In this post I describe why freeing financial assets from the books of custodians and returning control of them to their owners could create significant benefits to an economy. This brings together concepts from traditional finance, cryptocurrencies, and enterprise blockchains. The post Banking When the Bank is Shut – Token Maximalism appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Can Blockchains Reduce the Impact of Data Breaches?
Another day, another catastrophic data breach. ; This time it’s medical records in Singapore, where I live. ; At this stage we’re almost immune to this kind of headline: Cyberattack on Singapore health database steals details of 1.5 million, including Prime Minister (Reuters) But this is quite bad. ; ;Eileen Yu noted in her piece for ZDNet (my emphasis): … Continue reading Can Blockchains Reduce the Impact of Data Breaches? The post Can Blockchains Reduce the Impact of Data Breaches? appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Bitcoin’s payments are not peer-to-peer!
In this post I articulate what a peer-to-peer transaction is, why Bitcoin transactions are not peer-to-peer, and why it is important to understand the differences clearly. The post Bitcoin’s payments are not peer-to-peer! appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
What is Blockchain?
Yesterday I did an recording where the interviewer asked me a simple question – what is blockchain? This got me thinking – I had no go-to answer for this. People use this word to cover a wide range of networks and platforms, and some platforms such as R3’s Corda (Note: I work at R3) are … Continue reading What is Blockchain? The post What is Blockchain? appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Colin G Platt On Peer-to-Peer
Last week I went out with for a beer and pizza with Colin G Platt of Blockchain Insider fame after we did a podcast interview about my book The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains at the 11FS office in Devonshire Square in London. Quite appropriately we settled down at the The Bell, a pub in … Continue reading Colin G Platt On Peer-to-Peer The post Colin G Platt On Peer-to-Peer appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Tokens – Lowering the Barriers to Innovation
I was getting my daily hit of Matt Levine’s excellent Money Stuff this morning (subscribe here!). In my favourite blockchain blockchain blockchain section he noted: But a popular pattern in the crypto/token/blockchain world is that someone will come along and be like “finally, through tokenization, we have invented a way to slice _________ into bits … Continue reading Tokens – Lowering the Barriers to Innovation The post Tokens – Lowering the Barriers to Innovation appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Tokenisation – Innovation in Capital Markets
Here’s what I think is going on with digital assets and security tokens and why it’s the most exciting thing going on in finance right now. There are two parallel streams of innovation: A new technology, and increased automation. New Technology Blockchains enable anyone to issue and transfer unique digital assets (tokens) with guarantees that … Continue reading Tokenisation – Innovation in Capital Markets The post Tokenisation – Innovation in Capital Markets appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Who legally owns all the shares? Not you.
In this post I explore how legal title to publicly listed shares works in Hong Kong, the USA, and Singapore. Then I relate this to tokens recorded on blockchains. Hong Kong I learnt something interesting on Monday when the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission published a consultation paper on paperless securities. (Disclosure: I am … Continue reading Who legally owns all the shares? Not you. The post Who legally owns all the shares? Not you. appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
State Sponsored Money – Under Pressure?
Today, state sponsored money is under pressure. The emergence of two threats has added urgency to the agenda to defend it. The post State Sponsored Money – Under Pressure? appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]
Tokens: Shares with Benefits
This short post explores some of the additional value that tokenised assets on blockchains can add, over and above pure financial return. The assets in question could be shares, or bonds, or other financial securities recorded as tokens on blockchains. ;Some assets may not even be not regarded as financial securities, due to what they … Continue reading Tokens: Shares with Benefits The post Tokens: Shares with Benefits appeared first on Bits on Blocks. [Read More...]