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Category: Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a sector within the cryptocurrency and blockchain space which aims to provide a decentralized version of the products available in traditional finance- without central control and at a lower cost with potentially higher returns. These products include loans, interest-bearing deposits and borrowing services.

The advantages of decentralized finance are that it addresses the problems we have with the traditional banking system. For example, decentralized finance protocols are controlled by multiple people, and all participants are required to abide by the rules written into the smart contracts underlying the protocols.

  • InsurAce Protocol: Insuring decentralised finance?

    InsurAce Protocol: Insuring decentralised finance?

    The cryptocurrency industry has enjoyed rapid growth and adoption thanks to its accessibility and open-source nature. Different people from all over the world can participate freely in crypto projects, with the option of anonymity. And thanks to this ease of access, the total locked value (TVL) in DeFi grew to over $3 Billion in 2020 and $44 billion in 2021, according to DeFi Pulse.

    However, as an industry based majorly on the internet with trillions of liquid digital assets, it is no surprise that it makes the perfect attraction for hackers hoping to run off with a score.

    Luckily, in the decentralized finance (DeFi) corner, liquidity providers (LPs) can still protect their investment through insurance protocols, each of which is armed with their unique solutions – one of the more promising ones is InsurAce.

    Background

    InsurAce was created by Oliver Xie, a cryptocurrency enthusiast and computer programmer. The decentralized insurance protocol was developed during the peak of DeFi growth in the third quarter of 2020, launching officially in October of the same year.

    The protocol is headquartered in Singapore, led by Oliver’s vision and steadfastness. After just two months of existence, the protocol was able to raise $1 Million in seed funding, from renowned institutions such as DeFiance Capital, Signum Capital, and Parafi Capital. Later, in February 2021, and an additional $3 Million was raised during its strategic round.

    They currently run a tight team, with a few experts and professionals at the helm of affairs, most of which are based in Singapore.

    What is InsurAce?

    InsurAce is an insurance protocol that offers DeFi assets a reliable, decentralized, and flexible coverage. Users are also able to enjoy low premiums and a sustainable investment return.

    InsurAce’s flexibility is its major highlight as it gives users the ability to cover their assets with a portfolio-based product design that optimizes cover cost. Users would also benefit from their cross-chain coverage and wallet accessibility, along with the protection of their assets and investments.

    How Does InsurAce Protocol Work?

    As both a DeFi and Insurance protocol, InsurAce runs two different arms that work synergistically to benefit all parties involved. As a decentralized platform, each role is filled by its users, each of which are rewarded with the INSUR token.

    The protocol also offers a more streamlined experience with its permissionless feature, where users can enjoy full anonymity without the KYC process that complicates other DeFi Insurance platforms.

    The Two Arms of InsurAce Protocol

    The first part of the investment arm involves contribution by a first-party known as the investor. As the name suggests, investors finance portfolios, each portfolio with its own risk/reward ratio which investors can choose from.

    The next party is the insurer, and these are participants that stake assets in the mutual insurance pool created by investors. The more direct class of users are the “insured” – they are the insurance customers, and they get the benefit of buying insurance covers, either in single or multiple pools.

    2 Arms of InsurAce Protocol (Image credit: InsurAce whitepaper)

    Features

    The InsurAce protocol will be responsible for providing a supporting architecture for the smooth operation and integration of the arms. To start with, the protocol will function to ensure adequate evaluation of risk to manage losses.

    Two risk assessment procedures exist. One with experts analyzing potential assets and pools with thorough auditing and code analysis. After which, a community assessment is carried out by volunteer members for further analysis and to come up with a risk score.

    It will also be in charge of claim requests, for insurers to check out their buys.

    More important, however, is the availability of liquidity for all users. To ascertain this, InsurAce plans to develop an enriched product line that is capable of covering a diverse number of DeFi protocols. By providing insurance services to multiple DeFi projects the platform retains its flexibility, remains open to opportunities while keeping tokens moving.

    The insurers would enjoy access to a wide range of asset pools in addition to considerably reduced cover costs and zero premium protection.

    SCR Mining and Governance

    When users bring in capital to stake into different mutual pools, they are rewarded with INSUR tokens as incentives. This process is known as Mining, and it offers rewards based on the magnitude of user contribution to the platform.

    As with most other DeFi projects, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) would be responsible for managing and regulating the activities of InsurAce protocol. To be eligible to become a member of the DAO, users must own INSUR Tokens.

    An advisory board made up of InsurAnce employees and independent experts will oversee the affairs of the DAO community, provide guidelines for its operation, and provide a contingency plan if the decentralized voting mechanism should fail.

    INSUR Token

    The INSUR token is the standard token on the InsurAce platform. It is based on Ethereum’s ERC20 standards and serves a variety of utility functions.

    As a governance token, it confers voting rights on its holders. Users who have the INSUR token can propose changes, vote on issues and proposals, and participate in claim assessments on the protocol. When a token holder participates actively in governance, he becomes entitled to a share of the fees generated on InsurAce.

    The token also incentivizes involvement in all the different roles available on the protocol. It serves as the reward for mining through capital provision, liquidity support, staking in investment pools and products.

    There will be a total of 100 million INSUR tokens in supply. And it is planned to be launched through a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP) on Balancer from March 15th to March 17th, 2021. The proposal would see a total of 6,675,000 tokens vested after the LBP ends – with about 45% of the total token distribution kept in SCR mining reserves.

    Conclusion

    The sheer amount of fortune going into DeFi project and associated mining mechanisms is too much to leave to the whims of hackers and project developers. The impressive progress made by pioneer insurance projects like Nexus Mutual and Augur should not be taken for granted either.

    However, these insurance protocols are still scarce in numbers and hardly enough to cover the ever-growing need of the DeFi sector.  Which makes it difficult not to root for a platform like InsurAce that puts everything in place, taking the best out of existing protocols and adding a fresh detail.

    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.

  • WAX ($WAXP): The King of NFTs?

    WAX ($WAXP): The King of NFTs?

    WAX Protocol ($WAXP) stands for Worldwide Asset eXchange. They are one of the safest and most convenient ways to create, buy, sell and trade virtual items i.e. non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through an integrated DPoS blockchain platform designed to work hand-in-hand with a microservice layer to improve the digital goods market’s infrastructure. Obtaining WAX knowledge has enabled innovators to develop a highly-connected and sophisticated marketplace that has brought a lot of value in digital goods projects.

    This information here will help you learn how to incorporate the WAX Protocol within the WAX Platform and how the two tools complement each other. It’s worth noting that the WAX Platform is composed of the WAX Protocol and a microservice layer.

    Learn more about WAX with our interview with Evan Vandenberg, Director of Business Development at WAX.

    Profitable digital collectibles and blockchain gaming (with WAX blockchain)

    Background

    The WAX platform was founded by William Quigley and Jonathan Yantis, together they have vast experience in blockchain technology. Quigley is also the Managing Director of Cashel Enterprises, a cryptocurrency-focused investment vehicle which has incubated and invested in over 40 blockchain and cryptocurrency projects. Meanwhile, Yantis also works as WAX’s CEO.

    The global growth of the digital goods marketplace has experienced enormous challenges for the past decade, but WAX technology has helped in finding solutions that spur the development of the sector. Although some users think that the technology has arrived late when challenges are already overwhelming, it’s actually the perfect time since blockchain has matured enough to satisfy the requirements for the WAX system to succeed.

    As the digital goods market continues to expand, it’s essential to acknowledge that tokenized consumer products and virtual items have played an instrumental role in blockchain growth. Virtual items like in video games alone have generated more than USD$140 billion for the market. On the other hand, tokenized consumer products have realized over USD$1.8 trillion.

    Considering that WAX attempts to offer remedies for a marketplace with a combined market value of over USD$2 trillion, it’s easy to realize the magnitude of the problem. The first year of incorporating WAX Protocol operations on major players like VGO and dApps has realized over USD$150 million worth of trading volume.

    What is WAX?

    Wax is a marketplace for digital assets, serving more than 400 million online players that sell, buy, and collect in-game items. Their suite of blockchain-based tools allows people to trade digital or physical items instantly and securely to anyone in the world. WAX’s platform brings together a community of collectors and traders, buyers and sellers, creators and gamers, merchants, creators of dApps and even game developers.

    Examples of what WAX can do include buying and selling gift cards to people across the globe, or building your own online store using the B2B tools created by WAX. WAX also allows people to create NFTs and send them to others.

    WAX Blockchain

    The WAX network works on a consensus model that relies on various WAX Guilds to enhance blockchain production. WAX utilizes Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), which depends heavily on WAX Guilds to ensure success in blockchain generation.

    The WAX ecosystem has witnessed considerable growth due to the incorporation of the WAX Token Model, which is designed to ensure success in various aspects such as voting, staking, and rewards. The Wax Staking Reward is a feature that has encouraged community participation because it allows users to vote and access rewards.

    With WAX tokens, users have immense options to explore. For instance, if staked WAX tokens haven’t been placed, a token holder will require platforms such as Scatter and Lynx to automate the process.

    WAX Tokens ($WAXP)

    WAX tokens ($WAXP) power the entire WAX ecosystem. They are used to reward participants in the chain and enable contributors to receive ten times the number of tokens purchased. This strategy makes it easier to calculate all microtransactions on the platform.

    One benefit of owning WAX tokens is that you get to earn even more tokens by voting for WAX guilds. This is called the WAX staking reward. This process is hassle-free and takes just a minute or two to join. Furthermore, you can unstake your tokens at any time.

    WAX and DeFi? WAX’s new tokenomic model explained

    In a recent announcement, WAX mentioned they will have a new tokenomic model hoping to capitalise on the rapid growth and popularity of NFTs and decentralised finance (DeFi). Their plan is to link the value generated from creating, selling and trading NFTs to Ethereum. WAX considers it different from other DeFi platforms because they consider these activities to be able to provide a sustainable source of value to stakers.

    How the new WAX inter-blockchain tokenomic model would work is that the operational functions of NFTs would still be done on the WAX blockchain, whilst Ethereum will become, “…the capital vault of the WAX NFT empire”. There are 4 components to this new tokenomic model, namely:

    • WAXP to Ethereum bridge: this new bridge will enable WAXP token holders to convert their tokens into WAXE.
    • WAXE: WAXE is a new Ethereum ERC20 utility token. Participants of the WAX tokenomics will need to burn their WAXP tokens to get WAXE tokens via the Ethereum bridge. They would then stake the WAXE in the Ethereum Distribution Contract.
    • WAXG: WAXG is a new Ethereum ERC20 governance token which will be distributed to WAXE stakers based on a set timetable and proportionate to their percentage of the WAX Economic Activity Pool. Token holders will be able to govern the allocation and distribution of economic value on the platform.
    • WAX Economic Activity Pool: This is a smart contract which will accumulate a percentage of generated WAX fees to be converted to ETH for distribution to WAXE stakers or given to WAXG token holders that decide to burn their tokens.
    WAX tokenomic process
    WAX tokenomic process (Image credit: Medium)

    For full details of WAX’s new tokenomic model, check out their article on Medium.

    WAX Guilds and Rewards

    A WAX blockchain contains 21 WAX Guilds that qualify to earn a reward. Remember, blocks can only be produced after the chain meets the threshold to earn rewards. The rewards are awarded depending on the number of blocks that every WAX Guild can produce. Standby Guilds are considered as backup operators that help to generate a chain on request.

    WAX Performance Metrics

    WAX has been configured in such a way that it releases two blocks per second. It’s worth noting that each WAX Guild can only produce one block at a time. If a block fails to come out at a specific time, other blocks will jump the queue to ensure a continuous process.

    A block that has been skipped will contend for a space in the memory pool to compete for guilds’ inclusion in the next turn. More than 3000 blockchains are usually transacted each second in the WAX system. The transaction rate is two times swifter than the VISA system can procure in the same period.

    The Future of WAX technology

    WAX Platform doesn’t only work to offer remedy for the current problems but also offers a roadmap for future operations. WAX Developer Hive is tasked with the duty of technical service provision, tutorials, and other simulations. Besides, WAX developers equally provide vital resources that make implementations successful.

    The technology has also incorporated features that will make it convenient to evaluate whether the system passes the transparency test among communities.

    Also, there’s room to allow interoperation with other chains to enhance performance. NFTs are among the candidates that need microservices and can thrive with the WAX Platform.

    Conclusion

    Gamers from across the world can substantially benefit from its secure and decentralized digital items marketplace. As WAX Platform continues to provide more improvements, developers will find several ways to create features that would better serve gamers in terms of digital goods trading.

    The platform is also expected to play an instrumental role with digital media and is set to welcome over three billion users in the coming five years.  

    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.

  • Deriswap: Another Andre Cronje success story?

    Deriswap: Another Andre Cronje success story?

    Deriswap is the latest and unreleased project by Andre Cronje, announced for the first time in a Medium post on 23rd November 2020. Andre is a well known developer in the Defi space (“the Father of Defi” as many define him) and famous is his interest in trying to simplify users’ lives when approaching protocols. For example Yearn Finance ($YFI), launched in July 2020, automatically distributes users’ funds to various swap-based DeFi protocols based on their returns, risks, and other factors. Keep3r Network (which came in October) on the other hand, is a platform for projects that need or wish to outsource their “jobs” (operations) to third parties.

    How has Defi improved over time?

    Only a year ago, decentralized finance (DeFi) sounded so foreign, attracting just a handful of die-hard crypto enthusiasts and supporters. Fast-forward to 2020, and the space has become some sort of a sub-sector of crypto, leading to the creation of networks which address various sectors. Most of these platforms concentrate on yield farming through swaps. Other options and futures-focused systems also came on board.

    Unfortunately, while these systems brought solutions, they also complicated the space. For instance, new questions had arisen such as which one is the easiest to use, which one has the best yields, etc.

    Luckily, yield aggregator platforms such as Yearn Finance, as we said, came to the rescue of liquidity providers (LPs).

    However, the segmentation problem still isn’t solved. This is where Deriswap comes in. The protocol ensures capital efficiency by aggregating services offered by other platforms such as Uniswap, Bancor, Deribit, Primitive, Compound, and Aave.

    What is Deriswap? What problems is it trying to solve?

    Andre Cronje
    Andre Cronje

    Deriswap is a decentralized platform combining swaps, options, futures, and loans into a single product.

    Cronje wanted to, among other things, guard DeFi users against the high costs incurred when moving away from the money market, as is the case with options-focused networks such as Hegic. Additionally, Cronje’s vision is to shift from segregated to consolidated liquidity.

    Some advantages of pooled liquidity include less price slippage and fees. Also, he wanted to strengthen asset-settled instead of cash-settled options.

    Under the microscope, Deriswap is inspired by Uniswap. In an interview, Cronje noted that the platform was born after adding roughly 150-lines of code to the Uniswap protocol. However, things like math functions had to be developed from scratch to address unique computations on the new system.

    What products will Deriswap offer?

    • Swaps make use of Uniswap’s Automated Market Maker (AMM) formula “x * y = k” and allow LPs to provide liquidity as pairs of two coins such as Bitcoin (BTC)-Ethereum (ETH). Their incentives originate from trading costs.
    • Options – Options tap into swaps to hedge against volatility. For example, positive trading costs cancel losses from settled options. Deriswap makes use of TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price) oracles to implement American-styled options that have no hard-coded settlement time.
    Deriswap Interface
    Deriswap Interface

    Since settlement occurs in pairs, call and put functions have to exhaust assets from either side. That is, a call request buys the entire amount while a sell order auctions the absolute value.

    Deriswap options allow users to maximize fees whether the market moves sideways or is too volatile. In case it moves sideways, for example, there are fewer trading fees but high options fees. When it’s unstable, vice versa, the trading costs increase while the options charges are reduced.

    • Futures – Futures ride on the time element found on swaps. This, vice versa, is “just a normal trade” in Cronje’s words. It allows one party in a contract to pay a premium as well as the base asset.
    • Loans – Loans are a natural evolution from futures. Interestingly, the deposited currencies pair back each other. For example, assuming you deposited BTC-ETH and want an ETH loan, BTC serves as collateral. This then determines the amount of ETH eligible for borrowing.

    Once the ETH is returned, BTC is given back. Otherwise, BTC is forfeited. It is important to note that loans can be settled before their due date.

    What are Deriswap’s advantages?

    We could think of the platform as a Yearn replica which doesn’t only interact with swaps like Uniswap and Bancor. It deploys capitals to the entire ecosystem of options, loans, and futures. Therefore we can outline key points such as:

    • users can deploy funds on selected platforms from a single interface. For instance, they could allocate 30 percent to Aave to power decentralized borrowing, 30 percent to Deribit for options, and 40 percent to Uniswap for trading.
    • distributing capital to various unrelated platforms allows Liquidity Providers to use the same amount of money for different things.
    • with different spheres of Deriswap complementing each other, LPs guarantee returns even when one market is dormant or unfavorable. For example, when the market has low volatility, they can quickly turn to options and loans. This while a highly-volatile market provides an opportunity to make a killing from trading and futures.
    • Deriswap makes existing DeFi products functional and cheaper
    • … and accommodates what Cronje calls “lazy liquidity”. This is liquidity from LPs who don’t have time to be active on a platform. Instead, they provide liquidity and come back after six months to check for yields.

    When is Deriswap launching?

    As of today, there is no official release date and not much info has been disclosed. Through a series of tweets, articles and community posts announcing Yearn Finance’s last collaborations, we came to know that Deriswap will be completed and launched together with the Sushiswap team. The partnership should biuld the next Sushiswap trading platform on top of Deriswap.

    In this post, we can also read that the two teams will cooperate “in a stealth project following Deriswap release”.

    To confirm this “aura of mystery” behind Deriswap and last Cronje’s announcements in general, “cryptomaniacs” are welcome to bet on what this fourth notorious project in his last tweet could be

    https://twitter.com/AndreCronjeTech/status/1335846595858980867

    Is there a Deriswap token?

    Cronje is considered by the cryptocurrency community as having the “Midas touch”, where every project he touches turns into gold. Therefore, people are anxious to know if and when Deriswap will launch a token so that they can dive in early and buy it for a cheap price and sell it later. Most DeFi protocols have their own limited supply token, so it is expected that Deriswap will eventually also have a token. However, the Deriswap protocol is currently undergoing audit so there is no official Deriswap token yet. There is also no news on whether there will even be a token at all.

    However, this has not stopped some people from issuing fake Deriswap tokens for unsuspecting crypto enthusiasts to buy. In one such scam, people deposited over 150 ETH in less than 15 minutes, which the scammer promptly took and absconded.  

    Conclusion

    In an ecosystem where liquidity is thinly spread across multiple platforms, Deriswap acts as a consolidator in order to increase capital efficiency. As such, a DeFi enthusiast can deploy his capital into loans, options, swaps, and futures platforms. Consequently, they can receive incentives, even when one industry is stagnant. Moreover, the use of the TWAP oracles eliminate the risk of widespread price variance.

    Since Deriswap is developed by a seasoned programmer, the platform is likely to turn out as another success, just like Yearn.

    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.

  • Polkafoundry ($PKF): creating NFT and DeFi apps on Polkadot?

    Polkafoundry ($PKF): creating NFT and DeFi apps on Polkadot?

    Polkadot decentralised applications (DApps) have been amongst the most decent performing crypto assets in the last couple of months. Their popularity stems from the fact that they are cross-chain compatible and future-proof to a certain extent. However, there is a catch.

    Contrary to the popular belief, the Polkadot blockchain hasn’t yet launched fully. While it’s a great concept being skillfully deployed, much remains to be done. In the absence of a live product, the developers need extra tooling and support to design and test their products. Enter PolkaFoundry.

    This article takes a look at PolkaFoundry, its background, and history, as well as its main features and architecture.

    Background

    PolkaFoundry is a project founded in 2018 and led by an experienced crypto team, who has dealt in the blockchain industry for a long period of time. Its CEO and co-founder is Thi Truong, who served as a senior manager with famed AMM and liquidity aggregator Kyber Network before. Ron Nguyen is the head of partnerships, having extensive experience in marketing.

    Other important members are Trang Mai (Head of Research & Development), Huy Hoang (Head of Platform Services), and Luong Hoa (Lead Engineer). The project is backed by some of the most respected and well-known funds including Signum Capital, Master Ventures, and AU21 Capital.

    What is PolkaFoundry?

    PolkaFoundry is a DApp factory and sandbox type project, which enables developers to design and test their Polkadot inter-operable projects. It aims to connect DeFi and Web 3.0 with the Polkadot ecosystem, by offering tools and services for experiments and real-world solutions. This will enable in-depth exploration and new innovations in the field.

    It consists of a public blockchain (PolkaFoundry blockchain), identity service (PolkaID), document storage service (DocuGuard), and Oracle service (Decentralized Gate). All of these would enable developers to design and test powerful concepts/products with ease.

    What is PolkaFoundry?
    What is PolkaFoundry? (Image credit: PolkaFoundry)

    System Features

    The platform’s main features are utilizing extensive and powerful Polkadot ecosystem through interoperability and high scalability of Polkadot & Substrate. Since it’s compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), it’s possible for developers to migrate, without much changes to their existing code.

    PolkaFoundry has unique user experience enabling features, which allows it to deploy the built DApps to a large number of users. Plus, the built-in support for decentralized finance (DeFi) ensures that developers don’t have to design anything from the scratch for managing identities, store files, and process oracle data.

    PolkaFoundry Architecture

    The general architecture of the PolkaFoundry project is an account-based system, unlike Bitcoin’s unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) system. It functions mostly like the Ethereum blockchain, using the same logic and execution functions.

    The PolkaFoundry platform doesn’t have any distinction between a coin and a token. For all intents and purposes, they are essentially the same. It’s one of the main differences it has with the Ethereum blockchain.

    It uses the following components : a Tendermint Core for P2P consensus and transaction raw data management, a transaction analyzer and executor, contract execution engine, and a bunch of other blockchain features.

    Use Cases

    The platform introduces a variety of use cases including but not limited to open lending, decentralized insurance, cross-chain DEX, DeFi derivatives, prediction markets, and auction marketplaces.

    It’s essentially valid and useful for all applications requiring the intersection of Web 3.0 and the decentralized finance (DeFi) world. It is expected that interesting and unique projects would come out of this software factory.

    PKF Token

    PolkaFoundry’s native token is PKF, which is an Ethereum ERC-20 standard token. Later, once the PolkaFoundry blockchain launches, it will be swapped for the mainnet asset on a 1:1 basis.

    PKF is utilized for transaction fees payment, staking purposes, reward issuance, governance proposals, and payment for services on the PolkaFoundry blockchain.

    The total PKF supply is 200,000,000 (200M) tokens. Since the project has received major funding from different funds, it has a vesting schedule for the privately sold tokens.

    The team or founders’ tokens are released in the same manner, granting legitimacy and protecting investor rights. There are specific allocations made for the foundation, ecosystem, and para-chain rewards.

    PolkaFoundry Investment Funds

    The PolkaFoundy Investment Funds is where things get more interesting as the investment data shows that the project is highly sought after by funds and investment groups, which is exactly why it has received investments from Signum Capital, Spark Capital, Master Ventures, AU21 Capital, x21, Magnus Capital, Rarestone, DuckDAO, Block Dream Fund, DFG, Youbi Capital, PNYX Ventures, M6, Lotus Capital, Blocksync Ventures, Vendetta Capital, Crypto Dorm Fund, Black Edge and Gestalt Capital.

    PolkaFoundry Governance

    After the mainnet launch, the governance of the platform will be transferred to the PolkaFoundry foundation. According to the documentation, it will be designed so that the protocol can handle emergency situations and be carried on-chain through a proper voting procedure.

    It has been divided into the childhood phase and maturity phase. During the childhood phase, a proposal can be made by anyone, but only validators can vote on it. Once the blockchain enters the maturity phase, everyone can vote on proposals.

    A validator has the power of his own stake and other people’s delegated stake. The stake can be slashed, in case the validators don’t vote in time. These proposals can come from every one without any special requirements. The PolkaFoundry governance can vote on important parameter modifications, emergency state declarations, and advanced changes to the protocol.

    Conclusion

    The Polkadot project is slated to be a leading project and one of the most developed and ongoing crypto marvels of the coming times. In the absence of a working mainnet, it needs a sandboxed environment and a factory to churn out DApp products.

    And PolkaFoundry is stepping up to fill that role. The project offers robust tools, services, and design aids to help develop optimized concepts & final products for the Polkadot ecosystem.

    It’s a solid project with widespread name recognition and industry backing. However, it remains to be seen as to how the platform would execute and deliver upon its concept. PolkaFoundry deployment isn’t yet complete and the mainnet launch is expected soon. After the launch, the token migration will take place through a bridge.

    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.

  • Union Finance ($UNN): tailored protection from DeFi risks?

    Union Finance ($UNN): tailored protection from DeFi risks?

    Union Finance is providing a tailored solution which will provide protection from risks and reduce costs in decentralised finance (DeFi).

    What is Union Finance?

    Union Finance is a technology platform that combines bundled protection and a liquid secondary market with a multi-token model. The Union platform guarantees full-stack DeFi protection to all users as it seeks to reduce the risks and cost within DeFi ranging from Layer-1, smart contract, transaction completion risks, and exposure.

    Since its introduction, Union finance has had a considerable impact in the cryptocurrency space and is composed of experts with years of experience in their respective sectors. Union’s protocol offers a unique combination of traditional insurance and the blockchain’s tremendous efficiency through its broad coverage and costs-savings model specific to the DeFi sector’s needs.

    Union Finance features
    Union Finance features (Image credit: Union Finance)

    Similarities With Traditional Insurance

    Furthermore, Union’s algorithm addresses the apparent break between DeFi and CeFi unlike any other blockchain-based solutions as it provides protection to various layers of coverage and segregated underwriter exposure, with a multi-token protocol that cleanly separates governance from the market dynamics of protection buying and writing.

    Similar to traditional insurance companies, the Union Protocol prides itself on total protection and coverage under their blockchain-based bundled insurance packages. However, the platform takes it further, by utilizing the blockchain concept of decentralization, freeing the platform from “members only” models and KYC requirements. Furthermore, Union offers an effective governance process to safeguard the validity of claims and the solvency of pools to meet coverage applications.

    DeFi-Related Risks

    Union’s team also offers a secondary market enabling the management of DeFi-related risks which facilitates the protection of traders and protection writers within the DeFi ecosystem. Additionally, this frees up capital and distributes risk, allowing the DeFi sector to scale more efficiently while reflecting the current market trends.

    The blockchain solution has a distinct economic model that has sustainably grown the decentralized ecosystem, along with a capital and pricing model that balances the supply and demand curves while adapting dynamically to economical conditions set by the market and keeping transparent reporting of financial and risk key performance indicators (KPIs) to create trust and increase adoption of the protocol.

    Three-Token Model

    Overall, Union Finance’s DeFi protection platform is managed through a three-token system comprised of the UNN, uUNN, and pUNN tokens.

    Union Finance UNN 3 token model
    Union Finance’s 3 token model (Image credit: Union Finance)

    UNN Token

    UNN is the core token of the financing platform as it is used for governance purposes. UNN users are granted voting rights within the company, giving them influence on protection claims and related conflict resolution protocols, adjusting risk parameters, and adjusting incentive programs, etc.

    uUNN and pUNN Tokens

    As for the uUNN token, it is used by clients of the platform and protection buyers enabling them to impact the platform’s protection policies. The pUNN token on the other hand is given to writers of the protection, representing a percent share of the protection pool that the writer is powering.

    uUNN and pUNN tokens are only available on Union’s secondary market, which guarantees the separation of governance tokens from protection tokens, preventing a conflict of interest within the platform.

    Additionally, through the three-token based system, Union finance enables users to benefit from a dynamic and unique pricing model for the protection premium that provides an efficient and real-time price discovery mechanism, as well as a capital model that adjusts leverage, which maximizes solvency of protection pools while providing returns through surplus capital. Furthermore, a multi-layer governance, claim, and challenge mechanism ensures all operations are handled fairly and transparently.

    Key Components of Union Finance

    Buyer Protection

    A protection contract is automatically generated as a buyer purchases a protection product(s) on the platform. Upon purchase, each contract specifies the:

    • type of protection – this identifies which protection pool writes the protection and in return, earns the premium;
    • the cover amount;
    • the term of the insurance (start date/end date); and
    • the premium level.

    The purchase of the protection contract is confirmed when buyers receive uUNN tokens which demonstrate their right to the token protection policy. Then, the protection protocol will begin later after the premium is deposited or the start date of the protection contract. Buyers who stake UNN tokens through reliable decentralized exchanges (DEX) like Uniswap will receive a discount in the protection premium.

    Capital Model

    The capital model is a fundamental component that optimizes the leverage of protection writers, locking capital to meet solvency based on stringent standards used in insurance and finance while providing economic incentives that attract protection writers and help fund ecosystem development. Additionally, protection writers can use their pUNN tokens and stake for more UNN, enabling them to share in a small portion of UNN that accrues every block.

    UNN Staking

    UNN holders can stake their holdings to earn additional UNN through liquidity mining, which is split into two distinct categories; liquidity providers and locked tokens for governance purposes. Union will soon allow UNN holders to provide liquidity on different DeFI ecosystems such as Uniswap. As for the second category, UNN users will have control over decisions regarding the future of the UNN token through the decentralized governance process. 

    Conclusion

    Union Finance’s arrival to the DeFi sector came at a time when the potential risks and problems DeFi users have been facing on a daily basis have become too overwhelming. Thankfully, the platform simultaneously manages to resolve those risks through its distinct ecosystem and protection products.

    Union Finance protocol has the potential to elevate the DeFi sector by further impacting and empowering investors within the blockchain, as it decreases the barriers to entry for retail users and lays the foundation for institutional investors, thereby creating a trustworthy DeFi ecosystem.

    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.

  • Polkadot ($DOT): Everything you need to know about the DeFi darling of China

    Polkadot ($DOT): Everything you need to know about the DeFi darling of China

    Polkadot ($DOT) refers to itself as a next-generation blockchain protocol that connects multiple blockchains into one network. As we’ve seen in a previous article on the hottest blockchain projects in China, Polkadot and its Co-creator Gavin Wood are highly regarded by the Chinese cryptocurrency community, who are heavily invested in this project. Polkadot is also now gaining a lot of interest in the West because of its listing on major exchanges such as Binance, OKEx and Kraken.

    The purpose of Polkadot is to enable blockchain networks to improve scalability, optimise themselves for specific use cases, work and communicate together, self-govern, and upgrade without the need for hard forks. In this article, we look at Polkadot’s current status, its role in Decentralised Finance (DeFi), the $DOT token and more.

    Here’s our video explaining what is Polkadot in less than 2 minutes!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FyLxZezPmk&t=2s

    Background

    Polkadot was launched in 2016 and is run by the Web3 Foundation, which strives to build a free and decentralized web. However, the foundation had made a contract with Parity Technologies to build its protocol. Its Founders are Gavin Wood, Peter Czaban, and Robert Habermeier. Gavin Wood, in particular, is also one of the Co-founders of Ethereum, thus bringing a sense of legitimacy and confidence in the eyes of a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, especially from the Chinese audience.

    The team has extensive experience with distributed ledger systems, blockchain protocols (particularly Ethereum), cryptography, and wallet technology. Despite the lead developer being Parity Technologies, multiple independent teams have contributed to the development of Polkadot.

    What Is Polkadot?

    Polkadot is a sharded bridge-like protocol, which focuses on maintaining communication, value transfer, and pooling the security of blockchains. It allows blockchains to operate with each other in a parallel manner by unifying them into one network. The unification compounds the strengths of different blockchains and mitigates their weaknesses.

    According to the team, Polkadot is a project by developers for developers. It is aimed at connecting public and private chains, oracles, DApps, and services to seamlessly work side by side. And thus, it facilitates the connection of different independent blockchains together into a single Web3 Internet.

    Polkadot’s Building Blocks

    Polkadot is built on Substrate blockchain building framework that is derived from Parity’s experience with Ethereum, Bitcoin, and enterprise blockchains. The protocol’s state machine is compiled with WebAssembly (WASM) – a high performance virtual environment.

    Furthermore, Polkadot uses libp2p for peer discovery and communication. It is coded with C++, Rust and Golang for wide developer accessibility.

    Polkadot Governance Model

    Polkadot governance model is on-chain and well defined. It is designed to include all stakeholders in a governance council. The users can participate in the system’s decision-making by simply holding the native $DOT token. Currently, Polkadot’s Council and Technical Committee are in place, so the project and its direction is completely in the hands of $DOT holders. Governance proposals are submitted by the Council, the Technical Committee or $DOT holders. There are then voted on by the $DOT holding public.

    Status of the Polkadot Network

    Polkadot has been increasing the size of its validator sets. Now there are 274 validators operated by around 200 independant operators and backed by over 7,000 individual nominating accounts.

    This year, Polkadot launched Westend, their main long-term valueless testnet. They have also launched 2 versions of Rococo- which are Polkadot’s short-term parachains public testnets.

    Rococo

    Rococo is a public testnet aimed at testing the parachains consensus process, together with parachains built by the community and their interactions with each other.

    Rococo v1 is the latest version released on 22nd December 2020.

    PolkaBrige

    PolkaBrige is a decentralised application (dApp) platform. It also comes with its own decentralised exchange (DEX) known as PolkaBrige DEX which allows users to directly swap tokens on Polkadot to other tokens on other blockchain platforms such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain etc.

    To meet the yield farming craze, Polkabrige also has a smart farming mechanism which allows liquidity providers to earn more rewards.

    Advantages of Polkadot

    The Polkadot project is set to revolutionize blockchain technology by offering a bridge-like framework that provides the following advantages:

    1.       Limitless Scalability – Polkadot can support an infinite number of blockchains and allow them to connect together. These are known as para-chains.

    2.       Adaptable Consensus Mechanism – As different blockchains run on different consensus mechanisms, the Polkadot platform provides an open and adaptable consensus mechanism to host them.

    3.       Cross-Chain Transactions – The framework can support the transfer of value between different blockchains. It’s necessary for interoperability and true integration.

    4.       Defined Governance Mechanism – It has a defined governance mechanism, which eliminates a major problem faced by other blockchains.

    5.       Upgradeability – Polkadot can support upgrades, without having to resort to drastic hard forks to implement change.

    6.       Pooled Security – The blockchains connecting with Polkadot can be secured by a unifying security umbrella. This can help protect small chains that don’t have effective security bootstrapping.

    7. Low transaction fees– Polkadot claims it has lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum.

    Polkadot Token ($DOT)

    The Polkadot token, denoted by the ticker symbol $DOT, is the native asset of the Polkadot platform. It serves three main functions: governance, staking, and bonding. It has a total supply of 10 million DOT.

    Governance

    As mentioned before, DOT holders have the right to govern the platform. When we say ‘right’ it doesn’t mean that they are given privileges by someone. But rather, it is embedded in the protocol of Polkadot that DOT holders inherently have governance capabilities. These capabilities include changing the network fees, auctions, as well as the schedule for adding parachains — parallelized chains that execute parallel to Polkadot’s Relay Chain. Furthermore, holders also have influence over upgrades, bug fixes, and other system maintenance.

    Staking

    Decentralized networks require consensus mechanisms to ensure that only valid transactions are confirmed. Polkadot utilizes NPoS (Nominated Proof of Stake) as its algorithm for validation. And, DOT holders have the option to participate in this essential network operation.

    Basically, holders will be rewarded for staking their DOT in the protocol in exchange for risking their holdings for the validation of the network. This also serves as a disincentive for bad actors to participate in the network, as they are likely to lose their stake if they ‘misbehave’.

    The requirement for participating largely depends on the staking duration and the total number of tokens staked.

    However, it has been discovered by the Polkadot Team that some nominators are not receiving their rewards. The Team is currently working on a solution but this will take time. Meanwhile, the Team recommends those staking with less than 200 $DOT who do not have the opportunity to bond more should move to staking on cryptocurrency exchanges. At present, the following exchanges offer staking-as-a-service for Polkadot: Kraken, Huobi, MXC, and KuCoin.

    Bonding

    The last use case for the DOT token is bonding — this is the process of tying up DOT in order to add new parachains. It is an extension of the functionality of proof of stake.

    DOT 100x redenomination

    After the Council and Technical Committee was put into place, there was a community-run poll to determine how many Plancks should be considered as being one DOT token. Plancks are the smallest unit of exchange in Polkadot, this value does not change, rather it was how many Plancks comprise one DOT which was voted upon. It was decided that one DOT will now be denominated by 1e10 plancks instead of 1e12 plancks. So the new version of $DOT will be 100x smaller than the old $DOT.

    This redenomination will occur on 21st August 2020 at around 13:15 (UTC), specifically at block number 1,248,328. When this occurs, users do not have to do anything because it is only a front-end change. Also, most exchanges such as Binance or Kraken will automatically multiply users’ DOT deposits after the redenomination, i.e. if you deposited 10 old $DOT before the redenomination, you will automatically be credited with 1,000 new $DOT after the redenomination. And to protect users in anticipation of this, users will not be able to withdraw new $DOT until after the redenomination.

    Users have to meantime, bear in mind that some exchanges e.g. OKEx, MXC etc. offer trading pairs in OLD $DOT, whereas others e.g. Binance and Kraken offer trading pairs in NEW $DOT. $DOT holders and traders should check with the exchange they are trading on to see what their policies are for $DOT.

    Projects Built On Polkadot

    The Polkadot ecosystem has an enormous outreach and usage. There are currently 188 projects building on it. This includes crypto-projects related to DeFi, cryptocurrency wallets, infrastructure projects, tokens, Oracle, DAO, privacy, exchange, gaming, IoT, scaling, etc.

    A few well-known projects being built on the Polkadot protocol are Chainlink, Ankr, Celer Network, Akropolis, Ocean Protocol, 0x Protocol, imToken, etc.

    Polkadot’s Role in DeFi Projects

    The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) field relies on composability, cross-chain communication, value transfers, and protocols integrating with each other. It’s practically the entire rationale behind the Polkadot project. And as such many, DeFi projects utilize Polkadot.

    For instance, the DeFi automation and aggregation-based Akropolis project relies on integrations with Maker, Compound, Curve and dYdX,. They have collaborated and contributed greatly to the Polkadot ecosystem.

    Polkadot’s Similarities with Upcoming Ethereum 2.0

    The Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 mainnet is expected to be launched in November 2020. It will introduce the highly anticipated staking mechanism. However, its full deployment won’t be complete until a few years. Polkadot, as it appears, has an incredible similarity with Eth2.

    For instance, both blockchains support sharding, meaning that they execute processing in parallel by allowing individual shards to divide the workload and communicate with each other. They both also implement hybrid consensus models, staking mechanisms, and state-transition functions.

    Conclusion

    Polkadot is fast gaining traction in the DeFi field and the wider crypto community. Owing to the easy integration, available grants, and wide composability, Polkadot’s projects are rapidly gaining value and the Polkadot association appears to have a positive influence on the project’s token price.

    As the ecosystem further matures, it is likely to become an integral part of the blockchain field and smart contracts platform.

    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.

  • DODOEx ($DODO): A Revolutionary On-Chain Liquidity Provider

    DODOEx ($DODO): A Revolutionary On-Chain Liquidity Provider

    DODO Exchange ($DODO) is a platform that supplies on-chain liquidity in order to support the Proactive Market Maker algorithm (PMM) to provide everyone with pure and contract-fillable liquidity on the blockchain.

    Overview

    The dawn of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) brought with it automated market-making (AMM). Unlike in centralized exchanges, AMM doesn’t rely on buyers and sellers for a trade to take place. Instead, smart contracts sit at the center of the trade with liquidity pools providing the reserves.

    Unfortunately, in the DeFi scene, the AMM approach has faced challenges as to how to address issues such as slippage and impermanent loss effectively. As a result, platforms such as DODOEx are using a fined-tuned formula known as proactive market maker (PMM) which provides minimum slippage and improved fund utilization. Here, we take a close look at DODOEx, its contribution to the DeFi world, as well as what makes it unique.

    Background

    DODOEx, founded by three veterans in the blockchain industry, who has huge influencing power in China’s DeFi Community – Mingda Lei, Qi Wang and Diane Dai.

    Mingda Lei, he is the architect behind this new market-making algorithm for the protocol. He was a Physics PhD dropout from Peking University. He used to worked for a China-based DeFi project called DDEX as the key developer of the project. The second co-founder is Qi Wang. He is the founder of DOS Network, a China-based layer two oracle project. Before entering into the crypto industry, Wang used to worked as a software developer for firms like Pure Storage and Oracle. The third co-founder, Diane Dai, she started the first subscription-based WeChat channel that focuses on DeFi in China called DeFi Labs.

    Apart from the influencing team, DODOEx is also backed by many prominent investors such as Framework Ventures, DeFiance Capital, Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, SevenX Ventures and more.

    What is DODOEx?

    Simply put, DODOEx is a decentralized liquidity provider using a new market making strategy. Notably, the new algorithm differs greatly from the AMM approach common with popular DEXs and/or DeFi platforms such as Uniswap and Curve.Finance.

    For example, instead of spreading funds uniformly over a price range, PMM allocates funds with close respect to market prices. One disadvantage of equally allocating funds is that only those funds with a close connection with the market price get utilized in trades. Therefore, in an AMM scenario, there’s a huge difference between the liquidity provided and the liquidity that is actually in use.

    DODO Exchange
    DODO Exchange (Image credit: DODO Exchange Website)

    How DODOEx Uses PMM to Beat AMM

    Compared to Uniswap’s AMM, DODOEx’s PPM has a better trading amount-vs-price curve. Why? Because, being a proactive formula, it reacts to the changes in the market price to effectively shift the price curve in a similar direction. Consequently, the section around the market price is considerably flat, ensuring sustained liquidity provision and utilization.

    DODOEx-Proactive Market Maker
    DODOEx – Proactive Market Maker (Image credit: “DODO: A Revolution in On-Chain Liquidity” Medium Article)

    Furthermore, apart from shifting the curve, DODOEx unlinks the base currency from the quote currency in a trading pair. Interestingly, this results in less risk and allows liquidity providers (LPs) to use the token at their disposal.

    For instance, if it’s an ETH-DAI trading pair, the LP has to deposit either ETH and DAI. Under these circumstances, DODOEx presents numerous advantages to traders and LPs

    Advantages of DODOEx to Traders

    • Although the protocol is decentralized, DODOEx traders have enough liquidity close to what is offered by centralized platforms.
    • There’s a possibility of having price differences between other exchanges and DODOEx which can be commercialized by arbitrageurs.
    • Liquidations, auctions, and other on-chain activities powered by smart contracts can utilize liquidity from DODOEx.

    Advantages of Using DODOEx as an LP

    • By unlinking the base and quote tokens, LPs can use any asset type at their disposal.
    • No minimum restrictions on deposits.
    • LPs share the network’s transaction fees.
    • LPs don’t incur price risks when depositing their own tokens.
    • They can use their coins to create trading pairs.

    DODOEx’s Native Token ($DODO)

    DODO is an ERC-20 token and forms DODOEx’s native currency. DODO is the platform’s governance token. DODOEx’s governance structure consists of three decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO); admin, risk control, and earn.

    The admin DAO is responsible for overseeing all the decisions made on the DODOEx ecosystem. Being the administrator, it has a considerable influence on the other DAOs.

    The risk control DAO, as the name suggests, deals with the system’s risk features. Earn, on the other hand, governs how incentives are shared on the platform.

    DODO token distribution
    DODO Token Distribution (Image credit: “Announcing the DODO Token and Initial DODO Offering” Medium Article)

    DODO’s total supply is 1,000,000,000 tokens which are allocated to the core team (15%), investors (16%), initial liquidity provision (1%), operations/marketing (8%), and lastly, the DODOEx community takes 60%.

    DODO’s Initial DODO Offering (IDO)

    The IDO was held on 29 September 2020 on DODO Exchange platform. DODO Exchange has listed the DODO-USDT trading pair. 1% of the total DODO supply is locked in the DODO liquidity pool and the initial offering price is $0.10 per token.

    Earning DODO: Staking and Mining

    The DODOEx system provides two ways to earn DODO tokens; staking and mining.

    Staking

    This involves locking your present DODO token holding and acquiring more tokens in the process. This can be done by:

    • Accessing the exchange through app.dodex.io.
    • Connecting your wallet through MetaMask.
    • Click “mining” on the upper far right corner.
    • Select DODO.
    • Click stake (note that there’s no way to edit the stake or unstake amount. Therefore, you can either stake or unstake your entire DODO balance).
    • Confirm your option on the exchange and on the wallet.

    Mining DODO 

    It involves providing liquidity in any supported trading pair using the pool tab. To access the pool option,

    • Visit app.dodoex.io.
    • Connect your wallet through MetaMask.
    • Select “Exchange” from the top right.
    • Click on “pool” and select your preferred pair. Note that you can deposit any coin on the trading pair. For example, if it’s the ETH-UDSC pair, you can deposit either ETH or USDC.
    • Click “Deposit,” define the token amount you wish to deposit, and select “Confirm.”
    • Access your wallet to confirm the transaction after which you click the “mining” button on the top right corner.
    • Approve the transaction and confirm it in the popup window that appears. In effect, another approval is required since you are now dealing with DLP tokens allocated from depositing your cryptocurrency on the above steps.
    • In the last step, confirm and stake.

    Core Components of the DODO Contract Framework

    A set of smart contracts powers the DODOEx protocol. However, for optimal interaction, these smart contracts are divided into three core components. They include:

    The Core – This holds all the ecosystem’s data and logic. It consists of the transparent proxy contract and the logic implementation contract.

    DODO contract framework
    DODO Contract Framework (Image credit: DODOEx ‘Smart Contract Framework’ Github)

    The Entrance – The entrance contract helps in streamlining activities on the transparent proxy contract, which is associated with oracles and fine-tuning parameters. Consequently, it helps mitigate the losses for users.

    The Helper – This section of the DODOEx ecosystem holds contracts that are meant to help remove the complexity of the platform away from its users.

    Conclusion

    The network’s next-generation liquidity provision algorithm ensures high fund utilization and ensures LPs don’t lose value between depositing and withdrawing, commonly known as impermanent loss.

    In addition, DODOEx is beneficial to both traders and liquidity providers. For example, it provides enough liquidity for traders and LPs share a section of the system’s transaction. Also, DODO mining and staking enable investors to increase their token holdings.

    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.

  • 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.

  • Public Mint ($MINT): can they bridge fiat and cryptocurrency?

    Public Mint ($MINT): can they bridge fiat and cryptocurrency?

    Public Mint seeks to solve transaction complexity by bridging the blockchain and the financial world of fiat. According to Public Mint adoption has always been the concern of the cryptocurrency community. And while tokens are becoming increasingly popular, the number of new entrants in the space today is still not enough to spur massive acceptance of crypto-assets in retail stores.

    Background

    Public Mint was launched in March 2020, following two years of research and development. It was created to make banks capable of holding funds that could later be tokenized on the blockchain. Today, it has been mainly implemented to ease the experience of using fiat currencies in performing blockchain-based transactions.

    Ever since the launch of the platform, it has already partnered with more than 200 banks that hold the fiat used to collateralize its tokens. Some of its prominent supporters are IBM Digital Asset Labs and Hyperledger.

    What is Public Mint?

    Public Mint is a decentralized, payment platform that aims to bridge the blockchain and fiat currencies. It offers tokenized fiat which is fully-collateralized and regulatory compliant. To secure the funds held in the platform’s accounts, they are also insured with the FDIC.

    Public Mint can be used to open blockchain-based fiat accounts to conduct money transfers worldwide without the need for any third-party facilitator. And because the platform was designed to be decentralized, it will not have control over the ownership and management of its user funds.

    The acceptance of payments via credit card, ACH, or wire transfer, are all made possible with the Public Mint platform as well. This makes it easier for anyone to perform transactions on the blockchain without having to exchange their fiat to crypto.

    Public Mint’s Open platform is designed to support these functions and make it easy for anyone to tokenize any fiat in the network. Tokenizing through the platform simply means that you will be able to make a token counterpart of your local currency on the blockchain.

    Features of Public Mint

    Fiat-Native Blockchain

    The platform supports the use of fiat in asset transfers and payments for network fees. Thanks to this feature, users do not need to purchase another digital asset just to be able to initiate transactions on the network.

    Simplified Key Storage

    It is easy for any user to store their private keys. The platform furnishes users with their own keys, which they can store in any cloud provider. Through this, the user has full control over his own funds without dealing with centralization problems like censorship.

    Direct Fiat Access

    Public Mint has a bank-to-chain feature that allows users to directly fund their wallets from various sources. At the same time, it also has a chain-to-bank feature that lets users directly withdraw their funds to their bank just using their wallet.

    The platform also supports USDC, making it easier for any crypto user to interact with other blockchain platforms.

    Public Mint wallet
    Pay others from your public mint wallet

    Multi-custodial

    There are multiple custodians on the platform. They are composed of banks and other regulated financial institutions. Their purpose is to hold funds while the multi-custodial structure of the network ensures that there will be no single point of failure in the system.

    Public Mint supported merchants
    Public Mint supports several major payment merchants

    Instant Transaction Settlement

    Transactions made on Public Mint can be settled in as fast as 3-5 seconds because the network offers finality with just one confirmation.

    Ethereum-Compatible

    The network is compatible with Ethereum, which means that any developer can build on the platform and improve it. It can also support decentralized applications that are established on the Ethereum network.

    What is the difference between Public Mint’s tokenized fiat and stablecoins?

    Stablecoins like Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD), were only designed to support one fiat: the US Dollar. And to purchase them, there are times that you have to first buy another cryptocurrency trading pair. According to the team behind Public Mint, this process can be too complex for a newcomer and it also exposes them to the volatility of other digital assets.

    Public Mint has its own fiat-dedicated network. The platform supports a comprehensive ecosystem that is designed to support the direct use of fiat currencies to make blockchain-based payments. And unlike the usual stablecoin, Public Mint is designed to support the use of multiple fiat currencies on the platform

    Conclusion

    Public Mint is a strong competitor among stablecoin platforms. However, its strength lies in its ability to facilitate easy and real-time transactions. If its partnerships with banks prosper, it can support a global payment ecosystem that will not fully rely on a blockchain. This addresses the problem most stablecoins users face in terms of transaction time and costs.

    Moreover, it can be a less volatile medium of exchange since it is collateralized by fiat and not by other digital assets. If ever the platform gets hacked and its funds are stolen, users are secured by its FDIC-insurance. Looking at where Public Mint is today, its potential to be the go-to alternative from stablecoins is high.

    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.

  • TotemFi ($TOTM): Combining prediction markets and DeFi

    TotemFi ($TOTM): Combining prediction markets and DeFi

    TotemFi is a blockchain-based prediction platform that operates on both the Ethereum and BSC networks, interfacing the prediction markets world with the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

    In the predictions market, it’s either you agree with the system or leave the space. The ecosystem exists as a closed cave without a way to know whether you’ll get to enjoy the rewards even if you make a correct prediction. Blockchain technology came to the forefront to offer multiple solutions to the problems of traditional markets, and the predictions market should not be left out. Unfortunately, decentralized projects in the prediction world are yet to solve critical issues such as counterparty risks, accessibility, and bias.

    Fortunately, TotemFi is among the few reliable blockchain-based prediction platforms that aim to solve significant problems in traditional prediction markets through the use of, for instance, audited smart contracts. Additionally, it guards against cases where an individual’s prediction gets influenced by another. In this guide, we shall take a comprehensive tour of this project.

    Background

    Jolyon Layard leads the team as the CEO. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics. Before joining TotemFi, he was a corporate tax associate at Grant Thornton LLP, CFO at Happy Space UK, and worked at One Young World in different capacities.

    Other key members include Harry Horsfall (CMO), Henry (CBO), and Dan (PR & Community). Note that the team members’ backgrounds cut across various industries such as cryptocurrency, brand management, and communications.

    DuckDao incubates the project in collaboration with Trustology, Ferrum Network, BlockPass, Certik, Lauchpool, among others. Its list of strategic partners includes Bluenode Capital, Alphabit, MoonWhale, and Nabais Capital.

    What Is TotemFi?

    TotemFi is a blockchain-based prediction platform operating on both the Ethereum network and Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Notably, the protocol interfaces the prediction markets world with the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. TotemFi offers solutions to five major ills in the prediction markets world.

    1. Financial risk – The platform guarantees that stakers will receive their incentives. As such, there is no way a staker will lose their input in the protocol.
    2. Incentivization – The conventional prediction market fails to form a clear incentivization route for individual and group participants. TotemFi breaks this hurdle by rewarding both parties for logical predictions.
    3. Accessibility – TotemFi uses decentralized applications (Dapps) to reduce and hopefully eradicate friction during the prediction process. It does this using a professional but easy-to-use user interface. The protocol take’s it a level higher by not penalizing inaccurate projections.
    4. Echoed influence – This happens when the market is influenced by factors such as partial media highlights and politics. The effect is largely felt on centralized prediction networks. To counter the impact, the project employs decentralization. Consequently, it distributes viewpoints and media sources.
    5. Counterparty risk – Verified and audited staking smart contracts help in building a trustless prediction platform. In return, it boosts user confidence and ensures that participants maintain ownership and control of their stake.

    How does TotemFi Work?

    The protocol works by interacting with various critical sections. Some of the areas include staking pools, prediction ranges, as well as results and tie breakers. (brownshvac.net)

    Staking Pools

    TotemFi staking pools provide a safe place for users to deposit their coins while waiting for the prediction of the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. These pools have varying maturity durations between 15 and 60 days. However, a pool only takes to the skies if it either reaches the maximum time limit or the pool’s allocation becomes full.

    Furthermore, the maturity date marks the end of the prediction date. For instance, a pool with a maturity length of sixty days means participants must predict the price of Bitcoin (BTC) in the next two months.

    Notably, TotemFi uses a single data source such as an oracle to check the prices of the assets, which enhances consistency and trust.

    TotemFi automatically births another pool with similar specifications to provide timeliness once a pool hits its allocation threshold.

    Prediction Range

    The range determines how far a participant can go with their price forecast. The number of the protocol’s native tokens, TOTM, held by a participant determines their projection range. More tokens mean a higher range and vice versa.

    However, TotemFi’s step function determines the range. The function gives the correlation between the TOTM stake size, the step size, and the range increase.

    Results and Tie Breaker

    In a prediction, the possibilities of a tie are very high. In case of a tie, the first person to provide the correct prediction becomes the winner. Also, this process applies in case a tie situation involves more than one participant. In such a scenario, users ranking is done in a chronological format.

    Staking Rewards and Price Pools

    Stakers receive guaranteed incentives. However, the rewards depend on the pool’s maturity time, staked amount, and staking time. Assuming that a staker lets their stake run peacefully for their entire pool maturity time, they’re likely to receive a tentative annual percentage rate (APR) of 60%, 65%, and 75% for pools with a maturity time of 15, 30, and 60 days, respectively.

    On the other hand, the prize pool contains both BTC and TOTM tokens. For example, in the case of a correct prediction, the winner takes home 0.03375 BTC and 1,687 TOTM coins, while the third in the winning queue gets 0.0110 BTC and 495 TOTM tokens.

    TotemFi Tokens (TOTM)

    TOTM has a fixed supply of 10 million tokens. This entire amount was excavated during the token generation event (TGE).

    The tokens go to advisors (8.5%), community development (10%), team (15%), seed (4.5%), and public sale (4.5%). Additionally, staking rewards get 16.5%, while strategic development, liquidity pool, and private sale get 15%, 6%, and 20%, respectively.

    TOTM tokenomics
    TOTM tokenomics (Image credit: TotemFi)

    Notably, the allocated coins are locked for varying months. For example, TOTM issued to staking have a lockup period of 48 months, while those meant for private sale have a five-month lockup period.

    Apart from rewarding predictions, TotemFi’s native asset acts as a governance token. Therefore, its holders are capable of taking part in critical decisions such as pool mechanics.

    Conclusion

    TotemFi is set to revolutionize an industry that is relatively underserved. Fortunately, a decentralized approach allows participants to blame themselves for not getting the forecasts right. Additionally, its use of blockchain increases participants’ confidence.

    Moreover, guaranteed incentives for stakers, as well as not penalizing incorrect predictions, allows everyone to participate, opening the door to broader adoption. Most importantly, the experience of the TotemFi core team, incubators, and advisors sets the project apart from other blockchain-based prediction networks targeting.

    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.