Krypto Currency

  • Token Offerings Raised Twice More Than Blockchain Equity Deals in H1 2019 (cointelegraph.com)
    Token generation events are raising twice as much capital as conventional equity fundings for the blockchain sector.

    According to an Aug. 1 report from analytics firm teQatlas, token generation events (TGEs) — an alternative term for initial coin offerings — raised $2.095 billion in H1 2019, as compared with the $1.248 billion raised by blockchain firms through venture capital (VC) investment. 

    TeQatlas’ report is based on an analysis of roughly 2,500 blockchain firms backed by 1,800 investors via both traditional and alternative funding instruments — such as equity deals, TGEs and initial exchange offerings (IEOs). 

    Token offerings saw $15 billion peak in 2018 



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    TGE vs. conventional equity funding in blockchain firms, 2014-19. Source: teQatlas    Based on its findings, teQatlas argues that investors still see blockchain firms as a high-margin investment.

    VC investment in the space has seen a consistent uptick over the four and a half years under observation — reaching a total value of approximately $9.2 billion. 

    This figure is however eclipsed by the impressive amount of capital raised by token offerings — which peaked at over $15 billion in 2018 alone. While this figure has declined to just over $2 billion in the first half of 2019, it nonetheless remains at almost twice the value of funding — $1.25 billion — raised in the same period via traditional equity deals. 

    The total number of TGEs and VC rounds held by currently active Blockchain companies reached 476 transactions in 2017, 910 in 2018, and 268 during the first half of 2019.

    While the number of these deals has been almost equal to the number of TGEs since 2018, the average TGE still continues to seal almost 26% more capital than the average VC round.


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    Completed deals in the blockchain sector 2014-19, TGEs and equity funding. Source: teQatlas

    Regulatory uncertainty impacts token offerings


    As of H1 2019, 56% of all the deals have been closed via TGEs. Among traditional funding types, early-stage VC deals command the lion’s share at 34% of all deals (including TGEs).

    Notwithstanding the large share of capitalraised via token offerings, teQatlas nonetheless notes that since the start of 2018, TGE funding has seen a monthly and quarterly downtrend — purportedly a sign of investors’ caution in the context of the regulatory confusion that besets the funding method. 

    As reported just yesterday, teQatlas’ findings have been echoed by other analytics firms, whose data reveals that despite the overall token offering decline, crypto startups are continuing to rake in millions of dollars using the instrument.
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      Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst Token offerings (ICOs) events clearly show the interest of investors for blockchain and crypto start ups, even with regulatory uncertainties. We are more worried about what happens later. What do these companies actually have done with that income, how many products are in development or already in the market, wat is the progress and the profit for these companies, etc.
  • Watch: IRS warns 10,000 cryptocurrency holders they may have broken tax laws
    CNBC's Robert Frank reports on how bitcoin's shares plummeted after the IRS sent letters to 10,000 cryptocurrency holders warning that they may have violated tax law.
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      Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst One of the crypto criticism is that is used for nefarious purposes, so this is kind of saying "get into the fence of good practices by paying taxes". Even if it is considered an asset and not "money", while tax laws exist compliance is good, to avoid future problems.
  • IBM Launches Starter Kit For Blockchain Developers (forbes.com)
    To help developers at new blockchain startups, and at companies seeking to start using blockchain, IBM has developed the IBM Blockchain Platform Starter Plan to help them build blockchain proof-of-concepts quickly and affordably.

    It offers an end-to-end blockchain development experience: a secure test environment, a suite of education tools and modules and one-click network provisioning. It is built on the open source Hyperledger Fabric.


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    IBM logo.  (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

    More than 2,000 developers and tens of thousands of transaction blocks used the Starter Plan in a three-month test environment, said Jerry Cuomo, vice president of blockchain technology at IBM.

    The Starter Plan is for enterprises -- whether startups, large corporations or government agencies -- that want to understand and use blockchain technology, Cuomo said.

    It is designed to make the technology disappear so developers can focus on their ideas rather than how to operate a test network.

    “Starter is to provide the developers and test environment with single click deployment to enable an aspiring blockchain developer to get started,” he said. “When we put it out there as a beta in March of this year we saw very quick and significant adoption.

    We had over 2000 smart contract contributors, developers building contracts on the platform and deploying smart contracts of every variety imaginable,” he added.

    The Starter Plan attracted some companies he describes as “born on the blockchain” including Road Launch for logistics, Mediaocean, which automates and tracks digital ad buys, and Global Debt Registry, which helps institutional investors and warehouse lenders manage risk, improve efficiency and pricing in the credit markets by providing solutions that ensure the integrity of a loan asset.

    “The Starter Plan is a great place to start because it offers low cost and high value, with the tools we provide on top of open source,” Cuomo said.

    For now the plan runs on the IBM cloud although he suggested it may be available on other clouds in the future. Continue to page 2 on Forbes here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2018/06/28/ibm-launches-starter-kit-for-blockchain-develo...
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      Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst We talked about this in March when it was launched. After some months it looks like very successful as the technological tools offered are low cost and high value for companies and start ups on an open source. We have to yet see how it evolves. IBM is strongly betting for Blockchain.
  • My Experience as a Cryptocurrency Developer – The Merkle (themerkle.com)
    Cryptography, it’s all around us, and it’s here to stay. My name is Carsen Klock, I am a developer, designer, and crypto entrepreneur. I want to share several things I’ve learned about developing cryptocurrency with you.Back in 2013 and 2014, I created a plethora of altcoins, aka. cryptocurrencies based off the Bitcoin Core source.

    Specifically at that point in time, version 0.8. Going into crypto I saw a lot of coins that were just blatant copies of Bitcoin, Litecoin, with no new innovation.During this time, I saw a gap in the cryptocurrency industry. A very large gap between; innovation, and scams. I decided to create several coins that helped to change the industry for the better. I had invented the X13, X14, X15, and FRESH (NIST5) hashing algorithms and python mining modules. Unfortunately a lot of coins that I had implemented these features with, were more so small projects to test these new algorithms.

    With the PoW consensus methods, most of my coins failed due to a lack of consistent development on my end and a huge amount of FUD within the Bitcoin community. I had also created the first working PoS transition hybrid coin where after a set amount of blocks the coin would transition from a Proof Of Work consensus to a Proof Of Stake.

    These consensus methods are still very controversial, PoW or PoS? We can see this now with the crypto called Ethereum. In my opinion the PoS consensus method is flawed, the rewards are low, miners are cancelled out, and the rich get richer...continue reading:     https://themerkle.com/my-experience-as-a-cryptocurrency-developer/?utm_medium=push&utm_source=onesig...