decentralisation may bring trust, stabil-ity and agreement to a global datastructure, but may not deliver a stellarmarketing campaign. In spite of this,blockchain has long since been em-braced by businesses, finding its wayinto supply chains, finance, asset man-agement and so much more. The cor-porate world needs professionalsupport and proper service-level con-tracts: they want someone to call whenit goes wrong. For everyone else, wewant ease-of-use, interoperability and amore mature space that recognisesthat innovation didn't begin and endwith Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 bitcoinpaper. We're at the start of somethingfar grander that will touch all of ourlives: life is no longer a zero-sumgame—it's a dynamic, building-blockbased economy that adapts in real timeto suit a changing world. So welcome to the new decade, where
companies such as Fetch.ai are combin-ing technologies like autonomousagents, blockchain and AI to decen-tralise how we extract value from theworld around us. No data, device, serv-ice, person or knowledge will go un-used or unappreciated: a fittingcombination of technology that'skinder to the environment, and pro-vides each and every one of us some-thing we've had cleverly eased out of usover the past decade: ownership of our-selves and our stuff. The future may nothave delivered holidays on the moon orflying cars, but it has delivered some-thing even cooler: it has made co-oper-ation and sharing pay.
£Toby Simpson, Co-Founder & CTO ofFetch AI in conversation with JamesBowater. Toby is @pretzelsnake onTwitter, and his blog is athttps://medium.com/@toby.simpson.Further information can be found athttps://fetch.ai
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: THE VIEWSAND OPINIONS PROVIDED BY CITY A.M.'SCRYPTO INSIDER AND IN THE CRYPTOA.M. SECTION SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN ASINVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE.ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR.
Changelly provides a non-custodial,instant cryptocurrency exchangeservice, which means that no user
funds are held on by the service.Changelly acts as an intermediarybetween crypto exchanges and users,offering access to 150+ cryptocurrencies.The company’s mission is to make theexchange process effortless for everyonewho wants to invest in cryptocurrency.Operating since 2015, Changelly attractsover a million monthly visitors who enjoythe high limits, fast transactions, and 24/7live support the service offers. Changellyhas an intuitive interface, superbexchange rates, secure transactions, andit’s super quick, one can sign up in lessthan a minute with just their emailaddress.Changelly is giving back to the
community in 2020. For the whole monthof January, Changelly users will benefitfrom the ‘zero network fee’ campaign.Customers will be able to swap and
exchange crypto at a floating rate, havingto pay just a single transparent fee of0.25%, while all other third-party feesincluding network fees will be paid bythe company.Changelly also provides users with the
chance to swap crypto using a fixed rate,both on desktop and mobile. While theuser will not be utilising the ‘zero networkfee’ campaign on fixed rate basis, as it is
22 TUESDAY 7 JANUARY 2020FEATURE CITYAM.COM 23TUESDAY 7 JANUARY 2020 FEATURECITYAM.COM
tralisation, it's grim to watch centrali-sation of blockchain ooze into place infront of our very eyes.Part of the blockchain adoption prob-
lem is the community's continued baf-flement that people don't get it. It's allwell and good to say that bitcoin andblockchain let you be your own bankand control your own identity, but noteveryone wants that responsibility, orunderstands why that's better thanwhat they already have. Do you want tobe your own hospital? Fire station? No,you do not. Good technology is justthere. It's in the background, invisible,it has safety nets and it helps you getthings done better than if it was notthere. Blockchain can and should be
able to provide this, because deliveringproperly incentivised disintermedia-tion resets the Internet back to whereit was: decentralised, with value andpower pushed to you, rather than a rap-idly shrinking number of increasinglyvast corporations. It's the thing that letsus operate at scale, eliminate wastageby fully utilising the value around us,and it is the perfect partner for ma-chine intelligence and learning—a col-lective intelligence owned by everyone,for the benefit of everyone.Of course, blockchain's public rela-
tions have not been particularly bril-liant. Between the OneCoins of thisworld, horror-show ICOs and generalin-fighting, it's a fair observation that
The new decade comes with atechnology power shuffle.Gone is Deep Learning, whichhit the buffers a good year ago.Whilst the band is still playing,
its seemingly relentless journey intoour lives will be continued only by be-friending something altogether differ-ent. Driving that change may be one ofthe true stars of the 20s: blockchain.Blockchain is all about gluing lots of in-dividual contributions together with-out having to argue about which bitsare where and in what order. Nobodyhas a list of these things that's any moreimportant than anybody else's, and thewhizz-bang technology drivingblockchain provides a way of reachingconsensus as to what goes on that listwithout it turning into a fight.From an outsider’s perspective, it's
easy to believe that blockchain is onlyabout crypto-currencies and digitalmoney, but that does it a huge disserv-ice. There are those, either deliberatelyor through ignorance, who focus onthis one application—money—and valueit above and to the exclusion of all otherapplications. Usually, but not always,the target for these affections is bitcoin.This is a mistake.When you look at what blockchain
does, delivering self-service trust and ashared, growing global state, it starts tolook like a tool for almost everything.Even more so, when you consider thebuilt-in incentive scheme makes itmore profitable to play nice than not.Restricting this to digital money missesthe point. It applies to all forms of valueexchange, and drives the ability to in-telligently connect value providers,many of which are currently incrediblywasteful. Take IoT devices: utilisationis poor, devices are incompatible, inse-cure and they cannot talk to each otherin a common language. At present,there is no incentive for fixing any ofthis. While everyone is finding elabo-rate new metaphors for just how muchelectricity is burnt shaking the dice forbitcoin's proof-of-work (which'll changesoon anyway), they're missing the ironythat it may well be bitcoin's underlyinginnovation—the blockchain itself—thatprovides the most dramatic saving of
energy that technology has ever deliv-ered short of switching it all off.Blockchain is the foundation piece,
the cornerstone, the very fabric that al-lows the world's things to find eachother, talk to each other and transacton a private, scaleable network wherenobody needs to believe anyone inorder to trust what’s going on. The de-centralised incentives that make it a no-brainer to connect knowledge, datasources and things to such networksalso deliver the power and collective in-telligence to make it work. Now, we canbring the individual components of theeconomy to life, in a world that isowned by all its users, that adapts inreal time to bring everyone together,
free of borders, restrictions and cen-tralised control. Business can get done.There's a long way to go. We're all fa-
miliar with the annual rolling out ofthe "this year will be the year of theLinux desktop" phrase. The smilesbrought on by this betray an underlyingissue: like Linux, blockchain and its sur-rounding technologies are hard, anddecentralisation comes without thesupport and attention to detail thatmere mortals need. The technology andits benefits are challenging to under-stand, and can appear unwelcomingand frightening. If this slammed-doorapproach continues, we collectivelystand to lose a lot: and for those of uswho understand the potential of decen-
In association with
CITY A.M.’SCRYPTO INSIDER
Crypto A.M. shines its Spotlight on Changelly
@CityAm_CryptoE:[email protected]
JAMES BOWATER
PARTNER CONTENT
Our series on AI, Blockchain, Cryptoassets, DLT and Tokenisation
Interoperability, whether you’re talk-ing about technology, financial sys-tems, or user experience, remains a
crucial gap for blockchain, with ourbroken, siloed chains of virtual ma-chines that don't work very well intheir own respective systems, nevermind in their ability able to talk toeach other. As with the technology, the same
could be said of the promise of aglobal, decentralized, and trustlessmarketplace: our age’s Tower of Babelis made up of countless stakeholdersand all their respective needs, eachwith their own systems, blindly tryingto find each other through Byzantineglobal commerce.Interoperability is crucial to the use-
fulness of any technology. An yet, we’vefailed to produce products, services, ora superior customer experience at a lowcost that encourages mass adoption. This is what happens when everyone
presumes the preciousness of their ownbabies in bubbles,without thinkingahead as to how to grow that child re-sponsibly to be of service in this world. Whether they’re cars or protocols,
they need roads, and rails, to get to cus-tomers, or at least enlist customers toshow them what doesn’t yet exist, butwhat could be. But then, who pays forit? Ironically, the tech built on thevalue of a trustless system has yet tofind a collaborative yet decentralizedframework.Payment systems are the greatest op-
portunity to onramp those alienatedfrom the global economy towards massadoption. We can’t talk about bankingthe unbanked, financial inclusion andcreating the 4th industrial revolutionuntil we figure out how to make it eas-ier for people to trade and get paid eas-ier, faster, and a lower cost globallythrough tools that can cut acrosslegacy infrastructure, and systems. A user-friendly wallet is a good start,
but hardly a new global economic sys-tem.A single payment network can’t han-
dle the vast increase in terms of usageand regulatory constraints affectingthe different stakeholders in worldtrade. This we know through the fail-ure of globalization 1.0. Since the rise of the global economy
in the 1950s and the fall of the BerlinWall in 1989, several networks, oftenAmerican, emerged with a catch-all re-sponse to the need for trade ‘beyondborders’. But a one-size-fits-all concept poses
persistent problems linked to exchangerate snags and government regulatorylimitations, and to the network itself. Who shares the responsibility in the
value chain when a transaction fails? Some global network have adapted to
different practices such as ecommerceor proximity shops in retail or whole-sale. But these systems are not presentin all countries, in all currencies, andfor all applications. China forbids the use of Visa/Master-
card networks for buying or selling.The Chinese Yuan is partially convert-ible despite many regulatory con-straints, but the Chinese governmentprohibits (or inhibits) foreign compa-nies – especially American ones – fromentering the market.This is an untenable position. Pro-
tected markets tend to fall behind orlose relevance over the longterm.Someplayers adapted and increased thenumber of technical methods and localentry points as well as additional finan-cial processes: ‘Go local to go global’.And the local can be as personal as yourlocal grocer turned into a bank kiosk,or the mobile device as a mall. To grasp this brave, new economy, the
payment industry must teach users notto underestimate the payment factoras part of the international develop-ment project we call the data-drivenglobal economy. Too often, payments isseen as a mere detail. But also, pay-ment companies must wake up to rein-vent themselves, and take risks toenlist regulators, and enterprise withvision.
Bitcoin has entered 2020 with its rightfoot forward: the cryptocurrency’sprice is already up 3% since the
beginning of the year, trading at the timeof writing at $7,540. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, isdoing even better, up 5.26% since cryptohas entered the new decade, while totalcryptoasset market capitalization hassurpassed $200 billion due to these gains.One dynamic possibly behind the price
performance is the growing number ofon-ramps, with leading crypto tradingplatform Binance adding six new tradingpairs with the Euro at the start of the year.Over the past few weeks, Binance hasadded trading pairs for the Euro, theRussian Ruble, the Turkish Lira, and theNigerian Naira, all while letting its usersbuy Bitcoin and Ether with over a dozencurrencies.Binance isn’t the only company adding
support of late for the cryptocurrencyecosystem. Payments firm Square, acompany founded by Jack Dorsey, has
listed a job ad on LinkedIn that suggestsit’s looking to grow its Bitcoin-relatedservices on the Cash App. These mayinclude peer-to-peer “BTC gifting” and anauto-investing feature. The ads, however,clarify that the project manager hired willhave freedom to grow cryptocurrencyadoption via the app in “whatever ways”they see fit.Other industries are beginning to get
involved in crypto internationally, withBurger King slowly starting to acceptcryptocurrency payments. In Venezuela,one location is accepting BTC, ETH, USDT;DASH, and BNB, with plans to expandadoption to 40 locations. In Slovenia, atleast one location has been shownaccepting BCH.The new year also started out with the
chief economist of the Nasdaq-listedlending marketplace Lending Tree,Tendayi Kapfidze, asserting that hebelieves bitcoin to be a pyramid scheme -claiming that “you only make moneybased on people who enter after you.”
CRYPTOCOMPARE MARKET VIEW
Tower of Babel: The State of CrossBorder Payments and Blockchain
Bitcoin Makes Strong Start to 2020
Changelly providesusers with the
chance to swapcrypto using a fixed
rate, both on desktop and mobile.
Claims.Assessments. Adjustments.Payouts. Reinsurance.Underwriting. The insurance
industry is layered, complex - and filledwith opportunities to provide supportwhere trust is lacking. And where trust islacking, blockchain can add real value.The insurance industry has made great
strides in moving away from papertowards digital formats for datacollection, storage and processing.However, they still lack trust.Making a claim may start with a phone
call, but will often require multiple piecesof supporting information to movethrough the process of evaluating andultimately settling the claim. All toooften, data submitted as part of a claim islost, incorrectly entered or somehow"stuck" in the system. In other situations,
potentially fraudulent data is used tosupport a claim providing no way ofidentifying the source of information. When recording a claim on the
blockchain, all of the relevantinformation is accessible. Informationsubmitted by one person can be verifiedor validated by another person. Theidentity of the provider and verifier ofthe data are stored on the blockchain,making audit trails easier. A byproductof this transparency is that it candiscourage fraud. A cross-industry claims blockchain can
provide a rich source of data. Artificialintelligence can identify patterns andimprove risk assessments. Individualsand businesses can refer to the systemto support their record of having madeno claims. Regulators can access the
system to ensure sufficient compliance.Reinsurance companies can ensure thatpolicies are packaged and vettedappropriately.Utilising smart contracts, insurers can
even automate payouts. There are numerous companies
currently working to provide blockchainsolutions in the insurance space. Todaymost of them are still acting asintermediaries trying to charge a fee fortheir services, e.g., they aren'tblockchain companies. The realopportunity is for the industry to worktogether to build a multi-partyblockchain.
Get in touch with us:[email protected] / Twitter@igetblockchain
CRYPTO A.M. INDUSTRY VOICES
Troy Norcross, Co-Founder Blockchain RookiesINSURANCE AND BLOCKCHAIN
market, offering Changelly users the bestvalue for money when swapping andexchanging crypto. This new innovative feature further
demonstrates Changelly’s dedication toproviding its users the best possible ratesas the company continues to consistentlydevelop new exchange algorithms andimprove its existing ones. It also aids inoffering an overall better customerexperience to Changelly users.With this new campaign and feature,
customers can choose a crypto pair theywould like to exchange, make use of thebest rates possible for their crypto swap,accompanied by Changelly’s superbly low,transparent 0.25% service fee and swaptheir crypto instantaneously. And since thenetwork fee is on Changelly, users can getmore crypto from their money’s worth!Eric Benz, CEO of Changelly believes
that, “being able to provide the best andmost efficient rails to acquire and swapcrypto has been our focus from day one.Changelly is an important tool in this evergrowing ecosystem and as a result wewant to provide all of our users with zerofees this holiday season and for thebeginning of the new year.” He also addedthat Changelly’s customers “have been aspecial part of what makes our companysuccessful and this is our way of showingour appreciation.”
For more information check out:www.changelly.com
only for floating rate exchanges, userswho want to receive the exact amount ofcryptocurrency displayed to him/her atthe beginning of an exchange, regardlessof rate fluctuations can utilise this method
of exchange seamlessly. Changelly has also upgraded its product
with their new self-developedSmartOptimizer algorithm. This custom-built tool selects the best rates on the
Welcome to the first edition of CryptoAM and I hope you had a wonderfulfestive period and rang in the New
Year and for this new and exciting decade -one in which AI, Blockchain and DLT willsurely flourish! On 3rd January Bitcoin (BTC) turned 11
years old and it’s a timely reminder to see how ithas performed over the last 8 by charting the year-on-year annuallows: 2012 – $4; 2013 – $65; 2014 – $200; 2015 – $185; 2016 – $365;2017 – $780; 2018 – $3200 and 2019 – $3356. What is abundantlyclear is that, despite all the naysayers, BTC continues on its upwardtrend.The crypto market has opened its 2020 account in a positive
fashion and inevitably the spectre of potential conflicts in theMiddle East has played its part with BTC at the time of writingtrading at US$7,534.19 / GB£5,743.48; Ethereum (ETH) is atUS$140.73 / GB£107.51; Ripple (XRP) is at US$0.2197 / GB£0.1664;Binance (BNB) is at US$14.65 / GB£11.18 and Cardano (ADA) is atUS$0.03609 / GB£0.02757. Overall Market Cap is at US$203.84bn /GB£154.90bn (data source: www.CryptoCompare.com)Since launching Crypto AM, I have attended a number of regular
London meet-ups and viewed other resources that have beencreated by leaders in the wider blockchain space. Given this is the‘back to school’ edition I thought you might like to know aboutsome of them:AmaZix is the blockchain industry’s leading full-service
consultancy. AmaZix is now publishing free educational materialsto help teams to navigate the challenges of the crypto winter. Theirnew webinar covers bear market investor trends and how tocapture funding have a look via http://webinar.amazix.comOn Yavin’s Cointelligence Academy is hosting monthly
cryptocurrency meet-ups in London. The first one will be Thursday16 January at WeWork Labs at 6:30PM. This free event is a greatchance to network with crypto enthusiasts and for further info inthe events section www.cointelligence.comErica Stanford has turned the Crypto Curry Club into one of the
UK’s highest rated networking events for professionals in crypto,blockchain, fintech and emerging tech. January events with spacesleft are 20th Jan dinner on AI & blockchain for the future ofpayments and 29th Jan lunch on ‘How to Start a Bank’. [email protected] for detailsJonny Fry of Team Blockchain hosts a series of monthly events in
London where guest speakers form a panel and give a keynote.They are very worthwhile to attend and can be found throughhttp://teamblockchain.net Obviously I organise regular Crypto AM events, as well as London
Blockchain Forum seminars in association with City AM. I will keepyou informed about forthcoming dates right here!
WHEN ONE BANDSINKS, ANOTHERSTARTS PLAYING
Designed byPhill Snelling, Bowater Media
Eric Benz, Founder & CEO of Changelly
