Boxmining v2

Author: Michael Gu

  • Newsletter #10

    Newsletter #10

    Week in review

    “Good guy” hacker: Hacks Andre Cronje’s project, returns 50% of loot

    Eminence Finance was a work in progress teased by Andre Cronje in a cryptic tweet. This however was already enough for some investors who rushed to buy EMN tokens.

    On 29th September 2020 however, the crypto community sounded the alarm of a rug pull after seeing that Cronje’s developer wallet had interacted with a new Ethereum address. The hacker stole a total of USD$15mil worth of invested assets.

    Those who had invested attacked Cronje, accusing him of failing to take safety precautions and not making his project private. Some even went as far as sending death threats to Cronje and one person has even alleged they lost USD$100,000 in this hack.

    Strangely, the hacker decided to send USD$8mil back to Cronje’s address but retained USD$7mil for himself. Subsequently, Cronje tweeted that he had asked the yearn treasury to refund the USD$8mil returned by the hacker to affected users.

    This is certainly a painful lesson for those affected. But it is yet another reminder that people should always do their own full research before putting any funds into a project. This is especially true considering we have been observing a marked rise in scams in the past few weeks.

    KuCoin Hack pt 2: Still not out of the woods yet

    The KuCoin hack occurred on 25th September 2020 and the tally so far seems to be that over USD$200 million in customer funds have been lost, though according to KuCoin, around 130 million has already been secured or in the process of being recovered.

    Not all projects have their services fully restored (i.e. trading, deposits, and withdrawals). As at 2:30pm on 2nd October 2020 (UTC) the following projects HAVE had their services fully restored:

    Full services restored for the following projects. Items in red are the latest additions to the list. (Image credit: KuCoin.com)

    To mitigate the effects of the hack, projects have generally taken 1 of 4 approaches: (1) freeze their tokens; (2) replace their tokens; (3) if the tokens were recoverable, to return them to KuCoin; or (4) invalidate the tokens.

    Meanwhile, Hacken have announced that as a way of supporting the cryptocurrency community, they will be looking into the KuCoin hack and publishing their findings. From their initial investigations, it seems that it was a social engineering attack on a KuCoin employee who had access to private keys worth USD$150mil.

    KuCoin of course has also launched their own investigations and apparently identified those involved in the breach with “substantial proof at hand” against them. KuCoin has contacted law enforcement officials and police to take action against them.

    A reminder again to put your cryptocurrencies in a hardware wallet if you haven’t done so already! Check out our Ledger Nano X review or buy it here.

    BitMEX is in hot water

    On 1st October 2020, civil and criminal proceedings have been respectively issued by the DOJ and CFTC against BitMEX, its CEO Arthur Hayes, together with other key personnel and affiliates. Meanwhile, BitMEX’s CTO who was at the time working in the US, was arrested. The DOJ accuses BitMEX of failing to implement proper KYC/AML procedures in breach of the Bank Secrecy Act, whilst the CTFC alleges the Exchange had failed to register as a derivatives exchange yet still offering services to US customers.

    However, the speculation is that the current charges are only a precursor to more severe charges that would be issued against the individuals once they have been extradited to the US e.g. breaching international sanctions via BitMEX allowing those from Iran and North Korea to move out of their cryptocurrency positions.

    As a result of this news, traders flocked to withdraw their funds from the Exchange fearing it would be shut down. A total of USD$23mil was withdrawn from BitMEX in a single hour and so far over 45,000 BTC has been withdrawn. According to data from Crystal Blockchain, other centralized exchanges benefited from this mass exodus from BitMEX, with around 20,000 BTC going to Gemini, Binance, OKEx and Huobi Exchanges.

    It is unknown how the legal proceedings and events will unfold. Most importantly, no one knows whether BitMEX operations and accounts will be frozen. So users of the Exchange may want to consider withdrawing their cryptocurrencies just in case.

    Bitcoin resilient against negative news hammer

    Prices of Bitcoin were unmoved by the KuCoin hack, but took a dip upon the news of the legal proceedings against BitMEX. Even news that US President Donald Trump testing positive for COVID-19 did not significantly shake prices for long. During this week and despite the generally negative news, Bitcoin prices appear to be on the way to recovery. This has led to some analysts taking the view that professional and retail investors remain bullish on Bitcoin and the ongoing upwards trend to USD$12,000 could return sooner rather than later.

    Upcoming events

    5th Oct 5:00am: Boxmining livestream
    8th Oct 6:00am: Alpha Finance Lab token sale on Binance Launchpad. Farming on their Launchpool already started at 12:00am on 30th Sept.
    8th Oct 6:00pm: Radix DLT token sale
    10th Oct 2:00pm: RAMP DeFi public sale

    *All times are listed in UTC unless otherwise stated.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Newsletter #9

    Newsletter #9

    Week in review

    $FEW tried to profit off the backs of others

    Around 50 notable names in the crypto Twitter space were caught red-handed for essentially orchestrating a pump and dump scheme.

    This started when they apparently missed out on the $MEME airdrop and so decided to “redeem” themselves…at the expense of others. Their plan, known as “The Experiment” was to create a new flash mob project called $FEW. There was not much of a plan in terms of launching the project or what it was about. But, there was a clear intent to airdrop the token to their fellow members who would promote it on Twitter to pump up the price of $FEW. Afterward, the members would proceed to sell their airdropped tokens and walk away with a few extra bucks in their pockets.

    However, SOMEONE leaked screenshots of the private Telegram discussion to the public. Needless to say, the public went into an angry frenzy, with Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x on Twitter) getting the brunt of the anger as the screenshots showed him saying their project needed “people to dump on”.

    Members of the group quickly came to say that “The Experiment” was a joke. When the public wasn’t satisfied with that explanation they also claimed they were going to donate all their profits from the project. Sassano eventually admitted his initial explanation that it was “a joke” was weak and apologised. However, he maintains he did not think $FEW was a scam since he saw some notable influencers in the Telegram. He also burned his $FEW to assure the public he was not going to dump the tokens on them. Other members such as Alex Masmej also insisted that no harm was actually done since the token was never listed and that he had also burnt his $FEW.

    However, this wasn’t a joke to some people as they actually ended up buying $FEW because of the influencers’ promotional posts on Twitter. Others, seeing that $FEW wasn’t listed on any exchange yet, tried to profit off the hype by listing fake $FEW trading pairs on Uniswap in an effort to get some members to trade.

    The public may have moved on for now seeing as how quickly trends come and go in crypto, but the $FEW incident had just confirmed and exposed what many of us had been suspecting for a long time.

    KuCoin gets hacked

    KuCoin confirmed on 26th September 2020 in a Twitter post they had detected huge withdrawals of BTC and other tokens from their hot wallets out of the Exchange. It is estimated that the withdrawals are around USD$150million worth, a “small amount for KuCoin” according to a Livestream they did shortly after the hack was confirmed. The Exchange is still trying to investigate how the withdrawals came about, but they are reassuring the public that their funds are safe and they will cover any losses suffered by the public.

    They also mentioned they are working with other exchanges to track down the flow of the stolen funds and stop them from being disposed of on the market. Kucoin will also be temporarily suspending all withdrawals from the Exchange “until next week”.

    The moral of the story is, take your cryptocurrencies off exchanges and store them offline in a hardware wallet. If you don’t have one yet, please consider getting one. Check out our Ledger Nano X review or buy it here.

    NFTs suddenly becomes hot

    This week, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) hype seemingly appeared out of nowhere and now everyone is trying to make NFTs and selling them for profit. But is it sustainable? Or is it just something to keep everyone entertained since the DeFi craze is cooling down? I invited Yat Siu, Co-Founder/CEO of Animoca Brands ($REVV) and Sandbox ($SAND) to debate whether NFTs are the next big thing, and I did NOT hold back in playing the devil’s advocate:

    Upcoming events

    26 Sep 1:00pm: Flamingo.Finance ($FLM) will resume Mint Rush.
    28 Sep 8:30am: RioDeFi (RFUEL) will list on Uniswap at an initial price of $0.20 per token.
    29 Sep 1:00pm: CryptoLocally ($GIV) will auction off 30mil GIV tokens (3% of total supply) less the whitelisted allocation of approx 1.5mil GIV. The initial price will be 0.0065 USDC/GIV and the auction interface will be revealed on the CryptoLocally website at the start of the auction. For those who want a head start, CryptoLocally allows you to place your orders on Mesa before the auction.
    3 October (tentative): KuCoin will resume withdrawals from their exchange. But do check the KuCoin Telegram for the most updated info.

    *All times are listed in UTC unless otherwise stated.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Newsletter #8

    Newsletter #8

    As we head towards late September, we see a significant cooldown on the profitability of Yield Farming. The days of 3 digital farms are gone, with yields now nearing ~50% APY for low-risk farms. Whilst some high yields still remain, the number of scams in the yield farming space has drastically increased. Overall, this is a healthier direction for the entire space.

    Week in review

    YFValue is evolving-but is it for the best?

    YFValue will be going through a lot of changes in the coming few weeks. Here’s a summary:

    • 15th September 2020 at 2:00pm UTC: Governance Vault (beta) opened and is intended to replace Staking Pool v2. It is supposedly an upgrade because the YFV staked in Governance Vault will now also be farming for yield. Profits would be used to buy back VALUE and distributed to stakers.
    • 16th September 2020: YFValue’s new token VALUE deployed. The total supply of VALUE is capped at 3mil. A swap portal will soon be opened for holders to swap their YFV to VALUE.
    • 18th September 2020: Value Liquid exchange will be launched. All liquidity from YFV pools will be automatically migrated from Balancer to Value Liquid. Balancer Pools will stop issuing YFV.
    • 21st September 2020: Value Vaults will be available. Currently, it is known that after its release, 6.8% of profits from Value Vault’s strategies will be used to buy VALUE and distributed to Governance Vault Stakers. However, full details of what Value Vaults do are not announced yet.
    • 2nd October 2020: Stablecoin seed pool’s double inflation rate will end.

    Yieldfarming.insure- DeFi drama on x4 speed

    Yieldfarming.insure ($SAFE) was only launched on 14th September 2020 and was all the buzz in various telegram groups. Shortly after launch on 15th September 2020, prices for $SAFE shot up to over USD$4,200 at its peak. However, the next day its developer “Chefinsurance” (“Chef”) published a lengthy message about the drama happening behind the scenes.

    Turns out there was some conflict between Chef and “AzeemFi” (“Azeem”), apparently in investor into Yieldfarming.insure. According to Chef, Azeem insisted to deploy Pool 4 earlier than planned and eventually forced Chef to do so. Minutes after deployment, Azeem apparently realising he may be exposed to the risk of impermanent loss suddenly withdrew all his liquidity from Pool 4, essentially locking that pool and rendering it unusable. Azeem apparently then messaged community members to backstab and shift the blame for the issues on Pool 4 onto Chef. He also allegedly plans to oust Chef and was dumping his $SAFE tokens on the market.

    Soon after Azeem issues his own reply that Chef is not truthful and posted message histories between himself and Chef. According to Azeem, he had only later discovered that Chef had created a clone farm and there was no actual product at all. Further, he insists he did not tank Yieldfarming.insure and instaed was trying to save it. Furthermore, the $SAFE tokens were according to Azeem “fairly farmed” by him and he had sold them to “take fairly farmed profits”.

    Only 24 hours later and apparently Chef and Azeem have reconnected and are prepared to put aside their differences and reconcile.

    From the latest update, it appears that Azeem would be stepping away from the project entirely. Meanwhile, Chef will be taking a break from his university studies and was given a grant of USD$25,000 and 5ETH from Andre Cronje and BlurKirby.eth to focus on the project.

    The new project, known as COVER will be fully built from the ground up and will allow users to buy and sell cover on anything on a decentralised and scalable platform. Their MVP is expected to be available for beta testing by 1st November 2020.

    As for SAFE holders, they will be able to migrate to $COVER through a smart contract after the completion of the beta tests for COVER.

    $UNI-versal free lunch

    Uniswap dropped a (welcome) bomb on 17th September 2020 when it launched its community token $UNI. Anyone who used Uniswap (including failed transactions) will be able to claim 200 UNI tokens for FREE. For those who provided liquidity to the platform, Uniswap will award you with even bigger bonuses. Check out our video below on how you can claim your free lunch:

    Claim Free Uniswap ($UNI)

    Exchanges saw how hot these free lunches were going to be and immediately raced to list UNI. Currently, UNI is listed on FTX, Binance, KuCoin, OKEx, Poloniex etc. Prices for UNI were also on an upwards trajectory, with UNI going to USD$8.40 at its highest.

    However UNI is still at its early stage and it needs to be seen the approximate range at which prices will be. Hence we hear a lot of people in the community saying that they will hold onto their UNI for now with a “wait and see” approach.

    Ledger hardware wallet sale!

    LAST FEW DAYS! Ledger is offering 20% off on their Nano X and Nano S cryptocurrency hardware wallets with promo code: backtoschool. Offer is only available from 7-21st Sept 2020. Click below to buy!

    Upcoming events

    21st September 2020: YFValue’s Value Vaults will be available.
    23rd September 2020: Flamingo.finance’s yield farm, Flamincome will launch.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Ask a question to Leo Wang, Co-Founder of Crust Network

    Ask a question to Leo Wang, Co-Founder of Crust Network

    I’ll be interviewing Leo Wang, Co-founder of Crust Network LIVE on 17th September 2020 at 3:00am (UTC)!

    In the interview we will be discussing:

    • Decentralised storage- what is it and why is it better than the traditional cloud network?
    • Their role in the Polkadot ecosystem.
    • Upcoming $CRU Bounce auction.
    • What can we expect from Crust Network?

    What is Crust Network? Crust Network implements the incentive layer protocol for decentralized storage. It is adaptable to multiple storage layer protocols such as IPFS, and provides support for the application layer. Crust’s architecture also has the capability of supporting a decentralized computing layer and building a decentralized cloud ecosystem. At present, public testnet Maxwell CC2 is live, and everyone is welcome to participate in the testnet. Crust Network successively joined Substrate Builders Program and Web3.0 Bootcamp, and also obtained a Web3 Foundation Grant.

    Who is Leo Wang? Leo is the Co-Founder of Crust Network, leading products and technologies. Leo is experienced in distributed storage, cloud computing and blockchain areas. Leo worked in Microsoft and Cisco as their Development Lead. In Cisco Leo also led a blockchain-based project to store and exchange manufacturing data in different geo-locations.

    This video is aimed at all levels of cryptocurrency enthusiasts so feel free to ask Leo your burning questions about Crust Network and this space in general.

    I will personally be giving out prizes for the best 3 questions. To ask a question, leave a comment in this post below!

    Event Time: 17th September 2020 at 3:00am (UTC)!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. (Clonazepam) Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • FalconSwap ($FSW) Guide

    FalconSwap ($FSW) Guide

    Before we begin

    This article is for information purposes only and is not intended to comment on the viability of FalconSwap (FSW). As with any cryptocurrency projects it involves a huge amount of risk. Anyone intending to participate should do full research and consider carefully the risks involved beforehand.

    FalconSwap ($FSW) is a layer-2 scaling solution built on Uniswap and further extendable to aggregate other Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platforms like Mooniswap, Kyber, Balancer, Airswap, and Bancor. It aims to solve the ongoing issues in the Ethereum ecosystem like high transaction fees, slippage in trading, lack of privacy, slow transactions, and poor user experience.

    Summary

    • The platform promises to offer features like Layer-2 Order Matching, DEX Aggregation, Lower trading fees, Low Slippage, Additional Privacy, and Faster Transactions.
    • The FalconSwap (FSW) tokens are designed to incentivize token holders and platform users by offering Fee discounts, Staking rewards, Token burns, and Liquidity mining features.
    • Potential Red flags include lack of a Whitepaper and roadmap, no public Github profile, an anonymous Team, and Investor uncertainty.
    • Can the team overcome these hurdles to capture market share from the existing players and establish themselves as the go-to solution for Ethereum scaling?

    What is FalconSwap trying to solve?

    DeFi platforms have gained immense traction in the 3rd quarter of 2020. As per data from DeFi pulse, the total value locked in DeFi protocols has surged from close to USD$1 billion in June to $9 billion in September. Uniswap has emerged as the most sought-after platform to trade and swap digital assets on the Ethereum blockchain. On August 30, 2020, Uniswap became the first decentralised exchange (DEX) to overtake the biggest US-based crypto exchange, Coinbase.

    However, as the DeFi community continues to push their activity beyond network limits, congestion on the network has led to an increasing number of unconfirmed transactions, longer wait times, and higher fees as users compete to get their transactions confirmed faster, making it an extremely crucial roadblock for the future of Ethereum as a smart contract platform. Ethereum Gas fees have skyrocketed in recent months with over 5,869 ETH (US$2.17 million) spent as per the latest data from Glassnode, with fees as high as 15,374 ETH (US$ 3.5million) recorded on June 11, 2020.

    There is therefore an immediate need to solve the Ethereum scaling issue to enable users and projects make the most of the growing DeFi ecosystem. This is where FalconSwap aims to provide a solution.

    FalconSwap overview

    Calling itself the “The Powerhouse for DeFi”, FalconSwap operates as a second layer solution on Uniswap and other DeFi platforms. It aims to solves the ongoing issues of high transaction fees, slippage in trading, lack of privacy, slow transactions and poor user experience in the Ethereum ecosystem. This it plans to do by offering the following features:

    • Layer-2 Order Matching: Orders are matched in Layer-2 and aggregated before accessing the liquidity from Uniswap pools.
    • DEX Aggregation: Orders are aggregated across multiple liquidity pools like Uniswap, Mooniswap, Balancer, Kyber, and so on.
    • Lower trading fees: Aggregating orders distribute the transaction fees across multiple users thereby lowering fees per user.
    • Low Slippage: Aggregating platforms provide a larger liquidity pool to execute orders thereby lowering slippage in trading.
    • Privacy: Layer-2 orders matching occurs without on-chain knowledge of the trade.
    • Faster Transactions: Faster transactions powered by the aggregating and executing of several trades in Layer-2.

    To understand this better, let us assume there are 3 buyers buying 2 ETH, 3 ETH and 5 ETH worth of tokens respectively, and 3 sellers selling 6 ETH, 6 ETH and 8 ETH worth of orders respectively.

    Using the current trading approach on Uniswap, every user would pay for their own gas fees and the total fees spent would be 6x the gas fees per order. User might also experience transaction slippage and even higher fees if their orders are distributed among multiple liquidity pools.

    However, when the above-mentioned trades are placed and executed on the FalconSwap platform, the protocol would aggregate 6 orders matching the 10 ETH worth of buy orders with 10 ETH worth of sell orders. The remaining 10 ETH worth of sell orders will then be sent to Uniswap or distributed among different liquidity pools. This would help optimize gas fees per user and minimise slippage.

    FalconSwap token ($FSW)

    FalconSwap tokenomics are designed to incentivize users and token holders in the following manner:

    • Fee discounts: FSW token holders get additional fees discount of up to 50% to use FalconSwap over and above the fee savings from Layer-2 trade execution.
    • Staking: A part of the fees collected from the FalconSwap protocol will be used to buy FSW tokens from the market and distributed to the FSW token staking holders.
    • Token burn: FSW is a deflationary token. 10% of the fees collected will be used to buy FSW tokens from the market and burned.
    • Liquidity mining: Users mine FSW tokens when they trade on FalconSwap.

    As at September 4, 2020, FSW token ranks 381 out of 5890 coins listed on CoinGecko. The current token circulating supply is 33 million with a max supply of 100 million. The FSW Token are currently available for purchase on Uniswap V2 (ETH/FSW) and Hotbit exchanges.

    FalconSwap testnet results

    On August 27, 2020 the team reported successfully completing their first milestone, which was to build a decentralized protocol to aggregate orders on Uniswap and publicly shared the test net results with the community. As per the results, trading on FalconSwap offered Gas savings of approximately 64% per transaction when compared to Uniswap.

    Potential red flags: Is FalconSwap legit?

    FalconSwap has several aspects to it which makes us question the legitimacy of the project, for example, the lack of whitepaper and Github. We also have concerns about the fact that the team is anonymous and queries whether they are indeed backed by the investors as claimed. Concerning these questions, we contacted the FalconSwap team and they were kind enough to promptly respond. Below are details of our concerns on FalconSwap and the response from the team.

    No whitepaper

    Undoubtedly the most important document for any upcoming project is a detailed and structured whitepaper with a clear road map for potential investors. It is the first litmus test a project needs to clear to be considered trustworthy. FalconSwap has not yet published its whitepaper to the community.

    According to the team, there is no white paper because the team is already aiming to launch the final product by the end of September 2020 and have partnered with companies like DEX Tools for initial liquidity mining, trading, and integrations. The roadmap is set to be presented along with the product launch.

    No Github

    Most projects today have an active Github profile where they regularly provide updates to the progress on their code for peer review and fault identification by the community. FalconSwap doesn’t have any such public Github profile. As to this issue, the FalconSwap team says that their GitHub has not been made public so they can have an edge on competitors and avoid their code being copied. However, it will also be made public post product launch.

    Anonymous team

    Another potential red flag is that the team is anonymous. To be fair, there are some projects where teams opt to stay anonymous due to the threat of a potential government crackdown or operational risk. (Xanax) However, these projects overcompensate by being transparent on all the other aspects of their projects to magnify trust, which FalconSwap currently lacks. When we asked the team on this, they responded that they decided to stay anonymous to avoid any adverse effect on operations.

    Unclear investors/partners

    The FalconSwap website mentions 6 trusted partners namely Fengshui Capital, Tenzor Capital, TRG Capital, Mapleblock Capital, Magnus Capital, and Black Dragon. However, apart from Fengshui Capital, No partner has listed FalconSwap as part of their investment portfolios on their own respective websites.

    We note that whether investors or partners mention FalconSwap on their website or not is beyond the control of the FalconSwap team. From our further research, we note that TRG Capital Director Etienne VantKruys tweeted about FalconSwap. We also note that some of the FalconSwap community members did their own research and emailed investors to confirm the veracity of their partnerships with FalconSwap. It was confirmed by those Community members that they got positive responses.

    Closing thoughts

    FalconSwap clearly has identified an important issue plaguing the Ethereum ecosystem. Their Layer-2 transaction aggregation solution might be one of the best answers to scale Ethereum and lower fees. The team therefore has a very small window to bring the product into the market since the Uniswap team are also working on their Layer-2 solution expected to be launched later this year.

    Moreover, healthy competition is expected from the newly launched Polkadot protocol which already enables cross-blockchain transfers of any type of data, asset, or tokens along with transactional scalability by spreading transactions across multiple parallel blockchains. Ethereum itself could scale very soon, unclogging the network, lowering fees and boosting transaction speed, leaving very little incentive to use the FalconSwap platform in the future.

    However, if the team delivers by launching the platform within the promised timeline and make the code publicly available to the community, it can surely capture significant market share from the existing players, gain community trust and establish themselves as THE go-to solution for Ethereum scaling.

    Important Links

    Website: https://FalconSwap.com

    Telegram: https://t.me/Falcon_Swap

    Medium: https://medium.com/FalconSwap

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Falcon_Swap

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Ethereum Mining Guide (2021)

    Ethereum Mining Guide (2021)

    What is Ethereum Mining?

    Ethereum is one of the easiest cryptocurrencies to mine, using idle computer resources to earn daily revenue in Ethereum (ETH). This is especially true if you have a high end computer, as they usually have the necessary hardware to mine Ethereum. This guide will cover the basics of Ethereum mining and will get you started in less than 5 minutes. In order to get mining, you’ll need a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU). GPUs are usually in gaming computers and high-end computers (eg MacBook Pro or Dell XPS). Miners frequently sell mined Ethereum on top cryptocurrency exchanges or Over-the-Counter to generate passive income.

    [wp-compear id=”5148″]

    Ethereum (ETH) is the cryptocurrency used on the Ethereum network – decentralized smart platform for running decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi). To learn more about Ethereum check out our Ethereum Guide.

    Note: If you don’t have a GPU, check the bottom section of this guide and we’ll teach you how to buy and install one.

    Note 2: In 2021, Ethereum will deploy a new consensus mechanism called Proof of Stake that no longer requires mining. This will eventually phase out mining on Ethereum all together. Read more about Proof of Stake.

    How Profitable is Ethereum Mining?

    Daily Revenue from mining rewards differ everyday – this is because mining difficulty changes and hence the daily reward. Revenue is dependent on the power of the Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) involved, with higher Hashrates being faster and more profitable. There are two major manufacturers of GPUs: Nvidia and AMD. Generally speaking, the more powerful (and expensive) the GPU higher the Hashrate for mining Ethereum. For example, the expensive Nvidia RTX 2080 mines at 36.90 MH/s whilst the less expensive Nvidia GTX 1660 mines at 20.50 MH/s. Check out the latest up-to-date daily revenue for different hardware on https://whattomine.com.

    Daily Revenue Yearly Revenue
    Nvidia RTX 2080 $0.50 $182
    Nvidia GTX 1060 $0.30 $109
    AMD Vega64 $0.54 $197
    AMD RX480 $0.40 $146

    Potential Revenue mining Ethereum (Calculated on Oct 29 2019)

    We calculated the costs and profits for mining Ethereum, and how does it compare to Ethereum staking? Which one is better?

    Ethereum mining vs staking: Which one is more profitable

    Easiest way to mine Ethereum (Honeyminer)

    Honeyminer is an all-in-one mining solution that automatically mines on your computer without any technical knowledge. Honeyminer automatically joins a mining pool, so you can get daily payouts of the revenue you generate from mining.

    Once installed, the software will automatically mine the best cryptocurrency (including ethereum) using all available hardware – both CPU and GPUs available on the machine. To see the daily revenue, open up the “see full activity panel” to get a breakdown of the hardware being used.

    When Honeyminer is running, the computer’s hardware will get 100% utilized. It’s still run simple tasks on the computer, like web-browsing or composing emails. However, running video games or editing photos/videos will become slower. It is advised to turn-off honeyminer when doing resource intensive tasks.

    It is important to note that Honeymoney will mine the most profitable cryptocurrency at the time (including ethereum) and convert the revenue into Bitcoin (displayed in Sats, satoshi). If you want to specifically mine ethereum and earn ethereum, check the advanced guide below.

    One disadavantage of Honeyminer is the platform fees. Currently, Honeyminer takes 8% fee for the 1st GPU and 2.5% for additional GPUs. This means a portion of the revenue will go to Honeyminer. If you don’t want to pay platform fees, you can try the advanced Ethereum Mining option

    To install Honeyminer, download it here: https://honeyminer.com/

    Operating System Requirements

    To mine Ethereum, you can easily use any modern operating system: Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. For beginners, it’s suggested to try out HoneyMiner on either Windows 10 or MacOS to get the feel of mining. This is because it’s the easiest to setup up and can work alongside regular tasks on the computer. For higher mining performance, a dedicated linux based operating system is recommended – this allows for optimisation of the caching properties and remote management. Currently popular custom mining OS include: HiveOS, NicehashOS and ethOS.

    How to Mine Ethereum (Advanced)

    Claymore’s Dual GPU Miner

    There are 3 main software miners for mining Ethereum. For each of the Ethereum mining software, there are advanced settings possible such as customization for the memory usage, caching and efficiency. For example, Claymore’s Dual Ethereum miner have advanced options such as optimized memory timings (increase performance by ~10-20%) and support for mining pools. Top 3 Ethereum miners are:

    To setup Ethereum, you need to have an Ethereum address. In order to get an address, you can look at our Enjin Wallet for a free software wallet or Ledger Nano X – a secure hardware wallet.

    Ethereum Pool Mining

    There are two main ways to mine ethereum – solo mining or pool mining.

    Pool Mining (working together)

    • Work with others to mine and share rewards
    • Get paid per share, on a hourly or daily basis
    • Less random / dependent on luck
    • Pools take some fees (0.5-3% depending on pool)

    Solo Mining

    • You mine the entire block reward (3 ETH per block) – no pool fees
    • Random Chance and probability – you can go days or months without rewards
    • Not viable if Hashrate is low – single GPU will take years to mine a block

    Top Ethereum Mining Pools

    There are 2 factors to consider when picking a Ethereum mining pool – the location of the pool and it’s market share. The top priority would be location – the closer the pool is to you geographically the better. This is because sometimes due to network latency, shares that are mined could be “stale” – as new blocks are created rendering older blocks obsolete. It’s also important to know that Chinese servers are behind the Great Firewall of China, meaning that connections could periodically break. This means that choosing a server with low latency and close geographical location would give the highest yield.

    The second factor is the market share of the pool. The larger the market share, the more consistent the rewards. This is because blocks are continuously mined by the pool, and hence they can pay out at a consistent rate. This reduces the impact of the randomness of block creation.

    We recommend finding a pool close to your location with a high market share.

    Is it possible to solo mine Ethereum in 2020

    Currently it’s not feasible to solo mine Ethereum in 2020. It would take 67 years to solo mine a block (assuming 30 MHash/s and current total hashrate of 181 THash/s). This would mean it would likely take an entire lifetime before the solo miner finds a block with a single GPU.

    How long will Ethereum be able to be mined

    With the upcoming changes coming to Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum mining will eventually be phased out. Mining will be deprecated in phase 3 of the ETH2 roadmap, expected to come sometime in 2022 at the earliest. At this point, there will no longer be any rewards for mining Ethereum as the network will full be proof of stake.

    Ethereum Cloud Mining

    In 2020, Ethereum Cloud mining contracts are not profitable. This is because mining has become more competitive with lower margins – forcing miners to reduce costs. Cloud mining is hit the hardest because of they have large overheads like advertising spends and legal costs. In our latest research, we found that cloud mining providers were charging 184% for the same hashrate than home-made solutions.

    What is Ethereum ProgPoW and how does it impact mining

    ProgPow is a proposed extension to the mining algorithm of Ethereum, designed to resist centralization of miners via ASICs (specialized mining equipment). The ProgPoW upgrade is meant to help Graphics Cards become more competitive by using more RAM and features unique to the GPU. Overall this will help Ethereum mining be more accessible and viable with commercial off-the-shelf hardware. Currently ProgPoW is in an ‘audit’ phase, and if passed will be included in Ethereum’s next hard fork.

    Ethereum Mining Difficulty Bomb

    Ethereum network has a built in mechanic to decrease the effectiveness of mining over time called the “Ethereum Difficulty Bomb“. This is designed as a hard mechanic to ensure that Ethereum eventually moves to proof of stake, an eco-friendly consensus mechanism that doesn’t require mining. Proof of stake will be part of Ethereum 2.0 which is stated to release in 2020, at which point mining on Ethereum will slowly be phased out. However, the Ethereum team is known to delay the deployment of proof of stake and consequently the difficulty bomb. On the 6th of January 2020, the difficulty bomb was delayed once again via the “Muir Glacier” update, which effectively delayed the difficulty bomb for another ~600 days.

    Update 9th Jan: Fixed typos and included extra information about Ethereum Hashrate

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • RAMP DEFI: How does it unlock the value of staked assets?

    RAMP DEFI: How does it unlock the value of staked assets?

    RAMP DeFi seeks to open more yield farming opportunities for users who have already staked their tokens on non-ERC20 platforms and thus enabling them to maximise their leveraged positions. Staking is the practice of locking-up funds in either smart contracts or by purchasing tokens from decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms for the purpose of earning profits at a later date. However, this also implies that the staked assets could not be used for whatever purposes users want unless they are willing to let go of their positions. RAMP DeFi aims to change this and let users continue to flexibly use their liquidity even when their capital is locked into staking arrangments.

    Background

    The explosive success of DeFi ecosystem, surpassing $13 billion market in value, has allowed multiple projects to flourish in response to its growing demands. However, the problem still exists in terms of convenience, accessibility, and flexibility.

    Lawrence Lim, Co-founder of RAMP DeFi led the creation of an ecosystem that seeks to solve these problems. With the concerns of the DeFi space in mind, RAMP was conceptualized to provide users the opportunity to maximize the value of their staked assets with optimized flexibility.

    As of now, RAMP has the potential to unlock $22 billion in assets staked in the DeFi space. However, its humble target by the end of 2021 is to reach at least $1 billion in Total Value Unlocked (TVU). TVU refers to the staked assets that RAMP seeks to open for potentially greater leverage.

    Check out our interview with Lawrence Lim below:

    Unlocking value on every blockchain-interview with Lawrence Lim

    What is RAMP DeFi?

    RAMP is a cross-chain liquidity on/off ramp platform focused on providing stakers of non-ERC20 tokens the opportunity to utilize these assets on top of the Ethereum blockchain. This is done through RAMP’s stablecoin, the rUSD, acting as a gateway bridge between non-ERC20 platforms and the Ethereum chain. Furthermore, users can also deposit their ERC20 tokens in RAMP’s liquidity pools to mint eUSD.

    Both holders of rUSD and eUSD can access RAMP’s financial services such as lending, borrowing, and exchange between rUSD and eUSD. This on/off ramp allows users to make the most out of their staked assets even if they are locked in non-ERC20 platforms.

    So far, its first private sale has been able to raise over $1 million. Some of its private sale investors include Alameda Research, Blockwater Capital, IOST, ParaFi Capital, Ruby Capital, Signum Capital, and Arrington XRP Capital.

    RAMP Ecosystem

    rMint and rStake

    This is the platform where non-ERC20 tokens can be collateralized to mint rUSD. Collaterals designated to rStake are aggregated by different nodes on partner non-ERC20 blockchains. They also earn staking rewards for it.

    eMind and eFarm

    eMint allows the deposit of ERC20 stablecoins to create eUSD, a token that represents the value of the amount deposited by users. The deposited amount is transferred to eFarm in order to create yield farming opportunities for users.

    rFinance

    The platform’s lending and borrowing service is provided by rFinance. rUSD and eUSD holders can freely lend and borrow from each other. Moreover, oracles help keep the interest-rate setting at a fair level through formulas that revolve around demand-and-supply and market-relativity indicators.

    rPool

    RAMP has its own liquidity pool that allows users to build value for their assets, collateralization insurance, liquidation execution, and cross-chain swaps. rPool gains value from staking rewards, yield farming rewards, and revenues from fees, which are then later distributed to the holders of RAMP tokens.

    In the event that rUSD suffers from a crash, rPool is first utilized to support its value. If the value of a user’s collateralized position drops below the allowed collateralization ratio set within the specific parameters, their positions are liquidated to the rPool.

    rSwap

    Users can swap ERC20 stablecoins with any other non-ERC20 token provided that these tokens are part of RAMP’s blockchain partners. They do this by facilitating the exchange of ERC20 stablecoins with the cryptocurrencies stored within the rPool. The conversion rate is set by price oracles.

    RAMP Token

    RAMP is the native utility token used to power the whole ecosystem value, as well as align the well-being of all network participants. On RAMP DeFi’s public sale, 10 million RAMP tokens will be sold to participants. The date of this public sale is not yet announced. After the sale, RAMP is slated to be listed on Uniswap.

    RAMP is powered by an ecosystem composed of different DeFi projects that also enables its cross-chain value accretion. Parts of its ecosystem are designed to respond to every transaction interaction between the users and the blockchain.

    RAMP Token public sale

    The RAMP token public sale date has not been announced yet. Check their official telegram for the latest news.

    rUSD Stablecoin: What is it?

    rUSD is RAMP’s stablecoin backed by non-ERC20 tokens designed to interact with ERC20 stablecoins like USDC, USDT, and TUSD. Minting rUSD follows a collateralization ratio similar to MakerDAO in order to ensure that they are fully-backed.

    The minimum collateralization ratio is at 200%. For example, a $200 worth of non-ERC20 token can be used to mint $100 worth of rUSD.

    The liquidation ratio starts at 120%. If liquidation is triggered, the collateralized tokens are then sold to the rPool. Then, these tokens will be used to buy back the rUSD minted by the user whose position is being liquidated.

    Benefits of holding rUSD and eUSD on RAMP

    For rUSD holders:

    • Leverage value from non-ERC20 tokens staked in other blockchains without giving up their existing positions.
    • Access ERC20 opportunities, such as yield farming or trading, without having to put in more of their assets.
    • Receive staking rewards even when they have minted rUSD.
    • Maintain potential revenue from existing positions and collateralized portfolios.
    • Farm RAMP tokens after collateralizing their cryptocurrencies to mint rUSDs.

    eUSD holders can enjoy:

    • Interest fees from lending their assets.
    • Participate in multiple yield pools to farm.
    • Opportunity to farm yields from other DeFi projects partnered with RAMP.
    • Farm RAMP tokens by providing assets to RAMP’s liquidity pool.

    Advantages of RAMP DeFi

    RAMP offers some unique advantages over other cross-chain DeFi platforms.

    rUSD Has a Clear Purpose

    The RAMP team has recognized that initiating adoption for a stablecoin is no easy task. For instance, it took a substantially long time for Makerdao to drive DAI’s broad market acceptance.

    For that reason, they have issued the stablecoin rUSD with a core utility as a value stability bridge.

    rUSD Requires No Stability Fee

    Paying stability fees is common among DeFi protocols as it helps in cushioning from massive market plunges. And we’ve witnessed the fees to go ultra-high, especially during a bear market.

    Fortunately, the RAMP DeFI platform does not incur a stability fee when minting rUSD. This enables users to access RAMP with less friction and save more.

    Has Contingencies in Place in the Event of a Flash Crash

    A flash crash is an unlikely occurrence where the value of assets drops significantly in a very short period of time, resulting in the under-collateralization of rUSD. In such an event, RAMP will utilize the universal liquidity pool as collateralization insurance for the stablecoin.

    Rapid Scaling Integration Layer

    Being a bridge to isolated blockchains, the value of the RAMP network increases with every new chain added to it. For this reason, the RAMP ecosystem has been made accessible to various developers from different blockchain foundations to encourage its adoption.

    This enables the foundations to easily integrate their native stablecoins onto the RAMP ecosystem, which would result in RAMP’s fast growth.

    Conclusion

    The purpose of DeFi is to unlock the potential of the blockchain and the power of money to the benefit of the community and its users. RAMP is a promising development in that particular aspect.

    Its feature opens up possibilities for ERC20 and non-ERC20 tokens to interact with each other to provide a new opportunity for users to earn from the assets that they are putting into DeFi protocols. Not only does it attract existing stakers into the platform, but also expands the channels where crypto users can do yield farming.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Newsletter #5

    Newsletter #5

    Week in review

    Bitcoin makes front page news

    On 24th August 2020, a full-page advertisement appeared on Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. The advertisement tells people “Banks, today you are not ditching me, I am ditching you” (in Cantonese) and “Bitcoin will never ditch you”. The advertisement does not promote a specific cryptocurrency-related business of service. Rather it only seems to educate readers on what is Bitcoin, saying: “Bitcoin is digital money. It is not issued or controlled by any government or corporation. Nobody can stop you from transacting on the network and it cannot be shut down. Bitcoin is available to anyone regardless of their nationality, gender, or beliefs. Bitcoin began with the GENESIS BLOCK during the financial crisis of 2009. Now, its time is coming.”

    Apple Daily is one of Hong Kong’s largest print media, made even more popular recently due to their CEO’s arrest for alleged violations of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, though he has since been released from custody.

    Bitcoin advert on Apple Daily
    Bitcoin advert on Apple Daily

    Cleaning house

    Recently with the increased interest in cryptocurrencies, I have been frequently asked what are my main coins for 2020. With all the different projects I’ve been looking into I realised that I am holding so many coins such that it is becoming difficult to manage. So this week I’ve cleaned my portfolio a bit and identified my “medium bags”. These are coins which I believe have a proven use case and a reason to go up in value. These “medium bags” are distinguished from my “HODL” i.e. coins I intend to hold long term and my “moonshot” speculative assets.

    Top coins for 2020

    What does it mean to “pull rug” and how not to get rekt

    The 2020 equivalent of 2017’s “exit scam”, DeFi projects “pulling the rug” on unsuspecting victims is sadly becoming more popular as the DeFi craze and markets are heating up. There are 2 common ways this is done:

    1. The scam project entices people to lock their cryptocurrencies e.g. ETH into a wallet with the intent to purchase the token before it is listed. (www.focolare.org) The wallet would then be “compromised” whereby the contract address ownership would be changed and the cryptocurrencies locked in the wallet would all be withdrawn and quickly sold on exchanges.
    2. The scam project would mint a token and either airdrop or give a percentage of the token to some early adopters. Afterwards the scam project would try to generate hype on social media and list the project on Uniswap. Unsuspecting victims would then deposit their ETH in Uniswap in exchange for the token. After people start injecting liquidity into the Exchange, the scammer would quickly drain the liquidity from that pool, leaving holders with worthless tokens.

    Here’s some of the ways to identify scams:

    1. Do full research on the project, check and monitor their social media. See also what other groups and people are saying about the project, and check if the claims on the project’s website are true. Also, has the project’s smart contract been audited? Is the project working with anyone reputable?
    2. Check if the project has actually burnt their minter key, which would prevent them from minting more tokens, withdrawing them, and rendering your tokens worthless as in the scam in 2 above.

    Bear in mind that if you are the victim of a “rug pull” there is almost no way to recover your losses. So if you have any doubts about a project it is probably best to trust your instincts and not go into it. And if you do choose to put your assets into it, only put what you can afford to lose.

    Oin Finance public sale delayed- you can stop spamming your F5 button now

    OIN Finance aims to become a bridge between Ethereum and Ontology assets and tokens- this would mean you can trade between these 2 types of assets. One interesting potential this that by allowing the bridging of other assets from Ethereum onto Ontology, users would be able to use Ontology as a way for the exchange of assets. So users can bring assets onto Ontology chain and use Ontology to complete transactions which may make it faster and cheaper.

    OIN is also a hugely popular project in China, and as we’ve seen with other projects like Polkadot, the China hype is very real. So when OIN announced it was doing a limited public sale of its token, everyone went onto their website and eagerly spammed the refresh button in the hopes of being able to sign up. However on the day of the public sale, according to OIN, they experienced a severe DDOS attack that took down their official website and registration page and were unable to resolve the issue in time.

    Their rescheduled public sale will be on 31 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC). The participation instructions will only be given at that time through their social media channels. Only winners will be required to submit KYC, and each winner can only buy 7,500 OIN at $0.08 USD.

    Meanwhile, be careful of fake OIN telegram channels (this is the real OIN telegram channel) which we saw pop up literally minutes after the announcement to postpone or scammers who contact you to try to sell you OIN.

    Upcoming events

    Sat 29 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC): My segment on Phoenix TV’s “一虎一席谈” (a popular hardcore debate show in China) will be broadcast. The episode discusses CBDC/ DCEP- China’s digital currency and also features fellow $YFII governance key signer Cao Yin. Note the program is in Chinese only.

    31 Aug 2020 at 12:00pm (UTC): OIN Finance public sale

    Tues 1 Sept 2020 at 1:00pm (UTC): Hedget token auction. Details here.

    Thurs 3 Sept 2020 at 4:00pm (UTC): SKALE Network’s SKALE token will be launched and available for sale for 48 hours. However, only those who have successfully passed the KYC process will be eligible to purchase. For details, check the email from Codefi Activate.

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Newsletter #3:

    Newsletter #3:

    WEEK IN REVIEW

    Interviews with key leaders in the crypto space

    We managed to pull some key movers and shakers in this space and sit them down for an exclusive interview. We asked them all about DeFi, trends for 2020 and most importantly…when bull run?

    Yam Experiment ends due to bugs

    Yam Finance took over Twitter and social media this week both a fun meme and experiment in elastic token design. However, as the token was gaining popularity a bug was discovered that rendered the governance features of $YAM permanently inaccessible. Yield farming principle / Total Value Locked was not affected by this bug.

    At one point, there was almost a glimmer of hope that the project could be salvaged as the community banded together to save YAM. This was a big display of strength and unity in the YAM community. Even though the community achieved the votes needed, a serious bug prevented the fix from deployed, forever dooming the governance features and the YAM treasury.

    Zeus Capital vs ChainLink

    This all started in late July 2020 when Zeus Capital LLP issued reports alleging that ChainLink was operating a pump and dump scheme and recommending people short sell LINK at 7 cents. Zeus Capital were persistent, advertising their reports on Twitter and allegedly paying influencers to post price analysis showing that LINK prices would fall. Zeus Capital did seem to have some monetary interest in this, disclosing that they hold a short position. However, things got really interesting on 8th August 2020 when $LINK prices crossed the $11 mark and millions worth of short positions were entirely liquidated. It’s unknown whether Zeus Capital’s short position was one of them, but this and the continued rise of $LINK past $14 really gave the Link Marines something to celebrate about Read our TL;DR summary of this dispute here.

    Calm down, $YFI’s Andre Cronje isn’t going anywhere

    On 8th August 2020, Decrypt- a cryptocurrency media outlet published an interview with Andre Cronje-creator of yEarn.finance ($YFI) titled “Exclusive: YFI’s Andre Cronje is tired, broke and close to quitting DeFi“. The article goes on to say that when interviewed, Cronje expressed he was “Close to rage quitting again” because of DeFi’s “toxic community” and that he gets nothing from the skyrocketing value of the $YFI coin that he created. This did not sit well with Cronje, who took to Twitter on the same day to express his dissatisfaction with the sensationalism of the article and that he was taken out of context. He also mentioned that he received donations from concerned members of the cryptocurrency community, but would return them. Cronje subsequently was interviewed by the Defiant, where he basically said his drive comes from his excitement to add new things to the DeFi ecosystem, and that he is not going anywhere.

    You can also learn more about his journey to cryptocurrency and eventually DeFi, and the yEarn ecosystem he is building in our summary of his interview with FTX exchange.

    Serum (SRM) begins trading, breaks the Internet

    Serum is the first decentralised exchange ever built on Solana and is the creation of the team behind FTX. Here’s our first look at Serum.

    On 11th August 2020, Serum ($SRM) started trading on Binance, BitMax, FTX, Uniswap (v2), Balancer and more. Cryptocurrency users started flocking onto the exchanges and even our site to trade and learn more about the project. The volume of people interested was so much that we even noticed a slowdown on FTX and on our site itself.

    Within the first 30 minutes of listing, SRM prices shot up to $1.25. By morning of 12th August 2020, attempts were made to break the $2.00 threshold but were met with resistance. However, prices are consistently hovering well above $1.50.

    Thankfully prices have not plummeted since the listing as we saw with many ICO projects in 2017. And with Serum hopefully launching this year, we are interested to know where this will take $SRM.

    UPCOMING:

    Winner of FTX Serum ($SRM) staking competition announced (4:00am UTC on Fri 14th): https://ftx.com/staking
    Sandbox ($SAND) IEO (8:00am UTC on Fri 14th): shorturl.at/qrKVY
    DIA ($DIA) token sale ends (1:00am UTC on Tues 18th): https://token.diadata.org/

    What we’re watching

    Serum ($SRM): With the listing just days ago. People are going to be watching closely to see which direction token prices move. Long term, there is also a lot of interest in what the team at FTX will come up with for Serum.

    Subscribe to the newsletter!

    https://mailchi.mp/afde32c593a4/newsletter

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Livestream 17th August 2020: DeFi, Yield Farming, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Update

    Livestream 17th August 2020: DeFi, Yield Farming, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Update

    Join us for our bi-weekly decentralised finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency and bitcoin updates!

    On the channel we focus on DeFi and Yield Farming, the HOTTEST trends right now. We also look at the latest cryptocurrency and blockchain news as well as market trends.

    Our aim is to have rational discussions and try to see through any speculation and sensation. All the while sharing our personal experiences in our live chat and keeping our community’s spirits up during these times.

    Event Time: 17th August 2020, 03:00 UTC

    Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wytuYqi_Mk8

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!