The Newest Player in eSports & Online Gaming

Graph Blockchain Inc. (C.GBLC, REGRF, Forum) is a blockchain solutions provider focused on creating best-in-class enterprise application software solutions with a focus on Distributed Ledger Technology, commonly referred to as DLT or Blockchain. The Company has generated revenues in excess of $1.6 million in only its first year of operation and recently announced they achieved record revenue in Q3 2018.

Now, Graph Blockchain is positioning itself as a formidable new player in the multi-billion dollar eSports and online gaming industries.

On April 11, 2019, the Company announced it had entered into a binding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire of all of the issued and outstanding common shares in Blockchain Innovations Corp. (BIC) – a leading international supplier of revolutionary blockchain technology for the sports, casino and payments industries. BIC designs and develops market ready blockchain technology for public and private real-money wagering and peer-to-peer gaming companies across the globe.

And more big news for Graph Blockchain earlier in March 2019, as it had signed its second contract with a division of Samsung, this time in the neighbourhood of CAD$1,000,000.

According to Statista, in 2018, the global eSports market was valued at nearly US$865 million. The number of online console gamers is expected to grow to over 57 million by 2020, and the market for PC online games alone is projected to reach a value of around US$33.6 billion dollars by 2019.

These are market valuation behemoths that are attracting companies on the forefront of blockchain technology and application software solutions. Companies like Graph Blockchain.

Stockhouse Editorial recently asked Jeff Stevens, recently-appointed CEO of Graph Blockchain, to delve deeper into these new acquisitions and find out more about what it means for the future of the Company and the new blockchain space as a whole.

SH: So, Jeff, can we start off with a little background history about yourself and Graph Blockchain, and the company’s targeted growth trajectory?

JS: I’ve been in the capital markets for over 20 years. I cut my teeth on the buyside working with one of the top retail advisors at CIBC at the time. I then moved to a hedge fund where I was a trader focused on arbitrage situations. I moved to the sell side working with various boutique shops as an institutional sales/trader, I was head of two sales desks before switching to the issuer side. I am one of the founders of Datametrex AI Ltd (TSXV:DM), taking the company from concept to a public company. As a senior officer at DM I was part of the founding group for Graph Blockchain. We raised approximately $4M for Graph as a private company in early 2018 before taking it public in November 2018.

SH: And to the big news;Graph Blockchain’s two major corporate announcements – the purchase of Blockchain Innovations Corp. and the second contract with Samsung / IBM Global. Can you walk us though these transactions and explain to our investor audience where you’re at with the partnerships with these multi-national giants?

JS: I’ll start with Samsung; this is massive milestone for Graph and our core business being blockchain solutions for large enterprise clients. We signed a pilot program contract with Samsung back in July 2018 and our sales team with the help of IBM Global Asia have been working with our contacts at Samsung since then to move to a solution contract. This is a huge win for us and we are very excited to do the same with our other prototype clients including, LG and Hyundai.

The purchase of Blockchain Innovations Corp (BCI) is strategic move on our part to diversify Graph into two revenue streams while still focusing on the core technology of blockchain based solutions. BCI has incredible technology that will revolutionize the way online gaming is transacted. Using their solution will allow for real time wagering on live sporting events, esports events, egaming etc., all on a blockchain powered platform. BCI also owns a gaming studio called The Games Company (TGC), a talented team of developers with 18 games and 10 integrations amongst some of the largest players in the industry, including William Hill online, LOTO Quebec, Draft Kings etc.

SH: As mentioned in the introduction, the Company is investing heavily in the massive eSports market. Can you walk us through how Graph Blockchain blockchain platform works with your new eSports and online gaming platforms?

JS: BCI has developed a fully functional cryptocurrency wallet for users to manage and exchange multiple cryptocurrencies for smart contracts. BCI has provably instant confirmation of transactions, or bets integrated within its technology. The wallet communicates to any existing operator's PAM via an API and, in addition to standard transaction accounting and reporting, operators may permit wagering between players using pay-as-you-go cryptocurrency, where no money is on deposit, as well as players with fiat currency on deposit (in their existing operator account).

Once activated, users with popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, may then exchange those coins for PebbleCoin and begin placing smart-contract wagers. PebbleCoin – the gaming-by-design cryptocurrency BCI's technology utilizes –is one of the first cryptocurrencies to use smart contracts and trade them as freely as coins. We are looking to integrate graph database topology into the infrastructure in the future.


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SH: How will it improve and enhance the existing online infrastructure?

JS: We believe that the Graph Blockchain technology can further speed up the processing of transactions and settlement within the BCI framework.

SH: Will it make the end-user gaming experience better, and if so why?

JS: Yes. Faster processing and execution and payment settlement will make the experience more enjoyable. In addition, this is a great opportunity for sports franchises to further engage their fanbase globally as it will allow for real time wagering during an event. This has the effect of taking a fan from a passive participant in an event to an active participant, thus further engaging them in the brand/experience.

Graph Blockchain’s business model offers customized enterprise solutions, so that blockchain with database management is married together. For newer investors in this sector, can you give a quick rundown of how this works?

JS:The ability to marry our database technology with a blockchain improves overall performance. This is because unlike a traditional database that uses tabular indexing of data, our AgensGraph enables the integration between the relational and graph data into one database. This makes all the processing faster.

SH: In your corporate deck, you mention Graph Blockchain’s four core pillars as “Gain a Competitive Advantage, Gain New Insight, Faster Data Processing, Flexible Data Management”. Can you explain to our investor audience what that’s all about and what are the core benefits?

JS: This refers to the uniqueness of our technology vs. other blockchain technologies and traditional database technologies. GBLC incorporates graph database to the blockchain which gives our clients the competitive advantage by allowing for faster data processing, a flexible data management solution that provides greater insights. One example is how we can show the continuous flow of data via a real-time intuitive visualization chart. This is a great tool for identifying potential red flags as you can see where the data/products are flowing and ending. This is a great tool for fraud prevention as you can easily identify the end user. We did a pilot for a large corporation that wanted to use this tech to ensure their loyalty programs were not compromised and no skimming of points was occurring.

SH:From the investors perspective, can you tell us about the operational set-up of the Company and how Graph Blockchain plans to position itself as an industry leader?

JS: Great question. Graph is headquartered out of Toronto with our corporate offices. Our operations are based out of Seoul, South Korea, where our developers, engineers and sales are based. This was a strategic decision to leverage the relationships both Datametrex AI Limited and Bitinine Global, (the founding JV partners of Graph Blockchain) have in Korea with multinational conglomerates and IBM. With the acquisition of BCI and TGC, GBLC will also have offices in the UK, US and Portugal providing a truly global footprint and an opportunity to cross sell our products in all regions!

SH: And finally, as blockchain technology gains more and more traction outside of the cryptocurrency sphere and adoption within traditional industries, how do you see your company as a game-changer within the current marketplace status quo, and if so, how do you create a competitive advantage for Graph Blockchain moving forward?

JS:I think there are many parts to this answer. From our core technology, I think GBLc is proving itself to be one of the true blockchain solutions companies to come out of the downturn. We have successfully built products, secured some of the largest companies in the world as clients (Samsung, LG, Hyundai) and have driven respectable revenue since inception as a start-up tech company. Adding the gaming component to our business and focusing on the combination of faster performance and payment settlement in combination with a gaming studio that has a strong portfolio of game content and clients will position Graph as a go to destination for both verticals.


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FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.