Messari's Weekend Reads š - Unqualified Opinions
RIP dentacoin + self care, sleep, good content, and new features
RIP Dentacoin. It was a good run.
Your daily snapshot from our OnChainFX marketsĀ dashboard.
Missing the daily dose of crypto? Our paid subscribers got meaty debriefs this week on Grayscale Investmentsā curious āsidedoorā crypto ETFs, Litecoin as a Bitcoin testnet and Confidential Transactions guinea pig, and a whole slew of privacy resources.
Subscribe to support our transparency efforts and get smarter on new crypto trends.
Itās Friday!
Weāre keeping things light and teeing up ourĀ weekend reads and some new site features.
š MessariāsĀ weekendĀ reads:
Grin and the mythical fair launch - Arjun BalajiĀ andĀ Hasu
11 women who shook the blockchain space in 2018 - Argo Blockchain
Grin, incentives, and the state of the crypto commons - Nathaniel Whittemore
Deconstructing 'decentralization': Exploring the core claim of crypto systems - Angela Walch
State of the digital asset industryāāā2019 - Vision Hill Advisors
A conflict of crypto visions - Arjun Balaji
Extortion, police raids and secrecy: Inside the Venezuelan bitcoin mining world - Pirate Beachbum
The President and the Bomb, Part III - Alex Wellerstein
An elegant relationship (DAI, ETH, MKR) - Cyrus Younessi
Understanding Web 3āāāA User Controlled Internet - Coinbase
Remembering Roger Boisjoly: He tried to stop shuttle Challenger launch - All Things Considered
šØ New features on messari.io:
Weāve been hard at work adding features that help bring transparency and smarter decision making to the cryptoasset space.
Hereās what we have rolled out recently:
Search!!!
If you havenāt noticed we added search to the Messari site. Quickly find information on token projects, organizations, individuals, and resources for the crypto economy.
Head over to our homepage and give it a try!
2018 ROI
Our OnChainFX dashboard now has return numbers for 2018. Pulling the ROI figures for 2018 and 2017 side by side shows just how crazy things got during the last bull run.
You can check out all of the historical returns and peak to trough measures on this custom OnChainFX dashboard.
Token sale details
Thanks to the team at TokenData you can now view token sale details including ROI since sale. Even if 2018 was bad investors could still be up if they got in early.
Use the token sale stats section on OnChainFX or see this custom dashboard to see the full list of projects.
Let us know what you think of the new features and this newsletter. Have a goodĀ weekend, yāall.
- The Messari Team
P.S. Share. Subscribe. Tweet atĀ MessariĀ for feedback, comments, or questions.
Messari Compression Algorithm
Content and thoughts from around the web as summarized by the Messari team.
š“ [Analysis] Evaluating Bitcoin forks with network data
Popular metrics for cryptocurrency hardfork analysis often leave much to be desired. Focusing on Bitcoin derived hardforks, Coin Metrics breaks down the pros and cons of common metrics, such as transaction value, block fullness, fees, and, most importantly, market cap. They propose alternative evaluation methods including analyzing user uptake on new forks, active supply, address balances, and UTXO set size. Each metric stresses different data derived from a fork's blockchain with particular attention to on-chain activity. In other words, how active are forks compared to their parent? Coin Metrics emphasizes the need for multiple metrics to be used in unison in order to balance the blind spots of each measure. (share or read more)
āļø [Analysis] Understanding social factors affecting the crypto market - Gourang Aggarwal, Vimal Patel, Gaurav Varshney, Kimberly Oostman
The crypto market cannot be analyzed like the stock market. ThreeĀ researchersĀ from the NIIT University recorded popular and trending cryptocurrency news and tracked it against price spikes and crashes over a six month period. Through a correlation attribution method, they found that most news stories follow common logic: a celebrity endorsement or announcement from a respected firm moves cryptocurrency prices as expected. BUT the correlation was not statistically significant. Many news pieces track counter-intuitively against prices, particularly regulatory news. The researchers noted a lack of proper methodology for localized movements within their macro framework, yet still came to the conclusion that the crypto and stock markets do not trade in similar ways, likely due to the youth of crypto. (share or read more)
Quick Bits (Don't read that, I read it for you)
Choke Points (Exchange News)
š£ In a letter to its customers, cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX stated its efforts to locate the exchange's cold wallets have failed. The exchange has been reeling since the death of its CEO and founder in December 2018 and a prolonged court dispute with the Imperial Bank of Canada over frozen assets. (share or read more)
š³Ā Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, is now allowing crypto purchases with credit and debit cards. A fiat on-ramp for crypto purchases brings Binance into greater competition with firms likeĀ Coinbase. (share or read more)
Startup Signals (ICOs, Cryptos, and Startups)
š§ The NEM Foundation, a non-profit team that promotes the NEM blockchain, reportedly has one month's cash to operate on. The foundation is asking the NEM community fund for 160 millionĀ XEMĀ tokens worth $7.5 million. (share or read more)
š° The Winklevoss twins and Pantera Capital have led the charge on a $4.5 million fundraising round forĀ Staked, a crypto firm that specializes in passive yields from staking Proof-of-Stake (PoS) coins. Staked performs the behind the scenes work for subscribing hedge funds and institutions. (share or read more)
The Powers That Be (Legal/Reg/Policy)
šĀ VanEck digital asset strategy lead Gabor Gurbacs has announced that the firm has resubmitted its proposal for the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The proposal had been withdrawn earlier this month amid the government shutdown and the inability for the company to continue talks with the SEC. (share or read more)
š®š³ Inside sources claim India's long awaited cryptocurrency stance is going against crypto. A proposed bill is claimed to ban cryptocurrency as legal tender and currency as a means of keeping it out of payment systems. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will regulate and control these efforts. (share or read more)
Did I miss something?
SendĀ meĀ the link, your twitter handle and your best imitation compression algorithm write up. If I like it, Iāll include your bit next issue (with attribution).
Podcast Recap
š§ ICYMI last week Ryan (TBI) and Arjun Balaji sat down for over an hour to discuss what they see happening in the industry during 2019. If you are a subscriber, make sure you have caught up on ourĀ twoĀ partĀ series and check out ArjunāsĀ thesesĀ for 2019.
You can view the full videoĀ hereĀ and as always you can listen and subscribe to all of our podcastsā on Apple PodcastsĀ here, SpotifyĀ here, and Google playĀ here.
Shameless Plugs
We want your feedback!
We know Messari can feel like a couple different products right now, and we're working to unify our features into one overarching whole. Head over to our new feedbackĀ toolĀ and let us know what you think!
š We're Hiring:
We need data engineers who want to bring transparency to crypto!
Join a fast growing team in NYC; work with crypto OGs, and former Bloomberg/Palantir engineers; & access a network that sets you up for the rest of your career. ApplyĀ here!
Join Our Community:
If you are interested in helping us crowdsource token project details, or want to join our community to share your expertise, weād love to have you on board! Take a second toĀ fill out an applicationĀ and we will get back to you soon.
Going forward, weāll be capping new members at 15 each week to keep things running smoothly. If you havenāt heard back, you are probably in the queue.
Like what you read? Share it! Hate what you read? Let me knowĀ @MessariCrypto.