Friday, February 15, 2019

Grayscale tells all 🤔

February 15, 2019

Grayscale's Q4 Report Reveals Capital Inflow Concentrated in Institutions

Released Thursday, Grayscale Investments analyzed its cryptocurrency products and found some surprising trends.

Here's the breakdown of Grayscale's capital inflow for the fourth quarter:

Grayscale found 66% of the capital inflow could be attributed to institutions.
Investors in the United States accounted for 99% of the capital inflow despite having a total distributed geography of 67% United States investors.
Investors in the United States accounted for 99% of the capital inflow despite having a total distributed geography of 67% United States investors.

Allocation stays steady

Though the falling prices certainly aided to the deceleration of Grayscale's growth in 2018, existing portfolio managers show no signs of lowering their portfolio allocation to crypto.

While the allocation is still minuscule compared to other assets, funds indicated they have long-term time horizons for the new asset class.

Still, the bear market hasn't helped the growth of these funds with venture funds actually outpacing new crypto hedge funds in 2018.

ETHEREUM

Ethereum Wants to Avoid ASICs New Poll Shows

According to a new poll, about 76% of respondents are in favor of implementing ProgPoW on Ethereum.

The new upgrade would replace ETHhash, Ethereum's current mining algorithm, and also help fight ASIC miners from taking over the network.

The reason? ASIC miners dramatically increase mining competition which means GPU miners will have to splurge on more expensive equipment to keep up.

Caught in controversy

The decision to add ProgPoW has been an ongoing controversy for months.

Because the new code is ASIC resistant, the network isn't guaranteed to be free from ASIC miners.

Actually, some developers argued that making it harder to create an ASIC miner would actually only help the best mining manufacturing companies to secure significant market share in the industry.

Nonetheless, the code seems like it will move forward anyway with only 24% of respondents in opposition.

RIPPLE

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Calls Out JP Morgan for "Missing the Point"

In a tweet published Thursday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse took a stab at JP Morgan for launching their new digital asset called JPM Coin.

Garlinghouse explained:

"As predicted, banks are changing their tune on crypto. But this JPM project misses the point — introducing a closed network today is like launching AOL after Netscape's IPO. 2 years later, and bank coins still aren't the answer."

The future is public

Garlinghouse has been fighting the idea for the last two years as his startup Ripple looks to help banks interact faster and more seamlessly - just like JPM Coin.

In his first argument about the subject, Garlinghouse explained that bank coins like JPM Coin would create "an even more fragmented currency landscape than what we have today."

But the two could soon meet on similar turf. Though Ripple has torn through the industry and vigorously made partnerships to conduct trials, JP Morgan's influence will play to its strength.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

😨 Nvidia says crypto drop-off in the fourth quarter drove sales down.
🤨 Survey finds 41% of institutional investors will invest in ICOs within the next 5 years.
🍕 Crypto startup Fold is making pizza delivery possible with lightning.

MEME