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| What you need to know today in crypto and beyond April 9, 2021 Sponsored By: If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.
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Today's must-reads Top Shelf CBDC CONSENSUS? A Bank of Japan (BOJ) official said a set of common rules for central bank digital currencies could provide more efficient cross-border payments – making up for shortfalls in the existing global financial infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia’s central bank presented a new concept for the digital ruble using distributed ledger technology.
DECENTRALIZED EXCHANGE: Coinbase has joined the DeFi Alliance, a group that provides mentorship and funding for early-stage tech teams working in the $49 billion decentralized finance sector, which could make centralized exchanges obsolete. Separately, CipherTrace unveiled a new regulatory compliance tool aimed at notoriously nimble decentralized exchanges (DEXs). STIMMIES STYMIED: Evidence shows fewer retail players are using their $1,400 “stimmy” checks to buy cryptos. Early rounds of coronavirus-related financial stimulus in the U.S. provided something of a “bitcoin stimulus,” which hasn’t recurred.
– Daniel Kuhn
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Overheard on CoinDesk TV Sound Bite "The energy grid doesn't differentiate between one electron and another. An electron is an electron is an electron. In the same manner, the Bitcoin network and other public blockchains don't distinguish between one token and another."
– CoinShares’ Meltem Demirors, whose firm recently joined the Crypto Climate Accord with Ripple and ConsenSys to expand the use of renewable energy across the crypto industry, on CoinDesk TV's "First Mover."
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A message from CoinDesk CoinDesk's Quarterly Review Webinar Series The suits are here to stay, but retail isn’t going away. While Q1 saw the emergence of retail investors as a market driver, crypto caught explosive interest through non-fungible tokens from investors, celebrities and the general public.
Every Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET, crypto analysts Noelle Acheson and Christine Kim will discuss the performance and milestones of bitcoin and ether compared to macro and other crypto assets, along with important developments in the emerging DeFi and NFT sectors.
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Sign up for CoinDesk's Quarterly Review Webinar Series, every Monday from April 12.
What others are writing... Off-Chain Signals Bitcoin is displacing gold as an inflation hedge (Bloomberg Opinion) Bitmain is suing MicroBT over a bitcoin mining hardware IP dispute – again (The Block) SEC’s Hester Peirce says a government ban on BTC would be “foolish” (MarketWatch, Decrypt) Arthur Hayes’ surrender starts countdown ’til court hears the coconut quote (Protos)– D.K.
Investor Momentum to NFT Boom: CoinDesk Research's Quarterly Review Introducing CoinDesk Research's quarterly review, covering the main developments over the first three months of 2021 in Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, stablecoins and – of course – NFTs.
The report presents over 100 insights on how retail investors are picking up market momentum, how Ethereum activity is not being driven by NFTs as much as one might think, how stablecoins have responded to increased activity, how DeFi is for now the realm of decentralized exchanges and more.
Download the CoinDesk Quarterly Review, First Quarter 2021.
Putting the news in perspective The Takeaway
How to Talk Bitcoin Last week, noted freedom-fighter and Bitcoin evangelist Alex Gladstein tweeted that a recently published article in Wired UK threatened to set back the bitcoin cause, by working in a well-worn and, what he says, largely-overdone genre: bitcoin crime stories.
The article, “The bitcoin terrorists of Idlib are learning new tricks,” written by CoinDesk alumna Rachel-Rose O’Leary, examined how Syria-based jihadi are using encrypted tools like cryptocurrencies and Telegram to further their cause. This isn’t a new trend. What’s different is, with increased surveillance of their operations, there’s less open discussion about crypto among terrorists. They’re going further underground.
Bitcoin’s strength comes from being an open-access tool. Anyone, anywhere can transfer BTC to anyone, anywhere. Its emergence was a revolutionary moment in the history of money. It prevents governments and private companies from meddling in the basic human need to transact. Humanitarians, laypeople and criminals alike benefit.
“Bitcoin's non-discriminatory nature should be celebrated,” Gladstein said. His main issue with the article, primarily its headline, is that by focusing on the criminal application of Bitcoin, Wired is providing yet another reason for governments to attempt to stymie adoption.
Gladstein’ criticism is context-dependent. Of the 18 articles Wired UK has published on Bitcoin, almost all – except for a glowing profile of the Winklevii Twins – were “negative,” by his reckoning. This is all the more relevant given, “the significant history of using terrorism as a pretext for cracking down on civil liberties.” Just recently, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen called the illicit use of cryptocurrencies a “growing problem.”
All this may be true, but it may miss the larger story of what Bitcoin means for the world. It also over-emphasizes the power of the media to shape reality in the year 2021, especially the reality about bitcoin, which famously doesn't care what people think it is or isn't.
In a phone call yesterday, Gladstein made reference to a media establishment that largely ignores how Bitcoin is being used as a means of emancipation by those who were born under the yoke of authoritarianism. There is a clear anti-Bitcoin bias in the mainstream press, he said.
I am doubtful that an article, or even the entire media establishment, could harm Bitcoin adoption. The media is simultaneously over- and- undervalued. Overvalued, precisely because of the control some think it exerts in influencing – rather than simply reflecting – public opinion. Undervalued because, well, the collapse of the industry speaks for itself.
The first time I heard about bitcoin on Reddit I thought it was cool, downloaded the source code to mine some, never did and then forgot about it. The first time I bought bitcoin was to purchase a grey-area good on the clearnet. When my unspent UTXOs started raising in value, I took a closer look. It wasn’t until I read an article in New York Times Magazine that I fully understood what was going on.
I’d wager there are many adoption stories like mine. As Gladstein noted, the majority of Bitcoin’s users “aren’t on Twitter,” even fewer read Wired. Adoption comes from utility. People stay either because they can make money, or they become ideologically aligned. From Turkey to Morocco, across Latin America, Asia and Africa, real people are finding value in crypto. These stories are told in numerous publications.
The same attributes that make Bitcoin a tool for fostering self-reliance also provide a boon for criminals and despots. North Korea has a sanctions-busting crypto stockpile. And, yes, Al Qaeda, ISIS and Hamas have taken advantage of direct, unstoppable and irreversible payments. There must be a reason why “RC” sites offer discounts on purchases made through cryptocurrency.
O’Leary noted in her article that only a small fraction of crypto payments are for criminal activity, citing Chainalysis research. But the criminals are here, and to say otherwise is to obfuscate the power of Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin doesn’t care what you write about it, Bitcoin is unstoppable,” Gladstein said. “[Negative articles] damage people’s ability to use it, it scares them away – whether they are in advanced economies or in places like Syria.”
It’s possible that when Bitcoin was young, less-known and less-accepted these negative portrayals might have sunk the project. Satoshi thought WikiLeaks would draw regulatory attention. But now, Bitcoin has a patina of respectability. Publicly-traded firms are buying it, insurance companies are betting on it and some of the most influential people are singing its praises.
As much as external criticism won’t bring the network down, there is an internal series of conflicts among Bitcoiners that could harm it. Gatekeepers, so-called “maximalists” and those that chill criticism have done their damage. I know smart people who turn away from BTC after being dragged on Twitter.
If greater adoption is the aim, then we might tell the truth about what that world would look like. "Uncensorability" means more freedom and terror. That's the point.
That may not be a world people want to live in. O’Leary showed, to some extent, that world is already here.
– D.K.
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