It’s hard to describe history when you’re making it.

That’s what my co-author Evan Karnoupakis and I discovered when we started writing our new report, STATE OF BLOCKCHAIN, which is now available as a free download.

You probably know O’Reilly Media, the publishing company that does all the programming books with animals on the cover. My trusty copy of Learning Perl (with a camel) is well-worn from all the times I’ve referenced it over the years.

So, it was kind of a dream come true when O’Reilly approached us about writing a new report on the state of blockchain. What they wanted was a snapshot of the blockchain industry in 2019: a fun, readable summary of the most important people, projects, and players.

This was no easy task. It’s hard enough to describe blockchain, much less make sense of the confusing whirlwind of companies, investors, speculators, regulators, and developers that are building this industry. We were reporting on history while soaking in it.

We were telling the first stories of the first settlers, drawing new maps for a New World. It was a daunting task, but we are so proud of the result, which you can download here.

Executive Summary: We roll up the entire report into a few tight pages, perfect for busy executives with the attention span of fruit flies.

Blockchain in the Economy: Our first controversial premise is that bitcoin is the most successful use case of blockchain to date, and we explain what this means for the global economy.

Blockchain in the Enterprise: We threw out every white paper and blue-sky idea, and focused only on real companies using blockchain for real applications: hype-free snapshots of real blockchain products.

How to Prepare: We outlined practical tips on how ordinary folks can prepare for the next wave of blockchain -- things you can do now.

Eye Candy: We packed the report with easy-to-understand diagrams, charts, and photos. It’s written for an age of scanning, scrolling, and swiping.

We’re building a library of great educational materials around blockchain, in conjunction with some of the top publishers in the world.

Download the new report, but stay tuned. We’re still making history.

There are hundreds of exchanges where you can trade digital assets. In some cases, you're forced to use a certain exchange if your asset isn't widely listed. Most leading assets, however, trade on a number of different trading platforms. It has been reported that decentralized exchanges are preferred because they have better fund security, but centralized exchanges get plenty of business since more traditional investors trust them. Also of consideration are CFD brokers, which are preferred by those just looking to make quick profits from trading the various digital assets. So tell us...

What is your preferred digital asset trading platform?

This week's survey.

Cryptocurrency trading didn’t even exist a decade ago, but now it has become one of the favored markets for those who love the adrenaline rush brought on by high-risk, high-reward trading. As is the case with any type of trading there’s no guarantee of profits with crypto trading, but you can help make them more likely by developing and following a cryptocurrency trading strategy. This guide gives you 4 time-proven strategies.

Bitcoin Market Journal has analysed the expected returns of operating a masternode and compared them with expected staking rewards of leading PoS coins to provide insight into which type of digital asset investment method is potentially more lucrative. You can find the results of our comparative analysis in this article, which will help you decide which route might be best for you.

While most investors use digital asset exchanges to buy and sell bitcoin, there is also another market where digital assets are traded. It is called the over-the-counter (OTC) market. This piece will explain what OTC desks are, how they work, and why they play such an important role for large investors in the digital asset markets.

Bitcoin lost over $500 in a few minutes on Wednesday, and apparently, institutional investors went crazy. On Bakkt, trading volume for its Bitcoin monthly futures almost hit 350 BTC for the day. This is a record since the previous daily all-time high was 224 BTC, reached on October 9. In contrast, on Tuesday the trading volume on Bakkt was 85 BTC, which was also up 77% from Monday.

Basic Attention Token is the 28th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $336 million. Apart from Chainlink, BAT is the strongest performing cryptocurrency out of the top 30 ranked projects after rising by a total of 33% over the past month. This price increase comes at the same time the entire market is collapsing. It seems that BAT is battling against the overall trend after surging by a total of 24% over the past 2 weeks alone. 

Bitcoin has been dubbed "digital gold" because the cryptocurrency shares many similar attributes with the precious metal. However, a recent situation involving a forgery crisis in the gold industry shows how one important aspect of Bitcoin gives it an enormous advantage over its physical gold counterpart, and could drive more investors seeking a safe-haven or store of value into the leading digital currency.