As appropriation in motion, the new normal seems to be nothing but the old normal with a new face.

Be your own bank or only the next all-time high benchmarked in fiat?

To the moon. Or better, “to Mars,” in Elon Musk style?

An interesting illustration by CT team, and a very good perspective from another angle by the article’s author. (Link below)

Reading Notes：

Headlines

• Bitcoin has become nothing but the new Che Guevara T-shirt
• Institutional investors won’t take Bitcoin mainstream — You will

Bitcoin has become nothing but the new Che Guevara T-shirt

The wonder of the universe is that
it is always in motion and,
because of this, that
everything changes over time.

So, anything can be
something completely different tomorrow,
just like that
— no guarantees.

“Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”: This phrase from The Times is even recorded forever in the genesis block of the Bitcoin blockchain.

In politics, there is a phrase that says that if you did something so good and so wonderful to change the world that even your opponents are applauding you, it means you did everything wrong.

“Fiat sucks,” but the more Bitcoin is worth in U.S. dollars, the better.

After all, what matters is that 1 Bitcoin will always be equivalent to 1 Bitcoin. It matters how much I bought and how much I hope to sell in order to buy more. Understanding Bitcoin or simply buy sell?

Institutional investors won’t take Bitcoin mainstream — You will

Bitcoin was not just another asset proposed as a hedge against inflation in Satoshi’s original Bitcoins white paper.

Bitcoin’s whole idea stemmed from the failed financial institutions and third parties and a possible solution that would be effective in everyday life.

With every institutional investor and the big guns of finance swinging into Bitcoin investment, Bitcoin’s popularization as an asset has become inevitable.

Some of the ideal, real-world applications that could challenge failing fiat currencies and propel Bitcoin into the mainstream:

1. Online purchases
2. Cross-border transactions and travel
3. Bitcoin ATMs – bridging two monetary worlds

• In 2014, using BitPay as its payment processor, Microsoft became one of the first tech companies to accept Bitcoin to purchase digital goods.
• In October 2020, the popular American payments company PayPal announced that it would enable cryptocurrency as a funding source for purchases in 2021.

In all fairness, the goal has never been to phase out local currencies but to create a world where Bitcoin is as relevant as any fiat currency.

There has been an increasing trend every year with an average of one ATM now being added every hour.

The post Where Have All The Revolutionist Gone? appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

The say blockchain is the internet, all over again.

Some truth in it.

Back then, nearly 20+ years ago, when we told people we develop web-based retail management system, we got questions like

“How much is a PC now ah? Which PC brand is the best to buy now?”

Vague among hardware, software, and world wide web / internet, so to speak.

Recently, the questions we got become something like

“Bitcoin (still) can buy or not ah? Any alt coins can recommend ah?”

Vague among blockchain, bitcoin, and money.

From transfer of information to transfer of value.

Few understand. And I still learning.

p/s: Thank God for the blessings to have able to write something about this few years back. (Links below).

Information are free.

It’s what we do with the knowledge we gain that matters.

God bless and all the best.

DYOR – Do Your Own Research

Chapter 1: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Money

To explore Blockchain,
you need to study Bitcoin.
To understand Bitcoin,
you need to know what is money and how it works.

Chapter 2: The Name of The Game

All things blockchain, ledger technology, and cryptocurrencies.

If you don’t believe me or don’t get it, I don’t have time to try to convince you, sorry.

I don’t know the future.

I didn’t write this to tell you how this is going to end.

I write about how it all begins.

I’m going to show you a world without boundaries. A world where anything is possible.

Where we go from here is a choice I leave to you.

Chapter 3: Smart Money

What we have now is truly borderless, programmable money
backed by immutable computer systems based on pure logic & mathematics.

The post Understanding Bitcoin or Simply Buy Sell? appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Reading notes from article by OSATO AVAN-NOMAYO:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-turning-12-from-the-genesis-block-to-wall-street-adoption

BTC 12th Anniversary: From the Genesis block to Wall Street adoption

Jan. 3, 2009

• Satoshi mined the Genesis block, known as #0, coding it into the software.

Jan. 9, 2009

• The first block, or #1, was mined, putting a true start to the network as it is known today.
• Satoshi announced the news to the cryptography mailing list with a download link to Bitcoin 0.1.0 (which was only compatible with the Windows operating system) on the open-source software database platform Sourceforge.

Jan. 12, 2009

• Hal Finney received the first-ever BTC transaction.

“The possibility of generating coins today with a few cents of compute time may be quite a good bet.” ~ Hal Finney

The programmer and cryptographer enthusiast famously predicted that Bitcoin could attain world reserve currency status and reach $10 million per coin.

“It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.” ~ Satoshi

October 2009

• Bitcoin (BTC) received its first official valuation.
• The New Liberty Standard, an early BTC exchange, created a benchmark price for Bitcoin set at 1,309 BTC to $1.

December 2009

• The first client version with Linux support through the release of Bitcoin 0.2.0.

May 2010

• Laszlo Hanyecz cemented his place forever in Bitcoin folklore, paying 10,000 BTC for pizza in what is widely considered to be the first “real-world” Bitcoin transaction.

2010

• Satoshi’s plea to Assange (WikiLeaks) was one of the last pieces of digital correspondence from the Bitcoin creator before exiting the scene completely.

2011

• Bitcoin appeared to be evolving from being a strictly cypherpunk affair to the realm of anarchists and proponents of a free market.

Middle of 2011

• Bitcoin was at $30, but a 25,000-BTC theft from a user’s slushpool account caused a great price crash.
• Graphics processing units and field-programmable gate arrays provide more efficient Bitcoin mining capabilities.

2013

• Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange platform handled over 70% of the global BTC trade.
• The news of hackers stole about 850,000 BTC between 2011 and 2014 caused another major Bitcoin price crash.
• Tech adoption was on the rise, leading to the emergence of such products as BTC storage devices by the likes of Elliptic.
• U.S. crypto exchange giant Coinbase came on the scene, raising $25 million in funding.

Between 2013 and 2014

• The beginning of several governments taking notice of Bitcoin.

2015

• Major altcoins projects such as Ethereum begun to emerge.
• The introduction of application-specific integrated circuits and the rise of industrial Bitcoin mining.

August 2017

• A chain split leading to the creation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
• Bitcoin’s price grew almost 20-fold from January 2017 to mid-December, almost eclipsing the $20,000 mark, followed immediately by a substantial and prolonged crash that bottomed out at $3,800 in early 2018.
• Several proponents arguing for institutional adoption as the next step in the Bitcoin evolution.

By mid-2019

• 
  BTC fundamentals continued to improve. The network hash rate topped 70 exahashes per second — more than 10 times the number of grains of sand on the planet.
• Bitcoin derivatives took off, introducing markets such as futures and options contracts
• Mainstream firms such as Fidelity announced plans for Bitcoin custody solutions.

2020

• Bitcoin appeared to have become the darling of institutional investors.
• Hedge funds and corporations pursuing direct exposure to BTC.
• Some publicly listed companies added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, holding the top-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization as a treasury reserve asset amid recurrent currency debasement policies in major economies.
• Bitcoin shot past the $20,000 mark in late 2020.

Early days in 2021

• Bitcoin reached above $42,000, two times more than the magic number back in 2017.

What next?

Perhaps, government adoption is next on the agenda, and Bitcoin could become a reserve currency of a major world power.

The post Bitcoin’s 12th Anniversary, A Brief Chronology appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Simply math and logic, decentralized, limited supply, institutional FOMO…

Bitcoin’s immutable monetary policy makes it a very attractive contender for better money… if not the best. #FewUnderstand ~ Jason Chew, Bitcoin Malaysia #1 Group

If Bitcoin (BTC) is destined to be
the digital gold,
this is the gap it has to / is going to fill.

Supply and Demand

Amount of gold is not finite
as people tend to believe.

Bitcoin is transparently finite,
pure mathematics and logic
verifiable via public ledger.

Originality and Scarcity

Gold is scarce,
but it will never be ‘provably’ scarce.
Few understand the difference.

As Bitcoin becomes more mainstream
people are starting to understand
why the underlying technology
is so groundbreaking and
it is this hard cap of 21 Million bitcoins
that separates it from anything
the world has ever seen before.

Originality creates value.
Scarcity protects it.

从短期来看，比特币经历了从计算机代码逐步演变为准国际货币的过程，比特币占国际储备份额可能升至1%左右，比特币的合理价格在6000至7500美元左右。

从中期来看，比特币占国际储备份额比重可能升至日元的水平，那么比特币的合理价格在2.3至3万美元左右。

长期来看，如果比特币有机会发展成为最重要的国际储备货币，那么比特币的价格可能升至40万美元以上。

比特币的出现表明区块链要得到关注，但比特币不要随便进入，因为这些新生事物都有很大的不确定性。

DYOR – Do Your Own Research.

The post Bitcoin, Digital Gold 2.0? appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

• Fidelity Investments’ crypto arm expands custody to Asia
• Visa powers one more crypto card amid ongoing antitrust charges

The post Bitcoin vs Gold appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

From Naysayer to $425 Million Purchase

“There are 3500 publicly traded companies and there’s $5T in their treasuries and it’s all melting. At some point, you have a fiduciary obligation to not lose the money. It used to be acceptable to be conservative but that was before the asset inflation rate went from 6% to 30%” ~ Micheal Saylor

There is a generational wealth storage shift, with or without you and me.

How so? Read one of the recent news as mere illustration of gold’s safety concern: Armed robbers hijack pickup truck carrying gold on KL highway

The post Microstrategy’s BTC Bet appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

1) MicroStrategy Adopts Bitcoin as Primary Treasury Reserve Asset

2) Facebook is reportedly expanding its banking ambitions with a new division that will run all of the tech giant’s payment projects, including Facebook Pay

3) The Great Chinese Money Experiment Is Over

Reading Notes

MicroStrategy Adopts Bitcoin as Primary Treasury Reserve Asset

MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR),
the largest independent
publicly-traded
business intelligence company,

today announced that
it has purchased 21,454 bitcoins
at an aggregate
purchase price of $250 million,
inclusive of fees and expenses.

The purchase of
Bitcoin cryptocurrency
was made pursuant to
the two-pronged capital allocation strategy
previously announced by
the company
when it released
its second quarter 2020
financial results
on July 28, 2020.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005331/en/MicroStrategy-Adopts-Bitcoin-Primary-Treasury-Reserve-Asset

Facebook is reportedly expanding its banking ambitions with a new division that will run all of the tech giant’s payment projects, including Facebook Pay

According to a Bloomberg report, the new program will be called Facebook Financial, or F2, and will be run by David Marcus, the cocreator of the firm’s Libra cryptocurrency project.

The new group is one of the company’s latest efforts as part of its broader foray into commerce and finance.

Facebook Financial – or F2 – will oversee all of the tech giant’s payments projects, including Facebook Pay, the service launched in 2019 that allows users to send and receive money on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-financial-new-payments-group-2020-8

The Great Chinese Money Experiment Is Over

I’m fascinated that
China’s long experiment with
atoms about atoms
is almost over and
will soon be replaced by
bits about bits.

This will come about
not because of
Bitcoin or Libra,
Unionpay or PayPal,
but because the PBOC has been

strategic in its thinking and
tactical in its governance.

Their decisions on the topic
for many years
have been measured and consistent.

Digital currency is coming,
and China will take the lead
in digital currency
just as it did
in paper currency.

~ David G.W. Birch, Forbes, Fintech

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbirch/2020/08/09/the-great-money-experiment-is-over/#270823397a90

The post ROTD: Microstrategy Bitcoin Investment, Facebook Finance, Chinese Paper Money appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Though the Chinese government is working on something called DC/EP (for “digital currency/electronic payment”), as we check out the financial inclusion in the fintech era.

In this article, let’s look at the possibilities of having a cryptocurrency as the alternative reserve currency to what we have now, and the reasons or news trending to this.

The possibilities are there.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest lender by assets, has conducted research and explored integrating blockchains with big data, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and 5G technology since 2016.

ICBC has released a white paper on blockchain technology applications in finance, which is the first of its kind in the banking sector.

It needs to be both a medium of exchange and a store of value.

Jim Bianco, CEO and president of economics and finance analysis company Bianco Research

One of Possible Reasons Behind – Devaluation of Paper Money

Unless you have your head in the sand, you’ve probably realized that governments and central banks can print money out of thin air and in unlimited amounts.

Bitcoin.com

With over $6,000,000,000,000 printed in stimulus, that large of a number becomes hard to grasp. For some perspective, as at April 2020:

A million seconds ago was 11 days.
A billion seconds ago was 31 years.
A trillion seconds ago, there was no written history.

But people are start getting the idea how things may go dwindling down.

JUST IN: US Senate passes stimulus bill equivalent of 69,660,723 bitcoin

— Bitcoin (@Bitcoin) April 21, 2020

Related News (Development)

• Bianco Research CEO Says Next Reserve Currency Will Be a Cryptocurrency
• A Major Chinese Bank Unveils the Banking Sector’s First Blockchain White Paper

Related News (Possible Reasons)

• Printing Money from Thin Air – How the Fed Reduces Purchasing Power and Makes You Poorer
• Americans Are Using Their Stimulus Checks To Buy Bitcoin

The post A Cryptocurrency As The New Reserve Currency? appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

Pardon my English, I grow up in a Commonwealth country under legacy of British education system watching Hollywood movies.

This is more like a compilation of thoughts, notes and interesting points over past year, with some restructuring and put into a more organized way. There is definitely some hidden gems but you may got to work your own way out as you read through.

Last but not least, I accept crypto rewards if you think this work is beneficial and would like to further support my work besides sharing the links of these info out. I am a supporter of cryptocurrency and walk the talk by accepting token of appreciations in crypto form.

Anyhow, I put it up for free views over Slideshare (as embedded below).

Smart Money

This is the best of times, this is the worst of times.

What we have now is truly borderless, programmable money backed by immutable computer systems based on pure logic & mathematics.

– A Century of Technology Innovation
– Two Monetary Worlds
– Three Phases of Cryptocurrencies

From Corporate Currency to Sovereign Cryptocurrency (CBDC, Central Bank-issued Digital Currency), the fundamentals of AI driven, Blockchain based Cognitive resources management system powered by data: Programmable / Smart Money

After all, money makes the world goes round.

The post Smart Money appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

It’s not a matter of “IF” Crypto will take on the financial world, but rather just a question of “WHEN”.

You can either get left behind or prepare to become mega wealthy, because getting in on the boom of a lifetime is how generational wealth is made.

Right now, the bond market is about 3 times bigger than the stock market. Government bonds make up a large proportion of the secondary market, with a total value of $22.116 trillion across the world as of September 2018.

And cryptocurrencies are going to replace it.

Without getting too deep, cryptocurrencies allow contracts to be written that do not require middlemen.

In September 2018, Austria became the latest government to successfully trial blockchain platforms to issue government bonds. The trial follows in the footsteps of the Australian and Thai governments, both of whom developed blockchain bond issuing platforms earlier this year.

J.P. Morgan has also tested a new blockchain platform for issuing financial instruments with the National Bank of Canada and other large firms, of which the Canadian bank issued a $150m one-year floating-rate Yankee certificate of deposit, with a parallel simulation of the issuance, using blockchain technology.

Image Source: Pixabay

https://cointelegraph.com/news/government-bonds-how-blockchain-can-beat-the-red-tape

https://www.jpmorgan.com/country/MY/en/detail/1320566740924

The post Blockchaining Sukuk appeared first on Blockchain Insider.