A futuristic take on crypto

by Arthur · August 12, 2022

You might not know it, but Canada is quietly becoming a major player in the blockchain and crypto scene: Ethereum has strong Canadian roots, Toronto-based 3iQ launched North America’s first physically settled Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) and the proportion of active crypto holders in the country has steadily increased over the past two years.

Against this backdrop, I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto, where I moderated two panels on rebuilding the financial system through Web3 and onboarding the next wave of crypto users. The event served as yet another reminder that the industry’s brightest minds are still building amazing products despite current market conditions. Not to sound too cliche, but it’s hard to be bearish on digital assets if you’re using a short-term preference.

*Blockchain Futurist Conference 2022 Opening Day, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.*

Table of Contents

DeFi needs a ‘killer app’ to go to the next level, says Ripple CEO

You can’t have a proper conversation about the future of digital assets without talking about decentralized finance (DeFi). One of the most stimulating panels at Futurist, entitled “The Future of Decentralized Finance”, featured the head of DeFi markets at Ripple Labs, the founder of Teller Finance and executives from Aventus Ventures and FLUIDEFI. According to Ripple Labs’ Boris Alergant, the institutional use of DeFi will come next – but not before the industry creates the next “killer app” to really spark interest.

Wealth Managers and VCs Help Drive Institutional Crypto Adoption – Wave Financial Leaders

The crypto bear market has instilled a lot of fear in retail investors. But for institutions and venture funds, adoption has increased. At Futurist, I had the opportunity to interview two executives from asset management firm Wave Financial, who explained that high net worth individuals and institutional investors are increasing their exposure to digital assets. During the last bear market, institutions asked, Is this the end of crypto? Now it seems that the question is much more round, Is this the right time to enter?

Coinbase posts $1.1 billion loss in Q2 due to ‘fast and furious’ crypto downturn

We all know that the crypto exchange business went nuclear in the second quarter due to the bear market. As it turns out, the performance of top crypto exchange Coinbase was worse than expected. The company posted a massive loss of $1.1 billion between April and June, easily its worst quarter since it went public in 2021. Revenue was also down 45.1% quarter-on-quarter and 153.1% compared to year-ago levels . Although crypto prices have risen modestly over the past month, retail interest and trading volumes remain low. That means there could be more pain ahead for Coinbase in the short term.

Amid miner capitulation, Hut maintained 8 BTC ‘HODL strategy’ in July

Some of the world’s biggest Bitcoin miners have sold their bags to fund operations during the bear market – but not Hut 8. The Canadian mining company, which trades publicly on the Nasdaq and Toronto exchanges, kept its diamond hands in July as its Bitcoin reserves grew to 7,736 BTC. Hut 8 maintains an active “HODL strategy” which involves depositing all self-mined BTC into custody. The company’s determination is truly impressive given how quickly and hard Bitcoin’s price has fallen.

Don’t miss it! Is your SOL safe?

Solana was the target of another coordinated attack this month after hackers stole roughly $8 million in crypto from ecosystem wallet Slope. Possibly due to its ambitious design and security trade-offs to achieve higher throughput, Solana has been the target of several exploits over the past year. This brings us to the important question: Is your Solana (SOL) actually safe? In this week’s market report, analysts Marcel Pechman, Yashu Gola and Benton Yaun discuss whether SOL investors should be legitimately concerned. You can watch the full replay below.