#I remember I cleared the machine one transaction at a time last June
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Flash Fic Feb, Day 1
Written on Day 2, Posted on Day 3.
Day 1 Prompt: "Still round the corner there may wait / A new road or secret gate."
It was much too busy for this time of year. For this time of night, come to that. June 23rd? It felt like December 23rd. Jerry was in a foul mood, Ever since the sun had gone down, some weirdos had come out of the woodwork. One guy had painted himself blue and only spoke to the cashier in cooing noises.Another person wanted to pay for a sizeable book purchase, including at least one extremely rare volume, with a gold coin. Coins weren’t Jerry’s specialty, but if the piece the customer put on the counter was genuine, it would be worth 4 grand, easy. But Jerry had no way of knowing whether it was genuine or not, so he refused. And on and on like that.
So when Karla’s voice came over the ludspeaker, saying “Manager to the fantasy section, please,” Jerry thought, “What is it now?” He made his way through the throng of people to the back of the store. Karla was just staring at the wall that divided the bookstore proper from the receiving and storage bay. To Jerry’s irritation, Stan was back there, too. Just staring. “Stan, if you’re here, who’s minding the espresso machine?”
Stan looked over his shoulder, looking at the line of apparently endlessly patient line of customers. “This is more important, I think,” Stan said in his slow way. Jerry never knew if it was thoughtfulness or stupidity, but the man knew how to make a cappuccino.
Karla said, “We need you to settle something for us. That door…has it always been there?”
Jerry blinked. “What?”
Karla pointed. “That door. Right there. Have we always had a door there?”
“Of course we have. That goes to Receiving. You’ve both been through there a thousand times. We don’t have time for—“
“No, not the receiving door. The receiving door is beige. I mean the one sort of next to Receiving. The gray primer-colored one.”
Jerry squinted and winced through a flash headache. Then he realized which door Karla and Stan were talking about, and his irritation grew. “Of course it’s always been there. It’s a door. They don’t just grow out of walls.”
“I remember…” Stan paused. “I remember the door being there forever. But I don’t remember…remembering that…yesterday.” He shook his head and went back to making coffee.
Karla said, “If it’s always been there, what’s behind it? Stan and I have been arguing about it.”
“It’s a storage closet. That’s where we keep the…” Jerry trailed off. This was ridiculous. This was his store. 10 years he’d been doing this. He knew what was behind this door. That headache just made him forget for a second.
A man, very tall and very very thin, rested a gentle hand on Jerry’s shoulder. “Excuse me. Do you have any Tennyson? A hilarious man. I’m quite overdue for a re-read.”
Karla shook her head, like she was trying to clear it, and said, “Of course. Come this way.”
Jerry stared at the door for a moment longer. Then another customer required his attention, and it slipped his mind. After all, it had always been there.
The rest of the evening was insanely busy. The cashiers kept asking Jerry to approve transactions in unusual currencies, things no policy could cover. He found himself saying yes to as many as he could, and he found himself glad for doing so. Some were straight book swaps. He was surprised by the titles people were willing to part with. Apparently he traded a pretty good edition of Butler’s Parable of the Sower for “one perfect song in perpetuity,” whatever that meant. He just knew he wanted to go to karaoke later.
The bookstore normally closed at 10 on weekends, but closing seemed unthinkable. Until midnight the customers kept them all busy with strange requests. He thought he heard one customer in the café ask for a cup of tears. When Stan replied that he didn’t have any, the customer happily ordered an oat milk latte instead.
Then, the lines grew shorter. Fewer and fewer people required Jerry’s attention. Then the last customer left with their purchase (an adult coloring book and seven copies of the same edition of War and Peace—Jerry hadn’t even known they had that many. He hadn’t sold that many copies of that book in the whole time he’d had the bookstore).
And the place was empty.
Jerry, Karla, and Stan cleaned up, exhausted. There was something slightly different about all of them, in ways Jerry couldn’t explain and would soon forget to notice. As they did a final walkthrough of the book floor, something caught Jerry’s attention, something about the back wall, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Hey, Karla?” he called. “Do you member why you called me back here earlier?”
Karla joined him and took a long look at the back wall. “Didn’t I need you to get something from Receiving?”
Jerry hesitated. “Yes, that must be it.” He looked at the beige door. Something was bothering him about it still.
As they all left the store together, Jerry said, “Hey, I know it was a long night, but is anybody interested in karaoke? I have a song I want to try out.”
To his surprise, they all agreed.
#flashficfeb#FlashFicFeb#stoco#storytellerscollective#storytelling collective#new roads#secret gates
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320 State Street- (5) June 1 2016
AO3 | FF.net Part 4
—
"I want credit."
The woman had bought four gallons of paint and just inserted her card into the chip reader. She was the kind of woman that would be a headache if things didn’t go perfectly. And Astrid would know.
“Okay, tap the green circle."
"But I want credit,” She said, her brown eyes filling with an evil only known in retail.
Astrid was undeterred, ”Yes, and when the PIN screen comes up, just hit the green circle again to skip out."
"But what about the red x? That's what it usually is."
"That's for slide. Chip is green circle. If you hit the red x on a chip, it cancels the transaction."
"That doesn't make any sense."
Astrid shrugged, “I know, I find it frustrating too."
"Okay, so green circle?"
"Green circle."
The woman pressed a button, but then frowned. “It said transaction cancelled."
"...did you press the green circle?"
"No, because red x is always credit."
Astrid closed her eyes for a second and breathed. “Will you excuse me for a moment?” She pulled out her radio. “Hiccup, can you come here for a second? We seem to be having some technical difficulties.”
“Sure, just a sec.”
“Are you sure it’s the machine? Because it seems like you don’t know what you’re doing.” The woman snidely remarked.
“I’m sure that must be what’s going on.” Astrid tried not to sound sarcastic as she typed the code back in, but it was very very difficult. By time she was all rung up, Hiccup was behind the counter looking over her shoulder.
“What’s up?”
“She would like credit on a chip, but I’ve been told that red x is always credit.”
He nodded his head once, understanding the situation in an instant. “I’ll try what I can. Here, why don’t you go do what I was doing?”
She smiled gratefully and walked persistently one aisle back, and listened.
“Alright, your total is 116.87. May I see your card?”
“Can’t I just do it?”
“I’m going to type in the numbers and do it manually.”
“Oh alright.”
Astrid heard a series of clicks, a beep and a receipt printing out. “Thank you for your patience and thank you for shopping with us!”
“Are you the manager?”
“…yes.” He sort of was, in a way. “Can I assist you?”
“You should really fire that other girl. She has a bad attitude and she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
Hiccup laughed, “oh Astrid’s a saint! She seems like she has a bad attitude, but it’s just the way she is. And she only started this week, so she doesn’t know everything.”
“Oh.” The woman paused. “Well, then keep an eye on her.”
“Of course ma’am.” He smiled.
When Astrid heard the bell, she came back out. “A saint, huh?”
“You know how the machine works, why did you need my help?”
Astrid scoffed. “Because that woman is the worst. She was the reason I was fired from Bath and Body.”
“Wait wait wait, her? You remember it was her? For sure?”
“I would recognize that ‘I want to speak to the manager’ haircut anywhere.”
“Hmmph.” He crossed his arms, “well, rest assured, unless you steal something or give a customer the bird, you probably won’t get fired. Tuff didn’t even get fired when we caught him smoking weed in the bathroom.”
“I mean, it’s probably an improvement on the smell.”
“Either way, I wouldn’t worry about it. I like having you here, Gobber likes having you here. And no stranger is going to change our minds.”
She gave Hiccup a heart warming smile. “Thank you, it’s nice to be reassured.”
Tuff came in, three hotdogs wrapped in foil in hand and a skinned knee. “I brought lunch!”
“Oh thanks!” Astrid grinned, taking a hotdog. “What happened to your leg?”
He glanced down. “Oh, right…so I got super high last night.”
“What else is new?” Hiccup spoke, taking his hotdog.
“And I learned something very important from this experience. Apparently, I can unicycle.”
“Not very well, I assume. Did you put something on that?”
“Yeah, I rubbed some dirt in it. It’ll be fine.”
Hiccup rolled his eyes, and looked at the hotdog with skepticism. “Where’d you get this?”
“From Dagger.” Tuff answered easily, taking a bite.
Hiccup re-wrapped the dog, and set it down. Then he went to the window.
“Is everything okay?” Astrid asked, noticing his closed off stance.
Hiccup answered shortly. “The hot dog vender is in business.”
“Yeah…? He comes out every summer.”
“I hate him.” He glared.
“Why…?”
Tuff provided the answer as Hiccup continued to glare out the window. “Hiccup thinks that Dagger has it out for him, because he always overcharges him for his hotdogs.”
“Why does he do that?”
“No one knows. Maybe he hates amputees, maybe he knows that Hiccup’s rich…either way, Hiccup can’t get hotdogs from him on his own.”
“But they’re so good!” The other boy lamented from the window.
“Why do you call him Dagger?” Astrid asked.
“Gobber said one time, “stop glaring daggers at him,” and it stuck.”
Astrid looked over to the door and sure enough, Hiccup was staring with malicious intent across the street.
“If it makes you feel any better, I hate him too.” Astrid added, coming up behind him. “His name is David B. Zerker.”
“Why the middle initial?”
“He always introduces himself like that, and he demands you use his full name when talking to him. It’s so stupid. Also, he’s Scott’s best friend and makes him super paranoid about me.”
Hiccup pressed his nose on the glass. “I hate him even more.”
“Are you going to eat this hotdog or can I have it?” She asked, holding it.
“Oh, I’m going to eat it. But I’m not going to like it.”
“Why bother eating anything if you aren’t going to like it?” Tuff asked.
“I mean, I’m going to be morally conflicted about it.” He snatched up the dog.
The door dinged as a customer came in.
“Hello!” Hiccup called, his mouth full.
The customer was a big burly man in dusty clothes. He gave a short grin and a nod in reply, then disappeared into the back. By time he returned, Astrid had finished her hotdog. “Find everything you were looking for?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He answered, placing two outlet boxes on the counter. “Put this on the tab for Hofferson electric.”
She looked up suddenly, “oh, you must work for my Uncle Finn, then!”
He looked mildly surprised. “Finn’s your uncle, huh? That must mean you’re Axel’s little girl.”
“…yeah, I’m Astrid.”
“How’s your old man doing?”
She shrugged sheepishly. “You know…somedays are better than others. All in all, not great.”
He simpered. “I know sometime next week, the guys were going to go visit him.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet! I know he’d like that.” She smiled earnestly and printed out his receipt. “You’re all set, and thanks again.”
“Tell the family I said hi!”
“Thanks! I will!”
The man took his purchase and left.
Astrid felt Hiccup staring at her, but he didn’t say anything.
The phone rang and Tuff ran and picked it up, “Home Depot!”
Hiccup snatched the phone out of his hand. “Gobber’s Goods, Hiccup speaking, how can I help?…No, that isn’t my real name.”
—
Astrid peered up at the clock in the ceiling. It was only 2.
“So, date night tonight?” Hiccup asked, sorting a box of pipes.
“Yeah, we’re going to Chili’s. He hasn’t cancelled on me yet, so that’s a good sign.”
“He’s been pretty good this month about not ditching you. It doesn’t excuse him from what he’s done, but I’m glad he’s seen the errors of his ways.”
“Yeah, I think that little talk we had really cleared things up.”
“Good! I’m glad to hear it.”
Tuff suddenly stood and went to the door. Without so much of an explanation, he threw it open and Ruff stumbled in, a blanket covered cage in hand. It banged against the side of the door.
Astrid nearly leapt over the counter and took it from her. “Careful!”
“Sorry Astrid, this thing is just so huge!” She put her hands on her waist. “You owe me for this.”
“Yes, I totally do. Thanks for bringing her.”
“I might have had ulterior motives in coming here. Who do I talk to about getting my old job back?”
“Oh uh, Gobber’s in the back, Ruff. You can go on back,” Hiccup provided.
“I’ll come with you, two heads are better than one, and the more people begging, the better.”
While they left, Astrid rested the cage on the counter and lifted the blanket to look at her bird. “Are you okay Stormfly?”
Hiccup curiously peeked in as well.
The Macaw didn’t look very well. She puffed up in anxiety and trembled slightly. There was a bald patch on her belly.
“Is she okay?” Hiccup asked, gauging her reaction.
“No…” Astrid sighed, replacing the blanket. “I knew this was going to happen. I’m never home and my house is super small. My roommate always locks her in her cage…” Astrid placed the cage on a counter by a window so some sunlight could come in. “Gobber’s letting me keep her here for the day, then after work I’m taking her to the pet store.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting her to the vet?”
Astrid put her head in her hands. “I wish I could. But I don’t have the money.”
“Ah.”
“I’m hoping that the pet store will find a buyer for her with a big house and lots of sunlight.”
Hiccup was pensive, and wanted to say more, but he didn’t have the words.
Stormfly squawked. “I love you Astrid! I love you!”
She covered her face and shuttered. “I’m so sorry dad…” She whispered.
Hiccup came up and touched her arms. “You want to talk about it?”
When she removed her hands, tears were starting to trickle down her face. “Stormfly was my dad’s and when he couldn’t take care of her anymore, I promised I would take care of her for him. He put a lot of time and patience into training her…now I feel like this is another part of my dad that I’m loosing.” She rubbed her face with the back of her hand. “When all my other friends moved on without me, and my life started falling apart, at least I had Stormfly to tell me how much she loved me. She’s my best friend.”
Hiccup still felt like he didn’t have the right to ask, but he did anyway. “What’s wrong with your dad?”
“He’s…sick.” She didn’t elaborate anymore.
“Well, what about your mom? I’m sure if you explained the situation, your mom would take care of her for a little while.”
Astrid frowned hard. “My mom’s…not in the picture anymore.”
“Oh…sorry, I didn’t know.”
“’s okay.” She shrugged.
“You can borrow my mom, if you want to. You just have to Skype her in the morning. 7 hour time difference.”
Astrid chuckled, feeling a little better. “Thanks Hiccup.”
“So…” He looked at the Macaw. “Are you planning on selling her? Or…what?”
“Yeah, it feels kind of sick pawning her off like that, but I could really use the money.”
“How much are you thinking you’ll get for her?”
She shrugged. “Young, healthy Macaws can go for a thousand dollars. But Stormfly is over 20 years old, and…she doesn’t look very pretty right now. I’d be lucky to get a hundred.”
“Hm…” He pondered. Then he took out his wallet and flipped through his cash.
“What are you doing?”
“I have forty bucks.” He handed it out to her. “But I can bring the other sixty on Monday.”
She just stared at him. “You…want to buy her?”
“Why not? I have a big house with lots of sunlight.”
“You also have a panther!”
“Toothless doesn’t like the texture of feathers.”
She eyed him skeptically. “Did he tell you that?”
“As a matter of fact, he did….in a dream.”
She grinned.
“But for real, he’s never eaten a bird. Ever. And this way, you’ll have an excuse to come hang out with me, the most interesting person in the world.”
“You…you’re serious? You’ll take her?”
“Of course! And when things start looking up, you can have her back. I’m just bird sitting.”
One moment, he was proudly grinning at his idea, the next, he was frozen to the spot. Astrid had thrown her arms around his neck as she cried into his chest. “Thank you! Oh Hiccup, you have no idea how much this means to me!”
Judging by how hard she was crying, he supposed it meant a whole lot.
“Please don’t pay me for her, I can’t accept your money.”
“Well, tough beans.” He stated, before sticking the bills in her back pocket. “I’m willing to pay for her, because I can.”
“You’re the best friend a person could ever ask for.” She leaned up an left a kiss on his cheek.
He turned all shades of pink and took a small step away from her. “I just know what it’s like to have a pet that you can’t live without. That…they feel more like a friend than a pet.”
“Toothless saved your life,” she added, “and in a way…Stormfly saved mine.” She looked to the floor.
The meaning was not lost on the boy. “Oh.”
“Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to, you know? A parrot is a big responsibility.”
“So’s a panther! Really Astrid, this is going to be a walk in the park.”
Astrid’s gratitude poured out of her as she took his hand and squeezed it. “You’re the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”
He shrugged. “I can be, on occasion.”
“But of course!” Astrid snapped, “you always have to clear it with the lady before selling her!” She went over to the cage and opened it, then urged Stormfly to jump on her arm.
Without much prompting, the Macaw waddled up Astrid’s arm to sit on her shoulder and nuzzle her cheek. “I love you, Astrid! I love you!”
“Stormfly, this is my good friend Hiccup.”
“Good friend…Hiccup, good friend.”
“And, he’s going to be taking care of you for a while. Is that okay?”
“Say hello. Good, Hiccup.” Stormfly leapt from her shoulder and with a single flap, landed on Hiccup’s head. “Good Hiccup. Good head.”
“I like her.” He said, standing very still. “Does she speak a lot?”
“Yeah, dad always left the TV or radio on for her. She’s pretty good at being quiet at night though. Unless there’s something loud going on.”
“Neat.”
“Neat.”
Ruff, Tuff, and Gobber came out of the back, only to see the duo standing fairly close together, and a parrot on Hiccup’s head.
“I leave you alone for 5 minutes.” Gobber shook his head. “And don’t think I won’t look at the security camera footage.”
—
Hiccup and his dad always went out for dinner on Saturday night. Stoick had been the one to suggest Chili’s and Hiccup hadn’t argued. Maybe they’d finally meet this lowlife that Astrid had called her boyfriend.
As a matter of fact, as the waitress ushered them to their table, they passed a lonely blonde in the corner booth.
“Oh, Astrid.” He greeted simply.
She perked up instantly. “Oh, hey Hiccup! What are you doing here?”
“I’m here with my dad, father-son bonding night!”
Stoick approached the table, with a big grin on his face. “So this is Astrid Hofferson, the pretty blonde that sold my son another exotic pet.”
She blushed slightly and shrugged, “He told you about me, huh?”
“Oh, lass, you have no idea!”
Hiccup nudged him in the stomach with a twinge of pink on his face.
“What are you doing here all by yourself?” Stoick asked, after chuckling.
“Oh…I’m waiting for my boyfriend. He’s…he’s just running late.”
Stoick eyed the empty water cup and nearly empty basket of chips. “Waiter!” His voice boomed over the restaurant and startled several people. “We’d like to join our friend here.”
“Oh uh—Mmmmm you really don’t have to do that! I’m sure Scott will be here.”
“Then we’ll just sit with you until he comes. You look lonely.”
Hiccup said nothing, just nudged her over to sit next to her. “Just let it happen.”
Stoick sat down opposite of them, shaking the table as he did so. It was immediately apparent why Hiccup chose to sit on her side. The waiter hurriedly set places for them.
“Sorry for springing this on you, hope it’s not too much of a hassle.” Stoick apologized.
“Not at all! What can I get you to drink?”
“I’ll have an ice tea.”
“Coke, please.” Hiccup added.
“And would you like a refill of water, miss?”
“Yes please.”
The waiter wrote down his notes and promised to return shortly.
“So, I take it your dad…approved of your purchase?” She guessed.
Stoick laughed, “I come home, and the boy’s sitting on the floor, watching SpongeBob, leaning against a panther, with a parrot on his head. He looks at me and goes, “hey dad, I made a new friend today.” And the damn bird flies off his head and lands on my shoulder and goes, “this is my home now.” I almost had a heart attack.”
Astrid grinned wider, just liking the fact Hiccup hadn’t stuffed her away in her little cage. “And Toothless likes her fine?”
“Stormfly actually burrowed in his fur, but he didn’t seem to notice. I think they’ll get along just fine.”
She sighed in relief and smiled at the two.
The dinner was lovely, as the conversation always stayed light. Stoick ended up paying for her meal.
But Scott never showed.
#how to train your dragon#httyd#hiccup horrendous haddock iii#Astrid Hofferson#toothless#stoick#stormfly#fanfiction#fanfic#320 State Street
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Glassnode Co-Founder Says On-Chain Data Can Spot Bitcoin’s Tops and Bottoms
Glassnode Co-Founder Says On-Chain Data Can Spot Bitcoin’s Tops and Bottoms:
Blockchains produce huge amounts of data and it seemed that only data scientists and blockchain research firms like Chainalysis and CipherTrace were making use of it. Recently, crypto investors like Willy Woo and Philip Swift have begun to incorporate on-chain data into their rigorous Bitcoin analyses and the results have been astounding.
Despite these efforts, on-chain data remains something of an enigma amongst crypto investors. To clear up the confusion, Cointelegraph decided to sit down with Rafael Schultze-Kraft, the co-founder of on-chain market intelligence platform Glassnode.
Cointelegraph: Let’s start with having you tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Rafael Schultze-Kraft: I have an academic background in computational neuroscience, programming, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analysis. Working for several startups in Berlin over the past six years, I’ve gained substantial industry experience applying data science and machine learning to a large variety of real-world problems using data from vastly different domains.
I founded glassnode with my partners and for me it represents the perfect fusion between my passion for data with blockchain and digital assets — probably the most exciting domain to be working on today.
While I am a co-founder and CTO, I make an effort to set time aside to conduct a fair share of data science and analysis as I find getting my hands dirty and engaging with data is the most exciting part of the job.
CT: What is Glassnode’s mission?
RSK: We are the go-to hub for all things on-chain and our purpose is to serve as the primary gateway to on-chain data. We provide advanced insights, market intelligence, tools, and data which are required for investors to freely make sense of all the data which is generated on blockchains.
Our datasets are extremely useful for investors looking for indicators and signals. Furthermore, researchers looking to observe and analyse adoption rates and long-term valuations will find on-chain analytics indispensable.
We seek to increase transparency on what various actors are doing in the field, and on-chain analysis allows one to keep an eye on how they are interacting within the network. One of the big problems we’ve seen in crypto is that exchanges report false volume and conduct wash trading within their order books.
Meanwhile, investors have an extremely limited view of what is really happening within most crypto and blockchain-oriented organizations. On-chain activity paints a completely different picture of what is truly happening and this data is extremely valuable to investors and researchers.
CT: In your opinion, why is it important for investors to study on-chain analytics?
RSK: I think that the most crucial aspect about on-chain is that it is something that has never existed before in finance: a public ledger, transparently unfolding all transactional and economic activity. It would be crazy as an investor not to carefully look at and study this data!
Many investors are using methods and data that they know well from the traditional finance markets and applying them to the digital assets space. Introducing the value of on-chain data in this space, contextualising, and making this data easily accessible and digestible, is a great part of what glassnode is about.
Furthermore, we must remember that there is not just ‘one blockchain,’ there are many different protocols and the interpretation of data across these systems is not a uniform process.
CT: Last week Placeholder partner Chris Burniske said:
“The narrative that ‘it’s just Tether’ driving Ethereum adoption is not based in fact. Tether accounts for 20% or less of Ethereum’s gas use. ETH‘s uses are heterogenous & robust; people are just now realizing how oversold it was.”
CT: Given that you posted a Glassnode chart showing otherwise, what is your take on whether or not Tether (USDT) is driving the demand within the ETH network?
Entities paying gas on Ethereum. Souce: Glassnode
RSK: In my opinion, it’s too early to say that Tether is driving Ethereum adoption. A close look at the chart does show that Tether is driving demand as of late, but it is too early to determine if this trend is sustainable. If you check the chart closely, you’ll notice that demand peaked and then goes down.
Furthermore, when we talk about adoption, I don’t think it is fair to discuss the phenomena purely from the standpoint of Tether activity. The graph also shows a very large portion of transactions related to complex smart contracts that interact with each other.
% of gas used in txs not sending ETH. Source: Glassnode
Number of Ethereum txs not used to send ETH. Source: Glassnode
Therefore, it’s too extreme to claim that Tether is driving adoption. What is clear is that currently Tether is driving demand within the Ethereum network as nearly 20% of all network fees were connected to Tether transferring USDT.
CT: So can we infer that we will see consistent, steady or even peak demand for Ethereum in the future?
RSK: It’s too early to say, the only thing we can objectively state is that there has been a huge increase in demand for Ethereum Gas. It went from 1% in June 2019 to more than 25% in a short period of time. Let’s observe how this evolves — Tether will not be the (sole) factor for Ethereum demand in the future.
CT: Does the surge of Tether transactions and growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector mean that increased demand and higher gas fees will lead to price stability and additional growth of Ether’s price?
RSK: Tether is a token that is pegged to the dollar so people can trade easier without going back into fiat. It’s clear that the token is heavily used and that its primary utility is for trading cryptocurrency. Therefore, I would say that it probably has some influence on price.
DeFi platforms are a completely different animal. These are complex, self-sustaining decentralised systems that provide a venue for the exchange of value, goods and services.
In theory and practice, they truly represent the ideal interaction one envisions Ethereum facilitating and as these platforms continue to grow it is entirely possible that the digital asset supporting these ecosystems will stabilize and potentially even increase in value.
CT: What would you say are the core concepts one needs to grasp in order to understand on-chain analytics?
RSK: I think people need to have a very basic understanding of core on-chain concepts such as transactions and addresses, and the differences between UTXO (unspent transaction output) and account-based systems like Ethereum.
From an investor’s perspective I would start by looking at core metrics such as transaction volume and number of active addresses, and then reading about and understanding the more advanced and established indicators metrics. In my opinion these are SOPR, realised capitalization, MVRV, HODL waves, coin days destroyed, and liveliness — to name a few.
CT: Is there a way to automate on-chain analysis for robo investment platforms or do investors just need to add these steps to their routine toolkit for conducting asset analysis?
RSK: Yes, on-chain data can absolutely be used for algorithmic trading. This data can be fed into automated systems along with any other data source traders use. And the added value in doing so, we believe, is immense. That is why we offer our on-chain metrics through a unified API, so anyone can easily integrate with their algorithmic trading platforms.
On the other hand, on-chain data has shown to be very useful for discretionary trading as well. On-chain indicators can be used to better understand economic behaviour in these networks, as well as analyse and predict market cycle tops and bottoms.
CT: What else do you want to tell me? Are there any additional hot topics, statements or opinions of importance that you think the world should know?
RSK: I want to emphasize that we (as in those interested in blockchain and cryptocurrency) are still early in this space and I think that every person that is investing in digital assets should begin to consider on-chain analysis as part of their analytical regime.
Analysis of data from blockchains is revolutionary. It is very different from the old world traditional style of asset investing.
This data is fundamentally important for crypto investors, yet the majority of investors do not understand the value it unlocks. It’s possible that investors unknowingly (subconsciously) write off the value of on-chain value as upon first glance it appears difficult to interpret due to the blockchain specific terminology and unconventional application of analytical methods.
Sometimes you just don’t realize how valuable something is until its demonstrated to you.
As I said earlier, many crypto investors are simply applying methods from the old world of investing (indicators and conventional trading ideology) to a totally new asset class which is behaviorally and technically different from traditional assets.
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Blockchains produce huge amounts of data and it seemed that only data scientists and blockchain research firms like Chainalysis and CipherTrace were making use of it. Recently, crypto investors like Willy Woo and Philip Swift have begun to incorporate on-chain data into their rigorous Bitcoin analyses and the results have been astounding.
Despite these efforts, on-chain data remains something of an enigma amongst crypto investors. To clear up the confusion, Cointelegraph decided to sit down with Rafael Schultze-Kraft, the co-founder of on-chain market intelligence platform Glassnode.
Cointelegraph: Let’s start with having you tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Rafael Schultze-Kraft: I have an academic background in computational neuroscience, programming, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analysis. Working for several startups in Berlin over the past six years, I’ve gained substantial industry experience applying data science and machine learning to a large variety of real-world problems using data from vastly different domains.
I founded glassnode with my partners and for me it represents the perfect fusion between my passion for data with blockchain and digital assets — probably the most exciting domain to be working on today.
While I am a co-founder and CTO, I make an effort to set time aside to conduct a fair share of data science and analysis as I find getting my hands dirty and engaging with data is the most exciting part of the job.
CT: What is Glassnode’s mission?
RSK: We are the go-to hub for all things on-chain and our purpose is to serve as the primary gateway to on-chain data. We provide advanced insights, market intelligence, tools, and data which are required for investors to freely make sense of all the data which is generated on blockchains.
Our datasets are extremely useful for investors looking for indicators and signals. Furthermore, researchers looking to observe and analyse adoption rates and long-term valuations will find on-chain analytics indispensable.
We seek to increase transparency on what various actors are doing in the field, and on-chain analysis allows one to keep an eye on how they are interacting within the network. One of the big problems we’ve seen in crypto is that exchanges report false volume and conduct wash trading within their order books.
Meanwhile, investors have an extremely limited view of what is really happening within most crypto and blockchain-oriented organizations. On-chain activity paints a completely different picture of what is truly happening and this data is extremely valuable to investors and researchers.
CT: In your opinion, why is it important for investors to study on-chain analytics?
RSK: I think that the most crucial aspect about on-chain is that it is something that has never existed before in finance: a public ledger, transparently unfolding all transactional and economic activity. It would be crazy as an investor not to carefully look at and study this data!
Many investors are using methods and data that they know well from the traditional finance markets and applying them to the digital assets space. Introducing the value of on-chain data in this space, contextualising, and making this data easily accessible and digestible, is a great part of what glassnode is about.
Furthermore, we must remember that there is not just ‘one blockchain,’ there are many different protocols and the interpretation of data across these systems is not a uniform process.
CT: Last week Placeholder partner Chris Burniske said:
“The narrative that ‘it’s just Tether’ driving Ethereum adoption is not based in fact. Tether accounts for 20% or less of Ethereum’s gas use. ETH‘s uses are heterogenous & robust; people are just now realizing how oversold it was.”
CT: Given that you posted a Glassnode chart showing otherwise, what is your take on whether or not Tether (USDT) is driving the demand within the ETH network?
Entities paying gas on Ethereum. Souce: Glassnode
RSK: In my opinion, it’s too early to say that Tether is driving Ethereum adoption. A close look at the chart does show that Tether is driving demand as of late, but it is too early to determine if this trend is sustainable. If you check the chart closely, you’ll notice that demand peaked and then goes down.
Furthermore, when we talk about adoption, I don’t think it is fair to discuss the phenomena purely from the standpoint of Tether activity. The graph also shows a very large portion of transactions related to complex smart contracts that interact with each other.
% of gas used in txs not sending ETH. Source: Glassnode
Number of Ethereum txs not used to send ETH. Source: Glassnode
Therefore, it’s too extreme to claim that Tether is driving adoption. What is clear is that currently Tether is driving demand within the Ethereum network as nearly 20% of all network fees were connected to Tether transferring USDT.
CT: So can we infer that we will see consistent, steady or even peak demand for Ethereum in the future?
RSK: It’s too early to say, the only thing we can objectively state is that there has been a huge increase in demand for Ethereum Gas. It went from 1% in June 2019 to more than 25% in a short period of time. Let’s observe how this evolves — Tether will not be the (sole) factor for Ethereum demand in the future.
CT: Does the surge of Tether transactions and growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector mean that increased demand and higher gas fees will lead to price stability and additional growth of Ether’s price?
RSK: Tether is a token that is pegged to the dollar so people can trade easier without going back into fiat. It’s clear that the token is heavily used and that its primary utility is for trading cryptocurrency. Therefore, I would say that it probably has some influence on price.
DeFi platforms are a completely different animal. These are complex, self-sustaining decentralised systems that provide a venue for the exchange of value, goods and services.
In theory and practice, they truly represent the ideal interaction one envisions Ethereum facilitating and as these platforms continue to grow it is entirely possible that the digital asset supporting these ecosystems will stabilize and potentially even increase in value.
CT: What would you say are the core concepts one needs to grasp in order to understand on-chain analytics?
RSK: I think people need to have a very basic understanding of core on-chain concepts such as transactions and addresses, and the differences between UTXO (unspent transaction output) and account-based systems like Ethereum.
From an investor’s perspective I would start by looking at core metrics such as transaction volume and number of active addresses, and then reading about and understanding the more advanced and established indicators metrics. In my opinion these are SOPR, realised capitalization, MVRV, HODL waves, coin days destroyed, and liveliness — to name a few.
CT: Is there a way to automate on-chain analysis for robo investment platforms or do investors just need to add these steps to their routine toolkit for conducting asset analysis?
RSK: Yes, on-chain data can absolutely be used for algorithmic trading. This data can be fed into automated systems along with any other data source traders use. And the added value in doing so, we believe, is immense. That is why we offer our on-chain metrics through a unified API, so anyone can easily integrate with their algorithmic trading platforms.
On the other hand, on-chain data has shown to be very useful for discretionary trading as well. On-chain indicators can be used to better understand economic behaviour in these networks, as well as analyse and predict market cycle tops and bottoms.
CT: What else do you want to tell me? Are there any additional hot topics, statements or opinions of importance that you think the world should know?
RSK: I want to emphasize that we (as in those interested in blockchain and cryptocurrency) are still early in this space and I think that every person that is investing in digital assets should begin to consider on-chain analysis as part of their analytical regime.
Analysis of data from blockchains is revolutionary. It is very different from the old world traditional style of asset investing.
This data is fundamentally important for crypto investors, yet the majority of investors do not understand the value it unlocks. It’s possible that investors unknowingly (subconsciously) write off the value of on-chain value as upon first glance it appears difficult to interpret due to the blockchain specific terminology and unconventional application of analytical methods.
Sometimes you just don’t realize how valuable something is until its demonstrated to you.
As I said earlier, many crypto investors are simply applying methods from the old world of investing (indicators and conventional trading ideology) to a totally new asset class which is behaviorally and technically different from traditional assets.
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Safety measures to Take While Handling Electronic Items
Safety measures to Take While Handling Electronic Items
Electronic things are cherished by all. In any case, do you think about the precautionary measures that you have to take while utilizing hardware? All things considered, relatively few do know a ton about the safeguards that should be taken. Electronic things can Maternity Shapewear be fragile and it is essential that the best possible safety measures are taken to ensure the gadget.
Understanding the essentials
Hardware and electrical types of gear are an imperative and unavoidable piece of everyday lives. In any case, one has to know how to deal with and utilize these electronic things also.
Safety measures while dealing with hardware
All the best shapewear electrical apparatuses and hardware are semiconducting gadgets and have circuit plans. So it is imperative to deal with them legitimately in order to limit harm and breakdown. Circuits can breakdown under various conditions. A standout amongst the most well-known reasons for harm to these gadgets is the utilization of stress like variety is temperature, the rate of current stream and the voltage connected. These factors ought to dependably be kept inside the breaking points which are reasonable by the producer.
Security of the pins
Pins are those moment things that interface the semiconductor gadgets introduce in the electronic machines to the power supply or the info and yield sources. At the point when the pins washer dryer clearance are associated with the high yield sources, care ought to be taken to forestall shortening of the circuit. This could prompt harm of the machine and may diminish the life of the apparatus. Likewise, the detached pins ought to never be associated with streams of high impedance as it can likewise prompt harm of the electronic apparatus.
Safeguards while utilizing hardware
Most electronic gadgets accompany a few directions which ought to be remembered while utilizing them. The makers and also clients should remember these guidelines and avoid potential risk. For example, in the event that you purchase a hand held amusement reassure, the safety measures express that you ought not open the gadget to water and should take consistent breaks while playing.
Safety measures while putting away and transporting hardware
Putting away the electronic gadgets appropriately is additionally critical. Since all semiconductor hardware are comprised of exact moment and sensitive electronic circuits, they ought to be put away with legitimate care. They ought to be avoided dampness, extraordinary changes in temperature and warmth. To dodge harm amid appliances houston transportation, these hardware are put away in huge aluminum holders with silicon covering to avoid harm amid capacity and transporting the gadgets.
Additionally, one other essential thing which ought to be remembered is that electronic things made up of plastic bodies are exceedingly defenseless to flame. Likewise, if there should arise an occurrence of a crisis, one ought to dependably bring in for help and be wary not to go close to the apparatuses. Electronic things ought to be legitimately charged too, as on account of PCs and cell phones. Toward the day's end, you have to comprehend that electronic things and electronic gadgets ought to be kept and put away appropriately keeping in mind the end goal to utilize them for long.
Understanding the universe of hardware
Measurably, the quantity of electronic products sold has gone up wonderfully over the most recent couple of years. With the industrialization of the world, it is easy to accept that the offer of electronic merchandise and things will simply twofold or even treble in the coming years. Given this reality, it is significant that individuals know how to deal with car dealerships in houston the electronic products, particularly electronic devices that should be dealt with most extreme care. Not knowing how to take appropriate care of your electronic device can be expensive and can prompt medical issues and in addition harming the electronic gadget itself.
Electronic Signatures-Esign Origins, Understanding Laws, and the Affects
On June 30, 2000 President Clinton marked the "Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act" (ESIGN) utilizing his electronic mark ID, and in this way settled the legitimacy of electronic marks for interstate and universal business.
In the multi year before this present Act's section twelve states had passed comparable laws and direction for state particular business purposes, and in the a long time since the Act's passing every other state has passed comparative laws and enactment. What does everything mean, and at last how might it profit organizations, people and luxury cars houston the country or world all in all?
The most ideal approach to answer an inquiry like this is to investigate the birthplaces of the law, and comprehend the thinking behind its entry and the section of the state particular laws.
The Birth of the Electronic Signature - Faxing
In the 1980's organizations and even some dynamic people started utilizing fax machines for high need or time delicate conveyance of paper based reports. Today, the fax machine is a staple of the business world. The vast majority don't much consider the first obstacles this new medium made, nor do they think about its effect on the speed of correspondence and the upsides of its utilization. Anyway in its early stages huge numbers of similar issues encompassing electronic correspondences and electronic marks must be settled while using the copy.
At the point when Houston SEO Expert the principal contract was marked and faxed it made the reason for the discourse of electronic mark legitimacy. After all it was the first occasion when somebody could sign something, put it in a machine, send it starting with one telephone line then onto the next and convey a carefully recreated signature. The way this mark took was not controllable or traceable, and much of the time it crossed miles of wire before achieving its goal, so how might it be viewed as a substantial mark? The aims of the mark were clear to everybody, except organizations needed to know they could rely on the legitimacy of the mark, and if nobody really saw the activity of one individual or of a partnership how could a business put any confidence in it? This obviously drummed up very some excitement and in fast form the courts led this mark conveyed an indistinguishable legitimacy from if the gatherings were remaining in the room together. With this, the fax ended up standard working method around the world.
The courts discovered legitimacy in this strategy for signature catching and organizations likewise felt secure SEO Company Toronto in this technique. A significant conviction-based action considering the intricacies caused by fax machines right off the bat. Numerous individuals didn't understand that the first fax paper's ink would vanish after a timeframe and you needed to make another duplicate of the fax utilizing a copier in the event that you needed to store it for all time. Additionally ordinarily the nature of the picture was poor or scarcely intelligible, however organizations comprehended the expectation and would think of it as marked regardless of whether there was just a halfway readable mark. So basically you had a duplicate of a duplicate of an advanced picture, and even with such huge numbers of provisos for adjustment and criminal wrongdoing the fax still worked and business prospered.
The business rationale behind this reasoning was effortlessly legitimate. Prior to the fax machine, the agreement could have been marked verbally between the sales representative and the customer, and after that some place not far off a paper duplicate would have been marked and sent. Numerous deals previously the fax machine were fulfilled with a basic "alright we should do it" remark via telephone. This drive to get business and influence the wheels to turn exhibits the most indispensable point in an electronic correspondences based world, or so far as that is concerned in a computerized world with no physical or direct contact, is most organizations can work on trust. They give a support of a client and the client confides in they will give that administration in an attractive way, while the specialist organization assumes that the client will pay for administrations rendered.
Trust is certifiably not another thing in business; it was regularly demonstrated by a hand-shake or "You have an arrangement", and that was all you expected to complete an arrangement. Has that changed today? I trust the appropriate response is no, however what career is right for me shouldn't something be said about the courts, and their feeling on the legitimacy of the electronic mark? After every one of the courts' objective isn't simply to keep the wheels turning and produce income, so for what reason did they confide in this sort of mark and what was the legitimate inquiry this mark replied? This line of reasoning acquires us back to Electronic Signatures Global and National Commerce Act or as it is more normally known, the ("ESIGN") Act.
Electronic Signatures, the Courts and the Government
The Government Paperwork Elimination Act ("GPEA"), Uniform Electronic Transactions Act ("UETA"), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations ("e-CFR"), and in addition the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act ("ESIGN") are for the most part endeavors by Congress, elected divisions and the states to characterize the risk and legitimacy of an electronic mark, and help the courts answer the inquiries concerning enforceability. These endeavors all middle around three essential ideas verification, trustworthiness and non-denial.
Validation
Validation is the sensible business analyst certification premise on which to trust that the substance electronically marking the document is who they say they are. This can be refined from numerous points of view. In the customary world it may be finished by checking a driver's permit or other type of distinguishing proof, yet in the electronic world this isn't generally a choice, so different strategies must be utilized.
The most widely recognized and mainstream method for achieving this personality check is to utilize an email based identifier. This is a procedure the vast majority have encountered eventually while utilizing the Internet. In the event that you information exchange for an electronic administration you by and large need to make a client name and secret word. When you make this record numerous frameworks will send a check email to the email address you entered for your record, subsequently demonstrating that you possess this email address. You at that point technical schools near me reorder this check data into the affirmation framework gave by the site and you turn into a confirmed part. That procedure and most procedures that utilization your email address are known as email based ID frameworks.
Another approach to check a character is to utilize a known outsider approval component. At the end of the day, utilize something that probably has officially confirmed the substance being referred to. There are a few basic strategies for accomplishing this kind of verification. You may have encountered it with a site requiring you enter in your home postal division, a record number or now and again a Mastercard number. Numerous sites will have you enter your Visa data into a frame, enabling them to cross reference the data you give them a Visa shipper. Probably in the event that you told the charge card organization reality about you, at that point it will coordinate with the data you gave the site.
The strategies accessible and being used for recognizing and validating people are incalculable, and probably the higher the estimation of the exchange the more verification techniques ought to be executed.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness just means A+ certification training giving a sensible conviction that any document electronically marked on a framework can't and has not been messed with by anybody or anything. The idea is straightforward and the necessity for it is absolutely defended. When you are managing paper it is anything but difficult to give everybody a duplicate, and any disparities are effectively found, however with electronic records it can be hard to physically or even outwardly tell if the document has been adjusted. To show respectability electronic mark catch benefits by and large utilize an encryption calculation to bolt a record once it has been agreed upon. Surprisingly better administrations will constantly approve a record completely through the mark procedure and after that make a last form once all marks are settled. Most innovation utilized today for recognizable proof purposes can be more precise than human DNA.
Non-renouncement
Recall the Fax machine delineation. Somebody can simply say, "That isn't my mark" and claim that the mark was produced. All things considered, somebody could have set a picture of a mark on to a report, and faxed it back to you. The fact of the matter is, under most conditions you can never be 100% sure the individual you are working with is who they say they are. Indeed, even face to face exchanges can be in danger. Data fraud is the quickest developing wrongdoing and hoodlums are not simply purchasing and marking things on the web, they are going into banks, opening charge cards and strolling into retail foundations. So what should be possible to help secure organizations against extortion and mishandle on the off plus size shapewear chance that they utilize electronic marks?
Similarly as a public accountant checks the expectation of the signatory, electronic marks can utilize confirmation strategies to protect the signatory comprehended the reason and the plan of the mark procedure. In any case, the street to an effective electronic mark execution lies in the cautious understanding that the electronic mark super roadway has at least three paths. Every one of the signatories has a path of relationship "movement" amongst them and the electronic mark specialist organization. The path devoted to the connection between the sender and the beneficiary is similarly as applicable and critical. It is this relationship that will help to legitimately characterize the purpose of the signatories in different lawful issues. In this way, joining great business hones with a strong electronic mark catching administration will make non-revocation less of an issue.
How Electronic Signatures Can Help You
Keeping in mind the end goal to completely see how electronic marks can encourage you and your business we have to investigate why we need to utilize them in any case. Electronic marks offer a wide used appliances houston assortment of advantages to everybody in
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Moving on . . .
Long ago, and oh so far away, I fell in love with you, before I wrote the second Pfennig… You dear reader, you have kept me going through good times and bad, sickness and health, and all my whining. I couldn’t have done it without you… The last 10 years have been difficult for me, as you know, and I never held back any of the details.
I bet you’re wondering what this is all about and what is Chuck getting at this morning… Well, I’ve never been one to beat around the bush, so I’ll just come right out and tell you that now the TIAA/ EverBank transaction has been completed I’ll be retiring from EverBank (but wait, not the Pfennig – you aren’t rid of me yet).
It has been an eventful 17 years. Building a first-class World Markets business, traveling relentlessly, speaking, and doing all the other ancillary things that go with it. And making sure the Pfennig went out every day even when I was suffering with the effects of radiation and chemotherapy. There’s a lot to do in an entrepreneurial business and it was great to be a major player.
Indulge me a little nostalgia . . .
In 1992, Frank Trotter, came to me, and asked me to join his World Markets group at the old Mark Twain Bank… It was a small group, but they were growing by leaps and bounds, and in need of a foreign bond trader. I had spent time, in the past, on the bond trading desk, trading short-term instruments, like Commercial Paper, Bankers Acceptances, T-Bills, and so on. I thought that this would be a great move for me, so I grabbed the opportunity. That was one of the wisest things I’ve ever done. After weeks of studying foreign bonds and talking to foreign bond dealers to get an idea as to how they wanted to be dealt with, I began trading foreign bonds for Mark Twain Bank. Not long after that, I noticed that the sales people would come in each day, and spend the next hour trying to figure out what happened in the overnight markets. The problem was that the phones were on during this time of discovery for the sales people, and they often times didn’t know what to say.
Well, I arrived at work at least an hour before everyone else, and so I decided to start giving the sales staff some notes as to what happened overnight, and what to expect that day. I would walk over to the copy machine to make enough to put on the trader’s desks. The sales staff loved them! They loved the notes so much that that started faxing these hand-written notes to their clients. And that was the beginning of the distribution of the Pfennig. By 1995, Frank Trotter had developed a website for Mark Twain Bank, and the website needed new content daily… Ahhh, the Pfennig! It began to get posted on the website, and then soon after, email came along, and clients wanted the letter emailed to them each day. And now, 25 years after the first hand written letter, it’s time for my boot-heels to be a wanderin’ (got to love the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan).
In 1994, our currency trader left Mark Twain Bank, and I volunteered to do the currency trading, and foreign bond trading along with the risk management duties for the World Markets Group. It made sense, for each foreign bond bought or sold, there was a foreign currency transaction to go with it. Now I could add currency trends and movements that I saw each day to the Daily Pfennig..
In the early days of EverBank, we didn’t have foreign currency CD ‘s and savings accounts. That business we had run at Mark Twain Bank was offered at First Star Bank who had bought Mercantile Bank, who had bought Mark Twain Bank. In June of 2000, EverBank bought the deposit book from First Star… At that time, the total deposits were $ 48 million, but within a month the deposits had fallen to $ 23 Million… At this time, it was just Chuck answering the phone, doing the trades, entering the trades, doing the risk management, and stuffing envelopes with statements. In other words, chef, cook, and bottle washer.. Soon, Cheryl Harper sat at my left-hand side clearing trades, doing general ledgers, etc. manually! My Friday latte’ Buddy, Michelle Boschert, ran the operations side. I had brought Jen Evans (now Mclean) with me to run the brokerage piece of the company, EverTrade Direct Brokerage, which I had started working on in my basement.
Next on board was our little Christine Jamieson (now Peplow)… She was full of energy and jumped in with both feet. Between having Jen and Christine as co-workers that I could depend on, I was ready for World Markets to begin to grow… And grow it did! Our Marketing guru, David Galland, read the white paper I wrote in 2001, called: The Decline of the Dollar, and decided to put his marketing prowess to work. Soon, we needed more people to talk to the ever-expanding list of new clients. That’s when Old Mark Twain Bank colleague, John Kaupisch came on board. And in 2003, another old Mark Twain Bank colleague joined us, Chris Gaffney, who is now the President of EverBank World Markets.
Working at an early stage company is always more than a full-time job – and building World Markets was no exception. I always think back to those times, when we were growing like a weed, and working 13-14 hour days, and ordering Pizza on the desk for dinner while we worked. Looking back at it I was pretty stressed helping to make it all happen. I do wonder how that played into my Stage 4 metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Kidney cancer) that I was diagnosed with in 2007 since I never smoked and was always active and strong as an ox. So, If you ever learn anything in life know that stress is not a good thing, and too much of it may lead to deadly diseases….
In 2001, we began to go to conferences and shows, and I would speak at these venues. One presentation at the Orlando Money Show, had the room completely filled, with people standing all along the walls, the aisles were filled with people sitting on the floor, and there were still hundreds of people outside the room wanting to get in. All to hear me speak… So, Chris stood at the back of the room, keeping the people from crowding into the room and probably creating a fire hazard, and would repeat what I was saying to the crowd outside the room. It truly was one of the best presentations I ever made.
I used to do a Top Ten Reasons why you should diversify with currencies and metals, and I would have cards with topics to talk about that were numbered 1-10, just like a David Letterman feature, and I would sail the cards into the crowd when I was finished with each one. Or there was the time in Vancouver when I had the crowd there singing… My presentations were never boring!
Over the years, I saved my lanyards with my name and company on them with the show or conference I was attending, and they hang on my coat/ hat stand in my office. I don’t know what I’ll do with them now that I won’t have an office to put the coat/ hat sand in. But there are hundreds of these “reminders” for me of where I was, what I was talking about, and the great people I met through the years.
As a group, sales, trading and operations, we were a tight knit group, and we worked long hours, but when it was time to kick back and have a cold adult beverage and talk about our day or week, we did that, and those “happy hours” will always be remembered by me as something I did, to bring our group together.
Now a little about the future . . .
If you want you can still be a subscriber to the Daily Pfennig, and in that case you don’t have to do a thing. If you do not want to get the Pfennig any more, you can send a blank email to mailto:leave-2135604-26472109.f269e9774377fe63fa31ab8ce786d88a@mm.everbank.com by Monday, June 19, 2017 to unsubscribe. For those of you who do not unsubscribe, you will begin to receive the Pfennig again as soon as the next version is out.
As always you can visit www.dailypfennig.com to read my commentary right up to date!
It has been a great long run at EverBank… You know, I worked 17 years at Mark Twain Bank, and 17 years at EverBank… Now I am headed off to another chapter. Maybe it’ll be writing the Pfennig for another 17 year giving you, dear reader, the truth, and someone to look under the hood, and tell you that things aren’t as the cable media would have you believe. I’ll be there for you.
I’ve adopted lyrics from “the Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel to be my theme song… Ready? Here goes…
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains
Thanks for reading, please stay with me as I go to my new home, and thanks for indulging me as I went through this nostalgic walk back in time… Until we exchange emails again… I ask you to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler
Managing Director
EverBank Global Markets
Creator / Editor of: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts
1-800-926-4922
http://www.everbank.com
The post Moving on . . . appeared first on Daily Pfennig.
Daily Pfennig
from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/moving-on/
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Moving on . . .
Long ago, and oh so far away, I fell in love with you, before I wrote the second Pfennig… You dear reader, you have kept me going through good times and bad, sickness and health, and all my whining. I couldn’t have done it without you… The last 10 years have been difficult for me, as you know, and I never held back any of the details.
I bet you’re wondering what this is all about and what is Chuck getting at this morning… Well, I’ve never been one to beat around the bush, so I’ll just come right out and tell you that now the TIAA/ EverBank transaction has been completed I’ll be retiring from EverBank (but wait, not the Pfennig – you aren’t rid of me yet).
It has been an eventful 17 years. Building a first-class World Markets business, traveling relentlessly, speaking, and doing all the other ancillary things that go with it. And making sure the Pfennig went out every day even when I was suffering with the effects of radiation and chemotherapy. There’s a lot to do in an entrepreneurial business and it was great to be a major player.
Indulge me a little nostalgia . . .
In 1992, Frank Trotter, came to me, and asked me to join his World Markets group at the old Mark Twain Bank… It was a small group, but they were growing by leaps and bounds, and in need of a foreign bond trader. I had spent time, in the past, on the bond trading desk, trading short-term instruments, like Commercial Paper, Bankers Acceptances, T-Bills, and so on. I thought that this would be a great move for me, so I grabbed the opportunity. That was one of the wisest things I’ve ever done. After weeks of studying foreign bonds and talking to foreign bond dealers to get an idea as to how they wanted to be dealt with, I began trading foreign bonds for Mark Twain Bank. Not long after that, I noticed that the sales people would come in each day, and spend the next hour trying to figure out what happened in the overnight markets. The problem was that the phones were on during this time of discovery for the sales people, and they often times didn’t know what to say.
Well, I arrived at work at least an hour before everyone else, and so I decided to start giving the sales staff some notes as to what happened overnight, and what to expect that day. I would walk over to the copy machine to make enough to put on the trader’s desks. The sales staff loved them! They loved the notes so much that that started faxing these hand-written notes to their clients. And that was the beginning of the distribution of the Pfennig. By 1995, Frank Trotter had developed a website for Mark Twain Bank, and the website needed new content daily… Ahhh, the Pfennig! It began to get posted on the website, and then soon after, email came along, and clients wanted the letter emailed to them each day. And now, 25 years after the first hand written letter, it’s time for my boot-heels to be a wanderin’ (got to love the Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan).
In 1994, our currency trader left Mark Twain Bank, and I volunteered to do the currency trading, and foreign bond trading along with the risk management duties for the World Markets Group. It made sense, for each foreign bond bought or sold, there was a foreign currency transaction to go with it. Now I could add currency trends and movements that I saw each day to the Daily Pfennig..
In the early days of EverBank, we didn’t have foreign currency CD ‘s and savings accounts. That business we had run at Mark Twain Bank was offered at First Star Bank who had bought Mercantile Bank, who had bought Mark Twain Bank. In June of 2000, EverBank bought the deposit book from First Star… At that time, the total deposits were $ 48 million, but within a month the deposits had fallen to $ 23 Million… At this time, it was just Chuck answering the phone, doing the trades, entering the trades, doing the risk management, and stuffing envelopes with statements. In other words, chef, cook, and bottle washer.. Soon, Cheryl Harper sat at my left-hand side clearing trades, doing general ledgers, etc. manually! My Friday latte’ Buddy, Michelle Boschert, ran the operations side. I had brought Jen Evans (now Mclean) with me to run the brokerage piece of the company, EverTrade Direct Brokerage, which I had started working on in my basement.
Next on board was our little Christine Jamieson (now Peplow)… She was full of energy and jumped in with both feet. Between having Jen and Christine as co-workers that I could depend on, I was ready for World Markets to begin to grow… And grow it did! Our Marketing guru, David Galland, read the white paper I wrote in 2001, called: The Decline of the Dollar, and decided to put his marketing prowess to work. Soon, we needed more people to talk to the ever-expanding list of new clients. That’s when Old Mark Twain Bank colleague, John Kaupisch came on board. And in 2003, another old Mark Twain Bank colleague joined us, Chris Gaffney, who is now the President of EverBank World Markets.
Working at an early stage company is always more than a full-time job – and building World Markets was no exception. I always think back to those times, when we were growing like a weed, and working 13-14 hour days, and ordering Pizza on the desk for dinner while we worked. Looking back at it I was pretty stressed helping to make it all happen. I do wonder how that played into my Stage 4 metastatic renal cell carcinoma (Kidney cancer) that I was diagnosed with in 2007 since I never smoked and was always active and strong as an ox. So, If you ever learn anything in life know that stress is not a good thing, and too much of it may lead to deadly diseases….
In 2001, we began to go to conferences and shows, and I would speak at these venues. One presentation at the Orlando Money Show, had the room completely filled, with people standing all along the walls, the aisles were filled with people sitting on the floor, and there were still hundreds of people outside the room wanting to get in. All to hear me speak… So, Chris stood at the back of the room, keeping the people from crowding into the room and probably creating a fire hazard, and would repeat what I was saying to the crowd outside the room. It truly was one of the best presentations I ever made.
I used to do a Top Ten Reasons why you should diversify with currencies and metals, and I would have cards with topics to talk about that were numbered 1-10, just like a David Letterman feature, and I would sail the cards into the crowd when I was finished with each one. Or there was the time in Vancouver when I had the crowd there singing… My presentations were never boring!
Over the years, I saved my lanyards with my name and company on them with the show or conference I was attending, and they hang on my coat/ hat stand in my office. I don’t know what I’ll do with them now that I won’t have an office to put the coat/ hat sand in. But there are hundreds of these “reminders” for me of where I was, what I was talking about, and the great people I met through the years.
As a group, sales, trading and operations, we were a tight knit group, and we worked long hours, but when it was time to kick back and have a cold adult beverage and talk about our day or week, we did that, and those “happy hours” will always be remembered by me as something I did, to bring our group together.
Now a little about the future . . .
If you want you can still be a subscriber to the Daily Pfennig, and in that case you don’t have to do a thing. If you do not want to get the Pfennig any more, you can send a blank email to mailto:leave-2135604-26472109.f269e9774377fe63fa31ab8ce786d88a@mm.everbank.com by Monday, June 19, 2017 to unsubscribe. For those of you who do not unsubscribe, you will begin to receive the Pfennig again as soon as the next version is out.
As always you can visit www.dailypfennig.com to read my commentary right up to date!
It has been a great long run at EverBank… You know, I worked 17 years at Mark Twain Bank, and 17 years at EverBank… Now I am headed off to another chapter. Maybe it’ll be writing the Pfennig for another 17 year giving you, dear reader, the truth, and someone to look under the hood, and tell you that things aren’t as the cable media would have you believe. I’ll be there for you.
I’ve adopted lyrics from “the Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel to be my theme song… Ready? Here goes…
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains
Thanks for reading, please stay with me as I go to my new home, and thanks for indulging me as I went through this nostalgic walk back in time… Until we exchange emails again… I ask you to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler
Managing Director
EverBank Global Markets
Creator / Editor of: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts
1-800-926-4922
http://www.everbank.com
The post Moving on . . . appeared first on Daily Pfennig.
Daily Pfennig
source http://capitalisthq.com/moving-on/
from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/06/moving-on.html
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Diary of a Madman, Page 43
11,500 people peering inside, you’re one of the chosen.
I. This Week’s Analyses
Why Data Is The New Oil is a Flawed Strategy [FEATURED]: if you’re storing mountains of data, you’re doing it wrong.
Einstein’s Miracles Can Be Your Own [fountainhead, free]: how to create your own magic year.
What China’s Been Doing The Last 3 Months [fountainhead]: we pull a list together from previous writings to show the pace and breadth at which China is executing their innovation and invention plan. Watch out, world.
Benefits of Investing in Ethereum Over Equities [fountainhead]: it’s all good unless hackers go earlier in the chain for an exploit (see below).
The Problem: People Talking to People [fountainhead]: if you can solve this one, you’ll be very rich and powerful indeed. Reminds me of How To Win Friends & Influence People.
II. T-Mobile Could Be How Hackers Steal Your Life Savings
A Note on Ethereum & Coinbase Fraud
Ethereum continues to set new records in terms of price and market cap, trading at almsot $180 over the weekend. That’s up from $10 in January. To put that into perspective, it’s highly likely it will hit $200 by June making it a 20x return in 6 months.
VC’s can raise another fund if they return even 5x on the last one. And 10x is a unicorn. But that usually takes 10 years. Doubling that performance in 1/20th of the time and you’ve got something special on your hands.
That is, of course, until someone goes in your bank account and steals it all.
Last week a hacker targeted me specifically. They convinced T-Mobile to change the SIM linked to my phone to a different one linked to one of their own phones. T-Mobile called me to verify. I told them absolutely not and that it was fraud. They went ahead with it anyways (I’m not making this up).
Now the hacker would get my SMS. Meanwhile my cell phone service completely shut off, which means my only phone didn’t work.
Then they reset the password on Gmail. Then they reset the password on coinbase. Then they transferred all my Ethereum to Litecoin (note that this is a currency developed by an employee of Coinbase) then they transferred that Litecoin to an unknown wallet. Then they pulled another $500 from my linked Chase bank account.
I have a few screen shots of what was happening as viewed from the notifications received in my Apple Mail account. Note the Opera on Windows browser/OS combo. That’s for anonymity. But also shows it’s real. I don’t use either, nor have touched a windows machine for well over a decade.
Note that the account my money was sent to via Litecoin is as follows:
LVY1K8aQ4KGCbDzdESU63jX5oDeT358pKM
So now we have two pieces of data, as well as tracing IP addresses and cross-referencing other attacks to triangulate the bad actors.
So where are we a week later?
Coinbase has been silent, save for one request for infromation, not giving me an answer to my queries on what they’re going to do after someone drained my account. T-Mobile gave me a $100 credit, which was the “limit” of what they could do. Haaaaaaa. Gmail isn’t immune either but they don’t have a phone number to call so I guess they get away free and clear. Chase Bank sent me a new, more secure card and reversed the $500 Coinbase transaction, thereby affecting Coinbase’s credit worthiness.
I know of another gentleman who’s entire wealth was drained from Coinbase as well.
So, if you’re relying on the industry standard 2-factor authentication, it won’t protect you in this case. If you rely on Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint, it won’t protect you in this case. The vulnerability is your cell phone provider. The attacker will just keep calling T-Mobile until one of the representatives is tired and just switches the SIM, even if you have a passcode on the account.
I wonder how many lawyers out there are focused on the cryptocurrency domain? Seems like a ripe opportunity for some hungry young attorneys. We’re reaching out to our friends at Fortune as well.
What should you do right now?
Go protect yourself. Call your cellular provider, make sure you have a secure pin in place, reset your security answer and tell them to double the security on your account. Patch the hole in the leaky ship first.
If you’re technical, here’s how legacy mathematic fraud detection algorithms work. Wonder how Biologic Intelligence would fare.
III. Newsworthy News
China: using $500M to invest in US/UK startups. It’s happening.
Crypto: Ethereum was at $90 a week ago, it’s at $180 now. 2x in a week.
Space: we have 3 years until July 2020 when we need to launch for the closest Earth/Mars alignment. Nike gets into Space Shoes.
Media: Vice might go public soon.
Hollywood: even one of the best of all time doesn’t compare to startup returns.
Deep Learning: it has major limitations. It’s now become a joke. What exists beyond that is the gap Biologic Intelligence fills.
AI: self-learning isn’t just being talked about by PROME. The difference is we mimicked nature into 1,000 lines of code that run on low-powered chips.
Self-Driving: LIDAR + Biologic Intelligence + Drive by Wire = Level 5. Collision avoidance in real-time is a big deal. Simulation is a sleeping giant in this space.
AR: Magic Leap is still raising capital ($1.6B deep so far), no product yet.
VR: the ceiling we predicted is real.
Social: humanity is being rocked to sleep ever so gently by dumb filters.
VC: the funding round definitions are due for an update.
Investing: remember the lessons from Madoff? Seems we’ve forgotten you shouldn’t let novices who don’t understand tech manage your retirement. Warren Buffett now believes in tech. Menlo gets it.
Disruption: deck from CB Insights. A lot of parallels between this and what we’re working on.
Robotics: remember our stories on Robot Operating System over the last year? Bloomberg catches up. Also, the future personal robotics stack.
Product Management: CMU gives you the what-for in a year. Though not so sure you could become a Master in that time period.
Programming: learn the basics of web scraping.
— Sean
Read The Rest
Read what’s trending or: 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Join The Fountainhead Movement for exclusive access to bleeding edge think pieces and technological inventions.
Humanizing Tech is a premium technological think tank for building humanity’s future. It covers Biologic Intelligence, autonomous robotics, self-learning AI, superhuman augmentation, personal hedge funds, editable DNA, SAAS space platforms, personal power stations, and video as an app. This newsletter is a peek inside the Editor’s mind.
Diary of a Madman, Page 43 was originally published in Humanizing Tech on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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