The December Review
As we wrap up the year, it is natural for us to look back and take stock of where we came from and where we are going. The year started with a big bang after the success of our ICO, but bearish times hit the crypto markets. We had to hunker down, grow our team and focus on allocating the money we raised to optimize the development of our platform and app and fuel our pursuit of a new way to conduct finance. We decided to adopt a responsible pace to ensure that we don’t fail in our mission because of the pressure to build our products in haste. Integral to this approach is giving a vital role to the feedback from our community of token holders in our decision-making process.
Of course, we have seen setbacks and delays: building an ecosystem around new technology is riddled with challenges and not free of glitches. But we have persisted, we are focused, and we are confident that our efforts will come to fruition in 2019.
In December, we reached new and important landmarks. We introduced a new utility for our CHSB token, we entered a new exchange in Asia, and we refined our community platform into a Swarm Intelligence Program using Reddit as our temporary home before our own platform is in place.
December was also a month full of events and conferences. Our co-founders and head of events went to Paris for the Blockchain Summit and gave talks about the future of ICOs. We wrapped up the year in Switzerland with a series of events starting in Zug, ending in Geneva. Our community manager and CBDO reached out to the German community hosting our last European Blockchain Unchained even of the year in Berlin.
In Asia, our Japan team continued to make strides. We co-sponsored a hackathon in Vietnam, opened doors in South Korea by attending theOKEx & 99EX conference in Seoul. Our Asia team is growing with new hires to help us in the Japan office and with our rapid expansion in Asia.
Our community continued to grow on Reddit with the weekly competition series and the Swarm Intelligence Program. The Community Ambassadors Program is growing, with new members applying to become community ambassadors from the four corners of the globe. We hope to expand our community programs in the new year as we prepare to launch the SwissBorg app.
We began publishing the Monthly Review in May 2018, at the suggestion of community members. It has now reached its last edition of this year, and with it, we want to thank you for following our progress. We wish you all a merry holiday season and a happy and bullish new year!
CHSB’s New Utility
Since SwissBorg has already built the referendum DApp that allows active members to have a REWARDING utility, it would only make sense to add a SAVING utility to reduce costs for our community members and provide a complementary model. Allow us to introduce you to this utility, read more here.
Swarm Intelligence Program
At the core of SwissBorg’s philosophy of meritocracy is the community. Swarm Intelligence is the concept of incorporating each individual’s work or input in a collective effort to improve the results of a project, as a whole, as in Wikipedia for example. In our Swarm Intelligence program, we want to go a step further and reward our community members for sharing their input and feedback. These rewards can be extrinsic, in the form of tokens or cryptocurrencies, or intrinsic, in the form of inclusion in our decision-making process. This inclusion of the community is ambitious, revolutionary, and disruptive. It is an attempt to rewrite the way business has been conducted for centuries to include the individual contributors. Read more.
Legal Update: Ardian Balaj Reports
December has been a busy month for our Legal Army! Apart from business as usual and the preparation of the licensing application files, I have been training Anda, Serena, and Julian on SwissBorg activities as well as the legal aspects of these activities. Much effort has been poured into crypto workshops, payment systems explanations, and other elements to make them as ready as possible to rock on! Not only do they have the brain for that, but they also have the mindset, the motivation and the commitment that are necessary to navigate in the complex, ever-changing field of cryptos.
The first LegalChain conference was a success and the feedback excellent! SwissBorg Legal will keep on organising such conferences to tackle pressing legal issues, by going beyond platitudes and mere definitions. LegalChain is also a fantastic opportunity to gather Swiss legal actors in the field and create a reservoir of knowledge.
Julian reported on the discussions held during the panel; you can read more: here.
Which topic do you think LegalChain should discuss for the next conference? Please send us your suggestions!
Finding the right person to fill the position as Legal and Compliance Officer in Malta has been another priority for us and the recruitment efforts will continue for this strategic position.
Two thousand nineteen will most definitely be the year of legitimacy: VFA and broker/dealer licenses in Malta, a passport to EU, VC and broker/dealer in Japan, VQF membership maintenance in Switzerland and strategic planning for other forms of licensing in Switzerland! A lot to do to be perceived as entirely legitimate to the eyes not only of the regulators but also in the eyes of our community.
SwissBorg Japan and Asia Reports
OKEx x 99EX Conference Korea Trip
SwissBorg Asia team’s Ken Yagami, Amber Chook, and Hyun Soo Kim joined OKEx & 99EX 2-day Conference in Seoul to present SwissBorg with blockchain industry leaders in Asia. For two exciting days, 1,000 innovators, thinkers, and blockchain enthusiasts participated in the conference. We’re excited to move forward and grow globally with OKEx and 99EX in 2019 — accessing millions of OKEx users in China and Korea as well as developing a solid presence in Southeast Asia. CHSB listing date & time to be announced very soon! Read more about our Seoul trip: here.
Check out the interview with Ken Yagami on Block Times TV, Korea’s №1 blockchain media (in Korean): http://blocktimestv.com/m/view.php?idx=5194&from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0
It was two days packed with fruitful meetings with Korean media, VCs, and high-quality projects. Not only did we created new partnerships and strengthened relationships with our Korean CHSB Holders, but we discovered many great projects as potential candidates to participate in our upcoming major China-Japan Blockchain Conference: Blockchain Unicorns Tokyo happening on January 14th: https://www.meetup.com/Tokyo-Blockchain-Unchained-Meetup/events/257123065/
We are proud to feature a dynamic lineup of industry leaders and forward thinkers from China & Japan: Da Hongfei, Founder of NEO; Yu Wenhui, Founder of CoinVoice; Kenji Ito, CEO of CoinOtaku; Arata, CEO of Crypto Times; Chen Fei, Co-Founder of 99EX; Tony Evans, Co-Founder of Fintech Global Consultants; Wang Chao, SwissBorg China Ambassador.
Hiring in Japan and Asia
On the hiring front, the Japan team continues to hire experienced banking professionals in ongoing efforts to build an organisation that meets the standards of a legitimate financial institution. In December we made two key hires.
The first is Yiyi Qian. Originally from China, Yiyi joins us from State Street Trust and Banking in Japan where she worked in derivatives operations, Asia client relationship management and investment reporting. Not only will her extensive banking experience be a considerable asset once Japan is operational, but her trilingual abilities will be a big plus to the Asia PR and marketing efforts as well.
The second is Yasushi Takeishi. Who will be joining the VC License Team as a senior compliance advisor. He was most recently Head of Risk Management and Compliance at an FX trading firm in Japan, successfully applying for Type 1 Financial Instruments License (Japanese broker-dealer license). He also has many years of experience as an FX and options trader. He will be assisting Ken, Mark, and Tamami with the preparation of documentation that is necessary for the VC license application.
The Trip to Akita University: Alex Fazel Reports
As much as it is meaningful for SwissBorg team members to be present at all these major tech events to promote awareness and grow the community, something completely unexpected happened during a blockchain seminar with the excellent IOST team at Akita University last week. Speaking of which, IOST will be releasing their mainnet as of February 2019! For more info click here.
It was an eye-opening experience on all levels.
Here are 3 of the so-called “levels” and what they represent to SB:
- Students: the youth is, hands down, the most significant aspect of university keynotes. Our core message to the students was. “We are building the infrastructure today, but you guys can be responsible for scaling it tomorrow”. This message resonated especially knowing the importance of controlling our wealth thanks to decentralisation. Results? A vast majority of attendees are already seeking internships (including at SB) and might start coding on open source platforms that benefit DAOs before heading to private platforms.
- Professors: all teachers or professors are equally a big part of the puzzle since they can push for budgets related to research labs or in this case, get interested in building an entire blockchain dedicated course to spread the word.
- What’s in it for us, the SB community? Well, to our surprise, one of Japan’s #1 mainstream newspapers, Asahi Shinbun was present despite showing no interest in all the heavily sponsored tech events. How come? The report told me that this has a more critical impact on society as a whole and not just business. As much as blockchain media is quite easily accessible to us at this point, mainstream is extremely challenging, so this is a very good hint for SB to get exposure among the mass media in a more organic way.
Overall, a very inspiring trip for us. We will continue to educate the youth/generation Z so that hopefully, in the near future, we will count our community members in millions and no longer in thousands.
On a side note, following the positive news related to the VFA act in Malta and despite the profound connection to Japan, I have accepted to make a sacrifice by relocating my family to London. I’m on a quest to achieving the SwissBorg mission statements and will give my utmost to deliver all the promises we’ve made to our wonderful community.
Risa Suzuki takes SwissBorg to Vietnam
Our Japan team’s Risa Suzuki was in Vietnam for two Blockchain events that we co-sponsored with several other big names in the Asian blockchain and fintech space. The Windsor Plaza Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City was the fabulous venue for the hackathon and the meetup.
For two exciting days, 130 engineers and programmers participated in the hackathon that hosted by two well-known companies, Framgia, and Long Hash. Framgia is a Tokyo based company with more than 1000 engineers in Hanoi. Long Hash is working on multiple Blockchain based projects in media, big data, and incubation, including a card-shaped wallet device with high security that is accessed by fingerprints. Read more: here.
Blockchain Unchained
Paris Blockchain Summit:
This past weekend in Paris we made some magic! We were back in my hometown for an intense and extraordinary weekend with my bro, Kipras Vazalinskas.
“The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42.” ( The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams )
We started our French journey at 42 (School), a private, nonprofit and tuition-free computer programming school created and funded by French billionaire Xavier Niel. A truly inspirational place for us who have the vision & resolve to “edutain”, to educate and entertain, and share our knowledge and give back to society. Read more: here.
BU Switzerland Road Trip:
We ended the year with a tour of our home base, Switzerland. Starting with Zug, crypto valley and ending in Geneva with local and international enthusiasts and experts. Speakers Anthony Puntoriero, CEO & Founder of Instant Sponsor and Nicolas Sierro, Product & Project Manager by EverdreamSoft (BitCrystals) joined our founder, Cyrus Fazel, our CBDO Christopher Diserens, for several interesting talks on the future of ICOs and blockchain technology. Our event team’s Diego Berchtold and head of events, Antoine Guesry, did a great job of organising and making sure that the events were both educational and entertaining: fulfilling our promise of edutaining at our events.
BU Berlin: Otilia Gudana Reports
We closed 2018 with the Christmas Edition Blockchain Unchained event in Berlin on the December 18th. In Germany, we met a wide variety of interesting people, from SwissBorg fans to scientists, students, job seekers, blockchain enthusiast, and of course, computer programmers.
SwissBorg´s CBDO, Chris Diserens kicked-off the night with a presentation about finance in the time of cryptos. We had the chance to listen and learn about the finance from our very experienced CBDO. The second speaker of the night, Riccardo Lamanna, Co-Founder of Cryptowalletcheck talked about the future of the STO´s and gave us his insights on the current regulatory status in the European market. Antoni Hauptmann, Founder of Ourz, showed us examples of the real use cases of blockchain technology.
Dr Milosz Matuschek (lawyer), Founder of Eternitas, presented us with how he aims to bring more innovation into the crypto space and to give autonomy back to the individual when he/she lacks it the most: at the moment of death. He gave an interesting legal presentation about testaments and how to keep control of your Will and keep it in your own hands.
After the event, feeling the cheer of the season in the air, we all went to the Berliner Christmas market, drank glühwein, and spoke more about our mutual passion: cryptos.
New Hires
SwissBorg is Hiring! We are a path-breaking, diverse and incredibly open-minded team. Find out if one of our promising positions is meant for you: https://jobs.lever.co/swissborg
