The Reserve

27 November 2017 | SUBSCRIBE

// TETHER TROUBLES

Whilst Tether has struggled to prove it has fiat safely stored for every issued Tether, we can now know one thing with certainty: it has $31m less Tether after suffering an attack this week. 

Interestingly, Tether was transparent and forthcoming about the issue - interesting because, the potential fraud and malpractice surrounding Tether is perhaps the most common concern I hear. There is wrife speculation the founders have - amongst other things - simply used it as a license to print money, issuing Tether as they please.

Efforts to validate the corresponding USD holdings have been less than ideal - how hard is it to get an auditor to validate you truly have access to distribute a certain amount of USD? Very, actually, when you are having your banking services withdrawn.

It highlights two issues: despite the transparent nature of some blockchains, there is a distinct lack of transparency in how the organisations issuing tokens are run and leveraging their cash stockpiles - far less transparency than traditional venture backers might expect for investing in early stage companies. 

Second, if Tether is acting in good faith - which, there is certainly not indubitable proof that it isn’t - then, it is merely a good example of just how dependent crypto is on the real world to do, say, simple things like store money.

// MUST READS

• A report by the Cardozo project highlights that not everyone thinks the SAFT is safe.
• Issues at Bitcoin Gold (if you hold bitcoin, you probably hold bitcoin gold).
• More detail on Ethereum 2.0 in video and words. 

// PRICING SUMMARY

// DISASTER OF THE WEEK

Tether suffered a cyber attack in which $31 million was stolen</a>, and created a temporary hard fork in an attempt to isolate the funds. Although the platform has been able to identify the hacker address and is working on preventing that the<a href="http://dmanalytics2.com/click?u=https$160m currently ‘locked up’ from the Parity hack 3 weeks ago. 

// TRACTION

• Stanford University’s cryptography group are proposing ‘bulletproofs’ for to reduce blocksizes. 
• Tobam launches Europe’s first bitcoin mutual fund. (In the FT, or bitcoin news).
• Goldman Sachs backed blockchain solution successfully tracks equity swaps for 6 months with 100% success.
• Approval of US Defence Bill would give departments the right to invest at will in blockchain (or other) technologies.
• Blockchain energy pilot receives $8m in grants from Australian government.
• A listed Chinese company is turning to a token issuance to fund its next casino.
• Blockchain-based smart contracts system tested by the State Bank of India.

// ROAD TO REGULATION

• Morocco will join the list of countries that have banned ICOs.
• The Philippines moves one step closer to classifying digital currencies as securities, subject to the Philippines’ Securities Regulation Code.

// ICOS

Last week highlights:

• Trade raised $10m for a blockchain trading platform.
• Utrust raised $21m for a payment platform that allows merchant to accept crypto transactions but receive fiat.

Upcoming:

• Bankera - November 27, 2017 - Regulated bank for the blockchain era.
• Mytracknet - November 28, 2017 - Global lost and found network using blockchain technology to incentivise participants for their contribution.
• Bitdegree - December 1, 2017 - Blockchain-powered online education platform with token scholarships & tech talent acquisition.

// OTHER

Bitcoin cash sent to regular bitcoin wallet addresses is beginning to be recovered. STARKS: Thank goodness it’s FRI-day by Vitalik Buterin. Delivering Liberty, at Scale. Using blockchain for biomedical research, healthcare and surfacing the value of health data.

// EVENTS

Blockchain Summit - London, UK - November 28, 2017

ICO Event Amsterdam - Amsterdam, NL - November 29, 2017

Blockshow Asia 2017 - Singapore, SG - November 29-30, 2017

Blockchain Expo: North America - Santa Clara, U.S.A - November 29-30, 2017

Cryptocurrency World Expo - Warsaw, PL - December 1-2, 2017

World Blockchain Forum: Investments & ICOs - Dubai, UAE - December 3-4, 2017

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