Author: George Naylor

The Poseidon Foundation – a blockchain platform which allows consumers to ‘support climate action using blockchain technology’ – has launched the world’s first digital retail platform connecting consumers with their own carbon footprint. Partnering with Ben and Jerry’s to conduct a pilot, the foundation and technology will be implemented into their newest ice cream ‘Scoop Shop’ in Wardour Street, London.

We’re proud to announce our trial with @benandjerrysUK, strengthening their mission to promote action on #ClimateChange. They will be the first retailer to connect customers to forest #conservation projects using our breakthrough technology. Learn more: https://t.co/j3FeoB1CSh pic.twitter.com/waO2suVr39

— Poseidon Foundation (@Poseidon_NGO) May 24, 2018

For every ice cream sold, Ben and Jerry’s will be offsetting the carbon footprint of each product, utilising carbon credits issued on the blockchain. The pilot will help to support a forest conservation projection in Peru. Customers will be given the option to join the company in taking action at the point of sale.

By utilising blockchain technology and the Stellar network, the Poseidon Foundation hope to bring transparency and trust to an opaque and often fraudulent industry. It gives consumers the opportunity to gain control over their own carbon footprint, and help share a degree of responsibility with the retailer.

In a joint statement, Ben and Jerry’s head of Social Mission Europe commented that:

We have got a long way to go within our own business to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels but we have also made some big commitments and want to be transparent about our impact. At the same time, we want to use every part of our business to support a transition to a low carbon economy, including putting an internal price on carbon and setting ourselves ambitious targets to reduce our absolute carbon emissions by 80% by 2020. We are excited by the opportunity Poseidon Foundation’s new technology brings as an approach that connects fans to climate action.”

A commitment to implement blockchain technology to help tackle their own carbon footprint and reduce emissions by 80% by 2020 is some statement. It seems that industry adoption is happening almost daily within the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Examples of real-life use cases and industry investment will certainly be getting fans of the technology excited for what lies ahead.

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Jesse Lund and Michael Dowling have offered a small glimmer of hope for both Stellar Lumen’s holders and the cryptocurrency market as a whole, recently commenting on the progress of IBM’s Universal Blockchain Payments Solution – a blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure which is using the Stellar Network, and native cryptocurrency Lumen’s, to settle national and international business transactions.

We are still working through final legal and contractual efforts that will be scalable and repeatable. We are building the future of fin svcs so eliminating riddles is very important to us. Losing @michaeldowling wasn’t easy either but his efforts may help our collective cause.

— Jesse Lund (@jesselund) May 21, 2018

Within the tweet, Dowling states that the system is ‘technically ready to go’ with just ‘some legal items outstanding.’ Lund comments that ‘we are still working through final legal and contractual efforts…’ Interestingly, Lund goes on to say that ‘his [Dowling’s] efforts may help our collective causes’, presumably alluding to the top-secret development of FairX and potential collaboration with the new business venture – a huge development if true!

Whilst the IBM/Stellar relationship has attracted an almost equal number of fans and critics, an update of the final preparations for a corporate-grade global blockchain solution is certainly good news. With Bitcoin’s turbulent price action and potential liquidity issues within the market, confirmation of industry investment – and therefore an injection of significant capital – should hopefully have a positive effect on overall sentiment in the marketplace.

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Breaking news – Marshall Islands, a sovereign state and UN member, has signed a monumental bill to legalise its sole sovereign currency as a cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency, therefore, is now the legal tender of a sovereign nation.

Later today we break HUGE NEWS on our show.

There is a country that is part of the UN that has signed a bill to introduce its sole currency as a crypto currency. This is huge news for Crypto as the banks/Visa etc now have to accept it – it’s legal tender of a sovereign nation.

— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) May 22, 2018

Tweeting earlier today, Ran Neuner hinted at a ‘HUGE NEWS’ announcement on his show – Crypto Trader on CNBC Africa.

As Neuner postulates, banks/Visa and other financial intuitions will have to now accept that cryptocurrency is a legal tender of a sovereign nation. This marks a gigantic step forward for the space as a whole. Details are yet to fully emerge regarding the technological underpinnings of the sovereign digital currency, and whether a commercially-backed project is providing the necessary infrastructure support. More can be seen about this breaking development here.

2018 is the year that commentators from all sides have predicted industry adoption. Now that a nation has adopted cryptocurrency as its national currency, the speed of further adoption is likely to increase. Could this also mark the end of the markets general downturn? It seems that with current efforts with the securitisation of assets, as well as private and central banks discussing issuing further assets and providing trading platforms amongst other liquidity, an upturn is hopefully just round the corner.

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A group of academics, philanthropists and investors are working together to literally launch an independent floating island by 2020. This project was initially run as a pilot in partnership with the French Polynesian government, and will contain 300 homes and use cryptocurrency to power its economy. The currency has been named ‘Vayron’ (VAR), with interested parties able to participate in the presale through a smart contract mechanism on the Ethereum blockchain. Currently 1 ETH is worth 14,750 VAR, with a Hard cap of 22,000 ETH. Circulating supply of the new VAR currency is unknown.

Whilst the speculative details and proposition of this new currency remain to be seen, if at all, the conceptual use case and prospect that a self-governing, self-sufficient, cryptocurrency ‘powered’ ecosystem holds is potentially remarkable.

If you don’t want to live under a particular government, people will be able to just take their house and float away to another island.” – Nathalie Mezza-Garcia, Blue Frontiers

The company behind this venture – Blue Frontiers Ltd –  was founded by the executive team and ambassadors of the Seasteading Institute, with billionaire Peter Theil a notable founder. Blue Frontiers claim that these new floating islands, dubbed ‘Seasteads’, will offer a decentralised form of governance, bringing fairer decision-making in the place of overly centralised institutions. They will also provide a tangible solution to the threat of rising sea level and overcrowded cities.

Furthermore ‘SeaZones’ will become Special Economic Zones, creating legal and regulatory frameworks within territorial waters of host nations. The fact that Blue Frontiers have already secured a pilot project with the French Polynesian government goes to show that there is genuine interest in such a project. Whilst this particular development will not directly affect speculative cryptocurrency investments, it surely demonstrates the use-cases and potentially transformational change that DLT and cryptocurrencies can bring.

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