Emerging Technologies

Advances in technology are creating challenging periods of change accompanied by a substantial amount of good.  That does not always get the main press.  3D printing and robotics technologies have combined and delivered some amazing things as of late.  This included the printing of artificial limbs for people who have lost their theirs.  Here is one story that really caught my attention!  A young couple took some plastic ocean trash that we have all been reading and hearing about lately, transformed it and using a 3D printer created artificial limbs for CHILDREN with a total cost of $45 USD.  NO that is not a type - $45 USD.  Oh, there is more – they had NO experience in pollution remediation or the production of artificial limbs!!!!

Since starting this spare-time initiative in April of this year, they produced and donated 18 limbs to disabled individuals.  If you are looking for a feel-good story take a read (link below)!   If you are in the artificial limbs business better reach for the antacid.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/couple-takes-it-upon-themselves-to-turn-ocean-trash-into-prosthetic-limbs-for-kids-that-cost-only-45/

Earlier this month a new concept within the cryptocurrency environment was floated by me and my mind has been captured by this intriguing concept ever since. The underpinning of the new concept was research, analysis and reporting on the global business and economic implications cryptocurrencies will likely have in the next few years. In response to the assessed impact, I was asked what I thought of the concept of a new corporate executive officer position – the Chief Cryptocurrency Officer (CCO), Chief Crypto Officer for short.   I went online to a few executive job listing and searched for this title.  None of those sites had a CCO position listed.  I expanded my search to more general job boards.  The results were the same.

Giving this concept some thought, I began listing what I thought the key responsibilities of someone in this role would be, as well as what would qualify someone for this role.  Factoring in the realistic projections that were collected, a position such as this is not that far off.  Also considered was incorporating these responsibilities under the existing Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role.  While that must certainly be considered before creating and filling a Chief Crypto Officer position within any organization, the role cryptocurrencies will have within that organization would have to be assessed.  If cryptocurrencies were projected to play a moderate to large role in an organization, the magnitude of work required for that executive role could easily overwhelm a CFO when added to their existing responsibilities. 

Today I know of or could find only a few individuals with the CCO title.  At this point it looks likely the number of people in that role will increase in the next few years. Perhaps colleges and universities will create new degree programs with a cryptocurrency concentration.  For now, perhaps an MBA program with a cryptocurrency emphasis would be advisable and a justified addition.

In December 2017, the National Security Strategy of the United States of America was released.  In that document, under Priority Actions it states -

"COUNTER CYBER CRIMINALS: We will use sophisticated investigative tools to disrupt the ability of criminals to use online marketplaces, cryptocurrencies, and other tools for illicit activities.  The United States will hold countries accountable for harboring these criminals."

This is the FIRST time cryptocurrencies were mentioned in the National Security Strategy.  I checked all the way back to the one issued in 1998 when Bill Clinton was President and I was at Netscape and talked about E-Cash.

China is said to be the global leader in terms of crypto mining operations.  So when reports began surfacing about massive rains, concerns were voiced.  It turns out those concerns were well founded.  All that rain produced floods in the Sichuan province of China and it has been reported that the flooding resulted in heavy damage to that region's crypto mining operation.   This may be significant enough to slow things down in the cryptocurrency world!

LINK:  https://cointelegraph.com/news/local-media-floods-in-china-heavily-damage-major-crypto-mining-operation/amp

Mastercard - the icon in the credit card industry was just awarded and interesting patent. There patent addresses an electronic (online) system that supports anonymous transactions and a distributed blockchain network.

Here is the patent.
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220180181953%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20180181953&RS=DN/20180181953

One has to wonder what impact the patent could have on cryptocurrency transactions!