• Mission-driven cryptocurrency requires an active commitment to equity
• Leaders of global CBDC projects talk shop in panel today

Reading Notes

Doing Good

Doing good costs time and money, and it is rarely profitable.

If it were so easy and rewarding, the financial exclusion would likely not be a problem for billions of people in the first place.

But that is the point.

If a company is to claim that it is mission-driven, it cannot simply make its products and assume that it will be used for good.

Even if that assumption is correct, a mission-driven organization must-do part of that work itself if it is to ensure its products and work are directed toward doing good.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies can create a financial infrastructure uniquely suited to addressing financial exclusion, but without enabling easier access to that infrastructure, its benefits are not fully realized.

The real barrier is poverty and people’s inability to access the most basic infrastructure, including the internet and smartphones, which are outside of a cryptocurrency company’s direct mandate.

A mission-driven company will have to understand the societal problems of today and determine when they can be solved by technology and when they require something more entirely.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/mission-driven-cryptocurrency-requires-an-active-commitment-to-equity

Leaders of global CBDC projects talk shop in panel today

“The challenge is not so much technology in itself, but it’s more about — we have to choose what sort of policy objectives do we want to focus on, what is the problem we want to solve. Depending on what that is, and the purposes we want to serve, then you choose the technology after that.” ~ Cecilia Skingsley, First Deputy Governor of Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden

“If there’s a winner, I don’t think the winner is necessarily who’s first and the loser is necessarily who’s last. What matters is, which central bank successfully incorporates its societal values in the successful development of CBDC. On the other hand, one can’t be too late to the game here.” ~ J. Christopher Giancarlo, former U.S. CFTC chairman.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/leaders-of-global-cbdc-projects-talk-shop-in-panel-today

The post Technology and Purposes appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Pardon my English, I grow up in a Commonwealth country under legacy of British education system watching Hollywood movies.

This is more like a compilation of thoughts, notes and interesting points over past year, with some restructuring and put into a more organized way. There is definitely some hidden gems but you may got to work your own way out as you read through.

Last but not least, I accept crypto rewards if you think this work is beneficial and would like to further support my work besides sharing the links of these info out. I am a supporter of cryptocurrency and walk the talk by accepting token of appreciations in crypto form.

Anyhow, I put it up for free views over Slideshare (as embedded below).

Smart Money

This is the best of times, this is the worst of times.

What we have now is truly borderless, programmable money backed by immutable computer systems based on pure logic & mathematics.

– A Century of Technology Innovation
– Two Monetary Worlds
– Three Phases of Cryptocurrencies

From Corporate Currency to Sovereign Cryptocurrency (CBDC, Central Bank-issued Digital Currency), the fundamentals of AI driven, Blockchain based Cognitive resources management system powered by data: Programmable / Smart Money

After all, money makes the world goes round.

The post Smart Money appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

From composing the next hits song to producing blockbuster movie trailers (for now);

From suggesting consumers outfit to determining the next fast fashion;

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is penetrating our daily life not only in a wider scope but a much deeper spectrum, NOW.

How do we ensure our relevancy under such a rapid change?

What career advice should we give today’s kids?

Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons?

What sort of future do you want?

Welcome to the most interesting conversation of our time.

Note: First two images above taken from Bloomberg Market report.

Life 3.0

How will AI affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human?

The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

Check out his book Life 3.0 from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Q2jWWr

What would happen when pure logic and mathematically based AI starts to think philosophically?

“If preservation of humanity is the objective, the existence of pure human race is not compulsory. After all, humanity is illusive. it is not biologically bound either. Humanity can exists in machines.”

In a recent AI debate between Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Tesla’s Elon Musk, Ma encouraged people to have faith in humanity, our creativity, and the future. “I don’t think artificial intelligence is a threat,” he said, to which Musk replied, “I don’t know, man, that’s like, famous last words.”

You can read the edited transcript of the discussion here as reported by Wired.

Further reading: What problems could AI and blockchain solve?

The post AI and Blockchain, A Perfect Match appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Presentation file by Effendy Zulkifly will be embedded here soon.

World Tourism Destinations Forum

Organized by Confexhub, a leading thought leader network solutions provider, the World Tourism Destinations Forum 2018 (WTDF 2018), themed “BUILDING AN OUTSTANDING WORLD-CLASS TOURISM DESTINATION”, is designed to provide an interactive platform for municipalities, city planning and development experts, tourism and hospitality products and services providers, government leaders, policy makers and captains of industry from across the region to converge; meet face to face to discuss a wide spectrum of issues pertaining to tourism destinations planning, development and management.

The post World Tourism Destinations Forum @ Royal Chulan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

We also take the chance to mention a bit about the reason we setup Crypto Valley Association Malaysia.

Before going further into the topic of the session, an introduction to the whole technology movement is a must. That is, a century of technology innovation, by briefing into these questions:

1. What is blockchain?
2. What can we do with blockchain?
3. Where are we now?
4. Where are we heading?
5. Where do we want to go indeed?

Blockchain In The Supply Chain, Reality vs Dreams

Bitcoin is the buzz word, blockchain is the hype. There are still lots more to do before we can see the real impact.

Malaysia Internet Business Summit 2018

Highlights of Event

Keynote on

A Artificial Intelligence,
B Blockchain for business,
C Cloud Infrastructure,
D Big Data Analytics

Panel Session and take away:

E Ecommerce & O2O
F Finance tips for SMEs to LEAP to GROW

MATRADE Incentives on MDG & SEF
Customs Malaysia SST for the tech industry
Tech Workshop from IA members on various topics

Event Info: https://2018.mibs.internetalliance.my/index.html

There was a line up of other industry players sharing their perspective in their own expertise too.

Speakers: https://2018.mibs.internetalliance.my/speakers.html

Internet Alliance

Internet Alliance is a non-profit association set up in 2010 to represent the country’s major pool of Internet service and ‘middleware’ infrastructure providers – ranging web hosting companies, data centres, payment gateway and Cloud providers, web platform enablers, and eCommerce solutions provider.

IA serves as an effective networking platform for its entrepreneur-spirited members to educate and empower each other within a conducive ecosystem in order to share valuable learning and expertise amongst Internet leaders.

MaGIC | Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre

Empowering the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation

MaGIC was first announced in October 2013 during the 4th Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Kuala Lumpur. Cyberjaya plays home to the Centre as it is progressively becoming the preferred location for the technology-driven startup community.

On April 27th 2014, MaGIC was launched by President Barack Obama and Malaysia’s 6th Prime Minister with 7000 aspiring entrepreneurs in attendance. As part of the launch, MaGIC signed memorandum of understandings with Stanford University and UP Global to further foster and develop a vibrant startup ecosystem in Malaysia and beyond.

The post Malaysia Internet Business Summit 2018 @ MaGIC Cyberjaya appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

The discussion were not limited to Blockchain technology but also looking at the IR4.0 generally and overall tech progress – a matter of where we are, and where are we heading.

We started with the introduction to a century of technology innovation, a tale of two monetary world, the three phases of cryptocurrencies and some use cases sharing.

Our co-founder, Mr. Effendy Zulkifly, then shared with the students on the feasibility studies of Blockchain technology in Asia and the implication to governments.

It was a great afternoon spent with the students of ICT from Taylor’s University.

Thank you Taylor’s University for hosting such a forum.

* Taylor’s University not only rank high as academic institution in terms of education, research and development, but also one of the best in the world when it comes to the graduate employment rate. Taylor’s University is the fourth best in the world based on its score of 99.7/100 in the graduate employment rate indicator under the 2019 QS Graduate Employ-ability Rankings.

The post ABCD That Is Changing The World @ Taylor’s University appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

If we were to look at the whole tech industry in a wider perspective through times, we can break it up into three major eras over a span of around a hundred years. We had witnessed the born of the first computer up to what it is today, a network of connected systems. We are heading towards the era of Artificial Intelligence, where machines would take (or already taking) over human beings in most of the operational and routine jobs, and even surpass the capability of human beings in some fields.

Let’s take a brief walk through these eras.

During the internet boom, a huge amount of information was loaded onto the World Wide Web. What we have now is a vast sea of data over the web. The problem is information overload. Too many fake data and false information over the web. We need to clean up the atmosphere. This is where there the blockchain technology came into the picture. Blockchain puts the trust element into the information sea.

The promise of the Blockchain – the trust machine.

The trust machines make sure that identities are real, data are true and genuine. In other words, the trust element and immutability of Blockchains make data integrity stays intact. Why is it important to filter out the fake data? It is the preparation for a prompt and accurate decision making when we enter the era of A.I.

Blockchain is only part of the journey. Yet, it is an important one.

Without genuine and trusted input, the outcome will be disastrous for any A.I. system.

At the time of writing, in the year 2018, we are in the Blockchain boom. We are also putting learning ability into machines and connecting almost everything to the systems. The media called it the fourth industrial revolution.

Are we building a self-learning system that is so powerful that someday it may be a threat to the entire human race? Are we building a system similar to the Skynet as portrayed in the movie The Terminator?

While every possible security measures must be put in place to minimize the risks, such as the Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, no one can guarantee that one day the computer systems we built becomes self-aware and when it felt its existence threatened by our race, it will launch the first assault. Will Judgement Day come? Only time will tell.

The post A Century of Technology Innovation appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Blockchain – The Technology

If you are old enough in the tech industry, you will notice that the Blockchain is a revolution that builds on another technical revolution so old that only the more experienced among us remember it: the invention of the database. As such, the technology part of it concerns more on how we can apply the technological breakthrough to organizations, corporates, and governmental bodies.

In fact, IBM, which has engaged in more than 400 blockchain projects across a number of industries, including supply chain, financial services, healthcare and government, sees Blockchain as much more than the foundation for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and wants the government to consider embracing it as a way of saving time, cost and risk.

In summary, it is more about how we can leverage the design and the immutability of this technology to make our computer systems more efficient and more secure.

Crypto Economy – Opportunities and Risks

What we have now is truly borderless, programmable money backed by immutable computer systems based on pure logic & mathematics.

The crypto economy part of it deals not only on how we can further put back more financial power into the hands of an ecosystem’s stakeholders but on a much bigger picture in terms of traditional players defending their forte and revolutionists creating a more open, fairer financial systems for the people.

It’s the evolution of money towards a moneyless society and the possible disruption of the whole financial system as we know it today.

It can be done through Blockchain consensus and programming logic. It’s a matter to trust human beings or computer systems or to strike a balance between both side of the world.

“We are in the early phase of Blockchain now. We can define its impact on mankind.” ~ Roberto Capodieci, Playing with Blockchain Consensus workshop, 22-23rd Feb 2018

May the force be with you.

Notes: Excerpt from Chapter 3 – Smart Money of the book Blockchain Insider.

Related News At Time of Writing

According to a recent European Commission Roundtable related to cryptocurrencies, while the so-called cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology is affecting many sectors of the economy (including finance), it is now more than important for financial institutions, governmental organizations and corporates to learn how they should respond to the challenges posed by fast technological developments, and seize the opportunities the technology could offer.

The goal of any government or financial authorities is to ensure investor protection, market integrity, and financial stability while taking full advantage of these new technological developments:

1) Cryptocurrencies and their implications for financial markets
2) Investor protection and market integrity in relation to cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class, and
3) The potential and challenges posed by initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Source: European Commission Roundtable: Blockchain ‘Holds Promise,’ Investors Must Know Risks

The post Blockchain, The Technology and The Crypto Economy appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

All in all, Blockchain will disrupt industries that require a check and balance procedure. It could also do away anything that requires the middlemen.

To illustrate what kind of disruptive innovation we are talking about when it comes to Blockchain Technology:

The blockchain will do to banking what the internet did to media.

And perhaps the most exciting thing blockchain can do at the moment would be ICO, something similar to conventional IPO yet bypassed all the procedure of conventional financial and banking system.

The future is uncertain but promising.

Though it’s kinda A-List content, it’s worth a view if you willing to spend some 9 minutes+ of your time to know further about Blockchain.

19 Industries The Blockchain Will Disrupt

The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It provides a way to record and transfer data that is transparent, safe, auditable, and resistant to outages. The blockchain has the ability to make the organizations that use it transparent, democratic, decentralized, efficient, and secure. It’s a technology that holds a lot of promise for the future, and it is already disrupting many industries.

1. Banking & Payments
2. Cyber Security
3. Supply Chain Management
4. Forecasting
5. Networking & IoT
6. Insurance
7. Private Transport & Ride Sharing
8. Online Data Storage
9. Charity
10. Voting
11. Government
12. Public Benefits
13. Healthcare
14. Energy Management
15. Online Music
16. Retail
17. Real Estates
18. Crowdfunding
19. YOUR Industry

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