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In my interview yesterday with Rod Drury, CEO of global accounting software company Xero, we discussed the pros and cons of blockchain technology from a business context. According to Rod, blockchain is most useful “when you have multiple strong actors that make up the entire network.” He thinks there are opportunities to use such blockchain…
Read More The case for permissioned blockchains
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This afternoon I sat down with Rod Drury, founder and CEO of the global accounting software company Xero. I was keen to get his views on blockchain, given that he runs a public company with over 1.2 million subscribers – most of whom work with ledgers! Does blockchain have any application in the accounting business?…
Read More Rod Drury talks blockchain for accounting
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Narrative is a blockchain startup that is running a token sale in a week’s time. This one caught my eye for two reasons. Firstly, it’s building a content network on a blockchain – similar to the already established Steemit. Secondly, Narrative just announced it has switched platforms. Previously it was planning to build on top…
Read More Narrative pitches content network on blockchain
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We’re seeing regulators all across the world start to step in with cryptocurrencies, which is causing uncertainty in the entire blockchain ecosystem. After all, if cryptocurrencies aren’t seen as legitimate, and many blockchain startups rely on coins and tokens in order to function, then a lot of blockchain startups will run into problems gaining traction.…
Read More Bank crackdowns & thoughts on working with banks
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At the Blockchain Connect conference in San Francisco last week, CoinDesk’s Bailey Reutzel made some useful notes from a panel of ICO investors. The following tips from Linda Xie, managing director of crypto hedge fund Scalar Capital, are especially pertinent. She talks about how to weigh up the merits, or otherwise, of a blockchain startup doing an ICO:
Read More Tips for assessing an ICO
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An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is a new way for startups, particularly blockchain-based ones, to raise money. It’s an ingenious method of both raising money and incentivising people to use your product. The problem is, ICO valuations have risen to absurd levels. Also many ICOs don’t bear close scrutiny, which will be a problem when…
Read More ICO crackdown likely in 2018
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This is the first full week of Blocksplain, so thank you to everyone who has subscribed already or is following on Twitter or Facebook. As I begin this journey in 2018 to make sense of blockchain and cryptocurrency, I want to firstly get to grips with the current batch of leading cryptocurrencies. In this post I’ll…
Read More Legit reasons to use Monero & other privacy coins
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Augur is a good way to begin my ongoing series of blockchain startup profiles, because this project started well before the ICO craze of 2017. Indeed, it was one of the first independent Ethereum projects to get off the ground. Augur is a prediction market tool built on the Ethereum blockchain. It was founded in 2014, with the goal…
Read More Betting on Augur
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If you look past the incredible hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies at the start of 2018, you’ll see a relatively immature technology platform. Some have likened the current state of blockchain to the mid-1990s, when early Web businesses were trying to emulate the offline world on the new-fangled WWW. The implication being: blockchain is potentially…
Read More Blockchain in 2018: pros and cons
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Welcome to Blocksplain, a blog dedicated to profiling new blockchain and cryptocurrency startups, and explaining how they fit into the emerging blockchain ecosystem. Blocksplain is a portmanteau, a made-up word coined from a combination of the words blockchain and explain. I chose it because it’s a fun name, but my intention with this site is…
Read More Introducing Blocksplain