Private Equity Moris Beracha Wuani

Some cryptocurrency research analysts predicted that in 2019 these crypto assets would keep a downfall trend and in the best of cases would hold a steady price. By Moris Beracha Some cryptocurrency research analysts predicted that in 2019 these crypto assets would keep a downfall trend and in the best of cases would hold a steady price. However, April 2 marked a major rise in bitcoin’s Price, which seems to represent new capital injection to the rest of the altcoin market. Just 24 hours before the aforementioned day, bitcoin was traded towards the USD 4.150; then, in less than one hour, it reached USD 4,850 and dropped to USD 4,750, but at the moment of writing this article BTC is traded at USD 7,924.10. As most cryptocurrencies, there is still a high correlation between the traditional assets market and bitcoin and this token is the most liquid cryptocurrency in the market. The crypto market is benefiting from this rise. So far, there are unclear ...

The importance of creating technologies with the user in mind By Anshuman Singh Thanks to advances on mobile connectivity, we are now able to connect to most devices through our mobile phones. Moving forwards, the opportunities to expand beyond simple connections to mobile phones will be what drives connectivity. With Internet of Things ( IoT ) technology and the inevitable introduction of 5G , the pace of technology is rapidly developing and we must begin planning for this future.  Technology has the potential to enable a standard of living in ways previously unthought-of. By using self-driving vehicles as a case study, we can begin to understand how businesses can work towards having a more ethical future with connected technology and the introduction of 5G. The future of IoT connectivity How to bend technology toward the positive How technology is reshaping the remote workforce The future of connected technology and infrastructure  Businesses ...

By Dennis Wafula  Advancements in blockchain technology are proving beneficial in the financial industry. The most recent progress is the introduction of the Finledger blockchain platform, which allows processing of promissory note loans. According to a news release dated May 21, this new application for this type of legal binding loan agreement will be very beneficial to the entire financial industry. The test stage involved four banks, DekaBank, dwpbank, DZ Bank, and Heleba, who used finledger technology to complete note transactions. Reportedly, the platform can reduce the processes involved when issuing such notes by more than 50%. Marion Spielmann, Head of Banking & Depositary at DekaBank, said:   “The opportunities offered by using a blockchain take the product promissory note loan to a whole new level. Together with the other institutes, we have now successfully implemented a digitization project that allows our customers and us to han...

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...

Cryptocurrency is taking another step towards the mainstream as mobile carrier AT&T announced it would accept payments in crypto today, according to a  release from the company. Customers can pay their mobile bills via BitPay when they pay online or in app. BitPay is one of the largest cryptocurrency payment processing firms, processing bitcoin transactions. AT&T hasn't gone all in on crypto yet, as of now the option to pay through BitPay is only extended to bill transactions. Though the move may seem positive for crypto users, Joe McCann, a former crypto hedge fund  manager at Passport Capital, told The Block the move seemed to come out of left field and speculated that perhaps the company has internal data showing more millennials utilizing crypto payments. "What upside does AT&T have in supporting crypto payments?" he asked. McCann's questions of internal data may not be off-base, as Kevin McDorman, vice president, AT...

By Darryn Pollock Despite Bitcoin being the oldest, most well established, and functional cryptocurrency around, there is no doubting that there are some issues that need resolving. Those issues have been placed under the magnifying glass in more recent times with the emergence of other cryptocurrencies that are looking at being better than Bitcoin. Teenage Bitcoin millionaire Erik Finman has said that the major cryptocurrency needs to resolve some of this issues surrounding it or else it will die. He has pinpointed four issues which he believes need to be fixes, and they range from its complexity with regards to use, high transaction fees, slow processing speeds and in-fighting among development teams. Long term dead   Despite making his fortunes off some savvy and early investing in Bitcoin, Finman said in December last year that he believes that Bitcoin is “Long Term Dead”, but added that cryptocurrencies in general are here to stay. His four issues t...

By Harare Bureau BLOCKCHAIN technology can help enhance transparency, efficiency and grow investor confidence in Zimbabwe’s fledgling capital markets, experts say. The technology, which underpins crypto-currencies like bitcoin, is temper-proof. Its decentralised nature allows for financial transactions to be traced throughout the payment process by anyone with a computer or smartphone with internet connection. These characteristics have meant that blockchain technology is now being adapted for use in several spheres including the supply chain, banking, financial markets and even voting, to curb fraud while improving transparency. Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) chief executive Justin Bgoni told our Harare Bureau that the exchange is open to exploring how it can harness Blockchain technology in the near future although there is still no regulatory clarity on the matter. Mr Bgoni spoke about introducing blockchain-based new products and services such as real estate ...

By Yogita Khatri Meme Factory, a blockchain-based marketplace for digital collectibles, goes live today. Meme Factory is built on ethereum and allows users to create, issue and trade “provably rare” digital collectibles, according to an announcement. The platform was created by blockchain startup District0x Network, which raised $9 million  via an initial coin offering in August 2017. The funding was raised in ether (ETH) cryptocurrency and saw participation from venture capital firms Boost VC and CoinFund. District0x describes the platform as “a true decentralized digital collectibles marketplace, completely self-governed and functioning autonomously on the ethereum blockchain.” So how does it work? The marketplace enables users such as artists to create original tokenized memes and submit them for consideration to what’s dubbed the Dank Registry. Registry curators, who are holders of the project’s DANK token, will then scan the submissions and ...

By Ledger Insights Yesterday the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced that they’ve enabled the secondary trades of the World Bank’s bond-i bond to be recorded on a blockchain. Nine months ago CBA arranged the Blockchain Offered New Debt Instrument (bond-i) issuance of A$110 million (US $76m). It’s part of the World Bank’s annual $50-$60 billion bond issuance. “Enabling secondary trading [to be] recorded on the blockchain is a tremendous step forward towards enabling capital markets to leverage distributed ledger technologies for faster, more efficient, and more secure transactions,” said World Bank VP and Treasurer Jingdong Hua. “It speaks to the innovation and commitment of all our partners, including investors, that we were able to achieve this together.” The bond-i platform is a permissioned network with nodes in Sydney and Washington. It features automated bond auct...

By Abhimanyu Krishnan The government of German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has revealed that it will build the European Blockchain Institute to examine blockchain technology. NRW Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart said that the research institute will be formed in the city of Dortmund, the press release said.  Pinkwart was also positive on how blockchain technology could help economies, but must not be “energy-intensive”, This technology can be safe, decentralized, affordable and, when used properly, not too energy-intensive. Germany recently announced that it would outline a strategy for the digital assets space , and many countries in Europe are doing the same. France has established some crypto-friendly regulation , and has asked other nations in the EU to take after it .  Certainly, several authorities, both governments and financial institutions, have warmed up to cryptocurrencies and are seeking to leverage the benefits ...

By Yogita Khatri Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it is revamping security measures after losing some 7,000 bitcoin worth over $40 million in a hack earlier this week. “Significant” changes related to its application programming interface (API), two-factor authentication (2FA) and withdrawal validation are being made, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a blog post published on Friday. The exchange did not disclose more details regarding these efforts, but said it is also improving its risk management and know-your-customer procedures to fight phishing, among other additional security measures at the back-end. Binance will take action of some of the measures within this week and in the coming weeks in order to resume services at the earliest, according to the post. Zhao said tentatively, the exchange is looking to resume withdrawals and deposits “early next week.” Binance will also be adding support for hardware-based 2FA devices such as YubiKey “very soon,”...

RICK D.   |  A congressman with a track record of bashing crypto has come out once again calling for a ban on digital assets. Republican Brad Sherman supposedly raised the idea earlier today in Congress. This is not the first time this week that someone has called for a ban on digital assets. However, without a huge international effort from authorities, the chances of such legislation proving effective are remote. Is the Crypto Narrative Changing from Ridicule to Fear for the Powers that be? According to a video posted to Twitter by crypto education group Coin Center, a congressman with a history of being opposed to digital currencies has once again raised the possibly of a ban on the technology. In the video, Republican Brad Sherman states with surprising candour: “I look for colleagues to join with me in introducing a bill to outlaw cryptocurrency purchases by Americans, so that we nip this in the bud, in part because an awful lot of our internation...

By Martin Young The FOMO has finally returned to crypto markets as scenes reminiscent of late 2017 start to unfold this week. Bitcoin has been the clear leader with dominance almost touching 60 percent and a surge over $8,000 for the first time since July last year. Bitcoin is King At 60% The BTC maximalists are full of hopium again today as their daddy blasted past another resistance zone and hit a new high of $8,050 a couple of hours ago. Asian trading has seen a slight pullback but the bulls are still grabbing the markets by the horns and keeping BTC buoyed up. Trading at just below $8k, Bitcoin is up 14 percent on the day in its second thousand dollar surge this week. At the weekend BTC pumped from $6,300 to $7,500 and many expected a correction which has yet to materialize. Over the past 24 hours BTC has pumped from just over $7,000 to top $8k for the first time in ten months. Market dominance is a touch under 60 percent which is the highest it ha...

Two years after adopting its "AI first" strategy, CEO Sundar Pichai showcased how Google is applying AI across its platforms to make a "more helpful" Google. By  Stephanie Condon for Between the Lines |   Thanks to advances in AI, Google is moving beyond its core mission of "organizing the world's information," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday.  "We are moving from a company that helps you find answers to a company that helps you get things done," Pichai said in his Google I/O keynote address. "We want our products to work harder for you in the context of your job, your home and your life."  Two years ago at the annual developer conference, Pichai laid out Google's " AI first " strategy. On Tuesday, he laid out ways AI is having a significant impact across across all of its pl...

By Inside Bitcoins Ali Raza | This period is clearly one of the most exciting for the crypto world. Even electronic payment behemoth PayPal is also getting in on some crypto action. It was PayPal’s chief financial officer John Rainey who made the startling revelations in an interview with Yahoo! Finance. Even though the payment giant is also devoting some resources to the development of cryptocurrency, Rainey stated that digital currency is not going to be their major priority for now. He thinks there is still more to be done regarding universal acceptance for digital assets before they can fully roll out buy crypto with PayPal . Bitcoin is Under Consideration Even though other big brands like Fidelity were putting in a lot of resources into crypto investments, PayPal had kept many in suspense by almost ignoring the booming sector. This is despite the fact that Rainey said that PayPal actually included Bitcoin as one of their payment alternatives for merchants...

By Daniel Palmer Starbucks is moving to give consumers more information on its coffee products using a blockchain system that will track beans from “farm to cup.” For the effort, the coffee chain is working with Microsoft to harness its Azure Blockchain Service in tracking coffee shipments from across the world, bringing “digital, real-time traceability” to its supply chains, according to an announcement from Microsoft. With the partnership, Microsoft’s blockchain service will record all changes along the journey of the coffee on a shared ledger, providing participants with a “more complete view” of the supply chain. Starbucks will use all that information to bring a new feature to its mobile app, giving consumers details on where the coffee was sourced and roasted, as well as on tasting notes. As part of its commitment to ethical sourcing, it’s also hoping that the blockchain system can help benefit growers too, by providing them with data...

    By Adrian Zmudzinski     Blockchain Capital partner Spencer Bogart claimed that the crypto endeavors of social media giant Facebook could result in the cryptocurrency user base doubling or tripling. Bogart made his remarks during an interview with Bloomberg published on May 8. In the interview, Bogart confirmed that he thinks Facebook Coin — whether it will be a stablecoin or a different kind of crypto asset — will act as a stepping stone, introducing the masses to the idea of cryptocurrencies. He explained that once people own Facebook Coin: “It’s like being on the internet; so people can spin out and they can start owning bitcoin, they can start owning ether. Some percentage of the user base is likely to do so, and again I think that’s gonna be a dramatic catalyst.” Bogart then stated that the more important thing is that Facebook’s initiative “lit a fire in the pants of every major fintech and financial institution in the U...