Five Minute Blockchain - Newsletter No. 34: Blockchain vs. Crypto • Non-financial use cases for Ethereum • Private-access tokens from Apple • New EU Disinformation rules • Bear market for most cryptocurrencies
20.06.2022 • Issue No. 34
Five Minute Blockchain
Updates from the intersection of trust, content and blockchain. The main goal of these collected links and quotes is to provide a quick overview and relevant information about developments in the field.
This newsletter is brought to you by TruBlo. We are funding 45 early-stage blockchain ideas to explore new options for "trusted content on future blockchains". A list of all TuBlo projects is here: https://www.trublo.eu/projects/.
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Updates this week
Estimated reading time: 5 mins 55 seconds
TRUST
CRYPTO IS CRASHING, BUT BLOCKCHAIN WILL SURVIVE
Maria Bustillos, a journalist who has worked on news/blockchain platforms since 2013, in an opinion article published by The New York Times:
The collapse, not the first of its kind, showed again how the violent swings of a largely unregulated market warp the development of a transformative technology. But crypto is just one aspect of the larger blockchain universe. Its sceptics and fans alike must learn to see it as a technological experiment, instead of just a blatant scam or a speculative path to riches.
In the article, she offers a perspective of how blockchain could be a foundation of innovation in the future:
It’s possible to imagine a future where you might look up the fate of every tax dollar you’ve paid, and government corruption becomes all but impossible; where beautiful and important stories and music, games and art would never disappear from the internet; where, instead of being forced to rely on a big power company, you might buy and sell surplus solar energy from or to your own neighbours, and never face another blackout. Wherever tamper-proof, independent record-keeping is needed, blockchain could keep all the receipts, available and safe, for anyone to see.
PAPER: NON-FINANCIAL USE CASES FOR ETHEREUM
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a paper pointing to 12 non-financial use cases for Ethereum:
My own view tends to be, like with blockchain voting, far from the "blockchain everywhere" viewpoint, but also far from a "blockchain minimalist". I see the value of blockchains in many situations, sometimes for really important goals like trust and censorship resistance but sometimes purely for convenience.
Vitalik.ca (original post)
PRIVATE ACCESS TOKENS: APPLE PREPARING A NEW WAY TO LOGIN INTO APPS AND WEBSITES
The upcoming iOS 16 and macOS Ventura will introduce a new, passwordless way to login into digital resources.
Private Access Tokens can prove that an HTTP request is coming from a human by recognizing if a client device is following typical user patterns. Signed tokens are sent to servers in a multi-step process that doesn't involve the server knowing anything about the device or user.
WHAT IS ZERO TRUST ARCHITECTURE?
Zero trust describes a new IT security approach, specifically for environments where a variety of devices might need to login into a network.
Over the past few years, the concept of zero-trust architecture has also started to evolve as enterprises have shifted to an “assume breach” mindset, essentially expecting that a skilled criminal will find an entry point to the environment even with authentication measures in place.
HOW NEW US BILLS COULD BENEFIT START-UP COMPANIES
Two bills which are currently prepared in the US could open the tech market to more competition. One is called the "American Choice and Innovation Act" (AICO), the other the "Open App Markets Act".
These measures would bar major tech companies from recommending their own services and requiring developers to exclusively sell their apps on a company’s app store. For example, AICO would ban Amazon from favouring its own private-label products over those from independent sellers. The Open App Markets Act would force Apple and Google to allow users to install third-party apps without using their app stores.
On a recent episode of Last Week Tonight moderator John Oliver talked about why the two bills could result in more competition on big tech platforms:
These bills would crack the door open for innovation and budge the internet back towards what it was supposed to be from the start,” Oliver said.
CONTENT
EU STRENGTHENS DISINFORMATION RULES
The EU released new rules on how to handle disinformation. Companies operating social media platforms in the EU will be obliged to take down mis- and disinformation content such as deep-fakes or risk having to pay fines. Another new aspect will be country-by-country removal reports. The new rules were released Thursday as the "Code of Practice on Disinformation".
AUDIUS WANTS TO HELP MUSIC CREATORS MAKE MORE MONEY
Founded five years ago, the platform currently has around 7 million monthly listeners, 250,000 artists and about 1 million music tracks.
DIGITAL RIGHTS PLATFORM FOR WEB3 CREATORS
"Roadstead" is the name of a new platform which aims to be an NFT marketplace giving content owners complete control of distribution and profits generated.
BLOCKCHAIN
BEAR MARKET FOR MOST CRYPTOCURRENCIES
According to price data from CoinGecko compiled by CoinGoLive, the current bear market has seen a whopping 72 out of top-100 tokens fall more than 90% from their all-time highs.
HOW CRYPTO LENDER CELSIUS OVERHEATED
This links to a good overview of the current situation at Celsius, including brief updates about other crypto platforms which are in trouble.
AVERAGE BUYERS IN THE RED
Bitcoin dropped below $20,000 for the first time since July last year while ether, the token linked to the Ethereum blockchain, fell to nearly $1,000. The declines mean Bitcoin has shed 70 per cent of its value since last autumn’s peak and is now trading below a widely followed market metric known as its “realised price” — the average paid by buyers for coins in circulation.
MICROSTRATEGY REACTS TO RUMOURS OF A MARGIN CALL
Earlier this week, articles speculated whether Microstrategy could face a margin call. This happens when the value of a loan falls and the lender demands added colateral - if the borrower then can not provide that collateral it might default on a loan. Microstrategy raised a $2 billion debt to buy and hold Bitcoins in August 2020. In statements on Tuesday this week CEO Michael Saylor claimed that the company did not expect to receive a margin call.
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