What do WordPress and Salesforce have in common? Both have had a meteoric rise to industry dominance based on one simple principle: make new types of technology quick and easy to use and you will beat out other more powerful and complete competing solutions. Usability and agility are key, and WordPress and Salesforce provide easy (if limited) functionality to the end user.
The same principle is being used by a new Blockchain platform, . Instead of providing a narrow Blockchain solution for one business use case, they are aiming to be the best of breed solution that helps spread adoption by flipping the script of Blockchain for business: instead of having companies design their own DApps or even private Blockchain solutions, Omnitude acts as a middleware layer between users and the world of distributed ledger technology (DLT).
This abstracts away much of the friction involved in starting with Blockchain/decentralized ledger technology for business.
A Token for All Companies
The Omnitude site gave an example of how their token (ECOM) will be used in the eCommerce use case:
“Merchants will make payments in ECOM to other ecosystem participants to use the on-ledger Omnitude solutions for Supply Chain Provenance, Delivery Cycle Transparency Data, Single ID, Single Reputation and Proof-of-Interaction. Customers will make payments to merchants using ECOM, crypto currencies and fiat.
The consistency of Omnitude’s immutable blockchain will be guaranteed by a distributed, peer-to-peer network of validating nodes running the Omnitude Core client application. In return for enforcing Omnitude’s Delegated Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (DPBFT) consensus algorithm, validating nodes will share in ECOM block rewards.”
They also explained the flexibility of the token:
“Through crowdfunding, the Omnitude Foundation is raising funds for the initial issuance of ECOM, and for the development and launch of the Omnitude ecosystem. Any party will be able to join the Omnitude ecosystem and earn ECOM. It will also be possible to purchase ECOM in return for fiat currencies or other cryptocurrencies on the exchanges where ECOM are listed.
Any entity participating in eCommerce (e.g. merchant, customer, supplier, courier, affiliate/referrer, or Omnitude specialist) will be able to join the Omnitude ecosystem. They will be granted an OID by the Omnitude Foundation and will run a full or partial node. Depending on their role, the Omnitude Foundation will assign the appropriate level of access required to transact in the ecosystem.”
Security Designs
The team has also worked on their security strategy:
“Additionally, Omnitude will prevent unauthorized parties from ascertaining the identity and patterns of behavior of any other participant by inspecting the ledger. Omnitude will allow ecosystem participants to make certain details of a transaction confidential, so that they cannot be accessed by anyone other than the stakeholders in the transaction.
Periodically, the Omnitude Blockchain will also anchor to transactions on the bitcoin and Ethereum Blockchains. This will allow Omnitude’s Blockchain to benefit from the added security provided by bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s consensus algorithms and Blockchains.”
This is also bolstered by their use of Hyperledger Fabric as one of the building blocks of the platform. Hyperledger has had the likes of IBM as creators, bringing heavyweight security to its design.
The progress of the platform is developing at full speed, and the team is running their until May 31.
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In 2017, ICOs were huge, and, in fact, they raised . Their success is continuing as we progress through 2018, and although ICOs maintain their popularity, companies have developed other methods of fundraising and token distribution. Let’s take a look.
Initial Loan Procurement (ILP)
Like Ethereum created the first ICO, have created the first . It’s an entirely new innovation. Instead of sending your money to a smart contract and receiving tokens as you would in an ICO, you become a creditor and lend your money to a company. The loan is paid back at an agreed time and is legally binding.
The first ILP is blockhive’s. They’re issuing Future Loan Access Tokens – for blockhive, these are called HIVE tokens. HIVE are utility/access tokens that use smart contracts to handle the necessary KYC checks and provide an immutable record of the loan agreement. It is easiest to think of these tokens like keys to a house. You can’t enter a house without a key in the same way you can’t enter into a digital loan agreement without using HIVE to provide your signature.
Regulation-friendly ILP provides an alternative for companies, who may have little use form launching a native token but can still benefit from the use of blockchain technology. represents a collaborative funding effort that allows different companies to work together to achieve mutually beneficial goals, and HIVE token holders get to support a basket of companies.
Airdrops
Airdrops are becoming an increasingly popular way of distributing cryptocurrency tokens. They aren’t dissimilar to ICOs, but one feature makes them stand out – participating in an airdrop is free. This means that airdrops can sidestep regulations even in countries where the purchase of cryptographic tokens is banned.
For early-stage startups, airdrops are great because they incentivize newcomers to get involved with their project since people acquiring new tokens will want to know more about the issuer and will want to see the business succeed. Besides, who doesn’t love free stuff?
Security Token Offerings (STO)
Security Token Offerings, such as those provided on the platform, could be the future of the cryptocurrency market. This is because security tokens have the potential to revolutionize the trade of traditional stocks, shares, bonds on the blockchain. These tokens are different from those issued in ICOs because they have KYC/AML compliance baked into them.
The ability to trade these assets without friction has the potential to disrupt every major industry, so STOs could explode soon.
The Future of Blockchain Fundraising
Security Token Offerings, Airdrops, and Initial Loan Procurement have emerged from necessity and are addressing issues that the ICO may be unable to solve.
It follows that new methods of funding will increase in popularity and that the ICO may begin to fade. Airdrops could take the place of the ICO, though they are more likely to be used as a marketing strategy. We’re probably still a while away from , but it looks like it’s coming.
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Rob Jesudason, Commonwealth Bank CFO, has resigned to join the company behind EOS, the fifth largest digital currency. Jesudason would reportedly assume the role of group president and chief operating officer of Block.one, seller of the EOS token and publisher of blockchain software called EOSIO.
“Blockchain will have a transformative impact on most industries in the coming years and will redefine operating models by streamlining businesses, while also reducing cost and risk,” Jesudason commented. “Block.one’s technological innovation enables fast, low-cost, and scalable blockchain performance and is laying the groundwork for mass adoption of these new technologies.”
Jesudason has been at CBA for more than six years. He previously worked for a host of large finance companies including IFS, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Barclays, GE Capital and McKinsey.
According to Commonwealth Bank, Jesudason had resigned “to pursue an external role in Hong Kong” and would be “leaving with immediate effect”. For the role of new acting CFO Alan Docherty has been chosen. Docherty joined the bank in 2003 and has been the chief financial officer for CBA’s Institutional Banking and Markets business.
As for Block.one, the company is happy to take Rob Jesudason on board. “Rob has a proven track record of success in global financial services, where he has been involved in industry innovation and facilitated regulatory advancement enabling the adoption of new technologies,” Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer said. “His alignment with our organizational priorities of creating compliant, high performance blockchain solutions, is an ideal fit for Block.one, and is an exciting conclusion to our thorough search for the right individual.”
is a leading developer of technology solutions including blockchain software. With employees and advisors based around the world, the company focuses on business-grade technology solutions, including the development of the EOSIO software.
Developed by Block.one cryptocurrency EOS has seen solid performance in recent months. According to Block.one, the company has raised about US$700 million in the initial coin offering (ICO) of the EOS token. During the past few weeks, the coin has been sky-rocketing. It managed to take over Litecoin’s long-held spot as the fifth-best currency on the global coin ranking list. Thanks to the increase of its market capitalization, EOS was able to climb up to becoming one of the top 5 coins on the global level. The current price of EOS is $14,15, according to .
What is more, EOS coin has sparked interest of Infinito Wallet, a fintech startup part of R&D company Infinity Blockchain Labs. The company it would integrate the EOS native blockchain to support the EOS coin, allowing its holders store all their coins in one place.
The EOS cryptocurrency is currently operated as an Ethereum-standard “ERC20” token on the Ethereum blockchain, but its blockchain will be in June. It is expected to scale millions of transactions per second, get rid of the user fees and enable operation of dAPPS.
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The XRP digital currency commonly referred to as the Ripple cryptocurrency in the global community looks to be set for an image makeover of its own. In a bid to assign a new logo for the XRP tokens, Alexavier Guzman has unveiled an open-source platform called XRP Symbol. Under this new initiative, Ripple token or XRP will also be assigned a Unicode-compliant currency sign.
One of the major reasons for Guzman to start this initiative was that he realized that XRP doesn’t have a Unicode Standard symbol, but instead an ISO 4217 currency code (XRP). Guzman wrote:
“The XRP Symbol is an open-source project that started after I realized that XRP was using an ISO 4217 currency code and not a symbol or currency sign. Other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin were given a symbol that was added to the Unicode Standard, the symbol for bitcoin is “₿”… I believe that XRP should be treated just like any other currency.”
Ripple Labs, the San Francisco-based blockchain startup has also lent its support to this initiative and tweeted about the same.
There is a community movement for a unique symbol. We agree! XRP is independent of Ripple. Submit your idea now.
— Ripple (@Ripple)
In a op-ed, Guzman wrote that one of the major goals is to design a logo for XRP different from the existing one used by the company. “Because XRP does not currently have its own symbol or logo, the currency is often associated with Ripple’s trademark. Because of this, many people believe that XRP is a product of Ripple, and even go as far as to call XRP ‘ripples.’”
Understanding XRP
Guzman in his article goes to explain in detail that what actually is XRP. XRP is basically a digital currency token or a digital asset that is used on the XRP decentralized Ledger that is powered through a network of peer-to-peer servers. Moreover, the required for implementing XRP is a completely open-source project released by Ripple.
One of the good things about the XRP Ledger’s open-source software is that it can be implemented at any scale. Currently, XRP tokens are been used as native currency on the XRP Ledger. The XRP tokens can be used by payment services and bank in order to provide liquidity for cross-border global transactions at low cost.
Moreover, being an open-source software, the XRP tokens can also be used as a currency for making an everyday purchase. Other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin which need a few minutes or even hours to process the transactions which don’t make it an ideal choice for being used at point-of-sale terminals. On the other hand, XRP takes only 4 seconds to process the transaction and hence can be an ideal choice for daily usage. Additionally, the XRP Ledger’s internal currency exchange lets it to be used anywhere in the world and can automatically be converted into the local currency.
In the recent times, the close association between Ripple and XRP has become a hot discussion especially the U.S regulatory watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has had it eyes for XRP tokens to be classified as securities.
Gary Gensler, a former regulator at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the distribution structure of XRP makes it be identified as security. However, Ripple head of communications Tom Channick has said: “Whether or not XRP is a security is for the SEC to decide. We continue to believe XRP should not be classified as a security.”
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