Categories
Crypto Videos

WordPress adds official Ethereum ad Plugin – Users Stand To Gain More Than Google Adsense!


WordPress adds official Ethereum ad plugin.

WordPress’s new crypto plugin will enable publishers that use this content management system to receive ad earnings directly into their Ether wallets, according to a Dec 10 plugin description that got posted on the WordPress’ official website.

The plugin known as “EthereumAds” will enable content publishers to auction their advertisement space for ETH using smart contracts. “After publishers insert our widget, their ad space is automatically openly auctioned off by using smart contract every 14 days to the highest bidder,” the official plugin description reads.

According to the EthereumAds website, the newly-announced WordPress plugin plans on competing with Google AdSense, allowing the publishers that use it to earn ETH through banner ads. EthereumAds emphasizes that it will provide publishers with lower commissions, stating: “Google Adsense only pays its publishers 68% of their total ad earnings. We, on the other hand, will pay them a whopping 90%.” This should provide a considerable increase in ad revenue that publishers get for renting their website space for ads.

The new ad plugin can be used to monetize any form and type of content built on WordPress, including websites, blogs, and billboards. They also officially stated that they are limiting publishers to crypto-related content.

As EthereumAds intends to enter the space ruled by a major ad monetization platform such as Google AdSense, it remains yet to be seen how both Google Adsense and other traditional ad platforms deal with the new crypto rival.

WordPress’s introduction of EthereumAds came at a great time, as the world’s largest ad monetization platform, Google Adsense, has had some issues with cryptocurrencies in the past. In April 2020, it has been reported that Google AdSense was running fraudulent cryptocurrency ads while prohibiting some legitimate cryptocurrency firms from using its services. Google Ads also previously blacklisted keywords mentioning Ethereum in Jan 2019, reports say.

Categories
Crypto Videos

An Ethereum Fund Launching On The Toronto Stock Exchange!

Ethereum Fund Launching on the Toronto Stock Exchange

Canadian digital asset investment manager company 3iQ will be launching an IPO of an Ethereum exchange-traded trust, called The Ether Fund, on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker QETH.U. 

The maximum offering for the trust launch is $100 million, and 3iq announced that the offering’s closing date would be no later than Thursday, December 10 of this year. 3iQ currently counts more than $400 million CAD under management. The company maintains a right focus on just several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum.

In a press release that came out Thursday, December 3, 3iQ noted that the listing comes with a patriotic backstory behind it. “The concept of Ethereum was first developed in Canada in 2013, and then launched by a group of technologists coming from all over the world,” the company mentioned.


Ethereum’s co-founder and main figure, Vitalik Buterin, is Canadian-Russian, and his family moved to Toronto when he was just six years old.


Traders south of Canada’s borders have already demonstrated a remarkable appetite for publicly available Ethereum investment options. Despite an incredible price premium, which at points went to as much as 500% relative to net asset value for Grayscale’s Ethereum trust ETHE, the company reports that more and more investors have decided to test the waters and try investing in crypto.

These funds and trusts are the preferred methods of investing in crypto for many traders, as not many people are able or willing to provide their own crypto custody and security options.

On top of that, traders have enjoyed a rapid expansion of this sector, with new fund offerings surfacing across the globe in recent months. In November alone, VanEck launched a Bitcoin exchange-traded note product in Germany, as well as the VanEck Vectors Bitcoin ETN, while 3iQ introduced The Bitcoin Fund to Canada.

Categories
Crypto Videos

Ethereum 2.0 Launching Today – Upgrades Explained!


Ethereum 2.0 – Explained

Ever since Ethereum was released, the development of new technologies in the form of Decentralized apps on its blockchain, as well as other blockchains, has greatly expanded. Some of the biggest innovations in the Decentralized Finance sector has happened on top of Ethereum as its base.

Unfortunately, scalability issues started to emerge as Ethereum grew as a network. The number of transactions increased, but so did the cost of performing these transactions, which are paid in a currency called Gas.

If Ethereum is supposed to be the main platform to build the next generation of the Internet on top of it, the economics have to make sense, or the network becomes too impractical to use.

Ethereum 2.0 was announced as the solution to the scalability problem. These improvements will attempt to create a contrast to the existing version of Ethereum, and every part of the 2.0 version will be rolled out extremely carefully and slowly.

What Is Ethereum 2.0?

Ethereum 2.0, or “Serenity,” is the long-awaited and often discussed upgrade to the Ethereum network. This update’s main goal is to improve the network’s scalability. It will attempt to achieve various enhancements, where speed, efficiency, and scalability should all be improved without sacrificing any security and decentralization.

While this version of Ethereum was planned out a long time ago, it has taken some years to create and finally roll out. The primary reason for this is that any mistake could impact the network’s security, which would be a huge deal.

The biggest difference between the current Ethereum and Ethereum 2.0 is the consensus algorithm they use. While the current Ethereum uses the Proof of Work algorithm, the new and upgraded Ethereum will use the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, alongside shard chains and the beacon chain. 

Proof of Stake

 

While Proof of Work has proven itself over the years as a stable and safe consensus mechanism, its main problem is scalability, since it demands an enormous amount of computing power as the blockchain grows.

As a solution to this problem, Proof of Stake replaces computing power with a different mechanism. In Ethereum’s case, as long as you have a minimum of 32 Ether, you can commit it, become a validator, and then get paid by confirming transactions.

Sharding and Beacon Chain

Anyone who wants access to the Ethereum network has to do so through a node. A node is a “client” that stores a copy of the entire network, meaning that the node has to download, compute, store, as well as process every single transaction in Ethereum’s existence. Since this can take up a lot of storage, Shard chains were introduced as a solution. They allow nodes to only contain specific parts, or shards, of one whole blockchain. 

While this does improve the scalability of the network, something has to keep everything stays in-sync. Beacon chains are providing information to shard chains and keep them working as intended.  

Ethereum 2.0 Phases

The roll-out of the Ethereum 2.0 update won’t come all at once. Instead, it will be released in three phases, with each phase bringing out a vital part of the update to the public network. 

Ethereum’s 2.0 update will be split into:

  • Phase 0
  • Phase 1 and 1.5
  • Phase 2

Phase 0

This phase will be dedicated to the release of the beacon chain as it’s central to shard chains’ functionality. However, this phase won’t have any shard chains. Instead, the beacon chain will begin accepting validators through a one-way deposit contract.

If you are thinking about staking Ethereum, it’s important to note that registered validators who stake their Ether won’t be able to “unstake” it until shard chains are fully implemented.

This Phase begins on Dec 1, 2020. 

Phase 1/1.5

The next phase is expected to be released somewhere during 2021 and will actually be a mix of two phases. Phase 1 will introduce shard chains, while Phase 1.5 is when Ethereum’s main net will officially begin transitioning away from Proof of Work and onto Proof of Stake.

Phase 2

The final phase of the 2.0 update will roll out in 2021 or later and will allow Ethereum to support fully formed shards. This is when Ethereum 2.0 will actually become the official Ethereum network. 

Final Word

Ethereum 2.0 is certainly an important upgrade to the Ethereum network and will hopefully bring much-needed scalability, among other things. Without the new features that this update brings, Ethereum could eventually become unsustainable, which would be detrimental to the innovation that its platform brings.

 

Categories
Crypto Videos

Where Did Bitcoin Go? Wrapped Bitcoin Assets are Encouraging the Supply Crisis!


Where Did Bitcoin Go? Wrapped Bitcoin Assets are Encouraging the Supply Crisis

In a blog post that came out on Nov 20, Binance reintroduced BTCB to the world. BTCB is a wrapped Bitcoin asset intended to bring liquidity from Bitcoin to Binance Smart Chain’s DeFi ecosystem.

However, hodlers may be cheering the reintroduction to BTCB for a completely different reason: each Bitcoin locked on Binance Smart Chain may contribute to an already very present Bitcoin supply crisis.

First announced in 2019, Binance initially saw wrapped Bitcoin only as a vehicle for traders to obtain the cross-chain asset exposure without leaving the Binance Smart Chain. However, since then, the utility of wrapped Bitcoin has expanded due to the maturation of the DeFi sector.

For instance, a wrapped Bitcoin token on Ethereum, or WBTC for short, has enjoyed massive success ever since its January 2019 launch: it’s currently ranked #14 when sorted by market capitalization on Coinmarketcap and has found significant adoption in various protocols such as Aave and Uniswap, whose contracts rank among the top-10 holders of WBTC.

In their blog, Binance noted that the pattern of adoption of WBTC might be seen with BTCB as well. The wrapped Bitcoin could be used for minting various stablecoins with BSC-native protocols such as QIAN and Venus. It could also be used as collateral for lending protocols such as CREAM, as well as in yield farming and liquidity mining protocols such as Bakery, Beefy, and Pancake.

According to what Binance “Proof of Assets” page, there is currently almost 10,000 Bitcoin on BSC — netting to over $181 million. However, the blog post specified that only 2,000 of them are in circulation.

Other smart contract-enabled chains are intending to compound the growing scarcity. If the success of wrapped and cross-chain Bitcoin-based assets continues to grow, institutions that are looking to hoover the Bitcoin supply may as well be faced with mounting scarcity.

Co-founder of OpenLaw Aaron Wright pointed to such a possible future in his Twitter post, noting that only 0.6% of BTC is now wrapped and being put to Ethereum. 

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Update 31.05.2018 – Still in a Downtrend


General Overview 


Best Crypto News Daily:

Market Cap: $330,642,822,868 
24h Vol: $15,711,067,523 
BTC Dominance: 39.0%

Best Crypto News Daily
In the last 24 hours, cryptocurrency market capitalisation has been experiencing a sideways movement. Yesterday’s open was at $329B from which the evaluation fell to $318B and is now back on the levels of yesterday’s high.

The market is mixed in colour with only a slight percentage change. The biggest change among top 100 coins is experienced by Golem who is up by 15% and Theta Token 10%.


Best Crypto News Daily


In a bear market, negative news is overblown, and the good news is short lived. That’s why even though we have seen positive news in the last couple of days, it didn’t impact the market that much. In the last 24 hours, there is no market-moving news. These are some of the most significant headlines from the crypto sphere:

Quebec Gov’t Reportedly Lifts Moratorium on Energy Sales to Crypto Miners

The government of Quebec will reportedly lift its moratorium on the sale of electricity to cryptocurrency miners, sources familiar with the matter told local news Le Journal De Montreal May 30. According to Le Journal, the Quebec government wants to “avoid missing the ship” on cryptocurrency, and as such is moving ahead to lift the moratorium.

Central Bank Of Russia: Crypto Assets Do Not Pose Risk to Global Financial Stability

The Central Bank of Russia released a report May 30, stating that crypto assets do not currently threaten global financial stability as the global volume of crypto transactions is very low. The research paper states that instead of the term “cryptocurrency,” the Financial Stability Board proposes to use the term “crypto asset,” which can be considered a financial asset based on the application of cryptography and distributed ledger technology.

Low Capitalization, Institutional Exposure Make Crypto Low Risk, Says Dutch Gov’t Report

A branch of the Dutch government has recently released an economic risk report, claiming that cryptocurrencies present a low risk to financial stability in the country, according a report published on May 29. The report was prepared and published by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB).

Ethereum Classic Upgrades Network Protocol to Ensure Mining Remains Viable

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has now successfully implemented a protocol upgrade that will ensure that mining remains viable in future, according to ETC Block Explorer data yesterday, May 29.

BlockShow in Berlin Sets New Record With Largest Turnout Yet

The BlockShow Europe 2018 conference ended yesterday, May 29, after two days of panels and speakers, including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee. Speaking about the conference, Bobby Lee told Cointelegraph:

“I think conferences are important to get the word out there, to educate people and help them learn about cryptocurrency and blockchain. This is how we get the next billion people on-board.”


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s open, the price of Bitcoin has increased by 1% so the price hasn’t changed much. The price fell to around 7300$ and is now back to the levels of yesterday’s high at 7530$.



On the daily chart, we can see that the price is still below the baseline support (bold black line) which serves as resistance but above the intermediate support at 7470$.



On the hourly chart, we can see what happened yesterday after the cluster, the price fell below the support line with one candle on the hourly chart. Currently, we can see another cluster being formed bearly above yesterday’s high, on the ‘below the baseline support’ as there’s a strong resistance on these levels.


Market sentiment

Hourly chart technicals signal a strong buy.

Oscillators are on buy, and moving averages a strong one.


Pivot points

S3 6822.9 
S2 7112.4 
S1 7243.7 
P 7401.9 
R1 7533.2 
R2 7691.4 
R3 7980.9

ETH/USD

From yesterday, the price of Ethereum fell from 573$ to 544$ and is now back at the levels of yesterday’s open.



Looking at the daily chart we can see that the current candle is green, but hasn’t exceeded yesterday’s candle wick and two prior candles highs as well.



Zooming into the hourly chart we can see that the price is again above this intermediate uptrend support line, but there’s now higher high which is a bearish sign.


Market sentiment

Hourly chart technicals signal a buy.

Oscillators are on buy, and moving averages on a strong one.


Pivot points

S3 474.37 
S2 517.91 
S1 537.46
P 561.45 
R1 581.00 
R2 604.99 
R3 648.53

XRP/USD

The price of Ripple is on the same levels as yesterday’s open which is at 0.6$. The price fell further below to around 0.587$ but is now again on the same levels as yesterday.



On the daily chart, we can see that the current candle hasn’t exceeded the previous five candles highs which is a bearish sign.



On the hourly chart, we can see that the price is currently above the downward channel resistance line. But that doesn’t act as a bullish sign, as this also happened in the past, and still, the price fell further below.


Market sentiment 

Ripple is in the buy zone, as indicated by hourly chart technicals.

Oscillators are on buy, and moving averages are signalling a strong buy.


Pivot points

S3 0.51319 
S2 0.55858
S1 0.57956 
P 0.60397 
R1 0.62495 
R2 0.64936 
R3 0.69475

Conclusion


Best Crypto News Daily: The prices of three major cryptos haven’t exceeded the prior high, even though we have seen a lot of buying in the last 24 hours. This means we are still in a downtrend. Indicators are bullish as they are lagging behind, but charts and price action paint a clear bearish picture.

Categories
Crypto Market Analysis

Daily Crypto Update 21.05.2018 – Indecision


General Overview


Crypto Market Update Today:

Market Cap: $389,840,003,354

24h Vol: $17,523,547,047

BTC Dominance: 37.2%

In the last 24 hours, cryptocurrency market cap has increased from $375B to slightly below $390B.

Crypto Market Update TodayThe market is mostly in green, with the biggest gainers among top 100 being Tron +14%, Skycoin 10%, Holo 20%.


News


There isn’t any significant news that came out during the weekend. Top stories are therefore analytical in nature or follow-ups from prior stories.  These are some of the more significant headlines:

Iran and Russia Discuss Transacting in Crypto to Avoid International Sanctions

Iran and Russia could start using cryptocurrencies to avoid Western sanctions, Russian news portal RBC reported yesterday, May 17.

Norway Central Bank Considers Developing Digital Currency

Norway’s central bank, Norges Bank, is considering developing its own digital currency as a supplement to cash to “ensure confidence in money and the monetary system”, according to a working paper May 18.

Former UK Visa CEO Takes Helm of Crypto Consumer Payment Startup

The former head of Visa in the UK and Ireland has joined a startup bringing crypto to consumer payments, Business Insider NL reports today, May 19.

WSJ: Coinbase Spoke to U.S. Regulators About Acquiring Federal Banking License

Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange and wallet Coinbase spoke to regulators about obtaining a federal banking charter, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) May 18.

Source: cointelegraph.com


Analysis


BTC/USD

From yesterday’s open, the price of Bitcoin has increased by 3.4%, going from $8229 to $8510 where it is currently sitting.



 

On the daily chart, we can see that the price is currently a red doji above 0.382 Fibonacci retracement level.  We can also see a breakout from the falling wedge.


 

Zooming into an hourly chart, we can see the interaction with the Fibo level, and the momentum behind the up move. Price action formed a double top, with the last top’s candles closed with two massive wicks from the upside, which indicates selling pressure.


Market sentiment

Bitcoin is in the buy zone, as indicated by hourly chart technicals.

Oscillators are on buy, and moving averages on a strong one.


Pivot points

S3 7578.2 
S2 8004.6 
S1 8264.2 
P 8431.0
R1 8690.6 
R2 8857.4 
R3 9283.8

ETH/USD

The price of Ethereum has increased by 3.34% from yesterday’s open, going from $690 to $712,8 where it is currently.



 

Looking at the daily chart, we can see that the current candle is a red doji, like in the case of Bitcoin, and it sits at the levels of prior high.



 

Zooming into an hourly chart, we can see that the price has retraced to retest the support, which is on the levels of prior high at $712. We can also see a breakout from a triangle which wasn’t that strong, as the impulse behind the move looks like any other prior move.


Market sentiment

Ethereum is in the neutral zone, as hourly chart technicals are on neutral.


Pivot points

S3 638.08 
S2 673.30 
S1 694.40 

P 708.52 

R1 729.62 
R2 743.74 
R3 778.96

XRP/USD

In the last 24 hours, the price of Ripple has increased by 3.17%, from $0,67250 to $0,69436. The price has been steadily rising and is now facing first strong resistance.


 

On the daily chart, we can see that the current candle is red, and is sitting at the levels of prior high.



 

The hourly chart paints a clearer picture. We can see that the price is still in an upward channel which is inside the symmetrical triangle pattern. The price found resistance on the triangle’s resistance line levels and is currently struggling to keep up the upward movement.


Market sentiment

Hourly chart technicals are on neutral, so the price of Ripple is currently indecisive.


Pivot points

S3 0.61264 
S2 0.65176 
S1 0.67536 

P 0.69088 

R1 0.71448 
R2 0.73000 
R3 0.76912

Conclusion


Crypto Market Update Today: In the last day, we have seen an upward movement has been stopped by first major resistance, as seen on the charts from three major cryptocurrencies that we are covering in this daily report. The market is currently showing signs of indecision indicated from the current candles being Dojis. We are likely to see a move down, which would be a final corrective move, before a new runup to new highs.