Blocktrak

 

Power Ledger, based in Australia and currently an active ICO is aiming to put Solar power on the Blockchain. Spearheaded by Dr. Jemma Green, and supported by Sir Richard Branson, this company believes in empowering individuals and communities to co-create their energy future. They want to address Three major challenges facing the energy system globally:

1. Finding a way to include individual in high-density housing in the booming distributed energy economy.
2. Re-inventing electricity networks to provide an incentive for the connection of DER
3. Mitigating the risk of stranding multiple billions of dollar in valuable network assets.

As stated:

“Power Ledger developed and trialled Australia’s first P2P energy trading network in Busselton, Western Australia in August 2016. At the time, that was the biggest and most advanced trial in the world. This was quickly followed up with the word’s first P2P blockchain-enabled energy trading platform across as regulated distribution network in Auckland, New Zealand working with New Zealand’s largest energy network business, Vector Ltd. “

Use Cases

Blockchain is going through an incredible revolution of ideas at this time. Considering this is the early phase of these new technologies, many companies are scrambling to solve problems such as Solar power and alternative energy use. It may take many years before these sort of ideas are adopted in countries like the United States, however I do see a future in Australia and definitely Africa. Many of the poor townships in South Africa currently rely on Solar panels as I have personally seen.

Conclusion

The team behind Power Ledger is AAA. They are an already existing company with a real product. They have achieved many feats such as the Australian Blockchain trial which was a pilot project at National Lifestyle Village, it was the first of it’s kind in Australia and successfully connected 15 homes via the Blockchain. Power Ledger then deployed to New Zealand for a partnership with Vector. As of Q2 2017, they began commercial operations in the White Gum Valley of Western Australia. As of late, they have formed yet another alliance with Indra to develop network management solutions. Given that companies like TESLA pioneer new technologies in the automobile world, you would imagine their would be energy companies to compliment this growth. Power Ledger has been working on that with Synergy, they have developed Australia’s first Blockchain trading environment for EV charging. I see only a bright and strong future ahead for Power Ledger.

 

The price of Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster ride for years, but let’s face it, it’s a currency that is here to stay, as long as there is Blockchain. (Blockchain is a core component of Bitcoin).

James Dimon CEO of JP Morgan was recently interviewed. His comments (along with other market factors such as China’s un-determined regulations) caused a big dive in Bitcoin and other currency/token prices, almost overnight. Dimon’s thinking seems to take traditional state central banking theory and tries to apply it to Blockchain and they don’t go together. In a sweeping point, he said to separate Blockchain technology from the currencies that trade within the technology. Theoretically, separating Bitcoin from Blockchain is impossible. Blockchain is a core component of Bitcoin. Any of the Blockchain currencies ARE apart of the Blockchain technologies and have value. James Dimon’s perspective about Crypto-Currency is therefore flawed. Global currencies are tied to state banks and are driven by the health of each respective government. Blockchain is driven by the health of its technology not by governments.

If you embrace Blockchain technology and you see the viability of a future in a world of Blockchain for eating drinking, exchanging of goods and services, you must have a currency that works within that world. That world (so far) is not linked to central banks (IE Governments). We should not compare central banking systems and global currencies to Blockchain and its currencies. When governments try to control Blockchain initiatives, it flies in the face of Blockchain philosophy. So something like Bitcoin is driven by the health of Blockchain, not the health of state central banking systems, and the 185 or so currencies that are tied to those state central banks. Individuals that are trading within the Blockchain and Crypto-Currency world are not tethered by central bank rules. Bottom line, you can’t separate Bitcoin or any other viable Crypto-Currency from Blockchain; they are Blockchain technology.

One of the most well known stories in Crypto this year was of Antshares, also known as “The Chinese Ethereum”. It was later rebranded as “NEO” and reached a $2 Billion market cap in July. Indeed it was China’s first open source public chain project. It was launched in 2014 and kept a very low profile until rumors started spreading about it’s capabilities on the Blockchain within China. At it’s peak, it hit a high of over $50 per Token. Mania had spread around Neo and it’s Reddit group had a massive following. One day, it crashed.

“Technologies such as P2P networking, dBFT consensus, digital certificates, Superconducting Transactions, and cross-chain interoperability the NEO blockchain enables management of smart assets in an efficient, safe and legally binding manner”

As promising as the tech was and is behind NEO, it was only a matter of time until it came to a speeding halt.

Regulations in China?

The state of Cryptocurrency has been under control of the people who use it, not a central authority. This is part of the appeal of these projects to many long time Bitcoin enthusiast. Given that the space is in a free range like state, the Chinese authorities decided to step in and shut down ICO (Initial Coin Offering) operations until new procedures take place. Red Pulse, NEO’s premier ICO project, and it’s first has currently been postponed. Other projects like Tron have also had to pause until these issues can be resolved. China will not ignore the growing FinTech culture and I do anticipate this all ending very soon. Chinese tech firms and ICO’s in total raised nearly $1 Billion dollars in 2 months this summer.

Does NEO have a future?

It has clearly been proven that NEO is a strong project capable of creating a massively attractive brand with a huge following as well as raising over $2 Billion dollars in a very short period of time. The Cryptocurrency market is highly competitive and at this point has become a regionally competitive sport in FinTech. ICO’s may be popping up right and left, and this may cause some concern to the powers that be, but it will continue to move forward. It is inevitable that both developers and investors have put incredible effort into the space and it’s not going anywhere. I do see a future ahead for NEO and as of today, the market cap has been steadily rising. When Red Pulse begins it’s ICO phase, and other projects building on top of NEO we will be seeing activity in NEO awaken and then again can it be called “The Chinese Ethereum.”

 

People often wonder how Cryptocurrencies can be used. The answer to that problem is in Crypto debit cards. They will allow Crypto users to buy whatever they want, wherever they want using a chip linked to their Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, or other choice Crypto. Perhaps in the near future we may end up seeing mass adoption with these. One of the major players in the Crypto card business is TenX. On their website you will see an example of a young man purchasing a coffee at Starbucks using his TenX pay card and the simplicity of it. Initially launched in June 2017, this brand of Crypto payment cards has grown to a market cap of nearly $444 Million dollars. Clearly, investors believe in the potential of TenX.

“At TenX we work on making any blockchain asset spendable instantly. When we as the co-founders of TenX got together to start this company, it was our vision to have assets on the blockchain be not only available to industry insiders, but rather something that can be used by any individual user in the “real world”. 

Currently TenX is still working on their partnerships and continuing to develop and I see this as being a more widespread mass adoption card. The team behind it is lead by CEO Toby Hoenisch and investors include Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum Blockchain platform.

“Number one, cash is king…number two, communicate…number three, buy or bury the competition -Jack Welch

 

If you think TenX was going to be the only player in town, you were wrong. Monaco, is calling itself the world’s best cryptocurrency card. They claim to have perfect interbank exchange rates without markups or fees. This creates an incredible convenience for international travelers. Currently Monaco is working on Ethereum & ERC20 friendly currencies to be used with it. The market cap is $196 Million as of August 30th 2017.

Could This Be a Game Changer for Cryptocurrency?

The idea of Cryptocurrency cards is highly disruptive. It will allow anyone to spend these currencies simply by integrating what is known as COMIT or Cryptographically-secure off-chain Multi-asset instant transaction network. It will be interesting to see what will happen to these projects and others like it in the coming years ahead.

All the discussion in Fintech these days seems to be surrounding Cryptocurrency. However there are Blockchain projects more akin to Social Media than any sort of currency, and they do pay. Steem classifies itself as an incentivized, blockchain-based social media platform and was launched in March 2016 by Blockchain developer Dan Larimer and his team. According to their White Paper:

“Steem is a blockchain database that supports community building and social interaction with cryptocurrency rewards Steem combines concepts from social media with lessons learned from building cryptocurrencies and their communities. An important key to inspiring participation in any community currency or free market economy is a fair accounting system that consistently reflects each person’s contribution. Steem is the first cryptocurrency that attemps to accurately and transparently reward and unbounded number of individuals who make subjective contributions to the community.”

Market Cap as of August 23rd 2017: $305,577,005

Blockchain has not just spawned digital currencies but just about any other real world uses such as Blogging. Steem users are rewarded by others for posting content that is valuable. Popular articles are up-voted and users earn Steem dollars. You earn money by posting and voting good content. As the market cap and user base continues to grow, it seems that Steem has incredible potential and should be considered one of the most valuable projects in Blockchain world.

Social Media Transitioning to the Blockchain

As we continue into this new age of Blockchain technology we discover connections between the past and present. It’s the evolution of human discovery and of doing things differently. We have seen similar ideas such as Library Credits taking a position to become a decentralized YouTube. This is indeed revolutionary and will empower more peer to peer networks. We can only expect this trend to continue.