vol.4. issue 5.
Your gateway to the world of payments
August, 2018.
PCM BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY
The future of payments and technology
JESSIE RANDHAWA
JELMER ROTTEVEEL
BLANKA LIGETI
Online Marketing Executive
Marketing and Business Development Manager
Production Editor and Head of Creative
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CONTENTS
4
THOUGHT LEADER The Emergence Of 20-Year-Old Industry Professionals
6
THOUGHT LEADER
10
THOUGHT LEADER
14
THOUGHT LEADER
18
EXPERT INTERVIEW
24
STARTUP SPOTLIGHT Quality Blockchain Education for All
28
JOBS & EVENTS Check out our hottest jobs and events from the industry
Building the future through emerging technologies
Defining The Best From The Rest
Blockchain in Fashion
The future of Money
THE EMERGENCE OF 20-YEAR-OLD INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS With the massively growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, Blockchain at Berkeley is leading the way in making the space accessible and appealing to the general public. As referenced in the organization’s State of the Ledger 2017 article published on Medium, “Blockchain at Berkeley is a nonprofit, studentrun blockchain organization based out of UC Berkeley. Premised on the idea that universities are hubs for cutting-edge research and visionary ideas, Blockchain at Berkeley serves as a neutral party that creates blockchain education, consulting, and research initiatives at the intersection of academia and industry.” Our Education division offers two undergraduate level courses on the UC Berkeley campus, both taught and maintained by members of the organization. Blockchain at Berkeley was the first organization globally to offer for-credit university courses dealing with blockchain technology and has since come a long way in expanding educational initiatives. A few of these initiatives include an online blockchain course on the edX platform and BlockBytes, an upcoming series of YouTube shorts. The Consulting division enables Fortune 500 companies, including BMW, Qualcomm, and Airbus, to understand and implement blockchain applications. R&D works with organizations such as the Ethereum Foundation to explore solutions to large issues in the space, the first and foremost being scalability. Additionally, it hosts regular San Francisco Bay Area meetups, where people can watch a speaker discuss blockchain topics and network with industry leaders. 4 | THOUGHT LEADER
As a software developer and Education officer at Blockchain at Berkeley, I have spent the past year focusing on blockchain technology and its applications across various industries. I am a technical consultant on the BMW project and served as the Certification Lead for the Spring 2018 semester. The certification initiative aims to enable blockchain enthusiasts to prove their skill set to potential employers. Currently, we use an internal certification program that our members must take in order to work on consulting projects, but we hope to roll out our external certification within the coming months. Over the course of the summer, I have worked as a Supply Chain Technology intern at SpaceX, exploring blockchain applications within the company. Blockchain at Berkeley’s members and alumni have achieved great things, with many companies and projects emerging from the organization. Dekrypt Capital, for instance, is an investment firm specializing in blockchain and cryptography companies. Argus conducts smart contract security audits for those planning to create applications on the Ethereum network. Mechanism Labs is an open source research lab, d.rect is a startup aiming to improve communication between telecom carriers across borders, Partial f is the first cryptocurrency derivative market, and FourthState Labs is working on an implementation of Plasma, an offchain scaling solution. She(256), a play on the SHA-256 hashing algorithm used in Bitcoin, is an ever-growing network of women in the blockchain space. All of these ventures were founded by the incredibly talented and hardworking members of Blockchain at Berkeley, and are gaining significant traction amongst blockchain veterans and newcomers alike.
Since the age of the Cypherpunk movement and Satoshi Nakamoto’s creation of Bitcoin, much innovation has taken place in blockchain and distributed systems. Hundreds of platforms have been created, each with its own advantages and shortcomings. Blockchain technology has enabled the implementation of extremely creative use cases, such as direct pay-perstream models for music artists, immutable accreditation issuance, democratization of energy consumption, and enforceable firearm regulations. Each of these use cases would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to implement through centralized means. Despite the apparent glamour of these use cases, many people have entered the blockchain space in order to pursue get-rich-quick schemes. As a result, it has become increasingly challenging to establish reputability. Moreover, the technology is still in its infancy and has multiple areas of improvement. I am a proponent of Vitalik Buterin’s scalability trilemma, in which he describes the ideal financial system as being secure, scalable, and decentralized. He asserts that systems with two out of these three properties are pervasive, yet not once have we seen all three of these properties encompassed in a single platform. The root cause of this is the lack of an ideal consensus mechanism. Proof-of-Work and Proofof-Stake, the leading two consensus mechanisms underlying blockchain platforms, both have their own tradeoffs and attack vectors. Until an ideal consensus mechanism or scalability solution that solves the scalability trilemma comes around, it is difficult to imagine that mass adoption of blockchain technology will occur. In spite of the issues with blockchain technology, its future looks bright. Not only has it facilitated the rise of peer-to-peer interactions, it has fostered a culture of entrepreneurship and technological advancement all over the world. Cryptographers, researchers, and computer scientists are actively entering the space with the mutual intent of increasing its applicability and relevance. The state of this new technology is constantly being improved, and decentralization will soon become an industry standard. In the meantime, Blockchain at Berkeley will continue making strides to get there.
RAVI JOTWANI Certification Lead for Blockchain at Berkeley Ravi Jotwani is a 19-year-old UC Berkeley Computer Science student currently carrying out an internship at SpaceX. He served as the Certification Lead for Blockchain at Berkeley over the Spring 2018 semester and is actively working as a software developer for the organization’s BMW consulting project.
ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN AT BERKELEY Blockchain at Berkeley is a studentrun organization dedicated to serving the Berkeley and greater East Bay blockchain communities. Members include Berkeley students, alumni, and blockchain enthusiasts from all backgrounds. Our initiatives primarily focus on education, consulting, and R&D.
BUILDING THE FUTURE THROUGH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES BitSpace was founded by Manuel and Christian Lains in 2015 and is the leading Norwegian blockchain company that specialises in blockchain and exponential technology. BitSpace currently has over 25 employees and growing. The BitSpace headquarters is based in Oslo, Norway. We are currently expanding our operations internationally throughout Europe in Poland, Estonia and Portugal. With more than 25 years collective experience within the blockchain sector we allocate our resources towards development, consulting, education and community growth. Our mission at BitSpace is to help build the future through emerging technologies. These technologies include Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Space Technology. How is the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency within Norway and Scandinavia? Since 2017 the adoption of Cryptocurrency has grown substantially within the Scandinavian community. Businesses are now exploring the blockchain space and we are helping Norwegian companies such as DNB (Norway’s largest bank) and other companies with this process. As the market matures and fluctuates, people’s understanding of what cryptocurrency & blockchain represent increases over time. This is a healthy process as more and more use cases for Scandinavian companies are conceived and developed. How has the Blockchain space changed over recent years and what are the key challenges you face? Blockchain technology has grown exponentially this past year from what it was in 2013 and we believe that this is just the beginning. We now have more blockchains to choose from and the technology has evolved to reach the early mainstream. As more and more minds contribute to the industry the practical applications of blockchain become ever greater and more viable. I think our biggest challenge is communicating with people outside of our regular channels and helping them understand why they should pay attention to blockchain technology. Why it is practical for the everyday person as well as for businesses. Blockchain technology empowers people. Cryptocurrency is one example of this but there will be many more applications outside of the financial arena. We can now interconnect with everyone around the world through forming hyperfluid economies, self-sustaining ecosystems and offer new funding methods to people worldwide that change the way we all interact with society. 6 |THOUGHT LEADER
How does challenges?
BitSpace
overcome
these
BitSpace is developing an application called BitGate. This will be a cryptocurrency wallet that lets people send and receive bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies between each other, through a secure and easy-to-use gateway. We believe that this is the first step. BitGate utilises a local ID authentication system that everyone has owns so they do not have to remember their public and private keys. By doing this we can increase KYC/AML compliance to a new level that we are familiar with and still give people access to the decentralised economy through a streamlined solution. We work very closely with law firms, accounting firms and people from the financial world to remain compliant and ensure that we can deliver a long-term sustainable solution. At BitSpace we also have a strong community network and carry out regular events which involve education workshops, hackathons, meetups and conferences. There are many happenings in this industry simultaneously 365 days a year so it is important for us to keep our community informed of these developments.
How is BitSpace involved in the EOS blockchain project, and how does EOS differ itself from other blockchain projects? BitSpace have been heavily involved in the BitShares and Steemit communities since 2013, both of these communities represent successful blockchain projects created by Daniel Larimer. Following his work on EOS was a natural step for us.
EOS allows us to leverage key technical features required by commercial scale blockchain applications, such as scalability and free transactions. The blockchain itself is operating as a decentralised ecosystem that includes its own governance mechanisms. This is a 3rd generation blockchain and will open up new opportunities that we have not seen before in the space. Due to the substantial global demand of developers in EOS and blockchain we have setup an EOS Academy to educate developers about blockchain theory and how to build decentralised applications on EOS. We will be working alongside EOS Block Producers on this initiative and we have workshops planned around the world to forward this mission.
MATTHEW BRYCE Chief Marketing Officer at BitSpace Matthew has a background working with face-to-face sales as a consultant. Since then he has spent time in the photography and film business working internationally alongside the best creative marketing teams in Norway. He is an active trader and is committed to releasing the true potential of exponential technologies.
ABOUT BITSPACE BitSpace is a technology company that specializes in blockchain and exponential technology. The company headquarters is based in Oslo, Norway and BitSpace operations are being expanded internationally. BitSpace allocate resources towards business consulting, development of emerging technologies, community growth and education.
BitSpace are also organising a Global EOS BP Summit in Oslo Norway at our annual event CryptoFinance in November that will gather over 20 BPs from all over the world. At CryptoFinance we merge traditional businesses with international blockchain-based companies to bridge the gap between both worlds. The inclusion of a BP summit in the conference will strengthen the blockchain community in Europe and give Scandinavian communities access to the global EOS community.
8 | THOUGHT LEADER
What do you predict for the future development of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry? Blockchain will act as a framework that allows future technologies like Cryptocurrency to develop and grow at an exponential rate like never before. Other exponential technologies include Artificial Intelligence, Space Technology and Virtual Reality. We are venturing into these avenues through university research programmes, international partnerships and application development within BitSpace so we encourage people to tune in to our activities and welcome them to our network.
BLOCKCHAIN AND CRYPTOCURRENCY PROJECTS
Defining The Best From The Rest During late 2016 and over the course of 2017, we all witnessed the flood of new blockchain projects and cryptocurrencies entering the market. At one point you had to ask yourself the following question: How do you separate hype from the legitimately good projects? What is clear is that despite the last year of booms and crashes, blockchain technology is here to stay. That cliched aim of startups — making the world a better place — might actually be possible through the use of blockchain. We want to see these ideas permeate every aspect of society. Many people involved in the space are interested in seeing new token releases and the myriad use cases they are aimed at. But with so many interested parties tracking the ecosystem with countless excel sheets, bots, and ‘insider’ Telegram groups, there is a great deal of repetition in research. Therefore countless of people are spending countless of hours looking for the same type of information, discussing various projects to ultimately reaching similar conclusions on which project to be part of, use, and invest in. Most people who do research are primarily concerned with the team, product delivery, and token economics. We think this kind of information should be easy to locate and interpret, so after searching for such a tool to no avail, we decided to go ahead and build it ourselves. That is how Blockdata was built. A Platform To Answer Your Questions Blockdata is aggregating and displaying information on all of the publicly disclosed blockchain projects, but Blockdata is omitting one key data point: price. Blockchain was created to allow people to fundamentally change the way the world works, not to get rich quick. 10 | THOUGHT LEADER
Our platform aims to help you answer some basic questions about blockchain projects: • What is the core technology? • Is the project building what its white paper talks about? • Is the project delivering on what it promised? • How many other projects are doing the same thing? • Which other projects run or rely on this blockchain project? Ideally the platform needs to be easy to access, free from payment walls and complex registration processes. Just a simple website, with straightforward and transparent information, and no hidden getrich-quick agenda. An example on how these questions are answered can be found on Blockdata.tech/ data. The Ecosystem is developing Most major corporations, banks and investors are starting to get involved in the blockchain industry. With every major news outlet reporting on Blockchain technology over the last 12 months, Blockdata saw that more people are becoming familiar with new terminologies and technology cases. Since the recent trend in the cryptocurrency market witnessed a decline, it becomes evident that a number of developments have moved out of public spotlight and receded back to close communities - with a number of projects collapsing. However, by simply attending events and meetups with local ecosystems in major cities, you still see numerous developments and projects are underway. There has been limited products with active use cases in the space, hence it is important to recognize that only when these products move into a stage of maturity and adoption picks up the market will continue to improve at a healthy and steady pace.
Challenges in the Blockchain payment space As one can expect, one of the main challenges is the migration from old systems to new blockchain enabled ones. This migration will not happen overnight but as mentioned Blockdata is seeing that most major banks (old and new) are experimenting with the technology. This is a pivotal step for many to witness real world adoption and use cases past a speculative investment. Furthermore, the consumer usability of these applications is still a challenge, as most consumers and merchants want simplicity. Issues such as mass scalability, chargebacks, and most importantly, integration efforts into current/ traditional legacy systems are a slow process. The average consumer simply wants to transfer assets and be confident that it is done, much like a simple SEPA bank transfer in Europe. Some projects are now removing the need for users to transact tokens and handle this at the back end themselves. How the future looks like When those problems are solved there is all the reason why blockchain technology forms, at least in part, the underpinning infrastructure to the world’s economy. Throughout history, when innovative ledger technology has come about, the world’s economy has changed dramatically. We have gone from using rocks, to double entry booking keeping to excel and stored databases. The fundamentals of blockchain build upon years of economic evolution giving us our first global trustless system to record whatever we want. If we look further into the future, 10 years or so it is now clear the Blockchain has applications that can save companies time and money but acting as a single source of information. Industries such as banking and payments, supply chain and real estate are the perfect use cases where this technology will be used to generate more trust, provide more liquidity and allow a more efficient, fine tuned version of the modern day economy.
JONATHAN KNEGTEL Co-Founder Blockdata Jonathan is one of the 3 co-founders of Blockdata. He has a background in electrical engineering and has followed the development of Blockchain since 2011. Since moving to Amsterdam he has worked for various startups from private jets to 3D food printing and bitcoin exchanges. More recently he worked for a data company tracking VC & PE deals across Europe. An avid gadget geek with a passion for the future of humanity.
ABOUT BLOCKDATA Blockdata is a B2B SaaS company out of Amsterdam that researches and tracks companies building blockchain related services or products. They sell their data via a SaaS product or API to crypto hedge funds, corporates, banks. By staying objective they aim to be the go to source for Blockchain technology.
ELLIPTIC BLOOM
Crypto Analytics & Security for AML
COINS.PH
On-chain credit and identity management
Southeast Asia’s blockchainenabled payment platform
CHAIN
Cryptographic ledger systems, Smart Financials
CRYPTOCORP
BLUEPAN
Digital Oracle, Crypto Security
Blockchain based Money Transfer Services
BLOQ
Blockchain enteprise solutions provider
BITSPARK
Remittance platform transfer operators
CHAINALYSIS
Blockchain Intelligence Platform
COINPIP
Business & Crypto payouts for asia
COINMARKETCAP
Cryptocurrency market cap tracker
COMPLIANCE REMITTANCE
RIPIO CREDIT NETWORK
COINGECKO
P2P global credit network protocol
Quantitatively and qualitatively rank crypto
COINAPI
Single API for cryptocurrency markets.
ETHlEND
BRAVE NEW COIN
Cryptocurrency market data
P2P Decentralized Blockchain Lending platform
FINANCIAL DATA PAYMENTS & BLOCKCHAIN
WETRUST
Decentralized financial lending services
LENDING
PAYROLL & INSURANCE
CIRCLE SALT
WORKCHAIN
Blockchain Lending platform P2P
Instant payroll on the blockchain BITWAGE
P2P / Crypto payments platform
SETL.IO
Remote worker invoicing solution
FINANCIAL SERVICES & CAPITAL MARKETS MERCHANTS
BITPESA
Transaction provider for frontier markets
BITBOND
Crypto asset p2p lending platform
SMART VALOR
Blockchain-based payment and settlements infrastructure
PAYMENTS
BITPAY
Marketplace for tokenized investments
Bitcoin payment service provider
WYRE
Blockchain powered FX engine room
AXONI
Capital market infrastructure solution provider
XAPO
DIGITAL ASSET
Blockchain infrastructure solution provider
Bitcoin-based debit cards
UPHOLD
TALLYSTICKS
LIGHTNING
Smart contract protcol payment network
Global digital payments service provider
International trade solution for SMEs. MELONPORT
COINIFY
Decentralised autonomous crypto asset management
Blockchain payment & solution platform PAXOS
SYMBIONT
Institutional smart contract platform
Blockchain powered settlement network
RIPPLE
Global payment network
RIPIO
Bitcoin digital payments provider
BLOCKCHAIN
Web-based bitcoin platform
WWW.BLOCKDATA.TECH
BLOCKCHAIN IN FASHION
How The Fashion Industry Is Looking At Cryptoledgers Blockchain technology as a standard in the fashion industry is essentially non-existent, but it seems to be part of the inevitable future. Transparent supply chains are coming and the brands that don’t participate are going to begin to look like dinosaurs in the marketplace. We are in the age of authenticity and fashion is a business built on artifice, so this is going to be a rough ride. Marketing and The Academics
House Fires Burberry has been in the press lately shortly after this line appeared in their annual report: “the cost of finished goods physically destroyed in the year was £28.6m (about $37.8 million), including £10.4m of destruction for beauty inventory.” Rather than marking down their unsold inventory they decided to simply burn it. Behind the well-stacked sweaters, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil business. Every time the public gets a hint of this, there is a significant blowback, but usually only on one company and seemingly not enough collateral damage for the majority of the big players to change anything substantive about what they do. However, we are seeing an essential change and technologies, like on-demand manufacturing and blockchainpowered supply chain mapping, are going to be a part of the solution.
To date, the only realworld experiment with blockchain in the fashion realm has been when London-based Danish designer, Martine Jarlgaard, presented garments made from organic British alpaca at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit in 2017. A QR code on the hang tags let consumers pull up a full history of the supply chain behind each garment, even including names and profile photos of the specific alpacas whose coats were sheared to make each individual sweater. The transactions were tracked, but a lot of extra time and energy was spent doing it this way. The blockchain is the easy part, the actual tracking of transactions in the real world from millions of suppliers and service providers is where it gets tricky. This year, London-based, Czech designer Martina Spetlova is reportedly integrating Provenance’s Ethereum-based system into about 60% of her fall collection, now moving beyond the QR codes to wash-safe sewn-in chips - presumably NFC technology.
14 | THOUGHT LEADER
12
NYC startup Loomia, were working on a similar technology last year yet it’s unclear whether the Loomia system is being used in this case. In the Forbes article wherein this story was first broken, Spetlova admits that using the technology is a marketing ploy as much as anything. Therefore, this again is an isolated experiment and whether she will go to the effort and expense of integrating the technology next year is anyone’s guess. Track It And Save Logistics is a native use of blockchain technology, and what the fashion industry needs is for one of the major players to use this technology in order to save money. While we have not seen this yet, we undoubtedly will soon because due to the 2008 crash, fashion companies are doing all they can to cost-effectively reduce production waste at a large scale. Despite the occasional PR stunt that would seem to point the other direction (Diane Von Furstenburg was quoted saying she never actually turned her Google Glass unit on), the fashion industry has always been slow to adopt new technologies. So, while the technology is ready, it’s just a question of when someone will pick up the tool and run with it to see how profitable it can be. It probably won’t be driven by the retailers, because the major players in that space just spent a ton of money on updated ecommerce systems, and there just isn’t an appetite there yet. Pushing back against the obvious economic benefit is the problem that the audit log may be durable, but you can’t force everyone in the supply chain to start putting good data into it immediately. Tens of thousands of suppliers and millions of garment workers have to be onboarded and be made comfortable with the idea of compensation through tokens and smart contracts. Make Tokens Great Again Berlin-based Lukso and the LYX token have been proposed by husband and wife, Fabian Vogelsteller (CTO) and Marjorie Hernandez (CEO). They launched their fashion blockchain startup company, Lukso, at Fashiontech Berlin during the Premium trade fair in January. Vogelsteller has been involved with the Ethereum blockchain since its beginning and was instrumental in the Ethereum Wallet coding project.
CHARLES BECKWITH Co-founder at MouthMedia Network
Charles Beckwith attended The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, The University of North Carolina School of The Arts, and American University. After graduate school, he became a fashion photographer and founded the independent avant garde fashion magazine modaCYCLE. He is currently the host of American Fashion Podcast on MouthMedia Network, which he co-founded. He also serves as Director of Communications for the non-profit Save The Garment Center. He has previously written for 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly and Business of Fashion. Models: Petra Kalman and Katya Tolstova Makeup and hair styling by Leona Ross Fashion styling and photography by Charles Beckwith
Lukso is intended to be a platform for many companies to build blockchain applications, making those projects interoperable, leading to a larger network and greater viability for trust in that network. Out of all of the fashion blockchain proposals shown to date, Lukso makes the most sense right now as a startup because it is the most simple. It’s just a blockchain with technical support, but it could enable all of the other proposed projects. As Hernandez puts it, “the platform offers a common data structure without central authority, representing a network that’s run by its participants.” Lukso’s main obstacle at the moment, an obstacle they share with almost everyone else in the field, is widespread adoption of their standard by large fashion brands. Where some in the space are looking to manufacturers to drive demand, Lukso hopes to onboard partners like LVMH and Kering into a consortium to get the ball rolling. The Really Real
Certain Outcomes, Uncertain Timeline So, the tech is ready, the main players not so much. How soon can these things be deployed at scale? The marketingdriven experiments will probably continue for a while, but it seems unlikely that a few small boutique brands will have a major impact. Certainly we’ll see more of these experiments and companies like Provenance continue to make improvements. Eventually brands that aren’t using blockchain for transparent supply chain tracking will look very disreputable and consumers will reject them without the proper credentials. On the logistics side, the appeal of major cost savings should catch the attention of one of the bigger brands fairly soon, and once the supplier participation hurdle is overcome we’ll see mass adoption. The first big public use of a blockchain in the fashion business will probably be for authentication - even though it seems unnecessary beyond a marketing application with the same problem solvable using a much simpler private databases and other simpler cryptographic tools. 16 | THOUGHT LEADER
The third way blockchain technology will be coming into use in the fashion industry is for the verification of authentic products. “Is this $4,000 Celine bag I found at the second hand shop a knockoff?“. Technically you don’t really need a blockchain for that, as right now it would be acceptable using a private database. Fashion companies worry a lot about knockoffs and brand dilution, and a database that tracks embedded NFC chips would seem to be the perfect solution, because no one who can afford them wants indistinguishable bootleg boots.
THE FUTURE OF MONEY
Kinesis introduces yield-bearing digital currencies based 1:1 on allocated physical gold and silver. What we have successfully been able to achieve is a merging of technologies from our existing institutional metals exchange ABX and blockchain technology. This has created the perfect rail system to deliver digitised gold to be used as everyday currency. The vision for Kinesis is to deliver an evolutionary step beyond any monetary and banking system available today. PCM: How did you start with the idea of Kinesis?
Fiat currency:
Through Allocated Bullion Exchange (ABX), founded in 2011, our team have been involved in both private and state/government operated crypto and blockchain projects. Involvement in these projects as partners started several years ago and provided us with the necessary blockchain knowledge, skills and expertise to successfully launch and commercialise the Kinesis Monetary System.
With global low to negative interest rates, bailin provisions, depositors’ insurance being removed, and with banks holding legal title to their customer deposits, it makes little sense to choose risk and nil-to-negative return over the alternative Kinesis system with negligible risk and high potential for return.
PCM: Which problem are you solving with Kinesis? What are the advantages over other options? Precious metal market: Precious metals and many other physical assets have no yield attached to them - they instead typically cost money to hold securely. Precious metals stored in vaults have no liquidity - they cannot be used as they currencies they once were. Kinesis monetizes and gives yield to these precious metals, incentivizing their use and velocity by attaching multiple types of yield for varying degrees of passive or active participation. The Kinesis debit card allows for instant conversion of KAU and KAG into fiat currency anywhere in the world where Visa / Mastercard is accepted, even allowing Kinesis currency holders to withdraw funds at an ATM. 18 | EXPERT INTERVIEW
Investment assets: High valuations and comparatively low yields for stock market and property investment make the Kinesis currencies an attractive alternative investment with a passive yield attached. Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrencies suffer from severe price volatility, limiting their utility as a currency. Slow speed of transactions and high, fixed processing fees limit the everyday use of existing cryptocurrencies. The high transaction speed, percentage-based fee model, physical asset stability and yield associated with KAU and KAG are incentives for crypto traders and holders to replace questionably-backed and non-yield-bearing stable coins with the Kinesis currencies.
PCM: How is an Initial Token Offering (ITO) different from an Initial Coin Offering (ICO)? The Kinesis Velocity Token (KVT) is a utility token and isn’t an asset-based currency. This is what is currently in pre-sale in the ITO that is running until September the 10th at a 2.5% discount. Then it will head into Public Sale until November 11th, 2018. KVTs reward participants proportionately to the growth of Kinesis Monetary System, meaning early adopters can stake a claim to an entire monetary system. KVTs are limited to 300,000 only, without a chance of future dilution. Holders of the KVT tokens will receive a passive 20% proportional return on the transaction fees accumulated from the Kinesis Monetary System. This creates an additional passive form of potential return for token holders on top of the value of the token itself. The ICO references the Kinesis currency suite being launched in November 2018. This includes the KAU (gold-based) and KAG (silverbased) currencies. KAU and KAG are minted into existence as a 1:1 representation of allocated physical precious metals which underpin the cryptocurrencies. For example, 1g gold equals 1 KAU and 10g silver per 1 KAG. You simply deposit USD or physical gold or silver into the Kinesis primary market and you are able to mint that Kinesis currency, USD, gold or silver into KAU or KAG. It is then displayed in your e-wallet available to be spent or transferred. We have even created a Kinesis debit card that can be used anywhere Visa and Mastercard is accepted. PCM: How is the Kinesis Velocity Token (KVT) backed by assets such as silver and gold? The Kinesis Velocity Token (KVT) is being sold during the Initial Token Offering (ITO) and is not based on precious metals like the Kinesis currencies that will launch in late November. KVTs offer an investor a one-time opportunity to take a share of the Kinesis Monetary Systems entire revenue pool for life. If you believe in the Kinesis monetary system then the only way to maximise your participation and reward is to take part in the current ITO and purchase KVTs.
THOMAS COUGHLIN CEO at Kinesis Thomas Coughlin is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kinesis Limited as well as Allocated Bullion Exchange (ABX). He has worked in the investment, funds management and bullion industries for approximately seventeen years. His professional portfolio management career spans the foundation of the boutique investment company, TRAC Financial, to the establishment of a highly successful Absolute Return Fund. Thomas has dedicated a significant part of his career working collaboratively to build the complex systems of a cross-border international bullion market with an extensive global network of central bankers, brokers, fund managers and advisers. His experience, extensive network and broad knowledge of capital markets, enable him to deliver exceptional value and insight to all stakeholders.
ABOUT KINESIS The vision for Kinesis is to deliver an evolutionary step beyond any monetary and banking system available today. This is achieved by basing the Kinesis currencies 1:1 on directly allocated physical gold and silver.
LIMITED SUPPLY
TRANSACTION FEE POOL
KVTs are in limited supply (300,000), with phased discounted rates applying. The earlier the investment, the greater the discount benefit is to investors.
Kinesis Velocity Token holders receive a share in 20% of all aggregated transaction fees generated by the Kinesis currency suite infinitely.
LIFETIME REWARDS
ADDED BENEFITS
KVT holders gain a 20% share of commissions generated in the Kinesis Commercial Centre throughout the lifetime of the token.
Benefit from capital gains on the KVTs themselves in addition to admittance of the extraordinary pre-ITO benefits on offer for the Kinesis digital currency suite.
PCM: Can you explain the Kinesis Monetary System?
This is our own exchange platform allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies against Kinesis currencies, creating easy exchange for cryptocurrencies. From Bitcoin (BTC) to Kinesis Gold (KAU) or Kinesis Velocity Tokens (KVT) to Ethereum, the KBE eliminates the need for third party exchanges. This is not the first time we have built an exchange; through ABX we have developed MetalDesk, an allocated precious metals exchange used across the world by many of the largest physical precious metal trading houses. Kinesis leverages this experience and infrastructure to provide a world class service. Kinesis is a reliable currency based directly on two of the most stable commodities on earth. When you buy Kinesis, you instantly purchase real gold or silver. This is secured in vaults around the world, free of charge. No need for complex byzantine systems of the past for managing our finances. Using the Kinesis Monetary System users will be able to make purchases, both large and small, pay bills with ease and even manage international payments with lower transfer rates offered by banks and other international payment services. Bringing back a truly decentralized, digitized asset, based on blockchain technology.
This comprehensive monetary system encompasses 1. the Kinesis currencies, which can be sent and received via the Kinesis eWallet, 2. the Kinesis Blockchain Exchange, providing liquidity for the Kinesis currencies and other cryptocurrencies and 3. the Kinesis debit card, allowing for instant conversion of KAU and KAG into fiat currency anywhere in the world where Visa/Mastercard is accepted. The Kinesis currencies offer a unique yield system to encourage adoption and stimulate use. When KAU and KAG are transferred between holders the network collects a 0.45% fee that is then accumulated and distributed monthly, in varying proportions, to participants in the Kinesis Monetary System as a ‘yield’. We have developed a proprietary fork of the Stellar blockchain for these currencies, resulting in extremely fast transaction speeds and scalable global use. Holders of the Kinesis currencies have allocated legal title to the underlying physical bullion holdings so that they can exchange their currencies for physical gold and silver if they wish, subject to a minimum withdrawal amount. Kinesis was founded by the Allocated Bullion Exchange (ABX); meaning it already has extensive infrastructure and fully operational exchange technology for the trade and storage of physical bullion in 7 locations around the world. Last but not least, one of the most exciting pieces of the Kinesis currency suite; the Kinesis Blockchain Exchange (KBE). 20 | EXPERT INTERVIEW
PCM: Which people and organizations should join to use the Kinesis Velocity Token and why? Individuals or corporations who believe in the success of the Kinesis Monetary System would be most suitable for the Kinesis Velocity Token. Holders receive a monthly return on the transaction fees generated by the Kinesis Monetary System, this increases proportionately in line with velocity of the currencies.
All yields to KVT holders are paid in KAU and KAG, which are allocated physical gold and silver. People who are interested in earning a monthly passive income, higher than most bank rates, through a digital, secure, asset-based currency, which can be redeemed for the underlying precious metal, anywhere in the world should take part in the presale or public sale of KVT that is live now on www.kinesis.money.
PCM: The token sale is curently in place. What are the steps that people have to take in order to join for the token sale? It’s as simple as 4 easy steps 1. Go to the Kinesis website 2. Click “Get Tokens” 3. Submit your application form 4. Congratulations! You have now submitted your Kinesis Velocity Token (KVT) application – Tokens are received after public sale ends on November the 11th 2018.
PCM: How does the roadmap look for Kinesis? We are currently in our fifth phase of our Kinesis Velocity Token (KVT) discount, currently running at 2.5%, until midnight on the 9th of September. Subsequently we will be running our KVT public sale until the 12th of November. Kinesis has already surpassed our internal ‘soft cap’ of USD 15,000,000 in KVTs sold. Following this will be the launch of Kinesis Currencies on November the 11th 2018, whereby KAU is backed 1:1 by 1g of 99.99% pure physical gold and KAG by 99.9% silver.
QUALITY BLOCKCHAIN EDUCATION FOR ALL
How does B9lab train those who are both old and new to the blockchain industry? First, it’s important to remember that blockchain is still very new! We have been part of the community since the very beginning, and back then when we tried to train and educate ourselves we realized the need for more consolidated training material and a much higher quality standard. We wanted people, including ourselves, to be able to upskill in weeks instead of months or years. That’s why we came out with the first consolidated Ethereum developer course in 2016. Two years later, blockchain developer is a job title that actually exists, so we have expanded our offering to meet those needs. For more experienced blockchain developers that already know their way around smart contracts and decentralized applications, we offer specialization courses that focus on crucial yet often overlooked aspects of blockchain development such as quality assurance and testing. For those who are totally new to the blockchain world we have free introductory courses. We also offer an online certification course designed for those without any programming experience at all. There is lot to be done on the business side of blockchain as well, and professionals with a non-developer skill set still require a deeper understanding of this powerful technology. 24 | STARTUP SPOTLIGHT
Why should non-developers upskill? As more and more companies take on blockchain projects, team leaders and project managers must be credible to developers, and that means being able to ask the right questions. Business leaders must also have enough knowledge to understand whether using blockchain technology actually makes sense (in many cases it really doesn’t), and if it does, to get an effective strategy in place. How do B9lab courses differ from other blockchain courses out there? There are several reasons why B9lab stands out when compared to other blockchain courses: 1. We are independent and protocol-neutral, which means that our course selection and content does not privilege or promote a specific technology stack over another. Many courses are narrowly focused only in 1 specific protocol, taught by the people who built it. We want to provide a balanced, well-rounded educational experience, so we are constantly looking to expand our course offering and make sure students get an unbiased understanding of which technologies are best-suited to which applications. 2. Second, we offer a very challenging program that aims to lift our participants’ current knowledge to that of our rather high certification threshold (passing the final exam with at least 80%).
The certification exam ensures that only the students that invested a serious amount of time in studying the course material, solving tutors’ challenges, and working on the hands-on dapp projects will get certified. This way, not only do certified B9lab alumni have confidence to immediately start looking for a job as a blockchain developer, the certification also gives future employers the confidence in the candidate’s skills, because they know that B9lab only awards their certificates to the very best students. 3. While most courses are passive, B9lab courses include active tutoring from expert instructors, who will lay down challenges and enable students to discover pitfalls that help internalize important lessons. Students are encouraged to submit projects often and can expect individual code review, suggestions, and lots of iteration as they improve. It is next to impossible to find this level of 1-on-1 interaction and personalized training from any MOOC, Medium article or YouTube channel. 4. Finally, unlike other blockchain courses we encourage our students to really explore social impact and ethical considerations around blockchain. What impact will the technology have on society? Who is driving the adoption and what does that mean? Who is building the technology and what impact does the makeup of the group have? These are the tough questions we want our students to be able to answer upon finishing the course. It’s not all about getting crypto-rich. That’s also why we co-developed the Satoshi Oath: the first code of ethics in the blockchain space. Future developments blockchain
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Two key things are important when looking at the technology itself and why people are interested in it. First of all, payments. They have already been implemented, they are done right, and people are using them. The other thing people like to talk about are the public blockchains. But I think it is important to keep an eye on semipublic or private functions of consortium chains, however you want to call them. The point is that the value for companies lies in ledger integrity. A lot of companies have problems with that.
ELIAS HAASE Co-founder and expert instructor at B9lab Elias has been planning, building and running digital products for the last 10 years. With a background in artificial intelligence, neural networks, and evolutionary computing, his main focus is decentralised technology. Since the early days of Bitcoin, Elias has been following the progress of blockchain technology closely and has gathered ample experience in working on and teaching smart contract development and trustless computation.
ABOUT B9LAB B9lab is the world’s leading provider of blockchain training and talent. B9lab has delivered educational resources to over 10,000 students from 125 countries through its online academy, on-site training and workshops. B9lab works with clients ranging from leading global institutions to talented independent developers all over the world.
For example, they don’t know whether legers have been tampered with or not. So ultimately, I think that there will be a lot of investment going into that sphere. There are companies who are hoping that in 10 years they can shave off a big part of administrative costs by improving ledger integrity. I believe that is a major trend that I think is often overlooked but definitely worth looking into. Why it is an exciting time in the industry and what it means for B9lab? According to TechCrunch, blockchain-related jobs are the 2nd-fastest growing in today’s labour market. There are now 14 job openings for every blockchain developer, and our prediction is that this will continue to increase in the future. So what we are really excited about is helping our alumni connect to a whole new world of job opportunities in this space.
Many developers see our courses as an opportunity to move up into a higher income bracket, which is due to the huge gap in terms of how many developers there are and how much work needs to be done. We are also helping organizations with blockchain talent needs to fill those positions with top quality, highly trained developers and certified professionals. Lastly, blockchain initiatives are starting to gain traction worldwide instead of being isolated to a few hotspots. For B9lab, this will mean offering our courses in additional language. For us this will mean offering our courses in other languages and in new markets. For instance, the Spanish version of our online course offering is already available in Latin America, and we have just launched in India as well.
26 | STARTUP SPOTLIGHT
EXPERT INTERVIEW
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