The Intrepid Report Issue #56 – Blockchain Review

Here’s what’s in store for you this week: The FATF will be issuing clarifications on AML/CFT guidelines to support innovation, while institutional investors and industry continue to show growing interest in cryptocurrencies. We’ve got thoughts from the Blockchain Review on decentralised cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as insights on UX issues, governance models and use-cases in blockchain and much more. Check it out below!


Key news highlights. What’s going on in the world of Blockchain?

Blockchain Could Track the Globes Gold Bullion by 2019
Ethical sourcing is becoming critical in such a high-value sector as precious metals. It will become even more important as reserves of metals such as gold diminish and scarcity develops. Here’s more on providing tracking and transparency to a trillion dollar industry.
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Regulation of Virtual Assets
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which drives the global anti-money laundering agenda, will be issuing clarifications on managing the ML and TF risks of virtual assets, providing guidance to jurisdictions to create a sound AML/CFT regulatory environment in which companies are free to innovate.
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$50 Million Bitcoin Mining Farm Opens in Armenia
Armenia is aiming to create its own Silicon Valley by establishing a free economic zone that will host a state-of-the-art technology center, officials have said. The new mining facility, the country’s first, comes at a time when a number of countries are implementing and expanding blockchain technologies.
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Crypto M&A is on a Tear as Deal-makers See Opportunity in Bitcoin’s Price Slump
Merger and acquisition activity for cryptocurrency companies has more than doubled in the past year amid a 54% slump in bitcoin prices. The industry is in a “land grab” for innovative technology, access to new markets, intellectual property, and talented employees through M&A. Here’s more on the industry’s activity.
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Goldman Sachs and Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz Invest $15 Million in Crypto Custody Firm
In total, BitGo’s series B fund rounding has brought in $58.5 million. Goldman Sachs and Novogratz together contributed, as their clients show growing interest in cryptocurrencies. Goldman Sachs has also reportedly considered creating its own crypto custody. Here’s more on the story.
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The latest insights, thoughts, and analysis from the Intrepid Team

How Decentralised Cryptocurrency Exchanges are Bringing Trust Back to the Cryptosphere
If there is a currency in the world, there has to be somewhere to trade it. Trading can be done on two types of exchanges – centralised and decentralised. This article takes a closer look at the problems with centralised exchanges and explains why decentralised crypto exchanges are needed.
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Articles, white papers, ebooks, and more

Current User Experience (UX) Issues of the Blockchain Technology
The issue of a blockchain adoption is in the user experience. Overall, the current state of blockchain user experience creates high entry barriers for newcomers, lowers adoption rate and raises more questions than solves actual needs. Here are some distinctive features of any blockchain-based technology that impacts UX and what we can do to improve user-experience and drive blockchain adoption.
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How Blockchain will Allow for Fewer Counterfeit Goods and Faster Product Recalls
There are some promising use cases for how blockchain could help solve some of the problems plaguing retail, and even a few initiatives that are already well underway. It’s worth familiarizing yourself with the areas of retail that could eventually be improved by blockchain. Here are six that technologists, investors, and analysts are excited about now.
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The New Federalism: Blockchain will Decentralise Big Tech’s Power on the Internet
In an era of the rise of decentralised organisations, blockchain governance is becoming a topic of increasing relevance. Platforms similar to the big Internet companies are beginning to emerge, only decentralised and controlled by users, e.g. Steemit (Reddit, decentralised). With no owner/monarch to make unilateral decisions (software updates, pricing policy, revenue distribution), users have to make decisions together. Here are some approaches to governance.
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What China’s Cashless Revolution Can Teach the West About Crypto
The real benefits of China’s cashless revolution lie in how this new, software-based system of value exchange has become a platform on which new business models can be built. So, does China prove that you don’t need a blockchain to build a new Internet of Value, powered by device-to-device exchanges in an Internet of Things economy?
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Updates on what we’re up to and our upcoming events

Get to Know the Metabase Network Advisory Team
We’ve built a blockbuster team of advisors that features leading industry experts from around the world. Get to know them and the other exciting developments we have lined up for building Metabase Network.
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Metabase Network Main Sale 2 – Final Bonus
Main Sale 2 offers a 5% bonus, which will be the last round of bonus sales for the ICO. To allow more users to buy into the sale, the minimum contribution is 5 USD and the buying process has been simplified to 5 minutes.
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We are Hiring! Build the Future With Us
We are hiring back-end (Golang, C++) and blockchain protocol engineers! If you are imaginative and can make abstract ideas practical, useful, but totally out of the ordinary, and have a passion for blockchain, apply to join us.
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3 Simple Steps to Invite Friends and Get More Tokens
Earn 5% Metabase tokens when your friends buy tokens using your invite link! Simply buy Metabase tokens (min. 5 USD) and send your invite link to friends to start earning. By using your invite link, you are also giving your friends additional bonuses of 1-5% on their first purchase.
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Let’s Shake up the Tech Event Industry in Asia!
We want to know what you want when it comes to events in the digital, innovation and tech space. What’s lacking? What’s awesome? Let us know here!
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Want to learn more about blockchain? Check out our new micro-site How Does the Blockchain Work, a clear and non-technical guide on how blockchain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum works, and more. Check it out.

Interested in learning from leading entrepreneurs in the blockchain world? Check out our Founders in Focus interview series on YouTube. A show where we uncover the personal stories and journeys of founders and innovators from the crypto sphere.