2019: The "Year of the Blockchain" in Washington, Silicon Valley and Beijing

Moni

Odaily资深作者

2019-12-11 12:55 (UTC+8)

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Looking back at the most noteworthy and influential time in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2019 is

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Looking back at the most noteworthy and influential time in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2019 is

This article comes fromYahoo Finance, co-authored by Noelle Acheson, Galen Moore and Christine Kim

Odaily Translator |

2019 was a historic year for blockchain and crypto.

2019 is coming to an end, here we want to review the top ten most noteworthy and influential events in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency this year. Without further ado, let's take a look.

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After many failed attempts, Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, performed its sixth system upgrade (also known as a hard fork) on February 28, 2019. Ethereum named this hard fork "Constantinople" (Constantinople). In fact, this upgrade was performed twice, because after the first upgrade, the community discovered a very serious loophole, so the developers had to update the hard fork. Patches were made over the next few hours and a second design estimate was implemented.

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Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has announced that it will activate their "Secure Asset Fund for Users" (SAFU) after $40.7 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen on May 7, 2019. Make up for the losses of users who have been hacked. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a public statement: "During this difficult time, we strive to maintain transparency and thank you for your support." It is worth mentioning that this hacking incident led to a drop in Bitcoin prices. Almost $300.

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On May 17, 2019, a large number of bitcoin sell orders suddenly appeared on the cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, causing the price of bitcoin to plummet by 15% overnight, falling from $7,700 to $6,600 in just 15 minutes. As a result, the bullish sentiment of many cryptocurrency traders has changed dramatically, and the cause of this flash crash has not been disclosed so far, and the cryptocurrency industry is also speculating and debating.

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This summer, social media giant Facebook launched their first and only cryptocurrency project, Libra, a digital currency designed as a non-permission-free blockchain network that aims to leverage "low price volatility" to facilitate cross-border transactions. border payment transactions. Yet shortly after the release of the Libra white paper, U.S. regulators asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify to Congress about the project. While lawmakers are very concerned about the project, Libra seems to be moving forward, and if all goes well, they will be officially released in 2020.

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On July 11, 2019, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (Jerome Powell) provided testimony on the Libra project at the Senate Banking Committee of Congress, although Jerome Powell raised many "serious concerns" about the digital currency project , but in terms of looking at Bitcoin, he does not seem to be "killing it with a stick", but believes that Bitcoin has the potential to be used as digital gold. In addition, many industry opinion leaders, including Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, responded to Jerome Powell's views on Bitcoin on Twitter.

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Bakkt, a bitcoin futures exchange backed by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, finally officially launched physically-settled bitcoin to US institutional investors in September this year after experiencing multiple delays and doubts from US regulators. Futures contract products. Just three months after Bakkt launched its futures product, bitcoin futures contracts traded a record $124 million.

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EOS blockchain creator Block.One is perhaps the most funded company ever raised through an initial coin offering (ICO), with a reported $4.1 billion raised. But then they were hit with charges from the SEC over their ICO token sale, though the charges were finally settled this year when the company agreed to settle the charges by paying a $24 million civil penalty, equivalent to the amount they raised. 0.58% of the total.

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If EOS is the most funded initial coin offering in history, then private instant messaging giant Telegram's previous initial coin offering may be the second largest in history. In addition, Telegram raised $1.7 billion through the issuance of tokens for its blockchain project "TON", and plans to launch the "GRAM" cryptocurrency in October 2019. But just as the deadline for token issuance was approaching, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suddenly sued Telegram, claiming that the tokens they issued were unregistered securities and ordered a suspension of token issuance. As of this writing, the SEC charges against Telegram remain unresolved.

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On October 24, 2019, when presiding over the 18th collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, President Xi Jinping emphasized that the integrated application of blockchain technology plays an important role in new technological innovation and industrial transformation. We must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify the main direction of attack, increase investment, focus on overcoming a number of key core technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation. He pointed out that the application of blockchain technology has been extended to many fields such as digital finance, Internet of Things, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain management, and digital asset transactions. At present, major countries in the world are accelerating the development of blockchain technology. my country has a good foundation in the field of blockchain, and it is necessary to accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation, and actively promote the integrated development of blockchain and economic society. Xi Jinping emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen basic research, enhance original innovation capabilities, and strive to make my country at the forefront of theory in the emerging field of blockchain, occupy the commanding heights of innovation, and gain new advantages in the industry.