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The world has been on edge since Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un started to throw barbs at each other. What was first an early indicator of an impending nuclear war has now been dialed down to peace talks between the United States and North Korea.
The situation is no longer as tense as it was before, and there could be more than one reason for that. Rather than relying on Donald Trump’s diplomatic skills, former basketball star Dennis Rodman decided to join in on the peace talks to provide some much-needed moral support. Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un are old buddies, as they watched a game between their countries back in 2013.
But what does all this have to do with cryptocurrency?
PotCoin publicity stunt?
What caught the eye of the mass media was not so much the return of Dennis Rodman to the Far East. Rather, it was his outfit that got people talking. The t-shirt he wore had a peaceful slogan emblazoned on it, which said ‘peace starts in Singapore’. Nothing controversial here.
What was controversial, however, was the fact that it also had the logo for PotCoin on it. The cryptocurrency, which has sponsored Dennis Rodman’s trip to Singapore, was given a shoutout on his Twitter prior to his departure from the United States.
This is not the first time PotCoin has sponsored Dennis Rodman’s travels. Last year, the cryptocurrency team paid for his trip to North Korea. Here, Rodman and his colleagues were also seen wearing PotCoin merchandise, including t-shirts and baseball caps.
Why is this controversial?
It is not uncommon for a company to sponsor a celebrity traveling somewhere. It is an old marketing trick to have a well-known person wear your company’s clothing in order to create brand awareness. What makes the PotCoin sponsorship of Dennis Rodman’s trips to Singapore and North Korea controversial is that marijuana is illegal in both countries.
The situation is a bit more serious in these two countries than it is in Europe and the United States, for example. In North Korea, marijuana is listed as a controlled substance on par with much stronger drugs like heroin and cocaine. In Singapore, being in possession of marijuana is an even graver offense. The maximum penalty for being caught with marijuana is death.
Dennis Rodman seems enthusiastic about PotCoin, so it would under any other circumstances probably be a good match for a publicity campaign. Why PotCoin would choose to sponsor his trips to two countries where the substance is subject to such severe penalties, however, is uncertain. It definitely got the media talking about them, so if that was the aim then mission accomplished.
What is PotCoin exactly?
PotCoin calls itself a ‘network and banking solution’ for the legal cannabis industry around the world. As with other cryptocurrency platforms, PotCoin allows for cheaper, faster, and safer financial transactions for people trading in cannabis and cannabis-related products.
It is by no means a high-value cryptocurrency token, with one PotCoin being worth around $0.07. Their market cap is $17 million, compared to Bitcoin’s market cap of $115 billion. It is not the only one of its kind, however. In addition to PotCoin, there is also CannabisCoin, DopeCoin, and MarijuanaCoin. None of these cryptocurrencies have a significant market cap, however.
Whether or not PotCoin’s sponsorship of Dennis Rodman will aid his contribution to the peace talks between the United States and North Korea remains to be seen. The cryptocurrency team, however, are optimistic about the endeavor: “We at PotCoin definitely believe that Dennis Rodman deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.”
One of the largest financial investment firms in the world, Fidelity Investments, is reported to be quietly positioning itself to take advantage of the lucrative cryptocurrency industry by creating its own exchange platform. As noted by CCN, the company is in first stages of launching the platform as an internal job positing circular leaked online this week.
This MA based firm is rumored to be scouting for a DevOps System Engineer who will work for the company full time. His/her main role will be to come up with a digital asset exchange for both public and private cloud. Once the exchange is ready, the engineer will oversee the deployment process to ensure that it is done properly.
Another anonymous source that has been actively posting online about this company’s intention to start a cryptocurrency exchange platform has stated that the investment firm is valuated to be worth more than 2.4 trillion in assets that it manages. The source has also revealed that the firm has been debating on whether to launch the exchange platform for more than year now. The leaked recruitment circular is enough proof that the management board has finally agreed to set up the exchange.
Fidelity is also looking for professional staff who have the skills and experience required to help it provide stellar first class custodian services for various digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Experts who will be hired for this position will be deployed in the Fidelity Digital Asset Service department whose main role will be to directly deal and monitor the provision of all services related to cryptocurrencies.
At the time of writing this article, the investment firm clients can link their existing Coinbase accounts with the Fidelity accounts to view all their digital assets on the Fidelity beta platform. The assets are listed alongside all the other investments that a client has accrued in the company over the years. One of the benefits of this collaboration is that it gives Fidelity the ability to hold cryptocurrencies first-hand or directly.
It is also not clear if the exchange platform will be an independent entity but under the company’s umbrella or if will be hosted on the primary Fidelity platform. Only time will tell if the platform will be separate or part of the company.
It will be remembered that it is during the tenure of Abigail Johnson as the CEO that the firm started to take a positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies. In the just concluded cryptocurrency industry conference, Abigail openly stated that he is proud to be one of the experts from the renowned financial institutions who have not yet given up of cryptocurrencies.
Fidelity Investment Firm is also reported to have invested in several companies that are directly dealing with cryptocurrencies as well as set up a medium cryptocurrency mining facility. Johnson is on record stating that even though the primary objective of setting up the mining facility was to research, the facility is actually making profits for the firm.
Finally, ones the exchange platform is launched and fully functional, the company’s charity department will be able to get contributions from donors in form of bitcoin and other digital currencies.
You know a phenomenon has become truly embedded in our society when it makes an appearance in pop culture. The first comic book series dealing with cryptocurrency has now been launched, so fans of both manga comic books and cryptocurrency can rejoice. Shonen Crypto, which is the title of the comic book series, has just released its first issue, and aims to both entertain readers, as well as educate them about the wonders of cryptocurrency.
The first comic book to focus exclusively on cryptocurrency
In an interview with the editor-in-chief Taro says he has never heard or been told of another comic book series that deals exclusively with cryptocurrency. The comic is currently only available online in a digital format, but there are plans to expand the reach by a lot. Taro wants to publish physical copies of the comic, as well as produce music and accompanying videos to complement the comic book format.
Taro’s team has already grown from a modest group of ten employees to twice the size. The people working for him fill various roles. Naturally, there are artists and writers to create the actual comic series itself. But he has now also enlisted musicians to compose the music, and researchers to discover new cryptocurrency tokens they can work with.
Education and entertainment
One of the rationales behind the comic book series is to educate the masses about the world of cryptocurrency. Taro mentions the numerous scam artists in the cryptocurrency world as a reason for the educational aspect of the comic book series. He understands that many people are sceptical about investing their own time and money in cryptocurrency. The comic book series will try to clear up some of the misconceptions people might have about cryptocurrency.
Taro is of the opinion that whilst there are a lot of articles on cryptocurrency being written on a daily basis, a comic book series might reach a different audience. According to the creator, many people simply find the language being used to explain cryptocurrency too complex, and a comic book might be able to explain the concepts better than technical jargon.
What can you expect from Shonen Crypto?
The first volume in the Shonen Crypto series is divided into six separate parts. Part one, called “Crypto Heroes”, sees the main character of Bitcoin Senpai leading the others characters into a stand-off with the evil fiat money. The villains Bitcoin Senpai and his team has to fight off are the US Dollar, the Japanese Yen, and the European Euro.
The second part is a bit more educational than the first one, and introduces the reader to Crypto-kun. Crypto-kun explains what is currently going on i the world of Bitcoin, and educates the reader about various scam artists and technical glitches. The third part of the comic book goes into investment advice and explains how nodes work in relation to the blockchain.
Parts four, five and six further elaborate on the intricacies of the cryptocurrency universe, and does so in very captivating manner. Be sure to check it out online!
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made some more interesting observations about the phenomenon that is cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, the Managing Director of IMF talked about how the introduction of cryptocurrency could very well be the catalyst for the complete overhaul of the world economy. Although we are yet quite far away from the abolition of government-issued fiat money, all the signs of a revolution within the financial space are there. Now the man behind IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department has written an article putting the emergency of digital currency into an evolutionary perspective.
Blockchain as a general-purpose technology
Martin Mühleisen from IMF writes that digital platforms, such as those underpinned by blockchain technology, are classified as a general-purpose technology. According to him, only three other kinds of technology in human history have the same capabilities, and these are the steam engine, the electricity generator, and the printing press. What makes general-purpose technology so important is that it continually transforms itself and affects all industry sectors — often creating completely new ones.
The only issue with these kind of transformative technologies is that human culture is often very slow to catch up. Mühleisen notes that it is not only important to adopt a new technology, but also for society to adapt to it. Without adapting to new technology, we cannot fully benefit from it. As an example, Mühleisen shows how James Watt invented a functional steam engine in 1774, but no actual steam locomotive ran until 1812. That is many years worth of wasted potential.
Cryptocurrency will change the financial industry
While Mühleisen notes the dangers associated with cryptocurrency, such as the ability for criminals to use them for money-laundering and drug trade, he also acknowledges the potential benefits of the blockchain technology. Among these are faster, cheaper, and more secure financial transactions. Mühleisen also mentions how government regulations are a bit behind the evolution of the technology, and are only now being put into motion. This is another example of adopting a new technology, but not necessarily adapting to it fast enough.
Mühleisen also mentions some of the new technologies on the horizon. Quantum computing will allow for calculations at a speed and on a scale that is unprecedented. As quantum computing becomes more mainstream, it will completely change industries relying on processing power. One of these industries will be cryptocurrency mining, and the blockchain space will undoubtedly see lots of changes as a result of the introduction of quantum computing.
Disruptions are on the horizon
While technological advancement is generally seen as a good thing for humanity in the long term, there are short term issues that need to be dealt with in the present. New technology like blockchain is very disruptive, and can create a lot of chaos and confusion. Mühleisen warns that jobs will disappear, and it is a good idea to start thinking about which new jobs will be created, and what qualifications will be needed. Therefore, he advises both public and private institutions alike to start considering which policies they will put in place to prepare for the digital revolution.