Aries Market is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on Move, the same programming language used by Aptos to build its blockchain. Aries Market provides a wide range of decentralized finance (DeFi) products such as borrowing, lending, and margin trading on 1 single platform. Products include lending, borrowing, margin trading, swapping, and account risk management.
What is Aries Market?
Aries Market is a decentralized crypto exchange offering a wide range of DeFi products on a unified platform. On Aries Market, users can have a unified margin account on which they can borrow from various liquidity pools, earn interest on deposits, and do swaps and trades.
What products are available on Aries Market?
Aries Market is currently in a “soft launch” phase where all its features are not available yet. At present, the following products are available on Aries Market: lending, borrowing, swaps, and global account management. Notably, trading features are not yet available on Aries Market.
There are, however, deposit limits for the available asset pools on Aries Market. The limits are as follows: 4 million zUSDC (LayerZero), 4 million USDC (Wormhole Bridge), 500,000 APT, 10,000 SOL.
Aries Market
Supported assets
Aries Market currently supports the following assets: zUSDC (LayerZero), USDC (Wormhole Bridge), APT and SOL. The team expects more assets to be listed soon.
Coming soon on Aries Market
The Aries Market team expects the following features to be available in the coming months:
Full set of features will be available on Aries Market;
integration of Aries Market with Aptos; and
Gamified events and campaigns on the Aries Market and Aptos community.
As Ethereum is steadily approaching the transition to a Proof-of-Stake mechanism, one notable thing that has changed, aside from further protocol development, has been the change in terminology.
We have already covered Ethereum 2.0 extensively in one of our ongoing blogs where we go in-depth on everything you need to know about Ethereum’s transition to PoS:
Let’s take a closer look at the rebranding from Ethereum 2.0 to the Ethereum Merge, as well as go over the most recent developments in Ethereum’s roadmap as of May 2022.
Check out our latest video- Ethereum Merge: ALL you need to know (including ETHPOW)
Ethereum Merge: ALL you need to know (including ETHPOW)
The move away from using the former term “Eth2.0” that signified the final transition from PoW to PoS was a result of several different developments and considerations, both technical and cultural.
On the technical side, the use of Eth2.0 started to become an inaccurate representation of the PoS transition. Originally, the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap envisioned that both the Phase 0 (Beacon Chain) and Phase 1 (Sharding) would be completed before the final transition. (Clonazepam) But the Beacon Chain was developed faster than expected, making researchers realize that the final migration to a PoS mechanism would be delayed by years due to the focus on sharding. In addition, the ever-growing pressure from the masses about the environmental impact of PoW chains made the migration to PoS that much more pressing.
As the Beacon Chain was deployed, Ethereum L2 rollups started gaining popularity, demonstrating significant scalability potential even for a non-sharded Ethereum blockchain. This released some pressure on solving the scalability challenges that Ethereum’s L1 has faced for years, allowing the R&D team to focus on the remaining Ethereum’s upgrade plans both for the PoW chain, as well the Beacon Chain.
From a cultural perspective, the use of the old terminology would’ve further perpetuated confusion about the nature of Eth1.0 and Eth2.0, making it seem like once Eth2.0 is launched, Eth1.0 will be gone, which is not the case. In addition, scam prevention was another consideration that favoured the rebrand, as the distinction between Eth1.0 and Eth2.0 would’ve likely resulted in scammers trying to convince users to swap their ETH tokens for fictitious ETH2 tokens.
The result of all of this was a decision to move away from the confusing Eth1.0 and Eth2.0 terminology, and rather call the transition to the PoS mechanism on the mainnet The Merge. By choosing to name the process instead of the final outcome (which in reality remains, in essence, the same), a lot of headache and confusion has been avoided.
Progress Towards The Ethereum Merge: Current status
Public testnets being battle-tested
Deployed in late December 2021, the Kintsugi testnet was a public testnet meant to allow execution and consensus client developers and application developers to become familiar with the post-Merge environment. The testnet was bombarded with transactions, bad blocks, and chaotic inputs to battle test it and find bugs.
A new specification for the proceeding public testnet, called Kiln, was published after edge cases from Kintsugi had been discovered. It’s expected to be the last new public testnet to be created before the existing ones are upgraded. Continued extensive testing of the Kiln has been taking place since The Merge took place on it on March 15th 2022. The Ethereum community practised running their nodes, deployed contracts, tested infrastructure, and threw everything they had at it to see if it breaks.
Mainnet shadow forks
Although a lot had been learned since deploying and testing Kintsugi and Kiln testnets, they were still very young testnets with little activity, which prevented proper stress testing of assumptions regarding syncing and state growth. And this is where shadow forking came in. Shadow forking makes it possible to fork an existing testnet, such as Goerli, and the mainnet (with a lot more activity), and add merge related properties to its config, thus allowing the fork to inherit the state of the original testnet.
These shadow forks are short-lived, allowing for testing on them only for a few weeks until a new beacon chain has to be spun up.
Three Goerli testnet shadow forks took place in January and March, and the first mainnet shadow fork happened on April 11th 2022, with the second one following on 23rd April.
The results of the latest mainnet shadow fork have been described by Adrian Sutton from ConsenSys in his twitter thread. The team will continue stress testing main forks, and collaborate with client developers to make them even more robust against edge cases. From now on the main theme as we approach The Merge has been and will be – testing, testing, and even more testing.
Wen Merge? The Triple Halvening, And Price Predictions
As to when The Merge will happen is still somewhat up in the air. No one has, understandably, given any specific dates, but the general consensus is that late Q3 is the time when we are likely to see it finally happen. The dev team’s sole focus is on The Merge, with very little else discussed, as can be seen in the latest AllCoreDevs session update by Tim Beiko.
Price predictions are also under hot debate, as, once The Merge is complete, two factors will influence ETH’s price, one emotional, the other baked into the protocol. Realistic estimates of the fair price of ETH fluctuate around $5000.
The emotional aspect, as experienced by the market, will result from The Merge successfully completing, which will mark the end of the most significant change in the protocol in Ethereum’s history, and solidify the incredible technical competence of Ethereum core devs and researchers, further giving the market confidence in ETH as an asset and the ecosystem as a whole, driving up the price further.
The technical reason for why price is likely to pump is due to the Triple Halvening, which will reduce Ethereum’s annual inflation rate from 4.3% to 0.43%. Following last year’s EIP-1559 upgrade, Ethereum now burns about 70-80% of the fees, with the rest going to PoW miners. Post Merge, these fees will go to the PoS validators. This means that ETH stakers will see their rewards rise to about 8-10%. Staking will lock in significant amounts of ETH, as staked ETH cannot be moved or used in the markets, making enormous amounts of ETH illiquid, further driving up the price. EIP-1559 and The Merge combined are predicted to cause the equivalent of 3 bitcoin halvenings, reducing ETH sell pressure by up to 90%.
In addition, the move to an environmentally friendly PoS mechanism, which will reduce energy consumption by up to 99.95%, will make the asset much more appealing to institutional investors who might’ve been kept away from investing due to public’s pushback on Ethereum’s current energy consumption.
Great progress is being made by the Ethereum team, and the continued successful merges of mainnet forks clearly demonstrate the culmination of 6 years of back-breaking work, and give hope that The Merge truly is just around the corner. For those interested in the nitty-gritty of The Merge preparations, it’s worth checking out The Merge Mainnet Readiness Checklist which lists in detail all of the various tasks that need to be worked through to make The Merge ready for Mainnet release.
Why is the Ethereum Merge so important to crypto traders?
Many cryptocurrency and particularly Ethereum ($ETH) traders are eagerly anticipating the Ethereum Merge because afterward, the issuance of ETH is expected to be reduced by about 90%. This means there will be less ETH in circulation, and in turn, the lower the supply, the higher the demand- potentially resulting in Ethereum prices going up.
ETH Merge is a huge success!
On 15th September 2022 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15537393, the Merge was completed.
And we finalized!
Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.
Missed our historical LIVE Merge party? Check it out here!
Ethereum Merge Party – Watch the Merge live!
How have Ethereum ($ETH) prices reacted to the Merge?
Ethereum ($ETH) prices showed a slight pump in the hours following the Merge. Prices hit a peak of over US$1,640 before coming back down to just under US$1,600. The next crucial point in terms of where ETH prices would go would depend on whether there is any hard fork.
Founders Kyle Davies and Shu Zu were also famous in the cryptocurrency space, with 49k and over 550k Twitter followers respectively.
The fall of Three Arrows Capital
The fall of Three Arrows Capital can be largely attributed to 3 factors: the Axie Infinity hack, the collapse of Terra (LUNA, UST) and failure to meet margin calls.
Axie Infinity hack
Axie Infinity was a “play to earn” blockchain game which at its peak had millions of players worldwide. However, declining popularity and becoming the victim of a US$700m hack in March 2022 caused a huge and seemingly irrevocable blow to the game.
In 2018, Terra was founded by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin. Terra is an open-source blockchain that hosts decentralized applications (dApps) and developer tools. Terra has a native token- $LUNA (now Terra Luna Classic $LUNC), which is used for governance and mining. LUNA has to be burned to mint UST (now Terra Classic USD $USTC) at a ratio of 1:1. This was the only way to obtain UST and take advantage of the various interest rates through staking on the Terra ecosystem. This meant that LUNA was an algorithmic stablecoin i.e. a stablecoin that can only maintain its peg via software and rules.
The risk of these algorithmic stablecoins and why so far they have all failed is because of the “death spiral”. This is a series of events that inevitably led to the demise of a protocol. On 7th May 2022, over US billion worth of UST was unstaked and hundreds of millions worth sold. (Tramadol This huge sale caused prices of UST to fall to 91 cent (i.e. it was no longer maintaining its peg). This caused huge panic in the market with UST holders frantically selling their UST to mitigate their losses, which pushed UST prices further down. A week later on 13th May 2022, prices of UST had already fallen to US$0.01.
Three Arrows Capital was unfortunately caught up in Terra’s collapse since it was heavily invested in LUNA. According to a Twitter post from a whistleblower known as FatMan, Three Arrows Capital purchased 10.9 million locked LUNA for US$559.6 million. However, since the collapse, this LUNA was only worth US$670.45.
In a recent development, a court in Seoul, South Korea issued an arrest warrant against Do Kwon and 5 others who are all currently in Singapore. The 6 persons are accused of violating South Korea’s capital markets law.
Failure to meet margin calls
As a result of suffering losses from the Axie Infinity hack, the Terra collapse, and the crypto market downturn, Three Arrows was unable to meet margin calls from its various lenders. According to the Financial Times, some of these lenders included US-based crypto lender BlockFi, which Three Arrows Capital had borrowed Bitcoin from and was now unable to repay.
Cryptocurrency options and futures exchange Deribit was also chasing down Su Zhu and Kyle Davies as they both kept a low profile since the collapse of Three Arrows Capital. Uncovered messages from Deribit Exchange’s representatives reveal that they have been trying to contact Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in vain. The messages also reveal that Deribit had sold US$85 million worth of BTC and ETH in an attempt to reduce Three Arrows’ position. Deribit also suggested that Three Arrows use their 32 million USDC as collateral.
Three Arrows Capital liquidation
Three Arrows Capital filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy on 1st July 2022 in New York. The purpose of a chapter 15 bankruptcy is to prevent creditors from seizing a company’s assets located in the US. Meanwhile, liquidation proceedings will continue in the British Virgin Islands where Three Arrows is based.
According to court documents, Three Arrows Capital owed US$3.5 billion to 27 different companies including Voyager Digital. Voyager Digital is a publicly listed crypto brokerage firm that suspended trading and withdrawals shortly before the news of 3AC’s bankruptcy. Other sizable creditors included Genesis Global Trading, which had lent US$2.36 billion to Three Arrows Capital.
Court documents also gave insights as to the remaining assets owned by Three Arrows Capital. These consist of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Avalanche, and Near, as well as shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and in Deribit. In total, these remaining assets are worth at least US$2.8 billion. In particular, the court document estimated the Deribit shares to be worth around US$500 million. However, as reported by CoinTelegraph, there are anonymous sources that claim the value of the Deribit shares is in fact only around $25 million. The consequence of this is it is possible there will not be sufficient assets to repay all of Three Arrows Capital’s creditors.
Su Zhu and Kyle Davies sues Three Arrows Capital.
Both Su Zhu and Kyle Davies’ whereabouts are currently unknown. Previously, the court issued an order allowing Three Arrows Capital liquidators to demand the pair attend court. It was also revealed that Zhu and Davies were uncooperative with their liquidators. According to a legal document filed by Three Arrows Capital’s liquidators, there were Zoom calls with a “Su Zhu” and “Kyle”. However, it could not be confirmed that it was indeed them because their video was switched off. Also, their audio was muted with neither of them speaking despite being asked questions.
However, it appears that whilst Su Zhu was filing a claim for US$5 million against Three Arrows Capital- his own fund. Kyle Davies also filed an affidavit stating that his wife, Kelli Chen also lent US$65.7 million to Three Arrows Capital.
Su Zhu and Kyle Davies buy a yacht with borrowed funds?
According to a legal document filed by the liquidators of Three Arrows Capital, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies made a down payment on a US$50 million yacht. The founders had boasted that the yacht would be larger than any owned even by Singapore’s richest billionaires. It is speculated that the yacht was purchased with borrowed funds.
Three Arrows Capital CEO Su Zhu to sell US$34.8mil bungalow after liquidation
CEO of Three Arrows Capital Su Zhu is apparently urgently trying to sell the US$34.8mil bungalow in Singapore after 3AC filed for bankruptcy. The 31,854 sq ft bungalow was purchased in December 2021 and was held on trust for his 6-year-old son. According to text messages circulating among property agents, the bungalow is being put up for “very urgent sale”
Zhu and his wife own 3 properties between them including the bungalow which they are planning to sell, spending over US$59.5 million.
For the past decade, we have seen the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency industry, with new innovations emerging every now and then. But with thousands of crypto brands out there, standing out among the rest becomes more difficult by the day. Having a unique concept and building it out is one half of the battle, the other half is marketing and presenting it to the world.
Crypto projects, like any other businesses, require strategic marketing and exposure to attract potential investors and partnerships. Crypto marketing agencies can fill this vital role while crypto ventures can focus on their business and development.
Cinchblock is one of the leading crypto and blockchain marketing firms based in Hong Kong. They specialize in growth hacking and influencer marketing, and are extremely efficient in expanding the brand of web3 startups. They achieve this by leveraging their vast network of influencer power worldwide. As such, they have worked with over 2,500 influencers who cover promotional content that would support the long-term growth of their clients.
Since their launch in 2017, Cinchblock has around 160 clients, holding more than 3,800 marketing campaigns so far. Compared to other crypto marketing agencies, Cinchblock performed exceedingly well in promoting play-to-earn and NFT projects during the GameFi boom in 2021. The agency contributed to the success of several notable GameFi and NFT projects such as MetaWars (9,582% ATH) and Refinable (25,233% ATH). This is largely attributed to the experienced development team that Cinchblock has who understands every aspect of smart contract programming, game development, tokenomics ecosystem design and more.
Founded in 2015, Wachsman is a New York-based strategic communications consultancy firm that has worked alongside some of the largest corporations across the Americas, EMEA, and the APAC regions. Their clients span those operating in heavily-regulated environments, such as institutional banking, insurtech and fintech giants, financial service providers, and even national governments.
Apart from experience and expertise in the traditional financial and policy circles, Wachsman is also highly competent in the blockchain landscape, providing services and solutions for web3 businesses and innovators. They are trusted advisors to numerous leading blockchain networks, payment gateways, cryptocurrency exchanges, DAOs, DeFi protocols, innovation labs and more.
Established in 2018, Coinbound has worked with some of the biggest names in web3 such as MetaMask, TRON, and Cosmos. The company specializes in thought leadership marketing and influencer marketing, managing one of the largest network of crypto influencers in the world across Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more. Its clients saw a 60% increase in organic traffic following successful social media campaigns.
Coinbound also delivers public relations expertise with contacts at some of the largest crypto publishers such as CoinTelegraph, Decrypt, and Forbes. This helps their clients secure organic coverage from the biggest names in the blockchain industry, reaching a wider audience worldwide.
Founded in 2017, Crypto PR is a global Web3 marketing and PR agency. The strength of this agency comes from the former experience of its founder as a PR consultant for Fortune 500 companies, along with long term experience in Web3. They are well known for their solid narrative building, creative strategy, and trend creation within the Web3 ecosystem.
On the creative front, Crypto PR established a production house to create entertaining video commercials, known to be the only crypto agency with such service, it has launched its first crypto video commercial earlier in August 2021, The Crypto Fortune Teller. Shortly after launching the campaign, many other crypto projects followed this video commercial trend, such as FTX, Crypto.com and Coinbase.
Solutions and Services Provided:
Digital Transformation Advisory Public Relations Investor Relations Influencer Marketing Social & Community Management Creative Advertising
When it comes to tailored crypto marketing services, NinjaPromo is perhaps the best agency in engaging with clients by establishing personal connections. Their team understands all industry principles and practices very well, specializing in helping B2B firms, blockchain infrastructures, FinTech companies, software vendors, and various start-ups with global promotion.
NinjaPromo is characterized by flexibility and innovation, hence their name as ninjas are quick and deadly. They have demonstrated the ability to keep up with the times, adopting the latest developments, technologies and methods of crypto marketing. As such, the agency is highly proficient in helping clients reach their target audience.
Founded in 2021, Coinpresso is a very young crypto marketing agency within its startup phase. But what they lack in age, they make up for with outstanding data-driven results. Within a year, Coinpresso is regarded as the best agency in terms of search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content marketing.
Their marketing model is based on a click funnel approach and ROI-based hypotheses. In other words, they have a team of talented copywriters and technicians that provide engaging content for users, optimizing click-through rates to drive traffic across a variety of platforms and search engines. This is a very cost-effective way to support the growth of their clients. According to their website, increasing the click-through rate of websites “by as little as 2% can increase revenue by millions of dollars.”
Blockwiz was established in 2019 by Dev Sharma who has previously held executive leadership roles with some of the biggest crypto companies, such as OKX and Paxful. The company was founded upon Sharma struggling to find a crypto marketing agency he could trust.
Because of Sharma’s connections, Blockwiz specializes in developing big, active communities with a number of marketing services and solutions, from influencer marketing campaigns to search engine optimization. As of now, the agency holds one of the largest marketing portfolios with 250 high-profile names including KuCoin and Bybit.
Since 2017, Crowdcreate has been one of the pioneers in blockchain marketing and strategy. The agency is also a global leader in NFT and GameFi marketing, amassing one of the largest communities of crypto influencers and thought leaders. Solana, Axie Infinity, and The Sandbox are some of the world famous names that Crowdcreate has worked with.
Crowdcreate is one of the few marketing agencies who has the resources to host global conferences and events to gain international exposure for their clients. As of today, they have raised $250 million in total across 500+ successful projects.
Blockchain App Factory offers more than just marketing services. With multi-chain support, they create blockchain-based solutions for their clients, helping them streamline development, production, and research. According to their website, they can work with various blockchain networks, including Ethereum, TRON, and EOS. Moreover, all of their services are compliant with existing regulations, and they even provide legal consultations for their clients.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become very popular amongst cryptocurrency traders and are drawing a lot of attention from several industries. The world of art has greatly benefitted from the sector, more than other industries (so far) because it opens creators and potential buyers to an ever-expanding marketplace. Generally, this stems from NFTs’ non-fungible nature, meaning that each one is unique.
Table of Contents
What makes NFTs special?
Anyone can trade one Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) for another and end up with the same asset they traded in terms of value and usability. However, non-fungibility means that no two assets are alike. If you trade one NFT for another, the newly-received asset will be fundamentally different. In the art sector, this allows people to buy directly from the creator, with the assurance that there is no duplicate anywhere. NFTs have also created a whole asset class and industry of NFT speculators which buy, sell and trade them for profit. There are estimates that in 2021 alone, there were over US$23 billion worth of trades in NFTs. In fact, the most expensive NFT sold in 2021 was Beeple’s The First 5,000 Days, which sold for US$69.3 million.
Some Common NFT Scams
However, as with most up-and-coming industries, the NFT space is rife with its fair share of scams. Malicious players find ways to take advantage of buyers pumping money into the industry. Scammers are also becoming more sophisticated with their methods and will go to any lengths to swindle NFT holders, especially since some NFTs are worth millions. Here are some common NFT scams.
Fake offers
Scammers frequently entice NFT holders with false offers. Known methods include phishing emails, fake links, and service offers that require people to sign malicious contracts. Sometimes, people willingly give up their signatures for seemingly legitimate reasons, such as a paid offer to help animate your NFT. Tokens and NFTs may get stolen after you sign the transaction. In December 2021, scammers hacked the NFT marketplace Fractal, pushing a link to prospective buyers through the platform’s official Discord. Within 10 minutes, around 370 users lost 862 SOL, worth more than US$150,000 at the time.
False NFT projects
The NFT space has seen several rug pull scams where a known or unknown creator publishes an NFT for sale. For many reasons, including the possibility of high returns, people may skip adequate due diligence and quickly sink money into a new NFT with growing popularity. In many cases, these projects eventually lose their value and can’t be sold for a profit or the initial capital. The unknown creators then take all the money and are almost always unreachable. A popular example is the Frosties rug pull and scam. In January, buyers who purchased pieces of the cartoon ice cream digital collection lost a total of . (https://inboundrem.com) 3 million after the creators and funds disappeared from OpenSea.
Counterfeit NFTs
Scammers can create fake NFTs that resemble originals, especially when the original is not very popular. The forger would then list the fake NFT on a marketplace where an unsuspecting buyer may purchase what they think is the authentic version. Since no one wants a plagiarized or counterfeit NFT, the buyer is left with a worthless asset.
Pump and dump scams
Here, a group of scammers artificially pump a worthless NFT collection which eventually drives price and demand from speculators. Within a short period, the collection garners enough attention that people consider it valuable and start buying. However, the group will pull the plug and disappear as soon as they make enough money from the sale. The price of the NFT eventually tanks, leaving holders unable to resell their worthless NFTs. A relevant example of a pump-and-dump scam is the Squid Game token. Last year, unknown creators launched a token that exploited the popularity of Netflix’s Squid Game series. The SQUID token pumped past $2,800 and eventually crashed to $0. The scammers made away with more than $3 million in total and have still not been found.
Fake Holder Verification Bots
Scammers may create programs that impersonate authentic verification bots used with discord servers. Owners then allow approvals for these fake bots that transfer sensitive information to scammers who steal the NFTs.
How to Avoid NFT Scams
All players in the NFT marketplace should know how to avoid scams. Due diligence often does the trick, as fake projects or assets usually have features that stick out. Generally, avoiding scams requires a lot of caution from NFT holders. Owners looking to sell their NFTs must set approvals. The process requires the seller to set an approval so that the marketplace can transact on the owner’s behalf if, for example, someone else buys the asset. While popular marketplaces like OpenSea are relatively safe, there is still a significant risk with setting approvals.
Approvals give the receiving contract or address the authority needed to transfer tokens. If a malicious bot or contract has the approval, your funds are not safe. To avoid these scams, there are a few things to note.
Setting approvals and verification
The blockchain is a public ledger and does not need permission for people to read stored information. However, executing transactions on the blockchain requires gas. When transacting with a third-party bot, marketplace, or address, any verification requiring gas fees is likely illicit. In the same way, setting approvals should cost some gas. There might be a serious problem if a transaction to set an approval is gasless.
Due diligence
It is important to do intensive research into an NFT collection or project before purchasing it. Trustworthy projects should have verifiable teams compromised of members without fraudulent histories. Depending on the project, a whitepaper might also be necessary. For phishing scams, buyers must double-check email addresses and links to ensure authenticity. Buyers must also do their due diligence to avoid plagiarized or counterfeit NFTs by confirming verification ticks on marketplaces or sticking to links posted on the project’s official Discord.
Discord Notes
Buyers using Collabland for management can attach specific notes to authentic bots in a server. This note will be available anywhere you see the bot, making it easy to avoid corrupt bots.
Personal Safety
All wallet credentials should only be in safe locations that are not easily accessible by third parties. It is inadvisable to keep this information on a mobile phone or with someone else. All owners should also consider unique passwords in addition to two-factor authentication (2FA).
Conclusion: Staying Safe
Avoiding NFT scams requires continuous effort. Buyers who have done their due diligence should consider taking further steps, including actions not listed above. Since the NFT space is still somewhat nascent, buyers should expect that scammers may come up with newer ways to steal NFTs or swindle unsuspecting users. Therefore, traders must take additional protective steps when buying, selling, or setting approvals for NFTs.
Ethereum is one of the world’s most versatile blockchains, with functionality that supports innumerable decentralized applications and blockchain assets. Although conceived in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum did not launch until 2015, it has since been at the forefront of blockchain utility, especially with the recent popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
An NFT is an asset on a blockchain that is completely verifiably unique and therefore irreplaceable. Today, many people use NFTs to digitize real-world assets and expose these assets to a global audience. NFTs are very popular in art and photography, as they allow creators to access a wide pool of potential fans and buyers. Currently, most NFTs are on the Ethereum blockchain.
Ethereum is also the most popular network for decentralized applications (DApps). These apps are powered by smart contracts that drive several functions on the blockchain using specified agreements and conditions. Since the NFT and DApp markets exploded, the Ethereum network has become very busy, and sometimes leaves some transactions stuck for long periods.
Check out our video on how to fix stuck transactions on Ethereum:
FIX stuck transactions on Ethereum
Why Do Some Transactions Get Stuck?
A delay in processing simply means that no miner has picked up the transaction yet. All Ethereum transactions require a gas fee (gwei), a processing fee set to incentivize miners to pick up and process the transaction. This fee is never static, as it depends on the network congestion at transaction time. Sometimes, gas fees may be very high if there are a lot of people transacting simultaneously.
Ethereum wallets usually recommend a gas fee based on current network specifics but would let the user increase or reduce it as preferred. If a transaction is delayed for too long, it’s likely that the gas fees for other transactions on the network are considerably higher, and miners are ignoring the lower prices.
What is a Nonce?
Used in cryptography as an acronym for “Number Only Used Once,” a nonce is a number that functions as an identifier for a transaction. This number is sequential and follows an order such that transactions with lower nonces get processed before others. Since one Ethereum wallet can initiate any number of transactions, nonces represent a (sometimes chronological) sequence that transaction processing follows.
How to Fix a Stuck Transaction
There are three main ways to fix a stuck transaction: cancelling the transaction, increasing the gas fee, or introducing a new transaction with a custom nonce. Before fixing a stuck transaction, it is important to verify the transaction in a block explorer like Etherscan to confirm that it is pending. An ETH wallet may provide users with a cancel or reset button that helps to delete the transaction. After cancelling, it might be necessary to close the wallet application or browser and then reopen it.
If it is a hardware wallet, turning off and disconnecting the device is also required. Although this is a simple and quick way to solve stuck transactions, users should note that this method may not always work. It is also possible to fix a transaction by increasing the set gas fee. If a user initiates a transaction with a low gas fee but later increases it to match the market’s current price, miners will pick up and process the transaction.
Another way is to use a new transaction to clear the old one by setting a custom nonce. For instance, a wallet might have three pending transactions, each with nonces 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The network would process nonce 3 first before the others. However, if the gas fee for that transaction is low and miners aren’t picking it, all three transactions could remain stuck.
The solution here is to initiate a new 0 ETH transaction with a high gas price and send the transaction to the user’s own address. To clear out the transaction, the user must ensure that the nonce specified in the new transaction is the same as the old one. Although this will cost some gas, it immediately clears out the clog and resolves all the other transactions.
How to Prevent a Stuck Transaction
The simplest way to prevent a stuck transaction is to ensure the gas fee you are setting agrees with current market prices. If the gas fee is high enough, miners pick it up almost immediately and process the transaction without delay. Users can confirm current gas prices from the wallet or from other online sources. If you are looking to save on gas fees, there are gas tracking websites and applications that will help you optimize this process.
Conclusion
Fixing a stuck Ethereum transaction is easy and usually takes a few minutes. When the transaction is still “pending” on the block explorer, these methods can help solve any problems concerning transaction delay. However, users should note that it is mostly impossible to fix any transactions where the status has moved from “pending” to “completed.”
EtherDrops is a Telegram based bot designed to track major crypto markets and NFTs. Many crypto enthusiasts would use data tracking sites such as CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko, and these tools are excellent as ‘wikipedias’ for all the altcoins out there. However, for those with more advanced needs, there are much better resources available that can make your life easier.
If you’ve been in crypto for several years, you’ll probably have a Telegram account. Most of the crypto projects in existence have official Telegram channels to keep their communities informed and up to date on developments, so the chances are you also use the messaging platform.
This is just as well, because one thing that makes Telegram very useful is its ability to add bots that serve different purposes to the end-user. This is where EtherDrops comes in, so you can be part of the various crypto communities and track your tokens all on the Telegram app.
What is EtherDrops?
Originally created in 2018 as a tool to monitor Ethereum wallets, EtherDrops was mainly used to track the transactions of Ether ‘whales’ as well as one’s own wallets on the first smart-contract blockchain.
Four years later, EtherDrops has evolved into something much bigger than wallet monitoring. It is now integrated with Ethereum, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche and BNB Smart Chain, providing a convenient place to track all your crypto activities within one Telegram bot.
Users are equipped with simple-to-use tools to follow coin prices, as well as track and receive real-time notifications on wallet transactions, DEX and CEX swaps, NFTs, liquidity pools, Binance funding, gas prices, and more.
By shaping settings according to your own personalized needs using a unique combination of advanced tools and instruments, EtherDrops becomes a simple yet essential bot that notifies you about anything you want, or alerts you to certain conditions. Thousands of investors, traders, and holders use it to navigate their crypto journeys.
The bot already has more than 400,000 users on board and keeps growing steadily. With the product sending over 5,000,000 notifications daily, it’s no surprise that each day they welcome hundreds of new users onboard.
EtherDrops Features
Major features of EtherDrops include:
Price tracking;
Wallet tracking;
Liquidity pools;
OpenSea integration;
Gas price notifications;
Integration with Telegram groups and channels; and
Token distribution alerts.
Price Tracking
Tracking the prices of various cryptocurrencies is a basic need for long-term investors or traders. Add coins by name, ticker or contract address. Apply your personalized settings to receive instant notifications about price changes and swaps.
Price Change Notifications – Set % Price Change to generate an alert.
Swap Alerts – Set $ Value to track Swaps on Uniswap, Sushiswap, Balancer and other supported DEXs.
Wallet Tracking
Add a wallet by its address to monitor incoming and outgoing transactions, airdrops, NFT transactions, and created contracts.
Transaction Notifications – Choose between different event types and set $ alerts to be notified about transactions.
Wallet Balance – Check Balances of assets and NFTs.
Liquidity Pools
Add a liquidity pool by its contract address and receive % pool changes should it increase or decrease within the specified range.
LP Changes – Set the % change value to stay on top of your added pool.
OpenSea Integration
Track the floor price and metrics of NFTs and arts on the Ethereum network. To follow your collection, add it by the name or address and set a % price change or generate a $ price target.
Gas Price Notifications
At times ETH gas prices can be really high and leave you with an eye-watering bill in fees to pay if you make a transaction. Set gas price notifications and save yourself a fortune!
Set Gas Alerts – Set Gwei amount to generate an alert. As soon as it hits the target or lower, you’ll be immediately notified.
Check out our Advanced Tips and Tricks to Save on Ethereum Gas Fees:
Integration with Groups & Channels
If you are an admin or a community manager of a project using Telegram, or you run a trading group, your channel could benefit from integration with the EtherDrops bot.
All Bot Features in your Groups and Channels – The same alerts and notifications you set in your individual account can be applied to groups and channels.
Token Distribution Alerts
Token distributions often create market price pressure and increase capitalization. Be the first to obtain such info and assess market conditions to make a play in your favor (if you use Margin or Futures trading).
Token Distribution – Receive distribution alerts from seed, private and other events for tokens that you’ve added to monitoring.
Tutorial: How to use EtherDrops
1. How to install EtherDrops bot
To install EtherDrops, simply follow this link to open the bot in Telegram. It will automatically link the bot to your account. Here is an official list of the available EtherDrops install links. If you experience any delays with bot updates, you can switch to any other official link.
2. How to add a wallet
In the Main Menu, select “+Add wallet”. Tick ✅ which networks you wish to add to monitoring for your wallet and press ✔ Done (for example ETH and Polygon). Then type in your wallet address and name it. You’ll now be immediately notified whenever there are any transactions happening within the wallet, including NFT activity, in/out transactions, airdrops, etc.
3. How to edit wallets
In the Main Menu, select “Edit Wallets”. Choose the wallet you wish to edit. The menu with available options will open up. You can Delete, Rename, make it your Favourite (if ON, notifications with this wallet will be illuminated for better visibility), follow only IN, OUT or ALL transactions, check Balances, add/remove Networks for this wallet, set Alert Transactions filter (you’ll only be notified about transactions that are bigger than the specified threshold).
4. How to add a liquidity pool
In the Main Menu, select “+Add pool”. Choose the network. Next, enter the address of the liquidity pool. Enter the % liquidity change to create a notification. When the liquidity of a pool changes within your specified range, you’ll be instantly notified.
5. How to edit liquidity pools
In the Main Menu, proceed to “Edit pools”. Choose the liquidity pool to add additional settings. You can Delete, Rename, turn your Notifications ON or OFF for this specific pool, or change the % notification alert.
6. How to add a new coin
In the Main Menu, select “+Add coin”. Next, enter the contract address, symbol, or name of the coin. Choose the coin from the list and select network (ETH, BSC, ERC-20, Polygon, or CEX). Finally, enter the % price change and $ value for swaps (in case the coin is traded on a DEX) to create a notification. Now you are following this coin. Whenever there is a swap or price change within the range you specified, you’ll receive an instant notification.
7. How to edit coins
In the Main Menu, proceed to “Edit coins”. Choose the coin. You can Delete, turn your Notifications ON or OFF for this specific coin, change Price Denomination (in USD, BNB, ETH, BTC), change the price % notification alert, create a price alert (if a coin is x USD, you’ll receive a notification), or change swap alerts.
8. How to add an NFT
In the Main Menu, select “+Add NFT”. Enter the contract address or name of the NFT. Select the right one and type in the % price change alert to receive notifications.
9. How to edit NFTs
In the Main Menu, select “Edit NFT”. Choose the NFT. You can Delete, change % alert or price, set a new price alert, or turn notifications ON/OFF.
10. How to set gas price alerts
In the Main Menu, select “Set gas alert”. Type in the desired fast gas price to create an alert.
Conclusion
EtherDrops is a simple yet comprehensive one-stop tool for all your crypto tracking needs and continues to add new networks, coins, and exchanges as the market expands so you’ll never be short of what you need. It just takes one click and a few easy-to-follow steps within Telegram to get set up, and that short initial setup time proves to be well worth it.
For a comprehensive tutorial on the more advanced features of EtherDrops such as quick shortcuts, special commands, managing profiles, how to set up the bot for groups and channels, and subscription options, read to the end of this quide. If TL;DR you can also watch a video tutorial here.
Follow DropsTab / EtherDrops for more information:
Yuga Labs, the company behind the widly popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is being sued in a proposed class action.
On 21st July 2022, law firm Scott + Scott issued a publication stating that Yuga Labs investors were inappropriately induced to buy their BAYC NFTs. In particular, Yuga Labs is accused of using celebrities to inflate the price of their NFTs and ApeCoin ($APE) token. Also, Yuga Labs had promoted that the NFT had growth prospects and opportunities for huge returns to unsuspecting investors.
The publication then goes on to state that after millions of dollars of BAYC NFTs were sold, Yuga Labs launched their Ape Coin ($APE) in order to further fleece investors. Finally, once it was discovered that value of the NFTs was solely based on celebrity promotion (and not actual utility), retail investors were left holding $APE tokens that had lost over 87% of their value since its peak on 28th April 2022.
The publication concludes with an invitation for any other investors of Yuga Labs to contact Scott + Scott to join in the class action. The class action intends to claim restitution for losses suffered as a result of purchasing Yuga Labs’ tokens and NFTs.
What is Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)?
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is a collection of unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) depicting a cartoon ape. It is a limited collection of 10,000 bored ape NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. (https://stratnewsglobal.com/) The BAYC NFT doubles as a Yacht Club membership card which according to their website grants exclusive members-only benefits. There are currently 6,457 BAYC owners and the most expensive BAYC ever sold was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817 which was sold for US$3.4 million at the Sotheby’s Metaverse marketplace.
ApeCoin ($APE) is the ecosystem token for the BAYC project and BAYC owners are allocated 10,094 APE tokens per NFT. At its peak on 28th April 2022, each ApeCoin $APE was worth US$26.70. Currently, the price of $APE is down approximately 76% from this peak.
Hot and cold wallets are used to store your cryptocurrencies, specifically your private keys which grant you access to your crypto assets. They are therefore a crucial element of the cryptocurrency space.
The major difference between hot and cold wallets is that hot wallets are connected to the internet whilst cold wallets are not.
For those holding cryptocurrencies, the choice between cold and hot wallets depends on factors such as the amount of coins you hold, the frequency in which you trade etc.
Extra steps are required for trading. Save for the KeepKey which is partnered with ShapeShift exchange, users must first send their cryptocurrencies from their cold wallet to an exchange before they can trade. And when cryptocurrency prices fluctuate by the minute, this can have a profound effect on your gains.
Harder to use. They do require at least 10 minutes for initial set-up, and you will need to plug in your device every time before sending your cryptocurrencies. (www.speedclean.com)
Inconvenient. Even with the Ledger Nano X’s mobile feature allowing you to connect the device to your mobile phone via Bluetooth, it’s still not as convenient as a mobile wallet, which is simply an app on your phone.
Conclusion
Whilst there is a longer list of cons for cold wallets, they are still highly recommended on the basis of significantly improved safety of funds.
Numerous people have suffered from hacks and closures of exchanges. These victims have no way to get their funds back, or at best, it will take a very long time. For example, Mt. Gox exchange was hacked in 2011 and 2014. To date, none of its victims have gotten any of their stolen funds back.
Meanwhile, hot wallets are very convenient — if you leave your funds on exchanges, you can trade with the click of a button.
We recommend keeping small amounts of cryptocurrencies in hot wallets for day-to-day trading or spending only. Whilst the bulk of your cryptocurrencies should be kept in cold wallets. If you obtain any gains from trading, you should also consider how much you want to retain for further trading and immediately transfer the rest to cold wallets.
There are tens of thousands of cryptocurrencies out there, with over 1,000 new tokens launched between January and July of 2022. Over time, people in the crypto community have realized that there are many bogus projects in the blockchain space whose sole aim is to entice unsuspecting people and defraud them. This makes it compulsory for everyone to research blockchain projects before making financial commitments.
What Does DYOR Mean?
DYOR (Do Your Own Research) is a well-known acronym in the crypto and blockchain space. DYOR means that people are encouraged to conduct due diligence and gather all the necessary information on projects before depositing any funds, especially for new projects. Adequate research protects new and existing crypto enthusiasts from scams and projects with no real value. By “doing your own research,” members of the crypto community can find viable blockchain projects and avoid fraudulent or deceptive ones.
Why is DYOR Important?
DYOR is important to avoid losses, especially from scams or fraudulent actors. The evolution of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain tech has made it easy for creators to sell the promise of a revolutionary product and attract cash from the general public. Since anyone with enough technical knowledge can create an asset on a blockchain, people no longer require intermediaries such as banks and brokerages before investing in the opportunities available within the crypto market. However, without governmental checks and regulations on these intermediaries, it also means that there is a high risk that the average investor will fall for a scam or fund a project with nefarious intentions.
Furthermore, since there are no centralized authorities in the DeFi space, people have no place or authority to report their grievances should the project turn out to be a scam. Fraudulent development teams know this, and exploit it by making promises they cannot deliver. In addition, transactions recorded on a blockchain are immutable. This design is a significant reason DYOR is important, since funds lost to scams or harmful projects are usually irretrievable.
How to Do Your Own Research (DYOR) in Crypto Projects
Here are some tips on how to DYOR before investing in crypto projects:
Find the project team and its Unique Selling Proposition (USP);
Evaluate the project roadmap;
Check the project’s social media reputation and presence;
Research the project’s source of funds
Read the project’s whitepaper
Find Third-Party Audit Reports
Find the Project Team and its Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
People looking to invest or deposit funds must first find information about the project’s motives, purpose, and development team. The data could include the project’s past performance and detailed use cases of featured products. If a project team is anonymous, it should set off red flags in your head, as you should be wondering why they aren’t willing to put their name behind a project if it is reputable. Also, what is the project trying to achieve? Consider if it is actually something that there is likely a market for, and whether other competitors have attempted the same idea in the past and their results?
Evaluate the Project Roadmap
Reading and understanding a project’s roadmap, which provides a strategic overview of objectives, milestones, deliverables, and resources, is an effective way to DYOR. You should also evaluate if the roadmap is feasible – this relates to the above research on the team and their background. A fake or deceptive crypto project may publish a roadmap that promises all kinds of products or features in a short time. These projects sometimes do this to excite new backers into believing the project is viable in the long run and things are moving along quickly. However, the roadmap may be too good to be true. If a project makes promises like partnerships, new products, plans to raise a large sum of money, and full government approval all within a short time, buyers should be wary.
Check the Project’s Social Media Reputation and Presence
Reputable blockchain projects usually have a verifiable social media presence and reputation. Checking the project’s reputation on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, Reddit, and Twitter gives insight into people’s thoughts about the project. See how other users are interacting with the community. Also, see if there are any questions or grievances concerning the project, and whether the team is immediately on hand to address them.
Research the Project’s Source of Funds
Before making financial commitments to a project, it is important to determine whether a single individual or an established firm backs the project with capital and other resources. Prospective investors should also research previous projects backed by these sponsors to see if they were successful. Additionally, these sponsors should have a good reputation in the crypto community. This information can be located in the project’s whitepaper.
Read the Project’s Whitepaper
All crypto projects should have at least a whitepaper that documents information and technical aspects of the project. Whitepapers contain critical information about a project’s development process, potential opportunities, and utility.
Find Third-Party Audit Reports
Many auditors, such as Certik, Hacken and Quantstamp review the code of blockchain projects before launch to ensure their security. These audits involve double-checking the code and testing it for vulnerabilities, which results in the funds within the application being much safer than a non-audited smart contract. Looking up the audit report of projects before investing is a sure way to build confidence in a project. However, people should be aware that a positive report does not mean that the project is completely safe, as there are instances where malicious code was added after the report was released.
People researching crypto and blockchain projects should use multiple tools, common tools include CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, Investopedia and social media.
CoinGecko
CoinGecko is a popular market research source for blockchain projects. The platform provides detailed information on market caps, prices, and daily trading volumes of various crypto assets. In addition to being a credible source of crypto information, CoinGecko also provides crypto-focused podcasts, industry commentary, and daily newsletters. When going into individual asset pages, you can also find the token’s website and social channels, allowing you to continue your due diligence.
CoinMarketCap
CoinMarketCap is the leading platform for cryptocurrency market information and research. The platform provides market information on nearly all the crypto assets available. CoinMarketCap also ranks crypto assets and projects in real-time, using features like market capitalization or 24-hour trading volume to sort projects in order. Like with CoinGecko, make sure to check the individual asset pages for more information on a specific cryptocurrency.
Investopedia
Investopedia is a leading online resource in the finance space. It is a repository that explains related terms and contains news and general financial information. Investopedia explains many complex blockchain concepts in layman’s terms, making it an ideal platform for newcomers in the finance and crypto space.
Social Media
It is almost essential to sample public opinion about a project before spending money. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Telegram and Reddit contain raw and undiluted information from members of the crypto community who may have in-depth details about the project.
Although the information posted on social media may be unverified, these platforms can still be an excellent way to get much-needed information about projects. Posts may be from people who have lost money, made money, or those who noticed specifics that they considered to be red flags. However with everything on social media, always confirm that the statements being made are legitimate before you take them as truth.
Conclusion
DYOR is crucial for investors in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. The absence of easy-to-understand information and lack of regulation somewhat makes scams more likely in the crypto space than in traditional financial markets, so never overlook the importance of research and verification. Doing the proper research before getting monetarily involved in any project is a concept that has more relevance in the blockchain sector than in many other industries because it is a disruptive and highly volatile sector.
