Al Burgio on Nasdaq #TradeTalks
Al Burgio, DigitalBits Founder, discusses blockchain with Nasdaq Global Markets Reporter, Jill Malandrino. Click here for full interview.
The DigitalBits blockchain is general purpose in nature, supporting the tokenization of assets, and on-chain transfer and trading. Multi-hop, one of the protocols’ core features, allows trades to be performed up to 6 hops, enabling mass-market liquidity, and reduces reliance on direct markets to fill orders. DigitalBits is also fast, sporting 3–5 second confirmation times, making it optimal for fast payments and remittances.
Although DigitalBits is general purpose and open-source, Al Burgio stipulates a maintained focus on supporting certain asset classes that are ideal to tokenize, the first of which is the Loyalty & Rewards Points industry. As it stands, the industry suffers from frictions, high-fragmentation, and an overall lack of liquidity. In the United States alone, the current liability of unused points is in excess of $100 billion. Additionally, of the $48 billion in points issued every year, upwards of $16 billion goes unused. To learn more, check out “Why Loyalty — DigitalBits First Use-Case.”
Burgio cites both marketability and security aspects in response to how blockchain can be utilized to help solve issues in the Loyalty space. “Depending on who you speak to, they’ll say that these points issuers tend to get hacked more than banks do.” — Al Burgio. These security concerns result in centralized banks of points most times managed by the program operators themselves.
Points users are hindered by a lack of real-time experience, where redemption can take up to a week in some cases. The inability to transfer in a timely manner negatively impacts the utility and perceived value of points. Converting points from your credit card to an airline ticket may take a few days, during which the ticket price may increase. Additionally, if you are doing a last minute booking and are unaware of the conversion time, you may miss your flight!
DigitalBits is an enterprise-grade blockchain, not just in how it was engineered, but in terms of its enterprise go-to-market strategy. Assuming a digital supply chain perspective, beyond consumers DigitalBits considers enterprises, brands, SAS and software companies, and beyond this cloud infrastructure, including data centre companies and managed cloud companies that support enterprise and software companies in their consumption of technology. DigitalBits has worked to establish partnerships at every level. Additionally, DigitalBits technology can work in the pre-existing cloud, and is compatible with the server hardware found in multi-billion dollar data centre facilities. The lack of reliance on niche mining hardware allows enterprises to consume this technology without additional capital expenditure.
The DigitalBits blockchain has its own native currency, XDB. You can learn more about the token and its utility within the DigitalBits ecosystem in “Piecing it Together Pt. 2 — Assets, Trustlines, Anchors & the T.N.C.S.” The security token to utility token swap option discussed in the interview is no longer available.
