Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Stablecoin Skyrocket 🚀

December 11, 2018

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Every informed person needs to know about Bitcoin because it might be one of the world's most important developments."

- Leon Luow



MARKET
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $3,405.84 - 3.66%

XRP $0.298978 - 1.66%

ETH $88.25 - 4.23%

XLM $0.114246 - 3.55%

USDT $1.01 - 0.77%

*Information as of 10:00 AM EST


RESEARCH

Stablecoins Across the Board are Quickly Gaining Traction

On-chain boom

In a new report from Diar, four new stablecoins including USDC, True USD (TUSD), Paxos (PAX), and the Gemini dollar (GUSD), are growing at an immense rate.

To measure growth, the research firm found that the number of on-chain transactions in November grew a stunning 1,032% across the segment.

In addition, all four stablecoins have passed over $5 billion in transaction value within a short 3-month timeframe of their existence.

Adios Tether

In the same timeframe, popular stablecoin Tether (USDT) has actually lost market share to the four stablecoin rookies.

There are two factors that are contributing to this:

  1. New exchange listings of other stablecoins outside of USDT
  2. Ongoing concerns of Tether's overall financial health

Within the last month, both of these factors have played a significant role in onboarding the adoption of new stablecoins.

Who will lead the pack?

For now, its TUSD. In November, TUSD hosted over 24,000 transactions on its network. That's more than 45% higher than its next competitor, USDC.

However, it's hard to bet against USDC in the long term. While TUSD was able to grab market share from its debut in early March, USDC is backed by both Coinbase and Circle - two massive innovators in the industry.


REGULATION

New Legislation Proposed in Japan to Ease Crypto Taxation

Don't "crush the future"

A Japanese legislator has proposed four changes to the current tax code that could ease the burden for cryptocurrency investments and motivate adoption of the technology.

The legislator argues that cryptocurrencies will play a meaningful role in the future of society and that the government should not "crush the future" by over-regulating and taxing the new asset class.

The four proposed changes

The changes that the legislator proposed to include:

  1. Lowering the tax on cryptocurrency investment gains from 55% to 20%
  2. Allow for the carryforward of tax benefits stemming from cryptocurrency investment losses
  3. Exempt crypto-to-crypto trades from taxation
  4. Exempt everyday purchases from the investment tax originating from selling crypto for fiat

Second attempt

The same legislator attempted to propose similar legislative changes in June, but his proposal was delayed due to the evolving nature of the industry.

Maybe now that cryptocurrency is more understood and heavily scrutinized, the government will take this proposal more seriously.


INTERNATIONAL

UNICEF Convinced on Crypto After Funding Six Projects to Solve Problems

Announced Monday, the charity arm of the United Nations, dubbed UNICEF, is using some of its funds to help boost blockchain development.

Spread across six different projects, UNICEF hopes that their $100,000 investment in each will help the teams develop open-source prototypes within the next 12 months.

Chris Fabian, an advisor overseeing the investments, commented on blockchain's benefits:

"Blockchain technology is still at an early stage -- and there is a great deal of experimentation, failure, and learning ahead of us as we see how, and where, we can use this technology to create a better world."

Here are the projects in TL:DR format:

  • Atix Labs - Transparent funding for small to medium-sized businesses
  • Onesmart - Tracks the misuse of funds in emerging markets
  • Prescrypto - Digital solution for prescriptions in developing countries
  • Statwig - Delivery of vaccines using blockchain-powered supply chain
  • Utopixar - Social collaboration for better decision making in communities
  • W3 Engineers - Improving communication for refugees and migrants

ANALYSIS

Bitcoin Dominance Inches Closer to Yearly High

The bear market has had no bounds, depreciating the value of just about every cryptocurrency in the market. But during the downtrend, Bitcoin has held up better than the rest of the market.

At the time of this writing Bitcoin dominance (the measure of Bitcoin's market share) sits at just above 55% and has been consistently moving upward. The mark is reaching the yearly high of 57.75% which occurred in September.

Bitcoin dominance bottomed at the very beginning of the year, going as low as about 32%. The dominance hit the trough when altcoins were having their crazy run in January, following Bitcoin's run in December.

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BITS

But wait, there's more...

  • 🧐 New report finds that U.K. crypto exchanges pose a low risk for money laundering and terrorist financing.
  • 🐻 According to ASIC Miner Value, just three Bitcoin mining rigs remain profitable in the middle of this bear market.
  • 📈 State Farm jumped on the bandwagon as it tests its new blockchain-based insurance platform.

MEME

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The Rise of Blockchain Hubs in Korea

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Carboneum to migrate from Ethereum to ICON Blockchain in Q1 2019 

Editor's Notes

We know you are busy planning for the holidays and probably didn't have time to catch up with everything that's going on in the ICON Republic and the Korean blockchain industry. Fear not, we've got you covered:

The Korean government has ruled to increase the federal budget for blockchain development to $35 million next year. Carboneum, a DApp migrating to the ICON Blockchain in Q1 2019, aims to make investment easy for the masses and is working to expand the ICON network in the Philippines. ICON also announced that ICX will be listed on Bitbox.

What should we cover next? We'd like to hear your ideas. Get in touch on Twitter (@TheIconistNews) or by email at hello@theicon.ist. In the meantime, take a look at our most recent stories below. 

Mariana Peralta
Editor @ The Iconist 

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Monday, December 10, 2018

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December 10, 2018

BLOCKCHAIN BUILDERS: Ethereum developers are currently working on two separate major upgrades to the blockchain network: one dubbed ethereum 2.0 and the other dubbed ethereum 1x.

Having only been discussed in earnest among ethereum developers in the last couple of weeks, ethereum 1x is intended to be an intermediary upgrade that focuses on enhancements to the current ethereum network. Ethereum 2.0, on the other hand, features a more ambitious agenda that dates back to 2014 and consists of fundamental changes to the blockchain platform.

Known in its early days under project name “Serenity,” the current specifications for ethereum 2.0 can be summarized as a combination of three main components: a switch to proof-of-stake, implementation of a scaling solution called sharding and a revamp of the ethereum virtual machine – the engine responsible for deploying decentralized applications, or dapps, on the blockchain.

And that work is being carried out by eight different teams spread out across the globe. Read about the teams here.

BITMAIN WOES: Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain is closing down its Israel-based research and development arm, BitmainTech Israel. The firm put the closure of the R&D center in the city of Ra’anana down to the general downturn in the crypto markets, according to a local news source

All 23 employees have been laid off as a result. Bitmain’s vice president for sales and marketing Gadi Glikberg – who led the Israeli project – is also departing the firm.

“The crypto market has undergone a shake-up in the past few months, which has forced Bitmain to examine its various activities around the globe and to refocus its business in accordance with the current situation,” Glikberg reportedly told local employees.

BitmainTech Israel was launched back in 2016, and went on to launch Bitmain’s ConnectBTC mining pool in April 2017. The unit worked on developing blockchain technologies, as well as artificial intelligence for the company’s Sophon project. Full Story​

ACTUAL AUDITS: Malta-based Stasis is looking to change how stablecoins are viewed – by actually releasing full audits of its holdings. The startup has tapped accounting firm BDO Malta to conduct quarterly and annual audits, in particular for the euros it holds in reserve to back its EURS token.

Stasis said it hopes to remove any concerns that its token is backed one-to-one by euros. Similar doubts have dogged other stablecoins, such as Tether’s USDT. While the latter company has also promised to release regular audits, it has yet to publish a single one.

Speaking to the controversial token, Stasis CFO Vyacheslav Kim said in a statement that “By providing verification by a top accounting firm, in addition to EURS’ existing regulatory compliance under Maltese law, we’ve established EURS as a standout option for European investors.”

On top of the audits, BDO Malta will “provide weekly cash reserve verification” to further confirm Stasis’ holdings. The first verification has already been published, with its first audit coming in Q1 of 2019. Full Story​



The cryptocurrency bear market is ongoing but this has not necessarily affected fundraising efforts for startups in the space. While the vast sums raised during ICOs have declined, venture capital is still increasing. 

Both the number of ICOs conducted and the amount of funds being raised appear to have declined this year:
  • $2.2 billion for 189 projects raised in Q3
  • $7.3 billion for 192 projects raised in Q2
  • $6.3 billion for 202 projects raised in Q1
In contrast, venture capital investment in blockchain startups has never been higher: 
  • $974 million raised for 248 deals in Q3
  • $830 million raised for 177 deals in Q2
  • $886 million raised for 146 deals in Q1
However, the average deal size has dropped from a high of $9.6 million in Q4 of 2017 to $3.9 million in Q3 of 2018.
 
Learn more about the crypto market in Q3 across price, network, exchange, developer, and social fundamental metrics in our recently released State of Blockchains report here.

TEMPORARY HOLD: Bitcoin found demand in the $3,200 area last week after forming record oversold conditions, but its weak bounce has left bulls with little to be hopeful for. To make matters worse, BTC's previous three-day candle closed below an important support level from 2017 which suggests another drop to $3,000 may soon be in the offing. Full Story​

BEST OF THE BEST

BRIAN ARMSTRONG:
 Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently penned a (perhaps unusual) thesis on the potential of digital currencies in virtual reality – in particular, virtual worlds

Digital currency, he posits, will ultimately be widely used in virtual worlds due to the simple logic that it “doesn’t make sense” to use international fiat currency in a virtual environment. “People from all over the world will gather in these virtual spaces, and it would be exclusionary (or perhaps even rude) to use one country’s currency in a digital world,” Armstrong writes.

Furthermore, digital currencies could let people earn “real money” and incentivize people to spend more time in virtual worlds, “creating a virtuous cycle” for the firms building them.

“Customers of these products can take the money they generate in virtual worlds, and convert it to traditional money to pay their bills in real life. This will help take virtual reality from a hobby or entertainment to a full time job or lifestyle,” Armstrong concludes.

THE REST

THE GUARDIAN: The price of bitcoin may be down around 80 percent from its record high seen last December, but that doesn’t mean the days of crypto are numbered, says a piece from noted economist Kenneth Rogoff in The Guardian.

Rogoff explains that despite the fact that regulators are coming to terms with the fact that they cannot support technology that aids tax evasion and other criminal activity, central banks are beginning to do just that, in the form of digital currencies.

Further, while the value of bitcoin in the long-term may not be as high as some of the more extreme predictions, that doesn't automatically suggests its value is zero. 

The “right way” to view cryptos is “as lottery tickets that pay off in a dystopian future where they are used in rogue and failed states,” says Rogoff, or (more prosaically) maybe in countries where citizens have already been stripped of all privacy.

And while lottery tickets may ultimately prove to be worthless, there also a "small outside chance" they could one day pay off, he concludes. 

VULTURE: Last week's Art Basel Miami Beach show saw a blockchain-focused conference with art inspired by, or related to, the nascent technology. 

Much of the discussion at the event centered around how tokenizing art may make it easier to purchase cooperatively, with multiple investors paying to support a single artist or piece at a gallery.

That being said, some artists are concerned about the potential impact. Simon Denny, who contributed a CryptoKitty poster, said he was "a bit scared to see a securitization of art."

Fractional ownership of art could also change how the art industry operates, harming auction houses and potentially undermining dealers and collectors.

WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER

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