* Many securities firms in Japan, are preparing for crypto trading in 2020. The Japanese FSA is expected to give guidance that will force all future Japanese crypto exchanges to have a full securities license by 2020 to continue operations.
* Preparing for global hack attacks on crypto assets are expected next year. Such attacks in Japan, would grow as it is the only G10 country that recognizes crypto as equal to legal tender is the focus.
* Risk management for crypto assets is a challenge with Japanese management. Few if any senior managers have ever traded crypto. These same few have never traded anything on their smartphone. This is a challenge for them.
* Japanese finance have not figured out how to allow smart phone trading to be part of any corporate trading system. Unlike FX, equity or fixed income markets that take trading volume breaks over weekends, crypto does not.
* How will Japanese risk management be able to allow new crypto traders to take advantage of market swings on a Saturday or Sunday? Who or how would any risk manager work on weekends? Can they work remotely from home? This is a first time situation with no precedent.
* Unlike a castle with walls, there is no perimeter with the cloud. There is no "entrance point" that can be guarded in a simple way to limit risks of data attacks. Cyber attacks can come at any time, from anywhere, for any reason.
* Previously, any salaryman could work in an office that was secure. An internal computer network had an internal access to documents. This work style has changed, but the IT systems have yet to catch up fully.
* As people can work in the office, they can also work remotely. That could be while commuting to an office, while on a business trip, or while at home. The smart phone and wireless networks have opened up many ways for attacks.
* As the migration of paper documents goes digital, the data needs to be rethought during this transition. In the US, CapitalOne, a large financial institution had a problem while migrating its customer data to AWS (Amazon Web Services).
* A rival of CapitalOne approached a worker at AWS with access to the CapitalOne customer account data. For simple cash, they could buy data on 1.5 million customers. The worker disappeared but was arrested a month later. Who is responsible? Both CapitalOne and AWS, face the new reality of "shared responsibility".
* One innovative Israeli startup called SecuPi had a great tool to minimize this kind of risk. They monitor usage of data by employees via internal algorithms.
* If one employees stands out and is using more resources that similar colleagues, they are flagged. Why wait for a rogue employee to leave with copied & stolen data, catch them while they are still preparing any data collection!
* Many Japanese corporate banks, securities, asset management, and real estate firms are all moving away from paper storage to the cloud. Not all will do so smoothly. Open entry points to their digital data will be left for rivals to find.
* There huge volume of data storage going onto the cloud with financial institutions who are not familiar with large scale projects of this type. Most may go smoothly, but then other parts are missing.
* When section of data are only discovered to have been overlooked, problems result. They are added later but under different levels of security. Heads of IT are finding that the data they oversee has various levels of security. Too many case of "I did not know that was there!"(as in without any security) this trend will grow. It is opening up new doors to attack.
* In his first presentation, he explained how previously, satellites were large heavy and expensive. Current models are much smaller, lighter and less expensive to make and launch. This 30 year price change trend from US$100-500M to only US$1-5M per satellite today, was his startup motivation.
* Despite starting 10 years ago, few knew of his efforts until 2 years ago during rocket launches. During the early phases, nobody wanted to join his startup. They felt it was often "too risky" compared to other jobs.
* Finding talented key staff in any startup is a make or break process. Yet it is often the foundation of any final success. He explained how he hired his current rocket firm's president via interviews. It was far from easy and very frustrating.
* As the current president failed to get into Japan national rocket program JAXA, so he decided to consider Nikon's job offer instead as a backup. By pleading to consider his new rocket startup, at just age 30, he was offered the chance to be president, not just a low level member. Now 40, he has proved to be an excellent leader and has no regrets. Recognition comes slowly though.
* One of the few ways Horiemon got exposure for his rocket was by a failed launch. He joked that CNN, NHK and many other media were there. However, when the rocket exploded, it made to fantastic pictures, all captured in 4K resolution!
* One interesting point on failure is that without media exposure, few know. The failures he had in the first 8 years were never known. It is as if they never existed. He hoped that other entrepreneurs in the Japanese audience would remember this and take a chance themselves.
* He has had successful launch now and will be on his third evolution of a rocket soon. The process of building a rocket made him think about how to improve Japan's industrial future.
* The national security issues around even a single part from the US, made for a lot of paperwork before importation. Instead they made 100% of all rocket parts in Japan, all locally outsourced from all over Japan. This made a new trend clear.
* Rockets are nothing more than a transportation service into space. It is an early stage industry with long term demand. Currently on airplanes only 2G internet service is possible. With his new global satellite coverage, 4G will be possible allowing people to stream video while on future airplanes.
* The final shocking statement that got my attention was about how technology changes and evolves. He made it clear to everyone there that all attending have an unclear future.
* "I expect that 90% of you in this room today will lose your job within 10 years"! Do not be a victim, figure out where you want to go in your career, as change is coming, like it or not! That is not the kind of "tough love" that any Japanese audience hears often at a conference although needed, and worth passing on.
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