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Sunday, September 16, 2018
Act Fast! Two Days Until Consensus: Singapore
Expanding on Wall Street
September 16th, 2018
QUOTE OF THE DAY 
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined."
- Henry David Thoreau
MARKET
| COIN | PRICE | 24H |
| | ||
| BTC | $6,513.099231 | -0.43% |
| | ||
| ETH | $219.116004 | -0.66% |
| | ||
| XRP | $0.279832 | -0.64% |
| | ||
| BCH | $441.615744 | -2.71% |
| | ||
| EOS | $5.370646 | -1.55% |
| | ||
*Information as of 9:30 AM EST
EXCHANGE
Coinbase Plans to Poach Wall Street's Top Talent
NY OFFICE
- Earlier this year, Coinbase opened up an office in the financial capital of the world, New York City
- Currently, Coinbase’s New York office is a small operation with only 20 employees, but the company has bigger plans for the office
- The office provides a location where Coinbase can meet face to face with institutional investors, man of who operate out of New York City
HIRING SPREE
- Coinbase shared that it plans to increase the size of the office from 20 employees to 150 employees
- The company believes it needs to expand its workforce to cater to the increasing crypto demand of institutions
- According to Coinbase, the current bear market hasn't scared any of the institutions away, rather institutions see this as a great time to enter the market
INSTITUTIONAL FOCUS
- In 2018, Coinbase has had a major focus on institutions, trying to reel in the major money, while other exchanges are focused on retail investors
- In addition to its New York office, Coinbase opened an office in Chicago earlier this year to also cater and provide support to institutional investors
- In July, Coinbase replaced GDAX with Coinbase Pro, designed for institutional and active traders
- Coinbase also launched an index fund and custodial services for institutions this year
INSTITUTIONS: GOOD OR BAD?
- Institutional money has been a somewhat polarizing topic in crypto
- Crypto was invented to diminish the need for financial institutions, but now people are begging for institutional money to bring the market back to where it was in late 2017
- Some are wary of institutions entering the market because they think it will bring market manipulation, institutions don’t necessarily need the price to rise for them to make money, they can utilize different financial instruments to profit off of any price movement or even none at all
ENVIRONMENT
World Economic Forum Outlines 65 Different Use Cases for Environmental Protection
MORE THAN MONEY
- Though the first cryptocurrency was created to be a new form of digital currency, blockchain use cases reach much farther than money
- In a report published September 14th, the World Economic Forum (WEF) foundation listed 65 different blockchain use cases to help solve the world's "most pressing" environmental issues
- The environmental issues mentioned in the report range from poor financing models for environmental projects to shady, non-transparent, centralized systems
- The WEF also highlighted blockchain-based decentralized energy and water management systems, sustainable fundraising sources, carbon markets, and more as potential "game changers"
NOTING THE HYPE
- Though the WEF seems to be excited about the potential of blockchain, it also notices there is hype surrounding the technology
- To effectively navigate the space and avoid unnecessary use cases, the WEF asks three different questions when evaluating a new use case:
- Can blockchain solve a specific problem?
- Can the risks of unintended consequences be managed acceptably?
- Is there a functioning ecosystem of stakeholders is available?
- Looking forward, the WEF notes that it is looking to build an integrated ecosystem of blockchain technologies rather than funding specific, separate, projects
NEWS
Gemini Dollar Code Review Reveals Accounts Can Be Frozen
CONCEALED IN CODE
- This week, United States crypto exchange Gemini launched the world's first U.S. regulated stablecoin called Gemini Dollar
- Following Gemini's announcement, crypto researcher Alex Lebed scanned the smart contract code and unveiled that Gemini has the ability to freeze the stablecoin's accounts
- According to Lebed's research, every 48 hours, Gemini can change the implementation by "making all tokens non-transferable or pretty much anything else"
'BEST PRACTICE'
- Though Lebed made the crypto community aware of Gemini Dollar's code, he did conclude that it is "considered a best practice for evolving smart-contracts"
- On Reddit, many in the crypto community were quick to note that Tether Limited also holds the ability to freeze accounts
- However, though it is common practice to have such control for a stablecoin, some were still unconvinced about Gemini Dollar with one Reddit user commenting “it’s not a cryptocurrency, just a database.”
After the release of his research, Lebed updated his article to mention that Gemini doesn't hide this fact and does an "excellent job by explicitly mentioning it in their whitepaper."
INTERVIEW
Q&A with Metal Pay
Unbankd had the opportunity to sit down with CEO Marshall Hayner and CTO Glenn Mariën at the Metal Pay HQ to learn more about their mission to revolutionize peer-to-peer payments.
What makes Metal Pay more attractive compared to traditional banking products?
Glenn: If you look at the existing solutions like Venmo, their UI is lacking. I think UI/UX is a very important factor. Metal Pay builds on existing solutions with a new crypto feature. That’s been a big movement the last two, three years. Most people are interested, but they don't necessarily want to put big money into it right away. Metal Pay was shaped with the idea to introduce people to crypto by rewarding them with Metal for using our network.
How important is a very intuitive user experience to encourage use and adoption?
Glenn: In traditional startups, tech leads design, and it was the other way around here. We let design lead the actual tech. We started off with brainstorming UX sessions. We put a tremendous amount of effort into the UX. It’s important to see the quality that we are putting out with our products. People focus too much on having a really fancy website and they just want to get money fast.
What are you thinking about when you’re designing for the next generation of users?
Marshall: One is easing people in and having a good experience. And for us, we kind of went through the pain together like a lot of early crypto people. We lost keys but fortunately, have never been hacked. Although, I would say we've seen we've seen a lot and we’ve experienced a lot of pain. We have also experienced a lot of gains. I think there’s a journey, like a progression. That’s why we put so much focus on the user experience and journey. They have to have an experience and when people see the value of Metal Pay, it will all pop.
How do you react to all the naysayers or people who don’t believe in crypto?
Marshall: Oh, we get it all the time. I think people have overcomplicated things to the extent that everything must have staking rewards, dividends and master nodes. We really focus on the economic games and incentives around Metal. We haven't started to really even build our blockchain side yet, but have an idea of what we want to do. I think first before you do all of those things, it’s important to think like the people who were building the first automobile. They thought that in the future, people are going to drive these things. People called them idiots because they said horses were dead. Everybody uses horses! We get all the time you know, so we love it. We’re not trying to overcomplicate things. You hear a lot that blockchain is a solution looking for a problem. We’re trying to break that.
To read the full interview and learn more about Metal Pay, click here.
BITS
- South Korea’s LG UPlus is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service.
- Smart contracts on two EOS gambling platforms have been hacked in the last four days to the tune of more than a quarter of a million dollars.
- John McAfee says that decentralized exchanges (DEX) will soon gain the heart of the cryptocurrency community with lots ditching centralized exchanges.
COIN OF THE DAY
Prizm (PZM)
PRIZM aims to be a fully decentralized and self-regulating digital currency that allows any user quickly and securely make money transfer directly, like cash transfer from hand to hand.
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