Note to âfreeâ subscribers: Weâll be building, and researching, and evangelizing throughout this bear market, regardless of how long it lasts.
But we need your help to do it.
Next week will be the last week you can subscribe to Unqualified Opinions at the rate of $15/month or $100/year. After that, weâll be doubling fiat prices, and paywalling 80% of our newsletter content to make it more sustainable and keep it uncorrupted by ads. Benefits to subscribing:
Daily insights and synthesis from a team thatâs built through multiple crypto bear markets. Never miss a trend or big story.
The warm and fuzzy feeling of paying for a service you like, when you know itâs getting reinvested in making crypto more transparent and ethical.
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Shout-outs in this newsletter (social signaling!) when you give the gift of a subscription this holiday season.
Messariâs Weekend Reads
Itâs Friday, which means weâre keeping things light and teeing up our weekend reads and listens.
We often use the term âdecentralizeâ but sometimes it is hard to truly define. On the podcast this week Katherine discusses decentralization with Zcash Foundation executive director Josh Cincinnati. Josh shared his thoughts on what it means to be decentralized and the utility of non-profit foundations in the cryptocurrency space. (19 minutes to enjoy at lunch)
Listen and subscribe to all of our podcastsâ on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
đ Messariâs weekend reads:
Modeling Generalized Mining from a Fundâs Perspective: A Livepeer Case Study - Vision Hill
Unpacking Bitcoinâs Social Contract - Hasu
Aion Foundation Report - Aion
RESTful API Designing guidelinesâââThe best practices - Mahesh Haldar
The History of Money & the Future of Bitcoin and the Cryptocurrency Economy - Kenny Li
âThatâs Our Two SatoshisââââA Path to Recovery for Crypto Prices - Jeff Dorman
The Friendship That Made Google Huge - James Somers
Can Blockchain Maps Replace GPS? - Shannon Mattern
The Cost and Sustainability of Bitcoin - Haas McCook
Have a good weekend, yâall.
- 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.
âď¸ [Analysis] What do you legally own with Bitcoin? - Knut Karnapp
The question of what you truly own with Bitcoin has been a topic of legal and technical discussion over the past decade. In a legal sense, ownership is thought of in regards to property, where possession of an object and the ability to show an audit trail can prove ownership. For example, itâs easy enough to prove you own the home you live in by showing the corresponding legal documents. For bitcoin, Knut believes ownership comes in the form of UXTOs or block rewards uniquely assigned to an owner. Instead of showing a legal document to prove ownership the corresponding private key proves you are the owner of a unique asset on the blockchain. In this regard, bitcoin is a unique digital asset in that thereâs a true ability to show ownership. (Messari | Source)
â ď¸ [Analysis] The not-so-killer whales of Bitcoin â Chainalysis
Where is the whale support? According to research firm Chainalysis, there are four main types of whales:
Traders: nine wallets control 332,000 coins and actively trade with exchanges
Miners/early adopters: 15 investors hold 332,000 but trading activity is extremely low. Many made significant divestments in 2016 and 2017 during price runs
Lost: five wallets hold 212,000 coins but have no activity as users lost their keys
Criminals: three wallets control over 125,000 coins and are connected with Silk Road or money laundering
During the major price declines of December 2017 and most of 2018, trading whales were actually net purchasers of bitcoin. This indicates that trading whales were, in aggregate, were a stabilizing, rather than destabilizing factor in the market. (Messari | Source)
Quick Bits (Don't read that, I read it for you)
Choke Points (Exchange News)
đą Crypto exchange Binance launched a new sub-account feature for institutional traders. Announced Thursday, these sub-accounts will allow institutions to set up multiple trading accounts within one organization and control access on an account level. (Messari | Source)
đ Japanâs cryptocurrency exchanges reported 5,944 suspicious transactions in the first 10 months of 2018. This was 788 percent greater than the previous reported number for the period April to December, 2017. (Messari | Source)
Startup Signals (ICOs, Cryptos, and Startups)
đ ConsenSys, the Ethereum production studio, is letting go of 13 percent of its staff, according to a company announcement published Thursday. The move comes on the heels of an announced âre-focusing of prioritiesâ at the company. (Messari | Source)
đ° Asset manager Morgan Creek Digital is betting $1 million that its cryptocurrency index will outperform the S&P 500 over the next 10 years. The crypto investing firm calls the challenge "Buffett Bet 2.0," and invites any investor to take the other side of the bet. (Messari | Source)
The Powers That Be (Legal/Reg/Policy)
â The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) extended a rule change proposal allowing the nationâs first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), pushing the decision deadline to February next year. (Messari | Source)
âď¸ United American Corp has filed a lawsuit against Bitmain, Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, Kraken, and other individuals involved in, what United Corp claims is, a âwell-planned scheme to take control of the Bitcoin Cash network.â (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, Iâll include your bit next issue (with attribution).
Podcast Recap
đ§ ICYMI on the Messari podcast, This week, Katherine sat down with Messariâs own Dan McArdle to talk about the recent downturn in crypto markets. Dan shared his thoughts on what is now the fourth "crypto recession" for him, and where he thinks things might head in the short to medium term.
Listen and subscribe to all of our podcastsâ on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
Shameless Plugs
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