First of it’s kind.
Awesome to see the launch happen at the Anime Expo!
Also something in Japanese as well:
Blockchain enthusiasts are also questioning whether Libra truly hews to the spirit of decentralized technology represented by crypto currencies worldwide. Facebook’s plan to comply with common regulatory requirements mandated by central banks like information about the user and usage of government backed securities, is in order to drive initial adoption of the cryptocurrency and the wallet according to Ramani Ramachandran, cofounder and CEO of ZPX, a Singapore-based blockchain startup.
“This is the opposite of true crypto. It is completely KYC-driven, regulated by local laws and influenced by anyone who wants to pay up to $10 million and be a validator node,” he said.
Nice quote from Ram of ZPX.
This is big. One thing FB can do like no one – is bring massive scale to crypto.
Watch this space.
Missed this one. It is from February but a good read.
Been digging into Distributed Computing Platforms – it is early days butty gut says this is going to be big.
I think one of the big things coming is the decentralized internet – think all the stuff apps do today but distributed and with ways to pay as they are used. With the payments going to the devs and the layers they can add on top.
Here is one of them – which is doing an SEC approved token sale:
Another one to track in this space is https://www.wireline.io
I’ll leave you with this:
There’s another point: porn, historically, has driven all manner of technological adoption—it could do the same for Ethereum.
We visit the “Spankhouse” to document Ethereum’s unlikely star, Spankchain and its terrifying, sexy rise—and its plans for global domination.
— Read on decryptmedia.com/5898/inside-spankchain-ameen-soleimani-ethereum
First off I didn’t know they were #1 in Singapore – congrats.
I didn’t know about this https://www.quube.xyz/ , till I heard them shilling for coins on the radio.
It’s interesting but not sure it will work. We will have to wait and see.
Then this article comes out.
What I don’t get is this:
Ku says blockchain makes it cheaper to run an online marketplace which lets him remove the fees he currently charges merchants to sell products on the site. That, he says, should attract even more sellers. Ku is also creating a payment system based on the technology that will help attract new shoppers in a region where cash still predominates. So far, the response has been positive: Three months in, he says, more than 5,000 merchants have registered 2.3 million or so products on QuuBe.
Of course CEO’s will say anything but where is the concrete example of how blockchain will make anything he is talking about cheaper?
I don’t get it.
Why doesn’t the reporter clarify or ask for examples?
Maybe it relates to this:
The technology automates certain e-commerce transactions and processes that typically require humans. That’s why Ku can eliminate merchant fees and make it easier for anyone to set up an online shop. Blockchain also enhances trust among participants because they can more easily trace transactions from start to finish.
In theory he is saying that blockchain will mean less bodies. That saves money if true but I don’t see how it works in practice to be honest.
Meanwhile, the ledger offers an alternative, more secure payment method in a region where many shoppers lack access to financial services. Buyers and sellers use tokens called Q*coins, which are stored in a digital wallet in the QuuBe app. Q*coins are pegged to the U.S. dollar and fully convertible with no extra fees. As more of the tokens circulate, Ku says their value will appreciate—giving merchants another way to profit.
I always find it funny when people say crypto will help the unbanked. Really? How do the unbanked buy their crypto?
The main heading on their site is using your UOB card to buy tokens. Not sure that a UOB cardholder is an example of the unbanked.
I guess they can offer the ability for you to walk into 7/11 and buy coins but I wonder with it pegged to the USD what currency exchange bath you are taking.
Then it ends with:
But Ku is convinced blockchain will give him the necessary edge to compete and avoid getting into a cash-burning war of attrition. “I want to show that we can prevail by using technologies,” he says, “not by throwing money around.”
Still want to know what edge it gives him and how it saves him money. The article never really answers that.
Good times and I will admit to cheering him one since we need the competition.
Their new move is intense.
And so Andreessen and Horowitz, who rank 55th and 73rd, respectively, on this year’s Forbes Midas List, intend to be disagreeable themselves. They just finished raising a soon-to-be announced $2 billion fund (bringing total assets under management to nearly $10 billion) to write even bigger checks for portfolio companies and unicorns the firm missed the first time. More aggressively, they tell Forbes that they are registering their entire firm—all 150 people—as financial advisors, renouncing Andreessen Horowitz’s status as a venture capital firm entirely.
Why? Well, venture capitalists have long traded a lack of Wall Street-style oversight for the promise that they invest mainly in new shares of private companies. It was a tradeoff firms gladly made—until the age of crypto, a type of high-risk investment the SEC says requires more oversight. So be it, says Andreessen Horowitz. By renouncing its venture capital status, it’ll be able to go deeper on riskier bets: If the firm wants to put $1 billion into cryptocurrency or tokens, or buy unlimited shares in public companies or from other investors, it can. And in doing so, the thinking goes, it’ll again make other firms feel like they have one hand tied behind their back.