Overview of U.S. Financial Services: Announcements on Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrencies, and Digital Assets

Access all GBBC Overviews & Reports Online: https://gbbcouncil.org/initiatives/open-source-ideas-series/

Introduction:

Below is a survey of high-level headlines and public information for the U.S. financial services and fintech industries in connection with blockchain technology, crypto assets, and digital assets during the period 4Q 2020–1Q 2021. This is a rapidly growing multi-trillion-dollar industry and major financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, household brand names, as well as emerging fintech companies, continue to announce investments and related business initiatives.

Fact Sheet:

Part I of the GBBC’s Open-Source Ideas Series on Global Energy in Collaboration with GBBC member Power Ledger.

“I always prefer the creative solution to an expensive solution.” — Keenen Ivory Wayans

Introduction

About two years ago, a company based in Hicksville, New York best known for selling iced tea changed its name to the Long Blockchain Corp. The stock value of this company rocketed up 275 percent even though it planned to maintain iced tea as its principle offering.¹

This was blockchain mania at its height. Like the California gold rush in the 19th century or the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium, it tells us much about the psychology of humans…

Part I of the GBBC’s Open-Source Ideas Series on Cybersecurity Authored in Collaboration with GBBC member Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP) and Taekion.

“Every barbarian is at every gate”

Andy Greenberg, Senior Writer for WIRED, in his monograph Sandworm, reflecting on a new era of cyber warfare following the 2017 NotPetya malware attack on the Ukrainian power grid.¹

An Inconvenient Truth

Delivering continuous data assurance

The compromise of Texas-based SolarWinds, a company which provides computer networking monitoring services to corporations and government agencies worldwide, reveals a new generation of cyberattack characterised by access, sophistication, and patience. In this case, the source code of SolarWind’s Orion platform was compromised…

Part I of the GBBC’s Open-Source Ideas Series on “Building Human-Centric Technology” Authored in Collaboration with Inter-American Development Bank Labs (IDB Labs).

Introduction

With all the progress made on gender inclusivity, it can be easy to forget how novel this concept is in the world of finance. For example, in the United States, women were denied the right to open independent bank accounts until the 1960s and denied fair access to credit until 1974.¹ …

Part I of the GBBC’s Open-Source Ideas Series on “Digital Money” Authored in Collaboration with Soramitsu.

Introduction

In the early 2010s, as cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology were growing in popularity, central banks began to consider how to adapt the concepts and technology to create a new kind of money: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). By some accounts, China was the first to begin formal research, as it began working on its Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC/EP) in 2014.¹ The idea gained further momentum two years later, when Ben Broadbent, the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy, appeared to coin…

Recordings of all the sessions are available on GBBC’s YouTube Channel

The 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session has been unlike any other in the organization’s seventy-five-year history, with most leaders appearing virtually rather than in-person, but as the UN confidently asserted, “that’s not to say that the wheels of global diplomacy and sustainable development will not be turning at the usual speed.”

This year’s Global Blockchain Business Council’s (GBBC) Blockchain Central UNGA also went virtual. While it is easy to miss the energy, spontaneous conversations, and busyness of a large in-person gathering, the GBBC made the most of…

GBBC Open-Source Ideas: Special Report in Research Collaboration with Select GBBC Members.

Utility Tokens: Do they have any utility?

A utility token gives the owner cryptographically secured rights to use a particular software, network, or platform and the ability to redeem the token for a currency or good. Utility tokens can also be used as an escrow bond to encourage certain behavior. While terminology and distinctions are not widely agreed upon in the blockchain and crypto community, tokens are generally said to fall into three groups: native tokens (used to secure the protocol), utility tokens, and tokenized securities/equity tokens. …

Bitcoin’s third halving is around the corner, check out GBBC’s timeline of some of the major events and milestones leading up to this point…