Blockchain is a Bubble – Steve Wozniak

Samuel Paz
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Blockchain is a Bubble – Steve Wozniak

     The co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, believes that blockchain technology is a bubble, like the dotcom bubble in his time, according to a local newspaper on Wednesday.

During a conference in New York, Wozniak expressed that the dotcom era created a similar frenzy among the companies that did not complete their promise,

“It was a bubble and I have the same feeling about the blockchain,”

said Woz. However, Woz did say that blockchain is,

“decentralized and totally reliable”,

emphasizing that it may only “need time” for its potential to bear fruit.

“That does not change in a day, the blockchain ideas are really good, but when they arrive early, they can get burned, not being prepared to be stable in the long Term”

Wozniak would have similarly expressed his opinion regarding the future and potential of cryptocurrency last month.

CNBC newspaper indicates that Wozniak pointed to Ethereum as a long-term cryptocurrency, due to how versatile and reliable it can be, as well as the possibility for
developers to create on their blockchain. In May, at a conference held in Vienna, Wozniak also compared the Ethereum platform with Apple, suggesting that it could become as influential as Apple. Woz referred to Bitcoin as “pure digital gold” earlier this month,
and that it is still “simply amazing”

 

by Samuel Paz

Malta Approves Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Projects

Samuel Paz
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Malta Approves Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Projects

     One of the most open minded countries towards the world of blockchain, for many months  has been Malta. The general attitude towards the industry is that blockchain is here to stay. Recently, the parliament approved projects on cryptocurrency and blockchain, becoming another country that has dealt with these trending technologies with legislation.

Silvio Schembri, Member of Parliament and Secretary responsible for financial services,
announced this new legislation via his Twitter account. He indicated that he was honored to have directed these bills, and announced that Stephen McCarthy will be the new director of
Malta’s Digital Innovation Authority.

The legislation, listed as 43, 44 and 45, focus on the expansion of blockchain technology on the island, through structured rules that allow the incursion of new companies in the country, as well as the proper training of its citizens in regards to this environment. With these approved projects, the Maltese Government is expected to have a more efficient process in the adoption of blockchain technology, and achieve their goal of becoming an international epicenter of digital business.

Project numbered 45, entitled the “Malta Authority for Digital Innovation Law”. establishes the creation of the Digital Innovation Authority within the country, which will have the task of promoting and developing the industries utilizing blockchain technology. The measures are expected to regulate ICOs and establish the Digital Innovation Authority as the body in charge of enforcing the law.

 

by Samuel Paz

Goldman Sachs Stance on Cryptocurrency

Emanuel Adrade
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Goldman Sachs Stance on Cryptocurrency

“It is ‘Too arrogant’ to argue that Crypto will not work because they are ‘unknown'”, Goldman Sachs CEO

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, ratified his acceptance of cryptocurrencies in an interview with Bloomberg at the Economic Club of New York, on June 19. Referring to the evolution of money, Blankfein mentioned the common characteristics between paper money and crypto, implying both have no intrinsic value. Since paper money has become the main form of money, Blankfein rhetorically asked,

“Why could YOU not have a consensus currency?”

Quoting Blankfein,

it is “too arrogant” to say that cryptocurrencies can’t be adopted on a large scale because they are “unknown” or “uncomfortable””.

Back in 2017, Blankfein made a similar comment, arguing that people first mistrusted paper money before it was accepted. Then he hinted that Bitcoin could be accepted as a medium of value exchange in the future, regardless of whether it is accepted massively today.

“But there is a lot of things that there weren’t for me in the past that have worked out very well. If it was 20 years forward and it worked out, I could tell you why it worked out. But based on everything that I know, I am not guessing that it will work out.”

Goldman Sachs as a group is known for its skeptical stance on cryptocurrency. In 2014, the company expressed that Bitcoin is not a currency. However, in 2017, they acknowledged that it has become more difficult for institutional investors to ignore Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. By the end of 2017, it was rumored that the company was going to open its own cryptocurrency trading desk.

Despite refuting the reports in early 2018, Goldman Sachs has finally accepted cryptocurrency, stating that Bitcoin “is not a fraud” and revealing their plans to buy and sell
cryptocurrencies. In May, the Circle application backed by Goldman Sachs launched a new feature that makes it easier for “novices” to enter the cryptocurrency market.

by Emanuel Andrade

Pier – Blockchain Platform for Brazil Central Bank

Samuel Larreal
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Pier – Blockchain Platform for Brazil Central Bank

“Pier”, Brazil’s anti-corruption blockchain platform.

“Pier” is the codename for the recently announced Brazil’s Central Bank (BCB) blockchain platform. The platform will be used to facilitate information exchanged between the country’s financial regulators and the BCB.

According to an official statement, BCB’s Pier, will be used to securely share data between the central bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil and the Superintendent of Private Insurance and the National Pension Fund Authority.

“Traditional business models of information exchange between several entities require a centralizing entity, which ends up exercising a certain degree of operational hierarchical superiority over the remaining ones, which doesn’t necessarily reflect the institutional reality. Furthermore, as the blockchain platform records every data request using cryptographic signatures, it is possible to certify at any moment the authorship, and that no entity has tampered with the data, and thus guaranteeing information authenticity”,

declared, IT department Deputy Chief, Aristides Cavalcante.

“As a decentralized ledger, blockchain technology was specifically picked by the BCB for providing a ‘horizontal network of information-sharing’ that negates the need for a centralizing entity that could otherwise weld ‘operational hierarchical superiority’ over others.”

added Cavalcante.

A technical report outlining BCV’s research reveals the organization is currently experimenting with the Hyperledger Fabric, R3’s Corda and JP Morgan-led Quorum blockchains to explore the development of a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system that supports domestic interbank payments in the country. It’s a significant leap in digitizing and automating communication between regulators in Brazil.

“Currently there is some exchange of information regarding authorization processes, which are not automated yet: staff from one of the institutions contacts the others by letters or e-mails,”

Cavalcante revealed.

”Even the few queries that are automated by software still require some degree of human intervention.”

Pier is expected to be completely operational by late 2018 and represents a marked effort by the central bank to experiment various applications of blockchain technology, remarking its potential to ensure financial operations and reduce the space for corruption.

 

by Samuel Larreal

BBVA Opposes Regulation

cwjadmin
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BBVA Opposes Regulation

“Innovate or die!”

This is how the CEO of BBVA, Carlos Torres, summarized the vision of the bank on the future of the economy and financial sector. The executive observes the potential in cryptocurrency, in contrast to the opinion of regulators, and asks the Spanish authorities for, “space for experimentation”.

For the Banco de España and the CNMV they are “huge risk” assets and their evaluation is that cryptocurrencies are “speculative bubbles”. For the Ministry of Economy, led by Luis Guindos, they are “highly speculative” and are not currency.

Accurding to BBVA, however, cryptocurrencies and blockchain are part of the new economic order that will transform technology.

“Beyond the noise created by the proliferation of cryptocurrencies and their volatile prices recently, the impact of technology here at one time can Be Enormous,”

Points out The Deputy Director of BBVA.

Blockchain technology is the focus of the deputy’s course entitled, “The economy before the blockchain”. The executive believes that this technology will make the banks more efficient,
more agile and more transparent.

BBVA is contemplating the idea of negotiating and contracting union loans on a blockchain. BBVA already has tests in progress, which involves deploying a network for multiple participants in which they will share information.

 

by Samuel Paz

IBM & MediaOcean Blockchain Platform

Samuel Paz
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IBM & MediaOcean Blockchain Platform

     Recently, IBM iX, announced the company’s digital design services branch, and
unveiled their partnership with MediaOcean to create a blockchain consortium for media
agreements, which will draw attention from important agencies, advertisers and publishers

Companies included in the consortium are Kellogg, Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, Pfizer and IBM Watson Advertising. Their objective will be to promote transparency and bring greater confidence to the advertising ecosystem, which,

“in recent years has been plagued by economic problems and unsustainable transparency that hinders progress, particularly around intermediate rates and non-operational means”,

according to sources.

It is important to highlight that the project will be supported in the IBM blockchain, and
built on the MediaOcean integral bell administration platform.

“The new blockchain-based system aims to provide visibility into the life cycle of the flow of media spending of an advertiser.”

According to Bill Wise, CEO of MediaOcean.

“By partnering with IBM we can launch the first advertising solution in a distributed ledger that will improve the transparency of scale expenditures. This will help us unite as an industry under a single source of truth and rebuild confidence to propel us into a new era an advertising transformation.”

Babs Rangaiahg, executive partner of Global Marketing at IBM iX, said that:

“Blockchain is creating new ways of doing business in all industries, particularly where greater trust and transparency is required. As far as the media is concerned, we hope it can provide a single source of truth for any given purchase, eliminating the doubt and uncertainty that is common today.”

The executives pointed out that the pilot of the project will be launched this July.

 

by Samuel Paz

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