Episode 187 - Binance in the US, Facebook's Libra, and more

FLAGSHIP 76 - 6/14/19

Brent is back on the show just in time to get hacked. Binance is coming to the US, but weren't they already there? Facebook announces more plans for the Libra and announces the help of some serious tech giants. Giants that gave them $10M of course. There's a lot more news to cover on this edition of the flagship.

• Rapid Fire

  r/CryptoCurrency - Uber, MasterCard, Visa and other big companies have reportedly signed on to Facebook's blockchain efforts

  https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-enlists-uber-mastercard-visa-back-cryptocurrency-2019-6?utm_source=reddit.com

  Uber, MasterCard, Stripe, Visa, and Booking.com have been persuaded to support it's new crypto.

  Binance Says It's Launching a US Exchange With FinCEN-Registered Partner - CoinDesk

  Binance is launching a US exchange with a FinCEN registered partner called BAM Trading Service

  Reuters & Bloomberg to add a Crypto Index to the terminal

  Reuters and Bloomberg will soon provide cryptocurrency data and will be able to access the top 100 performing cryptocurrencies. adoption of crypto indices into conventional trading terminals is definitely positive

• BULLISH OR BULLSHIT - Google will integrate Chainlink in their approach to smart contract adoption.

  • We always like to hear Google and Blockchain together, so what gives here
  • Quick version - they're using Chainlink as a Decentralized Oracle on an Ethereum Smart Contract.
  • They haven't implemented anything, just used it.
  • Quick explanation of an oracle.
  • Use cases google thinks this provides -
    • Prediction Markets
    • Hedging Against Blockchain Platform Risk
    • Enabling commit/reveals across Ethereum using submarine sends (huh?)
      • Basically this is a pseudo privacy option.
      • One of the things that happens on DEXs is that you can take advantage of the fact that transactions have to go on a blockchain in a certain order.
      • If you know an order was filled you can put in a bigger order later and it would get moved to the top, or even bump that order off.
      • Especially problematic during ICO releases.
  • I really like this quote
    • "The decentralized finance movement is rapidly gaining adoption due to its successful reinvention of the existing financial system in blockchain environments which, on a technical basis, are more trustworthy and transparent than current systems."

• Retail Giant Target Is Quietly Working on a Blockchain for Supply Chains

  -Target has been quiet regarding blockchain. In 2016 they hired Aarthi Srinivasan as director of product management for machine learning and blockchain. So clearly they are being secretive about what they are doing.

  Target has pledged to support IBM's Hyperledger Grid which is a supply chain framework.

  They are currently seeking a blockchain engineer and a systems developer on their career page.

  incorporating identity verification tech

  "investing in supply chain improvements"

• BULLISH OR BULLSHIT - A Bank in Liechtenstein Grew its Traffic by 900% by Selling Currencies

  • Lets first talk about Liechtenstein -
    • It's a German Speaking country that's between Austria and Switzerland
    • Takes up a total area of 61.78 Square Miles and has 37,000 people. That's about 1/20th the size of Rhode Island.
    • They have a lot of castles.
    • One of the highest GDPs per person in the world.
    • They're a member of the UN
    • They use the Swiss Franc
  • So the company's name is "Bank Frick"
  • march of last year they started offering crypto for professional traders and financial consultant customers
    • BTC, BCH, ETH, XRP, LTC, ETC, NEM, QTUM, and XLM
    • They can only make one transaction per day
    • They hold all reserves in cold storage.
    • They're even creating a subsidiary that will allow trading called DLT Markets
    • So here's the 900% part - They basically had more website visits. They went from 120 impressions on their website to 1250/month at their peak.
• Coinmarketcap Launches Data Accountability and Transparency alliance - DATA
  • Remember Bitcoin2 from last week? Basically they were on 2 super shitty exchanges and had some fake volume and popped up into the top 100 of CMC.
  • This probably isn't a direct response, but should be a step in mitigating that problem on CMC in the future. So far the following have joined -
    • Binance, Bittrex, Liquid, IDEX, OKEX, Huobi, HitBTC, Upbit, Kucoin, Bitfinex, OceanEX, bithumb, Bancor, Gate.io, Bibox, Hacken, Exmo, Coinfloor, Bitrue, Switcheo, Midas protocol, Crypto Briefing, Flipside Crypto.
  • They want to use a standard API across all platforms - CoinMarket Cap's of course.
  • Twice yearly round table on suggested updates to transparency policy.
  • Funding for proof of concept prototypes.
  • That's all we know, but I think this is a result of competition.
  • OnChainFX has been doing something similar with a really much better source of people to be a part of it.