If anything, the fallout highlights the importance of the foundational principles of cryptocurrency: that they allow for disintermediation and self-custody of assets
What a difference a year makes! November 10th 2021 marked the turning point for crypto when Bitcoin reached its all-time high and the space ushered in a new bear market. Fast-forward to today and the crypto message has come full circle, returning to an emphasis on self custodial solutions.
Through this noise and destruction, it’s been important to get the Decred message carefully positioned to discuss the tools we’ve built for just this moment!
Monde PR has responded to 13 requests for comments. Secured three media interviews. Pitched one news update and secured the following news articles:
New Use for Blockchain: Setting the Record Straight in Political Battles
An article in the Fintech Times on how the Decred Blockchain was used to combat fake news in Brazil’s presidential election, featuring commentary from @jy-p. The piece was syndicated to UK Economy News.
Francis Bignell
Extract from the article:
You may be thinking, “how can blockchains be used in politics?” The answer is, it allows politicians to make their policies, laws and promises immutable, allowing the public to compare any news they see to the candidate’s policies.
Does a lack of blockchain mean a candidate is not trustworthy?
Yocom-Piatt explained that this was not necessarily the case: “Blockchain tech is new and confusing for a lot of people. There are many who don’t really understand what this verification, public claiming, timestamping, and attribution process really mean.”
Someone who may want to change their policies later down the line may not want to commit to anchoring their plans on the blockchain, he said
“I see both directions, which is that if someone didn’t want to commit their plans on the blockchain, it can be an indication of not wanting to commit to a particular thing at a particular time.
“Another angle is if your party has a strong control of the media locally, then you might not feel so inclined to do list your plans on the blockchain. But if your party doesn’t have very strong control over the local media at the time, you probably have a greater incentive to do it.
“It really comes down to how things shake out locally and is not just a question of trust. Right now, not a huge number of people in the public understand what it means when you make commitments like this on the blockchain, but I expect over the next, several years, they will come to understand.”
FTX collapse: The crypto industry’s Lehman Brothers moment
An article in Cointelegraph featuring commentary from @jz calling the FTX saga 'crypto’s Lehman Brothers moment’. The piece was syndicated to 24 publications including The New York Ledger and Investing.com.
Prashant Jha
Extract from the article:
When Bankman-Fried said the exchange was liquid, it may indeed have been the truth. The only problem being the exchange was heavily liquid in FTT, which it was also using extensively as collateral.
Jonathan Zeppettini, strategy lead at Decred, called the FTX saga the crypto industry’s Lehman Brothers moment of this cycle, telling Cointelegraph:
“It looks highly likely that a run on the exchange has revealed them to be operating on a fractional reserve basis after engaging in rehypothecation of customer assets to effectively bail out Alameda Research, the prop trading firm that was also founded by Bankman-Fried, which became a zombie due to sustained losses. Simply put, they used a scheme involving overvalued junk collateral to raid the piggy bank and now the customers are left holding the bag.”
Blockchain & elections
@jy-p appeared on the Invezz Podcast talking about how the Decred Blockchain was used in Brazil’s presidential elections. Invezz also published an article about the interview which was syndicated to two publications and translated into nine languages.
Why experts say the FTX failure is a ‘turning point’ and not the end for crypto
An article in The Manual featuring commentary from @jz on the future of crypto following the FTX collapse. The article was syndicated to Canada Today.
Matthew Denis
Extract from the article:
Here, crypto industry leaders weigh in on what the future may hold after the fall of FTX and Luna bared the catastrophic risk involved with the digital currency. Not surprisingly, these crypto leaders have a more optimistic take on the industry’s future than people like Michael Burry; instead of a total collapse, they believe we’re at the start of a new era for crypto.
Crashes reveal crypto’s true intention. While billions in dollars for hundreds of thousands of investors is a horrific consequence, Jonathan Zeppettini, strategy lead and chief evangelist for the Decred cryptocurrency, proselytizes for the future of blockchain tender.
“If anything, the fallout highlights the importance of the foundational principles of cryptocurrency: that they allow for disintermediation and self-custody of assets,” Zeppettini wrote to The Manual.
In plain English, what this means is that crypto is designed as a medium of exchange between two parties while cutting out the middleman, aka, government issuers of currency. They are not meant to be blind speculative investments or depository instruments, Zeppettini asserts.
“There’s no reason to be leaving coins on exchanges and treating them like banks,” Zeppettini wrote.”Bitcoin and other crypto-assets empower individuals to have control of their own money and it’s worth investing time and effort into gaining sovereignty over your property.”
Sustainable Crypto Alternatives to Mining With Decred, Sellix and Omnia Markets
An article in The Fintech Times featuring commentary from @jy-p on sustainable crypto alternatives to mining. The piece was syndicated to five publications including UK Economy News and NYC Crypto.
Francis Bignell
Extract from the article:
Proof-of-Stake or Proof-of-Work? Traditionally, cryptocurrencies ran using a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus. This required miners to solve computationally challenging problems to create new blocks on a blockchain. An enormous amount of energy was needed to run computers and mining rigs. With the changing attitudes, cryptocurrencies are starting to look at alternatives to PoW.
Jake Yocom-Piatt, co-founder and project lead at Decred, the blockchain platform, discussed the major alternative:
“Over the past several years, there has been an increased interest in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus systems compared to PoW because PoW mining consumes large amounts of electricity. While the primary focus is on the energy and environmental issues with mining, the acute centralisation of the manufacturing, operation, and ownership of mining hardware is often overlooked.
“PoS avoids the centralisation that comes with mining, so the only requirements are that you own a certain amount of the asset, stake it, and keep a machine online to participate in consensus. In May 2022, Decred pivoted from being a majority PoW chain to a majority PoS chain in response to its miners being both highly centralised and malicious. Expect to see increasing interest in Proof-of-Stake as more projects become aware of the centralised and potentially-malicious nature of miners.”
Jake Yocom-Piatt, Co-Founder of Decred, on Blockchain Fixing Political Voting, Campaign Spending and Privacy
@jy-p appeared on the Cryptonews.com Podcast talking about how blockchain can provide solutions to political voting, spending and privacy. The interview was syndicated to seven publications including Daily Crypto and Smart Investor.
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