Ever forward

Your daily newsletter for October 26, 2018

Keep improving

“Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.”

- Kim Collins

It's Friday! The weekend is here! Congratulations on finishing yet another week. Time to party! 🍻 You all deserve it! Today in history, the then president of South Korea, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated during a dinner at a Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safehouse. What was strange was that he was assassinated by the then director of the KCIA, Kim Jae-gyu, who was later tried, convicted and executed. The motivations of the assassination are still debated till this day. 💭

In today's newsletter, we will be covering a new hardware wallet by wallet provider Blockchain, Bitfury contemplating an ICO and a successful securities settlement blockchain trial by Germany's central bank. We will also be covering NEM (XEM) in our weekly deep dive!

Hope you enjoy today's newsletter, and don't forget to answer the polls down below too (It's about Marvel's latest "Venom" movie)! Happy reading! 📚

Mini moves

It was a relatively quiet day in the crypto markets. Total market capitalization dropped slightly from ~$209 billion to ~$208.7 billion. Most cryptocurrencies saw either gains or losses in the 1-4% range. 📉

BTC also dropped slightly, down ~0.25% to $6,460. BTC is still trading below the 21-day EMA line. RSI has dropped from ~51 to ~47 over the past few days, indicating some downward momentum, and MACD is indicating that we are likely to see a short term downswing in the coming days. 😔

The crypto space has been experiencing some pretty low volatility levels for some time now, as seen from the decreasing spaces between the 21, 50, 100 and 200-EMA lines since earlier this year. BTC's volatility index is also at a yearly low at 1.65% (latest 30-day estimate). The last time we were at these levels was back in May 2017. With no significant changes to the fundamentals of the space, this is expected to continue for some time. So buckle up for the not-so-bumpy ride! 🛌

Enhanced capabilities

One of the oldest software wallet providers in the cryptocurrency space, "Blockchain", has partnered with hardware wallet manufacturer, "Ledger", to launch its first hardware product called "Lockbox", a handheld device. 📱

The differentiating factors between Lockbox and other hardware wallets are that it can facilitate crypto-to-crypto trades through the company's brokerage "Swap", and that it is "endpoint-controlled" such that while it is connected to the internet when plugged into a computer, it will only be permitted to access selected legitimate websites. 💪

Lockbox currently supports BTC, ETH and BCH. Blockchain has already begun taking order and will release the first batch of Lockboxes in November.

Big plans

According to Bloomberg, the cryptocurrency mining startup Bitfury is considering an initial public offering (IPO). 💰

The firm has already reached out to global investment banks and is also currently considering several options such as debt financing or selling a minority stake. 3 potential locations it is seeking to IPO in include London, Amsterdam or Hong Kong. A London or Amsterdam IPO would make it the first major public listing of the crypto space in Europe. 😲

It is estimated that if Bitfury decides to go public within 2 years, it could potentially reach a valuation between $3 to $5 billion. 🤑

With flying colors

The central bank of Germany, Deutsche Bundesbank, and the owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse, have completed a blockchain trial investigating the potential of blockchain in securities settlement. 👍

The 2 blockchain prototypes that they built have "successfully" supported the settlement of securities transactions, payments (including interest) and bond repayments at maturity, according to a joint press release. They were able to facilitate the "productive operation of a realistic financial market infrastructure" and prove that "blockchain technology is a suitable basis for applications in the field of settlement and other financial infrastructures." 😄

Crypto deep dive: NEM

Cryptocurrency: XEM
Market Capitalization Rank: 17th
Consensus Algorithm: Proof-of-Importance (PoI) - Users will be assigned to calculate a block of transactions on the blockchain and hence harvest fees, based on their 'importance'. 'Importance' is determined by several factors such as the amount of coins owned by the user, the number of transactions that a user makes, and with whom the transactions are being made. Therefore, it encourages users to actually transact using NEM, instead of just holding them to reap rewards like in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) coins.

How it happened ⚙️

The NEM cryptocurrency was created by a BitcoinTalk forum user called "UtopianFuture". He/ she was inspired by Nxt (NXT) and wanted to improve upon it and create a community-oriented cryptocurrency. The NEM blockchain platform was launched on 31 March 2015.

Why people love it 😘

NEM has strong backing from the Japanese, as it is one of the more popular projects in that country. It is good to have this backing from a country that is heavily involved in blockchain development.
It has a capped supply at 8,999,999,999 NEM, which reduces inflationary pressure. Also, only 10,000 NEM is required for 'delegated harvesting' on the NEM blockchain. This encourages users to hold NEM tokens which can drive up the price over time.
NEM uses an easy programming language for others to easily integrate.

Why people doubt it 🤔

NEM does not have a strong marketing presence compared to its peers. This could harm it going forward, as there needs to be balance.
NEM has a big hill to climb in terms of catching up with other blockchains that offer business solutions such as ETH. Their partnerships are not as significant.
NEM's community is not as strong as many of its peers. Having a strong community is important as it can accelerate adoption.

Other news

Viettel Enterprise Solutions Corporation, the innovation arm of Vietnam’s largest telecommunications operator Viettel Group, has set a goal to become Vietnam’s leading blockchain technology provider in 5 years. 🤯
According to the "Q3 2018 XRP Markets Report", Ripple (XRP) saw revenue from the sale of XRP more than double in Q3 compared to the Q2 of 2018. 🤑
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) is partnering with Canada's second-largest port, the Port of Montreal, to test out a blockchain solution called TradeLens, built by IBM and A.P. Moller-Maersk Group to streamline freight shipping. 🚢

Poll of the Day

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most enjoyable), how much do you enjoy working with others? 😀

And...do you usually prefer working alone or as a team? Also, what are some activities you just cannot do alone? Share with me in the polls! 😆

What you said

"On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most enjoyable), how much do you enjoy working with others?"

The average vote was 6.3. Not very convincing! 🤣 Guess we have many lone wolves among us.

"Do you usually prefer working alone or as a team?"

66.7% voted "As a team."
33.3% voted "Alone."

"What are some activities you just cannot do alone?"

You guys said:
It might be okay to be alone for a while but it is always better to talk crypto with a buddy. - Definitely much better to discuss crypto-related stuff with a friend. Crypto is inherently a tough subject, so we need all the help we can get! 🤓
I’m a loner Dottie...a rebel - Ridin solo. 🏍️
Eating, travelling, shopping, movies & many more like these... - That is a long list! I find eating alone to be therapeutic at times as I can get absorbed in my own thoughts. However, I have always viewed watching movies at the cinema as a social activity. Can't do that alone! 🤣
Camping. Need help and company. - And there is that safety aspect too, I'm guessing.

Thank you all for reading! See you back here again tomorrow!💙💙💙