red letter day

Your daily newsletter for August 14, 2018

Red flags

"Doubt is a great worm in a crispy, red apple."

- Sally Gardner

I see red

What a field day, with lots of tears all around us 😐With total market cap at sub-200 billion, massive free-falls in prices across coins and tokens... All we can say is: it's REKT, but TLT, DYOR and BTFD 😌We'll be okay ❣️

REDKT 💥

The cryptosphere is awash in red today. The total market cap fell ~12% from ~$217 billion to ~$192 billion, even down to ~$189 billion at one point. The last time the total market cap was below $200 billion was back in November last year. Since its all-time high of $822 billion back in January, the total market cap has seen an approximate ~73% decrease since.

Most of the loss in total market cap came from the relatively steeper price declines of other cryptocurrencies vs BTC 😥 For example, 46 out of the top 50 coins (excluding BTC, USDT and NEM) saw double digit percentage losses today. BTC dominance increased by about 2% to ~53.8% in the last 24 hours. BTC dominance was ~36% in May; the last time it was at 53% was December 2017.

Little red book on blockchain

The Communist Party of China wants to improve blockchain literacy across their public offices 🎓 Their method: Distributing a publication for their officials and Party members. The book, titled “Blockchain – A Guide for Officials” 📕 covers the basics of blockchain such as its history, basic functionalities, potential future applications and implications for society.

This is part of an effort to help government officials get acquainted with the emerging technology and to help facilitate development and adoption. That's all necessary to cut through the red tape 😛

And roll out the red carpet

According to filings from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, tech giant Microsoft has 2 newly-published patent applications that explore the use of Trusted Execution Environments (TEE).

This is probably an enhancement to their current blockchain enterprise solutions. Both patent applications outline the inherent benefits of TEEs and how they can improve security within blockchain networks ⚙️

What are TEEs anyway?

TEEs are areas on a main processor that are isolated from the operating system; it ensures that code and data in there remain confidential and safe. TEEs provide a safe execution space within which applications can be run while maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the assets within them 👌

Red meat rhetoric

A new regulation on European Crowdfunding Service Providers (ECSP) was proposed, which if passed will encompass ICOs 😮 It aims to provide ICOs with a platform to "prove their legitimacy" and "comply with legislative requirements", thereby providing an additional layer of protection for both issuer and participant 😕

Caught red handed

Vietnam has decided to halt all imports of cryptocurrency mining equipment.
Facebook says it is not building a cryptocurrency on Stellar, responding after days of rumors.
According to leaked documents from the Bitmain pre-IPO investor deck, it is hodling nearly $400-500 million in BCH (depending on the exchange rate).
Coinbase has decided to lower its index fund's annual fees from 2% to 1% to attract more institutional investors.
CZ over at Binance says they don't charge 400 BTC for listing shitcoins; it has listed many of the top 20 projects for free! 😏

Poll of the Day

How skeptical are you about the claims that exchanges don't charge for listings?

Do you find it hard to believe? Why or why not?

What you said

That BTC is a safe haven: 7.1 🤔 Some people really dislike BTC. Nonetheless, 65% of all respondents hold BTC, which is still an impressive number.

The main reason why you thought BTC continues to enjoy its premium impression is because of its status of being the first crypto (63%), followed by its stability (32%) and other factors (5%). Nobody thought it was primarily because of ease of buying or recommendations by friends/family 😶

Nevertheless, many still recommend holding a portfolio with BTC in the mix. Some believe it is necessary for hedging one's bets with other cryptocurrencies with sound foundations in the portfolio, especially because it has the most support in moments of uncertainty. Its nice attributes: Most stable, most value, most liquidity, and most-safe-haven-status.

Others were more measured, saying that it is still a good short-term strategy to hold BTC, until people become more knowledgeable about blockchain technology, and a greater choice set of crypto becomes available. (Someone only holding other crypto says his/her recommendation is for half and half Bitcoin and others 😂 I guess today's a good time to buy, my friend!)

On the other hand, several people felt that Bitcoin's technology is falling behind other top 10 crypto, and that investors should be more discerning about the roadmaps of other cryptocurrencies (and not just because it's the original "ticket to the moon" or being a "hodler until death"! 😆) A related argument is that other cryptocurrencies could come along and replace BTC, so it would make sense to diversify and hold some of those too. Another thought was that it's better to buy BTC unless you can buy other cryptocurrencies with fiat, since they tend to lose value compared to BTC over time.

All in all, we got a ton of suggestions about what to cover next, so we will be doing that! Most likely, we will do a section weekly for coin/token deep dives, starting with Top 10 and then going down the list that you guys suggested. Look forward to it 💪