The “party is truly over,” says crypto VC Nic Carter to CoinDesk, referring of course to the mad ICO fundraising party that held the world in its festive grip for the past few years, until the SEC called time on the whole thing, via two landmark settlements.
Carter thinks the SEC’s orders—in which it compelled ICOs Airfox and Paragon to register their tokens as securities and pay fines of $250,000 each—were just warning shots.
Says Carter: “My advice to all ICOs would be to get ahead of the game and close up shop, delist the token, get everyone their money back and pursue a normal business model that doesn’t require a token.”
Hilarious, really, how “pursue a normal business model,” as suggested by Carter, is actually radical advice in the crypto space. When your foremost advisors urge you to start thinking inside the box, you know you’ve gone too far.
The Rippling
Ethereum’s prophesied dominance over bitcoin—"the flippening”—is looking less plausible by the minute. Why?
Ripple, that’s why, ya eejit. The currency’s market capitalization has, at a cool $19 billion, finally surpassed that of Ethereum, which over the weekend sunk from 18 billion to 16 billion.
Venerable commentators like Justin Caldwell of the Toshi Times put Ripple’s steady rise—in the face of an otherwise catastrophic market collapse—down to the currency’s unceasing slew of bullish pronouncements, its chest-thumping claims of superiority over payment rival SWIFT, and its never-ending acquisition of institutional clients.
Similarly, Meltem Demirors of Coinshares suggested Ripple kept its balance as others teetered because of its broad support from institutional investors, who dignify the currency in the eyes of traders otherwise put off by the prospect of entrusting their great wealth to mad cypherpunks engaged in petty hash wars that may have killed bitcoin.
Morning McAfee
Leathery old man John McAfee, who is wanted by the Belizean government in connection with the unsolved murder of his neighbour, is making jokes about murdering his house guests and burying their bodies on the beach.
Well . . . . . Will you leave when asked? A number of my followers have visited and refused to leave. We've been burying them near the beach. My fear is a major hurricane will wash them all up before we move on.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 18, 2018
Vintage McAfee.
He needs a lawyer.
Elsewhere on Decrypt
Read next:Binance kowtows to state regulators