1confirmation Newsletter - Issue #62
Facebook's cryptocurrency initiative was announced on June 18th, and this week Facebook exec David Marcus testified in front of Senate about it. The speed at which Facebook's Libra got on the radar of every US regulator was remarkable.
While the sentiment from government officials has been mixed, what's been most interesting to us is regulators seem to be more concerned about the fact that Facebook is behind it rather than that it's a cryptocurrency. There's been thoughtful dialogue about the different characteristics different cryptocurrencies hold among many regulators, which bodes well for the future of our industry.
Required reading this week
Crypto Mining 101 - Overview & Landscape of the Mining Industry — www.chrismccann.com
Chris McCann looks at the dynamics of the Bitcoin and greater crypto mining ecosystem, including a map of companies that make up the mining ecosystem and a breakdown of the revenue generated by miners across various blockchains.
Pathways for DeFi on Bitcoin — medium.com
Mohamed Fouda explores different technical approaches for building DeFi products on Bitcoin, such as cross-chain swaps, federated sidechains, wrapped BTC, and Cosmos zones.
An Overview of Relevant Metrics in Web 3.0 — medium.com
Max Mersch provides a high level overview of metrics to track in Web 3.0 networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and MakerDAO.
The differences between Bitcoin and Libra should matter to policymakers — coincenter.org
Peter van Valkenburgh from Coin Center explains how Bitcoin and Libra have different design goals, work in different ways, and raise different regulatory questions.
BetterHash: Decentralizing Bitcoin Mining With New Hashing Protocols — medium.com
StopAndDecrypt describes an alternative mining protocol in development that reduces the power Bitcoin mining pool operators have over individual miners.
1confirmation portfolio reading this week
Bitcoin Cash Miner Test — Results — medium.com
bloXroute partnered with the largest mining pools in BTC and BCH to test the blockchain distribution network in conditions that closely mirror the real world. The full results of the Bitcoin Cash Miner Test are now published.
Lessons Learned from Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s Programming Models — hackernoon.com
Toya explains how the Nervos cell model combines the advantages of the Bitcoin UTXO and Ethereum account models.
Alex Evans introduces a ratings-based model to evaluate credit risk for MakerDAO lending.
Utilizing Margin and Leverage on dYdX — medium.com
dYdX explains how to effectively use margin and leverage through isolated and cross trading on dYdX.
A Walkthrough of Polkadot’s Governance — medium.com
Polkadot institutes a cutting-edge governance model designed to achieve a healthy network that adapts to its users' needs. Learn about governance participants, referenda, voting mechanism, and what's to come.