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Welcome to Long Reads Sunday #57 - aka the “holy $%#! there’s nothing about Libra” edition!
Seriously, no Libra, Not a single Tweet. Instead, we’ve got sanctions, SEC action, new metrics, paradigm shifts, and a lil Suntroversy.
Strap in, friends, it's long reads time!
Seriously, no Libra, Not a single Tweet. Instead, we’ve got sanctions, SEC action, new metrics, paradigm shifts, and a lil Suntroversy.
Strap in, friends, it's long reads time!
2/ Let’s start w something cool. The SEC issued a No Action letter for Pocketful of Quarters in-game currency ERC-20. @msantoriESQ gives the background & argues that, although a small step, is impressive in the context of extremely slow moving regulators.
3/ There was actually a fair bit about crypto gaming this week. @fredwilson wrote about @CHZWZRDS & the idea of “extensible games” - that true ownership of digital items opens possibilities to expand games outside of their initial worlds. avc.com/2019/07/extens…
4/ @alexisohanian also discussed true game asset ownership, writing about his firm @initialized investment in @SkyWeaverGame, a Hearthstone/MtGArena style game that has also gotten rave reviews from folks like @ljxie
5/ In the realm of crypto collabs with existing titles, @BradyDale wrote about a @refereum partnership that will allow gamers to earn token rewards for playing uber popular @PUBG coindesk.com/pubg-players-c…
6/ If you’re interested in this part of the crypto markets, I highly, highly recommend @wave_financial’s blockchain gaming and gambling report. Serves as a really good primer.
7/ Alright, something cool done. Now let’s talk something weird. What the actually fa has been going on with Justin Sun. First, he canceled the Buffett lunch because of kidney stones, but then Chinese media reported it was an issue with authorities. coindesk.com/tron-justin-su…
8/ He showed up in San Francisco, but then came right back in the news when BitTorrent creator @bramcohen called him out for not completing payments for the BitTorrent acquisition.
9/ He then issued an apology for overhyping..well…everything, which seemed to some to be about China governmental pressure. Strange. For more backstory than you probably need, check out this piece by @globalcoinrsrch globalcoinresearch.com/2019/07/24/jus…
10/ Another little bit of controversy came from the Ethereum community, where EIP2025 - a proposal to use block rewards for dev funding - stirred the pot big time, kicking off with this post from @econoar
11/ @Obstropolos also wrote about it more comprehensively here . The reason this is worth noting isn’t the proposal itself, per se, which seems highly unlikely to pass, but the fact that funding for development is such a hot button and unresolved issue.
12/ Speaking of Ethereum, it was Ethereum’s 5th birthday. @EthereumJoseph shared the ConsenSys Media 5 year “State of the Network” report
13/ There was a lot of back and forth around DeFi this week as well, kicked off in part by @_ConnerBrown_ critique thread
14/ To be honest, I think it’s inevitable & healthy that DeFi is facing more scrutiny at this stage of its development. @crypto_bobby makes an interesting point here that it’s okay for it to be exciting w/o it having to solve the whole world’s problems
15/ Speaking of crypto solving the world’s problems, one country’s crypto community is fighting very hard to change perception after an Indian governmental report rubber-stamped a whole lot anti-crypto biases.
16/ Still, it’s even worse for Iranian crypto users - really Iranian users of any technology. Yesterday Iranian GitHub users woke up to find themselves completely locked out. @MartyBent summarizes my feelings with characteristic eloquence
17/ The Iran-GitHub thing was, of course, about sanctions. Sanctions were also the topic of this piece from @criptodiana about how the Venezuelan leadership was using bitcoin to evade sanctions coindesk.com/venezuela-turn…
18/ The fear of bitcoin/crypto undermining the US’s ability to exert economic pressure through sanctions is one of the big complaints antagonistic US regulators have. It may be something we hear more about at next week’s Senate Banking Committee hearings.
19/ Still as much attention as these hearings are bringing, crypto companies are finding it hard to work in the US. Congressman @WarrenDavidson had this to say about @circlepay leaving the US and setting up elsewhere
20/ Along similar lines, @AbraGlobal has had to limit certain features for US users - and even more if you’re lucky enough to live in New York.
21/ This De-Americanization is a meaningful trend and at the very top of my current #NarrativeWatch @MeatTC_ has the perfect summary
22/ One other scary thing that has to do with US policy: encryption backdoors in social apps. Chatter around this rose again this week after US Attorney General William Barr brought it up again. @Matthew_d_green on the overview
23/ On the topic of invasions of privacy, @AmberBaldet also shared her experience opting out of an airport body scanner as a way to make the point that we are being systematically nudged away from privacy in part through inconvenience.
24/ Still, all hope is not lost. In his latest essay, @gladstein argues that the Lightning Network could be a global private payments network that combats the aligning of corporate and government surveillance
25/ Okay, just a few more before we wrap. First, check out the latest from @KyleSamani on how he and Multicoin are thinking about the multiple vectors of centralization within Web3 protocols and how it’s impacting their investments.
@KyleSamani 26/ @La__Cuen reports on the state of Binance’s charitable efforts in Uganda. The charities stated goal is 100% transparency, and I think the best way to support them is to hold them accountable, so kudos to Leigh for a great piece coindesk.com/binance-charit…
27/ When @Nic__carter writes something, it’s usually good to just drop what you’re doing and give it a study, and his latest piece on settlement assurances is no different. medium.com/@nic__carter/i…
28/ Speaking of Nic, his master’s thesis inspired @MessariCrypto’s @fmoulin7 to look comprehensively at all of the different launch styles and funding experiments for tokens since 2009. Really interesting.
29/ For you data nerds, @sassal0x dropped this phenomenal thread on his favorite research tools for on chain and other market data.
30/ Pair that one with @mccannatron’s huge 101 overview of cryptocurrency data sources, including all the tools he uses at @ProofofCapital chrismccann.com/blog/cryptocur…
31/ And of course, what’s crypto data without new metrics to help us understand things better? @cburniske shares the latest thinking from his @placeholdervc team around “Network Value to Token Value” or #NVTVratio
32/ @AshAEgan did a fun little look at “crypto mafia’s” - i.e. the companies that are spitting out alumni who go on to build other companies in the space
33/ I’m really liking the video debates and conversations coming from @iam_preethi and her @isTruStory team. This week, @aridavidpaul jumped back in the hotseat to discuss lessons learned from the 2018 bear cycle.
34/ @Melt_Dem builds off the recent conversation around “paradigm shifts” to discuss how bitcoin breaks the trend of digitization requiring new categories of intermediaries
35/ And finally, check out the great little conversation kicked up about the demonopolization of identity.
36/ There we have it! Another LRS in the books! Let me know what I missed and what you loved. Sign up to get LRS via email getrevue.co/profile/nlw
37/ For those who want the raw, unfiltered goodies. Check out the @MessariCrypto board where I track all the potential LRS links. boards.messari.io/b/long-reads-s…
38/ And to keep that LRS goodness going all week long, watch my Crypto Daily 3@3 livestream at 3 EST youtube.com/nathanielwhitt… or listen wherever you listen to podcasts podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cry…
