Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Google Validates Theta

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May 27, 2020

TOP SHELF

Base-Layer Tech
Google is teaming up with Theta Labs to help the video delivery network onboard users through Google Cloud. As part of the partnership, the tech giant is assisting Theta with its Mainnet 2.0 launch, and will become the platform’s fifth validator. Polkadot is now live following the mining of its first “chain candidate’s” genesis block. Polkadot will first launch under a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus algorithm controlled by the Web3 Foundation, in its bid to become an interoperable blockchain for other chains and dapps to utilize.

Prime Brokerage
San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is finally acquiring Tagomi, a prime brokerage platform specializing in digital asset trading. In an all cash deal, Tagomi will integrate into Coinbase’s product suite, helping the firm complete its liquidity, custody, lending offerings. BitGo, a crypto custodian, has also announced its prime brokerage status, with the launch of its new entity BitGo Prime. Earlier this year, London-based Bequant launched a prime brokerage service, while Genesis Trading (owned by CoinDesk parent DCG) recently purchased crypto custodian Vo1t in a bid to become a prime broker.

Financial Innovation
Brazilian retailer Via Varejo has purchased the Boston-based fintech startup Airfox to provide financial services for underbanked Brazilians. The firm, with more than 1,000 locations in the country, plans to begin offering free bank accounts and gradually expand into other financial services, with Airfox serving as an innovation hub. Meanwhile, a senior figure at the International Monetary Fund said a digital currency backed by a central bank, but issued through private entities, would open the door to much greater innovation in retail payments. “This public-private partnership is intended to conserve the competitive advantages of the private sector: to interface with clients and innovate, and the comparative advantage of the central bank: to regulate and provide trust,” IMF’s Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli said.

Expansions
TradeLens has been tapped by India’s largest port operator to digitize shipping supply chains across the nation. Crypto.com will expand its Visa crypto debit card and a wallet app to 31 European countries with a partnership with digital-payments company i2c Inc. (PYMNTS)

Open Accounts
Kingdom Trust has rolled out a single retirement account for traditional and digital assets called Choice. The self-service retirement platform allows investors to hold stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and digital assets in one tax-advantaged account. Bitfury launched an investment opportunity offering “exposure to bitcoin by way of the mining company's data center” for institutional investors, The Block reports.

Real and Virtual Worlds
Switzerland’s government has rejected a $103 million coronavirus-related bailout for “Crypto Valley.” The Swiss Blockchain Federation recently surveyed 203 firms in the area and found 80% on the brink of bankruptcy. (Bitcoin.com) Crypto startup Centrifuge is introducing a dapp that allows users to collateralize real-world assets for use in the decentralized finance ecosystem. (The Block ) Land parcel auctions in the virtual Somnium Space have totaled $470,000 over the past 10 weeks. (Decrypt)

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OPPOSITE EDITORIAL

To See Libra’s Potential, Look at the Philippines, Not the US
Leah Callon-Butler argues that the much derided Libra project could provide real utility in countries where Facebook – one of the project’s leads – essentially is the internet. “Take the Philippines as an example. I’ve lived here since 2018 and it’s not hard to imagine how fast libra could become the preferred tender of Filipinos everywhere. To paint you a picture: While very few are banked – only 22.6 percent of adults have a formal account – the number of mobile phone subscriptions is greater than the number of actual people who live here,” she said.

Look to Design, Not Laws, to Protect Privacy in the Surveillance Age
Raullen Chai argues that privacy preserving measures should be built into a product, rather than ensured by law, if there is any hope to counter wanton surveillance. “Data privacy regulations have begun emerging in recent years, but these reactive measures simply cannot guarantee our privacy. We must proactively build and adopt new technologies with “privacy by design” to reach a human-centered future,” he said.

MARKETS INTEL

Macro Movements
The yuan (CNY) fell to 7.1613 per U.S. dollar earlier on Tuesday to hit the lowest level since early September. Bitcoin has historically seen gains as the Chinese yuan falls. “If China’s CNY continues to weaken against USD, then we could have a 2015 and 2016 repeat, where BTC strength coincided with yuan weakness,” tweeted Chris Burniske, partner at venture capital firm Placeholder.

EOS
Over the past year, the EOS token’s price is down 69%, the worst performance among digital assets with a market capitalization of at least $1 billion, based on Messari data. That’s more than twice the decline over that period in prices for EOS’s biggest rival, Ethereum. Bitcoin is flat over the past 12 months. Things could worsen for the cryptocurrency, as lingering concerns over its applicability and centralized structure have yet to be adequately addressed, according to industry experts surveyed by CoinDesk’s First Mover team.

PODCAST

'Narrative Violations'
Bedrock Capital founder Geoff Lewis joins The Breakdown podcast to discuss how alternative ideas and narratives are challenging the media’s consensus-making function. These “narrative violations” are reshaping how people understand the world.

WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER

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Achievements of May 2020

Hey there,

it's time for our monthly Lisk Achievement Series.

At the end of each month, we summarize the top news, updates, and achievements of Lisk in a single blog post. Help us spread the word by retweeting all highlights to let more people know about what we are working on.

4 Year Anniversary of Lisk's Mainnet

On May 24th we celebrated the 4 year anniversary of Lisk's Mainnet. Since the successful launch of the Lisk network in 2016, Lisk reached a block height of 12.3 million and over 3 million transactions were made. Over 1800 delegate accounts have been registered on the network and more than 39 million LSK tokens have been forged by delegates so far. We have summarized some of the most important achievements in a blog post.

Help us spread the word!

Research Completed until Blockchain Interoperability

The research for the four protocol roadmap phases "Security and Reliability", "Network Economics", "Network Consensus" and "Network Longevity" was completed. This represents a major milestone for the research on improving the Lisk protocol. Over 35 LIPs have been completed and merged into the lips GitHub repository since June 2018. We have published a blog post summarizing the significant protocol changes of the four roadmap phases. In order to offer the community the opportunity to ask questions regarding the completed research until Blockchain Interoperability, we hosted an AMA session with Jan Hackfeld and Iker Alustiza on Lisk.chat on May 15th. A full recap of the live AMA can be found on our blog.

Help us spread the word!

Lisk SDK 5.0.0 Requirement Gathering Concluded

The requirement gathering for Lisk SDK 5.0.0 was concluded and all the foreseeable issues were created. Lisk SDK 5.0.0 implements the Network Longevity phase of our protocol roadmap and features several DevExp improvements. More information about the release goals can be found on the Lisk SDK version 5.0.0 GitHub project board.

Help us spread the word!

Lisk 1.26.0 for Desktop Released

From the Lisk user interface development team, Lisk 1.26.0 for Desktop was released on May 20th. This version introduces a new graphical overview for transaction statistics, a completely new category to inspect the network, and a revamped news feed. Moreover, this version fixes a bug on the Ledger hardware wallet.

Help us spread the word!

Building the FeatChain Project

As part of the Lisk Builders program, Jonathan Massuchetti (lisk.chat username: @JesusTheHun) published on the Lisk blog an article about his project: FeatChain. His proof of concept blockchain application aims to be a verifiable single source of truth for people's achievements. The blog post includes details about the general process, the implementation, and the front-end of his application. A demo of the project can be found on his website.

Help us spread the word!