Counterfeit eggs and shrimps, sand sold as pepper and colored sugar water as apple juice. The scandals surrounding food fraud are becoming increasingly bizarre, sometimes concerning complete products, sometimes partial. Research has shown that 43% of American salmon is incorrectly labeled, 70% of the “Italian Extra Virgin” olive oil that is not at all, and that the chicken on the Subway consists of only 50% chicken meat. In China alone, more than half a million security breaches were discovered and died worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 500,000 people died last year.

In the Netherlands, too, our trust is constantly being damaged, by the “horse steaks” and constant stream of revelations by Dutch programs such as the Keuringsdienst van Waarde on “fake” sweet mashed potatoes and liquorish.

I was therefore not surprised that various studies show, that consumers no longer trust food, its producers and sellers. In the Netherlands, according to the FNLI, more than 75% of consumers mistrust their daily meal and its ingredients and think that 30% of the labels on food are incorrect. Not to mention the various quality marks, such as Fairtrade and Beterleven. Combined with the fact that consumers are starting to live more consciously, there is increasing pressure on food producers to ensure more openness and transparency.

Fake Product Industry

It is not only food scandals that cause a lot of deaths. Unfortunately every year, the number of people dying from fake medicines worldwide is growing fast. In Africa alone, the WHO calculated that 1 out of 10 medicines sold is fake, causing more than 100,000 deaths a year in the continent. According to the OECD, the fake product industry has now reached 500 billion worldwide and financed, among other things, the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2014, which claimed the lives of 191 people. In his manual, the terrorist organization Al Qaeda even recommended selling fake products to finance terrorist cells. The European Union recently calculated that 5% of imported products are counterfeit.

Trust is one of the most important parts of our society, which ensures that it continues to function. It is the glue that holds our world together and the cement of the foundation that sustains relationships and from which businesses can grow and thrive. Relationships between individuals, but also with organizations and governments. It ensures that we want to be part of something, invest talent, time and effort somewhere and do just that little bit more. Even though it is difficult to describe, we feel very clear when it is gone, with all its consequences.

‘without trust we cannot stand’’

Transparency & Trust

One of the key reasons why I am so incredibly enthusiastic about blockchain technology, is that it can revolutionize supply chains and in many areas can restore consumer confidence through transparency about the chain. Trust whether the product is genuine, whether it contains the ingredients it promises, but also by providing insight into where the product comes from and under what circumstances it was made. In the Netherlands, supermarket Albert Heijn is already doing this with her orange juice, supermarket Jumbo with the talapia fillet and spice distributor Verstegen with her nutmeg.

Many companies worldwide have put all their products on the blockchain; Bitcanna (where I am the CEO) does this with cannabis products, Nike with her shoes (CryptoKicks), Louis Vuitton with her bags, Porsche with her cars, DeBeers with diamonds and there are also several startups that deal with gold, medicines, clothing and wine put on the blockchain. According to Juniper research, this alone can save the food industry $ 31 billion.

This is not just about simply having consumers verify whether the product is genuine, according to Capgemini research, 89% of companies do so because of the efficiency benefits and associated cost savings that Albert Heijn and Carrefour have already made public. The transparency also gives the consumer a good idea of how the product is produced. According to Unilever’s CMO, this is not only important to map out the sustainability of the company and product, but consumers are also much more likely to purchase a product if they understand the production process.

RIFD Chips

The WWF, for example, uses its “bait to plate” project, through RIFD chips, to make it clear whether certain tuna has been sustainably caught or not, and supermarket chain Carrefour provides a glimpse into the chicken coop. If you stand in front of the shelf and you choose organic chicken meat, then you also want to be sure that this is it, for that higher price, right?

Personally, I find the possibility of mapping chains better, especially interesting because the waste of food, for example, can be prevented beautifully. In 2020, we still throw away one third of our food globally and blockchain technology already ensures that this is greatly reduced with its transparency. In many other areas too, it ensures that consumers regain confidence. Moreover, In governments by reducing corruption within elections and land ownership, in the media by combating “fake news” and various other matters. The technology certainly does not provide a solution to all the problems in this world, but in various areas, it is busy reducing one of the most important parts of our society; trust.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

Two years ago I couldn’t turn my ass in the supermarket, or someone was talking about Bitcoin and blockchain. Two years later, I no longer hear anyone outside of my filter bubble saying these buzzwords and it is only the fresh orange juice, talapia filet, and nutmeg that delight me with their immortalization on the blockchain. I still firmly believe that the technology is going to make a huge impact on our society, as I also predicted in my previous outlook blog last year. But the developments will go a lot slower as many people predicted last year when blockchain was awarded the ‘most overhauled word of the year’.

Research firm Gartner predicts that in line with their ‘hype cycle’, it will take at least another 5–10 years before the major implementations at companies will start to pay off. Only 10% of companies will start using the technology in the next 5 years. This will add $1 billion worth of value to the organizations that will use the technology in the upcoming year and, according to forecasts, even $ 3 trillion in the upcoming 10 years.

Wonderful, all the predictions, but what can consumers already do with technology as of today? What impact does it already have in the Netherlands and what can we expect in the coming months? Questions that I often get, when I speak or train about blockchain/crypto. Therefore in this blog, the 7 trends in the field of blockchain, which I expect in 2020.

Extensive Adoption by Companies

The many blockchain experiments that have been or are currently being carried out by organizations are being completed successfully more and more. In some industries, it even seems like a real challenge to announce the first new, cool and working applications; “FOMO Solutions”. Although many companies keep their successes secret, to stay ahead of the competition (confirms a round of calls with the larger advisory firms, assisting them), there are also plenty of companies that use it as a PR tool to show their innovative character.

Within the Dutch supermarkets, we have already seen the orange juice from the Albert Heijn, the talapia fillet from the Jumbo and the nutmeg from Verstegen being placed on the blockchain. The entire supply chain of the products has been made transparent, in order to meet the rapidly increasing concerns about food safety, the authenticity of food and conditions for employees and the environment in which the food was made.

The Dutch government continues to experiment at all possible levels and came up with various practical solutions, built with the technology. Earlier, I wrote about the Personal Bound Budgets, lampposts, parking functionalities and other things that are operating a lot more efficiently and error-free, because they make use of blockchain nowadays. The Dutch fine collecting agency CJIB will start using the technology to help debtors, by activating a financial ‘emergency stop’ for people who have fines they really can’t afford.

Different Blockchain Projects

Worldwide, interesting blockchain projects are piling up, from the various car builders who use the technology for, for example, verifying car parts and facilitating car parts, to soccer clubs such as Atletico Madrid and Jufentus, who have launched their own cryptocurrency for fans to invest in the club and give access to unique features. However, many adoption successes are not (yet) directly visible and visible to consumers, such as the efficiency gains that for example supermarkets Albert Heijn and Carrefour have achieved in their supply chain.

We are going to see a lot of great developments in the coming year because half of the companies now realize that blockchain is going to disrupt their industry and that it is a priority to take action on this. According to Forrester, the experiment phase is over and next year, the majority of companies will focus primarily on implementing the technology within the existing company.

Startup Showtime

They grew out of the ground like mushrooms and fell down by bushes; the blockchain startups that emerged at the height of the hype in 2017/2018. While searching for “the new Bitcoin”, billions of euros were invested in all kinds of startups, hoping that the price would, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, “moon”; increase hundreds of percent in value. Unfortunately; 80% of these startups turned out to be outright SCAMS and most other startups had to close down their operations due to mismanagement, no demand for the product or simply because they could not deliver the promised product.

Fortunately, the hype has finally come to an end, most unrealistic adventurers and short-term fortune seekers left the scene and serious startups are coming up with more and more special applications and solutions. There are a number of Dutch startups that have survived the “cryptowinter”, have meanwhile built on nicely and have already put the first working applications on the market.

Blockchain Network

Bitcanna, putting the global cannabis industry on the blockchain, launched its own blockchain network, token, wallet and is currently conducting the final tests to launch its full global payment solution for companies operating in the cannabis sector. In addition to the much-needed payment solution (many companies in the sector do not receive financial services and still largely work with cash), it also works on the transparency of the entire supply chain; “seed to sale” and a decentralized review option to prevent fake reviews.

Other cool companies that are currently making nice progress, are Safeguard, which reduces calamities within companies, Guts, which makes a great fist against ticket fraud and extortionate prices, Wordproof, which is ‘timestamping’ content at websites, to prevent abuse and CargoLedger, which digitizes and simplifies all administration related to ship transport. If we look at the public schedules of the different companies, there are many cool developments planned for 2020, which I will, of course, follow with great enthusiasm.

Impact Stories

Great, all those efficiency gains for companies and practical new applications for consumers; for me personally the most exciting thing about at Blockchain, is the real impact it has and can have on humans and society. No evolution, but real revolution. With all the negativity of failed experiments by companies, the inseparable connection that people still see with Bitcoin and all the negativity that surrounds it with price drops and use by the underworld, but especially also; the great ignorance about how it works, impact stories are very important in taking the next steps. In my opinion, they really demonstrate the right to exist in technology and provide the necessary support.

The World Food Program has “put” hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria on the blockchain, making it easy for refugees to pay with a digital currency, virtually eliminating robberies and quickly and safely loading medical data into a hospital. And, The sale of goods via blockchain also ensures that stocks can easily be tracked and supplemented, that the payments cannot be fraudulated and that refugees can build a life again with their own digital ‘wallet’, in which money can be saved.

Remove Plastic Waste

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has already launched several projects and there are many dozens of projects using blockchain to remove plastic waste from the sea, clean rivers, reduce CO2 emissions, combat overfishing and provide basic financial services for people in developing countries to build an existence; offering a digital identity (1 billion people have no identity, with all its major problems) and banking facilities (nearly 2 billion people do not have a bank account, which means that they cannot save money for their children for example).

As with many companies, the many non-profits also show that there is plenty of experimentation being done with the technology and looking to 2020, these organizations are working hard on successful product launches and implementations for the wider public. It will, therefore, be a year of real impact on a global level, which will also lead to major breakthroughs within the non-profit sector.

National Crypto’s

Last year I already predicted, that governments would take major steps to set up their own, national cryptocurrency. Former IMF Director Christine Lagarde has previously called on central banks to explore the possibilities to do so, but Facebook has greatly accelerated this discussion with their announcement of Libra. Several countries have already introduced their own currency, such as Ecuador, Senegal, Singapore, Tunisia, and Venezuela, and countries such as Dubai, Ecuador, Russia, Estonia, are currently experimenting with it. In Germany, 200 banks have joined the lobby to introduce a digital Euro, and the recent announcement that even China is going ‘all-in’ with blockchain is certainly a sign that a digital yen is coming in the short term.

Many central banks admit that national cryptos are insurmountable because ultimately they want to keep control of the monetary system and prefer to take power away from banks. Where it is impossible to invite a representative of Bitcoin for a senate hearing or forbid the crypto, this is possible with Libra, which is currently being grilled by all possible governments and even banned in countries such as France and Germany.

In the coming year, we will see a lot of cool developments, especially in this area. As mentioned, China will launch its own crypto in the short term, we will see if the Libra will be launched as planned and, above all; what the effects will be of the introduction of all these own national cryptos. It is wonderful to see how countries circumvent the American sanctions with crypto, such as Venezuela and Iran, I am curious to see what further impact this will have on a global level.

Necessary Regulation

In my 2019 outlook, I already indicated that laws and regulations are essential in taking the next “quantum leap” by the blockchain technology. According to research by PWC, the great lack of clarity about and the lack of regulations regarding the technology is the biggest barrier for companies to start using it. This is mainly due to the “pacing problem”; the problem that making and / or adjusting laws can sometimes take years, while technology sometimes develops exponentially within a few months. For example, AirBnB grew from 20.000 to 80 million bookings in one year.

When the GDPR legislation was launched, it was outdated already, due to the rapid rise of blockchain (which in parts is at odds with this legislation). Former Dutch Minister Kamp already said that legislation ‘should promote digital innovation and not slow it down’, and my colleagues from the World Economic Forum also raised this major issue internationally.

Fortunately, many new laws and regulations have been announced for 2020, which will replace the old-fashioned rules for paper and mail with bits and bytes in various areas. In January, the Dutch Law on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism (Wwft) will be the first to be updated, bringing the various Dutch companies actively under cryptocurrencies under anti-money laundering supervision and thereby legally obliged to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (KYC, AML). In addition, various discussions are being held, about the rights and obligations surrounding the so-called “smart contracts”. Because what about bankruptcy and where do companies have to go? What about the rights and obligations within cross-border contracts? The much-loved GDPR legislation will also receive an update in the coming year, in order to embrace blockchain technology more than to oppose it

What Can We Expect More for Exciting Developments?

Developments for which I do not expect major breakthroughs in 2020, but which will see nice further developments, and which we should certainly keep an eye on, are “non-fungible tokens”, the “tokenizing” of assets and “self-sovereign identity”.

“Non-fungible tokens” are digital currencies with a unique feature. Every Euro is the same, but every dog ​​is unique and therefore not freely exchangeable or replaced by an identical item. We saw precursors as “CryptoKitties” for digital cats and “Decentraland”. Many dozens of projects are currently digitizing a wide variety of issues; from collector cards from sports clubs to art, wine and won items within games.

One level deeper goes the “tokenizing” of possessions; the use of digital coins to indicate ownership. This makes it possible to change ownership, real estate, shares, gold, and other valuable assets within a fraction of a second. But also, the fragmented purchase of these assets, as the Dutch startup Bloqhouse already offers with houses. According to my colleagues from the World Economic Forum, no less than 10% of global GDP will be on the blockchain in 2027.

Self-sovereign identity

A “long shot”, but a really cool development, is the “self-sovereign identity”; manage your privacy yourself and fulfill all possible transactions with a single digital identity. Decide for yourself with which parties you share your identity data, to quickly arrange matters digitally or, for example, to prove that you are an adult when purchasing alcohol. For the Dutch government, it is the spearhead in the field of blockchain and dozens of startups are developing products. My Care Log is one of the first successful products to be launched, waiting for the next launch.

The planned developments alone will make 2020 a very interesting blockchain year. Of course, I am very curious about what else unexpected surprises will take place.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

Last week I dust off my winter coat, with the persistent cold. In the crypto scene, however, it was one big “winter” all year round, after the Bitcoin’s price dropped to $ 3,000 in December 2018, after having peaked at $ 20,000 in December 2017. In the months that followed, the price rose again until nearly $ 14,000 in July, but in the meantime, only half of that has been left by a pike dive off the course. Unfortunately, the predictions by self-proclaimed experts that the price would rise again to the old record or even higher to $ 50,000, $ 100,000 or even $ 1,000,000 did not come true. Whether that is due to the disappointing launch of BAKKT, the absence of a first ETF or institutional glow wave is difficult to say.

A harsh winter is always good for dying pests, just like in the crypto scene. Over 80% of the projects that did an Initial Coin Offering (method of raising money through crypto-currency) turned out to be an outright scam and research of the most popular crypto-currency website Coinmarketcap shows that of the top 2000 crypto projects, a quarter hasn’t posted an update on code platform Github for more than a year and even a third didn’t do this in the past 5 years.

“Winter is a season to struggle through, to endure, and the price we pay for the brilliant and beautiful spring that follows.”

Erik Voorhees

Na een strenge winter komt altijd de lente en zoals ik al in mijn vorige blog schreef, hebben de projecten die de winter hebben overleefd, allerlei prachtige vorderingen gecommuniceerd en ligt er veel moois in het verschiet voor 2020. Bijna 20% van de wereldbevolking heeft inmiddels wel eens cryptovaluta gekocht volgens Kaspersky en worden volgens Deloitte bedrijven ook steeds positiever.

Kaspersky

After a harsh winter, spring always follows and, as I wrote in my previous blog, the projects that survived the winter have communicated all kinds of wonderful progress and there are many beautiful prospects for 2020. Nearly 20% of the world’s population bought cryptocurrencies according to Kaspersky and according to Deloitte, companies are also becoming more positive about using them.

The crypto scene is one of the few environments I know, that is changing so rapidly at the moment. Prices, new technological developments, actions taken by governments, from one day to the next, have a major impact on issues such as price levels, use and further development of cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, a number of major developments are expected in 2020, which will certainly have a great impact on cryptocurrency.

1) Bitcoin’s Halving

Analyzing the crypto news from the past months, it is mainly about just 1 event that will take place; the ‘halving’ of Bitcoin, which is expected in May 2020. The reward for the ‘miners’ of the Bitcoin blockchain network will then be halved and historically this has always led to a price increase of a few hundred percents, due to, among other things, the decreasing available number of Bitcoins. However, the opinions are divided, because there are also experts who mark the price increase of last year (from $ 3000 to $ 13000) as the corresponding price increase as a “halving effect”.

Some even see the declining reward as something that will actually negatively influence the price, because it is no longer interesting for many small miners to switch on their computers and maintain the Bitcoin blockchain network. With earlier ‘halvings’ the price always increased towards the beginning of the month, so in the first quarter, we will immediately see if it will be the long-awaited catalyst, which not only increases the value of the Bitcoin, but also the strongly connected altcoins, which almost always rise exponentially. Are we going to see a new “all-time high”? Or will it be the biggest deception of cryptocurrency owners in two years? The first months of 2020 will tell!

2) Libra

Recently, at the European Commission’s annual blockchain event in Malaga, I heard the head of Facebook’s Libra talking about their plans for 2020. The company has recently been overwhelmed by loads of negative responses from governments to its latest project and it’s not even certain whether the project will be launched at all. In Europe, Germany, France, and Italy are working on measures to ban the project and the launch in the United States is not yet certain, even though CEO Zuckerberg recently announced that they will only launch if the regulators are fully in line with that. He also warned his investors that the project may not be launched at all. Other top management of the social network published criticism about the project and a number of important shareholders from the first hour; Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard declined their participation, probably under high pressure from the American regulators.

Social Media

In my earlier blog about Libra, I already indicated that I have mixed feelings about the new project. The cesspool with affairs around Facebook seems to be drying up, and the question is whether we want to entrust something so precarious like our financial data (according to Dutch National Bank research, the most privacy-sensitive data for consumers) to the social media company. On the other hand, we still have 1.7 billion (!) people without bank accounts, of which 1 billion have a mobile phone.

According to the World Bank, they now pay high rates (on average 7%) for transferring and receiving money through a third party and therefore cannot save money. Something that the economic growth of a country can contribute significantly to achieving various Social Development Goals of the United Nations. McKinsey even calculated that this $ 3.7 trillion can contribute to the GNP of developing countries in the next 10 years.

Major Concerns

Central banks, such as our Dutch National Bank, all point to two major concerns; the stability of the financial system; what will happen when Libra is so large, that it will have an impact on the monetary policy of the banks? And the question of how the company counteracts money laundering (AML) and identifies all actors on the network (KYC) to combat terrorism financing, for example, have both not made clear yet.

Next year will, therefore, be an interesting year, not just for Libra. Other large companies, such as Wallmart, are also working on their own digital currencies and various governments are now also accelerating their efforts to look seriously at their own digital currencies, such as the European Union and China. There are also companies that stand behind the governments and indicate that the money system should remain in the hands of governments, as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook recently indicated. However, the business case remains very interesting; various studies have shown that consumers spend much more with digital forms of money than with cash, also known as the “house money effect”. The adoption of such a system, even according to the developers of Libra, will take many, many years to come.

3) Big money

I think it has been one of the biggest deceptions last year in the cryptocurrency scene; the introduction of BAKKT. The platform would, on the one hand, allow efficient buying, selling, issuing and storing of cryptocurrencies and, on the other hand, the use of large parties such as Starbucks (with 30,000 branches) which had until recently, more digital payments made than with Apple Pay (in the United States). This was supposed to cause a huge demand for Bitcoin, which would, of course, have a positive effect on the price. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for the platform was disappointing and the price of Bitcoin fell 19%.

As the parent company owns the largest stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and cooperates with established names such as Microsoft and BCG, the platform must primarily inspire institutional investors, such as pension funds, to invest large sums of money in cryptocurrency. That did not happen before, because the infrastructure simply lacked and the coins are too volatile in value. Both things that BAKKT eliminates with its platform.

Cryptocurrency market

It is no secret that large investors are eager to enter the cryptocurrency market. In the corridors of a number of large Dutch banks, it is indicated that their private bankers will advise rich clients to invest 5–10% in cryptocurrency in 2020 and many managers of ‘family offices’ (management offices of very wealthy individuals/families) who I speak, are also working on this. Crypto-currency companies like Coinbase indicate that they receive hundreds of millions per week from institutional investors to save or trade in futures. The great thing about blockchain is that everything is transparent, so also the transactions and size of digital wallets. A recent analysis of all Bitcoin wallets here shows a very strong increase in wallets of large size.

Because only 21 million Bitcoins can be made and 4 million are lost, the number of scarcity is increasing and that is increasing, which of course is good for the price.

The big money is visible and invisible already busy entering the market, I am curious what effect this will have in 2020 on the prices of the various cryptocurrencies and of course further development of the whole.

4) Further development of projects

Shrew mice live on average only 1–1.5 years and are therefore the shortest living animals on earth. In that respect, they resemble blockchain projects, which also have an average lifespan of 1.12 years, Chinese research among all 80,000 projects revealed.

With Bitcoin’s insane price increase, which is $ 7,500 at the time of writing, many fortune seekers are looking for a cryptocurrency that also has the potential to “moon” (crypto language for a price increase of hundreds of percent). Because of the short lifespan of most projects, a few people have become very wealthy due to the right investment, but the large masses have simply lost a lot of money by selling or selling them too late. In the Netherlands alone, about half a million consumers invested nearly a billion euros in cryptocurrencies, and because most of them bought them at the top of the market, most people are still overdrawn with their investment.

Setup a Project

In my earlier blog I already wrote several tips when looking for the “new Apple” and indicated here that it is especially very important to thoroughly screen the projects on different points; “Do Your Own Research”. You are not just going to send money to a company where you are not even sure where they are located, whose team does not have the knowledge to set up such a project or where little information can be found on the internet? In the madness at the end of 2017, many people haphazardly put money into projects without sorting out these kinds of things, leaving many billions of euros in the pockets of fraudsters setting up fake projects or simply a handful of people who sold on time to a large group of people, who subsequently saw their investments fall in value rapidly.

Many greats in cryptocurrency continue to designate Bitcoin as sole ruler and expect all other cryptocurrencies to quickly take a seat on the “Crypto Graveyard.” I myself still believe in several other projects that have already moved away from large user groups, published several major updates and are still going through many great developments in 2020.

DAPPS

In addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum is often mentioned as the “Microsoft” of cryptocurrency but has received serious competition from, among others, EOS and TRON. If we look for example at the number of Decentralized Apps (DAPPS) on Dappradar, we see that of the top 50, only 3 on the Ethereum network and the rest on that of the two competitors. It is the project, which enjoys a lot of respect in the cryptocurrency and blockchain community because it brought a major step forward in the development of technology by not only facilitating payments but also introducing “smart contracts” and “dapps”.

In 2020, the major (2.0) update of its network is on the “Serenity” program, with which Ethereum makes a supercomputer by introducing a different and much more energy-efficient “consensus method” for validating the transactions; “Proof of Stake” and implemented various solutions to make the network scalable, such as Sharding, Plasma, and Raiden. With the rapidly increasing trend around DAPPS and possible approval of regulated futures, this can all be very positive for the exchange rate of the currency.

Other projects that are taking major steps are Ripple, which has already connected 200 banks to its network and which could replace SWIFT (the organization that now controls the global financial system), Vechain, BAT, EOS, IOTA and TRON.

5) Regulation

Governments worldwide work overtime to regulate the rapid emergence of cryptocurrencies and companies in the industry. As long as it does not (very much) hinder its innovation, I am very much in favor of it, since it not only reduces the chance that cryptocurrencies are used for criminal activities such as money laundering, but it also gives greater certainty to the large investors and therefore makes them faster let enter the market.

One of the core tasks of governments is to protect their citizens. After the many scandals surrounding cryptocurrencies in recent years, where consumers lost a lot of money by investing in ‘fake projects’ and / or entrusting them to trade fairs that went bankrupt for mysterious reasons, such as QuadrigaCX, the Dutch government also takes this task dead serious. It even wants to take the lead in the European field, with its laws and regulations. The AMLD5 legislation will come into effect immediately in January, in which crypto-currency exchanges and custodians (wallets) will be required to register with the Dutch National Bank, receive a review of the suitability of directors and shareholders and must demonstrate that their business processes are designed for money laundering ( AML) and counter-terrorism financing.

According to Minister Hoekstra of finance, the main objective is to combat money laundering.

All Dutch companies that I know that have to comply with this legislation are now proactively working on the implementation of the DNB and most of them are already compliant.

With the above-mentioned expectations for 2020 in the crypto-currency area, I am extremely curious as to what is going to happen; what all will actually happen and what effect it will have on the industry. According to many experts, Bitcoin is going to “go on or under”, I think it will mainly be a year of rapidly increasing maturity and further technological development of the industry.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

It was coming and in an Apple-like way; slowly more and more details were being published, leading to the big announcement last month. However, the launch of the “Libra” project, also called the Facebook “coin,” was very different in many ways from what most experts were expecting. Not only the legal structure but also the list of already confirmed partners and various applications surprised many people. And frightened them.

IMF-director Lagarde already predicted, that ‘big tech’ would have a disruptive effect on the financial sector in the upcoming years. With a player like Facebook, a ‘point of no return’ could be achieved, if a large part of its users will start using its product short-term. In comparison; 350 million people worldwide use the Dollar. If only 14% of the current amount of Facebook users will start using the Libra, this user basis is already larger as the Dollar. The coin is therefore seen as a potential competitor of Paypal, Western Union, and Adyen, but also world currencies such as the Euro and Dollar.

Facebook Coin

Many media, experts and governments stumbled over each other, to mention that this project really went a step too far. Where it is impossible for a highly decentralized project like Bitcoin to call in a responsible person or agency for hearings by legal authorities, it is, fortunately, possible for Libra to do and this has already been done by European and American regulators. In particular, the recent scandals that continue to haunt the initiating company of the currency on a daily basis, are an important reason why many organizations and governments shudder at the idea that it would now also gain access to the financial data of its users. Something that fits perfectly into Facebook’s strategy, just like the Chinese WeChat not to be an open platform, but really a “private messaging” tool, with payment functionalities linked to it.

It was hard for me to find really positive responses to the project by media and governments. Many Western media and governments are looking down on the project in every possible way, but from (mostly developing) countries where the currency is likely to have a major impact, people are already eager to start using it. With our outstanding financial infrastructures in the West, such as the Dutch online banking solutions Ideal (online payments) and Tikkie (peer-to-peer payments), we sometimes forget, that in many countries this is far from the most natural thing in the world.

Remittance Payments

In 2019, one-third of the world’s population does not yet have access to banking services, such as a bank and/or savings account and insurance. In many countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, only 10–25% have this type of facility, simply because they are refused them by banks, as they are not an interesting type of client. A large part of the money being used in these countries ($ 500 billion), is being sent from other countries. Relatives send their families so-called “remittance payments” from the (often Western) country where they work. The costs for this type of transaction are so shockingly high (8–30%), especially for the people who can use each penny very well, that I understand why the reactions from the Western world are completely at odds with those from the rest.

Social Inclusion

With more than $ 6 trillion in cross-border transactions per day, there is also enough room for new models and systems. A currency like Libra can greatly contribute to the “social inclusion” of countries and thus economic growth and the achievement of the “Social Development Goals,” calculated the World Bank and McKinsey. With a digital wallet of their own, people who don’t get/have a bank account can finally save money digitally. You hardly read this argument anywhere else, while it is so incredibly important for the further development of many countries.

Yes, I’m still no enthusiastic about; not only the entire discussion about privacy and data, but also the fact that you don’t get interested in your Libra coins (only the facilitating partners, who according to calculations will earn a lot of money with it) and the absence of a concrete approach to prevent money laundering (AML) and to prevent financing of, for example, terrorism (KYC). It will take a while before the project will be made available; only next year the official launch is expected. On the one hand, I am curious about what is left of the project after the regulatory grill.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.