Friday 27 July 2018

Twin rejections

Winklevoss bros' bitcoin ETF nixed a second time; the high costs of KYC and AML
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July 27, 2018
PLEASE COME AGAIN: The Securities and Exchange Comnmission has for the second time denied an application by billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to launch a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF), but all hope is not lost for such investment vehicles.

The regulator emphasized the issue was not with bitcoin per se but rather the structure of the proposal, leaving the door open to potentially approving applications like it "over time."  Full Story

WASTEFUL SURVEILLANCE:
In an op-ed, Edan Yago, a crypto payments expert, laments the toll taken by know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) practices on individual privacy, financial inclusion and fintech innovation.

Yago questions whether these regulatory mandates have done more than inconvenience "the odd oligarch or terrorist" to justify the costs of living under a "financial Big Brother."  Full Story

WALLET SECURITY: Chinese mobile app company Cheetah Mobile is adding personalized and encrypted QR codes to strengthen cryptocurrency wallet security.

This new system will replace traditional mnemonic passphrases, which unlike QR codes can be leaked over email or instant-messaging platforms. Full Story


Is cryptocurrency really just for libertarians? To test this widespread assumption, CoinDesk Research surveyed 1,200 different people in the crypto community about their political leanings.

The respondents broke down to 8 percent anarcho-capitalists, 24 percent libertarians, 21 percent conservatives, 9 percent centrists, 27 percent liberals, 9 percent socialists and 3 percent nihilists.

Users of bitcoin most closely resemble the general population, while other cryptos take their own unique formations.

For example, ethereum holders seems to have the highest percentage (55 percent) on the left, while dash contains the highest concentration on the right (78 percent) of the political spectrum. Ripple clusters towards the center, while monero is concentrated at the extremes on both ends of the scale. Monero also takes the mantle for highest percentage of anarcho-capitalists (36 percent).

Learn these insights and more in CoinDesk's Q2 State of Blockchain report. More research
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TEMPORARY DIP? The price of bitcoin dipped below $8,000 yesterday, souring positive sentiment in the markets, though 5-day and 10-day moving averages still support a broader outlook in favor of the bulls. Full Story
BEST OF THE BEST

ROLLING STONE: Writer Neil Strauss profiles Brock Pierce, the former Hollywood child star turned "crypto titan" who now says he's giving away his net worth, a reported $1 billion, to charity, choosing a humble lifestyle in Crypto Rico.

Well, maybe "humble" is pushing it. The vividly reported article concludes with Pierce "lead[ing] his entourage into the streets of San Juan, where he will walk around like the living embodiment of decentralized blockchain technology." 

THE REST

FORBES: 
An in-depth take by Forbes writer Jeff Kauflin explains why some investors believe the price of ethereum will tank.

In essence, until the underlying gap between ether prices and overall network scalability is addressed, these investors will keep shorting ether.

THE REGISTER: Among the world's top 2,000 websites, Etherscan fell victim to a malicious bug targeting vulnerabilities in the site's comments system.

Developers for the website frequented by users looking up ethereum transactions addressed the issue the very next day, but as The Register explains, it was a very “lucky escape.”

YAHOO FINANCE: What is a crypto robo-advisor? According to a new San Francisco-based startup dubbed New Wave Capital, it is a cryptocurrency portfolio investment advisor run by a computer algorithm for average people.

New Wave customers report their appetite for risk and the SEC-registered robo-advisor automatically allocates funds in a diversified portfolio of 12 select cryptocurrencies.
 


We've launched our new podcast, Late Confirmation, which are the top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk, sponsored by Oxford Fintech Programme. 

Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe
 

WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER

 
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