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Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
One of the main roadblocks when it comes to accessing new services online is digital ID verification; it's risky, challenging and sometimes just impossible. SecureKey is on a mission to change this, and they're going about it in a unique way. "Rather than trying to construct trust out of nothing…let's build on the success of what consumers already understand and what's already common business practice, but adapt it so it works better online…" says Andre Boysen, who is the CIO of SecureKey. SecureKey allows consumers to use the providers they already trust, such as banks, telephone companies and governments, to privately enter only the most pertinent identity information, prove their trusted identity online and gain access to new digital services. There are plenty of benefits for businesses too. According to Boysen, a business wants three things: to receive data from authoritative sources, to know that data has not been altered since it was written by those authoritative sources, and to know that data is being presented by the person it belongs to. SecureKey promises to address these needs while increasing business integrity and decreasing the risk of data breaches by providing less data that's more trustworthy. Seven of the largest banks and all of the major cell phone providers in Canada are already connected to the SecureKey network. To learn more, tune in and visit securekey.com.
What if blockchains could be secured and time-stamped to Bitcoin? And how could something like that be achieved in a way that maintains the decentralized, transparent and permissionless nature of blockchains themselves? These are a couple of the big questions that led Justin Fisher and Maxwell Sanchez to the creation of VeriBlock. "The VeriBlock blockchain is itself secured to Bitcoin and acts as an efficiency and aggregation layer that allows other blockchains to secure themselves to Bitcoin in a cost-effective and easy-to-use manner," says Sanchez. It relies upon a concept that Fisher and Sanchez refer to as "proof of proof," which will not only allow exchanges, merchants and users to make informed decisions about whether or not to accept a payment, but will allow them to do so with the confidence of knowing that each transaction is secured with the full power of Bitcoin. In fact, altering a transaction on the VeriBlock platform would require a forking of Bitcoin itself. Fisher and Sanchez bring an impressive amount of insight and technical knowledge to the discussion. Tune in to hear the details, visit veriblock.org and check out VeriBlock's telegram channel.
Insurance companies are notoriously slow at adopting new technology, which is why Mutual of Omaha stands out among them. An actuary by trade, Brian Poppe came across blockchain technology a few years ago and has since considered the ways in which it can revolutionize the insurance industry. Poppe is the Senior Vice President of Departing Well Solutions at Mutual of Omaha, and provides insight into some of the current problems in the industry and how blockchain technology can help. When an insurance company finds itself carrying too much risk, it will seek assistance from a reinsurance company, which is a company that is willing to insure that insurance company. Forming these partnerships, however, requires an excessive amount of back-and-forth communication, data transfers and payments transfers; it's time-consuming and complicated for everyone involved. The solution? By using blockchain technology and smart contracts in developing these partnerships, each side is able to track the transfer of data and payments on a shared ledger. As a result, accounting becomes simple, secure, and occurs in real time. Mutual of Omaha has also implemented APIs for quoting, and is becoming more open with the way they share those APIs. In the near future, Poppe sees the insurance industry in general becoming more and more tech-savvy, resulting in overall greater improvements. To get in contact with Brian, send him an email at brian.poppe@mutualofomaha.com.
Since 2015, RFi Group has been releasing biannual reports surveying 12,000 customers across 10 markets about their digital banking and digital payments behavior. RFi Group is now in 44 markets, holds regular media events, and talks to 500,000 customers and 100,000 corporates a year about their aptitude for digital banking and payments. Charles Green is the founder and CEO of RFi Group and shares his insight on the structure and developmental trends in the traditional banking system, discussing how some banks in Australia and Singapore are flipping that tradition on its head. "They've brought banking to you at the moment that you need it without you having to go to the bank," says Green. He also discusses the impact he foresees this having on traditional financial institutions and some of the barriers to public trust in technology versus banking companies. RFi Group plans to continue working with new players in digital banking and doing more work in the US. To get in contact and learn more, visit rfigroup.com.
Fintech Finance is a magazine and TV channel working with and providing information from some of the biggest names in the fintech space. Ali Paterson and Amelia Arras are members of the team at Fintech Finance who bring a wealth of knowledge to the discussion on a variety of topics, including the level of global awareness and acceptance of cryptocurrency, the limitations of cryptocurrency in the US, and what factors might lead to its widespread adoption. "To make it more mainstream, you need to have the demand from the consumer to pay with a cryptocurrency, so I think a lot of awareness…will show that cryptocurrency can be used and is not just an investment…it's something that has the benefit of transacting from anywhere at any time with anyone, and with quite low transaction fees," says Arras. Hit play to hear the full discussion, and visit fintech.finance to stay current on the latest news in the fintech space.
With a background in the advertising world and the realization that fraud in the digital advertising space amounts to about nine billion dollars per year, Alanna Gombert decided to join Ken Brook, founder of MetaX, in his mission to clean out and make more transparent the digital advertising supply chain. MetaX has created an unprecedented level of transparency in the digital ad space by creating the first token-curated registry on Ethereum, and here's how it works: there is a list of publisher URLs within the ad chain registry that can be voted in or out of the registry by token holders based on the consensus definition of "quality." That list then becomes a universal whitelist for digital advertisers and buyers. "It's a self-regulation tool where you can report bad actors and vote in quality publishers- all on the construct of just holding a token and using that token to vote," says Gombert. In addition to MetaX, Gombert was involved with the development of Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA), the first-ever lobbying organization for the blockchain and crypto space. Although still in its infancy, the organization has already expanded from working on state-level to federal-level projects. Tune in to hear the details, and get in contact by visiting metax.io and digitalasset.org.
Kirk Phillips' professional experience is diverse: as a certified Bitcoin professional, a certified digital currency professional, CPA and author of The Ultimate Bitcoin Business Guide: For Entrepreneurs and Business Advisors, Phillips lends unique insight on a variety of topics, including his subscription-based virtual accounting and business firm that runs almost 100 percent off of cryptocurrency, the old CPA model and how it relates to and can be improved for modern practices in the crypto space, and some of the skepticism that surrounds Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. The next issue of yBitcoin Magazine will feature an article by Phillips that explores the issue of security in the crypto space, and pre-registration for an upcoming educational opportunity with Phillips begins mid-April. Press play to learn the details, and stay tuned for the latest.
Zappar is an augmented reality (AR) platform that's been around for seven years- before the majority of people had even heard of augmented reality. AR platforms in general have since moved into the mass market and continue to gain users. "One of the things that's really important to us at Zappar is this notion of democratization; part of our whole mission was…to put the tools in the hands of as many people as possible, to really explore what AR is capable of," says Caspar Thykier, co-founder and CEO of Zappar. From this notion emerged the ZapWorks platform, which allows users from all backgrounds and technical abilities to create their own augmented reality experience. Whether you're a developer, the owner of a mom-and-pop shop, or an individual who's simply looking to explore the world of AR on your own terms, the ZapWorks platform can provide you with the tools to create engaging and meaningful experiences. Among other topics, Thykier discusses an important distinction between AR and virtual reality (VR) experiences, the benefits of using AR as an educational tool, and the major impacts that AR is likely to have in the near future. To learn more or create your own AR experience, visit the ZapWorks platform at zap.works.
Evolve Capital Partners is a boutique investment bank that focuses on assisting institutional capital and entrepreneurial-backed companies in the financial technology space. Among other services, Evolve Capital Partners performs M&A transactions, private placements and capital raises for its clients. One of the most distinctive and beneficial aspects of Evolve Capital Partners is its location: situated in the middle of Midtown, New York, Evolve Capital Partners is able to offer its clients access to large financial institutions and information in a way that no other company can. When asked to describe his ideal client, Alex Koles, CEO, founder and managing director of Evolve Capital Partners, introduces Alt Lending, a cutting-edge company in the blockchain and crypto lending space. Gennadiy Gurevich, CIO & Co-founder, and Young Cho, CFO, from Alt Lending discuss the creation, development and future plans for the company. Visit evolve-capital.com and altlending.com to learn more or get in touch.
"If you think about it…everybody else owns our identity and different data sets about us…from your employer…to your bank, to Facebook, to Google, to any service that you have a username and password for that stands as your identity…if any of the personal data that you have with them is breached, you don't have any control over it because they become the gatekeepers of it. The idea with ShoCard is to invert that," says Armin Ebrahimi. As it stands today, there are four ways to authenticate yourself with different financial services, none of which are very secure or simple. In addition, every time you open an account with a different financial institution, you are required to go through the process of re-entering all of your personal information; this poses a security threat to you, is costly for the financial institution, and is time-consuming for everyone involved. ShoCard is working to integrate blockchain and mobile technologies to invert the ownership of identity, which will eliminate these issues by allowing individuals to maintain control over their data. Rather than creating a new username and password for each account, users will be able to have their identity verified on the blockchain. This means that once a bank has identified and established a relationship with a customer, they can create and share that certification with other banks on the blockchain. Interest in ShoCard is increasing, and they are already doing pilots with a few financial institutions in the US. In addition, they recently launched a project with the European-based multinational credit reporting industry, Creditinfo. Tune in to learn more.
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