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RelayNode NYC #43 - March 9

David Gogel

Welcome to RelayNode NYC Area edition! The NYC blockchain ecosystem is growing. Our goal is to harness its energy and innovation for the benefit of New Yorkers and provide a weekly curated list of interesting content, upcoming events, and local jobs.

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RelayNode NYC is curated by:  

David Gogel

Founder @GogelX/Definancier, Advisor @Paperchain.io, fmr Associate @Techstars' Blockchain Accelerator, Co-president @Wharton FinTech, Corp Dev @LinkedIn @AIG

Hsin-Ju Chuang

Founder @Dystopia Labs. Former-Head of Growth @Stellar / Lightyear, Solana. Ex-Director at Tezos (TQ)

Market Stats (as of Sunday, March 8, 10:30PM EST)

Bloody Monday on the horizon… pick your broker/exchange wisely… let’s hope the non-correlated digital gold narrative holds.

1 Big Thing: RelayNode Switching to Substack & DeFi Virtual Conference

In brief, RelayNode is taking inspiration from the blockchain world and will decentralize itself. Each of our local editions will be managed independently and sent out via Substack from here on out:

Over the last 43 editions, we have grown RelayNode NYC’s membership to 1000+ weekly subscribers. We will continue to provide the same type of coverage with more personalizations and experiment with new media formats. Further, in addition to the blockchain vertical, I will cover more of my own thoughts & viewpoints and also cover the fintech space more broadly.

🙏Please fill out this short 5 questions *survey*. Feedback is a gift. 🙏

If you do not want to stay subscribed for whatever reason, there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this (long) email.

PS - Going forward, each of the local editions of RelayNode will have their own archive page that is sharable.

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PPS - Hsin-Ju and I are excited to announce the speaker lineup for our upcoming DeFi Discussions (Virtual Summit) on May 1st & 2nd. This summit is 100% free and virtual so you'll be able to tune in & learn from the comfort (and relative safety) of your own couch. See full lineup here. 

What To Read

🌐 Why Bitcoin / Macro?

  • COVID-19: Black Swan? Anxiety and fear over the economic impact of the coronavirus have gripped global markets. The economic fallout from COVID-19 is raising questions about credit and funding markets. The supply chain disruptions and the demand shock are creating cash flow problems for small businesses and businesses in the travel, transportation, leisure, lodging industries. The ripple effects are expanding. The Fed cut interest rates by 50 bps to a target range of 1% to 1.25% in response to the "evolving risk to economic activity" that coronavirus poses. This is the Fed’s first emergency move since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. The 10-year US Treasury yield hit a record low and stocks tumbled after the rate reduction failed to ease fears that the spread of the coronavirus would push the economy into a recession. Further, Oil prices dropped 30% on Sunday as Saudi Arabia shocked the market by boosting oil production and launching a price war. Meanwhile, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo declared a state of emergency to help New York more quickly and effectively contain the spread of the virus. The Governor also confirmed 32 additional cases, bringing the statewide total to 76.

💰 Funding, M&A, & Exits

  • AlphaPoint, a NY-based startup providing white-labeled digital asset trading software for crypto exchanges, raised $5.6M in bridge financing through a private placement (total capital raised to date of $23.9M). Funds will be used to fuel product expansion for digital asset exchanges, towards platform development and roll-out of new features (e.g., margin trading, integrated advanced brokerage capabilities, and premium liquidity solutions to customers,) to enable access to digital assets globally and offer further tools for brokers who use the service. Financial terms and investors were not disclosed. 

  • GrainChain, a startup offering a blockchain-based and IoT-based suite of products allowing producers, buyers, and storage operators to buy, sell and track agricultural commodities, raised $8.2M from Overstock subsidiary Medici Ventures, with participation from Eden Block. 

  • Tempo Storm, an esports and gaming entertainment company, raised a $3.3M financing round led by Galaxy Interactive through its Galaxy EOS VC Fund. Proceeds of the investment will be used to accelerate the company’s interactive media and game development, including building its Game Changers franchise and launching its card game The Bazaar.

  • Arweave, a blockchain startup focused on the permanent storage of Internet content, raised $8.3M in additional funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures. Funds will be used to build out new initiatives, including a bid to re-invest the funds back into the Arweave community.

  • Zabo, a software-as-a-service startup connects financial services companies to customers' cryptocurrency accounts, wallets, and protocols via APIs, raised a $2.5M Seed round led by Moonshots Capital, with participation from existing investor Blockchange Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CoinShares, Tezos Foundation, among others. Funds will be used to grow the engineering team and customer base.

  • Horizon Blockchain Games, the blockchain-powered video games development studio, raised $5M in new funding led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Polychain Capital, ConsenSys, Golden Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CMT Digital, and Regah Ventures. Funds will be used to continue the development of the 'SkyWeaver' digital trading card game.

🔓 DeFi / OpFi

  • Antonio Juliano, Founder of dYdX, announced a plan to monetize the decentralized margin exchange. The company is introducing trading fees starting Mar 10, 2020. There are separate taker and maker fees, based on each trading pair. The fees will allow the company to earn consistent revenue and incentivize provision of more liquidity on dYdX.

  • Alexintosh announced the launch of PieDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to bringing market accessibility and economic empowerment by providing a governance layer to tokenized portfolio allocations. PieDAO enables the ability for anyone to create a tokenized portfolio allocation, including exposure to both crypto & traditional assets (via synthetic assets). These tokenized portfolio allocations are called “PIEs” which are available to anyone in the world with an internet connection, 24/7, all on the Ethereum network. PIEs require no minimum deposits for users along with minimal fees which are shared amongst the DAO‘s active members. DOUGH token holders are the DAO’s decision-makers, governing which proposals are accepted.

💸 STOs / Stablecoins / Tokens / DAOs

  • Largest blockchain IPO incoming: INX, the cryptoasset and security token exchange, is targeting an April 2020 launch date for its $130M security token IPO. According to its prospectus, the offering will be sold in the form of tokens on Ethereum. The proceeds from the IPO would fund the launch of a crypto exchange, known as INX Digital, and security token platform, INX Securities. In preparation, INX has lined up several partners, including Anchorage, BitGo, Tokensoft, and Quantstamp. 

  • Crypto Hostile Takeover: TRON and Justin Sun are at the heart of a new controversy involving Steemit, the decentralized blogging platform that partnered with the TRON Foundation. With the help of STEEM coins held by depositors on Huobi, Binance, and Poloniex exchanges, Sun was able to control all validators on the Steem blockchain and reverse a recent network change and install a hard fork on the Steem Network against the will of the community. In an Open Letter to the Community, TRON and Steemit declared that they were to remain control of the network for the next 4 to 6 weeks to “resume the order of the community.”

  • Algorand vs. Corda - new standard for CBDCs? The Marshall Islands announced that its national digital currency, the Marshallese sovereign (SOV), will be built using the Algorand blockchain. SFB Technologies, the appointed organizer for the SOV initiative, has chosen its blockchain for speed, scalability, and security. Meanwhile, Binance Research deep dives into Sweden’s e-krona pilot, led by the Riksbank in partnership with Accenture and built on R3’s Corda. The proposed outcome is a value-based, closed system with a two-tiered architecture with a global notary (i.e., consensus) node.

  • Libra’s shift to a multi-coin payment network: According to the Information, the Libra Association, succumbing to pressure from regulators, has decided to offer its users digital versions of government-backed currencies, including the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, British pound and Singapore dollar, in addition to the proposed Libra token. Facebook still plans to go ahead with the launch of Calibra, a digital wallet, that would allow users to make purchases and send and receive money, though it will delay the rollout from June to October.

🌉 Infrastructure

  • Exchange failure: It was a rough week for Robinhood, which experienced a ‘system-wide outage’ on Monday and Tuesday during the biggest market rally in 12 years. According to Robinhood’s CEOs, the company’s infrastructure was unable to handle the “unprecedented” levels of activity. Many customers were (understandably) angry.

🍰 Layer 1 

  • EY, ConsenSys, and Microsoft unveiled “Baseline Protocol,” an enterprise solution for companies to communicate and transact privately on the Ethereum public blockchain. The protocol relies on Zero-knowledge proofs to keep information private.

  • Dapper Labs, the creators of Cryptokitties among other crypto games, has been developing Flow, a new blockchain designed for high throughput consumer experiences (like crypto games). Dapper launched the Flow Playground so that developers can start building things on Flow.

  • Programmatic Proof-of-Work (ProgPoW) has been a topic of contention in the Ethereum community for a long time. Hudson Jameson, an Ethereum core developer, explains the history of ProgPoW, the various arguments for and against it, and his personal opinion on the topic. ProgPoW could drive a split on Ethereum if it goes forward, potentially similar to what happened after the DAO hack in 2016, which led to the creation of ETC.

⚖️ Legal

  • The Supreme Court of India struck down a 2018 ban on cryptocurrencies that made it illegal for banks to deal with cryptocurrency. With that directive the deeming that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ban on crypto was unconstitutional, Indian crypto traders can now deposit Indian rupees into crypto exchanges.

  • The SEC proposed amendments that would harmonize, simplify and improve the framework for private offerings under the Securities Act of 1933. Under the newly proposed changes to Reg D, the maximum offering amount will be raised from $5M to $10M. An updated Reg A would raise the maximum offering amount from $50 to $75M, while the offering limit in Regulation CF would be increased from $1 to $5M. The proposed rules would also waive the investment limits for accredited investors and revise the calculation methods applied to non-accredited investors.

🎧 Podcast of the Week

Events this week

Regulatory Arbitrage and New Markets: The excitement over Stablecoins (Free)

When: Wednesday, March 11, 2020, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Where: Union Square, New York, NY

In this session, Women in Blockchain's Thessy Mehrain will discuss with Dorothy Chang of Paxos and Ayesha Kiani of LedgerPrime the origins and benefits of stablecoins, how they are being used today vs future applications, and why there are so many brands and countries that want to issue their own.

Talk | Ethereum Blockchain: A Technical Overview on Blockchain 2.0 (Free)

When: Wed, March 11, 2020, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT

Where: 311 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036

Hi all, in our upcoming gathering, we will give a technical overview on Ethereum Blockchain, aka Blockchain 2.0. The speaker will be Dr. Chong Li from Columbia University. Topics to be covered:

  • Ethereum Blockchain: The basics

  • Why Blockchain 2.0: smart contract

  • Physical limits of the Blockchain 2.0: performance trade-off on throughput & security

  • Consensus algorithm: GHOST protocol; proof-of-stake protocol;

  • DAPP: design and implementation

BAR ON THE BLOCK - NEW YORK (Free)

When: Thu, March 12, 2020, 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM EDT

Where: The Farm SOHO, 447 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10013

Bar on the Block is an intimate gathering for the crypto and Iconic community designed to stay updated on the latest in fintech, foster meaningful connections and conversations amongst attendees. Stay updated on the latest in fintech, meet others in the blockchain community and create the future of crypto together!

Panel Discussion

  • Dominic Ward, Managing Director, Iconic Lab U.S. Accelerator Inc.

  • Christine Sandler, Head of Sales & Marketing, Fidelity Digital Assets

  • Thomas Lee, Managing Partner/ Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, LLC

  • MODERATOR: Wilfred Daye, Structured Finance and Fintech Professional

  • Fireside chat: Patrick Lowry, CEO, Iconic Holding

Agenda

  • 18:30-19:00 Drinks & Networking

  • 19:00-19:30 Panel discussion

  • 19:30-20:00 Fireside chat

  • 20:00-22:00 Drinks & Networking

Upcoming events

DAML: Write Once, Blockchain Anywhere (Free)

When: Monday, March 16, 2020, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where: 4 World Trade Center, 150 Greenwich St · New York, NY

Hosted by Digital Asset (DigitalAsset.com), learn how to build a blockchain MVP rapidly using the DAML language. The DAML lets you write an app once and deploy on a number of chains:

In this meetup Digital Asset will show you how to rapidly get to your minimum viable product so you can focus on engaging your users. No more relying on powerpoint presentations to sell and explain your idea. Go from business idea into a working app in a matter of hours, and then from there to get it ready for your MVP launch!

6:00 - 6:30 pm - Welcome and networking

6:30 - 7:45 pm - Bringing an app live step by step - concept to MVP!

7:45 - 8:00 pm - Q & A, and your ideas

8:00 - close - Networking & Close.

NYC/XRP V - Spring Forward (Free)

When: Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where: Lair East, 424 Broadway #602 · New York, NY

The NYC/XRP Community would like to invite all professionals and enthusiasts alike to attend our 5th bi-monthly meetup to be held on the night of March 17th at 7 PM at Lair East (424 Broadway Suite #602).

This month we'll conduct the meetup in a "tech talk" format with the feature presentation of the night being titled "Using The XRP API - An Intro to Programming XRP". Even though this will be technical topic, non-technical attendees are more than welcome to come and participate as we will accommodate all experience levels and backgrounds. The feature presentation of the night will be preceded by time before and after for networking and socializing, complete with light hors d’oeuvres and beverages. Hope to see you all there!

The Block Summit ($749)

When: May 12, 2020

Where: The Caldwell Factory, New York, NY

Join The Block for our flagship event during New York Blockchain Week. The Block Summit brings together leaders and stakeholders from across the digital asset, commercial, financial, and FinTech industries to identify, explore and advance the ecosystem's biggest developments, challenges and innovations.

Notable Conferences

Postponed

2020

🎓Highlighted Industry Jobs (non-exhaustive list for NY)

If you would like to highlight jobs or internships in future editions, please email links here.

Nothing written in RelayNode NYC is legal or investment advice and should not be taken as such. No one should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence.