Thursday, September 20, 2018

A quest for world domination

September 20, 2018

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

“The swarm is headed towards us”

- Satoshi Nakamoto

MARKET
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $6,422.142926 +1.65%

ETH $211.767357 +2.19%

XRP $0.365437 +14.82%

BCH $436.283255 +2.56%

EOS $5.300524 +5.5%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST


REGULATION

By This Time Next Year, Binance Will Have Two Exchanges For Every Continent, If Plans Go Accordingly

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From $15 Million ICO to more profitable than banks

The last year or so has been a whirlwind for the cryptocurrency market. Believe it or not, Binance has only been around for a little more than a year and has had an equally crazy year.

Binance got its start with a $15 million initial coin offering. Today, it is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It is also more profitable than some large traditional banks that have been around for more than a century.

The exchange company has been incredibly aggressive pushing cryptocurrency adoption and has no plans to stop.

Going for world domination

Binance founder and CEO Zhao Changpeng recently spoke at Consensus Singapore. 'CZ', as he goes by, laid out the companies plan for future growth. It was bold.

CZ told the audience at Consensus Singapore that by this time next year, Binance plans to have five to ten fiat-to-crypto exchanges. Binance wants them spread all across the globe, ideally two per continent (with exception to Antarctica of course.

Binance is looking to pivot from being a crypto-to-crypto exchange to opening many more gateways from fiat to crypto. CZ recognizes that in order for the market to return to where it was in late 2017, the market needs a new influx of fiat currency.

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RESEARCH

Europol Finds Bitcoin Has Funded ZERO Terror Attacks

It will be used for illicit activities they say

Crypto naysayers often cry out that cryptocurrencies are bad for society because their only real use case is for use in illegal activities.

Many people do not know how cryptocurrencies actually work and see them as this mysterious, untraceable criminal's currency. While Bitcoin's first mass use case was as the medium of exchange on the Silk Road, cryptocurrencies are much, much more than what these people think.

Most governments are in the category that say cryptocurrencies are dangerous and fear what they can do in the hands of the wrong people, especially funding terrorism.

Turns out crypto is not that great for criminals

People are way too cynical about the power of cryptocurrencies. In reality, they (with an exception of a few) are a much worse medium of exchange than cash for criminals.

Most cryptocurrencies are pseudonymous, not anonymous. If a person can be connected to a public key, every single transaction made by that person is available to the public. Governments have already displayed the ability to easily trace every transaction made by criminals via cryptocurrency.

Europol did the research

On Wednesday, Europol released a study that found that cryptocurrency has never been used to fund a terrorist attack in Europe.

They did mention the potential for terrorist organizations to use cryptocurrencies to fund attacks but re-emphasized that cryptocurrencies are more transparent and less anonymous than cash.

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ADOPTION

New York University Offers World's First Blockchain Technology Major

NYU gets serious about blockchain

To many, blockchain technology is a passing fad, however, New York University (NYU) seems to think it is here to stay for a while.

According to CBS New York, the NYU Stern School of Business is now offering students a course path that leads to the world's "first" major in blockchain technology.

Cryptocurrency expert and NYU Professor Andrew Hinkes commented on the new program:

“We hope to establish a groundwork so that the students can understand what’s really happening under the hood, so that they can understand both the legal and the business implications, and prepare them to go out and tackle this new market.”

Giving their students an upper hand

The new major is bringing attention in from all over the country, including NYU alumni who are wandering back out of curiosity.

However, the real advantage blockchain students at NYU have is that "big established companies" are expected to partner with the new program.

By offering the world's "first" blockchain technology major and partnering with existing corporations in hopes to lift blockchain job placement rates, it is no wonder NYU had to double its blockchain course offerings this year.

It's a "grassroots" movement

Students are proving they are a progressive population as they welcome blockchain and cryptocurrencies with open arms.

According to Coinbase, 42% of the world's top 50 universities offer at least one class on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology with Stanford and Cornell leading the charge.

After collecting this research, Adam White at Coinbase explained that the jump to cryptocurrencies and blockchain is a "grassroots movement" driven by students desire to learn more.

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EXCHANGE

Hackers Steal Over $59 Million From Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange

Hackers target the hot wallets

Another day, another security breach in crypto. This time, the hack resulted in losses amounting to over $59 million for the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif.

Allegedly, a security breach on September 14th allowed hackers to steal over $40 million from user's hot wallets and also $19 million from the company's holdings

However, Zaif didn't realize the losses until September 17th when the exchange suspended all deposits and withdrawals due to a server error. Immediately following the discovery, Zaif contacted authorities and prepared a press release.

Who's going to clean this up?

According to the press release, Fisco Digital Asset Group will help Zaif reimburse lost customer funds...with strings attached.

Following the reimbursement, Fisco Digital Asset Group will dismiss over half of existing Zaif executives and will become a majority shareholder in the business.

But the reimbursement is just the start. Much more will have to be done to bring Zaif's reputation back in both the eyes of customers and strict Japanese regulators.

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LEARN

Five Quick Facts About Cryptocurrency Taxation

Taxes can be confusing without cryptocurrencies involved. With them involved, well we don't even know what's going on.

That's why we had Chandan Lodha, Co-Founder of crypto portfolio and tax manager CoinTracker, help us understand the easy way in his guest blog.

Here are the quick facts you need to know:

How are cryptocurrencies taxed in the US?

Cryptocurrencies are taxed like personal property (capital assets).

What if I only traded crypto to crypto without cashing out to fiat?

Still taxable. It is treated as if you traded crypto to fiat and then fiat to crypto.

Is buying a good/service with crypto a taxable event?

Yes, that is equivalent in a capital gains sense to selling the crypto for fiat at the fair market value.

What is my tax rate for crypto gains?

  • Short term (one year holding or less): ordinary income tax rate
  • Long term (more than one year holding): long term capital gains rate

How can I avoid paying crypto taxes?

Don’t be the person who goes to jail for committing tax fraud.

To learn more, feel free to visit CoinTracker's FAQ on cryptocurrency taxes.

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BITS
  • Coinbase released a statement refuting the claims that the New York Office of the Attorney General made in their report.
  • PNC, which is ranked among the top ten U.S. banks, will use RippleNet to process international payments for its customers.
  • The Texas State Securities Board has issued an emergency action to halt the deceitful offerings of investments in three cryptocurrency related schemes.

COIN OF THE DAY
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SmartMesh (SMT)

SmartMesh is a blockchain based underlying protocol of the Internet of Things. SmartMesh has built-in blockchain light nodes, and extends the Raiden and Lightning Networks second layer architecture network protocols allowing internet-free digital payments and transactions. Utilizing blockchain-based token incentives, SmartMesh technology allows the formation of agile, decentralized Mesh Networks that can self-repair and have higher near-field speeds and bandwidth than standard Internet connections.

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MEME

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If you don't absolutely love us, drop us.

📌 Shorting Litecoin, Stablecoins Breakdown, and the 'Blockchain Association'

Editor's Note: The CoinSnacks team is on the road this week in the beautiful (somehow overlooked) city of Budapest, Hungary for the Seraph.vc conference. Unfortunately, and in typical traveling abroad fashion, we managed to lose electricity late last night, leaving us unable to send out CoinSnacks on our normal schedule (Wednesday afternoons). Sajnáljuk!

That said, if any of you are in Budapest, please reply and let us know! We'll be here for a couple weeks. 👋

 MUST READS 

😵 Reports of Ether's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated


Ether (ETH) can't seem to stop going down in price – dropping to less than $170 last Wednesday. This marks a 90% fall from its all-time high.

The question is... why?

If there is anything that we have learned in crypto, it's that we don't always know the real reason. Regardless, there are two speculations making the rounds:
  • The CEO of Bitmex, Arthur Hayes, was shown to be encouraging people to short Ether. Hayes was accused of posting in the BitMEX chatbox about the new ETH/USD perpetual swap the exchange offers. He was also quoted as saying "this is the perfect way to punt on the ETH/USD price". People are now calling for the SEC to intervene.
     
  • Claims that ICO companies have liquidated most of their ETH holdings. While at first this seemed to be a valid reason, Larry Cermak of DIAR did his due diligence and found results that said otherwise.
Not everyone is giving up on Ether though. Here's a bullish case presented by Duncan Chiah, as well as a podcast from TokenDaily co-founder Erik Torenberg called "The Bull Case for Ethereum."
 

🎒 The Latest Course Catalog Trend? Blockchain 101


As blockchain skills in the workforce continue to be desired, college campuses around the country are attempting to keep up with both student and employer demand. Some may remember that we recently covered a report produced by Coinbase showing the growth of blockchain courses on college campuses. Now, Sarah Gonser of The Hechinger Report, has detailed how the experiment is going in a series of interviews with students taking blockchain courses.

Not teaching about blockchain "would be equivalent to ignoring internet technology when it emerged 25 years ago."
 

Morgan Stanley Plans to Offer Bitcoin Swap Trading for Clients


Slowly but surely bitcoin creeps further and further towards full normalization and ubiquity in our world.

Morgan Stanley is now building out bitcoin derivatives products that their customers may soon have access to. The bank is prepared to offer bitcoin swap trading, but will only launch once there is "proven institutional client demand" and after the completion of an internal approval process.

In wake of news like this though, here's another take by MIT – reminding us that Wall Street adoption could also be dangerous.
 

 DEEP DIVE 

🎭 Complexity Theater


Ever looked at a whitepaper and thought to yourself, "what the hell am I reading?" We certainly have and appreciate our friend Nathaniel Whittemore for confronting the issue head on.

"Complexity theater is when ideas are explained in an overly-complicated way in order to make those ideas seem more robust, intelligent, and worthy of attention."

In this essay, he explains how over-complication affects the entire crypto community and why we desperately need to simplify.
 

Debunking Market Narratives: Litecoin ($LTC) Edition


No beating around the bush...

Tushar Jain of Multicoin Capital is shorting Litecoin (LTC). He claims that Litecoin is a relic of the pre-smart contract platform ecosystem and that an outdated perception has led to a divide between current price and fundamental value.

We can't say we agree with everything that Tushar has to say, but it's worth being aware of what one of the most influential crypto hedge funds in the space is doing.
 

GeminiCoin Update, And A Breakdown Of Other "Stablecoins"


Announced last week, GeminiCoin is the latest "stablecoin" to be launched. This week, Preston Byrne explains how GeminiCoin plans to structure their affairs for the long run (lawyer-heavy, slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach), but also describes why he believes it's not actually a stablecoin.

In case you need a little refresher (or an introduction) on stablecoins, Steven Zheng gets you up to speed on the hype surrounding these so-called "Holy Grails" of cryptocurrencies.

Security Tokens and The Digital Wrapper


Here's the perfect response to the "Uh, why are we doing this again?" question we hear from folks all the time...

Why change a financial system that seems to work so well? This deep dive explains how blockchain technology can solve existing pain points during the issuance and trading of securities. If you're new to security tokens, this is a great overview of the history taking us all the way to the beginning of the Post Office.
 

 SPONSORED 

2018 Weed Legislation Set to Create Billions in New Wealth


There's a clear pattern we've seen time and again... one that's given people the chance to make enormous amounts of money.

Every time new marijuana legislation passes, it delivers a massive upward jolt to a group of pot stocks, creating marijuana millionaires virtually overnight. But the recent announcements are bigger than anything we've ever seen before...

On January 1, California introduced a legislation that completely legalized marijuana across the Golden State. 🌿

And when billions of dollars start pouring into California's recreational weed market, these small companies could see their revenues QUADRUPLE.

Go here now for a special presentation showing you how to profit from this groundbreaking event.

 

 REGULATORY FRONT 

🇺🇸 NY Attorney General: Crypto Exchanges Could Be Breaking The Law


The New York State Attorney General (NYAG) released a detailed Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative report scathing several crypto exchanges on Tuesday. 🚨

Now what can the NYAG really do? Probably nothing. BUT...

It's worth noting this is one of the most comprehensive investigations we've seen from a regulator so far. No surprises here... The 42-page report depicts how much current exchanges are actually getting away with under current regulations. Some key points below:

(1) Conflicts-of-interest with operators who also engage in trading/issuance
(2) No serious efforts to combat manipulation/abuse
(3) Limited protections for customers

This, my friends, is why so much doubt lies behind near-future ETF decisions. 🙄

For a more detailed breakdown, here's the best tweetstorm we found from Drew Hinkes of NYU School of Law.
 

🏛️ Cryptocurrency Industry Opens a D.C. Lobbying Arm


Tech veterans and high-profile cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase and Circle have stated that they are forming a Blockchain Association, the first fully fledged lobbying group dedicated to blockchain policy issues. The Blockchain Association aims to portray itself as a voice for mainstream companies that want to work within the political system rather than circumvent it.

Among the associations first priorities will be addressing how cryptocurrencies are treated under U.S. tax law.
 

Europe Just Voted To (Possibly) Wreck The Internet


Let's take a second to go beyond the scope of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. This week, Lobbyists convinced legislators to continue on the path towards passing the EU Copyright Directive, in an act that could harm "everyone who uses the internet." The act is a controversial piece of legislation intended to update online copyright laws for the internet age.

To be clear this has not been passed yet. However the possibility of it passing just got more likely.

Keeping the crypto community in mind, here is Ryan Selkis' perfect response to the article.

 CHART OF THE WEEK 

We've been keeping our eye on this coin for a while now (chart was made last week). LBRY Credits (LBC) is still consolidating but has recently exited its downward channel. The buybook is stronger than the sellbook and it's compounded with an ascending Relative Strength Index holding up at the .786 support. Prepare for a jump, folks.

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