State of the Blockchain: Cryptocurrency makes headlines at Sibos while more VCs explore it

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This is State of the Blockchain, a series where I focus on the most noteworthy news you need to know in the blockchain scene over the past week. Without further ado, here’s our hitlist for last week.

The buzzword in the banking and financial world

Blockchain was the inevitable buzzword at Sibos, a banking and finance conference hosted by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Despite his disapproving and sarcastic remarks regarding cryptocurrencies and their “interesting valuations,” SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt showcased the new blockchain proof-of-concept for SWIFT’s Global Payment Innovation (GPI) initiative.

Ripple, a blockchain-based real-time gross settlement system and a competitor of SWIFT, organized Swell, a similar conference to Sibos, on the same days in the same city. They invited the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve System, Ben Bernanke, and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee as keynote speakers for the event on the other side of Toronto.

Why does it matter?

Ripple organized Swell to encourage banking and finance leaders to adopt their existing clients and blockchain proofs-of-concept.

Though SWIFT is already regarded as the industry incumbent, it is still taking the competition head-on by exploring how their blockchain solution can benefit the financial institutions in their network.

This competition is good for the industry, as more banking and finance executives continue to recognize the benefits of integrating blockchain technology and smart contracts into their current systems.

More funds for blockchain and cryptocurrency startups

Global venture capital and accelerator network SparkLabs Global Ventures announced the launch of SparkChain Capital, a US$100 million fund dedicated to making equity investments in blockchain startups and participating in selected token sales.

The fund will be used to invest in 15 to 20 early-stage blockchain companies, with each investment deal between US$1 million to US$3 million. Ten percent of the fund will be set aside to participate in token sales.

This fund is not the first of its kind; it joins the ranks of prominent funds like 1confirmation, Blockchain Capital, Polychain Capital, Fenbushi Capital, and Digital Currency Group.

Why does it matter?

Blockchain companies have collectively raised more than US$1.25 billion through token sales year to date, US$800 million of which came in Q2 2017 alone. About US$358 million in traditional VC funding went to blockchain startups in the same period.

Venture capitalists and institutional investors are starting to keep an eye out for cryptocurrencies for two reasons:

All-star investors backed the “holy grail” of cryptocurrencies

Great reads this week