BlockNovum —May & June 2019 Update
By: Remo Kyburz
Tags: Blockchain, Cryptoasset, Investment Research, Crypto, Bitcoin

Dear reader,

Apologies for the delayed release of the monthly update. I launched a new project of mine that supplements BlockNovum — The Leap Takers Podcast!

Therefore, you’ll find that this BlockNovum update covers both months of

May and June 2o19. As always, you’ll find in this newsletter an overview about recent developments in the crypto markets, my favorite articles of the last few weeks, as well as short profiles of some promising crypto projects.

Let’s get started.

📈BlockNovum & Market Updates

Markets & News:

Cryptos keep rising: Bitcoin’s price has set a new record for 2019 on June 26th, reaching as high as $13,790 before retracing to around $10,940 where it’s at currently. The price increase was also accompanied by a large uptick in the trading volume over the last few weeks.

The general positive sentiment change is also reflected in the price increase in many other prominent cryptoassets.

I’m curious to see if this is the official end of the crypto “winter” and that prices will keep on rising in the medium term, or if the price retraction going on right now will last on for a longer time. Overall, interesting times ahead.

Bitcoin’s price has set a new record for 2019 on June 26th, reaching as high as $13,790 before retracing to around $10,940 where it’s at currently. The price increase was also accompanied by a large uptick in the trading volume over the last few weeks. The general positive sentiment change is also reflected in the price increase in many other prominent cryptoassets. I’m curious to see if this is the official end of the crypto “winter” and that prices will keep on rising in the medium term, or if the price retraction going on right now will last on for a longer time. Overall, interesting times ahead. US retailers accept selected Cryptos: As reported by Forbes, several big name retailers — including Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom, and Amazon-owned Whole Foods — now accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and GeminiDollar as a means of payment. This works via a partnership with Flexa, a payments startup, and Gemini, the Winklevoss-owned digital currency company. By using the Flexa app users can pay in crypto with their mobile phones. Very cool!

As reported by Forbes, several big name retailers — including Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom, and Amazon-owned Whole Foods — now accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and GeminiDollar as a means of payment. This works via a partnership with Flexa, a payments startup, and Gemini, the Winklevoss-owned digital currency company. By using the Flexa app users can pay in crypto with their mobile phones. Very cool! Facebook Introduces their own cryptocurrency — Libra: Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in dozens of countries. Via libra Facebook’s user base can exchange USD and other fiat currencies into Facebook’s own digital coins to be used to buy things online, as well as transferring money without a bank account. The libra coin is backed by a basked of fiat currencies and government treasuries.

The cryptocurrency is the native coin of the libra private blockchain, which is backed and secured by a group of corporates,VCs, and NGOs (incl. Uber, Spotify, Mastercard, and many others). There are many debates in the crypto community if libra is even a cryptocurrency and how it will affect the future of crypto. Even though the blockchain starts out as a private and “centralized” network, libra’s long-term goal is to open up and move to a permissionless network (owned by all holders of the libra coin). This move would definitely be very welcomed.

So far it looks like that libra could help boost mainstream adoption of crypto and instead will mainly compete with traditional retail banks.

The more time I spend thinking about libra, the more optimistic I become that this could become one of the most disruptive innovations of the last few years. The large user base of the facebook ecosystem combined with an easy-to-use integrated crypto wallet that has a nice UX could be the missing piece of the puzzle for crypto mainstream adoption.

Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in dozens of countries. Via libra Facebook’s user base can exchange USD and other fiat currencies into Facebook’s own digital coins to be used to buy things online, as well as transferring money without a bank account. The libra coin is backed by a basked of fiat currencies and government treasuries. The cryptocurrency is the native coin of the libra private blockchain, which is backed and secured by a group of corporates,VCs, and NGOs (incl. Uber, Spotify, Mastercard, and many others). There are many debates in the crypto community if libra is even a cryptocurrency and how it will affect the future of crypto. Even though the blockchain starts out as a private and “centralized” network, libra’s long-term goal is to open up and move to a permissionless network (owned by all holders of the libra coin). This move would definitely be very welcomed. So far it looks like that libra could help boost mainstream adoption of crypto and instead will mainly compete with traditional retail banks. The more time I spend thinking about libra, the more optimistic I become that this could become one of the most disruptive innovations of the last few years. The large user base of the facebook ecosystem combined with an easy-to-use integrated crypto wallet that has a nice UX could be the missing piece of the puzzle for crypto mainstream adoption. Microsoft Excel recognizes Bitcoin as a currency: Last but not least, a nice little feature introduced by Microsoft in Excel, where Bitcoin is now listed under currencies. ;)

🔍Recommended Reads

Find below a selection of this month’s articles that I recommend to read:

Will Artificial Intelligence Enhance or Hack Humanity? — Yuval Noah Harari & Fei-Fei Li:

A high-class interview between Yuval Noah Harari and Fei-Fei Li about the effects of artificial intelligence on humanity. This conversation was hosted by the Stanford Center for Ethics and Society. There is a text transcript or the video version, whatever you prefer. I’m still in the process of watching, but so far I can highly recommend it.

A high-class interview between Yuval Noah Harari and Fei-Fei Li about the effects of artificial intelligence on humanity. This conversation was hosted by the Stanford Center for Ethics and Society. There is a text transcript or the video version, whatever you prefer. I’m still in the process of watching, but so far I can highly recommend it. The Race to Develop the Moon — Rivka Galchen (The New Yorker):

With the subtitle “For science, profit, and pride, China, the U.S., and private companies are hunting for resources on the lunar surface.” this makes for a highly entertaining read if you’re interested in futuristic scenarios. Not really crypto related, but a great read if you are into the whole “humans as an interplanetary species” stuff.

With the subtitle “For science, profit, and pride, China, the U.S., and private companies are hunting for resources on the lunar surface.” this makes for a highly entertaining read if you’re interested in futuristic scenarios. Not really crypto related, but a great read if you are into the whole “humans as an interplanetary species” stuff. Crypto in 2019: 5 Focus Areas — Kleiner Perkins:

Outlook by the Venture Capital firm of Kleiner Perkins where crypto is heading in 2019. The 5 areas in short are: Financial Infrastructure, Security Tokens, Developer Tools, NFTs & Gaming, and New Business Models. Read the whole article to get the full context.

Bitcoin’s timeline 2017–2018. Source: Kleiner Perkins

💡Interesting New Projects

Here a few cool projects I came across and that might be worth keeping in mind:

Hummingbot:

Decentralized market making. Run your own high-frequency market making bot and automate your crypto trading. Create your own trading bot with this tool and trade on exchanges & protocols such as Binance, Coinbase, DDEX, Radar Relay, and 0x.

Decentralized market making. Run your own high-frequency market making bot and automate your crypto trading. Create your own trading bot with this tool and trade on exchanges & protocols such as Binance, Coinbase, DDEX, Radar Relay, and 0x. Dapper:

Dapper Labs (the makers of Cryptokitties) have developed a smart contract based wallet specifically to interact with blockchain games. The wallet is built to be “gas-free” and with features like account recoverability and fiat on-ramps.

Dapper Labs (the makers of Cryptokitties) have developed a smart contract based wallet specifically to interact with blockchain games. The wallet is built to be “gas-free” and with features like account recoverability and fiat on-ramps. Metacash:

Metacash is a decentralized and gasless DAI wallet that allows users for the first time to send DAI while paying transaction fees directly in DAI, without having to hold any Ether and without compromising decentralization or security. Still very early in development, but looking forward to seeing this getting to market.

🙏 Thanks for your interest.

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Best wishes,

Remo / Founder BlockNovum

About BlockNovum

BlockNovum is a Swiss Blockchain and Cryptoasset investment research & consulting firm. We provide professional assessments, fundamental valuations, and market research reports for the emerging asset class of cryptoassets & blockchain startups.

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