Mintago is the UK’s most complete and inclusive financial wellbeing solution

Mintago

With the rise of energy bills, an ever more worrying cost-of-living crisis, and inflation at an all-time high, it has never been more important to be financially educated. Financial education isn’t just for business and economics graduates, in fact, having a solid understanding of finances is crucial, especially in light of the pandemic. Being financially literate means being able to manage money well, make informed financial decisions, and plan for the future in order to live a more intentional and stress-free life. In many respects, technology is enabling this. An Overview of Financial Literacy Current UK Statistics A study from has found that 39% of adults in the UK (20.3 million) lack confidence in their ability to manage their finances, 11.5 million have less than £100 in savings, and nearly nine million Britons are in serious debt; yet only around a third receive assistance. Money Advice Service has found that the average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £64,970 in 2022. The Money Charity According to the , 89% of adults in Great Britain reported an increase in their cost of living in August 2022. Moreover, real household earnings are anticipated to decline. Office for National Statistics According to the Resolution Foundation, the poorest fifth of households will need to reduce non-essential spending by 24% between January and March 2023 in order to cover the increase in energy costs. The link between mental health & financial wellbeing As well as the current UK statistics being quite concerning, Brits are also facing a substantial well-being challenge. A recent survey from Mintago of 1,024 UK adults in full-time employment has found that almost two-thirds (63%) of participants have seen a decline in their financial condition since the start of 2022. Unfortunately, the research points to a link between people’s mental health and the worsening of their financial circumstances. The majority of Britons (56%) now identify their personal finances as their biggest source of stress. Worryingly, over eight in ten (82%) UK respondents say they would be financially unprepared if their work status were to suddenly change. Another 70% of people are worried that their financial condition will get worse in the near future. The above overview can be quite worrying, considering that poor money management and low financial literacy could mean a higher proportion of people living in poverty. The Importance of Financial Literacy We need to have the knowledge and skills necessary to handle our finances efficiently, which is why financial literacy is crucial. Without it, we lack a strong foundation for success in our financial decisions and the actions we take — or don’t take. Better financial literacy from a young age may be advantageous, particularly in terms of debt prevention, according to several pieces of research. According to the study, those who have a thorough awareness of financial concepts and risks are twice as likely to manage their money and make better financial decisions than those who do not. Allianz Similar to this, the degree of financial literacy has a positive impact on how households manage their money, especially their capacity to create and achieve long-term financial goals. Being financially literate is crucial as it enables one to comprehend and make the most of their money, regardless of income level. It aids people in taking control of their finances and becoming financially healthier. The Support of Technology 1. Financial Resources There are a plethora of resources online, from blogs and videos to courses and ebooks. In the past, when access to financial knowledge was limited, people frequently relied on either personal experience or advice from friends and relatives — now everything may be learned online due to the increased accessibility of information. More individuals are being exposed to a well-rounded financial education due to the growing exposure of new financial literacy options and the diverse media in which it’s available. In fact, more and more magazines are creating specific money columns to help people tackle everyday financial queries. Mobile Apps Nowadays, there is a growing number of financial mobile apps on the market, all varying across a range of industries. People are able to open online-only banks with just a click or check their daily spending in real-time. Most of these apps also have an automatic penny roundup, which makes it easier for individuals to save money through their spare change. All these applications are trying to make managing finances easier and more accessible. Not only that but there are also several apps dedicated to cashback schemes or created with the purpose of finding great discounts. Some help individuals aggregate their financial information for a better overview of their situation, while others help people find lost pension pots, as well as provide them with free financial coaching. These are all tools and information that can guide people into making wiser money decisions. HR Financial Benefits An interesting trend, as more employees seek better workplace benefits to improve their quality of life, most companies are evolving to provide their staff with better perks than the usual free gym memberships. Particularly in the post-covid era, with heightened remote work opportunities, many companies have begun using technology to provide their employees with better financial education and mental health support. The current climate is challenging for both businesses and individuals, so it is crucial that HR departments look to support their employees’ financial well-being rather than with only a simple retirement plan. For instance, certain platforms enable users to view a variety of financial information, including their pensions and numerous banking accounts, in one platform, while also offering those who require it financial guidance. As a result, people will have a better understanding of their finances as a whole and be able to make better financial decisions. Not only that but less stressed individuals make for a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce. Free Online Advice There are plenty of institutions that will help individuals get free online advice. From free money and pensions guidance to free, flexible debt advice that is based on a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s situation - there is something for (almost) every situation. These are just some of the other options that people have when looking to take control of their financial health. Business Learning Hubs Many financial services businesses are embracing the benefits of having their own learning hubs dedicated to customers. This is obviously a great initiative. Some great examples are certain crypto exchange platforms that have extensive guides and explainers for the average user — think crypto basics, crypto glossary, as well as many other articles talking about NFTs, and everything related to the crypto world. Another great example is some companies’ dedication to pensions. Most have an extensive pension 101 library, with lots of videos, FAQs, as well as a Pension Academy that claims to make you become a pension pro in 30 minutes. By scrolling through other companies, you will be able to find a plethora of information and educational material based on what that specific company is offering — think pension providers, debt advisors, and more. Many other businesses are joining in the (very positive) content strategy. Although this is a great business strategy to help less-knowledgeable users buy into what the business is selling, it is also helping to improve financial literacy. Conclusion In conclusion, there are many ways that tech can and is helping improve financial literacy — the above are just a few examples. Sure, the ever-evolving technology landscape means that it has also become very easy to spend hard-earned money with contactless payments or Buy Now Pay Later options. Increasing financial literacy also means equipping individuals with the tools and information needed to make smart decisions. The rise of financial advice and education enables individuals to take control of their finances and improve society as a whole. However, due to the undeniable link between mental health and financial wellbeing, employers play a key role in providing access to financial & pension wellbeing technology in the workplace.

5 Ways Technology is Helping Improve Financial Literacy

In this age of fintech, we see all sorts of empty promises and deceptive claims. One I want to address today are the apps that let you “save” money for your’s or other children’s futures, namely in the form of 529 college savings accounts or savings accounts of any kind. I will forego the 30-page technical analysis to break down the flaws and opportunity costs that make such use of your money inherently a monumental waste of opportunity. Instead, I will present you with a simple example that will hopefully change your perspective on not only these types of fintech, but the entirety of your perspective and approach to saving for your children’s futures. Have you seen Pawn Stars? Chances are you have, and if you haven’t, to sum the takeaway of the show up briefly: Anything of marginal value today - if kept in pristine condition (ie in a storage locker) - will be worth infinitely more by the time you die of old age. For simplicity, we will use the 2022 national average interest savings rate of 0.13% and generously increase it tenfold to 1.3%. (Generously again) let’s compound that rate continuously as opposed to annually, in 50 years, your $1000 contribution will be worth $1,915.54 - calculated using continuously compounded interest at 1.3% Let’s see if you take an alternative, pawn stars-esque route. Given $1000 in uncirculated current year $0.25 cent quarters. In 50 years, regardless of mintage, and discounting the hidden treasures of error/limited coinage and other possible appreciating factors, according to PCGS/NGC & coin value appreciation throughout history, those 4000 uncirculated coins will be worth no less than - based off a 50-year old 1973 (note for parity, that I chose 1973 and not 1972, as 1972 and pre 1972 quarters, half-dollars and dimes were minted with 90% silver content, whereas post-1972 we do not have abnormally high melt values of coinage due to content) quarters in uncirculated grading of BU-65 (aka the base grading of those uncirculated current year quarters you’d invested in) have a current market value of $6.65 each. Simple math will determine that the 50-year value has appreciated by over 26,000%. So, your 2022 common quarters valued at $1000 today would be worth in excess of $26000 in 50 years. This, being one example of a quite literal infinite alternative options you have, hopefully opens your eyes and minds a bit to see that there is far more value in escaping institutionally instilled functional fixation in thinking and approach. Do your own investigation and due diligence, and realize that institutions do not benefit from individual deviations from their expectations. I don’t gain anything from making this PSA, maybe a few views or clicks, and to offset any potential gains, I’ve made a charitable donation of $1000 to my favorite local charity, Pug Nation of Los Angeles. Take care everyone, different is not always better but it definitely is never worse to think for yourself and not subscribe by default to the institutional rat race of perpetuating the status quo.

Saving for the Future - Deception in the Financial Status Quo

Indian Currency and Finance: Chapter VI

Indian Currency and Finance: Chapter IV

Indian Currency and Finance by John Maynard Keynes is part of HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . Chapter I: The present position of the Rupee CHAPTER I. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE RUPEE 1. On the broad historical facts relating to Indian currency, I do not intend to spend time. It is sufficiently well known that until 1893 the currency of India was on the basis of silver freely minted, the gold value of the rupee fluctuating with the gold value of silver bullion. By the depreciation in the gold value of silver, extending over a long period of years, trade was inconvenienced, and Public Finance, by reason of the large payments which the Government must make in sterling, gravely disturbed; until in 1893, after the breakdown of negotiations for bimetallism, the Indian Mints were closed to the free mintage of silver, and the value of the rupee divorced from the value of the metal contained in it. By withholding new issues of currency, the Government had succeeded by 1899 in raising the gold value of the rupee to 1s. 4d., at which figure it has remained without sensible variation ever since. 2. There can be no doubt that at first the Government of India did not fully understand the nature of the new system; and that several minor mistakes were made at its inception. But few are now found who dispute on broad general grounds the wisdom of the change from a silver to a gold standard. Time has muffled the outcries of the silver interests, and time has also dealt satisfactorily with what were originally the principal grounds of criticism, namely,— (1) that the new system was unstable, (2) that a depreciating currency is advantageous to a country’s foreign trade. 3. The second of these complaints was urged with great persistency in 1893. The depreciating rupee acted, it was said, as a bounty to exporters; and the introduction of a gold standard, so it was argued, would greatly injure the export trade in tea, corn, and manufactured cotton. It was plainly pointed out by theorists at the time (a) that the advantage to exporters was largely at the expense of other members of the community and could not profit the country as a whole, and (b) that it could only be temporary. The recent spell of rising prices in India has shown clearly in how many ways a depreciating currency damages large sections of the community, although it may temporarily benefit other sections. In fact, some recent complaints against the existing currency policy have been occasioned by the tendency of prices to rise; whereas it is plain that the great change of 1893 must have tended to make them fall, and that rupee prices would, in all probability, be higher than they now are, if the change had not been effected. With regard to the temporary nature of the effect on exporters, experience has decisively supported theory. The nature of this experience was admirably summed up by Mr. J. B. Brunyate in the Legislative Council (February 25, 1910), speaking in reply to the similar line of argument brought forward by the Bombay mill–owning interests in connexion with the imposition in 1910 of a duty on silver. 4. The criticisms of 1893, therefore, are no longer heard, and the Currency Problems with which we are now confronted are new. The evolution of the Indian currency system since 1899 has been rapid, though silent. There have been few public pronouncements of policy on the part of Government, and the legislative changes have been inconsiderable. Yet a system has been developed, which was contemplated neither by those who effected nor by those who opposed the closing of the Mints in 1893, and which was not favoured either by the Government or by the Fowler Committee in 1899, although something like it was suggested at that time. It is not possible to point to any one date at which the currency policy now in force was deliberately adopted. The fact that the Government of India have drifted into a system and have never set it forth plainly is partly responsible for a widespread misunderstanding of its true character. But this economy of explanation, from which the system has suffered in the past, does not make it any the worse intrinsically. The prophecy made before the Committee of 1898 by Mr. A. M. Lindsay, in proposing a scheme closely similar in principle to that which was eventually adopted, has been largely fulfilled. “This change,” he said, “will pass unnoticed, except by the intelligent few, and it is satisfactory to find that by this almost imperceptible process the Indian currency will be placed on a footing which Ricardo and other great authorities have advocated as the best of all currency systems, viz., one in which the currency media used in the internal circulation are confined to notes and cheap token coins, which are made to act precisely as if they were bits of gold by being made convertible into gold for foreign payment purposes.” 5. In 1893 four possible bases of currency seemed to hold the field: debased and depreciating currencies usually of paper; silver; bimetallism; and gold. It was not to be supposed that the Government of India intended to adopt the first; the second they were avowedly upsetting; the third they had attempted, and had failed, to obtain by negotiation. It seemed to follow that their ultimate objective must be the last—namely, a currency of gold. The Committee of 1892 did not commit themselves; but the system which their recommendations established was generally supposed to be transitional and a first step towards the introduction of gold. The Committee of 1898 explicitly declared themselves to be in favour of the eventual establishment of a gold currency. This goal, if it was their goal, the Government of India have never attained. The rupee is still the principal medium of exchange and is of unlimited legal tender. There is no legal enactment compelling any authority to redeem rupees with gold. The fact that since 1899 the gold value of the rupee has only fluctuated within narrow limits is solely due to administrative measures which the Government are under no compulsion to undertake. What, then, is the present position of the rupee? 6. The main features of the Indian system as now established are as follows:— (1) The rupee is unlimited legal tender and, so far as the law provides, inconvertible. (2) The sovereign is unlimited legal tender at £1 to 15 rupees, and is convertible at this rate, so long as a Notification issued in 1893 is not withdrawn, i.e., the Government can be required to give 15 rupees in exchange for £1. (3) As a matter of administrative practice, the Government is, as a rule, willing to give sovereigns for rupees at this rate; but the practice is sometimes suspended and large quantities of gold cannot always be obtained in India by tendering rupees. (4) As a matter of administrative practice, the Government will sell in Calcutta, in return for rupees tendered there, bills payable in London in sterling at a rate not more unfavourable than 1s. 329/32d. per rupee. The fourth of these provisions is the vital one for supporting the sterling value of the rupee; and, although the Government have given no binding undertaking to maintain it, a failure to do so might fairly be held to involve an utter breakdown of their system. Thus the second provision prevents the sterling value of the rupee from rising above 1s. 4d. by more than the cost of remitting sovereigns to India, and the fourth provision prevents it from falling below 1s. 329/32d. This means in practice that the extreme limits of variation of the sterling value of the rupee are 1s. 4⅛d. and 1s. 329/32. 7. The important characteristics of the Indian system are so much a matter of notification and administrative practice that it is impossible to point to single Acts which have made the system what it is. But the following list of dates may be useful for purposes of reference:— 1892. Herschell Committee on Indian Currency. 1893. Act closing the Indian mints to the coinage of silver on private account. Notifications by Government fixing the rate, at which rupees or notes would be supplied in exchange for the tender of gold, at the equivalent of 1s. 4d. the rupee. 1898. Fowler Committee on Indian Currency. Exchange value of rupee touched 1s. 4d. 1899. Act declaring the British sovereign legal tender at 1s. 4d. to the rupee. 1899–1903. Negotiations for coinage of sovereigns in India (dropt indefinitely Feb. 6, 1903). 1900. Gold Standard Reserve instituted out of profits of coinage. 1904. Secretary of State’s notification of his willingness to sell Council Bills on India at 1s. 4⅛d. the rupee without limit. 1905. Act authorising the establishment of the Currency Chest of “earmarked” gold at the Bank of England as part of the Currency Reserve against notes, and the investment of a stated part of the Currency Reserve in sterling securities. 1906. The Notification withdrawn which had directed the issue of rupees against the tender of gold (as distinguished from British gold coin). 1907. Rupee branch of the Gold Standard Reserve instituted. 1908. Sterling drafts sold in Calcutta on London at 1s. 329/32d. the rupee, and cashed out of funds from the Gold Standard Reserve. 1910. Act rendering Currency notes of Rs. 10 and 50 universal legal tender, and directing the issue of notes in exchange for British gold coins. 1913. Royal Commission on Indian Finance and Currency. 8. In § 6 I have stated the practical effect of these successive measures. But the legal position is so complicated and peculiar, that it will be worth while to state it quite precisely. Previous to 1893 the Government were bound by the Coinage Act of 1870 to issue rupees, weight for weight, in exchange for silver bullion. There was also in force a Notification of the Governor–General in Council, dating from 1868, by which sovereigns were received at Government Treasuries as the equivalent of ten rupees and four annas. This Notification, which had superseded a Notification of 1864 fixing the exchange at ten rupees, had long been inoperative (as the gold exchange value of ten rupees four annas had fallen much below a sovereign). The Act of 1893 was merely a repealing Act, necessary in order to do away with those provisions of the Act of 1870 which provided for the free mintage of silver into rupees. At the same time (1893) the Notification of 1868 was superseded by a new Notification fixing fifteen rupees as the rate at which sovereigns would be accepted at Government Treasuries; and a Notification was issued under the Paper Currency Act of 1882, directing the issue of currency notes in exchange for gold at the Rs. 15 to £1 ratio. The direct issue of rupees against the tender of gold also has been regulated by a series of Notifications, of which the first was published in 1893, up to 1906 rupees being issued against either gold coin or gold bullion; and since 1906 against sovereigns and half–sovereigns only. Apart from Notifications, an Act of 1899 declared British sovereigns legal tender at the Rs. 15 to £1 ratio, an indirect effect of which was to make it possible for Government, so far as Acts are concerned, to redeem notes in gold coin and refuse silver. And lastly, the Paper Currency Act of 1910 bound the Government to issue notes against the tender of British gold coin The convertibility of the sovereign into rupees at the Rs. 15 to £1 ratio is not laid down, therefore, in any Act whatever. It depends on Notifications withdrawable by the Executive at will. Further, the management of the Gold Standard Reserve is governed neither by Act nor by Notification, but by administrative practice solely; and the sale of Council Bills on India and of sterling drafts on London is regulated by announcements changeable at administrative discretion from time to time. All this emphasises the gradual nature of the system’s growth, and the transitional character of existing legislation. As matters now are, there is something to be said for a new Act, which, while leaving administrative discretion free where there is still good ground for this, might consolidate and clarify the position. 9. As a result of these various measures, the rupee remains the local currency in India, but the Government take precautions for ensuring its convertibility into international currency at an approximately stable rate. The stability of the Indian system depends upon their keeping sufficient reserves of coined rupees to enable them at all times to exchange international currency for local currency; and sufficient liquid resources in sterling to enable them to change back the local currency into international currency, whenever they are required to do so. The special features of the system, although, as we shall see later, these features are not in fact by any means peculiar to India, are: first, that the actual medium of exchange is a local currency distinct from the international currency; second, that the Government is more ready to redeem the local currency (rupees) in bills payable in international currency (gold) at a foreign centre (London) than to redeem it outright locally; and third, that the Government, having taken on itself the responsibility for providing local currency in exchange for international currency and for changing back local currency into international currency when required, must keep two kinds of reserves, one for each of these purposes. I will deal with these characteristics in successive chapters. It is convenient to begin with the second of them and at the outset to discuss in a general way the system of currency, of which the Indian is the most salient example, known to students as the Gold–Exchange Standard. Then we will take the first of them in Chapters III. and IV. on Paper Currency and on the Present Position of Gold in India and Proposals for a Gold Currency; and the third in Chapter VI. on the Secretary of State’s Reserves. 10. But before we pass to these several features of the Indian system, it will be worth while to emphasise two respects in which this system is not peculiar. In the first place a system, in which the rupee is maintained at 1s. 4d. by regulation, does not affect the level of prices differently from the way in which it would be affected by a system in which the rupee was a gold coin worth 1s. 4d., except in a very indirect and unimportant way to be explained in a moment. So long as the rupee is worth 1s. 4d. in gold, no merchant or manufacturer considers of what material it is made when he fixes the price of his product. The indirect effect on prices, due to the rupee’s being silver, is similar to the effect of the use of any medium of exchange, such as cheques or notes, which economises the use of gold. If the use of gold is economised in any country, gold throughout the world is less valuable—gold prices, that is to say, are higher. But as this effect is shared by the whole world, the effect on prices in any country of economies in the use of gold made by that country is likely to be relatively slight. In short, a policy which led to a greater use of gold in India would tend, by increasing the demand for gold in the world’s markets, somewhat to lower the level of world prices as measured in gold; but it would not cause any alteration worth considering in the relative rates of exchange of Indian and non–Indian commodities. In the second place, although it is true that the maintenance of the rupee at or near 1s. 4d. is due to regulation, it is not true, when once 1s. 4d. rather than some other gold value has been determined, that the volume of currency in circulation depends in the least upon the policy of the Government or the caprice of an official. This part of the system is as perfectly automatic as in any other country. The Government has put itself under an obligation to supply rupees whenever sovereigns are tendered, and it often permits or encourages the tender of sovereigns in London as well as in India; but it has no power or opportunity of forcing rupees into circulation otherwise. In two matters only does the Government use a discretionary power. First, in order that it may always be possible to fulfil this obligation, it is necessary to keep a certain reserve of coined rupees, just as some authority in this country—in point of fact the Bank of England—must keep some reserve of token silver and coined sovereigns and not hold in its vaults too large a proportion of uncoined or foreign gold. The magnitude of this reserve is within the discretion of the Indian Government. To a certain extent they must anticipate probable demands on the output of the Mint. But if they miscalculate and mint more than they need, the new rupees must lie in the Government’s own chests until they are wanted, and the date at which they emerge into circulation it is beyond the power of the Government to determine. In the second place, the Government can postpone for a short time a demand for rupees by refusing to supply them in return for sovereigns tendered in London and by insisting upon the sovereigns being sent to Calcutta. Sometimes they do this, but very often it is worth their while, for reasons to be explained in detail later on, to accept the tender of sovereigns in London. In either of these cases the permanent effect of their action one way or the other on the volume of circulation is inconsiderable. The kind of difference it makes is comparable to the difference which would be made if it lay within the discretion of a government to charge or not, as it saw fit, a small brassage not much greater than the cost of coining. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Keynes, John Maynard, 2015. Indian Currency and Finance. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 2022 from h ttps://www.gutenberg.org/files/49166/49166-h/49166-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org, located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Indian Currency and Finance: Chapter I - The Present Position of the Rupee

Ultrain — Decoding the Next Gem !!! No Public Sale, Backed by Stong Private investors. Can Ultrain be the Blockchain 3.0 Leader? The Past few months was hard for cryptomarkets, particularly for the . Majority of ICO’s that came with a lot of fanfare and hype, was struggling even to cross the 50% of set capital targets. Private funding almost dried up. ICO scene Even in these dark days, One ICO, Ultrain surprised everyone by skipping the P went ahead with raising of in from Draper Capital. In addition to Draper Capital, additional funds were also raised from a basket of Investors including FBG Capital, DanHua VC, Arrington XRP Capital, Bixin, Morningside Capital etc. ublic sale, $20 Million Private funding I thought it will be interesting to review and discover what promises Ultrain hold, which attracted a large amount of VC Funding. First up, give it all 50 claps, then dive in and enjoy! Introduction Blockchain Technology has undergone a huge transformation in the past few years. Old Granddaddy which was based on PoW, was termed to be “ ”. Bitcoin Blockchain 1.0 Next came Etherum with the revolutionary ( exchange anything of value in a transparent, conflict-free way) and , set the next stage of evolution which opened a new set of markets and changed the landscape significantly. smart contracts dApps Blockchain 2.0, expected to remove all the drawbacks of previous blockchain platforms namely: Blockchain 3.0 Scalability Issues Interoperability Sustainability Governance In order for blockchain to go mainstream, the first step will be to resolve all the above bottlenecks. is expected to offer better capabilities, as well as opening a sea of new opportunities for the next-gen projects. Blockchain 3.0 Source: Ultrain website Ultrain, along with other blockchain projects like EOS, Dfinity etc are working hard to lead this change. ? Ultrain, Can it be the next Blockchain 3.0 leader Ultrain has coined their Vision as “ ”. Before we move ahead, Lets first try to understand more about to advance the realization of a programmable business society Programmable Business Society. In the current era of Globalization, business does not stand as a single entity neither it can distance itself from the interaction of the outer world. In this new world, all information is increasingly visible, interconnected and exchanged. This is called as “programmable business society”, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) as its three pillars. In this new society, Trillions of business transactions will migrate from traditional to smart business contracts, which are automatically executed and realized by through the control and delegation of resources in the by . Decision-making during the automatic execution process will be driven by decentralized that operates on the Internet of Things (IoT) blockchain artificial intelligence (AI) blockchain For realising the dream of building It's important to have a better technological advancement with Blockchain, AI, as well as IoT technologies. Blockchain has the capacity to introduce trust, AI will deliver fair and efficient smart decision making which will improve productivity, while IoT will reform the means of production with the help of advanced automation. Programmable Business Society, Ultrain Envisioned blockchain infrastructure This is what Ultrain is planning to achieve. Technical overview of Ultrain. Source: Ultrain Whitepaper In the beginning, we have discussed various bottlenecks faced by the current Blockchains. Keeping those bottlenecks in mind, Ultrain has developed its own architecture, which is expected to give a solution to all the drawbacks which will enable Ultrain to be the frontrunner for new Blockchain 3.0. (For a detailed tech report, you can refer to the and ) Whitepaper Yellowpaper 1.High-Performance Computing Ultrain has developed a new consensus framework which is termed as “ ”. With the help of this new framework, Ultrain can achieve a 1,000-times increase in performance with only 1% of the computing power requirements of the traditional POW network maintaining the same security levels. Random trusted consensus framework The notable feature of the consensus framework includes Completely decentralized architecture — Ensures high security Ultra-large-scale network cluster — Can be upgraded up to 1 million nodes Multi-terminal support — Option to connect external devices like a smartphone which will bring in additional computing power for the entire network High-performance execution — Main Chain and Sidechain (the network doesn’t get congested which will help the network to efficiently scale) Decentralization scalability design 2. Trusted Computing Creates Value If you are having any past experience in Bitcoin mining, you will be aware of the sheer computing power as well as heavy investments needed ( more expensive, non-environmental friendly). Making a breakthrough, Ultrain has developed an innovative cryptography whereby only 1% of the network’s computing power is required to implement mintage. When a consensus is formed, remaining 99% of the computing power can be provided as trusted computing to manage services, such as CPU computing, GPU computing and so on, for external parties. ual-layer Token Architecture 3. D Similar to Neo and VChain, Ultrain has adopted the dual-layer token architecture system of UToken and UGas. In Ultrain, Each dApp can issue its own tokens based on Ultrain and also design its own token system as per its business model. Also, the dApp can choose different consensus mechanisms, including PoW, PoS, DPoS, PoA and RPoS or even establish its own consensus mechanism if needed. UGas will be used as a charging and settlement tool in Ultrain Ecosystem similar to the “Gas” of Ethereum as well as for voting purpose. 4. Consensus Building Mechanism for Mutual Confirmation Ultrain has developed a mutually confirmed consensus building mechanism (A hybrid of POS+VRF+BFT consensus). It's basically a Network governance mechanism based on democratic voting, where all participants can contribute to building a better future together without requiring a full consensus. An individual voting weight will be depended upon UGAS that he/she holds. The more resources you hold, the more will be voting weight. This approach helps to reach consensus faster without the sheer wastage of resources compared to another consensus mechanism. With the help of this innovative approach, Ultrain can process transactions in Mainchain up to , with a , while the side chains can process , with a confirmation time of 1 second. 20,000 TPS 15 second confirmation time 4000 to 5000 TPS 5. User-Friendly Smart Contracts Unlike other complex smart contracts which are written with C++, Ultrain makes use of user-friendly smart contracts based in language, giving developers an opportunity to create complex smart contracts in a limitless environment, which is needed for developing industrial level applications. You can read more about Ultrain smart contracts in the . Go and JavaScript yellow paper 6. Artificial Superintelligence on the Chain Ultrain has designed a reinforcement Learning Platform on the Chain Based on idle computing power, which includes not only multiple master AIs indispensable for the operation of Ultrain but also AIs deployed by third parties that provide various service capabilities. The AIs running in Ultrain has features like Trustworthy AI ( Runs on the blockchain, cannot tamper) Socialized data contribution ( users will be rewarded for contribution) Reinforcement learning Roadmap. is fairly active with 10 Repositories which are getting updated on a daily basis which shows good activity in development. As per the product roadmap, the Current stage is Supernova where the Public Testnet will be launched( I love the way they have termed the milestones). Recently they have announced the on Oct 8th, which means the team is on schedule. Ultrain Github Public test net launch Team Ultrain is based out of Singapore and is lead by 3 co-founders. , who is the CEO, is an Ex Alibaba, Director of data security. He got more than 10 years of experience in various leadership roles which includes Technical director as well as Head of the Innovation Development Center of the IBM Global Consulting Service. He was also associated with top rated organizations like China Mobile and State Grid. Ray Guo The CTO is , who was Head of Technology at AliPay Blockchain team. He got a rich experience of more than 11 years in high-performance computing, operating system core components, operating system resource scheduling and many other fields. His past roles include Tech Director of Blockchain at Ant Financial. William Li The CSO is Emma Liao, who is the founder of Pioneer Capital, a leading boutique investment bank in China. She was the Managing Director of Golden Brick Capital TMT, founding CEO of Kunlun Redstar (the first professional ice hockey club in China). She also headed the IOT investment for QIHU 360. Her expertise includes investment banking, corporate operation, Overseas cooperation and IoT technology. The other members of the team consist of highly experienced individuals who have worked with strong brands like Nokia, Motorola, Alibaba, Huawei, Google etc. Overall a star team. You can read more about Ultrain team here Token Metrics The token of Ultrain ecosystem is termed as UGAS. Currently, UGAS is an ERC-20 based token but as laid out in the roadmap, the mainnet is expected to be launched in Q2-2019. The total number of tokens to be issued is capped around 1 Billion with no pre-mined tokens. There was no Public Sale of tokens only private sales of 10% of Token was conducted to Private Investors which have raised $20 million in funding.(1 UGAS was valued @ $0.20). Below given is the distribution plan of Ultrain 50% Mining 15% Core Team 10% Foundation/Ecology 10% Private Sale (Already completed) 10% Consultant & Community Building 5% Future Private/Public Sale My Take Ultrain is an ambitious project, aiming to remove all the bottlenecks current blockchain is facing. It will be facing tough competition from established players like EOS, Zilliqa, Cardano, Aion etc. Ultrain has just started its journey, whereas other projects are way ahead in their roadmap, which includes mainnet and testnet launch( EOS, Aion, Zil, Aelf etc). All said, none of the projects has efficiently resolved all the drawbacks and most of the projects are struggling with bugs(EOS), Scalability issues (ETH, BTC)as well as internal issues. This gives Ultrain, a golden chance to take the pole position for Blockchain 3.0, with the various innovate approaches and solutions it’s planning to bring to the blockchain world. One more noticeable factor is the strong presence of Alibaba name all over the project. Two co-founders have worked past for Alibaba group in high profiles. It’s an Open secret that Alibaba is actively looking for Blockchain partners in IoT space. Ultrain perfectly fits the bill. From my perspective, apart from being technologically successful, the project has to provide a good ROI to the investors as well. Majority of the ICO’s that has launched in the past 6 months has tanked hopelessly( 90% down from the ico value) and are struggling with providing liquidity. With just 10% of the total volume available for circulation, No public sales and presence of Private Investors like Kucoin Exchange as well as Genesis mining announcement with , Ultrain has the right reasons to provide a good ROI in short team as well as long-term Hold. Bgogo For more details. Ultrain Twitter: @UltrainB Ultrain Telegram: @ultrainchain / @Ultrain_CN Ultrain LinkedIn: @ultrain Ultrain Facebook: @Ultraincommunity Ultrain Medium: @UltrainCommunity Ultrain Website: ultrain.io Disclaimer : This article is not intended as investment advice. You should always do your own research and invest your capital wisely. I don't own the token, neither I will be rewarded for writing this article.

Ultrain — Decoding the Next Gem !!!

To begin with, we’re here to emphasize once again that first of all, machine learning is a great tool to boost revenues and, if it happens, a nice side effect of using is about to bring down the costs. What’s more, this notion is essential to remember when speaking on principles that make machine learning tick in business realm for the main goal of any company is to sell and do it right being its information, products or services. machine learning development But you are probably wondering what the steps to roaring trade are. Here, you need to ask yourself three important questions and decide what to sell, who your target audience is and how to attract their eyes and ears to your brand. Beyond that, you also need to pick the right timing to go all in selling. In a nutshell, machine learning can help to weight all the option when replying to any of these questions. Still, when you want to have it all at once and get the answers quickly, it might burn a hole in our pocket and affect margins. Therefore, today you cannot do without a human touch when dealing with deep learning technology. One more thing which is worthy of mention is that machine learning generally is keened on the business effieciency boosting however sometimes it helps not only to generate more revenue but as well. AI can help you to lower your business costs Targeting To orchestrate the targeting process and tap into each of What? Who to? And When? questions, you’ll find a handful of different of tools out there. First off, recommendation systems, sales suites, and marketing instruments come to mind. Harnessing the power of Neural Deep Learning Networks, these brainy tools can easily guess what a user wants (if any) and tailor the suggestion according to his profile. For instance, if you’re bored and can’t decide how to spend your evening, it’s raining outside and you’re absolutely not in a mood to head out, movix.ai can bail you out. The engine resembles a smart cinema that helps users with choices in real time. The idea behind the online service is that a user visits the website, clicks on a few titles he likes (maybe he made up his mind this very moment and usually wouldn’t go for Avatar) and after the system powered by deep learning offers firms he might like. Voila! Time to grab popcorn! Another great example is a shopping spree. Often times, this type of development pays attention to what users do on an ecommerce website, learns from user experience and based on historical data builds up machine learning affinities to help users choose among a myriad of options. For instance, Strands helps to personalize the shopping experience of every visitor. By learning behaviors of the online crowd, the engine gathers individual insights and aggregates the data after helping retailers with better sales. Furthermore, deep learning comes handy when you speak of CRM and predictive lead scoring. Getting rid of guesswork can save a lot of efforts and help pinpoint sales-ready leads quickly. Mintigo, for instance, defines marketing indicators mining data from the web and mergers those with client’s CRM giving a 360-degree profile of every prospect. The company utilizes machine learning and keeps an eye on a digital footprint of thousands of firms online, refines the data to mine meaningful insights helping with sales decisions. Computer vision Computer vision steps into the picture when you’re racking your brain on what exactly and how to sell it to your target audience. The science behind image processing by computers is a complex subject but seasoned deep learning practitioners would agree it’s a revolution. For starters, computer vision eliminates the typical mistakes of humans that get their attention scattered when multitasking and thus, might lose concentration. By doing several things at a time with great precision, companies that bring on board machine learning can significantly speed up their development and lower down the production costs without sacrificing the quality of offerings. Think of TensorFlow that offers its library for free to those willing to go knee-deep into machine learning models. With a varying level of abstraction, this open-source library is a godsend for numerical computation pros. You must have heard another story of Japanese farmers automating their farming business partially and outsourcing some tasks to machine learning such as… sorting cucumbers. A tech-savvy son of the local farmers came up with the idea to use TensorFlow . For three month the engineer was taking photos and grading cucumbers to teach the model sorting to get rid of manual sorting reaching a 95% accuracy over time. to classify the veggies into categories Optimization and Tuning That’s the what to sell problem-solving example in the real world. You can produce thousands of products and offer services in tons of various ways. Now consider the potential of deep learning adding value and help you choose the most effective approach to do so. To brew better beer, the Virginia-based brewery decided to optimize its operations and joined the ties with machine learning firm. The brewing experts gave the tech vendor the data on Great American Beer Festival IPAs so that those can be aligned with top ten country’s best sellers. The result was that would alter with every new batch after the feedback from beer fans is collected and processed. dynamic recipes Kill Bureaucracy Saying “No” to red tape, isn’t it freaking amazing? Machine learning can go an extra mile and help process fewer papers and being able to concentrate on taking your minds off the routine tasks that take way too much time to handle. Offering automated patent search, the company saves tons of time on document screening and reviews. After experimenting with historical invalidity cases, Amplified created a quick and easy-to-use system powered by machine learning that refines the search singles out three to five results picking the most relevant among hundreds of documents. With such an intelligent development, the necessity for a professional human searcher and its opinion becomes blur in seconds. What’s the bottom line here? No one likes to spend precious funds on things that could be easily passed to deep learning and smart algorithms that take less time to process big data and come up with meaningful insights in a blink of an eye.

What Deep Learning Can Offer to Business

Most of the mechanisms used in a blockchain network existed before Satoshi’s whitepaper. Peer to peer network, Cryptographic Hashing, Asymmetric key encryption, Merkle Tree, for instance, have been well known for a long time. The true revolution brought about by the Bitcoin in 2009 is cryptoeconomics and it is paramount to understand it if you want to grasp the real value of the blockchain revolution. The purpose of cryptoeconomics is to build strong protocols that will be able to govern and securely develop peer-to-peer decentralized networks. Peer to peer networks exist for some time. “Torrents” for instance, that many people used to share folder online, are peer to peer networks. However, they lake efficiency because members are happy to download content, but have no interests in sharing theirs. Blockchains, through cryptoeconomics, would give members this incentive to share folder, by giving token in exchange for instance. In other words, blockchain networks could be compared to an incentive machine that will inject market structures in decentralized networks. Cryptoeconomics How does Cryptoeconomics work? A peer to peer network such as the bitcoin is a decentralized and autonomous economy that needs to be implemented by its members since this function is not delegated to a third party anymore. But these members like any humans, are rational and will not spend their time working for a network for free. That’s the reason why they need to be rewarded and this is precisely what Satoshi has invented. Cryptoeconomics refer to “crypto”, which are the technical mechanisms of a decentralized network, and “economics” which are the way these mechanisms are organized to incentivize members of the network to action it or develop it. To speak in basic terms, cryptoeconomics is the use of money to secure and develop a decentralized network. Security means that the decentralized network must find a consensus on the way to update the shared database (i.e the blockchain) even when a certain amount of its members are not trustable (the Byzantine General Attack). Development means that the members of the network are incentivized to update the shared database, i.e to use the service provided by the protocol and the network. We will now describe these two points. The Byzantine General Attack This concept is essential to understand how rogue members of the network can attack a decentralized network. It is important to note that attack would only come from the inside, i.e from persons who have downloaded the protocol and have decided to use it against the rest of the network. If several members are acting in breach of the rules of the protocol or exploiting them at the same time, the network is under attack since it could become impossible to update the shared database and so monitor additional transactions among members of the network. Byzantine generals The example of the Byzantine Generals has been created to illustrate the concept. You just need to imagine 5 generals ready to attack a town. They are all placed around the city and they just need to coordinate with each other to launch the attack. If at least 2/3 of the army does not attack at the same time, they will be outnumbered by the city’s army and lose the battle. The leading general sends a messenger to the general who is next to him to communicate the time of the attack and ask this general to transmit the information to the next general. But what if this general is a traitor and decides to communicate a different hour. Cryptographic mechanisms used by decentralized networks to solve the Byzantine attack issue are different depending on if we refer to a private or a public blockchain. With public blockchain, the most famous is Proof of Work, which has been popularized by the bitcoin. Other mechanisms such as Proof of Stake or are gaining traction every day. With private blockchain mechanisms such as Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (used by Hyperledger for instance) and the Federated Byzantine Agreement (used by Stellar and Ripple) are more developed. Delegated Proof of Stake The Bitcoin example On one hand, Bitcoin protocol uses several cryptographic mechanisms to ensure that users safely detain their bitcoin ( ), that transactions are securely added to the blockchain (cryptographic hashing used to link each block and transactions) and that all the history of network transactions is impossible to change (Merkle Tree). Asymmetric key encryption On the other hand cryptoeconomics through Proof of Work are used to secure the system because it makes attack too expensive to be conducted by a rational attacker. The Bitcoin protocol makes it extremely expensive to mine bitcoin in order to avoid the “51% attack”, which implies that a miner gathers more than 50% of the network hashing power. Crossing this limit would give this miner the possibility to prevent other miners to add a block to the blockchain and undo previous blocks. But it is estimated that gathering 51% of Hashing power would require USD 6 billion in hardware and consume USD 4 million per day (https://gobitcoin.io/tools/cost-51-attack/), which obviously cannot be profitable just by removing a block from the blockchain. This is why we mention that the high cost of mining ensures the security of the network. This is also why these costs increase proportionally to the number of miners acting on the network. It is important to note that the “51% attack” is not simply theoretical since a mining pool reaches this threshold in 2014. Finally, the Proof of Work mechanism is tailored to reward minors for their participation in the consensus process. Each miner who managed to add a block to the blockchain will receive 12,5 bitcoin. This way minors can repay their investments in mining material, electricity and bandwidth. According to Elad Verbin, “Nakamoto found a clever game-theoretic solution to the classic Byzantine Generals’ Problem, by paying the generals a salary as long as they act honestly, but garnishing that salary if they are caught trying to cheat.” Several incentive systems already exist As we just explained, each decentralized network organized over a blockchain is an autonomous ecosystem, which uses different mechanisms to induce its members to participate in the development and/or the security of the network. Members are generally rewarded with tokens issued by the protocol. These revenues can be very varied and depend on the problem that attempts to resolve the protocol. We can see patterns appearing and we will describe in a separate article the cryptoeconomics primitive, which have already been identified. In this article we will, however, identify three modes of recurring compensation: - Dividend - Buyback - Increase in value Cryptocurrencies 2018 1 — DIVIDENDS A token generates dividends when the members of the network are paid for their participation in the network. This participation may take several forms: - : users of a network are paid for lending to the network resources, which belong to them. These resources can be very varied: The provision of resources It may be the calculation capacity of a computer installation: Mining is the most common example. As we described above, the miners of a network (bitcoin for instance) offer to the network their own computer installation calculation capabilities (hashing power), to complete the consensus mechanism (proof of work for example) and add the transactions of the network on the blockchain. Minors are therefore paid for their contribution to the network, in bitcoin created by the Protocol (and costs attached to transactions). Mining is also the only mechanism for the creation of bitcoin. It can also be memory space: In the case of SIA, Storj, Filcoin, Madsafe, users are paid to let other members of the network dispose of a part of the memory of their computer installation. - : Steemit is a good example. It is the first social media on which members are paid for posting articles and comments. Each member of Steemit vote for the articles that he reads and generates remuneration for the writer that is proportional to its level of involvement in the network. So as soon as you vote for an article, the protocol automatically grants remuneration. The more Steem token (token issued by the Protocol Steemit) you possess, the more your vote will make a significant remuneration to the author of the article. By the production of content The number of people who votes for your article is important because the more vote you receive the more money you receive. It is not rare to see writer be paid $500 for their articles. Steemit is an excellent example of the way the Internet will evolve in the coming years. At the moment we provide the few platforms that we use (Facebook, Twitter, Intagram…) with all our content and personal data for free. But this period will end pretty soon. With the decentralized protocols and the new social media platforms, you no longer need to give your personal data and you are paid for the content that you add. This formula will apply very soon to all platforms who wish to survive the blockchain. For example, I would not be surprised to see websites such as Tripadvisor compensate its users with travel tokens for any comments added on the hotels that you have visited. These tokens would grant you free nights in other hotels. : 2 — TOKEN REDEMPTION In cryptoassets universe, token redemption does not take the same form as securities redemption that we are currently experiencing. The redemption is carried out in an indirect manner by the destruction of tokens. It is indeed important to understand that in a network where the number of tokens is limited, destroying a certain number of tokens increases the value of the remaining tokens. Bitshares consensus mechanism (delegated Proof of stake), for example, allows “witnesses” wishing to be elected to propose to the members of the network of “burn” (“burn”) a part of tokens that they will receive from the protocol as a reward for their work of “mintage” (we talk about “mintage” for proof of stake mechanism and not of “mining”, but the meaning is the same). Instead of getting richer, they, therefore, propose to remove these tokens from the network and thus to increase the value of other tokens. 3 — THE INCREASE OF VALUE This is a common component of any investment, yet it is important to understand how and why a token gets value. IF YOU ENJOYED THIS ARTICLE AND FOUND IT USEFUL, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO LIKE IT AND SHARE IT! THANK YOU

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