On-The-Chain - February 12, 2019 - Q&A w/ Kyle Forkey of Amentum
Uniswap Tops MKR Pairs, Redemption of Fiat-Collateralized Stablecoins, MLB Crypto Baseball Goes Top 3, & Q&A with Kyle Forkey of Amentum
Welcome to On-The-Chain, a focused look at the most interesting data, networks, and people pertaining to the chain and crypto economics.
This issue features a Q&A with Kyle Forkey of Ethmint and Amentum Investment Management.
Uniswap Tops MKR Pairs
Uniswap has recently claimed the number one MKR pair of any decentralized or centralized exchange. MKR volume on Uniswap is currently greater than $300,000.
On Sunday evening, $500K was deposited into the Uniswap MKR pool. This move doubled the amount of liquidity available in the MKR pool.
Uniswap smart contracts currently hold ~$1,000,000 in reserves and facilitate ~$250,000/day in transactions. (h/t Hayden)
The data above is from www.coingecko.com/en/coins/maker.
The Takeaway: The crypto community recognizes the importance of censorship resistant, automated exchanges.
Redemption of Fiat-Collateralized Stablecoins
There has been a decline in the circulating supply of fiat-collateralized stablecoins over the past week. However, the circulating supply of Dai, a crypto-collateralized stablecoin, has increased during the same period.
It is also interesting to note that Dai is rapidly closing in on the Gemini Dollar for the number four stablecoin spot.
The Takeaway: This is likely due to crypto markets experiencing bullish price action. There is much less of an incentive for folks to hold a stable asset when other crypto assets are rising in price. Conversely, traders are able to mint Dai and get leverage.
MLB Crypto Baseball Goes Top 3
Increasing by 164% over the past week, MLB Crypto Baseball has seen a volume of 95.92 ETH or roughly $12,000. The market cap of MLB Crypto Baseball is currently 783.90 ETH or nearly $95,000.
The data above is from https://opensea.io/rankings.
MLB Crypto is the sixth ranked ERC-721 NFT in terms of seven day transfers, with 425 transfers over the last 24 hours.
The Takeaway: It will be fun to watch MLB Crypto Baseball ramp up for the Major League Baseball season.
Q&A with Kyle Forkey, Founding Partner of Amentum Investment Management
Kyle Forkey is a successful Internet entrepreneur. His latest venture, Ethmint, is a firm specializing in equity-oriented ICOs and has successfully raised millions of dollars for multiple projects. Kyle is also a founding partner of Amentum Investment Management, a hedge fund with a focus on crypto assets.
Q: Which protocols are Ethereum’s biggest competitors?
A: I think EOS is by far the biggest competitor to Ethereum. On the surface it is simply better, faster txs, greater bandwidth, ease of use, no tx cost, and more. All of these things are great if you think decentralization is over rated. For example, I do see fully decentralized games, while do not see a market for things semi-decentralized games. Individual genius and innovators produce greatness, not a robust governance process. This is essentially what we will be experiencing once DAOs start to come in. Decentralized applications will serve as coordination mechanisms for our economy, which will need to be as secure as possible.
Q: What does the workforce look like in a decentralized economy?
A: I believe the economy in the future will be run mainly by DAOs, and short of a true AI will need to be constantly iterated upon. This will increase net output of the DAO thereby generating wealth for all who interact with it. This extra wealth generated will somehow benefit the contributor, possibly in the same way everyone else does.
Example: Car insurance contract (DAO), for 100 widgets per month my car is covered. I can generate 20 widgets per month if I find a way to increase the efficiency of a contract and lower premiums.
Q: Do you think true decentralization is possible?
A: I do not think true decentralization is possible. Humans create hierarchies in systems of value. Humans want things, and whoever gives them the most things is the most valuable. This is the reason that a minimum wage worker does not have the same "voice" as an Elon Musk. This translates to PoW and PoS systems as well, as there is nothing more than human impositions of will upon securing the network. While mining pools get Bitcoin for their efforts, we value secure networks. So whoever can give us the most security while maintaining the highest margins will be able to out hash their competitors. This is why we have Bitmain and a much more secure network.
Q: How does this technology generate wealth?
A: Wealth is simply the products and services we have access to, not money. If we all had robots doing all of our bidding leaving us to do whatever we want we would all be wealthy though not necessarily rich. Once DAOs start to come into being that is essentially what we will be experiencing. Banks with no bankers, insurance companies with no insurers, lending without lenders, etc, and more. Without the cream being taken off the top in simple transactions such as the above, you are left with nothing short of additional wealth. Services with no third party costs.
Q: Where is our industry in five and fifty years?
A: I think we will begin seeing the first real security token offerings with technologic backing instead of legal backing in five years. I think there will be almost no jobs left in the traditional sense in fifty years. Humans will be hard pressed to generate a net economic positive on their own.
That concludes the eighth issue of On-The-Chain. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter. My DMs are always open.
A special thank you to Kyle!
Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. Do your own research.