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Pluricell Biotech was founded 4 years ago to derive and commercialize stem cells for research applications. Recently, they have made the switch into creating therapeutic applications from stem cell research, with a specific focus on the heart.Cells that still retain their neucleus are collected from healthy donors and "re-wound" to become pleuripotent stem cells, which can then be differentiated into heart cells. Currently, Pluricell is working on being able to replace scar tissue located in the heart, as well as other small areas of the heart where cells have died, and their ultimate goal is to be able to both regrow large sections of the heart, or to re-grow an entire organ, depending on the need of the patient. They have seen promising test results on small rodents–though because the hearts of these animals are different than those of humans, they are looking for approval to begin human trials. They believe that they could have that approval within the next 4-5 years, and in about 10 years would be able to take their research to market. For more information, visit www.pluricellbiotech.com.
Founded in 2011, Paymium is one of the world's first Bitcoin startups and exchange. Coming from a background in the payment industry, Pierre made sure that the exchange was fully compliant with all AML/KYC regulations from the very first day. Their commitment to being compliant with all regulations, along with their focus on security, has convinced over 150,000 individuals to register and allows them to partner with large banks. By the Summer 2018, Paymium plans to add more cryptocurrencies to their exchange. Because they only want to allow sustainable currencies on their platform, they plan to add Ethereum, LiteCoin, Bitcoin Cash, and possible a few others. They also plan to allow users to trade fiat, beginning with the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, and Korean Won. Pierre also discusses the relative merits of cold storage, and how it is beneficial to the ecosystem, as well as what he sees as the major challenges for exchanges in the upcoming year. Paymium plans to be at the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Superconference in Dallas, Texas February 16-18, and has hinted about a surprise announcement for us! For more information, visit www.paymium.com.
Second Genome is a drug discovery company focusing on the pharmaceutical applications of microbiome science, and the second genome refers to the genomes that are inside of our bodies because of the organisms in our microbiome. Second Genome has the ability to discover the different bacteria strains that are correlated with a healthier state. After discovering the proteins, peptides, and other molecules that these organisms create, Second Genome isolates that molecule and uses it to create pharmaceutical therapies. Because most microbiome companies are not able to identify organisms down to the strain level, the use of the molecule as a drug rather than a probiotic will avoid any intended consequences of attempting to alter the microbiome without fully understanding how it works. Second Genome hopes their discoveries will be able to provide healing or medical cures for chronic diseases, the liver disease NASH, and more. They are currently in the animal testing phase and hope to move to clinical trials soon. They are also studying the effect that the microbiome has on cancer treatments, and they have received an NIH grant to study autism in conjunction with Stanford University. For more information, visit www.secondgenome.com.
Kochava is an advertising measurement and analytics platform that was created six years ago that helps advertising agencies get a better picture of where their best advertising ROIs are coming from, and has clients that include NBC, CBS, Disney, various gaming brands, and more. Over the next year, Kochava plans to launch XCHNG, an advertising platform and open-source market for the digital advertising ecosystem, built with a blockchain framework. Use of the blockchain will help solve the current problem of the splintered supply chain, which will increase efficiency and ROI for advertisers. A token sale will be starting shortly, with tokens being used to provide an incentive to for users to hold a stake in the platform, as well as to buy and sell advertising content. In order to keep in compliance with ever-changing regulations, the coin will be done as SAFT and will be fully AML/KYC complaint. The platform is set to go live at the end of 2018/beginning of 2019, but those who monetize ads can sign up for the On XCHNG Program, which will allow for their inventory to be integrated with the platform as early as June/July 2018. Kochava and XCHNG will be at the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Superconference in Dallas, Texas February 16-18. For more information, visit www.xchng.io.
The average person in the US is a member of over 30 rewards programs, and yet they only actively use just a few of those. On the other side, companies spend just as much money trying to get people enrolled in these programs as they do restricting the ability of those same people to use the rewards they have earned. With over 20 years experience in the rewards and loyalty program industry, Todd Rowan founded Rewards.com, which aims to tokenize the rewards that people earn through all their various loyalty programs, including Sony, Nissan, Hotels.com, and more. In this way, a specific value is given to the rewards that are earned, which will create the loyalty from customers that is missing from many of these programs. Because tokens will have an actual exchange value, they can trade them on exchanges, or redeem them for items or gift cards. Rewards.com is planning a pre-sale of their token to begin April 15th, with a full launch on June 1st. Todd will also be at the Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Ethereum Superconference in Dallas, Texas February 16-18, and gives us a sneak peek of his talk on how cryptocurrency and blockchain can revolutionize the loyalty program industry, and ultimately give consumers control of their profile and rewards. For more information, visit www.rewards.com.
A returning guest, Felipe runs a Spanish-language YouTube channel dedicated to the latest news in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain. Since his last visit, his platform has added a large number of users throughout Latin America, Europe, and in Latino communities in the United States. Most people are getting interested in this space in order to not only build their wealth, but to help protect the wealth that they have already accumulated from predations, and more and more people are getting interested in this space every day. Throughout this fascinating podcast, Felipe discusses how different people around the world, particularly in Asia and Latin America are side-stepping regulations, his thoughts on the Venezuela PetroDollar, a cryptocurrency being created by the Venezuelan government that is backed by oil reserves, and about the possibilities of other governments around the world doing something similar. Felipe is excited for the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Superconference in Dallas, Texas February 16-18, believing it to be a great opportunity for people to get involved. In the near future, Felipe and CriptoMonedas are working on creating more meetups for people to get involved, experimenting with other social media platforms, and may be putting together a conference towards the end of this year. For more information, visit www.youtube.com/criptomonedas.
Regulation and compliance are some of the biggest issues in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space right now, particularly in light of the rapidly changing regulatory landscape. Just this week, the SEC chairman presented written and in-person testimony on these issues to the Senate Banking Committee, and Lewis discusses with us what it means, especially when the tone of the written testimony seemed to differ quite a bit from the tone of his in-person testimony. Overall, Lewis believes that the differences can be taken to mean that while the SEC believes in the economic potential of this new space, they want to make it clear that they will not stand for fraudulent schemes and bad actors. Rather than shy away from such areas, Hogan Lovells is embracing this new area of law, and are dedicated to bringing their decades of experience in securities laws to their clients in this new and exciting space. Lewis also discusses what he sees as the future of blockchain and ICOs from an attorney's perspective, as well as what he sees as major use cases of this technology. To chat with Lewis directly, email him at lewis.cohen@hoganlovells.com or find him on Twitter at @NYcryptolawyer.
The idea for Ask the Shopologist was created when Stephanie, a stay-at-home mom, wanted to be able to save money for the future without taking money out of the family budget. Once she learned the tricks for shopping smart and getting paid for what she was already doing for free, she decided to share her methods and tips with others. She started with fiat currency, and in the recent past has moved into cryptocurrency. Once she learned how to safely invest and grow money in cryptocurrency, Stephanie began to share that information with her followers as well. Their new program, Crypto Cardio, will teach people how to effectively use their crypto wallets to invest extra money without dipping into the family budget. Crypto Cardio is also offering a pre-paid Mastercard tied to your cryptowallet, so that users can both use their cryptocurrency and build credit. Crypto Cardio will initially support Bitcoin and Ethereum, though they will eventually support more coins. Ask the Shopologist will be at the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Superconference in Dallas, Texas February 16-18, and will give conference attendees the first opportunity to join Crypto Cardio and get their very own card. For more information, visit www.asktheshopologist.com.
Cygnus Investments primarily focuses on projects in the telecommunications, oil, financial services, energy, and music industries, and currently has two projects related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. The first is a book titled "Cryptocurrency for Teens," a glossary of frequently used terms in the crypto and blockchain spaces that is geared towards youth, teenagers, and college students. Dr. Mansour's goal is to get this book in the hands of as many students as possible, believing that cryptocurrency and blockchain have the ability to create a significant number of jobs for today's students. An educator, Dr. Mansour believes that students of all ages are able to understand the dynamics of this space, and will come up with use cases that the rest of us have never thought of. Cygnus Investments is also working with a popular rap artist to launch his own cryptocurrency, which will be used to fund a wide array of his products, including clothing, music, food, and more. Ultimately, they hope that this move will allow everyone to get involved in this space, and show people what can be accomplished when you never give up. Ali welcomes questions and discussions by email at paatjam@gmail.com, or by phone at 281-203-2906.
One of today's biggest problems with the threat intelligence market, which encompasses companies such as McAfee, Symantec, and others involved in keeping computer viruses and malware at bay, is the cyclical nature of the market–a newcomer arrives and innovates with a new idea, then relaxes, and another newcomer must come in to keep innovation alive. PolySwarm hopes to change this by creating a decentralized marketplace that rewards security experts, end-users, and ambassadors like McAfee and Symantec with Nectar tokens when they correctly help to predict and determine whether potential malware is actually a threat. Providing this economic incentive will help to tighten that cyclical loop, as well as encourage experts to continually be improving their skills and anti-malware machines. PolySwarm is currently running a malware bounty contest, awarding up to $300k in Nectar tokens for users to upload suspect files that their malware detection program can read as malicious, with higher amounts of tokens being awarded for more unique malware strains. They hope to release a full version of their marketplace by the end of the year. For more information, visit www.polyswarm.io.
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