Call the bomb squad

Ethereum confronts a ticking "difficulty bomb," Neo debates divisibility, Coinbase adds the British pound

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Sponsored by   August 2, 2018 BEFORE THE BOMB HITS: Ethereum’s “difficulty bomb” was designed to stimulate the future migration to proof-of-stake, making the proof-of-work blockchain incrementally less time-efficient to operate. But that revolution is still a long way off, so now the community is once again working on neutralizing the mechanism, as well as changing the ether issuance model that goes with it. And both the bomb and issuance questions have proved to be controversial. Full Story DIVISION OVER DIVISION: Neo's co-founder Erik Zhang proposed a new economic model for the upcoming 3.0 version of the project's software. The proposal is designed to address the problem of tokens being sent to "black hole addresses," or wallets to which owners have lost their private keys.  In the new model, neo's GAS tokens would be sent to a pool and then distributed over time exclusively to token holders who partake in voting for consensus nodes (via another type of tokens, NEO). But this method would remove the technical barrier that requires NEO to be indivisible, and some investors don't think it's a good idea. Full Story JOLLY GOOD: Coinbase has started offering deposits and withdrawals denominated in the British pound (GBP). Now U.K. customers won't have to convert cryptocurrencies into euros before converting a second time into pounds. Full story With the launch of bitcoin futures in 2017 by Cboe and CME, two of the largest futures exchanges in the world, a federally regulated means of betting on the price of bitcoin was created.  Data from the CFTC shows that large institutions, specifically those with open positions in excess of the CFTC's large trader reporting levels, continue to bet on the price of bitcoin falling. Conversely, small traders remain bullish by a large margin.  Overall volumes soared as bitcoin futures gained traction since the launch, but even the combined volumes of Cboe and CME futures lagged far behind those of offshore derivative markets such as Bitmex, which recently processed over $8 billion of trades within a 24 hour period.  Learn more research insights here.  SPONSOR SECTION   The Oxford Fintech Programme gives you the tools you need to build the future of transactions and commerce. In this online fintech programme, you'll explore emerging technologies that will disrupt marketplaces and financial services, and examine the state of the industry and plan disruptive intra- or entre-preneurial interventions.  Find Out More   ON THE DEFENSIVE: Bitcoin was trading at $7,560 on Bitfinex today, but technical charts show a risk of falling below the crucial support level of $7,455 in the next 24 hours. Full story   BEST OF THE BEST FORTUNE: The magazine interviewed the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, who made some bold predictions. Namely, CZ believes the future belongs to a decentralized web: by 2020, we'll see a broad use of blockchain-based messaging, games, social networks and rating systems, he expects. Also, Binance is going to keep its priorities focused on developing markets instead of challenging Coinbase and Gemini in the U.S., because "the strategy there requires lots of lawyers and lobbying," CZ said.  THE REST BLOOMBERG: Despite the bitcoin price turbulence, ICOs this year attracted a record $12 billion in the first half, almost double the figure raised for all of 2017 ($7 billion), according to Autonomous Research LLP. FORBES: The magazine profiles the Chinese crypto hedge fund FBG Capital. Its founder Shuoji Zhou, 36, has been an eager ICO investor himself, having supported dozens of projects like Tron, Decentraland and MakerDAO together with his friends.  SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: One of the first U.S. charities to accept donations of cryptocurrency, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation held nearly one-third of its investment portfolio in digital assets at year-end, according to accounting experts who have reviewed the charity's financial statement for 2017. The newspaper suggests that this might have helped the foundation's assets swell to $13.5 billion — up 65 percent from the end of 2016.   We've launched our new podcast, Late Confirmation, which are the top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk, sponsored by Oxford Fintech Programme.  Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 636 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY, 10011, US Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Square / Bitcoin Mining / Bill Clinton / Long Island Blockchain

Subscribe | View in browser Here are today's ten most important Bitcoin stories, efficiently ranked & summarized by smart humans, not algorithms: $BTC (12:39 p.m. EST): $7,591.47 (-0.20%) // 90-day high: $9,927.71 // 90-day low: $5,755.25/ / More… $BCH (12:40 p.m. EST): $747.19 (-1.52%) // 90-day high: $1,786.80// 90-day low: $608.37 // More… $ETH (12:40 p.m. EST): $414.69 (-1.80%) // 90-day high: $831.65 // 90-day low: $365.43 // More… $LTC (12:41 p.m. EST): $76.72 (-1.23%) // 90-day high: $251.03 // 90-day low: $73.12 // More… $XRP (12:41 p.m. EST): $0.43 (-3.07%) // 90-day high: $1.20 // 90-day low: $0.43 // More… Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today       1. Square has seen its quarterly bitcoin revenue increase. The company revealed in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it generated $37 million in revenue from cryptocurrency during the second quarter. This is up from $34 million in the first quarter. While it makes up just a portion of the company's $814 million quarterly revenue, CEO Jack Dorsey believes it is an area ripe for growth. –COIN TELEGRAPH       Free White Paper: The Innovator's Guide to Picking the Right Blockchain The first step in any blockchain project is to figure out which blockchain technology you should use. Get this free 20-page white paper to learn which type of blockchain is right for your project and get an unbiased analysis of the pros and cons of top blockchain platforms and frameworks. For an ad-free experience, upgrade to Inside Premium       2. Bitcoin mining poses a threat to the Paris climate-change accord, a new study claims. John Truby, a researcher at Qatar University, said the energy used to mine bitcoin outweigh the financial benefits. "The design of bitcoin's mining and trading system requires such a vast consumption of electricity that it is equivalent to powering Denmark," Truby wrote. "This threatens the planet to the extent that intervention is necessary to prevent similar models emerging." The electricity needed to mine bitcoin has increased 400 percent over the past 12 months. –MARKET WATCH       3. President Bill Clinton has been booked to speak at Ripple's Swell conference in October. Ripple has been known to bring celebrities to its events. Last year, Snoop Dogg appeared at a Ripple charity event. Twitter, though, was not impressed. A photoshop battle ensued after the announcement with some, say, less than desirable speakers listed to attend. –THE NEXT WEB       4. Bitcoin is being used less and less as a currency. After peaking at $411 million in September, only $60 million was spent on goods and services in May. These numbers come from the 17 largest crypto merchant-processing services. The number rebounded a bit in June – to $69 million – but it is a far drop from the same time last year when $270 million was spent. -BLOOMBERG       5. There is an arms race between countries to become the world capital of cryptocurrency technologies. Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Malta have all passed crypto-friendly laws in an effort to encourage companies to move there. They are competing with some larger companies, like France, for these businesses. The hope is that these companies set up operations, bring in some tax revenue, and create supporting jobs and businesses as a result. –THE NEW YORK TIMES       6. The company once known as Long Island Iced Tea has rebranded again. The drink company famously changed its name to Long Blockchain earlier this year to take advantage of the crypto market. The company then said it would mine bitcoin. However, the company has changed paths once again. It will now focus on loyalty schemes, using distributed ledger technology in its new format. –COIN TELEGRAPH 7. Forbes takes on a big topic: The future of blockchain and its impact on the world. The author takes a pragmatic approach, saying blockchain has potential but it hasn't been fully shown. -FORBES 8. Coinsquare, a top exchange in Canada, will now support XRP. The launch is in beta so customers can buy and trade XRP but cannot withdraw it to a third-party wallet. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS 9. Here is a look at CoinFund, a cryptoasset investment fund. The company helps other startups conduct regulation-compliant ICOs. -FORBES 10. Thomas Costanzo, a former bitcoin trader, was sentenced to 41 months in jail for laundering drug money with bitcoin. Authorities said Costanzo laundered $164,700 in bitcoin over two years. –COINDESK       From the Forums There is no reason not to allow a bitcoin ETF. Looking at bitcoin transaction fees. Be skeptical of bitcoin.com.       Written and curated by David Stegon. David's children have watched "Cars 3" more than 4,000 times. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon.

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