What Companies Have Already Adopted Blockchain Technology? 

Over the last two years, we’ve seen a growing amount of interest and even hype towards cryptocurrencies and a new world economy. It seems that hype is now subsiding and giving way to more of a natural, organic growth of Blockchain Technology. Banking is only the beginning and now society can benefit from Blockchain Technology in many other industries. This will transform the way companies do business so ultimately the use cases for a transparent, immutable ledger of transaction data are virtually endless. 

Since the blockchain is a decentralized entity, it requires no centralized supervision which makes it resistant to fraud. From logistics to real estate, digital ID management, social media and now the next-generation market network, corporations around the world are making overwhelming advances in the adoption of Blockchain Technology. Here a just a few companies that already have integrated the blockchain into their operations.

FedEx

FedEx is one of the world’s biggest logistics management companies and handles billions of dollars worth of cargo every year. FedEx has now become the first big shipping giant to incorporate Blockchain technology into their supply chain management. They are using Blockchains to track high-value cargo and are extending the functionality to almost all their shipments. In addition to that, they are also helping to develop the Blockchain-based industry standards for supply chain logistics establishing themselves as pioneers in this field.

FedEx together with two other major international delivery services firms DHL Express and UPS is a member of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance. In September of 2018, the firm joined Hyperledger, an open-source project established to improve cross-industry blockchain technologies. The collaboration will purportedly enable the company to build blockchain-based industry-grade applications, platforms and hardware systems.

Microsoft

The tech giant Microsoft has embraced Blockchain Technology since its inception. Microsoft had started accepting Bitcoin payments on its website in 2014 when almost no one had even heard of cryptocurrencies. Microsoft has also secured 40 patents related to the use of Blockchains as payment gateways and for secure storage. 

Bill Gates and several of his nonprofit organizations have looked at Blockchains to try to improve their structure. Microsoft is also letting businesses and developers deploy their own Blockchain using Stratis in Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications Microsoft-managed data centers.

Burger King – Russia

In 2017, fast-food giant Burger King launched its own cryptocurrency token in Russia, called WhopperCoin on the Waves platform. Named after the brand’s flagship burger, WhopperCoin is Burger Kings’s attempt at using Blockchain to power their rewards program. What’s unique about this approach is that unlike traditional rewards programs, WhopperCoin tokens can be stored online, traded or even transferred to other people using the Waves platform. Customers would receive a WhopperCoin for every Rouble they spend at Burger King and correspondingly a Whopper could be bought for 1700 WhopperCoin. 

Notably, Starbucks is working with Microsoft to develop a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system and mobile app that will allow customers to track the supply chain journey of the beans they buy and the coffee they drink. … Last year, Starbucks worked with more than 380,000 coffee farms to ensure ethical sourcing.

KIK Messenger

KIK is one of the biggest online chat platforms with over 300 million active users. KIK concluded its ICO in 2017 and had recently integrated the Kin cryptocurrency in their platform which can be used to make payments to other users of the platform. Although they have been through some trials and tribulations, they are moving forward with thanks to the Medialab acquisition. The main attraction of Kik that sets it apart from other messaging apps is its anonymity.

The Kin Foundation announced it is able to offer zero-fee transactions by using its unique network. KIN is the cryptocurrency and although blockchains are often developed by a community, some are built by companies, which can afford to cover transaction costs. Kik has managed to eliminate transaction fees in the way.  

 

IBM

IBM is shaping up to be one of the giants in the cryptocurrency space by providing the backbone of Blockchain-related services to businesses. Using the Hyperledger Blockchain creator tool, they can help the organizations to create their own distributed ledger and smart contract systems. They have already partnered with some businesses that deal with logistics to increase efficiency and lower costs for them. 

The partners include logistics giants like Walmart and banks like the Bank of Montreal (BMO), CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Erste Group, and the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). With food logistics as in the case of Walmart, the goal is to make the supply chain more secure so that contamination can be reduced. While the banks have come to develop a Blockchain trade finance platform called Batavia.

 

Walmart

Walmart and nine other food companies have partnered with IBM to create a Blockchain for tracking food globally through its supply chain. Real-time data will be captured at every point, on every single food product. The Food Trust Blockchain, which includes Nestlé SA, Dole Food Co., Unilever, and several others. 

These companies have been collaborating with IBM on the initiative since 2016 and began conducting trials of the product in August of last year. Their goal is to improve the companies’ ability to identify issues involved with food recalls, such as tracing outbreaks more quickly to limit customer risk. Walmart appears to have joined the initiative after the outbreak of salmonella in the supply chain last year.

Overstock.com

Overstock has been one of the biggest advocates of Blockchain Technology from the beginning and lets users purchase all the items on their website using Bitcoin. The company sells home decor, furniture, bedding, and many other goods that are closeout merchandise. 

Patrick M. Byrne, the founder of the company, is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrencies and has been outspoken about his commitment to decentralized currency. Byrne has made it quite clear that he wants to run a blockchain business, not a retailer. The company has made some moves into blockchain over the past few years. 

It launched the Medici Ventures investing firm to focus on blockchain technology, a public digital ledger of transactions, and has also developed its own tZero security tokens for e-commerce and trading. Since then, Byrne has stepped down as CEO of Overstock and president of Medici Ventures Jonathon Johnson has taken over. Johnson has been very instrumental in getting the company heavily invested in the blockchain business. 

Huawei Technologies

Huawei has rolled out its global blockchain which is a Cloud Blockchain where enterprises can develop, deploy and manage blockchain applications. Being one of the top manufacturers of mobile phones, they also want to use the Blockchain to create a better user experience and systemize the mobile industry further to reduce fraud and trickery. 

Huawei claimed in a recent press release that, “Blockchain Technology offers mobile carriers superb opportunities to support the transformation of business models through new network layers, which can revolutionize how data integrity is verified and value and rights are transmitted and tracked over the infrastructure to subscribers.”

Social Media And Blockchain

As the blockchain market evolves there is an increased interest from the social media giant, Facebook. Not sure how simple it will be to integrate a genuine blockchain, given they have 2 billion+ users which would mean scalability on a massive level. There’s also the key issue of the way it monetizes the personal data of its users. That actually threatens the privacy and user sovereignty that is crucial for blockchain. Twitter has also expressed an interest in the blockchain. 

In a distributed ecosystem, built on a  blockchain, the power lies with the people. In other words, there cannot be one singular entity with controlling powers over the rest of the network. This, among other things, protects against corruption and manipulation from the centralized entity. It also restores power to the community as a whole.

People are looking to migrate to better solutions for the sake of privacy and security alone. So while Facebook is looking for a way to implement blockchain into its network, others have already integrated blockchain technology at conception, making it a whole lot easier.

 

Blockchain Alternatives

Currently, so-called Social Media platforms on the blockchain are mainly blogging platforms, like Steemit and Yours.org. Steemit pays its users to contribute by writing or curating content. In the case of Yours.org, the community pays to view the articles that are posted by the writer. This can range from $0.10 to a few dollars depending on how much the writer believes the readers will be willing to pay to view it. 

Both Yours and Steemit have an upvoting system that also pays. You can earn Bitcoin SV with Yours.org if you create value, and Steemit pays in their three native digital currencies: SteemPower, Steem Dollars, and Steem, which can then be converted into BTC or other cryptos on 3rd party exchanges. 

Minds.com is an open-source platform for content with encrypted messaging facilities built on the blockchain and has a growing user base that allows anyone to speak their mind and boost their content using its tokens. A free open internet is their goal and they are prepared to take all steps necessary to protect the users' rights.

 

Market Network and Social Media Combined

Markethive is a decentralized Market Network integrated with a social media interface with collaboration being a fundamental characteristic. Built on the blockchain with its own coin (MHV) is setting the pace of a new era in how we communicate and do business online. 

State-of-the-art integrated inbound marketing platform, social network, blogging platform, eCommerce business services, ewallet, coin exchange, mining datacenter, faucet lead portals, Loyalty & Bounty programs and News Media & Content Publisher for success in the crypto-preneurial and entrepreneurial markets.
Markethive pays you MHV coin in the form of micropayments for every activity you execute on the platform. It’s not limited to creative blogging. You can tip members instead of likes which in turn earns more coin. At the moment you also receive 500 coins for just signing up as a free member. There are many more incentives to be part of this growing network including the Loyalty Program which will pay you dividends from the company’s net profits as Markethive continues to establish itself. Markethive is the first social/market network on the blockchain.

Markethive’s mission and objective are to pioneer “Universal Income” worldwide. To empower the novice through to the seasoned entrepreneur.  

 

 

Social Networks Were The Last 10 Years. Market Networks Will Be The Next 10.

First, we had communication networks, like telephones and email. Then we had social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn. Although it has been said Facebook has become a surveillance network masquerading as a social network.
It’s just a matter of time until nearly all independent professionals and their clients will conduct business through collaborative Market Networks and have a massive positive impact on how millions of people work and live, and how hundreds of millions of people buy and sell better services. Also be able to impart any and all information through blog casting without fear of being banned or spied upon, along with creating relationships of value and integrity.

 

Conclusion

Investments in blockchain startups are one of the indicators of the rise in the growth of the blockchain market.  2017 showed the potential for blockchain growth with a little over $1 billion in cryptocurrency investments. In 2018, there was a further increase in blockchain and cryptocurrency investments. This resulted in a cool $3.9 billion through venture ca[ital investments. 

2017 has been described as the year of blockchain tourism, while 2018 was all about experimenting and testing blockchain technology. The time has come now for more companies to utilize it. As illustrated in this article we see many different industries adopting blockchain technology and because blockchain has numerous uses we will see a lot more companies integrating and using this technology to solve real-world issues. 

 

 

Deb Williams 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

The Reality Of Multi-Level Marketing

Over the past few days, I’ve been doing some intensive research about Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) Companies and the people they seem to attract. During my research, I have found there are opposing views to the extreme on the subject which makes it a difficult topic to discuss. There are some who are passionate about it with well-known celebrities advocating, to the point of being an ambassador for a company. [If they are in it, it must be good!]  And on the other hand, if you admit you are in an MLM company people will run a mile and avoid you like the plague. 

There are some reputable MLM companies out there because they focus on the product more than the pyramid structure of recruiting. However, the problem with many multi-level marketing companies and the reason the industry has such a bad reputation is that they make it intentionally complicated, vague on important details and the overhype which gives the recruitee unrealistic expectations. 

It’s also difficult to establish whether or not the company is built around the consumption of the actual product or the premise that you need to bring in more people under you to succeed. If you scan the internet you will find dozens of negative articles such as “What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing?” and very few articles in favor of them. 

 

Reputable Studies On Multi-Level Marketing

About one in thirteen people of 18 years plus have participated in at least one MLM company according to the AARP Foundation. But do these people really make money or even a modest living at multi-level marketing? What is the actual likelihood of success? 

The AARP Foundation did a study that explores the mindset, expectations, and experiences of MLM associates. The results can be found in this report titled “Multi-level Marketing: The Research, Risks, and Rewards.”  The study points out that while it’s possible to achieve some success with an MLM organization, it’s not common. 

The study found that 44% of associates dropped out after less than one year. Another study conducted by Jon M. Taylor, Ph.D., founder of the Consumer Awareness Insitute goes into a little more depth on dropout rates: 

• A minimum of 50% of MLM representatives drops out in the first year.
• A minimum of 90% of representatives leaves within five years.
• By year 10, only those at or near the top have not dropped out—which means at least 95% of representatives have dropped out.

Notably, around two-thirds of the associates in the AARP Foundation’s study said they would not join the same MLM company after knowing what they know now. 

 

How likely are you to be able to make money in MLM? 

The fees and money for products that need to be invested or outlaid by associates to be able to participate and/or keep their status within an MLM company have run into the thousands. Notably, a very high percentage of people have never recouped their expenses and in reality, only a tiny percentage of representatives actually succeed in making the high earnings promoted by some companies. Some don’t make money at all and some, unfortunately, lose money. 

The AARP Foundation study showed that only around 25% made a profit with MLM, 27% broke even and about half of them lost money. Of the 25% that made a profit: 

• 14% made less than $5,000
• 6% made between $5,000 and $9,999
• 3% made between $10,000 and $24,999
• 3% made $25,000 or more
• .05% made $100,000 or more

Interestingly, the ARRP Foundation found that 52% of MLM associates said the company’s representation of achieving financial success was “not too accurate” or “not at all accurate”. Taylor produced a staggering conclusion from his research saying that 

“On average, one in 545 is likely to have profited after subtracting expenses, and 997 out of 1,000 individuals involved with an MLM lose money (not including time invested)”

 

In this video, John Oliver, the comedic host of Last Week Tonight, gives a passionate and satirical presentation about certain MLM companies in light of the events regarding Herbalife and the Hispanic community that was burned by Herbalife as portrayed in the movie documentary  “Betting On Zero”. 

 

Who Do You Trust?

There are some well-known MLM companies that are product-centric. The recruiting component is secondary. The company gets most of its revenue from products or services, not new customers. This means they have compensation plans designed around the product sales at which you are more likely to generate a substantial income on the products alone and not be reliant on the number of recruits or their sales. Additionally, they have a large customer base that are not distributors of the company. 

Before joining an MLM company, it’s crucial to research the company and products thoroughly. Be sure the products are something you believe in and trust. It’s hard to promote something you don’t believe in. I would go so far as to say love and use the product and above all love what you do. It’s a well known saying, “If you love what you do, the money will follow.” Ok, well… It sure beats doing something you don’t like. 

When a company or its representatives display grandiose tactics and hype over the premise of making big money especially with very little effort, it’s a red flag. It seems to me that since the dawn of the internet there are many more MLM’s and money-making programs promising this, which has bred a culture of laziness and desperate people expecting big things in return for little or no work. 

 

Referral Companies – Loyalty Programs – A Win/Win 

Referral companies seem to have the secret sauce when it comes to market growth and sustainability, and it’s not at the risk of pyramidical saturation or loss of financial outlay. Companies that have referral programs use cost-effective marketing strategies by rewarding existing customers or associates to spread the word about the company and its products. By the same token, new customers are rewarded for joining.  This can be in the form of cash, discounts, redeemable points, subscriptions and now in the new era of blockchain, we have cryptocurrency, airdrops, and faucets.

 

Successful Companies That Have Championed Referral Programs

PayPal – They literally gave away free money. Referrals helped Paypal achieve up to 10% daily growth increasing their user base to over 100 million members. The company dropped the refer-a-friend bonus upon reaching a critical mass of early adopters but kept the merchant bonus until they reached their target numbers. 

 

Dropbox – Modelled after PayPal, Dropbox’s referral program, they added a double-sided referral program, where both referrer and friend were rewarded. They permanently increased signups by 60%. The referral rewards were extra storage space which was key to usage and enjoyment of their product.

 

Airbnb – In 2011, 3 years after its initial launch, Airbnb first tested the new referral program in a hugely successful closed-beta program of 2,161 existing members, which brought in 2,107 new members, nearly a 1:1 ratio. It has since seen remarkable growth especially with loyal advocates like the very enthusiastic single user in China led to thousands of signups and hundreds of bookings in a single month. 

 

Uber – Uber has run multiple referral programs at once, for both passengers and for drivers – and set the benchmark for future ride-hailing apps. Uber has covered more than 50 countries in 3 years. With a referrer’s Invite link and a clear call to action to refer friends makes it easy and simple. The bar at the bottom of the image is a clever piece of gamification. Let’s face it, people love games and who doesn’t want to fill up progress bars? 

 

Evernote – Their referral program relies on a point system and has a dual-sided referral incentive program that either gives people additional space or premium membership. Notably, the clarity of what constitutes a referral is clearly defined. Once the referral has signed up, they must also sign in. Their Cloud Notebook has been extremely popular, acquiring their first million users in 14 months and hitting 11 million users two years later.  

 

Markethive – Being the first Social Market Network on the blockchain with its own crypto coin (MHV) and exchange is leading the way with cryptocurrency referral incentives and loyalty programs. MHV is an open-source digital value transaction technology that can be made accessible to cryptocurrency exchanges as well as used for transactions between Markethive’s Market Network participants, and to pay for products and services, etc.

Currently, still in beta, the active user base has gone from 4,000 to 56,000 in a few short months entirely by word of mouth and growing exponentially. In less than a year Markethive has grown from obscurity to rank in the top 5 of companies in the blockchain media companies with an Alexa ranking of 11,500 as of Nov 2019. Markethive rewards active members with airdrops and faucet like payments, and members that upgrade with ILP holding options. New referrals receive 500 MHV coins upon joining. This is an evergreen referral program with loyalty rewards, gamification, and competitions built into the ecosystem making it a fun, lucrative and rewarding platform for all subscribers. 

 

Conclusion 

Once upon a time, before the internet, the only avenue available was MLM opportunities for the average person with no experience to give it their best shot and try to make an income or at least supplement their wage. 

For the last 25 years, we’ve had the internet where so many more opportunities popped up, good and bad. The trick is to identify and be wary of scams with buzz words like “get rich quick”, “fire your boss” and “no effort required”. There are many unscrupulous individuals and companies sadly, that prey on desperate, naive people who dream of becoming successful online and securing financial freedom. 

Coming to the fore we now have blockchain technology which allows a more level playing field providing transparency, privacy, autonomy and equality with more opportunity to reach self-sovereignty. Coupled with honorable companies and noble individuals at the helm who integrate, utilize and pass on the benefits of this decentralized technology is a real win/win in my book. I believe it’s definitely getting harder for the scam artists out there. The end is nigh, people are waking up.  

Are you one of the 97% who lost money in MLM? Can you see the magnanimity of the blockchain era and how it can affect us all very positively? 

 

 

 

 

David Ogden 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

JOHN MCAFEE – A Few Pearls Of Wisdom

John McAfee, now 74 years old, a libertarian, a computer whizz and cybersecurity guru who became a household name with the McAfee Antivirus software, now living a bohemian and somewhat quiet lifestyle somewhere in this world.  He communicates from a faraday cage, where no signals from a device can get out of the foil-lined cage, therefore making him and his message to his followers and anyone else who’ll listen, untraceable. 

The last six months of John McAfee’s life have been interesting, to say the least. John McAfee, accompanied by his wife, Janice, was chased out of the Bahamas for ruffling feathers after he accused the Bahamian anti-corruption czar, Paul Rolle, of corruption. McAfee pointed out the reason for going into exile in the Bahamas is that he couldn’t be easily extradited back to the US from there because the Bahamas does not have an income tax. His argument was that “tax evasion is not a crime in the Bahamas”. Adding to that he has mentioned the possibility of a US strategy that is to “unlawfully collect” him 

Subsequently, they arrived in Cuba where the authorities of Cuba notified McAfee that the US government asked them for the fugitive’s return to the United States. Instead, the Cuban Government stipulated they would prefer if McAfee and his wife left Cuba and gave them 72 hours to leave their country. 

From there they spent a few days at sea, then ventured into the Dominican Republic where they were surrounded by soldiers as soon as they reached the Port. They did manage to elude them once more and now live in an undisclosed location.  According to McAfee, these events were caused by the CIA’s attempt to get him back to the states and answer to charges primarily for tax evasion. McAfee considers the CIA to be “the great monster at the heart of America”. He has also previously warned that there’s an attempt by the U.S. to “silence” him. 

 

The McAfee Dex

In spite of all this, John McAfee still manages to get his decentralized exchange up-and-running. The McAfeeDex, a completely distributed exchange means it cannot be totally shut down. It is still in beta and it already has over 30 different portals, different domains and services globally make it impossible to shut down. 

By the end of the year, there will be over 100, as more and more tokens join the exchange, the latest being Tron and Binance and EOS will follow.  McAfee’s motivation to create the DEX was to challenge the SEC. He wanted to build something the government could not interfere with.  His objective is to solve the cross-chain issue and by the Q2 of next year it will be able to execute true cross-chain transactions allowing interoperability.

Cross-chain protocols, or so-called atomic swaps, allow you to exchange one cryptocurrency for another, even between two different blockchains, without the help from a third party. It's basically a variation of smart contract technology and hash time-locked contracts.

 

McAfee Movie – King Of The Jungle

He continues to communicate his out-of-the-box thoughts, philosophies, knowledge, and beliefs to the world and seen as an authoritative figure in the Blockchain and crypto realm, along with his avid stance on privacy and freedom. Being an interesting and controversial character, Hollywood is making a movie based on a 3-week segment of his life while in Belize back in 2011. 

The movie centers on Wired magazine investigator Ari Furman, who accepts what he thinks is a run-of-the-mill assignment to interview McAfee. Once Furman arrives in Belize, however, he finds himself pulled into McAfee’s escalating paranoia as he becomes a person of interest in the murder of a neighbor. 

Michael Keaton was set to play the part of McAfee however, There are rumors that he has since exited, which is a shame. I thought he would’ve made a sensational John McAfee. Zac Efron will be playing the role of the journalist, Ari Furman which was originally assigned to Seth Rogan. It will be interesting to see who will play McAfee. The project has been in the works for several years now and the producers are hoping to finally start shooting in early 2020. 

 

A Few Pearls Of Wisdom From John McAfee

If you have been following McAfee you would know he has taken a great interest and love for what cryptocurrency and the blockchain can do on a global scale, not only for the first world but the third world countries. No matter where we are from we are all suppressed to some extent and this technology is able to free us from the tyranny and instability we all face.
 
In a recent interview by Crypto Finder, McAfee explained,

“The blockchain and cryptocurrency offer us, as citizens of the world an opportunity to free ourselves from the financial cage in which we are dependant upon the fiat currency which is controlled by the centralized entities which in turn controls us. Crypto gives us a currency free from control and observation of the governments.”   

At the heart of all this McAfee passionately maintains that privacy is the central element of freedom. We can’t be free without privacy. As he puts it, 

"You could not survive, without your right to choose your level of privacy, constantly, every hour, of every day of your life"

McAfee also says governments are not afraid of Bitcoin, simply because quite likely it won’t be the standard-bearer in terms of use. It’s slow, clunky, it has no privacy or smart contract features. It’s basically old technology now, however, people love bitcoin and it will always be our standard of value for investments, at which altcoins are aligned. 

According to McAfee, the cryptos that governments are afraid of are cryptos that we use like Monero, Ethereum and other privacy coins that have an impenetrable technology and a definite use case which can be utilized by the individual country or community thereby creating an ecosystem in which all will benefit. 

The general consensus at present regarding cryptocurrency is to amass and hodl in the hope it rises in price or capitalize on the volatile nature of crypto by buying and selling or trading to make a profit. There seems to be the idea that crypto is intended to make one rich. And although it has happened in the past to the few who invested early, the technology or currency was not originally meant for that to be the case. 

Crypto is meant to be used, in other words, transacted with. Cryptocurrency is predominantly thought of as an investment, however, all that does is create volatility and fluctuation. It is arguably presumed by everyone who enters the crypto world that is it only for exchange.

Interestingly, John McAfee does not invest in cryptocurrency. He continually implores people to use crypto for its intended use. Not just trading in the hope to get rich. 

When asked what does he think is dangerous to the crypto world, McAfee says, 

“What’s dangerous is the users who insanely invest in crypto and not using it. It’s madness! If we don’t use it, the hope of getting rich with it is shattered. Everyone thinks crypto is for exchanging. It’s for transacting, buying things with crypto.” 

McAfee’s views on the Libra coin are not surprising. In fact, any central bank digital currency that is being proposed McAfee says “is the holy grail for totalitarian governments”. Facebook is saying they want to empower the users of their coin. The fact is, Libra doesn’t empower anyone but facebook. On the contrary, everything you do now will be monitored financially. Not just what you’re buying or who your friends are and who you are talking to. 

As McAfee points out,

“Libra is an abomination. Libra is not the spirit of cryptocurrency. It’s just Facebook leaching more and more into your being.” 

 

 

John McAfee speaks at the Barcelona Blockchain Week conference and sheds light and opinions on  Blockchain, crypto and Facebook’s controversial Libra coin. 

“Blockchain is the first world-changing technology in the past 100 years that didn’t come from the bowels of a secret government development or CIA, Samsung, Apple or IBM. It came from ordinary programmers who are ordinary people and now been with us for 10 years when it was brought to light by Bitcoin.”

Prior to that, it was first conceptualized in 1991 by two engineers when they wrote many papers with the idea of creating a timestamped digital document. Essentially they set out to create an immutable ledger. Many consider this to be the first incarnation of blockchain.

Starting out and making his mark with the McAfee Antivirus software, being a mathematician and engineer in his own right, John McAfee is certainly a person people refer to with his wealth of knowledge and experiences. His forthright manner and disruptive views are all about waking people up to what’s happening in the world. His passionate nature and constant use of expletives are what make McAfee who he is as many have come to admire the vigilante. Love him or hate him he makes some good points in this video… 

The Take-Away

It doesn’t matter how many cryptocurrencies are out there. All that matters is the fact they are usable and functional. That they have a use case and have the velocity within an ecosystem. We need to understand the power of cryptocurrency not built by governments, but built by the people and offers us for the first time in human history, the real chance for absolute financial freedom, where your crypto wallet is your bank. 

While listening to this video and John McAfee’s pearls of wisdom I immediately thought of what Markethive is doing for and with its community that is very much aligned with McAfee’s reasonings. It is building an ecosystem offering privacy and autonomy with the opportunity for everyone to realize their potential, become self-sufficient with the freedom and infinite potential of financial sovereignty. 

There is a great purpose and a complete ecosystem of products and services built around the Markethive consumer coin. The Markethive Coin is not dependent upon speculative value as is the case with many other cryptocurrencies and platforms and is a fundamental difference to the other systems out there. 

 

The Markethive system has been developed to produce revenue in the traditional sense with the added benefits of the blockchain taking it to the next level. The revenue is a vehicle that is used to buy the Markethive Coin back in the free market so it can be redistributed into the economic vortex of the system. 

Coupled with numerous domains, a powerful social matrix, and the eventuality of quantum computer technology and mining hives, Markethive will also be impervious to central authorities and will be the ultimate ecosystem that the people need and are looking for whether they realize it or not. It champions all aspects of decentralization, privacy, autonomy, freedom of speech and self-sovereignty with the community’s best interests at heart. 

The future of the global economy will be all about cryptocurrency. It cannot be stopped and it’s not going away. With interoperability becoming more viable with evolving technology at a speedy pace, the Markethive economy with its coin (MHV) will be a resourceful entity in the blockchain and crypto world. Once all operations are integrated along with the steps to ensure long-term sustainability as the community grows, the MHV coin will inevitably increase in value securing your success and prosperity within Markethive and beyond. 

The world needs advocates with soul and heart like John McAfee. Granted, his methods are extreme and unorthodox, but he’s doing his absolute best to “wake people up”. 

God Bless John McAfee and God Bless Markethive. 

 

 

 

 

 David Ogden 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Blockchain – The Answer To An Inequitable Marketing Industry

More and more people are looking for online solutions and opportunities as they realize this is where it’s at when it comes to either creating an income or advertising their business. It can be overwhelming and a real challenge when getting started and the utter extent and scale of the types of marketing available ranging from SEO, search engine marketing (SEM), social media, Inbound marketing, email marketing to native advertising, otherwise known as paid ads or sponsored posts. 
It has become a real jungle out there, and the growth in online marketing over the last five years has been substantial. The statistics of what is trending say; 

• 61% of marketers believe growing SEO or organic presence is a high priority of inbound marketing. 
• Businesses earn an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Adwords. 
• Businesses that show up on the first page of search results get 92% of consumer traffic. 
• Google has a 92.78% search engine market share as of October 2019

 
Search Engine Optimization can be relatively cost-free, however, it produces lower-ranking results due to slow optimization. As more companies are vying to be in the first five of the first page in the search results, many of them are going to paid search options. With PPC (pay per click) there is an opportunity to get on the first page within a day as the strengths of paid search are its speed and expansiveness. The cost can reach into the thousands, especially if a professional firm is hired to manage it full time which arguably is the recommended way to go for optimized brand exposure.  
With more people opting for these services, there is more likely to be extreme risks involved. It’s opening the doors for more data breaches which are happening more often and with an increasing number of users’ records acquired by potentially dangerous and unscrupulous entities. Hackers are continuing to find new ways to access databases and the companies who manage these records display little confidence in their ability to protect first-party data. 

 
How Can Blockchain Help The Marketing Industry?

The online space, on the whole, is improving with the advent of Blockchain technology. Many industries are utilizing the blockchain to improve performance and align their objectives including marketing companies. Marketing strategies and entities like Google Ads, Facebook or any other ad companies for that matter are supposed to help businesses bring traffic and increase lead generation, however, a big issue is the black hat SEO practitioners have infiltrated the industry and have created ad frauds as a significant source of revenue. 

What’s The Difference Between White And Black Hat SEO?

White Hat and Black Hat SEO are both known elements of the SEO industry. These deliver services that are either the right side or the wrong side of what is considered to be ethical. White hat plays by the rules taking a slower, labor-intensive approach to boost search rankings. Black hat SEO companies often use shifty tactics to trick the search engines into providing higher rankings.

 

 

With blockchain technology comes transparency and immutability which eradicates ad fraud and the possibilities of fake click-through rates and bot-driven traffic. Synonymous with the reasons why we now have cryptocurrency, the important and vital advantage of blockchain is to bring transparency to the advertising world. The superiority of blockchain technology and the immutability or tamper-proof characteristic of the distributed ledger system will bring genuine players making an ecosystem of fairness and opportunity with the tools, counter black hat SEO techniques, and fake user eradication. Here are 4 attributes…

  

Market Transparency

The fact that Blockchain is an encrypted, decentralized database of distributed and interlaced nodes, it is suited and can be integrated into all forms of digital marketing. It can solve many issues that come with digital marketing, such as data privacy, security and content monetization. Companies cannot manipulate data so users can feel at ease as the Blockchain data is transparent. 
 

Consumers Regain Control Of Their Information

Marketing companies will no longer be able to extract customer’s information without their permission. It will be a case of earning their consent. There are some blockchain data companies now paying consumers for the use of their contact information and attention. Killi is one App that launched in May 2019 paying users for their data. Every transaction occurs through blockchain, which solves the compliance challenge inherent in regulation such as GDPR or California's Consumer Privacy Act with regards to securing data, the company says. Users, meanwhile, have a full record of who exactly has purchased their data. This gives the consumers full control of their information. 

Brandon Galindo, an account manager at eMarketer, says he downloaded the Killi app partly because of privacy concerns. "Right off the bat you're asked to insert your identity, phone number, allow persistent location and enable Advertising ID," he says regarding his experience in signing up. "Brands can reach out to you, but it is so much more transparent; I'm the one that is asking for this and I am the one who is allowing you to have my data."

 
Security Benefits And Data Protection

With meticulous data protection regulations like the GDPR, marketing companies can leverage blockchain technology to store huge volumes of client data securely. Furthermore, due to the regulatory agreement of the GDPR, it will require marketers to acquire consent which can also be managed on the blockchain. The integration of blockchain technology will change online marketing as it offers incomparable benefits for marketers in terms of performance, security, and transparency with enormous possibilities. End-users will have more control over what companies can send information to them and companies will more easily be held accountable for their actions and lack of transparency. 

 

The Marketing Intermediaries Eliminated

Without blockchain, if a company wants to offer banner advertisements on its website it has to do so through Google AdSense so that no unethical businesses will take over your ad space. This is where Google processes the transaction and charges a fee for its part in the deal. Companies won’t have the need to go through a third-party platform such as Google with the blockchain structure. That’s because blockchain users can be verified through their networks. People would know they’re getting what they’re paying for as opposed to potentially paying for clicks that aren’t genuine.

The other thing to consider is the rising percentage of zero-click searches on Google. That means Google is displaying the answers to many queries on the SERP so there is no need for a user to click on any displayed links, thereby reducing the traffic to other content or websites. Some have said, the rise in zero-click searches which was at 50.3% in June 2019, maybe another indicator of Google abusing its power as a huge portion of clicks are going to Google’s own sites. 

So basically, Google has gone from being everyone’s search engine to everyone’s competitor. If you’re a marketer that relies heavily on Google, there are still opportunities where you can pretty much bypass the search engines and grow your brand and presence outside of search.

 

Many marketers depend totally on SEO in their business so they need to be aware of the issues that may be causing the drops and lower-ranking, and what is now available to them, or they may well continue to lose traction. As more consumers become blockchain savvy and companies start to integrate it into their operations, it will change the digital marketing world as we know it. It will become less expensive achieving better results and the novice marketer and small business will be able to compete. 

Community Is Key

This is where a hybrid Market Network can take the reign and run with it. Markethive, with its new blockchain technology mixed with traditional Inbound Marketing, Commerce, Social Networking, and Digital Media, is not reliant on Google search engines or any other for that matter. SEO is a secondary consideration. It builds its own society and its traffic is contingent on the Markethive membership driving more traffic in, due to the nature of its platform, what it has to offer, the viral aspect and rewards system in place. Just one of the attractions is that Markethive is not dependent upon Google.

 

What Is Markethive? 

Markethive with its deep level linking dynamics is a multi-dimensional, social organizational integrated system. Integrating Vast Social networks reaches, internal social network connections, unlimited interconnected WordPress blogs, the vast API news sites like NBC, Wired Magazine, Bloomberg, Western journal, Mashable and 1000s of other news sites, that continue to expand due to the power of your own Markethive network and the collaboration of separate Markethive groups all working in union with each other. 

The ability to register and assign your many social networks into the Markethive matrix produces a reach literally into the billions. Markethive is an upcoming Market Media and Content Publisher offering Press Releases and Sponsored Articles at a negligible cost and with a reach well beyond existing social and market networks. After comparing 480 other news media sites with regards to their social reach and followers and Alexa ranking, Markethive sits within the top 5 with an Alexa ranking of 11,436 at the time of writing. This continues to drop daily as subscribers flock to join the Markethive network. 

Blockchain Technology and the cryptocurrency sphere have enabled businesses to align themselves with the users’ need and right to be in control of their data and how they use their time to monetize their efforts. Markethive, with their mandate being the rise of the entrepreneur and the fall of the tyrannies that plague society was created by a visionary who saw this coming and much needed to empower marketers, create equality and universal income to enrich society on every level. 

Visionary, Founder and CEO, Thomas Prendergast, says Markethive is…

 “Marketing that is so effective it’s like printing your own money.” 

 

 

Markethive has built a system on the Blockchain to empower the Entrepreneur, offering privacy, freedom of speech and importantly, autonomy.  With its valuable Inbound Marketing system, integrated within a Social media platform, loyalty and bounty programs, Banner Exchange & placement, with multiple Commerce portals, Storefronts, Blogging platform, and Digital Media Platforms offering Press Releases and Sponsored Articles. These tools and integrated platforms are either free to use or at a fraction of the cost of other companies.

All of this on a blockchain foundation, which above all the other benefits, allows Markethive to pay its members to engage on the platform. This includes free members as well as those who have upgraded to Entrepreneur 1.

Thanks to blockchain, the soon to be released Markethive wallet and cryptocurrency exchange will then allow Markethive members to either convert and withdraw their earnings or buy products and services offered by members within the Markethive ecosystem. 

 
Conclusion 

Markethive, 20 years in the making has had the forward-thinking and tenacity to integrate the latest technology to deliver a complete ecosystem for anybody aspiring to work online. With the precarious actions and monopolizing tactics we are now witnessing to what was a lucrative and fair system to gain traffic and exposure, it’s obvious we need to do things differently and bypass the monopolies. There are now genuine opportunities to make your mark online as well as reap rewards and prosper. 

What is being realized is the need for a community-driven ecosystem, with a collaborative mindset that offers a broad spectrum of services that cover all niches, and offers Universal Income for all. Anyone with a passion and looking for a presence online, and a fair and equitable opportunity to attain financial freedom and prosperity, be it commercial artists, writers, bloggers, vloggers, merchants, and entrepreneurs. In fact anyone from any background. Markethive is for the people and by the people. In essence, it gives the power back to the people.

 

 

 

 

David Ogden

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

BLOCKCHAIN EVOLUTION – 
A Global Revolution

It should be clear by now that the blockchain and distributed ledger technology will play a very important role in our future, but it’s not. Blockchain adoption statistics show that half a percent (0.05%)  of the human population is currently using blockchain technology, or somewhere around 40 million people. According to an HSBC survey, 59% of consumers have never heard of blockchain and 80% of those that have heard of blockchain don’t understand it. 

According to even the most conservative estimates, this number is expected to quadruple in 5 years, and in 10 years, 80% of the population will be involved with the blockchain technology in some form. It’s just a matter of education on a simple level where the mainstream community can grasp the concept and understand that this technology stands for freedom, privacy and equality on every level in every country worldwide.

 

WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN? How Would It Serve Us?? 

courtesy of Blockgeeks

Firstly, let’s take a historical look at how this all came about. Was it just a coincidence? Society has been indoctrinated for so long and tends to stay within the status quo or have become complacent putting up with the way things are. It’s time to educate ourselves and be ready for a major shift from the world as we know it. This will benefit our quality of life and the lives of every living soul on the planet. 

Do you know what fiat currency is? Many people do not or at least don’t understand what it means. Here is a short explanation of how it has become detrimental to the economic system we all rely on today;

 

What Is Fiat Money?

 Fiat money or paper money has been defined as any money declared by a government to be legal tender. State-issued money which is neither convertible by law to any other thing, nor fixed in value in terms of any objective standard. Intrinsically, it’s valueless money used as money because of government decree.

Throughout history, fiat currencies have had the order of rising and eventually collapsing, often due to devaluation. Initially, paper money gets introduced into an economy whereby it creates an economic boom. Over time, however, it gets overprinted, slowly building inflation and losing value.

Fiat money is a government-issued currency that isn't backed by a commodity such as gold. Essentially it gives governments' central banks greater control over the economy because they control how much currency is printed.

We all know that money is an entity that can be used in exchange for goods and services and then, of course, there is another system to keep track of its ownership and transactions?—?who owns what, who has what, and who owes how much to whom. 

Historically, it has been widely accepted we need a third-party trusted entity to keep track of money, to keep those transactions and deal with the conflicts, if applicable. But that trusted party being central banks and the Government comes with a cost in terms of efficiencies, the potential for corruption, extra fees and so forth.

The GFC Of 2008 – A Prime Example

In simple terms, let’s go back and see the money flow in a specific scenario in the USA during 2008 where the trust model did not work that well – 

People were earning more money and stored it with a central authority (i.e. banks).
The central authorities/banks started to facilitate risky loans to attract new customers and faced significant defaults on such loans. Due to the inability of the people to pay back the money, many banks collapsed and filed for bankruptcy.

Banks were also using people’s money to invest and lost all the money that the customers had trusted them with. In a nutshell, the banks lost the money that the customers deposited with them, leaving the customers no way of recovering their money.

With the banking system on the brink of collapse, the Government tried to save or bailout some institutions by offering the people’s money (i.e. tax revenue). That created extra expense and of course exceeded the Government’s budget or income, so to alleviate this, the Federal Reserve chose to print more money. There seems to be this trend of printing money to “fix” problems. Theoretically, there is no fixed limit to the amount of money a government can print. A couple billion here, a few hundred billion there, and pretty soon you have a real liquidity crisis; the kind where you are drowning in money, none of which is worth much of anything.

The Gold Standard Kept “Them” Honest

In the past, in the USA and many other countries, Gold was used as the standard where the authorities could not print more money than the gold reserves and it seemed to be a good way to ensure that we use our economy like debit cards so as to keep inflation in check. Basically, you can’t spend what you don’t have.  But now we have credit cards and can spend what we don’t have. Whatever the perceived intentions Roosevelt and Nixon had to cut ties with Gold initially, there have since been ramifications. So effectively, now the Government can print as much money as they want which brings a multitude of issues.

Primarily, with more money being printed, the value of money is reduced and the economy is impacted. As an example, if you have $100 and the country has a total of $ 1000, you own 10% of the money. If the Government prints an additional $1000, you only own 5% of the money and that decreases the value of your money. 

This is what happened in the crisis of 2008. Banks giving bad loans were the cause. Printing the money was a mitigation that helped in this specific case.

Central banking is immoral. Fiat money and its inevitable inflation are theft; the banking monopoly robs people of opportunity and prosperity; the punishment of financial dissenters, such as black marketeers, negates freedom by denying individuals the use of their own property. Central banking’s structure has become so transparently unstable and fraudulent that people have lost their confidence and sense of security in it.

Technology Rises To The Fore

Only six weeks after the crisis, on Nov 01, 2008, a new concept and technology came to light that will positively impact society, business and reshape the financial world. ?A person (or persons) by the name of  Satoshi Nakamoto created a decentralized cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin and pioneered Blockchain technology.  The idea was to create a world where no central authority can control all the money. 

“I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully
peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”?—?Satoshi Nakamoto

So, What Is A Blockchain? 

Blockchain has been defined as a digital ledger in which transactions are recorded chronologically and publicly. Interestingly, Satoshi Nakamoto, who developed and released the first blockchain never actually used the word “blockchain”. Only the words block and chain. 

A blockchain consists of a number of blocks, hence the term. Each block is a record of transactions of specific data, which can contain anything from Cryptos to voting records to medical data. When one block is completed and can no longer be updated with new data, it is added to the chain and another, new block, is formed.

All the information on the blockchain is publicly available, as it’s a decentralized system. Decentralized literally means that the information is stored on many computers distributed around the globe, and there’s no specific party or authority to control it.

Visualizing Blockchain Technology

You could think of blockchain as the Google Docs service – this is a very clever metaphor from William Mougayar.

Do you still remember the good-old-times when people used to create separate Word documents, save them, and then forward them to others for editing? You might, and some of you may still be doing it.

These days, it’s much easier to use a Google Doc, which allows us to create, view, comment, and edit the information in a live document online, given that we have the link and know where it’s located.

In a similar way, blockchain allows for the distribution of information. So, there we have a Google Doc – a block – that is duplicated thousands of times across a large network of computers around the world – a chain of blocks. The network is set to update every single document or block as and when it changed.

Blockchain – More Than Crypto

The blockchain is an undeniably ingenious invention and has since evolved into something greater. Blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, the tech community has now found other potential uses for the technology.  

Image Courtesy of Blockgeeks

 

The Problem with Centralized Infrastructure

Today on the Internet, we must constantly trust one another with sensitive data, transactions, and records. Most of our interactions on the Internet run on centralized web servers, and massive amounts of user data often exist in a single database. Current databases are designed to be controlled by “trusted” admins who can read, alter, block, and even delete data. The centralized architecture of the Internet today is not only inefficient but vulnerable to censorship and targeted attacks by both hackers and internal bad actors.

 

The Value of Decentralization

The decentralized architecture of a blockchain is a global network of computers simultaneously running the software and validating the chain of transactions is what ensures that the transaction record is never compromised. Decentralization is critical as an architectural principle. It makes a blockchain network less likely to fail, harder to attack, and harder for bad actors to game the system.

Conclusion

There are so many benefits to being on the blockchain and as more companies and industries adopt this technology the fairer, more honest and prosperous the world will become. The users of Social Media at this stage are particularly vulnerable to the issues that come with centralization being lack of privacy, data harvesting, fraud, and corruption to name a few. In the next article, we will go deeper into how the blockchain works, what industries are utilizing it and how it can positively impact social media and market networks. 

 

References: Blockgeeks Hackernoon

 

 

 

David Ogden

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Unilever, O2 and Sky Join Blockchain Pilot for Digital Ad Transparency

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden