Dear Member,
Earlier this week, bitcoin set a new record for the amount transacted in a single hour. On December 4, 1.18 million bitcoin were moved in 21 transactions, all within 60 minutes.
At the time of the transfer, it was worth around $8.7 billion. It turns out the move was related to Bittrex, a major U.S. exchange, shifting coins to a new “cold wallet.”
The amazing thing about these transfers was the very low cost. All told, Bittrex spent about $0.60 per transaction, or $12.50 total.
With a traditional dollar transfer between banks, there would have been much higher fees, and the transaction probably would have taken three or four business days to clear.
The fact that bitcoin is a trusted enough network to move such incredibly large amounts of value across it speaks volumes. There’s no other cryptocurrency ecosystem that has anything close to the trust that the bitcoin ecosystem does.
One of my favorite bitcoin analysts, Tuur Demeester, recently said the following on Twitter:
The killer app of the Bitcoin blockchain is trustless, censorship resistant, cost-efficient, reliable financial settlement at scale.
Demeester is one of the leading thinkers in the cryptocurrency world. And he recently released a major report titled “The Bitcoin Reformation.” It’s a very valuable report that explores tons of interesting ideas. I strongly recommend reading it. (The report is free, but you will need to enter your email address to access it.)
Here’s a sample from the introduction…
At the end of the 16th century, a rag tag group of rebel intellectuals and entrepreneurs founded a country on some of the least desirable land in Europe – so often flooded that it needed hundreds of miles of moats – while fighting an eighty year long war against the largest empire in the world.
From this struggle and melting pot of ideas emerged the Dutch and British golden ages, innovative economic institutions that changed the world, as well as one of America’s most successful socio-economic experiments: New York City.
This report makes the case that the 21st century emergence of bitcoin, encryption, the internet, and millennials are more than just trends; they herald a wave of change that exhibits similar dynamics as the 16-17th century revolution that took place in Europe.
Some of the conclusions our report suggests:
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Bitcoin tolerance versus intolerance to become a major political faultline
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Bitcoin’s primary drivers will be in saving, lending and underwriting
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Collaborative custody to become an industry standard
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Offshore banking may transform into bitcoin banking
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Bitcoin to mature quickly: bonds, annuities, loans, insurance
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Initial exchange offerings (IEOs) expected to stay and grow larger
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Bitcoin savers could accelerate a revolution in the history of thought.