Integrated Software Stack Enables Enterprise-Class Public and Private Blockchain Backbone, Development, Analytics and Support

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – May 3, 2016) – CONSENSUS – Bloq (bloq.com) has unveiled its eagerly awaited first product: a multi-pronged blockchain software solution designed to allow enterprise users the ability to create, update, customize and analyze their own public, private, and permissioned blockchains, according to Bloq co-founder Jeff Garzik.

BloqEnterprise will serve as a blockchain operating system (BOS) for private and public blockchains, including the following components:

1. BloqRouter is the fastest, most secure Bitcoin full node on the planet, with a hardened Bitcoin Core fork and option to switch to Bitcoin Classic (BIP 109).
2. BloqDev is a battle-tested, bitcoin-originated enterprise blockchain app development environment for Java, JavaScript and Python.
3. BloqView is a network-level “weather report” dashboard, with data analytics and anomaly detection for public and private blockchain networks that answers key questions enterprise clients need answered.
4. BloqSLA is an enterprise-grade Service Level Agreement for 24-7 support.
5. BloqThink is a high-level strategic professional services component.

While it can be used to build public, private or confederated blockchains, BloqEnterprise incorporates a trustless build architecture, which Garzik calls “the most hardened build infrastructure in fintech,” using gitian technology to prove to customers the impossibility of a back-door vulnerability or hack. Hot fixes are delivered within hours, with major updates 2-3 times a year.

Garzik, a long-time Bitcoin core developer, teamed up with serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Matt Roszak in November, 2015, to create off-the-shelf, customizable blockchain solutions. Garzik, who spent more than a decade at open-source software giant, Red Hat, saw the need to provide secure, stable solutions to enterprise users. Using a similar approach, Red Hat became a multi-billion dollar company providing secure, scalable Linux software solutions to the enterprise a decade ago.

“Open source is key to rapid innovation,” said Garzik, “and this has been true of both the early days of Linux and cryptocurrency. But at some point, there needs to be an enterprise-grade solution for a technology to be reliable enough to play in the Fortune 500. You can’t sit around and hope that unpaid enthusiast volunteers come up with an update. Red Hat solved this problem for the Linux market, and Bloq will solve it for the blockchain.”

Adding to the significance of this enterprise suite is the recently announced addition to the Bloq team of Andreas Schildbach, who maintains the bitcoinj repository, as a developer; as well as bitcoin core developer and long-standing chief scientist, Gavin Andresen, and the “father of the smart contract” Nick Szabo as advisors, along with enterprise software entrepreneur Andrew Filipowski, former CFTC chairman James Newsome, and investor/blockchain authority William Mougayar.

BloqEnterprise will be available for deployment immediately.

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Phil Gomes
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The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, has elected Jeff Garzik, CEO and co-founder of Bloq, as their representative to The Linux Foundation Board of Directors. This key appointment recognizes Garzik’s experience with and commitment to innovating with open source technologies.

Before co-founding Bloq to develop enterprise-grade blockchain solutions, Garzik was a bitcoin core developer, and spent over ten years at Linux market leader, Red Hat. His work with the Linux kernel is now found in every Android phone and data center running Linux today.

“Open source is vital to fostering and developing innovative technologies,” said Garzik. “We saw this in the early days of Linux, and the parallels with blockchain-enabled technologies are undeniable. Red Hat made Linux accessible to enterprise companies, now Bloq is doing the same for blockchain.”

Bloq is also a member of the Hyperledger Project, an open source initiative of The Linux Foundation. Hyperledger is a collaborative effort to advance blockchain technology by identifying and addressing important features for a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers.

“We’re pleased to welcome Jeff to The Linux Foundation Board of Directors,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation. “His election by his peers of over 200 Linux Foundation members is testament to Jeff’s reputation as both a technologist and a strategist.”

Garzik will be joining a board that features members from leading enterprise technology companies including Cisco, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle and Samsung.

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Phil Gomes
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Bloq, PwC Australia, Libra and Netki, have launched a new fintech business platform called Vulcan Digital Asset Services to enable digital assets to be used for everyday banking, commerce and other personal currency and asset related services.

Vulcan will provide digital currency wallets, international payment processing, and investment and trading services, and will soon offer point-of-sale and merchant services and the ability to create and support native digital currencies and rewards based systems. Currently, Vulcan is exploring projects with an international banking group, a Central Bank, a regional airline and six other banks.

“There are still significant hurdles to the integration of digital and fiat currencies,” said Jeff Garzik, Co-founder and CEO of Bloq. “Vulcan is a one-stop-shop for enterprise customers seeking advanced solutions for digital currency adoption – and expertise in mass implementations.”

John Shipman, PwC’s Fintech Asia Leader said: “Traditional financial services companies have taken a cautious approach to digital currencies because of the perceived issues with trust and transparency.  Vulcan came about because we were looking at these issues in relation to Bitcoin – the poster child of digital money – and in particular, how we can solve challenges relating to the issues of anonymity, and existing regulatory requirements, and recourse given its cross-border nature, function as a store of value and lack of central control.”

Vulcan is the latest strategic initiative from Bloq aimed at enabling blockchain adoption at the enterprise level. In 2016, Bloq also launched BloqEnterprise, a comprehensive blockchain operating system, and has partnered with several of the world’s largest IT consultancies to bring blockchain software solutions to market leading companies.

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Bloq has acquired Skry, a pioneer in blockchain analytics, to enhance its suite of analysis tools and position the firm to maximize the value of blockchain data sets through artificial intelligence and machine learning. Bloq is a leading enterprise software company focused on building and scaling blockchain networks for leading global companies.

The transaction, which closed on February 24, is Bloq’s first acquisition and includes all of Skry’s intellectual property and team.

“Blockchain networks need more than a rudimentary finder or explorer,” said Jeff Garzik, CEO and Co-founder of Bloq. “We’re ensuring that enterprises won’t have to ‘fly blind’ without a complete understanding of the performance, economics and irregularities of their underlying networks.”

Skry’s platform allows clients to manage, visualize and analyze blockchain data from disperate sources. It allows users to detect anomalies – such as a DDoS attack, spike in transaction fees or certain block dynamics – both on public and private blockchains.

“Blockchain networks will create the greatest data sets we’ve ever seen,” said Matthew Roszak, Chairman and Co-founder of Bloq. “Leveraging machine learning techniques will enable faster and enhanced decision making, while uncovering insights and massive opportunities along the way.”

“Bloq is one of the few blockchain software companies with a comprehensive vision for what enterprise customers need to launch and manage blockchain networks and applications,” said Fabio Federici, former CEO and Co-founder of Skry. “Its team stressed interoperability and painstakingly engineered its technology from day one to be blockchain-agnostic. I’m excited to have Skry be a part of that future.”

The acquisition comes just months after Bloq co-launched Vulcan Digital Asset Services, a platform to enable digital assets to be used for banking, commerce and digital asset related services, with PwC Australia.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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Phil Gomes
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