Blockchain Bites: Inside Cosmos, Bitcoin at $200B, DeFi Surges

Traders are expecting bitcoin to go higher. DeFi is surging in web traffic. And Cosmos is alive and well, despite internal feuding.

No cults
Cosmos, the blockchain interoperability project that turned a small ICO into a thriving ecosystem, almost came to an end in February 2020 when the project’s co-founders engaged in a heated feud. It is now a testament to open-source collaboration and teamwork. “The Cosmos community managed to mature beyond a cult of personality without turning founders into martyrs, working together to reduce individual influence over the shared resources,” says CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen.

In line
The blockchain subsidiary of messaging app giant LINE has made its native token available to Japan-based traders for the first time. BitMax – operated by LINE’s LVC Corporation – has become the first crypto exchange in Japan to offer LINK (LN).

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Australian rules
Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) announced Monday it was piloting a blockchain-based app developed by the country’s patent and intellectual property office. Called Smart Trademark, the platform allows the legal owners of a trademark to link online stores and their supply chains to a government registry, so they can distinguish themselves from counterfeit websites.

DeFi token YFI rises quickly following a listing on Binance (Decrypt)

“Bitcoin mania appears to be almost back in full bloom,” says Bloomberg. 

CoinDesk reporters Sebastian Sinclair and Omkar Godbole have the latest:

Bitcoin is on the hunt for a new yearly high, having crossed above $12,000 early on Monday. The cryptocurrency picked up bids during the Asian trading hours, rising from $11,750 to $12,068, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. A break above $12,118 looks likely, as bullish demand can be seen in the strong hourly volume that continues to rise with bitcoin’s hike in value. If bitcoin manages to surpass the $12,118 level, the next target would be the high of $12,325 reached early in August 2019. Crypto investment firm Three Arrows Capital’s co-founder Kyle Davies said Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem could be another catalyst bolstering bitcoin’s recent rally.

Bitcoin’s Stolen Revolution
“Systems of power are rapidly asserting control over Bitcoin. And their incentives are not your incentives,” says Evan Shapiro, CEO of O(1), the team behind the Coda Protocol. Bitcoin was supposed to be an open system owned by its users. Instead it’s increasingly orchestrated by middlemen and powerful mining interests, he argues.  

Valuing Open-Source
Noelle Acheson’s Crypto Long & Short this week looks at how open-source networks create and don’t create value. The upshot? Copying is easy and increasingly likely. But size and audience dictates whether projects will be successful ultimately. “You can copy an open-source technology. But what gives a technology value is the community and network support from users,” she writes.

Decentralized Ready Next Time
Ben Goertzel, the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, a blockchain-based AI marketplace project, writes that COVID-19 has laid bare the need for decentralized technology. “Decentralized IT may now be, roughly, where internet tech was right after the dot-com crash. Although the speculative bubble popped, the tech built while it was inflating throughout the 90s laid the groundwork for the net-centric world we have today.”

Nathaniel Whittemore’s Long Reads Sunday follows the latest big themes around crypto. This week: a look at how public markets these days are less about capital raising and more about narratives and liquidity for early investors.