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It's the last day of Consensus 2019! Some of the highlights from day three...
TOWARD A NEW INTERNET: Some advocates of the blockchain movement, particular those focusing on ethereum, believe that the technology (or future iterations of it) are setting the stage for the creation of a new internet (or Web 3.0): one that is more decentralized with the balance of power tipped toward users rather than big corporations and platform operators.
This was the thrust of a conversation featuring ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin and author George Gilder (joined by CoinDesk's Michael Casey), during which they plotted a path from the internet's origins to its possible future (while touching on topics like gold).
As Lubin put it: "With respect to security, the internet was formed in naive times; we’re currently running our economy on a network that was built by academics to trade research papers."
And for where it could go? Again from Lubin: network business models and platforms that we can tokenize; people can own these things and play a role in their trajectory.
$1 BILLION FOR COINBASE CUSTODY: During a panel appearance alongside the VC world's Fred Wilson, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made a notable announcement: the crypto exchange startup's custody business now has $1 billion in assets under management (AUM).
“We launched our custody 12 months ago, we’ve just crossed $1 billion AUM for institutions, 70 institutions have signed up, adding about $150 million AUM a month, so, to a large degree that has been a success," Armstrong noted.
He added the institutions are not merely interested in having their funds sit idle while in custody either. “They want to be staking and voting, doing governance on-chain,” Armstrong said. “I think that will grow rapidly.”
He also noted bitcoin is still the main asset of interest for institutions, but the interest for other cryptocurrencies is growing, too, so Coinbase currently offers services for 30 coins for institutions, including staking-as-a-service for some.
THE GREAT DEBATE: Looking back to Tuesday, Consensus 2019 played host to a debate on a key question: should the ability to transact be a universal right?
On the "yes" side were Clovyr CEO Amber Baldet and Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation. On the opposite side: the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Yaya J. Fanusie and lawyer Preston Byrne. Attorney Stephen Palley served as moderator.
Among the powerful lines of argument, this one from Baldet: "The freedom to transact is not a freedom from consequences for your actions," later contending that "it is not true that the only way to catch criminals is by ensuring that law abiding citizens do not have security themselves."
But Fanusie countered that the freedom to transact shouldn't be considered a universal right, but rather part of a framework for civil liberties under the law.
In a powerful close, Byrne remarked that freedom-enhancing tools -- Tor, bitcoin, ProtonMail, etc -- are there to be utilized. By his reasoning, that's how you change social reality 'on the ground,' not by declaring freedom to transact as a right.
Check out our live tweets on the debate for more quotes and insights. |
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WEIGHING THE OUTLOOK: For the first time since May 6th, bitcoin’s price has not yet reached a new high, allowing investors' focus to shift back to the alternative cryptocurrency market.
Names like ether, zcash, and stellar lumens have all increased by more than 10 percent today, confirming investor sentiment is indeed shifting to a “risk-on” outlook.
That said, indicators are pointing to bitcoin's price being significantly overbought, so a correction to a rising trend line near $7,200 may be in the offing. As long as its correction is not overly severe, the altcoin market should be able to maintain most of its recent gains.
-- Sam Ouimet |
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