Messari’s (Long) Weekend Reads
I’ve always illiquidity as a service would be a killer crypto product.
Investment vehicles that force you to buy and hold a crypto investment in cold storage for 5 or even 10 years before you could ever touch it. Investors would be inclined to purchase only what they could truly afford to lose and average into positions responsibly, they would likely make less irrational decisions during vicious market swings, and they would lose less to capital gains taxes.
That sort of illiquidity service would have been helpful to many people this week as the crypto markets plunge into “turmoil” once again.
I use the quotes there, not to minimize the financial pain many are feeling this month and year. (I’m right there with you now, and have lived through one of these brutal multi-year crypto recessions before. They suck.) But because this turmoil is hardly an unprecedented or unexpected event.
If you’re down 80-90%, my advice for the holiday weekend would be to power down your devices and market trackers, spend time with friends and family, and think about what are uniquely positioned to build or where you can add the most long-term value in the crypto-economy.
Odds are good that if you take the time to appreciate how far this technological movement has come in the ten years from white paper to present, you’ll be less likely to jump ship. There’s still too much to be excited about in the quest to reinvent global finance and money itself.
I’m thankful for the daily intellectual stimulation this asset class provides, and for the opportunity to figure it out in real time with other misfits like you. :)
Happy Thanksgiving.
-TBI
📚 Messari’s weekend reads:
The State of Decentralized Storage - Multicoin Capital
Blockchain Infrastructure Landscape: A First Principles Framing - Trent McConaghy
An Introduction to IPFS - ConsenSys
The Truth About the Crypto Crisis - Meltem Demirors
How Does Distributed Consensus Work? - Preethi Kasireddy
Medium is a Poor Choice for Blogging - Nikitonsky
Looking For Syllabus 2.0 - Dani Grant
Faketoshi’s Nonsense Signature - Jimmy Song
One of the things we are thankful for this year is our community that is helping us build an open and free library of crypto project information! In addition to our normal weekend reads take some time to browse some of the insightful research and analysis they have put together throughout the year.
🥳 Messari’s community reads:
Delegate Work Entities: Bridging the Gap Between Investors and Active Users - Ben Sparango (@bennybitcoins)
Taxi Medallions: A Conceptual Framework For Work Tokens -Jack Purdy (@jpurd17)
Framework-based Token Curated Registries - Robert Clark (@CryptoDiplo)
Valuing Productive Cryptoassets - Phil J Bonello (@PhilJBonello)
PoW, PoS and DAGs are NOT consensus protocols - Dmitrii Zhelezov
Envisioning the Stacks of a Decentralized Financial System & a Decentralized Internet - Vision Hill
Unpacking the Australian Digital Transformation Agency’s comments on blockchain - Ben Longstaff
Be sure to also check out our new profiles on Livepeer from Daniel Mathon, Basis from Blair Marshall, Chia from Jack Purdy, POA Network from Katya K., and Waves from Olga Krieger! Give them a follow on twitter and as always, if you are interested in helping us crowdsource token project details, or want to join our community to share your expertise, we’d love to have you on board! Take a second to fill out an application and we will get back to you soon.
Have a good weekend, y’all.
- The Messari Team
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News & Analyses
Messari Compression Algorithm
Content and thoughts from around the web as summarized by the Messari team.
❓[Analysis] The problems with using ‘market cap’ in crypto – Nomics Research
Nomics Research presented the problems behind using market cap in analyzing crypto networks and token projects in a report published Nov. 13. Nomics also analyzes some alternatives to using market cap, including OnChainFX's “fully diluted market cap” (using 2050 for supply benchmarking). (Messari | Source)
👊🏽 [Analysis] Security tokens will be coming soon to an exchange near you – Sunny Dhillon
Security tokens are “any blockchain-based representation of value that is subject to regulation under security laws.” They represent ownership in a real-world asset, whether that is equity, debt or even real estate. Security tokens are complex, requiring not just capabilities around trading, but also issuance and, critically, compliance. The launch of platforms like Bakkt and the SIX Digital Exchange confirm a few things:
Most assets (stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.) will be tokenized and supported on regulated trading platforms
Incumbents like SIX have a head start due to their size, regulatory licensing and built-in user base. They are likely to use this advantage to defend their position of power
Most investors will never know they are using distributed ledger technology, let alone trading tokenized assets. They will simply buy and sell assets as they always have
Crypto companies will be competing fiercely with financial incumbents in the security tokens space. As the crypto economy matures, we’re inching closer to a new era of real-world assets being securitized on the blockchain in a regulatory compliant manner. (Messari | Source)
Quick Bits (Don't read that, I read it for you)
Choke Points (Exchange News)
🤝 Three major cryptocurrency OTC traders — Genesis Trading, Cumberland, and Circle Trade — announced they would provide data for a new index, dubbed MVIS Bitcoin US OTC Spot Index. The new product is unique given it draws data from OTC desks instead of exchanges. (Messari | Source)
❌ The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering a ban on some cryptocurrency-based derivatives, a senior executive has said. Christopher Woolard said that the watchdog has concerns that retail investors are being sold “complex, volatile and often leveraged derivatives products.” (Messari | Source)
Startup Signals (ICOs, Cryptos, and Startups)
🥶 Deloitte clients have been concerned about blockchain’s association with risky initial coin offerings, Linda Pawczuk, leader of Deloitte's blockchain group, said. The hype that surrounds blockchain, while good for publicity, creates distractions for her clients. (Messari | Source)
💦 Despite the decline in Ethereum price initial coin offerings’ have liquidated only 172,000 ETH (4.6 percent of total treasury holdings) over the past two months. In aggregate, ICOs have moved or liquidated 64 percent of the amount that they initially raised. (Messari | Source)
The Powers That Be (Legal/Reg/Policy)
🇬🇧 A plunge in the value of cryptoassets has eased the pressure on Britain’s financial watchdog to take radical action that could deter investment and financial innovation, government officials and regulators said on Tuesday. Instead regulators will focused on how 2,000 or more cryptoassets slot into existing rules before considering reforms. (Messari | Source)
⛓ The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether last year’s epic rally was fueled in part by manipulation, with traders driving it up with Tether. A focus of the Justice Department’s investigation is whether the dramatic rise of digital tokens in recent years was purely driven by actual demand, or was partially fanned on by market tricks. (Messari | Source)
Did I miss something?
Send me the link, your twitter handle and your best imitation compression algorithm write up. If I like it, I’ll include your bit next issue (with attribution).
Podcast Recap
🎧 ICYMI on the Messari podcast, Katherine sits down with MyCrypto’s Taylor Monahan to talk product design. Taylor highlights the vast difference between intentions and outcome in product design vs. user experience and shares some of her experiences in building tools for crypto users. Katherine also discusses the recent Bitcoin Cash fork and reflects on the recent market volatility. (19 min for your lunch break)
BONUS: Qiao swung by Jeffrey Tong’s “Smartest Contract” podcast to chat all things crypto, and provide some updates on what we’re working on at Messari.
Listen and subscribe to all of our podcasts— on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
Shameless Plugs
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Upcoming Travel:
Hit us up in these locations:
Consensus Invest, New York, New York | November 27
Join Our Community:
If you are interested in helping us crowdsource token project details, or want to join our community to share your expertise, we’d love to have you on board! Take a second to fill out an application and we will get back to you soon.
Going forward, we’ll be capping new members at 15 each week to keep things running smoothly. If you haven’t heard back, you are probably in the queue.
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