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Chinese state-endorsed public chain to act as a global DeFi bridge, says Conflux Founder

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Conflux Network, a permissionless blockchain project which is endorsed by the Chinese state, told Cointelegraph on Sept. 22 that the project has officially launched its Tree Graph Research Institute with the Shanghai government. 

According to Fan Long, Founder of Conflux and Director of the TreeGraph Research Institute, the Tree-Graph Blockchain Research Institute will experiment with local states to build a regulatory compliance platform that can bridge global DeFi applications and government regulations. He added that:

“DeFi is a new world and while it appears as though it may pose a challenge for regulators, they appear willing to listen. At this stage, the most important thing is to maintain a reliable communication channel between two sides— the DeFi innovators and the regulators.” 

When it comes to new techniques and innovations, the Chinese government has shown signs of tolerance for experimentation in the past. Fan indicated that the complexity surrounding DeFi and other relevant distributed innovations will make open communication crucial for continued legislative acceptance. He stated that: 

“Regulators need a reliable way to learn what the new technique is about and where it might lead us to. Innovators need a way to understand the concerns and red lines of regulators.” 

At the moment, Conflux is working with the Shanghai government on several sandbox projects. Fan told Cointelegraph that these projects include integrating blockchain borrowing and lending services into Shanghai’s Pudong Development Bank, and leveraging the Shanghai free trade zone’s unique regulatory framework to devise a unique stablecoin for the region, The Founder explained:

“Shanghai Free Trade Zone is outside of capital control of China where RMB is offshore with its own set of rules, so we are trying to come up with some regulation breakthroughs with experimenting under the free zone framework.” 

Compared with the central bank’s digital currency, or CBDC,  Fan pointed out that  although a CBDC will allow the central government to maintain control of the financial activities, it would be hard for such a centralized form of digital currency to be accepted outside of China. 

Conflux is trying to either create a free zone stablecoin or build a public permissionless cross chain for the CBDC.

The project, which began its life as a research project at Tsinghua University, has been working to provide a robust and cheap framework for developers to build decentralized finance applications. Fan explained that: 

“Conflux Network seeks to provide a POW network with transaction speeds an order of magnitude faster. The key enabler technique is a novel DAG-based ledger structure together with an optimistic concurrency control to achieve a consistent order of transactions among all the nodes in the network.”

Fan believes that DeFi projects will only be able to go mainstream through willfully enacted compliance measures which evolve alongside government regulations. Blockchain and DeFi are new areas for regulators. Although he cannot speak to how regulators will go about this, his predicts that: 

“Decentralization will make it more difficult for regulators to control DeFi products, but there are still possibilities to exercise controls at the boundary between the decentralized world and the centralized world.” 

The Shanghai Municipal Government, one of the states endorsing the project, is interested in exploring how the city can leverage blockchain techniques to integrate traditional finance with decentralized financial services, says Fan.

In order to connect global DeFi projects and regulations, the company also created the Conflux Open Defi initiative. 

Members include: Sequoia Capital, Blockpower Capital, Antelope Holdings, dForce, DeBank, and MCDEX along with Chinese state support through the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee. Fan says Open DeFi aims to unite Eastern and Western DeFi markets through three globally focused program tracks: risk management, new liquidity strategies, and incubation & innovation.

Chinese state-endorsed public chain to act as a global DeFi bridge, says Conflux Founder

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Technology-Led Entertainment Studio “The Cauldron” Now Seeking £500,000 Through Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Seedrs

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The Cauldron, a UK-based technology-led entertainment studio, is now seeking £500,000 through its recently launched equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.

Founded in 2017, The Cauldron, which originally began as a Kickstarter project to open what it claims to be the world’s first wizard pub in London, is on a mission to “bring fantasy to life with science, technology, and design, and to create a community of people who believe that magic is possible⁠—it’s just a matter of perspective.” The company notes it calls this mission “The Magic of Things.”

“Much of the technology that powers our immersive experiences does not yet exist, and so we created our own ‘magicineering’ studio to bring these ideas to life through engineering.This studio, aptly named ‘The Magic of Things,’ is where our team of engineers, prop makers, designers, and experts in food and beverage come together, invent, and produce what you experience within our venues and through our retail products.”

The Cauldron further noted that its beachhead product is a wizard-themed immersive cocktail-making class that combines working magic wands with molecular mixology in a pre-booked class.

“The concept has evolved into a full-service restaurant, pub, and experience space that is ushering in the evolution of hospitality—interactive food & drink.We are debuting our new Superheroes Bar in 2020, where we bring the stuff of classic comic books to life through a technology-led immersive drinks experience.”

Funds from the Seedrs round will be used to continue the development of The Cauldron’s locations. The company is now offering 1.96% in equity at a £25 million pre-money valuation. The campaign is set to close mid-October. 

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Fintech Masters Course, including Machine Learning, Offered by Smith School of Business at Queen’s University for Digital Transformation Specialists

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The Smith School of Business at Queen’s University has introduced Canada‘s very first Fintech Masters course.

According to the Smith School of Business, the course has been designed mainly for financial or tech professionals who are already working in the industry. The first Master of Financial Innovation and Technology (MFIT) program will reportedly begin in November of this year.

The courses will be delivered during the evening and there will also be some sessions held over the weekends. Graduates of the Fintech Masters program can expect to receive professional training in data science, finance, and emerging machine learning (ML) technologies. This rigorous academic training should give them the practical knowledge they need about leading technologies – which have begun to transform the global finance sector (among many other related industries).

Ryan Riordan, director of the MFIT program and distinguished finance professor and research director at the Institute for Sustainable Finance, stated:

“Until now, employers hiring in the financial technology sector have had to choose between candidates who specialize in either finance or technology; it’s been a challenge to find talent with strengths in both who understand how one impacts the other, including the opportunities and risks.”

He added:

“With the launch of this new programme, we’ve created a unique educational path that bridges both sectors and equips graduates to succeed in a quickly evolving marketplace.”

He also mentioned that the Fintech-focused curriculum will be designed specifically for students who have a background in finance. The course will also be relevant for professionals who are involved in digital transformation projects related to finance, and also for tech specialists who are interested in branching out into the finance industry.

The course will take a full year or 12 months to complete. There will be 12 classes offered via remote and in-person sessions. Courses will be scheduled in the evening, once per week, and on also on alternating weekends. This should help students meet the challenging demands of their full-time jobs while being able to learn the latest trends in Fintech.

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