Premium Daily Crypto Newsletter

February 13, 2019

Crypto Market Commentary

Mav's Daily Commentary

The Future of Money:

A World Without Cash 

 

If you haven’t noticed, our world is going digital.

 

David Wolman, author of ‘The End of Money’ and contributing editor at Wired, believes that the most impactful contribution from the invention and advent of the smartphone is the applications that transform the device into a seamless wallet, remittance, and payments tool. This grants financial inclusion and unprecedented convenience to billions of unbanked people around the world.

 

While paper money has helped the world exchange value for goods and services for approximately the past millennium, it’s time the money system updated itself to satisfy today’s needs.

 

The case against cash is clear.

Cash for crime

 

Let’s start with a point that’s often levied against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies (looking at you, Bill Gates).

 

Cash is the favored mode of payment for individuals and organisations conducting illicit activities.

 

Peter Sands, Harvard president emeritus, believes that cash provides an untraceable means to facilitate criminal economy.

 

“No other payment mechanism simultaneously provides anonymity for payor and payee, leaves no trace of transactions, and is so widely accepted.”

 

Without physical cash, large-scale criminal activity would be much easier to detect: transactions will have to bypass bank accounts, which are traceable. They may even resort to a more troublesome form of barter trading.

 

Unsurprisingly, reducing dependence on cash can also alleviate the problem of street violence. Richard Wright, chair of the justice and criminology department at Georgia State University, conducted a study in the US on the correlation between cash and street violence. He discovered a 10% fall in total crime rate in areas that have moved away from giving federal welfare benefits in cashable checks to preloaded debit cards.

Environmental woes

Environmental damage due to mining is another criticism often levied against Bitcoin.

 

But you know what?

 

It costs a lot of money and resources to manufacture money.

 

The penny, in particular, costs more to make than its actual worth. According to a study done by University of California Davis, it costs the US Mint 1.43 cents to create a physical penny, even before accounting for the massive environmental impact created by mining, smelting, minting and transportation operations.

Enabling tax evasion

Cash enables the ‘hidden economy’, and it’s not hard to see why.

 

It doesn’t leave a ‘paper trail’ to be audited or tracked by taxation investigators, e.g., when an employer pays a worker in cash under the table, both employer and employee do not pay employment benefits or income tax for the transaction.

 

It isn’t surprising to see why workers in jobs paid primarily in cash — like waiting tables or private tutoring — tend to underreport their income.

Underreporting of income by individuals is the single largest contributor to the tax gap. Tax evasion costs the United States $200 billion every year, amounting to about 1 percent of the country’s GDP. OECD countries, on average, lose about 2–3 percent of their total tax revenues every year, while lower-income countries tend to lose more: about 6–13 percent.

Going cashless: The rise of government-backed digital currencies

Tech companies are also helping bring about a cashless society. Venmo by PayPal, Alipay by Ant Financial, WeChat Pay by Tencent, and Go-Pay by Go-Jek are some of the services offered by tech giants to enable cashless transactions for billions.

 

Governments are also taking steps to advance the cashless narrative.

 

The Singaporean government, for example, aims to reduce cash transactions by supporting several digital payments initiatives.

 

This includes a nation-wide electronic payments system — ‘PayNow’ — implemented by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS). Since the launch of PayNow, the transactional value of e-payments in the country has grown by more than S$10 billion a year, while ATM cash withdrawals have declined by more than S$300 million within the same timeframe.

 

The city-state is also experimenting with a central bank-issued SGD-equivalent digital currency built on distributed ledger technology — a project undertaken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore termed Project Ubin.

 

At a recent financial tech conference, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde presented the argument for governments to issue digital currencies as a means to achieve public policy goals which private companies are less motivated to achieve.

 

“Having central banks issue digital currency can bring about financial inclusivity, better security, and consumer protection, as well as allay privacy concerns.”

 

Digital currencies can be designed by central banks for user identities and transaction data to be authenticated and adhering to due diligence procedures. Lagarde also proposed that central banks should consider partnering with private companies and startups to invent innovative financial solutions.

 

“The advantage is clear. Your payment would be immediate, safe, cheap, and potentially semi-anonymous. And central banks would retain a sure footing in payments. In addition, they would offer a more level playing field for competition, and a platform for innovation. Meanwhile, your bank or fellow entrepreneurs would have ensured a friendly user experience based on the latest technologies.

 

Let’s put it a different way: the central bank focuses on its comparative advantage — back-end settlement . Financial institutions and start-ups are free to focus on what they do best — client interface and innovation. This is public-private partnership at its best.”

The rise of decentralised cryptocurrencies

I think it’s inevitable that government-backed digital currencies will emerge in economies both strong and weak. It’s simply because the benefits are too enticing for the governments to ignore.

 

While that may sound like bad news for the privacy-minded amongst us (thank you for what you do), I argue that the creation of government-issued digital currencies is the catalyst to the rise of decentralised cryptocurrencies.

 

The future of money will have cryptocurrencies stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside government-issued digital currencies.

 

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will forever be the internet’s native currency. They can facilitate online activities like e-commerce, trading, and remittance. They will trade instantly for whatever other currency you need.

 

What does that do?

 

Think about the potential once it becomes viable to include billions of unbanked people into the global gig economy.

 

Remote employment with mobile wallets, cryptocurrencies, and digital currencies will soon be a reality. Banking exclusivity will be a relic of the past.

 

On this note, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and co-founder of mobile payments platform Square, believes that Bitcoin is the best candidate for the internet’s native currency.

 

A global currency will, “enable more access [to financial services], serve more people, and move much faster around the world.”

 

Speaking with Joe Rogan on the latter’s podcast, he expressed why he feels Bitcoin is suited for this role:

 

“Bitcoin was born on the internet, tested on the internet, and is of the internet. When you think about the internet as a country, as a market, as a nation… It’s going to have its own currency. And what’s interesting about the internet as a nation — it’s the whole world. So, the whole world gets one currency. It gets one thing to communicate in. And that to me is just so freeing, and so exciting.”

 

So, hopefully two things are crystal clear:

 

The financial revolution is inevitable. Cryptocurrencies aren’t going anywhere.

 

In this very moment, every person with a smartphone is pushing us towards a cashless future.

 

So hold on to those bills in your wallet. They may become a souvenir and history lesson for your children one day.

 

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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