AMA with Jesse Lund, Vice President, IBM Blockchain - 21st May 2018

jamie

A few weeks ago I got chatting to Jesse Lund, Vice Pesident, IBM Blockchain and he very kindly agreed to do an AMA right here on Stellar Community.

On the Monday the 21st of May at 1pm ET Jesse will be checking this thread and answering any questions that you have related to Stellar or cryptocurrency in general at IBM.

Some background on Jesse: Jesse Lund is the Head of Blockchain, Financial Services Solutions at IBM. He leads IBM's blockchain market development, digital currency strategy, solutions engineering and client engagement for banking and financial services.

Proof:

I'd recommend you post your questions here in advance, especially if you're a new member as your first few posts will need to be approved before other users can see them.

Lastly, thanks to Jesse and everyone else at IBM who helped make this happen 🎉

jamie

I'll kick it off!

IBM seem to be getting a lot of attention over the past year or so related to cryptocurrency. Roughly how many people at IBM are working on blockchain related projects - and are most of these working on Stellar related projects?

StreetVisit

What juicy info can you give us now that you couldn't in your last AMA?

StellarZac

Excited to see this initiative!

StreetVisit

Have IBM considered sending out branded IBM and Stellar based apparel to community members to facilitate wider project adoption through physical peer to peer networking and marketing? All T shirts, hoodies, caps etc gratefully received ;)

Guidion

Is there any correlation already with Mobius and IBM?

Guidion

What problems will solve lightning network on stellar for IBM?

StreetVisit

As the types and scale at which asset classes are unlocked through their digitization increases, do you foresee any potential issues with digital asset hostile takeovers/ attacks and if so is this something you advise adopters/organisations/asset digitizer's about or have any solutions for? A real estate token for example could provide for micro ownership and share of rental income but it could also be open to abuse if that ownership also carries with it voting rights as a 51% stakeholder would be able to vote in their preferred contractors, managing agents, tenants, rental amount or even force a sale.

flarcos

IBM have a Catalyst Program for entrepreneurs , is there any chance it will get extended to Stellar based Projects ?

MrHodlsworth

Hi Jesse, Thanks again for your willingness to answer questions regarding the work that you and your team are engaged in. I have a number of questions regarding tokenization of assets and digital identity.

1) What are some of the most significant challenges to tokenizing assets (e.g., central bank notes, real estate, stocks, bonds, etc.)? 2) What role does digital identity play in the tokenization of assets and the assignment of ownership? How is digital identity established in a blockchain context? (One example of an blockchain application that would require digital identification would be the association of a person and their credit score in order to obtain an auto loan) 3) I what ways will Sovrin (digital identity platform) be used to issue digital assets within the Universal Payments Solution and/or Hyperledger?

WhenXLM

Hello Obi Lund, Firstly, I just saw the coffee bean-Maersk-IBM Blockchain commercial on ESPN; kudos to IBM marketing. I appreciate your knowledge of fintech so please feel free to delve deeply into the answers. Do you think banks will eventually buy up large amounts of digital currencies to maintain some sort of leveraged position in a decentralized world? If they don't then how will they survive? Are there any benefits to the United States creating it's own digital currency? When Lambo (Ferrari)?

Lumenaire

Jesse, thank you so much for your amazing support for the Stellar community. Your cool laid back personality is a delight.

Can you please discuss if you think companies looking to be compliant in the US will be able to open new crypto exchanges inside of the next 3 months. I ask because I know regulations here may take a while to solidify.

Also, if you have time, do you think IBM’s Universal Payment Solution will be launched with the protections of a normal bank account such as insurance if your account is breached by theft or fraud?

Barefoot

Hi Jesse

What could be a key breakthrough in global regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies in 2018?

If you were to make one suggestion to regulators and governments at this point..what would that be?

Much Appreciated.

camphero

Thoughts on overall cryptocurrency valuations? Do you feel market cap is an accurate way to value them?

jamie

IBM are using the Stellar network which is great. I heard about some other company (I think it was Kik with the Kin token) forking stellar for a "fee free" blockchain.

Do the benefits of using Stellar itself outweigh the benefits of doing what Kik done?

BLOGGAH

Hey Jesse. Thanks for doing this. What would you say to people that view IBM as a bit old fashioned and behind the times? I'd image its frustrating when you're working on one of the newest pieces of tech in the world?

Jsweet614

What’s the current status of the Stellar and Hyperledger relationship? Is the Stellar solution available to any company who uses Hyperledger, or do they need to access an existing third-party solution like IBM’s?

Is Stellar a full partner of Hyperledger? If not, why not, and what does becoming one entail? Pros and cons?

Thanks for all you do for the community. We couldn’t ask for a better ambassador for the technology.

brian

Hi Jesse, and thank you for giving so much time to the crypto community.

As a Norwegian software developer who would like to work with blockchain, does IBM have open positions in Norway atm? In the UK or in the USA? I' willing to move. What kind of skills are you looking for?

Is it possible for you to give us more info about IBM's crossborder payment product?

Have you got any current buyer of the product? How have the interest been amongst buyers? How was dealing with regulatory requirement as such an early adopter? What makes this product great in you opinion, what problem does it solve. Any other areas/thoughts that you want to an can share.

3.I've seen some cool IBM commercials lately, where it seems IBM has a product that lets companies use blockchain to track various goods/products through their life cycle. Ex. Tracking a tomato or coffe from origin to consumer. I think this is super cool and important. Is it an existing product? Are you using the Stellar network for this? How soon will it launch? Will I as a consumer be able to go on the blockchain and track for example a diamond ring I want to buy to my fiancee? Will this mean normal consumers will get the power to see if products have been ethically produces, where their food have been and under what temperatures during its journey etc? Sorry for ranting on but this seems like an enormous area of business.

Are there anything we have not asked that you would like to share or talk about?

brian

Hi again,

I know you are working with Stellar and Hyperledger, but is IBM involved with other cryptos or considering getting involved with other cryptos? If so, for what use cases?

brian

Another one - I see several of the Nordic contries are considering issuing e-currencies, and Venezuela just issued a kind of 'crypto'.

Are you in talks with any governments with regards to facilitating, or helping them with the technical side of this on the Stellar network?