Thanks TimMarsh and TeeGee, appreciate your comments!
I can say, though I may have a slightly biased opinion, from working with Alan through the years and my own contributions to four pillars... I don't believe there is any self help business content available at this level of raw insight and direction, while also placing the focus on exactly what you need to know. This can have a large impact on ones business and entrepreneurial outlook of running and starting a business. This is not a college course (though that may be helpful), this is not a story just designed to sell books or a single or just a couple lessons learned (again, still helpful), this is advice from someone who has walked the walk, has the experience, and truly wants to help people be more successful in business. It is an all inclusive business framework and strategy for success.
The add-on video series dives more in depth into the individual lessons that tie into the overarching concept. I am very excited to see it completed.
**Potential future clients impressed by the message within this book and video series will be much more likely to choose DNotes as a partner to launch their business or blockchain product**The book and accompanying video series will form a crucial component of the consulting services that DNotes will provide its clients that it works with. When existing companies and startups approach DNotes to aid them in raising venture capital or crowdfunding efforts, we will go above and beyond what is offered elsewhere in the industry. We will not only be able to assist clients with releasing their own blockchain applications on our turnkey solutions platform, but partner with them to ensure that all products launched on the DNotes blockchain are successful and provide a return for their investors. The current market only caters for producing quality products, but there are three other key pillars of business success: customers, management (you), and employees. DNotes will be able to provide the expertise to help people in every facet of their businesses to maximize their chances of success, in a way that nobody else in the industry can. This book forms a component to maximize the reach of that message, and to serve as a written guide to current and future partners. People looking to launch their business of blockchain related project who read this book and are impressed by the messages contained within it will be much more likely to choose DNotes to facilitate the process -- knowing their chances of success will be higher. To top it all off, the book is for public sale, and all proceeds will be paid to DNnotes Global, who will spend the funds to further benefit the DNotes ecosystem. You make some really good points there TeeGee. I have never been involved in venture capital or similar before. But I had always assumed that successful venture capitalists don't just hand over money at milestones. I always thought they would boost their chance of success by providing business advice as well. But just because this would be the logical thing to do, doesn't mean it happens. So I'm interested to know how far DNotes are thinking of going above and beyond the standard, and what the current VC standard behaviour really is. I imagine that there will be another benefit of DNotes being selective about projects with potential and then providing further guidance. If projects running with DNotes assistance are typically successful and provide a good return on investment, the DNotes brand will quickly come to signify a good investment. This is always a good thing, but in the current ICO environment where there are far more options than can be diligently analysed, a trusted brand like DNotes would be very powerful. Thanks, Tim. Lead VCs do not just hand their money over and hope for the best. They have at least one board seat and a lot of say in key decisions. In short, their selling points are that they come with more than just money – their connections, skill-sets and mindset. And, many of them will remind you of the “Golden Rule” (He who holds the gold makes the rule). Depending on source, their average betting success is about 30%. That is an improvement over the typical 20% success ratio but not that impressive. As a result of crowdfund, ICOs, and other alternative funding vehicles venture capitals are under great pressure to change and adapt. DNotes NextGen VC will be based on a business model that reflects the best of the old and the new model. For now, let’s say we will be conservative yet innovative and very pro-active. We will have different levels, processes, and defined length of participation – using our innovative technologies to the best of our advantages. Some may just utilize DNotes open source technologies with limited assistance from us. Others, if qualified, may involve an array of technical and financial participation. It is also conceivable that some of these companies may eventually be acquired by DNotes Global, Inc., before our IPO, while others may be successful enough to have their own IPO. Again, a strong DNotes trusted brand is immensely valuable for our NextGen VC. We also believe that a unified single culture reflecting the best of a company is crucial for business success. With my book, “Improve Your Odds – The four Pillars of Business Success,” used as the entrepreneur hand-book, I believe that our success rate will be closer to 80%. That will be an amazing record. |
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New additions to the Four Pillars membership site The videos will be available to watch via the links below for a short period of time, after that they will only be accessible from the membership site. Chapter 3 Understanding the
System Approach to Business Design How
Competition
Can Affect...
| Your Team
and the
System Approach
| Mission
Focused
Culture
| System
Approach to
Management
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I've just watched and enjoyed all five of these video productions. They all work together to deliver a very important message and I really believe that if more businesses followed this advice, they would have a much greater chance of success. Except for the fact that with them all following it, the competition will have just become much stronger. But even this is a good thing, because society always benefits when less effort is wasted. Thinking with a systems mindset is not an easy thing to do and doesn't come naturally to many people. We tend to think in metaphors and need some visual way of conceptualising our thoughts. Business systems are often complex and don't lend themselves easily to visualisation. There are a lot of tools out there to assist with different aspects of them. I like flow charts, and business process mapping. But all such tools find it hard to incorporate the flow of resources and information into, through, and out of the whole system. Then trying to map over that the interactions of the staff at a more abstract and emotional level, becomes very difficult even though these interactions can have a powerful impact on success. I also like how the videos all have a consistent look and style to them. It says to me that the important thing in the video is the valuable information being delivered. And recognises that anything else, might make it look fancier, but would ultimately become a distraction from the core message. So there have been some effective decisions made with this around its production format and delivery. Well done. Thank you, Tim. Good to know that you like it. This is a big project with almost two years in the making and quite costly to me personally – both in terms of time and money. One would wonder why I made such a huge commitment. To begin with, my book “Improve Your Odds – The Four Pillars of Business Success” https://fourpillarsofbusinesssuccess.com/ is one of the major building blocks of DNotes and DNotes Global, Inc. The book practically serves as a blue print for DNotes, and everything that we are involved in to follow. It also established our brand, mindset, and culture – critical guidelines for collaborations and partnership. They are the guiding principles for business success. And, Chapter 15 is about our industry, technology, and the DNotes story – a great way to introduce digital currency and DNotes to our readers. Additionally, I am always deeply troubled by the high rate of business failures – 8 out of 10 businesses failed within ten years. Business failure is painful, costly, and emotionally distressful; often affecting not just the failed business owners but also family members, friends, and others. I am very committed to make a positive contribution to improve the chances of success. There will always be the unknowns and uncontrollable that contribute 5% to 10% of business failures. Recognizing that no one is perfect, I strongly believe that any business that I am passionately involved in will have an 80% chance of succeeding. That is quite an improvement from the 20%. I trust that any true entrepreneur who follows my teachings religiously will greatly improve their odds of succeeding. Over 40,000 businesses in the United States failed each month. Even an improvement of a few percentage points will make a significant difference. By the time my book video production is completed – by the end of this year – I would have produced 70+ videos with bullet points, full transcripts, and the book itself. I am not aware of anything close to this scale has been done. Correct me if I am wrong. The book is available for purchase on Amazon and other outlets as an E-book, paper-back, or hard-cover. The videos with bullet points and full transcripts are available for viewing at your convenience for free till the end of 2019. All you need to do is sign up as a member HERE: https://fourpillarsofbusinesssuccess.com/register/free-membership/I have granted DNotes Global, Inc. 100% royalty free for all revenue deriving from the book. So, why is this book project important to DNotes stakeholders? I love to have your comments, including those who have already read my book. Thanks. |
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Interesting results so far on a poll from Yahoo Finance:  That is very telling. For all practical purposes, we are at the infancy of a global paradigm shift that will take years to take its course. We are often over-conditioned for instant gratification - we want it here and now. "if it didn't happened; it is not happening" mentality. We know that what is happening in our industry is very disruptive. There will be push-backs from some political leaders and big bankers. But digital currency is the future of money and no one is in the position to stop that. |
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Great discussion on our current global financial systems. I think, we all can agree that it has already been stretched too thin. However, it is harder to predict when is the breaking point. Looking at past financial crises we can predict, with a high degree of certainty, that it will happen again. Based on the data shared on this forum, we are over-leveraged and reaching a point of no return. Consequently, nations (not just corporations) are resorting to creative accounting – “off balance sheet” and foot notes. Not a good sign.
Bitcoin and digital currencies, like DNotes, will continue to play a vital role as alternatives to fiat currencies and help avoid a sudden halt in economic activities (as in the recent case of Greece).
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Thank you very much to Steve and the team at Vments for working with me on the interview.
Vments have a lot of fascinating content and product offerings listed at their website that have a high degree of potential to facilitate collaboration between Vments and DNotes in the future -- especially given our plan to integrate the frictionless means to convert DNotes or other crypto to merchant POS spending via fiat conversion. I could personally see the Vments ecosystem benefiting the DNotes multi-currency card and banking network in the following way, as I will outline one potential use case below.
Spending of cryptocurrency using the DNotes multi-currency *debit* card could trigger the following process:
Any crypto converted into DNotes via DNotes' decentralized exchange >
DNotes are converted into fiat through our regulated exchange (fiat gateway) >
USD transfer from the fiat gateway exchange into the DNotes bank >
Forwarding of funds from DNotes bank to partner bank accounts (nostro accounts)> (particular benefit here)
Forwarding of payment to local merchant that multi-currency card is used to make purchase of goods or services.
The process above would be designed to be seamless and near-instant, and Vments work in the area of inter-bank payment flows could massively benefit some of these processes - namely, inter-bank money flows in different countries. This could allow debits to be made from checking accounts with instant movement of funds across the entire process, rather than current 'credits' being made in lieu of physical money transfer as is the case with credit card systems today. This would allow users to avoid a lot of the fees common with credit card systems. Currently some projects allow for integration with the visa network to spend cryptocurrencies, the above model is different in that it brings the 'authentication', 'liquidity provider' / 'exchange' and 'banking' network under the same roof as the operators of the currency & card issuer, which means they can be more tightly integrated with more cost effective revenue models.
This is just an example of how such collaboration could work. There are many others.
Tim, that was an excellent interview. Steve has very high regards for DNotes and has been following us for quite a while. I have spoken to him and very impressed with what Vments has to offer. Although some collaborations in the future is very possible, we need to be mindful that anything to do with banking these days will that a long time to jump through a lot of legal hurdles. Especially because of the current market conditions, we will that our time to seek out the best opportunities and do things right. I agree with Alan that this is definitely one to watch, while taking careful, sure steps as the ground beneath cryptocurrencies becomes more solid and predictable. And I'm really glad that DNotes has such talent, including TeeGee to make sense of all of those buzz words used in the article. To me, the meanings of a lot of the terms were unfamiliar, but not entirely vague. But what really caught my attention was, "At the core of the technology is Virtual Fiat Money (VFM) which flows through account types CommunityVcash and CommunityVcredit established by participating financial institutions in their local base currency."I assumed that both of these were a permissioned blockchain cryptocurrency that is pegged to a particular currency. I then imagined it was used to symbolise a transfer of value in some way, but I really would like to know more about it. Like does this virtual fiat currency have a tag in the transaction saying which currency it is pegged to and the peg value? Do they actually buy the virtual fiat from Vments at the pegged currency rate and the Vments sell this back to the receiver as a different fiat currency according to the predetermined pegged value? So much to think about, so I hope there is a follow up article with more concrete details once that information is ready for public disclosure. And again I wonder if this DNotes thread might be the most broadly informative thread on bitcointalk.org. Thanks, Tim. Vments platform is a private and permissioned blockchain functional ecosystem and network of financial institutions. I sometime see the decentralized world and the centralized world as two extremely ends of the spectrum. Neither one is perfect but each has massive potential. A bridge that can negotiate the gap in a well balanced manner can reap great rewards. That is what DNotes Global, Inc. is destined to become. It will take time and many great strategic moves, collaborations, and partnership. Vments can enable peer to peer settlement with a merchant or vendor using its VFM (virtual fiat money) using an account denominated in DNotes (or any cryptocurrency) where the card/account issuers settle with the customer in the cryptocurrency and the fiat currency of the transaction is similar to current credit/debit card trans for a foreign currency transaction. The card/account issuer would have to acquired VFM of the currency they need to send to the merchant/vendor, but then collect in crypto from the card/account holder. The merchant/vendor can then redeem the VFM to their bank account, reuse it for other transactions, or exchange it for some other fiat or crypto currency. If the merchant/vendor is willing to accept the crypto, then the conversion to VFM is not necessary and they can either reuse the crypto or exchange it for some other fiat or crypto currency. The VFM would be minted by the bank that the card/account issuer uses for the settlement, including where the bank could be the card/account issuer and handle all of the applicable compliance that our software would help comply with. Welcome to DNotes, Steve. Thank you for explaining how DNotes could work with Vments to process payment settlement in a peer to peer transaction. This could be a great opportunity for mid-sized and small banks to participate in the immense power of blockchain technologies. Feel free to ask any questions. Meanwhile, we wish you the best success. |
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This is a sad day for our industry. There will be significant "weeding out" with many suffering significant losses. This is a major correction and will take time to digest. It is most prudent to take a step back and let the dusk settle. No one can stop the industry from moving forward. My greatest fear is that it could lead to over-regulation that will stiflel innovations. China's Bitcoin Exchanges Receive Shutdown Orders and Closure TimelineCoindesk: Sep 15, 2017 at 11:28 UTC by Tian Chuan & Rachel-Rose O'Leary https://www.coindesk.com/document-lists-closure-steps-for-chinas-bitcoin-exchanges/[...] 6. Exchanges shall save all user trading and holding data, and send it to local authorities immediately in DVDs. I found it interesting that China wanted the exchanges to forward them information on DVDs. And I wondered if the Chinese exchanges were also expected to supply all of the customer's personal details. It has always surprised me that people hoped their transactions on the blockchain would remain anonymous despite the fact that all transactions are permanently public. A big spill of user data could be very informative. And it could also be used to write better algorithms for determining the probability of assigning particular transactions to people. For example, it could show how strong correlations are between trading times, amounts, and recipient behaviour are with individuals. It could then group patterns into profiles and use these to detect with higher accuracy which addresses are owned by the same person. As for the impact and correction caused by the news, I'm surprised it was so small and short-lived. From it's high point this week on September 12, at US$4,344 it steadily dropped until the announcements and news on the 15th. The morning of the 15th opened at 74% of the week's high point. Then during the day of the news and media circus about this issue, it actually climbed to 83% of the high point value. Figures extracted from: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/And if this shows you anything, I think it proves beyond reasonable doubt that bitcoin is not a bubble. The reason we use a bubble metaphor for artificially inflated investments isn't due to the inflation. It is due to the fact that when a bubble starts to pop, there is no recovery. Everybody playing the game rushes to be the faster rather than greater fool. But we didn't see a significant collapse that a bubble would predict. And then we saw a strong and fast recovery. So thanks China, my bubble concerns are gone. And I believe we might have seen a stronger recovery if Chinese money had felt safer to flow back into the system. I agree that the industry as a whole is showing remarkable strength. Weak hands began to sell, and many in China heavily encouraged to do so, but a lot of people seem to have looked at this as a buying opportunity. The Chinese government have had somewhat of a tumultuous relationship with digital currencies -- frequently changing their public stance on what industry players can do there. For now, the world crypto economy can continue to grow without concern for what effects the decisions by Chinese officials may have on the world market. The quick recovery surprised me. I am also surprised that there are still many ICOs going on. In the simplest term - there is a lot of greed and fear which can cut both ways. Our industry will remain strong with rapid growth, and Bitcoin is not going away. However, I am concerned that this will lead to more regulations in the name of "consumer protection" and a tougher crack-down on ICOs. |
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This is a sad day for our industry. There will be significant "weeding out" with many suffering significant losses. This is a major correction and will take time to digest. It is most prudent to take a step back and let the dusk settle. No one can stop the industry from moving forward. My greatest fear is that it could lead to over-regulation that will stiflel innovations. China's Bitcoin Exchanges Receive Shutdown Orders and Closure TimelineCoindesk: Sep 15, 2017 at 11:28 UTC by Tian Chuan & Rachel-Rose O'Leary https://www.coindesk.com/document-lists-closure-steps-for-chinas-bitcoin-exchanges/I think this is a perfect example of how NOT to protect your citizens. Instead of implementing reasonable regulations for the exchanges so the customer is protected, they are forcing these people to use one of the hundreds of shady exchanges that will be popping up in other countries looking to cash in on the Chinese government's blunder. I can't remember exactly, but I believe over 90% of bitcoin's volume is from China, and I'm assuming any of the other high-volume coins are likely similar. It is going to be very painful for everyone, but especially them. I am very thankful that DNotes did not rush to get listed in China. Question of the day (that we all know the answer to): Why is it the Chinese government has no problem creating a global bitcoin mining monopoly, but refuses to let its citizens benefit from cryptocurrency? Exactly Chase. A major challenge in emergent industries is acquiescing to / subverting the existing power structures. In this instance, the Chinese government prioritises restricting the ability of their citizens from being able to send money internationally -- i'm sure there is some rationale behind the risk of them doing so. People who continue to hold Bitcoin in China will be forced to panic sell, trade with locals who accept it, send it overseas for sale, or use the next phase of Chinese Bitcoin adoption - decentralized exchanges. Innovation and creativity are often driven by regulations such as this, in the same way that Bitcoin was born of the need for an alternative to the modern financial environment. Governments worldwide will be paying close attention to what consumers do in reaction to the government actions - though I believe it should be rather predictable. 1. Consumers move to decentralized exchanges and increases in the use of monero and other crypto that utilize zk-snarks. 2. China will move to create a successful 'in-house' version of blockchain and exchange, in their usual bid to be the best in the world at everything. This could even be NEO, though I suspect there will be a new creation that citizens will have as an only option. In place of using Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Google, China created their own versions in: Alibaba, renren, Wiebo, Wechat, and Baidu. The Chinese may well build infrastructure quickly to become what they view as a 'leader' in blockchain space, albeit with limited consumer options. 3. China will want to continue to their crypto mining monopoly because it's an easy transfer of wealth from the west to the east. They will need government approved exchanges or routes to facilitate these transfers. In the same way that when you buy $10 goods at Walmart, the Chinese are making it for $2. The Chinese will encourage, or even subsidise crypto mining in the same model to this end. The punishment for using alternative payment routes to those that are government approved will be severe. These are a few places to start - The rest of the story is likely to be what the west will do in response to these Chinese actions. For example, western run cryptocurrencies will re-evaluate POW mining as a result of the network (and large amounts of investor wealth) being almost entirely controlled by foreign governments and miners. Great points, TeeGee. I will be on the road shortly and not able to give you a good response but just add that Bitcoin and digital currencies are getting too big for any country to ignore. |
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I will not be surprised if the Chinese government or its monetary authority creates a centralized national cryptocurrency given the fact that China is a global crypto currency mining power.
Thaks, SCeeYong. That will likely be the case. They can do anything by their own rules or newly made up rules. That is their unfair advantage over us. USA must lead quickly to create sensible regulations that are not burdensome for our industry. There must be consumer protection. Too many people are getting hurt - scammed, exploited, and misled. It has to change for mass acceptance of digital currency to take place. |
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This is a sad day for our industry. There will be significant "weeding out" with many suffering significant losses. This is a major correction and will take time to digest. It is most prudent to take a step back and let the dusk settle. No one can stop the industry from moving forward. My greatest fear is that it could lead to over-regulation that will stiflel innovations. China's Bitcoin Exchanges Receive Shutdown Orders and Closure TimelineCoindesk: Sep 15, 2017 at 11:28 UTC by Tian Chuan & Rachel-Rose O'Leary https://www.coindesk.com/document-lists-closure-steps-for-chinas-bitcoin-exchanges/China's bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges have received instruction that they will need to voluntarily shut down by September 15. According to both leaked documents and statements from local exchange executives, issued on condition of anonymity, China’s regulators have now issued verbal directives indicating how they expect the businesses to wind down operations due to the fact that they are operating domestically without a formal license. A document leaked on Chinese social media, translated below, lists a series of steps the exchanges must undergo during that closure. While not received directly by exchange executives surveyed, the document is reportedly consistent with verbal guidance. Issued by the office of the Leading Group of Beijing Internet Financial Risks Remediation, the document outlines how exchanges will need to coordinate with local regulators following their announcements, listing how they should handle customer data and banking relationships. Already, however, two exchanges – BTCC and ViaBTC – have announced their closure, both citing the regulatory statement issued by authorities on September 5. BTCC, in the wake of the announcement, posted a series of tweets about user withdrawals, stating that they will be able to get their money out even after the September 30 closure date. In one of those tweets, the exchange suggested that users "withdraw their funds as quickly as possible." While not all China-based exchanges have formally indicated that they will shut down, one exchange executive indicated that more announcements will be forthcoming in light of the order. Exchanges Huobi and OKCoin are said to have met with regulators today, and are expected to announce plans to shut down within hours. Representatives from Huobi and OKCoin did not respond to requests for comment at press time. The full translated document reads: 1. Before 20 September 6pm, exchanges shall come up with a detailed risk-free clearing plan, and send this plan to the office. Exchanges shall deal with their claims and liabilities properly, and insure that investors’ funds and virtual currencies are safe. 2. Before 20 September 6pm, exchanges shall determine a bank account, which will be used for depositing user funds. All other accounts in banks and other non-bank payment service providers shall be canceled and reported to the Business Management Department of People’s Bank of China. 3. Before 15 September midnight, exchanges shall publish closing announcements, and announce a schedule to stop the trading of all virtual currencies. New user registration shall be stopped immediately after the announcement. 4. Shareholders, controllers, executives, and core financial and technical staff of exchanges shall cooperate fully with authorities during the clearing, while staying in Beijing. 5. Exchanges shall report their developments daily to local authorities before the clearing is completed. 6. Exchanges shall save all user trading and holding data, and send it to local authorities immediately in DVDs. The document is signed: The office of the Leading Group of Beijing Internet Financial Risks Remediation, Sept. 15, 2017 All times listed are Beijing local time. |
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Thank you very much to Steve and the team at Vments for working with me on the interview.
Vments have a lot of fascinating content and product offerings listed at their website that have a high degree of potential to facilitate collaboration between Vments and DNotes in the future -- especially given our plan to integrate the frictionless means to convert DNotes or other crypto to merchant POS spending via fiat conversion. I could personally see the Vments ecosystem benefiting the DNotes multi-currency card and banking network in the following way, as I will outline one potential use case below.
Spending of cryptocurrency using the DNotes multi-currency *debit* card could trigger the following process:
Any crypto converted into DNotes via DNotes' decentralized exchange >
DNotes are converted into fiat through our regulated exchange (fiat gateway) >
USD transfer from the fiat gateway exchange into the DNotes bank >
Forwarding of funds from DNotes bank to partner bank accounts (nostro accounts)> (particular benefit here)
Forwarding of payment to local merchant that multi-currency card is used to make purchase of goods or services.
The process above would be designed to be seamless and near-instant, and Vments work in the area of inter-bank payment flows could massively benefit some of these processes - namely, inter-bank money flows in different countries. This could allow debits to be made from checking accounts with instant movement of funds across the entire process, rather than current 'credits' being made in lieu of physical money transfer as is the case with credit card systems today. This would allow users to avoid a lot of the fees common with credit card systems. Currently some projects allow for integration with the visa network to spend cryptocurrencies, the above model is different in that it brings the 'authentication', 'liquidity provider' / 'exchange' and 'banking' network under the same roof as the operators of the currency & card issuer, which means they can be more tightly integrated with more cost effective revenue models.
This is just an example of how such collaboration could work. There are many others.
Tim, that was an excellent interview. Steve has very high regards for DNotes and has been following us for quite a while. I have spoken to him and very impressed with what Vments has to offer. Although some collaborations in the future is very possible, we need to be mindful that anything to do with banking these days will that a long time to jump through a lot of legal hurdles. Especially because of the current market conditions, we will that our time to seek out the best opportunities and do things right. I agree with Alan that this is definitely one to watch, while taking careful, sure steps as the ground beneath cryptocurrencies becomes more solid and predictable. And I'm really glad that DNotes has such talent, including TeeGee to make sense of all of those buzz words used in the article. To me, the meanings of a lot of the terms were unfamiliar, but not entirely vague. But what really caught my attention was, "At the core of the technology is Virtual Fiat Money (VFM) which flows through account types CommunityVcash and CommunityVcredit established by participating financial institutions in their local base currency."I assumed that both of these were a permissioned blockchain cryptocurrency that is pegged to a particular currency. I then imagined it was used to symbolise a transfer of value in some way, but I really would like to know more about it. Like does this virtual fiat currency have a tag in the transaction saying which currency it is pegged to and the peg value? Do they actually buy the virtual fiat from Vments at the pegged currency rate and the Vments sell this back to the receiver as a different fiat currency according to the predetermined pegged value? So much to think about, so I hope there is a follow up article with more concrete details once that information is ready for public disclosure. And again I wonder if this DNotes thread might be the most broadly informative thread on bitcointalk.org. Thanks, Tim. Vments platform is a private and permissioned blockchain functional ecosystem and network of financial institutions. I sometime see the decentralized world and the centralized world as two extremely ends of the spectrum. Neither one is perfect but each has massive potential. A bridge that can negotiate the gap in a well balanced manner can reap great rewards. That is what DNotes Global, Inc. is destined to become. It will take time and many great strategic moves, collaborations, and partnership. |
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Thank you very much to Steve and the team at Vments for working with me on the interview.
Vments have a lot of fascinating content and product offerings listed at their website that have a high degree of potential to facilitate collaboration between Vments and DNotes in the future -- especially given our plan to integrate the frictionless means to convert DNotes or other crypto to merchant POS spending via fiat conversion. I could personally see the Vments ecosystem benefiting the DNotes multi-currency card and banking network in the following way, as I will outline one potential use case below.
Spending of cryptocurrency using the DNotes multi-currency *debit* card could trigger the following process:
Any crypto converted into DNotes via DNotes' decentralized exchange >
DNotes are converted into fiat through our regulated exchange (fiat gateway) >
USD transfer from the fiat gateway exchange into the DNotes bank >
Forwarding of funds from DNotes bank to partner bank accounts (nostro accounts)> (particular benefit here)
Forwarding of payment to local merchant that multi-currency card is used to make purchase of goods or services.
The process above would be designed to be seamless and near-instant, and Vments work in the area of inter-bank payment flows could massively benefit some of these processes - namely, inter-bank money flows in different countries. This could allow debits to be made from checking accounts with instant movement of funds across the entire process, rather than current 'credits' being made in lieu of physical money transfer as is the case with credit card systems today. This would allow users to avoid a lot of the fees common with credit card systems. Currently some projects allow for integration with the visa network to spend cryptocurrencies, the above model is different in that it brings the 'authentication', 'liquidity provider' / 'exchange' and 'banking' network under the same roof as the operators of the currency & card issuer, which means they can be more tightly integrated with more cost effective revenue models.
This is just an example of how such collaboration could work. There are many others.
Tim, that was an excellent interview. Steve has very high regards for DNotes and has been following us for quite a while. I have spoken to him and very impressed with what Vments has to offer. Although some collaborations in the future is very possible, we need to be mindful that anything to do with banking these days will that a long time to jump through a lot of legal hurdles. Especially because of the current market conditions, we will that our time to seek out the best opportunities and do things right. |
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What could be the potential implications of decentralized governance applied in a political setting?
Off the top of my head: There is no perfect solution to governance that I can tell. I see governance as more of a tug of war where differing opinions cannot go too far one way or the other, to have the largest benefit to the most people. Thus the need for rules and governance and things like the bill of rights and the constitution, the three branches of government and so on. The question to me is how can it be applied to what exactly. Could it be utilized to allow people to give more input and help leadership make decisions? Could it be used to afford people leadership without political control, more like the DNotes model we are working on? Well said. I too agree that there is no perfect solution to governance, but in my opinion when the DNotes model is deployed it will provide a much fairer way to negotiate the balance of power. Brandon, are you baiting me? I could talk about this for months. I believe we're both fascinated by the ability of automated self governing systems like bitcoin and the DAO models being explored on Ethereum. And I agree that there is huge potential for the lessons learned here to be applied in political governance. Government is never anything more than how the people within its jurisdiction agree to cooperate. And there are advantages to its many different forms. I don't believe that democracy is the best form of government. And some forms of democracy don't even deserve the title. The democratic system in the United States is so dysfunctional that corporations and the financial elites determine policy and the voting public have no measurable effect. https://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/finance-lobbying/the-influence-of-elites-interest-groups-and-average-voters-on-american-politicsAs I'm certain Alan would agree, any decision is only ever as good as the quality of information it was based on. When the public does not have all of the information, or the information is deliberately misleading, their decisions will be faulty. When independent media is being drowned out by corporate controlled media, and the government allows media ownership to fall into the hands of just a few people, the information people get is distorted and deceptive. Even a perfect democratic system will fail in such an environment. But even when democracy functions perfectly, it favours the majority, not the optimum or the fair. I've been planning a short story based around a body corporate where the building has 95 normal units and 5 penthouses on the top. The penthouse owners also own a large number of the units and rent them out. For a long time, everyone paid the same body corporate fee. Then someone pointed out that most of the gardening cost was spent on the 5 penthouse gardens. Another person suspected that they use more water too, and pumping it up to the top was also costing everyone. So one day, the body corporate that was usually controlled by the 5 penthouse elites had an AGM and failed to stack it properly with their renters. So a new board came in and made the 5 penthouse owners have to pay a greater percentage for their gardening, water pumping, security and more. Then the following year, they realised they could recover money lost in previous years, so increased the penthouse fee to be a much greater proportion of the body corporate cost. The five votes against it from the penthouse owners made no difference. Eventually it got to the stage where the 95 unit owners were making the 5 penthouse owners cover all of the body corporate costs, including a monthly free bar-b-que around the pool. That's democracy for you. I like the idea of government being run by ministers who facilitate the will of the people. They are not voted in but are selected, like jury duty, for a two year period. Ministers always act as pairs, the one in their second year mentoring the one in their first year. They don't make decisions, they just facilitate the discussion and decision making process of the public. Not every body needs to vote on every issue, but you could if you wanted to. Voting rights on any issue or ministry can be delegated, and re-delegated. So, I don't have time or enough background knowledge to vote on things the department of education are doing, but I trust Jack's opinion on education issues, so I delegate my vote to him. Homeless and disabled issues I delegate to Simon, who then delegates all of his votes to Mary. But I like to vote on cryptocurrency decisions myself. While this system still depends heavily on the public having access to unbiased media, it would be a lot more functional than a democracy. And I feel like the best and most transparent way to manage vote delegation would be through blockchain technology. I even believe that all policy and policy changes could be managed more effectively through a DAO like blockchain structure. My hope is that what is happening now with these emerging technologies will be the test bed for many different governance models. And as these models become more effective, the organisations that use them will become more successful. Then I hope that people will be able to slowly transfer some responsibilities of government into one of these tested systems. Gradually over time, more and more government functions would be transferred until all that is left is the diplomatic face to grin at cameras and light torches at Olympic games openings. I too share the same hope for these new governance models correcting millenia of mass psychology and ingrained behavior, but am cautiously optimistic due to the fact that some people are natual leaders and others are helpless without direction. I can think of a few instances where a government became more than just how the people of a jurisdiction agree to cooperate, and quite often the only way to oust those illegitimates is through force. Government is supposed to be how the people agree to cooperate, but rarely works that way in practice. Some notable examples are British taxation on the American colonies, the UN co-opting money from national tax revenues without taxpayer approval, and any given dictator suppressing opposition or alternative thinking. The latter two are greatly the result of a closed media as you had mentioned. The penthouse situation you described sound more like it's verging on mobocracy. But thankfully the penthouse owners always have the option of liquidating their assets, that's the beauty of living in a capitalistic society, you get to vote every day with your money. I like the way Americas system of governance is intended to run, as a series of power checks to ensure no one man gains absolute authority. But in my opinion this system has been degraded by leaders and groups who have colluded to vye for more power. Sometimes the power checks themselves will usurp even more power than the individual or entity they are trying to keep in check wields. I do believe the DAO relinquished their impartiality when they decided to roll back the blockchain, due to their own error. There was no public discourse or appeal process. Whether it was the right decision or not is open to interpretation, but they decided on altering transaction history without any input (that I'm aware of, if there was please enlighten me). Some people didn't like that or saw opportunity for gain so they decided to support the original Ethereum (Ethereum Classic) instead of the version of Ethereum whose transaction history had been altered. The creation of a second Ethereum, to go along with the original Ethereum classic, has shown that power checks can arise naturally in a just system when someone takes things too far. When the ability to keep power in check is taken away, you no longer live in a just society. Same goes for your point on media, people from all viewpoints deserve to have their message imparted through open and unbiased means. That way people have a diverse view of standpoints on an issue to help them make an more informed decision. But the conundrum then becomes, how much grease do you give to the squeaky wheels? You dont want their screams of 'victimized minor inconvenience' to drown out the quiet cries of those with pride, who are more likely to suffer real hardship in silence. Strictly in my opinion, a major advantage DNotes has was the opportunity to study shortcomings of our competitors who rushed the market trying to gain first mover advantage. By taking into account potentially irreparable mistakes (such as software conflicts between new and old patches), listening carefully to wise members of the community, I will be disappointed if DNotes is not the fairest form of decentralized governance known to man. Thanks, Brandon and Ken for keeping the forum engaged. This is a tough subject that easily leads one to subjective political views that can be argued either way. I usually focus my time on other priorities and leave politics alone. Having said that – I do agree that there is no perfect solution to governance. Blockchain technologies can be used effectively to supplement many governance issues, including voting, immutable time-stamped and record keeping, execution of rules and conditions, and many others. The governance of a coin edged in the blockchain is much more achievable than the governance of a nation. Yes, having a deep knowledge on the subject is vitally important if one were to express a wise opinion or recommendation. |
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The new DNotesVault design looks great. Excellent job, Tim. Thank you, and everyone for contributing. I am busy today with visitors from out of state.
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Hey team. Been working with a designer who is helping us with some website development to coincide with the upcoming DNotes 2.0 release. As you may already be aware, Joe updated www.dnotescoin.com a couple months ago. This time we have redesigned dnotesvault.com. To begin, we will implement the following as the new landing page, with the logged in account section to be updated in the near future once we finalize and complete testing 2.0. With this design, I aimed to keep communication simple and to the point for a 'clean' design. Feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks Tim! Here is the link so you can zoom and see the details: https://dcebrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Dnotes-1-Page-Layout-V5.jpgGreat job Tim, the site looks fantastic! DNotes Vault is the perfect place for DNotes holders to earn up to 8% a year (after the launch of DNotes 2.0). Quote from Dyna: "There are three different rewards amounting to about 8% per year: a) 2% for account balance paid every 30 days, b) 4% for account balance paid every 365 days, and 2% staking reward for participating stakeholders. Once fully implemented, DNotes will be very attractive for long-term savers and ideal for what CRISPs are meant to accomplish. We intent to heavily promote long-term savings for retirement, education, and other needs."Hi everyone! Awesome work! Cant wait to see dnotes 2.0 released.. i thought i may jump in here and say when dyna says, "a) 2% for account balance paid every 30 days" to clarify i believe he means to say up to 2 percent acrued average a year but is compounded on a monthly basis. It sounds like its 2 percent a month so i just wanted to clairfy for new people jumping in. Delete this if im wrong/misunderstanding. Thanks guys keep up the excellent work! Edit: i guess if ur adding up to 8 percent a year it makes since. Just trying to avoid confusion Thanks, mrbum805. It is always good to clarify to avoid confusion. You are correct that 2% per annual is paid every 30 days. It is also about 2% per annual for the staking reward. The combined annualized total is around 8%. The compound interest will add up nicely over the years for long-term savers making DNotes uniquely attractive to serious investors. |
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God I wish I could trust Russia but, I can't. Any plans from Russia regarding crypto will benefit the government and not the people I'm afraid but, that could all backfire if the population moves quickly enough to adopt the technology. I would be very interested in hearing peoples considered opinions on what is really going on there. We've had reports in recent months suggesting that Putin associates have been ramping up their involvement in cryptocurrency. Given the country's systemic cronyism, I suspect that any embrace of digital currency is designed to enrich Vlad's friends. At the same time, though, Putin does seem to have his country's best interests at heart. So, that probably factors into the equation too.. Interestingly, regardless of the intentions behind the subsidy, this may also work out in the global interests should different governments begin to compete to attract the wider cryptomarkets to their jurisdictions. It could also be tremendously good for the Russian people, who by comparison to US standards earn very little. Agreed. The intentions matter less than the outcome in this instance. Even if we assume the worst motivations, the thing we need to be looking for is if/how these actions ultimately benefit the people. If it can provide new opportunities for the citizens of Russia, then it is probably a worthwhile endeavor - even if some of Vlad's friends end up enriching themselves at the same time. I feel the cynicism running deep on this issue, and maybe that is warranted. But if I were being cynical, I'd be looking at the other side of this equation. More money for electricity to encourage more electricity purchases would have me asking who is supplying the electricity, and how will they benefit? Now if Vlad has friends at the top of many industries, I'm sure electricity would be one of them. As for the social impact, some of that depends on the arrangement. If it is only the big mining farms, it may be limited. But if instead, they hand out an electricity rebate that subsidised the value of every coin mined, that would be really easy to manage and broadly effective. All you would have to do is submit to the agency the address that minted coins will pay into. The agency could then automatically detect a newly mined block paying into that address, and payout the electricity subsidy as bitcoin into the same address. Fully audit-able. fully automated. And once you've verified that the address is genuinely mining in Russia, very hard to cheat. And it wouldn't encourage inefficient usage of electricity, because you're paid for being effective rather than for participating. Seems like a good idea. So my guess is the agency (IRI-RABIK) will pay subsidies only to large and conveniently affiliated mining farms if they use electricity from a 'friendly' electricity supplier. Keep that cynicism burning. And where is our cynicism for Switzerland? The Swiss franc is still considered the safe harbour of currencies during war or economic turmoil. I would have thought of them as the last country encouraging a shift away from fiat currency. But instead, the municipality of Chiasso is positioning itself to be the silicon valley of cryptocurrency. Both of these countries taking cryptocurrency so seriously, China moving to minimise risk in cryptocurrency, USA tightening up on ICO as securities, and so much more in the pipeline... I'm putting my cards on the table to state that while 2017 was a huge year for cryptocurrency, 2018 will see much more disruption in the industry. And all of this makes me really glad that Alan is speaking at the VC conference at a time when DNotes2.0 is making a strong move. Thank you, Tim and everyone else for sharing your opinion on various subjects relating to our industry. We live in a fast-changing and complicated world. Our values, self-interest, and as such, opinion and motivation can be quite different on many issues. Personally, I have never seen so many challenges confronting so many areas and levels in a single industry. What we are seeing is the impact of a technology that is so immensely disruptive – it is historic and will have many world-changing implications. On balance, 2017 has been a great year for our industry. The death of Bitcoin and digital currency as proclaimed so many times by the media and bankers, in the early years, has been proven to be wrong. This is real and will not go away. Digital currency is the future of money. It is money and capable of being superior to fiat currency. However, it must first meet the full functions of money - as a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange. It is an enormous task that will take years to accomplish, even with the best of strategic plans well executed. That is an area I think a lot about – the very big picture of global scope and scale. One day there will be a preferred global digital currency and it may not be Bitcoin. We are positioning DNotes to be a contender. That is why we are taking our time and doing so many things differently. 2018 will be an even more exciting year with some thinning out and more substantive projects. There may even be a “killer apps” or two. Smart nations will try to attract more business to invest by being regulation friendly. But for others, I fear that over-regulation is the biggest danger. |
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God I wish I could trust Russia but, I can't. Any plans from Russia regarding crypto will benefit the government and not the people I'm afraid but, that could all backfire if the population moves quickly enough to adopt the technology. I would be very interested in hearing peoples considered opinions on what is really going on there. Very often, subsidies are given to benefit friends and families with political connections at prominent levels. It may not benefit the government at all. The Russians are already among the most active sponsors of ICOs, exploiting every opportunity they can. |
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Our industry is over-heating. Greed and fear has led to frantic behavior most conveniently labeled as “crazy” by normal standard. But our industry is not a “normal” phenomenon. It is a paradigm shift with world changing implications we have never seen before. It pays to stay objectively informed, and cautiously invested in some ways.
I have mentioned various times, since my very early involvement, that we are witnessing the greatest technology revolution since the Internet and that it is going to be massively disruptive. This has been shaping up to be the case; perhaps even much more so in scope and scale.
When it was less clear, at the beginning, those industries including banking and financial services, that would be disrupted most were among the most dismissive. So were some government leaders and many in the venture capital space. We are now seeing a sea change of opinion. Both banks and government want to create their own virtual currencies. Some VCs are actively exploiting situations when they can yield quick big returns.
When things get this fast and furious, there will likely be a lot of over-reaction and bad judgement. Be cautious. Invest wisely with solid research. Avoid the “me-too”. There are too many with a lot more on the way. It pays to focus on those with strong fundamentals committed to a clear long-term vision in line with the evolving technologies and change times. Despite the ups and down with sensational headlines, this is a real and historic technology advancement. No individuals or nations can stop it; and no reasons to. It will evolve but it is real.
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Thank you, RJF and HORT for keeping us in check. Sometime, even with the best of intentions, we all are at risk of over-sight in choosing more appropriate words to convey the same message. DCEBrief is an import part of DNotes’ brand. It pays to be mindful of that to maintain the best balance of reporting news that matter in an unbiased way and attention-grabbing headlines.
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Hi.
I just recently invested in DNotes after reading up on it. Have to say I´m impressed by the patience you have shown in building the company. Reading about it, I was thinking what a hidden gem this coin is in the Crypto-world. With DNotes 2.0 I predict you´ll be nicely rewarded. Really look forward to follow you. Long time investment for me.
Just a final question. Will you be listed on some of the bigger exchanges soon?
Good luck in the coming month!
All the best from Norway
Welcome to DNotes, Kryptomani. I am glad you finally discovered us. We are very disciplined and patience, but always capable of aggressively pursuing our mission when the time is right. 2018 will be the year for DNotes to shine and start gaining global attention. To answer your question, don't expect DNotes to be listed in any other exchanges anytime soon. However, one of our strategic objectives is to have DNotes listed and be widely available in many exchanges worldwide sometime in 2018. |
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My wife predicted it to be somewhere between $1.45 and $1.90 by year's end. I remember because she wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it on the wall in my office. Of course, she also predicts the outcome of college football games by carefully evaluating the team colors and the schools' chosen mascots.
So... grain of salt, and all that jazz.
Personally, I have confidence in the system she uses to analyze life - I just don't bank on her conclusions.
Your mileage may vary... DCEBrief - Thanks for your input there. I think your wife's analytical methods may be as valid as anyone else's in cryptoland! Let's hope she nails it! Dyna - Thanks for your comments. Although my profile says Newbie, I have been a lurker on this forum for 3 years. I must say that the DNotes team is the most responsive group I have seen in that time. It contributes to the confidence I have in the DNotes project. The tone it sets here is refreshing compared to the noise that we tend to hear. Great work! TeeGee - I'm happy to see your thoughts about the potential of DNotes in the near term (and of course the long term) are in line with what I have been thinking. It seems that DNotes has been under the radar, but that is likely to change. I have to laugh, your comments about ICO's almost exactly reflect a conversation I had just days ago! By the way, great job with the videos, they're awesome! Thank you, TwoCorn. Your positive testimony means a lot to us, especially in consideration of your three years observation of DNotes as a lurker. I trust that there must be others like you. It will be helpful if they could share their experience with us as well. DNotes is guided by very strong principles of business success. We believe in building a strong unified culture consistent with our vision and related missions that are mutually beneficial to all our stakeholders and those we seek to serve one day. As in business, we treat our stakeholders like everyone is an important customer. As DNotes become more successful our base will continue to grow and make DNotes even more successful. Consequently, it is vital that we take our time to start off with a solid foundation. I believe that we are very close to completing that phase. All those principles and much more are detailed in my book, “Improve Your Odds – The Four Pillars of Business Success.” I have dedicated a significant amount of resources to this project, including the production of 70+ training videos with bullet points and full transcripts. I am committed to get everything done by the end of this year, before starting a major campaign to promote the book. I encourage everyone to sign up as a member (free membership till Dec. 31, 2019) and check it out. This could be another secret weapon to ensure DNotes’ long-term success. https://fourpillarsofbusinesssuccess.com/ |
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