Visa, Capital One Back $30 Million Round for Blockchain Startup Chain

[bitcoinbelieve]

here is the article http://www.coindesk.com/visa-capital-one-back-30-million-round-for-blockchain-startup-chain/

Blockchain technology startup Chain has raised $30 million in new venture funding, drawing funds from financial services companies including Capital One, Fiserv and Visa.

French telecom giant Orange SA contributed to the round, months after disclosing that it was looking to invest in bitcoin startups, as did Nasdaq, which has been working with Chain, and Citi Ventures.

RRE Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital and SV Angel – existing investors of the firm – also took part, as well as former Bank of America CEO David Coulter, X Prize Foundation CEO Peter Diamandis and MongoDB co-founder Kevin Ryan.

In statements, Chain CEO Adam Ludwin spoke in broad strokes about the larger efficiencies major financial services providers could potential unlock as the technology matures.

Ludwin said:

    "Applied intelligently, blockchain networks fundamentally improve how assets move between parties, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the organizations we believe are best positioned to capitalize on the inevitable changes in market structure that are on the horizon."

Those backing Chain also pledged to put together a “Blockchain Working Group” to promote continued and regular discussion about blockchain applications. The group is expected to meet twice a year.

As part of the deal, RRE Ventures founder Jim Robinson will join the startup’s board of directors. Ludwin also notably serves as an RRE principal.

[gogxmagog]

Well, that's impressive, I guess, it's just, seems every week we hear some big announcement like this, for a few years even, but btc doesn't really seem to be any more used or even valuated than before. Are all these startups failures? Most startups do fail, about 10% succeed, in any industry.

I don't really get it. Hopefully in a few months time we might see all this VC money bear fruit. A btc explosion would be nice

[stuff0577]

Nice to hear that. thought the topic is not really concentrated on btc. But i think it will still help some promotion.

[DGulari]

Well, that's impressive, I guess, it's just, seems every week we hear some big announcement like this, for a few years even, but btc doesn't really seem to be any more used or even valuated than before. Are all these startups failures? Most startups do fail, about 10% succeed, in any industry.

I don't really get it. Hopefully in a few months time we might see all this VC money bear fruit. A btc explosion would be nice

Stop waiting for the price to 'explode' and do fucking build something.  DO NOT HODL!!!

Hodling is stupid.  It produces nothing. 

[marky89]

Well, that's impressive, I guess, it's just, seems every week we hear some big announcement like this, for a few years even, but btc doesn't really seem to be any more used or even valuated than before. Are all these startups failures? Most startups do fail, about 10% succeed, in any industry.

I don't really get it. Hopefully in a few months time we might see all this VC money bear fruit. A btc explosion would be nice

Stop waiting for the price to 'explode' and do fucking build something.  DO NOT HODL!!!

Hodling is stupid.  It produces nothing. 

For those of us that are utilizing bitcoin as a store of value, this isn't true. This reminds of when holders complain about traders for "driving the price down" when they are really just providing liquidity and assisting in price discovery. We are likely a large segment of adopters, and whether or not we "produce" anything in the bitcoin space is irrelevant to that.

[Vod]

This is the end for bitcoin.

Once these financial companies launch their own blockchain, blockchains will become so heavily regulated, monitored and enforced, bitcoin will not legally be able to exist.

Sell your bitcoins before they drop further in price.   

[defaced]

so uh, what does chain do?

[Alley]

It's always hard to figure out if they mean the bitcoin blockchain or their own blockchain.

[mercistheman]

This is the end for bitcoin.

Once these financial companies launch their own blockchain, blockchains will become so heavily regulated, monitored and enforced, bitcoin will not legally be able to exist.

Sell your bitcoins before they drop further in price.   

LSD make folks hallucinate strange things... if anything it will raise awareness and ultimately folks will choose the chain that best represents their needs (low fees without centralized control)

[AgentofCoin]

Banks do not need to use blockchain tech.
Blockchain tech is only useful in a non-trusted system.
Banks are considered a trusted system and insured by governments.

Banks are just doing this to attempt to mitigate Bitcoin/bitcoin.

Their efforts are entirely worthless in the long run.

[mookid]

Banks do not need to use blockchain tech.
Blockchain tech is only useful in a non-trusted system.
Banks are considered a trusted system and insured by governments.

Banks are just doing this to attempt to mitigate Bitcoin/bitcoin.

Their efforts are entirely worthless in the long run.

Yeah, but bitcoin provides transparency, ideally, they should use blockchain technology, and enable government or even the public to check the books accounts.

[Bit_Happy]

$30 Million is a huge pile of semi-worthless paper, will they be able to create profits paid in Bitcoin?

[AgentofCoin]

Banks do not need to use blockchain tech.
Blockchain tech is only useful in a non-trusted system.
Banks are considered a trusted system and insured by governments.

Banks are just doing this to attempt to mitigate Bitcoin/bitcoin.

Their efforts are entirely worthless in the long run.

Yeah, but bitcoin provides transparency, ideally, they should use blockchain technology, and enable government or even the public to check the books accounts.

If they did that, they would not be able to cook the books.
The current world financial system is designed and functions on cooked numbers.

If banks truly use Blockchain tech it will be used for non-financial record keeping.
Anything else would prevent them from making money from thin air.

[NextTroll]

here is the article http://www.coindesk.com/visa-capital-one-back-30-million-round-for-blockchain-startup-chain/

Blockchain technology startup Chain has raised $30 million in new venture funding, drawing funds from financial services companies including Capital One, Fiserv and Visa.

French telecom giant Orange SA contributed to the round, months after disclosing that it was looking to invest in bitcoin startups, as did Nasdaq, which has been working with Chain, and Citi Ventures.

RRE Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital and SV Angel – existing investors of the firm – also took part, as well as former Bank of America CEO David Coulter, X Prize Foundation CEO Peter Diamandis and MongoDB co-founder Kevin Ryan.

In statements, Chain CEO Adam Ludwin spoke in broad strokes about the larger efficiencies major financial services providers could potential unlock as the technology matures.

Ludwin said:

    "Applied intelligently, blockchain networks fundamentally improve how assets move between parties, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the organizations we believe are best positioned to capitalize on the inevitable changes in market structure that are on the horizon."

Those backing Chain also pledged to put together a “Blockchain Working Group” to promote continued and regular discussion about blockchain applications. The group is expected to meet twice a year.

As part of the deal, RRE Ventures founder Jim Robinson will join the startup’s board of directors. Ludwin also notably serves as an RRE principal.

    
For Bitcoin this is very bad, how can you destroy a real Bitcoin

[Denker]

So is this good or bad news? I'm really not sure. On chain's website it is written: "Our solutions are based on the open bitcoin protocol to ensure interoperability across systems and networks." But in how far this will be realized is the big question.

[RustyNomad]

So is this good or bad news? I'm really not sure. On chain's website it is written: "Our solutions are based on the open bitcoin protocol to ensure interoperability across systems and networks." But in how far this will be realized is the big question.

In my opinion, bad news. They are not interested in bitcoin itself. They are interested in the technology i.e. the blockchain.

As another poster already mentioned, the banks will never adopt bitcoin as there is no way for them to create bitcoin out of thin air as they are doing with fiat currencies. Without that ability they will not be able to function as they do now.

What they are interested in is the way in which bitcoin works, the trustless nature of it. Currently most banking transactions go through various stages and at each stage their is checks and balances and sometimes third parties involved and all of this adds to the overhead cost of processing such transactions. So what the banks are looking at is how they can do all of that on a blockhain similar to bitcoins in order to cutout the middlemen and by doing so to speed up transactions and reduce cost.

So its not bitcoins they are after, they are after the technology on which its based.

[MF Doom]

So is this good or bad news? I'm really not sure. On chain's website it is written: "Our solutions are based on the open bitcoin protocol to ensure interoperability across systems and networks." But in how far this will be realized is the big question.

In my opinion, bad news. They are not interested in bitcoin itself. They are interested in the technology i.e. the blockchain.

As another poster already mentioned, the banks will never adopt bitcoin as there is no way for them to create bitcoin out of thin air as they are doing with fiat currencies. Without that ability they will not be able to function as they do now.

What they are interested in is the way in which bitcoin works, the trustless nature of it. Currently most banking transactions go through various stages and at each stage their is checks and balances and sometimes third parties involved and all of this adds to the overhead cost of processing such transactions. So what the banks are looking at is how they can do all of that on a blockhain similar to bitcoins in order to cutout the middlemen and by doing so to speed up transactions and reduce cost.

So its not bitcoins they are after, they are after the technology on which its based.

yeah, the only thing they are interested in is the blockchain ledger itself, so they dont need to pay so many accountants anymore!

[Amph]

Well, that's impressive, I guess, it's just, seems every week we hear some big announcement like this, for a few years even, but btc doesn't really seem to be any more used or even valuated than before. Are all these startups failures? Most startups do fail, about 10% succeed, in any industry.

I don't really get it. Hopefully in a few months time we might see all this VC money bear fruit. A btc explosion would be nice

Stop waiting for the price to 'explode' and do fucking build something.  DO NOT HODL!!!

Hodling is stupid.  It produces nothing.  

you can't blame those that want simply a better price to use bitcoin, we all know about its potential, why i should use it now, besides emergency, when i can use it at 1k

in fact for this reason i believe that rich people should help the price and not average users

[gentlemand]

Coin Inc are committed to the BTC chain. That's not to say there won't be other ones but this is from their website - Our solutions are based on the open bitcoin protocol to ensure interoperability across systems and networks

[Q7]

Nothing that i can see will benefit bitcoin. They are probably another blockchain based crypto that might eventually compete with bitcoin one day so i don't regard this as something positive.