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Coin Geek
4 days ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
TEA Malta Highlights: Transparent accounting for the digital age
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The second Triple Entry Accounting (TEA) Conference took place at the Salini Resort in sunny Malta. The location was perfect for two days of discussing the academic and commercial opportunities surrounding Triple Entry Accounting while enjoying each other's company in the evenings, thanks to organized dinners and outings. title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""> Our group consisted of academics, auditors, entrepreneurs, inventors, students and other professionals interested in the future of triple entry accounting. Everyone in the room was engaged from start to finish each day, actively listening to presentations, asking questions and providing feedback, all conducted in a roundtable format. For those who are not aware, triple entry accounting creates tamper-evident, decentralized ledgers by adding a third, immutable entry shared among all parties involved. Blockchain is an implementation of triple entry accounting. Ian Grigg, the inventor of Triple Entry Accounting (and Ricardian Contracts), was the conference Chair and was crucial in inspiring the discussions. 'TEA is an exotic thing and there are a bunch of professionals out there who found it to be very interesting and we're all wondering what happens next,' Grigg shared with CoinGeek. 'So the goal of the conference is to bring as many of those people together and start swapping anecdotes and discussions and ideas about how to make it move forward,' he said. Arthur Doohan, Co-Chair of the TEA Conference, said the purpose of this conference and those that follow are to provide a focus for academic research and perhaps a clearing house for those who are practically trying to use it. 'Basically to foster the development and the utilization of triple entry practices,' he said. Renowned artificial intelligence (AI) expert Konstantinos Sgantzos, head of the environmental subsector of Megalopolis lignite mining directorate at PPC Group, believes TEA is a 'hidden gem' that needs to be projected in today's world. 'I think [TEA] solves problems that nobody saw…nobody saw those problems emanating before Triple Entry Accounting,' he said. A recent Block Dojo graduate, Bridget Doran, founder/CEO of Traceport, was also in attendance and said TEA had interested her for many years. 'I think that just the concept of triple entry accounting is what's really basic and so to hear all the different ideas and ways that it can be implemented is exciting,' she said. Throughout the two days, many real-world use cases of TEA were presented, including everything from Hollywood to auditing, informal savings groups, government-issued benefits and AI. 'Hollywood's famous for having opaque or fake accounting systems and depreciation schedules and things that can't be monitored or audited without a lot of money,' shared Ted Rivera, the founder of Block Chain Studios, LLC. 'And so I think triple entry accounting is just giving us a verifiable third party record that's immutable and auditable in real time,' he added. Torje Vingen Sunde, co-founder & CTO of Abendum, has a background in auditing and has made it his life's mission to get everyone onto a TEA system. 'We're not replacing the auditors. We're making the nature of the occupation much more attractive,' he shared after his presentation. 'We're automating the repetitive, less interesting, some would say boring, parts of the work, and we let the auditor spend more time on the interesting part of the work, which is getting to know the business, knowing the industry, using the evidence and putting everything together,' he said. Hakim Mamoni, Liquidity Controller of HoverTrusts, presented on informal saving groups, essentially groups of people who want to help each other save money. 'Those people are mostly managing cash. Triple entry accounting can help them create a system where it becomes more transparent for all the members of the group to see how the cash is being managed how where the cash is being lent, who is contributing correctly, who is paying their loans, etc etc,' he shared. The TEA Conference Manager, Andre Bonello, presented his vision on harnessing TEA to help families in need. 'In Malta and in Europe, there are a lot of people who are suffering from poverty and we can use technology to help these people,' he explained. 'Through the concept of CBDCs, there will be a specific currency dedicated to these people so they can have essential needs, such as food and medicine for them and their loved ones, so with the help of triple entry accounting, this could be done and it will be transparent, accountable,' Bonello added. Sgantzos talked about the synergies between AI and TEA, an area he is particularly passionate about. 'This era from the first model, ChatGPT, up until now, keeps pushing new data out that is created from AI. So the original information that came from humans, which are the original useful information, is constantly declining. So we need to mark this kind of content and there is no better way to do it than triple entry accounting and distributed ledger technology,' he explained. Educating newcomers on TEA was another focus of the event, particularly university students who were delighted to have the opportunity to attend. Robert Sciberras Herrera, a student at the University of Malta, said his main takeaway was how TEA can remove the repetitive nature of auditing, which is precisely what Sunde presented. '[TEA] could snatch that part of the repetitive work from the audit profession, and the practitioner could just focus on the theoretical aspects rather than the laborious, repetitive tasks,' Herrera shared. Thanks to thoughtful presentations, group discussion and engaging evening activities, everyone walked away from TEA Conference 2025 with a wonderful experience and excitement about what the future holds in this space. 'We saw through these presentations that people come up with a concept, with a purpose, with a goal for the future, which is very exciting,' said Bonello. 'There are all kinds of people; there are students who came here who do not understand about this system and who do not know anything about blockchain, but they're excited and they are here and we are here all together,' he added. Watch: Utilizing Triple Entry Accounting title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Coin Geek
14-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
Unveiling startup secrets at the BUILD Startup Festival
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Building a startup in the Philippines' rapidly growing tech ecosystem presents both promises and pitfalls. Startups face the daunting task of turning a great idea into a real-world impact. At the recent BUILD Startup Festival, hosted by the Sinigang Valley Association, CoinGeek delved into how startups can successfully navigate the path from concept to scale. Here's what we uncovered from founders and industry leaders: One of the key drivers of growth? Fintech. title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""> Franco Varona, Managing Partner at Foxmont Capital Partners, said the market shift has been a game-changer. 'This is a country that now, for example, does 50% of their financial transactions online. This only happened again over the last five years,' Varona pointed out. He also noted how policy support has played a pivotal role, saying, 'The government in the Philippines, I think it's safe to say, is the most supportive it's ever been to the ecosystem in its current state… actually investing directly in startups.' But the path to traction isn't smooth. Constantin Robertz, Co-Founder and CEO of LOCAD, a logistics startup that streamlines e-commerce operations, got real about the startup hustle, noting that one challenge is, 'Finding customers that will believe in you when nobody else will.' He also emphasized the danger of overengineering, pointing out, 'In 90% of the cases you overbuild… as opposed to nailing a very specific use case very well.' Meanwhile, Candice Quimpo, Co-Founder of Imaginable Impact, highlighted how inclusive teams outperform by design, not by accident. 'Diversity translates to better outcomes because you start looking at the problem differently,' she says. 'Startup allows us to look for solutions and to innovate, so that everybody benefits.' For those seeking capital, Varona shared what investors are really looking for. 'The first thing we need to do is immediately think of you, your business, your problem—and you need to stand out,' he stated. He also praised the strategic mindset of local founders: 'Filipino founders have actually been quite good about making sure that the fundamentals of the business are there in place before chasing that growth.' And if there's one mindset that resonated throughout the festival, it's this: building a startup isn't a sprint—it's a long game. Founders need to think beyond quick wins and focus on sustainable growth. As Robertz puts it: 'Every company is built one step at a time… we underestimate what we can do in three years or five years.' Key takeaways from BUILD: Build trust with early customers and believers Don't overbuild—solve a specific use case well Diversity drives better problem-solving Government support provides real leverage Want funding? Stand out and show traction From the rise of fintech to the fundamentals of scaling, this year's BUILD Festival proved that the Philippines is more than ready for high-impact entrepreneurship. With the right strategy, team, and mindset, your idea could be the next big success story. Watch | The Philippines startup boom: Highlights from Sinigang Valley Build Startup Festival title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Coin Geek
14-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
DXS: BSV's 'plumbing' still the best base layer for any asset
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Stablecoins play a key role in the blockchain industry's overall infrastructure. Onboarding more of them to a platform is essential for developers who want to get more non-BSV people into the app. DXS CEO Armen Azatyan spoke to CoinGeek recently about reaching new traders beyond the BSV ecosystem and who DXS would like to onboard next. DXS has been one of the BSV ecosystem's quiet achievers. Launched in 2020, it's been writing thousands of transactions to the blockchain per day ever since. It's a trading platform similar to Robinhood in that it provides simple and user-friendly access to multiple markets for everyone, complete with leverage options, liquidity pools, and minimum trades as low as one cent. Unlike Robinhood, its operations are transparent, and users retain custody of idle funds. BSV's scalable blockchain provides cheap, instant, and transparent settlements, and assets are tokenized using BSV's STAS protocol. The platform connects to users' external wallets, thus avoiding the security risk of hosting funded wallets/accounts. DXS is also the first BSV app to integrate non-BSV wallets through an on-chain wrapping mechanism, seamlessly onboarding users from other blockchains to use BSV without even them noticing it (in essence, using BSV as plumbing for peer-to-peer transactions). In addition to BSV wallets HandCash and DotWallet, it also links to MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Fiorin, and Wallet Connect. Coming soon are TON's Telegram Wallet and Tonkeeper Wallet, which means DXS will also likely get listed on Telegram's mini-app store. After that, the developers are working on onboarding Solana wallets and integrating the 1Sat Ordinals protocol. 'We want to have hassle-free deposits and withdrawals,' Azatyan said. DXS's EVM integration (MetaMask and Trust Wallet) works just fine, but as an Ethereum wallet, Layer 2 or not, it comes with all that network's shortcomings, like being slow or expensive to use. Stablecoins is still the killer app on blockchain Azatyan said having a stablecoin for DXS users was always a deal breaker right from the beginning, and having a BSV-native USD stablecoin was a dream. Fortunately, now that there is a stablecoin (MNEE) running on the BSV blockchain, 'it will be miles simpler to implement that,' which DXS is now doing. 'It's the only way to attract a wider audience of traders who don't want constant exposure to BSV price volatility,' he added. While BSV is the best network to handle the exchange's functionality, it's better that it remains in the background as 'plumbing' rather than being a speculative asset itself. DXS is a prime example of how a business can use the BSV network as infrastructure and succeed, independent of the BSV coin's own market price and with users who may never have owned any Bitcoin. Until recently, about 90% of DXS's trading volumes came from users connected with BSV wallets. However, that number is dropping as BSV's market price has fallen or remained stagnant over recent years, and diversifying beyond its BSV-centric user base has always been part of DXS's plans. 'You need that to grow as an independent business,' Azatyan said. If a business targets only BSV holders, then its fortunes are permanently tied to those of the BSV market price. The same applies to businesses targeting only holders of a specific digital asset. DXS's development team has spent a few years onboarding stablecoins from other blockchains and has had to build a lot of its own infrastructure to accept USDT and USDC. In addition to MNEE, DXS is looking at Centi's CCHF (Swiss Franc) stablecoin, although that particular token is more merchant-focused, so it may not be a high-priority market to chase. For now, users can fund their positions on the exchange with BSV, USDC, USDT, DAI, wBTC, or ETH. And speaking of BSV being more open to those outside its sphere, Azatyan said he'd even love to see Tether running natively on BSV someday. Tether's image and governance issues over the years have made that kind of wish almost heretical in the BSV world, with its public commitment to compliance and transparency. But it currently runs natively on about two dozen different blockchains, and Azatyan said it's become like 'a stamp of approval for any blockchain' to have its own USDT token. It retains its first-mover advantage, and every year it adds to its lifespan, adds more liquidity, and cements its position in the market. That's something beyond DXS's control, but being able to handle whatever asset its users want to use most remains the company's mission. For BSV itself, simply being the best available infrastructure for apps like DXS and others may be its most valuable asset. Watch: Teranode is the digital backbone of Bitcoin title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Coin Geek
09-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
Decoding prosperity—Dr. Porras joins CoinGeek Weekly Livestream
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Dr. Eva Porras is the Education Director at the BSV Association. As this week's guest on the CoinGeek Weekly Livestream, she told Kurt Wuckert Jr. about her efforts to educate on blockchain utility and why we should aim for small, incremental adoption rather than hoping to land big projects first. title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""> Wuckert's latest article on the Bitcoin mining industry Before welcoming Dr. Eva Porras, Wuckert talks a little about his latest article on CoinGeek: Bitcoin mining 2025: Is it still worth it? In this article, Wuckert explores how Bitcoin miner revenue is increasingly separate from the Bitcoin economy directly—things like carbon credits and arbitrage are helping them stay afloat. The article explores the opportunities, risks, and fundamental consequences of this setup. Check it out via the link above! Who is Dr. Eva Porras? Dr. Porras may be a familiar face to anyone who has been involved in BSV over the past few years. She's a blockchain educator and advocate with a PhD in Finance for those who don't know her. Dr. Porras discovered Bitcoin while researching for a new edition of one of her books on the cost of capital. After reading the white paper and becoming fascinated with the technology, she focused on educating. What message would Dr. Porras most like to get across? She wants people to realize that blockchain is a tool that can solve problems. However, she first needs a reasonable audience, and the first wave of adopters of any new technology rarely fits that description. Communicating the value of scalable blockchain technology Wuckert asks what two or three key things Dr. Porras considers essential to communicate. She notes that every business has problems and encourages people to focus on those and how blockchain apps can offer solutions. For businesses, this should be about saving money, giving them a competitive edge, etc. Building on BSV or any other blockchain should be framed as an investment to businesspeople, but the approach should always be tailored to the audience. However, no matter who the audience is, be careful to avoid talking about speculation and never give financial advice, she says. Bitcoin or blockchain? Which one does Dr. Porras like to talk about most? She says blockchain is the better option: it's more generic, has a wider scope, and allows her to avoid all of the baggage that comes with the Bitcoin brand, focusing instead on the value of distributed ledgers. Communicating utility effectively depends on who you're talking to: the hammer isn't the right tool for every job. Talking to a technologist will be very different from talking to a businessperson or someone just learning about the technology. Commercial opportunities for blockchain technology Dr. Porras believes that the focus should be squarely on adoption by getting tools and solutions into people's hands that they can intuitively understand. We need to minimize the learning curve, build solutions quickly, and get them into people's hands so they can use and understand them directly. Wuckert says he has realized that trying to score government and enterprise contracts is the hard road with the longest sales cycle. Dr. Porras agrees, saying the focus should be on small, incremental steps. Landing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or big stablecoin would be a dream, but there's too much friction, too many people need to be involved, and it takes too long for now. Right now, we need something concrete to showcase and get a foot in the door with low-friction, small-scale solutions before moving on to more complex ones, she says. In closing, Dr. Porras emphasizes that blockchain is a tool that will impact the global economy and markets. We should all read, listen, learn, and be open-minded about the opportunities and challenges ahead. To hear more about the Bitcoin mining model, CBDCs, teaching about blockchain, and more, listen to the episode here. Watch | Rediscovering Blockchain: Here's how you build trust at scale title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
