December 2017 Crypto Tab Sweep
Cryptocurrencies? Blockchains? I’m sure you’ve heard of them before by now, unless you’re living under a rock. I’m an open source & database guy, so for me, I look at all this with a fine toothed comb. Probably doesn’t help that I enjoy reading the FT on a daily basis. Anyway, a selection of links… You may not be able to read all the links (subscriber only), but maybe I’ll think about something new come 2018.
- Markets signal diminishing faith in US government – “Big things happen if someone invents the right story and promulgates it.” – Robert Shiller, author Irrational Exuberance. He called the dotcom and US housing bubbles bursting before it happened; he now calls Bitcoin a bubble
- Bitcoin swings from bull to bear and back in a day – when Bitcoin hit an all-time high of a little over USD$11,000! “It is a classic bubble, and bubbles go up a lot. It is a mania and the best thing about it is you can’t value it, like trading technology stocks in the ’90s.” – Rich Ross, head of technical analysis, Evercore. “Every three weeks it goes up, people take profits and then it goes down but money is still coming in so it will keep going up,” said David Drake, managing a family office investing in Bitcoin
- There are many reasons to be cautious about bitcoin – Jean Tirole on the ICO craze
- FT Lex: Bitcoin: a poxy currency – learned a new word today, poxy. Thinking in terms of hyper-deflation makes the mania easier to treat.
- FT Alphaville: Bitcoin’s fractioning problem
- Listen: Should investors buy Bitcoin? – FT Money presenter Claer Barrett and guests discuss whether or not Bitcoin deserves a place in your investment portfolio. Good podcast.
- Busting the myth that bitcoin is actually an efficient payment mechanism – yes, it is expensive to use. Not the standard take on “energy use” either. FT Alphaville only requires registration for free reading BTW
- Bitcoin and cash cast a shadow over banks
- CryptoKitties – digital pets, Ethereum’s first real use case?
- Hacker News: Is Bitcoin surge driven by paid-publicity (similar to US election story)?
- Sixty free lectures from Princeton on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Avg length ~15 mins. Links in post.
- A beginner’s guide to getting started in the cryptocurrency world
- Why a Bitcoin Fork Is Not a ‘Stock Split’
- How To Sell Bitcoins in Canada
- Don’t fall for the hype – Why Bitcoin’s $10,000 Price Doesn’t Reflect Its True Value.
- Initial coin offerings: investing’s wild frontier
- Is Proof of Stake really the solution?
- The Token Handbook – its basically a book, lots to read here
