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Liquidity providers are not rushing in. To measure market makers’ enthusiasm for bitcoin, we turn to network data: the aggregate balances of exchange wallets, as a percentage of bitcoin’s total supply. This measure of exchanges’ bitcoin flows shows some responsiveness to volatility. Year-to-date highs were set in late May and early July, when volatility was on the rise and peaking, respectively.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a best-selling author, speaker, educator, and one of the world’s foremost bitcoin and open blockchain experts. He is known for delivering electric talks that combine economics, psychology, technology, and game theory with current events, personal anecdotes, and historical precedents effortlessly transliterating the complex issues of blockchain technology out of the abstract and into the real world.

Data provider Messari has closed a $4 million funding round led by Uncork Capital with new participation from Coinbase Ventures and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, according to a statement from the New York-based firm. As part of the deal, Uncork’s founder Jeff Clavier was named to Messari’s board of directors.

Uncork joins existing Messari investors including Blockchain Capital, CoinFund, Danhua Capital, Fabric Ventures, Semantic Ventures and Underscore VC, among others.

In a statement, Messari co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis described “one of the industry’s toughest problems” as being the “coordination challenges of self-regulating an emerging asset class and providing accurate, timely data to investors with diverse compliance requirements.”

In a Telegram conversation with CoinDesk, Selkis described Messari’s relationship with Uncork:

“Clavier is a straight shooter that hasn’t bought the crypto hype, but likes picks and shovels businesses building infrastructure in the space.”

The additional funding will help Messari automate on-boarding data and registry participants along with offering new products for subscribers in its self-described effort to sift out “bad actors” from the crypto space. Messari’s funding round began last May, closing six months later. The “broader macro challenges in the industry this year” slowed securing funding quickly, Selkis said.

Founded in 2018, Messari offers investment products such as a Bloomberg Terminal–styled registry and data analytics via its Messari Pro interface, an API service. The firm says it has some 60 projects and several exchanges utilizing its data.

Disclosure: The author of this post is a former Messari employee.

Ryan Selkis image via CoinDesk archives

Russian authorities are seeking legal means to confiscate virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies as they already can with more traditional forms of property.

In an effort to fight cybercrime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to develop legislation allowing law agencies to force criminals to hand over ill-gotten digital gains and wants proposals on the books by December 2021, according to a report from Russian news source RBC Thursday.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs will be joined by the finance regulator Rosfinmonitoring, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, the Justice Ministry, the Federal Customs Service, the Federal Security Service and the Supreme Court in developing the proposals.

Long-awaited regulation addressing crypo assets more generally has been held up in the Russian parliament, further complicating the issue. A legal definition of cryptos, perhaps as commodities or cash-equivalents, is required to allow forfeiture, according to the report. However, the definition being set out in the new rules may not be appropriate in this case.

There are other potential problems down the road for the plan, too. Regulators are aware of the difficulties of confiscating crypto residing in various wallet types protected by both encryption and user passwords, RBC sources said.

Still, authorities believe they may be able to work with exchanges to isolate and freeze funds, said Nikita Kulikov, member of the State Duma’s expert council and founder of PravoRobotov Autonomous Non-Profit Organization.

Additionally, agencies may have to develop their own crypto wallets and find ways to exchange digital assets into fiat. “For these purposes, they can create a state crypto-exchange and crypto-ruble with a stable rate in which they will store the withdrawn funds,” Kulikov said.

While law enforcement moves to become acquainted with cryptocurrency, Russia’s central bank is maintaining indifference. This October, chairwoman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said she saw no pressing reasons to launch a digital ruble following internal research.

Russian rubles and BTC image via Shutterstock

John Biggs is CoinDesk’s multimedia editor. The views expressed here are his own.

Bitcoin just turned 11 and it’s worth looking at what this technology has achieved. First, some context.

Facebook is 14 while Twitter is 13. Linux is 28. The World Wide Web – the network you’re reading this on – is 30. TCP/IP is about 44 years old, depending on whom you ask.

If you’re into a bitcoin, you’re most likely 18 to 34 years old, according to pollsters at the Global Blockchain Business Council. And you probably joined the bitcoin party about five years ago and own some fraction of or even a full coin. Some of you own many, many more.

I’m about as old as TCP/IP. I’m part of the generation that saw computing’s evolutionary bloom. If you’re younger, you’ve gotten used to modern networking technology and you don’t remember a time when everything wasn’t done on a screen. You were there for the birth of bitcoin.

But on the 11th anniversary of the white paper’s publication, we face a question: How long must we wait until bitcoin becomes like Twitter or Linux, something you use every day? Ten years? Twenty?

Bitcoin, from the vantage point of pure adoption, has been a failure. But it remains a beacon, the best chance we have for truly shaking up the status quo and, ultimately, changing the way we interact with our fellow global citizens.

When will we be using bitcoin daily? When will the underlying technology embed itself into the fabric of our financial lives?

Shrug. We don’t know.

Bigger than Belgium

A billion people use Facebook every month. On Twitter, it’s 330 million. Both services ramped up quickly but really took off in the last few years. Linux is on 98 percent of servers worldwide – that took a while but ramped up after the dot-com boom. The web is everywhere, but that took a solid 20 years to happen.

How many people use bitcoin? It’s hard to gauge on a decentralized network designed for anonymity. For a rough proxy, CoVenture Research says there are “11.2 million bitcoin addresses that hold at least .001 BTC,” or about $9 worth.

That’s a big number, more than the number of people in New York, including the outer boroughs. Of course, a single user can, and often does, control multiple addresses. Yet if anything, this estimate may be too conservative. An April 2019 survey by Harris Poll, done for Blockchain Capital, found 9 percent of Americans – 27 million people – own bitcoin.

All told, it’s safe to say that if the crypto community were a country, it would be bigger than Belgium.

But it’s not 330 million and it’s not a billion. It’s enough that the average investor and programmer will take notice and it’s enough for Hollywood to consider the topic interesting enough for an awful movie. But 11 million in 11 years is not good for bitcoin.

If bitcoin were a startup it would exist in the Valley of Death. In the startup world, an app with 11 million users is strong enough to generate some revenue but not interesting enough to attract massive investment. Bitcoin is like that. It works, but not enough to turn heads outside of a vocal minority.

So where is bitcoin going? Is 11 million enough? How many more years until we get to mass adoption?

Another shrug. Another unknown. We see the forward motion every day on CoinDesk – the various small changes that add up to a story of a platform. (Or is it a movement?)

This points to the primary problem that bitcoin and the wider crypto ecosystem has to accept. Facebook and Twitter achieved those numbers through investments far smaller than bitcoin’s $165 billion market cap. Linux and FOSS endeared themselves to developers enough that they happily contributed their time freely. The web grows by itself because it is trivial to join the party.

Bitcoin exhibits few of those traits. Bitcoin startup investment is cold. The crypto ecosystem is insular and self-involved, difficult for outsiders to join. The network grows by fits and starts, driven primarily by Number Go Up. We are in a vibrant early stage in which everyone is a pioneer and there is no clear way forward. Infighting turns developer against developer while crypto clowns hog the mainstream media’s attention. Only a small, dedicated group holds the center together.

This is bad for bitcoin.

Stay tuned

By all rights, bitcoin shouldn’t survive another ten years. All the things that made Linux and Twitter and Facebook and the PS4 and Netflix commercial successes cannot be seen in bitcoin’s rise. You can’t spin up an AI that can write Harry Potter novels on bitcoin.

Bitcoin doesn’t move the world’s financial markets the way Twitter does nor does it get the same scrutiny that Facebook does. There is no “bitcoin and chill.”

Yet it still exists.

You will argue that it’s unfair to compare bitcoin to all of those things. But bitcoin is both a financial instrument and a technical product. It is, like a startup, a work in progress, an alpha product that may graduate to beta with a little more time. It is a good idea that needs another summer or two to germinate.

When I first looked at Spotify, 13 years ago, I saw the future of streaming music that freed me from CDs. When I stuck a copy of Mandrake Linux into my Pentium computer in 1998 I saw a future of machines freed from paid software. When I look at bitcoin through the eyes of an uninterested programmer I see numbers and hype and scams. But when I look at bitcoin through the eyes of someone who wants to catch the next big thing, I see the possibility that one day, not too far in the future, it will make banking and commerce vastly different.

All of the other services and tools I mentioned above are reaching their apex. It’s all downhill from here. Bitcoin, to quote the Joker, is just getting warmed up.

Bitcoin is a slow burn, one that will take another five or ten years to really explode. And when it does it won’t be visible like Facebook or Netflix. It won’t be one level removed from our browsers, hiding just out of sight, like Linux. It will be ingrained in our lives, in the interaction between our money and the world. It will be the currency used between humans and robots and between robots and robots. It will become so useful that it will disappear.

Bitcoin is 11. Where is it going? When will it win?

Shrug. We don’t know. But, compared with everything that came before it, there is little out there to stop bitcoin and a lot of energy driving it forward. It’s only a matter of time.

Bitcoin 2014 image via CoinDesk archives

The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress in China has passed the cryptography law on Saturday and it will be effective on January 1, 2020, according to a Chinese media report.

The announcement came one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call on the country to seize opportunities in blockchain technology.

While China still bans cryptocurrency trading and its national digital currency is yet hatched, cryptography, as an integral underpinning of blockchain technology, could be key to the country’s push to be more competitive in the blockchain space.

The new law aims to tackle emerging regulatory and legal challenges in commercial cryptography use-cases as they play an increasingly important role in developing the Chinese economy, according to the law’s latest draft proposal prior to approval.

According to the proposal:

“Clear guidelines and regulations are needed to evaluate commercial cryptography technologies used in the major fields related to the national interest as the current ‘loose’ system is not suitable for the industry anymore.”

China’s national congress said the new law will encourage research and development on commercial cryptography technologies, while building up an inclusive standardized regulatory system for the market.

The Chinese congress released a draft proposal for the new law in July, soliciting public comments.

The proposal includes a range of issues from how compatible the industry standards should be with other international cryptography systems to whether companies should voluntarily verify their commercial use-cases with authorities.

According to the Chinese congress, the new law will also encourage nationwide educational efforts, such as public exhibitions, to promote cryptography among government officials, companies and social groups.

Chinese flag image via Shutterstock

Malta, the “Blockchain Island” in the Mediterranean, has a government authority to certify distributed ledger platforms, regulations to manage smart contracts and a framework for launching ICOs.

Now it has a blockchain master’s program, too.

The University of Malta’s Masters Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology began its inaugural semester this October, with around 35 students enrolled in the island nation’s only DLT-specific masters program – one of the few such programs around the world.

It is the latest charge in Malta’s islandwide embrace of just about everything blockchain, an effort now well into its second year.

When, in April 2017, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat unveiled plans for Malta to become a”global trail-blazer” in blockchain technology, it stood in stark contrast to most world governments’ reactions to DLT, many of whom were lagging – then as now – in how to proceed.

But the Maltese moved quickly. Lawmakers started passing blockchain-friendly laws and high-profile industry players – including Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, and OKEx- announced they would relocate to the island.

In less than a year the plan was paying dividends. Crypto firms were coming ashore and more businesses on the way.

Masters Program Director Joshua Ellul, who also heads Malta’s Digital Innovation Authority, told CoinDesk that in addition to the 15 companies who have already reached out to his DLT students, there’s high demand for government-run blockchain contracts, projects and initiatives.

Plenty of jobs – all looking for highly-trained, blockchain-fluent applicants.

“And this year, here you are,” Ellul told a crowd of students at Malta’s annual DELTA Summit, where, on Oct. 3, he kicked off the University of Malta’s DLT Masters program. “The future Blockchain and DLT specialists – who will lead and drive the Blockchain Island forward.”

With a little help from the government, of course.

An industry disconnect

Last year the Maltese government granted 300,000 euro to fund program scholarships. It also had a hand in its development, Ellul said.

The course trains students in blockchain law and regulation, business and finance, and information and communications technology. Students follow their focus concentration for three full semesters while gaining exposure to the two other fields.

Ellul told CoinDesk this academic diversity prioritizes a broad base of knowledge. Blockchain professionals were experts in sector of the industry, he said, but few could tie the other strands together.

Coders knew little about legal issues; lawyers knew less about launching a business; entrepreneurs just didn’t know how to code.

“We noticed a huge problem between techies and lawyers and business professionals,” said Ellul. “There was a communication disconnect between us.”

That gave him an idea:

“We thought: ‘this would be the perfect place to have a master’s, one serving the multidisciplinary purposes of the different specializations.’”

The program was developed by Ellul and Gordon Pace, a professor in the University of Malta’s computer science department and a member of its Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies, which Ellul heads.

Malta’s Centre for DLT houses Blockchain Masters’ program. It became a proving ground and think tank in the Masters’ development as faculty from across the university gave their perspective on what should be included.

Pace told CoinDesk that he travelled around Europe speaking to field experts: “We had a feel about what they needed, what type of experts they needed.”

“Right from the very beginning the idea was to have a broad, yet deep program,” Pace said.

Lawyers who code

The masters’ program now gives students a thorough framework in their target discipline with a smattering of useful if hyper-specific tools in other blockchain fields.

Pace, who spent much of his career working on software assurance techniques before entering crypto academia to study smart contracts, will lecture students of all backgrounds on smart contracts – a technological advancement he called a “time bomb waiting to explode” in value.

In December he will begin teaching lawyers and businesspeople how to program smart contracts.

“I hope their reaction won’t be similar to yours,” Pace told this reporter, who has tried, and failed, to learn coding languages in the past.

But bridging that specialization divide is one of Pace’s favorite academic endeavors. And while the program might make smart contract gurus of the ICT-track students, it will also work to improve the knowledge of those less technically-minded students required to take the course, he said.

“I think that the idea they become literate in the technology more than masters is the key.”

Non-ICT students who spoke to CoinDesk for this article agree. Jessica Borg, a graduate of the University of Malta’s law and business programs who returned to study blockchain regulation part-time, will be taking the class in coming semesters.

Borg is a corporate and financial services manager at Grant Thornton Malta, where she said she has seen the impact of the government’s wooing of blockchain firms.

“We’ve seen a lot of volume and a lot of interest” in businesses looking to take advantage of Malta’s regulatory landscape. Borg said. That’s partly why she enrolled in the course: “I thought this was spot-on the next step in my regulatory development.”

Evolving technologies

Ellul, the program director, acknowledged that it can be difficult to design and launch a masters program for a field so rapidly evolving, in business practices, regulation and technology. What students learn one year might quickly pass into irrelevance the next.

But then again, most every tech-minded program faces this challenge; and Ellul said that University of Malta’s will change over time to meet the problems of the day.

He’s more interested in the caliber of multidisciplinary student the program might one day make.

“Over time, perhaps, we should start to consider training a hybrid programmer-lawyer: a law-grammer or let’s say a law-veloper,” Ellul told CoinDesk.

“It’s still early days to see whether we can achieve that.”

Image courtesy of University of Malta

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said backers of Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra dropped out of the project over concerns that the stablecoin project would not meet regulatory standards.

Speaking on CNBC, Mnuchin said that if Libra wouldn’t meet US money-laundering standards via the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, it could open them up to enforcement actions.

“I think they realized that they’re not ready, they’re not up to par,” Mnuchin said. “And I assume some of the partners got concerned and dropped out until they meet those standards.”

Mnuchin said he met with Libra representatives on multiple occasions to reiterate his stance on regulatory enforcement of the stablecoin.

Six major Libra backers – Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, eBay and Mercado Pago along with PayPal – withdraw from the Libra Association, a nonprofit organization designed to govern the new cryptocurrency.

On Friday, a Visa spokesperson told CoinDesk:

“We will continue to evaluate and our ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations.”

The withdrawals were followed by a draft report from the G7 working group on the global stablecoins, evaluating projects like Libra as a potential threat to the international financial stability due to regulatory challenges.

The working group, along with the Financial Stability Board, presented a range of issues circling stablecoins, including data privacy and protection, AML/CFT and KYC compliance, tax evasion, fair competition and market integrity.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin image via CoinDesk Archive