TR 23.07
// BITCOIN ELECTED TRUMP
Well it’s official - Russia had Trump elected, with Bitcoin at the heart of making it happen. The official court indictment mentions bitcoin 28 times, cataloguing exactly how to buy a country.
The furor has echoes of Silk Road’s demise, where the FBI specifically mentioned bitcoin as a reason they were able to catch and charge the perpetrators. This time however, rather than dealing with drug lords and hitmen, we are dealing with Russian government agents, who, “through a web of transactions structured to capitalise on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin”, have perhaps turned an entire election in the process.
It’s a casual reminder to all those avoiding taxes - bitcoin and crypto represent the most transparent and auditable flow of value ever to exist. And with the US publicly admitting they are tracking IPs (god knows what else they are tracking privately), bitcoin has proven to be a strong agent of the law.
The unexpected implications of public transparency and auditability reminds me of the - seemingly unnoticed - incongruence of GDPR with blockchains. All blockchains (except maybe the new Hyperledger Fabric v1.2) are in breach of GDPR regs. Here’s why:
You are unable to delete data committed to a blockchain
You do not control the storage of data committed to a blockchain, it is spread across potentially infinite places, all of which you have no control over
All data encrypted in blockchains will be accessible on the advent of quantum computing
Conclusion? Much like Russia & Silk Road, you cannot be putting private, confidential, or consumer data into blockchains. Else - they will find you. And they will fine you.
// MUST READS
PWC and Crypto Valley Association release second quarter global ICO report.
Vitalik Buterin expressed his views on cryptoeconomics.
// DISASTER OF THE WEEK
Bitcoin elected Trump.
// TRACTION
CFA Institute is adding topics on cryptocurrencies and blockchain to the curriculum for the first time next year.
Although DLT and cryptocurrencies are on BlackRock’s radar, there is currently zero appetite for this asset class from the company’s clients.
R3, a blockchain-software company that works with more than 200 heavyweights such as Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co., is considering an IPO.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority will go live next month with a blockchain-backed trade finance platform set to link up with 21 banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered.
UK Financial Conduct Authority goes public for the first time about letting startups into its Sandbox for the first time.
// ROAD TO REGULATION
Documenting the path to totally regulated environment.
US Congress, led by the House Agriculture Committee and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, spent some time discussing cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology in the digital age. A more intelligent and open-minded discussion than you might otherwise think.
On 4 July 2018, the Maltese parliament passed three bills to set a regulatory framework and drive innovation in blockchain-like technologies. This week, MSX, the newly launched fintech arm of the Malta Stock Exchange, penned several new deals aimed at paving the way for the creation and listing of tokenised securities. Watch this space as other countries start to compete by launching their own blockchain initiatives...
The U.K. Law Commission has launched a research project (see page 10) investigating reforms that would bring legal clarity to the use of blockchain-based smart contracts. Unfortunately it will likely be another year before these findings are released.
And to reiterate what we have been saying from the start: how regulation could help cryptocurrencies grow.
// PROJECTS
Last week highlights:
The Augur mainnet is live and growing by the day. Less than a week after Augur’s launch it is already on of the top 5 applications on ethereum with over $300,000 at stake on the platform.
Block.one the company behind EOS has added Peter Thiel, Bitmain and hedge fund billionaires Louis Bacon and Alan Howard to it’s list of equity investors.
Oasis Labs successfully raises $45 million in a private sale to develop a privacy-first cloud computing platform on blockchain.
Upcoming:
CoinList announces the next token sale on it’s platform TrustToken a project known for it’s TrueUSD token, aims to raise $61 million to simplify trading real-world assets on a blockchain.
FOAM have announced their token sale on Token Foundry. The project aims to raise $24 million to build an open protocol for geospatial data markets. The token sale will take place on the 31st of July.
// EVENTS
Blockchain Health - Washington DC, USA - Aug 14-16, 2018
Blockchain Futurist Conference - Toronto, Canada - Aug 14-16, 2018
CryptoBlockCon - New York, USA - Aug 14-15, 2018
Voice of Blockchain - Chicago, USA - Aug 24-25, 2018
Blockchain Summit, Singapore - Suntec - Aug 28, 2018