Messari's Weekend Reads đ - Unqualified Opinions
self care, sleep, and good content (plus a new podcast with MyCrypto's Taylor Monahan!)
Messariâs Weekend Reads
Itâs Friday, which means weâre keeping things light and teeing up our weekend reads and listens.
On our podcast this week, Katherine sits down with MyCryptoâs 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 Tongâs âSmartest Contractâ podcast to chat all things crypto, and provide some updates on what weâre working on at Messari.
Listen and subscribe to all of our podcastsâ on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
đ Messariâs weekend reads:
Digesting âQuantification of energy and carbon costs for mining cryptocurrenciesâ - Nic Carter
The search for a stable cryptocurrency - Vitalik Buterin
The need for decentralized exchanges - Hansel
Vision Hill crypto hedge fund returns: third quarter 2018 - Vision Hill
5 crypto-native indicators to enrich your market cycle analysis - Felipe GaĂșcho Pereira
Blockchains are governance - Matthew Prewitt
Vitalik Buterin on the hard lessons of Ethereumâs first five years - Brian Patrick Eha
Augur had a big Election night, but the âmorning afterâ may determine the future of the upstart prediction market - Andrew Macdonald
Did we miss a topic our broader community should know about? Let us know!
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.
đ€ [Analysis] Thin protocols â Teemu Paivinen
Teemu Paivinen extends Joel Monegro's "Fat Protocols" idea and argues that because of the 1) technical ease of forking, 2) honeypot of financial incentives to compete once the perceived opportunity is large enough, and 3) improved interoperability and interchangeability of protocols, there will be many thin protocols that together form a fat protocol stack. As a result, the market will tend towards but never reach an equilibrium where:
There are no marginal benefits to greater or smaller scale
There are no perceived opportunities large enough to incentivize specialization
There is enough diversity in protocol permutations for there to be little to no incentive to fork
Users will be the ultimate winners as there will be more specialized and cheaper protocols at almost perfect competition. (Messari | Source)
đ§đœââïž [Analysis] MimbleWimble: the good and the bad â Mohamed Fouda
MimbleWimble (MW) was a Bitcoin improvement proposal made to achieve transaction privacy. Nevertheless, it was rejected by the community as it required significant changes to the protocol.   Benefits outlined by Mohamed Fouda include:
Better privacy for users by shielding transaction amounts and avoiding the use of publicly visible addresses
It allows for smaller blocks and smaller blockchain data size which makes it easier for nodes to join the network
While the shortcomings of MW are:
There is a need to have the sender and receiver communicate in advance
It is more difficult to create multi-party transactions
The transactions are not fully private and can be deciphered given enough forensic analysis
Other privacy maintaining techniques, particularly Zcash's shielded transactions and Monero's ring confidential transactions and stealth addresses achieve significantly better privacy according to Fouda. (Mesasri | Source)
Quick Bits (Don't read that, I read it for you)
Choke Points (Exchange News)
đ Token trading platform Radar Relay announced an update to its regulatory strategy on Tuesday. First, Relay will maintain the characteristics of an online bulletin boardâtaking on a passive role. Second, Relay will have a meticulous token compliance process, mirroring regulatory guidance, to avoid listing securities. (Messari | Source)
đ§ Yesterday the Bitcoin Cash blockchain has split between two implementations: Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV. Major exchanges halted trading for bitcoin cash until the chain split is resolved. (Messari | Source)
Startup Signals (ICOs, Cryptos, and Startups)
đ Canaan Creativeâs application for an initial public offering may be in doubt as the Chinese bitcoin mining makerâs filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has now lapsed. (Messari | Source)
đ Messenger app maker Kik is leaving Ethereum for good as it continues to develop its cryptocurrency, Kin. Kik announced that it will close Kinâs atomic swap platform and switch permanently to Stellar. (Messari | Source)
The Powers That Be (Legal/Reg/Policy)
đïž The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Salt Lending Holdings Inc. The company, which loans money to people using their cryptocurrency as collateral, received a subpoena from the SEC in February seeking records related to a $50 million digital-token sale it held last year. (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, Katherine breaks down the latest SEC order against EtherDeltaâs founder, and what its implications are for DEX broadly (more in the Quick Bits as well). We also talk to Simon Taylor, founder of Global Digital Finance, about the importance of building a knowledge base and setting best practices for the crypto industry. (Ryan is an advisory board member, and Messari is a big supporter.)  (17 min for your evening commute.)
Listen and subscribe to all of our podcastsâ on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google play here.
Shameless Plugs
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