Boxmining

Author: Michael Gu

  • Ethereum Mining Guide (2021)

    Ethereum Mining Guide (2021)

    What is Ethereum Mining?

    Ethereum is one of the easiest cryptocurrencies to mine, using idle computer resources to earn daily revenue in Ethereum (ETH). This is especially true if you have a high end computer, as they usually have the necessary hardware to mine Ethereum. This guide will cover the basics of Ethereum mining and will get you started in less than 5 minutes. In order to get mining, you’ll need a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU). GPUs are usually in gaming computers and high-end computers (eg MacBook Pro or Dell XPS). Miners frequently sell mined Ethereum on top cryptocurrency exchanges or Over-the-Counter to generate passive income.

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    Ethereum (ETH) is the cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum network – decentralized smart platform for running decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi). To learn more about Ethereum check out our Ethereum Guide.

    Popular Graphics card Nvidia RTX 2080 can be used to mine Ethereum

    Note: If you don’t have a GPU, check the bottom section of this guide and we’ll teach you how to buy and install one.

    Note 2: In 2021, Ethereum will deploy a new consensus mechanism called Proof of Stake that no longer requires mining. This will eventually phase out mining on Ethereum all together. Read more about Proof of Stake.

    How Profitable is Ethereum Mining?

    Daily Revenue from mining rewards differ everyday – this is because mining difficulty changes and hence the daily reward. Revenue is dependent on the power of the Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) involved, with higher Hashrates being faster and more profitable. There are two major manufacturers of GPUs: Nvidia and AMD. Generally speaking, the more powerful (and expensive) the GPU higher the Hashrate for mining Ethereum. For example, the expensive Nvidia RTX 2080 mines at 36.90 MH/s whilst the less expensive Nvidia GTX 1660 mines at 20.50 MH/s. Check out the latest up-to-date daily revenue for different hardware on https://whattomine.com.

    Daily RevenueYearly Revenue
    Nvidia RTX 2080$0.50$182
    Nvidia GTX 1060$0.30$109
    AMD Vega64$0.54$197
    AMD RX480$0.40$146

    Potential Revenue mining Ethereum (Calculated on Oct 29 2019)

    We calculated the costs and profits for mining Ethereum, and how does it compare to Ethereum staking? Which one is better?

    Ethereum mining vs staking: Which one is more profitable

    Easiest way to mine Ethereum (Honeyminer)

    Honeyminer is an all-in-one mining solution that automatically mines on your computer without any technical knowledge. Honeyminer automatically joins a mining pool, so you can get daily payouts of the revenue you generate from mining.

    Honeyminer Dashboard
    Honeyminer dashboard

    Once installed, the software will automatically mine the best cryptocurrency (including ethereum) using all available hardware – both CPU and GPUs available on the machine. To see the daily revenue, open up the “see full activity panel” to get a breakdown of the hardware being used.

    Honeyminer Control panel showing daily profit of $0.35 per day

    When Honeyminer is running, the computer’s hardware will get 100% utilized. It’s still run simple tasks on the computer, like web-browsing or composing emails. However, running video games or editing photos/videos will become slower. It is advised to turn-off honeyminer when doing resource intensive tasks.

    It is important to note that Honeymoney will mine the most profitable cryptocurrency at the time (including ethereum) and convert the revenue into Bitcoin (displayed in Sats, satoshi). If you want to specifically mine ethereum and earn ethereum, check the advanced guide below.

    One disadavantage of Honeyminer is the platform fees. Currently, Honeyminer takes 8% fee for the 1st GPU and 2.5% for additional GPUs. This means a portion of the revenue will go to Honeyminer. If you don’t want to pay platform fees, you can try the advanced Ethereum Mining option

    To install Honeyminer, download it here: https://honeyminer.com/

    Operating System Requirements

    To mine Ethereum, you can easily use any modern operating system: Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. For beginners, it’s suggested to try out HoneyMiner on either Windows 10 or MacOS to get the feel of mining. This is because it’s the easiest to setup up and can work alongside regular tasks on the computer. For higher mining performance, a dedicated linux based operating system is recommended – this allows for optimisation of the caching properties and remote management. Currently popular custom mining OS include: HiveOS, NicehashOS and ethOS.

    How to Mine Ethereum (Advanced)

    Claymore’s Dual GPU Miner

    There are 3 main software miners for mining Ethereum. For each of the Ethereum mining software, there are advanced settings possible such as customization for the memory usage, caching and efficiency. For example, Claymore’s Dual Ethereum miner have advanced options such as optimized memory timings (increase performance by ~10-20%) and support for mining pools. Top 3 Ethereum miners are:

    To setup Ethereum, you need to have an Ethereum address. In order to get an address, you can look at our Enjin Wallet for a free software wallet or Ledger Nano X – a secure hardware wallet.

    Ethereum Pool Mining

    There are two main ways to mine ethereum – solo mining or pool mining.

    Pool Mining (working together)

    • Work with others to mine and share rewards
    • Get paid per share, on a hourly or daily basis
    • Less random / dependent on luck
    • Pools take some fees (0.5-3% depending on pool)

    Solo Mining

    • You mine the entire block reward (3 ETH per block) – no pool fees
    • Random Chance and probability – you can go days or months without rewards
    • Not viable if Hashrate is low – single GPU will take years to mine a block

    Top Ethereum Mining Pools

    There are 2 factors to consider when picking a Ethereum mining pool – the location of the pool and it’s market share. The top priority would be location – the closer the pool is to you geographically the better. This is because sometimes due to network latency, shares that are mined could be “stale” – as new blocks are created rendering older blocks obsolete. It’s also important to know that Chinese servers are behind the Great Firewall of China, meaning that connections could periodically break. This means that choosing a server with low latency and close geographical location would give the highest yield.

    The second factor is the market share of the pool. The larger the market share, the more consistent the rewards. This is because blocks are continuously mined by the pool, and hence they can pay out at a consistent rate. This reduces the impact of the randomness of block creation.

    We recommend finding a pool close to your location with a high market share.

    Is it possible to solo mine Ethereum in 2020

    Currently it’s not feasible to solo mine Ethereum in 2020. It would take 67 years to solo mine a block (assuming 30 MHash/s and current total hashrate of 181 THash/s). This would mean it would likely take an entire lifetime before the solo miner finds a block with a single GPU.

    How long will Ethereum be able to be mined

    With the upcoming changes coming to Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum mining will eventually be phased out. Mining will be deprecated in phase 3 of the ETH2 roadmap, expected to come sometime in 2022 at the earliest. At this point, there will no longer be any rewards for mining Ethereum as the network will full be proof of stake.

    Ethereum Cloud Mining

    In 2020, Ethereum Cloud mining contracts are not profitable. This is because mining has become more competitive with lower margins – forcing miners to reduce costs. Cloud mining is hit the hardest because of they have large overheads like advertising spends and legal costs. In our latest research, we found that cloud mining providers were charging 184% for the same hashrate than home-made solutions.

    What is Ethereum ProgPoW and how does it impact mining

    ProgPow is a proposed extension to the mining algorithm of Ethereum, designed to resist centralization of miners via ASICs (specialized mining equipment). The ProgPoW upgrade is meant to help Graphics Cards become more competitive by using more RAM and features unique to the GPU. Overall this will help Ethereum mining be more accessible and viable with commercial off-the-shelf hardware. Currently ProgPoW is in an ‘audit’ phase, and if passed will be included in Ethereum’s next hard fork.

    Ethereum Mining Difficulty Bomb

    Ethereum network has a built in mechanic to decrease the effectiveness of mining over time called the “Ethereum Difficulty Bomb“. This is designed as a hard mechanic to ensure that Ethereum eventually moves to proof of stake, an eco-friendly consensus mechanism that doesn’t require mining. Proof of stake will be part of Ethereum 2.0 which is stated to release in 2020, at which point mining on Ethereum will slowly be phased out. However, the Ethereum team is known to delay the deployment of proof of stake and consequently the difficulty bomb. On the 6th of January 2020, the difficulty bomb was delayed once again via the “Muir Glacier” update, which effectively delayed the difficulty bomb for another ~600 days.

    Update 9th Jan: Fixed typos and included extra information about Ethereum Hashrate

    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.

  • RAMP DEFI: How does it unlock the value of staked assets?

    RAMP DEFI: How does it unlock the value of staked assets?

    RAMP DeFi seeks to open more yield farming opportunities for users who have already staked their tokens on non-ERC20 platforms and thus enabling them to maximise their leveraged positions. Staking is the practice of locking-up funds in either smart contracts or by purchasing tokens from decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms for the purpose of earning profits at a later date. However, this also implies that the staked assets could not be used for whatever purposes users want unless they are willing to let go of their positions. RAMP DeFi aims to change this and let users continue to flexibly use their liquidity even when their capital is locked into staking arrangments.

    Background

    The explosive success of DeFi ecosystem, surpassing $13 billion market in value, has allowed multiple projects to flourish in response to its growing demands. However, the problem still exists in terms of convenience, accessibility, and flexibility.

    Lawrence Lim, Co-founder of RAMP DeFi led the creation of an ecosystem that seeks to solve these problems. With the concerns of the DeFi space in mind, RAMP was conceptualized to provide users the opportunity to maximize the value of their staked assets with optimized flexibility.

    As of now, RAMP has the potential to unlock $22 billion in assets staked in the DeFi space. However, its humble target by the end of 2021 is to reach at least $1 billion in Total Value Unlocked (TVU). TVU refers to the staked assets that RAMP seeks to open for potentially greater leverage.

    Check out our interview with Lawrence Lim below:

    Unlocking value on every blockchain-interview with Lawrence Lim

    What is RAMP DeFi?

    RAMP is a cross-chain liquidity on/off ramp platform focused on providing stakers of non-ERC20 tokens the opportunity to utilize these assets on top of the Ethereum blockchain. This is done through RAMP’s stablecoin, the rUSD, acting as a gateway bridge between non-ERC20 platforms and the Ethereum chain. Furthermore, users can also deposit their ERC20 tokens in RAMP’s liquidity pools to mint eUSD.

    Both holders of rUSD and eUSD can access RAMP’s financial services such as lending, borrowing, and exchange between rUSD and eUSD. This on/off ramp allows users to make the most out of their staked assets even if they are locked in non-ERC20 platforms.

    So far, its first private sale has been able to raise over $1 million. Some of its private sale investors include Alameda Research, Blockwater Capital, IOST, ParaFi Capital, Ruby Capital, Signum Capital, and Arrington XRP Capital.

    RAMP Ecosystem

    RAMP ecosystem
    RAMP ecosystem

    rMint and rStake

    This is the platform where non-ERC20 tokens can be collateralized to mint rUSD. Collaterals designated to rStake are aggregated by different nodes on partner non-ERC20 blockchains. They also earn staking rewards for it.

    eMind and eFarm

    eMint allows the deposit of ERC20 stablecoins to create eUSD, a token that represents the value of the amount deposited by users. The deposited amount is transferred to eFarm in order to create yield farming opportunities for users.

    rFinance

    The platform’s lending and borrowing service is provided by rFinance. rUSD and eUSD holders can freely lend and borrow from each other. Moreover, oracles help keep the interest-rate setting at a fair level through formulas that revolve around demand-and-supply and market-relativity indicators.

    rPool

    RAMP has its own liquidity pool that allows users to build value for their assets, collateralization insurance, liquidation execution, and cross-chain swaps. rPool gains value from staking rewards, yield farming rewards, and revenues from fees, which are then later distributed to the holders of RAMP tokens.

    In the event that rUSD suffers from a crash, rPool is first utilized to support its value. If the value of a user’s collateralized position drops below the allowed collateralization ratio set within the specific parameters, their positions are liquidated to the rPool.

    rSwap

    Users can swap ERC20 stablecoins with any other non-ERC20 token provided that these tokens are part of RAMP’s blockchain partners. They do this by facilitating the exchange of ERC20 stablecoins with the cryptocurrencies stored within the rPool. The conversion rate is set by price oracles.

    RAMP Token

    RAMP is the native utility token used to power the whole ecosystem value, as well as align the well-being of all network participants. On RAMP DeFi’s public sale, 10 million RAMP tokens will be sold to participants. The date of this public sale is not yet announced. After the sale, RAMP is slated to be listed on Uniswap.

    RAMP is powered by an ecosystem composed of different DeFi projects that also enables its cross-chain value accretion. Parts of its ecosystem are designed to respond to every transaction interaction between the users and the blockchain.

    RAMP Token public sale

    The RAMP token public sale date has not been announced yet. Check their official telegram for the latest news.

    rUSD Stablecoin: What is it?

    rUSD is RAMP’s stablecoin backed by non-ERC20 tokens designed to interact with ERC20 stablecoins like USDC, USDT, and TUSD. Minting rUSD follows a collateralization ratio similar to MakerDAO in order to ensure that they are fully-backed.

    The minimum collateralization ratio is at 200%. For example, a $200 worth of non-ERC20 token can be used to mint $100 worth of rUSD.

    The liquidation ratio starts at 120%. If liquidation is triggered, the collateralized tokens are then sold to the rPool. Then, these tokens will be used to buy back the rUSD minted by the user whose position is being liquidated.

    Benefits of holding rUSD and eUSD on RAMP

    For rUSD holders:

    • Leverage value from non-ERC20 tokens staked in other blockchains without giving up their existing positions.
    • Access ERC20 opportunities, such as yield farming or trading, without having to put in more of their assets.
    • Receive staking rewards even when they have minted rUSD.
    • Maintain potential revenue from existing positions and collateralized portfolios.
    • Farm RAMP tokens after collateralizing their cryptocurrencies to mint rUSDs.

    eUSD holders can enjoy:

    • Interest fees from lending their assets.
    • Participate in multiple yield pools to farm.
    • Opportunity to farm yields from other DeFi projects partnered with RAMP.
    • Farm RAMP tokens by providing assets to RAMP’s liquidity pool.

    Advantages of RAMP DeFi

    RAMP offers some unique advantages over other cross-chain DeFi platforms.

    rUSD Has a Clear Purpose

    The RAMP team has recognized that initiating adoption for a stablecoin is no easy task. For instance, it took a substantially long time for Makerdao to drive DAI’s broad market acceptance.

    For that reason, they have issued the stablecoin rUSD with a core utility as a value stability bridge.

    rUSD Requires No Stability Fee

    Paying stability fees is common among DeFi protocols as it helps in cushioning from massive market plunges. And we’ve witnessed the fees to go ultra-high, especially during a bear market.

    Fortunately, the RAMP DeFI platform does not incur a stability fee when minting rUSD. This enables users to access RAMP with less friction and save more.

    Has Contingencies in Place in the Event of a Flash Crash

    A flash crash is an unlikely occurrence where the value of assets drops significantly in a very short period of time, resulting in the under-collateralization of rUSD. In such an event, RAMP will utilize the universal liquidity pool as collateralization insurance for the stablecoin.

    Rapid Scaling Integration Layer

    Being a bridge to isolated blockchains, the value of the RAMP network increases with every new chain added to it. For this reason, the RAMP ecosystem has been made accessible to various developers from different blockchain foundations to encourage its adoption.

    This enables the foundations to easily integrate their native stablecoins onto the RAMP ecosystem, which would result in RAMP’s fast growth.

    Conclusion

    The purpose of DeFi is to unlock the potential of the blockchain and the power of money to the benefit of the community and its users. RAMP is a promising development in that particular aspect.

    Its feature opens up possibilities for ERC20 and non-ERC20 tokens to interact with each other to provide a new opportunity for users to earn from the assets that they are putting into DeFi protocols. Not only does it attract existing stakers into the platform, but also expands the channels where crypto users can do yield farming.

    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.

  • Newsletter #5

    Newsletter #5

    Week in review

    Bitcoin makes front page news

    On 24th August 2020, a full-page advertisement appeared on Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. The advertisement tells people “Banks, today you are not ditching me, I am ditching you” (in Cantonese) and “Bitcoin will never ditch you”. The advertisement does not promote a specific cryptocurrency-related business of service. Rather it only seems to educate readers on what is Bitcoin, saying: “Bitcoin is digital money. It is not issued or controlled by any government or corporation. Nobody can stop you from transacting on the network and it cannot be shut down. Bitcoin is available to anyone regardless of their nationality, gender, or beliefs. Bitcoin began with the GENESIS BLOCK during the financial crisis of 2009. Now, its time is coming.”

    Apple Daily is one of Hong Kong’s largest print media, made even more popular recently due to their CEO’s arrest for alleged violations of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, though he has since been released from custody.

    Bitcoin advert on Apple Daily
    Bitcoin advert on Apple Daily

    Cleaning house

    Recently with the increased interest in cryptocurrencies, I have been frequently asked what are my main coins for 2020. With all the different projects I’ve been looking into I realised that I am holding so many coins such that it is becoming difficult to manage. So this week I’ve cleaned my portfolio a bit and identified my “medium bags”. These are coins which I believe have a proven use case and a reason to go up in value. These “medium bags” are distinguished from my “HODL” i.e. coins I intend to hold long term and my “moonshot” speculative assets.

    Top coins for 2020

    What does it mean to “pull rug” and how not to get rekt

    The 2020 equivalent of 2017’s “exit scam”, DeFi projects “pulling the rug” on unsuspecting victims is sadly becoming more popular as the DeFi craze and markets are heating up. There are 2 common ways this is done:

    1. The scam project entices people to lock their cryptocurrencies e.g. ETH into a wallet with the intent to purchase the token before it is listed. (www.focolare.org) The wallet would then be “compromised” whereby the contract address ownership would be changed and the cryptocurrencies locked in the wallet would all be withdrawn and quickly sold on exchanges.
    2. The scam project would mint a token and either airdrop or give a percentage of the token to some early adopters. Afterwards the scam project would try to generate hype on social media and list the project on Uniswap. Unsuspecting victims would then deposit their ETH in Uniswap in exchange for the token. After people start injecting liquidity into the Exchange, the scammer would quickly drain the liquidity from that pool, leaving holders with worthless tokens.

    Here’s some of the ways to identify scams:

    1. Do full research on the project, check and monitor their social media. See also what other groups and people are saying about the project, and check if the claims on the project’s website are true. Also, has the project’s smart contract been audited? Is the project working with anyone reputable?
    2. Check if the project has actually burnt their minter key, which would prevent them from minting more tokens, withdrawing them, and rendering your tokens worthless as in the scam in 2 above.

    Bear in mind that if you are the victim of a “rug pull” there is almost no way to recover your losses. So if you have any doubts about a project it is probably best to trust your instincts and not go into it. And if you do choose to put your assets into it, only put what you can afford to lose.

    Oin Finance public sale delayed- you can stop spamming your F5 button now

    OIN Finance aims to become a bridge between Ethereum and Ontology assets and tokens- this would mean you can trade between these 2 types of assets. One interesting potential this that by allowing the bridging of other assets from Ethereum onto Ontology, users would be able to use Ontology as a way for the exchange of assets. So users can bring assets onto Ontology chain and use Ontology to complete transactions which may make it faster and cheaper.

    OIN is also a hugely popular project in China, and as we’ve seen with other projects like Polkadot, the China hype is very real. So when OIN announced it was doing a limited public sale of its token, everyone went onto their website and eagerly spammed the refresh button in the hopes of being able to sign up. However on the day of the public sale, according to OIN, they experienced a severe DDOS attack that took down their official website and registration page and were unable to resolve the issue in time.

    Their rescheduled public sale will be on 31 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC). The participation instructions will only be given at that time through their social media channels. Only winners will be required to submit KYC, and each winner can only buy 7,500 OIN at $0.08 USD.

    Meanwhile, be careful of fake OIN telegram channels (this is the real OIN telegram channel) which we saw pop up literally minutes after the announcement to postpone or scammers who contact you to try to sell you OIN.

    Upcoming events

    Sat 29 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC): My segment on Phoenix TV’s “一虎一席谈” (a popular hardcore debate show in China) will be broadcast. The episode discusses CBDC/ DCEP- China’s digital currency and also features fellow $YFII governance key signer Cao Yin. Note the program is in Chinese only.

    31 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC): OIN Finance public sale

    Tues 1 Sept 2020 at 1:00pm (UTC): Hedget token auction. Details here.

    Thurs 3 Sept 2020 at 4:00pm (UTC): SKALE Network’s SKALE token will be launched and available for sale for 48 hours. However, only those who have successfully passed the KYC process will be eligible to purchase. For details, check the email from Codefi Activate.

    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.

  • Uptrennd ($1UP): A “community first” Facebook alternative

    Uptrennd ($1UP): A “community first” Facebook alternative

    Uptrennd ($1UP) is a decentralised social network. With the rise in social media networks, privacy risk and user data concerns are gradually increasing. At present, every user on the internet wants to be safe while using these applications. Centralized social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have failed to provide their users with secure and reliable systems that protect their data. Hence platforms like Uptrennd are emerging as an alternative.

    Background

    Jeff Kirdeikis, the Founder of Uptrennd laid the foundation for the platform in January 2019. He poised it as “the next evolution of social media“. Kirdeikis is a cryptocurrency enthusiast who owns the world’s largest crypto Facebook group Cryptocurrency Investing. He is also the host of The Bitcoin & Crypto Podcast.

    Back in 2017, as tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter had banned cryptocurrency-based advertisements, decentralized social media platforms such as Steemit, Weku, D.Live etc rose to prominence. However, those platforms were also embroiled in their own controversies. For example, Steemit was taken over by Tron (which itself was highly controversial amongst Steemit users) and caused members to invoke a soft fork to reduce Steemit and Tron’s voting power. However, the soft fork failed and users accused Tron and 3 popular cryptocurrency exchanges for gaming the outcome.

    Jeff and his team recognized this rising concern and was witness to this drama which tore the community apart. And thus, Uptrennd was created to overcome issues currently plaguing all those other decentralised platforms. Uptrennd distinguishes itself from everything else by being “community first”, as quoted by Kirdeikis himself.

    https://twitter.com/JeffKirdeikis/status/1234660384633524226

    To this day, Uptrennd is a standard web 2.0 website that didn’t go through any seed funding or any initial coin offering (ICO).

    What is Uptrennd?

    Uptrennd is an incentive-based social media platform that offers earning opportunities to its users for creating quality and original content. The platform is designed with a modern touch to support four fundamental factors :

    • Freedom of speech
    • Data Security
    • Equality of opportunity
    • Fair distribution of wealth

    Additionally, Uptrennd plans to invest 80% of all generated revenue back into the platform to create a trusted and profitable social economy. On the whole, Uptrennd’s introduction truly signifies the start of a new era in the social media industry, one that incentivizes its users above all.

    It has designed amazing gamification features with a levelling up system. This allows users to increase their rewards from their upvoted content submissions & comments as they level up their account with the native “1Up” token.

    What is 1UP Token?

    1UP is an ERC-20 token that functions as the native asset on the Uptrennd platform. 1UP token follows the core upvoting system, which is more commonly referred to as points.

    These points can be earned by doing all sorts of activities like posting, commenting, viewing posts, etc. And, users can exchange them for 1UP tokens. At present, one point is worth one 1UP token.

    It is worth noting that the value of 1 upvote will not always be worth 1 token. In the future, the value may increase to 100+ points to earn one token. Thus, the platform provides value to early holders and adopters. Furthermore, it ensures that the 1UP token economy is infinitely scalable.

    1UP Tokenomics

    Overall, 1,000,000,000 tokens were pre-mined and kept securely in cold storage. The tokens will be taken only when users withdraw them from their points earned on the platform. Moreover, the network has pledged to make 1UP a deflationary token.

    Uptrennd burns 30% of points used by active members of the platform to level up each month. 30% of each point is burnt from the total supply that is used to boost, level up, or make on-site purchases. For instance, if 10 million points are used, the platform burns 3 million tokens.

    This means that 1UP will become increasingly more scarce with each month passing, like any deflationary asset.

    In addition, the platform is also distributing an extra 20% of the invested amount to the community growth fund. At present, there are nearly 900 million tokens in Uptrennd’s cold-storage and about 100 million tokens in the circulating supply.

    The token is currently available on exchanges like Uniswap, P2PB2B, Altilly, Idex, and more.

    How Does Uptrennd Let Users Earn Points?

    Apart from content creation and interaction, users can also earn points on Uptrennd using the following ways:

    1. Receiving an upvote on your comment or post
    2. Earning by Sharing – you can earn 50% of the points when you Repost.
    3. Collecting donations from active members of the platform.
    4. Daily Activity Bonus (requires at least 10 visits per day)
    5. Monthly and Weekly contests
    6. Inviting new users onto the platform
    7. Exchanging tokens for points.

    Basically, when a single upvote in Uptrennd is sold, it is worth $0.05. However, the company explains that in the event that a token exceeds $0.05 on exchanges, then the price of the points will increase as well. According to the website, the main objective of the platform is “maintaining a 10% premium to incentivize purchases on exchanges for liquidity.”

    Moreover, the company also claimed that “if the price drops below that $0.05 limit, the value will not change, this is termed as [the] floor price.”

    Use Cases of 1UP Token

    The platform provides multiple ways for users to use their earned points.

    1. Users can use the tokens to level up their accounts. For each additional level-up, the platform provides access to increase the reward earned for each upvoted post or comment.
    2. One can easily boost their own post for a specific number of views with 1UP tokens.
    3. Users can purchase banner advertisements on the platform with 1UP tokens. Furthermore, 80% of advertisement earnings are given back to the community.
    4. Users can donate tokens to others as tips. In addition, one can use it as a bounty for accomplishing particular tasks announced by the user.
    5. Users can sell their 1Up tokens on a third-party exchange for fiat or any other cryptocurrency.
    6. The platform also plans to allow users to utilize their 1UP tokens to unlock user-created exclusive communities that are based on subscription.

    Uptrend – Future Implementation

    According to Jeff, Uptrend is now entering the decentralised finance (DeFi) space with multiple implementations and partnerships. The DeFi features will include

    • Fixed APY Staking
    • Liquidity Mining
    • Staking rewards based on network activity

    Apart from DeFi, it is making big moves in other areas like Android and iOS mobile apps, raising capital, and Direct FIAT onramp to 1UP tokens. The platform is also looking forward to listing 1UP tokens on top exchanges.

    Conclusion

    Uptrennd has now become one of the world’s most-engaged decentralized social media platforms. It has provided an opportunity for entrepreneurs, writers, hobbyists, and other part-time workers to monetize their skills and passion.

    With all its innovative use cases, it appears that the platform is trying to become the next big thing among all decentralized social media networks. Overall, it has the ability to bring increased visibility & engagements to its user’s content by providing incentives via cryptocurrency rewards.

    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.

  • Newsletter #4

    Newsletter #4

    Week in review

    Curve Finance $CRV’s controversial launch

    On 14th August 2020, Curve Finance ($CRV) was suddenly launched by an anonymous developer known as “OxChad”. Even the Curve Finance team was completely caught by surprise and initially scrambled to shut down others who were posting about the launch on Twitter. They also rushed to verify that the contract deployed by the developer had the same code and had nothing malicious in the contracts.

    Finally, Curve had “no choice but to adopt it” and declare it as their official token launch. This did not sit well with the cryptocurrency community, particularly since in the hours between that developer launching $CRV and the Curve team declaring the launch, 80,000 CRV tokens were already mined by some daring farmers. This led many to complain that those miners got an unfair advantage since the Curve team had previously announced there would be 24 hours between the contract being deployed and the first token being issued.

    Whilst this launch was highly problematic and damaging for Curve Finance’s reputation, long-term it is unlikely to affect the Company. In fact, after the launch, other farmers raced to put liquidity into the protocol, and currently, over $1 billion is locked in Curve Finance. It is the third-ever DeFi project to achieve this, after Maker and Aave. Curve Finance prices soared to over $50 at the first few hours of launch but crashed to below $4 as yield farmers immediately sold their $CRV tokens to maximise on their ROI. And it is unlikely that farmers will continue to sell their crops as soon as it is harvested, so those buying $CRV on the market need to be extremely careful.

    SKALE auction delayed

    SKALE Network was founded in 2018 as a blockchain scalability platform that provides high-speed consensus and empowers dApps to run smart contracts. This will help Ethereum Dapp developers by providing a Layer 2 platform with high speeds, fast finality and most importantly, at low cost.

    SKALE Network’s SKALE token ($SKL) was supposed to be available for purchase through a 3-day Dutch auction starting from 17th August 2020. However, mere hours before the start of the auction SKALE announced the auction would be delayed due to “overwhelming amount of traffic”. This is likely from the waves of people rushing to complete the KYC process so as to be eligible to participate in the auction. As of 19th August 2020, there has not been any announcement on the date and time of the postponed auction. Though so far, people don’t seem to be that disappointed (probably because they were also waiting to pass the KYC process) and are eagerly waiting for further updates. So if you are interested in joining the auction, you may want to complete the KYC process ASAP.

    Yam Finance is not giving up!

    Yam Finance ($YAM) caused a huge stir last week when it rallied fellow farmers to “save yam”. Although there was enough support from farmers, it was found that the bug would interact with the governance module and prevent the governance proposal from succeeding. So $YAM can no longer be modified by governance and on a technical level, it will behave in a way similar to other rebasing assets such as Ampleforth ($AMPL).

    But 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 and any “low” or “informational” issues have been resolved. Yam Finance has deployed the migration contract which enables $YAM holders to migrate to the new version. 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 how to migrate can be found here.

    Polkadot $DOT launch and redenomination

    Polkadot ($DOT) allows communications across chains and interoperability so blockchain networks can operate together seamlessly as an ecosystem. The project is made famous because it is founded by Gavin Wood- one of the Co-creators of Ethereum. Polkadot is also one of the most hyped projects in the Chinese cryptocurrency community. We recently swapped notes with a Chinese fund manager who’s highly active in the Chinese crypto community, here’s what she says about the hottest blockchain projects in China now.

    Polkadot finally launched on 18th August 2020 so it is now transferable but there is a pending redenomination of $DOT which will occur on 21st August 2020. There are 2 versions of $DOT available on the market, the new version of $DOT is 100x smaller than the old $DOT. Most exchanges such as Binance or Kraken will automatically multiply users’ DOT deposits after the redenomination, i.e. if you deposited 10 old $DOT before the redenomination, you will automatically be credited with 1,000 new $DOT after the redenomination. And to protect users in anticipation of this, users will not be able to withdraw new $DOT until after the redenomination.

    In the meantime, bear in mind that some exchanges e.g. OKEx, MXC etc. offer trading pairs in OLD $DOT, whereas others e.g. Binance and Kraken offer trading pairs in NEW $DOT. So don’t be that guy we’ve seen on Twitter who paid $50 for new $DOT, which should only be worth $3. $DOT holders and traders should check with the exchange they are trading on to see what their policies are for $DOT.

    Upcoming events

    “End of this week”: SKALE Labs will announce their postponed auction time and date.

    21st Aug 2020 at approx. 13:15 (UTC): $DOT redenomination day. Polkadot will change the denomination of the $DOT token such that the old $DOT will be divided into 100 new $DOT.

    21st Aug 2020 at 16:00 (UTC): VIMworld early access public launch. VIMworld will also be having a sale on its VIMs.

    22nd August 2020 at 16:20 (UTC): Deadline for migration to YAM 2.0.

    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.

  • Newsletter #3:

    Newsletter #3:

    WEEK IN REVIEW

    Interviews with key leaders in the crypto space

    We managed to pull some key movers and shakers in this space and sit them down for an exclusive interview. We asked them all about DeFi, trends for 2020 and most importantly…when bull run?

    Yam Experiment ends due to bugs

    Yam Finance took over Twitter and social media this week both a fun meme and experiment in elastic token design. However, as the token was gaining popularity a bug was discovered that rendered the governance features of $YAM permanently inaccessible. Yield farming principle / Total Value Locked was not affected by this bug.

    At one point, there was almost a glimmer of hope that the project could be salvaged as the community banded together to save YAM. This was a big display of strength and unity in the YAM community. Even though the community achieved the votes needed, a serious bug prevented the fix from deployed, forever dooming the governance features and the YAM treasury.

    Zeus Capital vs ChainLink

    This all started in late July 2020 when Zeus Capital LLP issued reports alleging that ChainLink was operating a pump and dump scheme and recommending people short sell LINK at 7 cents. Zeus Capital were persistent, advertising their reports on Twitter and allegedly paying influencers to post price analysis showing that LINK prices would fall. Zeus Capital did seem to have some monetary interest in this, disclosing that they hold a short position. However, things got really interesting on 8th August 2020 when $LINK prices crossed the $11 mark and millions worth of short positions were entirely liquidated. It’s unknown whether Zeus Capital’s short position was one of them, but this and the continued rise of $LINK past $14 really gave the Link Marines something to celebrate about Read our TL;DR summary of this dispute here.

    Calm down, $YFI’s Andre Cronje isn’t going anywhere

    On 8th August 2020, Decrypt- a cryptocurrency media outlet published an interview with Andre Cronje-creator of yEarn.finance ($YFI) titled “Exclusive: YFI’s Andre Cronje is tired, broke and close to quitting DeFi“. The article goes on to say that when interviewed, Cronje expressed he was “Close to rage quitting again” because of DeFi’s “toxic community” and that he gets nothing from the skyrocketing value of the $YFI coin that he created. This did not sit well with Cronje, who took to Twitter on the same day to express his dissatisfaction with the sensationalism of the article and that he was taken out of context. He also mentioned that he received donations from concerned members of the cryptocurrency community, but would return them. Cronje subsequently was interviewed by the Defiant, where he basically said his drive comes from his excitement to add new things to the DeFi ecosystem, and that he is not going anywhere.

    You can also learn more about his journey to cryptocurrency and eventually DeFi, and the yEarn ecosystem he is building in our summary of his interview with FTX exchange.

    Serum (SRM) begins trading, breaks the Internet

    Serum is the first decentralised exchange ever built on Solana and is the creation of the team behind FTX. Here’s our first look at Serum.

    On 11th August 2020, Serum ($SRM) started trading on Binance, BitMax, FTX, Uniswap (v2), Balancer and more. Cryptocurrency users started flocking onto the exchanges and even our site to trade and learn more about the project. The volume of people interested was so much that we even noticed a slowdown on FTX and on our site itself.

    Within the first 30 minutes of listing, SRM prices shot up to $1.25. By morning of 12th August 2020, attempts were made to break the $2.00 threshold but were met with resistance. However, prices are consistently hovering well above $1.50.

    Thankfully prices have not plummeted since the listing as we saw with many ICO projects in 2017. And with Serum hopefully launching this year, we are interested to know where this will take $SRM.

    UPCOMING:

    Winner of FTX Serum ($SRM) staking competition announced (4:00am UTC on Fri 14th): https://ftx.com/staking
    Sandbox ($SAND) IEO (8:00am UTC on Fri 14th): shorturl.at/qrKVY
    DIA ($DIA) token sale ends (1:00am UTC on Tues 18th): https://token.diadata.org/

    What we’re watching

    Serum ($SRM): With the listing just days ago. People are going to be watching closely to see which direction token prices move. Long term, there is also a lot of interest in what the team at FTX will come up with for Serum.

    Subscribe to the newsletter!

    https://mailchi.mp/afde32c593a4/newsletter

    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.

  • Livestream 17th August 2020: DeFi, Yield Farming, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Update

    Livestream 17th August 2020: DeFi, Yield Farming, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Update

    Join us for our bi-weekly decentralised finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency and bitcoin updates!

    On the channel we focus on DeFi and Yield Farming, the HOTTEST trends right now. We also look at the latest cryptocurrency and blockchain news as well as market trends.

    Our aim is to have rational discussions and try to see through any speculation and sensation. All the while sharing our personal experiences in our live chat and keeping our community’s spirits up during these times.

    Event Time: 17th August 2020, 03:00 UTC

    Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wytuYqi_Mk8

    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!

  • Velo: The Biggest Payment Network Ever?

    Velo: The Biggest Payment Network Ever?

    Velo Labs is building out the biggest payment network in Southeast Asia to improve remittance and money transfer markets. As some may know, today’s remittance system involves hurdles of middlemen who each charge high fees. This makes remittance extremely expensive and slow.

    Velo Labs is solving this problem by allowing people to transfer value between each other in a timely and transparent manner without middlemen using digital credits that are pegged to any currency and are collateralized by a cryptocurrency (VELO) issued on Stellar.

    What initially got me to look deeper into Velo Labs was their company’s backing. It’s founded by Chatchaval Jiaravanon. This may not be a household name to most, but he is a prominent entrepreneur in Asia. He sits on the board of lots of corporations including True Corporation, the leading Telecom Group in Thailand, and owns Fortune Magazine. His family also owns the CP Group: the largest conglomerate in Thailand.

    The CP Group is also Velo Lab’s largest backer. The company owns all the 7-Elevens (over 20,000!) in Thailand and is one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

    Recently we spoke to Mr. Gaurang Desai on the Velo Economics team about how remittance currently works in Southeast Asia

    Below are some key points we covered in the interview:

    • Problems with the existing international remittance system in Southeast Asia
    • How Velo Labs fits into the current system
    • The advantages of the Velo Protocol over current remittance methods
    • What makes the Velo Protocol different from competing protocols
    • How many money transfer operators and agents are currently on the network

    Velo Labs is hosting an AMA on Stellar’s subreddit on August 7th. So feel free to ask Mr. Michael Cowans, Velo Lab’s Commercial Advisor

  • Newsletter #2: Yield Farming is HOT – but Farmers Beware of scams

    Newsletter #2: Yield Farming is HOT – but Farmers Beware of scams

    I’ll keep this week’s newsletter short and sweet. Primary markets (BTC, ETC) have been relatively stable, which an overall trend of recovery after last week’s flash crash on the 2nd of Aug. The crash was primarily targeted at leveraged traders, with over $1 Billion USD worth of contracts being liquidated across multiple exchanges. After this crash, prices quickly recovered nearing previous highs. This goes to show one of the dangers of over-leveraged positions, as there can be sudden volatility in either direction causing positions to be liquidated.

    Yield farming is HOT, but farmers Beware!

    Personally, I’ve been yield farming quite a lot this week with generally favorable results. Please note that Yield Farming is EXTREMELY dangerous as it involves the use of potentially unverified audited code on smart contracts. Do Your Own Research (honestly this is what’s taking up most of my time)

    Starting off, Yearn’s developer Andre Cronje (check this interview summary) launched Yvaults 2. Simply funds saved there will automatically be invested into the best strategy possible to generate more profit. The new system allows for the addition of new strategies too – basically what the founder Andre sees fit. Annual returns can vary – we’ve seen numbers between 50% and 200% APY. However, there isn’t a good way to calculate for the time being.

    One of the biggest trends this week is the emergence of $YFI clones. $YFI farming was extremely popular 2 weeks ago as it has extremely high yields. However – this has since paused as there is no new distribution of $YFI. Many opportunistic developers sought to create forks for $YFI that would distribute new coins such as $YFII, $YFFI, $YFT, and $WIFEY (just to name a few) in a similar fashion. One of the biggest risks with these $YFI clones is that the use un-audited code  – so they are extremely vulnerable to smart contract bugs (such as this one https://twitter.com/oli_vdb/status/1290370855709573122 ).

    BEWARE: $ASUKA & YYFI exit scams

    Two infamous projects pulled of exit scams in the past month, with developers minting a huge number of tokens and trading it into DAI. Both $ASUKA and $YYFI preyed on farmers who added liquidity to balancer pools that are required to farm the tokens. These pools are dangerous because the funds are directly used as a counter-party to trades, meaning that the pool’s DAI will directly be used to buy up the corresponding token. The $YFFI developer minted 1,000,000 $YFFI and sold it immediately, making off with $70,000 in the process (could have been more if he understood how balancer works).


    For the time being, I’m staying away from any yield farming involves liquidity pools.

    CREAM

    This week I’m testing out CREAM mining. CREAM is a project inspired by Compound and they are offering airdrops of CREAM token to those supply / borrowing from the protocol. Currently, the project’s code is up on GitHub but is pending formal audits. This means there will be potential smart contract risks with farming here.

    UPCOMING:

    Serum IEO (Friday 7th): https://boxmining.com/serum-srm-first-look/
    Interview with Binance CEO CZ (Wed 12th). Ask questions and win prizes: https://boxmining.com/ask-a-question-to-cz-binance/
    CURVE.FI expected to launch a new token in the coming weeks.

    Subscribe to the newsletter!

    https://mailchi.mp/afde32c593a4/newsletter

  • Ask a question to CZ (Changpeng Zhao), Founder and CEO of Binance

    Ask a question to CZ (Changpeng Zhao), Founder and CEO of Binance

    I’ll be interviewing CZ, Founder and CEO of Binance LIVE on 12th August 2020 at 3:00am (UTC)!

    In the interview we will be discussing:

    • DeFi Mania – Is Binance going to go big on Decentralised Finance (DeFi)?
    • What can we expect from Binance in 2020?
    • Upcoming giveaways on the Exchange!?

    What is Binance? Binance was established in 2017 and is BY FAR the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange with more than USD $3 million being traded on the Exchange every 24 hours. The Exchange offers trading in 201 coins and 637 trading pairs. The Exchange also has its native token $BNB which consistently ranks within the top 10 of all cryptocurrencies based on market capitalization.

    The huge success of Binance also means that CZ himself is hugely well-known in the cryptocurrency scene and beyond, having been featured on the cover of Time Magazine as going from zero to billionaire in only 6 months, and is extremely active on Twitter with over 540,000 followers.

    This video is aimed at all levels of cryptocurrency enthusiasts so feel free to ask CZ your burning questions about DeFi, cryptocurrency projects, exchanges, and this space in general. I’ll personally be giving out prizes for:

    • Most Creative Question;
    • Most Insightful Question; and
    • Funniest / Weirdest Question.

    To ask a question, leave a comment in this post below!

    Event Time: 12th August 2020 at 3:00am (UTC)

    Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xhIlP7m0QE

    To learn more about Binance, check out our Binance exchange review.

    SIGN UP FOR A BINANCE ACCOUNT HERE!

  • Boxmining Newsletter #1

    Boxmining Newsletter #1

    Boxmining Newsletter #1

    Congratulations Everyone – You’re officially a founding member of this Newsletter! We’ve already doubled our subscriptions in the past week due to increased interest (WOOT). At the same time, crypto is moving at light speed – with new projects getting created, traded, and listed on top exchanges in the space of 2-3 days. Here’s a rundown of all that’s happening:

    Post-Bitcoin Rally 

    Bitcoin made some major moves on Monday, shooting up all the way to $11,000 after a long dormant period. Initially, this shocked many traders, with many scrambling and selling their altcoins to jump on the Bitcoin train. FOMO is the name of the game these days, and many were hoping Bitcoin would shoot as high up as $14,000 / $17,000. However, Bitcoin didn’t go there – instead she seemed to settle down at $11,000 without much volatility. With the big cat sleeping, the mice (altcoins) are out to play. We’ve seen some insane rallies for YFI (+225%), Elrond(+65%), and UMA (+60%) this week. 

    Yield Farming 
    After $YFI blew up last week, yield farming is front and center on everyone’s discussion table. We covered YFI both on our website https://boxmining.com/yfi-yield-farming/ and in a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoz9CnX-52s. In a quick summary, liquidity mining is essentially saving money in different liquidity pools. Miners will then be rewarded with token distributions (such as YFI) that can yield up to 1000% APR. Obviously, with such rewards, it’s highly risky and experimental. We definitely recommend that you check out the video and Do Your Own Research (DYOR). Currently, YFI yield farming is taking a pause as a new contract is being deployed. 

    YFII Launches
    Nope, that’s not a typo. A new project called YFII has launched – forking the YFI project and allowing yield farmers to earn the YFII token. What’s unique about this project is that it distributes YFII tokens with a weekly “halving”, similar to Bitcoin. The release of this project comes at a very convenient time as $YFI mining is currently taking a break, so farmers are left with yCurve tokens wondering what to do. YFII allows the staking of yCurve tokens in a similar fashion and UI to $YFI (it is a fork after all) This is highly controversial due to it’s rushed nature of its release, with metamask, balancer, and etherscan users quickly flagging the project as a “Scam”. This is due to two reasons, as there was an initial “owner key” for YFII which allowed the owner to create infinite tokens. However, recently this key has been destroyed. This means it’s not really a “scam”, and the community for YFII is currently building up. 

    Zeus Capital Vs Linkchain
    Recently Zeus Capital has taken up a major campaign against Chainlink (LINK) calling it a “scam” and giving a valuation of $0.07 (1% of its current value). Not only have they released a long report, but recently they have been caught paying influencers to make negative price charts on LINK. It’s clear they have taken up a massive short position and will benefit from LINK’s price going down. I find this a more mature version of the FUD and HYPE cycles we experience in crypto –  and highlights the importance of DYOR – you need to be prepared for both hype and FUD. 

    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. (https://www.adarsus.com/) 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.

  • Ask a question to Bobby Ong, Co-Founder and COO of Coingecko

    Ask a question to Bobby Ong, Co-Founder and COO of Coingecko

    I’ll be interviewing Bobby Ong, Co-Founder and COO of Coingecko this week!

    In the interview we will be discussing:

    • DeFi Wave – Is Coingecko going big on DeFi?
    • Cleaning up fake volumes on exchanges – How do we identify fake volumes in the exchange space?
    • Coingecko research – what are they finding with recent trading trends?

    What is Coingecko? Coingecko was launched in 2014 and is one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency data aggregator and tracking over 7,000 different cryptocurrencies. Coingecko also provides distinctive metrics such as user scores which survey users’ outlook on the coin. (Ativan) Another distinctive metric is “Trust Score”- Coingecko’s rating algorithm which holistically ranks a cryptocurrency exchange based on factors such as liquidity, trading activity, cybersecurity etc. so as to combat fake exchange volume data.

    This video is aimed at all levels of cryptocurrency enthusiasts so feel free to ask Bobby your burning questions about DeFi, cryptocurrency projects, exchanges and this space in general. I’ll personally be giving out prizes for:

    • Most Creative Question;
    • Most Insightful Question; and
    • Funniest / Weirdest Question.

    To ask a question, leave a comment in this post below!