Blockchain in Japan – Understanding the Legal Framework

 

As with all innovation, blockchain technology can only develop so far before it faces legal hurdles making it necessary to create an acceptable legal framework to grow within. 

So far, even the leading blockchain countries have been slow to accommodate this fast-growing business and technology development, thus hindering and even blocking it from achieving its potential. 

In terms of blockchain regulation, Japan seems to be dragging its heels relative to other nations even though it has been hailed as the gold standard for blockchain adoption. One of the panelists from AIKON’s The New Normal of Blockchain & Cryptocurrency talks organized in late October is Sota Watanabe, the CEO of Stake Technologies, and someone who was able to bring us up to speed with the developments in his country. 

According to Mr. Watanabe, Silicon Valley is the most advanced region in the world when it comes to the development of blockchain technology and its integration with the existing systems, which is supported by its ability to attract a large number of investors. 

In comparison, blockchain in Japan is late by two-three weeks in terms of development, which also seems to reflect on the number of companies that make real products. 

This information is at odds with the general opinion surrounding blockchain development in Japan. For instance, in July 2020 CoinGeek reported rapid blockchain industry growth – by over 30% since 2019 – in the first half of the year despite the global economic slowdown as a consequence of the global pandemic. 

The report stated that there were 430 companies present on the Japan blockchain market in May this year, 64% of which focused primarily on blockchain technology, while the rest was present on the market in a secondary capacity. Furthermore, almost half of the companies were labeled as corporations, thus signaling that blockchain is not limited to startups in Japan. 

However, the effects of COVID-19 on Japan’s economy are apparent – they have yet to release J-Coin! This was the supposed digital coin that Mizuho and 60 other Japanese banks aimed to launch this year to replace cash. 

Mr. Watanabe was of the opinion that Japan should move towards enabling blockchain technology to develop as part of a national strategy. In this sense, China is a shining example of setting up a favorable pace in which legislations are being pushed and enforced. 

According to his own experience with the blockchain legal framework, the Chinese government is moving forward strongly into the blockchain space and is quickly approaching adopting cryptocurrencies into its financial system. 

They are already shaping their overall policies to include cryptocurrency transactions in the long run, and even utilize bitcoin by the country’s defense system. By all accounts, it seems that China is able to recognize the low-cost system of trading bitcoin, which is where Mr. Watanabe believes the greatest potential lies for Japan as well.

He also indicated that there are still security concerns surrounding Bitcoin and blockchain adoption in Japan – where entities interested in using it still have a negative view of cryptocurrencies in general and are harboring fears that they are easily hackable and dangerous to use. 

In that sense, Mr. Watanabe was quick to point out that bitcoin hadn’t been hacked in 11 years (since its inception), even though it has been in use 24/7 since then and despite numerous attempts. He hails this as a tremendous feat and proof that bitcoin is safe which also contributes to its ability to hold value. 

In addition, Mr. Watanabe reflected on his desire to create a public blockchain and his own token from scratch. However, blockchain regulation in Japan is still being outlined to be able to provide the necessary support. Countries in general have difficulties recognizing the immense potential blockchain can bring and reflect it in their legal and taxation policies, but among the locations that seem to be advancing in that sense, Singapore stands out. 

This has led Mr. Watanabe to move his operations there, but still stay focussed on championing the necessary changes for contributing to blockchain development in Japan.

In the end, the potential of blockchain technology in Japan, and in general, is very much on his mind in terms of the value of the Internet and the consensus of time and he plans on broadening his future work along those lines. 

It leaves us hopeful that blockchain will find a clear path to integration into a wide range of systems across the world with highly competent and visionary people leading the charge.

This article originally appeared on aikon.com.

How to Run a Successful Delivery Company During COVID-19

 

The COVID-19 outbreak has completely changed the way we live, the way we do business, and the way our economy functions as a whole. Many states are still in lockdown. More people are being asked to work from home. Video conferencing and Zoom have replaced face-to-face interactions. 

And with so many people being asked or choosing to spend the majority of their time at home, it’s been an especially difficult time for many small businesses.

But there’s one business model that’s booming in the midst of the coronavirus crisis—and that’s home delivery.

More consumers than ever are turning to delivery services to get the products they need (for example, downloads of the grocery delivery app Instacart increased a whopping 218 percent from February, before the pandemic really hit in the US, to March, when stay at home orders started to roll out across the United States). So, if you want to continue to drive sales, you should definitely consider pivoting your operations and moving towards a delivery model to better serve your customers.

But how, exactly, do you do that? Let’s take a deep dive into how business owners can run a successful delivery company during the COVID-19 crisis (and continue to drive sales and revenue as we navigate  the new normal):

Figure out how to pivot your business model to delivery

If delivery is uncharted territory for you and you’re offering delivery services for the first time, the first step to running a successful delivery company? Figure out how to pivot your current business model to delivery.

How to successfully pivot to delivery is going to depend on your business, your customers, and your bandwidth, but some questions you’ll want to keep in mind when figuring out your delivery strategy include:

 

·         How will we deliver to our customers? Are we planning to partner with a third-party delivery service or are we going to handle deliveries in house?

·         Are we going to be delivering our full product offerings or selected products? So, for example, if you’re a restaurant, are you going to be offering your full menu for food delivery or a limited menu of delivery-only items? Or, if you run a chain of grocery stores, are you going to list every item in your store for delivery or are you going to focus your delivery service on surplus inventory?

·         What additional support do we need to pivot to delivery services (for example, additional staff, delivery bikes or vehicles, packaging, etc.)

·         What kind of opportunity does delivery add to my business? For example, if the majority of your customers are within a five-mile radius of your business, there would be a lot of financial opportunity in delivery services—but if your customers are spread throughout the state, building an e-commerce website and shipping your products might make more sense.

Handle the logistics

Once you’ve figured out how to pivot towards delivery, it’s time to tackle the logistics of adding delivery services to your business.

While every business will have different logistical issues, some of the logistical tasks you’ll definitely want to tackle before launching delivery services include:

 

• Figure out your costs. Your delivery business isn’t going to be sustainable if you’re spending more money to deliver your products to your customers than you’re making on each sale; you need a positive cash flow to make it work. Look at all the costs associated with making deliveries (including gas and labor) to determine the minimum order amount and maximum delivery area that makes sense for your business. So, for example, you might deliver within a 5-mile radius for orders over $15—and any orders below $15 or outside of your delivery area would only be eligible for pick-up/take-out.
• Adjust your inventory and supply chain management as necessary. When you move your business from an in-person to a delivery model, you might need to adjust your inventory and supply chain management to support your new business needs. So, for example, if you run a clothing boutique, you’re not going to need as many in-store display items (like hangers or racks)—but you are going to need more boxes and bags to package your deliveries—or if you’re a restaurant and you’re shifting towards a limited delivery menu, you’re going to need to adjust your ingredient ordering to support your new dishes.
• Figure out staffing. Just like your supply needs may change when you pivot to delivery, so might your staffing needs. As you’re moving towards a delivery model, look at your current staffing and scheduling and determine how you’ll need to adjust to support your delivery services (for example, hiring delivery drivers or scheduling more staff to fill delivery orders during busy shifts). 
• Look into additional insurance needs. If you’re going to be handling deliveries in-house and transportation wasn’t a part of your prior business model, you may need to get additional insurance coverage to cover yourself and your business in the case of an accident or injury. Talk to your insurance company to see which option is the best fit for your business. 

Develop a system for managing delivery orders

When it comes to deliveries, there are a lot of moving parts; you need to keep track of your orders, collect payment, assign orders to delivery drivers, and make sure that each order is making it to your customer quickly, efficiently, and with each item they ordered and paid for. Without a clear system in place for managing your delivery orders, things can quickly devolve into chaos.

Which is why you need a system in place from the get-go. Before you launch your delivery services, you need a clear plan in place for:

 

·         How customers submit orders (for example, will you be taking phone orders or should customers place delivery orders for your website?)

·         How customers submit payment 

·         How orders are fulfilled (for example, who is in charge of fulfilling orders as they come in? How long are you estimating it will take to fill orders?)

·         How to assign delivery times

·         How to check orders are accurate before they’re sent out for delivery

·         How to assign orders for delivery drivers

·         How to confirm orders are delivered and received by the customer

Once you’ve developed your delivery system, it’s important to make sure you implement any necessary technology (for example, secure payment processing or an order processing system) and train your staff. That way, when you launch your delivery service, everyone knows exactly how to take, fulfill, and deliver orders to your customers.

Spread the word about your delivery services

You can’t run a successful delivery company if no one knows you’re offering delivery services. So, one of the most important aspects of launching delivery? Getting the word out.

If you want your delivery services to take off, you need to let people know that you’re offering delivery. If you’ve been closed, email your customers to let them know you’re reopening as a delivery service. Share discount codes on your social media profiles to encourage your customers to order delivery. Look for creative ways to generate buzz around your new delivery services, like partnering with other small business owners to deliver local product packages or offering free delivery for frontline healthcare workers.

The point is, a clear marketing strategy is a key part of building any successful business—and if you want your delivery service to succeed, you need to spread the word to as many customers as possible.

Implement safety measures for your customers and delivery staff

The well-being of your customers and delivery personnel needs to be top priority when you’re delivering in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic—and that means taking the necessary safety precautions to protect them.

Make sure your team is practicing social distancing and taking proper sanitation measures when fulfilling delivery orders. Provide face masks, hand sanitizer, and gloves to your entire delivery staff. Offer contactless delivery options to minimize exposure between delivery personnel and customers. 

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, you can’t be too safe, so make sure you’re taking any safety precautions recommended from the CDC and World Health Organization and are doing everything necessary to protect yourself, your staff, and your customers.

Deliver your way to a more sustainable business

There’s no denying that  small businesses have been hit hard by COVID-19. But by adding delivery services to your current business model, you can build a more sustainable business to carry you through these uncertain times—and emerge stronger on the other side.

This article was contributed by Deanna deBara and originally posted on Hourly.io

A Brief History of Disruption – Through the Eyes of a Blockchain Startup

 

“Will blockchain disrupt my industry?” is one of the most asked questions since the technology’s inception in 2008. And rightfully so. 

With transparency and increased security being at the core of the blockchain concept,  solving many of the modern issues for corporations and individuals alike, blockchain seems to be positioned perfectly for triggering fundamental changes all around. 

The core blockchain concept of a decentralized network provides increased transaction transparency and security than any existing information system. Hence, this technology offers answers to many of the modern issues corporations and individuals both face at the moment, including challenges with secure authentication. In this sense, blockchain seems to be perfectly positioned for triggering fundamental changes all around. 

However, to fully understand the term disruption and how to distinguish it from buzzwords companies use to stand out, it’s essential to take a look at some of the most famous disruptive innovation examples and understand how people chasing dreams took their respective industries by the storm. 

Nikola Tesla: Alternating Current (AC)

At the sunset of the 19th century, electric companies have been aggressively competing in a promising new industry that was drawing a lot of capital in. It inevitably led to what is now known as the war of the currents — a battle between two high-profile figures of the time, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison and their inventions — high voltage alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) systems, respectively. 

One of Nikola Tesla’s inventions, AC, was first deemed too dangerous for common use, especially after being promoted as such by the competition. However, the advantages of long-distance, high-voltage current transmission, as well as low-cost maintenance soon gained traction as the electricity was slowly entering homes at large. 

Moreover, it opened the possibility of achieving greater economies of scale and boosting industrial development further and faster than anyone anticipated at that time. 

Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone

Although a constant in our lives today, when it first appeared the telephone represented groundbreaking technology — a means of transmitting information vocally across great distances in a quick manner. 

It allowed for efficient communication between towns, countries, and finally continents which translated into social decentralization, more flexible work arrangements, aid to first responders, etc. The change in people’s everyday habits was enormous, but it also created opportunities for a completely new industry to be born and grown around Bell’s invention. 

Although it has changed and improved greatly over the century and a half, the telephone’s influence has been as disruptive to people’s everyday lives then as blockchain commercialization is today.

Steve Jobs: Macintosh, iPod, iPad, iPhone

In more recent history, one of the greatest inventor figures certainly has been Steve Jobs. With a long list of devices that revolutionized the computer and mobile communications industry, Jobs and his business partner Steve Wozniak made complex computer technology more user-friendly and comprehensible even to a layperson. 

It also popularized the use of technology outside of strictly scientific or business-related environments. For instance, one of Steve Jobs’s inventions — the iPod, with its small dimensions, made music more available to people on the go. And while it may not sound like such a disruptive invention, music lovers who were once towing cassette players or were confined to enjoying their favorite tunes in their homes, now had practically unlimited possibilities and to them — that was positively disruptive. 

Not to mention the increased reach music now possessed which ultimately upturned the entire industry. 

During the 1980s, Nintendo became a household name, but the truly disruptive innovation by one of the most famous people in tech came two decades later with the introduction of a completely new way of playing video games.

What Miyamoto did was making video games much easier to control via hand gestures — an idea that practically rebooted the videogame industry and made Nintendo’s competitors follow its lead in terms of future developments. It also created an amazing opportunity for video games to remain the favorite pastime by creating a new experience for players.  

And even though it was surpassed by the future improvements, Shigeru Miyamoto’s inventions made a permanent mark on a generation and created a demand for decades to come. 

Shigeru Miyamoto: Wii

During the 1980s, Nintendo became a household name, but the truly disruptive innovation by one of the most famous people in tech came two decades later with the introduction of a completely new way of playing video games. 

What Miyamoto did was making video games much easier to control via hand gestures — an idea that practically rebooted the videogame industry and made Nintendo’s competitors follow its lead in terms of future developments. It also created an amazing opportunity for video games to remain the favorite pastime by creating a new experience for players.  

And even though it was surpassed by the future improvements, Shigeru Miyamoto’s inventions made a permanent mark on a generation and created a demand for decades to come.

Marc Randolf: Netflix

With the idea of making renting movies easier, Marc Randolf and Reed Hastings started purely a movie rental company in 1997. The concept was simple — order movies online, get them in the mail, return them the same way when done. Even then, it was a new take on video rental stores and an especially convenient option for those who didn’t have one nearby. 

However, the two have gotten their names on the list of innovators with the idea of turning Netflix into a video content streaming platform. It seemed so simple, yet so ridiculous — why would movie studios even want to get in on that? Would users pay to watch movies and TV shows in an entirely new way? As it turned out, yes, users saw the value and started flocking to subscribe to the service. 

The level of disruption Netflix has initiated in the rental movie industry is clearly seen in the fact that it has reduced its fiercest competitor Blockbuster to one final store out of 9,000 by forever changing the way we access video content and becoming a need for numerous movie buffs out there.

So What Does Disruption Mean?

Based on the industry disruption examples, an idea that is at the bottom of the market — undervalued and with a low-class reputation — but with enough advantages over well-established products or services to become more appealing to the same consumer to displace them altogether. 

These are precisely the characteristics that blockchain is able to contribute to a variety of industries and thus drastically change their landscapes and force companies to adapt quickly or perish. 

For instance, by implementing smart contracts companies like Shutterstock are able to reduce tax liability and reduce the fees associated with international financial transactions. 

 

Industries Blockchain Will Disrupt 

There have been significant changes in several industries already and more are expected to take place. Here are the most affected industries by blockchain-brought innovations: 

1. Financial services: This sector provides some of the most visible disruptive innovation examples, where blockchain-based systems have already improved the speed and cost of financial transactions, while offering a more transparent and secure form of accounting. Distributed architecture and decentralization concepts  continue to modernize conventional financial services, with the concept of “decentralized finance” (Defi) taking shape through directly connected participants as equals.

 

Without the need for intermediaries or centralized institutions, people are engaging in P2P lending and borrowing, with complete control over assets via non-custodial wallets, and maintaining control over their rights to assets and identities.users’ rights to identity and its safekeeping. Blockchain changing all aspects of existing financial services is one of the most notable. 

 

The biggest financial services disruption from Blockchain has already begun with the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) movement. The decentralized financial system running allows all actors relevant to conduct transactions in a completely transparent and accessible manner and within fair governance standards. 

2.            Healthcare: Turning back to more providing more reliable and personalized service, big healthcare systems are implementing remote monitoring and self-checkup technologies (e.g. smartwatch, smart band) as patients feel more comfortable managing and treating health issues from their homes with the help of technology. Blockchain provides the opportunity for patients to share anonymized data while still protecting their privacy. 

3.            Logistics: To stop wasting resources and improve process efficiency, logistics companies are rapidly turning to blockchain technology for sharing information among a whole ecosystem of partners, while still preserving data privacy. 

4.            Energy trading and renewables: Blockchain commercialization is slowly paving the way for smart contract-based local renewable energy markets to trade energy with significant financial benefits. 

5.            Adtech and privacy: By using the blockchain network for consumer information, the opt-in/out data can be shared between publishers and advertisers via a standardized consent management solution. Utilizing consent provenance this way also aids companies to be in compliance with various privacy legislations. 

Conclusion

Given the speed with which blockchain technology is developing and the variety of uses it brings, it’s inevitable that it touches all aspects of business development. Bearing this in mind, it makes sense for your company to proactively take on the role of disruptor and make changes on your own terms.

Blockchain will disrupt every industry — will your company be ready?

This article originally appeared on aikon.com