Nuggies: Bitcoin, Privacy, and More Bitcoin
Thursday, January 14th, 2020
Welcome to the thirty-second edition of Nuggies, an email newsletter that aggregates articles and commentary on business, economics, startups, and more, in bite-sized nuggets sent right to your email weekly. Created by and for college students.
Our quote of the week comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety”.
This Week’s Articles:
WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and iMessage: Choosing a Private Encrypted Chat App, The Wall Street Journal
Privacy concerns, challenging Big Tech’s power, and a two-word tweet from Elon Musk are creating a wave in encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram. This article summarized the benefits of encryption and the tradeoffs of using each app.
Signal, which has especially gained popularity, is funded by WhatsApp founder Brian Acton to the tune of $105 million in the form of a 50 year interest-free loan. Acton helped launch Signal after he left Facebook due to dissatisfaction with their privacy policies.
Read it here
The Bitcoin Dream Is Dead, Money Talks
Despite its recent run-up, there are still vocal Bitcoin skeptics offering a seemingly contrarian perspective. James Surowiecki argues Bitcoin lacks key features of a currency, namely transaction costs and storing value. To Suowiecki, Bitcoin’s current use shows that it’s more speculative asset than functional currency.
Read it here
Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes, New York Times
This article gained some momentum in the mainstream this week alongside Bitcoin’s historic rally to all time highs, peaking at around $40,000 per Bitcoin. It tells the stories of individuals who, years ago, bought Bitcoin, stored it on an encrypted hard drive, and have now lost the password and are locked out of their millions. One such individual just has two guesses left before the hard drive revokes access permanently.
Read it here
This Week’s Tweets:
This Week’s Wildcard (an extra, interesting nugget):
50 years ago this week, Silicon Valley was given its name. Check out the article that coined the now ubiquitous phrase here:
This Week’s Question:
If there was one product line you could spin out from an existing company into a stand-alone company, what would it be and why?
What are we listening to this week?:
This week, we’re listening to Yes Lawd! by NxWorries. The collaboration between rapper/singer/drummer Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge, it’s a fun and soulful album that somehow balances jazz chords and raw emotion with Rick and Morty samples and cheeky lyrics.
Thank you for reading! Nuggies is created by Thomas Pero and Spencer Koehl, two undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame.
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