Newtown Partners Blog
Trust without a central authority. How Civic’s updated token model decentralizes trust.
Authors: Kyle Levin & James Kilroe. As we move towards a more decentralized world, it has become apparent that tokens are critical in enabling true decentralization. DApp builders must design platforms that are both technically decentralized (Byzantine Fault Tolerant) and [...]
CryptoKitties Genome Mapping
If you haven’t already heard of CryptoKitties, welcome to the amazing world where ‘digital cats’ have sold for over $100 000. The interesting question I’m hoping to answer today: How do the genes of these peculiar cryptokitties combine to form new offspring? Can we visualize this in a simple manner? I'll briefly discuss the background of Cryptokitties, I'll then touch on the 'birth' of a Cryptokitty and then we dive into the wonderful of genome mapping!
Application Protocols are the better investment. Here’s why.
Bitcoin is worth over $137 billion, while Coinbase, the most valuable Bitcoin company is only worth $1.6 billion. In fact, in 2015, had DFJ and others invested their $75 million equity investment directly into Bitcoin instead of Coinbase, it would have been worth $2.5 billion, much more than their undisclosed share of $1.6 billion. The Fat Protocol theory has caused many investors to believe ‘the lower the better’ and thus prioritise investing into ‘base protocol’ layer coins (Ethereum, EOS, Tezos, etc.) because this is where they believe major value will be captured. However, protocols have evolved, this thesis is now outdated. Application Tokens are the Value Trap. This post will show why.
Crypto-network effects are driving Thin Protocols
Traditional network effects have helped Web 2.0 companies dominate because they create a ‘winner-takes-all’ market, and they are fiendishly difficult to create and easy to defend. Most feel that protocols will have the same dynamic (in a hype-drive), but will they? In their current form, I believe protocols are not going to result in the winner-takes-all dynamic. Simply put, this is because economic incentives of controlled supply coins (i.e. Bitcoin) drive forks and competition (read ICO’s). Why? Because the economic incentives of these coins are skewed. To explain this point further, I'll use Bitcoin as an example.