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A worker monitors a computer that assists in sorting Florida green skin avocados at the New Limeco LLC packaging facility in Princeton, Florida, U.S. CREDIT: Photographer: Mark Elias/Bloomberg

Blockchain is just a digital ledger, a digitized record of whatever data is added by its members, with no ability to verify the accuracy of the underlying data itself. 

Because the truth of that data isn’t actually evaluated, there’s no aspect of blockchain technology that can make sure that the cage-free egg is really cage-free or that the lettuce is actually free from contamination.

For Walmart, the technology will be used to tell stakeholders that a particular head of lettuce came from a particular harvest on a particular farm, so if a consumer gets sick, government investigators will have a head start on the investigation.

Rather than chasing a paper trail for days, they can get to the source of a tainted head of lettuce within seconds, and that should mean less wasted produce, fewer sick people and more confidence in the food system.

Though blockchain is being touted as the technology that could potentially solve all of agriculture’s challenges, it’s not necessarily clear why blockchain is better than something like a database or any other form of digital information storage.

Companies could simply build a database rather than build a blockchain, particularly as some of the original features of the Bitcoin version, like trustless verification, aren’t a feature.It’s not entirely clear why blockchain is the best technology for the job of transforming the food industry, and it may not be.

It may just be that it’s the one getting attention right now, particularly as technology experts look for ways to transfer their experience and make their mark in the burgeoning agritech sector.Where blockchain starts to reach its potential is when it’s used with other technologies and systems. 

At the same time that the blockchain is implemented for food traceability, for example, producers can also put into place systems like enhanced water testing mechanisms or increase buffer zones between leafy green growers and livestock operations.

When used with sensors and precision delivery systems for pesticide and water all connected to a network, as with the Internet of Things, blockchain can be used to gather a wealth of data and employ it in the field.

While blockchain can’t verify that an egg operation is truly cage-free or what that cage-free operation really looks like, it might offer a way for farmers to get more information to consumers.

Farmers, particularly the ones who don’t sell their food to a farmer’s market or get an opportunity to interact with consumers, often struggle with how to engage with the public, looking for ways to explain how and why they grow food the way they do.

Blockchain enables farmers to get data to consumers, but what if it could provide more context, too? That’s the thing consumers really need to make informed decisions about their food.

Blockchain could be used to tell consumers that the corn was grown with herbicide, for example, but maybe someday there could be a mechanism for explaining why that herbicide is used, or a comparison of that herbicide to other weed prevention systems or removal methods.

The complicated nature of agriculture doesn’t always translate so well to a smartphone app, but then again, that might be a challenge that’s too big for blockchain to solve anyway.

I’m a food, science and health writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate, Mental Floss, SELF and the Breakthrough Journal. Since 2015, I’ve been fascinated by the intersection of technology and food, from cutting edge cattle feedlots to ... MORE

While several countries have sought to stomp out crypto-innovation, and others have tried to accomplish rule making by enforcement action, France appears to be ready to embrace the cryptocurrency revolution.

According to a report in Les Echos, the most prominent business publication in France, legislators are moving rapidly to create an environment that will allow initial coin offerings (ICOs) to flourish – not whither and die. Paris wants to become the most attractive financial center for ICOs.

This is an interesting move by the Gallic nation. Europe is in the midst of a jarring Brexit divorce. London has always been the financial center for the continent but with the legal separation imminent, Paris is polishing its financial innovation chops.

The report states:Bercy (or the Ministry for the Economy and Finance) wants innovative regulation, which favors the development of these fundraisers of a new kind, while protecting the investor. “Our goal is to provide legal certainty for those who seek it, without hindering those who want to follow their own path. 

We have a rather liberal approach. We work for a flexible, non-dissuasive framework. At the same time, we are not naive either, we know that these


products can be risky,”


Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, has apparently hired Jean-Pierre Landau, a former deputy governor of the Banque de France, to determine the specific approach to facilitating ICOs in France. New rules could be established as soon as April.

The system could allow ICO issuers to approach the regulator (AMF or Autorite des Marches Financiers) for a Visa to raise capital via a token offering. The AMF approval will provide a type of seal of approval for investors.


Additionally, ICOs that do not seek an AMF Visa will still be allowed.  Apparently, France has already attracted some ICO issuers as word has gotten out that France is crypto-friendly.

The irony here is the fact that countries like the US, typically known for embracing entrepreneurship, has fallen short in embracing this type of Fintech innovation.

Fears of investor protection issues combined with a general lack of understanding, and a knee-jerk reaction to depend on rules established before the internet existed, may harm innovation in financial services.

Issuers and support companies in the cryptocurrency space will inevitably vote with their feet and seek out jurisdictions that take an enlightened approach to facilitating change.

If France is successful in creating a regulatory regime that is effective, the country could experience a crypto-revolution of sorts. This is a story to watch.

There is an event in Paris on March 27th organized by the Ministry regarding Blockchain that may be of interest. It is entitled, “Blockchain: what opportunities for the economic and financial sphere?”

More information is available here.

Global financial firm Allianz recently published a harsh assessment of Bitcoin. Stefan Hofrichter, Head of Global Economics & Strategy at Allianz Global Investors, writing under the category of investment themes and strategies, is of the opinion that Bitcoin is a huge fail. A bubble getting ready to pop;

“In our view, its intrinsic value must be zero: a Bitcoin is a claim on nobody – in contrast to, for instance, sovereign bonds, equities or paper money – and it does not generate any income stream. Admittedly, one could make the same argument about gold, but gold has been widely accepted by humankind as a thing of value for more than two-and-a-half thousand years – compared to less than a decade for bitcoin.”

The author bullets out the justification for a tulip like bubble:Moreover, Bitcoin ticks all of the boxes that we consider to be essential criteria of any asset bubble:

• “New-era” thinking. Bitcoin is perceived to be an entirely new kind of currency and a monetary innovation in the internet age.
• Overtrading. Trading volumes have increased by almost fivefold in the last five years, according to BIS data.
• Ultra-easy monetary conditions. Accommodative policy is still in place globally, despite a series of rate hikes 
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• by the US Federal Reserve.
• A lack of financial regulation. The “Wild West” bitcoin environment is only gradually being addressed by regulators around the world.
• The launch of related financial instruments. New products related to the bubbling asset class are popping up – from CBOE and CME futures contracts to the launch of “ICOs” (initial coin offerings).
• Rising leverage. Not only has private-sector leverage increased to record highs globally, but leveraged speculation in bitcoin is increasing.
• Swindles. Bitcoin has become the instrument of choice for many criminals, thanks to its ability to exist entirely outside of traditional banking channels.
• Significant overvaluation. Many other asset classes are pricey in today’s market, but bitcoin’s valuation seems to be without peer.

While Hofrichter may be a Bitcoin hater, he is a Blockchain believer.“… Blockchain (or distributed-ledger) technology clearly has potential merits – not least of which is blockchain’s ability to reduce significantly the costs of verifying transactions and networking.

”So is Allianz’s assessment correct? Is Bitcoin going to zero? Time will tell.

Discover more from Crowdinsider here:  https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2018/03/130394-allianz-its-a-matter-of-when-not-if-the-bitcoin-bubb...

The European Commission has unveiled an ‘Action Plan’ on how to harness the opportunities presented by technology-enabled innovation in financial services (FinTech).

Its wishes Europe to become a global hub for FinTech, with EU businesses and investors able to make most of the advantages offered by the Single Market (an objective not made easier by its largest financial hub, London, leaving in 2019).As a first deliverable, the Commission puts forward new rules to ‘help’ crowdfunding platforms grow across the EU’s single market.

The Action Plan seeks to enable the financial sector to make use of the rapid advances in new technologies, particularly blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud services.

At the same time, it wants to make markets both safer and easier to access for new players to benefit consumers, investors, banks and new market players alike. In addition, the Commission proposes a pan-European label for platforms, so that a platform licensed in one country can operate across the EU.

“The Action Plan is part of the Commission’s efforts to build a Capital Markets Union (CMU) and a true single market for consumer financial services. It is also part of its drive to create a Digital Single Market.

The Commission aims to make EU rules more future-oriented and aligned with the rapid advance of technological development.”



Valdis DombrovskisValdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: “To compete globally, Europe’s innovative companies need access to capital, space to experiment and scale to grow.

This is the premise for our FinTech Action Plan. An EU crowdfunding licence would help crowdfunding platforms scale up in Europe. It will help them match investors and companies from all over the EU, giving more opportunities for firms and entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to a wider base of funders.”

The FinTech Action Plan

To the EU Commission the financial sector is the largest user of digital technologies and is a major driver in the digital transformation of the economy. Its Action Plan sets out 23 steps to:

• enable innovative business models to scale up
• support the uptake of new technologies
• increase cybersecurity and the integrity of the financial system.

This will involve the Commission hosting an EU FinTech Laboratory. In this European and national authorities can engage with tech providers in a neutral, non-commercial space.There will also be the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum which:

• will report, in 2018, on the challenges and opportunities of crypto assets
• work on a comprehensive strategy for distributed ledger technology and blockchain that will address their relevance to all sectors of the EU economy.

The Commission asserts that it will consult on how best to promote the digitisation of information published by listed companies in Europe. This will consider how participants might use innovative technologies to interconnect national databases, thereby providing investors with easier access to key information to inform investment decisions.

The Commission says it will run workshops to improve information-sharing when it comes to cybersecurity.

Associated with this, the Commission will present a blueprint with best practices on regulatory sandboxes, based on guidance from European Supervisory Authorities. (A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by regulators that allows FinTech startups and other innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment, under a regulator’s supervision.

Regulatory sandboxes are gaining popularity, mostly in developed financial markets.)

EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum

The Blockchain Observatory and Forum intends to:

• highlight developments of blockchain technology
• promote European ‘actors’
• reinforce European engagement with multiple stakeholders involved in blockchain activities.

European innovators and entrepreneurs already offer blockchain-based solutions. Traditional industry sectors – like banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges, logistics and others – already invest in pilot projects. At the same time, individual EU member states are announcing their own initiatives to reinforce exploitation of blockchain technology.In this context, the European Commission plans to build on these existing initiatives.

One imperative is ensuring they (blockchain initiatives) can work across borders. This means consolidating expertise and addressing the challenges created by blockchains – such as disintermediation, trust, security and traceability by design.The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum will:

• gather information
• monitor and analyse trends
• address challenges
• explore blockchains’ socioeconomic potential.

It hopes to facilitate cross border cooperation on practical use cases as well bring Europe’s best experts together to promoting an open forum for:

• blockchain technologists
• innovators
• citizens
• industry stakeholders
• public authorities
• regulators and supervisors.

The Commission has selected ConsenSys as its partner to support the Observatory’s outreach in Europe. As a participant in the blockchain community, the EU envisages ConsenSys bringing a strong commitment to blockchain development, solid expertise and connections with the global blockchain ecosystem, as well as an entrepreneurial approach to engage with stakeholders and experts in the EU and worldwide.

(Selection followed a call for tenders launched last year. ConsenSys will work in close cooperation with Commission services to run the EU Observatory and Forum, after having signed the contract on 29 January 2018.)

Regulation on crowdfunding:

To the Commission, crowdfunding improves access to funding especially for start-ups and other small businesses. A start-up can present a project on an online platform and seek support in the form of a loan (‘peer-to-peer lending’) or equity participation.

At present it is difficult for platforms to expand across EU countries.

The Commission views this as an explanation of the underdeveloped nature of crowdfunding in the EU compared to elsewhere. The lack of common rules across the EU is a hurdle which:

• raises compliance and operational costs
• prevents crowdfunding platforms from expanding across borders.

The Commission’s proposal will make it easier for platforms to offer services EU-wide and improve business access to this form of finance. If adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, the proposed Regulation will “allow platforms to apply for an EU label based on a single set of rules. This will enable them to offer their services across the EU.”Investors on crowdfunding platforms will be protected by:

• clear rules on information disclosures
• rules on governance and risk management
• a coherent approach to supervision.
• 
  

What does this mean

The mid-term review of the CMU Action Plan of June 2017 stressed the potential of FinTech to transform capital markets by:

• introducing new market players and more efficient solutions
• increasing competition
• lowering costs for businesses and investors.

It announced  the Commission would establish a comprehensive approach to enable FinTech and deepen and broaden EU capital markets by integrating the potential of digitisation. This Action Plan represents the next stage.As is common with EU Commission initiatives, the words are many and the timescales long – possibly too long for the fast moving FinTech environment.

The crowdfunding Regulation is welcome. Indeed, this alone may accelerate pan-European FinTech involvement – but only if the rules listed above arrive promptly.

The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum sounds positive. It can be, but only if it does not fall victim to becoming a talking shop only.

EU Commission Action Plans sound great. They only deliver if there is action, which is not always the case. Enterprises should monitor, and even participate with care. The EU can suck much energy out of its contributors.

https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2018/03/14/eu-commission-extend-eu-blockchain-and-crowdfunding-act...

Bitcoin was the original cryptocurrency, the first money native to the internet. It facilitated anonymous online transactions better than anything ever had before, and criminals were the first to appreciate its potential, especially drug dealers.

Nick Bilton’s American Kingpin removes most of whatever doubt anyone might still have over whether or not Ross Ulbricht was really the Dread Pirate Roberts, founder of The Silk Road, the drugs and guns marketplace that users could only visit using the TOR browser. The first thing Ulbricht did to get the marketplace going was grow a bunch of psychedelic mushrooms to sell on the site, so that when customers went they would find something to buy.

Other products would show up on there eventually, but the business was really built around drugs.Two technologies were really essential for Silk Road: the TOR network and Bitcoin. Without a way to pay for the drugs over the internet, illicit sales would have to remain a primarily face-to-face business, so it’s no surprise that entrepreneurs inspired by Bitcoin would try to build businesses specifically for weed as the market for marijuana becomes more legal.

We took a look around and found several cryptocurrency and blockchain-powered products for the hazy purple future. Here’s what we found:

PotCoin

Pot Coin has aimed itself at the legal pot market. If a state permits a business to operate but the Feds still prohibit it, that makes banking challenging. If a business can’t get a bank, processing credit cards is impossible. Potheads are used to paying in cash, but more options are better. Until banks join the party, some dispensaries might like a cryptocurrency option for their customers.

Pot Coin claims that its supporters crowdfunded Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea, according to Buzzfeed, so add celebrity cred to its assets. The company did not immediately return a request for comment.Market capitalization: $15.5 million.

DopeCoin

Dope Coin was built as a fork of Blackcoin, a cryptocurrency some have credited with proving that a blockchain could be secured without Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work where giant server farms “mine” the currency by cracking huge codes.

“The marijuana industry does not necessarily ‘need its own coin’ but there is certainly a place for it to be used by enthusiasts or retailers that might want to offer a unique kind of themed reward system or industry specific payment option for their customers,” Adam Howell, Dope Coin’s founder, wrote the Observer in an email.

The project has been underway for about three years now.Market capitalization: $3.3 million




Growing weed. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The CHEX

We last wrote about the company in 2015, when it was building a blockchain based platform to track cannabis as it moved from the field to dispensary, called The CHEX. The site aims to be an exchange of weed-products, one that gives buyers confidence that the product they are purchasing really is the strain they wanted.

The company is in the middle of a token sale now that will run through October. It plans to use the new token to build other exchanges, using the digital coin as the standard of payment between buyers and sellers. For an exchange, an ICO offers an early benefit. If users buy in and start using the coin for business-to-business trades, the very act of using the coin could increase its value as they trade.

The more people on the platform use it, the more the coin is worth, making nearly every purchase one that comes with a discount.

Paragon

It seems like it was only last October that the Observer was talking to model and alum of CBS’s Amazing Race, Jessica VerSteeg, about her Birchbox-for-cannabis-products startup, AuBox, because it was. Now, VerSteeg’s pushing an initial-coin-offering. Paragon will launch its token sale soon (tomorrow, according to its countdown clock). It’s closing its pre-sale now, requiring potential buyers to register ahead of time (like Filecoin did).

Paragon seems to be an everything-under-the-sun strategy (PDF summary). Paragon will offer an unchangeable blockchain database to track the chain of custody, doctor’s prescriptions, lab tests for strains and whatever else cannabis businesses might need to record. It plans a network of coworking spaces. It’s an online community that will be empowered to back projects (presumably with the coin).

And it’s a digital coin.The company did not immediately return a request for comment.



A man smoking licensed medical pot in Berlin. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Smoke Exchange

Smoke Exchange is a project of the Dope Coin team. In 15 days, according to its present countdown, an ICO will take place for the company. This will enable it to raise funds to build an ad network specifically for marijuana products on the web. The big display advertising networks won’t accept ads for companies in the weed industry. In many cases, this is true even if the company is 100 percent legal.

The project gets kicked out because software finds the words “cannabis” or “marijuana” and rejects it. By creating an ad network just for weed, people with products to sell can buy ads without a middleman, save money and know where their ads will go.Howell told the Observer in an email that it would bring on legal consultation after the crowdsale to help potential customers navigate where they can and can’t advertise, based on their location.

Tokken

Tokken aims to be a secure and completely legal mobile payment system for above-board marijuana purchases. Founded by Lamine Zarrad, who formerly worked for the Comptroller of the Currency, the mobile app verifies that a user has the legal right to buy weed or weed-based products. It checks all kinds of data points, including watch lists, then turns credit card payments into a digital token that a dispensary can accept.

The dispensary can then convert the token back into dollars and, in theory, banks will be fine with this because they know Tokken goes out of its way to verify the transaction was legal.

Zarrad told CNBC that it doesn’t hold onto records about actual purchases, which protects privacy, but all transactions are logged for good on Tokken’s blockchain.




A pothead eager to buy at Denver’s Discrete Dispensary. Theo Stroomer/Getty Images

There’s some other coins out there, but they are so miniscule on exchanges at this point that they aren’t worth mentioning. In fact, none of these coins are significant cryptocurrencies. CoinCap shows 49 cryptocurrencies with market capitalizations over $100 million, as of this writing.  

PotCoin currently ranks 140th.Buzzfeed cited a director at the National Cannabis Industry Association that didn’t know any growers or sellers using PotCoin, the most prominent cannabis cryptocurrency.

In fact, scanning the coverage of these projects over the last year or so, lots of reports talk about how the blockchain could be used by participants in this industry, but we have not found any that cite dispensaries or growers that actually are.

Those interested in speculating on any of the ICOs above should take note.In 2014, Verdict wrote a piece analyzing the legality of DopeCoin and PotCoin, and it’s probably largely still relevant to all these projects.

From a Federal perspective, not much has changed. The feds could probably make life difficult for anyone it wanted to in this industry, but that’s not a course D.C. has taken yet, as far as anyone knows.

Discover more stories like this on Observer.com: 
http://observer.com/2017/09/marijuana-cryptocurrency-blockchain/

Yesterday, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, told a conference that he thinks the cryptocurrency bitcoin is a “fraud” and “not a real thing.

” He declared that the open-source protocol would eventually “close.” He even went so far as to warn his employees that if they were caught trading bitcoin, they would be fired “in a second” for their “stupidity.

”Dimon has been a cryptocurrency Cassandra for years. He first raised the alarm (as far as Quartz’s use of search engines can tell) about bitcoin in January 2014, observing that it was “a terrible store of value” that was mainly used for illicit purposes.

Over the years he issued several more warnings. Here they are:

While Dimon’s original critique was prescient—at the time a major rally was turning into a crash—his other warnings haven’t been as profitable. If you’d ignored his advice and bought bitcoin when he warned against it, you’d be in the money two out of three times.

Date

Jamie says…Bitcoin price…12 months laterJan 23, 2014“Bitcoin is a terrible store of value, ”$854-73% Nov 5, 2015 “Bitcoin will not survive, ”$38882% Jan 20, 2016 “Bitcoin is going nowhere, ”$419113%Sep 12, 2017 “Bitcoin is a fraud,”$4,148





As for Dimon’s latest admonition? Well, if he got it wrong and the cryptocurrency revolution sweeps banks like his away, at least one member of the Dimon family is well hedged: He told the conference that one of his daughters bought bitcoin and is sitting on tidy profits.

“Now she thinks she’s a genius,” he said.... discover more stories on Quartz here: https://qz.com/1076254/bitcoin-btc-price-mostly-rises-after-jamie-dimon-warns-against-it/