“We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for four primary customer sets: consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators.” - Amazon 1) How can amazon increase global competitiveness and enter new markets? 2) How can amazon strengthen ties with core customer segments? 3) How can Amazon reduce payment risks at a global, infrastructural level and mitigate global currency risk from an operational impact? 4) How can Amazon evolve its current product offering to meet the needs of the growing middle class? 5) How can Amazon address systemic financial problems that exclude ~3 billion people from the global economy?
Problem Identification: One-Half of the world’s population is systemically excluded from participating in the global economy. The cost of maintaining a secure and reliable economic infrastructure is too high. Financial institution’s Infrastructure is geared towards mitigating the following fraud types: Identity - Network - Transaction - User-Error - Collusion - Reporting - Asset. These types of fraud cause irreparable damage to a system and cause catastrophic failures in resource allocation. A globally distributed (cross-borders) organization wastes billions of dollars performing mundane transactions through highly complex 3rd party organizations. International remittance costs up to 15-20% of a transaction’s value, discouraging global workers from open trade. Technology today provides a means of leapfrogging the existing infrastructure problems in a way that is more transparent, cost efficient, and secure. Advancements in Network infrastructure, Distributed Ledger Technology, PKI standards implementation have not been integrated into the economic ecosystem in a meaningful way. Key to long-term success: Building Identity Infrastructure to meet the needs of the expanding global economy. Our goal is to provide a mathematically consistent, highly secure identity system that can provide financial capability to 90% of the world’s population. The intersection of these standards are the cutting edge information science and technology. Our goal is to provide the world with a human meaningful, accessible, and available identity system for a global Web-of-Trust. The NextTech system proposes a consistent global identity infrastructure for the internet, based on existing web and trade standards. We are building Identity Standards that promote economic inclusion, and economic access for the world’s population.
Technology Standards
Trade Standards
Web Standards
Economic Exclusion is the result of individuals not having access to basic economic tools such as bank accounts, systems to validate claims of property ownership, or access to credit markets to encourage small businesses and micro-finance communities with access to global landscape. Building identity infrastructure for the economy of the future.
Primary Impact Areas: Identity Infrastructure – Provide Users with a low-barrier-to-entry means of participating in digital economic transactions. Transactional Data Security – Using industry standard PKI infrastructure in a Fault-Tolerant validation and settlement network. Data-driven risk reduction – identify systemic fraud and implement an internal credit-scoring system for consumers, sellers, enterprises and content creators.
Future Business Opportunities: Process Automation –Self-governing smart-contracts capable of asynchronous action execution, traceable and auditable throughout the value-chain and extensible to machine-layer instructions for content and machine identities. Reduce Collections/Remittance Times – Reduce the cost of transaction security/validation, reduce settlement times across borders, provide asynchronous transaction validation as an observational data-point. Value-chain cost reduction – Elimination of 3rd party intermediaries that slow the cash collections and disbursement cycles unnecessarily.
Standards to pursue: World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) – Built to meet the stringent design, security and transaction standards for the global web-oftrust. Schema.org – Hypermedia Standard Action/Object ontology.
Cryptography Standards
W3C Standards
Web-of-Trust Formalization
Chain-of-Trust Formalization
Transaction Protocol Standardization
Schema.org Cybernetic Economy
Fair Trade Alliances Economic Inclusion Digital Identity Standards
Cross-border Value exchange Economic Recognition Digital Banking
System Fair Trade Alliances – Utilizing blockchain technology and smart-contracting systems, goods and services can be attributed to their originator and value sent directly to content originators without a 3rd party intermediary.
Digital Identity Standards – By pioneering the economy of the future by addressing the most important needs of individuals and their rights as humans in the internet age.
Novel Technologies: Quantum-Ready Ring Signature PKI system – Leveraging top PKI infrastructure standards, we have created a mathematically consistent ring signature schema for homomorphic encryption systems in Distributed Hash Table Environment. This is cutting-edge technology is the critical technology link for the creation of a globally consistent identity system. Industrial Digital-Asset Classification Process Working with major players in the commodities industry, we can implement process tandards throughout the supply chain. Digital-Asset collateralization, lending, and forwards contracts Market fluidity and responsiveness is the key element of creating a robust economic system. Digital tokenization in a cryptographic lending system allows for participants to maintain ownership control while maintaining agency and actionability of those assets. Digital-Identity Credit scoring Based on a person’s online profile and visibility, heuristic and data-driven metrics can be used to create a digital identity that is more robust, fluid and secure than existing systems. Value to Amazon: Low-cost identity infrastructure, implementable within existing IT systemsThis technology will fulfill the banking needs of 90 percent of the world, specifically allowing the unbanked, underbanked, and the bottom of the pyramid to reach financial goals and participate in the global economic system. Low-Hanging Value Opportunities Reducing the time and cost of cross-border remittance. Utilizing the Internet of Value, Amazon is capable of sending value-laden transactions across borders with instant settlement times. Traditional Remittance Process: 5-10 Days, Roughly 10-15% Cost of remittance
Amy
Access Point
Commercial Bank
Retail Bank
International Clearinghouse Partner
Account Creation
Transaction Funding
User Authorization
SWIFT/ACH
Asset Liquidity
Remittance Information
TX Solvency Check
Voucher
Commercial Bank
Retail Bank
User Account Validation
Access Point Account Funding
Bob Fund Acceptance
Credit Extension
Next-generation Remittance process: 1-4 Days, <1% Remittance Cost
Internet-of-Value Layer Amy
Access Point Wallet Creation
Identity Recognition
Access Point BFT Transaction Mechanism TX Solvency Check
Account Funding
Bob
Wallet Funding TX Validation TX Confirmation
Fund Acceptance
Business-wide Value Delivery System
Amazon Value Delivery System
AMZN Scope of Influence Participants
External Influence
Identity Infrastructure
Logistics
Customer Access
Customer Access
Customer Access
Customer Access
Customer Access
Contract Enforcement Credit Extension Risk Mitigation Contract Settlement
Identity Intermediaries
People
Financial Intermediaries
Market Makers
Settlement Process
Manufacturers
Remittance Process
Financial Infrastructure
Purchase Order Process
Suppliers
Businesses
Intermediaries
Key Processes
AMZN Value Chain
Customer Access
Data Collection Silos Relationship Managment
Internal Identity Management
Behavioral Analytics
Purchase Orders
Transaction Settlement
Cash Flow Mgmt
Financial Information
External Identity Management
Successes: -
One of the most highly available payment infrastructures on the web. Capable of millions of transactions per second. Highly adaptable system capable of delivering millions of products Industry-leading logistics and automation systems Globally accessible commerce platform capable of reaching billions of users Industry-leading web infrastructure, highly scalable web platform
Areas for Improvement: -
Transactional Cost Reduction Settlement time reduction Financial Asset tracking Extension of Financial products Improving access to Lowest Common Denominator populations Retail presence
Risk Reduction areas -
Reduce intâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;l currency risk for the amazon value chain. Diversify capabilities with a globally available economic ecosystem.
Opportunities for capture: -
Provide financial instruments to promote investment in small businesses. Establish a global economic presence
Business-wide Value Delivery System Amazon Enhanced Value Delivery System AMZN Scope of Influence
External Influence
Transaction Settlement
Suppliers Manufacturers Market Makers
TX Recordkeeping
Logistics Customer Access
Commercial Liquidity
Amazon Web-of-Trust Server
Contract Contract Enforcement Settlement
Lending/ Borrowing
Credit Reporting Capability Commerce by Concensus
A
Peer-to-Peer Value Exchange
B Insurance Vehicle TX Auditability TX Traceability
Financial Intermediaries
Value Chain Transaction Recordkeeping
Infrastructure Intermediaries
Financial Information
Smart Contract Automation Systems
Cryptographic Hash Table
Credit reporting and Solvency Data
Buyer/Seller Ratings
Transaction Settlement
Value-Chain Data
Identity Management
AMZN Commerce API
Informational Intermediaries
Machines
Transaction Automation
Commerce Data
Content
PO automation
Businesses
P2P Settlement and Remittance Process
Transaction Token Chain
Identity Validity
AMZN Value Chain
People
Digital Identity Layer
AMZN Value Network Participants
Identity Intermediaries
Amazon Value Delivery Layer
Key Benefits: Increase Capabilities for Internal Financial management. Purchase Order Automation systems. Reduce organizational overhead attributed to cross-border exchange. Eliminate payment friction within your network-of-trust with any partners in the value chain. Provide consistent identity infrastructure to individuals unable to participate through the existing banking system. Establish process automation standards Platform for M2M and C2C commerce. Ability to issue functional cryptocurrency note. Key Risk Reductions: Reduce Dependency on External Influencers Reduce Fraud/Credit Risk by utilizing already existing infrastructure. Reduce Days-sales-Outstanding
Externalities to Business Success The Emerging Global Identity Crisis Access Inclusion Recognition Identity
What is your identity? Where is your identity? These are the key questions that are at the core of NextTech. How can we provide an identity that is consistent, human meaningful, accessible and available across the global network? These questions about identity give us reason to reflect on the advantages of having an identity in the real world, bank accounts, ownership documents, human recognition. By building the core of identity standards, we can address systemic problems in the global economy, reduce predatory information arbitrage, .
Economic Exclusion is the result of individuals not having access to basic economic tools such as bank accounts, systems to validate claims of property ownership, or access to credit markets to encourage small businesses and micro-finance communities to access and compete on a global landscape. Most people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have access to an identity system that is recognized as valid in the global economy. Poverty Alleviation through efficient allocation of resources, global price parity, fair trade are more achievable with a secure identity system that does not exclude based on geographic or ethnographic considerations.
The New Business Opportunity Landscape The explosion of IoT Devices, web-properties, content, and organizations that have a stake in the global economy have been limited by the Business-2-Business and Business-2-Consumer Paradigm. We are proposing a new framework for businesses wherein people, content, machines, and corporations are interacting at an identity level. Working with this new paradigm opens up the blue-waters of commerce wherein an international global standard can be brough to improve the fluidity and fairness of economic systems. Providing defined criterion for these categories of identities, we can securely delineate between every party and counterparty in the supply chain to improve the fidelity of transactions, reduce waste and streamline data interchange at a mathematical level.
Risk Assessment: Statement
Key Risks
Root Cause
Intense Competition across multiple industry verticals
Retail, e-commerce, digital commerce, new devices, web infrastructure, Computing Services
new and enhanced technologies, including search, web and infrastructure computing services, digital content, and electronic devices, may increase our competition
payment related risks
Regulatory Pressure Authentication Systems Buyer/Seller Fraud Cost of Remittance Processing fee fluctuation data breach Cost of infrastructure reinvestment
Need for System redundancy
Reliance on 3rd party Security system providers
Reliance on outside Expertise
We Face Risks Related to System Interruption and Lack of Redundancy We Could Be Harmed by Data Loss or Other Security Breaches We Have Foreign Exchange Risk If We Do Not Successfully Optimize and Operate Our Fulfillment Network and Data Centers, Our Business Could Be Harmed
Hold cash equivalents and/or marketable securities in foreign currencies data center complexity Inventory Optimization problems management of 3rd party inventories
Our Expansion Places a Significant Strain on our Management, Operational, Financial, and Other Resources
expansion increases the complexity of our business and places significant strain across the organization,
We Could Be Liable for Fraudulent or Unlawful Activities of Sellers
unlawful goods unlawful sales practices proprietary rights violations
We May Not Be Successful in Our Efforts to Expand into International Market Segments
Risk of Intermediaries charging fees to end-users
foreign currency exchange restrictions lower credit usage increased payment risk; shorter payable and longer receivable cycles Local competitors with substantial competitive advantage. impaired and constrained access to our online services;
Customer Retention
our ability to retain and expand our network of sellers
Collection of Amounts Owed
inability to collect amounts owed to us when they become due; government regulation of e-commerce, other online services and electronic devices and restrictive governmental actions certification requirements, electronic funds the extent to which use of our services is affected by spyware, viruses, phishing and other spam emails, denial of service attacks, data theft, computer intrusions and similar events;
Regulatory Risks
Other Risks
our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions
because of their greater understanding of, and focus on, the local customer, as well as their more established local brand names
the extent to which operators of the networks between our customers and our websites successfully charge fees to grant our customers