Initial Coin Offerings (“ICO”) hit the global zeitgeist with a bang in 2017. In those heady times a small project team in East Europe with a white paper and a dodgy website could raise millions of dollars in the span of several minutes. The ICO investment phenomenon coupled with the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies raised the profile of the underlying distributed ledger and blockchain technologies.
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Blockchain: An Achilles Boot for Self-driving Cars?
By Mark Schaub and Saren Abgaryan
The move towards autonomous cars will herald a sea change that will reach far beyond the automotive sector alone.
What could be more exciting than a sector in which major car manufacturers such as Audi, Daimler, Toyota, BMW, Nissan, Volvo rub shoulders with new electric vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla and are also vying with established tech giants such as Google, Baidu, Apple, Samsung, Tencent and competing with new tech such as ride hailing companies such as Didi and Uber?
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Trust by design: Balancing accessibility and security in blockchain
By Hannah Glass. King & Wood Mallesons’ Sydney office.
Trust in technology is a balance between accessibility and security. Accessibility because information must be able to be used by the intended people and security because others should not be able to access it. Managing these is a delicate balance.
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10 Things You Need to Know about Ethereum
Ethereum uses blockchain technology …
10 things you need to know about Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
By Scott Farrell, Urszula McCormack, Stanley Zhou King & Wood Mallesons
ICOs sell blockchain tokens (or coins)…
A token is an intangible asset stored on a blockchain which entitles a token holder to a bundle of rights (and possibly liabilities) set out in smart contracts and other relevant documentation (such as an offering document or a whitepaper).
… in a way like IPOs …
ICOs are inspired by IPOs. Like an IPO, tokens which have not been available to the public previously are generally offered to raise a set amount of funds, within a defined period of time. Once purchased, the token may be able to be traded on exchanges accessible by the public.
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10 Things You Need to Know about DAOs
DAOs are business vehicles…
10 things you need to know about Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
By Scott Farrell Urszula McCormack and Stanley Zhou King & Wood Mallesons
1. ICOs sell blockchain tokens (or coins)…
A token is an intangible asset stored on a blockchain which entitles a token holder to a bundle of rights (and possibly liabilities) set out in smart contracts and other relevant documentation (such as an offering document or a whitepaper).
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Technical insight and strategic foresight: CSIRO’s Data61 releases blockchain study
by Scott Farrell. King & Wood Mallesons’ Sydney office.
Today, CSIRO’s Data61 published two reports on the scientific findings of Australia’s leading digital research network into distributed ledger technology (including blockchain). The result of many months of scientific study, the reports distinguish themselves from the recent collection of reports, reviews and releases by addressing not only the technical risks and opportunities in the application of blockchain technologies within government and industry, but how to assess whether blockchain-based systems will meet critical requirements and also the plausible future impact, opportunities and challenges of the technology.
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Setting the standard: Australia’s leading role in International Blockchain Standards
by Scott Farrell,King & Wood Mallesons Sydney, Australia
Australia is set to play a leading role in the international development of blockchain after theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved Standards Australia’s proposal for new international standards. Blockchain technology is a potentially fundamental evolution in global markets infrastructure and the standards should be an