The rise of stablecoins is largely attributed to the increasing adoption of blockchain by major firms and the need for a digital currency that is supposedly a better “store of value” than cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, which are notorious for their volatility.   There are many types of stablecoins, and for the most part, they have been issued by cryptocurrency firms. However, this trend is changing as more traditional institutions and big tech firms dip their feet into... Read More

Scaling solutions, banking in bitcoin, and institutions   “Bitcoin itself cannot scale to have every single financial transaction in the world be broadcast to everyone and included in the blockchain. There needs to be a secondary level of payment systems which is lighter weight and more efficient.” Hal Finney Bitcointalk Forum December 30th, 2010   Key Takeaways: An old idea of institutions reserving bitcoin has been reignited after analyst Nic Carter published a detailed blog post which covers some of... Read More

Fungibility is an important prerequisite for money. While Bitcoin is the most widely adopted blockchain network, it has issues with fungibility and privacy - something that prevents it from being adopted as money. Pretty much all other cryptocurrencies also possess this weakness.   Aspects of Privacy in a Cryptocurrency   Privacy can relate to several things when talking about cryptocurrencies. The first aspect relates to your identity.   Identities   Most cryptocurrencies are pseudonymous, meaning that they are not totally... Read More

It’s been debated in economics for decades; does wealth inequality matter?, How is inequality best addressed? Now the debate comes to crypto, with enthusiasts questioning whether a fair distribution is possible or even desirable in the Bitcoin ecosystem.   Is Bitcoin Wealth Too Concentrated?   The wealth distribution is highly uneven in the world today and has been rising over the course of the 20th century, as outlined in Thomas Pikkety’s famous book Capital in the 21st Century. Recent research... Read More

As the journey of Bitcoin has illustrated, blockchain technology has the potential to radically revolutionize finance. But the technology underlying Bitcoin is also primed to disrupt other industries, including art, music and other creative sectors.   Earning cryptocurrency through writing, artwork or any other creative endeavors is becoming more and more of a possibility. As YouTube and other social networks have de-platformed some individuals, content creators are becoming more aware of the need for censorship resistance and fairer monetization; and... Read More

Decred, an open source cryptocurrency project that launched in 2016, released the first specification of its decentralized exchange (DEX) on July 31st through GitHub.   Inspired by Bitcoin, Decred (DCR) uses a hybrid Proof of Work/Proof of Stake consensus mechanism and is one of the most popular altcoins. Decred have been working on a DEX since June 2018 and will feature on-chain atomic swaps, a technology the decentralized project has improved upon in recent times.   What are the Issues... Read More

Since Bitcoin’s introduction in 2019, it has shown the world that a decentralized currency is possible and has developed into the leading crypto-network that is undoubtedly the most resistant and secure that exists.   However, Bitcoin is far from perfect and needs many improvements to become truly decentralized. For instance, the mining part of Bitcoin’s ecosystem is seen by many as a centralizing force and hence problematic if not addressed.   One undesirable feature of Bitcoin mining in its current... Read More

Donald Trump has become the first sitting US President to mention Bitcoin by name, an amazing feat given that the “magical, internet money” is just over ten years old, sparking a cryptocurrency debate amongst American politicians.   President Trump is “Not a Fan of Bitcoin”   While the US President’s remarks were negative, as the saying goes any publicity is good publicity.   Trump wrote on Twitter, “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not... Read More

The month of June 2019 saw two major events in the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin 2019 and the Monero Konferenco, which looked at the major developments and future outlook for Bitcoin and Monero respectively. In this article, we outline some of the most important takeaways from these two events.   Bitcoin 2019   Bitcoin 2019 took place over June 25-26 in San Francisco and was hosted by the popular crypto publication Bitcoin Magazine. Inspired by the early conferences in 2013 and... Read More

The price of bitcoin has cleared the $10,000 level once more, but where next?   After reaching a high near $14,000 on June 26th, the price of bitcoin then dropped sharply below the $10,000 psychological level to a low near $9600 just six days later.   Now that bitcoin has regained the critical $10,000 level, we look at the contributing factors behind the recent rally and the outlook for bitcoin’s price in Q3 and Q4 2019.   What are the... Read More