A Thai startup, Bitkub Capital Group Holding, aims to become the next digital disrupter in the area of financial services, driven by blockchain technology and with the goal of being the leader in the blockchain ecosystem for Southeast Asia.

Technology will not only disrupt the banking industry, says Jirayut Srupsrisopa, chief executive officer of Bitkub Capital Group Holding, but go on to disrupt the stock exchange as a whole. And blockchain will be the key disruptive technology.

He says that financial services are the world’s largest offline market, with no one yet dominating the market. The United States’ financial services alone are about US$3 trillion (Bt99 trillion), most of it now offline. That offers a huge gap for financial technology (fintech) to fill. It is the single big opportunity in the sector, says Jirayut.

A lot of venture capitalists are backing financial service unicorns. The global VC investment in financial technology has seen an eight-fold increase in funding activity between 2009 to 2014. And investment continues to increase.

Social banking is another imminent trend, including neophyte Facebook Pay along with WeChat Pay, which is among the leaders in the Chinese market.

On the last Chinese new year’s eve alone, the electronic money rewards sent through WeChat app were worth about $8 trillion.

Blockchain technology is the next big thing in the effort to catch the huge potential market. Blockchain is the second layer of the Internet (the first layer is TCP/IP) to enable instant value transfers. Blockchain is a fundamental technology in the effort to create an Internet of value, in which people use the technology to create and transfer the value of things in the same way they do with information.

He said the largest portion of the financial industry has until now been offline, presenting a huge opportunity for fintech companies such as Bitkub to capture a share.

The company’s target is to position itself as the future leader of the blockchain ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

Founded in February with registered capital of Bt50 million, Bitkub Capital Group Holding consists of four main business units – the digital asset exchange platform, consulting and development of blockchain technology for enterprises (both government and private sector), education in blockchain technology and digital assets, and algorithmic trading.

Those units are operated by different companies, with Bitkub Online taking care of the digital asset exchange platform, Bitkub Blockchain providing ICO advisory services, Bitkub Blockchain Academy holding education workshops in blockchain and Bitkub Capital acting as a venture capital firm taking care of investments.

“We want to be a disrupter in financial services to help digitise value,” said Jirayut. “With blockchain we believe that the financial instrument will be 100-times bigger than the present. Now, we trade only a few assets but in the future we can trade everything – both tangible assets and intangible asset such as diamond and reputation – thanks to blockchain.”

Bitkub Online aims to be leader in digital asset exchange as measured by having the most quality coin trading and the largest trade volumes. Bitkub Online’s http://www.bitkub.com, operated since May 2018, now boasts trade volumes of Bt50 million per day with total trading sessions of almost 400,000 sessions.

It has trading members with 20,000 accounts, all of them individual traders. The company aims to increase trade volume to Bt500 million per day. To achieve that goal, it plans to increase the number of trading coins from the current six coins, to more than 20 coins by the end of 2018.

“We just started since May this year, and we now are number two in digital asset exchange with trade volumes of Bt50 million per day, following the leader which has 28 trading coins and a trade volume of around Bt100 million per day. We plan to increase both trading coins and trading volume,” said Jirayut.

Moreover, the company plans to initiate its own coin, called Bitkub Token or KUB coin, which is set to be a trade mining token for traders. Also, by the end of 2018, it will launch token API and a mobile application.

Meanwhile, Bitkub Blockchain technology is set to help businesses to digitise their assets through blockchain technology. It provides consulting and development of blockchain technology for enterprise for both government and private sectors. It offers ICO advisory services in financial, legal and compliance, technology, as well as sales and marketing.

It offers four service pillars including financial advisories such as full crypto-economic business model development and token distribution and structure; legal advisories such as risk assessment of ICO campaigns, KYC and AML processing to meet all government standards; technology services such as smart contract blockchain protocols and blockchain as a service specialisation; and marketing campaigns such as public relations plans customised to reach specific investors and an SEC-approved marketing campaign.

Blockchain requires a lot of education, and so Bitkub Blockchain Academy has been set up to provide education in blockchain technology and digital assets as well as to offer co-working space for the blockchain and digital asset community. It also offers internal and public trading and workshops.

“Our goal is to create a community hub to nurture the Thai blockchain scene,” says Jirayut. “Thai Blockchain Hub serves as an educational workshops about blockchain.”

Last but not least, Bitkub Capital, the capital venture arm of Bitkub Capital Group Holding, will use algorithmic trading to invest in digital assets and in blockchain/digital asset start-ups. The first investments will begin in mid-2019.

“It is our venture capital firm and will offer hedge funds, start-up incubation and mentorships, as well as financial advisory and capital solutions,” said Jirayut.

Bitkub Capital Group Holding was established in February 2018 with the incorporation of Blockchain Capital Group Holding, and with the first round of seed funding. Then in March, it launched a crypto exchange followed by the launch

of ICO advisory and consulting

services.

In May, it secured the second round of seed funding and consumers began trading Bitcoin and Ethereum on Bitkub Online. It then added coins – Wancoin for trading followed by more listed coins including Cardano and OmiseGo. It also launched Bitkub Blockchain Academy and hosted the first cryptocurrency meetup.

Bitkub Capital Group Holding has enjoyed phenomenal growth since being founded in early 2018, now boasting a Bt525 million company evaluation, and with major investors such as dtac Accelerate and SEAs.

The store features Apple’s full line of products, including iPhone XS, iPhone XR and Apple Watch Series 4, invites visitors to pursue their creative passions with free Today at Apple sessions.

Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, said that Bangkok is a cultural and economic destination for the entire region, which hosts millions of passionate Apple customers.

“We are thrilled to introduce our Thai customers to Today at Apple, our full line of products, our phenomenal employees and the service and support that is loved by customers around the world,” gushed Ahrendts.

Apple Iconsiam is on the shores of the Chao Phraya, seamlessly connecting the new mixed-use IconSiam Centre to an outdoor roof terrace. The store’s clean, trapezoidal design lines and glass surfaces accentuate the natural beauty of its surroundings while creating an open, airy atmosphere erasing boundaries between interior and exterior.

Denny Tuza, senior market director, Asia Pacific Retail for Apple, notes that the design features two expansive glass facades that create transparency through the store and to the river, the city and beyond.

As customers walk in through a sweeping curve stone entry, their journey continues to the lush roof garden, where they can admire local art, participate in a Today at Apple photo or sketch walks, or simply enjoy iconic views of Bangkok.

Inside the store, a spacious forum offers all of Apple’s free Today at Apple sessions, which he says Apple expects will inspire visitors to connect with one another, discover a new passion or take their skills to the next level. People can sign up for Today at Apple sessions at apple.com/th/today.

These hands-on sessions, led by creative pros, offer tools for all to explore their creative curiosity and learn to make the most of Apple products and services.

All ages catered for

There are sessions for children and parents, teachers and businesses, photo and music lovers as well as designers and developers. They will teach them how to use Apple products and services to maximise benefits to fit people’s needs and passions, says Tuza.

Along the store’s avenues, visitors can try out the latest Apple products, which are displayed for maximum convenience and accessibility. A tree-lined “Genius Grove” mirrors the flora of the outdoor terrace and provides the setting for Apple’s “geniuses” to offer personalised technical support and advice.

More than 100 employees are ready to offer services to customers in 10 languages.

Fortinet, a specialist in broad, integrated and automated cyber security solutions, on Thursday reminded online shoppers to keep their mobile devices secure and stay vigilant against cybercriminals, before participating in Alibaba’s “11/11” Singles’ Day − the world’s largest online shopping festival and the Cyber Monday sale in the United States.

Alibaba’s sale on Sunday is expected to spark off numerous online retail carnivals across the Asia-Pacific, it said.

In 2017, the event rewrote the record books when it generated US$25.3 billion sales in one day.

Due to high phone penetration, consumers are increasingly relying on their mobile devices and tablets to conduct online transactions from e-banking and e-payments to e-hailing and a myriad of shopping apps.

According to Mastercard’s Mobile Shopping Survey 2017, mobile shopping is registering higher growth in APAC’s emerging markets, outpacing their more developed counterparts.

“Thailand’s penchant for mobile shopping is expected to fuel a rise in cyber-attacks and cyber-scams, particularly as we enter year-end online shopping season, such as Singles’ Day and Cyber Monday,” said David Maciejak, director of security research at Fortinet.

Fortinet offers online shoppers five safety tips to keep their mobile device secure:

• Create strong passwords and change them regularly

• Regularly back up and save data from mobile devices to removable media, and keep them in a different and secure location.

• Encrypting files to protect unauthorised people and hackers from viewing data on the devices.

• Install and maintain antivirus software

• Install and maintain a firewall

Based on Adobe Analytics data, Adobe predicts that U.S. online sales will increase 14.8 percent, totaling $124.1 billion, while offline retail spending is expected to increase a modest 2.7 percent*. Cyber Monday will set a new record as the largest- and fastest-growing online shopping day of the year with $7.7 billion in sales, a 17.6 percent increase year over year (YoY). Online sales between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Pacific Time on Cyber Monday are expected to drive more revenue than an average full day in 2018, with conversions hitting the highest rate of the year, 7.3 percent, during these golden hours of online retail, Adobe said in a press statement.

Thanksgiving Day sales are expected to increase by 16.5 percent, generating $3.3 billion. Nearly one out of five dollars this holiday season will be spent between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, generating $23.4 billion or 19 percent of total online sales. One extra calendar day between Cyber Monday and Christmas Day will give retailers a $284 million boost in sales. A record number of days will hit new revenue milestones, with 36 days surpassing $2 billion compared to just 22 days in 2017. Most anticipated gifts include 4K TVs, retro video games and consoles, as well as toys like Pomsies, Grumblies and Fortnite Monopoly.

“As online shopping surges with another record-breaking holiday season, the retailers with compelling websites coupled with physical store locations will have the advantage,” said John Copeland, head of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe. “Many shoppers want to interact with retailers’ products and the brand in-store, and the ability to pick up online orders in-store within a matter of hours can’t be underestimated.”

Retailers with online and physical footprints are expected to see 28 percent higher conversion online in comparison to retailers lacking a traditional storefront. Adobe Analytics data anticipates shoppers increasingly buying online and picking up items in-store (BOPIS) during the holiday season. BOPIS has increased 119 percent since January 2018 across all retailers and over 250 percent for large retailers**. A survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers shows nearly half (47 percent) expect to browse in-store for a product they intend to buy online later, jumping to 58 percent among millennials.

Additional predictions include:

• Top-selling products: Adobe predicts one percent of SKUs will drive a record 70 percent of sales during the holiday season, 30 percent more than during the rest of the year. 4K TVs, as well as retro video consoles and games such as Tekken 3, Ridge Racer Type 4 and Final Fantasy VII, are expected to perform well for the second consecutive year. Top toys include Fingerlings, Fortnite Monopoly, Grumblies, Hatchimal Hatchibabies, Jurassic World Jeep Wrangler, LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Great Hall set, and Pomsies.
• Best days for deals: Black Friday reigns supreme for discounts on electronics, including tablets (discounted at 33 percent), TVs (22 percent) and computers (16 percent). On the Sunday before Cyber Monday, shoppers will see the best deals on apparel (22 percent), appliances (18 percent) and jewelry (five percent). Cyber Monday will see the largest discounts on toys (19 percent), Giving Tuesday for furniture and bedding (14 percent) and Thanksgiving for sporting goods (13 percent).
• The mobile revenue opportunity: Smartphones continue to gain share as consumers’ preferred devices for online shopping, representing 48.3 percent of visits and 27.2 percent of revenue. Mobile revenue is up 11.6 percent YoY. Yet, completed cart orders happen over 20 percent less on smartphones than desktop, as a result of abandonment from sub-optimal checkout experiences. Closing this gap equates to $9 billion in mobile sales.Tablets are on the decline, making up 8.8 percent of visits (down 30 percent in four years) and just 9.6 percent of sales. Consumers using mobile apps will spend more time browsing and complete sales two times more often than on the web.
• Emerging shopping trends: Voice-assisted shopping is on the rise, with 21 percent of consumers reporting they are planning to reorder frequently-purchased items and 17 percent placing one-time orders for in-store pickup using their voice activated devices. Adobe expects holiday shoppers to ship and return purchases more often compared to the rest of the year (5 and 18 percent more respectively), and to shop more for experiences like cruises and hotels on Cyber Monday. More consumers will stay home on Thanksgiving Day. Sixty percent report they won’t shop in stores on Thanksgiving Day, up from 40 percent in 2016.

• Top revenue-driving marketing channels: Retailers will be able to capitalize on loyal customers that go directly to their website to make a purchase, with revenue per visit (RPV) rising the most at 36 percent. Search has the second highest RPV growth at 23 percent, followed by helper sites like RetailMeNot (15 percent) and email at 8 percent.
• Social losing value for retailers: Social referral traffic will generate 11 percent less RPV compared to Q4 2016. It is the only marketing channel to see a decline in RPV, despite the increase in referral traffic coming from social. Adobe attributes this to consumers’ weakening trust in social networks. Shoppers are also expected to consult social media sites 25 percent less for gift ideas this year.

Methodology

Adobe leverages Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, to identify retail insights from trillions of data points that flow through Adobe Analytics and Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe Analytics analyzes one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 55 million SKUs and 80 of the largest 100 U.S. web retailers*** – more than any other technology company.

Only Adobe’s analysis spans large, medium and small retailers across over 50 merchandise categories, powered by Magento Commerce Cloud, to provide the industry’s most accurate view of online shopping in the U.S. Adobe Experience Cloud manages more than 200 trillion data transactions annually. Companion research is based on a survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers in October 2018.

The new monitors are designed to cater to users in financial services and insurance, trading floor, financial analysis and accounting, media post production, programming and engineering, Dell said in a press statement.

The Dell UltraSharp 32 4K USB-C and 34 Curved USB-C monitors come with significant features. Picture-by-Picture allows for multi-tasking content from two different PCs. A built-in keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) help users toggle between and edit content using a single keyboard and mouse. This new portfolio of UltraSharp monitors also offers convenient USB-C connectivity that charges the connected laptop while transmitting data and video signals, all from one single cable to reduce cable clutter, the statement said.

Designed with productivity in mind, the following features come as a standard in all UltraSharp monitors:

·         Fully adjustable stands for user comfort—height, tilt, swivel and pivot

·         Flicker-free screen and ComfortView, which reduces blue light emission to optimize eye comfort

·         Easy Arrange on Dell Display Manager software to organize multiple applications for multi-tasking efficiency

·         Premium Panel Exchange

·         Dell’s three-year Advanced Exchange Service8

“As the world’s favorite monitor brand, Dell continues its legacy of leading innovation with multiple firsts in the industry,” said Kirk Schell, senior vice president, Dell Displays & Engineering. “With the new UltraSharp family, we remain committed to providing the best to meet the visualization needs of our commercial customers.”

Experience outstanding screen performance in amazing detail with Ultra HD 4K resolution –  four times more detail than Full HD. VESA certified DisplayHDR 400 supports HDR content playback for stunning, true-to-life images. Images appear in living color revealing details that were previously tough to see with up to 400 nits of brightness (typical) and a color depth of 1.07 billion colors. Complementing the vivid monitor is the virtually borderless InfinityEdge for an edge-to-edge viewing experience.

Discover precise performance and an immersive experience on this 34-inch curved USB-C monitor that elevates both work and entertainment. The ultra-wide 34-inch curved screen (WQHD (3440 x1440), IPS technology) with 21:9 aspect ratio offers a large onscreen space, ideal for multitasking, and built-in dual 9W speakers to complete the experience from sight to sound.

The Dell UltraSharp 24 and 27 USB-C monitors each feature a thin side profile and small monitor base to optimize desk space, perfect for shrinking modern office spaces. The virtually borderless InfinityEdge bezel delivers an edge-to-edge viewing experience, ideal for a seamless multi-monitor set up. The new 24-inch (FHD) and 27-inch (QHD) monitors come with two different options, with and without USB-C connectivity, for superb screen performance in an innovative design.

“It’s amazing that Dell is so far out front on the monitor scene,” said Jon Peddie, president at Jon Peddie Research. “Dell’s expanding displays portfolio highlights the company’s vision of meeting every customer’s displays needs.”

Availability

•       Dell UltraSharp 32 4K USB-C Monitor (U3219Q) is available now in Thailand at Bt37,000 (VAT included)

•       Dell UltraSharp 34 Curved USB-C Monitor (U3419W) is available now in Thailand at Bt34,900 (VAT included)

•       Dell UltraSharp 24 Monitor (U2419H) is available now in Thailand at Bt9,900 (VAT included)

•       Dell UltraSharp 24 USB-C Monitor (U2419HC) is available now in Thailand at Bt11,900 (VAT included)

•       Dell UltraSharp 27 Monitor (U2719D) is available now in Thailand at Bt18,700  (VAT included)

•       Dell UltraSharp 27 USB-C Monitor (U2719DC) is available now in Thailand at Bt19,900  (VAT included)

The researchers noted in a pre-print of the article that it was an “exotic scenario,” but that “Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization.”

Oumuamua, the first interstellar object known to enter our solar system, accelerated faster away from the Sun than expected, hence the notion that some kind of artificial sail that runs on sunlight — known as a light sail — may have helped push it through space.

“Currently there is an unexplained phenomena, namely, the excess acceleration of Oumuamua, which we show may be explained by the force of radiation pressure from the sun,” co-author and Harvard astrophysicist Shmuel Bialy told AFP via email Tuesday.

“However this requires the body to have a very large surface and be very thin, which is not encountered in nature.”

Their suggestion of an alien force at work went viral.

But other astronomy experts aren’t buying it.

“Like most scientists, I would love there to be convincing evidence of alien life, but this isn’t it,” said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astrophysicist at Queens University, Belfast.

“It has already been shown that its observed characteristics are consistent with a comet-like body ejected from another star system,” he told AFP.

“And some of the arguments in this study are based on numbers with large uncertainties.”

‘Impossible to guess’

Katie Mack, a well-known astrophysicist at North Carolina State, also took issue with the alien hype.

“The thing you have to understand is: scientists are perfectly happy to publish an outlandish idea if it has even the tiniest sliver of a chance of not being wrong,” she wrote on Twitter.

“But until every other possibility has been exhausted dozen times over, even the authors probably don’t believe it.”

Asked if he believed the hypothesis he put forward, Bialy told AFP:

“I wouldn’t say I ‘believe’ it is sent by aliens, as I am a scientist, and not a believer, I rely on evidence to put forward possible physical explanation for observed phenomena.”

The other co-author, Avi Loeb, chairman of Harvard’s astronomy department, told NBC News humanity may never know more about the mysterious object, since it has traveled far away and isn’t heading back.

“It is impossible to guess the purpose behind Oumuamua without more data,” Loeb was quoted as saying.

Their paper was accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, and will appear on November 12.

Oumuamua, Hawaiian for “messenger” or “scout,” was first viewed by telescopes in October 2017.

The alien rock is about 1,300 feet long (400 meters) long, and only about 130 feet wide.

With the theme of “Creating a Digital World for Mutual Trust and Collective Governance – Towards a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace”, this year’s event will host diversified activities and forums on various topics.

Let’s take a look at 10 topics to be discussed at the conference in Wuzhen.

1. FinTech and Construction of a Social Credit System

Fintech and the construction of a social credit system will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

2. Foresee the Future of Internet

The official forum for experts and entrepreneurs for world-leading internet scientific and technological achievements. [Photo/VCG]

3. Innovation and Breakthroughs in Industrial Internet

A robot arm operated by Huawei’s AI program plays Go at the launch event of the Huawei Mate 20 series in Shanghai on Oct 26, 2018. [Photo/IC]

4. International Cooperation along the Digital Silk Road

“International Cooperation along the Digital Silk Road” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

5. The Internet of Things: Towards a Connected World

“The Internet of Things: Towards a Connected World” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference. [Photo/VCG]

6. AI: New Opportunity for Integration and Development

A student tries Hyphen’s AI-enabled learning system at a brand-upgrading conference in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

7. Financial Capital and Internet Technology Innovation

“Financial Capital and Internet Technology Innovation” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. [Photo/VCG]

8. Ministerial Forum: Bridging the Digital Divide

“Bridging the Digital Divide” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. [Photo/VCG]

9. Business Leaders’ Dialogue: Digital Economy in the New Era

“Digital Economy in the New Era” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. [Photo/VCG]

10. 5G Era: Opening and Cooperation for a Better Future

“5G Era: Opening and Cooperation for a Better Future” will be discussed at the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. [Photo/IC]