Integration > adaptation

Julio Faura,Gideon Greenspan and Chuck Thompson on the outlook for blockchain; ABN Amro and Banque de France tests View this email in your browser December 19th, 2016 "Change is inevitable. Change is constant." – Benjamin Disraeli Got this from a friend? SUBSCRIBE HERE Julio Faura, Head of R&D and Innovation for Banco Santander, highlights what he believes to be the key blockchain concept for 2017: tokenization.   While 2016 was the 'year of experimentation', he explains, 2017 will be the year of 'making it real'. For that to happen, we need to find a way to overcome an important but often overlooked challenge.   Instead of trying to adapt current bank ledgers to the blockchain, Faura believes that we should be working on how to get them to interact with each other. Tokenization, in which real-world assets are represented by cryptographic tokens, would offer blockchain advantages with relatively easy implementation.   Rather than an end in itself, he explains, this concept would be a way to incorporate blockchains into enterprise in incremental steps, and would leave room for broader innovation. (You can see more of our 2016 Year in Review series HERE.)   Read the full story Share Tweet Ever since its launch, ZCash has been one of the most talked about innovations in the sector. Zooko Wilcox, one of the founders, will be giving a presentation about recent developments in ZCash at our invite-only developer conference CONSTRUCT, from January 30-31 in San Francisco, USA. Want to come? 😎 APPLY TO ATTEND 😎 Wait, there's more: Why Blockchain Won't Connect Banks in 2017 *Year in Review*: Gideon Greenspan, the founder and CEO of Coin Sciences, explains that he doesn't expect to see banks using blockchain for settlement any time soon, largely for reasons of confidentiality. He also points out what he thinks is a surprising ideal use case: internal ledgers for financial institutions. As well as helping with asset tracking (especially when subsidiaries are distinct legal entities), he believes that they could serve as a useful intermediate step until the issues around confidentiality are resolved. Read more.   2017: The Year Regulators Engage with Blockchain *Year in Review*: Lawyer and consultant Chuck Thompson walks us through the current state of blockchain regulation around the world. He highlights recent regulator initiatives to better understand the potential impact of the technology, and points out several factors that could influence regulators in the months to come. He believes that increased engagement on the part of regulators is not necessarily a bad thing, and could encourage adoption. Read more.   Will Bitcoin's Resurgence Bring the Banks on Board? Two seemingly unrelated recent developments, when seen together, could point to where bitcoin is heading. One is the relative resilience of the bitcoin price, which dispels concerns of volatility and fragility. The other is the incorporation of the ex-CEO of Barclays to the board of Blockchain. Are banks overcoming their resistance to bitcoin? Read more. Overstock Just Closed its First Day of Blockchain Stock Trading The first day of trading of Overstock's new blockchain-based preferred shares saw very little activity. But the issuance apparently went smoothly, and in conversation with CoinDesk, the participants expressed their confidence that activity will pick up and that more firms will end up relying on TO's transparency and auditability. Read more. France's Central Bank Details its First Blockchain Test The Banque de France has released details of a recently completed trial to test the issuance of identity markers for creditors. This marks its first publicly-acknowledged blockchain test, and was developed in conjunction with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (a public sector organization), a blockchain startup and other French banks. Read more.   ABN Amro Tests Blockchain for Real Estate Transactions Dutch bank ABN Amro is working with IBM to test blockchain-based real estate lease transactions. The proposed system would connect the bank, its clients, appraisers, the central bank and the central registry. Read more. Go to CoinDesk BTC: $790.41 +0.2%  ETH: $7.73 -2.2% @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   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 13, Dec - Press Release: CoinDesk and Brave Software Partner on New Content Revenue Model with Private Micropayments and Focus on User Privacy Do you like this email? Do you hate it? I'd love to hear from you - just hit "Reply" and let me know! And if you like it, 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. 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