- Finland: Blockchain identity to help refugees!
- Tokenization: Hurdles and chances of real goods on the Blockchain!
- Paris Hilton promotes ICO!
- Luxury apartments in Dubai are sold in Bitcoin!
For a refugee in a new country, identity at least in the official sense can be among the hardest things to recover. And without an official ID it is nearly impossible to advance in society.
Finland wants to address the problem of inadequate, formal identities of refugees with a solution using Blockchain technology.
As soon as they arrive in Finland, refugees or asylum seekers will receive an ATM card with blockchain connection instead of cash. In concrete terms, this means that the identity, as far as known, is connected to the ATM card and all payment transactions are recorded in a blockchain.
According to Jouko Salonen, the Finnish director of the immigration authority, a "more authentic identity" is to be established. The data is available not only to the financial services provider, but also to the authorities, who have the possibility to view or track all financial transactions of the refugees at any time.
Although this means that any financial privacy is lost, the refugee is given the opportunity to build up an identity that helps him to gain a foothold in the country.
The Helsinki-based startup MONI, which has developed the ATM cards, sees this as an opportunity for the financial inclusion of the immigrants while at the same time increasing control by the authorities. MONI technology uses one of a number of public blockchains as the means of transferring value but in a way that to the users seems like using a debit card. A cardholder can pay for things at Mastercard terminals, or enter a number into a Web form to make payments online. MONI takes care of the cryptographic handshake necessary to execute the digital currency transaction as well as the conversion from digital currency back to fiat currency.
The digital identity associated with the blockchain can enable refugees to use services that they would never have been able to claim without an official identity card.
Many blockchain startups currently advertise with the tokenization of real goods. Behind it is a big promise: The blockchain is to transfer assets as cost-effectively, quickly and securely as information over the Internet. The Bitcoin blockchain provides a first proof of the suitability of the technology with a daily trading volume of several billion euros. Various projects (for example, Propy, LAToken, Atlant, Real, etc.) have now become the task to bring also real goods to the blockchain.
The trading of crypto currencies on a blockchain is simplified in comparison to real goods, since money does not necessarily need a physical carrier. Whether gold coins, banknotes or digital tokens - the value of a currency is not material but is based on its acceptance as a means of exchange. A digital coin can therefore act just as well as a piece of paper as money if a company wants it. The situation is different with material objects: firstly, a car is to be driven, a plot of land is to be built and inhabited, and a milling machine is to be milled. A token, of course, can not do anything. So what is the tokenization of real goods?
The benefits are obvious with regard to the investment and credit market: tokens enable the separation of economic value and material substance. Thus it is conceivable to represent ownership shares or exploitation rights through tokens and to act completely emancipated from the physical possession conditions. Such transactions are especially interesting for investors and lenders, since they use such items as speculative objects or credit guarantees. Currently, the market uses proprietary registers or securitization to do so. A blockchain solution would probably be more cost-effective, faster, and more timely.
A variety of different platforms promote the trading of real goods on their blockchains. How is that possible? The sobering answer is, first of all, not at all. The fact that this is also aware of the initiators of the respective platforms is revealed in the accompanying whitepapers. In order to resolve the legal issues, the focus is often on intermediary companies that manage the individual transactions and ensure real value coverage.
To this end, the intermediary acquires ownership of the objects; only then are tokens generated and traded. It should be stressed that in such models too, not the token owner, but a middleman holds the property rights. Buyers and sellers have no choice but to rely on the commitments of the agent. The original purpose of the blockchain, the rationalization of middle-men by decentralization, is thus lost.
The declared goal of all platforms is the state recognition of their blockchain; Under this premise, real values could actually be traded decentrally via appropriate tokens. However, it seems highly unlikely that one of the existing platforms will actually become a state-owned property register. For the trading of real estates in most countries there exist specially managed land registers, which certainly will not deviate from a privately organized blockchain.
The transfer of existing registers to a specially developed blockchain (pilot project, eg in Sweden) appears to be appropriate.
Until the legal recognition of certain tokens had been prudent. Even if the trade of real values on a blockchain is advertised, an investor should always be aware that he does not acquire a thing, but merely a kind of promissory note in the form of a token. Such a concept can also be successful. However, trust is not created by the blockchain technology, but in an old-fashioned way: by (hopefully) trustworthy intermediaries.
Hotel heiress and TV star Paris Hilton has announced on her Twitter account that she will participate in a token sale.
Paris Hilton wants to support the project Lydian through her tweet. The startup behind the project aims to improve marketing strategies using the blockchain.
Hilton wrote in her post:
It seems, however, that cooperation with Lydian is not her first step into the world of blockchain technology. Already a year ago she poses a picture of herself and the former Ethereum CCO Stephan Tual. The picture at the time was, as it were, "to open the new markets of the Millennium with technology, community and social services in the most spectacular way."
The support of Paris Hilton has given the project a lot of media attention. Whether other stars will promote the project is unclear. In addition, Gurbaksh Chabal has uploaded a promo video on YouTube.
Paris Hilton is not the first celebrity to promote a blockchain project. So in the past, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather had also advertised on his social media platforms for an ICO. However, while Hilton emphasizes that their post is not an advertisement (#NotAnAd), Mayweather frankly admitted that he is promoting the CryptoMedia Group.
The increased emergence of ICOs and other blockchain projects on social networks could make the technology more rapidly established.
Luxury apartments with a total area of 2.4 million square meters are sold in Dubai with Bitcoin. This was announced by the luminaries of Baroness Michelle Mone and Douglas Barrowman. The sale of apartments in the forty-story building is the first of this size in the crypto currency.
A collaboration between the Knox Group and the payment processor Bitpay allows the sale of a total of 1133 studios, one- and two-room apartments from September 2019. The luxury apartments offer floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the Dubai Hills and the skyline of the city. The apartments are designed and furnished by John R Harris & Partners and Michelle Mone Interiors. There will also be cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and boutiques in the building.
The cheapest apartment currently has a value of 33 Bitcoins. According to the agency, early buyers will receive further benefits such as a suitable equipment. The equipment can also be purchased using the crypto currency.
Baroness Michelle Mone said:
Douglas Barrowman, the Chairman of the Board of Knox Group, said the project had been planned for some time. The real estate market in Dubai is something very special and he wants to "merge the real estate market and the technology sector".
"Bitcoin's meteoric rise in the past few years has made her the leading crypto currency. That's why we decided to sell in Bitcoin, "said Barrowman.
Douglas Barrowman also said:
The building, with a total value of USD 326 million, is also the first major sale of real estate in the Bitcoin.
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