German E-commerce Giant Steps Into Blockchain With Self-Governed Marketplace

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1119024926&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1119024926/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;676&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

&l;span&g;The old trope of independent and small businesses needing to adapt in order to compete is true. &l;/span&g;

&l;span&g;However, when these businesses seek out new opportunities online and trade in online marketplaces, they face&a;nbsp;natural limits regarding their independence. While most of them do&a;nbsp;provide a gateway these companies need in order to find new business, there are limits involved. In a &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/sep/14/ebay-etsy-policy-unfair-sellers&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span&g;Guardian article&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span&g; published last year by an online-shop owner, she described her peers as &a;ldquo;powerless against its often arbitrary decisions,&a;rdquo; as she stated.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;Online shopping is sometimes perceived as one of the most &l;a href=&q;https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/19/how-to-structure-a-marketplace/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;centralized&l;/a&g; spaces that currently exists, as the online marketplaces are considered consolidated, with limited autonomy given to the merchant. Additionally, with any centralized format, risks are involved. With online shopping, these risks include susceptibility to fraudulent activity and risks for hidden charges. Furthermore, centralized marketplaces and e-commerce platforms have been slow to adopt cryptocurrencies as payment, as few are equipped to deal with crypto transactions.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;

&l;a href=&q;https://gamb.io/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;GAMB&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;, which stands for Global Alliance of Merchants on the Blockchain, is being built by the German software giant Gambio.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;GAMB is trying to give power to the merchants, allowing sellers located on the marketplace platform to contribute to the rules that govern them and their businesses - unlike a more centralized marketplace.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;According to them, the advantage of blockchain technology for the online marketplace is the transparency. The decision regarding features and services, as well as cost and fee structures, will not be written in stone. Instead, merchants will be able to decide amongst themselves in a decentral autonomous organization. They hope&a;nbsp;merchants will become members of this alliance, thus granting them access to participate in the decision-making process.&l;/span&g;

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&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;&a;ldquo;By using blockchain technology, we can provide a platform which not only provides secure transaction, but an opportunity to create an ecosystem of vendors and merchants which is self governing,&a;rdquo; says Dr. Felix Hotzinger, senior advisor. &l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;So in application, GAMB&a;rsquo;s de-centrally organized marketplace hopes to enable businesses to manage their online shops locally, while ensuring access to traffic, SEO and consumer demand. The marketplace will share gathered data in order to improve the competitive positioning of merchants.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;From a realistic standpoint, taking on tech-giants could seem suicidal, but Gambio has pointed out some major flaws in some of these e-commerce centralized marketplace systems. With over 96% of the American population currently shopping online, and with over 2.1 billion people expected to shop online by 2021 according to &l;/span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.bigcommerce.com/press/releases/bigcommerce-survey-shows-americans-consider-online-shopping-essential/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;BigCommerce&l;/span&g;&l;/a&g;&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;, it is overwhelmingly likely that cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology&a;nbsp;are part of the process of improving.&l;/span&g;

&l;span style=&q;font-weight: 400&q;&g;However, &a;ldquo;unionizing&a;rdquo; merchants in a marketplace could present issues on their own, including the fact that what is sometimes good for the majority of sellers won&a;rsquo;t necessarily be good for all. Only time will tell if Gambio has the resources and the ability to bring about a decentralized marketplace, and give power &a;nbsp;back to the merchants. &l;/span&g;

&a;nbsp;&l;/p&g;

How OPEC Is Holding Its Oil Output Curbs in Place

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How intent is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to stick to output curbs put in place 18 months ago? Intent enough to raise oil production to keep the agreement in place. The global petroleum-cuts pact reached in late 2016 by OPEC’s 14 members and 10 non-members including Russia, succeeded in ending a three-year slump in the price of oil. Now OPEC and its partners have reached a follow-up deal allowing Saudi Arabia and Russia to achieve their goal of raising oil production -- which may partially soothe consumer concerns after benchmark Brent touched $80 a barrel in May.

1. What exactly is OPEC doing?

It agreed to boost oil production from July 1, an 11th-hour compromise after Iran initially threatened to veto any supply hike. The 14-nation cartel, with its allies, will bring production cuts back to the target of 1.8 million barrels a day, set in 2016. While in theory that could mean extra output of 1 million barrels a day, in practice the figure could be lower -- 600,000 to 800,000 barrels a day -- as some producers are unable to pump more. This will be accomplished by some nations such as Saudi Arabia effectively rolling back deeper-than-intended cuts.

2. Is this a change of course?

Not exactly. The output curbs of late 2016 -- forged among OPEC and 10 oil producers outside the cartel -- remain in place. In an acknowledgment of how successful that pact has been in raising prices, the cartel recommitted itself to aim for 100 percent compliance with the deal. That’s a group target, which will give scope to nations such as Saudi Arabia and Russia to increase output. It also implies a transfer in market share from Venezuela and Iran.

3. Was OPEC swayed by political pressure?

Perhaps. OPEC has been buffeted by competing geopolitical agendas. Some of the world’s biggest consumers -- the U.S., China and India -- have pushed the group to open the taps, while Venezuela and Iran want higher prices to compensate for the impact of American sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump criticized OPEC on Twitter for inflating the cost of fuel. His administration quietly asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by about 1 million barrels a day. The kingdom has been quick to acknowledge the needs of consumers in recent weeks, even as it sought to preserve the hard-won unity of OPEC and its partners.

4. What explains Iran’s dissent?

On Thursday evening, a deal looked to be slipping away after Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh walked out of a meeting with fellow ministers, predicting nobody could persuade him to back an increase. Iran has bridled at Trump’s intervention into the cartel’s policy. Zanganeh has said the U.S. president is to blame for high prices because of his unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement and the imposition of fresh sanctions that could significantly curb Iran’s crude exports.

5. What does this say about OPEC’s continuing influence?

OPEC’s obituary has been written many times, but since its creation more than a half-century ago, the cartel has been jolting the world. It’s latest alliance has already defied many doubters as the world’s two largest oil exporters -- Saudi Arabia and Russia -- increasingly dominate policy discussions. Those two heavyweights are even considering inviting all 24 countries to join a permanent body with its own constitution and secretariat. That would mark a seismic shift in oil’s world order.

6. What does this mean for oil prices going forward?

Oil prices reacted favorably to OPEC’s compromise deal, with futures in the U.S. gaining as much as 4.9 percent as ministers left their meeting in Vienna. OPEC stressed that it targets market stability rather than prices, but the longer-term outlook for both looks uncertain. Saudi Arabia might agree with Iran’s analysis that $70 is a very good price for oil, while Russia is prepared for a slightly lower level. Much will depend on how much extra crude comes back on to the market, the robustness of American shale drillers, the fate of Venezuela’s crisis-hit oil industry and the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The Reference ShelfThis Bloomberg graphic shows which countries are reaching their targets for oil production cuts.OPEC enshrined its main objectives in a 1961 statute.QuickTake explainers on shale’s threat to OPEC

4 Financial Tips for Empty-Nester Dads

The dispensing of advice is a paternal tradition: Dads pretty universally like to stick their two cents in. So, in honor of Father's Day, Alison Southwick and Robert Brokamp are dedicating an episode of�Motley Fool Answers to giving some back, with money tips for men at three different stages of their parenting careers.

In this segment, it's advice for fathers whose offspring have, relatively recently, become adults themselves. For these proud parents, the hard work of launching the children may be done, but they may have been letting a few other things slip during the final stretch of that marathon. And the areas where you may want to make changes may only indirectly be about your finances.

A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on June 12, 2018.

Alison Southwick: What's your advice for the golden dad? Is this the empty nester?

Robert Brokamp: This is the empty nester. It could be anyone from their mid-50s all the way up into their 80s or 90s. But, basically the dad that is still a dad, but no longer has the kids at home. They may be retired or close to it, certainly within the home stretch there. For these folks, at least according to the Federal Reserve, the median income of people in the age range of 55-64 is $57,876. So, it is down from the previous age group. The median net worth is $187,000. These are folks who are getting close to retirement and, for many of, they really haven't saved enough.

So, what should you do? Let's start with retirement, of course. It's time to get that professional retirement checkup, again. But part of it, too, is also deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life. Do you want to retire? Do you want to try a second job? The fastest-growing segment of the population that's starting their own businesses is people over 50. Do you want to go back to school? That has to be all part of the retirement plan, not just whether you've saved enough.

Southwick: And that requires soul-searching, not just a sit-down with a financial advisor.

Brokamp: Exactly. A good discussion with your spouse, maybe a career coach, something like that.

N0. 2, get professional tax help to understand how your tax bill is affected by the new tax law, and how it will or has been affected by retirement. Tax rates are down, the new tax law has made a few changes in terms of what you can deduct. It's really good advice for anybody to sit down with, maybe, a good tax pro -- especially at this time of year, they're not so busy, they have some time -- just to understand that.

But it's particularly important for people who are getting close to retirement, because the whole tax scheme changes. When you're working, you get your paycheck. That's by far the No. 1 source of your income, and you pay ordinary income taxes on that. You can't get around that. You can take some deductions here and there, but that's it. When you're retired, everything changes. You have Social Security, which could either be free of taxes or only partially taxed. You have different accounts, taxable account, traditional Roth. You determine where you're going to take your money from, and each one has a different tax consequence. You're selling investments, that has tax consequences. You could buy bonds like municipals, treasuries, and corporates. Each one of those are taxed differently. It gets more complicated. Plus, when you're working, you're used to your employer taking money out of your paycheck and doing the withholding thing. When you're retired, you can do that or not. You can have some taxes withheld from Social Security, or you can do quarterly taxes, which is actually probably better for most people, but they've never done it before.

So, I definitely think, for those who are retired or getting close to retirement, they should see a tax pro to understand how all that changes. Taxes are just like every other expense. You want to lower them, and you have more opportunity and flexibility in retirement, so understanding that beforehand is a good idea.

No. 3, consider downsizing and what the Swedish call dostadning. I don't have a good Swedish accent.

Southwick: Oh, Engdahl is the one who's going to bring the Swedish.

Engdahl: [...]

Brokamp: [laughs] Well, it means death cleaning.

Southwick: Oh, really!

Brokamp: Yes. It's the process of radically decluttering your home so your children don't have to deal with it when you pass away.

Southwick: Actually, we're going to do an upcoming episode on death cleaning.

Brokamp: We are?!

Southwick: Yeah.

Brokamp: Based on the book that came out in January?

Southwick: No, based Lacey coming on the show, and her experience. I just talked her into it today.

Brokamp: Oh, excellent! Well, so, a book came out earlier this year, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning." Basically, let's face it, you've had this house, probably a bigger house. You've raised the kids, they've moved out. You've accumulated all kinds of junk over 20, 30, 40 years. It's a good idea to start going through that. No. 1, you can donate a lot, you can do something with that, do some good for the world. One thing you'll often hear is that you want to be able to give things to your friends and relatives with a warm hand rather than a cold hand.

Southwick: [laughs] Oh, wow! OK.

Brokamp: Meaning, if you're going to be passing along heirlooms --

Southwick: Oh, no, I got what it means! I got what it means!

Brokamp: [laughs] Why not do it now? You could sell stuff on Craigslist, eBay, whatever else, raise money that way. But, it really is, you don't want to be doing that when you're 90, you don't want to be doing that if your spouse has passed away and you're all alone doing it, and you don't want to leave that to your kids. So, now is a good time of life to be thinking about that. And if you have that big four-bedroom house, maybe it is time to downsize to a two-bedroom house. You'll probably pocket some money, as well as lower property taxes, lower utilities. It's something to consider.

Then, finally, No. 4, and this is probably more for older folks than people in their 50s, but, begin sharing your financial management, whether it's with a financial planner or a trusted relative. More and more research is coming out about, basically, how we age, how our brains age, and how that affects our ability to manage our finances as we get older. There's a research article by Michael Finke, John Howe, and Sandra Huston called "Old Age and the Decline in Financial Literacy." They basically gave a financial literacy test to people of various ages over a course of years, and they found, essentially, that financial literacy goes down about 1% per year after age 60. David [...] of Harvard has found that it affects about half the people by the time they're age 80.

Here's the thing, though. While financial literacy does go down, and cognitive decline starts to impair our ability to manage money, our financial confidence remains the same. People are very reluctant to acknowledge the fact that maybe they're unable to handle their money the way they used to.

So, while I don't think that this will happen to everybody, I think everyone should incorporate it into their retirement plan that this is a possibility, and you start building in safeguards into it now. That is, you start hiring a financial planner, start working with someone. Often, it's financial planners or relatives who notice some sort of change in financial management. All of the sudden, this 95 year old person calls in and says, "I want to cash out my IRA because I have this great idea to invest my money."

Southwick: "There's this guy in Nigeria, he's very trustworthy, and I'm very excited."

Brokamp: Exactly. Or, a trusted relative, and you give them power of attorney over the accounts, or something like that, just to build that in. Also, the other aspect of this, too, is -- and, it's often the husband, in this case, the father, who manages the broader financial planning things. What happens if something happens to you and your wife survives? Who's she going to turn to for financial help? It's better to build that relationship now rather than after you're gone and she's on her own and she has to figure that out. Of course, the flip side is also true. It could be that the wife is the one who does most of the financial planning and financial management, and she should do the same thing for her husband, because she could predecease him.

Shares of Forest City soar as Bloomberg reports renewed talk of merger

Shares of Forest City Realty Trust Inc. popped by more than 11% in Monday afternoon trade following a report that the realty company was renewing deal talks with Brookfield Asset Management. According to a Bloomberg article, real estate investment trust Forest City officials are reconsidering a tie-up with Toronto-based Brookfield BAM, -0.24% three months after stating its intention to remain a standalone entity. Citing people familiar, Bloomberg said an offer for Forest City's shares are being discussed in the range of $25 to $25.50 a share. Most recently, Forest City's stock FCE.A, +12.83% was at $22.10, up 10.3%. However, shares of the company are down 8.1% so far in 2018, compared with a roughly 1% year-to-date gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.54% and a 3.7% advance for the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.27% in the first six months of the year, according to FactSet data.

Proposed Regs Update Rules For Electronically Filing Information Returns

&l;p&g;Under current regulations, persons who issue information returns&a;mdash;such as 1099s, W-2s, and the like&a;mdash;have to file those electronically if they issue more than 250 of those returns when counted on a form-by-form basis. However, newly proposed regulations seek to make the 250-threshold counted on an aggregate basis.

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Section 6011 imposes the general obligation to make a return or statement in accordance to the forms and regulations of the Treasury Secretary. Section 6011(e), moreover, regards determining which returns must be filed electronically. That subsection further provides that the regulations shall not require a person to use magnetic media (that is, file electronically) unless that person is required to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year, and, when considering the obligation, the secretary should consider the costs of such requirement.

This rule is important for those that have to file information returns&a;mdash;such as forms in the 1099 series, Forms 1098-T, and Forms W-2, among others. Under current regulations&a;mdash;26 C.F.R. &a;sect; 301-6011-2&a;mdash;there is no aggregation of returns. As the regulation currently provides:

&l;/p&g;&l;blockquote&g;Each type of information return described in paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section is considered a separate return for purposes of this paragraph (c)(1). Therefore, the 250&a;ndash;threshold applies separately to each type of form required to be filed.

26 C.F.R. &a;sect; 301.6011-2(c)(1)(iii).&l;/blockquote&g;

In other words, each type of information return is counted separately for the 250-threshold, i.e., on a form-by-form basis. For instance, example 1 provides:

&l;blockquote&g;For the calendar year ending December 31, 1998, Company X is required to file 200 returns on Form 1099&a;ndash;INT and 350 returns on Form 1099&a;ndash;MISC. Company X is not required to file Forms 1099&a;ndash;INT on magnetic media but is required to file Forms 1099&a;ndash;MISC on magnetic media.&l;/blockquote&g;

&l;img class=&q;dam-image shutterstock size-large wp-image-1100689988&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/1100689988/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;366&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Shutterstock

However, newly published proposed regulations seek now to allow aggregation of return counting.

The proposed regulations add a new paragraph (4), which provides:

&l;blockquote&g;(4) Aggregation of returns. For purposes of determining whether the number of returns a person is required to file meets the 250-return threshold under paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section, all types of returns covered by paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section required to be filed during the calendar year are aggregated. Corrected returns are not taken into account in determining whether the 250-return threshold is met.&l;/blockquote&g;

Although corrected returns are not considered in the initial count, the proposed regulations provide that corrected returns must be filed electronically if the original return had to be filed electronically:

&l;blockquote&g;(5) Corrected returns. Any person required to file returns covered by paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section on magnetic media for a calendar year must file corrected returns covered by paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section for such calendar year on magnetic media.&l;/blockquote&g;

A new example illustrates the rules:

&l;blockquote&g;For the 2018 calendar year, Company W is required to file 200 Forms 1099-INT, &a;ldquo;Interest Income,&a;rdquo; and 200 Forms 1099-DIV, &a;ldquo;Dividends and Distributions,&a;rdquo; for a total of 400 returns. Because Company W is required to file 250 or more returns covered by paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section for the calendar year, Company W must file all Forms 1099-INT and Forms 1099-DIV electronically.&l;/blockquote&g;

And, as applied to corrected returns:

&l;blockquote&g;For the 2018 calendar year, Company Y files 300 original Forms 1099-MISC, &a;ldquo;Miscellaneous Income.&a;rdquo; Later, Company Y files 70 corrected Forms 1099-MISC for the 2018 calendar year. Because Company Y is required to file 250 or more returns covered by paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section for the calendar year, Company Y must file its original 300 Forms 1099-MISC, as well as its 70 corrected Forms 1099-MISC for the 2018 calendar year, electronically.&l;/blockquote&g;

The Service explained that, when originally enacted, electronic filing was not as prevalent and that the form-by-form count was to reduce the cost on taxpayers given then-existing technology. However, due to advances in technology and that electronic filing is now less costly and easier than paper filing, those concerns are now mitigated, and aggregation is no longer necessary.

The full proposed regulations are available &l;a href=&q;https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/05/31/2018-11749/filing-requirements-for-information-returns-required-on-magnetic-media-electronically&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;here&l;/a&g;.

The proposal provides that the the new rules will not apply to information returns that are required to be filed before January 1, 2019. Comments are due by July 30, 2018.

&l;span&g;The above is only a summary of some of the provisions. Consequently, I encourage you to consult the proposed regulations in their entirety.&a;nbsp;&l;/span&g;