We are COLU (/kō-lo͞o/)
Colu includes the Founder of Colored Coins, and they are standardizing the Colored Coins protocol. The team has been working quietly to bring forward a platform for consumers and developers to leverage Blockchain network without adding any metadata to the Bitcoin Blockchain itself.
Their first release will demonstrate how Bitcoin technology is a natural gateway to the emerging Internet of Things universe.
Colored Coins is an open source protocol allowing users to issue assets on the Bitcoin Blockchain without adding any additional data to Bitcoin transactions.
COLU is the research and development team, and Colored Coins is the technology. In addition to releasing the Colored Coins protocol, the team will provide an easy-to-use, fast, and secure API that will power the next generation of distributed applications. The Colu app for consumers provides secure access to everyday purchases and experiences, leveraging cryptocurrency for the Internet of Things.
More information on COLU can be found at
www.COLU.co.
Colored Coins History
The Many Challenges Some time has passed since the initial discussions and posts about Bitcoin 2.0 and Colored Coins started appearing. I remember testing and issuing gold coins in 2012 using the first 2.0 demo client ArmoryX (a fork) that Alex Mizrahi implemented with basic functionality and by exchanging these coins with Yoni Assia for bitcoins. It felt a little surreal, like a game, though we all knew differently.
Soon after, we started the ColoredCoins.org website and the Bit[Suspicious link removed]gle group. Over the years, there have been many changes in the open source community around Colored Coins and to the organization itself. From seeing an amazing developer develop a demo web wallet in three days (AKA WebwaletX) and then disappear to several changes in the bitcoin protocol like the dust rules and different disagreements on the coloring karnal implementation to different features being flagged in the protocol by some of the colored coins lead developers like Alex Mizrahi, Vitalik Buterin, Flavien Charlton, Gideon Grinshpan, Rotem Lev and many others.
The Split in 2014Early on, different players across the community expressed different motivations and perspectives that created a barrier to developing one standard. When these split the community, some executed their implementations outside the Bitcoin blockchain (like Ethereum) and others implemented a native colored coins implementation on top of the Bitcoin blockchain using different coloring karnals. Unfortunately, the different tools couldn’t read each others’ colored coins and didn’t continue developing on the same ecosystem and standard.
New Beginnings - One Standard for ColoredCoins.orgWe started a process two months ago with some of the leading colored coins developers and evangelists from different groups and companies, including Coinprisim, Coinspark, Chromaway, eToro, Richared Brown, Ryan Charles, Rotem Lev and a new 2.0 venture capital-backed company we’ll introduce soon.
Our goal is to agree on a standard for colored coins and build an open source ecosystem, community and tools for developers to use. We know some of the different teams involved may be challenged by our go-forward strategy and the timing outlined below but we are committed to formulating a standard and positively driving the impact of the ecosystem and our efforts.
The TimelineIn order to develop a standard for colored coins, we’ve decided on this timeline below.
- Recruiting teams around the world and expanding the current community: Starting today!
- New developer section and platform for community discussion and tool creation published: 1-2 months
- Standard for ColoredCoins.org developed and published on website: 2-3 months
We will keep working with the different teams involved and updating the broader community on our progress via our channels.
The Team
We've been leading the movement around the Bitcoin blockchain with Colored Coins since 2012.
We are now applying our passions to bettering our everyday access to the things we care about.
COLU Team
COLU Founders: from left David Ring, Mark Smargon, and Amos Meiri
Funding - Press Release
TEL AVIV - JAN 27, 2015 - COLU, a platform using Bitcoin blockchain technology, today announced that it has raised a $2.5 million seed round of funding led by Aleph and Spark Capital, and including BoxGroup and Bitcoin Opportunity Crop. The funding will go toward building a platform that uses blockchain technology to provide unique access to everyday purchases and possessions.
Blockchain technology verifies the ownership of every bitcoin amount ever distributed and because of this function is becoming known as an increasingly secure and reliable, distributed platform. This foundation is a dynamic tool for all kinds of people and needs. As millennials and baby boomers’ interests around shared possessions, personal spending and simple access to valued experiences are converging, they’re looking for a secure platform to access their assets and digital profiles. This greater connectivity also decreases the likelihood of security breaches and misuse of access. COLU’s Colored Coins implementation leverages the blockchain to build a platform that confirms the purchase and enables the use of everyday items.
“There’s so much complexity in our everyday lives,” said COLU Co-founder and CEO Amos Meiri. “Our goal at COLU is to use the blockchain’s ability to safely enable access to everything from online purchases to opening the front door of our vacation stay and locking the door of the car that brought us there. It’s a broad spectrum of uses but completely possible using blockchain validation and security.”
The founding team behind COLU has deep knowledge of the both depth and breadth of these applications given their previous work with Colored Coins. Colored Coins is an open standard that helped shape the current evolution of Bitcoin 2.0. The team leading COLU includes Amos Meiri, David Ring and Mark Smargon.
“The team behind COLU has been a thought and implementation leader of Colored Coins, the first viable Bitcoin 2.0 platform,” said Eden Shochat, equal partner at Aleph. “We’ve been fortunate to invest in an incredible team that’s committed to delivering on the broader promise of Bitcoin.”
“An astounding 50 billion devices are predicted to be connected in the next five years. This increased connectivity between our assets, devices and physical possessions is convenient, but it also opens us up to a number of security risks,” said Spark Capital Co-founder and General Partner Santo Politi. “We saw how COLU’s technology could help solve this problem and transform the everyday online experience by allowing users to easily and securely access their purchases and possessions on a first-of-its kind platform.”
There is a growing list of ways COLU will be able to simplify everyday interactions on- and offline. Currently in beta, COLU will be releasing a more public build in the second quarter of 2015.
About COLUCOLU is a blockchain platform for consumers and developers providing secure access to everyday consumer purchases, accessories and experiences. The founding team started ColoredCoins.org, the open source standard for issuing assets on the Bitcoin block chain, a leader in Bitcoin 2.0. More information on COLU can be found on
www.COLU.co.
About AlephAleph invests in and support Israeli technology startups as they scale into the global market. The venture capital firm was founded by Michael Eisenberg and Eden Shochat, previously of Benchmark Capital and Face.com respectively, in July 2013. As Israeli companies are known for their different approach, so is Aleph. Gain insight at aleph.vc.
About Spark CapitalSpark Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with imaginative entrepreneurs who are driven to move people with the products and experiences they create. We invest in startups that make products and services for consumers as well as business people. We are proud supporters of companies such as
1stDibs,
AdMeld,
Oculus,
Superpedestrian,
Tumblr,
Twitter,
Warby Parker, and
Wayfair. We have offices in the Back Bay in Boston, SoHo in New York City and SoMa in San Francisco. Spark Capital manages nearly $2 billion across five funds. For more information, visit
sparkcapital.com.
COLU in the press
Wall Street Journal - January 27, 2015
Bitcoin 2.0 Startup Colu Attracts $2.5 Million Seed Round (search for Colu on WSJ, links to it are not allowed because of Paywall)
TechCrunch - January 27, 2015
Colu Aims To Bring Blockchain Technology EverywhereVentureBeat - January 27, 2015
Colu raises $2.5M to use the blockchain for something other than BitcoinCoinDesk - January 27, 2015
Spark Capital, Aleph Lead $2.5 Million Investment in Colored Coins Startup ColuGeektime - January 27, 2015
Israel’s COLU raises $2.5 million to protect Internet of Things’ consumersCoinDesk - January 31, 2015
IBM's Richard Gendal Brown: Bitcoin is Opening Minds
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