Juggling Dynamite

We have been quietly reading and watching the evolution of blockchain since the introduction of its first application Bitcoin, in 2008.  It is a complex, new world paradigm, where one is well advised to study, process and think before making conclusions or taking any action.

Among a growing body of legitimate developers and end users in this platform, there are also a swarm of the usual speculators and fraudsters working to drive Bitcoin and subsequent cryptocurrencies through price moves that have little connection with the value and purpose of blockchain technology itself.

Still, in a time where a centralized financial system has developed to grossly enrich those in control positions by taking advantage of trusting customers and undermining the economy, blockchain is an evolution that’s time has come.

As Caitlin Long explains well in the discussion below, blockchain challenges the fraud and opaque, abuse-of-trust-business-model currently dominating the global financial system, and “the mechanisms in capital markets that skim value unfairly from mom and pop.”  It’s ironic, but no wonder then, that JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon and other big finance executives are threatened and decrying this technology as a fraud.  When we, the people, can take back control and accountability in our financial transactions, the tyranny of big banks will be over.

Bitcoin, the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency, and the blockchain, which is its underlying technology, have the potential to change everything from record keeping to the global financial system. The blockchain is a decentralized database that allows individuals to trade directly without the need for a third-party intermediary. Bitcoin is free-market money that runs on the internet, and it isn’t controlled by a political entity or central bank. It’s easy to see bitcoin and the blockchain as logical extensions of the internet, with the potential to shift power from governments to individuals. It’s also not clear how a fully decentralized money and public-ledger system are going to be implemented and brought to bear on everyday life. Reason’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Caitlin Long, one of Inc. magazine’s “10 business leaders changing the world through tech,” a former managing director at Morgan Stanley, and the current president of Symbiont, which is bringing blockchain technology to Wall Street.

Caitlin Long of Symbiont sits down with Reason’s Nick Gillespie to discuss how blockchain technology can make the financial system more transparent.  Here is a direct video link.

It’s the kind of list you don’t want to find your country on. But Canada is right near the top of the world, in the amount of garbage we produce per person.

You don’t have to look far to find a major culprit: ridiculous packaging.

Valerie Leloup knows packaging better than most. But her new store has absolutely none of it.  Here is a direct video link.

“Tax havens are one of the key engines of the rise in global inequality. As inequality rises, offshore tax evasion is becoming an elite sport.”— economist Gabriel Zucman, Nov 8, 2017.  See:  The desperate inequality behind global tax dodging

A massive leak of more than 13m files reveals the hidden wealth of some of the world’s richest people including sports stars, celebrities and heads of state. The Paradise Papers show how complex schemes set up in offshore islands can help the super-rich avoid billions in taxHere is a direct video link.