Redecentralisation – Wandhofer and Nakib – BOOK REVIEW

Redecentralisation
Redecentralisation is not a word that rolls off the tongue. It sounds like a buzzword that has been mangled by business speak, but after reading Redecentralisation – Building The Digital Financial Ecosystemit will make sense to those who are disciplined enough to read through it.

Co-written by technologists Ruth Wandhöfer and Hazem Danny Nakib, the book is a detailed guide to how finance works, how it used to work and how it’s going to work in the future.

The authors explain that early humans were naturally decentralised in small groups until evolution took over and humans embraced centralisation to be safe.

The financial world we live in now is going back to a looser, more individual experience and systems will reflect this.

I enjoyed this immensely. I wasn’t aware of the term redecentralisation, but from the first paragraph I knew I was in the hands of two experts. It brings together past, present and future financial systems and explains how Web3, blockchain, crypto and AI are going to change everything.

While preaching to this reader as the converted, I learnt about how financial legacy systems work at the heart of global commerce and alien acronyms finally made sense. It made me think about how the metaverse will finally become part of our everyday lives and why crypto is not a fad and Bitcoin is a fascinating technology that defines blockchain and it’s verification of trust.

I also trusted the authors who have a deep understanding of how money works and why’s it’s now so important that people are ready for the disruption that the next force of technology change will bring.

I am now better prepared for the future; always a good sign from a business book, although that future may become extremely daunting for this who refuse to change their ideas. Recommended.

Crypto takes giant step with new UK property exchange

A new global exchange crypto platform means UK property can now be bought and sold with Bitcoin.


cryptoCrypto is the new Klondyke, Bitcoin a new type of currency and the blockchain a new type of mint… all of which are probably the future of money.

This attitude has been reinforced now that blockchain applications company TrustMe has created a peer-to-peer platform and UK property can become a globally tradable asset.

The company says it is ‘revolutionising the global real estate market’ by allowing the fractional trading of individual properties using ‘asset-backed certificates’ on linked and Bitcoin-denominated global property exchanges.

TrustMe’s Whitepaper allows homeowners to trade shares (‘property certificates’) in their property on an open market as a new type of tradeable asset-class. Clients on the property exchanges will be able to purchase up to 49% of the value of a property or residential home with Bitcoin or fiat currency, while the 51% owner-occupier continues to live in and manage the property.

The first crypto exchange will be rolled-out in London in October, with parallel TrustMe Property Exchanges launching shortly in Toronto and New York. The company will announce other cities over the next three months and will establish regulatory compliance in each region it operates in.

London is the first choice for the location of the initial exchange as it has a buoyant £2 trillion property market and well-established property laws, rights and processes. TrustMe wants to ‘democratise’ ownership by removing the capital threshold that had previously restricted the owning of property to a privileged few.

“The London property market has long been prohibitively expensive and needs to be democratised. Our Property Exchanges will allow existing homeowners to unlock the value of their own house or properties and to use these assets as a form of stored liquid wealth, similar to a 30-90 day bank account, by trading as much or as little of their asset as they wish in an efficient, transparent and auditable manner,” said Antony Abell, Co-Founder & Managing Director of TrustMe.

A blockchain is a data structure that makes it possible to create a permanent digital public ledger of transactions and to share it among a distributed network of computers. It uses cryptography to allow each participant on the network to add to a record on the ledger in a secure way without the need for a central authority.

Once a block of data is recorded on the blockchain ledger, it’s extremely difficult to ever change it or to remove it. When someone wants to add to a record, participants in the network run algorithms to evaluate and verify the proposed transaction.

If a majority of nodes agree that the transaction looks valid (that is, identifying information, timing, location etc… matches the blockchain’s history) then the new transaction will be approved and a new block added to the chain.

For those with access it provides a permanent and secure record of ownership of all registered items for all parties who use it and it can provide automated systems to remove significant cost overheads in physical and transactional distribution systems.

Accelerator Swarm offers start-ups crypto-currency funds

SwarmBitcoin 2.0 Platform Swarm, ‘the world’s first’ distributed accelerator that allows companies to raise funds by issuing their own crypto-currencies, is taking applications from UK crypto-currency startups for its new accelerator programme in London.

The 12-week programme will focus on helping startups grow their businesses through a combination of peer-to-peer mentoring, technical assistance and access to resources designed for startups in crypto-currency and its surrounding ecosystem. Continue reading

Mobile money fails with Afghani rozzers

afganistan_policeMuch is made of the M-Pesa mobile payment platform in Kenya, where 32% of the country’s GNP is transacted in this way, and now is apparently becoming successful in Romania but nowhere else.

Such hysteria is understandable, but there are other fails. Four years ago, a pilot scheme began in Afghanistan where the Police force were paid via M-Paisa, similar to the M-Pesa platform. Initial results were impressive, the corrupt middle man was taken out and Police officers saw an immediate rise in their net salaries. Continue reading

Pimping ain’t dead… it’s just gone digital

29663215.047Who said pimping was dead? The pimp game has only reinvented itself in the digital world, disguised with selfie pictures as the new bait.

The line gets blurry between prostitutes, call girls, or girls just wanting attention (who later accept a proposition). Electronic Hoes, or ‘eHoes; as they are referred to, are using selfie pictures and can be found randomly on internet sites. Continue reading