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  • LayerZero ($ZRO) Token Airdrop How to claim

    LayerZero ($ZRO) Token Airdrop How to claim

    Looking for free tokens with huge upside potential? LayerZero is one of the major upcoming crypto airdrops, funded by many reputable global enterprises such as PayPal. The LayerZero airdrop is now available to claim. This is our LayerZero airdrop ultimate guide.

    Check out our zkSync ($ZKS) Token Airdrop Guide for another highly anticipated airdrop.

    LayerZero ($ZRO) Airdrop Step-by-Step Guide

    Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get a potential LayerZero ($ZRO) token airdrop:

    1. Interact with Stargate Finance
    2. Interact with Stargate Bridge on LayerZero
    3. Use Stargate on Bungee
    4. Use the USDC LayerZero Bridge
    5. Use the Aptos Bridge
    6. Use LiquidSwap Bridge
    7. Use LEVEL Finance Bridge
    8. Use SushiSwap Cross-Chain Swap
    9. Use BitcoinBridge
    10. Interact with other dApps on LayerZero
    11. Get roles on the Stargate Guild

    See below for more details!

    What is LayerZero?

    LayerZero is a trustless omnichain interoperability protocol designed to connect multiple chains. Let’s break it down what this means in simple terms:

    Underlying Issues of Current Interoperability Techniques

    Interoperability is a big problem for blockchains. Blockchains can’t talk to each other in a way that makes sense, so they’re like separate islands. This makes it hard for people to move things like money and data between them. There are two ways to fix this, but they both have problems.

    Middle Chain

    In the blockchain world, there are some protocols that help blockchains talk to each other such as Polkadot or Cosmos. They’re like a middleman that helps different blockchains exchange messages. This is a good way to make sure that blockchains can work together and it’s not too expensive. But it’s not very secure because if something goes wrong with the middleman, then everything can be stolen. It’s like having all your eggs in one basket.

    On-Chain Light Node (Decentralized Bridges)

    Instead of having one person in charge, decentralized cross-chain bridges use on-chain light nodes to communicate between blockchains. A light node is like a small part of the blockchain ledger’s transaction history. It’s connected to a full node to make sure everything is correct.

    To send messages between chains, light nodes on one chain check the metadata of a block from another chain. Then they send proof of the transaction to the other chain. This is a safe way to send messages between chains, but it’s also very expensive. You would need to build a new bridge for every pair of chains, and each one would need its own interface and code.

    LayerZero’s Solution to Interoperability

    Instead of a middle chain or a layer-2 solution, LayerZero provides a massive infrastructure that would seamlessly enable direct, trustless transactions across all chains. Think of it like this: if blockchains are nations and bridges are immigration, then LayerZero would be a global super-passport and air-traffic control that allows communication between all blockchains at once. It focuses more on the communication problem of the interoperability layer (layer 0) rather than providing a third party solution like a bridge or middle chain.

    source: LayerZero Whitepaper

    LayerZero achieves this by using on-chain light nodes in a much more economical way. The team behind LayerZero, LayerZero Labs, coined it Ultra Light Node (ULN). The ULNs are connected to oracles and relayers, both independent off-chain entities in charge of transferring messages from one chain to another.

    Instead of keeping all block headers sequentially, block headers are streamed on demand by decentralized oracles, i.e. Chainlink, allowing the ULN endpoints to be small and cost-effective. The relayers are responsible for moving transaction proofs. Initially, LayerZero Labs will run and maintain the relayers, which will soon be fully open-sourced so that anyone can operate their own relayer.

    source: LayerZero Whitepaper

    Moreover, the use of an oracle-relayer pair provides additional layers of security since responsibilities are broken up. But if both parties are compromised, LayerZero would be vulnerable to attacks–no easy task, given the progressive decentralization of relayers growing in the network.

    Who is the Team behind LayerZero?

    LayerZero Labs, a Vancouver-based startup, developed LayerZero protocols to enable omnichain decentralized applications across multiple blockchains. LayerZero was co-founded in 2021 by Bryan Pellegrino, Ryan Zarick, and Caleb Banister. The three have previously worked together in computer network research labs at the University of New Hampshire.

    LayerZero Labs have recently raised US$120 million in Series B funding at a valuation of US$3 billion. The funding is expected to go towards growth initiatives, in particular expanding the Company’s presence in the Asia-Pacific. In March 2022, LayerZero Labs raised $135 million in a Series B funding round from the likes of FTX Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Labs, Sequoia Capital, a16z, PayPal Ventures and more. Interestingly, LayerZero is PayPal’s first ever web3 investment. Seeing as that PayPal is one of the world’s leading payment networks this goes to show LayerZero has huge potential that spans beyond the crypto space.

    Does LayerZero have a Token?

    LayerZero does not have a token YET. But based on their information code we know it will be called $ZRO.

    source: LayerZero Gitbook

    How to Receive Potential LayerZero Token Airdrop?

    Interact with Stargate Finance

    Stargate Finance (Check out our airdrop guide here) is the first live LayerZero protocol. LayerZero Labs believes Stargate will be integral to any dApp that wants to move cryptocurrency across blockchains. Thus, Stargate users, especially DAO voters, could have a very high chance to receive $ZRO airdrops. Here’s how to stake and become a DAO Voter on Stargate:

    1. Buy Stargate’s $STG token (for as little as $0.74) on centralized crypto exchanges like Bybit or on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. We suggest staking at least 25 $STG because it is the minimum required to get some guild roles.
    2. Stake $STG to get $veSTG. This gives you voting power on Stargate’s staking tab: https://stargate.finance/stake. The staking period can range from 1 to 36 months. You can also browse the pools and farms on the staking page to earn more $STG yields.
    3. Add liquidity to Pools. Go to https://stargate.finance/pool, choose your preferred Pool and add liquidity. You can remove liquidity at any time on the “Remove” tab. You earn LP tokens as a reward, which then be farmed to get $STG. Check our guide here.
    4. Regularly vote on governance proposals. Tip: Select “Turn On My Notifications” so you don’t miss any voting opportunities.

    Interact with Stargate Bridge

    Interact with dApps such as Stargate Finance’s Stargate Bridge by bridging your funds across networks repeatedly to generate volume. To do this, select the “from” token and network, the “to” token and network, and confirm your transaction.

    Bonus: How to save costs when using Stargate Bridge

    Here’s how to save costs when using Stargate Bridge:

    1. Do not transfer assets to/from the Ethereum network as it usually costs the most.
    2. Instead, to save costs when using Stargate Bridge transfer to/from these networks: BNB/AVAX, BNB/MATIC, BNB/FTM, BNB/METIS, AVAX/MATIC, AVAX/FTM, AVAX/METIS, MATIC/FTM, ARB/BNB, ARB/AVAX, ARB/MATIC and FTM/METIS.
    3. Check the estimated gas cost before bridging by clicking “Transfer Gas Estimator” before transferring assets.

    Use Stargate on Bungee

    Bridge tokens on Bungee using the Stargate route. This will also make you eligible for the Bungee, Socket and Stargate potential airdrops. For more details, see our Bungee token airdrop guide.

    Use the USDC LayerZero Bridge

    You can use the USDC LayerZero bridge (https://usdcdemo.layerzero.network/bridge) to transfer USDC between EVM chains.

    USDC Goerli Contract Address: 0x07865c6E87B9F70255377e024ace6630C1Eaa37F
    USDC Avax Contract Address: 0x5425890298aed601595a70AB815c96711a31Bc65

    Use the Aptos Bridge

    The Aptos Bridge is powered by LayerZero. You can move USDC, USDT, and ETH from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Polygon, and BSC to the Aptos network. Connect your EVM (e.g. MetaMask) and Aptos wallets (e.g. Martian wallet). Then, choose the number of cryptocurrencies and networks you wish to use. However, keep in mind there is a 3-day transfer window if you want to withdraw your funds out of the Aptos ecosystem. You will also need to pay gas fees in Aptos $APT tokens.

    To use the Aptos Bridge with the least amount of gas fees, transfer USDC from BNB Chain to Aptos network. To do this, you will need USDC and BNB (gas fees) in your EVM wallet (e.g. MetaMask). You will also need $APT to your Martain wallet to pay for gas fees.

    Use the LiquidSwap Bridge

    Go to https://bridge.liquidswap.com/ and bridge USDT, and ETH from Ethereum or Arbitrum to the Aptos network. Connect your EVM (e.g. MetaMask) and Aptos wallets (e.g. Martian wallet), and choose the cryptocurrency and network (Ethereum/Arbitrum to Aptos and vice versa) you wish to bridge tokens. Note you will need to pay gas fees in Aptos $APT tokens.

    Use LiquidSwap Bridge

    Use LEVEL Finance Bridge

    LEVEL Finance is a decentralized perpetual exchange on BNB Chain that provides risk management solutions for liquidity providers and is built by experienced entrepreneurs and contributors. To use LEVEL, you will need to buy their native $LVL token on DEXs such as Uniswap or Pancakeswap. Then, go to LEVEL Bridge and bridge $LVL tokens between BNB Chain and Arbitrum. Note that depending on which direction you are bridging, you will need BNB or ETH for gas fees.

    Use SushiSwap Cross-Chain Swap

    SushiSwap released its SushiXSwap, which is built upon LayerZero’s Stargate protocol. You can swap tokens directly to another network without using a bridge. As such, users are likely to be qualified for a $ZRO token airdrop!

    Use BitcoinBridge

    BitcoinBridge allows users to transfer BTC.b. BTC.b is a new type of wrapped Bitcoin that can be used on the Avalanche Network. It is moved to Avalanche using the Avalanche Bridge. This makes it easy to use Bitcoin on many different networks with the help of LayerZero.

    Meanwhile, BitcoinBridge is a good way for people on a budget to interact with the LayerZero ecosystem. Doing 20 transactions on BitcoinBridge will only cost around US$15! Here’s how to use BitcoinBridge:

    1. Buy BTC.b on Trader Joe here.
    2. Connect your EVM and Aptos wallets here.
    3. Bridge assets between different networks.

    Use Rage Trade

    Rage Trade is a double-legged trading protocol that offers a perpetual ETH swap and a USDC yield-farming product built on Arbitrum and LayerZero. Therefore, interacting with it may qualify you for 3 airdrops at the same time! To use Rage Trade, simply trade and deposit and stake on their platform. Also, contribute to their community.

    For more details check out our Rage Trade Token Airdrop Guide

    Use Altitude

    Altitude ($ALTD) is a dApp built on LayerZero, designed to allow DeFi users to transfer assets with enhanced security features, inexpensive bridging fees, and fast transactions. Altitude have confirmed they will launch its $ALTD token as well as an airdrop when their mainnet launches!

    See: Altitude ($ALTD) Token Airdrop Guide

    Use Dexalot

    Dexalot is a decentralized exchange that uses LayerZero as its default bridge provider. To use Dexalot, you will need to have ETH on the Arbitrum network and AVAX on the Avalanche network. Connect your wallet to Dexalot and go to the “Portfolio” tab, making sure you are on the Avalanche network. At the bottom of the page you will see a list of your tokens, select AVAX and click the 3 points on the right hand side. On the popup window, deposit some AVAX onto Dexalot. Note however depending on the amount of AVAX deposited, it may cost more gas fees to withdraw than the amount itself. So you may need to consider it as a loss for the sake of interacting with Dexalot.

    Interact with Abracadabra

    Abracadabra is intergrated with Layer Zero and allows users to borrow, leverage or earn yield. To interact with Abracadabra, you will need to have their native $MIM token. $MIM can be purchased on several decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, Sushiswap or Trader Joe. Make sure you are on the Avalanche network, or you will have to first bridge your $MIM tokens there. Back on Abacadabra, send one $MIM token from Avalanche to Arbitrum network. If you don’t want to keep your $MIM tokens, you can proceed to sell it for ETH on Arbitrum.

    Use SteakHut Finance

    SteakHut Finance is a yield optimization protocol that has integrated with LayerZero to launch $STEAK as an omnichain token. On SteakHut, $STEAK will be abe to be bridged across Avalanche, Arbitrum and eventually other blockchains on a 1:1 ratio. To use SteakHut, you will need to buy $STEAK tokens on the Avalanche Network. Note that currently only Trader Joe offers $STEAK tokens. Afterwards, connect your wallet to SteakHut and go to the “Bridge” tab. Send your $STEAK tokens to Arbitrum. You can also send your $STEAK tokens in reverse i.e. from Arbitrum to Avalanche networks. This would increase the number of interactions you have with SteakHut, which may put you in a better position for any potential airdrop. Note that you will need to pay gas fees in AVAX.

    Interact with Mummy Finance

    Mummy Finance is integrated with LayerZero and lets users trade BTC, ETH, FTM, OP, ARB and other cryptocurrencies with up to 100x leverage. To interact with Mummy Finance, you will first need to buy some of their native $MMY tokens on the Arbitrum network here. Then, go to Mummy bridge and bridge your tokens from the Arbitrum to Fantom network. Note it may cost more gas fees transfer back or sell your $MMY tokens. Therefore, you may need to consider it as a loss for the sake of interacting with Mummy Finance.

    Interact with other dApps on LayerZero

    You can also interact with other dApps on LayerZero including Holograph, Mugen Finance, Radiant Capital, Omni X or Angle Protocol. You can make small transactions, deposit funds, provide liquidity, swap assets etc. By actively and consistently using the ecosystem, it is highly likely LayerZero will reward users who genuinely interact with the ecosystem.

    source: TokenHunter

    Get roles on the Stargate Guild

    Here’s how to get roles on the Stargate Guild:

    1. Connect your Ethereum wallet to https://guild.xyz/stargate.
    2. To get the veStaker role, hold at least 25 $veSTG. To do this, buy at least 25 $STG on exchanges such as Bybit, Binance, or Uniswap. Then, stake your $STG here to get $veSTG. For detailed instructions see above.
    3. To get the 100 STG role, you will need to hold at least 100 $STG. Note that staked $STG does not count.
    4. To get the 1k LP Farmer role, supply at least $1,000 of USDC, USDT or BUSD on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism or Fantom (not Metis) to receive LP tokens.

    How to claim the LayerZero ($ZRO) token airdrop?

    Here’s how to claim the LayerZero ($ZRO) token airdrop:

    • Connect your wallet or paste your wallet address to https://layerzero.foundation/claim to check your eligibility.
    • To claim the LayerZero ($ZRO) token airdrop, those who are eligible must donate US$0.10 in USDC, USDT or native ETH per $ZRO. This is known as LayerZero’s Proof-of-Donation mechanism. Donations would go to the Protocol Guild.
    • Users can claim from the following chains: Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Avalanche.
    • Once claimed, $ZRO holders can transfer their tokens via the above chains using Stargate.

    LayerZero Airdrop Review

    When reviewing an airdrop, there are several factors to consider. First, the likelihood the project will even do an airdrop in the first place. Then, to look at how many tokens the project intends to allocate towards airdrop campaigns, as well as the difficulty in participating in their airdrop. It is also important to look at the utility of the token so that there will be an actual use and purpose in participating in the airdrop in the first place. Finally, a factor to consider when reviewing an airdrop is whether the airdropped tokens are subject to any lockup period.

    Likelihood of Airdrop: The LayerZero token airdrop is available to claim from 20th June to 20th September 2024.

    Airdropped Token Allocation: 85 million $ZRO are available to claim.

    Airdrop Difficulty: To be eligible for the LayerZero token airdrop, users could submit unique proposals for LayerZero or provided multiple ongoing transactions on the protocol.

    Token Utility: The LayerZero ($ZRO) token acts as a governance token, and to facilitate transactions across different blockchain networks.

    Token Lockup: The token will be unlocked on launch. However, those who are eligible for the airdrop must donate US$0.10 per $ZRO to claim the token

  • Ledger Nano S Plus Hardware Wallet Review

    Ledger Nano S Plus Hardware Wallet Review

    The increasing popularity and adoption of cryptocurrency has expanded the wallet market. Now that many well-known traditional and crypto brands accept crypto as a payment option, enthusiasts are constantly on the lookout for safer ways to store their digital assets.

    Ledger is one of the most popular hardware crypto wallets in the sector. Since releasing the Nano S in 2016, Ledger has become a household name in the cryptocurrency space. To date, Ledger has launched three models of hardware crypto wallets, the Nano S, Nano X, and most recently, the Nano S Plus. The Ledger Nano S Plus retails for USD$79.

    CLICK BELOW TO BUY!

    Check out our previous Ledger reviews here:
    Ledger Nano X review
    Ledger Nano S review

    What is the Ledger Nano S Plus?

    The Nano S Plus is Ledger’s third release from its Nano series, a line of pocket-sized hardware crypto wallets. Ledger’s Nano S Plus has all of the features of the original Nano S but with a few upgrades, including support for NFT storage and management. Additionally, the Nano S Plus has built-in support for interacting with various DeFi (decentralized finance) apps and services. (thetelegramnews.com) The wallet is an effective option for people looking to manage crypto, NFTs, and other decentralized services in one place.

    New features of the Ledger Nano S Plus

    Ledger introduced the Nano S Plus with an exciting list of features and improvements over the two previous releases. Some of the major new features on the Nano S Plus include:

    • Bigger display. Same display size of the Nano X but on a smaller device!
    • Expanded cryptoasset support. The Nano S Plus doesn’t just hold cryptocurrencies, but also NFTs and is the first Ledger device to have DeFi app integration.
    • Industry-leading security. The Nano S Plus uses the same industry-leading security with CC EAL5+ certification.
    • Easy setup. USB plug-and-play feature means owners can begin using the device in minutes.
    • Low cost. The Nano S Plus comes at an affordable price of US$79, making it an attractive option for all levels of crypto traders.

    Security features: is the Nano S Plus safe?

    The Nano S Plus uses the same certified secure chip (CC EAL5+ chips) as the Nano X to protect users’ assets. This chip employs state-of-the-art technology that guarantees high-level security and asset protection against phishing and other asset extraction schemes. Additionally, the wallet has industry-standard security features, including a security phrase, PIN code locks, transaction confirmations, password encryption, and more.

    To learn more about the security features of the Nano S Plus and Nano X, click here.

    5/5 Security Rating

    Cryptoasset support

    A major Nano S Plus feature is the huge roster of supported crypto assets and apps. The Nano S Plus supports over 5,500 assets and can accommodate up to 100 different apps. Some supported assets include:

    • Bitcoin (BTC)
    • Ethereum (ETH)
    • ERC-20 tokens
    • Dogecoin (DOGE)
    • XRP
    • BNB
    • Cardano (ADA)
    • Polygon (MATIC)
    • Litecoin (LTC)
    • Tron (TRX)

    The Nano S Plus has 1.5MB of storage and with that can run over 100 apps simultaneously. On Ledger devices, an “app” refers to the app required to be installed to access a cryptocurrency on the device e.g. in order to access your BTC on the device you need to install the app on the Ledger first. Meaning that, unlike the Nano S which can only run 3 apps simultaneously, users are not required to delete apps in order to access other cryptocurrencies which do not have the apps already installed.

    But what is truly unique about the Nano S Plus is that it is the first Ledger device to offer NFT support. Users of the Nano S Plus can securely hold, send, and receive NFTs via the Ledger Live app. Ledger has made this process user-friendly, as owners can authenticate transactions right from the wallet’s interface.

    Users of the Nano S Plus can also access several DeFi applications through the Ledger Live user interface. Anyone can securely buy, exchange, lend or stake crypto assets.

    The NFT support and DeFi app access give the Nano S Plus an even bigger boost in features compared to the Nano S and for that reason, we rank this category even higher than the Nano X.

    4.8/5 cryptoasset support

    Hardware design

    Similar to the Nano S, the Nano S Plus also has two hardware buttons located on the top of the device.

    The Nano S Plus has a much larger screen than its predecessor, which makes usage very easy. Same as the Nano X, the 128 x 64-pixel screen makes operating the device simple and helps users navigate the product’s features. The main benefit of the larger screen is that users can see the entire wallet address clearly displayed as one line on the screen. The screen also blends well into the rest of the device, adding to the Nano S Plus’ aesthetic appeal. And whilst the screen size on the Nano S Plus is the same as the Nano X, the Nano S Plus is a much smaller device overall.

    The Ledger Nano S Plus’ measurements are smaller than the Nano X at 62.39 x 17.40 x 8.24 mm, and weighs in at only 21g. The wallet is about the size and weight of an average USB flash drive and is easy to carry around.

    4.5/5 for hardware design

    4.5/5 for ease of use

    What’s in the Ledger Nano S Plus Box?

    The Nano S Plus wallet comes with the following inside the box:

    • The Ledger Nano S Plus hardware
    • A Type-C USB cable to connect the Ledger to a computer
    • An orange box with three notepads for the Secret Recovery Phrase
    • A purple box with the manual instructions
    • A key-holder chain with a Ledger logo

    Final Verdict

    The Ledger Nano S Plus is a great option for enthusiasts looking for a secure, reliable, and easy-to-use hardware wallet. It offers the same features as the original Ledger Nano S and adds a lot more. Furthermore, users looking to upgrade from the older Ledger Nano S can quickly move their assets to the newer S Plus.

    The Ledger Nano S Plus is one of the best hardware wallet options on the market for crypto and NFT enthusiasts who currently own or plan to purchase NFTs or get involved with any DeFi project.

    The Ledger Nano S Plus retails for US$79.

    CLICK HERE TO BUY!

    Ledger Nano S Plus worth it?

    [wp-compear id=”5154″]

    Product Specifications (Technical Specifications)

    Ledger Nano S Plus Product Specifications:

    Processors
    Compatibility 64-bits desktop computer (Windows 8+, macOS 10.8+, Linux) excluding ARM Processors.Also compatible with smartphones Android 7+.
    Connector USB-C
    Security Certification CC EAL5+
    Size Size: 62.39mm x 17.40mm x 8.24 mm
    Weight: 21g
    Supported assets 5,550+ digital assets plus NFTs and DeFi app access
  • Quai Network ($QUAI) Token Airdrop LIVE: Earn $2000 for Free

    Quai Network ($QUAI) Token Airdrop LIVE: Earn $2000 for Free

    Hunting for crypto airdrops is a great way to make free money. Some people have made as high as $10,000 from the Aptos token airdrop. If you missed it, Quai Network is another upcoming project with airdrop qualifications happening right now. Let’s take a look at what Quai Network is and what you can do to receive their token airdrop before it’s too late!

    Quai Network ($QUAI) Airdrop Step-by-step Guide

    Here’s how to receive a potential Quai Network ($QUAI) token airdrop:

    1. Engage with Quai Network’s Twitter
    2. Engage with Quai Network’s Reddit

    See below for more details

    What is Quai Network?

    Quai Network is a decentralized network of multiple proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains running in unison. These blockchains have native interoperability, allowing for cross-chain transactions and messages. It is also fully EVM compatible, allowing any Solidity contract to be ported and deployed.

    Quai Network provides a novel approach to blockchain scaling, different from parallel processing chains such as Aptos and Sui. It aims to maximize the energy efficiency of PoW by introducing the concept of modularity.

    Proof-of-Work 2.0 (PoW2)

    Quai Network sought to improve upon the PoW consensus mechanism by addressing its environmental concerns. For the longest time, Bitcoin’s PoW algorithm has been infallible, but it also consumes massive amounts of energy. And it will continue to rise as mining difficulty increases after every Bitcoin Halving event. This is why Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake (PoS).

    But Quai Network believes that PoS is inherently centralized due to the amount of money it requires to be a validator, creating a gap between the validator “class” and everyday users. Therefore, Quai Network has introduced an upgraded version of PoW called Proof-of-Work 2.0 (PoW2) where hash power can be reused to secure multiple chains. This is achieved by utilizing a novel combination of merged mining and sharding, reducing computational cost while allowing the network to scale more efficiently.

    Merged Mining

    Merged mining is the process of securing multiple blockchains with one miner, allowing miners to earn rewards in multi cryptos without having to switch between networks or use additional hardware. It was first conceived by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin white paper, in which a completely seperate blockchain could share CPU power with Bitcoin, inheriting the same security and decentralization of Bitcoin without requiring dedicated miners.

    Quai Network uses this concept, but instead of having Bitcoin as a parent chain, it has its own parent chain (the Prime Chain) which secures the many other chains beneath it by sharing hashrate. This improves throughput over monolithic chains such as Solana without the need for layer-2 solutions. Moreover, Quai Network is horizontally scalable, which means additional chains can be added to meet network demands. This is possible because of their multi-chain architecture.

    Multi-Chain Architecture

    Quai Network’s architecture makes use of sharding by dividing a single blockchain into multiple smaller and faster blockchains to improve network performance, similar to Ethereum and Polkadot. Its network is divided into a hierarchical structure of three different types of chains. At mainnet launch, Quai Network will begin with the single Prime Chain, three Region Chains, and nine Zone Chains.

    Source: Quai Network
    • Prime Chain

    The Prime Chain is at the core of the entire network, utilizing a hashing algorithm that is shared across all subordinate chains (Region and Zone). It aggregates and settles state transitions across the network, which means miners are required to mine the Prime Chain to keep the blockchains functional.

    However, it has the highest mining difficulty, which means it has the slowest throughput (one block every 15 minutes). Therefore, it is not ideal for simple transactions and DApp activities. It is mostly for use in situations where the whole network is being addressed and securing the network.

    • Region Chains

    There are three Region Chains at mainnet launch: Cyprus, Paxos, and Hydra. These chains have lower mining difficulty, thus a higher throughput than the Prime Chain (one block every 5 minutes). These chains handle lesser network interactions that are not necessary to address the entire network. They can also interact natively on the network, but each require unique mining power. Therefore, a miner can only mine a single Region Chain at a time, in addition to the Prime Chain.

    • Zone Chains

    At mainnet launch, each Region Chain will have three Zone Chains under it. These Zone Chains have the highest throughput (one block per 10 seconds) and TPS capacity, making them ideal for regular transactions and contract interactions. As such, most activity on Quai Network will occur on Zone Chains. They are also able to interact with other Zone chains, even those under different Region Chains. But similar to Region Chains, miners can only select one Zone Chain to mine.

    • Coincident Blocks

    Coincident Blocks tie the whole hierarchal structure together, linking all chains which enables cross-chain state transfers and periodic pegging of all chains to the Prime Chain’s total work. These blocks allow the entire network to inherit the same security of the Prime Chain, governed by three rules:

    1. All Prime blocks must contain a Region and Zone block.
    2. All Region blocks must contain a Zone block.
    3. Zone blocks can be mined asynchronously without being included in a Prime or Region coincident block.
    Source: Quai Network

    Basically, a Coincident block occurs when (1) a Prime, Region, and Zone block are confirmed at the same time OR (2) when just a Region and Zone block. Each time a Coincident block is mined, all blocks since the last coincident block are then confirmed by the Region Chain, continuing upwards until the Prime Chain — think of it as a roll call. Therefore, chains lower in the hierarchy can inherit the security of the Prime Chain while still conducting independent activities.

    Who is the Team behind Quai Network?

    Quai Network is developed by Dominant Strategies, a technology development company based in Austin. The company was co-founded in 2019 by Alan Orwick, Jonathan Downing, Karl Kreder, Yanni Georghiades, and Sriram Vishwanath, all of whom worked together in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Texas. They co-wrote and published the white paper for Quai Network in December 2021.

    Dominant Strategies has raised $10 million over two funding rounds — $8 million from Polychain Capital in March 2022 and $2 million from Alumni Ventures in May 2022.

    Does Quai Network have a Token?

    Yes. $QUAI will be used to ensure network security and as an exchange of value in the ecosystem. Their token supply is hard-capped but its total number is not yet determined. According to their tokenomics, 25% is distributed as “adoption incentives”, 3% for “community” and 0.5% for “testnet incentives.” This means token airdrop opportunities for early users of Quai Network!

    Source: Quai Network

    How to Receive Quai Network ($QUAI) Token Airdrop?

    Quai Network has a Social Media Rewards Program that will airdrop $QUAI tokens for engaging with their Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram. Compared to other projects, this is one of the easiest ways to earn free tokens.

    To begin, join their Discord server and follow their Twitter account. Afterwards, you can check your rewards on the Quai Dashboard. If you have a Citizen role in their Discord server, you will have a 1.5x multiplier for your $QUAI rewards. You can obtain it by completing their survey here. It is easy to do if you have some degree of understanding of the project.

    From here on out, Quai Network will reward you $QUAI tokens for your engagement with their social media platforms. As of now, only Twitter and Reddit rewards are available. YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram rewards will be available soon.

    • Twitter
    1. Follow Quai Network.
    2. Follow additional team accounts.
    3. Liking and retweeting Quai Network’s Tweets that are less than seven days old (limited to twice a day).
    4. Make a Tweet mentioning Quai Network. Original and insightful Tweets that are liked or replied by Quai Network will grant you additional rewards.
    • Reddit
    1. Make a unique post in their channel (limited to twice a day).
    2. Make a post about Quai Network in another approved crypto-related Subreddit (limited to twice a day).

    It is worth noting that your account must have more than 50 post/comment karma, and the post must be approved by their team. Therefore, it will some time for your rewards to show if you make a post on Reddit.

    Quai Airdrop Review

    When reviewing an airdrop, there are several factors to consider. First, the likelihood the project will even do an airdrop in the first place. Then, to look at how many tokens the project intends to allocate towards airdrop campaigns, as well as the difficulty in participating in their airdrop. It is also important to look at the utility of the token so that there will be an actual use and purpose in participating in the airdrop in the first place. Finally, a factor to consider when reviewing an airdrop is whether the airdropped tokens are subject to any lockup period.

    Likelihood of Airdrop: Quai Network’s token airdrop is now live!

    Airdropped Token Allocation: According to Quai’s tokenomics, 25% will be distributed as “adoption incentives”, 3% for “community” and 0.5% for “testnet incentives.” This could mean token airdrop opportunities for early users of Quai Network!

    Airdrop Difficulty: Quai Network has a Social Media Rewards Program that will airdrop $QUAI tokens for engaging with their social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram. This is one of the easiest ways to earn free tokens compared to other projects!

    Token Utility:  The $QUAI token will be used to ensure network security and as an exchange of value in the ecosystem.

    Token Lockup: Participants of Quai Network’s Social Media Rewards Program will receive their $QUAI tokens upon Quai Network’s Mainnet Launch

  • Aptos Blockchain Guide: the Next Big Innovation in Blockchain Scaling (Layer 1)?

    Aptos Blockchain Guide: the Next Big Innovation in Blockchain Scaling (Layer 1)?

    Aptos, a repurposed blockchain initiative of Meta’s abandoned web3 project (formerly Facebook). Its mainnet and token launch were hugely anticipated owing to its revolutionary infrastructure that might just surpass all other layer-one protocols. All you need to know about Aptos is in this article, made simple to understand and updated in real time.

    What is Aptos?

    Origin of Aptos

    Aptos also known as Aptos Labs is a web3 startup focused on building a scalable layer-1 blockchain. I know what you’re thinking, not another new smart-contract layer claiming to be more scalable than the others.

    But Aptos is not a new entity of its own, in fact, the company was founded by developers who formerly worked on Diem, Meta’s blockchain initiative that was abandoned in January. This means that the project already has a solid foundation to build its products off of.

    Key Features of Aptos Blockchain

    Aptos utilizes key elements of the former Diem blockchain and Move, a Rust-based programming language independently developed by Meta. The company also claims the network will be able to process over 130k transactions per second using its parallel execution engine (Block-STM), which results in low transaction costs for users.

    For context, most blockchains either execute smart contracts sequentially or require a massive parallel workload for improved performance, which requires a lot of power. Aptos differs from other blockchains because a single failed transaction will not hold up the entire chain. Instead, all transactions are processed simultaneously and validated afterwards. The ones that failed are aborted and re-executed, thanks to their STM (software transactional memory) libraries which detect and manage conflicts.

    As a result, the combination of these technologies streamlines the entire network’s throughput capacity, which has been a major bottleneck for other layer-1 blockchains. This is a short summary of Aptos’ smart contract execution according to their white paper published in August 2022. Their model is based on cloud infrastructure as a scalable and cost-efficient platform for building widely-used applications.

    Aptos enables DeFi projects to be built on its blockchain. So far, there are over 30 DeFi projects on the ecosystem. These projects include decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and liquid staking. An example of this is Aries Markets– a margin trading protocol.

    Who is the Team behind Aptos?

    Aptos is co-founded by Mo Shaikh (CEO) and Avery Ching (CTO), both former Meta employees who have years of experience as a senior developer and engineer in the blockchain industry.

    The team consists of a battle-hardened group of PhDs, researchers, engineers, designers and strategists. They are the original creators, designers and builders of Diem.

    What’s Happening with Aptos?

    Aptos Funding

    Aptos has been securing a sizeable amount of funding from numerous crypto heavyweights despite the bear market. In March 2022, the company received $200 million in funding from a16z, Tiger Global, and Multicoin Capital, among many other venture capitalists.

    In July, the company raised $150 million in a Series A financing round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto.

    Moreover, during the Venture Round on 15th September, Binance Labs doubled down on Aptos, bringing up the blockchain startup’s valuation to a massive $4 billion according to Bloomberg. With the new funding from Binance, Aptos quadrupled its valuation in six months as per Crunchbase’s report.

    A few days later on 28th September, an undisclosed amount was also raised during the Venture Round by Dragonfly Capital.

    Being backed by Binance Labs is a good sign that the project shows promise. In fact, Yi He, co-founder of Binance and the head of Binance Labs, chose to invest in Aptos in part because of the Move programming language the company is using to build its blockchain.

    Aptos Team and Ecosystem Expansion

    Moreover, the team at Aptos has been actively hiring, most notably they have acquired several former Solana staff such as Austin Virts, former Head of Marketing at Solana.

    Not only Solana staff but a lot of hardcore Solana proponents have jumped ship for Aptos as well. With the narrative of Aptos being the next Solana, people are speculating whether investors actually believe in their tech long-term, or it is simply a pump and dump for venture capital firms (VC) and whales to make back their money due to the series of liquidation across the market. VC-heavy projects should be considered a red flag, but in the case of Aptos, there is more than meets the eye.

    Aptos Testnet

    Aptos has been focusing on driving the growth of their ecosystem. Since May, Aptos has launched their testnet campaign named “Aptos Incentivized Testnet” (AIT) and is divided into four stages according to their roadmap: AIT1, AIT2, AIT3 and AIT4. The goal is to invite and reward node operators, developers, ecosystem builders, and auditors alike to deploy applications and stress-test the decentralized network, ensuring the community is ready to launch a production-grade Aptos mainnet. Each stage focuses on executing different deliverables that contribute to the overall function of the blockchain.

    AIT3 concluded on 9th September 2022, preparing for the final testnet which will lead to the mainnet launch if successful. Throughout the series of testnets, millions of transactions have been carried out, tens of thousands of nodes have been put up, and more than 1,500 have forked the Aptos-core repository. The codebase is open-source and the project has onboarded well over 100 projects. Teams such as Pontem Network, Protagonist, PayMagic, MartianDAO, Solrise Finance and more have already been building and testing on the network.

    Furthermore, Aptos also has a grant program to offer project teams and individuals non-dilutive funding in order to further develop the ecosystem. One thing is certain that the earliest projects to develop on a blockchain are the ones that tend to moon if the blockchain is successful.

    Aptos Mainnet Launch

    Aptos Labs officially launched its mainnet “Aptos Autumn” on 12th October 2022, making it the first blockchain to debut Move technology. The mainnet is currently using the latest version of AptosBFT (version 4), which leverages a Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus protocol with responsive production optimization. To put it simply, this mechanism quickly minimizes the impact of failed validators on throughput and latency, significantly improving the blockchain’s performance. Aptos team has announced that they are developing AptosBFT (version 5) and will release it in a future upgrade.

    The Aptos Bridge

    The Aptos Bridge went live on 19th October 2022, powered by LayerZero, a trustless omnichain interoperability protocol. With this deployment, users will be able to move USDC, USDT, and ETH into Aptos from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain. Users can also withdraw their funds out of the Aptos ecosystem, but as of now, there will be a 3-day transfer window to keep the network stable. According to LayerZero Labs, this will decrease as stability and time in production increase.

    Another thing to note is that there is a rate limit to the bridge, starting at an outbound value cap of $1 million every 24 hours. As stability and time in production increase, this will also increase. Finally, since Aptos is an entirely new ecosystem, native assets outside of the APT token do not exist. This means that the only way to get other assets into the ecosystem is via “wrapped assets” from other chains.

    Aptos Goes into Web3 Gaming

    Aptos has recently announced its partnership with NPIXEL, a Korean Triple-A gaming studio. NIPXEL have been behind popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Gran Saga, which boasts 4 million downloads since its launch in Korea and Japan.

    Aptos and NPIXEL are joining forces to create METAPIXEL, a Web3 gaming ecosystem. This partnership sees NPIXEL creating games on the Aptos network. The goal of their partnership is to create a triple-A game that boasts true ownership of game assets.

    Partnership with Google Cloud

    Google Cloud and Aptos Labs have announced an expansion of their partnership, which now includes Google Cloud running a validator for Aptos. Additionally, Aptos has selected Google Cloud as the preferred infrastructure provider for its ecosystem, and the two companies will collaborate on an accelerator program through the Aptos Foundation that supports Web3 startups and developers working on Aptos.

    Moreover, Aptos and Google Cloud will collaborate in hosting global hackathons and other events. The purpose of these hackathons is to bring decentralized developer communities together to collaborate and address common challenges. They will also invite both the Google developer community and the Aptos community to participate and work alongside engineers from both companies to deploy projects that can be quickly scaled globally. In line with their joint events at Bitcoin, Consensus, and Converge last year, they also plan to continue engaging their communities through happy hours and panels in 2023.

    MoonPay Fiat On-Ramp Integration into Petra Wallet

    Aptos Labs and MoonPay have teamed up to make it easier for billions of people to join the web3 space. This means that users can now purchase APT using Apple Pay. Aptos Labs’ wallet, Petra, now features an easy-to-use interface for exchanging value within the Aptos ecosystem. The partnership began in November 2022 when APT became available on MoonPay.

    The integration of the MoonPay fiat on-ramp into Petra was a crucial step in enhancing the web3 user experience. The fiat on-ramp makes it easy for both new users and early adopters to get started on the Aptos network, as they can purchase APT using a variety of payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

    Securing Move as the Underlying Programming Model

    To ensure that Aptos is secure, their team has been developing bug-free code through a combination of disciplined software engineering practices and the right tools. This includes mandatory code review, continuous testing and integration, and best practices in the Rust ecosystem.

    Moreover, Aptos has contracted auditing companies (Certik, Holburn), conducted community auditing, and worked closely with OtterSec. They also run a bug bounty program that offers rewards of up to $1,000,000 for critical bugs and $100,000 for crash bugs. Aptos has invested in fuzzing and added redundancy through a paranoid mode in the Move Virtual Machine.

    Lowering Gas Fees with Community-Driven Feedback

    Aptos is engaging with community builders to improve its ecosystem, with a focus on reducing gas fees. The team has analyzed on-chain data and interviewed builders to gather insights. Their three-stage plan includes reducing costs for dynamic NFTs, developing gas-efficient data structures, and creating a demand-driven gas model.

    The current gas framework combines execution and storage fees, leading to an unbalanced gas price. The team will separate storage and execution fees and provide storage refunds to solve these issues. The team is committed to delivering these improvements in the coming months to better serve the network’s demand.

    What is the APT token?

    APT is the native token of the Aptos platform. The APT token is used to pay for transaction and network fees on Aptos.

    Fees will be charged on all transactions on the network and are specified in Aptos tokens. Validators will have the opportunity to prioitise the highest-value transactions on the Aptos network, and to discard transactions of lower value. The result is that the blockchain would still be able to operate efficiently when the system is at capacity. Eventually, network fees will also be deployed so that the cost of using Aptos would be proportionate to the costs of deploying hardware, maintenance, and node operation.

    In addition, APT can be used for governance voting on upgrades to the protocol and on/off-chain processes, and to secure the blockchain by way of a proof-of-stake model.

    Validators holding a minimum number of staked APT tokens can participate in transaction validation on the Aptos blockchain. The benefit of being a validator is that they can decide on the division of rewards between themselves and their respective stakers. On the other hand, stakers can select any number of validators to stake their tokens with in order to receive a pre-agreed split of the rewards. Rewards will be distributed to validators and stakers at the end of every epoch.

    At present, the maximum reward rate for stakers starts at 7% per annum and this amount is evaluated at every epoch. The maximum staking reward however will decrease by 1.5% per year until it reaches 3.25% per year. However, all reward amounts and mechanisms can be changed by governance voting.

    Aptos Token Listing

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange and trading of the APT token commenced on 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. The spot trading pairs include APT/BTC, APT/BUSD, and APT/USDT, and withdrawals for APT will open on 20th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. Moreover, the listing fee for APT is at 0 BNB and users can now start depositing APT in preparation for trading.

    In addition, Binance will add APT as a new borrowable asset on cross margin and isolated margin within 48 hours from 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. Both margin pairs include APT/BUSD and APT/USDT.

    Where can I buy the Aptos ($APT) token?

    Aptos and MoonPay have recently partnered up to allow Petra wallet fiat on-ramps. So users can now buy APT using Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

    The APT token can also be purchased and traded on the following exchanges: Binance, Coinbase Exchange, OKX, and Digifinex.

    Start trading $APT on Binance and enjoy 20% off trading fees by signing up here.

    Is Aptos Worth Investing?

    Aptos offers unique and promising features that cannot be found in other layer-1 protocols (except for Sui which is also a Diem-based blockchain). As such, Aptos has the potential to compete with Ethereum and Solana in terms of scalability and overall network capacity.

    However, Aptos is heavily backed by venture capitals (VC), and in light of the VC bankruptcy domino effect toppling across the industry, investors should be cautious when dealing with VC-heavy projects. In fact, according to Aptos Explorer, its total supply is over 1 billion and more than 800 million of the tokens are actively staked, suggesting that early investors, private buyers, and the Aptos team collectively control 80% of the token supply.

    Nevertheless, at the end of the day, Move technology is most likely here to stay as it is a revolutionary programming foundation for blockchain scalability and security. And with decades of experience in the blockchain industry as well as Meta, Aptos Labs stakes its reputation on the long-term success of the blockchain.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    What is Aptos?

    Aptos is a layer-1 blockchain that uses key elements of the former Diem blockchain and Move, a Rust-based programming language independently developed by Meta.

    How to buy Aptos?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Does Aptos have a coin?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    When is Aptos ICO?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Who is the Aptos team?

    The Aptos team consists of researchers, designers and engineers of Diem, Meta’s blockchain initiative that was abandoned in January 2022. Aptos currently has 60 employees on their team.

    Who is the founder of Aptos?

    Aptos Labs is co-founded by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, both former Meta employees who have years of experience in the blockchain industry.

    Is Aptos funded?

    Aptos Labs has raised $350 million in total from FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, a16z, Tiger Global, Multicoin Capital, among many other capital ventures. Currently, Aptos Labs has 28 investors. Aptos Labs also received an undisclosed amount in strategic investment from Binance Labs, bringing its valuation to $4 billion.

    What is the Aptos testnet?

    Aptos has an incentivized testnet program where the Aptos team welcomes community members to help with testing. The first testnet was Aptos Incentivized Testnet 1 (AIT1) where the community and the Aptos team created and deployed a decentralized network for over a week. Those who met a 95% participation rate were rewarded. Eligible individuals who were unable to meet the original expectation, but still participated in at least 5% of the testing rounds were also offered 50% of the rewards.

    Aptos Incentivized Testnet 2 (AIT2) was concluded in late July 2022.

    The latest Aptos Incentivized Testnet 3 (AIT3) opened for registration on 19th August 2022 and will launch on 30th August 2022. Participants that meet the team’s success criteria will receive 800 Aptos tokens. For more details and signup, check out the Aptos blog.

    Is Aptos Labs listed on any stock exchange?

    Aptos Labs is a private company and is not listed on any stock exchange.

    What is the price of Aptos Labs (APTOS) cryptocurrency?

    Aptos Labs (APTOS) does not currently have a cryptocurrency token. Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Is Aptos the same or related to Sui?

    No, Aptos and Sui and completely different and unrelated projects. The only connection between the two projects is that both teams have previously worked in blockchain development at Meta (formerly Facebook).

    Is Aptos worth investing?

    Aptos shows a lot of promise but investors should be cautious as the project is heavily funded by venture capitals. But at its core, Aptos’ programming language, Move, is most likely here to stay as it offers better scalability and security compared to other layer-1 blockchains.

    Is Aptos backed by Binance?

    Aptos Labs received an undisclosed amount in strategic investment from Binance Labs, bringing its valuation to $4 billion. In fact, Yi He, co-founder of Binance and the head of Binance Labs, chose to invest in Aptos in part because of the Move programming language Aptos is using to build its blockchain.

    Is there any Aptos $APT token airdrop?

    Early Aptos network participants were given an airdrop of APT tokens. A total of 20,067,150 APT tokens were airdropped to 110,235 participants.

    How do I participate or be eligible for an Aptos APT airdrop?

    Previous Aptos users who had completed an application to join the Aptos Incentivized Testnet or minted an APTOS:ZERO testnet NFT were eligible to claim APT tokens. Those who were eligible to receive APT tokens were notified by the Aptos team via email. There are no plans for further airdrops for the time being.

    Which wallet support Aptos?

    Petra Wallet and Pontem Wallet are native non-custodial wallets for the Aptos ecosystem, and can integrate with many Aptos DApps.

    Why is Aptos dumping?

    Aptos’ price usually comes under pressure whenever there is a token unlock event. This is because early investors will typically sell those unlocked tokens to take profit. The next one will unlock on February 12, 2023.

    What is the price prediction for Aptos in 2023?

    Aptos will most likely increase in value, as the narrative for layer-1 blockchain scaling solution is trending in 2023.

  • Crypto Market Analysis for Beginners: Looking at Macro Data (Inflation, Interest Rate) to Determine Trends

    Crypto Market Analysis for Beginners: Looking at Macro Data (Inflation, Interest Rate) to Determine Trends

    The crypto market is volatile and unpredictable, but there are events outside of the crypto space that heavily influences the performance of the market. If you are unsure of how the market will react, it always helps to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, which in this case is the macroeconomic data.

    Why Technical Analysis and Narratives are Not Enough

    A lot of people use technical analysis and narratives to determine future price movements. For example, traders would use chart patterns, trading ranges, and technical indicators to determine bullish or bearish trends. On the other hand, investors with a more fundamental approach tend to capitalize on rising narratives in the crypto industry, such as the upcoming Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade causing liquid staking derivatives to pump or halving events for Bitcoin.

    These can be effective strategies, but not always reliable because there are larger forces at play. When the Ethereum Merge came in September, everyone expected ETH to surge in price because of the hype. But the crypto market was under pressure from macroeconomic factors causing broader investment market volatility rather than negative reactions from investors. This was when inflation and interest rate was at its highest for the year, affecting not only the crypto market but other financial markets as well.

    How Do Macro Data Influence the Crypto Market?

    As we have seen in 2022, short term speculation has been significantly influenced by macroeconomics. Since crypto is not widely adopted yet, it is still treated as a speculative asset. As such, Bitcoin’s price movement tend to mirror Nasdaq tech stocks, despite its vision of decoupling from the stock market. It is important not to underestimate macro data as they affect all financial markets. These are some of the common macro data to look out for when analyzing the market.

    U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI)

    Inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is a key economic metric based on prices that consumers pay for goods and services throughout the U.S. economy. When CPI is high, it means that prices for goods and services have risen, indicating inflation. Essentially, high inflation erodes the purchasing power of fiat currencies, meaning that individuals have less buying power for goods and services.

    As a result, inflationary pressures can cause market volatility, as people are more likely to save money for daily necessities and reduce their exposure to risky investments such as crypto. But as shown in the image below, the inflation rate and CPI are cooling off in 2023, which means that the worst is already behind us.

    Source: cnbc.com

    Federal Interest Rate

    The federal interest rate, also known as the federal funds rate, is the benchmark interest rate set by the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States) for overnight lending between banks. It is measured in basis points (bps), describing the percentage change in the interest rate. One basis point is equal to 0.01%. It is an important tool used by the Fed to influence the overall level of interest rates in the economy and to affect the supply of credit.

    The fed rate goes hand-in-hand with CPI and inflation rate. If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, it becomes more expensive to borrow money. This affects businesses in particular, and shifts the investment landscape from risk-on to risk-off, reducing the demand for stocks and crypto alike.

    Although CPI and inflation has been cooling off in 2023, it is not guaranteed that the Fed will scale back to 25 bps. According to Bloomberg, broader analysis of economic and financial conditions would favor the Fed raising rates by 50 bps. This could result in a stock market dip, which also affects the crypto market.

    Supply Chain

    The supply chain refers to the series of industries involved in the production, delivery, and distribution of goods and services worldwide. They are key indicators of global economic activities. Strong economic growth can increase demand for cryptocurrencies, as investors seek alternative investments in a growing market. On the other hand, weak economic growth or disruptions in the supply chain can reduce demand for cryptocurrencies and impact their price.

    As of 2023, the supply chain is slowly recovering as the COVID pandemic is dying down. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, supply chain leaders are focusing on automation, robotics and sustainability to improve manufacturing and solve labor cost problems. As such, shipping costs and gas prices have gone down. But there are still some areas struggling with shortages and bottlenecks, leading to bankruptcies and unemployment. For more information, Forbes has published an article sharing their insight on supply chain trends in 2023.

    US Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

    Out of all countries, the US seems to have been the dominating narrative in what has affected the price action of the crypto market. This could be related to the US CPI and Fed interest rates. While the US GDP does not have a direct affect on crypto prices, it can indirectly impact crypto prices by affecting the overall economy, consumer confidence, and market sentiment.

    A strong US economy may increase consumer confidence and investment, potentially leading to an increase in crypto prices. Conversely, a weak economy may lead to a decrease in consumer confidence and investment, potentially leading to a decrease in crypto prices.

    Housing Market

    The housing market can affect crypto prices indirectly, as changes in the housing market can impact the overall economy and consumer confidence. A strong housing market can boost consumer confidence and lead to an increase in investment, potentially resulting in an increase in crypto prices.

    On the other hand, a weak housing market can dampen consumer confidence and lead to a decrease in investment, potentially leading to a decrease in crypto prices. However, it is important to note that the relationship between the housing market and crypto prices is not direct and can vary depending on various other factors such as interest rates, economic policy, and global events.

    As of 2023, the supply chain recovery has helped bring back inventory of single family homes on the market, and has increased the supply side as well. But with mortgage rates increasing, it is unlikely there will be an increase in demand for housing any time soon. Therefore, it is highly likely there will be a housing market correction, but we do not know if it is going to small or big.

    Source: Altos Research

    Oil Prices

    Energy has been a critical factor in the economic turmoil and increased inflation in the past year, and it has mainly come from oil prices. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, many people were fearful of a major worldwide energy crisis this winter. Although there was an energy crisis in Europe, it was not as bad as predicted. Meanwhile, oil prices dropped from $120 to $80 as a result of CPI and inflation rate cooling off.

    Source: Trading Economics

    Key Takeaway

    Macroeconomic data is important for crypto prices because it can provide insight into the health and stability of the overall economy, which can impact investor confidence and market sentiment. This, in turn, can affect demand for cryptocurrencies and ultimately their prices. Macroeconomic data such as GDP, inflation, interest rates, employment figures, and trade balances can all provide a broader understanding of the economic environment, helping traders and investors make informed decisions about the crypto market. Additionally, changes in macroeconomic conditions can also impact the supply and demand of cryptocurrencies, affecting their prices.

  • Meme Coins 2023: How Smart People Get Rich Investing in Them

    Meme Coins 2023: How Smart People Get Rich Investing in Them

    2023 started off with the explosive rise of Bonk ($BONK), a Solana-based meme coin. In the process, some people made a lot of money, and some did not even have to invest a dime as they were eligible for $BONK airdrops as Solana users. It is important to remember that meme coins are purely speculative and extremely volatile, but smart traders are able to recognize patterns and trends, allowing them to capitalize on these opportunities.

    What are Meme Coins?

    Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are created for the purpose of entertainment and humor. They are often based on popular internet memes. Dogecoin is the most famous example, a dog-themed token based on the viral Doge meme in 2013.

    What started as a joke quickly became a driving force in the crypto market. Thanks to Dogecoin’s success in 2021, the meme coin market rapidly expanded, and is now valued over $17 billion in total market capitalization.

    Why are Meme Coins So Popular?

    Investing in meme coins present a low-entry barrier. Since meme coins are typically valued at pennies per token, investors can acquire large amounts of tokens for a relatively small price. As a result, investors can gain significant profits if these tokens spike up in price. Many investors view meme coins as a way to make a quick profit, as they are often volatile and can be traded for a profit.

    In contrast to actual blockchain projects such as Ethereum or Aptos, meme coins have no utilities at all. They are less about technology and solutions, and more about fun and community engagement. Additionally, meme coins are often seen as a way to show support for a particular meme or cause, which can be a powerful motivator for investors. Instead of complex blockchain terminologies, meme coin communities focus on building on their biggest facility — humor. Because of this, meme coins are a good at exposing newcomers to the crypto space.

    The Psychology Behind Investing in Meme Coins

    The originator of the term “meme” is Richard Dawkins. In his book “The Selfish Gene”, he explains that when a cultural meme becomes viral and is attached to an exchangeable value, it can theoretically become an actual currency. With blockchain technology, memes can literally become cryptocurrencies.

    As such, they have become increasingly popular in the cryptocurrency space due to their ability to post rapid gains and reach incredible market capitalization and popularity levels in a very short period. This phenomenon can be attributed to two main factors: Social Media Hype and Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

    Social Media Hype

    We are currently living in the Internet age, where our average attention span is short. As such, memes could prove to be a powerful marketing tool because they are simple, entertaining, and engaging. When used properly, memes are a low-effort marketing strategy that can drive organic engagement.

    Generating hype via social media channels has been a successful strategy for many meme coin projects. By creating shills and utilizing prominent influencers and mainstream celebrities, projects can generate excitement and attract potential investors, even if there is limited information available about the project. This growth, although organic, is based on “unverified beliefs” and inflated utility. Meme coins have been particularly successful in leveraging this strategy, leading to a surge in their token prices.

    Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

    The volatile nature of the crypto market is often driven by ambitious investors who jump into new projects with the hope of making a profit or not missing out on the project’s potential success. This fear of missing out on further profits has been a major factor in the success of meme coins.

    The price growth that follows the hype marketing is further augmented by FOMO and widespread hype. This trend has enabled meme coins to gain hundreds of thousands of followers, mainly due to their meme culture, before they adopted a reasonable utility. Additionally, as meme coins generally appeal to less experienced retail investors, they tend to jump on the bandwagon in hopes of making profit and being part of a large community.

    The Risk of Investing in Meme Coins

    While meme coins can be a great way to make a quick profit, they also come with a certain amount of risk. As with any investment, there is always the potential for losses. Additionally, because meme coins have no utilities, they are purely speculative assets. Therefore, they are often highly volatile, meaning that prices can change quickly and without warning. As such, it is important to do your research and understand the risks before investing in meme coins.

    Key Takeaway

    At its core, meme coins are purely speculative, and investing in them is somewhat of a gamble. However, smart traders are able to identify trends before they break out. Because meme coins typically rely on hype, they monitor activities on the niche market via social media channels or word-of-mouth. Because these tokens are usually valued at pennies per token, they are able to secure a position before any price surge or drop. But from that point on, it is really just a bet.

  • The Flippening: Will Ethereum Overtake Bitcoin in 2023?

    The Flippening: Will Ethereum Overtake Bitcoin in 2023?

    The Flippening Narrative: Bitcoin vs Ethereum

    The concept of the “Flippening” has been increasingly gaining traction in the crypto space. It refers to the hypothetical moment when Ethereum (ETH) surpasses Bitcoin (BTC) as the most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The Flippening is important because it would signify a major shift in the overall direction of the crypto landscape, signalling a change in investor sentiment and adoption patterns.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lQ8bz9QRBo

    While the Flippening is not set in stone, there are compelling data that indicate it is coming, and sooner than you think… Here’s why:

    The Case for Bitcoin

    Being the world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has maintained its throne on the crypto market since its genesis block in 2009. It is often considered as the safest digital store of value by investors, with its limited supply structure similar to the scarcity of gold, hence its nickname “digital gold.” As such, Bitcoin is usually the primary choice of cryptocurrency for financial institutions looking to get involved. As far as mainstream adoption goes, Bitcoin has led the way so far.

    However, Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus model is highly energy-intensive, sparking criticisms of the network’s impact on the environment. Additionally, the usage of Bitcoin is only limited to exchanging and storing value. This is where Ethereum has much more to offer.

    The Case for Ethereum

    As the second most valuable cryptocurrency, Ethereum is designed to be used as the foundation of a decentralized, blockchain-based internet — an idea that is become known as Web3. Apart from exchanging and storing value, Ethereum introduced smart contract functionalities that allows developers to do all kinds of innovative and creative things on the network. This brought about a proliferation of financial products that have enabled a much broader range of investors.

    Ethereum earned its nickname “digital oil” because it is a utility-based asset like oil, fuel or gas, and its value is largely dictated by supply and demand mechanisms. Similar to how the world’s global supply chain is fueled by crude oil, Ethereum lays at the heart of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space as well as GameFi and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market. And as the Web3 landscape progresses, demand will increase as more and more people are recognizing the potential of a decentralized internet. It is only a matter of time when Web2 evolves to Web3, and Ethereum is at the centre of that.

    Do “Ethereum Killers” Hinder the Flippening?

    It is worth noting that Ethereum faces competition from other prominent layer-1 blockchains such as Aptos, Cardano, Solana, BNB Chain, Polkadot, and Avalanche. There is a trending “Ethereum Killer” narrative in which user adoption will be distributed amongst these blockchains instead of focusing on Ethereum only. However, most of these blockchains in fact depend on Ethereum, as one way or another they are associated with the network’s smart contract. As shown in the image below by Cryptowatch, all of the top layer-1 blockchains are closely correlated with Ethereum’s price action.

    Source: Cryptowatch

    Comparing Market Share between Bitcoin and Ethereum

    As of 11th January 2023, Ethereum’s market share increased by 3% among global crypto assets, signalling its dominance on the rise. According to Coinmarketcap, Ethereum’s market dominance is at 19%, valued at around $856 billion. On another note, Coingecko’s metrics were slightly different, indicating Ethereum’s dominance at 18.3%. But both aggregation websites show that Bitcoin’s market dominance is decreasing, from 40% to 38%.

    It is unclear whether this trend will continue, but according to data sourced from Blockchain Center, the Flippening has been on an uptrend since July 2021. And we are nearly halfway for it to happen. It is also worth noting that Ethereum came closest to the Flippening in 2017, when Bitcoin’s market dominance’s dropped by 40.6% and Ethereum took over 32% of the market amidst the situation.

    Source: blockchaincenter.net

    In reference to the data provided by Blockchain Center, there are also other metrics apart from market cap that determines the Flippening. As of now, Bitcoin is still by far superior in trading volume, which is a crucial metric for adoption usage. However, Ethereum has Bitcoin beat in active addresses, transaction count and volume, and total USD transaction fees.

    Outperformance of Ethereum will be primarily driven by the strength of its post-Merge fundamentals. The upcoming Shanghai Upgrade will significantly reduce the risk and opportunity cost of staking ETH, which is likely to attract participation from more crypto users.

    Key Takeaway

    Despite Ethereum’s increasing adoption and market dominance, Bitcoin still reigns supreme in the crypto space. In fact, Bitcoin saw significant adoption in 2021-2022 from retail and institutional investors, public companies, and even countries. As of now, El Savador and the Central African Republic (CAR) have adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency. This is a monumental step towards mainstream adoption.

    But that is not to say the Flippening will never happen — it is certainly a possibility. After all, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have different visions. Bitcoin aims to become the global reserve currency, whereas Ethereum aims to become the infrastructure of a global digital economy. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) applies to both assets, but it all comes down to supply and demand mechanisms. If demand in digital money is higher, then Bitcoin dominates. But if demand in utility-based asset in building out a decentralized ecosystem is higher, then Ethereum is generally favored.

  • 2022 Crypto Recap: The Good, The Bad, and The Uglies

    2022 Crypto Recap: The Good, The Bad, and The Uglies

    The crypto industry had a tumultuous year in 2022, with coins tanking at the start of Q2 and never rallying, signalling the beginning of a crypto winter. To make matters worse, the collapse of Terra Luna and FTX led to a devastating contagion across the industry. Despite the challenges, we shouldn’t forget about the progress and achievements the industry has made. Here’s a brief recap of some of the biggest news in 2022.

    Crypto’s Role in the Russia-Ukraine War (February)

    During the Russia-Ukraine war, cryptocurrencies have been immensely valuable to Ukrainian refugees. Russian attacks have destroyed critical infrastructure, rendering many Ukrainians inaccessible to withdrawing money from ATM machines. Therefore, many Ukrainian refugees relied on digital currencies sent from relatives or donors abroad to purchase goods and services.

    All that is needed for them to access their cryptocurrency wallets is a mobile phone and internet access, which was being provided by the thousands of Starlink satellite internet dishes provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX at the time.

    Feds Interest Rate Hike (March)

    Despite Bitcoin reaching an all-time high of $69000+ in November 2021, what follows is a series of market decline. This is in part due to the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing its first interest rate hike in March to fight increasing inflation. As a result, the macro backdrop began to worsen, not only affecting crypto assets but also every other investment asset class. This also called into question Bitcoin’s reputation as an inflation hedge as Bitcoin itself started to trade in tandem with Nasdaq tech stocks, according to the New York Times.

    Collapse of Terra Luna (May-July)

    The collapse of the Terra Luna ecosystem in May 2022 was one of the most devastating black swan events in crypto history, wiping at least $60 billion off the market which triggered a dangerous domino effect across the industry such as the fall of several high-profile crypto firms, namely Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital, and Celsius Network.

    Amid the crash, the UST algorithmic stablecoin, which was supposed to maintain a $1 peg via on-chain mechanisms with Terra’s native token LUNA, depegged, bottoming out at $0.006. This was caused by a massive continuous selloff on both UST and LUNA, resulting in a death spiral. Terraform Labs (TFL) developers and founder Do Kwon are facing multiple investigations as well as lawsuits into its collapse. (Canadian Pharmacy) As of now, South Korean authorities and Interpol have issued a warrant for the search and arrest of Do Kwon and his accomplices.

    Recovery Plan of Terra Luna Classic (August)

    As of now, the Luna Classic blockchain is managed and governed by the community after Terraform Labs (TFL) developers abandoned the chain in support of Luna 2.0. On August 26th 2022, governance was restored as citizens of Luna Classic could delegate, stake, and vote for the future of the ecosystem. Proposals and the associated implementations are being passed by the Terra Classic Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

    Feds Sanction Tornado Cash (August)

    On 8th August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused Ethereum mixing service that obscures the trail back to the fund’s original source. They claimed that Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group run by the North Korean government, has been using Tornado Cash to launder illicit funds.

    Moreover, one of the developers for Tornado Cash was arrested in the Netherlands. The crypto community and privacy advocates bashed Netherlands authorities as the developer was simply writing code and had nothing to do with illicit activities. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also criticized the move as he himself used Tornado Cash to make donations to Ukraine’s cause.

    Ethereum Merge (September)

    On 15th September 2022 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15537393, the Ethereum Merge was completed. This meant a merger of the Ethereum mainnet execution layer and the Beacon Chain’s consensus layer, transitioning from the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. This landmark update brings major changes to the network, including a 99.95% reduction in energy consumption and a 90% cut in ETH issuance.

    This is a significant achievement in the history of blockchain, allowing the Ethereum network to scale effectively as demand for Web3 and DeFi increase. Since Ethereum is the mother of all smart contract platforms, this could put Ethereum in a position to rival Bitcoin in adoption and even value.

    Downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (November)

    On 11th November 2022, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) filed FTX, FTX US, and Alameda Research for bankruptcy in the U.S. Once hailed as one of the top crypto exchanges, the sudden collapse of FTX came as a shocking blow to the entire crypto industry, setting off yet another contagion across the space. This affected 130 affiliated companies including several high-profile firms such as BlockFi, Genesis Trading, Grayscale, KuCoin, Gemini, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Sequoia Capital, and Galaxy Digital.

    Apparently, SBF was misappropriating customer funds for his own benefits without customers’ consent and knowledge, conducting unethical flywheel schemes with Alameda Research. As a result, SBF had been arrested in the Bahamas, facing many criminal charges including securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations. However, on 22nd Decemeber 2022, the disgraced FTX founder was released on a $250 million bail.

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

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

    Which Cryptocurrency Exchange is the “Best”?

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

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

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

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

    What is FTX Exchange?

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

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

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

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

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

    What is Binance Exchange?

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Binance vs FTX Exchange Overview

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

    • Products
    • Supported cryptocurrencies
    • Fees
    • Security

    Products

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

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

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

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

    Supported cryptocurrencies

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

    Learn more about Binance Coin (BNB).

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

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

    Fees

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

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

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

    Security

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

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

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

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

  • The Graph ($GRT) – The Next Level of Decentralized Apps

    The Graph ($GRT) – The Next Level of Decentralized Apps

    What is The Graph?

    The Graph ($GRT) is a decentralized and open-sourced indexing protocol for blockchain data. Developers can build and publish different APIs, which are referred to as subgraphs, and perform queries through the GraphQL.

    The platform can easily be used to look for any Ethereum data conveniently through simple queries. This addresses the common problem faced by a lot of other blockchain indexing platforms.

    Blockchain applications face difficulties in keeping properties like finality, chain reorganization, and security in their process of fulfilling query tasks. These are also potential complications that applications usually address, but unfortunately make the process of querying time-consuming. The Graph has a workaround for this, and it is built exactly for that purpose.

    Through “subgraphs,” The Graph indexes blockchain data, which users can access via the GraphQL API. According to the team, they will make it fully decentralized in the future, where more nodes will be involved and made responsible for maintaining the index.

    The interest for the platform is steadily growing. In fact, they hit over a billion queries last June 2020. This was right at the time when decentralized finance was also gaining much institutional attention.

    The Graph’s Daily Query Volume (Source: ‘1 Billion Monthly Queries’ medium articles)

    Background

    Yaniv Tal, co-founder and CEO of The Graph, together with his team, has created an indexing protocol meant to ease the process of accessing blockchain data. Tal and his co-founders had personally witnessed themselves how difficult it was to actually create new applications on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Thanks to their experience on applications, they have found out that there is actually no decentralized indexing and querying softwares yet for blockchain. The problem back then was that developers had to come up with their own method to gather data and transform them from different sources.

    The mission of the platform, which Tal and his team developed, is to help create applications that require no servers and make Web3 accessible to everyone.

    How Does The Graph Index Data?

    To index Ethereum-based data, The Graph uses the “subgraph manifest.” This refers to the description of a subgraph containing data about smart contracts, blockchain events, and the procedure in mapping event data with one another, before they are all kept in the platform’s database.

    The flow of the data from transactions, subgraph manifests, and the database follows a particular structure. All of it begins with decentralized applications that are adding data to the Ethereum blockchain through the help of smart contracts.

    All of that data will contain a record of all events and transactions up until the point that they have achieved finality. Then comes the Graph Node, which scans the whole blockchain database, gathers new data, and filters out those that are relevant to the queries that users make. To make the indexing much easier, it identifies every information that answers the questions from subgraphs.

    GraphQL is the link between blockchain data and the application that a user wants to provide it with. But then again, it is through the Graph Node that users can deliver searches to the platform. After the whole process, users can finally look at the results of their query from their applications.

    Basically, this is how the cycle of data query and indexing works in the platform. Users can refer to the Graph Explorer to scan through the subgraphs that are already in the platform. Each of these subgraphs have a playground where users can perform queries through GraphQL.

    How the Graph Works? (source: https://thegraph.com/docs/introduction#how-the-graph-works)

    As of latest, The Graph can support the indexing of data coming from Ethereum, IPFS, and PoA networks. There are more networks that the platform will support in the future. But right now, they already have more than 2,300 subgraphs deployed, which developers for applications utilize. Some of these applications are AAVE, Aragon, Balancer, DAOstack, Uniswap, Synthetix, and many others.

    There is a lot of institutional support for The Graph network. Michael Anderson of Framework Ventures, said in a press release that they “couldn’t be happier to back Yaniv and the team, and we look forward to helping grow the decentralized network when it launches.”

    Hayden Adams of Uniswap also shared how useful the platform was for their analytics needs: “As a company we don’t manage or run our own databases. … Right now it’s pretty difficult to get historic data from the Ethereum blockchain in an efficient way.”

    Their plan, apart from expanding to other blockchains soon, is to make it community-owned and governed in the future. This is also in response to the shift of many blockchain applications to a decentralized model of governance.

    Key Roles

    The platform’s whole ecosystem is composed of the following:

    The Graph’s Protocol Roles (source: The Graph Network In Depth)
    • Consumers – These are the users who pay indexers for their searches. It could also be web services or any other software linked with The Graph.
    • Indexers – These are the nodes that maintain the indexing function of the platform.
    • Curators – Using GRTs, curators identify to the subgraphs the information that is valuable for the platform’s index.
    • Delegators – These are other stakers who delegate their GRT to existing indexers and earn a portion of the rewards run by nodes.
    • Fishermen – They check whether the network’s response to queries is accurate.
    • Arbitrators – They decide whether an Indexer is malicious or not.

    The Graph Council

    The Graph plans to decentralize its governance in the future. This will most likely be similar with MakerDAO and Compound. At the point of the protocol’s maturity, the team plans to launch a Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) that would allow core interest groups to participate in important protocol decisions.

    Similar to other DAOs, the Graph Council, which will be the governing body for the technical parameters of the protocol, is also in charge of how The Graph Foundation allocates its native, utility tokens.

    Among their basic functions include decisions on allocating grants and ecosystem funding, protocol upgrades, protocol parameters, and other emergency decisions.

    GRT Token ($GRT)

    The Graph Token, or $GRT, is its native ERC-20 based token, which can serve as a medium of exchange and the reward distributed to community participants who function as Indexers, Curators, and Delegators.

    GRT token distribution
    GRT token distribution (Image source: The Graph)

    GRT also has a vesting and distribution schedule ranging between 6 months to 10 years depending on the bucket. Around 12.5% of the total token supply (i.e. 1,224,999,438 GRT) is expected to be in circulation at launch. However this figure is exclusive of stakeable but locked tokens.

    GRT token distribution at mainnet launch

    The Graph launched its mainnet at 9:00a.m. (PT) on 17th December 2020. Upon launch, GRT has been distributed to all of the participants of the public sale. Members of The Graph’s Curator Program also received an initial USD $1,000 worth in rewards, with the remainder to be distributed to them on a quarterly basis based on their contributions to the Program.

    The Graph Foundation also received around 20% of the supply for the future development of The Graph. In particular, contributors who want to help building on The Graph can apply to their Grants Program, around 1% of the total supply of GRT will be allocated to support these participants in 2021.

    Here’s a graph showing the GRT circulation over the course of 5 years from the date of launch (i.e. 17th December 2020 at 9:00a.m. PT)

    5-year GRT circulation schedule by Bucket
    5-year GRT circulation schedule by Bucket (Image source: The Graph)

    Indexers that assisted during the Testnet phase have also ben rewarded between USD$10,000 to USD$100,000 in GRT as a reward for their contributions.

    In addition, around 2% of the total GRT has been granted to several Education Programs and loans totalling around 2.5% had been made to independent ecosystem partners.

    Indexer Staking

    In order for users to stake in the nodes that operate the whole platform and sell their services in the query market, they have to lock their GRT. In return, they are given financial rewards. If the indexers work maliciously, like altering data intentionally, the GRT that they staked will be slashed.

    Mainnet now live!

    The Graph Network launched its main net on 17th December 2020 after 3 years of development! According to the team the mainnet launch includes the following components: Deployment of The Graph Network contracts on Ethereum mainnet, deployment of the GRT contract, distribution of GRT to takeovers, launch of the Bug County Program and new docs for network roles.

    With the mainnet launch, Indexers will first stress test and improve performance before supporting real query volume, which will be upwards of 5,000 queries per second. Of course, there will be rewards for Indexers who will now begin earning on-chain indexing rewards and query fees.

    Graph Roadmap: What’s next?

    Now that mainnet has launched, The Graph will continue building. The Team has stated that the Graph Foundation will work on building a production-ready Graph Explorer dApp and Gateway that will support all network contributors.

    The Graph is also open to any individuals or third-parties that want to build for the network and as mentioned previously, they an apply to the Grants Program or collaborate with other community contributors.

    Conclusion

    Looking at the current boom of the DeFi space, we can see how important it is for developers to be able to freely access blockchain data. Making the process faster and less difficult for everyone could potentially influence the growth of the space as well as its reliability, security, and capacity.

    Everyone saw the need to create a bridge of information between applications and blockchain data. The Graph sought out to answer that.

    And with the deployment of smart contracts that depend on user data, The Graph has proven itself to be easy to use, cost-efficient, and fast. The platform is seen as a promising tool to empower everyone in the community, especially those who are developing more use cases for the blockchain.

    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.

  • SwissBorg vs eToro Comparison Review: Which Crypto Exchange is Better?

    SwissBorg vs eToro Comparison Review: Which Crypto Exchange is Better?

    Recently, the news has been flooded with talks about crypto regulation and exchange investigations by the SEC. This has raised a lot of problems among investors as particular crypto exchanges they use might one day become restricted by international regulators. Therefore, one of the safest long-term solutions is to find yourself a fully regulated crypto exchange.

    In this article, we will be comparing two of the top regulated crypto exchanges in the world: SwissBorg and eToro.

    See also: Top Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges of 2023

    What is Swissborg?

    SwissBorg

    Company Overview

    After having raised USD $53 million, SwissBorg was launched in 2017 by Anthony Lesoismier (CSO) and Cyrus Fazel (CEO). SwissBorg is based in Switzerland and is fully compliant with Swiss Law, making it a popular European crypto exchange. It is the first blockchain-based secure wealth management platform, aimed at simplifying the process of crypto investments. It integrates with major crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols, and features a community-based ownership model.

    SwissBorg is available in over 115 countries, and they have plans to include many more in the future. However, as of now, SwissBorg is not supported in the U.S. If you want to see if your country is included, you can visit their Supported Countries page.

    SwissBorg Team

    Prior to founding the exchange, Lesoismier was Head of Financial Market Digital-Advisory at JFD Brokers, and Fazel was a multicultural FinTech professional with decades of experience in asset management and algorithmic trading.

    The SwissBorg team spans 20 different countries, consisting of 300 highly experienced professionals in portfolio management, financial advisory services, and blockchain development. The combined power of their diversified expertise has led them to achieve numerous impressive milestones, including receiving the Mass Adoption Project of the Year award and the Top Swiss Fintech Startups award.

    Key Features of SwissBorg

    Wealth App Smart Engine

    The Wealth App is the smart command-and-control centre of SwissBorg. It lets users build, manage, and monitor their crypto portfolios, enabling easy and secure wealth management. Users can fund their accounts with 16 different fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, and CHZ. Additionally, similar to Coinbase, a limited number of high-cap digital assets are supported to ensure quality.

    The biggest advantage that SwissBorg has is their Smart Engine. It ensures zero spreads and no inflated exchange rates or hidden fees, allowing users to trade at the best rates and lowest slippage. Moreover, the Smart Engine analyzes hundreds of live trading pairs in seconds by connecting to major crypto exchanges such as Binance or Kraken. As a result, SwissBorg finds the best route to execute customer orders in milliseconds, saving investors time to find the best exchange rates.

    Smart Yield Account

    SwissBorg’s Smart Yield is a feature on its app which allows users to potentially earn passive income through Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols and Centralized Finance (CeFi) platforms. Smart Yield’s user-friendly interface allows easy access to the benefits of DeFi and CeFi, even average crypto users without much pre-requisite knowledge can stand to gain from it.

    The Smart Yield feature works with top platforms such as Compound, Curve Finance, Binance, Aave, and Uniswap, with its rates ranging from 0.1% to the highest 25% APY for over 20 assets. Since APY rewards change invariably due to supply and demand, you can check the current rates on the SwissBorg Smart Yield Rates page.

    Thematics (Crypto Portfolio Bundles)

    There are a lot crypto themes, and within each theme there are hundreds of different tokens to choose from. Decision fatigue really sets in when you are opting to diversify your crypto portfolio. SwissBorg’s answer to this is their “Thematics”, expert-designed bundles of different crypto themes.

    They provide exposure and diversification that is important for every crypto investor. SwissBorg’s Thematics lets you choose a category you have long-term belief in. For example, if you believe in layer-one protocols, you can choose a layer-one protocol bundle containing Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, Avalanche and so on.

    If you are interested in upcoming layer one protocols, you can check out our comprehensive article on Aptos or Sui.

    What is eToro?

    eToro

    Company Overview

    Based in Tel-Aviv, eToro was established in 2007 by co-founders Ronen Assia (Executive Director), Yoni Assia (CEO), and David Ring (Former CTO). The company was originally a social trading exchange offering commodities, indices, and stocks before diving headfirst into the crypto industry in 2018 with the launch of eToroX and a crypto wallet. It has since grown to one of the largest crypto exchanges, with a user base of 25 million active users worldwide.

    eToro offers a secure, regulated platform for crypto trading with a track record of storing investor funds for well over a decade. The company is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchance Commission (CySEC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). As such, eToro has a cross border license to operate in member states of the European Economic Area and other permitted countries.

    eToro Team

    Before eToro was established, Yoni Assia had held managerial roles in the FinTech industry and is an expert in computer science and finance. On the other hand, his brother Ronen Assia is a specialist in product design and engineering, having created products across various platforms such as medical devices, household applications, and web applications.

    eToro has one of the largest teams in the crypto exchange scene, with roughly 1,700 employees across 16 different countries in the EMEA, APAC and North America. They have seasoned veterans coming from various disciplines, such as IT and business solutions, data analytics, and blockchain innovations.

    Key Features of eToro

    CopyTrader

    The biggest innovative feature of eToro is their CopyTrader, which allows you to automatically copy top-performing traders, what they invest in and when. This is great for average crypto users and beginners as they can easily leverage other crypto traders’ expertise, instead of going through the hassle of constantly monitoring the market, unsure of whether to enter or exit. As a result, you can simply replicate their trading in your own portfolio. In a way, it is similar to KuCoin’s trading bot, where trading activities are already figured out for you.

    Moreover, CopyTrader is also a social trading platform, where traders are part of a collaborative community. They can with chat with other traders, discuss strategies and benefit from each other. This is a great place to start for beginners and learn from the best on how the market moves, but keep in mind that their quality is not assured. Crypto investments are always volatile.

    Smart Portfolios

    Similar to SwissBorg’s Thematics, eToro’s Smart Portfolios are essential a grouping of several assets bundled together based on the theme. In addition to crypto, eToro also has portfolios of stocks, ETFs, commodities and even people, as per their business model in the early 2010s before crypto became mainstream.

    Smart Portfolios leverages machine learning algorithms and data science to group the best performing bundles, taking into account factors such as balance, exposure, potential yield, risk, and more. Moreover, there are no management fees or commission, other than those applied with assets comprising each portfolio.

    eToroX

    eToroX is the company’s product specifically designed for professional crypto traders and institutional investors. It is not available to retail investors. It offers a suite of advanced trading tools, 30+ crypto assets including 17 unique stablecoins and 80+ tokenized asset pairs. eToroX has a highly competitive fee structure and is renowned for having deep liquidity for stabilizing large-volume trades.

    SwissBorg vs eToro Overview

    Cryptocurrencies and Products

    Both SwissBorg and eToro only offer a limited number of cryptocurrencies, around 30-40. Most of these assets have large market cap like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP (Ripple), BNB, and Polkadot. This is done to ensure quality, reducing exposure to high risk/high reward assets or degen projects that could incur a lot of loss. Both exchanges strictly adhere to standards set by financial regulatory agencies to protect the securities of investors.

    In terms of trading, both exchanges offer a wide array of trading tools for all crypto users as well as deep liquidity to support large volume trades with zero spreads. However, trading on eToro only benefits whales and institutional investors as eToroX unlocks them the full benefit and is inaccessible to retail investors. In contrast, SwissBorg’s Wealth App, optimized with Smart Engine, performs just as well as eToroX and is accessible to everyone.

    Furthermore, SwissBorg offers much more than crypto trading. Their Smart Yield feature works with numerous DeFi protocols and CeFi platforms, simplifying the process of earning and allowing users to stake and receive passive income. On the other hand, eToro also has their own staking reward programs, but is only limited to Cardano, Tron, and Ethereum. Although their monthly staking yield is high, only UK and US users have access to it.

    Fees

    Thanks to their Smart Engine, SwissBorg users do not have to worry about inflated exchange rates, floating spreads, and hidden fees. In other words, you will never end up with less crypto than what you paid for. There are no deposit fees, but crypto withdrawals are subject to an execution fee of at least 0.10%, which is relatively low compared to other exchanges. In terms of exchange fees, SwissBorg fees are among the lowest in the crypto industry, but vary greatly depending on loyalty tier and which fiat or crypto asset is being used. Moreover, 20% of their profits generated from the fees are reinvested back into the SwissBorg ecosystem.

    On the other hand, eToro charges a 1% fee on crypto transactions plus a spread. Although this is still considered lower compared to other exchanges, it is not as competitive as SwissBorg. If you are planning to trade a lot of cryptocurrencies, paying more than 1% can eat into your profits. Unlike SwissBorg, eToro charges foreign transaction (FX) fees for non-USD deposits, and USD $5 for withdrawals. Furthermore, if you are planning to HODL assets long-term, it is important to note that eToro charges an inactivity fee for accounts that have not been online for a year. You can simply log in each day to negate that.

    Overall, SwissBorg is the clear winner in terms of lower and transparent fees.

    Security

    As leading trading platforms, both SwissBorg and eToro have successfully ensured compliance with top regulatory authorities, placing the security of their platform and the safety of their clients’ funds as a top priority.

    Both exchanges adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, protecting traders from fraudulent and criminal activities. Much like all other major crypto exchanges, SwissBorg and eToro uses two-factor authentication (2FA), data encryption, network monitoring and other standard security protocols.

    Both companies also store account funds in cold storage so that they cannot be hacked online. However, their methodology of cold storage security is different but impenetrable nevertheless.

    eToro deploys a cold storage Custody as a Service (CaaS) solution in partnership with leading cybersecurity firm GK8. It is essentially the application of secure institutional model of custody and cryptographic security in crypto. The funds are also insured by Aon PLC against theft, loss, damage or destruction of assets.

    On the other hand, instead of custody mechanism, SwissBorg addresses and enhances cold wallet security by implementing multi-party computation (MPC) keyless technology. It does not require a private key to be created, eliminating a single point of failure. MPC works by multiple parties jointly performing mathematical computations, without one party revealing its information to the others. SwissBorg achieves this in collaboration with Fireblocks as their security partner. Fireblocks is renowned for being the most secure and adaptable platform that leverages MPC technology to secure digital assets.

    Crediting to their advanced security protocols and regulation compliances, there have been no known successful hacks on both SwissBorg and eToro to date.

    Key Takeaways

    Both SwissBorg and eToro are great crypto exchanges for investors to manage and expand their portfolio. While eToro’s CopyTrader feature is great for beginners to learn how expert traders maneuver the market, it is important to note that their quality is not assured. Crypto investments are always volatile, and no one can predict the market.

    Overall, SwissBorg is relatively better than eToro in terms of trading efficiency, fees, and product variety. SwissBorg’s Smart Engine allows users of all levels to trade without inflated exchange rates, spread and hidden fees. Their exchange fees are also much lower than eToro’s, and have no deposit fees. Moreover, the company also brings DeFi benefits to its users, letting them earn high APY rewards in a simple process.

    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.

  • CBDCs: Pros, Cons, and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

    CBDCs: Pros, Cons, and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

    CBDCs are government-backed assets that would offer users an official way to explore existing fiat currencies in a digital manner. Stablecoins have become very popular cryptocurrency options because they function with little to no volatility, providing access to decentralized currencies without the risk of depegging in value. These assets offer stability to crypto enthusiasts who are uninterested in other assets with sudden price swings. As the number of stablecoins increased over time, many countries began to notice and eventually began exploring government-backed stablecoin cryptocurrencies, called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about CBDCs, and their pros and cons. 

    This is a comprehensive review of CBDCs. If you want to know more about the history of CBDCs, we have also previously written about CBDCs here.

    What are Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)?

    A CBDC is a digital form of legal tender pegged to a country’s national currency. These digital currencies are under the control of central banks, which issue the assets, govern their supply, and create related policies. CBDCs have now gained a lot of traction in the financial space. Today, countries are either launching CBDCs or doing research and analysis into the economic and technical feasibility of establishing a national digital currency.

    How Do CBDCs Work?

    CBDCs address specific concerns around crypto volatility, government backing, and transparency through distributed ledger technology (DLT). In traditional finance, banks keep track of all user transactions in a ledger for account records and audits. With distributed ledger technology, there are several copies of CBDC transaction records stored and managed individually, although uniformly updated. It also allows for much easier tracking of spending compared to cash, which is data many governments would like to have.

    Separate financial entities (usually branches of a country’s central bank) manage these records in a distributed manner via DLT. This type of distributed ledger is known as a permissioned blockchain because the central banks have total control over access and distribution, usually only authorizing a few entities to perform specific administrative roles, including altering rights and accessing records. This is in direct contrast with permissionless networks, like most leading blockchains, which allow anybody to perform transactions without needing permission from a central authority. 

    Governments may choose CBDCs because they retain control over certain aspects, such as the total supply of digital currency. On the other hand, popular cryptocurrencies have a hard supply cap that may be impossible to alter. For instance, the Bitcoin network will create only 21 million coins. Once all 21 million Bitcoins are mined, there can be no more new Bitcoins. But CBDCs can be continuously created. Since central banks are responsible for maintaining financial stability, they may choose to reduce or add to the total supply in circulation whenever they consider it necessary.

    Types of CBDCs

    There are two categories of CBDCs, largely based on the intended uses:

    Retail CBDC

    Retail CBDCs are nation-backed digital currencies used by everyday consumers and businesses. People use retail CBDCs like they would use petty cash, without worrying about security or government regulations, even though the assets are under the government’s purview. Additionally, retail CBDCs promote financial inclusion, and also help to lower costs and environmental factors associated with printing cash.

    Wholesale CBDC 

    A central bank primarily creates wholesale CBDCs with financial institutions as their main target, as this type of CBDC facilitates easier and quicker payments between financial institutions. The process of settling transactions using wholesale CBDCs is also more efficient, as permissioned blockchains help institutions resolve risks associated with liquidity and third-party payment processors. Wholesale CBDCs also improve cross-border transaction efficiency.

    CBDCs Around the World

    Several countries have begun experimenting with blockchain CBDCs, while others have already launched their own iterations. So far, more than 100 countries have officially begun exploring CBDCs, with some in the research, development, or pilot stages. As of July 2022, 10 countries have officially launched CBDCs. Some of them include: 

    • China: Digital Yuan/ e-CNY (DCEP)
    • Sweden: e-krona
    • Bahamas: Sand Dollar
    • Nigeria: eNaira
    • Eastern Caribbean Area: DXCD
    • Marshall Islands: Sovereign (SOV)
    • Russia: Digital Ruble
    • Cambodia: Bakong

    To learn more about specific CBDCs, see our review of China’s Digital Yuan/ e-CNY (DCEP) here. 

    Which is the world’s first CBDC?

    The Bahamas ‘Sand Dollar’ is the world’s first CBDC to be released and available nationwide. The Sand Dollar was released on 20th October 2020 to all 393 residents of the Bahamas. Each Sand Dollar is pegged to the Bahamian dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar.

    Pros and Benefits of CBDCs

    CBDCs potentially offer the following benefits to a nation’s financial framework:

    Simplifying Monetary Policy Implementation

    One major challenge with traditional monetary policy implementation is that it depends on intermediaries within the financial system. As wholesale CBDCs streamline the flow of funds in financial institutions, retail CBDCs establish a direct connection between central banks and the citizens that use their currency. This connection to end users effectively improves the process of implementing policies, as the central bank has first-hand knowledge of users’ needs.

    Financial Inclusion 

    CBDCs make fund distribution much easier. They potentially provide more financial inclusion by making services available to people or regions with limited banking opportunities. With CBDCs, central banks can extend access to basic financial services without building an expensive banking infrastructure. 

    Efficient Cross-Border Transactions

    CBDCs enable faster and more secure fund remittance between countries. This significantly reduces the transaction fees required to send and receive funds to and from citizens in the diaspora, as well as allows the transactions to be completed in seconds or minutes instead of days or weeks.

    Further Deter Illegal Financial Activity 

    A distributed and transparent ledger makes it easier for central banks to keep track of transactions and prevent illegal activity. Moreover, where these illicit transactions occur, they are easier to trace, and could even be reversed or frozen.

    Growth of the Fintech Sector 

    CBDCs support the growth and development of the fintech industry. With the global adoption of CBDCs, the fintech space is gradually witnessing a new technological landscape that creates new jobs and opportunities.

    Cons and Drawbacks of CBDCs

    Like any innovation, CBDCs also have drawbacks users must consider. These disadvantages include:

    Traceability and Lack of Anonymity

    Since central banks manage CBDC transactions through a ledger, they have full control over transaction records. This method does not allow for user anonymity and is in direct contrast with the anonymous nature of most other cryptocurrencies and cash.

    Threat to Privacy

    Privacy is one of the key drivers behind cryptocurrency adoption. CBDCs may require that central authorities intrude on private users to monitor transactions and combat financial crimes like money laundering. No longer will there be private transactions, as everything is recorded on a ledger controlled by the country’s central banking entity.

    High Risk of Cyber Attack

    A central bank’s digital currency may attract malicious parties who want to swindle large amounts of money from one source. CBDCs must use top-of-the-line cybersecurity measures to prevent breaches effectively.

    Creating a social credit system?

    Maajid Nawaz, a social activist and co-founder of British think tank Qiulliam, has suggested that CBDCs can essentially create a social credit system. For example, people can be barred from spending their CBDCs on buses or trains, which will effectively limit their freedom to travel as they wish.

    Differences Between CBDCs and Cryptocurrencies

    Apart from centralization, here are some other ways in which CBDCs differ from cryptocurrencies: 

    • The use cases of CBDCs include payments and monetary transactions. On the other hand, crypto assets have selected applications, and not all institutions and companies accept cryptocurrencies as a payment option.
    • There is generally more value to safety with CBDCs. In a stable political and inflationary nation, CBDCs maintain their value over time since they are a fiat currency of the issuing country. For decentralized crypto assets, the cryptocurrency’s value depends on market speculation and user sentiments, which makes them much more volatile.
    • Central banks can maintain all aspects of CBDCs, including planning and deployment. On the other hand, cryptocurrencies have a decentralized decision-making process. 

    Conclusion 

    Considering the efforts and attention that central banks have dedicated to CBDCs, mainstream adoption of these assets is all but imminent. Global adoption of CBDCs will effectively boost the crypto industry’s growth as more people begin to carry out CBDC transactions and look for viable alternatives. CBDCs will also help central banks penetrate a country’s unbanked or underbanked population, which is fantastic for their underserved citizenry. 

    In the end, nations may enjoy better financial stability from CBDCs. With a centrally regulated, government-backed digital currency in circulation, central banks can enact monetary policies easily and with more transparency in distribution. CBDCs could eventually become the standard for local payments and also for cross-border transactions.