cryptonomics

Apologies for being reclusive over the last couple months. I've been a little busy relocating. Lets discuss some of my favorite topics: monetary policy, global trade, and (you guessed it) cryptocurrencies. First: Hyper inflation, bad... very bad. very very very bad. controlled inflation, ok. Inflation has taken a beating throughout the blockchain community. Mainly from Bitcoin Maximalists. Scarcity, along with supply and demand, creates value. However, scarcity also leads to a decrease in the velocity of money, and lead to hoarding. Why? When resources are scarce, humans conserve. Think of the price of oil. When the price of oil is high, the price of gas is high. When the price of oil is low, the price of gas is low. You can see the correlation by comparing the next two graphs. The price (USD) of oil per barrel. Chart by MacroTrends The price (USD) of a gallon of gas. Chart by  Gas Buddy When oil is abundant: supply goes beyond demand (most recent 2014), and p...

A world that uses Bitcoin (or another scarce  cryptocurrency) as a base currency could create a better, more innovative one. One could argue that the velocity of money is driven by the demand for luxury goods and services. On top of that, an economy is only as good as the labour within it. The money hoarder will exchange the hoarded currency if there is a good or service that he/she desires. If there is no desired good or service, then there is no reason that the money hoarder should put his/her money back into circulation. This will give the markets a reason to innovate and create demand for luxury goods and services. There will be less complacency in the markets as companies and industries compete for your money. A historical example of complacency is the Spaniards post colonization of America. After the Spaniards colonized the Americas, they inherited vast amounts of gold. What was once a scarce commodity was less scarce. Instead of boosting exports to create more wealth, S...

If you think cryptos are worthless the scary reality is that your dollar is also worthless. You should become a gold bug. The reason for your dollar being worthless is because it isn’t backed by anything aside from a government that is set on devaluing your dollar by setting an inflation target of two percent. Does anyone remember when you could pick up a candy bar for ~$0.50? Better days, right? Now a candy bar is ~$0.89. Prices are increasing while quality is flatlining. Shouldn't the cost of a candy bar decrease over time as innovation/competition enters the market? @chriscanno The answer is: yes. Innovation and competition should lower prices, but the central bank is set the hold the cost of goods at a certain price with their inflation target. What is happening is that The Federal Reserve is digitally pumping money into the system to keep prices lower. What gives precious metals value is scarcity. If we all have ten ounces of gold because someone can just 3D pri...

In my unprofessional opinion, an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) will replace the IPO (Initial Public Offering) just like the Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) will replace current exchanges, and Atomic Swaps will be fluid in our daily transactions. This will take time, as regulation will be made, and our understanding of blockchain deepens. However, we already have had many ICOs, and we already have a few DEXs. An ICO should be looked at as an unregulated way for a firm in the crypto-space to raise money, and fund their project(s). It is a way for crypto-firms to bypass regulation and raise funds quickly, while jumping onto the cryptocurrency hype, so caution must be taken as most crypto-enthusiasts see ~90% of ICOs failing. In the ICO's current state, when you purchase a coin/token, you don't own a share of that firm. The firm isn't required to disclose information as they would after an IPO. However, if there is a lot of buzz around said firm, their token value theoreti...

I have been coming across some interesting readings; from the recent way to breed digital kitties on Ethereum to a pretty interesting piece from Hackernoon, " Bitcoin's Final Boss ". So, the Ethereum network has been congested again. This time it isn't being congested by ICOs, instead, Digital Kittens ( Cryptokitties ) that look... nice(?). Cryptokitties made up 11% of Ethereums traffic (12/05/2017). This is seen as problematic as new users continure to pile into the cryptocurrency space, and the problems of a congested network persist. This is problematic because this isn't just oddly adorable kittens unable to breed, this is people's money on the line. Forgive me of my inability to adequately tell this next story, but know that I tried. The last time that I had an experience with congestion (aside from all the times the coinbase app has crashed on me) I had a margin position open on Poloniex . In which I had gone long Ethereum, as it was ascending ...

We live in a day of globalization. Technology has delivered ways to communicate with one another through miles of under water internet cables. Transportation is slowly becoming cheaper and more innovative; from captain-less cargo ships transporting goods across the globe, to the possibility of hyperloops from Dubai to Abu Dhabi or LA to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes.  30 minutes to travel 380 miles which is 6 hours in a car. In this fourth industrial revolution, why are we still allowing banks to take days to complete a transaction? Cryptocurrencies are the next step to globalization for consumers and businesses alike. These digital currencies will break down currency barriers, and allow everyone to exchange goods and services with little to no fees. There will be no need to exchange currencies through a third party, as you have millions of super computers hashing away for you. Hackers? pfff, not really something to worry about as they would have to take over 51% of thos...

Most of us are familiar with our country's currency (insert your countries form of currency: USD CAD, JPY, GBP, CNY) wether it is physical or digital we are willing to exchange goods and services for it. For centuries, people of earth have relied, and trusted a third party to hold, and transfer, their currency. From the ancient templars escorting precious metals across the globe on behalf of others, or exchanging them for ancient bank notes; to bankers as we know them today holding our money. As society has advanced, so has the banking system. In the digital world, we have become use to instant access. Instant access to whatever news organization happened to get their hands on a story first followed by a flood of other sources, even if the original is incorrect. Instant access to photos, and status updates. Technology is wild. Hell, last year I was watching kids enter the augmented reality of Pokemon Go on their phone as my girlfriend and I walked the streets of Burlingame, C...

For over the last year, Wall Street has been on the verbal attack of Bitcoin. They claim it is a bubble, even as far as saying that it is worse than the tulip bubble, or Enron. "Buy gold, not Bitcoin" they say... Gold suuuuuucks. Bitcoin being somewhat of a decentralized currency has bankers shaking. It removes bankers from the equations. As more and more people adopt Bitcoin and altcoins, bankers edge closer to losing all that they have built. Viewing Bitcoin as more of a commodity, they have tried ushering people into gold instead. It is 2017, why buy gold? If I need to cash my gold it, I have to find someone who buys gold, haul my gold to the person, and probably get ripped off by the guy. If I am holding Bitcoin, I can sell it on an exchange from the comfort of my own home. Regulation. Nobody feels that Bitcoin needs regulation, except Morgan Stanley and other banks lol. Bitcoin doesn't need a central bank, and it doesn't need governmental regulation. China...

As we all know, Bitcoin has had a glorious 2017 despite receiving heavy criticism from Jamie Dimon  ( cnbc ),  Warren Buffet  ( fox biz ), and even Saudi Prince Alwaleed  ( fortune ). Its most recent tailwinds: CME Group. First to the scene of Bitcoin Derivatives trading was  LedgerX , and now CME Group start  Bitcoin derivatives  ( bloomberg ) by the end of year. The entrance of CME Group pushed the price of BTC (Bitcoin) from ~$6,000  to ~$7,400. follow me on twitter   @postmattern  and   @bitfuturist

Bitcoin has become more than a currency. Not only will the value continue to increase (or drop to zero, who knows...) but it also continue to pay out dividends. You might be thinking, "a dividend? But, sir? I understand how a currency can fluctuate in value... but how can a currency also pay you a dividend?" Forks. When Bitcoin goes through a "fork" a group of developers take Bitcoin's Blockchain and tweak it to make a Blockchain that they feel will be better suite the general populace. In order to do so, they must use the exact blockchain up until the time they choose to fork at. Once they choose a block to fork at, and once Bitcoin's Blockchain reaches that block, a snapshot is taken. of the blockchain. Both Bitcoin's blockchain, and the forking blockchain will have an identical blockchain up until the time of the fork. So, if you are holding 10 Bitcoin when the snapshot is taken, you receive an additional 10 coins of the forked currency. Simil...

Many people have argued against Cryptocurrencies. Some have gone as far to say that it is the next Enron, or the next ' tulip bulbs ' bubble.  They say that it is just market euphoria. IMHO: Market euphoria hasn't hit digital currencies or even the stock market's incredible bull run (at least not yet, I see a little too many bears out there, and crashes happen when you don't expect them... just. like. Enron). 2017 has seen Bitcoin's value launch to the moon, and one reason I see behind it is as follows. The election of  Donald Trump  saw a boom in most asset classes. Equity sectors from Tech to Finance to Industrials received bumps. Why? One reason is the promise of deregulation. The prior eight years our economy has been crippled by regulation as we the people of the United States of America sat back and assumed that there was no way out of this global economic downturn. Central banks across the globe were cutting interest rates to try and inject life int...

Hello again. It has been a while. Cryptocurrencies dealt blow with Ban in China in September sparking a sell off. However, Bitcoin quickly rebounded from a low of ~2,800 shortly after. Ethereum undergoes Byzantium hard fork, but struggles to advance against USD. Continues to trade ~$300. Bitcoin owners received a nice forking dividend from Bitcoin Cash  (BCC) (soon to have Bitcoin Gold and two others coming later this year). Don't worry about BTC Forks, just sit back and enjoy the dividend, but not with Coinbase .  It is true that Coinbase simplifies owning digital currencies, but Bitcoin forks, they hold the forking Currency. If you have any questions about BTC Forks, you may tweet me  @bitfuturist IBM teams up with Stellar. AMD crushes Q2 ER (earnings report), continues to stay humble on its GPU sales (despite the cryptocurrency mining boom), and moderately lowers guidance. When asked about AMD's reasoning behind lowing guidance, AMD's response was ...

When first looking in to buying Bitcoin, it can seem quite daunting. There are so many places to buy and sell. From my experience, I have found that the easiest way to buy and hold Bitcoin is to use Coinbase , even if our opinions don't align... The reason I have selected Coinbase is mainly because it is easy to use, and has a simplistic set up that doesn't require you to divulge, and verify, too much personal information. To set up, simply go to coinbase.com ,  or download the Coinbase app. Enter your First name, Last name, email, password, select your state, verify that you are not a robot, and agree to the 'terms and conditions'. Bam, that simple. *Update: they require more information including a photo ID Setting up a method of payment is quite easy, especially on the app. Once you add the card, and the card has been validated (which can take up to a few hours), then you can be a happy/unhappy Bitcoiner. I like coinbase for the simplicity, sleek design, a...

Advanced Micro Devices released Vega (not Frontier edition) today. It is sold out across the board on New Egg . Meanwhile, Ethereum's network hashrate has jumped up by 6 TH/s overnight. Currently at 86.7 TH/s Zcash's network hashrate seems to be climbing higher, but there is no way to be certain just yet. This is the second time this year that AMD has released a new GPU that has sold out the days of launch. The first was AMD's RX 570/580 which sold out very quickly at a price of ~$300. The new Vega GPUs have a starting price of $400 (Vega 56) and higher end of $699 (Vega 64). From what I have seen, these cards will do a great job mining for what you pay for them (around 35-45 MH/s). So if you are looking to buy, good luck. They will be sold out for a while. The RX 570/580, which was released around April 2017, is still impossible to get unless you are willing to pay double. Nvidia's GPUs are good for mining, but are generally too expensive. Miners have comp...

Bitcoin was highlighted on CNBC where the Bitcoin enthusiast set a target of 25,000 to 50,000 USD per coin, see it here BTC is trading around 3,575 USD and has had a steady ascent over the past week of 26% *BTC chart here BCH (Bitcoin Cash) seems to be continuing its wild ride, investers/traders still are uncertain of its future, as it has become another spinoff of Bitcoin. Current price is around .09 BTC. It is down 5% on the week, but up 12.8% on the day. It's intraday high peaked at .1 BTC *BCH chart here ETH (Ethereum) had a boost with other altcoins, which saw it peak at .094 BTC, since then it has had a pull back and is currently trading around .084 BTC or 300 USD. On the day it is down about 5% *ETH chart here ZEC (Zcash) had a nice little bump from ~.062 BTC ON 08.07, surged up to .075 BTC (08.08), but has erased almost all of its gains leaving it at a current level of .064 BTC *ZEC chart here LTC (Litecoin) although a one week chart has LTC down 13% against B...

Digital currencies see a light rally. At the time of writing this (08.08.17 3:45 pm PDT): ETH + 11% ZEC + 22% LTC + 6% BCH - 2.8% (Bitcoin Cash has had quite the roller coaster ride, trading between .06-.24 BTC) BTC surpassed its previous ATH of 3,000 USD on Aug 03, currently hovering around 3,400 USD and currently has a market cap of 56 Billion USD the real question is wether the bullish sentiment will hold. Also, there has been chatter of CBOE launching Bitcoin Derivatives (I'm rather psyched about this one) A question for the equities market is will this help boost AMD and NVDA shares since they produce GPUs that are great for mining. Also, I started using Kraken , and I love it. Data pulled from cryptowat.ch  and coinmarketcap.com

As I was skimming twitter  the other day, I came across an opinion (via  marketwatch ) piece that was critical of Bitcoin. The author pointed out some minor flaws; mainly with people's knowledge on bitcoin, especially among its fanboys/fangirls. I recently had the opportunity to meet with a fine gentleman, Jim Clawson, who has been involved with the idea behind cryptocurrencies for decades. In 1997 he was issued a patent that deals with the fundamental aspects of blockchain tech. With the knowledge I have attained on bitcoin's subject matter, it seem's that it is my obligation to respond to some things that opinion piece mentioned. 1. What is the purpose of Bitcoin? According to Bitcoin's White Pages , the purpose of Bitcoin is to provide peer-to-peer electronic cash or digital currency. This true digital currency would allow users to send payments directly from one party to the next with out being boggled down by the financial institutions, and their lengthly tr...

Cryptocurrencies will provide a missing piece in the global economy by providing a borderless currency. There is no currency that is accepted globally. If you take a US dollar to a different country, it is hard to use it at any given location. Instead, you need to swap them out for the local currency. As an individual, this can make traveling abroad a little painful; especially after paying currency exchange fees (not to mention having to carry around cash). This is also painful for global business as well. If a firm wants to send a payment outside their home market they need to go through a bank. Which then takes their home market's currency, exchanges it for the accepted currency in the other market, and then lets the payment process. This process can take days, and this is the most painless method of transferring payments. Payments through cryptocurrencies break the barrier, and remove the middle man. Firms can easily find where they need to send the payment, select how ...

Bitcoin Lets go over some of the basics about bitcoin. Cryptocurrency vs Altcoins . The only difference is that cryptocurrency covers all digital currency (Bitcoin and altcoins), while altcoins are alternatives to Bitcoin. Blockchain is a digital ledger where transactions for cryptocurrencies are publicly recorded. The blockchain is stored on nodes, that verify transactions. Bitcoin Mining  sounds intense, but only for the computer. When a computer is "mining" it is racing against other miners on the network to solve a mathematical equation and seal the current block. Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that can be bought, sold, traded, transferred (etc) digitally. The network for cryptocurrencies is virtually impossible to hack/manipulate since a dishonest group would have to take control of 51% of the network. The network is huge. Bitoin's network is in exohash sphere. Similar to precious metals, cryptocurrencies can be broken down into smalle...

There are copious amounts of websites that offer ways to exchange cryptos. A few that will be discussed are Coinbase, Bitstamp, Poloniex, Bittrex, Gatehub, and Bitfinex. These exchanges never close; so you can buy/sell anytime/any day. I also added Circle, just cause. *refer to end for abbreviation Coinbase Simple and clean user interface Buy and Sell BTC/ETH/LTC with local currency Instant credit card purchases, bank accounts take 3-5 days high fees Bitstamp.net Exchange BTC, XRP, USD or EUR 98% of digital funds stored offline If you want to try trading cryptos: Poloniex Exchange/Lending 2.5x leverage Chatbox (trollbox) which can be entertaining Two Factore Id *Sometimes Poloniex has issues, and their customer service seems inexistent  Kraken Offers 5x leverage trading tools *seems sluggish at times Bittrex Offers 190+ cryptos US Based (if you are into that, deals with US regulations Gatehub.net Trade multiple currencies...