Cryptocurrency News Now!

Saturday, July 7, 2018

2018: The First Time Bitcoin Lost Value in Q2

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Technology is not only the thing that moves the human race forward, but it’s the only thing that ever has. Without technology, we’re just monkeys playing in the dirt.”

- Naval

Happy Saturday! Big thank you to all of our supporters and everyone who reads the Brew each morning. If you want to share us with a friend, just click 'Invite Friends' above and forward the Brew to a friend.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKETS

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$6,585.44	-0.75%

ETH	$467.297	-1.04%

XRP	$0.467559	-1.69%

BCH	$715.455	-1.81%

EOS	$8.47345	-1.68%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST

MARKET

2018: The First Time Bitcoin Lost Value in Q2

FIRST TIME

According to CoinDesk market data, this is the first time in the existance of Bitcoin that the price has declined in Q2
2018's 8% Q2 decline snaps the digital currency's 7-year win streak
It is no wonder many bulls were expecting to regain for the massive losses of over 50% that were experienced Q1 2018

Until now, Bitcoin has rallied in Q2 of each trading year with a whopping 1,964% rally in 2011:

Q3 OUTLOOK

Q3's outlook remains questionable for the cryptocurrency, however, many remain optimistic we will return to an all time high before the end of 2018
Just this week, Tom Lee's Fundstrat told CNBC that he still believes Bitcoin could reach $22,000 to $25,000 by the end of 2018
Though that would pose a 330% increase, it wouldn't be out of character for the cryptocurrency

ADOPTION

FedEx Partners With Pharmacy to Use Blockchain for Cancer Medicine Distribution

NEW PARTNERSHIP

Reported yesterday by Commercial Appeal, the Fedex Institute of Technology has partnered with Good Shepard Pharmacy to help build a blockchain-based system to distribute cancer medication to patients
Since handling medications needs to be confidential and secure, blockchain technology would offer a perfect solution for the current problems of traditional systems

Good Shepard Pharmacy CEO Phil Baker explained the need for blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry:

"In Tennessee alone, over $10 million worth of perfectly good prescription medication gets flushed down the toilet every year. Blockchain is the solution for that problem. The REMEDI project (REclaiming MEDicine) will divert valuable medication into the hands of patients who would not otherwise use it."

FEDEX AND BLOCKCHAIN

Since Fedex's business focus is supply chain heavy, the company seems to be quite interested in blockchain technology
In May, Fedex CEO Fred Smith said that blockchain is "the next frontier that’s going to completely change worldwide supply chains"
In addition, Fedex has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a focus group that includes members such as BNSF, JD Logistics, and GE Transportation

NEWS

Facebook Hires New Director of Engineering for Blockchain

FACEBOOK & CRYPTO

Facebook has had a rollercoaster like relationship with cryptocurrencies over the past year
Earlier this year, the social media company banned all crypto related advertisements on its site, this restriction was recently reversed, now those wishing to post crypto advertisements must send in an application to Facebook
The companies founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has longed showed an interest in cryptocurrencies and it has even been reported that his company is developing its own cryptocurrency

DIRECTOR OF BLOCKCHAIN

Facebook just announced the appointment of Evan Cheng to the position of Director of Engineering for Blockchain in the company
Cheng has worked previously for Facebook in various engineering roles and also has worked for Apple
His Twitter bio shows his interest in blockchain it reads: ""day job - programming languages, runtimes, compilers; night job - blockchain, crypto"
The direction Facebook is heading with blockchain is still not very clear, but this new hire shows that the company is definitely very serious about implementing the technology into its platform

TIP

Panama Crypto Presents: the Ten Commandments of Crypto Security

Do NOT use SMS 2FA on your accounts
- It is very easy for hackers to port your phone number and redirect all calls and texts to a new device
Setup 2FA or U2F on your accounts
- Setup Google Authenticator or Authy, or even better Universal 2nd Factor
Get a hardware wallet, and USE IT!
- Do not store private keys on Evernote, or Dropbox, use your hardware wallets
- Worst case scenario keep the private keys offline, on a paper wallet
Don’t be a flashy douche
- Flaunting your portfolio online makes you a target and makes it easier for hackers to get into your account
Be anonymous
- Every detail a hacker knows about your identity makes it more likely they will be able to access your accounts
Don’t dox yourself
- Be very careful about what you post on social media, hackers can take little pieces from all information shared to build a puzzle fo your real identity
Different email for different types of accounts
- You should not trust all websites with your email, also using multiple emails may limit hacks to a single account
Bookmark websites
- Crypto related websites should be bookmarked to prevent yourself from accidentally accessing phishing websites
Use VPN on untrusted WiFi
- On public websites, hackers have tools to use to sniff your data that is being sent to and from your computer and exchanges or wallets
Antivirus and Firewall yourself
- When using crypto you may have to download software to store or stake your coins, antivirus software ensures the software you are running is not malicious

Read the full article by Panama Crypto

TODAY IN CRYPTO

Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Mainnet Upgrade

"Our target date for the Mainnet Upgrade is sometime in the first week of July...."

PROOF | SOURCE

Wanchain (WAN)

Mainnet Celebration

"Join us on the 7th of July 2018 in Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the launch of WANCHAIN MAIN NET 2.0 - ETHEREUM CROSS CHAIN!"

PROOF | SOURCE

Waves (WAVES)

Summer Road Show London

Waves presents "Blockchain in Financial Services" in London, discussing blockchain impact on fintech and legacy financial institutions.

PROOF | SOURCE

Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com

COIN OF THE DAY

Bluzelle (BLZ)
Bluzelle’s open-source, decentralized database protocol makes it more efficient for blockchain products to manage their data while shifting control away from central sources.
WEBSITE \| TWITTER \| REDDIT

MEME

SUBSCRIBE | FEEDBACK | ADVERTISE

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.

Friday, July 6, 2018

Week 27: Komodo's Five Bullet Friday.

PLEASE SHARE THIS EMAIL WITH FRIENDS

View this email in your browser

WEEK 27: FIVE STORIES TO SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS

IMPROVED MONTHLY REWARDS AND 'FREE FOR ALL' MINING: A 2 Minute Read on Medium about important changes to Komodo's Blockchain at Block Height 1 Million .
THE ROAD TO 1 MILLION TRANSACTIONS PER SECOND. We have a new scaling solution that provides more TPS (transactions per second) than any other blockchain project and has already achieved more than 20,000 TPS - results are publicly verifiable.
THE ONE-STOP BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTION? Interview w/ Crushing Crypto and Ben O'Hanlon from Komodo.
25,000 $KMD BOUNTY IN THE KOMODO INFLUENCER NETWORK. Help us crowdsource and decentralize our content creation. Share opportunities to work with Komodo Platform or choose to do some of the bounties yourself.
5 PILLARS OF BLOCKCHAIN TECH, and how Komodo is improving upon each one.

Reminder: we have moved to Discord, click here to join us.

IMPROVED MONTHLY REWARDS AND 'FREE FOR ALL' MINING

THE ROAD TO 1 MILLION

INTERVIEW: THE ONE-STOP BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTION?

5 PILLARS OF BLOCKCHAIN TECH

Ask a Question

Facebook

Twitter

Blog

Website

Whitepaper

Thank you for being a part of our loyal blockchain community

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

#67: Bitcoin’s fundamental economic limits

Chain

Letter

Blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and why they matter

07.06: Crypto-economies and scale

Welcome to Chain Letter! Great to have you. On Thursdays we take a closer look at one key concept in the world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Feel free to suggest topics you think we should discuss in the future.

If you believe Bitcoin has the potential to replace traditional global financial systems, a new economic analysis is here to rain on your parade.

The discussion of digital money thus far has been dominated by libertarians and computer geeks, but the massive popularity of crypto-tokens has gotten the attention of academics like the University of Chicago’s Eric Budish. In a new paper (PDF) Budish concludes, based on a model of Bitcoin’s incentive system, that there are “intrinsic economic limits to how economically important it can become.”

Some “Bitcoin maximalists” say that the currency is a lot like gold—it works as a store of value, even if it’s not very efficient as a true currency. But if Bitcoin got anywhere close to gold’s value, Burdish argues, people would attack its network for profit.

Before we dive into the argument, a little context: Bitcoin’s market capitalization over the last year or so has oscillated between $100 and $200 billion. Gold stock is worth about $7.5 trilllion. So yeah, in these terms Bitcoin is nowhere close to being “economically important.”

And according to Budish, it never will be. That’s because, if it ever gets too large, the genius of Bitcoin’s design would be its undoing.

Bitcoin’s security arises from a competition between members of the network called “miners.” Each miner is in pursuit of chances to add new transactions to the blockchain and earn bitcoins in return. To play, they use large amounts of computing power in a race to solve a complicated math problem. An attacker couldn’t defeat this system unless they coordinated so much computing power that they could overwhelm the network and manipulate the record of transactions in such a way that they could spend the same bitcoins repeatedly. This is called a “majority attack” and it’s Bitcoin’s biggest weakness, but at the moment mining coins is more profitable than it is trying to overthrow the network would be—so that’s what people do, and the network stays safe. (See “How secure is a blockchain really?”)

But this protection is very expensive, writes Budish (the Bitcoin network uses about as much power as Ireland to run). And although Bitcoin’s value could theoretically increase almost without end, the blockchain’s security can only increase linearly, as more mining power is added to the network. That’s unlike other forms of security, like cryptography used in the traditional financial system, which, like adding a lock to a door, increases security much more than the cost of deploying it.

The cost of running the Bitcoin blockchain today is on the order of $100,000 per 10 minutes, whereas the cost of attacking the system is in the neighborhood of $1.5 to $2 billion, according to Budish’s calculations. A big reason it’s so expensive is that Bitcoin mining is currently dominated by chips that are purpose-built for mining and can’t be redeployed to perform other tasks. An attack could also drastically lower the value of Bitcoin—and in turn, the attacker’s own holdings—but this wouldn’t deter someone who was simply looking to sabotage or destroy Bitcoin.

Though the new paper has gotten a fair amount of praise from other economists, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been dismissive. The conclusion that Bitcoin may not be sustainable because it might become too expensive to deter sabotage “may be true,” says Ari Paul, co-founder of BlockTower Capital, but it has long been a topic of debate in popular online forums. The paper “adds no new data or logic to the debate,” he says.

Joshua Gans, an economist at the University of Toronto, argues that those online discussions lacked scientific rigor. Economists are just beginning to discuss these issues, and the research community will benefit from Budish’s “rigorous work of putting this all together,” he says. “It is that kind of approach that leads to better science.”

Our Data, Ourselves—Personalized Health Care

Massive and growing databases of gene sequencing data promise long-sought breakthroughs in medicine. How will we balance the pursuit of better health with ethical questions raised by this fast-moving field? Join us at EmTech where we will be discussing these issues and more. Secure your seat today.

Loose Change

Fill your pockets with these newsy tidbits.

•

Chinese cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain has been valued at $12 billion in a new funding round. (CoinDesk)

•

A new ruling by India’s top court has upheld an effective ban on the nation’s cryptocurrency industry. (Bloomberg)

•

The head of the Bank of International Settlements, the central bank for central banks, has a message for young crypto enthusiasts: “Stop trying to create money!” (CoinDesk)

•

$761 million has been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges so far in 2018, versus $266 million in all of 2017. (Reuters)

•

Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges should “go burn in hell as much as possible,” says Vitalik Buterin. (TechCrunch)

The Money Quote

“If someone comes in and tells me they don’t really believe in hypnosis, I say, ‘I hope you find some other way to get into your account because I won’t take your case.’”

—Jason Miller, a hypnotist in South Carolina who helps people remember the password or key to recovering lost cryptocurrency. (WSJ$).