Tokinex will face no upfront costs and, after successfully completing fundraising, the token will become listed on both Bitfinexand Ethfinex, according to company officials.

Participants will register through the Tokinex site where they will receive KYC checks from Blockpass, research materials on offerings and settlements through their existing exchange wallet. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about whether users would be charged any sort of fee for access to these sales.

In addition to Tokinex, the company just launched LEO, its exchange token. Previously, Binance tested the idea of using a token to lower trading expenses on a given exchange with its BNB token. 

Bitfinex image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Abstract

This paper summarises the outcomes of the analysis of the ECB Crypto-Assets Task
Force. First, it proposes a characterisation of crypto-assets in the absence of a
common definition and as a basis for the consistent analysis of this phenomenon.


Second, it analyses recent developments in the crypto-assets market and unfolding
links with financial markets and the economy. Finally, it assesses the potential impact
of crypto-assets on monetary policy, payments and market infrastructures, and
financial stability.

The analysis shows that, in the current market, crypto-assets’ risks
or potential implications are limited and/or manageable on the basis of the existing
regulatory and oversight frameworks.

However, this assessment is subject to change
and should not prevent the ECB from continuing to monitor crypto-assets, raise
awareness and develop preparedness.
Keywords: crypto-assets, characterisation, monitoring, crypto-assets risks

Executive summary


For the purposes of this paper, a crypto-asset is defined as a new type of asset
recorded in digital form and enabled by the use of cryptography that is not and
does not represent a financial claim on, or a liability of, any identifiable entity.


Crypto-assets derive their novelty and specific risk profile, particularly their inherent
high volatility, from the absence of an underlying fundamental value. Crypto-assets are
highly speculative and could expose investors to large losses1
.This paper’s
conclusions are to be interpreted in relation to crypto-assets as defined herein.

The ECB monitors crypto-assets and analyses potential implications for monetary policy and the risks they may entail for the smooth functioning of market infrastructures and payments, as well as for the stability of the financial system. To this end, the ECB established the Internal Crypto-Assets Task Force
(ICA-TF).

The ICA-TF analysis shows that crypto-assets do not currently2 pose an
immediate threat to the financial stability of the euro area. Their combined value
is small relative to the financial system, and their linkages with the financial sector are
still limited. There are no indications so far that banks in the EU have
systemically-relevant holdings of crypto-assets.

Crypto-assets do not fulfil the functions of money3 and, at the current stage,
neither do they entail a tangible impact on the real economy nor have
significant implications for monetary policy. The very low number of merchants
that allow the purchase of goods and services with  bitcoins indicates no influence of
the most prominent crypto-asset on price-setting.

In the current regulatory framework, crypto-assets can hardly enter EU financial
market infrastructures (FMIs). Crypto-assets cannot be used to conduct money
settlements in systemically important FMIs. To the extent that they do not qualify as
securities, central securities depositories (CSDs) cannot undertake settlement of
crypto-assets. Even if crypto-assets-based products were to be cleared by central
counterparties (CCPs), these would need to be authorised and to satisfy existing
regulatory requirements, albeit at additional costs and with no clear benefits to EU
CCPs4
. 

The sector nevertheless requires continuous careful monitoring since
crypto-assets are dynamic and linkages with the wider financial sector may
increase to more significant levels in the future. Exposures may increase as the
crypto-assets ecosystem (e.g. post-trade services) develops further and more clarity
1 In February 2018, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for securities (ESMA), banking (EBA),
and insurance and pensions (EIOPA) issued a pan-EU warning to consumers regarding the risks of
buying virtual currencies.
2 As of 31 January 2019 (cut-off date for crypto-assets data used throughout this paper).
3 Mersch, (2018a, 2018b).
4 It is worth noting though that EU clearing members may be exposed to risks  stemming from crypto-assets
futures offered for clearing by third-country recognised CCPs (TC-CCPs).

regarding application of standards may create a more conducive environment for
investments. Depending on how they will be regulated in the future, crypto-assets may
more easily enter the FMI environment, and deteriorate the FMI risk profile

If FMI participants were assessed to pose heightened risks to the FMIs’ safety in
light of their crypto-assets business, FMI operators would have the authority to
impose more stringent restrictions on participation, without prejudice to fair
and open access. Particularly the Eurosystem could, if need be, require the
segregation of crypto-assets business for participation in TARGET2 and could also
terminate participation on grounds of prudence. CCPs could voluntarily pursue
segregation via separate default funds for crypto-assets clearing services, although
they would still be exposed to loss in own capital at the end of the default “waterfall”5
. 

From a prudential view, crypto-assets should be deducted from CET1 as part of
a conservative prudential treatment. In fact, the regulation on capital requirements
for credit institutions and investment firms (CRR) is not tailored to crypto-assets in light
of their high volatility. Without prejudice to the ongoing work at the Basel Committee on
Banking Supervision (BCBS), a possible way forward for this conservative prudential
treatment is the Pillar 1 deduction from CET1 similarly to other assets classified as
“intangible assets” under the accounting framework.

Independently of the stipulated prudential treatment, financial institutions
undertaking exposures in crypto-assets are expected to put in place an
appropriate risk management framework commensurate to the risks posed by
the unique characteristics of these activities. Furthermore, any outstanding risks
not adequately covered under Pillar 1 could be addressed via supervisory action
under a proportional approach.

Disjointed regulatory initiatives at the national level could trigger regulatory
arbitrage and, ultimately, hamper the resilience of the financial system to
crypto-asset market based shocks. Without prejudice to further work to be
undertaken by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the ICA-TF
analysis suggests that a broader approach to regulation of crypto-assets could be
pursued at the intersection with the financial system, where risks arise from
unregulated so-called “gatekeepers” that provide an entry point for retail investors and
regulated entities. Any regulation should also be balanced to avoid incentivising risky
crypto-assets business.

At present, crypto-assets’ implications for and/or risks to the financial stability
of the euro area, monetary policy, and payments and market infrastructures are
limited or manageable. This assessment should not be extended to other areas
outside of the scope of this report (e.g. money laundering, consumer protection)
where risks may have already materialised, and should not preclude continuous
monitoring or the analysis of future implications of crypto-assets for the stability and
efficiency of the EU financial systems and FMIs.

Prefunded financial resources used to cover losses caused by participant defaults are commonly referred
to as a “waterfall” and may include the defaulter’s initial margin, the defaulter’s contribution to a
prefunded default arrangement, a specified portion of the CCP’s own funds and other participants’
contributions to a prefunded default arrangement. See CPMI-IOSCO (2017).

Introduction


Crypto-assets have been the subject of intense policy debate. In particular,
crypto-assets have raised concerns with regard to money laundering, market integrity
and consumer protection – among other things – as well as possible implications for
financial stability. Financial sector authorities in Europe and worldwide undertake
various activities on crypto-assets within their mandates. International fora such as the
G7, the G20, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and standard setting bodies (SSBs)
conduct work on crypto-assets aimed at monitoring crypto-assets’ implications for
global financial stability and coordinating policy responses. The ECB has been
studying this phenomenon since its inception, and published its first report on virtual
currency schemes in 2012, followed by further analysis in 20156....

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE 40 PAGE PDF....
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpops/ecb.op223~3ce14e986c.en.pdf

Major automobile manufacturers Honda and General Motors (GM) are jointly conducting research on electric vehicle and smart grid interoperability using blockchain tech, Japanese news outlet Nikkei reported on May 20.

As part of the project, Honda and GM will investigate whether electric vehicles can be used to stabilize the supply of energy in smart grids. Specifically, the companies intend to develop data retrieval methods between electric vehicles and smart grids, which will purportedly enable electric vehicles owners to earn fees from storing power in car batteries and exchanging it with the grid.

The parties will work within the international technology consortium Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI), that aims to make mobility services more efficient. The platform was launchedin early May and is the brainchild of over thirty participants including Bosch, Hyperledger, IBMand IOTA.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, GM filed a blockchain patent for a solution to manage data from autonomous vehicles. The system aims to provide “secure” and “robust” data distribution and interoperable exchange between multiple automated vehicles and other entities, such as municipalities, regional authorities, and public facilities.

The American automotive giant also became the joined blockchain startup Spring Labs’ partner project to enhance data security.

Among other leading car manufacturers that are embracing blockchain technology, Mercedes-Benz developed a blockchain platform that allows for the storage of documentation and contracts in complex supply chains.

What is blockchain, where is it used, and will it become mainstream?These are just some of the questions on the lips of the public as the word – and cryptocurrency in general – are becoming more widely used.






Dr Ying-Ying HsiehBut if you’re new to the idea of blockchain, it can seem a tricky concept to get your head around. With this in mind, we recently sat down with Dr Ying-Ying Hsieh, Assistant Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School, to talk about blockchain and its applications in cryptocurrency and beyond.

Here are her confusion-busting answers to some of the public’s most common questions.

1. What is blockchain?
Blockchain is simply a piece of software that enables the sharing of value, such as payments, between peers online. Importantly, blockchain allows the information to be shared without the need to go through any third-party intermediaries such as banks or payment companies.

As its name suggests, it is made of blocks that are connected in chains and each block stores a small part of the history of the transactions that have taken places on the blockchain.




2. When was blockchain first created?
Blockchain is not so much an original idea as it is a combination of a number of pre-existing technologies such as cryptography, peer-to-peer computing and others. The successful first digital implementation of blockchain was in 2008, with the publication of a whitepaper by an anonymous developer, nicknamed Satoshi Nakamoto, in which the idea of blockchain-mediated cryptocurrency, known as bitcoin, was first proposed.

3. How does blockchain support bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that one can think of as digital cash. Bitcoin only exists online and therefore, its exchange needs to be recorded digitally. Blockchain essentially acts as a digital ledger to record all transactions happening between the peers online and provides a secure and decentralised record for all of the exchanges.




4. What does a decentralised blockchain mean?
It means that the information in the blockchain is not stored in a single place but it is distributed across the network of people who are using it. For example, standard cash, such as pounds or dollars, are issued by the central banks that keep the records of where the money is going. However, with bitcoin, there is no single entity that is responsible for issuing bitcoins and keeping the records. Bitcoin works through an anonymous network of people who provide nodes to the blockchain. Anyone can join or exit the blockchain at any time and the cross-validation between the nodes is required to record anything on the ledger.

5. Does the decentralised nature of the blockchain make it more secure?
Yes, here is an example: if you have a pot of gold you can store it in the vault and trust the people who own the vault, i.e. banks and their personnel, to keep it safe for you. But if your gold is analogous to bitcoin, then, rather than putting your pot of gold into a bank vault, you actually put it in someone’s house in some imaginary village and it gets moved to a new house every 10 minutes or so. No one knows where your gold will be moved, which makes it very difficult for any burglar to know where it will be at any given time. Moreover, to enter the houses in which your gold is stored, the burglar would need to solve complicated equations, which are both time consuming and extremely energy expensive.

6. But there have been many reports of bitcoins being stolen, so it is possible to hack the blockchain, right?
Well, most of those reports actually refer to the hacking of exchanges in which the cryptocurrencies are being traded and not the blockchain itself. In fact, we can still find the stolen currency on the blockchain we just do not have the access to it or know who has stolen it.

7. Can anyone start a blockchain?
Yes, in principle anyone with some computing knowledge can do it, but the start is the easy part. The success and value of the blockchain comes from its size and to make it attractive to the users the creator of the new blockchain needs to be able to grow it fast by adding as many blocks as possible to the chain. The scaling of the blockchain is referred to as bootstrapping and it is often done through the so-called initial coin offerings at the early stages of a cryptocurrency creation.




8. Are there different types of blockchains?
Currently there are several different types of blockchains, which were mostly developed to improve the original bitcoin blockchain. Another very popular blockchain is the Ethereum blockchain developed to exchange ether tokens online. Ethereum blockchain is more energy efficient, allows smart contracts (transfer of currency only under certain conditions) and also uses proof-of-stake rather than proof-of-workprotocols to validate transactions.

9. Is there any disadvantage to using a blockchain?
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage from the government’s perspective is that blockchain-based technologies are very difficult to track. The decentralised nature of the blockchain makes it difficult to regulate transactions happening online and therefore, it is very attractive for criminals to use it for illegal trade and money laundering purposes. In fact, we often see bitcoins being the preferred payment method during the ransomware attacks and in online black market for weapons and drugs.

10. Can blockchain be used outside the cryptocurrency field?
There are many potential avenues for the use of blockchain, though, so far, it has been used more as a proof-of-concept and not yet fully implemented. Essentially, any situation where trust is of key importance could make use of blockchain, whether that is the financial industry or electronic voting systems. In the shipping industry the blockchain could be used to track where the goods versus the money is, and in the healthcare system it could be used for the secure storage of patient data.Listen to Bernadeta’s interview with Dr Ying-Ying Hsieh:

Article text (excluding photos or graphics) © Imperial College London.

Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission or © Imperial College London.

Reporter




Bernadeta Dadonaite 

School of Professional Development

Bitcoin was the dream of cypherpunks everywhere. A completely anonymous platform that allowed the transfer of value between participants without the need for any intermediaries. There are more people who fall in this category than ever before, even though they are not all attracted to Bitcoin.

Look at the way banks are increasingly seen as the enemy of the people by more and more of the general population to see that almost everyone is fed up with the status quo.

So why is it taking so long for truly decentralized blockchains to take over the world? Where is the revolution that was promised by tech luminaries who peddled tales of cryptocurrency changing the world overnight?

Crypto Needs To Disappear From Marketing Blockchain

It's right here, in our daily lives and it is not going to move much quicker until quite a few things change. The first thing that needs to change is for cryptocurrency to stop being the face of blockchain. While many who are in the know will understand the nuances of cryptocurrency in its current state, many people simply follow what is being told on the news.

• Bitcoin is nothing according to the best investor ever Warren Buffet.
• Warren Buffet was wrong; this “nothing” is now worth $17000.
• Aha! Buffet was right, Bitcoin crashed and everyone who bought it is poor now!

They could learn – everyone can learn if they are interested enough, but they won't. The vast majority of people want something that just works and cryptocurrency is too volatile for them to use it to its full potential. Tokens on the other hand… that people will be able to grasp much more easily.

Give people tokens to pay for in-game items and let them trade those items for more tokens. Allow them to use those tokens to buy things off of eBay and they will love it. No one needs to know it's cryptocurrency.

Blockchain Needs To Stop Being The Focal Point Of Products

No one learns how to engineer a car to drive, but everyone still drives one. Few people know their way around a network or know how to code, yet everyone uses the internet daily without a problem. No one learns about how mobile technology works just to be able to understand their phones better.

Blockchain technology is mainly a back-end thing. It is important for banks to know how it works so they can use it for faster transactions. It is important for manufacturers to understand blockchain so they can improve their supply chain. It is important for investors to understand so they know what they are investing in.


Look at blockchain in terms of modern-day debit cards. They are an instant means of payment for everyone around the world. You swipe your card (or tap it as it were) and both you and the merchant know that your money has been transferred.

No one cares about the complex machinery that goes into making that one transaction work and how much companies have had to invest to make paying for small amounts with a debit card a viable option.It is the same for online services such as venmo and Paypal.

There isn't a single person who used their service who thought that they needed an in-depth explanation of how the service worked. All they cared is that it did and it was easy tog et up and running. The problem with many blockchain based services is that there will be too much hand-holding and explaining concepts.

Technology Booms Have Been About Evolution, Not Revolution

Many people today seem to think that technology revolutions happen with a single product or idea when there is nothing further from the truth. While one person may be credited with an idea, there is a large list of people who improve on it to make it cheaper, more viable and eventually get to the point where the original investor becomes famous.

Not necessarily rich, but famous nonetheless.The weaving machine that kick-started the Industrial Revolution was the creation of one man. However, it was not half so fast or effective as the weaving machine just a decade later that had improvements by at least a dozen other inventors.

The Industrial Revolution only kicked into gear once all the component parts had been made to work as smoothly and as efficiently as possible.Bitcoin could be the next generation payment system. It might not.

It certainly ushered in a new age of computing and we have been seeing more and more differing blockchain projects that are improving on the basic tenets of what Bitcoin offered. Newer blockchains are faster, cheaper and have a multitude of uses… and most of all – the consumer never needs to know what they are.

• Bitcoin slumped more than 8% on Friday as speculators cashed out.
• The decline probably reflected profit-taking and algorithmic trading, according to one expert.
• Bitcoin had surged from $5,000 to more than $8,000 this month, but still trades well below its peak of $19,000 in December 2017.
• Watch bitcoin trade live.

Bitcoin slumped more than 8% to below $7,200 on Friday as investors cashed out following the cryptocurrency's breathless rise this year. The prices of other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and litecoin slid by a similar amount, while bitcoin cash and ripple dropped around 12%.

The cryptocurrency's latest tumble probably reflected profit-taking and algorithmic trading exacerbating the decline, said Jehan Chu, co-founder of Kenetic Capital, in an interview with CNBC. 

The total market capitalization for the cryptocurrency industry has shrunk by about 9% to around $225 billion in the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The price of bitcoin had surged to nearly $8,200 earlier this week, more than doubling its value since the start of the year. There are several theories about what caused the spike, including the US-China trade war, growing institutional interest, an exodus from risky "alt-coins," a lawsuit against the owners of the Bitfinex exchange, and the hacking of the Binance exchange.
 Given bitcoin's sharp rise, "it is no surprise we have seen a small adjustment," Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, a cryptocurrency company, said in a note.

"Data will almost certainly show that a number of people who bought on the last major price rise will now be exiting at a price which covers their initial investment.

"Bitcoin still trades more than 40% above its $5,000 level at the start of May. However, it remains well short of the $19,000 peak it reached in December 2017.

As undergraduates emerge from schools with software development or business skills, companies exploring blockchain use are seeking job candidates with four specific skill sets, according to a new report from consultancy KPMG.

Those skills are needed more with each passing month; KPMG expects an increase in the number of companies exploring blockchain this year for everything from identifying new business models to piloting projects and ultimately, progressing to scalable solutions.

KPMG said, not surprisingly, that it's seeking graduates with a solid grasp of blockchain at a high level – those who understand distributed ledgers, peer-to-peer topologies and consensus mechanisms; all are key for a technologist hoping to land a high-paying blockchain developer job.

The nexus of tech and business acumen

"The key thing we do at KPMG is balance an understanding of how this technology works without being a blockchain hammer looking for a nail," said Tegan Keele, KPMG's U.S. blockchain program lead. "You have to know how to apply it and that really only comes if you have an understanding of business processes.

"Secondly, members of a blockchain team should understand the difference between a variety of technologies, including the cloud, protocols, ERPs and networks, and know  when to use different mechanisms and platforms.

"This will help ensure they can understand how blockchain interacts within an existing technology ecosystem, and how that ecosystem will impact the design of the blockchain solution," KPMG said.

"And for those who are planning to work on the development side of blockchain, some knowledge of coding (JavaScript, HTML, solidity, etc.) is helpful....

That means the company looks for blockchain developers with business acumen, such as a knowledge of supply chain or procurement systems or finance processes – skills that are already taught in undergraduate programs.


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In today's networked environments, the only certainty is change. It is imperative, therefore, that solutions are selected and designed with that in mind.

KPMG also looks for a job candidate's technical literacy, or the ability to understand  data generated on a blockchain platform and how to use it in a business context.

One of the key attributes of blockchain is its ability to span an organization and its business partners, essentially connecting multiple, disparate entities through a single, transparent electronic ledger.

"But, then you have multiple people within each participating entity looking at the blockchain and they're all going to want to see slightly different things," Keele said. "So understanding how to derive those insights out of the information on a blockchain is key."

A hacker's ability to problem solve

Those entering the blockchain development/engineering field should have the mentality of a hacker - or the ability to problem solve collaboratively in a workshop setting when a client presents a business problem.


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They need to be able to think through the business objectives, implications and value "for each of the participants and then [define] the architecture and overall solution flow," KPMG said. "It is this collaborative approach that leads to a successful application of blockchain.

"Given the lack of coursework around blockchain and its relatively new existence in the enterprise, a team must be open to exploring and experimenting by "hacking the problem" from a business and IT perspective, according to KPMG.

"I'd say at KPMG we've been very successful at taking [employee] skills in-house and upscaling them to deliver blockchain skills," Keele said.

"Until universities start printing blockchain degrees, that will be the pattern that will continue.

"The list of U.S. universities now offering courses on blockchain continues to grow and includes such prestigious institutions as MIT, Princeton, UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

The top blockchain jobs, according to a report last year by BusinessStudent.com, are interns, project managers, developers, engineers, quality engineers, legal consultants or attorneys and web designers.

While most techies who add blockchain to their skillset are versed in programming languages such as Java or Python, it's by no means a prerequisite for learning the technology.

Like any emerging technology, having the right talent is paramount to driving results, KPMG's report said."Blockchain projects will not succeed or scale without a multifaceted team that goes beyond technologists," KPMG wrote.

"We expect more universities to integrate blockchain into future coursework, which will help prepare both end users as well as those who will be responsible for building, deploying and managing blockchain."

The dearth of workers for a hot field

Currently, there's a significant lack of skilled blockchain developers, according to job search sites and research firms. That paucity of talent is one of the major stumbling blocks for companies hoping to deploy blockchain. For those with blockchain skills, the job market is red hot.

In February, the online job search site Hired reported demand for blockchain engineers was "through the roof," with year-over-year growth of more than 200%.

Hired's jobs report, which was in line with earlier reports from LinkedIn and jobs market research firms Burning Glass Technologies and Janco Associates, shows software engineers with blockchain skills are in higher demand than at any time in the past, with the number of positions growing more than five-fold in the past year.

While blockchain engineering is the most in-demand skill on the Hired marketplace, only 12% of those surveyed by the firm earlier this year identified blockchain as the top technology they want to learn. Fifty-one percent of survey respondents named Python as one of their most-liked languages, 49% cited Javascript and 19% named. PHP.

Another problem affecting the mismatch between the need for blockchain developers and the scarcity of available workers is the difficulty in finding places that offer training, according to Hired CEO Mehul Patel.

In general, one in five software engineers is self-taught, according to Hired's data.

"I think generally we are seeing less than half of engineers we looked at had a B.S. degree and one-fifth of them had gone through a year and a half of school. So, one-third of our engineering base are self-taught or taught through non-traditional means," Patel said.

Senior Reporter Lucas Mearian covers financial services IT (including blockchain), healthcare IT and enterprise mobile issues (including mobility management, security, hardware and apps).

The price of bitcoin raced from $5,000 to $8,000 in the last month, evidence of a possible cryptocurrency revival. This time, demand may be fueled by an institutional embrace of crypto, rather than the retail investment mania of 2017.

Perhaps the clearest sign of bitcoin’s institutional adoption is the growth of indirect investment. For instance, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust—a fund which allows accredited investors to invest in bitcoin—recently reached a 10-month high, with approximately $1.4 billion in assets under management.

Grayscale’s GBTC product means institutional investors can buy bitcoin within the bounds of conventional finance (i.e., the fund is available through brokerage accounts and provides regularly audited financial statements). Retail investors can also purchase shares in the fund, but often pay a premium, in excess of 30%.

Trading experts on the sidelines of Consensus—a cryptocurrency industry conference in New York this week—also pointed to an additional reason for bitcoin’s resurgence: The New York attorney general hasn’t sunk Bitfinex, one of the largest crypto exchanges.

Many traders bet that bitcoin would tank after the AG, Letitia James, revealed her office’s investigation of Bitfinex’s parent company, iFinex. The firm quietly shifted hundreds of millions of dollars to Bitfinex from an affiliate, and James’s office suspects the company may have defrauded investors.

But the ramifications of the legal process—if any—have been slow to develop. In the meantime, Bitfinex raised $1 billion (in just 10 days) through an initial exchange offering (IEO), a minor twist on the initial coin offering (ICO) phenomenon that swept blockchain enthusiasts two years ago.

Betting against bitcoin was popular, at least a few weeks ago. It was a “crowded short,” explained Dave Weisberger, CEO of CoinRoutes, an order-routing service for cryptocurrency trading. But when the market didn’t dive as expected, traders with short positions rushed to cover themselves, buying indiscriminately in bitcoin’s spot market. “Short covering is often price insensitive,” remarked Weisberger.

As the short sellers bought up bitcoin, it helped send the coin soaring. The theory explains the price bump, and it also suggests the recent surge may not be long lived.

Just 376 people hold a third of all Ether, the cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum blockchain, according to new research by Chainalysis Inc.

Large holders are known in the crypto market as “whales,” which Chainalysis defines as individuals who hold their assets in digital wallets and not on an exchange, Kim Grauer, a senior economist at the company, said in an interview. By comparison, 448 people own 20 percent of all Bitcoin, she said.

Chainalysis also looked at the effect Ether whales have on price, and found that large holders don’t move their cryptocurrency often.“The majority of whales aren’t traders,” she said. “They’re mostly holding.”




The study also found that when a whale moves Ether from a wallet to an exchange, there is a small but statistically significant effect on market volatility.

Investor sentiment and the price of Bitcoin are strong indicators of where Ether will trade, the Chainalysis research found.

As Bitcoin rallied 52 percent since the beginning of May, Ether rose 48 percent. 

Grauer plans to turn the research into an academic paper analyzing the effect of large Ether holders on the market and will discuss the data Wednesday at the Consensus blockchain conference in New York.

“We’re excited to bring the models that have been applied to the stock market to cryptocurrencies,” she said. The data on Ether was collected from early 2016 to the end of April, before Ether and Bitcoin surged in recent weeks.

“It’s unfortunate this bull run didn’t happen a month ago to be part of our analysis,” she said, adding that the link between Bitcoin’s price and that of Ether backs up their findings.

Polychain Capital CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee thinks Facebook would be smart to build its stablecoinon a public, open blockchain infrastructure. Carlson-Wee delivered his remarks at the Consensus 2019 panel “To the Moon and Back” on May 15.

Carlson-Wee explained that the blockchain platform he is referring to is one like bitcoin’s, in which the creator relinquishes control over the platform they built. He argues that such an arrangement would be beneficial to the social media giant, saying:

“I think given all the problems that Facebook has had with policing their platform and things like that, I think that the strategic move for Facebook would actually be to build public infrastructure. And that public infrastructure could be incorporated onto all the Facebook platforms, which of course are proprietary. But that public infrastructure, if they don’t try to own it, I think that’s where they will have the most success.”

Carlson-Wee notes that an additional benefit would be that by relinquishing control over the platform, they also avoid liability for controversy that takes place on the platform; he compares the situation to the creation of the internet:

“The people that made the internet aren’t responsible for everything that’s said on the internet.”

The CEO continued to share a broader vision for cryptocurrencies, in which they are used as a common and accessible store of wealth. He stated:

“If big technology companies want to put their resources toward building public peer-to-peer crypto infrastructure, I would be ecstatic.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, an anonymous source told Bloomberg that Facebook will roll out its cryptocurrency, purportedly a stablecoin, some time in the third quarter of 2019. 

Sources at the Wall Street Journal say that Facebook is seeking investments up to $1 billion to fund the upcoming “FB Coin.”

3D printing, or as the manufacturing industry prefers to call it ‘additive manufacturing’, is used to build critical industrial parts including for the aviation or power generation industries. It’s hard to overstate the importance of using the correct design version or the right quality of metallic components.

Hence GE has created a blockchain to manage the supply chain for the additive manufacturing process, one that it says is secure enough for the high-performance world of quantum computing.

“We can create networks that allow for fine-grain control of materials flows, data, intellectual property and identity along the entire additive digital thread,” said Benjamin Beckmann, GE Research’s Blockchain Leader. “

The goal here is to provide security for the entire additive process from powder to print.”Some of the parts that GE builds use highly reactive metallic powders which have a limited shelf life. This is one example of the importance of efficiently managing the supply chain process for additive manufacturing.GE Research developed the blockchain platform at its Forge Lab.

The company says that “the platform combines the need for pervasive data integration with a high degree of cryptographic communications and data storage enabled by quantum communication channels and ultra-fast quantum key distribution technologies.”GE doesn’t believe the blockchain framework is limited to its own use.

“We’re working on a range of applications addressing industrial-grade requirements for industrial, energy, healthcare, and the defense industries,” said Beckmann.John Carbone, Principal Engineer at GE Research, gave some insight into how it works.

“In the network, each identity associated with devices, designs, machines, materials, components and people can be quickly verified, qualified, documented and managed in an automated fashion with the highest degree of data integrity and assurance.

”Other divisions of GE are also exploring blockchain. GE Power participated alongside numerous prominent name participants in a study exploring blockchain for energy organized by the German energy agency Dena.

GE Aviation has an existing program called TruEngine for verifying that engines have been properly maintained, which is important for their re-sale. CoinDesk recently reported that GE Aviation is working on a blockchain solution for TruEngine with Microsoft Azure.

A similar solution not limited to engines has been developed by Honeywell Aviation.

The government of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) announced plans to establish the European Blockchain Institute to research blockchain technology in a press release on May 13.

According to NRW Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart, the European Blockchain Institute will be founded in the city of Dortmund later this year, inside the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML).

The press release says that critics of blockchain have voiced concern over the amount of energy consumed by mining bitcoin (BTC). Pinkwart addressed these concerns and praised the benefits of blockchain tech, saying:

"This technology can be safe, decentralized, affordable and, when used properly, not too energy-intensive. ”According to the press release, Europe is behind the United States in blockchain advancements and “has to catch up,” which is a goal that NRW hopes to lead the way in achieving.

As reported by Cointelegraph, Ripple’s Director of Regulatory Relations Ryan Zagone commented at Consensus 2019 on the need for the U.S. to lead the way in implementing blockchain and crypto infrastructure:

“There is a broad discussion in Washington around 5G being dominated by foreign firms and the U.S. being reliant on foreign technology and foreign expertise… With blockchain and crypto, I think there's a recognition now that these will be part of our future infrastructure… It’s important both for national security and from an economic perspective, that the U.S. is a leader in that.”

The blockchain has already helped to revolutionize the world of currency. By using a shared, publicly distributed ledger, an entire network of users can keep track of their own material ownership and transactions.

But soon, the blockchain will be able to track ownership for all kinds of things, including material goods like cars and intangible assets like ideas. More than that, blockchain-based ownership could become a practical necessity—and revolutionize how our society functions and how asset ownership works.

The Blockchain and Asset Tokenization

The broad term for this high-tech concept is “asset tokenization,” which makes sense, because it’s all about converting existing assets (tangible and intangible) to manageable, digitally traceable tokens, not dissimilar to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Each token in this system represents fractional ownership in a tradeable asset.

Much like an initial public offering (IPO) in the stock world or an initial coin offering (ICO), the business owner, asset distributor, or creative innovator in charge would oversee an initial security token offering (STO). They would control the trading volume of the token in question, as well as an initial price for each token.

Investors active on the blockchain would be able to trade these fractional shares like they would any cryptocurrency, accumulating, holding, and selling as they see fit. In some cases, sufficient fractional shares would be exchangeable for a real asset, and in others, they could be traded like public stocks, with investors hoping to hold the asset until it increases in value.

Asset Ownership and Accountability

One of the biggest breakthroughs the blockchain would provide is an immediate and convenient way to distribute the ownership of complex assets, like businesses. Ownership is an important concept in a thriving economy, giving people the chance to grow their wealth by buying and holding assets.

Stocks already allow consumers the chance to acquire partial ownership in up-and-coming companies, but asset tokenization could open the door to even more complex asset types, like buildings, vehicles, or specific pieces of equipment.

Asset owners can also benefit from finding a way to distribute accountability in some cases. For example, in a car accident, liability can be complex to pinpoint due to the variety of factors that play into determining “fault.” Drivers, owners, insurance companies, weather conditions, traffic conditions, and more can play into the resolution of a case.

If a car’s ownership, or if an insurance company’s ownership is distributed, no single person or organization will bear the brunt of a liability issue.

Simplification of Exchanges and Transactions

Asset tokenization will also simplify how exchanges and transactions play out, giving consumers more options for both straightforward purchases and transfers of ownership.

For example, asset tokenization instantly makes previously illiquid investments more liquid; it’s much easier to distribute ownership of a piece of factory equipment when you can split it a practically infinite number of times, and keep track of all those microtransactions with minimal financial management.

Of course, “simplification” is a long-term vision. Blockchain ledgers don’t appear instantaneously, and do require expert oversight. But once created, instated, and popularly accepted, almost any purchase, trade, investment, or exchange will become simpler.

Creative Empowerment

Tokens also have the ability to revolutionize creators of intangible or hard-to-define assets, like photos, music, and other creative works. Imagine, as an example, how a change in the distribution and control of ownership could affect the music industry.

A composer or performer could produce a body of work, like an album, and tokenize that work to willing investors and participants. Listeners, producers, and others would be able to front money to creators, giving them more upfront cash for their work, and simultaneously giving themselves a stake in what could be a very popular piece of media.

If it’s used in a movie or is downloaded frequently enough, every stakeholder would be able to claim partial benefits.

This setup makes it easier for creators to get paid for what they create and still retain more control over how it’s used. It seizes some power from industry titans, democratizing the industry, and gives consumers more freedom to support the artists they want. It’s an amazingly beneficial system for everyone involved.

Workforce Contributions

Employee-owned companies are becoming more popular, and asset tokenization could make the system more approachable for small- to mid-sized companies that aren’t interested in incorporating. The idea is to compensate employees, at least partially, in equity in the company, incentivizing them to work harder for the business’s success and rewarding them directly for their efforts.Asset tokenization would make this structure available without the need for an IPO or a complicated ownership distribution model. Instead, employees could work for discrete “tokens” of ownership that could be sold or cashed in later for a profit.

Investment and Funding

Even though fractional ownership has been a long-standing concept in the form of stocks for publicly-traded companies, asset tokenization still has the possibility of disrupting the world of investments, enabling investors to target a more diverse range of opportunities, and giving entrepreneurs and inventors more financial chances than ever before.

For starters, asset tokenization wouldn’t be limited to formally incorporated businesses; it could be open to sole proprietorships and small businesses, or to individuals and organizations as well. In fact, it could change how we think about “corporate ownership” in the first place.

Because it’s so accessible and so liquid, it gives more entrepreneurs the opportunity to attract funding, which could fuel a technological and innovative revolution.

Preparing for AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation have the potential to jeopardize millions of American jobs, replacing or displacing them with new technology that can accomplish human tasks at a fraction of the cost. But asset tokenization could offer the possibility of compensating displaced employees, at least to an extent.

By offering employees at risk of role automation a chance to earn or buy into tokens of the technologies that may replace them, you give them a safety net in case their role is no longer necessary while simultaneously giving the tech developer the funding necessary to complete the project.

With the diverse array of AI-driven technologies on the horizon, quick, easy funding is going to become more important to preserve our developmental momentum. Employees are also going to need an alternative to any obsolete jobs they’ve depended on; this could provide a solution to both.

When will Blockchain start impacting asset ownership?

So when is this groundbreaking, revolutionary technology going to develop and be available for the people who need it most? It’s hard to say, considering the blockchain is a complex technology whose role hasn’t formally been solidified.

Given the infrastructure for blockchain as it relates to cryptocurrency is well-established by now, there’s a distinct possibility it could only be a few years until it’s used for wider purposes. However, some industries and applications may face additional years-long delays due to new regulatory hurdles or talent shortages.

In any case, once asset ownership tokenization starts to become popular, its momentum will be hard to stop. More people will realize the immense power and varied applications of the technology, and increased competitive pressure will make its allure hard to resist.

As soon as the early applications prove themselves worthy of investment and attention (and after the first kinks are worked out), it’s going to experience exponential growth.

With all these inherent advantages, it’s clear that blockchain-based ownership isn’t just a gimmick, nor is it a simple improvement to our existing systems; it’s a practical necessity that will become more important as the years pass.

It may be some time before asset tokenization becomes understood and accepted in the mainstream, but it has the potential to improve our lives in multiple areas—and solve many of the problems that have plagued entrepreneurs, investors, creatives, and consumers for decades.

By Peter Daisyme for Due.com.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has just announced that it now offers trading in over 100 countries, after adding support for a further 50 countries. It’s also doubling down on its USDC stablecoin, making it available in 85 countries.

In an announcement published earlier today, Coinbase revealed that crypto-to-crypto trading is now available in 50 new countries; it’s proprietary stablecoin is also now available in 85 countries (previously only available in the US). This expansion goes for both Coinbase and Coinbase Pro.

This time last year, Coinbase was available in 32 countries; with today’s news, the cryptocurrency exchange is now available in 103 countries. The 50 new countries are now able to access Coinbase as of today are listed below:

“Angola, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Benin, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Zambia.

”Indeed, it certainly seems like Coinbase is intent on taking its cryptocurrency offerings to every corner of the globe. But it’s not all been sunshine and rainbows for the digital asset exchange in the last 12 months.

Earlier this year in April, following the “crypto-winter,” Coinbase fired 30 staff members and closed its Chicago office just one year after it opened.Coinbase also came under scrutiny from Twitter users after it announced the acquisition of Neutrino, an Italian startup that used blockchain data to trace cryptocurrency transactions.

Naturally users thought they were about to get spied on, and the hashtag #deletecoinbase quickly followed.That said, in December last year, the exchange added a further 30 cryptocurrencies, including EOS, XRP, and a smattering of other shitcoinsaltcoins.

The expansion sees Coinbase join the ranks of other globally available exchanges like Binance. Notably, it’s seen fewer large scale hacks too – and it’s also taking care to comply with regulations in all the countries it’s doing business in.