Cryptocurrency News Now!: Bitcoin scarcity just got real

Monday, August 20, 2018

Bitcoin scarcity just got real

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“What affected me most profoundly was the realization that the sciences of cryptography and mathematics are very elegant, pure sciences. I found that the ends for which these pure sciences are used are less elegant.”

- Jim Sanborn

Happy Monday! It's the home stretch! Less than 24 hours left on our Crypto Starter Pack Giveaway that contains over $1,000 worth of crypto gear! Continue reading to see how to enter. Good luck!

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$6,444.19022	-0.16%

ETH	$286.026111	-5.84%

XRP	$0.332731	-4.63%

BCH	$542.848096	-5.4%

EOS	$5.018897	-5.69%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST

RESEARCH

Bitcoin scarcity just got real

CoinShares CEO Explains How Half of Remaining Unmined Bitcoin is 'Already Spoken For'

CRYPTO AWARENESS ON THE RISE

Three recent surveys indicate that people's interest in Bitcoin is steadily increasing:
- ING International Survey
  - 66% of Europeans, 57% of Americans and 70% of Australians have heard of cryptocurrency
  - 25% of Europeans, 21% of Americans and 15% of Australians expect to own cryptocurrency in the future
  - 9% of Europeans, 8% of Americans and 7% of Australians currently own some cryptocurrency
- Global Blockchain Business Council Survey
  - 6 out of 10 Americans have heard of Bitcoin
- Bank of Canada Survey
  - Roughly 2/3 of Canadians have heard of Bitcoin
  - Less than 3% of Canadians own any Bitcoin

The CoinShares team did some math using data from the ING survey and found that there are 99 million people who intend to own Bitcoin but don't yet:

HALF OF BTC SPOKEN FOR

If these 99 million people each buy only 100 euro (~$114) worth of Bitcoin that results in an increase in demand of 1.9 million Bitcoins
There are only about 3.8 million Bitcoins left to be mined

Read the full blog from CoinShares

EXCHANGE

Binance CEO Reveals that 90% of Binance Employees are Paid in BNB

CRYPTO SALARY

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently revealed that 90% of the company's employees are paid in their own token, Binance Coin (BNB)
It is safe to assume that Binance is the leading company in the world in terms of paying their employees with cryptocurrency
The exchange allows employees to decide if they wish to receive BNB or fiat currency, after receiving the BNB employees are able to sell the coins for fiat if they need

OTHER COMPANIES OFFERING CRYPTO

Binance may be the most prominent, but other companies around the globe are beginning to offer work compensation in cryptocurrencies
The GMO Group, one of Japan's largest technology companies, offers crypto as an option for workers' pay

Last December, The GMO Group announced the reason behind its crypto pay option:

"The GMO Internet Group will contribute to the development of virtual currencies in the world by promoting efforts related to virtual currency throughout the group."

Companies adopting cryptocurrency in this manner will only help to further adoption and growth of the ecosystem

HACK

Chinese Authorities Arrest Hackers Suspected in $87 Million Crypto Heist

THE $87 MILLION HEIST

Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that three Chinese citizens have been arrested for stealing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
According to the estimates, $87 million worth of crypto was stolen from a number of corporate and personal victims
The heist was completed remotely as the cryptocurrencies were stolen off of breached computers and transferred to other locations

INVESTIGATION SUCCESS

To find the hackers, a self-declared victim came forward after he lost over $14.5 million worth of crypto due to cybercrime in March
Then, after collaboration with multiple unnamed internet companies, a suspect with the surname Zhou was located
In addition, two other experienced hackers connected with Zhou were located as well

It is still unknown what the consequences of the case may be but it seems China is cracking down on crypto-related cybercrimes after less than a month ago 20 individuals were arrested for illicit crypto mining.

OPINION

Microsoft and Intel Took 10+ Years to See Gains, Crypto Will Be Fine

CALLING CRYPTO DEAD

2018 brought a worrisome bearish trend to many investors as Bitcoin slid over 50% in value and many altcoins have slid over 75-80% in value so far
Many critics are calling crypto dead as they point to low adoption and inconvenience as reasons to leave crypto behind
According to 99Bitcoins, Bitcoin has been declared "dead" 308 times by the media

PATIENCE WILL WIN

In contrast, crypto experts remain optimistic and are urging investors to have patience
To elaborate, crypto entrepreneur Phillip Nunn explained that "Amazon at its peak took nine years to recover from peak, troff, back to peak."
Further, Nunn adds that Intel took 15 years and Microsoft took 17 years to reach peak prices again
Nunn then closes with the hopeful line "Bravery will return massive amounts"

COINSHARES CHIMES IN

Also referring to the Dot-com bubble, CoinShares CSO Meltem Demirors reiterated that "new technologies [like cryptocurrencies] that shift the paradigm" don't get adopted overnight
She urges investors to take a look at the internet and you will see that many were skeptical of its success in the early days

One internet critic Paul Krugman is now immortalized on the internet after he predicted the internet's flop in 1998:

"The growth of the Internet will slow drastically… By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s."

Though no one can predict the future, it is safe to say that patience has been well rewarded in the past.

GIVEAWAY

There are only 48 hours left to enter our Crypto Starter Pack Giveaway. Follow the steps below to possibly win over $1,000 worth of crypto gear!

HOW TO ENTER:

Visit theblockchainbrew.com/giveaway
Sign up on our website to enter
Complete other actions to increase your chances of winning

Good luck everyone!

BREW BITS

Developers from around the world are invited to join a 4 day "hacker camp" to learn about Bitcoin's lightning network.
SBI Holdings invests again in a cryptocurrency exchange under scrutiny for not meeting Japan's regulation standards.
The South African tax authority is improving its processes to track cryptocurrency traders to make sure they are paying their taxes.

LEARN LINGO

Block Height

noun

Block height refers to the number of blocks connected together in the block chain. For example, Height 0, would be the very first block, which is also called the Genesis Block.

COIN OF THE DAY