The Token Beauty Contest
Market Report: 23rd May 2019 — Subscribe to our newsletter.
Join us on telegram
OUR TWO SATOSHIS
The daily view from our desk
Whilst the UK is exercising its right to vote in the European elections other’s are exercising their right to start a petition — for Danny Devito to become the next Wolverine. In a rare public outing, the Queen is seen pondering the potential for thieving, when faced with a self-service checkout machine. And finally, for those who intrigued by the flat earth movement, they’re meeting up at a pub called the Globe tonight.
THE TOKEN BEAUTY CONTEST
“THERE IS NOTHING RELIABLE TO BE LEARNED ABOUT MAKING MONEY. IF THERE WERE, STUDY WOULD BE INTENSE AND EVERYONE WITH A POSITIVE IQ WOULD BE RICH”
The past 24 hours have seen bitcoin and ether slide nearly 3% and 6%, respectively, with most alts following its airy — even if heavy — leader. As the market feels the gravitational pullback, CNBC seems like it wants to recover its counter indicator reputation — with Brian Kelly using the Bitcoin halving meme, covered in yesterday’s DMR, as a poor reason to anticipate the next pump.
However, there’s no reason to feel like you’re missing out, as BitQueen shows. If you, who crave crazy alternative tokens, remember that if this is really akin to 2017’s alt season, as trading volumes seem to imply, these sheepcoins will both pump and dump. Or, if you prefer to stick with the more liquid BTC, Josh Ragerr reminds how there will surely be “plenty of pullbacks” to get back on the train.
“IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EASY”
“ANYONE WHO FINDS IT EASY IS STUPID”
As the great investor Howard Marks once mused — regarding the above quotes from Charlie Munger and John Kenneth Galbraith — short-term investing is counterintuitive. It seems in the cryptosphere that intuition must be even more countered — even if you believe we’re about to experience a full-on alt season. To begin, remember that summers have been historically cold in crypto — as Mike Hearn’s “Bitcoin’s seasonal affective disorder” presciently confirmed.
Then, as Ben DiFrancesco notes, question all narratives being thrown around, especially on Bitcoin Twitter — even if you prepare for their possible influence, as Nathaniel Whittemore keeps arguing. This is because memes are not the most powerful force in the universe — that’s stupidity, as a great astronomer once said. And we have plenty of that around us, as Ben innocently, and amusingly, makes clear.
WHAT YOU CAN’T MISS TODAY
DON’T LEAVE FOR THE WEEKEND WHAT YOU SHOULD READ TODAY
▪ Crypto Voices analysed how Bitcoin compares to other global currencies, both fiat and metal-based, and introduce the “Real Bitcoin Dominance Index”.
▪ Panama Crypto made an excellent overview of the “current security threats in crypto and how to mitigate them”. Share it with your friends joining this space!
▪ Kevin Sekniqi briefly reviewed how different consensus protocols — in particular, longest-chain and voting-based — work and what are their trade-offs.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
HEAR, HEAR
“Anti-Fed rhetoric, Austrian economics, and American-style libertarianism will be regarded as a curious circumstance of Bitcoin’s early rise, not a foundational element.”
- By David Z. Morris