Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

Space

Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry

An Australian senate committee has published a report calling for a blockchain-based national land registry, better clarity over laws relating to smart contracts, and continued efforts to establish international standards for DLT.

The Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre’s second interim report offers 23 recommendations spanning blockchain, consumer data, and corporate taxation.

Five recommendations deal specifically with blockchain and digital assets, including that the Council of Financial Regulators Cyber Working Group takes into account international data standards.

The committee recommended that National Cabinet consider supporting a blockchain-powered national land registry as a pilot project for Commonwealth-State cooperation on “RegTech’ to highlight ways to streamline administrative processes in both the public and private sectors.

“The committee was particularly impressed with the potential for blockchain to drive efficiencies in the area of land registries, and is recommending that this issue be further explored in the context of the National Cabinet.”

Zooming out, the committee noted there was a need for more clarity and certainty in digital asset regulations, and highlighted concerns from industry stakeholders regarding “the uncertain status” of smart contracts under Australian law.

Despite hearing about the concerns, the committee didn’t hear many solutions:

“While the committee heard extensive evidence on the need for such regulation, it heard less on concrete ideas for how this regulation should best be crafted.” 

Instead it recommended the Australian Government “consider how best to improve clarity with respect to the standing of smart contracts.”

The report called on the Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources, or DISER, to publish regular updates on the progress of the National Blockchain Roadmap and to to review and update the roadmap as the space evolved. 

Moving forward, the committee plans to review how capital gains are applied to cryptocurrency transactions, and give deeper consideration to the regulatory implications of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins during the final phase of its inquiries.

Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry

Source

KingsCrowd, a Ratings and Analytics Firm for Private Securities Market, Releases New Regulation CF Report

KingsCrowd, the online private market’s data-driven ratings and analytics platform, announced on Tuesday (April 27, 2021) the publication and availability of the KingsCrowd Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report.

The KingsCrowd Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report reportedly covers more than 150 Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) market statistics, key insights, and analytics. These items are presented in an “easy-to-read” visual format. Readers get an extensive overview of the Reg CF market as of last year, along with a preview of what is set to be a “record-shattering” 2021, according to a release.

In 2020, startups secured over $210 million via equity crowdfunding. This total represents year-over-year growth of about 110% from 2019’s total funding and notably marks the fourth year early-stage firms have been able to acquire investment capital from the public under the JOBS Act’s Regulation Crowdfunding rules.

KingsCrowd Founder and CEO Chris Lustrino, stated:

“The release of this first edition of our Regulation Crowdfunding Intelligence Report couldn’t come at a better time. On March 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange increased the maximum raise amount under Regulation Crowdfunding rules from $1.07 million to $5 million. This marks a watershed moment for our industry and makes Regulation Crowdfunding a viable alternative to traditional venture capital and. KingsCrowd’s Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report was written for anyone interested in the Reg CF market and looking to update themselves on this fast-growing space quickly.”

A few takeaways from the report:

  • For the year 2020, “more than $210 million was invested in Reg CF raise campaigns.”
  • The average valuation of companies raising funds in 2020 “was $11.35 million, a 24% increase from 2018’s average valuation and up slightly from 2019’s $11.19 million figure.”
  • Second half 2020 data “shows 291 out of 964 start-up companies raised capital exhibited mixed-gender founding teams while 27% of all entities that raised funds through Reg CF included minority founders.”

KingsCrowd says that it’s at the “intersection between early-stage companies seeking growth capital and startup investors.” By offering “institutional-grade” data and analysis that stakeholders can “trust,” KingsCrowd allows anyone to “invest like a venture capitalist.”

KingsCrowd’s Merlin™ Ratings Platform analyzes over 150 data points to offer key insights, analytics, and ratings “to help investors navigate the startup investing market and vet the best deals worth adding to their investment portfolio.”

In late January 2021, Wefunder, a leading securities crowdfunding platform, highlighted Q4 performance in the Reg CF crowdfunding sector. According to the numbers generated by Kingscrowd, Wefunder dominated this sector of online capital formation.

Now crowdfunding encompasses other exemptions, including Reg A+ and Reg D (506c). Each of these exemptions is unique in its own way (Reg D is only available for accredited investors, for example), and many platforms offer securities under all three exemptions, including Wefunder but the bulk of the platform’s securities offerings are from issuers raising capital under Reg CF.

The numbers show Wefunder topping its nearest competitor under Reg CF by almost $10 million:

Wefunder – $29 million
StartEngine – $19.8 million
Republic – $9.9 million
All others – $12.6 million

As covered in March 2020, KingsCrowd closed on a $1 million crowdfunding round on the NetCapital marketplace.  NetCapital lists private securities under both Reg CF and Reg D. The KingsCrowd offering leveraged both exemptions in a side-by-side offering. KingsCrowd said it raised $902,952 under Reg CF and $97,048.80 under Reg D 506 (c). 555,556 units were sold. Kingscrowd is a ValueSetters, Inc. (OTC:VSTR) portfolio company.

You may download a copy of the KingsCrowd’s Regulation Crowdfunding 2018-2020 Intelligence Report here.

Source

Cultured Meat Startups Are the Trend to Watch

Heads up, meat lovers. Biden’s climate plan isn’t the biggest threat to the beef and chicken products you love so much. Neither is plant-based “fake meat.” The biggest threat to traditional meat is the “meat” being developed by new technologies right now. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrongly tweeted this week that “Joe Biden’s climate plan includes cutting 90 percent of red meat from our diets. They want to limit us to about four pounds a year.” 

She wasn’t the only politician raising a fuss. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dubbed the commander in chief “the Hamburglar.” 

Hey, guys, there’s no meat on these bones. Their beef stems from a University of Michigan study that said if hypothetically we reduced our meat consumption by dramatic proportions, hypothetically we could lower greenhouse gas emissions on a similarly significant scale.

Limiting American’s real meat intake to four pounds a year is not on anybody’s political agenda.

But here’s something to chew on. Five years from now, you may not even care what’s “real” meat. We’re in the early stages of developing tasty alternative proteins. The space is only 7-to-10 years old. If faux-meat product companies Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat don’t do it for you, there’s plenty more alternatives nipping at their heels. 

 Cell culture is an intriguing technology that could challenge traditional meat. It allows meat “to grow” from cells obtained from animals. And the process to get the cells doesn’t kill the animals. 

Cell-cultured meat is already on grocery market shelves outside the U.S. And it’s getting close to reaching the U.S. 

There’s also academic research and startups working on sophisticated cuts of meat and chicken alternatives, as well as fish substitutes.

Some of these products are a decade or more away from commercialization. Others are right around the corner. Startup Eat Just is readying its latest product: cultured chicken (made from cultured cells). 

So is lab-grown meat real or not?

Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick is adamant on this point. He says that as opposed to plant based, it’s real in every way. Just no chicken was killed. Eat Just’s product has been approved to sell in Singapore and is awaiting approval in the U.S. 

Another cell-based meat producer is Memphis Meats. It’s offerings include whole burgers, ready to sell to restaurants and stores right now. Memphis Meats is in discussions with the FDA and the USDA on how to “best” label its food products.

My favorite company in this space is Israeli-based Redefine Meat. I’ve been following this company for more than a year. It uses industrial 3D printing to create steaks. The “ink” is made of plant-based ingredients similar to what a cow eats. The technology fully replicates the muscle structure of beef. It is high in protein and has no cholesterol. And according to the company, it looks, cooks, feels and tastes like beef. Much to my frustration, I’ve never tasted one. But they sure look great…

An illustration of the 3D printed whole muscle cut of beef by Redefine Meat (Courtesy)
An illustration of the 3D printed whole muscle cut of beef by Redefine Meat (Courtesy)

Redefine Meat aims to sell its printers and cartridges to meat distributors worldwide, who will both print and distribute the meat once produced.

I believe meat lovers (including me) should rejoice at the new options hitting the market. We’re not under attack. On the contrary, startups want to please us. We’re a huge market. And a growing number of us want to eat healthier — but without giving up red meat. And with this new technology, we’ll continue to get our choice of cuts, organic meats, choose fresh or frozen, etc. None of that changes. 

But, thanks to startups, we’ll have additional optionality, choosing from an array of alternative protein foods, including ones that not only convincingly mimic meats but grow real meat. 

There are plenty of enticing startup investment opportunities here. I’m keeping a close eye on this space and will let you know if any good ones pop up.

Source

Toddler hodler: 3-year-old Bitcoin educator interviews Michael Saylor

Three year old Lily Knight, “the world’s youngest Bitcoin educator,” interviewed billionaire MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor for her YouTube channel in a video that dropped April 13.

In the interview, Lily noted that Saylor’s accumulation of more than $2 billion worth of Bitcoin since August 2020 had been a “ballsy move.”

The toddler and unconfirmed “hodler” became something of a vial sensation in the crypto space in mid February after she (aided by her parents) published a video explaining Bitcoin’s dynamics using Skittles candy.

The video caught the attention of Saylor and fellow crypto billionaire Tyler Winklevoss and both retweeted the video. Winklevoss added that “Lily, a 3-year-old, understands Bitcoin better than most central bankers.”

Lily’s father noted in a Reddit thread that the “ridiculous idea” to interview Saylor had come after he reached out to thank the corporate world’s biggest Bitcoin cheerleader for retweeting the video. Saylor was responsive to the idea. Her father revealed that the video required a lot of editing, as he had to “plead and bribe” Lily to sit still, as they pre-recorded the questions for the MicroStrategy founder to answer later:

“We recorded her side of the interview and then zoomed with him and played her questions, pausing after each one for him to answer. I wish we could do it live, but she’s so unpredictable at this age .. she just might break out into a Frozen song or something lol Maybe when she’s a little older.”

The first question Lily asked was: “When did you first buy Bitcoin? What convinced you to buy?”. Saylor said that he’d been searching for new treasury strategies to preserve shareholder value in March 2020, due to a “gnawing suspicion that the money was broken”. Saylor added that:

“I went on a mad quest to find a solution. And I was delighted to discover Bitcoin, a store of value over long periods of time. So once I discovered Bitcoin and understood all of its characteristics as a digital monitoring network, I started buying it and I haven’t stopped.”

The young “crypto educator” said that, “A lot of people are confused by Bitcoin” and asked Saylor “What do you think is the biggest misconception?”. The billionaire said people often characterize Bitcoin as purely an investment idea or speculative asset, however, he describes it as the “world’s first monitoring network”:

“Bitcoin is the world’s first digital monitoring network, and it’s a technology. And when you start thinking of it as a better technology for money, then you realize that it’s not just a trade. It’s actually a way to think about the world.”

This may have gone over Lily’s head.

She finished up by asking: “What’s next for you?” with Saylor responding that that he’s looking forward to doing everything he can to spread Bitcoin to billions of people and also to educate the world on the benefits of Bitcoin”

“And when I get some free time, I’m going to buy myself some more Bitcoin,” he added.

Toddler hodler: 3-year-old Bitcoin educator interviews Michael Saylor

Source

Malaysia’s PayNet Partners FassPay to Help Small Merchants Process Card Payments with Mobile Devices as POS Terminals

Malaysia’s PayNet, the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for that nation’s capital markets, has decided to work with FassPay, a subsidiary of Soft Space, which will be a third-party acquirer for MyDebit, the country’s local debit card scheme.

This new appointment should allow Fasspay to acquire smaller merchants and provide them with its suite of payment solutions which includes their Tap on Phone Payment solution, Fasstap — a product that allows merchants to use their own mobile devices like POS terminals to take card payments.

Merchants looking to sign up with Fasspay don’t have to be physically present as the onboarding and approval process (including Know-Your-Customer or KYC checks) is handled remotely via a step-by-step procedure that may be completed online.

FassPay has also teamed up with digital commerce platform Elokal to digitally support 2,000 small businesses in rural areas by helping them accept cashless payments.

Chris Leong, Chief Executive Officer of Fasspay, explained that Fasstap is a “robust” Cloud-enabled solution that eliminates the need for costly and dedicated payment hardware – which makes it viable or practical for small merchants. Leong also noted that the solution provides access to businesses to tap into their “value-added” loyalty platform and various other developer-based services.

Leong also mentioned that Tap on Phone payments are “reliable and secure, so merchants can be confident in knowing that their solutions face little to no risk.” He added that with their collaboration with PayNet, they think that Fasstap will “create an innovation cycle to further spur contactless usage in Malaysia.”

Leong further noted:

“The collaboration between PayNet and Soft Space, which began with a pilot launch in October 2018, has enabled merchants, particularly smaller merchants to go cashless and accept MyDebit payments without incurring the monthly expenses for a separate card payment terminal. Merchants that sign up with Fasspay would be able to use their Android mobile devices to accept MyDebit payments with the “Tap on Phone” solution called “Fasstap” by leveraging on near-field communication capabilities.”

Peter Schiesser, Group Chief Executive Officer of PayNet, stated:

“PayNet has partnered with Soft Space and now Fasspay to introduce the Tap on Phone solution to merchants for the acceptance of MyDebit in promoting a more cost-effective payment option. The Covid-19 pandemic has raised concern about safety and hygiene, and we are pleased that with the Fasstap solution, merchants can meet their customers’ preference for contactless payments. PayNet strives to offer payment eco-systems that are resilient, competitive and accessible to all. This is in line with our mission to be a trusted enabler of inclusive and collaborative financial ecosystems, which supports the nation’s vision to transform into a digitally-driven, high income nation and a regional leader in the digital economy.”

Source