Wow, have times changed. Or, evolved at the 'speed of light'. Only a year or so ago, blockchain was a foreign word, bitcoin was a whim and any major company wouldn't even speak the word 'cryptocurrency' in polite company. Ah, but now even the bluest of blue chips....IBM.....is getting serious about cryptos. In fact IBM has jumped into the deep end by meeting, and working with, executives of commodity firms to develop trading platforms, banks, large corporations AND even global central banks. Whew! Busy busy busy. So what is Big Blue (IBM) up to? How about a digital currency. Several central banks are gearing up to digitize their fiat currencies. How about tokens? Yup, IBM is involved in the tokenization of assets AND even ICOs. Of course there are tons more applications for cryptos and all are going to need IBM's (and others) help to fully achieve the massive potential of cryptocurrencies. THAT'S why IBM is getting serious about cryptocurrencies. Its the future, and its here now. Go Big Blue.
(Bill Taylor/Managing Editor)
"It wasn't long ago that your average enterprise wouldn't even mention bitcoin, ethereum, or any number of cryptocurrencies in public.
Instead of using the cryptographically secure tokens to streamline workflows - or even talking about doing so - some of the most recognizable enterprises in blockchain have largely confined themselves to uses of blockchain as a new decentralized database, absent any digital assets.
Slowly however, over the past several years that has started to change. Executives at large corporations have shown themselves to be increasingly willing to take public stances both for (and against) what is now a $300 billion token market.
But if 2017 was the year that companies began talking about crypto, it wasn't until recently that enterprises have been willing to publicly use cryptocurrencies in both early-stage prototypes and live applications...
"...We're seeing tons of demand for digital asset issuance across the board," said IBM's new head of blockchain development Jesse Lund, who was hired from Wells Fargo earlier this year to help develop the computer giant's cryptocurrency strategy.
.."Source: Coindesk