Author: CheckW

This past week has been my time of realization that things are all coming together, from the technology front and then translating to my halftime career development journey.

Over the last 2 years since I had stopped working full time, I had been pursuing 2 goals. One, to reskill and learn about the things that interest me and what I believe will be the future of things to come. Secondly, it is to see if I can use my past work experience to pivot into a new niche, leveraging on my newly acquired skills.

With the timely introduction of the Skillsfuture initiative, I had been able to become a relatively successful part-time student. I started my learning journey by subscribing to all the courses (online, classroom) that interest me. It began with an intermediate wine class I did with 3 good friends and soon branched off to many exciting topics like aquaponics and starting a small business.

Soon, the focus for me became clear that the technology revolution is the future. I dived headfirst into the most challenging course yet – a Specialist Diploma in Business Analytics. It was a year of night classes and project work that stretched me as a student as I was one of the oldest and non-tech savvy uncles in the class of 26. To be honest, I eventually enjoyed the course tremendously. It brought me up to date on what I have been missing for almost 30 years since I graduated. It opened my eyes to what is possible now with Artificial Intelligence and Machine/Deep Learning.

Fintech is AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Data. The time has come that technology had finally caught up to make all of these pillars possible. Together, the sum of all the parts are much bigger and a quantum leap is enabled. With 5G coming, autonomous cars become a reality. AlphaGo by Google’s DeepMind beat the best Go player in the world and AI took a big step forward. China saw the trend immediately and realized that Big Data is the new oil.

I went to Hangzhou last year to attend the Alibaba new e-commerce business trip to witness first hand what China had achieved to date. It blew me away. They are developing technologies that will change the world and leapfrog over other countries like America. I also attended a Blockchain course in Seoul last month and could sense the excitement and buzz where all the fintechs were racing towards a big breakthrough.

This week, another big light bulb was turned on for me and it suddenly made my journey even brighter. Thanks to my ALCO consultancy role in Myanmar, the CEO signed us up for a 2 days Microfinance forum in S’pore. While it was a good opportunity for MFIs to meet lenders, it was the main theme that struck me.

Microfinance is traditionally very labour intensive and requires a lot of work to manage. The loan amounts are tiny and a company has to juggle between helping the unbanked get out of the poverty trap and making a profit. With the introduction of smartphones over the years, every citizen in countries like Myanmar now has a powerful computer in their hands. The ability to reduce friction to provide banking services efficiently is now a given.

Fintechs have also been struggling to break into the financial sector. Big banks are famous for silos and protecting jobs. A fintech that wants to change the world will have very little chance to survive once it is absorbed into the bank’s ecosystem.

So it is a perfect marriage made in heaven when the forum introduced microfinance to fintech. Both sides have strengths and weaknesses which compliment each other. Both sides want to save the world and make it a better place for the underprivileged. The union between the two will be so powerful. Using AI for credit scoring, chatbot, cloud-based core banking systems, epayments and geo-tagging are some of the ways microfinance can be revolutionized.

We followed our CEO for another talk he attended at GrowAsia, where they were also encouraging the marriage of Agriculture with Technology. Our Myanmar company is fully into rural agriculture and we had just started executing our roadmap on the digital transformation of our business. It was perfect timing to see that we were not the only ones embarking on this same path!

Separately, this was my 3rd week into my other bank consultancy role at Deloitte. The prior 1st two weeks were confusing as I grapple with working full time again, enduring massive headaches and panic attacks in the first few days. There was a tight timeline to achieve the application deadline by the end of the year for the new digital banking licenses and I came in many weeks behind. To be able to work with one of the foremost fintech companies in South East Asia as a client is a privilege for me.

Yes, indeed everything is coming together for me. My 2+ years of preparation is starting to bear fruit. When it rains, it pours. I am not complaining. I am now in a unique position to witness the eye of the storm that is approaching the world. I count my blessings and thank the Man upstairs for the guidance. I started this journey with no end in mind. I did not have a roadmap to help me navigate my path. I just know that I had to move forward or I will be left behind.

Halftime is what you make of it. You can continue to fight or be consumed by negativity and retreat into a cocoon. I have seen a number of friends going into the latter. S’pore has the longest mortality rate in the world now, standing at 85 and it will move towards 100 soon with technological advances. I still have many more good years ahead of me. My dad is 90 this year and still very healthy.

What path I want to take from here at 53 is entirely up to me. I will plot my own roadmap. Wherever it takes me, I am in control. I am excited to be swept up in the latest technology trends, to see the future now.

 

 

 

Warning: This week’s blog is my rant about HK from an outsider’s perspective. You may agree or disagree with me, but I want to purge all of this sadness and negativity from my system.

I see a formerly dynamic and great city crumbling in slow motion in front of the global stage. I fear that it will not recover from the deadly blows it is inflicting upon itself with many unseen hands aiding its destruction.

My biggest sadness is reserved for the youth of HK. I understand that you feel helpless and want to stand up to the wrongs. But do you know that you have been manipulated? It is good to fight for something you believe in, but if violence and destruction of public property is the only way you know how to demonstrate, then it is very wrong.

Beating up your elders will not score points with me or many other Asian adults. Hiding behind orange masks and hardhats that are supplied by unknown sponsors is not an excuse to beat up people who are against your views. In Asia, you never, EVER, beat up a defenceless elderly person. That leaves a very bitter after taste to your supporters. Seeing some of the videos of defenceless elderly people being beating by a group of masked youngsters really pisses me off.

Don’t you know that outside forces are manipulating all of you via social media (Telegram) and providing cash and equipment to the demonstrators? Do you question why they are doing so, their ulterior motives and agendas?

Most of you were born after the 1997 handover and now want to claim the type of democracy the British never gave to HK during the 156 years they occupied HK. Do you even know what you want? You don’t even believe your parents when they tell you of the realities they faced prior to the 1997 handover, yet you are being led to fight for something that is not only unachievable (5 demands) but it also seems that none of you even know what you want.

Get over it! You are part of China since 1997 when the British abandoned you. Because of China, HK has prospered as the main gateway to the north for the last 30 years. And now you bite the hand that feeds you? Don’t you know that you are part of China now? HK has been marginalized with the development of Chinese cities like Shanghai and newer cities. They really don’t need HK now. You are just quickening HK’s demise.

The HK government now acknowledges that housing cost is one of the main bugbears of discontentment. After so many years of colluding with the property tycoons, they have finally taken baby steps to face this situation. While there is still a long way to go to help the common people, the demonstrators still cannot get their act together.

There is no leadership. One supposedly leader is a crossdresser that organizes sex parties. Another is a school dropout. Sticking to the original 5 demands and not changing it does not work. The art of negotiation requires both parties to sit down and talk to each other, not for one side to seek opportunities to exploit the meeting by showing a confrontational meeting live.

The economy is tanking and businesses are dying. All parents should slap some sense into the kids. I always admire HKers for their pragmatism and hardworking character but this is all gone now. Hiding behind masks to create chaos may be fun to you, to embolden reckless behaviours. But things have gotten out of hand.

The recent no mask rule is long overdue. You claim it violates your freedom. Freedom to destroy public property? Note that most developed economies around the world adopt the no mask policy and make immediate police arrests if you do not take off your mask as part of terrorist management.

The recent slashing of the policeman by a stupid protestor is a case in point. Because he did not wear a mask, he could be identified and arrested straight away. Yet we still see elderly people being beaten in areas where the police cannot arrive in time.

Teenage bravado tends to dumb down the brain. Wake up, guys! Know who are pulling the puppet strings behind you and question that. Be constructive and gather your forces in a peaceful way to confront the government to talk things out. If the only aim is to shame your government, that stage is already over. Time to move to stage 2 and gain some traction for the movement.

I see the protesting has died down a bit in the last 2 weeks. It is about time everyone comes to their senses and picks up the pieces. I wish the youth of HK can grow some brain cells and consolidate their thoughts in an intelligent way to negotiate with a government that is more open to listening now. Don’t let the last 4 months of mayhem go to waste lah…

 

 

 

 

It has been a whirlwind week for me as I started my new 3 months digital banking consultancy role on Monday afternoon while also juggling my current Myanmar job too. I had to get up to speed fast on this role as my part is already 3 weeks behind schedule. Getting into a work mode again after 2 years gave me a throbbing headache for a few days though. Everyone wanted me to deliver something before I even know what the situation was.

Thankfully, I had a long weekend to look forward to. My oldest niece, whom we have seen grown up from birth to a young lady of 31 now, is getting married. The wedding will be in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night at the JW Marriott hotel as her hubby-to-be was from that city.

We had arranged for a coach to pick 11 of us up on early Friday morning at my dad’s place before we set off on our long ride north. It was nostalgic as we had a similar family trip 11 years ago in Hainan, where 18 of us visited the island. The kids were much younger then.

We stopped over for breakfast after crossing the Malaysian border for a relatively expensive Yong Tau Foo meal before reaching the city around 1 pm. Wife suggested a historical Hainan steakhouse which started in 1921 in the old district of town. It was memorable and dad enjoyed the food and history surrounding the building. We ordered the last 2 pieces of Wagyu Tomahock steaks at MYR 399 each!

After checking in at 3, it was shopping time. The hotel was right in the middle of the shopping belt. The regular late afternoon tropical thunderstorm was a downer though. We decided to have a late zhi char dinner instead, after the heavy lunch at 2.

Dad had called up an old friend of 51 years who lived in the city after lunch. The friend dropped everything and got his wife and son-in-law to meet up for dinner immediately. It took them more than 2 hours to reach our hotel. My brother-in-law and I were summoned to have dinner with them. We finally decided to join the rest of the troupe for dinner at the same shop! It was nice to see dad holding hands with a dear friend of more than half a century as both have grown old now – 70 and 90 years old. Times like this are precious as one will not know if they will meet again as the last time they met was more than 10 years ago in S’pore.

Next morning on Sat, we had the required best men obstacle tasks with the groom before everyone headed to the suite for the customary tea ceremony where the wedding couple pay their respects to all the elders. Then it was off to an early Tim Sum lunch, followed by more free and easy shopping and massages.

The main wedding started at 630 pm with cocktails and photo-taking with the couple till the actual dinner kick-off at 8. As usual, it was a 10-course Chinese dinner with a lot of alcohol. We had a fun 3 hours of family bonding and merry-making indeed. It was a lovely wedding and everyone were in a happy and joyous mood. The younger folks had an after-dinner party after 11+ while the rest of us retired for the night.

The next morning, we set off for our ride back home at 9 am. First stop was for a local breakfast and then there was a mid-point break at Yong Peng for a late lunch. Finally reached home at 5 pm.

This is another cherished long weekend with the family that I will remember for a long time. So glad to see parents being so enthusiastic about the long trip to reach their eldest grand daughter’s wedding. It must have been a tiring trip for two 90 and 85-year-old persons but I guess it was memorable for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As expected, a relatively quiet week for me, right after my run on Sunday. It was a nice 18km run and my recovery was much better than I thought. A foot massage the following day allowed me to go back to my regular exercise regime by Tuesday.

Spent the rest of the week following up with some business-related correspondence with an overseas lender for the Myanmar company we are working to target the drawdown of the loan facility. I was also trying to finalize and sign the contract to my new 3 months consultancy project which I mentioned about last week. If all things go according to plan, I should start this role on Monday.

Also managed to tie up some loose ends with regards to my ongoing learning journey this week. Completed the two outstanding MOCC courses I had enrolled into – Digital Transformation by Boston U and Industry 4.0 by NYP.

My mission to seek out new technology teachings based on personal interest is finally coming to an important crossroad as I proceed to the next phase of my halftime. I am now going to embark deeper into my consultancy career switch that ties up well to what I have been studying about over the last 2 years. With new Skillsfuture acquired technical skills and past Treasury work experience, I hope to pivot into the consultancy business eventually.

It started with a part-time financial consultancy role in Myanmar since Jan 2018. During that time, I also completed a 12-months tenor of evening classes to obtain a diploma in Business Analytics. Earlier this year, our Myanmar company CEO decided that it was time that we plot out our digital transformation road map. He believes that it will be a critical strategic initiative to allow the firm to engineer a quantum leap within the next few years. Much can be done with mobile technology, AI, Cloud and Big Data. Around the same time, S’pore is also trying to do a catch up with HK by opening up for digital bank licenses by the end of the year.

Spent the last 2 days having lunch with 2 different groups of ex-colleagues. All of them are around my age and the common themes that were discussed revolve around what we are going to do next in this phase of our lives that would be meaningful and rewarding as well.

The next 3 months into year-end will be very interesting. I still have my regular monthly Yangon trips and watching the company blossom into its next stage of hyper growth, plus the new one that starts on Monday. Then there is the Hainan trip with my parents together with the Project Smile team which my brother in law has been championing for the last 10 years. Finally a long holiday in Japan. First with some good friends to celebrate their 50th birthdays, then a long family holiday before the younger son goes into the army by early Jan 2020. A really packed calendar ahead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three events were the highlights for me this week. They made my days much more interesting in an otherwise quiet week where I was training daily for my next half marathon run on Sunday at 5.30 am.

A milestone was reached on Tues where wifey and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We had our customary Chinese wedding in 1994 when I was 28. Time really flies and 25 years later, our sons are already 20 and 18 now. How did all the time go so fast? The memories are still crystal clear in my mind from uni days, kids growing up, up till the present day. It has indeed been a rewarding life journey with my better half.

We celebrated the milestone event at a new restaurant called Cloudstreet which she had discovered via her favourite Instagram food reviewer. It was a nice and airy place with a full island open concept cooking area. That has always been the dream kitchen I wanted 🙂 They provided a nice celebratory cake with 2 little bride and groom dolls. That was a touching gesture for our anniversary celebration.

The whole week was full of Trump news. He outdid himself again! This could be the final thing that tips him over the cliff. And the best part was that he handed the Democrats the knife himself – by releasing the details of the Ukrainian call. The impeachment process has finally begun. Pelosi had been waiting for the golden opportunity and it finally arrived. Latest polls have also swung aggressively to favour this move after details were revealed on how he is running the White House like a Mafia Don…  (no pun intended).

This could be his presidency endgame as things are moving fast and furious, as one revelation after another is exposed. Heads are starting to roll and GOP members are becoming unusually quiet while trying to distance themselves from the imploding timebomb.

Nothing can shock you anymore, so the pundits say. By the reality TV star continues to provide real-time soap opera theatrics by the hour, supplying new unexpected twist and turns, plus hours of recent youtube footage to watch. Supremely captivating and first-class entertainment, I must say. Stay tuned and don’t blink or you might miss something explosive…

Finally, to round off the week, I had an interesting work-wise development. A long-time friend whom I have known since my Citibank days had approached me to sound me out on a financial consultancy project a few weeks back. It had to do with the digital bank application process which the government has started on. He had arranged a face to face meeting this week with 2 of his partners and myself over coffee. The meeting went very well. Hopefully, we should be able to progress to a contract offer next week.

This job has been a cumulation of my last 2 years of trying to reinvent myself, to pivot from my old banking career into a consultancy profession by leveraging on my past work experience. There is an urgency to do so as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be wipping out a lot of careers based on the old way of work life.

My exposure as an ALCO Chairman to a Myanmar microfinance was personally rewarding to me. To see the company blossom as it maximized its full potential given the opportunities it is exposed to in the country. I had also been retraining via the Skillsfuture program, to come up to speed on the technologies that will be reshaping the future. AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Big Data. The time has come when all these intersecting developments will cause a paradigm shift in the working work as we know today.

The future’s so bright, I’ve got to wear shades!!! Yes, indeed. Whenever a door closes behind you, many other new doors will open in front of you.

 

 

 

 

There is a reason why I am blogging about this topic today. Let me elaborate on the various aspects of the whole story first, until the twist to the whole story that I will reveal at the end.

I belong to a specific dialect group that originates from the island of Hainan in China. In ancient China, it was considered the end of the world because it was the southern-most tip of the empire, separated by the ocean. It takes a long time to reach the location and if an emperor/king dislikes you, he may banish you to the end of the world ie. Hainan.

In Spore, the Hainan dialect group were the last dialect group to land on its shores. Most of the other groups already had a foothold in specific industries and were bringing in their own village people by then. There was only one sector that was still available as no one wanted to do it as they considered it low class. It was to serve the British expatriate community. Hainanese became known as butlers and cooks, entering the service industry in British homes or as cooks in ships. When the British left, most had to branch off to the F&B sector and that is why most restaurants usually have a Hainanese cook in the kitchen.

The reason that I am blogging about this topic now was due to a dinner gathering of Hainan “brudders” we had on Thursday evening this week. I had attended a Blockchain course in Seoul a few weeks ago. On the 3rd and last day of training, we discovered that the class of 37 had 5 Hainanese amongst us. This was an unusually high number (14%) and we immediately clicked. We created a new WhatsApp chat group and promised to catch up again once we are back in S’pore. The most enthusiastic member of this group arranged for group dinner at a restaurant serving authentic Hainan influenced cuisine called the British Hainan (how appropriate!).

The dinner started off with everyone trying to get to know each other better. With the addition of beer, all of us soon got into the swing of things. The restaurant owner was a blue-blooded Hainan “Ah Koh” and he was telling us his stories while belting out evergreen hits on his karaoke machine. The dinner organizer was also telling us of his experiences on how fellow Hainanese he met in his travels will immediately offer assistance and support once they hear the unifying dialect being spoken. Amazing and I totally agree…

We had 3 hours of fun eating food that reminded us of our childhood times and what grandmom used to make for us. Herbal mutton soup, oxtail stew and lamb shank etc. So many memories flooding back. We agree to meet again and also to explore possible opportunities, be it for business or for charity. The dinner left me with a warm heartfelt afterglow that night.

My dad travels to Hainan for visits quite regularly. He goes back to his hometown, catches up with everyone while seating by the coffee shop at the main road of the small village, watching the world go by. My brother in law has also been organizing a medical trip to the island for the last 10 years to provide pro bono treatment of cleft lip operations to kids with a group of doctor and nurses called Project Smile.

My first visit there was around 1990, shortly after I started work. There was a global Hainan conference being held in Haikou, the capital of Hainan island. I discovered that there were many delegations from all over the world that was represented there. There were the S’pore and Malaysia groups as well and one from Thailand. Again the unifying language was Hainanese while everyone’s main mother tongue may be very different. The Thais were the richest group and contributed a lot of funds for the welfare of the motherland.

In that trip, my late aunt (dad’s older sister) proudly told me that she was spearheading the project to raise funds to build a new bridge in our village. She would visit her old school with her former classmate, now both old ladies, and walking hand in hand through the school compound reminiscing on what they did as little school girls many years ago.

My grandfather left Hainan to seek business opportunities in S’pore with my grandmother in the 1920-30s. My dad was born in S’pore in 1929. As they had made enough money, they decided to return to Hainan island soon after. But as fate would have it, World War 2 started. The central part of Hainan where our village was located experienced hardship and famine. And so my grandparents decided to return to S’pore and stay for good.

I often joked with my good friends that if it was not for WWII, I would have been a farmer in China now, instead of having the great opportunity to experience the fantastic growth of S’pore over the last 50 years.

I never knew why my dad was so emotionally attached to Hainan, even though technically, he only spent a few of his teenage years there. As he hits 90 this year, that emotion is more apparent. Just this morning, he called to ask me if I wanted to accompany him back in Nov. It must also have to do with age, I guess.

Many years also, my late aunt told me of a story which shocked me. It is starting to make more sense to me now as I realize the effect it had on my dad. My grandfather married a second wife and eventually abandoned my grandmother and her 2 kids (my aunt and dad). Apparently, he wanted a son and in a desperate attempt to please him, my grandmother adopted a boy instead. That did not work out and he left them anyway for the new family.

That boy was my dad. He was born in S’pore and was brough into a Hainan culture. My grandmom worked hard to support the family and eventually adopted another boy (my late uncle) as a favour to another family back home as they were running away from China, back to S’pore. As money was tight then, my dad had to stop his studies at secondary two to help support the family. He would have gone far if he had the ability to study further as he had a quick mind and was good with numbers.

I could now see the reason for his immersion into Hainan heritage. He never had Hainan blood in him but yet a Hainan family brought him into their world and call him as one of their own. It must have left a deep and lasting impact on him. I get it that as he ages, he is seeking to experience his roots even deeper, to yearn to touch base with the childhood village, even if the actual lineage is not there.

His call to me this morning compels me to join him for the next trip this Nov. As a dutiful son, I should spend more time with him, to sit beside him to listen to his stories and chats with fellow villagers in our hometown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 2 hectic weeks of overseas travel to Myanmar and Seoul, this week was a slower than normal one for me. I have 3 more weeks to prepare for my next half marathon run and am also getting ready for a busy trip to Yangon next Mon.

Started this Mon with a meeting of potential business partners I had organized a few weeks ago. A uni mate had suggested a few years ago that if I had a banking idea which his team of programmers can work on, we could look at a JV arrangement. My ex-Citi colleagues had such a idea and hence this meeting was arranged.

This was just a preliminary meet up for both sides to size each other up. I do believe that it went relatively well as both parties were honest about their expectations and put everything on the table. Whether any business opportunity will eventually come up or that it will result in more future followup meetings will be determined in the next few weeks. The business team will also be talking to another developer in KL to assess a 2nd potential tech partner this week.

Managed to get a single ticket to attend the Bicentennial exhibition at the Fort Canning Center on Thurs. Pretty impressive set up which I would encourage more citizens to visit. It gives a brief 1 hour summary of the country’s history over the last 600 years. The visuals and CGI were quite good but due to the limit in time and too much data to compress, I felt that they did not go too much in-depth for certain important subjects, being superficial at best. But overall, it was a nice feel good experience.

My first Angel investment experience kicked into the next stage this week as the capital call was announced by AngelCentral. The Fintech firm Tourego aims to revolutionize tax refunds for overseas tourists by making it seamless. The idea seemed good at the pitching session and I believe that this firm could be ripe for acquisition by big boys like Alibaba at a later stage. It will be my first 25K into this new asset class and for me to get my feet wet.

I had some self-doubt on the investment last week when I was leaving Seoul. My wife was trying to claim some tax refunds at the airport. I was amazed that it had become so easy in Korea. She basically went to the many self-operated booths that were set up to scan all the bar codes from the receipts. Instantly, the total refund amount was credited back to her via cash like an ATM machine! The booth can also credit back via Alipay, since the China tourists were the biggest group of visitors to Korea.

Friday was another long lunch and drinks with my group of good friends, talking about everything under the sun and bitching about politics as usual. Another week has passed and we are now going into Autumn and preparing for our family vacation to Japan.

I will have an intensive Yangon trip in the first half of next week as we formulate new Treasury strategies and start our digital transformation journey to engineering a quantum leap into the next stage of growth via fintech – AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Data.

 

 

 

I just spent the last 1 week in Seoul with my wife and son. It was a good trip exploring the city on our own since our last visit 7 years ago on a package tour. The temperature was similar to home and autumn is a pleasant time here, compared to our last trip in Dec  2012 where it was below zero degrees Celsius.

It was a last-minute decision in late July to come to Seoul. There was a Skillsfuture overseas program to study about Blockchain in Seoul which I wanted to attend. It is heavily subsidized and I received an email that positions were still opened https://www.sirsdigitalcommerce.com/blockchain.html. My wife decided that it was a good opportunity for her to tag along a shopping trip for her and older son agreed to tag along. So that was how we ended coming here.

We came 2 days earlier on a Sat before my 3 days course started on Tues. We did a fantastic pub crawl tour that night itself in Hongdae with 50 other people visiting 6 bars and dance clubs with 6 drinks included for just KRW 25K! Clubbing with parents for my son is probably a whole new experience for all of us 🙂 We did the customary city tours and Korean traditional dinner and even attended an enjoyable baseball game with K-Pop cheerleaders on Tues evening.

My 3 full day of training started on Tues morning. Pleasantly surprised to see an ex-colleague there with his friends. I had told him about it a few months ago and he had decided to take it up. The class was 37 strong and unsurprisingly, it was mainly made up of people above 40 years old because of the government Skillsfuture subsidy.

Given that Blockchain is a highly technical topic, a number of participants had some difficulty trying to grasp the fundamentals. There should have been some prior reading materials before the course, to arm students with the basics of Blockchain first. While the trainers and presenters tried to explain certain concepts, the focus was mainly to sell their ideas and startup tokens.

Blockchain really came to the forefront in 2008 after the GFC and banking crisis. A group of cryptographer enthusiasts started formulating the principals way back in the early 1990s but the urgency became high in 2008 as many realized that useless fiat money was real as central banks printed like no tomorrow to save the global economy. This was when the first product of Blockchain was born – Bitcoin. With a limit to its total supply and full transparency using a tracking public ledger, it became a new currency of choice which no one can manipulate.

Miners are the gatekeepers of Bitcoin to protect the integrity of the coin. With numerous real-time ledgers, it was impossible for any one person to manipulate the recorded ledger unless they managed to capture 51% of the network. The inventors ingeniously added a reward system for the miners by releasing Bitcoins to the miners for them to maintain this public realtime ledger. The role of miners is to secure the network and to process every Bitcoin transaction. Miners achieve this by solving a computational problem which allows them to chain together blocks of transactions (henceBitcoin’s famous “blockchain”). They started with 25 coins which halved to 12.5 and then lower again as we near the 21 million maximum limit of Bitcoins allowed.

Latest conspiracy theories suggest that the creators of Bitcoin, the secretive Satoshi Nakamoto, was actually 2 persons (one in a wheelchair and the other with a terminal illness) who had since died. They supposedly had a wallet of a million coins which would have made them very rich with the price of Bitcoin at USD 10,000 each now.

Slowly but surely, the world got to know Bitcoin better over the last 11 years as more people begin to realize the power of Blockchain and its possible effects on our existing inefficient processes. It peaked in Jan 2018 as the price shot up to USD 20K!!

The industry that will be most affected with be the financial sector as it is the intermediary for a lot of transactions that Blockchain can make redundant. The trust issue is resolved in Blockchain as the chains cannot be broken and hence it cannot be corrupted.

During the 3 days of training, some of the gaps I had for this topic was made clearer to me. There was also this interesting alternative cold wallet storage process that was presented by one of the new startups. As far as I know, I thought that a cold wallet has to be a physical process. What if the private key is split up into a few parts and each individual part is stored in a separate cloud system (eg. AWS, Google, FB) with 2-factor authentication? This process will then be virtually unhackable. What a brilliant idea as opposed to physical storage onto a device that is unplugged from the internet!

While Blockchain is a good tool, the general consensus in the panel discussion was that it may be overkill for some ideas. Perhaps 5 to 10% of the projects can apply it now. IoT, Big Data, 5G and AI/machine learning can assist in making the low hanging fruits easier to pluck in Smart City mega projects.

We also learned about smart contracts and their applicability to multiple uses. Korea is trying to centralize all its medical records. An individual’s medical record should belong to oneself, not the hospital or clinic we visit so that any doctor can review and provide an accurate diagnose of a patient wherever he goes. I believe S’pore is also trying to do the same, but client privacy issues have to be resolved first.

This medical Blockchain database can literally create new innovative uses too. Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies can then price their products competitively to customize to the individual rather than the masses as they are doing now. Insurance now uses only age to differentiate pricing. What if I am more healthy and exercise much more than my good friend who is of the same age? Shouldn’t I get a lower insurance premium? Pharmaceuticals can also directly target medicine that is of use to each person effectively.

With China and Facebook trying to launch their cryptocurrency soon, we are looking at interesting times. With a public ledger, the system will need to incentivize miners to maintain the ledger. A private ledger may not have to do that, but it will suffer from transparency and possible hacking issues.

eGaming and K-Pop are 2 areas where Blockchain can be big. For years, online gaming already has their own tokens to purchase virtual goods to play the games, so they are very familiar with e-currencies. A K-Pop startup presented how they can streamline the efficiency of musical collaborations within the music community using Blockchain to enhance trust between the collaborators.

One of the pillars of Industry 4.0 is Blockchain. Fintech is ABCD – AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Data. With mobile phones, we are all connected on a real-time basis, all the time. The possibilities are unlimited.

One thing I did not like about this course – that most of the startup featured are talking about issuing their own unique tokens via ICO even though ICOs are currently banned in South Korea. I believe that 99% of ICOs are scams. Most ICO investors adopt a pump and dump scheme as an “investment” strategy. Issuers claim that they have a cap on the number of coins issued, yet they usually only released 1 to 5% of the amount initially. The funds/fiat money they receive for their coins – there is no guarantee that it will be used for the purposes which they had described originally as there is zero accountability. They could even use it to buy the coin back, giving it artificial demand and support!! The proposed ecosystem they aim to develop to enable the tokens to be used for transactions – it does take a while to create in real life.

The investors of the tokens? They have no legal claim to anything, unlike equity investors. When shit hits the fan, the tokens have zero value. Most ICO has only one selling point – that their token will continue to rise in price. Fat hope if everyone is selling as a strategy to get out after 2 weeks of issuance, right?

Overall, even though I bitch about the training and ICO above, it is inevitable that Blockchain will have a significant impact on our lives in the future. With AI and Big Data being efficiently analyzed via the Cloud, all of what we know today will have a quantum leap into the new unknown very soon.