Blockchain Blawg

Bytes of the week: -As if we needed another reason to move to Canada -Are fake diamonds a girl's new best friend? -Another feather in the cap of the CFTC - Fractional fine art ownership ? Yup--it's a thing -From Boom to Bust : Crypto Caution #commodities #cftc #canada #cryptocurrency

About two weeks ago, the World Bank announced that it has ordered the creation of a blockchain-based bond. This is more exciting than the first sentence would you have you believe. The World Bank issues tens of billions (yes, billions) of dollars in bonds each year. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will be facilitating the creation of the Blockchain Offered New Debt Instrument (bond-i) which will be issued and distributed on a private Ethereum blockchain. Both the World Bank and CBA will operate and manage the blockchain which will be used in the global creation, allocation, transfer and management of bond-i. +1 for blockchain adoption. #blockchain #finance

I had the pleasure of attending the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium's annual meeting yesterday (see #GLBC18 on Twitter). Comprised of law firms, companies and law schools, this organization essentially tools around with blockchain applications in the legal services space (dream job!). The first hour and a half were updates on the Consortium's technical findings and practical application findings. The latter three hours were presentations and demos of different blockchain applications. I think the biggest takeaway from the day was that document identification, management and verification are prime areas for distributed ledger technologies in the legal industry. I've highlighted some of the presenters that I found especially interesting below. I encourage you to check them out! ServeManager This is a popular tool for process servers that is designed to solve the problem of a lack of transparency in the service processing business. The proof of concept provides stakeholde...

1. There are a number of hurdles to the legal enforceability of smart contracts. 2. Smart contracts are legally unenforceable. 3. I am awesome. Which one is a lie? (Hint: I'm actually awesome) There is this rather odd notion floating about that if you enter into a contractual agreement on a blockchain, that agreement is not legally enforceable. This. Is. False. There are a finite number of elements that comprise a legally enforceable contract: offer, acceptance, consideration (i.e., the thing being exchanged) and mutuality of obligation (i.e., meeting of the minds). And in some cases, the contract must be in writing (spoiler alert: code satisfies this requirement). While I'm not 100% certain, I believe this myth that smart contracts are magically unenforceable stems from how the contract and its terms are memorialized and executed. The hurdles inherent to smart contracts are not so novel or so unwieldy that they change the very nature of contractual agreements. These are old, f...

Bytes of the week: -Treasury hearts fintech here and here -Has your state passed a law pertaining to blockchain? - Buy-buy-buy, bye-bye-bye . Pump-and-dump. - Voting on the blockchain in West Virginia -Own a piece of the St. Regis Aspen Resort #smartcontracts #accreditedinvestors #regulators #institutionalinvestors #tokenizedsecurities #blockchain #voting #pumpanddump #stateregs