Boxmining

Category: Latest News

  • Wootrade ($WOO): Boosting the power of cryptocurrency trading?

    Wootrade ($WOO): Boosting the power of cryptocurrency trading?

    Wootrade ($WOO) is a digital asset liquidity pool that partners with cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and over the counter trading desks (OTCs). They also have a darkpool trading platform which claims to offer zero (or even negative) trading fees and above average liquidity for spot and futures trading.

    Check out our interview with Jack Tan, CEO of Wootrade!

    Better trading (no strings attached)?-Wootrade

    Background

    While both automated market makers (AMMs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) belong to the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, they are quite distinct from each other.

    There is no limit order functionality for AMM providers such as Uniswap, whilest the trading role of DEXs is more complete and closer to that of a common cryptocurrency exchange. At present, AMMs are extremely popular. They draw more consumers and have rates of exchange that outweigh those of DEXs. 

    Wootrade collaborates with DEXs as they solve their liquidity challenges using Wootrade. Exchanges would find it easy to draw even more customers by providing more liquidity and delivering more full features. In DeFi cryptocurrencies, standard exchanges have smaller trading rates than Uniswap, and even losing customers, owing to the popularity of the DeFi sector.

    Although supporting both centralized and decentralized exchanges to improve their AMM competition, Wootrade has already listed DeFi coins and intends to consistently list more.

    Team

    It is worth noting that Mark Pimentel, Wootrade’s Co-founder, worked at Citadel and Knight Capital (acquired by Virtu in 2017), respectively. Pimentel initially operated in the high-frequency trading department at Citadel, and then went to Knight Capital’s electronic marketing group in the United States. There, he was in charge of operating the substantial dark pool.

    When Pimentel stepped into the crypto ecosystem, he came across a common problem between quantitative funds and exchanges i.e. the market liquidity is fragmented. He aimed to add his trading skills and familiarity with the dark pool to Wootrade. The inclusion of Wootrade’s token economy was intended to make this model more robust, fairer, and more efficient.

    What is Wootrade?

    Built by industry-leading proprietary trading company Kronos Research, Wootrade provides dramatically enhanced liquidity, spreads, and fees. Wootrade is regarded as the next evolution of crypto trading.

    Wootrade features specialized market-making skills based on alpha through collaborations with the world’s top proprietary trading teams. A self-reinforcing and mutually-advantageous dynamic between traders, exchanges, market-makers, and investors all connected by the WOO token has been created by this innovative framework.

    Mark Pimentel and Jack Tan, Founders of Kronos Research, had invented the Wootrade concept to address the big pain points for more challenging crypto traders. Kronos Research has evolved from a team of 2 to more than 60 persons now and trades over a billion dollars on a daily basis.

    How does Wootrade achieve high liquidity and zero fees?

    Wootrade claims to have above average liquidity and zero trading fees, but how do they achieve this?

    Taking BTC as an example, at a depth of 100 BTC, Wootrade will sustain a spread of 0.2%. In addition, it does not charge any handling costs or operating costs to users. Kronos Research, a quantitative market research institution, has incubated Wootrade. The fact that Kronos excels in a number of trading techniques is popularly known.

    In various market conditions, Kronos has a daily trading volume of more than $1 billion and can guarantee substantial returns. Although Wootrade implements zero-fee trading, retail-oriented exchanges do not generally compete with it. In fact, exchanges or DEXs, wallets, brokers, and trading institutions are mostly Wootrade customers.

    Currently, over 10 exchanges and institutional customers are linked to the platform. In addition, through the exchanges that collaborate with Wootrade, a total of more than 65,000 end users have used their trading profile. New exchanges were queuing up for entry after releasing Wootrade 1.0, as market demand surpassed the expectations of the team.

    Open governance on Wootrade

    The aim is for the group to have more and more autonomy to grow the project as it sees fit. Voting power grows exponentially in relation to the amount of time involved, but anyone who buys tokens only to vote would not have any control over decisions.

    Instead, those who have carried for the right length of time will be able to control with the greater weight the choices made. Additionally, the incentive scheme is aimed to enable those with the right combination of talent and expertise to engage more effectively in the governance and decision-making process.

    The aim of Wootrade is to reach 40% of the cryptocurrency market’s liquidity. This includes a significant number of exchange customers and market makers to be on board. There is a big market for wealth management businesses on both exchange investors and AMMs on the platform.

    Since it’s not easy to check and trust the trading staff, investors sometimes skip good opportunities. Wootrade can, therefore, be fitted with an oracle computer to solve this. This helps market makers to submit their NAVs and results to the blockchain. For its retail customers, exchanges may then verify and pick outstanding items.

    WOO token ($WOO)

    Wootrade has its own native token that will act as a value and rewards carrier generated by the system. The WOO token will be used to vote on governance decisions concerning the platform. WOO can also be used in staking/mining reward systems, retail users can stake WOO and ETH or USDT into an asset managment product and receive rewards.

    For those who are interested in spot/futures trading, WOO can be used as collateral on the Wootrade platform.

    Customers can also get a discount when using WOO to pay for say management fees for asset management items. For Wootrade’s clients or partners that do not have their native token, they can also choose to adopt WOO as their platform token. Thereby giving consumers another place to use WOO.

    Prime Nodes on Wootrade

    For B2B clients they are different tiers to stake the WOO tokens on the exchange or platform for eligibility to become a Prime node. In addition to the staking requirement, they also need to demonstrate a unique marketing plan and business proposition.

    Wootrade Staking Program: Fee Structure

    Once they become a Prime node, every dollar of flow they route to the network gives them a reward of a certain number of WOO tokens. The concept behind this is that after a while of doing this, they would not need to charge their users and fees and simply scale off the rebates provided by Wootrade.

    Essentially, Wootrade’s rationale is that they do not think businesses would try and rely on market makers (which require a huge fee for their services). Especially when the alternative provided by Woodtrade is that they would get access to a zero fee trading network with proven liquidity, AND get paid to trade there.

    WOO tokenomics

    WOO tokenomics
    WOO tokenomics
    • Ticker: WOO
    • ICO Token Price: 1 WOO = 0.03 USD
    • Fundraising Goal: $650,000
    • Total Tokens: 3,000,000,000

    WOO is available for spot trading on Uniswap, Huobi, MXC and Gate.io

    Conclusion

    Wootrade sees the potential for conventional and decentralized finance to incorporate concepts. The crypto industry will increasingly be affected by this new technology. The conventional business of asset management will now pay attention to the optimized use of blockchain technologies and token architecture.

    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.

  • Base Protocol ($BASE): a rebasing token to cover all cryptocurrencies?

    Base Protocol ($BASE): a rebasing token to cover all cryptocurrencies?

    Base Protocol ($BASE) created a token with a value pegged to the total market capitalization of every cryptocurrency available in the market. The purpose is to diversify a person’s investments and expand their exposure to a lot of cryptocurrencies that they would not have otherwise availed from existing traditional investment vehicles. 

    This has helped investors because trading on the cryptocurrency market has always been challenging. Especially when the performance of some coins varies a lot from each other. There are big gainers and big losers. In addition, choosing which digital currency to invest in can be truly difficult at times considering their inherent risks. Fortunately, Base Protocol’s token aims to solve this problem.

    Learn more about Base Protocol and how rebasing works in our debate with Nick Ravanbakhsh, co-founder of Base Protocol.

    EPIC Debate: Are “Rebases” Useful Financially? – With Base Protocol

    Background

    Nick Ravanbakhsh and Dylan Senter, founders of the Base Protocol, started the project to address the lack of a crypto index fund product for the cryptocurrency market. They came up with the idea to establish a basket of digital assets that track the market.

    Both of them are also co-founders of Spectiv, a digital token designed as a rewards system for content creators, aiming to do away with the advertising intermediaries like YouTube or Facebook.

    Base Protocol’s key team members also include Chris Peña (Head of Development), who has over 10 years of experience being a developer for systems that span multiple industries,and Based McGee (Head of Development — Solidity), who has 10 years of experience being a software engineer.

    What is Base Protocol?

    Base Protocol is an Ethereum-based synthetic token that has its price derived from the value of all digital assets in the cryptocurrency market. You can think of it like a stock index. It functions as a trading vehicle where the price is dependent on the movement of all other stocks held in its particular market.

    Through Base, investors can participate in the cryptocurrency market with the Base Protocol index mitigating risk.

    Rather than simply speculating on the numerous cryptocurrencies that pop up almost daily, investors can spread their risk by simply investing in Base Protocol. This means that they can have a stake in every successful coin, at the same time, have a more balanced risk exposure.

    And for as long as the cryptocurrency market continues to grow, you cannot lose. Basically, this project is geared to those who believe in the nascent industry’s long-term potential.

    Features of Base Protocol

    Base Protocol as a Synthetic Asset

    A synthetic asset in finance is a tool designed to produce the same effects as investing in another asset (called the underlying asset). However, it also alters the key characteristics of the underlying asset.

    This is effectively the engineering mechanism behind the Base protocol, which is a synthetic asset that simulates the performance of the cryptocurrency market. To do this effectively, it is built with some important features in place.

    Elastic supply

    BASE’s value is designed to be the combined value of all cryptocurrencies in the market at a ratio of 1:1 trillion. Hence Base Protocol is built to always achieve equilibrium with the market cap of all cryptocurrencies (target price). This means that its supply could also change depending on the current state of the market. Through its rebasing method, BASE could ensure that it can reconcile the difference between the value of its coin and the total market cap for cryptocurrencies.

    Rebasing- how does it work?

    Rebasing is the term used for the process by which a synthetic asset’s price is restored in equilibrium to the underlying asset. BASE’s rebasing mechanism adjusts its total supply until the market price reaches the target price.

    While this protocol functions to ensure that the market price of BASE always correlates with the target price – it often only manages to influence the corrections. It is left to market actors to respond to rebases to correct prices.

    Rebase process
    Rebase process (Image credit: Base Protocol whitepaper)

    Example

    • t0 — An investor buys 1 BASE with a market price $1
    • t1— The market price of BASE goes up to $2 – out of sync with the target price of $1
    • t2 — To restore the market price’s equilibrium to target price, BASE’s total supply is adjusted in proportion to the difference. This is a “rebase”, and the process is called a “rebase event”.
    • t3 — Regardless of the rebase event, the investor’s net $ balance and his percent ownership of the total supply are always constant.

    BASE Token ($BASE)

    Base’s token ($BASE) is the token associated with the Base Protocol index and is both itself a cryptocurrency and a measure of the cryptocurrency market as a whole. It serves as a trading instrument that enables individuals to make investments based on the whole cryptocurrency market, instead of just a single or few digital asset selections.

    BASE’s value follows the ratio of 1:1 trillion, based on the whole market cap for cryptocurrencies. For example, if the market cap is at $800 billion, the value of one BASE is $0.80.

    The protocol is based on the Ethereum blockchain and can be bought on Uniswap. The price feed uses Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network.

    Base Protocol dashboard
    Base Protocol dashboard (Image credit: Base Protocol)

    While BASE is becoming more popular as an investment instrument, it can serve other specific purposes too. Here are some of the other features that the $BASE token can be used for.

    Uses for $BASE token

    Price Reference

    Traders trying to analyze the potential movement of a particular coin could track its price with the value of BASE to determine how they fare against the whole crypto market. This can even be better than just comparing altcoins with BTC because it shows an overview of the whole crypto economy. 

    Hence $BASE is intended to be a single token that allows an investor to speculate on all crypto assets simultaneously. This way, they don’t have to buy any specific coin or invest in a select few and can spread their stake across the entire industry.

    As long as the investor is optimistic about the industry’s future, they can invest in the market as a whole.

    Safe Haven

    According to the Team, purchasing BASE allows holders to make safe investments, instead of just selecting a single digital asset.

    This is because cherry-picking cryptocurrencies into a portfolio opens the investor to the risk of loss — seeing how volatile the market can be. People might also miss out on the emergence of the rapid rise of any new currency.

    By investing in $BASE, however, the idea is that one can mitigate the risk of exposure of individual coins while enjoying the rest’s potential gains.

    Price Reference

    As a market tracker, BASE’s price is indicative of the total market cap of the crypto market. Crypto investors already track the performance of altcoins in relation to bitcoin instead of USD.

    The performance of any altcoin in relation to bitcoin is more a more important measure for the decentralized economy. But even better would be to use $BASE as the price reference. Instead of just BTC, the trader can see how well any altcoin performs against the entire crypto market.

    Lending Instrument

    BASE can be utilized as a hedge for leveraged crypto trading. It can be considered an alternative to borrowing in BTC since it is less volatile. For example, if the value of BASE drops and they have to repay the loan they made, they can suffer less in terms of losses since it depends on the overall drop in the market.

    Base Cascade

    BASE Cascade is a program on the platform designed to reward BASE holders. This is because it also serves as their contribution to the liquidity of Uniswap’s pool. In order to take part in the Cascade program, users have to lock their BASE and ETH on the Uniswap liquidity pool. They get a percentage of the transaction fees based on the volume of trading in the pool as a reward.

    After they have deposited their BASE and ETH on Uniswap, they are given LP tokens, which is the token that they can stake to claim their rewards on Cascade.

    At first, the rewards multiplier for Cascade participants is at 1x. 30 days after they are staked, it increase to 2x. 60 days after, the multiplier becomes 3x. The increase in the multiplier happens everyday until it reaches the ceiling point, which is at 3x.

    Participation in Cascade is merely optional. Only the user can decided how much liquidity they want to contribute. Furthermore, they can withdraw at any point in time.

    Conclusion

    Devising new ways to expand the investment opportunities for the cryptocurrency market serves the purposes of adoption and new use cases. Base Protocol’s initiative to create a product that expands the exposure of its users to the whole crypto market can be a convenient entry point for fresh investments.

    Some of the factors affecting the arrival of new entrants to the crypto space include the volatility of some coins and the difficulty in selecting the best-performing coin. With Base as one of their options, not only are investors given a much safer alternative to investing in single digital assets, they are also given the opportunity to speculate on the crypto market as a whole. Given that this project could potentially bring new interest to the space, we can expect a more vibrant community if the project becomes successful.

    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.

  • Exeedme (XED): allowing every gamer to earn with blockchain and NFTs?

    Exeedme (XED): allowing every gamer to earn with blockchain and NFTs?

    Exeedme (XED) is a blockchain-powered gaming tournament platform designed to finally give professional gamers the income and recognition they deserve.

    There are over 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, making the gaming industry twice the size of the music and movie industries combined.

    But while producers and developers in the entertainment industry are able to rake in millions, the same cannot be said for gamers who find it almost impossible to earn a living playing video games.

    Although we do have cases of professional gamers generating substantial income through livestreaming, their numbers are considerably low as it requires a very high amount of creativity, skill, and time to build a big-enough audience and thrive. This challenge is what Exeedme is trying to solve.

    Background

    Francisco Varela and Nuno Fernandes teamed up to come up with this innovative idea of rewarding gamers for their devotion and skills to playing the game they love.

    To truly ensure the project caters to the professional gamer, their Head of Engineering- Arlindo Torres, is himself a game analyst and professional CS:GO player. Exeedme also has Ricardo “FOX” Pacheco Miguel, a professional CG:GO player and world champion as their Ambassador

    What is Exeedme?

    Exeedme is looking to revolutionize the gaming industry by providing Play2Earn platform for gamers, developers, and organizers a place to monetize their skills through blockchain-based gaming tournaments.

    The tournament platform is built on Polkadot, a next-generation multi-chain protocol that has grown exponentially in the last few months.

    Exeedme chose to build its system on top of Polkadot in order to benefit from its decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) innovations. This would allow it to move fungible and non-fungible assets across multiple chains seamlessly, which could expand its horizons to larger communities.

    The Exeedme team recognizes the fact that the current game monetization models leave a lot to be desired since current models favor a few privileged gamers but do not provide an avenue for an average player to earn an income through gaming.

    Hence, Exeedme has come to give gamers a place to exercise a real sense of ownership and earn money as they play.

    Exeedme Gaming Solutions

    The central idea behind Exeedme is to provide a platform where gamers can be able to earn money from doing what they love. The platform seeks to reward gamers of all skill levels without any discrimination, which means you don’t need to become a top professional gamer in order to earn an income.

    And in this ecosystem, the biggest winners would be the game developers, as well as players.

    Virtual Assets

    Many games today have systems where they allow gamers to earn or buy virtual assets. The downside to this is that these assets cannot be monetized or transferred outside of the gaming system.

    Exeedme is looking to change all that through its XED native token, plus the use of NFTs. Gamers would be allowed to transfer their game’s “virtual assets” to different game universes, even if they are on different blockchains, which would result in an interoperable digital multiverse.

    Since DeFi and NFTs would be pre-built into the gaming platform, peer-to-peer gaming economy platforms could readily grow. These growing economies would be geared towards rewarding gamers instead of the side chain advertising industries.

    How Gamers Earn on the Platform

    Gamers can earn on the Exeedme platform in 3 ways: winning, participating, and progressing.

    To earn through winning, a gamer has to pick his favorite game to play, then stake it via funding with crypto assets. The player then selects his opponent or lets the system match him with similarly skilled players. The gamer could bet on himself to win and if he succeeds, he can take his earnings.

    Gamers can also win simply by participating and progressing in any game or tournament they play.

    In addition to the 3 methods mentioned above, Exeedme also allows players to earn NFTs when they progress such as trophies, collectibles and in-game assets. These an be used across different games, traded or monetized.

    Advantages of Exeedme

    Exeedme holds a number of advantages over the old gaming models, some of them are:

    • Exeedme’s XED tokens are far better than participation trophies that some of the other games reward. Regardless of the outcome of a game, a gamer can be assured of earning a token that can be spent. This is because every time there is a bet on the gamer winning, XED tokens are being mined.
    • Newly-minted XED and crafted NFTs can also be earned just by progressing in a game’s tournament or winning it. They are also won when a gamer reaches a milestone, completes a new mission, or achieves a higher ranking.
    • Earned XED and NFT tokens can be traded or monetized, making it a very fun way of earning.

    XED Token

    Exeedme’s $XED is their native token. Players are rewarded with XED tokens through winning or progressing in a game.

    Earn XED tokens
    Earn XED tokens (Image credit: Exeedme)

    The project has designed its platform in such a way that its governance system is led by gamers who would also be major participants on the blockchain. Accordingly, the best way to help improve the platform and push it into success would be to stake XED tokens.

    Gamers who stake the token would enjoy certain privileges like lower fees, a cut of the match fees, access to free and special tournaments, access to exclusive NFT launches, exclusive badges, and other perks.

    Exeedme would also be deploying community pools in its bid to fund general improvements to the protocol. Developers can also obtain funding through various methods depending on their project.

    XED token uses
    XED token uses (Image credit：Exeedme whitepaper)

    XED token metrics and tokenomics

    The XED token was listed on Uniswap and released as a Polkastater Initial DEX Offering on 30th December 2020. Details on the XED token are as follows.

    Total Circulating Supply: 100,000,000 $XED

    Initial Market Cap: $875,000 USD

    Seed/Private/Pre-Public Sale Fundraising: $900,000 USD

    Distribution and release

    Seed: $0.0125 USD, 20% released on TGE, then 10% monthly over 8 months

    Private sale price: $0.025 USD, 25% relased on TGE, then 25% monthly over 3 months

    Pre-Public: $0.03 USD, 25% released on TGE, then 25% monthly over 3 months

    Uniswap listing price: $0.05 USD

    XED token distribution
    XED token distribution (Image credit: Exeedme)

    Exeedme Use of Funds Raised

    • 45% of the funds raised will help support the product development team;
    • 30% will be for growing the ecosystem;
    • 15% will be for providing liquidity to Uniswap and other exchanges;
    • 5% will be for Legal, Regulatory and Security; and
    • 5% will be for general and administrative expenses.

    Exeedme Staking Pool

    The gaming platform would deploy community pools to fund general improvements to the protocol. Developers on the protocol would have access to various funding methods which would be determined by their project.

    For instance, XED rewards and NFT rewards pools would have access to fees garnered from tournaments. They would also be able to receive mints and melts of NFTs and fungible tokens.

    Conclusion

    Exeedme is a uniqueue blockchain gaming platform designed in a way to create a playing field for any skill leveled gamera chance to earn from doing what they love. And despite having other gaming-based blockchain protocols in the space, Exeedme is quite unique in its approach.

    While the previous gaming models do not give adequate room for gamers to earn from their skill, the innovative platform looks to correct that by providing an ample opportunity for gamers to earn from whatever skill levels they have.

    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.

  • LABS Group ($LABS): bringing real estate investments to the masses?

    LABS Group ($LABS): bringing real estate investments to the masses?

    LABS Group aims to realise everyone’s dream of real estate ownership through fractionalising real estate investments.

    Traditionally, entry into the real estate industry requires a substantial investment due to the indivisibility of assets. Consequently, small investors find this asset class completely out of their reach.

    Among the few platforms trying a stab at bringing real estate to the masses is LABS Group. Through its ecosystem token and utilising decentralised finance (DeFi) and governance, its mission is to intelligently blend the centralized and the decentralized worlds of real estate to improve its liquidity.

    Check out our interview with Chairman Mahesh Harilela (or listen to the podcast).

    Tokenizing Real Estate Assets-LABS Group with Mahesh Harilela

    Background

    Mahesh Harilela, is the Company’s Chairman. Mahesh comes from one of the most prominent families in Hong Kong, which owns 19 hotel properties worldwide through the Harilela Group. Mahesh himself has certainly inherited the family’s entrepreneurial spirit and is involved in Trading, Brand Development, Renewable Energy Infrastructure, Agriculture and Education. He is also Chairman of the Board and CEO of M. Harilela Global Investments Ltd and Asia CBD Pte Ltd.

    What is Labs?

    LABS is a leading blockchain-based ecosystem for real estate investments. The platform seeks to bring more people into the space by fractionalizing investments. Compared with other legacy modes of investing in the real estate space like private equity funds, REITs, and direct investment, LABS emerges as the winner.

    For instance, it ticks crucial boxes such as low fees, governance, ownership, staking for profit, tradable, among others.

    Critical issues the protocol is trying to solve include:

    1. Costly entry and exit prices – Currently, the median entry price into the ecosystem is high. The cost rises as you enter into big cities. Apart from entry points, exit costs are driven through the roof by third parties such as agencies.
    2. Eradicate reliance on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) – Although they allow pooled investments, they are majorly open to deep-pocketed individuals.
    3. Complicated access to a global network – International property ownership is a nightmare in the current state of the real estate industry.
    4. Low Liquidity – The traditional real estate market restricts investors from selling to the local market due to low liquidity.
    5. High fees – The fees range from taxes, agent fees, and transaction fees that introduce inefficiencies in the conventional market.
    LABS Ecosystem (Image credit: LABS Group)

    How Labs Tackles the Above Problems

    Labs uses different approaches to solve key issues plaguing the traditional real estate industry permanently. These are:

    Crowdfunding

    The project believes in fractionalizing real estate assets, making it possible for multiple investors to put their money in the same assets by reducing the entry costs. Additionally, it minimizes the need for investors to stretch their cash reserves unnecessarily. In doing so, it reduces the risks of losing a lot of money.

    Powering a Global Portfolio

    With digitization, the project removes the global barrier. Consequently, it provides investors with a chance to have a global portfolio of real estate assets. (contentbeta) This lowers the risks for investors. Apart from enabling them to build a global portfolio, the digitization process enables investors to mimic traditional asset features like a store of value.

    Caters to Investors Diverse Appetites

    Labs enables investors to choose between different types of assets in the industry. For example, they can select residential, commercial, industrial, or hybrid and still choose their preferred location, risk levels, and ROI.

    It Brings Blockchain and Digitization Together

    By digitizing real-world assets, the project opens them up to trading on virtual exchanges that have no geographical limitations nor opening/closing times.

    Extra benefits

    Other benefits birthed by the project are:

    1. Interaction with the DeFi scene and enabling decentralized governance.
    2. Ability to trade real estate securities.
    3. Faster and direct dividends payments
    4. Reduced and enhanced transactions.

    Liquidity Provision On the Labs Network

    1. Tokenization – This helps power an asset-backed token ecosystem that lives on the blockchain enabling other activities such as over-the-counter trading and token swapping.
    2. Trading on the secondary market – Trading of Labs’ securities leverages recognized exchanges. Note that when shares are tokenized, they are traded on a securities exchange. Such asset trading platforms enable enhanced non-stop trading, positively impacting investors’ entry and exit points.
    3. Lending – Labs facilitates lending activities on the platform using two native assets; the Labs stable token, the Labs security token (more on these later). The protocol uses these tokens to address the liquidity problem by allowing their holders to engage in collateralized lending.

    Conclusion

    By fractionalizing real estate assets, Labs eases the entry of retail investors into the industry. Consequently, it increases liquidity. Another critical Labs undertaking is digitizing these assets, effectively connecting the real estate market to the DeFi world.

    In return, it opens up the space to more possibilities such as collateralized lending, over-the-counter trading, and swapping. Additionally, the inclusion of the LABS token drives community governance that is a crucial pillar in DeFi-focused protocols.

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

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

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

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

    What is Union Finance?

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

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

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

    Similarities With Traditional Insurance

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

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

    DeFi-Related Risks

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

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

    Three-Token Model

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

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

    UNN Token

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

    uUNN and pUNN Tokens

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

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

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

    Key Components of Union Finance

    Buyer Protection

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

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

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

    Capital Model

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

    UNN Staking

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

  • Popular Cryptocurrency Terms Every Crypto Enthusiast Should Know

    Popular Cryptocurrency Terms Every Crypto Enthusiast Should Know

    Cryptocurrencies have exceedingly grown in popularity among investors, customers, developers, and regulators. However, a significant barrier to novice participants are the various terms floating around the industry. Many terms come from computer programming while other more recent terms originate from slang words or phrases. This post will go through some of the most common cryptocurrency terms, offering a solid basis for interested individuals.

    #A

    ATH

    “ATH” is an abbreviation for “All-Time High.” It is the highest price point that a cryptocurrency has been in its trading history.

    ATL

    “ATL” is an abbreviation for “All-Time Low.” It is the lowest price point that a cryptocurrency has been in its trading history.

    Address

    An address is a destination where a user sends and receives digital currency. Addresses are usually composed of a long series of letters and numbers. Without an address, the blockchain can’t confirm nor verify the existence of a coin, so, without a wallet address, you can’t own a cryptocurrency.

    Altcoins

    Altcoins, or Alternative Coins, refer to cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

    Airdrop

    An airdrop is a distribution of a cryptocurrency token, usually for free, to numerous wallet addresses. Airdrops are primarily implemented as a marketing campaign as a way of gaining attention and new followers.

    Arbitrage

    Arbitrage is the practice of simultaneously buying and selling the same asset in different markets to take advantage of price differences between the markets.

    Ashdraked

    Ashdraked is a term born from Crypto trading and conveys a situation of complete loss of a trader’s total invested capital.

    Atomic Swap

    An atomic swap is a smart contract technology that enables the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another without using centralized intermediaries, such as exchanges.

    AMM

    An automated market maker (AMM) is a type of decentralized exchange protocol that relies on a mathematical formula to price assets. Instead of using an order book like a traditional exchange, assets are priced according to a pricing algorithm.

    #B

    Blockchain

    The technology that underpins cryptocurrency is known as a blockchain. It is a distributed and immutable digital ledger composed of all the transactions ever made in a cryptocurrency. The name comes from its structure, in which individual records, called blocks, are linked together in single list, called a chain.

    Bull

    If a trader believes that an asset will rise in value, he or she is a “bull.” When an investor has this optimistic expectation of an asset’s future, the frame of mind is described as “bullish.”

    Bear

    Someone who believes that prices in each market will decline in future is a “bear”. Bearish traders might take a short position on an asset that will pay off should the asset in question fall in value.

    Byzantine Generals’ Problem

    The Byzantine Generals Problem describes a situation where communication that requires consensus on a single strategy from all members within a group or party cannot be trusted or verified. It is used to describe the difficulty decentralized systems have in agreeing on a single truth. The Byzantine Generals Problem plagued money for millennia, until the invention of Bitcoin which uses a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism and a blockchain to solve the Problem.

    Block

    A file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain.

    Block Explorer

    A block explorer is a blockchain search engine that enables a user to view details of blocks on a given blockchain.

    Block Height

    A value describing the number of blocks preceding a given block in the blockchain.

    Block Reward

    The coins awarded to a miner or group of miners for solving the cryptographic problem required to create a new block on a given blockchain.

    Block Size

    Block size refers to the amount of data about transactions a single block in the chain can carry.

    Block Time

    Block time refers to the approximate time it takes for a blockchain-based system to produce a new block.

    Bid-Ask Spread

    Bid-ask spread is the difference between the highest price which a buyer is willing to pay for an asset as well as the lowest price that a seller is willing to accept.

    Bagholder

    An investor who continues to hold large amounts of a specific coin or token, regardless of its performance.

    Bart Simpson Pattern

    A chart pattern where price witnesses a sudden spike in one direction, followed by consolidation and a sudden spike to the opposite direction ending close to the base price. The pattern resembles the shape of the head of the iconic Simpsons character, Bart Simpson.

    BIP

    Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) is the standard format for documents proposing changes to the Bitcoin protocol.

    BEP-20

    BEP-20 is a Binance Smart Chain token standard, that extends ERC-20, the most common Ethereum token standard.

    BEP-2 (Binance Chain Tokenization Standard)

    BEP 2, or Binance Chain Evolution Proposal 2, is a technical standard used for the issuance and implementation of tokens on the Binance chain.

    BFA

    A Brute Force Attack (BFA), also known as an exhaustive search, is a cryptographic hack that relies on guessing possible combinations of a targeted password until the correct password is discovered.

    Burned

    Cryptocurrency tokens or coins are considered “burned” when they have been purposely and permanently removed from circulation.

    BFT

    Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) is the property of a system that can resist the class of failures derived from the Byzantine Generals’ Problem. This means that a BFT system can continue operating even if some of the nodes fail or act maliciously.

    #C

    Cryptocurrency / Crypto

    A cryptocurrency (crypto) is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptographic technologies to secure their operation. Most cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology and are not issued by the central bank of a country.

    Coin

    Coins are any cryptocurrency that has a standalone independent blockchain as opposed to tokens which live on another blockchain.

    Coinbase

    In mineable cryptocurrencies, a coinbase is the number of coins that are generated from scratch and awarded to miners for mining every new block.

    Cryptography

    In computer science, cryptography refers to is the practice and study of securing information and communication using mathematical concepts and algorithms, to transform messages in ways that are hard to decipher.

    Confirmation

    In cryptocurrency, a confirmation is a measure of how many blocks have passed since a transaction was added to a blockchain. Each new block is an additional confirmation for that transaction.

    Consensus Mechanism

    Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the order and content of the blocks in the blockchain. A consensus mechanism is an underlying technology behind the main functionalities of all blockchain technology, making them an essential operating feature for all cryptocurrencies.

    Circulating Supply

    The best approximation of the number of coins that are circulating in the market and in the hands of the general public.

    Cold Storage

    A cryptocurrency wallet is in cold storage when it’s not connected to the internet. This includes offline storage of cryptocurrencies, typically involving hardware non-custodial wallets, offline computers, or paper wallets.

    Core Wallet

    A core wallet contains the entire blockchain as opposed to a piece of it and allows users to not only receive, store and send crypto but also program on or with it.

    Centralized Exchange (CEX)

    Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are a type of cryptocurrency exchange that is operated by a company which owns and controls it.

    Censorship Resistance

    Censorship resistance refers to the idea that no party can prevent anyone from participating in a given platform or network.

    CeDeFi

    CeDeFi, or centralized decentralized finance, combines traditional centralized financial services with decentralized applications, merging conventional regulatory policies with modern financial products and infrastructure.

    CBDC

    A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency that is also a claim on the central bank. Instead of printing money, the central bank issues electronic coins or account backed by the full faith and credit of the government.

    Chain Split

    Chain split, which is another term used to describe a cryptocurrency fork, is the separation of a single original coin into two or more independently managed projects.

    Change

    Change is a concept relevant to cryptocurrencies that use the UTXO model like Bitcoin. It is the number of coins sent back to a user’s address after they use their unspent outputs to initiate a transaction.

    Coin Mixer

    Coin mixers allow users to mix up transactions between different cryptocurrency addresses, so they become untraceable and cannot be followed back to the initial sender or receiver of the assets.

    Cross-Chain

    Cross-chain is a technology that enhances the interconnection between blockchain networks by allowing the exchange of information and value.

    Cryptojacking

    Cryptojacking is malicious cryptomining that involves infecting third party computers with malwares to use them to mine cryptocurrencies usually without user’s knowledge. Cryptojacking malware can lead to slowdowns and crashes due to straining of computational resources.

    Cypherpunk

    A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change.

    #D

    DLT

    Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is another term for blockchain technology. It is a database that is consensually shared and synchronized across multiple sites, institutions, or geographies, accessible by multiple people.

    DApps

    Decentralized applications (dApps) are digital applications or programs that exist and run on a blockchain instead of a single server and are outside the purview and control of any controlling authority.

    DAO

    A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central authority.

    DCEP

    “Digital Currency Electronic Payment” (DCEP) is the national digital currency of China built using Blockchain and Cryptographic technology. DCEP is pegged 1:1 with the Chinese national currency.

    Derivatives trading

    A derivative is a contract or product that derives its value from an underlying asset. Depending upon the conditions of a contract, derivatives can be categorized as Futures, Forwards, Options and Swaps. By opening a demat account and a trading, you can get started with trading derivatives.

    DEX

    Decentralized Exchange or DEX is a peer-to-peer exchange allowing users to trade cryptocurrency without the need for an intermediary.

    Difficulty

    Difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to mine a block in a blockchain for a particular cryptocurrency. It is a parameter that cryptocurrencies use to keep the average time between blocks steady as the network’s hash power changes.

    Dominance

    Bitcoin Dominance is a measure of Bitcoin’s value in the context of the larger cryptocurrency market. It can help you understand if altcoins are in a downtrend or uptrend against BTC.

    Double Spending

    Double Spending is the potential for a cryptocurrency to be spent twice. It occurs when a blockchain network is disrupted and cryptocurrency is essentially stolen.

    Dusting Attack

    A dusting attack is an attack in which a trace amount of crypto, called dust, is sent to several wallet addresses. This attack is deployed in order to track these addresses with the hope of “un-masking” or de-anonymizing them.

    Dump

    A sudden drop in the price of an asset.

    DYOR

    DYOR is an acronym for Do Your Own Research, encouraging investors to complete due diligence into a project before investing.

    DeFi

    DeFi or Decentralized Finance is a blanket term for decentralized alternatives to traditional (centralized) finance. It is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries, making them open for anyone to use, rather than going through middlemen like banks or brokerages.

    DeFi Degens

    Degens is shorthand for Degenerate. Degen trading or Degen mode is when a trader invests without proper due diligence and research into a project and speculate on the price swings.

    Dead Cat Bounce

    A dead cat bounce is a trading jargon meaning a temporary, short-lived recovery of asset prices from a prolonged decline or a bear market that is followed by the continuation of the downtrend.

    DPoS

    Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) is a popular evolution of the PoS concept, whereby users of the network vote and elect delegates to validate the next block.

    Dip

    A dip is when markets experience a short or protracted downturn in prices.

    DDoS attack

    DDoS stands for ‘distributed denial of service’. Such attacks attempt to render a site to a halt by overloading it with traffic.

    #E

    EEA

    Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) is a group of organizations and companies working together to further develop the Ethereum network.

    EIP

    Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) describe standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards.

    Ethereum

    Ethereum is a decentralized, open source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. After Bitcoin, it is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and is the most actively used blockchain.

    ERC-20

    ERC20 is a token standard used for creating and issuing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. ERC stands for “Ethereum Request for Comment,” and it enables smart contracts to operate as tradeable tokens.

    ERC-721

    ERC 721 is a token standard that describes how to build non-fungible (unique tokens) on the Ethereum blockchain.

    ERC-1155

    ERC-1155 is a digital token standard created by Enjin that can be used to create both fungible (currencies) and non-fungible (digital cards, pets and in-game skins) assets on the Ethereum Network.

    EVM

    Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a Turing-complete virtual machine that enables execution of code as intended on the Ethereum network. It is the runtime environment for every smart contract and every Ethereum node runs on the EVM to maintain consensus across the blockchain.

    ELI5

    ELI5 is short for “Explain Like I’m Five” is a plea for simplicity when crypto concepts are being explained.

    Exchange

    Cryptocurrency exchanges are a marketplace where users can trade cryptocurrencies for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies.

    Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

    A security that tracks a basket of assets such as stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies but can be traded like a single stock.

    #F

    51% attack

    A theoretical attack where if an entity gains 51% of the hashing power, they can perform double-spends and other malicious activities on a cryptocurrency.

    Fiat

    Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it. It can take the form of physical cash, or it can be represented electronically, such as with bank credit.

    FOMO

    An acronym that stands for “Fear of Missing Out” and in the context of investing, refers to the feeling of apprehension for missing out on a potentially profitable investment opportunity and regretting it later.

    FUD

    An acronym that stands for “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.” It is a strategy to influence perception of certain cryptocurrencies or the market as a whole in general by spreading negative, misleading or false information.

    Flash Crash

    A flash crash is a market condition where an asset’s price falls very rapidly within a very brief time interval.

    Flash Loans

    Flash loans are a new type of uncollateralized loans enforced by smart contracts. They enable you to borrow instantly without collateral, provided that liquidity is returned to the pool within one transaction.

    Flippening

    A hypothetical situation whereby the total market cap of Ethereum surpasses the total market cap of Bitcoin.

    Full Node

    Nodes that download and maintain a blockchain’s entire history in order to observe and enforce its rules.

    Funding rates

    All cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges use funding rates for perpetual contracts. Funding rates are periodic payments to long or short traders based on the difference between the perpetual contract market and the spot price. Depending on open positions, traders will either pay or receive funding.

    Fungible

    In cryptocurrency, fungibility is when a coin or token have identical characteristics and can therefore be interchanged easily.

    Futures

    A futures contract is a standardized legal agreement to buy or sell a particular asset at a predetermined quantity, price and at a specified time in the future.

    #G

    Gas

    Gas refers to a unit of measuring the computational effort of conducting transactions or smart contracts on the Ethereum network. It is the price you are willing to pay to miners for a transaction.

    Genesis Block

    Genesis Block is the first block of data that is processed and validated to form a new blockchain, often referred to as block 0 or block 1.

    GitHub

    GitHub is one of the most popular code hosting platforms, allowing developers to collaborate on various projects.

    Governance

    In the world of cryptocurrencies, governance is defined as the people or organizations that have decision-making powers regarding the project.

    Governance Token

    Governance tokens are tokens that developers create to allow token holders to help shape the future of a protocol. Governance token holders can influence decisions concerning the project such as proposing or deciding on new feature proposals and even changing the governance system itself.

    Gwei

    Gwei is short for gigawei, or 1,000,000,000 wei. Wei, as the smallest (base) unit of ether, similar to a satoshi in bitcoin. Gwei is used in defining the cost of gas in transactions involving Ether.

    Goxxed

    Goxxed comes from the infamous MtGox hack and refers to a situation when someone leaves their cryptocurrency in an exchange which gets hacked resulting in the loss of funds for the investor.

    #H

    HODL

    “HODL,” which stands for “Hold On for Dear Life” is a term used by members in the crypto industry to express the will to wait and hold a cryptocurrency for a long period of time, regardless of any changes in the price or markets. The acronym originally came from a misspelling of the world “hold”.

    Halving

    An event in which the total rewards, in the form of newly generated crypto, awarded to miners to mine blocks is halved.

    Hard Cap

    A hard cap is the absolute maximum supply of a digital asset.

    Hard fork

    A hard fork is a radical update to the blockchain that creates a permanent change to a digital currency’s protocol. They result in a whole new blockchain, which does not accept any blocks mined using the old rules, leading to a scenario where both the old and the new blockchains exist simultaneously.

    Hardware Wallet

    A hardware wallet is a physical wallet for cryptocurrencies that usually resemble a USB stick. They are one of the safest ways to store your cryptocurrencies since they are not connected to the internet.

    Hot Storage

    Hot storage refers to any crypto wallet that is run through an internet connected system. Hot wallets can be run on the cloud, a mobile device, or a desktop allowing for quicker access to the cryptocurrency.

    Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet (HD Wallet)

    A Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Wallet generates a new key pair from a master key pair for each crypto transaction to enhance privacy and security. Its hierarchical structure resembles that of a tree, with the master key “determining” the key pairs that follow it in the hierarchy.

    Hash Function

    A hash function is a mathematical function that converts an input of an arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length. This means regardless of the original amount of data or file size involved, its unique hash will always be the same size. Bitcoin uses the SHA256 hashing algorithm.

    Hash Rate

    Hash Rate refers to the total combined computational power that is being used to mine and process transactions on a Proof-of-Work blockchain.

    Honeyminer

    Honeyminer is a cryptocurrency mining app available for download on multiple devices. It allows users to participate in a dynamic mining pool by running the app when the computer’s GPU isn’t in use.

    #I

    ICO

    Comparable to the traditional Initial Public Offering (IPO), an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a type of crowdfunding using cryptocurrency tokens as a means of raising capital for early-stage companies.

    IDO

    An initial DEX offering or IDO refers to the launching of a cryptocurrency on a decentralized exchange (DEX) in order to raise funding from retail investors.

    IEO

    Initial exchange offering (IEO) is a variant of initial coin offerings, operated directly by cryptocurrency exchanges. It is a type of crowdfunding where crypto start-ups generate capital by listing through a centralized crypto exchange.

    IBO

    An Initial Bounty Offering or IBO is a novel way of launching a project with tokens distributed to individuals who contribute time and skills to a platform, rather than their money.

    Impermanent Loss

    Impermanent loss describes the temporary loss of funds experienced by liquidity providers because of volatility in a trading pair. It occurs when you provide liquidity to a liquidity pool, and the price of your deposited assets changes compared to when you deposited them.

    Infinite Approval

    Infinite approval is a smart contract programming practice, giving a smart contract authorization to access unlimited number of tokens from the user’s wallet.

    INO

    An Initial NFT Offering (INO) refers to an initial offering of a limited set of NFTs for sale on a particular NFT marketplace. Projects do this as a form of crowdfunding.

    Instamine

    An instamine occurs when a large quantity of cryptocurrency tokens are brought into existence at once.

    #K

    KYC

    Short for Know Your Customer, KYC is a compliance term referred to checks that crypto exchanges and trading platforms must complete to verify the identity of their customers. They are imposed by regulators who require identity background checks to deter money laundering and terrorist funding.

    #L

    Long

    Going long or having a long position, means making a wager that an asset will rise in value. If a trader purchases a digital currency like bitcoin, they are making a bet that the cryptocurrency will appreciate.

    Limit Order

    A limit order is a type of exchange order that allows traders to purchase or sell a cryptocurrency at a specified price or better. It allows you to set your own price to buy or sell. If the market reaches your limit price, your order will be executed.

    Leverage

    Money that a trader can borrow from a brokerage, enabling them to gain a greater exposure to a position than what their capital allows.

    Liquidation

    The term liquidation simply means selling assets for fiat. Forced liquidation happens when the trader is unable to fulfill margin requirements for a leveraged position when the market goes against their trade.

    Liquidity

    liquidity refers to how easily a cryptocurrency can be bought and sold without greatly impacting the overall market price.

    Liquidity Pool

    Liquidity pools are pools of tokens locked in smart contracts that provide liquidity in decentralized exchanges to reduce the problems caused by the illiquidity typical of such systems.

    Liquidity Provider

    Liquidity providers are decentralized exchange users who fund a liquidity pool with tokens they own.

    LP Tokens

    Liquidity Provider tokens (LP tokens) are crypto tokens issued to liquidity providers on a decentralized exchange in return for providing liquidity. LP tokens represent a liquidity provider’s share of a pool.

    Layer 2

    Layer 2 refers to a secondary framework or protocol that is built on top of an existing blockchain system. The goal is to solve the transaction speed and scaling difficulties being faced by cryptocurrency networks in their base layer.

    Lightning Network

    A second-layer protocol that is designed to solve Bitcoin’s scalability problem by allowing transactions to be processed more quickly.

    Libra (Diem)

    Facebook unveiled the Libra project in 2019 with a vision of being a stablecoin backed by multiple fiat currencies. Due to international regulatory backlash, on April 2020 Libra rebranded to Diem with the team indicating it would launch an array of stablecoins, each backed by a single fiat currency.

    #M

    Moon

    A term often employed as a verb (mooning) to describe a cryptocurrency that is under a strong upward market trend. The phrase “to the moon,” refers to a belief that a cryptocurrency is going to rise significantly in price.

    Market Cap

    Market cap is short for market capitalization, which is the total market value of a cryptocurrency. It is calculated by multiplying the number coins outstanding by the price per coin.

    Max Supply

    The best approximation of the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist in the lifetime of the cryptocurrency.

    Mempool

    A mempool is the digital database maintained by miners, where all unconfirmed transactions generated on the blockchain network are parked before they are sequentially aggregated into blocks.

    Merkle Tree

    A Merkle tree, is a mathematical data structure composed of hashes of different blocks of data, and which serves as a summary of all the transactions in a block. It also allows for efficient and secure verification and helps to verify the consistency and content of the data in blockchain.

    Seed Phrase

    A mnemonic phrase (also known as mnemonic seed, or seed phrase) is a cryptographically derived security code composed of a list of random words in a specific order, typically ranging between 12 and 14, which is used to recover a cryptocurrency wallet.

    Multi-Sig Wallet

    Multi Signature (Multi-Sig) wallets, are cryptocurrency wallets that require two or more private keys to sign and send a transaction.

    Mineable

    Cryptocurrencies are said to be mineable when they have a system through which miners are rewarded with newly created coins for verifying unconfirmed transactions through contributing hash power.

    Mining

    Mining is the process of verifying new transactions on a blockchain by miners. This verification requires hardware and electricity, and miners are rewarded with newly minted crypto for performing this task.

    Miners

    Miners are individuals with computers and processors across the globe who verify transactions, bundle them in a block and add their block to the existing blockchain. They also maintain a copy of all the transaction ever made on a blockchain network.

    Mining Pool

    A setup where multiple miners combine their computing power to gain economies of scale and competitiveness in finding the next block on a blockchain, with rewards split among participants.

    Market Maker, Market Taker

    A Market maker places an order (to buy or sell at a quoted price), while a Market taker accepts that placed order (to execute the buy or sell at the quoted price).

    Market Order

    A market order is an instant buy or sell of a cryptocurrency for the best available price at that time, in contrast to limit orders where a cryptocurrency is bought or sold only at a specified price.

    Margin Trading

    A practice where a trader uses borrowed funds from a broker to trade a cryptocurrency, which forms the collateral for the loan from the broker. It can be relatively risky for inexperienced traders who may receive a margin call if the market moves in the opposite direction of their trades.

    Margin Call

    A margin call occurs when the value of an investor’s margin account falls below the broker’s required amount. When a margin call occurs, the investor must choose to either deposit more money in the account or sell some of the assets held in their account.

    Metaverse

    A virtual world which is created mostly for people to connect socially, play games, and interact using their digital avatars. They can also further enhance their experience in the metaverse with the use of virtual or augmented reality headsets. The recent popularity of metaverses have also resulted in many companies taking advantage of this trend by hosting concerts, NFT launches, and digital fashion experiences.

    #N

    Noob

    Newcomers are frequently described as “noobs” by industry insiders.

    Node

    A node is the most basic unit of a blockchain infrastructure. It is a computer connected to other computers which follows protocol rules, shares information and stores data. A full node is a computer which hosts and synchronizes a copy of the entire blockchain for a cryptocurrency.

    NFTs

    Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique cryptographic tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. It is non-replicable, can’t be substituted, and can only have one official owner at a time.

    NGMI

    An abbreviation of “Not Gonna Make It”, it is the opposite of WAGMI (We Are Gonna Make It) and is often used when commenting on bad decisions by cryptocurrency traders or blockchain projects.

    Nonce

    Number only used once (Nonce) which, in the context of cryptocurrency mining, is a number which, when added to a hashed block, meets the difficulty level restrictions. When competing to mine a new block, the first miner to find the nonce is granted the right to add the next block into the blockchain.

    #O

    On-Chain

    Transactions that are recorded on the blockchain itself and can be viewed publicly.

    Open Source

    Open source is a philosophy, with participants believing in the free and open sharing of information in pursuit of the greater common good. In software development, the source code of an open source software is made available to developers and users to modify as they see fit.

    Orphaned Block / Stale Block

    An orphan block is a valid block that has been solved within the blockchain network but was not accepted to the main chain due to a lag within the network itself.

    Oracles

    Blockchain oracles are third-party services that provide smart contracts with external information. They serve as bridges between blockchains and the outside world.

    Order Book

    Order book is the list of all open orders that are currently available on an exchange for a specific trading pair, organized by price level.

    OTC

    Over the Counter (OTC) is defined as a transaction made outside of an exchange, often peer-to-peer through private trades.

    #P

    PAX Gold (PAXG)

    PAX Gold is the first gold-backed and fully regulated digital asset. It represents physical gold bars, with its value tied directly to the real-time market value of the physical gold it represents.

    Private Key

    A private key, made up of a series of alphanumeric characters, is the password that an investor needs to access their digital currency. While anyone can send transactions to the public key, you need the private key to “unlock” them and prove that you are the owner of the cryptocurrency received in the transaction.

    Public Key

    A public key, made up of a series of alphanumeric characters, is the address that you share with people so you can receive cryptocurrency.

    Public Address

    A public address is the cryptographic hash of a public key, allowing the user to use it as an address to request for payment.

    PoW

    Proof-of-Work (PoW) is a blockchain consensus mechanism involving solving of computationally intensive puzzles by miners to validate transactions and create new blocks in return for rewards in the form of newly minted coins.

    PoS

    Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is a blockchain consensus mechanism which allows a miner to validate transactions without spending much electricity, based on the number of coins they have staked in the network. The idea is that a miner will risk losing their stake if they act in a malicious manner.

    PoA

    Proof-of-Authority (PoA) is a blockchain consensus mechanism that uses identity as a stake. A few specific nodes are granted the authority to approve a miner’s ability to create a block. This is a faster alternative to the proof-of-work model, but more centralized.

    DPoS

    Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) is a consensus algorithm which is an advancement of the fundamental concepts of PoS. Stakeholders vote for a few delegates that secure the network on their behalf who are then responsible for achieving consensus. The voting power is proportional to the number of coins each user holds.

    Privacy coin

    A cryptocurrency that is completely anonymous and private as individual transactions cannot be tracked on the blockchain. Some of the most well-known privacy coins include Monero, Dash, and Zcash.

    P2P

    Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is the decentralized interactions between parties involving sharing transactions, files or other resources with no middleman in between.

    Paper Wallet

    A paper wallet is a form of cold storage where the private key or seed phrase is written or printed on a piece of paper which the user can then store.

    Pump and Dump

    A “pump and dump” is a type of securities fraud where a market participant, or several participants working together to falsely inflate the price of an asset in order to sell already established position when prices are artificially inflated.

    #R

    REKT

    REKT is a shorthand for the word “wrecked” describing a significant loss in a trade.

    ROI

    Return on investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the profitability of an investment. It is calculated by dividing the profit (return) made on an investment by the initial cost of the investment.

    Replay Attack

    A replay attack, sometimes also called a playback attack, is a cyber-attack in which the malicious entity intercepts and then repeats a valid data transmission going through a network.

    Rug Pull

    A rug pull is a type of exit scam whereby malicious developers abandon a project and escape with investor funds by removing liquidity from a coin pair in a Decentralized Exchange thereby crashing its price.

    #S

    Satoshi Nakamoto

    Satoshi Nakamoto is the individual, or group of individuals, credited with founding the world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has not yet been confirmed.

    Satoshi

    A Satoshi is the smallest denomination of Bitcoin and is equivalent to 100th billionth of one Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). It was named after Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

    Stablecoin

    Stablecoin as the name suggests is a cryptocurrency that is tied to the value of something with extremely low volatility, such as the US dollar, to make it more stable and less volatile in price swings.

    SHA-256

    Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA) -256 is the hash function and mining algorithm of the Bitcoin protocol. It moderates the creation and management of addresses and is also used for transaction verification.

    Smart Contract

    Smart contracts are small pieces of code that runs on a Turing complete blockchain like Ethereum. They are typically used to automate the execution of an agreement so that all participants can be certain of the outcome, without the involvement of any intermediary.

    Smart Contract Audit

    A smart contract audit is an extensive methodical examination and analysis of a smart contract’s code by a leading security auditing company. This process is conducted to discover errors, issues and security vulnerabilities in the code in order to suggest improvements and ways to fix them.

    Soft Fork

    A soft fork is a backward-compatible protocol upgrade, meaning the upgraded nodes can communicate with the non-upgraded ones. The addition of a new rule that doesn’t clash with the older rules.

    SegWit

    Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) aimed to fix transaction malleability on Bitcoin. It refers to a soft fork that separated digital signature data from transaction data, allowing more transactions to fit on one block.

    Staking

    Staking is an activity where a user locks or holds his funds in a cryptocurrency wallet to participate in maintaining the operations of a proof-of-stake (PoS)-based blockchain system.

    Sharding

    Sharding is a scaling approach by splitting a blockchain network into separate shards (smaller pieces), each with its own data, separate from other shards, so as to support more users and increase transaction throughput than the base layer.

    Solidity

    Solidity is the programming language developed and used by Ethereum developers for writing smart contracts.

    Side Chain

    A blockchain ledger that runs in parallel to a primary blockchain, where there is a two-way link between the primary chain and sidechain.

    Security Token

    A security token is essentially a digital form of traditional securities and will therefore be subjected to securities registration requirement.

    STO

    A security token offering (STO) is a public offering where tokenized digital securities are sold to public.

    Slippage

    Slippage happens when traders must settle for a different price than what they initially requested due to a movement in price between the time the order enters the market and the execution of a trade.

    Short/Shorting

    Shorting an asset, also known as taking a short position, means making a bet that the asset will fall in value. It is the act of selling the cryptocurrency in the hope that it falls in value and you can buy it back at a lower price thereby profiting from the difference in market price.

    Shilling

    The act of enthusiastically promoting a cryptocurrency or blockchain project.

    Shitcoin

    A coin with no obvious potential value or usage.

    #T

    TA

    Technical Analysis (TA) attempts to understand the market sentiment behind price trends by looking for patterns and trends rather than analyzing an asset’s fundamental attributes. It is used to scrutinize the ways supply and demand for an asset affect changes in price, volume and volatility.

    Turing-Complete

    Turing Complete refers to a machine that, given enough time and memory along with the necessary instructions, can solve any computational problem, no matter how complex.

    Token

    Tokens are cryptocurrencies that do not have their own blockchain but live on another blockchain like Ethereum, as opposed to Coins which are any cryptocurrency that has a standalone independent blockchain.

    TPS

    Transactions per second (TPS) refers to the number of transactions that a network is capable of processing each second.

    TVL

    Total Value Locked (TVL) represents the number of assets that are currently being staked in a specific protocol.

    2FA

    Two-factor authentication (2FA), sometimes referred to as two-step verification or dual-factor authentication, is a security process in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves to better protect both the user’s credentials and the resources the user can access.

    Testnet

    A testnet is an alternative blockchain used by developers for testing and experimentation without risk to real funds or the main chain.

    Timestamp

    A form of identification for when a certain transaction occurred, usually with date and time of day and accurate to fractions of a second.

    Taproot

    Taproot is an instantiation of a soft fork for Bitcoin, intended to both improve privacy and improve other aspects tied to more complex transactions.

    TLT

    Think Long Term (TLT) is a mindset where you have a longer-term investment horizon.

    #U

    UTXO

    An unspent transaction output (UTXO) refers to a transaction output that can be used as input in a new transaction. These are the transactions that are left unspent after completing a transaction, similar to the change someone receives after conducting a cash transaction at a store.

    Utility Token

    A cryptocurrency that can be used for purposes aside from transactions. When a project creates a utility token, it is essentially creating a form of a digital coupon that can be redeemed in the future for discounted fees or special access to a product or service.

    #V

    Vanity Address

    A cryptocurrency public address with custom letters and numbers, usually picked by its owner.

    Virgin Bitcoin

    A bitcoin that has never been spent.

    Validator

    A blockchain validator is someone who is responsible for verifying transactions on a blockchain.

    #W

    Whale

    A term used to describe investors who have uncommonly large amounts of crypto, especially those with enough funds to manipulate the market.

    WAGMI

    Short for “We All Gonna Make It”, this term is used amongst cryptocurrency traders to reassure each other when the market or a specific cryptocurrency is not performing well.

    Wallet

    A crypto wallet is the place where cryptocurrencies are stored and from where a user can send and receive digital assets. Wallets come in a variety of forms, including hardware and software.

    Whitepaper

    A white paper is a document released by a project that outlines what a cryptocurrency is created to do by providing technical information about its concept, and a roadmap for how it plans to grow and succeed.

    Whitelist

    The term whitelist refers to a list of allowed and identified individuals, institutions, computer programs, or even cryptocurrency addresses in an initial offering of tokens by a project.

    Weak Hands

    An investor prone to panic selling at the first sign of a price decline.

    When Lambo

    When Lambo is a slang referring to cryptocurrency holders hoping to become rich enough to afford the purchase of a Lamborghini, or any such expensive car, with the profits.

    When Moon

    A phrase used to ask when the price of cryptocurrencies will rise exponentially.

    Wyckoff Pattern

    The Wyckoff Pattern, developed by Richard Wyckoff, an early 20th-century, is a chart pattern which centered around the realization that price trends were driven primarily by institutional and other large operators who manipulate markets in their favor.

    #Y

    Yield Farming

    Yield farming involves earning interest by investing crypto in decentralized finance markets.

    #Z

    Zero-Knowledge Proof

    Zero-knowledge Proof is an encryption scheme in which one party (the Prover) can prove that a specific statement is true to the other party (the Verifier) without disclosing any additional information.

    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.

  • Kraken Exchange Review (2023): One of the Best Crypto Exchanges

    Kraken Exchange Review (2023): One of the Best Crypto Exchanges

    Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to trade using fiat currencies as well as cryptocurrencies. The exchange has 38 different cryptocurrencies and even more available pairs. In this Kraken exchange review, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about this exchange, from its low fees, security, reliability, and all its key features.

    Sign up here to get started.

    What is Kraken?

    Kraken is a US-based crypto exchange founded in 2011, offering users the ability to trade bitcoin and altcoins in Euros. It is one of the most secure exchanges, with comprehensive safety measures, self-regulation, and security audits. Kraken also offers some of the lowest fees in the industry, with free deposits and competitive withdrawals and trades. Users can access the platform via its web platform or mobile apps, making it easy to trade on the go.

    Kraken, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange, offers a wide range of trading options, including limit orders, stop-loss orders, dark pool trading, and margin trading. It enables users to trade between fiat currencies (e.g., Pounds, Euros) and cryptocurrencies, making it an ideal fiat-to-crypto gateway. Kraken also offers advanced security features, such as two-factor authentication, and a wide range of trading tools and charts to help users make informed decisions. With its user-friendly interface and competitive fees, Kraken is a great choice for both experienced and novice traders.

    Key Features of Kraken

    Here are the key features of Kraken:

    High Liquidity: Kraken is a fiat-to-crypto onramp with high liquidity, allowing users to trade over 32 cryptocurrencies in more than 140 markets with six fiat currencies (USD, EUR, CAD, JPY, GBP, CHF).

    Dark Pool: Dark pools are private exchanges that allow traders to buy and sell securities anonymously, without revealing their orders to other traders. This provides a secure and efficient way to trade without impacting the market.

    Over The Counter (OTC) Service: Kraken’s OTC service provides high-volume traders with personalized service to facilitate their trading needs. The service is designed to help traders maximize their profits and minimize their risks.

    24/7 Customer Support: Kraken provides 24/7 customer support chat for users around the world, offering assistance with any questions or issues related to the exchange.

    Margin and Future Trading: Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers margin trading with up to 5x leverage. This allows traders to increase their potential profits by taking on more risk. Kraken also provides a secure and reliable platform for traders to access the cryptocurrency markets.

    Forex Trading: Forex trading is an investment opportunity that allows traders to exchange their fiat currency into one of six other supported fiat currencies. With Forex trading, investors can take advantage of the global currency market and benefit from price movements in the foreign exchange market.

    Secured and Trusted Platform: Kraken is the most secure and trusted crypto exchange platform. It has never been hacked, so you can rest assured that your funds are safe when left in Kraken’s custody.

    Overall, Kraken is a well-established cryptocurrency exchange that offers traders a variety of features and trading options. It is a great choice for those looking to buy and sell digital assets with fiat currencies. Kraken provides both advanced trading options for experienced traders and simple trading options for beginners. It also offers a secure platform with a variety of features such as margin trading, staking, and futures trading. Kraken is a reliable and trusted exchange that is suitable for both experienced and novice traders.

    Key Advantages of Kraken

    Kraken is a secure and trusted cryptocurrency exchange platform offering high liquidity, dark pool, OTC service, 24/7 customer support, margin and future trading, and Forex trading. With its advanced security measures, Kraken provides users with a safe and reliable platform to access the cryptocurrency markets and maximize their profits. Kraken is the most secure and trusted crypto exchange platform, having never been hacked, so you can rest assured that your funds are safe when left in Kraken’s custody.

    Buy, Sell, and Trade Digital Assets Securely on Kraken

    Kraken is the industry leader in crypto security, offering a secure and trustworthy platform for users to buy, sell, and trade digital assets. With its advanced security measures, Kraken has never been hacked before, giving users peace of mind that their funds are safe. Kraken also offers a wide range of features, including margin trading, futures, and staking, making it a great choice for both beginners and experienced traders. With its user-friendly interface and low fees, Kraken is the perfect platform for anyone looking to buy, sell, or trade digital assets.

    Exchange Fiat Currency for 6 Supported Currencies

    Forex trading is the exchange of one currency for another. With it, you can take advantage of the fluctuations in currency prices to make a profit. You can also exchange your fiat currency for one of six other supported fiat currencies, such as the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, and Canadian Dollar. With the right strategies, you can make a profit from Forex trading and increase your wealth.

    Trading Fees Lowest on Market

    Kraken is one of the most competitive cryptocurrency exchanges when it comes to fees. Trading fees are between 0% and 0.26%, depending on whether you are buying or selling. Buyers usually pay 0.16% and sellers usually pay 0.26% on each trade. Kraken fees also depend on the 30-day trading volume and the currency pair that is being traded. It is a great choice for those looking to trade cryptocurrencies with low fees and a reliable platform. Kraken is committed to providing a secure and user-friendly platform for traders of all levels. With competitive fees and a wide range of trading options, Kraken is a great choice for those looking to trade cryptocurrencies.

    Trade 150+ Cryptocurrencies

    Kraken is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that offers a wide selection of digital assets to trade. With more than 150 cryptocurrencies available, Kraken is one of the most comprehensive exchanges on the market. It offers a variety of coins, including the most popular ones, as well as lesser-known altcoins. Kraken also provides advanced trading tools and features, such as margin trading, futures, and options. The exchange is secure and reliable, and its user-friendly interface makes it easy to use. Kraken is a great choice for both experienced traders and beginners, as it provides a wide range of features and services to meet their needs.

    Proves Security with Proof-of-Reserves Audit

    Kraken has earned global respect for its commitment to customer safety. It has proven its ability to keep customer funds safe through a proof-of-reserves audit, a test that verifies the exchange’s financial reserves. Kraken is a trusted exchange that has been providing secure services to customers since 2011. With its commitment to customer safety and security, Kraken is a reliable choice for those looking to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency.

    Useful Tips from Support

    Kraken is a leading cryptocurrency exchange platform that provides users with a wide range of helpful information. New users can easily find the support they need by visiting the “Help” and “Support” sections of the website. Here, they can find useful tips and advice on how to use the platform, as well as troubleshooting guides and FAQs. Kraken also offers a variety of other features, such as advanced trading tools, secure storage, and a user-friendly interface.

    Trade Cryptocurrency on the Go with Kraken’s App

    Kraken’s mobile trading app is the perfect solution for those who want to trade on the go. With its clear interface and simple design, users can take advantage of exceptional trading features, such as real-time market data, advanced order types, and charting tools. The app also offers a secure environment, with two-factor authentication and 24/7 customer support. With Kraken’s mobile trading app, you can stay connected to the markets and make the most of your trading opportunities, no matter where you are. It is available both on Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

    Key Disadvantages of Kraken

    Reliability

    Kraken experienced some reliability issues in 2017. It was overwhelmed by the number of users signing up and had to deal with several cyber attacks. As a result, Kraken had to close for a week in January 2018 to improve security. However, after the closure, Kraken came back with improved security measures, making it one of the most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

    Support

    Kraken has had a history of poor customer support. However, the company is now taking steps to improve this. Kraken has implemented a new customer service system that includes a 24/7 live chat feature, as well as a ticketing system and a comprehensive FAQ page. The company is also investing in customer service staff to ensure that customers receive timely and accurate responses to their queries. It is also working on improving its user interface and making it easier for customers to navigate the platform.

    Kraken Withdrawal Fees

    Kraken is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that offers users the ability to buy, sell, and trade digital currencies. Withdrawal fees vary depending on the user’s location and the currency they are withdrawing. For example, if you are withdrawing USD from an American bank account, the fee is 5 USD. However, if you are withdrawing from a non-American bank account, the fee is 60 USD. Kraken also offers users the ability to withdraw in other currencies, such as EUR, GBP, and CAD, with varying fees. Kraken is a reliable and secure platform for users to buy, sell, and trade digital currencies.

    For example, Kraken charges 0.0005 BTC to withdraw Bitcoin and 0.005 ETH to withdraw Ether. This makes Kraken an attractive option for those looking to move their cryptocurrency quickly and cheaply. Kraken also offers a variety of other features, such as advanced order types, margin trading, and staking. With its low fees and wide range of features, Kraken is a great choice for those looking to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency.

    Who is Kraken Best for?

    Kraken can be intimidating for beginners. It has a lot of features that can be confusing, even for experienced traders. However, beginners should not be discouraged from using Kraken. Learning to trade on Kraken is like learning to drive a car – you start small and gradually build up your skills. With patience and practice, anyone can become an expert trader on Kraken. So, if you’re a beginner looking to get into cryptocurrency trading, Kraken is a great place to start.

    Kraken is a comprehensive cryptocurrency exchange platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade digital currencies. With Tier 2 verification, users can deposit fiat money and start trading in minutes. Kraken also offers advanced features such as margin trading and short selling, allowing experienced traders to take advantage of more complex strategies. Kraken is a great choice for those looking for a reliable and secure platform to trade digital currencies.

    Conclusion

    Kraken is one of the most recommended cryptocurrency exchange platforms, offering great features for both beginners and more advanced users. It provides low fees, reliability, and security, making it a great choice for those looking to trade digital assets. The platform is comprehensive and slightly confusing, but its features make it worth the effort. Kraken is a secure and reliable platform, with a wide range of features and tools to help users make the most of their trading experience. With its low fees, reliability, and security, Kraken is an excellent choice for those looking to trade digital assets.

    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.

  • Plus500 Exchange Review (2023): Decent For Crypto Trading But Not For Enthusiasts

    Plus500 Exchange Review (2023): Decent For Crypto Trading But Not For Enthusiasts

    Plus500 is a CFD brokerage that allows users to bet on the prices of cryptocurrencies without actually purchasing them. Discover the features of Plus500 and make an informed decision about your online trading.

    Sign up here to get started.

    What is Plus500?

    Plus500 is a CFD brokerage, meaning that users cannot actually purchase cryptocurrencies on this platform. Instead, users can bet on the prices of cryptocurrencies, and make a profit or loss depending on the outcome. What’s more, Plus500 reviews show that this platform is a great way to make money without actually buying cryptocurrencies, and is a great option for those who want to make money from the cryptocurrency market without actually owning any.

    It is a great option for those who want to make money from the cryptocurrency market without actually owning any.

    Key Features and Advantages of Plus500

    Supports the Main Cryptocurrencies

    Plus500 offers CFD trading on 12 different cryptocurrencies. These cryptocurrencies are the following:

    1. Bitcoin
    2. Ethereum
    3. Litecoin
    4. Neo
    5. Ripple
    6. IOTA
    7. Stellar
    8. EOS
    9. Bitcoin Cash ABC
    10. Cardano
    11. Tron
    12. Monero

    Plus500 offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies for trading, including the most popular ones such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, as well as some lesser-known coins like IOTA, EOS, and Stellar.

    Good for People Who Just Want to Trade Crypto CFDs

    Plus500 is a CFD trading broker, which means that traders do not need to buy any asset to speculate on prices. What’s more, this can be beneficial for those who want to keep things simple and then are not interested in owning the assets themselves. Furthermore, CFD trading can result in either full profit or a loss, with no assets to the trader’s name at the end of the day.

    It’s reviews from crypto enthusiasts often highlight the benefits of owning cryptocurrency, but the process of setting up a wallet, ensuring security, and storing codes can be time-consuming. Fortunately, Plus500 offers an alternative solution – CFDs and margin trading – which allows users to stay up-to-date with the crypto world without the hassle of managing their coins.

    A Demo Account to “Test the Waters”

    Plus500 reviews are a great way to get started with cryptocurrency trading. They provide users with the opportunity to create a demo account and learn the basics of the process. Plus500’s demo account allows users to get familiar with the trading interface and terminology, so they can start trading with confidence.

    A demo account is a great way to test the waters of cryptocurrency CFD trading in a safe and risk-free environment. Plus500 offers users the opportunity to try out CFD trading on demo accounts. It makes it a great choice for those looking to get into this potentially volatile activity.

    Key Disadvantages of Plus500

    CFD Trading – You Don’t Actually Receive any Cryptocurrency

    Some people prefer to trade cryptocurrencies using CFD trading, especially in the short term, as it allows them to bet on a price prediction of a certain asset without actually receiving any cryptocurrency. However, there are also those who disagree with this approach.

    If you’re a passionate cryptocurrency enthusiast, the idea of trading crypto coins without actually owning them may not be particularly appealing. In that case, Plus500 may not be the best choice for your cryptocurrency trading needs.

    CFD platforms are ideal for short-term trading, or “flipping” an asset for profit. However, long-term trading or hodling is not possible on these sites, as you do not own the asset. While it is possible to do long-term trading on a CFD platform, the risk is always substantial.

    Lack of Cryptocurrency Variety

    Plus500 offers a limited selection of 12 cryptocurrencies for CFD-trading, including the most popular and common coins. Furthermore, this selection is ideal for most users, as it is not overwhelming and provides access to the most sought-after cryptos.

    For traditional cryptocurrency enthusiasts, the limited variety of coins available on the platform may be a surprise. However, there are still a wide range of coins and tokens available, including those based on the Ethereum blockchain.

    If you’re looking to invest in a niche cryptocurrency, you may be limited to the 12 options currently available. What’s more, unless something unexpected happens in the market, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to find a new, profitable cryptocurrency to invest in.

    Plus500 Fees

    Plus500 offers a straightforward fee structure, with a market spread ranging from 0.02% to 2%, depending on certain variables. However, this makes it a great choice for traders looking for competitive fees and a reliable trading platform.

    Plus500’s fees are competitive when compared to other crypto-exclusive platforms, with fees ranging from 0.02% to 2%.

    How to Register and Verify Account on Plus500?

    Register your Account on Plus500:

    1. Start trading with Plus500 by visiting their website and clicking “Start Trading”.
    2. You can either create a real money account or opt for a demo account to get a feel for the game before you start playing for real.
    3. Create an account by entering your email address and creating a secure password.
    4. Once you have followed the steps above, you will be directed to the dashboard of the platform. You are now ready to start trading cryptocurrencies – simply navigate to the cryptocurrency tab and begin!

    Verify your Account on Plus500:

    1. To purchase any of the cryptocurrencies listed, click the “Buy” button and you will be directed to the verification page.
    2. Fill out your personal information including your name, surname and date of birth in the form provided.
    3. Once you do that, you’ll be asked to select your country of residence and tick the boxes that apply to you.
    4. Verification of your residential address is a necessary step when using a stock trading platform. Enter your address now to complete the process.
    5. Plus500 is looking for information about your knowledge and experience with CFD trading, your employment status, income, and more. This information is necessary to verify that you are eligible to trade on the Plus500 platform.
    6. Once you have completed the verification process, your profile will be submitted for review. After this, you can make a deposit and start trading CFDs!

    Based on the user reviews of Plus500 found online, the registration and verification processes appear to be quick and easy.

    Conclusion

    Plus500 is certainly worth considering for those looking to trade cryptocurrencies. However, there are many other platforms that offer better features and services.

    It is a great choice for those interested in CFD trading, as it offers a wide range of cryptocurrency options. With Plus500, you can make predictions on the price of cryptocurrencies without actually owning them.

    If you’re looking for a reliable cryptocurrency trading platform, there are many great options to choose from. Kucoin, Binance, Kraken, and more are all excellent choices for trading digital currencies. Make sure to do your research and find the platform that best suits your needs.

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

  • What will happen to major cryptocurrency exchanges and traders? Hong Kong proposes strictest regulations against them yet.

    What will happen to major cryptocurrency exchanges and traders? Hong Kong proposes strictest regulations against them yet.

    On 3rd November 2020, Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (“FSTB”) issued a Public Consultation on Legislative Proposals to Enhance Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Regulation in Hong Kong (“Legislative Proposals”). Specifically one of the proposals concerns cryptocurrency exchanges referred to in the Consultation Paper as virtual asset services providers (“VASPs”)

    These regulations are not yet enacted. The FSTB says it welcomes written comments from the public on the Legislative Proposals on or before 31st January 2021.

    Current state of regulation of VASPs and Virtual Assets (“VAs”) in Hong Kong

    Current regulatory requirements for VASPs and VAs in Hong Kong

    The FTSB notes that VAs are not considered as legal tender and are not generally accepted as a means of payment in Hong Kong. However, they are aware that there are some VA trading activities operating locally. In light of this, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) issued a position paper in November 2019 (“SFC Position Paper”). The SFC Position Paper outlined some regulatory standards similar to those applicable to licensed securities brokers and automated trading venues, for licensing of VA trading platforms. Notably, this was only an opt-in and voluntary regime and ONLY applied to those platforms which enabled clients to trade VAs with securities feature. Those platforms which solely traded non-securities VAs are not covered.

    Hong Kong as a member jurisdiction of the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”)

    The FATF comprises of 39 major worldwide economies and oversees the implementation of the FATF Standards, which are comprised of 40 Recommendations and 11 Immediate Outcomes (“Standards”). Member jurisdictions do mutual evaluations to see if they comply with these Standards which are updated from time to time. One of the more recent additions to the Standards was in February 2019, where jurisdictions were required to subject VASPs to the same range of anti-money laundering (“AML”)/counter-terrorist financing (“CTF”) obligations applicable to financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions.

    Hong Kong was subject to a mutual evaluation and a Report on Hong Kong was published in September 2019, where the FATF will specify recommendations on areas for improvement. Hong Kong is scheduled to undergo a regular technical compliance assessment in February 2023 and an effectiveness assessment in June 2024. The Legislative Proposals are specific in that they “…will be expected to have introduced AML/CTF regulation for the VASP…sectors…” So it is quite apparent their intention that the Legislative Proposals will be passed into law in time for June 2024.

    The Legislative Proposals specifically notes that other FATF member economies have either set up or are setting up their own regulatory and supervisory regimes for VASPs.

    Proposals put forward in the Consultation Paper

    Specifically, the Legislative Proposals suggest amending the current Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615 of the Laws of Hong Kong) (“AMLO”). Here’s A summary of the Legislative Proposals:

    Expanding the scope of the AMLO to cover VASPs (currently VASPs are not included).

    Implement a licensing regime for VASPs where any person intending to conduct the regulated business of a virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong will be required to apply for a licence from the SFC and also need to meet a “fit and proper test” similar to that required of other financial sectors. Licensed VASPs will then be subject to the AML/CTF requirements under Schedule 2 of the AMLO and “…other regulatory requirements for investor protection purposes”. Schedule 2 of the AMLO basically sets out requirements relating to customer due diligence and record-keeping, and special circumstances. Examples of this include identification checks and to continuously monitor business relationships.

    Give the SFC powers to supervise a VASPs’ compliance of the AMLO requirements.

    Then the question is, what are VASPs or VAs?

    Scope of the Legislative Proposals

    The Legislative Proposals specifically covers VASPs and VAs, so it is important to know their definition. This is set out in the Legislative Proposals.

    Virtual Asset Services Providers

    The Legislative Proposals takes the definition of VASPs from that of the FATF and is defined as, “…a VASP is a person who, as a business, engages in specified activities involving VAs. The specified activities cover (i) exchange between VAs and fiat currencies; (ii) exchange between one or more forms of VAs; (iii) transfer of VAs; (iv) safekeeping and/or administration of VAs or instruments enabling control over VAs; and (v) participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer and/or sale of a VA.”

    Virtual asset exchanges

    The Legislative Proposals proposes to designate the business of operating a VA exchange as a “regulated VA activity” under the AMLO and require a VASP licence from the SFC and subject to passing the “fit and proper” person test and other regulatory requirements.

    Specifically a VA exchange is proposed to be defined as “…any trading platform which is operated for the purpose of allowing an offer or invitation to be made to buy or sell any VA in exchange for any money or any VA…”

    The Legislative Proposals, however mention that “peer-to-peer trading platforms” will not be considered as a VA exchange and thus not subject to the licensing requirements. According to the Legislative Proposals, peer-to-peer trading platforms are platforms that only provide a forum where buyers and sellers post their bids and offers, with or without automatic matching mechanisms, for the parties themselves to trade at an outside venue. However, the actual transaction must be conducted outside the platform, and the platform is not involved in the underlying transaction. If for example the platform comes into possession of any money or any VA at any point in time, they would still be considered a “VA exchange”.

    VA activities outside of exchanges (OTC desks etc): Are they covered?

    However there are other businesses dealing with VAs that aren’t exchanges. For example VA payment systems, VA custodian services and over the counter trading and crypto ATMs (Genesis Block Hong Kong comes to mind).

    According to the Legislative Proposals, they already have interface with financial institutions (e.g. when converting into fiat). This means that their money flow is already traceable for AML/CTF purposes and are already subject to the statutory obligations of reporting suspicious transactions etc. Hence the FSTB says they will nevertheless keep in mind the evolving landscape in relation to these activities and the licensing regime will be kept flexible so it may be expanded to cover other VA activities if the need arises in the future.

    Virtual Assets

    The FSTB also intends to adopt the definition of a VA as provided by the FATF but in more specific terms. The proposed definition is that a VA is, “…a digital representation of value that is expressed as a unit of account or a store of economic value; functions (or is intended to function) as a medium of exchange accepted by the public as payment for goods or services or for the discharge of a debt, or for investment purposes; and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically.”

    What is not covered under the scope of a VA would be central bank digital currencies (China’s DCEP comes to mind), financial assets (e.g. securities) which are already regulated by the SFO, and closed-loop limited purpose items that are non-transferable, non-exchangeable and non-fungible (e.g. gaming coins).

    However stablecoins (i.e. VAs purportedly backed by some form of asset to stabilise their value) are covered by the definition of VAs.

    Regulatory requirements: are retail investors banned from trading cryptocurrencies?

    If the VA business falls under the definition of a VASP and are not other VA activities which are excluded, they will be subject to the licensing regime. With reference to the existing opt-in regime, the Legislative Proposals proposes to empower the SFC to impose licensing conditions on licensed VASPs and regulatory requirements. One such requirement that is particularly concerning to cryptocurrency enthusiasts is the requirement that VASPs should only offer services to “professional investors”. However the Legislative Proposals suggest that this restriction should only be required at the “initial stage” and note that the SFC will continue to monitor the market and reconsider this position as the market matures in the future.

    Hong Kong’s crypto community reacts to the Legislative Proposals

    Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX Exchange gave his thoughts on the Legislative Proposals. He noted that it is still in the consultation stages and that whether or not an exchange “is” in Hong Kong so as to be covered by the Legislative Proposals are subtle and non-obvious.

    OSL, which is the only known recipient of “approval in principle” from the SFC under the current opt-in licensing regime appears more positive. On Twitter, OSL mentions that the Legislative Proposals significantly supports OSL’s strategic objective to be the first choice for regulated digital asset ventures and that it can balance market supervision and development, and provide investors with better protection.

    OKEx has not made any comments on this. We don’t see this as surprising considering they have more pressing issues to deal with, such as the fact that OKEx withdrawals are still suspended due to the arrest of Star Xu.

    Same can be said for Huobi, which is also dealing with rumours concerning the arrest of a Senior Executive by Chinese local officials.

    Bitmex of course is also in a bit of hot water, as civil and criminal proceedings have been respectively issued by the US DOJ and CFTC against BitMEX, its CEO Arthur Hayes, together with other key personnel and affiliates. Their CTO was also arrested in the US.

    Meanwhile, Leo Weese, Co-founder at The Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong gives his take in a blog post. He notes that whilst he is not opposed to regulation per se, the Legislative Proposals “…a massive overreach of the SFC’s mandate and a de facto ban of Bitcoin in Hong Kong”. In particular, Weese criticises the Legislative Proposals as confusing and unclear, noting also that it is the most restrictive proposal compared to any other FATF member economies. However, it can also be considered that it is merely the SFC’s initiative to implement FATF decisions rather a conspiracy to ban Bitcoin. Finally, Weese expects significant push back against the Legislative Proposals given previous resistance against previous initiatives aimed at money laundering.

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

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

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

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

    Bitcoin smashes old ATH!

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

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

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

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

    DO NOT do this in crypto

    Publicly traded companies and institutional investors keep increasing their cryptocurrency exposure

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Ethereum 2.0 ETH2 finally launched

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

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

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

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

    5 things you must know about Ethereum 2.0.

    Everything is Decentralised Finance!

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

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

    What is DeFi?

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

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

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

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

    (Yield) farming became a totally legit profession

    It ain't much but it is honest work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    DEX- the new challenger in town

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

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

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

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

    NFTs: bringing art collecting into the digital age 

    Boxmining NFTs
    Boxmining NFTs

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

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

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

    Are Regulators coming after crypto?

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

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

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

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

    Digital currency race heats up

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

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

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

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

  • Yield ($YLD): An Incentivized P2P Lending dApp?

    Yield ($YLD): An Incentivized P2P Lending dApp?

    Yield ($YLD) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency lending/borrowing platform with incentivized mechanism. Decentralized finance (DeFi) has opened new profit-making avenues for people who have additional funds to spare. Instead of just keeping assets in their wallets, DeFi has introduced several models in facilitating peer-to-peer lending and borrowing. Holders of digital assets can now earn interest income from supplying their funds to those who are willing to borrow. Yield introduced an individualized lending pool for each user who wants to earn interest income from their assets.

    What is Yield?

    Yield is an Ethereum-based, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency lending platform. It connects available lenders to borrowers without the need for any third-party to permit the approval of loan requests. Lenders can also conveniently place their offers on the platform which will then link to current requests.

    Yield Lending Page (Source: Yield ‘Lending’ Beta App)

    Loans made on the platform can be repaid anytime the borrower wishes to. Furthermore, lenders receive a fixed and guaranteed interest income which starts with 2% of the principal amount of the loan.

    The borrower also earns YLD as a reward for paying their loans. As of now, the reward for borrowers stands at up to 350 YLD.

    Yield Lending Page (Source: Yield ‘Borrowing’ Beta App)

    This peer-to-peer set-up for a lending platform is cheaper and more profitable for both the lender and borrower, as opposed to the traditional system of lending. After all, in conventional financial firms, looking for available borrowers who will not default on their loans is difficult. On the other hand, borrowers also find it difficult to pass the rigorous financial standards imposed by traditional banking institutions for their lending instruments.

    The Yield project is still in its Beta stage. There are no recent updates yet as to when the program will be launched on the mainnet.

    With Yield, the power to leverage on one’s assets is vested to the owner. Not any bank nor any other financial institution.

    How does Yield Differ from Other Crypto-Lending Platforms?

    Loans made on Yield do not follow the money-market model in supplying funds to borrowers. What does this mean? Let us first take a look at how its competitors do it.

    The biggest crypto-lending platforms, MakerDAO or Compound Finance, for example, have their own pool of funds for specific digital assets available for lending. This is what users see from dashboards that reflect a list of ERC-20 assets, or whichever asset the platform is supporting.

    The pools from these platforms come from users who lock their tokens in smart contracts that are designed to supply the requests of borrowers. The supply of these tokens and the number of its borrowers affect the calculation of its annual percentage yield (APY). So normally, the change in the depth of the pool also impacts its APY.

    While the commonly employed method of lending in most platforms ensures that lenders earn interest from their idle assets and borrowers have funds to access, there are some disadvantages as well.

    One disadvantage that Yield is trying to address is the potential volatility in lending APY. Since the APY for asset pools are automatically computed, lenders do not have control over it. This affects borrowing rates and the amount of profit lenders can earn from supplying funds to a pool.

    And most of the time, borrowers lose out on these market shifts, specifically because this can lead to higher collateralization requirements and risks of liquidation.

    Personal Non-Pooled Loans

    Loans made on Yield are individualized. This means that the supply of a particular asset that you are offering will not be affected by other loan offers since it is not pooled. There are no supply-to-borrower dynamics that will drive wild fluctuations in a lender’s expected APY as well.

    In these loans, borrowers stand to benefit from the transaction too. Yield rewards good peers: those who pay their loans through its native token $YLD. This is expected to incentivize lending and borrowing, a feature that not all crypto-lending platforms have.

    $YLD Token

    $YLD token is the platform’s native utility token. Interest fees on any asset borrowed from the platform are paid in YLD. Transaction fees also use $YLD.

    According to the team behind the project, the purpose of these fees is to discourage malicious actors from taking advantage of the platform and incentivize user activity.

    YLD’s token supply model is deflationary, which means that each time YLD is used to pay for transaction fees, the YLD is burned.

    Additionally, holding YLD gives them benefits such as a 25% discount from transaction fees, an increase in YLD rewards for borrowers, and lower collateral liquidation ratios for borrowers.

    Yield Garden

    Yield has also set up a liquidity staking pool. Through the Garden, users can stake their YLD and earn rewards in doing so. Available staking pairs are YLD-ETH and YLD-RFI.

    Yield Garden (Source: Yield website – The Garden)

    According to the team, the Garden is powered by a slightly modified version of the smart contract from Ampleforth’s (AMPL) geyser. There is a cooldown period for stakers (the time that stakers are not yet allowed to unstake or withdraw) which is set at 7 days.

    Unstaking also incurs 0.75% unstaking fees if it is done earlier than 14 days since the initial stake, 0.5% after 14 days but before 27 days, and 0.35% after 27 days.

    As of now, there is already a total of $2,456,403.31 staked in the platform.

    Conclusion

    While the DeFi space is still relatively young, it certainly has a lot of potential in helping cryptocurrency holders make the most out of their assets. There are a lot of projects today in the space that aims to provide passive income to asset owners and Yield is among those. As new as it is, the approach of the project in the business of crypto-lending seems positive and promising.

    However, how this new approach will work in maintaining a steady supply of funds for borrowers to tap remains to be seen. As of today, Yield’s individualized pooling method on loan supply cannot assure that there will be enough assets to borrow every time. Even with all things considered, Yield is still definitely a project that the DeFi community has to watch out for.

    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.

  • PancakeSwap ($CAKE) guide and tutorial

    PancakeSwap ($CAKE) guide and tutorial

    PancakeSwap is one of the most popular yield farming projects on Binance Smart Chain. However, beyond the usual yield farming method, PancakeSwap offers multiple products which users can maximize in order to leverage their holdings. This makes PancakeSwap is a strong competitor against similar projects in the space such as Uniswap.

    Check out or video on PancakeSwap yield farming strategies and particularly how to avoid impermanent loss!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCqAa6a5EQ8
    PancakeSwap yield farming strategies

    What is PancakeSwap?

    PancakeSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform that facilitates the trading of BEP-20 tokens. It implements an automated market maker (AMM) model to provide liquidity on peer-to-peer trades within the protocol.

    Through this model, PancakeSwap matches buy and sell orders from different platform users directly in a liquidity pool. The supply of tokens in this pool is provided by user deposits in a process called “staking.”

    When they stake tokens, PancakeSwap rewards them in return with a proportional amount of their share in the platform’s trading fees as well as liquidity provider (LP) tokens. The LP token that stakers will receive as an incentive will be the same asset that they supplied to the liquidity pool.

    But basically, it works closely similar to how Uniswap and SushiSwap works. Even its user interface looks almost the same. The difference lies in the yield strategy that anyone can take advantage of in the platform. When users stake, they also earn CAKE tokens.

    There are multiple liquidity pools where users can stake. Here are some examples for them:

    • CAKE-BNB
    • BUSD-BNB
    • BETH-ETH
    • USDT-BUSD
    • USDC-BUSD
    • DAI-BUSD
    • LINK-BUSD
    • TWT-BNB

    CAKE token: What is it?

    PancakeSwap token ($CAKE) is the platform’s native token. Users are rewarded with CAKE tokens for staking their funds on the platform. They can then stake their CAKE tokens to earn other types of tokens on special staking pools. The CAKE token is mainly for participating in community governance where users can vote on decisions relating to the direction or running of PancakeSwap.

    PancakeSwap Guide: How do you start using PancakeSwap and earn CAKE tokens?

    PancakeSwap is easy to use. First, you will have to visit their website at https://pancakeswap.finance/ and link your wallet there. You have the option to connect it to your MetaMask, Binance Chain Wallet, WalletConnect, and Trust Wallet, among others.

    As mentioned, it also supports MetaMask even if that wallet is Ethereum-based. This is because the platform is built on top of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which supports interoperability between Ethereum-based wallets.

    On the platform, there are options to either swap your tokens or supply liquidity in the ‘pools’ section. There is also an option to start ‘farming’ if you look through other sections.

    You can farm CAKE tokens on the platform. But before you can start doing so, you first have to supply liquidity to PancakeSwap’s pool in order to earn rewards in CAKE tokens. You can stake them back to the platform and get more in return. And again, users can also farm other tokens by participating in other liquidity pools.

    Syrup Pools

    Project owners can launch their tokens with the help of the Syrup pools. Here, they can commit a portion of their own tokens and distribute them to CAKE holders. There will be two categories for projects supported by the Syrup pool: Core and Community.

    Core projects are those that have been vetted by the team behind PancakeSwap. Community projects are those that CAKE holders voted in governance decisions. Despite this, anyone can distribute their tokens to CAKE holders through the Syrup pool. However, only the projects that get the vote of the community gets to be listed on the interface of the platform.

    PancakeSwap syrup pool
    PancakeSwap syrup pool (Image credit: PancakeSwap)

    Transaction Fees

    DEXs that follow the AMM model also charge trading fees. Users that participate in liquidity pools receive their LP token rewards on top of the accumulated trading fees on the platform.

    PancakeSwap charges 0.2% trading fees for users. In these fees, 0.17% is redistributed to liquidity providers with the other 0.03% allocated for burning by the PancakeSwap Treasury.

    Since the platform is decentralized, this distribution schedule can be revised by the stakers as necessary.

    CAKE Lottery

    There is also an option for users to join the CAKE lottery. It will have an interval of 6 hours per lottery session and you can get one lottery ticket for 10 CAKEs. This ticket will generate a random four-digit combination of numbers between 1 to 14.

    A winner’s take-away can go as high as 50% of the entire lottery pool if their ticket numbers match all four winning numbers on the lottery. There are also rewards too even if at least two of your numbers match the same position as the ones on the winning ticket.

    Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on PancakeSwap

    PancakeSwap also offers an option to participate in the exchange of collectibles on the platform. There is a section for non-fungible tokens (NFT) (called “Pancake Collectibles) represented by cute figures that users can trade for CAKE. You can choose to keep these NFTs if you own a few and trade them at a sooner date.

    Pancake Collectibles
    Pancake Collectibles (Image Credit: PancakeSwap)

    Initial Farm Offerings (IFOs)

    PancakeSwap introduced Initial Farm Offerings (IFO) on the platform to help out newly-launched tokens in opening opportunities for yield farming. To do this, users can commit their LP tokens to available pools. Here, those who will launch their tokens to the IFO will first be asked about the specifics of their project like their token’s current development stage, use case, distribution schedule, smart contract audits, expected valuation, and the purpose for the fundraising.

    Is PancakeSwap safe?

    PancakeSwap is audited by CertiK, one of the most reputable smart-contract auditors in this space. However, there is always risks involved in using these platforms such as bugs, which could result in loss of funds.

    Conclusion

    There are many yield farming projects in the space today and it can be difficult to assess where to focus on. And in selecting a platform to use, it is important to look beyond their promised APY. On multiple fronts, PancakeSwap seems to be a strong competitor to some of the biggest yield farming protocols in the space today.

    Since the platform is built on top of the Binance Smart Chain, it has an edge because this means that their blockchain network is faster than others in the space as it features around 3-5 second block times with their Proof-of-Stake model. Above that, there are other profit-generating opportunities with PancakeSwap. Beyond yield farming, users have the opportunity to participate in lotteries, collect NFTs, and launch fundraising rounds through IFOs. These are features that many other popular yield farming projects do not offer yet.

    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.