Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – March 18th, 2021

Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – March 18th, 2021

The Guardian

Which team should you hate in place of Duke? Who is this year’s Cinderella team? Our writers break down the bracket for the NCAA tournament Jalen Suggs leads a Gonzaga team many believe will pull off a perfect season. Photograph: James Snook/USA Today Sports Who replaces Duke as arch-villains? Iona. Rick Pitino has resurfaced in New Rochelle despite facing no meaningful consequences from the NCAA following the FBI corruption probe that prompted his messy ouster from Louisville. Must be nice. These Gaels are a Cinderella by weight class only. BAG They’ve got it all: the blue-blood origin story that traces to a musty fieldhouse, the overpaid coach who colors outside the lines, a couple of hustle-playmaking white dudes for Jim Nantz to fall madly in love with. With no Duke or Kentucky in the mix, trust me, Kansas is the Evil Empire. And I’m not just saying that because I went to the workaday school on the other side of the Kansas-Missouri border. (M-I-Z!) AL No one truly can replace Duke; hating the Blue Devils is as venerable of a tradition in US sports as there is. However, many fans will make do with rooting against tainted head coach Rick Pitino, who is bringing his fifth different team, the Iona Gaels, to the men’s tournament. He may not be there long, however: the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions are facing heavily favored Alabama in the first round. HF Kansas come into this year’s tournament seeded third in the West Region and opposing teams will likely be extra motivated to knock out the loftiest of the blue-bloods in Indianapolis. TF Player to watch Cade Cunningham. Most draftniks have projected the 6ft 8in point guard, whose selfless, stylish game has drawn comparisons to Luka Dončić, as the No 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA draft. He has posted monster numbers all season, and has also proven reliable in crunch time for the Cowboys. BAG This may very well be your last chance to catch Cam Thomas in an LSU uniform. The 6ft 4in guard has been absolutely brilliant in his inaugural season in Baton Rouge; his 22-plus point scoring average is the fourth-highest in the nation. But it’s how he does it – behind the arc, off the dribble, in traffic – that will leave you convinced that the next time you see him will be at the NBA draft. AL Cade Cunningham is projected by many to be the first pick in the NBA draft. While that doesn’t always – or even often – correlate to tournament success, he will make the Cowboys a much-watch team for as long as they are dancing. HF Many eyes will be on Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs, who has a chance to cement himself as the second-best guard, if not the second-best player, in the draft class. Suggs who is averaging 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists has been a lock for the top five in most mock drafts. TF Dark horse team to watch Loyola Chicago. Back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since their charmed Final Four run three years ago, the Missouri Valley Conference champions lead the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency and scoring defense, allowing a scant 55.5 points per game. I expect the ninth-seeded Ramblers to make things extremely uncomfortable for top-seeded Illinois in an intrastate second-round clash on Sunday. BAG Surely many will be tempted to write-off Liberty, a No 13 seed that would’ve made the bracket cut even if they had lost to North Alabama in the Atlantic Sun tournament final. But not only would the Flames have been dancing last year if it hadn’t been for Covid, they enter this year’s draw on a 12-game win streak built on stout defense and stingy turnover margins. AL The 12th-seeded UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos’ last tournament win was in 1990, but they have gone 22-4 this season, including wins in 18 of their last 19 games. Thanks partly to the rise of JaQuori McLaughlin, they have a solid shot at upsetting No 5 seed Creighton in their opening game. After that, who knows? HF Michigan State are one to watch this year, largely due to being handed an No 11 seed. The Spartans’ mix of talent and Tom Izzo’s tendency to get his players to play well in win-or-go-home situations should allow the two-time national champions to at least make the Sweet Sixteen. TF Cade Cunningham can cement his reputation as one of the best players in the college game. Photograph: Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports The most vulnerable No1 seed is… Baylor. The Bears won the Big 12 regular-season title for the first time in 71 years and earned the first No 1 seed in the program’s history, but a constellation of factors could see them go out early: they’ve vulnerable on the defensive boards (ranking 288th in defensive rebounding percentage), their offense depends heavily on three-point shooting (which can backfire in a single-elimination format), they’ve been dealt a brutal draw in the South Region and haven’t quite been the same after their 21-day Covid pause. BAG With star forward Isaiah Livers sidelined with a stress injury to his right foot, Michigan – despite a heroic run through the Big Ten tournament – seem ripe to go down as yet another disappointment for a historically underachieving conference. AL Michigan have the top seed in the East but they will be without Livers, their second-highest scorer. That leaves them open for an upset, particularly with No 2 Alabama looking dangerous. HF On the surface, Illinois have the easiest path of any No 1 seed this year, but many of the teams in the Midwest bracket began playing much better basketball towards the end of the season. They face the possibility of facing the most talented player in college basketball, Cade Cunningham, and a very good Oklahoma State team. TF One bold prediction Michigan crash out early. The Wolverines have been on the short list of national title contenders from the early days of the season, but the loss of centerpiece Isaiah Livers to a likely season-ending foot injury will prove fatal to their Final Four hopes. BAG Loyola Chicago does it again. AL No team will forfeit due to failed Covid-19 tests once the tournament begins. Fingers crossed, the NCAA’s attempt at creating a bubble goes as well as the NBA’s during last year’s playoffs, meaning there are no pandemic-related no-contests to come. HF Baylor may be one of the most talented teams in college basketball this year but have been slow to find the same form they showed before the program went on pause due to Covid issues. If they cannot shake off the rust, they might not last past the Elite Eight. TF The Final Four will be … Gonzaga, Florida State, Ohio State, Illinois. BAG Gonzaga, Alabama, North Carolina, Loyola Chicago. AL Gonzaga, Alabama, Baylor, Illinois. HF Gonzaga, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State. TF The winner will be… Illinois. Gonzaga came thisclose to breaking through for the program’s first national title back in 2017, when they pushed North Carolina to the limit in a title game marred by dubious officiating. This year’s Bulldogs are even better, but will end one hurdle short of becoming the first unbeaten men’s champion since 1976. The top-seeded Illini, led by the NBA-bound All-American pair of Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn, are peaking at the right time and have the perfect balance of offensive firepower and defensive steel to break their own championship maiden. BAG Duke and Kentucky aren’t here. Kansas, Iona and Virginia, they’ve already beat. All the stars are aligned for Gonzaga, and a perfect season would make a fitting end for a formerly underdog program that have seen their high hopes dashed so many times in the past decade. And what better way to do it than in a finals rematch against the Tar Heels – the team that beat the Zags to the 2017 title. AL What a year to be the Person Who Always Picks Gonzaga. After going undefeated in the regular season, the Bulldogs were named the overall top seed. History isn’t necessarily on their side, the last Division I men’s basketball team to pull off a perfect season were the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers. Still freshman point guard phenomenon Jalen Suggs looks like the player to lead them to what would be (somewhat surprisingly) their first national championship. HF Gonzaga have been unstoppable this year, going undefeated. Led by Suggs and projected first-round picks Corey Kispert and Joël Ayayi, Gonzaga have the chance to run the table in March en route to a national title. TF

Should You Chase Ethereum Here Or Wait For A Pullback?

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) – Credit Suisse Group AG raced to contain the widening fallout from the collapse of Greensill Capital as it acknowledged defaults are coming in a $10 billion group of now-frozen funds that the bank touted for their safety.Facing client furor and regulatory probes over the collapse of the short-term debt funds, the Swiss bank demoted one of its top executives, withheld bonuses for some and separated the asset management unit at the center of the scandal from the much more valuable wealth unit.Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein, who has largely shied away from making deep changes since taking over a year ago, is contending with threats of litigation and demands from regulators to hold more capital as the crisis renews questions about risk management and controls. Clients from rich individuals in the Middle East to Swiss pension funds are expressing their anger over potential investment losses, threatening key relationships far beyond the asset management business.“There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the valuation of a significant part of the remaining assets,” the bank said in its annual report on Thursday. “The portfolio manager has been informed that certain of the notes underlying the funds will not be repaid when they fall due.”The bank has so far returned about $3.1 billion to investors and said it has an additional $1.25 billion in cash across the four funds.Shares of Credit Suisse rose 3.1% at 4:18 p.m. in Zurich amid broad-based gains in bank stocks. Before today, the bank had lost more than 8% since freezing the funds March 1.As part of the changes announced Thursday, Eric Varvel, who oversaw asset management from the U.S., will be replaced next month by Ulrich Koerner, until recently the head of the fund unit at rival UBS Group AG. The payout and vesting of variable compensation for a number of senior employees involved in the Greensill debacle – up to and including the executive board – is on hold so the bank can reconsider it.Asset management will become a separate unit, with Koerner reporting directly to CEO Gottstein. Varvel will work alongside Koerner in the coming months and then focus on his other roles as CEO of the bank’s U.S. holding company and chairman of the investment bank. The changes cap two frenzied weeks in which the bank launched an internal probe, brought in outside help to deal with regulators’ queries and sought to calm investors by returning cash portions of the funds.In most cases when an asset manager has to liquidate a fund, losses are borne by the investors. But for Credit Suisse, which sold the products across business units, the case isn’t as clear-cut. The funds were used to invest money for retirees, the bank pitched them to corporate treasurers and insurers, and offered them to rich families as an alternative to cash.Credit Suisse sold a disproportionate amount of the funds – more than $1 billion – through its private banking arm in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter. It was part of a push to move rich Middle Easterners, who frequently hold large amounts of money in Switzerland, out of costly cash deposits and into fee-generating investments.Some of the Swiss bank’s most important clients in the Gulf also borrowed against their holdings in the funds to amplify returns, the people said, asking for anonymity to discuss internal information. These clients are now facing the dual problem of potential losses in the Greensill-linked funds and possibly calls to put up more collateral for their borrowings.The situation has left Credit Suisse bankers in the region scrambling to salvage client relationships, without being able to answer key questions about the extent of possible losses and who will end up paying for them.At home in Switzerland, where Credit Suisse is a top provider of investment management services for retirees, at least one pension plan has been pressuring the bank and local politicians to ensure they’re made whole, according to a person familiar with the matter. The pension is asking why the bank didn’t take action despite warning signs, the person said.A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment.Varvel’s replacement marks the highest-level shakeup so far in the wake of the Greensill debacle, after the bank temporarily removed a number of lower-ranking managers while it conducts the probe. A Credit Suisse veteran of almost three decades, he took over as head of asset management in 2016, pursuing a “barbell strategy” of focusing on alternative investments on the one hand, and cheaper, passive instruments on the other.While he was able to boost assets under management, the unit has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons recently. On top of the issues with the Greensill-linked funds, setbacks include a $450 million impairment on a stake in York Capital Management, the closure of two re-insurers backed by the unit’s insurance-linked securities strategy, and a 24 million-franc charge on seed capital for a real estate vehicle.The Greensill-linked funds initially invested in loans backed by invoices that would be paid in a matter of weeks or months, making them relatively safe. But as they grew into a $10 billion strategy, they strayed from that pitch and much of the money was lent against expected future invoices, for sales that were merely predicted, Bloomberg has reported.Credit Suisse rated the flagship fund the safest on a scale of one to seven, in part because many of the assets were insured. A high-octane version of the fund that didn’t use insurance was still given the second-safest rating in investor documents. Credit Suisse decided to freeze them after a major insurer of the assets refused to continue coverage.Some investors are now threatening legal options, Credit Suisse said. Edouard Fremault, a partner at Deminor in Brussels, a company that funds investment-recovery litigation, said his firm has already been approached by around 10 investors in the funds. The investors are private and corporate clients of Credit Suisse in the U.K. and Switzerland, according to a person familiar.Credit Suisse earlier this week warned it may take a financial hit related to Greensill. Questions also remain surrounding the bank’s decision to further its exposure to the former billionaire financier by providing a $140 million bridge loan last fall, and whether Chief Risk Officer Lara Warner played a key role. The bank has said she only learned of Greensill’s problems securing insurance cover for its supply chain finance loans on Feb. 22, about a week before Credit Suisse gated the funds.(Adds shares in sixth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Valid Points: Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake May Happen Sooner Than You Think

Eth 2.0 may be coming to a computer screen near you quicker than most anticipated, including the Ethereum developers.

Last week, Vitalik Buterin released a “quick merge via fork choice change” document – a lighter version of the Executable Beacon Chain for quick deployment. While only a loose technical document, the plan ostensibly serves as a notice against any further agitation from Ethereum miners as the merge would allow Ethereum to abandon mining in a rapid fashion.

The Executable Beacon Chain is a proposal to attach Eth 1.x – which we will now refer to as Ethpow (proof-of-work Ethereum) – onto the currently running proof-of-stake Ethereum: the Beacon Chain.

Related: Bitcoin Is Not a Stock

The proposal works by having slightly altered Ethereum software, like Geth or OpenEthereum, point its transaction flow at the Beacon Chain. Instead of miners packaging transactions into blocks, the Beacon Chain’s validators will verify and finalize transactions.

“The only change required on the ethpow side is that the client must have a communication channel with a trusted beacon node and must change its fork choice rule,” Buterin writes.

Why the rush?

A quickened transition schedule is being considered for a few reasons. One recent consideration has been rising tensions between mining parties and Ethereum developers as EIP 1559 and PoS come into focus. The former proposal is highly contested by mining parties, but has achieved enough support among developers to be included in July’s London hard fork. PoS, of course, would see mining done away with completely.

Developers, however, have the high ground in this fight. A quick merge to PoS would only require “at least one honest miner” in order to start the merge. Multiple honest mining parties pointing blocks to the Beacon Chain would entail a smooth transition, Buterin says.

Related: Bitcoin Volatility Index ‘BitVol’ Makes First Trade

Story continues

A quick transition to PoS does preclude the inclusion of multiple highly touted Ethereum tech stacks, at least for the moment.

Yet, at the end of the day a transition to PoS remains the goal of Ethereum developers, as it has been since before Ethpow launched. Any transition to PoS where Ethereum doesn’t lose its top dog position as the go-to platform for decentralized apps would likely be considered a victory.

Pulse check: Validator efficiencies

If you’re new to Valid Points and the topic of Ethereum 2.0 in general, be sure to check out our 101 explainer on Eth 2.0 metrics to get up to speed about terminology used throughout this newsletter.

CoinDesk’s Eth 2.0 validator node, Zelda, is humming along perfectly, earning roughly 0.0073 ETH or $13.12 per day.

While the amount of reward earned by our Eth 2.0 validator has not changed significantly over the past few weeks, I did notice a spike in Zelda’s computer processing power and a subsequent drop in her memory usage.

According to CoinDesk’s data dashboard, Zelda’s central processing unit (CPU) usage almost doubled from around 100% to 200% on Friday, March 12, and has stayed at these heightened levels ever since.

This suggests that Zelda is consuming more electrical energy in order to perform the same tasks it did before. For context, Zelda has four CPUs it can max out before validator operations are negatively impacted. Operating at a level of 200% suggests we’re using the max computing power of two out of four CPUs.

At the same time, Zelda’s usage of random access memory (RAM), which is the component of a computer that is reserved for temporary data storage, has gone down from around 4 GB to rough 2.5 GB.

This suggests the memory capacity needed for running this Eth 2.0 validator has dropped. Zelda has up to 16GB of RAM, enough for an average desktop computer to run various applications and demanding games. For Eth 2.0 validating, we use roughly 15% of total RAM, enough for tablet devices to use.

Ethereum validator rewards vs. mining rewards

It’s important to note that under a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus protocol, whereby transactions and blocks are finalized through the process of mining, the aim would be to consistently max out a computer’s processing power and optimize all unused components of hardware for increasing the probability of earning network rewards.

Under Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol, there’s no need to do either of these things. Despite operating below its computational capacity, Zelda still maintains an effectiveness of 100%, according to beaconcha.in. This is because, unlike mining, staking isn’t about competing for rewards against other validators through greater hashpower.

All validators who keep their operations up and running are rewarded on a consistent and regular basis in the form of interest on their stake. The only way to substantially increase the amount of rewards earned on the network is to stake more wealth in 32 ETH increments. (More on the reward dynamics of Eth 2.0 validators versus Ethereum miners here.)

The Eth 2.0 network does not reward aggressive increases in computing power nor sneaky optimizations to hardware. If anything, developers of the protocol are working hard to find ways in which the computational burden of being a validator can be reduced even further and updated so that even a mobile device could one day be sufficient for securing the network.

Going back to the mysterious changes in CPU usage and RAM, it turns out a code update was released by CoinDesk Director of Engineering Spencer Beggs last Friday in preparation for Ethereum’s upcoming system-wide upgrade dubbed “Berlin.”

As an Eth 2.0 validator, Zelda’s responsibilities can only be performed by connecting to both Ethereum’s PoW and PoS networks. The upcoming upgrade to Ethereum’s PoW network required Beggs to update part of our software, which likely triggered these changes in our energy consumption and memory usage.

This code update is mandatory for all Eth 2.0 validators and must be implemented by April 14, 2021, at the latest. If you’re a validator and haven’t yet made the upgrade, you can download and install the latest software releases for Berlin here.

Validated takes

Editorial on getting Ethereum to proof-of-stake as soon as humanly possible (Blog post, Ben Edgington)

Associated Press NFT artwork sells for $180,000 in ETH (Article, CoinDesk)

Bitcoin, baseball and new drama in the Ethereum 2.0 timeline (Video, CoinDesk)

DeFi lending protocolAlchemix raises $4.9 million in round led by CMS and Alameda (Article, CoinDesk)

How to create, buy and sell NFTs (Article, CoinDesk)

Factoid of the week

Open comms

Feel free to reply any time and email research@coindesk.com with your thoughts, comments or queries about today’s newsletter. Between reads, chat with us on Twitter.

Valid Points incorporates information and data directly from CoinDesk’s own Eth 2.0 validator node in weekly analysis. All profits made from this staking venture will be donated to a charity of our choosing once transfers are enabled on the network. For a full overview of the project, check out our announcement post.

You can verify the activity of the CoinDesk Eth 2.0 validator in real time through our public validator key, which is:

0xad7fef3b2350d220de3ae360c70d7f488926b6117e5f785a8995487c46d323ddad0f574fdcc50eeefec34ed9d2039ecb.

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