Tag: Crypto Guides

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Crypto Guides

Will Audius be the Next Spotify?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Nowadays, advanced technology has made it possible for everyone to showcase their talent in front of the whole world without hassle. The Internet also provides you with a platform where you can gain fame and recognition within no time. For both these purposes, you just need three basic things: incomparable talent, correct stage, and proper strategy. While skill and strategy rely entirely on you, finding the right platform has become easy with Audius.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard the name Audius before. We have collected all the information about this new title in the music industry. So you will be able to see how it can change your life. Let’s get into the details.

What Is Audius?

If you are aware of the concept of Ethereum, that runs the cryptocurrency Ether, it will be convenient for you to understand Audius. Ethereum has used its blockchain-based set up to provide this music streaming service to everyone in the world. Audius promotes its motto that states, “We give everyone the freedom to share and listen.”

Basically, Audius is a music streaming platform that runs on blockchain and provides ample opportunities to everyone who wishes to share their music with the world. This means it has eliminated the hassle and process of indulging with major labels and corporations for music production. Therefore, artists can share their music with their intended audience without any middlemen.

How Does Audius Work?

Audius seems to work the same way as Spotify or SoundCloud. A few steps involved in using this platform include:

Buying Tokens: There is a concept of Audius Tokens that both artists and listeners should be aware of. Being a user, you can either spend money to buy these tokens or earn them just by listening to the ads.

Spend and Listen: Once you have tokens in your wallet, you can use them to listen to your favorite music. For each song that you listen to, a fraction of a cent will get cut from the total amount.

That was from the perspective of the listeners. When we talk about the artists, they will get approximately 85% of the entire money earned on their music. This percentage is higher than almost all similar apps that offer a maximum of 70% cut.

The remaining 15% of the amount will be given to the following people:

  • Song host
  • Audius developers
  • Other associated people

What Is The Benefit Of Audius?

The primary benefit of Audius is that artists can conveniently showcase their talent to the world, while listeners can get a chance to explore more diverse music. However, this isn’t the only perk of this platform.

When we talk about the music industry, most artists often get stuck between corporations and big labels. Most of the earnings on music are taken by these middlemen, leaving a minimal cut for the artists. But with the help of Audius, they can get almost 85% of the total revenue generated by their song. Hence, they will get paid well for their efforts and talent.

All in all, Audius is an excellent initiative by Ethereum because it will be beneficial for both artists and listeners. So there won’t be any hassle or complications associated with producing some quality music.

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About Bitcoin Miner Capitulation?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

If you have dealt with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, you must know how uncertain they can be. While they can make you a millionaire within a day, they can also snatch away all your money in a short period. People who mine their money in Bitcoin have to keep a close eye on these fluctuations and ensure they take themselves out while there is still time. The same may be happening with Bitcoin.

You may have heard the experts talk about Bitcoin Miner Capitulation. Some of those also try to explain the concept in their own words. However, there is still a major confusion around the term “Miner Capitulation.” If you also want to learn more about the concept, you have come to the right place. We have collected all the crucial information on the topic to understand what exactly is happening with Bitcoin. So let’s begin.

What Is Bitcoin Miner Capitulation?

Bitcoin mining refers to the completion of verified transactions’ blocks that get appended to the blockchain. For these transactions, miners earn a reward in the form of cryptocurrency. If the miner isn’t able to manage to make out their operational costs from the Bitcoin mining process, they sell a significant amount of their mined Bitcoins. This leads to Bitcoin Miner Capitulation.

On the other hand, Miner Capitulation can also result from sudden drops in the Bitcoin market as this makes miners sell their coins. Hence, we can say that Bitcoin Miner Capitulation is when small miners can’t profit from their mining, and they back out. It creates selling stress in the market, leading to further drops in the price and a lack of buyers.

Is This First Bitcoin Miner Capitulation?

Many people dealing with Bitcoin assume this is the first time Bitcoin is experiencing a Miner Capitulation. But the facts state something different. Miner Capitulation has been seen twice in the history of Bitcoin:

  • 2016: When Bitcoin Halving took place this year, it was seen that miners began selling a significant amount of their Bitcoins.
  • 2018: Bitcoin again crashed by 50%, getting a value of $3,000 from $6,000. This led to low profits for small miners, and they again sold their Bitcoins in massive amounts.

Apart from these, the 2013 effect on Bitcoin’s price also brought in some Miner Capitulation. Therefore, this isn’t the first time Bitcoin is experiencing one such situation. It has happened whenever Bitcoin Halving takes place or the price drops down.

Is Bitcoin Miner Capitulation Something To Worry About?

It is usual for a big market like Bitcoin to host thousands or millions of transactions every day. So when some of the miners sell their coins, how does that make any difference? The answer to this question is simple, i.e., the tension of sale in the market.

With these small miners selling their coins, many other people also begin considering selling their coins. This stress rises with more sales. Moreover, it causes a lack of buyers in the market, and Bitcoin’s price falls further.

People are relating Bitcoin Miner Capitulation to more significant problems that may be seen in the upcoming times. That is why you must learn more about the current situation and take action while there is still time to save yourself from any bigger trouble.

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Crypto Guides

Heard of Suterusu? One of the most interesting cryptocurrency!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies have come into the limelight even since Bitcoin hyped in the market. As the demand for cryptocurrency increased, a few new names also joined the list. One of the well-known titles from those is Suterusu. It is a bit different from the usual cryptocurrencies, which makes it more exciting and beneficial for people.

You may or may not have earlier heard about Suterusu. Either way, we are here to help you out. Here, we have brought all the crucial information about Suterusu to help you learn more about it, making the concept clearer to you. So without further ado, let’s begin with the details.

What Is Suterusu?

Security and anonymity is a big concern for almost all blockchain platforms. In order to resolve this, Suterusu has brought in a new concept. It allows these blockchain developers to implement an additional layer of zk-SNARK-based privacy without any hassle. That is why its motto of “launchpad for privacy-preserving interoperable blockchain” gets appropriately fulfilled.

In other words, Suterusu helps bring new privacy to blockchain platforms or apps that match the ZCash level. Moreover, they need not implement this security layer to their protocol level. Therefore, even mainstream blockchains like Ether, Bitcoin, and Decentralized Finance can benefit from this new concept.

How Is Suterusu Different From Other zk-SNARK Implementations?

The other applications of zk-SNARK called for the need for one of the following:

  • Logarithmic proof sizes
  • Trusted setup: Under this, a set of original parameters are created. These are further used to generate a key, which makes and verifies the proofs of future transactions within the network.

These two factors contradict the anonymous cryptocurrency’s transparent and decentralized nature.

On the other hand, Suterusu undertakes zk-SNARK’s updated version to get rid of both of these concerns. This version is called zk-ConSNARK. So, basically, there is no trust set up promoted by Suterusu that destroys the trusted set up entirely and keeps the proof size low. It not only amplifies the throughput but also maintains security and privacy by keeping the transaction participants anonymous.

What Is Suterusu’s Cryptocurrency?

Suterusu runs its own cryptocurrency named the SUTER Token, which has a total of 10 billion supply. It is further divided into percentages made for different sections:

  • Suterusu’s team has over 4.8% of the tokens.
  • 2% of the tokes are specified for the foundation.
  • 16% of the total tokens are for participants of a private sale.
  • Stake miners can go up to 76% tokens.

Like any other cryptocurrency, SUTER is also subjected to an annual supply halve seen every couple of years. Moreover, these tokens have the lowest inflation rate as compared to other anonymous coins in the market.

In case you want to run a validator node for Suterusu, you will need to deposit at least 1 million SUTER Tokens. Based on your mortgage token and voting token, your mining power will be determined. Further, this will decide the total reward you can receive as a validator node.

Conclusion

By maintaining the anonymity factor, Suterusu has a high chance of becoming the next big thing in the cryptocurrency market. Now that you have learned its basics, we recommend you to get into more details and see how to benefit from this rising concept.

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About Non-Fungible Tokens?

Introduction 

Introduction 

Introduction 

The word tokens mostly bring the concept of currency in our minds, i.e., something that we can exchange for something else. However, this isn’t entirely correct. Rather than just being a currency, a token represents any fact, feeling, quality, etc. visibly and tangibly. A few common examples of a token can be:

Voters ID: It is a token of the fact that you are eligible to vote.

Driving License: It is a token that shows you have undergone the process of proving that you can dive responsibly.

Coins: These are the tokens that show the value of something like a pair of glasses is $10 worth.

There can be several such things that can be considered as tokens. Now, these tokens can be divided into two categories: Fungible and Non-Fungible. You must be aware of the concept of fungible tokens that can be exchanged for something. Let’s now learn what Non-Fungible Tokens are.

What Are Non-Fungible Tokens?

If we dive into the cryptocurrency market, you will see that the most prominent tokens are fungible. For instance, you can exchange a Bitcoin for another Bitcoin without affecting its price. On the other hand, Non-Fungible Tokens are the ones that don’t hold this property of being exchangeable. Each of them has its own value, like your car and watch has its own.

In simple words, fungible tokens can be replaced by something identical to it, while Non-Fungible Tokens can’t be. Another difference between the two is divisibility. Like you can divide a Bitcoin into two parts, you can’t split a non-fungible token due to its uniqueness.

Where Did The Concept Of Non-Fungible Tokens Arise?

Many people still don’t know how Non-Fungible Tokens came into the market. If you are one of them, then it is time to get aware of this factor. Non-Fungible Tokens’ concept came into notice when a blockchain-based platform, CryptoKitties, made $12 million worth of transactions of virtual kittens. As each cat has its own features and traits, it was sold and bought at different prices.

Therefore, these kittens followed with the two essential qualities of Non-Fungible Tokens:

  • One kitten can’t get exchanged with another one as their price differs.
  • One kitten can’t get divided into two or more parts.

And all these transactions took place in Ethereum. After CryptoKitten came into the limelight, several gaming platforms seem to opt for this method of transaction.

What Is The Future Of Non-Fungible Tokens?

Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs hold a significant market in the gaming industry. Plus, more and more gaming platforms are now incorporating cryptocurrencies, giving more space for the use of NFTs. Players can make in-game purchases conveniently with the help of these NFTs, just like the kittens were sold on CrytoKitten. For example, buying and selling game skins, armours, and other similar assets will become even more accessible. But this isn’t the only use case of NFTs. With their advancements, they indeed will find a place of their own in the world.

We hope all this information will make the Non-Fungible Token’s concept clear to you. So now you can see how you can benefit from them and use them wherever possible.

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Brief Introduction To Flexa And SPEDN Crypto Payment Apps

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Cryptocurrencies are becoming bigger and bigger with each passing year. While they were an unknown topic a decade back, they have now become a prominent income source for many. But have you imagined if these cryptocurrencies overtake the physical currencies entirely? Well, Flexa has made this possible by bringing in the use of crypto payments in the retail world.

This means the cryptocurrency usage won’t be limited to investment purposes, and retailers will benefit from it. Flex has now begun its work with a mobile application named SPEDN. There is nothing to worry about if you haven’t heard about Flex and SPEDN before because we will provide you with all the necessary details on these two.

What Are Flexa And SPEDN?

As stated above, Flexa is a mobile payment startup that has been working to develop a unique cryptocurrency payment network for retailers. Its primary motive includes the following factors:

  • Reduce frauds
  • Eliminate processing costs
  • Build better relationships between buyers and sellers
  • Preserve privacy

Flexa offers one of its kind platform for payments that is entirely decentralized, making commerce more efficient and accessible. In straightforward terms, it can be stated that Flexa works to cut out the unnecessary hassle that is often incorporated into the payment processes of retailers. Thus, reducing the overall complexity and costs of conventional payment systems.

The startup is doing so with its first app called SPEDN. The application will be available for both Android and iOS platforms. It will serve as a digital wallet that uses cryptocurrency as the payment method. So you can use it for direct payments in retail stores.

Which Cryptocurrencies Are Supported By SPEDN?

The very first factor people notice in a digital wallet is the type of currencies supported by it. And it is the same for SPEDN. It is vital to know whether this platform provides you with the flexibility to use your preferred cryptocurrency for the purpose.

Currently, it supports the following cryptocurrencies:

  • Bitcoin
  • Bitcoin Cash
  • Ethereum
  • Gemini

However, Flexa has assured the users that they will soon be able to use a variety of coins on SPEDN as they are working towards the development.

How To Use The SPEDN App?

Using the SPEDN application is as simple as using any other digital wallet. You just have to follow four simple steps:

  • Deposit Money: You first need to have enough cryptocurrency in the app to function further. For this, you can choose the amount that has to be deposited, and SPEDN will provide you with a deposit address.
  • Shop: Once you have enough cryptocurrency in the wallet, you can shop for whatever you want from any specific retail store.
  • Get Barcode: You will then have to select the store name from the app, and you will receive a unique barcode.
  • Scan: The shop’s cashier will then scan the code, and the payment will get debited automatically.

Currently, it may be challenging for you to spot retail stores that accept cryptocurrency payments. But once this platform becomes popular and people become aware of its benefits, you will be able to use it like any other digital wallet.

Conclusion

Flexa is working to change the entire retail shopping experience for you. Plus, they are making the transactions more beneficial for the shopkeepers. SPEDN is its first app to fulfill the initiative. However, this is just the beginning, and people expect Flexa to bring up more ideas to make the platform even more convenient.

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About The ‘Concordium’ Blockchain Platform

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Business payments have to be made secure and transparent. It is true that blockchain and its products have always helped businesses in providing the right efficiency. Yet again, a blockchain-powered product has made its inception into the industry, offering better privacy and accountability of the payments. Concordium platform is a reformed open-source and permissionless blockchain product made with business applications. In this article, we are going to talk about the Concordium articles and everything you need to know about it.

What is Concordium?

It is a proof-of-stake blockchain that has been created with business applications. Concordium is also the first blockchain that comes with identification embedded in the protocol that helps in meeting the requirements facilitating a user-friendly platform. It is primarily designed to be cost-effective, secure, and fast. The identity layer offers on-chain identity compliance centric payments and better privacy for the users.

What About Its Structure?

The two-layer consensus protocol comprises Nakamoto-style blockchain, and the finality layer is meant for faster transaction confirmation. The sharing design facilitates high transaction throughput and enhanced privacy for the business’s sensitive data. Another feather in the cap is designing two new languages for the smart contract code, making the development much easier. The platform also has a transparent incentive structure with predictable fees and cost-effective transactions.

What Are The Best Features of Concordium?

Now that you have understood the platform, let’s take a peek into the feature that will give you a better understanding.

Regulatory Compliance By Design: It is primarily designed to make business transactions faster, secure, and cost-effective. Concordium is designed in a way to integrate the financial system with the user’s identity. It helps the developers, businesses, and individuals to build blockchain products that comply with regulations.

Privacy and Verification of Users: The identity layer of Concordium offers a compliance-centric balance in accountability and anonymity. The user’s identity will remain anonymous, but it can be revoked against a valid request from the government or legal channels.

Fast Transactions: The most important takeaway of this platform is its fast transactions. It has set a benchmark by making the transactions fast enough in accordance with transactions per second. Concordium is made to meet the ever-evolving needs of businesses on a global scale. The platform has taken a major leap compared to other blockchain technology.

Consistent Uptime: The platform is designed for dynamic business use cases with a focus on the uptime requirements. The two-layer consensus is designed to ensure that the platform is secure and available for the changing conditions. So far, the platform has achieved speedups and efficiency.

The Bottom Line

Concordium is created to bring innovation and efficiency to the business transaction. The platform vision to unlock blockchain’s potential and put it to best use for the future economy. The community of Concordium currently involves developers, investors, business leaders, and technologists who are advocating it throughout the world. If you are also willing to enter the arena, you can connect via attending the event, joining the online communities, or entering the ambassador program.

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An Introductory Guide To NEAR Protocol

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

NEAR Protocol is a smart contract compatible cryptocurrency, a highly scalable and low-cost platform for developers, allowing them to create dApps or decentralized apps for various purposes. In the cryptocurrency space, the competition can turn out to be vicious. Nevertheless, cooperation is also widespread in the crypto space, particularly because it is a new asset class.

Crypto creators and experts have understood that it is highly beneficial to cooperate rather than to compete for the time being. And you will struggle to find any crypto project better than NEAR Protocol when it comes to cooperation in the cryptocurrency space. If you are interested in understanding what NEAR Protocol actually is, including its elements and features, this post will explain everything you need to know about it. Let’s get started.

What is NEAR Protocol?

NEAR or NEAR Protocol is a cryptocurrency blockchain that features smart contract functionality. NEAR Protocol is designed and developed to facilitate the creation of decentralized applications. It is also developer-friendly and is interoperable with Ethereum as well.

Coming down to its functionality, NEAR Protocol uses a block generation mechanism known as ‘Doomslug’ that processes over 100,000 transactions per second and a Sharding mechanism known as ‘Nightshade’ that splits the entire cryptocurrency network into multiple portions. The transaction fees on NEAR Protocol are so low that it requires a special unit of measurement for quantification called ‘yocto.’

Furthermore, the developers at NEAR Protocol are working to make the platform secure enough to handle valuable assets like identity or money. And with the likes of proof of stake, combined with sharding, the platform can prove useful for everyday customers.

How does it work?

NEAR Protocol is a dedicated proof of stake blockchain, which, to optimize performance, uses sharding. Sharding is quite different in NEAR Protocol as compared to other cryptocurrencies. That is, all shards on NEAR Protocol are considered a part of the same network. Using Nightshade, the cryptocurrency is interoperable with ETH using Rainbow Bridge. The Nightshade works to add a single snapshot of each shard’s existing state on the NEAR Protocol blockchain. Each shard has its own set of validator nodes that broadcast the shard’s existing state each time a block is produced.

Elements and Features of NEAR Protocol

NEAR Protocol comes with numerous functionalities that cater to the validators, end-users, and developers differently.

  • NEAR Protocol allows the developers to prepay and sign the transactions in the end-users’ best interest, significantly reducing the need for the users to know about how the decentralized application works and other technical anomalies.
  • It boasts a ‘Progressive UX,’ which is specifically designed for users so that they can use the platform without requiring to use tokens or wallets.
  • When we talk about the validators, NEAR Protocol allows them to create an assortment of offerings for the users.

Conclusion

It is still too early to say whether people will accept NEAR Protocol or will it dethrone Ethereum. But it is certainly not impossible. Given the features and functionalities of the cryptocurrency, it can be said that NEAR Protocol is the future of the cryptocurrency market, especially because it can help create state-of-the-art decentralized applications.

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Looking For Easy Crypto Payment? Switch To NOWPayments!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Digital payment has undoubtedly blessed the financial industry by offering a seamless transaction mode. With the inclusion of blockchain, things have become even more efficient. More and more blockchain platforms have been introducing their tokens and coins to facilitate blockchain-based transactions. Crypto holders are making use of their crypto coins to conduct everyday financial transactions.

Owing to the increasing demand for crypto payments, blockchain platforms are designing their currency. ChangNow has also been working to introduce NOWPayments to offer a convenient blockchain payment service that will accept crypto coins all over the globe. In this article, we are going to talk about NOWPayment and everything that has to be discovered regarding this revolutionized payment service.

What is NOWPayments?

NOWPayments is powered by ChangeNOW and has been operating in the industry since 2019. It is also tied up worth Ledger, Binance, and Atomic Wallet to increase its services’ efficiency. NOWPayments has been designed to primarily offer a crypto payment gateway for both customers and merchants and make transactions seamless. It allows merchants to accept crypto payment on their online stores, social media accounts, and website. Being a non-custodial service, NOWPayments will not store funds in any means. It supports more than 50 cryptocurrencies and facilitates transactions at lower fees.

What Are The Benefits of Choosing NOWPayments?

As online/offline merchants and crypto coin holders are increasing at a staggering rate, it has become essential to introduce a hassle-free payment gateway. NOWPayment is that one-stop destination where you can conduct crypto transactions without any hassle. It has partnered with all the popular crypto exchanges to strengthen its potential and meet customers’ needs. Here are a few crucial benefits of using NOWPayments-:

Faster Payments: NOWPayments is known for its lightning-fast payments. Unlike other gateways, NOWPayments will complete the transaction within minutes.

Non-Custodial Services: There are no intermediaries involved in the transactions except holding the fees. So, the payments are directly forwarded to the merchants.

Comprehensive Support: Complete guidance and inclusive support is another major takeaway of this payment gateway. From installing plugins to integrating API, you can get all answers to your queries via a 24/7 support team.

Transparency Compliance: NOWPayment prioritizes the safety of the clients and partners. The legal team dedicatedly works to ensure compliance. It secures all the transactions and safeguards it from illegal acts, and protects the users’ rights.

How To Integrate NOWPayments?

NOWPayment claims to be the easiest and best way to accept crypto payments. The easy-to-use interface makes NOWPayments offers hassle-free, secure, and simple API that you can integrate into any platform. Follow the below steps-:

  • Sign up for NOWPayment with email and set up your account
  • Access the Dashboard after signing up
  • Go to Add New Key and save the API
  • Visit the Outcome Wallet page to access your digital wallet
  • Use the API to send and accept crypto payments

The Bottom Line

NOWPayments has established a safer, reliable, and faster crypto payment gateway that everyone needed. It can be embedded in online stores and websites to make payment easier for customers and merchants. The above mentioned were all the vital information you need to know about this amazing payment gateway.

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Crypto Guides

Secure Trades using Safex- A Decentralised, Open-Source Crypto Marketplace

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

If you are frequently updated with the blockchain trend, then you must have come across Safex. Unlike most blockchain technologies used for security and transactional purposes, Safex is focused on e-commerce. Even since Bitcoin emerged as a P2P electronic cash system (peer-to-peer), the idea of a decentralized system on which people could easily trade with each other without requiring a centralized governing body has been at the forefront of every technological leap in the blockchain industry.

Living up to crypto enthusiasts and professionals’ expectations of wanting a truly borderless and open P2P trading system that helps both sellers and buyers. Safex is a community and a decentralized protocol built and designed on the original concepts of the individual rights to control, security, and privacy over transactions.

Let’s understand why Safex is the real attraction for crypto investors all across the globe.

What is Safex?

Safex is a privacy-based, decentralized, and open-source e-commerce marketplace designed to help both sellers and buyers and make transactions hassle-free. It allows you to create powerful web stores that are powered by blockchain. Safex has been using the heavily modified blockchain technology called cryptonote that leads to a world-class marketplace. What’s interesting about Safex is that the platform boasts a unique type of commerce-focused smart contract function.

Since data breach is the major vulnerability suffered by most centralized commerce platforms, Safex primarily focuses on privacy, addressing issues like opaque and unfair system for visibility of listings and trades, snooping on online behavior, unwarranted collection of personal data, and arbitrarily large and non-transparent commissions.

Industry experts claim that Safex has revolutionized the e-commerce sector by streamlining the processes and providing the e-commerce ecosystem with sheer privacy, which was previously not there.

More than 10,000 individuals have already invested in Safex Token and Cash after recognizing the project’s potential.

Why Safex?

Credit card fraud, privacy issues, and unfairness to small to medium-scale sellers are a few of the many problems affecting everyday users. With Safex, users get a solution in the form of secure online payment, an embedded privacy coin for free, and a marketplace on a blockchain. Safex combines Shopify, Upwork, and Amazon’s functionalities into a single platform, creating a new future for online shopping that eliminates the difficulties and challenges that users have to deal with every day.

Safex Features and Functionalities

With Safex, small sellers from across the world will have access to a global client base.

Engine for E-Commerce – Safex offers a decentralized database and an integrated global payment engine, which adds security and a privacy layer to online stores.

Safex Marketplace – Safex is a decentralized marketplace on a privacy blockchain, allowing sellers to gain exposure to the wide network of Safex users.

Privacy Blockchain -Safex uses functionalities like One-Time Address and Ring Signatures to maintain the senders’ anonymity and recipients of transactions.

Conclusion

Safex has already developed a strong community of users who believe in the project. Since blockchain is the future of online payment, Safex can prove to be a game-changer in how people carry out online transactions.

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An Introductory Guide To ‘Yield Farming’ In The World of Cryptocurrencies

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Lately, the topic of Decentralized Finance or DeFi in the cryptocurrency space has been the most talked-about concept among crypto enthusiasts. While the general populous has been hunkering down on the economic uncertainty, people in the field of cryptocurrency have been excited about decentralized finance’s one of the latest, riskiest, and dynamic investment strategies – Yield Farming.

The concept is quite new, even for the crypto nerds. But it has the potential to change the dynamics of how people deal with cryptocurrencies. Some people may confuse it with liquidity farming, but Yield Farming is a different concept. Simply put, it is the process of finding the best returns (yields) that the cryptocurrency world has to offer.

One of the great things about Decentralised Finance is that they are permissionless. That is, anyone with an internet connection and a supported crypto wallet can interact with them, even a smart contract. This has given rise to Yield Farming. So, what is it? How does it work? Who can use it? We will answer all these questions and more in this post. Keep on reading.

What is Yield Farming?

Yield Farming is a process of generating rewards with crypto holdings using permissionless liquidity protocols. Simply put, Yield Farming means holding and locking cryptocurrencies and getting rewards. According to experts, Yield Farming bears a resemblance to staking. Nevertheless, it is a lot more sophisticated than you can think. In most cases, Yield Farming works with users known as liquidity providers (LP) who add capital to liquidity pools.

A liquidity pool is a smart contract containing funds; when liquidity providers provide liquidity to the pool, they get a reward. The reward received by the liquidity provider will be either generated from the fees of the underlying Decentralized Finance platform or some other sources. In some cases, liquidity pools use multiple tokens to pay their rewards. These tokens can be deposited to other liquidity pools to earn more rewards. This means that as a liquidity provider, you will contribute to the liquidity pools and earn rewards in return.

Yield Farming is done using Ethereum (ERC-20 tokens), and the reward generated is also some kind of ERC-20 token. Yield farmers move their funds quite often between different protocols, looking for higher yields. Experts believe that Decentralized Finance platforms may provide providers with other economic incentives to attract more capital.

How Does it Work?

Yield Farming is based on the Automated Marker Maker (AMM) principle that includes liquidity pools and liquidity providers. Suppose you are a liquidity provider. You deposit funds into a liquidity pool. This liquidity pool of yours is a whole marketplace where users can exchange, borrow, or lend tokens. As the user uses these tokens, they will have to pay a certain fee to the liquidity provider, that is, to you. This is how AMM works.

Conclusion

As simple as it sounds, Yield Farming is a complex phenomenon. The strategies involved are highly complex and are suitable for only advanced users. Also, experts suggest that it should be deployed by those who have a lot of capital.

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How DeFi Is Solving The Problem That Bitcoin Always Wanted To?

Introduction 

Introduction 

Introduction 

When you hear the word ‘cryptocurrency,’ Bitcoin is the first thing that pops into your mind. For the longest time, bitcoin has been synonymous with cryptocurrency and regarded as the future currency. In the recent past, bitcoin’s monopoly has been diluted by the entrance of thousands of other cryptocurrencies.

The cryptocurrencies’ primary objective was to serve as an alternative, and down the line, a replacement to the global fiat financial system. This objective has failed to take off. This failure can be attributed to the skepticism cryptocurrencies have faced, which has slowed their role as a legitimate alternative to fiat currencies. DeFi has helped address some of these challenges and help make cryptocurrencies mainstream.

What is DeFi?

DeFi is the short form for Decentralised Finance.  At its core, decentralized finance is the provision of conventional financial services on platforms built on the public blockchain. Specifically, DeFi is based on the Ethereum blockchain platform.

DeFi is heralded as the most suitable alternative to the global financial system. This new enthusiasm about the decentralization of finance is owed to the fact that DeFi is seen as being able to solve the problems that bitcoin failed to solve.

Advancements Made by DeFi

Here are some of the advancements made DeFi, which bitcoin failed to achieve.

Creation of issuance and investing platform

These platforms operate like an ordinary stock exchange. DeFi has made it possible so that cryptocurrencies can be issued and traded like conventional financial securities. The platform brings together broker-dealers, legal advisors, and custodians, who will advise issuers through the process. Furthermore, the platform also makes it possible for asset and investment managers’ proliferation for crypto-based financial assets.

Establishment of a decentralized prediction market

A prediction market is one where individuals can bet on any future occurrences. With decentralized prediction markets, there is no form of censorship whatsoever. Therefore, it offers an incredible opportunity to hedge against future risks financially and speculate on all forms of social events globally.

Growth of open lending protocols

Decentralized open lending championed by DeFi involves the following: collateralization of cryptocurrencies; elimination of credit checks among borrowers; lending and borrowing of cryptocurrencies for trading purposes; and real-time settlement of transactions. The financial inclusion resulting from open lending is unparalleled.

Facilitated the issuance of stablecoins

DeFi made it possible for the issuance of stablecoins by facilitating the auditing of crypto reserves and ensuring manageable volatility of such cryptocurrencies. With DeFi, stablecoins can be pegged on another asset. Categories of stable coins that have been spurred by DeFi include crypto-collateralized stablecoins, fiat-collateralized stable coins, and non-collateralized stablecoins whose stability depends on an algorithm controlling the expansion and contraction of its supply.

Bottom Line

DeFi undoubtedly offers a higher potential for financial inclusion, censorship-free transactions, and improved privacy. Although DeFi is offered as an alternative to the centralized financial system, it is almost impossible to envision an economy where the centralized financial system ceases to exist. Thus, it is prudent to co-mingle the two systems to ensure complementarity, which will tone down the inherent risks associated with either system.

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Crypto Guides

Is Tezos The Most Robust Cryptocurrency?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Tezos is a decentralized, highly secure, transparent, and smart contract enabled blockchain governed by itself. It is a blockchain network associated with a digital token known as Tez or Tezzie (XTZ). Tezos doesn’t mine Tez. Instead, the token holder is rewarded under the consensus mechanism for participating in the proof-of-stake system.

A digital commonwealth group, sharing common interests and goals, is linked together to govern the Tezos platform. Tezos aims to become the most robust cryptocurrency blockchain by working together with its token holders to build more democratic protocol with the time. 

What is Tezos Attempting to Achieve? 

Tezos team wants to develop the most adaptable cryptocurrency project. It provides a token holder with equal governing power and is trying to avoid a hard fork situation. In which a community splits and starts competing with each other like in Bitcoin cash and Ethereum DAO. Tezos is implementing soft forks in which the community regularly updates the blockchain for constant growth. They are using (DAO) Decentralised Autonomous Organization system where every decision is taken after community discussion. This will make this more self amendable and upgradeable system.  

How Tezos Works? 

Tezos uses a proof of stake algorithm, and it can support 40 transactions/second on the network. It uses the Michelson coding language, which proceeds with formal verification to avoid any bugs in the network. To create error fee smart contracts, they use a mathematically provable code. In this network, the stakers are known as bakers.

To make delegate changes, you need to have 10,000 Tezos tokens and a bond. Most probably to make the system more democratic, Tezos has removed the miners to reduce their control power in the network. It is absorbing good elements from different blockchains to make it self-governing, self-evolving, and adaptable. If you notice anything appealing in any other blockchain, you can propose it to the community that approves the change for the Tezos network. 

Tezos Architecture

The protocol is divided into layers:

Network Protocol  – Here, the peer-to-peer communication is done to broadcast the decisions between the nodes.

Transaction Protocol – Here, the blockchain accounting model is implemented. 

Consensus Protocol – This consensus protocol verifies the agreement to confirm transactions. 

The Tezos Accounts

Implicit Account – It’s the most commonly used account. It has a public key and private key held by the account owner to secure the account balance. 

Originated Account – The formally verified smart contract account with the implicit account is known as an originated account.

Tezos Unique Capabilities

  • Self-amending and on-chain governance
  • Formal verification of smart contracts
  • Liquid proof of stake system 

Is Tezos a Good Investment?

Tezos is the youngest of all existing cryptocurrencies and focused upon the chain governance system. They claim to become a future-proof platform through on-chain governance that attracts a huge number of investors. Thus, Tezos seems to be a good investment. The good news is that most of the popular cryptocurrency investors are getting involved in Tezos. We should also consider that they don’t have a clear road map for the future, but the other dominating cryptocurrencies community is working in a specific direction. To conclude, despite Tezos being one of the most robust cryptos out there, its success or failure depends on active community decisions. 

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Crypto Guides

A Brief Guide to PancakeSwap – A Food Themed DeFi Protocol

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

PancakeSwap is a food-themed new DeFi protocol. It is a cryptocurrency platform for direct exchange under the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). It has introduced many food-based farming associates in the crypto industry. Pancake allows community governance and investors to earn tokens by serving as a liquidity provider under the staking mechanism.

The whole protocol is executed on the Ethereum blockchain because it supports blockchain smart contracts, and it has huge community support who are continuously putting efforts to build decentralized applications. Pancake DeFi exchange allows swapping of BEP20 tokens. If you are familiar with SushiSwap, then you can easily grasp the PancakeSwap concept because both of them have the same incredible design. 

The PancakeSwap Exchange

The exchange platform works on an Automated Market Maker Model(AMM). In this model, the investor can trade with his digital assets and can invest in the liquidity pool. In these pools, users deposit funds and, in return, get Liquidity Provider tokens. With these earned tokens, they can reclaim their share from the trading commission. In PancakeSwap, the LP tokens are known as FLIP tokens. 

Staking Chain

In PancakeSwap, you are allowed to trade with a secondary token known as CAKE. On the farm, if you stake your LP tokens and lock them for the further process, then you will get CAKE in reward. You can deposit these different LP tokens listed below:

  1. CAKE-BNB FLIP
  2. BUSD-BNB FLIP
  3. ADA-BNB FLIP
  4. BAND_BNB FLIP
  5. DOT-BNB FLIP
  6. EOS-BNB FLIP
  7. LINK-BNB FLIP
  8. BAKE-BNB Bakery LP
  9. BURGER-BNB FLIP

There is one more token in this protocol known as SYRUP. If you have deposited funds to get LP tokens and have used these tokens to receive CAKE. Further, you can stake this CAKE token to earn a SYRUP token, which would provide you with governance functionality. 

Adding Liquidity

To access all the features of PancakeSwap, you need to unlock your crypto wallet. With this wallet, you can interact Binance smart chain based on Ethereum web applications. 

The BEP20 tokens movement will require your approval. You simply have to fix the amount you want to keep on stake, and you need to confirm the transaction. Then you can check the CAKE you have earned, and you can withdraw the amount anytime you want with the harvest option. To earn SYRUP, you have to keep your CAKE on the stake with the ‘Approve Cake’ option. Once you have staked your CAKE, you will get back an equal amount of SYRUP and can earn CAKE passively. 

Conclusion 

The Google of crypto – Binance jumped in Defi by introducing a new food protocol – PancakeSwap. PancakeSwap is launched by BSC, which is supported by a centralized exchange. It includes AMM, DEX, farms, and native token-CAKE. There are nine liquidity pools where you can deposit your funds. 25% of CAKE commission share is distributed to the SYRUP token holders. The anonymous developer team behind the PancakeSwap has warned that the smart contract is still unaudited and has high inherent risk. The fund invested in smart contracts always has a risk of bugs so, never deposit the amount if you can’t afford its loss. 

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Crypto Guides

Is EOS A Better Investment Than Ethereum Right Now?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

EOS and Ethereum both are popular blockchain smart contract platforms. To know whether EOS is a better investment or Ethereum, we will need to compare the two technologies by exploring basic concepts and comparing their mechanisms to draw out the necessary conclusions. After Ethereum was introduced in the crypto industry, two years later, EOS was launched and claimed to fix the flaws in Ethereum. EOS is a strong, scalable contender and might outperform Ethereum. The battle of EOS vs. Ethereum is the most interesting and happening space in the crypto industry. 

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a blockchain platform launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. It allows users to send and receive funds independently without the assistance of any third party. It was the first blockchain project to install the smart technology contract. In this technology, some predefined conditions are applied, and users are needed to justify the conditions to proceed with transactions without the need for an intermediate body. This decentralized blockchain has its own cryptocurrency called Ether (ETH), which is tradable in most of the crypto exchanges. 

What is EOS?

EOS is a new blockchain platform that can also manage smart contracts. The Block.one company launched this project in 2017. It has created history by raising the highest Initial Coin Offering(ICO), worth more than $2.5 billion. It has its own EOS coin, which can be transferred from wallet to wallet. EOS aims to become the most scalable, cheapest, and fastest blockchain platform. 

Scalability

Presently Ethereum can support 15 transactions per second, whereas EOS can serve up to at least 10,000 transactions/second. EOS using IoT provides for inter-blockchain communication, which creates blockchains to allow more transactions. Ethereum is working on two protocols called “Plasma” and “Sharding” to increase transaction numbers per second. 

Transaction Cost

On Ethereum, users need to pay gas for each transaction, but EOS works completely in a different way. EOS blockchain users deposit their token to cover the bandwidth required for the transaction. 

Consensus Mechanism

Ethereum is based upon the proof-of-work model, and EOS follows the proof-of-stake model. The transactions are verified without the support of any intermediate system. Ethereum generates random puzzles at every node before confirming the transactions. These puzzles are so difficult to solve that you need to take the help of experts called “Miners.” While EOS offers to stake your coins to verify transactions, the stakers have a chance to earn the rewards. 

EOS Vs. Ethereum: Who holds the future?

Ethereum, just after Bitcoin, is the most popular cryptocurrency across the world. EOS, right from its initial days, is performing exceptionally well. EOS is yet to achieve growth that Ethereum has already achieved, but EOS is significantly better than Ethereum. EOS is a more user-friendly cryptocurrency than ETH. It’s still too early to think about how far EOS will go because the blockchain ecosystem is highly unpredictable. 

Conclusion 

EOS is younger than Ethereum and has improved scalability and transaction fees as compared to Ethereum, but still, it’s under so much controversy because of its more centralized layout. If Ethereum successfully implements the proof-of-stake mechanism, then EOS might not be able to outperform it. On the other hand, if Ethereum doesn’t reduce it’s transaction costs, then EOS will easily overtake Ethereum soon is what crypto experts believe. Cheers! 

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Crypto Guides

Is Investing In Binance Coin a Good Decision In 2020?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Binance coin is a widely known cryptocurrency made by the Binance exchange. It is by far the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and offers a wide range of crypto-to-crypto pairs. This cryptocurrency runs on the Ethereum blockchain with ERC 20 standard. Binance coin is also responsible for expanding the scope of the operation of the Binance exchange because the currency supports various utilities on the platform like paying for exchange fees, trading fees, listing fees, and other fees that are payable on the Binance exchange. 

It was made available to the users for the first time during an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on July 25, 2017. Angel investors were offered 10% of the BNB tokens, the founding team was offered 40% of the tokens, and the various other participants were offered the remaining 50% of the tokens through the ICO process. The funds raised through the ICO process were planned to be allocated for various purposes like: 

  • Branding and marketing of Binance
  • Development of the Binance platform.
  • Upgradation of the Binance ecosystem. 

During April 2018, the market cap of the Binance coin was $1.4 billion.

The Binance coin has also collected support with the help of partnerships that have helped the usage period of the coins. One such partnership was done with Uplive, a premier live-video streaming platform of Asia that sells virtual gifts to the users in exchange for BNB tokens to an extensive user base of 20 million on Uplive. 

Is Binance Coin a Good investment or not?

There are a lot of factors that help to determine whether an asset will be a good investment or not. Market structure, daily trade volume, and USPs (Unique Selling Points) are some of the most relevant factors to make this judgment. Market structure can be defined as the macro price activity of an underlying asset. In the case of BNB, the market structure seems promising.

The currency took off in the year 2019 at an approximate price of $6 and climbed its all-time high price of $38.54 as of June 21, 2019. After that, the price has been significantly retraced along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market and has maintained a good price. Also, at any point in time, the price action of BNB coin remains above the key price levels as well as market structure. 

The daily trading volume of BNB is also impressive. At the time of writing this article, the last 24-hour trading volume $2,193,941,846. Apart from the market structure and daily volume, there is an important factor, i.e. tokenomics, that can help to determine whether an asset will be a good investment or not.

Tokenomics means the design of the cryptocurrency and its characteristics that impact its value. These characteristics include game theory, economic incentives, computer science, and cryptography. The tokenomics of Binance coin are very strong. It has been designed in a way that allows easy adoption and utilization, which increases the price of the coin even more. 

Conclusion

Binance Coin (BNB) is a popular cryptocurrency and can always be found ranked on the top 10 spots of the CoinMarketCap platform. It is a leading token in the crypto exchange ecosystem and is utilized on a large scale on the Binance platform. If Binance will continue to invest efforts in expanding the products, it has to offer and onboards new users. Then there won’t be any reason to classify Binance coin under the ‘not a good investment’ category.

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Crypto Guides

A Brief Introduction To SushiSwap – An Evolution DeFi Project of UniSwap

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

SushiSwap copied the mechanics of the most popular DeFi protocol known as “Uniswap” and challenged it, openly with new cryptocurrency trading features. We can consider SushiSwap as a Uniswap rivalry. The SUSHI token holders are provided with a share of the SushiSwap trading commission, and incentives are given to the liquidity providers.

It’s a community governed crypto trading platform as the SUSHI holders have the power to make governance decisions. SushiSwap made a strong strategy to give tough competition to Uniswap by paying temporarily extra-large SUSHI rewards to the first two-week liquidity providers. 

What is SushiSwap, and how does it work?

Before you start understanding SushiSwap, you must know about Uniswap. Uniswap is an exchange protocol of DeFi which executes operations without any order book. It follows a model known as automated market-making (AMM), where funds are released by liquidity providers in the pools. 

SushiSwap is a similar copy of Uniswap with few differences mainly – the SUSHI token. These tokens majorly have two functions at the time of launch: authorize the holder with administration rights, and a share of fees is paid to them from the protocol commission. In simple words, SUSHI token holders have “ownership” of the protocol. The community accepted SushiSwap at a large scale because tokens distributed by this provide liquidity incentives that grant the holders with governance rights. In addition, the SUSHI holders are also rewarded with a share of fees paid by traders in the protocol. 

With these governance rights, the token holders can vote for any suggested SushiSwap Improvement Proposal (PIP). Therefore, they play a great role in bringing any minor or major changes in the protocol. So, the whole development and execution process of SushiSwap depends on SUSHI holders, and for any successful token projects, a strong community is always a true asset. 

How are SUSHI rewards distributed?

‘Liquidity mining’ is the mode through which Sushi is distributed. SUSHI is given to those liquidity providers who specifically invest in 13 Uniswap pools. Later on, the Uniswap LP tokens can be deposited by such liquidity providers to SushiSwap staking contracts for earning SUSHI. 

Initially, the 13 Uniswap pools were as follows:

USDT-ETH, USDC-ETH, DAI-ETH, USD-ETH, COMP-ETH, LEND-ETH, SNX-ETH, UMA-ETH, 
LINK-ETH, BAND-ETH, AMPL-ETH, YFI-ETH, SUSHI-ETH
The SUSHI-ETH pool provides the investors with double rewards in return. According to the protocol, a new token will be punched each time a block is extracted on Ethereum’s network, and the distribution is initialized with Ethereum block 10,750,000. The target is to stamp out 100 new SUSHI tokens for each block, but for the starting 100000 blocks, 1000 SUSHI tokens will be created per block, and after that, the rewards will be reduced. This procedure is adopted to provide incentives to early investors in the protocol in order to encourage them for Liquidity Migration. 

Once 100000 Ethereum blocks are extracted and the tokens generated will be migrated for liquidity into the SushiSwap contract. In the process, all the Uniswap tokens staked on will be reclaimed to initialize a new pool of tokens. Once the liquidity migration is over to fuel the first SushiSwap pools, then immediate operations will be activated in the protocol. The investors, without any extra effort, will receive SUSHI token share for providing liquidity for further processing. 

Conclusion

SushiSwap challenged the current most successful DeFi protocol called Uniswap. This company is providing high returns to token holders and governance rights to its community. Irrespective of the SushiSwap’s success, it has proved that no protocol in DeFi is accurate.

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About ‘Automated DeFi-Styled Market Pool’ Launched By Binance

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

The leading global cryptocurrency exchange “Binance” launched an automated DeFi-styled market pool for cryptocurrency investors to offer them with instant token swapping functionality. Binance officially brought this new trading platform from the decentralized finance (DeFi).

The platform will allow the money maker to deal with smart contracts. The cryptocurrency exchange system announced that it is an automated market maker (AMM) pool. The users are not only allowed to trade with funds but can also host liquidity pools. For the first time, an AMM pool is attached to the centralized trading exchange system. 

Binance Liquid Swap Product

The AMM pool product called “Binance Liquid Swap” will allow the users to keep their crypto funds in the pools for providing liquidity to the market. In return, they will earn the interest and share from the pool trading commission. They implemented an AMM model for pricing to provide users with stable pricing and low fees.

The AMM exchange model uses a predefined algorithm for pool liquidity to make markets. The exchanges provide liquidity to the pools regardless of the user’s token prior order size. The reward system and trading fee are yet to be disclosed. 

To start, the AMM pool provides the following trading pairs :

  • USDT/BUSD
  • USDT/DAI
  • BUSD/DAI

The security of the product is strengthened due to the Binance platform and also because of its move into the DeFi space with the launch of Binance Smart Chain. The smart chain is a highly performing Ethereum virtual machine. It is compatible with blockchain and works in parallel with the Binance chain. It offers users with smart contracts and allows them to stake a Binance coin. 

Binance Jump in DeFi 

In Binance, the liquid swap transaction fees and prices on AMM depend upon the asset number in each liquidity pool. The prices vary when currencies are added, removed, or swapped in the pool. The trader’s share in the pool will be collected every 7-day as an annual percentage yield (APY). The profit generated will be turned into assets for the respective pools. Binance introduced AMM pools to centralized exchange systems for more safety, security, and credibility.

As the decentralized Ethereum pool is highly risky due to huge market price fluctuations; hence, Binance went for the centralized approach, which would most probably minimize the big margin loss. The Binance is working to deliver instant swap liquidity in order to attract more participants and to incentivize the pool contributors for the community benefit. 

Conclusion

Binance designed this new DeFi “Binance Liquid Swap” having different liquidity pools so that users can earn income instantly and easily without much effort. The centralized AMM pool offers users to buy, stake, and trade their crypto assets. The instant swapping functionality will be executed via a centralized platform.

The users will be able to earn through interest and trading commission from the shares. This centralized platform is able to provide stable transaction prices and lower fees. The DeFi products perform better in the market if more investors are involved in providing liquidity to trade. Hence, to attract more liquidity providers, Binance is providing rewards in return. 

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Crypto Guides

Tokenized Bitcoin on Ethereum – Explained

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Bitcoin owns a stable use case and plays an active role in the industry as a public good. Although, it has limited features, leaving almost a very little space for future innovations encouraging Bitcoiners to explore what else can be done with Bitcoin. From this, an idea evolved that Bitcoin can be used on other blockchains. This is how we reached to tokenized Bitcoin on Ethereum. As the name suggests, Bitcoin is tokenized so that it can be used on other blockchains.   

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a reserved asset in the cryptocurrency world. It has the highest adoption rate, highest trading volume, best liquidity, and holding a superior position in the crypto capitalization market. In fact, entrepreneurs believe that Bitcoin can serve all required purposes in the market, so there is no need for any other cryptocurrency. Bitcoin with an uppercase b is a network whereas with a lowercase b is a unit of account. 

What is Bitcoin Tokenization?

The tokenization of Bitcoin means processing it to deliver a blockchain security token, specifically having real tradable value. Security tokens can refer to company shares, real estate ownership, or investment fund. These can be used as exchange units for trade in a secondary market. 

Why tokenize Bitcoin on Ethereum?

Bitcoin is designed to deal with a few things only and has inherent limitations, but we know that it is the most valuable crypto out there. Technically, we can execute smart contracts using Bitcoin, but it has limited opportunities as compared to Ethereum. Bitcoin is an amount we are holding, while Ethereum provides us with an opportunity to build something with it. 

Tokenising bitcoin in other networks can improve its utility. It can enable various functionality that the native Bitcoin doesn’t support. The security model and core functionalities of Bitcoin remain constant, with other advantages like the increased speed of transactions, high privacy, and tangibility.

DeFi was raised with a potential composability idea, which means the same public is executing the applications. It is an open-source platform with a permissionless base layer so that all the users can work together seamlessly. The composable layer of Bitcoin has introduced a new form of financial framework blocks that could enable is to implement Bitcoin in various types of applications.

You can tokenize Bitcoin on various blockchains like Ethereum. All are having different degrees of decentralization, various assumptions regarding risk factors, and trust issues. Transactions with the launch of Ethereum become cheaper and faster. But it’s quite dangerous also if the holder loses bitcoin due to any contract bug as there will be no alternative way to unlock those bitcoins on the blockchain. 

Conclusion

The prime reason behind tokenizing bitcoin on Ethereum is to enhance bitcoin’s utility. Ethereum has captured significant share in bitcoin transactions; there is an increase in the involvement of Ethereum in the global network for value transactions. Blockchain industries are developing to bridge the gap between the cryptocurrency networks.

The tokenization of bitcoin created a new financial scheme that is more efficient, vast, and democratic. Through tokenization, players in the traditional market are growing rapidly, and new contenders are showing interest in adopting the technology. 

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OneCoin Scam – What Should You Know?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

OneCoin was promoted as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency through an offshore company OneCoin Ltd. registered in Dubai and founded by Ruja Ignatova, a Bulgarian national. According to the claims made by the company, OneCoin is a cryptocurrency that works like any other digital currency system whose coins can be made through a mining process, and the coins can be used for making payments anywhere in the world.

But there is no specific clarity of the working blockchain model of OneCoin. OneCoin is also known for selling educational materials and courses for cryptocurrencies, investments, trading, and other subjects related to financial analysis. However, OneCoin has been labelled as a global Ponzi Scheme and the biggest cryptocurrency scam ever. Let’s navigate the details.

What is a Ponzi Scheme?

A Ponzi scheme is a type of financial fraud or investment scam where the investors are promised high rates of returns and profits with minimum risk. The scheme traps the investors into a false belief that the returns are generating from the sales of a product or any other means; however, they remain unaware of the fact that the source of funds is other investors. The returns for the early investors are generated by collecting the funds from the new investors. 

OneCoin: A Cryptocurrency Scam

OneCoin is an international Ponzi scheme and was created as a fake online cryptocurrency by its founders to deceive the investors. The company used the terminologies of real digital currencies to reflect a genuine and authentic impression of its business model. The target audience of OneCoin included all those people who were not aware of the cryptocurrency and technology mechanism. Even the education material and packages sold were plagiarized. 

The worst part of the entire scam is the company never had a blockchain, to begin with. The concept of ‘mining’ was fake, and the new miners were told to wait for at least three to six months before their currency can be mined. The transactions were observed without the use of blockchain technology. It was believed that they were using a centralized database to run OneCoin. Eventually, the company also revealed that the SQL database that was put into use was not capable of operating a blockchain.

OneCoin had an organizational structure similar to a pyramid scheme where everybody was actually paying to the individual above. So, there were two sections of the company. The first section was OneCoin itself responsible for marketing and spreading the platform.

In contrast, the other section of the company was composed of affiliates who were bringing in people for earning a commission. Local promoters would organize meetups to spread OneCoin, and even the webinars were also hosted. They had gathered maximum growth in Asia, particularly China, and that’s why the country was hit the hardest. OneCoin was successful in running a $2 billion cryptocurrency pyramid scheme in China. 

Conclusion

The founders of OneCoin and many other associated executives were formally charged, and the US Authorities had declared OneCoin to be a fraud. It is crucial for us to know the basics and fundamental concepts of crypto and blockchain to avoid getting affected by such scams. We should be able to identify the scams by analyzing and understanding the platforms properly before investing our money. 

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About ERC-20 Tokens?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

ERC-20 tokens are dedicatedly used on the Ethereum platform. These tokens represent a wide range of digital assets and feature value and can be used as a mode of transaction. Presently, there are over 200,000 ERC-20 tokens available on the Ethereum blockchain. It is an official protocol, which extends advancements in the Ethereum network. ERC is an abbreviation for Ethereum Request for Comment, and the 20 is referred to as the proposal identifier. 

The Core ERC-20 Standard

Creating a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain is quite simple. This allows users to create different forms of tokens. The standard basically offers core functionality to transfer and allow tokens to be authenticated so that other on-chain third parties can use them. The standard interface enables tokens on this platform to be used again by other applications.

The ERC-20 standard is basically a list of events and functions that each contract needs to integrate to adhere to the standard. The name, behaviour, supply, and ticker of the contract can differ from one another, but they need to execute the core functions of ERC-20.

Smart Contract and Ethereum

Smart contracts are leveraged to generate ERC-20 tokens. They are also used to execute transactions of these tokens and record token balance information. These contracts are written in the programming language centring on the “If-This-Then-That” approach. Once the tokens have been created, they can be traded, spent, or offered to other parties. These tokens are basically universal languages that are used by all the tokens present in the Ethereum network. The unified approach allows trading of one token with another.

How to Send and Receive ERC-20 Tokens?

When sending an ERC-20 token, you are indicating the token contract to initiate a transfer operation. To execute a contract on Ethereum blockchain will need a fraction of Gas (Ether). Considering that Ether is used during the process, it is vital to ensure that the users have sufficient Ethereum Balance. 

Moreover, people can receive ERC-20 tokens by sending their wallet address. Considering that these tokens only exist in Ethereum blockchain, users can only use Ethereum addresses. 

Benefits of ERC-20 Tokens 

There are tons of benefits that ERC-20 offer that we would not find in any other tokens. It envisions to optimise the usage of the accounts by making transactions more efficient and convenient. By amalgamating different sources, these tokens create an ideal zone for constant token creation. And when it comes to efficiency and speed, ERC-20 stands at the forefront. And this is the reason why tokens hold such a massive adoption.

Efficiency and speed are two important facets of cryptocurrency trading, and ERC20 tokens do not disappoint in this regard. Its core structure offers unparalleled speed and efficiency. This easy to use token makes it easier for traders to leverage most of the blockchain technology.

It is not challenging to acquire ERC20 tokens these days; we can even develop it ourselves. It is considered one of the best payment methods for businesses, and its streamlined process makes the transactions easier for both sender and receiver. Cheers! 

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About Bitcoin Options?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Investing and trading cryptos is not just about buying and selling these currencies, there are other alternatives as well. Bitcoin options trading is a lucrative alternative for the same. It offers more flexibility and extensive strategies in comparison to trading on cryptocurrency exchanges. However, trading Bitcoin options is not as easy as buying Bitcoins on exchanges. In this article, let’s understand some of the basics of trading Bitcoin options. 

Bitcoin Options – An Overview 

Options are a form of derivative, which implies that they are centered on an underlying asset like cryptocurrencies, stocks, or commodities. Depending on the contract type, buyers will be provided with the opportunity to purchase or sell the asset at a particular value called the strike price within a particular time period. 

We will come across two forms of Bitcoin options, just like while trading the traditional options. And they are, Call & Put Options. Call Option holders get the chance to purchase assets at a fixed price within a specific window of time. Put Options offers the chance to sell at a particular price in a specific time frame. 

When purchasing Bitcoin options, traders have to pay a specific premium for the chance to sell or buy Bitcoin at a price set in the future. This provides a smart way to go short or long BTC, allowing investors to gain even when the market is declining, and multiply their profits.  

How Do Bitcoin Options Trading Work?

If the underlying investment is trading more than the strike price, it is considered to be in the money for a call. Investors have the right to buy Bitcoin at the lower strike price. They can later sell the same at a higher price and keep the difference. If there is a price that goes under the strike price beyond the expiration date, it will not be worth anything. But the loss investors incur is limited to the premium they have paid. 

In case of a put, the price must be under the strike price to be “in the money.” Traders have the right to sell the Bitcoin at a higher value than the strike price. To leverage it, investors need to purchase the asset at market price. In the future, they can sell them at a value higher than the strike price and keep the profit. 

Where Can Traders Bitcoin Options?

Bitcoin options are not available on the crypto exchanges. Presently, the three primary Bitcoin option trading platforms that include: 

Quedex in Gibraltar | LedgerX in New York | Deribit in Amsterdam

Why Trade with Bitcoin Options? 

The following are the reasons to trade with Bitcoin Options: 

  • They are better in comparison to futures as their loss is limited to the premium paid. 
  • Bitcoin options are extremely flexible as they can be leveraged to reflect the future pattern and use different types of strategies. 
  • You can harness volatility without bearing a directional position via delta hedging. 

It is important to understand that not all Bitcoin options work similarly. While traders can exercise the American Bitcoin option anytime they want, European options can only be exercised upon the expiry. When it comes to buying Bitcoin options, traders should select a credible platform with a proven track record.

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Decentralized File Sharing – An Efficient Approach To File Transfers?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

An efficient file storage method, decentralized file-sharing uses multiple nodes to store files instead of using a single centralized server. With the growing complexities on the internet due to the increasing rate of web data and files communicating through HTTP, it has become highly essential to use an efficient method to store data. When the online traffic is increased, the volume of information to be transferred mounts up automatically. As a result, if we want to transfer large files, we will need more bandwidth.

What Are The Issues And How Decentralized File Sharing Helps?

Addressing all these issues, decentralized file sharing emerged as a robust solution. Torrenting was the best solution for sharing available to the general public. It is used to transfer larger audio or video files over the internet without getting hampered by the challenges of HTTP. However, there were some drawbacks to the file-sharing protocols wherein the volunteers can restrict the services and disable the nodes that can limit the transfer.

With the help of blockchain technology, the decentralized file-sharing networks can be made robust. With this file-sharing network, users are provided with incentives for their contribution. This helps in ensuring that there are enough nodes to fuel the network.

The Potentials of MultiChain File Sharing

Multichain refers to an open-source structure, which enables users to deploy private blockchain for any enterprise. MultiChain supports Mac, Linux, and Window servers and offers a streamlined API as well as Command Line Interface.

This framework addresses the issues of privacy, openness, and mining through integrated user permission management. MultiChain is essentially a permission-based private blockchain that allows nodes to join and form a network. By enabling teams to create a well-integrated and secure network, MultiChain facilitates an efficient way of file-sharing.

Security Levels of Blockchain File Sharing

In the blockchain, we get enhanced security in file sharing. This technology offers multiple levels of security, including:

  • AES key encryption with RSA enables file access to merely by the receiver. Even if the files are accessible at all blocks, only specific receivers will have access to the file.
  • Files of equal size are divided and encoded through Hex encoding, which proves to be a potential way of sending files in the streams (blocks).
  • This is the most vital, powerful, and the highest level of security. Blockchain network offers the highest level of security by ensuring the fact that a file transfer occurs when all the nodes approve it within the network.
  • All nodes can certainly see when a transaction is happening between the senders and receivers without interfering with the process. The security level offers a guarantee that merely legitimate files can be transferred via the network.

The Bottom Line

By harnessing the full potentials of decentralized file sharing, we can enjoy stress-less and efficient file transferring that is not dependent on the nodes. Blockchain technology is an emerging technology that can make the file sharing process streamlined and more efficient. The above mentioned were some key highlights of decentralized file-sharing that we need to understand.

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What Is Crypto Arbitrage Trading?

Introduction Arbitrage is known as ARB, and this trading technique is used to facilitate the purchase and sale of similar assets simultaneously. This offers traders the opportunity to gain profits from different price levels. This form of trade acquires profit by leverage market inefficiencies. So if there is a price difference between identical securities in various […]

Introduction Arbitrage is known as ARB, and this trading technique is used to facilitate the purchase and sale of similar assets simultaneously. This offers traders the opportunity to gain profits from different price levels. This form of trade acquires profit by leverage market inefficiencies. So if there is a price difference between identical securities in various […]

Introduction

Arbitrage is known as ARB, and this trading technique is used to facilitate the purchase and sale of similar assets simultaneously. This offers traders the opportunity to gain profits from different price levels. This form of trade acquires profit by leverage market inefficiencies. So if there is a price difference between identical securities in various markets, we get winning opportunities. This is a great method to gain risk-free profit from discrepancies in prices. While this method comes to determining the ideal arbitrage opportunities and implementing it efficiently is quite challenging.

There are two types of crypto arbitrage:

Regular Arbitrage

It refers to purchasing and buying the same digital assets on various exchanges with considerable price differences.

Triangular Arbitrage

It encompasses price differences between three currencies on the same exchange. Traders to leverage the price difference through various conversions.

Although both approaches can be highly profitable, there are more challenges to identify opportunities for triangular arbitrage. Moreover, a large volume of trading on a similar exchange may qualify the trader for competitive fees, resulting in a positive impact on the profits.

Arbitrage Trading in the Crypto Market

While the concept remains the same, it involves different assets. There are hundreds of exchanges operating across the globe that allow people to purchase cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency prices are constantly changing across different exchanges. There are many social, political, and economic reasons that contribute to these changes. Arbitrage trading in this landscape is quite straightforward and depends on determining profitable paths.

Identifying the Right Path in Arbitrage Trading Paths

Arbitrage trading is extremely sensitive to time. Variations in the prices are temporary in nature. Potential trading profits generally stand between 1% and 6% per transaction. Therefore, traders need to leverage the right arbitrage software and tools to scan and monitor the market in real-time.

The opportunity for the cryptocurrency is calculated by determining the overlap between the lowest ask prices and the highest bid prices. So when the price of the bid is higher in one exchange than the asking price on another crypto exchange, this is designed as an arbitrage opportunity. Similar to any other method of crypto trading, there are certain risks associated with it. But people have created different strategies to mitigate the risks as much as possible.

Advantages of Crypto Arbitrage Trading

💰 With the right profit, it is a credible way to boost the capital. Similarly, it is all about speed, and you will make money quicker with regular trades.

💰 Most exchanges do not share and operate on their own. Typically, cryptocurrencies experience many rapid rises and sudden falls, resulting in price disparities and profitable arbitrage potentials.

💰 There are over 200 exchanges where you can purchase and sell cryptocurrencies. This means there are tons of profitable arbitrage opportunities.

Contrary to the market speculations, crypto arbitrage has witnessed massive success. It has proven a way to make some extra money without putting much effort. Considering that digital money is not subjected to social influences, and no-one controls them, people are highly inclined towards their potentials to increase in value in the near future.

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What should we know about DEXs & its benefits?

Introduction A decentralized exchange or DEX is referred to as a platform that eliminates the middlemen and allows traders to trade with each other directly. This direct approach allows traders to control their funds instead of giving them to exchange providers where trades are performed via smart contracts. These exchanges are hosted on a collected […]

Introduction A decentralized exchange or DEX is referred to as a platform that eliminates the middlemen and allows traders to trade with each other directly. This direct approach allows traders to control their funds instead of giving them to exchange providers where trades are performed via smart contracts. These exchanges are hosted on a collected […]

Introduction

A decentralized exchange or DEX is referred to as a platform that eliminates the middlemen and allows traders to trade with each other directly. This direct approach allows traders to control their funds instead of giving them to exchange providers where trades are performed via smart contracts.

These exchanges are hosted on a collected ecosystem of distributed nodes. This not only reduces the hacking risk but also addresses the problem of downtime that limits the trading ability. These exchanges are designed to extend an open, transparent network that makes crypto trading accessible to all.

What Makes DEX Different from Centralized Exchanges?

A Centralized exchange is also an online platform where people can buy and sell digital currency, but they use a third-party to authenticate and execute the transactions. This needs the buyers and sellers to entrust their funds to exchanges and allow them to safely complete the transactions.

These exchanges are known to be easy to use and enable traders to buy digital currencies with cryptocurrencies or fiat. They offer a streamlined entry point to the market and cover the majority of cryptocurrency trading.

Benefits of DEX

Following are the reasons we should think about trading in decentralized exchanges:

Control

In centralized exchanges, traders do not tend to have full control over their funds, limiting the trading potentials. Recently, the event known as Proof of Keys was run by centralized exchanges to ensure that exchanges could generate more profits on deposits, the same way a bank works.

This limited the users’ rights to withdraw all their funds in a single day.  The open nature of DEXs implies that our money remains in our control. Users get to withdraw their amount whenever they intend to.

Security

Centralized exchanges collect a massive amount of money from investors. This makes these exchanges the prime target of cybercriminals. Bitstamp and popular exchange based on Slovenia was hacked in 2015.

The hackers got access to the hot wallet and stole 19,000 Bitcoins, which was worth $5 million. And with the increasing number of trading in cryptocurrencies, centralized exchanges are becoming more vulnerable to hackers. Decentralized exchanges offer more security and, over the years, have become more common choices for crypto trading.

Privacy

Centralized exchanges are categorized as MSPs or Money Service Providers. This implies that users have to undergo certain anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-your-customer (KYC) processes. But people are often resistant to providing their personal information to third parties. This is because they end up having no control over what will happen to the data.

Decentralized exchanges, on the other hand, are not controlled by a central authority. Therefore, we do not need to register other than having a valid wallet address. Decentralized exchanges still remain a rather new concept in this ecosystem. But traders are rapidly comprehending its advantages over centralized exchanges.

Bottom line

Many new DEXs are coming in the market with better features, security options, and ease of use. When assessing these platforms, ensure to consider important factors such as security features, trading volume, currencies available, transaction fees, sign-up process, etc.

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The Basics of Cryptocurrency Lending And Staking

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Crypto trading has become one of the hot topics of the market. With the security of cryptography and interesting rates of the currency, everyone wants to get their share of the pie. That is why more people are looking for opportunities to generate some income with the help of cryptocurrency. Two best methods you can opt for making money through cryptocurrency are lending and staking. Let’s dive into the two techniques and see which one can be beneficial for you.

Crypto Lending

The concept of crypto lending can be understood as a simple cryptocurrency collateralized loan. A borrower can utilize their crypto assets for getting a stablecoin or fiat loan. In exchange for this, the lender gets a fixed (agreed-upon) interest rate. Alternatively, the borrower can also use their stablecoins as collateral for borrowing crypto assets.

The whole process raises the cryptocurrency’s productivity by reallocating it to people who are in immediate need (borrowers) from those who are not (lenders). That is why crypto lending proves to be a powerful financial primitive in the crypto market that traditionally had only two options: trade and HODL.

The only drawback to crypto lending is that you got to have some capital or assets at your disposal to get the loan. That means they are over collateralized and don’t offer all advantages of true credit.

Crypto Staking

You may find people talking about staking as just holding some crypto and earning rewards in exchange for it. However, there is more to this concept. Staking involves the Proof-of-Stake mechanism, where new blocks get produced and verified through staking.

So unlike mining, you don’t need special computers to solve problems here. But you do need to follow some conditions to become a new block validator, such as:

  • Your cryptocurrency wallet must hold a minimum amount.
  • Your wallet must remain online throughout the day and every day.
  • Your wallet should support crypto staking.

Other than these, different blockchains may apply different rules. So you need to check with the blockchain for how you can stake. Plus, staking is not supported by every cryptocurrency, and you have to choose only from the provided options.

In exchange for holding these staking processes, you get a fixed percentage of rewards per year. You can also opt for a pool, where multiple holders keep their coins together. This increases the overall chances of validating a block and getting higher revenues.

Lending vs. Staking: Which One To Opt?

It would be wrong to state that either of them is better than the other. They both have pros and cons. Your choice majorly depends on the type of investor you are. In case you need instant stable coins with the help of assets, lending would be more beneficial for you. On the other hand, you can opt for staking if you want to generate a significant amount of money by holding the crypto coins in your wallet.

The crucial point here is to keep an eye on the blockchain in which you are investing. You need to look through all the aspects before putting money in a particular investment method.

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Different Facets Of The Blockchain Technology

Introduction We have seen many topics related to blockchain explaining different facets of the technology. This article is an attempt to put together the main aspects of the technology and how it has shaped up so far from the invention of bitcoin as the first application of blockchain technology. 🔗 Cryptocurrencies The blockchain journey starts […]

Introduction We have seen many topics related to blockchain explaining different facets of the technology. This article is an attempt to put together the main aspects of the technology and how it has shaped up so far from the invention of bitcoin as the first application of blockchain technology. 🔗 Cryptocurrencies The blockchain journey starts […]

Introduction

We have seen many topics related to blockchain explaining different facets of the technology. This article is an attempt to put together the main aspects of the technology and how it has shaped up so far from the invention of bitcoin as the first application of blockchain technology.

🔗 Cryptocurrencies

The blockchain journey starts with cryptocurrencies. The blockchain technology journey started with the bitcoin platform. The coin is the first cryptocurrency ever, and it changed the course of the finance industry for good. Cryptocurrencies include the properties of cryptography, which result in the property of immutability.

Peer-to-peer networks lead to decentralization, which has become the need of the hour with ever-growing frauds. The cryptocurrency platforms use different consensus algorithms like Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Delegated Proof of Stake, Proof of Burn, etc., which overcome Byzantine Fault Tolerance issues. People who maintain the network and confirm the transactions are incentivized using the local currency of the platform.

🔗 Cryptocurrencies with enhanced privacy features

Blockchains being transparent, it is easy to find the transactions done by different users in the platform. Hence a few platforms have enhanced privacy features so that the transactions made are not traceable. Coins from the Cryptonote family are a good example. Monero is an excellent example from cryptonote, which uses ring signatures, which obscures the sender and receiver’s address. The amount is also restricted by default.

🔗 Different types of Blockchains

While cryptocurrency platforms have a protocol that they should be open and permissible, it is not a hard and fast rule for blockchain technology. We have permissioned ledgers, which are also called private blockchains. An excellent example of private blockchains is enterprise blockchains like hyperledger platforms.

We also have permissionless ledgers, which are public blockchains. Good examples of permissionless are cryptocurrency platforms. We have hybrid platforms as well, which are a mix of public and private, leveraging the properties of both the platforms wherever required.

🔗 Applications of blockchain other than cryptocurrency

Blockchain technology has made its way to almost all the fields. Healthcare, supply chain, agriculture, energy trading, valuable goods/diamond digitization, shipping industry, trade finance, music, publications, art, gaming, etc. Blockchain being a niche technology, the adoption is still low, but the recent surveys across the industries only prove that they have started implementing the technology or looking to implement at the moment.

🔗 Non-crypto applications on top of cryptocurrency platforms

Ethereum has many DAPPs developed and operating on its platform, but we cannot say that these applications run on cryptocurrency applications. Ethereum is a broad platform with a multitude of smart contracts operating on them serving different purposes. There are applications on the top of the bitcoin platform which convey messages. Protocols like Counterparty, Factum, Colored Coins allows the creation of tokens to denote something with a fraction of bitcoin value.

🔗 Projects to tackle scalability issues

The main drawback of blockchain platforms is scalability, and many projects have been developed to address the same. Segwit, segregation of witness aims to remove the signature from the main block and store it somewhere else to increase the block’s space for more transactions.

We have sidechains that intend to transfer some of the workloads to an adjacent chain, called sidechain, which may or may not run on the same consensus algorithm but are equally secured. The hacking of the main chain doesn’t affect the side chain and vice versa. The sidechains are used to test innovations and implement smart contracts if they are not feasible to run on the leading network.

Conclusion

These are some of the facets to show how blockchain as a technology has grown to address the drawbacks from one stage to another. Many have speculated that the technology is not very much useful and is overhyped. But with all the developments since its inception and all the money being poured into the technology, we can only say that it is here to stay and improve a lot and prove itself for time and again.

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‘Blockchain Coding’ – The Different Programming Languages That Are Being Used!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

In the nineties, when the internet was evolving, it sometimes used to take hours to connect to the internet. When the visionaries were betting on the internet that it would change the world, most of them wondered if it has that transforming effect? Now we cannot imagine a world without the internet. The same is going to happen with blockchain. Blockchain is going to create the internet of value. To build that work, we need developers in blockchain, and different languages used in developing the technology.

To understand which languages should be used in blockchain coding, let us see the challenges the tech offer to understand and select a language for development.

✰ Security

If we talk about public blockchains, the code is open source and public. Anyone can check the code, find vulnerabilities, and take away millions in dollars. Hence the development is very slow in general.

✰ Resource Management

Networks grow in size pretty soon, and hence the maintenance should be appropriate. Local queries should be addressed at the earliest.

✰ Performance

The language chosen should be extremely versatile. Blockchain has specific tasks that can be checked parallelly while some cannot. Signature verification can be checked parallelly, while transaction verification should be done to avoid double-spending.

✰ Deterministic behavior

A smart contract should behave in the same way, no matter in which machine you run them. In the same way, a transaction should hold good at any point in time. Hence, they should operate in Isolation. Hence, we should isolate smart contracts and transactions from non-deterministic elements.

Let us see the languages which overcome these challenges below:

C++

The bitcoin blockchain is written in C++. C++ has been developed as an extension of the C language, and it is an object-oriented language (OOP). OOP means, when an object is created with functions and data, it can be called upon for use any number of times further, thus reducing coding time. Let see the features of C++ below, which aides in blockchain coding.

Memory

C++ takes complete control over CPU and memory usage. We have seen that blockchain requires effective resource management and the platform itself to integrate with lots of untrusted endpoints still giving quick service.

Threading

A thread is a set of instructions that can be executed simultaneously. C++ not only supports multithreading but also optimizes single-thread performance. As we discussed before, blockchain needs both parallel and non-parallel tasks to be performed; hence threading functionality helps in this requirement.

Move Semantics

Move Semantics helps in getting copies of particular data only when required. This reduces data redundancy and boosts performance.

Code Isolation

Code isolation is possible in C++ due to its usage of classes. The language itself is so mature that it is frequently updated, which helps use the latest features.

Solidity

The most common language used in Ethereum to write smart contracts is Solidity. Anyone interested in developing DAPPs or get into the ICO games, Solidity, is a must learn. Most of the Ethereum founders contributed to the development of Solidity. Solidity is a slimmed-down language explicitly designed to develop smart contracts with a syntax very similar to Javascript.

Python and Javascript are used as well in blockchain coding as they have the required properties as well. Go Lang, developed by Google, is used as well due to its faster speeds. The need for blockchain developers is very high, and going forward will only increase. Hence, for programmers, if they can learn what blockchain is, they have a high tide to ride and make their name in the blockchain world.

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‘Decred’ – The First Of Its Kind Autonomous Digital Currency

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Decred (DCR) stands for Decentralized Credit and it is an autonomous digital currency. As the name says, it brings decentralized decision-making and governance to the platform in the form of votes from both miners and holders of the coin. The value proposition of this coin is that it is secure, adaptable, and sustainable on its own.

The coin is secure since it uses the combination of proof of work (POW) and Proof of Stake (POS) hybrid consensus mechanism. Hence, it is more expensive in order of magnitude to attack a hybrid model. The adaptable part of the coin is because of the voting rights granted to its miners and holders, providing them their say in the project level decisions. This will prevent hard forks and help in developing technology as we go further.

Lastly, they are sustainable as 10% of each block reward goes to the treasury. This leads to a very flexible model to incentivize the miners/contractors for their work.

How does the hybrid POW/POS work?

🏳️ The first block is mined using standard Proof of Work mechanism.

🏳️ Randomly five validators with a stake in the system are chosen from the pool to validate the block.

🏳️ If three out of the five validators are in consent with the validity of the block, the block gets added to the blockchain.

🏳️ 60% of the reward goes to the block miners, 30% of the reward goes to the validators while 10% of the reward goes to the Decred project treasury.

While the POW mechanism is pretty the same, POS needs some explanation in the context of Decred.

🏳️ People with DCR should buy some tickets to be part of the validators pool in the system

🏳️ For each block, only 20 tickets are allowed, and hence you have to pay some fee if you have to be selected as a validator quicker

🏳️ Once you are selected as a validator, your ticket will be treated as immature until 256 blocks are mined, approximately equal to 20 hours.

🏳️ Once your ticket is entered into the lottery pool, five validators are chosen randomly, and hence one has to wait for their chance. The system is designed in such a way that the chance of a ticket being selected as a validator is 99.5% before its expiry, which is four months in general.

Security

It is estimated that it is nearly 22 times more expensive to hack a hybrid POW/POS consensus mechanism than a pure POW network. Hence the system is very secure.

Governance

As we have already said before, the project level decisions are taken in the form of voting by both miners and holders of the DCR. Decred has never done an ICO or take funds from any private organization. They have created their funds like Dash, with every 10% of block reward going to the treasury. This treasury is maintained via DAO’s, decentralized autonomous organizations, which run on their own. This is how it works.

  • Anyone in the community can propose an improvement proposal for a small fee to avoid any spam.
  • Stakeholders, miners/holders can vote on the projects that they would likely to be received funding
  • Once approved, the funds are released in the form of a decentralized autonomous entity (DAE’s).

Decred is an excellent project due to its governance system. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, but it’s scarce that any one of them has a good governance mechanism. A suitable governance mechanism ensures the network’s credibility and also forking of any form is avoided. Decred is a highly underrated project which should be recognized for its innovation. Cheers!

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Some Of The High Profile Crypto Exchange Hacks You Must Know!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Even though cryptocurrencies are secure, crypto exchanges are where hackers target to loot millions of dollars. No matter how big a cryptocurrency is with the hacks we have seen so far, the exchanges will inevitably be subject to hacks at some point in time. Even though it is 2020, almost ten years since the advent of bitcoin, the hacks have never been slowed down. This is why it is always advisable for the crypto investors to hold their assets in their personal wallets instead of storing them with the crypto exchange itself.

Let us look at some of the high-profile cryptocurrency hacks so far:

The Mt.Gox

Mt.Gox, a Japan-based cryptocurrency stock exchange, was the biggest and busiest of exchanges, with 70% of bitcoin transactions from all over the world was going in the platform back then in 2013-14. With cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency exchanges, there were no regulations. There were many loopholes in the company’s management, like there was no VCS, Version Control Software. The VCS mainly stores all the information of all the features, coding set up of a particular version of the software product.

Without proper VCS, we will not know what changes were made when and it would be practically impossible to go back to a particular version of the software if necessary. All the code changes were to be approved by the CEO himself, which is the biggest bottleneck. There was no testing policy; the developers develop code and deploy it without any particular testing, which is a disaster. All these underlying issues led to a massive hack amounting to $473 million worth of bitcoin in 2014, which eventually led to the closure of the exchange permanently.

The DAO Hack

Before the 2019 Hack of Ethereum classic, DAO hack was the major one in the Ethereum platform. DAO, Decentralized Autonomous Organization, is a smart contract that was supposed to revolutionize the platform. The DAO acts as a decentralized venture capital fund for all the future DAPPS getting developed in the platform. Anyone can buy DAO for some ether and gain voting rights for any proposed app developed in the platform.

If one doesn’t wish to vote any further or doesn’t want to contribute to an app they are not interested in, they can opt-out of DAO. The opting-out part is where the hackers aimed and hacked 50 million dollars in 2016. The opting-out function has been made recursive by hackers. Hence instead of returning the funds once, the system kept returning the funds until it was noticed and stopped. Due to this issue, Ethereum was hard forked into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

The Bitfinex Hack

The Bitfinex exchange for increasing the security and ease the transactions for the users came up with multi-sig wallets with the collaboration of Bitgo. Multi-signature wallets are such wallets that have multiple keys. One key is owned and stored by the company.  While the owner of the wallet has two keys, he may give one key to his trustworthy friend/relative, so that even he loses his key, he has a backup. Generally, the multi-signature wallets need two keys to operate.

These wallets are hot, and this additional security feature ironically led to the hack. However, there are many theories on how and why the hack happened. Bitfinex rose to limelight and gained the credibility back. $72 million worth of bitcoin was hacked due to which 20% of the value of each bitcoin was eroded.

Later we saw many hacks in different exchanges like Bithumb where $30 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen. Coinrail was hacked for $37.2 million, BitGrail for $195 million, and Coincheck for $534 million.

Conclusion

While cryptocurrencies are no doubt safe, but one has to do their homework on the exchanges, they are transacting. Always store your cryptocurrency in your own hot/cold wallets. Crypto exchanges will always be targeted if they are doing business for very high value. They should voluntarily show the security measures they are taking to avoid any potential hack. No matter which cryptocurrencies one is trading with, due diligence on the exchange is first and foremost.

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Brief Introduction To The Revolutionary ‘Neo’ Blockchain

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Neo is an open-source, decentralized blockchain platform founded in 2014 by Da HongFei and Erik Zhang. These are the same duo who started Shanghai-based blockchain R&D company’ OnChain.’ Neo is often known as Ethereum of China due to its similarities, but the project has its own set of goals, which we will be looking further in this article.

Neo is formerly known as Antshares, and the rebranding happened in 2017. Since the rebranding, the company’s motive is to achieve a smart economy using blockchain technology and an essential feature of blockchain smart contracts to issue and manage digitized assets.

Neo wants to achieve a smart economy by giving digital identity to digitize assets and further use automation in the management of digital assets using smart contracts and henceforth achieving a smart economy using a distributed network.

Digital Assets + Digital Identity + Smart Contracts = Smart Economy.

Let us look into the three components that make up the smart economy in detail below:

Digital Assets

Digital Assets are anything that exists in a binary format and with a right to use. The right to use property is essential for a digital asset to exist. Any asset that can be stored digitally can be said as a digital asset. Some examples of digital assets include logos, images, illustrations, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. Assets can be easily digitized on the neo platform is a transparent, trustworthy, and auditable manner. The Neo platform allows the linking of a physical asset with a digital avatar using digital identity, which is valid by law. Thus, the platform protects the assets.

Two forms of digital assets

Global Assets: These are assets that are recognized by all smart contracts and clients.

Contract Assets: These are assets that are only recognized by specific smart contracts and cannot be used in other contracts

Digital Identity

Identity can be defined as a set of attributes that relate to an entity. Neo enables the creation of identity information of individuals, organizations, and entities in an electronic form, thus making it digital. It does this by verifying identity using fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition, and SMS. For the smooth functioning of digital assets, digital identity is essential. Neo uses X.509 digital identity standard, which is a widely accepted digital issuance model.

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are any piece of self-execution code when a predefined specific set of instructions are met. Smart contracts are immutable and should be able to run on multiple nodes without compromising its integrity. Neo requires three essential features for smart contracts; they are deterministic, terminable, and isolated. Smart contracts can be codes in any mainstream coding language like C#, Java, Go.

Key Characteristics of Neo

🔗 Neo uses dBFT, Delegated Byzantine Fault tolerance model for consensus mechanism. In dBFT consensus, nodes are chosen by Neo holders to generate blocks and validate the transactions. In turn, they have to hold certain Neo tokens as a threshold and maintain some performance requirements.

🔗 Neo’s transaction speeds are considered to be one of the highest among the available with 1000 TPS. High transactions per second lead to centralization by only a few users mining and validating the transactions.

🔗 The platform supports all the mainstream coding languages for smart contracts, which helps prevent developers from learning new languages to work on the platform.

Neo has two local tokens, Neo and Gas. Neo is used to create blocks and manage the network while Gas is the fuel that powers transactions in the Neo system.

Many Governments across the world are trying to incorporate blockchain functionalities into the day to day activities of the running of the government to achieve a smart economy. Neo, with its faster transaction speeds and with its core fundamentals, enable the goal to accomplish in a much quicker fashion.

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Formal Verification – A Method That Makes Smart Contracts Extra Secure!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

The smart contracts are now used extensively in the crypto and blockchain space for various use cases, especially for transactions involving a very high volume of money. Hence, it has been more critical than ever to check out smart contracts for any vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are the reasons for hacking some of the cryptocurrency platforms, even though the blockchain network is very secure. Hence the timely audits and formal verifications are must both concerning hardware and software to ensure optimal security.

What is Formal Verification?

Formal verification is a method used to check whether the software of hardware systems matches the intended requirement. A particular type of mathematical technique is used to know the intended requirement matches or not. Using these mathematical techniques to check the level of the algorithm of correctness as per the requirement is known as formal verification.

Testing hardware or software with formal verification can be broken down into 2 phases, validation, and verification. Validation determines whether the product meets the user’s needs while verification is testing whether the product works as per the specifications provided.

While formal verification used to be done mostly for the hardware components, it is increasing the testing in software components as well. As there is no third-party involvement in vast transfers of the money, these are autonomous transfers. Hence, smart contracts should be robust enough without any faults.

Why is Formal Verification used for Smart Contracts?

Ethereum is a Turing complete machine, started utilizing the concept of smart contracts. Hence an analysis has been done on around one million smart contracts of Ethereum to check their robustness. It has been found that nearly around 32,000 contracts are faulty. The contracts are seen to be flawed because they were found to either lock the funds indefinitely or release the funds to arbitrary users, and anyone could kill the contract.

Given the nature of the immutability of smart contracts, if these problems aren’t detected before the deployment of the agreement, it will create serious issues once the code is deployed.

Platforms using formal verification

Many platforms that are using smart contracts robustly are trying to integrate formal verification into their platforms. Let us see some of them below:

Cardano

Cardano’s smart contract language is Plutus, which is based on Haskell. Cardano is basically written in Haskell. Cardano is designed with the Cardano computational layer, which by default consists of two layers while one allows formally specified languages used for checking the code of the smart contract, and the other is a defined officially virtual machine and language framework. The default layers’ goal is to check the smart contracts to avoid severe vulnerabilities in smart contracts without any additional requirements.

Ethereum

Ethereum has been trying to incorporate formal verification for a long time now since it has many smart contracts functioning on the platforms. They have even come up with a publication called “making smart contracts smarter.” This publication focuses on smart contracts bugs and mainly focuses on ways to mitigate them. This includes the change in operational semantics of Ethereum to inbuilt formal verification.

There are certain challenges in implementing formal verification in the Ethereum platform. One is gas limits, and the other one is its solidity programming language. To understand solidity, it should be compiled into bytecode. The compiler changes rapidly, so the verification tools should be in tandem with the speed of the compiler.

Conclusion

Measuring the positive impact of formal verification in the smart contracts will take some time since the adoption is slow. Many are realizing just yet the vulnerabilities of smart contracts, and given its substantial financial transactions, the weaknesses should be captured effectively and curtailed at the very beginning to restrict the losses.

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Understanding Merkle Tree & Its Importance In Blockchain

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Merkle tree is the essential component of a blockchain. Data entered into the blockchain is immutable, and this is a critical future of blockchain. Even though there are many futures, many deploy blockchain for this one significant future. This future is primarily achieved using the concept of a Merkle tree. Before dwelling into further about the idea, it is essential to understand cryptographic hash functions.

What are cryptographic hash functions?

Cryptographic hash functions are another integral part of blockchain technology. Cryptography is often used for military purposes. In war zones, the data is shared between two parties of a country at different places using cryptography.

Cryptographic hash functions are algorithms that transform any input given to the algorithm in the output of fixed length. The outputs change drastically, even if a single letter of the input is changed. At the same time, the same input gives the same output all the time. It is highly unlikely to determine the output based on the input unless one has a set of public/private keys. Any length of the input gives a fixed-length output; this feature is handy when a large amount of data sets is used. To check any set of data is modified or not, we can check the fixed-length hash.

Let us see the usage of cryptographic hash functions in the bitcoin blockchain network. Blockchain is essentially a series of blocks of transactions joined together using cryptographic hash functions. Each block has header data and transactions associated with it. Header data contains the previous hash, nonce, Merkle root, block hash.

Data of the complete block, including the header data, is hashed, and this hash is stored in the present block and also in the next block as the previous block hash. This previous block hash represents the entire state of the blockchain at any given point of time. Hence if we make any changes to the transactions in the last block, the hash of all the blocks up to the present block will be disturbed, which is why it is highly impossible to change the transactions and hence the concept of immutability.

Now how do we verify the hashes to check the data integrity? It is highly inefficient and time consuming to check the hash of every block. Hence the concept of Merkle tree is used as it is efficient to check the data integrity.

What is a Merkle tree, and how is it used?

Merkle tree developed by Ralph Merkle is also called a Binary hash tree. It is a data structure used to store hashes of individual data in an extensive data set in a way to make the verification of the date set efficient.

An example of the Merkle tree is as below.

It would be easy to understand the Merkle tree with the example above. It is essentially a tree of hashes with branches of individual hashes. These hashes come from the transactions of the blockchain platform when it comes to a cryptocurrency platform.

In the above figure, we have transactions from TA  represents a transaction, while HA represents a hash of that transaction. All the transactions are hashed to produce a hash value of its own transaction. Then adjacent transactions are hashed together to form a hash of both transactions. Like HAB is the hash of transactions A and B. If there are an odd number of transactions, then the transaction is combined by its own, and a hash value is created. The same process is repeated until the last hash value is generated, which is called the Merkle root. In this case, HABCDEFGH is the Merkle root of transactions from TA to TH. This is how a Merkle tree is formed.

Hence because of the tree, it would easy to find if any transactions are tampered with, uses very few resources to check any fraudulent behavior, and easy to add new transactions to the block.

This allows for simple payment verification, and the new nodes need not download the entire blockchain but only the block headers of the longest chain. Thus Merkle trees help to maintain the immutability and integrity of the blockchain.

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What’s Stopping Blockchain’s Mass Adoption?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Blockchain technology came into the picture with the advent of cryptocurrencies. Since the value of cryptocurrencies is increasing exponentially day by day, people have started exploring its base technology, which is Blockchain. Blockchain has a lot of use cases in various industries say Supply chain, healthcare, agriculture, energy, data storage. In spite of all the use cases and numerous numbers of projects, consortiums in action today still the technology is considered to be nascent. Any technology takes time to reach masses, but Blockchain has certain hindrances that are stopping it from mass adoption. Let’s see some of them below.

No Universal Use Case

People often compare Blockchain as a new age internet. Just as the Internet changed the world forever, Blockchain is considered to do the same in the digital world. The Internet was created to provide information worldwide with the worldwide web. It created an industry for itself and reigned it. When it comes to Blockchain, it doesn’t have an industry of its own. It surely promises enough to revolutionize most of the existing sectors, but if there were one industry of its own, then the adoption and results would have been very promising. The combination of next-generation technologies, Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Blockchain, and the Internet of things may create an industry of its own that could be revolutionary.

Complicated Usage

The technology is quite complicated to use provided its secure nature. To perform a transaction in the bitcoin network, there should be an address with a string of numbers, wallets, transaction time, transaction fees, and a lot of stuff. All this terminology is pretty new to a novice user and finds it pretty challenging to use. Mass adoption will be possible only if we educate people enough. Most of the people know about Blockchain only through cryptocurrencies, and that notion should change. People should understand that Blockchain is much more than just cryptocurrencies.

Scalability

One of the significant issues with mass adoption is scalability, i.e., the number of transactions per second (TPS). When we take cryptocurrencies, the original bitcoin blockchain processed only 7 TPS. As the adoption of cryptocurrencies increased, processing time and transaction fees increased drastically, which will discourage people from using cryptocurrencies. Visa/Mastercard supports 24000 TPS, which is used worldwide and is very reliable. Even though some platforms are claiming 40000 TPS, we should check whether they are safe enough or not.

Standardization of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts have received popularity, and many enterprises have started using the same for their business needs. But there is no standardization, and there are a lot of vulnerabilities when it comes to smart contracts. The code is not standard. There is a scope for a lot of vulnerabilities. Hence if certain standards are established like formal verification of contracts to check vulnerabilities, the security of the system increases more.

Energy Consumption Issues

It is a well-known fact that proof of work, which is mainly used in bitcoin blockchain as of today, consumes a lot of energy. Environmentalists throughout the world are entirely against it. Hence the usage of energy friendly consensus algorithms like proof of stake should be used if mass adoption is to be made. Recently Ethereum has shifted to proof of stake from proof of work, which is a welcome move.

Regulation by Governments

Finally, governments should agree or accept the trade, registrations, or any legal matter of the sort to be done in blockchain platforms. As per the government rules, if certain transactions should be done only on paper, then it is not possible to use Blockchain. Governments across the world are at least trying to regularize cryptocurrency, considering the widespread usage. Hence, technology use in other aspects should also be considered.

These are some of the reasons that are holding back the mass adoption of this amazing technology. It is important to note that there is a lot of research and development being done in this space to overcome the above-mentioned hurdles.

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Exploring The New Suite Features Of ‘CryptoNote’ Technology

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

CryptoNote is an open-source protocol that essentially serves as an underlying technology for some cryptocurrency. Just like Blockchain technology, CryptoNote is also technology that is a backend for cryptocurrencies.

CryptoNote technology was primarily developed to provide extremely private features using advanced cryptography. What makes it unique is the egalitarian approach for making the network decentralized and censorship-resistance.

Origin of CryptoNote

The CryptoNote has had a history similar to that of Bitcoin, in terms of being mysterious. It emerged in 2012 and was published on Tor, and the author of the original whitepaper Nicolas Van Saberhagen is a pseudonym, which means that the identity of the author is still unknown. In fact, the identity of the author of the second edition of the whitepaper is also under the same pseudonym.

The original whitepaper discussed the privacy and flexibility that is deficient in Bitcoin. It also sheds light on the traceability and linking ability of transactions in Bitcoin’s “one-CPU-one-vote,” as explained by the creator of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto. On the whitepaper, they claim to present more advanced features for decentralized cryptocurrency networks that are based on complicated mathematical analysis.

Entering the CryptoNote Technology

The CryptNote technology is similar to the blockchain technology, with few key differences. This technology is built under consideration of two features that make the payment network through this system fully anonymous. They are,

                        Untraceability & Unlinkability

Untraceability – For all the incoming transactions from the network, every sender is equally probable at the origin.

Unlinkability – A property where it is not possible to verify that two outgoing transactions are sent to one particular person.

When the proposal to launch the technology was made, there were many optimizations and improvements made to keep their technology stand apart from the crowd and hold its original principles along the way. The standard features that should be embedded in such technology are implemented as well. The following are the primary features CryptoNote has to offer.

  • Untraceability of payments
  • Unlinkability of Transactions
  • No Double-Spending
  • Blockchain Analysis Resistance
  • Egalitarian PoW

Cryptocurrencies backed by CryptoNote

There are several coins that are implemented using CryptoNote technology. All of the coins have this technology in them in some or the other way. In fact, there are even optimizations made to the current features that are then added to the cryptocurrency.

Bytecoin

Bytecoin is the first cryptocurrency that was created using CryptoNote technology in 2012. Being the first one, it was quite popular back then. This coin includes the exclusive CryptoNight mining algorithm along with the typical features of CryptoNote. Bytecoin was mainly developed to facilitate instant transactions with no fee for businesses, merchants, and customers in the inclusion of security, anonymity, and fast international payments.

Monero

Monero has been one of the most popular cryptocurrency when it comes to privacy. This open-source protocol and decentralized network community are highly dedicated to making Monero a powerful anonymous payment method. And not to mention, this coin is created under the assistance of CryptoNote.

Conclusion

Over the years, people are not completely satisfied with the features provided by the blockchain. Their focus has been on finding inefficiencies in this technology and coming up with other technologies satisfying those inefficiencies. And CryptoNote is one such technology that emphasizes on anonymity in cryptocurrency networks. This is a very broad property and will remain in development for long.

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Understanding Market Speculations In The Cryptocurrency Market

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Market speculation is a term that can put you in a bad light if discussed with a casual investor. People often relate speculation to the irresponsible behavior of the banks and financial institutions. To a layman, this term is nothing but a synonym for gambling. The only difference being, in gambling, personal money is used, not investor money.

The concept of speculation is misunderstood by many. Agreed that investing is all about balancing the risk to reward ratio, but speculation is no different. It is an anticipation that the risk on the investment is going to be well worth the risk. In this article, we shall be clearly understanding the concept of market speculation and determine if it is evil to the cryptocurrency market.

What is Speculation?

Trading and investing involve the managing of risk and return. Speculation is that space that fits in the area opposite of guaranteed investors, like bonds and other safe havens. Be it any type of investment; there involves risk. The risk cannot be completely eliminated but surely be reduced. Typically, an investment with low-risk yields low returns. Similarly, investments with relatively high risk, the payout is equally high. And speculation work with the latter principle.

Myth – Speculation is Gambling

There are still a lot with the conception that speculation is no different from gambling. Gambling could involve some skill elements but certainly cannot cut off the risk on it. It is basically like a game of dice. Considering the die to be unbiased, the probability of a predicted number coming up always remains 1/6. Speculation, on the other hand, involves high research in the background, where the speculator studies and analyses all the risks involved in it, and then take actions accordingly. Also, when they bet on something involving high risk, they try making sure that the odds are in their favor.

Cryptocurrency Speculation

Cryptocurrency speculation is mostly inclined towards Bitcoin as it was the first cryptocurrency in the market. Back then, only a handful of people predicted the exponential rise of Bitcoin from a few cents to thousands of dollars. However, there was a good number of investors who made a fortune off this move. In the ocean of investors, there are the ones who anticipate a high return from a small investment, in short, the speculators.

Cryptocurrencies are those that seem like they are specifically made for speculative purposes. And these cryptocurrencies are unlike the tulip bulbs of old that would turn out to be a scam. Bitcoin, for example, is a cryptocurrency known for its security and trust as it backed up blockchain technology. Since the cryptocurrency market is fresh and new relative to others, speculators can consider it a great opportunity to bet on their chosen coins.

Conclusion

Market speculators from the very beginning have earned a bad name. This misconception is still in the air. As a trader/investor, you have to be conservative, but it does not mean you cannot be a risk-taker. Taking risks during the right times and on the right securities can turn out to be a moneymaker. And this is what successful are onto.

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Cryptocurrency Inheritance – What Happens To Your Cryptos When You Die?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Ever imagined what would happen to your cryptocurrency when you die? In the case of land or property, it typically goes to the person’s children or to the ones mentioned by them. And all this happens legally with proper documentation. But it does not work the same way with a person’s cryptocurrency.

In cryptocurrencies, inheritance does exist but is pretty different from the regulated ones. Now, let’s understand the inheritance in cryptos keeping in the sense of the decentralization and anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies.

Though cryptocurrencies are not regulated officially, it does not mean you can let go off the unused coins. They do have value in themselves, and also if converted to fiat currencies. According to estimates, Bitcoins worth $20 billion is already lost and not in use. This could be due to negligence or the death of the owner without anyone’s knowledge that the person had coins in their portfolio.

Furthermore, a Reddit user created a spreadsheet accounting the wallet addresses, which were inactive since the time each Bitcoin was worth below $10. And in 2015, there were more than 3 million Bitcoins that were left untouched.

Ways to Not Let Cryptocurrency Unused

Dead Man’s Switch

In the case of cryptos, there exists a computer program that emails you at specific intervals and waits for your reply. If the program does not receive any reply from the sent email, it then automatically checks for death certificates of the account holder. If it finds such a record and does not receive any email, the program will transfer the coins in the wallet to the specified wallet mentioned by the account holder during the time of set up.

However, there is a downside to it. Even though it is helpful in cryptocurrency inheritance, there can be a scenario when an alive user does not reply to an email, and the computer protocol transfers away from the cryptocurrency to the specified address.

Doing the Traditional Way

This is a technique that does not require any kind of computer technology. This is the simplest inheritance issue where the user writes down all the wallet credentials and hands it over to their beneficiary. The credentials may contain the private key, exchange login detail, and the fiat currency accounts associated with it.

However, storing all the information in one place may not be the ideal option. It could turn out to be a very high price paid just for the convenience. Finally, it all drops down to trust. There must be trust between the account holder and the beneficiary. This is because the beneficiary could tamper with the credentials even before the death of the user. Hence, users must be choosy before handing over the details.

Conclusion

There are several ways to ensure that your coins are not buried with you and are handed over to your loved ones. But, with all of them, there exists a downside to it, which makes you think again on handing away the coins to someone. This has made cryptocurrency inheritance still tricky to deal with.

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Perpetual Swaps for Bitcoin – Explained!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Perpetual Swaps, also referred to as perpetual contracts, are essentially a very popular type of futures contract. These contracts are largely dominated by the BitMEX exchange. The XBT/USD has seen to be one of the most popular products offered by them. Bitcoin derivatives, particularly perpetual contracts on BitMEX, were surging of popularity in 2009, in every Bitcoin derivative platform where all of them had record high volumes.

According to sources, BitMEX has a volume of around $2 billion consistently for 24-hour for Bitcoin futures. One of the reasons for this overwhelming volume can be accounted for its high leverage that is provided. For example, BitMEX facilitates 100x leverage on perpetual contracts. So, traders can open positions worth 100 BTC in the futures market with just 1 BTC as margin.

 

Understanding Futures Contracts on Bitcoin

Perpetual swaps can be considered as a futures contract for Bitcoin where a futures contract is simply an agreement between two parties to buy/sell a security at a particular price and date in the future. The buyer of the futures contract is then required to buy the underlying asset once the contract comes to expiry, and the seller is obligated to deliver those assets to the buyer at the time of expiry.

Futures are said to be a type of derivatives because they are derived from the underlying value of the asset. But perpetual contracts are quite different though they are a form of futures contracts. They are also referred to as “inverse futures contracts.” It is nothing but a standard futures contract, where cash-settlement of the underlying asset can be done without physical delivery.

The reason they are referred to as inverse futures contracts for Bitcoin because the settlement for BTC/USD is accomplished in BTC instead of USD that happens in all other futures markets. As a result, the US dollar is interpreted as a commodity, while BTC is used for the settlement of the contract.

The Benefits of Trading Perpetual Swaps

Well, there got to be some reasons for the skyrocketing volume that is seen in the volume of Bitcoin futures contracts. So, let’s discuss them out.

1️⃣ The uniqueness of the inverse futures contract is that it enables us to trade cryptocurrencies against fiat currencies without really having any exposure to the fiat currency. This type of facility can cut through the regulatory complications involving deposits into the exchange using fiat currencies.

2️⃣ Practically hedging positions in USD by shorting positions is another great exclusive feature in an inverse futures contract for Bitcoin.

3️⃣ As mentioned, every future comes to an expiry. However, the inverse futures contract created by BitMEX does not expire and levy a funding rate at three predetermined times every single day using the negative funding mechanism. The funding payment (size of the position plus the funding rate) is provoked every 8 hours at these specific times: 4:00 UTC, 12:00 UTC, 20:00 UTC.

Conclusion

With the great features offered by the inverse futures contract for Bitcoin, the possibility of institutional money coming into the cryptocurrency market seems to be pretty high, which could hence expand and mature the existing futures market. Also, the no expiration of Bitcoin futures is another for this market to stay tight in the coming years as well.

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The Best Emerging Blockchain Companies You Should Know

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

The Blockchain technology that came into reality in 2008 didn’t really gain much attention back then. However, as Bitcoin began to skyrocket in 2017, many understood the working of cryptocurrencies and the technology behind it. Several technologists started to find a replacement from their current technology with blockchain, as they found it to be the next revolutionary tech.

In fact, more than 90% of the US and European banks are into researching blockchain options. They believed that this technology could revolutionize the finance, government, insurance, and personal identity security, and several other spaces. In this article, we have listed out some interesting blockchain-based companies that have great potential in the future.

SALT LENDING (Website)

Domain – Fintech and Lending | Origin – Denver, Colorado

As the name of the company suggests, this company is involved in loan lending. Salt’s platform allows its users to leverage out their cryptocurrency for cash loans. Borrowers can get cash loans by leveraging coins like Bitcoin, Ether, or even Dogecoin, for a period of 1-36 months. This platform is accessible in most US states and several countries. The loans began at $5000.

MYTHICAL GAMES (Website)

Domain – Gaming | Origin – Sherman Oaks, Calif. and Seattle

Mythical Games is an online platform that creates games and experiences that feature the ownership of digital assets. This is backed on the blockchain technology that allows the creation and verification of a clean record of ownership of unique digital assets. The first blockchain-based game, Blankos, was launched in 2019.

GEMINI (Website)

Domain – Fintech, Cryptocurrency, Trading | Origin – New York

Gemini is a popular digital asset exchange that facilitates users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. It is a blockchain-based platform for trading of cryptos and for cybersecurity purposes. Individual traders and institutional investors can trade all the major cryptos, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, via their platform.

CIVIL (Website)

Domain – Digital media Journalism | Origin – Brooklyn, New York

The company Civil was created with an aim to build sustainable journalism with the help of blockchain. With the company’s software, journalists can launch their independently operated newsroom. And this done through the company’s own CVL token. Since this journalism runs on the blockchain technology, the stories published can neither be edited nor deleted.

DOC.AI (Website)

Domain – Healthcare, Artificial Intelligence | Origin – Palo Alto, California

DOC.AI is a healthcare company that uses blockchain in addition to machine learning to make predictions on the personal health of people. Basically, this company combines all the patients’ records that are available by every medical source and compresses it into one secure app. So, users can manage all their medical records all in one place and also get predictive analysis on that data. They even get compensation for sharing their data for medical research.

And the list of companies goes on and on. Below is the list of some more blockchain-based companies that are doing pretty great in business and are expected to grow bigger in the future.

Circle | Celsius Network | Wax | Bloq | Tradove | Learning Machine | Oasis Labs | Chronicled | Lemonade | Voatz | Blockstack

That’s about some of the most popular companies that offer services that are based on blockchain. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments below. Cheers.

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Beginners Guide To Atomic Swaps

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

One of the features of cryptocurrencies is that they are decentralized. However, in reality, it is not completely decentralized. For the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, the most popular option is to use a centralized exchange. Hence, adding an element of centralization in them.

Though this seems to be the best way to exchange cryptocurrencies, there are other better ways as well. This is because centralized exchanges sometimes possess big problems. There have cases where new exchanges have been hacked, which has caused losses for exchange and their clients. Moreover, the common issue with all exchanges is high withdrawal and trade fees. So, trading cryptos turns out to be expensive for clients with small capital.

Thus, the irony here is that cryptos that are known to be a peer-to-peer payment system requires users to go to a third party to exchange the coins. However, crypto analysts have taken this concern as a priority and have been able to come with something called “Atomic Swap.”

What is an Atomic Swap?

Atomic swaps are a solution to the above-discussed problem. Atomic Swap is a peer-to-peer exchange of cryptocurrency without the involvement of a middleman. If you are wondering what “atomic” means, it is a terminology used in computer science, meaning something would either completely happen or completely not.

Understanding Atomic Swaps

The main goal is to send someone cryptocurrency without the involvement of a third party. Let’s understand how the atomic swap makes this possible, with an example.

Assume Ron wants to send 1 Ether in exchange for 0.02 Bitcoins from Lisa. In atomic swap terms, we say that Ron has 1 ETH and wants to swap with Lisa for 0.02 BTC.

The key ingredient here is to create a smart contract called a hashlock. You may relate this to a container where the money is placed and is locked with a secret password.

How is the Hashlock made?

The hashlock, which is a smart contract that remains locked until the key is revealed, is made by Ron.

The hashlock is made using the following steps:

  1. A big random number is picked. It is called the primate. This is nothing but a secret password.
  2. This number is used to create another number called the A smart contract is created to send Lisa 1 ETH, locked with a hashlock created by him. This coin is accessible only when Lisa is able to figure out the preimage to the hash.

Note that calculating the hash from the preimage is easy, but determining the preimage from the hash is extremely challenging. In other words, Lisa cannot unlock the coins until she gets the preimage from Ron himself.

Role of Lisa

Now Lisa checks if she has received coins from Ron. This can be easily verified by checking on the public blockchain. After verification, Lisa creates a smart contract for 0.02 BTC with the same hash used by Ron.

Unlocking the coins

Now when Ron goes on to unlock the coins sent by Lisa, he uses the preimage he had created. But, in doing so, the preimage is recorded on the blockchain and becomes public information. Hence, Lisa can now use that preimage to unlock the coins sent by Ron.

Therefore, this completes the transaction without the involvement of a middleman.

This is a solution to the problem that exists in crypto exchanges. Since most users are still into exchanges, the idea of atomic swaps must be inculcated into exchanges and make them truly decentralized.

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Implications Of Blockchain In the Global Money Transfer Industry

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Fund transfers within the country are cheap and fast. But, transferring money from one country to another is typically slow as well as expensive. Presently, most international fund transfers are made using the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network.

Note that SWIFT is not the one that makes money transfers. Instead, it is a network that allows communication between financial institutions for a reliable and secure transfer. This is also the reason why several banks and financial institutions sue their services.

Traditional International Fund Transfer

A transfer via SWIFT technology usually takes several days to be completed. To understand how these transfers work, let’s consider a fund transfer from a US company to a supplier in China.

1️⃣ The US company would send an order to its associated bank to make a transfer to the Chinese company.

2️⃣ Assuming it is a local bank, it would not have access to make international financial markets. So, the local bank approaches a correspondent bank in the US that acts as an intermediary.

3️⃣ The American correspondent bank would then initiate a transaction to the bank in China. If this Chinese bank is not a correspondent bank, it will approach a correspondent bank to receive its payment.

4️⃣ Once the payment is received by the Chinese correspondent bank, it will locally transfer it to the supplier’s bank.

This completes a transaction between the two countries. It can be clearly ascertained that there are many intermediaries for a single transfer. This would eat up a lot of time. And for making the transfer, certain compensation must be paid to intermediaries.

Blockchain into International Money Transfer space

A paper relating to payments using blockchain titled ‘Leading the pack of Blockchain Banking’ points out that several international financial institutions expect blockchain to have a major impact on their businesses. This paper was carried out by the IBM Institute of Business Value and the Economist Intelligence Unit, which accounted for a survey of 200 banks in 16 countries. In the outcomes, about 70% of these banks believed that blockchain technology would reduce the expense and time of international transfers.

As an initiative, several major banks from different countries joined to design a blockchain-based digital currency. Their primary aim is to create a cryptocurrency that would ease utility settlements using blockchain. The list of banks that put forth this initiative include Barclays, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and State Street.

Furthermore, to speed up payments, an initiative involved a tie-up between Citi and Nasdaq. Using Citiconnect for blockchain, the users will get direct access to global payments from Nasdaq’s Linq platform. This new venture will allow cross-border multicurrency payments and real-time tracking of payment transaction activity.

(Image Credits – Irish Tech News)

Blockchain here to replace the banks?

The traditional banking is powerful in its own ways. It is quite unlikely that a blockchain-based cryptocurrency will be able to completely replace the existing banking system. However, it may not be of a surprise if digital currencies are increasingly used for back-end settlement. Cheers.

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‘Whales’ & Their Impact On The Cryptocurrency Market!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Whales are a metaphor for individuals with high-worth in the capital and have the capability to persuade the market in their preferred direction. In this article, we shall understand how the whale’s actions impact the cryptocurrency market.

Whales’ typical move is to create a wave in the market. They cause the market to artificially appreciate or depreciate so that they can get the best price to make their purchase and ride in profit. Now let’s see how they create this illusion in the market.

How do the Whales work?

We know that the job of Whales is to create a wave in the market. And the amount needed to create it depends on the market cap of the instrument. So, a bigger ocean would require bigger whales to produce a considerate wave.

To produce a wave, the whales place a large number of sell orders at a low price such that there are not as many buy orders as their sell orders. With these sell orders, the exchange has no other option but to execute the order. In doing so, a wave will be brought into the market, which will drive the prices lower and lower in a very short period of time. Once prices drop, the whales begin to buy at these lower prices.

If the number of orders of the whales is not as large as the number of buyers, and they still place sell orders at low prices, there would be enough buyers to fill those sell orders. Hence, only a young market with a small market cap is prone to these whale waves.

For instance, BearWhale was able to bring and hold the prices of Bitcoin to as low as $300 only for a few hours. Because there were a large number of buyers to consume the entire sell orders of the whales. However, it did bring a sudden drop to the Bitcoin prices, but the impact is relatively lesser than smaller markets.

Price Suppression

As mentioned in the previous example, the Whales use their powers to create waves to make strategic lows so that they can buy the cryptocurrency at great discounts. They use this strategy repeatedly, placing orders at low prices, wait for the price to drop, remove their sell order, and buy for the reduced price. For example, the NEO coin with a very small market cap fell from $37 to $4 in just one day. And the responsible ones were none other than the waves.

On the contrary, there price pumping, where the whales, instead of placing sell orders, place enormous buy orders to inflate the market higher. When the prices appreciate all of a sudden, they get off with their buy orders and prepare to take short positions.

Conclusion

A sudden appreciation or depreciation in the prices can not only cause by Whales but other factors as well. This becomes difficult for traders to predict if the sudden rise and fall are real or not. Unfortunately, such activities cannot be put to a stop until the market-cap of cryptocurrency grows to the extent that such manipulations cannot be played.

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What Are Bitcoin Faucets, & What Do They Offer?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Bitcoin, launched in 2009, did not really break the news. As people started to understand the blockchain technology and the unique features in it, Bitcoin gained some recognition. But, when the Bitcoin prices began to skyrocket, everyone, including small kids, knew about it. Many started to find ways to enter the Bitcoin space. And this when they also came across Bitcoin Faucets.

As a beginner in the field of Bitcoin, several would not know what Bitcoin Facets are. This article will walk you through the complete understanding of Bitcoin Faucets.

Introduction to Bitcoin Faucets

Bitcoin Faucets are online websites and applications, which is basically a reward platform system for the users who get paid for completing some tasks given by the platform. In exchange for completing these tasks, users are rewarded with Satoshi. And the Satoshi earned are directly deposited in the user’s Bitcoin wallet or micro wallet.

Satoshi – It is the smallest unit of Bitcoin, which is worth one-hundredth million of a Bitcoin.

Why Bitcoin Faucets?

Bitcoin is still a relatively new term for people to understand completely. Many are in the process of learning about investing in Bitcoin. In the learning population, there are people who are conservative when it comes to investing. This is the reason Bitcoin Faucets was created. It acts as a medium to introduce people to the concept of Bitcoin investment by actually risking their own money. With this platform, Bitcoin enthusiasts can get insights about Bitcoin and also an earning opportunity.

Where does the earned Satoshi go?

When you register with a Bitcoin Faucet platform, you will have to provide your Bitcoin wallet address. All the Satoshi that is earned will directly be transferred to that wallet address. This wallet is a secure digital account, having a unique bitcoin key. For those who are new to bitcoin wallets, you may relate to the Bitcoin wallet as a traditional wallet, and the Bitcoin key can be associated with your bank account.

How do Bitcoin Faucets generate revenue?

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that saw exponential growth a few years ago and has made some people a lot of money. So, the very next question that pops up is, why would Bitcoin Faucets give away coins for free? As a matter of fact, these platforms generate revenue by rewarding users with coins. The simple answer is, they earn money through advertisements.

Bitcoin Faucets are very popular among the beginners in Bitcoin. So, most of the websites host ads on their portal. Be it a pay-per-click or pay-per-impression, Bitcoin Faucets have a steady source of income through affiliate marketing. So more the users they get on board, more is going to be their revenue.

You can visit this link to find the best Bitcoin faucets of 2020.

Conclusion

If you have an interest in investing in Bitcoin but have no clue how to go about it, then Bitcoin Faucets can surely be a great option. This does not risk your money in the market but instead rewards you for learning something of your interest. Having said that, there are platforms that kill a clear user interface with a countless number of ads on the screen. So, you might have to switch from platform to platform to find the right one. Cheers!

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Bitcoin & The Possible Black Swan Events!

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

The cryptocurrency is a domain where there are several varieties of critics. And most of them have a negative sentiment on it. There are financial bears who do not have a positive outlook on cryptocurrencies in the long term. Then there are techies who believe that blockchain, not a technology that is going to give a breakthrough to the current technology. There are also government mongers who are fearful and anxious about investors grabbing their interest in cryptocurrencies, which would drop their tax money.

Then we have a black swan event, which is a different case altogether. A black swan event for Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, for that matter, is the absolute worst-case scenario that could take place.

Why is it necessary to consider the possibility of Black Swan scenarios? If the FUDsters give a healthy level of condensing for the market as a whole, the black swan forecasts are like a rototiller. Their job is to assume that the market is going to collapse anytime soon and is required to stay away or look for other options. If such a thing is inevitable, it is useful to know what to expect.

Here are a few worst-case scenarios that cryptocurrencies could affect. Before getting right into it, first, let’s start off by understanding what a black swan event actually is.

A Black Swan Event

This was described by a financier and author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, while he was writing about the 2008 financial crises. Taleb referred to the Black Swan event as a completely unpredictable beforehand consequence, which is devastating.

Taleb also pointed out that the black swan event is a relative concept. This event may not be a terrible scenario for everything equally. It can be localized as well, where one market’s black swan could be another’s market’s bull booster. For instance, the failure of cryptocurrency and blockchain could give more room space to other technologies and financial sectors.

We have listed out some examples which would be torn apart the cryptocurrency space – and not necessarily shake the other related sectors.

The Regulatory

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies currently operate in a very legal state at the moment. In the U.S. and many other countries, there have been tentative steps regarding the management of cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not confirmed whether cryptos are securities on a case-to-case basis.

However, the bomb hasn’t been dropped yet. There could be a moment where the countries like the U.S. and South Korea simultaneously decide that the cryptocurrencies would be banned outright. This would hit the entire crypto market really bad.

Catastrophic Code Failure

Cryptocurrencies are virtual currencies that are hardcoded. So, there is a possibility of a bug being found and exploited in the code. As a matter of fact, recently, a malicious attack happened to Verge, which allowed hackers to mine extremely easy blocks and extract off millions of dollars of the coin. Also, 51% of attacks can be carried out easily out of smaller coins that were discovered.

However, such a thing is unlikely to happen to the cryptocurrency giant, Bitcoin. But the Quantum Computing has something dissimilar to say: “The massive calculating power of quantum computers will be able to break Bitcoin security within ten years, say security experts.” Still, Bitcoin has proven itself countless times that it is resistant to attacks. Either way, a solution of the same would reach before it becomes possible.

Final words

Going by the definition, Black Swans are harder to identify ahead of time. They are also an event that could be devastating to the market. As the author Taleb says, it is like a variation of the “prepare for the worst” mindset. Though there is still enthusiasm and forecasted potential in the cryptocurrency space, it is also vital for such optimists to have their end on the negative side of it. After all, the cryptocurrency always proves to be a perfect example of “expect the unexpected.” All The Best.

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Crypto Guides

Bakkt – The Game Changer in the Cryptocurrency World?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

In the present state of Cryptocurrencies, there is a lack of mainstream acceptance and institutional investment. But, bringing in the institutional investment money into the cryptocurrencies is a new aim. Currently, the money of institutional investment is floating in stocks, bonds, currencies, and other formal financial instruments. An inclusion of cryptocurrency would drastically increase the total market cap of it. Apart from financial benefits, this institutional investment will also add a layer of legitimacy, which helps in its acceptance in the mainstream.

What Is Bakkt?

Bakkt is an open cryptocurrency platform that provides all cryptocurrency services. It has facilities for trading and warehousing as well. The uniqueness of Bakkt lies in its management and founders. Bakkt is the product of the company that initiated the New York Stock Exchange. And it plans to enter the market with the assistance of big companies such as BCG, Microsoft, and Starbucks.

Where It All Began?

In August 2018, Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of Bakkt, released a statement, where it said that it intends to create an open and regulated global ecosystem for digital assets with the use of Microsoft’s cloud service Azure. It said that it would start off by including federally regulated markets and auxiliary services. In addition, it would even feature a Bitcoin to a fiat currency converter, which most of the cryptocurrency exchanges do not have to offer.

The first question that pops in one’s mind is if Bakkt is safe or not. As mentioned, Bakkt is the establishment of a company that founded the New York Stock Exchange, it already has few large institutional investors who have poured capital into it, it is built on the Microsoft technology, and its very first major merchant is the café giant Starbucks. These considerations hence clear the unsafe fog out.

The crypto analysts have studied and found some key advantages from this platform, where all of them have a positive outlook towards it. Now let’s discuss a few of them.

Institutional Investment

This was one of the primary reasons for the creation of this platform. Bakkt has this covered as it backed with venture capital firms. If such types of firms still show interest in it, then it would attract larger and larger firms to come on board. And if these firms stick onto it, then even the smaller investment firms would enter as well.

Bakkt Bitcoin Futures

September 2019 was when the Bakkt launched the physical-settlement bitcoin futures products on its platform. As of date, Bakkt has a major derivative offering, which includes daily and monthly contracts.

Now that the futures contracts are publicly available, Bakkt has entered into the mainstream derivatives marketplace, i.e., it has been included in the CME Group, which first launched its bitcoin futures product in late 2017.

Mainstream Acceptance of Bakkt

Bakkt backed by ICE can be treated like a trump card when it comes to security. In owning and managing some of the world’s largest mainstream exchanges, ICE is in such a position where it very well knows how to spread and set the cryptocurrency exchange of the future.

The large entities opening themselves into the crypto space, are giving more credibility to cryptocurrencies are choice to consumers. Hence, this may be the one that eradicates cryptocurrency from its current position to give it a better life, which would be accepted in the mainstream. Cheers.

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Crypto Guides

Impact of Cryptos & Blockchain on The Current Prison System

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

It is a known fact that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has impacted many of the industries in a positive way. In our previous guides, we have discussed many such sectors like Healthcare, Supply chain, Banking, etc. It is obvious that these are only a few of the many industries where the adoption of these path-breaking technologies is taking place. In this article, let’s see how cryptos and blockchain together are making the current prison system better.

Enhanced Tracking

The judiciary system in developed countries has already adopted technologies like cryptography & blockchain to enhance their tracking capabilities. In Foshan, a city in China, police have set up a community correction system that is entirely based on blockchain. The purpose of this system is to enable the real-time tracking of convicted criminals.

Every prisoner will have a specific duration of parole after their sentence is over. During this period, they must be monitored very carefully, and currently, governments do have some outdated techniques for this purpose. But with the community correction blockchain system, this process will be simplified.

Prisoners will be given electronic bracelets that they must wear all the time. These bracelets will have a tracking encryption program that allows police and court executives to get all the relevant real-time data. This enhances the supervision of offenders with minimal effort and provides more accurate information. Since the technology behind this system is based out of blockchain, the data cannot be tampered with no matter what.

More information related to this can be found on the Facebook page of People’s Daily, China.

For A Better Cause

There is a study that says almost 90% of the prisoners who can’t afford their bail money turn out to be pleaded guilty. This data holds true only for New York City. The number might go high in countries that are still developing. This essentially means that these prisoners can’t even utilize their constitutional rights as they aren’t allowed to argue their case because they don’t have enough money to do so. In very simple terms, we can say that irrespective of them being involved in a crime or not, they are found guilty because they are poor.

A blockchain startup known as Bail Bloc is trying to help this kind of prisoners. This company is allowing users like us to offer the processing power of our gadgets when they are not being used. This power is used by a set of miners to mine a well-known crypto – Monero. The Monero generated is donated to a charity organization known as the Bronx Freedom Fund. This NGO uses all of the created cryptocurrency to help bail out prisoners who aren’t in a position to afford their bail money.

If you are interested in making a contribution to the poor prisoners, you can download Bail Bloc from here and allow the software to access your unused gadget’s unused processing power. Below you can see a snapshot from the Bail Bloc official website where the statistics are given in an understandable way.

Conclusion

There are many other startups like CellBlocks that are using cryptos and blockchain to improve the current prison system. The intention of CellBlocks is to digitize the economy of large prisons by tokenizing the currency that circulates in jail and keeping a record of all the transactions on a blockchain network. With so much adoption in such less time, we can only imagine the amount of impact these technologies will have on various industries in the future. Cheers.

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Crypto Guides

What Is An ICO and What Were The Biggest ICOs Ever?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

We have discussed many things cryptocurrencies in our recent guides, which talk about their evolution, properties, pros & cons, etc. We also learned a lot about Bitcoin and some of the other major altcoins. As of Feb 2020, more than five thousand cryptos are prevailing in the market. Have you ever wondered how these cryptos come into existence? The answer to this question is ICO. To understand what ICO, AKA, Initial Coin Offering

Irrespective of its size, every company needs sufficient funds to bring an idea to a reality. In the case of conventional companies, there is a concept known as IPO, which translates to Initial Public Offering. Here, a company would go public after they establish their brand name in the market. ‘Going public’ essentially means selling a part of their company to raise more funds and expand its business across the markets to gain more profits.

What Is An ICO?

Like how IPO is for traditional companies, ICO is for the companies who are willing to raise funds to build a cryptocurrency. There might be various agendas for crypto companies, which we will be discussing in the later parts of this article. But not every random crypto company can have an ICO and raise funds. Companies must make their whitepaper public that has all the technicalities of the coin they are going to launch. They must also mention the amount of money they are willing to raise through this ICO.  Along with this, the complete business plan and the acceptable Fiat or Cryptos should also be clearly mentioned.

Once they release the duration of the ICO, interested people can go through the whitepaper of that company and understand the problem they are willing to solve. If that is making sense, and all the other technicalities interest them, they can participate in the ICO by purchasing tokens of that company. Most of the companies accept both Bitcoin and Ethereum to purchase their tokens. The ultimate goal here is to bet on a company that has enormous growth potential in the cryptocurrency space. If that happens, the money they have invested here can have exponential growth and yield huge profits in the future.

If the funds that are raised meets the goal set by the company, the ICO can be considered to be successful. The companies can use these funds and bring their whitepaper to an actual cryptocurrency. But, if the funds raised don’t meet the goal, we can say that the ICO is a failed attempt, and the collected funds will be returned to the investors. Returning the collected funds is a seamless process because all of these transactions are executed through Smart Contracts. So the entire process of an ICO is decentralized and is not regulated by any central authority.

Notable ICO Success Stories

In the year 2013, the first-ever ICO took place where Mastercoin raised around 500k worth of Bitcoin. Then, the ICO of Ethereum took place, which changed the face of the crypto world forever. Without this particular ICO, the crypto world wouldn’t have been the way we are seeing it today. This record-breaking ICO took place in 2014, where the company has raised $18 million worth of funds. This ICO’s massive success enabled the amazing Ethereum platform to transform from an idea on a paper to reality.

Once the Ethereum platform was live with the revolutionary smart contract feature, ICO token sales have been extremely simplified. This resulted in the formation of some of the biggest ICOs to date. One such ICO which is conducted on the Ethereum platform is DAO. If you are a crypto enthusiast, you must have heard about this crypto. DAO has raised about $150 million worth of Ether in just four weeks.

Some of the biggest ICOs we have ever witnessed include EOS ($4 Billion), Telegram ($1.7 Billion), Dragon Coin ($320 Million) & Huobi ($320 Million). Most of the biggest ICOs like the ones mentioned above, happened in 2017-18. This is considered as a golden age of ICOs. The number of ICOs has reduced significantly, and there could be many reasons for that. Some of them include the fall of the crypto market, regulations from the US Securities Exchange Commission, frauds and scams occurred, etc.

Bottom Line

That’s about ICOs and some of the biggest ICOs ever to take place. We must be extremely cautious while participating in an ICO. Getting to know the founders well, analyzing the whitepaper, understanding the feasibility of the project, etc. is crucial before making your investments. Market experts believe that the ICOs are almost dead, but there are a few promising ICOs that are going to take place in 2020, and most of them can be found here. In the upcoming articles, let’s understand what IEOs and STOs are and how different are from ICOs. Cheers!  

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Crypto Guides

What Should You Know About A Cryptocurrency Exchange?

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

The cryptocurrency exchange is a place that allows trading cryptocurrencies through a trading platform. These are platforms where people can exchange one cryptocurrency for another one, and even for fiat currencies, for that matter. Their operation is very similar to a traditional financial exchange. The cryptocurrency exchange’s primary operation is to allow the buying and selling of digital assets as well as other assets (fiat currencies). Note that digital cryptocurrency (DCE) is another reference to a cryptocurrency exchange. These exchanges can be like a stock exchange or a currency exchange.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Explained

As mentioned, these exchanges are similar to traditional financial exchanges. To clearly understand this, we may bring out the differences between the crypto exchanges and the conventional exchanges. I a cryptocurrency exchange, buyers, and sellers trade based on the current market price of the cryptocurrencies. Here, exchanges play the role of the middleman. Just like on the stock market, there is some fee charged on each transaction.

Some exchanges deal only with cryptocurrencies, while others that deals with the exchange of both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. For example, in these exchanges, you can trade the US dollar for Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrencies are typically unstable in terms of value and sourcing. For instance, cryptos like Bitcoin have been under major dispute events where the value of Bitcoin changed dramatically in a very short time, or incidents where the major exchanges went down due to thefts and frauds.

Talking about the most popular and reliable exchanges, Coinbase’s GDAX (AKA Coinbase Pro) is an example of that. Also, there are exchanges run by third parties where there is a middleman, and  decentralized exchanges that mimic traditional exchanges like IDEX. In decentralized systems, trading is based on smart contracts and is not powered by a centralized third party system for the most of it. Trading with centralized exchanges will require a lot of information to be produced. However, they do allow the trading of fiat currencies. DEX exchanges, one the other hand, require lesser information but they do not allow exchanging of fiat currencies.

Classification of Cryptocurrency exchanges

Based on the exchange’s organizational hierarchy and overall controlling bodies, we can classify them as Centralized Exchanges and Decentralized Exchanges.

The Working Of A Centralized Cryptocurrency Exchange

Since these exchanges are centralized, they are run by a third-party or other organizations. More like a bank for exchanging fiat currencies. Here, the middleman takes control over whatever the assets are being traded on the network.

The Working Of A Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchange

A decentralized exchange (DAX) is a cryptocurrency exchange which operates without the existence of a third party, or a central authority. In simple terms, decentralized exchanges allow peer-to-peer trading of cryptocurrencies. However, there have been signs that these exchanges have been suffering from low trading volumes and market volatility. And to solve this issue, protocols like 0X, Stellar, and Bitshares are being implemented.

Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges

There are several crypto exchanges to from, but not all have the features and technicalities. Below are the exchanges we have listed out by considering factors like user-friendliness, accessibility, security, and fees.

  • Coinbase
  • Kraken
  • Poloniex
  • Bitstamp
  • Coinmama
  • Bitsquare
  • Binance
  • Bitbuy.ca

These exchanges and many more are discussed in other articles, and you may find them here. So watch out this space for more great crypto content.

 

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Crypto Guides

Beginners Guide to Cryptocurrency Mining

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

There is a significant difference in how cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies are generated and issued to the ecosystem. Fiat currencies are created and printed by the government bodies in response to orders by the state authority. At the same time, cryptocurrencies are issued to the public by going through the blockchain network according to a preset algorithm. There are different schemes assigned for mining, such as the Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Proof of Authority, etc. These are referred to as consensus algorithms. The in-depth working of these processes is complicated. So, we shall stick on the basic working of it.

Definition

Cryptocurrency mining is the procedure to bring up new coins into the current flowing supply, by verifying the coins through a system. The ones that mine these coins are called miners.

Procedure to Mine Cryptocurrency

  • When a transaction is performed over the blockchain network, i.e., when a user sends coins to another address, the transaction information is recorded and put onto a block.
  • This block must be encrypted and made secure. This is where the miners come in.
  • To encrypt a blockchain, miners solve a complicated cryptographic puzzle to find the appropriate cryptographic hash for the code. For this, miners typically make use of large rigs of application-specific hardware to increase their chances of being the first one to verify and secure the block.
  • Once the block is successfully secured, it is then added to the blockchain, where other nodes on the blockchain network verify it. This verification process is known as consensus.
  • When the block successfully clears through the nodes in the network, the block is officially said to be verified and secured. And for securing a block, the miner is rewarded new-created coins. Hence, the complete above procedure of work is called Proof of Work.

Reward system in Cryptocurrency mining

Mining is a complicated process. Each day, miners commit a thousand watts of electricity towards mining cryptocurrencies. People mine coins though it is an expensive process because they receive a good number of Bitcoins for it, which has value in various markets.

As mentioned above, the reward is released to the miners when they successfully solve a block in the blockchain. The compensation received is pretty decent; in fact, it compensates a thousand watts of electricity. Having that said, the reward cannot be very high, as it could cause an oversupply in the market and depreciate the value of the currency.

Supply and Demand of a Cryptocurrency

Buying and selling cryptocurrencies is different from buying and selling of stocks, bonds, etc. Also, unlike investing in traditional currencies, cryptocurrencies are not issued by the central banks. Therefore, the monetary policy, inflation rates, and other economic factors do not apply to the cryptocurrencies. They are influenced majorly by factors such as the supply of the coins and the demand for it, the number of competing coins, and also the exchanges it trades on.

The supply of cryptocurrencies is impacted by the cryptocurrency protocol, which permits the creation of a new coin (same type) at a fixed rate. A number of coins are introduced into the market when miners verify the blocks of transactions. And the rate at which these new coins are introduced is designed such that it slows down over time. This is done to create a scenario in which the demand for coins increases faster than the supply, which hence causes the prices to shoot up.

Hence we can say that mining & miners have a crucial role in maintaining the supply & demand of any cryptocurrency!