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.
EnjinCraft – Enjin Brings Blockchain economies to Minecraft
EnjinCraft breathes new life into Minecraft by bringing the best of digital economies and Non-fungible Token (NFT) collectibles. Whilst Minecraft is the biggest sandbox game in the world, it has always lacked a true economy. Enjin’s new Minecraft integration and SDK allow players to truly own items and move them across servers. With the launch of the Minecraft plugin on the 28th of May 2020, server owners can use a simple plugin to allow blockchain items to be used in their Minecraft worlds.
With Enjincraft, players can equip ERC-1155 assets directly as Minecraft items. This also allows for the trading of items outside of the game and into the Enjin Wallet. Enjin’s new integration allows for the direct trading of ERC-1155 assets, Ethereum and Enjincoin directly in Minecraft.
Players will be able to enter “Enjincraft” and find treasures such as swords, armor, and tools in the game. After finding these items, players can have true item ownership as they are Non-Fungible Assets (ERC-1155 tokens). Items can be directly stored in the Enjin Wallet, allowing for easy trades or even melting.
First Enjincraft World
Enjincraft’s first world is filled with quests, stories and many explorable towns and cities. For those daring to explore, the world is packed with treasure chests and mysteries that can be solved. Treasure chests in the game give out real ERC-1155 items that have value based on Enjin Coin.
Map of Enjincraft
For beginners, the world map is very handy as it marks all the main locations in the game. This map could be discovered in Witek’s House in the first city (follow the main road into the town).
Binding Enjin Wallet
Players can keep valuable items Enjincraft via the Enjin Wallet. The onboarding process is very simple:
This process should take around 1 minute and after which the account will be bound and ready to play. The wallet status will display as linked and the Enjin Coin panel will show the ENJ and ETH balance of the wallet. This makes Minecraft very much similar to Massively Multiplayer games like World of Warcraft.
Enjincraft ERC-1155 Items
Enjincraft Items are cross server and can move between realms. Currently owners of the items could be explorered using the Enjinx blockchain explorer.
Enjincraft discussion and interview with Enjin CTO Witek Radomski
EnjinCraft is Enjin’s newest plugin for Minecraft servers. The EnjinCraft plugin will enable server owners to fully integrate a blockchain economy into Minecraft.
This means that Minecraft server owners will be able to provide players with tangible ownership of in-game assets and currencies. The in-game assets can be used in server owners’ chat rooms, websites and the Enjin Multiverse.
Stormwall is an example of Enjin’s multiverse assets is Stormwall. It is a playable item created by Enjin that can be used in 32 of Enjin’s games.
DonationCraft was Enjin’s first Minecraft plugin. It allowed MineCraft servers to accept Paypal and credit card payments. According to Enjin, DonationCraft has over 5 million downloads and allowed server owners to make millions of dollars.
As first reported by Asia Crypto Today, to introduce people to Enjin’s MineCraft plugin, Enjin has launched the closed beta version of EnjinCraft Server One, a Minecraft server built with Enjin’s plugin.
EnjinCraft Server One has blockchain-based Minecraft weapons, armor, and accessories for players to find and win.
Search and collect blockchain assets in Minecraft’s expansive universe
In-game items are backed with Enjin Coin (ENJ). Players can get Enjin Coin by melting them via the Enjin Wallet. After melting Enjin Coin, it can be transferred into other cryptocurrencies. Enjin Coin can also be used to purchase gift cards from mainstream retailers. For example, Amazon, Apple, and Uber.
Enjin Blockchain SDK for Java
The SDK for Java allows Java developers to create and integrate blockchain assets onto their platform.
For Enjin’s Java SDK, the Company has adopted an open-source codebase. Therefore, Java SDK users can modify and build upon the SDK however they want. Enjin mentions that they encourage the spirit of collaboration and hopes users can use the SDK to build things they could never have imagined.
Players can convert their in-game assets into real life value.
Users will be able to use Enjin’s platform to integrate a blockchain economy onto their servers. This will mean users can integrate blockchain economies onto games, web applications and even andriod apps.
You can start building with the Blockchain SDK by creating an Enjin account here.
By signing up with the Enjin Spark early adopter program, users will be given various early adopter benefits. This will help them market, fund and monetize their projects.
Introducing EnjinCraft: The World’s First Blockchain-Powered Minecraft Server
Seeing in-game items as mere pixels is a thing of the past. Enjin is allowing developers to integrate blockchain economies into the online world through with Enjin’s Java SDK.
And with MineCraft Server One, Enjin is showing how these economies can work in mainstream gaming. We will hopefully finally see a win-win situation for developers and players. Developers are able to generate more profit. Whilst allowing players to earn real life value through in-game items.
Free TON (The Open Network) is a new blockchain platform created by the developers of the Telegram Open Network (also abbreviated TON). FREE TON positions itself as a community project which uses the telegram developed open source “TON OS” as virtual Operating System to run smart contracts and decentralized applications. Despite the name, Free TON is not officially affiliated with Telegram Inc nor are there any claims that it will be incorporated in the Telegram App. The project also doesn’t include Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, which is very likely an intentional move to distance themselves from the Telegram Open Network.
Telegram Open Network is officially delayed until 2021
Free TON is based on TON OS
Free TON’s Declaration of Independence
TON OS is designed as a decentralized operating system to handle decentralized applications. One way to imagine it is that it’s a more full-featured than the Ethereum Virtual Machine which only strictly run code. TON OS has a stack of components which can be used by developers to create powerful applications without the need to
Built on Open Sourced Components
Free TON is built on components that were open sourced this week. These components were originally part of the Telegram Open Network project developed by TON labs and other parties. By making these components Open Source, everyone around the can view and copy fragments of the code.
Distribution of TONs
Free TON will be distributed via “Giver Contracts” who are responsible for distributing TONs to 3 major groups:
Users
Validators
Developers
Referral Giver be responsible for airdropping coins to initial users via a referral program. This will be the largest group, and Referral Givers will give away 85% of all TONs.
Free TON Roadmap
Stage I ”Raging Bull” — Incentivized Beta Network with a Decentralized Time Bomb (DTB)
Stage II ”Rumble Fish” — Incentivized Beta Network with validator voting for Network Configuration
Stage III “Fight Club” — Decentralized Main Network, at the point where decentralization is sufficiently achieved
TON Crystal exchange listing
The TON crystal is the official currency of Free TON. This currency will be used to power transactions on the network (similar to Ethereum Gas) and also used native currency on the network. Currently it’s unknown if there will be any regulatory issues with listing Free TON. (Tramadol) Whilst we know developed by a similar developer pool as the TON project, it’s unknown if it will carry over any of the legal issues.
Community is not accepting US members
The Free TON community has a strong “No US resident” policy, where US residents cannot participate in the community nor receive any free tokens. This is likely related to the on-going legal issues between Telegram Open Network and the US SEC – where a pending lawsuit and investigation is preventing the coin from being launched. Very likely the developers behind Free TON has learnt from the previous mistakes and decided not to include US residents in any form.
Conclusion
Free TON is everything Telegram Open Network would be – but without Telegram. The community project aims at creating a decentralized network using all the research and development which went into the original TON (a project that was canceled due to regulatory issues).
How do I get Free TON
Users will get distributed Free TON via the Referral Giver method. 85% of all TON will be given away by this method
How do I mine TON
You cannot mine TON as it’s not using the Proof of Work consensus. Instead, there are 300 public validators that will be able to earn TON
We rank the top 10 performing blockchain security firms offering services such as smart contract audits, blockchain security analysis, penetration testing, formal verification, and security audits. Security audits are extremely important – this year we’re seeing the rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)— a new application of decentralized Blockchain technology that is poised to replace the trillion dollars Global Finance industry. However, recent events such as the dForce hack have shown us that hackers can exploit weaknesses in smart contracts and steal money. It’s almost like robbing a bank, except in this case the bank is flush with crypto AND can’t defend itself. In the case with dForce, the hacker stole $25,000,000 USD (talk about a good haul) and with crypto transactions, we know this is not reversible.
Consequently, security solutions, tailored to the volatile nature of blockchain technology and its components, have started making moves to isolate and neutralize security threats common in the blockchain terrain. In this article, I will highlight and explore the workings of the top companies in the blockchain security niche.
It is therefore extremely important for security audits of projects, exchanges and blockchains to be done. Users must also know what security tests have been performed and if any red flags were raised.
Hacken performs a wide range of security services for its clients. These suites of services include blockchain security consulting, web/mobile penetration testing, coordination of bug bounty programs, crypto exchange ratings, among other things. Although Hacken offers a long list of services targeted at blockchain and crypto firms, its ecosystem, however, encompasses security products ideal for IT companies as a whole. The company has built a commendable reputation as a security risk assessment for companies requiring a digital environment to create or enable services for their consumers.
Hence, it comes as no surprise that Hacken has provided security services for non-blockchain giants like Air Asia. Furthermore, it has proven its commitment to blockchain technology by sponsoring and engaging security experts worldwide in security meetups.
Hacken has also created the HackenAI security platform designed to protect the end user from security risks and account compromises. Key features such as Darknet monitoring immediately alerts users of compromised passwords and possible darknet attacks. HackenAI is available on Android and Iphone devices.
Quantstamp is a blockchain security startup unveiled at YCombinator W18 Batch. The security team of Quantstamp has experience in top IT companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. And this is evident in the platform’s wide array of blockchain security tools and services. For one, Quantstamp has developed a decentralized security network for smart contract auditing. With this solution, users can perform automated smart contract security review on a “global network of decentralized security nodes.”
Additionally, the platform provides expert security audits for clients blockchain projects and a 24/7 security monitoring software tool.
Trail of Bits prides itself as a network of developers with the capabilities of identifying and fixing loopholes in software, devices, or codes. In other words, the solution provides an array of software security services that encompass smart contract audits, blockchain security research, software development, and so on. Over the years, Trail of Bits has developed formidable security tools for smart contracts. Some of these blockchain-focused solutions are Crytic, Slither, and Echidna.
Apart from that, Trail of Bits developed the popular AlgoVPN. As well, it has a lot of security publications on GitHub, including public reports for 0x Protocol, Compound, NuCypher, and MakerDAO, which are some of its clients.
The OpenZeppelin team is mostly known for its development of Solidity libraries known as OpenZeppelin Contracts. These libraries are used in most Solidity projects as a tested and standard template for contracts deployable on decentralized applications. Developers can integrate this solution through OpenZeppelin’s native SDK. Besides development, OpenZeppelin has a strong focus on smart contract security and audit services.
Also, OpenZeppelin was one of the first teams to reinvent blockchain security by introducing elements of gamification to identify loopholes in smart contracts. Another of its products, Ethernaut, is a Web3/Solidity war game, which entails gamers to hack smart contracts to move to the next level.
US-based ConsenSys is one of the biggest and prominent blockchain incubators in the industry. Unlike other security firms mentioned on this list, ConsenSys dedicates its resources and technological know-how to the development of Ethereum blockchain applications and software, especially financial infrastructures. As such, its product, ConsenSys Diligence, offers security analysis for smart contracts. This audit product is at the cutting edge of sophisticated “cryptography, blockchain technology, and crypto-economic incentive analysis.”
Another of its products, MythX, is one of the most powerful automated scanners for Ethereum smart contracts. This solution provides a robust API, which developers can use to access security analytics tools.
Certik is a security company looking to utilize topnotch formal verification technology in collaboration with some of the best cybersecurity experts to create end-to-end services. On its website, Certik claims that it has audited over 188,000 lines of codes and secured over $6.32 billion worth of assets. The team offers to mathematically validate the safety of smart contracts
Therefore, it has developed Certik Chain, a public blockchain focused on leveraging Certik’s Formal Verification platform, to secure decentralized projects. Certik is officially a partner company of Binance, and it is backed by prominent investors, including Binance Labs, Lightspeed, Matrix Partners, and DHVC.
LeastAuthority is a cybersecurity consulting firm with its main focus on privacy. It classifies itself as an enabler of private and disruptive storage solutions. At the moment, the platform has two major products available to its users. The first, Privatestorage (formerly S4), is a centralized system that provides storage infrastructure to end-users and offers them the autonomy over the collection, processing, and distribution of their private data. On the other hand, its second product, Tahoe LAFS, enables a decentralized, distributed, and fault-tolerant storage facility.
In addition to providing different storage architectures, LeastAuthority has published security reports for Ethereum, Tezos, and others. It also works with developers throughout their development cycles to ensure that their projects are not susceptible to security threats.
Chainsecurity has joined PWC Switzerland to perform security review projects and create security solutions for the emerging blockchain industry. With this partnership, PWC Switzerland offers consultant services to blockchain projects from the exploration stage to the post-deployment stage. This platform assesses smart contract designs, tests their viability, and monitors metrics detailing their performances after deployment. It excels in its ability to combine automated analysis tools and the expertise of security professionals to identify and eliminate potential threats.
As Chainsecurity, this blockchain team developed several security tools, including Securify and VerX. It makes sense to expect this team to continue its successful run in the blockchain security sector since it now has access to PWC Switzerland’s vast resources.
Slowmist is China’s leading blockchain security company. They perform extensive blockchain security services that include smart contract audits, blockchain security audits, wallet security testing, and much more. Slowmist also has a safe staking project for blockchain ecologies, which delivers real-time data on the growth and security patterns of EOS, Cosmos, Vechain, and other top blockchain projects. Another interesting bit of detail about this platform is its powerful firewall project for EOS smart contracts, named FireWall.X.
Likewise, Slowmist is constantly tracking and publishing data and stats about security situation on crypto exchanges through their Blockchain Threat Intelligence (BTI) service.
Runtime Verification is a research and development company focused on formal verification. According to the information on its website, this solution designs standard models for high-value applications and uses them as templates to develop security-sensitive products. Runtime Verification has developed two main smart contract security products. On the one hand, it offers smart contract correctness proofs with the help of the K framework to prove the viability of Ethereum and Cardano’s smart contracts. On the other, Firefly is a test coverage analysis tool for Ethereum smart contracts.
Additionally, Runtime Verification has worked with Ethereum Foundation on building a formal framework for Ethereum 2.0 testing.
What is the best Smart Contract Auditing Company
Top tier smart contract auditing companies include Hacken, Trail of Bits and OpenZepplin
China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN) is a national initiative designed to boost the integration and adoption of Blockchain in big businesses. China has positioned herself as a leader in Blockchain development, with 45% of all blockchain projects coming from the nation’s industries and tech giants (such as Tencent’s Blockchain Accelerator). The industry was given a huge boost in October 2018 when President Xi Jinping voiced his admiration for the technology behind cryptocurrencies. The network is set up for commercial usage and looks to provide a platform for enterprises and individuals wishing to make a blockchain application. Blockchain technologies are extremely powerful for enterprise applications as it allows for large scale data tracking with a guarantee on the authenticity of data. We’ve seen enterprise-focused Blockchain projects gain major partnerships in the past, such as Vechain’s partnership with logistics company DNV GL and auditing firms PwC.
Alongside the announcement of its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) last month, China also launched its blockchain service network (BSN) signaling its continued shift towards a digital economy. Although it was not treated with as much fanfare, the BSN has a similar transformative effect to the DCEP and is no less important for the industry within and outside of China.
What is China’s Blockchain Services Network (BSN)?
The Blockchain Service Network (BSN) is a platform set up for individuals, businesses and local governments on which they can build blockchain applications. Launched on April 25th, the main target of the public network is to create a one-stop-shop for blockchain in China which supports smart city initiatives, other public networks and regions in the imminent digital economy which the People’s Republic is building.
The network will have two primary functions. The first is commercial and this will allow businesses/blockchain startups to use the network to develop applications, offering a public alternative to the private blockchain networks which already exist. Alongside this, the BSN will also provide a foundational consortium chain alliance for use for smart cities and digital economies. According to reports, the network will focus on openness, public utility, scalability, open-source, multi-portal, low cost and autonomy.
The initiative will also be integral for the research into government usages for blockchain and governance. The network will also promote research in other areas and look to foster a development ecology, according to BSN alliance President Liu Yunan.
Liu Yunan BSN President (source:SIC.com)
Partner Networks and Organisations
The creation of the BSN has been done by an array of familiar faces within the tech industry. Leading the research was the Chinese government think tank, the State Information Center (SIC) whose smart city development research group the focal team. Other institutions which helped with its development include telecom company ChinaMobile and banking/payment network, China’s UnionPay. In terms of the cryptocurrency industry, exchange Huobi was a surprise inclusion in its development.
List of some BSN development association members (Source: CoinTelegraph)
Technology Behind the BSN
The network will use a custom-built blockchain and there have been a number of companies involved in the technology’s research and implementation. The leading group in its creation is FISCO, or Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium. This group includes Tencent’s digital currency wallet Webank and Cloud, Huawei, and Shenzhen Securities Communication.
FISCO- BCOS
FISCO created the BCOS open-source network. Based on Ethereum’s blockchain, BCOS uses various features like zero-knowledge proofs and allows individual permissioned chains to run concurrently.
Tencent has played an integral role in its development, with its digital bank, Webank, providing smart contract Digital Asset Modeling Language for FISCO BCOS.
The network has already shown itself to be popular in its initial Beta period which began six months ago. Reports have suggested that 2,000 developers had signed up to the test period, creating blockchain applications for public welfare charity and electronic invoices.
Both the DCEP project and the BSN are all key structures in China’s technological plan, called the “China Standards 2035”. The document, which is set for release later this year, will plot out how the technologies will shape the next decade.
The BSN Beta testing
The initial testing plan was launched in October 2019 and ended recently prior to the April launch. According to local media reports, the beta testing for commercial usage went well. Around 2,000 developers joined up with the test period, creating blockchain applications for public welfare charity and electronic invoices. Currently, the network has 128 public nodes, of which the majority come from China but a small number are overseas stretching across six continents.
Pilot Projects for BSN
Huangzhou was the pilot city for the BSN
The city which the network was tested in was Hangzhou, in Eastern China after the local government signed an agreement with the research group. According to Chinadaily, the BSN was rolled out in conjunction with Hangzhou’s City Brain platform and focussed on e-governance improvement, disinfection for hotels and more individualised technological services. The system will also be used to track local level issues such as road safety, with users encouraged to report any issues they see in the community.
As well as the piloting in Huangzhou, there was also a trial for a credit rating system based on blockchain that would track small and medium-sized businesses who wished to gain finance from banks.
Blockchain in China
Blockchain has long been a technology admired within China, typified by their leader Xi Jinping’s direct promotion of it in October 2019. Even without Xi’s comments, China has still been the leading nation for blockchain adoption with 45% of all projects coming from China according to data from the Mutual Chain Pulse Research Institute.
Mutual Chain Research graph on number of blockchain projects by nation
Top tech companies that have blockchain projects include, Tencent, the company behind WeChat, Alibaba, through its Ant financial team and Baidu, the internet search engine provider.
Provincial governments across the nation have been implementing various blockchain projects. More recently though, the shift has been more national with Blockbeats reports from May 12th claiming that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China is looking for 10 new roles with regards to blockchain, these include Blockchain Engineering Technicians and a Blockchain Application Operator.
WIll the BSN and DCEP be linked?
Although there is nothing concrete at the moment, it would appear that both the DCEP and BSN will be linked. Evidence for this comes from reports of Webank writing smart contract digital asset modeling language. Clearly though, both blockchain and a digital yuan are integral parts of China’s future, something which will be enshrined in writing within the China 2035 Standards document set for release later this year. The document is a fifteen-year plan for China’s development and blockchain/digital currencies will be an integral part.
Bitcoin Halving is expected to happen at 12 May 2020 07:07:39 UTC
What is the Bitcoin Halving Event?
The Bitcoin Halving event which marks the point where Bitcoin mining rewards will be cut precisely in half. Many view this as a turning point for the price of Bitcoin because it will drastically reduce the new supply of Bitcoin, creating scarcity. Currently the Bitcoin Halving is expected to happen at 12 May 2020 11:04:30 UTC – the exact time and date may vary due to fluctuations in Bitcoin block creation time. Once the halving takes place, the amount of Bitcoin mined per day will decrease from 1,800 BTC to 900 BTC. It is important to remember this event is permanent and will affect all the Bitcoin mined in the future as well (until the next halving event). From an economics standpoint, the less Bitcoin there is being produced the more scare and less accessible Bitcoin will become.
Check out my video on what the Bitcoin halving is, and what opportunities it can mean for Bitcoin.
Reduced Sell Pressure on Bitcoin
There will be substantially less sell pressure from Bitcoin miners as they’re income of Bitcoin will half. Currently, miners will mint $13 million USD worth of Bitcoin per day. This is no small figure – and one of the reasons why mining is such a trillion dollar industry (Check out our Bitcoin mining guide for how to be part of it).
Will Miners shut down / got bankrupt?
After the Halving, miners will receive half of their regular income. This will drastically alter the dynamics and profitability of Bitcoin Mining. For miners who are using older machines (ASICs), the drop in income might spell certain doom. Some miners will yield negative profits and be forced to retire the older less efficient units. This is a common practice in mining – renewing hardware is part of the profitability cycle for miners. This is similar to other tech hardware businesses like server farms which require annual upgrades to hardware.
There is no risk that Bitcoin be without miners – till is still 900 BTC to be mined each day (~$7.5 Million USD). Miners will be looking to be more competitive and source cheaper and cheaper electricity. In addition, Bitcoin difficulty can drop if there is less hashrate on the network, meaning it will be easier to mine Bitcoin.
Hype and Expectations
Bitcoin Halving Memes and Hype
The Bitcoin Halving comes with a lot of hype and optimism for the future of Bitcoin. Several memes have emerged with charts pointing to “pump” in the price of Bitcoin. The chart above shows the LOG price of Bitcoin over time, with a ascending trend indicating potential prices of $250,000 and even $2,000,000 for the price of Bitcoin. It is important to remember that with cryptocurrencies prices are high volatile and past trends don’t always indicate future trends.
Stats
Total Bitcoins in circulation:
18,367,900
Total Bitcoins to ever be produced:
21,000,000
Percentage of total Bitcoins mined:
87.47%
Total Bitcoins left to mine:
2,632,100
Total Bitcoins left to mine until next blockhalf:
7,100
Bitcoin price (USD):
$9,987.70
Market capitalization (USD):
$183,453,074,830.00
Bitcoins generated per day:
1,800
Bitcoin inflation rate per annum:
3.64%
Bitcoin inflation rate per annum at next block halving event:
1.80%
Bitcoin inflation per day (USD):
$17,977,860
Bitcoin inflation until next blockhalf event based on current price (USD):
Bybit is a powerful cryptocurrency derivatives exchange suitable for many traders, with products such as Bitcoin Perpetual futures with leverage. The exchange offers the ability to Long or Short cryptocurrency assets, giving traders to profit from both the rise or fall of Bitcoin prices.
Bybit exchange is popular due to social media as it is frequently featured on different YouTube and Social Media Channels. The exchange offers generous signup bonuses and trading bonuses, enticing users to join the exchange for up to $90 in trading credit – but there is a catch. Bybit requires users to trade on the exchange where fees are based on the amount traded – hence trading fees can rack up to thousands of dollars (similar to other crypto derivatives exchanges). In this article we’ll look at what is derivatives tradings and features of Bybit to ultimately answer – is Bybit a good exchange
Key Features
Leveraged Trading
Perpetual futures contract
Trading activities
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What is Derivatives Trading
The core trading product offered by ByBit is cryptocurrency derivatives trading. Derivatives are financial tools that derive value from the underlying product – in this case cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. ByBit exchange trades contracts based on the underlying asset instead of the asset themselves – this allows higher leverage and more types of products. Derivative products are by institutions, companies, miners and traders to gain advantage of market conditions. For example, Bitcoin miners who know they will receive Bitcoin in the future may choose to short Bitcoin at current prices to protect themselves from future price volatility.
Derivative products allows traders to speculate on the future value of various digital assets and trade their corresponding futures. This is different from regular trading as there are “shorting” options where traders benefit from an asset falling in price (without initially owning the asset). Traders can also take averaged positions where they can drastically increase their exposure to an asset with 5, 10 or even 50x leverage.
Bybit is currently the 7th most popular derivatives platform by volume. As of the 14th of April, the exchange handles $874 Million USD per day on the platform. This is a huge amount of trade volume as users can easily trade large amounts due to leveraged assets.
Types of Derivatives Products on ByBit:
Futures – Futures is a type of standardized forward contract, a legal agreement to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price.
Options – Options are a special form of futures contract that gives the holder the right but not the obligation to sell at a future strike price. These are common used to protect against price volatility.
Supported countries
Bybit Services are not available to clients located or residing in the United States, Cuba, Crimea, Sevastopol, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Antigua or Barbuda.
Bybit Offers and Coupons
Bybit Trading Coupons and Offers
Bybit offers a vast amount of coupons and initial funding offers for new users. This includes a $50 dollar bonus for funding the account, along with offers for following their social media account. The exchange also offers weekly trading rewards for active traders on the exchange.
Bybit Testnet
You can also test transactions on the Bybit Testnet. This allows users who are unfamiliar with features to trade without using real Bitcoin.
Bybit Controversy and Affiliate Programs
Bybit gained notoriety due to users losing money on leveraged trades on the exchange. Leveraged trading is extremely dangerous due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. It is important to remember these advanced trading tools are for advanced users only, and the risks associated with trading must be fully understood.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does Bybit Allow US traders?
The exchange does not allow US Citizens to trade on its platform for regulatory reasons. This rule is enforced by I.P. verification, where traders with a US I.P. address will not be able to trade. It is possible to trade on the exchange without KYC (passport verification) verification.
Does Bybit require KYC?
Currently, Bybit does not require a passport or ID verification to trade on the exchange. There are currently no withdrawal limits. However, not completing the KYC procedures when using a cryptocurrency exchange carries risks. This is because if the exchange is hacked or it collapses, there would be no way of identifying and proving what funds you had there, which would make recovery extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.
What are Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – will they mark the start of a revolution to change the financial system forever? CBDCs are digital currencies issued by central banks that function as National Currencies (fiat). They are a direct replacement of paper money, with the exact same value and issuance policies. CBDCs are state-sanctioned and governed by the monetary authority and regulatory law.
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Banks around the world are racing to issue out Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). China has already deployed the test trial for Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), a digital version of the RenMinBi based on cryptographic technology. Japan immediately countered this announcement by plans to release a Digital Yen in “2 to 3” years. One of the key motivations behind CBDC is to drastically improve the way money is transferred around the world. Instead of relying on decade-old technologies like SWIFT, Digital Currencies can be transferred directly without friction. This will drastic impacts on all levels of banking, from the m0 reserve system to the unbanked.
Major newspaper outlets like The Guardian and the Economist began writing opinion pieces, calling the advancement from China a big step and one that could pose a threat to US economic hegemony. On the other side, commentators in China heralded their country’s fast work and implementation. Although the US and its state banks have been slow to announce any research plans and have seemingly stopped Facebook’s Libra (a privatized answer to a CBDC) in its tracks, other western nations have quickly begun research.
Global effort to deploy Central Bank Digital Currencies
Earlier this year, banks from the UK, EU, Japan Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden all began joint research on a CBDC. France has announced intentions to test a pilot CBDC in 2020.
In Asia, the Japanese immediately announced their intentions to create a CBDC to match China’s as soon as the news began to break. The Bank of Korea is also looking at its own digital currency. Smaller national banks like Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore are also looking into creating their own. Projects such as Singapore’s Ubin work with the Monetary Authority of Singapore are already in Phase 5 of development.
The world is moving towards CBDC and is in agreement that this will be the currency of the future. But, what makes them so special and alluring to banks and governments?
Digital Currencies as a weapon to combat economic change
The main reason is its cost-effectiveness and control. CBDCs are not subject to long processing times and costly fees. As you can see from the stable coin market, sending and receiving cryptocurrencies can be done quickly and easily, with just a phone and internet connection required. Not only that, but digital currencies are far easier to track making money laundering tracking much easier.
Another factor is CBDC’s resilience to political or economic changes. Often citizens from emerging economies are subject to a large disparity in their currency’s health in the market when compared to exchange rates, however, stable coins rarely have major shifts. Not only that, but big banking shutdowns, like seen in Greece and Iceland might well have had a solution if they held a financial alternative to store their money. This benefit of digital currencies could well be important as the world stares recession in the face following the economic stresses of the Coronavirus effort.
However, there is one major detail that is propelling some nations’ research. The threat which CBDC’s pose to the US dollar domination. ChinaDaily called the People’s Bank of China’s DCEP a “functional alternative to the dollar settlement system.” This is something politicians in Beijing want as US sanctions are made effective namely due to the dollar being the reserve currency. This means often international transfers to sanctioned states are prohibited and banks shut down, as they are using the US dollar in the exchange.
Challenging US sanctions
The theoretical ability of CBDC’s to circumvent US dominance is something numerous embattled nations have looked to pounce on. Other countries who hold national digital currencies include Iran- a country ravaged by US sanctions and Venezuala- a similarly hit nation. Other US adversaries that have begun research into their own CBDC include Cuba, North Korea, and Palestine.
Clearly, the race is on between the various competing nations to launch their own digital currencies and make a new economic framework. Who will lead the charge remains to be seen, but the answer could have major consequences for the future.
2020 is a huge year for Bitcoin mining. Huge changes to the mining ecosystem – changes that will spark another “gold rush” for mining. This will be spearheaded by two factors – the release of new more efficient mining hardware known as ASICs and Bitcoin halvening. The release of new hardware will give new players a bigger advantage in mining due to the efficiency factor – new ASICs generate more hashpower with less power. (https://www.sliderrevolution.com) We’re already seeing large funds like Fidelity Investments building large mega-watt mining facilities in North America and other continents. You can hare about the North America mining explosion in this podcast. This marks the return of mining as a major investment opportunity this year.
Table of Contents
Cryptocurrency Mining is a $6 Billion+ USD per year industry
Sizes of Exchange, Mining, DeFi and ICO industries respectively
One well-kept secret of the mining industry is the huge profits being generated by cryptocurrency miners (Bitcoin, Ethereum, DASH and Monero mining). Let’s start off with an industry Fact – every day $19,000,000+ USD dollars worth of cryptocurrencies are being produced by miners across the world. This means a total of $6.8 Billion dollars will be mined in 2020 alone. The biggest currency being mined is Bitcoin – with a 1,800 bitcoin being produced per day totalling to a value of $15,833,340 USD. To put everything into perspective, the ICOs only raised a total of $371 Million in 2019 according to icodata.io. Mining is currently the second largest industry behind exchanges (source: Bloomberg).
Miners upgrading and replacing older hardware (often confused with “miner capitulation”)
Ironically the miners have perpetuated myths such
as “mining is not profitable” or “the bitcoin mining death spiral” to deter
new players coming into this profitable space. Many reports in 2019 have
featured erroneous calculations that Bitcoin mining is not profitable. This is
because researchers have incorrectly assumed that miners are getting
expensive commercial electricity costs of $0.07-12 cents per kilo-watt
hour. This is far from the truth – mining operations receive considerable
discounts as they purchase low priority power (meaning they will get cut off
grid in the event of a surge in power usage). The actual figure is in the range
of $0.01 – $0.03 per kw/h. This means miners are generating large amounts of
profit. It is the biggest industry in the blockchain space, and yet it is
surrounded by both mystery and false information.
New
Hardware (ASICs) is game changing
New high efficiency Bitcoin mining hardware is coming in 2020 will be a huge game changer. Bitmain will be releasing the new Antminer s19 based on the 7nm manufacturing process. Competing ASIC manufactures are also making new chips, with Innosilicon and Canaan hot on the heels. This die shrink increase the hashpower of chips whilst reducing power consumption at the same time. These two factors mean these new units will be more efficient – the biggest factor contributing to Bitcoin mining profitability.
Hashr8 – New MiningOS
New Hashr8 OS
New operating systems dedicated for mining cryptocurrencies such as Hashr8 are also being launched this year. These OSes will make it easier for commercial, enthusiast and retail miners to improve mining efficiency and management. This is a huge positive trend for the industry as a whole as it makes professional tools mainstream and accessible to the general public. This will level the playing field and reduce the gap between large-scale miners.
Why does Bitcoin always “pump” in short periods of time? Can we benefit on this type of price action. Are OTC Bitcoin trading volume flows responsible for this type of price action and how do we learn about Over-the-Counter trading.
In this article, we’ll tackle one of the greatest mysteries in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investing space – namely why does Bitcoin prices have drastic price movements in short bursts of time. This type of movement is almost commonplace in Cryptocurrency investing, for example just today Bitcoin prices moved from $8150 to $8450, then to $8800 in the space of 4 hours, with two big green candles leading the charge. What’s also surprising is that there is no fundamental reason to cause these movements – they are not triggered by a single world or political event. In this article we’ll look at the must possible reason behind what’s happening.
Let’s get one thing out of the way – sudden Bitcoin pumps are not executed by a large group of people with small amounts of money. If this was the case, this group of people would have to be well organised, and information about such pumps are bound to leak out. We would know well in advance of the event happening. It would be common knowledge – especially considering how fast information spreads.
This leads to the next conclusion – Bitcoin pumps are executed by small groups of people with access to the OTC market. We already know the world has high wealth concentration – 1% of the world has 99% of the wealth. The 1% can easily transact enough fiat to cause these sudden shifts in the price intentionally or otherwise.
This theory is validated by reports of strong OTC volume flow in the past few weeks. This is across all trading desks around the world, especially with strong volume coming out of China and Southeast Asia. Recently reports have surfaced that OTC desks such as Genesis Block are expanding and opening new offices in Thailand to deal with the extra volume.
Cover Protocol ($COVER) is one of those projects that can really have a solid impact on the future of decentralised finance (DeFi). Why? Because users want to sleep well knowing that in case of exploits, they won’t lose their money. Trusting the protocols and the team behind them is not enough anymore.
With the dawn of decentralized finance, more smart contract risks have arisen. Most contracts aren’t audited, and if they are, malicious actors are always on the lookout for a vulnerability in the code. As we have seen in 2020 nothing is really secure, whether it is a protocol built by one of the best developers in crypto space ($EMN) or the code has been audited. Anything can be exploited, and we need to remember it.
Therefore, investors are cautious of interacting with DeFi protocols for fear of losing funds.
Cover Protocol is a blockchain-based peer-to-peer coverage market for decentralized finance. The platform allows DeFi users to hedge against risks due to smart contracts’ fallacies (especially useful when farming or staking). Thanks to fungible cover tokens and letting the market itself set coverage prices, the protocol shifts from the need of relying on a bonding curve to determine the cost of being insured.
Insurance guards against hacks and bug exploits that lead to loss of deposited assets. Notably, Cover doesn’t blindly allow DeFi protocols on their platform. It performs a thorough background check considering its security measures, total value locked and other features, all necessary to determine user risk levels.
Background
The project is led by a team with vast experience in blockchain programming and traditional finance. Among the team members we also find Andre Cronje as their advisor.
Coverage protocols are the solution. These are platforms incentivizing DeFi users and developers to provide decentralized insurance. An excellent example of such a platform is Cover Protocol.
Here we examine how Cover handles insurance in a decentralized industry. In addition, we shall take a look at who’s eligible to use the platform.
How are Fungible Cover Tokens used?
Fungible Cover tokens are minted on the platform, when users interacts with the smart contract. Cover determines the protocols to be covered, type of collateral needed, amount of collateral, and insurance length.
Diagram by Cover Protocol core dev, crypto_pumpkin
Once a deposit is made into the contract, two types of tokens can be created; CLAIM and NOCLAIM. For the moment, Cover only supports DAI as collateral and keeps a 1:1 ratio between collateral provided and the tokens.
The two minted tokens work in opposite ways in the system. The CLAIM token enables its holder to receive a payout once a contention is approved. On the other hand, NOCLAIM enables holders to redeem the collateral when a filed petition fails to go through or the token expires after nothing notable has happened to that particular project within the expiration date.
Each CLAIM-NOCLAIM tokens refer to only one project and provide unique info. Example of denomination (with $CURVE):
Example tokens for a coverage on Curve (has no accepted claim) that expires 12/31/2020:
Symbol for CLAIM token
COVER_CURVE_2020_12_31_DAI_0_CLAIM
Symbol for NOCLAIM token
COVER_CURVE_2020_12_31_DAI_0_NOCLAIM
Usually, one DAI equals to one CLAIM + one NOCLAIM token. As such, it gives its holder exposure to both outcomes during a petition. Depending on theresult of a filed allegation, the values change. If a claim is approved, CLAIM value goes to 1 and NOCLAIM to 0. The opposite is true viceversa. Holders can deposit the two token types on the Balancer pools.
Cover Protocol creates two Balancer pools; one with 80% CLAIM coins and 20% collateral token (DAI) and the second with 98% NOCLAIM and 2% DAI. In this way, IL (Impermanent Loss) is minimized. The pools are created once a new cover is launched on the protocol.
Types of Participants in The Cover Ecosystem
To give life to the platform, Cover encourages the participation of market makers, insurance providers, and insurance seekers.
Market makers – They provide liquidity and hold both types of minted tokens. Market makers receive rewards from fees charged in the respective liquidity pools. Fees charged usually range between 2-3%. Notably, they can liquidate either token at will.
Coverage providers – Unlike market makers, they are insurance providers and only hold NOCLAIM coins. Note that they receive both token types like everyone else when they deposit collateral in the system. However, they can sell CLAIM tokens for a premium and retain NOCLAIM coins.
Coverage Providers (CP) on Cover Protocol
Fees charged on the NOCLAIM pool act as their incentives. Cover encourages teams seeking insurance for their platform to be insurers to boost trust and confidence in their offering. In the event of a claim payout, they would lose all their funds, since NOCLAIM tokens would become worthless.
Insurance seekers – They hold CLAIM coins and insure their deposited funds. Apart from being covered, they’re rewarded for providing liquidity in the CLAIM pool.
How Does Cover Protocol Handle Claims?
Allegations are a normal occurrence in insurance-focused products. The network provides a petition filing window of 72 hours after an incident. Although Cover is a decentralized platform, it handles contentions in four simple steps.
First, a case is brought against an insured product after paying a fee, which Cover calls the Claim File Fee. However, to keep spam attacks and malicious actors at safe distance, the network increases the cost each time a new allegation is filed against an insured product.
The second phase involves a vote from $COVER holders (more on the token later). If the community votes unanimously in favour of the submission, it goes through to the third step.
Claim Management Process (CM) for Cover Protocol
At the third “level”, the Claim Validity Committee (CVC) or Auditors review the petition to determine whether it meets all the requirements. The CVC also deliberates on the payout percentage , which can be up to 100%.
Note that five auditors review a single contention and half of them must vote in favour of it to be accepted. The last step is for $COVER holders to redeem their payout for the accepted allegation.
Note that if a case is rejected during the community voting phase, it can be re-filed as a Forced Claim, which is much more expensive. A bulldozed submission goes through the first, third, and fourth steps.
Cover Token and Governance
The native currency on Cover Protocol is $COVER. $COVER acts as a governance token and gives access to the Balancer pools. Additionally, as we saw, it allows holders to participate in the claims management subsection.
System users can use COVER tokens to provide liquidity on SushiSwap via interacting with the ETH-COVER liquidity pool. Depositing the platform’s native currency in this pool opens the door to receiving a percentage of fees from traders plus additional $COVER through staking the LPs on Cover Protocol.
What makes Cover different from other Insurance Projects?
Cover Protocol is not the only project users can refer to when looking at ways to protect their investments. The leader in this space is probably still Nexus Mutual.
As the name implies, it acts more like a classic insurance company. A user looking for a coverage should go on their website and find the right one to buy. He can choose how much to cover and for how long. A key difference is that, to be able to complete the process, a KYC is required. Moreover, this is the only way to buy $NXM, as you can’t find them anywhere else. For general investors who believe in the project but don’t need coverage, there is a wrapped version of the token which is normally tradable, $WNXM.
CLAIM/NO CLAIM tokens, unlike $NXM, are just normal tokens and are not connected to any identity (no KYC needed). At will, they can be traded or given to anyone you want. Their utility won’t change.
DEVELOPING STORY: $COVER exploit/hack?
On 28th December 2020 an attacker exploited a bug in the protocol’s smart contracts. The exploit appears to be an abuse of the minting exploit where the attacker managed to mint 40 quintillion COVER tokens and sold around USD$5 million worth of COVER tokens. Several hours later, one of the attackers returned the stolen funds (i.e. 4,350 ETH) with the message “Next time, take care of your own shit.” and burned the remaining tokens.
The Team are still investigating the exploit and mentioned they are looking into providing a new $COVER token and how to return the stolen and returned ETH to affected LP tokens.
Most importantly, the Team are urging people not to buy $COVER tokens. Exchanges such as Binance have stopped trading on $COVER, particularly as a large trading group of 16,000 members had dumped the price to short the token.
Hello everyone, we are exploring providing a NEW $COVER token through a snapshot before the minting exploit was abused. The 4350 ETH that has been returned by the attacker will also be handled through a snapshot to the LP token holders.We are still investigating. Do NOT buy COVER
In a community-driven effort to mitigate the damage, Leo Cheng of CREAM has sent out a “call to action” on behalf of COVER and available developers from the yEarn Ecosystem have come together to lend help and support to the Cover Protocol team.
We are working with multiple teams and individuals within the Yearn Ecosystem. We will provide updates as they come. We can not thank everyone enough for their help in this unfortunate situation. Thank you to @leokcheng the call of action. We will continue to mitigate this. pic.twitter.com/XY3wshQBZe
In the following hours, the Cover team has released a post-mortem article to explain what happened in details and confirming that the exploit affected the minting contract and the token only. The lines of code “incriminated” have been always present in the code and went unnoticed during the audit.
The team acknowledged their fault too in missing the “amplifier”, that allowed for extra rewards to be minted, and announced a snapshot to distribute a new token and the returned funds. The snapshot will will be taken at block 11541218, one block before the first major exploited mint.
Compensation Plan and new Token
Affected users of the attack can check their compensation eligibility on this page. Basically, all $COVER holders and liquidity providers of the /ETH pair could be compensated, even those who were keeping their tokens on a CEX. Unfortunately, unclaimed rewards are impossible to withdraw as as the minting rights from the Blacksmith have been removed.
The team, consequently to brainstorm with advisors including Andre Cronje, has decided to discard the idea of new shield mining. The total supply, with the launch of the new token, will be the same amount that is eligible for migration.
The Cover v2 Core contracts are undergoing an internal review at the moment and the exploit hasn’t affected the core contracts, so the project will continue with its development.
On January the 5th the new $COVER token was made available for claim. All the details can be found on the medium page of Cover Protocol.
Conclusion
With DeFi smart contracts repeatedly experiencing hacks and exploits from malicious actors, Cover Protocol provides a critical service by allowing DeFi users to insure their deposits and not be worried anymore. Furthermore, encouraging a product team to provide coverage offers insights into whether it believes in its own protocol security. Consequently, it boosts DeFi adoption.
Incentivized liquidity provision allows coverage providers, seekers, and market makers to receive trading fees charged on respective pools and rewards while helping other users at the same time.
Updated on January 6
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
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.
Proof of stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism introduced in 2011 to improve upon the current most popular algorithm in use – Proof of Work (PoW). The main advantage of Proof of Stake two-fold it improves the speed of the Blockchain and also reduces the amount of electrical waste. Instead of consuming vasts amounts of computational power to “mine” for cryptocurrencies, Proof of Stake elects stakeholders to validate transactions. This election processes depends on the amount of cryptocurrency held by a node, hence the name Proof of Stake.
What is Proof of Stake
To truly understand PoS it is easier if we also explain the current system being used by Ethereum, and that is proof of work (Ethereum Mining). So basically when Ethereum is transferred, miners group that up into a ledger called a block chain and to do this they have to solve a puzzle. In creating this blockchain, a lot of computational power is also used. The amount of reward you get for creating a blockchain is a transaction reward. However, this depends on how much work you ie. how fast you can calculate and solve the puzzle.
So this is all going to go away once proof of stake comes along. With proof of stake, you don’t actually solve any puzzles. You remove the puzzle solving element from the system and thus change the way the reward is distributed. So instead of proving how fast you can calculate with hashrate, you need to prove how much Ethereum you own. You do this with something called a master node. When you create a master node, you have to lock up a certain amount of Ethereum to prove that you have it and rewards are distributed according to how much proof of stake you have. One can create multiple master nodes with a lot of Ethereum inside and you’ll earn more through this method.
Will Ethereum adopt Proof of Stake?
So you might have heard that Ethereum is considering changing its distributed consensus system to something called proof of stake. Here, we will try to explain what this is as well as how it may affect you.
So you might have heard that Ethereum is considering changing its distributed consensus system to something called proof of stake. Here, we will try to explain what this is as well as how it may affect you.
How does this affect me?
So that’s going to be extremely interesting for everyone. We’ve seen proof of stake currencies before. Dash is one example where 50% of the rewards is done by mining and the other 50% is done by proof of stake. And there is PIVX which is 100% proof of stake. The advantage of proof of stake is huge. One benefit is that you no longer have to do the calculations which mean you save a lot of computational power. Another one is that you actually lock up Ethereum. By locking up Ethereum you effectively create more scarcity which means the price should go up.
So hopefully, it’s going to happen sometime this year. To do so, the people in charge of Ethereum have to make sure the code is ready and stable. And they also have to make sure they have the support of the miners. That’s going to be an interesting thing to see in the coming months because if the miners don’t support this move then what can happen is that it might break up Ethereum again just like last year.
But there are mechanisms to help along this process. Ethereum actually has kind of a ‘time bomb’ that would blow up if the switch is not made. The switch has always been planned and it’s in a sense been hard coded to happen sometime so that’s kind of interesting to see how this will progress.
Miners also do not need to worry they will be without a job. There are other currencies that can be mined with the current hardware. For example, if you use AMD GPUs, you can start mining Zcash which is also extremely profitable right now. So I do see this as being very exciting for everyone.
The Harmony (ONE) protocol takes on the challenge of scaling blockchain without sacrificing decentralization. This has been the holy grail of challenges because solving scaling usually involves sacrificing decentralization – however Harmony maintains an open-consensus where anyone can join. This is achieved by:
Proof-of Stake – Harmony holders can participate in network consensus and improve network security
Deep Sharding – network is split into different teams or “shards” that work together and increase transaction efficiency
Network Optimized – Network communications are split into small fragments and shared (Kademlia routing)
Harmony protocol has a sharding-based, fully scalable, secure and efficient blockchain. This means that the consensus mechanism can provide the blockchain solution necessary for the future of DApps. Even though Proof of Work networks were initially highly decentralized this element can be diluted with high usage. As such, the consensus mechanism for Harmony ensures it is still decentralized and permission-less. These are critical parts of future relevance and sustainability.
Check out the Boxmining interview with the Co-Founder of Harmony Protocol, Nick White for an introduction to the project.
Interview with Co-Founder Nick White
The
Competitive Scalability Field
Providing scalability is a noble endeavor and unsurprisingly, Harmony will not be first to do it. This is because the field already features an array of running projects that also aim to provide the same solution. These rival projects include: EOS, Zilliqa, Algorand, and others. Harmony distinguishes itself by having a solid proof-of-stake system with state sharding. State sharding splits the network into teams that work together. This allows the network to grow faster as more nodes are added (rather than stay stagnant). Chains and transactions are co-ordinated by a beacon chain.
“Neither of the projects mentioned above has a blockchain which will be performant, scalable, and as low cost as the Harmony blockchain will be.”
Nick White, Co-founder of Harmony
Co-founder Nick White touts the fact that Harmony has advantages over and above typical scalability projects. These are in the form of improved user experience, reduction of costs and the ability to support larger user bases for the decentralized app community. This will in turn draw more developers and projects to be a part of the Harmony project community.
Harmony Protocol Consensus
Needless to say,
the target audience is not only limited to DApps developers but also
established companies with greater user bases who wish to integrate blockchain
technology into their products. White contends that such apps have had the
problem of slow and existing networks. Harmony, on the other hand, makes their
operations possible by efficient and affordable solutions.
The
Challenge of Attracting New Nodes
Attracting new nodes to the network is definitely an issue for the network. To this matter, their Co-Founder and CEO, Stephen Tse stated as follows:
“Harmony is building a robust ecosystem and we
are in talks with every major staking as a service company to bring them on
board and help grow Harmony’s validator ecosystem.”
As such, the project has a proposal to lower the barrier for those who wish to participate in the network. This is in the form of lower resource requirements (specfically, 4GB) for new entrants. In addition, Harmony will write scripts that will make the initial setup simple as well as block rewards for staking. The economic model that underlines that is yet to be clear but stakers have the assurance of rewards for participation.
Binance Partnership
Binance exchange has recently announced the upcoming Harmony Protocol Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). This IEO will take place on 28th May 2019 and aims to raise funds for a project whose operation is a lot like its name. This is because the idea of providing a pertinent demand for cryptosphere, scalability, is something that can draw on collective human collaboration in the innovative platform.
Harmony will be on Binance Launchpad
The Binance IEO has been known to be a boost for its featured projects. This is because of the marketing catalyst as well as investor attraction. As such, Harmony can reach millions more with the Binance partnership. The partnership will also be in line with Harmony’s vision to provide scalability to billions across the world.
White stated that the team has motivation from the global outlook that Binance provides. Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the lives of those both in developed and developing countries. This means that parts of Africa and Latin America, both within the scope of Harmony targets, can also achieve meaningful progress.
With that in mind, the Binance Launchpad will take place on 28th May 2019. Notably, the process will follow the lottery format that is typical of Binance now. The token price is $0.003175 for one Harmony (ONE) token with a hardcap of US$5 million.
Verdict
Harmony Roadmap 2019
In summary Harmony makes a solid stab at tackling blockchain scalablity whilst keeping an open consensus. The highlight of Harmony is the ability to do state sharding rather than simple transactional sharding, allowing more headroom for future scaling without congesting beacon chains.
