Our London Correspondent Nick Ayton, aka the Sage of Shoreditch, reviews another exciting few weeks: the Japanese buying more Blockchain, ICO snapshots, MotherCoin for your mom and Satoshi spotted at Tate Modern.

It’s a busy week for Bitcoin fans as the digital currency spiked passing gold and then Bitcoin price fell even before the SEC rejection of the Bitcoin ETF proposal by the Winklevoss twins. Overall, it prompted a lot of Bitcoin activity which is 30 percent up from the start of 2017.

A speculation continues suggesting Bitcoin price will reach $3000 by the end of the year as more users in developing economies where volatility and government tampering a forcing people to use Bitcoin as a safe haven to protect their value. Meanwhile, in London...

Japanese Fund moves into Blockchain

UK crypto-card and wallet startup Wirex secures $3 mln Series A funding from Japan’s SBI Investments that runs the fund on behalf of the 47 banks. The consortium was launched in 2016 to research the latest technologies for the use of its members.

The investment was advised by London mid-market law firm FieldFisher. Wirex plans to expand to become a next generation banking platform building on their base of 500,000 customers in more than 130 countries. It is another major move by Japanese investors into the Blockchain space.

Snapshots

A few key upcoming events in London in the next few weeks are: CityChain confirms a great lineup for their 4th April 2017 event hosted at IBM Southbank facility and Blockchain for Business People Workshop 30th March at the very cool AlphaBeta Building in central London. The second annual QuanTech conference line up for the 27th and 28th of April looks very strong this year.

Humaniq gains media traction but decides to delay ICO until the beginning of April, with Matchpool and Internet of Coins starting in the second half of March, MelonPort and Chronobank steaming ahead. It’s been another great week for Initial Coins Offerings with more to come.

Irish scene

Deloitte has teamed up with an A-list cast partnering with IF the Irish Fund to launch RegChain based on Ethereum and using IFPS. The project backed by Northern Trust, State Street and Metzler aims to deliver a proof of concept to automate the production of regulatory reports, giving another boost to #RegTech. It’s a sign the Irish Blockchain scene is alive and kicking.

Give your mom a MothersCoin

I bumped into Gary Gasparov who runs a fish stall at Smithfield Market who mentioned he was working on a Blockchain project. I immediately thought here we go FishCoin but I could not be more wrong…

Cointelegraph: So Gary what is on your mind?

Gary Gasparov: You know it’s Mothers Day on the 26th March and what better way to give your mum a gift that keeps on giving…so I came up with MothersCoin.

CT: How does it work?

GG: We give out vouchers that can be inserted into a Mother’s Day card for MothersCoin, they enter the code into a browser and it sets up a digital Wallet we call a Handbag automatically…

The great thing is the handbag can hold lots and lots of different cryptocurrencies not only MothersCoin but also ChocoholicCoin and BooBCoin. So mums can have liquidity for the things they need.

When you use MothersCoin for example in hairdressers, nail bars, maternity shops you can earn vouchers that can be redeemed for more MothersCoin throughout the year, which helps to maintain its ongoing value.

CT: What is one MothersCoin worth?

GG: One MothersCoin is equivalent to a pair of kippers, a pint of cockles and a pot of jellied eels…

Good try Gary. I thought there might be a twist to MothersCoin. It sounds a bit fishy to me... Not sure mothers will want to go around smelling of fish…

Satoshi spotted again

I recognized the bag first the one with the Bitcoin sticker flapping going through the entrance of the Tate Modern and knew immediately it was Vittalark Buttering…

Cointelegraph: Hey Vittalark where are you off to?

Vittalark Buttering: It’s Japanese week where the famous artist Bito Coino is showing off his collection of modern art.

And Bito Coino is not who you think it is… It’s really Satoshi and he arrives at 11 which is in about 20 minutes.

At 11:30...

CT: Vittalark the place is completely empty...Are you sure he is going to come?

VB: Look over there… It’s him…

And with that Vittalark was in hot pursuit of a small older man in a raincoat, who it must be said looked like he came into the Tate Modern looking for the toilet. See you next time Vittalark...But he was already gone.

IBM Hyperledger Announces a project with Maersk

IBM activity in Blockchain continues announcing another project with global shipping leader Maersk to track containers all over the world. The shipping industry carries a staggering 90 percent of the world’s trade. The partnership will use HyperLedger Fabric to connect a global network of shippers, freight forwarders, sea ports, customs and other authorities to deliver a seamless supply chain and logistics Blockchain solution for the industry.

Interestingly the Department of Homeland Security and US Customers are participating in the pilot which bodes well for the program.

It certainly looks like IBM has picked up the pace recently and seen by many as a front-runner as the leading technology brands compete in the Blockchain space.