Join the Community

23,578
Expert opinions
41,339
Total members
382
New members (last 30 days)
193
New opinions (last 30 days)
29,159
Total comments

Blockchain Observations

Being a forum for blockchain ideas

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF application: a rocky way towards approval

BlackRock, the world largest asset manager, last June has applied at the SEC for a spot Bitcoin ETF for its American clients. According to Blackrock there is still large interest of their clients to have Bitcoin in their portfolio. In the past years BlackRock has continuously pushed the boundaries of ETF offerings, reaffirming its position as a lea...

/crypto

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

Blockchain and Web3.0: A great Marriage

An interesting occurrence that is getting growing attention is the gradual shift towards the third phase in the internet’s development journey, named Web3.0. Web3.0 is the next evolution of the internet, which is focused on decentralization, openness, and trust. Blockchain may thereby play a dominant role. In this blog I will go into more detail w...

/crypto

Joris Lochy

Joris Lochy Product Manager at Intix | Co-founder at Capilever

Is centralization inevitable when making DeFi available to the masses?

In recent years, I have delved into the domains of DeFi (decentralized finance), Web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies, building a solid understanding (although far from being an expert) of their underlying concepts and technologies. Nonetheless, I continue to grapple with the business and economic aspects surrounding these innovations. Surprisin...

/crypto

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

Swift blockchain interoperability experimentation

Early June SWIFT, the largest interbank messaging system in the world, announced it would conduct experiments in collaboration with a number of financial institutions to test for blockchain interoperability. Blockchain interoperability has emerged as a hot topic within the crypto space. Institutional investors are increasingly considering investme...

/crypto

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

The digital euro project: we are not there yet!

Two years ago I wrote a blog about the plans of the European Central Bank (ECB) to introduce a digital euro. In that year the ECB decided to set up the Digital Euro project and started with the technical investigation phase, focussing initially on fundamental questions such as the technological functioning of the digital euro. Now we are two y

/crypto

Karen Shidlo

Karen Shidlo CMO at Fiat24 (SR Saphirstein AG)

The future of e-banking lies in DeFi solutions

Traditional financial legacy systems can be outdated in some ways, particularly in terms of their technology infrastructure and ability to adapt to changing customer needs and market trends. These systems were often developed decades ago and were not designed to handle the complexities of modern financial transactions. Moreover, traditional financ...

/retail /predictions

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

The Ethereum 2.0 Journey: From Beacon to Eternity

Last year September Ethereum blockchain entered a new phase in its Ethereum 2.0 journey. After launched the Beacon Chain in December 2020, a parallel blockchain which acts as consensus engine that runs on proof of stake, The Merge was concluded in September 2022 whereby the Beacon Chain and the Mainnet, the normal Ethereum blockchain, merged into ...

/devops /crypto

Carlo R.W. De Meijer

Carlo R.W. De Meijer Owner and Economist at MIFSA

Sarafu: crypto currency for rural communities

Recently I read a very interesting and stimulating article in a Dutch newspaper. It was about the Community Currency named Sarafu that is used in Kenya’s rural communities thereby trying to solve the issue of proper circulation of finances. The Sarafu Network, is a so-called Community Inclusion Currency or CIC, yet only a few outside the country ...

/inclusion /crypto

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Trade Finance on Blockchain - My Observations

Back in 2016, I was fortunate to be part of the team chosen for a week-long workshop/training on Blockchain. We were introduced to the basics, formed teams and built some use cases to understand how it works. Subsequently, I could also participate in building proof-of-concept on payments and trade finance. There was, and continues to be, a lot of ...

/wholesale /predictions

Conor Svensson

Conor Svensson CEO at Web3 Labs

J.P. Morgan's long term bet on blockchain

For many, the ups and downs of cryptocurrencies have had too significant a bearing on their perception of the technology powering this nascent asset class — DLT and blockchain technology. For those of us interested in the technology, what's happening with cryptocurrencies has no bearing on our plans. What can be achieved with shared ledgers and tok...

/wholesale /crypto

Now Hiring