{"id":19248,"date":"2021-04-20T21:33:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T21:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=19248"},"modified":"2021-07-23T18:59:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T18:59:50","slug":"news-coinbase-goes-public-bitcoin-hashrate-goes-down-nfts-go-down-proof-of-space-trashes-hard-disk-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/04\/20\/news-coinbase-goes-public-bitcoin-hashrate-goes-down-nfts-go-down-proof-of-space-trashes-hard-disk-market\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Coinbase goes public, Bitcoin hashrate goes down, NFTs go down, proof-of-space trashes hard disk market"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>If you\u2019d like to get yourself copies of the books signed by the author, <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/11\/26\/get-signed-copies-of-libra-shrugged-and-attack-of-the-50-foot-blockchain\/\">go to this post and see how much to PayPal me!<\/a><\/li>\n<li>You can support my work by signing up for the Patreon \u2014 $5 or $20 a month is like a few drinks down the pub while we rant about cryptos once a month. It really does help. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\"><i>Patreon<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>The Patreon also has a $100\/month Corporate tier \u2014 the number is bigger on this tier, and will look more impressive on your analyst newsletter expense account. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/join\/davidgerard\/checkout?rid=6951364\"><em>Patreon<\/em><\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>And tell your friends and colleagues to sign up for this newsletter by email! [<a href=\"#byemail\"><i>scroll down, or click here<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/04\/20\/news-coinbase-goes-public-bitcoin-hashrate-goes-down-nfts-go-down-proof-of-space-trashes-hard-disk-market\/coinbase-stock-price\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19254\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19254\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/coinbase-stock-price.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/coinbase-stock-price.png 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/coinbase-stock-price-300x185.png 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/coinbase-stock-price-348x215.png 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>The Bernard L. Madoff Memorial Coinbase Listing<\/h3>\n<p>On 14 April 2021, Coinbase listed on NASDAQ as a public company! On the same day the Bitcoin price peaked, and Bernie Madoff \u2014 the patron saint of Bitcoin \u2014 died.<\/p>\n<p>Being a public company brings much closer attention to just what&#8217;s going on here, without the sort of dumb excuses that crypto bros will accept. Coinbase&#8217;s stock price is unsustainable \u2014 the starting price was at 79 times <i>revenue,<\/i> let alone earnings. For comparison, Palantir&#8217;s direct listing was at 19 times revenue. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b740dba6-f2fc-457a-a0a0-067f0754d1b3\"><i>FT Alphaville<\/i><\/a><i>, free with registration<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The stock price has behaved accordingly \u2014 and went from $409.62 on launch day, to $319.00 as I write this. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/investing\/stock\/coin\"><i>MarketWatch<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/4cxP6\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The other nice thing about a public listing is that the Coinbase stock price is a proxy for the price of Bitcoin \u2014 and you can&#8217;t short Bitcoin reliably, but you can certainly short stocks reliably.<\/p>\n<p>The Coinbase listing was thoroughly in the spirit of crypto offerings \u2014 insiders dumped a pile of their shares immediately, including the chief financial officer selling 100% of hers. Apologists swooped in to say that they only sold <i>vested<\/i> shares \u2014 which means, the shares they actually had, and not the shares they didn&#8217;t have. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ericyakes\/status\/1383472621317025793\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/openinsider.com\/screener?s=coin&amp;o=&amp;pl=&amp;ph=&amp;ll=&amp;lh=&amp;fd=730&amp;fdr=&amp;td=0&amp;tdr=&amp;fdlyl=&amp;fdlyh=&amp;daysago=&amp;xp=1&amp;xs=1&amp;vl=&amp;vh=&amp;ocl=&amp;och=&amp;sic1=-1&amp;sicl=100&amp;sich=9999&amp;grp=0&amp;nfl=&amp;nfh=&amp;nil=&amp;nih=&amp;nol=&amp;noh=&amp;v2l=&amp;v2h=&amp;oc2l=&amp;oc2h=&amp;sortcol=0&amp;cnt=100&amp;page=1\"><i>OpenInsider<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/fznDz\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>A lawyer \u2014 specifically, a professor of contracts \u2014 looks at the Coinbase terms of service, and specifically the requirement to take disputes to arbitration. She&#8217;s unconvinced the terms are even enforceable. [<a href=\"https:\/\/lawprofessors.typepad.com\/contractsprof_blog\/2021\/04\/coinbases-tos.html\"><i>ContractsProf Blog<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Martin Walker and Winnie Mosioma: &#8220;Many cryptocurrency exchanges are now making proud claims about their regulated status, but does &#8216;regulated&#8217; really mean what investors think?&#8221; A review of sixteen crypto exchanges.\u00a0 [<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/businessreview\/2021\/04\/13\/regulated-cryptocurrency-exchanges-sign-of-a-maturing-market-or-oxymoron\/\"><i>LSE Business Review<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Not so much a revolving door as a recirculating sewer \u2014 Brian Brooks, formerly of Coinbase, and then of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, becomes the CEO of Binance US. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/binance-us-hires-former-bank-regulator-brian-brooks-as-ceo\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bitcoin is just Avon for men in their late 20s don\u2019t at me<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CryptoCharles (@CryptoCharles__) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CryptoCharles__\/status\/1381639266523037705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 12, 2021<\/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>Hashrate go down, number follows<\/h3>\n<p>Bitcoin is so robustly decentralised that a power outage in a single area \u2014 or, by some reports, in a <i>single data centre<\/i> \u2014 in Xinjiang took half of Bitcoin&#8217;s hashpower offline, across multiple &#8220;independent&#8221; mining pools. Decentralised! [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/bitcoin-mining-hash-rate-drops-as-blackouts-instituted-in-china-2021-04-16\"><i>NASDAQ News<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>An accident in a coal mine on 10 April didn&#8217;t directly stop the flow of electricity \u2014 but it did lead to widespread safety inspections in various industries. This included Bitcoin mining data centres being shut down. [<a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/bitcoin-crashes-accident-xinjiang-china-halts-mining-operation\/\"><i>Crypto Briefing<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Bitcoin hash rate dropped from 220 exahashes per second to 165 EH\/s. The rate of new blocks slowed. The Bitcoin mempool \u2014 the backlog of transactions waiting to be processed \u2014 has filled. Transaction fees peaked at just over $50 average on 18 April. [<a href=\"https:\/\/jochen-hoenicke.de\/queue\/#BTC,1w,weight\"><i>Johoe&#8217;s Bitcoin Mempool Statistics<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/yFvm8\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i> of 20 April 2021; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/ycharts.com\/indicators\/bitcoin_average_transaction_fee\"><i>Ycharts<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/9kT18\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i> of 20 April 2021<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>This turned a slight dip in the BTC price over the weekend into a crash \u2014 from $64,000 down to $51,000. It&#8217;s hard to pump the market if you can&#8217;t move your coins.<\/p>\n<p>Though that hasn&#8217;t stopped Tether doing two-billion-USDT pumps. I&#8217;m sure this is all 100% backed with something that won&#8217;t crash if you look at it funny.<\/p>\n<p>Binance finds itself suddenly unable to fulfil withdrawals of <i>crypto<\/i> \u2014 direct from them to you on the blockchain, without even being able to blame the legacy financial system. Affected tokens: BNB (BEP2 and BEP20), USDT (TRC20 and BEP20) BTC, XRP, DOGE, BUSD (BEP20). But I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;ll all be fine, and Binance definitely have all the cryptos they claimed to. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/binance\/status\/1384139264011628546\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/binance\/status\/1384139264011628546\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>You can cash out any time you like! As long as nobody else is trying to.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">who decided to call them NFTs instead of GIF Certificates???<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; adam j. sontag (@ajpiano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ajpiano\/status\/1383865610484862977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 18, 2021<\/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>Q. What do you call unsmokeable mushrooms?<br \/>\nA. Non-Tokeable Fungi<\/h3>\n<p>NFTs have a problem: number go &#8230; not up. It turns out there isn&#8217;t a secondary market for NFTs \u2014 nobody buys them after the pumpers have had their turn. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-04-03\/nft-price-crash-stirs-debate-on-whether-stimulus-led-fad-is-over\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not meaningful to characterize a concept as a financial bubble,\u201d said Chris Wilmer, a University of Pittsburgh academic who co-edits a blockchain research journal, and thinks playing with words obscures that NFTs were a month-long bubble.<\/p>\n<p>Some news stories called NFTs a &#8220;stimulus-led fad&#8221;. Now, you might think that was a remarkable euphemism for a blatant pump by crypto bros to fake the appearance of a market.<\/p>\n<p>Popular NFT marketplace Rarible has been targeted by &#8230; scammers and malware! Unheard of in crypto. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/microsoft\/popular-nft-marketplace-rarible-targeted-by-scammers-and-malware\/\"><i>Bleeping Computer<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Brian Livingston&#8217;s newsletter Muscular Portfolios traces a bit more of the follow-the-money on Metakovan&#8217;s purchase of a $69 million NFT. [<a href=\"https:\/\/bri.li\/210416\"><i>Muscular Portfolios<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Kim Parker: Most artists are not making money off NFTs \u2014 and here are some graphs to prove it. [<a href=\"https:\/\/thatkimparker.medium.com\/most-artists-are-not-making-money-off-nfts-and-here-are-some-graphs-to-prove-it-c65718d4a1b8\"><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\">Minty Bingo for when NFTs die and everyone comes back crying <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1aCPplzdui\">https:\/\/t.co\/1aCPplzdui<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/j725JsoIzq\">pic.twitter.com\/j725JsoIzq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \ud83d\udda4 Pins, Liminal Gremlin Clown \ud83e\udd21 (@Lokinne) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Lokinne\/status\/1379374637411356672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 6, 2021<\/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>He is genius in allocation of space<\/h3>\n<p>Proof-of-space crypto may do to hard disks and SSDs what proof-of-work altcoins did to video cards. Bram Cohen&#8217;s Chia network seems to already be leading to local shortages of large hard drives \u2014 prices in Hong Kong for the 4TB and above range are up to triple the usual price.[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hkepc.com\/20288\/%E7%A4%A6%E5%B7%A5%E7%98%8B%E7%8B%82%E6%90%B6_HDD__SSD_%E6%8C%96%E6%8E%98_Chia_%E5%A5%87%E4%BA%9E%E5%B9%A3_%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E4%BB%A3%E7%90%86HDD_%E8%A2%AB%E6%8E%83%E5%85%89%E4%BE%86%E8%B2%A8%E5%A4%A7%E6%BC%B2%E5%83%B9_\"><i>HKEPC<\/i><\/a><i>, in Chinese; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/wccftech.com\/dedicated-cryptocurrency-mining-ssds-in-production-chia-coin-rise\/\"><i>WCCFTech<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>How wonderfully energy-efficient is proof-of-space? Not so great \u2014 Shokunin tried out the client: &#8220;I tested this Chia thing overnight. Gave it 200GB plot and two CPU threads. After 10 hours it consumed 400GB temp space, didn\u2019t sync yet, CPU usage is always 80%+. Estimated reward time is 5 months. This isn\u2019t green, already being centralised on large waste producing servers.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SHOKUNIN_STUDIO\/status\/1384424116913049600\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>David S. H. Rosenthal noted precisely this in 2018: &#8220;One aspect of the talk that concerned me was that Cohen didn&#8217;t seem well-informed about the landscape of storage &#8230; If the cloud companies chose to burn-in their new drives by using them for Proof of Space they would easily dominate the network at almost zero cost.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dshr.org\/2018\/03\/proofs-of-space.html\"><i>blog post<\/i><\/a><i>, 2018<\/i>]<\/p>\n<h3>Baby&#8217;s on fire<\/h3>\n<p>CoinHive used to host crypto-miners on web pages \u2014 scraps of JavaScript that would use your electricity to mine for Monero. The service was also popular with web malware vendors. CoinHive <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/03\/04\/news-quadriga-the-merchant-case-for-cryptos-ripple-malta-coinbase-buys-neutrino-coinhive-shuts-down-eos-hack-tether-on-tron\/\">shut down in 2019.<\/a> The coinhive.com domain name is now owned by security expert Troy Hunt \u2014 if you go to a page that&#8217;s still trying to load the CoinHive script, you get a page that warns you about cryptos, web-based malware and cross-site scripting.\u00a0 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.troyhunt.com\/i-now-own-the-coinhive-domain-heres-how-im-fighting-cryptojacking-and-doing-good-things-with-content-security-policies\/\"><i>Troy Hunt<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s enough Bitcoin mining in China that the Bitcoin mining <i>alone<\/i> is a serious problem for the country to meet its CO2 targets. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-021-22256-3\"><i>Nature<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/finance-and-economics\/2021\/04\/10\/totting-up-bitcoins-environmental-costs\"><i>The Economist<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>David S. H. Rosenthal on how Bitcoin mining can never be green \u2014 because the carbon footprint is the point. [<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dshr.org\/2021\/04\/cryptocurrencys-carbon-footprint.html\"><i>blog post<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Gothamist: Andrew Yang Wants To Turn NYC Into A Bitcoin Megahub. That Would Be Terrible For Climate Change. \u201cBitcoin advocates never talk about displacement because it makes the numbers sound bad,\u201d I was quoted as saying. [<a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/andrew-yang-wants-turn-nyc-bitcoin-megahub-would-be-terrible-climate-change\"><i>Gothamist<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Times: The idea of bitcoin going green is laughable \u2014 hey Bitcoin, this is what attention from the mainstream looks like. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/5f8b3afa-9e1d-11eb-8da6-6f8eecc82ac3?shareToken=911c14ae2a6ef84925d7501e58f2e436\"><i>Times<\/i><\/a><i>, paywalled, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/7AQtw\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">while y&#39;all are over here getting excited over NFTs I&#39;m making the original NFT <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Jcf01LB0BZ\">pic.twitter.com\/Jcf01LB0BZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; yves adele fartlow (@vogon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vogon\/status\/1379164880750538752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 5, 2021<\/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>ICO, ICO<\/h3>\n<p>The SEC has sued LBRY over their 2016 ICO \u2014 and their <i>still-ongoing<\/i> offerings of tokens in a manner that, on the face of it, appears to be a ridiculously obvious unregistered offering of securities. The SEC investigation has been going on three years. LBRY decided to market more tokens last year, which may have been the last straw for the SEC. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/litigation\/litreleases\/2021\/lr25060.htm\"><i>SEC press release<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/litigation\/complaints\/2021\/comp25060.pdf\"><i>complaint<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>LBRY has struck back! With a site called HELP LBRY SAVE CRYPTO. The FAQ on the site makes a string of assertions which are best answered &#8220;read the complaint&#8221;. [<a href=\"https:\/\/helplbrysavecrypto.com\/\"><i>HELP LBRY SAVE CRYPTO<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Paragon was an ICO for &#8220;blockchain technology in the cannabis industry&#8221;. It was, as usual, an illegal offering of unregistered securities. Paragon <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/11\/18\/the-secs-templated-admin-orders-against-icos-what-happens-next\/\">settled with the SEC in 2018<\/a> \u2014 they had to return everyone&#8217;s money, and pay a $250,000 fine. Shockingly, the pot coin guys turned out to be flakes \u2014 Paragon defaulted on its settlement. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/secs-settlements-with-some-cryptocurrency-firms-showing-cracks-11573729200\"><i>WSJ<\/i><\/a><i>, 2019, paywalled<\/i>] Paragon&#8217;s founders have disappeared. Aggrieved investors tried to mount a class action last year. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/paragon-pot-coin-ico-lawsuit\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>, 2020<\/i>] Only $175,000 of the SEC penalty was paid, and this will be distributed to Paragon&#8217;s investors. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/litigation\/admin\/2021\/34-91522.pdf\"><i>Order<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>In SEC v. Ripple, the SEC has been denied access to eight years of personal financial information of Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.551082\/gov.uscourts.nysd.551082.103.0.pdf\"><i>Order<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>] And Ripple has gained partial access to SEC discussions on whether XRP was a security, as compared to BTC or ETH. [<a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/ripple-wins-access-to-sec-discussions-on-defining-crypto-assets-as-securities\"><i>CoinTelegraph<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The independent Telegram messaging service, beloved of crypto pumpers, will be a thing of the past \u2014 Pavel Durov was so screwed by <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/05\/16\/telegram-most-russian-investors-accepting-72-payout-telegram-takes-500m-of-loans\/\">paying back the investors<\/a> in Telegram&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/05\/14\/telegram-gives-up-on-the-telegram-open-network\/\">disastrous ICO<\/a> that he&#8217;s now planning to take the company public. According to a claimed leak from the investment bankers preparing the offering, Telegram plans to sell 10% to 25% of the company in a direct US listing, in the hope of $30 to 50 billion, likely in 2023. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/telegram-is-nearly-done-paying-back-ton-investors-eyes-ipo-next\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/media\/articles\/2021\/04\/11\/865492-telegram-planiruet-provesti-ipo\"><i>Vedomosti<\/i><\/a><i>, in Russian<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The SEC has published a &#8220;Framework for &#8216;Investment Contract&#8217; Analysis of Digital Assets.&#8221; None of this should be news to anyone here, though that won&#8217;t stop the crypto bros yelling like stuck pigs. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/corpfin\/framework-investment-contract-analysis-digital-assets\"><i>SEC<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Economists may sometimes say that the sky is green. The average crypto person will fight you on a 67 tweet thread arguing the colour of the sky is wet and in any case inflation is making the Nash equilibrium Llama.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \ud835\udda4\ud835\uddbd\ud835\uddc6\ud835\uddce\ud835\uddc7\ud835\uddbd \ud835\uddb2\ud835\uddbc\ud835\uddc1\ud835\uddce\ud835\uddcc\ud835\uddcd\ud835\uddbe\ud835\uddcb (@Edmund_Schuster) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Edmund_Schuster\/status\/1369077075810914304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2021<\/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>My beautiful launderette<\/h3>\n<p>The Bank for International Settlements has a new report: &#8220;Supervising cryptoassets for anti-money laundering.&#8221; BIS concludes: &#8220;the first priority should be implementing the FATF standards wherever that has not taken place yet. This is the absolute minimum needed to mitigate the risks posed by cryptoassets at a global level.&#8221; This isn&#8217;t saying anything controversial, or advocating anything that isn&#8217;t happening \u2014 but crypto bros wishfully thinking the FATF ratchet will stop tightening on crypto are incorrect. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bis.org\/fsi\/publ\/insights31.pdf\"><i>BIS<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>More on <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/04\/08\/signal-messenger-goes-cryptocurrency-with-mobilecoin-proof-of-intel-cpu\/\">Signal and MobileCoin<\/a> \u2014 Dan Davies (author of <i>Lying for Money,<\/i> a book that everyone reading this blog should read \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3gGGLbE\">UK<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2W7uwvk\"> US<\/a>) points out that the FCA already considers doing financial business over WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal &#8220;self-evidently suspicious.&#8221; In real finance, the traders&#8217; chat channels are logged for compliance \u2014 because, without that, traders reliably dive headlong into illegal market shenanigans. And often, even <i>with<\/i> compliance logging. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnlondon.com\/articles\/fca-to-city-use-of-whatsapp-signal-or-telegram-at-work-is-suspicious-20210329\"><i>Financial News<\/i><\/a><i>, paywalled; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dsquareddigest\/status\/1380107762613510145\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Dan correctly describes the innovation of MobileCoin: &#8220;pass on illegal inside information, receive payment and launder the proceeds, all in the same app!&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dsquareddigest\/status\/1380119901269061635\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The IRS wants information on Kraken crypto exchange customers, and on Circle customers \u2014 the latter may include when they owned Poloniex. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/irswatch\/2021\/03\/31\/irs-lawsuit-to-get-crypto-account-holder-information-signals-it-is-time-for-kraken-crypto-account-holders-to-get-taxes-in-order\/\">Forbes<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/court-authorizes-service-john-doe-summons-seeking-identities-us-taxpayers-who-have-used-0\">Justice Department<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Turkey gives cryptocurrencies official legal recognition as a payments mechanism, regulating their use either directly or indirectly! All use of cryptos in payments is banned. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/turkey-bans-use-cryptocurrencies-payments-sends-bitcoin-down-2021-04-16\/\"><i>Reuters<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.resmigazete.gov.tr\/eskiler\/2021\/04\/20210416-4.htm\"><i>Resmi Gazete<\/i><\/a><i>, in Turkish<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Welcome to finance Twitter. Please select your Guy:<br \/>-Programmer trading in IRA<br \/>-Leftist sympathizer, detests coworkers<br \/>-Mysterious furry rumored to hav $500M AUM, 40% returns every year somehow<br \/>-PhD high energy theory retired at 34<br \/>-Guy with tinder name John-MBA,CFA like LinkedIn<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; smoking delta 8 out of dirty gravity bong (@neoliberal_dad) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/neoliberal_dad\/status\/1192573213966053382?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 2019<\/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>Central banking, not on the blockchain<\/h3>\n<p>The Bank of England and the UK Treasury are forming a task force on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). One of the task force&#8217;s vague and ill-specified jobs will be to look into whether they can find a use case for this in the UK \u2014 where most cash-like spending is actually a card anyway. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bankofengland.co.uk\/news\/2021\/april\/bank-of-england-statement-on-central-bank-digital-currency\"><i>Bank of England<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Bank has been terribly excited about the fabulous possibilities of blockchain since they first noticed Bitcoin in 2013 \u2014 they&#8217;ve put out a pile of speculative papers, but none with an actual use case. That&#8217;s fine \u2014 speculating on weird possibilities is one of the things a central bank research unit does. (See <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/libra\/\"><i>Libra Shrugged,<\/i><\/a> chapter 15.) But starting at an idea without a use case is the problem with blockchains in general.<\/p>\n<p>The Wall Street Journal has a pretty generic article on China&#8217;s DC\/EP, but it includes the detail that the latest trial includes e-CNY that expires \u2014 &#8220;Beijing has tested expiration dates to encourage users to spend it quickly, for times when the economy needs a jump-start.&#8221; So even if DC\/EP turns into Alipay-but-it&#8217;s-PBOC, being run by the PBOC means they can do interesting things with it if they need to. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/amp\/articles\/china-creates-its-own-digital-currency-a-first-for-major-economy-11617634118\"><i>WSJ<\/i><\/a><i>, paywalled<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>The New Republic: Cryptocurrencies Are the Next Frontier for the Surveillance State \u2014 on the surveillance potential of CBDCs. With quotes and ideas from <i>Libra Shrugged.<\/i> [<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/161894\/bitcoin-digital-wallet-currency-surveillance\"><i>The New Republic<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So far in 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Bitcoin<\/a> has lost 97% of its value verses <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Dogecoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Dogecoin<\/a>. The market has spoken. Dogecoin is eating Bitcoin. All the Bitcoin pumpers who claim Bitcoin is better than gold because its price has risen more than gold&#39;s must now concede that Dogecoin is better than Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeterSchiff\/status\/1383134331946827776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2021<\/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>Things happen<\/h3>\n<p>Dogecoin is having another price pump, firmly establishing DOGE as the true crypto store of value and BTC as a deprecated altcoin. The big pump coincided with 400 million Tethers being deployed. Everything I said in February in my <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2021\/02\/11\/foreign-policy-confused-about-dogecoin-heres-how-it-doesnt-work\/\">Foreign Policy piece on Dogecoin<\/a> applies twice as hard. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Buttcoin\/comments\/ms3t69\/tether_printed_nearly_400_million_last_night_mere\/\"><i>Reddit<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Australian plans to put disability payments on a &#8230; blockchain! It&#8217;ll work great! Right? With a quote from me. This particular bad idea somewhat resembles the plan to put welfare spending onto a blockchain that the UK government put into its 2016 paper &#8220;Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond Blockchain&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/distributed-ledger-technology-blackett-review\"><i>gov.uk<\/i><\/a><i>, 2016<\/i>], which I wrote up in chapter 11 of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/book\/\"><i>Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.<\/i><\/a> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/ndis-gets-a-government-app-with-blockchain-but-no-ethics\/\"><i>ZDNet<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Marvelous Money Machine! A children&#8217;s book for grown-ups. This is great. Pay what you want for the PDF. [<a href=\"https:\/\/gumroad.com\/l\/marvelousmoneymachine\"><i>Gumroad<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Facebook&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/07\/17\/news-blockchain-handouts-wirecard-uk-whatsapp-pay-brazil-10-billion-tethers\/\">WhatsApp Pay Brazil<\/a> has <i>still<\/i> not been allowed to go live, in the version where it hooks into the national PIX retail real-time settlement system. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-facebook-brazil-payments-idUSKBN2BM37H\"><i>Reuters<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Der Spiegel: the German COVID vaccine tracker was going to use five blockchains! It will now use none. Nice try, IBM. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/netzwelt\/apps\/der-digitale-impfnachweis-soll-doch-ohne-blockchain-auskommen-a-16c59083-b671-404d-ac56-245b862f013c\"><i>Der Spiegel<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/F1YOm\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Crypto guy loses a bet, and tries to pay the bet using the Lightning Network. Hilarity ensues. [<i>Twitter thread, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/xb5N9\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>PayPal lets you make payments with crypto! If it&#8217;s crypto you already had in your PayPal crypto holdings \u2014 which you can&#8217;t top up by depositing crypto from outside, only by buying crypto on PayPal with money. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-crypto-currency-paypal-exclusive\/exclusive-paypal-launches-crypto-checkout-service-idUSKBN2BM10N\"><i>Reuters<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Why do this? The CEO of PayPal is a massive coiner, but he also has to worry about things like &#8220;the law.&#8221; So this gets crypto into news headlines on the company dime.<\/p>\n<h3>Living on video<\/h3>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the third pocast I did last week: Dunc Tank with Duncan Gammie! Talking about <i>Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/i> and the crypto skeptic view. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/media\/share\/pb-2bf4t-10108f4\"><i>Podbean<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>I went on NTD again to talk about crypto &#8220;market cap&#8221; and how it&#8217;s a meaningless number, starting 11:35. [<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DCUSHNgGbxg?t=695\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a>] And to talk about the Coinbase listing, starts 13:43. [<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/VozOurSGCXo?t=823\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a>] My laptop webcam is still mediocre, but it was better than the other Zoom experts&#8217; webcams.<\/p>\n<p>The Naked Scientists podcast has done an episode on &#8220;Bitcoin Decrypted: Cash, Code, Crime &amp; Power&#8221;. This is going out through BBC Radio 5 Live in the UK, and Radio National in Australia. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenakedscientists.com\/articles\/interviews\/bitcoin-psychology-getting-rich\"><i>my segment<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenakedscientists.com\/podcasts\/naked-scientists-podcast\/bitcoin-decrypted-cash-code-crime-power\"><i>whole podcast<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Byline Times: &#8220;So who is behind the onward march of the crypto, nearly 13 years on from the credit crunch and the arrival of Bitcoin and the thousands of digital currencies in its slipstream? The short answer is: idealists, ideologues and opportunists.&#8221; With a quote from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2021\/03\/12\/cashing-out-new-currency-kings-emerge-in-the-covid-world\/\"><i>Byline Times<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Sydney Morning Herald: \u2018Financial weapon\u2019: Bitcoin becomes another factor in China-US contest \u2014 with quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/business\/banking-and-finance\/financial-weapon-bitcoin-becomes-another-factor-in-china-us-contest-20210416-p57jz3.html\"><i>SMH<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>I spoke to CNet about altcoins. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/features\/beyond-bitcoin-the-wild-world-of-altcoin-cryptocurrency-trading\/\"><i>CNet<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Investor&#8217;s Business Daily: Bitcoin Hits Tipping Point After Skyrocketing On Investment Mania \u2014 with quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.investors.com\/news\/investing-in-bitcoin-hits-tipping-point-after-price-of-bitcoin-skyrockets-on-mania\/\"><i>Investor&#8217;s Business Daily<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">learning how to regurgitate on demand like a frightened vulture for the next time a man tries to explain cryptocurrencies to me<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kat Maddox (@ctrlshifti) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ctrlshifti\/status\/1380122830424039425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 8, 2021<\/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>SUBSCRIBE TO THE PATREON, OKAY? Love ya!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20065,"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":[138,1009,2173,568,738,21,74,1957,395,1898,2222,1474,2225,100,2108,650,288,185,1978,632,2229,316,9,7,2223,391,250,233,6,2228,1717,2206,2020,1010,860,1873,1510,680,2224,2221,338,33,2205,1096,39,2226,2227,457,1288,2219],"class_list":["post-19248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-australia","tag-bank-of-england","tag-bernie-madoff","tag-binance","tag-bis","tag-bitcoin","tag-blockchain","tag-brad-garlinghouse","tag-brazil","tag-brian-brooks","tag-brian-livingston","tag-cbdc","tag-chia","tag-china","tag-christian-larsen","tag-circle","tag-coinbase","tag-coinhive","tag-dcep","tag-dogecoin","tag-dunc-tank","tag-ibm","tag-ico","tag-irs","tag-kim-parker","tag-kraken","tag-lbry","tag-lightning-network","tag-links","tag-marvelous-money-machine","tag-mining","tag-mobilecoin","tag-nft","tag-paragon","tag-paypal","tag-pix","tag-podcast","tag-poloniex","tag-proof-of-space","tag-rarible","tag-ripple","tag-sec","tag-signal","tag-telegram","tag-tether","tag-troy-hunt","tag-turkey","tag-united-kingdom","tag-whatsapp-pay","tag-xinjiang"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/post-nft-collapse.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19248","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=19248"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19284,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19248\/revisions\/19284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}