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 »

14 Sep
14:05

September 6th, 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap August 30th- September 6th, 2020 Welcome to our 1st weekly recap for September. Overview  Crypto News Venezuela’s Bitcoin Use Soars Amid Hyperinflation: 3rd on Global Crypto Adoption Index “Venezuela is suffering through one of the worst economic crises in modern history, with its national currency, the bolivar, becoming practically worthless,” the firm wrote. “Under these circumstances, cryptocurrency has taken on an important role in Venezuela’s economy … As the Venezuelan bolivar has lost value in the midst of hyperinflation, Venezuela has become one of the most active cryptocurrency trading countries on earth.” Leading Stock Exchanges in Switzerland, Germany, Austria Now List Bitcoin ETP Zug-based 21Shares announced Tuesday that its bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) has been admitted to Wiener Börse, the Vienna Stock Exchange. Major Swiss Insurer Adds Bitcoin and Ether Payments Atupri, a Swiss health insurance provider, said Monday that its 200,000 customers will now be able to make payments using bitcoin and ethereum. The 110-year old firm claims it is the “first” insurer in Switzerland to acceptContinue reading »

30 Aug
21:46

August 30 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap August 23rd- August 30th, 2020 Welcome to our 4th weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News IMF calls crypto “special currency” and educates the public The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently published a video explaining what cryptocurrency is. Besides suggesting that cryptocurrency could “completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest, and pay our bills,” IMF went on by saying that it “could be the next step in the evolution of money.” Korean Police Seize Crypto Exchange Coinbit Over Allegations of $84 Million in Wash Trades Police in South Korea on Wednesday raided and seized the offices of Coinbit, the country’s third-largest crypto exchange, over allegations it faked 99% of its trading volume. New SEC Filing Shows Fidelity Preparing to Launch Bitcoin Fund The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a new filing for a bitcoin fund, submitted by Fidelity Investments’ head of strategy and planning. Visa Exec Says ‘Opt Out With Bitcoin’ Slamming Fed’s Policy Change Toward Inflation On Thursday, 17 top FederalContinue reading »

24 Aug
13:41

August 23 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap August 16th- August 23rd, 2020 Welcome to our 3rd weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News Bitcoin’s Hashrate Hits Record High 130 EH/s, as BTC Price Faces Resistance at $12,000 Bitcoin’s seven-day average hash rate has reached a new all-time high of 130 exahash per second (EH/s) – a feat that might positively influence the asset’s price, while adding to the fundamental strength of the Bitcoin network.   Excessive Flooding in Sichuan Causes 20% Hashrate Losses for Chinese Bitcoin Miners Torrential downpours of nonstop rain have been wreaking havoc in China’s Sichuan province, which has caused some operations to shut down ASIC mining devices. Reports from the region show that certain areas have seen electrical shortages and the aftermath is causing quite a bit of stress for Chinese bitcoin miners.   Report: Bitcoin Untied from the Economic Cycle, ‘Largely Uncorrelated to Other Asset Classes’ On Tuesday, Coinshares Investment strategist James Butterfill published a report which shows that bitcoin is a unique asset, but is “largely uncorrelated to otherContinue reading »

20 Aug
11:59

DeFi – FTX Exchange

FTX Exchange Introduction FTX is a crypto derivative exchange offering scalable futures, leveraged tokens and OTC trading for the DeFi market. The Hong Kong-based exchange was only launched in May 2019, but has grown to be one of the top five exchanges in traded volume and is quickly outpacing most competitors. This growth could be attributed to the solid reputation the company has established for itself, even before its adoption of DeFi projects. As interests and competition in DeFi grew, FTX stood out from the competition due to their adaptability and innovation. Alameda Research, the exchange’s primary market maker, is also a investor in the DeFi project, mStable, a stable assets swapping protocol. The company is also an active participant in the Defi ecosystem. Alameda has proposed and voted on several Compound governance proposals, in addition to playing a crucial role in enhancing the Balancer‘s protocol distribution mechanics. FTX operates by tokenizing leveraged futures positions using a generated ERC20 token as representation, which can then be traded as a spotContinue reading »

16 Aug
19:59

August 16 2020 – Weekly Recap

Weekly Recap August 10th- August 16th, 2020 Welcome to our 2nd weekly recap for August. Overview  Crypto News Tor Network Compromised by Single Hacker Stealing Users’ Bitcoin A single malicious entity controls nearly a quarter of all nodes used on the anonymous internet provider Tor Network and is using its position to steal bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Venezuela May Soon Be Collecting Taxes in Crypto The Bolivarian Council of Mayors in Venezuela signed the so-called “National Tax Harmonization Agreement” for 305 municipalities in the country, including the Petro (PTR) as a means to collect payments of taxes and sanctions. The cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly widely used as the result of a new campaign. Bitcoin and Gold Correlation Reaches Record High 70% Both bitcoin and gold have risen sharply throughout 2020, driven by relentless fiat money printing by governments and central banks, keen to keep their economies afloat in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. BTC hit a yearly high of $12,000 just as gold soared to a record high of $2,000Continue reading »

13 Aug
17:29

DeFi – Uniswap

Uniswap Introduction Without a reserve of capital, decentralized exchanges cannot be utilized to their full potential. Uniswap aims to provide this service by regulating token exchanges on the Ethereum chain using liquidity pools rather than traditional order books. Liquidity providers who invested value into a pool will earn interests in proportion to their shares from the 0.3% trading fee that the pool generates. Anyone can contribute to an existing pool, or create a new one by supplying an equal value of both ETH and an ERC20 token. Funds can be deposited or withdrawn at any time. Source: https://twitter.com/UniswapProtocol/ The creator of the pool can set the exchange rate, which will be shifted through Uniswap’s “constant product market maker” mechanism for trading. When one side of the pair’s liquidity is reduced relative to the other, the price is automatically adjusted. This is designed to “create arbitrage opportunities, in order to encourage more trading”. Fundamentals Uniswap does not have a native token, but each liquidity pair is represented by a unique, transferableContinue reading »

10 Aug
13:15

DeFi – Tellor

Tellor Introduction Tellor is a decentralized Oracle for bringing high-value off-chain data onto the ETH chain. The platform operates using a network of staked miners that compete to solve a PoW challenge to submit official values of the requested data. The goal of Tellor is to provide a secure price feed for DeFi applications. Tributes, TRB, are the native token of Tellor, and is minted with every successful Tellor data point. These tokens are used to pay for data requests and miners on the platform compete to satisfy the submissions.  The Oracle prioritizes the best-funded query every ten minutes, collects the required specific data, and makes it available on-chain. Source: https://cryptogems.com/ In addition to the security of the PoW protocol, Tellor will also require miners to stake a deposit of Tributes before they are allowed to mine. Miners risk losing their stake if their submitted values are successfully challenged. This design ensures the integrity of operating miners on the platform. Fundamentals Tellor’s token, TRB, is currently valued at $32.73, withContinue reading »