Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur and Investor Michael Terpin Joins NGRAVE Advisory Board

Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur and Investor Michael Terpin Joins NGRAVE Advisory Board

Terpin to Advise NGRAVE on Public Relations and Business Strategy

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Michael Terpin, a long-time cryptocurrency entrepreneur and investor, has joined digital asset security company NGRAVE as an advisor. Terpin will advise NGRAVE on public relations and business strategy as it introduces the world’s most secure hardware wallet, NGRAVE ZERO.

NGRAVE ZERO wallets will be available for purchase via Indiegogo on May 26, 2020. NGRAVE’s Indiegogo campaign will support production to meet global demand, as well as worldwide marketing efforts.

“Security is one of the major roadblocks to mainstream crypto adoption, and NGRAVE is leading the way in ensuring the next wave of users will have access to a top-notch solution for managing their digital assets,” said Michael Terpin, Founder and CEO of Transform Group and an advisor to NGRAVE. “I’m happy to lend my guidance to NGRAVE as they launch the world’s most secure crypto hardware wallet.” Michael Terpin is the founder and CEO of Transform Group, whose divisions include a global public relations firm that has served more than 200 clients in the blockchain industry, and CoinAgenda, an event series for cryptocurrency investors. Terpin also co-founded BitAngels, the first angel network for digital currency startups. He is a general partner at Alphabit Fund, a digital currency fund with $400 million in assets under management. Terpin has earned recognition as one of ICO Alert’s Top Blockchain Influencers and Cointelegraph’s Top 100 people.

“Michael Terpin was an early supporter of the NGRAVE concept, and has already provided us with valuable guidance on our global outreach and strategy,” said Ruben Merre, Co- Founder and CEO of NGRAVE, and BitAngels’ Brussels, Netherlands, and Luxembourg Leader. “We look forward to working with Michael and his teams at Transform Group and BitAngels to introduce NGRAVE to the global crypto community.”

NGRAVE has received grants from the Flemish Government, the European Commission, and the Web 3 Foundation along with private investments to develop its fully offline hardware wallet. Whereas competing hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor rely on a USB connection or Bluetooth, NGRAVE removes the need for any connection (USB, WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC), instead using wall charging and QR codes to remain fully air gapped even while conducting transactions and creating accounts. All of these features are packaged in a design- focused user interface with a 4-inch touchscreen.

Cryptographer Jean-Jacques Quisquater Joins NGRAVE to Support Hardware Security Innovation

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Jean-Jacques Quisquater, one of the most prolific cryptographers in the world, has joined NGRAVE as an advisor. Quisquater, who was referenced in the original Bitcoin white paper, will work with NGRAVE on cryptographic security, algorithms, and protocols as it introduces the world’s most secure cryptocurrency hardware wallet, the NGRAVE ZERO.

“We’re honored that Jean-Jacques Quisquater sees the potential in NGRAVE to change the way people manage their digital assets,” said Ruben Merre, CEO and Co-Founder of NGRAVE. “With half a century of experience in cryptography, his insights will be invaluable as we execute on our vision to make NGRAVE the most trusted and respected name in cryptocurrency hardware wallets.” Quisquater has co-authored 220 scientific papers and owns 20 patents. He designed the cryptographic CORSAIR and FAME coprocessors from Philips and NXP, which are used in 85 percent of electronic passports in the world. He also designed the GQ protocol now used in hundreds of millions of computers. He is a professor emeritus at Université catholique de Louvain in Brussels.

“While cryptography has been studied for decades, the world is just starting to see it’s true potential as it’s applied to cryptocurrencies. Companies like NGRAVE will provide the security mechanisms needed to make true adoption a reality,” said Jean-Jacques Quisquater.

The NGRAVE ZERO uses the most advanced cryptographic protocols along with firmware that has earned the highest security certification in the world, EAL7. Units are already in production, with shipments planned for October 2020. Buyers can purchase an NGRAVE ZERO through the company’s Indiegogo campaign launching May 26, 2020.

The NGRAVE ZERO was developed in collaboration with world leaders in applied industrial cryptography, nanoelectronics, and chip manufacturing, and is made in Belgium to ensure the highest level of quality. The NGRAVE ZERO uses the most advanced cryptographic protocols along with firmware that has earned the highest security certification in the world, EAL7.

NGRAVE has received grants from the Flemish Government, the European Commission, and the Web 3 Foundation along with private investments to develop its fully offline hardware wallet. Whereas competing hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor rely on a USB connection or Bluetooth, NGRAVE removes the need for any connection (USB, WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC), instead using wall charging and QR codes to remain fully air gapped even while conducting transactions and creating accounts. All of these features are packaged in a design- focused user interface with a 4-inch touchscreen.

Redefining the Mobile Phone Business

Robert Reiss

This pandemic has sent our country into a rapid economic downturn with massive job losses and millions of people seeking ways to cut costs. It’s a perfect storm on many fronts leaving consumers mainly focused on indispensable items should as food, shelter and yes communication devices such as mobiles and tablets. These devices have become the ultimate form of communication during this pandemic for news and updates and in many cases the only way family members can communicate with their loved ones. Interestingly PCS Wireless was ahead of itself when a few years ago it invested in the creation of a mobile device ecosystem similar to Carfax called IGWT Block. I recently interviewed its president Flavio Mansi on his vision for this market.

Robert Reiss: Explain your vision to lower mobile phone costs?

Flavio Mansi: Coming from a leading company in the secondary mobile phone business, we recognize the inefficiencies and lack of transparency that plague the industry. Innumerable intermediaries represent touch points throughout the supply chain, adding cost, time and minimal value. In fact, the average delta in value a seller receives compared to the price a buyer pays is currently 50% because of all these intermediaries. In addition, mobile phone grading scales are subjective, non-standardized and inconsistent, at best.

IGWT Block is launching a blockchain platform called TessaB that will enable every buyer and seller to access detailed data about the devices they are trading, which will drastically reduce the number of intermediaries, and ultimately enable peer-to-peer transactions. Our platform will shed light on the condition of the device, enabling more transparent and secure transactions that save consumers a lot of money.

Reiss: How do you plan to encourage consumers to buy second- hand phones?

Mansi: Our research has found that the main objection consumers have about purchasing pre-owned mobile phones is lack of trust. “How do I know what I am getting,” “What happens if I get a lemon,” “How can I trust what the seller is telling me?” This is similar to how consumers behave when purchasing a used car. By introducing a “Carfax-type” solution, we are leveraging technology that will directly address consumers’ concerns. They will know detailed information about the condition of the mobile device they are purchasing by leveraging the security and immutability of blockchain based smart contracts. Funds paid for a mobile device will not be disbursed to the seller until the buyer receives the device and runs the same diagnostics tests the seller ran. So the transaction is complete only when results of the buyer and seller match.

Reiss: Why would PCS Wireless create IGWT Block, which actually competes with its core business?

Mansi: PCS Wireless was very bold in recognizing that such an inefficient industry is simply not sustainable. Rather than take a back seat and await inevitable developments to arise, the decision was made to innovate and lead the disruption within the industry by investing in a new solution. Rather than competing in PCS’s core business, our goal at IGWT is to reinvent the industry as a whole. Research firm IDC projects the industry to be worth $67 billion globally by 2023.

Reiss: Are you doing anything to help with communication challenges during this pandemic?

Mansi: We clearly recognize the increased need for people to stay connected. Not only during this terrible pandemic, but throughout the economic impact it will have for time to come. We strongly believe that enabling efficient transactions of mobile devices amongst consumers will lower the barrier to staying connected. Specifically in times of sorrow like these, we are backing our parent company’s partnerships supporting frontline hospital staff, patients, and seniors. This includes our partnership with NJII to connect PCS Wireless to the right people at New Jersey hospitals. We have also teamed up with Covid Tech Connect to service the national network of hospitals. In addition, the Covid Tech Connect initiative is leveraging our global supply chain to source items overseas to connect those in need with loved ones, both locally and overseas.

Reiss: How do you see the transformation of the mobile supply chain working on a blockchain?

Mansi: Bringing transparency to the supply chain will make it much more efficient. Currently an average of 7 intermediaries touch a pre-owned mobile phone from its original owner to its new ultimate owner. These intermediaries are often located around the globe, so the mobile device at issue travels the world during this highly inefficient journey.

By providing access to a shared database, our blockchain platform will enable localized transactions. Think of it as decentralized inventories. If a seller in Oklahoma City wants to sell its iPhone 8 and there is a buyer 6 miles away, why do we need to transport that iPhone 8 from the Verizon store in Oklahoma City where the seller drops it, to Verizon’s triage warehouse in Dallas, to a wholesale buyer in New Jersey, to a wholesale seller in Hong Kong, to an etailer in Maryland, where the buyer purchases it and is shipped to Oklahoma City? Sounds insane because IT IS! Watch how the TessaB ecosystem will work.

Reiss: Is IGWT currently selling these mobile phones today?

Mansi: As part of our strategy we developed a “proof of concept” business in parallel to the build out of our blockchain platform. To that effect we launched our e-commerce site, Glyde.com, where, today, consumers can purchase Premium Pre-Owned phones, accidental damage protection plans under our TessaB Protect brand, and accept phone trade-ins for cash or credit. Over the next 18 months we will be rolling out more TessaB powered offerings powered by the Blockchain, so stay tuned!

To listen to more CEO interviews and read their thoughts on Leading Through Coronavirus go to The CEO Forum Group

Reprinted with permission from Forbes

About the Interviewer: I believe the great CEOs understand both business success and personal success. My higher purpose is to disseminate CEO wisdom to help elevate business, the economy and society. My platforms are: host of the nationally syndicated Am/Fm radio show The CEO Show with Robert Reiss. I co-authored, “The Transformative CEO,” and one of my passions is sharing insights by giving keynote speeches on the topic, “What we can learn from America’s top CEOs.”

The Evolution/Revolution of Entertainment Finance: How Blockchain and Tokenization Open New Investment Opportunities

Brian Herskowitz, CCO, Crypto Film Fund

The last decade or so has seen a seismic shift in the entertainment industry. From the evolution of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu to the advent of fan-based crowd investment.

Up until recently, some things have remained constant: a lack of transparency, a general mistrust, and high-risk combined to keep many investors out of the $720 billion* industry. You can add the record-setting international film box office of $41.5 billion** and you’re talking about serious bank. And that doesn’t include computer gaming, music, theater, live events or other forms of entertainment. Yet, for a myriad of reasons, few investors are willing to take the gamble and grab their piece of the action.

But now, with Blockchain technology, and the introduction of tokenization, investors who regularly sat on the sidelines can participate, and feel secure that their investment is less likely to end up funding some director’s weekend-bender in Mexico.

First, is the issue of trust. Hollywood has a reputation for playing fast and loose with budgets and accounting. It can be next to impossible to get a full picture of income from all the different sources that are now available to a filmmaker. Add to that, the difficulty in holding foreign sales and distributors accountable, and you have a perfect storm for unethical bookkeeping.

But the future of financing is now. Access for content creators and security for investors is coming. As the CCO and Co-Founder of Crypto Film Fund (CFF), I have seen how my fellow Co-Founders, CEO Anne Sjoblom, and Syndey Armani, have positioned the company to solve the biggest obstacles to investors taking advantage of the massive revenue generated by worldwide entertainment. This isn’t simply an evolution, but a revolution in how content will be funded, and how investors will benefit.

CFF is a Blockchain Entertainment Investment Platform (BEIP). By creating a platform utilizing BlockChain Technology the funding process becomes transparent, secure, and verifiable. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Blockchain is a shared, unalterable, public ledger for recording transactions, tracking assets and building trust. When it comes to mitigating risk, CFF shines brightly. First, CFF reviews potential projects for quality and commercial viability. Second, all projects are cross-collateralized. Third, for every project, CFF seeks out the best risk- mitigation and revenue-generating procedures.

Blockchain has the ability to curtail these dubious practices by making the flow of funds transparent.

Perhaps even more striking is the risk involved in film, TV, music, and other forms of entertainment, and here’s where Blockchain and Tokenizing an investment can turn entertainment funding on its head. Simply put, Tokenization is a highly- secure method of protecting payment credentials, with the data that represents an asset being held in a Blockchain ledger.

In the past, an investor who backed any independent content creator was putting all their eggs into one basket. If the project tanked, they kissed their money goodbye. There was no way to exit gracefully. Even when a film does well there can be an 18-month gap between distribution and reaching profitability, and tracking revenue streams, collection, and audits can be a grueling experience.

At every step of the process, CFF keeps an eye on the investor’s financial well-being. By overcoming the biggest obstacles for successful investing in entertainment, CFF, Blockchain Technology, and Tokenization are the next evolution in film finance. Smart contracts and digital rights management are a clear path to the future of financial security.

*https://www.statista.com/statistics/237749/value-of-the-globa l-entertainment-and-media-market/

**https://deadline.com/2020/01/highest-grossing-movie-studios- 2019-record-international-global-box-office-market-share- chart-analysis-2020-forecast-1202823471/ About the Author: Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter, producer, director and the CCO of Crypto Film Fund (www.cryptofilmfund.io). In addition to his serving as CCO of CFF, and writing for movies and TV, Brian is the lead faculty for the prestigious Boston University Writer in Hollywood Program. He has written articles on film finance for MovieMaker Magazine, HorrorNews.Net, Stage 32 and others. His textbook on screenwriting PROCESS TO PRODUCT is available on Amazon.com.

Tech Talk: How to Become More Marketable

Free Webcast On-Demand

About the Event

Life has changed as we know it. Many of us are glued to our TV’s, reading articles or social media posts hoping the White House’s latest mantra, “The light at the end of the tunnel” will come soon. But, that light seems to be moving further away.

In The Week in Tech: How to Stop Coronavirus ‘Doomsurfing’, Kevin Roose, columnist for Business Day and writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine said,” I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of doomsurfing recently — falling into deep, morbid rabbit holes filled with coronavirus content, agitating myself to the point of physical discomfort, erasing any hope of a good night’s sleep.

Maybe you have, too. There’s nothing wrong with staying informed. But we need to practice self-care, and balance our consumption of grim news with gentler kinds of stimulation, for our own health and the sanity of those around us.” — The New York Times, March 2020.

In terms of our jobs, unless we’re essential employees, most of us are working from home, are remote or have been laid-off. Instead of feeling stressed, worried, scared or down, take the time to reflect on your background, experience, relationships, hobbies and interests to identify new ways to work. Don’t think of your career as one long trajectory. Instead, look back, to find common patterns and transferable skills.

Take me, for example. I’m a 30-year marketing communications professional. When I looked back, I realized that technology is the thread throughout my career, along with writing. I’ve created content for as long as I can remember. But, it wasn’t until I was asked to do event coverage that I learned that my skills could be used to get writing jobs.

Now that we’re all using technology tools to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues, why not take the time to learn about emerging technologies? For example, in 2018, I attended Social Media Week and listened to a talk on blockchain.

At first, it was difficult to understand, but after interviewing the host I was amazed and inspired. and wrote , “The Amazing Utility of Blockchain: From Mining Crypto for Charities to Tracking E-Coli.” When I learned that the article was too sophisticated, I wrote, a more basic one, How“ Blockchain Can Rebuild Digital Trust” which was the #2 most- read (out of 10,000 contributors) in 2019.

Throughout the years, I was determined to learn more about emerging technologies, including, artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology (FinTech), financial services, big data, machine learning (ML), data privacy and the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), digital trust, Facebook’s Libra, consumer datasets, data tracking and more.

I’m not an expert in any of these fields, but learning as a non-techie was easy once I changed my mindset and continued to collaborate with clients and colleagues in these and other industry sectors.

During these uncertain times, technology is keeping us connected, informed and engaged. Many report that there is no going back; we’re heading into a new normal.

Incoming IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said, The“ company needs people who say, Hey, my mind is plastic, I can expand it, I can learn more. People who are more resilient in the face of obstacles and the face of challenges.

Today we would call that an entrepreneur. You need to adapt, you need to change, you need to keep learning. That’s a big change from hiring for all the skills you need. You want to hire people who have a growth mindset.” — Fortune, April 2020.

World-renown Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck coined the phrase “growth mindset” in her book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential.” Those who believe that abilities can be developed possess a growth mindset, while others who believe that their abilities are fixed tend to be less successful in life.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss how learning about technology will keep you relevant, and hopefully, inspire you to think differently to be able to upskill and re skill and make yourself more marketable in the future.

We’ll discuss:

1. How should we balance the need for personalization versus maintaining our data privacy? 2. Should we fear AI taking over our jobs or is it being used for the good of society? 3. What does democratization of data mean? 4. What are the pros and cons of investing in bitcoin? 5. How are major institutions using blockchain to prevent data leaks and internet fraud? 6. What is tokenization of physical and digital assets? 7. How and what disruptive technologies will help digital transformation meet customer expectations? 8. Will commercial banks become more digitally-focused in 2020? 9. In 2019, CEOs reported that there were problems finding talent. What are the most in-demand hard and soft skills? 10. Where can a non-techie go to learn more and become savvy?

REGISTER

Host

Wendy Glavin,CEO & Founder, Wendy Glavin Agency

Wendy Glavin is Founder and CEO ofWendy GlavinAgency; specializing in marketing, executive writing, PR and social media advisory. Based in NYC, Wendy is a 30-year veteran of corporate, agency, consulting and small business ownership. Her monthly technology columnist for Equities.com is “Glavin‘s Tech Talk.” and a featured contributor atCommPRO . Wendy‘s Linkedin Group is Tech Talk: “From Newbies to Savvy.” Contact her at: [email protected].

Guests

Andrew Corn, CEO, E5A Integrated Marketing

Andrew Corn is CEO of E5A Integrated Marketing, headquartered in NYC offering assistance in asset gathering, capital raising, revenue acceleration, and public company packaging. Andrew heads strategy consulting including distribution. He is a former equity portfolio manager, ETF designer, public company chief marketing officer, agency CEO and fintech entrepreneur. E5A specializes in helping managers gain AUM and also works extensively in equity crowdfunding and other capital raising efforts. For more information go to: https://e5aintegratedmarketing.com/. Contact him at: [email protected].

Raymond Kahn, Senior Management at Stealth Mode Fintech Startup

Ray Kahn is focused on combining his expertise in capital markets, financial products, and trading platforms with emerging technologies to develop enhanced capital market applications for traditional and digital assets. Ray is currently a senior manager for a stealth mode fintech startup combining traditional and digital infrastructures. As the founder of Archon Advisors LLC, he partners with clients to design solutions that generate financial, operational, and capital efficiencies. He has an extensive background in developing, managing, and transitioning financial businesses undergoing regulatory, economic, and market infrastructure changes. Ray has built and managed units focused on Electronic Trading, OTC Derivatives and Futures Clearing, Fixed Income Trading (bonds, loans, cds, derivatives), Risk Management, Payments, Real Estate, and Digital Assets.

Ray has served as President of ICE’s Creditex unit, focusing on electronic bond and derivatives execution. Prior to joining ICE, Ray led Barclays’ OTC Client Clearing business, building the unit from scratch into one of the industry’s leading clearing FCMs (Risk Magazine’s 2013 Clearer of the Year). Extensive risk management experience includes serving as Barclays’ Prime Services’ Risk Head during the credit crisis and building/managing Lehman’s Relationship Loan unit, one of the industry’s most active traders of cds, loans, and bespoke mitigation structures.

Jason Yanowitz, Co-Founder, BlockWorks Group

Jason Yanowitz is the Co-Founder of BlockWorks Group,an events and media company that sits at the intersection of digital assets and traditional finance. Prior to BlockWorks Group, Jason helped build the business development team at Sisense, a data analytics startup that raised nearly $300M, and worked in Venture Capital at Intuitive Venture Partners.

In These Uncertain Times, Make Knowledge Your Certain Power

Wendy Glavin, Founder & CEO, Wendy Glavin Agency

Many of us are hunkered down now, working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. After speaking with my dear friend, a doctor at a New York City hospital at the epicenter of the crisis, I’ve stopped watching daily news updates on television, reading articles on social media about the virus and speaking to lay people about it. I’m limiting my subject matter intake strictly to guidance issued by the CDC and other medical professionals, as so much of everything else is either not helpful or not truthful.

Life has changed. We’re scared of getting sick and worried about our families, friends and colleagues close by and far away. Many people have lost their jobs—their sources of income and, in many cases, purpose—and have no idea what to do. Some companies have gone out of business, others have furloughed employees, while still others are doing their best to create new ways to work from home.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. It’s important to realize, however, that things are not going to go back to the way they were anytime soon, or at all. Feel free to toss any sense of normalcy that you may have. Whether you have hard or soft skills, or some combination of both, learning is something that we can and should all be doing everyday, and this crisis may be the catalyst for us all to do it.

Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

When We Were Young

I grew up in Philadelphia. When I was young, my parents enrolled me in dance, ice-skating, piano and swimming classes. I stuck with swimming and became a lifeguard during summers.

My dream was to be an actor or a lawyer. In college, after majoring in acting for two years, my professors said I was too dramatic (I mean, it worked for William Shatner) so I switched to communications. I took the LSATs but my father, a prosecutor, said to win your case, you need to see the other side, and that I was more of an advocate.

After graduating from college, I took the first job I was offered working as a corporate communications specialist at General Electric. Back then, I never realized that working alongside developers, engineers and technologists would help me much later in my career.

Five years later, when I joined an advertising and marketing agency, I was viewed as a “technology marketer” and managed a division of DuPont, among other accounts.

Unexpectedly, my then-husband left his job and we moved to New York City. Once again, without realizing it, I was hired to work at Burson-Marsteller (now, Burson Cohn & Wolfe), managing a division of IBM.

Later, I had my first son, took a leave of absence and resigned to stay at home and raise two other boys. During that time, our family had the incredible opportunity to live in the South of France during ten summers where I founded a business importing jewelry from France to the U.S.

Subsequently, I took other jobs and worked across many different industry sectors as amarketing communications consultant before founding my agency in 2016.

What Life Experiences Teach You

Depending on your age, many of you are like me, taught by our parents and teachers to choose a major, earn a degree, get a job, make money and move up through the ranks at a company and be successful.

For some, this is a viable path, like my ex-husband who’s worked on Wall Street for 32-years. Others like me took a non- linear career path, with twists and turns, including changing jobs, working in-house, pursuing different professional interests and developing new skills along the way as the situation demanded.

Regardless of age, we all have our own life experiences which include our backgrounds, relationships, interests, perspectives, hobbies, friends, colleagues, mentors and bosses. Each of us has our own unique imprint, our value added, our competitive advantage.

Instead of thinking of your career as one long, continuous trajectory, reflect on all that you’ve learned and use that wisdom to think about things in new ways. For example, roughly one month ago, I participated in a discussion called the “Art of Networking.” The speaker asked us to hold off on disclosing where we live, what we do for a living and any other personal details.

Instead, she told us to break up into groups of three and designate one person as a penguin farmer and the other two people to act as journalists to conduct an interview.

Fortuitously, one of my sons worked in the penguin department at the Central Park Zoo some 16 years ago. I remembered all of his stories from working there. I used this knowledge to question the “penguin farmer.” While this may sound like a silly example, it illustrates how we can incorporate non-work experiences into our lives for more creative problem solving.

If you look back, you can tap into things you learned along the way to gain insights and apply them to your life and job experiences. For me, the thread throughout my career is in technology, but somehow I never “owned” it until only recently. Once I realized that technology and writing are passions, I was determined to improve my writing and learn more about technology.

How Technology Can Help

Each year, companies like Gartner, Forrester, CB Insights, PWC, Boston Consulting Group and publications such as Wired, TechCrunch, ZNet, The New York Times, Forbes and others identify the tech trends. You can do a Google search to discover any topic that interests you and follow people on social media to stay abreast of business, news and industry trends.

Despite these uncertain times—or, perhaps, propelled by them—digital communications are helping us stay informed and connected. Last year in this column, we focused on all the problems with technology including the concentration of power, concerns about our data privacy, security threats, facial recognition software being used in nefarious ways, automation replacing people’s jobs, algorithmic bias, labor displacement and more.

But, now, governments are calling upon Silicon Valley, tech companies and startups to help with the pandemic. On March 22, TechCrunch reported that the tech industry is mobilizing its considerable resources to attempt to support efforts against the growing global coronavirus pandemic.

The CEOs of Amazon, Apple and Microsoft all shared updates regarding some aspects of their companies’ ongoing contributions, which range from donations of medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers, to software projects that help track and analyze the global spread of infection.

Before the crisis, a CEO’s biggest concern was finding talent. While most of us are working from home, we should take the time to reflect and identify transferable skills. While we’re all waiting for the storm to pass, why not identify common threads and transferable skills? Instead of relying on your company or boss to provide training, take the initiative to educate yourself. Many of your resources are just a few keystrokes away on the world wide web.

Whether your interest is in technology or not, there is always something to learn. How many of you have promised yourself that you’d do something or learn something when you had the time? Well, you have time now, don’t you?

How to Acquire the Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills

In January 2020, LinkedIn Learning identified the most in- demand hard and soft skills using data from 660+ million professionals. Hard skills include: Blockchain Cloud computing Analytical reasoning Artificial intelligence User-experience (UX) design Business analysis Scientific computing Mobile app development Natural language processing (NLP) Programming

If you excel at math and statistics, consider taking a course at Coursera. When I searched for “data science,” there were 1,452 results. You can filter by topic, such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI, FinTech, finance and more. Choose your language, skill level and find top university partners. If you’re a tech person, a tech newbie or are interested in other industry sectors, there are courses for most subjects.

Others with soft skills like creativity, collaboration, persuasion, adaptability and emotional intelligence can also discover courses at Udemy in entrepreneurship, communication, public speaking, digital communications, copywriting, starting a podcast, founding a startup, writing non-fiction, leadership and more.

All it takes is to adopt a growth mindset. Carol Dweck, world- renown psychologist and Stanford professor illustrates in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to FulFill Our Potential, how success in almost every human endeavor can be influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

Those with a fixed mindset believe their qualities cannot be changed, while others with a growth mindset feel they can further develop their talents. Now, It’s Your Turn: What Will You Do?

Today, I spoke with someone who asked, what is your vocation? I said, it started with communications and PR, then I added social media to the mix. I’ve written for most of my life and became a published writer. After realizing my passion for technology, I read a lot of books, did research, participated in and covered industry events for CommPRO, a digital online publication for global C-Suite executives.

Two years ago, I “pitched one of my clients” to Equities News. The then-Managing Editor said, “We don’t want articles that promote companies, products or services. We’re looking for landscape pieces. Why don’t you write for us?”

After writing monthly for Equities News on technology, I was given my own column, called “Glavin’s Tech Talk,” the goal of which is to educate people about emerging technologies.

Writing is one example of how to use your skills in a new way. Since we’re doing events, sign up for one. After listening to speakers, perhaps you could be a panelist. Or, if you work or worked in finance, perhaps you can become an entrepreneur and look into technologies like artificial intelligence and financial technology.

Like Steve Jobs said, “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat.” About the Author: Wendy Glavin is Founder and CEO of Wendy Glavin, a NYC full- service agency. Wendy is a 20-year veteran of corporate, agency, consulting and small business ownership. She specializes in B2B2C marketing communications, PR, social and digital media. Her website is: https://wendyglavin.com/. Contact her at: [email protected].

The Impact of Blockchain: Its Potential in Digital Marketing across Consumers, Businesses, and Marketers

Joshua Q. Israel Satten, Blockchain Practice Lead and Evangelist – North America, Wipro Limited

Beyond the blockchain hype lies its true potential, leading to new pathways towards implementation and real usage of the underlying technology set (most notably distributed ledger, smart contracts, crypto-assets, and encryption). These are being realized across supply-chain, financial services, and manufacturing with potential adoption in digital marketing prime to become the next key example. The opportunities and areas where key issues are being sought for remediation, as well as market enhancements, are best discussed in three buckets: (1) digital marketing companies advertising to potential consumers on behalf of their corporate clients, (2) corporate clients looking to market to consumers and optimize their spend on digital marketers, and (3) the consumers themselves.

Many companies who frequently face a twofold issue related to how their marketing companies typically hire a plethora of third-party companies to ensure the content gets to consumers, and further, must then ensure that those consumers are good potential customers, and more critically, that they are real people. A rise of bots over the past few years, combined with a glut of websites and services setup purely to produce clicks and views to drive digital advertising revenue has created an incredible minefield of unreliable data for many large corporate clients who can’t quantify their actual marketing ROI as a result.

Distributed Ledger (DLT) could allow communications professionals to track and authenticate consumer data as the technology enables secure and trusted transactions between parties, thus creating much more scrutiny around the need and role of third-party data-mining vendors. Where verifying data becomes easier, the benefits of decentralization will beget workflow changes and the very nature of marketing teams and their metrics, while the touchpoints by which marketers track consumer interactions and metrics will be altered by blockchain’s transaction management, interoperability, and data verification capabilities. With these workflow changes, marketers will see long-term benefits in working with higher quality and more verifiable data by working directly with consumers versus third-party data-mining vendors.

Today, consumers are expected to log their personal data (name, number, email, password, etc.) with every company they engage with online for account verification and this year we saw some of the largest and most damaging consumerdata breaches which could have been better mitigated through decentralization and encryption. Distributed networks with encryption protocols support decentralized digital records of secure transactions meaning that each digital transaction is securely logged across several locations across an entire distributed network with the data fully masked with blockchain acting as the consumer’s personal identification and authentication key to unmask or access said data.

Distributed ledger’s value of transparency could allow consumers to double-check the status, condition, lineage, or authenticity of a product they purchased. Foods claiming to be organic and locally sourced, medicines requiring temperature- controlled storage, unique artwork, and high-end luxury goods like diamond jewelry are all examples of product areas where we’ve begun to see this radical movement towards customer accessibility that implicitly compels companies to be held accountable. This increased transparency works in two ways because as brick and mortar stores become eCommerce platforms, they are at a growing risk of counterfeiters selling fraudulent products and hackers breaching their consumer databases. These vulnerabilities put corporate profits, reputation, and consumer confidence at risk.

At the end of the day, to fully realize the potential of blockchain in digital marketing, marketers will need to embrace the fact that in essence, all marketing is becoming digital marketing, while blockchain hype brought an influx of people, ideas, and experiments and its initial impact has been fragmented – what’s left are real-life and sustainable solutions to current needs and problems.

About the Author: Joshua Q. Israel Satten is the Director for Wipro’s Blockchain Practice and the leader of the Blockchain Financial Services practice in North America. With over 15 years of global diversified experience, Joshua has been instrumental in creating, managing, and scaling transformational growth for several top-tier financial services companies over the past decade. In his current role, Joshua holds a dual position – one he serves as the leader and evangelist for Blockchain for Financial services in North America. As part of this, he closely works with our financial services business unit, various consortia and partners, advising and leading the blockchain journey for Wipro’s financial service clients. Two, he is responsible for Wipro’s global Blockchain Center of Excellence team (COE). In this role and as a face to the industry, he represents Wipro in various industry forums, builds connections with Business / IT Leadership across industries and geographies, and works with Industry Analysts to gain mind-share in the global blockchain ecosystem.

DMG Implements a Work from Home Plan for Head Office

CommPRO Editorial Staff

DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: DMGI) (DMGGF:OTC US) (FRANKFURT:6AX) (“DMG” or the “Company”), a diversified blockchain and technology company, has announced that it has fully implemented its WFH initiative to further protect its office employees and the general public, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. DMG has always allowed its software engineers to work remotely as necessary, and all employees are experienced with the various remote collaboration software tools the Company utilizes daily. DMG’s proprietary mine management software is fully deployed allowing its technicians to remotely monitor the operations such as hash rates, temperature, power consumption, etc. If repairs are needed, staff at the facility are notified of the issue and what is needed to be done for repairs so they can take the necessary action. The data center is approximately 27,000 square feet and therefore employees have substantial personal space and distancing from one another.

Dan Reitzik, DMG’s CEO commented, “The safety and health of our employees is of paramount importance to the Company. Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Vancouver are growing at alarming rates. DMG has always been set up to easily implement a WFH initiative, and we’re pleased that our employees can be home with their families during this difficult period.

Additionally, as DMG continues concentrating on growing its Canadian operations, DMG has started the process of closing its US operations and, as such, requested Danny Yang’s resignation. Danny Yang has supported this request and DMG greatly appreciates Danny Yang’s contributions over the past two years. We wish Danny and his family the best in his future endeavors”.

As well, DMG has ended its agreement with Hybrid Financial for investor relations services.

APAC Blockchain: Advancing the Blockchain Ecosystem in Australia

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Developed in partnership with Blockchain Australia, APAC Blockchain Conference 2020 is the place where government, start-ups, big business, regulators and more come together to hear about the cutting edge advances in blockchain technology and strategise about how to best leverage its potential, today and in future iterations.

Keynotes from some of the best in the business including:

Senator the Hon Jane Hume, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology, Parliament of Australia; Leanne Kemp, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Everledger; Caroline Malcolm, Head of Blockchain Policy Centre, Organisation for Economic; Cooperation and Development; Adrian Przelozny, Chief Executive Officer, Independent Reserve; Anya Nova, Crypto Economist and Corporate Development, Power Ledger; Paul Stonham, General Manager Distributed Ledger Technology, ASX.

See full speaker list here.

Check out the agenda here. Now in its 4th successful year, APAC Blockchain Conference 2020 will go beyond the hype as the blockchain industry heads into maturity, showcasing use cases, research and future development, as well as the opportunities and practicalities of integrating blockchain technology into your organisation.

Why you need to be at APAC Blockchain 2020:

Don’t be left behind – APAC Blockchain is where all the issues and opportunities are discussed by all the right people; Network – grow your community connections with all the Blockchain brains in the region from government, to media, to academia, to enterprise, to investors; Identify the gaps in your knowledge, ask your burning questions, debate and consider your future blockchain blueprint; Grow your solution provider database – the most exciting start-ups, software and technology disruptors will be on display as well as established industry players.

Whether Blockchain is just on your radar or already integrated in your infrastructure, attendingAPAC Blockchain Conference is THE one thing to do to future proof your business in 2020.

Cointelegraph readers receive 10% discount off the registration fee – use discount code ‘COINTELEGRAPH10’ when booking.

View ticket packages, discounts, or book online here or call the Quest Events hotline on +61 (0)2 9977 0565. Blockchain Economy Conference 2020

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Only a few days left for the second edition of the largest blockchain conference of MENA and Eurasia regions. The conference will be held in Turkey, a country which is turning into the most attractive meeting location for the whole crypto community. This unique conference brings together investors, experts, professionals and media who are in the field of Fintech and Blockchain technologies from all over the world to Istanbul, on February 20-21, 2020.

Leading blockchain companies and entrepreneurs will be attending the conference. Bitcherry, the first e-commerce network in the world using Blockchain and the Global cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda are the Main Sponsors of the Blockchain Economy’s upcoming edition. The attendees taking part at the event will also have a chance to explore the citizenship beyond the borders and meet government representatives, institutions, companies presenting these opportunities during the Citizenship Expo, which is going to be held for the first time in Istanbul along with the Blockchain Economy. Hardware wallet Ledger.com and Global crypto exchange Crypto.com, time-based cryptocurrency becaz.org are also among the sponsors of the Event. At the same time, Crypto.com became the unique payment partner of the Blockchain Economy 2020 while Coolbitx.com is the official hardware wallet sponsor. All Crypto.com users can buy tickets using Crypto.com pay application.

The well-known crypto entrepreneur John McAfee, Wall Street Analyst Tom Lee, co-founder of Blockchain.com Nicolas Cary, the founder of Coinpayments.net Alex Alexandrov, Lennix Lai the Director of Financial Markets at OKEx, co-founder of Becaz Tirkish Gurban and founder of the AVA labs Emin Gün Sirer, are among the Keynote speakers of the conference.

The regional Sales director at BITMAIN – the world’s largest Mining company – and Alexandre Lemarchand from Ledger are also added to the speakers list. The cryptocurrencies, the Future of blockchain, the Artificial intelligence, the Quantum Technologies and the Big Data -these topics will be exclusively discussed by the experts at the conference.

Side events at Blockchain Economy 2020:

BITCOIN BUS – Istanbul Tour: the “Bitcoin Bus” tour offers the opportunity to visit the historical and touristic places of Istanbul together with crypto enthusiasts.

Closing Party: the final part of Blockchain Economy2020 will be organized in a Luxury Yacht which will tour the Bosphorus.

VIP Networking and Award Dinner: the dinner will gather the top speakers, investors, and sponsors after the conference day on February 20.

Citizenship Expo: The governments, companies and entities offering worldwide citizenship will be hosted for the first time in Istanbul. All kinds of tickets can be bought on the conference website: https://www.blockchaineconomy.istanbul/EN 7 Ways Blockchain Will Improve Digital Marketing and Advertising

Katrina Fernandez, SEO Specialist

If you think blockchain is only about currency, you’re missing out. Here are seven ways blockchain will improve your marketing and advertising. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Blockchain is normally associated with cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, but it has much broader applications. The ability to verify both parties in a transaction and make a permanent public record of the exchange impacts all areas of business.

Blockchain is also set to disrupt a lot of the ways businesses do digital marketing and advertising. The good news is that many of these changes level the playing field and allow small companies to have the same access to consumers as larger ones.

Here are seven ways blockchain will improve digital marketing and advertising.

You Can Improve Security

Data security is a huge issue for everyone who buys and sells online. There are frequent breaches that make the news, and everyone wonders if their identity or financial information has been compromised.

With blockchain, each transaction is verified and publicly visible, but the people involved are anonymous. As a result, you’ll have better security for all transactions, and everyone involved is still completely anonymous.

You Can By Ads Without Middlemen

As a business, you want to make sure that the ads you buy are on high-quality websites that are actually targeted to the audience you’re interested in. This means paying a significant fee to a company like Google who has the reputation that both companies and website owners are looking for. It builds trust into the process.

With blockchain, you can skip the ad networks entirely. Users will be verified automatically so you won’t need a third party like Google to create trust. Companies placing ads and websites with space available can work together seamlessly.

Companies Can Get Higher Quality Consumer Information

People want to control their personal information, and they’re tired of signing up with Company A and suddenly getting ads from Company B, Company C, and Company D.

Blockchain will give consumers a chance to charge for their contact information and ensure that only the companies they are interested in receive their data. That may sound bad for business, but actually it’s great – instead of wasting money on data from uninterested people, you’ll get targeted, accurate information from those who are actually curious about your company. It Will Be Easier For Small Companies to Build Trust

As a small business, it can be hard to stand out, especially if there are established players in your industry. Many consumers are understandably wary of businesses they haven’t heard of before, and hawking poor-quality products is an epidemic online.

With blockchain, reputable businesses will be able to build trust quickly no matter how small they are. You’ll be able to prove where your products are coming from and show people every step of the supply chain. This will help customers know what you’re providing and they will be much more willing to buy from you over other competitors.

Blockchain Allows You to Accept Alternate Payment

Image by ErfourisStudio from Pixabay

While accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aren’t mainstream yet, it could become that way. Blockchain makes this type of payment transparent. Retailers won’t have to worry about forged checks, bad credit cards, or other chargeback issues.

With more secure payments, you could save thousands each year on banking fees related to chargebacks and fraud.

Avoid the Fake Factor

It seems like almost everything online either is fake or could be. Fake followers, fake likes, even fake products as criminals try to scam people out of their hard-earned money. It’s the reason that consumers have a hard time trusting advertisements – and why companies like yours have a hard time getting a return on investment (ROI) on marketing. With blockchain, you will know whether the money you spend on ads is going to the audience you’re targeting. You’ll deal directly with publishers, not questionable third parties. Your marketing will be more effective, and customers will know they can trust your advertisements.

Looking for help with your marketing now, even before blockchain is mainstream? Reach out to a top-rateddigital marketing services firm today.

You’ll be Able to Showcase Environmental and Social Responsibility

Do you source your products or supplies through environmentally friendly or socially responsible avenues? If so, consumers should know – they’re willing to pay a premium for things that don’t hurt the planet or other people.

The problem is that until now, consumers haven’t know if the companies making the claims are telling the truth. After all, they can’t see your supply chain. But with blockchain, they actually can. No one can accuse you of cooperating with sweatshops or harming endangered species because you’ll be able to quickly prove them wrong.

If you’re doing things the right way, blockchain will help you stand out.

Blockchain Benefits Business

Blockchain is the future of business and marketing, but that’s not a bad thing. It will help small businesses compete with larger companies, reduce costs, and increase transparency and trust with consumers.

Your marketing will benefit significantly. You’ll target exactly who you intend to, no wasted money! About the Author: Katrina is a hardworking individual who always gives her best. As a degree holder, she aspires to establish within the media industry. Expert in building online partnership, she’s been working in digital marketing services, Local SEO Search Inc. for several years.

After the Bell Panel Discussion: Tokenization, Institutionalization & Securitization of Blockchain: Addressing Possibilities & Realities

November 21, 2019: New York City & 10 December 2019 London

Join the conversation! At this highly topical blockchain discussion, hear from leading experts & practitioners on issues including: Advantages to tokenization of assets; The rise of STOs & IEOs & what that means for the investor; Securitization – blockchain’s distributed ledger; combining with AI and other possibilities; How is this all going to be regulated and Institutional adoption: Crypto assets, blockchain – what is the status now and where will be next year? Speakers include: Pelli Wang, Managing Partner, Deer Creek; Renata Lowenbraun, VP – Legal, Privacy & Product, Payfone; Taotao He, CEO, Marto HG Digital Asset Group (MHG); Stylianos Kampakis, PhD, CEO & Instructor, The Tesseract Academy; Chief Data Officer, TechCity Ventures; Research Fellow, UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies; Adi Ben-Ari, Founder & CEO, Applied Blockchain and others to be announced. For more information: https://themankoffcompany.us/after-- the-bell_news-and-events

CoinAgenda Global

Live Event: October 26 – 28 (Las Vegas)

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With less than a month to go, CoinAgenda Global is pleased to announce more great speakers and a $600 OFF DISCOUNT CODE. Join us to watch Stellar’s Jeb McCaleb; Block.One and Tether co-founder Brock Pierce; Aeternity founder and CEO Yanislav Malihov; WAX founder William Quigley; Deloitte partner and Global Tax Leader, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency,Robert Massey; Smart Valor CEO, Olga Feldmeier; and Perkins-Coie partner, Joseph Cutler.

Take advantage of this great discount today! If you haven’t been to a CoinAgenda, you’ve missed out on the industry’s most exclusive networking event for investors and blockchain startups (with 50 companies presenting on the opening day). If you’ve attended in the past, then you already know the quality of people (both on stage and in the audience) we bring to our conferences, including three days of high-end cocktail parties, hot meals and the always exceptional Legendary Dinner.

CoinAgenda is proud to kick off Vegas Blockchain Week (VBW), Oct 25-31, at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Make sure to secure the exclusive VBW room rate of $259/night before Oct 7. BOOK NOW!

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MonarchPay Set To Disrupt The Entire Payment Industry: Takes Aim At Patreon, Stripe & Even PayPal

CommPRO Editorial Staff

There’s a new tech startup that’s betting big on blockchain and cryptocurrency which has the potential to shake up the entire industry that platforms like Patreon are built upon.

Recently, Patreon’s CEO said, “The company’s generous business model is not sustainable as it sees rapid growth.” Patreon at the time was known to charge 5% for commissions and up to another 5% for transaction fees, bringing total amounts up to 10% possible for using their services. However, Patreon recently announced they will be increasing their prices by up to 12% for their services. This is in stark contrast to a new tech startup, Monarch, which allows anyone, anywhere, to accept cryptocurrency payments for as low as a 0.5% transaction fee. Yes, you read that right, as low as 0.5% if using their utility token. Standard fees are around 1% for their other supported currencies.

Monarch could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and completely usurps Patreon’s entire business model. Even industry giants like PayPal currently only charge a fraction of what Patreon does with what is considered the “industry standard” by taking 2.7% plus a flat $0.30 fee for payments. Now it wouldn’t be completely fair to only compare transaction fee percentages, because Patreon does provide a few more services than only accepting payments for their customers. However, due to the ability for people to easily accept stable tokens now with MonarchPay, and having fees reduced so greatly, those using Patreon for their go-to service provider will really have to think long and hard if paying up to an extra 11.5% is really worth it.

In a world where tech giants like Facebookhave announced plans to release a new global currency based on blockchain technology, it appears that Monarch’s bet on blockchain, cryptocurrency, and decentralized services might pay off big time. When you factor in the ease of use, setting a new industry standard for up to 0.5% transaction fees, and the fact their technology simply acts as a mediator to empower people to do commerce, raise funds, accept payment on their own terms and more; it’s easy to all the buzz around MonarchPay.

Simply put, Monarch might just become the best way for influencers, Twitch gamers, content creators, bloggers, writers, non-profits, and those looking to raise funds to accept recurring payments. Using MonarchPay, anyone can accept recurring, single or custom payments giving immense flexibility along with the standard redirect after the payment is successfully processed. This is important because it doesn’t change the user experience flow merchants and consumers are already used too. The platform also allows for the collection of data like name, address, and phone numbers, along with the ability to export the data in a CSV file for easy export into programs like Quickbooks.

Cryptocurrency is here to stay, and the ability to accept stable tokens means people can transact and accept crypto without the worry about wild swings in the value. They can easily swap their stable tokens for cash too using any number of exchanges, often in a manner of just hours. This is exceptionally powerful as a traditional barrier to accepting crypto has been due to the volatile nature of most cryptocurrency, often having wild swings up or down in value. Stable tokens along with the acceptance of other cryptocurrencies give everyone more flexibility.

Monarch is betting big on blockchain and cryptocurrencies while providing services at a fraction of the costs of most service providers and without as much risk. With Facebook soon to be getting into the blockchain and cryptocurrency game with Libra, and the Federal Reserve announcing their own new payment system they will be developing and releasing in 2023 or 2024, Monarch is ahead of the game and positioned very nicely to take advantage of the coming market trend.

Blockchain Research Institute Releases Case Study on KODAKOne

CommPRO Editorial Staff

RYDE Holding, Inc. (the “Company”), the creator and operator of the KODAKOne Image Rights Management Platform announced that the Blockchain Research Institute (“BRI”) has released its case study on KODAKOne “Changing the Still Image Marketplace on the Blockchain”. Currently available to BRI members and via creative commons in December, 2019.

BRI is a Toronto-based think-tank that helps organizations to realize the new promise of the digital economy by researching the strategic implications of blockchain technology and producing practical insights that will guide its members in achieving success.

The case study which was released in June, 2019 dives into the numerous solutions the KODAKOne platform provides to the photography market, including its unique use case for blockchain technology as well as the planned use of the KODAKCoin, its own digital currency.

“This case study explores in detail the way blockchain can be used to help content creators actually profit from their creative work with the new Internet of value. It details how KODAKOne’s platform works, its key features, and how it enables photographers to maximize the value of their intellectual property. We’re pleased that BRI members will be able to benefit from these detailed, practical insights and case studies,” said Don Tapscott, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, BRI.

All BRI research is proprietary to its member organizations for a period of six months. Members have agreed that, after this period, the BRI may make this research available to the public under a Creative Commons International 4.0 license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

The BRI’s research explores the strategic implications, applications, and challenges of blockchain in business, government, and society. It covers roughly a dozen different industry verticals and examines the impact of blockchain on corporate management, from human resources and marketing to finance and operations.

“We were extremely honoured that the BRI picked KODAKOne to focus their case study on the “Still Image Marketplace on the Blockchain. I have the utmost respect for the work that both Don and Alex Tapscott and their team have been doing within BRI and their exploration of blockchain technology and its strategic implications for business, government and society.” said Jan Denecke, CEO of RYDE Holding.

Members of the public can sign up to access the public research hub by filling out a form on the Blockchain Research Institute website.

About RYDE Holding, Inc. RYDE Holding, Inc. (formerly WENN Digital, Inc.), a brand licensee of Eastman Kodak Company, is the creator and operator of the KODAKOne Platform and the KODAKCoin Tokens. Ryde and its advisors are an experienced development and operations team with expertise in proprietary blockchain development, big data, copyright law, AI-enabled image recognition and post-licensing monetization systems. For more information, go to kodakone.com

Blockchain Community Mapping and Navigation Startup BULVRD Partners with Samsung

CommPRO Editorial Staff

Blockchain Community Mapping and Navigation startup BULVRD announced their app “BULVRD Drive” and utility token “BLVD” has partnered with Samsung to integrate with the Samsung Blockchain Wallet and Keystore offerings.

BULVRD is creating a micro-economy on the Ethereum blockchain centered around a real-time traffic-aware navigation app. The app rewards users with tokens and digital collectibles for driving and making automatic reports on road conditions such as hazards, traffic and police activity. New advances in Augmented Reality and Machine Learning also enables BULVRD to create a new street-level visual mapping and navigation experience, creating a more informative and safer driving experience for users, while helping enable hyper accurate mapping and automated road reporting detection.

Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e, and S10 5G owners are now able to seamlessly and securely store their BLVD token earnings directly within the Samsung Blockchain wallet. BULVRD Drive has been listed within the dApp section, enabling one click install. Users will also find the BLVD token right within the wallet, enabling simple and secure transactions.

BULVRD’s CEO David Hodge says, “We are excited to be working with Samsung to enable BULVRD users a simple and secure way to store and transact their BLVD token earnings. This integration enables a streamlined user experience the crypto space has been looking for.”

BULVRD is a US based blockchain startup creating an earn economy enabling a global community to create an incentivized mapping ecosystem. With active users in over 30 countries, having driven nearly half a billion miles during the app beta period.

Facebook Owns Our Data. Should It Own Our Wallets?

Wendy Glavin, Founder & CEO, Wendy Glavin Agency Since 2016, Facebook ( (FB[NGS] – $203.88 0.03 (0.01%) Trade )) has faced numerous scandals, including its news feed, its Beacon program, third-party apps accessing and exposing users’ personal data, its mood-manipulation experiment, the Cambridge Analytica fiasco which exposed ties to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, GDPR, massive data thefts, violations about Germany’s hate speech laws, its facial recognition software and more.

Data Privacy Scandals Undermine Facebook’s Cryptocurrency

Now, it’s Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra, which some lawmakers called for Facebook to pause its development thereof, citing the company’s seemingly endless list of scandals. In their letter Tuesday, the groups said Libra raises questions about everything from national sovereignty to consumer privacy.

“The US regulatory system is not prepared to address these questions. Nor are the regulatory systems of other nations or international institutions. If products and services like these are left improperly regulated and without sufficient oversight, they could systemic risks that endanger US and global financial stability,” lawmakers said in the letter. CNET, July 2, 2019.

Yet, since June 2019, after Facebook released the Libra white paper about its “cryptocurrency,” top-tier publications have provided in-depth analyses of some of the major issues, including regulatory, privacy, ownership by for-profit companies, the potential misuse of economic and political power, doubts about permissioned cryptocurrencies, the lack of vetting app developers and more.

“Can’t wait for a cryptocurrency with the ethics of Uber, the censorship resistance of PayPal, and the centralization of Visa, all tied together under the proven privacy of Facebook,” said Executive Director of Open Privacy Sarah Jamie Lewis, on Twitter.

Others hype Libra as having the ability to scale with its 2.5 billion monthly users, provide financial access to billions of people worldwide with low-fee payments across borders, the underbanked, and to raise awareness of cryptocurrency worldwide. E-commerce will be extended by providing products to buy on Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook claims that its wallet, Calibra, will not be connected to user data from Facebook and Instagram without permission. The company’s history with user privacy calls for more than a measure of skepticism.

But is Libra a Cryptocurrency?

Geneva welcomed Facebook as the home of the Libra Association, a not-for-profit organization that will govern the payment network and manage a financial reserve for the cryptocurrency. The Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance said it’s a “positive sign that Switzerland can play a role in an ambitious international project. Swiss politicians have gushed about the potential of “Crypto Valley” in the low-tax Swiss city of Zug, and then-Finance Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann last year even talked about Crypto Valley morphing into a “Crypto Nation Switzerland.” Bloomberg, June, 2019.

The Libra Association consists of 28 founding members, including MasterCard, PayPal, Spotify, Lyft, Uber and others that get one vote each along with Facebook. But, just because Libra employs blockchain technology doesn’t necessarily make it a cryptocurrency.

“While Bitcoin is a decentralized network exempt from permissions and resistant to censorship, Libra is run by a consortium of large corporations which will be impacted by regulations from various global governments. Also, it’s not a currency, it’s a digital token or – in financial parlance – a “stablecoin.” London Loves Business, July 3, 2019.

Unlike bitcoin which is decentralized and controlled by thousands of nodes worldwide that validate transactions, the Bitcoin blockchain needs more than 51 percent computing power (equal to billions of dollars) for it to be altered. Bitcoin is transparent, anonymous, borderless, permissionless, verifiable and immutable.

The Fuel for Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive technologies like cryptocurrency are defined as such because they’re driven by customers’ demands for faster, personalized, frictionless, cost-effective and more trusted products and services. However, since Libra is slated to launch in 2020, the debate will continue.

Like financial technology (FinTech), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, drones, self-driving cars, cloud, 5G, smart devices, and other new technologies, companies either identify ways to improve existing services like Uber did with taxis or create a new offering like Netflix by creating a low-cost alternative to subscription services like Blockbuster.

In the Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order, Wall Street Journal journalists, Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey write:

“Most of the people we talk to seem to think of cryptocurrencies and related projects in terms of two to three years, or five to ten years…. Bitcoin is just six years old. It has gone from what ostensibly was one lonely coder’s pet project to a global phenomenon that has sparked the imagination and activism of libertarians, anticorporatists, crypto-anarchists, utopians, entrepreneurs and VCs.

Society-at-large will play a role, too, partly because of the disruptive impact that technology is having on people’s lives. Cryptocurrency is a potentially powerful new disruptive element. Interconnected computing gadgets give people far greater control over their lives, new markets for their products and labor, and new tools for organizing politically.

But the technology also fuels anxiety. Some fear the surveillance that it permits; others feel overwhelmed by the barrage of information; a good many will have their jobs replaced by machines and software. Technology has fueled a backlash, and cryptocurrencies are no different….

The passionate believers and the threatened masses are already rubbing up against each other in the public square. They are going to meet and mix and mingle and test out each other’s ideas and hash out where this whole thing goes. This is exactly how change happens, a constant, slow-moving evolution by which human society alters and adapts.”

Is Wall Street Bullish on Crypto?

J.P Morgan, RBC, SunTrust, Raymond James, and Baird are some of the Wall Street firms predicting that Facebook’s Libra is a move forward towards global adoption of crypto. Its financial infrastructure backed by heavyweights is a “watershed moment” but will take some time. Other investment banks are open to crypto trading based on customer demand.

Before any real progress can be made, however, cryptocurrency needs to be clearly defined to understand the key differences and potential problems.

First, Libra is centralized meaning its founding members will run nodes, and it’s regulated. A decentralized blockchain, like bitcoin, has millions of nodes so it’s not controlled by any intermediary. Other differences include onboarding. With Libra, you must be approved. With bitcoin, anyone can use it.

“Bitcoin is really a people-to-people currency and you can actively participate in the network. Libra is a currency of business-to-people. As a private person, you cannot easily participate actively in the network and, unlike Bitcoin, you must rely on the fact that the companies that operate Libra do not operate in secrecy. In addition, one can imagine that Libra could possibly be frozen and/or censored.

This is not possible with Bitcoin. Bitcoin transactions cannot be censored and Bitcoin accounts cannot be frozen by anyone. This makes Bitcoin a great place to donate to organizations that may be censored and muzzled in their own country. In addition, everyone can actively participate in the Bitcoin network.” CrytoTicker, June 2019.

A Brief Blockchain Primer

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology which uses cryptography to secure every transaction and insures its accuracy for every user in the network. It’s the underlying mechanism for the crypto market and is being used across a wide variety of industry sectors, including but not limited to, banking, messaging apps, voting, internet identity, ride sharing, education, cloud storage, music and entertainment, real estate, insurance, supply-chain, sports, retail, charity, cannabis and government.

“If Facebook can establish Libra as a trusted way for users make their transactions, it will go a long way to rebuilding trust in Facebook itself. Despite all of this, the crypto movement isn’t scared of Libra. “I’d be nervous if I were the US government, but I’m not nervous as a Bitcoin holder,” says Sasha Hodder, a lawyer from Washington DC.

“It’s a good thing… for more people to learn about Bitcoin. One is decentralized, one is centralized; one has a blockchain, the other says it’s a blockchain; one has an anonymous, pretty cool founder and one has Mark Zuckerberg.” The Telegraph, June 2019. Have Americans Caught the “Crypto” Craze?

Conversely, 85 percent of Americans are not interested in Facebook Libra, a new IBD/TIPP Poll found. Some 94 percent of young adults ages 18-24, and ages 25-44 are not interested. For 45-64s, 91% said they are not keen on Libra. Americans age 65 and older showed the least resistance. But seniors were hardly enthusiastic: 79% aren’t interested in Facebook Libra.

In total 56% of people said they do not believe it is likely they will buy or use cryptocurrencies in the next 10 years. Notably, 57% of self-described investors don’t expect to buy or use cryptocurrencies in the next 10 years. That compares to 53% of non-investors. Investor’s Business Daily, June 27 2019.

Backlash from Around the World

The Senate Banking Committee will be holding a hearing, “Examining Facebook’s Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations” on July 16, 2019, at 10 am ET. Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-NC) called for a moratorium on Facebook’s activity on Libra.

The House committee will hold its first hearing into Libra and its “impact on consumers, investors, and the American financial system” on July 17 2019.

France’s Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, asked the Group of Seven including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada to draft a report on the cryptocurrency for its July summit. “This money will allow (Facebook) to assemble even more data, which only increases our determination to regulate the internet giants,’’ declared LeMaire.

On July 3, Cointelegraph reported over 30 advocacy groups have appeared as signatories on a request that Congress and regulators implement an official moratorium on Libra development. Also, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Eugene Stiglitz published an article claiming that “every currency is based on trust, but only a fool would trust Facebook’s Libra.”

“The scrutiny that we’ve seen is something that we expected and welcome. We announce this early by design to have this discourse in the open and gather feedback. Reserves would be subject to monetary policies of countries where funds are located. Calibra does not plan to apply for local banking licenses,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “We look forward to responding to lawmakers’ questions as this process moves forward,” but did not agree to pause development on Libra.

But, Facebook is setting its sights on underdeveloped countries. David Marcus, the head of the company’s blockchain group said, “Libra’s great promise is to help people who are poorly served by the current banking system, particularly those in developing countries.

“With Libra, anyone with a $40 smartphone and connectivity will have the ability to securely safeguard their assets, access the world economy, transact at a much lower cost, and over time access a whole range of financial services,” he wrote. “We firmly believe that if Libra is successful, it can be a non-linear step change for billions of people who need it the most.”

The novelty and ambition of the idea does not seem to be discouraging investors: Facebook stock is up about 4% since the company announced Libra. CNBC, July 3 2019.

To learn more about David Marcus’s testimony before the Senate on Libra’s cryptocurrency, listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUQpmEjgFAU.

Here are the top ten issues:

1. What about the bad actors? 2. How is Libra a non-profit if it will pay dividends? 3. Crypto is decentralized. Libra is centralized 4. Where’s the accountability? 5. It’s business model will provide even more ad revenue for Facebook 6. The sharing of even more data between the tech giants that own a $10 M dollar seat 7. There are major trust and privacy issues 8. Users data will have to be collected 9. It’s open platform raises concerns about how developers might use it in nefarious ways 10. If Libra is designed to help the poor, there are concerns about lack of education, over-spending and scammers Stay tuned for the continued debate worldwide.

Reprinted with permission of Equities.com

About the Author: Wendy Glavin is Founder and CEO of Wendy Glavin, a NYC full- service agency. Wendy is a 20-year veteran of corporate, agency, consulting and small business ownership. She specializes in B2B2C marketing communications, PR, social and digital media. Her website is: https://wendyglavin.com/. Contact her at: [email protected].

BitAngels Investor Network Expands with Six New City Chapters Blockchain entrepreneurs now invited to pitch to investors at BitAngels’ new chapters in London, San Juan, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Philadelphia and Madrid

CommPRO Editorial Staff

BitAngels (https://bitangels.io/), an investor network for the blockchain industry, today announced the launch of six new chapters: London, San Juan, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Philadelphia, and Madrid. These chapters join a growing international network of investors helping to grow the blockchain ecosystem through community events and company spotlights. BitAngels events are held once a month in each city, and feature keynote presentations and company pitches to an audience of investors and blockchain community members. Blockchain industry entrepreneurs are invited to pitch to investors at one of these upcoming BitAngels events, and applications are vetted to ensure quality presentations for each audience.

“Since launching BitAngels investor events in major U.S. cities earlier this year, we’ve been blown away by interest from industry leaders in launching their own chapters around the world,” said Michael Terpin, co-founder of BitAngels. “The launch of these six new chapters will provide entrepreneurs and investors the chance to meet each other in a conducive environment to mentoring and investing. We are excited to help provide a platform for angel investors to explore new blockchain opportunities, and give founders the opportunity to pitch to our growing BitAngels network.”

The brainchild of industry leaders Michael Terpin and David Johnston in 2013, BitAngels has grown from being the world’s first angel network for digital currency startups to the largest one globally. Each BitAngels event features networking and short pitches by startup founders to an audience of investors, business leaders, and the local blockchain community. These events provide investors the unique chance to learn about new cryptocurrency investment opportunities in person, including security token offerings and initial exchange offerings.

BitAngels London will launch at HomeGrown Club on July 11, 2019. BitAngels Puerto Rico will launch at Satoshi Cafe in San Juan on July 26, 2019. Other chapter launch dates will be announced in the coming weeks. A full list of upcoming BitAngels events can be found here.

Companies interested in presenting at a BitAngels event can apply by emailing their company information and pitch deck to BitAngels Managing Director Mariana Danilovic at [email protected]. Companies undergo a due diligence process by the BitAngels team to ensure quality presentations at every BitAngels event. There is no cost to apply or to present.

To launch or sponsor a BitAngels chapter in your city, please visit www.bitangels.io.

Ep. 14– CryptoCharacters with Jason Nagi

Mikhail Gurevich- Founder/Managing Partner- Dominion Capital LLC- Value, Growth, Innovation

Take a trip down entrepreneur lane, and learn what drew Mikhail to the first Ycombinator class as a young engineering student, along with the likes of Redidit. Get Mikhail’s take on value, what it takes to build companies, innovation’s quickening pace, and innovation barriers in both theFinTech and cannabis industries. Learn what may be holding back blockchain on a regulatory and lobbying level and what is pushing blockchain adoption on a regulatory level.

SAIT Graduates are the Largest Canadian Class to Receive Blockchain-Based Diplomas CommPRO Editorial Staff

ODEM, the blockchain-based education marketplace, is joining with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, Canada to grant digital diplomas to more than 4,800 graduating students. SAIT’s Class of 2019 will receive the blockchain-based documents along with their traditional parchments.

The virtual diplomas will enable graduates to directly share their academic achievements with recruiters and potential employers around the world without requesting their paper or electronic records from SAIT. Blockchain technology features a decentralized digital ledger to cryptographically assure the security and authenticity of recipient-controlled credentials.

“Education is one of life’s most valuable assets,” said ODEM Chief Executive Officer Richard Maaghul. “We believe that students should have control over their own records, and blockchain technology makes that possible.”

The partnership with SAIT began as a successful pilot project in December on the Ethereum blockchain to test the issuance of digital diplomas. The pilot included twenty five graduates from the Pre-Employment Automotive Service Technician program — the first Canadian post-secondary graduates to receive their academic credentials on a blockchain. This month’s SAIT convocation marks the largest-ever graduating class at a Canadian higher-education institution to be issued blockchain- based diplomas. “SAIT graduates are well-positioned for success with employers in today’s rapidly changing digital landscape,” said Dr. David Ross, SAIT’s President and CEO. “By making valued SAIT credentials accessible through blockchain, our graduates and employers will continue to benefit from this innovative technology that’s responsive, authentic, and widely accessible.”

Blockchain technology extends a significant benefit to employers as well; the validity of academic credentials can be easily and efficiently verified. Background checks become instant confirmation of blockchain records, ensuring against fraudulent education claims.

“We’re delighted to play a role in empowering SAIT graduates to own their education over a lifetime of learning,” said ODEM’s Maaghul. “By working together, we’ve only just begun to explore how blockchain technology can make education more accessible, affordable, transferable, and verifiable.”