{"id":15906,"date":"2020-03-10T23:54:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T23:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=15906"},"modified":"2020-10-10T15:10:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T15:10:16","slug":"news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/10\/news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Coronavirus kills conferences, India un-bans crypto, Bitcoin catches a cold"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m enjoying the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/06\/what-your-contributions-buy-a-writing-axe-i-can-love\/\">shiny new netbook,<\/a> putting\u00a0 your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\">valued contributions<\/a> to good use \u2014 it was just the thing for this newsletter post. Even if I had to <a href=\"https:\/\/reddragdiva.dreamwidth.org\/608064.html\">compile the wifi driver from source,<\/a> because I am that sort of bloody-minded nerd.<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;ll be 0% surprised to hear that I have no conference or panel dates lined up \u2014 perhaps I can sell video appearances &#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/10\/news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold\/coronachan\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15924\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15924\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan.jpg 889w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan-222x300.jpg 222w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan-759x1024.jpg 759w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan-768x1037.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>So much for the nodding-and-smiling racket<\/h3>\n<p>Coronavirus Covid-19 means crypto conferences are doomed. And crypto media\u00a0 \u2014 looking at you here, CoinDesk \u2014 may be a casualty. [<i><a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2020\/03\/03\/coronavirus-will-crypto-conferences-survive-what-about-crypto-media\/\">Amy Castor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/21076\/coronavirus-is-killing-the-bitcoin-conference-business\">Decrypt<\/a><\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Decrypt has a rolling roundup of coronavirus crypto stories. [<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/21816\/coronavirus-crypto-bitcoin-live-updates-news\"><em>Decrypt<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>TRON&#8217;s nITROn conference has been postponed, but they&#8217;re keeping all the money they can \u2014 they&#8217;re still selling tickets for this event that has no date in the foreseeable future, and they&#8217;re even offering discounts if you buy in even bigger! [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidgerard\/status\/1234911755438088192\"><i>nITROn screenshot<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>CoinDesk&#8217;s Consensus conference is absolutely not even refunding you unless they&#8217;re forced to shut down by law, or if you&#8217;re barred from travel by your home country. [<a href=\"https:\/\/view.coindesk-email.com\/?qs=2987346ac26c3aed8a768b07ec75dee2d5007e7316e8aad4b75beb1cfd33980238249fa511a1feb399fbcb155ba349f012a0fd2e5ec116326aebbd9a91320bc7650959a0bb9065c27fe551f5f3c82c08\"><i>CoinDesk email<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/ats51\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/tag\/jacob-kostecki\/\">Jacob Kostecki&#8217;s Massive Adoption<\/a> event is still showing no evidence of refunding people. Though it would probably have been cancelled due to coronavirus anyway. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fintechdirect.net\/2020\/03\/04\/cancelled-massive-adoption-event-massively-annoying-to-bitcoin-brigade\/\"><i>Fintech DIrect<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>To pay off his Massive Adoption ticket bill (of course), Kostecki has pivoted to real estate. He has a free ebook on wholesaling real estate, coming out in a couple of weeks! [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jkostecki_rei\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Man, I bet Gerry Cotten&#8217;s wishing he&#8217;d had Coronavirus as an excuse.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">my job is to write angry tweets about how the world is a corrupt hellhole full of sick people &amp; people are too cowardly to even help each other. i want 5 litecoins<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; wint but Al (closed) (@drilgpt2archive) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drilgpt2archive\/status\/1237416555551612929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Indian ban on cryptos struck down<\/h3>\n<p>Actually good news for bitcoin \u2014 the Supreme Court of India has struck down the Reserve Bank of India&#8217;s 2018 circular against cryptocurrencies, on procedural grounds. [<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/business\/india-business\/supreme-court-allows-cryptocurrency-trading-cancels-rbis-2018-circular\/articleshow\/74470172.cms\"><i>Times of India<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Why was India so hostile to cryptos anyway? From 2018: Meet India&#8217;s biggest cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. [<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/vivliograph\/meet-indias-biggest-cryptocurrency-ponzi-scheme-82a69d9d32aa\"><i>Medium<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Reserve Bank of India isn&#8217;t happy with the ruling, and are appealing it.\u00a0 This is unlikely to succeed \u2014 the ruling was on the basis that the Reserve Bank had not shown sufficient actual economic harm from cryptos. But they&#8217;re likely to just try to push it through harder. [<a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/economy\/policy\/rbi-to-seek-review-of-supreme-court-order-on-cryptocurrency\/articleshow\/74503345.cms\"><i>Economic Times<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Tanvi Ratna has a Twitter thread and a YouTube video explaining the ruling, and what it means. It&#8217;s not at all 100% good news for crypto in India \u2014 the court&#8217;s ruling is technologically weird in a number of ways, and it&#8217;s only freedom for businesses, not retail crypto users or investors. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tanvi_ratna\/status\/1235860891502923778\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/OGt6Ez1LrC8\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Last chance to buy under $100k<\/h3>\n<p>Crypto is officially recognised by Ukraine! Ukrainian taxpayers now have to report crypto holdings. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/ukrainian-taxpayers-will-now-have-to-report-crypto-holdings\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>BitMex is officially recognised by UK financial authorities! The FCA issues a warning against the exchange \u2014 they&#8217;re not licensed to deal with UK-based customers. Bitmex is &#8220;assessing the situation.&#8221; One source told The Block that the FCA may proceed similarly against other exchanges. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fca.org.uk\/news\/warnings\/bitmex\"><i>FCA<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/21399\/bitmex-gets-reprimand-from-uks-financial-regulator\"><i>Decrypt<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/57838\/bitmex-not-authorized-to-operate-in-uk-says-it-is-working-to-assess-the-situation\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>(&#8220;<span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-vw2c0b r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">FCA<\/span><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\"> are like the SEC If they forgot to do their job, ever&#8221; \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ben_Munster\/status\/1235327481189732360\">Ben Munster<\/a>)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Blockchain Association has put out a research report on employment trends in the &#8220;digital asset industry.&#8221; Shockingly few people work in crypto \u2014 the report puts it at about 20,000 all together. No wonder <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/02\/28\/critical-journalism-in-the-crypto-ice-age\/\">crypto media barely has an audience.<\/a> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/53685\/research-report-employment-trends-in-the-digital-asset-industry-commissioned-by-the-blockchain-association\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a PwC report from 2019, about crypto hedge funds in 2018. They found 150 active firms, $1 billion <i>total<\/i> assets under management, $4.3 million median assets under management, and a median return of\u00a0 minus-46%. Those dollar amounts are pitifully small \u2014 the &#8220;crypto hedge fund&#8221; space was mostly HODLers putting on a tie and pretending they were big shots. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwc.com\/gx\/en\/financial-services\/fintech\/assets\/pwc-elwood-2019-annual-crypto-hedge-fund-report.pdf\"><i>PwC<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The Bank for International Settlements, February 2019: &#8220;Beyond the Doomsday Economics of &#8216;Proof-of-Work&#8217; in Cryptocurrencies&#8221; by Raphael Auer \u2014 why finality is hard in proof-of-work. This is the paper formerly known as &#8220;The mechanics of decentralised trust in Bitcoin and the block chain.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3332309\"><i>SSRN<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. 113 VIRTUAL CURRENCY ACCOUNTS. This document is really interesting \u2014 it&#8217;s a step-by-step explanation of how North Korea hacked South Korean exchanges, laundering the stolen bitcoins with a peel chain. There was also a spearphishing campaign \u2014 personalised fraud emails \u2014 targeting exchange executives. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6791952-Complaint.html\"><i>DocumentCloud<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Institutional Investors: &#8220;LOL, forget that garbage.&#8221; As the coronavirus hits, CME Bitcoin futures are being abandoned by investors \u2014 &#8220;uncorrelated safe haven asset&#8221; joins &#8220;store of value&#8221; on the pile of discarded stories that bagholders tell prospective suckers. You&#8217;d almost think coiners will say absolutely anything, and its opposite a minute later, if they think it might possibly lead to number going up. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/58123\/institutional-investors-are-shunning-cme-bitcoin-futures-as-coronavirus-roils-global-markets\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/ftalphaville.ft.com\/2020\/03\/09\/1583742985000\/Isn-t-bitcoin-meant-to-be-a-safe-haven-\/\"><i>FT Alphaville<\/i><\/a><i>, free with login<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/10\/news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold\/bitcoin-tp\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15908\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15908\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bitcoin-tp.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"399\" height=\"436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bitcoin-tp.jpg 399w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/bitcoin-tp-275x300.jpg 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>ICO, ICO<\/h3>\n<p>The judge in SEC v. Telegram hasn&#8217;t issued his decision yet \u2014 but an SEC document submitted in the case reveals the names of multiple Russian GRAM token buyers, including Roman Abramovich. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/telegram-ico-roman-abramovich-wirecard-coo-mikhail-abyzov\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Crypto news site Decrypt hopes to fund itself with sponsored reader reward tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Uhm. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/57677\/crypto-media-decrypt-reward-token\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Palley on Ripple&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/02\/29\/news-london-football-exchange-and-perth-glory-ripple-pays-moneygram-to-be-its-friend-libra-not-dead-iota-still-halted-swedens-not-a-cbdc\/\">ridiculously subsidised<\/a> cryptocurrency, XRP \u2014 &#8220;Tl;dr: XRP sure sounds like a security. My bet is that the Court will ultimately reach the same conclusion.&#8221; And, in what would be a bombshell for ICOs offering unregistered securities \u2014 &#8220;If the Court&#8217;s reasoning is accepted, purchasers of crypto on secondary markets can state securities claims against the issuer where they did not directly purchase the crypto.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/1234510975430205447\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The case for Reg A: a response to Commissioner Peirce.&#8221; A suggestion for the SEC to expand Regulation A and Regulation Crowdfunding \u2014 which allow lightweight registration requirements to sell securities to retail investors \u2014 rather than come up with special rules when the security is implemented as tokens on blockchains. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/57207\/case-for-reg-a-response-commissioner-peirce-sec-token\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, the SEC is already loosening up exempt offering rules \u2014 including Reg A and Reg CF. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/press-release\/2020-55\"><i>Press release<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I feel like this is very 2019 and has nothing to do with virus doom exponential prepping but you should really remove &quot;ICO expert&quot; from your bio for the love of all that is holy.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Palley (@stephendpalley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/1237067912311123969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Stupid Libra tricks<\/h3>\n<p>JPMorgan&#8217;s new report &#8220;Blockchain, digital currency and cryptocurrency: Moving into the mainstream?&#8221; is the usual frothingly positive ill-founded blockchain nonsense, but the bit on Libra was of interest (p41 on) \u2014 they spotted a wrinkle I hadn&#8217;t thought of.<\/p>\n<p>If Libra takes off, most transaction volume will be business-to-business \u2014 and this sort of private RTGS (real-time gross settlement) system will seize up in short order \u2014 everyone&#8217;s bills queueing up behind the payments they need to receive before they can pay \u2014 unless the float of cash sitting the system is huge compared to volume. The US Federal Reserve, for instance, only keeps this sort of thing running by offering its member banks hours-long overdrafts \u2014 a bit of credit greases the wheels of commerce.<\/p>\n<p>JPMorgan estimate that Libra would need $600 billion of float \u2014 Libras in circulation for this purpose \u2014 for a $1 trillion daily volume. Because the Libra Association insists it&#8217;s going to run on a strict one-to-one reserve, and not offer credit like it&#8217;s a bank or something.<\/p>\n<p>Now, imagine the fine companies of the Libra Association putting that size of float into government paper and similar cash equivalents, like they said they would &#8230; at present-day negative interest. It would cost companies money just to stay in the Association.<\/p>\n<p>If the Association passes on the negative interest, by charging a fee to Libra wallet companies or users &#8230; everyone cashes in their Libra tokens as absolutely fast as possible. Because at least money under your bed doesn&#8217;t shrink. And the float gets even smaller.<\/p>\n<p>This is all assuming that this Libra currency plan that can&#8217;t work, works in the first place. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.docdroid.net\/bZeM0KU\/jpm-j-p-morgan-perspect-2020-02-21-3274027.pdf\"><i>report<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Libra&#8217;s white paper documents have been edited since the June 2019 launch. For instance, in December, they removed the bit about paying dividends to Association members. [<a href=\"https:\/\/fintechpolicy.org\/2019\/12\/10\/exclusive-the-libra-white-paper-has-been-edited-with-notable-changes\/\"><i>Fintech Policy<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia says it&#8217;s ready to regulate Facebook&#8217;s Libra. This story in ZDNet is the source of silly claims in the crypto blogs that &#8220;Australia has a test version of Libra&#8221; or something \u2014 but that&#8217;s not quite what the bank said. [<a href=\"https:\/\/zd.net\/2Vz4L82\"><i>ZDNet<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Bank for International Settlements&#8217; quarterly review for March 2020 has a long section on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). It isn&#8217;t very good, sadly \u2014 it doesn&#8217;t go into the implications, it just speculates on how you might do a CBDC with something related to blockchains. This suggests that CBDCs are still in the realm of architecture astronautics, rather than something a central bank will be issuing in the foreseeable future \u2014 however spooked they are by Libra. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bis.org\/publ\/qtrpdf\/r_qt2003j.htm\"><i>BIS<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>David B. Black: &#8220;Somehow, no one in the debate acknowledges the obvious fact that we already HAVE a national digital currency. It\u2019s fast, cheap and secure! It has no issue with regulators, and it\u2019s accepted everywhere. Who knew? It\u2019s called \u2026 the US dollar.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davidblack\/2020\/03\/01\/who-needs-cryptocurrency-fedcoin-when-we-already-have-a-national-digital-currency\/\"><i>Forbes<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/10\/news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold\/libra-white-elephant\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15907\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15907\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/libra-white-elephant.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/libra-white-elephant.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/libra-white-elephant-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/libra-white-elephant-1024x717.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/libra-white-elephant-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Image by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chainagnostic\">ChainAgnostic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Things happen<\/h3>\n<p>Distributed Proof-of-Stake leaves your blockchain open to takeover bids \u2014 such as when Justin Sun of TRON tried to take over the Steem blockchain, by enlisting exchanges such as Binance to pledge their holdings to his efforts. It turns out Dan Larimer&#8217;s wishful thinking isn&#8217;t governance, and you can&#8217;t cleverly abstract away the human element. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblockcrypto.com\/post\/57508\/tron-steem-takeover-crypto-exchanges-governance-reversal-soft-fork-blockchain\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lawmaster\/status\/1234718346148532224\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>r\/eos on the Steem debacle: &#8220;TLDR: Dan is a failure at anything other than sucking money\u00a0 out of the cryptocurrency market, which let&#8217;s face it, we all wish we could do as well as he does.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/eos\/comments\/fcwjp9\/is_it_time_to_declare_dan_a_failure\/\"><i>Reddit<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Geoff Golberg is suing Twitter for deleting his account. He claims bot armies mass reported his account when he was investigating them. This is normally the stuff of LOLsuits \u2014 but this one is a serious suit, being brought by Stephen Palley and Preston Byrne. [<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/21245\/geoff-golberg-sues-twitter-for-deleting-his-profile\"><i>Decrypt<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>At this year&#8217;s RSA security conference, the FBI said that an estimated $144 million has been paid out to ransomware operators. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/fbi-says-140-million-paid-to-ransomware-offers-defense-tips\/\"><i>Bleeping Computer<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Reggie Fowler&#8217;s trial on assorted wire fraud charges is rescheduled forJanuary 2021 \u2014 in the meantime, he&#8217;s still out on bail. [<a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2020\/03\/05\/reggie-fowlers-trial-pushed-to-next-year\/\"><i>Amy Castor<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Cas Piancey apologises for tipping off Ravid Yosef \u2014 Fowler&#8217;s fellow indictee \u2014 so she knew to go to ground. [<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@thecaspiancey\/that-time-an-internet-nobody-tracked-a-woman-on-the-hook-for-850-million-and-then-let-her-get-d5d93149c837\"><i>Medium<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The only mainstream press coverage of the IOTA network&#8217;s complete shutdown appears to be in Heise. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/newsticker\/meldung\/Kryptowaehrung-IOTA-Guthaben-im-Millionenwert-gestohlen-Netzwerk-steht-still-4669122.html\"><i>Heise<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>West Virginia has finally had the good sense to ditch terrible blockchain voting grifters Voatz, after their <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/02\/18\/news-hester-peirce-and-bruce-springsteen-the-350000-defi-hack-fcoin-exchange-collapse-voatz-still-bad-iota-still-broken-merchants-still-nonexistent\/\">horrifying security failures<\/a> made national press. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/west-virginia-backtracks-using-smartphone-voting-app-state-primary-n1145571\"><i>NBC<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>CoinDesk must be nocoiner shills, everyone knows bitcoin runs on green energy \u2014 so this story about a Bitcoin mining operation running on natural gas can&#8217;t be true! [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/a-new-york-power-plant-is-mining-50k-worth-of-bitcoin-a-day\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Maximilian Fiege on why crypto mining tends to fossil fuel \u2014 miners are fly-in-fly-out locusts, not builders. &#8220;Before addressing the logical alternative energy strategy miners will pursue, let us dismiss the one they will not: building out renewable energy assets themselves.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@maximilianfiege\/a-fossil-fuel-future-for-bitcoin-mining-b108757f31ac\"><i>Medium<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hello, if you rage tweet at me about your favorite token I will say a prayer for your immortal soul while I block you k thanks Palley<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Palley (@stephendpalley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephendpalley\/status\/1234534114197417985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 2, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Hot takes<\/h3>\n<p>Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer dropped off social media a while ago. You&#8217;ll be delighted to hear that he&#8217;s alive and well, and well out of crypto! Keyword Crypto did a podcast with him. [<a href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/keywordcrypto\/episodes\/Jackson-Palmer-New-HEX-Killer---DOGE-2-0-eb56tb\"><i>Keyword Crypto<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>From March 2018: &#8220;A Crypto-Capital Markets Lawyer Looks Back on 2017&#8221; by Lewis Cohen. [<a href=\"https:\/\/link.medium.com\/bE1LXyxbu4\"><i>Medium<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Tokenization Delusion by Frances Coppola: &#8220;The dream of tokenizing all assets, enabling people to issue their own coins and have them accepted as money, founders on the problem of trust. By definition, physical assets are not decentralized.&#8221; It&#8217;s a custody problem, not a bookkeeping problem. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/the-tokenization-delusion\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>A &#8220;USD-backed stablecoin&#8221; offers <em>ten times<\/em> the returns of a US dollar insured deposit account! Apparently because it&#8217;s at least ten times as risky. And in practice, it doesn&#8217;t really offer those returns anyway. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coppolacomment.com\/2020\/03\/too-good-to-be-true.html\"><em>Frances Coppola<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The crypto world is an iterated prisoner&#8217;s dilemma, where everyone is hitting the &#8220;DEFECT&#8221; button as hard and fast as possible. DeFi is no exception. Haseeb Qureshi: &#8220;Why Flash Attacks Will Be The New Normal.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/dragonfly-research\/flash-loans-why-flash-attacks-will-be-the-new-normal-5144e23ac75a\"><i>Medium<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>\/r\/buttcoin has a guide to crypto skeptics, for your quality nocoining entertainment. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Buttcoin\/comments\/fdlcvp\/who_are_the_top_names_in_crypto_skepticism_are\/\"><i>Reddit<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Commentators are even touting the possibility of Bitcoin returning to its origins as a collectors item among lonely angry men.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Buttcoin\/comments\/ffz3ax\/news_bitcoin_to_be_rebranded_as_a_currency_after\/\"><i>Reddit<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/03\/10\/news-coronavirus-kills-conferences-india-un-bans-crypto-bitcoin-catches-a-cold\/baskee\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15909\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15909\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/baskee.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"995\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/baskee.jpg 500w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/baskee-151x300.jpg 151w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not a single person involved in the Wall St Crash is alive anymore.<\/p>\n<p>How&#39;s that for justice, you capitalist dogs.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nihilists for Labour (@Nihilists4Lab) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nihilists4Lab\/status\/1233432026960867335?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Very true. I can confirm as a lawyer that things are basically black and white. There are no exceptions or conditions. And it definitely never &quot;depends.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rafael Yakobi (@CACryptoLawyer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CACryptoLawyer\/status\/1235721743966162944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">the best thing about people contacting you wrt an issue they&#39;re having with one of your apps is that they message you very politely and seriously but they have a username like &quot;xSwoleMaster69x&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; pokkst (@pokkst) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pokkst\/status\/1233825129098022924?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFCA are like the SEC If they forgot to do their job, ever\u201d \u2014 Ben Munster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[138,738,1067,1347,1474,282,98,649,557,1109,1552,166,580,1203,1098,287,415,1090,1642,75,1116,1511,1328,6,1123,1711,36,1085,70,1263,1715,1269,338,1714,33,1716,120,1712,1096,744,1713,339],"class_list":["post-15906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-australia","tag-bis","tag-bitmex","tag-blockchain-association","tag-cbdc","tag-cme","tag-coindesk","tag-consensus","tag-dan-larimer","tag-decrypt-media","tag-defi","tag-fca","tag-frances-coppola","tag-geoff-golberg","tag-gram","tag-india","tag-iota","tag-jackson-palmer","tag-jacob-kostecki","tag-jpmorgan-chase","tag-justin-sun","tag-keyword-crypto","tag-libra","tag-links","tag-maximilian-fiege","tag-nitron","tag-preston-byrne","tag-pwc","tag-ransomware","tag-ravid-yosef","tag-rba","tag-reggie-fowler","tag-ripple","tag-roman-abramovic","tag-sec","tag-steem","tag-stephen-palley","tag-tanvi-ratna","tag-telegram","tag-tron","tag-ukraine","tag-xrp"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/coronachan-header.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15906"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15930,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15906\/revisions\/15930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}