Ep. 40 Bitcoin2019: In Review

In this episode of The Unhashed Podcast: 

I was in SF for Bitcoin2019. What scammy ICO do you think i went off on hardest? The Bank of International Settlements has predicted that many central banks may soon issue their own digital currencies (as if their currencies aren’t mostly already digital). Will this change of perspective be a good thing for Bitcoin? And...a new survey of the Bitcoin blockchain from Delphi Digital has revealed that the vast majority of bitcoin dumpers have only been hodling for 3-6 months? What does this mean for volatility going forward and will long term hodlers remain hodlers themselves?

Corrections to last week:

  1. Oreos are worth it without milk

  2. Ruben referred to Libra as a basket of stablecoins, but I think its more accurate to say “It’s a stable coin that is stabled to a basket of fiat currencies” 

Weekly News Wrap Up:

  1. Colin went to Bitcoin2019 in San Francisco - here are his thoughts and questions:

    1. SF is a total dump

    2. Bitcoin2019 gives MCC a run for its money

    3. Are conferences actually starting to get better in the same way we are seeing meetup groups clean up their act?

    4. Blox.io is an unabashed group of scam artists (with probably pretty decent software)

    5. Does all this point to an unrevivable dying ICO scene?

  2. In a recent interview with CNBC Crypto Trader, Max Keiser, American broadcaster and known bitcoin bull, suggested that the cryptocurrency market rally will not include altcoins. Keiser said that with the development of the cryptocurrency space and adoption of Segregated Witness (Segwit) and the Lightning protocol, people began to better understand the store of value bitcoin offers, as well as scaling that would happen off chain. This, per Keiser, made crypto owners move their funds back into “the most secure chain [bitcoin].” Keiser further projected that altcoins are going to pennies or even out of existence, because “all that cash is going to flow into bitcoin.” He reasoned that with bitcoin’s market current dominance 60% — which Keiser purports could go to 80%–90% — “the altcoin phenomenon is finished,” he stated.

    1. Only bring this up to discuss max coin which I learned about during conference when I think Dan Held brought it up unknowingly and everyone laughed. 

  3. In topic near to Ruben, the Kimchi Premium is back.  The difference between the Bitcoin price on Bitthumb, one of Korea’s top exchanges, and Coinbase hit over $1000.  While this isn’t the $7000 the premium hit back in February 2018, it does imply that demand for Bitcoin is stirring in Korea.   

  4. Bitcoin Magazine reported that state media in the Islamic Republic of Iran has claimed that the local government has seized more than 1,000 bitcoin mining devices from two separate factories. There has been a large amount of interest in Bitcoin among Iranians, particularly following U.S. sanctions restricting the nation’s access to the world economy. Ziya Sadr, an Iranian bitcoiner and Lightning Torch holder, has called the technology “a safe haven.”

    Nevertheless, Iranian cryptocurrency adoption has suffered a variety of setbacks in 2019. Not only has LocalBitcoins shut down all operations in the country for fear of unintentionally violating the U.S. sanctions, but the government has issued a stern warning to bitcoin miners in the country. The Iranian state subsidizes energy use to allow its citizens to enjoy a higher standard of living. However, potential bitcoin miners were told that the state would not look favorably upon the use of this cheap energy for bitcoin mining. 

    1. Libertarian types and economists generally frown upon sanctions, but in this case, are they actually a boon to Bitcoin?

  5. Agustín Carstens, Chief of the Bank of International Settlements, or as some call it, the Central Banks’ Bank, has stated that some Central Banks may begin to issue digital currencies. “The BIS is supporting global central banks’ efforts to research and develop digital currencies based on national fiat currencies.  A number of central banks are engaged in such work and “we are working on it, supporting them,” Again, from Carstens, “[I]t might be that it is sooner than we think that there is a market and we need to be able to provide central bank digital currencies.”

  6. Arthur Hayes, BitMEX's co-founder and CEO, posted a tweet revealing that the exchange has seen over $1 trillion in trading volume over the past year and over $7 billion in trading volume over a recent 24-hour period. The tweet from Hayes was not only a bid to share numbers with the cryptosphere, but also to silence NYU Economist and longtime crypto-slanderer, Nouriel Roubini, who recently questioned, “How can one believe ANY of these figures when 95 percent of all bitcoin transactions on a typical exchange are fake? Fake-coins, shit-coins, fake-transactions, fake-pricing. The only true thing in crypto space is manipulation, pump n dump, front-running, wash trading, etc…”

  7. The price of Bitcoin has risen over 220 percent since January — but long-term holders are keeping their cool. Instead, Bitcoin‘s stellar second quarter actually attracted a steady stream of new sellers to the market, reports independent research firm Delphi Digital. “The active portion of [Bitcoin] supply, which we categorize as the coins that have moved within the last three months, is beginning to slightly increase,” said Delphi Digital. “The new sellers are actually mostly individuals who’ve been holding for three-to-six months.” 21.5 percent of circulating Bitcoin hasn’t moved in five years.

    Delphi Digital determines how long Bitcoin has been held by sorting its UTXO data. The length of time an amount of Bitcoin stays put is referred to as its “UTXO age.” The cumulative UTXO age of all the Bitcoins tells us how long the overall market has been holding. Bitcoin‘s UTXO age rises as holders refuse to sell, and it falls as more of its circulating supply is used regularly. According to Delphi Digital’s analysis, 60 percent of Bitcoin‘s circulating supply hasn’t moved in at least a year.

Price Analysis:

Number go down?


Shout Outs: 

Colin: Edward Snowden speech at Bitcoin2019

Bryan:  @laurelchor HK twitter list

Ruben: bitcoin-resources.com

One Final Note:

Make sure you are storing your crypto on something secure like a Ledger and backing it up on something sturdy like a Billfodl. If you buy these items through the links above, we do take a cut of the profits but it also helps support the show - a win/win for all involved.


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Colin aulds