Episode 197 - Bitcoin milestones, the NBA dabbles in blockchain tech, and more

Today's show is very very crypto. Not that it isn't generally, but most of the time we tend to touch on other issues too - politics, economics, business - but not today. Today's episode is all about cryptocurrency: we talk about Nano's lightning fast confirmation times, Bitcoin's new milestone of 85% of its total supply mined, as well as Litecoin's imminent halving, with the reward going down to 12.5 LTC per block. Additionally, a sort of motif is present throughout this entire episode. One not very pleasant, one could say. I mean we've got senator Crapo talking about Bitcoin's resilience one one hand, and a "Shitcoin Futures Index" on the other... everything's a bit poopy. This is not a shitty episode however - and that's for sure. Dive into the cryptoverse with us on today's Flagship Friday.   Links from the show:  -V19 Nano confirmation times are happening very fast. Here's a pic of it happening in .18 seconds: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/cjsngc/v19_nano_confirmation_times_are_approaching/  -Q2 Summary of dApps. 1460 active dApps - Ethereum, 664 Ethereum, 354 EOS, 338 Tron. 71 Steem, 19 IOST, 14 TOMOCHAIN: https://i.redd.it/6pb7t5ylwgd31.png  -The IOTA Foundation Announces a $5Mil Grant For Coordicide-related Research: https://blog.iota.org/iota-announces-5-million-in-grants-for-coordicide-related-research-e586547cc948  -CoinJazeera Reports Brock Pierce Running for Gov of Puerto Rico in 2020 lol: https://coinjazeera.news/brock-pierce-running-for-governor-of-puerto-rico-in-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2dvzg67ycGt96Q0gT7grJwxnW_rCWBbHwKupYysYLB2yvs2aJxMfzE51A  -US Senator Crapo (R) says that we couldn't ban Bitcoin even if we wanted to: https://www.ccn.com/news/us-senator-wanted-to-we-couldnt-ban-bitcoin/2019/07/31/  -Litecoin Halving is imminent. Block reward going down to 12.5 LTC per block on August 5th: https://www.coindesk.com/litecoin-is-halving-soon-whats-happening-and-what-you-should-know  -Bitcoin Passes New Milestone as Network Mines 85% of Its Total Supply: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-passes-new-milestone-as-network-mines-85-of-its-total-supply  -Bitcoin Experiences it's first Fed interest rate cut: https://www.ccn.com/fed-interest-rate-cut-bitcoin/  -Bullish or Bullshit - Crypto Exchange Launches 'Shitcoin Futures Index': https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-exchange-launches-shitcoin-futures-index-offering-new-way-to-short-alts   -NBA is launching blockchain souvenirs from the maker of CryptoKitties, Dapper Labs: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/nba-is-going-crypto-launching-blockchain-souvenirs-from-the-maker-of-crypto-kitties-185727384.html  -Weiss Ratings Plagiarism: https://twitter.com/G0JlRA/status/1154817874420215809    -Bitcoin Has 'No Intrinsic Value,' As U.K. 'Moves Towards' Crypto Ban: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2019/08/01/bitcoin-has-no-intrinsic-value-as-uk-moves-towards-crypto-ban/#40ddcdeb2d27