From buzz to business

Farzam Ehsani on money; Jeremy Epstein on marketing; CoinDesk embeds with Hyperledger View this email in your browser December 20th, 2016 "If you look at history, innovation doesn't come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect." – Steven Johnson  Got this from a friend? SUBSCRIBE HERE Farzam Ehsani, leader of the blockchain initiative for the FirstRand Group, believes that as the blockchain hype starts to settle down, one use case will stand above the rest: money.   As at least one part of most transactions, money is the backbone of our economy. Farzam argues that making it more efficient has to be a priority.   Several central banks are investigating the issuance of cryptocurrency on a sovereign blockchain. Farzam is convinced that without this, other blockchain use cases such as securities settlement, trade financing, registries and more, will never reach their full potential.   And, he points out, the effects would not stop there. A central bank cryptocurrency would transform the entire banking industry. (You can see more of our 2016 Year in Review series HERE.)   Read the full story Share Tweet I'm excited to announce that Stefan Thomas, CTO of Ripple, will be joining us at CONSTRUCT. It has been a big year for Ripple, what with raising a big Series B and numerous financial institutions joining as tech partners. Stefan will tell us about latest developments and more at our invite-only developer conference CONSTRUCT, in San Francisco USA from January 30-31. Want to come? 😎 APPLY TO ATTEND 😎 Wait, there's more: How Savvy Marketing Can Burst the 'Blockchain Bubble' *Year in Review*: Jeremy Epstein, the CEO of Never Stop Marketing, is confident that blockchains will become 'mainstream' in 2017 – if, that is, we get the story right. Good engineering is fundamental. But as Epstein posits, good marketing is what will get the technology into the hands of those who might actually use it. Read more. Why Blockchain Won't Connect Banks in 2017 *Year in Review*: Gideon Greenspan, the founder and CEO of Coin Sciences, asks: what are the best use cases today for financial blockchains? Rather than smart contracts, he believes the answer is the rapid transfer of assets. The technology exists, but is not yet in production. Why? Because financial institutions need confidentiality, and the blockchain's transparency is a barrier. Read more. Inside Hyperledger's High-Stakes Game of Blockchain Marbles CoinDesk was invited to sit in on a trial of Hyperledger's Fabric blockchain. In a tech version of marbles, digital assets were transferred between the test participants, including The London Stock Exchange Group, IBM, Everledger, Skuchain, Loyyal and others. While the test was not incident-free, it is a significant step towards getting Fabric ready for use in the real world. Read more.   Go to CoinDesk BTC: $792.35 +0.2%  ETH: $7.69 -0.5% @10:00 EST - More price details Have you answered our survey yet? 😁 If you haven't, you're still in time to do so and have your name entered into a draw for a $100 Amazon gift voucher. Now wouldn't that be a nice holiday surprise? 🎁 TAKE THE SURVEY  🎁 PRESS RELEASES   19, Dec - Press Release: I/O Digital Set to Release the Long Anticipated I/O Coin "DIONS" Blockchain Upgrade 15, Dec - Press Release: Young's Fine Art Cooperates with Bidpoc Project to make Art Transaction Intelligible 13, Dec - Press Release: FlashFX Uses Ripple and XRP Do you think this email is better with the longer, skimmable headlines? Or do you miss the short, witty (and sometimes enigmatic) teasers? Just hit "Reply" and let me know! If you like this email, how about sharing it with your friends by tweeting, posting or simply forwarding? We'd really appreciate it.  Share Tweet Copyright © 2016 CoinDesk, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you subscribed for updates on our website. Our mailing address is: CoinDesk 636 Avenue of the Americas New York City, NY 10011 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list