Tesla is one of the worlds 20 fast-growing companies – Teslarati

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Tesla is one of the worlds 20 fastest-growing companies for 2022, Fortune reported, adding that last year was a record for growth and recovery across its Top Global 500 list. Although many of the companies on the list reported revenue gains, only a few grew by leaps and bounds.

This growth enabled them to climb higher up the ranks. This years list of the 20 fastest-growing companies was measured by how many spots they jumped ahead. These companies advanced by around 126 spots and recorded an average 70.8% revenue growth. Altogether, these 20 companies held a combined $1.2 trillion in revenue and $102 billion in profits.

Although Chinese companies were the fastest growing, Tesla was the fastest growing company in the U.S. Last year, it was 392 out of 500. This year, it jumped up to 242 on the Fortune Global 500 list.

Out of the top 20 fastest growing companies, Tesla was number 4 on the list following China National Coal Group, CMA CGM, and Ansteel Group. A quick look at the industries shows that automotive as a sector is growing rapidly.

It also reflects what Elon Musk said about Teslas real competition being fossil fuel companies such as Aramco. When Elon Musk said that he thinks Tesla has the potential to become the most valuable company ever, he noted that for this to happen Teslas market cap would have to exceed Aramcos.

In 2021, I wrote this article in CleanTechnica. Cathie Wood of ARK Invest said that she believed that Teslas share price would reach the $3,000 mark by 2025. When this happens, its market cap would reach as high as $4 trillion in their best-case scenario.

ARK used a Monte Carlo simulation mode with 34 inputs to come to this conclusion. And it included a worst-case scenario which has Teslas 2025 price target at $1,500.

Although I am not a stock analyst, it doesnt take a genius to see how quickly Tesla is growing. And as it grows, its pushing the automotive industry to grow with it. Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, and many others are now producing and marketing EVs.

Once, long ago, it was thought that this would be impossible.

Disclaimer: Johnna is long Tesla.

Id love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1

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Tesla is one of the worlds 20 fast-growing companies - Teslarati

Is the Tesla Model Y Safer Than the Model 3? – MotorBiscuit

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The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 represent the most affordable vehicles in the California marques electric vehicle (EV) lineup. However, the lower price tag doesnt mean that the diet-Teslas have compromised in every way. Both EVs get top scores in safety and crashworthiness from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS). Still, is the Tesla Model Y safer than the Model 3?

The Tesla Model Y gets a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Top Safety Pick+ rating is the agencys highest award and represents good ratings in nearly every category and subcategory. While good may not sound like high praise, it is the highest rating the IIHS gives for individual evaluations. In the Model Ys case, the Tesla SUV scores high marks in every one of the IIHS six crashworthiness tests, as well as front crash protection and roof strength.

In addition to superior roof strength, the Model Y is balanced in such a way that it resists rolling over. This is due to the Teslas battery placement. When a side impact force strikes the Model Y, it will often right itself rather than roll over like other SUVs.

The Tesla Model 3 is a very safe car. Like its sibling vehicle, the Model 3 gets a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS. For instance, the baby Tesla got high scores in front crashworthiness tests. That is primarily thanks to the absence of an internal combustion engine (ICE) in the front. While EVs have a stigma about fire issues like thermal runaway, ICEs are inherently more fire-prone. That fire risk is due to a gas-powered engines flammable liquids, friction, and high heat.

Furthermore, much like the Tesla Model Y, the Model 3 has outstanding roof strength scores. In fact, one of the baby Teslas resisted a felled tree as it crashed down onto its roof. In addition to resisting roof-crushing weight, the Tesla EV protected its occupant from any physical harm.

Both EVs are very safe vehicles and boast top scores from the IIHS. Additionally, both Teslas have five-star ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). However, there are two categories where the Model 3 outshines its sibling, if just barely. First, the Tesla Model Y Long Range gets an acceptable rating from the IIHS for its headlights.

Furthermore, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that the Model Y resisted 19,188 lbs of crushing force to its roof. However, the smaller Model 3 resisted 20,835 lbs of crushing force. That gives the Model 3 a strength-to-weight ratio of 5.85 to its siblings 4.42.

While the Tesla Model 3 is safer on paper, the safety differences between the two models are negligible. If you want a larger EV in the Tesla lineup, youd be fine buying a Model Y. However, if you want to save some money and reap the benefits of one of the safest EVs on the market, buy the baby Tesla.

Scroll down to the following article to read more about EVs!

RELATED: Electric Vehicles: Are EVs Really Environmentally Friendly?

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Is the Tesla Model Y Safer Than the Model 3? - MotorBiscuit

Some Reflections On An RSC Memo, ExxonMobil, And Tesla – Forbes

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On July 27, 2022, The Republican Study Committee published a Memorandum titled The War on American Energy: Ground Zero expressing its concern about Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). The memo was sent by RSC Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-03), Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03)), and Reps. French Hill (AR-02), Andy Barr (KY-06), and Bill Huizenga (MI-02).

The memo starts by explaining that ESG refers to the progressive scheme through which the Left pressures corporate America to take positions on social and political issues that have nothing to do with business. In an exclusive piece published on the same date as the memo, Breitbart opined that ESG funds advance leftist goals such as climate change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. I really doubt that leftists have a of goal creating climate change, thereby exacerbating material risk to companies. Rather, they think its a problem that needs to be addressed. I suspect that many on the Right recognize it is a problem as well. Honest differences can exist about the best way to address it. Name calling isnt a way of doing so.

Similarly, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) has become emblematic of the broader culture war going on in this country. Lets leave DE&I aside since the focus of the memo is the claim that ESG is going to war with the American energy industry.

The memo further argues that Companies should focus on maximizing profit for their shareholders, instead of paying for their employees travel expenses to get abortions. Abortion is one of the most polarizing issues in America today and the language in the memo clearly reflects one point of view. But since the focus of the memo is American energy, Im not sure why its mentioned and so I will leave this aside as well. But I do want to note that the Breitbart piece defining ESG links to the CFA Institute. Here is the first sentence in how the Institute defines ESG investing: Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as part of their analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities. This sounds like smart investing. It also sounds like the Breitbart reporter Sean Moran didnt bother to read whats on that link he put in his piece.

waving flag, us republican party elephant emblem, background, 3d illustration

In a previous piece I announced my commitment to meet with anyone in the GOP who has concerns about ESG and Woke Capitalism. Here I would like to extend this to the authors of this memo. And in the spirit of seeking to lay some groundwork for a dialogue, let me start with points in the memo I agree with. The Representatives cite a FINRA Investor Education Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago (emphasis mine) study based on a survey of 1,228 retail investors which found that only 28 percent of investors report being at all familiar with ESG investing. Only 24 percent of study participants can correctly define ESG investing, and only 21 percent know what the letters in ESG stand for. This is obviously quite problematic if these investors are buying a fund with any kind of ESG label and they dont know what it means. Blame lies in some combination of the retail investor, their financial advisor (if they are using one), and the firm marketing the fund.

Another valid concern raised in the memo comes from citing a Wall Street Journal article that notes that ESG ETFs are 43 percent more expensive those not labeled as such. Perhaps there is some justification for this, but this would require clear language on the part of the firm selling the fund to acknowledge it and explain why. Its also worth noting that some of these ESG funds actually hold oil and gas stocks. I can see the logic for this given the business model transformation some of them are undertaking in order to continue to deliver long-term shareholder value in the energy transition. But given the different views on oil and gas stocks, such holdings should be disclosed.

And, of course, theres the issue of performance. There is no clear conclusion here since it depends on time frames. Some ESG funds did well when tech stocks were booming and oil stocks were lagging, but the reverse is now sometimes true. Not always. The Parnassus Endeavor Trust fund which doesnt hold oil and gas companies has outperformed the comparable SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over a 15 year period of time. For those investing for the long term, its simply too soon to tell whether so-called ESG funds overperform or underperform since most of these funds are rather new. A further complication, as noted in another article from Investors Business Daily cited in the memo, is that The question of performance boils down to the wide variation of what's considered an ESG company. More on this below.

What the memo fails to say is that the study also found that Most retail investors believe investing is a way to make positive change in the world. This is at the center of the current debate about whether ESG investing can make the world a better place without sacrificing returns. There is no denying the fact that there is a tremendous amount of greenwashing in the marketing of ESG funds with claims about making the world a better place when in fact its not clear at all that they are. An ESG fund holding a bunch of high tech stocks and no oil and gas stocks doesnt solve the problem of climate change. Thus, the situation is even worse than the memo suggests. With the now-famous DWS whistleblower, Desiree Fixler, I have written about how to improve clarity regarding ESG investingbut without making it a political punching bag. Fortunately, regulators such as the SEC and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority are looking to instill some truth in labeling on these funds.

Not surprisingly, there are also some points in the memo where I have a different view, one in between ESG Can Save the World! and ESG Could Be the End of the World! After describing ESG as the progressive scheme through which the Left the memo claims ESG doesnt work since A companys ESG ratings does not reflect its environmental impactExxon Mobile (sic) received a higher ESG rating than Tesla. There are three basic problems with this statement.

First, ESG isnt just about the environment. And I note the obvious irony of depicting ExxonMobil as bad for the environment while Tesla is good for it. This irony comes from the second problemthe memos failure to accept the simple fact that in an investment context, ESG is simply about quantifying the material issues that matter to company profitability and long-term value creation for shareholders. These are industry specific.

The Material ESG Issues for Oil & GasExploration & Production

For an oil and gas company doing exploration and production, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), of which I am the founding Chair, has identified 10 material issues, four of which are environmental: GHG Emissions, Air Quality, Water & Wastewater Management, and Ecological Impacts. These are topics an oil and gas company needs to manage in a responsible way. A high ESG rating for ExxonMobil simply means it is doing so on these issues and the other six. It is not a judgement about whether ExxonMobil is a good or bad company in some fundamental existential sense.

Material ESG Issues for TransportationAutomobiles

According to SASB, there are only four material issues in the automotive industry and none of them are environmental: Product Quality & Safety, Labor Practices, Product Design & Lifecycle Management, and Materials Sourcing and Efficiency. The reason Tesla gets a low ESG rating is because of extensive problems with Labor Practices including a stressful working environment, racial discrimination, and an anti-union attitude on the part of Mr. Elon Musk. In one of his countless Tweets, Mr. Musk complained that Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didnt make the list! ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors. Sounds to me that Mr. Musk is trying to deflect attention from the material ESG factors that matter to his industry. Im also struggling with the notion that phony social justice warriors are behind ExxonMobils high ranking given the many concerns these warriors have about ExxonMobil. Mr. Musk, the RSC, and others in that camp are the ones who are weaponizing ESG.

BERLIN, GERMANY DECEMBER 01: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the ... [+] Axel Springer Award 2020 on December 01, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images)

Third, in its ExxonMobil/Tesla comparison the RSC confounds ESG with impact. In fairness this is a common practice across the entire political spectrum. The distinction is a simple but important one. ESG is about a companys operations and activities. Impact is about the positive and negative externalities of a companys products and services. Applauding Tesla for creating electric cars that dont burn oil and gas is to recognize the positive impact of its products in reducing carbon emissions. Although these products require the mining of metals which makes Materials Sourcing & Efficiency a material issue, an issue on which Tesla does not disclose.

Criticizing ExxonMobil for being an oil and gas company is based on the negative impact of carbon emissions from the use of its products, such as energy production for electricity, transportation, and certain manufacturing industries (the top five being paper, food, petroleum refining, chemicals, and metals/minerals). Oil and gas companies alone cant solve this problem since alternative sources of energy must be found. Here too there are vast differences of opinion about the urgency and best way of doing so. This is a discussion Americans across the political spectrum need to be able to have with each other if we are going to address a problem that matters to all of us, regardless of which state we live in.

Critics of ESG from the Left complain that these ratings fail to address the issue of impact and are only focused on issues that matter to shareholder value creation. Thus, we have the curious situation where the Right is claiming that ESG hurts profitability while the Left is complaining that ESG is only about profitability. Which probably means that the term ESG is no longer a useful one for a productive conversation about creating shareholder value in a way that isnt destructive to the world we all live in. Sadly, I dont think the term ESG will disappear any time soon because it has entered the cultural wars in the political realm and is being weaponized by both the Left and the Right. The extremes on both sides are holding onto it for reasons that have nothing to do with shareholder value creation.

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Some Reflections On An RSC Memo, ExxonMobil, And Tesla - Forbes

East Windsor wants Tesla to come to town – Journal Inquirer

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EAST WINDSOR After the South Windsor Planning and Zoning Commission rejected a plan to bring a Tesla dealership to town, East Windsor officials say they would welcome such an establishment.

East Windsor First Selectman Jason Bowsza sent a letter on July 29, making it known that the town is interested in a Tesla dealership on Route 5.

On July 26, South Windsors PZC rejected the proposed text amendment allowing the sale of electric vehicles in the Buckland Road Gateway Zone.

After hearing about the rejection, Bowsza wrote to Jon Hauser, managing partner for Drake Real Estate, stating that he would invite him to consider East Windsor as a potential site for the Tesla project.

According to Bowsza, East Windsor would be a great place for a Tesla dealership because the town is equal distance from Springfield and Hartford.

East Windsor is home to many thriving automotive businesses along our Route 5 corridor, Bowsza added.

The fear of Buckland Road becoming similar to Route 5 is exactly what drove the majority of the South Windsor PZC to reject the text amendment.

During the July 26 meeting, South Windsor PZC Chairman Bart Pacekonis and Vice Chairman Kevin Foley suggested that Hauser open a dealership on Route 5.

Hauser said that Tesla wanted to be in the Buckland area of South Windsor because of the great names in the area like Apple, Whole Foods, and Nike. He said he was unlikely to relocate to the South Windsor portion of Route 5.

Bowsza said East Windsors PZC is in the process of amending the towns zoning regulations with the intention of easing the restrictions on electric vehicle charging station placement.

The PZC will hold a public hearing on the proposal on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Collin covers East Windsor and Windsor Locks for the Journal Inquirer.

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East Windsor wants Tesla to come to town - Journal Inquirer

Think you can’t afford to buy Tesla shares? Think again… – The Motley Fool Australia

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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares have become one of the most famous investments in the world over the past few years.

Helped by a number of factors, including the companys breakneck growth, the eccentricities of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and sometimes feverish dedication from its base of retail investors, Tesla shares have long been one of the most-watched stocks on the US markets.

The elephant in the room is of course the life-changing stock price gains this company has given investors in recent years. Back in 2019, the electric vehicle and battery manufacturer was a US$40 stock. Today, it has just closed at US$925.90 a share, representing a gain of almost 2,000% over the past three years.

Late last year, Tesla shares reached a record high of US$1,243.49 each, which was a gain approaching 3,000% from the benchmark we just discussed. As the company stands today, Tesla is now the fifth-largest share on the US markets by market capitalisation.

Its now larger than companies like Johnson & Johnson and Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway.

But right now, the Tesla stock price could be described as prohibitively expensive for many investors. After all, an investor wanting to open a position in Tesla would need US$925.90 (or almost $1,324 in our currency) just to buy a single share.

Well, that looks like it is about to change.

According to reporting in Forbes, Tesla shareholders have just approved a stock split for the company.

A stock split is where a company splits and reissues its shares at a lower price. The volume increases but the value decreases. To use the common metaphor, it is akin to reslicing a pizza into smaller slices. The overall valuation of a company doesnt change, only the number and individual value of the shares.

In Teslas case, a three-for-one split was approved. This means that when the split takes effect, Teslas share count will be increased by a factor of three, which means that each share will be worth a third of what it used to be.

So if an investor owned 10 Tesla shares, each worth US$925.90 today, they would own 30 Tesla shares, each worth approximately US$308.63, if the split went ahead.

As you can see, the investor still owns a total of US$9,259 worth of Tesla under either scenario. Thus, the size of the pizza remains the same.

So why do companies do stock splits then, if the outcome is so inconsequential?

Well, a smaller individual stock price can increase the liquidity of a companys stock, for one. It also helps smaller, individual retail investors access the now-cheaper shares. Additionally, it creates some publicity for the company too (here we are talking about it).

In the past, we have seen many different stocks rally after the announcement and execution of a stock split. Thats despite the fact it does not increase the underlying fundamental value of a company, as weve discussed.

Tesla is not the only big-name company to undertake a stock split in 2022. Weve also seen stock splits from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) this year. Both of these were 20-to-1 splits.

Indeed, it was only back in 2020 that Tesla undertook its last stock split, a five-to-one division at the time. We dont know yet when this latest split will take effect, but no doubt the company will announce this soon.

Tesla shares remain down close to 23% in 2022 thus far, although the company has rallied by almost 33% over the past month alone.

At the companys last stock price, Tesla has a market capitalisation of US$967.1 billion.

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Think you can't afford to buy Tesla shares? Think again... - The Motley Fool Australia

Tesla Makes More Money Than GM and Ford – TheStreet

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Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc. Reportis further tightening its grip on the U.S. auto sector.

The list of trophies won by the manufacturer of premium electric vehicles continues to grow. Elon Musk's firm is the world's largest automotive group by market capitalization with a market value of over $896 billion at the time of writing. Ford's valuation is $57.2 billion and GM's is $52.1 billion.

This crazy valuation makes Tesla the sixth most valuable company in the world behind Apple (AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. Report, oil giant Saudi Aramco, Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report, Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Alphabet Inc. Report,and Amazon (AMZN) - Get Amazon.com Inc. Report.

But if there is a crown that should delight its fans and investors, it is that Tesla earns much more money than its main American rivals Ford (F) - Get Ford Motor Company Reportand General Motors (GM) - Get General Motors Company Report.

For the second consecutive quarter, Tesla has just announced a net profit higher than that of its Michigan rivals, according to their respective earnings reports.

Tesla reported net profit of $2.3 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, up 98% year-over-year, outperforming GM whose net profit was $1.7 billion, down 40.3%. The Austin, Texas automaker even made three times more money than Ford, which reported a net profit of $667 million, up 19% year-over-year.

The manufacturer of the electric pickup/truck F-150 Lightning explained, however, that its profits have been reduced by a $2.4 billion decline in the value of its stake in the young rival Rivian (RIVN) - Get Rivian Automotive Inc. Report.

Rivian stock prices fell 49% in the second quarter. Ford announced in regulatory filings that it had sold a total of 15 million Rivian shares. The Dearborn group still holds 86.95 million Rivian shares, making it one of the main shareholders alongside Amazon and the legendary financier George Soros.

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Ford therefore prefers to highlight its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted Ebit) which amounts to $3.7 billion.

But looking at margins before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or adjusted EBITDA margin, which is another gauge of profitability, Tesla maintains leadership. Its adjusted EBITDA margin was about 22.4% in the second quarter compared to 20.8% in the second quarter of 2021.

GM's adjusted EBIT margin -- margin before interest and taxes -- was 6.6%, halved year-over-year. Ford's adjusted EBIT margin is 8.8%. Basically, Tesla is significantly more profitable than Ford and GM.

Tesla makes the difference on costs. The company seems to have better control over its costs, which is easy when you spend $0 on marketing, while rivals are flooding consumers with ads touting the merits of their latest models.

For example, Ford's total costs increased year on year by 39.4% in the second quarter.

Tesla's performance is all the more spectacular as the disruptor produces and delivers far fewer cars than its two rivals. In the second quarter, Musk's group produced over 258,000 vehicles and delivered over 254,000 vehicles worldwide.

GM delivered 582,401 vehicles in the U.S alone, while Ford delivered 483,688 new vehicles to U.S customers.

In the first quarter, Tesla just reported a net income of $3.31 billion.By comparison, GM recorded a net profit of $2.93 billion in the same period.

Ford, for its part, posted a net loss of $3.1 billion.

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Tesla Makes More Money Than GM and Ford - TheStreet

Building the blockchain industry despite market drops and regulation threats – Cointelegraph

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The cryptocurrency market is the only truly free market that exists in the financial universe, said Dan Tapiero, CEO of 10T Holdings, during a recent video discussion with Cointelegraph Research.

A major concern of venture capital (VC) and investment firms as of late has been centered around regulation from different countries around the globe. While the theme of the discussion was on regulation, the conversation also touched upon how these different members of the crypto space see the future of the industry.

Each of the panel members brought their own perspective: Dan Tapieros 10T Holdings is a mid-stage private equity investment firm and has decades of experience. Smiyet Belrhiti is the managing partner for Keychain Ventures, which provides institutional investors exposure to the blockchain and Web3 ecosystems through funds and co-investment opportunities. The CEO of layer-1 protocol Devvio, Tom Anderson, brings the perspective of a crypto company that is getting ready for the potential regulations.

The panel also discussed the current state of the crypto market, VC activity in the crypto space, trends during the second quarter of 2022 and what may be on the horizon in the future. Even with all the FUD looming over different parts of the blockchain industry, the panelists in the interview remained positive that regulation would either help the space in general or would be impractical in its enforcement.

This article is for information purposes only and represents neither investment advice nor an investment analysis or an invitation to buy or sell financial instruments. Specifically, the document does not serve as a substitute for individual investment or other advice.

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Building the blockchain industry despite market drops and regulation threats - Cointelegraph

Recent Exploits of Blockchain Bridges Highlight Need for Cybersecurity in Crypto and Risk of Liability – JD Supra

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According to recent media reports there have been several instances of blockchain bridges being hacked this year, including reports on August 2 that a bridge lost close to $200 million to upwards of 40 hackers who exploited a bug in its protocol, and reports in June that another bridge lost $100 million from hackers allegedly exploiting a weakness in the bridge to seize a number of different tokens, including Ethereum, Binance Coin, Tether, and Dai.

A blockchain bridge is a protocol connecting two or more different blockchains, thus allowing the blockchains to interact. Interaction can enable an exchange of information across blockchains, as well as an exchange of cryptocurrency or NFTs. In order for funds to be moved between blockchains via a bridge, the assets to be transferred are locked on one blockchain and minted on another. To achieve this, bridges often hold large stores of cryptocurrency; maintaining these large stores of liquidity has made blockchain bridges a popular target for criminals. Successful attacks on blockchain bridges have become increasingly common as cryptocurrency grows in popularity and use. According to forensics firm Elliptic, more than $1 billion was stolen from bridges in the first half of 2022.

These hacks are occurring in the wake of a Chainalysis report finding that North Korean cybercriminals had a prolific 2021, extracting nearly $400 million in digital assets through at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms. These attacks targeted primarily investment firms and centralized exchanges, but highlight the issue of cybersecurity in the broader crypto community.

Consumers are also beginning to take note of the alleged lack of security on some platforms. In a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit filed earlier this year, Sarcuni et al v. bZx DAO et al. (S. D. Cal., May 2, 2022), plaintiffs allege that a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) failed to implement security measures that it knew were reasonably necessary to secure the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol. The alleged negligence resulted in the theft of $55 million from user accounts. Notably, plaintiffs allege that all the DAO itself, its co-founders, and its members are jointly and severally liable for negligence by failing to implement adequate security. DAOs typically lack legal formation or recognition and decision-making authority is vested in all holders of the token native to the DAO (members), where the number of tokens a member possesses correlates to the number of votes that member has. In Sarcuni, plaintiffs allege that members are jointly and severally liable because, while there is no legal formation or recognition, the bZx DAO fits the definition of a partnership under the Uniform Partnership Act and is thus a general partnership among token holders.

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Recent Exploits of Blockchain Bridges Highlight Need for Cybersecurity in Crypto and Risk of Liability - JD Supra

When The CBDC Revolution Comes, It Won’t Be On The Blockchain – Forbes

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Waiting for digital currency.

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Jon Cunliffe, who is overseeing the banks work on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), recently said the Bank plans to release a research paper at the end of the year about how a retail CBDC might look. He expects it will be five or more years before digital pounds are available to consumers and Im sure that this is a conservative estimate, because a retail CBDC has to satisfy the demands of many competing stakeholders and it will take a long time to elucidate and reconcile as such.

The Deputy Governor further said that any proposed digital pound would likely be managed through some sort of account rather than working like coins or banknotes. His comments seemed to imply that tokens on a blockchain were not all that when it comes to a population-scale cash alternative or some form of electronic legal tender.

Those remarks were greeted with dismay by many cryptocurrency devotees who imagine some form of blockchain to be at the heart of any digital currency system. But the Bank of Englands views in this respect echo the findings of The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI). Their Project Hamilton Phase 1 executive summary notes that they found "a distributed ledger operating under the jurisdiction of different actors was not needed to achieve our goals."

In plain English they said that no blockchain is needed to implement a CBDC. Whats more, they said that a distributed ledger did not match the "trust assumptions in Project Hamilton's approach" which assumes that the platform would be administered by a central actor (eg, a central bank) and they found that even when run under the control of such a single actor, the architecture creates "performance bottlenecks".

(In other words, the core of their discovery was that a blockchain is a very specific solution to the problem of forming consensus in the presence of untrusted third parties but in a Federal Reserve digital currency of any kind there would be no such parties.)

Also, as the Project Hamilton people note, CBDC design choices are more granular than commonly assumed and the tokens or accounts" categorization is limited and insufficient to surface the complexity of choices in access, intermediation, institutional roles, and data retention in CBDC. Generally speaking, the distinction between the two as noted in various reports from the BIS, Bank of Canada, IMF and so on is that an account-based system requires verifying the identity of the payer, while a token-based system requires verifying the validity of the object used to pay.

In reality, however, no central bank is going to allow a token-based system that operates anonymously and therefore digital identity will be integral to CBDC roll-out. This is why I think it will take some time for all of these architectural choices to be worked through even after the requirements, goals and constraints of a national digital currency have been agreed. I do not see this wide spectrum of design choices as a problem, but rather an optimistic shout out to the policy makers and regulators: if you can actually tell us (i.e., the digital financial services industry) what you want from a digital currency, then we can deliver it because we know that all the technologies needed to build it already exist (unless your requirements include time travel or perpetual motion.)

(To pick an example at the customer interface, wallets can support both an account-balance view and a coin-specific view for the user regardless of how funds are stored in the wallet, database or AI-powered quantum blockchain in the cloud.)

To summarize, then: the Bank of Englands apparent view that a retail CBDC is best implemented through the transfer of account balances accords with other findings. Whats more, in my view, the ability to transfer limited balances directly between devices that are offline is central to making a CBDC that viable population-scale alternative to cash.

One of the reasons why some people think that a blockchain is needed for a digital currency is because of the potential for smart, programmable money. I agree that programmability will surely be one of the most interesting characteristics of retail digital currency, but that does not mean smart contracts and blockchains.

(I am talking about retail CBDC here. When it comes to wholesale CBDC for institutions, trading more complex instruments, then the full panoply of smart contract capabilities may well be appropriate.)

The Bank of England, and as far as I can tell pretty much every other central bank, has no interest in running a digital currency scheme themselves. They all envisage two-tier schemes whereby they control the scheme but have it delivered through third-parties. The Bank of England calls these third-parties Payment Interface Processors (or PIPs), which I think is a little too generic: I would have gone with Currency Connectors (CCs) or something like that, but no matter.

Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Jon Cunliffe (Photo credit JONATHAN BRADY/AFP via Getty ... [+] Images)

Lee Braine and Shreepad Shukla from the Chief Technology Office at Barclays Bank have a paper "An Illustrative Industry Architecture to Mitigate Potential Fragmentation across Central Bank Digital Currency and Commercial Bank Money which expands on the Bank of Englands platform model of CBDC to make some suggestions as to what the PIP ecosystem will look like. They point out that implementing programmability in this ecosystem, instead of on a blockchain using smart contracts should "reduce security risks and complexity and I am sure that they are right.

Smart contracts (or persistent scripts, as they should be called) have some interesting capabilities. But they impose an incredible degree of responsibility on their creators, who are required to write perfect code to implement perfect logic. Should there be a flaw in the logic or a mistake in the code, it will inevitably be exploited by attackers. This goes on all the time, as even a cursory glance at cryptocurrency news feeds will confirm. I simply cannot imagine a central bank forking a nations currency to correct an error made in a smart contract!

Instead of smart contracts what if the intermediaries (i.e., PIPs/CCs) provide a rich and well-defined set of APIs for the wallet providers to use to deliver services to end consumers then we have the basis for creative new products and services without the problem of testing, certifying and policing smart contracts. Given the frequent and serious nature of the smart contract errors we see on public blockchains, such APIs are very attractive.

All things considered, then, it seems that blockchains are neither necessary nor desirable for a retail digital currency and since according to the Bank of England, the Fed, the Bank of Japan and others there is no burning platform for retail CBDCs and it will take time for them to reach the general public, there is plenty of time to explore other architectures more suited to an electronic fiat alternative.

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When The CBDC Revolution Comes, It Won't Be On The Blockchain - Forbes

Razorfish and Korea Blockchain Week Explore Cultural Relevance as a Catalyst for Mainstream Adoption of Emerging Technology – Business Wire

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Razorfish, a global leader in marketing transformation, today announced an addition to the Korea Blockchain Week 2022 lineup with a panel discussion focused on the connection between cultural relevancy and mainstream adoption of NFTs.

Hosted by FactBlock and co-hosted by Hashed, Korea Blockchain Week 2022 brings together leaders from around the world for keynotes, panel discussions, and workshops that explore the foremost cutting-edge technologies and innovations impacting brands today, including blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi, NFT, metaverse, Web3, and more.

Presented by Razorfish, Cultural Relevancy and Mainstream Adoption of NFTs will be produced and moderated by Drew Kim (founder, Sleepy Tiger) and features a curated slate of panelists that will generate an authentic and engaging discussion about what it will take to drive mainstream adoption by both individuals and brands alike. Panelists include:

Razorfish was founded on the premise that disruptive technology would become ubiquitous, which no one would disagree has held true, says Josh Campo, president, Razorfish. With ubiquity comes pressure for brands to not only nimbly flex into the emerging spaces their customers are embracing, but to resonate through purpose, relevance and innovation. Our nearly 30-year heritage is grounded in partnering with our clients to do exactly that, which is why were proud to bring together these pioneering entrepreneurs to have this powerful conversation at Korea Blockchain Week 2022.

Since creating the first animated website and banner ads in the early 1990s, Razorfish has been a leader in driving marketing transformation for clients around the world, illustrated this year through several, high-profile client activations oriented around the metaverse and broader Web3. Furthermore, findings from research by Razorfish and VICE Media Group have reinforced both the magnitude and importance of the opportunity for brands in the emerging technology of the metaverse and Web3, particularly when underpinned by clear and resonant brand purpose.

Korea Blockchain Week 2022Asias largest blockchain eventtakes place during the week of August 7 at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas, with the Razorfish panel taking place on Monday, August 8th from 4:00-4:30 PM on Stage Busan.

About Razorfish

Razorfish is a global leader in marketing transformation. We help brands and businesses grow by creating unforgettable experiences that connect and enrich peoples lives. A digital pioneer since the dawn of the internet, were back to write a new chapter. Everything we make starts with people. Our 1,400 strategy, data, creative and technology experts combine digital innovation, data and cultural insights to help us understand what people want at every part of the journey. Through capabilities in products & platforms; physical & digital; and campaigns & content, we turn ideas into experiences that make a difference for our clients, their customers, and the world we all live in.

Learn more at razorfish.com. Twitter: @wearerazorfish | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook. Razorfish is part of Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40], a global leader in communication.

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Razorfish and Korea Blockchain Week Explore Cultural Relevance as a Catalyst for Mainstream Adoption of Emerging Technology - Business Wire

Blockchain & governments: A look at how Colombia is using blockchain technology to store and maintain records – CNBCTV18

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Mini

Governments are turning to blockchain technology to secure, optimise and digitalise traditional operations. Columbia recently announced its plans to maintain land registries on Ripple's XRPL blockchain.

Cryptocurrency is not the only use case for blockchains. Today, distributed ledger technology is being implemented across industries, transforming many everyday processes.

Even governments have begun to take notice, turning to blockchain technology to secure, optimise and digitalise traditional operations.

For instance, Columbia recently announced its plans to maintain land registries on Ripple's XRPL blockchain.

This move is a pilot test for further expansion of blockchain-based governance plans in the country.

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The land registry system was developed in collaboration with the Barcelona-based blockchain development company, Peersyst. The process is just an extension of the existing method. When someone applies for a land registry, a computer and camera are added to the process for photo verification.

After confirmation, the collected data is added to an unmodifiable hash on the blockchain. This data can be validated through a simple QR code.

The project can be a significant breakthrough for land registries in Columbia, one of the world's most densely populated countries. Moreover, Columbia has also suffered the effects of a long-standing civil war that raged from 1964 until 2016.

In fact, one of the major causes of the unrest was the unequal distribution of land. "This

Fortunately, with the implementation of Ripple's public ledger system, things could see a drastic change. The long and winding queues and the under-the-table hurdles might give way to a cleaner perception of governance in Columbia that is faster and more efficient.

Once the land registry details are added, they cannot be tampered with or removed. This is the entire premise of blockchain technology. "That's the most important part. If the government system is blown up, the owner of land will still be in a blockchain because it is held around the world in different nodes," said Antony Welfare, a senior adviser at Ripple Labs.

The leadership of this pilot project is undertaken by Colombia's Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, which presented its plan at a Peersyst's event called 'For a More Digital State: Blockchain at the Service of the Public Sector.'

The land registry system will help more than 100,000 Columbians who do not have the proper documentation of ownership of the land they currently inhabit.

Columbia finds itself leading the blockchain revolution for several reasons, starting with the country's high inflation rate. At an average of 8% per annum, inflation has moved public trust from the existing fiat currency to cryptocurrencies.

The country has one of the world's highest crypto adoption rates, with most of the population seeing cryptos as the future of money.

The second probable reason why Columbia is bullish on blockchain technology is the rampant corruption that has washed away people's trust. People are sure to rally around decentralisation and the idea of corruption-free processes.

This was one of the manifesto promises of the newly elected government.

In the other developments concerning blockchain and crypto adoption in the country, Columbia has allowed for partnerships between banks in the country and crypto exchanges. Bitcoin ATMs have become commonplace thanks to these partnerships.

And if this pilot project gets the expected results, we can see many more world-firsts of blockchain-based governance in the country. What's been applied to land registries can soon be used for birth certificates, death certificates, wills, and other important documentation.

A great outcome of this will be the inclusion of the unbanked and underserved populace.

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Blockchain & governments: A look at how Colombia is using blockchain technology to store and maintain records - CNBCTV18

BLOCKCHAIN GLOBAL DAY 2022: A WORLD-CLASS GIGA-EVENT OF TECHNOLOGY HAS JUST TAKEN PLACE IN VIETNAM – Yahoo Finance

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SPAC3SHIP JOINT STOCK COMPANY

On July 29, the Blockchain community inside and outside of Vietnam had the chance to meet at Global Blockchain Day 2022, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The event created a playground to share and introduce products, technologies, solutions, etc. in the field of Blockchain.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Aug. 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPAC3SHIP JOINT STOCK COMPANY -Blockchain Global Day 2022 features the theme "Into the Infinity Con-Verse", which only took place on July 29 but attracted thousands of people. Exhibitors visited and experienced project information booths in modern blockchain space, simulated with colorful settings and large 3D cubes. The center stage has a monumental spacecraft design, with LED screens showcasing several big-name blockchain projects.

Panel talks from top-notch panelists and speakers are hosted on the grand stage (pictured) and live streamed via Facebook.

The exhibition brings together a wide range of blockchain-driven enterprises in the gaming and finance field, including Aethr, Topebox, Football Battle, Puffgo, MetaDOS, Aspo World, Mineverse, Binance, CoinEx, XT.com, Pandora, Antpad, Realbox, M3TA, Sustainations DAO, GALL3RY, Sway Commerce, MoonLab, OpenliveNFT, etc. Also, renowned investment funds such as Vina Capital Ventures, Ventory Labs participated.

The event aims to facilitate the Vietnam Blockchain industry, inspiring and encouraging Vietnamese startups to thrive in the global Blockchain race, helping the community to reach and benefit from the latest Blockchain technology applications, thereby optimizing the benefits of Blockchain to Vietnam's society and economy.

The event is also held to remove the issues that hinder the development of Blockchain, from the lack of public awareness, the shortage of human resources to capital and legal basis. Accordingly, it created a "touch point" connecting all stakeholders in the field of Blockchain to promote Blockchain products in daily life, gradually removing stereotypes and repositioning the Blockchain technology in the community.

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Besides, Blockchain Global Day 2022 also creates a condition for domestic and international enterprises to introduce products and converse with worldwide technology experts, thereby developing business, transferring technology, and improving the quality of products and services in the field of Blockchain; supporting Vietnamese businesses to access and connect with investment funds, future human resources and gradually formulating a complete legal framework on Blockchain.

The final round of Blockchain Global Pitching Contest was held at the central stage of the event. Many project owners presented their ideas directly to representatives from prestigious investment funds in Vietnam. The winners can receive up to $30,000, media sponsorship, technology advice and legal assistance from leading experts.

According to Ms. Nguyen Dang Quynh Anh, COO of SPAC3SHIP, cooperation is a prerequisite at present. The government, agencies, investment funds and businesses need more opportunities to reach out for partners. Once the last doubts about the potential of Blockchain are dispelled and the necessary resources are finally found, we will have every reason to believe that Vietnam's Blockchain projects will break through, and the world may even see the next technological unicorns from Vietnam.

Contact information: business@spac3ship.com

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BLOCKCHAIN GLOBAL DAY 2022: A WORLD-CLASS GIGA-EVENT OF TECHNOLOGY HAS JUST TAKEN PLACE IN VIETNAM - Yahoo Finance

Algorand Foundation announces global winners for its $50M blockchain research and education program – PR Newswire

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In the US, the Algorand Centres of Excellence (ACE) Program will fund multi-year projects at UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, University of Florida, Yale and Purdue

SINGAPORE, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Algorand Foundation,whose mission is to grow the ecosystem ofAlgorand, the carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain invented by Turing Award winner and MIT professor Silvio Micali, today announced the 10 winners of itsAlgorand Centres of Excellence (ACEs)Program with awards totalling $50M over five years. The program received77 proposals with over 550 participants representing 46 countries; winners were selected by an international panel of 27 experts from a diverse set of disciplines.

The 10 winners lead 36sub-organizations and are represented by the following primary investigators (PIs):

US

Australia

Italy

Germany

South Africa

Singapore

"The selection process was incredibly difficult, given how many excellent applications we received," said Dr. Hugo Krawczyk, Algorand Foundation's principal researcher and head of theACEProgram. "But we're delighted to see how many bright, talented people around the globe recognize the ability of blockchain technology to fundamentally change and better the world we live in, and we're very much looking forward to seeing the amazing work the grant recipients do in the coming months and years."

These grants will fund research and education hubs (each one is an Algorand Centre of Excellence) on university campuses worldwide for multiple years to enable:

"It was the cryptographic, distributed and security community that created the technology on which blockchains are based. I applaud the Algorand Foundation for going back to the roots and supporting this kind of research. The academic grants are going to stellar teams that will help grow the diverse and inclusive global community of blockchain researchers and educators," said Dr. Shafi Goldwasser, a scientific advisor for Algorand and winner of the Turing Award (alongside Micali), Gdel Prize and Franklin Medal.

Goldwasser, who received her Ph.D from UC Berkeley and is currently the director of the university'sSimons Institute for the Theory of Computing, added, "And of course, I am proud to see my Bears among the winners!"

ALGORAND FOUNDATION The Algorand blockchain designed by MIT professor and Turing Award winning cryptographer Silvio Micali is capable of delivering on the promise of a borderless global economy. It achieves transaction throughputs at the speed of traditional finance, with immediate finality and near zero transaction costs, and without a second of downtime since it went live in June 2019.Its carbon-neutral platform and unique pure proof-of-stake consensus mechanism solves for the "blockchain trilemma" by achieving both security and scalability on a decentralized protocol.

The Algorand Foundation is dedicated to helping fulfill the global promise of the Algorand blockchain by taking responsibility for its sound monetary supply economics, decentralized governance, and healthy and prosperous open-source ecosystem. For more information, visithttps://algorand.foundation

MEDIA CONTACTS Prosek Partners, on behalf of Algorand Foundation [emailprotected]

SOURCE Algorand Foundation

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Algorand Foundation announces global winners for its $50M blockchain research and education program - PR Newswire

How one investor applied the lessons of the meme stocks frenzy to blockchain and NFTs – MarketWatch

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Almost two years ago, during the first winter of the COVID pandemic, Roman Tirone was introduced to the world of meme stocks.

I think I had a couple of friends reach out about them to me and I took a look, the New York City-based investor told MarketWatch. There was a strong community that was pretty convinced that they were going to send the stocks up.

These were indeed heady days for meme stock darling AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, +2.47% as investors drove the stock to a high of $72.62 on June 2, 2021. AMC closed at $18.21 on Wednesday, well below its 52-week high of $52.79, which it reached on Sep. 13, 2021. Fellow meme stock star Game Stop Corp. GME, +1.13% climbed to a 52-week high of $63.92 on Nov. 3, 2021 but ended Wednesdays session at $37.93.

Caught up in the momentum of the meme stocks community, Tirone made significant investments in AMC and Game Stop. Initially it went really well and then things began to deteriorate, he told MarketWatch.

See Now: AMC may have been a meme-stock darling, but weakness in some key areas has the company on shaky ground

However, he was able to apply what he learned elsewhere. I ended up taking what I learned about digital communities, investing online and new speculative assets, and I applied that to investing in blockchain and NFT, he said.

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique digital asset that harnesses blockchain technology to verify ownership or trade tokens. A growing number of companies are getting involved in NFTs. eBay Inc. EBAY, -5.17%, for example, recently launched its first collection of NFTs, which features animations of athletes from Sports Illustrated covers.

Blockchain, which has grown in popularity in recent years, is a decentralized digital ledger of transactions. The technology is used to underpin cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

I learned a lot about how to read the momentum, understand how and when a community is a signal, both good and bad, and how, typically, there are tiers within a community whether it is someone who is a lifelong investor or someone just passing through, Tirone added. You cant get swept up in the inner fervor of other peoples ideas when it comes to investing.

After applying what he saw in the meme stocks world, Tirone now describes himself as an NFT collector. Specifically, Tirone is focused on NFT collectibles, art, and Play-2-Earn gaming, where players are rewarded with NFTs or cryptocurrency.

The market for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, has boomed in recent years but has cooled somewhat this year amid the crypto crash.

See Now: Squeezable AMC, GameStop stocks break out to multi-month highs

Nonetheless, Tirone says that his transition to blockchain and NFT investing has been life changing.

Despite his pivot to a new investment strategy, the investor maintains a small position in AMC. I still have a little bit of AMC its a small fraction of what I originally owned, he told MarketWatch. Its more of a symbol for the cause at this point.

The cause, Tirone explained, is all about the little guy. At the high level, its an underdog story where people that typically lose have a chance to win, he said.

George Pearkes, an analyst at Bespoke Investment Group, told MarketWatch that the massive upside volatility in meme stocks is clearly played out. However, he characterized meme stocks as stickier in the outflow, with some investors unwilling to relinquish the stock. The inflows come in very big and very fast, then the outflows trickle out, Pearkes said.

See Now: Heres the little-known reason why Cathie Woods ARK Innovation ETF is having such a bad year

To illustrate his point Pearkes pointed to the rough run that the ARK Innovation ETF ARKK, +0.82% has been on since its peak in 2021, noting that some investors are still committed to holding the ETF. Thats pretty classic investor behavior and I think it applies to the meme stocks too, he said.

The ARK Innovation ETF is down 48.7% year-to-date. AMC shares have declined 33% in 2022 and Game Stop is up 2.2%. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.08% is down 12.8% over the same period.

AMC reports its second-quarter results after market close on Thursday.

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How one investor applied the lessons of the meme stocks frenzy to blockchain and NFTs - MarketWatch

Neutronium: Reflex Finance and Partners Announce Eco-Friendly and Gasless Blockchain for 2022 – PR Newswire

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ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, Aug. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflex Finance ($RFX) has announced a super-fast, gasless, andeco-friendly blockchain named Neutronium, that is scheduled to launch before the end of this year. The project is built in partnership with Web3 developers FYB3R and DeFi projects Meta BUSD and BitBurn.

The neutral name for the blockchain was agreed upon by all parties to ease the path to mass adoption, encourage additional projects to onboard the new chain, and advance the joint initiative that is being promoted on social media under the hashtag #UniteDefi.

Multiple partners have already announced first projects that will be hosted on the Neutronium Chain, including an AAA P2E game and Metaverse applications.

First blockchain to be powered entirely by 100% green energy

Blockchain technology without a doubt has massive growth potential, but most of it is still powered by fossil fuels, creating several ecological issues in addition to the already high cost of running the necessary infrastructure.

The custom-built Neutronium Chain will solve those problems for the involved projects with a cloud infrastructure powered by 100% green energy that provides both low-cost computing power and low-cost data storage. This framework will enable projects to securely develop economically and ecologically sustainable products in the Decentralized Finance space, while feeding rewards and revenue back into the Neutronium ecosystem and ultimately to the holders of Reflex and their partners.

A blockchain built for independence, sustainability, and speed

The robust infrastructure of theNeutronium Chain is not restricted to a single location and does not require a connection to the main power grid. Each server is part of an independent set of nodes which together create node clusters that communicate across the World.

The independent supply of green energy - in combination with effective energy storage solutions and three layers of connectivity back-up - guarantees 100% availability 24/7 and a new level of flexibility for projects joining the chain.

In terms of transaction speed, Reflex Finance's development partner FYB3R states that various cluster configurations are currently being drag raced against each other, as well as against other major blockchains, with other blockchains not even coming close to the speed of Neutronium.

Reflex Finance at a glance

Reflex Finance is a Web3 startup that launched in February 2022 on the Binance Smart Chain. Since then, the team around Chairman Myles Tweedy and CEO Ryan Arriaga, former Global Head of Products at Safemoon, has developed and launched multiple utilities including Reflex Launchpad, Reflex Swap, and Reflex Pulse a unique financial health tracker for projects with tokenomics and multiple project wallets.

An NFT marketplace is set to launch within Q3 of 2022 with another secret and unique high-volume utility announced to also go live within 2022.

REFLEX V2, the native BSC token of Reflex Finance, is a hyper deflationary reflection token and currently pays 8% BUSD rewards from daily trading volume to its holders. In addition to the regular rewards, Reflex holders also benefit in multiple forms from the revenue generated from the various utilities and the announced 100%green blockchain.

Media Contact:Jaren CCO[emailprotected]+1 936 443 1393

SOURCE Reflex Finance

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Neutronium: Reflex Finance and Partners Announce Eco-Friendly and Gasless Blockchain for 2022 - PR Newswire

These Blockchain Funds Are Breaking the Rules of Old Wall Street – RealMoney

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The third-quarter has done a pretty good job so far of debunking the Old Wall Street advice to "sell in May and go away," as anyone doing so would have locked in some hefty losses and missed a very healthy start to the current quarter. While most the year was dominated by energy names, there's a new boss on the block, and by block, I mean to say blockchain.

Of the top-25 performing non-leveraged exchange-traded funds so far this quarter, all but five are crypto- or blockchain-focused. Returns range from ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) , rising 25.2% to the quarter-to-date, to top dog,First Trust Skybridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF (CRPT) and its 51.12% gain.

But funds that sound like they provide the same or similar exposures will often produce different results for investors and this is a great example. So, I pulled four funds from this list and ran some attribution, so we can get a better understanding of what drove returns for each product.

The other top-gaining funds are the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (BITQ) (with 46.13% gains), the Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH) (43.76%), and Grayscale Future of Finance ETF (GFOF) (30.91%).

CRPT is the only actively managed portfolio of the bunch. Index methodologies for the other funds can be found through these links: BITQ (Bitwise Crypto Innovators 30 Index), BKCH (Solactive Blockchain Index), and GFOF (Bloomberg Grayscale Future of Finance Index). From what I can tell, the ETF issuers developed the intellectual property behind the indexes and have contracts with various index providers for calculation services, as opposed to the index providers creating these indexes and pitching them to the issuers to launch products.

Before I get into what drove quarter-to-date returns for these funds I'll mention overlap between them, which is what percentage of holdings are held in common across all the funds. Looking at CRPT and its 31 holdings, it has 39% overlap with BKCH and GFOF, and 58% overlap with BITQ meaning if you own CRPT it's like having a 58% exposure to BITQ.

One thing that struck me was that in all four funds, the bottom 10 contributors to performance over the period were net additive to returns and in fact, aside from BKCH each fund only had one name that lost ground over the period including BITQ: CME Group (CME) (-3.51%), First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Ind and Digi Econ (CRPT) : Meta Platforms (META) (-0.66%); and, GFOF: BC Technology Group (BCTCF) (-23.71%). The down names in BKCH include Bigg Digital Assets (BBKCF) (-7.64%), Greenbox (GBOX) (-25.54%) and, SOS Ltd. (SOS) (-37.74%).

In the 40 potential slots that make up the top 10 contributors to return for these funds there are only 17 unique tickers, and accounting for some funds owning both U.S.- and Canada-listed shares that number drops to 14. Of those 14 ,the five names that had the biggest positive impact on average across all four funds are Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) , Riot Blockchain (RIOT) , Coinbase (COIN) , Silvergate Capital (SI) , and Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY) . All five names are held in all funds and across the board figure into the top five or six contributors to return.

These results are all impressive. I like how all of these funds seem to draw inside the lines of crypto and the crypto industry, although I'm not crazy about names like Interactive Brokers (IBRK) , Alphabet (GOOGL) (GOOG) , and Meta showing up on CRPT. Very much like another gold rush from 1849, it seems like selling picks and shovels is a better long-term approach than getting exposure to the actual commodity, as evidenced by BITO's returns quarter-to-date, as compared to these funds. If I had to pick a fund out of these for crypto and crypto industry exposure, I'd have to go with the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF, if only for the revenue exposure focus. If you think this trend is likely to carry through the near to mid-term, then perhaps BITQ is worth a closer look.

(GOOGL is a holding in the Action Alerts PLUS member club . Want to be alerted before AAP buys or sells stocks? Learn more now. )

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These Blockchain Funds Are Breaking the Rules of Old Wall Street - RealMoney

Gaming vets promise to make blockchain games fun and sustainable – TechCrunch

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The runaway success of Axie Infinity and StepN has convinced a flurry of entrepreneurs that web3 gaming, where the ownership of in-game assets is in the hands of users via blockchain adoption rather than a centralized platform, is the future.

Some of the biggest hits in the space to date reward users with tokens that can be cashed out in whats known as the play-to-earn model. While P2E games have attracted millions of players and billions of dollars from investors, veterans of the gaming industry argue that they are fundamentally unsustainable.

These games are the brainchild of financial engineers aiming to get rich quickly rather than experienced developers building time-honored works, they say.

Axie Inifitys dramatic rise and fall is telling. After peaking at $754 million in November when bitcoin hit all-time high, the games monthly sales volume plummeted to $4.5 million in July.

Most gameFi developers are not game developers, says Maciej Burno, whos spearheading the new metaverse business of Polish gaming studio Reality.

Burno is among a spate of blockchain-believing gaming veterans around the world trying to take blockchain games to the mainstream. Their vision is to counter the public impression that web3 games, popularized by P2E, are all scammy and trashy. Instead, they want to build games that are both fun and sustainable, while introducing cryptocurrenciesas a novel way to incentivize gamers as well as creators.

The problem with P2E, as seen by See Wan Toong, a former senior technical director at Electronic Arts and CTO of web3 gaming startup Red Door Digital, is that users have to spend money upfront to start playing.

In Axie Infinity, users buy and breed cute blob-like creatures called Axies in the form of non-fungible tokens that are authenticated on the blockchain. Sales from the NFTs then go toward funding rewards for those who earn tokens by playing, and the tokens, the games native cryptocurrency, can in turn be cashed out.

That means for the game to be sustainable, it must have a constant influx of new users or it loses its financing source. Thats why critics compare P2E games to pyramid schemes.

Many of the P2E titles arent really games by strict definition, Toong argues. They are more akin to decentralized finance, or DeFi, products with gamified features. Hardcore gamers dismiss Axie Infinity as simple or even boring, not unlike the free-to-play, mindless mobile games that they have opposed for years.

But for those living in developing countries, the prospect of making several hundred dollars per month by clicking on a computer screen can be tempting. Thats largely why Axie Infinity took off in countries like the Philippines during the pandemic when many people lost jobs. To them, the game is more like work than fun.

I think there is a bit of elitism in it, Simon Davis, CEO of Mighty Bear Games, a Singapore-based web3 gaming studio that just raised $10 million in a token sale, says of Axie Infinity critics.

There is a tendency in Western countries to dismiss things that are popular in other parts of the world and not be as respectful as you should be. If you look especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America, and countries where incomes are probably less high, people dont buy high-end gaming rigs and consoles. Its interesting to provide people not just with entertainment but also with potential economic upside.

I dont like the term play to earn, continues Davis, formerly a design manager at Ubisoft. I dont think it should be a primary motivation because youre playing a game to have fun. But someone can then decide they dont want to play the game anymore and get some of their investment back then. I dont see how thats a bad thing.

While Davis recognizes the value of P2E, like many other experienced game developers entering web3, hes pouring resources into perfecting the gameplay first and foremost. His studio had been producing conventional games, like an official Disney and Pixar game and Butter Royale, a hit on Apple Arcade, before turning to blockchain. It will soon be launching its first web3 title, a multiplayer third-person battle royale that incorporates the token economy.

Games can be both fun to play and lucrative, some blockchain game developers argue. Its not news that gamers are motivated to make money even in more developed parts of the world.

Remember World of Warcraft? There is already a group of players in the MMO [massively multiplayer online] game who hire tons of people in Vietnam and Indonesia to farm gold, observes Toong.

When you look at a traditional game, people are putting millions or billions of dollars into the gateway, but its on the other extreme. They dont get any value back, adds Toong.

Burno agrees. People want to play for fun and they are willing to spend money that makes them feel happy, but there are also those who want to invest, so you can give them a tool to invest.

Developers are also promised greater rewards from blockchain-integrated games. In free-to-play games, a common monetization model of today, developers earn income by pushing an update every six to eight weeks, observes Davis. Users get annoyed that youre trying to squeeze money out of them every two months.

In web3 games, in contrast, developers get a small percentage of every in-game transaction, which is recorded on the blockchain. So the only thing you have to worry about is creating a game that people want to keep playing for a very long time and creating value for those assets of the players who want to trade between themselves, says Davis.

To make a blockchain game sustainable, Toongs Red Door Digital is taking a different approach from Axie Infinity. Users dont need to buy the platforms tokens in order to start playing unless they want to start earning or have real value in their assets.

When a game sustains a recurring user base, the value of the game will increase and external investors will join, reckons Toong. All this increase in value then goes to the people who are playing to get financial returns.

Like many web3 games, Red Door Digitals platform offers utility tokens, which are used like in-game currencies for purchasing skins, items, and so on, as well as governance tokens. Users who contribute to the game will get governance tokens and be able to vote on critical project decisions. The utility tokens can be traded, while the governance tokens have no liquidity to strip them of any speculative value.

While developers are still working to optimize their token economy, investors are already plowing big money into their nascent ventures. Blockchain games attracted a whopping $2.5 billion in funding in Q2, according to DappRadar, a data company that tracks decentralized apps. In H1, blockchain games accounted for about 30% of all the capital raised by private gaming companies, a report by investment bank Drake Star shows.

Despite the torrent of VC money floating into web3 games, some legacy studios and publishers seem to err on the side of caution. Tencent, the worlds largest gaming company, has no development plans for web3 games that are of public knowledge.

Reputation is a big thing for the corporate, so if anyone who creates this initiative fails, its the end of their career. They will have to answer the board, says Toong. So the only way is for them to invest in a crypto company or two to see how it goes.

The gold rush into web3 is also posing challenges to crypto skeptics in the gaming arena. An Asia-based game-focused fund manager is frustrated that investors he meets these days are overwhelmingly interested in knowing whether his fund has a web3 angle.

If I say I dont, they dont want to invest.

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Gaming vets promise to make blockchain games fun and sustainable - TechCrunch

ATTWOOD IMPORT EXPORT LAUNCHES VECHAINTHOR BLOCKCHAIN SECURITY STICKER TO GUARANTEE AUTHENTICITY ON LUXURY BEVERAGES – PR Newswire

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NFC-enabled sticker to verify origin and authenticity of Johnnie Walker, Hennessy, Terrazas and Moet & Chandon bottles with a simple scan of a smartphone

SAN MARINO and LAS VEGAS, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic slowly fading, many economies are witnessing a sharp rebound in consumer demand, especially for high-quality, luxury goods. During this resurgence, the inefficiencies of traditional logistics models have become starker than ever, with cases of fraud skyrocketing, especially in developing economies.

VeChainThor, the world's leading Enterprise-grade public blockchain, was conceived specifically to resolve trust gaps in data. Blockchain creates a level playing field where any party can review the claim of another independently, removing the need for intermediaries.

For producers and importers of luxury products, digital technologies that can guarantee origin, logistics trails and legitimacy of a product present a significant opportunity. Unsurprisingly, the adoption rate of digital tools such as blockchain is rapidly picking up pace.

A Digital Future

Attwood Import Export, recognized as the largest premium alcoholic beverage importer and distributor in Cambodia, recently announced the implementation of an entirely new kind of security sticker built using the VeChainThor blockchain, the NFC-enabled 'Attwood Blockchain Sticker' (ABS).

Mr. David Wang, General Manager of VeChain Tech SEA, attended the launching ceremonyon July 27, 2022, an event attended by various major Cambodian news outlets and televised on the CTV8 Cambodia news channel.

Attwood Import Export is a leading company that has exclusively imported and distributed luxury brands for almost 30 years, notably, Johnnie Walker, Hennessy, Moet & Chandon, Terrazas, Chandon Sparkling, Budweiser beer, Corona beer, and Coronita beer.

By applying ABS to each bottle of product, Attwood enhances its liquor distribution capabilities, drastically improves transparency, and guarantees product authenticity to partners and consumers. With key data hashed on the blockchain, salient product information becomes immutable and trustworthy, allowing clients and customers to verify the origin and authenticity of products with a simple scan of a smartphone, preventing fraud and protecting consumers.

Attwood is known for going to great lengths to take care of its customers. Mr. Tan Se Chhay, CEO of Attwood commented:

"As a leading import export trading company, Attwood has always played an important role in bridging the gap between brands and consumers. Through the partnership with VeChain Tech, we strengthen the ability to take responsibility for our customers and products."

As a mature, scalable, and commercially proven blockchain, VeChainThor's versatility continues to garner industrial interest. With an array of advanced tools and solutions already on the market, the VeChainThor blockchain is cementing its position as the de facto blockchain for industrial, commercial, and other kinds of application.

VeChain Tech will continue its mission of developing and deploying digital solutions for Attwood and other visionary businesses, push the fore of digital transformation and unlock new value while solving complex industrial problems. With blockchain mass adoption unfolding globally, VeChainThor stands ready to deliver its powerful blockchain technology to enterprises and businesses of all sizes.

About VeChain

Launched in 2015 as a private consortium network, the VeChain Foundation went on to launch the VeChainThor public blockchain in 2018, a fully programmable, EVM-compatible layer one smart contract platform.

Its unique two-token model ensures stable, low transaction costs while an advanced Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism guarantees high throughput, scalability, and security with minimal energy consumption. VeChainThor's robust architecture has seen zero downtime for the network after almost 4 years of continuous operation.

Strong independent capabilities combined with the professional compliance guidance of strategic partners PwC and DNV has seen VeChain to establish partnerships with leading enterprises including Walmart China, Bayer China, BMW Group, BYD Auto, PICC, H&M Group, Shanghai Gas, LVMH, D.I.G, ASI Group and more.

VeChain continues to pioneer real-world blockchain applications across the globe with offices in Luxembourg, China, Singapore, San Marino, Milan, Ireland, Japan, France and the United States, working on wide-ranging applications from supply chain & logistics, sustainability & SDGs, carbon emissions, energy, medicine, De-Fi, NFTs and much more.

SOURCE VeChain

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ATTWOOD IMPORT EXPORT LAUNCHES VECHAINTHOR BLOCKCHAIN SECURITY STICKER TO GUARANTEE AUTHENTICITY ON LUXURY BEVERAGES - PR Newswire

Ukraine pushes Putin body-double theory, points out this head feature – New York Post

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been deploying body doubles at recent public outings to hide health problems, said a Ukrainian military official who claimed that the decoys have different ears than the strongman.

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Major General Kyrylo Budanov suggested on Ukrainian television this week that Putins ears looked different across several of the leaders public appearances.

The picture, lets say, of the ears, is different. And its like a fingerprint, each persons ear picture is unique. It cannot be repeated, he said, according to a Newsweek account of Ukrainian TV.

But Budanov said that wasnt all that was amiss.

They [Putins body doubles] have different habits, different mannerisms, different gaits, sometimes even different heights, if you look closely, he said.

Budanovs theory about the body doubles, however, was not the first time that the rumor has been floated.

The International Business Times called it one of the more unusual conspiracy theories back in 2018, when a Twitter user cited three photographs of Putin across time to suggest that the ex-KGB spy was in fact three different people.

Budanov, this week, explained the supposed use of body doubles by pointing to widespread speculation that the Russian leader is gravely ill.

But the head of the CIAas well as Britains MI6 chiefboth cast doubt on those reports recently, stating at last months Aspen Security Forum that the Russian leader is apparently quite healthy.

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Ukraine pushes Putin body-double theory, points out this head feature - New York Post

Turkeys Erdogan to meet Putin in Russia: What to expect – Al Jazeera English

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Istanbul, Turkey Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet his Russian counterpart on Friday in Sochi, after brokering a grain shipment deal between Moscow and Kyiv and as a new Turkish military intervention in Syria remains a possibility.

The summit with Vladimir Putin comes in the same week that a ship carrying Ukraine grain was able to set sail, the first since the conflict began, under an agreement between the warring sides arranged by the United Nations and Ankara.

The Turkish leaders international credentials have been bolstered by the agreement that resumes exports of Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products, easing the threat to global food security.

Erdogans trip his eighth to Russia since the start of 2019 follows a three-way meeting with Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran last month.

According to Ankara, regional and global developments will be on the agenda, as well as bilateral ties.

By virtue of its role in the grain deal, Turkey has succeeded in positioning itself as Russias diplomatic conduit to the international community, said Eyup Ersoy, visiting research fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, Kings College London.

This diplomatic rearrangement has shifted the relational asymmetry more in Turkeys favour and is expected to curtail, to some degree, Russian resistance against Turkish policies and initiatives in issues of common concern.

Analysts said Turkeys principal focus would be Moscows acquiescence or at least its lack of opposition to a Turkish military operation in northern Syria.

Russia, a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, controls most of the north Syrian air space.

Erdogan raised the prospect of another operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters in May.

We are determined to eradicate the evil groups that target our national security from Syria, he reiterated during the Tehran summit two weeks ago.

Tal Rifaat and Manbij, cities west of the Euphrates river controlled by the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), are likely targets.

The Syrian group is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a 38-year armed uprising against Turkey. The PKK is considered a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Ankara has launched four cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 and controls land in the north with the goal of pushing away the YPG and establishing a 30-km (19-mile) secure zone.

An incursion in October 2019 into northeast Syria against the YPG drew widespread international condemnation.

Erdogan wants a green light for a military operation in Syria, said Kerim Has, a Turkish political analyst based in Moscow.

As we saw at the Tehran summit, Iran and Russia are against this operation but I think Erdogan can persuade Putin. Many things depend on the domestic situation in Turkey because Erdogan wants to launch the operation before the elections so he can consolidate at least a few percentage points in the vote.

Turkey is experiencing its worst economic crisis in two decades annual inflation hit 79.6 percent on Wednesday and Erdogan faces presidential and parliamentary elections by June next year.

The Kremlin could ease this instability, especially through natural gas. Russia supplied Turkey, which is dependent on energy imports, with 45 percent of its gas needs last year.

Turkey wants to keep its energy flows from Russia over the winter while maintaining economic cooperation to alleviate its difficulties and opening a [currency] swap agreement or getting investment from Russia, said Emre Caliskan, research fellow at the London-based Foreign Policy Centre.

Erdogan could present this as a victory to the Turkish public and perhaps alleviate the high food and energy prices that are likely to present a challenge in the coming elections.

However, it remains to be seen whether this would be enough to win over voters.

Weve seen these operations in Syria before and they dont do anything to help us, said Istanbul tobacconist Cemil Sener, 39.

People know these are just ploys to give the TV stations something positive to report. And I dont see how the Russians can really help our economy while they are being sanctioned by the West.

Erdogan and Putin may also discuss the possibility of Turkey sharing its armed aerial drone expertise with Russia.

Bayraktar TB2 drones sold to Ukraine have proved to be highly effective against Russian forces.

Last month, Erdogan reportedly said Putin had suggested setting up a drone factory in Russia during their Tehran meeting.

The Kremlin said last week that technical and military cooperation would be on the agenda at Sochi, an indication of Russias interest in procuring Bayraktars, according to Ersoy.

The recent news on the Russian interest to acquire Iranian drones is indicative of the urgency of the matter for Moscow, he added.

However, such a move would undermine the main plank of Turkish support for Ukraine as well as raise eyebrows among fellow NATO members.

Earlier this month, the head of Baykar, which makes the Bayraktar TB2 drones ruled out supplying them to Moscow.

If Turkey was to further participate with Russia in military matters at a time when Russia is considered the greatest threat to NATO, it would seriously damage relations with the West, Kerim Has said.

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Turkeys Erdogan to meet Putin in Russia: What to expect - Al Jazeera English