📌 Bitcoin Roadmap for 2019, Blockchain Lobbyists, and Into the CØSMOS

MUST READS  The Bitcoin Bank Back from the Dead with Billions at Stake The notorious Tokyo-based crypto exchange, Mt. Gox, collapsed in 2014 after losing $400 million. Five years later, it's worth $1.2 billion and everyone wants a cut. Join us in unwinding the sordid tale of a well-meaning, cat-loving, computer coding French genius, and a unicorn-loving Silicon Valley visionary and how they came to be waging a Harry Potter-esque and very public battle over the company that would not die. 🏆 The prize: $1.2 billion worth of assets 😡 The stakes: the hard-earned savings of thousands of people   CBOE Halts Bitcoin Futures, Considering Conceding Market to CME The CBOE Futures Exchange has decided to not add a bitcoin (XBT) futures contract for March. The move comes at time when bitcoin trading volumes have seen more than 80% declines since early 2018. While it may seem like a bearish headline at first, it's important to recognize that the CBOE has been getting out right crushed in terms of volume by it's rival, CME, for quite a while now.    SPONSORED  A Message From 💸 Finimize Finimize gives busy professionals, who have savings but don't know where to invest, the tools and hands-on know-how to make more informed financial decisions. Unlike existing investment platforms and personal finance sites, Finimize gives users quick-to-digest, independent content and access to a highly engaged community of 350k like-minded individuals. We dare to envisage a world where you don't need a financial advisor – much as you no longer need a travel agent thanks to the likes of Expedia. Just as you do with films, restaurants and hotels, we see a world where you consult an independent platform before making any financial decision. Our daily email newsletter explains what's happening in the world of finance in 3 minutes and without any jargon. Take the first step in leveling the playing field and sign up.  DEEP DIVE  Into the CØSMOS: Investment Thesis The biggest splash, by far, in this week's realm of crypto news was the mainnet launch of Cosmos – the highly anticipated project promising blockchain interoperability. The mission-driven Cosmos team has been heads down building for the past 4+ years and has the potential to push the entire cryptocurrency industry forward by enabling cross-chain token interoperability and a scalable infrastructure with instant finality and a better UX for dApp developers. Want to learn more? Here's Proof-of-Work on how Cosmos could be a massive power-up for BTC... and Spencer Noon on why the Ethereum community has already given their stamp of approval.   3 Moments in History that Explain the ICO Bubble We can safely say the ICO bubble is over now. So let's take moment to reflect. In this deeeep dive, Haseeb Qureshi examines three major moments in history (p2p file sharing, 90s penny stock boom, Dotcom era) that illuminate three separate social dynamics that were at play in the recent ICO frenzy.   Bitcoin Roadmap for 2019: Schnorr, Dandelion, and More Thanks to a vibrant developer ecosystem, bitcoin's protocol has been steadily improving year after year. But we shouldn't lose track of it. Investors need to be aware of significant update proposals as major changes to BTC could potentially impact the price. Additionally, contentious proposals could even lead to hard forks (as the SegWit2 proposal inspired the creation of Bitcoin Cash). So, without further ado, here's your investor's guide to this year's bitcoin technical roadmap...    SPONSORED  Is This America's Next Big Bankruptcy? The man who predicted the collapse of GM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and more says the next big bankruptcy is going to catch everyone by surprise - and has a stunning twist that will dramatically affect you and your money. Multi-millionaire issues this serious warning here…  REGULATORY FRONT  Inside the Blockchain Lobbying Boom Lobbying on cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology underpinning them is a niche but growing industry Politico reports. The number of entities that reported lobbying on blockchain issues has nearly tripled over the past year, from a dozen in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 33 in the final quarter of 2018.   Electronic Cash, Decentralized Exchange, and the Constitution Next generation cryptocurrencies are already here and we can expect robust privacy to be built into all public blockchains eventually. Intermediaries will have less information. So what does this mean for financial surveillance? This report lays out why any attempt to extend financial surveillance requirements to developers of cryptocurrencies is a non-starter. Peter Van Valkenburgh spoke about the paper at the recent MIT Bitcoin Expo. You can watch the panel, beginning at 4:15:00, here.    TWEET OF THE WEEK  Other Articles You May Enjoy The complete story of the QuadrigaCX $190M scandal   Every crypto valuation tool you could ever need   IBM signs 6 banks to issue stablecoins and use Stellar's XLM cryptocurrency   North Korea has amassed $670M in bitcoin and other currencies through hacking   Neo-Nazis bet big on bitcoin (and lost)   AVC: Where blockchain/crypto is starting to show real signs of life   Facebook's cryptocurrency could be a $19B revenue opportunity   HASH CIB: XRP Market Report   Bitcoin trading volume tops $11B for first time in nearly a year   Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles gets suspended jail term   Is the New York Times looking to experiment with blockchain-based publishing? The CoinSnacks weekly digest is a manually curated newsletter that delivers fresh content covering cryptoassets and the evolving blockchain community for investors around the world. The digest is curated by CoinSnacks employees and sent once a week. CoinSnacks | 5500 Military Trail Suite 22-250 | Jupiter, Florida | 33458 Unsubscribe | View in Browser

XRP Army Exposed / Alt-Right Extremists / Bitcoin Dominance / Facebook Coin

Subscribe | View in browser $BTC (2:38 p.m. EST): $4,060.35 (-0.28%) // 90-day high: $4,238.41 // 90-day low: $3,286.14 / / More… $BCH ABC (2:38 p.m. EST): $159.32 (-1.94%) // 90-day high: $218.09// 90-day low: $80.95 // More… $ETH (2:38 p.m. EST): $139.42 (-0​​​.69%) // 90-day high: $160.13 // 90-day low: $86.08 // More… $LTC (2:38 p.m. EST): $60.14 (0.05%) // 90-day high: $62.08 // 90-day low: $22.09 // More… $XRP (2:38 p.m. EST): $0.31 (0.90%) // 90-day high: $0.43 // 90-day low: $0.28 // More…       1. The so-called XRP Army, which has worked social media to transform public opinion of XRP, is nothing more than a bunch of bots and fake Twitter accounts, researchers said. The army has grown in recent months, shamelessly promoting XRP use cases and growth. The members, though, are not real users excited about the technology but orchestrated bots working together to simulate grassroots support. Geoff Goldberg, a New York-based researcher, provided evidence in a series of tweets. Goldberg added that he did not know if Ripple was behind the effort but believed it was a strong possibility. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS       2. Alt-right extremists love to promote the use of bitcoin, but in this fascinating article from David Gerard, very few of these organizations have used it successfully as a funding mechanism. The subject gained new attention lately when Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the mastermind of the terrorist attack in New Zealand that killed 50 people, said in his manifesto he did well investing in crypto, specifically a collapsed Ponzi scheme called Bitconnect. While this is likely false for reasons Gerard points out, he highlights an obvious, if not sometimes forgotten, truth: "Bitcoin … failed for the neo-Nazis as a funding channel, because cryptocurrency is still too hard to use." –FOREIGN POLICY       Ad The O'Reilly Software Architecture Conference Our program is designed for anyone making architecture-level decisions. Join hundreds of the best and brightest engineers, senior developers, tech leads, architects, and managers to discover what companies like Google, IBM, Ticketmaster, and Pivotal have learned in their real-world experiences. Save 20% with code INSIDE20. 3. The recent rise in altcoin prices may drop bitcoin's market dominance below 50 percent for the first time in seven months. Bitcoin currently accounts for 50.9 percent of the entire cryptocurrency market. That number has fluctuated wildly in recent years. Before 2017, bitcoin accounted for more than 70 percent of the market but fell to 32 percent in early 2018 during the tail end of the crypto boom. It has been above 50 percent since August 11 of last year. Bitcoin has remained relatively stable since December while altcoins – like enjin, binance coin, and litecoin – have all seen significant growth. –COINDESK       4. Facebook's cryptocurrency could bring the social network as much as $19 billion per year in additional revenue, said Barclays analyst Ross Sandler. In a note to customers, Sandler said he could see a base case of $3 billion in revenue from a successful crypto implementation with the potential for much more. "Merely establishing this revenue stream starts to change the story for Facebook shares in our view," Sandler said. While little is known about the project, others believe the use of blockchain could help Facebook rid its platform of "fake news." –CNBC       Ad Get Access To The Boss Cryptocurrency Trading Course - For FREE In This Free Course You Will Learn: - The exact trading strategy we used to win in 2018 - How to stop the seemingly endless cycle of losing money, forever - How to do it all trading less than 4 hours per week This course is 100% free for this week only. GET ACCESS NOW!   5. Yessi Bello Perez takes an interesting stand at The Next Web, arguing that it is no longer news that large companies accept bitcoin payments, especially if consumers still rarely use the currency. –THE NEXT WEB 6. The hit HBO documentary on the rise and fall of Silicon Valley startup Theranos had a breakout star: Investor Tim Draper's bitcoin tie. –BITCOINIST 7. A Reddit user posted an email from some scammers pretending to be from the CIA. They promise to drop upcoming charges in exchange for bitcoin. –THE NEXT WEB 8. Digitec-Galaxus, known as the Amazon of Switzerland (for whatever that is worth), can now buy goods from the online retailer with cryptos ranging from bitcoin and ethereum to OmiseGo and NEO. –BITCOINIST 9. Bitcoin.com highlights Nash, the next generation of decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that promises improved UX and simplified trading experience. –BITCOIN.COM 10. Bitcoin SV and Qtum partnered with Zeux to allow in-store crypto payments with either Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. –DAILY HODL       Written and curated by David Stegon who is sad his Temple Owls are no longer dancing. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon. Editing team: Kim Lyons (Pittsburgh-based journalist and managing editor at Inside) and Susmita Baral (senior editor at Inside, who runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).       Ad A reimagined Jira Software. Simpler and more powerful than ever before. Learn more. Vettery's 2019 Tech Salary Report Is Here. Download Now.

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