Blockchain & Crypto Week In Review, Issue #7 (23.02.19)
Welcome to our Ferrum Network media digest. Here we will provide you with regular updates on developments from the blockchain & cryptocurrency sphere.
Here is a rundown of the last week, but first a quick note from our COO:
Hello Ferrum Network Community,
Happy Friday! Lots of exciting news came out this week as we see more mainstream and institutional adoption and (hopefully) a shift in market sentiment. But the story I want to discuss involves one of our main focuses: users.
Turns out most dApps have basically no users. Seems the “if we build it they will come” mantra was utter nonsense. And of course it was! Simply building something derivative and “putting it on the blockchain” was never going to work. Turns out the majority of people don’t really care if something is decentralized, they just want their products to be faster, cheaper and better.
In the real world, a successful product must solve a problem and add value to people’s lives. At Ferrum Network, we’ve been focusing on building such products from day one, from a decentralized crypto wallet with features to prevent accidental loss and execute risk-free OTC trades, to a DEX with innovations like AI driven market predictions.
But the product with the power to improve millions of lives is our fiat-to-crypto exchange + mobile payments app for emerging markets. For the first time, the people of Nigeria country will be able to access U.S. Dollar stability and send fiat currency instantly peer-to-peer, all through an app. By allowing people to de-risk from the instability of their local currency, and send money around faster and cheaper than ever before, we’re on a mission to add improve people’s lives.
If more blockchain companies start to solve real-world problems and focus on users, then together we can make the crypto revolution global.
Until next week.
Yours truly,
-Ian
Trending this week:
The SEC Is Now Reviewing 2 Bitcoin ETF Proposals: For the first time since August, there are now multiple bitcoin exchange-traded fund proposals sitting before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The VanEck/SolidX proposal filed with Cboe BZX Exchange has now appeared in Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register, officially kicking off the 45-day clock to an initial decision. It joins another bitcoin ETF proposal filed by Bitwise Asset Management with NYSE Arca, which was published in the register last week. Read more.
Low To No Adoption of ETH dApps: Ethereum has 40 times more developers than its closest peer but 86 percent of ETH DApps had zero users on FEB 11, 2019–and 93 percent had no transactions. Much of the Ethereum community shrugs off the fact that the price of ETH 00 has been on a (pretty much) year-long freefall. Read more.
Bitcoin Gets a Boost From JPMorgan’s Embrace of Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin is approaching $4,000 for the first time since the start of the year, as the largest cryptocurrency gets a delayed boost from the announcement last week that JPMorgan has developed a prototype digital coin that it plans to use to speed up payments between corporate customers. “What some people have pointed to is that because they’re using distributed ledger technology and they’re calling it a cryptocurrency, that could have a positive effect on the industry,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro in Tel Aviv.Read more.
Survey: Half of Millennial Investors Trust Crypto Exchanges More Than Stock Exchanges: Nearly half of millennial traders have more trust in digital currency exchanges than in United States stock market exchanges. Data regarding millennial investment attitudes was collected in a new study from investment platform eToro. Per the report, 43% of the surveyed millennial online traders demonstrate less trust in the traditional stock market, while having more faith in cryptocurrency exchanges. 93% of millennial cryptocurrency traders reportedly said that they would invest more in digital currency if traditional financial institutions proposed such an option. Read more.
It’s Time to Consider Crypto, Says Pension and Endowment Adviser: Institutional investors should consider dipping their toes into cryptocurrencies, according to Cambridge Associates, a consultant for pensions and endowments. “Despite the challenges, we believe that it is worthwhile for investors to begin exploring this area today with an eye toward the long term,’’ said analysts at Boston-based Cambridge in a research note published Monday. “Though these investments entail a high degree of risk, some may very well upend the digital world.’’ Read more.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Sees Pros and Cons in Blockchain Logins: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seriously evaluating blockchain’s potential to allow internet users to log in to various services via one set of credentials without relying on third parties. Such a use for the technology would make a compelling alternative to services like Facebook Connect, the social media giant’s single sign-on application, Zuckerberg. “A use of blockchain that I’ve been thinking about … though I haven’t figured out a way to make this work out, is around authentication and… granting access to your information to different services,” he said. “So, replacing the notion of what we have with Facebook Connect with something that is truly distributed.” Read more.
