Emerging Technologies

Given the holiday season, I thought a topic that is a bit off of technology and addresses the betterment of society would be in order.  Every industry has the potential to have human trafficking activities within their domain.  Farm labor, factory workers and domestic labor are three of the more frequently mentioned industries where human trafficking activities are identified as being present.  Human Trafficking a global problem estimated at $150 billion. One often referenced government stat puts the problem at between 600,000 to 800,000 women, children and men who are bought and sold across international borders every year.  They are exploited for forced labor or use for commercial sex. 

INSIGHT:  The forced labor activities have been found in cleaning/janitorial services, massage parlors, and possibly nail salons (partial list). 

There have been a number of instances where human trafficking activities were operating clandestinely inside another company without any executive awareness. Human trafficking is a horrific crime. In addition, the damage to an organization’s reputation caught up in a human trafficking scandal or criminal probe can be substantial as well as the fines and imprisonment. Accusation alone can bring with it a dramatic change in an organization’s critical measures of success. Loss of customers, drop in sales, lower stock prices and so much more.  With so much that can be put at risk, it was shocking to learn that less than 12 percent of organizations asked, actually have a program in place to identify and address any human trafficking activities even by 3rd-party vendors. However, that is minuscule when compared to the damage to the people and their families that are sold and used.  

INSIGHT:  The human trafficking industry is primarily cash paying – to those doing the trafficking and for the services of those being trafficked. It is also important to note that cryptocurrencies have been identified as helping to facilitate human trafficking around the world.

Webinar: Cryptocurrencies – while a bit aged now, this provides the basics about cryptocurrencies for those who are unfamiliar.  LINK: https://www.projectmanagement.com/videos/380495/Cryptocurrencies

If you have some concerns or have seen suspicious activities that could indicate involvement with potential human trafficking, you would be well advised to contact your organization’s Security Department, Chief Risk or Compliance Officer.  AGAIN, if you see something say something.

Wow !!!  The 1826 different cryptocurrencies now have a TOTAL MARKET CAP of only $204,073,274,181 USD.  That is a big change form the December 31, 2017 TOTAL MARKET CAP of  $572,968,153,356 of the 1335 different cryptocurrencies.

Everyone is asking what is going on!  Some are saying market manipulation!  At this point, your guess is a good as any other!

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

The concept of a 'virtual nation state' has been around for a few years.  The concept continued to evolve and believe it or not there are a couple of virtual nation-states in existance today.  Just recently, there has been an increase in the number of people flocking to the "BITNATION " a virtual nation state that leverages cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

What happens when someone who is already a citizen living in the United States, Germany, France, Italy or any other country becomes a citizen of a virtual nation-state?

What happens when a business decides it's corporate headquarters is in a virtual nation-state and only transacts business in one or more cryptocurrency?

Would you do business with the virtual company residing in a virtual nation-state and transacting business in cryptocurrencies only?

So many unexplored possibilities that governments and organizations need to be looking at!

Please take my latest poll!

Does your organization accept a cryptocurrency as a form of payment?