Boxmining

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.

  • YF Link ($YFL): Combining the best of Chainlink ($LINK) and Yearn Finance ($YFI)?

    YF Link ($YFL): Combining the best of Chainlink ($LINK) and Yearn Finance ($YFI)?

    YF Link ($YFL) combines Chainlink’s $LINK token with Yearn Finance $YFI’s yield farming/liquidity mining mechanics. The premise of this project was so it would be adapted it for use by Chainlink enthusiasts, known as “Link Marines”. Considering the LINK token itself has done quite well in 2020 so far with prices going from $2 to $15, both Link Marines and other cryptocurrency enthusiasts, of course, are interested in what YF Link is and what it had to offer. So in this article, we will take a look at the background of YF Link, the functions of, and how to get their native $YFL token.

    Background and History of YF Link

    YF Link was forked from Yearn.Finance’s ($YFI) Yearn contract by switching it to accept LINK instead of yCRV tokens. It is a community-based project started by Chainlink enthusiasts, specfically, by a “Bobby Shaftoe” and 4 other anonymous developers who announced the existence of the project and its details in a Medium post “The Idea of YFLINK is Born” on 7th August 2020. Since LINK tokens were required to be locked up to generate yield, it is thought that the launch of YF Link had a positive influence on LINK prices as the demand for these tokens increased. Indeed in the few days following the Medium post, prices for $LINK almost doubled.

    YF Link in a nutshell (Image credit: YFLINK)

    Precursor – Yearn.Finance ($YFI)

    The precursor to YF Link, Yearn Finance (YFI), was launched by Andre Cronje on 17 July 2020 as an experiment in yield farming and liquidity mining. It works by allowing the users to provide funds to a smart contract, which are then automatically distributed between dYdX, Aave, and Compound lending protocols, optimized for maximum yield.

    In return, the users earn yield profits and acquire YFI tokens. The YFI token is used for governance. The total YFI tokens in existence are 30,000.

    Learn more about Andre Cronje’s insights on the DeFi space in his interview with FTX exchange.

    How does YF Link work?

    YF Link’s YFL token provides liquidity to LINK pools on multiple Decentralised Finance (DeFi) protocols such as Aave, Balancer, and Curve Finance. Users provide funds by depositing them into these protocols, which then generate yield profits for the depositors. These users i.e. liquidity providers also receive YFL tokens as a reward, in turn, these YFL tokens can be traded on exchanges such as Uniswap.

    The amount of rewards depends on the amount of liquidity provided and the duration which they are staked. And although users funds are locked in, they can be withdrawn at any time.

    Alternatively, some people simply speculate on YFL tokens and trade them on exchanges.

    The Concepts

    The two underlying concepts used in YF Link are yield farming and liquidity mining. They both work together in synergy to incentivize users to provide liquidity. As we will see later, these 2 concepts come together to enable farmers to earn rewards and potentially gain from these activities.

    Yield Farming

    Yield farming is a method of using otherwise idle assets for beneficial purposes. It involves taking assets from users, lending them to different protocols, in exchange for gaining more assets than initially provided.

    Liquidity Mining

    Liquidity mining is a variation of yield farming, which allows liquidity providers to gain another governance asset, alongside their usual yield rewards.

    The YFL Token

    The $YFL token is the native token for YF Link with a maximum supply of 75,000 tokens. It must be noted that even creators of YF Link have said that the token should be valued at ZERO.

    The YFL token is supposed to be used for governance purposes, i.e. it lets holders submit proposals to vote and make decisions. For example, one of the first governance proposals is to have a LINK meme competition.

    At the outset, a total of 6 pools were emitting YFL tokens, with various parameters. The emission of tokens will last around 15 weeks with most of the emissions occurring in the first 4 weeks. After the YF Link contracts were deployed, the creators burned the contract keys so that no one can change this emission schedule.

    YF Link Pools: What’s the difference?

    As mentioned in the above section, when the YF Link contracts were first deployed, a total of 6 pools would emit YFL tokens. Note that as at 22 August 2020, pools 0, 1 and 2 have exhausted their YFL rewards, this means you cannot mint any new YFL tokens by staking in these pools.

    Pool 0 also called the Genesis pool (15,000 YFL tokens available)— users provide LINK and YFL is returned. This pool has exhausted its YFL rewards.

    Pool 1 LINK Balancer pool (15,000 YFL tokens available)— users provide LINK and YFL is sent to a Balancer pool. Users get BPT tokens and provide them to the YF Link pool. YFL and BAL are then returned. This pool has exhausted its YFL rewards.

    Pool 2 yCRV Balancer pool (15,000 YFL tokens available)— uses yCRV. Returns include YFL, BAL, interest from Curve Protocol, and CRV tokens. This pool has exhausted its YFL rewards.

    Pool 3 LINK Aave pool (15,000 YFL tokens available)— users provide LINK and deposit it to Aave.com to get aLINK tokens. Then you get those aLINK tokens and deposit it in an aLINK Balancer pool with YFL. From this, users will get BPT tokens which they can stake in the YFL pool. In the end, users can earn YFL, BAL and AAVE interest.

    Pool 4 Governance staking pool (20,000 YFL tokens available) — This pool will go live at 26 Aug 2020 at 1400 (UTC). Users have to stake YFL, in order to be able to vote in the Governance contract for the duration of the vote. Users are rewarded with more YFL tokens.

    Pool 5 Unintended pool (5,000 YFL tokens available)— the team deployed this pool accidentally. The creators will mine from this pool to fulfill their early mining program obligations and potentially other purposes which are to be announced.

    Conclusion

    YF Link is an interesting variant of Yearn.Finance. It is likely to enhance the utility and the liquidity of the LINK tokens as well. Some analysts are even terming it the “missing link” between the two most widely used DeFi protocols – Chainlink and Yearn.Finance.

    Since its deployment, the project has functioned normally without any bugs or exploits. It has amassed an impressive Total Value Locked (TVL) in a short period of time. It may even become the go-to protocol for people looking to stake LINK tokens for rewards in the future.

    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.

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

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

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

    Background

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

    What is Keep3r Network ($KP3R)?

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

    What are Keepers?

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

    What are Jobs?

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

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

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

    The Keep3r Ecosystem

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

    Keep3r Eden

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

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

    Keep3r’s Fixed Forex

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

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

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

    Keep3r OLM (Options Liquidity Mining)

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

    Keep3r v3 liquidity incentives

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

    Keep3r wonderland

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

    What are $KP3R tokens?

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

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

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

    Advantages and disadvantages of keeping bonded KP3R

    Advantages of keeping bonded KP3R include:

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

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

    What are $rKP3R tokens?

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

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

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

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

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

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

    $KP3R prices

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

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

    Keep3r how-to guide and tutorial

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

    How to register as a Keep3r

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

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

    Create a bond
    Create a bond

    How to perform jobs

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

    Job details
    Job detail

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

    How to register a Job

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

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

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

    How to collect credits for Jobs?

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

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

    MetaKeep3r: How Keepers can instantly recoup their gas fees

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

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

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

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

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

    Further resources

    Videos

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

    Articles

    Andre Cronje Medium
    Keep3r Network documentation

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) by DuckDAO ($DUCK)

    Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) by DuckDAO ($DUCK)

    Duck Liquidity Pool ($DUCK) is a DeFi Market Maker protocol, developed by DuckDAO, one of the biggest cryptocurrency community that provides funding and marketing support to early-stage crypto projects.

    The boom of decentralized finance (DeFi) in recent months has ushered in a new profit-making strategy for crypto traders, beginners and advanced alike. Decentralized exchanges (DEX) rely on liquidity pools to help power their market-makers. While the Duck Liquidity Pool is a new entrant in DeFi, it has already captured the attention of many users in the space thanks to its high APY and token burning model.

    https://youtu.be/8MNKafDgW0o

    What is the Duck Liquidity Pool?

    The Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) is DuckDAO’s own market maker. The funds that supply its pool came from the sale of pre-mined tokens and can be accessible in many other protocols and exchanges. In the meantime, projects that are supported by DuckDAO will be the first to be able to tap the pool. The ticker for the pool is $DUCK.

    The unique feature that distinguishes DLP from others is its “unilateral burn” strategy, or the one-sided token burn model. It is designed to burn 50% of all earned rewards (more on this later).

    The APY level for DLP is high and its suppliers can receive as much as 50% of the profits from market making, airdrop of incubated project tokens, as well as non-fungible token (NFT) campaigns. Such a feature enables yield farmers the ability to earn profit by just providing liquidity to DuckDAO’s market maker.

    To participate in the DLP, users have to lock their cryptocurrency holdings by depositing their funds in the pool. In return, they receive DUCK tokens as a reward for supplying funds to the pool.

    Duck Liquidity Pool – How it works? (Source: Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) Blackpaper)

    DuckDAO’s Native Token ($DUCK)

    DUCK token is the DuckDAO’s native utility token, which also powers the incentive model for the Duck Liquidity Pool. The token has the following use cases:

    • Yield farming on Uniswap pools – Staking tokens help contribute liquidity to DUCK and DDIM pools. For this, they earn profit through DLP.
    • Reward token for market-making profit – Half of the profit from the market maker is returned to the community who belong to the liquidity pool. If the performance of DLP is good, the profit for the yield farmers grows in proportion as well.
    • Project token airdrops
    • Non-fungible token as reward

    Deflationary Farming: “One-Side-Burn”

    This is touted by the team as “Yield Farming 2.0,” which is designed to support a deflationary, unilateral burning of tokens. To understand how this works, we must first look at how the current yield farming mechanism works.

    The Usual Scenario for Most Liquidity Pools

    Commonly, yield farming pools in the DeFi space look very advanced for the average trader. Not only does this create a psychological barrier to entry, but it also makes profit-making a little more difficult for someone new to yield farming.

    Another issue that traders face is the inflationary structure of the incentive mechanism in most liquidity pools. This is because, in order to provide rewards to yield farmers, mined tokens have to be released into the market. This model isn’t designed for long-term effectiveness since with more reward tokens in supply over time, we can expect its value to depreciate as well.

    Duck’s Unilateral Burn

    $DUCK, on the other hand, is designed to support long-term yield farming strategies. Even beginners on liquidity pools can just stake and earn a part of the profit that DuckDAO’s market maker gets.

    $DUCK One-Side-Burn Deflationary Model (Source: DuckDAO website)

    One-Side-Burn is a deflationary model that is designed to burn 50% of the carry pair as soon as the liquidity provider decides to cash in a portion of his stake.

    What happens in such a situation is that users lose one side of their liquidity as the tokens are burned. And when someone decides to exit the pool completely, his entire liquidity is also burned and further lowers the DUCK tokens in supply.

    While this model may seem counterintuitive for profit-earning at first, over-time, the value of the tokens is going to be greater than what it was when a user has staked in the pool. That is why DLP’s design appears to be much better in the long run.

    Duck Liquidity Pool Market-Maker Models

    Project Token Purchase

    DLP purchases tokens in order to facilitate buy and sell liquidity.

    Duck Liquidity Pool Business Model – Project Token Purchase (Source: Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) Blackpaper)

    Project Token Borrow

    DLP loans tokens against collateral in order to facilitate buy and sell liquidity.

    Duck Liquidity Pool Business Model – Project Token Borrow (Source: Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) Blackpaper)

    Fixed Fee Model

    The protocol can charge a fixed service fee for listings that have decided to provide buy and sell liquidity on their own.

    Duck Liquidity Pool Business Model – Fixed Fee Model (Source: Duck Liquidity Pool (DLP) Blackpaper)

    Conclusion

    DeFi has enabled the birth of new profit-making strategies for traders in the space. However, whether existing liquidity pools can support long-term yield farming models is another question altogether. DLP’s model, which is powered by the ‘unilateral burn’ design, appears to be more promising.

    To be fair, like many other pools, the profit it can generate for stakers is also influenced by the number of users joining the pool. This is why it is important to look into that as well before deciding to lock your tokens and supply liquidity to the pool.

    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.

  • Shadows Network ($DOWS): new hub for synthetic assets?

    Shadows Network ($DOWS): new hub for synthetic assets?

    Shadows Network ($DOWS) aims to be a hub for people to issue, trade, lend and borrow synthetic assets. The protocol is built using the Substrate blockchain network and is compatible with the Polkadot ecosystem.

    Background

    Iror Chen and Bruce Lin lead the Shadows project. Apart from being the co-founders, they double as the CEO and CTO, respectively. The two have extensive experience in diverse fields. To elaborate, Chen previously worked for Amphenol Group while Lin worked for Baidu.

    Other Shadows team members include Ted Shao (co-founder and COO), Claire Cai (co-founder and CMO), Sue Xia (overseas CMO), and Liang Li (risk control).

    Shadows’ list of partners includes Consensys Lab, NGC Capital, Polka Fund, Blocksync, DuckDAO, OneMax Capital, Oasis Capital, among others.

    What is Shadows?

    Shadows is a distributed platform focusing on the issuance, borrowing, lending, and trading of synthetic assets. The project leverages the Substrate framework that powers other popular DeFi networks like Polkadot.

    Note that synthetics are derivatives or clones of real-world assets. Derived assets can be of anything from cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices, fiat, and commodities. Also called synths, they enable holders to share in the profits and losses of an asset without necessarily having such asset in their portfolio. Doing so opens the DeFi scene to a global audience who would be locked out of the space.

    The platform sits on the Polkadot network as a parallel thread. As such, it has inter-chain compatibility with other platforms leveraging EOS and Ethereum to focus on synthetic assets. Cross-chain support opens the network to more blockchain-based assets. For instance, users can use Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) to create synths.

    Shadows integrates an off-chain worker to help capture the system outside the blockchain. Note that the platform uses the worker to replicate trusted oracles. Furthermore, the oracles receive data from external decentralized platforms to trigger activities inside the blockchain. Unfortunately, traditional oracles suffer from security, efficiency, and scalability.

    The worker employs Substrate allowing it to perform non-deterministic tasks such as encryption and web requests, and other long-running tasks. The Shadows network achieves the above features through a layered system, focusing on different aspects of synthesizing the assets.

    Critical Areas on the Synthetic Network

    Synthetic Asset Issuance Agreement

    The platform secures the synths using its native asset, DOWS (more on this later). Users deposit the token into a smart contract for them to gain a right to create synthetics on the network.

    Consequently, the created tokens are DOWS backed. To reclaim back their tokens, users have to burn their synths. Note that the platform needs a collateralization ratio of 800 percent.

    Synthetic Asset Transaction Agreement

    The agreements support the trading of synths. These agreements minimize slippage and insufficient liquidity. Also, they ease and provide efficient trading.

    Debt Collateral Lending Agreement

    The platform employs lending pools that hold users’ debt into the pool to facilitate lending activities. How this works is simple. To elaborate, the borrowers access the pool to place a synth debt.

    Next, they pay interest and receive the loan in synthesized USD (xUSD). The need for xUSD funding is to provide flexible financing.  This funding option offers a balance between demand, supply interest, and rates.

    What Drives the Shadows Network?

    Four significant aspects power the platform.

    1. Rewards system – Users are rewarded when they use the native token to create synths. However, the rewards only apply to those who have reached the needed collateralization ratio.
    2. Governance – In the DeFi scene, governance is everything. On Shadows, the native token gives holders a voice when making governance decisions. Some areas falling under community governance include upgrading.
    3. Staking – The base asset does more than just governance, the token can be staked as collateral and at the same time benefit from staking rewards.
    4. Trading bonus – This goes to DOWS holders and is generated by those trading on the platform.

    How Does Shadows Work?

    First, note that the platform is compatible and connects to Polkadot.

    How Shadows Network works
    How Shadows Network works

    It works as an off-chain enterprise that connects to various parts such as inflationary supply, fee pool, and external services. It connects to Polkadot as a single service.

    The Protocol Offers Three Types of Incentives.

    The first type of incentive is where a user is charged 0.3% as the trading fee. How is this an incentive? It’s because they can send it to a fee pool and receive a mortgage in terms of DOWS.

    However, the trading fee incentive’s applicability varies between users because it’s dependent on the amount of debt that the user has and the amount in the debt pool.

    The second type of incentive goes to mortgagors who benefit from holding the base asset on a weekly basis. Notably, the amount of bonus received depends on how much debt the mortgagor has in the debt pool.

    Third comes rewards for lenders in the lending pool. These incentives have a weekly timeline.

    The Shadow Token ($DOWS) tokenomics

    DOWS is the backbone of the Shadows network. Apart from governance, casting synths, lending, and distributing rewards, the token can also be used to power the token destruction mechanism.

    The destruction part utilizes the transactions and debit pool fee. And, it follows a fixed ratio of 30% per week. Note that the token’s destruction is automatically driven by a smart contract. Observe that this makes the native token a deflationary base asset.

    Shadows did a double Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on Ignition and DuckSTARTER. The allocation of tokens were as follows:

    • Ecological Incentives: 63% — 63,000,000
    • Early Investors: 20% — 20,000,000
    • Foundation: 10% — 10,000,000
    • Advisors: 5% —5,000,000
    • Liquidity Provision: 2% — 2,000,000

    The vesting periods for various allocations are as follows:

    Shadows ($DOWS) vesting period
    Shadows ($DOWS) vesting period

    Is Shadows Network safe?

    Recently the Shadows project faced some accusations because they are allegedly connected to another project that recently suffered an alleged “hack” of their smart contract.

    On 6th March 2021, the Team Tweeted to address the concerns, saying that their smart contract codes were audited twice by Certik. And on both occasions the contracts were found to be secure and met the highest security standards.

    The Team in their Tweet on 7th March 2021 also said that Shadows Network uses a proxy contract to upgrade its smart contract and deliver key functions such as issuing, trading, borrowing or lending synthetic assets on the network. Most notably, the proxy contract will deploy incentive DApps for users such as LP staking and DAO governance etc. From these Apps, 63 million $DOWS (representing 63% of the total supply of $DOWS) will be minted as a reward to the community. Once all 63 million $DOWS have been released, the Team will permanently remove the mint function from the Shadows smart contract. This has the effect of stopping the Team from producing any more $DOWS and most importantly, to potentially prevent the price of $DOWS from being diluted.

    Further, this proxy contract and ERC20 contract are kept secure through multisig and is on Openzeppelin- an open-sourced protocol. The Team also notes that other popular names in the cryptocurrency scene i.e. Compound and Coinbase also use Openzeppelin.

    Conclusion

    Shadows helps bring traditional assets onto the blockchain. In doing so, the platform opens the conventional assets to more users. For instance, it brings these assets to DeFi users and those who don’t want to hold real crypto assets.

    Notably, the platform takes on a layered-approach to bring these possibilities to life-enhancing functionalities. Furthermore, the DOWS token helps power different aspects of the Shadows network.

    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.

  • Unido ($UDO): Crypto Banking and DeFi for Enterprise

    Unido ($UDO): Crypto Banking and DeFi for Enterprise

    Unido ($UDO), powered by Polkadot, provides enterprises crypto-asset management solutions, that specialize in governance, security, and interoperability within the crypto banking sphere guaranteeing the satisfaction of all users.

    Background

    Powered by Web3 blockchain Polkadot, Unido was founded by Chris Weddle who has over 20 years of experience within the blockchain sector. The project was initiated in 2017 and is anchored by an experienced team of finance experts, software developers, and blockchain developers. They all come from well-known financial and development firms such as Goldman Sachs, Wipro, and Macquarie.

    Unido’s Founder: Chris Weddle (Source: Unido website)

    Through the Unido project, the team has successfully managed to solve security and accessibility challenges with its distinct and dynamic implementation of a blockchain-based management tool that facilitates the handling of crypto assets.

    What is Unido?

    Unido is a technology ecosystem that addresses the governance, security, and accessibility challenges of decentralized applications, and enables companies to manage crypto assets and capitalize on DeFi.

    Unido’s distinct protocol facilitates investment in DeFi by leveraging its efficient proprietary and multi-sig key signing technology. Furthermore, users have the unique capability to manage crypto banking operations in complete security.

    Under the decentralized platform, assets management enterprises and crypto native companies are ensured agility and efficiency for the custody of their respective digital assets. This creates a strong bridge for firms and organizations to interface with DeFi networks as they remain compliant with licensing and regulatory requirements.

    The platform’s algorithm works best by leveraging, as well as supplying clients with a great deal of crypto trading, payments, and banking solutions.

    Through Unido’s user-friendly protocol, participants essentially have access to three main features all responsible for the system’s special implementation of the blockchain, namely, Enterprise Crypto Banking Suite, DeFi Vault Access, and Governance/Security features.

    Unido Features (Source: Unido website)

    Enterprise Crypto Banking Suite

    A business banking portal, through which firms can manage day-to-day operations and capital expenditure. This feature empowers users with a multi-user wallet management protocol that creates, assigns, and manages clients’ wallets.

    Additionally, it is equipped with user governance tools providing access to rights and access requirements unique to the blockchain solution. Overall, this business banking portal is a simple and intuitive instrument with an interoperable, modular architecture that provides analytics on DeFi transactions, activities, and trends.

    DeFi Vault Access

    The vault access is a multi-signature enterprise wallet or DeFi vault used to store, manage, and invest digital assets in an efficient and safe manner.

    The team behind the wallet describes it as a secured and most importantly, a well-integrated bridge into several prominent DeFi investment solutions such as UniSwap, Yearn Finance, and Balancer. Additionally, the vault provides users with a complete overview of investment opportunities within the DeFi space, as well as potential returns and benefits within specific DeFi networks.

    Supported by a portfolio performance dashboard, this feature facilitates the management and investment of digital funds.

    Governance and Security

    Through this blockchain-based feature, the Unido enterprise platform (EP) provides users with an array of security and management instruments ensuring the safety of all funds within the platform.

    The Unido platform guarantees blockchain-based security and agnostic architecture, rendering it versatile and applicable to any given on-chain use cases. Powered by a key signing technology, Unido EP ensures flexible and trustworthy governance, which provides assets access only to permitted entities and parties.

    Unido Token ($UDO)

    The platform’s utility token, $UDO, is the fuel behind Unido’s efficient implementation as it is used to drive network access, ensure transaction security, governance, and network management. Overall, the token is built on a trustworthy smart contract algorithm guaranteeing the development and expansion of the Unido network in the future.

    Furthermore, the token facilitates access to the platform’s variety of products to all users, including institutions and developers. UDO has three main use cases, being network access licenses, consumption fees, and DAO Governance.

    $UDO Tokenomics

    Total Supply: 115,000,000 UDO

    Initial Market Cap: $487,813

    Seed/Private/Pre-Public Sale Fundraising: $1,400,000

    Seed Sale: $0.04, 0% TGE, 20% monthly unlock

    Private Sale: $0.05, 25% TGE, 25% monthly unlock

    Public Sale:: $0.06, full unlock

    Deflationary Economics:

    • Phase 1: From consumption fees, 60% burn, 20% to EDF, and 20% into reserve. Phase 1 when token supply is reduced by 20%.
    • Phase 2: After enterprise products take off, 50% of fees to be invested into EDF & 50% into reserve.

    UDO Use Cases

    Network Access License

    All applications and Unido EP features will only be available via a license purchasable with the UDO token. Once the license is bought, the tokens are removed from circulation and placed into a secured smart contract until the license eventually expires.

    Companies are provided with annual licenses for the Unido platform, where fees are determined by the volume of usage for the target clients and the number of users.

    Consumption Fees

    All fees and consumption charges within the Unido ecosystem and auxiliary platform will be based on the volume of usage within the platforms. Additionally, UDO will be used to authenticate each transaction within its parent platform.

    All operations from developers will either be charged under a subscription model, Freemium model, paid model, or In-App model, all depending on the user specifications and needs.

    DAO Governance

    In general, the DAO will oversee Unido’s Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF) and allow for the subsidizing of new applications implementation and development, which will contribute to the diversification of the platform.

    Unido Ecosystem (source: Unido one-pager)

    Conclusion

    Unido EP aims to be a leader within the blockchain space by spearheading the race toward mass adoption; especially within the traditional financial sector. The platform’s drive to provide secured banking management tools is a great boost for wide DLT acceptance.

    Overall the Polkadot-based platform is a dynamic implementation of decentralized technology, which guarantees total accessibility and security through key features lacking in most solutions of its genre on the market.

    Unido Enterprise Platform is ahead of the curve as it provides a sure connection with blockchain giants, ensuring its growth and development in the future. Unido will likely become a leader within the blockchain given the protocol’s current algorithm and products.

    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.

  • ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) has been a standout project in the cryptocurrency industry since its creation in 2017 by San Francisco based company, SmartContract. The Company is renowned for being a decentralised oracle solution, they act as a middleware agent between traditional data sources, blockchain projects and smart contracts (which drive Decentralised Finance (DeFi) projects) using their $LINK token. Partnership wise, the Company has been linked with national governments like the Chinese government and are consistently building new partnerships with major brands. Clearly, ChainLink is a company that any crypto or blockchain enthusiast should have an understanding of, so here we have compiled a complete guide to this revolutionary project.

    ChainLink has prominence because they solved the Oracle Problem. The oracle problem originates from an issue with smart contracts, which are coding instructions that would automatically execute under specific conditions on blockchain networks. Smart contracts are. also immutable, cost effective and self-executing, so technically they are perfect for automating transactions which are transparent and have zero chance of failure. These smart contracts derive their data from “Oracles” (i.e. data sources, APIs etc) , and this is where the problem lies. Smart contracts are only as “smart” as the information fed to them by the oracles. If you feed a smart contract with malicious code or bad data, the smart contract will still process it anyway because it is just code, and what comes out would be incorrect or unpredictable. This is known as the “Oracle Problem”.

    That all changed when ChainLink worked out how to retrieve and share information from the Oracles without jeopardizing the security of the blockchain. This was by creating a decentralized blockchain that bridges between the Oracles and the smart contracts. While researching this, I stumbled upon a 스포츠토토 사이트 추천, which provided insights into secure and reliable platforms for sports betting. The system is built on a collection of individual nodes that act as smart contracts on their own to gather the information and, as a result, have created a smart contract infrastructure. Now, instead of having to blindly trust a source, smart contracts can access resources like data feeds, traditional bank account payments, and web APIs.

    ChainLink infrastructure
    ChainLink infrastructure (Image credit: Data Driven Investor)

    Why is this important? It is because ChainLink believes its technology will do away with traditional legal agreements and instead the information will be stored on blockchain forever. 

    ChainLink is also relevant to the cryptocurrency industry because its Oracles also provide a solution for decentralized applications (dapps) as they too provide a bridge to the outside world.

    The $LINK token is ChainLink’s native cryptocurrency and was set up on the Ethereum network using an ERC677 token whose functionality is based on the ERC-20 token standard, it also boasts ‘transfer and call’ functionality. The $LINK token is used as staking for a bidding system for provision of information and for rewards, as will be seen in the following paragraph.

    The decentralized oracle network works through a two way system between those who wish to purchase data and those who bid to be the providers of the said data. Providers, also known as “Node Operators” stake ChainLink’s $LINK tokens to make bids to the intended data purchaser. If they win, they must provide the information required by the purchaser on chain through their APIs. The “winning” Node Operator’s payout is determined by the number of operators using the site, and the Oracles implement this decision. Payouts are in the form of the $LINK token. 

    This system has a number of benefits. When ChainLink is popular with Node Operators, then their value increases. Not only that, but Node Operators are also rewarded for accumulating $LINK tokens through easier access to larger contracts, also increasing $LINK’s value. Those who act maliciously, however, are punished by removal of $LINK tokens. 

    As you can see the $LINK token allows for self regulating governance of the ChainLink network. Some have suggested that payouts needn’t be in $LINK, but rather any other cryptocurrency would have done the job. Yet, ChainLink’s price performances in recent times have suggested the team in San Francisco were right to go down the native token route.

    The $LINK token can be traded on exchanges and is gaining in popularity too. Currently it ranks as the 8th highest market cap according to Coingecko. Available on most major exchanges like Coinbase Pro, Binance and OKEX ChainLink’s token has been a standout performer in recent months. Check out our Coinbase Pro review, Binance review and OKEX review.

    Unlike other companies who rely on PR and word of mouth to promote themselves, ChainLink has gone about it by courting various companies and governments around the world. Their CEO Sergey Nazarov has been on a charm offensive for a while and has secured numerous allies. This is because ChainLink provides businesses the benefits of decentralization, trust and immutability, all without them having to make a new system. Here’s some of ChainLink’s key partners.

    Other Cryptocurrencies- Bitcoin and Hyperledger

    In terms of the cryptocurrency field, ChainLink’s oracle services are available on other blockchains such as Bitcoin and Hyperledger. This openness has also opened up the door for a number of high profile partnerships with other blockchain projects that have made commentators and traders take notice of the Company.

    Synthetix Network

    In March 2019, ChainLink and Synthetix announced a partnership with the aim of improving the Synthetix platform’s price feeds. SNX, the company’s native token, receives data feeds using Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network. 

    Celer Network

    ChainLink has been used by Celer to bring accurate real world data to their layer-2 scaling solution. Now, payments executed off chain can be registered on chain making the real world and blockchain more cohesive. Their joint statement described their union as, “a combination of off-chain conditional state transition with an on-chain oracle dependency. Or put it simply, introducing the capability to combine real-world information and layer-2 scalability.”

    ChainLink and their oracles are not just reserved for the cryptocurrency industry. The use cases and partnerships stretch to major internet companies like Google. The search engine company integrated ChainLink’s oracles for its blockchain cloud service. According to a blog post, the oracles will help with data communication between Big Query and other blockchains on the cloud.  

    Chinese Government Blockchain Service Network (BSN)

    In June, the Chinese state backed Blockchain Service Network (BSN) announced its intentions to bring ChainLink in on a consultancy and application basis to help develop the BSN. Reports at the time suggested ChainLink will foster the creation of a “service hub” which would form the bedrock of its “internet of blockchains.” For a full breakdown of the partnership which also involved Cosmos, click here. 

    SWIFT 

    SWIFT is a major financial institution/telecommunications company which connects the banking world. They have brought ChainLink on board and are regularly using their technology. SWIFT began using ChainLink’s technology as now any real-world money transfer can be sent into the blockchain from SWIFT via Chainlink. So ChainLink now allows cohesion between traditional banking and the crypto sphere. 

    Other partnerships

    The partnerships don’t stop there. ChainLink has teamed up with betting company, BetProtocol to provide decentralized Esports and Sports Oracles on their website. DocuSign, an online contract company has also brought them onboard. 

    Overall, it is clear that ChainLink is an important figure within the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Quite how important the oracle technology proves to be will be easier to judge as the world understands and develops blockchain technology. Though currently, all signs point towards a more optimistic outlook

    As for the $LINK token, they are clearly a standout which has risen rapidly in the past few months, having gone from $3.72 in early May 2020 to reach a new all-time high of over $14. In fact, as a Forbes report noted in July 2020, the $LINK token has “soared 1,000% in just over 12 months”. One factor in the token’s recent success is the increase in partnerships since 2019. Another reason is definitely the recent DeFi fever, especially since ChainLink and the DeFi space are so interlinked as ChainLink provides oracles for the smart contracts that power various DeFi projects.

    We can also see that people also have positive thoughts on the project, a huge majority of users on Coingecko voting positively.

    Zeus Capital, purportedly an asset management and research firm published a report on 15th July 2020 accusing Chainlink of being a classic “pump and dump”. The Report alleges ChainLink of using techniques such as inside trading, artificial transactions, overhyping the project, and questioning whether ChainLink actually has partnerships with companies like Google and Oracle. According to Zeus Capital, this was to drive up the price of $LINK prior to the team dumping the coin onto innocent investors. They concluded their Report saying that “Based on our findings we have opened a short position in LINK and recommend you doing the same with a target price of USD0.07 and potential upside of nearly 100%.”

    In addition to promoting the Report through advertisements on Twitter, screenshots have also been circulating saying that Zeus Capital was offering Twitter cryptocurrency influencers rewards of up to 5 Bitcoin to post price analysis indicating that LINK prices would fall.

    Twitter user @iceberg trolls Zeus Capital asking for 5 BTC to post bad chart and Zeus Capital actually seems to accept the offer.

    Supporters of ChainLink retaliated, accusing Zeus Capital of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). On the day the Report was published, prices for LINK went up to $8.73. Meanwhile, the real Zeus Capital, a prominent investment banking operation based in London came forward on 20th July 2020 to say it did not produce the Reports.

    Zeus Capital then doubled down on their allegations against ChainLink by publishing a follow-up report on 31st July 2020 titled “Exposing Chainlink’s Pump and Dump Scheme”. They also doubled down on their stance in the Report: “The current tokenomics and lack of commercial applications cannot justify LINK’s price. As a result, we recommend short selling LINK with a target price of 7 US cents”. The Follow-up Report also concludes with a disclosure that they hold a short position on $LINK.

    Despite these damning reports, prices for LINK continued to remain strong. This meant that those who were shorting LINK, i.e. counting on prices to drop, were getting squeezed out of their positions. This all came to a head on the morning of 8th August 2020 when prices for LINK crossed over the USD $11 threshold. During that time, data showed that millions worth of Chainlink short positions were partially or fully liquidated. A notable example of this was a short position worth around USD$20 million which seems to have been entirely liquidated, leaving the wallet pretty dry with only USD $299.66 remaining.

    It is noted that there is no conclusive evidence to say that any of these liquidated accounts belonged to Zeus Capital. However one thing is certain- ChainLink, helped by its supporters i.e. the Link Marines were able to successfully shake off the FUD. And as at the time of this update, LINK prices had peaked at USD$14.34, almost double the prices when the first Report was published.

    2020 has been a favorable year for Chainlink ($LINK). It has been one of the best performing coins and secured its spot in the top10 assets ranking by mcap. It is now sitting at n°9 with a market cap close to $8 billion dollars.

    Chainlink is widely recognized as the most used oracle in crypto and has been a backbone for Defi’s explosion. Many are the collaborations announced, over 300, not only on the Ethereum blockchain. Chainlink is also expanding to other chains such as Polkadot and Tezos. Results have exceeded expectations and the company has also been recognized, among 6 other blockchain companies (Lightning Labs, MakerDAO, Elliptic, Bitmark, Ripio, Veridium Labs) by the World Economic Forum among the 100 most promising Technology Pioneers of 2020.

    The team has allegedly doubled its size and acquired important strategic pieces. Ari Juels, now Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs, was one of the 2 writers of the first Proof of Work paper. He has also developed Deco, a privacy-preserving technology now acquired by Chainlink, at Cornell University together with other researchers.

    “Deco allows oracles to attest to the validity of information in trusted databases/systems without exposing it to the public or even the oracle itself using … Zero-Knowledge Proofs. Essentially, the oracle can join a user-initiated web session to attest to some requested information— possibly to verify someone’s identity, approve their financial information, or check key government records”.

    The data will never leave the selected database so the info will remain stored in trusted locations, enhancing the privacy and usability of the blockchain. An important possible application could be transactions that can meet KYC (Know Your Customer) or AML (Ant Money Laundering) requirements without exposing sensitive information on-chain.

    2021 looks certainly promising. The company will continue with its focus on security while bringing as much data as possible on-chain, from different sectors. This will provide huge improvements and development to the whole crypto space.


    Sources: Decrypt, Maxbit

    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.

  • YFV Finance Yield Farming

    YFV Finance Yield Farming

    YFV (YFValue) is a YEarn inspired governance token that is rewarded to cryptocurrency yield farmers (also known as liquidity miners). YFV functions as a DeFi Yield aggregator – they will release a “Vault” like product which will deploy different strategies to farm DeFi yields. $YFV in the governance coin on the platform which will be used to vote on Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO) decisions. YFV sets itself apart by also minting two elastic supply coins, $vUSD, and $vETH – coins that will rebase to target the price of USD and Ethereum respectively. These tokens will function similar to “Ampleforth” in terms of rebasing functionality. The team behind the project has chosen to remain anonymous.

    The official website for YFV is https://yfv.finance.

    Summary

    • YFValue functions as a DeFi Yield aggregator, releasing a “vault”-like product which will deploy different strategies to farm DeFi yields.
    • There are 2 types of pools for $YFV farming: Seed Pool v2 and Balancer Pool.
    • Farming $YFV also generates $vUSD, and $vETH â€“ these rebase to target the prices of USD and Ethereum respectively.
    • $YFV acts as a governance token for voting on decisions relating to the project. Some people also trade the token on exchanges.

    How do you farm $YFV

    Yield farmers can farm $YFV in two types of pools:

    Option 1: Seed Pool v2. This your classic yield farming pool – tokens are staked into the pool and $YFV will be distributed over time. There is no risk of impermanent loss

    1. Log onto https://yfv.finance/
    2. Connect your wallet
    3. On the “Seed Pool v2” page, deposit either USDT, USDC, TUSD or DAI (i.e. stablecoins)
    4. Click the Stake token button.

    Option 2: Balancer Pools. This is the higher risk pool, where funds are added to a Balancer liquidity pool. This means the funds will be actively used in automated market making and possibly risk impermanent loss. On YFV there is a total of 8 Balancer Pools. For the purposes of this tutorial, let’s look at the example of using the WETH Balancer Pool of WETH:YFV.

    1. Wrap Ethereum into $WETH using the ETH->WETH tool on the sidebar https://pools.balancer.exchange/#/pool/0x10DD17eCfc86101Eab956E0A443cab3e9C62d9b4
    2. Stake WETH & YFV in the Balancer Liquidity Pool https://pools.balancer.exchange/#/pool/0x10DD17eCfc86101Eab956E0A443cab3e9C62d9b4
    3. This will generate BPT tokens
    4. Stake BPT tokens on https://yfv.finance/stake in â€œBalancer (YFV-WETH)” Pool

    How to claim your YFV

    On the main page, you will easily be able to see how much you have staked into each pool, how much YFV is claimable and the ROI in USD.

    YFV pools
    YFV pools
    • To claim your rewards, click into the pool. There you will see several important items of information:
    • Next Epoch: When your next rewards will be paid out.
    • Your Estimated 24h Reward: Estimated earnings of YFV in 24 hours.
    • Rewards available: How many YFV tokens are available for collection.
    Staking pool (Image credit: Denome)

    You can claim your YFV rewards by simply clicking “Claim Rewards”. However, this requires gas fees so you need to consider the gas fees paid to stake your tokens in the first place etc and decide if it is actually worthwhile to collect your rewards.

    How are people profiting off YFV? What do I do with the YFV tokens?

    So what is the purpose of farming all these YFV tokens? YFV is the governance token of YF Value protocol. This means holders of the YFV token can use it to determinate and update the functionality of YFV protocol and change or update the rate of distribution of YFV tokens. Those that stake in YFV pools has the right to vote on-chain for the distribution rate. At the end of each week, the total votes will be automatically counted and the distribution rate of YFV will be automatically changed.

    On the other hand, you can also trade your tokens for ETH or USDT on exchanges such as Uniswap, Balancer, Hotbit, BKEX and Bilaxy. The below chart shows the value of YFV/USD.

    What is vUSD and vETH?

    As you can see in the above section “How to claim your YFV”, in addition to YFV tokens, staking YFV also gives you vUSD and vETH tokens. A total of 1,000,000 vUSD and 1,000 vETH will be distributed to all the yield farming pools according to their percentages. According to YFV, once all the pools have been exhausted of YFV, vUSD and vETH will use an oracle price feed to match the prices of USD and ETH. Similar to Ampleforth (AMPL), there will also be a rebase of vUSD and vETH every 24 hours.

    YFV Farming risks

    The biggest risk of YFV farming comes from potential vulnerabilities in the staking contract. on 30th August 2020 YFV announced that the audit of YFV Protocol had been successfully completed by The Arcadia Group. According to YFV, the audit identified a small number of low severity issues relating to code quality and health. No high or critical severity issues were found. The letter from Arcadia and a summary of the audit report can be found here.

    There is also the question of the limited supply of YFV tokens. There is only ever going to be 21,000,000 YFV tokens so some of the (perceived) value of the token is because of its limited supply. But what happens when every YFV token has been mined or distributed? This is unknown and it is worth noting that YFV is currently backed by any other asset.

    Minting Risks

    One of the biggest concerns about YFV was the presence of minter keys – which could potentially mint an infinite number of $YFV tokens. Developers have stated that all minter keys are burned, and pools which could mint new tokens have also had minting features removed.

    YFV had previously also confirmed and addressed community members’ concerns that there was a minting key oversight and exploit related to vUSD and vETH which would allow funds to be locked. What YFV did to remedy this was that they kept the minting keys until they were able to recover the funds that some users may have lost by farming in Pool 0. After that, the team transferred the governance keys of vETH and vUSD from YFV protocol to several members of the community to hold in safe custody. The community members selected were: Reuben Yap (COO of Zcoin), DeFi Dude, Matthew Neimerg (CEO of Cardinal Cryptography), TQT, Ian Ocasio and myself.

    More Information

    YFV Github
    YFV Medium and news
    YFV Telegram
    YFV Discord

    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.

  • CertiK ($CTK) and CertiK Chain: What is in the Ecosystem?

    CertiK ($CTK) and CertiK Chain: What is in the Ecosystem?

    CertiK aims to provide a secure platform where blockchain infrastructure and decentralized applications can be developed. Its ecosystem consists of security layers that exist below the blockchain level, including the DeepSEA compiler, the CertiK Virtual Machine (CVM), and CertiKOS. Its native token, $CTK, has launched in Binance Launchpool on 27 October 2020. Below is a detailed overview of the CertiK ecosystem, including the CertiK chain.

    Background

    The CertiK Foundation supports the CertiK platform. The organization champions trust in blockchain systems. Its efforts are displayed through the development of a secure network that can boost confidence in decentralized systems. Furthermore, the CertiK Foundation is lead by renowned computer professors.

    What is CertiK?

    CertiK is a decentralized smart contract platform powering Dapps. Additionally, it supports inter-chain communication and runs on the Certik Chain.

    The system is primed for highly-specialized use cases. The protocol employs a PoS variation called delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) and uses the Cosmos software development kit (SDK).

    The CertiK Foundation has taken upon itself to restore the trust in distributed platforms by employing cutting-edge security technologies and techniques. A key milestone achieved by CertiK is the provision of provable trust in a decentralized platform. Apart from focusing on security, the network also addresses performance and token economics.

    CertiK Token ($CTK)

    The economic aspect of the platform relies on the platform’s native currency, CTK. CTK’s major offering is being a utility token. (Provigil) Therefore, it helps power the crucial aspects of the CertiK ecosystem.

    For example, the token provides a mode of payment and settlement among the platform’s users.

    However, the token does not give its holders the right to interact and does not act as an investment into CertiK Foundation. Being issued inside a PoS-powered system, the token carries various benefits to incentivize holders to participate in staking and securing the network.

    Apart from being used on the CertiK protocol, CTK is a significant ingredient in the CertiK Chain. Here, the token is used to pay for transaction fees.

    In return, the fees reward staking nodes on the chain. Also, the token is used to reward those who delegate their CTK holding to validator nodes.

    CTK Token Allocation
    CTK Token Allocation (Image source: Binance Research)

    The token’s first issuance was achieved through two private sales that sold a total of 38 million CTK tokens worth a cumulative $39,430,000. Apart from the private sale 1 & 2 (29.0% & 9.0% respectively), the token distribution allocated 1.5% of its total supply to Binance Launchpool, 10.0% to the CertiK team, 25% to the CertiK Foundation, 17.5% to the community pool, and 8.0% to the CertiKShield pool.

    What is CertiK Chain?

    CertiK Chain is a blockchain protocol powering the CertiK ecosystem. It is highly secure and has cross-chain interoperability. To effectively achieve its mission, the platform incorporates key components such as a security oracle and a CertiKShield pool.

    Let’s dig into each of these components.

    CertiK Chain
    CertiK Chain (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    CertiK’s Security Oracle

    The platform’s security oracle compresses audit reports to make them available on-chain. Basically, audit reports hold information as to the reliability of smart contracts. But, the reliability of smart contracts can be sabotaged by the data it uses to make decisions.

    With these reports living outside blockchain platforms, it poses a security threat prompting CertiK to bring them on-chain through its security oracle. Consequently, the network can effectively verify the security of a smart contract.

    Note that this component allocates scores depending on a smart contract’s latest audit report. The scores give an overview of a contract’s code reliability.

    CertiK Security Oracle
    CertiK Security Oracle (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    More than just scoring contracts, the security oracle can track and report unaudited smart contracts. A distributed security team handles such reports. Using the CertiK Oracle Combinator, results from the security team are aggregated into a single score that can be accessed online. And, of course, the security team is rewarded.

    Luckily, this functionality is crucial in a decentralized finance (DeFi) setting where unaudited smart contracts are wreaking havoc. For example, by incorporating the CertiK’s security oracle, the responsibility of an audit is shifted from the contract creator to the contract users.

    CertiKShield Pool

    The CertiKShield pool is a unique component meant to minimize the risks emanating from the private nature of (most) cryptocurrencies. This may include losses from both avoidable and unavoidable circumstances such as house fires.

    The shield works by providing a flexible pool of CTK tokens. Since the token uses on-chain governance mechanisms, it can be used to compensate losses sprouting from inaccessibility and/or theft.

    In other words, this operates as an insurance platform. But, its decentralized nature allows it to receive inputs from all involved individuals before settling a claim.

    The CertiKShield Pool is made up of collateral providers and shied purchasers. Collateral providers earn staking rewards while shield purchasers pay for requested protection.

    CertiK Chain Architecture

    The main components of the CertiK Chain are baked together in an architecture that can achieve provable trust. Apart from the security oracle and the shield pool, the network’s backbone comprises a virtual machine and the DeepSEA toolchain.

    CertiK Virtual Machine (CVM)

    The CVM effectively eliminates the errors that may be introduced when converting smart contract code from human-based language to machine language. Although these errors may be unknown to contract developers, they pose a severe security risk.

    Being a security-first decentralized platform, the CVM relies on the output of DeepSEA, a certified compiler. The compiler’s output includes bytecode and mathematical proofs. The proofs can be used to isolate smart contracts’ code that doesn’t meet the security standards.

    DeepSEA Toolchain

    DeepSEA is a compiler and a programming language that’s hailed for its security. Notably, the CertiK-native tool is developed in conjunction with researchers from leading learning institutions such as Columbia and Yale University.

    DeepSea ToolChain
    DeepSea ToolChain (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    The toolchain can determine the complex correctness properties of smart contracts. As such, it enhances the security of the network and products built on top of it.

    CertiK Governance

    The CertiK protocol uses on-chain governance methods to enable community involvement in decision-making. However, to vote for proposals, CTK holders can either delegate their voting powers to validators or vote directly. Validator nodes ensure the smooth running of the platform through powering activities such as block production.

    CertiK accommodates five types of proposals from its community:

    • Plain text: These are proposals that request modification of things like altering the number of incentives paid to validators.
    • Software upgrade: They lead to code modifications. They may include proposals to add new features.
    • Bounty: Examples of proposals in this category include those touching on creating chain artifacts and conducting security audits.
    • Community pool spend – They cater for the transfer of funds from a pool to an individual address, for instance, an individual developing a CertiK-specific product or upgrade.
    • Certifier: They are submitted by a certifier with a request to add or remove a certifier. Note that certifiers and validators vote on proposals.

    Conclusion

    In a space where malicious actors are always on the prowl for weaknesses in DeFi-focused smart contracts, CertiK provides the much-needed peace of mind. In addition, enabling a decentralized contract audit removes the need for DeFi users to solely rely on reports provided by the team, which, in some cases, are anonymous.

    From the security oracle to the reimbursement pools, to DeepSEA, the network structurally achieves a security-first approach with provable trust.

    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.

  • Reef Finance ($REEF): The All-In-One Defi Platform

    Reef Finance ($REEF): The All-In-One Defi Platform

    In the last months, we have witnessed the crypto space and blockchain industry go beyond the norm. With more decentralized finance (DeFi) projects than ever, it is clear that the next target should be greater adoption. However, the complexity of dealing with multiple (d)Apps interfaces in order to access a wide array of services, inevitably narrows down the number of participants. Reef Finance is built to change that.

    The way Reef Finance works is by reuniting all blockchain services together in a single, unified interface. This makes the whole DeFi user experience seamless and convenient. In just a single dApp, anyone can buy crypto, perform trades, stake assets, take loans, farm, manage their portfolio and more without any fuss.

    Tackling Defi’s Fragmentation

    What Denko Mancheski, CEO of Reef Finance, and his team had in mind when they started working on the project, was to solve an inherent complexity. Mancheski believes that, while there have already been many useful innovations in crypto recently, mass adoption is still difficult to achieve. The reason he points out is the psychological barrier that dampens the DeFi communities’ growth. True enough, the DeFi space today seems very fragmented. There are features existing in a particular application that are unavailable in another, and there are contract functions that would complement each other, but only exist on separate platforms.

    The space offers promising products, but they are too overwhelming to spur adoption, especially for beginners. This is why Reef Finance’s goal has been, according to Mancheski, to “abstract away complexities” and try to “onboard a simple non-tech savvy user.”

    What is Reef Finance?

    Reef Finance (“Reef”) is a non-custodial multi-chain smart yield engine and liquidity aggregator. Powered by Polkadot, it enables cross-chain integrations across various DeFi protocols.

    Essentially, it makes Decentralized Finance much easier to access, with the ability to diversify a portfolio in a single click. It functions as a one-stop-shop for DeFi projects that users can access without having to switch from different applications, one after another. Within its interface users can access different exchanges and, through the help of smart contracts, Reef combines the liquidity of these markets. Furthermore, trading can be easily done on the platform. 

    Reef Finance is the first Polkadot project ever launched on Binance Launchpool. The farming started on December the 23rd and will continue for 30 days. The platform will be beginner-friendly and will launch in Q1 2021, while the protocol has recently been audited by Halborn.

    Why Polkadot?

    Reef’s deployment on the Polkadot ecosystem will benefit users in terms of transaction costs and speed. As it is well known to many, the ‘traffic’ on the Ethereum’s network has often resulted in skyrocketing fees and long transaction times. This will continue at least until Ethereum 2.0 is fully deployed, which isn’t likely to happen for a while. 

    Polkadot, on the other hand, doesn’t suffer from the same issues. Parachains’ independence on the network prevents network congestion. It also powers Reef’s cross-chain functionality through the ‘Bridge’ protocol. By implementing this blockchain innovation, Reef can rely on products and services from different networks into a single interface.

    The Reef platform is made of three major components that complement each other.

    Global Liquidity Aggregator

    Reef offers a simil-exchange service linked to some of the biggest trading platforms in the space. The uniqueness here is that the aggregated liquidity goes through CEXs and DEXs. In this way, users can hedge the downsides of the two types of liquidity sources, among which trading fees and high slippage.

    Reef can access all the liquidity combined of CEXs and DEXs
    Reef can access all the liquidity combined of CEXs and DEXs

    The centralized exchange liquidity will be accessed through the use of brokerage services, such as Tagomi, Caspian or Quantreq. Conversely, decentralized liquidity will come from sources like on-chain order-books (0x) and AMMs (Uniswap, Balancer, Bancor….). Reef’s liquidity aggregation will also assist in protecting users from market manipulation and front-running attacks.

    All of this will make trading on Reef not only easy and affordable, but also diverse.

    Smart Yield Farming Aggregator

    Reef Yield Engine enables staking in multiple asset baskets which can be automated through the help of an AI that users can configure based on their financial needs. Users can decide how much to allocate to each basket and the operating system will dynamically rebalance and adjust them, moving portions of the allocations to other more convenient assets/pools.

    The purpose of the ‘Reef Intelligence Engine’ is to enable the AI to manage assets on user’s behalf. This helps automate the nitty-gritty of trading and staking for Reef’s newcomers. Planning a profitable allocation of assets according to each trader’s risk level has never been much easier in Defi. The engine is machine learning-powered, enabling its growth over time.

    Since the AI is data-driven, the information it holds is fed by an off-chain oracle (they have a partnership with Chainlink also). The oracle supplies data to proxy smart contracts that serve as the AI’s backbone. It monitors every pertinent information concerning services offered on the platform, whether they are social media data, latest news, or on-chain data.

    Reef also integrates with some Defi insurance protocols to provide coverages for its users.

    Smart Asset Management

    The third founding element of the platform is its asset management option. Users can seamlessly rebalance their allocations between their baskets through an easy UI accessible from mobile devices or computers. The AI engine will also make intelligent recommendations to help with taking decisions.

    The $REEF Token

    $REEF is the native, utility token of the Reef platform. It is mainly used to pay for transaction fees as well as support the protocol rewards structure.

    An important role for the platform is that of Network Collators. They assure that the network is healthy by keeping a copy of the full state of Parachains at a given time. They are similar to miners producing blocks, supporting the Polkadot blockchain. The Collators receive $REEF tokens as a reward for all basic operations such as processing transactions, deploying smart contracts, submitting a proposal and more.

    Staking and Governance

    Reef Protocol utilizes Polkadot’s Proof of Stake base consensus mechanism and it’s governed through a DAO structure. By holding and staking $REEF tokens, users can take part in important protocol decisions concerning the structure of the asset baskets, reserve limits, yield rewards, liquidity pools, and others.

    Stakers have the freedom to choose how they want to receive their rewards, whether in ETH/USDC or $REEF. Opting for the native token will lead to better rates.

    New Partnerships and roadmap

    Even though Reef Finance launched in late September, its development has been in progress for long. The project secured over 20 partnerships in 2020 and more are coming this year. Among them, important were those with Matic, Kava, Covalent, Bluzelle and Chainlink. Reef’s integration with Binance Access Api will also allow a FIAT ramp for cryptocurrency purchases along with a decentralized trading opportunity within their platform.

    In January, they secured a new partnership with OpenDefi, a platform that allows the tokenization of insured and physically backed real-world assets, held by custodians. Users can stake to receive instant loans against their assets and enjoy yield opportunities. More on the partnerships and on OpenDefi can be found here and here.

    Another notable collaboration is the one with Manta Network, a cross-chain privacy devoted Defi platform and price-stable Dex. Reef users will be able to access the liquidity offered by Manta Network Dex, reinforcing the core aspect of Reef Finance: liquidity aggregation.

    On January the 20th a two-week “zero gas fee” initiative started on OpenOcean, a trading platform, which has given traders the opportunity to receive a refund for all the fees spent while trading $REEF. The offer was limited to a total of 40,000 $REEF.

    The official Roadmap is constantly updated and more information on future news can be found on Reef Finance’s Medium page. This project is definitely one of the most anticipated and rumored in 2021!

    Conclusion

    DeFi innovation has to attract a lot more people to keep creating a vibrant and supportive community. After all, it is adoption that helps sustaining all these blockchain developments in the long run. Simplifying access to multiple DeFi products and creating a unified platform is exactly what the space needs today.

    Reef Finance’s target to abstract (?) DeFi looks promising. Not only do they make it easier for users to tap into other exchanges, but the platform also introduced AI technology to make it convenient for traders to manage their assets. The project may be young, but it has the tools users need to efficiently and profitably take control of their funds.

    Our interview with Denko Mancheski, CEO of Reef Finance

    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.

  • Konomi Network ($KONO): bringing money markets to Polkadot

    Konomi Network ($KONO): bringing money markets to Polkadot

    Utilizing Substrate as a development blueprint, Konomi Network aims to develop a fully interoperable service product that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies, manage their holdings, and make a profit out of decentralized money market options for the Polkadot ecosystem.

    Background

    The problem that has since limited the use of cryptocurrencies and hindered its mass adoption is the lack of interoperability. Holders of a particular token belonging to a different blockchain cannot easily make cross-chain transactions. This also means that all other digital asset providers cannot simply work together to provide financial services due to network restrictions.

    Konomi Network is designed to solve that issue. Built on top of the Polkadot blockchain, the project addresses the problem with gas fees on Ethereum. This is to improve transaction speed and network scalability.

    As of now, the protocol already supports a decentralized liquidity swap and money market. The team behind Konomi is currently working on the launch of the bridge to Polkadot’s parachains, wallets, and the open virtual machine to support smart contracts. Before the end of the year, the team is planning to launch the Konomi mainnet on the Polkadot ecosystem, link with other assets through a cross-chain bridge, as well as introduce fiat payments.

    What is the Konomi Network?

    Konomi Network is an independent blockchain project that features a comprehensive asset management platform on top of the Polkadot ecosystem. It provides cross-chain products and services such as trading, lending, and deposits. Since the platform is supported by parachains and Ethereum bridges, it can facilitate blockchain-agnostic services.

    One of the strongest suits of the platform is its liquidity. Any trader can access liquidity from other exchanges through the platform in performing their trades and it relies on automated market makers (AMM) to supply buy and sell orders without the need for order books.

    For further decentralization, the platform implements the same consensus model as Polkadot, the Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS). In this system, network security is maintained by the validators selected by the protocol’s stakers. They can freely choose how much they want to delegate to a validator and earn rewards in proportion to the amount of their stake.

    In the beta phase of the platform, it can be accessed as a web application. But in the next upgrades, the team will introduce a mobile version with the objective of making it easier for users to open the application.

    Konomi Network platform
    Konomi Network platform

    Konomi Wallet

    Konomi Wallet features a decentralized asset storage function. Users can freely deposit their cryptocurrencies on the wallet while still being able to monitor their holdings across different protocols. Through this application, users can also access either Konomi Trade or Lend easily.

    Konomi Trade

    Konomi Trade allows users to conduct their trades with the supply of liquidity coming from different markets in the Polkadot network. Supported by its AMM implementation, traders enjoy immediate on-chain transaction execution without the need for any third-party facilitator.

    Konomi Lend

    Konomi Lend is a decentralized money market protocol designed to allow users to borrow and lend their digital assets to other interested users. This product features the collateralized debt position model. This is where borrowers are required to lock at least the minimum amount specified for collateralization before they are allowed to make loans. For now, Konomi supports Polkadot’s native token (DOT) for collateralization.

    Decentralized Trading Protocol

    Konomi is designed to implement AMMs that are similarly deployed in most Ethereum-based exchanges. Its architecture is patterned after the DODO exchange, allowing it to effectively mitigate the risks of impermanent loss on the part of the traders.

    Decentralized Money Market

    Konomi’s money market protocol backs its borrowing and lending services for assets based on the Polkadot ecosystem. The interest rates imposed on borrowing depend on the total supply and demand in the platform’s liquidity pool. Patterned after the Compound protocol, these rates will be computed on a per-block basis.

    For those who would like to supply assets to the protocol’s existing liquidity pools, they can lock their holdings in smart contracts as collateral to earn lending interest. This also lets them access borrowing services.

    Cross-Chain Messaging Passing Feature

    Konomi will implement the Cross-Chain Messaging Passing (XCMP) function in order to achieve interoperability. XCMP is designed to link parachains together for the purposes of relaying transactions from one network to the other.

    What this does is it allows transactions made in different parachains to work despite their independence with each other. This allows users to tap other markets on the Polkadot ecosystem even if their assets are only on the Konomi protocol.

    KONO Token

    KONO is Konomi’s native utility token that is used to pay for the platform’s minimal transaction fees, trade between other market participants, collateral for loans in the network, staking, and protocol governance. The supply of KONO is limited and fixed to 100 million tokens.

    KONO token uses
    KONO token uses

    KONO holders are given the right to cast their votes on network proposals concerning different protocol parameters such as staking fee, transaction fee burn, liquidity mining ratio, and others. Participants to the governance mechanism are also given rewards for joining.

    The reward system for the protocol is also powered by KONO tokens. Those who stake their tokens and supply liquidity to the protocol are entitled to a reward proportional to the amount of token they locked in the network.

    Conclusion

    Konomi is an up-and-coming addition to the array of decentralized finance (DeFi) products in the space today. Since its infrastructure is supported by the Polkadot blockchain, it can stand to be a valuable competitor of other decentralized money markets and asset management services in the near future. Furthermore, its products can potentially entice a lot of users looking to make additional profit out of their holdings through staking. Its outlook for future adoption is positive.

    However, until the platform is fully operational, we cannot absolutely compare it with the initiatives that were first launched in the market. While Konomi is built on a high-performing blockchain with cross-chain functionality, its application’s capacity to support the needs of its users is still going to be the best metric for its growth and success.

    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.

  • XFai ($XFIT): Can it resolve the liquidity and gas fee issues in DeFi?

    XFai ($XFIT): Can it resolve the liquidity and gas fee issues in DeFi?

    XFai is a decentralized oracle service provider that aims to address liquidity and gas issues in decentralised exchanges (DEXs) through a so-called DEX Liquidity Oracle which will revolutionise cryptocurrency trading whilst reducing gas fees.

    If you are a regular DEX trader, you might notice that there are times when you can’t complete trades. This happens often with small-cap tokens that do not have enough liquidity. In this case, traders have two options, either to wait it out until there’s enough liquidity or to increase price slippage tolerance. But either way, it can result in huge losses on the part of a small-cap token holder.

    XFai wants to address this problem by empowering DEXs with liquidity that can be supplied to small-cap tokens. This equalizes the playing field for every single trader, allowing them to execute their strategy without having to shoulder massive costs just because a DEX might not have enough liquidity on any particular trading pair.

    Check out our interview with XFai’s Chief Scientist, Taulant Ramabaja.

    Background

    The problem with many DEXs today is liquidity. While liquidity pools and profit-generating DeFi systems like yield farming have offered revolutionary solutions in the last year or so, DEXes still face this concern. This leaves many traders vulnerable to huge price slippages and losses. And if the issue persists, cryptocurrency traders might be discouraged and go back to trading mostly on centralized exchanges despite having less options.

    This is what XFai worked is trying to solve.

    XFai, which was co-founded by Geoffrey Khan, was developed in order to deal with the problems hounding DeFi markets today. It has gained a substantial amount of support, garnering investments from companies like AU21 Capital, LD Capital, and Roger Ver, one of the earliest adopters of blockchain technology and the CEO of Bitcoin.com. It is also worth mentioning that they were able to generate over $3.8 million within the first 12 hours of their private sale.

    What is XFai?

    XFai is a decentralized oracle service provider with the aim of addressing liquidity and gas issues in DEXs through a DEX Liquidity Oracle (DLO). This means that the protocol’s role is not only limited to supplying data to price feeds and engaging with smart contracts, but is also capable of actively providing and managing token liquidity in partner DEXs such as Uniswap.

    The primary goal of the project is to support small cap tokens and token holders by establishing a system that helps them earn better rewards. In other words, the project seeks to help them gain as much in incentives as they can, just like how a holder of a large cap token does.

    DEX Liquidity Oracle

    XFai’s DLO is powered by the XFai smart contract, which allows users to stake small cap tokens that can later be supplied to Uniswap pools according to corresponding price ranges and existing orders. The biggest trades facilitated on Uniswap exchanges will be provided with the liquidity collected from the DLO.

    This does not just benefit large volume trades for small cap tokens, but also those who supply liquidity on the same tokens. They receive rewards when they do so as well. The good thing about DLO is that it does not require liquidity providers to supply all the assets supported in a liquidity pool. They can choose to simply supply a single token in a pool, which also mitigates the risks of impermanent loss on their end.

    What supports this function further is its real-time price feed from centralized exchanges. Furthermore, the liquidity from the DLO is easily accessible to DEXs, addressing the issue on price slippage. This is exactly the goal of the XFai team, to support the current DEXs in the market and not to present itself as a competitor.

    How Does XFai Work?

    First, the user has to add tokens on the DLO liquidity vault/pool. The DLO is governed by a smart contract that also sends the tokens to partner DEXes when liquidity is needed. Note that users do not need to supply multiple assets at a time anymore, thereby reducing their exposure.

    Second, the DLO looks into the data from existing order books from other exchanges to determine existing prices and trading volume. Then, it comes up with a synthetic curve which they will use in order to pair DLO liquidity with partner DEXs.

    Then, there is a smart contract that governs how and when liquidity is supplied to a DEX using the synthetic curve. The goal of the contract is to ensure that enough liquidity is met by AMMs in order to avoid price slippage while allowing small cap token holders to supply liquidity without incurring impermanent loss.

    XFIT Token

    XFIT token is XFai’s native, utility token, which can be used as a medium of exchange, store of value, and means of payment for transaction fees. But more than that, it also has governance and reward functions. Liquidity farming is accessible in XFIT and all other DLO pairs.

    To start liquidity mining, holders can stake their tokens in select pools to earn proportional rewards. Each time the DLO profits from the trades conducted by its platform users, token holders earn additional XFIT. They can either redeem XFIT tokens to be later sold to the market, or they can decide to return their rewards back to liquidity pools in order to increase their stake position.

    In addition, XFIT token holders are also entitled to discounts on transaction fees if they use XFIT. They can also make direct swaps from XFIT to any other token in the protocol as long as they are supported by the DLO.

    XFai Liquidity Generation Event: How to stake XFIT

    The XFai liquidity generation event is a way to allow users to become involved with XFai’s XFIT token early, and stake them in the liquidity pool in order to earn increased, sustained yield throughout the launch period.

    To participate, users can go on the XFai website and click on “Farm”, then choose your preferred pool. Note that the APY is synced for all pools so they earn the same amount of APY as each other. Then click “Connect Wallet” to connect using MetaMask, once connected the dashboard will automatically calculate how much XFIT you can purchase with the amount in your wallet. Select the amount you want to stake and hit “Farm”.

    Whilst farming, you have the option to either Add to Farm, which allows you to increase your stake or Harvest, which allows you to claim your XIFT rewards.

    To claim your rewards, click “Harvest” and you would be presented with the option to Harvest XFIT or Harvest XFIT and unstake. Harvest XFIT allows you to claim the XFIT tokens gained into your wallet whilst keeping the staked amount in the liquidity pool to keep farming more XIFT rewards. On the other hand, Harvest XFIT and unstake means you can claim your XFIT rewards and unstake the staked amount (or any part of it) from the pool.

    The XFai LGE will be from 16th April to 7 May 2021.

    For a full guide on how to farm XFIT, click here.

    Conclusion

    Perhaps one of the largest factors that stop people from completely shifting their cryptocurrency trading activities to DEXs is the liquidity problem, apart from the fees. It is difficult to execute trades with low liquidity and even if they often do, sometimes, it takes multiple slippage tolerance adjustments before a trade gets to be completed.

    While this can look trivial for some people, this is something that can’t be neglected. If XFai takes off, the DeFi space might experience a better market situation. If traders do not have to be burdened by price slippages and if liquidity further improves through the same solutions the XFai team did, DEXs can be even more alluring to everyone, which would help speed up adoption.

    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.

  • YFI Yield Farming with yEarn Pool

    YFI Yield Farming with yEarn Pool

    Yield Farming is a popular method for cryptocurrency owners to gain passive income. It involves taking advantage of various incentives rewards for locking-up (aka staking) different cryptocurrencies. This article focuses on yield farming for the $YFI token which has become the highest performing yield farming pool.

    Check out our video on how to potentially earn 600% returns through YFI Yield Farming!

    The yEarn project has launched its own governance token – $YFI – this week, sending the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Yield Farming scene into a frenzy. As of this article, staking stable coins (USDT, USDC, DAI, or TUSD) into the Y pool will yield an astronomical 896% Annual Percentage Yield (APY). This is due to the incentive token $YFI being distributed to staked token holders, making this the single best yield farming pool right now. This has sparked a huge amount of interest in both searches for the $YFI governance token (trending right now on coingecko). Since the token launch, more than $60 Million of new capital has been deposited into the Y pool. Calculate yield using the community made yieldfarming tool.

    WARNING: Yield farming involves a high amount of risk due to the experimental nature of the Ethereum network with potentially undiscovered critical vulnerabilities. Never stake/farm more than you can afford to lose. This is not Financial Advice.

    What is the yEarn (iEarn) Pool

    The iEarn “Y” pool is a yield aggregator – it automatically invests its capital into different DeFi projects – selecting those with the highest yield and return on investment. As a DeFi protocol, a smart contract keeps the invested funds – which makes the project non-custodial. The pool itself is comprised of 4 different stable coins – USDT, USDC, DAI and TUSD – with a total of over $103 Million USD in currency reserves (Assets Under Management – AUM). These reserves are then lent out to different protocols that offer the best rates of return, including Compound, Aave, and dYdX. yPools are considered riskier than other DeFi products such as Compound because lend capital out to a series of protocols – which themselves could be vulnerable to critical vulnerabilities.

    How to Earn the YFI Token

    There are two pools that reward the YFI token for staking. The first and easiest pool to access is the Y Pool on Curve.Fi. This pool is a collection of stable coins that are automatically invested in different lending protocols. This type of pool is usually considered a higher risk due to possible vulnerabilities not just with its own smart contract, but with other smart contracts too.

    Deposit and stake option on Curve.Fi

    How to to earn YFI tokens

    Unfortunately “Yield Farming” for the YFI token has ended. When YFI first launched, all 30,000 tokens were distributed to stakers on the https://ygov.finance/staking platform. Although initially there were plans to distribute more tokens, attempts to come out with a plan to do so have all been voted down in the Y governance. This means it’s unlikely that new $YFI tokens will be distributed in the future. Other tokens such as YFII and YFV still have token distribution for yield farmers.

    What is YFI token

    Image
    Liquidity provider profit on Y Pool

    YFI is the governance token for yEarn (previously known as iEarn). Tokenholders are entitled to vote on upcoming governance decisions for the network – such as potentially stopping all-new distribution of the token. Creator of YFI, Andre Cronje (@AndreCronjeTech) has stated that the token has no intrinsic value.

    “We have released YFI, a completely valueless 0 supply token. We re-iterate, it has 0 financial value”

    Andre Cronje

    This being said, the current wave hype wave and token dynamics have driven up the value of the token. The token follows the “Governance” model where it’s value comes from voting on where the protocol will go next. On top of this, the incentivized Balancer pool (YFI 2%, DAI 98%) requires the staking of $YFI, which locks up further supply. Simply put, DeFi farmers are locking up YFI and DAI in order to receive BPT tokens which could be staked on ygov.finance to gain an additional $YFI. This type of cyclic farming create pseudo ponzinomics and could lead to potentially disastrous results.

    Balancer Warning & new coin minting risk

    One of risks that was mitigated by the team was with token issuance. Currently there is a max cap of only 30,000 YFI tokens. Earlier this week it was discovered that there was a master key which permitted YFI developer Andre Cronje to mint new coins and potentially flood the market with new coins. If he did this, it would of been possible for him to take the entirety of Pool#2 and Pool#3 on Balancer, with a total of more than $150 Million USD. Luckily this did not happen, as he quickly created a multisignature address which requires 6/9 key holders to agree to minting new tokens. The purpose of this is to remove single party risk as 6 of the 9 keyholders are required to agree to create new coins. On top of this, even if they do agree, the community will have 3 days notice before anything happens.

    Overall the long term objective of YFI is to leave control of the total supply of YFI and distribution up to the community to decide. The voting aspect of YFI will allow governance token stakers to decide who to do with the platform.

    YFI distribution stop

    Distribution of $YFI tokens will temporarily stop as new contracts are being prepared. Times for the pools stopping are as follows:

    Resources:

    yEarn documentation – http://docs.yearn.finance
    yGovernance and staking – https://ygov.finance
    Pool Information / Calculator: https://yieldfarming.info/
    Curve Guide on Pools – https://guides.curve.fi/how-to-choose-the-right-curve-pool-for-you/
    Coindesk Report: https://www.coindesk.com/troll-token-why-defi-yield-farmers-are-now-all-about-yfi

    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.