Boxmining

Author: Max Maiboroda

  • Radix DLT ($XRD): Taking DeFi to the next level?

    Radix DLT ($XRD): Taking DeFi to the next level?

    Radix DLT is a layer 1 distributed system to power the needs of the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem. As DeFi continued to gain traction, the top blockchain networks supporting the market were already overstretched. As it turns out, scalability appears to be a hard nut to crack and hence projects like Radix DLT are formed.

    The motivation behind the Radix protocol’s creation is to save the $71 billion lost every year caused by unnecessary friction in the conventional financial system and allow those at the lower and higher levels of finance to make ground by powering a strong DeFi ecosystem.

    Check out our video which explains the scaling problems currently faced by Ethereum, and how Radix attempts to solve it.

    Taking DeFi to the NEXT LEVEL ? – Radix DLT Protocol overview

    Background

    The Radix team believes that using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to build a permissionless network will ease the development and accessibility of innovative financial applications. With these applications, we could finally bring down the guarded walls of traditional financial markets.

    Radix team (Image credit: Radix DLT)

    The project was founded by Dan Hughes, who also happens to be its CTO. Hughes’s former work includes the design of T-Mobile’s first mobile internet platform.

    Other team members include the organization’s CEO, Piers Ridyard, as well as CPO, Albert Castellana. The project is being supported by the Radix Foundation.

    What is Radix DLT?

    The team behind Radix DLT defines the project as the “first layer 1 protocol specifically built to serve DeFi.” The protocol seeks to remove the inefficiencies found in open finance (OpFi) both in the current and future settings. Hughes and his team want to achieve this through:

    • Re-engineering the consensus mechanism used in popular blockchain systems.
    • Employing decentralized virtual machines.
    • Activating on-ledger code.
    • Building DeFi-bound components and applications.
    • Incentivizing developers who drive the growth of the new-found financial breakthrough.

    Having its developers at the core of driving growth for innovative financial products, Radix provides its support by building highly-secure smart contracts, fast and interoperable OpFi decentralized applications (dApps), engaging and rewarding a distributed developer community, and guarding DeFi composability when scaling dApps on public blockchains.

    Radix network

    The network is made up of Cerberus (a consensus mechanism), Radix Engine (a development environment), Radix Component Catalog, and developer royalties.

    Cerberus

    At the heart of the protocol is Cerberus, a re-engineered consensus mechanism which uses a sharded Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) solution. This approach enables the system to be parallelized across multiple nodes without losing message complexity and responsiveness.

    The sharding concepts allows unlimited network splits or shards. Each shard can represent anything on the platform. By allowing unlimited shards, Cerberus shifts focus from global ordering to partial ordering.

    With global ordering, transactions are stored in a predefined chronological order. Partial ordering, at a very basic level, is the opposite of agreed chronological ordering. However, partial ordering has to differentiate between related and unrelated events or transactions when recording them on the blockchain.

    Using a “braiding” mechanism, Cerberus uses a new BFT-style system to sign interactions between nodes handling different shards before committing transactions.

    Radix Engine

    This is Radix’s specialized application layer that powers the interaction between a smart contract’s code with the actual blockchain. The layer powers the project’s virtual machine (VM), which in turn, powers the partial ordering system.

    Furthermore, the Radix VM handles concurrency to drive DeFi applications further.

    Radix Component Catalog

    In other blockchain systems, a developer’s work becomes an active smart contract after being pushed to the system’s users. For Radix, the component catalog handles apps before being registered as “active” on the platform.

    Radix Network (Image credit: Radix Whitepaper)

    In other words, the catalog contains templates ready for use to create additional active components. The new template-based products are called instantiated components.

    Developer Royalties

    The Radix system uses developer royalties to encourage developers to contribute. However, the project takes a different approach by employing distributed self-incentives such as those found in proof-of-work systems called mining rewards.

    Radix Token ($XRD)

    The platform has a native token, XRD, which is used to pay for transaction fees. Note that these fees are paid to node runners.

    A transaction fee is charged for token creation, messaging, and anything else that requires a change of the ledger state. The fee is burnt upon validation of the operation.

    Furthermore, the platform’s tokens have a controlled unlocking mechanism that spans 365 days. With each unlocking, the Radix Foundation’s amount of XRD reduces while those in the public domain increases.

    E-Radix (eXRD) Token Sale and tokenomics

    Radix Token Sale began on 8th October 2020 and a total of 642mil E-RADIX tokens were available to purchase at $0.039 per token.

    There will be an Initial Supply of 4.41 billion E-RADIX as both locked and unlocked tokens. The following chart shows the proposed distribution of the Initial Supply tokens.

    Radix proposed distribution
    Radix proposed distribution

    The unlocking mechanism for E-RADIX tokens will start on 17th November 2020. Of the Initial Supply of 4.41 billion E-RADIX tokens, 4.2 Billion tokens will be distributed and of which 99% will be locked and 1% unlocked.

    These locked tokens are subject to a price-based unlocking schedule which will allow holders to withdraw the tokens at certain price milestones as follows:

    Radix token unlock schedule
    e-Radix token unlock schedule (Image credit: Radix token sale info page)

    E-RADIX will be available for trading on Uniswap.

    This E-RADIX token is an ERC-20 token. When the RADIX ledger is instantiated, this E-RADIX token will be exchangeable 1:1 for RADIX (XRD) tokens. As mentioned in their key milestones article, the Team are on track for the Radix main net to go live in Q2 2021.

    On the mainnet, Radix will create a further 5.19 billion RADIX tokens which will also follow the same unlocking schedule as the E-RADIX tokens mentioned above.

    How to withdraw your unlocked E-RADIX (eXRD) and RADIX (XRD) tokens

    As mentioned in the previous section, E-RADIX and RADIX tokens are subject to a price-based unlocking schedule. However, to claim these tokens you will need to withdraw them from the unlocking smart contract.

    This involves visiting their Radix tokens unlocking website and connecting the wallet that you used to purchase the E-RADIX tokens. If that wallet address has an allocation of EXRD in the unlocking smart contract, you will see details of your total allocation together with the amount which is unlocked and can be withdrawn. Then all that is required is to click the “withdraw” button and follow the steps to withdraw the eXRD.

    Make sure to check back when an unlocking event occurs because it will mean you can withdraw more tokens!

    For a detailed walkthrough on how to claim your unlocked tokens, click here.

    Staking Radix Token

    With OpFi, staking, yield farming, and liquidity mining are common occurrences. Radix powers this DeFi subset by allowing users to lock their XRD to earn network emissions and be involved in decision making.

    Network emissions are periodically generated tokens that are spread across active staking nodes while considering the amount of staked tokens. Emissions make up for 2.5% of the yearly inflation rate.

    There are two approaches to locking tokens:

    1. A user can lock XRD and become a node runner on the network; or
    2. a user can lock Radix tokens and delegate his stake to another node runner, also called a staking node. A staking node has the power to validate transactions.

    Radix’s consensus mechanism limits the stake weight per node to 33% to prevent node runners from having absolute power over the transaction validation process.

    Network Subsidy

    The network subsidy is an additional amount of tokens distributed to transaction validators. The tokens are unlocked by the Radix Foundation every 24 hours and are expected to run for 10 years. However, to earn the subsidy tokens, a staking node has to consistently meet specific factors on responsiveness, bandwidth, and computing power.

    Other Radix token categories are the public token grant to support community contributors, the Radix team token grant to support the team, and the stable token reserve that supports stable coins on the network.

    Conclusion

    The projected growth of the DeFi market requires creating new distributed systems that, if possible, have unlimited scalability. Radix is one such project. With a key focus in leading the migration from centralized finance (CeFi), the project provides hope to the future of OpFi.

    From a re-designed consensus mechanism to decentralized self-incentives for developers, the project is keen on ensuring that DeFi overshadows CeFi.

    The Radix token supply approach is another key component of the network that shifts from the traditional approach of major blockchain-based systems that power OpFi protocols.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Swag Finance Token Launch guide

    Swag Finance Token Launch guide

    Swag.live is a popular adult entertainment platform with over 10 Million users worldwide with over $12,000,000 USD annual revenue (source). SWAG pioneered the Asian adult entertainment industry, offering both streaming and pay per view videos for over 10,000 content producers. The team is headed by Sam Liu and had origins in Taiwan. Currently, SWAG has set up offices in Montreal in charge of expanding operations to North America and worldwide. SWAG has signed up top global talents such as Eva Elfie to produce content for the platform.

    Swag is offering a decentralized community governance token – SWAG – to continue the expansion and move to a Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO). Overall, SWAG is issuing a total of 540 Million tokens to achieve decentralized governance.


    Swag Governance Tokens

    SWAG Live platform

    SWAG has decided that instead of growing the community in a centralized fashion with few participants, they are choosing to embrace community governance. The key is to allow more participants in their ecosystem, allowing for faster product iteration and better product design by including community feedback and design making. The key is to harness the power of the community and decentralization to push SWAG’s growth to the next level. In many ways, SWAG’s token offering is an experiment, as the adult industry has been traditionally shrouded in secrecy – with big players making most of the decisions and taking most of the profit.

    Each SWAG token is entitled one vote in community governance. Governance voters will be rewarded via “Squirt pool” that have valuable rewards (see below).

    Token information:

    Initial offering price: $0.10 per SWAG
    SWAG Total Supply: 625,000,000 SWAG tokens.

    To guarantee the governance of the SWAG community, the team has stated the following

    • Team will not privately coordinate any decisions
    • Team will no actively participate in DAO governance
    • Team will not pay for DAO maintenance, and DAO management is not hired by the team.

    SWAG token offering – First Swap Event

    Swag will offer tokens via a “First Swap Event” (FSE) held on Cream.finance (you can read our take on CREAM here). The FSE event will take place on the 14th October 2020 at 2:00pm (UTC), with an initial price of $0.10 per SWAG. Cream offers the ability to swap tokens via its decentralized exchange component. The FSE will start with each SWAG token through two 50/50 pools:

    SWAG/USDC (500,000 / 50,000)
    SWAG/CREAM (500,000 / 50,000 USDC equiv)

    To swap for SWAG in the FSE, participants will need to have both $USDC and $CREAM, along with $ETH (for gas fees). The Team does remind people that after submitting a transaction, it could take 1-2 minutes for confirmation. Also, CreamSwap runs on an Automated Market Maker (AMM) mechanism. Hence it is possible that prices of SWAG may change whilst the transaction is pending confirmation. However if this happens the transaction will simply fail, but your tokens will not be lost.

    After the FSE, participates will also be able to earn extra SWAG tokens via a yield farming event on CREAM. Users will be able to provide liquidity to SWAG trading pairs, thus increasing the size of the liquidity pools for SWAG. Cream liquidity pools function same as Balancer, so the more liquidity that is added, the more stable a trading pair will be. To find out more about liquidity pools and how they work, you an check out our article on Balancer and Liquidity Pools.

    To reward community liquidity providers, those who provide liquidity to the SWAG/USDC and SWAG/CREAM pair will able to stake their liquidity tokens (CRPT) for additional SWAG rewards. A total of 1,015,000 SWAG has been allocated for yield farming. This event is designed allow the community to provide extra liquidity token trading.

    How to participate in the First Swap Event by swapping SWAG

    To participate, you will need to go on Cream Finance. There you can choose the ERC-20 tokens (either $CREAM or $USDC) you want to swap for SWAG, remember to select $SWAG in the lower row. Then unlock and swap your ERC 20 tokens by clicking “Unlock” and then “Swap”. (https://www.nelsongreerpainting.com/)

    SWAG Reward Pools

    SWAG will have yield farming features. There will be 2 Reward Pools: $SWAG/$CREAM and $SWAG/$USDC. SWAG holders who want to join these Reward Pools must provide their tokens, known as liquidity. The purpose of this is to increase the depth of trading pairs, reduce the likelihood of price slippage and keep the stability of SWAG tokens. In return, SWAG hotels can benefit through earning passive returns by means of swap fees.

    How to add liquidity to SWAG Reward Pools

    Go to the Cream Finance Pools and select the trading pair (i.e. either $SWAG/$CREAM and $SWAG/$USDC). Unlock the permission to transfer ERC-20 tokens by clicking the lock icon for both tokens. Click “add liquidity”- after doing this you will get CRPT tokens.

    Then, go to the Cream Finance Rewards page. There, choose the Reward Pool (i.e. either $SWAG/$CREAM and $SWAG/$USDC). Click “Enable” to unlock CRPT transfer permission. Then click “Stake” to stake your tokens.

    Claiming your rewards is easy, simply click “Claim Reward” on the Rewards page on the side bar.

    SQUIRT and Rewards for DAO participants

    The SWAG community is rewarded in the form of “SQUIRTS” (yes, this is what they are actually naming it). SQUIRTS are a reward for SWAG token holders that participate in community governance by contributing their time to debate important issues, research and discuss important business matters to help grow the platform. To join SQUIRTS, SWAG holders can debate on a particular governance proposal, and then stake their SWAG tokens to vote.

    Squirts can be rewards in the form of a stablecoin, SWAG token, or other tokens, and are designed to be rewarded pro-rata to all voters on the SWAG DAO. The rewards are split according to votes entered – with 1 token being 1 vote. This will drastically improve SWAG governance and community participation, as users are rewarded for taking part in the DAO.

    SQUIRT 2 is ongoing and will end at 10:59 on 30th October 2020 (UTC) and note that your tokens will be locked up for 7 days from the time of your vote. There will be a total of 4 SQUIRTS in November 2020, with a total of 1million USDC to be distributed as follows:

    November 2020 SQUIRTS
    November 2020 SQUIRTS

    SQUIRT 3: Oct 30 — Nov 6: 300,000 USDC
    SQUIRT 4: Nov 6 — Nov 13: 200,000 USDC
    SQUIRT 5: Nov 13 — Nov 20 300,000 USDC
    SQUIRT 6: Nov 20 — Nov 27 200,000 USDC

    How to stake SWAG to join SQUIRTS

    Go onto the voting page. There, stake your SWAG tokens by clicking “Stake Token”. Register to vote for a proposal by clicking “Register to Vote”, and “For” or “Against” depending on your inclination. You can then collect you SQUIRT rewards by clicking “Collect”.

    SWAG exchange pool on Uniswap

    SWAG token holders can exchange their tokens through the SWAG/USDC Pool to get Uniswap LP tokens (UNI-V2). The Team have also set up a new reward pool for Uniswap liquidity providers who can stake their LP tokens to the reward pool.

    Between 22nd to 28th October 2020, as an initial incentive for liquidity providers LP Token reward distribution will be available. Rewards will be given at each block with 25,000 SWAG available daily, totaling 175,000 SWAG for staking SWAG/USDC Uniswap LP tokens. Note however that there will be a 3 day lock for any LP tokens which are staked.

    As a side note, our community has found there is a price discrepency between CREAM and Uniswap. So users who want to sell their SWAG may want to check and compare the prices on these two platforms!

    Project: Referral Rewards- Refer a friend and get SWAG

    From 12:00 on 14th October 2020 to 12:00 on 14th November (UTC+8) SWAG will be having their referral program. A total of 50,000 SWAG will be released as rewards for those who help promote and grow the SWAG community.

    To participate, go to their event website: https://referrals.swag.finance/ and complete their Referral Rewards checklist. This checklist involves tasks such as following their Twitter, Discord and Telegram and afterwards completing the form on the site. Then you will be able to get an invitation code to send to your friends.

    Completing the Referral Rewards checklist earns you 1 entry. Then if you refer a friend both you and your friend will each get one entry. So as an example, if you refer 5 friends, you would get a total of 6 entries. At 6:00p.m. on 14th November 2020 (UTC+8), the team will draw 1,000 winners who will receive 50 SWAG as a reward. There are no restrictions on multiple entries so you can refer more friends to increase your chances of winning more SWAG!

    SWAG NFTs

    SWAG will be doing non-fungible tokens (NFTs), it was only a matter of time. The NFT market is a huge opportunity for budding artists, and apparently now also the tens of thousands of SWAGGERs (i.e. SWAG content creators).

    SWAG NFTs will soon be available on Opensea– a NFT marketplace and feature the best SWAGGERs on SWAG’s platform. They will be limited edition NFTs that will also be attached to various SWAG events and rewards.

    SWAG roadmap: What’s coming up next?

    Reward pools

    The SWAG team observed that many SWAG token holders who participated in the reward pools were unable to participate in the SQUIRTS voting sessions. Therefore in future, SWAG will host less reward pool events that would result in decreased participation in SQUIRTS.

    SWAG diamond drip

    SWAG.Live is one of the leading premium adult content platforms in Asia, and many $SWAG holders also have accounts at SWAG.Live. Therefore to reward these holders, starting in November 2020, SWAG finance will build a system that would detect the amount of $SWAG in the wallets of registered SWAG.Live members. SWAG finance would then drip SWAG Diamonds which can be collected and used on SWAG.Live app for live chat, accessing stories, live streams and gifts to content creators.

    Diamond distribution time: 4:00pm every Monday (UTC +8).
    Diamond ratio: 1 SWAG.Live diamond for every 50 $SWAG in your wallet (this includes any tokens staked in the SQUIRT pools)
    Distribution method: SWAG.Live diamonds will be sent direct to your SWAG.Live account.
    Restrictions: Only one Ethereum address can be bound to one SWAG.Live account.

    How to sign up for the SWAG diamond drip

    Bind your Wallet and SWAG.Live ID:

    1. Go to diamonds.swag.finance and connect your Ethereum wallet.
    2. Enter your SWAG.Live ID and click “Sign and bind”. Your SWAG.Live ID can be found on the SWAG.Live site under “Me”.
    4. After the binding process is complete, SWAG.Live diamonds will be sent to your SWAG.Live account every week.

    VIP group

    Holders with over 200 $SWAG can join a VIP Discord group. In addition to having access to this more exclusive discussion channel with fellow SWAG holders, the SWAG.Live team have also agreed to give a number of perks such as behind the scenes access to the SWAG.Live content creation process, limited access to SWAG short films and SWAG diamond giveaways.

    Exchange listings for $SWAG

    SWAG is currently listed on Uniswap and Hotbit. Trading will begin on Bitmart from 8:00pm on 6th November 2020 (HKT) onwards.

    The team mentioned in their latest article that their mid-term strategy is to maximise the number of potential SWAG buyers and are in discussions with the following exchanges to list their token: Binance, Upbit, Bitflyer, Bitthumb, Huobi, Bitkub, Probit, Kucoin and ZG.

    See here for our picks for top cryptocurrency exchanges.

    Conclusion

    SWAG is strongly embracing decentralization and decentralized governance allows participation in the future direction of their adult industry platform. SWAG is an already profitable business of over $12,000,000 USD annual revenue (source) and a growing audience of over 10 Million users. This Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO) is designed to take SWAG to the next level, fuelling future developments, and global expansion.

    Resources:

    Swag Live (18+ only): https://app.swag.live/
    Swag Finance Medium: https://medium.com/@swag.finance
    Asia Crypto Today Coverage: https://www.asiacryptotoday.com/swagfinance/
    Block Tempo Coverage: https://www.blocktempo.com/adult-streaming-platform-swag-finance-will-issue-swag/
    SQUIRTS, Rewards Pool & FSE participation walkthrough: https://medium.com/@swag.finance/squirt-voting-rewards-pool-fse-participation-walkthrough-1dad83cb4348

  • OIN Finance ($OIN): DeFi’s first foray into Ontology

    OIN Finance ($OIN): DeFi’s first foray into Ontology

    OIN Finance ($OIN) devised a way to build a Decentralised Finance (DeFi) project that seeks to deliver what most Ethereum products can too, but on a different blockchain — the Ontology network. This can potentially solve issues of blockchain congestion and rising gas fees which recently is a cause for concern and a real obstacle to mass adoption.

    As the first DeFi project running on Ontology, it is interesting to know what they have done and what they have in store in the space in the months to come.

    Check out our explainer video on OIN Finance:

    Background

    Renard Zhang, CEO of OIN Finance and his team began the project with a three-pronged mission of promoting DeFi, becoming a gateway for DeFi, and helping it grow into a more mature market. The team helped recreate the developments of the decentralized technology from the Ethereum ecosystem into the Ontology blockchain.

    What is OIN Finance?

    OIN Finance is a DeFi ecosystem focused on providing a liquidity pool lending platform on top of the Ontology network. Its purpose is to create a cross-chain interoperable platform for services like lending, borrowing, swapping, and minting of stablecoins.

    With OIN, users can add liquidity on their own decentralized exchanges (DEX) and build their own market makers through OINSwap. Another project inside the OIN ecosystem is OINLend, where users can make loans or borrow cryptocurrency assets.

    Other services available in the ecosystem are OINWallet, OINDAO, and the USDO stablecoin. Through OIN’s bridge technology, these services built on the platform can be accessible to the Ethereum community, as well.

    For now, OIN is focusing on building the Ontology network to provide low-cost services while avoiding the congestion problems that users experience in the Ethereum blockchain, more so recently. Once the project has a strong enough user base on the ONT DeFi platform, they can move to scale the project further.

    The road ahead for OIN is to first build a community of early adopters and give them an opportunity to be a part of the initial pool of stakers. Then, it can be made available to the larger public.

    Cross-chain interoperability

    OIN’s architecture enables the growth of not only its own platform but also the whole DeFi space, by linking several blockchains together. Its cross-chain design opens up the platform to other existing networks to expand offerings to a vast number of users.

    Decentralization

    By adopting Tendermint’s consensus algorithm, nodes can function without any problem whilst trying to achieve consensus. And through its own stablecoin, there are enough incentives for nodes to continue securing and maintaining the health of the network.

    Data Security

    OIN uses Merkle proof to secure the data of its users. In such a set-up, any information on actions initiated on top of the Ethereum blockchain will be kept in a secure line of codes so they cannot be written back to.

    OIN Finance’s Services

    OINSwap V1 Pool

    OIN will launch the first DEX on Ontology, enabling Ontology users to conveniently trade their ONT tokens with the tokens supported by OIN. The swap pool powers the whole DEX while its prices are determined by prevailing market conditions. V1 and V2 pools are currently in the works and there is no official launch date yet.

    OIN swap v1 pool
    OIN swap v1 pool

    OINSwap V2 Pool

    As soon as the cross-chain bridge is successful, and ERC-20 assets can run to and from the Ontology network, they can begin the operation of OIN Swap’s V2 pool. In here, OIN tokens are used to reflect the value of some tokens into OIN Swap.

    OIN Swap v2 pool

    OIN Wallet

    OIN Wallet can be used to store tokens supported by the Ontology and Ethereum network. As soon as the second phase of the project is completed, which is to successfully run the Ontology-Ethereum bridge, OIN wallet can be able to access other Ethereum-based DeFi projects. These are protocols such as Curve, Balancer, or Compound.

    OIN wallet
    OIN wallet

    USDO

    USDO is the stablecoin of the network, pegged to the US Dollar. It is the first decentralized stable token built on top of Ontology. USDO is backed by Ontology’s native token, ONT.

    The stablecoin can be used to deposit into OIN Swap or OIN Lend pool to gain profits from staking and liquidity mining.

    $OIN Token

    OIN token is the native asset of OIN Finance. It will be utilized as the governance token, as well as for collateral rewards and clearing compensation.

    Through OIN token, the platform implements a community governance model to manage operations. Elaborately, the token can be used to pay for transaction fees, staking, or community voting.

    OIN token is hugely popular. The public sale of the token was around 50 times oversubscribed and was launched on Uniswap and Bitmax and BiBox on 3rd September 2020. Those lucky few that were able to get into the public sale, purchased their OIN tokens at USD$0.08, and considering prices of OIN at the time of writing is almost USD$1, these holders have every reason to be ecstatic.

    OIN DAO

    OIN DAO also has the ability to issue USDO. Since USDO is collateralized by ONT, it has its own pool in the Ontology platform. Those who have ONT can mint USDO at an initial collateralization rate of 300%.

    The clearing mechanism (similar to how liquidations work in MakerDAO) kicks in if the collateralization of the USDO drops below 180%. But if users do not wish to borrow or lend USDO, they can send them over to OIN Swap or OIN Lend to do liquidity mining.

    OIN Lend

    Lending is decentralized on the OIN platform. Through smart contracts, both lenders and borrowers can safely deposit tokens to become underlying assets on the platform. Then, OIN chooses between different tokens supported by the Ethereum and Ontology network to mint OIN tokens at a specific exchange rate.

    A minimum over-collateralization of 150% is required for loans, similar to other DeFi lending protocols. The interest fees are determined automatically by smart contracts based on different market factors such as supply and demand.

    Interests are accumulated per block and a portion of it is kept in the reserves. This is to allow lenders the option of withdrawing their token deposits should they wish to do so.

    OIN Chain

    OIN Chain is a layer built on top of the OIN platform designed to support the cross-chain interoperability feature of the protocol. This will help integrate Ethereum’s DeFi projects to also supply more assets in the Ontology network. (nelsongreerpainting)

    It will be a multi-functional adaptor that will bridge both Ethereum and Ontology, as well as more public chains in other developments ahead.

    Liquidity Mining and Staking

    Half of all the OIN token supply is generated from liquidity mining and staking. The supply created via stakers will be derived from USDO collateral pools collected in the OIN DAO and OIN Lend platforms.

    OIN tokens that are created by way of liquidity mining will be injected in the OIN Swap pools. Once the OIN Lend pool is made available with its cross-chain architecture in place, ERC-20 compliant tokens can be staked too.

    Exactly 40% of all minted tokens are distributed every day via staking rewards, while the remaining 60% will be distributed as liquidity mining rewards. Through OIN DAO, the community can decide how to shift the ratio of the daily reward allocation for the network.

    Conclusion

    As one of the pioneers of DeFi on the Ontology network, the outlook for OIN Finance appears increasingly positive, especially with Ethereum’s rising gas fees. While the number of DeFi projects launched on the Ethereum blockchain increases daily, whether they can continue to sustain their operations continues to be a prevailing concern.

    Establishing a successful proof of concept on top of other platforms for DeFi projects can be helpful for the community and whole crypto space at large. After all, it only adds more options for users to explore the services that fit their needs best.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Cream Finance ($CREAM): What is it?

    Cream Finance ($CREAM): What is it?

    CREAM Finance ($CREAM) stands for Crypto Rules Everything Around Me. The project began with a vision to establish a financial system more accessible than its traditional counterparts. So CREAM has created an ecosystem that can be linked with other Ethereum platforms to efficiently provide a spectrum of services for its users. The liquidity mining trend, which is currently the most talked-about aspect of the decentralised finance (DeFi) space due to its potential high returns has also helped CREAM establish its popularity and footing in this field.

    Background

    Jeffrey Huang, the Founder of CREAM Finance, believes in the capacity of cryptocurrencies to create an open and inclusive financial system. And through the help of smart contracts, Huang’s team went on to create a DeFi ecosystem that would link together multiple products and services that many users need today.

    In recent weeks, the team has been continuously working on expanding its listing and preparing for the launch of its CREAM token. The launch of their beta liquidity mining on 12th August 2020 has been the subject of discussions in some social media platforms.

    What is CREAM Finance?

    CREAM Finance is a DeFi ecosystem focused on providing lending, exchange, payment, and asset tokenization services. It also claims to operate a permissionless and open-source protocol so any other internet participant can be a part of the development of the network, instead of just using it or locking up funds in smart contracts for staking rewards.

    Financial inclusion is among the team’s primary goals. And the objective is to be able to achieve it without compromising the safety and security of each user and their assets.

    Since CREAM is established on the Ethereum blockchain, it can take advantage of smart contracts that can be used to run Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVM). Such a set-up also allows the CREAM project to have better composability than other DeFi projects.

    EVMs can also help community users develop their own decentralized applications (Dapps) on top of the network. However, there is very little detail on the community’s plans for such at the moment.

    CREAM plans to launch its own algorithmic money market protocol on top of Binance Smart Chain (BSC) in the weeks to come. When it is finally deployed, it might ensure that the platform can take advantage of the transaction throughput and cost-efficient servicing available only on the BSC and other similar chains. In addition, linkage with the Binance Chain can provide them with better liquidity through its access to the biggest cryptocurrencies.

    There has not been any report yet on the audits being done for CREAM’s smart contracts. But according to a recent release they made, they recently hired a security adviser to work on the necessary platform developments.

    The first monthly payment the team has made to the new adviser totaled to 37,500 CREAM. Some of the more prominent crypto advisers on-board is Robert Leshner, CEO of Compound Finance. Leshner acts as one of the team’s technical advisers.

    CREAM’s Lending Services

    The emerging trend of DeFi projects facilitating peer-to-peer lending services enticed the team behind CREAM to work on a protocol that can do something similar. Available assets that users can borrow from the CREAM ecosystem include BAL, COMP, ETH, CRV, LEND, REN, BUSD, USDC, USDT, and YFI.

    CREAM is looking forward to the launch of BSC. When it is already available, users can take advantage of CREAM’s link with Binance through the BEP2 standard, or pegged tokens, to make the transfers of XRP, BCH, LTC, and TRX much easier.

    Without having to wrap tokens, CREAM transactions on BSC can be performed faster and more affordably.

    CREAM Token and Liquidity Pools

    The CREAM token, i.e. the CREAM platform’s native asset is available on Uniswap and Balancer. As at 25th August 2020, the CREAM token market cap is over $11.8 million, with a circulating supply of 149,927 CREAM. The total supply, however, is at 9 million CREAM.

    CREAM was recently launched in August 2020 yet the platform already has a total of roughly $48 million in total value locked (TVL). Although it certainly wasn’t able to emulate Yearn Finance’s ($YFI) meteoric rise, it is still a notable DeFi protocol since it has gained a lot of traction after only being in the market for a few weeks.

    Since there is a growing number of crypto users participating in liquidity mining or yield farming, the team behind CREAM also launched their own liquidity mining program. On 24th August 2020, CREAM also announced their v3 Beta Liquidity Mining program, some of their updates include increasing the rewards for 3 of their pools.

    CREAM pools (Image credit: Cream Finance)

    Conclusion

    CREAM is a relative newcomer to this space and we can see that they are continuously building and listing more assets onto their platform. They have recently updated the rewards available on their liquidity mining pools and are transparent on their liquidity mining distribution. So be sure to check their Medium where they provide announcements and updates at least once a day. The team behind CREAM are also very responsive on social media in terms of answering people’s queries about them.

    Finally, considering the inclusion of some very prominent crypto personalities and their linkage with the biggest exchanges and protocols in the space, the future of CREAM looks promising so far. Looking at the service they are offering, it sure seems that it fits into what many cryptocurrency users need from the market.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Yam Finance – Elastic Supply Token gone wrong

    Yam Finance – Elastic Supply Token gone wrong

    YAM Finance is a new elastic supply token where the supply of the token expands and contracts in response to the token price – with the ultimate aim of stabilizing to a $1 USD PEG. A 12 hour “Rebase” will increase/decrease the total supply of the token depends on its price. This means that after a rebase, wallets holding YAM will experience changes to the balance even if no YAM is sent out of the wallet. This concept is similar to Ampleforth (AMPL). YAM has gained enormous attention after it’s launch on the 12 of August due to its extremely high Yield Farming (More than 1000% APY) rewards and Meme suitability. On top of this, the elastic supply of YAM means that it catches the attention of those who missed out on the AMPL hype train.

    VOLATILITY WARNING: YAM supply is currently VERY as it was only recently launched. Expect circulating supply to increase over the next few days.

    What happened to $YAM?

    Due to a smart contract bug, the $YAM smart contract is no longer governable and no future modifications can be made. Initially, as part of the experiment, $YAM had a governance feature that allowed the community to vote on new features and add functionality to the contract. However, the bugged smart contract meant it was impossible for the community to reach the quorum necessary to vote new features or fix the bug. This means that $YAM cannot be modified, nor can it be safely placed in Uniswap liquidity pools.

    $YAM migration plan in a nutshell

    YAM is not giving up! The old $YAM will be migrated to a new version of $YAM, which will be a fully audited version of the YAM protocol. Currently, Peckshield Inc has audited the migration contract and reported it to be a success. Any “low” or “informational” issues which were found during the audit have also been resolved. Yam Finance has deployed the migration contract which enables $YAM holders to migrate to the new version. (https://chacc.co.uk/)  But $YAM holders will only have 72 hours to complete the migration process i.e. until 22nd August 2020 at 4:20pm (UTC). After such time, YAM v1 tokens will no longer be eligible for migration. So pack up your $YAM bags and GET MOVING!

    Details on the migration plan can be found here.

    Yam Yield Farming

    Yam Farms for different tokens

    $YAM’s distribution will only be made to Yield farmers – platform participants who stake YFI, LINK, AMPL, COMP, MKR, LEND or $WETH on the platform. This is a more fair method of distribution as there is no pre-sale of the token to early investors. The developers have stated that they were inspired by $YFI to adopt the staking model to distribute YAM.

    YAM distribution and Supply

    YAM will have a total supply of 5,000,000 Tokens (not counting rebases)

    Yam will be distributed to these following staking pools on http://yam.finance: WETH, YFI, MKR, LEND, LINK, SNX, COMP, and ETH/APML Uniswap v2 LP tokens. During the initial launch, 2,000,000 YAMwill be distributed to the staking pools (250,000 per pool). There will be a second distribution “Wave-2” that will be distributed to the Uniswap pool with 1.5 Million per week and decreasing by 50% each week after.

    Yam distribution over time

    Smart Contract Audits

    YAM has not undergone any smart contract audits. You can view the Yam’s source code on Github or on the submitted contracts to Etherscan. YAM is compiled using truffle, and the engineers at truffle are also conducting their own tests on the code. The staking contracts have been adapted from Synthetix – similar to those deployed by YFI with some changes to Starttime() and other variables. The token contract is based on COMP and Ampleforth – meaning it’s a non-standard contract which could present problems if placed in liquidity pools.

    Is YAM a Scam?

    Notable members of the Crypto community have come out to call Yam a scam or ‘transparent pump and dump’. The of the reasons why it’s accused of this is because questions into the long term use case of $YAM. YAM is launched as a zero value token, meaning that there is no inherent value other than speculation. Long term use case of $YAM as a synthetic asset is also untested, as it’s not truly a stable coin. Both YAM and AMPL attempts to stabilize price by changing its supply – a feature that inconveniences users as their wallet balance would change over time. Whether or not YAM is a scam or not can only be proven over time.

    Farming Tools and Profitability

    Currently, the best tool for YAM farming is Yieldfarming.info developed by @weeb_mcgee. Currently the panels are hidden so you can only access it via this hidden URL https://yieldfarming.info/yam/yfi/.

    YAM Resources:

    DefiRate: https://defirate.com/yam-finance-farming
    Yam Github: https://github.com/yam-finance/yam-protocol
    Yam Yield farming info: https://yieldfarming.info/yam/yfi/
    Yam Twitter: https://twitter.com/YamFinance

  • Trustswap ($SWAP) Explained – Next generation of DeFi Transactions

    Trustswap ($SWAP) Explained – Next generation of DeFi Transactions

    Trustswap is the next evolution of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) transactions solving major problems with subscriptions, split payments, and cross-chain token swaps. A cross-chain “smart swap” system is used to wrap any token or coin (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, Ripple, Cardano) into an ERC20. A trustless decentralized escrow service at the core of Trustswap provides an easy way to split payments into timed batches. The project provides an easy way for developers to accept payments for annual subscriptions where both parties can trust that payments are completed in a timely manner. This technology is essential for the investment space as token distributions are split into tranches. Trustswap conducted an Initial Liquidity Offering for the SWAP token in June 2020.

    Trustless escrow and split payments

    Two party swaps on Trustswap

    The initial application of the Trust Swap is within the ICO & cryptocurrency investment space where token distribution needs to be split into tranches. Trust swap does this automatically, cutting out the need for lawyers and contract underwriters to complete the transactions. This means that instead of trusting expensive third parties, VC and projects and directly complete their transactions on the blockchain.

    Decentralized Subscription and payment model

    Trustswap is implementing a “Two-party time-release payment” geared towards subscription payments and consumer transactions. The current industry trend for services is transitioning towards a monthly subscription model (such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Spotify, Apple TV). Currently, cryptocurrency transactions are single payment – a model that doesn’t suite service-based networks very well. Trustswap will allow an easy method for developers to add support for accepting annual subscriptions – improving how cryptocurrencies can be spent and used.

    Cross-chain and multi-currency support

    TrustSwap supports a multi-currency future with the ability to customize payment services in a wide range of cryptocurrencies and tokens. Trustswap will be able to wrap different cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Vechain, and other different cryptocurrencies to trade. This will make it easy for different communities to collaborate with each other and complete payments.

    Founders and Team

    Trustswap Team

    Jeff Kirdeikis (CEO): Jeff is the Founder and CEO of Uptrennd, the world’s most engaged blockchain-based social media platform. He is the host of The Bitcoin and Crypto Podcast and runs the world’s most engaged FB crypto group.

    Adam Barlam (CTO): Adam is the dev and founder behind the projects Bravocoin, a platform that allows users to earn crypto for writing reviews and Rebuzz, a decentralized social network. He has previously worked as a Sr. Architect at Godaddy and Intel.

    Advisors

    Michael Gu – Boxmining Founder is currently a strategic advisor for Trustswap. Michael is the Founder of Boxmining – one of the top crypto YouTube channels with over 200,000 subscribers and 15 Million Views. Michael has been providing top tier independent coverage of the cryptocurrency scene. Micheal has participated in the first wave of cryptocurrency investing, with a mining operation in 2012 and key investments in 2017.

    Ivan Liljeqvist – is a Swedish blockchain influencer and developer based in Stockholm. He is known for his YouTube channel, Ivan on Tech.

    Mauvis Ledford – Mauvis is the former CTO at Coinmarketcap, as well as the former Technology and Research Consultant at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He currently serves as an advisor at the first full-service blockchain accelerator, MouseBelt.

    References:

    Altcoins to Watch – AltcoinBuzz

    FAQ:

    Where can I buy / trade trustswap?

    Trustswap can be directly traded using the Uniswap Exchange. This decentralized exchange has the most liquidity for SWAP tokens. On top of this, SWAP can be traded on exchanges such as MXC and Biki

    When will Trustswap Launch

    Trustswap is expected to complete an initial testnet in August 2020 with a full mainnet launch later in the month. Additional features such as Cross-chain integration, tokenized assets and event-released payments are expected in the future.

    Which cryptocurrencies will be supported by Trustswap

    Trustswap’s goal is to support a wide network of different cryptocurrencies, including coins that are not on Ethereum. This will be done through a process called “Wrapping”, a method of creating cross-chain assets that can be traded on Ethereum as ERC-20 tokens

    Where can I find the Price of SWAP

    SWAP is listed on CoinGecko.

    What was the ICO price of SWAP

    SWAP was sold via an Initial Liquidity Offering.

    I don’t see SWAP on Metamask, I can’t find it

    You need to add the $SWAP token manually on metamask using the “Add token feature”. Enter the official contract address of swap: 0xcc4304a31d09258b0029ea7fe63d032f52e44efe

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: This article is written using publicly available information by our writer David Lancaster. Our Founder is currently a strategic advisor for Trustswap. Writers and staff have cryptocurrencies holdings mentioned in articles on this site.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • What is Elrond Network (ERD)?

    What is Elrond Network (ERD)?

    Elrond is a high-performance blockchain that aims to provide extremely high network speeds of up to 10,000 transactions per second. The network supports smart contracts, thus allowing programmers us the WASM VM engine to develop both enterprise and commercial decentralized applications. Elrond promises ‘internet-scale blockchain‘ as its extremely fast and scalable nature means it can handle all the stresses of modern applications and allows the masses to access the digital economy. The platform native currency, $ERD, is used as a form of value transfer on the network and will also be required to interact with decentralized applications.

    On 30th July 2020, Elrond launched its mainnet.

    Built from scratch with a leaning on high performance, the Elrond Network promises a 1,000 fold improvement on costs, speed and most importantly throughput. The project itself compares what it is building with the transitioning from dialup to broadband and how massive this could be to the general blockchain sphere.  

    Components of the Elrond Network 

    Keen on breaking barriers and innovating, the Elrond Network architecture brings forth a genuine state Adaptive sharding scheme and merges that with a secure proof of stake consensus algorithm.

    The core components of the Elrond Network are as follows: 

    • Virtual Machine: creating a trustless network, eliminating intermediaries from where smart contracts are executed seamlessly and in a scalable manner.  
    • Adaptive State Sharding is in place to reduce energy or computational wastage while ensuring the network can practicably scale. To that end, the Scheme boosts communication between Elrond Network shards or partition of nodes. Note that each shard can only process a portion of the transaction. And as more users plugin, the network automatically scales as shards increase. At the same time, there is an improvement in storage and transaction processing capabilities because of sharing of resources. 
    • Proof of stake consensus algorithm is a channel through which there is a haphazard sampling of network validators. Sampling is from the previous signature of blocks and each signature, in turn, is from a network validator voting from a Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus. 

    Key Features of the Elrond Network 

    From the above components, the Network is different from the rest. It is efficient with low latency while remaining secure and scalable. Specifically, Elrond has the following features: 

    • Because of Adaptive State Sharding, the network is inherently scalable. 
    • There is an incentive for participation through staking because of the secure Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. 
    • The interface is intuitive and easy to use as unnecessary hardware mechanisms are absent.
    • There is minimal wastage of computational as well as power translating to a low cost per transaction.

    Clearly, Elrond developers are going to great lengths to differentiate themselves from other networks. For example, compared to Ethereum which is still using the proof of work consensus algorithm for their processing but plans to shift, Elrond’s use of SPOS brings above cost saving and better efficiency.  

    Besides, for interoperability, their Virtual Machine is compatible with Ethereum’s. Meanwhile, same with Algorand, Elrond’s developers incorporate Random Selection but diverging from Algorand approach on scalability, Adaptive sharding by default gives them an edge. At the same time, the use of adaptive sharding taking into consideration state and transaction sharding overruns Ziliqa’s take. 

    Elrond Economic Model

    Elrond Staking Calculator

    Elrond has an economic model that encourages adopters with competitive rewards during its current growth phase. The network allows ERD holders to earn passive income by either delegating their stake or serving as a validator for the network. The highest reward is from becoming an Elrond Validator Node, which will reward a 36% yearly return in the form of ERD. (https://bluffsrehab.com) In return, this requires the holder to actively participate in the network consensus via an always online machine that answers network requests. For a simple option, ERD holders can simply delegate their stake and receive a 29% return without doing any hard work.

    Elrond Partners

    Since blockchains cannot work in isolation, Elrond has formed partnerships with several platforms including: 

    • Samsung Blockchain – Elrond is added to the Samsung Wallet and listed as one of the dapps.
    • TypingDNA, a biometrics company, where the objective of this joint venture is to improve the security of the Elrond Network while guaranteeing the privacy of users. 
    • Smartbill, a SaaS provider for general management inventory. Through Elrond, users will have better transparency and traceability. 
    • Netopia, a payment processing company based in Romania. Processing more than $400 million worth of transactions in 2018 alone, Elrond will have exposure in Eastern Europe as ERD token is incorporated. 
    • Distributed System Research Laboratory which is part of the Technical University of Cluj. 

    Verdict 

    Elrond is demonstrating that building a high-performance architecture from where dApps can be launched and operate seamlessly even with an increase in activity is strenuous but potentially possible. By building from scratch and enhancing previous scalability solutions while fronting interoperability, Elrond attempts to be cost and energy efficient with high throughput. 

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • DeFi Money Market and DMM Governance ($DMG) guide

    DeFi Money Market and DMM Governance ($DMG) guide

    Decentralized finance (DeFi) has come a long way since it was first conceptualized. Now, the market has nearly $4 billion worth of assets locked up. And DeFi Money Market (DMM) is one of the most promising protocols that is gaining a lot of traction.

    The DMM platform allows users to earn annual yields of 6.25 percent for holding Ethereum-based tokens like USDC and DAI. What makes it even more interesting is that it is backed by real-world assets that create passive income that is greater than the interest owed.

    These real-world assets will be tokenized and launched on the Ethereum blockchain tracked by Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network.

    Background: Who is the team behind DMM?

    DMM team
    The team behind DMM (Image credit: Warlmertt)

    DeFi Money Market is a product of the DMM Foundation, which was established in the UAE. The members are a team of veteran experts hailing from academia, the legal and regulatory sector, and fintech.

    It is one of the few projects backed by top Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper.

    What is the DeFi Money Market (DMM) Ecosystem?

    The DeFi Money Market Ecosystem (DMME) is a decentralized protocol that allows users to earn interest on any Ethereum-based tokens by lending them for real-world assets like real estate, jewelry, automobiles, etc. as collateral. The goal of this ecosystem is to enable anyone in the world to earn consistent and stable interest on their money. Furthermore, their rates are higher than traditional competitors. They currently have an APY (Annual Percentage Yield) of 6.25% for DAI and USDC accounts, which is above most traditional alternatives.

    DMME aims to seize the trillion-dollar opportunity that is currently resting on centralized finance (CeFi) companies. And it does this by blending real-world assets with digital assets, which enables them to create a more robust and transparent system.

    DMM Protocol: What is it and how does it work?

    The DMM Protocol can be split into three parts: an array of Ethereum smart contracts, a treasury management system, and a data feed that allows off-chain data to stream into the smart contract.

    These three components blend to form the DMM Ecosystem and allow the creation of DMM tokens backed by off-chain real-world assets.

    The DMM protocol currently supports DAI and USDC. For this walkthrough, let’s use USDC. First, a user deposits USDC to the protocol. Then mUSDC is minted. The dollar amount will be used to provide loans collateralized with real-world assets.

    And once the loan gets paid, the interest will be deposited back to the system. Then, users can convert their mUSDC to USDC plus interest.

    DMG Governance ($DMG) token

    $DMG is the governance token of the platform. It allows the community to regulate and grow the DMM ecosystem, as well as its protocol. As the DMM community grows globally, DMG is paramount to encouraging active participation and mitigating centralization risk.

    DMG holders have the capability to govern the parameters of the protocol as well as decisions on asset allocation.

    The token is a fork of Compound Finance’s governance asset $COMP but with extra functionality such as “native burn.”

    DMG token distribution

    The DMM ecosystem has a total of 250,000,000 DMG tokens. The supply distribution is as follows:

    • 40% will be allocated to the DMM Foundation for future development, support, and other general functions
    • 30% will be sold in several public token offerings
    • 30% will be allocated as a reserve for paying developers, partners, as well as other protocols for integration and growth of DMM’s decentralized network

    At present, 60% of the total supply of DMG has been time-locked in smart contracts with different locking periods.

    DeFi Money Market Account

    A DeFi Money Market Account (DMMA) is a new DeFi native asset class that enables any holder of Ethereum-based tokens to earn interest from real-world assets represented on the blockchain.

    In other words, DMMAs are technically ERC-20 tokens that get created when we swap an Ethereum token into DMM tokens called mAssets.

    DMM DAO

    A DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is an organization where the decisions regarding the rules of the system are written in code and voted on by its members.

    One of the core ideas of the DMME is that every stakeholder in the network should be able to take part in the decision-making process regularly without the need for permission. Initially, the DMM DAO members will consist of the core team and community members. To be part of the DAO, you have to be a holder of $DMG tokens, which gives you voting rights to the system.

    The DMM DAO is one of the few DAOs that is already generating revenue through its yield taken from real-world asset loans. The value of all assets amounts to roughly $8.7 million with active collateralization of 380%. Furthermore, the team anticipates that DMG tokens, not to mention the entire DMM protocol itself, to be totally distributed and decentralized a year from now.

    DMM DAO collateralization
    DMM DAO collateralization (Image credit: Warlmertt)

    Conclusion

    In order to succeed, DMM ultimately needs to fully decentralize the traditional financial system. Bridging real-world assets to the Ethereum blockchain is no easy task, but DMM is on its way to successfully execute its goal by using the right tools and partnering with the right organizations. The tokenization of physical assets will bolster DeFi and entire crypto space and possibly take a huge bite from the trillions of dollars worth of capital from legacy financial systems.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Ampleforth ($AMPL) review: The essential guide to this DeFi protocol

    Ampleforth ($AMPL) review: The essential guide to this DeFi protocol

    Ampleforth is a game changer that is claiming the spotlight on Decentralised Finance (DeFi) following the success of several lending platforms such as Compound ($COMP), Aave ($LEND), dYdX, etc. Ampleforth is a DeFi protocol that aims to reinvent money both within and beyond the cryptocurrency space. While centralized finance (CeFi) and DeFi as we know today have their own unique sets of problems, the Ampleforth protocol is here with the aim to address them.

    The protocol has a native token known as $AMPL. It is a stable currency that has both inflationary and deflationary capabilities designed to adapt to demand.

    Background

    Ampleforth was created by Evan Kuo, an engineering graduate of UC Berkley. He was also the former CEO of Pythagoras Pizza, the first pizzeria to tokenize its franchise.

    Evan Kuo
    Evan Kuo (Image credit: Cody Pickens)

    Kuo’s motivation for creating Ampleforth was twofold. The death of his father, which made him want to leave a legacy after his passing, and his passion for tech and finance which brought him into the cryptocurrency industry.

    He recognised two things that cryptocurrency was trying to reinvent: money and banking. Of the two, money was a lot easier to work with and so that became his focus.

    The Ampleforth Foundation was then funded by Pantera Capital, True Ventures, Huobi exchange and Brian Armstrong. Most of the members of the foundation consist of “engineers, academics, investors, and enthusiasts” from Ivy League universities.

    Ampleforth raised a total of nearly $10 million USD in 2 Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).

    Ampleforth Protocol

    Ampleforth Protocol is a cryptocurrency ecosystem built on the Ethereum blockchain. What makes it stand out is its adaptive supply, that is to say, Ampleforth adjusts the circulating supply according to demand.

    When the demand for Ampleforth increases, the supply increases. Conversely, when demand decreases, the supply also decreases. This makes Ampleforth prone to being mistaken as a stablecoin since it does function quite similarly.

    However, it is not backed by any cryptocurrency or fiat currency like most stablecoins are. And although the system attempts to keep the value close to $1 USD, sometimes it could go way past $3 USD depending on the demand.

    As of press time, $AMPL is trading at $1.64 USD according to Coin Market Cap.

    The Ampleforth Protocol is autonomous, but not decentralized. The Foundation still holds the keys to the system, and have the power to freeze all assets or change token supply arbitrarily. So for some decentralization purists, this is a red flag.

    Ampleforth Monetary Policy

    Kuo came up with Ampleforth’s economic design after examining the history of the U.S. Dollar. Back in the day, every U.S. Dollar bill was backed by gold bullions, which were stored in government vaults. Gold is a great store of value but it has an inflexible supply. Furthermore, going by the gold standard alone runs the risk of runaway deflation.

    After World War II, the Dollar was in high demand globally and the U.S. couldn’t keep up. The amount of gold is fixed since mining can only introduce very small amounts of new gold in a given timeframe. Therefore, the U.S. government decided to abandon the gold standard to avoid stagnation of international trade.

    And that became the birth of the fiat U.S. Dollar, which we now know has its own set of shortcomings. One problem with fiat money is that you could only print more of them but not destroy them. Therefore, the supply can only be partially controlled in a sense. Furthermore, the people in charge of the minting facility is also subject to greed and corruption.

    Ampleforth’s monetary policy is a solution to both fiat and gold-backed currencies since it is designed to maintain a stable value by adjusting the supply to match demand.

    As an illustration, say you have 1 AMPL worth $1 in your wallet. If the demand for AMPL rises and causes the price to jump to $2, the Amplforth Protocol will expand the supply of AMPL such that you’ll end up with two AMPL in your wallet worth $2. This process is called a “rebase”.

    The rebasing process does not dilute existing token holders. You get to retain the same percentage of the total supply yet the value you held doubled.

    Ampleforth use cases

    Ampleforth divides its use cases based on its goals: near term, medium term and long term use cases. In the near term, AMPL aims to diversify cryptocurrency portfolios. Most cryptocurrencies are correlated to Bitcoin’s price pattern, which poses a risk. But because of AMPL’s rebase mechanism, it is decoupled from Bitcoin’s price pattern and allows cryptocurrency traders to have some diversity in their portfolio.

    In the medium term, Ampleforth aims to work as a stable store of value or form of collateral for decentralised banks and DeFi applications. This is because unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, it does not pose the risk of devaluation of its underlying asset.

    Ultimately, Ampleforth hopes to become a “A better Bitcoin”. It wants to be an alternative to central-bank money that can adapt to sudden shocks in the market. In that sense, it is competing with Bitcoin and XRP; not to mention national currencies. But as of the moment, it is being used primarily in the cryptocurrency space.

    Another opportunity it offers is arbitrage. Arbitrage traders have the chance to reap profits during the time the supply is reduced when the price rises. On the other hand, they can increase their AMPL allocation before the supply is increased when the price drops.

    How the Amplforth ($AMPL) rebase process works

    The supply of Ampleforth adjusts daily every 1pm EST to match the demand via a smart contract. The system utilizes Chainlink’s oracle network alongside the Ampleforth oracle to siphon price data from KuCoin and Bitfinex.

    The smart contract ensures that Ampleforth sticks within the designated equilibrium range, which is between $0.96-$1.06. If the price of AMPL hits beyond the two extremes, the smart contract will continue to “expand” or “contract” accordingly until the value of the token is in the equilibrium range again.

    AMPL price vs supply
    AMPL price vs supply

    Ampleforth Geyser: What is it?

    Ampleforth Geyser is a smart faucet that incentivizes liquidity providers to supply AMPL to a Uniswap pool. It is brought about through a collaboration between the Ampleforth Foundation and Uniswap.

    Users are rewarded with AMPL tokens for depositing AMPL to Uniswap. The longer the tokens are held in the pool, the higher the returns.

    Ampleforth geyser
    Ampleforth geyser

    To make money from Geyser, visit their web portal at ampleforth.org/geyser and connect either your MetaMask or Coinbase wallet. You will need to deposit equal amounts of ETH and AMPL to participate.

    How do I get AMPL tokens?

    Aside from getting AMPL tokens during the rebase process (though this requires you to stake some AMPL in the first place), people can also buy AMPL from cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are the major exchanges that offer AMPL tokens for sale: Uniswap (v2), KuCoin, FTX exchange and Bitfinex. Learn more about our picks for the top best cryptocurrency exchanges of 2020.

    Conclusion

    Ampleforth has to some degree successfully redesigned the way money works despite only being a few years old. Their influence has not penetrated a huge portion of the market as of yet but there is a lot of room for them to grow. And being part of the DeFi movement makes it a lot easier to gain more traction. As a matter of fact, over 36 million AMPL has been deposited in Geyser as of now. This is a great stepping stone for the protocol.

    Ultimately, Ampleforth’s goal is to compete against national currencies, and perhaps against Bitcoin as well, to become the world currency. For now, Ampleforth should work on establishing its trust and legitimacy within the cryptocurrency community, which will be a stepping stone for it to achieve its use-cases.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Synthetix ($SNX): Everything you need to know about this top DeFi project

    Synthetix ($SNX): Everything you need to know about this top DeFi project

    Synthetix (SNX) is one of the top Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platforms in existence. According to Coinmarketcap their native token $SNX ranks no.7 in terms of market capitalisation compared to other DeFi tokens. Synthetix itself is primarily a decentralized exchange but also a synthetic asset issuance platform.

    The platform enables users to issue and trade synthetic assets — digital assets that represent other real assets like stocks, fiat currencies, commodities, or cryptocurrencies. It also has a staking mechanism that incentivizes users to provide liquidity and maintain the platform.

    The Synthetix Protocol was originally conceived as Havven back in 2017 by Kain Warwick. Warwick is currently also a Non-Executive Director of blueshyft- a network of over 1200 retail locations around Australia.

    What is Synthetix?

    Simply put, Synthetix is an Ethereum-based DeFi ecosystem that functions as a deentralised exchange (DEX) and asset issuer that is maintained via a staking incentive scheme.

    Users can speculate on any real-world asset by creating synthetic assets that track their prices in real-time via oracle feeds. And unlike traditional financial systems, Synthetix requires no KYC. You don’t even need to create an account.

    Yet anyone could gain exposure to Tesla stocks, high premium bonds, real estate, and just about anything. This can be done simply by depositing SNX tokens into the platform.

    Furthermore, those that mint synthetic assets can earn passive income from the fees generated by people buying the assets.

    One of the most exciting aspects of the Syntethix system is that it can siphon a huge chunk of the trillions of dollars of assets from traditional markets and bring them to the Ethereum network.

    Synthetix Network (SNX) Token

    SNX is the utility token of the Synthetix ecosystem and is necessary to create synthetic assets called Synths. Users can buy SNX tokens from several crypto exchanges and deposit them in a compatible wallet in order to stake them.

    Once they are locked up, new Synths can be minted. The token’s supply used to be deflationary until it was updated in March 2019. The update saw the implementation of an inflationary monetary policy to encourage stakers to create more Synths.

    By 2025, a total of 250 million SNX tokens will be minted. SNX has surged drastically in the last couple of months. It went from $0.79 at the beginning of June to around $3.32 on the 25th of July 2020.

    Synth Tokens

    Synth tokens are synthetic assets that track the price of real assets. They are minted by locking up SNX tokens.

    Synths can come in any form and they are denoted by ‘s’. For instance, fiat synths would look like these: sEUR, sUSD, SRMB. Other variations of Synths include sAAPL (synthetic Apple), sTSLA (synthetic Tesla), sAu (synthetic gold), sBNB (synthetic Binance Coin), sDEFI (synthetic DeFi Index), and many more. (https://www.furtenbachadventures.com/)

    Whenever new Synths are minted, stakers create a debt. Therefore, they need to pay back the same value in Synths before they can withdraw their locked-up SNX tokens. And the value of Synth will likely change over time.

    As a result, users may need to pay a different amount of Synths by the time they withdraw their locked up tokens. 

    Fortunately, users are not required to pay the same type of Synth that was initially minted. As long as the Synth used to pay has the same market value, the system will accept it. For instance, a Tesla share Synth can be used to pay in the place of a Bitcoin Synth as long as they have equal value.

    One thing to note is that Synth tokens are not exactly the same as the assets they represent. They are known as synthetic assets for a reason. 

    For instance, if you hold an sAAPL token, you will be exposed to the volatility of Apple shares. However, unlike owning real AAPL shares, you won’t be receiving dividends like real Apple shareholders enjoy.

    Collateralization 

    The Synthetix system requires a collateralization rate of 750%. For instance, if you want to mint 100 sUSDT, you need to deposit $750 worth of SNX tokens as collateral. 

    This rather high collateralization rate is imposed in order to hedge the platform against extreme market price swings.

    Staking SNX

    Staking is currently where most people are making money out of the Synthetix protocol. But like any money-making schemes, staking Synthetix bears some degree of risk.

    How to stake SNX

    If you truly want to make money staking SNX, there are a few easy steps involved.

    1. First, you need to buy Synthetix in any exchange and connect to a web3 wallet.
    2. Visit Mintr, the best portal interface for minting and managing Synths.
    3. Connect your web3 wallet to Mintr.
    4. Click ‘Mint’ and choose what type of Synth you want to mint.
    5. Remember the collateralization ratio of 750%
    6. Input the number of Synths you want to mint.
    7. Click ‘Mint Now’.
    8. Confirm the transaction in your web3 wallet.

    Afterward, your SNX token will automatically be staked. You will now be able to enjoy rewards generated from trading fees. Furthermore, you are also subject to inflation rewards.

    These rewards, however, come with a price. When you mint Synths, you get to own a portion of the platform’s debt pool — the total value of all Synths. And this debt can increase and decrease regardless of the original value of your minted Synths.

    Mintr
    Mintr

    Synthetic DEX

    Synthetix has a built-in DEX interface that enables users to trade without an account. The DEX currently offers 19 assets to trade and 31 trading pairs.

    All you need to do is visit the Synthetix exchange and connect any web3 wallet like MetaMask. It has a slick but simple interface that eases users’ experience while trading.

    Synthetic exchange charges both maker and taker fees with 0.30% which is higher than the industry standard of 0.05-0.25%. The fees will be used to reward the stakers for providing liquidity to the platform. 

    Furthermore, users will also be charged Gas fees by the Ethereum network. For now, all these fees could add up which might be a hindrance from the greater market to fully adopt DEXes for all their trading needs.

    In time, when Ethereum finally scales, gas fees should be low enough to become negligible.

    DEXes like Synthetix don’t require withdrawal fees (except for Gas) since trades are conducted directly from wallet to wallet.

    Synthetix exchange

    The Takeaway

    As a leading DeFi protocol, Synthetix has a lot of potential. It has enabled users across the world to create and trade synthetic assets more than any platform to date. However, nothing is guaranteed to last in the crypto space.

    DeFi protocols like Synthetix have seen enormous growth in the last couple of months. Whether or not this is sustainable, only time will tell. 

    But considering the trillions of dollars floating in Centralized Finance (CeFi), it is not far-fetched to assume that DeFi’s disruption is far from over.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • How Cryptocurrency Will Evolve Forex Industry

    How Cryptocurrency Will Evolve Forex Industry

    How Cryptocurrency Will Evolve Forex Industry

    Cryptocurrency has endured something of a rocky ride since its inception more than 12 years ago when Bitcoin first entered the commercial marketplace. Whilst Bitcoin was initially given a bad reputation for its involvement in the Darkweb and other illicit activities, it has since evolved to lead a burgeoning and viable marketplace. This is reflected by the market capitalization of Bitcoin (and indeed cryptocurrencies as a whole), which currently sits at an impressive $117.81 billion and continues to dominate the marketplace (despite declining from a peak of $237.62 billion during a price surge in 2017).

    Of course, this market cap also hints at the volatile nature of cryptocurrency trading, and in this respect, it has a great deal in common with the forex market. But how will crypto evolve and expand the forex market in the near-term?

    What is Cryptocurrency?

    Let’s start with the basics; as cryptocurrency represents a digital asset class that is based on the ground-breaking Bitcoin technology.

    As for blockchain itself, this is a complex and far-reaching technology that has applications in a raft of industries from healthcare to the supply chain, and it essentially serves as a decentralised system in which different types of transactions can be recorded in an immutable and transparent manner.

    These transactions, which may be made in a number of different cryptocurrencies, can also be maintained and accessed across several devices that may be linked within a peer-to-peer network.

    As we’ve already said, there are now a wide and diverse range of cryptocurrencies in the market, many of which have evolved as viable assets in their own right.

    Aside from Bitcoin, we’ve also seen the emergence of broader and more practical digital currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple. The former has a great deal in common with Bitcoin, although many consider it to be a faster and more secure asset that can also underpin so-called digital smart contracts.

    In the case of Ripple, this also underpins a wider (and ultimately transparent) payment system that is benefitting from sustained demand at present. So, although this is a centralized cryptocurrency, it boasts a far greater purpose which boosts its underlying value and creates a more stable foundation from the perspective of investors.

    How Will Crypto Impact on the Forex Market?

    As cryptocurrency has benefitted from sustained market growth and the introduction of some (albeit relatively small) regulations, it has become increasingly popular across the globe.

    It has even broken down barriers in the Asia-Pacific region, the Hong Kong authorities recently approved the region’s first approved cryptocurrency fund. This was backed by  Venture Smart Asia and set an initial 12-month target fund of $100 million, while there’s also the promise of more funds being launched in the near-term.

    Such funds will allow for the trading of crypto tokens as individual assets, and this draws a clear parallel with the globally popular forex market. In this respect, there can be little doubt that the emergence of these currencies will diversify and develop the forex market further, increasing the range of assets available to traders and the level of volatility that exists within the space.

    This was borne out recently when a raft of cryptocurrencies lost the cumulative sum of $21 billion in market capitalization following the decline in oil prices and wider currency values.

    This trend is far from unprecedented too, with Bitcoin having enjoyed a historic price run from $900 to a staggering $20,000 in 2017 (only to lose more than 50% of these gains by June the following year).

    Beyond this, the wider integration of blockchain into the forex market could change the way in which trades are recorded, potentially minimizing the risk of fraudulent activity and market manipulation over time.

  • How to Earn a Bitcoin Living While Stuck in Quarantine

    How to Earn a Bitcoin Living While Stuck in Quarantine

    With a third of the global population in lockdown following the rampant transmission of SARS-COV-2, people of finding new ways to generate passive income. This article will teach you how to earn a Bitcoin Living whilst stuck in Quarantine.

    The virus that causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that can prove fatal to some populations. Terms like “self-isolation”, “quarantine”, and “shelter-in-place” have been used to describe the newly placed government sanctions and guidelines, but the term people seem to be using is ‘lockdown’.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Bitcoin-Passive-Income-1024x576.jpg
    If shelter-in-place guidelines have you twiddling thumbs- put them to better use by earning some crypto.

    It should come as no wonder why, as ‘lockdown’ possibly sums up feelings of being stuck at home with little to do but consume depressing media and too many calories. Italians are feeling the brunt of it, having started theirs over 9 weeks ago on March 10, quickly followed by the UK who started March 23. The US, while not the longest by far, with most states, only entering lockdown towards the end of March, have still been feeling the burn a little over a month in.

    So what are you to do? Some while away their free hours by getting into new fitness routines, baking bread, or focusing on their children’s education. While others are stuck staring at other bitcoin exchanges wondering what it is they might be able to do to secure their holdings. Good news for everyone- even if you’ve never owned bitcoin before, now may be your time to jump in. With little to no cost and effort. Always remembering that after checking out these ideas, you can always go to exchange platforms, like Bitvavo, to help you with trading and maintaining your presence in the cryptocurrency market. Which is always a good idea.

    Mining

    Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining has been a way to passively gain income for those who have the gear. When it comes to Bitcoin mining, you’re regular computer simply won’t do. You’ll need specialized hardware, called ASIC (applications specific integrated circuits) that will be able to mine Bitcoin on a consistent basis. The main benefit of ASICs is that they are extremely efficient at mining Bitcoin – but at the trade-off that they are algorithm-specific. This means that Bitcoin mining rigs will only mine coins with SHA-256 algorithm (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV).

    What it Will Cost

    Outside of purchasing the necessary hardware, and paying for any increase in electricity demand- not much. Mining is done purely by your machine, with little user requirements following set up. So all you have to do is kick back and watch your wallet cash in.

    Trading

    While effectively trading bitcoin takes a decent amount of knowledge, there’s no need to be a seasoned trader. In fact, being a dab hand in traditional markets may actually serve you up more problems than it’s capable of solving. The cost of buying into digital assets and currencies doesn’t need to be high, especially if you start with the one that isn’t as well known as bitcoin. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies worth investing in, where you can make small-time gains. Then take those gains and eventually build up to bigger investments like bitcoin.

    What it Will Cost

    Time and initial investment. Perhaps the most taxing of the two will be time. Learning how to trade bitcoin isn’t necessarily easy- but it’s very possible. You’ll need to read up on the behavior of whatever digital assets you’ll plan on using, as well as keep an eagle eye on the way that markets behave- both presently and historically.

    Writing

    There is a long and varied list of different freelance jobs that will happily pay you for your good efforts in bitcoin. Specifically those related to content writing or blogging. Some gigs only require that you help share and market their content. Certain markets, particularly newer ones that need to get the word out, will pay in their own crypto tokens just for registering with their site, following or retweeting their content, or otherwise sharing it across your social media platforms.

    What it Will Cost

    Next to nothing as long as you’ve got some spare time on your hands. Even less if you’re already a bit of a wordsmith or influencer. These types of jobs are available by the hundreds, but may not be easy to come by ideal positions immediately. It could take a fair bit of internet browsing, or some time spent building a solid Upwork or Freelancing profile, but once your foot is in the door- the bitcoins come cheap.

    Watching

    Bitcoin faucets are another solid way to collect bitcoin while in quarantine. Akin to writing and collecting airdrop content, some advertisers, firms, or crypto networks will pay you just to watch their content and fill out surveys. There are also a number of giveaways or drawings held across many social media platforms that are simple to get in on, providing your friend’s list doesn’t mind the occasional spam.

    What it Will Cost

    Again, more time and possibly a friend or two. Many of the watch programs require you to share or like their content, making your feed a bit haphazard for any of your followers. But past that, you can get by and earn bitcoin just by having a computer and reliable internet connection.

    Selling

    If you already have a business, particularly one that got shut down along with many of the rest of the mom and pop shops during this time, get online. Uploading any goods or services that you offer onto a personal website, or a sellers hub that will allow crypto payments is one way to start earning bitcoin while doing next to nothing. This works in your favor in a number of ways, as it provides better payment options to customers, helps to ensure their privacy, and keeps everyone away from any of the germs that paper money happily harbors. (https://www.kaizenautocare.com/)

    What it Will Cost

    If you don’t already have a website, paying someone to set you up with one can cost money, but it’s generally not extortionate. Assign a digital currency payment platform to your existing site is incredibly easy, and google is overflowing with excellent resources that explain just how to do it.