This year may have felt like it was dominated by political shenanigans, but technology also had its wild ride.
The USA vs Huawei
A story that has persisted throughout the year is the heat around Huawei in the US. The Americans have stopped Huawei phones from being sold in their country because they say the Chinese mobile phone maker has stolen technology from American companies and has spied on them.
The tussle began in 2018 but kicked into gear in 2019. Nevertheless, some American companies and organisations are still doing business with Huawei despite the ban by US President Trump’s government.
The President of Microsoft, Brad Smith, also wants to the US government to offer more evidence to back up its Huawei ban.
The core issue with Huawei has been around concerns with Huawei’s close relationship with the Chinese government and fears that its equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies.
Huawei has also hit back at US ‘bandwagon followers’ and recently threatened to boycott Germany’s Auto industry if the European powerhouse banned them from offering 5G (broadband) in the country.
Not a great year for big tech
Big technological companies like Facebook, Alphabet, Google and Uber have faced a barrage of probes in 2019 be it around anti-competitive behaviour, spying on customers or their staff abusing customers. We also haven’t seen many new companies graduate to super-size status.
After a long drought of big-name tech IPO (initial public offerings), 2019 promised to be a banner year. A crop of highly anticipated, highly valued tech companies — with hot marquee names such as Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, and Slack listed on the public markets. The idea was to allow you to take a stake in their business.
Their reception, however, was truly tough. These companies’ stocks have not gained momentum and being listed has attracted greater public scrutiny.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – We’ve been talking about this for decades since Terminator came out but scientists are managing to harness the technology especially in manufacturing and medical fields.
Most of the top tech companies (Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Google) have already embraced AI. Many tout it as one of the main distinguishing features to set them apart competitively.
A little of this tech has gone into robotics with much fanfare and fear over their capabilities and propensity to ‘initiate a judgement day’. Check out Boston Dynamics
Bitcoin
Blockchain – Bitcoin may be highly volatile and not the get rich quick scheme people thought it could be, but it is still out there. Clever people are finding ways of making commerce more efficient.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)– this is a technology that could explode in 2020. Right now, only large enterprises are using RPA but it could become more affordable and workable for smaller businesses in 2020. RPA is the process of automating mundane tasks such as taking data from one file and entering it into a business application like CRM software.
It’s about computerizing repetitive tasks that are an inefficient use of time, so it makes our lives more efficient.
RPA is not a physical robot. It is also an approach to working across multiple business applications and entering, maintaining, migrating, integrating, mining and testing data on spreadsheets.
These tasks are prone to human error which is why computerizing them makes so much sense.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality – VR made strong progress in 2019. This was most useful in gaming, real estate companies, pornographic entertainment and for people with disabilities.
For you gamers – it is best to buy an Oculus Quest for your PC. Sony’s VR headset is still the best and only gaming set.
Look after my data – or not!
The first fines around the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) were lodged in parts of the EU. The GDPR was promulgated in 2016. It is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individual citizens of the EU and the European Economic Area.
It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. GDPR was enforced because of concerns about data breaches and attacks on privacy by the likes of Facebook and Google.
Then there were concerns our banks, insurance, and other data keepers were selling or losing our data to dangerous entities.
The types of personal data exposed included your names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and even passport numbers.
Lessons learned
The Marriott hotel group’s data breach of 2018 resulted in the exposure of 339-million customer records. Around 30-million of the records belonged to European Union citizens, and therefore they were subjected to a GDPR fine.
Back home in Berlin, on October 30th the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued a €14.5m fine on a German real estate group, die Deutsche Wohnen SE. This was the highest German GDPR fine yet. The infraction related to the over retention of personal data.
Despite the turbulent year for tech companies and consumers, we look to 2020 with breathless anticipation. We also ponder on which of the mentioned technologies will stick out and make a positive impact on our lives.
Did you know that there are still more than 700 million people in the world who live in extreme poverty? These people must scrimp, starve, and struggle to survive off less than $1.90 per day.
By 2030, the World Bank estimates that more than 90 percent of those people will be concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This is perhaps one of the greatest developmental failures of the modern world. Despite the continent’s expansive natural resources and increasing connectivity, foreign actors still feel it’s too risky to heavily invest in their markets.
Blockchain could be the key!
Bitcoin and “Blockchain” were created in the mass wave of distrust in banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Therefore, the technology enables individual, distributed data storage that could become the perfect evidence (trust) base and financial infrastructure for a developing country.
With the right implementation, Blockchain holds the potential to completely revolutionize and revitalize such economies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
So, what is this Blockchain?
Blockchain is essentially a kind of decentralized database that allows you to have a safe, secure way to handle their data without the need for third parties.
For example, you could with Bitcoin, make or accept payments in real-time without needing a centralized bank.
“[It is] a way for one Internet user to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another Internet user, such that the transfer is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer,” said software entrepreneur Marc Andreessen.
“The consequences of this breakthrough are hard to overstate.”
Historic background
Until the mid-twentieth century, most of Africa was ruled under a colonial system meant to exploit the people and their natural resources for European benefit. Africans, in addition, were rushed into development according to European standards rather than homegrown ones.
The legacy of rapid development, distrust and corruption left behind an economic system failing to recover in the 21st century.
While the World Bank celebrates a decrease in global poverty levels, the number is expected to remain stagnant in Africa. Today’s poorest people are living in places with the least economic growth.
Sadly enough, poverty and lack of investment in many developing countries stem from how they were integrated into the world system.
The land was cut into countries according to European treaties and agreements, rather than by traditional and tribal land divisions. This situation worsened upon the handover of colonial power to so-called “democracies.” Power often shifted to the ethnic groups that former colonizers favoured.
Corruption multiplied in the form of bribes, political persecution, rigged elections, and a massive wealth gap. All of this still affects the wealth distribution and investment potentials of many developing countries.
Of course, this created a lack of trust in banks and government throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The perfect fit for Africa
During a 2012 study conducted in rural Western Kenya, Stanford University researchers waived the costs of opening basic savings accounts for a number of unbanked individuals.
While 63 percent of the subjects opened an account, only 18 percent of them used the accounts. This was likely due to three factors: a lack of trust in banks, unreliable service and prohibitive withdrawal fees.
Unfortunately, the prevalence of unbanked individuals in the informal sectors scares off foreign investors, who heavily rely on transactional evidence to make investments. Otherwise, pouring money into markets is too risky. That’s where Blockchain comes in.
How would it work?
Blockchain can host an entire evidence base of transactions, loan repayments, and asset titles. The technology is also decentralized and requires individual confirmation, creating an element of trust and transparency beyond traditional banking systems.
According to Victor Olorunfemi, Director of Products for Pan-African tech and crypto-exchange, KuBitX, Blockchain’s major benefits lie in “frictionless P2P and cross-border payments, transparent elections, land registry management [and] transparent crowdfunding.”
Let’s look at some of the different ways Blockchain could benefit developing economies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
1. Creating financial infrastructure and accountability
According to a study by the Milken Institute, viable financial markets require consistent, accurate data on assets and credit histories. Luckily, Blockchain may fulfil these needs.
The use of Smart Contracts technology is ideal in areas lacking accountability, such as the real estate or land/agricultural sectors. In Africa, a lack of record-keeping practices often leads to “missing” or non-existent title deeds. In some cases, this is intentional.
Title deeds “go missing,” only to end up in the hands of benefactors other than the rightful owners. Smart Contracts could eradicate these issues through the use of special tokens that cannot be duplicated, changed or removed. See the article on tokenization.
Likewise, Bitland, a company in Ghana, currently helps individuals record deeds and land surveys. By resolving land disputes, Bitland creates more stability while accurately recording land asset data.
“There’s a massive number of people in the informal sector, but there’s not much data being collected on them right now.”
Merit Webster, co-president of the MIT Sloan Africa Business Club.
“That means you don’t have that credit history or payment history for them. If you have a decentralized approach to collecting data, you end up with more malleable data. [This] is very valuable for creating credit histories.” The agricultural industry also has the potential to thrive using Blockchain.
“Blockchain could be used to track goods around the world. This allows farmers to earn a fair wage for their goods.”
Also, farmers could use record-keeping technology to streamline the supply chain and document resources. This would lead to better efficiency, lower transactional costs, and improved logistics.
2. Security in banking
According to the World Bank, there were 1.7 billion people with no bank account in 2017. This situation is worst in developing countries, especially African ones. For example, over 62 million of these people lived in Nigeria.
Besides, data from Google Trends reveal that Lagos, one of Nigeria’s biggest cities, ranks globally as the number one city based on the volume of online searches for Bitcoin (BTC). Clearly, for the city’s 21 million-odd people, there an immense interest in some form of an accessible payment system.
Of course, it’s unrealistic to expect bank branches to magically appear in every remote corner of the world. However, a digital database using Blockchain technologies has the potential to reach far beyond physical banks.
Ad: N26 Bank
Many Africans value trust and transparency. In developing countries, this lack of trust goes beyond the Internet. Developing countries with less industrialization tend to have higher levels of corruption.
This reduces national investment opportunities in the public sector and instills a lack of trust in centralized oligarchs handling an international investment.
Because its power lies within the community of users, Blockchain can combat these trust issues. All data logs and amendments must pass through this community and identification confirmation tests.
Blockchain technology also secures your data incredibly. Hacking and data breaches are all too common nowadays. In 2017, for example, around 3 billion Yahoo user accounts were stolen.
When information is stored in the same place, hackers have one, easy target. In contrast, Blockchain is a distributed entity. This dissemination of data leaves it far less vulnerable to cyberattacks.
3. Fostering Entrepreneurship
Coupled with the Internet, Blockchain technology could be the perfect platform for aspiring African developers. Because the ‘source code’ is free of charge, skilled coders can adapt, create, and configure special applications, called DApps.
These are available on Crypto platforms and provided by companies like Ethereum, and a South African firm specializing in what they called the Keto-Coin.
Rather than waiting for governments to drag their feet trying to create jobs—individuals on the continent can form small firms that build and sell Crypto-based Apps locally or abroad.
“Despite the frictions and impediments mentioned,” said Olorunfemi. “Blockchain can still provide an avenue for promising African tech projects to access capital (FDI) via token offerings on digital assets exchanges.”
Many courses are even readily available online to quickly learn about new technology. Microsoft, for instance, offers a platform via Azure for you to build and learn about the Blockchain.
One-man shops in countries with unfavourable economic systems, like Zimbabwe, can also adopt smaller, stable, Cryptocurrencies to facilitate or payments. In cases of rampant inflation, they can temporarily act as a store of value or help you pay for things until your currency stabilizes.
As with the Venezuelan hyperinflation case study, Cryptocurrency intervention could help many developing countries troubled with economic instability.
There is also the option of Crypto-mining. But before you pull out the ‘high-consumption energy’ argument – think outside the box for a moment. What about energy sources that are free and available nearly 24/7? Like water and the sun!
The African continent is full of capable scientists and mechanical engineers. One could build special solar-powered energy centers to power Bitcoin-mining.
And without the expertise, governments or private companies could alternatively just invite Crypto companies with abundant financial resources to mine (cleanly) for a special tax/fee while creating jobs for the locals.
4. Elections
In addition to the financial side of things, Blockchain technology could help eliminate some forms of corruption. For example, many African countries’ elections are incredibly vulnerable to the social scourge. In some extreme cases, some officials change or forge written ballot votes to rig elections.
To combat this, Blockchain databases could record votes. This makes it nearly impossible to tamper with using Smart Contract technology. Having fair elections improves infrastructure, which then increases development and economic dependability.
While some might see Africa’s economy as underdeveloped, others might see it as a blank canvas well-suited for a large-scale implementation of Blockchain. Economic and governmental systems are shifting and slightly shaky in many Sub-Saharan African nations.
The challenge is to foster a rigid economic system to implement Blockchain.
Don’t just take our word for it—African nations have often implemented new, practical technologies before the Western world. Let’s look at the example of M-Pesa. Back in 2014, Americans and Europeans were amazed by Apple Pay’s launch.
However, this mobile payment system wasn’t exactly “new.” By that time, Kenyans had used M-Pesa, a very similar technology, for years.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to leapfrog the way the West developed and have these more unique African solutions, but it needs to come from within,” said Webster.
“It needs to come from entrepreneurs in the continent who want to implement these solutions. It’s important to engage people very early on. Systems incubated in the West don’t stand as great of a chance to work as African ones do.”
Concluding remarks
With the possibility of an experimental, large-scale takeover of Blockchain technology to improve African infrastructure, the nations there could leapfrog in development and growth.
This must begin internally. According to Olorunfemi, “Education—of policymakers and other stakeholders—which is often ignored has to be a critical factor in paving the way for the acceptance and adoption of new technologies and the accompanying investment.”
The results in Sub-Saharan African countries could help eliminate much of the world’s poverty. It would also remove remnants of mistrust and corruption left behind by the days of colonial exploitation.
While there are some obstacles to large-scale Blockchain implementation, we can’t think of a better benefactor than there. The possibilities for business using the Blockchain are endless!
To learn more about how to get started with Cryptocurrency mining or purchasing, visit our resources page for useful links and guides.
Additional input by Bobby Quarshie (BQ).
Citations: Christopher Lee and Jackson Mueller.
Swan, Melanie. “Anticipating the Economic Benefits of Blockchain.” Technology Innovation Management Review 7.10. Oct. 2017.
Bitcoin Lessons from Venezuela, Where Hyperinflation Reigns. Online Source: https://www.lathropgage.com/newsletter-237.html
It’s not often that we readily endorse a product or company. However, when the nature of work they engage in is considered ground-breaking and has a positive impact on our lives – it most certainly warrants a mention.
The rationale for considering such tech-driven projects as highly significant is neither due to ‘gut feeling’. Nor that it is simply because it is fascinating and therefore must be an excellent product. This project actually has a value proposition for you!
We are indeed well into the information age and while we have written extensively about data, its importance to marketers, and its fragility when used and abused by unscrupulous third-parties for their financial gain.
The issue of data security is, however, quite a serious one. You just need to pay attention to the news to become even more aware.
Data breach incidents
In Europe, where security is supposedly more advanced, we have seen the likes of renowned airline British Airways, being hacked. Several hundreds of thousands of customers’ personal data compromised.
These were followed by hacks on other major airlines such as Cathay Pacific. Aside from airlines, other business outfits have suffered a similar fate.
The perpetrators are getting a lot more brazen and very recently, a cable car, used as public transport in Moscow was hacked. This left vulnerable passengers terrified and stuck high up in the air. And all this happened probably to the amusement of the pranksters (hackers).
Can you imagine the chaos and commotion that would be caused if their control systems of driverless cars were to be hacked?
The digital intrusion gets even more sophisticated...
This time affecting the very wealthy: private yachts are now being hacked and taken into the pirate waters, all via uniquely coded signals, reading data from their antennas!
Data security
On the issue of data security, you often hear about extra protection but not just anti-virus and anti-phishing software. The more secure and heavily encrypted Blockchain technology is, however, making waves in the digital sphere.
It is mainly for the escalation of its once shining star by-product designed for discreet transacting – Bitcoin.
Blockchain technology has also triggered several other technologies based on its digital cryptology technology. The aim is to ensure that your information is kept safe from prying eyes while stored, used, or transferred online.
Blockchain products such as cryptocurrencies, however, are not completely safe from hackers.
A solution
The company we chose to highlight uses a unique vault system and is called Zortrex. It has adopted one of such Blockchain technologies dubbed tokenization. It will be using it to ensure that your highly sensitive data online is kept safe.
“Our tokenised solution would have protected their customers’ personal identification information (PII) details. Instead the hackers ran off with the date of birth; passport numbers; financial data etc,” says Susan Brown, Chairperson of Zortrex – relating to the British Airways incident.
Tokenization is the process of converting rights to real-world assets into a digital token on a blockchain.
Brown’s background in data privacy systems as well as her devoted passion for the protection of PII, financial and healthcare data led her to start up and chair Zortrex.
The law on data
Thanks to new laws like the European GDPR law, which enforces the protection of data, breaches are now met with hefty financial penalties.
“Companies have disrespected your data for over 25 years, and if left unattended, there will be nothing left to protect,” Browns says.
Companies now have to think twice about getting your consent and how to use and share your data digitally. But is it enough? The simple answer is no.
The authorities just do not have the resources to investigate every complaint nor to actively enforce all data breaches.
We have ingeniously invented systems that automatically align with financial messaging, payments and securing information. All of which require data.
“However, we need to go a step further to secure all the PII details with tokenization. This is so that in the event of a hack, the cookies and trackers will only be following a ‘useless’ token will be no real identification on it,” Brown explains.
Zortrex would naturally like to tokenize all healthcare data. This way, vulnerable those of you living outside of major cities can also feel assured that your privacy is protected.
Using Blockchain
The application of the all-powerful blockchain is not limited to use in the financial sector and will be applied via the supply chain to all industries that deal with your data – especially the most sensitive ones.
A business angel or any investor for that matter looking to get onto the next best thing since Amazon would therefore be unwise to pass up the opportunity to back the Zortrex venture given its scope.
Furthermore, regulations are currently being implemented primarily in the pharmaceutical sector.
A tokenized supply chain such as what Zortrex offers would be ideal for this new law which is planned to be implemented by 2023. A judiciary blockchain, for instance, would allow the police to “talk” to the prison service. They, in turn, will communicate with the legal sector or public health institutions (NHS).
Forensic evidence would in such instances be tokenized and kept secure (away from tampering) during legal hearings. In another practical scenario, Smart Contracts(which could replace some lawyers) can spark off legal aid assistance to you.
Your court cases will be heard quicker and be more efficient. Protection registers can also be guarded using tokenization – rendering them more secure.
Blockchain technology offers quality assurance making sure that no shortcuts are taken.
This will enable the monitoring and tracking if any of your data is shared with third parties once tokenized. The third-party apps would only gain access to your data once the trigger has been activated.
Like other pioneers and visionaries, Brown’s futuristic hope that every child being born will have their name, date of birth, blood type data being tokenized, might seem far-fetched.
Zortrex wants to use its technology to put the hackers out of business!
Tokenisation cannot be mathematically reversed and thus it will least it will keep the hackers busy for a while.
Scalability
For such high ambitions, the creators of Zortrex’s software have adequately ensured that the technology used is fully scalable. One stumbling block many Blockchain projects now face is what is referred to as scalability. This is the ability of a network or software to grow and manage increased usage.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum specifically – which is used to build a lot of Distributed Applications, however, have massive scalability issues.
The growth in demand for DApps is also crippling (slowing down) those systems. They need to investigate the incorporation of alternative technologies, upgrade or split their platforms to cope with such high demand.
Someone must take the first step in securing this data forever. You should be able to purchase what you want without being harassed by trackers and cookies.
The need for tokenization is endless and further, down the line, celebrities and government official’s PII can be secured by it to protect them from damaging schemes, ‘bad press’, and scandals.
In a previous blog, we “prophesized” that data is the new commodity – like gold or oil. However, the actual value with that data will lie in its privacy, the ability to store it securely and unlock it only with legal permission by its rightful owner.
We have barely scratched the surface with the Internet (from the early eighties) and it is already seemingly being threatened with the competition. A possible replacement by a new phenomenon.
Well, for lack of a better word, “replaced” has connotations of a dying Internet. This is far from accurate. This new phenomenon – fostered by blockchain technology, will change the way we use and consume the Internet as a service.
So, what is this new Internet-like system creating waves online? And why is it making online marketers quiver at the prospect of them losing out on the exponential revenues they have previously enjoyed?
Before we delve further into its meaning and use in the cyber world, perhaps some background context is required.
The way we use online or mobile applications software or “Apps” has changed how we consume products and services online. Companies jumped onto the bandwagon when they discovered that we mostly use Smartphones for the Internet.
App developers were then subsequently sought after to create mobile Apps for practically anything. What started as something mainly for gamers moved quickly onto applications for practically any commercial activity.
We now use Apps for our shopping; fitness; traveling; online bookings and banking. Developers now create customized software to help us with practically, anything.
In addition, we now have App stores for every significant tech provider – Microsoft, Google, and Apple to mention a few. This has naturally fattened the pockets of software companies and created an additional stream of income for them.
The ‘catch’ for using mobile apps is that even though it costs you nothing to download, using them still requires you to register with your personal details. You can also do this by linkingyour existing social media accounts.
The benefit to App providers
These Apps, which are integrated with social media services, create a data goldmine for marketers to study and track browsing habits. Through them, marketers can gain valuable insights into your interests and then customize their products/services to sell to you.
The impetus behind a distributed application system is that it serves to distribute plow some of the wealth garnered from your data via application providers back to you.
Data mining has become more lucrative and accessible because of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. Do you ever notice how after browsing online or having a conversation or a chat application like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger? You go online later, and you see Ads displaying the items you discussed? Creepy isn’t it? Well, that is the future of Web 4.0 for you!
Staying ‘woke’
Luckily for us, there is a school of knowledgeable and security-conscious programmers who are not ‘giving in’. They help us understand how the Internet has become a cesspool for marketers to harvest our data. Social media platforms, search engine providers, and mobile application providers facilitate them immensely with this.
Imagine getting paid to surf the web for hours. The way you get paid for taking on a survey, partaking in a social experiment, donating an organ or sperm?
This is the way distributed apps are touted to work. They reward you for the use of specific applications (in a peer-to-peer review setting) with cashable tokens. Seems only fair right?
Now you can imagine how companies like Cambridge Analytica would react to having to pay you for their use of your data. They would surely be reluctant and that’s why they preferred to work clandestinely. But if they could pay companies like Facebook for the use of data, why not pay us directly?
Early adoption
Joining the ‘DApps revolution’ is a no-brainer. Those at the forefront of building and supporting DApps will end up with a more substantial chunk of the market.
DApps primarily provide you with the use of payment systems. These are specifically known as Smart Contracts and Proof of Work systems.
For instance, you are rewarded in cashable tokens to surf the net over applications like Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox.
It is only a matter of time that this form of Internet-browsing and use of applications becomes the norm.
The Internet revolutionized the way we communicate, socialize, learn, shop, and do business online. DApps however, will determine the way you get compensated for doing the things you love to do online.
There is a lot of banter, which is backed up by well-research papers on how Automation and Robotics (powered by AI) will replace manufacturing jobs.
Blue-collar jobs are not the only ones however, that face imminent and progressive extinction.
A recent survey report conducted by the World Economic Forum predicts futuristic trends affecting certain jobs in the modern workplace.
Robert Solow predicted decades ago, in his Solow-Swan model, a massive driving force of global growth: technology.
And the evidence is prevalent with the likes of Apple, Google, and Amazon championing stock markets with Billion-dollar market capitalizations. They also create an abundance of jobs globally.
Disruptive technological advances such as AI(Artificial Intelligence); the ubiquitous high-speed mobile Internet (5G); widespread adoption of big data analytics; cloud technology; and the recent Blockchain technology will be the drivers of this job evolution.
Based on the report, by 2022, this job evolution will be firmly in place as it has already.
In a matter of just 4 years, we could have a situation where jobs such as postal service clerks, data entry clerks, and bean-counters (accountants and auditors) would be made redundant.
Impact on services
Software like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365, aims to remove ‘silos’ within customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes.
The latter takes over (fully automates) back-office operations such as stock-taking and supply chain management.
Such tasks will be performed via software, reducing the need for more human supervision. Consequently, the focus would be more on managerial roles.
In the sales and customer service realm, technologies like Microsoft’s AI will provide automated insights to guide employees on improving customer experiences.
Furthermore, it may lower support costs by using virtual agents or Chatbots to eliminate in-house AI experts and those writing code. This will result in more redundancies!
On a positive note, newer and more exciting jobs such as data analysts, machine learning and AI specialists, digital transformation experts and in general information system services will be on the rise – up to 135 million globally, according to the Report.
The fields to benefit directly from new technologies would be information technology; information security; innovation; customer services and risk management (financial services).
Impact on finance
Another group of professionals whose nature of work will be affected due to the advent of ‘disruptive technology‘ is financial middlemen. Likewise, smaller banks and money transfer institutions.
Decentralized systems were primarily put in place to eradicate exorbitant fees associated with transferring money across borders.
Cutting them out completely undoubtedly renders them redundant. It is therefore pertinent for them to innovate their products in order to open up sufficient job position.
Recently, Malta’s finance minister whilst in a private interview during a Blockchain Conference, echoed this. He said that the advent of cryptocurrency has changed financial middlemen into traditional “photo developers”.
“I can see this, just like in photography when you could tell that […] those who process the photos will lose their jobs; a lot of financial intermediaries will be facing the chop in the not too distant future,” says Edward Scicluna.
The good news for governments will be that the trend shows that the jobs created will surpass those lost.
Be proactive and skill yourself accordingly or get the right personnel who can quickly adopt some of the mentioned skills so that you do not fall behind!
The term “storage wars” has taken on a new meaning. It has shifted literally from the ability to keep one’s belongings in physical containers to having one’s data stored and managed in the digital realm.
A question often asked is whether the (Internet) cloud is infinite. The answer is both a yes and no.
The top four cloud tech companies are endlessly engaged in a silent market share war. It is a tough choice as they all offer millions of gigabytes in storage. We can only attempt to investigate to what extent is there an abundance of storage when we ‘run out’.
The “Cloud” as explained in our previous blog, is a series of backed-up servers scattered across the globe.
Consequently, in terms of availability of storage, it is just a matter of where (location) a datacenter can be run and at what its maintenance costs are. The answer to how infinite is the cloud, therefore, boils down literally to a cost, rather than a capacity issue for cloud-storage providers (CSPs).
The main CSPs vying for a market share in the paid cloud storage subscriptions are Google, Microsoft (Azure), Amazon, and IBM.
There are also smaller yet significant players such as Box, Dropbox, Tresorit, and Barracuda. A quick online search on their websites will reveal what they can offer you.
Similarly, the pages of any one of the smaller companies will give some comparisons of each cloud storage offer (bundles).
We will, however, focus on the major ‘players’ and summarize their offerings based on offers for both individuals and small to large enterprises.
Other factors to consider are the actual server location, ability to sync any folders, and perform selective Synchronization.
There are also key offerings such as offering the ability to edit files on mobile devices. For businesses, the ability to remotely wipe mobile devices, perform file-versioning, and other useful features for data management.
As a business, if the above-mentioned features are not in your cloud solution, you better look into switching away.
While you can technically run your own cloud, it would require a full-on IT team. That or a very good support system to assist in its maintenance and administration.
It is for this very reason that a SaaS(and Hybrid)-approach to storage is preferred by many medium to large enterprises.
4 of the most popular CSPs
Google
Weaponry:
A standard (personal)GoogleDrive starts from 15 GB in size and comes when you open a Google email account. This is a standard with most Android-powered mobile phones which require a Gmail account to register the phone.
It is a convenient way to store and access your pics, videos, and files across multiple devices or back them up in case of a hard drive crash. If you do not mind the inconvenience of having several logins, you could get away with multiple drives giving you 15 GBs each.
There is, however, a drawback as there is no such a thing as a free lunch – the level of security and compliance features naturally are little to almost none. Additional storage can also be purchased with different upgrade plans, which may come with more add=ons such as extra file encryption.
When it comes to their business offering, their Team Drive is available with the G-Suite bundle. One can upload 750 GB of data per day and up to a total of 5 TB in size. Team Drive can contain a maximum of 100,000 files and folders, however, this limit can be increased upon request.
The basic package including the more advanced security costs $5 per user per month and gives you 30 GB for storage and collaboration.
The ease of accessing and using the drives via strategic partnerships such as Android provides them with a growing market share. As it is cloud-based and not linked to physical devices, you can access your GoogleDrive using a Mac computer as well.
There are growing talks of incorporating Artificial Intelligence <AI> into the data management systems. They are currently building a full AI Center in Accra, Ghana. This will help bigger companies manage, access, and organize their stored information faster and with more purpose.
They have recently launched a set of new cloud storage tiersunder the branding Google One. This comes with revised pricing and storage options: 15 GB: remains Free; 100 GB costs $1.99/month; 200 GB $2.99/month and 2 TB $9.99/month.
Potential weakness/es:
Google is a latecomer when it comes to offering business solutions and still battles with the stigma of being a free service and thus associated with inferior quality.
The integration with Office applications is still something they struggle to get right. Not many are fans of Googlesheets.
Most non-Microsoft platforms will have this compatibility problem. They also run into a few data syncing problems ever so often, especially with the free storage. Google offers full 24/7 customer and technical support with their products. More aggressive advertising and pricing of their business offerings now serves to hopefully alleviate this issue for them.
How Google bounces back from a hefty EUR 4,34 billion fine for colluding with Android will determine if they survive the storage war. This especially if they will be now forced to allow other CSPs to offer services on mobile devices.
They are actually seen as a formal threat and a direct (more superior) competitor to Microsoft’s cloud (equivalent) offering – which we touch on next. Most of this comes from a robust and apparently the world’s largest global cloud infrastructure.
Based on this, its cloud storage, dubbed Amazon S3, works on a “pay as you use” basis while its free tier starts you off on 5GB of storage. Thereafter you pay in increments based on the storage class you fall under.
So the first 50 TB will cost $0.023 per GB per month and then the next 450 TB will cost $0.022 per GB per month and so on. This is practical for businesses that do not have a limit to storage space but scale up and down very quickly based on their operations.
Tactical strengths:
Amazon’s storage platform gives users and businesses alike the ability to geographically store and move data with the highest levels of encryption. In addition, one can use data analytics on your data without moving the data into a separate analytics system.
Amazon Athena additionally provides anyone who knows SQL on-demand query access to vast amounts of unstructured data. As with Google, AI incorporation along with Alexa would facilitate this even further.
Other notable benefits offered include open workflows, Hybrid-cloud storage capability, powerful APIs, and easy and reliable access to many Third-Party vendors & Partners.
Naturally, you get access to its AWS Marketplaces. It also has a strong compliance adherence including HIPAA/HITECH, EU Data Protection Directive, and FISMA.
Its primary offering of consumer goods and online delivery will make it prone to any bad press received if that arm of operations does not work well.
Further expansion into areas like streaming TV via Amazon Prime and cashless stores might result in a jack of all trades expert in none phenomenon. They are, nevertheless, handling all well so far.
Microsoft
Weaponry:
The “go-to” tech company for word-processing software as well as operating systems. This software giant like Amazon is branching into many products.
They now offer games, server hosting software, applications, an online store for all its devices, software,services, and of course, storage. Its Azure platform powers certain parts of Nasa and utility giant Schneider Electric to mention a few clients. Its purchase works similarly to Amazon via ‘pay-as-you-use’ terms.
Storage users need to have a .Net Framework and SQL installed to use the storage. For those looking for quick storing solutions without building heavy infrastructure, they can adopt the cloud completely.
With the launch of its online services (Microsoft 365), it has had to repackage a portion of its Azure platform to cater to small to mid-sized businesses.
These include functional/specific bundles such as OneDrive (personal), OneDrive for Business, and Sharepoint (powerful storage and content management tool).
The online version of the Sharepoint starts at $5.00 per user per monthfor a rather limited 1 TB per organization. Thereafter, users can purchase more in 1 GB increments of 12 to 16 (US) centsdepending on the total (storage space) size ordered.
Tactical strengths:
Also early adopters of AI (Machine Learning) and recently, the Blockchain (Blockchain Workbench), Microsoft is providing its developers with more and better reasons to use its storage space for practicality. Like their online storage offers on Office 365, Azure storage packages are also quite structured and well categorised.
There are specific functions such as a database server-data management system. Then there is one for application running services, and others to handle rest-based object storage (Blob Storage). Lastly, they offer storage to help perform computations and process events (Functions). These bundles are all provided free for the first 12 months and then range from $0.002 per GB to about US 0.20c per million executions.
They have a good Partner system to help distinguish and provide support for the best storage package based on one’s immediate needs.
To bolster their growing Marketplace, they recently also purchased a business that deals with OpenSource (GitHub). This enables more freedom for developers to manipulate the software on their platform.
For a comparison of the storage types via Azure and pricing for each, click here.
Potential weakness/es:
People have found its pricing a little to steep on the storage side and so keeping market share will be tough. Many new smaller CSPs offering cheaper per GB rates.
They can only counter this by offering more products that require their storage (compatibility-wise). Some other cumbersome restrictions like users being only able to upload 20 000 files at once or the actual file-size limit might not bode too well with heavy cloud data users.
They also don’t have as many APIs as Google or Amazon does, but these are growing by the day.
IBM
Weaponry:
Probably the first of the CSP batch that provided cloud computing. It therefore has had the experience of honing ways of storing and retrieving data for larger businesses. International Business Machines (or IBM) can be considered as the grandfather of data storage.
As with the other CSPs, there is a free offering called the “Lite plan” consisting of a single IBM Cloud service instance with storage up to 25 GB/month. Paid storage is staggered, per consumption and based on complex costing tiers based on location, storage class, and resiliency choice.
Storage charges start from $0.09 for up to 50 GB down to $0.014 for 500+ TB on what they call the Cross-Region Flex plan.
Their security is their biggest pride and strength and makes them a firm favourite for large companies and potentially governmental institutions. The fact that they do not actively advertise as much as Google or Microsoft is telling. They clearly need to provide high secrecy and protection for their existing clients.
One such feature unique to the way data is stored on their cloud servers is using Information Dispersal Algorithms (IDAs). This helps to separate data in unrecognizable “slices” that are distributed across datacenters.
So basically the complete copy of the data resides in any single storage node, and only a subset of nodes are available in order to fully retrieve the data on the network. This is similar to how peer-to-peer sharing or data encryption works.
And speaking of heavy encryption, they have allegedly recently also started on the Blockchain and are experimenting with a particular Cryptocurrency to enable ease of payments. This in the light of IBM with its Watson platform looking to become more of a cloud-based data operating system.
Potential weakness/es:
IBM relies too much on its reputation as a forerunner for tech and cloud-based computing. It has earned that title for several decades before the likes of Google and Amazon barged in.
They might lose out on market share once the newer CSPs start to offer more robust products and compliance services like theirs.
Their high security and complex system come at a premium so designed for or rather restricted to wealthy companies essentially. The hosting option (main server locations) looks limited and restricted to geographical areas primarily in the US and EU.
Be wary of clandestine terminology such as ‘unlimited archiving/storage’ even with a paid subscription. This usually refers to storing data at rest and not the ability to constantly and unlimitedly sync files.
Another salient factor to compare would be the number of files that you can upload or sync at the same time. This will be relevant for larger companies that need to upload large files and by large, we mean 10 GB files (2 and a half HD DVDs’ worth of content) and upwards.
Making a choice
At the end of the day, your decision to take on a faction in the storage war should be based on your priorities. You simply match it to what each of the companies is offering taking your budget into consideration of course.
You may need to consider running a combination of two or more of them. Some larger companies offer storage as a “must-have” with hosted email or something as basic as purchasing a new smartphone.
You will, however, have to ask yourself a few more pressing questions around functionality, data security, and compliance before taking it up.
Or you can simply not accept the offer or disable it in cases where it is presented as a freebie!
In economic terminology, the term “utility” has not much to do with multifunctionality nor completing specific useful tasks.
It does in context, relate to the level of satisfaction or “completeness” one derives from the consumption of a product or service. For example, there is only so much pizza you can eat before feeling ill from satiety.
On a broader and more macroeconomics spectrum, our utility levels will also help determine how resources are allocated and consumed.
Definition
The concept, a brainchild of Daniel Bernoulli, has so many relevant connotations. As humans, we individually have a maximum biological boundary which when reached, signals absolute satisfaction. This in economic terms is called maximum (total) utility.
Total utility is the complete satisfaction that you can get from consuming all units of a specific item.
Economists are more interested in the changes in levels of utility or what is referred to as the marginal utility.
We will return to its application to the economy.
Applying utility
Incidentally, the utility has no formal unit of measurement – though we coined the term “utils”. These so-called utils equate a number to utility levels in a controlled sample experiment.
Understandably it can be quite a feat to quantify utility as it is based on human behavioural preferences. The closest we got to quantifying such was via the marketing concept of the consumer black box.
As an illustration, the concept can be applied to something as basic as eating a delicious meal.
Depending on how hungry you were, you would derive the highest utility from the first few bites of your meal.
As you progressed and depending on your appetite, each additional fork/ spoon, or handful would provide fewer levels of satisfaction. As you reach your stomach’s capacity (towards satiety) your utility diminishes.
This can be applied to the taste of the meal. It specifically explains why we tend to eat something sweet after a main (savoury) meal.
The appreciation of ice cream when you are starving would diminish quickly as you concentrate on filling up your stomach. This as opposed to enjoying the taste.
When compared to the running of an economy, governments and policymakers can determine which goods and services yield the most utility.
This helps them to consequently direct expenditure to identified priority areas (products/services).
It is a long term concept
Education, for instance, may not provide immediate utility (gratification) for scholars and pupils. However, when appropriately harnessed, could yield higher levels of satisfaction. This is when you enter the job market with better remuneration packages.
Tweaking education curricula, taking into consideration levels of utility to whip up your interest for the good or service. This should, therefore, be a prime focus for legislators.
Inputs such as maximum times you can concentrate and the length of study for a course should be offered without compromising the substance.
Without a doubt, there would be considerations, at a micro-level to assist in enhancing both marginal and total utility in the education sector.
The concept of utility is a lot less ubiquitous as we think and relates to the unsavoury phenomenon of megalomania and why there is greed. When levels of self-gratification diminish quickly, it takes longer for those with lower levels of marginal utility to reach a plateau of pleasure.
Drug addiction, sexual appetites, and fetishes would then kick-in. In such cases, people upgrade the “product or service” that they have already maximized utility in. At that stage, another level of fulfillment would be sought.
The utility applied to finances
It also explains why you lose a lot of money gambling or investing in stocks. The satisfaction of gaining more for a little outlay will often drive you to take more risk until a level of risk aversion kicks in.
High-risk investors “called whales” are now delving into the Crypto market to maximize their utility. They are diverting their funds from property and stocks into digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The saying too much of a good thing is inevitably bad for you applies. It can be countered by diversifying the things that deliver pleasure or satisfaction to you.
This is to ensure that you do not maximize utility on them too quickly and lose interest. Worse case, you end up delving into the dangerous territories of addiction.
Economists need to be relevant, more than ever before. They also need to formulate a means to measure and quantify utility or provide “utils” for at least, the most common goods and services.
With such a strategy, policy-making, product pricing, and the efficient allocation of resources would be more effortless.
Some nice insights into the trending top Cryptocurrency coins out there with a good explanation as to why they are great coins to invest in.
A good idea to look into these ahead of a potential June ‘bull run’ via My TOP 10 Coins
As much as institutions, risk-averse, or simply skeptical people have downplayed the new digital currency revolution. It still, a decade after coming to public light, remains resilient.
Bitcoin now gets a regular mention in daily news and stock market reports. It is being traded by several established investors and even included by fund managers as high-risk portfolio instruments.
We all by now, have heard the rhetoric of high volatility and use for criminal activity when it comes to Bitcoin and its crypto-family.
Billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates also weighed into this by publicly lambasting Bitcoin. Buffet equated cryptocurrency to rat poison 🙂
Be it may, digital currency, however, does have some unbeatable benefits and functions you cannot ignore.
Financial emancipation
Bitcoin and ‘altcoin’ investing have created a new wave of financial investors.
These include retired bankers, ‘millennials’ – who instinctively jump on-board a new discovery that has creative destruction-like tendencies. You also have the plumber, bartender, or ‘average man on the street’ looking to change their lifestyles instantaneously.
Based on their phenomenal returns, many people have taken to social media (via groups, profiles, and communities) to share their success stories. But this is also a reason to for you to heed caution when you take counsel from anyone claiming to be an expert in cryptocurrency investment.
Volatility is not new to trading – and especially not with Crypto trading. It is constantly on a rollercoaster ride making it hard for even seasoned trading experts to predict movements with traditional market analysis tools.
Money transfer
We all have undergone the painful stress of waiting for funds to clear so your rent gets paid or waiting endlessly to receive money from abroad.
With cryptocurrency, the aim is to be not only the most secure form of funds transfer – but the fastest.
Converting cryptocurrency to fiat money, however, remains a bottleneck. It still needs institutions to adopt or directly accept payments in cryptocurrency to avoid you going through another step in order to transact.
Cryptocurrencies still cut down transfer time significantly compared to traditional electronic fund transfers of fiat money.
Some well-established companies already use Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and Litecoin for fund transfers, or even direct exchange for services.
Cost savings
We cannot ignore the reduced costs associated with dealing with money you have (hopefully) earned from hard work.
Even inheritances are gained because of the toils of the giver’s hard work. So, it wouldn’t be fair for a group of a few companies headed by executives to siphon it from you while claiming to ‘provide you with a service’.
We all pay for Internet use (and the security software associated), for smartphones and computers.
We, therefore, have the technology to make transactions ourselves without having to rely on others to charge us for things we can do ourselves.
The financial institutions have long preyed on your ignorance, obedience, and unquestioning trust. This, while they brazenly burn cash dabbling in equally questionable high-risk investments like derivatives and futures.
Use cases
Cryptocurrencies have nevertheless, got us thinking about making profits, the tax implications, and anything financial for that matter!
A recent development called Hodl Waves attempts to track and predict Bitcoin movements via complex usage history. It basically compares behavioural patterns of what you do when you have coins and when you choose to reinvest them.
Blockchain technology has also spurred a new path of careers and industries. More companies globally are looking to acquire lucrative Crypto-exchange licenses to operate.
These cryptocurrency exchanges require people to service clients in various areas. They will require employees as any company would.
Governments too will benefit from their operations. While there are still discrepancies in most countries about how to tax you, authorities can get a lion’s share from directly taxing exchanges.
A new wave arises
It is only a matter a time before the banking institutions and big companies get on board to benefit from the high-level encryption and speed provided by digital currency.
To conclude, the ‘wait and see’ mantra is all that we can exercise when predicting the future of digital currency.
There are, however, concerns on how secure the encryption can remain with the advent of quantum computing. This ground-breaking tech can make calculations at millions of speeds faster and thus able to crack the toughest data encryption.
Some form of regulation would be required in some form to keep Crypto prices stable.
Before throwing our coins out of the pot or making second guesses about a big crash one must understand how the price of altcoins works.
The price of some altcoins on the trading market has a lot less to do with its intrinsic value. It is actually what individuals, and most traders (who seek only profit), believe it to be worth.
So, what is the reason behind the recent downward price spiral? Not much conspiracy to “ruin the cryptocurrency” other than an expected price correction coupled with some external factors.
Punters including ‘corner shop’ setups inflated the price with rampant price speculation. Speculation based on nothing more than historic (and a short history) rise of the price of the coin from only a few cents to almost $65 000 each (adjusted to 2021 all-time-high price).
The idea of creating an invention that performs a certain function quite soundly and then limiting its supply displays the financial clout of its creator/s.
That way, the natural laws of supply and demand would drive up the price of Bitcoin, as it became rarer though needed. It is already becoming harder to attain (through mining) and as it encroaches its supposed 21-million-unit limit.
“The fact that people keep talking today that bitcoin is below 10,000, it’s a disaster, or bitcoin is above 10,000 and that’s crazy. I think the fact that bitcoin is still alive, and attracting so much attention, is the fact that we’re talking about bitcoin in Davos with a Nobel Prize winner, a central bank governor, and a seasoned investor. I think that’s a powerful tool.” – Jennifer Zhu Scott (Radian Partners principal) – 2018.
External influencers of price
But there are external factors that come into play that affected its speculative price. Factors such as the rise of other altcoins after the split in its technology.
Bear in mind that the blockchain code is open to anyone smart enough to develop and run a product on it. So, there is also some kind of a substitution effect as newer altcoins become more specific in purpose and faster in executing transactions.
This results in people switching from Bitcoin to the likes of Ethereum-run newcomers like DigixDAO. These new coins are doing well (if the rising price is an indicator) and climbing while others lose both intrinsic a speculative value.
External factors including market sentiments do in fact play a huge role in determining the demand for the product or service. In the case of Bitcoin, the closing down of some Exchanges in Asia as well as talks of heavier regulation. Such was mentioned at theWorld Economic Forum in Davos 2018.
Global leaders pledging to take tougher measures to regulate cryptocurrencies raises cause for concern for people with significant amounts invested.
So, the usage by criminals, for instance, has created a much-expected reluctance by governments and financial institutions to accept its legitimacy. There is also a constant and sometimes subliminal shift in thinking, as trading involves a lot of psychological and emotional play on buying behavior.
Buyer behaviour
One such example is the impulse people have when purchasing items that are supposedly on ‘special’ or at a low price. A 75% discount on a pair of shoes only tells you that the seller has marked it up so high that they could still make a profit when they knock it down by that much!
You only notices the price (before and after) the discount. This is without realising that it cost the buyer a fraction of both to produce, package it and get it shipped to the store.
The true value of ‘the shoe’ lies in the materials (quality) used to produce it for it to last long or give it its level of comfort (its true purpose). That and its appearance of course.
The “brand name and image” in this case can thus be compared to the speculative aspect of a commodity. So, a pair of pumps would sell (at a higher than normal price) if the likes of Beyoncé or Gal Gadot are seen wearing them. The same goes for sportspeople and the whole multi-million dollar/euro endorsement deals they carry. Their endorsement of a product thus ‘legitimizes’ it.
When global leaders, banks, and financial institutions raise concerns about cryptocurrency – it does the very opposite. This sets off-market panic and the selling-off we are currently observing.
The future of Crypto
So, what will happen from here on? Provided it is not outright outlawed. This is, however, proving to be difficult as even the South Korean government have now softened their tough stance on the Crypto Exchanges. This is after they discovered what a tax ‘gold mine’ Crypto exchanges can be. This is then when the speculative buying will begin again.
Investors who couldn’t purchase Bitcoins at levels above $20 000 will now be seeking an opportunity to enter the market.
Especially if it dips below the $30000 mark (it is currently $34 000). This with the hope to make some decent profit even if it just pushes back to $50 000. Some will hold on and speculate on a return to previous highs – and so the bullish and bearish cycle continues.
Authorities including the delegates at the Davos talks were in agreement, however, that they will want it at affordable prices. At a level that stays relatively stable, they may even start to consider it as ‘global legal tender’.
But that will be a long time, especially if traders continue to buy it speculatively to make profits. Those awaiting a total crash of Bitcoin, altcoins, or the blockchain, however, would have to hold their breaths.
The technology is indeed a game-changer and has already been widely adopted. It will only change form to be partially or fully regulated.
The core functions of blockchain-based currency will remain its main contribution to the evolution of banking and ‘money’ transfers.
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