Pymnts.com is a good source for those interested in Blockchain and Payments – adding to this history is an interview they have done with John Callahan, CEO of the biometric authentication company Veridium. It does not change that Blockchain from my POV is still in a very experimental stage – yet interesting. You can read the full piece here.
Die emotionale, teils dogmatisch geführte Diskussion zwischen Anhängern klassischer Motorisierung und Anhängern von e-Autos aus dem Silicon Valley mit brutalen Beschleunigungswerten verfolge ich seit geraumer Zeit – und bin selbst hin- und hergerissen. Warum? Ich sehe gute Argumente auf beiden Seiten. Zur Alltagstauglichkeit. Zum Öko-Nutzen. Zu den volkswirtschaftlichen Effekten.
Heute fand ich einen Blog-Beitrag mit dem Titel „Wie sich der Kollaps der deutschen Autoindustrie abspielen wird“ des Innovations-Evangelisten Mario Herger. Ich halte den Beitrag für höchst lesenswert – wenngleich er in Teilen der Leserschaft für einen Aufschrei sorgen mag. Die Diskussion ist hilfreich, weil Diskussionen befruchtend wirken. Vielleicht kommen dann auch wirklich spannende Technologien wie e-Autos mit Brennstoffzelle wieder in den Fokus? Schnelles Tanken und hohe Reichweite gepaart mit hoher Umweltfreundlichkeit und einer Beschleunigung zur Freude des Chiropraktikers. Wär was für mich.
I have so far not made a secret out of the fact that I find Blockchain interesting – but not too convincing and that I do not believe an open-source sort of approach to ledgers is the right way nor that single ledger tech will solve any real world issues. I also know that I am not alone, yet Blockchain IS interesting and in case the fundamental shortcomings are solved it could become something big. If not, it will die and we will talk about the next big thing.
Discussions like this are very fruitful; therefore I would like to share this piece from Finextra, titled „Blockchain will change everything, but only if we find the right talent„. I like this thought because it implies that we need the brightest of the brightest to find solutions to the many short-comings Blockchain technologies bear today.
Worth keeping that discussion going.
Sometimes it is hard to get to a core of a phenomenon – and then it is good that someone spends some time thinking it through and putting it into simple terms. Now, ValueWalk has done just that with the Stripe-Phenomenon. I believe reading this is time well spent. You find the article here.
One thing I never quite managed to wrap my head around is the way financing for start-ups works. Well, yeah – I understand how it works and why it works like that. But fact is: A start-up and it´s visionary leaders, taking personal risks to move it forward, should focus on their business entirely and push it towards success. Instead they struggle to get to the next finance round and pay for the essentials.
Markets which make it easy to access funds to grow a business, from my point of view, got it right. It should be easy for small businesses to finance innovation and growth and when a local government is supporting that in a relevant way, thats even better.
In that sense: great initiative in Luxembourg these days, with a deal between the European Funds for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and BNP Paribas in Luxembourg for lending cheap money to innovative SMBs in the marketplace. EFSI pretty much is a tool of the EU Commission to boost innovation and jobs. So say something that the EU is a bad thing. It is not. You can read how good it really is on the EU Commissions website.
Full details on the Luxembourg deal can be found here.