Your Cryptocurrency Newsletter for December 11, 2020

If you are interested in cryptocurrencies, this newsletter is for you. [img]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [img]( [FeedBinary Newsletter]( [Why Every Investor Should Be Watching Bitcoin]( Bitcoin has slowed its roll since hitting 20,000. After surging 70% in two months, King Crypto is about 9% off the intraday all-time high.It doesn’t show signs of reversing just yet, but it is having some trouble breaking out through the 2017 record and that’s notable. Bitcoin did in fact trade at an all-time record for a brief moment, but technical analysts like to draw lines with markers instead of pens for a good reason. Right now, the best way to describe the action is that bitcoin is testing its all-time high — it hasn’t broken out yet, and that means there is still some tension in this market. In an article this weekend in Barron’s, Niall Ferguson made the bullish case for bitcoin. He, like almost every other bitcoin believer I’ve ever spoken with, cites a critical piece of crypto canon:You could argue, if you were a skeptic like my old friend Nouriel Roubini, that this is just another bubble. But the adoption of a new financial technology tends to be quite volatile, and each time Bitcoin rallies and then folds, it folds to a higher level than the time before. In other words, bitcoin must trend higher. This is why the next move is so crucial. The bitcoin bible states very clearly that bitcoin needs to make a new high in this latest push after 2018’s crash. It’s already put in a higher-low, which is good, but failure to breach above 20k would be a major problem for the bullish bitcoin narrative. It would also be a red flag to stock investors. That’s because bitcoin’s strongest use-case is still as a gauge of risk tolerance in the marketplace. Even the most devout bitcoin believers will tell you to always be ready for a 10-20% pullback at any time, and that inherently makes it a risky asset, since most people cannot tolerate that kind of volatility. Bitcoin has the potential to one day be a store of value, and the believers argue this boom-bust cycle is a critical setup for that future. In my opinion, that future has indeed become more compelling lately. But the probability of it is still so low that we have to consider it a high-risk asset — an effective lotto ticket for investors. Even if the odds of adoption doubled, say from 2% to 4% (don’t hate me, coiners), it’s still very low. In this context, it’s not surprising to see bitcoin trying to break through all-time highs, and having trouble, at the exact same time the Nasdaq NDAQ -0.9% is doing the same. And equally no coincidence that this is all happening amid near-records in just about every gauge of investor sentiment or positioning right now. If 1) bitcoin fails to break out to new highs, it should make tech-stock bulls second-guess their own confidence. This most likely holds the other way around too – if 2) bitcoin does take another leg higher, stocks are likely in the clear, too. If 3) bitcoin breaks down but stocks don’t, it’s likely a huge vote of confidence that the economic recovery is stable and strong. And if 4) bitcoin breaks out to new highs but stocks break down, that would be a huge event that I would argue makes bitcoin a must-own asset. More on that if we get there. [Read Full News]( The post [Why Every Investor Should Be Watching Bitcoin]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [In 2020, Bitcoin Is No Longer The World’s Most Used Cryptocurrency]( Bitcoin isn’t the most widely used cryptocurrency; in terms of trading volume, it’s left in the dust by Tether (USDT).Tether is a stablecoin that’s pegged to the US Dollar.In 2019, Tether admitted in court documents that its stablecoin was only 74% backed by cash and cash equivalents.When most people think of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) is undoubtedly the first that comes to mind. Not only is it the first cryptocurrency ever launched, it’s also the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and the most widely distributed cryptocurrency of all. Despite this, however, it’s not the most widely used cryptocurrency. That accolade belongs instead to the USD-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT), which, per data from CoinMarketCap, clocks in almost as much trading volume as the next three most popular cryptocurrencies combined: BTC, Ethereum (ETH), and XRP. Available as a token on more than half a dozen different blockchains, including Omni, Ethereum, EOS, Liquid, and Algorand, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin has weaved its way into practically every corner of the cryptocurrency landscape.Now, with more Tether being printed each month than ever before, we take a look at the current state of play surrounding the world’s longest-standing stablecoin platform. Tether: the current state of play When the Tether stablecoin first launched in July 2014, it was almost immediately met with criticism—most of which focused on whether all the Tether in circulation were truly backed by US dollars held in a bank account, i.e. whether Tether was fully solvent.As of November 2020, the stablecoin still hasn’t unequivocally proven that it’s not operating a fractional reserve. In 2019, Tether admitted in court documents that its stablecoin was only 74% backed by cash and cash equivalents, though the Tether website states that its reserves may include “receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties. These receivables may include the remaining part of Bitfinex’s $700 million debt to Tether, which it has been paying off in $100 million chunks since 2019. Whether it’s solvent or not remains up for debate, but Tether has managed to maintain its dollar-peg in all but the most extreme circumstances and remains one of the least volatile USD stablecoins. Since 2017, the stablecoin has been embroiled in a class-action lawsuit that described Tether as a “part-fraud, part-pump-and-dump, and part-money launder” operation, and argued that Tether parent firm iFinex was attempting to defraud investors and manipulate the market.The most recent update on the case was a September 2020 motion to dismiss, on the basis that the plaintiffs have yet to provide any factual evidence behind their assertions. Tether’s growth in 2020 Despite these hiccups, Tether has achieved staggering growth in 2020. Not just in terms of trading volume, but also when it comes to market capitalization.Concerns over Tether seem to be declining, with more exchanges that have previously distanced themselves from USDT, such as FTX, now offering Tether among their trading pairs,” Bithumb Global CEO Javier Sim told Decrypt. Since the start of 2020, the number of tethers in circulation has grown exponentially. At the start of the year, Tether’s market capitalization was $4.1 billion, a figure that has since nearly quintupled, with Tether now at its highest market capitalization of all time, close to $20 billion.During this time, its average trading volume also exploded, more than doubling between January and November 2020, and further solidifying Tether’s position as the most traded cryptocurrency. The reasons behind this growth? There are a couple of main ones.For one, it’s massively popular in Asia. According to an August 2020 report by Chainalysis, Tether accounts for 33% of all value transacted on-chain in China—close to double that seen in North America (17%). This is because Tether is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies to buy OTC through brokers and other under the table methods—despite China’s bans on exchanging Chinese yuan to cryptocurrencies. A June 2020 report by Sino Capital noted that “USDT is a very popular way for Chinese crypto investors to enter the market with most exchanges offering a range of OTC options.” Sino Capital CEO Matthew Graham told Decrypt that, “OTC transactions including and especially with respect to USDT are an ‘open secret’ in China.On top of this, Tether also saw a dramatic surge in interest following Black Thursday in March 2020, when the vast majority of cryptocurrencies collapsed in value in one of the biggest sell-offs in recent history. As individuals and businesses looked to exit their volatile positions, demand for Tether soared—and has continued to this day, as traders use it to avoid volatility. Simply put, there was a liquidity crisis in exchange derivatives that created a demand for stablecoins,” said Alex Alexandrov, CEO of Velas and founder of CoinPayments. “It’s been supported by several top projects that have incredibly fast blockchain processing times; this is what drives interested in USDT—because they integrate their tokens in a wide range of blockchains, making it accessible to all. [Read Full News]( The post [In 2020, Bitcoin Is No Longer The World's Most Used Cryptocurrency]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ [The Best of Ethereum 2.0 is Yet to Come, Says Infura GM]( The cryptocurrency world’s long-awaited launch of Ethereum 2.0 this month saw a seismic shift within the so-called “world’s computer” in going from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. But Phase 0 is still a testing ground, and Ethereum 2.0’s further development will take more time.It’s really good to think about Phase 0 as still a testing phase, said Michael Godsey, general manager and head of product at Infura, a ConsenSys subsidiary that lets users run applications on Ethereum without setting up a node or wallet. “I think when developers start ramping onto ETH 2.0 is still going to be in the later phases.” Ethereum’s Phase 0 is the first set of upgrades to the Ethereum blockchain, focusing on implementing the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism known as the Beacon Chain. Phase 0 will only serve to manage a list of proof-of-stake validators — those who have staked ETH to participate in the creation of new blocks — and will not be taking on blockchain tasks such as executing transactions or serving smart contracts. The earlier phases are really to verify and validate that the staking architecture works, and that the network can function inside of this new consensus algorithm,” Godsey said, in a video interview with Forkast.News. “You’re going to see a lot of validators and staking services and stuff like that come online that help people participate in that layer of the new network.Phases 1 to 2 are planned to eventually implement the full suite of the Ethereum network’s features such as shard chains — which help improve scalability and reduce congestion, transactions, smart contracts and more. The next phases are scheduled to launch in late 2021 or early 2022. Ethereum 2.0, Infura’s role in developing infrastructure for businesses and applications on the Ethereum network, and the growth of decentralized finance. - Blockchain development could be the next cloud storage: “The way that developers are utilizing the cloud, the way that developers utilize cloud right now, this is going to be the next network layer that people are really passionate and motivated to build on top of.” - On Ethereum’s dominance: “What is really awesome about Ethereum and what it provides for this entire movement of trying to build towards more decentralized systems and applications is, it is solving so many of the hard problems that people are going to have to solve in order to integrate these types of new paradigms into their applications.” - Does Infura police its users? “If the network identifies a bad actor and we can do something to help, we will do what we can to help. There’s no culling that we do on our side without any sort of greater network or ecosystem effort. That’s been a really important cultural policy inside of Infura, is that we are the pipes. We do not get to choose what is happening over those pipes.” - Blockchain’s potential applications: “The landscape of what can be done with this technology is so broad, and that’s what’s so exciting about it. There are some amazing efforts being put into healthcare initiatives, there are some amazing efforts being put into banking the unbanked.” Full Transcript Angie Lau: What is the place of ‘infrastructure as a service’ in Web 3.0? Will Ethereum-driven DeFi projects continue to drive congestion? And is ETH 2.0 ready? Welcome to Word on the Block, the series that takes a deeper dive into blockchain and the emerging technologies that shape our world at the intersection of business, politics and economy. It’s what we cover right here on Forkast.News. I’m Forkast Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Well, in the second quarter of this year, it was reported that Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin to become the most popular blockchain in the world. Ethereum certainly wants to fuel, and is already fueling, the world computer — Web 3.0., at least. One of the firms helping projects onramp onto Ethereum is Infura, which recently celebrated its fourth birthday to Ethereum’s fifth birthday. Now the ConsenSys-owned subsidiary is also the infrastructure behind a significant chunk of the DeFi craze. Question is: where is it taking us? What’s the next stage of growth for not only DeFi, but more broadly for blockchain? Joining us right now is an insider himself at Infura; he’s GM and head of product of Infura — Michael Godsey. Michael, it’s great to welcome you to the show. [Read Full News]( The post [The Best of Ethereum 2.0 is Yet to Come, Says Infura GM]( first appeared on [Feed Binary](. [Read Full Story]( ------------------ You Might Like     [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( ------------------ ------------------ Connect with TheFeedBinary on Facebook and Twitter [fb](  [tw]( ------------------ You received this email because you operate or create content for a website/service and based on your website it seemed like this could be important information to you and your users. FeedBinary daily newsletter is managed by [Postbox Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.]( C-4/5, IBD Emporia, Kolar Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA, 462042 Want to change how you receive these emails? [Update your preferences]( or [Unsubscribe](