Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 25 September 2017
Exchange traded funds, certification, a rewards network and a new cryptocurrency. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up features Evolve Funds Group, DNV GL, Deloitte and Codemojo.
Evolve Funds Group has filed a preliminary prospectus with the Canadian securities regulators for Canada’s first cryptocurrency exchange traded funds (ETFs), Evolve Bitcoin ETF (aka BITS). “Accessing Bitcoin is not easy for many – it is a very complicated and expensive process as investors are currently unable to trade them in a regular brokerage account,” says Raj Lala, president and CEO of Evolve ETFs.
The firm says BITS seeks to replicate, to the “extent reasonably possible and before fees and Expenses”, the performance of exposure to Bitcoin obtained through investments in CFE Bitcoin (USD) Futures. The Evolve ETF invests directly or indirectly in exchange-traded futures contracts and other financial instruments and derivatives that provide similar return characteristics. BITS will offer investors with both hedged and unhedged units.
Today (25 September), there was some bad news for Deloitte when it was hit by a cyberattack. However, away from this drama, business assurance provider and certification body DNV GL, in partnership with Deloitte EMEA Blockchain Lab, has issued all its 90,000 certificates using blockchain as a “first in the certification industry”. So its use extends to many industries.
Every certificate is digitally tagged, traceable and stored in a private blockchain. The firm says the technology blocks counterfeit certificates, allowing companies to communicate their certification in a “transparent and secure way”.
Codemojo, which is building a blockchain-based global rewards network and a cryptocurrency called “Alloy”, is launching its initial coin offering (ICO). It plans to raise up to 86,956 ETH i.e. $25 million from the main ICO and “somewhere close” to $3 million in pre-ICO – planned on 15 October. The aim is to upgrade its existing rewards network and tap into a market of 48 trillion “unredeemed” reward points. The network is a single platform that connects consumers, brands and publishers. It will be available via a mobile app/website which “doesn’t require any knowledge about cryptocurrency and blockchain”.
In terms of its Alloy token, the firm will let consumers collate, combine and redeem the reward points of various programmes against a catalogue of products and services of their choice. Based on the current market price of Ethereum, Codemojo says one ETH equals 575 Alloys. The Alpha version of the Alloy app will be rolled out during Q1 2018. By Q2 2018, Codemojo says it plans to expand Alloy initially across Japan, South Korea and Brazil.
