Friday, June 16, 2017

DLT Diamonds really are forever (now), Whitepaper, FCA, ASIC, Project Jasper and MND


It was a pleasure to see such a strong turn out for the City against MND Network. Congratulations to Dave Setters and the many sponsors and supporters. An impressive event at the always impressive grounds of the HAC.
http://intlfcstone.cvent.com/events/the-david-setters-trophy/staff-048edee594884e69bd0111914565c194.aspx

It was also a pleasure to catch up with so many people at IDX. I was a little surprised that DLT was not as much at the forefront of the agenda this year....but there is plenty going on!

Another milestone this week for DLT in the commodity markets.
Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange Partners With Kynetix And Everledger To Trial First-Ever Blockchain Verification And Record-Keeping Service For Diamond Trading
http://www.mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/singapore-diamond-investment-exchange-partners-with-kynetix-and-everledger-to-tr/
(plenty of other wires carried this story - take your pick).

I've also put a paper together on what I think about the governance and adoption issues for DLT. There are so many generalisations out there that I thought it would be good to separate the generalisations and observations. Once these things are agreed, then you can really start to dive down into details and practical realities. The paper is available here. Obviously would love any comments and feedback. More than happy to qualify or justify any of my statements.
https://www.kynetix.com/news-and-insights/insight/blockchain-dlt/ 

I've also been doing some tweaking on my blogspot.
I've added a few tabs - some specifically on DLT.
Basically DLT Thoughts (why I don't like Bitcoin), DLT providers and DLT applications.
Always a constant work in progress, but hopefully a starting point. Again. more than happy to take on board any feedback or suggestions.

Well, Summer has arrived in force...and it is certainly evident on the cycle paths. Cycling continues to get strong take up in London which is great to see. Amazing to see so many clusters of bikes, at times it even makes me think of Holland!

Whatever your leisure, may it be a pleasure.
Great weekend all,

Scott.
s.riley.mail@gmail.com


DLT

FCA DLT Consultation paper. (closes 17/July)
DP17/3: Discussion Paper on distributed ledger technology
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/discussion-papers/dp17-3-discussion-paper-distributed-ledger-technology

ASIC’s Innovation Hub and our approach to regulatory technology
http://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/reports/rep-523-asic-s-innovation-hub-and-our-approach-to-regulatory-technology/

Canada backs off blockchain interbank payment system
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/26/canada-backs-off-blockchain-interbank-payment-system.html
Project Jasper: Are Distributed Wholesale Payment Systems Feasible Yet?
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/fsr-june-2017-chapman.pdf

Stena bulk’s successful MIT Sloan project with blockchain.
http://www.stenabulk.com/press-and-news/press-releases/stena-bulks-successful-mit-sloan-project-blockchain

IBM, Natixis and Trafigura team on blockchain platform for oil trades
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/30350/ibm-natixis-and-trafigura-team-on-blockchain-platform-for-oil-trades

CIBC, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, ING and UBS Test Corda for Collateral Lending
http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/cibc-commerzbank-credit-suisse-ing-ubs-test-corda-collateral-lending/


Ethical Investing – Whose ethics are we talking about?
..."the options for ethical investing are largely limited to simplistic screening processes for pooled funds, such as blanket bans on firms focussed on profiting from activities such as alcohol, gambling, tobacco and fossil fuels."
...No investor wants to sink their money into a stock that’s worthy but ultimately worthless.
https://emea.nikkoam.com/articles/2017/06/ethical-investing-whose-ethics?utm_campaign=LinkedIn&utm_medium=web&utm_source=DirectSponsored
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) principles that are at the heart of the United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Investing.
https://www.unpri.org/about/the-six-principles
*** I think this is a real opportunity for DLT. e.g. Screening 'Tobacco' companies is one thing, but do we really want to screen alcohol, fossil fuel companies etc. DLT provides a mechanism to evidence best practice in the supply chain, from production through to product placement. Just as alcohol can be consumed responsibly...so too it can be produced responsibly. DLT can add clarity where a blanket screen may not be best either for investors or the environment.

MultiChain 1.0 beta 2 and 2.0 roadmap.
[MultiChain was forked from Bitcoin Core]
...While Ethereum’s “smart contract” paradigm is popular, it has a number of key shortcomings for high-throughput permissioned blockchains. First, smart contracts introduce a global dependency across the blockchain’s entire state, which drastically impairs concurrency and performance. Second, smart contracts cannot stop incorrect transactions from being embedded in a blockchain, but only prevent those transactions from updating the blockchain database’s state....
http://www.multichain.com/blog/

What is also interesting are some of the Multichain partners (including): Accenture, Boston Consulting Group and pwc.
http://www.multichain.com/platform-partners/

'Top 10' Blockchains Report Concludes: Now is the Time to Pivot
Platforms selected based on their potential to more quickly and transparently conduct post-trade securities settlement include Axoni, Chain, Digital Asset, Ethereum, Hyperledger, Nasdaq, R3, Setl, Symbiont and tØ.
http://www.coindesk.com/top-10-blockchains-report-concludes-now-time-pivot/

Corp-up and venture builder models
“Corporate” and “Start-up”: big business in banking and insurance is coming after the start-up world with capital and intent – a powerful combination that we should not ignore.
Venture Builder: where corporates are building multiple challenger ventures on the outside, away from the internal corporate antibodies, driven by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs who have done it before.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fintech-so-last-year-johan-bosini?trk=v-feed&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BpnoiROF6Pg%2FFAcJO536XCg%3D%3D


Market Structure

European Commission - Press release
Mergers: Commission blocks proposed merger between Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-789_en.htm

FCA: Investment managers still failing to ensure effective oversight of best execution
We were concerned to find that most firms had failed to take on board the findings of our thematic review. The pace of change in improving client outcomes in best execution was slow, with few firms having a cohesive strategy for improving client outcomes.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/investment-managers-still-failing-ensure-effective-oversight-best-execution

Could the handwriting be on the wall for Bloomberg Tradebook?
http://www.tradersmagazine.com/news/brokerage/trouble-at-tradebook-116066-1.html

Brexit

The €60 billion Brexit bill: how to disentangle Britain from the EU budget.
Alex Barker: Policy Brief.
* The make-up of the bill is little understood, even by EU-27 countries. The €60 billion covers Britain’s potential obligations in three main areas: legally binding budget commitments that will be paid after Britain leaves; pension promises to EU officials; and contingent liabilities – such as bailout loans to Ireland – that would only require payments in certain circumstances.
* The most legally contentious relate to support for EU investment projects that will be paid for after Britain leaves. These liabilities come in two forms: project commitments that have yet to be paid; and structural funds promised to EU member-states, which will largely be turned into ‘budget commitments’ and paid for between 2019 and 2023.
* the settlement should be presented as ‘Brexit implementation costs’


Other Bits

How Machines Make Sense of Big Data: an Introduction to Clustering Algorithms
A closer look at 3 clustering algos.
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/how-machines-make-sense-of-big-data-an-introduction-to-clustering-algorithms-4bd97d4fbaba
*** I found this article quite insightful.

London has had a tough couple of weeks. But something about the British spirit just shines through:
#BritishThreatLevels
e.g's Terrorism to the British is...
- Queue jumping
- Changes to your favourite biscuit
- The announcement every British football fan fears:..."and so we go to Penalties"...
- Debating how to pronounce words in your own language:..."I pronounce scone as scone"
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/britishthreatlevels-reveals-the-true-threat-to-british-way-of-life-following-manchester-bombing_uk_59256550e4b0650cc020537c


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