Wednesday, July 25, 2018

This is dark...

Assassination markets show up on Augur; the dapp dream is alive on ethereum
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July 25, 2018
MORBID MARKETS: People have started betting on the deaths of prominent politicians, business leaders and celebrities on Augur, the decentralized protocol for betting on the outcomes of real-world events that launched on ethereum two weeks ago.

Some of these bets specify assassination, much to the dismay of some in the crypto community who call such behavior "100 percent immoral."  Full Story

KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE:
Notwithstanding the nasty business mentioned above, or the emergence of explicit Ponzi "games" on ethereum, community members still have high hopes for decentralized applications (dapps).

According to many like developer Alex Van de Sande, dapps are the key technology not only driving ethereum but the dream of a new Internet, web 3.0, where centralized power structures no longer exist and control over user data is turned back to the hands of the people. Full Story

TRAPPED FUNDS: 
The Russian cryptocurrency exchange WEX continues to feature alarmingly anomalous prices, setting the value of bitcoin over $9,700 (versus the low $8K range nearly everywhere else) and the value of tether (which usually trades 1-to-1 with the dollar) above $2.

Meanwhile, WEX customers say they remain unable to withdraw funds from the exchange — unless they buy tether or zcash at above-market prices, in which case they can withdraw and then sell at a steep loss.  Full Story


Crypto-economics are vital for understanding the fundamentals of different blockchains. As such, CoinDesk has compiled five different market interest composite scores measuring the activity of certain major cryptocurrencies.

Notably, cardano has periodically seen on-chain transaction volumes (measured in dollars) that dwarf those of bitcoin. This is likely due to holders of the cryptocurrency moving large amounts of value on the chain. 

On the other hand, ethereum held steady behind bitcoin in developer interest measured at the protocol level only. Github contributors were up 20% for the ethereum protocol.

Even EOS saw increased exchange interest, likely due to investors and speculators becoming more active during the launch of its blockchain in June.

Check out these insights and more in CoinDesk's newly released Q2 State of Blockchain report. More research
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ANOTHER CHANCE: The price of bitcoin has seen a drop of $350 this morning, which may be luring in investors and bargain hunters who missed out on lower prices prior to the two-month highs. Full Story
BEST OF THE BEST

FORTUNE: No-fee crypto trading will be offered by one more startup company, the newly debuted Voyager.

The company is backed by Uber co-founder Oscar Salazar and led by CEO Stephen Ehrlich, who used to run the professional trading arm of online stock brokerage E*trade. 

THE REST

CNBC: The Taiwanese computer electronics company known as HTC is working on a new phone to be released this year that will come with a digital wallet for cryptocurrencies.

Phil Chen, HTC's chief crypto officer (yes, that's his title) told CNBC the phone is set to host "the most secure cold storage wallet on the market." But there's some skepticism about whether this product can improve the struggling company's fortunes.

FINANCIAL TIMES: According to the FT's finance blog, Alphaville, the cryptocurrency industry is seeing a change of tune with more people rallying for government partnership than a government takeover.

However, the path to befriending government officials may be riddled with contradiction given that cryptocurrencies in the eyes of some are “anarchic by design.”

THE VERGE: In a rare occurrence for Chinese internet users, an investigative news story on faulty vaccines is making the rounds online, effectively dodging normal censorship parameters.

The full text of the story has been attached to the metadata of an ethereum transaction by which the immutability of the blockchain network prevents Beijing's monitors from tampering with the post.
 


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Global Blockchain Spending Expected to Reach $11.7 Billion in 2022

July 25, 2018 Read in Browser
Blockchain Brew
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"Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation."
- Dan Kamen

Happy Wednesday! We are above 2,000 readers! Big thank you to all of our readers who made it possible. Keep sharing to get the crypto word out. For crypto to succeed, we all need to do our part in educating the masses.

Cheers,
Blockchain Brew Team

MARKETS
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $8,212.74 +0.06%

ETH $472.371 -0.64%

XRP $0.456061 -0.67%

BCH $839.102 -2.46%

EOS $8.53742 +2.28%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST


PREDICTION

Global Blockchain Spending Expected to Reach $11.7 Billion in 2022

BOOMING

  • Blockchain has burst onto the scene in the past couple years, but shows no signs of slowing down
  • International Data Corporation, a market research firm, predicts that in 2022 blockchain spending will rise almost 10x of what it will be this year
  • The firms released a report forecasting blockchain spending to grow 73.2% annually from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $11.7 billion in 2017

GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN

  • As the largest economy in the world, the United States is expected to take the lead in blockchain investments, predicted to account for 36% of global spending over the next five years
  • Trailing the United States will be Western Europe and China
  • However, Japan and Canada are supposed to have the highest annual spending growth rate at 108.7% and 86.7%, respectively

SECTOR BREAKDOWN

  • The financial sector is projected to be the biggest beneficiary with $552 million in blockchain spending directed at the sector in 2018
  • Next, after the financial sector is the the manufacturing and resources sector with investments expected to total $160 million this year

ROI

  • The amount that will be spent on blockchain technologies over the next five years is astounding
  • There is a reason that companies and governments are pouring money into this technology, there will be return on the investment
  • Blockchain can improve efficiencies in many types of processes and its immutable, transparent, decentralized nature is very valuable

NEWS

Bitwise Files with SEC for Crypto Index ETF

FILING

  • In a press release published yesterday, Bitwise announced that it filed the necessary paperwork with the SEC to apply for its crypto index fund to become a publicly offered exchange traded fund (ETF)
  • The company has only filed with the SEC, the ETF is not yet effective, no shares of the ETF are available for trade yet

Bitwise Global Head of Exchange-Traded Products John Hyland commented on the filing:

"We know that the current crypto ETF filings have generated a great deal of discussion and analysis within the SEC about this emerging asset class, and the SEC and its staff, to their credit, have asked for public comment on a wide range of issues relating to these products. We expect the staff of the SEC has had ongoing discussions with the investment firms making the crypto filings to date, and we look forward to having our own discussions with the SEC about the nature of our proposed offering."

HOLD 10 INDEX

  • Bitwise's ETF would be dubbed the HOLD 10 Cryptocurrency Index Fund
  • This fund would be a market cap weighted index of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies and be rebalanced every month
  • To calculate market cap, Bitwise will use a 5-year diluted market cap because crypto's supply count is always changing and liquidity is sometimes uncertain

Bitwise Global Head of Research Matt Hougan spoke about the benefit of an index for the space:

"Our research shows that an index-tracking basket of multiple cryptocurrencies behaves differently than a single coin. As such, we think both sorts of exposure need to be looked at by investors when considering the growing cryptocurrency space. Our view is that this new area has many similarities to the introduction 10 to 15 years ago of commodity ETFs. At that time, we saw the launch of single-commodity ETFs tracking gold, silver, crude oil, and other commodities, as well as ETFs tracking diversified commodity index baskets. We see a lot of similarities here."


NEWS

Coinbase Internal Investigation Concludes No Insider Trading Took Place During Bitcoin Cash Listing

BITCOIN CASH LISTING

  • After initially avoiding listing Bitcoin Cash, Coinbase decided to add the Bitcoin fork to its platform on December 19th, 2017
  • Allegations of insider trading erupted after Bitcoin Cash's price had jumped to over $3,000 within an hour of being listed on the platform
  • Later, Coinbase halted Bitcoin Cash trading as the price on GDAX (now Coinbase Pro) showed Bitcoin Cash's price to be $9,500

Many users took to Twitter to accuse Coinbase of insider trading:

0a0eecf5-e25c-4446-ae6a-5fe13d987f55.png

INTERNAL INVESTIGATION

  • Following the allegations of insider trading, the San Francisco-based exchange started an internal investigation
  • According to Fortune, the investigation, conducted by two national law firms, has now concluded and Coinbase is "determined to take no disciplinary action"
  • Though this is great news for Coinbase, they are still not in the clear as a class action lawsuit about the Bitcoin Cash insider trading incident looms over their head
  • Lynda Grant, the lawyer heading the class action lawsuit, believes not only is her team investigating the case, but that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is also

RESEARCH

CoinDesk Releases Q2 State of the Blockchain Report, What You Need to Know

Each quarter for the last four years, CoinDesk has released a State of the Blockchain report that provides key insights on the industry.

MARKETS

  • During Q2, the total cryptocurrency market remained relatively flat with a small decline of only 1.25%
  • Though the decline in price is small, Bitcoin's total trading pairs saw a massive decline in volume of 26%
  • Correlation between Bitcoin and the top cryptocurrencies remained strong:
    • Ethereum (ETH) - 0.93
    • XRP (XRP) - 0.80
    • Bitcoin Cash (BCH) - 0.84
    • EOS (EOS) - 0.61

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

  • An official of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Ether (ETH), in its present form, is not a security
  • The U.S. Justice Department opens investigation to search for Bitcoin price manipulation
  • Coinbase launches index fund and custody solutions for institutional investors
  • China stands by cryptocurrency crackdown
  • Cryptocurrency ad ban is slowly getting lifted by tech giants

SENTIMENT SURVEY FINDINGS

  • 65% of respondents believe at current prices, cryptocurrencies are undervalued
  • 48% of respondents believe it is unlikely the 2018 crypto downturn will cause a prolonged bear market
  • 75% of respondents HODLed their cryptocurrencies all the way down
  • 95% of respondents believe that regulated institutions will tokenize securities in the future

To read more insights gathered by CoinDesk's State of the Blockchain report, click here.


MORE BREWING
  • Fortune Releases First-Ever Crypto-Focused '40 Under 40' Annual Rankings
  • The First Augur Assassination Markets Have Arrived
  • Coinbase Launches Crypto Gift Card Service in Europe

TODAY IN CRYPTO
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Tuesday, July 24, 2018

$8,000 / Libertarian Party / Bitcoin Stocks / Honeyminer

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Here are today's ten most important Bitcoin stories, efficiently ranked & summarized by smart humans, not algorithms:

$BTC (1:30 p.m. EST): $8,214.46 (6.30%) // 90-day high: $9,927.71 // 90-day low: $5,755.25/ / More

$BCH (1:30 p.m. EST): $855.98 (7.56%) // 90-day high: $1,786.80// 90-day low: $608.37 // More

$ETH (1:31 p.m. EST): $474.05 (3.48%) // 90-day high: $831.65 // 90-day low: $365.43 // More

$LTC (1:31 p.m. EST): $87.80 (4.48%) // 90-day high: $251.03 // 90-day low: $73.12 // More

$XRP (1:31 p.m. EST): $0.45 (1.90%) // 90-day high: $1.20 // 90-day low: $0.43 // More

Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today

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1. Bitcoin surpassed $8,000 per coin. The cryptocurrency has gained 20 percent in just under a week, hitting a price it has not seen since mid-May. At the same time, bitcoin's market dominance has risen to over 47 percent, its highest percentage since December. There is no single reason for bitcoin's surge, although experts contribute the rise to a series of positive stories surrounding the cryptocurrency in recent weeks. -BITCOINIST

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2. Wisconsin's Libertarian Party will accept bitcoin donations to fund political campaigns. The decision comes after the state's Ethics Commission said "allowing cryptocurrency donations presents a serious challenge to the commission's ability to ensure compliance with state law." Phil Anderson, the head of the state's Libertarian Party and the party's candidate for governor, said the party will push back if the Ethics Commission files a complaint of any kind. –COIN TELEGRAPH

Wisconsin libertarian party to begin accepting bitcoin
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3. The stocks of bitcoin-related companies have seen a boost in recent weeks. As the price of bitcoin has surged above $8,000 per coin, so have the stock prices of cryptocurrency-related firms. For example, Marathon Patent Group, which operates a mining facility in Quebec, has seen a nearly 30 percent stock increase. The same can be said for Riot Blockchain, which saw its stock surge more than 40 percent. -BLOOMBERG

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4. Honeyminer, a New Jersey-based startup, has launched a free cryptocurrency mining software for Windows users. The service launched in beta last month. It allows users to take part in a dynamic mining pool by running the app when the computer's graphics processing unit is not being used. The pool focuses on mining cryptos like ethereum, ethereum cash, and zcash. -COINDESK

Startup launches free mining software
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5. There is growing concern that HTC's blockchain-enabled phone, the Exodus, will not be enough to revive the company's struggling mobile business. Once a major mobile provider, HTC now has only 0.2 percent market share. The Exodus, which will be released later this year, will use blockchain, have a universal wallet to store digital coins, and support major cryptos like bitcoin and ether. Critics, though, do not think the phone will appeal to a large enough numbers of users and that HTC is simply jumping on a bandwagon out of desperation. -CNBC

Analysts worried about HTC Exodus plan
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6. A pharmaceutical scandal in China has caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community. China's State Drug Administration revealed that a company, Changsheng Biotechnology, falsified aspects of its rabies production data. The Chinese cryptocurrency community has gone to social media to push for blockchain adoption in the pharmaceutical industry. The goal would be to create a blockchain system to track every step of a vaccine's production and distribution. -COINDESK

7. Jon Montroll, the operator of WeExchange and BitFunder, pled guilty to lying about a cryptocurrency hack. Montroll faces as many as 20 years in prison. -BLOOMBERG

8. Games that mimic a Ponzi scheme have become popular on ethereum. The second and third most popular games currently on the ethereum network reward users that can get more users to join, allowing them to benefit from their recruit's success. -COINDESK

9. Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said he wants to push his coin above $400. The promise came following a Twitter discussion with users that demeaned the currency's price drop this year. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS

10. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will not make a decision on five bitcoin-related ETFs until September. The SEC said it will make a decision – one way or another – by September 21. -COINDESK

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From the Forums

Bitcoin price range similar to last year.

There is a way to spend ethereum on Amazon.

Roger Ver honored.

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