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September 2016’s blockchain hype meter: Blockchain goes intergalactic
- Blockchain hype was pretty balanced this month.
- And then there was an article about cryptocurrency in space.
When we put out our first hype meter out last month, I thought we stabilized with a nice equilibrium between positive and negative blockchain speculation. Since everyone except me was on vacation in August, I thought we would get a solid bump in September and not see much of a change for the hype meter.
Things started slowly with an email from my friend who used to work at Merrill Lynch and who had read last month's hype meter. I now get weekly email forwards from him about conferences regarding bitcoin and forex. Great.
Then our office acupuncturist (doesn’t every company have one?) tells us that he accepts Bitcoin payments AND that he plays the bitcoin currency market.
Then the father (he’s nearly 70, by the way) of Tradestreaming reporter, Gidon called him at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning asking, “What’s this blockchain thing I keep hearing about?”
And then I read an article about cryptocurrencies in space.
Let me repeat that.
Cryptocurrencies in outer fucking space.
September has been off-the-wall crazy with blockchain hype. We've had ridiculous stories about blockchain with barely any negative press pushing the hype down.
Here is a brief summary of what went down this past month.
Notable HYPE headlines:
September 2016 Blockchain Hype Meter
It's been so HYPE this month that I had to divide the stories into two categories: normal and are you out of your mind? Goldman came out earlier in the month that the firm wants to put forex trading on blockchain. Visa invited banks to participate in a blockchain pilot program for inter-bank payments. Blockchain based cross border payments company Ripple just finished a $55 million round, taking aim at replacing SWIFT as the worldwide payments leader. IBM and China Union Pay announced a joint blockchain project. IBM also teamed up with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in applying blockchain technology and smart contracts to automate business transactions. UBS announced a blockchain-based trade finance network. R3 announced that eight banks successfully tested an Intel-powered blockchain platform for bond trading. We got the announcement of a congressional bipartisan blockchain caucus, showing the public that the only thing Dems and Reps can agree on is their undying love of the blockchain. Then we have the are you out of your mind stories. Deloitte launched a bitcoin ATM, which led us to trying to figure out creative ways of printing out bitcoin (winners were between paper coins with 0's and 1's on them and blockchain-inspired candy bracelets). Accenture then announced a prototype of an editable blockchain, which we like to call Google Docs of Blockchain. Finally, we now have cryptocurrencies in space. I debated back and forth if this was HYPE or NOT HYPE. On the one hand, the fact that the only way you can protect a cryptocurrency wallet from getting hacked is by putting it on a satellite in orbit is pretty disconcerting. On the other hand, how can intergalactic cryptocurrencies not be super HYPE? There's not much here other than your run of the mill banks unsure they can incorporate blockchain stories. Etheriuem got hacked, but not much attention was paid to it. So we had to change to HYPE meter scoring system a bit, here's the updated scorecard:
| HYPE! | Not HYPE! | ||
| Category | Value | Category | Value |
| Article | 2 | Article | -1 |
| Event | 3 | Event | -3 |
| Big organization picks up blockchain/crypto | 4 | Fork | -4 |
| Blockchain/Crypto Hack | -5 | ||
| Bank Considers picking up blockchain/crypto | 5 | ||
| DAO Hack or Bankruptcy | -6 | ||
| DAO Founded | 6 | ||
| Bank Adoption of Blockchain/Crypto | 10 | Banks reject blockchain/crypto | -10 |
| Congress/Governement Caucus | 15 | Downfall of Crypto | -100 |
| Anything related to Outerspace and Blockchain/ Cryptocurrency | 20 | Zombie Apocalypse | -200 |
| DAO Successful | 100 | ||
| Mr. Robot Style Hack | 200 | ||
- Financial industry faces extreme disruption in payments (FT)
- Developers Are Flocking to Blockchain Bootcamps (Bloomberg)
- Blockchain Art Exhibitions Explore the Bitcoin Technology’s Future (WSJ)
- Google-backed blockchain start-up Ripple raises $55 million from big banks (CNBC)
- Banks struggle to make blockchain fast and secure (FT)
- BoE Says No Blockchain Revolution in Share Settlement Anytime Soon (NYT)
- Does the blockchain compromise your privacy? (CNBC)
- Large-Scale Blockchain Adoption by Financial Services Requires Time and Investment (WSJ)