The Week In Bitcoin - Issue #70: Open Sourcing Is The New Black

By Alan Tsen • Issue #70 • View online

Open Sourcing Is The New Black

Recently, Chain and R3 announced that they were open sourcing their core products. This is a clear change in direction for both companies, as it previously seemed that they were both going down the ‘permissioned partner’ blockchain route.

Although I’m sure that R3 and Chain would argue that this was always on the roadmap, my guess would be that after much effort working with partners they both realised that a platform (which is what a blockchain really is) has little value unless there are developers building on it. Having a rich tapestry of applications built on your platform matters and this is where I predict most will be now turning their attention to.

Some take the view that 2017 will be the year that PoCs go production ready. In contrast, I think 2017 will be the year that blockchain infrastructure startups go aggressively after developer mindshare. Expect more blockchain hackathons and developer evangelists at conferences as these companies realise that banks and other industry incumbents won’t be the ones that build the future of blockchain tech - it’ll actually be developers looking to solve problems in a novel way.

— Alan Tsen, @alantsen 👊💯

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This Week In Blockchain Open Sourcing

Blockchain Platform Developed By Banks To Be Open-Source

A blockchain platform developed by a group that includes more than 70 of
the world’s biggest financial institutions is making its code publicly
available, in what could become the industry standard for the nascent
technology.

r3cev.com • Share

R3 Finally Open Sources Blockchain Project And Admits Budget Difficulty

The R3 Consortium is attempting to neutralize criticism on the ambiguity in the coding language and structure of permissioned ledgers by open sourcing its technology.

cointelegraph.com • Share

Board meetings this week at Blockchain startups be like....

Announcing Chain Core Developer Edition

I’m pleased to share that we have released a free and open source version of Chain Core called Chain Core Developer Edition.

blog.chain.com • Share

Chain Releases Open-Source Version of Chain Core Technology Powering Visa’s New B2B Connect

On October 21, 2016, Visa announced a new partnership with blockchain enterprise company Chain that will develop “a simple, fast and secure way to process B2B payments globally.” Dubbed Visa B2B Connect, the system will offer participating pilot financial institutions a consistent process for managing settlement through Visa’s standard practices.

bitcoinmagazine.com • Share

News This Week

Smart Contracts Don’t Have To Be Dumb

Agreements enforced by computers freak people out. But how they work depends on how they’re written.

www.bloomberg.com • Share

China's Tech Giants Will Shape International Blockchain Standards, With Beijing's Backing

The Chinese government has published a “whitepaper” (link in Chinese) that sets out key milestones for the development of blockchain technology in the country, in the strongest signal yet that it’s encouraging the growth of the technology there. The move will give further impetus to firms pushing for blockchain applications in sectors ranging from payments to smart contracts on the mainland, which is…

qz.com • Share

Blockchain Ideologies Clash As Money2020 Spotlights Capital Markets

How much of the financial back-end should be rebooted by blockchain? A discussion on blockchain’s use in capital markets got a much-needed jolt today at Money2020 in Las Vegas when a small argument broke out over this question toward the end of an afternoon session.

www.coindesk.com • Share

Distributed Ledger Technology In Securities Clearing And Settlement: Some Issues

This paper explores the potential role of DLT in securities markets, using the equity market as an example. The paper discusses potential benefits and costs, drawing out limitations and challenges in the adoption of the new technology, as well as regulatory considerations. Despite the heightened interest in DLT, the paper concludes that the likely path is incremental adoption of the technology rather than wholesale replacement of the existing infrastructure.

finsia.com • Share

City Banks Plan To Hoard Bitcoins To Help Them Pay Cyber Ransoms

Experts say blue chip companies have decided it’s cheaper to deal with extortionists than risk damaging attacks

www.theguardian.com • Share

Searching For Practical Applications Of Bitcoin And Blockchain At Money 20/20

Money 20/20, often touted as the world’s largest fintech conference, begins today at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The event is expected to attract over 10,000 attendees, and will feature among its speakers and panelists some big names from the Bitcoin and blockchain space.

bitcoinmagazine.com • Share

Aussie Bank's 7000-Mile Blockchain Experiment Could Change Trade

When the Marie Schulte rounds the breakwater off the Chinese port of Qingdao in early November, bankers on two continents will be watching anxiously.

www.bloomberg.com • Share

Can Blockchain Save Banking?

Banking’s back end is a mess. It is antiquated, increasingly unprotected and costly to maintain. So global banks want to start fresh with Blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin. You can’t blame the pinstripe and wingtip set for being giddy about Blockchain. It has game-changing potential. Blockchain is the cryptographic, distributive […]

www.forbes.com • Share

Does A Blockchain Really Need A Native Coin?

In my previous post I addressed the hype surrounding blockchain — mostly in a context of the application of blockchain technology to the financial industry. Now it is time to think about the hype surrounding coin (or token) — which hype is constantly manifested as endless ICOs, speculation and forks.

medium.com • Share

Why Bitcoin Isn't A Ponzi Scheme

Recently the SEC delayed its decision on approving a bitcoin ETF, likely due to the complex nature revolving around security. During the review process the public was free to submit comments expressing any concerns around the ETF.

cryptohustle.com • Share

The Latest Experiment In Tech, Economics, And Psychology: Zcash

Cryptoeconomics is so fascinating to study because it’s a combination of technology, economics and psychology. Satoshi got all three of…

medium.com • Share

What is Zcash?

The Zcash (ZEC) genesis block will be launched on October 28th 2016. The new cryptocurrency will be the first to use a decentralized network to employ zero-knowledge security on an independent blockchain, as previous versions Zerocoin and Zerocash were limited to providing anonymity for other independent coins.

www.smithandcrown.com • Share

Swift Fights to Stay Relevant in A Blockchain World

Can Swift stay relevant in a world of blockchain? Swift, founded in 1973 with the aim of standardising how cross-border payments are sent, is the epitome of a middleman. It sits between many of the banks worldwide, making money off the fees it charges when its members sent transactions between one another.

www.coindesk.com • Share

Disney Reveals Dragonchain, An Interoperable Ledger

Back in March Bitcoin.com reported the Walt Disney company was searching for blockchain talent at its Seattle, Washington headquarters.

news.bitcoin.com • Share

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By Alan Tsen

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