EVERYTHING CRYPTO

As many as 99% of all cryptocurrencies will likely go to zero, according to a new prediction by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

There are too many crypto projects, says Garlinghouse 

In an interview with Bloomberg released Nov. 5, Garlinghouse claimed that there are too many cryptocurrencies so far, forecasting that only 1% of all crypto is here to stay. That small number of crypto projects will be game-changing and grow significantly in the decades since they will be focused on solving real problems for real customers, Ripple CEO declared.

Growth is caused by the hype around the market

According to Garlinghouse, the growing number of digital assets is caused by the hype around the crypto ecosystem.Noting that there are more than 3,000 digital assets that trade on a daily basis to date, Ripple CEO hinted that very few will actually be able to meet customer needs, arguing that the vast majority of them “probably goes to zero.” He stated:

“Anytime there is a new market, there are a lot of people that run into that market and try to show that they can solve a problem, they can deliver a customer need.”

Criticizing SWIFT’s “transaction volatility”

In the interview, Garlinghouse has also criticized the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications’ (SWIFT) so-called “transaction volatility,” elaborating that such phenomenon means a “calculation of time and volatility.

” Citing a recent article posted by Ripple on XRP’s enhanced volatility exposure, Garlinghouse argued that the XRP token has “1/10th the volatility exposure of a typical fiat SWIFT payment.

”In July 2019, SWIFT announced a successful trial of instant cross-border transfers in Asia, claiming that the instant payment pilot performed payments taking up to 25 seconds, with the fastest taking 13 seconds. 

The tests involved interaction between SWIFT’s Global Payments Innovation instant payment platform and Singapore’s domestic instant payments solution FAST. As previously reported, SWIFT will allow distributed ledger technology firms to use its GPI platform.

China’s recent blockchain development bonanza shows no sign of abatement. Business leaders and investors seized on President Xi Jinping’s first-ever endorsement of blockchain as an underpinning technology, and new initiatives sprung up almost overnight.

But Chinese firms, investors and universities have been working quietly on blockchain projects since 2014.  From pledging loyalty to the Communist Party and identifying smart city citizens to verifying pigs and tracking liquor shipments, here’s how China’s gone all-in on blockchain.

1. An identification system for cities

China’s wasting no time with this one. Since Sunday, city authorities across China have been eligible to apply for a city identification code to link them into a blockchain network developed by three institutes in Shijiazhuang city. The network aims to enable data sharing and interconnectivity between provinces. But Chinese smart city goals don’t end there. China’s aim is to have 100 operational smart cities by 2020, including its future capital Xiongan, and blockchain will feature prominently. 

2. An authentication method for everything from liquor to pig meat

Prized by international dignitaries (one bottle is a staggering $450,) Moutai liquor is blended from up to 200 spirits and is manufactured by only one company, Kweichow Moutai Co., a partially state-owned Chinese enterprise. The company has been working with Ant Financial (an affiliate of China's internet behemoth Alibaba) since March 2018, to develop a blockchain-based anti-counterfeiting system for its premium hooch.

The country that’s famous for its copies of everything from Louis Vuitton bags to WAL-MART (China’s version is WU-MART), has embraced blockchain’s authentication talents like no other. It’s using them for everything from verifying pigs to “information asymmetry" in trade finance. 

3. A national digital currency

Many of China’s applications are a far cry from the vision of the technology’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. One example is China’s plan for a national digital currency. It won’t be decentralized—one of the main factors ensuring that a blockchain is tamper-proof. That’s why some are calling the technology’s renaissance in China, “blockchain with Chinese characteristics.”Decentralized or not, China’s national digital currency is still likely to get off the starting blocks before Facebook’s Libra—the project that’s rumored to have precipitated its speedy rollout. 

4. A highway to innovation for Big Tech and banks 

China’s Big Tech players, such as Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, have long been experimenting with blockchain for financial applications, such as cross-border micro-transaction payments, as well as medical reimbursement and leasing contracts. Things are going well. The People’s Bank of China, Shenzhen branch, reported, in October, that its blockchain-based trade finance platform has processed $10.7 billion in transactions in the past year.

5. A hallowed technology worthy of government investment

Local government officials have begun to provide funding for "outstanding blockchain projects.”—a step up from more stealthy governmental funding of the technology through its “key pillar” projects, such tech giant, Tencent. The city of Guangzhou, a blockchain innovation hub since at least 2017, last week introduced a $150 million initiative to support two public or private-based blockchain projects per year.

There’s no reason to think that other regions won’t follow suit. And standardized regulations for the industry are also in the works.For good measure—irony of ironies, considering its prohibitive stance on cryptocurrencies—China has begun cracking down on any articles daring to tarnish blockchain.

6. A breeding ground for tech unicorns

The prospect of billions of dollars in cheap government financing and subsidies, has led to Chinese investors snapping up shares in blockchain-related businesses. More than 85 stocks surged by 10 percent—the daily limit on trading  in Shanghai and Shenzhen— the Financial Times reported last week.

But China is also home to three of the world’s top Bitcoin mining companies. Last week Chinese Bitcoin miner Bitmain bested all other crypto startups on this year’s “Global Unicorn List,” published by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report. And, on Wednesday, China finally put an end to speculation that bitcoin mining would be phased out, ensuring a more certain future for Canaan and Ebang, and Bitmain too, if it can sort its civil war.

7. A tool for party loyalty

The study of blockchain has become a national movement in China—from civil servants, to stay-at-home moms, the public has been encouraged to study Introduction to Blockchain, on “Xuexi Qiangguo,” an app designed to teach President Xi’s thoughts. A national “Blockchain Day” is even under consideration.

And to provide indisputable evidence of loyalty to the Communist Party, a news publication operated by the People’s Daily newspaper has asked Party members to stamp their declarations of fealty directly onto a blockchain.

Nuco, a startup founded by a group of former Deloitte employees, has released a new white paper detailing its latest blockchain initiative.

Dubbed Aion, the proposed technology aims to connect different blockchains, including private networks operated by enterprises. The idea is that, as more companies turn to the technology for a variety of applications, there will need to be a public layer through which these future networks can communicate – and that's where Aion comes in.

As the white paper outlines, Aion would act as a kind of "bridge" between those networks, serving as "a mechanism to transfer data and value securely between them." Aion, as a public blockchain, will utilize a token aimed at incentivizing the various parties involved in both validating transactions and putting up the resources to transact between the different networks.

The paper explains:

"The AION 1 itself can be used to deploy decentralized applications on, as well as will maintain a public record of transaction between bridges. Essentially, facilitating a network that is to blockchains what the internet is to computers."

Aion's public nature is notable among enterprise-facing solutions on the market today, which have tended toward private, permissioned networks in which only approved parties can participate. Aion's "Connecting Network", according to the paper, would link both private and public networks alike.

Nuco also details a built-in governance structure that functions by way of a voting system, with the aim of .... continue reading: 
http://www.coindesk.com/nuco-builds-tokenized-blockchain-bridge-enterprise-applications/

Refugees fleeing conflict zones around the world have to deal with hardships like illness, hunger, exhaustion, and culture shock. They have to keep their families together and find shelter and food in safe environments far from what drove them from their homes.Amid all this, worrying about their economic identity doesn’t sound like it would be foremost in refugees’ minds.

The same goes for the extremely poor, whose day-to-day focus is likely to be on fulfilling basic needs like food or water.But according to Ashish Gadnis, cofounder of a blockchain platform for digital identification called BanQu, establishing an economic identity is fundamental to breaking out of the cycle of poverty.“Think about refugees,” he told the audience at Singularity University’s Exponential Finance Summit in New York this week.

“Everything that happens to them will get reset every time they move. Owning your data is the baseline that will allow you to break through and not just be a number.”




Ashish Gadnis and Jane Barrat at Exponential Finance.In a joint talk with Jane Barrat, founder of an online investment portfolio tool called GoldBean, Gadnis explained why economic identity is crucial to ending extreme poverty, and how technology can help.

BanQu defines economic identity as “the marriage of identity and commerce, resulting in a global, vetted, and manageable asset.” In the developed world, our economic identities are constantly monitored, and they’re closely tied to our ability to make transactions in our daily lives. Want to buy a car, apply for a mortgage, rent an apartment, or get a new credit card? Having a good credit history will make it all a lot easier.

Banking the 'unbankable'

But what about people who not only don’t have a good credit history, they don’t have a credit history at all—in fact, for the purposes of financial markets, they don’t even exist?“If you’re a poor farmer who’s providing grain or coffee in a large supply chain, no one knows the farmer,” Gadnis said. “This is where technology can matter, because it can allow the farmer to participate equally in the transaction.”Many aid programs around the world work by simply giving money to the poor, with the idea being that once people can stop worrying about basic needs like food, water, or shelter, they can shift focus to their longer-term wellbeing.

That’s a start, but what happens when those same people—people who have never had a recorded transaction with the larger supply chain—go to open a bank account or try to take out a loan for a new business? They find that they’re completely disconnected from the global economy and are therefore powerless even to manage their own assets.

"Banqu estimates 2.7 billion people around the world lack an economic identity. But of those 2.7 billion, 60 percent have mobile phones."

BanQu estimates that 2.7 billion people around the world are “unbanked,” meaning they lack an economic identity. But of those 2.7 billion, 60 percent have mobile phones. BanQu’s platform enables people to use an app to set up a digital identification profile where they can record transactions like remote purchases, funded wallets, and cash disbursements, as well as property, health, and education records.... continue reading: https://singularityhub.com/2017/06/11/how-blockchain-is-helping-in-the-battle-against-extreme-povert...

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Prediction markets have proven to be more accurate at forecasting the future than individual experts, surveys or traditional opinion polling. They provide real-time predictive data and are traded using real money - which incentivises market participants to reveal what they think will happen, rather than what they hope will happen. Traders are putting their money where their mouths are.... Learn more:
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