DOCSLIB.ORG

CY18 March a Collection of Bitcoin Commentary from the Brightest

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CY18 March a Collection of Bitcoin Commentary from the Brightest CY18 March A collection of Bitcoin commentary from the brightest minds in the crypto community. Crypto Words CY18 March Contents Goals and Scope ......................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Support Crypto Words .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Seven Myths of Bitcoin ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 The Bullish Case for Bitcoin .............................................................................................................................................. 9 How Blockchains Will Enable Privacy .................................................................................................................. 38 Why America Can’t Regulate Bitcoin .................................................................................................................... 50 Are Bitcoin Bubbles Predictable? ............................................................................................................................. 58 The many traditions of non-governmental money ................................................................................... 64 Homo Sapiens, Evolution, Money & Bitcoin..................................................................................................... 72 Proof-of-Stake & the Wrong Engineering Mindset .................................................................................... 91 Maduro’s Mint of King Cnut ............................................................................................................................................ 96 Disclaimer: ................................................................................................................................................................................... 101 https://cryptowords.github.io/cy18m3 1 Crypto Words CY18 March Goals and Scope Crypto Words is a journal of Bitcoin commentary, established February 13, 2019. Its purpose is to document and advance commentary and research in disciplines of particular interest to the Bitcoin community. The journal is broad in scope, publishing content from original research, essays, blog posts, and tweetstorms from a wide variety of fields, especially governance, technology, philosophy, politics, and economics, but also legal theory, history, criticism, and social or cultural analysis. Its broader mission is to capture the conversations and think pieces in the Bitcoin space for current and future researchers. Crypto Words hopes to continue and expand the tradition established by publications such as the Journal of Libertarian Studies and Libertarian Papers. History There exists a gap in Bitcoin publishing. For authors with commentary and scholarly papers on topic, the choice of publication outlets is relatively limited. The number of journals that serve as outlets for crypto research is in any event too small, as the number of crypto thinkers continues to grow with every market cycle. This generation of Bitcoin thinkers have limited places to submit thought pieces for publication. Content is scattered across the web, and in some cases behind paywalls which prevent the free flow of information. With the advent of the Twitter and blogging, authors also now have the option of self-publishing: they post the content to their own site or some private site, link it in a blog post, or post a working paper. But this is obviously not the best way to document and publish. What is needed is a journal that takes full advantage of the possibilities of the digital age as a go to resource for think pieces in the crypto space. Enter Crypto Words. Published independently, Crypto Words is a journal that welcomes submissions on a range of topics of interest to the crypto community. In addition to conventional research articles, we welcome review essays blog posts, tweets as well as papers in other formats, such as distinguished lectures. Finally, wherever possible, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Authors retain ownership without restriction of all rights under copyright in their articles. Crypto Words is open access, and we encourage readers to “read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles…or use them for any other lawful purpose.” We want our ideas read, spread, and copied. https://cryptowords.github.io/cy18m3 2 Crypto Words CY18 March Support Crypto Words The posts and journals published here have been carefully curated and crafted as a true labor of love. If you’ve found any of this content useful here’s how to show your thanks and keep the project going. Spread the word Have a website or use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn? Please consider sharing the content found on Crypto Words or linking to https://cryptowords.github.io. Follow us on social media We post regularly on Twitter and use it as our main form of communication. — We don’t rapid fire posts but add commentary where we see fit. Posts are typically links to our content here, trolling nocoiners, sarcastic remarks, and other things regarding development of this site. If these sorts of things interest you, follow along on: Subscribe to our newsletter We publish our journal monthly and share it via Twitter and via newsletter. Consider subscribing to the newsletter. If you’re not on Twitter all day, it might make sense to subscribe so you never miss a publication. Our pledge • We will never sell you out. • We will never shill you shitcoins. • We will only deliver what is promised. https://cryptowords.github.io/cy18m3 3 Crypto Words CY18 March Seven Myths of Bitcoin By George Kikvadze Posted March 2, 2018 First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Mahatma Gandhi Bitcoin has been around for almost 10 years; and right now, the cryptocurrency is clearly in its “fight” stage. This is both understandable and expected. Every “trusted” third-party intermediary has everything to lose. And the myths about bitcoin that these intermediaries have been disseminating need to be addressed. Myth # 1: Bitcoin is criminal money. The Bitcoin Blockchain is a transparent, digital ledger on which each and every transaction is registered, time stamped and visible to anybody who wishes to view it. If you give someone a $100 note, no one has any idea where that note has been since its minting by the Federal Reserve. No wonder a study by Harvard highlights the preponderance of large bills used by criminal organizations. But with bitcoin, the movement is tracked from inception and available for viewing on the Bitcoin Blockchain. In its 110-page annual report on money laundering and terrorist financing, the UK Treasury considers bitcoin a significantly lower risk in money laundering and terrorism financing than cash. And as Jason Weinstein, co-Founder of Blockchain Alliance and former head of the U.S. Justice Department’s cybercrime division, put it: “Criminals should run, not just walk away, from bitcoin.” https://cryptowords.github.io/cy18m3 4 Crypto Words CY18 March Myth # 2: Bitcoin consumes a lot more electricity. If you consider the aggregate energy demanded by the “old rails” of finance and government services such as notaries and registrars, it’s easy to understand that bitcoin is actually much more efficient than the systems it aims to disintermediate. The amount of energy spent every year to mine copper, nickel and other minerals around the globe — transporting them, turning them into coins, storing, distributing and securing those coins — you get the idea. Or consider the process of cutting forests to produce paper required for contemporary systems of titling, registration and certification. The Bitcoin Blockchain — the new “World Wide Ledger” will gradually update paper-based systems and with that the inefficient energy accompanying them. Coin Center — a D.C. based crypto-currency advocacy group — has produced an insightful report on the topic, with a more detailed study on its way. https://cryptowords.github.io/cy18m3 5 Crypto Words CY18 March Myth # 3 Bitcoin is a Bubble. In recent months, bitcoin has been attacked by economists, central bankers and various “experts.” But the qualifications of these crypto critics are few and irrelevant. Would you listed to a doctor advising on stock markets or a car mechnic commenting on blood presure ? When critics compared the cryptocurrency to the 17th century tulip mania, Naval Ravikant, founder of Angelist, explained the flawed juxtaposition this way: “Tulips are not durable, not scarce, not programmable, not fungible, not verifiable, not divisible and hard to transfer… but tell me more about your analogy.” When it comes to bitcoin, I’m betting with technologists and coders. And in regards to sceptics, I expect many will reevaluate their ambivalence about the significance of this technology. This has happened with internet. It will happen with bitcoin. Meanwhile, my advice to them is to go out; to acquire and to use bitcoin. See what it is all about. Myth # 4 I love Blockchain; just not bitcoin. This is similar to saying I love the Internet; just not the TCP/IP protocol. Bitcoin is one of the fundamental applications of blockchain technology. It’s the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder
    Insight Consumer and Wealth Management Digital Assets: Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder Parsing the Beauty from the Beast. Investment Strategy Group | June 2021 Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani Chief Investment Officer Investment Strategy Group Goldman Sachs The co-authors give special thanks to: Farshid Asl Managing Director Matheus Dibo Shahz Khatri Vice President Vice President Brett Nelson Managing Director Michael Murdoch Vice President Jakub Duda Shep Moore-Berg Harm Zebregs Vice President Vice President Vice President Shivani Gupta Analyst Oussama Fatri Yousra Zerouali Vice President Analyst ISG material represents the views of ISG in Consumer and Wealth Management (“CWM”) of GS. It is not financial research or a product of GS Global Investment Research (“GIR”) and may vary significantly from those expressed by individual portfolio management teams within CWM, or other groups at Goldman Sachs. 2021 INSIGHT Dear Clients, There has been enormous change in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology since we first wrote about it in 2017. The number of cryptocurrencies has increased from about 2,000, with a market capitalization of over $200 billion in late 2017, to over 8,000, with a market capitalization of about $1.6 trillion. For context, the market capitalization of global equities is about $110 trillion, that of the S&P 500 stocks is $35 trillion and that of US Treasuries is $22 trillion. Reported trading volume in cryptocurrencies, as represented by the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has increased sixfold, from an estimated $6.8 billion per day in late 2017 to $48.6 billion per day in May 2021.1 This data is based on what is called “clean data” from Coin Metrics; the total reported trading volume is significantly higher, but much of it is artificially inflated.2,3 For context, trading volume on US equity exchanges doubled over the same period.
    [Show full text]
  • Bitcoin Institutional Investor Analysis
    Bitcoin Institutional Investor Analysis LedgerMan, LedgerStat Capital1 Opening Premise History has shown that there is a 100% chance that FIAT money fails. It is just a matter of time. Some currencies last for a decade, some a couple of decades and still others such as the US dollar or the British pound have lasted multiple decades before losing most of their value. The fact is, all government issued currencies have failed over time. According to Austrian economic theory, money is a an economic good like any other. It’s marginal cost of production is zero and that is why it always fails. The issuers of FIAT money always print more of it in order to try and solve other problems other than just being money. Whether it is printed for social welfare, to pay for wars to bail out banks or to manage markets, we are currently witnessing government issuers of paper money attempting to solve more of the world’s problems with printed money. This inevitably leads to its failure. History has also shown that those that understand this concept and allocate a specific portion of their portfolio to gold and rebalance annually have benefited. Their portfolios have substantially increased returns with less risk. Since bitcoin was introduced a decade ago, it is inheriting the characteristics of hard/sound money with its fixed amount and increasing stock to flow ratio. With the recent drop in bitcoin price combined with its improvement in fundamentals, we believe an institutional investor is compelled to at least “’do the work” on bitcoin to determine if there is a possibility that bitcoin can become “digital gold” and perform the role that gold has performed for so many years as the “hard money” alternative to government-issued paper money.
    [Show full text]
  • Contents: the Core Bitcoin Becomes the Flag of Technology ( January 3, 2020 by Balaji S
    Introduction by Kevin Gao (Work in Progress) Contents: The Core Bitcoin becomes the Flag of Technology (https://nakamoto.com/) January 3, 2020 by Balaji S. Srinivasan Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System October 31, 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin for the Open-Minded Skeptic (https://www.paradigm.xyz/) May 12, 2020 by Matt Huang User Thoughts Why Bitcoin (http://www.brianrast.com/) September 9, 2019 by Brian Rast How the Bitcoin protocol actually works (http://michaelnielsen.org/) December 6, 2013 by Michael Nielsen The case for a small allocation to Bitcoin (https://www.kanaandkatana.com/) March 1, 2019 by Wences Casares, CEO of Xapo If you think I’m missing any major essays/papers, shoot me an email at [email protected] or a dm on Twitter @kgao1412 with the subject: “Bitcoin Compilation.” Thanks! Investor Theses Why Bitcoin Matters (https://a16z.com/) January 22, 2014 by Marc Andreessen The Great Monetary Inflation May 7, 2020 by Paul Tudor Jones and Lorenzo Giorgianni An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets December 24, 2017 by John Pfeffer General Talks BlockCon 2018: Nassim Taleb & Naval Ravikant (h/t http://www.mrsideproject.com/) October 11, 2018 Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Naval Ravikant Capitalizing on Tech-Enabled Transformations (Excerpt) July 20, 2018 Josh Wolfe and Michael Green If you think I’m missing any major essays/papers, shoot me an email at [email protected] or a dm on Twitter @kgao1412 with the subject: “Bitcoin Compilation.” Thanks! The Core Bitcoin becomes the Flag of Technology (https://nakamoto.com/) January 3, 2020 by Balaji S.
    [Show full text]
  • (15-17 May 2014), Passenger Terminal Amsterdam
    Bitcoin2014 - Building the Digital Economy (15-17 May 2014), Passenger Terminal Amsterdam Thursday 15th May 12:15pm - 2:30pm - 3:10pm- Time 9:00am - 9:30am 9:30am - 10:30am 10:30am - 10:45am 10:45am - 12pm 12:00pm - 1:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm - 2:30pm 3pm 2:40pm - 3:10pm 3:30pm 3:30pm - 4:30pm 4:30pm - 5:00pm 5:00 - 5:30PM 5:30 - 6:00PM 6:00 - 6:30PM 6:30 - 7.30PM 7.30 - 8.30PM 8:30-10:30PM INTERNATIONAL Bitcoin Foundation Projects AFFILIATE SUMMIT (O7 - Welcome and and International Affiliate New Affiliate IAS invite only) Introductions Program IAS Coffee Updates International Community Breakouts Building a Global Community Lunch 10:45am - Time 11:00am 11:00am - 12:00pm 12:00pm - 12:15pm 5pm - 8pm REGISTRATION AND EXHIBITS OPEN 5pm onwards Correspondents Reception (Invite only): IJ Welcome Reception: 6:00pm - 8:00pm, Upper deck, PTA (Sponsor: Circle) Sunset Cruise (Invite Only): 7:30pm - 10:30pm (BitPay in Friday 16th May association with iAmsterdam) PTA Main Deck Keynote Address: Dr Patrick Byrne, CEO, Overstock.com Blockchain Awards Refreshment Sponsor: Gridseed Time 9:00am start Main Deck (PTA) 5:30pm - 6:30pm Hosted by Nic Cary, Jon Matonis (Bitcoin Foundation) Blockchain.info and Jinyoung Lee Englund, Bitcoin Speakers and Patrick Byrne (Overstock) Foundation Panel: The race to be your mobile 10 min Coffee Feature Presenter wallet Lunch break Feature Presenter break Panel: What's the Buzz around Bitcoin ATM's? Panel: Global Pioneers of Bitcoin 1:00pm - 2:30pm - 3:10pm - Time 11:30am - 12pm 12:00pm - 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:00pm - 2:30pm 2:40pm
    [Show full text]
  • On the Risks of Investments in Blockchain-Based Assets and the Dilemmas of Securities Regulation
    CRYPTO SECURITIES: ON THE RISKS OF INVESTMENTS IN BLOCKCHAIN-BASED ASSETS AND THE DILEMMAS OF SECURITIES REGULATION SHLOMIT AZGAD-TROMER* Recent declarations and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission suggest that blockchain-based assets are potentially subject to regulation as securities under the Securities Act. This Article presents a systematic analysis of the risks and embedded costs of investments in blockchain- based assets and assesses their potential regulation as securities. This Article offers a comprehensive account of the pertinent properties of blockchain-based assets, the technology of the blockchain, the markets available for their trade, and their varied underlying sources of value. It identifies unique costs and risk factors inherent to the blockchain technology, and examines whether securities laws can potentially add value and protect investors from these unique risks. Identified costs and risks factors include controlling costs prevalent even in decentralized ledgers, monitoring costs that vary according to the costs of automatic verification, technology risks rooted in the vulnerability of the blockchain to bugs in its software, and systemic risks embedded in limited transparency and contractual rigidity of the blockchain-based investment contract. This Article examines these unique costs and risk factors and assesses their normative implications for securities regulation of blockchain-based assets. With current efforts by regulatory authorities to designate blockchain-based assets as securities, a coherent approach is presented based on the type of the offering, investors’ profile, and the technical and legal contours of the blockchain-based * Associate Research Scholar, Columbia Law School. Thanks for helpful comments and conversations go to Mike Burstein, Mirit Eyal-Cohen, Geeyoung Min, and to participants of the Law and Entrepreneurship Retreat at Alabama Law School, the Roundtable discussion at Fordham Center on Law and Information Policy, and the Associates Seminar at Columbia Law School.
    [Show full text]
  • Trump Signs Tax, Government Spending Bills Into Law
    2 men attempt early-morning Share Your News with organization events, and school ation, please send to Southern Daily news to us includinig your name and [email protected] jewelry heist in River Oaks If you would like to share news or phone number in case more informa- or contact information with our readers, please tion is needed. John Robbins 832-280-5815 send the unique stories, business news For news and information consider- Jun Gai 281-498-4310 Inside C5 Saturday, December 23 , 2017 | www.today-america.com | Southern News Group Trump signs tax, government spending bills into law WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. tion, healthcare and military spending. President Donald Trump signed Republicans also are divided over whether Republicans’ massive $1.5 trillion to follow up their sweeping overhaul of the tax overhaul into law on Friday, U.S. tax code with a dramatic restructuring cementing the biggest legislative of federal benefit programs. victory of his first year in office, and House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he would also approved a short-term spending like to revamp welfare and health programs bill that averts a possible government but Senate Republican Leader Mitch McCo- shutdown. nnell told National Public Radio on Monday Trump said he wanted to sign the that he was not interested in cutting those tax bill before leaving Washington programs without Democratic support. on Friday for his Mar-a-Lago estate Trump’s year also closes with significant in Florida, rather than stage a more turnover of many top staffers who had been formal ceremony in January, so he in the White House since early in his term.
    [Show full text]
  • HOW to POSITION for the RALLY in BITCOIN November 2015
    HOW TO POSITION FOR THE RALLY IN BITCOIN November 2015 INTRODUCTION Bitcoin technology represents a new frontier for investors. The network has been called ‘The New Internet,’ the currency has been called ‘Gold 2.0,’ and the technological revolution that propels it has been compared with the “I really like Bitcoin. combustion engine and the Internet revolution. I own bitcoins.” Since it started trading on July 16, 2010, the Bitcoin currency has risen in DAVID MARCUS, value by an average of 900% per year—even including the recent 18 month EX-PRESIDENT OF PAYPAL bear market. The market is extremely volatile and dynamic, which means profit opportunities abound. For the investor, however, Bitcoin serves as much more than a speculative vehicle. When properly understood, this technology can act as a unique insurance policy against an increasingly unstable financial system, as a countercyclical hedge in your speculative portfolio, or, for the risk-tolerant investor, as a rational bet on an early retirement. “Bitcoin is a technological tour de force.” In this comprehensive report, we aim to provide answers to these invest- ment questions: BILL GATES • Why should I care about Bitcoin as an investment? • What are the best ways to buy and safely store bitcoins? • Is Bitcoin the AltaVista of cryptocurrencies, or the Google? • How do I devise a solid allocation strategy? I’m excited to share this free introductory report with you. Enjoy the ride! Tuur Demeester 1 HOW TO POSITION FOR THE NEXT RALLY IN BITCOIN TABLE OF CONTENTS AS AN INVESTOR, WHY DO
    [Show full text]
  • The Ontological Sociology of Cryptocurrency: a Theoretical Exploration of Bitcoin
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2016 The Ontological Sociology of Cryptocurrency: A Theoretical Exploration of Bitcoin Omar Eliud Villarreal Robledo University of Central Florida Part of the Sociology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Villarreal Robledo, Omar Eliud, "The Ontological Sociology of Cryptocurrency: A Theoretical Exploration of Bitcoin" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5119. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5119 THE ONTOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGY OF CRYPTOCURRENCY: A THEORETICAL EXPLORATION OF BITCOIN by OMAR ELIUD VILLARREAL ROBLEDO M.S. Florida Atlantic University, 2013 B.B.A. Inter-American University, 2000 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2016 Major Professor: David Gay © 2016 Omar Eliud Villarreal Robledo ii ABSTRACT For millennia, money has been a basal element of everyday life reality in market-organized societies. Albeit money has changed extrinsically (e.g., form, use, utility) countless of times, some intrinsic characteristics remain the same, i.e., money is reified value. But why? What gives money value? Even more crucial, what is money in the first place? This exploratory study delves into the intricacies of money, in particular the revolutionary 21st century pecuniary techno-phenomenon, a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin.
    [Show full text]
  • 117196 Behind the Tech Kevin Scott Podcast Episode 6
    Behind the Tech Kevin Scott Podcast EP-06: Wences Casares: Betting on Bitcoin in a big way WENCES CASARES (VOICEOVER): I cannot change it nobody can change it -- not government, no company. So, that's one thing. And the other one is it's uncensorable. Nobody can keep you from acquiring Bitcoin. Nobody can keep you from sending Bitcoin to anyone, and nobody can keep you from holding Bitcoin. KEVIN SCOTT: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Behind the Tech. I'm your host, Kevin Scott, chief technology officer for Microsoft. In this podcast, we're going to get behind the tech. We'll talk with some of the people who have made our modern tech world possible and understand what motivated them to create what they did. So, join me to maybe learn a little bit about the history of computing and get a few behind-the-scenes insights into what's happening today. Stick around. (Music.) Hello, and welcome to the show. I'm Kevin Scott. CHRISTINA WARREN: And I'm Christina Warren senior cloud developer advocate at Microsoft. And today, we're going to hear from the CEO of Xapo, Wences Casares. KEVIN SCOTT: Yeah, Wences is a true serial entrepreneur and one of the most influential investors in Bitcoin. Some of the folks in Silicon Valley credit him as the person who brought Bitcoin as an entrepreneurial thing to Silicon Valley. He's just done extraordinary things both with Xapo and with online finance over a bunch of different companies over the years. CHRISTINA WARREN: And you had the chance to speak with Wences a few weeks back in front of a live audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Paypal Appoints Wences Casares to Its Board of Directors
    January 13, 2016 PayPal Appoints Wences Casares to its Board of Directors SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) today announced it has appointed Wences Casares to its Board of Directors. A successful international fintech entrepreneur and recognized next-generation payment and crypto-currency thought leader, Casares will serve on PayPal's Compensation Committee. His appointment was effective January 12, 2016. Casares is the founder and CEO of Xapo, a company that provides the tools people need to purchase bitcoins and then manage them through an easy-to-use online wallet, spend them through the Xapo Debit Card or store them in Xapo's secure Vault. "I join PayPal's directors and the entire PayPal team in welcoming Wences to our Board," said Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal. "Wences's unique line of sight into the future of commerce is ideally aligned with PayPal's vision of transforming the management and movement of money for people around the globe." "I am honored to serve on the board of an iconic global company dedicated to driving the transformation of money on a global scale," Casares said. "I look forward to working together with the PayPal board and leadership team to continue to deliver their compelling vision." Casares has founded successful technology and financial ventures in the U.S., South America and Europe. He founded Argentina's first ISP as well as Latin America's premier online brokerage, Patagon. He later founded Banco Lemon, a Brazilian retail bank, as well as mobile payments companies Bling Nation and Lemon Wallet, which was acquired in 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • GT Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Newsletter
    Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Newsletter | Winter 2019 In this Issue: 2018 - The Year in Review | Noteworthy Federal Securities Cases State Regulatory Overview | Federal Income Tax Issues FinCEN Update Disrupting the Disruptors: 2018 – The Year in Review 2018 was a year of transformation for the blockchain industry. While the market continued to see technological advancements in smart contracts, platform functionality, scalability and security, regulators took a firmer rein in pursuing those seeking to exploit the uninitiated or those engaged in outright fraud. We discuss below some of the key enforcement actions and proceedings during 2018 that have shaped the regulatory environment in the United States and the continuing uncertainty over the classification of digital assets as securities. Notably, in June 2018, William Hinman, director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reiterated (now somewhat famously) to participants at the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit in San Francisco that “the economic substance of the [token] transaction always determines the legal analysis, not the labels.” Hence, identifying a token as a “utility” is not sufficient to assess the status of the underlying transaction under U.S. federal and state securities laws. Most significantly, Hinman went on to suggest that an examination of the role of a third party in driving the expectation of a return is primary to the securities analysis and, to facilitate the analysis further, he listed key contractual and technical considerations as to the way a token may be structured. The primary takeaway from Hinman’s remarks, as well as those of others at the SEC over the course of the year, is the © 2019 Greenberg Traurig, LLP SEC’s strong desire to encourage – not thwart – technological innovation while concurrently maintaining market integrity.
    [Show full text]
  • Token2049 Returns in Full Force to Discuss the Future of Crypto and Address Blockchain Industry Resilience
    Token2049 Returns in Full Force to Discuss the Future of Crypto and Address Blockchain Industry Resilience CommPRO.biz Editorial Team TOKEN2049, the premier crypto conference in Asia, will return to Hong Kong on 13-14 March 2019, bringing together the global crypto industry, including high profile industry leaders, successful projects, and thousands of blockchain market participants. Building on the success of its inaugural 2018 event, the upcoming conference is expected to double in size, attracting more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, investors, developers, academics, and industry enthusiasts. Charlie Lee, Creator of Litecoin has been confirmed as keynote speaker at the 2019 edition of the conference. TOKEN2049, the flagship event of Asia Crypto Week, will investigate the blockchain industry’s journey thus far, overcoming major roadblocks from scalability to regulation and the current state of affairs on the road to mainstream adoption while educating entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors on what to expect in future years. With its sold-out 2018 event featuring Charles Hoskinson of Cardano, Bitcoin Oracle Vinny Lingham, and a special appearance from AI robot, Sophia, TOKEN2049 is expected to top the accomplishments of the previous year. Christopher Strauch, Co-host of TOKEN2049 said: “Despite the ups and downs over the past year, the attitude, belief system, and drive to improve the industry has not strayed far off course from the original goal – to build a decentralised ecosystem that empowers and benefits the masses. TOKEN2049 is a celebration of this resilient industry, which in its infancy is already making headway in achieving these ambitions.” Creator of Litecoin, the peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world, Charlie Lee has an extensive career in software development and has been involved in the blockchain industry since 2011.
    [Show full text]