I had a chance to sit down with Jeff Garzik, co-founder of enterprise blockchain firm Bloc during a lunch break at the Consensus conference last week in New York. The talk of the conference was initial coin offerings (ICOs), he said. TechCrunch provide an introduction in "WTF are ICOs." What they do is enable investors to monetize the network effects a company can produce … [Read more...] about BLOCKCHAIN WATCH 05/28/17
Digital Feds
FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 05/22/17 "Digital currency is inevitable," I told a federal reserve researcher recently. "You mean fiat currency? Issued by the Fed?" She was a bit taken aback by my certainty. "Yes, it's inevitable. I'm not saying when or how or what, but that's where the market is moving." I recalled that conversation … [Read more...] about Digital Feds
BLOCKCHAIN WATCH 05/22/17
Blockchain mania has not swept corporate treasury offices, but treasurers are taking notice. European treasurers who attended last week’s annual corporate treasurer conference in Manchester, U.K., said "they are wondering how to use technical solutions around centralized currency hedging, automation of risk management, bitcoin and distributed ledgers." Read more in, "It’s … [Read more...] about BLOCKCHAIN WATCH 05/22/17
Digital Fuel
FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 05/15/17 It's data. As The Economist newspaper put it in last week's briefing, "data are to this century what oil was to the last one: a driver of growth and change." Picking up on the theme, Hong Kong attorney and FinTech connector Janos Barberis asks, "Who owns the digital oil?", a question also at the heart of last week's newsletter, … [Read more...] about Digital Fuel
Regulatory Riddles
FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 05/8/17 Financial regulators leave a lot to speculation in their public speeches. They leave clues and indicators but, knowing market participants are eager for early policy indications, they are careful not to say much. This came to mind in the last week after reflecting on talks by two of the top financial regulators in the United States who … [Read more...] about Regulatory Riddles
BLOCKCHAIN WATCH 5/8/17
A branch of the UN just launched its first large-scale Ethereum test” The United Nations (UN) began distributing funds to thousands of people in Jordan as part of a trial using the ethereum blockchain, reports CoinDesk. "For the next month, cryptographically unique coupons representing an undisclosed number of Jordanian dinars will be sent to dozens of shops in five refugee … [Read more...] about BLOCKCHAIN WATCH 5/8/17