Seeds of Wisdom RV and Economic Updates Tuesday Morning 10-01-24

01/10/2024

Good Morning ,

IOTA Powering Trade Across Africa: TLIP Takes Innovative Solutions to East Africa

▪️IOTA is among the sponsors of the African Customs & Trade Conference that takes place in Nairobi on October 7th

▪️The Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP) will represent the IOTA ecosystem and display its market-leading solutions built on the IOTA network.

IOTA has been facilitating innovative solutions across the globe for years, with Africa among the regions where it’s changing the most lives. Come October 7th, IOTA will be showcasing its innovations and impact across the region as one of the sponsors of the African Customs & Trade Conference (ACT).

ACT will be held in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, between the 7th and 9th of October and will focus on effective trade facilitation in the world’s fastest-growing continent under the theme “Borderless trade: Effective trade facilitation in the digital age.”

Organized by Kenya’s tax agency, KRA, it will bring together industry thought leaders, including the heads of the revenue collection agencies across all 54 African nations. Others will include policymakers, academia, research organizations, trade experts, and tech providers.

IOTA has joined the event as a sponsor, alongside the likes of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Germany’s main development agency, GIZ, and the Africa Export-Import Bank.

The IOTA ecosystem will be represented by the Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP). It noted:

Join 54 Heads of Revenue Authorities, policymakers, & innovators at the ACT Conference, shaping the future of trade in Africa. We’re excited that TLIP built on IOTA, will present its digital solutions for streamlining customs & cross-border trade.

In a separate post, TLIP stated: “Expect discussions on innovative solutions to enhance trade across Africa, exploration of next-gen tech, and networking with key players in the sector.”

IOTA in Africa
TLIP has championed IOTA in the African region. Through its digital infrastructure, it enables secure and efficient cross-border collaboration between multiple parties, all done on the scalable, efficient, and feeless IOTA network.

TLIP enables participants across the entire supply chain to share and access digital trade documents in real-time, sourcing data and information from local databases, like Kenya’s tax agency database, as well as regional and global data ledgers. These documents range from export declarations, certificates of export, airway bills and more.

Globally, over $32 trillion is expected to be traded this year, with globalization leading to a more interconnected supply and distribution ecosystem that encourages specialization. However, despite its size, this sector is burdened by tedious and unreliable manual processes and paperwork.

Digital processes have failed as most participants don’t trust each other and have no way of verifying and authenticating information independently. new global trade avenue than the feeless and scalable IOTA?

This makes blockchain technology a perfect solution, and what better network to build this new global trade avenue than the feeless and scalable IOTA?

As we have reported in the past, IOTA has been facilitating global interconnected and sustainable trade via TLIP. The two have expanded to new frontiers, such as maritime activities, where cumbersome processes cost participants billions of dollars every year.

@ Newshounds News™

Source: Crypto News Flash

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EAST AND GULF COAST PORTS SHUT DOWN AS THOUSANDS OF WORKERS GO ON STRIKE

Tens of thousands of longshoremen went on strike at midnight ET, shutting down major ports along the East and Gulf coasts and choking off deliveries of everything from produce to auto parts.

Consumers aren’t likely to feel the pinch unless a walkout lasts for multiple weeks, because businesses and logistics firms took pre-emptive steps to blunt the impact with the holiday shopping season about to kick off. But a work stoppage could still cost the U.S. economy anywhere from several hundred million dollars to $4.5 billion a day, analysts and business groups say. Costs from redirecting goods along longer routes would be passed on to consumers.

The ports handle about half the ocean imports in the U.S. Varying estimates say the strike encompasses 25,000 to 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association. All told, the ILA has 85,000 members.

Union leaders argue that big global cargo carriers have raked in huge profits since pandemic-era supply-chain snags drove up freight rates, saying workers haven’t sufficiently shared in those gains.

In a video posted to an ILA Instagram account, Harold J. Daggett addressed union workers at Maher Terminals in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

“This is going down in history what we’re doing here,” he said.

“They can’t survive too long,” he added.

The strike caps months of heated rhetoric between the union and the United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, which represents major ocean freight and port operators.

The union is seeking raises, as well as limits on automation at ports that it says could cost jobs. The two sides hadn’t negotiated in the days leading up to the potential stoppage.

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject,” the union said in a statement Monday.

The USMX, meanwhile, said that it had been exchanging offers with the union and had hoped to avoid a work stoppage.

“Our offer would increase wages by nearly 50 percent, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans, strengthen our health care options, and retain the current language around automation and semi-automation,” it said in a news release.

Several industries are prepared for the strike, having ordered goods in advance when it became apparent that a stoppage could start Tuesday, but analysts expect more serious impacts if the walkout lasts several weeks or longer. Trucking and other logistics companies raced in recent days to get as many goods as possible out of ports before a potential strike.

The vast port operations of New York and New Jersey stand to be most affected, with about 4,500 workers. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release that she urged the two sides to come to an agreement but that preparations had been made to keep shelves stocked.

“In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need,” she said. “It’s critical for USMX and the ILA to reach a fair agreement soon that respects workers and ensures a flow of commerce through our ports. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to minimize disruption for New Yorkers.”

Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have urged President Joe Biden to intervene using the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. Under that authority, Biden could seek a so-called 80-day cooling-off period that would force dockworkers to stay on the job.

But while the White House has been in touch with the ILA and the USMX in recent days, Biden has said he isn’t looking to invoke the law. An intervention could also unsettle relations with organized labor 35 days before Election Day, as Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris looks to maximize her union support against Republican former President Donald Trump.

“Because it’s collective bargaining, I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” Biden told reporters Sunday.

@ Newshounds News™

Source: NBC News

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INVESTMENT BANK REPORT IDENTIFIES RIPPLE AS A MAJOR COMPETITOR TO SWIFT

A report from global investment bank Houlihan Lokey mentions innovations in cross-border payments, revealing Ripple as a growing challenger to SWIFT.

A recent report from investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey discusses the improvements transforming the cross-border payments sector. The report, released in April as a Market Update, was recently spotlighted by XRP community figure WrathofKahneman (WOK).

One of the observations pointed out by WOK is that Ripple, a blockchain-based payment solution, is emerging as a serious competitor to SWIFT, the dominant player in cross-border payments for decades.

The report stressed that the cross-border sector sees about $190 trillion flowing globally in transactions annually. Notably, this makes the market a lucrative space where even incremental improvements in efficiency or cost reduction can have massive impacts.

Fragmented Payments Sector Presents Ripple with Opportunities
Per the report, the international payments market, while large, faces fragmentation. Traditional banking systems rely heavily on intermediaries, adding both cost and complexity to cross-border transactions.

These inefficiencies make the market ripe for disruption, particularly through new technologies that can simplify the process and reduce expenses. Ripple, leveraging blockchain technology, has positioned itself as a challenger to the legacy SWIFT network.

Notably, the system Ripple uses helps to provide faster settlement times, lower fees, and enhanced security compared to traditional banking systems.

Ripple and Blockchain Gaining Momentum
According to the report, Ripple and other blockchain solutions are beginning to make inroads into the cross-border payments market, competing with card networks and SWIFT’s established dominance.

Meanwhile, Ripple’s partnerships with various fintech companies further solidify its position. The report also highlights Airwallex, Nium, and Wise as other firms that are driving growth in this space. Two of these companies are Ripple partners.

For instance, Ripple’s partnership with Airwallex, confirmed in 2017, focuses on enabling efficient cross-border payments across its extensive network of business clients. Nium also teamed up with Ripple in 2020 to enhance its remittance services using RippleNet.

SWIFT Still Dominant but Facing Stiff Competition
Although SWIFT remains the leader, the report confirms its competition on multiple fronts. Besides Ripple and blockchain solutions, other fintech companies are providing alternative services that cater to the needs of businesses and individuals.

The report notes that firms such as Payoneer, TransferMate, and Thunes are also making strides, targeting the same clients who are tired of high fees and delayed settlement times typical of traditional systems.

The global cross-border business-to-business (B2B) payments market, expected to grow from $39.3 billion in 2023 to $56.1 billion by 2030, provides room for competition. Ripple’s positioning will likely become even more prominent amid the growing demand for more efficient, lower-cost solutions.

Furthermore, in the remittance space, Ripple’s partnerships with companies like Tranglo are already proving transformative. Tranglo joined forces with Ripple years back, but only fully integrated the ODL service from Ripple across all its routes in 2022.

@ Newshounds News™

Source: The Crypto Basic