Taaha Nizam, a young entrepreneur, engineer, and technologist, is the Founder and CEO of HashCase, a platform that creates, launches, and distributes digital assets to a non-web 3.0 audience.

Inspired by Taaha’s achievements at a young age, Dinis asked him to reveal the journey that led him to establish HashCase. Taaha told him that his parents were law attorneys, and had their own law firm. This gave him the confidence to venture into the world of technology right after his graduation in Engineering from a prestigious college in India.

He told Dinis that he, along with a group of friends, created a community of people who would engage, interact, and collaborate to create NFT collections during its early days, in 2017. Recounting his days at one of the largest blockchain firms in Hong Kong, Taaha learned about the limitations of Ethereum blockchain, and the advantages that platforms like Polygon offered. As his interest grew in technology, and he started building his network, he got all the help along his course to laying the foundations of the present-day HashCase.

“That was my first area in Web 3.0, on the NFT side of things. Then as we’ve been building our network, we created an incubator for many NFTS.”, said Taaha. Today, he is the creator of 40 NFT collections.

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Creating a novel custodial wallet solution

Finding an edge at the emerging frontier of blockchain and NFT technology, Taaha founded HashCase in 2021 to allow users to access their NFTs without ever having to create a Web 3.0 account.

During the interview, Dinis wanted to scrape the surface, and unearth the layers that created this unique platform.

“From the beginning, we started to understand that NFTs make sense if there is some utility associated with them. But, there is still one problem that is not solved: its distribution. So, your average consumer who might want to use an NFT does not have the means of accessing the NFT without having access and onboarding on the whole Web 3.0. that according to me is a design flaw. Because web 3.0 is simply a protocol, and the concepts like play-to-earn, tokens, metaverse, and NFTs are concepts that have always existed. But their existence does not guarantee the entry of users to Web 3.0. So, there was clearly something to be done for the consumers who want to engage with NFTs but do not want to jump to all the dimensions of Web 3.0 just yet.”, said Taaha, explaining the need to create HashCase.

Dinis was interested to know how HashCase is progressing towards creating solutions for the metaverse. Taaha told him that while the metaverse is an inevitable reality of our times, improvements in terms of bandwidth and technology are making it more real with time. Explaining the role of NFTs in this space, Taaha said:

“At the end of the day, you need assets to store and hold that need to be light-weight, can confirm to certain standards, and that is platform(s)-compatible. NFT could be that one common standard that is applicable across places, and that is easy to shift around. It unlocks all the experiences the moment you enter a metaverse, but it need not be necessarily present in Web 3.0. To make sure we are able to withhold such proof of ownership and authenticity, HashCase offers custodial wallet solutions”.

Tech Ecosystem in the Indian Economy

Sharing facts with statistical data, Dinis was interested to know the status of tech ecosystems being built in Indian as well as global economies.

“Fortunately, the builders are in a much better situation than the speculators and the investors. while people need to understand these novel concepts like blockchain, metaverse and Web 3.0, the regulators also need to grasp these to be able to lay down the framework. This all is going to take a little bit of time and education. Influencers and leaders have taking the forefront to give it a direction. The overall enthusiasm and response to understanding the fundamentals and their application has been encouraging.”, he concluded.

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4IR: AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation by Dinis Guarda and Rais Hussin (4irbook.com)

Dinis Guarda citiesabc openbusinesscouncil Series is also available as podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dinis-guarda-citiesabc-openbusinesscouncil-series/id1510330391

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1vA8KaDaRpJ0mAfpNbfTSF?si=H_WngL4RSOyu1W7VAmM41w&dl_branch=1

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xMDMyMzg4LnJzcw==

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/953a5156-823c-4e86-baeb-4fda1128e44c/DINIS-GUARDA-CITIESABC-OPENBUSINESSCOUNCIL-SERIES

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post CEO Of HashCase, Taaha Nizam, Speaks With Dinis Guarda On The Need To Bridge Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 Experiences appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

• In one of the applications of Web 3.0, the digital world gets immersive by simulating the real world and making it interactive for the users. This is the Metaverse the world is talking about today.

With an accelerated rush by global corporations to establish themselves in the latest metaverse technology, the world is (knowingly or unknowingly) welcoming the advent of the Web 3.0 era with open arms. Dinis Guarda, founder and CEO of citiesabc, openbusinesscouncil and ztudium, has been exploring the realm since its inception. Contextualising the concepts in a new infographic, here’s how he explains the evolution of the internet to evolve into what we know as Web 3.0 and how it creates an ecosystem using blockchain technology for carving out the metaverse of our future.

Web 3.0: A decentralised version of the internet

The third generation of the Internet, popularly known as Web 3.0, is in its bare infancy. It is the iteration that shifts the control of the internet from centralized players to its builders and users.

But how does this work?

This control chain is orchestrated with the availability of tokens on the blockchain, a decentralised ledger system for digital transactions.

Does this mean we are ushering into a new era where creators, developers, businesses, and users are alike?

Yes, indeed. This is what we mean by decentralisation, Dinis explains.

According to him, Web 3.0 rose to popularity because of its inherent nature to leverage innovation with ownership. In other words, each participant gets property rights over a piece of the internet using tokens- both fungible and non-fungible (or NFTs).

But, that’s just one aspect of it.

Another distinguishing feature is adding an extra layer of security to the transactions with a feature called smart contracts.

Overall, this fixes the core problem of limited functionality in Web 1.0 and the centralised model of Web 2.0.

Dinis affirms that the new Web 3.0 will offer fresh ways to combine the best aspects of the previous eras and enhance them in a decentralised manner.

Referring to his vision of Web 3.0 ecosystem, the existence of digital twin means an individual has two identities- one that exists in the real world (the physical Id), and the other is in the virtual world (or the digital identity, or the avatar).

Now, how are the two worlds connected, let’s find out what Dinis Guarda thinks of this?

Metaverse: Interactivity between a variety of Web 3.0 applications

The Metaverse, as it stands today, is a variety of web 3.0 applications with various levels of interactivity and adoption. It is an immersive digital space that simulates the real world and focused on social connections among digital twins.

The data, available through technologies like cloud computing and blockchain, is collected and enabled with AI within the Web 3.0 ecosystem. This incentivises the creators and users to manage their personal data as they wish.

In other words, the decentralised nature of Web 3.0 offers better data ownership avenues for the users of the ecosystem.

“We are going through a paradigm shift where ownership transforms itself from the real world to the digital world, the metaverse, that encompasses this promise of ownership.”, says Dinis Guarda (title). According to him, “This is not a new concept. However, with NFTs and the blockchain gaining traction, we are going to see a lot of builders and creators innovating across the multitudes of the digital world.” 

The Metaverse Revolution: 10 Industries That Will Change

The digital world, hereafter…

Over time, these multiverses might progress towards complete decentralisation, opening fresh avenues for newer platforms, and outdating the traditional ones. Dinis concludes that while Metaverse and Web 3.0 are still evolving, data interoperability, data ownership, and parallel multiverses are some of the budding fruits in this garden of the digital realm.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Infographic: Web 3.0 Nurtures Metaverse With Decentralisation and Data Ownership appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

From Metaversive Banks, Digital healthcare, Virtual Retail and Commerce, to Tech Education…These are not mere concepts anymore. With progressive advancements in technology and tools, Metaverse is gaining traction among most industries, making its existence more relevant day by day.

Metaverse is a promise that makes the world of fantasies come to reality. Just as Web 2.0 was crucial for smartphones and laptops, #Web3 will serve that role for the Metaverse.  

This Metaverse Revolution is creating a brave, new world. With NFTs, Web 3.0, Internet, Blockchain, and AI-powered Avatars, the Metaverse is shifting us into new social-economic gamification models. Our world will never be the same. Our industries won’t either.

This is a research video from Dinis Guarda and produced by citiesabc.com, openbusinesscouncil.org; fashionabc.org and ztudium techabc.

More about the metaverse:

Digital Twins Metaverse: Are These Approaches Helping Us Create Novel Solutions?

From Gaming To Manufacturing: The Metaverse Revolution In Today’s Industries

Soon A Quarter Of Us Will Be Living For At Least An Hour Of Our Lives In The Metaverse

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post VIDEO: 10 Industries That Will Change With The Metaverse Revolution appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

If the Metaverse is a new door for Humanity, NFTs are the keys. It is an emerging tunnel for a fast-forward, rapidly developing societal change in virtual reality. The Metaverse(s) will open new roads and create digital interactive worlds. While these started as fantasies, they are quickly becoming our reality.

When defining the Metaverse, we have to consider Blockchain-powered NFTs, the expanded concept of the Web 3.0 Internet Paradigm, and all the related technologies. I created this infographic research where I define and highlight these concepts that are critical to gaining a better understanding of what the Metaverse is:

1. Metaverse experience;

2. Metaverse discovery;

3. Metaverse Creator Gig economy;

4. Metaverse Digital twins spacial computing;

5. Metaverse and Decentralisation;

6. Metaverse and Human Interface;

7. Metaverse Infrastructure.

The quotes below highlight the challenges and, in particular, the complexities of the multiple confluence of technologies and change that the Metaverse concept will bring us:

“By the time we get to the 2040s, we’ll be able to multiply human intelligence a billionfold. That will be a profound change that’s singular in nature. Computers are going to keep getting smaller and smaller.“ Ray Kurzweil

“What is inevitable is not death but change. Change is the only abiding reality. The metaverse evolves, fractally and forever. Saints become singers, sinners become saints. Dusts become men, men become gods, gods become dust.” Robert Charles Wilson

“This Metaverse is going to be far more pervasive and powerful than anything else. If one central company gains control of this, they will become more powerful than any government and be a god on Earth.” Tim Sweeney

“Augmented reality will drive all things like chat, social networking, photos, videos, organizing data, modeling, painting, motion capture, and visual programming. Every form of computing will be combined together and unified in a single platform.” Tim Sweeney

“The metaverse has become the newest marco-goal for many of the world’s tech giants.” Mathew Ball, EpyllionCo

“The (NFT) technology is here to stay. It’s a simple way to own things digitally. The royalties paid to the original creator in perpetuity is what is so exciting.” Marc Cuban

So what is the Metaverse? The definition is open and signifies something bigger than anything ever done by Humans. For now, we can summarise it as an expanded, communal, virtual interactive, and immersive space, based on various platforms, linking AR and VR — mixed reality, allowing avatars a.k.a.us — you — us, your digital twins — to move from the next-related or not – at a single starting point. This will happen in a digital 360 platform that allows immersive experiences, including gamification, payments, exchanges of digital experiences and reward solutions.

Imagine: Ready Player One meets Second Life and you are being able to interact in a world of your own such as Tim Burton’s “the Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Metaverse = Immersive virtual worlds with their own interactive economic reward Systems, Gig economy new type of jobs, AR V-Shopping Areas and rich Media interactive consumer-driven universes.

Below, find some of my top-level ideas about the Metaverse, from A to Z:

A) ABC of anything internet Metaverse platforms are and will create the immersive accessible digital metaversive ecosystems platforms for our society.

B) Bold Metaverse — Our social-economic dynamics will be based on boldly created and framed Metaverse(s) platforms with ecosystems that offer reward and gamification ESG-driven experiences, solutions, and rewards for creators, brands, retail, entertainment industry, businesses, and the public in the virtual world.

C) Critical Metaverse platforms combine elements of social media, e-commerce like TikTok and Amazon with AR, 3D communities like Roblox, Decentraland within an expanded virtual post-pandemic digital circular economic virtual world.

D) Dynamics Metaverse platforms will make available virtual AR mall future utopia cities and virtual for creators, brands and v-commerce.

E) Explosive effusive Metaverse platforms will allow effusion and explosive experiences where Users can create, play, interact, enjoy experiences, get entertainment and buy!

F) Future Metaverse platforms will build a new Society 5.0 immersive digital tools for people, businesses and creators to market and sell their real and digital products in a virtual world!

G) General foundation technologies such as Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are enabling the next iteration of the Metaverse Internet: Web 3.0, an intelligent, immersive Internet.

H) Hyperbolic — The Metaverse is an example of how digital transformation is reshaping and hyperbolising our society, enabling super-fast changes in our physical merging with virtual worlds, such as democratising trade and reengineering supply chains, while redefining how we behave in the virtual world.

I) Immersive Augmented Reality (AR) enhances and augments our experience of the physical world with information as a virtual overlay.

J) Jack of all trades Virtual Reality (VR) that enables ever-expanding virtual experiences outside of physical reality in an entirely newly-created and interactive virtual world.

K) Keys — with Mixed Reality (MR), or polyplexity, — the keys of the Metaverse are MR — hybrid of AR and VR — that merges the real and virtual worlds. Mixed Reality is a critical focus on how to create new Metaverse technology and ecosystem environments in which physical and digital objects coexist interactively in real-time.

L) Leading 3D technology is going to be an emerging sector that highlights the construction of a three-dimensional object that is being embraced by businesses to simplify the working process and improve online experiences such as shopping.

M) Metaverse Mechanics will include the Applications of Avatars, advanced and cartoonish avatars, 3D technologies include 3D modelling, 3D printing, 3D visualisation, and 3D display.

N) Native Avatars. The metaverse and related avatar technologies are a fast-growing social Development that will change the way we behave and the way we look at humanity. Avatars are our evolutionary digital twins as humans. They will become our native avatars footprint.

0) Objectiveness will be going forward defined with Avatar technology is a digital variation of a human character based on the computer representation of users in a computer-generated 3D world. Avatars are critically used in chat and entertainment websites.

P) Personal Avatars will create new business applications that will expand social health and economic models and will include gamified training, health care checks, wellbeing, customer support, training or sales, where avatars in an enterprise’s website may assist potential customers through text or audio links.

Q) Quantified and augmented social-economic gamified metaverse ecosystems. The metaverse will expand our ecosystems and quantify everything we do with AI qualitative and quantified analytics and interactive UI UX and experiences.

R) Realistic virtual worlds are vast and changing and key to the metaverse. These realistic virtual and imaginative worlds cannot be created and maintained without advanced automation.

T) Tech Metaverse — Metaverse technology Infrastructure includes tech semiconductors material science, AI, cloud computing and 4G, and 5G, telecommunications networks that make it possible to construct any of the above layers.

U) UI UX is key for the Metaverse ecosystem. There is no Metaverse without users, only a static, empty virtual space. User experience needs to be as seamless and sophisticated as possible, and AI is key to enabling this.

V) Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real, making the user feel they are immersed in their surroundings. This environment is perceived through a device known as a Virtual Reality headset or helmet.

W) Web 3.0 suggest an open future Internet in which different people and machines can interact with data, ideas, objects and each other without third party involvement. Something that would not be possible without AI and blockchain.

X) eXperiences — the metaverse platforms of the near present future will be using native in-game gamification advertising experiences in new ways that will integrate influencer, social media and interactive data quantified systems. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Volkswagen all have virtual billboards within video games like Football Manager and Hyper Scape. Platforms like the in-game advertising platform Bidstack revealed that these ads enhanced gameplay realism for 95% of players and increased purchase intent by 12%.

Y) Young and old will be part of the virtual worlds; we will expand into the Metaverse. All ages and social groups will be interacting in the metaverse new iteration of humanity that just started.

Z) Zeppelins and the Metaverse have a lot in common. Like in the age of the vast, ocean-crossing zeppelins, that came to an end in 1937, when the Hindenburg — the largest craft of its type ever built — erupted in flames while landing in New Jersey, we will see a lot of zeppelin Metaverse platforms. But as the technology evolves we, all of us, will definitely be living in Metaverse ecosystems.

Dinis Guarda

Dinis Guarda is the founder of intelligenthq.com and an author, serial entrepreneur and CEO of ztudium that manages openbusinesscouncil.org, fashionabc.org, blocksdna.com, lifesdna.com.

He creates and helps build ventures focused on global growth, 360 digital strategies, sustainable innovation, Blockchain, Fintech, AI and new emerging business models such as ICOs / tokenomics.

Dinis is the founder/CEO of ztudium that manages blocksdna / lifesdna. These products and platforms offer multiple AI P2P, fintech, blockchain, search engine and PaaS solutions in consumer wellness healthcare and life style with a global team of experts and universities.

He is the founder of coinsdna a new swiss regulated, Swiss based, institutional grade token and cryptocurrencies blockchain exchange. He is founder of DragonBloc a blockchain, AI, Fintech fund and co-founder of Freedomee project.

Dinis has created various companies namely Ztudium, a tech, digital and AI blockchain startup that builds cutting edge software, big data insights, publishes intelligenthq.com, hedgethink.com, fashionabc.org, openbusinesscouncil.org and tradersdna.com, citiesabc.com among others.

Dinis is the author of various books. His upcoming books “4IR AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation“, “How Businesses and Governments can Prosper with Fintech, Blockchain and AI?”, also the bigger case study and book (400 pages) “Blockchain, AI and Crypto Economics – The Next Tsunami?” last the “Tokenomics and ICOs – How to be good at the new digital world of finance / Crypto” will be launched in 2018.

Some of the companies Dinis created or has been involved have reached over 1 USD billions in valuation. Dinis has advised and was responsible for some top financial organisations, 100 cryptocurrencies worldwide and Fortune 500 companies.

Dinis is involved as a strategist, board member and advisor with the payments, lifestyle, blockchain reward community app Glance technologies, for whom he built the blockchain messaging / payment / loyalty software Blockimpact, the seminal Hyperloop Transportations project, Kora, and blockchain cybersecurity Privus.

He is listed in various global fintech, blockchain, AI, social media industry top lists as an influencer in position top 10/20 within 100 rankings: such as Top People In Blockchain | Cointelegraph https://top.cointelegraph.com/ and https://cryptoweekly.co/100/ .

He has been a lecturer at Copenhagen Business School, Groupe INSEEC/Monaco University and other leading world universities.

He is a shareholder of the fintech social money transfer app Moneymailme and math edutech gamification children’s app Gozoa.

Between 2014 and 2015 he was involved in creating a fabbanking.com a digital bank between Asia and Africa as Chief Commercial Officer and Marketing Officer responsible for all legal, tech and business development. Between 2009 and 2010 he was the founder of one of the world first fintech, social trading platforms tradingfloor.com for Saxo Bank. In 2011 he created the B2B platforms socialmediacouncil.org and openbusinesscouncil.org with Jamie Burke.

The post Metaverse ABC — Closing The Gap Between The Physical And Digital World Of The Metaverse From A To Z appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Change is a powerful feature. It reshapes global business and society (as a whole). As the emerging technologies turn human-centric in their nature, financial services are also facing a breakthrough in their conventional mechanisms. This is pivotal in its evolution into a more sustainable and inclusive industry altogether. This evolved version promises to restore public trust, with almost no trade-offs between yielding profits and ensuring positive social impact.

The financial services are undergoing disruptive innovation due to key driving factors- evolving customer expectations, rapidly advancing technologies, and changing landscape of regulatory grounds. Fintech innovations like cryptocurrencies, Big Data, and peer-to-peer lending are grabbing the attention and imagination of investors and customers.

Creating the Future: a Hacker’s Guide to Financial Services is a comprehensive report powered by Finastra FusionFabric.Cloud, where over 50 contributors have shared over a hundred predictions on the financial future. The report by Fintech Talents (by VC Innovations Ltd.) creates a relevant narrative, depicting some of the intriguing insights over what trends are going to redefine the future of our existing financial and banking system.

Path-breaking solutions to carve out better financial systems

ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) for a sustainable finance

Over the past few years, the ESG criterion is a popular key metric that investors use to evaluate businesses. The parameters that decide the ESG criteria differ as per the industry standards. The environmental criteria could include everything from energy usage to how waste is disposed of, and even the treatment of animals.

On the other hand, the social criteria are primarily related to a company’s conduct with its stakeholders and its business relationships. This includes its treatment of the suppliers, the relationship with the surrounding community and the social impact it makes on them, or even the conditions of its employees.

Governance criteria, however, have traditionally been an afterthought. Nevertheless, its true meaning is changing, being relatively pertaining to environmental and social issues. Everything from executive pay to shareholder rights, or internal controls- are all relevant to investors within this criterion.

Contributors to Fintech- investors, consumers, and incumbents believe that the industry plays a central role in finding unique solutions to the challenges posed by ESG. The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations were introduced in March of last year. This was followed by a roadmap published by the Treasury in the month of October that outlined new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements.

This is to continue with the development of the frameworks for appropriate regulation and reporting of ESG in financial services. Gartner reported that 85% of investors considered ESG factors in their investments in 2020. This illustrates the rapidly growing importance investors place on ESG issues.

While sharing his concern about the inadequate upgradation measures, Dinis Guarda, founder of intelligenthq, citiesabc, and openbusinesscouncil says for the report by Fintech Talents, “According to an estimate by OECD and World Bank, an investment of 6.9 trillion will be required by 2030 to meet the ESG targets for climate and development. The current spending on infrastructure is no more than USD 3.4 – 4.4 trillion, lagging significantly behind what is required”.  

The year 2022, for Mohamed Moullouze, Chief Innovation Officer at Attijariwafa Bank, will be the year for FS firms to make a progressive effort in bringing ESG products and services within the market. From green loans and mortgages to carbon tracking capabilities, and sustainable account checking- the innovative financial features are much awaited in the markets.

Embedded Finance ensures Bank as a Service (BaaS) experience for the consumer

Embedded finance is a seamless integration of financial services into a platform that has been functioning non-financial traditionally. For example, a ride-hailing app (like Uber) can accept cashless payments being made by its users on its digital platforms like apps and websites.

Adding the FS feature to business, retail, and corporate customers to a point where they would prefer the consumption of services is BaaS. This makes it convenient for the customers to access these services even at third-party interfaces. Now, to remain relevant, the banks must adapt to this evolving trend by collaborating with service providers, distributors, and enablers. To meet the scalability targets, an open API platform-based approach could be implemented.

Almost every vertical of the finance ecosystem has been impacted by embedded financing. From offering insurance for home appliances at the point of purchase to buying parking through Google Maps- everything is possible with the ingression of embedded finance.

Today, there is virtually no part of the finance ecosystem that hasn’t been impacted by embedded finance. Everything from offering insurance at the point of purchase for home appliances to purchasing street parking through apps like Google Maps has been made possible due to the spread of embedded finance in everyday experiences.

Big players like JP Morgan (who is using some of its $12bn of its tech budget over the next year for developing embedded finance), Goldman Sachs (announcing its own BaaS portal for developers), and Barclays (launched Rise Start-Up Academy for fintech entrepreneurs) are coming up with innovative ways to make the most of the upcoming trend.

“I think more specialisation per underserved industries will see new embedded finance collaboration occur in 2022. Aside from just payments and investments, I think the next evolution ventures into the area of royalties and affiliate compensation solutions that leverage the same concepts for creators” Australia Hoover, III, CEO, CDC Federal credit union.

Open banking and embedded finance, combined, could open up numerous gates for an inclusive ecosystem. This means the lenders and borrowers from all financial backgrounds could be allowed to participate equally on common grounds. With an increasing number of use cases for embedded banking, every business can potentially become a Fintech that provides more frictionless and personalised services.

Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

DeFi is the umbrella term for all blockchain-based financial apps. These apps offer (and perform) conventional banking services over a platform that is mostly based on smart contracts. These smart contracts negate the involvement of any middleman or broker for the culmination of financial transactions.

“Decentralisation is the term of the day – everyone is speaking about it,” says Dinis Guarda, Founder of intelligenthq, citiesabc, and openbusinesscouncil. “DeFi is not just a trend; it is clear that an average person is tired of centralised money supply control; the unprecedented growth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies proves that.”

It is his belief that the advent of a new financial era with the rising DeFi and Web 3.0 trends offers new avenues for the diverse user base to engage interactively with finance. Speaking specifically in the context, Guarda adds “The current financial system is not working for everyone, it is clear. The communities that have been unable to build generational wealth are looking for a meaningful alternative”, for the report by Fintech Talents.

There have been significant barriers to entry with conventional financial systems. Traditional financial institutions consensually required complex infrastructure, well-trained staff, and intricate IT backend systems to ensure regulatory obligations. DeFi simplifies this system overall. Users can engage themselves in frictionless transactions- borrowing, lending, insurance, liquidity, and compound- all on one platform. DeFi is evolving as the innovation advances, though, there are still many challenges that DeFi will need to address.

Platformification

The accelerated digitalisation of products, services, and processes has altered the traction banks followed for over years. The pandemic itself was enough to project the loss of agility in the traditional banking system.

The API-enabled fintech ecosystem dramatically changed the outlook of financial services. This clearly depicts that a platform provides the required flexibility and innovation while imparting the simplicity of transactions in a most cost-effective manner.

Platformification enables financial institutions to offer a wider range of products and services to their customers using a plug-and-play business model. Collaboration and innovation are at the heart of a successful platformification plan. With a product mix, the traditional financial institutions can benefit from the innovations and embrace APIs. As easy as it is said, achieving these goals could be quite challenging for these institutions.

As more and more customers are getting accustomed to taking advantage of countless services at their fingertips, accessing a wide array of financial tools at a single platform is a preferred mode. This is why despite established brand names, banks operating in traditional ways are unable to support the features that users expect.

“The Banking as a Platform model allows FIs to securely expose their platforms to fintech and developers in the cloud via open APIs. Trusted third parties can access and build on top of existing FSI platforms and FIs can augment their services with third-party offerings and make these new services available to customers through their Super Apps or channels. It’s all about becoming part of their customers’ lifestyle rather than simply being a banking app”, says Özkan Erener, CEO of VeriPark.

Platformification establishes an ecosystem that offers the right products for the clients on a single platform like WeChat. This ensures retention and resilience amongst the customers even in an increasingly competitive environment. Specialised services that particularly target the niche audience create fintech sub-sectors like wealthtech and insurtech that could leverage the financial services for a better future.

Financial services are evolving for a sustainable future

The community of innovators is quirky to be able to see what is coming for the future, not just what is happening now and here. They are able to capture and predict the impact new services and products will make on the evolving needs of the customer. What the stakeholders’ demand is more transparency and accountability from FIs. This requires improved financial performance while meeting regulatory compliance. Nevertheless, the most important attribute for a successful financial process is the ability to articulate the unique culture of the society and amalgamate it with the evolving trends.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post How Innovation And Sustainability Carve The Future Of Financial Services appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The Metaverse is an ever-expanding term, beginning to cover more and more virtual experiences with each day. It can be described as the virtual equivalent of our physical world. With the increasing need to streamline our lives, to make our work more efficient, and our relationships easier to keep up with, the Metaverse offers an interesting solution. It can be used not only for work but also for play. A recent report by Gartner, a data insights firm, states that by 2026, a quarter of the Internet’s users will be spending at least an hour per day in virtual reality. So what is this Metaverse, really, why does it have the potential to boom?

Metaverse: the basics

The term ‘Metaverse’ appeared first in the science fiction novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson in 1992. Set on a futuristic backdrop, the story unfolds humans’ interaction with each other and with software agents (as avatars) in an online-enabled virtual space similar to the present-day internet. Stephenson named this virtual space the Metaverse. It represented his vision of the future evolution of the internet on the lines of virtual reality technology. Currently, the features of Web 3.0 – continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, and objects – empower it to grow at the current scale of expansion.

The Metaverse marks an advanced chapter in our cultural and digital history. It offers innovative ways and alternative modes of storytelling, thereby shifting the bridge between the physical and virtual realms. Video games like Robolox or Fortnite, in which players can build their own words, have metavere-adjacent tendencies. If you are working in a virtual reality-enabled workplace, you are working in the Metaverse. There is no single Metaverse space, however. It’s Metaverses.

The current consensus

Matthew Ball, a venture capitalist and essayist, believes the Metaverse to be not a virtual world or a space, but “a sort of successor state to the mobile internet” – this ties with the idea of Web 3.0. There “will be no clean ‘Before Metaverse’ and ‘After Metaverse,’” he says. “Instead, it will slowly emerge over time as different products, services and capabilities integrate and meld together.”

Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, shared his own view of the Metaverse recently on CNET: “We want to get as many people as possible to be able to experience virtual reality and be able to jump into the metaverse and to have these social experiences within that,” he inferred, referring to the company’s VR environment Horizon, propelled by Facebook’s Oculus headsets.

What future awaits us? We believe that these are the key trends that have the potential to succeed by using the power of AI and Metaverse. These will also be the reason why people will spend more and more time in the Metaverse as years progress.

• Use of the Metaverse in the Tourism industry to create multiple new experiences when you visit a city, a resort or want to research where to spend the time of your life;

• Metaverse use and scale in property for creating better experiences for property city development and increase better experiences and relationships between developers, investors and, finally, clients’ buyers.

• Metaverse use and scale in creative industries: creators, not just game developers will increasingly use the metaverse to create new revenue streams and expand their brands out of the scope of the digital global monopolies that don’t reward, for example, their follower base;

• Even when it comes to the crypto space, Metaverse tokens have been among the most successful coins on the markets: Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), and Decentraland (MANA) outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021.

A world of future possibilities

The Metaverse research shows that humans will utilise the technology in major ways. Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner, said: “Vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in digital worlds – from attending virtual classrooms to buying digital land and constructing virtual homes, these activities are currently being conducted in separate environments.”

He added that “Eventually, they will take place in a single environment – the Metaverse – with multiple destinations across technologies and experiences.”

The tide is turning. Will we see users spending an hour in the metaverse on average by 2026? It looks likely. However, as was often the case, the pace of technological development may even be underestimated. Our Metaverse-based lives may soon prove to be the primary means of communication and interaction. The future is here.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post In The Next Four Years, A Quarter Of Us Will Be Living For At Least An Hour Of Our Lives In The Metaverse appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The platform executives know that a new internet era, Web 3.0, is coming. It has the potential to revolutionise the virtual world. The same way Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have become successful billionaires during the Web 2.0 era, Web 3.0 presents new opportunities for those who are savvy enough to utilise them. Facebook’s rebranding to Meta is one example. YouTube’s quest to modernise its platform is another. Why YouTube Is Moving For A Web3.0 Integration?

Why YouTube Is Moving For A Web3.0 Integration?

The technicals: Web 3.0 runs on a blockchain

The distributed ledger of blockchain provides an exquisite solution to protect and maintain the transparency of transaction data. It also provides numerous opportunities to reward the user in various ways. Blockchain-powered protocols have the capacity to leverage communities, creators, artists, developers, designers, and organisations and businesses to experiment and evolve.

Right now, new projects like citiesabc.com (creating a Metaversefor entire cities) and LynKey are creating virtual and real experiences with NFTs in property and smart tourism.

YouTube’s revolution

YouTube is known as the biggest content creator platform. Now, it is arguably the right time to grow the connection between creators and their fans, through NFTs. The top celebrities, including the social media artists, are constantly looking for innovative ways for expanding their reach with new audiences, and better engagement for the existing ones, thereby creating sustainable ways of generating revenue streams. Web 3.0 offers this new playground ecosystem for them.

The company is currently not only hiring an executive to lead its Web 3.0 strategy but also looking to add NFT integration, as per the CEO, Susan Wojcicki’s recent comments.

A recent open letter by Wojcicki seems to outline the direction in which the company is headed.

“The past year in the world of crypto, non-fungible tokens, and even decentralised autonomous organisations has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans,” said Wojcicki. “We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalise on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.”

A roadmap is not yet published, but it is likely that YouTube could allow content creators to issue their own NFTs and sell them to their audiences as an improved monetization model for the “Join” feature.

YouTube gaming

YouTube had over 800 billion gaming-related views, over 90 million hours of live streaming, and over 250 million uploads in the first half of 2021. The potential for Web 3.0 integration here is huge.

Immersive gaming experiences have come a long way. As Dinis Guarda, the CEO of Ztudium and a Digital influencer wrote:

“Since its first presence in platforms like Second Life (2003), it has come a long way to today’s global-scale multiplayer online games like Fortnite, and even more popular Facebook’s rebranded, Meta. Many experts consider these platforms to be the pioneers in the world of multiverse gaming.

New players, like the Polygon ecosystem, use Blockchain to expand transparency for the community, deploy new reward systems, and offer possibilities to scale communities.”

For the gaming space, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, has admitted that “We’re thinking big about how to make viewing more immersive. The first area in which you can expect to see an impact in gaming, where we’ll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive”.

As far as the Metaverse is concerned, Mohan wrote, “It’s still early days, but we’re excited to see how we can turn these virtual worlds into a reality for viewers.” All of these are just plans, so we will have to wait and see what YouTube has in store for us.

Although YouTube’s plans are not fully finalised yet, one thing is certain: with Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, other “traditional” Web 2.0 companies are going to try and keep up the pace. YouTube is just one platform that is looking to modernise. And modernise means surviving, with how fast the digital revolution is progressing.

References

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/believe-3-0-next-internet-125712525.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADcVHK7k0PHbqH5u2OBwmdqheGcB9p-OEsWiPBbsQwzlfeggrCnCEIuAfmS6E4U5cVpNAJstpI5tTvTSmKXLucBYCP7Qco5DJ7DUvN1Tp3-XH-HieZK60wXVBh0pmLnTDhhHz3oUvvwehRXNVRSOTjghikG0LXPdOGi5EYxZLc2e

https://coinscreed.com/youtube-to-explore-nfts-and-web-3-0.html

https://www.cnbctv18.com/cryptocurrency/youtube-sees-incredible-potential-in-web-30-nfts-12458752.htm

https://cryptobriefing.com/youtube-is-hiring-an-executive-to-lead-web3-strategy/

https://www.notebookcheck.net/YouTube-is-looking-to-add-NFT-integration.595650.0.html

https://thecoin.news/articles/youtube-explore-nft-features-creators-1643206193135

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Why YouTube Is Moving For A Web3.0 Integration? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Huobi Incubator is the project incubation arm of Huobi Global. It has announced a strategic partnership with the DFINITY Foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer. Internet Computer is the most powerful general-purpose blockchain for building infinitely scalable Web3 dApps.

“Public chains play an important role in the blockchain world. We hope that our cooperation with DFINITY building on the Internet Computer can boost Web3 development to new heights”, said Jewel Chen, Head of Huobi Incubator.

Huobi Incubator will provide end-to-end support for Internet Computer-based Web3 dApps, DeFi, Games, NFTs, social media, and Metaverse projects through this partnership. It will include seed round investment, technology guidance, marketing and community engagement, and more. Huobi Incubator will also assist with the transfer of native assets for Internet Computer, and various multi-chain deployments required for Web3 projects.

Huobi Incubator and DFINITY: Building a Friendly Partnership Ecosystem

The partnership reflects Huobi Incubator’s strong confidence in the Internet Computer’s rapidly growing ecosystem. According to the Electric Capital Developer Report, the Internet Computer is one of the fastest growing developer ecosystems- registering 368% growth since Genesis launch in May 2021.

More than a thousand developers are building work on the Internet Computer. This has resulted in over 30,000 canisters of smart contracts deployed over its network, as of February 2022. This encompasses DeFi, play-to-earn and GameFi, NFTs and marketplaces, instant message and social media dApps, enterprise software, and infrastructure and Metaverse projects.

At the same time, notable venture capitalists are creating funding pools that support projects under Internet Computer. For instance, Polychain Capital launched the Beacon Fund, alongside Andreessen Horowitz and DFINITY. SNZ launched ICP Asia Fund (IAF), alongside Fenbushi Capital, Hashkey Capital, and DFINITY. IAF has been to incubate Internet Computer-based projects and promote the sustainable development of the ICP ecosystem.

Supernova Hackathon

DFINITY will lend its support to Huobi Incubator for the global hackathon “Supernova”, that is scheduled in May 2022. Supernova is aimed at promoting and supporting entrepreneurs and developer teams to build next-generation Web3 dApps on the Internet Computer. The collaboration between the two for the hackathon would recruit top builders from around the globe with a grant pool of $1m. The total prize pool for the Supernova hackathon will be in the millions.

In addition, the Web3 Scholarship funding platform was jointly established by Huobi Incubator, CoinMarketCap, Polkastarter, Poolz, DAO Maker, and Cambridge Blockchain Society. This platform is also a co-sponsor Supernova hackathon with workshops and providing additional grants to the winning teams.

“The Internet Computer is the fastest and only infinitely scalable general-purpose blockchain, and aims to become a ‘world computer’ hosting Web3 dApps, DeFi, games, NFTs, social media, and metaverse used by billions of users. Our partnership with Huobi Incubator to launch the Supernova hackathon, one of the largest Web3 hackathons, will allow entrepreneurs and developer teams to build things on the Internet Computer blockchain once considered impossible”, said Herbert Yang, General Manager of Asia Operations at DFINITY Foundation.

About Huobi Incubator

Huobi Incubator is a professional, full-cycle project incubator that integrates industry research with investment funds, incubation processes and accelerators. With the mission of accelerating startup project development across all stages and users, Huobi Incubator helps entrepreneurs and startups overcome obstacles, achieve rapid growth, and work toward their respective visions and goals.

About Web3 Scholarship

Web3 Scholarship is a funding platform jointly initiated by Huobi Incubator and a group of blockchain veterans, venture capitals, universities, and encryption platforms. It will be committed to funding builders in the Web 3.0 field and providing support in many aspects, i.e., funds, incubator mentorship and token listing opportunities for early-stage projects.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Internet Computer-enabled Web3 Development- dApps, DeFi, Games, NFTs, Metaverse, And Much More- With Strategic Partnership Between Huobi Incubator And DFINITY appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.