2019 Set the Stage for DeFi to Go Mainstream

This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Lou Kerner is an advisory board member at Blockchain Coinvestors, co-founder of CryptoOracle, and partner at Chameleon as well as Flight Ventures. MakerDAO started minting DAI in December 2017, and saw dramatic growth in 2018, as the daily supply in circulation grew to nearly 100 million: In March, 2019, MolochDAO went live with 22 founding members, each depositing 100 ETH (the equivalent of $330,000…

VC: New 10-Year Phase in Crypto to Begin in 2020: What it Means For Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain

Outlier Ventures, a venture capital firm, said that 2020 will be the start to a new phase in crypto, bitcoin, Ethereum, and blockchain following ten years of development and speculation. The firm’s head of research Lawrence Lundy—which has invested in major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos, Brave, and Chainlink—said that the next ten years will be about deployment, if the last decade was primarily about installment. S-Curve trend of crypto and bitcoin for the past decade and the next ten years (Source: Outlier Ventures) In an end-of-the-year report entitled “18…

‘Multi-Part’ Payments Could Bring Bigger Bitcoin Sums to Lightning Network

Bitcoin tech startup Blockstream said its c-lightning software team is the first to release a working version of “multi-part payments.”  While the name, c-lightning v0.8.0, is a mouthful, it’s a big improvement for the user experience of the lightning network, a new layer that’s probably bitcoin’s best shot at scaling to support a larger number of payments. The change updates the plumbing of lightning network payments so users can send larger lightning payments, with a much smaller risk of them failing.  “The user experience of lightning clients is a topic…

‘Multi-Part’ Payments Could Bring Bigger Bitcoin Sums to Lightning Network

Bitcoin tech startup Blockstream said its c-lightning software team is the first to release a working version of “multi-part payments.”  While the name, c-lightning v0.8.0, is a mouthful, it’s a big improvement for the user experience of the lightning network, a new layer that’s probably bitcoin’s best shot at scaling to support a larger number of payments. The change updates the plumbing of lightning network payments so users can send larger lightning payments, with a much smaller risk of them failing.  “The user experience of lightning clients is a topic…

New York Court Proceeds Against Man Allegedly Linked to OneCoin

The New York Southern District Court granted a continuance in the lawsuit against David Pike over his alleged link to the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. Finance news outlet FinanceFeeds reported on Dec. 21 that the continuation of the case was approved until Jan. 12, 2020 based on court documents filed on Dec. 20. “Fenero Funds” — tracking OneCoin’s laundered money trail Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Folly reportedly stated that the parties’ counsels are discussing a potential pre-indictment disposition. The extension has been deemed as appropriate, given that those discussions are…

We Totally Misunderstood Blockchain | Cointelegraph

The fad is dying. A recent CB Insights report that was cited by Bloomberg announced a 60% decline in blockchain startup investments this year, down to $1.6 billion. But at the same time, large enterprises such as Microsoft, Walmart, IBM and Samsung have either deployed their own blockchains or joined partnerships to use the technology. Ironically, several banks, such as HSBC and JPMorgan Chase, have also developed their own blockchain arms — the same entities blockchain was supposed to replace. What happened? Why are public chains with the true spirit…

Crypto Startup Blockchain of Things Settles Unregistered ICO Case for $250K

Blockchain of Things Inc. (BCOT), a crypto startup that provides enterprise software to organizations, was charged for introducing an initial coin offering (ICO) despite not being registered. The firm has been making efforts to settle on an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the company will be paying $250,000 to the regulatory agency. Blockchain of Things has agreed to refund its investors as per a legal order assigned on Wednesday. All BCOT investors who have informed the company that they want their investments back will receive…

Binance Returns Frozen BTC After User ‘Promises’ Not to Use CoinJoin

Bitcoin (BTC) users who employ privacy tool CoinJoin to add anonymity to their transactions face a major wake-up call after exchange Binance froze a withdrawal. In an ongoing Twitter debate which began Dec. 19, a user by the name of Catxolotl uploaded what appeared to be correspondence from Binance Singapore staff stating they had launched an “investigation” into a withdrawal of an unknown amount of BTC. Binance: we “do not tolerate” CoinJoin The reason, they said, was Catxolotl was using CoinJoin via wallet provider Wasabi. A Binance representative confirmed the…

Long BTC From $6.5K and Back in Altcoin Positions

It has been a profitable week, largely because I caught the big Bitcoin (BTC) move up from the local bottom. I closed a majority of my altcoin trades, some on tight stops and others at a decent profit.  Overall, I’m very happy with the results, although as I mentioned last week, I failed to take profit on certain alt trades when I had the chance and ended up with smaller gains or exiting near even. I have recently opened new positions again in FunFair (FUN) and EtherParty (FUEL) while closing…