Updates on DApps, ICOs, and Facebook's Libra
DApp and ICO Mkt outlook is negative, and even Facebook can't run away from the government
Hi everyone! Hope your past week has treated you well.
We have updates on the DApp and ICO markets (two sectors within the blockchain industry), and Facebook’s Libra Assocation that we wanted to share with you.
DApp Market
DApp.com released its third quarter (Q3) 2019 Dapp Market Report on the DApp market this past week (performance changes from Q2 to Q3).
The report paints a negative outlook for the DApp market because transaction volume has dramatically decreased, fewer DApps are being released, and DApp user activity is decreasing.
The major upside from the report is the growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) DApps and the overall growth of the Finance sector. The DeFi DApps are gianing more users, especially on the Etherem blockchain.
EOS retained the highest number of users while Tron is making inroads on DApps and user growth. Though, Tron’s user growth should be taken with a grain of salt because of suspected DApp bots [2][3].
Overall, it appears the growth of the DApp market will be influenced in the short term by DeFi and gambling DApps (which were already drivers in the DApp market).
Initial Thoughts: The findings were not too surprising because DApps already have low usage rates, and the largest usage rate by sector has been for gambling since 2018.
ICO Market
The ICO Market has had major shake-ups this past week (really, the past month) as a federal judge granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) emergency action and temporary restraining order against “Telegram Group Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary TON Issuer Inc.” (“Telegram”) to stop Telegram from offering its’ TON blockchain $1.7 billion dollar ICO in the United States of America [4].
The SEC determined the action appropriate because the SEC has classified the TON tokens as a security, therefore Telegram was required to register with the SEC before offering TON tokens to U.S. residents [4].
Initial Thoughts: The SEC did not forget about the ICO craze in 2017 and is ready and willing to show that if you are issuing tokens without registration, the SEC will come after you.
Facebook’s Libra Association
Facebook’s Libra Association week (and overall development) has gone from bad to worse as Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe and PayPal all pull out from the Association [5].
Not only having to deal with increased regulatory pressure, the Libra Association will also need to work on maintaining its members before they all leave in a mass exodus [5].
Initial Thoughts: It seems the regulatory pressure is finally starting to hurt the Libra Association as partners see that they themselves may face more risks than they had anticipated.
References
[1] Q3 2019 Dapp Market Report
[2] Bitcoinist Reference for Tron Dapp Bot Claim
[3] CryptoBriefing Reference for Tron Dapp Bot Claim