Monday, November 9th, 2020
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Your Weekly Update On All Things Crypto |
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In Partnership With NAMNAR Capital |
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- Nigeria Releases Their Framework for Blockchain Adoption.
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U.S. Seizes $1B Worth of Bitcoin Connected to Silk Road
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Automata, Now Akt.io, Closes Series A Through Equity Token Offering
- Bitcoin Flirts with $16,000
- Alt-Coins Find Support
- Picks of the Week feature AMPL and ETH.
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Nigeria Banking on Blockchain |
With the long-awaited US elections finally coming to a close, we wanted to shift our focus around the globe to one of Africa's most forward-looking countries as it relates to crypto and blockchain development, Nigeria. In late October, Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency, or NITDA, released its National Blockchain Adoption Strategy Framework. The Director-General of the NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, says distributed ledger technology would "facilitate the development of the Nigerian digital economy." They expect blockchain to capture roughly 6 to 10 billion in revenue for the country by the year 2030.
The report states that Nigeria will integrate blockchain through its:
- Provincial services
- Payment services
- Digital identity
- Customer engagement, and
- Dispute resolution applications
It is important to reflect on the immense global impact of blockchain technology outside of just currency. Blockchain was invented as a mechanism to redistribute power and reduce the need for third-party interference. This is not relegated to the financial world. Areas such as personal identity, land ownership, health records, supply chain, voting system and governing systems are all likely outcomes of this technology.
In the same way that many developing nations were able to leapfrog the use of fossil fuels and move straight to renewable energy. The same thing may happen with blockchain leapfrogging much of the centralized internet and institutions we rely on in the western world today. With nations like Nigeria paving the way with a rapidly growing developer community and heavy investment in the crypto applications, the future looks brighter than ever for blockchain leadership and digital democratization in Africa.
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US Seizes $1B Worth of Bitcoin Connected to Silk Road |
One billion dollars worth of Bitcoin was seized by the US government last week in connection to the underground marketplace, Silk Road. It was the largest cryptocurrency seizure by the U.S. Government ever.
Silk Road was launched in February of 2011 and was the first ever dark-net marketplace. It was best known as a platform for the sale of illegal drugs. The currency of choice for the Silk Road was Bitcoin due to its anonymity. The site was shut down after founder, Ross Ulbricht was arrested in 2013.
Thursday brought a shock through the industry when suddenly one billion dollars worth of Bitcoin was moved from the 4th richest wallet address in the world. It had sat dormant in that wallet since 2015. When the funds were first moved, experts were left puzzled as to what happened. But we now know it was the U.S. Department of Justice seizing the funds after claiming they should be forfeited in connection to the Silk Road case. They identify the owner as "Individual X" and were able to track him down by connecting the wallet to a transaction that happened made on the exchange, BTC-e. The Department of Justice believes that X did not work for Silk Road, instead they believe he hacked the exchange after the founder was arrested.
Taking a step back from this specific case, I want to point out a few trends emerging related to the U.S. Government's handling of crypto. While the U.S. has actioned off Bitcoin taken in government seizures, but something tells me things won't be the same this time. If Bitcoin continues to grow, it seems likely that many countries will seek to hold Bitcoin in their treasury in the future. There will be different ways that governments acquire this asset; global trade, taxation, mining etc. But after the BitMEX Indictments a few weeks ago, and the Silk Road seizure now, the U.S. strategy may have emerged. In contrast to China, who is investing in mining infrastructure to produce Bitcoin, the US Department of Justice may be content just to confiscating it.
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Automata, Now Akt.io, Closes Series A |
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Last Monday, Automata UK Limited closed a £1,350,000 series A funding round. Automata is the world's first wealth-centered neobank; a type of direct bank that operates exclusively online without traditional physical branch networks. The Wealth Card is the company's version of a bank card, that creates wealth for it's users via automated smart investing and daily interest payouts with high-yield vaults meanwhile allowing easy really world purchasing with any asset you own: cash, crypto, and beyond.
Automata is currently operating under their akt.io address where you can find information about their card's functionality. Akt.io is striving to be a marketplace without borders, allowing 24/7 trading at the best rates with no fee's. The company, which was founded in 2017, is currently providing their Beta version to those who sign up and operating in GBP and Euro.
The funding was secured through an equity token offering, enabling the public to acquire real equity in the company – creating a decentralized IPO. We are excited to see Automata make moves over the coming years, entering into North America and making smart AI investing accessible to all.
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Bitcoin Flirts With $16,000 |
Following the blast-off rally of last week, Bitcoin decided in had another run left in the tank, rallying another 15% before finding its peak just shy of $16,000! Bitcoin hasn't seen these prices since January of 2018, only one month after its historic all-time high in December 2017. We may see some consolidation to around the $14,000 mark in the next few weeks while the King of Crypto reloads, but we are still extremely bullish in the coming few months and expect another rally before year-end.
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After 2 months of persistent declines, alt-coins seem to have finally found a bottom, bouncing sharply off an ascending line of support that has held since May of 2017. We may still see one more re-test of this support line before a true alt-coin breakout. With many alt-coins declining 60-80% versus Bitcoin over the past 2 months, and Ethereum 2.0 on the way, it seems as though the next alt-coin cycle may be right around the corner.
Side Note: as the market cap of any asset grows, high multiple returns get harder and harder to find. Take gold for example, with a market cap of roughly $10 trillion, in order to double in price, you would need to add 10 trillion to the market cap. On the other hand, for some alt-coins with market caps below $10 billion, the amount of capital needed to double the price is substantially lower. This is why, although extremely volatile and unforgiving, the alt-coin market can provide enormous returns for those who play it correctly.
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Ampleforth was the first-ever elastic supply cryptocurrency. AMPL fairly and automatically adjust its supply in response to demand, without any need for a bank. It was designed to be the simplest direct solution to the supply inelasticity problem.
Earlier this year, AMPL experience an incredible 11,250% increase over the span of just 33 days. From July to October, the elastic currency saw a sobering 90% correction but has been on the rise ever since. Keep a close eye on this one as it can climb as quickly as it can fall.
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If you are reading this Newsletter, you have most likely heard of Ethereum. Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world and "The Granddaddy of Smart Contracts." With the largest developer ecosystem and by far the most decentralized applications built on top of it, Ethereum is the front-runner to be the base layer of the new decentralized internet. One of the major critics of the network is its speed and scalability. However, on December 1st, we will witness the release of ETH 2.0, a step-change improvement in the Ethereum blockchain that relies on Proof-of-Stake as opposed to Proof-of-Work consensus. We expect this launch to catalyze the next alt-coin cycle and the next wave of decentralized application development.
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Blockchain.com is the world's leading software platform for digital assets - over 620 billion in transactions since 2013. Offering the largest production blockchain platform in the world, the company has a passion to code, create, and ultimately build an open, accessible and fair financial future, one piece of software at a time. They are looking for Front End Engineer to join their development team in building revolutionary tech.
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Front End Engineer
💲 95-125k
🌐 San Francisco, CA
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KPMG provides audit, tax and advisory services for organizations in today’s most important industries. KPMG has a developing Blockchain Department and is looking to fill various positions across the United States. Roles would require an in-depth understanding of blockchain and a cross-disciplinary approach to working with KPMG's industry experts to understand client needs and ingest rich data sources
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Various Crypto Innovation Consultant and Manager Positions:
💲 Varies
🌐 Key Cities Across the US
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