Blockchain technology is claimed to be according to blockchain proponents to be one of the most impactfull discoveries in the recent history. It is promised to have a massive potential to change how we handle online transactions. Despite some skeptics, the majority of experts agree that blockchain has the potential to disrupt the banking and financial industry, and many other ones! To put it simply, blockchain enables decentralized transactions across a P2P network. There are applications where those propertied can be very useful, but there are many cases where blockchain migh not be the best solution even though it is hyped to be solution for very many application (remember to ask Do you need a blockchain? often).
This 16 Blockchain Disruptions (Infographic) by bitfortune.net tries to help you understand how the blockchain technology can and will improve 16 different industries, from music to government.
Infographic by bitfortune.net
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Tomi Engdahl says:
This Powerful Right-Click Artwork Is Made of 10,000 NFTs
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3abnwv/this-powerful-right-click-artwork-is-made-of-10000-nfts
The ultimate in right-click mentality is saving thousands of NFTs and forming them into a collage depicting a hand right-clicking to save.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/right-click-save-as
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bored Ape NFT accidentally sells for $3,000 instead of $300,000
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59638565
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto Investing–A New Investor’s Guide
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/12/08/crypto-investing-a-new-investors-guide/
By now everyone’s heard of Bitcoin. It introduced the world to blockchain or distributed ledger technology and as a crypto asset, it is the center of the universe. But bitcoin is hardly alone. In fact, an entire galaxy of crypto assets has been created to support a wide range of use cases and applications focused on verticals such as identity management, data storage, gaming, banking, lending, social media and streaming.
Because Bitcoin started the industry, virtually every other crypto asset is called an alt-coin. Alt-coins can be categorized in a few different ways.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum computing could eat bitcoin for lunch but regulation can save it
https://www.cnbctv18.com/cryptocurrency/quantum-computing-could-eat-bitcoin-for-lunch-but-regulation-can-save-it-11736362.htm
The rapid advances in quantum computing – the computing industry says mainstream quantum computers are less than a decade away – means regulation will be needed to protect cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin
Backers of cryptocurrencies tout the digital tokens as the next evolution of currencies, pointing to the security features they offer.
But experts say advances in quantum computing, which is poised to increase computing power by more than a thousandfold, could make light work of the security features of cryptocurrencies, upending the technology that many believe will disrupt finance.
This technology, known as blockchain, works on a decentralised register – with millions of computers coming together to validate transactions.
The process of validation, also called mining, uses immense power as computers rely on brute force to make complex calculations.
But quantum computers, which use concepts from physics to process problems at a speed exponentially faster than conventional computers, could change the way cryptocurrencies work – for better or for worse.
Here’s the worst-case scenario: a user with a quantum computer could easily break the encryption associated with cryptocurrency transactions allowing them to impersonate someone else on the network.
“When the cryptography is broken, users could be losing their funds and the whole system will break,” Dawn Song, an entrepreneur and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Collective
In 2019, Google created Sycamore, a 54-qubit quantum computer. (A qubit is the unit of power on a quantum computer.) Sycamore took 200 seconds to solve a series of complex calculations that would have taken 10,000 years for the most powerful conventional supercomputer to crack.
Recently, IBM unveiled the Eagle , a 127-qubit quantum computer.
It is not that the cryptocurrency industry is not aware of the threat posed by quantum computing.
For instance, makers of Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, are working on developing what is called “post-quantum computing technology”.
Post-quantum computing technology is an upgrade spearheaded by the US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Experts say the upgrade is as massive as fixing the Y2K problem or upgrading the Internet from IPv4 to IPv6.
Regulation for cryptocurrency is still being firmed up in many countries, including India.
But as it is with technology, it will have to keep pace with evolving scenarios.
For instance, as a CNET article points out, the very decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies could work against them when it comes to quantum computing.
Major changes to any crypto blockchain require the permission of more than half of the users on the network
Tomi Engdahl says:
Visa hopes its new crypto consulting arm will help it become cooler than its competition
https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/07/visa-hopes-its-new-crypto-consulting-arm-will-help-it-become-cooler-than-its-competition/
The world’s largest card company just doubled down on its bid to capture the crypto market. Visa announced today that it has launched a crypto advisory practice for its clients and partners under its Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) arm.
The news comes just a few months after Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of crypto, declared the asset class had become “cool” at a fintech conference last month. The payments behemoth made waves when it bought a CryptoPunk NFT in August this year, but its move to launch a dedicated crypto consultancy shows its attempts to capture crypto market share in a crowded field extend beyond marketing stunts.
Visa’s partnerships with crypto platforms have doubled in the past 18 months
Tomi Engdahl says:
A BITCOIN WALLET FOR THE MASSES
Square simplified credit-card transactions. Now it wants to build cryptocurrency hardware
https://spectrum.ieee.org/bitcoin-wallet
AWALLET TO HOLD bitcoins—or other cryptocurrencies—is not at all a new idea. Basically a souped-up flash drive, these gadgets hold a private key, protected by a pin or passcode, that allows a user to securely access cryptocurrency data; the data itself lives in the blockchain. Some of these “wallets” have their own displays, some require use with a computer or phone.
Most wallets support a variety of cryptocurrencies—indeed, they are targeted at people who trade in multiple currencies and manage multiple keys. They make doing so a little easier, but they don’t make cryptocurrencies useful for the rest of us.
Enter Square, the company that developed a little white dongle for smartphones that lets anyone easily accept credit-card payments.
“We’re making a hardware wallet for the next 100M bitcoin users,” the company wrote in a recent recruitment posting. “Our goal is economic empowerment, starting with bringing easy-to-use, reliable self-custody to a global audience.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gamers Rejoice! Ethereum Reminds GPU Miners the End Is Near
By Nathaniel Mott published 2 days ago
The Merge is coming.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gamers-rejoice-ethereum-reminds-gpu-miners-the-end-is-near
The Merge, which will end Ethereum mining with GPUs, is taking important steps to becoming a reality with the formal opening of a new testnet designed to work out the kinks in the upcoming mining-less approach. That means gamers eventually won’t have to compete with Ethereum miners for graphics cards.
This news comes on the tail end of a pretty good year for Ethereum miners: Coinbase data shows the cryptocurrency’s price rising from about $731 on January 1 to approximately $3,940 at the time of writing. In addition, the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) pushed the Ethereum hashrate to record numbers. And the switch to a proof-of-stake model, which doesn’t rely on miners to preserve the integrity of the blockchain, was delayed from the end of 2021 to some time in the first half of 2022.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tesla will allow people to buy some of its branded products using the cryptocurrency dogecoin https://trib.al/9h9dFxJ
Tesla Will Accept Dogecoin Payments For Some Products And ‘See How It Goes,’ Says CEO Elon Musk
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/12/14/tesla-will-accept-dogecoin-payments-for-some-products-and-see-how-it-goes-says-ceo-elon-musk/?sh=6c820ab37d65&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_medium=social
Tesla will allow people to buy some of its branded products using the cryptocurrency dogecoin, billionaire CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday, a move that comes months after the company briefly experimented with allowing its customers to pay its electric cars with bitcoin.
It’s unclear which items will be available for purchase via dogecoin as Tesla sells several items on its website including clothing, toys, mugs, novelty items among other things.
Following Musk’s tweet, dogecoin’s value surged by nearly 20% in an hour and 15.2% overall in the day’s trading.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Overview of Bitcoin in 2021: continued big price fluctuations, crossed $67,000 in November, 75%+ of circulating supply held by “illiquid addresses”, and more — Cryptocurrency trader Stephane Ouellette has a special alarm that sounds whenever digital-asset prices post sudden outsize declines.
Bitcoin Went Mainstream in 2021. It’s Just as Volatile as Ever
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-bitcoin-volitility/
Cryptocurrency trader Stephane Ouellette has a special alarm that sounds whenever digital-asset prices post sudden outsize declines. That alarm blared at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4, when Bitcoin fell 20% in a matter of minutes—and once Ouellette woke up, he never went back to sleep.
Ouellette was busy long into the next afternoon, dialing up his teammates and checking on prices even as the market settled down. It wasn’t the first time this year that he had to log such long weekend hours as a result of a sudden Bitcoin slump. And chances are, his alarm will come in handy again soon.
“The market is still deciding whether this is going to be an alternate financial system or if it’s some kind of a scam,” said Ouellette, the chief executive and co-founder of Toronto-based institutional crypto platform FRNT Financial Inc. That makes parsing Bitcoin’s path “a volatile and uncertain exercise.”
By all accounts, 2021 was a momentous year for Bitcoin, its 13th since the cryptocurrency’s white paper introduced it to the world. Like other teenagers, Bitcoin hit something of a growth spurt: It acquired new friends, started new hobbies and in some places even became legal. But that doesn’t mean it has come of age.
For much of the year, Bitcoin soared, reaching new highs as droves of at-home traders, hedge fund managers and Wall Street stalwarts piled in and El Salvador became the first country to adopt it as an official currency. A futures-based Bitcoin ETF, long sought by investors, finally launched, attracting gobs of cash. All the while, a whole crypto economy based on blockchain technology popped up, helping to reshape the world of arts, sports and gaming.
Still Prone to Big Fluctuations
The number of days Bitcoin swung more than two deviations from its average
And yet by some measures, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is nearly as untamed at nearly $50,000 as it was at $5,000. Based on the past five years of price movements, Bitcoin moved more than two standard deviations from its average in either direction 23 times in 2017.
Why do these wild swings persist? For one, it’s still hard to pin down exactly where Bitcoin fits in finance and how it should be classified. The one sure thing about it is its limited supply: Only 21 million Bitcoin tokens will be put into circulation. Thus the narratives around why investors should be fans tend to shift willy-nilly—and in the process, so does its price.
“There’s still a ton of uncertainty about the future—it’s gone so mainstream that we know it has value, but what that value is, I think, is still very much up for debate,” said Jim Greco, managing director at trading shop Radkl.
Other forces at play include the market’s wonky, dispersed structure. Cryptocurrencies trade around the clock, every day of the year, all around the world, on a number of different exchanges. On weekends, when trading is thin, prices can fluctuate drastically
Acheson’s own analysis shows the average 30-day and 180-day volatility for Bitcoin in 2021 has been higher than in all except two of the past seven years.
“Bitcoin volatility is still high,” Acheson said by phone. “Investors are starting to accept that it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”
All of this has been exacerbated by the fact that the available supply of Bitcoin for trading is declining, said Acheson, citing so-called illiquid addresses tied to investors who tend to buy and hold. More than 75% of the coin’s currently circulating supply is held in such accounts, a number that has increased steadily this year
Volatility, of course, is a two-way street—while the concept has a negative connotation, it counts on the way up, too. With 60% gains this year, Bitcoin is one of the year’s best-performing assets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
Overview of El Salvador’s official yet controversial adoption of bitcoin in 2021, as many citizens have reportedly seen bitcoin vanish from their Chivo wallets
El Salvador’s Controversial Bitcoin Year: A Timeline
https://decrypt.co/89360/el-salvador-controversial-bitcoin-law-2021-timeline
El Salvador’s Bitcoin embrace has been one of the biggest stories in the crypto industry in 2021. Here’s what has happened since.
At this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Miami in June, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced his country would soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
That news was met with a roar of praise from Miami’s Bitcoin faithful, and also generated praise online from some of Bitcoin’s loudest advocates—Caitlin Long, Michael Saylor, and Peter McCormack. Others, including many of those living in El Salvador, were less enthusiastic.
After months of protests and controversy, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law took effect on September 7.
Here, Decrypt recaps for you everything that’s happened since El Salvador’s big Bitcoin push, from protests and Bitcoin volcanoes to illegal arrests and lawsuits.
Ever since its inception over a decade ago, Bitcoin has widely been regarded as anti-state—a financial alternative for those who reject the overreach of governments and the perceived privacy transgressions of the existing financial establishment.
But in El Salvador, Bitcoin took an unprecedented turn—it became a currency of choice for the state.
“Next week, I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin legal tender,” Bukele told the roaring Miami crowd.
Despite the unprecedented step, Bukele’s move actually borrowed from Bitcoin’s playbook. His policy was designed as El Salvador’s state-wide hedge against inflation.
El Salvador, one of the few non-U.S. economies that uses the U.S. dollar, is highly reliant on remittance—payments from those working abroad (often in the U.S.) being sent back to friends and family.
Like many Bitcoiners, Bukele has lamented the fact that the dollar is prone to inflation. Making matters worse, Salvadorans do not have any political control over the currency.
Salvadorans can only watch on as their purchasing power declines.
Not anymore. Given Bitcoin’s perceived quality as a hedge against inflation, it became Bukele’s new Salvadoran currency of choice.
Putting the world on notice
When Bukele first announced his Bitcoin embrace in Miami, he was speaking to an intensely passionate, Bitcoin maximalist microcosm of the wider crypto community.
The rest of the world has been less enthusiastic about the economics of Bitcoin as legal tender.
In June, the International Monetary Fund said El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender raised several “macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues that require very careful analysis.”
In the same month, the World Bank chimed in, saying it wouldn’t help El Salvador move to establish Bitcoin as legal tender due to concerns over the cryptocurrency’s lack of transparency, and well-documented damage to the environment.
JPMorgan raised another red flag. “There are clearly important implications for that country, but it is difficult to see any tangible economic benefits associated with adopting Bitcoin as a second form of legal tender,” analysts at the bank said—also in June.
There’s also been controversy surrounding Zap Solutions Inc., whose digital wallet Strike has been used to facilitate cash-to-crypto transfers in El Salvador. An investigation by Decrypt found that Zap lacked licenses to operate in most U.S. states. Experts suggested that this meant many crypto transactions to El Salvador using Strike potentially were illegal.
Domestic Bitcoin controversies
Inside El Salvador, the rollout of the Bitcoin Law and its Chivo wallet has been far from smooth.
Just this month, Salvadorans have been reporting Bitcoin balances vanishing from their Chivo wallets without explanation. Making matters worse, President Bukele has failed to respond to these reports.
But the complaint that many Salvadorans have voiced was not about the tech, it’s with the premise of Bitcoin being mandated by the state. Bukele previously had said Salvadorans would not have to use Bitcoin if they didn’t wish to, but that hasn’t been the case.
“What if someone doesn’t want to use Bitcoin? Well, nothing, do not download the [Chivo] app and continue your normal life,” he tweeted in August.
But this contradicts Article 7 of the new law, which reads: “Every economic agent must accept Bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service.” So Bitcoin is hardly optional for local merchants.
Salvadorans protested, protested again, and protested some more against Bitcoin. Universities also produced several surveys showing that the vast majority of Salvadorans believed Bukele’s Bitcoin bet was a bad idea.
So far these efforts haven’t had much impact: Bukele, who has a well-documented authoritarian streak, has not wavered in his Bitcoin flag-waving.
A public blockchain with no transparency
In September, El Salvador’s law enforcement arrested well-known Bitcoin critic Mario Gomez—without a warrant.
Amid El Salvador’s heavy-handed battle with Bitcoin critics, the country’s courts quietly went about the business of expanding Bukele’s grip on power.
Buying Bitcoin, but when and how much?
As of today’s date, Bukele has purchased over 1,000 BTC with public money.
Search Bukele’s Twitter timeline for the phrase “bought the dip” and you’ll get some insight into the president’s Bitcoin investing strategy. He bought 150 BTC, 420 BTC, 100 BTC, 150 BTC, and 21 BTC in September, October, November, early December, and days before Christmas, respectively.
At this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Miami in June, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced his country would soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
That news was met with a roar of praise from Miami’s Bitcoin faithful, and also generated praise online from some of Bitcoin’s loudest advocates—Caitlin Long, Michael Saylor, and Peter McCormack. Others, including many of those living in El Salvador, were less enthusiastic.
After months of protests and controversy, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law took effect on September 7.
Here, Decrypt recaps for you everything that’s happened since El Salvador’s big Bitcoin push, from protests and Bitcoin volcanoes to illegal arrests and lawsuits.
Bitcoin hits the beach
Ever since its inception over a decade ago, Bitcoin has widely been regarded as anti-state—a financial alternative for those who reject the overreach of governments and the perceived privacy transgressions of the existing financial establishment.
But in El Salvador, Bitcoin took an unprecedented turn—it became a currency of choice for the state.
“Next week, I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin legal tender,” Bukele told the roaring Miami crowd.
Despite the unprecedented step, Bukele’s move actually borrowed from Bitcoin’s playbook. His policy was designed as El Salvador’s state-wide hedge against inflation.
El Salvador, one of the few non-U.S. economies that uses the U.S. dollar, is highly reliant on remittance—payments from those working abroad (often in the U.S.) being sent back to friends and family.
Like many Bitcoiners, Bukele has lamented the fact that the dollar is prone to inflation. Making matters worse, Salvadorans do not have any political control over the currency. If Washington, D.C., pursues economic policies that cause inflation, Salvadorans can only watch on as their purchasing power declines.
Not anymore. Given Bitcoin’s perceived quality as a hedge against inflation, it became Bukele’s new Salvadoran currency of choice.
“Today, the world changes for the better. Today, humanity takes a leap forward in instilling human freedom, financial inclusivity, and so much more,” Strike’s Jack Mallers raved on the day of Bukele’s announcement.
Singapore
The 15 Most Influential Crypto Cities in the World
Crypto is a global community of people who are increasingly living in a digital metaverse. But even as they embrace a decentralized world, physical places still matter very much—after all, no …
Features
Long Reads
9 min read
Jeff Benson, Scott Chipolina, Jason NelsonDec 20, 2021
Putting the world on notice
When Bukele first announced his Bitcoin embrace in Miami, he was speaking to an intensely passionate, Bitcoin maximalist microcosm of the wider crypto community.
The rest of the world has been less enthusiastic about the economics of Bitcoin as legal tender.
In June, the International Monetary Fund said El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender raised several “macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues that require very careful analysis.”
In the same month, the World Bank chimed in, saying it wouldn’t help El Salvador move to establish Bitcoin as legal tender due to concerns over the cryptocurrency’s lack of transparency, and well-documented damage to the environment.
JPMorgan raised another red flag. “There are clearly important implications for that country, but it is difficult to see any tangible economic benefits associated with adopting Bitcoin as a second form of legal tender,” analysts at the bank said—also in June.
There’s also been controversy surrounding Zap Solutions Inc., whose digital wallet Strike has been used to facilitate cash-to-crypto transfers in El Salvador. An investigation by Decrypt found that Zap lacked licenses to operate in most U.S. states. Experts suggested that this meant many crypto transactions to El Salvador using Strike potentially were illegal.
Neither Strike nor CEO Jack Mallers ever replied to requests for comment from Decrypt. But since then, Zap has gained money transmitter licenses in 17 U.S. states.
Just last month, some of the concerns raised by the World Bank and IMF were also raised by the Bank of England. The BoE governor, Andrew Bailey, said that what worried him “most of all” about the country’s Bitcoin embrace was whether the “citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have.”
But the past seven months have suggested El Salvador’s citizens do understand Bitcoin—and don’t want it forced on them as legal tender.
Domestic Bitcoin controversies
Inside El Salvador, the rollout of the Bitcoin Law and its Chivo wallet has been far from smooth.
Just this month, Salvadorans have been reporting Bitcoin balances vanishing from their Chivo wallets without explanation. Making matters worse, President Bukele has failed to respond to these reports.
But the complaint that many Salvadorans have voiced was not about the tech, it’s with the premise of Bitcoin being mandated by the state. Bukele previously had said Salvadorans would not have to use Bitcoin if they didn’t wish to, but that hasn’t been the case.
“What if someone doesn’t want to use Bitcoin? Well, nothing, do not download the [Chivo] app and continue your normal life,” he tweeted in August.
But this contradicts Article 7 of the new law, which reads: “Every economic agent must accept Bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service.” So Bitcoin is hardly optional for local merchants.
Salvadorans protested, protested again, and protested some more against Bitcoin. Universities also produced several surveys showing that the vast majority of Salvadorans believed Bukele’s Bitcoin bet was a bad idea.
Jaime Guevara, the deputy leader of El Salvador’s opposition party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, went so far as to file a lawsuit against the government. Guevara was supported by a group of citizens who believe the law is unconstitutional and harmful.
So far these efforts haven’t had much impact: Bukele, who has a well-documented authoritarian streak, has not wavered in his Bitcoin flag-waving.
Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin. Image: Shutterstock
Vitalik Buterin: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Approach Is ‘Contrary to the Ideals’ of Crypto
In a surprise Reddit post on Friday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had strong words for El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout, and specifically President Nayib Bukele for forcing local businesse…
News
Coins
3 min read
Daniel RobertsOct 10, 2021
A public blockchain with no transparency
In September, El Salvador’s law enforcement arrested well-known Bitcoin critic Mario Gomez—without a warrant.
“The police kidnapped Mario. He was ‘arrested’ without a judicial order,” a local businessperson told Decrypt on condition of anonymity. Gomez’s legal counsel Otto Flores also said it was “not clear why Mario was handcuffed.”
Amid El Salvador’s heavy-handed battle with Bitcoin critics, the country’s courts quietly went about the business of expanding Bukele’s grip on power. A ruling in September allowed for Bukele to serve two consecutive terms as president, a decision slammed as unconstitutional by foreign powers including the United States.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, another critic of Bukele’s, pulled no punches in tweeting: “What’s next? If we are guided by the history of Venezuela: censorship of the press, restrictions on civil society, total impunity for human rights violations, arrests of opponents, electoral fraud.”
Buying Bitcoin, but when and how much?
As of today’s date, Bukele has purchased over 1,000 BTC with public money.
Search Bukele’s Twitter timeline for the phrase “bought the dip” and you’ll get some insight into the president’s Bitcoin investing strategy. He bought 150 BTC, 420 BTC, 100 BTC, 150 BTC, and 21 BTC in September, October, November, early December, and days before Christmas, respectively.
But that’s where the transparency ends. To date, nobody knows who controls the country’s private keys—a serious issue considering the fact El Salvador’s Bitcoin is being added to the Treasury.
“There are so many things that are not being disclosed,”
“There’s no space to make wrong calls on this, and we need to be transparent because the cryptocurrency community cares about these principles.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Balaji Srinivasan:
Exploring the concept of mirrortables, where a company’s cap table is mirrored on-chain with Ethereum and ENS or other Web3 tools, to streamline angel investing
web3
The Mirrortable
https://balajis.com/mirrortable/
Mirrortables are to cap tables what stablecoins are to fiat currencies. They streamline and internationalize the logistical mess of angel investing.
Here is what angel investing should be:
Send USDC from a wallet with your ENS to the entity’s ENS and get digital mirror assets back into your wallet. These assets are held in a mirrortable, which is an on-chain replica of a primary cap table maintained in an off-chain system like Carta for compliance purposes. The terms of these assets are kept current via periodic updates of the mirrortable’s smart contract.
The Problem
There’s been a recent debate about web3 that’s operated at a 30,000 foot and 280 character level. To bring it back to earth, I want to talk about one very concrete problem: the tangle of angel investing. This is an area where off-chain web2 tools like Docusign, Hellosign, Carta, and AngelList could be profitably augmented with on-chain web3 tools that have matured over the last several years — particularly the Ethereum blockchain, the USDC stablecoin, and the Ethereum Name System (ENS).
To do this, we’ll introduce a concept called a mirrortable, an on-chain representation of a traditional capitalization table. A mirrortable is to a cap table what a stablecoin is to a fiat currency. That is, the on-chain version provides 24/7 uptime, international wallet support, and integration with smart contracts, while the off-chain counterpart provides legal compliance and compatibility with legacy systems. In other words, mirrortables radically improve programmatic interactions with cap tables, just as stablecoins have done for fiat currencies.
But why do we need to “streamline programmatic interactions with cap tables”?
Motivation: Angel is Vertical
As motivation, angel investing is through the roof. With the physical decentralization of technology away from Silicon Valley, the simultaneous acceleration of many tech trends, and the money released by a slew of liquidity events, there are more high net worth individuals writing more checks into more tech startups in more countries than ever before.
10X investors. There’s a surge in the number of investors per round. Party rounds are now standard.
10X startups. There’s a rise in the number of high quality startups. We see amazing people every week.
Increased complexity. There’s an increase in contract complexity. It’s not just vanilla SAFEs anymore, it’s all manner of complicated token and warrant agreements.
10X jurisdictions. And there’s a huge expansion in the number of jurisdictions, now that places like India, Nigeria, and Latin America are coming up in a big way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
El Salvador to put an end to fiat currency
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cryptopolitan.com%2Fel-salvador-puts-an-end-to-fiat-currency%2F&h=AT1m58vYGXZ-2mWA56bPq1RuxDtBw0VGtt8O9ObY-9ZydKozMFzWVS4JA1NJAQm0cvJa_8MA2a0kjjgJjszm8iFLHPFFAUfthXjzSwNQvxUsuLvrErk64Uuw-1t7bccXhA
• President of El Salvador believes that cryptos should be used with priority.
• By 2022, the country in Central America could launch its first ETF.
Among the latest advances in El Salvador, which is awarded as the main country to use cryptocurrencies legally, the country’s president Nayib Bukele has said goodbye to fiat currency. Bukele believes that it is time for people to start using cryptos more and less fiat.
Since the year’s third quarter, El Salvador has been using cryptocurrencies as legal currency, but it had not shown its progress until the last week of 2021. According to national economists, cryptos have changed the vision of Salvadorans and are even being used more than the local currency.
For his part, Nayib Bukele, Salavor’s president, thinks on Twitter that cryptos should be a priority over fiat. In this way, Bukele shows that he has done so well for his country after accepting Bitcoin as legal currency.
Although trading with Bitcoin is a first in El Salvador, Bukele could be working on going further with the technology. Speculators suggest that the president plans to launch their first ETF exposure with crypto and their entire cabinet. With these trading funds, many companies could set their sights on the country in Central America that promises to be a tax haven.
The trading fund could be managed by BTF, a leading company in this type of operation. 2022 may be full of crypto advances in El Salvador, in addition to the crypto education that Bukele has promised since the virtual reform began.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin can hit $333K ‘parabolically’ if this BTC price fractal plays out
A change of course from the Fed could produce a “flight to safety” which sends Bitcoin price action stratospheric.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-can-hit-333k-parabolically-if-this-btc-price-fractal-plays-out
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/bitcoin-to-the-moon-5-btc-predictions-for-2022
Tomi Engdahl says:
Crypto Bros Want to Buy Blockbuster, Turn It Into a ‘Decentralized’ Streaming Platform
The aptly-named BlockbusterDAO is attempting to raise $5 million to “liberate the brand” from its current owner, Dish Network.
https://gizmodo.com/crypto-bros-want-to-buy-blockbuster-turn-it-into-a-dec-1848276100
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nft on vain jäävuoren huippu
https://www.tivi.fi/blogit/nft-on-vain-jaavuoren-huippu/4610a5ee-df86-441e-8a08-3458fdd54441
On hämmentävää seurata lohkoketjuja koskevaa keskustelua sosiaalisessa mediassa. Keskustelu ei tunnu noudattavan tavallista hypekäyrää.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin Will ‘Replace The U.S. Dollar’—Jack Dorsey Made A Radical Prediction As The Price Suddenly Surges, Boosting Ethereum
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2021/12/21/bitcoin-will-replace-the-us-dollar-jack-dorsey-made-a-radical-prediction-as-the-price-suddenly-surges-boosting-ethereum/?sh=51671aab46b6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB
Former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey, who recently quit the social media giant he cofounded to grow his payments company, has predicted bitcoin will eventually replace the U.S. dollar.
The bitcoin price, having surged over the last 12 months, has fallen back in recent weeks, losing more than 30% of its value in just over a month. The recent bitcoin price collapse has also hit the ethereum price, which is down almost 20%.
Bitcoin leaped higher shortly after Dorsey’s tweet, however, reversing a downward trend over the last few days that added 5% to the bitcoin price over the last 24 hour period and boosting the ethereum price and wider crypto market.
Dorsey, replying to rapper Cardi B on Twitter—who asked “do you think crypto is going to replace the dollar?”—replied: “Yes, bitcoin will.”
Following his bitcoin prediction, Dorsey joined Tesla chief executive Elon Musk in mocking the idea of a crypto-based web3, intended to be a successor to the Silicon Valley-based web 2.0 that led to the internet dominance of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.
“Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it,” Musk tweeted, with Dorsey replying: “It’s somewhere between a and z”—thought to be a reference to technology venture capital (VC) company Andreessen Horowitz that’s recently invested billions in the development of web3.
“You don’t own ‘web3,’ Dorsey tweeted. “The VCs and their [limited partners] do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into.”
Web3 hype has been boosted this year by the soaring price of some cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) designed to support its growth and the rebranding of Facebook to Meta.
“Just like NFTs, web3 and metaverse platforms are the next natural progression in how we interact, relate, and communicate with each other,” Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview last month
Tomi Engdahl says:
Square Enix Scares Fans With NFT-Based 2022 New Year’s Resolutions
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/01/01/square-enix-scares-fans-with-nft-based-2022-new-years-resolutions/?sh=11be94d6c276
Well, we couldn’t get more than a few hours without another major company tossing a lit match into the crypto/blockchain/NFT tinderbox, and this time it’s (throws dart) Square Enix!
Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda has issued a New Year’s Letter that does not focus on any particular games in its catalog, nor any of its successes in the past year. Rather, almost the entire letter is a massive pitch for blockchain games and NFTs, which Square Enix promises they will be investing in during 2022 in a big way:
“The basic and elemental technologies to enable blockchain games already exist, and there has been an increase in the societal literacy and acceptance of crypto assets in the past few years. We will keep a close eye on societal shifts in this space while listening to the many groups of users that populate it, and ramp up our efforts to develop a business accordingly, with an eye to potentially issuing our own tokens in the future.”
And on NFTs becoming normal and accepted despite “overheated trading” in 2021:
“I see 2021 not only as “Metaverse: Year One,” but also as “NFTs: Year One” given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base. However, we do observe examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided This, obviously, is not an ideal situation,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Samsung unveils Samsung Gaming Hub, coming to select 2022 Samsung TVs, to add built-in support for Google Stadia, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, and Utomik cloud gaming — Plus a mysterious way to pass through your game console’s controller signals — Samsung is revealing a new lineup of smart TVs …
Samsung’s new 2022 TVs bring Nvidia GeForce Now and Google Stadia gaming
Plus a mysterious way to pass through your game console’s controller signals
https://www.theverge.com/22862814/samsung-2022-tv-geforce-now-stadia-nvidia-google-utomik-cloud-gaming?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Samsung says its 2022 TVs will support NFTs, including displaying, browsing, purchasing, and showing history and blockchain metadata — Learn about an NFT’s blockchain history from the comfort of your couch — Staring at your non-fungible tokens on a smartphone or laptop screen is fine and all …
Samsung promises ‘groundbreaking’ new TV feature: NFT support
Learn about an NFT’s blockchain history from the comfort of your couch
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/2/22858698/samsung-2022-tvs-nft-support-announced-cryptocurrency?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Staring at your non-fungible tokens on a smartphone or laptop screen is fine and all, but why not remind everyone who visits your home of the money you spent on digital art NFTs by showcasing them on your TV screen? Somehow we’re in a world where that’s about to become reality: Samsung says it’s planning extensive support for NFTs beginning with its 2022 TV lineup.
“With demand for NFTs on the rise, the need for a solution to today’s fragmented viewing and purchasing landscape has never been greater,” the company said in a press release. “In 2022, Samsung is introducing the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art — all in one place.”
According to Samsung, this platform (shown above) will let creators “share their art with the world” and let potential buyers:
Preview an NFT before purchasing it
Learn about an NFT’s history and blockchain metadata
Samsung is also minding the details when it comes to viewing NFTs on its 2022 televisions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Chainalysis: users spent nearly $41B on NFTs in 2021, with <$10K transactions accounting for more than 75% of the market; 32.4K wallets hold 80% of the value
How NFTs became a $40bn market in 2021
https://www.ft.com/content/e95f5ac2-0476-41f4-abd4-8a99faa7737d
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brian Newar / Cointelegraph:
OpenSea freezes 16 Ape NFTs, worth ~$2.3M, after they were reportedly stolen, leading some to point out the lack of decentralization in the NFT space — Art gallery owner Todd Kramer had his valuable NFT collection stolen from his hot wallet yesterday, so OpenSea froze the stolen assets worth about $2.2 million.
OpenSea freezes $2.2M of stolen Bored Apes
https://cointelegraph.com/news/opensea-freezes-2-2m-of-stolen-bored-apes
Art gallery owner Todd Kramer had his valuable NFT collection stolen from his hot wallet yesterday, so OpenSea froze the stolen assets worth about $2.2 million.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenSea Bans Two Bored Ape Ripoff NFT Collections
Both PAYC and PHAYC take Bored Ape images, flip them and mint them as new NFTs.
https://hypebeast.com/2021/12/opensea-bans-payc-phayc-bored-ape-ripoff-collections?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=facebook_post&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1641016196
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin fell to its lowest point in months, dropping nearly 8% in 24 hours.
Major Cryptocurrencies—Including Bitcoin, Ethereum—Plummet After Fed Minutes Signal Looming Interest Rate Hikes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/01/06/major-cryptocurrencies-including-bitcoin-ethereum-plummet-after-fed-minutes-signal-looming-interest-rate-hikes/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie&sh=335de9be794a
The value of bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies plummeted Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting signaled a possible shift towards more aggressive action from the bank as it scales back pandemic support and moves to tackle high levels of inflation.
Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading around $3,300, down 12% from 24 hours before.
Other major tokens—including XRP, Binance’s BNB, cardano and solana—experienced similarly steep drops over the last 24 hours, losing between 10% and 13%.
The losses come amid a wider selloff that has knocked billions of dollars in value from the cryptocurrency market, which is now worth some $2.14 trillion, according to CoinGecko, down 10% from the day before.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/06/mozilla-foundation-crypto/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/06/how-will-the-crypto-selloff-impact-the-nft-market/?tpcc=ecfb2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla pauses crypto donations after its cofounder accused the internet browser company of partnering with ‘planet-incinerating Ponzi gifters’
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftrib.al%2FllVCSvz&h=AT02OmRU3ZDNC0QHFe-jHuhf6bNP7fy0aUCUkjfUyFKbq8_fQ50_KouRE4IcHUmarhlo6NA3CrOyzLMMixi2B8D_c3iPM-o7vq4RRjfUEDCe2vI3nt_bnOeRhOZKSv19aA
Mozilla said it’s pausing accepting crypto donations after its browser’s cofounder criticized the move.
Jamie Zawinski said it should be ashamed to partner with “planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters.”
Some critics say the crypto world resembles Ponzi schemes and has a negative environmental impact.
Tomi Engdahl says:
El Salvador teki bitcoinista virallisen valuutan ja antoi sitä jokaiselle kansalaiselle 30 $ arvosta – nyt kansalaiset ihmettelevät katoavaa kryptovaluuttaa
4.1.202212:05|päivitetty4.1.202212:05
Viime kesänä El Salvadorin parlamentti äänesti bitcoinin virallistamisesta maksuvälineeksi
https://www.mikrobitti.fi/uutiset/el-salvador-teki-bitcoinista-virallisen-valuutan-ja-antoi-sita-jokaiselle-kansalaiselle-30-arvosta-nyt-kansalaiset-ihmettelevat-katoavaa-kryptovaluuttaa/904ca363-fcd0-4670-b1fe-675366837fe8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Norton antivirus adds Ethereum cryptocurrency mining
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57345632
In a surprise move, one of the world’s best-known anti-virus software makers is adding cryptocurrency mining to its products.
Norton 360 customers will have access to an Ethereum mining feature in the “coming weeks”, the company said.
Cryptocurrency “mining” works by using a computer’s hardware to do complex calculations in exchange for a reward.
It is not clear what the business model for Norton Crypto is, or if Norton will take a cut of earnings.
The company pitched the idea as a safe and easy way to get into mining, an “important part of our customers’ lives”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Ticking Bomb of Crypto Fascism
The crypto market’s inevitable crash will pull America’s politics in an even scarier direction.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-ticking-bomb-of-crypto-fascism
Making predictions about looming social and political catastrophes is a dicey business, because most of the exciting things in history did not happen predictably. You can try to draw historic parallels based on broad economic or cultural trends. In America, in 2022, we have a vicious and spiraling culture war combined with an enormous asset price bubble fueled by two years of stimulus money, all resting atop an incredibly tenuous pandemic-wracked real economy. If you think the Angry White Men were scary during the Trump years, just wait until the crypto bubble pops.
Let’s think this through. The foundation of everything happening now is a sort of late capitalist nihilistic politics fueled purely by culture wars — an almost primitive flight from rationality driven by a half century of rising inequality and crumbling faith in ineffective public institutions. The American dream is dead: Children no longer do reliably better than their parents. The dream of a one-income supported household is over. In its place have sprouted the gig economy, crushing student debt, the death of unions and generalized precarity. The rich are unimaginably richer, and everyone else is spinning their wheels. The Republican response has been the culture wars, in lieu of actually redistributing wealth. This has been effective, ironically, because the sort of healthy institutions that would prevent culture war politics from being so powerful are the very institutions that are withering away. Technological changes and the atomization of mainstream media have intensified our division
warring political camps, identity-based tribes that further radicalize electoral politics, and are in turn radicalized by it in a non-virtuous cycle.
That is the soil of America today. And sprouting from that, in the spring of 2020, was the pandemic. The economy briefly shut down, and there was a panic, and then there was a ton of government stimulus money, which has successfully staved off another Great Depression. That is good. An effect of that, however, is that there is simply a lot more money in America than there was before. That money has flowed into every sort of asset — stocks, real estate, you name it. Its enormity is fueling weird bubbles
Booming “meme stocks” like GameStop soared then fell, their up-and-down stock charts standing as stark illustrations of the fact that it is impossible for pump-and-dump schemes to replace a functional social safety net. Even more significant is the rise of cryptocurrency (and, to a lesser degree, NFTs, the ephemeral online artworks whose value is now approaching that of the entire traditional U.S. art market). Crypto is now worth trillions of dollars. All of that value is premised not on some fundamental utility, but rather on the idea that there will always be someone else who will come along and pay you more than you spent on your crypto. This is going to end badly.
They are called crypto “currencies,” but clearly they are not currencies. Their value fluctuates far too much to be a useful medium of exchange. So what are they? They are collectibles, pure speculative objects with zero intrinsic value. If you buy a stock, you own a portion of a business; if you buy a house, even if the price goes down, you still have a house. If you buy a Bitcoin, you have nothing but the title to a piece of computer code that can do absolutely nothing for you except to the extent that someone else can be induced to pay you money for it. In the midst of a mania, as we are now in, the price of these imaginary assets tends to rise, because the collective public sentiment is that the prices will rise. When that sentiment changes — whether due to fear, or some event that causes crypto holders to need to cash out — the price will plummet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Instead of socialism, we have given people crypto. They buy crypto, for the most part, not because of lofty beliefs in techno-futurism, but because they think it is a way to get rich quick for a low entry price. Crypto is just a modern lottery ticket.
Tomi Engdahl says:
500M Avira Antivirus Users Introduced to Cryptomining
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/500m-avira-antivirus-users-introduced-to-cryptomining/
Many readers were surprised to learn recently that the popular Norton
360 antivirus suite now ships with a program which lets customers make money mining virtual currency. But Norton 360 isn’t alone in this dubious endeavor: Avira antivirus which has built a base of 500 million users worldwide largely by making the product free was recently bought by the same company that owns Norton 360 and is introducing its customers to a service called Avira Crypto.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vitalik Buterin / r/ethereum on Reddit:
Ethereum co-founder responds: “the properly authenticated decentralized blockchain world is coming”, but is slowed by “limited technical resources and funding” — The word “server” imo is not very useful in the blockchain context; it combines together a bundle of concepts that are best treated separately.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/ryk3it/my_first_impressions_of_web3/hrrz15r/
Moxie Marlinspike:
How Web3 apps and wallets inevitably depend on centralized services like OpenSea, Infura, and Alchemy, which don’t even provide authenticated responses
My first impressions of web3
https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tracy Wang / CoinDesk:
A look at the turmoil inside Pudgy Penguins, one of the most successful NFT projects, as community members clash with founders over the project’s fate — There’s trouble brewing in the huddle. — The beloved NFT project Pudgy Penguins voted out its founders on Thursday after they allegedly failed …
Pudgy Penguins NFT Project Ousts Founders as Mood Turns Icy
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/07/pudgy-penguins-nft-project-ousts-founders-as-mood-turns-icy/
NFT influencers clash over the fate of Pudgy Penguins, raising governance questions surrounding non-fungible token communities.
There’s trouble brewing in the huddle.
The beloved NFT project Pudgy Penguins voted out its founders on Thursday after they allegedly failed to deliver on stated goals and drained the treasury of funds. And now at least one splinter group is arguing that the entire project should be decentralized, potentially an industry first.
Launched in July, Pudgy Penguins has become one of the most successful NFT projects, raking in over 45,400 ETH in sales on NFT marketplace OpenSea. (That works out to about $140 million in today’s ether (ETH) prices.) NFT stands for “non-fungible tokens,” a subcategory of cryptocurrencies that represents ownership in a unique asset, from art to real estate.
The collection of 8,888 chubby and flightless Antarctic creatures – donning accessories such as baseball caps and fishing rods – were available to mint last July for 0.03 ETH and sold out in less than 20 minutes.
According to Twitter user and Pudgy Penguins owner @9x9x9eth, Pudgy Penguins co-founder Cole Thereum “promised a game, a token, an educational book on NFTs and more” to the community last September.
“After a half year, they still have not yet set up the team, they are still in the stage of hiring,” 9x9x9 told CoinDesk via Twitter.
(9x9x9 publicly stated he has spent nearly 600 ETH on the collection and holds 242 Pudgy Penguins NFTs and one rare “banana” penguin, purchased for 100 ETH.)
On Wednesday evening, 9x9x9 published a Twitter thread claiming the Pudgy Penguins founders were looking to abandon the project and offered to sell him its shell for 888 ETH (about $2.8 million), an offer he turned down.
Since the tweets, the floor price of a Pudgy Penguin shot up from about 0.6 ETH ($1,860) on Wednesday evening to 1.7 ETH ($5,270) as of press time.
NFT hedge fund Starry Night Capital’s @Vince_Van_Dough and eGirl Capital’s @loomdart – other prominent stakeholders in the project – have floated the idea of migrating the community to a new project called Wrapped Penguins.
The Pudgy Penguins founding team receives a small percentage in royalties from each NFT sale, meaning founders of successful projects can continue to line their pockets as long as trading volume persists.
Wrapped Penguins, available as a free mint on NFT platform Metadrop for current Penguin holders, would sever all ties with the original founding team with the new project in the hope of creating a parallel community that would be governed using a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) framework.
A wrapper is a smart contract that takes an asset and issues a parallel asset, allowing the Pudgy Penguins NFT holder to hold an identical “wrapped” penguin. The Wrapped Penguins project has said the holder will be able to “unwrap” their token into the original NFT at any time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin slips under the $40,000 mark
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/10/bitcoin-slips-under-the-40000-mark/?tpcc=tcplusfacebook
The value of bitcoin fell under the $40,000 mark in early morning trading today.
The popular cryptocurrency sold off sharply this morning, while rival tokens like ether also lost value. Currently worth $39,831 per coin, bitcoin is off 4.3% and ether 5.1%, according to Coinbase data.
While it is always risky to cover price changes in the crypto world, the fall in the value of bitcoin has crossed the threshold from notable to material. Yahoo Finance indicates that bitcoin’s recent all-time high saw the cryptocurrency trade as high as $68,789.62 per coin. Today’s price puts bitcoin’s current drawdown at just over 42%.
That’s twice the swing required for bitcoin to have entered a technical bear market, and four times what it would need to meet the requirements of a correction.
But price declines in the value of certain cryptocurrencies are not slowing the decentralized world. Crypto-focused publication The Block noted this morning that NFT trading volumes at the popular OpenSea marketplace are strong to start the year. So, web3 activity appears strong by some measures, despite recent price declines
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bitcoin fell below $40,000 for the first time since September on Monday.
‘Looking Ugly’: Crypto Market Crash Intensifies After $300 Billion Sell-Off—How Low Can Bitcoin Prices Go?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2022/01/10/looking-ugly-crypto-market-crash-intensifies-after-300-billion-sell-off-how-low-can-bitcoin-prices-go/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie&sh=60e50235a11b
The price of bitcoin fell to a three-month low Monday morning, continuing a slide that began when the Federal Reserve sparked a broad sell-off last week by cautioning it may move more quickly than previously expected to reverse policy meant to bolster the economy during the pandemic, and experts forecast the latest crypto drawback could persist for weeks if the central bank’s hawkish stance becomes more aggressive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2022/01/11/avoin-lohkoketju-hybriditekniikalla/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
The Associated Press will launch a photojournalism NFT marketplace built by blockchain tech provider Xooa on Jan. 31, with proceeds used to fund its journalism — It’s offering collectors ‘exclusive, historic, and stunning visual content’ — The Associated Press, or AP …
The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/10/22876993/associated-press-ap-nft-marketplace-xooa-blockchain-photo-journalism-funding?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
It’s offering collectors ‘exclusive, historic, and stunning visual content’
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
A look at Norton 360′s widely criticized, opt-in crypto miner that takes a 15% cut: an RTX 3060 Ti mined 66¢ of ETH in one night, costing 66¢ in electricity
Here’s the truth about the crypto miner that comes with Norton Antivirus
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/7/22869528/norton-crypto-miner-security-software-reaction?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Some online accusations aren’t exactly correct, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good deal
Norton is facing criticism for including a crypto miner alongside its Norton 360 security software. Activists like Cory Doctorow have claimed that the company “sneakily installs cryptomining software on your computer” and skims a commission on profits, and outlets like PC Mag, Krebs on Security, and Digital Trends have also written about users expressing frustration trying to uninstall it. While there’s more than a grain of truth to these claims, we dug into it ourselves and found they’re being blown out of proportion.
Last summer, Norton very publicly announced it was adding a crypto miner to its Norton 360 security suite, pitching it as a safer alternative to trying to install complex, “unvetted” mining programs from the internet. It was initially only available to a limited number of users, but now seems to be available to anyone who installs the program — but in the six or so months since the announcement, there hasn’t been much discussion about the software until this week.
Now, it’s suddenly the center of a backlash, with some Twitter users accusing Norton of installing a crypto miner on users’ computers without any warning. In a very technical sense, that’s true — my colleague Sean Hollister installed a copy of Norton 360 for himself and did indeed find that the mining app NCrypt.exe was included in the program’s directory.
However, that doesn’t mean that Norton will automatically start mining on your computer, as some seem to believe. Norton’s FAQ says that it won’t mine without permission and that “in addition to having a device that meets system requirements, you must also turn on Norton Crypto on your device.” Sean says that as far as he could tell, this appeared to be true; the feature didn’t surreptitiously activate after he installed Norton. It didn’t open until he asked it to.
The TL;DR is that yes, Norton does install a crypto miner with its software, without making that clear in the initial setup process. But it isn’t going to do anything unless you specifically opt in
A NortonLifeLock spokesperson also told The Verge in an email that you can completely remove NCrypt.exe by temporarily turning off Norton’s tamper protection feature, and then deleting the executable.
We asked Norton if it would make a pledge that the feature would always be opt-in, and spokesperson Spring Harris told us that “[the] feature requires special device hardware and user consent to function. We are transparent about how our software performs on user devices and we have no intention of changing this.”
None of this is to defend Norton’s inclusion of a crypto miner in its security suite — it’s simply to explain what is and isn’t happening.
As mentioned before, we installed Norton ourselves to get first-hand experience with the miner. While the service may be opt-in, Norton isn’t making it hard to find — when Sean installed the software, its control panel had a big green banner at the top with the text “Turn your PC’s idle time into cash.” Clicking the “show me how” button shows you a slideshow about the feature, a large “Agree and get started” button, and some smaller text letting you know that the feature you’re turning on is Norton Crypto.
After you turn on Norton Crypto, it’ll set up a wallet for you, and immediately start using your computer’s GPU to mine Ethereum (its system requirements say you need an Nvidia or AMD card with at least 6GB of memory). Any earnings will be periodically deposited in the wallet set up for you, and once you reach a minimum threshold you’ll be able to withdraw your earnings to Coinbase.
Norton has incentive to get people using the feature. As BleepingComputer pointed out when it tried the software last year, Norton takes a whopping 15 percent of any earnings you make from mining. Without diving too deep into how mining works, Norton Crypto’s terms of service (PDF) say it’s running a mining pool, which combines everybody’s computing power to increase the chances of mining a block — when that happens, everybody who contributed power gets a share of the reward. It’s that reward from which Norton is taking its cut.
Pool operators do often take a cut or fee for bringing everyone together. However, the fees are usually closer to 1 or 2 percent, which is obviously significantly lower. And, of course, there’s the elephant in the room: anyone using Norton’s software to mine has already paid the company a subscription fee for its security software
Is the reward from mining good enough that you can ignore the high fees, or consider them a convenience cost for not having to figure out how to join a pool on your own (which is usually a reasonably technical process)? We tried it out for ourselves, measuring electricity consumption using a Kill-A-Watt power meter. The results? With the current difficulty of mining a block and Ethereum prices, we completely broke even for what we earned versus what we paid for power. In real numbers, a night of mining on an RTX 3060 Ti netted $0.66 cents worth of Ethereum and cost $0.66 in off-peak electricity. Norton took all the profit.
Given The Verge’s policy against holding cryptocurrency, we’ll be immediately divesting the fraction of an ETH we earned in our test.
Even if you had stronger mining hardware and cheaper electricity, Norton’s model could end up being a rough deal. It deposits your cut of Ethereum into your Norton Crypto wallet, but if you want to use it or exchange it for fiat currency you’ll have to cash it out — currently, the only option for that is by transferring it to a Coinbase account. However, doing so will incur a transaction fee (also known as a gas fee) that’s charged by the Ethereum network itself. That could mean that you’d have to mine a lot of crypto before it’d make financial sense to withdraw it from your Norton wallet.
The deal looks a lot better from Norton’s end, though — as is often the case with crypto, scale is key here.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/it.humor.and.memes/permalink/7430088903683496/
I’ve got a massive set of NFTs. It’s yuuuuge!
Seriously tho…. It may be time to rethink copywriting methodologies.
Update for clarity: NFTs are secured by blockchain technology and copy written images are secured by the legal system. The frustrations of both kinds of image owners intersected here. We see a common joke made about NFTs being applied to a copy written image.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/606364467/posts/10159963786554468/
My take on NFTs: People have been collecting useless crap forever. Stones, stamps, cards, figures, whatever. And that’s fine, collecting is fun. Sometimes another collector happens to want exactly what you have. That’s where the potential value is. Not in bitmaps or DRM or games.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Joe Light / Bloomberg:
Crypto firms flood DC with money ahead of a federal push for new crypto rules, as donations from crypto execs become a key source of cash for some lawmakers
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-11/crypto-firms-gear-up-for-battles-over-new-rules-in-washington
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/technology/why-is-bitcoin-having-a-weird-start-to-2022/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aoyon Ashraf / CoinDesk:
Block says it is building an open-source bitcoin mining system to make mining more “distributed and efficient”, after Jack Dorsey teased the idea in October — The payment services company formerly known as Square is open to building new mining computers and is hiring for a new engineering team.
Payments Giant Block to Build Open-Source Bitcoin Mining System
The payment services company formerly known as Square is open to building new mining computers and is hiring for a new engineering team.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/13/payments-giant-block-to-build-open-source-bitcoin-mining-system/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk:
DeFi Alliance, the incubator of Sushi, Olympus DAO, and other Web3 projects, rebrands as Alliance DAO and raises $50M from 300 investors including Jake Paul — A top crypto accelerator is DAOifying itself to the tune of $50 million. — DeFi Alliance, the incubator of platforms ranging …
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/13/defi-alliance-becomes-alliance-dao-after-50m-raise-from-300-web-3-leaders/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Helene Braun / CoinDesk:
Tether says it froze three Ethereum blockchain addresses containing $160M on a law enforcement request; Bloxy data shows Tether froze 563 addresses since 2017 — Stablecoin issuer Tether froze three Ethereum addresses on Thursday, holding over $160 million worth of USDT, according to data from Etherscan.
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/13/tether-freezes-160m-of-usdt-stablecoin-on-ethereum-blockchain/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Michael D McDonald / Bloomberg:
Analysis: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele likely lost ~$10M on his bitcoin purchases, after spending $71M on 1,391 BTC at an average price of $51,056
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/bitcoin-trading-president-likely-loses-money-for-el-salvadorans
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dogecoin enthusiasts can now buy Tesla belt buckles, whistles and quad bikes using the popular Shiba Inu based cryptocurrency, according to the company’s website.
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Froberthart%2F2022%2F01%2F14%2Fdogecoin-soars-after-elon-musk-says-it-can-be-used-to-buy-tesla-merch%2F%3Futm_campaign%3Dforbes%26utm_source%3Dfacebook%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_term%3DGordie&h=AT27tht_ikS1IQhQ16bFxtlitxiwj5pOjod3atEFRF4giDXZ6Yuekpd4i8W7bPsXO6P3i0viDPjJgQQwNDpkW1eguEbzPYqbq4cZxRDd_YJjjunClUhBeqhKdeO6wdUCNg
Tomi Engdahl says:
North Korea hacked nearly $400M in cryptocurrency last year
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/14/north-korea-hacked-nearly-400m-in-cryptocurrency-last-year/?tpcc=tcplusfacebook
North Korean hackers launched at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms last year to steal almost $400 million worth of digital assets, according to a report by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
“From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%,” the report said.
The attacks primarily targeted investment firms and centralized exchanges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dorsey Proposes Non-Profit Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund for Developers
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/12/dorsey-proposes-non-profit-bitcoin-legal-defense-fund-for-developers/
The main purpose of the fund will be to defend developers from lawsuits regarding their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the Block founder wrote in an email to the bitcoin-dev mailing list.