Tales from the Crypt #11: Arjun Balaji Pt. II

— Blockstack and decentralized internet: Blockstack enables users to build decentralized applications where users control and store their own data rather than corporations holding it centrally; applications like decentralized Twitter allow users to choose different clients while maintaining data sovereignty.

— Data exploitation by Big Tech: Facebook, Google, Spotify, and similar platforms monetize user data through surveillance and targeted advertising; users often don't realize they are the product being sold to advertisers.

— Privacy coins and fungibility: Monero is the primary cryptocurrency used on dark markets; Zcash offers privacy but requires a trusted setup; ZK-STARKs represent advancement in zero-knowledge proofs that eliminate the need for a trusted setup.

— Exchange and custody risks: Mt. Gox and Mimpal exit scams underscore the danger of holding coins on centralized exchanges; users should move assets to self-custody wallets to avoid counterparty risk.

— Altcoin trading pitfalls: Most altcoin traders lack edge and don't outperform Bitcoin; new traders should evaluate projects on fundamentals (team, distribution, actual use case) rather than following hype or chart patterns.

— Bitcoin's institutional maturation: Infrastructure for consumers (2012–2013), institutions (2016–2017), and user experience improvements (2018–2019) represent waves of adoption; Bitcoin's immutability and lack of a single leader (unlike Ethereum under Vitalik) are strengths, not weaknesses.

— Binance processing $7–8 billion in daily volume at ~50 basis point fees, on track to exceed NYSE/NASDAQ annualized volumes.

— 0x protocol volume broke $10 million by end of 2017, expected to reach ~$100 million daily by end of 2018.

— ZClassic surged ahead of Bitcoin Private airdrop; Tron criticized for lack of product and plagiarized whitepaper.

— Kodak (KODK) stock rose ~300% on announcement of cloud-mining service; speaker predicts it will not work.

— If Ripple (XRP) reached $300/coin, market cap would exceed $30 trillion; fully diluted supply and token economics critical to valuation.

— Research projects critically before buying: Use on-chain FX (not CoinMarketCap) to evaluate fully diluted market caps; check team distribution schedules, founder incentives, and whether the token actually captures value from the use case.

— Move assets to self-custody immediately: Do not hold significant positions on exchanges; use hardware wallets or multisig solutions and learn private key management to avoid repeating Mt. Gox or Mimpal scenarios.

— Only outperform Bitcoin if trading: Day traders and altcoin holders should measure returns in Bitcoin, not USD; if you're not beating Bitcoin month-to-month, you've lost money; most noob traders should simply dollar-cost average into Bitcoin instead.