[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tobias Briegel, a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast and National Account Manager at Chetu...
Blockchain ETFs have received a lot of interest over the last two weeks and have raised almost $260 million; however, Bloomberg explores that the makeup of these ETFs contain many household names such as Cisco, Intel, Nvidia and IBM; thus, investors may be paying a high price to invest in stocks they could easily purchase themselves. Source
According to a paper by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) blockchain technology should be adopted by China’s secondary loan market; as CoinDesk reports the paper came out of a trip made by the regulator to their counterparts in the UK and France; European banks are putting together a program to test blockchain technology for the issuance of syndicated loans; the CBRC also considers blockchain technology to potentially be helpful for automating compliance. Source.
Realty Shares Advisors and Amplify Trust ETF both launched blockchain ETFs yesterday; both focus on blockchain based companies and invest in companies with a market cap over $200 million; CoinDesk shares more details about the ETFs. Source
BNP Paribas Asset Management was able to complete a fund distribution test using blockchain technology; the test used BNP Paribas Securities Services’ blockchain programme, Fund Link and FundsDLT; as AltFi reports the test was able to show Fund Link connecting to other blockchains and the transaction completed each part of the fund trade process, from order delivery to trade processing; this continues a trend from BNP Paribas Asset Management as they have also launched a specialist fund for fintech investment and began updating their legacy technology. Source.
Chain CEO Adam Ludwin sat with Business Insider to talk about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies; the interview goes through the basics of what blockchain technology is and how it has been viewed by the wider market in recent years; the hype around the technology has made many believe it can transform anything and everything; in reality, Adam says, it is a tool that should be applied where relevant; they also explore the differences in selling into an institution and how the technology is used in bitcoin transactions. Source.
Tim Draper spoke at the event Blockchain Connect Conference today; he stated, “In five years, if you go to a Starbucks or McDonald's and try to buy a burger or coffee with fiat currency, the person at the counter is going to laugh at you. There's a real need for a currency that's global.”; Draper was an early backer in companies like Skype and Baidu; his interests have since turned to bitcoin and ICOs. Source
Longfin is a micro-cap company that is listed on the Nasdaq; the company offers foreign exchange as well as financing to small businesses; recently they acquired micro lender Ziddu.com which provides smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain; now the company is looking to make contracts available for p2p lending, warehouse finance, structured products and FX or OTC derivatives. Source
The website for the new platform is chain.baidu.com; it is a project from the firm’s research on blockchain; they see early applications of the platform in asset securitization and asset exchanges; registration on the website is open to the public and users can deploy custom blockchain nodes. Source
TD Bank surveyed 340 corporate treasurers and found that innovative technology is top of their mind for the coming years; 31 percent see automatics processes, 23 percent see blockchain and 15 percent see AI or robotics as the top disruptive technologies; while most respondents were keeping a close eye on technology there was 29 percent who said they would wait and see; seeing the results points to the fact that traditional finance professionals are starting to focus on technology changes, though not ready to fully jump in. Source.