Changpeng Zhao, the esteemed CEO of Binance, has announced a partnership with that will focus on implementing blockchain solutions in Uganda.
The Binance CEO tweeted the news from the country, where he has met with the local to discuss collaboration to promoting economic development.
will partner with to support Uganda's economic transformation and youth employment through blockchain, embracing the 4th industrial revolution. We will do this by creating thousands of jobs and bringing investments to Uganda.
— CZ (@cz_binance)
The partnership also features other figures spearheading development in Africa. Aggie Konde, the CEO of , and Helen Hai, CEO of the , both companies that aim to drive effective economic transformation in the region. The agreement looks set to create jobs in the region by outside investment, which could help bring Uganda to the forefront of the African blockchain revolution.
On May 23rd, and 24th, Uganda will host Africa’s largest blockchain conference, where leaders in policy, business and academia from around the world will converge on the capital Kampala to discuss the role of blockchain technology in Africa’s transformation.
The partnership is organized by The Blockchain Association of Uganda, a non-profit advocacy group who aim to promote blockchain technology in the country, organize events, and represent Uganda internationally.
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The fine issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority () to Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman could reportedly affect the Tezos project, especially if the SEC deems its tokens to be a security. On April 18, 2018, Breitman was fined $20,000 for alleged violations of FINRA regulations, a charge he neither admitted nor denied. FINRA also suspended him from associating with any broker-dealers for the next two years. This news is the latest in a laundry list of that have surrounded the Tezos project since its .
Failure to Disclose
Arthur Breitman reportedly ran afoul of FINRA regulations while he was still working at Morgan Stanley between 2014 and 2015. FINRA regulations stipulate that all registered securities professionals must provide written notice to the employers if they are engaged in other business activities for which there exists a “reasonable expectation of compensation.”
According to FINRA, the French national failed to disclose that he was involved in the Tezos project despite the fact that he was developing and pitching the idea.
Apart from failing to disclose, Breitman also allegedly provided false information on separate compliance questionnaires during his time at Morgan Stanley. This is according to the settlement reached between Breitman and FINRA. The regulatory agency cited some correspondences between Breitman and others in early 2015 as justification for their application of the ruling. A business plan from early 2015 listed Arthur Breitman as CEO of the project.
FINRA also ruled that the Tezos co-founder had tried to conceal his association with the Tezos project by using a pseudonym L.M.Goodman in many documents. An email sent to an acquaintance in 2015 revealed that he was trying to conceal his participation in the Tezos project. According to FINRA, this showed a clear motive on the part of Breitman to not reveal his business activities to his employers.
Potential Problems
Reacting to the fine, Sarah Lightdale, an attorney for the Tezos co-founder said that the FINRA settlement has nothing to do with the Tezos project and does not affect its launch in any way. According to her, Breitman cooperated with FINRA and wishes to move forward, putting the issue behind the project.
While the fine is relatively small, it is the suspension by FINRA that could prove to be potentially problematic. The effectively prohibits him from being associated with any of the company that is engaged in buying or selling securities. This could become a problem if the SEC deems that Tezos tokens are indeed securities. By virtue of his suspension, Arthur Breitman will not be allowed to associate himself with the project. In January 2018, SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton that all ICO tokens were securities.
There is currently a lot of lobbying going on by Silicon Valley VCs to get the SEC to on its ICO regulations. However, if the SEC does rule that all ICO tokens are securities, then Arthur Breitman may no longer be able to associate himself with the Tezos project that he co-founded with his wife, Kathleen.
The Tezos ICO raised $232 million during its July 2017 ICO.
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E-commerce leader has recently won a patent which grants them the authority to set up a streaming data marketplace, allowing the users to view cryptocurrency transactions in real time.
Subsidiary Wins Patent
Granted to a subsidiary – – of the e-commerce and cloud computing giant, the details a system where individuals and organizations are allowed to upload data feeds for sale; accessible via subscription.
Source: Wikipedia
According to the filing, it suggests that developers could “build real-time dashboards, capture exceptions and generate alerts, drive recommendations, and make other real-time business or operational decisions.”
Many possible use cases for the patent were listed by Amazon, including website clickstreams, marketing and financial information, manufacturing, instrumentation, and social media.
However, a critical use-case was that of the cryptocurrency market.
Multiple-Data Streams To Enable bitcoin-tracking
On its own, the individual cryptocurrency data streams may be of little to no value. However, once the transactional data is combined with information from other sources, “the data stream becomes more valuable.”
The patent states:
“A group of electronic or internet retailers who accept bitcoin transactions may have a shipping address that may correlate with the bitcoin address. The electronic retailers may combine the shipping address with the bitcoin transaction data to create correlated data and republish the combined data as a combined data stream.”
It also talks about the potential appeal of the marketplace to the law enforcers.
According to Amazon, law agencies could be a consumer as the system makes it possible to receive global transactions, bifurcated by nations. The system would further use transactional data with ISP information that corresponds to a particular bitcoin address. The system could make it possible to track addresses flagged as ‘criminal.’
No extra information would be required, as the data marketplace can provide all transaction details per gigabyte – for the agency’s perusal.
Having a centralized multi-billion company to its advantage, if Amazon were to go ahead and bring this marketplace to reality, it would mean serious competition to other blockchain startups, which are building decentralized logistics and law systems.
Cryptocurrency Patents On The Rise
By filing a patent, companies have historically gained a competitive advantage over rivals due to their ownership of a particular product or feature. Patents attract customers to that particular business, as patents usually are filed on a company’s unique selling proposition.
The increasing number of cryptocurrency patents issued in 2018 is a positive sign and denotes improved government understanding of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
In case Amazon does implement cryptocurrency transaction streaming, a lot of traditional businesses would follow – possibly taking the market to trillions of dollars in valuation.
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