Binance Labs Monthly Portfolio Updates, June20
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Still scattered across the globe, still locked down in our tiny apartments, we bring you our Binance Labs monthly update letter #2.
Stay tuned about the progress of our Binance Labs portfolio companies. Make sure to check out what we’ve been reading recently as well as CZ’s book recommendations at the end of the letter.
Portfolio Feature
Harry Halpin, CEO & Co-Founder, NYM.
“Nym provides privacy at the network layer for any blockchain or app. Our incentivized mixnet is built to resist even surveillance from an adversary that can monitor the whole network, keeping your data secure from even nation-state level threats. Learn how to integrate and run a mixnode at https://nymtech.net/docs/”
Join the community: https://t.me/nymchan.
Our Portfolios Are Kicking It… 🚀
Did you know that Terra (LUNA) is 3rd in total transactions fees only behind Bitcoin and Ethereum? This is because of its 1,100,000+ users and ~$104M in processed payments in South Korea. Also, Terra has recently wrapped up its first ever round of Terra Grant Awards. Find out more about Terra’s RFPs here.
Torus has shipped DirectAuth - web2 UI, web3 powered. The modern web has been based, for the longest time, on trusted third parties storing users’ keys. With Torus’ DirectAuth, trust is taken out of the equation and control over digital identity is given back to the user whilst keeping a seamless web2 login flow.
Stablecoin user numbers and growth are currently the most popular dashboard on Dune Analytics. Check out who is leading the race here! Note: only stablecoins on Ethereum.
Harry Halpin, CEO of NYM talked about privacy, mixnets and COVID-19 in an interview with privacy reporter Benjamin Powers on Coindesk. Also, find out how to join NYM’s public testnet here.
Harmony (ONE) celebrates its ONE year Binance Launchpad anniversary and launches BUSD as the next step towards the team’s vision of enabling cross-border finance on Harmony. If you are a developer that wants to build on Harmony, apply for a grant here.
How decentralized are current Oracle implementations? An in-depth analysis from Tellor (TRB). Also, note that Tellor has been recently added to F2Pool – you can start mining TRB now. Tellor is providing a robust, decentralized alternative to siloed blockchain networks that otherwise rely on centralized data sources for querying off-chain data.
Elrond (ERD) announced its Battle of Nodes, the final step before the Elrond mainnet launch on June 4. In anticipation of the launch, Elrond has teamed up with Binance Staking to offer staking support to all Binance users – ready to stake your ERD?
FIO Protocol creates human-readable wallet addresses that enable greatly enhanced transaction workflows. Check out this demo of FIO enabled Edge and Guarda Wallets here.
Celer (CELR) has launched its latest mainnet upgrade - Orion. EVERYONE can now run a State Channel Node on Ethereum and access the instant payment capabilities provided by Celer's tech.
PhishFort discusses its research on phishing in the crypto space and further elaborates on how companies can protect themselves and their users against such attack vectors.
Band Protocol (BAND), a Binance Launchpad project, set the countdown to its mainnet launch – June 10. Don’t miss out on running a BandChain node to become an integral part of the community.
Kava (KAVA), a Binance Launchpad project, is bringing DeFi to BNB. Mint USDX from your BNBs – starting June 10. Learn more here.
… And We At Binance Are Kicking It Too! 🚀
At Binance Labs, we are always on the lookout to support exceptional technical teams that are on the forefront of building cutting edge technology. Apply for an investment here.
The team at BNB Chain has successfully launched an initial version of the BNB Smart Chain Testnet – Rialto. If you are interested in building smart contract applications on top of BSC, you can fill out this form accordingly.
CoinMarketCap continuously iterates on its market pairs and exchange ranking algorithms in its relentless quest to empower users against volume inflation via wash trading. Learn more here.
Binance Research - Website Revamp
Project Pages Powered by IntoTheBlock
The team at Binance Research has entered into a collaboration with IntoTheBlock, one of the leading data providers for machine learning applications to the crypto space. Together, they will create enhanced crypto project pages on the Binance Research website by integrating multiple data indicators and interactive content highlighting on-chain metrics, trading, and other social elements.
What Else We're Reading
Bitcoin for the Open-Minded Skeptic
A great piece (& title) from Matt Huang of Paradigm who briefly comments on the history of gold and paper / fiat currencies to then discuss Bitcoin. Matt lists the properties that constitute a monetary asset and concludes that Bitcoin is in fact embodying those and more, hence making it a monetary asset as well. He then makes a case on why any monetary assets could be defined as bubble assets, to then draw the conclusion that Bitcoin’s end state has to be a bubble in order to become a trusted store of value in the first place.
The Great Monetary Inflation
According to billionaire hedge fund investor Paul Tudor Jones: “We are witnessing the Great Monetary Inflation (GMI) – an unprecedented expansion of every form of money unlike anything the developed world has ever seen.” Jones elaborates on which assets can constitute an inflation hedge and grades those based on a set of criteria. He concludes that his bet is with Bitcoin.
“At the end of the day, the best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the fastest horse. Just own the best performer and not get wed to an intellectual side that might leave you weeping in the performance dust because you thought you were smarter than the market. If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin.”
Note: we also learn that Jones had bought Bitcoin low and sold high in 2017. Bravo.
The Crypto Price-Innovation Cycle
“Anecdotally, of the hundreds of conversations with crypto founders we’ve had, we often hear stories like: ‘I heard about crypto in [2011, 2013, 2017] when the prices spiked and everyone was talking about it. At first, I thought it was just about money, but then I started reading white papers and blog posts, learned more about the potential of the technology, and eventually fell in love with it.’” Chris and Eddy from a16z crunch the numbers to validate and visualize their anecdotal findings.
CZ's Book Recommendations
Lastly, three book recommendations from CZ for the days of lockdown:
The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle. At Binance, we promote freedom, but it tends to come with chaos too. This book illustrates how a less structured, seemingly chaotic organization can be highly effective.
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. More than 60 years have passed since this book was first published, but there are few books that better encapsulate the inner workings of economics than this one. Again, this book shows how the economy should work, what governments should and should not do. Why some of the common concepts we are being brainwashed with are fallacies.
Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. This book talks about organizing business and technology for fast flow. It also goes into detail about how organizational structures dictate system architectures. How different types of team structures work best for different types of systems or platforms. This book helps our team understand some aspects of why Binance is structured the way it is.
If you find a great analysis, a thoughtful piece, or a fascinating book that is worth sharing, please send it to labs@binance.com and we’ll share with everyone.
Best,
The Binance Labs Team
Updated on July 27, 2022
Disclaimer: Crypto assets are volatile products with a high risk of losing money quickly. Prices can fluctuate significantly on any given day. Due to these price fluctuations, your holdings may significantly increase or decrease in value at any given moment, which can result in a loss of all the capital you have invested in a transaction.
Therefore, you should not trade or invest money you cannot afford to lose. It is crucial that you fully understand the risks involved before deciding to trade with us in light of your financial resources, level of experience, and risk appetite. If required, you should seek advice from an independent financial advisor. The actual returns and losses experienced by you will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to, market behavior, market movement, and your trade size. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of your investments may go up or down. Learn more here.