23 Nov
17:07

November 2020 – Weekly Recap 3

Weekly Recap November 16th, 2020 – November 23th, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for November. Overview  Crypto News   [7] The Dollar Loses 10% Against Chinese Yuan The dollar has lost significant value against the Chinese Yuan (CNY) since May of this year. It has dropped from $1 buying you 7.2 CNY to now just 6.5 CNY, its lowest level in two years. [6] XRP Utility Fork Incoming Crypto investors who register their XRP in an eligible account will receive free Spark tokens in a 1:1 ratio when the Ripple-backed blockchain company holds its “snapshot day” on December 12th. Recipients will retain ownership of their XRP holdings while receiving the new tokens. [5] Bitcoin shortage is real, and PayPal is the cause, Pantera Capital claims In a newly published report, crypto investment firm Pantera Capital says a Bitcoin shortage is at the heart of the recent price surge and that the majority of newly minted BTC is being scooped up by PayPal. [4] New Ethereum 2.0 Testnet SuccessfullyContinue reading »

20 Nov
00:43

Elrond

Elrond   Elrond is a blockchain with unique architecture, employing a Secure Proof of Stake (SPoS) consensus for security and an Adaptive State Sharding scheme for high scalability. By offering an EVM compliant engine for smart contracts, the platform looks to ensure native interoperability to languages such as Rust, C/C++, C#, and Typescript. The team consist of individuals with backgrounds associated to Google, Microsoft and Intel and those were part of the NEM blockchain platform. The project raised $3.2 million by selling 25% of the token supply in an exchange offering on Binance Launchpad in 2019. As the blockchain transitioned to it’s mainnet during July 2020, the total token supply was reduced from 20 billion to 20 million. Secure Proof of stake is a method of consensus that combines eligibility through stake and rating with random validator selection, along with an optimal dimension for the consensus group. The BFT-like consensus protocol provides security through the randomization of nodes. Each node in the shard may determine the members of the consensusContinue reading »

17 Nov
01:09

November 2020 – Weekly Recap 2

Weekly Recap November 6th, 2020 – November 13th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for November. Overview  Crypto News [1] JPMorgan says institutional investors appear to prefer bitcoin over gold In a research note published Friday, JPMorgan analysts said Grayscale’s bitcoin trust saw cumulative inflows through October, whereas gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw “modest outflows” since mid-October. “This contrast lends support to the idea that some investors that previously invested in gold ETFs such as family offices, may be looking at bitcoin as an alternative to gold,” said the analysts. [2] Biden Confirms Crypto-Savvy Gary Gensler Will Lead Financial Policy Transition Team A former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Gensler was tapped to lead the agency review team for the Federal Reserve, banking and securities regulators, the Biden campaign formally announced Tuesday, following reports last week he was a contender. [3] PayPal’s crypto trading goes live in the US Per its updated announcement, PayPal ended its waitlist for customers looking to use cryptocurrency in the U.S.Continue reading »

13 Nov
11:58

Web3 – Polkadot / Kusama

Polkadot / Kusama   Polkadot Polkadot is a blockchain platform that was founded in 2017 by Dr. Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum. It is an open-sourced project with over 100 participating developers across multiple teams, assisted by institutions such as Inria Paris and ETH Zurich. The platform was the result of Dr. Wood’s desire to support and advance the “Web 3.0” vision of a decentralized web. Along with the Web3 Foundation, the Polkadot whitepaper was published to address the lack of critical technology and the solution, interoperability. Para-chain and Relay Chain connections. This is achieved through the concept of para-chains, in which multiple chains can communicate with a core main chain known as the relay-chain. Any blockchain platform that is compliant with the Polkadot Relay Chain API can be a para-chain. Others that aren’t natively compatible can be connected through “bridges”. Platforms can utilize the para-chain mechanic to run their own transactions and communicate with other chains through Polkadot. There is a support limit of 100 para-chain, and the slotsContinue reading »

6 Nov
20:07

November 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap November 1st, 2020 – November 6th, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for November. Overview  Crypto News [1] Ethereum Blockchain Chosen by Reserve Bank of Australia for Issuing CBDC The RBA has partnered with Australia’s two largest banks and leading Ethereum software company ConsenSys that is spearheaded by Joseph Lubin, one of the cryptocurrency’s co-founders. The findings of the project are expected to be presented in early 2021. [2] Half a Billion Withdrawn From Huobi as China Intensifies War on Bitcoin Rumors are spreading the Chinese authorities have put under investigation Zhu Jiawei, the COO of Huobi, a Chinese run exchange with a flourishing Over the Counter (OTC) market that serves China. [3] PayPal Raises Crypto Limits to $15,000 Following Unprecedented Demand In Monday’s quarterly earnings call, PayPal executives confirmed that they’d seen so much interest in the feature that they would raise buying limits from $10,000 to $15,000. [4] Ethereum 2.0 begins launch process as deposit contract goes live Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 has now beenContinue reading »

5 Nov
00:20

DEX – Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol V3 Introduction Ocean Protocol is a DEX platform whose goal is to empower data-ownership and decentralizing servers. It is a culmination of blockchain, data sharing framework, and ecosystem related services. Providers and consumers can utilize the platform to share, stake and trade data access whilst retaining transparency, traceability, and security for all stakeholders involved using datatokens. A datatokens is an interoperable ERC20 that represents both the value and the access permission of a registered dataset which could be a copyrighted IP or encrypted data on a storage device. A user must send 1.0 datatoken to the data provider to acquire the license to use that dataset. Datatokens can also be used as the interface that connects data assets with blockchain and DeFi tools via DeFi composability within Ocean. Each data service in Ocean Protocol will also be assigned its own data token and can be leveraged as their equivalent. For example, crypto wallets can become data wallets, crypto exchanges to data marketplaces, or DAOs as data co-ops. ThisContinue reading »

30 Oct
23:30

October, 2020 – Monthly Recap

Monthly Recap October, 2020 Welcome to our monthly recap for October. Overview  Crypto News [1] Bitcoin Plummets as CFTC and FBI File Charges Against BitMEX The American FBI and CFTC are going after the largest Bitcoin derivatives exchange BitMEX for operating an “illegal” exchange. CFTC and the U.S. Attorney for the District of New York have charged BitMEX for operating an unregulated exchange and non-compliance with KYC and AML guidelines. [2] Coinbase now offers ‘instant’ withdrawals via Visa and Mastercard Crypto exchange Coinbase is now offering “instant” withdrawals in nearly 40 countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. The new feature is being facilitated via Visa and Mastercard. [3] UK regulator bans sale of crypto derivatives to retail users The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today officially banned the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail users, more than a year after first proposing such a ban. The ban will come into effect on January 6, 2021. [4] Google Cloud Joins EOS Community to Become Block Producer:Continue reading »

28 Oct
13:15

DeFi – Synthetix SNX [Update]

Synthetix Introduction Synthetix, was formerly known as Havven, and was rebranded during November 2018 to better represent its growth. The project which has initially started as a payment network had grown to become an asset issuance Defi protocol with an active community governance system and is recognized as the leading derivative Defi with ~$563m TVL.   Source: https://defipulse.com/ Within the platform, assets locked in a contract are collateralized using the Synthetix Network Token, SNX, to generate various synthetic assets such as sUSD, sAUD, sKRW, called Synths. Users will be able to convert between Synths directly with the smart contract, improving the liquidity of DEXes. Holders of SNX stakes are paid a pro-rata portion of the fees generated by Synthetix’s Exchange as an incentive for their contribution. Additionally, token holders can participate in governing multiple variables of the ecosystem as a whole; at one point even uniting and voted on an improvement proposal even without the support of the Synthetix team after a community debate in the Synthetix Discord. Source: ChangeContinue reading »

23 Sep
16:03

September 20th, 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap September 13th- September 20th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Macroeconomic Trends Boost Bitcoin and Gold, US Dollar Index Shows Bearish Double-Top As members of the U.S. Federal Reserve plan to convene this week, both gold and bitcoin (BTC) markets have started to climb in value ahead of the meeting. Bitcoin prices rose over 4% during the afternoon’s trading sessions and gold jumped 0.76% as well. The price of one ounce of fine gold is $1,956.24 at the time of publication. Meanwhile, after a brief upswing in value, the U.S. dollar has started to show signs of weakness again after losing massive amounts of value this year. US Consumers Flock To the First Mastercard Branded BitPay Card BitPay, the Atlanta-based cryptocurrency services provider, has recently released blockchain payment statistics that show how the market performed in 2020. Among other interesting points, the data signals strong support from U.S. consumers for the company that announced its first Mastercard branded card just a fewContinue reading »

17 Sep
12:46

September 13th, 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap September 6th- September 13th, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Now Accepted for 15,000 Restaurants in France on Just Eat Online food ordering platform Just Eat has begun accepting cryptocurrencies for over 15,000 restaurants in France. The Just Eat group operates in 13 countries. Its website for France has recently undergone a significant makeover following the acquisition of Just Eat Plc by Takeaway.com. The latter has been accepting bitcoin for quite some time. Mastercard Launches Digital Currency Testing Platform for Central Banks Global payments company Mastercard announced Wednesday the launch of its “proprietary virtual testing environment” for central banks to evaluate use cases of their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). European Union Seeks Strict Regulation of Crypto and Stablecoins in New Draft Law According to the report, the regulation will seek to tackle bitcoin’s high volatility as well as “risks posed by systemic ones, like libra” by creating a “new college of supervisors” involving existing national and continental regulatory agencies –Continue reading »