CASE BACKGROUND

In $1983,$ MGMT eCash Inc. developed a type of cryptographic electronic currency, ecash, which was later used in $1995,$ as digicash for cryptographic electronic payments. This early form of cryptographic electronic payments, led to the conception of Bitcoin, a well$-$known cryptocurrency. Thereafter, many forms of cryptocurrencies were developed where you can buy, sell or exchange cryptocurrencies for other digital currency or traditional currency like US dollars or Euros. Basically, an exchange is where buyers and sellers conduct their business.

"Crypto$-$currencies have the potential to transform fundamental aspects of industry and society and make a considerable difference to the activities of government bodies and policy$-$making. They are perhaps the truest form of digital economy technology that has yet emerged $-$ sitting at the crossroads of technology, economics, social sciences and business $-$ where cryptography has managed to disrupt our established practices and notions of trust, identity and value. $"$

Exchanges come in a few flavours and the company is exploring the following structures:$-$

$$ Trading Platforms $-$ These are websites that connect buyers and sellers and take a fee from each transaction.

$$ Direct Trading $-$ These platforms offer direct person to person trading where individuals from different countries can exchange currency. Direct trading exchanges don't have a fixed market price, instead, each seller sets their own exchange rate.

$$ Brokers $-$ These are websites that anyone can visit to buy cryptocurrencies at a price set by the broker. Cryptocurrency brokers are similar to foreign exchange dealers.

The company has rented traditional office space in a small building, but expects the world to know it from its website and online presence in all its various forms e$.$g$.$ blogs and social media.

Whatever its final form, MGMT aCash Inc. will be a user centric online service, and by positioning itself as the hub in an emerging infrastructure, hopes to become the de facto exchange for several cryptocurrencies.

As a student of MIS I, you have been hired as a management intern by MGMT eCash Inc. You instantly realise you need to do some research, as words and phrases like cryptocurrency, blue ocean, exchange, ATH, block chain, bitcoin, ethereum etc. mean nothing to you. Your boss soon presents you with some historical data as well as a dataset dating back from June $2016$ to November $2017,$ on currency trades for a subset of the more than $2000$ cryptocurrencies in existence. MGMT eCash Inc. argues, that if you can analyse this dataset successfully, then examining the current dataset in detail, will be a breeze. As a new management intern, you are tasked with analysing the provided information and reporting your findings and possible recommendations at an upcoming meeting.

Cybercrimes, security breaches, election hacks and advertising blacklisting have been in the news recently and these are of concern to the company. Recently, there has been much volatility in the market with huge volumes moving between "fiat" and crypto currencies. Many start$-$ups, like your employer, have been trying to position themselves to ride the next wave of expected growth. Your company wishes to be the one leading the pack! This requires them to anticipate the true demand but also to know which products and likely to fail, but more importantly they have to decide on the final business model, and safeguard their electronic assets!

Still glowing from the praises for your earlier analysis, you have been given a new enormous responsibility. You are to assume the role of a functioning manager in the company, and report some findings and possible recommendations at the upcoming meeting.