Releases

Your Mobile Phone as a Gold Mine (for hedge funds)

The alarm sounds. Time to wake up. Still bleary-eyed, you reach for your phone to check your messages. You turn the phone on. Before you know it, the tracking begins… But this tracking is not some kind of clandestine, paranoia-inducing government surveillance operation. Rather, it’s the geolocation data that your phone’s apps such as Facebook and Instagram transmit that enable you to be...

Blockchain and Data Storage: 3 Promising Projects

In our previous article, we outlined how blockchain technology can provide tokenized incentives for a more secure, more private, and more cost-effective model of data storage. With that, we could see significant disruptions to the centralized cloud storage systems that currently dominate the market. Most blockchain-based storage projects still require significant development, however, especially...

Blockchain Economics and Network Effects

Looking at the gargantuan market caps that the world’s biggest tech companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon have amassed, one wonders how they’ve managed to dominate within their respective environments, often in such a short period of time. Well it seems the answer lies — at least in part — in their ability to generate network effects. Also known as ‘network externalities’ and...

DDI Blockchain Weekly (August 6th – 12th)

It was a week of both highs and lows. On Saturday, the crypto market as a whole plunged to fresh lows for 2018, as total market capitalization slumped to under $212 billion on Saturday, a level last seen in November 2017. At almost the same time, meanwhile, Bitcoin dominance surpassed 50% for the first time since last December. SEC Delays Bitcoin ETF Decision September 30th. That’s the date...

AI forecast: ‘Disruption, then productivity’

There is growing concern about all the white-collar jobs that will disappear with the spread of machine learning and AI. It gets me thinking about slide rules. The connection is that innovation causes disruptions, then our work and our lives become more productive and interesting. Artificial intelligence is shaking up the job market and will do so for a long time, but there will be many positive...

Co-creating History with AI

A new division of history occurred with the advent of the digital information revolution, the way we now live described as hyperhistory. This new way of living is characterized by certain features: 1) Our technologies are now capable of more than just mediation between us – as users – and other technologies or the world. ICTs (Information Communication Technologies) are also able to control our...

Flourishing through AI

That AI (Artificial Intelligence) will have a major impact on society is no longer in question. Current debate turns instead on how far this impact will be positive or negative, for whom, in which ways, in which places, and on what timescale. Main opportunities for society that AI offers address the following fundamental points in the understanding of human dignity and flourishing: who we can...

Being Nudged by AI

Personal AI (artificial intelligence) assistants are now nearly ubiquitous. Every leading smartphone operating system comes with a personal AI assistant that promises to help you with basic cognitive tasks such as searching, planning, messaging and so on. Usage of such devices is effectively a form of algorithmic outsourcing: getting a smart algorithm to do something on your behalf. Many have...

DDI Blockchain Weekly (June 25th – July 1st)

Just when it looked as if crypto was going to suffer another week of painful losses, markets rebounded strongly on Saturday to end the week marginally higher overall in terms of market capitalization. Prior to the recovery, Friday saw Bitcoin falling below $6000, coinciding with the final day of the CME Group’s futures contract, and thus continuing the trend of sell-offs as the futures expiration...

Altruism in Robotics

Looking at state of the art technology, today’s robots are nowhere close to the intelligence and complexity of humans or animals, nor will they reach this stage in the near future. Yet, while it seems far-fetched for a robot’s legal status to differ from that of a toaster, there is already a notable difference in how we interact with certain types of robotic objects. This occurs mainly due to our...

Considerations When Pitching to Angel Investors

An entrepreneur trying to map out the funding landscape today will find a much more complicated environment than existed just a decade ago. You used to jump from a friends and family round to a Series A investment.  Then Series A became harder to get for early stage companies so “seed” investment firms emerged to fill that gap.  Now you see “micro-seed” investment firms filling the gap that seed...

Decentralized Exchanges as the Future of Cryptocurrency Trading (PART II)

In my previous article, I highlighted how decentralized exchanges (DEXs) represent a marked improvement over centralized exchanges across a range of important issues such as security and privacy. But by no means are DEXs the finished article yet. Much development still needs to be carried out before they can be widely adopted. Indeed, the last few years have seen the emergence of dozens of DEX...

Principles over Populism: A Good Start for Ethics in AI

Google’s declaration of principles for AI is a short but carefully worded text covering the main issues related to the uses of its technology. It is worth reading the document, given that it raises many about the future and the rules we will need to guide us as it evolves. The regulation of artificial intelligence is far from a new subject and is being debated widely; and Google, as a leading...

What You Need to Know About Cryptocurrencies Before Investing

The wealth of information available regarding cryptocurrency and investing in it has become sort of a double-edged sword. How? While the right information will accelerate your journey in blockchain and cryptocurrency investing, the wrong information will ruin your fortunes devastatingly. Now that blockchain tech has gone mainstream, scam projects are popping up all over. Investors have to decide...

DDI Blockchain Weekly (June 11th-17th)

It was yet another subdued week for the cryptocurrency complex, with markets continuing their downward trajectory early in the week, following the $40 million hack of Korean exchange Coinrail on June 10th. By Thursday, total market cap had hit $267 million – a 2-month low – before recovering modestly towards the end of the week. EOS Mainnet It was a particularly momentous week for EOS, which...

Why Decentralized Exchanges are the Future of Cryptocurrency Trading (PART I)

Among cryptocurrency’s most prized attributes is the high level of security facilitated by the blockchain when conducting transactions. Through the use of cryptography, a decentralized network can ensure that the ledger upon which all transactions are recorded is effectively tamperproof. And yet we’re constantly hearing stories of hackers making off with millions of dollars’ worth of crypto at a...

5 Popular Digital Asset Custody Options for Individuals and Institutions

It’s no secret that crypto continues to be plagued by security issues. Although the technology underpinning such digital assets – blockchain – all but guarantees a tamperproof environment, coins remain vulnerable to hackers, especially whilst they remain on exchanges – most of which operate as centralised entities. Indeed, the last few years have seen many hacks that have often resulted in...

Anti-Money Laundering Regulations — is your crypto-business safe and compliant?

With cryptocurrency giving criminals a new way of money laundering, it’s important that you safeguard your business and stay compliant. Here’s everything you need to know. The birth of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies has opened up a wealth of opportunities to businesses — from speeding up payment processes to safely sharing data for a more streamlined process. Yet, despite its...

5 Things Every Developer Must Know about Intellectual Property Rights

Anyone involved in software development today must have a keen understanding of the ins and outs of intellectual property rights, including copyright laws and patent development. But the area is so vast that it can be difficult to narrow down the most important points to start with. Here we’ll outline five key areas that developers and others in the software industry should have a clear...