First Israeli Blockchain Report - Digital Assets Group - One Alpha

Page created by Kathleen Potter
 
CONTINUE READING
First Israeli Blockchain Report - Digital Assets Group - One Alpha
First Israeli
Blockchain Report
October 2018

               Digital Assets Group
First Israeli Blockchain Report - Digital Assets Group - One Alpha
Copyright
    Credits
                                                                       & Disclaimer
    This report was written by:                                        One Alpha is part of First Digital Assets Group, the leading digital assets
    Yaniv Feldman, Adiel Yaakov, and Eliya Cohen                       group in Europe. We are excited to offer you the most detailed market
                                                                       intelligence report focused on the Israeli ecosystem to date.
    Research by:
    Alon Tsevi, Moran Turgeman, Raz Peleg, and Eliya Cohen             One Alpha retains all rights to its database and to any of the information
                                                                       provided as part of this report and any rights related thereto. Nothing
    Edited by:                                                         herein shall derogate from One Alpha or First Digital Assets Group's right
    Laura Rosbrow-Telem, Yaniv Feldman, and Eliya Cohen                to continue using such information in any way. This report is protected
                                                                       by copyright law and no portion of this report may be photocopied,
    Design:                                                            reproduced, or scanned into an electronic system or transmitted,
    Hadas Shezaf                                                       forwarded, or distributed in any way without prior consent of First Digital
                                                                       Assets Group.
    Special thanks:
    Ron Lopata, C.P.A., a senior manager at EY Israel tax department   The information contained in this report is derived from carefully selected
                                                                       sources we believe are reasonable, including without limitation, a database
                                                                       aggregated by One Alpha. Some of the data included in this report is time-
                                                                       sensitive and is subject to changes as they will unfold in the market from
                                                                       time to time. We do not guarantee its accuracy, reliability, or completeness
                                                                       and nothing in this report shall be construed to be a representation of
                                                                       such a guarantee. One Alpha or First Digital Assets Group accept no
                                                                       responsibility for and liability arising from any use of this report or its
                                                                       content and nothing herein shall constitute or be construed as an offering
                                                                       of financial instruments, investment advice, or as a recommendation by
                                                                       One Alpha or First Digital Assets Group for an investment or business
                                                                       strategy.

                                                                       This report contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited
                                                                       to comments regarding future predictions. Forward-looking statements
                                                                       address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent
                                                                       risks and uncertainties. We assume no liability for any such statements
                                                                       or for their interpretation, nor do we assume liability for future users of
                                                                       information contained in this report or whatever actions one may take as
                                                                       a result of having been exposed to such information. Any advice received
                                                                       via this report should not be relied upon for personal, legal, or financial
                                                                       decisions and you should consult an appropriate professional for specific
    Tel Aviv                                                           advice tailored to your situation.
    October 2018

2                                                                                                                                                     3
First Israeli Blockchain Report - Digital Assets Group - One Alpha
About                                             About
    First Digital                                     One Alpha
    Assets Group
    First Digital Assets Group was created to         One Alpha is a crypto data intelligence,

                                                                                                        Table of
    provide regulated financial services for the      research, and analysis company that is part
    growing blockchain economy.                       of First Digital Assets Group. Our goal is to
                                                      provide institutional investors, VCs, traders,
    These are extraordinary times: New                analysts, and the entire crypto industry with

                                                                                                        Contents
    regulations are written every day, while old      the information they need to make better and
    ones become obsolete. New companies and           smarter data-driven business decisions.
    products launch in our once small and limited
    space of blockchain technologies, while giants    One Alpha's Crypto Intelligence platform
    easily disappear if they remain irrelevant and    collects data from thousands of sources, so
    do not adapt.                                     you won't have to. Through our platform, you
                                                      can get access to data, research, analysis, and
    Since blockchain will transform banking,          insights on traded crypto assets, ICO projects,
                                                                                                        Introduction                         7
    banks need to be leading this charge before       market movements, trends, and market-
    blockchain technology disrupts their sector.      changing events — before they happen. One         Industry Voices                      8
    At the same time, blockchain, a radically         Alpha provides a real-time data feed directly
    decentralized technology, requires better         from exchanges, blockchains, open source
    intergration mechanisms with the mainstream       developer libraries, social media, news, and      Executive Summary                   14
    financial world.                                  wallet monitors. You can get information from
                                                      our feed via your desktop, mobile, email, or
    Understanding the various challenges              API.
                                                                                                        Global Blockchain Market Overview   18
    blockchain technology brings, First Digital
    Assets Group has created a flexible and           One Alpha's research team supports our robust     Tech and Trends                     34
    dynamic companies and products to help            platform, providing premier market and sector
    businesses adapt to this new sector. Through      research for the blockchain industry, as well
    their entire suite of services, from liquidity    as industry research reports, market and asset    Regulation                          52
    and enterprise wallets, through custodianship,    investment reports, and due diligence audits.
    asset management, and data intelligence, they
    remain agile and responsive to our partners                                                         Israel                              62
    worldwide.

    Their team consists of the people that built
    cyber security solutions when companies felt
    most vulnerable, developed financial products
    that gave more power to everyday investors
    and will help you stay ahead of the curve — and
    become First.

    Digital Assets Group

4                                                                                                                                                5
Introduction

    In 2017, the blockchain and cryptocurrencies market       technological descendants could be what the industry
    reached an all-time high. It then turned into the         needs to break the barriers for mass adoption.
    most significant bear market since its inception. We      Aside from user experience, blockchain is also
    have moved from “utility tokens are the new kings of      fighting to prove its usability as a technology. While
    the blockchain,” to “utility tokens are obsolete and      there is a lot of criticism about using blockchain for
    aren’t really needed”; from “blockchain, not crypto”      enterprise purposes, this year we have seen the first
    to “blockchain and crypto”; and from raising money        blockchain projects going into production in Fortune
    through large public sale ICOs to private pre-sale        500 companies. One example is Walmart, which had
    rounds, mostly from accredited investors, VCs, and        recently sent a public notice to its grocery supply chain
    hedge funds.                                              participants that it would be moving its production to
                                                              a blockchain-based system. After extensive tests of
    Just a year ago, we struggled to explain what Bitcoin     the system, the company was able to reduce the time
    is, why crypto matters, and how blockchain can            of several tasks preformed in the system from days to
    revolutionize industries. Now, even when it seems that    mere seconds.
    the industry is moving ahead at lightning speed, there
    are more than a few challenges that we need to solve to   From our perspective, the prolonged bear market
    unlock the technology’s true potential.                   provided the sector with a much-needed relief,
                                                              lowering valuations to a more sensible level. Despite
    One path forward might be mass adoption of crypto         the considerable correction, a large portion of the
    assets. In order to reach this mass adoption, the first   value represents the future potential of the network
    aspects we need to improve are usability and user         rather than its current one. The December 2017 and
    experience. Crypto is still rather complicated to         January 2018 boom and bust had a cleansing effect on
    buy, sell, and hold. Though anyone can download a         the ecosystem, removing many of the speculators and
    crypto wallet app to their phone and digital payments     leaving mainly real investors, operators, and builders
    have become more common, handling private keys            in the market. This is what was necessary to move
    is something that remains beyond the reach of most        forward and build a successful ecosystem.
    people.
                                                              We at One Alpha truly hope that you will be able to gain
    Throughout 2017, we saw a plethora of intriguing          meaningful insights from our report.
    solutions attempting to improve user experience,
    including custodial wallets, institutional products       Yaniv Feldman, CEO
    such as ETFs, Digital Assets receipts, and futures,       One Alpha
    all eliminating the need for personal custody.
    Other projects make the use of crypto assets almost
    completely transparent to the end user. Most of these
    solutions come at the expensive cost of giving up
    your private keys, therefore not actually owning your
    own assets: one of the main issues Bitcoin originally
    aimed to solve. That said, these solutions or their

6                                                                                                                         7
Industry Voices

                                                                                                                                        "
    Stay Calm,
                  While the Israeli blockchain industry has      However, blockchain also showed us a            phenotypes of the same syndrome. Our
                  experienced a lot of turbulence in the past    different breed of companies in areas           problem, or perhaps the “outside” world’s
                  year or so, it has kept on thriving. Local     where Israelis have yet to gain a strong        problem, is lack of patience. The world
                  investors and entrepreneurs have matured       enough footing: infrastructure. Companies       expects blockchain to be ready. Now.

    Stay
                  tremendously during this period and            like Spacemesh, Orbs, COTI, and others
                  perhaps, some even “earned” more gray          try to reimagine how blockchains should         Why can’t we already transfer funds at
                  hair due to the markets. As always, the good   work with payments, in the enterprise           scale? Why are there still hacks? Why
                  (new amazing technologies) came with the       environment and beyond.                         is Bitcoin so volatile? Things take time.
                  bad (abuse of the ICO model), and some of                                                      Evolution is slow. The internet took almost

    Humble,
                  the ugly (malicious actors damaging the        All of the companies mentioned above            25-30 years to go mainstream. Blockchain is
                  local industry’s reputation).                  share the same drawback: People expect          less than 10 years old and if we really think
                                                                 them to deliver already. If I could ask the     about it, blockchain only received a big
                  The Israeli industry persists to contribute    “blockchain gods” (no, I am not talking         push in the past 2-3 years.

    and Keep on
                  to the direction blockchain is headed; The     about Vitalik) for two things for the Israeli
                  usual suspects are the fields of security      industry, I would ask for the following:        Entrepreneurs and investors, don’t be
                  and privacy. Companies like QED-it,            A. Set the expectations straight.               threatened by the overwhelming pressure
                  BEAM, and StarkWare are hard at work           B. Give our entrepreneurs the stamina (and      of the outside world to prove blockchain is
                  developing creative ZKP solutions, enabling    funds) to carry this through.                   real. There is also no need to get on every

    Building
                  additional use cases for blockchain. More      These two symptoms might be the                 stage and prove that blockchain is the
                  security-focused companies, like Knox or                                                       solution to world hunger and that we have
                  Fireblocks, are helping to protect digital                                                     all the answers. Stay calm, stay humble, and
                  assets, increasing trust and comfort for the                                                   keep building. The evolution is happening
                  industry.                                                                                      and it is taking place in Israel.

                                                                                                                 Ran Goldi
                                                                                                                 CEO,
                                                                                                                 First Digital Assets Group

                                                                                                                 Digital Assets Group

8                                                                                                                                                                9
Industry Voices

 The Upside                                                                                    Israel - a Global Leader
 to the Downtrend                                                                              with Room for Improvement

                                                                                                                                                                    "
 With the total crypto market cap losing 75%    Local Israeli projects such as Zeex and        Israel has very strong technical expertise,    On a global scale, the time has come for
 of its value in the past nine months, many     Mobilechain, which are still raising funds     with Tel Aviv being one of the leading         blockchain teams to fulfill the promises
 are beginning to ask, “Is this the end?” And   but already have working products and large    global tech hubs. Israelis are exceptionally   they made when they were fundraising.
 as much as we at BlockchainIL enjoy waking     user bases, are well positioned to enjoy the   skilled in computer science, mathematics,      While we believe many projects will fail to
 up to a bull market, we cannot ignore the      increased efficiency that blockchain has to    and economics – the key ingredients of the     deliver, a few stars will emerge and create
 benefits of this downtrend.                    offer. These are the types of projects that    blockchain. As a result, we see many great     value for consumers and enterprises at
                                                give us immense hope for the future of         projects starting here and we are delighted    a magnitude similar to what the internet
 In 2017, over $6 billion was raised by         blockchain.                                    to be on board of Israel’s finest.             brought us. We are convinced that Israel
 blockchain projects and so far, the amount                                                                                                   will be home to some of the brightest of
 raised shows little correlation with the       Over the next several years, blockchain        Israelis, however, are not the best when       them.
 innovation within the space. As it stands      technology will be flooded with projects       it comes to marketing their solutions on
 today, over 60% of the top blockchain          with innovative use cases, brilliant and       the global stage that blockchain presents.
 projects have no useful function, while        adaptable teams, and, most importantly,        Going forward, Israeli entrepreneurs must
 only two out of the more than 800 dApps on     projects that will have meaningful impact      present themselves with confidence in
 Ethereum have over 1,000 daily users (both     on the lives of everyday people. The best      their products to build a global community,
 of which are exchanges). This anticlimactic    days of blockchain technology certainly lie    audience, and client base.
 innovation and the lack of daily use is a      before us.
 result of teams and technology that are                                                       Putting the exceptional talent aside, Israel
 not aligned with wide-scale adoption,                                                         offers favorable circumstances for doing
 along with the infrastructure immaturity                                                      business. These include a strong venture
 and the limited time teams had to deploy                                                      capital industry that funds promising
 complex, yet promising products. Either                                                       blockchain projects in early and growth
 way, speculators have reassessed and are                                                      stages, well-developed infrastructure,
 changing their strategy drastically.                                                          a healthy workforce, and taxes that are
                                                                                               not a major drawback. When it comes to
 Having the benefit of hindsight, investors                                                    regulation concerning blockchain and
 are now beginning to require clear                                                            digital assets, unfortunately, Israel lags
 metrics for evaluating the viability of a                                                     behind leading jurisdictions such as
 project’s value proposition and team prior                                                    Switzerland and Japan. It will be crucial to
 to discussing capital allocations, thus                                                       adopt legislation that fosters growth while
 drowning out the noise and only allowing                                                      protecting investors to retain great teams
 projects with real potential to emerge.        Alon Aginsky                                   and support promising ideas.                   Agada Nameri
 In addition, the downtrend has fueled          CEO of BlockchainIL                                                                           General Manager,
 innovation in new fundraising methods                                                                                                        iCapital
 like the STO (Security Token Offering) and
 Liquid ICO, which follow the philosophy of
 “tech first, marketing second.”

10                                                                                                                                                                                          11
Industry Voices

 Murky Yet Bright Future Ahead                                                                     Go Big or Go Home

                                                                                                                                                                          "
 While Israel is already established as a          clear which type of blockchain actors are       The crypto ecosystem and blockchain              all times. Since crypto, by definition, is
 leader in the development of blockchain           considered financial services providers,        technology hold great promise for                external to the financial ecosystem, the only
 and distributed ledger technology, the            which requires licensing under the relevant     disruption and improvement. Their                means for such growth is easy fiat-to-crypto
 crypto financial services sector is now           laws. While in the U.S., for example,           potential to build innovative financial          on- and off-ramp solutions. Mainstream
 finally catching up.                              the authorities have indicated that ICO         platforms worldwide and substantially            users need to know that they can ramp
                                                   issuers are considered financial services       improve all connected and supported              off at any time with no hassle or risk. This
 The Israeli crypto financial services             businesses that require registration, the       systems was extremely compelling 10 years        awareness will encourage them to join the
 industry is still in its nascent stages of        Israeli authorities have not made a similar     ago – and still is. But now it’s time to grow.   ecosystem.
 development. However, lately we have seen         pronouncement to date. The regulations on
 more crypto exchanges launched in Israel          exactly which documents financial services      Growth can be realized through increased         We need to release the snake's tail from
 and an increase in the number of crypto           providers are required to obtain from their     opportunities, the number of companies,          its mouth and allow the market to grow,
 OTC desks: both are indicators of positive        customers and the required procedures for       product quantity and quality, actual value,      fulfill its potential, and reach billions of
 change. This increase is due to the large         verifying the source of funds in the crypto     users, and usage. The crypto ecosystem,          people. Yes, it’ll take time. The market will
 amounts of funds, in the form of crypto           space also remain unclear.                      which is estimated at 80 million or so users,    remain volatile until it grows and things
 assets, raised over the last two years in ICOs                                                    needs to expand and engulf millions of           will continue being hard. But that’s why we
 by Israeli companies, which require OTC           The Israeli Anti-Money Laundering               additional users.                                chose to be pioneers – to go big or go home.
 services through which they can convert           Authority is scheduled to come out                                                               Let’s go big.
 their funds into fiat (usually from Bitcoin       with regulations on these issues in             Yet growth is challenging. Unclear
 and Ethereum).                                    October, which will be an interesting           regulation leads to bank hostility and
                                                   development for the community. To their         limited transfer of fiat funds to crypto. In
 From our ecosystem community and our              credit, they have been engaged in in-           order to avoid regulatory requirements,
 research at Hexa Finance, we have seen that       depth conversations with many market            crypto companies tend to focus on crypto-
 the 60-75% decline in the price of Ethereum       participants and appear to have a good          to-crypto trades. This strategy has them
 over the last six months and the 30%              understanding of the issues. Given this,        banking nicely on profits but keeps the
 decline in the price of Bitcoin respectively,     there is room for careful optimism that         crypto ecosystem at a standstill. They
 make the process of fundraising more              these regulations will give clarity and allow   neglect to expand their user base and lose
 difficult for Israeli companies. More so,         blockchain market participants to operate in    focus on the long-term goal to increase
 many of those that previously raised              Israel in a compliant way.                      the market. Like a snake biting its own tail,
 financing did not convert the BTC and ETH                                                         users buy and sell crypto-to-crypto from
 they raised in their ICOs to fiat, before or in   Daniel Peled                                    and to each other.
 the middle of this steep decline.                 President of the Hexa Group,
                                                   Head of Hexa Finance                            In order for new users to come into the          Nimrod Lehavi
 With regard to regulation in Israel, the                                                          market, they need an easy and safe way to        CEO of Simplex
 application of the anti-money laundering                                                          purchase crypto via fiat. They need to feel
 and counter financing of terrorism law to                                                         that transferring fiat from regular financial
 the crypto space is still a work in progress.                                                     systems to crypto is a simple procedure
 The authorities have not yet made it                                                              and cashing out is an available option at

12                                                                                                                                                                                                  13
Executive Summary                                                                                                                billion. The total number of ICOs in 2017
                                                                                                                                  was close to 350, while the up-to-date
                                                                                                                                  number in 2018 is currently more than
                                                                                                                                  800. The sum raised in 2017 was close
                                                                                                                                  to $6 billion, and more than $20 billion
                                                                                                                                  in 2018 so far. The biggest ICOs in 2018
                                                                                                                                                                                VC Funding
                                                                                                                                  include EOS ($4.2 billion), Telegram
                                                                                                                                  ($1.7 billion in several rounds), TaTaTu

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               390
                                                                                                                                                                                                         390
                                                                                                                                  ($575 million), Dragon ($420 million),
                                              800                                                                                 and tZero ($328 million). To date, ICOs
                                                     Total and Bitcoin
                                                                                                                                  account for less than 10% of the global
 Global                                       600
                                                     Market Cap
                                                     ($ billions)
                                                                                                               Market Cap

                                                                                                                     Bitcoin
                                                                                                                                  venture capital funding volume.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  153
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Deals in 2018

 Ecosystem
                                                                                                                                                                                Number

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               $1.94B
                                                                                                                                                                                of Deals
                                                                                                                                  VC-backed ecosystem
                                              400                                                                                 The VC-backed projects amount to $7.5-
 There are about 4,300 companies in the                                                                                           10 billion in assets that are held by the
                                                                                                                                                                                Sum               876    1,944
 global ecosystem. The current crypto         200                                                                                 funds, and $2- 4 billion are exposed to       (in $ millions)                                 VC Investment
 market cap is $220 billion, which is about                                                                                       crypto through more traditional financial                       2017   2018
 a 75% valuation drop from the all-time                                                                                           vehicles like ETNs, trusts, indexes, and
                                                0
 record in January 2018. But, it started            1.2017                                                            30.9.2018   futures products. VC equity funding in
 at a mere $17 billion valuation at the                                                                                           blockchain and crypto projects exceeded
 beginning of 2017. Unlike the general                                                                                            $4.5 billion raised since VC started
 opinion, the bulk of the crypto valuation    Of the top 100 ecosystem projects,                                                  financing this sector.
                                                                                                                                                                                Tech

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Native Cripto
 record was not due to the growth in          47 are utility tokens, 27 are platforms
 Bitcoin valuation, but from the influx of    and only 26 are cryptocurrencies.                                                   In the first 7 months of 2018, the sum
 altcoins and the appetite of speculators.    Interestingly, a look at the value division                                         of VC investment in the ecosystem             and Trends
 At the highest points of the total market    shows a completely different picture.                                               amounted to $1.944 billion in 390 deals,

                                                                                            $20B
 cap valuation, the share of Bitcoin from     Cryptocurrencies capture 77% of the                                                 compared to $426 million in 97 deals          The ever - developing ecosystem
 the total cap was at its lowest point        value, platforms 20%, and utility tokens                                            for the same period in 2017, and $876         provides an interesting case study in

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Tokanization
 ever, at about merely a third of the total   are at 3 percent. Of this valuation, it is                                          million in 153 deals in all 2017.             technological innovation. Several leading
 market cap.                                  noticeable that Bitcoin captures about        Sum Raised via ICOs 2018                                                            trends and technological developments

                                                                                            790
                                              71% of all currencies and Ether 54% of all                                          Looking at an average per deal per            are currently in progress to improve the                            Crypto-

 $220B
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Currencies
                                              platforms.                                                                          month, despite the impressive 2018            shortcomings of the budding fields of
                                                                                                                                  numbers (with March averaging $8.67           cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
                                                                                                                                  million per deal), 2017 had the only two
                                                                                            Number of ICOS 2018
 Crypto Market Cap                            ICOs                                                                                months with an average of more than $10       A rough classification of the
                                              ICO funding overtook traditional angel                                              million (May 2017 with almost $14 million     developments in crypto is a division to

 4,300
                                              and seed venture capital investors in                                               and January 2017 with a little over $11       native crypto and tokenization.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Stable                Utility
                                              Q4 2017. In Q1 2018, ICOs raised over                                               million). Most of the deals were relatively   Native cripto are developments that           Coins                 Tokens
                                              $6 billion from investors compared to                                               small, with 20 deals under $1 million, and    were not possible before the emergence
                                                                                            Global ICOs
 Companies                                    around $3 billion in early-stage venture                                            only two deals of more than $100 million.     of the ecosystem. This stream includes
                                                                                                                       790
                                              capital investments. In Q1 2018, around                                                                                           cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, smart
 Currently, Bitcoin is gaining strength,      200 ICOs took place whereas about 2,000                                             Crypto funds                                  contract platforms, and non fungible
 and captures more than half of the total     companies raised money for their seed                           552                 The total number of crypto funds              tokens. Tokanization is the use of the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Security              Smart
 crypto market cap. Ethereum captures         rounds.                                                                             launched as of August 2018 is 563. Since      ecosystem tools to improve currently          Tokens                Contract
                                                                                            Number
 10% of the total market cap. There are                                                     of ICOs
                                                                                                                                  the beginning of 2017, 330 funds were         existing services. Tokenization
 currently more than 2,000 traded crypto      According to our data, about 20% of the                                             started (61% of the total number of           incorporates asset-backed tokens (such
 assets and more than 1,000 unique            projects that publish a white paper fall                                            crypto funds). 2017 was a record-setting      as security tokens and natural assets),
 tokens worth around $14 billion. 87%         under the definition of outright scams.                                             year, with 194 (36%) funds opening their      crypto fiats, and stable coins (fiat-
 of the tokens are Ethereum based, with       With roughly $6 billion raised through        Raised                     20         doors that year. 2018 setting a healthy       backed, crypto collaterals, price control
                                                                                                               7
 NEO and Waves capturing around 2.4%          ICOs in 2017, the sum of funds which          (in $ billions)                       pace with 136 (25%) funds in the first 8      mechanisms, or some combination of            Naural                Non Fungible
 each.                                        were scammed was more than a $1                                 2017     2018       months of the year.                           the three).                                   Asset-backed          Tokens
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Tokens

14                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 15
Some of the main technological               (35), Intel (34), Thomson Licensing
 advancements include improving               (31) and Amazon Technologies (27).The
 the existing infrastructure, such as         major corporate actors, such as Bank

                                                                                                                       Bitcoin Mprovements
 Layer 2 infrastructure and Sharding.         of America, MasterCard and Barclays
 Several projects concentrate on              with multiple DLT patent applications
 Bitcoin improvements specifically.           in recent months, are also dipping their
 Amongst them are SegWit, Schnorr, or         toes. In fact, Bank of America holds 45
 Confidential Transactions.                   patent filings related to the ecosystem,

                                                                                           Scaling Existing Projects
                                              and MasterCard is considered one of the

 ~700
                                              leaders with 21.
                                                                                                                                             platform, also supposedly raised $600        as the other top 5 sectors. The Israeli

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     140
                                              Dark side                                                                                      million for their token AriseCoin before     ecosystem is budding, with early half
 Patent applications in the US                Despite rosy depictions and general                                                            its assets were frozen due to charges of     of the companies founded in 2017 (57,
 since Jan. 2011                              optimism surrounding the ecosystem,                                                            fraudulent behavior.                         which are 39% of the total), and the

 ~1250
                                              not all is well in the realm. As in other                                                                                                   first 9 months of 2018 (21 companies).
                                              cases, the bright light of success                                         Schnorr             Regulation and crypto hubs                                                              Israeli Blockchain Companies
                                              attracted a large number of predators                                                          One of the most important features           Israeli ICOs in 2017 mounted to $500

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     $1.3B
 Patent Applications Expected                 attempting to feed off the masses in                                                           of the ecosystem's maturation is the         million raised, for less than 20 ICOs.
 Worldwide in 2018                            the ecosystem. Several of the main                                                             fact that the majority of the most           According to Stanford’s Journal of
                                              controversies in the last year included                                                        advanced countries around the world are      Blockchain Law & Policy article (Sep.
 Enterprise Blockchain                        wash trading, exchange hacks, ICO                                                              currently forming a relationship with        2018), this makes Israel the best in the   Invested in Israeli Blockchain
                                                                                                Layer 2 Infr-            Confidential
 The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office         scams, and others.                                astructure               Transactions        the ecosystem. Many states, desiring         world in funds raised per ICO ratio.       Companies
 has published nearly 700 blockchain-                                                                                                        closer interconnections, have formulated     Additionally, we have seen a steady
 related patent applications that it          Wash-trading is the systematic                                                                 or are currently devising regulation         rise in both the number of ICOs and
 received in the last 7 years (January        exaggeration of trading volume by a                                                            frameworks that will mainstream the          sums raised since the beginning of         Deals in the Israeli
 2011 to April 2018). They granted 10%        crypto exchange in order to appear                                                             ecosystem into its deserved place as         2017. While the largest number of          Blockchain Ecosystem
 of the applications as patents (70)          bigger and more important than it is in                                                        a global disruptor. Some states, such        ICOs was executed during Q2 2018, Q1
                                                                                                Sharding                 Mimble
 during that time. Worldwide, we know         the reality. The leading example of the                                    Wimble
                                                                                                                                             as Switzerland or Malta, went as far as      2018 was the most profitable with $315
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       47 Fintech      7 Social
 of an additional 350 blockchain-related      malpractice is BCEX, which is said to                                                          calling themselves crypto hubs, all in       million raised.
 patents. The overall number of DLT-          falsify its trading volume by more than                                                        order to attract the novel technology and
 related patents and applications for 2018    22,000 times.                                                                                  the vast resources within their respective   Israeli regulation is quickly shaping                        5 Marketplace
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       17 Infra-
 is expected to be around 1,245, which is                                                                                                    borders.                                     to become one of the most advanced              structure
 up from 313 in 2016.                         During the last several years, hundreds                                                                                                     in the world. Merely a few days prior                        5 Supply-chain
                                              of millions of U.S. dollars and their                                                                                                       to the publication of this report, a
 More than half of blockchain patents         equals in crypto coins were stolen, by                                                         Israel                                       new law, which regulates virtual
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       15 Security
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       4 AI
 (225 out of the 406) filed in 2017 came      private, corporate, and even allegedly                                                                                                      currencies, came into being on
 from China: This represents a 381% rise      state actors. Mt. Gox was the first                                                            Israel presents itself as one of the most    October 1, 2018. A FATF-adjusted             11 Media
 compared to 59 patents in 2016. The          famous hack for 740,000 Bitcoins, $15                                                          important hubs of the global ecosystem.      regulation pack will soon come to                            4 Cleantech

 U.S. came as a remote second with 91         billion worth in January 2018; The DAO                                                         Its innovative high tech community plays     force (unfortunately, no exact date
 filed patents in 2017 compared to 21 in      and Bitfinex are two other noticeble                                                           an important role in the development         is available at the moment). The tax         10 Gaming       3 Hardware
 2016. Moreover, six out of the top nine      hacks. In 2018 alone, Coincheck was                                                            of the future of cryptocurrencies and        framework of cryptocurrencies and
 blockchain patent filers from 2012 to 2017   hacked for $500 million worth of NEM                                                           blockchain innovation. Its regulatory        various token types is compatible with
 were Chinese companies. Generally,           tokens, BitGrail was hacke almost $600                                                         regime is transforming itself to be a        fiat-related regulations. The Israeli
 patent applications for blockchain tripled   million worth of tokens, and NiceHash                                                          hospitable, fertile ground for future        Securities Authority had recently          ICO Sum
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     (in $                    606
 from 2016 to 2017, while patents specific    lost more than 4,000 Bitcoins. Another                                                         growth. There are currently over 140         provided its own formal crypto-                            586
 to cryptocurrencies rose by 16 percent,      form of stealing were the ICO scams,                                                           companies in the Israeli ecosystem, with     related regulation. Moreover, in 2018      millions)
 to 602 in 2017.                              which promised a lot to its investors                                                          over $1.3 billion invested. More than 60%    a legal precedent was established
                                              and delivered very little, if at all. Some                                                     of the companies and 88% of the funds        when the Israeli high court issued a
 In the field of cryptocurrencies, the top    examples include Pincoin, which raised                                                         are ICO-related. The biggest sectors of      ruling favoring an Israeli company
 patent filers during the years 2012-2017     $660 million from approximately 32,000                                                         the Israeli ecosystem-related companies      (Bits of Gold), forcing a policy
 were dominated by western companies          individuals and then disappeared.                                                              are Fintech (48), and Infrastructure (17),   reconsideration from a major Israeli                       2017     2018
 such as IBM (with 54 filings), Gemalto       AriseBank, a self-described banking                                                            Security (14), Media (11) and Gaming (10)    bank.                                                               Q1-Q3

16                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    17
Global Market
 Global
 Blockchain
              The beginning of 2018 was the most            Many new retail investors rushed
              prolific time in the relatively short         to invest in Bitcoin and other
              lifespan of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin         cryptocurrencies, only to lose more
              and other digital assets saw a meteoric       than half of their investment as 2018
              rise, followed by a devastating fall. Since   progressed further into bear market

 Market
              the peak in January, markets across the       territory. Projects that raised money
              world came crashing down, affecting           during late 2017 to early 2018 and didn’t
              every single coin and token. The price of     carefully manage their treasury, collapsed
              Bitcoin fell by about 65% during a one-       and rapidly disappeared from the scene.
              month span. The current total market cap
              is floating around the $200 billion mark,     The remaining companies had to

 Overview
              far from the highs of the $800 billion        thoughtfully plan ahead or risk facing
              valuation in January. What followed after     a similar fate. This harsh beginning of
              the January mania was one of the longest      2018 left the scene with around 4,300
              bear markets in crypto and the harshest       active companies in different stages of
              periods in terms of absolute loss.            development in the ecosystem.

18                                                                                                       19
Nonetheless, despite suffering huge          (87.41% of which are Ethereum based,                                                                         The gradual growth of the crypto

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Global Market
     losses, ICOs raised much higher sums         2.44% NEO, 2.34% Waves), with a total        Total, Bitcoin, and Ethereum Market Cap                         ecosystem from 2016 continued at
     of money in 2018 than in 2017: in fact,      market cap of $15 billion.                   01/2017-09/2018 ($ billions)                                    the beginning of 2017. During the
     almost twice as much at the time of                                                                                                                       first months of the year, the total
     writing.                                     At the moment, the total market              1000                                                            market cap continued its gradual
                                                                                                           Crypto market Cap
                                                  cap is divided unevenly between                                                                              climb at a linear rate. The growth
                                                                                                           Bitcoin
     We are experiencing a phase of               cryptocurrencies, platforms, and utility                                                                     started to gain momentum during
                                                                                                           Ethereum
     sobriety and maturation – a decline          tokens. Bitcoin and Ethereum capture                                                                         the spring, multiplying the total cap’s
     in retail investment and a more              the majority of the market cap, with          800                                                            worth first at the end of April, then
     careful, responsible approach from           Bitcoin alone worth more than $113                                                                           after less than a month, exploding by
     institutional investors on one hand          billion, 55% of the market cap of the top                                                                    more than 4,700% from the valuation
     and regulators around the world on           100 projects (which capture 92% of the                                                                       by the end of the year. However, since
     the other. A long bear market might          total cap), and Ethereum around 10% of        600                                                            its peak valuation, the market cap
     be the ideal climate to let the dust         the top 100 cap.                                                                                             declined at almost the same rate as
     settle and examine, both internally                                                                                                                       its growth, losing 73% of its value by
     and externally, the true possibilities       In the division between currencies,                                                                          the end of September 2018.
     that lay within the cryptocurrency and       platforms and utility token projects,         400
     blockchain ecosystem. Ultimately, the        currencies capture an impressive 77%
     goal is to take a step further and bridge    and platforms 20%. Within currencies,
     the gap between consumers, traditional       Bitcoin captures 71% of the currencies
     investors, and blockchain technology.        cap value. In platforms, Ethereum             200
                                                  captures 54%. It is worth noting that
     Coinmarketcap currently has more than        while utility tokens have a considerable
     2,000 unique crypto assets, with a total     representation in the top 100 capped
                                                                                                  0
     market cap of $220 billion, and more         projects (47 projects), they capture less
                                                                                                      1.2017                   1.2018              30.9.2018
     than 1,000 unique tokens on 18 platforms     than 3% of the total cap value.

     Top 100 Projects                                                                          Bitcoin, Etheruem, and Altcoins          Rest
     by Type                                   $156.8                                                                                   Crypto market Cap      In the public opinion, the growth
                                                                                               % of Total Cap per Week
                                                                                                                                        Bitcoin                and decline of the market cap
                                                                                                                                        Ethereum               were closely connected to Bitcoin,
     Currencies                                    26                                                                                                          the titan of cryptocurrencies.
                                                                                               100%                                                            However, evidently it was the other
                                          47                              Number [Projects]
     Utility tokens          $6                                                                                                                                cryptocurrencies (the altcoins) that
                                                  27                                                                                                           were responsible for the late 2017
                                                                                    Cap [$B]
     Platforms                                                                                 80%                                                             market growth. As seen here, the
                                  $40.3                                                                                                                        relative market cap of Bitcoin showed
                                                                                                                                                               a considerate decline during the
                                                                                               60%                                                             late 2017 market cap growth, with
     Ethereum Share of All                                     Bitcoin Share of all                                                                            Bitcoin's relative share plummeting
     Platform Projects                                         Cryptocurrencies Projects                                                                       from a 87.52% of the total cap to a
                                                                                               40%
                                                                                                                                                               mere 33% at its lowest. Only when
                                                                                                                                                               the altcoin bubble burst, with most
     Ethereum                                                                        Bitcoin                                                                   altcoins shrinking to a fraction of
     $22.0
                        54%                                          71%              $111.6                                                                   their peak valuations following the
                                                                                               20%
                                                                                                                                                               April market cap local peak of $460
     Rest                                                                               Rest                                                                   billion, did Bitcoin's share begin to
     $18.3                                                                             $45.2                                                                   grow again, to a little more than half
                                                                                                 0%
                                                                                                      1.2017                   1.2018              30.9.2018   of the total market valuation.

20                                                                                                                                                                                                       21
Global ICOs

                                                                                                                                                                                   Global Market
                                                                                                                       Leading ICOs in 2018
                                                                                                                       Sum Raised (in $ millions)

                                                           about 2,000 companies raised money for their seed
 Global ICOs: Numbers and Sums                             rounds in the U.S. Fewer companies raising funds with
                                                           ICOs and a higher volume of funding ultimately lead
                                                           to companies raising a significantly larger amount of
                                                           capital than possible through seed financing rounds.
                                                           This stems from the wide gap between the number
                                      790
                                                           of investors in the two mechanisms (thousands up to

                                                                                                                                                    $1,700*
                                                           hundreds of thousands in ICOs vs. only a few in seed
                             552                           investing) and low-entry barriers presented for ICO
                                                           investors, meaning less strict requirements with a lower
                 20                                        minimum investment amount.
        7
                                                           While dominating compared to early-stage investments,
     2017       2018         2017     2018                 and despite the steady increase in ICO funding, it
     Raised ($ billions)    Number of ICOs                 barely scratches the surface of the overall venture
                                                           capital landscape. 200 ICOs account for less than 10%
                                                           of the global venture capital funding volume.
                                                                                                                                                            $328*
                                                                                                                                 $4,200*
 Following the spectacular ICO fad of mid to late 2017,    Due to increased regulation, the frauds and the scams,
 2018 is proving itself to show the signs of a much more   the current bear market, and the culmination of new,
 mature market: both regarding the projects conducting
 ICOs and increasing participation in them. All
                                                           more responsible investing mechanisms, the 2017
                                                           boom might be looked back at as just a phase. Investors
                                                                                                                                                    $420
 fragments of the ecosystem showed encouraging signs       realized that the unsustainable scenarios of sizable
 regarding the future of the community as a whole.         instant returns on investments in ICOs were a thing of
                                                           the past, making way for better mechanisms to enter                                              $300
 ICOs have attracted a lot of attention throughout 2017    the ecosystem. More mature teams, clearer terms,
 and especially during the meteoric climb that peaked      and streamlined sales catering to the needs of their                                                      $118
 in January 2018. The market's total capitalization        customers or potential investors entered the scene.
 increased fourfold and the number of blockchain           Participants grew more experienced as well, carefully                                             $151*
 projects kept rising. ICOs have proven to showcase
 a true alternative for angel and seed investments in
                                                           taking the needed measures to ensure eligibility,
                                                           demanding transparency from teams, and displaying                                         $575              $117
 terms of raising capital, especially for early-stage      less erratic market behavior post-sale.
 tech projects. In money raised, ICO funding overtook
 traditional angel and seed venture capital investors in   This year, we witnessed several records being broken.                                            $133 $100       $94
 Q4 2017. In Q1 2018, ICOs raised over $6 billion from     EOS was the largest public ICO ever, successfully
 investors compared to around $2 billion in early-         raising $4 billion over the course of its year-long sale.
 stage venture capital investments. Since it seems         Telegram also made history, announcing the successful
 much easier to find ICO investors than first stage        raise of $1.7 billion exclusively from private investors
 classic investors, one might think that the reason        toward the development of the Telegram Open Network
 was thousands more projects raised capital through        (TON), canceling the previously scheduled public
 ICOs than seed and angel investments. However, in         round. In general, around 30% of all announced ICO
 Q1 2018, merely around 200 ICOs took place whereas        projects in this period closed successfully.                *Started during 2017

22                                                                                                                                                                                23
Leading ICOs

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Global Market
                EOS                            Telegram                      TaTaTu                        Dragon                        Huobi Token                   tZERO

                EOS by Block.one is           Telegram is an encrypted       TaTaTu is a decentralized     Dragon is building a          Huobi, one of the largest     tZERO is an alternative
                a decentralized smart         multi-platform chat with       platform that financially     decentralized currency        cryptocurrency exchanges      trading system (ATS)
                contracts platform,           over 200 million users. Its    rewards users for viewing     and partnership network       in the world, has launched    that is registered with
                designed to support           ability to manage groups       content and referring         for players and casinos,      a blockchain-powered          the U.S. Securities and
                commercial-scale              with many participants         others to the platform.       using its standing            loyalty point system that     Exchange Commission
                decentralized applications    has made Telegram the          By streaming files and        partnerships with the         makes use of the Huobi        (SEC). While tZERO is still
                by providing the core         platform of choice for         related projects to peers,    gambling industry in Asia.    Token. These tokens           under development, the
                functionality developers      people involved with           and by voting to choose       All transactions will sit     would allow its holders       project has already raised
                require. EOS raised the       cryptocurrencies who           which types of content        on the blockchain, and        to receive transaction        $250 million through their
                highest all-time ICO,         use it to launch project       TaTaTu should host in the     any winnings could be         fee discounts, provide        crowdsale. tZERO aims to
                totaling $4.2 billion.        token sales and ICOs, keep     future, users can earn        automatically converted       liquidity protection,         operate as a “blockchain-
                The first event raised $172   followers up to date on        TTU tokens to later spend     to other cryptocurrencies,    access to exclusive events,   ified” Wall Street
                million, while subsequent     projects, and coordinate       on the platform or convert    kept as DRG or paid out in    and be tradable against       exchange, designed to
                events raised $11 million     developer efforts. It          to fiat. TaTaTu Token has     fiat, creating the concept    popular coins to increase     trade securities within the
                on average.                   was announced that the         sold over $575 million        of a flexible online          liquidity. The ICO has        platform. For regulators,
                                              private sale round of the      worth of its currency         gambling mechanism.           raised $300 million.          tZERO represents one
                                              Telegram ICO raised $850       through an ICO, making        From the $420 million                                       of the earliest attempts
                                              million in addition to         it the third-largest coin     raised by the company,                                      to create crypto assets
                                              their initial target of $1.2   offering to date.             $265 million were raised                                    management and
                                              billion, helping them raise                                  by institutional investors.                                 alternative trading
                                              $1.7 billion in total.                                                                                                   systems.

                Bankera                       Basis                          PumaPay                       Orbs                          Envion                        Elastos

                                              Basis is a stablecoin          PumaPay is a billing          Orbs, an infrastructure as    Envion utilizes Mobile        The Elastos project aims
                Bankera is a trading          project funded by well-        protocol that enables the     a service (IaaS) platform,    Mining Units (MMUs) for       to establish an open-
                platform that offers          respected investors in the     use of cryptocurrencies       allows consumer brands        crypto mining activities.     source internet operating
                higher functionality          venture capital ecosystem,     both online and offline.      to create large-scale         Their MMUs are designed       system powered by
                while exchanging              such as Andreessen             PumaPay provides              decentralized apps, acting    for automation, cost-         blockchain technology.
                cryptocurrencies. It          Horowitz, Google               retailers with a cost-        as the production layer       efficiency, and security.     The team is attempting to
                supports major crypto         Ventures, Bain Capital         effective, reliable, and      overlaying Ethereum. It       The project, which raised     create a novel alternative
                assets, including Bitcoin     Ventures, and Polychain        flexible alternative to       also increases security,      $100 million, is now          to the current internet
                and Ethereum, as well as      Capital. Basis value is        credit cards. Utilizing       liquidity, and integration,   accused of fraud and is       infrastructure, which is
                DASH, NEM, and others.        backed by an 'algorithmic      blockchain technology,        combined with low             currently deadlocked.         more secure and allows
                Access is granted through     central bank' mechanism,       the PumaPay team states       fees, production-ready        Envion’s future remains       for a better value transfer
                the Bankera wallet, which     which will be in charge of     that the company’s goal is    scalability, and a suitable   uncertain.                    and more efficient
                allows off-chain and on-      automatically selling bond     to provide instant, direct,   fee structure.                                              generation of wealth.
                chain transactions to         tokens to peg the price of     and secure payments                                                                       The project has raised
                take place.                   one Basis token at a single    with low fees and no                                                                      $94.1 million in its ICO.
                                              U.S. dollar. Basis raised a    chargebacks.
                                              total of $133 million.

24                                                                                                                                                                                                   25
Equity vs. Token Investing

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Global Market
                                                                                                         503
 VC Funding in 2017- 2018                                                                                                                   In 2017, 153 deals summed up to $876 million, while        VC equity funding of blockchain and crypto projects
 Sums and Number of deals                                                                                                     84            the first 7 months of 2018 more than doubled the 2017      exceeded $4.5 billion raised since VC started financing
                                                                                                                                            amount of deals (with 390) and the sums (with $1.944       this sector. As much as $1.1 billion in funding went to
      Number of Deals                                                                                                         334           billion). Moreover, unlike 2017, when only 3 months        178 deals in Q2 2018.
      Sum (in $ millions)                                                                                                                   showed more than a $100 million investment, the first
                                                                                                                      265             67    7 months of 2018 proved to be record breaking, with        The range of $7.5-10 billion in assets are held by these
                                                                                                                                            2017's total investment surpassed after merely the first   funds, and between $2-4 billion are exposed to crypto
                                  209                                                          227
                                                                                                         58    231      58            228   3 months of 2018.                                          through more traditional financial vehicles like ETNs,
                                                                                  166                                                                                                                  trusts, indexes, and futures products. A record breaking
                                                       119                               156                                                Average-wise, despite the impressive 2018 numbers          pace of new crypto funds have formed to invest in
                                                              82                         44      44                                         (with March averaging $8.67 million per deal), 2017        tokens and currencies in 2018. There is a plethora of
                   66                                               68
     48                                                                                                                                     had the only two months with an average of more than       functionalities for most funds that have been launched
                                          57                                                                    35
                                                                                                                                            $10 million (May 2017 with almost $14 million and          both in 2017 and 2018, including trading, venture,
           10               18                  18                          15                                                              January 2017 with a little over $11 million).              indexes, token baskets, credit and ecosystem funds,
                                                                                                                                                                                                       and more. The majority of assets is highly concentrated
                                                                                                                                                                                                       within the top 10 funds.
                                                19      19
                   16              15                                             15
     14                                   14
           10               9                                 11
                                                                     8
                                                                            3                                                               Top 4 VC Deals in 2017-2018
     3.4   1.0     4.1      2.0   13.9   4.1    1.0     6.3   7.5   8.5     5.0   11.1   3.6     5.2     8.7    6.6    4.6    4.0     5.2   Sum (in $ millions)
     1      2      3        4      5      6     7       8     9     10      11    12      1      2        3      4       5     6       7

 Average deal sum
 (in $ millions)
                                         2017                                                                  2018
                                                                                                                                                                              $300

 Number of Deals per Size                                                                                                                                                                                $110 $103
 in 2017-2018 (in $ millions)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 $65

           20                     13             18                 14              9            6               1             2

                                                                                                                                                                                  Bitmain                   Circle                Pintec           Paxos
           $0-1                   $1-2               $2-5           $5-10         $10-20        $20-50         $50-100       $100 <

26                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                27
Total Crypto Fund Launches

 Crypto Funds

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Global Market
                                                                 Number of Crypto Fund Launches                                                     ta    tes                   gdo
                                                                                                                                                                                      m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ds
                                                                                                                                                 dS                         Kin                                                                                o    ng                                                   an                               rea
                                                                 per Country                                                                  ite                                                          re                     d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            gK                                     ny                  sl                               Ko
                                                                                                                                                                      ted               a              o                      lan                  da                              lia         a                    nI                   e
                                                                                                                                            Un                      i               hin              p                    er                  a         Ho
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           n
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             str
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 a
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ma               c                uth               ae
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        l
                                                                                                                                                                 Un             C                 ga                  itz                  an                            Au                erm              y                ran              So             Isr
                                                                                                                                                                                             Sin                    Sw                    C                                               G             Ca                  F
                                                                                                                                                                     36             33                28                 22                   20         20               17                  13                7               5                 4                 4
                                                                                                                                                 289

 2018 saw a steady increase in new crypto
 funds entering the market and is on
                                                                                                                                                                 6 1           11 8
 target to break the record set in 2017                                                                                                               5
                                                                                                                                                           0               3
 for most funds established in a year.

                                                                                                                                                      er
                                                                                                                                                    13
                                                                                                                                                    14
                                                                                                                                                    15
                                                                                                                                                    16
                                                                                                                                                    17
                                                                                                                                                    18
                                                                                                                                                  rli
                                                                                                                                                 20
                                                                                                                                                 20
                                                                                                                                                 20
                                                                                                                                                 20
                                                                                                                                                 20
                                                                                                                                                 20
 As more investors show interest in the

                                                                                                                                              Ea
                                                                                                                                                           United Kingdom
 crypto market, fund managers identify
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Germany
 this opportunity and meet this demand.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         3      0    1    1     3         3 2
 The ever increasing numbers indicate
                                                                               Canada

                                                                                                                                                                                                        er
                                                                                                                                                                                                      13
                                                                                                                                                                                                      14
                                                                                                                                                                                                      15
                                                                                                                                                                                                      16
                                                                                                                                                                                                      17
                                                                                                                                                                                                      18
 that the market is interested in crypto

                                                                                                                                                                                                    rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   20
                                                                                   8

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Ea
                                                                 6 3                   2
 investments, but is still understandably                               0 0 0
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   5 0                       8       8
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              2 5       4
 cautious of the space. Currently,
                                                                 er
                                                               13
                                                               14
                                                               15
                                                               16
                                                               17
                                                               18
                                                             rli
                                                            20
                                                            20
                                                            20
                                                            20
                                                            20
                                                            20
 investors would like to initiate their

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               er
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             18
                                                            Ea

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Ea
 interaction with the ecosystem using a                                                                                                                                                                      Switzerland
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               9 7                                                             China
 trusted intermideate such as a fund.                                                      103                                                                                                    0 1           0 0       2
 This year saw the most funds opened

                                                                                                                                                                                                 er
                                                                                                                                                                                               13
                                                                                                                                                                                               14
                                                                                                                                                                                               15
                                                                                                                                                                                               16
                                                                                                                                                                                               17
                                                                                                                                                                                               18
                                                                       United States

                                                                                                                                                                                             rli
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                                                                                                            20
                                                                                                 64

                                                                                                                                                                                            Ea
 in the United States, although the
 regulatory environment there is not                                    45
 ideal for investors. So far in 2018, the                                    17 16 15 21                                                                             France
                                                                                                                                                          4 0        0 0 0          1 0
 total amount of capital raised to establish                                                                                                                                                                              Israel
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  South Korea
 U.S.-based funds more than doubled that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 1                                  3

                                                                                                                                                     er
                                                                                                                                                           13
                                                                                                                                                                14
                                                                                                                                                                     15
                                                                                                                                                                          16
                                                                                                                                                                               17
                                                                                                                                                                                      18
                                                                                                                                                                                                       3                                                                                                                                      0    0 0 0            0
                                                                            er
                                                                          13
                                                                          14
                                                                          15
                                                                          16
                                                                          17
                                                                          18

                                                                                                                                                    rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1

                                                                                                                                                       20
                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                               20
                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                0 0 0 0                       0
                                                                        rli

                                                                                                                                                 Ea
                                                                       20
                                                                       20
                                                                       20
                                                                       20
                                                                       20
                                                                       20

 of the previous year.
                                                                   Ea

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     er
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   18
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                20
                                                                                                                                                                                                   er
                                                                                                                                                                                                           13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          18
 Upcoming progress in this space is

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Ea
                                                                                                                                                                                                 rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                       20
                                                                                                                                                                                                              20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      20
                                                                                                                                                                                                 Ea
 sure to follow, including larger numbers                                                                       Cayman Islands
 of companies focused on launching                                                                        0 0       0 0 0 3             4
 investable crypto indexes and funds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Hong Kong
                                                                                                        er
                                                                                                        13
                                                                                                                14
                                                                                                                     15
                                                                                                                          16
                                                                                                                               17

                                                                                                                                    18
                                                                                                        rli
                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                               20
                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                         20
                                                                                                                              20

                                                                                                                                   20
 Each will detail different allocations of                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1        0       3 3 2       5      5
                                                                                                      Ea

 assets within the ecosystem, catering to        Global Number

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          er
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        18
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     20
 the varied tastes of investors.                 of Crypto Fund

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ea
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Singapore
                                                 Launches                                                                                                                                                                                                       5    0 1        1        4 10 6
 The total number of crypto funds
 launched as of August 2018 is 563. In the       per Year

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             er
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             18
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ea
 last two years, 330 funds were started                                194
 (about 61% of the total number). The
 number of crypto funds started in 2013-                                     136
 2015 alone exceeded the total number
 of such funds pre-2013. 2017 was a                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Australia
 record setting year with 194 (36%) funds        82                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2                          5       7
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               0         0 0 2
 opening their doors. 2018 proves itself                          43

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         er
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       13
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       14
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       15
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       16
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       17
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       18
                                                      24 30 29

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     rli
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    20
 as a worthy competitor, setting a healthy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ea
 pace, with 136 (25%) funds in the first 8
 months of the year.
                                                      r
                                                  13

                                                  14

                                                  15

                                                  16

                                                  17

                                                  18
                                             r    lie
                                               20

                                               20

                                               20

                                               20

                                               20

                                               20
                                          Ea

28                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          29
Top exchanges:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Global Market
 2018 has presented crypto exchanges with a difficult      Binance                  OKEx                      Bithumb                 Bitmex                      Huobi                    Bitfinex
 reality. The exchanges have faced multiple unique
 challenges that served as a maturity test of sorts. The   Headquarters:            Headquarters:             Headquarters:           Headquarters:               Headquarters:            Headquarters:
 days of exponentially increasing trading volume were      Malta                    Hong Kong                 South Korea             Hong Kong                   China                    Hong Kong
 abruptly over and many exchanges were not ready for
 the sudden shift that occurred around the start of the    2017                     2014                      2014                    2014                        2013                     2012
 year. Moreover, it seemed as if new exchanges kept
 appearing and competition for market share grew           Tradable Currencies:     Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:    Tradable Currencies:        Tradable Currencies:     Tradable Currencies:
 tougher.                                                  Crypto: 350+             Crypto: 450+              Crypto: 50              Crypto: ETH, XBT,           Crypto: 300+             Crypto: 200+
                                                                                                              Fiat: Korean won        EOS, LTC, XRP, ETC,                                  Fiat: EUR/GBP/JPY/
 Another obstacle for exchanges this year proved to                                                                                   TRX, BCH, ADA                                        USD
 be cyber security. We have witnessed exchanges
 succumbing to hacks and funds being stolen on a larger    Advantage:               Advantage:                Advantage:              Advantage:                  Advantage:               Advantage:
 scale than ever before, with multiple mega-hacks and      The largest              One of the largest        South Korea’s largest   Tremendous amounts          One of the largest       Clean and easy-to- use
 mass theft costing hundreds of millions of dollars.       cryptocurrency           cryptocurrency            exchange, huge          of liquidity available,     exchanges in the world   platform, fiat gateway,
                                                           exchange in the          exchanges in the          amounts of volume and   increased emphasis on       in terms of volume,      leverage trading,
 Due to the intense fluidity of the customer base,         world, huge amounts      world, multi-platform     liquidity, low fees     security, a large variety   around the clock         margin funding,
 another hurdle that exchanges face is trader retention.   of volume and            support, multiple                                 of contract types,          customer service,        advanced algorithmic
 The exchange business model could not simply rely         liquidity, BNB token     cycles for easy hedging                           margin trading              native token that        order types, high-
 on the basic trading fees and exchanges were forced to    greatly reduces fees,    and arbitraging, low                                                          reduces fees, beginner   security exchange with
 add additional components to their service. Bitfinex,     extremely fast traffic   fees, margin trading                                                          friendly, Huobi.pro      advanced analytics
 for example, allowed traders to trade crypto assets       growth, good security                                                                                  provides advanced        charts
 against physically-backed fiat currencies. Binance,       and community                                                                                          trading features
 with their own issued token, BNB, offered users a         relations                                                                                              for more than 190
 trading fee discount if they held it in their exchange                                                                                                           blockchain assets
 wallets. Kucoin developed a model allowing traders to
 trade “shares” of the exchange (KCS) and receive their
 dividend of the exchange’s trading fees daily.

 This year, we also noticed a rise in specialized
 exchanges, such as Bitmex, allowing traders to trade
 contracts derived from top cryptos using up to 100
 times leverage, or IDEX, a decentralized exchange
 that is a completely automated smart contract running
 on the Ethereum network. Lastly, due to the evolving
 adoption and awareness of crypto assets around the
 world, many exchanges faced regulatory roadblocks,
 making it harder for them to maintain “business as
 usual.” Binance, for example, chose to establish their
 base of operations in Malta, which passed laws to
 regulate and encourage DLT and blockchain companies
 to base themselves on the island.

30                                                                                                                                                                                                                   31
Global Market
 Honorable mention   Gemini                    Poloniex                  Kraken                    Bittrex                   GDAX (Coinbase)           Upbit
 exchanges:          Headquarters:             Headquarters:             Headquarters:             Headquarters:             Headquarters:             Headquarters:
                     New York City, New        Wilmington, Delaware,     San Francisco,            Las Vegas, Nevada,        San Francisco,            South Korea
                     York, U.S.                U.S.                      California, U.S.          U.S.                      California, U.S.

                     2014                      2014                      2011                      2014                      2012                      2017

                     Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:      Tradable Currencies:
                     Crypto: BTC, ETH,         Crypto: 100+              Crypto: 50+,              Crypto: 190+              Crypto: ETH, BTC, LTC,    Crypto: 250+
                     ZCash                                               Fiat: CAD, EUR, GBP,                                BCH, ETC                  Fiat: Korean won
                     Fiat: USD                                           JPY, USD                                            Fiat: USD/EUR/GBP

                     Advantage:                Advantage:                Advantage:                Advantage:                Advantage:                Advantage:
                     Discounts available for   Large tradebook           High liquidity with       Fully regulated in the    One of the largest        South Korea’s second
                     high volume traders,      with decent volumes,      low fees, fast funding,   U.S., lightning fast      cryptocurrency            largest exchange, large
                     fully regulated, user     good margin. Trading      Bitcoin dark pool,        trade execution, stable   trading institutions in   liquidity pool, intuitive
                     friendly design,          available on largest,     cryptographic             wallets, quick to add     the world with many       interface, was accused
                     security and              altcoins, intuitive       communication             a new sought after        products and services     of fraudulent behavior
                     compliance, high          design, fully regulated                             cryptocurrency            and tens of millions of   yet all accusations
                     liquidity                                                                                               customers in dozens of    were proven to be
                                                                                                                             countries                 completely false

32                                                                                                                                                                                 33
Tech
 and
 Trends
     While we are still at the very beginning      This division helps us differentiate be-
     of the crypto asset revolution, there have    tween the two main current trends. The
     been remarkable developments in this          first trend is the use of the new technol-
     constantly evolving field. In this chapter,   ogy to create innovative tools, services,
     we will mention a few of the recent trends    and infrastructure that were not possible
     in the ecosystem. To help readers absorb      (or not practical) prior to the development
     a considerable amount of new informa-         of the technology. The second trend is
     tion, we will divide the crypto asset world   the use of the new technology to improve
     into two main groups: native cryptos and      already existing structures such as finan-
     tokenized assets.                             cial devices, tools, etc.

34                                                                                               35
Tech and Trends
 Crypto Assets Classification

     Native Crypto

 Cryptocurrencies                                           Smart Contract Platforms                                   Utility Tokens                                                Non- Fungible Tokens/ Collectables

 The best-known category in this list and the beginning     The infrastructure that is the technological basis for     Utility tokens are tradeable digital coupons that one         Non-Fungible Tokens are novel crypto tokens in that
 of this crypto story. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized   the crypto asset world. Smart contract platforms are       purchases with a promise for a future possibility             they are not interchangeable. Unlike currency, where
 encrypted digital assets, usually based on blockchain      built to create a trustless execution environment, and     to use in exchange for a service or a good that is            a coin’s or a note’s worth is not based on their serial
 technology, that are created as a mean of payment and      additionally include a myriad of benefits, such as cost,   unavailable to purchase directly at the time of the           number but on the stated value of the currency, the
 can be digitally traded between willing parties based on   time, security, and others. Smart contract platforms       transaction. The uses of the token vary widely and            value of an NFT token is based on its uniqueness. NFTs
 supply and demand economic rules. Cryptocurrencies         are the technological solution for ensuring future         include software use, cloud storage, voting rights, and       introduce scarcity to the digital token world, one of the
 have two main traits which make them valuable. They        fulfillment of contracts. When certain pre- programed      many others. Being a new vehicle, there are currently         basic ideas of economics, trade, and value. There are
 function as a censorship resistant mean of exchange        conditions which comprise the contract at the time         several major uncertainties surrounding the tokens.           several potential uses for this kind of token, such as
 and as a store of value.                                   of the agreement are met, an outcome coded into the        For example, as with most economic transactions, it           cases where the maker of the token is required to create
                                                            smart contract is executed automatically.                  proves extremely hard to decipher the real interests of       scarce items, including digital art, collectibles, in-game
 Leading Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin,                                                                          the trading parties. It is hard to know if a person invests   items, etc. This branch of tokens requires a specific
 Dogecoin, Dash, Monero, Zcash.                             Leading Platforms: Ethereum, Neo, Cardano, EOS.            in a future good or service due to their current belief       set of services tailored to the needs of NFT. One of the
                                                                                                                       in a future need or due to speculative causes. This           services is the digital equivalent of auction houses,
                                                                                                                       makes the definition of utility tokens overly “liquid”        which differ from regular token exchanges. In 2018,
                                                                                                                       and immensely difficult. For this reason, legal and tax       Rare Bits, an NFT marketplace, was launched and raised
                                                                                                                       authorities around the world are mightily struggling          $6 million for its series A round.
                                                                                                                       with such tokens, preferring to act on a case-by-case
                                                                                                                       basis instead of introducing sweeping regulations that        There are multiple current examples of NFT, but the
                                                                                                                       would allow the field to develop at a more rapid pace         most famous one is CryptoKitties. CryptoKitties, one of
                                                                                                                       and attract additional types of investors.                    the first Ethereum-based games, allows for a trading
                                                                                                                                                                                     network of unique items (in the form of cats) between
                                                                                                                       Leading Utility Tokens: Binance Coin, Steem, Augur,           parties. It was a hit during the end of 2017. At its peak,
                                                                                                                       Basic Attention Token.                                        CryptoKitties was so popular that it created a sizable
                                                                                                                                                                                     slowdown of the entire Ethereum network. The hype
                                                                                                                                                                                     was high indeed and in March, CryptoKitties received
                                                                                                                                                                                     $12 million in funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz and
                                                                                                                                                                                     Union Square Ventures. Despite a recent considerable
                                                                                                                                                                                     slowdown in transactions, the most expensive
                                                                                                                                                                                     CryptoKitty to date, Dragon, (CryptoKitty #896775) was
                                                                                                                                                                                     traded for more than $170,000 in September.

36                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                37
You can also read