DIY Investor Magazine
/
March 2017
30
By Angus Campbell
Stature PR
BLOCKCHAIN PART 1 - AN INTRODUCTION
TO BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
Blockchain, sometimes referred to as Distributed
Ledger Technology, is most closely associated with
the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which has blockchain
technology as its foundation. It is important to
differentiate between the two as many of the blockchain
solutions that have or are being built have nothing to
do with Bitcoin. However, so far it is the finance and
payments space that has seen the focus of blockchain
attention and majority of investment.
Blockchain works whereby rather than having a
centralised counterparty to an exchange of data (e.g.
clearing houses for asset transactions or depositories
for records of ownership) where there is an inherent lack
of trust between the two transacting counterparties,
you have a decentralised network of participants that
must agree before the transfer of data occurs. The
technology can vastly reduce the time it takes to bring
the exchange of data to a consensus. The record of this
data is immutable due to the nature of the network that it
sits on, so it is very difficult to hack or corrupt, certainly
by the standards of technology we use today.
Slowly but surely industry after industry is testing how
blockchain technology can streamline many of their
internal process, significantly reducing costs.
As with any technological advancement blockchain
faces plenty of challenges, particularly people’s attitude
towards it as it is a significant innovation that can rapidly
transform the way many systems work and rapid change
is often met by resistance. Advocates of blockchain
technology believe the benefits vastly outweigh the risks
and many test pilots have proven this, in some of the
largest companies in the world.
For example, blockchain technology has the power
to reduce a simple piece of computer programming
that may currently use 10 lines of code to process,
down to just 1 or 2 lines of code. It is this sort of
innovation that has the potential to transform the way
many data processes and system architectures work,
thus potentially saving not just businesses, but whole
industries many millions of pounds. The next greatest
challenge for blockchain is to go from test stage to
commercialisation.
So, if you are interested in investing in blockchain
opportunities there are a few listed entities that exist but
many blockchain technology companies out there that
you would normally read about in the press are privately
owned. Below is a handful of stocks that are involved
in or looking at the blockchain space in some shape or
form. From here you can do your own research:
Company
Exchange
Code
Price*
Market Cap*
BTL Group
TSX Venture
BTL
2.90
$50m
Vela Technologies LSE
VELA
0.22
£1.6m
Blue Star Capital
LSE
BLU
0.14
£1.4m
Coinsilium
NEX
COIN
1.75
£1.3m
Kryptonite 1
NEX
KR1
0.07
£0.8m
* Approximate at the time of writing March 2017
Angus Campbell is Head of Corporate & Financial at
Stature PR. With knowledge of and huge interest in the
financial markets I advise clients how best to engage
with investors and the financial media by devising
and implementing strategic corporate and financial
communications strategies.
Website:
Twitter:
Disclaimer
This article does not contain and should not be construed as containing,
investment advice or an investment recommendation or an offer of or
solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments. Any opinions made
may be personal to the author and may not reflect the opinions of my employer.
