“If an asset manager wants to buy $1 billion worth of bitcoin, who are they going to trust?”

According to David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, which operates the leading institutional exchange, LMAX Digital, the answer is investment banks. Giants like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley sit at the center of financial markets, and one day soon, they may do the same for digital assets.

The critical role of investment banks has to do with credit availability. Despite bitcoin’s increasing popularity within the institutional world, inefficient market structure and limited access to credit is restricting growth.

Mostly though, institutions don’t want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to their own infrastructure. “Let me paraphrase a customer I spoke to last week,” said Mercer. “They trade 80 currency pairs with me, and they want to trade bitcoin. They said look, don’t talk to me about custody, don’t talk to me about keys, don’t tell me about gas, I just want to trade it the way I trade everything else.”

Investment banks offer a trusted solution, and combined with access to deep liquidity and robust execution on institutional exchanges like LMAX Digital, they may be the key to ushering in the new wave of market participants.

Within the last month, a slew of investment banks have voiced their support of bitcoin. Citi recently released a 106-page report on the digital currency, calling the current moment in time a “tipping point” thanks to institutional adoption.

Back in January, banking giant JPMorgan Chase issued a $146,000 price target for bitcoin, and Guggenheim’s CIO Scott Minerd said that bitcoin “could climb as high as $600,000.”  Just last month, it was reported that a $150-billion Morgan Stanley fund is considering bitcoin as an investment.

Why are banks getting involved now? According to Mercer, the answer is client demand.  “[Crypto] is not so much a money maker for [the banks], they make enough in fixed income, in equities, and all their other products. I think it really is a case of client demand.”

Mercer’s explanation tallies with a recent interview with Matthew McDermott, Goldman Sachs’ head of Digital Assets, on the strong institutional demand they are seeing for digital assets.

“The team has fielded well over 300 conversations,” said McDermott. “And when I talk about the broad spectrum [of demand], I’m referring to hedge funds, to asset managers, to macro funds, to banks, to corporate treasurers, insurance and pension funds.”

Goldman Sachs is reportedly launching a cryptocurrency trading service in mid-March. Mercer expects that after banks take the initial step of facilitating trading, they will expand to a greater array of services.

“Once they’re in it, then they can look at market-making, liquidity providing, writing algorithms, and having a proprietary desk or a principal trading desk. I expect all of that will follow.”

Investment banks facilitate commerce. In financial markets, the key role that they play is one of trust.

The central presence of investment banks means that counter parties do not need to trust each other, they only need to trust Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. Over time, robust infrastructure and regulatory frameworks have been built to assure the safety of market participants.

Although digital assets technically eliminate the need for trusted third parties, many large asset managers simply aren’t there yet. “Some of the biggest asset managers oversee over $5 trillion in AUM,” said Mercer. “They have a trillion or two sitting with lots of different banks, and they’d rather trust the credit of the banks than trust the blockchain.”

That is the reality for many institutions today. Digital assets make up a small part of a larger portfolio, whether that is for a trillion-dollar asset manager or a corporate treasurer. Most organizations will be unwilling to suffer the friction of building an entirely new infrastructure to manage just a small piece of the pie.

Banks, on the other hand, already have relationships with virtually every institutional client on earth. By initially reducing the friction associated with transacting in crypto, and eventually providing deeper liquidity and access to credit, they will help the ecosystem grow and thrive.

“It’s just trust and reputation,” said Mercer. “But then with that, you’re going to oil the wheels of the whole market because if ‘Bank A’ and ‘Bank B’ are plugged into LMAX Digital, they create activity in the exchange, more liquidity providers are competing for that flow, so you end up with a much more active tighter book, and that creates activity for other traders. All of the sudden, you’re going to see this snowball.”

Investment banks on their own aren’t enough to usher along institutional adoption.

Digital asset markets are wickedly complex and technologically difficult to navigate. Banks have the trust of their clients, but to trade, they need access to a regulated institutional exchange like LMAX Digital, offering deep liquidity and reliable, robust institutional grade trading infrastructure.

Think of LMAX Digital as the glue that holds digital asset markets together. Their low latency, high-throughput technology and deep pools of liquidity enable investment banks to give their clients the service that they have come to expect from traditional financial markets.

The LMAX Digital central limit order book enables efficient market structure, transparency between counterparties, and facilitates consistent execution for all market participants. Data shared by LMAX Digital with Blockworks corroborates this story and gives more granular insight into how this wave of institutional adoption is playing out.

Total volume for the month of February ended just shy of $50 billion, with a record-setting $4.4 billion traded in a single day.

Large non-banks remain the largest customer segment for LMAX Digital, although Hedge Funds are nearly as large and the fastest growing segment.

Finally, the average trade size has skyrocketed in recent months, more than tripling to over $15,000 in February when compared to March of 2020.

It looks as though institutions are indeed already playing a central role in the crypto market, and they will increasingly rely on LMAX Digital going forward.

By DrBreakThru | | 17 Nov 2020 On March 31, 2020, Balancer (BAL) – a non-custodial Ethereum-based automated market maker (AMM) that functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio manager, liquidity provider, and price sensor – was deployed on Ethereum mainnet. The Balancer protocol was first introduced in a whitepaper drafted by Fernando Martinelli and Nikolai Mushegian in September 2019 who flipped the concept of an index fund on its head.  Instead of paying fees to portfolio managers to rebalance your portfolio, they proposed an AMM protocol that enables you (as an investor) to collect fees from traders, who rebalance your portfolio by following arbitrage opportunities. Said another way:  Balancer enables cryptocurrency investors to earn fees by providing the protocol with liquidity using multiple tokens, which are rebalanced by traders following arbitrage opportunities.  The protocol enables cryptocurrency investors to earn income on their idle crypto assets while staying long on their positions which are continuously rebalanced to maintain a weighted portfolio.  That said, Balancer is a revolutionary AMM protocol that’s described by some as a self-balancing crypto-ETF. Bancor website homepage The first Automated Market Maker (AMM) on Ethereum was introduced by Bancor (BNT) in 2017.  Back then, the notion of an on-chain, order-book-less exchange was novel and experimental. There were many problems to overcome (ie. low liquidity, slippage, impermanent loss) but Bancor took it head-on and laid much of the groundwork for what was to come.  Fast forward a few years to 2020, and there is now a thriving ecosystem of innovative AMMs which have generated billions of dollars in trading volume. So how did we get here? First, there was the Bancor v1 AMM model which required liquidity providers (LPs) to contribute an equal or determinate part of Bancor’s native token $BNT and each asset represented in the pool (ie. 50/50: BNT/ETH or BNT/BAT or BNT/LINK, etc.) This was both an inconvenience and a liability for many LPs who only held one of the assets and/or were only interested in exposure to that single asset.  For instance, if you wanted to contribute to a pool, you would first have to buy an equal amount of $BNT to the token you’re providing liquidity for. So if you didn’t have spare cash on hand, you would have to swap your $ETH or another token for $BNT, which was quite an inconvenience and deterrent to using Bancor’s pools.  However, new AMM models with better solutions would soon arise.  Uniswap website homepage In November 2018, Hayden Adams took Bancor’s idea and changed the AMM model at its core with the launch of Uniswap.  Instead of using a native token for users to create pools, Hayden designed Uniswap to use ETH as the core swap token users could create pools against, whereas bancor was using its native token BNT.  This proved to be a much better solution as ETH was and still is more liquid and more popular than any other altcoin out there. Therefore, more users preferred to create pools with ETH in it, rather than BNT. Today, Uniswap stands as the most powerful AMM DEX protocol with around $1.5B billion total value locked (TVL) and a growing ecosystem of DeFi legos plugging into its protocol. However, the innovation doesn’t stop there. In fact, it’s only getting better. Enter Balancer. Balancer website homepage Balancer is a next-generation AMM protocol that functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio manager, liquidity provider, and price sensor. It’s so much more than a simple token swap platform like Uniswap as it provides more functionality and flexibility with how you can interact with the protocol.  For instance, Balancer allows users to contribute liquidity to larger pools with up to 8 tokens with any weights, rather than having to deposit an ERC-20 and ETH with equal fixed weights of 50/50 in the case of Uniswap. That said, Balancer effectively enables users to create and manage their own personalized index fund by creating liquidity pools or investing in existing liquidity pools.  What’s more? These funds (liquidity pools) are self-balancing, meaning your deposited crypto-assets are exchanged by traders taking advantage of arbitration opportunities. There is no need to exit the liquidity pool and instead of paying a portfolio manager to rebalance your portfolio, the protocol does it for you and earns you collected fees from traders in the process.  That said, Balancer acts as a portfolio manager and also as a source of liquidity.  Now let’s get into details on how Balancer changes the AMM game: Balancer’s powerful DeFi framework generalizes Uniswap’s bonding curve to a multi-dimensional surface to allow Balancer token pools to hold several different tokens, each of which with its own defined share of the total value in the pool. It doesn’t use a hub currency like BNT or ETH in its liquidity pools as seen with Bancor and Uniswap. Instead, Balancer liquidity pools have a weighted 2-8 token exposure, ie (80%/20%) or (95%/5%), or (10%/40%/20%/10%/20%), etc. For example, you can have a pool made of 25% DAI, 25% MKR, 25% LINK & 25% KNC. This enables LPs to benefit from having greater exposure to their favorite tokens (they can stay long) rather than selling to buy a native protocol token; BNT in the case of Bancor v1 or ETH in the case of Uniswap.  That said, Balancer’s flexible 2-8 token liquidity pools combined with automated token weight rebalancing and the ability to earn passive income from trading fees, makes Balancer stand out from other AMM protocols.  In fact, it changes the AMM game completely. The Ethereum DeFi and Balancer community have been ecstatic about Balancer’s AMM protocol since launch.  People continue to deposit funds into Balancer’s diverse liquidity pools and the protocol currently ranks 12 on DeFi Pulse with more than $288.4 million total value locked (TVL).  (Source) Despite a large spike and fall in Balancer’s TVL during the DeFi boom and bust this year, the Balancer protocol continues to grow and capture value.  Moreover, notable investors and big names in the DeFi space expect Balancer to grow much more from where it is now. Just recently on November 9, 2020, Balancer raised a significant seven-figure sum via a $BAL token sale from notable investors, Pantera Capital and Alameda Research: (Source) Alameda Research and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried revealed that his firm invested a seven-figure sum, (ie, a minimum of $1 million) into Balancer via the sale of its native governance token BAL. As for Pantera Capital, they haven’t disclosed their investment amount but did say they were excited to partner with Balancer Labs to build the most flexible & deepest liquidity protocol for tomorrow's financial system: In addition to the big boys being bullish on Balancer’s tech, Balancer’s AMM protocol is also being recognized by Coinbase as a viable cryptocurrency project as they listed $BAL on Coinbase Pro: (Source) All in all, Balancer is proving to be an incremental protocol in the realm of Ethereum DeFi and it’s still severely undervalued at around rank 100 on CoinMarketCap IMO.  That said, Balancer (BAL) is a project to keep your eye on during this cryptocurrency bull market season.  DrBreakThru I'm a simple guy, I see a crypto breakthrough, I talk about it Don't let important breakthroughs fly under your radar Send a $0.01 microtip in crypto to the author, and earn yourself as you read! We pay the tips from our rewards pool. pheonixdown-dee 22 Nov 2020 5 minute read Chris Roberts 18 hours ago 4 minute read paragism 12 hours ago 5 minute read Get FREE CRYPTO Just for Tipping this Article. Register now at Publish0x to claim your $$$. It only takes 15 seconds and it's free.

Selling pressure from global equities markets continues to weigh on Bitcoin price as traders endeavor to flip the $50,000 level back to support.

Analysts expect the U.S. economy to stage a strong recovery in the second half of this year as coronavirus vaccines are distributed and economic activity begins to increase. As growth picks up, inflation concerns are also on the rise. Speculation is rife that the U.S. Federal Reserve may have to adjust its dovish stance to hold down interest rates. 

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

The drop in investor sentiment has also hurt the stock prices of MicroStrategy and Tesla who have each invested in Bitcoin recently. MicroStrategy’s stock price has plunged by over 50% from its all-time high at $1,315, even though the price of Bitcoin is currently only down about 20% from its all-time high.

Tesla, which had announced a $1.5 billion Bitcoin position on Feb. 8 has also seen its stock price plummet by over 34%. To stem the decline, longtime Tesla analyst Gary Black has suggested the electric car maker dump its Bitcoin holdings and instead use the proceeds for a stock buyback.

Let’s analyze the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to spot the critical support levels where buyers may step in and arrest the current decline.

Bitcoin turned down from the $52,040.95 overhead resistance on March 04, which suggests that traders are lightening up their positions at higher levels. The selling has continued and the price has dipped below the 20-day exponential moving average ($48,087).

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

If the bears can sustain the price below the 20-day EMA, the BTC/USD pair could now drop to the critical support at $41,959.63 where buyers are likely to step in.

If the price rebounds off this support, the pair could trade between $41,959.63 and $52,040.95 for a few more days.

The flat 20-day EMA and the relative strength index (RSI) near the midpoint also suggest a few days of range-bound action.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns up from the current levels and rises above $52,040.95, it will open the doors for a rally to the all-time high.

On the other hand, if the bears sink and sustain the price below $41,959.63, the pair could drop to $37,000 and then to $28,050.

Ether’s (ETH) relief rally from $1,289.09 on Feb. 28 hit a wall at the 20-day EMA ($1,593) on March 3. The moving averages are on the verge of a bearish crossover and the RSI is in the negative zone, indicating a possible change in trend.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

If bears sink the price below $1,289, the selling could intensify and the ETH/USD pair could drop to the 50% Fibonacci retracement level at $1,220 and then to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $1,026.

Another possibility is that the pair rebounds off $1,289 and stays range-bound for a few more days. A breakout and close above $1,670 could result in a retest of the all-time high at $2,040.

The bulls are currently attempting to arrest the pullback at the 20-day EMA ($1.07). This suggests that the sentiment remains positive and the bulls are viewing the dips in Cardano (ADA) as a buying opportunity.

ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The buyers will now try to push the price above $1.23. If they succeed, the ADA/USD pair may rally to $1.35 and then to the all-time high at $1.4852896.

However, the bears are unlikely to give up easily. The negative divergence on the RSI shows that the momentum is weakening.

If the current rebound fails to sustain, the bears will once again try to sink the price below the 20-day EMA. If they manage to do that, the pair could drop to $0.80 and then to the 50-day simple moving average ($0.72).

The relief rally in Binance Coin (BNB) turned down from the overhead resistance at $265 on March 2. This suggests that traders may be using the rallies to close their long positions. The price has again dropped to the 20-day EMA ($211).

BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

If the price rebounds off the 20-day EMA with strength, the bulls will once again try to drive the price above $265. If they manage to do that, the BNB/USD pair could start its journey to the all-time high at $348.6969.

But the 20-day EMA is gradually flattening out and the RSI continues to weaken. This points to possible range-bound action in the short term. The pair could consolidate between $189 and $265 for a few days.

A break and close below the $189 support could result in panic selling that can pull the price down to the 50-day SMA ($126).

Polkadot (DOT) turned down from $38.68 on March 3, which suggests that traders may have booked profits during the relief rally. The altcoin has dropped to the 20-day EMA ($32.49) and the buyers are now attempting to defend this support.

DOT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

A strong bounce off the current levels will suggest that the sentiment remains bullish and traders are buying on dips. If the bulls can push the price above the downtrend line, the DOT/USD pair may retest the all-time high at $42.2848.

On the contrary, if the price breaks and sustains below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that the supply has exceeded demand. In such a case, the pair may extend its decline to the 50-day SMA ($24.89).

XRP broke above the 20-day EMA ($0.467) on March 4, but the bulls could not maintain the momentum and thrust the price above the $0.50 overhead resistance. This attracted profit booking and the price has broken below the 20-day EMA today.

XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The XRP/USD pair could now drop to the 50-day SMA ($0.42) and then to $0.359. The flat 20-day EMA and the RSI just below the midpoint suggest a range-bound action for the next few days. The price may remain stuck between $0.359 and $0.50.

A trending move could start if the bulls push the price above $0.50. That could result in a rally to $0.65. On the other hand, a break below $0.359 may sink the price to $0.25.

Uniswap (UNI) is in an uptrend and the bulls have been buying the dip to the 20-day EMA ($24.05). The bulls tried to push and sustain the price above $29 on March 4 but the higher levels attracted profit-booking.

UNI/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The bears will now try to pull the price down to the 20-day EMA. If the UNI/USD pair again rebounds off this support, it will suggest that traders continue to buy the dips. The bulls will then try to push and close the price above $29. If they succeed, the pair could start the next leg of the uptrend that may reach $38.

Conversely, if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA, the pair could drop to $20. Such a move may result in a consolidation between $20 and $29. The trend will turn negative on a break below the 50-day SMA ($18.85).

Litecoin (LTC) broke and closed above the $185.58 resistance on March 3, but the bulls could not build upon this strength as the price turned down and dipped back below the 20-day EMA ($184.43) on March 4.

LTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

The bulls are currently attempting to defend the 50-day SMA ($169.29) as seen from the long tail on today’s candlestick. If the rebound sustains, the bulls will again try to push the price above the $185.58 to $196.30 overhead resistance zone. If they succeed, the LTC/USD pair could rally to $205 and then to $240.

However, the flat moving averages and the RSI just below the midpoint suggest a possible range formation. The pair could trade between $152 on the downside and $205 on the upside. A break above or below the range could start the next trending move.

Chainlink’s (LINK) relief rally turned down from $31.43 on March 3, which shows that traders are booking profits at higher levels. The altcoin has dipped to the 50-day SMA ($26.29) but the long tail on today’s candlestick suggests the bulls are trying to defend this support.

LINK/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

Buying on dips and selling rallies usually results in a range-bound action. The flat 20-day EMA and the RSI near the midpoint also suggest a balance between supply and demand. The LINK/USD pair could now consolidate between $24 and $32 for a few days.

A breakout of the range may result in a rally to $34 and a retest of the all-time high at $36.93. Conversely, a break below $24 could pull the price down to the critical support at $20.11.

The bounce from the uptrend line stalled at the 20-day EMA ($537) on March 3, which shows the traders are selling on rallies. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has again dipped to the uptrend line. The repeated retest of the support at short intervals tends to weaken it.

BCH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

The downsloping 20-day EMA and the RSI in the negative territory suggest that bears are in control. A break below the uptrend line could sink the BCH/USD pair to $432.02 and then to the critical support at $370.

This negative view will invalidate if the price rises from the current levels and rises above $539. Such a move will suggest aggressive buying at lower levels. The pair could then rally to $631.71.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Market data is provided by HitBTC exchange.

Article source

By Tom Wilson, Anna Irrera and Jessica DiNapoli

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Elon Musk’s Tesla (NASDAQ:) became the biggest name to reveal it had added bitcoin to its coffers last month, many pundits were swift to call a corporate rush towards the booming cryptocurrency.

Yet there’s unlikely to be a concerted crypto charge any time soon, say many finance executives and accountants loath to risk balance sheets and reputations on a highly volatile and unpredictable asset that confounds convention.

“When I did my treasury exams, the thing we were told as number one objective is to guarantee security and liquidity of the balance sheet,” said Graham (NYSE:) Robinson, a partner in international tax and treasury at PwC and adviser to the UK’s Association for Corporate Treasurers.

“That is the fundamental problem with bitcoin, if those are the objectives for treasurers, then breaking them could get them in trouble.”

Tesla Inc’s $1.5 billion bitcoin bet saw it join business software firm MicroStrategy Inc and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square Inc (NYSE:) in swapping some traditional cash reserves for the digital coin.

Proponents of the cryptocurrency see it as a hedge against inflation at a time of unprecedented government stimulus, a falling dollar and record-low interest rates that make attractive high-yielding assets hard to find.

While the moves have prompted more boardroom discussions though, headaches from bitcoin’s volatility to accounting for it and storing it are likely to preclude a big wave of companies holding large amounts on balance sheets in the short term, according to over a dozen financial officers, board members and accountants interviewed by Reuters.

“It will take more than a small handful of disruptive companies investing in bitcoin to impact the narrative in boardrooms,” said Raul Fernandez, an entrepreneur and investor who sits on the audit committee of the board of chipmaker Broadcom (NASDAQ:) Inc as well as other companies.

“Larger global companies, I can’t see those conversations happening right now.”

GRAPHIC: Betting on bitcoin – 01614856822322.png

BITCOIN’S INTANGIBLE TANGLE

One problem could lie in the devil of the accounting detail in a bookkeeping industry that, like many others, is still taking stock of the nature of cryptocurrencies.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting standards for U.S. corporations, does not have guidance specific to the accounting for cryptocurrencies. However, consistent with discussions among a separate U.S. trade body, companies apply existing FASB guidance on the accounting for “intangible assets”, which usually includes intellectual property, brand recognition or goodwill.

Under these rules, companies other than investment firms or broker-dealers cannot book gains in the value of holdings should the price of bitcoin rise – but must write down their investment as an impairment charge if it falls.

Furthermore, once a company writes down its holdings, it cannot record subsequent gains until it sells.

By contrast, companies periodically reflect the impact of fluctuations in traditional currencies in their financial statements.

The FASB has no immediate plans to review its treatment of bitcoin as the issue affects few of its constituents, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“I don’t think it’s the best accounting so far,” said Robert Hertz, a former FASB chairman. “I am hoping that if more mainstream companies get into bitcoin, the accounting standards board may revisit the accounting treatment.”

Outside the United States, cryptocurrencies are usually treated as intangible assets too. But in contrast to guidance under the FASB rules, writedowns can be reversed in future years. In certain cases, companies can record bitcoin at market value. See EXPLAINER:

COMPANIES’ CRYPTO BILLIONS

Publicly listed companies together hold around $9 billion of bitcoin, data from the Treasuries website shows. Around 80% is held by Tesla and MicroStrategy, the latter with over $4.5 billion.

Square, which allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, said last month it had added an additional $170 million of the virtual coin to its coffers.

Of course, if the price of bitcoin rises, a company can always simply sell its holdings, thus realising some gains. Yet it is still a risky investment, given the cryptocurrency’s record of wild swings.

In 2013, for example, bitcoin started at around $13 and spiked to over $1,000. In 2017, it went from about $1,000 to around $20,000. In early 2020, it sunk below $4,000. It fell more than 25% late last month only a week after hitting a record high above $58,000. It has now recovered part of its losses.

About 5% of chief financial officers (CFOs) and senior finance leaders said they planned to hold bitcoin on their balance sheets in 2021, a survey of 77 executives by U.S. research firm Gartner (NYSE:) found last month.

Some 84% of respondents said they did not plan to ever hold it as a corporate asset, citing volatility as the top concern, followed by board risk aversion, slow adoption as a widespread method of payment and regulatory issues.

“I think for the most part you will find companies will avoid that sort of thing,” said Jack McCullough, president of the CFO Leadership Council and a former CFO.

“CFOs are likely to be very conservative in managing corporate treasuries. They’re happy sinking money into very safe places with low interest. Their job is to help grow the company through its operations, and the treasury needs to be safe and secure.”

WHY PUT MY NECK ON THE LINE?

Cryptocurrency supporters, however, say the rationale for companies to buy bitcoin is clear, not least the decline of the dollar – the dominant reserve currency – which has fallen about 4.5% against a basket of major currencies in the past year.

“The value of the dollar over time is getting weaker and weaker,” said Dave Sackett, CFO of ULVAC Technologies Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese vacuum equipment maker, and an active cryptocurrency investor.

“Bitcoin flips the script on that.”

Sackett pitched ULVAC executives on investing in bitcoin last April, suggesting they take a chance and then cash out with potential gains. They passed on the opportunity, he said.

Other potential headaches for executives include questions over how a company can safely hold a cryptocurrency, and how much it should disclose to shareholders about security precautions, said Tim Davis, principal in the financial and risk advisory practice at Deloitte & Touche, which advises firms on holding crypto on their balance sheets.

High-profile thefts from exchanges have highlighted problems over safely storing digital assets. The loss of passwords for digital wallets is also a risk. Offline or “cold” storage is widely seen as the best defence against hackers but there are few, if any, regulatory standards.

“Do you custody it yourself?” Davis said. “Do you have an exchange custody it? How much of it do you want to have in a hot wallet versus a cold wallet?”

Ultimately, experts added, the expansion into bitcoin by companies without existing ties to the cryptocurrency market may depend on the willingness of financial executives to take on risk.

“The general consensus among treasurers is that very few of them are going to follow this trend initially,” said Naresh Aggarwal at the UK’s Association for Corporate Treasurers.

“As a treasurer, if I am right and the price doubles, the company may sell its holding and make a profit. Whilst the company may be worth more, it won’t be reflected in my compensation,” he added.

“But if the price falls, I am pretty confident I will be fired. Why bother putting my neck on the line?”

When Elon Musk’s Tesla became the biggest name to reveal it had added bitcoin to its coffers last month, many pundits were swift to call a corporate rush towards the booming cryptocurrency.

Yet there’s unlikely to be a concerted crypto charge any time soon, say many finance executives and accountants loath to risk balance sheets and reputations on a highly volatile and unpredictable asset that confounds convention.

“When I did my treasury exams, the thing we were told as number one objective is to guarantee security and liquidity of the balance sheet,” said Graham Robinson, a partner in international tax and treasury at PwC and adviser to the UK’s Association for Corporate Treasurers.

“That is the fundamental problem with bitcoin, if those are the objectives for treasurers, then breaking them could get them in trouble.”

Tesla Inc’s US$1.5 billion bitcoin bet saw it join business software firm MicroStrategy Inc and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square Inc in swapping some traditional cash reserves for the digital coin.

Proponents of the cryptocurrency see it as a hedge against inflation at a time of unprecedented government stimulus, a falling dollar and record-low interest rates that make attractive high-yielding assets hard to find.

While the moves have prompted more boardroom discussions though, headaches from bitcoin’s volatility to accounting for it and storing it are likely to preclude a big wave of companies holding large amounts on balance sheets in the short term, according to over a dozen financial officers, board members and accountants interviewed by Reuters.

“It will take more than a small handful of disruptive companies investing in bitcoin to impact the narrative in boardrooms,” said Raul Fernandez, an entrepreneur and investor who sits on the audit committee of the board of chipmaker Broadcom Inc as well as other companies.

“Larger global companies, I can’t see those conversations happening right now.”

Bitcoin’s intangible tangle

One problem could lie in the devil of the accounting detail in a bookkeeping industry that, like many others, is still taking stock of the nature of cryptocurrencies.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting standards for US corporations, does not have guidance specific to the accounting for cryptocurrencies. However, consistent with discussions among a separate US trade body, companies apply existing FASB guidance on the accounting for “intangible assets”, which usually includes intellectual property, brand recognition or goodwill.

Under these rules, companies other than investment firms or broker-dealers cannot book gains in the value of holdings should the price of bitcoin rise—but must write down their investment as an impairment charge if it falls.

Furthermore, once a company writes down its holdings, it cannot record subsequent gains until it sells.

By contrast, companies periodically reflect the impact of fluctuations in traditional currencies in their financial statements.

The FASB has no immediate plans to review its treatment of bitcoin as the issue affects few of its constituents, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“I don’t think it’s the best accounting so far,” said Robert Herz, a former FASB chairman. “I am hoping that if more mainstream companies get into bitcoin, the accounting standards board may revisit the accounting treatment.”

Outside the United States, cryptocurrencies are usually treated as intangible assets too. But in contrast to guidance under the FASB rules, writedowns can be reversed in future years. In certain cases, companies can record bitcoin at market value.

Companies’ crypto billions

Publicly listed companies together hold around US$9 billion of bitcoin, data from the Bitcoin Treasuries website shows. Around 80 per cent is held by Tesla and MicroStrategy, the latter with over US$4.5 billion.

Square, which allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, said last month it had added an additional US$170 million of the virtual coin to its coffers.

Of course, if the price of bitcoin rises, a company can always simply sell its holdings, thus realising some gains. Yet it is still a risky investment, given the cryptocurrency’s record of wild swings.

In 2013, for example, bitcoin started at around US$13 and spiked to over US$1,000. In 2017, it went from about US$1,000 to around US$20,000. In early 2020, it sunk below $4,000. It fell more than 25 per cent late last month only a week after hitting a record high above US$58,000. It has now recovered part of its losses.

About five per cent of chief financial officers (CFOs) and senior finance leaders said they planned to hold bitcoin on their balance sheets in 2021, a survey of 77 executives by US research firm Gartner found last month.

Some 84 per cent of respondents said they did not plan to ever hold it as a corporate asset, citing volatility as the top concern, followed by board risk aversion, slow adoption as a widespread method of payment and regulatory issues.

“I think for the most part you will find companies will avoid that sort of thing,” said Jack McCullough, president of the CFO Leadership Council and a former CFO.

“CFOs are likely to be very conservative in managing corporate treasuries. They’re happy sinking money into very safe places with low interest. Their job is to help grow the company through its operations, and the treasury needs to be safe and secure.”

Why put my neck on the line?

Cryptocurrency supporters, however, say the rationale for companies to buy bitcoin is clear, not least the decline of the dollar—the dominant reserve currency—which has fallen about 4.5 per cent against a basket of major currencies in the past year.

“The value of the dollar over time is getting weaker and weaker,” said Dave Sackett, CFO of ULVAC Technologies Inc, the US subsidiary of a Japanese vacuum equipment maker, and an active cryptocurrency investor.

“Bitcoin flips the script on that.”

Sackett pitched ULVAC executives on investing in bitcoin last April, suggesting they take a chance and then cash out with potential gains. They passed on the opportunity, he said.

Other potential headaches for executives include questions over how a company can safely hold a cryptocurrency, and how much it should disclose to shareholders about security precautions, said Tim Davis, principal in the financial and risk advisory practice at Deloitte & Touche, which advises firms on holding crypto on their balance sheets.

High-profile thefts from exchanges have highlighted problems over safely storing digital assets. The loss of passwords for digital wallets is also a risk. Offline or “cold” storage is widely seen as the best defence against hackers but there are few, if any, regulatory standards.

“Do you custody it yourself?” Davis said. “Do you have an exchange custody it? How much of it do you want to have in a hot wallet versus a cold wallet?”

Ultimately, experts added, the expansion into bitcoin by companies without existing ties to the cryptocurrency market may depend on the willingness of financial executives to take on risk.

“The general consensus among treasurers is that very few of them are going to follow this trend initially,” said Naresh Aggarwal at the UK’s Association for Corporate Treasurers.

“As a treasurer, if I am right and the price doubles, the company may sell its holding and make a profit. Whilst the company may be worth more, it won’t be reflected in my compensation,” he added.

“But if the price falls, I am pretty confident I will be fired. Why bother putting my neck on the line?” —REUTERS

Rush to bitcoin? Not so fast, say keepers of corporate coffers (finance.yahoo.com) By Tom Wilson, Anna Irrera and Jessica DiNapoliLONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Elon Musk's Tesla became the biggest name to reveal it had added bitcoin to its coffers last month, many pundits were swift to call a corporate rush towards the booming cryptocurrency.Yet there's unlikely to be a concerted crypto charge any time soon, say many finance executives and accountants loath to risk balance sheets and reputations on a highly volatile and unpredictable asset that confounds convention."When I did my treasury exams, the thing we were told as number one objective is to guarantee security and liquidity of the balance sheet," said Graham Robinson, a partner in international tax and treasury at PwC and adviser to the UK's Association for Corporate Treasurers."That is the fundamental problem with bitcoin, if those are the objectives for treasurers, then breaking them could get them in trouble."Tesla Inc's $1.5 billion bitcoin bet saw it join business software firm MicroStrategy Inc and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's payments company Square Inc in swapping some traditional cash reserves for the digital coin.Proponents of the cryptocurrency see it as a hedge against inflation at a time of unprecedented government stimulus, a falling dollar and record-low interest rates that make attractive high-yielding assets hard to find.While the moves have prompted more boardroom discussions though, headaches from bitcoin's volatility to accounting for it and storing it are likely to preclude a big wave of companies holding large amounts on balance sheets in the short term, according to over a dozen financial officers, board members and accountants interviewed by Reuters."It will take more than a small handful of disruptive companies investing in bitcoin to impact the narrative in boardrooms," said Raul Fernandez, an entrepreneur and investor who sits on the audit committee of the board of chipmaker Broadcom Inc as well as other companies."Larger global companies, I can't see those conversations happening right now."GRAPHIC: Betting on bitcoin age%201614856822322.pngBITCOIN'S INTANGIBLE TANGLEOne problem could lie in the devil of the accounting detail in a bookkeeping industry that, like many others, is still taking stock of the nature of cryptocurrencies.The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting standards for U.S. corporations, does not have guidance specific to the accounting for cryptocurrencies. However, consistent with discussions among a separate U.S. trade body, companies apply existing FASB guidance on the accounting for "intangible assets", which usually includes intellectual property, brand recognition or goodwill.Under these rules, companies other than investment firms or broker-dealers cannot book gains in the value of holdings should the price of bitcoin rise - but must write down their investment as an impairment charge if it falls.Furthermore, once a company writes down its holdings, it cannot record subsequent gains until it sells.By contrast, companies periodically reflect the impact of fluctuations in traditional currencies in their financial statements.The FASB has no immediate plans to review its treatment of bitcoin as the issue affects few of its constituents, according to a source familiar with the matter."I don't think it's the best accounting so far," said Robert Herz, a former FASB chairman. "I am hoping that if more mainstream companies get into bitcoin, the accounting standards board may revisit the accounting treatment."Outside the United States, cryptocurrencies are usually treated as intangible assets too. But in contrast to guidance under the FASB rules, writedowns can be reversed in future years. In certain cases, companies can record bitcoin at market value. See EXPLAINER:COMPANIES' CRYPTO BILLIONSPublicly listed companies together hold around $9 billion of bitcoin, data from the Bitcoin Treasuries website shows. Around 80% is held by Tesla and MicroStrategy, the latter with over $4.5 billion.Square, which allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, said last month it had added an additional $170 million of the virtual coin to its coffers.Of course, if the price of bitcoin rises, a company can always simply sell its holdings, thus realising some gains. Yet it is still a risky investment, given the cryptocurrency's record of wild swings.In 2013, for example, bitcoin started at around $13 and spiked to over $1,000. In 2017, it went from about $1,000 to around $20,000. In early 2020, it sunk below $4,000. It fell more than 25% late last month only a week after hitting a record high above $58,000. It has now recovered part of its losses.About 5% of chief financial officers (CFOs) and senior finance leaders said they planned to hold bitcoin on their balance sheets in 2021, a survey of 77 executives by U.S. research firm Gartner found last month.Some 84% of respondents said they did not plan to ever hold it as a corporate asset, citing volatility as the top concern, followed by board risk aversion, slow adoption as a widespread method of payment and regulatory issues."I think for the most part you will find companies will avoid that sort of thing," said Jack McCullough, president of the CFO Leadership Council and a former CFO."CFOs are likely to be very conservative in managing corporate treasuries. They're happy sinking money into very safe places with low interest. Their job is to help grow the company through its operations, and the treasury needs to be safe and secure."WHY PUT MY NECK ON THE LINE?Cryptocurrency supporters, however, say the rationale for companies to buy bitcoin is clear, not least the decline of the dollar - the dominant reserve currency - which has fallen about 4.5% against a basket of major currencies in the past year."The value of the dollar over time is getting weaker and weaker," said Dave Sackett, CFO of ULVAC Technologies Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese vacuum equipment maker, and an active cryptocurrency investor."Bitcoin flips the script on that."Sackett pitched ULVAC executives on investing in bitcoin last April, suggesting they take a chance and then cash out with potential gains. They passed on the opportunity, he said.Other potential headaches for executives include questions over how a company can safely hold a cryptocurrency, and how much it should disclose to shareholders about security precautions, said Tim Davis, principal in the financial and risk advisory practice at Deloitte & Touche, which advises firms on holding crypto on their balance sheets.High-profile thefts from exchanges have highlighted problems over safely storing digital assets. The loss of passwords for digital wallets is also a risk. Offline or "cold" storage is widely seen as the best defence against hackers but there are few, if any, regulatory standards."Do you custody it yourself?" Davis said. "Do you have an exchange custody it? How much of it do you want to have in a hot wallet versus a cold wallet?"Ultimately, experts added, the expansion into bitcoin by companies without existing ties to the cryptocurrency market may depend on the willingness of financial executives to take on risk."The general consensus among treasurers is that very few of them are going to follow this trend initially," said Naresh Aggarwal at the UK's Association for Corporate Treasurers."As a treasurer, if I am right and the price doubles, the company may sell its holding and make a profit. Whilst the company may be worth more, it won't be reflected in my compensation," he added."But if the price falls, I am pretty confident I will be fired. Why bother putting my neck on the line?"(This story fixes spelling in Robert Herz's name)(Reporting by Tom Wilson and Anna Irrera in London and Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Pravin Char) Mar 8 by Admin in Blockchain News 1 comment 1 like Like Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst Post Comment   1 Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst This is common sense. Bitcoin, crypto is more than a fashion, but any big company understands they can't act on FOMO. Crypto is very volatile yet, and companies also look at liquidity issues. There will be a moment when having crypto in their Treasury is normal, but not yet. 10 1 vote Reply 5 days ago

The CEO of Binance is dealing with criticism after wrongly accusing somebody of attacking the newly launched bitcoin futures platform. CZ: No Bitcoin Futures Dealer Misplaced Funds In an uncommon flip of occasions, a debacle between Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and an unnamed entity ensued over Twitter on September 16.Zhao initially claimed the social gathering tried to crash the market serving Binances newly-launched Bitcoin 00 futures product.Knowledge reveals a sudden dip within the BTC/USD value for the futures order e-book, which went from $10,324 to $10,024 in seconds on Sunday night.A market maker from a smaller futures alternate tried to assault @binance futures platform. NO ONE was liquidated, as we use the index value (not futures costs) for liquidations (our innovation). Solely the attacker misplaced a bunch of cash, and that was that. pic.twitter.com/ztMZEtYKc6 CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 16, 2019https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsA market maker from a smaller futures exchange tried to attack (the Binance) futures platform, he wrote.NO ONE was liquidated, as we use the index price (not futures prices) for liquidations (our innovation). Only the attacker lost a bunch of money, and that was that.The identification of the market maker stays a thriller. Zhao nonetheless revealed it was the second time such an occasion had occurred.A personal alternate with the social gathering then revealed {that a} technical error was responsible for the occasion.Had a chat with the client. It was an accident, due to a bad parameter on their side. Not intentional. All good now, Zhao added.Binance Coin Wobbles Whereas officers breathed a sigh of aid, markets remained jittery. Binances in-house token, Binance Coin 00, fell a number of percents on the information, nonetheless buying and selling down at press time at just below $21.Critics additionally voiced frustration at Zhao, arguing he ought to have investigated with the market maker earlier than publicly accusing him of launching an assault and panicking markets. Others conversely counseled him over his dealing with of the occasion.Binance has confronted varied difficulties in current months because it seeks to increase ever extra into bank-style providers for the cryptocurrency trade.As Bitcoinistreported, a hack in Could noticed Zhao provide a public apology and refund of funds value $41 million on the time.A separate scare concerned claims a malicious actor had stolen consumer information; these claims turned out to be unfounded.This week, Binance will launch its devoted US buying and selling platform after halting entry to its alternate for US residents. Stemming from regulatory issues, the reshuffle nonetheless took its toll on BNB, which has slid virtually 50% since its all-time highs in June.What do you concentrate on Binances Bitcoin futures choices? Tell us within the feedback under!Photographs through Bitcoinist Picture Library, Twitter: @cz_binanceThe submit Binance Confirms Bitcoin Futures Market Attack Was an Accident appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

Noelle Acheson is a veteran of firm evaluation and CoinDesks Director of Research. The opinions expressed on this article are the writers personal.The following article initially appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a weekly e-newsletter centered on institutional funding in crypto belongings. Sign up free of charge right here. For a primer on crypto valuation ideas, you may obtain our free report right here.Most of us assume we perceive the time period volatility.We digest headlines about tense political conditions around the globe; were cautious of explosive chemical compounds; a few of us have had relationships with their justifiable share of ups and downs.Volatility implies sharp and unpredictable adjustments, and normally has detrimental connotations. Even in terms of monetary markets, we intuitively draw back from investments that might produce wild swings in our wealth.But volatility, in finance, is normally misunderstood. Even essentially the most generally accepted calculation is commonly incorrectly utilized.Its desirability can be complicated. Investors hate it except it makes them cash. Traders adore it except it means too excessive a threat premium.And few of us perceive the place it comes from. Many assume that its the results of low liquidity*. This intuitively is sensible: with skinny buying and selling quantity, a big order can push costs sharply up or down. But empirical research present that its really the opposite means round: volatility results in low liquidity, via the broader unfold market makers apply to compensate the extra threat of holding a unstable asset of their stock.(*The false impression additionally stems from our mistaken conflation of low liquidity and low quantity its doable to have excessive quantity and low liquidity, however thats for an additional put up.)This confusion issues within the crypto sector.Bitcoins volatility has typically been cited as the rationale why it is going to by no means make an excellent retailer of worth, a dependable cost token or a stable portfolio hedge. Many of us fall into the lure of assuming that because the market matures, volatility will lower. This leads us to imagine in use circumstances that will not ever be applicable; it will possibly additionally lead us to use incorrect crypto asset valuation strategies, portfolio weightings and spinoff methods that might have a fabric impression on our backside line.So its value choosing aside among the assumptions and taking a look at why bitcoins distinctive traits might help us higher perceive market fundamentals extra broadly.Changing uncertainty First, there are various kinds of market volatility. Academic literature offers an array of variations, every with its distinct formulation and limitations. Jump-diffusion fashions used to worth belongings trace at a useful differentiation. Jump volatility outcomes, as its identify implies, from a sudden occasion. Diffuse volatility, nonetheless, is a part of the usual buying and selling patterns of an asset, its usual variation.With this we are able to begin to see that, once we assume that higher liquidity will dampen worth swings, were speaking about jump volatility.Diffuse volatility, nonetheless, is a extra intrinsic idea.The commonplace deviation calculation essentially the most generally utilized measure of volatility incorporates the destabilizing impact of sharp strikes by utilizing the sq.of huge deviations (in any other case they could possibly be offset and masked by small ones). But this exaggerates the impact of outliers, which are sometimes the results of jump volatility. These are more likely to diminish as transaction quantity grows, resulting in a misleadingly downward-sloping volatility graph.JP Koning proposes an alternate calculation that makes use of the deviation from the center worth somewhat than the typical, which reduces the impact of outliers and exhibits a extra intrinsic volatility measure. As the beneath chart exhibits, this has not noticeably decreased through the years. (chart from Moneyness weblog)Now lets have a look at why this is perhaps. A clue lies within the strategies used to worth bitcoin.Fundamental worth Bitcoin is without doubt one of the few real assets traded in markets right this moment, in that it doesnt derive its worth from one other asset.Whats extra, its a real asset with no discernible revenue stream. This makes it very tough to worth. Even junior analysts can calculate the fair value of an asset that spins off money flows or that returns a certain quantity on the finish of its life. Bitcoin has no money flows, and theres no end of life, not to mention an identifiable worth.So, what drives the worth of bitcoin?Many theories have been put ahead, a few of which we describe in our report Cryptos New Fundamentals. And because the market evolves, some might rise in favor whereas others get forgotten or outmoded.For now, although, the primary driver of bitcoins worth is sentiment: its value what the market thinks its value. In the absence of fundamentals, buyers attempt to determine what different buyers are going to assume. Keynes likened this to a contest during which we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.Gold is in the same state of affairs, in that additionally it is a real asset with no revenue stream and a market worth largely pushed by sentiment.So, why is its volatility a lot decrease?(chart from Woobull)Because of radical uncertainty.Changing narratives In his e book The End of Alchemy, Mervyn King explains that beneath radical uncertainty, market costs are decided, not by fundamentals, however by narrativesabout fundamentals.Bitcoin is a brand new expertise, and as such, we dont but know what its finish use will likely be. Everyone has their idea, however as with all new applied sciences, no-one will be sure, which makes its narrative changeable.Gold, then again, is neither new nor a expertise. It has been round for millennia, and its narrative will not be unsure. Sentiment performs an vital half in its valuation, and scientists might but uncover an modern use for the metallic that impacts each demand and worth. But its story is nicely established, which supplies it a decrease volatility profile.For now, bitcoins fundamentals areits narrative, and the uncertainty about bitcoins story implies that its volatility is unlikely to decrease any time quickly.A extra outstanding position This issues for its eventual use case: will it all the timebe too unstable for use as a cost token, retailer of worth, and so forth.? This in flip impacts its narrative, which impacts its valuation and volatility, which impacts its eventual use case. The self-perpetuating loop will finally be damaged because the sector matures and bitcoins position in its place asset class turns into extra firmly consolidated when uncertainty diminishes and its intrinsic value turns into simpler to quantify.But till then, its worth will proceed to be pushed by market sentiment, which is vulnerable to changeable narratives that in flip are fashioned by world developments and likewise by market sentiment.Until then, market shifts will proceed to be amplified in both course, regardless of the buying and selling quantity.Rather than fret about this, we must always settle for and even embrace it. Increasingly refined suppliers are engaged on enhancing the entry to and interpretation of sentiment information, which strengthens our analytical instruments. Crypto Twitter offers an engrossing platform to gauge the sectors temper. And the identification of the impression of narrative and sentiment on an asset class will open up new avenues of investigation thats more likely to spill over into different areas of investing.Whats extra, volatility could also be inconvenient for some and uncomfortable for a lot of. But additionally it is an vital part of superior returns. Perhaps the instruments and expertise we develop to hone our bitcoin valuation methods will allow a extra masterful dealing with of volatilitys inherent uncertainty, and permit for a deeper appreciation of what it has to supply.Roller coaster picture by way of ShutterstockSource link Continue ReadingAdvertisementYou may also like...Bitcoins Slow Days Count Adds Another Point; Value Stagnates Around $10,300Related Topics:Bitcoins, Valuation, VolatilityClick to comment

Many investors that want to enter the cryptocurrency market have never traded any form of a financial instrument before. Most of them, however, have some form of knowledge of the stock market. Using lessons learned from the stock market and applying them on the cryptocurrency market is not necessarily a smart move though.This blog post will outline a few differences and similarities between shares and cryptocurrencies and their respective trading environments, and hopefully, give you an overview over what to think about when comparing the two.First of all, an inescapable similarity between shares and cryptocurrencies is that the value is what another person is prepared to purchase the share/crypto for. If the stock or crypto price is USD 10, and a seller suddenly wants to sell for USD 100, then the value is USD 100 as soon as such seller finds a buyer. So, in a sense, the only thing that really matters is what other buyers or sellers in the market are willing to buy/sell for. Unlike for cryptocurrencies, however, there are several different ways to value shares. The most commonly used valuation methods are the following.You arrive at the P/E Ratio by solving the following division: Market Value per Shares/Earnings per Share. By performing that division, you will arrive at PE number. If the PE number is 20, that means that an investor is willing to pay 20 times the earnings per share to acquire one share. In order to know whether a company’s PE number indicates that you should buy or sell the share, you must also know the PE number for comparable companies in the same industry.Net Asset Value or NAV is essentially the accounting value of a firm, calculated by adding up its assets and then subtracting liabilities and intangible assets such as goodwill or brand value. Effectively, it is what shareholders would own if the company was wound up and its creditors repaid. If a company’s share price is less than its Net Asset Value per Share, it could be an interesting acquisition as you are effectively getting the assets for less than their accounting value.The DCF valuation model is a bit more complex. What you do when assessing the share price with the DCF model is to – based on profit forecasts etc – total the expected returns at a time in the future, and then discount them back to a per share value in today’s money that can be compared to the share price. If the discounted value is lower than today’s share price, then the share is attractively priced.None of the above valuation models work on cryptocurrencies. The reason being that all of the above valuation models are based on the financial statements and forecasts of the Company and that companies issuing cryptocurrencies are not required to publish any such statements or forecasts. Accordingly, we simply do not have the data we need for doing the relevant valuations when it comes to investing in virtual currency and even if we had – such valuations would be useless seeing that your possession of such a currency gives you no right to the company’s assets. This, that no one really knows the “true” value of any cryptocurrency, is an inherent risk in investing in cryptocurrencies.A big difference between shares and cryptocurrencies on a conceptual level is that cryptos (as mentioned briefly above) give you no ownership interests or voting rights in the underlying entity. If you own shares representing 1% of the share capital in a company, you also own 1% of the company. In the event of bankruptcy, you are entitled to receive 1% of the company’s remaining assets (after certain prioritized debts have been paid). You are also entitled to vote for your shares at such company’s general meetings. When you own 1% of the outstanding coins that a company has issued, you own 0% of the company and you are not entitled to vote at such company’s general meetings. It can be argued, however, that the no-ownership and no-voting rights aspect with cryptocurrencies is irrelevant, seeing that 99% of the shareholders on Nasdaq also only own shares for potential ROI and don’t really care about the actual ownership or voting rights.An additional difference between shares and cryptocurrencies is the access to dividends. Successful companies often give its shareholders a yearly dividend amounting to a few percentage points of the share price each year. The size of the dividend is proposed by the board of directors of the company and resolved upon by the company’s general meeting of shareholders. The dividend feature doesn’t (with a few voluntary exceptions, e.g. the token issued by the KuCoin platform) exist in the cryptocurrency world. To be fair here, it should be noted that some cryptocurrencies split into separate cryptocurrencies. We call this a Fork. This can in some aspects be viewed as dividends.Another huge difference between shares and cryptocurrencies is that shares are heavily regulated. There are numerous rules and regulations regarding what companies in the stock market must and must not do and what the investors in the stock market must not do.For instance, the rules on insider trading prohibit people in the market from trading based on price-sensitive information (being information that has the potential of influencing a particular company’s share price). Accordingly, as an investor, you cannot take advantage of other investors not having the price-sensitive information you have. This is however fully possible in the cryptomarket. This can be further illustrated by an example.EXAMPLE: Robert works at Tech Company LLC. Tech Company LLC have issued shares traded on a stock exchange, and tokens traded on several cryptocurrency exchanges. Robert happens to know that the company has developed a superefficient and market-changing technical solution that the company will announce to the public on Wednesday. If Robert purchases shares on Tuesday, he might (if caught) be sentenced for insider trading and can possibly face some time in jail. However, if Robert purchases tokens on Tuesday, he will not be liable for anything and can enjoy any gains made when the news is published on Wednesday.Another important part of regulation is the rules on periodic distribution of financial statements. As mentioned above when discussing the valuation models, companies with shares traded on a stock exchange are required to release yearly and quarterly financial statements, showing how the company’s business has developed during such period and is expected to develop going forward. If the company has reason to believe that the expectations are flawed, the company must issue a public statement revising such expectations. Companies with tokens traded on a crypto exchange are under no obligation at all to provide any information as to the company’s financial statements or expectations.Needless to say, the absence of regulation and obligations to present financial statements is an inherent risk in investing in cryptocurrencies and a difficulty when deciding which digital currency to invest in.The stock markets close. The exchanges where you can trade financial instruments are not open during the weekend and normally close in the afternoon, around 5 p.m. (the exact time dependent upon in which country the relevant exchange is based). If you want to be on top of your holdings and never miss a beat, you can comfortably sit back in your sofa when the stock markets close and look back on a (hopefully) successful day. This is not possible in the crypto world. The cryptocurrency exchanges are open 24/7 for the whole year (including Christmas). So, if you can’t relax until the markets are closed, trading cryptocurrency for profit is nothing for you.Another difference between shares and cryptocurrencies is the fees for trading. In the crypto world the main fees to be concerned about are the “maker/taker fees” and the withdrawal fees, whereas in the share world you first and foremost have the brokerage fees.The maker and taker fees that are the common versions of trading fees. To summarize, a trade gets the taker fee if the trade order is matched immediately against an order already on the order book. This order removes liquidity from the order book. A trade gets the maker fee if the trade order is not matched immediately against an order already on the order book. This order adds liquidity to the order book. When a fee is flat it is equally high or low irrespective of whether you are a taker or a maker.When trading on the stock market there are no taker or maker fees, both parties are charged with fees, being brokerage fees. The brokerage fees are normally dependent upon from which account you are trading.Today, an “industry standard” is that the taker fees are in the interval of 0.20% – 0.25%. Brokerage fees, however, vary from country to country but a global industry average is far below the above-mentioned interval. On the flip side, some crypto exchanges offer 0-fee trading (Cobinhood, ZB.com, Indodax, Coincheck) (and a few exceptions even offer negative trading fees, usually maker fees, meaning that you can get paid to trade: BitMEX and HitBTC). To Cryptowisser’s knowledge, there are no such brokerage fees in the world of share trading.A final difference between shares and cryptocurrencies to highlight is that many cryptocurrency exchanges charge withdrawal fees when a trader wants to take home his/her profits. This is uncommon when share trading.The conclusion to be drawn based on the above analysis is easy: an investment in cryptocurrencies is riskier than an investment in shares. The price of a share is more correctly set by the market (as the company releases financial statements periodically that are the basis for different valuation models to apply). But, on the flip side, an investment in cryptocurrencies provides less “obstacles” to be concerned with (e.g., less prohibited trading practices and unlimited trading hours) and the potential for generating extreme profits is much bigger in the crypto world (mostly due to the volatility in the crypto world).Just as with any investment practice, our recommendation is to do your research before starting to trade in crypto. We hope that this has helped you learn more about the difference between shares and cryptocurrencies.If you like above article then Bloqtimes recommends below articles which might be of interest to our readers.• Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Dictionary • What is a Digital Wallet, Hardware Wallet, Web Wallet and Paper Wallet? • World’s Richest Person in CryptocurrenciesThis article by Richard was first published on CoinCentral. This article is republished with some updates under the terms and conditions of Bloqtimes and CoinCentral Partnership.Like this article, then support us by sharing it with your friends on social media and feel free to leave any thoughts & feedback in the comments section. If you have any questions or suggestions shoot an email at: contact@bloqtimes.comDon’t forget to Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for latest Bitcoin, Blockchain & Crypto News.This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.thanks for analysis, Bitcoin is crashin right now...[…] What is Zebpay, How to Buy Bitcoin in India • 10 M...[…] What is Zebpay, How to Buy Bitcoin in India • 10 M...[…] Is Bitcoin Price About to Crash? • Prepare to be S...How much percent of your portfolio should be in cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrency News & Your Guide to the Blockchain EconomyThe international market for cryptocurrency hardware wallets could grow nearly 300 percent over the next five years according to a new analysis out this month from market research store Research and Markets.The report, which projected potential growth over the next half decade, said the hardware wallet market could surge from its 2018 valuation of $129 million USD to around $496 million by the end of 2024.The rising prominence of hardware wallets has coincided with the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies. After a boon of new digital currency adopters entered the ecosystem amid the 2017 bull run, some users found out the hard way that mishaps, faulty memories, and hackers can cost you your coins. As such, the hardware wallet industry has rapidly bloomed in offering experts and novices alike a streamlined means for securely storing crypto-assets offline.The Research and Markets report highlighted the cryptoeconomy’s peak market capitalization to date of $800 billion last January as a sign that there’s still plenty of room to grow for the hardware wallet industry. The ecosystem’s current market cap is $134 billion, so if that sum ever nears its previous all-time high, then droves of new users would undoubtedly turn to crypto storage solutions like hardware wallets.To that end, the report’s authors hailed further embraces of near-field communication (NFC) technology and an increasingly competitive and growing arena of hardware wallet manufacturers as trends to eye over the next five-year period.If that latter point is correct, wallet powerhouses like Ledger and Trezor are set to fight to maintain their dominance in the sector as upstarts look to gain ground on them quickly and with new offerings and services.The analysis also projected that steadily expanding cryptocurrency adoption inroads in the United States and in South Korea would be pronounced drivers of hardware wallet market growth in the near future.Popular smartphone manufacturer Samsung has generated considerable buzz in the cryptoverse after it announced last month that its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S10, has in-built cryptocurrency hardware wallet functionalities.It’s a major development for the entire crypto space, as the sheer reach of the Samsung and Galaxy brands will ensure that swathes of uninitiated users are introduced to cryptocurrency and have direct access to secure crypto storage tech.And Samsung isn’t interested in just competing for a slice of the hardware wallet market pie. They’ve asserted that a smartphone-based hardware wallet is not only useful but a superior device for spending cryptocurrencies.“Smartphone-based cryptocurrency wallets are the best approach to short-term and medium-term storage — that is, ‘spending money,’ the amount you might choose to carry with you in your real wallet,” a Samsung blog post argued last summer.Another standing question is whether Samsung competitor Apple will follow suit and develop an in-built crypto hardware wallet for its own massively popular iPhone series. If Apple pursues that route, the hardware wallet market is in store for major competition.At this year’s MIT Bitcoin Expo conference, the Ledger team led a presentation on what they hailed as security vulnerabilities in their competitor Trezor’s devices.Trezor’s makers have since pushed back in arguing “none of these attacks are exploitable remotely.” In their response report, the Trezor team also added that “in combination with strong passphrases and at least the basic operational security principles, even the physical attacks presented by Ledger cannot affect Trezor users.”.@Trezor Happy to help raise the bar for security in the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole! We'll continue to push for the highest level of security for critical digital assets. https://t.co/DItlrEmt9tTrezor’s main thrust, then? These aren’t attacks that average crypto users will ever have to worry about. On the flip side, you can’t fault Ledger for trying to keep the pressure up on their main competitor, either.We will also send our weekly newsletter on a Friday lunchtime with the latest Crypto News & topics from Blockonomi. No Spam, ever.You will receive 3 books: Bitcoin, Ethereum & Lightning Network + All Future Books.William M. Peaster is a poet, novelist, and cryptocurrency editor. He is not a financial adviser. He enjoys covering both the promise and warts of the emerging cryptoeconomy. Follow him on Twitter: @WPeasterAll content on Blockonomi.com is provided solely for informational purposes, and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, product, service or investment. The opinions expressed in this Site do not constitute investment advice and independent financial advice should be sought where appropriate.Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 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Bitcoin mining might seem like a pointless exercise in solving zeros and ones, but it is the first industry to develop 7nm chips, beating governments and giant corporations in the process. To tell their story, what follows is an astonishing Chinese article that has been very roughly translated from Chinese with little modification. It tells the story of the bitcoin mining industry in China like never written before, and though it is a bit difficult to follow in places, we find it fit to print in full and with the Chinese accent: At 850 AD, a mission led by Buddhist monk Wu Zhen set off from Dunhuang and took two years to finally reach the capital of the Tang Empire, Chang’an. In the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace, Wu Zhen brought a great news to Tang Xuanzong Li Chen who was far away thousands of miles away-Shazhou Guangfu. Since the beginning of the Anshi Rebellion, Tang Ting’s border defense was empty, and the Tibetans took the opportunity to occupy the land of Hexi. When the Zhang Yichao uprising in 848 recaptured Shazhou (now Dunhuang), the Tang dynasty lost this land for nearly a hundred years. The Tang dynasty, who had fallen from its peak, was unable to send troops to support Zhang Yichao’s Guiyi Army. However, under the leadership of Zhang Yichao, Gui Yijun has regained more than ten states, including Gua, Yi, Liang, etc., with more than 4,000 miles of land, and a family of one million households. All the Tibetan forces were expelled from the Hexi Corridor Tang Weiyi. To commemorate Zhang Yichao’s historical achievements in recovering Hexi, the local people dug a large cave (now 156 caves) at Mogao Grottoes and drew the famous “Plan of Zhang Yichao’s Army Travel”. However, for such a hero with great achievements, he was forgotten in the official history because he was far away from the Central Plains. Regardless of the old and new Tang books, or the history of the old and new five generations, there are only a few records of Zhang Yichao. The detailed historical materials about Zhang Yichao and Gui Yijun today are more from Dunhuang’s suicide note and inscriptions, which makes people sigh. Time returns to modern times. In the context of global trade disputes, semiconductors have become the focus of attention of the people. Whether it is a national fund of hundreds of billions in size or more than 20,000 chip startups added in the past six months, it shows that The chip industry has become the sweet and sour in people’s eyes. However, just as people only remembered the hundreds of rivers and rivers, the prosperous Tang Dynasty of Wuhua Tianbao, but forgotten the mountains and rivers, and returned to the Yijun Army for thousands of miles. In the current domestic hot chip industry, there is also a forgotten lone army. This lone army is a mining machine chip manufacturer represented by Bitmain and Jianan Yunzhi, which has created a record of mass production of the world’s first 7nm chip. Monopoly With nearly 90% of the global mining machine chip market share, as the top ten customers of TSMC, the order volume once exceeded that of Huawei HiSilicon; but it is also this lone army that has long been excluded from the ranking list of the domestic chip industry. Besides, it is not known to everyone, and there is no policy assistance. Perhaps many people will sneer at mining machine chips that involve cryptocurrencies, but compared to the semiconductor industry that has spent a lot of money to support but still weak in the past thirty years, domestic mining machine chip manufacturers have defeated foreign countries in less than ten years. Many manufacturers have monopolized the global market share. What else is there to ridicule this lonely army? The success of China’s mining machine chips is by no means low in the development of mining machine chips among some populations, otherwise why have foreign mining machine manufacturers been eliminated? This is no accident, because in addition to Bitmain and Jianan Zhizhi, there are many Chinese manufacturers such as Bitwei and Wuhan Xindong. In the field of mining machine chips, we can not only see legendary stories like Bill Gates dropped out and founded Microsoft, but also the wave of the era of the past decade. In November 2008, more than a month after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, Satoshi Nakamoto published a famous paper in the MIT mail discussion group — “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”; then In January 2009, the genesis block of Bitcoin was dug on a small server in Finland, declaring the official birth of Bitcoin. Time came in 2011, and Zhang Nan Geng, who was still in school at Beihang University, first came into contact with Bitcoin. At that time, bitcoin was still the era of GPU mining — in the bitcoin world, the miners with higher computing power, the more bitcoin they mine. To this end, Zhang Nan Geng, who has a professional background in circuit design, designed the world’s first FPGA mining machine. Subsequently, Zhang Nan Geng used the ID of “ngzhang” to promote his FPGA mining machine in the Bitcoin forum bitcointalk, and began to become famous in the industry. However, FPGA mining machines are gradually unable to meet market demand, and people have begun to turn their attention to the field of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). For this reason, in June 2012, the Butterfly Lab in the United States fired the first shot of the development of the Bitcoin ASIC mining machine. If the Butterfly Lab’s ASIC mining machine was successfully developed, most of the computing power of the Bitcoin network will be controlled by them. With the ability to launch a 51% attack, Bitcoin will no longer be safe. In order to break the monopoly of Butterfly Lab, Zhang Nan Geng, who claimed to be “in order to defend the peace of the Bitcoin world”, also began to develop mining machines. However, at this time, Zhang Nan Geng was studying for a doctorate, and he was unable to focus on the research and development of ASIC mining machines with heavy academic tasks. To this end, Zhang Nan Geng made a bold decision — directly drop out of school and start a business. At that time, the news of Butterfly Lab’s research and development of ASIC mining machine also reached another talented young man in China-Jiang Xinyu. Known as the “roasted cat”, Jiang Xinyu was admitted to the Junior Class of the Chinese University of Science and Technology with the 11th place in the country, and then went to Yale University for further study in 2011. At Yale University, Jiang Xinyu first encountered Bitcoin and quickly became interested in it. He also suspended school from Yale and registered his own company Bitfountain in Shenzhen in July 2012, focusing on the research and development of Bitcoin ASIC mining machine. In the first half of 2013, Jiang Xinyu and Zhang Nangeng’s mining machines were successfully developed, and the first batch of mining machines was delivered. But at this time Butterfly Lab is still wandering around, the chip design problem can not be solved, and the delivery date is far away. In September 2013, Avalon mining machine chips achieved mass production and large-scale shipments, and soon 800,000 chips were put on the market; Jiang Xinyu’s roast cat mining machine also occupied 20% of the computing power of Bitcoin’s entire network at this time. , Becoming the biggest winner in the field of mining machine chips. At this point, the era of ASIC mining has officially arrived, and domestic mining machine chip companies have taken the lead in this field. Over the years, looking back on this past, many people will find it incredible-chips have always been a weak industry in my country. But why are Chinese mining machine chip manufacturers so successful in the early days? In addition to the “harmony” factors of Zhang Nangeng’s “breaking the cauldron” and Jiang Xinyu’s “brilliance”, there are more two reasons: the particularity of the mining chip market and the demographic dividend of Chinese engineers. (1) Particularity of the mining machine chip market In the field of chip design, there has always been a misunderstanding in the market: the bottleneck of domestic chip design lies in backward technology, and taking the Huawei incident as an example, it is pointed out that my country is currently constrained by people in terms of EDA software and underlying architecture. However, before 2018, my country’s chip design companies were not greatly affected by the use of EDA software and the authorization of the underlying architecture, but the number of chip design companies that have grown up is still small. In fact, the development bottleneck in my country’s chip design field is not only in the field of technical barriers, but more importantly is the lack of market support. The embarrassment of most chip design companies in my country is that the designed chips are not used by customers, and the problems of the chips must be continuously applied in practice to be discovered and solved. Take Huawei HiSilicon as an example. In 2012, Huawei mobile phones began to carry chips designed by HiSilicon. However, the performance of HiSilicon’s K3V2 chip was extremely poor at the time, which caused the Ascend D series of mobile phones launched by Huawei to be criticized by consumers as soon as they were released: severe fever and slow loading. Even so, Huawei still chooses to insist on using HiSilicon chips and continuously optimizes them. By 2018, HiSilicon’s Kirin 980 chip performance has reached the world’s top. Without Huawei mobile phones’ unconditional support for our company’s chips, there would be no Huawei HiSilicon today. Compared with Huawei HiSilicon’s accumulated product development, mining machine chip manufacturers are more fortunate, which mainly depends on the particularity of the mining machine chip market: first, most of the mining machine equipment at that time were GPUs, and the ASIC field was still a blank market. New products and new products that belong to the market; and large companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm do not bother to enter the field, which allows new entrants to avoid competition with industry giants and have the opportunity to grow bigger and stronger. Secondly, mining machine chips have strong financial attributes. Ordinary chips are mainly used for various production and living activities, while mining machine chips can generate cash flow income through mining. In terms of computing power, ASIC is hundreds of times higher than the GPU of the same generation. Higher computing power means higher mining income: at that time, an Avalon mining machine priced at 8,000 yuan was able to earn nearly 70,000 yuan in income every day through mining. As far as ordinary chips are concerned, users are more concerned about the performance of the chip; but for the early mining machine chips, as long as the user can buy a mining machine, it means considerable profit, and the performance of the mining machine chip itself At that time, it seemed less important. Therefore, as soon as the ASIC mining machine is launched, it is immediately welcomed by the market, and the mining machine manufacturers can continue to optimize the mining machine chips while selling the mining machine, thereby forming a positive cycle. (2) Demographic dividend of Chinese engineers A large part of the success of Chinese mining machine chip manufacturers is due to the demographic dividend of Chinese engineers. The ASIC mining machine chip is essentially the hardware implementation of the SHA265 algorithm, and the design is not difficult. Especially in the early stage of 0-1, it does not require the participation of top talents in the field of integrated circuits. In the past two decades, colleges and universities in my country have cultivated a large number of talents with a background in science and engineering, forming a demographic dividend for the group of engineers. According to official statistics, the number of graduates of science and technology in my country has risen from 20,000 per year in 2000 to 200,000 per year in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 25%. The large group of engineers in the past decade may not be the top in the industry, but it has obvious advantages in labor cost and efficiency. This was fully reflected in the early competition with the American Butterfly Laboratory. At the beginning of the ASIC mining machine proposal, the domestic Avalon mining machine used 110 nm process technology, the roast cat mining machine used 130 nm process technology, and the butterfly laboratory in the United States used 65 nm process technology from the beginning. As recalled by those who experienced it at that time: Compared with the domestic developers who are suffering from high fever, they develop the mining machines around the clock; the developers in the United States are all people who love life and will not focus their energy on the development of mining machines. Butterflies has been open for booking since June 2012, but there has been no delivery until a year later, and domestic mining machine manufacturers have begun mass shipments at this time. In 2013, the mining machine chip market belonged to the “Gemini” era of Zhang Nan Geng and Jiang Xinyu. Domestic mining machine chip manufacturers relied on the engineer dividend to get the lead on the starting line, but this advantage is not solid because of the design of the mining machine chip at the initial stage. The difficulty is not great, and the entry barrier is very low. Due to the high profits of the early mining machine market, many new mining machine manufacturers have emerged in the country, and a lot of foreign manufacturers such as Russia, Sweden and Japan are watching. In the fierce market competition, how did domestic manufacturers win the final victory? This has to talk about a famous company-Bitmain. Compared with the prestigious Bitmain, the experience of its founder Wu Jihan is also legendary. Wu Jihan, a graduate of Peking University in economics, worked in the financial industry in his early years. Since 2011, he has paid attention to Bitcoin and has done a lot of work for it: becoming the moderator of the Bitcointalk Chinese community, the first time he will be Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin paper Translated into Chinese, and the science fiction writer Chang Keng established the first bitcoin information exchange platform in China-Babbitt. In April 2013, Wu Jihan, who saw the right timing, resigned from the financial industry and established Bitmain with the Jenke group with a background in IC design. Under the leadership of the Zhanke regiment, Bitmain quickly developed a 55 nm mining machine chip, and launched the Ant S1 mining machine in November 2013. With its excellent performance, Bitmain quickly occupied a part of the market share. However, the good times are not long. In December 2013, the cryptocurrency market began to enter a cold winter. The price of Bitcoin fell from the peak of $1,100 to the lowest point of $200. In the long winter of 2014, the mining machine market was also greatly affected, and a large number of mining machine manufacturers closed down. The “genius boy” Jiang Xinyu also did not survive this winter — Jiang Xinyu launched the third generation chip BE300 in early 2014, but there were serious quality problems, which led to the slow sale of the chip, and Jiang Xinyu, which suffered serious losses, then disappeared from people’s vision.. Unexpectedly, Bitmain began to rise in the cold winter: Ant S2 mining machine began to sell in April 2014; Ant S3 mining machine was launched in July; Ant S5 mining machine was mass-produced in December; in November of the second year The successful development of the Ant S7 mining machine…Under the fierce offensive of Bitmain, when the market gradually recovered in the second half of 2015, people were surprised to find that almost only the Antminer of Bitmain remained in the mining machine market. In 2015, Bitmain’s annual net profit reached 334 million yuan, making it a well-deserved industry giant. Why can Bitmain achieve such great success? Many people think that the design of mining machine chips is low, which was true at the beginning, but as the mining machine market gradually matures, chip design has begun to show a trend of specialization and industrialization. The special feature of the mining machine chip is that it is mainly used for parallel computing, so the computing power is not so important. The key is the power consumption of the chip-for the two mining machines with the same computing power, who consumes less power, then Whose electricity cost is lower, and thus has an advantage in the market. To this end, after a series of explorations, the developers of Bitmain have discovered a standard unit suitable for a large number of tubes with dynamic logic area. The special feature of this standard unit is that its trigger is dynamic. Compared with the static logic flip-flop, the advantage of the dynamic logic flip-flop is that its area and power consumption are half of the former. Similarly, during this period, Yang Zuoxing, a Ph.D. graduate of Tsinghua University, began to join Bitmain as a part-time job, and brought a fully customized methodology. As we all know, current chip design relies on EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools, and fully customized methodologies break this model. The fully customized methodology adopts customized and artificial design in the three design links of RTL designed fab cell library, logic synthesis and layout, and every detail design strives to be meticulously carved. Despite this inefficiency, all aspects of the chip have been custom designed, resulting in a significant increase in the power consumption × area optimization ratio of the chip. Under the dynamic logic scheme and fully customized methodology, Bitmain completed the research and development of the Ant Miner S7 series (28 nm) and S9 series (16 nm) in 2015. The performance of these two models is far superior to other manufacturers, and the cost of their products is only half of that of their competitors. The chip design industry is characterized by its special market structure. For the general industry, low-end products occupy most of the market share, but high-end products have a lower market share. What is special about the chip market is that there is often a “winner takes all” situation. With the successful sales of ants S7 and S9, Bitmain has become a giant in the mining machine chip market, occupying more than 80% of the market. Under the strong technical advantage of Bitmain, foreign mining machine chip manufacturers have been out of business: in 2014 and 2015, high-profile KNC, bitfury, Spondoolies-Tech, 21 Inc. all soon declared bankruptcy or withdrew from the mining machine chip market. With the turnover of Bitmain’s employees, dynamic triggers and fully customized methodologies have gradually spread to other domestic chip manufacturers, but related technologies are still retained in China. In 2017, the Japanese GMO company wanted to enter the mining machine chip market, but its outdated technical design simply could not compete with domestic manufacturers, and soon withdrew from the market due to losses. At this point, the mining machine chip market has become the world of Chinese manufacturers. Data show that in 2017, China’s three major mining machine manufacturers, Bitmain, Jianan Yunzhi and Yibang International, monopolized nearly 90% of the global market share, and the rest were also used by other Chinese companies such as Wuhan Xindong, Bitwei, etc. Manufacturers share. In 2017, Bitcoin ushered in a bull market, with a year-on-year increase of up to 1700%. The huge investment income has attracted the attention of the world. For a time, bitcoin and blockchain became the hottest topics in the market. Many blockchain companies were born like mushrooms. The A-share market saw the rise of “blockchain concept stocks.” The venture capital circle also began to rise. “All in Blockchain”, as the most profitable mining machine manufacturer in the industry has also become a hot company. In December 2017, when the market was the craziest, Bitmain’s sales were treated like stars, and customers gave gifts to the sales and invited guests to dinner, just to get orders for ant mining machines. The order has been placed in the spring of the second year. According to Frost & Sullivan’s data, in 2016, the market size of ASIC mining machines was only 700 million U.S. dollars, and by 2017 its market size reached 3 billion U.S. dollars; of the mining machine delivery volume that year, Bitmain 940,000 mining machines were sold, Jianan Yunzhi 290,000 units, Yibang International 50,000 units, occupying 88% of the global market share. Under this circumstance, mining machine companies have begun brewing for listing. On September 26, 2018, Bitmain officially submitted the prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, plus Jianan Yunzhi and Yibang International respectively went to Hong Kong to submit listing applications in 2018, and for a while, the mining machine chip company occupied the capital Market headlines, and the outside world can finally glimpse the business revenue of these mysterious mining machine manufacturers. Of course, the results are unexpected and its operating performance is better than most A-share listed companies in the same industry. In terms of operating income, Bitmain’s revenue reached 16.452 billion yuan in 2017, and the highest operating income of A-share semiconductor companies listed in the same period was 26.158 billion yuan from Trina Solar. Therefore, from the perspective of revenue ranking, Bitmain will rank fourth among all A-share semiconductor listed companies, which is lower than the second place of Changdian Technology’s 23.85 billion yuan and the third place of Ninestar’s 21.3 billion yuan, but higher than Longji shares of 16.36 billion yuan. From the perspective of net profit, Jianan Yunzhi and Bitmain have maintained a net profit growth rate of more than double for three consecutive years. In 2017, Bitmain’s net profit reached 4.583 billion yuan, Jianan Yunzhi’s 361 million yuan, and Yibang International’s 385 million yuan. If ranked together with listed companies in terms of net profit, in 2017, Bitmain’s net profit can be proud of the entire semiconductor industry — the highest net profit among A-share semiconductor listed companies in 2017 is Longji, but its net profit is only 3.549 billion. Yuan, a net profit of nearly 1 billion yuan less than that of Bitmain. However, because the blockchain business is too advanced, the HKEx has doubts about the continued operating capabilities of the mining machine manufacturers, and finally rejected the listing applications of the three major mining machine manufacturers. The blockchain company’s first attempt to go public went out of business. Then the three major mining machine giants turned their attention to the U.S. securities market: On November 21, 2019, Jianan Yunzhi successfully landed on NASDAQ in the United States and became the world’s first blockchain-listed company; in June 2020, Yibang International successful listing in the United States; according to related reports, Bitmain is also preparing to go public in the United States. (Hangzhou City’s light show to celebrate the listing of Jianan Yunzhi as the “first block in the global blockchain”) The ups and downs of the mining machine manufacturers have not reached the end with the listing in the United States. In the near future, they will continue to express their own glory. Perhaps many people will disdain this, thinking that the miner chips are worthless except for the mining of encrypted digital currencies. This kind of erroneous view that is quite popular in the current market, but many people do not realize that the value and significance of the mining machine chip to the semiconductor industry is no less than that of the national integrated circuit fund with hundreds of billions of scale, at least reflected in the following three aspects: (1) Cultivation of talents in the semiconductor industry The problem with my country’s chip industry is that the industry itself is a talent-intensive industry, but it is far from attractive to talent. According to the survey of “White Paper on Talents of China’s Integrated Circuit Industry (2018-2019)”, there were 8.2 million college graduates in China in 2018, and the total number of graduates in integrated circuit-related majors was about 199,000, but only 38,000 integrated circuit-related majors Of graduates enter the industry, that is, only about 19% of graduates enter the semiconductor industry. The main reason is that the salary level of the chip industry is not high. According to statistics, among the listed companies in China in 2019, the average salary of executives in the financial industry was 22.8 million yuan, the real estate industry was 14.78 million yuan, and the semiconductor industry was only 9.541 million yuan. Without a competitive salary in the market, it is impossible to attract talents, so there is a large talent gap. According to the “White Paper”, there is still a gap of 261,000 people in China by 2021. In comparison, the average salary of the blockchain industry where the mining machine manufacturers are located is very high. According to the relevant data of Liying.com, the average annual salary of technical posts in the blockchain industry in 2019 is 384,000 yuan, which is higher than the 201,000 yuan in the Internet industry. Compared with before 2018, the treatment of the semiconductor industry is much lower than that of the Internet industry, resulting in the majority of integrated circuit graduates flowing into the latter, and the rise of the field of mining machine chips has attracted a large number of excellent talents to devote themselves to the design of mining machine chips. The field includes Yang Zuoxing, the founder of the current bit micro company we introduced earlier. There is no doubt that the mining machine chip manufacturers, especially in the “national learning core” in 2018, before the upsurge of chip localization, their generous salary treatment has retained a large number of chip design talents for my country’s semiconductor industry. Even more commendable is that, compared to university researchers who have never been in contact with the “striping” link, mining machine chip manufacturers provide an excellent platform for China’s chip practitioners, whether it is the world’s leading 7nm process or the most advanced. The advanced 5nm process can be involved in the design and testing at the first time, and a lot of knowledge and experience have been accumulated in the “dry middle school”. (2) Technology accumulation in frontier fields A big misunderstanding of many people’s mining machine chips is that their accumulated technology is not useful in other fields. This view may have been correct in the past, but at the time when artificial intelligence is rising and Moore’s Law is becoming invalid, these technologies have shown great value and use. The first is in the field of artificial intelligence. Due to the increasing demand for edge computing, AI has begun to move from “cloud” to “terminal”. In all kinds of platforms, the CPU is good at control, and its design determines that in order to reduce the waste of computing power during data transmission at work, it needs to accumulate a certain amount of data before calculating, which cannot meet the strong real-time nature of AI needs; GPUs only use part of the computing resources while burdening high power consumption. Whether it is in the cloud or terminal, it is not an option with a good energy consumption ratio. Therefore, in high-performance, low-power terminals, ASIC chips are becoming increasingly popular. In addition to being unable to expand, ASIC chips have advantages in power consumption, reliability, and volume. For this reason, market analysis generally believes that with the development of edge computing, ASIC will become the core of future AI chips. The Ovum survey report pointed out that in 2016, the cloud (including enterprises, data centers, etc.) is the main revenue field of deep learning chips, accounting for 80%, but by 2025, this proportion will change, and the edge will reach 80% %, and the proportion of the cloud is reduced to 20%, ASIC’s market share is expected to rise significantly as the demand for edge computing increases. It is expected that the market share of ASIC will increase significantly from the current 11% to 48% by 2025. At present, mainstream ASICs on the market include TPU chips, NPU chips, VPU chips and BPU chips. Due to the long development cycle of ASIC, only large manufacturers have the funds and strength to conduct research and development, and Bitmain is the leader among them, and has accumulated a lot of technology and experience in the research and development of mining machine chips. In addition, Jianan Yunzhi, Yibang International and other manufacturers also have plans for the AI ​​field. Another application of mining machine chip accumulation technology is in the field of “Moore’s Law”. In the 1970s, Intel founder Gordon Moore proposed that “when the price is unchanged, the number of transistors that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double every 18-24 months.” At the same time, computer performance will usually double. However, since 2011, Moore’s Law has been difficult to continue. To this end, many semiconductor companies and professional institutions, including Intel, have pinned their hopes on “architectural innovation” to achieve “surpassing Moore”. “Full customization methodology” in the field of mining machine chips is a brand new “architectural innovation” direction: Ant S7, Ant S9, Shenma M3, Shenma M10 designed by Yang Zuoxing using a fully customized methodology, each generation of mining machine Compared with the mining machine chips designed by the traditional method with the same process technology, the launch of the power consumption has been improved by more than 4 times in terms of power consumption × cost optimization ratio. This is far beyond the improvement brought by simply relying on advanced process technology. Therefore, as Yang Zuoxing said frankly, the fully developed methodology has brought about innovations in chip design, and it is expected to continue to advance Moore’s Law for 5-10 years. (3) Promotion of domestic semiconductor industry In April 2020, Changdian Technology, an A-share listed company, announced that Wuhan Xindong Technology Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit with the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court due to unsatisfactory packaging quality, and claimed 175 million yuan from Changdian Technology. It is worth noting that according to the financial report, the annual net profit of Changdian Technology in 2019 is only 89 million yuan. Many people said it was incredible when they saw this news. This unknown Wuhan Xindong Company can actually claim the net profit of Changdian Technology for nearly a year. In fact, Wuhan Xindong is also a mining machine chip manufacturer in China, but it is smaller and more low-key than the market giants such as Bitmain and Jianan Yunzhi. Of course, many people have also realized that the status of miner chips in our semiconductor industry chain has been underestimated through this matter. It is the downstream wafer manufacturers and testing and packaging plants that have played an important role, especially in advanced In the field of process technology, its role is more important. Since 2017, Bitmain and Huawei HiSilicon have become TSMC’s two largest customers in mainland China. In October 2017, TSMC announced business revenue for the third quarter. Shockingly, demand from mining machine chips increased TSMC’s third quarter revenue by US$350 million to US$400 million. Even because the mining machine chip had a squeezing effect on Huawei HiSilicon’s Kirin chip production capacity. According to reports from Jiwei, Bitmain’s orders for TSMC’s 10nm process in December 2017 exceeded Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin chip. Such phenomena can also be found in financial data. According to the prospectus and financial reports of the three major mining machine companies, from 2015 to 2019, the sales costs of Bitmain [footnoteRef:1], Jianan Yunzhi and Yibang International reached 8.324 billion yuan, 1.939 billion yuan and 949 million yuan. Among the various costs of mining machines, wafer manufacturing costs are about 75%, and packaging and testing costs are about 15%. From this, we can calculate that the three major mining machine manufacturers spend on wafer manufacturing and packaging in each year The cost, as shown in the figure below, in the wafer manufacturing field, the cost of the three major mining machine manufacturers increased from 392 million yuan in 2015 to 8.409 billion yuan in 2019; the cost of testing and sealing increased from 78.48 million yuan in 2015 to 2019 1.681 billion yuan a year, the compound annual growth rate has more than doubled. Take Changdian Technology, which provides sealing services for the three major mining machine manufacturers as an example. Changdian Technology is the largest domestic and the world’s third largest sealing manufacturer. According to the financial report, the operating income of Changdian Technology in 2019 was 23.526 billion yuan, and the net profit just turned into a profit, reaching 97 million yuan. Even so, most of Changdian’s profits actually come from government subsidies. In 2019, Changdian Technology disclosed a government grant of 103.587 million yuan. Similarly, in the three years from 2016 to 2018, Changdian Technology’s net profit was 106 million yuan, 343 million yuan, and -939 million yuan, corresponding to The government subsidies included in the current profit and loss amounted to 207 million yuan, 351 million yuan, and 155 million yuan. This also means that Changdian Technology, the world’s third-largest sealing manufacturer, largely relies on government subsidies to survive. Obviously, for the mining machine chip, which has reached a billion level and is still growing rapidly, it is very important for domestic sealing and sealing manufacturers. Similarly, in the field of wafer manufacturing, due to the large-scale, high-performance and low-power calculations required for mining machine chips, the demand for advanced manufacturing processes is very large. Since the mining machine chips are more concerned about performance and the need to seize the market, the price of wafers is not very concerned, so wafer foundries such as TSMC are happy to increase orders for mining machine manufacturers, even to allow mining Machine manufacturers participate in the testing of the latest process technology of 7nm and 5nm. Taking Jianan Yunzhi as an example, according to the latest news, the current domestic wafer manufacturing giant SMIC has begun to negotiate with Jianan Yunzhi on cooperation on 14nm mining machines. So how big is Jianan Yunzhi’s demand for 14nm process chips? According to the annual sales records of various types of mining machines and the number of chips inside the mining machine disclosed by Jianan Yunzhi, Ouke Cloud Chain Research Institute calculated its annual demand for advanced process chips. As shown in the table below, in 2019, Jianan Yunzhi’s demand for 16 nm chips is approximately 76.09 million, and it is expected that the demand for 14 nm chips will also remain at the same level. According to SMIC’s official news, as of the end of 2019, SMIC’s 14nm production capacity is only 3,000 to 5,000 wafers/month, and it is expected that it will only reach 15,000 wafers/month by the end of 2020. Considering the yield of wafers and the number of wafers on each wafer, we expect that if Jianan Yunzhi gave all orders for 14nm to SMIC, even if the capacity expansion is completed by the end of 2020, SMIC will need to spend 1 -2 months of production capacity to complete all orders. Therefore, for domestic foundry giants, orders from mining machine chips are definitely a considerable income, which will also promote wafer manufacturers in mainland China to develop more advanced process technology. postscript The founder of Bitmain Wu Jihan attended Nankai Middle School in Chongqing in his early years, and the Nankai series of schools were founded by patriotic educator Zhang Boling in 1904. Nankai Middle School for nearly a hundred years has nurtured a large number of well-known scholars and political elites for China. However, in the early years, Nankai Middle School was a private school. The funds for running a school mainly came from individual donations from society. However, private donors, such as politician Cao Rulin and warlord Yang Yide, made many donations to Nankai. The students protested, and Zhang Boling said: “Beautiful flowers may be poured out of manure.” Today’s mining machine chip manufacturers are more like Zhang Boling’s situation. As the blockchain technology is still in its early days, there are many market chaos, and people are also very vocal about the mining machine chip manufacturers. However, as the underlying blockchain technology of the encrypted digital currency, it may not be the “dung water” of some populations, but the future “mannose” — October 24, 2019, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the blockchain The eighteenth collective study of technology development status and trends, national leaders delivered an important speech on this, affirmed that the integrated application of blockchain technology plays an important role in new technological innovation and industrial transformation, and the blockchain technology As an important breakthrough for independent innovation of national core technology. I believe that with the further development of my country’s blockchain industry in the future, people will more realize the value of mining machine chip manufacturers. [Editor in charge: Liu Yukun PT030] About the author: Ouke Cloud Chain Research Institute is a research institute of Ouke Group. The main research content is centered on the two major fields of blockchain industry and digital currency. It has close cooperation with governments, enterprises, universities and so on. Reputation. Ouke Cloud Chain Group is the world’s leading blockchain industry group. Headquartered in Beijing, China, it has branches or offices in more than 10 countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, South Korea, and Japan. Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Comments

Now that the first payouts have been made you are probably looking for things to do with all of that fresh cash. Steem comes with its own built in market that allows you to buy and sell STEEM and Steem Dollars (SD). Benefits of Internal Market The internal market has many benefits over other markets when it comes to trading STEEM. Among these benefits: No Fees Highest Security Lowest Spread Highest Liquidity No Fees The Steem blockchain doesn’t charge trading fees, but it will rate limit your account if you start consuming too much bandwidth. If you hit the bandwidth wall, you can always Power Up to get more access. Highest Security The internal exchange is secured by your account private key. This means you do not need to trust any third parties with your money. Lowest Spread Steem subsidizes the internal market with liquidity rewards that create market competition to give you the best price possible. The spread can be lower because some of the risk is absorbed by the network. Highest Liquidity This is another side effect of liquidity rewards. Traders make more by trading on the internal exchange and therefore there is the greatest market depth. Liquidity Rewards So if you are thinking about trading then you will need to have a solid understanding of how liquidity rewards work. Every single hour 1200 STEEM ($250+) is awarded to the market maker with the most points. A market maker earns points any time an order of theirs is filled after being on the books for more than 1 minute. Points are calculated based upon the volume of STEEM filled on both sides of the book. SCORE = BID_VOLUME * ASK_VOLUME As you can see, you gain the most points when you have equal volume on both sides of the book. After you receive your 1200 STEEM your BID/ASK volume are reset to 0. This means that everyone who trades consistently will eventually get a payout. The more volume you pull the more often you will get to the top of the queue. If you do not trade for a week then your volume will also get reset to 0. So don't get lazy, provide steady consistent liquidity and you will be rewarded. You only get rewarded for orders filled after being left open for 1 minute. This means canceling / moving your order will reset your time and disqualify you from rewards. It also means leaving orders on the book that never get filled will earn you nothing. Trading Strategy If there is only one trader, then it is easy to buy/sell against your own order. Market forces will quickly cause competition of bots to provide liquidity. Bots will end up placing orders in front of each other. Other users will also place orders on the book. Once this happens it becomes impossible to trade against yourself. Bots need to make the market in such a way that any losses from trading are less than the liquidity rewards earned. As competition increases, the profits from liquidity rewards will naturally fall toward 0. So if you are good with scripts and want to start a bot, there is some easy money to be earned trading. Profit off of Cheaters Some bots may want to trade against themselves with a narrow spread. Anyone can write a bot that buys their order and then turns around and sells it for slightly more. Flipping the market will naturally earn the traders a spread on every trade and simultaneously prevent bots from abusing liquidity rewards. Preventing Flooding Bots need to be strategic and ration their transaction rate. There is rate limiting on bandwidth proportional to Steem Power. This means that it is not possible to flood the market with transactions without quickly burning through your allotment of bandwidth. Liquidity providers will need to take this into consideration and possibly buy more Steem Power to maximize their potential market making profits. Getting most From your Steem Dollar Over the next week various markets / exchanges will be opening that will allow you to trade Steem Dollars for BTC, Tether, and other cryptos. It will likely be far more efficient for you to sell your Steem Dollars on these markets than to buy STEEM on the internal market and sell STEEM on Bitrex. Don’t forget your Steem Dollars are earning you interest while you hold them. There is no need to rush to claim your funds. Wait a few days for the markets to open up and liquidity to improve and you will get much more for your Steem Dollar.

FEATURES Bitcoin Fiction (The Signal / A Libra Future) [Episode 46]An episode of Bottomshelf BitcoinBy Bottomshelf BitcoinPutting Bitcoin knowledge within everyone's reach, join Josh Humphrey as he interviews developers, authors, makers and thinkers in the Bitcoin space. Twitter: @bottomshelfbtcMore places to listenBitcoin Fiction (The Signal / A Libra Future) [Episode 46]Just me this week reading some Bitcoin fiction. I read a story I wrote called 'The Signal' and a thread from @obiwankenobit about a dystopian Libra future.ObiwanKenobits - https://twitter.com/obiwankenobitsObiwan's Thread - https://twitter.com/ObiWanKenoBit/status/1141408826731593728Reddit post of Bitcoin future - rom_the_future_here_to_beg/Support the Show: https://lncast.com - LN Cast (lightning powered podcasting) https://tallyco.in/bottomshelfbtc - Tally Coin donationhttps://patreon.com/bottomshelfbitcoin - Patreon https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/donate - Donation page https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits: Morning Ritual by L'Indecis https://soundcloud.com/chillhopdotcom/lindecis-morning-ritual - Listen on Soundcloud http://chillhop.com/listen - Chillhop Records http://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on Spotify Fatherhood by Joakim Karud https://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/track/fatherhood - Purchase on Bandcamp ness-clarity-ep - Listen on Soundcloud19:34June 20, 2019A Trip to Bitville with The Bitcoin Rabbi [Episode 45]The Bitcoin Rabbi joins me to talk about his great new children's book, "Bitcoin Money"Bitcoin rabbi on Twitter - https://twitter.com/thebitcoinrabbiBitcoin Money - https://bitcoinmoneybook.comBitcoin Money on Amazon- -1Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyl Island - bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbookCryptoconomy on Debt and Usury - cient-Sin-of-Debt-How-Bitcoin-Can-Make-Amends-e41e3mSupport the Show:https://lncast.com - LN Cast (lightning powered podcasting)https://tallyco.in/bottomshelfbtc - Tally Coin donation https://patreon.com/bottomshelfbitcoin - Patreon https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/donate - Donation page https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by - Listen on Soundcloudhttp://chillhop.com/listen - Chillhop Recordshttp://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karudhttps://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/track/fatherhood - Purchase on ets/loudness-clarity-ep - Listen on Soundcloud1:01:35June 11, 2019Final Message and an Adversarial Mindset with Matt Odell [Episode 44]I sat down with Matt Odell to talk about his latest project Final Message, adversarial thinking, hopes and fears for the future, non-KYC Bitcoin, multi-sig and more. Don't forget to check out LN Cast to drop some sats on TFTC and this podcast as well.Follow Matt:TwitterFinal MessageTales from the CryptNon-KYC BitcoinRise WalletAztecoFast BitcoinsMulti-SigCASAUnchained CapitalElectrum Personal ServerPrivacy WalletsWasabiSamouraiHardware WalletsTrezorCold CardLedgerSupport the Show:https://tallyco.in/bottomshelfbtc - Tally Coin donation https://patreon.com/bottomshelfbitcoin - Patreon https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/donate - Donation page https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by - Listen on Soundcloudhttp://chillhop.com/listen - Chillhop Recordshttp://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karudhttps://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/track/fatherhood - Purchase on ets/loudness-clarity-ep - Listen on Soundcloud1:36:25June 6, 2019Janine Roem on #DeleteCoinbase and Revision-controlled Journalism [Episode 43]Janine Roem joins me to talk about the recent Coinbase-HackingTeam debacle and the community's response with #deleteCoinbase, as well as her ideas for revision-controlled journalism. Read Janine's thread here /twitter.com/j9roem - Twitterhttps://t.co/4Sggw8Drp7 - Janine's blog----Block Digesthttps://twitter.com/blockdigest - Twitterhttps://t.co/3fjlDiCJdU - Audio feedhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb53lXz2IzEFT5JNHSbdvPg - coinbase-b3f56171850d - Coinbase Welcomes re-hacking-team-david-vincenzetti/ - Foreign Policy "Fear this Man"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtQ7LNeC8Cs - To Protect and Infect m-loses-sales-license/#25365ef92498 - Hacking Team Loses Licensehttps://wikileaks.org/hackingteam/emails/ - Hacking Team WikiLeaks+https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35958932 - Italian student murdered in despite-regulatory-uncertainty - Chrstine Sandler interview with Cheddarhttps://twitter.com/udiWertheimer/status/1100864154443776000 - Udi Wertheimer starts the DustChainhttps://twitter.com/jespow/status/1102346122138333184 - Kraken's analysis of rino-acquisition-ba98174cdcf6 - Coinbase to "transition" Hacking Team members from Neutrino out of Coinbasehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TufkdtKcYHM&feature=youtu.be - Kraken Decacorn podcast - Jesse and Christina's thoughts on Coinbase and their 19ce11 - Coinbase Celebrates Women?https://youtu.be/66ZoGUAnY9s?t=5h48m10s - Jameson Lopp: Extreme OpSec---- Support the m - Bitcoin Merit Badgehttps://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by - Listen on Soundcloudhttp://chillhop.com/listen - Chillhop Recordshttp://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karudhttps://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/track/fatherhood - Purchase on ets/loudness-clarity-ep - Listen on Soundcloud1:33:16March 19, 2019JW Weatherman's 10 hours of Bitcoin [Episode 42]JW Weatherman joins me to talk about 10 Hours of Bitcoin and Mathbot.com. We also discuss state propoganda, education and crypto scams along the .comhttps://mathbot.com------ Referenced:https://mises.org/library/anatomy-state - Murray Rothbard's "Anatomy of the State"https://mises.org/library/human-action-0 - Ludwig Von Mises' "Human Action"https://mises.org/library/ethics-money-production - Guido Hulsmann - The Ethics of Money man-Action-P10979.aspx - Bob Murphy's ew-testament-passage - Render Unto Caesarhttp://ssrn.com/abstract=1337761 - Jesus is an Anarchisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid%27s_Elements - Euclid's "Elements"---- Support the Show:https://tallyco.in/bottomshelfbtc - Tally Coin donation https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/produc... - Bottomshelf Morale Patch https://patreon.com/bottomshelfbitcoin - Patreon https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/donate - Donation page https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits:Music Credits:Morning Ritual by - Listen on Soundcloudhttp://chillhop.com/listen - Chillhop Recordshttp://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karudhttps://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/track/fatherhood - Purchase on ets/loudness-clarity-ep - Listen on Soundcloud1:36:28March 8, 2019FUDbustin-21m Cap [Episode 40]Clark Moody and I roll the FUD dice and discuss the 21million Bitcoin cap.Bitcoin Supply schedule - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supplyMiner underpay - see note under chart at ermBitcoin Private secret premine - https://coinmetrics.io/bitcoin-private/Zcash inflation bug - http://fortune.com/2019/02/05/zcash-vulnerability-cryptocurrency/FUD dice 2 - https://quinsolo.com/product/fud-dice/new sponsor Bitcoin Only - https://bitcoin-only.comcreated by com/bottomshelfbtcSponsorsAnchorSquarespacePatchionBitcoin Only---- Support the Show:https://tallyco.in/bottomshelfbtc - Tally Coin donation https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/produc... - Bottomshelf Morale Patch https://patreon.com/bottomshelfbitcoin - Patreon https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/donate - Donation page https://bottomshelfbitcoin.com/kidsbook - Tuttle Twins - Great kids books and a great way to support the show!----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis https://soundcloud.com/chillhopdotcom... - Listen on Soundcloud http://chillhop.com/listen- Chillhop Records http://bit.ly/ChillhopSpotify - Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud https://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com/trac... - Purchase on Bandcamphttps://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud/fa... - Listen on Soundcloud49:18February 21, 2019Alex Hardy's Take on Bitcoin [Episode 39] Alex Hardy joins me to talk about his Bitcoin origins, his Proof of Take newsletter, the importance of reputation in the space and more.Follow Alex TwitterProof of TakeSupport Bottomshelf Bitcoin Tally Coin donation Donation page Bottomshelf Morale Patch Bitcoin Merit Badge Patreon Tuttle TwinsSponsors Anchor Patchion----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis Listen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud Purchase on Bandcamp Listen on Soundcloud38:07February 7, 2019Locha Mesh Networks with Randy Brito [Episode 38]Randy Brito is back with updates from Venezuela, including a new project under development called Locha. Locha aims to create mesh networks from open source software and low-cost hardware that can be made wherever you live.LinksLochaBitcoinVenezuelaRandy BritoLocha TelegramRandy on Episode 19Support Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donationDonation pageBottomshelf Morale PatchBitcoin Merit BadgePatreon TuttleTwinsSponsorsAnchorPatchion----- Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'IndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud1:04:24January 31, 2019Justin Moons BUIDL Bootcamp [Episode 37]Justin Moon and I hung out in Austin to talk about Bitcoin, Bitcoin businesses, Buidl Bootcamp, and forming community with other BitcoinersFollow JustinTwitterYoutubeBuidl BootcampBitcoin Book ClubLearn PythonCodecademy's Python CourseSoloLearn PythonOther ReferencesBlockSciSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donationDonation pageBottomshelf Morale PatchBitcoin Merit BadgePatreonTuttle TwinsSponsorsAnchorPatchion-----Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis Listen on Soundcloud Chillhop Records Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud Purchase on Bandcamp Listen on Soundcloud1:12:17January 24, 2019FUDbustin' - Small Blocks [Episode 36]Another Fudbustin' episode, this time on Small Blocks. I not only talk about the benefits of small blocks over large, but also why we have a block size limit at all.Satoshi and Small BlocksHistory of Consensus Forks from Bitmex ResearchComplete Satoshi from Nakamoto InstituteSpeculation on Why Satoshi created the limitGarzik's Oct 3 PatchOther episodes referencedScaling Debate with Clark MoodyEthereum Centralization with StopandDecryptBCash checkpoint problemsEthereumInfura DependenceUpgradeJK don't upgradeSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donationDonation pageBottomshelf Morale PatchBitcoin Merit BadgePatreonTuttle TwinsSponsorsAnchorPatchion-----Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis Listen on Soundcloud Chillhop Records Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud Purchase on Bandcamp Listen on Soundcloud38:07January 16, 2019Fudbustin' - Deflation [Episode 35] FUD Bustin: DeflationWe're busting the FUD that Bitcoin's deflationary policy is a bad thing in this week's episodeNic Carter's FUD diceBIS paper on deflationBitcoin Wiki Deflationary SpiralDoes Hoarding Really Hurt Bitcoin?I'm Hoarding BitcoinSpending During DeflationHODL wavesSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donationDonation pageBottomshelf Morale PatchBitcoin Merit BadgePatreonTuttle TwinsSponsorsAnchorPatchion-----Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis Listen on Soundcloud Chillhop Records Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud Purchase on Bandcamp Listen on Soundcloud46:55January 10, 2019Bitcoin is Ten with Clark Moody [Episode 34]I chat with Clark Moody about Bitcoin's first ten years, and where we're going in the future.Follow ClarkClark's siteBitcoin and the Interplanetary FrontierTwitterPicks and Shovels Other ReferencesBitcoin Podcasters Episode 7 with Clark Moody Nic Carter's FUD dice Jim BTC SmarterEveryDay video on orbital mechanics Seveneves bookSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donation Donation page Bottomshelf Morale Patch Bitcoin Merit Badge Patreon Tuttle Twins SponsorsAnchor Patchion -----Music Credits:Morning Ritual by L'Indecis Listen on Soundcloud Chillhop Records Listen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim Karud Purchase on Bandcamp Listen on Soundcloud1:11:49January 3, 2019Jeff Vandrew on Bitcoin retirement acccounts and Quickbooks integration [Episode 33]Jeff Vandrew, attorney and CPA, joins me to discusses his practice and setting up investment accounts to allow them to include Bitcoin as well as his recent work on creating a Quickbooks integration for BTCPay Server.Follow JeffTwitterJeffs siteReferencedQuickbooks integrationBTCPayServerBottomshelf Episode with Nicolas Dorier BTCPay and gives context for why Bitpay is badBUIDL Bootcamp from Justin Moon10 year Celebration in New YorkSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinTally Coin donationDonation pageBottomshelf Morale PatchBitcoin Merit BadgePatreonTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud47:45December 27, 2018A Christmas Message from Bottomshelf BitcoinThis is an episode thats not about Bitcoin. Its about Christmas.References from the BibleESV BibleThe Fall of ManExodusLuke 2 (birth of Jesus)Mark 14-16 (Crucifixion and Resurrection)Bible Project Summary VideosCreation and Fall of ManExodus Part 1, Part 2The Birth of Jesus from Luke 2Acts (part 1)OtherProphecies that Jesus fulfilled-Music:What Child is This Kaleb BraseeThe First Noel string quartetOh Little Town of Bethlehem Chris RiceGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 300 WattsO Come, O Come Emmanuel For King and Country30:18December 24, 2018Vijay Boyapati is still bullish on Bitcoin [Episode 32]I talk with Vijay Boyapati about his article The Bullish Case for Bitcoin, as well as his time at Google and the recent Bcash Hash War.Follow VijayTwitterMediumStoriesThe Bullish Case for BitcoinBitmains BCH bagsSupport Bottomshelf Bitcoin51:11December 18, 2018David Levine on Market Cycles, Geopolitics and Long-term Optimism [Episode 31]Follow David:ParanoidBull accountDavids personal accountOdin River on MediumOther References:Peter Thiel debateThread on Davids views about BitcoinSupport Bottomshelf Bitcoin58:55December 11, 2018Dan Held on Interchange and PoW Efficiency [Episode 30]Dan Held talks with me about Interchange, a project that Picks & Shovels is working on as well as his recent article on how Proof of Work is actually efficient.Follow Dan:TwitterMediumPoW is EfficientPicks and Shovels:Main siteTwitterHarmony CSV standardRecommended Other Podcasts:Noded Bitcoin PodcastBitcoin & MarketsTales from the CryptThe CryptoconomyCitizen BitcoinSupport Bottomshelf Bitcoin37:22October 9, 2018Austin Storms talks Bitcoin mining [Episode 29]Austin Storms talks to me about mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We talked about the progression of mining hardware and the nature of mining in various regulatory environments.Follow AustinTwitterStoriesQuebec changes stance on Bitcoin MiningBitmain announces Rockdale facilityUpstreamData Bitcoin Mining with flared methaneUpstream Data and Steve Barbour on TwitterQuants by Scott PattersonLaurentMTLaurent on Twitteroxt.me blockchain explorerPart 1 GravityPart 2 Yin and Yang of BitcoinPart 3 CliffhangersPart 4 Electric MoneySupport Bottomshelf Bitcoin1:27:59September 18, 2018Vortex on Bitcoin education and CryptoCast Network [Episode 28]Vortex joins me to talk about his new channel CryptoCast Network, as well as his project Programming with Bitcoin, a C# workshop focused on how to work with Bitcoin.Follow VortexTwitterTheOneVortex.comCryptoCast NetworkCryptoCast main siteTwitterInstagramProgramming with BitcoinProgramming with Bitcoin siteNicolas on TwitterOtherJimmy Songs Programming BlockchainLearnCSPluralSightFreeCodeCamp on YoutubeLogos by Nick awesome graphic design channel with Inkscape (free vector program)Support Bottomshelf BitcoinBottomshelf Morale PatchPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud1:07:35September 5, 2018Jameson Lopp on OpSec in the physical world [Episode 27]Jameson Lopp joins me to talk about OpSec and making yourself a hard target. We also discussed his work with CasaHodl.Follow LoppTwitterMastodonGithubMediumEarnLopps ProjectsPhysical Bitcoin attacksLopp.netstatoshi.infoCasaHODLStoriesReflections Upon a SWATtingWikipedia article on SwattingSwatting script kiddiesRoot cause of swatting?Forbes list of Crypto Rich (targets)Support Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud55:20August 28, 2018Dhruv Bansal [Episode 26]Dhruv Bansal of Unchained Capital comes on the show to talk about how hodlers can turn long term investments into short term opportunities via cryptoasset-backed lending. Follow Dhruv1:11:52August 23, 2018Adam Gibson on UTXOs and Fungibility [Episode 25]Follow Adam GibsonTwitterMastodonGithubBlogJoinMarketJoinMarketJoinMarket on GithubFungibility TechGreg Maxwell on CoinJoinCoinJoinSamourai WalletOXT.meWasabi WalletHD WalletsCoin Shuffle from Tim RuffingGreg Maxwell on Confidential TransactionsPay to Endpoint explained by nopara73Non-Bitcoin PrivacyMoneroVuvuzelaChaumian Mix NetworksOtherNoded episode on UTXOs and coin controlSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud1:36:25August 14, 2018Pierre Rochard on governance and social signaling [Episode 24]Pierre Rochard comes on the show to talk Bitcoin governance, social signaling, Schelling points, and institutional money.PierrePierre on TwitterDebt jubilee tweetPierre on MediumBitcoin GovernanceBitcoin AcksBitcoin AdvisoryNoded Bitcoin PodcastSatoshi Nakamoto InstituteOtherThe Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean AmmousMastering Bitcoin by Andreas AntonopolisNoded Episode with John Newberry about Bitcoin code processJimmy Song about Segwit2x failureSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud1:05:22August 7, 2018Lightning Network Reference Rates with Nik Bhatia [Episode 23]Nik Bhatia comes on to talk about his ideas on the Lightning Network Reference Rate and Bitcoin-native finance. We also touched on the blockchain credit ratings and the CFA Charterholders exam including cryptocurrencies. I also gave a little speech on Bitcoin independence at the end, so listen through for a rare moment of eloquence.Nik Bhatia@timevalueofbtc on TwitterNik on MediumThe Time Value of BitcoinThe Bitcoin Risk SpectrumObservations of Lightning FeesNiks thread on CFA Charterholder and cryptoSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudAmericana Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/1:03:58August 1, 2018Ethereum Centralization with StopAndDecrypt [Episode 22]StopAndDecrypt joins me to discuss the trend towards centralization in the Ethereum network, and the importance of full validation. We also reveal that his is not in fact WhalePanda.StopAndDecrypt@stopanddecryptStopAndDecrypt on Mediumon RedditEthereum Centralization IssuesEthereum Blockchain has exceed 1tb (listen)Sharding Centralizes Ethereum (listen)Lopps Challenges of Building on Ethereum (listen)OtherStopAndDecrypts Hard Fork tweetThe 2038 ProblemBitcoin Timestamp@thecryptoconomy great podcast for bitcoin articlesSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudDeuces Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/1:00:19July 10, 2018Andreas Raspitzus BTC-hotspot [Episode 21]Andreas Raspitzu came on the show to discuss his project, BTC-Hotspot, enabling you to monetize your internet connection by sharing it over a Raspberry Pi. We discussed its potential as well as the challenges hes faced and the value of other collaborators in open source projects. We also talked about his twitter bot that memes errors in the bitcoin network.Andrea on twitterBTC HotspotBTC Hotspot on GithubRaspberry Pi official siteVarious Raspberry Pi kits on AmazonOtherAndreas BitcoinError Bot twitter feedThe Verge Hack articleAlex Bosworths inbound capacity solutionSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle TwinsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud57:01July 3, 2018The Anatomy of Satoshis Place with LightningK0ala [Episode 20]Im joined for episode 20 by LightningK0ala to talk about his creation, Satoshis Place, a collaborative drawing experiment powered by lightning payments. We discussed the software its running, the low-end hardware hes using to process the lightning payments, and the API that has allowed some really creative interactions on the site. We also waxed philosophical about the value of games and comedy in stressful times. Full conversation available on Patreon[*We also referenced the body parts drawn on Satoshis Place, so probably not an episode for younger audiences*]LightningK0ala@LightningK0ala on twitterSatoshis PlaceSatoshis PlaceSatoshis Place TestnetSatoshis Place GithubImage Mapper for Satoshis PlaceTelegram GroupSatoshis Place TimelapseComponents of Satoshis PlaceZeit command line cloud deployment solutionODroid HC2 and accessoriesODroid Lightning Node Tutorial from StadicusOther Lightning ProjectsTestnet Eclair walletMainnet Eclair walletYallsPoketoshiOtherStop and Decrypts Ethereum Articles: 1, 2Harvards CS50x Intro to Computer ScienceSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud56:28June 26, 2018Whats going on in Venezuela? [Episode 19]Randy Brito, founder of BitcoinVenezuela.com, talked to me about whats going on in Venezuela. We talked about the authoritarian regime, merchant adoption, getting people to understand what Bitcoin can do for them, the Petro and more. Randy also talked about the difference between the government sanctioned exchange rates and the real price on the street, and how developers need to consider this when making tools for other countries.Bitcoin VenezuelaBitcoin Venezuela@btcven on twitter1:05:18June 19, 2018I started a Twitter fight [Episode 18]I talked about the twitter fight I set off between Vin Armani and SamouraiWallet over the security model of Cointext. I also talked about relying on reputation verse open-source code and touched on the EatBCH issue.StoriesThe Twitter thread in questionCointexts thoughts on securitySamourai introduces Mule ToolsArticle from Jose of EatBCHOtherManual export Samourai Wallet backupCompile Samourai from source works the same for linux (no need for chocalatey)Restore Samourai Wallet from backupBonus:Route Samourai through your personal Node or Video tutorial by bb2kSupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud40:31June 12, 2018Steak and Satoshi with Michael Goldstein [Episode 17]Michael Bitstein Goldstein comes on to talk about the Nakamoto Institute, Satoshis influence, and the history of Cypherpunks. We also got into carnivory and the bias and government influence on mainstream nutrition. Come find me at BitBlockBoom on July 14!Check out the full interview on PatreonMichael Goldstein@bitsteinbitstein.orgNakamoto InstituteNoded Bitcoin PodcastCypherpunksNakamoto Institute Literature pageCrypto-anarchist Manifesto by Tim MaysCypherpunks Manifesto by Eric HughesThe Original Value of Bitcoins by Daniel KrawiszApplied Cryptography by Bruce SchneierThe Code Book by Simon Singhbitcoin anarchism videoCarnivory and NutritionJust MeatShawn Baker, MDn equals manyProblems with Evidence-based MedicineOther stuffJimmy Songs Programming BlockchainEpisode with Patricia Estevao on Lightning UXMises InstituteDefense DistributedThe Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean AmmousMastering Bitcoin by Andreas AntonopoulosEpisode with Patricia Estevao on Lightning UX1:06:42June 5, 2018We Descend into Anarchy with Ansel Lindner [Episode 16]Ansel Lindner comes on the show to talk about his show Bitcoin is Freedom, and the route to anarchy through Bitcoin. We touch on government debacles of military, health care, nutrition, as well as what we could do better without them. If youre going to BitBlockBoom in July let me know.Full length interview available on Patreon.Follow AnselBitcoin & Markets site@btcmrkts@ansellindnerBitcoin & Markets PatreonAnsels Recommended BooksFor a New Liberty by Murray RothbardHistory of Economic Thought by Murray RothbardThe Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean AmmousOther linksCaitlin Longs Mises SeminarUSDA Nurtrition LiesGood Calories, Bad Calories by Gary TaubsFools Errand by Scott Horton great book about the war on terrorScott Horton Show Scott Hortons podcastYour Facebook Friends are Wrong About Healthcare by Tom WoodsIllinois Unfunded PensionsAustralia Cash Transaction BanA Deeper Look Into Network Effects SoV verse MoESupport Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud1:07:00May 29, 2018Free Ross with Lyn Ulbricht [Episode 15]Lyn Ulbricht comes on the show to talk about her son Ross, creator of the Silk Road, the first use case for Bitcoin, and the injustice of the justice system.Free Ross:@free_Ross on twitterYoutubeFacebookFreeRoss.orgTimeline of eventsPrecedentsConstitutional ConcernsHow you can helpStoriesFedEx Drug ChargesThe drug war explained by former narcotics officerDonate to Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisListen on SoundcloudChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud47:53May 22, 2018Internet Censorship, Political Incorrectness, and Sanctions with RockstarDev [Episode 14]RockstarDevRockstar got out of twitter jail! Follow him @codeoverwhelminBTCPay Slack Channel user RockstarDevIts an older meme, sir, but it checks out:StoriesCoinbase and Wikileaks shopReddit thread about scam crypto twitter accounts check the first responseAnother reddit thread about getting banned for talking about spam accountsOwen Benjamin blocked on Twitter and Youtube46:54May 15, 2018Nicolas Dorier explains becoming your own payment processor with BTCPay [Episode 13]Nicolas Dorier came on the show to talk about BTCPay, a project hes working on to give merchants sovereignty from centralized payment processors like BitPay.Nicolas Dorier@nicolasdorierTip NicolasBTCPayBTCPay Main site@BTCPayServer on TwitterBTCPay GithubBTCPay Server Guide on Reddit by BitcoinshirtBTCPay Youtube GuidesBTCPay Slack channelBTCPay Test ServerBTCPay HostsBTCPay NowBTCPay JungleStoriesSamourais statement on BIP70Issues with BitPays BIP70 Move (Bitcoin Magazine)Trezor ditches BitPay over Segwit2xDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud40:31May 8, 2018The right way to view (and buy) Bitcoin with Akin Fernandez [Episode 12]In this episode I was joined by Akin Fernandez to talk about the correct way to think about Bitcoin and why incorrect thinking leads to a convoluted, invasive process for getting it. We also talked about his company Azteco, a new, consumer-driven, Bitcoin top-up service. Akin@beautyon_ on Twitter@beautyon_ on MediumAztecoAzteco@azteco_ on twitterStoriesBitcoin businesses leave New York over BitLicenseKraken CEO responds to NY AGReddit thread: Localbitcoins goes KYC/AMLFiat KYC lawsFiat AML lawsCurrent buying options without KYC / AMLBisqHodlHodlDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud57:10May 1, 2018Market Minute 4-25-18Bitcoin market update for April 25, 2018Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:24April 25, 2018Patrcia Estavo on Lightning UX [Episode 11]In this episode, I was joined by Patrcia Estevo, who joins me to talk about User eXperience (UX), Bitcoin infographics, and her research on the current UX of the Lightning Network.PatrciaPatrcias site@patestevao on twitterLightning UX ResearchBitcoinDesigned infographicsMarco Agner the programmer referenced in this episodeLightning NetworkLightning NetworkLightning Technical PaperBOLT specificationsLightning ImplementationsLightning LabsACINQBlockstreams c-lightningLightning WalletsHTLC.meZap! walletEclair (testnet)DonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud37:03April 24, 2018Lightning Network [Episode 10]In this episode we finally get around to talking about the lightning network and how it works. We also hit the highlights of Blockstreams week of LApps (lightning apps).Lightning NetworkLightning NetworkLightning Technical PaperBOLT specificationsBitcoin Designed InfographicsMulti-Sig WalletsTimelocksLightning Network part 1Lightning Network part 2Lightning Network part 3Why Build the Lightning Network?Lightning ImplementationsLightning LabsACINQBlockstreams c-lightningLightning WalletsHTLC.meZap! walletEclair (testnet)Blockstream LAppsLightning ChargeWeek of LApps overviewFileBazaarLightning Publisher for WordPressNanotipPaypercallNanoPOSIfpayTTLightning JukeboxDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud38:30April 17, 2018Market Minute 4-16-18Bitcoin market update for April 16, 2018Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/02:01April 16, 2018Market Minute 4-11-2018Bitcoin market update for April 11, 2018Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:34April 11, 2018Market Minute 4-6-18Bitcoin market update for April 6, 2018Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:31April 6, 2018Market Minute 4-4-2018Bitcoin Market update for April 4, 2018.Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:37April 4, 2018Housekeeping, UTXOs and Free Ca$h [Episode 9]In this episode I talked about some changes coming to the podcast and the site. I also talked about consolidating UTXOs and how to get $5 for free from the Cash App.Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud23:02April 3, 2018Market Minute 4-2-2018Bitcoin Market update for April 2, 2018.Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:23April 2, 2018Market Minute 3-29-18Stand alone Market Minute.Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:24March 29, 2018Market Minute 3-23-18Stand alone Market Minute.Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:24March 23, 2018Market Minute 3-21-18Stand alone Market Minute.Bottomshelf BitcoinPatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!___________Music:Special Spotlight Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/01:44March 21, 2018Bitcoin metrics [Episode 8]Today I talked about bitcoin metrics, measurements to track in order to evaluate the health of the network and the price of Bitcoin. I demystified the metrics that I hear thrown around and we talked about what was valuable and what metrics are totally bogus. No Market Minute on this episode, Im planning to out a seperate Market Minute episode on Wednesday.Psuedo FundamentalsPrice and VolumeCryptowatch compare price, moving averages, etc. of various coins.CoinMarketCap Price Market Cap, 24 hour volume, rankings (which dont matter)Clark Moody Tickers compare exchange prices in real timePeer to PeerClark Moody Street Price average price of peer-to-peer trades in various countries/currencies.CoinDance P2P exchange volumesTransaction FeesFork.lol network data comparison between Bitcoin and B-cash. Has good information on difficulty and average transaction fees.CoreFeeHelper Hourly updated twitter feed with good suggested fee estimationTechnicals:Bitcoin nodesBitnodesStatoshiCoinDanceLightning StatsShabang statsReksplorer Node and channel visual explorerOtherMayer Multiple Current price divided by 200 day moving average. Indicator of over/under-value compared to historical price.Github Repo stats on updates to the codeBitcoin Development VisualizationDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud40:06March 20, 2018The Bitcoin Scaling Debate [Episode 7]In this episode I interviewed Clark Moody and we discussed the Bitcoin scaling debate and implementation of SegWit. While we focused on the scaling issues, SegWit also addressed a number of other issues. If youd like to know more, hit the Bitcoin.org link below.ClarkExchange tickersStreet Price IndicatorPicks & Shovels CoSegwitBitcoin.orgs write up on SegWitDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyThank You by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud50:06March 6, 2018What are Altcoins? [Episode 6]In this episode I talked about altcoins. I discussed the prominent altcoins and the issues in Bitcoin, real or imagined, that they attempt to solve. Market Minute:BTC price: $9,728Finney(0.00001 BTC): $0.9724 hour volume: $7.2B / 752k BTCMarket cap: $164 billion@tipmayermultiple: 200dma $8510, mayer multiple=1.14xTransaction fees: 57.86 sats/Byte(24) 36.5 sats/Byte(7d)Suggested fees (sats/B): 106 next block, 101 next hour, 2.4 same dayCoin.Dance was running maintenance and I was unable to get info on Bisq or LocalbitcoinsAltCoins:LiteCoin* Critique of Ethereums Proof of Stake ModelDoge* Main site* WikiMonero* Main site* Ring SignaturesZcash* Main site* Technical Paper for zkSNARKSDASH* Main SiteDonatePatreonDonation pageTuttle Twins Great kids books and a great way to support the show!Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyThank You by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud45:04February 24, 2018Who controls bitcoin? [Episode 5]In this episode I talked about who controls Bitcoin, who writes the code for the Bitcoin protocol and how improvements and updates are made. Follow the links below for more information on open-source projects, Github, and Bitcoins process specifically.Show Notes: Market Minute: BTC price: $10,872Finney(0.00001 BTC): $1.0824 hour volume: $8.2B / 792k BTCMarket cap: $183 billionCoins in Circulation: 16.8M@tipmayermultiple: 200dma $8244.77, mayer multiple=1.29xTransaction fees: 36 sats/Byte(24) 39.6 sats/Byte(7d)Suggested fees (sats/B): 5.0 next block, 3 next hour, 2.4 same daylocalbitcoins $53.9M(global)/ $6.7M(USA) last 7 daysbisq $90k(global)/ $15.9k(USA) last 7 days_______________GitHubWhat is git and Github?GithubBitcoins processBitcoin github repsitoryNoded episode with John NewberyVisualization of Bitcoin DevelopmentOther stuffMichael Phelps photoCodecademyDonatePatreonDonation pageMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyThank You by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud28:25February 17, 2018How do I keep my bitcoins safe? [Episode 4]Today were talking about keeping your bitcoins safe. Get your bitcoins off of exchanges as soon as possible and move them in to some mix of software wallets and cold storage. I discussed various wallets and risk versus convenience. Show NotesMarket Minute:BTC price: $8457Finney(0.00001 BTC): $0.8424 hour volume: $7.5B / 905k BTCMarket cap: $142 billionCoins in Circulation: 16.8M@tipmayermultiple: 200dma 8021.15, mayer multiple=1.05xTransaction fees: 69sats/Byte(24) 74.5sats/Byte(7d)Suggested fees (sats/B): 91.3next block, 10 next hour, 4.9 same daylocalbitcoins $102.8M(global)/ $7.1M(USA) last 7 daysbisq $272k(global)/ $24.5k(USA) last 7 daysSoftware Wallets:Bitcoin CoreElectrumSamouraiBreadHardware Wallets:TrezorLedgerOpendimeColdcardPaper Wallets:Infographic on Paper WalletsPaper wallets videoOther Links:Blockstream Satellite Secure your wallet from Bitcoin.orgPaper WalletsGlacier ProtocolBitfinex redistributes coins after lossesMt.Gox worst exchange hackingBTC-e users caught in limboSupport the show through Patreon or direct donationsMusic Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyThank You by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud38:53February 11, 2018Where do I buy Bitcoin? [Episode 3]Today were discussing the three main avenues of buying bitcoin, buying in person, centralized exchanges, and decentralized exchanges. There are risks and benefits of each as we discuss in todays show.Show Notes:Market MinuteBTC price: $11044Finney(0.00001 BTC): $1.1024 hour volume: $7.8 billionMarket cap: $186 billion@tipmayermultiple: 200dma 7547.29, mayer multiple=1.47xTransaction fees: 109sats/Byte(24) 150sats/Byte(7d)localbitcoins $80.2M(global)/ $7.9M(USA) last 7 daysbisq $234,440(global)/ $20,570(USA) last 7 daysBuying in person* LocalBitcoins* Paxful* Clark Moodys Street Price IndicatorCentralized Exchanges* Gemini* Bitstamp* Kraken* BitfinexExchange Comparisons* Clark Moodys Exchange Tickers uncheck all, then add back the ones you want to compare* CryptowatchDecentralized* Bisq* Hodl Hodl not yet activeArticles* Article about batching* KYC/AML forum thread* Wikipedia articles on KYC and AML* Bitcoin.orgs list of SegWit AdoptionHardware Wallets* Trezor* OpenDime and ColdCard* LedgerOther:* Sorry the images on twitter about Coinbase outages have been taken down since Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyThank You by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on SoundcloudFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud29:00January 27, 2018What is the Blockchain?[Episode 2]Today were talking about the blockchain and how it keeps bitcoin transactions honest and secure. If you missed Episode 1, we talked about what Bitcoin is and why you should care.Show Notes:* Explain Bitcoin Like Im Five* Mining and Blockchain* DASH school first three videos* BitcoinCore can serve as both node and wallet software*34:23January 22, 2018What is Bitcoin (and why should you care) ? [Episode 1]Today were discussing the fundamentals of what Bitcoin is, and what it can do for you.Show Notes:* Andreas Antonopoulos Youtube* Bitcoin & Markets Podcast* Bitcoin & Markets Resources* Explain Bitcoin Like Im Five* You Dont Understand Bitcoin Because You Think Money Is Real* A good basic explanation of money* Money Supply in the United StatesSorry I couldnt find the reddit story about the credit card thief.Music Credits:Morning Ritual by LIndecisChillhop RecordsListen on SpotifyFatherhood by Joakim KarudPurchase on BandcampListen on Soundcloud31:06January 13, 2018Make your own podcast for free with Anchor!

If your cup of tea is Ethereum, Ripples XRP, or any other digital asset, the information should be exactly as useful as it is for BTC.The standard lore in every traditional financial market is that the price is the one piece of data that tells you everything you need to know about a Forex trading pair, a commodity, the company behind a stock, or any other financial instrument. While experts who prefer fundamental to technical analysis disagree on this, the fact remains that the prices drive all markets and they determine if you make a profit or if you lose money.Cryptocurrency markets are not that different from traditional markets in that regard (though there are many crucial differences). SinceBitcoinremains the most critical digital asset in the world, and because all other coins are linked to it through trading pairs in crypto exchanges, everybody follows Bitcoins price. Bitcoin alone has driven the whole market up or down in the past. But unlike commodities, Forex, or the stock market, very few people have a sound idea of how BTCs price is determined.What do we mean by Bitcoins price, anyway? Bitcoin is included in trading pairs against almost every other altcoin in the world and many fiat currencies as well. A different number characterizes every pair, obviously, so the question of what is BTCs price is not as straightforward as it may seem. But the answer is quite simple when you know it. It refers to the number that the worlds leading exchanges report on the BTC/USD trading pair, or to an average of all the available prices (which is the price that sites like CoinMarketCap report).It behooves us to keep in mind that Bitcoin is a decentralized asset that trades all over the world at every possible time. Its in the nature of the beast that every exchange in the world reports the price its offering, according to the laws of supply and demand, and that different exchanges will show different numbers.Theres no unified Bitcoin price. The ciphers across the board are usually are very alike but never exactly the same, so while the general trend is the same all over the world, the small details are different from platform to platform. Its all about the activity each exchange has, the geopolitical zone, even the time of the day. So while average values are useful, you should expect to find slight differences in the price when you go in to perform a trade.If we want to understand how Bitcoins price works, then we need to understand how Bitcoins price is settled in an individual cryptocurrency exchange platform. Lets see.Discovering the price Its the process by which traders come together, negotiate a trade, and reach an agreement on the price they will adopt. Buyers want to pay as little as possible while sellers want to get as much as they can. So they meet in the middle after negotiating and compromising a little.The price that any exchange reports is quite simply the price at which the most recent trade happened.This brings us to another question: how do buyers and sellers manage to agree on any given number? Lets find out.The order book Every trading organization includes a thing called the order book. Its not a physical book, but a page filled with market data. Its like the story of the days market transactions. Every buy and sell order is in there.The buy-side features all the standing offers (also called bids) and the prospective price; the sell-side includes all the offers to sell the asset (also called asks). The book consists of and displays recent trades too. Its usually formatted as a list or as a chart.The top right lists the asks. It shows the price the seller wants, as well as the number of coins he has for sale. The bottom contains the trade history, which tells you the number of traded coins as well as the trading price. The last price is the current asset value in the exchange. That is the Bitcoin price, and it remains steady until further trading happens.Makers and takers Supply and demand are usually invoked to explain the price away. If there are more buyers than sellers in the market, then the price goes up and vice versa. This is a bit too simplistic because it takes two to tango. Neither bulls nor bears can decide on the price because they have to negotiate with each other to reach an agreement.The driving force behind the price is more about the degree of aggressivity that the bulls or the bears are willing to show. The side with the most motivation is willing to pay higher spread costs (the difference between the best bid and the best ask) so that the trade is settled as soon as possible. Those are the takers, as theyre taking the offer in the book. The maker is the one who initiated the trade.Takers and the price Let us consider the following scenario. Say that a group of uncoordinated but determined buyers is feeling sure that the price is going to surpass the USD 10.000,00 level in the next five days. If theyre so persuaded, then theyll know that any price under the 10k line will make them profit in a matter of days so theyll be willing to buy and accept the spread.If the current price happens to be USD 9.400,00, then the buyers will make USD 600,00 minus the spread (which could be typically around USD 50,00). The determined buyers, in our example, will buy everything available at the current price. Then everything there is at USD 9.450,00 and so on. They will keep going up the ask list until they get near 10k.If the bulls are energetic enough, the sellers will quickly notice. Consequently, they will rise their ask prices. That will keep driving the price up until the buying pressure dilutes. At this point, things could turn around. This is how prices go up and down over time.The price, the exchanges, and arbitrage The price discovery process happens in every exchange platform around the globe, of course. Its a continual phenomenon that never rests. Its ongoing every day of the week and every hour of the day. Unlike Forex, for instance, that rests after the NYC session ends on Fridays afternoon, the cryptocurrency market is always active.The corollary we need to learn from this is clear: there is no such thing as an officialBitcoin price. Each platform is independent, and it will value the asset according to its internal trading forces. That doesnt mean theres not a general global trend that converges to a specific number. But its not an institutional thing but the side effect of the aggregated activity in all exchanges.Theres a process that links the prices across exchanges, and that helps to consolidate the worlds trend in Bitcoin prices. Its called arbitrage. Arbitrage is a trading strategy in which investors exploit the difference in price between platforms.If Bitcoin is cheaper in BitStamp than in Coinbase, for instance, then you can buy at the first platform and sell at the second one and make a profit. Its a quick and low-risk move. In this way, the traders create a link of sorts among the worlds platforms so that the general trend remains consistent everywhere.The dominant exchanges The worlds largest exchanges can affect the market significantly, and we also need to take that into account in understanding what makes the Bitcoin price tick. The platforms that mediate the most substantial trading volumes in the market tend to be considered more authoritative as sources for the correct price.So if the BTCs value surges in, say Binance, backed up by a substantial trading volume, the chances are that other exchanges will follow the trend. If it happens at many major platforms simultaneously, that will most certainly set a global trend in a matter of minutes.So why are the most significant players more influential? Well, because traders pay more attention to the price in those platforms. Seasoned traders expect new trends to start at the largest exchanges and then permeate the rest of the market through arbitrage and general market sentiment. This phenomenon is global, and its completely independent of each platforms local fiat currency valuation. Crypto is isolated from fiats for the most part because most of the trading pairs are crypto/crypto, instead of crypto/fiat.The indexes The lack of an official BTC price, even as general trends and price synchronization effects do exist within the market, opens an opportunity window for many private companies to compute a composite index for the price and make it available to the public.There are several ways to calculate indexes, the most popular one being the weighting of prices according to trading volume and then coming up with a weighted average. This practice comes from Forex markets in which the worlds main domestic currencies (USD, EUR, CNY, JPY, etc.) have an index while they can have slightly different prices in every country.The indexes are helpful in that they do show the global trends. Otherwise, the information from a single local market could deceive cryptonauts into making biased decisions. For instance, if a large sell order gets placed on, say, Bitfinex, the price in that platform will plummet, at least for a while. But does that mean that theres a global crisis for BTC? Not necessarily as the price could keep steady in every other platform.Final thoughts on determining Bitcoin price Now you have a detailed, blow-by-blow, description of the market process that ends up deciding the Bitcoin price. Its global, its quite complicated, but its essential to understand it as best as possible because otherwise, getting involved in the trade becomes a little too suspicious as lack of understanding breeds mistrust.Weve shown you something of what goes on under the hood. Its all a bit technical, and it can be hard to follow. Theres no doubt about that. Nevertheless, its handy. If youre car breaks down and you know a bit about mechanics, then you can see under the hood and, if the problem is not too bad, youll probably find a way to keep it running smoothly enough to get you home or to a shop for service. If however, you know nothing, then youll need to call for help, and youll be stranded while the help arrives and for as long as the car is in the shop.The cryptocurrency markets are your car, but theres one crucial difference: when something goes wrong, theres no help. Nobody will come to your rescue, youll just get the stranded part, and youll pay for it with your hard-earned digital wealth. Thats why knowing whats under the hood can be critical.Weve explained the whole process as it applies to Bitcoin. But the price for every other cryptocurrency in the market follows the very same mechanism. So if your cup of tea is Ethereum, Ripples XRP, or any other digital asset, the information should be exactly as useful as it is for BTC.We hope you find this article illuminating as you navigate the cryptocurrency markets and that it will help you to make informed choices and keep your profit levels up. Happy trading!FeaturedUp NextBitcoin Price Revives to $10,500; Can BTC Touch $11,000 Today?Don't MissInterview: Shapeshifts Erik Voorhees Sees Bitcoin at $20,000 Year End, 2020 Next Bubble Cycle, Ledger Support This YearClick to commentLast Friday Bitcoin (BTC) price marched within just a few dollars reach of $11,000 and it seemed that the weekend would be a bullish one. The top digital asset was on the verge of leaping over the descending trendline of the massive wedge. A mysterious$1 billion Bitcoin transferspotted by Whale Alert had some speculating that a whale or an institutional investor was moving funds into Bakkts custody service.Shortly after topping out at $10,938, Bitcoin sharplyreversedcourse and traders were left to speculate whether Federal Reserve ChairmanJerome PowellsBitcoin comments put a damper of the bullish price action. Or perhaps the advent ofBakkts (physically delivered) Bitcoin futurescontracts was repeating the CBOE/CME Bitcoin futures product that launched to much hype right at the peak of the 2017 monster rally.Lets take a look at the current price action and see if we can determine what Bitcoin is up to.BTC USD Daily Chart. Source: TradingViewThe recent move from $9,350 to $10,800 brought Bitcoin price above the 50-day MA. Previously, it was pinned between the 50 (black) and 100 (orange) day MA.As BTC made a strong run at $11,000, a spike in bear volume crushed BTC but buyers stepped in and absorbed the dump. BTC is maintaining the range its been in for the last week abd $10,500 now acts as resistance whereas previously it functioned as a support.BTC USD Daily Chart. Source: TradingViewThe 12 EMA (black) and 26 EMA (orange) are also on the verge of converging and a move to $11,000 brings BTC right against the upper trendline of the wedge.$11,091 (X) could act as resistance and a spike in bull volume could push BTC as high as $11,450.A move to $12,033 would place Bitcoin at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level from the $13,800-$9,067 retrace.If BTC price breaks below this point, there is soft support near $10,250 a point which also lies near the 50% Fibonacci retracement level.BTC USD Weekly Chart. Source: TradingViewShort term bearish but long term market structure and sentiment are bullish On the weekly time frame, BTC regained the 12 EMA as support and on lower time frames it is trading between the two moving averages. Some would say a dip below the 26 EMA opens up the door to bears but keeping an eye on the longer time frame, one remembers that the 111 EMA, 128 EMA, and the 20 weekly MA (black) have served as reliable bounce points when BTC turned bearish.Bitcoin closed the week above the 20-WMA and has put a little space between each other but the weekly moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) in now in its second week of a bear cross with a negative histogram.BTC-USD Weekly MACD. Source: TradingViewLongs vs. shorts BTC-USD BitMEX Longs vs Shorts Daily Chart. Source: TradingViewAs shown on the BTC/USD Longs daily chart, bulls have tested the resistance line 27,900 on multiple occasions and as BTC gathers momentum, it looks as if this point could be conquered at some time later on.BTC/USD Shorts on the other hand, have ample room to keep moving upward and we can see that it is Longs that are piling into leveraged positions at a higher rate than shorts.Sentiment wise, Bitcoin remains bullish and the macro market structure still has the potential to lean toward bulls.Bearish scenario As the Bollinger Bands tighten on the daily timeframe and BTCs price range narrows to correspond with the narrowing descending wedge, Bitcoin could drop below the 20MA at $10,167. This could lead to a pullback to $9,469-$9,350, which would be a full retrace of last weeks action.The Volume Profile Visible Range (VPVR) shows relatively stout purchasing demand around $9,500 and this begins to fizzle out near $9,300, which is below the base of the wedge pattern and the bottom Bollinger Band arm.As a matter of last resort, $9,200-$9,100 would be the last support before an uptick in buying demand presents itself near $8,500. A drop to $9,300-$9,100 would be the third test of this support. Admittedly, no one knows if it will hold or give way next time around.Bullish scenario As mentionedpreviously, if Bitcoin price could set a higher high near $11,450 it would not only be encouraging, but would also bring the digital asset above the descending trendline of the wedge pattern.Furthermore, there appears to be a massive inverse head and shoulders (IH&S) pattern in play that originates from Aug. 12.BTC USD Daily Chart. Source: TradingViewThe IH&S has a neckline at $10,920 and this point conveniently aligns with the descending trendline of the wedge at roughly Sept. 18. As suggestedpreviously, Sept. 15-Sept. 23 is bound to provide some excitement and Bitcoin volatile is likely to spike around during this time.Alternatively, a bounce from $10,000 is not out of the question and Bitcoin has crossed the $10K mark at least 19 times in the past few months.A drop to the 20-MA ($10,167), $10,000 or even $9,450 could stir up enough demand to bring Bitcoin right back to $10,800 as this would simply follow the current pattern of consolidation within the wedge.Though, it must be said that once breached, the 20 MA of the Bollinger Band indicator frequently flips from support to resistance. Bitcoins current struggle to cross above $10,500 on the 4-hour chart is indicative of this.If Bitcon drops below $10,167, then this point is likely to become resistance and the lengthy pattern of lower lows within the wedge pattern also support the possible trend.Ultimately, its anyones guess where Bitcoin goes from here. Obviously time will tell and the fact that BTC is tightening, along with the Bollinger bands within the narrowing wedge means BTC is fast approaching a decision point.Over the weekend veteran trader Peter Brandttweetedthe following chart and said:Bitcoin meets the definition of a descending triangle. Dont let newbie chartists tell you different. Right-angled triangles imply (but do not demand) a resolution thru the horizontal boundary.Traders are advised to keep a close eye on volume as it continues to drop off but we all know volume precedes price.As BTC tightens and volatility becomes more restrained, keeping a close eye on the order books across the largest exchanges and Bitcoins volume could be provide valuable insight into which way the asset will break.Source: cointelegraphContinue ReadingA cryptocurrency millionaire nearly lost his life after someone pointed a gun to his head, threatening to shoot him. The multi-millionaire managed to escape, but the incident demonstrates why you should never tell anyone how much your fortune is worth.Bitcoin Millionaire Almost Lost His Life A Norwegian multi-millionaire whoreportedlymade his fortune with cryptocurrency almost lost his life, according to local media outlet TV2.In May of this year, the multi-millionaire from Oslo heard his doorbell ringing in the afternoon. As he opened the door to see who is was, the man saw someone point a gun to his head and heard them say, Lie down or Ill shoot.Fortunately, the multi-millionaire managed to escape after jumping off of his own balcony on the second floor. The report doesnt say if the man was injured or not.The man has spent the past decade working with cryptocurrencies, and its said that his account is worth more than $11 million. The report also states that the multi-millionaire has previously been fairly public about how much money hed made from cryptocurrency, which is perhaps what attracted the attention of the robber.The case will be brought to court on October 17th and 18th by Oslo police lawyer Ellen Karine Aas. The perpetrators attorney said that his client wont admit to criminal charges and refused to give any further comment.Its not the first time someones been targeted for his cryptocurrency riches. Last yearin Johannesburg, South Africa, a Bitcoin trader waskidnappedand tortured by several individuals in connection with his Bitcoin holdings.Its Important to Stay Safe There are at least a few things that you can do to prevent yourself from getting into situations of this kind.First things first, dont tell people about your riches. Theres absolutely no value in anyone knowing how much Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency you own. Silence is golden. If you get into a situation of the kind, however, just lie. Deny as much as you can and try to cast as much doubt as possible even if you own Bitcoin.Another thing you can do is keep a small amount of Bitcoin in a separate account that you can always use in order to appease attackers. You can also use a multi-sig wallet and give the other key to a person you trust, or just keep it safe in a deposit box.In addition to the above,CryptoPotatohas prepared alist of 9 tipsthat you can use to keep your crypto wallet safe.Yet, its important to remember that theres no amount of money worth more than your life. If push comes to shove and theres no other way out, simply forfeit your fortune. Its definitely less valuable than you are.Source: .cryptopotato: Continue ReadingBitcoin price is under pressure and it recently declined below the $10,500 support against the US Dollar.The price is struggling to climb higher and is approaching the $10,200 support area.There is a key bearish trend line forming with resistance near $10,400 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).The price could accelerate decline if it breaks the $10,200 and $10,100 support levels in the near term.Bitcoin price is showing a few negative signs below $10,500 against the US Dollar. BTC could struggle to recover above the $10,400 and $10,500 resistance levels.Bitcoin Price Analysis Recently, bitcoin price struggled to surpass the$11,000 resistancearea against the US Dollar. As a result, there was a downside correction and BTC/USD traded below the $10,600 and $10,500 support levels. Moreover, there was a close below the $10,500 support level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Itopened the doors for more lossesbelow the $10,400 level.The price traded as low as $10,144 and recently started an upside correction. There was a break above the $10,300 level plus the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $10,952 high to $10,144 low. Additionally, the price spiked above the $10,500 resistance. However, it failed to continue higher. It also struggled to clear the 50% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $10,952 high to $10,144 low.More importantly, there is a key bearish trend line forming with resistance near $10,400 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. The pair is currently trading well below the $10,400 level. An immediate support area is near the $10,200 level. If there is a downside break below the $10,200 support area, there could be a bearish acceleration towards the $10,000 support area.On the upside, the main resistances are near the $10,400 and $10,500 levels. If there is a successful close above $10,500, the price could continue to rise in the coming sessions. The next key resistance is near the $10,650 level. It coincides with the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $10,952 high to $10,144 low.Looking at thechart, bitcoin price is clearly struggling to continue higher and is trading with a bearish angle below the $10,400 level. If the price continues to decline and breaks the $10,200 support area, there is a risk of more losses below the $10,000 level.Technical indicators:Hourly MACD The MACD is currently moving in the bearish zone.Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is now well below the 50 level.Major Support Levels $10,200 followed by $10,100.Major Resistance Levels $10,400, $10,550 and $10,650.News SourceContinue Reading

Subscribe:iTunes|Stitcher| Google Play | OvercastSponsorNexo is the only lender offering INSTANT crypto credit lines, which let you use digital assets as collateral to get cash in 45 fiat currencies and stablecoins.Nexo is also a strategic partner of exchanges, OTC desks, and crypto funds through its portfolio of structured financial products. Institutional counterparties can earn up to 8% annually on their idle stablecoins, enter into asset swap agreements, or directly borrow crypto.Individuals can also park their cash and stablecoins at Nexos Interest-Earning account to get an annual return of 8%. Whats more interest is paid out daily and you can add or withdraw funds at ANY time.So if you are looking to borrow, lend, or swap digital assets, Nexo is your GO-TO PARTNER. Definitely explore nexo.io or reach them on institutions@nexo.ioSponsorThe Nomics API offers squeaky clean and normalized primary source trade data offered through fast and modern endpoints. Instead of having to integrate with several exchange APIs of varying quality, you can get everything through one fast firehose.Table Of ContentsDescription Topics Discussed In This Episode Links Relevant To This Episode Quotes Transcript Description My guest today is actually me (Clay Collins).Inthis episode, I am interviewed by Rob Paone. Rob is the host of theCrypto Bobby Podcast. Hes also the founder ofProof of Talent, a boutique recruiting firm that helps companies fill positions in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.A few months ago, Rob interviewed me for his podcast and I liked the content so much that I asked Rob if I could air a modified version of that conversation here on the Flippening. He generously said yes, so here we are. By the way, this is the second time Ive been on Robs show. You can listen tomy firstinterview with Rob at episode #11.In this conversation, Rob and I explore:How and why exchanges spam aggregators like CoinMarketCapWhat ticker stuffing is and how it worksWhy referring to fake volume as wash trading is an inaccurate description of the problemWhy liquidity providers that are really just providing volume as a service to exchanges and crypto projects are hurting the spaceWhat the crypto data ecosystem needs if it really wants to grow upTopics Discussed In This Episode The impact ofthe BitWise reportWhat is driving fake volume on exchangesThe difference between exchange spamming, volume spamming, and ticker stuffingWhyfake volume matters and who it impacts the mostHow retail traders can protect themselves from fake volumeHow Nomics.com is combatting exchange spam withtransparencyratingsWhy keeping up with spamwill be an ongoingbattleHow investors are usingon-chaindatato create better trading strategiesLinks Relevant To This Episode Quotes Transcript Clay: Welcome to Flippening, the first and original podcast for full time, professional, and institutional crypto investors. Im your host, Clay Collins. Each week, we discuss the cryptocurrency economy, new investment strategies for maximizing returns, and stories from the frontlines of financial disruption. Go to flippening.com to join our newsletter for cryptocurrency investors and find out just why this podcast is called Flippening.Clay Collins is the CEO of Nomics. All opinions expressed by Clay and podcast guests are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Nomics or any other company. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be relied upon as the basis for investment decisions.My guest today is actually me, your humble host Clay. On this episode, you will hear me interviewed by Rob Paone, the host of The Crypto Bobby Podcast and founder of Proof of Talent, which is a boutique recruiting firm that helps companies fill positions in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. A few months ago, Rob interviewed me for his podcast and I liked the content so much that I asked Rob if I could air a modified version of that conversation here for you today. He generously said yes, so here we are. By the way, this is the second time Ive been on Robs show. See the show notes for links to the previous episode we did together.Anyway, youre probably used to me being the one asking the questions. In this episode, we flip the script and I hope you enjoy what happens when the tables are turned. In this conversation, Rob and I discuss, one, how and why exchanges spam aggregators like CoinMarketCap. Two, what ticker stuffing is and how it works. Three, why referring to fake volume as wash trading is an inaccurate description of the problem. Four, why liquidity providers that are really just providing volume as a service to exchanges and crypto projects are hurting the space. And five, what the crypto data ecosystem needs if it really wants to grow up.Well get right to this episode in just a second, but before we get started, Id like to pause for a moment to tell you that this episode is brought to you by the good folks at Nexo. Heres a word from them. Nexo is the only lender offering instant crypto credit lines, which let you use digital assets as collateral to get cash in 45 fiat currencies and stablecoins. Nexo is a strategic partner of exchanges, OTC desks, and crypto funds throughout its portfolio of structured financial products. Institutional counterparties can earn up to 8% annually on their idle stablecoins, enter into asset swap agreements, or directly borrow crypto. Individuals can also park their cash and stablecoins in a Nexo interest-earning account and get an annual return of 8%. Whats more, interest is paid out daily and you can add or withdraw funds at any time. So if you are looking to borrow, lend, or swap digital assets, Nexo is your go-to partner. Definitely explore nexo.io or if youre an institution, you can reach out to them at institutions@nexo.ioAs a side note, I really like this team. I recently had the opportunity to speak to one of their cofounders, Anthony, and just had a really great and inspiring conversation about the future of crypto backed loans and interest earning accounts. Again, check them out at nexo.io.This episode is also brought to you by the Nomics API and CSV Data Export Service. If you need an enterprise-grade crypto market data API for your fund, smart contract, or app, or if you need historical CSV dumps of trading data or crypto market cap data from top exchanges or even obscure ones, then consider trying out the Nomics API or our historical data export service. Our cryptocurrency API enables programmatic access to clean, normalized, and gapless primary source trade data across a number of cryptocurrency exchanges. Instead of having to integrate with multiple exchange APIs of varying quality, you can get everything through one screaming fast fire hose. And if youd like to order historical cryptocurrency market data as CSV exports from top exchanges, email us at sales@nomics.com.Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. Heres my conversation with Rob Paone. Enjoy. Rob: Clay. How have things been in the past? Almost a year since we last chatted?Clay: Things have been great. We continue to grow in traffic and Alexa rank and I think the consumer side of things has always been fun for us, but our bread and butter is the data business, and thats been going really well. Weve learned a lot more about the needs of high-frequency traders in the space and people using a variety of different strategies.I think when we came into the space we were so new, nobody knew who we were until the only customers we were getting were people with these really niche, obscure data needs. And because of our dataset and how it works we were able to meet those and its nicer to have a little bit of a broader exposure now.Rob: Awesome. Its been cool to see you guys continuing growing at Nomics. I think one of the things that weve been talking about lately, its been brought to light at least from an industry perspective, I think a lot of people behind the scenes knew it was happening, but one of the big things that really pushed this topic of conversation forward was the Bitwise report that came out that really unveiled the curtains a little bit on what was happening at some of these cryptocurrency exchanges and got the industry talking. Would love to have your take at a high level about what that Bitwise report was about and just your general thoughts on it.Clay: Hey, this is Clay cutting in to give you some context about the Bitwise report. On March 19, 2019, Bitwise, which is a crypto asset management firm, filed a report with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in hopes of getting their Bitcoin ETF approved. In the report, Bitwise asserted that 95% of exchange volume was fake and only 10 exchanges had real volume. This report spread like wildfire throughout crypto Twitter. Okay, back to the show. First and foremost, I think this report did so much for the industry and really kind of kicked everyones ass, ours included. So, its a really positive thing.They said a couple things that were really interesting. The first thing that they said, which is kind of shocking, is that there were only 10 exchanges that had actual volume. You know, that needs to be qualified a lot. So first off they dont actually define what actual volume is, but the implication is that theres only 10 exchanges that dont have a preponderance of fake volume. What do they look at in this Bitwise report? They looked at exchanges that had Bitcoin volume. As far as we know, they were only looking at exchanges with order books, like local Bitcoins wouldnt count and ShapeShift wouldnt count because they dont have centralized order books.Exchanges with order books, and on those exchanges they looked at exchanges with BTC to Tether or BTC to USC pairs. They werent looking at the entire universe, they werent looking at the decentralized exchanges because most of those are just, you know, they just have ERC20 and Ethereum tradings. They just look at these specific Bitcoin markets on centralized exchanges and they only looked at the top 81 exchanges on CoinMarketCap.Theres a lot of sort of filters on what they looked at, but still the overwhelming evidence here is that wash trading is rampant, volume as a service is rampant, a lot of these services being provided by liquidity providers or market makers. Theres definitely a seedy underbelly to not only whats happening on these exchanges, but the world of spam.The first finding was only 10 out of 81 exchanges had real volume. I question a little bit that theres just 10. There appears to be a little bit of base 10 bias. Why not 9 or 11? 10 seems kind of convenient. They reported that on the BTC to Tether and BTC to USC pairs, 95% of the volume was fake. Its interesting. Its a cool report. Theres a lot you can learn from the report about how fake volume works, but this rabbit hole goes so much deeper.Rob: Lets get a little bit deeper on that. There are maybe only a handful of these 90 exchanges that were looked at that are actually really trading crypto, or BitCoin specifically, but then Im sure a lot of that also applies to a vast number of altcoins, maybe even more so than of the altcoins too when you look at it.How is this taking place? What is going on that is driving this fake volume? I know one thing you mentioned was this like liquidity as a service, these market makers. What is happening on these exchanges that just produces all this fake volume?Clay: I think the first thing that we need to do when sort of considering whats happening here is to start using the name spam. People are referring to wash trading or toxic activity and all kinds of maybe sublimated terms but at the end of the day, this is spam. A lot of whats happening here is people gaming the system so they can get to the top of the CoinMarketCap rankings.A couple days ago I was at CoinMarketCap, I was looking at the list of top exchanges, and everyone says its like Binance is the top exchange, and I couldnt see Binance in the top 10. It looks like theyve done some things to improve it there, but most of the exchanges that I saw on the exchange rankings were exchanges that Ive never heard of, or I could call everyone I know and they could call everyone they knew and like nobody has ever placed trades on these exchanges.Why is this spamming happening? Theres a lot of reasons. When an exchange is at the top of the list, first and foremost they get traffic. So a lot of these aggregators link directly to the markets pages for trading pairs so it generates traffic for them and in some cases in can become a self fulfilling prophecy. You spam your way to the top of the list, you get more traffic, theres more liquidity and you start getting more maybe organic trading happening on your platform.Another reason is when theyre at the top of these lists, they can charge huge listing fees to ICOs, they can run IEOs for coins. This is something that were seeing a lot more recently where exchanges like Binance will take a cryptocurrency project, will handle the public offering and charge a cut. And often theyre making seven figures plus for these types of deals.Theres a lot that they get out of this when exchanges rank higher on lets say CoinMarketCap, now theyre on the first page of the exchange index, which means that the link that they get from CoinMarketCap is more valuable from an SEO perspective. Theres so many reasons why they might do this. Free advertising, theres a lot going on here.I was thinking about what this is. At the end of the day, what should this be called? I was like, I dont want to call this wash trading or toxic activity. I was like, This is exchange spamming, and theres a subset of exchange spamming called volume spamming, and theres a subset of volume spamming that Im calling ticker stuffing.For those of you who dont know what a ticker is, a ticker is just kind of like a shitty candle. Most what we know is candles typically have these defined boundaries. But what CoinMarketCap and other aggregators generally ingest, for the most part, are ticker feeds. And tickers are like a 24 hour candle that ends whenever the exchange decides it should end. So it doesnt end at the end of the day, or on minute boundaries, it just ends whenever its computed.Its time stamp of computation, open, closed, high, low, and volume. If you get good at this, you can literally just go in and take that volume number, youve got open, close, high, low, volume, and you can just change it. You can just like, add you can say like, Hey, whatever the figure is, add a billion dollars, and send that right over to CoinMarketCap or whoever and just pump up your volume.The easiest way to do this is ticker stuffing. Youre just shoving volume in that candle. Theres a lot of other ways that its done as well, but ticker stuffing is probably the most frequent thing that we see. Rob: When I look at this, part of me thinks this is a problem for the industry because a lot of people pull data from CoinMarketCap, so theyll go and theyll point to, Oh wow, the volume for Bitcoin today was 30 billion dollars, volume for whatever was X billion dollars, or million dollars, and maybe theyll make some type of decision off of that.Then part of me thinks, are retail traders or even institutions as well or maybe just more sophisticated traders, are they taking this data from CoinMarketCap and really falling for a lot of this stuff? Thats something you said where maybe it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy where you have FCoin or whatever random exchange basically transaction mining or big volume-ing their way to the top and then they actually get users. Or is this just something where maybe theyre at the top but youd hope that people are actually looking at this and being like, Well, Ive never heard of this exchange once in my life, Im not going to actually trade there. Clay: What weve seen from our institutional customers is theyve known about this happening for a long time. Theyre not believing the volumes, theyre only trading on places that they trust. But I think the average consumer is probably the one thats suffering here. Theres a lot of ways it can hurt you.I dont think this fake volume generally for the higher market cap coins moves the price a ton. It doesnt look like it moves the price a ton. As you get further down, this volume can, especially if assets are being priced on a volume weighted basis. But there are a lot of ways that I think retail investors can get screwed.The first one is that they see all this fake volume and they assume that an exchange has liquidity, right? That theyre going to be able to put forward a significant buy or sell order, maybe if theyre like, Hey, I was to take X number of dollars from my retirement or X percent or my retirement, I want to put it in Bitcoin, and they put through a trade and those order books just arent as deep as they look.I think the second thing is that when you see a top exchange on a place like CoinMarketCap, you might assume that its secure. Its a reputable exchange, its a top exchange on this listing. I mean, people have sort of similar assumptions when they go to Google and they search for a loan, right? They assume that Googles not going to put crap at the top of the list.I think another aspect of this is when youre at the top of the listings, theres a certain amount of social proof that comes with that, right? If youre at the top of the listings day, after day, after day, those rankings mean something especially when a site is the top site in the space.I think thats mostly how the space is affected, is its affecting retail investors and institutions arent falling for this crap.Rob: If Im a retail trader and Im new to the space, how do I protect myself from the issue of fake volume? What do I look out for? Where do I look for data that isnt plagued with all this nonsense and have wash trading and just fuckery?Clay: I guess heres a part where Im going to shell a bit at Nomics.com/exchanges, we have a list of exchanges with highly transparent data practices. The impetus for this, a lot of other aggregators work in this area, really comes from the Bitwise reports. When the Bitwise report came out, the first thing that we asked ourselves was what are the good exchanges? What do these 10 good exchanges have in common?What we noticed is that of the 10 that Bitwise explicitly kind of blesses as being good, of course thats stuck in time and like the day after the report came out one of them could have become a bad actor, multiple ones could have become bad actors. But, what do these 10 exchanges have in common? What we found was 8 out of the 10 exchanges that Bitwise blessed provide full trade history. Not only are they providing the highest granularity trade data available, but theyre providing that data available back to the inception of the training pairs on those exchanges.Thats of course no guarantee that theyre not faking that data, but we kind of think about this like an IRS audit. If you were being audited by the IRS, you probably wouldnt want to give them every receipt, youd want to give them kind of aggregate summary reports on your financials and you would want to give them the least amount of history possible. Something like summary level data for maybe a year or two. If you start giving them receipts and you go back since the very beginning of your spending on all your accounts, theyre going to find stuff that you didnt even find. Theres probably going to be things you did that you didnt report, even if its not on purpose.We found that 8 out of 10 of the good actors are providing this super high quality data. And then when we looked at the exchanges that Bitwise called out as doing a lot of bad things, things that were obviously not good, we found that all of those exchanges, they explicitly called out 16 as doing not great things, but the assumption is all the others are doing bad things, too. But of the 16 that they called out, 14 of those 16 only provide ticker data with no history. The worst form of data possible with no history, whereas the good actors were high granularity data with full history.We created our exchange ranking index where we sort first by the transparency of these exchanges, and then we sort by volume. Binance is usually at the top of the list, Okex is not on the list because they dont provide a lot of transparency in general. These exchanges are all exchanges youve heard of. If you go to our exchange rankings, youll see exchanges that youve heard of, for the most part. Probably exchanges youve made trades on and stuff like Coinbase, Binance, Kracken, Poloniex, Gemini, etc.Rob: Looking at the ranking right now we have on the top Binance, Bithumb, Coinbase Pro, Kracken, Bitstamp, Poloniex, Ethfinex, Gemini, Bitflyer, a lot of the ones that people have heard of. And on the bottom we have Mercatox, Coinbene.Clay: itBit.Rob: itBits interesting with the D, maybe it gets a little bit of that because I think itBit is Paxos and maybe itBit was actually, if Im remembering correctly, itBit was actually listed in the Bitwise report as one of the 10 trusted exchanges. Is it more of a data issue there with them?Clay: I think thats important to note here. When we put out these rankings, a lot of people came to us and they told us about maybe exchanges that we labeled as a D in terms of transparency but maybe they thought were good actors. And then there are other exchanges that have done things, maybe they had bad customer service or someone had a bad experience that we labeled an A.Weve been very clear that this is an exchange transparency ranking. This isnt an overall, you know, all your business practices grade. itBit, were actually in conversations with them about their data transparency practices and we expect that within a few months here well be able to get much, much better data from them. We think theyre going to bump up the rankings but yeah, itBit right now only provides ticker data and they dont provide really any history at all. Thats why theyre there. We have some obscure exchanges that have an A rating, but theyve got really fantastic data practices so thats why theyre there.If you go to CoinMarketCap right now theyve cleaned some things up a little bit but youve got like Coineal is number four. I have no idea what Coineal is. I really have not even heard of it.Rob: Its not real.Clay: Yeah, I dont think its a real exchange. Youve got ZBG in there, youve got CoinBene was like the quintessential bad actor in the Bitwise report. If there was a villain in the Bitwise report, it was Coin sometimes I call it Coin-Bean. Is that CoinBene or Coin-Bean? I have no idea. CoinBene was the villain of the Bitwise report and CoinMarketCap has it as their number nine exchange.BitWise put out another report, a full white paper where they mentioned that FCoin was the top exchange by volume on CoinMarketCap in April. Yesterday I was on CoinMarketCap and they had an ad for FCoin, and I was like, Wow. And the ad was speaking to their trading volume. It was like, Wow, we have X number of Bitcoin transactions per day on our exchange according to CoinMarketCap, and I was like, This is a huge conflict of interest.I think its a lot like email spam back in the day. Way, way back in the day people just buy these CDs with email addresses and they would spam everyone and it would say things like porn or Viagra or whatever they were selling. And then folks like Gmail came along and they said, Anything with these words with this density, were going to flag and put into the spam folder, and then the spammers were like, Okay, were just going to use a zero instead of an O in porn and were going to swap out these characters. Were going to use a one instead of an L. And then Gmail caught that and then they came back again and theyre like, All right, were going to put the entire message in an image and that way we can say whatever we want. And then Google started looking at the ratio of text to images. Its just an arms race.Folks have asked me, how are you going to fix this? I dont think this is the one and done thing. I think this is going to be a constant process. Thats why weve got a spam team here at Nomics. Its never going to be fixed. People are going to get more sophisticated over time, especially when you consider how decentralized the space is. The fact that anyone can, you know with like ZRX, start up an exchange basically in a weekend. Were going to have security token exchanges, non-fungible exchanges, were going to have local exchanges.I mean, I think were just going to see more exchanges and this is going to be a harder and harder problem to spot over time. Tons of trades going through but flat order books or sometimes we see these huge order books and very little trading volume. Sometimes well get the trades from an exchange and well add up when we know we have gap-less data, so some of these exchanges will give each trade a unique identifier, so each trade increments by one. We actually know that we have all the trades that have happened during a day and then well see the candles that theyll send over and the candles will have like a gajillion dollars more volume than the individual trades added up.Whats another thing that we see? Sometimes well see if theres a big *** spread, sometimes well see this bids leap across, like pole vault across the ask, and some order will be filled like way out of market. Something for some ridiculous price for some *** coin and that order will be placed. Its like, how does a matching engine even make that happen? You cant snipe off orders from the order book. I mean, you can on some decentralized exchanges. But its just amateur hour right now. You can do anything and get away with it.Rob: I think its pretty clear at this point in time that there is a lot of shenanigans, a lot of bad things happening in the crypto space from an exchange perspective. But youve been in the industry kind of working hand in hand with these exchanges for over a year now really.Clay: Hey! 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Definitely explore nexo.io or if youre an institution, you can reach out to them at institutions@nexo.ioOkay, back to the show.Rob: What are some of the good exchanges doing outside of the data? How have things progressed in the past year where things might actually be looking positive outside of the BS fake volume wash trading with some of the legit exchanges?Clay: I think the main thing that seems to be changing is that these exchanges are starting to take their data practices a lot more seriously. CoinMarketCap, as far as I know, is the very first aggregator and all they required was a ticker feed because its really easy to start ingesting data from an exchange with a ticker feed its like five, six data points.An exchange would get up and running and the first thing they wanted to do when they were live to get distribution for their markets is, its like, Hey, we got to throw up a ticker so we can get listen on CoinMarketCap. And thats smart in a lot of ways. With the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq theres only really two big exchanges in the United States when it comes to stocks and they have a monopoly on the data. They charge an arm and a leg for their data.But if youre a crypto exchange, a lot of times your data is like this distribution channel. Its a good way to advertise what your product is and if your products are these trading pairs where you make some money every time a trade goes across them, it really behooves you to share data.These exchanges at the beginning were doing the very bare minimum. Its like CoinMarketCap needs a ticker feed, well give them a ticker feed, and then essentially after that they would ignore their data all together. Maybe at some point a market maker would come to them and say, Wed like order book data. Theyd come through and theyd just provide order book data snapshots or something through a web socket, but no historical order book data. To this day, I cant off the top of my head think of one exchange that provides historical order book data. I dont think anyone does that.What were seeing is that data practices, to a much greater extent since this report and since folks like us and others have done things to improve this state, or to add some kind of filtering, is exchanges are realizing that they need to do more than the bare minimum around data. They need to provide an audit trail and they really need to step up their game is they want institutional investors to take them seriously.The problem is that so many of these exchanges have been fudging data and its kind of like this arms race of volume spamming where its like you have to, in order to be at all taken seriously, you have to get past everyone else who is also faking volume. I dont think well see any time soon exchanges opening up full history, but theyll probably say like, Hey, were going to start on this date and moving forward data is going to be available.I was talking to one exchange and I said, Hey, in order to give you an A rating we need full trade history. And they said, Ill never forget this, theyre like, Oh yeah, no, we just dont keep it.Are you kidding me? Hard drive space is super cheap. Hes like, Yeah, its just too expensive. No its not. Its not too expensive. The hard part is not storing it, its everything else. I think they were probably just lying. We get lied to all the time.Rob: As somebody in the crypto blockchain world who sells your API to professional sophisticated traders, institutional investors, whoever it might be, Im curious as far as the past year or so, how have the conversations been reflective of the price? Has the recent bounce back in 2019, do you feel like thats brought more interest back into crypto or specifically into the data surrounding crypto? Or have the conversations for you remained relatively stable kind of regardless of price and considered maybe a more sophisticated class of trader that youre mostly speaking with?Clay: Our website traffic has gone up with the prices, but the API business and the data business, its growing, it doesnt seem to be correlated with prices. We were growing even when the market was down. Were just a lot like a utility company. Its boring basics kind of business and were not seeing sales of API rise and fall based on the market cap. Its mostly correlative with like how good of a job were doing marketing that business.Rob: When you look at just kind of like where the market is going, what type of features or functionality in the trading ecosystem do you think needs to come into place maybe outside of data?Obviously, yourself and other individuals are working to improve the level of quality and the transparency of data for trading, but what else is there in the industry that needs to happen for this to just kind of continue to move in a more, lets say, professional manner?Clay: I really think that the biggest products like we dont need another fork of Bitcoin, we dont need another fork of Ethereum or Zcash. What we need I think is just Bitcoin infrastructure. I think the lightning network needs to grow, I think we need more and better ways to earn internet and to borrow, preferably in trustless ways against those assets. I think that its just sort of the continued integration of really Bitcoin first and foremost into our daily financial lives.Its happening. I think at the very beginning it was about these tokens, but I love when I see Wire doing, and folks like Nexel or other loan based products, you know what Casa is doing with sort of these lighting nodes in peoples homes. I think its more of that kind of thing. I dont know, what do you think?Rob: Yeah, I would echo those sentiments. I think that its been interesting to watch as the bare market happened, I think it was a good cleansing of the space from a lot of either just bad actors or a lot of people that raised money with just no intention of actually doing anything with it. And then there were kind of a subset I think of people that continued to just kind of grind through it. Whether that has been on the Bitcoin side, like you said, Casa, I have a node kind of sitting a few feet away from me.Clay: Hey, me too.Rob: Its a pretty cool product, I like it. Whether its kind of advancements with Bitcoin and with lightning or there have been a lot of the narrative around D5 with Ethereum has been pretty interesting to watch whether thats the growth in CDPs or compound finance and borrow lending or the BlockFi and the Nexus of the world, I think theres just been a lot of increased utility of actually owning these assets. The protocol development on the base layer of Bitcoin and the base layer of Ethereum on some of these other assets as well has been pretty good to watch.All things being considered, I think the industry as a whole is moving in a positive direction, and its just kind of, people want things to happen quicker because there is usually a price associated with basically everything in the industry and it doesnt necessarily rely on any type of fundamentals at all. But its something that you kind of have to either have some type of long term conviction and be patient on or get out, kind of.Clay: If you think about the development of the internet, there was TCPIP, and then ATTP, and then HTML, and CSS, and I think a lot of people are expecting full on start ups that can do things like Uber and AirBNB. Were just not there. The tech stack is super, super, super early. Were still trying to get things like custody.I think the foundation is peoples expectations, they just seem like Instagram come and then blow up or weve seen all these things that have benefited from literally two decades of hard core innovation on top of the internet and were only one decade in right now so we dont have our AirBNB or Ubers just yet. But I think its coming.Rob: Yeah, and its like if you had TCPIP shares that you could publicly trade on a daily basis, 24/7, 365, too. It just adds in a whole nother level of complexity and removes I think a lot of any patience. It gives the nice dopamine hit when you look at the charts and things like that. But its very interesting in the short and I think long term, too, just how you can break down the perspectives and look at things for sure.Clay: I think kind of something thats different during this bull market versus the last one is I think weve just got a lot more sophistication among institutional investors, but also among individuals. I think the conversation that were having about data is just part of that. Its my understanding that there are so many more people that understand blockchain data and how blockchains work than understand how the exchange ecosystem works.We do this weekly webinar at Nomics where we go over like, heres how a Bitcoin exchange works, heres market data 101. We have people from like large banks and analysts that are like, didnt know how this stuff actually works. But more and more people do understand how this stuff works.When people come to us to buy data, the biggest problem we have is that people literally dont even know in many cases how to ask for what they want. They literally dont know how to specify what theyre looking for because yeah, theres a lot of similarities to sort of traditional exchanges. But its sort of this mix of like traditional exchanges and for X minus regulation, minus quality controls. Its just completely different.But I love seeing the infrastructure come together. I love to see peoples understanding of the space improve and I think were well on our way. I dont think were going to see Bitcoin at this is for entertainment purposes only. I dont think were going to see Bitcoin at like four grand again. I think those days are long gone, fingers crossed.Rob: I hope so. But I do tend to agree with just the commentary around infrastructure. I think that when you look back at how primitive and just general shitty a lot of the infrastructure was in 2017 that carried the entire crypto market up to 800 billion dollars. The exchanges and the level of support and basically everything about the market in 2017 was, whether it was centralized exchanges they just werent ready for, decentralized exchanges, the biggest decentralized exchange, really the only one at the time was EtherDelta.There are just so many more on-ramps and just such a broader variety of products that have had really two years at this point in time, or a year and a half at least to kind of season out and flush out a lot of the technical issues as well as just people issues with support and kind of building that out, thats been good to watch.One kind of question that Im a little bit curious on as far as working with the professional traders that you do that receive data from these exchanges that you provide to them. Another area that seems to be pretty hot right now is on-chain data as well. I know thats not something that you necessarily do with Nomics, but are you seeing professional traders kind of utilizing some type of combination of the Nomics API with something maybe from Coin Metrics of from some other place where theyre trying to utilize exchange data and on-chain metrics of the same point to create better investments or better trading strategies?Clay: Yes. Its still a pretty, sort of niche data need. Most investors in the space dont have a highly reliable, in the sense that it stands up to back tests, hypothesis about what to do with on-chain data. If theres more addresses those could potentially be from the same people so that could point to an increasing awareness in security or how Chainalysis is crawling the chain so what do more addresses mean? What does transaction volume on the Bitcoin network mean? Does it mean that more people are moving their coins to exchanges because theyre going to sell? Or does it mean that they want to exchange it for something else?I personally dont know of more than a handful of funds with active strategies that have really robust hypotheses around on-chain data that theyre willing to put a lot of money behind. So I think that space is still somewhat new and I think the further away you get from just really Bitcoin and Ethereum, the less predictability that kind of data has. If you go to like EOS or whatever, the people are just making up transactions and theres plenty of blockchains where transactions are really, really cheap and its not necessarily clear whats happening when transactions are taking place.Were still not getting a ton of requests for on-chain data. In my opinion, there isnt right now a mature, large market for on-chain data. I question whether or not a startup is going to generate enough capital with on-chain data to hire top talent and continue to grow. I think that that space and that ecosystem is not yet very commercially viable.I think its something that a lot of people want to look at and people its like nobody wants less data. But in terms of people willing to pay cold hard cash in large amounts that would justify top engineers and continued R&D, I dont know that that exists right now.Rob: One thing you mentioned was Chainalysis, another type of those blockchain analytics companies. Does that factor in at all to examining the kind of exchange data? Is that more of like an outlier, on-ramp, off-ramp type thing? Im just kind of curious if that has any type of play into the perceived trustworthiness or quality of data if any specific exchange might leverage something like a chain analysis?Clay: The people that come to us, typically theyre looking for data so that they can make more money. Chainalysis and those folks, or services like them, its more around regulation, security, forensics. Someone stole my Bitcoin, where did it go? Or exchanges like Coinbase have reportedly used tools like that to make sure that dirty money isnt getting into their wallets. I honestly have very little visibility into peoples forensic needs or needs for this data around regulatory purposes. Its more around making cash and generating returns.Rob: As far as everything goes I think weve covered quite a bit with the general topic of the nonsense around cryptocurrency exchanges, how somebody can potentially protect themselves around the issues that are happening right now. Is there anything maybe we didnt cover you would like to just kind of add onto at this point?Clay: I saw a tweet from Circle the other day and they were talking about the state of Poloniex when they purchased it. They had something like thousands upon thousands of open tickets when they purchased.Rob: It was like 190-something thousand.Clay: It was like 190-something thousand. I remember there was a point in 2017 where everyone was using Poloniex. At one point it was the top exchange.Rob: Top dog.Clay: Yeah, it was the top dog. To kind of be in a place where the top dog exchange has a hundred thousand plus open tickets to a place now where the top exchanges that people are using have solid operations in place. They are answering their support tickets for the most part. Its really refreshing and I think were just in a very different place right now in 2017 than we were in 2019 and its great to see real operators coming in.I think back in the day it was like any project with someone with a vaguely impressive pedigree was getting funded because BCs investors really didnt know who to back at that time. So youd see people where youd look at them and be like, Okay, Stanford computer science, ex-AirBNB, ex-Coinbase, or something, and then you dig into it and you realize they were like an intern at Coinbase, they dropped out of Stanford, and they were like a product manager at AirBNB for like eight months or something like that and youre like, How did that guy get funded?Its really great to see people with real experience I think building up companies and I think the VC money is getting smarter, theyre demanding roles on boards which, theres this sort of hardcore boot strapper part of me thats like, No VCs shouldnt be on boards, but actually my experience with VCs on boards is it makes for good governance. The governance sun on these companies is getting better and I think that the space is just up leveling over and over and over again. I think were still going to continue to be embarrassed again and again and again just like we were embarrassed by the Bitwise reports, I mean the Spacewise. It just keeps on getting better and its encouraging to see.Rob: Im on board with a lot of the things you said. I think theres a lot of good to be drawn from whats happened recently and just a lot of general improvements and I think a lot of that has just been kind of societal pressure or community pressure, which has been trying to cleanse out a lot of the bad actors and thats been nice. Just because you feel a little bit better about operating in the ecosystem. Theres still a lot of issues where you look at and youre like, This is a weird place to work full time. But outside of that, its I think still moving in the right direction, hopefully not getting worse at least because for some points in time it couldnt get much worse.Clay: Its less of an amateur hour environment than it used to be, thank God. Well, that concludes my conversation with Rob Paone from the Crypto Bobby Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it.Before you go, I want to mention that since weve started producing episodes at a much higher rate, we now have room for a few more sponsors. If you like the work we do and would like to support this show, then a sponsorship might be a good fit for you.I can say from our own experience that Flippening sponsorships work. Each and every time we put out an episode of this podcast, we mention our own API. And to date, every single one of those advertisements has resulted in at least one customer. In fact, we would do these shows even if nobody else sponsored because of the business it brings to us. And over 80% of paying customers mention that they heard of us through our podcast. If youre interested in sponsoring the show, please hit us up at support@nomics.com.Alright, that wraps up things for this week. Stay tuned for next weeks episode. Until then, take care.