Blockchain

Blockchain 4 President

blockchain

It’s well understood that bitcoin can be used to buy and sell things/services, and the ecosystem of people accepting the cryptocurrency as payment is expanding. But what else can we use the underlying protocol for? How can we expand the same system that enables bitcoin-the-currency to flow and transactions to be recorded? This discussion (from the a16z Academic Roundtable 2014) examines that question, and answers why the currency is just the beginning of the story when it comes to this technology. You can watch video of the entire discussion here: http://a16z.com/2014/10/24/the-bitcoin-network-effect/

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Beyond Bitcoin -- The Blockchain

Blockchain without bitcoin? It's a debate as old as the cryptocurrency itself (which, to be honest, isn't that old). Given that bitcoin is not just a digital bearer instrument/token but is a network, a distributed ledger, a protocol, the question of separating blockchain from bitcoin isn't a moot one. Especially when you think of it analogously to voice over IP, but for financial services.

So what is the financial services industry doing with this "money over IP"? Clearly many large business players are paying attention and trying to get ahead of disruption, by asking themselves exactly what their bitcoin/blockchain strategy is. Adam Ludwin shares what's happening here from his perspective as founder of Chain, an enterprise blockchain platform that partners with financial institutions to help them apply the technology to their markets.

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Ludwin covers what it's like merging the cultures of finance and tech; what's driving the recent bitcoin prices; why he believes in blockchain beyond bitcoin; whether there can be such a thing as private or permissioned blockchains; definitions of newer concepts like 'colored coins' and 'sidechains'; and more. Oh and what are the most interesting native apps, too.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Blockchain vs/and Bitcoin

Today's guest is Alex Tapscott who runs Northwest Passage Ventures which works to build blockchain companies with capital and other resources.

Alex's interest in blockchain stems from a research project he conducted a few years ago at the University of Toronto. Recruited to write a report on bitcoin and what it meant, among other things, for financial services industry, this experience set off a series of deeper research. Many projects later and through collaboration with his co-author, Don Tapscott, Alex recently published Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World.

Alex joins us this week on the podcast to discuss blockchain and its potential impact on the firm, the financial services industry and capital markets in general.

Alex Tapscott on why the future of finance will be on blockchain

This episode of the Tradestreaming Podcast is a bit different than our others. You'll hear multiple voices in addition to host, Zack Miller. These voices are the reporters behind Tradestreaming covering how technology is impacting the business of big finance.

This week we zero in on blockchain with Tradestreaming's payments reporter, Josh Liggett. Josh drills down on his monthly Blockchain Hype Meter (http://www.tradestreaming.com/changing-payments/blockchain-october-hype-meter-zcash-for-all ), which looks at how the mainstream media covers the space in an effort to distill signal from the noise. To be sure, distributed ledger technology portends to be super transformative -- but there's a vast distance between there and here.

We talk about the cryptocurrency Zcash and why there was so much excitement around its launch. We'll also chat about the growing influence of just a handful of people on the future of the blockchain.

You can get this episode, as well as another 130 episodes in our archives, here: http://www.tradestreaming.com/podcasts/page/1

Sign up for the Tradestreaming newsletter here: http://www.tradestreaming.com/subscribe

WTF Is Blockchain

On this week's episode of the podcast, Tradestreaming reporter Josh Liggett interviews Mark Ranta, the global head of digital banking solutions at ACI Worldwide. Mark's responsible for the day-to-day management of the consumer digital banking offerings within ACI

Josh and Mark discuss tough issues about the changing payments landscape, zeroing in on blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Mark shares his views on the acceleration of payments and what's really holding things back. Can blockchain really be the future payment rails? Listen on to find out. 

You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as over 130 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, www.tradestreaming.com . If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud.

Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter,  subscribe now . 10,000 industry professionals read us every week to stay on top of technology trends and the impact technology is having on the financial services industry.

Real world blockchain applications with ACI's Mark Ranta

Blockchain may be nearing the peak of its hype cycle but much of the hubbub is just that — top financial firms are still just testing distributed ledger technology, trying to figure it out and understand its potential. Few understand how the world is changing like David Shrier. 

David is the managing director of MIT Connection Science and the author of a new book called Trust Data: a new framework for identity and data. You can get it at Amazon: http://a.co/7yBpXBj

David Shrier presented at the Tradestreaming Money conference in NYC in November of 2016.  The audio you're about to hear was part of his talk on moving beyond the blockchain hype.

You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as over 130 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, http://www.tradestreaming.com/podcasts/page/1 . If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud.

Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, you're going to want to. Sign up. 10,000 industry professionals tune in every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry. Go here to subscribe: http://www.tradestreaming.com/subscribe

Beyond the blockchain hype with MIT's David Shrier

Welcome to the Tradestreaming podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

In our coverage of bitcoin and supporting blockchain technologies, it's clear that the hype way overshoots what's actually happening on the ground. So, to better understand how companies are actually interacting with distributed ledger tech, we went to Kris Hansen. 

Kris is a senior principal at SAP, focused on financial services at the global software player. In his role on the value engineering team, he identifies ways that digital approaches can be used to find interesting opportunities to create disruptive business value. A self proclaimed “recovering” chief architect of a bank, he brings an interesting perspective on changing business models and technology platforms in financial services.

You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as over 130 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, www.tradestreaming.com. If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud.

Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, subscribe now. 10,000 industry professionals read The Tradestreaming Tearsheet every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry. Subscribe at http://www.tradestreaming.com/subscribe

Here's SAP's Kris Hansen.

SAP's Kris Hansen on what's really happing in blockchain

What do you do as a sell-side analyst when you write the seminal research report on Bitcoin? You join a new type of venture capital firm that invests solely in the blockchain ecosystem. 

Today's guest is Spencer Bogart, head of research at Blockchain Capital, which has made dozens of investments in blockchain. Bogart was previously at Needham and Company, where I had first read his work on the rise of Bitcoin as an asset class. 

We talk about the transition from the sell-side on Wall Street to venture capital and how his experience impacts his research. We also discuss his newest fund which was funded in its own cryptocurrency, BCAP. This form of investing, still really just an interesting experiment, could potentially change the mechanics of investing in private companies.

You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as 160 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, www.tearsheet.co. If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud.

Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, subscribe now. 10,000 industry professionals read our Tearsheet newsletter every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry.  www.tearsheet.co/subscribe

Here's my conversation with Spencer.

Blockchain Capital's Spencer Bogart: 'Wall Street should be paying attention to blockchain now'

Tearsheet is news, opinion, and analysis on the business of finance.

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SAP's Kris Hansen on what's really happing in blockchain

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