Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Altcoin Daily Predicts Ethereum and Five Crypto Assets Will Explode in 2021

Altcoin Daily host and Bitcoin bull Austin Arnold is pulling back the curtain on his top altcoin picks for 2021.　　Arnold tells Altcoin Dailys 332,000 subscribers that Ethereum is number six on his list. The crypto trader says that while the leading smart contract platform is often compared to Bitcoin (BTC), the two projects offer unique use cases.　　“Ethereum is trying to be something else. It doesn‘t have a fixed supply. It’s not the hardest form of money we have. But think of it as a global super computer where anybody anywhere can build on top of [it] without the permission of a middleman… While Bitcoin for the first time in human history gives you the option to be your own bank, Ethereum gives you the option for banking type services like credit and lending without the need for a middle man.”　　Coming in at number five is decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing protocol Aave.　　“Were already seeing massive utility on the protocol. Over $2 billion right now of people depositing their assets, peer-to-peer lending and borrowing without any centralized middleman… This could be huge for giving average people financial freedom.”　　Arnold also notes that Aave plans to expand in Asian markets as it

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Wrapped Bitcoin ‘Burns’ Outpaced Minting for the First Time in December

BitGo saw a record 11,613 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) swapped for real bitcoin(BTC) in December, with only 2,731 BTC exchanged for the bitcoin-backed ERC-20 tokens last month.　　December marked the first time in the young projects history that “burns,” the reversion of WBTC back to BTC, have outnumbered “mints.”　　The total value of the “burned” WBTC is approximately $235 million, based on bitcoins price at the time the tokens were swapped for BTC.　　Diminishing yields in decentralized finance (DeFi), a primary use case for WBTC, and increased trading activity on traditional cryptocurrency exchanges amid bitcoins recent eye-popping surge are likely reasons for the increase in burns and slowed rate of minting.　　Most of the burns came from trading firms Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital.　　BitGos Wrapped Bitcoin project gained wide popularity through Q3 and early Q4 2020 amid a DeFi frenzy that saw over 124,000 BTC tokenized on Ethereum at its peak after starting the year with less than 600 BTC.　　In mid August, demand for WBTC was so high that bitcoins were being tokenized faster than they were being mined.　　To date, roughly 110,000 WBTC are still circulating in the DeFi ecosystem.　　Wrapped Bitcoin mints and burns in December　　Source: Wrapped Bitcoin, CoinDesk Research

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Privacy coin narrative gains steam despite Bittrex delistings: XMR, ZEC, DASH gain 20%

Early this year, privacy-focused coins were seemingly dealt a death blow by Bittrex, a popular crypto-asset exchange.　　In an announcement, the exchange said that it would be delisting the trading pairs that pertain to three privacy-focused altcoins: Monero (XMR), ZCash (ZEC), and DASH (DASH).　　No point was mentioned for the proposed delistings, though many were quick to assume that it was due to the privacy benefits they enable. Jake Chvervinsky, a lawyer working for Compound Labs, wrote:　　“It‘s deeply disappointing to see exchanges remove assets just because they have privacy-preserving features. There’s no law or regulation requiring this, just DOJs opinion that privacy is ”indicative of possible criminal conduct.　　In the wake of the announcement, the three coins targeted by the exchange plunged by 15-25 percent, falling in spite of Bitcoin moving to new all-time highs.　　Many thought this trend would continue as other exchanges were expected to follow suit.　　But this didnt happen: in fact, on the day of the delistings were announced, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss doubled down on the commitment to supporting privacy coins.　　Today, these same coins that plunged earlier this year are starting to rally, outpacing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all other cryptocurrencies except for some DeFi plays.　　Privacy coins surge higher　　According to CryptoSlate

2021-01-11Deep Dive

European eToro Traders Call Foul Over Closure of Leveraged Crypto Contracts

Retail investors in the U.K. and U.S. are barred from buying into crypto derivatives, including financial contracts that allow margin trading where investors need only put up a small amount of the contracts notional payoff.　　Customers of eToro in European countries that allow such trading in contracts for differences (CFDs), were told via email on the evening of Friday, Jan. 8: “If you do not increase the margin to 100%, then the position will be closed at 21:00 GMT today.”　　By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.　　This came with an explainer, saying clients with available balance could keep the positions open by adding funds, while those that dont have available balance had the option to close other positions in order to free up funds.　　However, disgruntled traders have taken to Twitter stating that four hours later eToro closed all leveraged positions on cryptocurrencies, including those that users had attempted to keep open.　　“eToro violated the contracts it had agreed with its clients,” said Slavko Vesenjak, an attorney in Slovenia who represents several eToro clients from across Europe. “A four-hour notice before closing all leveraged crypto positions made people wake up

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software

Square Crypto‘s latest grant will fund a Bitcoin developer’s work on software that could improve how mining collectives pool hash power.　　Pseudonymous developer Fi3 (@piccioneLibero2 on Twitter, or “free pigeon”) will receive an undisclosed sum to work on an implementation of Stratum V2, the next iteration of a Bitcoin mining protocol software developed by Braiins.　　“Square Crypto is excited to support the development of a high quality open-source implementation of Stratum v2,” Square Crypto lead Steve Lee said to CoinDesk. “This software benefits miners by maximizing their revenue and providing more freedom and security.”　　Personal freedom to pursue Bitcoin development　　“I wanted to work on something related to Bitcoin,” Fi3 told CoinDesk. The Bitcoin developer has previous experience working with Bitcoins mining industry via a collaboration with Italian mining company Bitminer Factory. Fi3 is proficient in the Rust programming language, which will be used to code the upgrade, so once they saw the opportunity they “caught it.”　　“I also like the personal freedom that this kind of grant gives you,” Fi3 continued.　　Read more: Square Cryptos 20th Grant Will Support Bitcoin Design, User Experience　　The co-author of the proposal, Jan Kvapil, will begin work on the implementation in February, Fi3 said.　　Stratum V2: Giving Bitcoin mining a boost　　A

2021-01-09Deep Dive

The Smart Way to Talk About DeFi’s $22B

Decentralized finance (DeFi), the sector of crypto that drove all the excitement this summer, isnt quite back to its old energy, but the lull is over.　　“Raw DeFi numbers are at all-time highs, and they‘re not fake,” Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried told CoinDesk in an email. “But in relative terms to the rest of crypto, they’re down from their peak but up from their nadir.”　　From a casual glance, it can look like DeFi is stronger than it‘s ever been. Judged by the sector’s favorite metric, total value locked (TVL), the sector has been adding about a billion dollars worth of additional value per day since the new year started – from $15.67 billion to $22.35 billion as of this writing; however, a lot of that growth has been driven by the simple fact of asset prices going up across the board.　　By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.　　“TVL isnt the best indicator when ETH and all other crypto is green for weeks,” Jesse Walden, founder of the venture firm Variant, told CoinDesk in an email.　　ETH, the asset that powers DeFi, traded at $737 on Jan. 1, rising

2021-01-09Deep Dive

Ethereum 2.0 Explained in 4 Easy Metrics

With the launch of every new blockchain comes a new block explorer website to understand.　　Block explorer sites offer real-time updates on network activity. Normally, they feature information on blocks, transactions and fees. On Ethereum 2.0, the block explorers depict a very different array of metrics involving epochs, slots and attestations.　　But even for those familiar with the usual Ethereum explorers such as Etherscan, Etherchain and Blockchair, the new sites for tracking Eth 2.0 activity may be difficult to decipher. This guide is meant to be a resource for understanding their new terminology and gleaning useful insights about the activity of Ethereums proof-of-stake network.　　By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.　　For anyone unfamiliar with blockchain explorers in general, this guide will go over the basic details of reading an Ethereum 2.0 blockchain explorer. These explorers don‘t require a keen familiarity to other blockchain explorers but do host similarities with others that will help expand one’s knowledge of reading blockchain data.　　See also: Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain Goes Live　　Well go over four basic metrics tracked by two different block explorer sites, BeaconScan and beaconcha.in. These metrics are by no means an

2021-01-09Deep Dive

Cardano Project Catalyst fund3 launches with $500k

Project Catalyst, the first stage of Voltaire roadmap has been kicked-off as IOHK announced the launch of a $500,000 fund for the next step. According to the announcement by IOHK, the fund is a part of the launch of the Voltaire era and will be destined to promote groundbreaking ideas that boost the development of the Cardano ecosystem.　　Project Catalyst is the last era in the project‘s roadmap and will allow the project to be more independent and move from IOHK’s management. This will be done by creating a voting and treasury system. By making the project more self-reliant, the user will be in charge of governing the Cardano ecosystem, which will be an important step for the projects long-term future.　　IOHK had earlier launched test funds namely, fund0 and fund1, before fund2 in September 2020. Fund2 allocated nearly $250,000 worth of ADA to allow users to submit proposals for the improvements in the Cardano ecosystem and also to bring the project to West Africa. Now in the next stage, Fund3 will allow community members to submit proposals for the future of Cardano and decide upon developments which will be funded by the Catalysts “on-chain” voting process.　　According to the release, Fund3 faces

2021-01-09Deep Dive

Bitcoin’s wild rally — and a fear of missing out — has retail investors flocking to crypto

Bitcoins record-breaking rally has led to a surge in retail investment interest in the cryptocurrency market.　　Crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance and online trading platforms including Revolut and eToro have seen a spike in activity recently, as new investors race to capture some of the wild gains in the market.　　“There is certainly market data pointing to increased retail participation,” said Michael Bucella, partner at crypto investment firm BlockTower Capital.　　“This is reflected in the recent surge in ‘altcoins’” — other digital tokens that came after bitcoin — “and the increase in volumes on the retail platforms, as well as the crypto-native exchanges that have historically been more retail-focused,” Bucella added.　　Bitcoin bulls claim the cryptocurrencys latest rally is different to a late-2017 bubble that saw its price soar close to $20,000 before collapsing as low as $3,122 the following year. The main difference, they say, is that institutional investors are driving the price gains this time round.　　A number of famed investors including Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller came out as believers in the cryptocurrency last year, while U.K. asset management firm Ruffer added £550 million ($747 million) of bitcoin to its portfolio.　　There remain skeptics, however, such as American stock broker

2021-01-09Deep Dive

Morgan Stanley now holds 10% stake in Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy

Per a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission released on Jan. 8, investment bank Morgan Stanley had acquired 792,627 shares in business intelligence firm MicroStrategy. The investment represents a 10.9% stake in a firm that has made massive investments in Bitcoin over the past several months.　　The purchase apparently happened on Dec. 31. MicroStrategy has had a colossal month, seeing its shares move from $289 on Dec. 8 to $545 as of Jan. 8.　　Source: NASDAQ　　In August, MicroStrategy took bold steps into crypto, making Bitcoin its primary reserve asset. At the time, CEO Michael Saylor said of the firms choice:　　“This is not a speculation, nor a hedge. It is a deliberate corporate strategy to adopt the Bitcoin Standard.”　　Just weeks ago, MicroStrategy announced a $400 million securities offering with the stated purpose of raising funds to buy more Bitcoin. As of Dec. 21, the firm had stockpiled 70,470 Bitcoin.　　At prices as of publication time, MicroStrategys BTC stockpile was worth over $2.8 billion.　　Institutional investors like Morgan Stanley have warmed up to crypto assets considerably over the past year. Many have attributed Bitcoins recent bull market to this institutional uptick, as compared to the retail FOMO that was so critical to BTCs 2017 highs,

2021-01-09Deep Dive

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