author - oman observer

Stefano Virgilli - stefano@virgilli.com - An old saying warns about not being “penny wise pound foolish”. It refers to the habit of bargaining on little amounts, while taking rushed decisions...

I was recently invited to speak at the Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference, in Istanbul, Turkey. Prior the conference I was interviewed on the topic of ICO and these are my answers. As an expert in...

I want to dedicate this story to a brilliant Italian self-made entrepreneur. His name was Gino and he passed away last Sunday. Gino was born in 1942, during the second world war, in a tiny town called...

That iPhones and iPad were no longer the “most exclusive” phones on the market, is old news. Now at barely 20 per cent of market share, iOS (the operating system of Apple iPhone and iPad) has...

I would describe mobile phones as the worst industrial design implementation in history. Understand me, this is a provocative column, so it has to start with a bold statement. But it is not just a...

If you have spent at least one day in your life looking into cryptocurrencies, most likely you came across one of these two acronyms, or maybe both: FOMO and FUD. They describe two of the most...

In Italian language we have a funny term: “Gufare”. It literally means “being an owl” or rather “owling”. We use this word when we want to refer to someone whom day-and-night wishes...

In 2017, finance has changed dramatically. With the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the spring of Initial Coin Offerings, I would suggest that the award for the buzzword of the year...

The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has gone crazy, widely passing the quarter of a trillion mark. Many believe that this is (still) just the beginning. Computer antivirus founder John...

CO, as in Initial Coin Offering has become a common financing tool for startups, but make no mistakes, not all that glitters is gold. Especially after attending the Blockshow Singapore 2017, my...

In the beginning it was the barter. Exchanging goods and services is dated thousands of years. It was perfect for a while, when the needs to be satisfied were primitively basic. But it soon became...

The videogame industry has indeed been booming in the past decade. Once that technology had overcome the challenges of computing power, and smartphones made gaming accessible to billions of...

Blockchain is really simple. The official definition in two words is ‘distributed ledger’. But such a simplistic definition does not really emphasise how blockchain is going to be (and perhaps...

CO is a new term to many readers, but very much day-to-day terminology to a lot of small and big investors. The acronym means Initial Coin Offering and it could be considered as a spinoff of the...

Finance is ancient. A currency transaction does not take place instantaneously, but technology has been able to fulfil real time transactions for the past 20 years. This anomaly in the finance...

Acquiring precious metals and commodities in general comes with a usual set of complications. First of all, purchasing small amounts requires a quota of premium to be paid on top of the spread. This...

Irecently had a conversation with a friend of mine who stated: “Everyone was so excited about Groupon some 5 years ago, but look now, it is all gone.” I thought for a while and then I replied:...

The attention towards blockchain and cryptocurrency in general has become inevitable even to the average Joe. Everyone wants to talk about it, but very few know what is all about. In this column I...

First time home buyers are often facing a crucial dilemma. To put it the way The Clash sang it in a famous song, the question is: “Should I stay or should I go?” In fact there are type of property...

When you want to buy a property you cannot avoid being mindful of not overstretching your finance, of course. But there are certainly other factors that could make your housing investment more...