Ripple has announced the appointment of a new CEO; Brad Garlinghouse, previously president and chief operating officer, will take over the role as of January 1, 2017; Garlinghouse will replace Chris Larsen who will become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors; the fintech blockchain payments company has been significantly expanding in 2016 with its network now including 15 of the top 50 global banks; much of the company's growth has been attributed to Larsen who will now take more of a strategic adviser role. Source
Nine new startups spanning blockchain and digital currency are now a part of the FCA's regulatory sandbox; companies added are Billon, BitX, Epiphyte, Govcoin Limited, Otonomos, Nivaura, SETL, Tradle and Tramonex; FCA executive director of strategy and competition, Christopher Woolard, stated, "It has been an intense process for both firms and ourselves and we are grateful for their cooperation and hard work in getting us all to this position. We look forward to these businesses bringing new products and services to market whilst we ensure that appropriate consumer protection safeguards are in place." Source
At the Ethereum Developer Conference on November 9, Microsoft announced that it would offer blockchain building blocks as part of its Azure cloud hosting platform; the Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) offering allows developers to quickly launch an Ethereum environment which includes code building blocks for SmartContracts and a semi-private testing environment with a blockchain which then can be migrated to the public Ethereum environment; the offering is in partnership with development house ConsenSys. Source
Germany's central bank is hosting a blockchain workshop as an increasing number of central banks are exploring the use of blockchain; the event is titled, "Blockchain Technology - Opportunities and Challenges"; discussions will be focused primarily for central bankers and regulators; topics will include the success of blockchain, business cases for the technology and the use of bitcoin; workshop participants include European central bankers, European Union Parliament members, financial institution executives, individuals from academia and representatives from blockchain-based companies. Source
Paxos has announced it will add former New York Stock Exchange CEO Duncan Niederauer to its board of directors as blockchain companies are increasingly testing new blockchain technologies for exchange trading and post-trade settlement; Paxos is a blockchain service provider for the financial services industry; Niederauer says blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize post-trade clearing infrastructure. Source
Wealth Migrate is claiming to be the first real estate online investing platform that has incorporated blockchain technology; the company focuses on cross-border real estate investing; blockchain is being applied to defining and recording smart contracts and a decentralized, unalterable record of investment transactions. Source
The World Economic Forum has elevated its interest in blockchain technology by forming a working group featuring two dozen prominent executives and innovators; the group meets in Dubai for the first time this week; it will begin with issues of governance of the technology's direction and development protocols; members include the chief economist for the People's Bank of China's research group, the head of the Bank of England's fintech startup accelerator, the former President of Estonia and representatives from startups including BitPesa, Everledger, Ripple and Chain as well as Barclays and Deutsche Bank. Source
In its Q3 2016 State of Blockchain report, CoinDesk provides insights on blockchain; says blockchain investment is decreasing however significant development efforts continue to occur primarily from major banks and stock exchanges; report also says interest in blockchain from central banks is likely to continue. Source
Overstock.com is utilizing blockchain for a blockchain security offering; the offering is part of its preferred stock capital raising which provides investors the option to invest through the company's blockchain technology using a URL; this offering has confirmed subscriptions with the post-trade process being managed on a shared, distributed ledger; since Overstock.com is a publicly traded company, all details of the subscription process have been documented with the SEC. Source
Report from the Federal Reserve explores blockchain for payments, clearing and settlement; paper includes information obtained from interviews with approximately 30 industry stakeholders; says distributed ledger technology could improve processes for payments, clearing and settlement however implementation and adoption of the new technology present challenges. Source