This was a bit disheartening, there is some truth to it. We as an industry, especially in the US, are spending far too much on legal costs and it does prevent innovation and progress. Where Is All That Bitcoin VC Money Going? "Headlines highlight investment in Bitcoin companies seemingly monthly these days. So, where is it going? Into defense fund accounts. That is a large reason why, despite a lot of investment into the space, the community seemingly ebbs. Evangelists will state that the reason Bitcoin is not growing is because people are not doing a good enough job promoting it, but when you have a consortium like R3 looking into blockchain technology, that’s not the problem. Instead, the real problem is that much investment into Bitcoin is going into a certain black hole: defense funds. This money sits there until one day the firm faces some sort of legal kerfuffle. Not to mention, 2014 was the year of patent applications, many of which have been published in recent months. So, again, legal work. It costs money to file a patent and it costs money to defend a patent lawsuit. There’s been approximately $1 billion put into the space, into all sorts of firms. But it costs millions of dollars to operate many Bitcoin businesses in the US in line with on-the-books regulation. You never know when your business model, or the Bitcoin business model of an associate or partner, will land you on trial or on the witness stand. Thus, the Bitcoin defense funds. There is a long list of organizations and individuals who have accepted Bitcoin donations to go towards their legal defense funds, including Brandon Shavers, the Bitcoin Foundation, Edward Snowden, Ross Ulbricht, Charlie Shrem, Pascal Reid and every company in the space that has taken on funds. In 2014, banks secured more money for their legal defense funds. As Reuters reported, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all added hundreds of millions of dollars to funds they have set aside to pay for the cost of litigation, including legal fees, fines and settlements. All four banks are facing mortgage-related investigations by federal prosecutors located in different parts of the country." |
|
|
|
Fantastic article, Chase. We all take chances with our finances everyday of the week and not knowing it. Each day, not spending or investing smartly is a loss of value much more noticeable later part in life. Immersed in countless hours of research as part of my book project I constantly questioned why some people or even companies are doing so much better than other. I just wrote this today: " Human beings, ranked in the highest order within the animal kingdom, are gifted with a powerful capability and urge to combine their efforts and strength in organized groups, thereby developing ingenious ways and complex technology in the utilization of resources from their environment for the accomplishment of a wide variety of collective, as well as individual goals. As a whole our combined efforts, through serving in organizations, have been extremely successful in bringing civilization to what we know as the modern world today. They have constantly made progress in many material things which they seek to achieve, such as better standard of living, growth in their companies, and improved technologies. But both as an individual, as a group, and as a company, some have done significant better than others." Why? Perhaps it has a lot to do with the way we take chances, our ability to work as a team in the most productive ways to attain common goals, and the utilization of resources available to us. And much more, of course. I thought the timing of Chase article was an interesting coincident. Great job, Chase. Thank you very much! Your writing today of people coming together in strong organized groups, reminds me of a 'group building' exercise from years ago. Everyone was asked a series of rather difficult random questions. As individuals, they were each only able to answer a few of the questions correctly. When the group was told to combine all their answers, there was only a few of the questions that weren't answered correctly by someone. I received a message last night from a member of another community that was so touching, it convinced me that there are enough hardworking, selfless, trustworthy, generous, grateful people here to make this industry succeed. If everyone in this industry was like this person, we'd be half way there! Thank you Alan and Joe for having faith in me and allowing me to contribute in the building of this empire!   2016 is going to be a great year! Happy New Year! I love the analogy! When a group of people all pull on the rope the same way, amazing things can happen. Happy New Year everyone. Gonna be a good one. Smokey Thanks Smokey, and Happy New Year to you too! Happy New Years DNoters! Look forward to what 2016 will bring. Thank you Kanus, same to you as well. 2016 will be our year! |
|
|
|
Blockchain Weekly Recap 1-2-2016India’s Reserve Bank Acknowledges Blockchain Benefits. Visa Europe Retrospective: Industry Must Learn to Live With Blockchain. Nasdaq Linq Used to Issue Chain.com Shares. Coilsillium: First Blockchain Tech Firm IPO. Honduran Politics Disrupt Factom Blockchain Effort. http://dcebrief.com/blockchain-weekly-recap-1-2-2016/ Great quote from the recap this week: The post, titled, Why 2015 Was the Year for Payments, addressed the growth in payment transactions, FinTech, and both Bitcoin and the Blockchain. The post ultimately concludes that there is a transformation underway that leaves the financial industry with no choice other than to adapt to the changing technologies or be left behind. As the post notes, “2015 has turned blockchain into something the industry has to live with. It is no longer a choice anymore. Recent news speculating about the identity of its creator and the formalization of virtual money as a commodity just makes it more real than ever before.” |
|
|
|
Blockchain Weekly Recap 1-2-2016India’s Reserve Bank Acknowledges Blockchain Benefits. Visa Europe Retrospective: Industry Must Learn to Live With Blockchain. Nasdaq Linq Used to Issue Chain.com Shares. Coilsillium: First Blockchain Tech Firm IPO. Honduran Politics Disrupt Factom Blockchain Effort. http://dcebrief.com/blockchain-weekly-recap-1-2-2016/
|
|
|
|
Taxpayers forced to bailout failing banks in Europe is coming to an end. EU Taxpayers No Longer Paying Bank Bailouts is Good News for Bitcoin AdoptionPeople living in Europe will rejoice at the news of hearing how the trillion euro financial help packages from banks are no longer a possibility from now on. Citizens had been paying the bill for horrible banking practices, especially when struggling economies came knocking on the door for lending purposes. A new law will force the costs of bank failure bailouts on private sector creditors... https://news.bitcoin.com/eu-taxpayers-no-longer-paying-bank-bailouts-good-news-bitcoin-adoption/Very good. "Now that financial institutions are no longer able to get their hands on “easy” bailout packages, they might finally start to get their act together." That is often the challenge with government handouts. They become a crutch for the recipient and at the cost everyone else in the form of taxation. |
|
|
|
@ Dyna:
tee hee -- lest there be any confusion, we think Guvvy Coins are an awful idea; but we expect stiff competition from them.
Oops! That was a grouping confusion, when I have not heard that much about Guvvy Coins to begin with. Should a country adopt any honest decentralized crypto, that could be an awesome idea. Would be, Dyna; but it isn't gonna happen because a decentralised Guvvy Coin would deprive the state of the option of QE. There's a noteworthy glitch of definition here: the 'classical' definition of Bitcoin is 'blockchain + decentralisation-as-instrument-of-anti-statist-politico-economic-activity.' The advent of Guvvy Coin adds a contradictory (indeed autoantonymic) definition: 'blockchain + exactly-the-sort-of-centralisation-that-we-want-to-get-away-from'* Although cryptos (as with most everything else) will not become perfectly binarised, what we gonna see is a growing consciousness of which coins are (my terms) 'free cryptos' and which are Guvvy Coins. Sorry IMZ, is Guvvy short for government? I'm assuming as I follow along, but wanted to verify. |
|
|
|
Reading through this article, Bitcoin's Big Challenge in 2016: Reaching 100 Million Users, I was starting to wonder if I was reading Alan's article. "The blockchain is ubiquitous yet, as many readers of CoinDesk already know, it continues to be vastly misunderstood. Just saying that a business can use blockchain technology means very little. Business are built in the daily grind by forging enduring relationships with users and creating communities. You can have a good team with a lousy product or can have an amazing idea but no execution. Success requires the constant application of energy, strategy, persistence and vision. But above all, it requires the delivery of products that people really appreciate.Bitcoin and blockchain companies need to first focus on solving problems, and then build services and software that delight their customers. So far, in 2015, we are yet to solve a problem – and we’re a long way from delighting consumers." Too much too really highlight the way I wanted. The rest of the article is a great read as well, but that is what I really wanted to share. |
|
|
|
Bitcoin Weekly Recap 1-1-2016Coinbase Announces Bitcoin XT Test, Gets Removed from Bitcoin.org. Bitcoin Reaches New Milestones, Best Performing Currency of 2015. XAPO’s Rogers Sees Bitcoin Debit Cards as Vital for Crypto Acceptance. McAfee: Digital Currency Acceptance. http://dcebrief.com/bitcoin-weekly-recap-1-1-2016/
|
|
|
|
Ran across this on Reddit looking for tomorrow's Bitcoin recap stories and thought you all might find it interesting. It's a infographic on the block size debate. The argument here is that the block size should be 'just right'. https://i.imgur.com/KU8ablq.png |
|
|
|
|
Happy New Years eve all!
Don't drink too much and be careful if you are out on the road tonight.
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you Nele and Langvad, hope you guys and GameCredits have an excellent 2016! Thanks for all your support!
|
|
|
|
Please add a translator to dcebrief !!! yeah every body can use google translator, but if its integrated in web to select whatever languaje with 2 clicks should open dcebrief to global population.
amazing articles congrats !!
yeah i think too dcebrief cant ignore other altcoins, but selection of which altcoin must appear will be hard, someones can complement DNotes and not compete, so i think this ones are the best to explain to readers just like examples of how dinamic blockchain industry is.
Thanks Infovortice, alright I'll see what I can find for translation. Edit: Added, below the search box. That is super cool! Where do you find this stuff? Ran across it when researching an easy way to have multiple translations of your site. It just uses google translate, so it isn't perfect by any means, and there are better options once we feel like having human translators will be feasible. |
|
|
|
Please add a translator to dcebrief !!! yeah every body can use google translator, but if its integrated in web to select whatever languaje with 2 clicks should open dcebrief to global population.
amazing articles congrats !!
yeah i think too dcebrief cant ignore other altcoins, but selection of which altcoin must appear will be hard, someones can complement DNotes and not compete, so i think this ones are the best to explain to readers just like examples of how dinamic blockchain industry is.
Thanks Infovortice, alright I'll see what I can find for translation. Edit: Added, below the search box. |
|
|
|
I'm gonna have to bring that chickenhawk over here and get him up to speed. Speed that is. Good work, good work!
Thanks FogHorn_LegHorn! Welcome to the DNotes forum. |
|
|
|
I think the story in this thread may be worth covering in DCEBrief. The point I see that is often missed by the highly myopic (Bitcoin only) publications is that the Bitcoin block chain is neither the only block chain out there, nor is it the only one banks are interested in. The thread is mostly about how a number of Japanese banks are using the technology underlying the NEM system for their own private block chains. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't other coin's block chains out there that are attracting corporate interest, though NEM is the only one I know about so far. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1291667.0Giving it a read over now. |
|
|
|
By the way, if anyone has a topic they would like covered on DCEBrief. I'm gathering up a few now to send out to the writers. This is an open invitation if you think of anything in the future as well, feel free to post it here or send me an email.
I would like to see a DNotes year in review type of article. Recap what has happened this and what's next. +1 Would also be good to recap a few other prominent (or promising) altcoins--ones I would recommend are NEU, DMD, PIGGY, XEM. XPY would also make for a very interesting article because that coin has made a major recovery from its origins as basically a scam coin to cover up a mining hardware scam. XPY is now a legit coin with a lot of challenges up ahead, but with a very good dev team which has gone above and beyond the call of duty and done something few in the cryptospace have done. Disclosure: I own strong positions in all these altcoins (including DNotes  ) Great ideas all! An altcoin one might be tough because of the volume of information and we don't want to be too biased. I'll have to give that some thought. You'd have to cover highlights about each coin so it's not too much and provide links to relevant websites or forum threads for those who want more information. As for bias, I figure the best thing is to be positive about each coin. The real bias would be in which coins you select to cover. I wouldn't cover a coin unless you thought it had potential. Even then, you won't be able to cover all of them. You could come up with some screening criteria, such as coin needs to be at least a year old (that will avoid inadvertently covering the quick death ones), a minimal USD or BTC marketcap (sustained for a certain amount of time)--basic metrics that indicate a strong coin vs. a weak one. I could probably come up with a few more that aren't strictly numerical as well I think what it boils down to is the research time needed. My time spent keeping up on the latest in the alt space is limited these days. Though I/we do want to support positive industry efforts regardless of where they come from. I am still interested in hearing from your experience about what you like about these coins. Yes, I really should write that up. An option to save time would be to ask the devs to submit their own write-ups, and then verify the information. Usually people involved in a coin are pretty familiar with its history. I think CryptoMoms forum would benefit from that kind of information as well. |
|
|
|
By the way, if anyone has a topic they would like covered on DCEBrief. I'm gathering up a few now to send out to the writers. This is an open invitation if you think of anything in the future as well, feel free to post it here or send me an email.
I would like to see a DNotes year in review type of article. Recap what has happened this and what's next. +1 Would also be good to recap a few other prominent (or promising) altcoins--ones I would recommend are NEU, DMD, PIGGY, XEM. XPY would also make for a very interesting article because that coin has made a major recovery from its origins as basically a scam coin to cover up a mining hardware scam. XPY is now a legit coin with a lot of challenges up ahead, but with a very good dev team which has gone above and beyond the call of duty and done something few in the cryptospace have done. Disclosure: I own strong positions in all these altcoins (including DNotes ) Great ideas all! An altcoin one might be tough because of the volume of information and we don't want to be too biased. I'll have to give that some thought. You'd have to cover highlights about each coin so it's not too much and provide links to relevant websites or forum threads for those who want more information. As for bias, I figure the best thing is to be positive about each coin. The real bias would be in which coins you select to cover. I wouldn't cover a coin unless you thought it had potential. Even then, you won't be able to cover all of them. You could come up with some screening criteria, such as coin needs to be at least a year old (that will avoid inadvertently covering the quick death ones), a minimal USD or BTC marketcap (sustained for a certain amount of time)--basic metrics that indicate a strong coin vs. a weak one. I could probably come up with a few more that aren't strictly numerical as well I think what it boils down to is the research time needed. My time spent keeping up on the latest in the alt space is limited these days. Though I/we do want to support positive industry efforts regardless of where they come from. I am still interested in hearing from your experience about what you like about these coins. |
|
|
|
' . . . recap a few other prominent (or promising) altcoins . . . ' I think a pivotal metric -- certainly the one around which IndiaMikeZulu analyses circle -- is categories of alts.* Just as examples: One: 'outwards-focussed' cryptos -- Dnotes is a category of one. Two: the 2.0s, which are gonna trounce all complacent 1.0s.** [PM me, and I'll give you a prime example of a complacent 1.0.] Three: the stealth coins: the Two Futures of Cryptos are compliant and libertarian. If things get ugly, stealth coins will do very well. *There was a day, early 2014, I think, when six of the first forty-two cryptos on CMC were 'country coins.' Today? none. **And beyond 2.0? PM me! But I popped in this morning to launch the crypto buzz-phrase of 2016: 'zero-knowledge systems': https://news.bitcoin.com/banks-will-lose-ground-2016-fintech-bitcoinNota bene: I take no personal responsibility whatsoever for the appalling prose of the article. Thanks Mark! The leaking of personal information and banks rights to deny or suspend service to individuals are certainly advantages for cryptocurrency, leading us towards 'zero-knowledge systems'. I can see that buzz word catching on. |
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
