Monday, July 23, 2018

Cryptocurrency Can Change the World and the Banks Know It

July 23, 2018 Read in Browser
Blockchain Brew
quote-left-filled.pngQUOTE OF THE DAY quote-right-filled.png
“When I first heard about Bitcoin, I thought it was impossible. How can you have a purely digital currency? Can’t I just copy your hard drive and have your bitcoins? I didn’t understand how that could be done, and then I looked into it and it was brilliant.”
- Jeff Garzik

Happy Monday! So many things are happening in the crypto space at such a fast pace sometimes we forget to stop and look at what has been accomplished. Cheers to the progress that has already made. In ten years we'll either be fools or very happy we took the leap of faith.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKETS
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $7,702.96 +3.32%

ETH $462.222 -0.88%

XRP $0.452542 -0.38%

BCH $812.066 +1.92%

EOS $8.12668 -0.09%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST


NEWS

Cryptocurrency Can Change the World and the Banks Know It

CRYPTO EMERGENCE

  • Cryptocurrency was born and prospered in a time when banks were failing during the financial crisis of the previous decade
  • People's trust in banks was broken and emerged a new form of currency, not controlled by a central entity, rather a decentralized network backed by mathematics
  • Bitcoin was the first pioneer to transfer the power and wealth from 'too big to fail' financial institutions into the hands of the common mass

BANKS THREATENED

  • Banks have since recovered from the mortgage and credit crisis of the previous decade, but cryptocurrencies have also increase in number, size, and adoption
  • As much as banks and famous investors criticize cryptocurrencies, they are aware that they directly threaten their core business which has been around for centuries
  • Institutions are starting to realize that they can no longer just sit on the sidelines or else their existence may be in question in the future

Salvador Casquero who has worked as an executive at some of the world's biggest institutions like JP Morgan and BBVA said:

“Experience in the industry and knowledge of how fintech companies work, the unexpected technology we have seen in the cryptocurrency industry has unsettled the banks. These major banking establishments were controlling mass sections of the economic stratosphere and are now competing with small yet dynamic crypto and fintech firms that are revolutionizing the flow of resources, business models and also technology that are geared towards specific products.”

TIME TO ACT

  • Times are changing and with new innovations banks are know scurrying to keep pace with the rapid growth of new competition
  • Banks are at somewhat of a disadvantage, because they are so large and heavily regulated, they struggle to adapt to new change and innovation
  • It seems like everyday you see news of a bank frantically applying for a new blockchain related patent or researching and testing a blockchain implementation

CAN CRYPTO CHANGE BANKING

  • Our financial system has been established for centuries, but has never seen a direct threat of replacement like cryptocurrencies
  • Cryptocurrencies has started a revolution, but it is no where near following through on its mission
  • Mass adoption needs to happen for cryptocurrencies to take over, cryptocurrency is complex and many people are uncertain about using it and see no problems with banks
  • Mass adoption needs to happen for cryptocurrencies to take over, cryptocurrency is complex and many people are uncertain about using it and see no problems with banks

EXCHANGE

Coinbase Ads are Back on Google, Set to Rope in Millions of New Investors

AD APPROVAL

  • After months of ad disapproval, Google is now allowing Coinbase to advertise to its users again
  • This information comes after CEO Brian Armstrong announced that Coinbase is now whitelisted for Facebook ads earlier this week

To be approved, Google's new ad policy, effective June 2018, makes sure the website complies with all legal requirements in its respective country:

"Our policies are designed to give users information to weigh the costs associated with financial products and services and to protect users from harmful or deceitful practices. For the purposes of this policy, we consider financial products and services to be those related to the management or investment of money and cryptocurrencies, including personalized advice."

A Reddit user posted a Coinbase ad running on Google:

Coinbase-ads-on-Google-e1532328517323-669x1024.jpg

BIG IMPLICATIONS

  • With both Facebook and Google ads running for the San Francisco-based exchange, Coinbase has the potential to reach billions of new users
  • The blanket ad ban by Silicon Valley tech companies was seen as a significant event causing a bear market
  • Now, Coinbase has a wide open marketing tool kit with Facebook and Google ads that could cause the next big wave of investors to jump down the crypto rabbit hole soon

NEWS

G20 Says Cryptocurrencies Can Bring 'Significant Benefits' to Worldwide Economy

SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS

  • A new report shows from G20's meeting in Argentina proclaims that the members believe cryptocurrencies can bring "significant benefits to the financial system"
  • This is the first statement about cryptocurrencies released by G20 since March when the members stated that they need to gather more information about the impact of cryptocurrencies before committing to regulation

NOT ALL SUNSHINE

  • In addition to the positive statements about cryptocurrencies, the G20 report also mentioned that cryptocurrencies can "raise issues with respect to consumer and investor protection"
  • This statement stems from the unclear regulation surrounding the industry right now
  • Moreover, the report mentioned that cryptocurrencies "lack the key attributes of sovereign currencies", making them less likely to be adopted by governments

To end, the G20 report stated that cryptocurrencies will continue to be monitored and acted on if they become a threat to financial stability:

"While crypto-assets do not at this point pose a global financial stability risk, we remain vigilant. We welcome updates by the FSB and the SSBs and look forward to their future work to monitor the potential risks of crypto-assets, and to assess multilateral responses as needed."


ADOPTION

Lufthansa and SAP Launch Competition to Seek 'Groundbreaking' Use Case

ABC CHALLENGE

  • Announced Friday, Lufthansa is collaborating with SAP to create an Aviation Blockchain Challenge aimed at finding "groundbreaking ideas" for blockchain uses in the aviation industry
  • The collaboration effort comes after noticing there was limited action regarding exploring blockchain in the aviation industry

Lufthansa commented on the industry's lack of action as it pledged to work with SAP:

"While many industries have found their first use cases, the impact on the aviation sector is not noticeable yet. We want to change that together with SAP and see substantial potential in our industry to utilize blockchain and other plays of decentralized networks."

USE CASES

  • To give challenge participants direction, Lufthansa is looking for blockchain use cases in these areas: flight booking, loyalty programs, internal data processing, and supply chain
  • Allegedly, since October 2017, Lufthansa has been exploring how to put reservations and travel itinerary information on a decentralized network through a partnership with an Ethereum blockchain startup
  • However, now it seems clear that Lufthansa is taking its own internal initiative to bring blockchain use cases to its business

MORE BREWING
  • Crypto Analyst Believes Bitcoin ‘Could Replace Gold’
  • Asian Asset Manager Focusing on Family Offices to Launch Crypto-Custody Solution
  • Cryptocurrencies in India are at Par with Electronic Means of Payment, States the Law Commission of India

TODAY IN CRYPTO
Bytecoin (BCN)
"With this release we present an internal guard mechanism (payment queue) that will be able to bear any high load instances..."
Cardano (ADA)
"ADA will be listed on the OKEx from Friday 20th, July 2018 and the listing will be supported by ADA/BTC, ADA/ETH, ADA/USDT and ADA/ OKB."
IOST (IOST)
null

Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com


COIN OF THE DAY
1839.png
IOST (IOST)
IOST is a scalable, secure and decentralized blockchain App platform. Its high TPS, scalable and secure infrastructure provide infinite possibilities for developers to create, innovate and build their next big ideas.
WEBSITE | TWITTER | REDDIT

MEME
meme.jpg
SUBSCRIBE | FEEDBACK | ADVERTISE
c7a28dd9-9ec5-4913-814b-8b83b0e2f5f0.pnge1c33f1a-0d4d-4829-bc78-1fd392608c05.png e1c33f1a-0d4d-4829-bc78-1fd392608c05.png
The above is not intended to be investment advice.
1317 8th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.
If you don't absolutely love us, drop us, click here.
Copyright © 2018 Blockchain Brew, All rights reserved.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

IOST Community Hub Referral Program now live

Join the IOST Community Hub

We are excited to announce the official launch of the IOST Community Hub to keep you informed about our project progress and to create a hub where you can join our initiatives. All developers, fans and friends are welcome to join our community and we look forward to your valuable contributions and feedback.

A special thank you to the 6,000 Community Hub Beta testers who provided invaluable feedback and helped us to create a sleek and interactive hub!

Refer friends to earn massive rewards

To celebrate the official launch of the IOST Community Hub, IOST will be running a week long referral program to reward dedicated community members who help the community grow even bigger! This is a one of a kind event, and will be one of the largest referral giveaway programs ever, with massive rewards and individual prizes of more than 1,000,000 tokens up for grabs! 1 referral alone will earn up to 600 IOST. 
 
In the IOST Community Hub, you can stay up to date on the latest developments in the IOST project, earn IOST by finishing quests and earn daily rewards. You will also have the opportunity to participate in the upcoming IOST Lock-Up Reward Program.

For this week only we will be running the IOST Community Hub Referral Program, don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to immerse yourself in the IOST community! 
Register Now and Start Earning!
Facebook
Twitter
Medium
Reddit
Website
Copyright © 2018 IOST, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for our mailing-list

Our mailing address is:
IOST
601 4th St
San Francisco, CA 94107-1635

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Coinbase Forms Political Action Committee

July 22, 2018 Read in Browser
Blockchain Brew
quote-left-filled.pngQUOTE OF THE DAY quote-right-filled.png
“The relative success of the Bitcoin proves that money first and foremost depends on trust. Neither gold nor bonds are needed to back up a currency.”
- Arnon Grunberg

Happy Sunday! Today we are proud to share our short interview with IOST CEO Jimmy Zhong. That being said, if you enjoy today's newsletter, please click the 'Invite Friends' button above and forward the email to three new people so we can spread the crypto virus.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKETS
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $7,443.94 +1.2%

ETH $465.778 +1.15%

XRP $0.454167 +0.61%

BCH $792.756 +1.87%

EOS $8.10645 +1.42%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST


NEWS

Coinbase Forms Political Action Committee

PAC

  • Political action committees are organizations that are formed and funded by members to support initiatives to lobby politicians over legislation and campaigns
  • There are hundreds of political action committees in the United States ranging from animals, banking, energy, environment and many more groups
  • PACs are mainly funded by some of the largest corporations in America as they are the most affected by government legislation and regulations

COINBASE PAC

  • A document was just released by the Federal Election Commission revealing that Coinbase formed "Coinbase, Inc. Political Action Committee" in June 2018
  • Coinbase's PAC has not raised any funds as of yet and is not connected to any candidate
  • The exchange confirmed that it formed a PAC but did not have any additional comments
  • Although its PAC has no funds, Coinbase has donated to politicians in the past, donating $78,000 to Congressional candidate Brian Forde and $3,000 to BIT PAC

ADOPTION

Chinese Crypto Millionaires Are Using Bitcoin to Buy Homes Abroad

USING BITCOIN

  • Reported by CoinDesk, an emerging trend is showing that China's crypto millionaires are using Bitcoin to buy homes in other countries
  • As China's crypto clampdown continues, Chinese investors are looking for a way to diversify their holdings and foreign real estate seems to be an attractive asset class
  • One reason investors are using Bitcoin is that it enables them to gain foreign currencies without going through a bank

Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of crypto real estate marketplace Propy, commented on the ease of using cryptocurrencies to invest abroad:

"We're seeing that more and more people are willing to buy properties with cryptocurrencies because it's getting easier to get their money out of the country using bitcoin, rather than establishing a bank account based in Hong Kong and getting their money out of the country using business channels."

HIGH ROLLERS

  • In addition to seeing an influx of Chinese customers, Propy is also seeing a trend that reveals the investors adore buying in crypto hubs like Silicon Valley
  • Propy has seen requests as low as $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to a recent request of $3 to $4 million
  • This high roller pool of Chinese investors is most likely taking interest in U.S. properties because China's housing market is seen as overpriced with Beijing home prices rising 40% last year alone

IMPORTANT LESSON

  • The most important lesson to be learned from this trend is that no government can stop cryptocurrencies from leaving the country
  • If it weren't for crypto, these investors would have to use a Hong Kong-based bank to send their money in a process that can take much longer
  • Now, however, the process is streamlined and investors can do whatever they please with their cryptocurrencies

Q&A

Q&A with IOST CEO Jimmy Zhong

04UBBwN.jpgWEBSITE | TWITTER | TELEGRAM

In layman’s terms (simplest explanation), how would you describe the IOST platform?

IOST offers a blockchain-based, distributed computing platform that allows any service providers – individuals or enterprises – to host decentralized applications and execute smart contracts.

What are the strengths of both the IOST team and the IOST community?

The largest strength comes from our past experiences and our FILO - first in last out - work ethic. Our team includes PhD graduates from world class universities, such as Princeton, Harvard, etc. Additionally, we come from professional backgrounds including former Google, Mobike, Uber and Litecoin engineers, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley investment bankers, Boston Consulting Group researchers and consultants, etc.

The biggest strength in our community is the active engagement and support we receive – whether it is through the form of feedback and participation or art!

Compared to your competitors, what are IOST’s unique selling points?

IOST’s USP is its throughput, which is currently at approximately 7000 TPS. We have been able to achieve this through a combination of our consensus mechanism – Proof of Believability – and our current sharding implementation; however, we are continuously in development. Our TPS allows for enterprise scale development and global scale usage on our platform.

What are the significant upcoming milestones IOST is looking to achieve?

We will be releasing our mainnet by the end of the year (Q4)! We will also be making 2 significant testnet developments in between now and the release of our mainnet. Keep up to date with our developments using our Community Hub!

What hurdles does IOST need to overcome to enable mass adoption for IOST’s use cases?

One hurdle that IOST needs to overcome is expanding our global footprint. To elaborate, because we went through venture capital funding, we did not garner as much publicity as a traditional token/coin might have with an ICO. Therefore, while we are very well respected in our local communities that our project initiated in, we are not very well known in other areas of the world. This is very necessary for mass adoption, because our community is equally as important as our tech!

Where do you see the crypto industry as a whole in 5 years and where do you envision IOST positioned at that time?

In 5 years, we believe that the crypto industry will not only be seen as having a primary application with currency use cases but that it will also see use cases in many other industries, such as media and content distribution, healthcare recordkeeping, consumer supply chain tracking, etc. In summary, we believe that the shorthand “crypto” extends much further out than its longhand – “cryptocurrency”.

We envision IOST offering the backbone infrastructure to enable all of these use cases in the future. To highlight a specified future use case, we recently partnered with ContentBox in order to reimagine the distribution of content in the media industry.


MORE BREWING
  • CryptoKitties Auctions $25k ‘Honu Kitty’ Collectible to Fund Ocean Preservation
  • Reserve Bank of India Urges Supreme Court to Regulate Crypto
  • Mastercard Had An Outage, So Crypto Had a Field Day

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com


COIN OF THE DAY
1839.png
Ambrosus (AMB)
Combining high-tech sensors, blockchain protocol and smart contracts, Amrbosus is building a universally verifiable, community-driven ecosystem to assure the quality, safety & origins of products.
WEBSITE | TWITTER | REDDIT

MEME
meme.jpg
SUBSCRIBE | FEEDBACK | ADVERTISE
c7a28dd9-9ec5-4913-814b-8b83b0e2f5f0.pnge1c33f1a-0d4d-4829-bc78-1fd392608c05.png e1c33f1a-0d4d-4829-bc78-1fd392608c05.png
The above is not intended to be investment advice.
1317 8th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.
If you don't absolutely love us, drop us, click here.
Copyright © 2018 Blockchain Brew, All rights reserved.