Blockchain: The ability to scale trust

27^th March 2015

Most people I speak to regarding the Bitcoin protocol have never heard of it. Of those that have, the majority have heard of only bitcoin the ‘currency’. I put that in pretty quotation marks and italics because I am firmly in the “moonshot it will not go to zero” camp.

banking + bitcoin + digital currencies + Finance + Regulation

User Autonomy: The confluence between private data stores and cryptocurrencies

26^th March 2015

Users have migrated from running all their own software and storing files locally to accessing their data through cloud-based software solutions. The migration of files has also been accompanied with flows of personal information to corporations.

banking + bitcoin + digital currencies + Finance + Regulation

The culture clash of cryptocurrencies

26^th March 2015

The latest buzzwords on everyone’s lips is FinTech; the apparently effortless splicing of finance and technology into one expression. This seamless merger belies reality as the people working in the two industries are akin to oil and water when it comes to culture and terminology.

banking + bitcoin + digital currencies + Finance + Regulation

The return of monetary politics

25^th March 2015

Last Wednesday the government formally announced plans to welcome and regulate digital currency activity in the UK. The promise of research funding, police training, and pragmatic regulation are welcome first steps, but to what end?

bitcoin + digital currencies + Finance + Regulation

Bitcoin is not anonymous

24^th March 2015

The public image of bitcoin, cultivated by the media, is of the international criminal’s currency of choice – an anonymous, untraceable means of laundering proceeds of crime. This has made for compelling column inches, but the opposite is true.

Alternative finance + bitcoin + crime + digital currencies + Finance

The nature of prosperity

23^rd March 2015

Last week, in London – one of the richest cities in the world – the Mayor announced a “Level 7 Warning” on air pollution. High levels of pollutants like NO2 and particulates fill the air, causing a perceptible haze in areas like St James’s Park.

conservation + environment + Health + nature + pollution + prosperity + society

How bitcoin works and how it’s going to change the world

23^rd March 2015

If you’re anything like me, in various accounts online you’ll have some pounds, some airmiles, some supermarket rewards points, perhaps even some dollars or euros. These are all forms of money – they’re tokens that can be exchanged for some kind of good or service.

Alternative finance + digital currencies + Finance + money + prosperity

Trains, ports and friends up North

22^nd March 2015

In 2015, ResPublica’s work to rethink and reconfigure the case for high-speed rail infrastructure into the great City of Liverpool encompasses transport, planning, economics and many aspects of public and social policy.

The next government needs to keep up the pressure on tax avoiders

19^th March 2015

George Osborne has delivered what may be his last Budget Speech, so it’s apt to pause for a little retrospective. He’ll probably be best remembered for the budget he’d most like to forget, the so-called ‘Omnishambles’.

budget + george osborne + international development + poverty + Tax + Tax avoidance

Structural Integrity: The firmer foundations required for long-term housing policy

3^rd March 2015

Even amidst noisier debates around immigration or the economy, housing remains a major political issue. David Cameron’s promise on Monday that the Conservatives would build 200,000 new ‘starter homes’ by 2020 was met by Ed Miliband’s assertion that a future Labour government would have “no greater priority” than housing.