Competition is a good thing. Being a "me too" is an easy thing to do. On balance we are a tough act to beat because of the fundamental philosophy of our willingness to do more.   

In my opinion, the State of Bitcoin is okay. No major surprises. It certainly has not been doing as well as we all would have wished. Again, nothing new to me, but it is a sad fact that VC funding for pure currency play has been drying up.

The typical “me too” phenomena continues. The key word is now “Blockchain technology.”  No doubt, the emerging Blockchain/FinTech industries will be massive and a few will do very well. DNotes will be a major player but we are taking our time to ensure that developing a viable business model with the right strategy is as vital as the technology itself. 


5 Facts from the Q3 2015 State of Bitcoin Report

Grace Caffyn (@GCaffyn) | Published on October 20, 2015 at 16:56 BST

Last week saw the release of CoinDesk's latest State of Bitcoin report, which gives a quarterly snapshot of the digital currency ecosystem.

Q3 was marked by a shift towards bitcoin technology's use in non-financial applications, for example settlement. Both startups – with products like itBit's bankchain – and large financial institutions – who are now investing in blockchain companies – drove this rhetoric.

Here, we've collected a few interesting tidbits you might have missed from the report – which weighs in at 87 slides.

You can view the report in full or check out CoinDesk's previous State of Bitcoin reports.

1. Trading and volatility are back up
Last quarter, bitcoin experienced an uncharacteristic period of calm, with a peak-to-trough percentage of 20%. This zen didn't last, however, as Q3 saw this figure rise by 13% (Side 12).

While it's still on the lower end of the volatility spectrum (Q2 2014 recorded a peak-to-trough percentage of 84%), the quarter did see a boost in trading (Slide 13).

In the latter part of Q2, monthly trading volume had been between 5 and 6 million bitcoins. In August, it exceeded 10 million bitcoins – the first time since April.

2. But investment is down

While traders were putting more cash on the line in Q3, investor interest actually fell.
VC investment in bitcoin companies dropped 41% from $145m to $85m – the lowest total of the last four quarters (Slide 30).

Despite large rounds from Chain ($30m) and BitFury ($20m), the average deal size also fell from $10m in Q2 to $6m in Q3.

This could be a seasonal slump, following a larger VC trend that slowed 5% in Q3.
However, the 2015 year to date total ($462m) is more than double that for 2014 (Slide 26), while the total invested in bitcoin startups ($921m) nears the billion dollar mark (Slide 27).

3. Despite the hype, no $ for emerging markets

Though emerging markets have been touted as the most likely places bitcoin could succeed, they have been the biggest losers VC-wise.

The Bitcoin Market Potential Index (BMPI), which tracks factors such as technology penetration and financial repression (Slide 54), ranks Argentina, Venezuela and Zimbabwe in the top spots.

In fact, 40% of markets in the BMPI's top 10 are in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20% are in Latin America.
However, the State of Bitcoin shows there was no VC investment in African, Latin American or Middle Eastern startups in Q3 or Q2 (Slide 32).

It's no surprise that the US and Canada come top for VC investment, receiving 75% of all money in Q3 – nearly triple the rest of the world combined.

In addition, North America and Europe (which comes second in Q3's VC funding) are the destinations with the most bitcoin-accepting businesses (Slide 53).

4. Merchant interest slumps, again

While transactions (Slide 44) and wallet numbers (Slide 45) continue to rise, they don't paint the whole picture.

The two biggest merchant processors, BitPay and Coinbase, saw growth among new merchants halve in Q2 (Slide 48).

It appears last quarter's boost of 12,000 merchants may have been an anomaly, with numbers now plateauing at 6,000 per quarter – the same for Q1 and Q2.

BitPay announced it would cut staff in an effort to "reduce costs" and "better align with the pace of growth" in the industry (Slide 47). It is no longer offering its free tiered product.

Revenues are slowing too, at $190bn they are only up $2bn from June 2015, Q2. Companies, such as Expedia (Slide 49), say purchases taper off after time.

Those who appear to be holding fast during the slump are best geared to bitcoin's Millenial demographic.

5. New York's Bitlicense divided opinion

Q3 also saw the official deadline for bitcoin companies applying for New York's Bitlicense, in order to serve customers in the state.

The regulations, which had been on the boil since 2013, proved divisive for the community.
By today's count, some 22 companies applied for the license – with Circle the first to get it – while 15 others ceased operations in the state.

Many who left cited the large legal costs involved, $100,000 by Bitstamp's estimates, while others framed their withdrawal as a political statement, a backlash against what they termed 'overly invasive' guidelines.


Source:  http://www.coindesk.com/5-facts-from-the-q3-2015-state-of-bitcoin-report/

Chase, I have long ago decided to just reserve my rights to complain, as opposed to using any of it, whether I voted or not. I am happy to be a part of DNotes, where I believe that we can truly be heard with the ability to make a difference. That is why I am so passionate about DNotes. May be together we can help fill the "void" of unintended consequences our political leaders have created, in Canada, US, and the rest of the world.

Good morning! To save some time, I thought it might be interesting for me to share with you one of my emails with my reply. On average, I am still getting about 50 emails a day. I respond to majority of them, though most of them just get a canned response.

**********************************************

Dear Harry,

Thank you very much for your kind words. It is rewarding to know that more and more people around the world are beginning to take notice that DNotes is being built as the trusted global digital currency for the citizens of the world. This is a huge undertaking, started with limited personal resources but blessed with very strong community support. It is quite amazing what we have accomplished, in a fairly short period of time.

By strategic choice, we have limited our projects to self-funding up to this point. We wanted to plan and execute under the radar, for the most part, so that we can build a solid foundation based on our vision. We have accomplished that.

Our next phase will determine the scope and speed as to how soon we can expand to include professional help like (-----).  We are planning to raise various rounds of funding beginning sometime next year, including the incorporation of a for profit company to take over our ecosystem.

Harry, you are welcome to keep in touch or suggest any ideas you may have, as to how we can collaborate, given the understanding of our limited resources. We do have a PR firm; low budget and paid mostly in DNotes and some Bitcoin. We have a strong team of DNotes supporters with excellent skill-sets in various areas. I normally contribute over ten hours of my time daily. As you may know, DNotes is not owned by a group of individuals or an entity. It is owned by all of its stakeholders.

Our mission is to build DNotes as the choice and option for anyone worldwide to compliment their national or fiat currency as a medium of exchange or as a store of value. We believe that it is a worthy mission in the mist of constant political turmoil and financial crises worldwide.

Best Regards,

Alan




       Today – 10-20-15

"Hi Alan, it is a pleasure to connect with you. I have been watching your deeply inspiring work and considerable contribution in the cryptocurrency and fintech industry.

Having said this I would be very interested to see if and how we could find some common avenues of collaboration, potentially utilizing mine and my teams' deep financial and marketing expertise.

Yours,

Harry"

I will be very busy trying to get another project started, over the next two weeks, and will only check in twice a day with minor comments. Keep up with the good work.

“Banking is predicated on a fairly simple premise that has given bankers and Wall Street operators the feeling of an exclusive, old boys club”

It is never easy to give up a good thing.  However, they will have to learn pretty quickly before someone come in and start eating away their nice dinners. That seemed t0 be happening in Singapore as reported:

“bankers scramble to understand the impact of blockchain's distributed ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and Ripple's service. People queued for over an hour for the first session and the Innotribe overflow seating area looked like this...”
   

Brett King Become a fan
Host of the Breaking Banks Radio Show

In Singapore this week, the incredible response to the discussion on the "blockchain" at SIBOS Innotribe is indicative of a massive shift taking place globally in banking. FinTech, or Financial Technology, is taking over the world of banking and financial services as most of what we've thought of as banking is now simply becoming encoded in software. Software and algorithms that many are arguing may be better at doing banking and managing our money than banks themselves.

Banking is predicated on a fairly simple premise that has given bankers and Wall Street operators the feeling of an exclusive, old boys club. Information scarcity and access to proprietary bank networks has made the operation of financial services a mysterious, yet defensible 'black box' capability. Those that have long made money off the street and within the biggest banks of the world have righteously defended the need for regulation, bank charters and rules like anti-money laundering and "know-your-customer" requirements to protect the market. The very fabric of that system is starting to come undone at the seams.

SIBOS is the world's largest financial service conference. It started in 1978 with just 300 participants, but in Singapore this year SIBOS expects more than 7,000 attendees from 140 countries around the world. Walking around the SIBOS conference exhibition floors you see all the world's biggest banks UBS, HSBC, Citibank, ABN Amro, and then we see all the Singapore brands like UOB, OCBC Bank and DBS.

This morning, the first morning of the conference, however, all eyes and ears were on the session entitled New Kids on the Blockchain. An estimate 1,000 people were crammed into an area meant to house approximately 200 people at the opening Innotribe session this morning, as bankers scramble to understand the impact of blockchain's distributed ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and Ripple's service. People queued for over an hour for the first session and the Innotribe overflow seating area looked like this...

Simon Taylor, one of the instigators behind Barclay Bank's recent adoption of the blockchain and a panelist on the blockchain session, spoke about the reason Barclays is focusing on the technology
"The Blockchain could solve a whole host of issues, not least cost issues, and make life easier for Barclay's clients. It's our duty to aggressively understand the impact of this technology on the way the bank needs to work moving forward. If we don't attack this innovation at the edges of the bank, then we can't shape the control functions within the bank or help SME's leverage off this new technology."
Rumors at Innotribe suggested that Barclays is about to announce some major initiatives in NYC prototyping various blockchain applications.

Neal Cross, from Singapore's DBS Bank Innovation Lab also sat on the morning's blockchain panel and had an even more compelling vision of the technology's impact on banks

"The big thing for DBS is that blockchain technology has the potential to enable businesses to interact without a central authority, and what should attract banks is that it comes pre-tested in respect to scale and security as the underlying infrastructure of bitcoin. The potential to reduce risk, reduce complexity and improve the trade finance value chain is something that DBS is partnering with a number of other banks on. If banks aren't looking at leading technologies like blockchain, then they may not be able to survive the wave of disruption from the thousands of FinTech and technology companies coming their way."

Meanwhile across the floor of the exhibition space where the Innotribe session was being overwhelmed by attendees, Wells Fargo was showing off their latest banking technology

This well illustrates the forces acting on Wall Street and the banking industry globally today. Banking hasn't really changed that much in the last 200 years, but the forces that are impacting banking this decade are better understood by technologists, programmers and user experience designers, than they are by bankers.

If the Innotribe event at SIBOS is any indication the best banks in the world in a decade will likely be technology companies, whether they have a bank charter or Wall Street office is entirely optional.

There are many great ideas. Payoffs can only come with successfully executed action plans. Unfortunately, that has often been lacking.

Thanks, for the reminder, Chase. I just posted on behalf of CryptoMoms. I noticed that you mentioned DNotes.

A very Happy Birthday to Unobtanium with every best wishes from all of us at CryptoMoms. Our special thanks to Mark for being a great teacher and support of our efforts!!!

http://cryptomoms.com/forum/index.php?action=recent

This is one of the better articles I came across recently:

“Lean business models and frugality are the order of the day for bitcoin companies in 2016.”
I agree. DNotes is the model for everyone to follow. We have created a trusted brand, built a strong community and a purposeful ecosystem, without asking for a single donation outside of our core stakeholders and founders. Neither have we accepted a single $ in VC funding.

“The bitcoin industry is still years away from maturity.”

Correct. We have a long way to go, but it will be so massive that those with the right business models that can survive the test of time will reap huge rewards.

“Unfortunately, many business were launched on the back of overly optimistic industry growth projections.”

True. The easiest way to raise seed and VC money is to have a business plan written on a piece of napkin with an imaginary road map and an impressive growth projection, after both parties had a few drinks. (Caution: only slightly stretched)

My point is that, as sad as it may be, it is easier to impressive most people with exciting ideas, because there is nothing can be proven at the time of the presentation. Once that idea is being put to test, it becomes a very different story. In my opinion, there has been a lot of money thrown at not very smart ideas. We are now seeing the result of very high rate of failures.


“there just isn’t currently enough volume to support all the exchanges, payment gateways and wallet providers that have sprung up, let alone the number of secondary service providers.”

Great observation. The smart ones will evolve into other business or collaborate and partner with promising emerging players, well positioned to be future leaders, as in the case of DNotes. It will not surprise me that DNotes becomes one of the most sought after strategic partners in 2016.


“Bitcoin businesses will need to learn very quickly that they have to grow with the industry rather than ahead of it.”

Good advice, but unfortunately many learned their lessons after the fact. They only come to realize that they “should have, ….. could have …”  when they found themselves without a company or a job.

“Well-backed business with patient investors or those that are owner-operated with a low cost base will be best placed to survive.”

Is the author referring to DNotes? That is what we are about. Most of our investors are here for the very long term. Less than 1% of DNotes depositors ever withdrew their DNotes from the DNotesVault. We work very hard and we are patient investors.

“{A lot of investors are now chasing so-called ‘blockchain ideas’}”

Blockchain technology offers massive potential. In numbers, this could match the large number of PC business owners during the early years of personal computers. Like personal computer, there will be a few big winners, with many making a decent living, while others never realized their dreams.



What 2016 Holds for Bitcoin Businesses
Charlie Woolnough (@CoinCorner) | Published on October 18, 2015 at 11:00 BST

Charlie Woolnough is a co-founder of CoinCorner, a consumer-focused bitcoin services business. In this article, he gives his view on the current state of the bitcoin industry and what companies in the space should expect from next year.

The bitcoin industry is still years away from maturity. Unfortunately, many business were launched on the back of overly optimistic industry growth projections. The hard reality is, there just isn’t currently enough volume to support all the exchanges, payment gateways and wallet providers that have sprung up, let alone the number of secondary service providers, such as bitcoin compliance solutions, that have been created to support the first wave of service providers.

Belt tightening
Many of these businesses will need to take radical steps to survive the next few years while consumer adoption catches up with service provider expectation. We are already seeing signs of this where those business that haven’t been able to reach critical mass are forced to close, resize,pivot or merge with competitors.

Expect to see this trend accelerate in the next 12-18 months. Even those companies that have raised large amounts of investment aren’t immune to the situation. Indeed, they will now have a different type of pressure to deal with – the pressure of investor expectation and the fight to avoid the dreaded ‘down round’ if they need to secure further funds to continue operating, which many will.

Bitcoin businesses will need to learn very quickly that they have to grow with the industry rather than ahead of it. Consumer education and the public promotion of bitcoin is admirable, not to mention required, but we are still several years away from sports sponsorship being an optimal use of company funds.
Well-backed business with patient investors or those that are owner-operated with a low cost base will be best placed to survive.

Blockchain needs bitcoin (or at least its user base)
A lot of investors are now chasing so-called ‘blockchain ideas’. However, it’s not always entirely clear how a lot of these ideas will generate revenue or gain user traction any time soon. A sensible approach would be for blockchain businesses that are targeting consumers to partner with more established bitcoin business that are already operating in the space and have reached a critical mass of users.

At least then they would have ready access to a consumer base that has some appetite for more nascent blockchain-related services. It’s hard to imagine people who haven’t already experimented with bitcoin, suddenly rushing to register assets on the blockchain, for example.

Surely it’s those people that have adopted and experimented with bitcoin that will be the most likely early adopters of blockchain services as well. For many, bitcoin will become the gateway to the blockchain. It’s how people will get comfortable with the technology.

The banking issue
It has been said many times that bitcoin needs a killer app to become mainstream. However, don’t we have that already in the form of extremely cheap peer-to-peer payments? What is needed is a more seamless consumer experience between traditional finance and bitcoin.

Bitcoin is currently functioning in spite of an awkward relationship with banks. If this relationship could be improved then bitcoin could thrive. How can we ever hope to get greater consumer adoption for bitcoin when many users’ first experience is the loss of £25 for an international bank transfer or a 3% credit card fee for the pleasure of acquiring their first bitcoin. It’s self-defeating and means only diehards and those keen on experimentation will make the leap from fiat to crypto currency.

So, how do we bridge the gap between banking and bitcoin? Unsurprisingly, the answer lies in banking’s favourite arena of regulation and compliance.

Regulation
Regulation is required to give banks the certainty they need to provide banking facilities to the sector. How a bitcoin business then satisfies a bank that they are in compliance with any relevant regulation is the next big hurdle. This is where regulators need to realise that applying traditional compliance metrics to bitcoin is pointless.

A new paradigm is needed that recognises and embraces the unique characteristics of bitcoin. As a result, bitcoin compliance and those who create products that are able to help get banks comfortable with bitcoin, is critical to the development and growth of the sector. Herein lies the acid test, if the bitcoin compliance providers can’t create a product that banks approve of, they won’t get many clients.
It will be interesting if the Isle of Man’s new Designated Business Act, which comes into force in the next few weeks and requires crypto businesses to register with the island’s financial regulator, does anything to enhance bank’s appetite for the sector.

Ten predictions for 2016
1.   Bitcoin companies with just one business line will increasingly become disintermediated by those that offer multiple services.
2.   Investor clamour for all things blockchain will return full circle as blockchain start-ups begin to partner with more established bitcoin businesses.
3.   Sadly more bitcoin business will close or consolidate.
4.   Bitcoin adoption will continue to move slowly forward – mass consumer adoption is still in the future.
5.   The relationships between banks and bitcoin business will begin to thaw as more sophisticated bitcoin compliance solutions come to the market.
6.   We will see fewer and fewer pure bitcoin start-ups – those that already exist now have too much of a head start.
7.   Bitcoin legislation will begin to evolve at a faster pace and will help give the sector added credibility.
8.   There will be more fraud related to altcoins.
9.   Investment in the sector will plateau until consumer adoption dramatically increases.
10.   The price of bitcoin will remain relatively static around the $200-$300 range.

Final thought
Ultimately, bitcoin will survive and gain greater public adoption – the technology is simply to compelling to ignore. However, whether many of the companies currently operating in the space will survive long enough to reach the promised land remains to be seen.

Lean business models and frugality are the order of the day for bitcoin companies in 2016. A loyal and growing customer base will surely help as well.

To learn more about what happened in the bitcoin and blockchain space in the third quarter of this year, see our latest State of Bitcoin and Blockchain Report

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/what-2016-holds-for-bitcoin-businesses/

We are always delighted to see our friends who have been with us from the very beginning. Personally, it is very rewarding and inspiring to read your comments, "Great coin, great concept, great mission, great community."

On days when bots and day traders continued to treat DNotes just like any other commodity (coin), driving it to the lowest price; then buy and instantly try to sell it for just a little more all day long; your remarks mean a lot to me. Thank you, CryptoJohn. Hope to see you and many others just like you more often.

DNotes is uniquely different than any other coin, including Bitcoin. DNotes is a trusted global digital currency built since day one, with a purpose, for everyone worldwide to participate. It is built as a trusted brand with lasting value. It is meant to be a long term investment. "Its true value is in the future" As a store of value, it is the digital currency that is the least volatile and has the most dependable long term appreciation in value.

DNotes is a very large scale global project that will take years before its full potential can be realized. It is far more than just another digital currency, among over 1,000 competing coins in our industry. DNotes is part of a growing family, consisting of many highly scalable building blocks or components. Together they are all strategically linked to form a complete system. While others may be building a distinct component, we are building a complete system, a well oiled machine.

DNotes is the trusted global digital currency with its own ecosystem. It will soon be a part of a for profit global enterprise that will enable the currency and its ecosystem to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining, while being a purposeful currency for the better good of mankind. DNotes is uniquely different. To learn more, be a frequent follower of DCEBrief that brings you current issues that matter to our industry in Executive Summary format, designed to be informative, objective, and unbiased, without fluff or fillers.

As a global digital currency, its ultimate mission is to be the future of money to supplement, not replace, all national or fiat currencies. This will ensure that the citizens of the world will have a choice to hedge against the financial pain and suffering of a "sudden stop" in all economic activities, as in the case of Greece recently. We are not a proponent of gloom and doom. As a thought leader, I am very committed, with our dedicated team, to proactively position DNotes as the preferred global digital currency. DNotes is a viable option to be the global solution and the positive mitigating force to prevent the risk of a total lose of one's life savings in the event of another "sudden stop" the may result from the never ending turmoil of our dynamic world.

Quote from: indiamikezulu on Today at 06:25:44 AM

Hey, Shepherd. Yes, I wish I could be more positive; but my life gig is political theory (which segued into cryptos after retirement). I don't have the luxury of baseless optimism. It makes you a lousy theorist.

Hmmm . . . I read most everything Rubino writes.


Why do I yammer on about economic concerns?

Because the future of cryptos (and Dnotes will thrive in either model) is gonna be Future One or Future Two.

Future One will be as a method of payment, etc., in a world still recognizably this world.

Future Two will be as a major store-of-value instrument in a post-government-fiat-centric super depression.

The data below is just from the last week or so – that is, the data is once again pouring in:

“ . . . a new wave in the Global Financial Crisis . . . “
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/10/13/goldman-this-is-the-third-wave-of-the-financial-crisis

“The risk of a global financial crash has increased . . . “
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/07/risk-global-financial-crash-increased-imf-emerging-economies-eurozone-stability-report

“China’s economy . . .  flagging and recent stock market turmoil had exposed the fragility of many emerging market economies.”
   http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/16/global-economy-faces-low-growth-in-next-year-says-oecd

Burberry – 8% down yesterday
China – ‘largest drop in exports since 2009’
Glencore (commodities traders) – ‘on the hook for hundreds of billions in shadow debt’

[‘Trafigura’? ‘Vitol’? ‘The Noble Group’? Watch for these names.]

At present, campers, the data is coming thick and fast: IMF, OECD, VW, Deutsche Bank/Germany’s economy

Syria/the refugee crisis

Currency crises in the ‘EM’ nations

Quote From Shepherd Today:

Mark, you have  been doing just fine. Sometimes it is helpful to look at things from a different prospective. There are serious concerns brewing in the emerging markets, with the price of commodities dropping so drastically over a short period of time. This could be a long period of slowing down.

DNotes is a very large scale global project best suited for those interested to invest over the long term. Fortunately we have many stakeholders who share our view and keep most of their stash at the DNotesVault. We envision that, because of the size and scope of what DNotes is involved in, DNotes is a great store of value. We also expect DNotes to play an important role as a supplement to national currency around the world.

If you have not done so, be sure to read our most recent article "Why Bitcoin and Digital Currency DNotes Could be EURO's Best Friends."

Starting to. It will take a while. We always go slow and easy starting out.

Thanks, for the post, Ken. I have some knowledge of the Uniform Law Commission's effort. I am hopeful that they have the best chances of a favorable outcome. It may not be what we all want but,  "it’s a choice between the sensible regulation in AB 1326—even if it could be improved—and the ill-fitting regulation of the Money Transmission Act.”

I am a strong proponent of consumers' protection and firmly committed to building DNotes with trust and integrity, as my highest priority. What I have been against most is the requirement of duplicate state licensing requirements. As it stands today, 48 out of the 50 states require separate application and individual state license to be in compliance with regulations under the Money Transmission Act. This is extremely burdensome and cost prohibitive, especially for smaller operators. Furthermore, there is little to no legal guidance on many issues as they pertain to digital currency.

From CryptoMoms Today:

Good Morning, CryptoMoms has been growing nicely. With a steady increase in registered members and daily traffic. We had our 2nd largest number of visitors yesterday - 229.

This is a good time to take another look at CryptoMoms' mission statement:

Mission Statement

Cryptomoms.com is a digital community center with a dedicated mission to encourage and assist women to participate in the emerging world of crypto currency overwhelmingly dominated by men. We begin by creating a culture of mutual respect for women with genuine efforts to help them acquire the basic knowledge about digital currency along with many earning opportunities. We will relentlessly pursue to accomplish our mission through multiple campaigns and outreach projects and invite the participation of our industry peers and advocates to join force with us.  We will set very specific quantifiable goals and sponsor creditable surveys to measure our achievement against those goals. For the common good of our industry we are committed to make a difference.

We are positioning to take CryptoMoms to the next level. Please contact me at contact@dnotescoin.com if you are interested to participate.

We are planning to assist women in small business with dedicated efforts to work with other organizations such as Illinois Small Business Development Centers below:

Small Business Development Centers
 
Illinois Small Business Development Centers

 Located throughout the state, Illinois SBDC’s provide information, confidential business guidance, training and other resources to early stage and existing small businesses.
SBDCs in the Chicago area:

•   North Business & Industrial Council (NORBIC), 8430 West Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60631; http://www.norbic.org/
NORBIC is a nonprofit economic development organization that offers free and low-cost business assistance programs to help manufacturers develop strategies to enter new markets, reduce costs, access financing, improve their business management, train employees and build a stronger business network.  
•   Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago, 2010 West Fulton, Suite 280, Chicago, Illinois 60612; http://www.industrialcouncil.com/
The ICNC offers a variety of low-cost and no-cost services to strengthen companies in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor and to facilitate economic and community development.
•   Duman Microenterprise Center, 216 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 700, Chicago, Illinois 60606-6921; http://www.jvschicago.org/duman/
Duman Microenterprise Center provides one-on-one counseling at no charge for start-ups and pre-existing small businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Center offers entrepreneurial training, business assistance, mentoring and access to capital.
•   University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Business Administration-Rice Building, 815 West Van Buren, Suite 320, Chicago, Illinois 60607; http://www.uic.edu/cba/cub/
 The Small Business Development Center at UIC offers workshops, panel discussions and individual consulting services to existing small businesses or those individuals interested in starting a business.
•    Women’s Business Development Center, 8 South Michigan, Suite 400, Chicago, Illinois 60603-3302; http://www.wbdc.org/
The Women’s Business Development Center offers training, events, workshops and counseling to small businesses, including Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) certification for women-owned businesses.
•   Hull House, Jane Addams Hull House – Parkway Community House, 500 East 67th St. Chicago, Illinois 60637-4097; http://www.hullhouse.org/
The Small Business Development Center at Hull House offers individual counseling, small business training, and workshops on marketing, finance, legal structures, insurance, leasing space, sales taxes and record keeping. A funded partner of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, it operates in communities of need on the south and north sides of Chicago, helping to revitalize local neighborhood economies and improve the overall quality of life.
•   Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 111 West Washington St., Suite 1660, Chicago, Illinois 60602-2703; http://www.ihccbusiness.net/ec.html
 A program of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Hispanic Entrepreneurship Center offers business development and capacity-building assistance, access to capital, and networking. Its matching grant program offers up to $5,000 in funds to qualifying businesses.
•    Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center, 4510 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60653; www.thechicagourbanleague.org
 The Chicago Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Center offers information sessions, training and business support clinics, coaching on business documents, technical assistance, procurement and business development assistance, and financial assistance.
Illinois SBDCs Located Outside of Chicago:
•  Joseph Center, 7600 W. Roosevelt, Forest Park, IL 60130; http://www.josephcenter.com/
•  Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 1800 West Cermak Rd., Chicago 60608; http://www.ihccbusiness.net/ec.html
•  Harper College, Harper Professional Building, 650 East Higgins Road, Suite 106, Schaumburg, IL 60173; http://goforward.harpercollege.edu/page.cfm?p=4398
•   Rock River Valley Entrepreneurship Center, EIGERlab, 605 Fulton Ave., Rockford, IL 61103; http://www.rrvec.com/
•  Illini Entrepreneurship Center, UIUC – EnterpriseWorks, 60 Hazelwood Drive, MC-659, Champaign, IL 61820; http://www.illiniecn.org/
•  SBDC at the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at  Bradley University, 141 Jobst Hall, 1501 West Bradley Ave., Peoria, IL 61625; http://www.bradley.edu/turnercenter/centers/sbdc.html
•  College of Lake County, 19351 West Washington St., Room T-302, Grayslake, IL, 60030-1198; http://www.clcillinois.edu/depts/sbd.asp
•  College of DuPage, 2525 Cabot Dr., Lisle, IL 60532; http://www.cod.edu/Academic/Bus_Tech/center_entrepreneur/sm_business.htm
•  Governors State University, Centerpoint for Entrepreneurs, Room C3370, University Park, IL 60466-0975; http://www.centerpointgsu.com/
•  Heartland Partnership, 100 S.W. Water St., Peoria, IL 61602; http://www.heartlandpartnership.org/
•  Black Hawk College , 4703 – 16th Street, Suite G, Moline, IL 61265-7066; http://www.bhc.edu/index.aspx?NID=27

Quote from: Chase on Today at 03:44:40 AM

Interesting article regarding the reasons for failure of a lot of bitcoin start-ups:


Bitcoin Start-ups: Exciting Potential, Common Mistakes

"The Bitcoin sector is still new territory for business; Bitcoin has had to gradually evolve from being a new technology, loved and led by enthusiasts to being a successful, global payment network which operates professionally and responsibly."

https://coinreport.net/bitcoin-start-ups-exciting-potential-common-mistakes/

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Thanks for the post, Chase.

I have a strong interest to understand why start-ups failed, how we can learn from their failures, and what must be done differently to drastically improve the chances of being successful. Equally important is a viable business model, positioning the business for long term growth to being sustainable. 

The author listed a few interesting points which I will comments on. However, it goes significantly deeper than that and could very well warrant a series of articles for DCEBrief. This is a very complex industry with many moving parts. It is easy to get excited about big ideas, but at the end of the day, only successfully executed business models will survive the test of time, despite high profile VC backing as in the case of
“Buttercoin, a Bitcoin trading platform which had high-profile backing from the likes of Google Ventures, Y Combinator and Rothenberg Ventures, closed its doors in April this year, despite gaining market traction.”

“cloud the judgement of even the most experienced entrepreneurs, who may be tempted to rush into a sector which is essentially unknown” The nature of our industry seemed to have attracted more ‘me too” than typical. This could be due to the low cost barrier to entry, such as creating a new currency and now starting a “Blockchain” business.

“unfamiliarity with many of the complex technologies” Conceptually, the technologies are not that complex. Open source codes available to any interested developers have made it significantly less complex. Personally, I believe that the lack of focus and long term commitment with a viable business model is often the problem. The ability to develop winning strategies and be able to execute them flawlessly are all very important as a package.

“the lack of established best practice security procedures, have led to the collapse of many start-ups which appeared to offer exciting business models.” In any business, good business practices or procedures are of critical importance right from the start. Bad business practices are very expensive. Furthermore, it can define you negatively. This is clearly the problem with Bitcoin. The bad business practices of certain exchanges and Bitcoin being used by some bad actors have been a public relation nightmare for Bitcoin without a managed response. Given the right leadership, Bitcoin could have handled this issue very differently.

“Bitcoin will continue to provide an enticing opportunity for both investors and entrepreneurs.” I concur. We are still at the formative stage. DNotes is very solution oriented. We want to be a positive force to our industry. This has been our position from day one. We believe that what is good for our industry is good for everyone. This has led to the creation of CryptoMoms to help close the gender gap by encouraging and assisting women to participate in our industry. We also created DNotesVault and a family of digital savings accounts so that any one worldwide can participate. Recently we added DCEBrief to help promote a positive and educational message so that others may understand the immense opportunities digital currency and the Blockchain technology offers.

That's sound fine. We will be needing a lot of help by then.

Very interesting. We had made multiple attempts to recruit someone to help out in this area without much success. This is an area we need to focus on more and can use more help.

He "had never heard of bitcoin". This is not a big surprise. If I had to guess, 90% of the world population have not heard of Bitcoin. And 50% of our industry have not heard of DNotes. The potential is massive, but only those who are invested for the long term with staying power will reap the most rewards.

If your new political contact will only visit DCEBrief, you would have at least won one battle. Perhaps you might want to email him our most recent press release and one or two of your favorite articles from DCEBrief. "The Future of Money" might be a good one.

Looks great. Excellent job.

Thank you, Wyattwhynot. I am impressed that you have a strong understand of what DNotes and its supporting units, the ecosystem are all about. Like our industry peers, we could have just created DNotes, the digital currency and let it takes its course, for better or for worse. Its purpose would be limited and its chances of success would be quite low. We believe that there is a better way.

Conceptually, it sounds great to have a totally decentralized trustless system. That is the strength of digital currency and we firmly support that. It is ingenious that by using a highly innovative consensus system, the Blockchain technology enables anyone using a phone or a computer, with internet connection to transfer digital currency, digitized asset or document to any one worldwide without the oversight of any central authority. The transaction is perfected in minutes between the two parties, without the need to even know the identity of one another, at nearly zero cost. Its transaction is recorded in the public ledger, time-stamped, not reversible but traceable for anyone to verify. This technology is simply amazing and will have world changing implications.

Uniquely different about DNotes is our believe that there needs to be a third party with an invested interest and commitment to protect and promote the currency, DNotes, without which it is just like any digital currency, including Bitcoin. This may explain, that in spite of the big money behind Bitcoin, and the massive amount of publicity, both positive and negative, Bitcoin has been struggling to gain mass acceptance and seems to be settling to be just a speculative trading commodity.

Learning from the pitfalls of Bitcoin, the DNotes' team and its communities have been working very hard since the beginning to build DNotes as a trusted brand with a purpose to be a global currency for everyone worldwide to participate. It has meticulously built up its own ecosystem block by block, to be highly scalable and strategically linked so that, at the most opportune time, any unit can be geared up rapidly to meet global demand. Additionally, our business model of a for profit company partially owned by DNotes will be of major significance as the driver of future growth, providing fundamental value in support of the currency increasing value.

We plan to work closely with multiple international charity organizations, and will be delighted to work closely with the Foreign Big Brothers. DNotesVault is designed with charity funding in mind. Imagine the ease for anyone to sponsor a student by signing up for an account at DNotesVault and send $12 worth of DNotes (1,200 Dnotes) timed-send at $1 or 100 DNotes per month, over twelve months, to sponsor one student. The student is credited 100% of the amount with the potential of significant future appreciation.