grokft

I just read that HelloGold secured funding from 500 Startups. Undisclosed sum, which seems odd. They ran an ICO before and raised funds too, and this wasn’t the first round they’ve gotten in Series A – they were valued at USD$12 million, post-money back in September 2017.

Anyway, social media was abuzz a few weeks back about how you could convert your recycled plastics and cans into gold. HelloGold deals with fractional gold, and when all is meant to be done, should expose this all on the blockchain (after all, that’s more fractions there for you!).

But maybe no one read beyond the headline? I haven’t seen a KLEAN recycler anywhere yet, but maybe the kicker is: 0.00059g of investment-grade gold for each recycled plastic bottle and each aluminium can.

The price of a 1 gram gold bar today is USD$43.49. Investment gold, i.e. paper gold you can buy at the bank (Maybank, is selling at RM5,569 for one ounce. That’s 28.3495 grams. So RM196.44 (if you convert USD$43.49 to Ringgit today, it should only be RM184.44, alas…).

So if we work with the RM196.44/gram amount, do you know how many cans or plastic bottles you’ll need before you get 1 gram of gold on the HelloGold platform? 332,949 items

If it takes approximately 31 empty aluminium cans to equal a pound (source), you need approximately 68 aluminium cans to get a kilogram, and the rate in mid–2017 was RM4–4.20 per kg (source). So in reality, to make RM196 in cold hard cash, you would just need 49kg worth of aluminium cans (or a mere 3,332 items).

It is clear you’re much better off recycling for cash at your local recycler, rather than getting fractional gold.

A whole month without writing here. It turns out, writing a blog is probably a lot harder than making a weekly newsletter. Readers, and the like, because RSS while not dead, is just not mainstream. But I’m really meant to be collecting resources here for myself, right? Write like no one’s reading? I digress.

YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals – I just learned of DTube. In fact, in countries like China and South Korea, people are getting paid for the videos/livestreams they make, probably a lot more than YouTube, as it turns out people are used to paying/tipping for content. No blockchain required. How long can DTube run without constraints? YouTube started that way, and regulation eventually piles on. Interesting that DTube is powered by Steem (I like the idea behind Steem/Steemit).

Coinfirm – helps you confirm blockchain transactions, to manage risk & streamline compliance. Comes with an API, with AML/CTF risk reportage.

Man charged after robbing two victims of S$365,000 over fake bitcoin transaction – this Singaporean story has it all: Malaysian man, Singaporean Uber driver, fake bitcoin transaction, and a spending spree. The arrest of the Malaysian happened at the Shangri-La Sentosa. The offences happened at a Hotel 81 at Middle Road (why not the luxury InterContinental?). “Both the victims were bitcoin brokers looking to buy bitcoins.” – why would you carry so much cash is beyond me. Shady on both sides.

Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code – I’d watch the livestream, and read the book.

Goodbye ICOs, hello ILPs? – Initial Loan Procurements (ILPs) for fundraising, you get loans rather than coins, and you get into a loan agreement with legally binding smart contracts.

Coinbase is on a tear: they just acquired Cipher Browser (undisclosed sum, but its apparently good enough to mint the founder), so that Pete Kim can lead Toshi. When he released it, there was a good tweet:

Why is @CipherBrowser better than @toshi and it’s built by 1 dude? @petejkim.

Can’t wait for y’all to try it. Sign up for the iOS beta https://t.co/Wb1dKFjSB4.

This wallet is SOOOO good. We really need better talent at these top companies. pic.twitter.com/5e6cV8PBXZ

— Steven D. McKie (@Steven_McKie) December 14, 2017

They also picked up Earn.com for like $100 million (formerly they were called 21.co). The Hacker News thread is worth reading. More good tweets:

The reviews of https://t.co/oP5RRD3lDa on Hacker News today are not great. They make it sound mostly like a mass marketing tool for ICOs. Is that the main use case? https://t.co/Mrkd1wjRHm pic.twitter.com/ngHWoa6JLZ

— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) April 17, 2018

Balaji is eager to take credit for his company’s recent success and says the company’s initial failures happened before he took over. Am I the only reporter who remembers Balaji as being the chairman — and very much in charge — of those two earlier failures? https://t.co/ANFsHo2TqO

— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) April 16, 2018

Read more at: Coinbase buys Earn.com and makes CEO Balaji Srinivasan its first CTO.

ICOs and Economics of Lemon Markets and Economics of Initial Coin Offerings, plus a good paper: Economics​ ​of​ ​Initial​ ​Coin​ ​Offerings.

From The Information, Crackdown Fails to Stop China’s Crypto Gold Rush (paywall), quotable: “We don’t want to build a startup that’s bought by Goldman Sachs—we want to be the Goldman Sachs of the crypto world,” says Tony He.

Malaysian firm adds Islamic certification to cryptocurrency in what reads like a press release.

No, You Probably Don’t Need a Blockchain.

Bill Gates says bitcoin has been a ‘fairly direct’ cause of deaths – is he still thinking the only utility is Silk Road style applications? Also, from his Reddit AMA.

WSJ reports: Cryptocurrency Investors Wade Into Dark Pools.

Republic Protocol, a Singapore-based company, raised 35,000 ether ($33.8 million) this month from some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency hedge funds to finance a dark pool for digital currencies, designed to allow big investors to trade bitcoin and ethereum in large volumes without moving the market.

Bitcoin is becoming a “nightmare” for divorce lawyers – you bet. Valued at $1.4m even. Are cryptoassets the cause of the divorces?

ING says cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has an account with it

Course from the Linux Foundation, Blockchain for Business – An Introduction to Hyperledger Technologies – self-paced learning, and $99 if you want a certificate.