The Blockchain Brief – The week in five headlines
Not a good week for crypto
Bitcoin has enjoyed a brief spurt of energy to $7,400, then quickly fell to $6,500, all over the course of four days.
A few things may be responsible for the downturn: the weird movements originating in a mysterious Bitcoin wallet that may or may not be linked to the Silk Road; Goldman Sachs announcing they would suspend their Bitcoin trading desk plans indefinitely, primarily because of regulation uncertainty (as it turns out, that was “fake news”) ; recent stagnation of sell impulses; fear of running too high above the mining price and into another bull craze.
The decline comes amid sustained criticism of crypto in general (see The Economist’s article last week, Nouriel Roubini’s and Paul Krugman’s conservative hard stance etc. ) while blockchain adoption seems to dominate the news. The separation of the two is the object of ongoing feuds between camps.
Monero, Litecoin, Dash are among the more severely hit crypto, but the entire market has taken a tumble over the past few days.
California defined blockchain
..which may be a mistake. The debate started as soon as the words were released out into the wild, with many voices challenging the notion that blockchains contain any form of truth – or that there is any point to trying to define blockchains. Well, since blockchains are now a household word and they’re constantly in the news, we may as well try and define it. But let’s do a better job than California.
On the other hand, some view the authorities inching in on crypto and blockchain terrain as an attempt to bring the indies into the fold. Defining them, launching exchanges on traditional exchange platforms like NYSE and more, ShapeShift adopting Know Your Customer practices for compliance, all these cause concern that the philosophy behind crypto is being diluted.
Colombia set to adopt crypto
Colombia is to join a few select entities – the countries of Japan and Malta, some regions in Switzerland and South Korea, plus a very questionable case in Venezuela – that have adopted blockchain and crypto. Newly elected president Ivan Duque believes this will help the authorities’ efforts to track payments and cut down corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and more.
Blockchain keeps blockchaining on
Regardless of the fact that many people can’t define it and, of those who can, many can’t agree on what it’s actually good for, blockchain keeps its momentum. While some insist a blockchain without a currency is nothing but a slow distributed database, titles abound in blockchain adoption news: Alibaba has filed more than 10% of all worldwide blockchain patents, and 56% come from China; the Japanese city of Tsukuba has published all-around positive reviews of its use of blockchain technology for voting on local projects; and Jack Dorsey has been throwing around the word “blockchain” to convince Congress it’s trying everything it can to fight scams and abuse.
Senate greenlights Trump’s new head of SEC
Donald Trump’s pick, Elad Roisman, was approved by Senate to become the new SEC commissioner, filling in the fifth seat that had remained empty after Michael Piwowar ended his term in June. Roisman, the second Republican in a nonpartisan structure (2 dems, 2 republicans, 1 independent) , seems to stand with his colleague Hester Peirce on allowing ETFs to go through. Many see exchange-traded funds as contrary to what Bitcoin should stand for, however there are clear signals that regulation is coming and ETFs may happen as soon as next spring.
That’s the week behind. Keep an eye on the market – and have a good weekend!