Monday, December 3, 2018

No Urgency, High Interest 🧐

December 3, 2018

'A High Level of Interest' but No 'Urgency' for Storing Digital Assets, State Street Says

No need to move

State Street, a financial institution that stores over $33.90 trillion in assets for its custody services, believes there is "no sense of urgency" to offer crypto storage solutions.

However, according to managing director Jay Biancamano, there is a "high level of interest."

While State Street remains hesitant about offering crypto custody and will attempt to "meet" clients there when the time is right, competitor's are already laying the foundation.

The custody scene

Custody on an institutional level is something the community never talked about prior to 2018. Now, as institutions are looking to enter the space, it's only natural that custody solutions would pop up since these institutions need a secure way to store massive amounts of digital assets.

Already, both Coinbase and BitGo have received qualified custodian licenses to store client's assets. As for traditional custody solutions, both Northern Trust and Japanese banking giant Nomura are working to bring digital asset custody to life.

Regardless, it's clear crypto custody is gaining attention on Wall Street. Recently, Goldman Sachs invested up to $15 million in BitGo and Fidelity Investments, a platform with over 27 million clients, announced in October it was building its very own crypto custody solution.

MILESTONE

Hitting 1 Million, Congrats to r/Bitcoin on the Milestone

The history

Once Bitcoin began to gain traction outside of the P2P Foundation forum, early adopters quickly looked for a place to host a community.

While Satoshi built BitcoinTalk, a forum made specifically for Bitcoin discussion, some looked elsewhere. Specifically, users turned to Reddit as a platform to help onboard mainstream adoption from another prospering online community.

Then, in September 2010 r/Bitcoin was born.

8 years later…

Since then, r/Bitcoin has played an instrumental part in building awareness about Satoshi's creation. Now, the community has finally crossed 1 million users - a notable milestone for the coin-specific subreddit.

This year alone the subreddit's user count has grown about +67%, adding the bulk of its users in the first half of 2018. Compared to the size of other communities on Reddit's platform, r/Bitcoin now ranks 112th in the world.

BIG IDEA

Top 5 Industries to Be Disrupted by Blockchain Technology

1. Banking

The benefits blockchain could bring to banking are faster transactions, cost reduction, improved security, and record keeping

FACT: One study from Accenture found that blockchain technology could reduce bank infrastructure costs by 30%.

2. Cybersecurity

The benefits blockchain could bring to cybersecurity are decentralization, confidentiality, accurate tracking, protected communication and reduction in fraud or errors

FACT: Currently the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency uses KSI (Keyless Signature Structure) to protect sensitive military data.

3. Supply Chain

The benefits blockchain could bring to supply chain are a reduction in fraud or errors, improved inventory management, increased efficiency, improved customer engagement

FACT: FedEx has created a pilot blockchain program to help solve customer disputes in 2018.

4. Internet of Things (IoT)

The benefits blockchain could bring to the internet of things are improved security, trusted data exchange, autonomous functioning of smart devices, and privacy implementation

FACT: In 2016, IBM had already invested over $200 million into blockchain-powered IoT.

5. Insurance

The benefits blockchain could bring to insurance are transparency, efficiency, reduction in cost to process claims, reduction in insurance fraud, and improved customer engagement

FACT: 56% of insurance firms claimed they recognized the importance of blockchain, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

Leaders of the G20 are asking for unified crypto regulation across the world.
An ICO called Blockvest just won a court case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a monumental court case.
American car manufacturing giant General Motors (GM) has filed a blockchain patent for a solution to manage data from autonomous vehicles.

MEME