Good morning and welcome back to another Inspiration Friday! Today I have a few articles on some up-and-coming crypto news, including a political post (probably my first time reading a political thing), and I have one heartbreaking article, but we’ll get there. Anyways, let’s jump on in!
Cardano Smart Contracts Release Date
This article doesn’t do too much more than just inform us that the official release date for the Cardano smart contracts is September 12th! This will be a day to mark for anyone that holds Cardano or is thinking about it.
If you don’t remember, Cardano and Ethereum are two blockchain networks that offer pretty much the same stuff. They both started in 2015, but Ethereum really took off. It is the 2nd largest cryptocurrency at the moment. The reason being is they were the first to implement smart contracts. This is what powers things like NFTs. Ethereum also started as a proof of work model, something they have now transitioned out of. Cardano, on the other hand, started as a proof of state model, making them the first to accomplish this successfully. Once Cardano releases smart contracts, nothing will really differ between the two of them. Functionality-wise at least.
We will start seeing more platforms created that use the Cardano smart contracts and so the competition between the two can really flourish. It will be interesting to see what happens.
BitClout's Deflation Bomb
https://bitswap.network/blog/deflation-bomb-explained
So you remember me telling y’all about BitClout, this new decentralized social media that basically combines social media and investing? Well, there is some exciting news coming from them with regards to their base currency, $CLOUT.
To summarize the article, $CLOUT used to be created every time it was bought. Meaning whenever I bought $CLOUT with bitcoin, then I was buying brand new $CLOUT. This would allow an infinite amount of $CLOUT to be created essentially.
The lead developers, who go by Diamondhands, of the blockchain, have decided to do something different. They are going to cap the total amount of $CLOUT coins to 11.5 million coins. That is about half of what bitcoin is capped at!
What will this do?
It will make it so when people want to use $CLOUT on the platform, they’ll have to buy it from an exchange. The more people that want it, the higher the price goes. Simple supply/demand economics. The more this platform is accepted as the ultimate web 3.0 social media, then the higher that demand will be.
This will be ever increased with another crazy announcement that Coinbase, a crypto exchange that is so big it’s on the NASDAQ, is going to add $CLOUT to their exchange in September! Coinbase has over 56 million users! Last I checked BitClout only had about 300 to 400 thousand users, which means only a small fraction have been able to trade $CLOUT compared to when it’s put on Coinbase.
This Will Either Be The Best Or Worst Day In Cryptocurrency’s History
Here it is. The political one. Many of you have probably heard (and know 10 times more than me) about the $1 trillion Biden Infrastructure bill? Did y’all know there is a section in there to add idiotic regulations on cryptocurrency too?
So basically the 100 senators who know nothing about crypto decided they knew the best way to regulate crypto, which by the way is already taxed.
Here is what they came up with. They have decided to apply the broad term “broker” within the crypto space. Specifically, they want to call any blockchain software developer, or blockchain miner, a broker.
What does this mean?
Well, by law, a broker has to report the users of their firm to the IRS. So for crypto, any software developer who creates a platform utilizing crypto assets will have to report their users to the IRS. There are many fatal flaws in this system. One of them being that one of the essences of blockchain and decentralization is reducing the amount of personal data is being stored. Take BitClout for example. I didn’t give my name, gender, birth date, or anything. All I gave was a username I made up. So for people running BitClout, reporting their users to the IRS would be impossible.
The coolest part is that the senate realized the mistake and spent all night researching and figuring out a way to amend the bill. I didn’t know this, but apparently to do that they needed a unanimous vote?
Unfortunately, they did not get it and so the idiotic portion is still in the bill.
What will happen if the house passes it? I guess time will tell. According to Tim in his article, he thinks all the major blockchain developers and miners will just move out of the US. I think a lot of the BitClout people are in the UK and elsewhere already. I also listen to a podcast every now and then called the Pomp podcast and he seems to think Americans will just figure out a way to follow the rules and still continue to innovate. I think I side with him. It will be annoying to figure out how to report that to the IRS, but I’m sure Americans will find a way.
Either way, it’s interesting that our government is set up so that a group of people that know nothing about an area can create laws governing that area.
I think Senator Ted Cruze summarized it best:
“Let’s recognize that if we gathered all 100 senators in this chamber and asked them to stand up and articulate two sentences defining what in the hell a cryptocurrency is, that you would not get greater than five who could answer that question."
How Afghan Pastors Reflect on God’s Sovereignty
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/afghanistan-afghan-pastors/
This is the heart-wrenching article I was talking about. I’m sure you’ve all heard the news in Afghanistan. This article was about current Afghanistan pastors reflecting on how to deal with suffering. It is heartbreaking but also inspiring to read about these pastors going to God’s word and wrestling with His truths when they are facing such evil head-on. The thing that really stood out to me was how all of this happened right after the Christians in Afghanistan declared themselves to the government while it was still illegal. The bravery and trust in the Lord that took is remarkable alone; now to see them continue to have faith after the tragedies they are facing. It is such a powerful reminder of how blessed we are in America to not have to face this level of persecution.
Let’s keep praying for Afghanistan and the safety of its people. There are a lot of refugee centers in NC that they are being sent to, so let’s pray for those centers and safe travels, and for God’s will to be done.
On this note, Tay and I have started praying in light of this for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 coming up. The devil is clearly at work in Afghanistan and we don’t know what his full plans are, but we do know that the Lord’s plans are always and will always be greater!