Voyager

Voyager is a crypto asset broker that provides retail and institutional investors with a turnkey solution to trade crypto assets. Voyager was founded by established Wall Street and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who teamed to bring a better, more transparent and cost-efficient alternative for trading crypto assets to the marketplace.

Content Marketing Manager at Voyager.

Tess authored the Voyager Market Roundup, a weekly crypto newsletter with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Sent from “Tess at Voyager,” the Market Roundup had a loyal readership that gained notoriety across the crypto industry. See samples of the Market Roundup and other educational content below:

 
 

7 Blockchain Use Cases to Get Excited About

From real estate to advertising, blockchain technology is infiltrating nearly every business sector. The widespread interest across industries shouldn’t come as a surprise. Blockchain can increase transparency, lower costs, and creates immutable records for transactions of any type. 

Keep reading to learn about seven industries that are being disrupted by blockchain in the best possible ways.

1. Banking 

Unlike humans, blockchain technology can’t lie, steal or commit fraud. Blockchains are immutable. The technology offers a high-security, low-cost way of sending payments that eliminates the need for verification from third parties. It creates tamper-proof digital records of asset transfers that increase transparency and accountability.

Companies like IBM and Symbiont, which in January announced $20 million in series B funding, are looking to implement blockchain technology into banking systems to prevent future financial crises and corruption. 

JP Morgan, UBS, Barclays, and many other banks are also experimenting with blockchain to expedite cross-border payments and improve back-office functions and settlements.

2. Messaging Apps

Early last year, Telegram completed a pre-sale for their own smart-contract platform, raising $1.7 billion between two rounds. Telegram Open Network’s (TON) extends Telegram’s services into payments, file storage, and censorship-proof browsing for its 200M users. In April, CCN reported Telegram’s coin launched their private beta.

Facebook has also made headlines, announcing a crypto asset of their own. The social media giant is reportedly developing a stablecoin to allow WhatsApp users in India to transfer money using the app. While the details of the project remain a mystery, the opportunity for the cryptocurrency is enormous. WhatsApp has more than 200 million users in India and 1.5 billion worldwide. Other reports have emerged that Facebook is looking to VCs to raise $1 billion for their new crypto project.

3. Voting

Elections require the coordination of millions of people’s votes, records, and the verification of their identities across wide geographical areas. Fraud and mistakes can happen easily, resulting in recounts and wasted time and money.

Blockchain can be used to mitigate the current inefficiencies by serving as the infrastructure for casting, tracking, and counting votes. Both Denver and Colorado have already used Voatz, a blockchain-based mobile voting software provider, during two state-wide elections this year. West Virginia plans to utilize the technology for the 2020 presidential elections. 

4. Critical Infrastructure Security 

Currently, critical infrastructures like power plants and transportation grids may be susceptible to attacks. According to a recent report by digital security firm Gemalto, only 48 percent of IoT (Internet of Things) companies can adequately detect whether their devices have experienced a breach. While startling, this statistic represents a massive opportunity for blockchain technology implementation. 

By replacing existing technology with blockchain, data communications could be sent and verified using advanced cryptographic techniques, ensuring that data is coming from correct sources and that nothing can be intercepted.

5. Supply Chain Management 

Most companies store their supply chain data in one centralized place. Uploading this data on a blockchain makes it extremely secure. With blockchain, information is distributed across thousands of servers and divided into an infinite series of blocks that are recorded and verified on an immutable ledger.

Blockchain can also make the tracking and coordination of supply-chain information more seamless by giving multiple permissioned parties a single access point to secure database.

For example, Alibaba is reportedly planning to implement blockchain technology for complex cross-border supply chains and ultimately plans to create a closed-loop ecological system that could be linked with local governments. 

6. Internet Advertising

The advertising industry has come under increased scrutiny for its lack of opaque advertising practices. This year, ad fraud cost the industry $19 billion, and by 2020 that number is expected to jump to $44 billion. Not only is money being wasted, but customer data is being unintentionally compromised.

The creation of a global ad blockchain that unites advertisers on a single distributed ledger could be the solution. The blockchain would function much like a public database, where information about an advertisement can be securely stored and tracked by all parties. For digital advertising, that means ad impressions can be tracked and advertisers can see where ads were delivered. 

7. Real Estate

The commercial real estate industry is finding ways to utilize blockchain-based smart contracts into the purchase, sale, financing, and leasing of property transactions. Blockchain technology can help cut associated costs and speed up transactions by removing the need for a middleman. It also reduces the chances of forgery by providing a tamper-proof record of ownership. 

Ethereum User Pays $2.6 Million in Fees for $138 Transfer

Bitcoin was rejected at the $10,000 level again this week, leading to a steep sell-off Thursday. Bitcoin fell alongside the stock market, which saw its worst day since mid-March as fears of a second wave of COVID-19 swell across the country.

Another critical factor that may have contributed to the drop was the liquidation of futures contracts. Within 30 minutes, $14 million worth of Bitcoin shorts were liquidated on BitMEX alone. As BTC continued to drop, another $2 million of longs were also liquidated.

BTC has recovered from this week’s low and, at the time of writing, was trading at $9,385.

Don’t Do This

This week, an unknown Ethereum user sent $138 worth of Ethereum (ETH), a transaction that would have gone completely unnoticed if not for the fact that the user paid 10,668 ETH, or roughly $2.6 million, to transfer the funds.

To make matters worse, the same user made this mistake a second time when transferring $87,000 worth of ETH, leading many to speculate a bug in the user’s wallet.

Luckily, the group of miners that processed this transaction noticed the suspicious activity and marked the transfer as an accident, asking the user to reach out to them to reclaim the funds.

It’s important to note that things could have gone very differently for this user had the mining pool decided to go ahead and accept the fee and process the transaction, profiting a cool $5.2 million.

One of the great things about crypto is that you have control over storing and transferring your funds, but with great power comes great responsibility. Let this be your friendly reminder to always double-check your crypto transactions because unlike a bank, you can’t call the blockchain and get your money back. Not even if you ask to speak to the manager, Karen.

Institutions Buying Crypto Futures Doubled

Fidelity Digital assets released its 2020 Institutional Investors Digital Asset Survey, which found that the number of institutions buying crypto futures doubled this year. According to the research, the most appealing characteristics to investors are the lack of correlation with other asset classes, the innovative technology, and high potential upside.

Other positive findings included;

  • 36% of institutional investors surveyed currently invest in digital assets.

  • Almost 60% of all investors surveyed have a neutral or positive perception toward digital assets.

  • Almost 80% of investors find something appealing about digital assets.

  • More than 6 out of 10 investors feel digital assets have a place in portfolios.

The report paints a very positive picture for the future of crypto assets as institutional interest continues to grow.

NBA Star Spencer Dinwiddie is Tokenizing his $34.4 Million Contract

The NBA is getting tokenized, whether it likes it or not. This week, Spencer Dinwiddie, a 26-year-old point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, announced that he'd move ahead with plans to convert his $34.4 million contract into a tradable digital asset.

After months of negotiations with the NBA, Dinwiddie got the green light to let people invest in his contract, just like they invest in bonds, allowing him to receive a large chunk of his three-year contract upfront. Accredited investors who purchase one of Dinwiddie's 90 SD8 tokens will be paid back their principal in monthly installments, and most importantly, will earn interest.

The tokenization of his contract involves multiple parties, including a registered broker-dealer, to issue the security. Dinwiddie has also engaged Paxos Trust Company to custody the token and manage the distribution of payments and Securitize as its digital transfer agent and technology partner.

According to Dinwiddie, he designed the arrangement to be low risk. "The only way I have [to lose] is if I get morally kicked out of the league or something. I'm saying hey, we're going to be tied together on a three-year term with bond-level protection on this set amount of money that can appreciate up to this amount of money in theory, and we will split that money as it appreciates,” said Dinwiddie in an interview with Forbes.

In September, Dinwiddie launched DREAM Fan Shares, a blockchain-based investment platform where he'll sell his Professional Athlete Investment Token, and hopefully other athletes' tokens in the future.

Dinwiddie's trailblazing act was bold and risky (the NBA threatened to ban him from the league), but the star point guard says it's all about empowering athletes to take control of their contracts and maximize their earning potential. In an industry where one injury can end a career, he's building long-term strategies for athletes to stretch their salaries over a lifetime — on the blockchain.

Will the Real Satoshi Please Stand up

This week was everything that's both awesome and strange about crypto. First, 40 BTC moved from a wallet that's been dormant since 2009, leading many to speculate it was Satoshi Nakamoto.

Since there was only a handful of members in the Bitcoin community in 2009, there's a chance it was Satoshi, whoever that is. Naturally, the mysterious transaction and the fact that Bitcoin's founding father could be its owner snowballed into a full-blown internet investigation.

A series of in-depth videos emerged offering "proof" that Satoshi is "fill in the blank." Of course, it's nearly impossible to prove any of these claims, and if you ask me, that's part of the beauty of Bitcoin. But, there's also no harm in taking a trip down the rabbit hole, right?

In other exciting crypto news, it's Bitcoin Pizza day! On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, aka 'Bitcoin Pizza Guy,' bought two Papa John's pizzas with 10,000 BTC. Today, those pizzas would be worth roughly $92 million. Two large pizzas from your local Papa John's? Just $30. 

While Hanyecz will likely regret using BTC to buy those pies for the rest of his life, his bad investment represents the first-ever Bitcoin transaction, and that's something to celebrate. So, happy Bitcoin Pizza day, friends!

High Stakes for Ethereum

Ethereum is having a well-deserved moment. Last week, we covered Visa's recently filed patent to build stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) on the Ethereum blockchain and Reddit's launch of Ethereum-based reward tokens.

This week, Ethereum hit another important milestone. Topaz, the testnet from Prysmetic Labs running a version of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, now has 29,300 validators staking more than 1 million ETH. Preston Van Loon, CEO of Prysmatic labs, told DeCrypt that this is good news for ETH2. "The 1MM ETH milestone with high rates of stability give us confidence that ETH2 can handle this level of activity when phase 0 launches later this year," he said.

Ethereum's 2.0 upgrade will move to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. PoS offers those with a stake of network tokens the right to earn a reward for validating blocks, unlike the proof of work (PoW) consensus, which assigns block confirmation rights to those with the largest amount of computing power.

This change will give investors the chance to earn ETH for staking their holdings, leading some experts to believe that Ethereum will grow into a more functional store of value.

crypto talk

As the host of Voyager’s Crypto Talk, Tess interviewed leaders in the crypto space like NFL Quarterback Matt Barkley, Founder of the IOTA Foundation Dominik Schiener, Former CEO of E*TRADE Jarrett Lilien, and more.