Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Cryptos Rally off Equity Markets and Institutional Interest

The Crypto market rose on Monday as new macro factors and institutional interest weighed in.　　CRYPTOS RECOVER FROM SELLOFF　　Following last weeks sell-off, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market rallied alongside the US equity markets. Bitcoin (BTC) retraced back up to $49,000, with Ethereum (ETH) recovering to $1,500. The biggest crypto names all recovered to varying degrees, except for Cardano (ADA) which saw a small dip to $1.24 earlier today. In the equity markets, the Dow soared 603 points and NASDAQ 496 points respectively, as treasury yields cooled and the Congress revealed that the stimulus package was well on its way.　　The stimulus package may also turn out to be a significant boon to the Bitcoin rally. The $1,400 direct payments to all eligible Americans will likely find its way to the crypto markets. Historically speaking, this has been the case. When the past two stimulus checks were passed by regulators, exchanges surged in usage.　　In 2020, CoinTelegraph reported that deposits equal to stimulus check payouts appeared across crypto exchanges. An analyst team from Bank of America stated in late January that a dramatic increase in retail activity was imminent with another round of stimulus checks.　　With a renewed public interest in Bitcoin and altcoins,

2021-03-03Deep Dive

ETHEREUM DEFI TRENDS SET TO DOMINATE 2021

2020 was the year of DeFi, not just in terms of the explosive price increases – but the technological advances and support from public figures.　　From the growth of UniSwap, Chainlink, AAVE, and BNB into the top 20 tokens by market cap to tech billionaire Mark Cuban revealing his positions in the aforementioned tokens, one must wonder what comes next.　　IMPROVED SECURITY AND AUDITING OF CONTRACTS　　Exploits performed by hackers on vulnerable DeFi smart contracts resulted in the loss of tens of millions of funds throughout 2020 and early 2021.　　Flash loan attacks, where hackers can borrow large uncollateralized quantities of ETH and extract funds from exchange through complex arbitrage opportunities between stablecoins or manipulation of price oracles (the price providing part of a smart contract that interacts with market data outside the chain).　　Auditing smart contracts before they go live as part of yield farming or lending strategies by third-party firms such as Nexus Mutual is necessary – and becoming the accepted norm for DeFi platforms. Users becoming acquainted with the basics of DeFi development processes and community-led initiatives to ensure complete auditing of contracts are also vital to its long-term resiliency.　　ETH 2.0　　DeFi has grown from the Ethereum ecosystem but has reached a point

2021-03-03Deep Dive

The 5 Most Highly Anticipated Blockchain Mainnets in 2021

In years to come, the early days of 2021 will be remembered for the success of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and for the institutional FOMO that propelled their native assets to fresh all-time highs. Less than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic first made headlines, the market is breaking new ground as billionaires expand their balance sheets and bet big on crypto. But what does the rest of 2021 have in store？ While Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to strengthen their position, a number of rival layer-one blockchains are readying for lift-off…　　1) RADIX　　The first layer-1 protocol built specifically to serve the booming decentralized finance (defi) sector, Radix is a high-performance platform that demonstrated 1.4 million transactions per second (TPS) with its 2018 algorithm, while their current algorithm is theoretically definitely scalable. By this metric, the defi protocol leaves Ethereum, Bitcoin and pretty much every other network in the dust – but what else has it got going on under the hood？　　Like Gavin Woods interoperable Polkadot protocol, Radix utilizes sharding. Rather than a static set of shards, however, it supports a virtually unlimited number in order to achieve the parallelism required for a global-scale defi platform. Radix is built around its own consensus

2021-03-03Deep Dive

Canada’s CoinSmart Crypto Exchange Raises $3.5M for European Expansion

The exchanges owner is also planning a reverse takeover with the aim of listing on TSX Ventures.　　Canada-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinSmart has announced the closing of a CAD$4.5 million (roughly US$3.5 million) seed funding round.　　CoinSmart, owned by Simply Digital Technologies, told CoinDesk in a statement Monday the investment was raised earlier this year through the issuance of interest-bearing convertible debentures, a type of debt instrument. Investors in the round were not disclosed.　　The funding will be used to expand CoinSmarts platform into European markets and support operational changes. It will also help Simply Digital Technologies prepare for a planned reverse takeover ahead of a hoped-for public listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, said the firm.　　Enabling its European expansion, CoinSmart said it has obtained a Financial Intelligence Unit license issued in Estonia.　　“CoinSmart‘s fundamental mission is to make cryptocurrency accessible for people of all experience levels,” said CoinSmart CEO Justin Hartzman. “We’re excited about the ways in which crypto can help streamline payments within Europes financial system and subsequently better serve and protect our customers.”

2021-03-02Deep Dive

Cboe Applies to List First Bitcoin ETF in US

In brief　　US firms are still trying to get a Bitcoin EF through regulators.　　An ETF has several qualities attractive to investors.　　In the closing days of 2020, investment firm VanEck filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to form the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF).　　Equities market operator Cboe BZX Exchange has now filed a proposal with the SEC to list and trade shares in that trust. The filing, it says “builds on VanEcks earlier S-1 filing” and “represents the next steps in bringing what could be the first U.S. bitcoin ETF to market.”　　The proposed rule change would “list and trade shares of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust...under BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4), Commodity-Based Trust Shares.” According to the rule, shares would be redeemable for Bitcoin.　　Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, first proposed a Bitcoin ETF in June 2016. The SEC rejected the proposal. Since, several firms, including VanEck and Cboe, have filed proposals with the regulatory agency, only to see them rejected or withdrawn.　　An ETF is an investment fund that trades like a stock, meaning people can buy or sell it as long as the market is open. Mutual funds and other investment products act

2021-03-02Deep Dive

Visa: 25% of Latin Americans Want to Pay With Cryptocurrencies

In brief　　Many Latin American users expect to use cryptocurrency for payments.　　Cryptocurrency is increasingly popular in South American countries.　　Latin Americans want cryptocurrencies, and not just as hedges for inflation or savings. They want to be able to spend them, too.　　A recent Visa survey shared with Brazilian media revealed that 25% of all credit card users in Latin America would like to experiment with cryptocurrencies if payment processors gave them the opportunity to do so.　　The third Visa COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment survey sought to assess consumer trends during the lockdown. The survey data revealed that 78% of consumers expect to use new payment technologies in the future—including cryptocurrencies.　　The majority of users (58%) expect to make payments through social networks (like WhatsApp Pay or WeChat Pay). Many (42%) also expect biometric payments—transactions authenticated via fingerprints, retinas, or facial recognition.　　Cryptocurrencies ranked third in order of importance, with 25% of users eager to use the technology. Digital assets beat other technologies, such as the Internet of Things with 22% and virtual/augmented reality with 10%.　　Latin America is already a global leader in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. A recent study by Chainalysis revealed that Venezuela and Colombia were at the top of the world ranking in this area.

2021-03-02Deep Dive

PhoenixDAO: Empowering DApps Through Community Governance

PhoenixDAO aims to power the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps). dApps run on a blockchain network in a public and open-source environment which is free from solitary control and interference.　　Hence, PhoenixDAO has a self-sustaining governance ecosystem. In particular, its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) integrates digital identities and blockchain-based authentication to deliver a suitable solution ideal for an ever-evolving society.　　In a nutshell, PhoenixDAO can offer an open and distributed community governance to all PHNX token holders. These tokens can be bought on Uniswap, Bittrex, STEX, CoinEx, PROBIT, and Numio. In line with this, the project provides a platform where dApps development and distribution can be done seamlessly and securely.　　 Creation of the DAO　　First and foremost, the Phoenix DAO is built from scratch through smart contracts recorded on the blockchain. Here, the whole network is programmed to empower dApps through a decentralized community of PHNX stakeholders.　　Moreover, DAO rewards allocation is based on submitted proposals. Before receiving these, you have to participate in the governance process.　　In detail, to make a proposal, a DAO member should hold 10,000 PHNX. This will help reduce spamming of proposals by malicious community members. Yet, this amount is flexible as community voting has the power to change

2021-03-02Deep Dive

The Elon Effect – Companies Now Racing for a Piece of the Bitcoin Pie

Since its creation in 2009, Bitcoin has taken the investing community on a wild ride. Weve experienced both the euphoria of bull runs and the despair of bear markets. Although it has certainly been a wild ride to get where we are now, it finally feels like Bitcoin is getting the attention and recognition it deserves.　　At times, there is criticism of Bitcoin for being too volatile, which often results in inexperienced investors losing money as they buy the top of a cycle and then capitulate after not being able to withstand a market correction. Volatility is also one of the major reasons why the SEC has yet to approve a Bitcoin ETF. However, it‘s important to remember that we are still in the very early days of this new asset class. A great way to analyze Bitcoin’s growth trajectory is by trying to figure out where it might fit within the technology adoption life cycle.　　The technology adoption life cycle is a sociological model that describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation. Visually, you can think of the cycle as a normal distribution that begins with innovators, followed by early adopters, then the early majority, before finally

2021-03-02Deep Dive

A Beginner’s Guide to Bitcoin

Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has seen both tremendous growth and periods of disillusionment. From a valuation of $0.08 per coin in 2010, Bitcoin is now a successful institutional investment asset held by Tesla, Square, and Microstrategy, as well as a global currency accepted by fintech giants such as PayPal and Mastercard. 2020 was an important year for Bitcoin, as it reached more mass adoption and broke its all time highs set in 2017 prior to a historic crash that wiped out nearly 80% of its value.　　Image Credit: Grayscale Bitcoin 2020 Year in Review　　Critics of Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) point to its volatile prices to label it as a speculative asset at best, and a conduit for criminal activity (e.g. money laundering) at its worst. On the other hand, Bitcoin investors cite Bitcoins impressive performance and resilience during the pandemic along with growing adoption figures to frame Bitcoin as digital gold and an inevitable change in how we view money.　　Regardless of your views on Bitcoin, there is no denying the heightened interest and the shift in narrative amid the unprecedented era of global fiscal policies and the acceleration of digital transformation forced by the pandemic worldwide. Bitcoin still has

2021-03-02Deep Dive

DOGE is now supported at 1,800 ATMs in 45 US states

Famous meme crypto Dogecoin (DOGE) can now be accessed through 1,800 ATMs across the United States.　　Leading Bitcoin ATM provider Coinflip announced the support for Dogecoin on Mar. 1, with the company‘s CEO and co-founder, Daniel Polotsky, attributing the move to DOGE’s recent “popularity and recent mass adoption.”　　On Feb. 4th, the cryptocurrencys price rose 25% within minutes after Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted a rocket going to the moon and adding “Doge” in the comments.　　Two days later, the world‘s second-richest man continued his Doge shill, posting a survey that asked if Dogecoin will be the earth’s future currency — to which 71.3% of the 2.4 million respondents said yes.　　NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban joined the conversation on Feb. 8, telling Forbes that the attention the meme coin is receiving is “not a bad look” for the industry.　　“[DOGE] gives you a better chance of winning than a lottery ticket all while teaching the economics of supply and demand and introducing people to crypto asserts,” said Cuban. “I truly love it as the lowest cost economics teaching tool available that entertains at the same time.”　　Within the first two weeks of February, the cryptocurrencys price rose almost 200% from $0.03 to

2021-03-02Deep Dive

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