VeradiVerdict - Stellar Acquires Chain - Issue #2
VeradiVerdict - Stellar Acquires Chain - Issue #2
Hi, I am Paul Veradittakit, a Partner at Pantera Capital, one of the oldest and largest institutional investors focused on investing into blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies. I focus on early investments and want to share my thoughts and what’s going on in the industry in this weekly newsletter.
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Editorials
Today, it was announced that Stellar acquired Chain, and I think the partnership makes a ton of sense.
Pantera was an early investor in Chain, and I have always been impressed with Adam Ludwin, the CEO, and his ability to navigate the company’s strategy. The company was able to garner a subsequent round from Visa, Chain, Nasdaq, Orange and Fiserv. Chain partnered with Nasdaq to enable Nasdaq to help companies issue private securities on the blockchain. Chain has built up a very strong technical/product team and had been focusing on institutions and enterprises, especially the latter with their Sequence product.
Chain will bring a commercial team and mindset to Stellar and they are very complementary to each other. Knowing Jed and the Stellar team, I’m excited to see what use cases and applications will get built on their technology.
This week I will be in Shanghai for Shanghai Blockchain Week and attending the Global Blockchain Summit.
My first trip to Shanghai was 2 years ago for the same Blockchain Summit and DevCon 2. I have got to meet many of the early investors like Fenbushi and exchanges like Binance.
Since then, token projects have moved out of China and Shanghai and are setting up shops in countries like Singapore.
Nevertheless, many folks in the ecosystem will be in Shanghai this week so looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces.
Digests
A Look at Token Sale Treasuries – Mosaic
This article will look at treasury selling across some of the most popular Ethereum-based token sale projects in an attempt to understand the effect treasury selloffs have on a given project’s…
Measuring Decentralization in Crypto – Ethos.io
This post measures the extent of decentralization in crypto, reviews its evolution, and provides insights on the nature of the crypto economy.
The Big Legal Issue Blockchain Developers Rarely Discuss
Software licensed under open source licenses (OSS) is fundamental to the success of blockchain projects. Such licenses permit collaborative, decentralized development, encourage swift adoption by users and enable the community to “fork” the project to resolve strategic disputes.
Bitcoin Not Useful for Terrorists, Expert Tells US Congress
Despite fear from legislators, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin tokens are not currently useful for terrorists, an expert told Congress.
Using Dapps
All of 2018 up until about a month ago — all everyone could talk about was the price. We hit the high of ~$830B market cap and it has been in a steady decline losing more than 70% of that value as of…
In the Tweets
"It was manipulation" is the mantra of losers
Manipulation implies rules are being broken
Whatever is happening in the market ARE the rules of the market. The true rules.
Regulations, Oversight authorities, Fair play are all illusions
Trade the actual market not the fantasy
11:21 AM - 10 Sep 2018
Love how quickly the $EOS narrative shifted from RAM speculation to Universal Basic Income for kids in Africa. ❤️
4:37 PM - 9 Sep 2018
Let's play every crypto is a sea animal:
Bitcoin is the shark
Ethereum is the dolphin
Monero is the octopus
Tron is the plastic bag found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
Your turn!
6:56 AM - 10 Sep 2018
News
Interstellar Arrives: Visa, Citi-Backed Chain Acquired By Stellar Startup
A long-rumored acquisition that finds two of the crypto industry’s leading entrepreneurs teaming to back the world’s sixth-largest blockchain has been confirmed.
Citigroup is the Latest Bank to Offer Crypto Custody, Impact on the Market
Sources close to Citibank revealed that the $175 billion New York-based bank will offer crypto custody solutions to institutional investors.
72% of Cryptocurrency Investors Plan to Buy More this Year: Survey
Nearly three-fourths of retail cryptocurrency investors say that they plan to increase their holdings over the next 12 months.
ConsenSys details the first cohort of companies to enter its new accelerator, Tachyon
Tachyon, the accelerator of the blockchain powerhouse ConsenSys which launched earlier this year, has announced the first cohort for its 10 week accelerator program that will culminate with a demo day for investors on November 17th.
David Sacks Joins 0x to Build Harbor—0x Security Token Stack
0x announced an alliance with Harbor, a compliance service for tokens that’s backed by former PayPal COO David Sacks.
Cryptic Labs adds 2 Nobel laureates as advisers for blockchain security research
Cryptic Labs, a research institute that wants to use blockchain technology to solve security problems, has announced the addition of two Nobel laureates in economics — Eric Maskin and Christopher Pissarides — to its economic advisory board.
Regulations
Nasdaq Said to Be Building Tool to Predict Crypto Price Movements
The U.S. stock exchange is preparing to add tools for predicting the price movements of crypto assets to its Analytics Hub. The hub, launched last year, draws machine learning and natural language processing capabilities to parse through social media and other alternative data sources to give investors a better way to assess market movement.
‘BitLicense’ Regulator Approves Two USD-Pegged Cryptocurrency Tokens
One of the strictest crypto regulators in the U.S. has approved proposals from two firms under its oversight to issue cryptocurrency tokens pegged to USD.
SEC Suspends Trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum Investment Products
The regulator pointed to “a lack of current, consistent and accurate information” in the two crypto investment vehicles issued by Swedish firm XBT Provider AB following their entry into the US market last month.
China’s Supreme Court Rules That Blockchain Can Legally Authenticate Evidence
China’s Supreme Court has ruled that evidence authenticated with blockchain is legally binding, as part of newly clarified litigation procedures in the country.
New Products and Hot Deals
Polychain Leads Blockmesh Developer Spacemesh's $15 Million Fundraise
Blockchain development startup Spacemesh has just raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital, the firm announced Wednesday.
Announcing the Casa Lightning Node
In February 2018 we released Lightning Ramp, a system for connecting exchanges to the Lightning network, with the goal of bringing the Lightning Network to millions of people as soon as possible.
Australian Firm Aiming for $15 Mln ICO for Crypto Exchange Addresses Regulatory Scrutiny
Australian regulators continue to comb through Byte Power Group’s plans to raise money for a crypto exchange via an ICO.
Quoine Looks to Boost Crypto Liquidity With New Trading Platform
Cryptocurrency exchange startup Quoine has launched a new trading platform that it says will bring much needed liquidity to the crypto markets.
Introducing ShapeShift Membership – ShapeShift
To some who have followed our history, it may seem a curious development; ShapeShift is known as “the exchange without accounts,” a model we pioneered in order to reduce friction and protect customers. Membership is account-based, so why are we departing from that lineage?
Meet with Me
I will be traveling this fall for certain events, and to meet with investors. Let me know if you and your colleagues would like to meet in person.
Singapore, Cumberland Crypto, September 14-16
Hong Kong, SuperReturn, September 17-18
Singapore, Consensus Singapore, September 19-20
San Francisco, SF Blockchain Week, October 9
Las Vegas, Money 2020 USA, October 21-24
Prague, DevCon 4, October 30-November 2
Macau, Sora Summit, November 13
Hangzhou, Money 2020 China, November 14