Ep. 19. The prequel to the greatest (bitcoin) story ever told

First up this week - and what a week - we can confirm that SegWit2x is not going ahead! For more on this story, tune in to next week's episode. In this episode, we focus on the run up to what was nearly the biggest fork of the year. We return to the continuing astronomical rise in bitcoin - up as high as $7,600? So is it a bubble, and does the market need more infrastructure to entice large institutions? In related news, CME Group - the world's largest exchange - have announced that they're going to introduce bitcoin futures. The guys also discuss what SegWit2x will mean (or would have meant?) for the future of bitcoin. And will Bitcoin miners really consume as much electricity as the annual consumption of Nigeria? Is bitcoin really that power consuming or is it actually changing how we consume power? And we talk to Volodymyr Panchenko, founder and CEO of DMarket.io, and Alexander Kokhanovskyy, founder and CEO of DreamTeam, about their fascinating applications of DLT to e-sports. Also on this week's show: why Celebrity ICOs might become illegal; Colin wrote a long thing (derivatives clearing on distributed ledgers); the latest of Alex Tapscott and the NextBlock fund; Colin uses the words "willy-nilly" in a sentence; and much, much more. Don't forget, this episode is sponsored by ZILLA, a new ICO marketplace app. Browse ICOs, upvote or downvote so the good ones rise to the top and, if you like an ICO, participate with one-click! Pre-register for the limited ZILLA beta app at ZLA.io/bi. We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe. Missing out on the conversation? Tweet the show @bchaininsider or to read more about the news stories and have your say visit fintechinsidernews.com. Special Guests: Alexander Kokhanovskyy and Volodymyr Panchenko. Links: Bitcoin Hits $7,000 as Wall Street Interest Gets Real - WSJ CME Group Announces Launch of Bitcoin Futures Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: I'm Open to Bitcoin - CoinDesk Understanding Segwit2x: Why Bitcoin's Next Fork Might Not Mean Free Money - CoinDesk One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week - Motherboard Shell, BP Among Energy Giants to Back Blockchain Trading Platform - CoinDesk SEC: Celebrity ICO Endorsements Could Be Illegal - CoinDesk Alex Tapscott's Crypto VC Firm Going Public With $100M CAD Falsely Touted 4 Blockchain Stars As Advisors CIBC Walks From Tapscott's NextBlock Global After Falsehoods Revealed; More Misrepresentations Found Alex Tapscott's Crypto VC Firm Aborts Public Listing, Will Return Money After Falsehoods Revealed Tezos Faces Class-Action Suit Alleging Unregistered Sale of Securities, False Representations - ETHNews.com Implementing derivatives clearing on distributed ledger technology platforms » Banking Technology World Food Programme's ethereum-based blockchain for Syrian refugees in Jordan — Quartz India’s Largest Bank Goes Big on Blockchain Russia is going all in on bitcoin — and everyone’s got a theory – VICE News DEUTSCHE BANK: End of fiat money - Business Insider ‘If you follow us you will make money’: how bitcoin is marketed to the masses