The Reserve

the-reserve (36)in #bitcoin • 7 years ago (edited)

30 October 2017 | SUBSCRIBE

// BLOCKCHAIN WORLD SURPRISED POLITICS STILL EXIST

Bitcoin Gold, which aims to decentralise mining ability (and therefore control of the blockchain), forked Bitcoin this week as an apparent rejection of the specialisation in Bitcoin mining that has help lead to a centralisation of control over Bitcoin.

It is just another reminder that blockchains aren’t decentralised (yet), and are certainly not free of politics or governance issues; last week’s Tezos disaster is just one example of the back-room battles that are happening around the governance of every blockchain.

But it's clear that talking isn't enough - politics isn't enough - there is outright war. As our disaster of this week shows, with power and wealth at stake - much like in the world blockchains seek to replace - (digital) weapons will be deployed.

These are just manifestations of the hard lessons the libertarian crypto community is having to learn - that the politics, centralisation and control they are tasking blockchain with replacing is both very difficult to achieve - because people are still making the decisions - and most systems we have in place are good, protect people, and are, for the time being, here to stay.

Following on from my comments around Bitcoin’s market cap last week - it is exceptional that with just months of work, Bitcoin Gold currently has a ‘market cap’ of over $2 billion. The question is whether that is surprising, given it already has millions of users, and hundreds of key organisations supporting it?

// MUST READS

Bitcoin split in two, creating Bitcoin Gold
Blockchain in review: trends and opportunities by CB Insights
A deep dive into distributed ledger technology

// PRICING SUMMARY

// DISASTER OF THE WEEK

Bitcoin Gold was attacked immediately after the fork in the Bitcoin main chain. Their website came under a sustained DDOS attack, which has impacted its early price ascendancy - futures are trading nearer $150, down from $500. These attacks involve a network of compromised computers, known as a botnet, which flood a website's servers with page view requests, leaving legitimate traffic unable to get through.

In this case, 10 million requests per minute rendered Bitcoin Gold’s site unusable.

// TRACTION

The Centre for Disease Control teams up with IBM Watson to research the use of blockchain for storing and exchanging medical data.
Singapore aims to trial its own cryptocurrency next year.
IBM, Microsoft and Amazon and offers in an overview of blockchains as a service.
Singapore and Hong Kong’s Central banks signed a Fintech deal for mutual collaboration on blockchain.
Yetta announces ICO of European Commission funded blockchain.
Big VC firms are investing $4.7m in Orchid lab, a blockchain Tor internet service.
Managing balances in financial and commerce applications with the new cloud-based ledger service called Sequence.
Wirex partnered with SBI and will launch a japanese cryptocurrency payment card.

// ROAD TO REGULATION

Vladimir Putin orders to release a ICO regulatory framework by July of 2018.

The Financial Conduct Authority has accused financial institutions of withholding financial services from DLT start-ups in a detailed report on its sandbox.

// ICOS

Last week highlights:

Mingo raised $1.2m for a gamified cryptocurrency education platform
Blockv raised $21m for smart virtual goods on the blockchain
Unikoin Gold raised $33m for decentralized esport gaming tokens

Upcoming:

Cryder - Active - Decentralized taxi platform for freelance drivers
Dmarket - November 3, 2017 - Decentralized marketplace to turn virtual items into real commodities
Crypterium - October 31, 2017 - Aiming to be the leading cryptobank
Paycent - November 2, 2017 - Bridging the gap between fiat and cryptocurrency
Confideal - November 2, 2017 - A smart contract management service