NH Bank Joins R3 Blockchain Consortium

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Korean banking giant Nonghyup (NH) Bank, which specializes in agricultural and commercial credit and banking services in South Korea, has joined the R3 Blockchain[1] consortium, according to reports from local media[2].

The consortium researches and develops Blockchain solutions for financial services. The announcement indicates that with the help of R3, the bank intends to implement new technology and initiate new partnerships with Fintech corporations.

According to an official from Nonghyup Bank:

“We will acquire technology by joining the consortium and apply it to various sectors of NH Nonghyup Bank such as the financial and economic sectors.”

The connection is no less important for R3, after a number of bumps in their business plan over the past few months. The lawsuit[3] with Ripple[4], which recently took a turn for the worse, has left some companies within the consortium feeling that the focus has changed.

However, the addition of Nonghyup Bank, as well as the recent announcement that Amazon Web Services (AWS[5]) chose R3 as its Blockchain access point, should prove positive for the company’s future growth.

FLUX Global Gaming Ecosystem – Player-Owned Gaming Platform Builds Strong Loyalty

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Gamers are a rather fickle lot: two-thirds of them will abandon a game within 24 hours. With hundreds of mobile games being launched daily, independent game developers need every marketing advantage they can get. A new mobile gaming platform on the Blockchain[1] has created a novel solution for a gaming environment – a win-win model.

The FLUX global gaming[2] ecosystem, recognizing that ownership is the ultimate motivational tool to develop loyalty,  makes all players investors. The FLUX platform adds plenty of rewards and other incentives to further motivate game developers, players, traders and streamers to promote the platform.

Sharing the revenue pie

Once in a game, game hosts have only hours to convince players to stay. Of those who do remain, on average only four percent of them are left in three months. FLUX gamers will be motivated to jump to another game on the FLUX platform[3] since they receive a cut of the overall platform revenues. Additionally, FLUX investors who stay in the game and refer new players receive a share of the new recruits’ revenues. With all FLUX investors motivated to increase revenues, the cost of customer acquisition and player churn are lowered.

Game developers can crowdfund their game ideas on the platform. These game ICOs[4] provide gamers a stake in the future success of a game, and another strong incentive to stay with a game. The model supports early game development by allowing developers to immediately withdraw ICO funds during crowdfunding to develop and market their games at specific stages, including game creation, MVP and the first pilot game.

Developing a competitive platform

The best online gaming retention tool is to turn gamers into competitive players[5]. Once they have invested in developing skills, the cost in the loss of potential winnings is high if they move to a new game in which they have to develop skills and reputation.  The FLUX model has been designed to motivate competitive players to stick around and improve their skills. One way the platform accomplishes this is by removing the commissions on competitive games.

No fee is charged for developers to upload competitive games or for in-game purchases made over mobile devices. On non-competitive games, a two percent commission is charged. For all games, each time a player places a bet, a commission of one to seven percent applies. The low fees are made possible by replacing intermediaries in transaction management with smart contracts that directly facilitate transactions between platform participants.

Leveling the playing field

On the FLUX platform, independent game developers have more marketing muscle to take on the big gaming titles. Older games have built loyal followings. In addition to vested player skill, rewards and incentives help to retain players. The FLUX platform builds marketing power in numbers. Players are motivated to stay on the platform and promote it because, as owners, they will benefit from any increase in the value of the tokens.

As always, there is room to out-compete the big game titles by offering more enticing rewards and incentives, and FLUX seeks to compete on incentives, too. By referring players to the platform, gamers receive commission on all future revenues. These in-community incentives increase actions taken to promote the platform and thus significantly lower player acquisitions costs for developers.

Players can earn more tokens in games and tournaments, and trading on the FLUX store. Streamers earn rewards for broadcasting games.

The FLUX ICO (FLUX)

Gamers can invest in the FLUX platform[6] by buying FLUX tokens during its upcoming initial coin offering in December. Investors can buy FLUX coins at a discount by participating in the pre-ICO on Dec. 1 before the launch of the first stage of the ICO on Dec. 10.  The minimal cap is 5,000 ETH, and each ETH is worth 600 FLUX tokens.  

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

Bancor Releases Six Month Update, Seeing Uptick in Adoption

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After raising over $150 mln[1] in its token generation event the Bancor[2] ICO has issued[3] its first major update regarding its platform. The announcement includes information regarding adoption of the Bancor Blockchain[4] protocol, along with statistics for how many tokens are now tradable through the Bancor system.

According to Forbes[5], nine different tokens have been activated in the Bancor system and are available through Metamask[6], Mist and Parity.  More than 50 partners have also adopted the platform. More than $500 mln in exchanges of BNT tokens have now occurred on the platform.

Not another Tezos

Following the recent scandal at Tezos, there has been concern about the viability of the ICO model. Tezos is currently embroiled[7] in at least two class action lawsuits, with more potentially coming. Bancor’s announcement indicates that the project isn’t merely vaporware. This is likely reassuring to the investors who made Bancor one of the largest ICOs to date.

So far, Bancor has activated their token, launched their web app, integrated token relay and has now deployed their portable widget to allow users to buy and sell across the Internet. This feature alone protects users and allows them to convert tokens remotely.

Put Your Brain into the Blockchain – An Interview with Crystal Rose

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At BlockShow Asia 2017[1] Cointelegraph had the opportunity to sit down with Crystal Rose, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sensay.

A coder since she was very young, Crystal has many insights into the world of Blockchain, artificial intelligence and a decentralized future.

How it all began

Cointelegraph: How did you start off your journey and how has it led you to sitting with us today?

Crystal Rose: I’ve been in technology my whole life, I started coding when I was eleven. I was taught through an AOL chatroom, anonymously, how to code html to start and I’ve learned more computer languages than human languages. My first company was a digital agency and from there I learned that social media was rocking the world and started a social media platform and I’ve since moved onto deeper technologies; machine learning and A.I. with a primary goal of connecting all of the world’s humans together.

Building a community: learn the basics

Today more than ever, it’s becoming easier to leverage technology and even build businesses on top of it without understanding the underlying protocols too deeply. We have so many companies building infrastructure that allow you to easily plug in. Certainly, the Internet is a great source for figuring things out and even trying it yourself. Coding is actually really easy so trying to use something open source from GitHub and do something for yourself for the first time gives you a lot of insight. One of my favorite things to do is have designers actually code their designs for the first time through front-end coding just to see how the process goes. I think in terms of Blockchain, it’s important to really talk to the people behind it. A lot of them are very accessible. Look at the Telegram groups or any other group that’s happening, the forums, and just really connect directly to the people. That’s the best way to learn.

CT: What is the number one thing needed to really grow this community in terms of consumers?

CR: Adoption in this space, while we’re moving really fast, is still very slow because it is very hard for consumers to use. We are somewhere around one percent of the total mobile population who are currently using digital currency, at least in known users. That is about fifty million, earlier this year it was about five mln. These are studies done by MIT and Cambridge and still it is extremely hard to quantify. I think the space is going to move incredibly fast as we’ve seen even this year alone. Yesterday Bitcoin hit over $10,000 and I think that is showing us that we certainly have traction and the system is going to keep moving forward. I’d like to see more people be able to adopt it faster so for the consumer applications that are out there; I think it’s important that more developers get on board with building bots. We at Sensay have an API that we’ve opened up, we’ve opened our entire underlying technology. We are moving from a centralized company to a decentralized company giving away all of the technology we’ve built over the last three years because we want to encourage more people to build on top of it so if more companies can open source, if more developers can come on board and if more consumers can start using the applications, we’re going to see the world radically transform in a very positive way.

This is your brain on Blockchain

The human brain is really just a computer. It’s a data storage device, it’s hardware, we have inputs and outputs and eventually we will be looking at the brain like a node on a system. Every single human has a database of information on their shoulders that is like a warehouse and soon we can all connect. I like to talk about The Brain on the Blockchain because I think that there are things that you want an immutable record for and there are things that you really want to have as true information that is validated. Eventually, as nodes on a network, as we all connect together, we’ll have to have a system where we can have that kind of trust. So to me, that’s my passion now. I’ve always wanted to connect all of the humans and help them to become better and to level up and now we have that opportunity in a much bigger way with the combination of A.I. and Blockchain.

The White Paper Club

I have a repository of white papers. I am going to tell you something really geeky about myself. I am a part of the white paper club. The white paper club is like a book club. We get together for coffee and we read white papers because I think it is really important that people are understanding the ideas that are out there. I love the big visions. I think it’s amazing that we have so many huge visionaries. There are a lot of theoretical things but let’s not forget the white papers that existed a while ago. So I was just reading one recently for a product I really want it’s from 2006 and somebody wrote a white paper on a decentralized calendar application and that sounds super base-line. It’s a really really simple app, probably not something people want to run an ICO over but I think that the thing is that we don’t need a world of infrastructure and protocols. Eventually the infrastructure is going to get built. Eventually the roads will be there and eventually the buildings will be on top of those as well, so the developers who are working on things that are seemingly small, the applications of the future, please get everything decentralized. We need decentralized calendars and to-do lists. We need better email. I think if there is one ICO I really want to see and one I would put my coins down for today, it would be a better system of email communication.

France Will Allow Blockchain Platforms For Trading Securities

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According to recent reports, the French[1] government has opened the door to allow fintech[2] companies and banking institutions to begin trading unlisted securities on Blockchain[3] technology-based platforms. The regulation changes cut out the need for middlemen like brokerages or exchanges.

The change comes with a desire to have France grow in its international reputation as a center for finance and technology, hopefully competing with the neighboring London, which currently enjoys a much bigger presence in the field. According to a statement by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire:

“The use of this new technology will allow fintech firms and other financial actors to develop new ways of trading securities that are faster, cheaper, more transparent and safer.”

According to the statement, listed securities will still be required to pass through trust systems.

Blockchain growth 

The announcement will provide increasing opportunities for banks and other companies to use Blockchain technology to cut out unnecessary mid-level brokers in financial trading. The technology has already been used by a number of large corporations[4] for international business payments and other applications.

BlockShow Asia Reveals: How VeChain Will Change Luxury Market

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VeChain[1] announces at BlockShow Asia[2] that they will incorporate Blockchain technology into their platform to protect luxury products for consumers, merchants and manufacturers.

The luxury market[3] is filled with knockoffs and fakes, and the current platforms that move a product from materials, to manufacturing, to market are so siloed and disconnected that fake products can be inserted at any point. This problem provides massive compromises for products that are extremely valuable, and require high levels of customer satisfaction.

Blockchain technology provides a connected system for tracking products from start to finish with security[4] and transparency. The implementation of Blockchain[5] technology into the supply chain allows a product manufacturer, distributor or retailer to see and track the product with absolute certainty.

Additionally, Blockchain allows for complete transparency, meaning that problems in the process from the manufacturing level to the end consumer are easily pinpointable. Issues along the supply chain with shipping, storage or transport can be known and addressed more effectively.

VeChain at BlockShow Asia

VeChain’s presentation at BlockShow Asia traced a number of products from raw material stage to market sales, explaining how Blockchain can protect luxury goods from any number of potential hazards within the product’s lifecycle and beyond in the secondary market.

The system is designed to use the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in order to create private keys for each product that make it possible to track them. All consumers need is a smartphone to check up on the history of products they are purchasing.

The Vault Within Your Smartphone

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You recently bought a Tesla car, and although you don’t understand how it works, you’re happy about whatever’s under the hood because of a smooth, seamless driving experience. The same thing applies to the Blockchain[1]. What’s interesting to mass-market users is not the technology per se, but the value it holds.

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain are buzzwords in today’s digital realm associated with Bitcoin, ICOs and digital wallets. Average consumers don’t need to know how the technology works. They want to know how to reap the benefits.

The vault in the smartphone

The mobile phone is no longer a device for chatting with friends and family. It has grown into a smart device used to perform a wealth of activities. There’s an app for everything. But when we put Blockchain technology and smartphone side by side, we notice that there’s a glitch. There’s no killer app for Blockchain-based activities, no holistic approach to benefit from the perks of the Blockchain without worrying about security.

There’s potential for storing and transferring value with Blockchain technology. But not all decentralized apps[2] are not fully-functional from the average Android or iOS smartphone. Mass-market consumers who trade Bitcoins or buy apps, for example, want excellent user experience At the end of the day, their goal is to make a profit; and that profit can be in the form of cryptocurrency, game, app, etc.

The Blockchain-powered pocket-sized mobile computer

80% of the world owns a smartphone. It’s no longer a device to speak with other people but a digital diary we can’t live without. Things are changing at the speed of light in the digital era. Smartphones and Blockchain technology are neck in neck, although industry leaders don’t seem to want to merge them.

The next big thing could be a Blockchain-powered[3] pocket-sized mobile computer for mass-market users. Major smartphone providers are not ready to jump on the Blockchain bandwagon. The reasons vary.

  • High volatility of the crypto world

  • Fear of losing ground in front of main competitors

  • An uninformed target audience on the benefits of a Blockchain-powered smartphone.

A fee-less, hybrid payment network within your phone

There’s more to the industry than meets the eye. SIRIN LABS[4], a high-end company that makes luxury smartphones, begs to differ. For technology to be consumed by the masses, it has to be made accessible. The smartest way to streamline crypto-based operations is by listening to the voice of the crowd.

Both smartphones and Blockchain technology have gone mainstream. To connect these two in a way consumers can benefit from both, the key is to bridge the gap between decentralized apps and mass-market usage through a hybrid product. The solution can’t be 100 percent decentralized. It involves a physical product (smartphone) and Blockchain[5] (decentralized) to make ends meet.

Bridging the gap between UX and Blockchain technology

The Finney Project[6] aims to bridge the gap between user experience and Blockchain technology with an ultra-secure, fee-less Blockchain-powered smartphone accessible to the masses. The current generation of smartphones poses security risks, hindering user experience.

The Finney devices – a smartphone and potentially an all-in-one PC – are Blockchain-enabled and cyber-protected. They support both Android functionalities and top-notch cybersecurity technologies powered by SIRIN LABS. The upcoming Finney smartphone forms an independent Blockchain network, a lightweight, scalable distributed ledger powered by IOTA’s technology and SIRIN LABS’s OS.

The Finney Project is a SIRIN LABS product[7] – the company behind Solarin, the world’s ultra-secure smartphone – comes out with a crowdsale on Dec. 12. The aim of the project is to make Blockchain technology accessible to the masses through a highly-secured smartphone. Upon successful completion of the crowdsale, SIRIN LABS plans to develop a Blockchain-powered desktop computer, too.

Ioana Paicu

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.

 

ICOs, Bitcoin’s Growth and the Blockchain Community: An Interview With Ivan on Tech

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Ivan Liljeqvist is an international speaker, software developer and founder of Ivan on Tech. On Ivan’s channel he spreads knowledge about Blockchain technology to hundreds of thousands of viewers. He is known for making the complex simple, the boring interesting and Blockchain entertaining.

Cointelegraph’s Stephen Chase caught up with Ivan at this year’s Blockshow Asia to chat about Blockchaining the world, understanding Bitcoin and making the future better for everyone. Also, Ivan gives a bit of advice on how you can go about getting others involved in the community by giving away some Bitcoin.

CT: Could you tell us a bit about what you do when you’re not here talking to us?

IL: Thank you for having me here. Yes, I run the Ivan on Tech YouTube channel where I talk about Blockchain technology, Bitcoin, Ethereum, the technology behind different Blockchain projects. I do GitHub analyses of different ICOs and of established Blockchain projects as well.

In addition, I run a company called Stockholm Blockchain which is an educational company. We educate companies, organizations and governments about how Blockchain technology can be applied and will be applied so that they can be ready for the changes that are coming.

A cure for Bitcoin blindness

CT: What is your vision of Bitcoin you think people need to understand before investing?

IL: You should really understand the technology and understand the vision before you invest in cryptocurrencies because it is a very volatile market, and if you are not experienced in the technology or the vision it might be easy for you to get scared and to just lose money in this field as an investor. So when I speak about vision, I speak about how it can be used for improving the financial system. Suddenly there are people in many parts of the world who didn’t have any banking services at all and now have. Before, it didn’t matter if you were brilliant, or had a good team, had passion or were smart–it would be hard for you to raise capital. But now, with ICOs and crowdfunding on the Blockchain, it is possible for the first time ever. Understanding how the technology works and how it enables all of these great things in the world is very important. Having that in mind, I think it’s easier to invest in Bitcoin and not be influenced by market volatility.

CT: What are some goals ahead and challenges the community faces in achieving them?

IL: I think that one of the biggest challenges is bringing the community together. We have a lot of crypto debates and Bitcoin discussions on how we should move forward, but in the end it is all about unity. We need to unite the community and move forward together because everything comes down to selling cryptocurrencies to people who don’t really understand cryptocurrencies yet.

The number one goal should be mass adoption. Normal people who are not very into technology or this whole community need to understand that cryptocurrencies are real and what good they can do in the world. We can do that by spreading it around. For example, a drug dealer would not just talk about his drug and how good it is by showing you a bunch of charts. He will just say, try it. And then you become addicted. Similarly, the ease of use of cryptocurrencies brings about realizations of the potential of cryptocurrencies. So, definitely more people should be practically involved. And if you own some Bitcoin, just give ten or twenty dollars to your friend as a crypto Christmas present.

Jobs: How we can weed the garden and at the same time, plant flowers

CT: We hear about how Blockchain could be the end of many jobs, how can it also be used to create new ones?

IL: We can remove many middle-men and make businesses peer-to-peer. If we have smart contracts on the Blockchain, we do not need to have that many middlemen. I think that this portion of the population will need to find something else to do. Many people will have access to capitol, crowd-funding – how many new ideas will be created in parts of the world that couldn’t access capitol – building teams companies… For me, the positive aspects definitely outweigh the negatives. With all technology there are some jobs that will be displaced, new jobs will be created, and there will be some kind of transition period. We will see completely new jobs and more and more people will be able to fulfill their purpose and their vision in life by now being able to use cryptocurrencies as banking services and be a part of the global financial system.

Into the upside down of ICOs: advice from an expert

For developers: Do your homework!

If you’re thinking about an ICO, think about the properties that Blockchain has and the benefits that Blockchain gives you. Those benefits are transparency, decentralization and immutability. If these properties fit the problems you want to solve, go ahead. If you see that the problem you’re solving doesn’t need decentralization, doesn’t need transparency, and doesn’t need immutability, just use a regular relational database. There is no need for a Blockchain in that case.

As an investor, think the same way as well because many projects will try to implement a token, or do an ICO because it’s easy to attract capital. It’s important to think about those things and really see if a project needs Blockchain at all.

For investors: Do your damn homework!

Learn the basics of GitHub, even if you’re not a programmer, just learn how it works so you can go to a GitHub page and see the code of a project. If you’re not a programmer you will not be able to understand it but at least you can get some kind of feeling when you look at the number of commits, when you look at the number of contributors–the frequency of contributors. You can even learn how to look at the actual code and see if it’s just some trivial changes such as name changes or just comments, or if it is actual code that has been produced. Just learn how it works. Always ask yourself do they really need Blockchain?

CT: Thank you so much for joining us and coming out to Cointelegraph Blockshow Asia.

IL: Thank you very much.

Belarus Signs ‘Super Liberal’ Blockchain Support Legislation

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Belarus’ president Aleksandr Lukashenko has formally signed a “super liberal” bill signaling state support of Blockchain and cryptocurrency.

As local news outlet Dev.by[1] and others report today, Lukashenko set the wheels of Belarus’ so-called “Digital Economy Growth” package rolling Monday.

The legislation aims to remove bureaucracy which could potentially hinder Blockchain’s implementation, and gives the go-ahead to a permissive environment for cryptocurrency exchange.

In addition, Belarus’ ‘HTP’ – a Silicon Valley-style tech haven Lukashenko created – will have privileges extending to attracting funding through ICOs and using cryptocurrency in civil circulation, Cointelegraph previously reported[2] last month.

“Today’s ratification of the digital economy by the president: the decree will be signed by the end of this year, and is a super liberal version with 100 percent absence of bureaucracy for supporting all forms of Blockchain adoption,” one IT industry insider close to the president wrote on Facebook[3] following completion.

The Digital Economy takes Belarus a step beyond its neighbors in the race to incorporate emerging disruptive technologies. Russia, for example, has had a problematic road[4] to adoption of cryptocurrency, with conflicting statements creating an uncertain picture of their future legal status.

Kazakhstan[5], on the other hand, has increasingly taken steps towards its stated goal of becoming the “Blockchain Singapore.”

Do-It-Yourself IPOs on a Blockchain

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The global equity market has seen a very turbulent decade since the start of the global recession. Yet despite the relatively stable economic growth the world has seen over the past five years there has been a significant decline in the number of Initial Public Offerings[1] (IPOs), as well as a general lack of funding available to companies starting out. The market has been doing well, but new companies are not reaping the benefits.

This is despite the fact that there is a huge interest from the general public in investing. Apps like Robinhood have started to take the consumer market by storm, showing that young people have a genuine interest in investing to increase their wealth. This is backed up by the jaw-dropping interest in cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin[2] reaching all-time highs as of late and articles about cryptocurrencies appearing in all major media outlets.

So if the public is interested and the economy is doing well, what is standing in the way of companies accessing funding? The simple answer is the outdated funding system that is in place. High fees for the bureaucracy of VCs, banks, and private investor firms makes the whole process intransparent, expensive, and cumbersome. As well as this, investors are wary of financial institutions since the global recession.

The global equity market seems to be at an impasse, with plenty of funding available and plenty of willing companies, but structural hindrances are making deal flow congested. As with many industries, equity markets are driving more towards decentralization, and decentralization is exactly what Blockchain technology is good for. So it is no surprise that a new startup is trying to make the equities industry more amenable to fund-raising an investing. Chainium[3] has been a work in progress for over two years.

Challenge: difficult to raise cash and difficult to invest

In many ways, the options for companies and investors are currently very limited; it is currently in a similar situation as the media industry was before the rise of freelancing sites like Elance or Upwork. There is no way to easily link up small private investors with growing companies, there is a lot of legal hurdles to running an IPO, and there are startup costs to be reckoned with. In this situation, it is completely unfeasible for peer-to-peer corporate financing for startups, so private equity firms, VCs, banks and IPOs on the stock market fill the void.

But as you can expect, these services come at a downside. The most notable is the cost involved where e.g. VCs charge a decent premium of the sale. The other downside is that a business has to pass the subjective judgement of the private investor in order to get access to cash. In an ideal world new companies would be able to go directly to their prospective end-investors with their value proposition.

Rendering middlemen obsolete

Chainium aims to make the process easier while also adding simplicity to the equation. Their main selling point is that they charge no fees but use Blockchain technology to handle the transparency of an equity sale. Their platform, underpinned by the CHX token, puts investors in direct contact with investors. As from that, the company summed up their killer advantage as:

“Business owners choose the terms on which they sell their equity and how actively they want to engage with their investors. A small family business could use Chainium to manage a simple private sale of an equity stake in order to ensure the sale is secure, legal and transparent. Alternatively, a larger firm could use Chainium to run a public equity offering and manage regulatory compliance, reporting, KYC/AML, investor communication, shareholder voting and all the other services required to manage a large investor base. Chainium removes the expensive intermediaries layer and enables access to equity fundraising directly from investors.”

Notably, the platform allows the same complete range of investor-company interaction that would be the case with traditional intermediaries, such as dividend issuance, shareholder voting, investor communications, financial reporting and analytics.

This is only possible with Blockchain technology since it offers a layer of distributed intermediate verifiability and guarantees that would be otherwise susceptible to fraud.

Simplicity in investing

The Chainium platform[4] has been in development for a couple of years and the company has a functional version on its website, which should provide confidence to investors. They are hoping that the upcoming ICO in early 2018 will put them in the spotlight and bring their solution to the attention of those interested in the future of investments.

Eoghan Gannon

 

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.