Marshall Islands Issue Their ICO and also crypto links for 03/06/18
I suppose the most interesting news I heard over the weekend is the tiny Pacific Island nation, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (don’t act like you’re not about to hit up Google maps…it’s ok I’ll wait…) has announced its plans to launch SOV — Sovereign coin. SOV is a bit different than the Petro, which is a government issued securities token backed by reserves of natural resources (or so they promise). SOV will be issued directly by the government, with the help of a private enterprise, and will be legal tender within the country, admissible (along with the US Dollar) for tax payments and all government services. Very interested to see how this develops, particularly as the news circulates and gauging global reaction. To be honest, while everyone has been hoping for a government to finally accept crypto as legal tender, something about this just seems a little bit off at first glance. For example — the national currency for the Marshall Islands is the U.S. Dollar, why didn’t they ever mint their own currency before? What has changed now, other than global mania over crypto? Also, it looks as though they’re not replacing USD, merely adding a local crypto. If there isn’t a solid answer for these concerns…then how isn’t this just a currency for no real use other than speculation? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth I guess, but I’d at least like to see a press release that this is being done with an eye toward becoming the predominant currency, not what seems like crowdfunding a poorer country.
This is an older article, so not exactly breaking news, but it’s actually aged quite well in a sense that I think this is where the creative arts are headed, particularly music. It’s been extensively covered that people aren’t usually buying albums anymore. First the iTunes model came about, pushing people to buy individual songs, and that is now pushed aside by streaming. Here, Imogen Heap discusses how blockchain might be the next major step forward. After reading the article, I actually think the application of blockchain might be less client facing, and instead have a bigger impact on the business of music agents/managers, as well as the industries that support musicians (recording, equipment, etc.). I mean, it’s the B2B practices that stand to be the most disrupted by this technology, rather than business-to-consumer. Now, having said that, I’ll just go ahead and completely contradict myself with this much more breaking news:
Mercedes-Benz announces their own plan to go crypto…sort of. MobiCoin is a crypto based project that would reward safe drivers for driving calmly and within reasonable speeds. The reward could then be exchanged for various Mercedes sponsored activities, like tickets for the Mercedes Cup. Of course the question is whether there will be any monetary value associated with the MobiCoin. Could it be traded? Or are they essentially doing customer loyalty rewards, a la airline miles (by the way, that’s how the utility token should work). I would tend to think that’s the case, but it’s worth noting that Mercedes also went ahead and purchased a European mobile payments company that is involved in cryptocurrencies. Hmmmm….
Here’s the latest in “Coinbase is evil and everybody should hate them.” I’m not saying Coinbase is or is not evil. I am saying that if you feel you aren’t happy with them, you should be loudly demanding more fiat to crypto on-ramp choices in the market.
