Traders are expecting bitcoin to go higher. DeFi is surging in web traffic. And Cosmos is alive and well, despite internal feuding.
No cults
Cosmos, the blockchain interoperability project that turned a small ICO into a thriving ecosystem, almost came to an end in February 2020 when the projectâs co-founders engaged in a heated feud. It is now a testament to open-source collaboration and teamwork. âThe Cosmos community managed to mature beyond a cult of personality without turning founders into martyrs, working together to reduce individual influence over the shared resources,â says CoinDeskâs Leigh Cuen.
In line
The blockchain subsidiary of messaging app giant LINE has made its native token available to Japan-based traders for the first time. BitMax â operated by LINEâs LVC Corporation â has become the first crypto exchange in Japan to offer LINK (LN).
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Australian rules
Australiaâs National Rugby League (NRL) announced Monday it was piloting a blockchain-based app developed by the countryâs patent and intellectual property office. Called Smart Trademark, the platform allows the legal owners of a trademark to link online stores and their supply chains to a government registry, so they can distinguish themselves from counterfeit websites.
DeFi token YFI rises quickly following a listing on Binance (Decrypt)
Bitcoinâs market cap approaches $200 billion, putting its value on par with Netflix and AT&T (Decrypt)
DeFi sites are seeing a surge in web traffic (The Block)
Tuur Demeesterâs Adamant Capital fund closes quietly (The Block)
âBitcoin mania appears to be almost back in full bloom,â says Bloomberg.Â
CoinDesk reporters Sebastian Sinclair and Omkar Godbole have the latest:
Bitcoin is on the hunt for a new yearly high, having crossed above $12,000 early on Monday. The cryptocurrency picked up bids during the Asian trading hours, rising from $11,750 to $12,068, according to CoinDeskâs Bitcoin Price Index. A break above $12,118 looks likely, as bullish demand can be seen in the strong hourly volume that continues to rise with bitcoinâs hike in value. If bitcoin manages to surpass the $12,118 level, the next target would be the high of $12,325 reached early in August 2019. Crypto investment firm Three Arrows Capitalâs co-founder Kyle Davies said Ethereumâs decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem could be another catalyst bolstering bitcoinâs recent rally.
Bitcoinâs Stolen Revolution
âSystems of power are rapidly asserting control over Bitcoin. And their incentives are not your incentives,â says Evan Shapiro, CEO of O(1), the team behind the Coda Protocol. Bitcoin was supposed to be an open system owned by its users. Instead itâs increasingly orchestrated by middlemen and powerful mining interests, he argues. Â
Valuing Open-Source
Noelle Achesonâs Crypto Long & Short this week looks at how open-source networks create and donât create value. The upshot? Copying is easy and increasingly likely. But size and audience dictates whether projects will be successful ultimately. âYou can copy an open-source technology. But what gives a technology value is the community and network support from users,â she writes.
Decentralized Ready Next Time
Ben Goertzel, the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, a blockchain-based AI marketplace project, writes that COVID-19 has laid bare the need for decentralized technology. âDecentralized IT may now be, roughly, where internet tech was right after the dot-com crash. Although the speculative bubble popped, the tech built while it was inflating throughout the 90s laid the groundwork for the net-centric world we have today.â
Nathaniel Whittemoreâs Long Reads Sunday follows the latest big themes around crypto. This week: a look at how public markets these days are less about capital raising and more about narratives and liquidity for early investors.