The Future of Blockchain
This month in our blog alongside NatWest we will be exploring blockchain: providing insight and comment into blockchain developments and future, news, and events.
Blockchains post-ICO, by Nikhil Vagdama — Founder at Propcoin.ai
Bitcoin’s market capitalization is down over 50% since December 2017. Constant headlines are no longer in the newspapers. Things have gone quiet. The hype has seemingly disappeared. For many, dreams of getting rich quick have been shattered.
“2018 is the year for production; it’s the year for implementation.”
Todd McDonald, Co-Founder of R3 (Oct 2017)
2017 was hype. 2018 is about production. Companies busy raising money are now at work delivering.
This year blockchain projects are moving from proof of concept to parallel production. Blockchain-based solutions are now being deployed alongside existing legacy infrastructure. Almost every broker or institutional investor in the world settles US-based securities through The Depository and Trust Clearing Corporation (DTCC). They are planning on running $11 trillion of credit-default swaps through their blockchain system later this year.
As I was told by someone who recently closed a $15 million ICO, ICO’s are still very much alive. At the beginning of the ICO journey, they thought it might be temporary mania. After having gone through it, their thinking has changed. Raising from the crowd for great teams enables more people to participate in promising companies. For many of us, it’s just a matter of time until regulation becomes clearer in more jurisdictions (it is quite clear for example in Switzerland). Until this time there will be scams, and some prudence is advised.
Blockchain investment is also moving from the financial sector to others. Projects in Media, IOT, Cybersecurity, Fashion and Healthcare to name but a few are emerging. Some of these may choose to ICO, and some may not.
Blockchains are a foundational technology. They have the potential to impact the fundamental economic and social systems that our world revolves on. This isn’t going to happen overnight. Much as the Internet took 30 years from TCP/IP to World Wide Web, for blockchains to become ubiquitous in our lives is going to take time.
But it might not take as long as some think.
By Nikhil Vadgama, Founder at Propcoin.ai — Microequity As A New Means To Home Ownership
Your Blockchain Briefing
An interesting article about whether blockchain technology help users regain control of their information.
A look at the benefits of blockchain in the insurance industry, an industry which ‘requires the coordination and cooperation of many different intermediaries with different incentives’.
‘No matter how much blockchain improves it is still headed in the wrong direction’ — An interesting debate…
Blockchain Startups To Watch
CryptoClaim (Insurance)
CryptoClaim is an Imperial College based Insurtech startup. They have engineered a solution to automate claims and improve fraud filtering for motor insurance, by combining the power of blockchain with Artificial Intelligence.
Jook (Fashion)
Jook is a shopping discovery engine. With a couple of clicks you can discover the latest trends and shop what fashionistas are wearing, from thousands of brands and retailers. Jook are based at IDEALondon, our post-accelerator space managed alongside UCL, Cisco and EDF Energy.
Cybertonica (Cybersecurity)
Cybertonica use AI to reduce basket drop-off and increase conversion for banks, PSPs and e-commerce platforms. They are another startup based at IDEALondon.
Dovetail (Healthcare)
Dovetail is using blockchain to revolutionise the way healthcare records are shared. A series of encrypted data exchanges allows different parties to share a digital ledger across a network of computers, without the need for a central authority. These records are secure and immutable.
Refineryy (Real Estate)
Refineryy is a UCL spinout working in collaboration with Consensys and UCL’s Centre for Blockchain Technology, to improve the European CRE/RE credit market.
Quant Network (DLT)
Quant Network use Overledger — the first interoperable blockchain operating system, that facilitates internet-scale development of decentralised, multi-chain applications.
Upcoming Blockchain Events
Blockchains beyond Crypto — Innovative DLT Uses
Wednesday 18th April, 18:00–21:00
As blockchains move from proof of concept to parallel production in the financial sector, attention is now moving to blockchain use cases in other industries.
Join us and UCL for an evening on innovative Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) uses in a variety of industries, where we will talk about DLT innovation beyond cryptocurrencies and showcase the startups mentioned above.
Decentralised A.I. Hack
Saturday 5th May, 10:00 — Sunday 6th May, 19:00
This is a ‘creative jam session’ for AI/ML and blockchain enthusiasts, to tinker with the future of algorithms and society, curated by our AI entrepreneur in residence Nare Vardanyan, Ilia Zintchenko and Newspeak House.
The winning project gets free office space near Shoreditch High Street, so is a great opportunity to get involved in.
Thanks to Nikhil Vagdama, Gracie Jones and John Spindler
