{"id":9477,"date":"2018-08-21T23:36:20","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T23:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=9477"},"modified":"2018-08-21T23:48:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T23:48:52","slug":"news-wechat-ban-virtual-commodity-association-myhealrecord-and-rmit-blockchain-venezuela-tron-guts-bittorrent-inc-bitfinex-tether-deloitte-blockchain-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/08\/21\/news-wechat-ban-virtual-commodity-association-myhealrecord-and-rmit-blockchain-venezuela-tron-guts-bittorrent-inc-bitfinex-tether-deloitte-blockchain-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"News: WeChat ban, Virtual Commodity Association, MyHealthRecord and RMIT Blockchain, Venezuela, TRON guts BitTorrent, Inc., Bitfinex\/Tether, Deloitte blockchain survey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dedicated Bitcoin dealer and ardent money launderer Jacob Campos has just been indicted<\/a> by the US Department of Justice. That he was an enthusiastic Bitfinex customer is purely coincidental.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related accounts have just been banned from WeChat<\/a> in China.<\/p>\n

US crypto exchanges have set up an industry “self-regulation” group, the Virtual Commodity Association.<\/a> It includes Bitstamp, bitFlyer USA, Bittrex, and Gemini \u2014 and not Kraken or Coinbase, the two highest-volume US exchanges. I’ve emailed asking what’s up with that.<\/p>\n

Australia’s proposed one-stop medical record MyHealthRecord is already a complicated disaster.<\/a> So let’s add blockchains!<\/a> The Victorian government has bunged AUD$99,000 to the RMIT Blockchain blogging unit, which will “look to provide” a “framework for supporting the use of information as a valuable asset that can be protected and traded” \u2014 which sounds just dandy, given said unit’s politics ranges from extreme libertarian to Institute of Public Affairs.<\/p>\n

In this connection, I’d just like to recommend Stephen Wilson and David Chou’s paper from last year “How Healthy Is Blockchain Technology?”<\/a> which I wish I’d seen at the time. It answers why everything blockchain promises is the opposite of what you want from a health records system. Steve’s other stuff<\/a> is well worth your time too.<\/p>\n

Venezuela’s “new Bolivar” is pegged to the Petro,<\/a> which is a “cryptocurrency” that is not traded anywhere at all\u00a0\u2014 the “crypto” aspect is largely meaningless.<\/p>\n

I mentioned Venezuela hype in chapter 3<\/a> of the book<\/a> \u2014 here’s a report from the ground<\/a> on actually using crypto in Venezuela. It’s not any sort of mass movement, it’s a very few individuals \u2014 it’s for richer people who can afford miners, and changing the crypto into usable bolivars is quite difficult. Interview by ecurrencyhodler, who interviewed me on his podcast<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n

TRON has bought BitTorrent, Inc. \u2014 so Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent and founder of the company, has disclaimed any interest<\/a> in TRON or what the company is doing now, as he’s busy with his new proof-of-disk-space crypto, Chianet. Meanwhile, TRON’s acquisition has sparked a wave of employee departures.<\/a> The actual BitTorrent protocol is open and open source, and continues just fine.<\/p>\n

Tether\u2019s Printing Press Has Churned Out $415 Million in August.<\/a> That’s nearing half a billion (notional) dollars is in under three weeks.<\/p>\n

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actually the real buttcoin already exists, its ranked no 8 on coin market cap<\/p>\n

— Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) August 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n