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PICKING THEIR SPOTS: “Smartdrops,” a newly minted alternative to airdrops, seem to be gaining steam.
This concept has garnered attention after a July Medium post by Yeoman's Capital founder and long-time industry investor David Johnston, in which he encouraged blockchain startups to take a more targeted approach than dumping tokens to everybody with an ethereum address.
These projects often have a hard time attracting the "bootstrappers" Johnston refers to, and their tokens frequently become objects of speculation more so than objects of utility. Smartdrops attempt to solve that problem. Full story
TIME TO SHINE: Digital Asset, the enterprise blockchain startup founded by Blythe Masters, a former executive at JPMorgan, is entering its next chapter.
In an interview with CoinDesk, Masters said her company's recently announced partnership with Google Cloud will unleash the potential for web-paced innovation in blockchain and establish use cases for a broader market than just financial services. Full Story
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Bitcoin is not set for new highs in 2018, Tuur Demeester, an economist and investor, predicts in a commentary piece on CoinDesk.
Due to sluggish retail demand, hesitation from institutions and a relatively high market cap, he expects more sideways trading and downside potential in the bitcoin price. Full Story |
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An investigation by CoinDesk Research has found methodological flaws in widely-cited bitcoin exchange data that appear to overstate the importance of the Japanese yen as a trading pair: - Trading data collected from July 26-30 suggests that the U.S. dollar, not the yen, is the dominant currency traded for bitcoin by a wide margin
- If the dollar’s dominance of bitcoin trading continues, this data could potentially prompt U.S. regulators to take a more active role in shaping global cryptocurrency trading regulations
- The pervasiveness of the flawed data speaks volumes about the nascent state of the industry’s data practices
Learn more research insights here. |
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| | RUDDERLESS: Bitcoin is trading in an indecisive manner after hitting 19-day lows below $6,900 on Sunday; technical charts show the price could pick up a bid on acceptance above $7,100. Full story |
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BEST OF THE BEST
WALL STREET JOURNAL: An in-depth analysis by the newspaper discovered trading groups are manipulating the price of cryptocurrencies on some of the largest online exchanges, a practice that caused at least $825 million in losses over seven months for those who bet on the wrong side.
The review of trading data and online communications among traders between January and the end of July identified an astounding 175 “pump and dump” schemes, one of the oldest types of market fraud, involving 121 different digital coins.
THE REST
BLOOMBERG: Goldman Sachs is mulling over a plan to offer custody for crypto funds, the news wire reports, citing anonymous sources. But the company said it has not reached a conclusion on the scope of its digital asset offering.
CNBC: Will McDonough, former top executive at a number of notable Wall Street firms including Avenue Capital and Goldman Sachs, is joining the growing group of Wall Street alumni on the blockchain tech frontier.
McDonough set up a startup called iCash, which focuses on smart contracts, and is raising money through an initial coin offering launched in mid-July. |
 We've launched our new podcast, Late Confirmation, which are the top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk, sponsored by Oxford Fintech Programme. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe |
WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER |
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