Boxmining

Category: Crypto Trends

Make sense of the news and how it affects the blockchain space as a whole. Crypto trends is a collection of relevant news and insights to help you make an informed decision.

  • Coinbase Review: MUST READ

    Coinbase Review: MUST READ

    Coinbase is one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange and is well known because unlike other exchanges, is based in and subject to US regulations. The Exchange is split into several categories, Coinbase– for retail users, Coinbase Pro– their professional trading platform for individuals, Coinbase Prime– for institutional clients. In this review we highlight each of their various features and controversies that you need to know.

    Key Advantages of Coinbase

    • Regulated under US law.
    • One of the few exchanges available for US citizens.
    • Maintains an insurance policy against theft or hacks.

    Key Features and Functions

    Coinbase Pro
    Coinbase Pro

    One point to note is that Coinbase only offers spot trading, unlike other exchanges which offer other products such as derivatives, futures trading etc.

    The Exchange is split into several categories catering for different types of users. Coinbase is for retail users, Coinbase Pro for individual professional traders and Coinbase Prime for institutional clients. This distinction is because they each have different functions to cater for the user. By way of example the main difference between Coinbase and Coinbase Pro are that Coinbase Pro offers charting tools, real-time order books, among other tools to help the advanced trader make most out of the Exchange. Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime both offer cheaper transaction fees and more supported cryptocurrencies. However they are still substantially fewer than other Exchanges out there.

    Coinbase Pro interface
    Coinbase Pro interface

    Despite only offering spot trading, Coinbase does have its own suite of products to assist users in getting started. For example it has its own wallet, and allows users to earn cryptocurrencies by participating in their courses.

    Coinbase products
    Products offered by Coinbase

    History of Coinbase

    Coinbase was launched in October 2012 and is based in the United States. Their headquarters are located in San Francisco, California. It is also becoming widely used in Europe where it has an operating license. It currently has over 30 million users and over USD$150 billion being traded on the Exchange.

    The Exchange has currently expanded to over 100 countries across the globe.

    [wp-compear id=”5176″]

    Supported Countries

    Coinbase is available in over 100 countries. Most notably the US, which a lot of Exchanges cannot support due to regulatory issues. However whilst Coinbase says it is “available” in some countries, it may not offer the full set of services i.e. being able to “convert” between different cryptocurrencies, and to “buy and “sell” the same. Check here for the services available for your specific country.

    Supported Cryptocurrencies

    Coinbase supports 91 cryptocurrencies- relatively fewer compared to other major exchanges such Binance. Also, the availability to buy, sell, send and receive a particular cryptocurrency depends on (a) whether you are using Coinbase or Coinbase Pro; and (b) your location.

    Check here for the full list of Coinbase’s supported cryptocurrencies.

    We can see that Coinbase is actively trying hard to list more cryptocurrencies. Whilst its current cryptocurrency support is sufficient for most average traders, they do lag behind their competitors in this respect. So unless we see more listings in the future, we will be keeping our score of 3.8/5 for cryptocurrency support…for now.

    Payment Methods

    Coinbase provides a variety of payment methods and most importantly, allows traders to pay in their local currency. However there are regional restrictions for payment methods. Below is a helpful list of the accepted payment methods for various countries.

    • Bank deposit: Europe, US, UK
    • Debit card: Available for most countries including Australia, Canada, Chile, Europe, Mexico, UK, US.
    • Credit card: Australia, Singapore
    • Paypal: Canada, Europe (most countries), US and UK

    You can check here to see the accepted payment methods for your specific country. Although we noticed that the information on supported payment methods is slightly different from the information on their other page.

    The Exchange also has its own Coinbase Card– a Visa-based debit card allowing customers to make purchases online and in-store using cryptocurrencies. However it is currently only available to UK and European customers.

    Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

    Cryptocurrency

    There are no fees for cryptocurrency deposits onto Coinbase. As for withdrawals, Coinbase will only charge you the relevant network fees required for sending your funds.

    Fiat

    Not all fiat deposits or withdrawals are free, and the amount depends on the method used. Coinbase supports fiat deposits/withdrawals via ACH, Wire (USD), SEPA (EUR) and SWIFT (GBP).

    Coinbase fiat deposit withdrawal fees
    Coinbase fiat deposit withdrawal fees (Image credit: Coinbase)

    Trading Fees

    Coinbase charges different fees depending on whether you are on Coinbase, Coinbase Pro or Coinbase Prime. Fees are cheaper for the latter 2 due to the larger volume by these traders.

    Coinbase charges its fees based on a maker-taker fee model. Placing an order at market which is filled immediately incurs a taker fee between 0.04% and 0.50%. Conversely, if you place an order which is not immediately matched the order is placed on the order book. When another user puts in an order and matches yours on the book you are charged a maker fee between 0.00% and 0.50%. The taker and maker fees are reduced if the value traded is higher.

    For stablecoin pairs specifically (e.g. USDC/USDT to DAI/PAX, or to fiat etc), Coinbase charges 0.01% and 0.00% for taker and maker fees respectively.

    Controversies

    In late February 2020, Coinbase was identified as one of the entities working with Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition technology provider who was facing legal threats from Apple and Google for lack of scrutiny into its practices. Coinbase admits to testing Clearview’s software but denies that customer’s data was used in any of such tests. (https://yellowtail.tech/)

    The Exchange has come under fire from users during the Bitcoin price dump on 10th May 2020. On 10th May 2020 at 17:26 Pacific Time, the Exchange’s website and mobile app both experienced outages. 10 minutes later Coinbase came out with a notice saying that it was still investigating this outage, by 18:14, service had been restored. However during this time the price of Bitcoin tumbled from USD $9,500 to $8,100, leaving users only able to helplessly watch the crash and unable to trade.

    Coinbase is pretty much infamous for crashing during huge fluctuations in Bitcoin prices. On 29th April 2020, the Exchange suffered an outage whilst Bitcoin prices shot up to just under USD $9,000. And AGAIN on 10th May 2020.

    Needless to say, users are not happy with the situation, with some noting that Coinbase “crashes” when there is a huge change in Bitcoin prices. And whilst some attribute this to the Exchange being overloaded with users, others are not satisfied with how Coinbase has not fixed this over the years considering the high fees charged from users.

    As to the latest crash on 1st June 2020, Coinbase says that the Bitcoin price spike led to an increase in traffic by 5 times in only 4 minutes. As a result their autoscaling system was overwhelmed and created a backlog which meant that new survey requests were dropped or timed out. Coinbase however alleges that they are working on reducing the impact of price-related traffic spikes.

    Is Coinbase safe in 2022?

    Coinbase

    The Exchange has top of the range security features. Additionally, being licensed in the United States, users have additional protection since Federal laws apply.

    In terms of the Exchange’s method for fund storage, only 2% of customer funds are held in hot wallets. The other 98% is kept in secure cold wallets in different parts of the world. So far, it has not been hacked…yet. Also, Coinbase has an insurance policy that insures against theft of cryptocurrencies resulting from security breaches, hacks, employee theft or fraudulent transfer.

    On account security, Coinbase advises its users to use two-factor authentication. The system supports either short messages sent to the registered mobile phone number, Google Authenticator, among other reliable ways to prevent malicious account login.

    HOWEVER, storing substantial assets in exchanges is not recommended as exchanges are prone to hacks. The best practice is to only leave enough assets for day-to-day trading on exchanges, the remainder should be stored offline on hardware wallets for.

    To learn more about hardware wallets, check out our reviews on the Ledger Nano X and Trezor Model T.

    Is Coinbase affected by the liquidity issues at FTX?

    Coinbase issued an announcement on 8th November 2022 concerning transparency, risk management, and consumer protection. In the announcement, Coinbase confirmed they have approximately US$15 million worth of deposits on FTX which they use to facilitate business operations and client trades. However, they do not have any exposure to Alameda Research, and no loans to FTX.

    As at 10th November 2022, there do not appear to be widespread reports of issues with withdrawing or trading funds on Coinbase. Their status page is also only showing that there are delayed withdrawals on the Polygon Network ONLY but a fix has been implemented. Therefore, it appears that Coinbase is not affected by the issues surrounding FTX exchange.

    Conclusion: Coinbase exchange pros and cons

    Pros

    • Coinbase has remained one of the most secure and reliable cryptocurrency exchanges.
    • The Exchange maintains an insurance policy against hacks and theft, which is reassuring for users.
    • Generally available in many countries, including the US with many payment options.

    Cons

    • Fee structure is highly confusing and not the cheapest out there.
    • Lack of features.
    • Not many supported cryptocurrencies compared to other exchanges.
    • Seems to be unable to handle sudden surges of users and has a history of crashing during periods of high price volatility.

    Final Score

    Services offered: 3/5
    Cryptocurrency support: 3.8/5
    Fees: 3/5
    Security: 4.5/5
    Final Score: 3.6

    To learn more, check out our review of the Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges of 2023!

    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.

  • Keep3r Network ($KP3R): Everything you need to know about Andre Cronje’s latest experiment

    Keep3r Network ($KP3R): Everything you need to know about Andre Cronje’s latest experiment

    Keep3r Network ($KP3R) (“Keep3r”) appeared out of nowhere on 28th October 2020 with a Medium article by its creator, Andre Cronje. It is described by Cronje as an “…agnostic, easy to implement, incentivization layer for routine ecosystem maintenance.” Cronje is arguably the the “Father” of decentralised finance (DeFi) and Yield Farming, being the creator of the widely successful yEarn Finance ($YFI) which eventually spawned multiple clones and projects inspired by YFI. Keep3r is another one of Cronje’s experiments, and as per his usual “I test in prod” approach- he will launch the product FIRST, then do the necessary testing etc. Despite Cronje’s repeated and clear warnings on this, many still hope for a quick profit and thus throw their cryptocurrencies at the product as soon as it goes live.

    Background

    As mentioned in the introduction, Keep3r Network had small beginnings as a Medium article and subsequent Twitter post by creator Andre Cronje. Owing to his reputation in this space (his first project YFI grew from USD$0 to USD$300 in market capitalisation in a mere 2 months and spawned the current DeFi wave), many see that whatever Cronje touches turns into gold and so “aped” in by buying up the KP3R token as soon as it listed on Uniswap. Immediately upon launch, prices of KP3R were going up at the rate of around USD$1 per minute. This of course resulted in the word being further spread around social media, and more people decided to join in because they did not want to miss out on this opportunity.

    What is Keep3r Network ($KP3R)?

    Keep3r Network ($KP3R) can be described as a “job matching” network for Job posters looking for “Keepers” to do tasks for them, together with an incentive mechanism for all the parties involved.

    What are Keepers?

    Keepers are persons/teams with technical knowledge who are able to take up Jobs, for example, flash liquidation, providing Uniquote price feeds, collecting harvests, and Metawallet batch executions. These are simple manual tasks but can be tedious as it needs to be done regularly. For example, collecting harvests from yield farming is something that generally needs to be done every day. These tasks are usually done by the programmer i.e. Cronje himself, but it would be time-consuming for them to do.

    What are Jobs?

    In the Keep3r Network, anyone can add a particular Job for someone to do. Jobs are smart contract calls that want an external entity to perform an action in good faith and without any malicious intent or outcome. So they would register themselves as a Job on the Network and provide the relevant documentation and details such as job name, address etc.

    The Keeper i.e. the person/team would then register themselves as being able to perform the job and execute on the Job’s contract. Keepers have the freedom to set up their own DevOps, infrastructure and create their own rules to complete the job.

    This process is all done on-chain, and the advantage of this is that everyone can confirm that a particular task has been done.

    The Keep3r Ecosystem

    Having discovered that the Keep3r Network has the potential to be more than a job registry, creator Andre Cronje has decided to combine all of his projects under the Keep3r ecosystem to be one large liquidity ecosystem: options liquidity mining (olm), fixed forex and some other v3 liquidity incentives Cronje has in the works as follows.

    Keep3r Eden

    Keep3r Eden is a rule set to order transactions within a block in a way that is fair and transparent. This is important for the Keep3r Network since it prevents keepers and jobs from being front-run yet giving them priority access to block space.

    Keep3r is partnered with Eden Network. Through Keep3r’s acquisition of 602,409 EDEN, Keep3r is able to guarantee that it will be an anchor slot tenant. This allows Keep3r jobs to by default have the benefits of MEV and front running protection, as well as priority block inclusion. And if users use the Eden RPC, they also have private transactions.

    Keep3r’s Fixed Forex

    Fixed Forex aims to bring forex markets into DeFi by allowing for deep on-chain forex liquidity- this provides an alternative to USD denominated stable coins (i.e. USDT, BUSD etc).

    Keep3r’s Fixed Forex is a liquidity incentive and fee claim system for Iron Bank’s Fixed Forex. The IBFF and veIBFF tokens will be merged with the KP3R and vKP3R tokens. At the same time, the fee claim of approximately $60k/week will move to vKP3R.

    Fixed Forex is partnered with zarp.cash, their token ZARP is a cryptocurrency pegged to the price of the South African Rand (ZAR) on a 1:1 ratio. For security, ZARP tokens are stored in a treasury account and are independently audited by Kempen Audit. Therefore, according to the team, “ZARP is the only fully backed, transparent and audited stablecoin for the South African Rand”. ZARP is intended to be used as a representation of the Rand in DeFi. Other currencies such as EUR, KRW, GBP, CHF, AUD and JPY.

    Keep3r OLM (Options Liquidity Mining)

    Keep3r’s generalized OLM platform for projects allows them to have an instant options-based reward incentivization program. vKP3R holders benefit from this platform as 1% of all exercised option fees will go to them- this will mean around $100k/week in fees will go to vKP3R holders.

    Keep3r v3 liquidity incentives

    There is a liquidity mining program launched on Keep3r v3 for Uniswap v3. Liquidity providers (LPs) will be able to deposit their UNI v3 NFT positions and earn KP3R. 50% of fees earned will be distributed to vK3PR holders.

    Keep3r wonderland

    Keep3r Wonderland (also known as DeFi Wonderland) is an activist fund that provides capital and developmental support to protocol development projects.

    What are $KP3R tokens?

    $KP3R is the native token for the Keep3r Network and having more KP3R represents a higher “reputation” in the Network. As an example, say a Job requires someone to collect a harvest from the YFI contract. This task could impact the prices of different cryptocurrencies and lead to people front running. So you want the person completing this task to act in the interests of everyone and not be selfish.

    This is where the KP3R token comes in. Those who complete tasks are rewarded with KP3R, this will be equivalent to the gas spent on the transaction plus a premium, the amount of which depends on the complexity of the Job. The more KP3R tokens you have, the higher your “reputation” in the space and as a result you can take on higher-end jobs. It is also worth noting that there is a mechanism for slashing your bonded KP3R if you are found to be a malicious actor.

    By default, this is in the form of bonded KP3R but you can unbond it to become normal KP3R.

    Advantages and disadvantages of keeping bonded KP3R

    Advantages of keeping bonded KP3R include:

    • Higher bonds increase the types of Jobs Keepers can qualify to do;
    • only bonded KP3R grants voting rights in governance; and
    • bonded KP3R cannot be exploited. This is in case a Job introduces an exploit.

    Yet the disadvantage of keeping bonded KP3R is that you cannot immediately recoup ETH for Keeper transactions. Meaning that Keepers had to keep an unbond days amount of ETH as a float. A solution to this is MetaKeep3r (see below).

    What are $rKP3R tokens?

    rKP3R are redeemable KP3R tokens. They are wrapped KP3R tokens that have the option to be exercised as a KP3R CALL option at a 50% discount at any time. Note however that once created, you only have 24 hours to exercise the CALL, failing which the option will simply expire.

    rKP3R can be earned by providing curve.fi/factory. liquidity to ib forex assets or uniswap v3 liquidity to KP3R/ETH (with more pairs to come soon). Furthermore, all distributed KP3R rewards will be in the form of rKP3R for composability with Curve Gauges, Sushi Onsen, etc.

    Holders of rKP3R can redeem for the KP3R CALL by selecting “claim” on fixedforex.fi/options. It will then display under “strike” the USDC amount you would have to pay for the amount of KP3R should you choose to exercise the option and the expiry date. If you wish to exercise this option, simply click “redeem”. The amount of USDC would be transferred to the treasury address which then distributes all fees to vKP3R holders.

    Keep3r tapped into Chainlink’s highly secure and fault-tolerant oracles to advance its services. Although the two have similar functionalities, they serve different target markets.

    For example, Chainlink serves companies that require loads of always-online, secure, and fault-tolerant data i.e. the Fortune 500 companies.On the other hand, Keep3r is developed for apps yet to become a Fortune 500. That is, companies still in the research and development stage. Therefore, the coming together of the two protocols smoothens the process of switching to Chainlink when an application’s off-chain data needs to increase.

    Most importantly, the cooperation allows Keepers who have already done a substantial number of jobs to become eligible to be part of Chainlink’s node operators running critical jobs. When Keepers upgrade to become Chainlink node operators, they will transition from using K3PR to using LINK for payment and staking.

    $KP3R prices

    $KP3R launched at around USD$1 per token. However, due to speculators rushing in after hearing of a new Andre Cronje project, prices for the token shot up by 27x within 40 minutes- at around the rate of USD$1 per minute. As word quickly spread about KP3R, more people bought in for fear of missing out, resulting in prices skyrocketing even higher.

    Prices reached an all-time high of USD$1,385.62 on 11th November 2021.

    Keep3r how-to guide and tutorial

    For more details, please check out the Keep3r Network documentation.

    How to register as a Keep3r

    On Keep3r Network, connect your Metamask wallet. If you don’t have one yet, check out our Metamask guide.

    Create a bond by clicking “add”, input your amount of KP3R (you can even join without any tokens by inputting “0”) and confirm by clicking “add” again. After 3 days you will be able to activate your Keeper.

    Create a bond
    Create a bond

    How to perform jobs

    Currently available jobs are listed on the main page. You can click on them to find out more details about the job such as the relevant documentation and the credits (in the form of KP3R) you can receive for the job.

    Job details
    Job detail

    With the newest update, you can also use OpenZeppelin Defender with Keep3r Network. OpenZeppelin Defender is a wrapper for smart contract developers to automate maintenance tasks such as calling specific functions to manage the protocols on these contracts. This is helpful to developers as traditionally they would have to periodically do these tasks manually. Furthermore, the underline layer is written by the OpenZeppelin team (a security audit firm) which would bring stability to the DeFi ecosystem.

    How to register a Job

    Jobs can be any system or task that requires external execution. Jobs can be registered in 1 of 2 ways, either through governance or the contract interface.

    Registering a job through governance is probably the easiest method as it only requires you to submit a Governance proposal which includes the relevant contract as a job. No further action is required if your governance proposal passes. Cronje has stated in his interview with Synthetix that currently, it is relatively easy to pass this proposal as the quorum requirements are not high.

    The other method i.e. contract interface is slightly more complex and requires calling the add liquidity to job function on the Keep3r contract. However, you must not have any current active jobs associated with the account to do this and you can only create a Job through this address every 14 days.

    How to collect credits for Jobs?

    As seen in the Job interface, completing Jobs gets you credits in return. To collect these credits you will need to provide KPR-WETH liquidity in Uniswap, and you will be given an equal amount of KPR tokens in return. Note you are not required to purchase KPR tokens.

    By default, this is in the form of bonded KP3R but you can unbond it to become normal KP3R.

    MetaKeep3r: How Keepers can instantly recoup their gas fees

    According to Cronje’s Medium article, MetaKeep3r keeps the “maintenance” of Keepers to a minimum. By using MetaKeep3r with OpenZeppelin defender, Keepers can instantly recoup their spent gas in the form of ETH. This is really important considering there had been previous “gas wars” when DeFi fever was at its highest- basically any benefit that could have been derived from a particular transaction was less than the amount of gas fees which was required to execute the transaction.

    As mentioned previously, Keepers that complete Jobs are rewarded with KP3R. By default, this is in the form of bonded KP3R, and whilst keeping bonded KP3R has its advantages, one issue is that ETH cannot be immediately recouped.

    Now with MetaKeep3r, you can immediately get ETH in return for trading bonded K3PR. How this works is that MetaKeep3r would keep the bonded KP3R and swap it for ETH as compensation for gas spent on Uniswap.

    Note however that a minimum bond of 100 KP3R is required for MetaKeep3r.

    Special thanks goes to Alvin and Crypto Warrior from our Telegram community for their valuable input into this article!

    Further resources

    Videos

    Boxmining explains Keep3r Network and his story with KP3R
    Synthetix discussion about Keepers with Andre Cronje from Keep3r.network

    Articles

    Andre Cronje Medium
    Keep3r Network documentation

    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.

  • 2020 year in review: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and Ethereum recap!

    2020 year in review: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and Ethereum recap!

    2020 has been a crazy year for everyone and just as much so with cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was recently getting all the media attention after reaching a new all time highs for the first time since 2017. So we take a review and recap of the most important cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and Ethereum news in 2020!

    Bitcoin smashes old ATH!

    We have all been longing for it and now, finally, it has happened. After first resistance around previous 2017’s top, Bitcoin has finally found enough strength to establish new all time highs of over USD$26,000!!!

    For the first time in three years all $BTC holders are now in profit, with new millionaires popping up at fast pace. Moreover, if we were to have a look at the best performing assets over the last 10 years, it would immediately be noticed as Bitcoin outperformed any other assets 8 times out of 10, with a stunning cumulative return in the order of magnitude of millions!

    This is not a surprise for all crypto enthusiasts who have been accumulating for several months while prices were below USD$10,000 and are now ready to ride the roller-coaster towards new unexplored territory!

    But with any hype, there are also traps! Here’s ONE THING you should avoid in crypto.

    DO NOT do this in crypto

    Publicly traded companies and institutional investors keep increasing their cryptocurrency exposure

    2020 can be regarded as the year institutional investors came another step forward in publicly confirming their interest in crypto. While their cryptocurrency investments still usually amount to a small percentage of their portfolios, this is a clear signal that investors consider Bitcoin as a reserve currency to hedge against traditional fiat money and as an undeniable opportunity to diversify their overall exposure. These finance giants are smart investors, so they are certainly ones to watch.

    Bitcoin Treasuries, visit https://bitcointreasuries.org/index.html for the full list
    Bitcoin Treasuries, visit https://bitcointreasuries.org/index.html for the full list

    At this very moment, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is setting the pace in the ranking of Bitcoin adoption with a stunning 2.60% of the total existing supply of Bitcoin.

    Nevertheless, the company that has been most public about its crypto accumulation plan in the last months is certainly Microstrategy. Its CEO Michael Saylor has repeatedly tweeted news keeping his investors up to date. With more than USD$400 million worth bought solely during last summer, the company now owns more than 40000 Bitcoins in their portfolio.

    Not only public investors are opening up to crypto. Recently Paypal has introduced crypto payments within their app. Users can now instantly convert their fiat assets to buy and sell items with cryptocurrencies. Although they don’t actually give ownership of the underlying coins (they can only be used inside Paypal) and cannot be transferred to other wallets, we are sure this is still the beginning phase of crypto adoption by traditional finance platforms.

    Check out our full coverage of this in the 17th edition of our newsletter as news of big $BTC buys were announced!

    Ethereum 2.0 ETH2 finally launched

    The long wait has been rewarded and Ethereum 2 (in its Phase 0), is now a reality!

    On 1st December 2020 and as planned, the mainnet was successfully launched on the first attempt. There were initially concerns that the required threshold to automatically trigger the launch could have not been achieved by the deadline. However the amount of Ethereum staked in the deposit contract suddenly surged in the final days leading up to the deadline, confirming that the hype around the launch was real and that there were enough supporters willing to lock their tokens for months (or possibly even years)!

    One of Ethereum 2.0’s key features is known as “Sharding”. It will enable the simultaneous processing of transactions which will significantly improve the current speed of the network, something that has recently created not a few struggles to its users.

    Check out our article on what is Ethereum 2.0 and what we can expect. We also have a video on 5 things you must know about Ethereum 2.0.

    5 things you must know about Ethereum 2.0.

    Everything is Decentralised Finance!

    2020 has no doubt been the year of decentralised finance (DeFi). And while serious cryptocurrency enthusiasts were already quite familiar with it, in 2020 its adoption just went mainstream. It wouldn’t be much wrong saying that this year everything in crypto has revolved around decentralised finance!

    Total Value Locked in Defi 2020 defipulse.com
    Total Value Locked in Defi 2020 (Source: defipulse.com)

    What is DeFi?

    It could substantially be defined as an experimental form of finance with, as pivotal point, the absence of any form of intermediaries. This means banks, brokers and any other middle men are cut off because blockchain doesn’t need them to work. Everything is ruled by smart contracts, hence everything is decentralized. Not all the projects are 100% decentralized yet, but the way to achieve it has been paved.

    DeFi has all kinds of platforms: lending, borrowing, coverages, prediction markets, trading, synthetics and so on.

    Since smart contracts are needed, the blockchain most protocols are built on is Ethereum. Despite its weaknesses (scalability), it continues to be the steady central point of the DeFi “movement”. Other chains are growing fast behind it, in particular Binance Smart Chain (BSC), while other are trying to increase their adoption too, such as Polkadot (with the use of parachains), Ontology and more. Cross-chain platforms like Ramp are also hot: connecting different chains is another step forward in helping decentralized finance’s growth.

    Check out our Decentralised Finance article list and YouTube DeFi playlist.

    (Yield) farming became a totally legit profession

    It ain't much but it is honest work

    Within Defi, certainly Yield Farming was THE thing on everybody’s lips.

    During what can be referred to as the “Defi Season” last summer, the bravest users were getting incredible Annual Percentage Yields (APY).

    It all started in July 2020, with Compound Finance and Yearn Finance (which made Andre Cronje even more known) as main actors when they decided to distribute their governance tokens $COMP and $YFI to their platforms’ users. Governance tokens, supposedly worthless, started to gain more and more value representing the “strength” of the underlying project. The higher their value the bigger the APYs users could get. New strategies arose, where “farmers” would “fold” or leverage their returns by supplying and borrowing multiple times. This is possible using the borrowed assets each time as new collateral for the next loan. At that point, the Yield Farming “mania” was already out of hand and any upcoming project would offer the option to farm their proprietary tokens.

    But as usual, with high rewards come high risks. The main ones farmers have to face are platforms’ exploits and Impermanent Loss, which can very often lead to permanent losses! See our video on what is impermanent loss and how to avoid it.

    Calling someone a crypto “degenerate” is no longer an insult

    With the rise of yield farming and DeFi, a new specialty has also arisen. People manage to find projects just before or very soon after they are listed on Uniswap, and throw everything they have into it. Short for “degenerate gamblers”, these people that “ape” into projects (without much thought into exactly what it is or what it does) try to catch the initial wave and accumulate as much of these tokens as possible before others do, and then sell when the project becomes more widely known and demand increases. 

    Whilst this is highly risky not just in terms of return on investment, there is also a risk of being “rug pulled”. So as with all gambling, some win big, but some also lose.

    “Rug pulls” hurt our wallets and our appetite for DeFi

    As much as 2020 has been about Defi, it has also been the year of “Rug Pulls”.

    We have witnessed countless episodes of stolen funds in the last months, and the trend doesn’t seem to be going to stop anytime soon. Hackers are evolving with smart contracts and are getting more sophisticated each time.

    Flash Loans have been the favorite way to deliver an exploit till now. Basically a flash loan is something “non malicious” per se. What it implies is that any user could theoretically take out a loan (without providing any collateral). The only condition is to pay it back within the same transaction. But before this last step, the user can do whatever he prefers with the borrowed funds. For example, try to make money out of it! In this case, he would end up profiting off this flashloan! Magic? No, just Ethereum (and Smart Contracts!).

    This mechanism is possible because the blockchain itself doesn’t even have “time” to realize what is going on. As a matter of fact, if the loan is not paid back in time, the transaction is simply rejected.

    All of this is of course easier said than done, and it is not something within just anyone’s reach: this is the way the most sophisticated arbitrages are done. Unfortunately, this is also the way sophisticated hackers profited off some Defi platforms’ vulnerabilities.

    Examples of flashloan attacks have been the ones at the expenses of bZx (three times for a total of around $9M), Value Defi ($7.4M), Harvest Finance ($24M), Akro ($2M) and Origin Protocol ($7M), plus many other less known projects.

    DEX- the new challenger in town

    This year has seen lots of drama among centralised exchanges (CEX) but they also were met with a serious challenger, the decentralised exchange (DEX). Decentralised exchanges promised self-custody of funds (i.e. less risk of hacks) and opened up a whole new world of “crypto dumpster diving”.

    Monthly Dex Volumes by project duneanalytics.com
    Monthly Dex Volumes by project (Source: duneanalytics.com)

    As Defi was exponentially growing in 2020, so was the use of DEXs. Decentralized Exchanges like Uniswap and Sushiswap mainly rely on the AMM (Automatic Market Making) system to provide traders with the necessary liquidity to operate. Funds are pooled together and an algorithm is in charge of controlling the price curve.

    Unfortunately this system is not flawless, and problems such as high slippage are still real in most cases. A key difference with centralized exchanges is the non-existence of order books. This is mainly because Ethereum doesn’t really have the necessary capacity to handle it. There are platforms that allow limit orders (1Inch Exchange for example) but there still is work to do. This is the reason why we also see exchanges being built on other chains such as Project Serum. This DEX offers a CEX-simil experience on the Solana blockchain (able to handle far more transactions per second than Ethereum).

    NFTs: bringing art collecting into the digital age 

    Boxmining NFTs
    Boxmining NFTs

    Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are another crypto segment that has seen increasing adoption throughout 2020, and many believe 2021 will mark its explosion. They became first popular in 2017 with CryptoKitties but now the market seems to be more mature to just not consider them as a “meme”.

    Non Fungible Tokens are unique non-interchangeable tokens (usually compliant with the ECR-721 standard) and can have many different uses other than just collectible items. They can be used in games (think of the Enjin multiverse); players can build or just enhance their NFTs to make them more valuable and exchange them with other gamers. They can and are introducing Art into the crypto ecosystem. Artists can create their digital pieces of Art and sell them on the blockchain on the available markets. The most known are Rarible and Opensea, where users swap NFTs in a similar way to exchanging standard ERC-20 tokens. Some of the most expensive NFTs have been auctioned for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    They are also strictly related to the “tokenization” concept. Everything in the real world can theoretically be tokenized into a NFT and transferred on the blockchain. Think about real-estate. You could digitize your house and use it to ask for a loan against its value, or you could sell/lend your piece of land and manage it with the security granted by the blockchain!

    Are Regulators coming after crypto?

    While crypto adoption keeps increasing worldwide, Regulators from any country are slowly but steadily turning their interest to crypto. They want to keep track of how things are evolving and decide how to approach the matter. It’s no surprise that Institutions have been struggling just to decide whether it was the case to tax crypto earnings and how to do it. Most countries still don’t have a clear legislation about it and crypto adopters are often left wondering what they should do to avoid future problems.

    In 2020 we have seen many legislation proposals with the purpose of filling up gaps in regulations that would otherwise leave Institutions too far behind on the subject. Something they can’t afford to do.

    Only considering the first half of December, we saw the Stablecoin Tethering and Bank Licensing Enforcement (Stable) Act and read of rumors about FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) proposed requirements regarding the use of self-hosted wallets (like Metamask). While it is certainly true that a tiny minority of crypto users take advantage of the (partial) anonymity granted by the blockchain, the vast majority doesn’t have anything to hide and is worried about their privacy being exposed if all the regulations should find final approval. In November, Hong Kong has proposed strict regulations against cryptocurrency exchanges and even who can trade with them as well.

    Meanwhile, we have witnessed examples of crypto companies seeking regulation and compliance with the law. In September, Kraken was granted approval to become “the first regulated, U.S. bank to provide comprehensive deposit-taking, custody and fiduciary services for digital assets”. A few days ago Coinbase officially confirmed that they have finalized their Initial Public Offering (IPO) request, now under the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) review process.

    Digital currency race heats up

    Digital currencies continue to be on top of many countries’ “To-Do list” when talking crypto and new payments technologies.

    A digital currency directly issued by a State is something different from the current electronic versions of fiat money and would have the advantage of connecting Central Banks with final users in a more streamline way than now. Operations would be faster and cheaper. In Europe, for example, everything would be governed by the Central Bank itself. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is actively campaigning for the digital Euro, as shown in multiple occasions, and the work is proceeding.

    While it is still not clear how the blockchain and the ledger will be structured, it is important that privacy remains at the center of the dispute, many believe.

    In China, the DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment, DC/EP) issued its state bank the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is already in its testing phase, and ordinary citizens chosen for the testing were already people able to use it at designated shops and online retailers. We explain everything you need to know on DCEP.

    Institutions are not the only entities working on digital currencies. $DIEM, the recently repackaged decentralized stablecoin powered by the Libra blockchain, should launch in January after years of tormented life!

    Conclusion

    2020 has been an eventful year for cryptocurrencies. However the technology itself is taking huge strides and challenging the way we see traditional finance (e.g. DeFi) and how we even view the currency we use on a daily basis.

    Certainly what is most exciting of all is Bitcoin and Ethereum prices reaching all time highs. It is definitely making people confirmed in their beliefs that the winter is finally over, and the bulls are ready to come out.

    With all these developments and positive price action, we think things can only get better. We are definitely excited to see what 2021 will bring!

    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.

  • Vortex DeFi ($VTX): One-stop Gateway to DeFi

    Vortex DeFi ($VTX): One-stop Gateway to DeFi

    Vortex DeFi ($VTX) aims to provide users a one-stop access to all leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and protocols from a single web-based user interface.

    Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has evolved from a niche subcategory to the biggest catalyst driving the cryptocurrency and blockchain field today. It’s primarily focused on the Ethereum network, which has the majority of the DeFi share. There are, however, a large number of core DeFi protocols, combinators, and countless forks. All of this can become confusing fast.

    Fortunately, users don’t have to delve into the complex workings and nuances of these protocols, which can be overwhelming even for long-term users. Vortex DeFi is introduced to simplify the access and exposure to the sector. It has integrations with different protocols, which abstracts away the complexity in a simple and yet intuitive interface, to level the playing field and ensure greater participation.

    Background

    Vortex DeFi launched in Aug 2020 through a private investment round. It accrued interest and funding from X21 Digital, DuckDao, Moonrock Capital, Magnus Capital, Pluto Digital Assets PLC, Faculty Capital, A195 Capital, etc. A public sale will be held soon.

    It has a multicultural team, led by CEO Rahul Singh and strategic advisor Lester Lim. The other prominent team members are technical lead Arun Sunil and product lead Shaz. All team members have previous experiences in market-leading companies and blockchain projects.

    What is Vortex DeFi?

    Vortex DeFi is a web-based DeFi management system or a comprehensive DeFi aggregative solution platform, serving as a bridge between Ethereum and Polkadot. It combines the functionality and power of core protocols in a sleek dashboard to allow users of all categories to engage in yield farming. The core services provided are NFT asset management, lending and borrowing, insurance, and exchange.

    Vortex DeFi will also utilize the yEarn finance protocol to access and extract value from various lending protocols to enable automated profitable yield farming. The added advantage of cross-chain compatibility ensures that users don’t have to choose between two promising blockchains. Vortex DEFI also has several components, taking the guesswork and experimentation out of the process.

    Vortex DEFI – Components

    Vortex Ecosystem (Source: Vortex DeFi wesbite)

    V-Swap

    Being the Uniswap or Bancor equivalent of Vortex, V-Swap will offer an automated digital assets exchange on the Ethereum and Polkadot blockchain. It’s likely to offer liquidity aggregation from multiple sources, so a peer to peer exchange of tokens can be performed without a direct counterparty or orderbook.

    V-Pay

    It will offer a fiat gateway for users, so they can acquire and sell crypto assets from FIAT, in their cards or bank accounts. This is required for onboarding new users, as well as ensuring that they have a way for realizing their returns.

    V-Yield

    A yield aggregator as the name goes, V-Yield will combine yield from different sources and optimize them according to the best return rate. It will spare users from the trouble of manually finding sources and having the need to rotate them.

    V-NFTs

    An asset management, V-NFTs will allow users to manage their asset collection and swap them for each other. Given that NFTs are an illiquid asset class and their infrastructure is scattered, it’s hugely important to develop a unified interface.

    V-Insure

    DeFi protocols are rife with exploits and smart contract risks. Therefore, to onboard new users and even to retain existing ones, it’s necessary to grant them peace of mind by ensuring the protection of their funds. V-Insure will seek to insure user funds by seeking out integrations with multiple DeFi insurance protocols.

    Vortex DEFI Native Token ($VTX)

    The native token of the platform is Vortex DeFi Token ($VTX), ERC-20 token, which will be used to incentivize users. It has four purposes:

    1. Liquidity pools (LP) rewards are distributed in VTX
    2. Usage for staking on the platform.
    3. Holding VTX tokens allows users to save on the platform fees
    4. The team has announced plans to regularly buy tokens and burn them every quarter to reduce supply and increase the value of existing tokens.

    All of these benefits and value accrual mechanisms will motivate users to hold tokens, in anticipation of rising demand and prices.

    $VTX Token Metrics

    The VTX token has a total supply of 100M $VTX and an initial circulating supply of $0.4M $VTX.

    $VTX Tokenomics (Source: Vortex DeFi Litepaper)

    Funding Rounds

    Private Sale (concluded): 32,500,000 VTX sold at 0.0276 USD per token.(25% TGE, 75% vesting over 120 days)

    Public Sale (on 28 February 2021): 2,500,000 VTX to be sold at 0.04 USD per token. No vesting period.*

    Advantages of Vortex DeFi

    The platform offers users the advantages of a unified DeFi management dashboard, the ability to fuse several protocols together offering a seamless experience with abstracted complexity, powerful lend and earn functionality, automated rotation of funds for optimized returns, non-custodial function, and insurance against loss of funds.

    Vortex DEFI Connected Protocols

    Vortex DeFi connected protocols (source: ‘Introducing Vortex DeFi Beta & Access to the Vortex of DeFi‘ medium article)

    Vortex DEFI will have integrations with several key DEFI protocols, including but not limited to Maker DAO, Compound, Kava, Idle, Aave, Yearn, Uniswap, Nexus Mutual, Curve. This will allow for a powerful user experience, which is likely to improve penetration of decentralized finance.

    Vortex Vision

    The team hopes that Vortex will become the top one-stop solution for a user’s DeFi needs and allow them to simplify their experience. Vortex hopes to make financial applications accessible and simple for all users, regardless of their technical expertise. It will also allow saving on transaction fees (gas) by batching and combining transactions.

    Vortex can also enhance the decentralization level of DeFi protocols by ensuring broad participation and an increase in user activity. Furthermore, it will feature the DAAS (DeFi-As-A-Service) business model. Currently, the product is in development and more changes are expected as the platform launch draws near.

    Conclusion

    DEFI was founded on the principle of openness, equal opportunity, transparency, trustlessness, lack of centralized control, fast processing, and lego-like composability. It is generally presented as a superior alternative to the traditional financial system, which differs heavily from the principles of the crypto community and disallows these services to a large number of people.

    On the other hand, DeFi is accessible to almost everyone with an internet connection and a personal computing device or smartphone. However, primitive user interfaces and experiences of the existing DeFi protocols were a problem. Thankfully, Vortex will overlap the strong functionality of these protocols with an amazing and simple interface.

    Currently, there is a lack of dashboard-style platforms connected to multiple DEFI protocols, aggregating their services and offering a one-stop solution. All of this is about to change with the Vortex launch, which is likely to onboard a large number of new users as well as provide a novel interesting solution to the existing ones.

    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 to save money on crypto exchange fees

    How to save money on crypto exchange fees

    Fees are an unavoidable part of cryptocurrency trading- or are they? Charged by cryptocurrency exchanges on each trade or transaction on their platform, these fees can add up to quite a substantial amount, especially during the bull market when people are actively trading. Therefore, people are eager to find any way to save money on cryptocurrency trading fees, and to maintain competitiveness, many exchanges do offer discounts or perks for their loyal customers. In this article, we take a look at some of the ways in which you can lower or even have no trading fees, and the discounts offered by some cryptocurrency exchanges.

    What are crypto exchange fees?

    Cryptocurrency exchanges charge customers fees for transactions or trades done on their exchange. Some types of crypto exchange fees include:

    Deposit/withdrawal fees

    Exchanges are basically a platform for customers to trade cryptocurrencies, so they would need to deposit or withdraw cryptocurrency to the exchange platform in order to use it. Exchanges charge a fee when customers deposit or withdraw cryptocurrencies onto or from their platform.

    Trading fees

    This is charged by exchanges whenever cryptocurrencies are converted to other cryptocurrencies or fiat, and vice versa.

    Most popular exchanges such as Binance charge trading fees based on a maker/taker structure with taker fees being higher than maker fees. Takers are when the user places an order that is able to trade immediately (whether partially or fully) before it enters the order books. They are known as “takers” because they “take” volume from the order books. On the other hand, maker fees are charged when the user places an order that goes onto the order book (whether fully or partially) i.e. “making” the market.

    Interest/Borrowing/Liquidation Fees 

    These fees are charged when users are involved in margin trading i.e. borrowing funds to increase your position. The amount of these fees usually depends on the amount borrowed on margin together with an interest rate. Margin trading however is very risky, and one of the reasons for this is because if the trade does not go your way you would become liquidated. When this happens exchanges also charge a liquidation fee.

    VIP programs

    Exchanges usually offer exchange fee discounts for their frequent users. This is usually based on a VIP tier structure where frequent users (based on their trading volume over 30 days) can qualify for higher VIP tiers which entitle them to cheaper fees. The requirements for the VIP tiers and discounts offered differ between exchanges.

    Binance’s VIP program requires users to have a certain trade volume over 30 days and have a specified balance of their native token known as Binance Coin (BNB). For the first VIP tier, users must have a trading volume of 50 BTC or more and hold 50 BNB or more. Check here for more details.

    Binance VIP tiers
    Binance VIP tiers (Image credit: Binance)

    Coinbase does not have a VIP program. However, Coinbase charges a fee for withdrawing from their platform and for transactions. The fees are calculated based on several factors such as the payment method, size of order and market conditions etc. The amount of such fees will be disclosed at the time of the transaction. Learn more about Coinbase fees and how you can avoid them.

    Kraken does not publicise their VIP program but users can email them to enquire about their Account Management services.

    Exchange token discounts

    Many exchanges have their own native token, and holding their token entitles users to discounts.

    Binance Token (BNB) is Binance’s native token. Binance allows users to pay for trading fees using BNB, and by doing so users can get 25% off both trading and margin trading fees, and 10% off futures trading fees.

    Woo X for instance also has their native WOO token. Users can enjoy discounts on maker/taker fees by holding as little as 300 WOO tokens, and only 1,800 WOO tokens are required to reach 0% maker and taker fees. The WOO token can also be used for yield farming and as collateral for borrowing and lending on various DeFi platforms. Click here for more details.

    Both Coinbase and Kraken do not have their own native token.

    Discounts for staking exchange tokens

    Some exchanges allow users to stake the native token i.e. to lock the token up for a specified period in return for additional rewards. Some rewards include fee discounts, additional tokens (i.e. yields), increased airdrop rewards and the ability to participate in the exchange’s initial exchange offerings (IEOs).

    Binance also allows users to stake their BNB in their Vault in return for BNB yields. Whilst there are no direct perks for staking BNB, as mentioned previously Binance users get 25% off trading fees when they pay with BNB.

    WOO X users are required to stake their WOO tokens in order to enjoy the trading fee discounts mentioned in the previous section. Other rewards for staking include eligibility for airdrops.

    Neither Coinbase or Kraken offers staking in their exchange token.

    Conclusion

    Cryptocurrency exchange fees can add up especially when you are a heavy user. With the many exchanges out there, competition is fierce to attract users since they make money on each transaction you do. One of the major ways to do this is to offer discounts on fees for using the exchange. Most, if not all cryptocurrency exchanges offer discounts simply for frequent or high volume users with tiered VIP programs. Exchanges such as Binance are more creative, utilising their native token or having staking programs which boost users’ rewards. At the end of the day, the rewards offered are only one aspect to consider when deciding which exchange to choose, other factors include the number of cryptocurrencies supported and security etc. Intended users, especially those from the US, should also check carefully as some exchanges may have features that are not available to US citizens.

    Further reading

    Coinbase Fees-How to avoid them

    Coinbase Review

    Binance Exchange Review

    Tips and tricks to save on your Ethereum gas fees

    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.

  • Kriptomat Exchange Review (2023): Buy, Trade, and Store Gets a Lot Easier

    Kriptomat Exchange Review (2023): Buy, Trade, and Store Gets a Lot Easier

    Kriptomat is a secure and user-friendly platform that makes it easy to buy, trade and store cryptocurrencies, making it an ideal choice for those looking to get started in the crypto world. The exchange, its features, security measurement, supported cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, trading and withdrawal fees, and the Kriptomat digital wallet will be the primary focus of this Kriptomat review.

    Sign up here to get started

    What is Kriptomat?

    Kriptomat is a government-regulated European cryptocurrency exchange platform founded on February 7, 2018. The company is based in Estonia and its main goal is to create an easy-to-use platform that non-technical people can navigate without much trouble. Kriptomat offers everyday rewards for everyday people, so it doesn’t provide features such as leverage and margin trading, or trading futures. Kriptomat is the most user-friendly government-regulated European cryptocurrency exchange, allowing users to buy, trade and store cryptocurrencies with ease.

    Kriptomat is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that puts trust, security, and transparency at the forefront of its values. It was founded by a team of legal, financial, and tech experts who have also launched successful tech companies such as Spletnik (digital marketing agency) and Platformax (sales management and prospecting platform). Kriptomat offers a secure and user-friendly platform for buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrencies. It is also compliant with the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) and is registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in Estonia. Kriptomat also offers 24/7 customer support and a wide range of payment options, making it an ideal choice for those looking for a reliable and secure cryptocurrency exchange.

    Key Features of Kriptomat

    Users who have registered can use the Kriptomat platform to:

    Buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, and exchange 30 popular digital currencies via bank transfers, SEPA, Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, Zimpler, Sofort, and others.

    Low fees. Kriptomat has surprisingly low buying, selling, and trading fees, making it one of the most popular fiat-to-crypto gateways in Europe and elsewhere.

    To store, secure, and transfer digital currencies, use a secure and regulated multi-currency digital wallet service. Kriptomat Exchange adheres to the highest international security standards, has multiple licenses, and abides by the most stringent data protection laws, such as GDPR.

    An exchange that is suitable for beginners. Kriptomat was created with the user in mind. It makes it extremely simple to securely transfer, trade, buy, sell, deposit, and withdraw fiat and crypto funds to your linked bank account or private crypto wallet.

    Using the Kriptomat mobile app, you can trade on the go. The exchange allows you to trade on iOS and Android devices and set up price alerts to stay up to date on market developments.

    The platform is available in over 80 countries and has been translated into 23 languages, indicating that Kriptomat provides a truly global service.

    Earn money and rewards by using the Kriptomat Rewards section or the generous referral and affiliate programs.

    Know your customer (KYC) process accelerated. Even though it is heavily regulated, Kriptomat verification only takes a few minutes.

    Key Advantages of Kriptomat

    I’ll start this Kriptomat review by focusing on the positives.

    Powerful Security

    Kriptomat is a secure and reliable platform for buying, selling, and storing digital currencies. It is licensed by the Financial Intelligence Unit and has received an international information security certificate ISO 27001:2013. The platform is built based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, ensuring a high level of protection for users’ personal information. Kriptomat also implements various technical measures to ensure the safety of its users. With Kriptomat, users can buy, sell, and store digital currencies with confidence.

    It offers a range of organizational and technical measures to ensure the safety of your assets. 98% of assets are held in secure cold wallets, and a dedicated team monitors all activities on the platform. Strict operational procedures and security tests are in place to identify and solve any vulnerabilities. Encryption mechanisms, network security, physical security measures, and a DDoS protection system are all implemented to protect personal data. Kriptomat is monitored 24/7 to respond to any technical failures, and it is recommended to get a reliable cryptocurrency wallet for extra security.

    Almost 100 Available Crypto Pairs

    Kriptomat is a cryptocurrency trading platform that offers users a wide variety of options when it comes to buying, selling, and storing digital assets. Currently, the platform supports 31 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and more. Kriptomat also provides users with access to over 100 trading pairs, allowing them to diversify their portfolios and take advantage of market opportunities. The platform is also secure and user-friendly, making it a great choice for both experienced and novice traders.

    Purchase Crypto with EUR

    Kriptomat is a great platform for those who want to invest in cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin. It supports fiat currencies, with EUR being the only one available at the moment. When buying cryptocurrencies with fiat money on Kriptomat, users can choose from a variety of payment methods, such as Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, Skrill, Sofort, and Neteller. Kriptomat is a secure and reliable platform, and it might be adding new payment options soon.

    Digital Wallet Available

    Kriptomat is a digital wallet that allows users to store, send and receive cryptocurrencies. It is free to use and easy to set up, making it a great choice for those looking to get into the crypto world. Kriptomat reviews show that the wallet is secure and user-friendly, and even those who already have a crypto wallet can use Kriptomat. With its simple interface and secure storage, Kriptomat is a great choice for those looking to get into the world of cryptocurrencies.

    When it comes to protecting your cryptocurrency assets, getting a secure wallet is one of the best ways to do it. There are four different types of wallets to choose from: online, software, hardware, and paper. Online and software wallets are considered “hot” wallets, as your private keys are stored online, making them the least secure option. Hardware and paper wallets, on the other hand, are “cold” storage wallets, as your private keys are kept offline, making them much more secure. Of the two, hardware wallets are the most popular, as paper wallets can easily get wet or lost. Whichever type of wallet you choose, make sure to do your research and pick the one that best suits your needs.

    Low Fees

    According to a Kriptomat review, the platform charges a 1.45% fee for buying and selling crypto using fiat money. However, if you choose to pay with your credit card, the fees will go up to 3.7% for purchases over 100EUR. Kriptomat is a great choice for those looking to maximize their savings when trading cryptocurrencies. The platform offers low fees and a secure environment for users to buy, sell, and withdraw digital assets.

    Withdrawal fees vary depending on the cryptocurrency, with examples such as 0.0006000 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.0240000 XRP for Ripple, and 0.0060000 ETH for Ethereum. Some cryptocurrencies are not available for withdrawal, so users must exchange them for other coins before making a withdrawal. Kriptomat also has various trade limits, such as daily/monthly SEPA deposit and withdrawal, crypto deposit and withdrawal, and more. All of these features make Kriptomat a great choice for those looking to buy, sell, and exchange cryptocurrencies.

    Accessible in 80 countries

    Kriptomat is a cryptocurrency exchange platform available in 80 countries globally, including Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Oceania, and Africa. However, it is not available in Afghanistan, Algeria, American Samoa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, FYR Macedonia, India, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco, Nepal, United States of America, Vanuatu, Vietnam, and Zambia. Kriptomat supports 22 languages, including English, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Spanish, and Turkish. Therefore, it is likely that you’ll be able to use Kriptomat in your native language. Before choosing a cryptocurrency exchange platform, make sure that there are no laws against such services in your country.

    Key Disadvantages of Kriptomat

    However, it is time to move on to the less pleasant part of the review and concentrate on Kriptomat complaints.

    Centralized

    Kriptomat is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform, meaning that it includes a third party as a middleman to conduct transactions. This type of exchange is usually easier to use and follows licenses and regulations, but users don’t have autonomy over their wallets. Decentralized exchanges, on the other hand, have no third-party involvement in transactions, but can be more difficult to use. It all depends on what it is that you’re looking for, as both centralized and decentralized exchanges have their own pros and cons.

    Lacks Advanced Features

    Kriptomat is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers a simple and easy-to-navigate interface. It is suitable for beginners and those who are just starting out in the world of cryptocurrency trading. However, it lacks more advanced features such as margin trading, trading futures, and leveraged trading. Despite this, Kriptomat is a great choice for those who are looking for a straightforward and secure platform to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies. It is also backed by a team of experienced professionals who are always available to help and answer any questions.

    How to Use Kriptomat? 

    Learn how to easily create an account and make a deposit on Kriptomat with this step-by-step guide.

    How to Create an Account on Kriptomat? 

    • Step 1. Press “Get started” at the top right corner of the website.
    • Step 2. Fill in the required information: first and last name, email address, password, and confirmation that you are over the age of 18. Then click “Create an account.”
    • Step 3. Go to your email, you should have received a verification letter.
    • Step 4. Press on “Verify email address”. 
    • Step 5. Provide your number and paste it in 6 digits to confirm that it’s you. 
    • Step 6. Verify your identity and start using Kriptomat! 

    How to Make a Deposit on Kriptomat? 

    • Step 1. Fill out the applicant data, provide an identity document, and a selfie (to prove it’s you) to verify your identity.
    • Step 2. In the top right corner of the screen, click “Deposit.”
    • Step 3. Choose Bank transfer/SEPA.
    • Step 4. Make a deposit using the SEPA payment details (recipient, data transfer) provided.
    • Step 5. Press “I made the deposit”.

    That’s it, you can now buy cryptocurrencies and start trading! 

    Conclusion

    Kriptomat is a secure and legit centralized cryptocurrency exchange that puts in a lot of effort to protect its users. It is available in 80 countries and supports 22 languages, making it accessible to a wide range of users. The platform is easy to navigate, offers low fees, more than 100 available pairs, and a digital wallet. It is a great choice for newbies in the crypto world, as it provides a safe and secure environment for trading. Kriptomat is a reliable platform that is worth considering for anyone looking to get into the crypto market.

    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.

  • Plus Token (PLUS) Scam – Anatomy of a Ponzi

    Plus Token (PLUS) Scam – Anatomy of a Ponzi

    What is Plus Token?

    “Plus Token” was a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme disguised as a high-yield investment program. Platform administrators closed down the operation in June of 2019. Fraudsters abandoned the scheme by withdrawing over $3 Billion dollars in Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and EOS) and leaving the message “sorry we have run“. This has led to an international manhunt for the platform administrators and creators of Plus Token. Plus token has been blamed for causing Bitcoin prices to fall in 2019 as stolen funds were sold via Bitcoin OTCs.

    PlusToken had a major following in Korea and China – especially among investors not familiar with cryptocurrencies. Plus token was a High Yield investment program that offered massive rewards on “investment” to unsuspecting victims in China and Korea. The scheme offered 9% to 18% monthly returns on investment – with larger investments getting more rewards. This type is similar to other High Yield investment programs like “Bitconnect” which collapsed in January of 2018.

    [wp-compear id=”5217″]

    How did the Plus Token Ponzi Scheme Work?

    Plus Token is a classic Ponzi scheme it lures unsuspecting victims to invest with promises of high returns and low investments. Plus Token maintained an illusion of sustainable business by pretending the funds are used to develop cryptocurrency-related products such as the Plus Token Wallet and Exchange. However, returns are generated by dividing more recent investments to pay off older members. The illusion of a sustainable business is what classifies this as a Ponzi Scheme, as victims actually believe that they are investing in a business that generates high returns.

    Plus Token also had a strong referral element, which gave huge bonuses to any member who referred friends and family into the scheme. Investors were divided into 4 “tiers”, according to how much they invested and how many other referrals they can make. This meant the more a member referred, the exponentially higher the return. Members started to refer their friends and family to invest in large sums of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, and Litecoin.

    Plus Token relied heavily in conferences and meetups to promote the token. The following video is taken at a Plus token gathering.

    Payments stopped 30th June 2019

    Early signs of trouble started surfacing in June of 2019 as users started reporting delays in fund withdraws. Some took to complain on the Chinese social media site “Weibo” citing that they were unable to receive funds despite writing for 35 hours after submitting withdrawal requests (Source Blocktempo).

    Initially, Plus token blamed on “higher miner fees” for the withdrawal delays. They claimed the sent transactions with 1 sat /byte, leading to long delays on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Plus token supporters avidly as their followers to “believe” in the system and disregard the “false information”.

    Ring Leaders tried to convince the community that Plus Token will come back.

    Scammers: “Sorry We have run”

    As funds began moving, one of the transactions carried the note “Sorry, we have run” as a comment to the transaction. This really needs no explanation – organisers of the scam have initiated their exit strategy and fled the country.

    109 members of Plus Token scam have been arrested

    Reports from Chinese news outlet CLS on 30th July 2020 reported that 109 individuals have been arrested in connection with the PlusToken scheme by the Ministry of Public Security. These include all 27 primary suspects thought to be responsible for the scam and another 82 core members.

    Is Plus Token still scamming users?

    On 29th April 2020, there were screenshots of the PlusToken app circulating on Chinese social media of a supposed notice announcing that version 3.0 beta of the app is now online. Subsequently, on 4th May 2020, a further notice was issued by the PlusToken team saying that version 3.0 beta will undergo compatibility synchronization and will stop all transaction functions. The notice further added that once this version is live, some eligible users will receive a reward. However, it seems more like an effort by PlusToken’s ringleaders to placate those who have invested by giving them hope that the project may return.

    Screenshots of the PlusToken app
    Screenshots of the PlusToken app

    Tip of the Iceberg

    PlusToken can be seen as the tip of the Iceberg as there are many other very similar crypto Ponzi schemes and scams. These include Cloud Token, S Block, and other cloud “mining” tokens. At the end of the day, tokens that ‘guarantee’ high returns without a clear and audit-able business plan should generate red flags.

    Laundering stolen funds into exchanges

    Luckily research is being down to track wallets known to be associated with Plus Token (8btc.com, @doveywan, @PeckShield). Work done by @PeckShield has shown funds moving from large wallets (~5000+ Bitcoin) to smaller wallets, and eventually into cryptocurrency exchanges. Due to the large sums of cryptocurrencies moved and actively being sold off – Plus Token played a role in dropping the price of Bitcoin.

    Map showing how Plus token funds are being laundered into Exchanges
    Map showing how Plus token funds are being laundered onto Exchanges (Image credit: @Silkjaer)

    Known amounts scammed – List sum of BTC from identified and tracked addresses. Reports have been circulating that up to ~1% of the entire Bitcoin supply is involved in the scam. Currently more wallets are being added to this list.

    • 70000 BTC ($700,840,000 USD)
    • 789511 ETH ($142,111,980 USD)
    • 26299109 EOS ($92,046,881 USD)

    Known Bitcoin Wallet addresses (Source 1):

    • 1MFgcyJ7ZNSknbTBRaih6zWDE6V1A64tRY (1865 BTC)
    • 3ETAVt2scYBFkBFksuNDk1i5tDLQ2c4zWR (4922 BTC)
    • 3EYsru4LUcN258sENYPu5Py3S5WnqxEcnE (3657 BTC)
    • 3HKs1g7u5a1uU4pC5HaNooYMbL1Lao4mv4 (3928 BTC)
    • 3ESakThMrdVVrbhhcpf9spicyjCg1Uk8Jm (3289 BTC)
    • 33LNws16Wfs12usWBNfa1MSX3YKY6Hdayf (3270 BTC)
    • 3HwY536CxznDxMjiRCFkpx5ykwJbJMZY4w (1725 BTC)
    • 35bCzX3RQEWdquqCPQkmdJdu2K4ut1roUZ (3676.86 BTC)
    • 31owhyALzzPEqUFwRbU5yQR4wNhYEjCiE5 (749.66 BTC)
    • 3PBN3MCpDcZKr7WdyY1ULq1NeGwLNjpkj7 (12000 BTC)
    • 14bwh6gmvol5ntwbvxqjkjdtzv4y5ebtvm (95228 BTC)
    • 33FKcwFhFBKWHh46Ksmxs3QBu8HV7h8QdF (37922 BTC)

    Known EOS Addresses of Plus Token

    • eospstotoken
    • jnhgvbkkfdjf

    Known Ethereum Addresses of Plus Token

    • 0xF4a2eFf88a408ff4c4550148151c33c93442619e
    • 0x997114ca0830e9bee7443368fa27f4af2d4e55a6
    • 0x0f953ef137ee0894cc06383ccb1ef77e76660b5a

    Plus Token Sell-offs Responsible for Bitcoin Price Drop?

    Since as early as August 2019, Chinese cryptocurrency trading groups have already been circulating that due to the sheer amount involved, the scammers trying to dispose of the ill-gotten Bitcoin are pushing prices downward. And this price dump halted on 15th August 2019, coincidentally when Binance was suspended for trading because of a system upgrade.

    Discussion on PlusToken sell-offs
    Discussion on PlusToken sell-offs (Credit: 8BTC)

    In late November 2019, this issue was again brought to the forefront when Twitter user Ergo reported having traced 187,000 BTC of the approximately 200,000 BTC attributed to PlusToken’s investors. As to these funds, Ergo found they were “shuffled” (albeit badly, if at all) and gradually sent to various cryptocurrency exchanges and OTC brokers, primarily Huobi, for sale on the market.

    Ergo’s findings on the PlusToken funds

    Ergo predicts that if all the “mixed” funds were sold from August to November 2019, it would average out to be around 1,300 BTC sold per day. This could lead people to think it would have an effect on Bitcoin prices, which has fallen from USD $9,981.41 on 1st August 2019 to USD $7,182.89 on 4th December 2019.

    Based on Ergo’s estimates of the amounts sold daily, the sell-off of the remaining 58,000 BTC or so Plus Token funds would continue for another 1.5 to 2 months.

    In an apparent pattern, PlusToken scammers move their funds when BTC prices experience volatility. Such was the case on 11th February 2020, when Bitcoin trading at around USD $9,800, almost 12,000 BTC (worth around USD $118 million) from one of the addresses associated with the Plus Token funds were moved and split amongst various other wallets.

    On 7th March 2020, Bitcoin was again trading at over USD $9,000. Again, Plus Token funds were being funneled through mixing services. This time, Twitter user ErgoBTC noticed that a total of 13,000 BTC (worth around USD $210 million) was involved. Analysts such as Kevin Svenson believe the scammers were “slamming the market with sell orders” every time Bitcoin prices went up so as to unload the funds.

    Is there a pattern to the movement of funds associated with Plus Token?

    According to ErgoBTC, the movement of funds to exchanges took a bit of a break from mid-March to early May 2020. Movement to exchanges has since then resumed and around 300-500 BTC/day is being moved to exchanges.

    Last of PlusToken funds moved to exchanges

    On 22nd June 2020, Twitter user Whale Alert found over 26 million EOS (worth over USD$67mil) had been transferred from a wallet associated with PlusToken to an unknown wallet, prompting cryptocurrency traders to go on high alert for potential downward price movement for EOS.

    Indeed on 24th June 2020 we did see a marked dip in EOS prices, though it cannot be confirmed that this was due to a sale of the PlusToken funds.

    EOS prices from 22 to 26 Jun 2020
    EOS prices from 22 to 26 Jun 2020

    Only a matter of a few days later on 24th June 2020, Whale Alert found another huge chunk of PlusToken funds, this time over 789,000 ETH (worth over USD$187 million) had been transferred from a PlusToken wallet to a new address, and yet again to another unknown address.

    These funds were then further split into multiple unknown addresses of varying amounts.

    Twitter user ErgoBTC, who has been following the movement of the PlusToken funds observes that the ETH that was recently transferred is the remainder of PlusToken’s unmixed coins which are now being moved to mixers. The purpose of this is to cloud the movement history of the PlusToken funds, so that they can avoid being flagged by exchanges when they are eventually sold on the market.

    In addition to the movements of EOS and ETH, it’s been a very busy week for PlusToken. So far they have moved over USD$428 million worth of cryptocurrencies to new addresses and the following exchanges: Binance, Huobi, HBTC, OKEx, Gate.io and MXC Exchange.

    Are Exchanges doing anything to deter scammers?

    Those behind Plustoken rely on cryptocurrency Exchanges to dispose of their scammed funds. Cryptocurrency exchanges do have Know Your Customer (KYC) measures in place which should identify and report any such activity since it clearly constitutes money laundering. However previous massive sell-offs by PlusToken took place in Huobi and Okex, thus demonstrating that their KYC and AML measures were ineffective in stopping them in that instance.

    Since the previous selloff, exchanges have stepped up their standards. For example, in reaction to the selloff Huobi has launched Star Atlas, an on-chain analytics tool to identify problematic activities such as fraud and money laundering on their Exchange. Meanwhile, peer-to-peer exchange Paxful has partnered with Chainalysis so that the exchange’s transactions can be monitored in real time.

    In the latest sell off, it has already been found that substantial funds are being mixed and deposited into Binance, Huobi, HBTC, OKEx, Gate.io and MXC Exchange. Nothing has happened yet, but many traders are already watching to see if a market crash could be incoming, whilst questioning whether the affected exchanges will take any action on the funds that are now in their hands.

    Chinese police seized US$4.2b of PlusToken, forfeited to China’s treasury

    Filings from the Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court reveal that authorities have seized 194,775 Bitcoin (BTC), 833,083 Ether (ETH), 1.4 million Litecoin (LTC), 27.6m EOS, 74,167 Dash, 487m XRP, 6bn Dogecoin (DOGE), 79,581 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and 213,724 Tether (USDT) from 7 individuals convicted in connection with this case.

    This totals around USD$4.2bn worth of cryptocurrencies!

    Court filings have also indicated that the seized cryptocurrencies will be forfeited to the National Treasury. This is because in China, trading and dealing in cryptocurrencies is illegal. So victims have no legal right for return of the seized assets.

    Hence some victims have joked that they have inadvertently contributed to the national treasury.

    What is happening to Plus Token in 2022?

    It seems that the Plus Token saga, which started all the way back in 2018 had drawn to a close in December 2020 when the court in Jiangsu province, China sentenced the ringleaders of the Plus Token scheme to up to 11 years imprisonment. The main ringleader, Chen Bo and 13 other ringleaders were sentenced to between 2 and 11 years in jail. They were also fined various amounts ranging from 120,000 yuan to 6 million yuan. Another associate, Chen Tao, who was responsible for transferring the illegally obtained funds, was sentenced to over 4 years imprisonment.

    As mentioned in the previous section, all the confiscated cryptocurrencies obtained from the Plus Token fraudsters were turned over to the state.

    The Plus Token scam however is not dead in 2022. We can see from various social media outlets that people making periodical videos saying that the Plus Token project is alive and that they are working with a top Asian cryptocurrency exchange. Furthermore, these “influencers” who apparently have connections with those involved with Plus Token allege that once Plus Token is launched, they will not have a native token but instead the Plus Token proceeds will be issued in the form of that exchange’s own token.

    Note however that the “major Asian exchange” in question has never mentioned any working relationship with Plus Token, nor has there been any announcement that they will issue their own native token.

    Plus Token Sources and References

    Chinese Sources and News Coverage

    Special thanks to Matthew Graham for providing the videos and research!

    https://3kemao.com/archives/124864?from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0 https://www.ccvalue.cn/article/3952.html?from=singlemessage https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EJLo-Rjjzz283FOCbzuLuA https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HQxl5gKd0105tUIsQ0TQPg https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rPtQAo0sf4P_LDM-8K0Z1g

    Crypto Wallet Addresses

    Chainnode Research: https://www.8btc.com/article/440193
    BlockTempo: https://www.blocktempo.com/unable-to-withdarw-plustoken-is-crashing-down/
    Plus Token Wallet Addresses: http://gscaijing.com/archives/21291
    CoinTelegraph https://cointelegraph.com/news/3b-ponzi-scheme-is-now-allegedly-dumping-bitcoin-by-the-hundreds

    Arrests / Man-hunt

    SCMP: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3016604/six-chinese-nationals-wanted-beijing-internet-scam-arrested

    SCMP: https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3112115/chinese-cryptocurrency-scam-ringleaders-jailed-us225-billion

    Plus Token sell-offs and Bitcoin price correlation?

    8BTC: https://news.8btc.com/bitcoin-dip-allegedly-a-result-of-incessant-bitcoin-selloffs-from-3-billion-ponzi-scheme

    Findings from Twitter user Ergo: https://twitter.com/ErgoBTC/status/1197496064854634496?s=20

    Updated on 4th December 2019 to include new section- Plus Token Sell-offs Responsible for Bitcoin Price Drop?
    Updated on 18th December 2019 to correct spelling mistakes and more details of how the Ponzi Scheme operated
    Updated on 9th March 2020 on the latest Plus Token moves in 2020.
    Updated on 25th May 2020 on the latest PlusToken prosecutions and ver 3.0 beta of the app.
    Updated on 25th June 2020 on the movements of PlusToken’s remaining unmixed funds in the week of 21st June 2020.
    Updated on 2nd July 2020 on what exchanges are doing in response

    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.

  • Bitcoin “Bull Run” incoming? Bull and Bear factors

    Bitcoin “Bull Run” incoming? Bull and Bear factors

    Prices of Bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time high of over USD$19k in December 2017 and there is a lot of discussion and speculation on what triggers the price and when this “bull run” will happen again. So we took a look at the Bull or Bear factors which may point to an imminent bull run in 2020?

    “Bull run” incoming? (8:00 onwards)

    Bitcoin bull market factors/reasons?

    PayPal Announcement

    The PayPal announcement of supporting crypto transactions for their customers has come as a huge boost of positivity to the crypto space, especially in the West. With a humongous user and merchant base, the crypto community hopes for better adoption through the payment platform.

    But is the Paypal announcement really a good thing? Check out Cryptonauts’ take in their video “Crypto Comes to Paypal! Good or Bad?” to find out more:

    Crypto Comes to Paypal! Good or Bad?

    Institutional investors coming into crypto?

    Major investments from publicly traded companies like MicroStrategy and Square Inc has also led the Bitcoin price to fly high. However, the institutional investors might have aggregated the bull rally, but it is not the main reason. From our research and actually speaking to people in the frontlines, such as over the counter trading desks like Genesis Block, there are more institutional investors registered for crypto accounts. However, they are still waiting for the right opportunities to buy in.

    US election uncertainty

    Many see the US Presidential Elections as very polarising, particularly due to the vastly differing stances of the 2 candidates. So right now the whole world is waiting to see the outcome and how it will affect the markets generally. We also found that whether people think Trump or Biden winning is actually good for the markets (and their rationale for this) differs depending on which region they are from.

    To really get a feel of the sentiment towards the US elections, we sometimes look at FTX Exchange’s US 2020 Elections contracts because the non-US investors in these contracts are really “putting their money where their mouth is”.

    Though there is also some viewpoints being put forward that whether Trump or Biden wins is still going to be good for crypto.

    Covid-19 pandemic

    As discussed by many, the pandemic created a huge gap in the country’s economy, but Bitcoin and the crypto world remained less affected. Many investors were attracted to Bitcoin as they felt it as an asset which they can rely upon. And with people are stuck at home all day, some may look into trading to pass the time.

    Bitcoin bear market factors/reasons?

    On the other side, there may be reasons or red flags that will make people bearish: –

    China is bearish?

    There seems to be some negativity around Bitcoin in China with news that some bank accounts relating to cryptocurrencies were being shut down. The recent detention of OKEx’s Star Xu by authorities and suspension of withdrawals is also worrying to many in Asia.

    The People’s Daily have also published an article on 3rd November 2020 authored by Shan Zhiguang, Chairman of the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) which has further worried Chinese cryptocurrency enthusiasts (see the translation posted by Matthew Graham). The article states that a person may be charged with money laundering if: (1) someone buys cryptocurrencies using RMB and sells the cryptocurrencies for any foreign currency; or (2) uses any foreign currency to purchase cryptocurrencies outside of China, and subsequently sells the cryptocurrencies for RMB. This is irrespective of how many intermediate transactions were involved. A Chinese citizen may also be charged with money laundering if they knowingly sell the cryptocurrencies they hold to someone so as to assist them to illegally move funds in or out of China.

    Yet the article states that any Chinese citizen that sells any cryptocurrency in exchange for any fiat currency must declare personal income tax to the authorities if the transaction results in a profit. Anyone who fails to do this could be charged with tax evasion.

    Bear reasons already factored into prices?

    Rumors or discussions leaning towards a bear market have already been circulating for a while in the crypto discussion groups. For example, reasons some people may feel bearish over the Paypal or DCEP news have already been discussed repeatedly in this space. Considering there is no new news on this right now, any negativity would have already been factored into the current price of Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

    No new blood (at least not like in 2017 anyway)

    Back in 2017 there were a lot of newcomers, we observed this when we see just how many people were eagerly asking relatively beginner questions. We do not really see this yet and so it seems that the cryptocurrencies adoption rate in 2020 is much slower vs 2017.

    Don’t get us wrong, there are newcomers. We already saw lots of people buying Bitcoin using the ATMs inside Genesis Block (because they take more money). But there are no crazy lines of people with suitcases outside Genesis Block waiting for them to open like in 2017. This insanity was mostly caused by the “Kimchi premium”, where prices of Bitcoin in Korea were much higher than in Hong Kong. So what we saw were Koreans flying into Hong Kong with large amounts of cash in the morning, buying Bitcoin at Genesis Block, and catching a flight back to Korea in the evening.

    Another surprising indicator are sales for Ledger cryptocurrency hardware wallets using our affiliate code. We definitely noticed a significant uptick in sales recently, but definitely not as much as in 2017.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and Yield Farming bubble

    A couple of months before, the crypto space became familiar with the term DeFi where many Bitcoiners turned into Yield Farmers. The promotions of DeFi and Yield Farming projects have definitely escalated as of late, to the point where some promotions and people urging others to go “all in” can be quite aggressive. This is a concerning sign because it makes you wonder if they are desperately trying to get you to buy so they can sell.

    Scam projects/ rug pulls

    The immense rally of the DeFi space led to the initiation of many scam projects or “rug pulls”. Some of them just crashed hours after launch with developers or hackers running away with people’s funds. Cointelegraph had also recently interviewed me for an article on this topic of Escalating DeFi scams tarnishing the crypto yield farming market niche.

    Confusion within Asia?

    Regulatory clarity is important in any region. China has been pushing the message that Bitcoin and Ethereum are two of the best assets on national television. Yet as we have seen earlier in this article, cracking down and closing cryptocurrency associated accounts, taking in the founder of OKEx for investigation and the recent article from the People’s Daily on how dealing with cryptocurrencies may constitute a crime may cause confusion amongst the public. Ultimately this confusion may also adversely affect the crypto space.

    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.

  • Wing Finance ($WING) – A Credit-based DeFi Lending Platform

    Wing Finance ($WING) – A Credit-based DeFi Lending Platform

    Wing Finance ($WING) introduced a credit-based DeFi system that supports cross-chain digital asset lending, allowing users to borrow funds and provide collateral based on their credit score.

    Crypto-lending, as it was introduced in the DeFi space, was not as accessible to many as it was meant to be. Despite being open platforms, over-collateralization requirements have limited the number of people who could make loans since they had to own a ton of digital assets first. Wing Finance aims to resolve this issue. In this article, we will explain how this mechanism works.

    Check out our video on how you can EARN through Wing Finance:

    HUGE Opportunities to EARN don’t miss out: WING Finance (Ontology)

    Background

    Wing Finance is a protocol developed by the team behind Ontology, an enterprise blockchain solution protocol. The aim of the developers was to address the problems that were present in mainstream financial products deployed in DeFi. With the process mainly designed to introduce credit elements in the space, Ontology came up with Wing Finance.

    In the spirit of further decentralization, Wing Finance also launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to support community governance and user sovereignty. What Wing brings to the table are concepts such as credit-based lending and expandable categories of assets that can be digitized.

    Features of Wing Finance

    Here are the main features of Wing Finance:

    • Wing Finance supports cross-chain collaboration and decentrazlied governance throughout a range of DeFi projects.
    • They have a risk control mechanism that fosters relationships between borrowers, creditors, and guarantors that will be mutually beneficial.
    • Wing Finance bridges the world of DeFi and traditional finance through its decentralized credit system.

    What is Wing Finance?

    Wing Finance ($WING) is a credit-based, cross-chain lending platform on DeFi. And as already mentioned, its main goal is to make digital lending services more accessible to everyone through a credit evaluation module that does away with massive collateralization requirements.

    The credit evaluation framework works around the OScore system, a mechanism built on top of Ontology. OScore is a sovereign reputation and credit assessment system for DeFi. It functions through the implementation of identifiers and credentials that are supported in cross-chain transactions.

    To put it simply, it is the system that comes up with a credit evaluation tool that factors in the holdings or balance of any particular user, as well as their history of managing digital assets. To do this, OScore attaches a digital identity to a user’s assets, such as those that are built on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ontology. This helps the system determine a user’s credit score.

    Ontology is working on integrating more evaluation functions and on-chain data in the OScore system. But now, they are already implementing OScore in their user’s wallets.

    Collateral Support

    Since the platform is powered by Ontology, it can support a collateral pool that contains a variety of cryptocurrencies even if they are on different blockchains. This is what is referred to as ‘cross-chain’ support. Through Ontology’s decentralized identity and data functions, any asset can be digitized.

    Decentralized and Automated Credit Evaluation

    Smart contracts power the decentralized and automated credit evaluation function of the platform. Decentralized identity and data protocols enable automated credit data verification and evaluation system that does not require any third-party intervention. Furthermore, this is where the OScore system rests.

    Features of Credit-Based Lending

    • Lower collateralization requirements

    Since borrowers can now depend on their OScore data to make loans, the collateralization requirements can be lowered further, if not canceled altogether.

    • Asset Digitization

    It is easier to digitize assets on the platform because it can now be attached with credit elements from the on-chain data that OScore can gather.

    • User Sovereignty

    The platform does not need any third-party to perform user verifications. Instead, the credit elements used to tag users function through decentralized identifiers (DID), which are verifiable and decentralized. Smart contracts also ensure that the review of these elements does not need manual intervention anymore.

    Wing Pools

    There are 2 types of pools on Wing Finance- Flash Pool, NFT Pool and Inclusive Pool.

    Flash Pool

    Wing is deployed on 4 networks with 6 pools in total: Ontology, Ethereum, OKXChain, BNB chain, and Ontology EVM.

    Wing Finance’s Flash Pool allows users to borrow and lend on the platform. Lenders also receive interest payments for supplying their funds on the platform. To prevent the likelihood of asset losses, it also has an insurance pool that can cover such risks.

    Flash Pool
    • Lending

    Anyone can supply their cryptocurrencies in the Flash Pool which it will lend to the platform’s borrowers. In return, lenders receive interest in both the crypto supplied and WING tokens. The return is correspondent to its APY.

    • Borrowing

    Anyone can borrow cryptocurrencies from the Flash Pool, they just need to meet the prescribed collateral requirement for their loan. To earn WING rewards, they have to lock 3% of their WING tokens first.

    • Insurance

    To ensure that potential risks are covered in the platform, users can also take part in the insurance pool of the platform. Users just have to lock their WING tokens in the flash pool for at least 3 days.

    NFT Pool

    Wing Finance’s NFT Pool is a NFT-collateral based fund pool on the Wing DAO platform. It currently supports 6 types of NFTs: CryptoPunks, MAYC, BAYC, Meebits, Azuki, and CLONE X.

    The main feature of Wing Finance’s NFT pool is that it hopes to provide a unique and innovative way to unlock the value of NFTs via its peer-to-pool lending model. With the peer-to-pool lending model, users supply ETH in the asset pool to provide liquidity to the lending pool. These users earn ETH interest from borrowers and the pWING token which is an ERC-20 protocol variant of the WING token.

    In the NFT pool, users can borrow ETH by collaterizing NFTs which go into the NFT-collateral pool. The borrowers then receive a corresponding functional NFT. NFT buyers could then purchase these NFTs through the liquidation market with the potential to purchase them at a discount since the NFT prices are calculated from the floor price.

    Inclusive pool

    Wing Finance’s Inclusive Pool is an asset pool that allows people to undercollaterize assets and maximize their borrowing capabilities. The Inclusive Pool includes a supply & borrow pool, and an insurance pool.

    There are currently only 3 supported assets on the Inclusive Pool: pDAI, pUSDT and pUSDC. Users can borrow from the supply pool subject to the rules set by Wing Finance. Users can also loan out assets but is required to collaterize a certain amount every time they do so. This amount is calculated based on the users’ OScore.

    WING tokens are distributed to those who use the Inclusive Pool provided they have not breached repayments, or only returned their loans during the grace period.

    WING Token

    The WING token is Wing Finance’s native utility token. It is used to back the platform’s reward system as well as its voting mechanisms.

    Rewards System

    In Wing Finance’s Inclusive pool, they are rewarded for maintaining a good credit score on the platform. Examples of activities that help with that include paying loans back on time and maintaining good behavior.

    They can also be given reduced interest rates for their loans if they exhibit good repayment practices.

    Wing DAO

    The community can vote on protocol parameters on Wing’s three main pools. These are the lending pool, borrowed pool, and risk control margin pool. Some examples of the functions that can be subject to a community vote are the type of assets that can be borrowed, minimum and maximum borrowing and lending amounts, and other risk control requirements.

    Wing DAO

    Users only have to own at least 1 WING in order to participate in community governance. Through this, they are given the right to put forward proposals on the services of the platform.

    Why are WING prices pumping?

    WING prices have gone up nearly 300% in the past 24 hours on 29th July 2022, from $12 to a high of $58. But why are WING prices going up? This could be because there has been an overall rise in DeFi tokens such as Uniswap ($UNI) (up 24.9% in the past 7 days) and PancakeSwap ($CAKE) (up 21.2% in the past last 7 days). However, a more recent reason for the sudden rise in WING prices could be the AMA with WING DAO on the latest NFT pool.

    However, there is concern that the WING price pump may not be sustainable as many consider the crypto market to still be in a bearish state.

    Conclusion

    Over-collateralization requirements in most DeFi products have limited the number of people who could actually borrow crypto and the amount that they can leverage. While these were innovations that many crypto adopters were waiting for, these were not enough to attract new adopters who didn’t have much crypto holdings to begin with.

    Wing Finance has made a system where it is much easier to borrow funds and lend idle assets to get returns without compromising the quality of its liquidity pool altogether. And because it functions on top of the Ontology system, it does not suffer from rising gas fees that are experienced in other smart contract chains.

    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.

  • Litentry ($LIT): Decentralized Cross-chain Identity Aggregator

    Litentry ($LIT): Decentralized Cross-chain Identity Aggregator

    Litentry ($LIT) is a decentralized cross-chain identity aggregator, built on Substrate, that features an identity matching and identity staking mechanism.

    In today’s world, personal data and identity are everything. Some companies in the conventional world make millions by selling user data. In the decentralized world, blockchain-based firms make losses.

    For example, one user can create multiple accounts to take advantage of free airdropped tokens. Also, platforms powering decentralized finance (DeFi) have no way of tracking users’ credit history, making them charge higher collateral when issuing loans.

    Fortunately, there’s a new way to keep track of identities in the distributed ecosystem securely. Powered by Litentry, we can see blockchain-focused platforms do more than just power token swaps. It’s now possible to scan through user’s deposit and withdrawal actions on Uniswap. Furthermore, a user’s activity can also be assessed on a community-governed blockchain.

    Since the platform is so diverse, below, we look at the major highlights.

    Background

    Litentry is developed by a team of blockchain professionals based in Germany. Its founder was among the early contributors of Parity, a decentralized network. Notably, the project engineering team’s background is rooted in Ethereum.

    The protocol is funded through a Web3 Foundation grant. On its Github page, the project lists eight team members with organization permission.

    What is Litentry?

    The project focuses on decentralized identity (DID), allowing user identities to be linked to multiple distributed protocols. Litentry acts as a DID aggregator where it collects, indexes, and distributes DIDs to blockchains.

    More importantly, it performs all these activities in a decentralized and verifiable way. Notably, built on the Substrate network, the platform works towards the greater goal of eradicating identity redundancy in the Web3-powered application ecosystem.

    The problem

    In the current internet world, third parties take control of storing user passwords and data pertaining to their online activity. Unfortunately, internet users are coerced into accepting unfavorable terms and conditions, consequently lessening the grip on their personal data.

    Litentry brings the change by returning the control of user data to the users by powering a user-focused internet using blockchain technology. As such, the revenue emanating from using users’ data gets the users to share in the profits. Before Litentry, these profits went to third parties managing the user data.

    Key Features of the Litentry platform

    Apart from using decentralized ledger technology (DLT), the platform has other critical features that help it bring the much-needed revolution to the blockchain sector. Key among them include:

    1. Identity management – The platform is all about identities, and their management sits at the protocol’s core. This feature powers anonymous and independent identities emanating from applications and or services used by the user.
    2. Distributed storage – After collecting the data, the protocol stores them in a decentralized manner to enhance access from all corners of the distributed world.
    3. Identity staking – This is a unique feature. Just like staking tokens and earning rewards, Litentry enables users to stake their identities and be rewarded.
    4. Decentralized contributors – Instead of creating multiple accounts to use different platforms or services, the project allows users to use one identity to interact with various services anonymously. Interestingly, the user doesn’t have to provide passwords or any other registration details.

    Litentry Architecture

    Litentry Architecture (Source: Litentry Doc)

    To bring all the above features to life, the protocol uses a layered architecture. On the top layer is the Litentry Runtime, which sits on Substrate. The Runtime layer is a Parachain of Polkadot and employs offline workers when generating identities.

    The second layer is the User Side. Here, users flex their muscles when it comes to data under their control. Note that user data that comes from applications are anonymous, stored in a decentralized way, and cryptographically-separated.

    On the Litentry Authenticator layer, we have the mobile data hub. The hub can be used to manage a user’s different identities. Additionally, the hub can be connected to various IoT devices that the user wants.

    Next is the Litentry SDK enabling developers to fire up their creative juices to create completely decentralized applications and/or services. In addition, the Litentry IPFS data center offers users a chance to check the data attached to their identities.

    The middleware layer comprises services such as off-chain catching and query servers. It is also made up of a client-side SDK library that helps connect front-end apps with decentralized networks.

    Litentry Tokenomics

    The incentive mechanism on the Litentry platform takes into account different participants such as an identity staker, validator, external storage, node, and data buyer.

    1. Identity staker — This is the person who has an identity record and has a stake in the identities pool.
    2. Identity validator — An identity staker becomes a validator of new blocks when their identity has been confirmed.
    3. Storage — Stores all data about an identity in a decentralized manner.
    4. Node — The node is a critical component of the Litentry platform. Its work is to perform functions such as invoking off-chain workers to validate identity correctness and connecting with external decentralized storages.
    5. Data buyer — This is any entity on the blockchain that requests identity validation.
    6. Data generator — These are entities generating data and can include applications, users, or services offering migration services.
    Litentry Tokenomic (Source: Litentry Lightpaper)

    Litentry Native Token (LIT)

    Litentry’s base asset is called LIT. The network uses the asset to reward identity stakers in the identities pool. Two types of rewards the stakers get are the block reward and the matching fee.

    Apart from stakers, validators are motivated to truthfully verify the correctness of data. On the other hand, data generators enjoy benefits from the Litentry Foundation in the form of grants.

    External storage operators earn a section of the fee paid by users interfacing with the service. Others who are incentivized using LIT tokens are nodes.

    Those who pay using LIT tokens include identity buyers. Observe that these entities only have access to the winning identity or identities during an identity matching process.

    Conclusion

    The identity problem is two-pronged; users can create multiple entities to defraud a company. On the other hand, malicious actors aggregate user data and sell it to the highest bidder without profiting the real data owners.

    Fortunately, Litentry uses a layered approach to comprehensively tackle the problem to the benefit of both identity owners and decentralized platforms. Here’s to another promising project with a unique approach to solving some of the most crucial problems that often go overlooked.

    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.

  • Binance vs FTX Exchange Comparison Overview: Which is the Better Exchange?

    Binance vs FTX Exchange Comparison Overview: Which is the Better Exchange?

    Which Cryptocurrency Exchange is the “Best”?

    There is a lot to consider when it comes to cryptocurrency investment and trading, and crypto exchanges are a great way to start. It is a good platform for beginners to familiarize themselves with the market as well as for experienced traders to make use of the various products the exchanges offer.

    There are hundreds of crypto exchanges, and everyone is asking. “which crypto exchange is the best?” Everyone wants to get the best bang for their buck, whether it be low trading fees or lucrative products. We will be comparing two of the top and most talked about crypto exchanges in the world: Binance and FTX Exchange.

    FTX EXCHANGE (INCLUDING FTX INTERNATIONAL AND FTX.US) ARE NO LONGER IN OPERATION

    Both exchanges have filed for bankruptcy. Subsequently, the exchange was “hacked” and more than US$600 million worth of cryptocurrencies drained. The hacker is strongly rumoured to be a former FTX employee. For more about how this story unfolded and the latest news, check out these articles:

    What is FTX Exchange?

    Founded in 2019, FTX Exchange is a cryptocurrency trading platform that was built by Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that develops specialized algorithms for trading crypto. It has topped many trading charts by volume and is responsible for 30% of the market trading volume on major exchanges.

    The strong trading background of FTX shows that they live up to their claim of being an exchange “built by traders, for traders.”

    FTX is largely focused on the derivative and prediction market, offering a wide array of futures, options, and volatility products with competitive trading rates and discounts for specific users.

    FTX Exchange has been growing significantly over the past year, exploding past the likes of KuCoin and Kraken. They even managed to take market share away from Coinbase as well, which is the number one crypto exchange in the U.S. This is in part thanks to huge venture capital funding that is backing FTX.

    Check out FTX Exchange Guide for a full review and tutorial on how to use FTX Exchange. 

    What is Binance Exchange?

    Binance was founded in 2017 by Chengpeng Zhao (CZ), former Chief Technology Officer of OKCoin who has years of experience developing high-frequency trading software.

    Binance is, by a large margin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange. It has more than than $25 billion in organic trading volume per day and millions of users worldwide.

    Binance is largely focused on the spot market and has one of the most cryptocurrencies available to trade. It also has powerful trading tools such as leveraged trading, options trading and lending platform.

    For the longest time, the trading platform scene is dominated by Binance, and is held in high regard for being smart and proactive in their planning and actions, not only for themselves but also for developing the crypto industry as a whole.

    Binance has been highly active in collaborating with international regulators to support the development of a regulatory framework and policies for cryptocurrencies. In 2022, Binance as well as FTX has received regulatory approval to set up shop in Dubai and Bahrain.

    This is a significant step since it enables both exchanges to function in accordance with international standards, and meet the criteria of major regulators like the Financial Action Task Force.

    Binance vs FTX Exchange Overview

    In this section, we will take a closer look at what Binance and FTX have to offer and compare them based on these features:

    • Products
    • Supported cryptocurrencies
    • Fees
    • Security

    Products

    Binance and FTX have quite a lot of similarities based on their general offering. But the major difference is that Binance is more focused on the spot market and has more cryptocurrencies to offer, whereas FTX is more focused on the derivative and prediction market and has more volatility products. Therefore, FTX is usually seen as the preferred choice for experienced traders who want a wider (and potentially higher risk/reward) range of products.

    Both exchanges offer products that are exclusive to them. Binance offers Crypto Loans, a P2P market, and Binance Earn, while FTX offers volatility and prediction markets. The addition of FTX stocks makes it the first domestic crypto exchange to provide stocks on its platform, enabling trading of stocks and ETFs by U.S. users.

    FTX’s crypto card is exclusively accessible to US residents via the FTX US platform, whereas Binance’s crypto debit card has gained enormous popularity. While FTX places a greater emphasis on specialized trading products, Binance has more to offer in terms of their Binance Earn, allowing users to earn passive income.

    Both Binance and FTX offers a mobile app for iPhone and Android so users can trade cryptocurrencies on the go.

    Supported cryptocurrencies

    Binance has the highest number of cryptocurrencies that any exchange offers to its users. It currently has 1,300 cryptocurrencies including its own native crypto, Binance Coin (BNB).

    Learn more about Binance Coin (BNB).

    Nevertheless, FTX offers a lot of cryptocurrencies for users to trade, though not as large as Binance’s. FTX supports over 460 cryptocurrencies including its own native crypto, FTX Token (FTT).

    Both exchanges however, are consistently adding to their lists of supported cryptocurrencies, including newly launched tokens.

    Fees

    The rates on both exchanges’ spot trade markets are extremely low, and they continue to decline as volume rises. However, FTX wins out since it assesses 0.02% as a maker fee and 0.07% as a taker fee for tier one accounts.

    This is significantly lower than Binance fees, i.e. 0.1% maker and taker fee. Even after using BNB for trading fees, the user will have to pay a 0.075% fee, which is higher than FTX.

    We can see that FTX is better for trading, and is clearly a winner in this category.

    Security

    One of the most important considerations when choosing an exchange is security. It’s safe to say that Binance and FTX are two of the most secure exchanges in the world.

    Both exchanges use two factor authentication, and they store account funds and data away from online platforms so that they cannot be hacked. They also insure their funds by putting a certain amount of fee away as an insurance fraud.

    Both platforms also employ round-the-clock monitoring and analysis, and in the case of a theft, user funds are protected by the reserves that both firms have in their treasuries.

    FTX is one of the few exchanges that have never been hacked, and while Binance has seen some hacking incidents in the past, both exchanges adhere to the strictest industry security guidelines, with the majority of funds being kept in cold storage. FTX also does third party transaction audits via Chainalysis, giving them a slight edge over Binance.

    However, we must also consider the fact that Binance has been around longer and has a much larger trading volume than FTX, making them a more attractive target to hackers. But Binance has managed to hold their ground and plan for the worst, and is still one of the top performing exchanges despite the bear market.

    Conclusion

    Binance and FTX have quite a lot of similarities based on their general offering. But the major difference is that Binance is more focused on the spot market and has more cryptocurrencies to offer, whereas FTX is more focused on the derivative and prediction market and has more volatility products.

    Binance offers the most cryptocurrencies to trade including new projects such as DeFi, NFT or metaverse gaming. If you are a beginner or looking for new tokens to trade, or even an experienced investor who prefers passive earnings, Binance would be a better option for you.

    If you are an experienced trader who strictly does day trading or skilled at volatility products, FTX would be the go-to for you as it offers all the products traders need, with significantly low fees.

    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.

  • Alfacash Exchange Review (2023): A Legitimate, Yet Less-Known Cryptocurrency Exchange

    Alfacash Exchange Review (2023): A Legitimate, Yet Less-Known Cryptocurrency Exchange

    Alfacash is a simple and easy-to-use platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, perfect for those who don’t need advanced order books or charting tools. In this Alfacash review, we will look at the platform’s pros and cons, as well as the exchange’s usability.

    Sign up here to get started

    What is Alfacash?

    Alfacash is a crypto platform registered in Estonia, formerly known as AlfaCashier. Established in 2012, the platform offers a straightforward and easy-to-use experience for buying and selling crypto. It is a reliable and secure platform, with a wide range of payment options, including bank transfers, credit cards, and other payment methods. The platform also offers a variety of features, such as instant exchange, low fees, and 24/7 customer support. With its simple and intuitive interface, Alfacash makes it easy for users to buy and sell crypto quickly and securely.

    Key Features of Alfacash

    • Noncustodial services. Alfacash serves as an intermediary and never keeps any of your money.
    • You can buy crypto with a Bank Card (VISA, MasterCard, and Qiwi virtual wallet) but more fiat on and off ramps are coming soon), that it is “fully automatic” (meaning that it is an instant “one-click exchange”), that it is an instant non-custodial crypto exchange (meaning that the exchange itself never holds user assets) and that they offer APIs for crypto exchange integration.
    • This particular platform offers you the opportunity to swiftly and securely buy or sell crypto. This means that there are no charting tools, no order books, or anything like that. The trading view is the purchase interface included above in this review. 
    • Alfacash doesn’t charge any additional fees to withdraw coins. However, there are always network fees involved with transferring crypto, which is why we have listed the network fees under the withdrawal fee section of this exchange.
    • Some users’ Alfacash reviews will tell you that the platform allows you to trade 28 different cryptocurrency assets on their site.

    Key Advantages of Alfacash

    So, let’s start with some of the more positive aspects of the discussion.

    A Trustworthy But Little-Known Cryptocurrency Exchange

    Alfacash is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange that has been around since 2012. With over half-a-million orders processed, it is a reliable platform for buying, selling, and exchanging cryptocurrencies. Despite its long history, many people still have questions about the platform’s legitimacy. To help answer these questions, there are numerous Alfacash reviews online that can provide insight into the platform’s security and reliability. With its long history and high number of orders processed, Alfacash is a safe and secure platform for trading cryptocurrencies.

    A Non-Custodial Crypto Exchange

    Decentralization is a key concept in the cryptocurrency world, and it is a point of controversy. Cryptocurrencies were designed to be decentralized, meaning no central authority would have control over them. However, there are custodial exchanges that hold cryptocurrency during the exchange process or in the form of a wallet. This goes against the purpose of decentralization and makes it difficult for people to trade with each other in a peer-to-peer manner. Custodial exchanges also raise security concerns, as they are vulnerable to hacks and other malicious activities. Ultimately, it is important to understand the risks associated with custodial exchanges and to be aware of the potential drawbacks of using them.

    Alfacash is a non-custodial crypto exchange that allows users to trade a wide range of digital assets. The platform is easy to use and provides a secure environment for users to trade their cryptos. It also offers a variety of features such as margin trading, advanced order types, and a mobile app. However, the biggest potential issue is that, in the event of a hack or breach of security, all of your cryptos could be stolen since they’re located on the exchange platform. Fortunately, Alfacash is a non-custodial platform, meaning that users retain sole responsibility for their security.

    28 Cryptocurrencies Available

    Alfacash is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that allows users to trade 28 different cryptocurrency assets. This is great news for crypto enthusiasts, as it means they can purchase, hold, and trade a bigger variety of cryptocurrencies than ever before. The platform is easy to use and provides a secure environment for users to make trades. It also offers competitive fees and a wide range of payment methods. With its wide selection of coins and features, Alfacash is a great choice for anyone looking to trade cryptocurrencies.

    Purchasing Cryptocurrency with a Credit Card is Now Possible!

    Alfacash is a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to purchase crypto assets with a credit or debit card, or via a bank transfer. It is one of the top-tier crypto exchanges, and it is known for its ease of use and straightforward purchasing process. Users can also benefit from the exchange’s low fees and fast transaction times. Reviews of Alfacash are generally positive, with many users praising its user-friendly interface and secure platform. All in all, Alfacash is a great choice for those looking to invest in crypto.

    A Completely Automated Exchange with No Significant Waiting Times

    Alfacash is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers users the ability to trade cryptocurrencies automatically. This means that the platform is fully-automatic and there is no manual involvement in the exchange process. This feature is beneficial to users as it allows for instantaneous trades, meaning they can take advantage of potential profits without having to wait for a human to intervene and confirm or reject their transaction request. This is an important feature to consider when choosing a cryptocurrency exchange, as it can be the deciding factor between making a profit or losing out.

    Key Disadvantages of Alfacash

    There are a few notable issues and cons that are needed to be addressed, before you can truly make up your mind.

    Investors from the United States are Not Welcome

    Alfacash is a crypto exchange platform based in Estonia. Unfortunately, US crypto traders and investors are not able to use the platform due to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC regulates crypto trading platforms located within the US and reacts to anything that may solicit US investors to utilize off-shore crypto exchanges that are not affiliated with the SEC. As Alfacash is an Estonia-based brand, it falls under the SEC’s jurisdiction and US customers are not able to use the platform. However, there are many other crypto exchanges on the market that US customers can use instead.

    Lackluster Fees

    Alfacash is a non-custodial crypto exchange that offers a range of cryptocurrencies for trading. However, the fees for both makers and takers are quite high, ranging from 1% to 5%. This is much higher than the fees charged by most top-rated crypto exchanges, which usually range from 0.1% to 0.5%. Some user Alfacash reviews point out that the non-custodial nature of Alfacash might have something to do with this, but even if that’s the case, it still is of small condolence.

    Lack of Clear Information About Security Features

    Alfacash is a legitimate cryptocurrency trading platform that complies with GDPR security regulations. They are in partnership with Sumsub and Chainalysis to ensure that no money laundering activities take place and that personal data is processed fairly. Although there is not much information available regarding their security features, user reviews suggest that they are a secure platform. However, some additional transparency would be appreciated. With time, Alfacash will likely offer a clear and concise list of the security features they employ.

    How to Use Alfacash?

    Alfacash is a great choice for those looking for a reliable and secure cryptocurrency exchange platform. It offers a wide range of services, low fees, and a user-friendly interface, making it an ideal choice for both beginners and experienced traders.

    The Registration Process

    • Step 1: Go to the Alfacash official website.
    • Step 2: Press the Sign-Up button at the top-right corner of the screen.
    • Step 3: Now enter some of your personal information (name, email address, etc.) as well as the type of account you want to create.
    • Step 4: You will then be prompted to confirm your email address.
    • Step 5: After verifying your email, the next step is to create a new password.
    • Step 6: After you create your password, that’s it – you’re now set, and should be able to start using your account!

    How to Purchase Cryptocurrency on Alfacash?

    • Step 1: From your homepage, go to the Buy option at the top of the page and choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy.
    • Step 2: Now, pick the Buy With Credit Card option on the top of the screen.
    • Step 3: You will then be redirected to a separate Simplex-powered page. Simplex is a well-known and widely used crypto exchange payment solution that is trusted by many exchanges worldwide.
    • Step 4: Here, you will have to put in your credit card details. Once you do that, you will also need to verify your identity

    Conclusion

    Alfacash is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that offers a wide variety of digital currencies for purchase. It allows users to buy crypto with a credit or debit card, or via wire transfer. While the platform has higher fees and doesn’t serve US-based investors, it is simple to use and can be a viable option for those outside the US. If Alfacash isn’t the right fit, there are other crypto exchanges available that may be a better fit. Be sure to read reviews and compare fees and features to find the best option for you.

    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.