ICO Radio

Why Blockchain and Cryptoassets are "The biggest gift to the Regulator - possibly ever - certainly in a generation!” Why Barry E James saw fit to write an open letter to Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, titled ‘Britain Leading the World – or Losing a Historic Opportunity Forever’ Think of Britain. Traditionally a world leader in financial services. The nation that gifted to the world its model Parliament; its open and evidence-based legal system; even, through Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the web on which we all operate, all around the globe. On the brink of Brexit and already facing an uncertain social and economic future, Britain now faces missing out on an unimaginable opportunity. But it’s not too late - yet! This week, Founder of ICO Radio Barry E James answers questions - and raises more - about why he felt compelled to write an impassioned letter to the Chancellor, to make the case for supporting blockchain entrepreneurship, and advocating a new approach to innovation in regulation. He outlines the

A Mindset Shift Among Incumbents! Those in the fintech and crypto space have gone from being the problem wild child to the cool kid on the block according to Martin Bartlam who shares some of the insights from DLA Piper’s recent report ‘Digital Transformation in Financial Services’ - which throws up some very interesting findings. Not least that there’s been a massive shift in the mindset of the big players in traditional financial services. It has become clear that blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and challengers in the space are here to stay. And, as Martin says, it’s those countries, those big players, who try to ignore them out of out of existence who will ultimately be the loser. The financial services space is changing from one where the big players are guarding their backs to a space where collaboration and adoption of new technology has become the new normal. The report covers the evolution of disruption; collaboration and investment and working with those who were previously competitor; the shif

Shaking the bad apples from the ICO tree, self-policing code of conduct changing the world. Global regulation of the ICO sector has proved contentious, with individual jurisdictions reacting differently to the rise of tokenisation and the need to deal with bad actors and the potential for fraud. But it is widely agreed across the industry that it can only work if it avoids regulating this creative and passionate sector out of existence altogether. It became clear early on to today’s guest, Simon Taylor, fintech expert from within the traditional banking sector - at Barclays. With so much happening in the ICO space in 2017, he knew there was a wave coming. One that the regulator might snap at, rather than nurturing the innovation this could kill it off. During research, he was meeting more and more mainstream banks concerned that tokenisation would become stifled by regulation. They liked the idea of tokenising traditional assets, making the system hugely efficient. And whereas in the early days of blockchain

In the face of a plethora of ‘Wild West’ references around the ground-breaking innovation of the blockchain space, is the old way of doing business, the old way of making money, facing its final frontier? Does the battle to keep this space regulated end up like Tombstone, Arizona? Or, making money - without the Mint. Or, bringing Outlaws, in law. Pierre Bourke of Blockchain Radio interviews two leading lights of the British Blockchain Association, Sharon Henley and Barry E James, about how the organisation came about, what are its aims, and what is the future for the sector. And, back to the Wild West once again – is the BBA as colonial as its name suggests, or can it build an international community? Having been established for over a year, the aim of the British Blockchain Association is to support all those coming together in the blockchain space, entrepreneurs, governments, other organisations, to build a community, to offer guidance, and to become the voice for the industry. As Sharon notes, there

Cryptocurrency: a new kind of Clubcard? As a traditional asset manager with an interest in new technology, Jonny Fry of Team Blockchain came to this ecosystem thinking (as many still do) that cryptocurrency and blockchain were somehow inextricably linked with Ponzi schemes, drugs and crime. But he came to realise; if you’re involved in nefarious activity, the last thing you’d want to get involved in is cryptocurrency. Where any transaction leaves an indelible digital footprint, that sits on the blockchain forever. And while the west spends around $20bn a year on KYC and AML onboarding, in an effort to stem the flow of criminal money, it’s those oh-so-reliable banks which have been fined more than $100bn over the last decade for failing to do just that. In contrast, the majority of ICOs are actually very strong on AML, says Jonny. The system is a comparatively simple tickbox exercise. Meaning ICOs know, and can prove, exactly where the money is coming from. When he started investigating the world of digital as

Zwoop: The new consumer champions, looking to make money out of the customer without cheating them, share the proceeds from their data, and blow Amazon out of the water! In today’s world of online shopping, the odds are very much stacked in favour of the retailer - never the consumer. There’s no doubt that e-commerce aggregators make shopping easier, rule our lives, influence our shopping habits; yet still all the current investment goes there – to make selling better and bigger, to monetise the system further. Whether through advertising or re-marketing, AdWords or store rankings, the results we see usually depend on who’s paid the most to which platform. But then it’s sold to us as efficient – the way to filter and aggregate choice across one, two, three, infinite, platforms. But it’s never become as efficient as it should be. Deliberately. Now – finally – emerges someone who is aiming to be the consumer’s best friend. Today’s interviewee, Alessandro Gadoffi, co-founder of Zwoop, tells me a few hard facts a

With regulators around the world scrambling to get to grips with Blockchain tech could the technology itself, and continuous audit, be part of the answer? When I spoke to Auditchain™ founder Jason Meyers this week, it felt a little like talking to blockchain royalty – at once removed anyhow Jason’s top team includes such luminaries as Dr.Stuart Haber, one of the co-inventors of Blockchain technology, who although cited three time by him denies he is Satoshi Nakamoto (but sometimes gets called that around the office); and Eric Coen, one of the creators of the business mark-up language XBRL The Auditchain™ mission is continuous, transparent, real-time audit. If audit ‘as we know it’ is a snapshot, then this is a video! Tamper proof and consensus-based - external validation and analysis ensuring transparency and so cutting the scope for fraud. After more than twenty years in investment banking and high level auditing systems, Jason set up a successful investment bank and raised capital at the time of the 2007/8

What if your money was backed by real gold yet could be spent via an ordinary-looking debit card, same as any other. With much lower transaction costs than you're used to - by a factor of around 10. Plus you got a 'yield' too? We’ve featured asset-backed cryptocurrency raises before, including recently exploring the real estate space in episode 21 with Leaseum. This time, Cayman-domiciled Kinesis is drawing on decades with the Allocated Bullion Exchange, an Australian institutional precious metal exchange with seven storage locations worldwide, and offering the next stage in that trade - by putting it on the blockchain. As Ryan says, it’s the evolution of the Gold Standard. The Kinesis cryptocurrencies, KAG and KAU, are based on physical gold and silver stored in vaults, which can be bought with fiat currency and then used in a variety of ways. They can be spent, via a debit card; sent, between e-wallets; or stored, on the Kinesis Blockchain Exchange, which itself runs on a proprietary fork of Stellar. The Ki

If you want a thing to happen – get a woman in! Says the Crypto Diva! When Barry met Jillian Godsil, journalist, fintech expert, commentator and champion of Women in Blockchain, he described the meeting as a whirlwind that knocked him off his feet. Jillian is undoubtedly a force of nature – refreshingly upfront about how recently she’s moved into this space, but certainly making her mark ever since through sheer force of personality. This episode is less an interview, more a conversation during which subjects as diverse as the Irish Celtic Tiger, the financial crash that saw the country the butt of blame for problems across Europe, divorce, bankruptcy and suicide, ‘unthinking’ the old ways and starting again, and fixing the education system, all find a place. The driving force behind Jillian’s fascination for blockchain and cryptocurrency? Techy brains doing clever things; the disruptive side, taking on traditional sluggish elements like insurance, accountancy and the banks; and the ‘hippy-dippy’ element, mak

This episode is less an interview, more a conversation between host Barry E James and someone steeped not in the world of Blockchain, but AI, chatbots and machine learning: Tania Peitzker founder and CEO of ‘Bots as a Service’ Billions of dollars have been invested in AI by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others over the past thirty years. Tania believes it is inevitable that at some point, AI and Blockchain, ‘Brains and Chains’, will merge. Will it be Google or Apple et-al or led by scientists in the US, Berlin or Switzerland? Is Elon Musk right to worry - and warn? What if machine learning goes too far; if a programme interfacing with Blockchain just kept on learning? Tania has long been working with AI bots, cognitive interfaces, mixed and immersive reality, and machine learning - and provides some reassurance. AI bots have already passed the Turing Test - many times over. It’s important to understand that, like the internet, Blockchain provides an enhanced environment - one in which AI and bots of all kind

Amazon disrupted publishing in the first wave of the Internet. Could this behemoth now be and disrupted decentralised by pebbles on a Blockchain? Today’s interviewees are Josef Marc, whose background in digital media and interest in Bitcoin led him to investigate ways to make the technology work for others, and Sukhi Jutla, author of three books, two by ‘conventional methods’ and the latest, ‘Escape the Cubicle – Quit the Job You Hate, Create the Life You Love’, the first in the world to be published on the blockchain. As Sukhi says to those who question her: “I wasn’t rejected by publishers - I rejected them!” The biggest issue for authors is, of course, getting their books to an audience. Even selling via what Josef calls ‘the A word’ and refers to as ‘the Amazon graveyard’, books get posted and then just sit. It’s up to the author to do the promoting. And even if a sale is made, and notified (eventually), Amazon keeps quite a chunk and the money doesn’t hit the author’s bank account for anything up to 6 m

On the UK: “I’d rather have the people, the talent, the results of the investment in my territory than the pure issuing of tokens” With a background in Law and Venture Capital, today’s guest Dr Guenther Dobrauz, member of PwC’s Global Legal Leadership Team, has strong belief in the ICO space, Switzerland as a thought-leader, and how regulation is key to getting this transformational ecosystem working to the benefit of all. He believes that Switzerland is leading the world in ICOs, with its Crypto Valley Association backed by government and some of the biggest banking institutions in the world, because it combines good rules, globally-recognised regulators, and a working ecosystem that combines regulation, banking, advisors and talent, all available in a supportive space. Financial services have traditionally developed lineally; but as exponential jumps happen in technology, so new business models emerge, opportunities are opened-up, and new players enter the arena. The old models aren’t cutting it – and the o

Banks v fintechs – the Blockchain battle of the brands All financial services companies will tell you they’re technology companies now. Today’s guest is Charlie Kerrigan, Banking Partner at CMS Law, who explains that this new ecosystem of Blockchain, ICOs and cryptocurrency is really capital raising by new routes. And everyone’s interested in using Blockchain technology to provide efficient, speedier payment services. He says that most banks in the market today already have relationships with smaller fintech businesses, in a competitive, but symbiotic, market. For their part, the banks see their own value in their customer relationships; but they can also see that as things change quickly, it may not be possible for them to innovate organically - especially given the challenges inherent in their legacy systems. Which is why banks want relationships with maturing fintech companies - and for the fintechs, the banks present as large customers. There is a point, however, where symbiosis yields to competition - an

Solving an age-old problem – how can we ever be sure something is true? This problem becomes even more acute of a smart-contract relies on its being true. Could decentralised verification based on RDF be the answer? Today’s guest, Michael Hirn, began his own fascination with coding at the age of twelve; at high school he was already running a software services company; and now he is bringing trust and transparency to the token space with Rlay – a truly decentralised, incentivised rating and verification system. As he says himself, I am a person, and I want to sell you this thing. How can you be sure I am who I say I am, and that my product or service is worth having? Likewise, if your smart contract depends on information from the real world, how can you be 100% sure of those facts? Michael wanted to get into the decentralised verifications space from the outset, helping startups reduce the time and cost in running ICOs. Thus Rlay was born – with three stand-out features. Firstly, it incentivises people to up

According to Don Tapscott, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at Blockchain Research Institute, Sweetbridge is "truly a pioneer of this next era of the digital revolution". As he goes on to say, they certainly have a bold vision to improve the way we do business, and make global commerce more accessible for everyone. So via a recent TeamBlockchainMasterclass event at CMS, I took the opportunity to explore that vision with Alastair Band of Sweetbridge, who're looking to create a decentralised OS for global commerce. We talk about Sweetbridge launching a two-token economic system where their Sweetcoin and Bridgecoin serve separate, but entirely complementary, purposes. Alistair says, growing your community is not about paying for Telegram users; it’s about connecting people, getting them together, getting them talking. And blockchain gives the opportunity to distribute not only information, but also wealth, and thereby make the world a fairer place, targeting different demographics and to giving everyone an equa

It's entirely possible to run an ICO for a Utility token in the UK In a surprising clear and illuminating interview with an ex FCA member and regulation lawyer we clear away the fog of war created by the SEC around the different types of tokens. This week’s fascinating interviewee is regulation lawyer Sam Robinson, who brings eighteen years’ experience starting with the FSA, and now specialising in FinTech, for the world’s 6th largest law firm (by lawyer headcount, and 6th largest in the UK, by revenue). Just the person, then, to clarify the difference between Utility, Payment and Security Tokens, how that definition is made, whether each needs to be regulated, and why. He explains how there are some genuine Utility Tokens in the UK - even though the SEC states there’s no such thing; but that the excitement about issuing Security Tokens is growing by the month, bringing as it does a way to stand out among ICOs - even if the rules are more burdensome. So, Sam brings clarity; both to the definitions and need fo

The rise of ICOs brings a new and yet more powerful form of crowdfunding. So with a solid background in crowdfunding, having founded the p2p platform Finbee and enjoyed a career in building and investing in fintech startups for consumers, Laimonas Noreika, Co-Founder and CEO of DESICO, is ideally-placed to analyse why investors are seeking out ICOs so keenly, to give advice to entrepreneurs looking at starting a project, and to comment on where he believes the sector is heading. In this episode, Barry E James talks to Laimonas on the likely outcome of the battle between the global demand to invest - and to invest early - and the mistrust and need for regulation of ICOs. They discuss how DESICO is looking to bridge the gap between investors and ICOs by offering a regulated environment for trading security tokens inside a legal framework; about trading tokens from Day One rather than having to wait; and especially how the Ministry of Finance in Laimonas’ forward-looking homeland of Lithuania has just publishe

99% of people looking to launch an ICO haven’t done so before. Many others have so why not tap into that knowledge and experience? As we keep finding out at ICOrad.io, lots of teams end up inventing and re-inventing some of the same wheels in this all-new world of crypto-economics, where so few people can justifiably call themselves ‘experts’. Today’s guest is looking to change some of that! Mark Kirby has a background in both supply chain logistics and high-net-worth investment, especially non-traditional and alternative assets. He is also the founder of Token Lounge, a platform saving ICOs a lot of the time and cost involved when setting up their projects, by giving them access to the experience of others who have been there before them – and a few whizzy widgets along the way. While they don’t offer investment advice, the experienced Token Lounge advisor panel works with ICOs to become the most investment-ready they can be, offering support and guidance on whitepapers, smart contracts, tokenomics structure

What happens when a team already expert in traditional investment management in the real estate market creates new coins backed by those assets. The world  is about to find out! In this episode, Barry E James talks to Lior Abehassera, Co-Founder and Head of Investor Relations, and David Dahan, Chief Investment Officer Real Estate, about how they came to this point, and where this is all going in the future. With a combined background in investment banking, equity derivatives, financial engineering for major banks and real estate investment, three friends decided to investigate the world of cryptocurrency and see whether it could be brought into the traditional investment arena. Very soon they realised that if the result was to become mainstream, to become something people used on a day-to-day basis, they would have to minimise the challenge of volatility. The result - Leaseum, a kind of a Bitcoin but asset-backed - and an asset potential investors would understand. Real estate is something pretty much everyon

A New Showcase for Blockchain, ICOs & Tokens Interpreting the ICO world for the uninitiated, thanks to CITY A.M.’s CryptoInsider Those of us steeped in the world of ICOs, cryptocurrency and tokenisation can sometimes forget that the very people we want to engage with, our potential investors and advocates, are not always coming from the same landscape, or have the same level of involvement. Fortunately there are people who are new to all this but are starting to find their way through it, and can interpret it as they go to those a few steps behind, in their own words. One such is James Bowater, who has a background in helping individuals and businesses with security and authentication of products and services through various technologies, and came across blockchain as another possible tool to assist in this space.  Having started to find his way around cryptocurrency and ICOs, James determined to find out as much as he could, and to make this knowledge available to his peers and others as he went, strippi