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
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
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
MasterCard has announced three blockchain APIs to accelerate independent developers' use of MasterCard's technology; the API sets facilitate implementing blockchain nodes/servers, defining 'smart contracts' using MasterCard's technical language and executing transactions on its 'Fast Pay' network; MasterCard is targeting applications in P2P payments, trade finance and supply chain. Source
In an interview with Forbes, Lend Academy Founder and LendIt Co-Founder shares his thoughts on what he calls "a learning year" for the online lending industry; topics discussed are platform growth, investor pullback, compliance, competition and the recent SMART Box announcement by the Innovative Lending Platform Association; looking to the future Renton believes some firms will expand into other areas of fintech (like SoFi) while some companies will remain niche lenders; he also believes Blockchain will have a dramatic impact on peer-to-peer loans. 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
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
R3 is making its blockchain code base publicly available, in an effort to drive standards for the technology; its "Corda" platform code will be stored starting November 30th as part of the Hyperledger open-source project, which is run by the non-profit Linux Foundation to encourage cross-industry experimentation and adoption of blockchain; R3's Chief Engineer, James Carlyle, explained, "If we have one platform with lots of products on top, then we get something that's more like the internet, where we still get innovation but we can still communicate with each other."; in related news, R3 and 12 of its bank members recently trialed Ripple's Digital Asset XRP platform for interbank cross-border payments. Source
SBI Ripple Asia this summer announced plans for a Japanese blockchain development consortia; now, it says interest from banks has been so high that they are launching in November 2016 with 47 member banks, as opposed to an originally planned launch in March 2017 with 30 banks; the participants will be working first on a proof of concept for real-time remittance and cross-border payments; participants include Mizuho, Bank of Yokohama and SBI Sumishin Net Bank. Source
Blockchain has the capability to help improve the insurance industry in a number of ways specifically lowering costs and helping to process claims; P2P insurance platforms are already taking advantage of blockchain's capabilities; Dynamis is one leading example, recently receiving a $2.6 million investment for their P2P insurance platform built on blockchain; according to TechCrunch other areas of the insurance market likely to utilize blockchain include parametric insurance and microinsurance. Source