23 Dec
14:48

December 2020 – Weekly Recap 3

Weekly Recap December 7th, 2020 – December 14th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for December. Overview  Crypto News   [1] Bitcoin Fund Starts Trading on Canada’s Largest Stock Exchange According to its Dec. 16 press release, CI Global Asset Management has wrapped up the initial public offering (IPO) of its CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund. [2] The CME Group to Launch Ether Futures in Early 2021 The CME Group, a global markets company, and the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, has announced that it will be launching Ether futures contracts for institutional traders. [3] Germany Legalizes Blockchain-Based Securities Germany has passed a law that allows electronic securities to be recorded on a blockchain, according to reports from Reuters. [4] Crypto exchange Kraken to integrate Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Popular bitcoin exchange company Kraken, today announced new investments and forthcoming features designed to bring the benefits of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to its global exchange. [5] Coinbase Files with SEC to Go Public Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has confidentially filed a registration statement with theContinue reading »

21 Dec
12:33

Solana

Solana Solana is a layer-1 blockchain that is self-operational and does not delegate operations to any other attached chain, with a slight unique application of Proof-of-Stake; the addition of a component called Proof-of-History (PoH) within its consensus. Note that it is not a Delegated Proof-of-Stake, as that was a common mistake. In contrast to the traditional usage of PoS protocols, the platform uses its consensus mechanism to timestamp transactions to maximize efficiency. This optimization can process up to 50-60,000 transactions per second, or TPS, with a theoretical limit of over 70,000 TPS. Transactions are timestamped when they are added to a block, currently implemented at an interval of  800ms, using a decentralized clock based on the SHA256 hash function used in BTC’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Solana operates using a combination of leaders, validators, archivers, and etc. Leaders are responsible for producing new blocks and rotate every 4 blocks (1.6 seconds). Leaders produce blocks during their allotted slot, and timestamps received transactional entries. This allows transactions within a block toContinue reading »

16 Dec
11:58

December 2020 – Weekly Recap 2

Weekly Recap December 7th, 2020 – December 14th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for December. Overview  Crypto News   [1] G7 Finance Chiefs Support Calls for Crypto Regulations Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G7 nations are reportedly unanimous in their call for robust crypto regulations. [2] Fidelity to Offer Bitcoin-Collateralized Loans Fidelity Digital Assets, the cryptocurrency arm of the Boston-based mutual fund empire, is set to offer Bitcoin-collateralized dollar loans, according to a Dec. 9 report published by Bloomberg. [3] Singapore’s DBS Bank announces plans to launch BTC, XRP, ETH-offering exchange In what is yet another victory for the still-nascent crypto-market, DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, has announced that it will launch a cryptocurrency exchange. The planned digital currency exchange will offer Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). [4] Grayscale Reportedly Stockpiles Another 1.3K BTC & 100K ETH in 24 Hrs Grayscale Investment Trusts added another $240 million or more worth of crypto this week. Up to 100,000 ETH were also purchased by the company, whichContinue reading »

8 Dec
00:24

December 2020 – Weekly Recap 1

Weekly Recap December 1st, 2020 – December 7th, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for December. Overview  Crypto News   [1] Visa Comes Full Circle With USDC Stablecoin Integration While volatility in crypto has kept some payment companies at bay, Visa has plunged in to connect Visa’s payment system with USD Coin (USDC). USDC was developed by Circle, a company that specializes in digital payments. [2] 224-Year Old German Bank to Float Crypto Fund in 2021 According to Fundview, Hauck & Aufhäuser will roll out a crypto fund via its Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital (HAIC) GmbH subsidiary in Jan. 2021. Dubbed HAIC Digital Asset Fund I, the product will focus on Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Stellar (XLM). [3] Crypto Indexes Set for 2021 Launch: S&P Dow Jones Indices S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Thursday that it will be launching its own cryptocurrency indexes. The new products will reportedly go live in 2021. [4] Grayscale Absorbs $137 Million More in Bitcoin in Last 24 Hours, $12.6 BillionContinue reading »

6 Dec
18:29

DeFi – Radix (eXRD)

Radix Radix is a layer-1 protocol dedicated towards supporting the DeFi ecosystem by building interoperable DeFi dApps and improving scalability, security, and decentralization. It had a successful token sale, and raised over $12.5mil USD. The consensus layer of Radix features a cutting-edge, academically reviewed consensus algorithm: Cerberus, which will support the platform with multiple features. Along with a public network with linear scalability that could scale to thousands of nodes and billions of users, Cerberus also enables cross-shard atomic composability to allow DeFi applications on different shards to cooperate without stalling other applications or transactions. The algorithm is designed to deliver true transactional finality in real-time without any rollbacks. Radix Engine v2, at the application layer of the platform, will utilize DeFi programming tools to assist developers in compiling complex financial applications with higher security using the on-ledger DeFi component library, enabling quicker market-ready builds and lower on-ledger runtime costs. Contributors to the library will be provided with an on-ledger revenue by the Radix Dev Royalties as an incentivization. ThereContinue reading »

30 Nov
17:54

November 2020 – Weekly Recap 4

Weekly Recap November 23rd, 2020 – November 30th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for November. Overview  Crypto News   [1] Bitcoin hits the home page of The Wall Street Journal After rallying 80% in two months, Bitcoin (BTC) is recapturing media interest from the top end of town, with The Wall Street Journal discussing the cryptocurrency’s adoption among institutional investors on the site’s home page on Nov. 23. [2] Japanese Financial Giant SBI Group Debuts Lending Product for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP Japanese financial giant SBI Group has announced a cryptocurrency lending service in its Sept. 24 press release. It will be offered through the company’s cryptocurrency-oriented arm SBI VC Trade. [3] Binance Confirms Support for XRP’s Flare Networks Snapshot and Airdrop Binance has announced that it will support XRP’s Flare Networks snapshot and airdrop of Spark tokens and is the latest major exchange to support the event. [4] IOTA Partners With Pantos for European Blockchain R&D Lab IOTA in collaboration with Pantos is looking to promote blockchain and DLT interoperabilityContinue reading »

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 »