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February 10, 2019

Crypto Market Commentary

Mav's Daily Commentary

Coin Spotlight: Maker

 

This week, we are looking into Makerdao (Maker), one of the oldest projects being built on the Ethereum network. Maker is an example of building a critical infrastructure layer of the decentralised global economy; an accessible digital cash system native to the internet which maintains price stability via decentralised governance and autonomous smart contracts. Bitcoin meets almost all of the metrics of a useful currency with a crucial exception of price stability due to its fixed supply and deflationary nature. DAI aims to implement this final pillar of price stability with aspiration of becoming the global reserve currency of the decentralised web.

This is a mammoth task and one which Maker has made commendable progress towards achieving. However, the project faces a number of challenges including adoption, scalability and technical barriers which in many cases, are intrinsically linked to existential risks to the cryptocurrency industry and the Ethereum network. Maker is definitely a project to watch with an impressive vision and ethos and an equally impressive barrier to overcome – user adoption and displacing the USD reserve currency.

Project description

The Maker network is aiming to create a stablecoin asset (DAI) which is backed, not by traditional assets such as fiat or gold, but by the trust in autonomous and open source smart contracts, decentralised governance and credit issued against the value of other digital assets.

 

To achieve this, Maker utilises a two token system:

–        DAI – a stablecoin intended to act as a digital cash which is native to the decentralised internet. The goal of DAI is to be a useful, accessible and stable token for payments and a vehicle for savings including appreciation via the “DAI savings Rate” when locked in a savings contract.

–        MKR – the governance token which enables a decentralised network of people to assess and manage risk in the market by assigning key parameters to the Maker stability system. MKR holders effectively act as the “lender of last resort” and can be seen to fulfil a role as the central bank of the Maker ecosystem.

 

The collatoralised debt position

DAI is minted when users of the Maker platform create what is known as a collateralised debt position (CDP). A user puts up collateral (currently ETH, soon to be multi-asset collateral) against which a position of DAI may be borrowed up to the debt ceiling (currently 50% for ETH).

Figure 1 – An example of the CDP mechanism where the amount of DAI borrowed against the collateral asset (ETH) is less than the total collateral value (currently 50%) to maintain a price buffer to price shocks in the collateral asset

This process allows the user to maintain their original asset position without having to sell it to access additional funds. The generation of a CDP comes with a stability fee (an interest rate) and a liquidation ratio at which point the collateral will be automatically sold off by the Maker smart contract if the value of the collateral falls too far relative to the DAI debt (i.e. if price collapses of the ETH collateral such that the DAI debt against it hits the liquidation point).

 

The MKR governance is responsible for assessing the expected risk and volatility in the market for each collateral asset so as to assign an appropriate debt ceiling and liquidation ratio. Additionally, MKR holders define the stability fee (interest rate) which affects how expensive it is to open a CDP and controls the supply and demand of DAI as well as which assets may be used as collateral.

 

In effect, MKR holders act as the central bank setting interest rates and trigger levels for liquidation and engagement of stability mechanisms to control the supply and demand for DAI and thus maintain a stable valuation (currently a peg 1:1 to the USD).

 

The flip side to this is that should MKR holders misjudge risk in the market and a price shock throws DAI significantly out of balance with the Target Price, the value of MKR will be diluted by printing MKR tokens and selling them via an automatic auction mechanism. This generates the required funds to cover the CDP liquidations and bring the system back into balance.

 

Essentially MKR holders are the lender of last resort. As payment for their services and responsibility, MKR holders are rewarded by appreciation of their MKR token value as the stability fees and liquidation fees are used to buy back and burn MKR tokens, reducing their supply

A perspective on the dai peg system

The uniquely valuable element of a decentralised stability system is that eventually, a peg to any index can be achieved. This sets Maker apart from the majority of competing stable-coins today which are backed 1:1 with actual USD.

 

I see 1:1 with USD simply as a convenient bootstrap phase until enough of the world is tokenized to facilitate a DAI peg transitioning to a token representing a diverse basket of digitised assets. This basket would have risk defined proportions and correlations determined by MKR governance and could contain assets or various correlations ranging from commodities, precious metals, digital assets, stock indexes and debt instruments. This basket could be designed and dynamically adjusted based on real time analysis of relevant markets to a point of near immunity to significant price shocks globally creating an impressively stable and truly trustworthy DAI.

 

This has the potential to completely decouple the decentralised economy from governments and national pressures and truly mark an evolution in global finance. A fairly exciting proposition if you ask me.

Challenges and Risks

The Maker projects have a number of key risks and challenges to overcome, most of which are reliant on the adoption of DAI as a useful currency. In effect, if DAI must prove itself as a simple to use and reliable stable-coin in order to promote adoption of DAI and the opening of CDPs.

 

1.     Access to reliable price data feeds and oracles – Current governance conference calls (available on Maker’s Youtube channel) are focused on the unreliability of price data for DAI obtained from exchanges and CMC due to manipulated and fake volume. This impedes the ability of the Maker system to act appropriately and make evidence-based decisions on potential price shocks and volatility.

 

2.     Scalability – demand for MKR is driven by the demand for CDPs. If not enough debt is taken on within the system, the available DAI is limited and thus scalability to a global currency will be a challenge. In my opinion, this relies on the assets available as collateral to be both diverse and of high liquidity, having low volatility and thus high debt ceilings. It relies on users owning these collateral assets and be willing to take CDP debt against them. I fear this is a tall order to become a global reserve currency it is no easy feat to engage enough people with the know-how and risk management skills to take on sufficient CDPs to feed the worlds demand for stability. This may be a challenge that is resolved in time but will require some clever engineering of the system economics and an extremely intuitive, accessible and “fool-proof” user experience.

 

a.     As a final note on scalability – the necessity for CDPs to be overcollateralised sets a natural limit on the amount of debt the world could take on. I propose that perhaps this is not such a bad thing as it would limit irresponsible lending and many of the financial woes we see on a too frequent basis.

 

3.     Market Direction – Opening CDPs are only advantageous when the collateral assets are appreciating or stable in value. During a bear market, if a diverse range of negatively correlated collateral are not available, the pool of collateral suitable for a CDP reduces and thus DAI supply will fall. Demand for CDPs would need to be increased by MKR governance lowering the stability fee. However, this is compounded by risk 2 where if not enough users or suitable collateral assets are available, the system could become underutilised and ultimately an alternative stablecoin with simpler user experience would be preferred. Essentially, Maker is co-dependent on the “tokenization of the world thesis” such that assets of varying risk profiles, volatility and correlation are available as collateral.

 

4.     Reliance on Ethereum – Maker is currently tied intrinsically to Ethereum which whilst certainly a groundbreaking platform, suffers from key issues of horrendous user interface (this is so important for adoption), poor scalability and heavy competition. Many of these are technical challenges likely to be solved in the future however, the potential for a vastly superior platform emerging in the meantime is a very real existential risk to the project and Ethereum network. Whilst I am not a developer, I understand the Maker project to be smart contract heavy and I’ve not yet seen evidence of flexibility to port to new a new decentralised ledger if the need arises.

 

5.     Stabilisation of DAI in normal circumstances (i.e. outside of MKR governance intervention) is currently dependent on market forces such as:

a.     Arbitrage trading when DAI deviates from the Target Price

b.     CDP owners buying DAI below Target price to pay back debt cheaply

c.     Users creating CDPs when DAI is above target price to sell into the market

This is a somewhat reactionary model and again is heavily reliant on adoption and trade volume of DAI to the extent that the market will act to quickly capitalize on these price fluctuations. Whilst possible, this is something that is currently not occurring and in conjunction with a lack of accurate data feeds (risk 1) is making current MKR governance an inexact science.

 

Figure 3 – Example showing DAI price is generally within 2 cents of the target price across CMC reported markets. This question is how much of this volume is real and reliable for making decisions?

 

6.     Market Exposure is currently limited with a trading volume of DAI against all pairs at the time of writing of only $8.5Million (from CMC price feeds). This makes arbitrage opportunities relatively limited at the moment. However, I am more excited by the prevalence of DAI on decentralised and peer-to-peer exchanges such as Airswap, Bancor and Kyber Network which currently account for 50% of DAI market volume. It is also impressive that 1.5% of the total Ether supply is currently locked in CDPs. One would hope that with improvements to the UI of both Ethereum and Maker and with continued development, this number will only grow.

Opportunities

Against a backdrop of significant challenges, Maker has major opportunities in this space as it is at the fundamental level providing an essential component of the decentralised economy – access to secured credit. To date, DAI has shown fairly robust stability maintaining a peg within a few cents of the target 1:1 USD peg and time will tell if it can maintain this as the Maker platform gains traction.

 

1.     Decentralised governance of a central banking system is immune to the influences of politics and national pressures and acts only to support the Maker and wider crypto networks. This is a crucial layer of the decentralised internet and the role of DAI as a “global reserve currency” will not be subject to the Triffin Dilemma. This is a distinct advantage over “USD backed” stable-coins such as USDT, USDC which are subject to the stability of the US economy.

a.     In my opinion, the challenge of creating new a decentralised central bank is an enormous challenge…dwarfed only by the enormity of the opportunity this represents during the inevitable(?) collapse of the fiat system when people flee in search of a better and more transparent money. If we see instability in the USD in the future – I will be watching Maker and DAI with a keen eye for signs of capital flight.

 

2.     Open Source and Transparent rules governing the protocol are agreed by MKR holders based on scientific evidence of market behavior and made transparent via open source code. This fits perfectly with Satoshi’s vision of an immutable and verifiable financial system and Maker has the right vision and approach to this problem.

 

3.     Partnerships with the likes of OmiseGo (OMG) and Request Network (REQ) are in the works with the intent for DAI to be available facilitate payments on both of these projects (themselves building critical infrastructure for the Ethereum network). Maker developers are open to being symbiotic with the Ethereum ecosystem which is a growing trend in this industry and an immense opportunity.

 

4.     Global accessibility to CDPs enables people around the world to take on reasonable leverage of their assets which is aligned with the ethos of the decentralisation and financial freedom movements. CDPs are a well-established mechanism within the credit system and is an essential part of a growing economy. Maker provides a financial solution for the 2Billion underbanked people who collectively represent $10 Trillion in productivity (the informal economy is the third biggest global economy).

 

5.     Synthetic derivate products such as index funds of CDP assets are planned for the Maker platform via a reverse CDP where volatile assets can be created by locking up stable DAI. It will be interesting to see how this fairs against the likes of dYdX and other “basket” products as Maker has an opportunity in this space but DAI must be a proven and attractive overall product for this branch to succeed.

 

6.     Sustainable Development – Maker is a project which announced in 2015, launched Dai in December 2017 and unlike many projects, did not have an ICO, instead opting for venture capital investments in two rounds ($15M and $12M). Maker has shown continued progress towards their goals, setting realistic and achievable goals and delivering a product fit for purpose. The incentives for success of the platform are aligned between developers and investors and the approach is targeting a self-sustaining ecosystem.

 

Final Thoughts

There are growing signals of DAI adoption and I would recommend checking out this report from Maker to see some of the latest adoption numbers as well as this three part series on governance and platform challenges. Overall, Maker is a bold project with a clear vision which to date is one of the most valuable contributions to the decentralised internet. I look forward to Makers future and hope too see some flexibility and futureproofing start to find it’s way into focus for the team.

 

The model of CDP backed stability is a sound and well-documented credit system with the Maker twist of being governed in a decentralised manner. The biggest challenge for Maker today is the limited assets available to form collateral which today are unfortunately all correlated to the crypto industry. In the future, if our thesis is correct and the whole world becomes tokenised, pegging Dai to an index basket of diverse assets would provide groundbreaking opportunities.

 

Time and technological development is a factor here as whilst Maker currently enjoys a first mover advantage a competitor to both Maker and Ethereum itself could be just around the corner.

Resources

Positive opinions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lxc7qCsvF8

https://medium.com/makerdao/makerdao-and-omisego-announcing-dai-and-omg-collaborations-23600a080046

https://medium.com/makerdao/makerdao-integrates-with-request-network-to-promote-stability-in-cryptocurrency-finance-b1f52aba6a1

https://thecontrol.co/lessons-from-makerdao-a42081116e9a

https://medium.com/makerdao/makerdao-governance-risk-framework-38625f514101

https://medium.com/makerdao/dai-reward-rate-earn-a-reward-from-holding-dai-10a07f52f3cf

https://www.crunchbase.com/search/funding_rounds/field/organizations/num_funding_rounds/makerdao

https://medium.com/makerdao/dai-in-numbers-2710d8a5633a

 

Critical opinions

https://medium.com/reserve-currency/our-analysis-of-the-makerdao-protocol-4a9872c1a824

https://blog.havven.io/makerdao-and-the-dai-f21a4d5571a1

 

 

 

 

Download the full report here: MKR_Spotlight_Feb2019

Mav’s new class on STOs is described in this video and is available at readysetcrypto.com/sto.

 

A new episode of the ReadySetCrypto Podcast has been published; all of our episodes are posted on our blog (and on iTunes) and Episode Twenty-One is now available. Episode Twenty-One is Doc’s interview with Lior Gantz of Wealth Research Group about the state of the markets and methods on how to protect your wealth.   Look for more episodes shortly as we comb the crypto space for valuable interviews, and create valuable content to keep you in the loop! See you tomorrow!

Doc's Daily Commentary

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Offense – Adding Trades

Offensive Actions for the next trading day: 

  • We’re still waiting for the Bear to play out, in the meantime there are some short-term swings setting up nearly every day on certain alt-coins.    

Defense – Managing Risk

Defensive Actions for the next trading day: 

  • None.

RSC Managed Crypto Fund

[visualizer id="84848"]

How to read this portfolio: Please read through the FAQ tab

  • ETH/USD 2% added 8/10/2018 @ $363.14
  • ETH/USD 2% added 9/9/2018 @ $200.50 (10% more to add)
  • LTC/USD 2% added 8/10/2018 @ $62.56.  (5% more to add)
  • XMR/BTC 2% added 9/21/2018 @ .018BTC
  • BTC/USD 2% added 11/7/2018 @ $6501
  • XLM/BTC 2% added 11/19/2018 @.00004389BTC
  • XEM/BTC 2% added 11/27/2018 @.00001901BTC

What is the RSC Managed Cryptocurrency Fund?: We have one goal: To beat the market. To do this, we aim to balance risk vs. reward. Additionally, we aim to enter positions advantageously and in small increments, not all at once. As such, the pie chart you see above is representative of our “expected” portfolio, but will likely not match our “actual” portfolio. Why don’t you just buy into every position at once?: We aim to not only beat the market, but do so in a way that allows us greater leverage than simply buying in all at once. To do this, we will DCA into our positions to lower the average buy-in, and allow us greater yield from our initial capital seed. This also allows you the flexibility to follow our documented moves or immediately buy in when you want. We expect this will help you follow along easier as our moves are more deliberate. By setting targets for allocation, you know exactly how we intend to diversify our portfolio. Why are you only targeting large caps? Where is ____ coin?: We are targeting large market capitalization coins regardless of our belief in their viability as this enables us to diversify our risk and improve our chances of staying positive. We can hedge our bets by creating a fund that incorporates all of the major assets yet distinguishes between them based on the allocation. For example, we allocated more to Ethereum over its competitors as we feel it has more built-in longevity given its status as the default ICO platform. Of course, that can change, and as such we will be periodically rebalancing this fund as we redetermine viability and yield. Can I invest in this fund / can you manage my funds?: Not at this time. We are looking for ways to legally tokenize a fund such as this, but at this time no avenue exists for US citizens. Will we be adding small caps / ICOs?: It is likely we will be starting a separate fund dedicated solely to small caps / ICOs. We feel that the market simply isn’t showing favorable risk / reward signs for us to be trading them right now, but that will likely change soon. Why was the previous portfolio discontinued?: We felt it wasn’t correctly connecting with our customers as we started it in late 2017 and even during the 2018 bear market we were still very profitable. The same could not be said for customers who joined us during the bear market and tried to replicate our portfolio. Simply put: we wanted a portfolio that was easier to follow along with and less risky for our customers while still aiming for profitability.

Click on image to download the datasheet

RSC Altcoin-Exclusive Crypto Fund

[visualizer id="78512"]
What is this? The RSC Altcoin Fund is meant to replace our V1 portfolio. This portfolio, referred to as Portfolio V3, will represent a portfolio that is built upon more risky assets (assets outside the top 20), and is inherently more risky than Portfolio V2, the RSC Managed Crypto Fund (above). We will NOT be actively entering positions for this fund, but we will be updating the portfolio percentages and contents periodically.

Click on image to download the datasheet

 

Click on the image to download the TXT file

 

Technical Analysis Research

Any rally that we try to take long will be counter-trend in most of the top-ten, although some are starting to break that trend impressively. TRX has been strong lately! 

My beta for the Digitex Futures platform will be live soon; expect to hear more as I know it. 

Doc will be attending The TradersExpo in NYC March 10-12 – see you there!

 

In August we introduced a new “fund” project that we’ll be creating over the next few months, in piecemeal form. I will be slowly and methodically creating a “fund” with (currently) 23 assets that we will do “live” or at least very plainly indicate where we intend to enter portions of assets.   As long as the market continues grinding down in a bear, we will use sentiment-based entries to hopefully secure a better entry.  All that I saw were bear flags tonight; we are close to some good entries on coins showing positive divergence on the RSI.  Going forward into the end of this year my plan is to do a LOT more swing trading; what would really help is a decent derivatives exchange. I am looking for big things from Digitex in this regard, which will be a commission-free futures platform however all trades must be made in DGTX as the base currency. Put yourself on the waitlist for this platform by clicking here. I have started to acquire DGTX tokens at Mercatox in anticipation of them turning up their platform, and this looks to be a good candidate for a pump prior to the production event. Here are the recent swings that we’re tracking in the portfolio below; :

  • DGB/BTC – long @ .00000608 (7/23). My target exit is .000008BTC.
  • WTC/BTC – Long @ .00155980BTC (4/23). My target exit is at .002BTC.
  • ADA/BTC – Long @ .00003931BTC (5/1) My target exit is at .00005BTC.
  • ONT/BTC – long @ .0008905 (5/20) My target is .0013BTC.
  • ETP/BTC – long @ .000522BTC (9/21) My target is .00072BTC
  • ZIL/BTC – long @ 641satoshis (1/16) My target is 750 sats. 

Please keep in mind that if you want to follow these trades, I am using FIXED RISK POSITION SIZING. This means that I am using a fixed amount of risk capital that is based on my account size, like 2%. I am assuming that the trade will burn to the ground and that I will lose that entire capital position! Only in this manner can one effectively manage a position the way that you have to. If you’ve every checked your blockfolio nervously every 5 minutes when you’re underwater, this will prevent that.   I will track these positions in this area and not in the main portfolio section. I will use a public portfolio tool to do so, which you can access by clicking below:

 

If you go to buy any of our courses at our online “store” you can receive $10 off the street price with your member’s “coupon code” of member18crypto..

We’ve started to do some swing trades on alts, tracked in the previous section. I am mostly focusing on the top 10-20 coins for now until we confirm that we’re back into an overall bull market.

I am doing the majority of my Technical Analysis work on TradingView, and I have a BitFinex app on both my iPad and Android smartphone. All of these charting platforms call a TradingView API. TradingView is the 800 lb. gorilla in the Crypto charting space until the “established” players want to make a go at Crypto, like Ninjatrader, Tradestation, eSignal, Sierra charts, etc. My sense is that TradingView has such a head start that it will be very difficult for the big boys to make a dent in this space for a while. Until that point, TradingView has almost a monopoly in this space. If you have a particular tool that you think is superior, please let me know.   You can access the BitFinex and TradingView platforms for free, however there are some paid features that you might want to consider depending on your needs, such as expanded watchlists, different study sets, account alerts, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Coinigy is a great tool for determining prices on each exchange, however I may not have access to the full suite of tools on TradingView charts. I am currently not using it as a front-end GUI for my exchanges, which it supports.I also use Blockfolio and/or Delta to give me a quick snapshot of my holdings, and find that it does an excellent job to aggregate all of my holdings into one easy-to-read snapshot of my cryptocurrencies, which are typically located in many different places.

 

I am also trialing the Profit Trailer and CryptoHopper trading apps which are working well in this choppy market.

Fundamental Currency Research

We’ll focus in-depth on a coin you should consider, and talk about the fundamentals of what makes it interesting. This is not a “ this is the next big crypto” article or “reasons why you should buy”. We’re simply laying it down with hype, speculation, and other nonsense.

 

Today’s RSC Coin Spotlight is the 0x Protocol (ZRX):

No doubt you’ve heard about ZRX in the past several weeks since its listing on Coinbase on October 11, 2018. But you may be asking yourself: What is ZRX? And What gives it value?

 

ZRX is the governance token of the 0x Protocol, a standard for trustlessly trading ERC20 and ERC721 tokens. 0x Protocol allows users to trade tokens right from their wallets in either OTC trades or through a decentralized exchange otherwise known as a relayer.

 

0x protocol uses an approach they refer to as off-chain order relay with on-chain settlement. In this approach, cryptographically signed orders are broadcast off of the blockchain through any arbitrary communication channel an interested counterparty may fill the order by submitting one or more of these signed orders into 0x protocol’s Exchange contract to execute and settle trades directly to the blockchain.

 

The project ICO’d in August 2017 for $24,000,000. On August 2, 2017, iFinex Inc. (BVI), the company that owns Bitfinex, announced it would launch Ethfinex, an Ethereum-based trading and discussion platform that would utilize the 0x Protocol. Several other prominent relayers rose in the 0x ecosystem such as DDEX, Radar Relay, and Paradex.

On May 23rd, Coinbase announced it had acquired Paradex, a decentralized exchange that uses 0x. At the time of the Paradex acquisition, Cointelegraph reported,  

 

“Coinbase will integrate the Paradex relay platform into Coinbase Pro which, according their blog post, will let customers trade ‘hundreds of tokens directly from their wallets.’ This would markedly expand the types of cryptocurrencies to which customers will have access through Coinbase. The blog post states that the new service will be made available to customers outside the US before eventually being offered to American clients.”

 

This acquisition led many in the crypto community to speculate that Coinbase would list ZRX and sure enough it was listed on Coinbase on October 11, 2018. The ZRX community eagerly awaits Coinbase Pro “Trustless” which could see the listing of many ERC20 tokens.  Coinbase’s recent announcement of USDC, an ERC20 backed by USD, may be used in trading pairs on Coinbase’s new trustless service.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-announces-launch-of-coinbase-pro-paradex-acquisition

https://blog.0xproject.com/18-ideas-for-0x-relayers-in-2018-80a1498b955f

 

0x protocol relayers have a lot of flexibility on how they collect and relay the orders they interact with. Relayers can choose whether to have open or closed liquidity pools. Relayers can be private or open.

 

They can even be dark relayers which allows big players to transact outside of the eyes of the public by obfuscating their orderbooks and provide just-in-time quotes for crypto assets to emulate the experience of using a dark liquidity pool.

 

But 0x goes far beyond decentralized exchanges. The liquidity pools that relayers create can be beneficial to any number of projects in the Ethereum ecosystem. 0x allows developers a flexible approach to offering their users liquidity for their tokens.

 

Any DApp looking to accept multiple tokens as payment methods could tap into 0x’s orderbooks for the liquidity to convert the payment into the token of their choice.

 

For example, Since 0x can handle ERC721 tokens, two players of the ERC721-based card game Gods Unchained can trade cards with one another. Gods Unchained is going to utilize 0x to create an in-app exchange where players can trustlessly trade ERC721 cards with one another.  https://godsunchained.com/

 

Developers see the value in a protocol like 0x and several major projects in the Ethereum ecosystem are integrating the 0x protocol as a vital function of their code.

 

District0x (DNT) is one of these projects. According to their website, District0x is a network of decentralized markets and communities known as districts that solves a number of coordination issues and inefficiencies commonly found within distributed community marketplaces.

 

This is accomplished by providing tools that can better align incentives and decision making among the market participants themselves.

 

The end goal is to create a self sustaining ecosystem that can flourish without the need for a central authority. Districts exist on top of a modular framework of Ethereum smart contracts and frontend libraries referred to as d0xINFRA.
https://district0x.io/

 

District0x embedded their 0xprotocol into their districts on the district0x Network, giving users the ability to pay and receive payment in the ERC20 or ERC721 token of their choice.

 

Simlar to the ZRX token, DNT is used to govern District0x. As their FAQ puts it:

“The district0x token holders themselves decide whether a district is good or bad for the network through the District Registry, an incentivized voting game that dictates access to the network. Whether a district is good or bad not only applies in terms of the quality of the marketplace, but also prevents against districts that are deemed immoral or threatening to the entire network by DNT holders. This will be entirely up to the DNT token holders to decide.”
https://district0x.io/faq/

 

Like many people you may be asking yourself: “Where is the value in governing these protocols? Where is my money?” These are valid questions that honestly no one has the answer to yet. Like many aspects of crypto, these investments are speculatory.

 

One concern many have raised in the ZRX community is: What stops someone from forking the 0xprotocol in the case of a dispute? While it is true that a relayer who wanted to could fork away from the rest of the 0xprotocol but they would also suffer the consequences of disconnecting from everyone else in that pool of liquidity.

 

Similar arguments have been made for open-source software in the past and it usually boils down to the same concept that gives these open-source projects value: network effect. It’s hard to copy and paste Ethereum because it is the Ethereum network that has value not strictly the technology.

 

0xprotocol can be viewed in a similar light. Yes, you could fork the protocol but the value in ZRX is the network of users and application built on top of the protocol itself. District0x and relayers are a prime example of this. Any project that tried to duplicate ZRX would need to attract all of the protocol network’s users as well.

 

As the cryptocurrency space keeps evolving, we’re going to see users and developers take the path of least resistance. Why make my own operating system when I can use one someone else wrote? Why make my own network protocol for computers when I can use TCP/IP to connect to the internet?

 

Why make my own cryptocurrency network when I can build on Ethereum or Stellar? This line thinking logically progresses into: Why make my own liquidity when I can tap into a network like ZRX? Why make my own marketplace when I can use District0x?

 

This interweaving of utility protocols is going to create a strong fabric for ecommerce in the age of Web 3.0. Just like ZRX, District0x benefits from developers building off of their framework. These developers must place a refundable deposit of DNT to become a district creating a symbiotic relationship.

District0x provides a standard framework for any marketplace system with a reputation like Ebay or even Amazon.


One example of the districts on the District0x network is the RedLightDistrict created in partnership with Spankchain. They sell, as you might have guessed, adult content from performers on Spankchain’s network. District0x’s framework provides the RedLightDistrict with the ability to have buyer and seller reputations, an issue interface for performers to sell digital content, and seamless payments via the ZRX protocol.

https://github.com/district0x/district-proposals/issues/197

 

The decentralized finance ecosystem grows with each new strand woven into its fabric; We are seeing more and more Dapps in the Ethereum space being built on top of or interwoven with other Dapps or protocols.  District0x is just one of the threads interwoven with ZRX.

 

dYdX protocol is building another important product that integrates with ZRX relayers. dYdX is a protocol for short selling and derivatives built on the Ethereum blockchain. dYdX provides decentralized peer-to-peer shorting, lending, and options trading of any Ethereum based token. dYdX allows decentralized exchanges to offer sophisicated financial tools similar to centralized exchanges but in a completely trustless way. https://medium.com/dydxderivatives/introducing-dydx-2d0f0f326fd

 

Dharma protocol is another great example. Dharma is a protocol for issuing, underwriting, and administering debt agreements as tradeable cryptographic tokens built on top of, you guessed it, the 0x protocol. https://dharma.io/

 

Overall, 0x is certainly a project doing big things, and will certainly be one of the more successful projects you should keep your eye on heading into next year.

 

More resources on 0x:

 

https://blog.0xproject.com/0x-is-laying-the-foundation-for-the-token-economy-eb2cc3b070d0


https://www.0xproject.com/wiki#List-of-Projects-Using-0x-Protocol


https://0xtracker.com/

https://medium.com/@FEhrsam/why-decentralized-exchange-protocols-matter-58fb5e08b320

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/tencent-wechat-mini-program-push-takes-aim-at-apple-and-google.html

 

2017- 2018Q2 Portfolio (Discontinued)

Desired Holdings

  How to read this portfolio: Please click on the Chart Key tab above for definitions and color codes. The colors correspond to our 7 categories in the graphic below.

Tier 4

ZIL

IAM

FT

DATA

ELEC

None.

Tier 2

MOD

 Tier 3

REQ

SUB

LINK

NANO

KNC

Tier 4

BNTY

TAU

WISH

PHR

LOCI

XBY

ELA

ECC

POE

HPB

BIX

EVE

XVG

NULS

DNA

How to read this portfolio: Ticker: Contains the ticker code for the coin. You can search this ticker in Coinmarketcap to learn more about the coin. The color denotes the risk tier by our evaluation. Dark Red = T1, Dark Green = T2, Dark Blue = T3, Light Blue = T4 (Colors in the Ticker column do not interact with the colors in the other columns) Cost Basis = Our average purchase price for this coin. Current price = The average price of the coin based on the exchanges it is listed on. Strategy = What we plan to do with this coin. Staking is receiving dividends for that coin. Master node is also staking, but with a higher return rate for having a (large) number of that coin. Stop = Our exit point, if it exists What do the colors mean? The colors in the ticker column represent the risk profile of that coin. The colors in the other columns reflect what sector(s) that coin belongs to. Some coins belong to multiple sectors, which is indicated by multiple colors. The colors correspond to our 7 categories in the graphic below

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