>> Narrator: Live from Las Vegas, it's The Cube, covering ServiceNow Knowledge 2018, brought to you by ServiceNow. >> Welcome back to The Cube's live coverage of ServiceNow Knowledge18. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, along with my co-host Dave Vellante. We're joined by John Lee he is the managing director, enterprise innovation and product development at TMX Group, so thank you so much for coming on. >> Oh no worries, thanks for having me. >> I want to start out by asking you about digital transformation, that is a technological buzz word. What does it mean for the TMX Group? >> Well it meant a lot of things to a lot of people, for the TMX Group digital transformation really meant how do we pivot from being the traditional exchange to being more non-traditional. If you think about the event of electronic trading as an example, that's just one of the forms of digital transformation that we did in, I think it was the mid to late 90's. But the funny thing is a lot of the infrastructure around it hasn't really moved with that and so when you think about our issuer services and how we onboarded, it's still very paper based. The business work flows are still very much the same as they were, you know, many, many years ago. And so it's really looking at technology as an enablement tool, to see how we can actually go and reimagine those business flows, that's what digital transformation is to us. The other thing is of course, how we reach our clients, and our client base. Be reminiscent to say that in the past our conversations with our clients were in person, or faxes or hand shakes, phones calls, and now they went to emails, now it's really looking at what we're doing in the social media stream, and how we actually interact with them on the digital stage, I guess you could say. >> So you're not an IT guy, you're a product person, innovation is at the center of what you do. If you think about the technology industry, for decades it's marched to the cadence of Moore's law. That's where innovation came from, clearly that's changing. Where do you see innovation coming from? >> Oh yeah so Moore's law is a perfect example, yeah I'm a business guy, but I have a strong technology background, So I have a bit of an identity crisis, I've been in technology and in business back and forth. But the interesting thing is if you think about Moore's law, and just the sheer amount of computing power that's becoming cheaper and cheaper every two years. It's the fuel that's actually going in and developing a lot of this emerging technology. And you know even five years ago I never would have thought that autonomous driving cars, was something that I would see in my lifetime and here it is, like here and now and so, a lot of what we're doing is to reimagine how our digital transformation journey can be powered by the computing power that's available to us. >> And a lot of that has to do with data, presumably. Data and potentially machine intelligence, how do you look at those, you know the sort of the confluence of sure compute power, but data, machine intelligence, cloud, how does that cocktail create new products, new services? >> It's funny you mentioned that but our strategy is really encompassed around several factors, and one of the things was data. As an exchange, we have a lot of market data, and a lot of data that, quite frankly, wasn't something that we could leverage. It wasn't used as an asset, it was used more as a regulatory holding. So things like putting them in big filing cabinets and in boxes going back and you know, you guys all know who you are, you know we still have a lot of that. And so it's really to figure out how do we look at data as an enterprise asset, how do we leverage that information to apply to our AI, and machine learning agenda? And what are the tools like ServiceNow, to actually help empower that and enable that. >> You're talking about the file cabinets and sort of the old antiquated systems, and then because so much of this digital transformation requires a huge cultural change, can you describe some of the challenges that you faced at TMX in terms of making sure that leaders, and then also the rest of the organization, really are committed to change? >> Well you know our CEO, Lou Eccleston, joined the firm a few years ago, and one of the things that was his main mandate was to transform and pivot the exchange. And so if you think about culture and culture change, that's a very, very difficult thing to do, and in a lot of cases, the culture change is actually more difficult than the technology deployment itself. It's that adoption, getting people to really shift and pivot the way they're doing things. Maybe re-evaluating some of the things that they've been doing for the last 10 to 15 years, and then saying to themselves, well maybe this isn't the best way to do it. And we find that that's actually one of the most difficult things to do and so when we actually started on this journey it was a top down approach and we just said, you know, we need to kind of look at a blank piece of paper, yes we've been around for 150 years, yes we have our operational processes that are very, very robust, that kind of give us that integrity that we have today. But how have we leveraged the technology that's available, how have we leveraged the computing power that's available. And you find that there's this massive gap where we've not kept pace. And so when you think about that pivot, the only way to actually do that, is to focus on the people, the leadership, to get the buy in to say yes, we do believe in this, we do believe in the innovation agenda, and just my sheer presence, like my role and function didn't exist two years ago at the exchange. So that's a testament to say yeah, we are really doubling down on this, and we are going to get start with the people as well. >> Where else are you doubling down, I mean what are the big bets you guys are making? >> Well I mean if you think about a lot of the evolving or emerging technologies, blockchain and distributed ledger is one of the big ones, what we're doing with AI and machine learning, and just how we're actually servicing our client base with our analytics offerings for example, these are things that are just, quite frankly, required certain ingredients, so data being one of them, in a digitized format that you can leverage. The cloud and the adoption of cloud, that's something that we've embraced. Quite as recently as two to three years ago, and, you know, if you think about a lot of the disinter mediating elements of what block chain is, we're not shying away from that, we're taking a very, very close look to understand what the real values are to help reimagine what we do. >> So we were talking off camera, you're from Toronto, hot bed of crypto activity, obviously this notion of a virtual value store is taking on but there's so much innovation going on in the protocols, developing out a de-centralized internet, if you will. Are you an optimist about the ability of a de-centralized architecture like that to actually perform and do the type of work that needs to be done, or do you think it's going to be some other you know, replacement maybe for block chain, what are your thoughts on that? >> Yeah so I wouldn't say that I'm a hardcore evangelist saying that block chain and Bitcoin is going to be the silver bullet to solve absolutely everything, I don't think that's 100% valid. But what I do believe in is in the technology and what it can actually do to transform industry. And the one thing that I do know is it's not for one organization to actually go and shepherd that. This is an ecosystem that we're actually looking at, it's a complete revolution, and in order for that to actually happen, there needs to be a massive collaboration between our industry peers, our customers, our competitors, to really go and understand how the technology can be used. And you know, anyone that truly looks at the benefits of what blockchain is, the sure way to fail is to do it all by yourself in a lab, and simulate absolutely everything, because you will not be able to realize the benefits if you do that. >> So what role does ServiceNow play in this sort of innovation engine that you're building out? >> So ServiceNow, you know, again it's a journey, and I think John was just on and he was talking about where ServiceNow is as a tool set. It's funny that we wanted to converge into a consolidation to reduce our costs, simplify our infrastructure footprint, and in order to do that we needed to reduce the amount of fragmented tools in application stacks that we had. And ServiceNow was one of the four service providers that we viewed as a strategic partner to help us on this journey. And, you know, when they started that journey, it didn't dawn on me to look at business work flow, I just said well ITSM, that's clearly something for if I want to go and procure an onboarding experience for a new employee, ServiceNow is the perfect tool to deal with that. But then you started to see how they're dipping their toes into artificial intelligence, looking at predictive analysis, looking at the data sets that they had, and that's when you started to realize, wait a minute this can actually grow much beyond what technology is, you can actually look to see how this can actually go and transform business and business process flows. How can we actually use the tool to actually touch our client base. And these are things that we never even considered, until, quite frankly, Knowledge17 a year ago when I was here. >> Well it is a journey, as you said. >> It is, it is. >> John thanks so much for coming on The Cube, it's been a great conversation. >> Thanks very much. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Dave Vellante, we will have more from ServiceNow Knowledge18, just after this. (upbeat music)

>> Live from Toronto, Canada, it's theCUBE. Covering Blockchain Futurist Conference 2018. Brought to you by theCUBE. >> Hello, everyone. Welcome back. This is theCUBE's live coverage here in Toronto, for the Untraceable event. Here in the industry, it's called Blockchain Futurist. It's where all the industry elite are getting together here in Canada, to talk about the future of blockchain, crypto, and everything. It's theCUBE's specific coverage. As we continue 2018, kicking off event coverage with our CUBE brand. But right now we've got two great guests from Start-up, and they're called Quantum EXchange and Bank, QuantEXchange. Manie Eagar, Executive Chairman. And, John Willock, who's the CEO. Guys, welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So you guys got some hard news to talk about. >> We do. >> But, you guys are doing an exchange model, bringing something really cool to the market. >> Yep. >> Which, we need to kind of get this figured out. Take a minute to explain what you guys are doing, the problem you're solving, and then we'll get to the news. Absolutely. So, I think the lot of people are doing exchanges. You see them coming all the time, and most of them don't really have any specific differentiation or value add. We are not like that at all. We have spent our careers as part of most of the team, in traditional financial services. And, we're coming from the securities exchange business to bring the learnings from NASDAQ, the learnings from the like of that sort to the Crypto Exchange space. And, to be able to facilitate not only a regulated exchange venue, but also one that is institutional grade in terms of tools and the client experience, as well as the trust factor with the platform itself. So, that's really what we're trying to get done with the Quantum Exchange that we're building right now. >> And how old's the company? How long you been around? When do you guys start? How funded are you? What's happening there? >> So, I'll refrain from discussing funding at this point. But, I will say we've started this year. I left the Toronto Stock Exchange specifically to pursue this in conjunction with Manny. And, we've been batting this idea around for the last couple of years. And, the market reached the stage in maturity and size, that we said now is the time to get going and do it. And, so far, fanfare has been fantastic. Reactions from people in the Crypto Ecosystem, people in the Securities Ecosystem, has been equally positive. >> Yeah. >> There's a strong desire to see something like this come to market. And, we're very excited to be able to launch. >> Before we get to the news, Manie, I want to ask you a question. One of the things that we've seen is two types of behavior. The other guy's got to lose for me to win, and then, or both parties can win. We're seeing trends where people are taking a posture against regulations. Oh, they're evil, they're causing all the problems. They kind of don't know what they're doing, kind of, they're evolving. Maturity levels are different based on countries. But, where the success is happening, like Gabriel with Bit. Okay, there's collaboration. Because the regulars actually want to do a good job most cases. They just can't get there fast enough. This is the new model. This is what people are looking at. This is the kind of solution ... >> Absolutely. >> A bridge between industry, and the slow but, yet want to change regulators. Your thoughts? >> Very, very good point. The good news is we're all talking to each other. I think there's dialogue at the moment, but it's not maybe as open as it should be. Because it's all day one. What I bring to the community, and have for the ... since I got engaged in launching the first Bitcoin ATM in the world, in Vancouver, part of that team. And, I think Anthony Bold from Bit is for an alliance. And, blockchain association in the block forum, which we'll announce tomorrow. 'Cause I worked for Blockhouse. I worked for Vodafone. I was involved in the Empasa project. And, I can see and understand what does it take for people to start using technologies. I think what everybody is hoping for is this golden moment. Like when the first iPhone arrived on the scene. >> Yeah. >> People queued around the block through the night to get ahold of that first device. We haven't had that moment yet. For Blockchain and Crypto. We've had the wild enthusiasm, which is all speculation as far as most of us are concerned. But, maturity is coming, these technology if Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies want to succeed, there needs to be another converging technology with what's already out there. The internet, your financial ecosystem, and so forth. >> Yep. >> In my view, there'll be a coming together. There'll be new models altogether. Incumbents will have to pick up the pace in terms of how they go about it. >> Yeah. >> But, we see the opportunity for ourselves, for Quantex. And the industry as a whole is where the convergence takes place, the dialogue becomes more mature, and open, and transparent. Regulators become aligned. At the moment, we hear of a lot of jurisdictions announcing this, announcing that. But, when you start investigating or assessing, it's different flavors, different cultures, different economies. >> Yeah. >> There's the Commonwealth Block. There's the North American Block. There's the Asian Block. Europe is a whole different ball of wax. >> Yeah, I agree with you and I just want to ... >> So, this is where it gets interesting . That's where we come into the boat. >> Absolutely. >> Well, I agree with you, I just want to make a point. During the dotcom bubble, during that internet wave, there was some over-speculation. But at the end of the day, the forcing function of reality was the growth of the online users was growing every day. >> Yeah, yeah. >> And, the demand and the commerce dollars were still real. Now, certainly there was an exuberance. Irrational, in some cases. But, it all ended up happening. I think here in this market, the forcing function is the reality that there's demand, and there's money, and there's impact. >> There is now, we now know that. >> This is coming. It's not like Doomsday. Well, it was fake. No, not really. >> No, we are still in the first inning of seeing what is actually coming out of all of this. I think last year's price speculation runoff obviously was set to decline at some point. But, there has been a long series of momentum coming out of that, where people have realized that this is something much more important and significant than what it looked like three years ago, perhaps. And, a lot of that talent is now coming to this space. Bringing, the capital, bringing the know-how, us included, to deliver something for the next generation of platform, tools, and ecosystem to really grow this massively. And, bring it much more to the mainstream. >> And, I think the idea of aligning with regulars, help them move faster. You mentioned adopt technology, but, still in the phase of deploying operational infrastructure. You mentioned some of the things, the projects you've worked on. Vodafone, that's cellular, that's towers, that's infrastructure. So, I think we're still in this hybrid model of, in parallel, capital formation, building companies, and then, just, we got to get the roads built. >> Well, and understand the posture that a lot of people are taking on. We need to decentralize, we need to open this thing up. But, at the end of the day, the consumer votes. You and I know if we don't have viewers, we don't have a channel. If we don't have users, people actually using the technology, not only investing, but actually using it. It aint going to happen. Decentralize, centralize to a hybrid. And, that's the part that we need to open ourselves. >> Let me ask you guys a question before we get to the news. This exciting news you get to share. How do you standardize something? Because, one common thread of all these major deflection points, at least, with the major cycles I've lived through, has been standards. >> Absolutely. But, it's not going to be your grandfather's standards.So, TCPIP was different. The OSI model is a different generation. The internet was different. Web social is different. What may happen may be different. So, but, standards play an important role. But, no one has clear visibility yet what will be standardized, what should be standardized. Do you guys have any thoughts on that? >> Well last year John comes in, and he's learned the world of standards at NASDAQ, and TMX, and elsewhere. >> That's true. >> Now, we need to bring it to this world. >> How do we scale operational lead to get a cohesive exchange that can scale and demure value? Where do the standards focus need to be? What should the emphasis ... where does the light get shined on, and where's the energy go to? >> I think, you know, you want to look at standards, think about something like this ETF debate that's been going on. Huge speculation about whether or not that's coming. I think a lot of people who are looking at that ETF debate, specifically, don't actually understand some of the economics and the mechanisms behind the scenes. So, for example, what is a fork? When you think about traditional securities, you got corporate actions like a stock split or dividend. A fork is an entirely different concept with entirely different results. Those are the sorts of things that need to be discussed, standardized, and brought to an industry cohesion to be able to successfully deal with some of these events as the market progresses. And, to bring some normalcy to some of this as well, especially if you want to bring institutions to the plate. And, I think that comes to one of the other initiatives that we're working on ... Which is the industry body, called block forum, which we're going to be discussing in a moment. That can really help be that joining voice >> Hold on, hold on a second. This is the news. >> behind everything. >> This is the news. You guys are announcing, let's get to the news. >> Okay. >> You're announcing a couple things. Start with what you were just talking about. You guys are announcing a forum. Can you explain? >> Correct, correct. So, we're launching, officially, to the remainder of the crowd here tomorrow, block forum. Which is an industry association that will be especially behind driving adult thinking behind all this, putting regulation into place, discussing commonalities around policy, around how to standardize, and how to really make all of this interoperable. And, I think that's the key word. If you have individual pillars of, islands of activity, that's not going to be the same as having a cohesive global solution. And, that's what we really want to drive. >> An exchange solution? >> Well, in our case in Quantex, absolutely. But, an exchange in the services we can offer is one part of the whole puzzle. There's a whole series of inter-connected affairs that have to work together. And, that's what block forum is going to drive, is this assembly of different connected parties who are all working for the greater benefit of the Prio ecosystem. >> Who is going to be involved in the forum? Who is the stakeholders? Who can join? Is it a membership? Is it a consortium? >> It is a membership. There will actually be a token that will have very interesting membership related tokenomics attached that we can disclose at a later date. And, that economic alignment between the parties who are staking effectively their interests in the certain topics that they want back or the certain efforts will be a completely unique model compared to what we've seen in the industry today, where generally speaking, it is a committee who drives something on behalf of members. This is really fundamental for all members, democratically from individuals all the way up to institutions, to be able to participate and voice their interests. >> So you will see governments as members. >> Yes, yes, absolutely. >> You will see industry leading stakeholders and practitioners. The whole idea of the body is not to create new policy or reinvent the wheel. We're getting policy, we're receiving regulation. So, how do we put this in practice? Where are the success stories? How can we show the industry as a whole? Governments across jurisdictions to align around their spacing. >> So a melting pot of people to get a conversation going. >> Right. >> To start shaping an agenda or just start talking? >> So, we're talking to governments at premier and cabinet level. We're talking to boardrooms of banks. We're talking to think of your top 40 leaders in blockchain and crypto. We're talking to all of them and engaging with them. >> And, what's the vision of the outcome that you can envision in your mind? What is that outcome for this group? What do you hope to accomplish? What is the end result, if you can kind of assume things go in a good way, what happens? >> I think this is a unifying voice for leadership in the industry to discuss what the outside, outside of crypto world that is, and really bridge that gap between those who are within and understand natively and those who need to be brought in to be able to interact with this and really grow all of this industry. >> And, promote the role models. >> And, exactly that. Exactly that. To bring the best to the front. And, really show that there is actually serious opportunity, serious business. This is not just a series of hackers or whatever nefarious activity these people casually may think the block chain industry is. This is something very serious and very real. And, we want to be a voice for that. >> Awesome. And, you guys had some other news on the fundraising front. >> Industry first. >> You guys are raising some money, you're doing a private sale, and new gear as much as you can, it's pretty invested, so, I think you can promote it. >> I will say with a caveat as you say, it's pertinent to investors only, and we have not completed our discussions with our legal counsel. Having said that, we are taking the model of a traditional securities exchange membership, seats on an exchange, which can be purchased, which have rights attached, which are a titled asset separately from equity of the exchange, for example, separately from a utility token as you would have seen with many other exchanges. This is something that we feel is a very unique model. We are very excited to be able to launch this, and come to market first with this concept. Which again, is blending the best of the old and new. We're taking tokenization, we're taking a concept that have existed in the previous markets and previous worlds, and blending them together for something that is somewhat unique and wholly new in this application. >> Well, I hope you guys raise a lot of money. We need more harmony between regulating and government entities to bring the whole world together. And, certainly from the money-making standpoint, what the liquidity and exchanges can provide as the world starts to understand where the groove swing is and where those swim lanes are, especially with security tokens. >> You bet, you bet. And, the success is going to be measured in ability to scale sustainably. And, we want to demonstrate that with this model. >> We need some leadership there. So, good luck. Best of luck. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, thank you. >> We are here live in Toronto, Canada for the Blockchain Futurists Conference. I'm John Furrier with theCUBE. Describing the single millers, talking to the most important people, the hottest stories. Here are the most colorful people, people traveling around the world sharing that insights with you. Stay with us for more day coverage here. The first day of two day coverage of Blockchain Futurists. We'll be right back after this short break.