with an opportunity to improve theirdata security; whilst providing themwith a clean data structure that willallow them to uncover more immersiveand much more meaningful digital ex-periences for their customers. Some-thing Smarter Contracts has termed‘’Decentralised Digital Business Trans-formation’’.Indeed, through the power ofBlockchain we believe businesses will beable to take what are typically seen asmundane back office processes andmove them front and centre as a means
of creating far more meaningful digitalexperiences for the internal and exter-nal customers of every business, acrossall industries and sectors. Ultimately,Blockchain is a way to ensure that allmanner of business transactions can besecure, have necessary records attached,and can work where information needsto be distributed between a number oftransacting parties simultaneously. Forthe first time ever, Blockchain can pro-vide businesses and business leaderswith the ability to power the entire end-to-end of their operations in real-time.The opportunity is as powerful as theadvent of the internet and cannot andshould not be overlooked.
Lord Waverley, a strategic advisor to theblockchain consultancy, SmarterContracts (www.smartercontracts.co.uk),in conversation with James Bowater./
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: THE VIEWS ANDOPINIONS PROVIDED BY CITY A.M.'S CRYPTOINSIDER AND IN THE CRYPTO A.M. SECTIONSHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS INVESTMENT ORFINANCIAL ADVICE. ALWAYS CONSULTWITH YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR.
The world is changing rapidly and withthis change we have seen a huge shiftin the global employment landscape.
There is a greater desire for freedom and jobsatisfaction which brings with it a raft ofchallenges for employers and presents aunique opportunity for employees.You’ve all probably heard the term “gig
economy” and while this catch all phrasehas come to signify the freelance trend itcan also be misleading. Sites like Fiverrprovide a marketplace of sorts forfreelancers to complete gigs which tend onthe whole to be small, pieces of work. Manyprofessional freelancers prefer to avoid the“gig” mentality and focus instead on a well-defined career based on projects that suittheir particular skillset.According to Morgan Stanley, the freelance
trend is pushing upward fast and there are asteadily growing number of fortune 500companies who now use freelancers. Thiscreates a whole new agility and flexibilityaround labour costs which in turn brings a
unique set of challenges. This is where we’dlike to introduce the Prowd platformdeveloped by Project Crowd.Prowd has been specifically developed to
act as a conduit for Employers, Recruitersand Freelancers. A way to connect each withthe other based around a range of keycriteria including culture, utilising AI andBlockchain to build trust and add uniqueinsight and thereby solve a range of thelegacy issues that have crossed over fromthe traditional employment market into the
32 TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2019FEATURE CITYAM.COM 23TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2019 FEATURECITYAM.COM
yourself at risk from being irrelevanttomorrow.
TRANSFORMING DIGITALEXPERIENCESMany businesses are unnecessarilycomplex, processing disparate versionsand formats of data on complex and in-efficient legacy IT systems. This oftencauses data and culture silos as man-agers focus on making sure they can‘keep the lights on’, in their specificarea of focus; rather than how they canimprove things ‘end-to-end’. Such inef-ficient businesses processes can lead to
an untold amount of revenue opportu-nities being wasted, poor customer ex-periences and fraud.Customers’ expectations; however,are changing more than ever before.The next generation of consumers areless loyal and will have grown up accus-tomed to the digital experiences onoffer from Google, Netflix, Amazonand Uber. If you’re not able to satisfytheir demands they’ll use someonethat can. It is for this reason why busi-nesses cannot overlook the transforma-tive impact of blockchain. It is the onlytechnology that will provide businesses
Blockchain seems to be every-where these days but due to itsclear association with popularcrypto assets such as Bitcoin,there can be no doubt that it is
the most misunderstood of all emerg-ing technologies.
IS BLOCKCHAIN A FAD OR ISTHERE A NEED?As we move further into the era of bigdata, mobile communications, and on-line services we all hope that our per-sonal information is going to be secure.In an increasingly digital and intercon-nected world, businesses are, on theone hand, expected to know who theirclients really are and be able to verifythat transactions are legitimate and, onthe other hand, be able to ensure thatbusiness and personal data is protected.This was hard enough to achieve whentransactions were slower and only twoparties were involved. Now we are ex-pected to be able to purchase almost in-stantly from an invisible network ofsuppliers, safe in the knowledge thatour money and personal data is safe.For example; there was a time whenyou wanted to buy a book and went tothe bookshop, picked the book fromthe shelf, paid in cash and left with thegoods. Little or no informationchanged hands and your money was se-cure. Today you can simply make a ver-bal command to Alexa, Amazon’sartificial intelligence-based voice serv-ice, and ask it to send the book directlyto your home. To complete that trans-action, information about who you are,your voice profile, your financial detailsand address is used to complete thepurchase.In today’s world, to complete that cus-tomer journey efficiently, various partsof that information will be used to in-form either suppliers, dispatchers, ac-counts teams, and couriers. Perhapsmore importantly; however, is thatyour personal information is now sovaluable it could be misused for fraudor used to generate information onyour behaviours, which can beprocessed to sell you more services inthe future. We would all like to thinkthat this information is secure, that
there are good records should a disputearise, and that whatever systems arebeing used they can cope with high-speed automated trading.As the race for digital supremacy hasbecome increasingly competitive, databreaches have become more common,yet paradoxically, the value of thismetadata will increase ensuring gov-ernments will push businesses to adopttighter standards. Data protection lawssuch as GDPR, anti-money launderingregulations and the general require-ment to “Know Your Customer” haveput great pressure on businesses to
change their practices to protect cus-tomers and so contain the dark side ofbusiness. All this must be underpinnedby a technology that provides absolutesecurity, transparency when required,and that can reduce, rather than in-crease the transaction costs of any high-speed digital business. Furthermore; ina world where customer journeys areno longer linear events, businesses willrequire a technology that can deliver adigital experience whereby customervalue is derived in far more meaningfulways. If you’re not focussing onblockchain technology today, you place
Designed byPhill Snelling, Bowater Media
In association with
CITY A.M.’SCRYPTO INSIDER
Crypto A.M. shines its Spotlight onProwd
@CityAm_CryptoE:[email protected]
JAMES BOWATER
PARTNER CONTENT
Our series on AI, Blockchain, Cryptoassets, DLT and Tokenisation
WHAT IS IT SO SPECIAL ABOUT CCFORUM LONDON?Well, first of all CCF is not just ablockchain event. It goes beyond that inthat in embraces a variety of emergingtechnologies although it does haveblockchain as a backbone. There is a greatdeal of AI, IoT, Big Data and Fintech in-volved, and of course Crypto related con-tent is paramount. Most importantly,however, CC Forum has been conceived asa global platform on which to make pub-lic announcements, launch services andproducts and where aspiring startupswould have an opportunity of connectingto both private and institutional investors.
WHO ARE CC FORUM'S ATTENDEES?We have a number of categories. Theserange from thought leaders and C-levelexecutives down to developers as well asblockchain and AI enthusiasts.
THERE SEEMS TO BE A STRONGGOVERNMENT PRESENCE. WHAT MAKESCC FORUM SO ATTRACTIVE FOR POLICYMAKERS?Again, that goes in tune with the conceptof CC Forum - that of its being a globalhub for movers and shakers. Apparently,despite the Brexit implications for the in-dustry, or perhaps because of them, goodold England is keen to jump on the band-wagon of embracing emerging technolo-gies. We have four MPs already confirmedto speak and two domestic Ministers withwhom we are currently fine-tuning theschedule alongside with a few top foreigngovernment officials for our epic panel"Innovative Technologies as a Means ofAttracting Foreign Direct Investment"inter alia. We also have two members ofthe European Parliament specially com-ing to join our brainstorming regulatorypanel.
YOUR LINE-UP IS AMAZING. WOULD YOULIKE TO SINGLE OUT SOME OF THE MOSTRENOWNED SPEAKERS AT CC FORUMLONDON?Most of these are indeed well-known in
the space. We have the world famousmacro economist Prof Nouriel Roubiniconfirmed thanks to our official partnerTNC IT Solutions Group. Roubini will beparticipating in our heated debates onsome of the existential issues with thelikes of Roger Ver, Brock Pierce, Bobby Leeand Tone Vays. We will be having mem-bers of the world's royal families includ-ing HSH Prince Michael of Liechtensteinand HE Shaikha Noora of Bahrain's RoyalFamily confirmed to name but a few. Butwe also have another tier of speakerswho are leading investors who havinghad hands-on experience investing inblockchain and crypto projects.
WHAT IS THE INVESTOR'S HUB?It is a crucial feature of CC Forum and aspecial area where startups will have havedirect access to the decision makers insitu and will be able to pitch their proj-ects subject to a prior arrangement. Wehave 20 participating VC capital firms, in-vestment funds and family offices witharound US$50bn AUM including some ofthe biggest Middle Eastern family officesinterested in investing in the space.
IS THERE A NETWORKING PROGRAMME?Absolutely. Networking is key with a1,000 sq m exhibition floor. The opportu-nities also range from networking drinksand private retreats to our traditionalblack-tie investors' Gala Dinner andAwards Giving Ceremony. We are also fi-nalising minutiae of holding a specialVIP event at the House of Lords as part ofCC Forum London.
CITY AM READERS OFFERAttending the exhibition and the confer-ence is FREE for City AM readers. Navi-gate to cc-forum.com/register and usethe promo code CRYPTOAM for a Stan-dard Pass. Alternatively use CRYP-TOAM20 to get 20% of Business Pass orVIP Passes.
James Bowater interviews Max StudennikoffChairman of cc-forum.com
Major news last week included theannouncement that Coinbase isinvesting $2 million worth of its
USDC stablecoin (pegged 1:1 to the USD)to support the adoption of two populardecentralised finance (DeFI) projects. Thefunds will be allocated to encourage usersto borrow from lending platformsCompound and dYdX. DeFi has emerged as one of the major
areas of interest for 2019, with more than$532 million currently locked in protocolsincluding Maker, Synthetix, InstaDapp andUniswap. In other news, crypto exchange Binance
opened trading on its new Futuresplatform. Traders will initially be able totrade BTC/USDT pairs with 20 timesleverage, though CEO Changpeng Zhaohas hinted that more pairs – and greaterleverage – are on the way. In the markets, bitcoin has remained
relatively stable trading at the time of
writing at $10,351 after surviving amidweek attempt by bears to push pricebelow $10,000. The lack of decisive priceaction likely reflects uncertainty about theeffects that Bakkt Bitcoin Daily Futures,due to open 23 September, will have onthe market. While Bakkt is generally seenas a positive development for the asset,the possibility of a ‘sell the news’ eventmay temper bullish sentiment short-term.This week, attention will be on the
performance of Ethereum. ETH is tradingat the time of writing at $194.31,approximately 15% up from the major selloff in late August. Perhaps of greaterinterest to altcoin traders, the ETH/BTCpair finished the week over 6% up, givinghope to bulls of a change in trend. Down85% from its bull market peak, the pair isoften viewed as a bellwether for the healthof the whole altcoin market, which iscurrently struggling with 28% marketdominance versus BTC’s 72%.
CRYPTOCOMPARE MARKET VIEW
CC Forum London: Investment in AI & Blockchain
14-16th October at QE II Conference Centre
Leading Exchange Coinbase Invests inDecentralised Finance (DeFi)
The flexibility offered by Britain’s freelancersis worth £21 billion tothe UK economy in
added value
The Bitcoin blockchain is public andpermissionless. Anyone can accessthe entire contents of the
blockchain, and anyone with the rightequipment can join the network tosupport verifying and validatingtransactions and adding blocks to theblockchain. To purists, this is the onlycorrect way to have a Blockchain.In the enterprise environment,
however, it may make more sense tohave a private blockchain. In a privateblockchain, there are limits on who canread what information and rulesregarding who can verify transactionsand add blocks to the chain. In the case of a blockchain for supply
chain, it would make little sense foreveryone to be able to see all of theinformation relating to each other’s
transactions. Some information iscommercially sensitive and should notbe shared. Other information, such asdata related to the provenance of goods,can be openly shared. Today's enterprises require strict
control over who will have read andwrite access to core businessinformation, whether stored in adatabase or on a blockchain. Publicblockchains do not support this andthus the need for private blockchains.Blockchain protocols such as
Hyperledger Fabric or Corda areprecisely the type of technologies thatprivate industry should use. They arepurpose-built for robustness and thedemands of enterprise customers.There are numerous enterpriseblockchains being developed today
utilising these and other enterpriseready private blockchain protocols.Even if Blockchain purists despise their
existence, private blockchains have theirplace as do public and permissionlessblockchains such as Ethereum, EOS andothers.Arguing over whether private
blockchains are "real" blockchains or ifthey are just another form of distributedledger technology (DLT) is unimportantin the grand scheme of things. To drive broad blockchain adoption,
we need a variety of protocols whichsupport both public and privateblockchains.
Get in touch with us:[email protected] / Twitter@igetblockchain
CRYPTO A.M. INDUSTRY VOICES
Blockchain offersthe opportunity topower businesses
in real-time
Jon Walsh, Associate Partner, Blockchain RookiesPRIVATE BLOCKCHAINSQ4 2019.
“We will initially be focused on ITprofessionals,” says CEO and co-founderKathrin “because this is a sector that weknow particularly well and there is a hugedemand for freelance IT skills in thecorporate space. The Prowd platform willlaunch with a focus on servicing markets inEurope and the UK before we expandglobally. We believe it is vital that we honethe algorithms and build up a user base,although from the initial Beta and feedbackwe have received so far we are confidentthat we will be able to deliver far greatervalue to our users than anything currentlyon the market.”While they are currently seeking
investment and have already engaged withVC’s and family offices, Prowd are also proudto be the first venture to launch their STO viathe Own platform. The private sale willcommence on the 24th of September andthe public launch will follow in mid-October.For investors this represents an
opportunity to tap into a steadily expandingmarket and for freelancers there is also aunique ownership reward which willeffectively see early adopters becomeshareholders in a platform that willultimately shape their future careers.
For more information on Prowd please visittheir website at Prowd.io and to register forthe STO please use this linkhttps://projectcrowd.weown.com
freelance space. Prowd is the brainchild of Kathrin and
Dennis Hauck, two entrepreneurs with atrack record in the freelance space whobasically got sick of waiting for someone
else to solve these problems. Together withtheir Silicon Valley based tech partner theyhave been working for over 18 months todevelop the Prowd freelance recruitmentplatform, which will be ready to launch in
Conference season is well and trulyunderway with many projects andcompanies coming out of the
summer slumber, batteries well and trulyrecharged. The Ethereal Summit in Tel Avivseems to have had a positive effect of theprice of Ethereum, up at $190.17, meanwhileFacebook’s Libra faced the music yesterdaywhen meeting representatives of 26 central banks who make upthe Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure.How will this play out? “Until Facebook announced its intention
to launch Libra, central banks were largely dismissive of privatecryptocurrencies,” commented Claude Brown, partner at ReedSmith. “Some central bankers advocate blocking Libra, others haveaccelerated the developments of their own digital currencies. Librawill see it as an advocacy opportunity; the 26 central banks willwant to lay down the law. That is one big expectation gap.”Looking at the cryptomarket at the time of writing Bitcoin (BTC) is
slightly down from last week at US$10,191.30; Ethereum (ETH) is atUS$190.17; Ripple (XRP) is at US$0.2584; Binance (BNB) is atUS$20.21 and Cardano (ADA) is at US$0.04599. Overall Market Capis at US$263.91bn (data source: www.CryptoCompare.com)There is some positive news that came in yesterday from Sumner
Global who featured in the Crypto AM Spotlight on 9th April 2019(www.cityam.com/crypto-insider) as it has launched its SGHXtokens beta live for trading on the London Derivatives Exchange(“LDX”) issuing 120,525,202 SGHX tokens, making it the first andlargest security token hosted on LDX. SGHX tokens were issued bySumner Global Singapore, and represent 22% economic interest ofSGH Global, a diversified holdings company with interests in a rangeof sectors including mining, healthcare, clean technology, digitaltechnology, real estate and protective services.Yesterday I spoke with David Sumner, Chairman and CEO of SGH
Global, explained that the listing is a significant milestone for hiscompany, saying “bringing the first SGHX tokens to market fortrading is the culmination of an ambition held since our inception -to incorporate digital technology into our business model enablingaccess to new pools of capital in order to drive growth across theSGH portfolio.” This comes just days after SGH Global signed anMOU to form a strategic partnership with Maju Holdings, a multi-billion dollar Malaysian conglomerate, thereby expanding thecompany’s footprint further in South East Asia.Finally, with community support in mind, tonight I will be hosting
the first in the series of Crypto AM Pitch Suppers at Smith &Wollensky where five companies: MIRIS, Digital Asset CustodyServices, Prowd, Pynk.io and ARYZE will be presenting to a selectaudience. The next ones are scheduled for the 29th October and19th November and any reader interested in attending shouldemail me to apply to attend - [email protected]
DECENTRALISEDDIGITAL BUSINESSTRANSFORMATION
Dennis Hauck, COO andKathrin Hauck CEO of Prowd
