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Sponsored by   October 8, 2018 IN FOOD WE TRUST: Tech giant IBM's long awaited supply chain blockchain project is going live with a big backer: European supermarket chain Carrefour. The launch marks a big win for IBM and its drive to get blockchain tech adopted in the enterprise space. Having already secured support from retailer Walmart, Carrefour's backing opens up the food-focused supply chain solution to a wide network of stores: 12,000 in 33 countries, to be exact.  Also joining IBM’s Food Trust are the cooperative Topco Associates, representing 15,000 stores; retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern, representing 50 member companies and 344 stores; as well as suppliers including Beefchain, Dennick Fruit Source and Smithfield. Ramesh Gopinath, IBM's vice president of blockchain solutions, expressed a desire to see the solution extend beyond that initial group.  "I'd love it if IBM Food Trust was the only platform out there for this, but we are not that naive. If there's another one that is as good and as mature as Food Trust out there then absolutely we will be happy to do the interop," he told CoinDesk. Full Story ICOS...ON BITCOIN? The emergence of sidechains tied to the bitcoin network is creating a possible shift in how crypto startups get funded.  While ethereum, the second largest blockchain by market cap, and other smart contract protocols, have been the choice for the majority of entrepreneurs interested in creating new crypto tokens, with a sidechain created by RSK, bitcoin will now have the ability to host the new fundraising mechanism as well. Scott Yoon, CEO of Temco, and Joey Cho, head of business development, both believe that bitcoin can attract more blockchain projects and ultimately have "the same function like ethereum."  Cho predicts that while 40 percent of the required capital can be raised through the ICO, the rest will be coming from investors. According to Yoon, where RSK differs from ethereum is scalability, in that ethereum won't be able to sustain the creation of "real products" for mass adoption, he argued. Full Story STARTUP WATERING HOLE: Oasis Labs, which has significant backing from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz's crypto-focused fund, has launched a new startup accelerator. Announced Tuesday, the Oasis Startup Hub will focus on aiding firms building "privacy-first computing on blockchain" platforms, according to a press release. Accel, a16z crypto, Binance Labs, Pantera Capital and Polychain Capital will all provide support for the program. In a statement, CEO Dawn Song explained that, "we've seen strong interest in our private testnet from companies and developers who want to build scalable applications that protect user data and put privacy first – and are constrained by existing platforms." Full Story CoinDesk Research released its "Top 10 Blockchain Universities" last week. And New York University (NYU) is among the schools that are abuzz with blockchain education,  NYU boasts some of the highest number of courses spread across its New York and satellite campuses abroad. These courses tend to be business-oriented, rather than focusing solely on subjects like cryptography, software, or hardware. What's more, the prevalence of extracurricular clubs and events provides a window into one aspect of NYU's interest in the tech. Notably, NYU hosted the first university-supported bitcoin hackathon back in 2014. You can check out the rest of our rankings here. For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. You can also follow CoinDesk's research analyst Peter Ryan on Twitter for the latest insights. SPONSOR SECTION   The $500 Retirement Blueprint The Wall Street Journal reports that this innovation "blows open the doors to investing..." Forbes says that "this changes everything..." And if you click here now, we'll share the details behind this investing breakthrough »   VOLATILITY LOW: Has bitcoin become boring? The crypto's price volatility has fallen to a 15-month low, and is seemingly stuck in limbo between the bulls and the bears -- for now. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST: FRED WILSON: In a blog post, VC veteran Fred Wilson discusses the lost art of calculating fully diluted costs. He references the 2050 market cap as denoted on the OnChainFX crypto-data platform, stressing that the concept of a market cap that includes future dilution is of utmost importance when investors are thinking about value.    THE REST:  THE IRISH TIMES: In an effort to become a "key player" in the blockchain space, the Irish government has agreed to play host to a blockchain conference organized by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The Irish Times reported that the ISO's technical committee is currently working on developing standards for blockchains. The chosen location, Dublin, is also home to Deloitte's dedicated blockchain laboratory.  The Financial Times took a moment to critique this decision by the Irish government, pointing out that the crowd at the Blockchain In Finance event lacked diversity and mocking the comments of Chancellor Philip Hammond, who -- to the amusement of some in the space -- recently argued that blockchain could solve Ireland’s border problem with the UK in a post-Brexit world. BLOOMBERG: According to a report from Bloomberg, Coinfloor, a cryptocurrency exchange which started in 2013, will be restructuring and, as a result,  laying off some of its workers. The crypto exchange declined to disclose how many people it will be letting go.  According to the report, this move comes amid a drastic decrease in cryptocurrency trading volume, following the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of prices earlier this year. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: In a report from the South China Morning Post, it was announced that Hong Kong investment firm Summer Capital has invested in SEBA Crypto AG. The crypto startup is seeking to becoming cryptocurrency investment bank with regulatory backing. To that end, the firm is currently awaiting approval from Swiss authorities on its request to get a banking license.  According to the publication, the stake in SEBA represents the first crypto/blockchain investment by Summer Capital, which manages about $1 billion in investor funds.     We've launched our first-ever podcast, "Late Confirmation," a digest of top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? 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