Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Big Blue dives deeper 🏊‍♂️

March 13, 2019

IBM is Now Extending its Reach into Crypto Custody

A new CoinDesk article has outlined a partnership between New York investment firm Shuttle Holdings and IBM that will help build a new crypto custody solution on Wall Street.

But there's a catch. Rather than being a traditional custodian and storing cryptocurrencies themselves, IBM and Shuttle Holdings are simply offering others the tools to do so.

Not cold storage

Moreover, the digital assets are not secured in cold storage - the preferred method to avoid security breaches. Instead, Shuttle Holdings CIO Brad Chun explained the system:

"There are always trade-offs between security and efficiency, but we do not utilize a traditional cold storage system. Instead, we keep keys at rest encrypted in multiple layers as data blobs so that an organization can store these backups using their pre-existing disaster recovery and backup processes and media."

In short, Chun's saying that businesses can store their assets in a secure setting while also avoiding the headaches of cold storage access.

Eyes on everything

At start, Big Blue and Shuttle Holdings expect that businesses will start with storing cryptocurrencies.

But as the world inevitably goes more digital, the system could also store:

Real estate
Identity
Legal documents

The service is "not open to the public yet" but is "launching limited service with [selected clients] this month."

TRADING

Did Alt-Season Sneak Up On Us?

In the bear market, investor attention turned towards Bitcoin in an attempt to shield value from bloody altcoin losses.

But while eyes are still locked on the world's largest cryptocurrency to see what it's next big move might be outside of this tight trading range, some altcoins are enjoying joy rides.

In the last 3 months, within the top 10 cryptocurrencies (and with the exclusion of Tether (USDT)), Bitcoin's performance is dwarfed compared to many others.

Bitcoin	+ 14.75%
Ethereum	+ 50.65%
XRP	+ 3.32%
Litecoin	+ 139.74%
EOS	+ 93.48%
Bitcoin Cash	+ 36.85%
Binance Coin	+ 217.79%
Stellar	- 4.27%
TRON	+ 68.85%

Other coins within the top 50 have also seen enormous gains during this time.

Enjin Coin (ENJ) jumped more than 540% after revealing a partnership with Samsung.
Theta Token (THETA) is up over 190% leading up to its mainnet launch.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is fighting the $4,000 level to get some breathing room. Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone explained the trend:

"[Bitcoin's gain of 20%] isn't a poor performance [in the last 90 days]. It's just that investors are seeing more potential in some of the smaller tokens at the moment."

GAMING

Xpring and Forte Have Joined Together to Create a $100 Million Blockchain Gaming Fund

According to a press release published March 12, Ripple's developer ecosystem project Xpring and blockchain platform Forte are jointly raising $100 million to support blockchain game development.

Specifically, the fund intends to push mass adoption of blockchain technology in the game industry by increasing player engagement and monetization.

The trend is hot

In recent years, and with the help of pioneers like CryptoKitties, developers are unlocking new potential for blockchain technology within the game industry.

According to Forte chief platform officer Brett Seyler, "gaming is a $140 billion global industry" and if blockchain technology can help reveal and grow "digital micro transaction economies," the industry will benefit "immensely."

Big venture capital firms hope to reap the benefits too. Forte already has backing from notable firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Canaan Partners, and Coinbase Ventures among others.

BITS

But wait, there's more...

😀 Digital currency wallet Abra has added support for real Ethereum after utilizing a synthetic asset for many months.
🔥 Bitcoin's lightning torch is getting harder and harder to send with each transaction.
📱 Coinbase has linked its native app to its wallet for easy transfer.

MEME