Blockchain Insider Podcast by 11:FS

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Ep. 60. DLT is faster than your post trade Aug 23, 2018

Show notes

Simon and Sara are with Teana Baker-Taylor CMO of Coinfloor, Michele Curtoni, Director of Digital Assets, Blockchain at State Street, and Alex Hern, Technology Reporter at the Guardian to go over the biggest blockchain stories of the week.

First up the panel looks at ASX's declaration that a new DLT system could save billions. The Australian Securities Exchange could save as much as $23 billion in its effort to replace its settlement system with a distributed ledger, its CEO announced Thursday. Dominic Stevens, MD and CEO of ASX believes DLT in place of Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS), would offer greater efficiency transmitting messages and accessing information.

California opens up to allowing crypto political donations. The California Fair Political Practices Commission met on Thursday to discuss a number of election issues, including whether candidates for public office can accept cryptocurrencies as campaign donations.

There's a blow to Bitcoin as Coinbase CEO makes a stark warning. He has warned that widespread, mass bitcoin adoption for payments is going to be a long time coming, Bitcoin price is down some 70% from its highs at the end of last year and many of newer cryptocurrencies that have been created in the last few years have been all but wiped out.

Venezuela just devalued the bolívar by 95% and pegged it to a cryptocurrency. Venezuela has announced another series of desperate measures to try to save its economy from collapse. The government is devaluing the Venezuelan bolívar by 95% and pegging it to the government's oil-linked cryptocurrency.

Nividia gives disappointing sales forecast on lower crypto demand. Nvidia Corp.’s nine-month crypto gold rush is over, sales of graphics chips to miners of cryptocurrencies like Ethereum dried up faster than expected. Nvidia said it had expected about $100 million in sales of chips bought by currency miners in the fiscal second quarter. Instead, the total was $18 million in the period, and that revenue is likely to disappear entirely going forward.

Lack of Correlation for Bitcoin sees little relief as Markets Sell Off. While cryptocurrencies aren’t correlated with other asset classes, they’re strongly correlated among themselves. Bitcoin has held a correlation of over 0.7 with Bitwise’s 70 Small Cap and 10 Large Cap crypto indexes for most of the year.

We also have a Tweet of the Week on how to explain Bitcoin to your grandpa.

All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill and Michael Bailey.

Special Guests: Alex Hern, Michele Curtoni, Sara Feenan, and Teana Baker-Taylor.

Ep. 59. Why You Should Still Care About Tokens Aug 16, 2018

Show notes

Simon is with Anthony Macey, Martin Bartlam, Partner and International Group Head of Finance & Projects and Fintech Global Co-Chair at DLA Piper, Noelle Acheson, CFA and Editorial Producer at Coindesk, and Todd McDonald, Co-Founder and Head of Partnerships at R3, to go over the biggest blockchain stories of the week.

First up the panel looks at crypto unicorn, Bitmain considering $18 Billion IPO, one of the world's largest. The cryptocurrency mining company is filing for an initial public offering (IPO) potentially as high as $18 billion this September at a market capitalization of $40 to $50 billion.

Then they discuss Facebook's Marcus stepping down from Coinbase board. David Marcus is stepping down from the board of directors at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, citing his new assignment at Facebook leading the social media giant's blockchain strategy.

Barclays denies crypto trading desk plans as staff removes ‘Digital Asset Project’ LinkedIn Info. Barclays told Cointelegraph that they have “no plans for a crypto trading desk.” As of press time, Duval and Tyrer’s LinkedIn profiles still show positions at Barclays working with 'digital assets,' but all information detailing the specifics of the jobs is not listed.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan invest in Axoni's $32 Million funding round. Enterprise-focused blockchain startup Axoni has completed a $32 million Series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs and Nyca Partners. Also participating in the round were Andreessen Horowitz, Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Y Combinator and Digital Currency Group, among others.

R3 publishes a new post-quantum signature algorithm tailored to blockchains. Corda team has recently announced a new digital signature scheme that unlike RSA and ECDSA, it will remain secure even against a powerful quantum computer. The panel manage to explain quantum computing.

Criminal activity in cryptocurrency has dropped 80% since 2013. An agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has noted that Bitcoin’s (BTC) role in crimes has dropped to just 10% of transactions, while transactions themselves have “grown tremendously”.

We also have a Tweet of the Week on Ripple.

All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Anthony Macey, Martin Bartlam, Noelle Acheson, and Todd McDonald.

Links:

Ep. 58. Buying Frappuccinos with Bitcoin Aug 09, 2018

Show notes

Simon and Sarah are with Teana Baker-Taylor, CMO at Coinfloor. We also have a great talk with Jeff Bandman, Principal at Bandman advisors, to take us through the biggest story of the week.

First up we hear from Jeff Bandman on the world’s biggest stock exchange operator launching a Bitcoin market. ICE (the owner of NYSE) made the groundbreaking announcement on Friday, revealing that the new platform — Bakkt — has been developed in partnership with a variety of blockbuster names, including Microsoft, Starbucks, and BCG.Bakkt will integrate with the ICE’s U.S. futures market and clearinghouse to list a physically-settled one-day bitcoin futures product, complete with physical warehousing managed in-house by ICE.

Next up we go over our Twitter poll results, don't forget to vote this week!

Then the trio takes a look at Starbucks clarifying media misrepresentation on its new crypto venture. Starbucks has clarified that it will not be accepting Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies as payment -“customers will not be able to pay for Frappuccinos with bitcoin”.

After that we discuss OKEx moving to protect its futures market with an injection of 2500 BTC into the exchange’s insurance fund from its own capital after a forced liquidation on July 31st threatened to destabilize its operations. The futures contract amounted to a staggering $420 million worth of BTC.

Next the panel discusses Northern Trust opening doors to cryptocurrency hedge funds as part of pervasive blockchain expansion. In addition to adding a number of new blockchain features for managing its private equity workflow, the company, which has almost $10.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, has also quietly opened its fund administration services to a select group of hedge funds betting on bitcoin and ethereum.

Goldman Sachs Is Considering a Custody Offering for Crypto Funds. A formal offering from an institution like Goldman Sachs would provide a credible backing for crypto funds and could pave the way for more investors to bet on the asset class. Having a custody operation in place could also lead to other ventures, including prime-brokerage services.

We also have a Tweet of the Week on Satoshi Nakamoto that you just can't miss.

All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Jeff Bandman and Teana Baker-Taylor.

Links:

Ep. 57. Assassination Markets & WTF ETFs Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

Simon's with Noelle Acheson, CFA and Editorial Producer at Coindesk, Vinay Gupta, Founder of Mattereum, and Stephane Malrait, MD Global Head of Market Structure and Innovation for Financial Markets at ING.

We kick things off with a potential U.S. Bitcoin ETF launch in 2018, widely anticipated as a catalyst to jolt Bitcoin out of its bear market, an ETF launch for the cryptocurrency in the U.S. this year is unlikely, in Bloomberg’s view. The SEC is increasingly sensitive to public opinion and well-aware of the potential market impact. The SEC may release its decision on the latest proposed Bitcoin ETF from CBOE Global Markets on Aug. 10.

Next up the panel looks at IBM, Barclays and Citigroup building a blockchain-based app store. IBM and foreign exchange settlement service CLS are building a network based on blockchain technology for testing new applications. Nine financial institutions, including Barclays and Citigroup, are already signed up to participate.

We move on to BBVA's inability to hold cryptocurrency and why it's a problem. In the process of executing what was expected to be the third in a series of blockchain-based corporate loans, the bank had to work around a lack of legal and regulatory clarity over whether it could (or should) hold the cryptocurrency needed to power a transaction on ethereum. However, erring on the side of caution, BBVA chose to abide by European Banking Authority (EBA) recommendations and not use the native token of ethereum, ether. Instead, the bank anchored the loans to an ethereum testnet, a blockchain which simulates the live version, but that doesn't move real value.

This week's Tweet of the week comes from Vitalik Buterin criticising the focus on ETFs and pushing for adoption strategies.

All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets to try and get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes?

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Noelle Acheson, Stephane Malrait, and Vinay Gupta.

Ep. 56. Is Bitcoin back? Jul 26, 2018

Show notes

Sarah's with Joon Ian Wong Managing Director for Europe and Asia at Coindesk and Aaron Stanley, Strategic Communications Lead at Sweetbridge to talk about the latest news, including:

Police Confiscate some Bitcoin, Coinbase gets political, and Return of the Bitcoin

We kick things off with Surrey police force obtaining 295 bitcoins last October after arresting a Latvian man, who has since been convicted for money laundering and sentenced to nine years in prison. Police since sold the assets for around $1.5 million - back then, the price of a bitcoin was around $5,000. The sale has been ruled as legitimate and the police force is allowed to keep 18.8% of the proceeds for its operational budget.

Then we move on to the bitcoin price has climbing above the $8,000 mark for the first time since mid-May, what's pushing up the price, and what's going on with the rumours of a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF). Next up, we take a closer look at MyEtherWallet, the most popular crypto wallet service on the internet. It's getting a mobile app in a bid to increase security for users. MEW Connect, is an iOS app that allows users to access their wallet through MyEtherWallet but without the need to type their private key. Instead it uses a QR code and it's free, with 600,000 visitors per day the beta demand is likely to be high.

We continue on with VCTRADE, the world's first bank-backed cryptocurrency now opening to the public. Owned by SBI Holdings, the Japanese bank launched its in-house crypto trading platform last month. Launch comes nearly two years after SBI Holdings first announced it would build the exchange in October 2016. The platform received an operating license from Japan's financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency, late last year. The service is now fully open for users aged from 20–70 who reside in Japan. Debut was delayed as the firm worked to raise levels of internal security following a massive $533 million hack at the country's Coincheck exchange in January.

Then we move on to exciting news from Google. Google announced a partnership with the New York-based startup Digital Asset, which makes tools to build blockchain-based apps. Google wrote in a blog post that its Cloud customers can “now explore ways they might use distributed ledger technology (DLT) frameworks” through early access to Digital Asset software aiming to provide developers with a full stack solution so they can unleash the potential for web-paced innovation in blockchain.

Next up, Coinbase has formed a political action committee (PAC) to raise money to spend on US elections. Under American federal law, an organization is classified as a PAC if it collects donations worth more than $1,000 from its members and channels them into campaign funds with the intention of influencing an electoral process. The biggest motive for Coinbase is access to the politicians that have substantial influence over financial regulatory policy.

Finally, we discuss BitTorrent Inc. being acquired by TRON Foundation. BitTorrent Inc, the parent company behind the popular file-sharing client uTorrent, has confirmed its acquisition by the TRON Foundation. The TRON foundation has its own cryptocurrency and the idea is apparently to create. We take a look at what this means for blockchain and if crypto may go the way of BitTorrent, exciting technology that's used for a whille before being supplanted.

And our Tweet of the week this time comes from @SmartereumTV

Colin G. Platt catches up with Marieke Flament, Europe MD and CMO of Circle to talk about the tokenisation of everything.

All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes?

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Petrit Berisha and edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Aaron Stanley, Joon Ian Wong, and Marieke Flament.

Links:

Ep. 55. Unlocking Institutional Capital in Crypto Jul 19, 2018

Show notes

Sarah and Sara go through a run down of the latest crypto news including:

Blackrock explore bitcoin, Block.one close a ‘strategic investment round’, and will there be Major League Baseball Crypto?

We kick things off with Blackrock beginning to explore bitcoin. BlackRock has set up a group made up from different parts of the business to investigate cryptocurrencies and their underlying infrastructure to investigate how the $6.3 trillion asset manager can take advantage of the fast-growing cryptocurrency market.

Then we move on to Block.one announcing on the 16th of July that Peter Thiel has invested in the company, along with other notable investors, Bitmain, Louis Bacon, and Alan Howard. Block.one has so much money now it’s hard not to wonder what they’re going to do with it.

Next up Major League Baseball has announced that it is launching a crypto-based game that runs on the ethereum blockchain later this summer. Fans will be able to purchase avatars from baseball history. Those avatars can then be sold or traded, and users can earn rewards. Is this the tokenisation of trading cards and can Ethereum handle it?

We move on to Coinbase getting the green light to list coins deemed securities. Coinbase Inc. said it got the green light from U.S. watchdogs to move forward with a trio of acquisitions that will allow it to become one of the first federally regulated venues for trading digital coins deemed to be securities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority approved Coinbase’s purchase of Keystone Capital Corp., Venovate Marketplace Inc. and Digital Wealth LLC.

And this week’s Tweet of the week is the controversial bit of news from Coinbase that they’re adding a host of new crypto assets to their platform.

Simon hosted a panel at the Europa conference discussion institutional firms moving into crypto featuring:

Lawrence Lundy Head of Research and Partnership at Outlier Ventures
Obi Nwosu, CEO and Co-Founder of Coinfloor
Claire Wells, Director of Legal & Business Affairs EMEA at Circle.

The panel examines how institutional financing can help put a price limit on crypto and stabilise the space, but how in a crypto-to-crypto space there’s possibly no reason to have institutional money at all, and what’s holding asset managers back from entering the space. They also look at the value of the crypto asset market and how it can be utilised as a use case for blockchain. And how crypto can operate as a means for global financial inclusion.

All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes?

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Petrit Berisha and edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Claire Wells, Lawrence Lundy, and Obi Nwosu.

Links:

Ep. 54. Is Crypto Going Mainstream? Jul 12, 2018

Show notes

Simon and Sara sit down with Noelle Acheson Coindesk, Editorial Producer and Joon Ian Wong, Coindesk, Managing Director Europe/Asia to discuss the latest blockchain news, including:

Todd McDonald had a Corda, The FCA is letting Blockchain play in their sandbox, and Coinbase get their custodial party started.

We kick off with Binance eyeing a $1 billlion profit with a few discussions on why Binance is bothering to release this information now. And how with such a fragile market they may not be on top for long, with many younger companies biting at their heels. There's also a few interesting points made on how regulation may interact with crypto exchanges in the near future. We move on to Coinbase targeting insitutitional investors. There are few rumours that institutional investors have long been waiting for a custodial product in crypto that fits their needs, could this be it? We also discuss Vitalik Buterin's provocative comments on centralised exchanges and if these exchanges are even a good idea.

All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes?

This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Petrit Berisha and edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Joon Ian Wong and Noelle Acheson.

Links:

Ep. 53. Is Anyone Doing Decentralisation Right? Jul 05, 2018

Show notes

Sarah and Sara sit down with Maya Kumar, Head of UK & Ireland for Luno to discuss the latest blockchain news, including:

EOS & IOTA come under scrutiny, SolarisBank launches Blockchain Factory, and are Facebook going to acquire Coinbase?

Simon also has a great interview with Peter Grosskopf, CTO of Solaris Bank to talk through the launch of Blockchain Factory.

All this and more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider.

And if you enjoyed our tweet of the week why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show!

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, why not leave us a review on iTunes?

Special Guests: Maya Kumar and Peter Grosskopf.

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