This doesn’t mean the ticketing industry is completely free of controversy. Ticket scalpers, with the help of automated bots, are one of the biggest issues. It becomes close to impossible to purchase a ticket for popular events anymore and it drives up ticket prices up to 20 times the original price without adding any value. Furthermore, people still try to scam others by selling fake tickets. Market fragmentation and uncertain ticket provenance remain problems in search of a solution.

Evedo is a blockchain based platform that unifies all businesses and participants involved in organizing events. Evedo wants to build a marketplace and a true ecosystem that will help the $850+ Billion event industry grow by connecting all parties without middlemen.

Evedo will be conducting an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) on Bitforex from the 16th of April

An Initial Exchange Offering, as the name suggests, is carried out on the platform of a cryptocurrency exchange. In contrast to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), an IEO is managed by a crypto exchange on behalf of the startup that wants to raise money with its newly issued tokens.

An increasing number of crypto currency exchanges have started to accept IEOs. One of the first in the series was Binance, which launched its IEO platform Binance Launchpad. In January, BitTorrent – purchased by TRON – initiated a token sale on Binance Launchpad and collected $7.2 million in less than 15 minutes, hitting the crowdsale hardcap.

One of the main benefits of IEOs is trust. Since the crowdsale is carried out on a cryptocurrency exchange, the counterparty checks every project that wants to launch an IEO on its website. The exchanges do this in order to maintain their good reputation by carefully checking the issuers of tokens.

Evedo is the A-Z solution that unifies all businesses and participants involved in organizing events. It’s a marketplace, an ecosystem where performers, event organizers, night clubs, venues, attendees and sponsors can communicate in a safe and secure way.

“Our aim is to build a true ecosystem that will help the $850B+ event industry grow by connecting all parties without unnecessary middlemen”, says Evedo CEO Stoyan Angelov.

There is a growing amount of frustrations in purchasing tickets or running events fairly and securely, here are just a few:

• More expensive tickets
• Time loss
• Ticket Fraud
• Artist Management related problems
• Vast Artist Competition
• Lack of funding for future event
• Management Software Issues
• Poor planning

Evedo’s solution to solve these problems is a unified platform that will structure all related parties into one decentralized ecosystem. All of them will be transparently connected.

Event promoters need access to the identity of attendees for improved security and emergency response communications. Evedo ensures that 100% of all ticket holders are identified and associated with their respective tickets. This information is securely stored.

Evedo is the first decentralized marketplace and a global community where DJ’s, artists, dancers and any kind of performers with night clubs, event organizers, event infrastructure companies, sponsors and attendees come together all under one roof in a trustless platform that treats them right.

For more information, check out the video below

Website: https://evedo.co
Telegram: https://t.me/evedoco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evedo.co

IEO Platform: Bitforex Launchpad IEO
Opening Date: Tue, Apr 16th, 2019 5pm Hongkong time
IEO Closing Date: To be announced (UTC)

TOKEN DETAILS

Symbol: EVED
Blockchain Type: Ethereum
Role of Token: Utility

FINANCE INFORMATION

Public Sale Hard Cap: 2 400 000 USD
Total Token Supply: 160 000 000 EVED
Tokens for Public Sale: 80 000 000 EVED (50% of total token supply)
Public Sale Token Price: 0.0005 ETH per EVED
Public Sale Vesting Period: No lockup

Accepted Currencies: ETH

Token Sale Format: Standard
Lottery Ticket Allocation: Enter the IEO’s lottery ticket allocation
Private Sale Allocation: 16.9% of Total Token Supply

A bonus scheme rewards early investors. It's distributed within 7 business days after the ending day of token sale.
The first 100 participants are rewarded with 20% bonus.
Participants nos. 101-300 are rewarded with 15% bonus.
Participants nos. 301-500 are rewarded with 10% bonus.
Participants nos. 501-1000 are rewarded with 5% bonus.

THE TEAM

Members

Stoyan Angelov – CEO
Rick Graham – CTO
George Chisuse – CLO
Elena Kalpakchieva – CMO
Anton Aladzhov – CCO
Gencho Kerezov – Financial consultant
Petar Zhivkov – Blockchain engineer
Karim Hristov – Front end developer

Advisors

Jonathan Yunger
Jimmie Jeremejev
Sajid Kausar

LEGAL INFORMATION

Company Name: evedo.co
KYC: Required

The post Evedo IEO – The Blockchain Ecosystem for Events Cutting Out the Middleman appeared first on ChipIn.

Iconiq Funds offers investors the opportunity to diversify their cryptocurrency investments through a series of professionally managed digital asset index funds, such as PIFs, ETFs and ETNs.
Launched in 2018, Iconiq Funds’ digital asset management platform of regulated financial vehicles integrates premium market data, trade execution, custody, audit, and compliance tools, creating a holistic solution for digital asset management for retail and institutional investors.

We recently sat down with Iconiq Holding CEO, Patrick Lowry, to have a chat with him about the project as well as learning more about his thoughts and insights.

Hello there, Patrick! Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about Iconiq?

Financial Instruments are evolving. Blockchain technology has redefined what is possible to secure and make our financial institutional markets fully transparent. In the near future, it will not be just Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies or tokens that define crypto or digital assets, but equities of fortune 500 companies, large debt issuances, other financial instruments and perhaps even digital representations of today’s fiat currencies such as USD and EUR.
There is a need for investors to have the ability to manage these assets and gain exposure to them. Iconiq Holding, through our brands Iconiq Lab, Iconiq Funds and our Asset Management as a Service (AMaaS) platform, have created the platform that for investors of digital assets now and in the future. We are bridging the traditional and crypto financial ecosystems.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of Iconiq.
Did you personally face a problem within the industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for Iconiq Lab to fill?

It all began with Iconiq Lab. In February 2017 I was sitting at a bar in Berlin, Room 77, known as the “crypto bar” in the city because you can buy beer there with Bitcoin. I was invited there by Sandris, one of Iconiq’s co-founders, who was starting a real estate blockchain company that was looking for investment from a PropTech VC fund I was preparing to launch for a Berlin-based real estate group at the time. Everyone at the table was preparing their laptops to invest into an ICO “because the team has real LinkedIn profiles on the ICO website.” I could not believe that was the answer these “investors” were giving. I asked them if it made sense for a practiced VC to diligence these companies and if that would help them make decisions and got overwhelmingly positive feedback. Sandris and I looked at each other and knew we had something. Max, Luke and Arabdha joined, and together the 5 of us co-founded what is Iconiq Lab today.

What do you think is the biggest problem Iconiq Lab will solve and why is it important to solve?

Right now there are trillions of investable capital with traditional wealth managers sitting on the sidelines of crypto just waiting to get into the market. They see the returns we have realized before but they are also seeing the scams, the bad players, the bubble bursting and they have no proper means to enter the market place. Iconiq is the bridge for these traditional, institutional or retail investors. We provide this bridge through the diligence the Iconiq Lab team performs on all projects we vet before admitting them. We provide the bridge through the regulated, investment-grade vehicles at Iconiq Funds to offer diversified exposure to the blockchain ecosystem, and lastly, we provide it to any asset manager who wishes to launch their own regulates vehicle through our Asset Management as a Service platform.

This is an important problem to solve because there is no infrastructure that exists in the world that provides the same quality assurances to investors that the traditional institutional financial markets offer. Our ecosystem fixes this, opening the doors for the trillions of interested capital to invest safely in the blockchain ecosystem to further grow and enhance the crypto community.

Editors Pick: Iconiq Lab ICO

Iconiq Lab – Decentralized VC Club & Asset Manage Platform For The Blockchain

Posted: September 18, 2018

Cryptocurrency markets and investors all over the world faced a discouraging return to reality after all-time highs in crypto were achieved at the tail end of last year but the consensus around the blockchain remains the same—the technology is here to stay and it is growing faster ever. The blockchain

0 comments

There are other platforms that are also offering asset management to investors but what sets Iconiq Lab apart is its decentralization of the system.
For our non-technical readers, can you explain what are the differences between a decentralized and centralized asset management platform?
Are there any risks to investors (e.g losing their portfolio) in decentralized systems and if these risks do happen, are there any systems in place to help investors recover or protect their losses?

Let’s look at how a VC fund works. A VC is traditionally the General Partner of a fund. Limited Partners, the investors, invest into the fund. Using the money the from the Limited Partner investors, the VC decided, for everyone, which companies the fund invests into. The VC earns a 2% management fee on the fund, plus 20% of the profits above a hurdle rate. The fees are incredibly expensive, and the entire decision making process is centralized around the VC. They decide how to invest the investors money.
In Iconiq Lab’s model, Iconiq invests its own money into startups that enter the program after performing the same level of due diligence and research a VC traditionally would. In the program, the company is groomed and grows over the span of 6-9 months. Once ready, the company offers its tokens to prospective investors, or ICNQ token holders, who have the freedom to choose if they wish to invest or not in a completely decentralized way.

The similarities are that Iconiq Lab and VCs offer the same investor quality assurances around the companies and projects. The difference is that the only fee in Iconiq is the once in a lifetime purchase price of ICNQ, rather than recurring “2/20 fees”, and that our token holders can make their own investment choices based on which projects that graduate the Lab they believe in, rather than being forced to invest into companies the VC wishes.

Of course there are risks, as with any investment. This is why we offer objective due diligence reports rather than investment advice, empowering investors to make their own decisions through our platform. Investors should only contribute what they are able to lose based on their individual financial situation.

What is the significance of implementing an accelerator program in Iconiq Lab instead of purely being an asset management platform?
Did you feel that growing promising blockchain startups would help Iconiq Lab grow as well?
What do you look for in projects that are looking to be accepted to the accelerator program?

Pure Financial VCs are worthless. They invest, then complain when a company isn’t reaching its milestones and they aren’t making a “unicorn” status. This is why Iconiq Lab works as a strategic VC, similar to my prior firms, in order to grow and nurture our portfolio companies together. As such, it was important to implement the accelerator program to grow our companies, offering only the highest quality token sale opportunities to the ICNQ holders. We were recently named a “Top-3 Accelerator in Germany” alongside the likes of TechStars, a real honor. We are proud of the progress the Iconiq Lab accelerator team has made not only in the EU, not now in the US with our New York-based team.

We look at real companies that have a real-world use case for the blockchain or are looking to better secure their financial instrument (equity, debt, revenue or profit sharing, etc…) token on the blockchain. The companies should be able to demonstrate revenues or strong customer demand for their solutions and have a working prototype. Most of our emphasis is put on the team, however, and their demonstrable ability to generate value for their investors, community and other stakeholders.

Are there any limits or restrictions on how many ICNQ tokens are needed to access the services of the platform? For instance, if I hold 1 ICNQ token, do I enjoy the platform’s services similarly to people who hold more tokens?
Are there any exceptions to companies or corporations who want to invest in fiat or other currencies instead?

All you need is 1 ICNQ, however, participation rights in token sales from the Lab’s graduates are done so on a pro-rata basis, so the more ICNQ held, the more membership rights you have to the ICNQ VC Club. Further, only holders of €100,000 or more ICNQ reach ICON status, opening doors to special opportunities such as the right to negotiate the size of your own investment with the Labväs graduates, and access rights to discounted management fee share classed of our digital asset index funds.
We accept investment in fiat and crypto for ICNQ.

Iconiq Funds plans to add ETFs and ETNs in the future which is an exciting prospect for the platform. How has the progress been so far and are there any challenges (especially legal-wise) in offering these financial products on the blockchain?
Could we see Iconiq Funds expand to other industries (real estate etc.) in the future?

Yes, there are many legal challenges as evidenced by the continual rejection by the SEC to authorize a Bitcoin ETF in the US. However, given our connections with the exchanges in Germany, the European regulators and access to the best legal teams in the world, we are confident our products will be live in 2019. We have been making great progress and our first fund will be live in Q1 2019.

We always have our eyes on the horizon for the next market issue we could potentially address that delivers value not only to ICNQ holders but to prospective stakeholders. Real Estate is an opportunity, however we already have plans to focus on Asset-backed tokens tied to real estate as regulated investment opportunities, rather than real estate in its current orientation. This aligns to our long term view of tokenized financial instruments of all kinds secured on the blockchain. Our ecosystem will be able to support all blockchain-based financial instruments.

What are the incentives for external digital asset managers to manage their portfolio on Iconiq Lab? Do they receive a portion of the profits generated or is there another incentive system that drives them to use the platform?
Are there any filters or systems put in place to ensure that only high-quality and experienced asset managers are allowed to handle client assets?

Putting together the ecosystem just to support our first fund was a daunting task with many technical solutions we had to build that nobody in the market can offer or has the capability to. Our intention to put this together, from custody, to fund accounting, to auditing, to trade execution and much more, was initially focused to support our fund. Once we built it and took a step back and viewed what we had created holistically, we quickly saw it was much more than a single fund, it was an entire platform that not only Iconiq, but all digital asset managers could use.

External managers of such funds chose their investment strategy and merely leverage the ecosystem we have created to seamlessly launch their own vehicle and manage digital assets on behalf of their clients. Of course, only licensed professionals can launch vehicles on our platform for other investors, however, we are exploring ways retail investors can leverage our platform for their own portfolios.

While working on the project, what’s something that you believed to be true for a long time until you found out that you were wrong, or if you don’t like the dichotomy of right versus wrong, what’s something significant that you have really changed your mind about over time?

I once believed in Santa Clause. That led to a shitty Christmas when I was 10.
In regards to Iconiq, I once believed crypto was largely filled with bad players, and it’s easy to see why with rampant scams and frauds getting all the press. The truth is anything but. The vast, vast majority of crypto and blockchain is filled with good people who genuinely work hard and are trying to make a living or the world a better place by leveraging this amazing new technology. It’s these people we are surrounding ourselves with at Iconiq, and these people who will change the financial world.

As the company grows, it is inevitable that the team will be catering to a community of thousands, even tens of thousands, which is a challenge.

How will the team prepare for this and ensure that the community remains satisfied with the project?

The community is the heart of blockchain and the heart of Iconiq. We make ourselves available to anyone in our community at any time through our telegram channel. Our office at Wework in Frankfurt has an open door policy where anyone can come in and visit. In fact, we had an ICNQ holder reach out passing through Frankfurt just the other day who stopped in and had a beer with me to learn more about the company just yesterday.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle Iconiq Holding will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

It is regulation, bar none. However, unlike all other token sales and everyone else in crypto, we embrace regulation and acknowledge why it exists. Only through embracing regulation, and working hand in hand with regulators, can we reach mass adoption of blockchain technology and create that bridge between traditional and crypto finance.

What do you think is the most important aspect to focus on in increasing the adoption of Iconiq in the future?

It is around education. Educating not only investors, but the general public, about the merits of blockchain and digital assets is our ultimate priority and the #1 tool we have to increase adoption of not only Iconiq, but our entire crypto community.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Blockchain represents the future of financial instruments. The infrastructure is still being defined, and maybe BTC, ETH and other will be relevant (at this rate, not likely). While these cryptocurrencies will always have their niche, the value is in the evolution and scalability of the technology itself. In the near future it will not be BTC or other cryptocurrencies that has the largest market cap in crypto, but the equities of fortune 500 companies, debt instruments, derivatives and other financial instruments. Once governments truly wrap their heads around the space we could even see digital, blockchain-secured treasury notes and currencies such as USD, EUR and other fiat. The latter may be a fool’s dream of a cashless world, but for the former is on the horizon.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

I’ve always wanted to be a father and a teacher. As I am answering these questions I am also planning for my first wedding anniversary with my unbelievable wife who has supported me and Iconiq through the entire process, even while I am traveling constantly. I am looking forward starting a family in a few years together with her and starting that chapter of my life.
I’ve always enjoyed teaching. I loved helping new interns or first years during my time at PwC or helping the management teams of our startups in Iconiq. I know I will never be able to truly retire, so I always envisioned myself pseudo-retiring by teaching finance at the high school or university level. Who knows… maybe I will be teaching courses on digital assets and blockchain in a short time at universities.

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.

Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask.

You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

The post Meet the Boss – Exclusive Interview with Iconiq Holding CEO Patrick Lowry appeared first on ChipIn.

While national television, newspapers and magazines largely limit us to what is happening nearby or what is popular in the mainstream, the Internet has a plethora of different niches and sub-niches just waiting to be explored by people all over the world.

No matter how obscure your interests are, it’s almost guaranteed that in some corner of the Internet, there will be a community waiting to welcome you with open arms.

The Big Problem With Content Creation

Despite how easy it has become for users to create their own content and share it with the rest of the world, there is still one glaring problem: it takes a lot of effort for the average content creator to receive even a small amount of compensation for their work.

As it stands, most of the content that we consume is controlled by a few extremely large commercial platforms. On one hand, this provides content creators with a massive potential audience which increases their likelihood of being discovered.

However, this also allows these platforms to manipulate content discovery and monetization. This makes it extremely difficult for certain creators to get noticed, and often makes it even harder for them to get compensated for their efforts.

Unfortunately, many creators aren’t being rewarded at all for their efforts.

Changing the Way Content Creators Are Rewarded For Their Work

With the rise of blockchain technology, we’re already beginning to see a significant shift in the way both creators and consumers are rewarded for interacting with content.

ASQ Protocol is one example of an upcoming content ecosystem that is leveraging the transparency of blockchain to change the way we discover and engage with quality content.

It will allow consumers to choose how they reward content creators in exchange for accessing whichever kind of content they want, on demand. It will even allow them to pay for bespoke content from the people they admire most.

Meanwhile, content creators will be given the opportunity to define the ways in which they will benefit from their positive social impact.

How Will This Model Work?

Let’s imagine a user, Jane, creates a video titled, “How to make money selling handmade jewelry” and uploads it to the platform.

Jane then chooses to give other users access to this video in exchange for 100 ASQs (the name of the ASQ utility tokens). The content will then be published on the protocol, where it will be available as an option for other users to purchase.

Should another user, Alan, find this content on the platform, he can choose to view it for the price of 100 ASQs. These ASQs will then be distributed between Jane, the community upvoters, and the platforms used to leverage publication and discovery, according to the agreement in the protocol.

Will This Idea Really Be Successful?

ASQ Protocol might be a relatively new platform, but the team behind it certainly isn’t lacking in experience.

ASKfm, one of its partner platforms, is one of the biggest social networks in the world in the format of questions and answers. Over the past 8 years, it has amassed a total of over 215 million registered users. There are currently over 11 million active users every single month, who ask a total of over 600 million questions every month in 49 different languages.

It will use this protocol to launch the ASKfm 2.0 platform, which is designed to connect users with people around the world who can help them solve their dilemmas. As part of its launch, the platform will also offer a series of incentivized challenges including the likes of tutoring and online courses.

Another of ASQ’s ecosystem partners, Ning, has been on the market for 10 years and has since amassed over 45 million registered users, making it one of the largest SaaS platforms for creating social community websites.

Celebrating the Launch of ASQ Protocol…With a Twist

To celebrate their launch, ASQ Protocol is launching its own airdrop – with a twist.

Unlike most airdrops which are digital, ASQ Protocol is teaming up with the Edinburgh-based space technology firm, Skyrora, to launch a rocket that will drop $100,000 worth of ASQ tokens into Scotland.

Whoever is first to uncover the wallet will receive the prize once the ASQ tokens are released to the public.

A Brighter Future For Content Creators

Over the past few years, thanks to websites like Kickstarter and Patreon, we’ve heard more and more stories about people quitting their full-time jobs to become full-time bloggers and content creators on websites like YouTube and Twitch.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is a demand for content creators, and that isn’t going away any time soon.

Hopefully, this new way of rewarding creators for their efforts will be just what it takes to motivate current creators to keep going, whilst also encouraging new creators to join in the scene and make their own mark.

The post Content is the Lifeblood of the Internet…But Creators Still Aren’t Being Adequately Rewarded appeared first on ChipIn.

When we talk about the blockchain, it’d be almost inevitable that cryptocurrencies would also come into play. Investments aside, coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin have changed how money is used in our everyday lives most notably in terms of costs. Sending money overseas or handling large transactions used to carry huge fees but with crypto, fees are negligible except for when the blockchain network is congested (which is rare).

Another useful feature is that since everything recorded on the blockchain is permanent and immutable, verified data cannot be changed for the benefits of any entity, not even for corporations and large institutions. Even if the data could be changed, the blockchain’s transparent nature ensures that any changes made are always visible to the public.

Of course, like most emerging industries, there are still some problems affecting the blockchain industry which has dampened its growth—one of them is the difficulty in introducing the blockchain to existing systems.

Not only is replacing legacy systems expensive, making the transition to the blockchain is also difficult due to gaps in the understanding of the technology. Skilled developers are hard to come by and even if they do, it’s not going be cheap which adds further to the already high costs.

At the same time, blockchain applications today are fairly limited, with most of it being exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, or platforms that only use the blockchain partially. Ideally, the fragmented blockchain industry should be improved not only for the benefit of businesses, but also for your average Joe and Jane to realize what the blockchain can truly do for them.

Modex, a company based in Gibraltar, aims to do just that with its unique platform to connect smart contracts and applications in an effort to increase the adoption of the blockchain.

Modex is the world’s first marketplace for developers and interested buyers to trade smart contracts, a system that works similarly to the App Store and Github in one platform but for smart contracts and the blockchain instead.

With Modex, blockchain developers no longer need to build and deploy their own smart contracts from scratch as they can just purchase smart contracts that fit their projects from Modex’s marketplace. This plug and play model will tremendously improve the adoption of the blockchain (especially smart contracts) as businesses can easily use Modex to integrate and deploy smart contracts in their systems, much like how Github is used in the programming world.

According to the whitepaper, the Modex platform aims to:

• Easily develop, deploy, and acquire ready-to-use smart contracts from the marketplace
• Make payments using the MODEX token or other accepted cryptocurrencies either on a P2P, B2C, or B2B basis
• Integrate with new applications in order to deploy a wide range of smart contracts in the real world
• Manage and monitor deployed smart contracts as well as both public and private blockchains, working similarly as services like Heroku.
• The Modex team aims to create bespoke smart contracts for its clients and customize solutions for its clients leveraging the Modex smart contracts marketplace.

With all of the features mentioned above, Modex hopes to make the blockchain more prominent in today’s society alongside establishing itself as the go-to platform for developers and businesses to manage their smart contract matters.

Modex has an extremely talented and experienced team behind the project, with employees having illustrious backgrounds with companies such as Oracle and Deloitte. Their experience in the blockchain industry is unparalleled as the team is also responsible for Moneymailme, a leading mobile money transfer app; Modex is also one of the few blockchain-based projects that already have a working product in the marketplace, with an alpha release accessible via this link.

Modex Marketplace

Leading the team is Mihai Ivascu, the company’s CEO, and his fellow colleagues Paul Mears and Alin Iftemi, also the company’s CFO and CTO respectively.

As mentioned earlier, the main product of Modex is its smart contract marketplace which also acts as an app development and deployment platform. The platform also has support for developers who are working on private blockchains in addition to integrating the Moneymailme app to allow users to send and receive money in several currencies (including popular cryptocurrencies). The Modex Developer Platform can be accessed https://dev.modex.tech and developers who sign up early for the platform will receive 1,000 bonus MODEX tokens in return for their participation.

Developers who wish to sell their smart contracts can do so by listing it for free on the marketplace. Buyers then acquire these smart contracts with the MODEX token (the platform’s utility token) and if they don’t find a contract that fits their need, buyers can commission developers to create custom smart contracts for them which again, will be paid in MODEX.

This allows companies to skip the headache of creating their own smart contracts by simply buying them and at the same time, allowing blockchain developers to have another profitable revenue stream. Users can test and interact with smart contracts before buying hence avoiding purchases that may not fit in a company’s system. Users who have no programming experience also have the luxury of editing the basic building blocks of their smart contracts thanks to Modex’s integrated customization tool.

To make the developer’s job easier, Modex has an IDE built specifically for smart contract developments which of course includes integration with popular services like Github as well as support for private blockchains and language libraries. Aside from improving efficiency, developers have the option of making their codes open-source for peer reviews or to allow trusted individuals to audit their code in return for MODEX tokens.

The team itself is involved with Modex as they provide custom, dedicated solutions to clients or existing smart contracts whenever necessary particularly in cases where client demands are not suitable enough for the marketplace.

Users can also use the Moneymailme app to store multiple currencies including fiat currencies and perform transactions within the platform. Fiat to crypto (and vice versa) exchange services are available on demand and a physical or virtual card can be requested by users if they want to spend their wallet balance outside of Modex.

All the features above makes Modex one of the best and most promising projects to look out for this year so be sure to keep track of the token sale as well as future updates.

Modex will be holding a token sale for the MODEX Token, the platform’s utility token. Aside from acting as the main payment method for products, MODEX tokens are also used to pay for things like fees for oracle services and access to a wide range of API tools.

Here are the details of the token sale:

Token name: MODEX

Token base: ETH

Token supply: 266,399,993

Token sale duration: 15th September, 2018 – 25th September, 2018

Token sale target: $100,000,000 (hard-cap estimated)

Token exchange rate: 1 MODEX = $0.80 (main sale)

Modex’s Website

Modex’s Whitepaper

The post MODEX: Marketplace For Smart Contracts And Plug & Play Smart Contract Deployment For Businesses appeared first on ChipIn.

An area where the blockchain has constantly been touted as a game changer is in the medical industry. Despite its importance to society, there are still many problems like inefficient resource allocation and biased corporate decisions which brings tons of negative consequences.

For starters, inefficiencies often result in extra costs which then trickles down the system; in other words, patients and healthcare professionals would be impacted negatively as long as these problems remain unsolved.

While many great solutions have been presented to alleviate the situation, the potential for the blockchain to drastically change the medical industry for the better is what makes it so exciting and that’s the case with clinical trials.

To summarize, clinical trials are phases of testing used by biotech and pharmaceutical companies to ensure that new types of treatments are safe and effective in addition to gaining approval from numerous regulatory bodies across the world.

From the explanation of clinical trials, you can already see how important it is to the medical industry as well as patients worldwide. A lack of proper control and regulation could easily lead to dangerous situations but of course, having such tight regulations would lead to higher costs. It is estimated that introducing a new drug to the market costs a massive $802 million on average and in some cases, it could even reach billions.

Hence, there exists a need for a solution to cut down on these costs which will hopefully incentivize the introduction of more helpful treatments and at the same time, reduce the financial burden of patients. This is exactly what ClinTex, a Malta-based company is hoping to achieve with its ClinTex CTI platform.

ClinTex aims to use the blockchain to revolutionize how clinical trials are run. The CTI (short for Clinical Trials Intelligence) platform will give companies an all-in-one decentralized solution for them to share vital clinical trial data with other companies in an effort to save costs and improve efficiency as a whole.

Aside from implementing advanced tech such as machine learning and AI in the platform, ClinTex also hopes to increase collaboration in the industry which benefits all of the people involved in the ecosystem. One of the major goals of ClinTex other than cost reduction is to also improve the speed and quality of new treatments while ensuring that they meet regulatory standards.

Since extremely sensitive data is involved in the platform’s processes, ClinTex integrates advanced security and privacy features to ensure that all information is kept secure thus preventing the possibility of data breaches or leaks.

Included in the platform are 7 interoperable decentralized applications to assist stakeholders involved in handling and managing clinical trials. They are the:

• CTi-OEM: Operational Efficiency
• CTi-PDA: Predictive Analytics
• CTi-CDV: Clinical Data Visualisations (including Statistical Monitoring of Data)
• CTi-PRR: Patient Recruitment & Retention
• CTi-RBM: Risk Based Monitoring
• CTi-SIM: Site Investigator
• CTi-VMM: Vendor Management

Running such an ambitious platform would require an equally world-class team to make sure that the company’s road map is achieved successfully. Leading the team are fellow directors, Neill Barron, Brendan O’Mainnin, and Adrian W. Donoghue. Together, they will help grow ClinTex in disrupting the industry for the better with its groundbreaking CTI platform.

As mentioned in the previous section, ClinTex’s 7 core modules are key parts of the CTI platform; these modules have an end goal of improving data visibility in the clinical trial process among companies so you can consider the platform as a data analytics tool but used for the medical industry instead.

ClinTex’s Operational Efficiency Application (CTi-OEM) gives clinical project managers the ability to quickly view the progress of clinical trials which in turn, helps them to make important decisions quickly. Issues that arise during the trial will be automatically highlighted, verified, and stored on the blockchain to be used in the rest of ClinTex’s applications.

The stored data is then used by the platform’s Predictive Data Analytics Application (CTi-PDA) to highlight future issues or key events that may impact the clinical trial’s performance—a feat that is achievable thanks ClinTex’s machine learning tools. The CTi-PDA is essentially an oracle for medical companies to make informed decisions ahead of time based on the CTi-PDA’s smart forecasts.

The Clinical Data Visualisation Application (CTi-CDV), on the other hand, changes how clinical data is presented by moving away from primarily text-based representations of data to full-on data visualization. As expected, charting data in graphs and charts produces better results in terms of identifying issues in clinical trials and like the CTi-PDA, potential issues are flagged by the CTi-CDV for quick actions by medical professionals.

These three applications work in tandem to form the core of the ClinTex CTI platform but there are other applications such as the Risk Based Monitoring Application (CTi-RBM) which helps to significantly reduce the monitoring costs associated with clinical trials as well as the impressive Patient Recruitment & Retention Application (CTi-PRR), a tool that helps companies to manage their trial patients more effectively while maintaining patient retention levels at an all-time high.

An advantage of the ClinTex platform is its unique pay-per-use model, meaning that companies only use the CTI platform when they need to. This eliminates hardware costs completely which cuts down costs even more—a move that benefits both patients and medical companies massively.

All of these features makes ClinTex one of the most exciting projects to look out for due to the impact it could leave on the industry if the company’s roadmap goes well.

ClinTex will be holding a token sale for the CLX token, the platform’s utility token.

CLX tokens are used as a means to access the platform’s services which will be granted via a 12-month licensing period. It will also be used as a payment method for the CTi-SIM and CTi-VMM applications as well as being staked in the platform’s wallet (the circulating supply reduces as more clients join the platform).

Here are the details of the token sale:

Token name: CLX

Token base: ETH

Token supply: 366,541,667

Token sale duration: Q4 2018

Token sale target: $4,000,000 (soft cap) | $17,000,000 (hard cap)

Token exchange rate: 1 CLX = $0.10

ClinTex’s Website

ClinTex’s Whitepaper

The post ClinTex – Revolutionizing Clinical Trials Via Collaboration & Interoperability With The Blockchain appeared first on ChipIn.

We recently sat down with ARROUND CEO, Neil Bryant, to have a chat with him about the project as well as learning more about his thoughts and insights.

So, can you tell us a little about yourself, and what makes ARROUND stand out?

My name is Neil Bryant, and I’m the CEO of ARROUND. My background is in marketing and user growth for large internet projects. I spent five years helping to grow Badoo.com, then moved to SD Ventures where I ran a set of social platforms with a revenue of over $150 million per year. I’m especially excited about augmented reality (AR) because it’s such a new space, it’s growing so quickly and also because the actual technology is just so amazing to use.

With ARROUND, what we’re doing is creating a decentralized ecosystem for AR. The company is building a platform based on blockchain, that combines four key elements: a social network, an advertising network, a 3D Map of the world and a marketplace for developers. Each aspect is integrated into the blockchain and it’s linked by the ARR token, and together it creates an environment where any good augmented reality app can thrive. AR is a booming market segment, and we’re entering the market at just the right time.

The first phase of our social network has got elements of Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram, but, instead, you publish your thoughts in the space around you and can control who gets to see them. Some posts can hang around for a day, others are more like a conversation or stream. You can follow all these thoughts and pictures in the air around you if you’re in the same place, like at a festival or university, or catch them on the news feed if you’re not there in person.

What’s the feedback been so far?

Testing it with friends has been brilliant, it can be lots of fun if you play with it with a good crowd. The MVP or pre-alpha release is a stripped down version of the main application. It’s going to let people try out AR for themselves and share it with their friends. The main network is being built in a way that lets us plug in new functionality, so the next phase might contain urban quests, virtual tour guides, dating or a real estate service. Wherever we see a compelling application, we can port it into ARROUND and deliver it in augmented reality. Of course, the main app will come with a wallet for holding ARR tokens.

ARROUND is also building an AR Map, using crowdsourcing. There are ARR tokens as a reward for building the map, and we’ll have ownership of the map built into the blockchain, so that when it’s used by a 3rd party, then everyone who helped build it gets a reward. We can put bounties on locations that we want mapped right away, could be a school, restaurant, bar or a Starbucks …wherever our users hang out, then we want them to map it.

The map allows us to build a better augmented reality experience, it means that the AR objects we introduce into the environment align flat on the walls and sit perfectly on top of surfaces, and that everyone in the area sees the same thing in exactly the same place. Objects further away will be more translucent and they get more vivid when they are close up. It’s like virtual reality in the real world.

We think the map, and the data we generate it from it, will potentially be an important source of demand for the ARR, our token, alongside the demand created by advertisers plus the transactions on the social network and in the marketplace. All prices on the platform are denominated in fiat currency, but transactions will be in ARR tokens.

The third part of our solution is how we commercialize our own app, and can commercialize other apps in the future. The AR Adnet can be activated in lots of ways, for example, advertisers can run campaigns triggered by the AR Camera reading some packaging, which then launches an AR experience. It’s the same technology that we can give to art galleries or museums to provide extra information about what’s on display.

I think our outstanding feature is our in-store navigation option, where users can get directions to specific products within a shop. We use the crowd-sourced 3D Map for this. Then the AR Camera recognizes the product and the consumer can be offered a discount, see more information about it or be directed to similar products. It’s a really engaging way to bring people, shops and big data together right at the decision-making process.

There are also traditional banners that can take up the side of a building, and sponsored objects in the network or available through the AR Store. There are solutions to fit any type of campaign.

Editors Pick: ARROUND ICO

ARROUND – Utilizing Blockchain to Power a Decentralized Augmented Reality Ecosystem

Posted: August 13, 2018

This year has become a game-changing one for mainstream adoption of augmented reality. ARROUND is a startup in the AR space that is utilizing blockchain to power an entire decentralized ecosystem. On the face of it, blockchain and AR (augmented reality) don’t necessarily seem like natural bedfellows. But dig a

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Do you have any interest from advertisers yet?

Currently, we’re building two campaigns for Unilever, one for Scania and another for Campari, plus we have lots more in the pipeline. This is just for the pre-alpha version. We’ve also signed up 36.6, which is a cosmetics and pharmacy chain with over 2,000 physical locations. It’s an incredible chance for us to commercialize our AR ad system with a large partner. As a result, we think we’ll have a product that we can roll out globally.

What’s happening on the AR hardware front?

We follow what’s happening in the hardware market very carefully of course. The next game-changing technology will be smart glasses. The current glass manufacturers such as Microsoft (Hololens), MagicLeap and ODG all have offerings at various stages of development in interesting directions. We think that wearable augmented reality glasses will be available for the mass market in 2019, and that newer models will quickly bring down the prices and increase the level of sophistication available on the consumer market.

This leads into the fourth part of our ecosystem, which is the AR Store. This is where developers and manufacturers can use our staging environment to test their hardware and augmented reality solutions. And it’s also where artists and brands can offer 3D objects for sale, rent or for free.

Why did you use blockchain?

We decided to combine all four elements of the platform with blockchain, as it seemed a natural fit for guaranteeing all the intellectual property, ad inventory and interactions, user privacy rights and map ownership. Using blockchain means that we can use the ARR as the means of payment for all transactions on the network. It also means we can motivate users with tokens, which is perfect for crowdsourcing, plus it gives advertisers another way to attract attention to themselves.

Another problem in the AR market is fragmentation. Everyone wants their own app.

How are you raising money for the project?

We’re currently running an ICO to raise funds for the development of the project. We’ve had our Pre-sale already, and sold $1 million worth of ARR tokens, hitting our target. The second phase of our sale is on right now. We’ve got a soft cap of $5 million to meet and our hardcap is set at $30 million.

That concludes our Interview with Neil Bryant

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.

Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask.

You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

The post Meet the Boss – Exclusive Interview with ARROUND CEO Neil Bryant appeared first on ChipIn.

On the face of it, blockchain and AR (augmented reality) don’t necessarily seem like natural bedfellows. But dig a little deeper and there is a close fit. At the core of ARROUND is a blockchain ecosystem that connects four key elements: a social network, a crowdsourced 3D point map that will create a backbone for AR projects around the world, an advertising network and an AR store. Each element is connected via the decentralized infrastructure and is fueled by the ARR token.

Arround CEO Neil Bryant

Forecasts put the burgeoning AR market at $120 billion by 2020, growing to $198 billion by 2025, meaning that competition in the space is hotting up. ARROUND seems to be trying to carve out a niche in the business of commercializing this new technology.

“ARROUND’s disruptive mobile marketing solution is the world’s first decentralized advertising network based in augmented reality.”

While e-commerce merchants have access to all the latest advertising tools and real-time data, offline retailers have been left behind in the digital age. Augmented reality is a technological wonder for bricks-and-mortar stores, providing them with the ability to run targeted advertising and marketing campaigns, letting them guide users directly to a particular product on a shelf.

“Because we’re building a 3D map, we can run campaigns for specific brands, and guide consumers into shops where these brands are on offer, directly to the shelf where they can receive a discount or some kind of incentive to make the purchase. This is really the first time that big data, brands and the public have been brought together in this way,” claims Neil Bryant.

AR hit the headlines not so long ago after Pokémon Go swept around the world. Coupled with the release of ARKit for the iPhone and ARCore for Android devices, there has been a surge in AR app development leading to significant market fragmentation, something that ARROUND plans to address.

“Every theme park, museum and brand want their own expensive AR app. At the heart of this is a lack of trust over sharing private data. But the public quickly deletes apps when they aren’t used and so the connection between brand and consumer is broken. By using blockchain to secure ownership rights on our platform, we can use ARROUND to aggregate AR experiences for multiple brands and organizations simultaneously, improving loyalty and repeat usage,” says Bryant.

The platform will release its own token, the ARR, to support all transactions within the platform. While all prices will be in fiat currencies, all transactions will be undertaken in tokens. Blockchain guarantees the intellectual property and privacy rights as well as the commercial interests of everyone involved.

Despite a number of traditional players as well as ICO projects entering the commercial space, Bryant is confident that ARROUND stands out: “None of our competitors offers what we can. There are companies that make AR apps to order, some ad networks are looking into AR adverts, there are social networks that are playing with AR, and there are ICOs that are trying to build AR environments like Second Life did with VR, but none of them have a complete package, or have a foundation based on blockchain like ours.”

ARROUND is currently raising funds through a token sale. The company has already raised $1 million in its Pre-sale and is now well on the way to meeting its $5 million soft cap.

“A few years ago, everyone thought VR was the future. But, in fact, AR is a perfect example of technology adapting to real-world situations. Right now, the future looks very bright for AR and for ARROUND,” says Bryant.

About ARROUND

ARROUND is bringing augmented reality to the mainstream via the introduction of a universal decentralized AR platform, which includes a disruptive advertising network, an innovative social network, a crowd-sourced 3D map and an AR marketplace. All transactions on the platform are undertaken in ARR tokens. The Belize based company has technical operations in Russia, and is currently in the middle of a successful ICO.

The post ARROUND – Utilizing Blockchain to Power a Decentralized Augmented Reality Ecosystem appeared first on ChipIn.

Companies using MOBU can be confident in the compliance of their tokens as the team has ensured that MOBU-based tokens conform to all the standards needed for them to be compliant and legal.

Aside from that, MOBU will also offer important services like integrated KYC, AML, and SEC approval processes along with other features such as escrow services and investor protection. By using the blockchain and smart contracts, MOBU aims to cut down on excessive costs and paperwork that complicate the company-investor relationship as well as removing the reliance on intermediaries in settling transactions.
We recently sat down with MOBU CEO, Juan Engelbrecht, to have a chat with him about the project as well as learning more about his thoughts and insights.

Hello there, Juan! Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about MOBU?

Hi there and thank you for the opportunity to discuss this exciting fintech venture. Similar to how HTTP protocol defined the internet and ERC20 standard protocol defines a set of commands that a token should implement for its basic functions as transferring tokens and inquiring the balance and supply of various ETH addresses the MOB20 standard protocol will revolutionize the securities market! We will make it possible that non-tech businesses and institutional money can flow to the blockchain in a legal, compliant and user-friendly manner.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of MOBU.
Did you personally face a problem within the industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for MOBU to fill?

Yes, as just mentioned we launched an ICO called zabercoin and realized how difficult it can be but also gained the experience and partners to execute a successful security token. The cryptocurrency market is currently around 230 Billion USD and the security token market is around ONLY 200m USD. The Gold market cap is roughly 8Bn USD, Stock markets worldwide are around 80 Trillion USD, Real Estate is around 220 Trillion USD. We are currently a mere speck on the landscape. Security tokens haven`t even begun yet, I promise you!

What do you think is the biggest problem MOBU will solve and why is it important to solve?

Mainly two things. The first would be solving the current legal, technical and regulatory nightmare it is to launch a compliant security token. The second is to create a trusted marketplace of vetted ICO service providers to ensure lower fees and better quality of ICO services. If MOBU raises 30m USD we will also develop the first decentralized security token exchange which will ensure a secondary trading market for all MOB20 compliant security tokens.

The increasing popularity of security tokens is a welcome to many investors. However, a common complaint among investors is that some security token ICOs are launched just for the sake of having an ICO and to gain a large amount of funds.
Does MOBU play a role in ensuring that all ICOs based off the MOBU platform are high quality or does the platform not interfere with this aspect at all?
Was the investor protection features (the platform’s unique escrow services, bank support, etc.) provided to counteract the possibility of low-quality security tokens?

Yes as this is much needed in the ICO environment.

Editors Pick: Mobu ICO

MOBU | The All-In-One Security Tokens Solutions For Companies

Posted: August 9, 2018

The popularity of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology today can be attributed mainly to initial coin offerings (ICOs)—a unique fundraising which took the digital landscape by storm in recent times. ICOs have allowed even the most marginal of companies to raise significant amounts of capital for their ventures, something previously

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Speaking of escrow, what was the decision in giving investors the ability to exit the ICO if the team does not meet expectations?

How does the team determine whether or not a company has not delivered on its promises; is it based off community feedback or is it based off the goals and roadmaps promised by the company during the ICO?
Can you give us more details on how the pro-rata distribution works for investors?

Good question. This will be on an individual investor basis. If John invests 2 ETH in project X and project X tries to run away with the money John can request a refund. Project X will never have access to 100% of the capital on day one but be remunerated on a small monthly percentage on total money raised. If John realizes this 2 months after ICO and project X received 2% per month he will receive 96% of his initial 2 ETH back in theory.

In the whitepaper, it mentions that “premium” features can be accessed with the use of MOBU tokens. If possible, could you shed some light (or hints if giving full details is not possible) on what those features are?
Will there be any more additions to the MOBU token’s use cases in the future?

In the Mobu ecosystem the token issuers(real future companies on MOBU) post bounties to get service providers, Developers earn MOBU tokens for creating smart contracts, KYC providers pay MOBU tokens to join the network/ecosystem, Investors pay MOBU tokens for KYC process, legal representatives and escrow providers earn MOBU tokens for offering services. Mobu additionally will steel bank partnerships to ensure FIAT can easily be converted to crypto all around the world and MOBU tokens can be earned worldwide. Furthermore, Lockup utility will ensure scarcity of MOBU tokens!

An interesting goal of MOBU is the development of a Forex and Crypto Percentage Allocation Money Management (PAMM) ICO.
This system is the first of its kind in the industry and many may not even know what it does so if it’s possible, could you explain what the PAMM is?
Does the system provide any advantages to the MOBU platform or its users?

Percentage allocation money management. The forex market is the largest market in the world and trades 5 Trillion USD per day. Currently, fund managers don`t compare apples with apples when marketing their funds in terms of AUM, Fund performance and fund fees. Blockchain technology is made for information that needs to be exposed and this will allow transparency in this industry.
Does the system provide any advantages to the MOBU platform or its users? Yes, as it creates demand for Mobu tokens and ensures more usage.

While working on the project, what’s something that you believed to be true for a long time until you found out that you were wrong, or if you don’t like the dichotomy of right versus wrong, what’s something significant that you have really changed your mind about over time?

Blockchain technology is the most revolutionary technology of our century and it took me some time to understand the use cases of it.

As the company grows, it is inevitable that the team will be catering to a community of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, which is a challenge.
How will the team prepare for this and ensure that the community remains satisfied with the project?

We have partnered with the number one ICO PR firm in the world, Amazix. They were PR firm for one of largest ICO`s in history called Bancor and clearly, there are no issues in terms of community. We feel comfortable with their experience and support.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle MOBU will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

People don’t like change and security tokens will replace conventional shares. This will take time.

What do you think is the most important aspect to focus on in increasing the adoption of MOBU in the future?

Ensuring the support of a strong community which we luckily have and ensuring we keep them up to date with progress. Also showing businesses the practical benefits of tokenizing their companies.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Blockchain is used to cut out middlemen and used for information that needs to be exposed like audit trails and voting systems. Information that can be transparent and immutable.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

Well, I believe in a balanced life and still, want to climb Kilimanjaro and visit a few countries in the world like Norway to see the northern lights. For now, it is only MOBU MOBU MOBU!

That concludes our Interview with Juan Engelbrecht

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.

Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask.

You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

The post Meet the Boss – Exclusive Interview with MOBU CEO Juan Engelbrecht appeared first on ChipIn.

We recently sat down with the company’s CEO, Mark Lurie, to have a chat with him about the project as well as learning more about his thoughts and insights.

Hello there, Mark! Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about Codex Protocol?

Thanks for having me! Codex is a decentralized registry of unique assets like art, fine wines, watches and more. With Codex, you can use cryptocurrency to buy $6 billion of art and collectibles today, and plug into a growing ecosystem of third-party services.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of Codex Protocol.
Did you personally face a problem within the industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for Codex Protocol to fill?

I previously founded and sold an online marketplace for art and collectibles, which is how I know first-hand the opportunity that exists in this market. Provenance has always been important in the arts and collectibles (A&C) asset class, but the most challenging problem to solve because no central authority has been trusted with this information. The ownership and authenticity of unique assets are a perfect use case for blockchain, as the market can be transformed with trusted information while maintaining the desired privacy and authenticity required.

What do you think is the biggest problem Codex Protocol will solve and why is it important to solve?

Solving the provenance problem for the market means that the record of ownership, transaction history, insurance, loans, appraisals, artist verifications, shipping information, and more can all can be stored in a trusted way. This opens up opportunities for collectors, investors, artists stakeholders across the industry to expand the market in new and creative ways. At Codex Protocol, we’ve built an industry consortium and have partnered with incredible companies like asset-backed lenders, insurers, and more to build upon our open-source technology (https://github.com/codex-protocol).

A huge concern mentioned in the whitepaper is the reluctance of individuals in implementing a central registry in regards to unique assets. Why is this such a huge problem in this particular industry?
What effects do you think a decentralized registry would have in alleviating this problem and has there been any early feedback so far from the aforementioned concerned individuals?

Centralized efforts have failed in the past because collectors are unwilling to trust a central entity with information about their valuable possessions and intermediaries are unwilling to risk disintermediation. The advent of the blockchain enables a decentralized solution, which makes it possible to store information about possessions without compromising the privacy of collectors. This means that stakeholders will accept the registry.

Community feedback is incredibly important to Codex Protocol. We listen carefully on Telegram (http://t.me/codexprotocol) and have launched reward programs for early adopters. With an industry consortium representing over 5,000 auction houses, adoption of the Codex Protocol occurs as unique assets are purchased through these platforms. The response to our first beta apps, Biddable and Codex Viewer, has been incredible. Over the past week, we’ve been thrilled to see tweets of our communities first Codex Records.

Tell us more about Biddable. Where did the inspiration for the project come from and what was the process like in presenting Biddable to interested companies?

Is it a standalone application or is more like an API for companies to integrate into their systems? Are there any upcoming applications or projects like this that we can expect to see from the team?

Biddable and is the first beta app built on top of the Codex. It that enables easy auction registration with 100% chance of approval and no fiat required. With Biddable, cryptocurrency can be used to take home fine antiques, art, and collectibles to diversify wealth with unique assets.

Biddable can be both a standalone application and an API, but is most frequently used today as an API. That means other companies embed Biddable into their existing software, kind of like PayPal. For example, Liveauctioneers has already integrated it.

Auction houses are eager to use Biddable because it makes international registration and payments easier, helps to prevent loss of revenue from reneging bidders, and opens up a new market of crypto-wealthy buyers. Biddable is also accelerating adoption of the Codex decentralized registry. Already, we are integrating into the software used to sell 10 million + items annually worth over $6 Billion. The Codex Protocol will quickly become the standard as Codex Records are created for these pieces.

Along with our community, we will develop more apps on top of the Codex and look forward to their announcements.

Editors Pick: Codex Protocol ICO

Codex Protocol – Solving The Fragmented Arts & Collectibles Industry With The Blockchain

Posted: July 1, 2018

The meteoric rise of the blockchain in the past year and a half has been nothing short of remarkable considering the fact that the technology is barely a decade old. From being just a theory, the blockchain has gone through leaps and bounds to where it is today where it’s

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Some other problems in auctioning include buyers flaking out after bidding as well as intentionally bidding to manipulate the prices of items.
Are there any features in the Codex Protocol to address these problems or is the team focusing on the registry first before moving on to other problems?

Biddable addresses the reneging problem within auction houses by requiring an initial deposit will in a major and highly liquid cryptocurrency like Ether (CodexCoin will also be accepted). If a bidder does not win anything, each party’s escrow will be released back. In the case of a winning bid, the escrow is locked until the bidder pays for their items, either in cryptocurrency with Biddable, or as normal in fiat. Winning bidders that did not register via Biddable can still use it to pay for their winnings using cryptocurrency.
Biddable is already live and in use. Our registry is coming next.

The use of Validators in verifying provenance is a good move in ensuring all data is accurate but there is also a risk of the Validators being dishonest or inefficient, leading to compromised data.
Are there any processes in the Codex Protocol that stop these situations from happening? What other technologies are used to help verify data other than Validators?

The Codex Protocol’s validation network incentivizes them through rewards and ensures the integrity of the protocol. It. At first, the validators themselves and the rewards they receive for their activities will be decided on a discretionary basis. Over time, we anticipate rewards will be algorithmically distributed along with a reputation system. The CodexCoin (CODX) ensures enforcement of proper behavior by validators and applications by requiring them to stake.

We expect the governance system to be based on both stake and behaviors on the network, with limits to constrain any individual from exercising majority control. The CodexCoin token will be critical in enabling this decentralization of governance as a measure of a stake for voting.
We’ll have a registry of authorities that have been recognized by the community with verified addresses. For example, address 0xA1 could be Sotheby’s. So any Codex Record that passes was created by/modified by/transferred by that address will come with high confidence that the piece is authentic.

Is there a possibility that the Codex Protocol could expand to other industries e.g in the supply chain for fresh produce or in the transport industry?
Could you share with us on the future products or services that the Codex Protocol is planning to introduce in the future?

The Arts & Collectibles asset class is where we are starting, but we see opportunities for decentralized registries in other industries and will certainly consider expanding outside of A&C. This could include luxury goods, industrial equipment, and digital assets. For now, though, A&C is estimated as a USD 2 trillion asset class and is forecasted to grow significantly, which seems likely with art and technology more in-sync than ever before. We see an exceptional opportunity for transformation with unique asset distribution and management.

$2 trillion arts & collectibles (“A&C”) ecosystem

While working on the project, what’s something that you believed to be true for a long time until you found out that you were wrong, or if you don’t like the dichotomy of right versus wrong, what’s something significant that you have really changed your mind about over time?

More than ever before, I’ve realized the importance of explaining the benefits of a new technology rather than the technology itself. Blockchain is the hot new buzzword, but its complex and it confuses a lot of people. I’ve really had to focus on explaining the benefits that a title registry would create for the market, rather than focusing on the game-changing nature of the technology itself.

What is the current progress on Codex Protocol’s partners?
Are there any interesting partnerships that the team is working on?

Codex has announced key partners joining the Codex Ecosystem — a group of major A&C stakeholders spanning the complete spectrum of all industry partners, including collectors, auctioneers, dealers, museums, and other organizations vetted by existing members.

Our latest partners include Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Feral Horses for creative investing, Luxury Asset Capital for asset-backed lending, ValueMyStuff for appraisals, Dust Identity for linking physical items to digital records, and The Clarion List for finding trusted service providers. LiveAuctioneers and AuctionMobility are early notable partners of Codex. Through interactions with pieces on the protocol holding the Codex Record, members will utilize or write on the title registry, each time contributing to the pieces’ provenance.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle Codex Protocol will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

Our challenges are likely similar to any ICO; cutting through the noise and taking a journey down a path that is pretty new. There is strong interest in cryptocurrency, but there are still a lot of unknowns in the space.

By listening to our community and our consortium of industry stakeholders, we will navigate these challenges together and feel we are in a strong position to tackle any uncertainties because of this. With a technology like Codex that empowers the industry for shared benefits, there are the right kinds of incentives to participate in the Codex Protocol.

Moving on to more personal stuff, what does a typical day in your life look like?

As you can imagine, launching Codex this past year has taken up a majority of most typical days. Aside from building companies, I like reading about economics, hiking, early American transcendentalist writers (I collect early editions of their works), and have a Bernedoodle puppy.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Blockchain is a truly transformative technology. Over decades, I think it will change the way governments work, make borders matter less, and force central banks to manage their money supply more responsibly. Napster and music file-sharing had a similar effect on the music industry. Over time, the music industry adapted to new realities and embraced streaming music. I think blockchain will have a similar effect on governments and other markets in the long run.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

I would like to hike a snow-capped mountain on every continent!

That concludes our Interview with Mark Lurie

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.

To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.

Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask.

You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

The post Meet the Boss – Exclusive Interview with Codex Protocol CEO Mark Lurie appeared first on ChipIn.

From being just a theory, the blockchain has gone through leaps and bounds to where it is today where it’s being used in businesses left and right. The adoption rate is increasing steadily and experts believe that in the future, the blockchain will be as important as things like cloud computing and AI.

While many focus on the investment side of things, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies can bring tons of benefits to important industries, benefits that were previously unthought of with other technologies.

Although there are still issues to iron out with the blockchain, it’s immutable property makes it a good solution for verifying information which is vital in today’s landscape where data is key. False, dubious, and incorrect data—these are all problems that can be solved by the blockchain easily without costing too much to implement.

We’re starting to see the properties of the blockchain being used in verifying provenance in the supply chain and even industries like agriculture and arts and collectibles, the latter being the focus of this article.

The arts and collectibles asset class are valued to the tune of $2 trillion. Despite its valuation, there are problems plaguing it which slows down the growth of the asset class; existing technologies have been used to overcome these problems but they are nowhere near effective enough let alone being efficient.

This gap presents an opportunity ripe for disruption and that’s what the blockchain can bring to an industry as fragmented as the arts and collectibles industry.

In case you’ve never heard of the blockchain or are unfamiliar with it, below is a primer on how it works and the properties that make the blockchain useful in modern businesses.

The blockchain is essentially a digital ledger that stores information in a distributed manner instead of being centralized. A good analogy would be to think of the blockchain as an online spreadsheet that is duplicated and shared across multiple users. Every single time the spreadsheet is updated, users who have a copy of the spreadsheet will have theirs updated too.

Another important property to understand is that the blockchain is decentralized, meaning that no central authority has complete control or power over it.

This means that the ledger file (a file that stores all information and transactions of the blockchain) is not kept in central servers like most institutions and businesses today.

Instead, it is distributed across a number of computers thus explaining the decentralized nature of the blockchain as every connected computer has a copy of it. As there is no centralization, there is also no single point of failure as a single error in the chain of networks does not affect the rest of the computers connected to the network.

The blockchain also works peer-to-peer and since there is no central authority over the governance of the blockchain, it is trustless as no intermediaries are needed to verify and confirm transactions. Instead, transactions are verified by miners who solve mathematical problems to verify transactions.

What makes the blockchain truly unique is that transactions are 100% transparent and visible to everyone.

Today, we don’t know what goes on behind institutions like banks as everything is hidden behind layers of bureaucracy and authority which, confidentiality aside, is heavily biased against the consumer. The blockchain overcomes this by making all transactions visible, making it fair and equal to both consumers and businesses.

We’ve covered the blockchain comprehensively in one of our previous articles which you can check out by clicking on this link.

As mentioned earlier, the arts and collectibles industry is extremely fragmented and for an asset class with such a massive valuation, problems like these are not ideal as they: a) slow down the growth of the industry and b) affect the participants such as bidders and auctioneers.

One of the biggest headaches right now is provenance, the history of an item’s ownership and its associated documents. For things like valuable collectibles and brilliant pieces of art, it’s easy to see why provenance is so important; knowing the history and background of an item is essentially what gives the item its value.

Unfortunately, verifying provenance is a huge task in the industry today. Ideally, you’d want a chain of documentation that clearly shows the history of ownership and other important info but that is easier said than done.

The process of verifying provenance is extremely susceptible to forgery which costs billions in losses every year from the purchases of fake collectibles and art pieces. Existing technologies are inadequate at dealing with false info, leading to more and more forgeries every year.

Perhaps the biggest contributor to these problems is the lack of a registry for this asset class.

This is a revelation considering the fact that other assets-based industries like the transport industry rely heavily on registries to verify and collect information on items. In the arts and collectibles asset class where the need for information fetching is even more important, not having a registry makes things extremely complicated hence the prevalence of forgeries and fakes.

$2 trillion arts & collectibles (“A&C”) ecosystem

The benefits of having a registry is clear even to outsiders but an obstacle lies in the fact that most collectors do not trust registries enough to track their data and items. Instead, most items are traded through intermediaries that keep info about their clients anonymous which makes the situation even worse.

Of course, there are various other issues such as ghost bids and price manipulation but the lack of a proper registry is the root cause of all of these problems hence the need for a solution that addresses these concerns effectively.

Thankfully, the blockchain provides all the tools needed to tackle the arts and collectibles industry head-on and that’s exactly what the Codex Protocol aims to achieve.

The Codex Protocol aims to overcome the problems affecting the arts and collectibles asset class by providing a decentralized registry by storing vital information of each item with the help of the blockchain.

With the registry, verifying and confirming provenance will no longer be a challenge for the industry. This is achieved with the Codex Record, a record that contains all information about an item which includes:

• The ownership and transmission history of an item since the Codex Record is created
• Hashes of the item’s metadata such as photographs, past appraisals, receipts, restoration records, and so on.

This will not only boost the growth of the industry, it will also open avenues for users to use cryptocurrencies and the blockchain in things related to arts and collectibles hence improving efficiency. Users can also expect lower transaction fees as well as a cut-down on middlemen due to the decentralized nature of the Codex Protocol.

The project is supported by an industry consortium representing over 5,000 auction houses across more than 50 countries to help boost the adoption of the Codex Protocol. Along with decentralization, expect to see the Codex Protocol be established as the industry standard in the near future, a statement that is further backed by the strong team behind the project.

Led by company CEO and successful entrepreneur, Mark Lurie, as well as fellow co-founders, Jess Houlgrave and John Forrest, the team consists of experts in both the blockchain and arts & collectibles industry which will serve the project well in achieving their goals and establishing the Codex Protocol as revolutionaries in the field.

The Codex Protocol also introduces several applications and services for users including asset-backed lending and escrow services; the first application released by the Codex Protocol is Biddable, a blockchain-based escrow application that allows users to bid on auctions while still maintaining total anonymity over their personal data.

Several large companies have already integrated Biddable in their systems including LiveAuctioneers.com and AuctionMobility.com, two leading online marketplaces that will use Codex Protocol’s solutions in improving their processes.

With all of the features above, the benefits of the Codex Protocol is clear; concerns about the viability and privacy of a centralized registry are removed with a decentralized registry and there is absolutely no reason for individuals to worry about the mishandling of their personal and item information.

Forgeries and fakes will also be cut down drastically thanks to the protocol’s blockchain-based tracking system that uses a combination of technology and experts to verify and confirm data. This will put an end to the large amounts of money lost every year to fakes and hopefully gives the industry the edge it needs to grow.

Although there are some challenges that the company has to deal with in implementing the Codex Protocol, there is no doubt that this project is set to shake up the arts and collectibles asset class, making it one of the most exciting projects to look out for in the coming years.

More of the Codex Protocol’s features can be read further on the company’s official whitepaper:

Codex Protocol’s Whitepaper

The whitelist for the non-U.S. public sale will happen from July 2 through July 6 for interested participants to pre-register for the sale. Codex’s non-U.S. public sale follows a successful private presale offering that began in March, attracting over $15 million to date from from some of the most well known investors in the blockchain space including Pantera Capital.

Codex COO Jess Houlgrave added: “Codex Protocol and blockchain technology has certainly captured the interest of the art world in the past six months. Working with our Consortium partner, LiveAuctioneers, our live charity art auction at Ethereal Summit in May demonstrated how the Codex Protocol can function in the real world. During this auction, we wrote the first art pieces — including a record-breaking Cryptokitty — onto the Codex blockchain and raised over $190,000 for the Foundation for Art & Blockchain. The Foundation is proud to support artists creating blockchain-inspired works, as well as artists using blockchain to distribute their pieces to an expanding global audience.”

For more information on Codex Protocol and for non-U.S. persons to register for the whitelist, please visit Codex Protocol’s Website

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