1 bitcoin = $9,264
Market Cap = $157 billion
bitcoin in Business
If your business doesn’t invest a portion of its cash flow into bitcoin you are likely to lose to the competitors that do. –
bitcoin Price
March 2010 = $0.05
March 2011 = $0.80
March 2012 = $5
March 2013 = $42
March 2014 = $526
March 2015 = $288
March 2016 = $413
March 2017 = $1,140
March 2018 = $9,264
bitcoin CASH
1 bitcoin Cash = $1,071
Market Cap = $18 billion
bitcoin Cash Price
Today bitcoin Cash is worth what BTC was worth this time last year. –
bitcoin Cash Payments Rolled Out to All Bitpay Merchants
MINING
First 12nm bitcoin Mining ASIC Developed by GMO
This was just to verify feasibility of the chip, as they now plan to shrink to 7nm in the “first half of 2018”. They intend to mine for themselves and not distribute the chip.
GMO is already mining at 108 PH/s (equivalent to 8000 S9 units, 11 megawatts):
Presumably they currently mine with commercially available miners, since their 7nm ASIC is still not available. –
Egyptian Government May be Hijacking Citizens’ Computers to Secretly Mine Monero
The Egyptian government, or entities linked to it, has hijacked local internet users’ connections to secretly mine cryptocurrency “en masse,” according to a by security researchers at the University of Toronto.
Evidence of this type of intrusion by a nation-state is “the stuff of legends,” the researchers say, because the techniques involved are especially difficult to detect.
Researchers at the university’s Citizen Lab identified a scheme they call “AdHose” that secretly redirects Egyptian internet users’ web traffic to malware that used their computers to mine the Monero cryptocurrency or display ads. AdHose relies on hardware installed within the networks of Telecom Egypt.
The hardware used to implement AdHose also doubles up as a censorship tool. It blocks access to news outlets like Al Jazeera and NGOs like Human Rights Watch. Citizen Lab found similar schemes in Turkey and Syria, although instead of crypto-mining or ads, users were served with spyware when they thought they were downloading legitimate anti-virus programs. –
CRYPTO ASSETS
Market Cap = $378 billion
Kakao to Integrate Cryptocurrency For Millions of Users
Kakao, largest messaging app/search engine in Korea, expected to
(1) adopt cryptocurrency payments in 12,000+ merchants in Korea via its Kakaopay app.
(2) allow as payment means for apps within Kakao ecosystem e.g. kakao-taxi (NB-we don’t have uber).
3. Will issues its own Kakao-coin but as ICOs are banned in Korea, these will rather serve as mileage/points that individuals can collect for future use.
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Bithumb Launching Kiosks for Crypto Payments in Korea
In South Korea, ordering food using kiosks is popular. Korean crypto exchange Bithumb is entering the retail kiosk business to accelerate crypto adoption in the country.
Bithumb partnered with several kiosk manufacturers including Unos Pay, Tros Systems, and I’m U “to supply kiosks optimized for small businesses that operate food and beverage franchises, small restaurants, and cafes”. Cryptocurrency will be among the payment options.
The exchange plans to charge a rental fee that is 10% below the industry rate.
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Privacy Coins
PSA: Dash is not a “privacy focused cryptocurrency”. It *used to* be called “Darkcoin” but changed name to *defocus* (cuz weak privacy tech).
I think Monero & ZCash are both strong (but totally different) approaches with their own pros and cons. Nothing else comes to mind. –
Blockstack
Judged the Berlin hackathon today, impressive how much can be built in a weekend. Favorite teams were a DEX for blockstack domains, and a privacy-centric instagram (“blockstagram”) for maintaining autonomy over data and access control.
Many teams still built on Ethereum (familiarity), but was refreshing to see quite a few experiments with blockstack. –
COMPANIES / PROJECTS / PRODUCTS
Kizoo Ventures
Even the healthiest of lifestyles will not prevent the diseases of aging from manifesting sooner or later; to do so, it will be necessary to repair the damage the body causes to itself as a side effect of its normal operation—in other words, to make use of rejuvenation biotechnologies.
To make sure these technologies will be available sooner rather than later, Michael Greve’s provides mentoring, seed, and early-stage financing for startups that focus on rejuvenation biotech.
Up to now, Kizoo has funded , Ichor Therapeutics’ , and , among others.
Furthermore, in 2016, the Forever Healthy Foundation [also founded by Michael Greve] $5 million specifically to , while seed investments for at least $5 million were committed by Kizoo for startups eventually spinning off that very research. –
PLACES
Freedom Index: A Tool for Identifying the Most Free Country in the World
Compare different territories & relative dominant mafias under the profile of freedoms & rights
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Cryptocurrency Booming In Liechtenstein
The traditional state as a monopoly enterprise not only is an inefficient enterprise with a poor price-performance ratio, but even more importantly, becomes more of a danger for humanity the longer it exists.
The state has to become a service company which competes peacefully, and not a monopoly which gives the customer only the alternative either to accept a bad service at the highest price, or to emigrate.
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The princely family runs an Austrian Economics Think Tank called the ECAEF, and every year they hold an essay contest called the Vernon Smith Prize for the Advancement of Austrian Economics. –
With a population of 40,000 and only a single hospital, Liechtenstein is smaller than small, but a low tax rate over the years has made it a hub for financial services – part of the reason it’s now home to more registered businesses than citizens.
Now nestled between the Swiss Alps and Austria, Liechtenstein’s Crown Prince Alois has been sending signals to the cryptocurrency community that his family’s principality of Liechtenstein is the place to bring their businesses.
In 2013 Yanislav Malahov was in the creation of Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin. Today he’s building a new blockchain called Aeternity, which he believes will be more scalable and offer lower costs for smart contracts than anything that’s come before.
Malahov had a chance encounter with one of the Princes of Liechtenstein at a conference in 2016 who told him of the principality’s warmth to cryptocurrencies. Fast-forward two years and, after meeting with local regulators and tax authorities, Malahov decided there was only one place to launch his new startup.
Liechtenstein’s banks are still handling crypto investments on behalf of their clients, and even offering advice on initial coin offerings,
“They’re not putting any financial incentives in place, but they’re making it really easy to incorporate a cryptocurrency business,” he says.
You can open a company without a bank account, just by using bitcoin or Ethereum.
Crown Prince Alois last month even implied that his royal family could soon , and he’s made mention of diversifying his family’s assets into digital tokens.
Alois’s overt support is already having an impact on the ground. Monthly blockchain meetups in the capital of Vaduz now draw hundreds of attendees, from newly-founded crypto startups like Chainium and Vimana – not bad for a country of Liechtenstein’s size.
Malahov believes the future of blockchain businesses in Liechtenstein is bright, he’s even developing a co-working space.
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Vietnam’s Wealth Growth Is the Fastest in the World
The country’s emergence as a manufacturing hub has led it to the top of the countries ranked by wealth growth.
Vietnam’s economy , the best in a decade. The World Bank as “remarkable.”
A Wealth Report by the independent UK real estate consultancy Knight Frank cited low labor costs and a highly specialized workforce as factors leading the country to the top of the Southeast Asian supply chains and thus inviting in a tremendous amount of foreign direct investment. –
UNBOUNDED PROGRESS
Google Announces 72 Qubit Quantum Computer
“We are cautiously optimistic that quantum supremacy can be achieved”
The goal of the is to build a quantum computer that can be used to solve real-world problems.
Our strategy is to explore near-term applications using systems that are forward compatible to a large-scale universal error-corrected quantum computer. In order for a quantum processor to be able to run algorithms beyond the scope of classical simulations, it requires not only a large number of qubits. Crucially, the processor must also have low error rates on readout and logical operations, such as single and two-qubit gates.
Bristlecone is our new quantum processor. The purpose of this gate-based superconducting system is to provide a testbed for research into system error rates and scalability of , as well as applications in quantum , , and
We chose a device of this size to be able to demonstrate in the future, investigate first and second order error-correction using the , and to facilitate quantum algorithm development on actual hardware.
A Bristlecone chip being installed by Research Scientist Marissa Giustina at the Quantum AI Lab in Santa Barbara
If a quantum processor can be operated with low enough error, it would be able to outperform a classical supercomputer on a well-defined computer science problem, an achievement known as .
Although no one has achieved this goal yet, we calculate quantum supremacy can be comfortably demonstrated with 49 qubits, a circuit depth exceeding 40, and a two-qubit error below 0.5%. We believe the experimental demonstration of a quantum processor outperforming a supercomputer would be a watershed moment for our field, and remains one of our key objectives.
We are cautiously optimistic that quantum supremacy can be achieved with Bristlecone, and feel that learning to build and operate devices at this level of performance is an exciting challenge! We look forward to sharing the results and allowing collaborators to run experiments in the future. –
Longevity Strategy (Aside From Healthy Eating, Exercising, and Avoiding Bad Habits)
On one hand, there are the other significant aspects of primary prevention, such as a proper circadian rhythm and limiting blue light exposure, stress management and meditation, getting rid of toxins and heavy metals, high-end supplementation (both oral and IV), intermittent fasting and a cyclic fast mimicking diet.
Additionally, I am continuously applying the latest findings in functional medicine and genetics to monitor and counter my low-level biochemical imbalances and potential risk factors for age-related diseases.
The other two pillars of my personal longevity strategy are regularly using the best possible early detection and applying the most promising, albeit still limited, rejuvenation therapies and geroprotectors available today, such as hormone replacement, de-calcification, metformin, deprenyl, berberine and mitochondrial target Q10.
For the near future, I am closely following the latest developments and ongoing trials in rapamycin, NAD+, and young plasma exosomes.
For those interested, we have documented this holistic approach on our website.
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