Blockchain’s Wall Street Test And Satoshi Has A Birthday

Bitcoin plus blockchain plus banks still seems like an unlikely combination, despite news that JPMC and Citigroup have completed their tests about using it in support of credit default swaps. They say that the tests were successful, but details remain sketchy on what “success” really means.

“The ink is still drying on the results, but they are positive,” Chris Childs, chief exec of the DTCC unit that oversees this area, was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.

DTCC stands for the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (Wall Street’s bookkeeper), so we shall see.

Blockchain advocates describe its ability to magically move money, trades and contracts faster — in ways that cut out the middleman. At the moment, this is still speculation, and science experiments that actually go anywhere need to ditch bitcoin for all of the many, many reasons we’ve described.

Barclays Squares Up Deal With Circle

Circle, the social payments app that runs on bitcoin’s blockchain, launched with support from Barclays as part of a new partnership. Circle was officially granted an eMoney license by U.K. watchdog group Financial Conduct Authority. This marks a milestone for this digital currency company, which has been trying to make a name for itself in the FinTech ecosystem.

Circle is a Boston-based startup that has major VC backers, along with big banks, like Goldman Sachs and Digital Currency Group. The new license allows the company to enable its users to send/receive domestic and international payments.

Circle says it is unique because it allows money transfers to be sent alongside a message, which can also include animated messages. What Circle says it has done is to make sending money similar to sending an email. Circle also allows for cross-currency transfers (pounds to dollars now) without additional fees. And when it launches across the rest of Europe later in 2016, it will offer that service for euros.

But it’s still bitcoin.

Malware, You Say? Bitcoin Never Far Behind

Yep, that’s the case again this week after reports surfaced about yet another hospital that was attacked with malware. And where there’s malware, there seems to be ransomware, and where there’s ransomware, there’s bitcoin.

In this case, $19,000 worth.

“You just have 10 days to send us the bitcoin,” read a note the hospital received. “After 10 days, we will remove your private key, and it’s impossible to recover your files.”

Since then, the hospital, which did not pay, was able to recover 90 percent of its functionality.

It appears the combination of bitcoin, ransomware and hospital hacking is now an all-too-familiar trend.

Satoshi Has A Birthday — And Preps For The ‘Big Reveal?’

Apparently, this week is Satoshi Nakamoto‘s birthday. Yes, the Satoshi, who is believed to be the creator/s of bitcoin. Apparently, he/she/they are also 41 with an April 5, 1975 birthday.

But Satoshi now has competition. Craig Wright, the Australian who raised a few eyebrows last year for being bitcoin’s self-proclaimed creator, is rumored to be angling to cement his claim as bitcoin’s originator.

For those who need a refresher, Wright was named in multiple reports late last year as bitcoin’s most likely creator (never confirmed at the time) after suspicions were raised when the Australian government raided his home. Why did it raid his home? It was connected to an investigation initiated by the Australian Taxation Office, unrelated to bitcoin. But related to what, exactly? We still don’t know.

Enough for some red flags to be raised — along with a suspicious eyebrow or two.

Rumor has it that Wright is set for the big unveiling anytime between April 7 (didn’t happen) and April 14 (will it happen?). But, apparently, there’s going to be a press conference, so we’ll be standing by. It’s been lauded in the bitcoin press as his “big reveal.”

We’ll be waiting at the edge of our seats.

Should Blockchain Have A ‘Common Standard?’

The blockchain’s most vociferous advocate thinks so.

Blythe Masters, ex-Wall Streeter and CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, said this week that it’s time for common standards for blockchain players to abide by. By doing so, there would be more certainty about how to regulate the technology and an easier pitch as to why more should invest in the blockchain.

Her argument?

“So you don’t have the risk for an early adopter that they inadvertently selected a solution that became the equivalent of Betamax, when, in fact, the rest of the world goes in the direction of VHS,” Masters said this week. “And, actually, in this context, it’s a bit more complicated than that because it’s not just a choice of two; it’s a choice of more than two alternatives as we speak.”

What she means by common standards is having a central infrastructure for blockchain providers to work under, and then, the DTCC would be responsible for ensuring that is implemented across Wall Street.

“Situations like that offer centralized decision-making and existing centralized provision of infrastructure that will make the adoption process much easier than an arbitrary coming together of independent parties who aren’t already relying on some aspect of central infrastructure,” Masters said.