Monday, October 1, 2018

Is Huobi Guilty?

October 1, 2018

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quote-left-filled.pngQUOTE OF THE DAY quote-right-filled.png

“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value”

- Eric Schmidt

MARKET
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $6,607.892398 -0.28%

ETH $230.014937 -2.3%

XRP $0.567018 -6.56%

BCH $534.084174 -0.85%

EOS $5.665556 -3.08%

*Information as of 11:00 AM EST


SCANDAL

Huobi Denies EOS Voter Collusion Following Leaked Documents

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You scratch my back...

Last week, Twitter user @MapleLeafCap released leaked documents that alleged the popular crypto exchange Huobi was colluding with other EOS block producers to do mutually beneficial actions.

Supposedly created by Huobi employee Shi Feifei, the documents revealed two different allegations:

  1. Huobi and many other block producers mutually vote for each other to cement their block producer position.

  2. Huobi openly votes for a few block producer candidates in exchange for EOS returns.

These arrangements allegedly earn Huobi 1,116 EOS per day, which is over $6400 at current market prices.

This isn't surprising

To some, collusion among EOS block producers doesn't come as a surprise at all. This is because the EOS blockchain has a controversial structure that critics believe is centralized.

EOS runs on a Delegated Proof Of Stake (DPOS) consensus method which means 21 block producers are chosen by the votes of EOS token holders. Once chosen, these 21 block producers then validate transactions that run through the network.

On a decentralized blockchain this doesn't seem to be an issue, however, over 50% of EOS tokens are held by only 10 addresses. This means these top 10 addresses can control who becomes a block producer by placing far more votes than other addresses.

Commenting on the leak, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin shared his 'I told you so' on Twitter:

"Interesting! I mean, it was completely predictable and I did predict it, but I did not expect it to happen so thoroughly and so soon!”

Huobi and EOS community push back

Yesterday, Huobi denied the series of allegations and claimed that it does not do any financial business with other EOS block producers.

Though Huobi has yet to confirm or deny the authenticity of the leaked documents, some EOS enthusiasts believe that even if the documents are real, it doesn't matter because Block.one hasn't even started voting.

Meanwhile, other EOS supporters are calling the leaked documents FUD entirely and say that if collusion were to happen, the price of the token would have to rise significantly so block producers like Huobi can maintain the control they want.

At this time, an investigation is underway to understand the situation further.

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RESEARCH

New Stablecoins are Entering the Market, But Tether Still Dominates

A look at stablecoins’ market share

According to a report from digital assets tech firm Blockchain Luxembourg SA, Tether accounts for 98% of stablecoins’ trading volume and 93% of the total market value of all stablecoins. Although, stablecoins only comprise 1.5% of the total market value of all cryptocurrencies.

Here is a list of the number of Tier-1 exchanges the biggest stablecoins are listed on:

  1. Tether - 6
  2. TrueUSD - 5
  3. SteemDollar - 4
  4. NuBits - 2
  5. BitBay - 2
  6. Gemini - 2
  7. Paxos - 2

Stablecoins and competition

Competition is the backbone of economics. As it is in almost every industry, competition is good for stablecoins. With competition, the consumer/investor is the winner.

New stablecoins are flooding into the crypto market. Tether still dominates because of its first mover advantage. Don’t be surprised if Tether’s massive lead begins to shrink.

Tether’s issues have been well documented and are probably the inspiration of these new stablecoins that are being created. Competition will force Tether and all players to become more transparent, which is the most important feature of a stablecoin.

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GOVERNMENT

Malta Prime Minister Preaches Crypto’s Potential to UN General Assembly

Malta is probably the most pro-crypto nation

The small island of Malta is progressing towards becoming the blockchain hub of the world. Malta is by far the most friendly when it comes to regulating blockchain startups and cryptocurrencies.

Having such a small size and population allows a country like Malta to be able to adapt to and implement new technologies very quickly.

Malta’s pro-crypto policies have lured some of the biggest crypto companies and initial coin offerings to the country.

Malta’s PM tells the world

At the UN General Assembly, Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat preached to the leaders of the world the potential of blockchain technology. Muscat proclaimed the cryptocurrencies will inevitably become the future of money.

The PM insisted that the rest of the world follow Malta’s lead in establishing accommodating crypto regulations. If blockchains achieve adoption, they can disrupt major industries, according to Muscat.

Muscat told the UN General Assembly:

“I passionately believe technology revolutionizes and improves systems. This is why in Malta, we have launched ourselves as the blockchain island. By being the first jurisdiction worldwide to regulate this new technology that previously existed in a legal vacuum. Blockchain makes cryptocurrencies inevitable future of money. More transparent it helps filter good business from bad business.”

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NEWS

Chinese Billionaire Investor Causes Controversy After Announcing He's Leaving Blockchain Behind

Turning the page

It seems Chinese (ex) Bitcoin enthusiast Li Xiaolai is fed up with the crypto scene.

Yesterday, the billionaire announced that on Chinese social media Weibo that he will no longer be investing in blockchain projects as he warned the community to avoid any projects that claim his involvement to attract investors.

Though he claims his departure is because of a "career change", others are speculating on the real reasons behind his decision.

Speculating on his departure

Following Li Xiaolai's announcement, the community began to speculate that the reason behind his departure is because of China's crackdown on initial coin offerings and crypto in general.

Others in the space believe that Li Xiaolai's departure is because the blockchain industry is plagued with scams and fraudulent actors.

Either way, though Li Xiaolai won't be investing in any blockchain projects moving forward, his fund still owns a significant amount of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that are estimated to be worth over $1 billion.

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BITS
  • Hong Kong has become the latest nation to introduce an instant payments system as a fintech upgrade for retail payments in the country.
  • Tron (TRX) announced that it will launch the world's first idle blockchain game on its network.
  • Binance is set to launch a beta version of its decentralized exchange (DEX) by early 2019.

COIN OF THE DAY
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Polymath (POLY)

Polymath is a highly automated and scalable platform that helps companies issue securities on the blockchain using a standardized token protocol, ST-20. Through the Polymath Platform, previously illiquid assets can now be tokenized, providing broader access and liquidity to investors and issuers.

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MEME

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10x Faster than EOS and 200x Faster than Ethereum - Everest v1.0 Public TestNet Release!

Everest v1.0 — Public Release and TestNet Update

Dear ,

Over the last few years, blockchain projects have been grappling with what has come to be known as the scalability trilemma. Trying to find a balance between scalability, security and decentralization isn't easy, and many projects have been cutting corners too much in one area and compromising the integrity of their blockchain in others. At IOST, we are developing solutions to this trilemma, and working to build a truly functioning decentralized infrastructure. 

As a result of this continued work and development, we are excited to announce the release of the second iteration of the IOST testnet - Everest v1.0 - today! Some of the most exciting features of Everest 1.0 include:

  • Support for smart contract programming with JavaScript - the world's most popular programing language according to Github
  • First Blockchain to support smart contract Domain Name System (DNS) and Flexible Access Control on upgrade/removal of contracts
  • First Blockchain to support Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) in storage layer, enabling high performance storage with MVCC cache
  • Redesigned Virtual Machine that resolves many design issues in Ethereum and EOS, performance benchmark 10X faster than EOS and 200X faster than Ethereum

Everest v1.0 marks a new stage of the IOST blockchain development and incorporates many of the new technologies and systems we have been building over the past year. We've worked diligently to introduce significant updates to our technology from our first release - Everest v0.5 in June 2018 - and are very excited to have reached this milestone ahead of schedule! 

You can read the full announcement of Everest v1.0 here.


Happy hacking!

Sincerely,

The IOST development Team

 

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Sunday, September 30, 2018

A sea of stablecoins

September 30, 2018

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quote-left-filled.pngQUOTE OF THE DAY quote-right-filled.png

“Society has had multiple stores of value, as none is perfectly secure. Gold, oil, dollars, real estate, (some) bonds & equities. Crypto is the first that’s decentralized *and* digital.”

- Naval

MARKET
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $6,631.022044 +0.89%

XRP $0.609454 +8.05%

ETH $236.734494 +2.64%

BCH $539.475128 +0.11%

EOS $5.867358 +2.34%

*Information as of 11:00 AM EST


NEWS

Another Stablecoin Entered the Market, What's the Reason Behind the Stablecoin Hype?

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A first for GBP

Yesterday, the London Block Exchange, a well-known U.K. crypto startup, announced that it is building the "world's first GBP-backed stablecoin."

According to a Business Insider, the stablecoin will be called LBXPeg and will have a 1-to-1 ratio with the British pound sterling.

In addition, LBX is building LBXPeg on Ethereum due to both transparency and efficiency, but also because Ethereum is "close to reaping the benefits of its upcoming scaling solutions."

They just keep on coming

Stablecoins are exciting for a large number of reasons but mostly one: they reap the benefits of digital transactions on the Blockchain without being vulnerable to volatile crypto price movements.

Following the popularity of the first stablecoin Tether, and because Tether has been criticized for being fraudulent, developers around the world set out to create a better stablecoin.

So far, according to Blockchain, there are now more than 57 different stablecoins in development with 23 of them already live. Adding to that, Blockchain estimates that stablecoins have attracted $335 million in venture funding to date.

How many is too many?

It seems like every other week we hear of a new stablecoin and its development.

According to Travis Kling, dozens of stablecoins are "over-capitalizing attractive areas of investment so much that they have become bad investments."

With many different almost identical stablecoins already available, competition will only increase. However, for the time being, it seems that the first-mover advantage for Tether is working out since it still ranks as the top dog among stablecoins.

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NEWS

Crypto Companies are Replacing Banks in Hong Kong’s Most Expensive Real Estate

Crypto companies are taking over Hong Kong skyscrapers

Hong Kong is home to some of the world’s most expensive real estate alongside the likes of New York, Sydney, and London.

Cryptocurrencies have begun infiltrating Hong Kong’s most expensive offices in the city’s skyscrapers. Last month, BitMEX moved its headquarters to Cheung Kong Center’s 45th floor, renting out 20,000 square feet at a whopping $28.66 per square foot.

More notably as crypto companies are moving in, banks are having to move out of the same expensive real estate locations to save costs. This is a tell-tale sign of intermediation.

A reporter from a Hong Kong news outlet commented:

“Blockchain companies show no signs of slowing their expansion in Hong Kong. These firms are leasing space in top-tier office buildings to attract and retain talent.”

Landlords aren’t trusting their crypto tenants

Even as the market has declined, crypto companies are still prospering. Exchanges make their money off of volume and crypto mining is still in full swing.

Yet, crypto companies still do not have the trust of landlords. It was reported that BitMEX had to pay its first year of rent upfront (estimated to be $6.8 million) before moving into the Cheung Kong Center.

Denis Ma, head of research at commercial real estate investment firm Jones Lang LaSalle said:

“It’s pretty common for landlords to ask for larger deposits from tenants with weaker covenant strength. Landlords are always open to taking on new tenants, it’s just a matter of balancing rent against flight risk.”

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NEWS

JD.com Establishes Smart City Research Institute to Facilitate Developments with Blockchain

China and the smart city revolution

China is determined to become the most advanced country in terms of technological innovation. With a population so large and growing out of control, the government is doing massive amounts of research on smart urban development.

The term ‘smart city’ has been coined to represent cities being developed with an integrated technological infrastructure. Most cities around the world were established long ago, before the internet age, and are outdated.

China is building new cities from the ground up and is at the forefront of the civil technological revolution.

JD.com wants to have a role in smart cities

China is very much a command economy, but there are still some large private corporations that are playing a role in the country’s economy. One of them, JD.com, who is an e-commerce giant, hopes to do its part in the building of ‘smart cities’.

JD.com recently announced the establishment of its own Smart City Research Institute.

As part of its announcement, the company said its priorities are to:

“Advanced Intelligent solutions in the areas of urban environment, transportation, planning, energy consumption, commerce, security, healthcare, credit cities and e-government.”

The company will utilize breakthrough technologies like blockchain as well as artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency of these smart cities.

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INTERVIEW

Q&A with Deribit

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For today's interview feature, Unbankd had the opportunity to speak with Deribit CEO John Jansen about the crypto derivative exchange and its future opportunities.

What prompted the idea to create a new crypto derivative exchange?

I have a background in market making options on the Amsterdam Options Exchange. In the Summer of 2012, I heard about Bitcoin for the first time and became excited about it instantly. After spending some time investing and trading, in 2014 I had the idea for a professional futures and options trading platform for cryptocurrencies. After recruiting a number of technical experts that were able to help me we started building the system. My brother Marius was closely involved in the development of the platform and joined full time in 2016.

How valuable is user input as you continue to enhance Deribit?

We make a point of listening to our customers. We are currently getting a lot of new customers and our developers are incorporating a lot of the things that they are requesting, think about presenting ROI data on their trades. Senior management is always communicating with customers in our Telegram group and we conduct surveys on a regular basis. After listening to our customers we also prioritized the development of the Deribit Perpetual, our successful alternative to other Perpetual swaps.

What are some reasons why the Deribit platform would be attractive to traders?

We offer a vastly superior stability and transaction speed. Our platform does not suffer from overload issues and is on average 20-50 times faster than the competition. Besides this we are also the only serious crypto options exchange and Deribit features the only liquid market for put and call options on Bitcoin. This is a fast growing part of our business and one that will continue to grow as more people get involved.

How do you see cryptocurrency growing in the next decade?

We believe that cryptocurrencies still have a lot untapped potential. In the past months we have seen more and more institutional investors joining the crypto world which shows an increase in professional interest. Other interesting developments are security tokens that can tap an entire new source of demand. While it is hard to forecast what will happen exactly throughout the next decade, we definitely see a lot of positive developments at the moment. The SEC moving towards allowing an ETF would be icing on the cake.

To read the full interview and learn more about Deribit, click here.

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BITS
  • Arrington XRP Capital may stop funding U.S.-based blockchain startups after being subpoenaed repeatedly by the SEC.
  • Ripple will lead a group of crypto startups to lobby lawmakers and financial regulators in D.C. to support crypto and blockchain innovation
  • The Reserve Bank of India has denied officially forming a new unit to research AI and blockchain technology, despite reports to the contrary.

COIN OF THE DAY
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Dock (DOCK)

Dock is a decentralized data exchange protocol that lets people connect their profiles, reputations and experiences across the web with privacy and security.

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MEME

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