Issue 9: Bitcoin Gets a Satellite

DCG Connect
Aug 22, 2017 · 8 min read

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Company Spotlight: Stratumn
Founded:
2015
Description: Stratumn developed what it calls a “proof of process.” They use blockchain technology to enable trusted processes (at lower cost) between enterprises, customers, and regulators. As of June, they had developed 10+ projects for Allianz France, Nasdaq, CNP Assurances, and others to reduce operational and back office costs associated with regulatory and compliance procedures. Also in June, Stratumn completed the largest funding round to date in the European blockchain ecosystem, raising €7M in a series A (Digital Currency Group was an investor).
Team: Richard Caetano (CEO & Co-Founder) // Stephane Florquin (CTO & Co-Founder)

Partnerships & Projects
Blockstream launching satellite to broadcast real-time Bitcoin transactions and blocks from space | The Ethereum community may have Ethereum Island in Mauritius, but Bitcoin has a satellite. “Blockstream Satellite is the world’s first service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin transactions and blocks from a group of satellites in space.” There are ~4 billion people without access to the Internet. This service enables anyone with a small satellite dish and a USB radio receiver to send and receive Bitcoin transactions for less than $0.01 per transaction (excluding standard network transaction fees). Link to their FAQ here.

Fisco (Japan based financial information provider) internally testing bitcoin denominated bonds | Digital currencies are slowly making their way towards mainstream acceptance in financial services and things seem to moving quickest in Japan. “A unit of the Tokyo-based financial information provider issued three-year debt worth 200 bitcoins to another firm in the Fisco group on Aug. 10…” The company’s chief product officer believes Japanese law will eventually recognize bitcoin as a legal financial product (it’s already legal in Japan as a method of payment). Fisco also launched a Bitcoin exchange last year.

Fidelity adding bitcoin tracker on brokerage site | Coinbase has integrated with Fidelity to bring a digital currency tracking feature to the Fidelity brokerage platform. “With the announcement, Fidelity users will be able to monitor their Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments in the same way that they have already been able to track their traditional asset performance.” USAA tested this with Coinbase in 2016 with employees, eventually rolling it out to all customer accounts.

Swift completed its cross-border POC and advancing project to next stage | Of note is Coindesk’s reporting that Swift remains very skeptical of blockchain technology for instant payments. “Designed to test whether moving member bank accounts to a distributed ledger could help Swift reconcile in real time, the project is now ready for its next phase…Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, RBC Royal Bank and Wells Fargo have now been given access to the platform for further testing.”

Credit Suisse moving syndicated loan trail to next stage | They could be launching the commercial platform as soon as 2018. A few key points: (1) the platform brings settlement time down from 16–20 days to 3 days (2) Symbiont and Ipreo built the platform (3) Credit Suisse thinks the platform could cut costs from managing the life cycle of syndicated loans by as much as 50%.

IBM conducting supply chain trial for Singapore based port operator, Pacific International Lines | Pacific International Lines announced they signed an agreement with IBM to explore blockchain technology for regional supply chain networks, including trade financing.

Japan’s largest IT services firm launching consortium | NTT Data will be launching a new consortium for exploring blockchain technology use cases on August 30 with “13 different companies drawn from financial, logistical, and trade industries. Notable participants include Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsu Sumitomo Insurance, Nippon Express and Sojitz Corporation. The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Toyota Tsusho and Kawasaki Kisen Corporation, and others, are also involved.” The initiative is expected to run through next spring.

Ethereum Enterprise Alliance expands legal industry working group | 14 law firms are joining EEA’s Legal Industry Working Group. Blockchain technology, ICOs, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts…. the legal industry has its work cut out for it from the many legal gray areas these new technologies are creating.

Medical Society of Delaware building a blockchain POC with startup Medscient | ”The Medical Society of Delaware, first formed in 1776, has revealed it will build a proof-of-concept focusing on the pre-authorization process for care providers and medical insurers. By improving the efficiency of that step, the society said it hopes care can be delivered more quickly.” They’ll be presenting on their progress later this month in Baltmore at the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference. Medscient is using blockchain startup Symbiont’s technology infrastructure.

Sony Global Education made a platform to manage student education records | The goal is to consolidate and manage student educational data (including transcripts) from across several schools in Japan. As alternative education channels (online certificates) continue to grow in popularity, blockchain technology may be a relevant piece of a student identity/credential verification system.

Tokyo department store chain, Marui, accepting bitcoin payments in trial run | The Bitcoin point of sale payments use case lives on…” In partnership with cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer, Tokyo-based Marui is testing bitcoin payments at one of its locations in Shinjuku. During the trial, which runs through October 31, it will set a cap of ¥100,000 (about $900) on bitcoin transactions.”

Thailand based KBank launching enterprise Letter of Gaurantee network on IBM Blockchain | Our favorite trend — the allure of blockchain tech being used to digitize those stubborn legacy paper-based processes. They’re estimating ~$150M in Letters of Guarantee will be processed via a blockchain by EOY 2018. “With a more digitized, streamlined and transparent process enabled by blockchain, KBank’s enterprise Letter of Guarantee solution is completely paperless, allowing banks and customers to do with the click of a button what previously required paperwork. The transparency provided by blockchain can help eliminate forgery and provide efficient service delivery. The solution is designed so that a Letter of Guarantee process that previously took up to several days is now significantly shortened.”

Blockchain for AR/VR data | “Lampix, an augmented reality (AR) startup, is building the world’s first blockchain-based “image mining” network. The company has embarked on the ambitious mission of developing one of the largest image databases.” The concern is that the largest datasets of images are centrally controlled. What if Google decides to remove certain images from its database because they subjectively dislike them for reasons x, y, or z? It’s a reasonable concern. Oh, they also launched an ICO.

Xerox has a plan for new record system | “Notably, it’s that first use case — healthcare — that Xerox has honed in on in the relatively few statements the firm has made on blockchain to date. In a blog post published late last month, Ritesh Gandotra, director of global document outsourcing for Xerox India pointed to the tech as a potential platform for storing and exchange electronic health records.”

UNICEF is exploring smart contracts on Ethereum | The common refrain for smart contracts is that the technology is so young, the idea of them as even remotely ‘smart’ is more of an aspiration than a description. This is true. But…baby steps.

Regulation & Policy
Australia introducing bill to extend AML rules to domestic cryptocurrency exchanges | “It remains to be seen whether the measure — for which a release date has not been revealed — will face opposition once lawmakers begin debating it. As reported by CoinDesk, at least a few legislators in Australia want to see bitcoin named an official currency, indicating that at least some may push back against the AML effort.”

Philippines Central Bank approves first cryptocurrency exchange licenses | “The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the registration of two companies to engage in the operation of bitcoin exchanges as part of efforts to regulate the fast growing but potentially risky virtual currency industry.”

Further Reading
Blockstack launching Decentralized Internet Fund // Ukranian lawmakers own lots of bitcoin // Jack Dorsey likes blockchain // “Father of financial futures” seeks cryptocurrency hardware patent // $200M in 60 minutes // “‘Real Dollars’ at work in Cryptocurrency Markets,” says Goldman // Blockchain for the 3D printing economy // Disrupt Twitter! // KeepKey acquired by Shapeshift // Oracle working on blockchain governance

Upcoming Events
The Digital Economy Symposium | August 15–16 | D.C. | Buy tickets here
The Symposium will explore how both businesses and tax administrations are reacting to and managing the disruptive effect of new and emerging business models and technology in Asia, the taxation of the digital economy in the post-BEPS world, including indirect taxes on digital services, as well as the use of new technology to transform tax administration.

Digital Economy Symposium | August 15–16 | Singapore | Buy tickets here
The Symposium will explore how both businesses and tax administrations are reacting to and managing the disruptive effect of new and emerging business models and technology in Asia, the taxation of the digital economy in the post-BEPS world, including indirect taxes on digital services, as well as the use of new technology to transform tax administration.

Fintech Week New York | August 21–25 | Buy tickets here
Fintech Week New York is a week-long, content rich event to unite New York’s Fintech ecosystem with a national and international audience. The week is anchored by a series of niche conferences on Blockchain, Capital Markets, Banking/Insurance, and Money/Payments.

DC Blockchain Center: End of Summer Speaker Series | August 23 | Buy tickets here
Please join the Chamber of Digital Commerce at the DC Blockchain Center on August 23, 2017 to hear from our members and industry executives and technologists on the latest industry developments. Space is limited, RSVP ASAP.

9984 SUMMIT: Blockchain Futures for Developers, Enterprises, & Society | October 5–6 | Berlin, Germany | Buy tickets here
This October, IPDB will link 200 leading blockchain developers and enterprises at its inaugural “9984 >> SUMMIT” to exchange insights, tackle challenges, and build a decentralized tomorrow, together with BigchainDB.

Money 20/20 | October 22–25 | Las Vegas | Buy tickets here
Money20/20 organizes the largest global events enabling payments and financial services innovation for connected commerce at the intersection of mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology.

DCG Tech Summit | October 25–27 | San Francisco | Limited to DCG Connect Members, contact us (network@dcg.co) to learn more!
Our third annual DCG Tech Summit will bring together our global network of founders, investors, and corporate leaders. Our unique blend of presentations, one-on-one meetings, and casual networking create the ideal environment to meet the world’s leading bitcoin and blockchain companies in one day, in one place.

Singapore Fintech Festival | November 13–17 | Buy tickets here
This year, we will be bringing you even more exciting discussions, stimulating demos and insightful debates over the period of 13–17 November 2017. Whether you’re a start-up, technology company, investor, financial institution, research institute or innovation professional, you’ll want to be part of it.

Digital Commodities Summit | November 14 | Buy tickets here
In what will be the first in a series of regional events taking place globally by S&P Global Platts over the coming years, this Summit is designed to look beyond the hype to explore the challenges facing peer-to-peer trade using blockchain. To do so, we are presently sourcing around 20 expert speakers, who will gather to analyze the latest developments, new opportunities and barriers towards using blockchain for traders both now and in future.

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