The US should take the lead on digital currency, says Coinbase exec. The US can put itself "at the heart of an open and more equitable financial system," argues Brian Brooks, Coinbase's chief legal officer, in the New York Times this week. It just needs to do for digital currencies what it did for the internet, he says. The government played a primary role in funding developing the internet as a research project in the 1970s and 1980s, and that support "unleashed huge economic impact on America," Brooks writes. He thinks the current digital financial revolution has similar potential. The US should lead the development of "transnational currency" and the window of opportunity to do so is closing, he argues, since so many other nations are already pursuing their own digital currencies. This risks supplanting the dollar's status as the global reserve currency.
Vitalik, non-giver of Ether. Perhaps Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin was just feeling really festive. Or maybe he'd just like development of Ethereum 2.0 to move a little faster. Whatever his motives, on Tuesday evening Buterin doled out $100,000 worth of Ether each to three separate projects working on technologies for the network's big planned upgrade. And he appeared to give the gifts in response to a semi-tense Twitter thread in which members of the Ethereum community were discussing what's holding up technical progress.
Preston Van Loon, a team lead for Prysmatic Labs, which is developing an Ethereum 2.0 software client, tweeted that his team's biggest impediment is that most of them still have to work other jobs; there isn't enough money for full-time positions. Buterin then responded: "Just sent 1000 eth. Yolo." He also included a link to an Ethereum blockchain explorer showing the transaction. Buterin went on to do the same thing for Chainsafe and Sigma Prime, which are also building 2.0 clients.
Maybe this will help move things along. But Ethereum's community has been criticized for relying too heavily on Buterin. He has claimed that he's been trying to reduce his influence, but episodes like this actually reinforce the perception that he is the only one who can make things happen.
Not surprisingly, reactions in the Ethereum community were mixed. Some saw it as an altruistic move. But developer Péter Szilágyi seemed particularly upset, tweeting that the handout was "insanely reckless toward the entire ecosystem." He added: "What this just proved is you need to make something @VitalikButerin likes and he'll bring the lambos." For those who don't get the reference, "Lambos" (Lamborghinis) are used as an ironic reference to crypto-wealth. Ouch.
(See also: "Ethereum thinks it can change the world. It's running out of time to prove it.")
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Loose Change
Fill your pockets with these newsy tidbits.
- Hong Kong's financial regulators have signaled a reluctance to approve an IPO for Chinese crypto-mining chip maker Bitmain, since the country is still drafting a regulatory framework for crypto-assets. (South China Morning Post)
- Blythe Masters, the earliest and most high-profile Wall Street banker to move into cryptocurrency, has unexpectedly stepped down as CEO of the startup Digital Asset Holdings. (Fortune)
- Civil, the startup aiming to use the Ethereum blockchain to change the economics of journalism, is planning another token sale for February after its last one failed to reach its goal. (CoinDesk)
- Coinbase has added four more coins, including Ethereum-based stablecoin Dai, to its professional trading platform. (Coinbase)
- New academic research has revealed thousands of pump-and-dump crypto-token price manipulation schemes on the messaging app Telegram. (Finance Magnates)
