Cryptocurrency News Now!: 03/30/20

Monday, March 30, 2020

ICON Newsletter #12: Where Should P-Reps Invest ICX

By ICON Newsletter • Issue #12 • View online

Dear ICONists,

In last week's newsletter, we dug deeper into the IISS 3.0 Proposal, which is a critical piece in determining how and how much ICX staking rewards are created and distributed. Today, we'll discuss the next critical step of utilizing those staking rewards towards various ecosystem projects. These ecosystem projects will improve adoption and bring value to the ICON network!

YOU can make the difference by voting for P-Rep teams currently contributing to the ecosystem with their projects. It's easier now than ever before. Simply go to ICONPreps.com to see which awesome ICON projects you want to support with your vote.

Before we go further, let's check out this past week's highlights:

Key Highlights:

Weekly transaction activity increased 48% vs. December 2019 levels.
45.5% of circulating supply staked, vs. 38.4% at the end of 2019.
ICON network continues to expand with 118 P-reps, up from 117 from a week ago.
Main P-reps maintained i_rep at 42,898.
ICX gets listed on Biki Exchange, a top 20 exchange by adjusted volume according to CMC. Also, there's a 20,000 ICX giveaway event.
Introduction to #BROOF slide deck is shared upon a high number of requests from our community members.
Thanks to the Chainode Tech P-Rep team, ICON is now listed on the State of the Dapps website.
Stayge and Somesing rank in the top 15 daily active users in the social sector according to DApp.com.
It looks like ICONbet.io has some competition with ICONCasino.bet white paper release by Interblock P-Rep team.
Layah Heilpern, a well-respected journalist, joins ICONPLUS P-Rep team (Check out her Video on twitter)

Let's have another great week!

Thank you,

Min Kim, ICON Foundation Council Member

How ICX Utility is Created

ICX Utility Creation Cycle

Above is a simple illustration of how ICX utility is created in the ICON ecosystem.

Community stakes & votes P-Reps with ICX: Every ICONist has a say in the future of the ICON ecosystem, and the collective decision will determine the adoption of ICX. If the community votes of P-Reps teams that are not active, then the outcome will not be pleasant.
IISS distributes ICX to P-Reps and into Contribution Proposal System Fund (CPF): Your votes determine which P-Reps receive ICX and also have the right to vote how to use the Contribution Proposal System (CPF) Fund. Again, voting is very important. We recommend spreading out your votes to multiple teams.
Start New Ecosystem Projects: It's now time for the newly minted ICX to be invested into various ecosystem projects to create utility. What are some projects we should be working on? Keep scrolling down.
Bigger and more active community: In theory, as we build more successful projects, we will have new users and contributors join the ICON network. That is exactly what's been happening. Early data show that these users and contributors are increasingly staking and voting with their ICX. We see new community members, P-Reps, marketers, developers, etc. join every week.

Which projects should P-Reps invest ICX

Many community members including P-Reps have been asking how and where they can put ICX to work. Luckily, the ICX Station team published a blog post ICON Ecosystem Map: Lessons Learned and Missing Pieces everyone should read.

In the ICON Ecosystem Map, it compares the ICON ecosystem to the Ethereum ecosystem, the most robust ecosystem within the blockchain world, and tries to identify what is already built and what is currently missing.

Of course, there can be many other great ideas that may not be captured in this article. But this is a great starting point.

ICON Ecosystem Map: Lessons Learned and Missing Pieces

1) Creating a developer friendly environment and 2) creating meaningful blockchain use cases on the ICON network.

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Which projects did ICON Foundation fund

In January 2020, we reviewed 9 grant applications and approved 2.

Education: devblockchain.tech (Sharpn)
Infrastructure: MyICONwallet (Reliant Node)

In February 2020, we reviewed 13 grant requests and approved 4.

Service: Dapp.com integration
Service: DappReview integration
Community: Korean community management
Education: ICX Comics — visual tutorials of ICON Blockchain

In March 2020 (as of the date of the recap blog post), we have approved 2 grants.

Infrastructure: Fortmatic integration
DApp: FutureICX Price Prediction Trading Application

You can read our selection process, budget, and more in the blog post ICON Monthly Grant Recap — March 2020.

ICON Monthly Grant Recap — March 2020 - Hello ICON World - Medium

We are very pleased to announce a new initiative to provide monthly grant updates to keep the community informed of the initiatives ICON Foundation is funding with its Representative rewards. As you…

medium.com • Share

Vitalik Buterin's anti-aging research / Jack Dorsey wants Cash App to deliver COVID-19 package / Binance CEO on why they delisted FTX leveraged tokens

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Market Watch: Coin prices at the start of the working week are positive with most coins in the green during trading today. Let's hope this continues long into the week! Where do you think Bitcoin will be trading at by Friday?

Bitcoin: $6,277 (⬆️ 2.13%) // $114.8 billion market cap.

Ethereum: $131 (⬆️ 1.56%) // $14.4 billion market cap.

XRP: $0.172 (⬆️ 0.31%) // $7.5 billion market cap.

Tether: $1.00 (⬆️ 0.05%) // $4.6 billion market cap.

Top 100 Winner: Energi: $1.84 (⬆️ 13.60%) // $50 million market cap.

Top 100 Loser: $Steem: $0.164 (⬇️ 6.69%) // $60 million market cap.

Prices are as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

1. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has suggested more research on anti-aging.

The Ethereum co-founder thinks that "Aging is a humanitarian disaster that kills as many people as WW2 every two years and even before killing debilitates people and burdens social systems and families. Let's end it."

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2. Blockstream and Lightning Labs are two companies that are currently leading efforts with funding for open-source Bitcoin and Lightning development. That's according to research published by crypto exchange BitMEX. In a blog post, the company noted that some of the developers behind Blockstream include Pieter Wuille and Andrew Chow, whereas Lightning Labs has the likes of Carla Kirk-Cohen and Oliver Gugger. In third place was Square Crypto, which also provides grants to Bitcoin and Lightning developers. According to BitMEX, the current situation with development is "more healthy" compared to the past regarding availability of finance and transparency. -BITMEX

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3. Jack Dorsey, CEO and founder of Twitter, wants its crypto Cash App to deliver billions of dollars to U.S. citizens rather than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Last week, Dorsey took to the social media platform to say that "people need help immediately." He went on to add:

The technology exists to get money to most people today (even to those without bank accounts). Square and many of our peers can get it done. US government: let us help.

His comment came in response to a user who said: "can they just CashApp us the $1,200?" According to an anonymous source, Cash App and fellow payments platform Venmo have reached out to the U.S. Treasury to discuss how they can help distribute the money. As part of the coronavirus rescue package, which was recently signed into law by U.S President Donald Trump, many U.S. citizens will receive a bailout check amounting to $1,200. -@JACK/TWITTER

4. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance, has said that they delisted FTX leveraged tokens because many users didn't understand them. Zhao was talking about leveraged tokens during a series of tweets over the weekend. The move to delist them comes two months after the platform added them. Zhao said:

The main reason for delisting is we find many users don't understand them. Even with pop-ups warning users each time, people still don't read it.

Even though they are the most actively traded tokens, Zhao added that it was "bad for business to delist them." However, he went on to say that protecting users was what came first. If people were still unhappy, they should check back on the price of these tokens in a month's time "and let us know if you still complain then," he concluded. In response to Binance's decision, FTX said in an update, among other things, that: "Leveraged Tokens are complicated products, and Binance doesn't want to manage the user education and customer support for them." -@CZ_BINANCE/TWITTER

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5. Bitcoin Core's website is now available through the dark web, according to a statement.

In a bid to tackle censorship in some countries, Bitcoin Core has moved its website to the dark web.

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6. Tone Vays, a former Wall Street trader and host of Trading Bitcoin, has said that he doesn't think Bitcoin will drop below $2,800.

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7. Roger Ver, the former CEO of Bitcoin.com and a Bitcoin Cash advocate, has given the impression that he's not concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic.

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8. Riot Blockchain, a crypto mining rig, has published a report stating that the COVID-19 pandemic could have an "adverse effect" on its business.

Filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it stated that the virus could "significantly disrupt" its operations and financial results.

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9. Binance Academy has established a blockchain research institute in China. Binance Research, which is the non-profit educational arm of crypto exchange Binance, "endeavors to build a leading think tank and research hub that contributes to large-scale developments in blockchain technology to further the growth of the industry," according to Helen Hai, who is leading this initiative at Binance. The Lingang Blockchain Technology and Industry Research Institute (Lingang Research Institute) will be the hub for blockchain talent, which seeks to make breakthroughs while boosting the application of the technology via integrations with artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Don Tapscott, executive chair of the Blockchain Research Institute, will act as the Honorary Dean of Lingang Blockchain Academy under the Lingang Research Institute. He said: "Blockchain represents the second era of the Internet - the Internet of Value - and can help us build more innovative and productive organizations." The establishment of the research institute follows after Binance announced the introduction of its Binance Card last week, which can be used to shop and pay with crypto worldwide. -BINANCE

10. In Case You Missed It (ICYMI): A U.S.-based healthcare provider is being targeted by ransomware despite the impact COVID-19 is having on hospitals.

The news comes at a time when cybersecurity publication BleepingComputer released data that showed that 10 hospitals had been targeted in the past month by the ransomware.

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This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. Connect with her on Twitter.

Edited by Beth Duckett, staff writer at Inside.

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