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May 29 · Issue #141 · View online
3 Things You Need To Know From The Convergence Ecosystem
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Hello and welcome back from the weekend. Quick reminder to vote for us at the Techcrunch Europa Awards. If you like the work we do, we would appreciate the support of our community to help inform the judging process, every vote counts! NB - Remember to click the link, vote, then skip to the end to “finish the survey”
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1. Wyoming blockchain laws draw tech new companies
Wyoming has emerged as a new, alternative choice for token enthusiasts to incorporate and scale their companies. The American state has been proactively creating an environment where blockchain based companies can experiment with relatively less scrutiny from the regulators as a hedge from its continuing reliance on fossil fuels as a primary driver of their economy. In March 2018, the state’s governor signed four blockchain related bills that aimed to make the state more attractive to entrepreneurs working with tokens. One of the laws passed in the region exempts certain tokens sold by startups in the region from securities laws. Similarly, another one exempts cryptocurrency from property tax. It is an interesting example of a state regulator creating pro-business regulations to stay ahead of the curve. The state’s $500 million deficit may be part of the reason for the stance. Differences in approaches towards regulating the ecosystem may create opportunities for start-ups to engage in “regulatory arbitrage” until clarity is attained.
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2. Insurtech giant ZhongAn touts blockchain’s transformational power
Full-scale implementations of enterprise blockchains that engage directly with end consumers are officially here. ZhongAn Tech- a Chinese company, has begun using blockchains to create a dent in the centuries-old insurance systems used in China. The system designed by them will allow the share of data between over a 100 hospitals and drastically reduce the need for paperwork behind insurance claims. Agents will be no longer required to assist with recovery of funds. Patients will instead be able to state which hospital they’d received their treatment from and the system would automatically share necessary paper works with the insurance provider. The system is noteworthy due to its Chinese origin. Although their token economy has been controlled through strict regulations and bans on ICOs, the region holds the highest number of patents oriented to blockchains. The regional government has also mentioned blockchains as a focus area for their next 5-year plan. Interesting to see blockchains seeing rising adoption in healthcare and insurance.
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3. How WIRED Lost $100,000 in Bitcoin
Conflicts of interest are an everyday matter in the token economy. Reporters are often required to disclose any ownership of tokens they hold in relation to the stories they write to ensure transparency. Wired found themselves in a similar situation in 2013 when a miner from Butterfly Labs (now defunct) was sent to them as a review unit. The team had to figure out the morality behind holding “money” generated by a “money printing” (mining) machine sent to them for a review. They eventually decided to destroy the private keys of the wallet holding 13+ Bitcoins. Had they held the coins, it’d be worth close to $100,000 today. Wired’s former head of engineering - Anotonowicz gives an interesting comparison to put the incident in context “"Originally I was going to say that the closest metaphor I have is that we dropped a car key somewhere in the Atlantic, but I think it’s closer for me to say we dropped the key somewhere between here and the Alpha Centauri,” With anywhere between 17% to 23% of all Bitcoins believed to be lost, the story is an intriguing reminder of why it is important to save one’s private keys efficiently. Read the entirety of Wired’s story here.
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E-ink is the coolest technology that’s never quite found the use cases it deserves.
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