IOTA and Covid-19 testing
21st January 2021 |
Have you ever tried sprinting through an airport with a baby?
In August 2019 – back when global travel was still a thing – I had the displeasure of trying to sprint across Frankfurt Airport with my wife, son, bags and stroller – all that’s needed when you’re travelling with a six-month-old.
Our flight from Napoli had come in late… very late. It meant we had to “leg it” to the imminently closing departure gate for the flight back to the UK. The alternative? Stuck in Frankfurt Airport for another six hours until the next (night time) flight home.
We didn’t make it. We ended up finding out the flight actually had closed just after we had landed and were still taxiing on the runway.
The sprint was 100% unnecessary.
However, it did give us a chance to explore just about every nook and cranny of Frankfurt Airport. And dare I say it’s one of the better airports I’ve spent any amount of time in – even with a six-month-old.
Frankfurt Airport is high tech, clean, easy to get around, it’s the kind of airport that when I heard they were using crypto technology – IOTA – to roll out Covid-19 track and trace, I wasn’t surprised.
One of the issues around collecting personal data around Covid-19 is to ensure it meets all personal and private data regulations. That’s tricky. But cybersecurity firm Ubrich using IOTA technology is showing how it can be done.
When getting a Covid-19 test in Frankfurt Airport you’re issued with a digital certificate with a QR code that allows the test result to be verified through blockchain and tangle technology. The process uses a couple of blockchains including Ethereum, but also IOTA to validate the test results without revealing personal information.
It’s an exciting and novel approach to a real-world problem by using crypto technology to solve it. It’s also just another indication of what IOTA is capable of. It is a technology play that I believe is set to explode with the ongoing expansion of 5G networks, but also across many areas of industry that you might not initially think of.
Stock Focus
Just a quick note that going forward I’ll be implementing this new section for you in these updates, ”Stock Focus”, where we’ll take a look at some of the more important stock announcements or events from the week (if there are any) and what it means for holders.
Velocys: the big news this week is unfortunately negative news. As explained in our initial recommendation, Velocys has been in the process of getting a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant (the Altalto plant) up and going in Immingham (Lincolnshire). This had been a joint development project with British Airways and Shell.
As of this week, it’s just BA and Velocys. Shell has “done a runner” and pulled out of the project. According to Shell the company “decided to focus our resources on other lower-carbon fuels opportunities which leverage our own technology”.
This (as you ‘d expect) sent Velocys’ stock price sharply lower, erasing the gains we’d seen since our recommendation.
The knee-jerk reaction would be to look at an exit. But that’s not what we’re doing. The Altalto plant is continuing its development and it’s still well backed by the company, BA and the British government. Also according to Velocys, the project has no immediate funding calls and there is no direct financial impact on Altalto or Velocys.
Yes, it would have been good for Shell to continue its participation. But it also doesn’t kill the project or the potential for sustainable jet fuels from waste.
The stock also bounced pretty solidly the next day suggesting even the market decided it was oversold and there was still opportunity there. We stay in the stock and still have conviction in its long-term potential.
Corero Network Security: from the negative news of Velocys, it’s good from Corero. Its trading update this week suggests that as bad as 2020 seems to be… it’s not been too bad for Corero.
The company is now expecting its 2020 financial years results to come in better than originally expected by the market and record order intake levels.
To grow against the headwinds of the last year is quite something. This news just reaffirms the view of the importance of Corero in an ever more networked and connected world.
Hyve Group: speaking of headwinds, Hyve Group faces possibly the strongest bounce-back potential from the global pandemic out of all the stocks we’ve identified. Right now there’s very little opportunity to get to the events that Hyve typically puts on. Conferences and expos are all virtual for the time being.
It’s made operating conditions bloody hard for them. The upside is that Hyve has still been able to get some events going, albeit at reduced footprints. This has all obviously meant trading isn’t anywhere near typical levels but it’s still grinding forward.
The good news is vaccines are rolling out, and there’s a good chance the world will reopen in 2021. The company is ready for it, or if things stay restricted for this year, the company is ready for that too.
We will move back to physical events soon enough. What is clear is there’s a definite need and market for the company once the world reopens, and in my view that’s inevitable. Hyve just needs to weather the storm which it’s able to do, and from there I continue to see great bounce-back potential in the company and stock price.
Spirent Communications: having spent all of last week attending virtual conferences from the CES conference and trade show, I realised a number of things. Two in particular.
One, there’s absolutely a need for physical events – that’s why I remain very positive about the outlook for Hyve.
Two, the rollout and impact of 5G has just begun and will be a massive catalyst for growth in the 2020s. There wasn’t a single negative point made from anyone involved in the 5G markets in the sessions I attended last week. Not one.
All participants, panellists, developers and executives were talking about the impact 5G was going to have on technology. The low latency, the speed, the ability to connect to the “smart” world is all now possible with 5G. The opportunities it’s going to open up are immense.
We’re starting to see the early signs of how that translates to stock opportunities too. Spirent for one is already seeing the benefits. It’s also seeing growth according to its latest trading update. Growth in revenues, margins and earnings, all thanks to the ongoing rollout of 5G networks.
It’s right at the heart of the 5G rollout, and fortunately still remains below our buy limit. The stock remains a buy recommendation, and from our open positions one of the best 5G plays we’ve got right now to benefit from ongoing 5G network rollouts and developments.
Finally, just a quick reminder that while we had to withdraw last week’s stock recommendation, I’m still working on getting a new one to you this month. You can expect to get that next week. This won’t impact your February recommendation. So you can expect to get two new recommendations coming at you in quick succession over the next few weeks.
Regards,
Sam Volkering
Editor, Frontier Tech Investor
