Blockchain Industry Review Issue 3 March 21

Issue 3 March 2021

REVIEW

O$

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE

NLY 69 MLLION

INDUSTRY

YOUR GATEWAY TO BLOCKCHAIN AND DIGITAL CURRENCY USE CASES AND APPLICATIONS

WELCOME TO BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

As NFTs become mainstream, everything from digital art to articles is now being tokenised and put on blockchain. Bitcoin has reached and is for now, staying at new heights thanks to the likes of Elon Musk’s tweets and Tesla’s buying in. It’s now fair to say that the once edgy industries of cryptocurrency and blockchain are now words that everyone needs to know.

In this month’s issue we go into: the explosion of art in digital form, where blockchain comes in in the need to record royalties, graffiti on blockchain, as well as an interview with the founder of Liberland, the country founded on blockchain, how innovating with blockchain can save your company tax, and into crypto custody, crypto lending and into the story of a distracted (digital) generation.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of Blockchain Industry Review and are grateful for any thoughts or feedback you may have.

Erica Stanford

Cover: The third most expensive auction sale ever of a work by a living artist ($69,346,250 million). “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,“ a collage, by the digital artist Beeple. Christie‘s images via Reuters.

Founder- Erica Stanford (photo left top).

Editor-in-chief Jilian Godsil (photo left bottom).

Designer Mauricio Cano.

ARTICLE BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

ARTICLE

The Growing Ecosystem of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

By Adi Ben-Ari, Founder & CEO at Applied Blockchain.

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

p05

p11

Graffiti meets blockchain with NFTs. Darren Cullen

by Jillian Godsil.

Innovating with Blockchain could save your business tax – R&D Tax Credits Explained.

By Shaun Bartle FMAAT. Associate Director Finch & Associates.

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

p37

p41

p33

ARTICLE

What is secure custody?

By Jake Rogers, Copper.co

Crypto- Lending: Onwards, and Upwards?

By Sean kiernan, Greengage.co

CONTENTS

ARTICLE

Digital artwork – the need for blockchain to record royalties.

William Quigley, Co-founder WAX,

by Jillian Godsil.

The role of NFTs in community building.

p29

Joel Comm, half of the Bad Crypto Podcast

by Jillian Godsil.

ARTICLE

Born Digital – the Story of a Distracted Generation.

By Bob Wigley,

ARTICLE

p47

p31

ARTICLE

Liberland- an example country founded on blockchain.

Vit Jedlicka, president of Liberland

by Jillian Godsil.

p23

ARTICLE

NFTs 3D animation on blockchain.

Jon Noorlander

by Jillian Godsil.

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

p21

p53 Crypto trading data

from Crypto Compare.

p56 Events and courses. p61 Sponsors.

blockchain industry review by the crypto curry club

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NFTS

THE GROWING ECOSYSTEM Adi Ben-Ari, Founder & CEO, Applied Blockchain

This month prestigious auction house Christies sold a single lot of digital art using blockchain NFT (nonfungible tokens) for $69,346,250 million. The auction was watched live by 22 million people. “Christie’s had never offered a new media artwork of this scale or importance before,” says Noah Davis, specialist in Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s in New York. “Acquiring Beeple’s work is a unique opportunity to own an entry in the blockchain itself created by one of the world’s leading digital artists”.

The Christies sale is significant for a number of reasons:

CHRISTIES SOLD A SINGLE LOT OF DIGITAL ART USING BLOCKCHAIN NFT (NONFUNGIBLE TOKENS) FOR $69,346,250 MILLION. THE AUCTION WAS WATCHED LIVE BY 22 MILLION PEOPLE.

1. Christies is a world class institution built on trust and reputation.

2. The art work is in digital form.

3. The ownership record is in the form of a blockchain NFT on the Ethereum blockchain.

4. Christies received payment for the work in Eth (the cryptocurrency behind the Ethereum smart contract platform).

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. In 2019-2020 turnover for the NBA was $8.3 billion. In July 2019 a joint venture was created between the National Basketball Association, the NBA Players Association and Dapper Labs, and in October of 2020

the NBA Top Shot beta site went live.

In a few short months the platform has generated over $200m in earnings.

NBA Top Shot provides collectible digital “moments” from NBA games. The ownership record is in the form of a blockchain NFT recorded on the Flow blockchain developed by Dapper Labs.

Rapper MF DOOM created a set of augmented reality masks, and subsequently minted NFT’s to represent their ownership. The masks are hosted on augmented reality (AR) platform

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OF NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS

>> on photo. The third most expensive auction sale ever of a work by a living artist ($69,346,250 million). “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,“ a collage, by the digital artist Beeple. Christie‘s images via Reuters.

Illust Space. Unfortunately, and coincidentally, he died on Halloween, the same day that the NFT sale concluded. The collectibles are likely one of his last creative projects. His private keys are now in the possession of his family, and smart contracts will continue to automatically transfer royalties to them from every NFT sale in perpetuity.

On Friday, 5th of March 2021, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, launched the sale of the first Tweet posted on the social platform as an NFT. The NFT is on sale at a current price (at the time of writing) of $2.5m on the Valuable marketplace which offers collectible tweets.

These events are significant in terms of the value attained as well

as the parties involved. Many organisations are now exploring the opportunity offered by NFTs. Some are more strategic, such as NBA Top Shots, while others are more opportunistic in nature.

It is worth unpacking these developments, and examining the technical, legal and strategic aspects.

NFTS

T

he cost of replicating an item in the digital world is almost zero. Think of the copy and paste mechanism that damages the rights of economic use of photos or other works of art on the internet. Blockchain doesn’t prevent this. It doesn’t protect the data or the digital representation of the item. However, blockchain NFT’s allow ownership of the items to be recorded, shared, published, and potentially openly traded across multiple venues, thereby increasing their liquidity. They also allow royalties to continue to be paid out to the original creators regardless of where or how the items are sold.

that they (the ownership records) were created by the artist, if such proof is provided.

4. Provide an efficient mechanism for sale and trade over digital platforms Recent NFT sales demonstrate that such ownership records, in particular those that are rare, are highly valued. It should be noted that the digital item itself cannot be rare, as it may always be replicated and distributed, but rather it is the ownership record itself that is rare.

2. Prevent duplication of the digital item

Items, especially those of an artistic nature, become digitally rare as their ownership records are nonfungible, that is, they are unique.

Non-fungible tokens are tradable, universal blockchain-based ownership records for specific items.

Unlike digital currencies such as Bitcoin, and fungible tokens such as utility tokens, non-fungible tokens are not interchangeable with each other.

3. Provide legal ownership rights or copyright, unless explicitly granted in the terms of agreement where the item is sold.

One of the attractions to NFT’s is that, unlike physical items of value, they can be easily traded and exchanged over the internet.

It is important to understood that the blockchain record (NFT) does not: 1. Provide unique access to the digital item

NFT’s do: 1. Prevent duplication of ownership records.

NFT’S HAVE BEEN AROUND ALMOST AS LONG AS ETHEREUM ITSELF, INITIALLY APPEARING 2. Refer to a digital item.

IN GAMES (ETHERIA, CRYPTOPUNKS, CRYP3. Include cryptographic proof TOKITTIES), AND MORE RECENTLY IN DIGITAL ART AND MUSIC. >>

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>>

THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF NFT ARE THE FOLLOWING: Uniqueness: NFTs contain metadata where various information may be recorded. This information includes properties and reference to the digital item, making the ownership link.

Rarity: The value of NFTs comes from their scarcity. Developers of these tokens often limit their distribution in order to increase rarity.

Authenticity: Blockchain technology enables proof that the NFT originated from the order (assuming their public key can be verified), and an immutable history of prior trades.

Indivisibility: NFT’s in their basic form can only be bought, sold and stored in their entirety. It is possible for the owner to fractionalise an NFT using an additional set of smart contracts.

Ownership: It is possible for the owner of a unique token to identify themselves, and to transfer ownership to others.

Verifiability: Being anchored in a blockchain, items can be traced back to their original creator, allowing pieces to be authenticated without the need for third-party verification.

From a technical perspective, NFTs represent a particular type of cryptographic token that is defined: 1. Using a standard; for example Ethereum ERC-721) and ERC-1155. Ethereum is by far the most widely used platform for NFT’s, and the standard definitions enable liquidy across multiple venues and exchanges. However, Ethereum suffers from a high transaction fee (can be as high as $50 per transaction, depending on the price of Ether), and low throughput leading to long transaction confirmation times (hours, even days).

2. Natively in the general purpose blockchain plat-

form (e.g. Algorand). Algorand offers native NFT token capability, so no need for a standard smart contract, low transaction fees and high throughput capabilities.

3. Natively in a dedicated NFT blockchain platform (e.g. Flow ). The developers behind CryptoKitties, DapperLabs created their own blockchain, Flow, and used it for NBA Top Shot. The platform is proprietary, has a low transaction fee and high throughput, but is managed by a single commercial entity, and it is still unclear how open the platform will be.

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NFTS Types of NFT marketplace (custodial, OpenSea) NFT Custody

P

articular attention should be paid to custody of an NFT, which, just like cryptocurrency, may be held by a third party custodian or exchange, or in a digital wallet held by the owner.

A number of NFT marketplaces have appeared recently, and some differ in the way they handle custody. In the cryptocurrency world we have custodial exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken and non-custodial exchanges (typically decentralized exchanges) such as Uniswap. The tradeoff is between usability (e.g. using a simple web or mobile application that most people are familiar with) vs self-custody, which involves giving the user a wallet that they must understand how to install and use.

Similarly, in the NFT world there are marketplaces that provide a simple, standard web user experience, such as NBA Top Shot and Nifty Gateway, on the one hand, and marketplaces that assume self-custody, such as OpenSea on the other.

NFT use cases

T

he technical model of the non-fungible token is likely to become application in many areas:

Art. Blockchain NFT’s can be used to address known problems in the art world including: property, corporeality, manipulation, and value.

A recent Netflix documentary “Made You Look” describes an $80m+ fake art fraud that led to the downfall of one of New York’s most reputable galleries and dealers.

The ability to combine the identity of a work with the creative path of the same, and to bring this history to the blockchain NFT, allows each creative action and passage of the work to be documented in immutable form, which maintains information and generates provenance that is harder to forge. The structure “tells” the entire story of the work, and it would be very difficult

to alter its sequence. The artwork metadata stored in the NFT must, of course, uniquely identify the physical or digital work.

Collectibles. Music, and rare collectibles are just some examples of real objects whose ownership records are digitized with NFTs. In practice, these NFTs could represent fractions of physical assets, including real estate, cars, or wines that can be stored and exchanged as tokens of ownership on a blockchain Supply Chain. NFT’s can also be used to represent physical components and products flowing through a supply chain. This enables provenance checks to be made on a per-item basis. Some benefits of tokenizing these assets are proof of quality control, ethical sourcing and the reduction of counterfeiting, although these do depend on the ability to scan and uniquely identify the physical item.

In supply chain we generally see blockchain applied at three levels: 1. Organisations: NFTs can be used to identify organisations and their credentials (e.g. anti-slavery, ISO certification) 2. Paperwork: The traditional supply chain system records all the property titles and registration, contracts, purchase orders, invoices and payments through cumbersome paperwork. Blockchain can digitize and connect the entire process, and some documents could be securitised (e.g. invoices) using NFT’s.

3. Products and components in a supply chain should be represented as an NFT. 4. NFTs can be used to track materials as they move through the supply chain, and they can represent the provenance, the quality assurance, and sustainability properties of products.

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Liquidity

T

he possibility of certifying and digitising ownership records of both physical and digital items in a way that they can be openly traded in multiple venues introduces speculation and increased liquidity to previously illiquid markets. Major players are rapidly moving in this direction, seizing the opportunity to capitalize on a broader shift towards tokenization and digital assets.

Developments in public blockchains, including decentralised exchanges (DEX) and decentralized finance (DeFi) are creating tremendously efficient alternative financial services infrastructure. NFTs are starting to do the same for collectibles and unique items. This is the real value of NFT’s: bringing liquidity to previously illiquid markets and items.

Developments in public blockchains involving cryptocurrencies, including Decentralised Exchanges and Decentralized Finance (DeFi), are creating tremendously efficient alternative financial services infrastructure. NFTs are starting to do the same for collectibles.

Whether you attach any value to the speculative activity or not, you cannot ignore the maturing and growing mainstream adoption of the technology.

Adi Ben-Ari, Founder & CEO at Applied Blockchain

R

eferences

Decrypt: MF DOOM, Enigmatic Rapper Leaves Behind Crypto Art Legacy Bloomberg: An NFT Sold for $69 Million, Blasting Crypto Art Records CNN: How NFTs are fueling a digital art boom Guardian: Flying cats and a burning Banksy: why are digital art prices suddenly rocketing?

Forbes: BNP Paribas Subsidiary Helps Identify $250 Million Leap In NFT Sales Forbes: NBA Top Shot, A Crypto-Based Platform For Video Collectibles, Soars Past $200 Million In Total Sales Christies: Created over 5,000 days by the groundbreaking artist, this monumental collage is the first purely digital artwork (NFT) ever offered at Christie’s BBC: Jack Dorsey: Bids reach $2.5m for Twitter co-founder’s first post Netflix: Made You Look

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GRAF

MEETS BLO WITH

N

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FFITI

OCKCHAIN

NFTS

by Jillian Godsil

D

arren straddles the divide between the underworld and the status quo, providing an essential bridge for digital tourists wishing to travel in either direction. He is contraction personified and has no issues walking either side of the street.

“I keep my feet in both camps, remaining true to my background, and that authenticity allows me to offer street art to the corporate or even the government world without losing my anarchistic soul.”

Darren was still in primary school when he fell in love with street graffiti. It’s hard to explain to GenZ that street graffiti only arrived in the 80s from the US, notably New York. Prior to that, street painting wasn’t a thing or street murals that existed typically consisted of

pastoral scenes with birds, trees and fluffy clouds.

The graffiti inspiration came when another family in his South London school enjoyed a holiday in America.

Two brothers had witnessed graffiti on the underground trains, and they arrived back excited to share their joy.

From the moment the brothers returned, loose pens were a premium at the school with interested kids looking to create their own graffiti. Much of it was done on paper initially as the young artists honed their craft before taking it to the park and sketching on the ground in chalk next to the hopscotch marks, before moving to walls and permanent ink.

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Not only was the garish, colourful stylistic writing adopted by their fellow London students, so too was the custom of taking a street nickname. Darren opted for Flash. Spray cans weren’t even around, and the young street vandals had to be satisfied initially with regular markers and felt tip pens.

DARREN

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T

ransitioning to secondary school upped the ante for Darren. Graffiti was becoming a thing, a regular feature on toilet walls. MTV was on the box and the video for Malcolm McLaren’s Buffalo Gals featured both scratching and spray can graffiti. Then the definitive graffiti book Subway Art, by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, was published in 1984 and Darren was hooked. In this tale of art and defiance, more kids than ever before joined the public library to get their hands on the holy grail of graffiti and copy the images found on the pages – from there to create their own art on the public walls of their neighbourhood.

“This is the era of street vandalism.”

What lifts Darren from the grimy pit of drearism affecting so many of his pee rs is hunger.

“Stealing, vandalism, protest – they are all part of the journey, but it is a journey. I don’t need to stay down in the sewers to do my art. I don’t need an un-permissioned wall to create my art, I can do it just as much where it is wanted as where it is banned.”

“Stealing, vandalism, protest – they are all part of the journey, but it is a journey. I don’t need to stay down in the sewers to do my art. I don’t need an un-permissioned wall to create my art, I can do it just as much where it is wanted as where it is banned.”

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D

arren was plucked from obscurity and a possible life of petty criminality by the system. He was transitioning to ad hoc paid graffiti commissions for local business when he was recruited to run youth workshops for graffiti artists by the local council.

“The workshops were packed, people were out the door, the room was crammed and the craze spread to other councils. Soon I needed to hire other friends to help run these viral workshops.”

Two things emerge. One that it is hard to find time to be a criminal vandal when there were so many workshops to run. The second is that Darren began a lifetime habit of hiring his graffiti chums; there is honour amongst street vandals. Also, the popularity and efficacy of these workshops even made it into a question-and-answer session in the UK Parliament, video recordings of which are still lurking online.

The local train stations didn’t escape the attention either. Rather than allow for unmanaged graffiti, the idea of planned station art in underpasses grew in popularity. It killed two birds; featuring quality art appropriate to the public canvas and diminishing random eruptions. In fact, at this stage most of the city’s graffiti artists were so busy in planned art projects that overall street vandalism dropped off sharply.

“My only concern was not to have rural images. I wanted authentic urban art, so I called up my painting friends and said come on down here – we’ve got permission, blessing, and all the paint we need.”

Darren even had Banksy paint on one of these projects.

Actually, I should mention that the station managers were now getting letters of compliment from the general public – this had not happened before. The craze spread to most of the London train stations and the graffiti artists were given orange jackets to indicate they are part of the staff.

“At one point, I remember the staff switched off the electric railway lines and we all walked across the tracks to our next wall on the far side of the station. It was like a scene from an urban western and we were the spray can toting anti-heroes.”

Street graffiti was changing too. From the stylised letters and words, images were now being created. The tools were also evolving with new spray paint made specially for graffiti.

“Original spray cans were forceful and one-dimensional. The paint was meant for cars or similar and it came out fast, necessitating large paintings; there was no room for finesse. The new cans allowed art where before it was paint covering the wall.

“Graffiti was going parabolic.’

N

owadays, back to lecturing GenZs, street art is an acceptable form of street covering. Most temporary hoardings are covered in it and many permanent wall canvases are also covered in art. Even the name Graffiti has become rehabilitated and acceptable. It’s difficult now to conceptualise the core rebellion and protest encapsulated in its origins.

Darren converted his work into a brand – Graffiti Kings – and now accepts corporate commissions and pulls in his artist friends to deliver major art projects on a global basis. He even runs workshops to teach corporate executives on how to make graffiti.

Then 2012 was the year that Graffiti Kings became mainstream, but 2021 is when they are going viral.

2012 was the year of the London Olympics. It was a touch and go experience for Darren. Four months before the start of the Games, police raided first his mother’s house and then his own house before carting him off to the local police station where he was quizzed for hours on a website his company had built for a client. The offending website documented graffiti and was seen a blueprint of how to become a graffiti artist – in this case the old-fashioned vandal variety.

“I was released but I got conditions – not to carry spray paint, not to travel on trains, and not to go near the London Olympic Stadium.”

Darren shakes his head at the memory. Then and now, he was exasperated and posted his frustration on Facebook to his 1.5 million followers. It blew up a media storm and even resulted in the law firm representing English actress and legend Joanne Lumley in her legal campaign for Gurkhas’ rights to contact Darren.

“They offered me free legal aid to fight my case.”

At the same time, and in a totally unrelated move, the official Olympic organisers sent Darren an email asking him to become the official street artist for the 2012 Games.

He said yes.

“That’s my creed, say yes first and then deal with the consequences.”

If this was part of a film, you might call the plot somewhat incredulous. The police dropped charges and conditions and Darren became the official street artist for the event and painted the opening scenes for Paralympics afterwards too.

2021 is still in the process of being written. In March, Darren is in lockdown. He has been watching conspiracy videos for the last decade and reckons there is some truth in the lies they tell. Once the pandemic kiced off, he was galvanised into action, and put 20% of his savings into gold, silver and Bitcoin as a backup.

“Then I come across NFTs.” He switches from conspiracy videos to blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital art research. Darren knows his parabolics better than most. He also does bridges better than most; this time from art to NFTs. NFTs are non fungible tokens which use blockchain technology to create unique digital assets. A first for artists looking to sell online without fraud or counterfeiting.

He lines up other new NFT artists from Anytask.com, a freelance platform run on cryptocurrency but accessed by fiat. He engages with other digital artists, NFT platforms, crypto communities. Everywhere he is welcomed.

“I came for the ethos but I stayed for the energy.”

This is just the same as his path into Graffiti where passion drew him in and community fuelled his career.

“I’m having the most amazing conversations. The projects are just spilling out of the ether.”

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arren is now designing crypto toys. He is already a toy creator and collector. Now he is bringing out Bitcoin kid and other models. His new toys are all hand painted and will be sold by their digital NFTs. He is playing with different blockchain platforms, WAX currently being his favourite where he has joined with a Dutch collectables company to create collectable Graffiti King NFT packs. He is working with crypto metaverses such as Decentraland where he intends setting up his own public gallery and will host monthly art shows. He is working with the Bad Crypto Podcast team on a number of as-yet-to-be-released projects.

He has moved all his assets from gold into crypto. He’s all in.

“This space is chaotic with people collaborating on many different projects. There are egos but it’s not destructive like other art scenes. People are just people here. Before when I painted walls, it was very chill. Now, it’s non-stop, full on, chaotic craziness”.

Darren Cullen, Graffiti Kings

ITS BEAUTIFUL

BIO Darren Cullen

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NFTs Jon Noorlander by Jillian Godsil

3D ANIMATION ON BLOCKCHAIN

J

on Noorlander, the Swedish artist behind the now infamous exploding heads (Google them) is now moving into fine art with a new series of images created once as a physical exhibition but soon to be available as a NFTs on the Pixeos gallery.

prepares each frame, feeds in certain values and evaluates the different outcomes. His twin careers have meshed in the middle with his professional day job of executive creative director at Method Studios and now his increasingly high-profile career as a digital artist.

Jon’s father is Dutch (hence the name which is toponymic) but he was raised in Sweden, before moving to London and then the US where he now lives in New York.

He came from an artistic family; his mother paints and his father is an architect, and at one stage he considered he might follow in his footsteps until he discovered 3D animation and design and instead created a career in advertising.

Watching the exploding heads is addictive. Jon says he calls them disturbingly satisfying. Some of the animations have sound attached as well which makes them even more addictive.

“Certainly, digital tools have made leaps and bounds when it comes to design, especially in 3D, but you still have to have the original ideas.”

“The whole things started with me trying to figure out the different technical aspects of 3D software and now I have more than 30 of these exploding heads. They have sort of blown up on TikTok as well with one video – the one with the bananas – receiving more than 55 million views.”

Animation is based on mathematical algorithms. Jon

Jon Noorlander is the executive creative director of M

>> on photo (left and right), Jon Noorlander art work taken Jilian Godsil Persons of Interest : Timestamped in Bl

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Technology meets art and when blockchain is introduced it becomes even more interesting.

NTFs are one of the hottest aspects of blockchain technology today. NFTs use the immutable nature of blockchain to render unique digital assets. NFTs also have provenance built it too – thereby satisfying the holy grail of putting art safely onto the net without having to deal with issues such fakes, duplicates or counterfeits.

“I’d only been in blockchain a few weeks but suddenly my entire twitter feed utterly changed and was sprinkled with a whole new alien language. It began with Nifty Gateway reaching out to me and asked if I wanted to a drop. I didn’t know what a drop was – but once they explained, I said yes. And my first collection sold out in minutes; I knew I was onto something.”

To be financially validated brings a powerful agency to an artist.

Jon is now looking at converting an art collection into NFTs on the Pixeos gallery. He originally created 21 large digital abstracts called The Sculptures.

An art curator in Mexico spotted them online and reached out to Jon. These abstracts are based on millions and millions of particles.

“I based them on nature, used nature as a starting point, then viewed them

Method Studios.

n from fabrik.io lockchain and Cryptocurrency, Vol1. 2020 (p. 205). CryptoWriter. Kindle Edition.

like an aerial photograph. Then I did multiple layers so it creates a very complex image. They have an organic feel to them as a result. The layers also make it feel as though the images are moving but they are static.”

The art curator was doing an exhibition on abstract art and spotted the collection on Instagram.

“He tweeted me and asked if I would exhibit them in Mexico and I said yes.”

Jon sent over the images which were printed in Mexico, some of them were huge – 44 inches by 56 inches. A number were sold during the exhibition and the remainder are now hanging back in his New York office.

Creating NFTs of the 21 images emerged when Pixeos contacted Jon. Despite being very much sought after as an artist, Jon is not planning on giving up the day job.

“I still enjoy directing commercials; that part of my job is very satisfying, but it is interesting to see how the blockchain art world is global. don’t have to be anywhere to be a blockchain artist. And the traditional impediments to becoming an artist are removed as well – I don’t need to be discovered by a traditional gallery, I can use social media to reach an audience.”

Digital artwork – the need for blockchain to record royalties William Quigley, Co-founder WAX, by Jillian Godsil

W

illiam learnt at a young age what it meant to be an entrepreneur. His mother migrated to the States from Ireland while still a teenager.

In those days she did not have any legal papers and nor did she get an education. Instead she married, moved to California and raised eight children. Her husband left the family to fend for themselves, but instead of just surviving, Tessie Quigley turned her life around.

W

A simple gesture of bringing a neighbour to a medical appointment opened a commercial door. The neighbour insisted on paying Tessie twenty dollars despite her protestations. She was told the government was paying this amount for the lift and so her new business was born. Soon she had a suite of vehicles operating a non-medical transport service, in fact she grew the business to be the largest non-medical transportation service in California. The children were also included in the business, often cleaning the vehicles after hours.

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The impact of Libertarianism on William Tessie Quigley knew how to hustle.

“She had excellent skills of judgement and could always see opportunity. This skill cannot be taught, it’s innate.

As a VC I look to find good CEOs. As a CEO you can’t always anticipate what is going to happen so you need some who can hustle and who has excellent judgement skills.

“I’ve met 23 year olds with better judgement skills than 50 year old vice presidents.

“My mother taught me the art of the hustle. There are only so many hours in the day and if you are trading your time for money you are on a losing wicket. Now, if you can leverage things – like people, machinery, automation – that’s where you can make money. That’s why I went into tech of course, and VC tech in particular, where I can leverage both tech and people.”

William also has a theory about business and opportunity. He reckons that businesses often have a short period in which to make a mark and make money. And it takes generalists to spot those opportunities.

“People rely on experts too much these days. They say ‘oh I can’t do social media, I need an expert for that.’ How-

“I reckon Libertarianism is largely misunderstood. Let me explain. I am a venture capitalist and that is all about the free market. It is about helping people innovate and improve their business and giving them the capital to do it.

“Whereas traditional banking is very bureaucratic. There are set rules and if people don’t meet those requirements then they can’t get a loan. It’s a very closed environment.”

William believes that libertarians tend to be much more open minded and flexible. He would love if all customer service agents were libertarians as he reckons their views would be much better than the top down approach. He also thinks that the libertarian message is often judged quite harshly – it doesn’t sound as appealing as the progressive message which says it will take care of everyone.

“In reality, the libertarian viewpoint is to create a level playing field for everyone. It does away with crony capitalism, the idea of having a master. In addition, when you look at today’s capitalism it is most certainly not free market capitalism. In 2008 the banks ran amok and were bailed out by the public purse. That is not a level playing field at all.”

ever, the really successful people just see an opportunity. You might work in operations, but you can still spot a good PR opportunity. This is also a form of hustle – seeing opportunities even outside your sphere of influence and going for it.”

He has a point. His mother did not have an MBA but she understood there was a gap in the market and she filled it, doing all of the needful jobs from driving to cleaning as she grew the business.

“No one can know what the future holds. Could anyone have imagined the impact of COVID19? That’s where the hustle comes in.”

Curious Customers or Convenient Customers.

When it comes to the customer, William’s years at Disney taught him it is not curiosity that keeps the customers but convenience.

William uses the phrase that consumers ‘pray to the God of convenience’ in which customers will always defer towards the most convenient path. Passwords are often bypassed if let and customers will even purchase a lower quality product, even more expensive, if it is easier to use.

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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William on why Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are finally a thing.

For an NFT to work it needs a community interested in trading, buying or selling the items and the items need to be collectables.

This is a huge turning point for the NFTs. William gives the example of CryptoKitties. They were huge, they shut down the Ethereum blockchain and they were cited as the dawn of digital NFTs. However, despite there being hundreds of thousands of CryptoKitties there was no secondary market which killed them dead.

“We had about 120,000 CryptoKitties NFTs on OPSkins at one stage with a daily turnover of around one dollar.

They just weren’t moving. Guys set up platforms to resell the Kitties and they were dead in the water.”

NFTs and blockchain are made for each other with the ability to provide verification of authenticity but if the NFTs lack desirability there is no future. In addition, using the Ethereum blockchain meant transfer of the Kitties was painful and expensive. This goes back to convenience for customers.

William is very proud of the WAX Cloud Wallet. Most of the GPK collectors did not own any crypto. However, they could sign up for the wallet just using their socials.

It was totally intuitive.

So not only was the signup for a crypto wallet seamless, the community already existed and the new digital artwork made the original cards even more attractive.

As William spent years working as Head of Finance in licencing with Disney, he also understood the concept of earning a percentage from the secondary market. “It is not fair that the creators of the digital artwork only benefit from a primary market, it’s much more appetising if they can also earn points from a secondary marketplace. So using smart contracts we have built in a percentage earning from secondary sales.”

The estate of AA Milne ended up suing Disney as they felt they were not being paid enough royalties.

“I mean the estate has to rely on Disney reports and had no way of tracking all the purchases. Of course now, with blockchain these secondary sales are all recorded.

“So if you are a big player, like the Winnie the Pooh estate, you can afford to hire lawyers but what if you were a small time photographer, how on earth, pre blockchain, could you have tracked the use of your images? Another game changer literally.”

“No matter what the news, good or bad, I don’t believe you are in a position, when that news hits, to judge if it’s good or bad for you.” The Quigley Rules

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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Q What was your best move?

“My best move was being just captivated by the internet. And I can even tell you when I was captivated. It was when somebody sent me an image. And of course, it’s hard for people substantially younger than me to appreciate this, but we thought of computers as isolated devices. You could put a CD ROM in it and play something but the notion of it being connected was awesome.

“And, and then it became, well, how can I get in? How can I dedicate myself to this and fortunately, I teamed up with some guys who were building an incubator.

The first incubator, really one of the first internet incubators, called IdeaLab.

Q Move you regretted doing?

“Well, in the crypto side of things, I’m annoyed at one thing that my partners and I did not do. And that is we had acquired Mt Gox after it collapsed but we did not think we could relaunch Mt Gox in the name Mt Gox because we thought it was tainted.

“How could we have known that it turned out from that point on exchanges routinely get hacked, and if anything their business grows. And so we didn’t immediately try to reach a return on Mt Gox. And instead, we tried to build an exchange. And guess what happened? I did not authorize it to be released. And the reason was, I could not get comfortable with the regulatory climate that this would be okay. And this annoys me. Because it turned out it was a gray area. No one knew, right. If you know, you just couldn’t figure it out. But most other guys said the heck with it. You know what, it’s not explicitly not allowed So let’s just do it. And, we’ve been running marketplaces for 20 years, we know how to do this stuff. So now I’m going to go and do the thing I told you not to do. But I’ve said to my team, I think it’s too late, you know? And maybe, and maybe it’s not. The exchanges have become much better.

Q

“I was doing my thing at Disney and was pretty happy, but I knew this is where business models are going to get disrupted. This is where new ways of consumers doing things is going to happen. And that was a remarkable run for us. This is where the hustle was.”

Q Dodgiest move?

know, as time passes, you see things differently. So you know, the best travel site of the 90s was Priceline right?.

You would have thought well, then that travel opportunity is done. Well then Airbnb comes 15 years later. And so, yeah. If you hear yourself saying, I’m too late, you know, you may very well be too early.”

“Oh, man. So, so, so many. Uh, you could call it in the early 90s, selling a bunch of property that I had acquired in the late 80s at rock bottom prices because I looked at it and I said, Well, I paid this. It’s three times higher, without really thinking, yeah, but the intrinsic value is 10 times higher than that. So that became a bit of a rule. For me, winning trades, stay, you know, stay invested in. And yeah, I’ve done a few of those where I’ve, I’ve gotten off the escalator prematurely when I thought, Oh, it’s all over now, and it hadn’t even begun.

And by the way, that’s a lesson to entrepreneurs everywhere.

“You know, you’ll often hear people in crypto well in everything, am I too late? And I, I always say, you know, you’re never too late because it’s like the guy who just published the 1000 Churchill biography. It’s like, well, doesn’t he wish he was the first guy? No, because you

Like when we were doing it, the exchanges were still nascent, there were very few, but in 2017 2018, even part of 2019 it was so frustrating. They were so poorly managed, they didn’t understand customer convenience and customer service. I would say they’re getting much better. So yeah, but at this point, that’s probably one of one of my biggest regrets.”

Q Your next move?

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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Digital artwork – the need for blockchain to

“I’m going to be in crypto until I retire. Right now I am most interested in the nexus of blockchain, ecommerce and trading and by trading I mean collectables.

al artwork – the need for blockchain to record royalties

Digital artw

“People have been building on blockchain but they are only making it convenient to use now.

he need for blockchain to record royalties

That’s what will make the difference – convenience.”

William Quigley is managing director o Jilian Godsil Persons of Interest : Times Kindle Edition.

Digital artwork – the need for blockchain to recor

Digital artwork – the need for blockchain to record royalties

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

record royalties

work – the need for blockchain to record royalties

of Magnetic and co founder of WAX stamped in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Vol1. 2020 (p. 205). CryptoWriter.

rd royalties

The role of NFTs community build Joel C omm , half of the Bad Crypto Podcast

by Jillian Godsil

J

oel and Travis’s Bad Crypto podcast community created a cryptocurrency called Badcoin which could be mined on the most inferior of computers and then disappeared down the NFT rabbit hole launching the first digital collectible trading cards based on blockchain heroes.

NFT, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets which can be verified and tracked on the blockchain.

While NFTs are having their day in the sun, the evolution stretches back to CryptoKitties.

“We did a whole show on them and Travis even had some – only he lost them of course. It’s abandoned somewhere on the Ethereum blockchain. But I’ve always collected cards – Star Wars, Baseball cards, comic cards – so the concept of owning a collectable on a blockchain in your wallet fascinates me. To be able to show, sell or buy collectables online is very exciting.”

The Bad Crypto boys came up with an idea for collectables back in January of 2020. When attending The North

American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, they gave away commemorative NFTs to people who came to their stall.

“Travis is a bit artsy and so he made an NFT on Ethereum which we gave away. Then we did the same with our shows. If we had someone really famous like Ron Paul we’d make an NFT for his show. People who listened to the show could get a proof of listenership – and a limited time to collect them.”

Initially they only minted a few NFTs but over time the number grew to the hundreds. However, running them on Ethereum was clunky and slow. The idea then migrated to creating NFT collectables on real Blockchain people and rather than giving them away, they could sell them, but this stalled for want of technology.

This line of thinking combined with the COVID lockdown made the cogs whirl a little faster. Then the green light happened with the Topps’ Garbage Pail Kids sale on the WAX platform.

s in ding

ARTICLE 5 - PAGE 30 |

Joel had been a collector of the physical cards back in the day and when he saw the interest and the fact that the GPK cards sold out in day, he knew this was a winner.

“Immediately I went into full-on planning mode.

WAX is super fast and there are no gas fees. WAX has also set up WAX Labs which funds projects. So we put together a proposal to create the blockchain heroes, parody heroes in an alternative universe, and long story short, WAX said yes.”

The Blockchain heroes are inspired by real people but have their own folk lore. There are 50 in total and they are different kinds of heroes; some are defenders, some are champions.

“We’ve made different versions of each hero with different levels of rarity. When launched in August they were the first set of cards to sell in WAX, not filthy fiat.

They were released in two waves. In the first 10 seconds of the sale we were told by WAX that we had sent 25 times more traffic on the WAX platform.

“And it took just under 20 minutes for everything to be sold.”

Joel Comm is a The Functional Futurist: “I don’t just see the future. I get there first.”

Jillian Godsil, Persons of Interest : Timestamped in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Vol1. 2020 (p. 205).

CryptoWriter. Kindle Edition.

BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

Part of the success of the sale has been the emphasis on community. In the months coming up to the sale, reveals and news of the different cards were leaked into the active telegram group. Partnerships were also made with giants such as Cointelegraph and CoinGecko with free cards provided based on these brands.

Joel is incredibly proud that within 25 days of the sale, some 79% of the packs had been opened. This has been down to good community engagement but also by the desire to find elusive rare cards hidden in the packs.

One of the heroes is called Genesis and is inspired by Satoshi him/herself. And within this rare set is a Genesis Electric – and none of the other cards have this element.

Overall the primary sale raised $110,000 in WAX tokens. Aside from trying to find the elusive Genesis Electric card, BCHeroes also contains what Joel calls ‘secret smoke’.

“We didn’t tell anyone about this – it was a surprise. For every hero in the set there is only one secret smoke card – of the possible 50 altogether there is still 15 undetected so far.”

The secondary market is also very active. A by-product of production of NFTs on the WAX platform is the random mint numbers. Prior to the launch of BCheroes, these unique numbers had not been considered important, however, in this community the lower the number minted the higher the value – which also drives more sales in the secondary market as the same cards can be ranked within sets.

Another kink developed by the Bad Crypto boys is the ability to burn cards or throw them into the Vortex. Collectors are encouraged to do this, which increases the rarity of remaining cards, while the burning collector is rewarded with unique NFTs. It’s a game the community can play.

“The dashboard offered by WAX is also super easy. We can see where the cards are, which packs have been opened and which cards have ended up in the Vortex.”

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L

iberland- an example country founded on blockchain

by Jillian Godsil

Since the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a border dispute has existed between Croatia and Serbia, with both sides presenting conflicting claims to various territories along the banks of the Danube River.

M

eet Vit Jedlicka, president and founding father of Liberland, a country now celebrating five years in existence.

When Vit was 13, he read a book by Frederic Bastiat - The Law - which changed his life. The book starts with a quote: “The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law became the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!”

A Czech economist and politician, Vit worked tirelessly in his home country to create a new society that was not hampered with the trappings of the old. Despite huge efforts he found too many barriers.

“At that point I realized it might be easier to start a new country than change an existing one.”

Once, this radical and inspiring thought grabbed hold, Vit and Jana Markovicova, his partner and co-founder turned to Google to search for land that might serve their purpose. The result was a sliver of forgotten land on the Danube and so Liberland was born.

The Free Republic of Liberland (known as “Liberland”) is a sovereign state with its physical territory located between Croatia and Serbia on the west bank of the Danube river. The nearest towns are Zmajevac (Croatia) and Bački Monoštor (Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia). On some maps, this area is referred to as “Gornja Siga.

However, this area along the west bank of the Danube River had not been claimed by either Croatia, Serbia or any other country and was therefore in a state of terra nullius, i.e. no man’s land, until the current president of the provisional government President Vít Jedlička and the other founders of Liberland laid claim to the territory on April 13, 2015.

“We are building a country that can serve as a good example for other countries. The biggest improvement is that, in Liberland, taxes are voluntary, and people are rewarded when they pay them.

We founded Liberland on April 13, 2015 to celebrate the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. We wanted to invoke the spirit of American Revolution. We also want to combine the best elements of the American republic, Swiss democracy, and the meritocracy of Singapore.

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We want to put our system on the blockchain so that the government will work in a modern and transparent way.”

“I don’t much like democracy by itself – it can be mob rule – but we can create a better choice by adopting the Swiss voting model where people can veto where needed. People are not so good at creating positive policy but they are very good at vetoing bad decisions.”

Liberland bases its right to nationhood on the international legal rules which outline 4 key attributes. The first is a population, the second a defined territory, the third a government and finally the capacity to enter into international relations with other states.

In fact, the first attribute has been amazing. As President Vit explained: “The first day we had 2,000 applications for citizenship, the second 10,000 and by the third we had 200,000. This alone shows that there is a demand for what we are doing.”

Since Liberland was founded in 2015 there have been many advancements. There is a tech team

in place, Ghostbusters, building the world’s first autonomous decentralised government, there are 100 global representatives and even 10 diaspora villages. Liberland has signed a recognition deal with fellow micronation Somiland and is actively talking with the UN for recognition.

Last year Liberland established a Free Trade Zone in Apatin in neighbouring Serbia to convert it to a Liberland Business incubator. The Liberland Group operates as a conglomerate to harbour the interests of Liberland companies.

Working as an entity under one umbrella offers advantages like organization of transport, shipping, loading, agency services, insurance and reinsurance, and banking and cryptocurrency payment services. Apatin is very close to Liberland and is located on the Danube River, a natural ‘road’ connecting ten European countries.

The Free Zone in Apatin covers an area of 122 hectares, which provides plenty of space for future expansion just ten kilometers from Liberland on the Danube.

en members. The LAF is focused on providing humanitarian aid, disaster preparedness, food assistance, water sanitation and hygiene, education and training, conservation and sustainability.

The LAF already channelled tons of food aid to victims of a cyclone in Somaliland, brought supplies and donations to a library operated by Students for Liberty in Uganda, sent laptop computers to a school in Serbia and is bringing several tonnes of food aid to Haiti.

“Over the past five years we have grown from an idea to a reality.

Each year we grow in numbers, strengths, supports and vision.

We encourage like-minded individuals to come join us.”

In 2019, the concept of a humanitarian assistance program for Liberland supporters to rally around was initiated. Liberland Aid Foundation (LAF) is a U.S. registered not-for-profit organization operated by Nicholas and Julia Rodriguez Vít Jedlička is President of Liberland and Stephen Wood along with a board of directors with sev-

Jillian Godsil, Persons of Interest : Timestamped in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Vol1. 2020 (p. 205).

CryptoWriter. Kindle Edition.

Copper.co

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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WHAT IS SECURE CUSTODY?

by Jake Rogers, Copper.co

I

t is bizarre to think that only a couple of years back, digital assets such as Bitcoin were primarily operating from the fringes of finance. Fast forward to today, crypto is a legitimate institutionalgrade asset class embraced by respected financial institutions, publicly traded companies and even a handful of governments.

mely important one.

However, as the size and global reach of crypto markets continues to grow, so do the opportunities for exploits.

MPC is a highly powerful cryptographic tool that makes it possible for multiple parties to collectively solve signature equations without ever creating a key to begin with, nor ever leaking any critical information to one another.

Recent high-profile hacks and news reports about would-be Bitcoin millionaires struggling to access their wallets have elevated an important conversation among retail crypto holders, institutional investors and other market participants about digital asset custody and private key management.

Not the sexiest topic, but an extre-

Though this conversation is still ongoing and hotly debated, a new cryptographic key management technology called multi-party computation, or MPC technology, is widely deemed as the best available security solution.

What is MPC?

The cryptographic protocol is the brainchild of Professor Andrew ChiChih Yao, who introduced the idea in the early 1980s. Since then, MPC has evolved into becoming one of the most actively researched areas in theoretical cryptography. Howe-

ver, its transition from an object of theoretical study to an applicable technology only came about recently.

The first known practical use of MPC is actually rather underwhelming, during a Danish sugar beet auction in ‘08 where the winning bids were matched up with sellers without disclosing the prices or identities of any other bidders.

Though MPC can be applied to virtually any problem involving confidential data from multiple parties, demand for the cryptographic tool is huge in the digital assets space.

This is because crypto custodians such as Copper, which manage billions in digital assets, recognise that when it comes to safeguarding the private keys that control crypto assets, MPC technology can afford wallet holders robust protection from potential security breaches.

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How does MPC work?

R

ather than creating a master private key and storing it on a device that risks being compromised, MPC distributes shards (cryptographic pieces) of a key among devices of participating parties.

in whole, or lives on any device.

This renders an attack in key theft effectively impossible while also sheltering from internal fraud and collusion – preventing any employee, or group of employees, from MPC key shards then draw misusing the key. on another protocol which MPC-based systems are is conceptually similar, calinherently more secure giled zero-knowledge proofs ven that transactions can (ZKPs), which works by verbe signed without centrally ifying information between creating or re-assembling a parties without revealing master private key. the information itself.

The crucial difference between the two protocols is this: MPC allows the computation upon private data, ZKPs allows that data to be verified without relinquishing any data. So in this instance, ZKPs enable key shards to prove that they have the right to co-sign transactions.

In the case of a disaster where one signing key is lost or unavailable, backup keys can be stored offline in a physically secure location and the validity of the backup is verifiable by ZKPs. MPC: Sometimes a ‚bed of thorns‘ rather than a ‚bed of roses’ But beware.

The key that executes the It’s important to note that transaction is a collectively just because a custodian generated value, meaning claims to have implemented that a single key never exists

and integrated MPC technology into its cyber protection solutions, this doesn’t necessarily mean that an organisation’s security is one big bed of roses.

There are a handful of custodians out there that boast of using MPC technology, but when a shard is generated by one of their clients, this will actually be transmitted back to the custodian for ‘safekeeping’.

This then means that if the custodian is ever breached, all three shard pieces are at risk.

Even if the custodian attempts to mitigate risk by using separate environments, the fact is that they will have the same admins and developers working across these environments, so there are already multiple single points of failure compromising in that chain.

Copper’s offering differs from our competitors who also use MPC but warehouse all three shard pieces on their own servers. We ensure to use sharding in such a way as to never keep a record of the shards belonging to the client and the trusted third party.

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I

t’s important to recognise the key distinctions between Copper’s offering and what is generally available.

1. When selecting a custodian, arm yourself with these essential questions to ask (and understand): 2. Past the point of shard generation, where will our shards be stored?

3.

Are shards ever transmitted back to the custodian?

4. If either of the above is true, what measures are in place to ensure there are no teams or individuals with access to more than 1 shard piece? How does this work with development and operations?

5.

If SGX is being used in the architecture anywhere, how has the provider mitigated the existing, unpatchable vulnerabilities present in the SGX implementation?

Also make sure to zoom out and look at the organisation as a whole too.

Does the firm use intelligence in their offering? Are employees thoroughly background screened and receiving adequate security training? Can the custodian verify that they have indeed integrated the best security solutions into every layer of its platform?

There is no denying that the crypto world is one that is constantly under attack, and increased institutional entry will only accelerate attack attempts.

As hackers become more sophisticated, partnering with the most specialised service providers in this space is the only way for traditional institutions to enter the crypto arena with confidence, and for the digital asset sector to remain sustainable in the long run.

Jake Rogers, Chief Information Security Officer at Copper.co

By Shaun Bartle FMAAT. Associate Director Finch & Associates

Innovating with Blockchain could save your business tax – R&D Tax Credits Explained

Tax. That taboo word that plagues business owners. However, there is a highly generous tax relief available to UK companies who are advancing scientific or technological knowledge within their sector that can save businesses cash.

Some of the most common replies we hear when discussing the Research & Development Tax Credit Scheme with clients is “it sounds too good to be true” or “I don’t think we will qualify for the scheme”.

Happily, the R&D tax credit scheme isn’t too good to be true.

The scheme is a Government incentive that rewards UK companies for pushing the boundaries of innovation and help to fuel growth in the UK, making a claim can potentially provide a valuable cash injection into the business and reduce your corporation tax bill.

A loss-making company which qualifies for the SME scheme can potentially recoup up to 33p in every £1 spent on qualifying R&D activity (more on this later), whilst a profit-making company can potentially reclaim up to 26p in every £1 spent.

To qualify, a business must be seeking an advance in science or technology, and when trying to achieve this, encounters scientific or technological uncertainties that are not readily deducible by an expert in that given field.

How does this relate to Blockchain?

The core value that underpins Blockchain is that it acts as a consensus mechanism that enables a database to be directly shared without a central administrator,

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Innovating with Blockchain could save your business tax – R&D Tax Credits Explained..

essentially cutting out the middle man. Not only this, Blockchain offers businesses advantages such as trust, transparency, efficiency, reduced transaction costs but with faster transaction settlements, and with the pace of technology moving faster than ever before, it was inevitable that technology such as Blockchain would begin to become “the next big thing”, no doubt being helped by the increase in trading – and prices- of cryptocurrency that we’ve been seeing.

The number of companies exploring the use of Blockchain and actually integrating it into their dayto-day operations has significantly increased.

This has led to higher volumes of R&D claims being made where companies are innovating with Blockchain.

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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So what is the benefit of doing an R&D claim?

Credit where it’s due!

SME’s can claim an additional 130% deduction of the qualifying expense incurred

Whether you are profit or loss making, you may still be eligible for the relief, with up to 33p in every £1 spent on qualifying R&D activity potentially being recovered.

A Tax Credit is an immediate source of cash which you can reinvest in your R&D and continue to lead innovation

Potential Benefits Legislation states that enhancement for an SME or small or medium enterprise that qualifies for R&D tax credits- i.e. that is doing something deemed to be innovative – is able to claim an additional 130% of what they spend on innovation.

This is known as the enhancement rate.As an example, let’s assume a profit-making company qualifies for the SME scheme and their Tax Advisor has identified £100,000 of qualifying R&D expenditure for the period. The potential benefit could be a tax refund or reduced tax liability of £24,700, broken down as follows: £100,000 x 130% (enhancement rate) = £130,000 (known as your enhancement) £130,000 x 19% (current Cor-

poration Tax rate) = £24,700 Now let’s see what the potential benefit could be if that same company were a loss-maker instead: £100,000 x 130% (enhancement rate) = £130,000 We then add this to the original expenditure: £100,000 + £130,000 = £230,000 (known as your enhanced expenditure)

effective tax is a tax credit of 14.5% instead of in 12 months time at 19% which they would be able to deduct off their tax bill, but in 12 months time. The company can choose to get the cash now rather than later.

The average claim made by an SME company in the 2016/17 tax year was £53,876. With benefits like this it’s easy to see why claiming R&D tax credits could help transform a business around!

What Costs Qualify as R&D?

£230,000 x 14.5% = £33,350 The 14.5% is the known as the “surrender rate”, as the business is essentially giving up their loss for an immediate cash injection instead.

If a company wants to give this loss up today, instead of carrying it forward to another tax year, than the

The cost of staff directly involved in the R&D work.

Grants – You can still claim R&D tax relief if you have received a grant.

Some Software & Consumable items.

65% of the cost of third parties who worked on the R&D projects.

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Blockchain Case Study Recycling One of our clients had undertaken an in-depth market analysis for the eco-friendly activities industry and deduced that there was a gap in the market for a unified, centralised system that would combine information on plastic, recycling, low-emission outlets and energy consumption.

The specification sought by the client was to have a trusted software system that could integrate with its current CRM system, where the data was kept securely in real-time and would be easy for the end user to access. Due to this specification, the client wanted to use a Blockchain platform to record and store the information, such as storing the amount of energy con sumed by the user.

However, the client was seeking to go one step further than only integrating their current CRM system with a Blockchain platform; by creating a “token” that was specific to them.

The token would provide the evidence that the user has been acting green and in an eco-friendly way, such as providing information on the level of recycling or reduction in carbon footprint the user has undertaken.

A further advance in technology was to implement a “Smart Contract” on the Blockchain which would use the tokens to distribute and update third party contracts. As an example, the client was negotiating with a potential customer who would use the token as payment and then plant a set amount of trees, all based off of the information provided by the token. It is a measurement of how eco-friendly the user is being.

This case study highlights multiple examples of where the client was seeking an advance in technology within their sector. The were building a completely new and

unique platform and integrating their existing CRM system with a Blockchain platform, which was no easy task!.

So what next?

If you are adopting Blockchain within your business and integrating it with your existing systems, or innovating via another method, you should contact your Accountant or Tax Advisor as soon as possible to discuss whether or not you qualify.

It’s important that you act sooner rather than later, as claims can only be made within the 24 months after your year-end.

This could help transform your business around, freeing up cash quickly to enable you to continue to innovate and further growth.

If in need of help of R&D advice to see if and how your business can benefit, please contact us at: e-Mail: shaun.bartle@finchassociates.co.uk Telephone: 07494 170 202 Website: www.finchassociates.co.uk

YPTO

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CR B A C K E D :

O N WARDS , A

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BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

by Sean Kiernan, Greengage.co

While admittedly still a nascent market, the worldwide total lending volume against cryptoasset collateral has grown over 10x in 2020 now to upwards of $15 billion. This is a remarkable increase from a start of $1 billion at the beginning of the year1 . All indications point that this lending market is on track to grow again in 2021 given the ongoing upswing in the underlying crypto asset class.

At the time of writing, the global market capitalisation of crypto assets (bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) is above $1.7 trillion2 . This is in excess of the global market capitalisation for the much more established precious metal of silver of $1.4 trillion. As per Figure 1, with bitcoin alone worth around $1 trillion, it is roughly 10% of the total global valuation of gold which at the time of publication is $11 trillion3. Such sizable valuations for cryptoassets versus the considerably more established major precious metals has sparked considerable institutional interest in the crypto sector, as well as brought forward the development and introduction of a myriad of related financial service offerings including lending against crypto.

A N D UP WARDS ?

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

Figure 1: Bitcoin Valuation in Context (Source: Infinite Market Cap)

To give a rough estimate of where the total lending volumes against crypto might lead in the coming years, and given the increasingly used comparison of bitcoin particularly as a form of “digital gold”, the existing lending markets against precious metals such as gold could portend a potential future for lending against crypto.

According to a 2020 report from KPMG titled “Return of Gold Financiers in India’s Organised Lending Market”, the total lending market against gold in India, which is one of the most advanced gold markets globally, was worth 5.5% of the total gold valuation in India in 201945. With total lending volumes against crypto currently below 1% of total crypto valuations, the crypto lending market could possibly grow 5x if the lending market against gold is any indication, resulting in a lending market approaching potentially over $50 billion.

There are a range of firms and service providers that have stepped into service this emerging crypto lending market. Startup companies designed with lending against crypto in mind such as Genesis, Celsius, Nexo and BlockFi Figure 2: Breakdown of Crypto Lending Volumes by Type, LTV, and Interest Generated (Source: Credmark)

have each loaned in excess of $1 billion and are well known in the crypto The market space6789. has also seen consolidation, as well as bankruptcy, with the likes of Cred going under in 2020 still with over $100m in client deposits at the time of their announcement10.

Just as banks do with standard fiat banking (e.g. GBP, USD, EUR), these firms take on crypto deposits and pay interest to crypto depositors from the margin that they receive from crypto borrowers. These firms do not offer the equivalent of deposit protection, akin to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, nor do they fall under banking regulations as they typically do not have fiat exposure.

The usual risk warnings therefore need to be heeded before engaging.

In addition to specialised lending firms, the proportion of DeFi lending against crypto (Decentralised Finance – or peer to peer financial contracts on the blockchain) is also growing quickly. Crypto

lending data provider Credmark publishes a quarterly report detailing the overall breakdown between private institutional (wholesale) and consumer (retail) crypto loan volume, as well as the increasing volume of DeFi lending. An excerpt of this report is in the graph below – Figure 2. Unlike centralised lenders which can go bankrupt, DeFi carries its own risks in the security of the code itself which is possibly vulnerable to hackers, which happened to China’s dForce in 2020 with a hack of $25 million11. Despite this hacking risk, as the code is public there is considerable transparency in terms of the solvency of the loan itself and it does not rely on a centralised firm successfully running a pooled balance sheet for lending operations. The downside is that without any particular counterparty intermediating the trade there is limited possibility for a user to seek comeback if anything were to go awry with the underlying DeFi code.

already looking to offer insurance cover against a DeFi code being hacked, thus mitigating counterparty risk considerations.

The rates on crypto deposits are relatively attractive in the current low interest rate environment, with rates on some cryptoassets placed with such platforms yielding in excess of 5%12. These rates differ at any given moment and platforms such as www.loanscan. io provide an overview of the rates across different collaterals including crypto assets that are linked to fiat known as “stablecoins” see - Figure 3. In turn, some of the lowest interest rates seen in the market for example in sourcing USD lending against bitcoin trend towards 4%.

However,some entities are

Figure 3: Indicative Borrow Rates for USDC and Lend Rates for BTC (Source: Loanscan)

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

Comparing rates alone however does not give full colour as to the best fit for a respective loan product. Some key elements to consider across different lending options are as follows:

Greengage Global Holding Limited 33 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PW, United Kingdom info@greengage.co www.greengage.co

Sean Kiernan Greengage.co

• LTV: Depending on the source of lending, borrowing terms are generally around 50% loan to value (or “LTV”, meaning that the equivalent of 1000 USD in bitcoin collateral would need to be placed to withdraw a loan of 500 USD equivalent). This rate can be higher or lower depending on the crypto covenant or quality of the lender and on the volatility of the specific underlying crypto asset. Typically the higher the volatility the lower the LTV will be, so that ultimately less can be borrowed against the collateral.

LTVs offered by institutional lenders are also considerably higher than loans on other platforms, as per the Credmark report above.

• Term / Repayment: The loan term can be anything from daily to up to several years, with generally the lowest interest rates charged on longer-term loans above 1 year. Some lenders offer early payment options or break clauses, whereas again the best terms are generally available where there is no early repay-

Sean Kiernan ment of the loan.

• Use of Collateral: Lenders have different approaches to the use of collateral, with some using it for their own risk-managed trading during the loan period whereas others keep part or the full amount in cold storage.

The former approach allowing some trading generally offers borrowers lower rates of interest, and is structured similarly to securities lending and borrowing in the traditional financial markets.

• Upside Participation or Increase in Collateral Value: Given the volatility in the underlying asset class, particularly more recently with the rise in crypto values, borrowers at times ask for the potential for upside remargining – namely the capacity to increase the amount borrowed at certain thresholds if the underlying collateral increases (e.g. in parallel to the housing market, the capacity to remortgage and

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

draw out additional funding should the value of a house increase during the lifetime of a mortgage loan). In any case, generally the borrower is entitled to any appreciation or increase in the value of the collateral upon the repayment of the loan – of course should the lender not have defaulted during the loan lifetime and hence the importance of evaluating counterparty risk.

• Margin calls: Several different models have been pursued by such firms for managing their credit risk exposures, with some choosing systematic approaches with automatic close outs of the loans should the value of the underlying crypto collateral fall below a certain threshold – typically well in excess of the LTV offered. While such automatic close outs ensure appropriate risk management for the lending firm, they also can happen relatively quickly. Other lenders offer time for the borrower to make a margin call. If this margin call is not paid within a specified, contractual, timeframe then the position is closed out. These practices were tested in March 2020 when crypto prices collapsed approximately 40%13, with some hard close outs happening either systematically or where margin calls were not met within the given timeframes of respective lenders.

This did not always leave borrowers pleased in the midst of an upswing in crypto prices soon thereafter. Some other firms offer more flexible margin call terms albeit typically at higher

rates, affording borrowers at least a few days’ time before they need to fill a margin call (with the lender hedging this exposure in the market to cover their potential losses in the interim).

As the crypto asset market matures, innovations will inevitably continue in lending against crypto and market participants will grow and change.

Without having a crystal ball, it does seem that DeFi will increase in relevance, albeit with limits on its acceptance until regulators provide clarity on DeFi treatment within the regulatory perimeter and until some form of standard KYC / AML checks are put in place. It is likely also that traditional banks and lenders will come into the crypto lending space as the margin environment is still relatively attractive. There is considerable opportunity in the crypto lending market, and multiple options including emerging risks and where borrowers and lenders alike should definitely educate themselves and weigh considerations before engaging at any scale.

Greengage provides crypto-lending introductions and OTC to businesses in the cryptoasset sector. The company is currently seeking licence permissions from regulatory authorities to become a registered digital merchant bank, with the aim of providing full financial services to crypto companies and SMEs.

by Jillian Godsil

BORN DIGITAL THE STORY OF A DISTRACTED GENERATION

B

ob spent the first 25 years of his career working directly in the banking industry, most recently as Chairman of Merrill Lynch in Europe. About ten years ago he was invited onto the board of the Bank of England, which included the turbulent times during the financial

Bob

crisis. Following that, he moved into backing youngsters in the tech industry, an area he is passionate about and which led him in part to write this book.

He is also chair of UK Finance, covering government, regulation, compliance and the prevention of economic crime. He is a part time lecturer and philanthropist.

One main reason Bob took such an interest in how technology impacts young people

Robert Wigley

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lies with his three adolescent children.

Watching them grow up and interact with technology raised many questions for him, so much so that a couple of years ago he made a new year’s resolution to meet a GenZ entrepreneur every day. To learn

wife pointedly said he was to get out of the kitchen from under her feet and find something to do. He decamped to the dining room where he starred at the wallpaper for bit. And then it hit him. He knew he wanted to write this book. As soon as

from them.

he formulated this thought, he began to sketch out chapter headings and found he had so much to say. He backed it up by reading and reckons he must have consumed more than 35 books on related topics and hundreds of academic papers.

Then he began writing. His methodical approach is reflected in the end product which is 300 pages long with some 550 references.

Wigley

This resolution morphed into a two-year project where he successfully carried out interviews and talks with a GenZ person every business day.

In total he interacted with approximately 200 young people and these interactions formed the basis for this book.

“I learned a lot.”

COVID was also instrumental in this project. At the start of lockdown, his

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A

t the heart of the book is Bob’s issue about balance. He positions big tech and their pursuit of profit over societal good. He doesn’t believe the balance is right and thinks we have been distracted as society and our attention hijacked by a tsunami of weapons of ‘mass distraction.

Here is the conundrum of the digital age. Never before have so many people been influenced so directly by tech, but also never before have corporations’ profits been tied to societal good. Societal good is not often a yardstick held up to measure corporate profits.

There are a number of sticks to be used against big tech – one of which being they force us to look at things not of our choosing but theirs; which are often totally necessary for our happiness.

Some 70% of parents are worried about their children’s online pursuits, and the subsequent increase over lockdown. It’s all about screen time of which we are all so heartily sick of at this stage. But as Bob points out, not all screen time is equal. Adults can be responsible for their own screen time, childr

Social media and the tsunami of distraction began in earnest some ten years ago. At the same time, studies have found that adolescent happiness is in decline. Three quarters of 16 to 24 year olds believe that their generation is worse off in terms of happiness and mental health than the preceding generation. In fact, UK 15 year olds are one of the saddest and least satisfied groups in Europe.

“I find these statistics to be very depressing in themselves.”

Other corollarial studies show that GenZ is the first post war generation for whom social mobility is as likely to go down as up and that rates of anxiety, depression, selfharm and suicide roughly doubled between 2007 and 2017.

Can this all be laid at the foot of technology’s door? Of course not, but Bob traces trends in society that seem to run parallel with the rise of invasive technology, such as changes in family structures, less physical, communal activities, and even less eating together as a unit.

“I think Gen Z have been dealt a particularly grim set of cards but one positive to emerge is their resilience and their independence.

They don’t expect to be handed pensions or even affordable housing – which is just as well as they are not on offer.”

Technology is encroaching on people at younger and younger ages. 30% of babies watch 90 minutes of screen time on a daily basis, 64% of one to two year olds watch more than two hours a day, and 42% of under eights have their own tablets. Moreover, slightly older children confess to being addicted to their devices. 62% of all eight to eleven year olds and 93% of 12 to 15 year olds regularly use a smart phone and have a social media account.

It gets worse. A third of all teenagers say they have been cyber bullied, while 20% of primary school children and 30% of secondary students have videoed live with a stranger; and 5% were asked to undress.

Gen Z spends more time on their devices than they do sleeping or studying. In fact, sleeping is detrimentally impacted by screen use and blue light, provoking calls that we are facing into a global sleep crisis.

Lockdown is not helping.

Bob presents these figures but has not thrown in the towel. Part of the worry – and also part of the solution – has been the speed of the change. The past ten years have radically changed the technical landscape with the regulatory controls lagging behind.

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“We are at a tipping point.”.

In the UK, government is looking to directly address that last question with the proposed Online Harms Bill. This will be a world first where a statutory duty of care will be imposed on big tech with particular regard to the impact on children.

Executives will also be potentially held responsible.

Bob also acknowledges that some of the top neuroscientists have worked on social media, designing the delivery of data and the dopamine in the most effective and addictive manner.

“Social media is not meant to serve us, it is meant to serve the platform’ The challenge for government is to force big tech into measuring the impact and then enforcing change.

“SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT MEANT TO SERVE US, IT IS MEANT TO SERVE THE PLATFORM’

“

“Of course, that last principle is not working. It is questionable whether Facebook should have been allowed to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp, but there are moves afoot in the Biden Administration to readdress culpability, for example is reassessing who is responsible for content on a platform – the user or the big tech?”

”

Governments are slowly coming to terms with the fact they need to take action. GDPR is part of that process in the EU and Anti- trust laws are meant to offer similar protections in the US.

A side product of increased technology is access to online content, content that is generated by other industries, of which porn is a huge example. There is currently a porn epidemic affecting young people.

Access to unsuitable adult materials to young brains can be incredibly damaging in terms of mental health and societal behaviour. The issue here is age appropriate access. How can platforms ensure age compliance and how can regulations police the compliance?

Porn is one issue, but online grooming a significantly more serious threat and one which age and identity compliance feature heavily in the protection of minors.

Staying offline is a challenge for most people. Bob brings up the general issue of responsible design.

Sometimes the issue of personal responsibility is raised at this point but as Bob suggests, on one side you have an individual and the other 100s of the world’s top neuroscientists.

“It’s not really a fair fight.”

Aside from regulation, enforcement of social harm reduction and age access limitations, what else is in the armoury against these weapons of mass distraction?

Education of course.

“We teach our kids sex education at school, so why not internet or tech education. I believe this should be

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taught in primary schools and it should be compulsory”.

“In fact, I think a lot of adults should be made do it too!”

Here Bob can quote another statistic in which 54% of teenagers suggested that parents would be a lot of more worried about their children’s online consumption if they knew what they were actually doing.

One question was raised about conventional marketing versus online attention grabbing – if regular advertising were as addictive as online, then people would be hanging around outside shops when they were closed just checking out what was in the windows. Outside of zombie movies this is typically not a thing.

Yet, there we all are looking at our screens from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep.

Balancing the public good from free will also reverts again to age and vulnerability access. As an adult Bob argues it’s your choice if you wish to gamble, watch porn or sports 10 hours a day. A vulnerable child or person should not be afforded that choice. It gets more pernicious when considering self harm sites or eating disorder sites that actively support the visitors in their harmful actions.

There are technologies that are clever enough to assess ages – through a combination of biometric and coded requirements. If the harming site is on the dark web and has no intention of stopping access to the vulnerable, then the onus is on the prevention of ingress at the point of web access.

“Part of the education and protection will come from Gen Z themselves. I’ve witnessed young entrepreneurs come up with solutions much more nuanced and effective than anything a neuroscientist could develop.

Bob Wigley’s book, from which the statistics quoted in the article are drawn, is published by Whitefox publishing and is available from all major outlets

Born Digital: The Story of a Distracted Generation

by Robert Wigley book description Our attention has been hijacked by the tsunami of devices, games and social media which now dominate our lives. This new technology brings efficiency, cost-savings and instantaneous information. But when our attention is the currency being traded by big tech firms, what price are we willing to pay for convenience? get the book here

“This is where we have to give control and support.”

The challenge for government is to force big tech into measuring the impact and then enforcing change. Another option is to police content on blockchain platforms, thereby ensuring content can be monitored without recourse to deletions or later alterations.

Robert Wigley, Chairman at UK Finance

BORN DIGITAL ARTICLE 1 - PAGE X |

BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

BY THE CRYPTO CURRY CLUB

The story of a distracted generation

ROBERT WIGLEY

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Crypto trading data from Crypto Compare As this data shows, whilst total crypto assets under management are increasing month on month, new weekly inflows have been decreasing in 2021.

Tranding Volumes

Millions

Aggrate daily volume across all digital asset investment product types have decreeased by an average of 17.6% in March 2021 compared to February 2021. Average daily volume now stand at $772mn compared to $936mn in the previous month.

2000

Average Daily Aggregate Product Volumes ($)

1500 1000 500 0 Jun-20

Jul-20

Aug-20 Sep-20

Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20

Jan-21

Feb-21

Mar-21

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BLOCKCHAIN INDUSTRY REVIEW

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AUM- Assets Under Management

AUM (Billions $)

Since the end of Febryary 2021, total AUM across all digital asset investmen products have increased 8,76% to 58.7bn (as of 22 Mar).

70

Monthly AYM - Aggregate Investment Products

60 50 40 30 20

22-Mar

23-Feb

Mid-Dec

0

Mid-Jan

10

Average weekly asset inflows, across all major digital asset investment product providers decreased by 70.5% since February to $149.6mn

Average Weekly Inflows (millions $)

Average weekly asset inflows ($millions)

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Jan-20

Feb-21

Mar-21

The UK’s no.1 Rated Tech Networking Events, in Crypto, Blockchain, AI, Sustainability and Payments. Over Curry and virtual.

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E

E

V N T S

and courses LIST

Event Date

Event Name

8

SecureWorld Mid-Atlantic 2021

8-9

International Conference on Blockchain in Internet of Things (ICBIOT)

8-11

CoinFestUK 2021

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Proof of Stake (ICBSPS)

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Smart Tracts (ICBBSST)

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Secure Ledger (ICBBSSL)

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Smart Contracts (IC-BBSSC)

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Cryptocurrency (IC-BBSC)

12-13

International Conference on Blockchain-Based Systems and Proof of Work (IC-BBSPW)

12-16

European Blockchain Convention Virtual 2021

13-15

AIBC Summit - Malta

13-15

World Congress Experience (WCX) 2021

14

Empire Fintech Conference 2021

15-16

AI in Finance Summit London 2021

21-22

Blockchain Life 2021

22

SecureWorld Southeast 2021

22-23

International Conference on Blockchain for Science, Research and Knowledge Crea-tion (ICB

22-23

International Conference on Blockchain (ICB)

22-23

World Business Continuity Summit 2021

22-23

7th EAI International Conference on Industrial Networks and Intelligent Systems (INISCOM

25

5th EAI International Conference on Safety and Security in Internet of Things

28

ACM International Workshop on Software Defined Networks & Network Function Virtualiza Security (SDN-NFV Sec) 2021

28-29

Teamz Blockchain Summit

29-30

International Conference on Blockchain for Internet of Things (ICBIOT)

29-30

International Conference on Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Cryptocurrencies (IC-BSCC)

30

Bitcoin 2021

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Country Greece

Italy Italy Italy Italy Italy United States United States Germany Vietnam Japan Israel Israel United States

NCES

Russia

FE

Malta

RE

Italy

0

UK

CN

ation

Virtual/Person Link

-

BSRKC) United States

M) 2021

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8-9

Princeton University

8-11

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12-13

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12-13

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12-13

INSEAD

12-13

University of California, Irvine

12-13

Berkeley University of California

12-13

New York Institute of Finance

12-16

The University of Sydney

13-15

University at Buffalo

13-15

The University of Texas at Austin

14

The University of Hong Kong

15-16

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, NPTEL

21-22

Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

22

Duke University

22-23

Universidad Austral

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