IBM Blockchain Is a Shell of Its Former Self After Revenue Misses, Job Cuts: Sources

IBM has cut its blockchain team down to almost nothing, according to four people familiar with the situation. 

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Job losses at IBM (NYSE: IBM) escalated as the company failed to meet its revenue targets for the once-fêted technology by 90% this year, according to one of the sources.

“IBM is doing a major reorganization,” said a source at a startup that has been interviewing former IBM blockchain staffers. “There is not really going to be a blockchain team any longer. Most of the blockchain people at IBM have left.” 

IBM’s blockchain unit missed its revenue targets by a wide margin for two years in a row, said a second source. Expectations for enterprise blockchain were too high, they said, adding that IBM “didn’t really manage to execute, despite doing a lot of announcements.”

A spokesperson for IBM denied the claims. 

“Our blockchain business is doing well, thank you,” Holli Haswell, a director of public relations at IBM, said via email. “We have realigned some leaders and business units to continue to drive growth – we do that every year.”

A former IBM staffer who had been working on enterprise blockchain, however, said there have been a succession of “Resource Actions,” or RAs, which basically means firing people based on business performance as opposed to personal performance. 

“I would wager less than 10% [of the blockchain product and engineering team] is still working on IBM Blockchain,” said the ex-IBM source. “There have been tons of reorgs. Pretty much everyone is gone. IBM is now 100% focused on hybrid cloud, so everything that doesn’t support that is deprioritized.” 

IBM has pumped a lot of money into blockchain since 2016, when it began talking about the technology’s potential to transform the way industries do business.

If IBM’s blockchain innovation work is now confined to some R&D, and does not even extend to consulting, as one of the sources said, this sounds an ominous note for the enterprise blockchain space in general – perhaps particularly for the Hyperledger collection of blockchains, to which IBM was a key contributor. 

In its recent full-year results statement, IBM as a whole reported revenue fell 6% on an annualized basis. Looking back to its 2017 financial statement, IBM called itself the “blockchain leader for business.” All mention of the technology is now absent from the company’s statements.

No more TV commercials 

In the past several years, IBM has pushed ahead with a series of blockchain networks built on Hyperledger Fabric. Big Blue’s major blockchain networks are FoodTrust, a farm-to-supermarket tracking system backed by Walmart; and TradeLens, a shipping container logistics blockchain backed by Maersk. IBM has also added the Trust Your Supplier network and previously had a go at payments via World Wire.

While cryptocurrencies and public blockchain networks appear to have flourished in 2020, the economic shock of COVID-19 has impacted innovation departments inside large firms, to the extent that areas not immediately generating revenue – such as blockchain – have been trimmed. 

Another source, an enterprise blockchain engineer with former ties to IBM, estimated more than 100 blockchain-related jobs were cut at Big Blue over the last year. 

The source also pointed out that Jerry Cuomo, IBM’s head of blockchain and an evangelist for the tech going back to 2016, has been moved and is now working on artificial intelligence.

“Jerry is indeed overseeing additional strategic, high-growth parts of the IBM business but is still involved in blockchain,” said Haswell, the company spokesperson. “He is a very senior technical leader and that is what we do in IBM – people’s roles expand.”

After publication of this article, Haswell further disputed the reporting, adding:

"IBM maintains a strong team dedicated to blockchain across the company. We have shifted some resources but remain committed to the technology, blockchain ecosystem and services. We see blockchain as a driver for our cloud business."

Zack Seward contributed reporting.

FGC consensus conference ends successfully

The FGC consensus meeting ended successfully in January. On January 16, 2021, sponsored by Yan’an Jiutian Technology Co., Ltd. and shanghejia, supported by the SCO Secretariat and the SCO industrialist Committee Secretariat, and jointly organized by the SCO National Youth platform SCOLAR and the joint business cooperation center (UCBC Beijing) under the SCO industrialist Committee Secretariat, the SCO national youth business leaders’ meeting officially opened in Shanghai.

 

 

The grand occasion of the conference was unprecedented, and many political leaders attended the conference one after another. Among them, Vladimir norov, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Sergey kanavsky, Executive Secretary General of the industrialists Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, successively delivered video speeches to celebrate the opening of the conference. Shen Huadi, member of the Standing Committee and deputy director of Jiading District Party committee, Sherali Zhuonong, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Zhu Tao, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Office of Internet information technology, counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in China, Jack kourov Baker, permanent representative of Kyrgyzstan to the Secretariat of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and luhman Ahmed, permanent representative of Pakistan to the Secretariat of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, The Deputy Ambassador of Tajikistan to China, the permanent representative of the Republic of Tajikistan to the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Muhammad yegamuzod, the Consul General of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Shanghai, masutov Aziz, and the general manager of the previous family, Li Zhizhi, all took the stage to deliver speeches.

 

 

During the conference, Hua NEISHI, general representative of NC Kazakh invest JSC Beijing Representative Office, Ying Jiwei, chairman of Shanghai Feijia Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., and Yan Tongwen, vice president of China Academy of Management Sciences, delivered different keynote speeches respectively. In addition, in the “thought leaders” forum, professors from famous enterprises from many countries discussed two topics: “fragmentation of connection: integrating the e-commerce pattern of China and SCO” and “sharing is caring: how to open the channel of artificial intelligence and financial technology for regional development”.

 

 

The day before the meeting, the Huangpu River Yacht Fair has come to a successful conclusion. Politicians and industry celebrities from many countries gathered at the yacht fair to discuss the new development path of international e-commerce and the market prospect of international e-commerce.

 

 

Coincidentally, on January 17, 2021, the summit of SBC National Youth Business Leaders Conference and FGC consensus conference opened. All the distinguished guests attended the meeting, including Mr. Hong Ye, Secretary General of the youth business leaders Organizing Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Richard, representative of the ASEAN region of the international supply chain of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Mr. Adrian, spokesman of the preparatory group of the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Mr. Liu Xiaofeng, President of the operation of the FGC of the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Mr. Zheng Yichang, deputy leader of the preparatory group of the FGC of the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Mr. Yang Ensheng, spokesman of the FGC Business School of the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Mr. Li Chuanqi, market representative of the FGC of the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Mr. Lin Jiulin and media representatives attended the meeting one after another.

 

 

Hitherto unknown as everyone knows, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has brought unprecedented impact to the world, as well as the Richard handrian, the ASEAN regional representative of the Shanghai international supply chain. Among them, the economy bears the brunt. According to the world bank’s forecast, the economy will shrink by 5.2% in 2020, and foreign direct investment will show a negative trend. By 2020, global foreign direct investment will be less than $1 trillion. Novel coronavirus pneumonia novel coronavirus pneumonia has caused great damage to the global economy, but for FGC, the new crown pneumonia epidemic also brings new opportunities. We believe that digital economy and cross border e-commerce will play a more and more important role in achieving economic growth after COVID-19, in rebuilding the world economy, enhancing economic competitiveness and improving the quality of life, thus contributing to the goal of sustainable development, and FGC will also contribute to it.

 

 

The digital asset FGC based on blockchain integrates the encrypted distributed ledger technology while token gold, providing the media for value storage and transfer in a seamless, efficient and low-cost way. At the same time, FGC innovation uses gold as collateral, FGC will be used as a unified token or single currency, allowing cross-border transactions between SCO member states, thus strengthening the SCO supply chain, promoting the rapid growth of multinational economy of alliance countries, and providing innovative solutions for cross-border currency circulation.

 

In addition, FGC, as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), builds a secure and anonymous gold trading platform by using smart contracts deployed on encrypted secure blockchain network and adopting blockchain technology, so as to create a perfect communication ecology of transforming physical gold into digital form.

 

 

Subsequently, the conference ushered in a wonderful theme sharing session. Mr. Hong Ye, Secretary General of the national young business leaders Organizing Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, delivered a keynote speech on “introducing the overall planning of the SCO and the attributes of FGC”. He said: due to trade differences, information asymmetry and other pain points, digital blockchain has a place to play. With the improvement of the public chain foundation and the perfect integration of the trade system and the technical characteristics of the blockchain, the use scenario of 100 billion digital currency is obviously promising. Payment system is bound to usher in new changes, and FGC is obviously the future payment system reformer.

 

 

At the meeting, Liu Xiaofeng, spokesman of the preparatory group for the international supply chain of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said: in different economic development cycles, investment methods are also different. Investment opportunities in the past range from bad guys, stocks to the Internet and real estate. Now, with the birth of blockchain technology, the decentralized trust mechanism is becoming more and more important, and the gold settlement of SCO is about to emerge. The existence of FGC has opened up a new direction for this road.

 

 

Lin Jiulin, the representative of FGC market in the international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, introduced the FGC project to you at the conference. Relying on building a global community, he gradually gathered everyone’s consensus on FGC, so as to better serve users.

 

 

Yang Ensheng, deputy head of the preparatory group for the international supply chain FGC of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, stressed the positioning of the government and government agencies and played their respective roles in different forms. FGC will also use advanced blockchain technology to compose a new movement in the future gold settlement system. It is also the only way to embrace legal compliance.

 

 

Mr. Li Chuanqi, spokesman of FGC Business School of international supply chain of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, introduced the application development of blockchain through the story of Rockefeller, and then analyzed the internal logic and commercial value of FGC. It is obvious that FGC is doing a great thing.

 

 

On the same day, the SCO secretary general and his party were invited to visit the FGC Industrial Park in Shanghai financial Valley and had in-depth talks with the person in charge of the park. Financial Valley is one of the key industrial parks in Shanghai. Its main goal is to develop Internet Finance and create an innovative inclusive financial brand.

 

Under the guidance of the person in charge, the party investigated and exchanged the development achievements and application scenarios of FGC public chain, discussed the construction of new infrastructure projects of blockchain, as well as the technical research achievements in the Internet of things and artificial intelligence, and said that FGC digital economy, as a new industrial form, not only has its own vigorous development vitality, but also can “empower” the real economy and become a driving force It is a strong driving force for China’s economic development.

 

FGC has strengthened the SCO supply chain, promoted the rapid growth of the multinational economy of the alliance countries, and provided innovative solutions for cross-border currency circulation. We believe that it will become the successor of bitcoin and even replace bitcoin as the mainstream token in the world.

 

 

With the wonderful sharing of the guests, the conference also ushered in the last part of the activity. The cocktail party marked a successful end to the conference. At present, FGC, as a new supply chain financial payment and clearing medium, has become the most powerful blockchain digital gold platform in the 21st century. FGC also adopts the general visa, master and UnionPay systems, which can directly exchange legal tender in different countries, and finally iterate the swift technology with new technology, or even replace it.

 

It is not difficult to see that FGC is bringing not only a feast of ideas, but also unlimited possibilities of future blueprint to the heavy guests present.

Story from News SEC Charges Three of Stealing $11.4M Through Token Backed by Actor Steven Seagal

The Bitcoiin2Gen trio allegedly bilked investors through false statements and celebrity crypto endorsements.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday charged three associates of defunct crypto firm Bitcoiin2Gen with defrauding investors of $11.4 million through the 2018 B2G token offering infamously peddled by actor Steven Seagal.

Bitcoiin2Gen and Start Options founder Kristijan Krstic and company promoter John DeMarr allegedly violated federal securities laws during the 2018 raise with DeMarr associate Robin Enos “aiding and abetting,” according to the SEC. DeMarr also faces criminal fraud charges in a parallel suit filed Monday.

The trio allegedly promised to deliver Bitcoiin2Gen’s investors an Ethereum-based token the SEC claims never existed. They allegedly disseminated misleading brochures among 460 investors to whom they’d promised a “mineable” and “tradeable” digital token – B2G – selling the sham for funds they never returned.

Bitcoiin2Gen also banked on the blessing of actor Steven Seagal, whom Krstic and DeMarr (through a pseudonym) trotted out as a “brand ambassador” instead of a promoter earning $120,000 to pump B2G. Seagal, who was not named in the Monday suit, settled related charges last February.

The charges bring the regulator’s ICO crackdown into its second presidential administration. Regulators first began pursuing allegedly fraudulent ICO projects during then-President Trump’s administration, but appear poised to continue that trend under Biden’s team.

Story from News SEC Charges Three of Stealing $11.4M Through Token Backed by Actor Steven Seagal

The Bitcoiin2Gen trio allegedly bilked investors through false statements and celebrity crypto endorsements.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday charged three associates of defunct crypto firm Bitcoiin2Gen with defrauding investors of $11.4 million through the 2018 B2G token offering infamously peddled by actor Steven Seagal.

Bitcoiin2Gen and Start Options founder Kristijan Krstic and company promoter John DeMarr allegedly violated federal securities laws during the 2018 raise with DeMarr associate Robin Enos “aiding and abetting,” according to the SEC. DeMarr also faces criminal fraud charges in a parallel suit filed Monday.

The trio allegedly promised to deliver Bitcoiin2Gen’s investors an Ethereum-based token the SEC claims never existed. They allegedly disseminated misleading brochures among 460 investors to whom they’d promised a “mineable” and “tradeable” digital token – B2G – selling the sham for funds they never returned.

Bitcoiin2Gen also banked on the blessing of actor Steven Seagal, whom Krstic and DeMarr (through a pseudonym) trotted out as a “brand ambassador” instead of a promoter earning $120,000 to pump B2G. Seagal, who was not named in the Monday suit, settled related charges last February.

The charges bring the regulator’s ICO crackdown into its second presidential administration. Regulators first began pursuing allegedly fraudulent ICO projects during then-President Trump’s administration, but appear poised to continue that trend under Biden’s team.