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One of Barclays’ leading blockchain experts has revealed he will be departing the UK banking giant to join a FinTech consultancy called 11:FS. 11:FS is seeking to raise $100m in part to build a portfolio of blockchain investments, as well as to provide consultancy and research services.
Mediachain has become the latest blockchain startup to join the portfolios of VC heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. The funding comes four months after the launch of Mediachain’s core product, a metadata protocol for content creators.
Advisors to US President Barack Obama hosted distributed ledger banking consortium R3CEV and three other blockchain specialists at the National Academy of Sciences earlier this month. On 20th May, the panel gave an overview of the technology to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Tech giant Intel has opened a development lab in Tel Aviv focused on financial technologies like the blockchain. Other technologies that the lab will focus on include connected devices for the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and biometric applications.
Microsoft has partnered with startups ConsenSys and Blockstack Labs to build an identity platform aimed to integrating with both the bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains. An early version of the product is expected to be available by the end of this summer.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released the results of a survey on blockchain technology. The 75-page report, conducted with think tank NRI, provides an expansive overview of the technology, while advocating that the government play an active role in the discovery of new use cases.
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