Ask nearly any leading banker or financial executive to go on the record about blockchain, and you are liable to hear crickets. After all, it’s an industry built on trust and stability and crypto’s recent legacy of volatility and even fraud has tainted the topic.



It’s ironic because, behind the scenes, few industries are eagerly working on blockchain projects as feverishly as financial services firms are. Bank of America, for example, has filed nearly 60 blockchain patents. Yet it refused to speak to Forbes about its dive into distributed ledger tech. JPMorgan’s CEO Dimon famously threatened to fire any employee caught trading bitcoin. Today it is developing its own digital token.



The world&#8217;s largest, most centralized and most powerful institutions are now embracing the technology designed to unseat them because they realize that at its, core blockchain is just lines of code that simplify accounting and record keeping. For hundreds of years, bankers have exhibited mastery in ledger keeping and they have no intention of giving that up.



Our inaugural Blockchain 50 list is dominated by financial firms. From BNP Paribas and Citigroup to Nasdaq to Mastercard and Visa, the biggest names in global money are making strides in blockchain testing and adoption. 



They&#8217;re using the technology to speed up settlement times and interbank payments, simplify processes that still rely on paper and fax machines, and improve security measures with the goal of both saving time and money now and creating new ways to make a profit in the future.



Fidelity, which now has 100 employees devoted to digital assets, has launched a digital asset custody service for institutional investors and is already building a trading platform for purchasing crypto. PNC bank is using Ripple’s blockchain software to process international payments. 



Santander is already collecting revenue from One Pay FX, a blockchain-based foreign exchange service that is also built on Ripple technology. Dutch banking giant ING’s dedicated blockchain team that has launched 8 pilots since 2016, and alongside Credit Suisse completed the first legally enforceable securities swap on a blockchain last year.



Even banks that didn&#8217;t make our list, like the Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of America, are testing the waters. RBC has conducted 8 live pilots, and Bank of America has filed the most blockchain patents of any company in the industry.



Notably, these early first forays into the blockchain space have fostered something unexpected among these major competitors: collaboration, especially through industry efforts like Hyperledger and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. “I remember how different people from different institutions tried to start talking about the common work in this moment,” says BBVA’s Carlos Kuchkovsky, CTO of new digital business, of the early days of those groups. “That’s how we want to collaborate now, to create common new rails.”



Citibank has partnered with Barclays to launch a blockchain app store. ING and BNP Paribas are just two of several big banks that partnered to create komgo, a blockchain trade commodity network, and UBS has partnered with BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, and Santander to create a way to exchange digital cash.



Of course, these banks know that there is a long road ahead when it comes to integrating blockchain into their daily processes. Blockchain is not a catch-all solution, and there are sure to be new hurdles ahead, but some banks say they are already reaping the rewards. “You already have tangible benefits but this still is not the end state,” says ING’s program director of distributed ledger technology Mariana Gomez de la Villa of a recent ING pilot. “The ecosystem is growing.”



-Sarah Hansen; Forbes Staff

Aerial View of the Network of the Office Building

Controlling The Ledger: The World’s Largest Financial Firms Embrace Blockchain

It’s a balmy 80 degrees on a mid-December day in Singapore, and something is puzzling Allen Day, a 41-year-old data scientist. Using the tools he has developed at Google, he can see a mysterious concerted usage of artificial intelligence on the blockchain for Ethereum. 



Ether is the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency (after bitcoin and XRP), and it still sports a market cap of some $11 billion despite losing 83% of its value in 2018. Peering into its blockchain—the distributed database of transactions underpinning the cryptocurrency—Day detects a “whole bunch” of “autonomous agents” moving funds around “in an automated fashion.” 



While he doesn’t yet know who has created the AI, he suspects they could be the agents of cryptocurrency exchanges trading among themselves in order to artificially inflate ether’s price. 



“It’s not really just single agents doing things on their own,” Day says from Google’s Asia-Pacific headquarters. “They’re forming with other agents to have some larger group effect.” 



Day’s official title is senior developer advocate for Google Cloud, but he describes his role as “customer zero” for the company’s cloud computing efforts. 



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As such it’s his job to anticipate demand before a product even exists, and he thinks making the blockchain more accessible is the next big thing. 



Just as Google enabled (and ultimately profited) from making the internet more usable 20 years ago, its next billions may come from shining a bright light on blockchains. If Day is successful, the world will know whether blockchain’s real usage is living up to its hype.



Danish researcher Thomas Silkjaer is using Google&#8217;s BigQuery to map publicly available information about XRP cryptocurrency addresses. The craters represent some of cryptocurrency&#8217;s largest exchanges.



Last year Day and a small team of open-source developers quietly began loading data for the entire Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains into Google’s big-data analytics platform, BigQuery. Then, with the help of lead developer Evgeny Medvedev, he created a suite of sophisticated software to search the data.



In spite of a total lack of publicity, word of the project spread quickly among crypto-minded coders. In the past year, more than 500 projects were created using the new tools, trying to do everything from predicting the price of bitcoin to analyzing wealth disparity among ether holders. 



When it comes to cloud computing, Google is far behind Amazon and Microsoft. Last year Google pocketed an estimated $3 billion in revenue from cloud ser­vices. Amazon and Microsoft, meanwhile, generated about $27 billion and $10 billion, respectively.



Day is hoping that his project, known as Blockchain ETL (extract, transform, load), will help even the playing field. But even here Google is trying to catch up. Amazon entered blockchain in a big way in 2018 with a suite of tools for building and managing distributed ledgers. 



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Microsoft got into the space in 2015, when it released tools for Ethereum’s blockchain. It now hosts a range of services as part of its Azure Blockchain Workbench. But while Amazon and Microsoft are focusing on making it easier to build blockchain apps, Day is focusing on exposing how blockchains are actually being used, and by whom. 



“In the future, moving more economic activity on chain won’t just require a consensus level of trust,” says Day, referring to the core validating mechanism of blockchain technology. 



“It will require having some trust in knowing about who it is you’re actually interacting with.” In other words, if blockchain is to go mainstream, some of its beloved anonymity features will have to be abandoned.



A native of Placer County, California, Day got his first computer at the age of 5 and a few years later started writing simple programs. A fascination with volcanoes and dinosaurs turned his interest to life sciences, and he ultimately graduated from the University of Oregon with a dual degree in biology and Mandarin in 2000. From there he headed to UCLA to pursue a doctorate in human genetics and helped build a computer program to browse the genome.



 This Silkjaer image uses data for the XRP cryptocurrency to show the movement of funds across the entire ledger of transactions, culminating in a snapshot of funds in an actual user&#8217;s wallet.



It was at UCLA where Day began relying on distributed computing, a concept that is core to blockchains, which store their data on a large network of individual computers. In the early 2000s Day needed to analyze the massive amounts of data that make up the human genome. To solve this problem he hooked many small computers together, vastly increasing their power. 



“Distributed-systems technology has been in my tool kit for a while,” Day says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I could see there were interesting characteristics of blockchains that could run a global supercomputer.” </blockquote>



Hired in 2016 to work in the health and bio­informatics areas of Google, Day segued to blockchains, the hottest distributed-computing effort on the planet. But the talents he had honed—sequencing genomes for infectious diseases in real time and using AI to increase rice yields—were not easily applied to decoding blockchain. 



Before Day and Medvedev released their tools, just searching a blockchain required specialized software called “block explorers,” which let users hunt only for specific transactions, each labeled with a unique tangle of 26-plus alphanumeric characters. Google’s Blockchain ETL, by contrast, lets users make more generalized searches of entire ecosystems of transactions.



To demonstrate how customers could use Blockchain ETL to make improvements to the crypto economy, Day has used his tools to examine the so-called hard fork, or an irrevocable split in a blockchain database, that created a new cryptocurrency—bitcoin cash—from bitcoin in the summer of 2017. 



This particular split was the result of a Hatfield and McCoy “war” within the bitcoin community between a group who wanted to leave bitcoin as it was and another who wanted to develop a currency that, like cash, was cheaper and faster to use for small payments. 



Using Google’s BigQuery, Day discovered that bitcoin cash, rather than increasing so-called micro-transactions, as the defecting developers claimed, was actually being hoarded among big holders of bitcoin cash.



 “I’m very interested to quantify what’s happening so that we can see where the legitimate use cases are for blockchain,” Day says. “Then we can move to the next use case and develop out what these technologies are really appropriate for.”



Day’s work is inspiring others. Tomasz Kolinko is a Warsaw-based programmer and the creator of a service that analyzes smart contracts, a feature of certain blockchains that is designed to transparently enforce contractual obligations like collateralized loans but with less reliance on third parties, like lawyers. Kolinko was frustrated with his blockchain queries.



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In December, Kolinko met Day at a hackathon in Singapore. Within a month of the meeting, Kolinko was using Google’s tools to search for a smart contract feature called a “selfdestruct,” designed to limit a contract’s life span. Using his own software in conjunction with Day’s, Kolinko took 23 seconds to search 1.2 million smart contracts—something that would have taken hours before. 



The result: Almost 700 of them had left open a selfdestruct feature that would let anyone instantly kill the smart contract, whether that person was authorized or not. “In the past you couldn’t just easily check all the contracts that were using it,” Kolinko says. “This tool is both the most scary and most inspiring I’ve ever built.” 



Day is now expanding beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Litecoin, zcash, dash, bitcoin cash, ethereum classic and dogecoin are being added to BigQuery. Independent developers are loading their own crypto data sets on Google. 



Last August, a Dutch developer named Wietse Wind uploaded the entire 400 gigabytes of transaction data from Ripple’s XRP blockchain, another popular cryptocurrency, into BigQuery. 



Wind’s data, which he updates every 15 minutes, prompted a Danish designer named Thomas Silkjaer to create a heat map of crypto flows. The resulting colorful orb reveals at a glance more than a million crypto wallets, including big ex­changes like Binance and London’s crypto debit card startup Wirex, which are neck deep in XRP transactions. 



“Google has been a bit of a sleeping giant in blockchain,” says BlockApps CEO Kieren James-Lubin, who is partnering with Google to sell enterprise blockchain apps. 



In addition to Day’s work, Google has filed numerous patents related to the blockchain, including one in 2018 to use a “lattice” of interoperating blockchains to increase security, a big deal in a world where untold millions of crypto have been stolen by hackers. 



The company is also pushing its developers to build apps on the Ethereum blockchain, and Google’s venture arm, GV, has made a number of significant investments in crypto startups. 



The giant, it seems, is waking up.



-Michael del Castillo; Forbes Staff

1130303166

Navigating Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP: How Google Is Quietly Making Blockchains Searchable

Alex Sunnarborg is a founding partner of Tetras Capital, a New York City-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Forbes estimates to have $30 million in assets under management. Tetras is well known for a recent bearish bet it made: It shorted ether in May 2018, a month when the digital currency’s average price was nearly $700. Today, ether hovers around $100. Before Tetras, Sunnarborg did a stint in investment banking and founded crypto exchange and research app Lawnmower, which was acquired by CoinDesk in 2017.



Forbes:&nbsp;How would you describe your investment strategy?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;In a bull market when everything is going up, especially when bitcoin is going up, altcoins generally will return more than bitcoin. In 2017 when we launched, we were looking to make altcoin trades. [Altcoins are generally considered any crypto asset other than bitcoin.] They historically have more volatility and higher betas.



In a bear market, altcoins are still trading at a higher beta, but to the downside. In 2018, bitcoin fell about 75%, but altcoins fell 95%. It’s funny how strongly they’re still correlated, yet altcoins have a higher beta. Today, if we’re trying to hedge our exposure to this space, before we short bitcoin we look at something with a higher beta.



Forbes:&nbsp;You shorted ether in May 2018, when it was trading above $500. Now ether is at $100. Obviously, that went well. Was it your biggest win for 2018?



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Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I would say so, yeah.



Forbes:&nbsp;Where’s the bottom for ether?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;It’s funny, these cryptos don’t have a good way to come to a fundamental value. I can’t tell you ether is fundamentally going to bottom at $50. It was at $10 two years ago, right? These assets trade so much relatively to each other, so I think ether’s short-term bottom would be in line with bitcoin starting to turn. If bitcoin turned tomorrow and rallied, I think ether would, too.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">School Counselors Are The Glue In The School</h4>



Forbes:&nbsp;Over the past few months, we’ve seen issues with ConsenSys struggling and doing layoffs. Do you think that’s a bad sign for the future of Ethereum?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Yeah. ConsenSys is an integral piece of the Ethereum ecosystem. All the Ethereum decentralized applications and products it supports have had minimal user growth. A lot of them still haven’t launched and are still pretty difficult to use, and the daily active user counts are less than 100.



Augur has about $40,000 of money at stake across all its prediction markets, but the investors behind Augur have put up tens of millions. It has a market cap of hundreds of millions. There’s this massive disconnect between how much money is still tied up in these projects and how much people actually use them.



I’ve also noticed some Ethereum developers basically talking about building on some competing blockchains. People are talking about launching on Dfinity or Polkadot. At least at a high level, it does not look or feel good. It looks like a drop in momentum and steam.



Forbes:&nbsp;Are you currently short ether?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I don’t think I should comment on that right now. We have not held ether since we first published our short thesis in July 2018. We then went short ether, and we have taken that position off three or four times in 2018.



Forbes:&nbsp;Has bitcoin bottomed yet?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I don’t think so, and I think calling that is very difficult. That’s part of the reason I’m really thankful that we’re in the position we are right now. We can hedge ourselves, remain more neutral and not have to call that exact price or timing bottom. I’m not confident right now. Our portfolio is relatively neutral—we have cash and short positions.



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Forbes:&nbsp;What are you buying and holding?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Obviously, I’m a huge proponent of bitcoin. And if the market were to turn right now, what liquid altcoin sector would we even look at? We’re very biased against anything that did an ICO, because we think they’re pretty much all illegal securities offerings. Just by cutting that out, you are left with a very small handful of assets. A use case I still find interesting, because bitcoin doesn’t have that functionality yet, is private transactions.



Forbes:&nbsp;Among privacy coins, which do you like best?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I think Mimblewimble and Grin are pretty interesting—the fair launch process, the focus on privacy and the inflation. I think zcash and monero are both still interesting.



Forbes:&nbsp;Can you explain what Grin did to create a fair launch?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;There’s only so many projects that don’t launch their blockchain or token without an ICO or some initial funding. Grin tried to use the ethos of bitcoin of saying there’s going to be a genesis block, and people are going to start mining the coin. There’s no way you can buy it or get access to this coin ahead of time. That’s very similar to how monero launched, and both of those attract a lot of interest from people in bitcoin, largely for that reason.



Forbes:&nbsp;What other factors do you look at?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;Another huge thing for me is the security. So, things like that recent Ethereum Classic 51% attack (when users attacked the blockchain with computing power to spend the same coins twice, undermining the primary function of the blockchain). These blockchains where it’s possible to rewrite the blockchain for not that much money relative to how much you could make by double-spending—those are immediately not attractive. Unfortunately, in the crypto space, security and price are generally very correlated. So, as the price of ether falls, it gets less secure.



Forbes:&nbsp;I’ve seen you tweet about the virtual reality Ethereum-based platform Decentraland. Do you like that project?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;I find the concept of digital land very interesting, because of its scarcity. I like the concept of digital scarcity. This land asset seems interesting as something I could own and build on, and maybe charge players a fee for. I could sell it to someone else in the future. The value actually makes sense to me. But there’s this other token in Decentraland called mana, which was created via an ICO. You have to use mana to buy land. I absolutely hate this token; it’s totally unnecessary. I think the ICO was just done to raise money. They sold these tokens, and then essentially, they’re backing into what to do with them.



Forbes:&nbsp;I’ve also seen you tweet about EOS and its growing number of transactions. Are you bullish on it?



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Sunnarborg:&nbsp;No. The one-year long, $4 billion-dollar ICO seems a little excessive to me. The whole governance system, with 21 block producers that can essentially make, vote, or deny everything, is a weird concept to me.



Forbes:&nbsp;What should investors be monitoring for signals about where the market is headed?



Sunnarborg:&nbsp;One of the big, fundamental things I want to see is whether the Fidelity crypto trading product actually rolls out in March. And do people actually start to use it? A very similar question: What’s the status of trading platform Bakkt? Will it get approved, and are people going to use it?



And how does the composition of global exchange volume start to shape up from here? Does volume increase on regulated, brand-name platforms—platforms that the next wave of institutions would actually trust?



What I’m really looking for in all these comments: Will this market actually clean up? Can we start to trust crypto data more, like trading volume numbers? We need more regulated, trusted players to improve the trading venues, because I think right now the SEC and many people are scared of manipulation, hacks and very shady venues for trading.



What would be really good for a market bottom to happen would be for every potential bad thing to happen immediately. I would love to see the SEC come down on people really hard. One of the biggest problems in this space is there are so many bad actors, and so many were related to ICOs. The SEC just has such a massive task ahead of them.



One way to think about the bottom is that it happens when all the bad news gets washed out. At that point the only thing to do is go up, and you can’t really talk about any negative catalysts anymore, because they’ve all happened.



Basically, I think we’re pretty close to the bottom, and what would help is if some more of that clarity and action came out. It probably would have been helpful for the bottom if the VanEck exchange-traded fund would have gotten totally rejected; if the SEC slapped some more of these people around and essentially maximum pain came onto the market. At that point we would see where, if any, buyers jumped in.



Excerpted from the February 2019 issue of&nbsp;<a href="https://esp.forbes.com/subscribe?PC=F8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forbes CryptoAsset And Blockchain Advisor</a>.



-Jeff Kauflin; Forbes Staff

Noted Hedge Fund Says Crypto Hasn’t Bottomed Yet

While 2017 was the heyday for the entire crypto industry, in 2018 things turned a little darker.



Falling prices, fears around crypto regulation, lackluster institutional interest, and concerns over the ICO funding model which had run rampant in the previous year, all combined into the perfect storm of crypto doom and gloom.



While much focus is placed on token prices as a barometer of the heath of crypto, a new industry analysis has found the number of blockchain startups in the sector declined precipitously last year.



Novum Insights—which monitors around 9,000 companies in the blockchain and crypto sectors by tracking token trading as well as &#8220;signs of life&#8221; activity on websites, social accounts and GitHub pages—found over 1,811 companies, or 20% of its sample, stopped showing any such signs in 2018, and many simply vanished entirely.



Reasons for the failures identified by Novum range from outright scams and Ponzi schemes where project creators simply vanished, to the more mundane business reasons of poor capital management, business model failures and shifting regulations.



“A large number of companies were shut down in 2018 after India and China’s announcements of considering cryptocurrencies illegal on their soil,” added&nbsp;Novum’s CEO and founder&nbsp;Toby Lewis.



The failures in Novum&#8217;s sample also affected some verticals more than others, with failures affecting more than 30% of crypto companies working in the manufacturing sector, and more than 20% of companies in the entertainment, logistics and agriculture sectors.



The most promising vertical for crypto and blockchain in 2018 was education and academia where slightly over 10% of companies failed.



Despite the downturn, a total of 1,065 new ICOs raised about $21 billion for crypto and blockchain startups last year, although this figure was skewed towards Q1 and Q2 when crypto prices were between 80% and 90% higher.



Novum’s sample of crypto companies—which isn’t necessarily representative of the wider sector—suggests a contraction of business activity in the blockchain and crypto sectors during 2018, given the high level of failures and lower numbers of companies raising capital.



Time will tell if 2019 shows any better signs of life.



-Oliver Smith Forbes Staff

Cryptocurrency Mining In Africa As Poor Sheperdherder Proves A Point

Blockchain Startups Showed No “Signs Of Life” In 2018

Cryptocurrency exchanges who want to use Nasdaq’s proprietary surveillance technology need to have more than money.



A team of about 20 people contribute to helping in an elaborate due-diligence process aimed at ensuring that any exchange who wants to use the technology that scans for fraudulent transaction patterns is both technically capable, and morally inclined to use the powerful software wisely.



For exchanges who pass the test (and can foot the bill) they’ll be granted access to the same surveillance technology Nasdaq itself uses to ensure its clients that trading volume is as free from fraud and manipulation as possible.



So far, seven cryptocurrency exchanges have passed Nasdaq’s muster, according to a Nasdaq representative speaking with&nbsp;Forbes, though only two, Gemini and SBI Virtual Currency, have been publicized. As more cryptocurrency exchanges seek to lure new customers, the assurance of Nasdaq’s technology is already being used to attract institutions and traders used to more mainstream venues.



During a briefing with members of media today, Nasdaq’s head of exchange and regulator surveillance team, Tony Sio, who works within the market surveillance division, shared the questions every cryptocurrency exchange must answer as part of a larger presentation on the state of the industry around the world.



“Historically, we don’t do such a large vetting process for our clients because they are much more well-known,&#8221; said Sio. “But as we started working with less well-known names, startups, then we realized we needed to do this check process.”



During the briefing at Nasdaq&#8217;s offices earlier today, Sio presented a detailed overview of how the company on-boards its crypto exchange clients, broken down in to three categories: Business Model, KYC/AML, and Exchange Governance &amp; Controls.



While the press briefing was for educational purposes, in an interview following, Sio provided&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;with further context, explaining how his team of legal and technical experts use the criteria to evaluate possible customers for risk. Not everyone makes the cut, he says.



The first section of a document, titled “Key Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Cryptocurrency Exchange,&#8221; was called “Business Model.” Of the questions in that section, one jumped out: “How reputable are the products available to trade on the venue?”



What’s interesting about this is that it shows Nasdaq is concerned about who is using crypto assets, and how they are being used. As questions about the importance of how a crypto asset was used in the past (Was it used to buy drugs? Does that matter?) continue to be sorted out, this point will likely only continue to raise in value.



The second section of the document is called “KYC/AML,” which stands for know-your-customer/anti-money laundering. Like the questions about business models, the most interesting question in this section relates to reputation. “What is the organizational structure and what are the founders’ backgrounds (i.e. tech expertise, financial markets expertise, etc.).”



What stands out about this question is the importance that past experience plays. From the early days of cryptocurrency, and now into other crypto-assets, the industry&#8217;s biggest value proposition was that it would democratize finance and a wide range of industries by letting retail consumers build and manage their own financial products.



Instead of innovation coming from the top down, crypto would be grassroots. While Nasdaq has shown a willingness to work with some unusual clients in the cryptospace, the ones we know about support what these questions reveal about Nasdaq&#8217;s interest in working with proven entities, something other regulated exchanges and technology providers will likely follow.



In the third and final section of the “key questions” document, “Are crypto asset listing standards in place?” is the most insightful. While some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, like Circle (which owns the Poloniex exchange) and Coinbase, publicly post their new asset listing process, others are much more opaque, leaving open the door to pay-to-play allegations and other potentially fraudulent activity.



Most recently, in June 2018 SBI Virtual Currencies run by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings,&nbsp;<a href="https://business.nasdaq.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/1728735/gemini-to-launch-market-surveillance-technology-in-collaboration-with-nasdaq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced&nbsp;</a>it was using Nasdaq’s matching system. Before that, in April 2018, the heavily licensed Gemini cryptocurrency exchange run by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sbigroup.co.jp/english/news/pdf/2018/0604_a_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced&nbsp;</a>it was using Nasdaq’s SMARTS surveillance system. “Our deployment of Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance will help ensure that Gemini is a rules-based marketplace for all market participants,” said Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss in a statement at the time.



Beyond providing technical support to these exchanges, Nasdaq’s interest in blockchain has been largely limited to investing in other non-cryptocurrency applications of the technology. In September 2015 Nasdaq&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2015/09/09/visa-citi-nasdaq-invest-30-million-in-blockchain-startup-chain-com/#4ea03d5c199c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">joined&nbsp;</a>a $30 million investment round in Chain, a blockchain startup that eventually partnered with Nasdaq to launch Linq, a platform for issuing private equities. Then, last week Nasdaq led a $20 million&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/01/23/exclusive-nasdaq-leads-20-million-investment-in-enterprise-blockchain-startup-symbiont/?ss=crypto-blockchain" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">investment&nbsp;</a>in Symbiont, another blockchain company building services that eliminate middlemen in traditional financial workflows.



While competitors like the New York Stock Exchange have partnered with Microsoft and Starbucks to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange, Bakkt,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/caitlinlong/2018/08/03/ice-creating-new-cryptocurrency-market-a-double-edged-sword/#29482e031015" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">later this year</a>, Nasdaq&#8217;s cryptocurrency exchange guidelines are likely to be limited to providing technical support for now.



“The objective that we’re trying to work with crypto, is we see this as a growing asset class,” says Sio. “So we’re working to help provide our technology, it could be around matching, it could be around surveillance, to help our customers as they grow their marketplaces.”



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/">&#8211;</a>Michael del Castillo Forbes Staff

RC115698ECF0

Nasdaq Is Now Working With 7 Cryptocurrency Exchanges

George Gordon is on a quest to revolutionize the financial system. The director of Africa Master Blockchain Company talks digital currencies, blind risks and board games.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



What is this new African cryptocurrency you are offering? 



Where the majority of current digital currencies are based on speculative models, AfriUnion Coin (AUC) and the AfriNational Tokens (ANT)are designed for a transactional purpose allowing international payments, remittances, foreign direct investment as well as day-to-day transactions at local retail stores and other outlets. While the option for speculative trade is available with AUC, the focus is not around that. 



Each African country will have a specially-designed ANT which will allow users to pay for goods and services and bills easily through completely digital means without requiring any bank account. AUC and ANT will be fully interchangeable to one another and there will be no fees for the user.



It’s the natural next step for digital finance from mobile banking which most Africans are accustomed to. The ability to freely have the power to send and receive money locally and internationally will allow the freedom of choice and spending power many Africans don’t have currently. 



What is your own investment philosophy? 



I am a gambler! I believe in taking risks and putting things on the line. That being said, blind risk or whimsical guesses don’t get you very far. Always acquire enough information to understand to a reasonable level what the thing you are planning on investing is or how it works and then trust your instinct and gut feel.



What advice would you give entrepreneurs wanting to invest in blockchain?



First, do some research in terms of what the blockchain technology is being applied for or created in terms of its application to an industry or project. Thereafter, check the white paper for the design of the platform as well as its functionality and applicability to what it is trying to achieve. If it aligns with your personal investment rules, then go for it,however, remember that blockchain is continuously evolving and thus you need to explore outside the usual and standard. 



First cash-less, now card-less. What is the future of online banking? 



If we are looking into what is currently science fiction, I would say the future is digital contact lenses that will be able to connect you to all your social media accounts, internet, news as well as make payments by just looking at QR codes or specialized barcodes to approve and accept payments. 



Now, realistically we are not far off from such innovation and technology, but for the time being, I think the next step is scanning of QR codes at retailers and having the transaction automated from your wallet to the retailers digitally.



What is your most prized investment and why? 



My mind. I believe that the work I have put into developing my mind, and continue to do so every day, is the number one investment that I have ever done. It allows me to look at things in a unique perspective as well as provides me with the tools to push boundaries and create new opportunities.



Money, success, fame? Which is most important to you? 



I would have to say success… because it is most likely going to bring the other two as well, right? But success in the form of starting something and letting it grow and succeed and knowing that something new exists because of your efforts.



What do you spend your money on mostly? 



Board games. I love board games and believe it’s a fantastic way to expand your mind as well as have fun with friends.

George

Cryptocurrency for Africans

Give me bitcoin or your life. Seriously?



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



The people behind a rash of bomb threats made across the United States and Canada on Thursday demanded a $20,000 ransom to be paid in bitcoin. Authorities said none of the threats &#8211; emailed to hundreds of businesses, public offices and schools &#8211; appeared credible.



Frankly, the perpetrators would have been better off asking for Turkish lira.



Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long been a favorite ransom tender for cyber criminals thanks to the currencies’ anonymous nature. U.S. cyber security firm Chainalysis estimates that from 2012 through 2017, global ransom payments using bitcoin totaled at least $31 million.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="490" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bitcoin.png" alt="" class="wp-image-38139" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bitcoin.png 750w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bitcoin-300x196.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bitcoin-600x392.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /></figure>



Anonymity aside, of course, the big appeal was an incredible run-up in bitcoin’s value over that time. It shot from $5 a coin at the start of 2012 to nearly $20,000 at this time last year, according to data from Bitstamp, one of the larger bitcoin exchanges.



Today? Not so hot.



Bitcoin on Thursday was trading at around $3,250, down more than 80 percent from its record high. In the last three months alone it has plunged 50 percent.



Even the currencies of some crisis-hit economies like Turkey have done better: The lira is up 30 percent since August. -Reuters



<ul><li>Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfus and Anna Irrera</li></ul>



READ MORE |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/investment/2018/12/10/cryptopia-in-crisis-joe-lubins-ethereum-experiment-is-a-mess-how-long-will-he-prop-it-up/">Cryptopia In Crisis: Joe Lubin’s Ethereum Experiment Is A Mess. How Long Will He Prop It Up?</a>



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/01/17/bitcoin-mining-uses-much-power-ireland-heres-thats-not-problem/">Bitcoin Mining Uses As Much Power As Ireland. Here’s Why That’s Not A Problem</a>



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2017/12/11/actually-okay-completely-ignore-bitcoins-1400-rally/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="It’s Actually Okay To Completely Ignore Bitcoin’s 1,400% Rally (opens in a new tab)">It’s Actually Okay To Completely Ignore Bitcoin’s 1,400% Rally</a>

gettyimages-932503482-170667a

Bitcoin Ransoms Just Are Not What They Used to Be

There are growing <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/six-ways-to-regulate-cryptocurrency-without-destroying-its-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calls</a> for regulation of the cryptocurrency market, which is rapidly approaching a market capitalisation of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/cryptocurrencies-could-be-worth-1-trillion-in-2018-blockchain-ceo.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 trillion</a>. But there’s little agreement about the forms this should take.
If the case for government regulation is strong, the case for a clear, coordinated regulatory approach is even stronger. It would increase the flow of institutional capital into cryptocurrency markets. And that would further strengthen corporate governance in cryptocurrency companies.
The trick for regulators is to balance investor protection and systemic stability with the need to protect innovation and encourage capital formation in different legal systems.
At present the regulatory environment is a muddle because there’s rapid divergence in the regulation of cryptocurrencies across jurisdictions. Countries like Japan, while thorough, have a more open approach. China is more strict.
Sovereign governments need to develop coherent frameworks for cryptocurrency oversight. But solutions will only be found through international cooperation in this cross-border market.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/bitcoin-blockchain-billions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin, Blockchain And Billions</a>
<h2>Growing concerns</h2>
Cryptocurrencies <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-for-beginners/what-are-cryptocurrencies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">originated</a> as an alternative payment mechanism to traditional currencies. But they are now also traded on spot exchanges as highly speculative investment assets.
Recent spin-off crowd funding opportunities such as <a href="http://bitcoinafrica.io/2017/09/08/sarb-says-no-protection-for-ico-investors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initial coin offerings</a> have become a particular cause of concern. These involve start-up cryptocurrency companies offering initial investment stakes in new token issues. China and Vietnam have <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/05b2748c-c903-11e7-aa33-c63fdc9b8c6c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned</a> them. Japan has taken a friendlier <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/regulators-are-looking-at-cryptocurrency-1516836363" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attitude</a> while the UK and the US have adopted a wait and see approach. South Africa, like many other developing countries, offers zero protection to investors in initial coin offerings.
These different responses are due to different legal definitions of cryptocurrencies. The rapidly evolving technology behind them doesn’t help the situation either.
The precise nature of an initial coin offerings depends on its structure as well as its context which can change quickly and have hybrid characteristics of financial instruments.
The definition, and hence legal treatment, of the tokens issued under an initial coin offering can be as diverse as a currency, commodity, security, property, loan, deposit, derivative or forex contract. Agreeing a taxonomy of cryptocurrencies defined by how they’re used is clearly one of the most urgent tasks facing regulators.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/lists/2018/02/08/forbes-first-list-cryptocurrencys-richest-people-meet-secretive-freaks-geeks-visionaries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Forbes&#8217; First List Of Cryptocurrency&#8217;s Richest People: Meet The Secretive Freaks, Geeks And Visionaries</a>
<h2>Towards a taxonomy of cryptocurrencies</h2>
Cryptocurrency expert <a href="https://new.innovatefinance.com/news/lawrence-wintermeyer-steps-ceo-innovate-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lawrence Wintermeyer</a> has argued that distributed ledger technology powered digital assets could be organised into three potential buckets: cryptocurrencies, cryptocommodities, and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencewintermeyer/2018/01/07/my-2018-crypto-predictions/#6294e3976b71" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptotokens</a>.
But the lack of harmonisation across jurisdictions is a wider problem than nomenclature.
Cryptocurrency companies sometimes use the distributed nature of these assets – which sit on digital ledgers held by multiple token holders – to argue that there is no issuer. They also sometimes argue that these assets are not securities, and that they should therefore not be subjected to a particular jurisdiction’s securities laws.
There are also clear cross border regulatory <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/32315636-cb01-11e7-ab18-7a9fb7d6163e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gaps</a>. What makes it difficult to reconcile these is that the assets can easily be transferred and their origins are difficult to trace. Tokens could be issued in a more token-friendly jurisdiction like Japan. The same tokens could land up in the hands of unassuming retail investors in stricter jurisdictions such as the US.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/01/17/bitcoin-mining-uses-much-power-ireland-heres-thats-not-problem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin Mining Uses As Much Power As Ireland. Here&#8217;s Why That&#8217;s Not A Problem</a>
<h2>Avoiding money laundering and financial crime</h2>
This cross border confusion allows token companies to pick and choose jurisdictions with favourable rules. This could make money laundering easier.
There are a few steps governments can take to close these gaps.
They should support investment in technology that makes the provenance of tokens clearer while preserving their encryption. Regulators could then enforce an “indicator of origin” as a standard. This would make it less easy for the assets to be transferred illegally.
Offshore centres like Jersey <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e591541e-007e-11e6-99cb-83242733f755" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have got a lot of bad press</a> in recent the backlash against international financial centres. But there’s a great deal to learn from well-regulated offshore jurisdictions. They are beginning to take the lead with potential applications of international best practice and corporate governance for cryptocurrencies. They offer investors in digital assets an extra set of gatekeepers’ eyes, and potentially, a more calculated risk.
In jurisdictions like Jersey issuers of initial coin offerings have to jump through quite a few hoops. This includes using a regulated service provider which has to make an application to the Jersey companies registry for a consent. The service provider is among a number of <a href="https://www.gov.je/News/2017/Pages/InitialCoinOfferings.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requirements</a> that provide checks in relation to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/emperors-new-coins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Emperor&#8217;s New Coins</a>
<h2>Current frameworks and global co-ordination</h2>
But what could a coordinated global regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies look like?
Harmonisation via a code of conduct or voluntary signatory to a global compact could certainly stop token companies from cherry picking jurisdictions to their advantage. Not being signatories to the codes would place token companies outside the market.
A multilateral code of conduct or global convention or compact, such as those administered by the inter-governmental <a href="http://www.fatf-gafi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering</a>, or a United Nations co-ordinated approach could be model solutions.
Standard regulatory codes are particularly critical for some pockets of the investment community. For example, there has been a significant <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/institutional-investors-will-bet-big-on-cryptocurrencies-in-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surge</a> in the establishment of investment funds looking to invest in initial coin offerings on behalf of sophisticated investors.
Standard codes for institutional investors in the first instance, could help both regulation as well as innovation. Institutional investors, unlike retail investors, can withstand, and even benefit from, the upside of volatility over time.
For now, the poorly regulated speculative hoarding of cryptocurrencies reduces the potential of assets like this to become a public good. This ultimately affects the potential value of the tokens by amplifying volatility.
Paying attention to this is important for investors and regulators as well as issuers. There will also have to be a degree of self regulation by issuers as global regulators get up to speed. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/desne-masie-252408" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Desné Masie</a>, Visiting Researcher in International Political Economy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Univers</a><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ity</a><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> of the Witwatersrand</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.
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Why it’s in everybody’s interests to regulate cryptocurrencies

In the world of cryptocurrency, where billion-dollar fortunes can be made overnight, speed is everything — and CZ is the fastest of them all. From closet-size offices in Tokyo — &#8220;I would touch four people if I turned around in a circle&#8221;— the 41-year-old Chinese-Canadian coder runs Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that has gone from a standing start to the largest on the planet in just under 180 days. CZ (born Changpeng Zhao) cut his teeth making high-frequency trading systems for Wall Street&#8217;s flash boys, and he built Binance to be a Ferrari. His exchange can process a blazing 1. 4 million transactions a second and on a peak trading day in January processed 3.5 billion new orders, cancels and trades. Speculators (some 25% of them from the U.S.) use Binance to trade 120 different coins, generating $200 million in profits for CZ&#8217;s exchange last quarter. BNB, the virtual coin CZ created in August that gives holders a 50% discount on trading fees, has a market cap of $1.3 billion. His stake in Binance and his coins give CZ a personal fortune worth as much as $2 billion.
He is hardly alone in becoming insanely and instantly rich from crypto. Chris Larsen, a longtime tech exec known for cofounding a string of fintech apps, saw his net worth flirt with $20 billion at the height of cryptomania in early January, based on his ownership of 5.2 billion XRP, the tokens of Ripple, the company he founded. XRP has since crashed 65%, but Larsen still tops Forbes&#8217; first crypto rich list, our (necessarily inexact) accounting of the 20 wealthiest people in crypto.
There are now nearly 1,500 crypto-assets in existence, valued at an aggregate of $550 billion, up 31 times since the beginning of 2017. While the prices of individual cryptocoins continue to swing wildly — Bitcoin is down almost 50% from its peak — it&#8217;s clear that blockchain-based currency is here to stay and that these virtual assets have real, albeit volatile and speculative, value. Black-market transactions, tax avoidance by individuals and sanctions-dodging by countries like North Korea fuel part of the demand, but so does a widespread excitement over the technology and an ideological desire for money to be free from the whimsies of nation-states.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/bitcoin-blockchain-billions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin, Blockchain And Billions</a>
The winners of this digital lottery differ from those in previous manias. The shadowy beginnings, at once anarchistic, utopian and libertarian, drew an odd lot of pioneers who ranged from anti-establishment cypherpunks and electricity-guzzling &#8220;miners&#8221; to prescient Silicon Valley financiers and a larger-than-usual assortment of the just plain lucky &#8220;hodlers&#8221; (the typo-inspired crypto jargon for &#8220;buy and hold&#8221; investors). As in any gold rush, selling the pans and pickaxes &#8211; in this case running exchanges &#8211; is proving a more reliable path to riches than speculation. And, of course, easy money — especially if it&#8217;s viewed as a bearer asset — attracts scam artists and thieves.
Banking heir Matthew Mellon, whose $2 million investment in <a href="https://ripple.com/xrp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">XRP</a> blossomed into some $1 billion, learned that firsthand in January. The morning after a big bash, the 54-year-old recent divorcé says he discovered four people rooting around his $150,000-a-month Los Angeles party pad. (He didn&#8217;t report it to the police.) The unwanted guests were probably after his XRP and they stole four laptops and two cellphones. They didn&#8217;t get Mellon&#8217;s crypto-fortune — anyone with enough assets to make our list long ago figured out how to secure it. (Sorry, thugs.) In Mellon&#8217;s case, the private keys are divided up and safely scattered in cold storage around the country in other people&#8217;s names. But the incident underscores the weirdness that separates cryptomania from bubbles past.
Identifying the biggest crypto winners and estimating the scale of their wealth is no simple task. The virtual currencies exist almost entirely outside the global financial system, and the newly minted crypto rich live in a strange milieu that blends paranoid secrecy with ostentatious display. Take CZ&#8217;s <a href="https://www.binance.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Binance</a> exchange. It has no real headquarters: Employees are scattered across several countries, and CZ himself seems to change locales the way others change clothes. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want to be in one place right now because of regulatory uncertainty,&#8221; says CZ. Last we heard, CZ and his trademark black hoodie had just popped up in Taiwan.
And CZ is downright normal by crypto-billionaire standards. Former child actor Brock Pierce (The Mighty Ducks, First Kid) dresses like a cut-rate Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and is given to making grandiose statements from the balcony of his penthouse in Santa Monica, California. &#8220;This is an opportunity to be a trillionaire &#8211; someone who is positively impacting a trillion living things on this planet,&#8221; he tells Forbes. Pierce once raised $60 million from Goldman Sachs with the help of Stephen Bannon, President Trump&#8217;s former chief strategist, to fund a company that sold virtual swords, chain mail and horses to role-playing videogamers. He also once got into trouble with his partners in a 1990s-era dot-com start-up after they were accused, in civil lawsuits, of sexual abuse of underaged boys. (Pierce has always denied the accusations and was never charged; one of his business partners, however, pleaded guilty to transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of sex.)
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/emperors-new-coins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Emperor&#8217;s New Coins</a>
Pierce was early into the crypto game, first mining Bitcoin and then financing blockchain start-ups and investing in dozens of initial coin offerings. Although he publicly proclaims he is pledging a billion dollars to charity, he refuses to provide documentation that proves he has anywhere near that much money.
Given this opaqueness and crypto&#8217;s hyper-volatility, we are presenting our net-worth estimates in ranges. We based our numbers on estimated holdings of cryptocurrencies (a few provided proof), post-tax profits from trading crypto-assets and stakes in crypto-related businesses. We&#8217;ve also categorized our crypto rich list into five groups: idealists, builders, opportunists, infrastructure players and establishment investors. Many fit into more than one category.
It&#8217;s a near certainty that we&#8217;ve missed some people and that some of our estimates are wide of the mark. But this was equally true when we launched the first Forbes 400 list of America&#8217;s richest people in 1982. At the time, many people said we couldn&#8217;t — or shouldn&#8217;t — publish it. We did so anyway. And we firmly believe we made the world a better place by shining a light on the invisible rich. Just as crypto has evolved from the days of the Silk Road drug site and the Mt. Gox digital hijacking, fortunes of this magnitude should never be allowed to lurk in the shadows. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Jeff Kauflin</a>, FORBES STAFF
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/richest-in-cryptocurrency/#73d03dd11d49" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ THE FULL LIST OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN CRYPTOCURRENCY</a>

Forbes’ First List Of Cryptocurrency’s Richest People: Meet The Secretive Freaks, Geeks And Visionaries

Just a few years into the cryptocurrency revolution, bitcoin mining is already eating up an estimated 20,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. That’s roughly 0.1% of global generation, on par with the power demand of Ireland. The primary culprits are bitcoin mining appliances like the Antminer S9, which is a computer processor that does nothing but endlessly crunch algorithms to lengthen the blockchain. An Antminer draws a load of 1.5 kilowatts — enough to power <a href="https://www.georgiapower.com/in-your-community/electric-safety/chart.cshtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two refrigerators and a flatscreen TV</a>. If you run an Antminer 24/7 for a year it will produce about 0.85 bitcoins, at a cost of about 15,000 kilowatt hours. Depending on your power prices it will cost anywhere from $600 (at 3 cents per Kwh) to $1,800 (at 9 cents per Kwh) to mine 1 coin. Even with bitcoin having plunged to $11,600 this morning, there’s still money to be made, assuming you can get your machines cheap enough. Walmart <a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bitmain-Antminer-S9-14-TH-s-asic-Bitcoin-miner-Power-supply-included/724184035?wmlspartner=wlpa&amp;selectedSellerId=7506&amp;adid=22222222227136573873&amp;wl0=&amp;wl1=g&amp;wl2=c&amp;wl3=245332564990&amp;wl4=pla-402226074919&amp;wl5=9027582&amp;wl6=&amp;wl7=&amp;wl8=&amp;wl9=pla&amp;wl10=115780710&amp;wl11=online&amp;wl12=724184035&amp;wl13=&amp;veh=sem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sells</a> the Antminer s9 for $8,200.
But what happens if the bitcoin bubble just keeps expanding? Some <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/bitcoin-consume-more-power-than-world-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">naysayers</a> worry that bitcoin mining could eat up all the <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/12/2/16724786/bitcoin-mining-energy-electricity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world’s</a> power generation <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/bitcoin-mining-track-consume-worlds-energy-2020-744036" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by 2020</a>. Is it a realistic concern? No.
Analysts Michael Weinstein, Khanh Nguyen and their team at Credit Suisse took a look at the issue, and in a research note out today they conclude that fears of cryptocurrencies overwhelming the power grid are overblown. Start by comparing bitcoin’s 20,000 gigawatt hours per year with the 4.3 million Gwh used in the U.S. last year and 6 million by China. The analysts figured that if the price of bitcoin rose to $50,000, miners would find it economic to boost their efforts such that they would consume more than 350,000 gigawatt hours, still less than 2% of world power capacity. The team also calculated the bitcoin price that would be needed to incentivize miners to gobble up all the world’s generation capacity: $1.1 million per coin.
But that’s all assuming existing technology. As cryptocurrencies evolve, they will become more energy efficient. The proof-of-work algorithms run by bitcoin miners are needlessly complex. New coins have simpler algorithms. Ethereum is even shifting from a proof-of-work system to a more easily processed proof-of-stake system.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/bitcoin-blockchain-billions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin, Blockchain And Billions</a>
Crypto-mining will enjoy the same economies of scale of web servers. From 2000 to 2010 the power consumed by data centers surged from 20,000 gigawatt hours to about 70,000 Gwh. At that rate it wasn’t going to take long for the growth of the internet to outstrip human ability to keep the lights on. Data centers evolved to meet the need, both growing in size and scale, as well as energy efficiency. Since 2010 server farm power demand has barely grown, despite the number of installed servers growing 6-fold. <a href="https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/united-states-data-center-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to</a> scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, the industry is on track to improve energy efficiency 45% by 2020 with the likes of Google, Amazon and Facebook leading the charge.
Fears of rampant energy usage caused by rampant new marijuana cultivation were similarly half-baked. Utility companies in Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington have seen less than a 2% uptick in power demand linked to pot grows, according to the Credit Suisse team. Pacific Gas &amp; Electric even offers discount power pricing for growers — who have LED bulb technology to thank for keeping their lighting bills low.
There’s also the substitution effect. Crypto-blockchain-based payment systems will eventually replace our hack-prone credit card institutions, which themselves are <a href="http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/asia-pacific/visa-plans-its-first-non-us-data-centers-london-and-singapore" target="_blank" rel="noopener">massive</a> data centers (Visa even has one with a <a href="https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-03-25/visa-data-center/53774904/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moat</a>). And somewhere out on the margin, cryptocurrencies are likely to reduce demand for other expensive-to-mine assets, like gold, which according to S&amp;P Global has an all-in cash cost of about <a href="https://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/our-thinking/ideas/gold-mining-companies-hold-operating-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$900 per ounce</a>.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2017/12/11/actually-okay-completely-ignore-bitcoins-1400-rally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: It&#8217;s Actually Okay To Ignore Bitcoin&#8217;s 1,400% Rally</a>
In the long run, says Credit Suisse, the breakthrough far more likely to rile world energy markets is the electric vehicle. If, by 2040, EVs grab a third of new-car market share, the world could require more than 280 gigawatts of additional power generation capacity — or somewhere in the vicinity of 2.4 million gigawatt hours. But again, that’s figuring on current technology. After <a href="http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/164/1/A5019.full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25 years of improvements</a>, lithium ion batteries are going to keep getting better.
Technology has a way of outwitting the unbelievers. Just a few months ago Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, called bitcoin “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/13/jamie-dimon-says-people-who-buy-bitcoin-are-stupid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stupid</a>” and a “fraud.” Last week he said he regretted those comments, saying, “<a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2018/01/09/exclusive-jpmorgan-chase-chairman-ceo-jamie-dimon-regrets-saying-bitcoin-is-fraud-but-still-isnt-interested-in-it.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The blockchain is real</a>.” &#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Christopher Helman</a>, FORBES STAFF

Bitcoin Mining Uses As Much Power As Ireland. Here’s Why That’s Not A Problem

Forgive me for sounding like a crank, but it&#8217;s okay to totally ignore the Bitcoin rally.
Sure Bitcoin&#8217;s up over 1,400% this year (that&#8217;s as of the time I started typing) and its market capitalization now significantly exceeds that of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/procter-gamble/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Procter &amp; Gamble</a>, the best performing stock in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/09/19/boom-bust-bankruptcy-how-americas-biggest-companies-performed-in-forbes-first-100-years/#5a247baa612a" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forbes&#8217; first 100 years of existence</a>. Despite Bitcoin&#8217;s boom, the digital currency just doesn&#8217;t seem to have any impact on the important financial issues of the day, whether that&#8217;s saving, borrowing, or conducting everyday transactions.
If Bitcoin doesn&#8217;t influence how you save, how you borrow, or how you transact, then maybe there&#8217;s no point paying attention to its staggering rise in 2017. Now might be a good time to push against fears of missing out (FOMO) on the rally, with good reason.
Does Bitcoin really impact your portfolio or your financial plans? When it comes to retirement there are two major, trillion-dollar themes for savers. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, Americans are returning to the stock market in droves, having been generally underinvested since the 2008 carnage and the market&#8217;s bottoming a year later. As people return to the market, they&#8217;re doing so using low-cost index mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, instead of high-priced managers. Broadly speaking, this a big positive.
After all, the stock market&#8217;s 10%-plus annualized total return over the past 100-years, and a less impressive 7% annual return since December 1997, is the growing bedrock of America&#8217;s retirement system. Big-data tools now show savers how they can plan their finances to meet retirement and other financial goals with a few mouse clicks. Innovations like target-date funds and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/etfs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ETFs</a> are creating new levels of precision when building these plans. All the while, fees are falling fast and Wall Street&#8217;s take is mired a steep decline. These trends are being driven by the BlackRocks, Vanguards and Fidelitys of the world, in addition to robo advisors such as Betterment and Wealthfront.
To all of this, Bitcoin is utterly non existent: It has no influence on stock market returns, it isn&#8217;t part of the fee-disruption equation, 401k plans tracking the S&amp;P 500 are doing just fine this year despite missing on &#8220;crypto&#8221;.
There&#8217;s talk of a stock market bubble with each new record high, but some of the fastest-rising companies on the S&amp;P 500, from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/apple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> and Amazon, are luring the most careful investors like <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Warren Buffett</a> to Glen Kacher (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2017/11/21/the-tiger-of-silicon-valley-glen-kachers-sizzling-hedge-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">read our exclusive profile</a>) and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/stanley-druckenmiller/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stanley Druckenmiller</a> due to their fundamentals. We&#8217;ll hear from time-to-time about some <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2017/11/27/cryptocurrency-hedge-fund-fired-rogue-trader-amid-claims-of-incompetence/#7d651d693a82" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hedge fund guy buying Bitcoin</a>, and I&#8217;ve even written <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/07/18/the-unreformed-stock-picker-without-a-boss-bill-miller-is-betting-on-amazon-bitcoin-and-bob-dylan/#7646ff3549f8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a story or two about the newest</a> Bitcoin bull, but generally the smart money remains in non-crypto assets.
The S&amp;P 500 trades at a price of 25-times earnings and it carries a dividend yield of about 2%; it&#8217;s not cheap by historical standards but anyone who entered the market in the early 1960s at a similarly expensive valuation and stuck with their plans through good and bad times would likely be enjoying a bountiful retirement. At Forbes&#8217; 100th birthday party, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/09/20/dow-1000000-thats-warren-buffetts-latest-call/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buffett predicted the Dow will exceed $1,000,000 by the time we turn 200</a>, and that&#8217;s possibly the safest prediction he&#8217;s ever offered.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/bitcoin-blockchain-billions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Bitcoin, Blockchain And Billions</a>
The same theme emerges in the big-short and long-term financial moves people have to make in their lives, for instance borrowing to buy a home, finance an education, or in making slightly smaller auto and big-ticket consumer purchases.
These can be major decisions and the current landscape is marked by plenty of &#8220;disruption&#8221;. Virtually all of it is coming from fintech startups, not cryptocurrencies and their attendant networks. Digital-first companies are becoming mainstays in America&#8217;s largest lending markets; competition is increasing, risk assessments are improving, transparency and seamlessness is rising, consumer costs are broadly plunging.
After all, it&#8217;s a new crop of companies like  <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/quicken-loans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quicken Loans</a>, SoFi, GreenSky, Credit Karma, LendingClub that are transforming the way everything from a home loan to a college education or pile of credit card debt is handled. Improving credit access is still one of the big non partisan topics of discussion in America and waves of novel solutions are emerging. Entire financing markets, from clean software interfaces originating loans all the way to new securitization markets to distribute debt to institutional investors have emerged in recent years. Bitcoin is nowhere to be found.
Even in payments and other basic transactions, there&#8217;s a growing menu of digital-first options that casts into question whether cryptocurrencies and their associated networks are actually that relevant.
When it comes to electronic payments, it is still <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/visa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visa</a> and MasterCard who are winning on a dollar basis. Payment volumes at Visa increased 41% in 2017 to $7.3 trillion, at MasterCard volumes rose 10% to $1.4 trillion last quarter. Cryptocurrencies seek to disrupt these networks, offering no-cost transactions, but the day-to-day flow of money seems to be falling to the incumbents and it is disrupting the use of cash.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/10/26/will-battle-soul-bitcoin-destroy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Will This Battle For The Soul Of Bitcoin Destroy It?</a>
Meanwhile, the market isn&#8217;t static. PayPal&#8217;s Venmo has made person-to-person payments cost free and utterly seamless, like a social network of money. Small businesses are gaining new options; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/square/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Square</a> recently reported a 31% quarterly increase in payment volumes as it offers merchant sellers access to better and lower cost transaction networks. The world&#8217;s most valuable private financial technology company is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/stripe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stripe</a> , another distruptor in e-commerce and payments.
Behind all of this, it must be said, is the rule of law.
If you get screwed you may have your day in court. Some entities are bound by investor protections and fiduciary standards. Depending on what&#8217;s being done, there&#8217;s also careful assessments of credit risk, identity, and the like. Yes these entrenched systems are the establishment, but that&#8217;s a major advantage.
Of course, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and their associated networks promise to disrupt it all. It is presented as potentially a new way to raise capital (goodbye Goldman bankers), a new peer-to-peer sharing tool for everything from data to real estate deals, a cheap alternative to transactions (sorry, greedy MasterCard), and even a novel take on the concept of currency itself. Some view Bitcoin as a store of value like gold, or a slightly damaged and possibly fake Leonardo Da Vinci painting. Others view it as part a sort of new world order liberated from tax authorities, governments, and money-printing central banks. Maybe it is the 2017 fear and volatility trade since the Cboe VIX index remains in single digits despite a profusion of global risk?
Everyday, price graphs that resemble the textbook definition of every bubble ever in history are bandied about as evidence of Bitcoin&#8217;s validity. Judging by the relentless and inexplicable gains, there are likely new converts to Bitcoin by the minute, or hour. The price rise may also cause skeptics to dig their heels further, increasing their bubble talk.
There&#8217;s another, possibly better option: You can simply stick to your plans and ignore Bitcoin. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Antoine Gara</a>, FORBES STAFF

It’s Actually Okay To Completely Ignore Bitcoin’s 1,400% Rally

Will This Battle For The Soul Of Bitcoin Destroy It?

The Emperor’s New Coins

Just 10 years ago, Bitcoin was another office joke in Africa. The rare few who took it seriously have made millions.
&#8220;One year and seven months ago. November 2015. That was the month I started with R3,500 ($260) and now it&#8217;s worth R37,000 ($2,800). A Bitcoin was $260. Exactly one year later that Bitcoin was $900. It grew over 300%. Today it&#8217;s $2,800.&#8221;
This was the moneymaking turning point for communications and marketing employee Shireen Ramjoo who, at the age of 32, was so taken by Bitcoin she left her job in the bank to start her own consultancy, Liquid Crypto-Money.
From humble worldwide beginnings Bitcoin, a digital currency, otherwise known as cryptocurrency, was born from blockchain technology – a mass linking of computers. The midwives are an estimated 5.8 million users generating a market value of $27 billion, which represents a level of value creation on the order of Silicon Valley success stories like Airbnb, according to the 2017 Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
The impact of Bitcoin has been compared to the day paper money replaced gold and silver. It is so new that like there were no computer technicians before computers, there are few Bitcoin experts, more educated guessers.
Bitcoin is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to blockchain technology. Many financiers argue it will transform the world money system and maybe be the next dotcom-style boom in Africa. Up for grabs are billions more as peer-to-peer networks spark new business platforms and threaten to wash away established business practices that have been around for centuries.
&#8220;The first time I heard about Bitcoin, I had to write a press release for Standard Bank. It must have been early 2012. At the time I didn&#8217;t understand it, it just went over my head. I thought it was too technical. After I left the industry I wanted to be my own boss. I was looking for an opportunity and came across Bitcoin,&#8221; says Ramjoo.
She has made a business out of educating clients on Bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency – topics that leave many baffled.
&#8220;We are in an evolution of money here. What people don&#8217;t realize is when the internet first started some governments were against it. As more countries started adopting it, more countries got involved. That&#8217;s the same phenomenon happening here,&#8221; says Ramjoo.
&#8220;We keep hearing of [blockchain] from a more technological point of view. Remember the topic of money is social&#8230; when you understand that this is actual money that you can use – I can go and buy bread and put petrol in my car – then you start wanting to find out more.&#8221;
Ramjoo&#8217;s venture is just one small example the business generated by the rise of this cryptocurrency. Since Bitcoin, more than 800 cryptocurrencies have blossomed in this unregulated market.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/homepage/2017/06/27/cash-falling-fashion-will-disappear-forever/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cash is falling out of fashion &#8211; will it disappear forever?</a>
So what is blockchain and bitcoin? 
When you transfer cash your money goes through the bank to another person. The bank, who acts as a central mediator, charges you a service fee and makes a record of the transaction.
Until recently, the bank was the only keeper of these records, which in turn is proof of your transaction. This is called the ledger system.  The process of verifying the information takes days and also means banks are able to dictate the cost of these transactions.
Blockchain short-circuits the ledger system in the blink of an eye, by decentralizing it. In 2008, a paper published under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto suggested instead of your transaction being in one single computer server at the bank, you could store a transaction on thousands of computers around the world at the same time – rent-a-crowd worldwide.
&#8220;There are a whole lot of people logged onto this network and confirm all these transactions all day long. What do they get as a reward for it? The answer is Bitcoin. The reason why Bitcoin exists is to reward these people that make their computers available to store data and to become a world super computer that looks over transactions,&#8221; says Ran Neu-Ner, Johannesburg entrepreneur and Co-Founder of the Creative Counsel.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2017/09/04/emperors-new-coins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Emperor&#8217;s New Coins</a>
Not only does this mean there are literally millions of back-ups, so that you cannot delete the transaction should the bank be hacked, but also the bank is no longer needed to make the transaction. In effect blockchain cuts out the middleman making all the rules, all the money and protecting your privacy.
&#8220;The Bitcoin isn&#8217;t important. The piece of tech that&#8217;s important is the blockchain that gets tech around the world to become a super computer to transfer money to store contracts or whatever else,&#8221; says Neu-Ner.
Imagine a world where people go from place to place in driverless cars, where there are no stop streets, or traffic lights, and machines decide how fast you get to your destination. If you can dream it, Neu-Ner can see it.
&#8220;Think 10 years from now, when there are only driverless cars on the road. You don&#8217;t have to have anything on the roads created for human nature.&#8221;
&#8220;Imagine the scenario: we&#8217;re driving in driverless cars, we both need to get to work. Your car is in front of my car. You want to pass, so you would normally flash your car’s lights. But in a driverless car you&#8217;re not able to flash lights at each other and say move over.&#8221;
The solution will be for driverless cars to set up smart contracts and you&#8217;ll pay in [cryptocurrency].
&#8220;The guys who are working on driverless cars are working on that blockchain right-of-way system right now.&#8221;
&#8220;The keyword when you are thinking about the blockchain is decentralization… Just keep asking yourself, if something is centralized, how is it going to be disrupted? Because it&#8217;s going to be disrupted. It&#8217;s a new economy, where everyone who contributes earns their fair share in tokens,&#8221; says Neu-Ner.
Trading and spending   
Because it is an international currency, the Bitcoin, as well as the world, is your oyster. You can travel the world by spending Bitcoin. In Japan, for instance, over 200,000 stores now accept Bitcoin.
This is how it works.
While on the way, a Bitcoin can be purchased on exchange sites when you are starting out. All you need to do is download an app, load up some cash and then start buying. Some financial brokers will even purchase Bitcoin fractions on your behalf.
The exchanges vary but we&#8217;ve found bitcoinzar.co.za offers a number of companies that will accept PayPal, your credit or debit card, and person-to-person. There is even a BTM (bitcoin ATM) at a business called Metroman in Kyalami, Johannesburg, that accepts rand in exchange for Bitcoin.
It is even possible to get your salary in Bitcoin; it&#8217;s as simple as a shopping cart on an online store.
There are, however, pitfalls. You must research the apps and look for realistic returns when investing in cryptocurrency, especially ones you are not familiar with. Schemes, such as Pipcoin, offered high returns of 35% a month and many fell for it.
&#8220;Millions were invested in it and many lost money, because they couldn&#8217;t tell it was a scam. It was plugged as the coin of Africa. So if you don&#8217;t understand how coins are generated, you won&#8217;t know how these schemes operate,&#8221; says Ramjoo.
Bitcoinzar.co.za also recommends you don&#8217;t leave your Bitcoin on an exchange. Hackers know that exchanges are mostly honey-pots, with private user information, and, more importantly, Bitcoin that can be instantly stolen and transferred away to an anonymous Bitcoin wallet.
&#8220;People are losing their money very quickly. They are believing that if they buy into this hype today, tomorrow I&#8217;ll come away with a lot of money,&#8221; says Neu-Ner.
If you are looking to invest, ensure you have a Bitcoin/cryptocurrency wallet where you can keep your data offline and private. You should always question the authenticity of these wallets and the company should be transparent.
It is even possible to mine you own Bitcoins, although this method of earning is considered to be going out of date. At the current rate of exchange, you would be spending more money on equipment and electricity, unless the price escalates substantially.
&#8220;You can compare it to when the internet first came and emails. The whole process of us writing a letter, going to the post office, then waiting for the letter to get to the person. When the email came, the postal service became a third party, and not being used as much as we used it before,&#8221; says Ramjoo.
Banks are transforming
Africa is looking at adopting blockchain-based currency. In February, the South African Reserve Bank said it is open to issuing a national digital currency, which would likely be based on blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Senegal is set to roll out its eCFA, a digital version of the West African franc, later this year, and there are even plans to extend distribution across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
&#8220;There is going to be a new generation for banks. We are starting to see it play out in the market – governments starting to issue out their own cryptocurrency. Tunisia was the first country in the world to have its own government-issued digital currency… Some people are old school and will keep their money in the banks. But the bank of the future will not be the same as it is now,&#8221; says Ramjoo.
This is just the beginning of a new system that will transform the world and make billions in the process. Many people don&#8217;t understand what&#8217;s happening; those that do will likely become even richer.
<h2>Coin Collection?</h2>
Cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, is generated in the form of data strings. Only computers can solve the complex mathematical equations. For every completed equation, a coin is created and the coin that follows requires more data and processing power to add to the string, which in turn keeps a record of every transaction ever made.
&#8220;Bitcoin is not a company, nor does a single person or organization issue or control Bitcoins; therefore, it has no central point of failure. For this reason, nobody can inflate the currency supply and create hyperinflation crises, such as those that occurred in post-World War I Germany and more recently in Zimbabwe. In 2008, the government of Zimbabwe printed so much of its currency that in a single year, a loaf of bread increased from $1 to $100 billion. In both cases, any savings that people had in the form of national currency were completely destroyed.&#8221; &#8211;  extracts from Bitcoin for the Befuddled by Conrad Barski and Chris Wilmer
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A previous version of this story stated that there are two licensed exchanges in South Africa. This was incorrect and the article has been updated.

Tag: Cryptocurrency

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