Private Equity Moris Beracha Wuani

The adoption of blockchain technology in the energy sector will generate over $3 billion by 2025 owing to an increase in deployment in the power, oil and gas sectors, according to Global Market Insights. Worldwide, the deployment of blockchain technology in energy-related applications has become a trending subject of sorts among industry giants as well as the start-up investor community, with applications ranging from grid transactions, financing and transparency in supply chain.  Advancements in the technology have resulted from widespread efforts to replace outdated and less secure trading and documentation platforms through digital transformation. Blockchain is deemed ideal for the energy segment since it can enable the creation of automated, auditable and transparent records of generated power and its subsequent consumption. Even in the oil & gas industry, legacy systems are being overhauled for implementing more reliable and cutting-edge dig...

Decentralized project ContentsDeal is a content exchange platform that enables users and creators (e.g., singers, artists, writers, etc.) to trade and distribute genuine, exclusive content transparently via blockchain. By simplifying the complex distribution structure of copyrights in today’s entertainment industry, ContentsDeal ensures fair profitability to artists, content creators as well as contributors to the network, the team emphasizes. All the parties involved can leverage blockchain encryption to make sure transaction information, payments and membership are kept safe and secure on an immutable network.  ContentsDeal is the place where creators can protect their rights, while at the same time contribute to the development of a transparent content production environment. The benefit of the public is that by signing up on the platform they get higher quality content that they can use via trading content using StarCoin (KST) and DEAL tokens.  Blo...

Bitcoin miners consumed as much as energy in 2018 as Hungary, according to Alex de Vries. The researcher at the Netherlands’ PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) branch studied bitcoin’s global energy consumption all across the year. He found that existing hydropower projects were not sufficient in sustaining the cryptocurrency mining operations, adding that the bitcoin network demanded as much as 62.3 TWh power. The power of such scale could single-handedly serve a Hungary or a Switzerland. More than Banks The revelation followed years of debates about whether or not bitcoin is anti-environment. Skeptics criticize the decentralized financial network for contributing to global warming because each node in the system requires electricity to sustain itself. That is how machines process mathematical problems – by injecting vast computing power – that eventually mine and confirm bitcoin transactions on the network. As a result, the entire mining operation generate...

Anna Baydakova General Motors Financial, the financing arm of the automaking giant, said Monday that it is partnering with blockchain startup Spring Labs on solutions for identity verification. The startup – which counts former Trump economic advisor Gary Cohn on its board of advisors – said that GM is exploring the acquisition of a stake alongside other use cases. A spokesperson for GM Financial declined to comment on the possibility of GM or its subsidiary becoming a Spring Labs shareholder. “We are actively exploring the development of auto finance and GM specific use cases, in addition to the identity verification products being developed,” co-founder and CEO Adam Jiwan said via a spokesperson. He added that the blockchain network Spring Labs a working on at the moment will be available in private beta for the partners inQ3, and the live network is scheduled to launch in early 2020. In a press statement, Mike Kanarios, chief strategy off...

By Gabriella Steyn CAPE TOWN – On Wednesday, The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) published its views on regulating cryptocurrency through a consultation paper in the country.  The document offers recommendations for policy proposals to industry participants and gives an overview of the perceived risks and benefits associated with crypto-assets which it has made open to comment from the public until February 15, 2019. Business Report spoke to industry players to understand how this would affect businesses in South Africa.  Jacques Sibomana, chief operating officer for Kuba said: "We have seen the rise in cryptocurrency platforms and traders with a majority of platforms come from not so trusted place, I believe that this white paper and the Sarb regulation would be great for early adopters as more safety is introduced in the space." "For the SMMEs especially those that are operating in a cash-based environment, it will be great to see Sarb in...

Analysing and handling massive amounts of data is a tedious task but blockchain can help add another layer of protection to the big data analytics process. BY  Vikash Kumar      We have already started living in a Big Data generation. Every day, massive volumes of data are generated by different networks in different industries. This large amount of data includes the records, messages sent and received, uploaded videos, GPS signals, online data transactions, and many other sources. For some top valued industries such as healthcare, educational and banking, high-quality security and maintenance should be provided to protect this data from malware or spy. Regular analysis of this large data leads to more innovation and growth for every economic aspect. Organisations analyse the data for an optimised client engagement and individual decision-making process, which allows them to predict future trends among the others. Analysing and handling such massive a...

By Ana Berman    Two energy divisions of German tech giant Siemens have joined a blockchain-driven energy platform to promote the use of decentralized technologies in the sector, according to a press release published Wednesday, Nov. 21. According to Siemens, its Energy Management and Power Generation Services departments are partnering with open-source, scalable blockchain platform Energy Web Foundation (EWF), founded in 2017 to elaborate regulatory, operational, and market solutions for the energy sector. Siemens officials believe that blockchain technology will help increase interoperability in the area, linking consumers with energy producers and network operators, the press release writes. Moreover, the technology could help increase the efficiency of energy systems and enable new forms of project financing. The statement also notes that Siemens is already using blockchain accompanied by microgrid control solutions to optimize con...

By Justin Villamil Mexico’s upstart stock exchange needs private equity to go public. The Bolsa Institucional de Valores, the bourse known as Biva that began operations in July, is trying to gain market share from the dominant Bolsa Mexicana de Valores by focusing on private equity managers ready to exit their investments and sell shares. The industry has grown 15 percent annually over the past decade, according to a report by El Financiero. “The story of private equity is very recent in Mexico,” Biva Chief Executive Officer Maria Ariza said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in Mexico City. “Companies are starting to mature, they’re starting to leave, and they’re starting to look for an opportunity to exit their investments. Ideally, one of the ways to do that is through the capital markets.” Companies controlled by private-equity firms tend to alre...