Messari’s Unqualified Opinions issue #28
It’s Friday, which means we’re keeping things light and teeing up our weekend reads.
We also have a new episode of the Messari podcast out! This week, Katherine is on the grounds at DevCon in Prague and chats with Erik Vorhees (Founder & CEO, Shapeshift) about the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper. Later, Ari Paul (CIO, Blocktower Capital) shares what he is excited about and what he wants to learn more about in the crypto space. (8 minutes long for your evening commute.)
Listen and subscribe— on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
Messari’s weekend reads 📚:
The Prophets of Cryptocurrency Survey the Boom and Bust - Nick Paumgarten
Apple T2 Security Chip: Security Overview - Apple
It’s Time for Payment Processors Like Stripe and Paypal to Start Publishing Transparency Reports - Rainey Reitman
On the Instability of Bitcoin Without the Block Reward - Princeton CS
Algojammer - Chris Knott
The Elon Musk Post Series - Tim Urban
What is it like to be a Bitcoin? - Nic Carter
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System - Satoshi Nakamoto
If there’s anything we should do better or any topic you want covered, let us know.
Have a good weekend, y’all.
- TBI & 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] A thread on Ethereum economic abstraction – Eric Conner
Ethereum economic abstraction theory states that users could pay their transaction costs to miners in something other than the native token, therefore if that becomes rampant the native token has no value. According to Conner this is false as:
It is irrational for a user to do this as it adds friction and is a UX nightmare
Users will need to pay extra transaction fees to do this
Calculating gas costs with multiple tokens becomes incredibly complicated
Miners will likely not want to hold multiple different tokens
The value of ETH doesn't come entirely from gas fee especially with the introduction of proof-of-stake
🤚 Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin says his creation can’t succeed unless he takes a step back - MIT Technology Review
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum cannot truly succeed unless he steps back, as a truly decentralized system should have no single component whose failure could bring down the whole system. Buterin’s influence represents just that—but he’s been deliberately trying to reduce his role in the prominence, with noticeable progress. (Messari | Source)
Quick Bits (Don't read that, I read it for you)
Choke Points (Exchange News)
🏦 Tether, the company behind the eponymous stablecoin, said it has a bank account with Bahamas-based Deltec Bank & Trust Ltd. It attached a letter attributed to Deltec saying that the crypto company had $1.8 billion in the account as of Oct. 31. (Messari | Source)
💰 Despite a slump in market prices, crypto exchange Coinbase is projecting nearly $1.3 billion in revenue and more than $400 million in profit for 2018. Earlier this month, the company raised money at a valuation of $8 billion. (Messari | Source)
Startup Signals (ICOs, Cryptos, and Startups)
🤑 Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties, raised $15 million in a round led by venture capital firm Venrock, doubling its valuation since March. The company has raised $27.85 million to date. (Messari | Source)
🆕 Blockchain startup Aragon announced its latest release, Aragon 0.6, named Alba. Alba allows for creating decentralized organizations on the Ethereum mainnet. Previously, organizations created with Aragon had been running on Ethereum testnets. (Messari | Source)
The Powers That Be (Legal/Reg/Policy)
🍎 The New York state Department of Financial Services approved on Thursday the virtual currency license of Coinsource Inc., the bitcoin teller machines operator. The company allows customers to insert cash and buy bitcoin or sell bitcoin for cash, by scanning their mobile wallet at the kiosk. (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).
Community Updates
Podcast Recap
🎧 ICYMI check out last weeks podcast where Katherine breaks down the latest arbitration case to come out of China's Shenzhen International Court of Arbitration, which determined bitcoin is protected under China’s existing property laws. Additionally, Zack interviews Samson Mow of Blocksteam about sidechains: what they are, what Liquid is, and how its release can impact the average crypto investor. (13 minutes long for your evening commute.) Listen and subscribe— on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
Some other great episodes are #10 (Spencer Bogart on fund performance and tokenization), #9 (Tony Sheng on his writing proecess), #6 (Jake Chervinsky’s primer on federal & State crypto regulators), #4 (Nic Carter on data integrity in crypto), and #8 (Conversations on the ground at CryptoSprings).
Find our podcast series on Apple here, Google Play here, and Spotify here.
Shameless Plugs
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Upcoming Travel:
Hit us up in these locations:
DevCon, Prague, Czech Republic | October 30–November 2
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