Category Archives: bc news

How Futures Trading Changed Bitcoin Prices – published by Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Researchers Galina Hale, Arvind Krishnamurthy, Marianna Kudlyak, and Patrick Shultz posted on Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco an economic letter relating Bitcoin price peak and collapse at the time of CME futures debut.

As any attempt to explain price movements, this implies in a very selective analysis of historical data and forces in play.  And nailing a single influence from having more available short selling instrument is likely oversimplistic.  However, article does point to a general effect from trading behaviour – as could be ‘buy the rumors sells the news’ – that may give an insight for next similar events.

“…The peak price coincided with the introduction of bitcoin futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The rapid run-up and subsequent fall in the price after the introduction of futures does not appear to be a coincidence. Rather, it is consistent with trading behavior that typically accompanies the introduction of futures markets for an asset…”Continue reading→

Gemini – Nasdaq : market surveillance

For those who see censorship resistance as one the unquestionable benefits of a decentralized system, ‘Market Surveillance’ is a plague deserving exorcist remedy.  Now if get clear, trading or holding assets in exchanges should never be considered a really trustless decentralized enviroment anyway.

One should not be surprised if initiatives such as GEMINI TO LAUNCH MARKET SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY IN COLLABORATION WITH NASDAQ start to pop in many places.  And that as in other markets, established businesses actually benefit or regulated or standardized ‘best practices’ as a barrier to new comers.Continue reading→

Is Bitcoin halal or haram?

Working paper by Mr. Muhammad Abu Bakar – Mufti certified by the Jamia Darul-Uloom in Karachi, Pakistan under the supervision of Respected Sheikh Mufti Taqi Usmani – proposes s critic cut on Shariah status of bitcoin.

Interesting paper including exposure on history of money. development of Bitcoin, blockchain, Islamic property definitions and practices, and Bictoin in light of previous Fatwas.

Skipping to conclusions of the working paper:

  • Blockchain is evolving, so should Shariah opinions as scholars do their own research
  • Blockchain may act as a ledger recording value and cash transfers.
  • Depending of jurisdiction and legal status, Bitcoin could be seen as permissible.
  • Store of value, welath and data integrity arguably permissible.  Buying  cryptocurrency for investment purposes is not advisable.
  • Beware of ponzi schemes.

Pier – Brazilian Central Bank data platform on blockchain

Brazilian Central Bank new ‘PIER platform works as a distributed ledger connecting monetary, securities and pension regulation authorities.  To be specific, BCB, Susep, CVM, and Previc.

Unsurprisingly features such as data integrity, immutability and the core reliability and security of blockchain networks support this development.  Eliminating duplicated data handling work is also good.

Interesting topic is that one driver was the decentralization aspect.  Limited, of course, since platform is not open.  Centralized system introduces a hierarchy not backed by the law.  Among those regulators bodies, they are equals.

Seeking a reliable, secure, efficient peer-to-peer information exchange system they ended up in… blockchain.

(Central Bank take-one does not look like they are all equals, tho)

Chile to post Energy Data on Blockchain

Chilean Energy commission (CNE) announced plans to publish energy generation, distribution and demand on an Ethereum based blockchain.

At first data of output capacity, average and marginal prices, fossil fuel costs, and registered residential generation, among others.

This is part of the ‘Energia Aberta’ (Open Energy) platform.  Chilean energy authorities states that information is important for investment decision making, public policy and service to society.  Such pioneer use of blockchain systems intends to keep information integrity.

Though not mentioned by chilean authorities, having residential energy output available in blockchain could spark the application of distributed energy, peer-to-peer energy market and smart contract.  For instance, residents could help finance solar powered energy generation if they were able to sell excess generation to the grid.  One of many proponents of such a system is SolarCity.

Golem (GNT) – sharing excess CPU

Golem is a decentralized global supercomputer.  Processing power is shared by users (providers) to applications (requestors).  Ethereum based smart contract handles transaction of remuneration.

Network nodes create sandboxes isolated in providers’ machines.  Golem technology then combine computations back to requestor application.

After a hyped launch in 2016 when it raised 820k ETH, software development delayed until they had its Brass Golem mainnet ready for their first use case: CGI rendering.  Next in line could be machine learning.

According to the whitepaper, GNT is the utility token that is used to remunerate providers from requestors to providers and other interactions with the network according to the transaction framework.

Coinbase fixes smart contract vulnerability

Coinbase solved a glitch that if exploited could allow undue balance credit of ETH accounts.

Researchers at VI Company found the security flaw and communicated with Coinbase.

As reported, before fixing the problem was that “By using a smart contract to distribute ether over a set of wallets you can manipulate the account balance of your Coinbase account. If 1 of the internal transactions in the smart contract fails all transactions before that will be reversed. But on Coinbase these transactions will not be reversed, meaning someone could add as much ether to their balance as they want. When you look up the Coinbase wallet address after this transaction you will see that it is empty, but checking your Coinbase wallet will show your funds.“

Ley Fintech – Mexico sets legal ground for cryptos

Mexican houses approved the new ‘Ley Fintech’.  Initially proposed to accommodate fintechs, crowdfunding, sandbox regulation, financial data APIs – open banking,  this law sets the grounds for use of crytocurrencies.

Most of the practical effects is still to come, and depends on Central Bank further regulation, and the outcomes from a government body ‘Grupo de Innovación Financiera’ proposals.

Despite the clear reference to Mexican Central Bank authorization, cryptos are defined as ‘virtual assets’, which may be close to securities, but not currencies.

 

Expansão do Mercado Bitcoin – por Mariana Fonseca / Exame

Artigo de Mariana Fonseca para a revista Exame “O plano do Mercado Bitcoin para crescer 10 vezes? Arrumar a casa”

“São Paulo – A startup de compra e venda de criptomoedas Mercado Bitcoin tinha um grande pepino em mãos em dezembro de 2017. (…)

Seus usuários viraram um exército de 700 mil pessoas no fatídico mês (no começo do mesmo ano, eram 200 mil). O negócio transacionava diariamente mais do que todo o volume financeiro de 2016…Continue reading→

Jihan Wu Plans to Fund Blockchain Central Banks

Private Central Banks?

Maybe sounds too revolutionary, or perhaps this is just a coin with emphasis on means of payment function.  It may bring an extra interest that Bitmain’s Jihan Wu said they “are very interested in private central bank startups that are going to use blockchain technology to issue private currencies and set it as a service, in a legal way. We would like to invest in 20 to 30 startups whose efforts are focused on this unique emerging economy.”

read full story by Jose Antonio Lanz @ CryptoCurrencyNews

Security alert — vulnerability of Mist Browser

Security alert — Chromium vulnerability affecting Mist Browser Beta

Posted by Everton Fraga on December 15th, 2017.

Due to a Chromium vulnerability affecting all released versions of the Mist Browser Beta v0.9.3 and below, we are issuing this alert warning users not to browse untrusted websites with Mist Browser Beta at this time. Users of “Ethereum Wallet” desktop app are not affected.

Affected configurations: Mist Browser Beta v0.9.3 and below
Likelihood: Medium
Severity: High

Continue reading→

CryptoKitties, the Pokemon-like hurdle on ETH path

“CryptoKitties is a game centered around breedable, collectible, and oh-so-adorable creatures we call CryptoKitties! Each cat is one-of-a-kind and 100% owned by you; it cannot be replicated, taken away, or destroyed.”

First let’s brief what is the good news embedded there: those kitties are unique, and even though they can be transferred around to Eth addresses you cannot crtl-c crtl-v them.  They are smart contacts, so that (unless I am mistaken) the only way to share a kitty is by sharing your private (don’t.  ever.).  Putting it in another way: they are software that can be sold and transferred but not copied nor shared.

I will take my time on it for sure, and I bet a lot of smart people are figuring out how to make money with this.  But for the time being no live project is taking advantage of this.  Maybe in the near future. Fact is these cute and expensive cats are drawing a lot of attention.  And a lot of gas and processing at the EVM.

Exactly how much is a lot? Over 10%,  according to ETH Gas Station

Stats over last 5,000 blocks – Last update: Block 4681231
Top 10 ETH Contracts By Tx Count Over Last 1,500 Blocks

Address ID Pct Total Tx Count
0x8d12a197cb00d4747a1fe03395095ce2a5cc6819 Etherdelta 11.02
0x06012c8cf97bead5deae237070f9587f8e7a266d Cryptokitties 10.35

 

And keep in mind it ‘cannot be destroyed’ Nor should be removed from EVM in what would raise the censorship issue in Ethereum.

CryptoKitties’ success could be a sign that ethereum may thrive.  And lack of censorship maybe be telling of Ethereum application-agnostic feature.

Meanwhile, Ethereum attackers are quick to point this as an early red flag of scalability issues.  So the feature might be a liability.

If state channels, sharding or Casper, Vitalik’s push for scalability is being pressed hard, as crypto community hope there is more than one way to skin processing congestion,