State of the Market #34
Max Bibeau, Preston Sledge, Matthew Kimmel
1/25/2020 - 2/1/2020
___________
Check out our new website at txblockchain.org. Now, you can find State of the Market on Substack at txblockchain.substack.com. We’ve made it easier than ever to sign up!
_________
How can we make SOTM better for you?
___________
Market Summary
Asset | Price (USD) | 7 Day Change (%)
Bitcoin (BTC)| $9382 | +12.47%
Ethereum (ETH) | $187.34 | +16.96
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | $379.01 | +22.32%
Ripple (XRP) | $0.2412 | +9.99%
Bitcoin SV (BSV) | $283.41 | +8.49%
Litecoin (LTC) | $70.73 | +32.86%
Data sourced from https://onchainfx.com at 3:00AM CST
This week demonstrated a clear bull market for cryptocurrency, with huge gains in value across the board. Many attribute these increases with investors pulling out of traditional stocks, which have been sinking due to the coronavirus scare. Others claim that the upcoming Bitcoin halvening is encouraging investors to hop on board before potential future price increases.
Top Stories
Zcash Community Approves New Mining Reward Distribution Scheme
For the first 4 years of its development, Zcash (ZEC) employed a Founders Reward, whereby the creators of Zcash receive 20% of miners’ block rewards by default. With the Founders Reward expiring later this year, the Zcash community voted to extend the siphoning of tokens to fund development. Zcash’s new block reward will distribute 80% to miners, 8% to grants, 7% to the Electric Coin Company (headed by Zooko Wilcox @zooko), and 5% to the Zcash Foundation. This comes after Roger Ver suggested a 12.5% mining tax on Bitcoin Cash (BCH) block rewards to fund development.
Lawsuit accuses Tron of illegal working environment and unethical business practices
Popular altcoin Tron has come under fire lately as a lawsuit has recently been filed accusing Tron of having an extremely toxic working environment. Outside of traditional unethical workplace practices, such as management demanding incredibly long hours, the report also claims that Tron founder and CEO Justin Sun has committed acts of violence in the workplace, even striking another employee.
Japan’s Biggest Social Network Launches Digital Currency
Japan’s largest social network, known as “Line” has had plans to move into the cryptocurrency space since early 2018. Finally, years later, Line is expected to launch their cryptocurrency “Link,” which will now work in coordination with their networking services. This follows the controversial trend of Facebook’s Libra and Telegram’s failed initial coin offering, which raised $1.7 billion, but has been locked in legal battles with the SEC.
Chart of the Week
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) describes peer-to-peer financial services facilitated by smart contracts and enforced by a blockchain network. DeFi includes services like decentralized exchange (Uniswap, Kyber, 0x, Ren), decentralized lending (Maker, Compound, dYdX), decentralized predictions (Augur, Numerai), and decentralized asset management (Set, Melon). This chart from Coindesk Research depicts the growing demand for DeFi services, indicated by the amount of ETH devoted to these platforms.
Tweet of the Week
Crypto Twitter clashesover the extension of Zcash’s block reward.
@balajis sees Coronavirus as a catalyst that accelerates the decentralized future. Fittingly, the thread went viral.
@adamscrabble conspires about the Coronavirus by reminding people of China’s habit of eradicating minority races within its jurisdiction.
The share price of Kawamoto, a Japanese company that manufactures face masks, explodes in response to fears of Coronavirus.
@TYGRproductions identifies Twitter Archetypes in a mega-thread, and it appears toxic Bitcoin maximalist made the list!
@LomahCrypto tacks onto a chain of quoted tweets, sharing nuggets of knowledge presented with the phrase, “I was today years old when I learned…”
Do you have an inner monologue?
@JackMallers announces Strike, built by his team at Zap. Strike allows you to pay Lightning Network invoices using a debit card. In the demo, Jack pays his respects to legacy finance: “Shoutout Jamie Dimon and Chase. We couldn’t do it without you.”
Related. From @crashfoxcrypto.
A snippet from CNN circulated throughout Twitter this week, showing reporters cackling at the Trump demographic. Insightful commentary or mental illness?
No caption.
Since deleted, cybersecurity analyst @Dymaxion tweeted that Bitcoiners deserve to pay climate reparations. @AriDavidPaul responds with reason.
@softcrypt0 outlines the design choices of Ethereum that don’t sit well with Bitcoiners. @antiprosynth provides a point-by-point rebuttal defending Ethereum.
“Paint me like one of your shitcoins.” -@Cdempsey44
Dopamine fast-ing vs. dopamine feast-ing. And then there’s moderation, but that’s no fun.
Video of the Week
A tear-jerking tribute to Kobe Bryant. Peep more tweets from @Friday_Beers. You won’t be disappointed.
Texas Blockchain’s ‘State of the Market’ is a student-led editorial. None of the views expressed by the authors should be taken as the view of the University of Texas at Austin or the Texas Blockchain organization. Furthermore, none of the views expressed should be taken as financial advice in any circumstance.