Segwit2x Is Really Segwit16x / Ethfinex Begins Trading / SALT Loans Go Live!

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Story - Segwit2x? More Like 16x 1:00
http://b2x-segwit.io/

I really didn’t want to spend any time talking about this but enough people have asked about it that I’ll at least touch on it briefly.

The word is that the contentious Bitcoin hard fork which ultimately got cancelled at the beginning of November, is back.

Let’s be clear, it’s not back.
A group of developers are using the Segwit2x name for the purposes of PR, and it has worked.

As you’ll see from the media section of the B2X website, they have managed to fool all of these media outlets into publishing stories calling this a ‘rebirth’ of Segwit2x.

But like I said, this is not a rebirth. It is Segwit2x in name only for the purposes of PR.

It’s being talked about as if the thread that ended at the beginning of November has started up again, it hasn’t.

This is a brand new project, with a different team and a completely different plan.

You only need to take one look at the features section of their website and you’ll see they’re increasing the block size to 4 MB, making it Segwit4x really.

Then they are cutting down the block time by a factor of 4, making it more like Segwit16x, because that would be 16 MB’s of transactions processed every 10 minutes.

They’re also changing the way mining difficulty is recalculated and changing the mining algorithm to X11 which is what Dash uses.

That’s bears little to no resemblance to the original Segwit2x project.

And down to the fact that it has a different team.

Despite all that, the fork happens at Bitcoin block 501,451 and at time of recording we are at…

...according to https://btc.com/ but you can get a more accurate number on that by checking btc.com whenever you want an update.

For now that’s all I want to say on the subject.

Story - Trading Begins on Ethfinex 5:00
https://twitter.com/ethfinex/status/946044606092754949

This is for all existing Bitfinex account holders. They get exclusive access for the first two weeks.

Then from the 15th of January new accounts can be created.

I personally do not have an account with Bitfinex so I was not able to take a look inside Ethfinex.

https://www.ethfinex.com/

And when you go to Ethfinex and click open account…
You get a message that Bitfinex, Bittrex and I think a few other major exchanges have been displaying lately.

It basically says they are closed to new customers at the moment to give them the opportunity to upgrade their infrastructure, hire more staff etc.

While this may be frustrating for new customers, it’s a very responsible thing to do. The alternative is to let everyone in and allow the exchange to become slow and unstable.

For anyone who is not familiar with Ethfinex, the long term goal is for Bitfinex one of the biggest exchanges, to transform into a decentralised exchange.

Ethfinex, as the name suggests, is going to become an increasingly decentralised exchange for Ethereum tokens and maybe others.

I say it’s going to become increasingly decentralised because that’s their plan. At the moment Bitfinex is a centralised exchange but step by step they are going to make changes that move them further and further down the scale towards greater decentralisation.

Even to the point where customers who hold the Nectar token will effectively have a stake in Ethfinex.

I think this is a smart move for Bitfinex. They are engaging in that thing I call ‘creative destruction’.

They know that sooner or later their centralised exchange model is going to become disrupted by a decentralised competitor, so they are getting busy becoming that decentralised competitor before someone else does.

If you manage to get in to Ethfinex, leave a comment letting us know what it’s like if you would be so kind.

Story - SALT Loans Are Live 17:22
https://blog.saltlending.com/salt-loans-are-live-cf0f7c8e5d69

SALT is a platform where you can borrow fiat currency and put up your crypto assets as collateral.

They are launching with the ability to borrow US dollars and back those loans with Bitcoin or Ethereum.

They expect to have over $10m in loans by the end of the year, impressive if you ask me.

If you don’t think so, how about between $50m and $75m in loans by the end of January 2018?

I’m sure the answer to this is in their whitepaper when I get round to reading it, but the obvious question is what happens if the value of the Bitcoin backing the loan drops?

My guess is that the borrowing would have to top up their account to at least the value of the amount they borrowed.

https://membership.saltlending.com/dashboard

The SALT token itself is used to buy memberships on the platform that in turn give you access to different tiers of borrowing.

For example here in my SALT dashboard, the base membership costs 1 SALT per year and allows me to borrow up to $10,000.

The premier membership costs 10 SALT per year and increases the borrowing limit to $100k and then to borrow over $1m the membership fee is 100 SALT per year.

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