Boxmining v2

Author: Nathan

  • Oddz Finance ($ODDZ): decentralised options trading?

    Oddz Finance ($ODDZ): decentralised options trading?

    Decentralized finance (DeFi) projects have seen an enormous boost in recent years. While there has been an increase in its total value locked, especially in protocols that support yield farming, liquidity mining, and leveraged trading, there is still a need to design these platforms in a way that makes the experience easier for users, especially non-crypto people. This is what Oddz aims to do.

    Oddz Finance ($ODDZ) is offering an on-chain options trading product on their platform without significant costs on the part of the user, lowered barrier to entry, zero gas fees, and reliable data feed. These are features that are not completely embraced in most projects we see in the DeFi space.

    Background

    According to the team behind Oddz, while the boom of DeFi introduced new trading opportunities for cryptocurrency holders, it still has its problems. Most trading platforms that offer derivatives to their users are not as user-friendly as they are supposed to be. This is a concern if adoption is the end goal.

    Moreover, most platforms suffer from slow trade execution and a lack of transparency, which makes it difficult for traders to establish the positions they want given these limitations. Oddz protocol is designed to solve these issues on its own on-chain option trading and derivatives platform.

    As of this writing, the next step for the team is to work on the integration of the protocol to the Polkadot network. There is also a plan for the team to launch its oracle, options on wallet applications, and futures platform by the second quarter of 2021. Conditional and perpetual markets will be introduced by the third quarter of 2021.

    What is Oddz Finance?

    Oddz Finance is a decentralized, cross-chain, options trading platform that runs on Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and Polkadot. It offers a simplified approach for users to engage in derivatives trading. Through the platform, they can easily create positions, settle options contracts, and enter futures contracts, among others.

    Oddz abstracts several functions in derivatives trading such as accessing features like call and put options, conditional market, and swap contracts. There are different stakeholders unified by the platform, including arbitrageurs, hedgers, and speculators.

    Products of Oddz Finance

    Leveraging and Hedging Options – Traders can make either call and put options on the protocol. In Call options, traders are given the ability to purchase underlying assets listed on the protocol based on a specified price within a particular time period. In Put options, traders can determine a specific price in selling a particular asset within a time period.

    Oddz Finance products- call and put options
    Oddz Finance products- call and put options (Image credit: Oddz Finance litepaper)

    Conditional and Perpetual Tokens – Users can create and trade conditional tokens which can be valued based on any standard that is tied to it, say political, sporting, and other similar events. They can also trade either long or short through the protocol as supported by the platform’s high liquidity.

    Attributes of Oddz Finance

    • Blockchain Agnostic -The platform can facilitate user trades regardless of the blockchain that they belong to. Because the platform is also designed to be multi-chain, DeFi platforms from other networks can be easily deployed on Oddz.
    • Customizable – Through the implementation of smart contracts, users can freely change the parameters covering their automated trading positions according to their own preferences.
    • Economical – Unlike most leveraging platforms, Oddz does not charge gas fees for each transaction made on the platform.
    • Low Barrier – The platform allows users to leverage any amount in on-chain option trading products without the need for any authorization or third-party approval.
    • Reliable – To help traders establish informed positions on the market, the platform has integrated a built-in oracle which feeds real-time blockchain data to the network.

    Liquidity Pool

    In order to further support the liquidity of the platform in facilitating leveraged trading, users can also choose to lock a portion of their assets using Oddz’s USD-pegged stablecoin (oUSD). These will be used to supply liquidity for both call and put options.

    Liquidity providers can withdraw their stake at any given time. However, a period of at least 14 days is required before they are given the opportunity to collect their share in the premium fees of the network.

    Providing liquidity on Oddz Finance
    Providing liquidity on Oddz Finance (Image credit: Oddz Finance Litepaper)

    There will be multiple liquidity pools for the protocol. It has a maximum threshold for staking and liquidity providers who staked ODDZ tokens will receive their portion of the platform’s collected settlement fees. However, there is a minimum stake requirement for users joining the pools.

    Apart from the distribution of settlement fees to stakers of ODDZ or oUSD, there will be a portion of it that will be allocated to cover the gas fee for users to help keep its “zero gas fee” model.

    ODDZ Token

    ODDZ token is the platform’s native utility token. They can be used as a medium of exchange and to support other platform features such as governance, staking, reward distribution, referral incentives, and liquidity pools, among others.

    ODDZ will be mainly used to pay for transaction fees to help facilitate trades. They can also be staked in the liquidity pool to earn rewards.

    Since the platform is decentralized, ODDZ holders are given the right to vote on important protocol upgrades, modifications, and other community-based proposals.

    And if the users refer others to the platform, they are also entitled to earn rewards which are given out in ODDZ.

    Conclusion

    In order to take advantage of DeFi’s boom, the design of its protocols today must be aimed at lowering its barriers to entry and maximizing adoption. Here, the complexity and level of advanced understanding required to make transactions on a platform is worth considering. There are many projects that offer options trading to users but most of them still haven’t addressed these prevailing concerns so far.

    Oddz Finance is a welcome development in the derivatives and options trading market. Since its platform is user-friendly and it minimizes the barrier to entry from required capitalization, more traders can finally tap leveraged trading in their own portfolio. Another advantage in using the platform is that if users wish not to participate in leveraged trading, they can just stake their holdings and still earn additional rewards in doing so.

    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.

  • Moonbeam ($GLMR $RIVER): expanding to multi-chain with Polkadot

    Moonbeam ($GLMR $RIVER): expanding to multi-chain with Polkadot

    For a long time, decentralized platforms have been operating in silos, but now, developers are looking for ways to interface with different blockchain platforms. Apart from interoperability, new projects are looking for ways to power the seamless movement of tokens between chains.

    One such project is Moonbeam ($GLMR, $RIVER), a platform that works under the belief that the future of distributed systems is multi-chain. The project brings smart contract technology to another level and takes developers, end-users, collators, and other network participants along with it. Moonbeam’s entry into the scene provides a crucial pillar to decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.

    For example, SushiSwap has already transferred its core exchange protocol on Moonbeam, specifically on the Moonbase Alpha TestNet. Below, we explore the platform, including how it offers Ethereum developers an easy way out.

    Background

    PureStake, a master in developing reliable, secure, and next-generation blockchain infrastructure, is behind the Moonbeam project. PureStake’s team experience spans from managing high-end data centers, as-a-service platforms, and networks for institutions strictly bent towards security and availability.

    Top PureStake team members include Derek Yoo, Stefan Mehlhorn, and Tim Baldwin. Yoo, the CEO, has 20 years of experience in software development and cloud systems. Mehlhorn is the chief operating officer with 25 years in technical operations in various top companies such as Samsung.

    Before joining PureStake, he was the CEO of Collego and Parmessa. On the other hand, Baldwin is PureStake’s vice president of engineering and has 20 years of experience leading DevOps and application development teams.

    What is Moonbeam Network?

    Moonbeam is a developer-focused decentralized network providing tools to enhance compatibility with the Ethereum blockchain. Notably, the network fully implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), an application programming interface (API) with Web3 compatibility, and provides bridges to enhance connection with Ethereum-based protocols.

    With these functionalities, developers can deploy solidity-based smart contracts and decentralized application (Dapp) frontends on Moonbeam with little to minimal modifications.

    Additionally, Moonbeam is part of the Polkadot ecosystem, where it operates as a parachain.

    Consequently, it taps into Polkadot’s security and connects to other networks on Polkadot.

    Building on Moonbeam can either be done by employing a standalone node on the network or connecting to Moonbase, a testnet environment. The protocol supports major wallets such as MetaMask and MathWallet.

    Note that Moonbeam’s Ethereum compatibility allows it to support other wallets that work with the Ethereum blockchain. In addition, it works with major Ethereum tools such as Remix, Truffle, HardHat, Web3.py, Ethers.js, and Web3.js. Additionally, for projects requiring interaction with external data, Moonbeam supports leading oracle platforms like Band Protocol, Chainlink, and Razor Network.

    How Moonbeam Works

    Moonbeam employs a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism for block production and transaction confirmations. However, it leverages Polkadot’s PoS model that features validators and collators. Collators collect transactions from Polkadot’s parachains, such as Moonbeam. They then create state transition proofs for use by validators on the relay chain.

    Collators are selected depending on their stake in the protocol. However, the staked amount is slashed in case a collator acts dishonestly. Notably, network users can delegate their tokens to collators who share their block rewards with the delegators or nominators. The high the stake, the stronger the network security, the higher the chance of being selected as a collator.

    Currently, the Moonbeam network caps the maximum number of nominators that can delegate their tokens to 10, and a nominator can stake their tokens with a maximum of 8 collators.

    Each block production round takes roughly two hours and is made up of 600 blocks. The staking rewards are delayed for two rounds.

    Observe that collators charge nominators for their service as soon as they are successfully nominated to be block producers. Therefore, during reward distribution, collators remove the commission after getting the block rewards and then distribute the rest to nominators depending on their delegated amount.

    Glimmer ($GLMR) and River ($RIVER) token

    Moonbeam has 2 utility tokens: Glimmer ($GLRM) and River ($RIVER). The major difference between the 2 tokens is that they are respectively deployed on the Polkadot and Kusama relay chain.

    Glimmer and River token utilities
    Glimmer and River token utilities (Image credit: Moonbeam network)

    Glimmer token (GLMR)

    The Moonbeam platform has a base asset called Glimmer (GLMR), which has specific functionalities throughout its ecosystem. Glimmer works on the Moonbeam network and the Polkadot relay chain.

    GLMR is used to:

    1. Pay transaction fees.
    2. Support network operations.
    3. Reward collators.
    4. Power on-chain governance.
    5. Support gas metering of smart contract execution.

    GLMR has a genesis token supply of 10 million and an annual inflation rate of 5%. The token distribution goes to seed funding, strategic sale, public sale, parachain bond funding, treasury, development, partners/advisors, founders, among others. Moonbeam tackles the 5% inflation by burning 80% of the transaction fees.

    River token (RIVER)

    The RIVER token is deployed on Kusama and acts as a “CanaryNet” on the network. This means the token utility behaviours on Moonriver will mirror Moonbeam.

    Governance on Moonbeam

    Moonbeam employs community governance through the Glimmer token. Token holders range from developers, users, collators, and contributors. The governance aspect defines how token holders interact with proposals, referendum, voting, enactment, lock period, and delegation. Moonbeam takes a layered approach to governance.

    Most importantly, governance is conducted on-chain. Some critical governance components include:

    1. Referendum – This is made up of the proposal with the highest number of votes. A proposal contains suggestions to change Moonbeam parameters, such as code upgrades and governance parameters. The platform supports a maximum of five proposals at each referendum.
    2. Voting – Voting is done by token holders. Notably, the weight of each vote depends on the amount of staked tokens.
    3. Council – This is a group of participants that propose referenda and vet community-suggested proposals. However, council members have special voting rights and are voted in by GLMR holders.
    4. Treasury – The treasury holds funds from users who wish to submit a proposal. The council can either approve or reject such proposals. Unfortunately, in case of a rejection, the proposer loses the amount held in the treasury.

    Conclusion

    Moonbeam is not a typical EVM implementation. Instead, it adds to the existing Ethereum features such as staking, on-chain governance, and inter-blockchain connections.

    Notably, Moonbeam’s community governance framework employs a layered structure. As such, it ensures only the most viable proposals make it to the voting stage. Additionally, integrating EVM and Web3 makes it easier for developers to transfer existing projects to the network with minimal changes.

    On the other hand, GLMR helps power the network by enabling staking, payment of transaction fees, and rewarding collators. Note that the network’s use of the Polkadot PoS consensus mechanism provides scalability and high transaction speeds.

    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.

  • DODOEx ($DODO): A Revolutionary On-Chain Liquidity Provider

    DODOEx ($DODO): A Revolutionary On-Chain Liquidity Provider

    DODO Exchange ($DODO) is a platform that supplies on-chain liquidity in order to support the Proactive Market Maker algorithm (PMM) to provide everyone with pure and contract-fillable liquidity on the blockchain.

    Overview

    The dawn of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) brought with it automated market-making (AMM). Unlike in centralized exchanges, AMM doesn’t rely on buyers and sellers for a trade to take place. Instead, smart contracts sit at the center of the trade with liquidity pools providing the reserves.

    Unfortunately, in the DeFi scene, the AMM approach has faced challenges as to how to address issues such as slippage and impermanent loss effectively. As a result, platforms such as DODOEx are using a fined-tuned formula known as proactive market maker (PMM) which provides minimum slippage and improved fund utilization. Here, we take a close look at DODOEx, its contribution to the DeFi world, as well as what makes it unique.

    Background

    DODOEx, founded by three veterans in the blockchain industry, who has huge influencing power in China’s DeFi Community – Mingda Lei, Qi Wang and Diane Dai.

    Mingda Lei, he is the architect behind this new market-making algorithm for the protocol. He was a Physics PhD dropout from Peking University. He used to worked for a China-based DeFi project called DDEX as the key developer of the project. The second co-founder is Qi Wang. He is the founder of DOS Network, a China-based layer two oracle project. Before entering into the crypto industry, Wang used to worked as a software developer for firms like Pure Storage and Oracle. The third co-founder, Diane Dai, she started the first subscription-based WeChat channel that focuses on DeFi in China called DeFi Labs.

    Apart from the influencing team, DODOEx is also backed by many prominent investors such as Framework Ventures, DeFiance Capital, Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, SevenX Ventures and more.

    What is DODOEx?

    Simply put, DODOEx is a decentralized liquidity provider using a new market making strategy. Notably, the new algorithm differs greatly from the AMM approach common with popular DEXs and/or DeFi platforms such as Uniswap and Curve.Finance.

    For example, instead of spreading funds uniformly over a price range, PMM allocates funds with close respect to market prices. One disadvantage of equally allocating funds is that only those funds with a close connection with the market price get utilized in trades. Therefore, in an AMM scenario, there’s a huge difference between the liquidity provided and the liquidity that is actually in use.

    DODO Exchange
    DODO Exchange (Image credit: DODO Exchange Website)

    How DODOEx Uses PMM to Beat AMM

    Compared to Uniswap’s AMM, DODOEx’s PPM has a better trading amount-vs-price curve. Why? Because, being a proactive formula, it reacts to the changes in the market price to effectively shift the price curve in a similar direction. Consequently, the section around the market price is considerably flat, ensuring sustained liquidity provision and utilization.

    DODOEx-Proactive Market Maker
    DODOEx – Proactive Market Maker (Image credit: “DODO: A Revolution in On-Chain Liquidity” Medium Article)

    Furthermore, apart from shifting the curve, DODOEx unlinks the base currency from the quote currency in a trading pair. Interestingly, this results in less risk and allows liquidity providers (LPs) to use the token at their disposal.

    For instance, if it’s an ETH-DAI trading pair, the LP has to deposit either ETH and DAI. Under these circumstances, DODOEx presents numerous advantages to traders and LPs

    Advantages of DODOEx to Traders

    • Although the protocol is decentralized, DODOEx traders have enough liquidity close to what is offered by centralized platforms.
    • There’s a possibility of having price differences between other exchanges and DODOEx which can be commercialized by arbitrageurs.
    • Liquidations, auctions, and other on-chain activities powered by smart contracts can utilize liquidity from DODOEx.

    Advantages of Using DODOEx as an LP

    • By unlinking the base and quote tokens, LPs can use any asset type at their disposal.
    • No minimum restrictions on deposits.
    • LPs share the network’s transaction fees.
    • LPs don’t incur price risks when depositing their own tokens.
    • They can use their coins to create trading pairs.

    DODOEx’s Native Token ($DODO)

    DODO is an ERC-20 token and forms DODOEx’s native currency. DODO is the platform’s governance token. DODOEx’s governance structure consists of three decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO); admin, risk control, and earn.

    The admin DAO is responsible for overseeing all the decisions made on the DODOEx ecosystem. Being the administrator, it has a considerable influence on the other DAOs.

    The risk control DAO, as the name suggests, deals with the system’s risk features. Earn, on the other hand, governs how incentives are shared on the platform.

    DODO token distribution
    DODO Token Distribution (Image credit: “Announcing the DODO Token and Initial DODO Offering” Medium Article)

    DODO’s total supply is 1,000,000,000 tokens which are allocated to the core team (15%), investors (16%), initial liquidity provision (1%), operations/marketing (8%), and lastly, the DODOEx community takes 60%.

    DODO’s Initial DODO Offering (IDO)

    The IDO was held on 29 September 2020 on DODO Exchange platform. DODO Exchange has listed the DODO-USDT trading pair. 1% of the total DODO supply is locked in the DODO liquidity pool and the initial offering price is $0.10 per token.

    Earning DODO: Staking and Mining

    The DODOEx system provides two ways to earn DODO tokens; staking and mining.

    Staking

    This involves locking your present DODO token holding and acquiring more tokens in the process. This can be done by:

    • Accessing the exchange through app.dodex.io.
    • Connecting your wallet through MetaMask.
    • Click “mining” on the upper far right corner.
    • Select DODO.
    • Click stake (note that there’s no way to edit the stake or unstake amount. Therefore, you can either stake or unstake your entire DODO balance).
    • Confirm your option on the exchange and on the wallet.

    Mining DODO 

    It involves providing liquidity in any supported trading pair using the pool tab. To access the pool option,

    • Visit app.dodoex.io.
    • Connect your wallet through MetaMask.
    • Select “Exchange” from the top right.
    • Click on “pool” and select your preferred pair. Note that you can deposit any coin on the trading pair. For example, if it’s the ETH-UDSC pair, you can deposit either ETH or USDC.
    • Click “Deposit,” define the token amount you wish to deposit, and select “Confirm.”
    • Access your wallet to confirm the transaction after which you click the “mining” button on the top right corner.
    • Approve the transaction and confirm it in the popup window that appears. In effect, another approval is required since you are now dealing with DLP tokens allocated from depositing your cryptocurrency on the above steps.
    • In the last step, confirm and stake.

    Core Components of the DODO Contract Framework

    A set of smart contracts powers the DODOEx protocol. However, for optimal interaction, these smart contracts are divided into three core components. They include:

    The Core – This holds all the ecosystem’s data and logic. It consists of the transparent proxy contract and the logic implementation contract.

    DODO contract framework
    DODO Contract Framework (Image credit: DODOEx ‘Smart Contract Framework’ Github)

    The Entrance – The entrance contract helps in streamlining activities on the transparent proxy contract, which is associated with oracles and fine-tuning parameters. Consequently, it helps mitigate the losses for users.

    The Helper – This section of the DODOEx ecosystem holds contracts that are meant to help remove the complexity of the platform away from its users.

    Conclusion

    The network’s next-generation liquidity provision algorithm ensures high fund utilization and ensures LPs don’t lose value between depositing and withdrawing, commonly known as impermanent loss.

    In addition, DODOEx is beneficial to both traders and liquidity providers. For example, it provides enough liquidity for traders and LPs share a section of the system’s transaction. Also, DODO mining and staking enable investors to increase their token holdings.

    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.

  • Atari ($ATRI) – Powering the Gaming Industry

    Atari ($ATRI) – Powering the Gaming Industry

    Atari, the pioneer of the videogame industry, is venturing into the crypto space by creating their own token, Atari Token, ($ATRI), to power the future of the interactive entertainment industry. The global entertainment and media market is projected to be worth approximately $2.2 trillion by 2021. Interestingly, gaming is continually accounting for a more significant chunk of the industry’s value and is projected to be worth $200 billion within the next few years, according to Statista. With the integration of blockchain technology and the Atari Token, the company believes that this will revolutionize the global gaming industry.

    Background

    Atari token is developed by icons in the gaming scene, Atari. The firm has over 200 games under its name. If you are a gamer, their titles would not be able to you as games like Pong, Missile Command, and Roller Coaster Tycoon were once very popular.

    Atari has been developing games since 1972. Therefore, its knowledge of the interactive has been enjoyed by gamers through generations.

    Notably, to be alive from 1972 means that the company has been able to adapt to the changing needs in its environment swiftly. It’s this open-mindedness that has seen the introduction of the Atari Token. Frédéric Chesnais leads the project as the CEO, with Manfred Mantschev heading the business development division.

    Atari's Partners
    Atari’s Partners (Image credit: AtariChain Website)

    Additionally, the project has partnered with notable firms in the cryptocurrency and blockchain fields. They include the Litecoin Foundation, Arkane Network, Chain Games, and Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA).

    What is the Atari Token ($ATRI)?

    Atari Token ($ATRI) is a blockchain-based currency aimed at streamlining payments in the interactive entertainment space. The token is developed using Ethereum’s ERC-20 standards and is powered by the Ethereum blockchain.

    However, before expanding to the entire area, the token sought to first make an impact on the gaming ecosystem. Although the project is driven by a blockchain system with a relatively low transaction speed (around 20 transactions per second), the network is exploring a layer-two scaling solution to enhance the network speed.

    With the token, the Atari team is keen on removing the barriers presented by other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. For example, instead of limiting themselves to particular use cases, the cryptocurrency can be used in a wide range of use cases in the long run.

    Simply put, the Atari team is keen on developing a token that can be used in everyday activities even outside gaming.

    Atari Token ($ATRI)
    Atari Token ($ATRI) (Image credit: AtariChain Whitepaper)

    Despite being an in-game currency, ATRI can be exchanged for real-world items. Also, it can be converted to fiat.

    ATRI is stored in an ATARI Omni wallet that’s available on iOS and Android-powered mobile devices. The wallet has notable functionalities such as:

    • Support for human-readable addresses.
    • Chat support.
    • Ability to send payments through SMS, Email, and chat.
    • Ability to initiate crypto-based payments via a credit card.
    • Support for government-issued currencies such as the Euro or Dollar.
    • Also, with the right regulatory approvals, the Atari Omni wallet can swap crypto for fiat.
    Atari Ecosystem
    Atari Ecosystem (Image credit: AtariChain Website)

    ATRI occupies a critical role in the Atari ecosystem. For instance, the token is used to power activities on smart contracts. In addition, it acts as a medium of exchange on supported platforms. As a start, the token forms a key pillar in the Atari system that has the Atari Casino, Atari Exchange, and Atari Betting.

    Atari ($ATRI) Public Sale

    The public sale of the Atari Token will begin on 29 October 2020 on Bitcoin.com Exchange. The price per token is set at $0.25 per token with a hard cap for the public sale of $1 million. The Atari Token will be listed on the Bitcoin.com Exchange following the completion of the public sale. For more information, please refer to their telegram or twitter.

    Atari Tokenomics

    The circulating supply of Atari Token is 65,389,000 and the total supply is 7,771,000,000. Atari Chain applies a token burn/buyback economic policy that aims to track network growth, demand and usage with the emission of new tokens into circulating supply. Any unsold tokens during the Private or Public Sale will ultimately be burned.

    Atari Tokenomics
    Atari Tokenomics (Image credit: Atari Tokenomics)

    Atari Token Governance

    Since it’s a community-focused project, the governance of the token is done through a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). But, the basic rules have to be developed before welcoming community involvement. Therefore, the project will smoothly transition from centralized to decentralized governance.

    However, after decentralization, the Atari network will have 12 distributed parties that will oversee consensus among the Atari community.

    Advantages of ATRI

    Within such an expansive industry, such as interactive entertainment, the token has a wide range of advantages. Top among them include, but not limited to:

    Easy Integration

    The token is built to be the universal token on gaming platforms. For this reason, the fact that it is based on the Ethereum protocol puts it at its rightful path, considering that the blockchain platform has more than triple the number of developers compared to other decentralized networks.

    High Liquidity

    ATRI banks on attracting liquidity from a multitude of internet-based entertainment platforms. Notably, the coin will be integrated on platforms that are secure, as well as with high transaction volumes.

    Auditable

    The cryptocurrency industry has been filled with scams and poorly secured platforms for a long time, leading to security breaches and loss of investors’ funds. ATRI solves this by opening up to independent audits. This powers secure smart contracts and prompt the use of standardized safety policies. (https://www.srmfre.com)

    ATRI Use Cases

    The token can be used by gamers and developers alike. For gamers, the ATRI is ideal for making micro-transactions inside games, making digital representations of avatars, and allows participation in casino games centered around cryptocurrency.

    Atari’s Vision (Image credit: AtariChain Website)

    Developers, on the other hand, enjoy an enhanced payment process during development and an incentive to build blockchain-based games. For example, developers can easily integrate in-app purchases and collaboratively program, test, and translate their work.

    Conclusion

    In an industry expected to reach a valuation of 2.2 trillion US dollars, putting those who matter, gamers and developers, at the heart of the growth is the key to foster a motivated community and a vibrant interactive entertainment industry. This can only be achieved through innovative solutions like the Atari token.

    From powering in-game purchases to facilitating chat-based payments, ATRI sits at the core of the gaming sub-industry and forms a core pillar in the entire internet-based entertainment sector. Through its key partnerships, easy integration, high liquidity, and openness for auditing, the Atari token is ready to conquer all the sectors of crypto-based online entertainment.

    Importantly, its success in these realms would naturally lead to its adoption for daily uses outside the entertainment space.

    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.

  • Bitcoin “Bull Run” incoming? Bull and Bear factors

    Bitcoin “Bull Run” incoming? Bull and Bear factors

    Prices of Bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time high of over USD$19k in December 2017 and there is a lot of discussion and speculation on what triggers the price and when this “bull run” will happen again. So we took a look at the Bull or Bear factors which may point to an imminent bull run in 2020?

    “Bull run” incoming? (8:00 onwards)

    Bitcoin bull market factors/reasons?

    PayPal Announcement

    The PayPal announcement of supporting crypto transactions for their customers has come as a huge boost of positivity to the crypto space, especially in the West. With a humongous user and merchant base, the crypto community hopes for better adoption through the payment platform.

    But is the Paypal announcement really a good thing? Check out Cryptonauts’ take in their video “Crypto Comes to Paypal! Good or Bad?” to find out more:

    Crypto Comes to Paypal! Good or Bad?

    Institutional investors coming into crypto?

    Major investments from publicly traded companies like MicroStrategy and Square Inc has also led the Bitcoin price to fly high. However, the institutional investors might have aggregated the bull rally, but it is not the main reason. From our research and actually speaking to people in the frontlines, such as over the counter trading desks like Genesis Block, there are more institutional investors registered for crypto accounts. However, they are still waiting for the right opportunities to buy in.

    US election uncertainty

    Many see the US Presidential Elections as very polarising, particularly due to the vastly differing stances of the 2 candidates. So right now the whole world is waiting to see the outcome and how it will affect the markets generally. We also found that whether people think Trump or Biden winning is actually good for the markets (and their rationale for this) differs depending on which region they are from.

    To really get a feel of the sentiment towards the US elections, we sometimes look at FTX Exchange’s US 2020 Elections contracts because the non-US investors in these contracts are really “putting their money where their mouth is”.

    Though there is also some viewpoints being put forward that whether Trump or Biden wins is still going to be good for crypto.

    Covid-19 pandemic

    As discussed by many, the pandemic created a huge gap in the country’s economy, but Bitcoin and the crypto world remained less affected. Many investors were attracted to Bitcoin as they felt it as an asset which they can rely upon. And with people are stuck at home all day, some may look into trading to pass the time.

    Bitcoin bear market factors/reasons?

    On the other side, there may be reasons or red flags that will make people bearish: –

    China is bearish?

    There seems to be some negativity around Bitcoin in China with news that some bank accounts relating to cryptocurrencies were being shut down. The recent detention of OKEx’s Star Xu by authorities and suspension of withdrawals is also worrying to many in Asia.

    The People’s Daily have also published an article on 3rd November 2020 authored by Shan Zhiguang, Chairman of the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) which has further worried Chinese cryptocurrency enthusiasts (see the translation posted by Matthew Graham). The article states that a person may be charged with money laundering if: (1) someone buys cryptocurrencies using RMB and sells the cryptocurrencies for any foreign currency; or (2) uses any foreign currency to purchase cryptocurrencies outside of China, and subsequently sells the cryptocurrencies for RMB. This is irrespective of how many intermediate transactions were involved. A Chinese citizen may also be charged with money laundering if they knowingly sell the cryptocurrencies they hold to someone so as to assist them to illegally move funds in or out of China.

    Yet the article states that any Chinese citizen that sells any cryptocurrency in exchange for any fiat currency must declare personal income tax to the authorities if the transaction results in a profit. Anyone who fails to do this could be charged with tax evasion.

    Bear reasons already factored into prices?

    Rumors or discussions leaning towards a bear market have already been circulating for a while in the crypto discussion groups. For example, reasons some people may feel bearish over the Paypal or DCEP news have already been discussed repeatedly in this space. Considering there is no new news on this right now, any negativity would have already been factored into the current price of Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

    No new blood (at least not like in 2017 anyway)

    Back in 2017 there were a lot of newcomers, we observed this when we see just how many people were eagerly asking relatively beginner questions. We do not really see this yet and so it seems that the cryptocurrencies adoption rate in 2020 is much slower vs 2017.

    Don’t get us wrong, there are newcomers. We already saw lots of people buying Bitcoin using the ATMs inside Genesis Block (because they take more money). But there are no crazy lines of people with suitcases outside Genesis Block waiting for them to open like in 2017. This insanity was mostly caused by the “Kimchi premium”, where prices of Bitcoin in Korea were much higher than in Hong Kong. So what we saw were Koreans flying into Hong Kong with large amounts of cash in the morning, buying Bitcoin at Genesis Block, and catching a flight back to Korea in the evening.

    Another surprising indicator are sales for Ledger cryptocurrency hardware wallets using our affiliate code. We definitely noticed a significant uptick in sales recently, but definitely not as much as in 2017.

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and Yield Farming bubble

    A couple of months before, the crypto space became familiar with the term DeFi where many Bitcoiners turned into Yield Farmers. The promotions of DeFi and Yield Farming projects have definitely escalated as of late, to the point where some promotions and people urging others to go “all in” can be quite aggressive. This is a concerning sign because it makes you wonder if they are desperately trying to get you to buy so they can sell.

    Scam projects/ rug pulls

    The immense rally of the DeFi space led to the initiation of many scam projects or “rug pulls”. Some of them just crashed hours after launch with developers or hackers running away with people’s funds. Cointelegraph had also recently interviewed me for an article on this topic of Escalating DeFi scams tarnishing the crypto yield farming market niche.

    Confusion within Asia?

    Regulatory clarity is important in any region. China has been pushing the message that Bitcoin and Ethereum are two of the best assets on national television. Yet as we have seen earlier in this article, cracking down and closing cryptocurrency associated accounts, taking in the founder of OKEx for investigation and the recent article from the People’s Daily on how dealing with cryptocurrencies may constitute a crime may cause confusion amongst the public. Ultimately this confusion may also adversely affect the crypto space.

    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.

  • Press Release: Genesis Block appointed Boxmining as the Strategic Advisor

    Press Release: Genesis Block appointed Boxmining as the Strategic Advisor

    5 October 2020, Hong Kong – Genesis Block is excited to announce the appointment of our Strategic Advisor, Michael Gu of Boxmining. He is one of the leading experts in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. His Boxmining website and YouTube channel provides the latest insights and resources on digital assets, decentralized finance and blockchain technology, as well as educational resources suitable for complete beginners to seasoned enthusiasts. The YouTube platform alone has grown into a leading resource with over 216,000 subscribers and 21 million views. In addition to that, the website, Boxmining.com, Twitter pages and discussion groups makes Boxmining the leading one-stop ecosystem for anyone interested in learning more about crypto and staying ahead with the latest trends.

    We will be collaborating with Boxmining to create content and exchange information on the crypto industry and digital assets. Our collaboration is one step further in building a bigger and better crypto community in Hong Kong. You can keep up with our updates by following our social media channels.  

    About Boxmining

    Boxmining was founded by Michael Gu and started on YouTube as a passion project, and has now grown to be a top informational resource in the realm of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The creation of Boxmining was to bring unbiased and accurate information to the community as Michael noticed such information is hard to come by. What also makes Boxmining so unique is that it is able to close the knowledge gap between China and the West, bringing you the full global image of the crypto space.

    The founder, Michael, has been involved in the digital asset and blockchain space since 2012, and he started his journey with Bitcoin mining in grad school. Over the years, Michael garnered tremendous experience and through his hard work and dedication to the industry. He has developed a solid reputation as an analyst in this space and has been featured in various international media, such as Forbes, Cointelegraph, TechBullion, Disrupt Magazine and on China’s Phoenix TV. But his ambition was by no means satisfied, he wanted to share his crypto journey and insights, hoping to bring more attention to this space. Hence he created a YouTube channel called, Boxmining. 

    Boxmining YouTube posts videos covering topics on the latest cryptocurrency trends, interesting projects, collaborations with other crypto leaders, and educational guides. It goes live every Monday and Friday at 3:00 am (UTC), with other content during the week as well. 

    Boxmining.com is a complement to the Boxmining YouTube channel. It gives Michael the platform to cover wider topics with more detail. It is suitable for crypto enthusiasts to consume more in-depth insights and reviews on cryptocurrency, trends, products etc. and even those who are newer looking for guidance on how to get started. The website relies on Michael and his team of talented contributors to provide the latest breaking news and insights. 

    Besides the Boxmining website, YouTube channel, you can also follow them on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest updates. Michael also firmly believes in the power of community building, and his Telegram and Discord channels are a global place where he and other cryptocurrency enthusiasts can share and grow their knowledge together. 

    About Genesis Block

    Genesis Block is a premier OTC trading center for digital assets. Our head office’s location is in Hong Kong, the financial hub of Asia. The company is backed up by a team of financial professionals and industry leaders with notable experience. The company provides services to clients globally and continues to grow rapidly around the globe, with the vision to make digital assets more accessible to all. Genesis Block also operates the largest digital asset ATM machines in Asia through the company’s subsidiary, CoinHere. With over 40 commercial-scale crypto farms in the Asia-Pacific region, the company is a pioneer in the crypto space and hopes to one day bring mainstream adoption to cryptocurrencies. 

    We believe transparency and honesty are pivotal to sustaining our clients’ successes. So we will always be upfront and truthful regarding the information we provide and our service fees to you. Above all else we are trusted because of our emphasis on safety and the privacy we provide our clients and their data.  

    Building a strong crypto community is one of our focuses. Here at Genesis Block, we believe people can make great success in the crypto space if they are surrounded by like-minded people and immense resources. We built our communities to share the most up-to-date information on various social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and WeChat. 

    As the crypto industry is very young and unknown by the public in Hong Kong, we are endeavoring to help the public to understand more about cryptocurrency, and therefore we created the Crypto Classroom. It is a digital learning hub that provides mostly beginner level content that covers bitcoin and blockchain foundations and more. Crypto Classroom contents can be found on the Genesis Block website, Facebook page, and both of our YouTube channels which are catered for our Cantonese and English audience. We also create a Trader Insight series every week on our Cantonese YouTube channel for our advanced crypto enthusiasts.

    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.

  • CertiK ($CTK) and CertiK Chain: What is in the Ecosystem?

    CertiK ($CTK) and CertiK Chain: What is in the Ecosystem?

    CertiK aims to provide a secure platform where blockchain infrastructure and decentralized applications can be developed. Its ecosystem consists of security layers that exist below the blockchain level, including the DeepSEA compiler, the CertiK Virtual Machine (CVM), and CertiKOS. Its native token, $CTK, has launched in Binance Launchpool on 27 October 2020. Below is a detailed overview of the CertiK ecosystem, including the CertiK chain.

    Background

    The CertiK Foundation supports the CertiK platform. The organization champions trust in blockchain systems. Its efforts are displayed through the development of a secure network that can boost confidence in decentralized systems. Furthermore, the CertiK Foundation is lead by renowned computer professors.

    What is CertiK?

    CertiK is a decentralized smart contract platform powering Dapps. Additionally, it supports inter-chain communication and runs on the Certik Chain.

    The system is primed for highly-specialized use cases. The protocol employs a PoS variation called delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) and uses the Cosmos software development kit (SDK).

    The CertiK Foundation has taken upon itself to restore the trust in distributed platforms by employing cutting-edge security technologies and techniques. A key milestone achieved by CertiK is the provision of provable trust in a decentralized platform. Apart from focusing on security, the network also addresses performance and token economics.

    CertiK Token ($CTK)

    The economic aspect of the platform relies on the platform’s native currency, CTK. CTK’s major offering is being a utility token. (Provigil) Therefore, it helps power the crucial aspects of the CertiK ecosystem.

    For example, the token provides a mode of payment and settlement among the platform’s users.

    However, the token does not give its holders the right to interact and does not act as an investment into CertiK Foundation. Being issued inside a PoS-powered system, the token carries various benefits to incentivize holders to participate in staking and securing the network.

    Apart from being used on the CertiK protocol, CTK is a significant ingredient in the CertiK Chain. Here, the token is used to pay for transaction fees.

    In return, the fees reward staking nodes on the chain. Also, the token is used to reward those who delegate their CTK holding to validator nodes.

    CTK Token Allocation
    CTK Token Allocation (Image source: Binance Research)

    The token’s first issuance was achieved through two private sales that sold a total of 38 million CTK tokens worth a cumulative $39,430,000. Apart from the private sale 1 & 2 (29.0% & 9.0% respectively), the token distribution allocated 1.5% of its total supply to Binance Launchpool, 10.0% to the CertiK team, 25% to the CertiK Foundation, 17.5% to the community pool, and 8.0% to the CertiKShield pool.

    What is CertiK Chain?

    CertiK Chain is a blockchain protocol powering the CertiK ecosystem. It is highly secure and has cross-chain interoperability. To effectively achieve its mission, the platform incorporates key components such as a security oracle and a CertiKShield pool.

    Let’s dig into each of these components.

    CertiK Chain
    CertiK Chain (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    CertiK’s Security Oracle

    The platform’s security oracle compresses audit reports to make them available on-chain. Basically, audit reports hold information as to the reliability of smart contracts. But, the reliability of smart contracts can be sabotaged by the data it uses to make decisions.

    With these reports living outside blockchain platforms, it poses a security threat prompting CertiK to bring them on-chain through its security oracle. Consequently, the network can effectively verify the security of a smart contract.

    Note that this component allocates scores depending on a smart contract’s latest audit report. The scores give an overview of a contract’s code reliability.

    CertiK Security Oracle
    CertiK Security Oracle (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    More than just scoring contracts, the security oracle can track and report unaudited smart contracts. A distributed security team handles such reports. Using the CertiK Oracle Combinator, results from the security team are aggregated into a single score that can be accessed online. And, of course, the security team is rewarded.

    Luckily, this functionality is crucial in a decentralized finance (DeFi) setting where unaudited smart contracts are wreaking havoc. For example, by incorporating the CertiK’s security oracle, the responsibility of an audit is shifted from the contract creator to the contract users.

    CertiKShield Pool

    The CertiKShield pool is a unique component meant to minimize the risks emanating from the private nature of (most) cryptocurrencies. This may include losses from both avoidable and unavoidable circumstances such as house fires.

    The shield works by providing a flexible pool of CTK tokens. Since the token uses on-chain governance mechanisms, it can be used to compensate losses sprouting from inaccessibility and/or theft.

    In other words, this operates as an insurance platform. But, its decentralized nature allows it to receive inputs from all involved individuals before settling a claim.

    The CertiKShield Pool is made up of collateral providers and shied purchasers. Collateral providers earn staking rewards while shield purchasers pay for requested protection.

    CertiK Chain Architecture

    The main components of the CertiK Chain are baked together in an architecture that can achieve provable trust. Apart from the security oracle and the shield pool, the network’s backbone comprises a virtual machine and the DeepSEA toolchain.

    CertiK Virtual Machine (CVM)

    The CVM effectively eliminates the errors that may be introduced when converting smart contract code from human-based language to machine language. Although these errors may be unknown to contract developers, they pose a severe security risk.

    Being a security-first decentralized platform, the CVM relies on the output of DeepSEA, a certified compiler. The compiler’s output includes bytecode and mathematical proofs. The proofs can be used to isolate smart contracts’ code that doesn’t meet the security standards.

    DeepSEA Toolchain

    DeepSEA is a compiler and a programming language that’s hailed for its security. Notably, the CertiK-native tool is developed in conjunction with researchers from leading learning institutions such as Columbia and Yale University.

    DeepSea ToolChain
    DeepSea ToolChain (Image Source: CertiK Chain Whitepaper)

    The toolchain can determine the complex correctness properties of smart contracts. As such, it enhances the security of the network and products built on top of it.

    CertiK Governance

    The CertiK protocol uses on-chain governance methods to enable community involvement in decision-making. However, to vote for proposals, CTK holders can either delegate their voting powers to validators or vote directly. Validator nodes ensure the smooth running of the platform through powering activities such as block production.

    CertiK accommodates five types of proposals from its community:

    • Plain text: These are proposals that request modification of things like altering the number of incentives paid to validators.
    • Software upgrade: They lead to code modifications. They may include proposals to add new features.
    • Bounty: Examples of proposals in this category include those touching on creating chain artifacts and conducting security audits.
    • Community pool spend – They cater for the transfer of funds from a pool to an individual address, for instance, an individual developing a CertiK-specific product or upgrade.
    • Certifier: They are submitted by a certifier with a request to add or remove a certifier. Note that certifiers and validators vote on proposals.

    Conclusion

    In a space where malicious actors are always on the prowl for weaknesses in DeFi-focused smart contracts, CertiK provides the much-needed peace of mind. In addition, enabling a decentralized contract audit removes the need for DeFi users to solely rely on reports provided by the team, which, in some cases, are anonymous.

    From the security oracle to the reimbursement pools, to DeepSEA, the network structurally achieves a security-first approach with provable trust.

    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.

  • Public Mint ($MINT): can they bridge fiat and cryptocurrency?

    Public Mint ($MINT): can they bridge fiat and cryptocurrency?

    Public Mint seeks to solve transaction complexity by bridging the blockchain and the financial world of fiat. According to Public Mint adoption has always been the concern of the cryptocurrency community. And while tokens are becoming increasingly popular, the number of new entrants in the space today is still not enough to spur massive acceptance of crypto-assets in retail stores.

    Background

    Public Mint was launched in March 2020, following two years of research and development. It was created to make banks capable of holding funds that could later be tokenized on the blockchain. Today, it has been mainly implemented to ease the experience of using fiat currencies in performing blockchain-based transactions.

    Ever since the launch of the platform, it has already partnered with more than 200 banks that hold the fiat used to collateralize its tokens. Some of its prominent supporters are IBM Digital Asset Labs and Hyperledger.

    What is Public Mint?

    Public Mint is a decentralized, payment platform that aims to bridge the blockchain and fiat currencies. It offers tokenized fiat which is fully-collateralized and regulatory compliant. To secure the funds held in the platform’s accounts, they are also insured with the FDIC.

    Public Mint can be used to open blockchain-based fiat accounts to conduct money transfers worldwide without the need for any third-party facilitator. And because the platform was designed to be decentralized, it will not have control over the ownership and management of its user funds.

    The acceptance of payments via credit card, ACH, or wire transfer, are all made possible with the Public Mint platform as well. This makes it easier for anyone to perform transactions on the blockchain without having to exchange their fiat to crypto.

    Public Mint’s Open platform is designed to support these functions and make it easy for anyone to tokenize any fiat in the network. Tokenizing through the platform simply means that you will be able to make a token counterpart of your local currency on the blockchain.

    Features of Public Mint

    Fiat-Native Blockchain

    The platform supports the use of fiat in asset transfers and payments for network fees. Thanks to this feature, users do not need to purchase another digital asset just to be able to initiate transactions on the network.

    Simplified Key Storage

    It is easy for any user to store their private keys. The platform furnishes users with their own keys, which they can store in any cloud provider. Through this, the user has full control over his own funds without dealing with centralization problems like censorship.

    Direct Fiat Access

    Public Mint has a bank-to-chain feature that allows users to directly fund their wallets from various sources. At the same time, it also has a chain-to-bank feature that lets users directly withdraw their funds to their bank just using their wallet.

    The platform also supports USDC, making it easier for any crypto user to interact with other blockchain platforms.

    Public Mint wallet
    Pay others from your public mint wallet

    Multi-custodial

    There are multiple custodians on the platform. They are composed of banks and other regulated financial institutions. Their purpose is to hold funds while the multi-custodial structure of the network ensures that there will be no single point of failure in the system.

    Public Mint supported merchants
    Public Mint supports several major payment merchants

    Instant Transaction Settlement

    Transactions made on Public Mint can be settled in as fast as 3-5 seconds because the network offers finality with just one confirmation.

    Ethereum-Compatible

    The network is compatible with Ethereum, which means that any developer can build on the platform and improve it. It can also support decentralized applications that are established on the Ethereum network.

    What is the difference between Public Mint’s tokenized fiat and stablecoins?

    Stablecoins like Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD), were only designed to support one fiat: the US Dollar. And to purchase them, there are times that you have to first buy another cryptocurrency trading pair. According to the team behind Public Mint, this process can be too complex for a newcomer and it also exposes them to the volatility of other digital assets.

    Public Mint has its own fiat-dedicated network. The platform supports a comprehensive ecosystem that is designed to support the direct use of fiat currencies to make blockchain-based payments. And unlike the usual stablecoin, Public Mint is designed to support the use of multiple fiat currencies on the platform

    Conclusion

    Public Mint is a strong competitor among stablecoin platforms. However, its strength lies in its ability to facilitate easy and real-time transactions. If its partnerships with banks prosper, it can support a global payment ecosystem that will not fully rely on a blockchain. This addresses the problem most stablecoins users face in terms of transaction time and costs.

    Moreover, it can be a less volatile medium of exchange since it is collateralized by fiat and not by other digital assets. If ever the platform gets hacked and its funds are stolen, users are secured by its FDIC-insurance. Looking at where Public Mint is today, its potential to be the go-to alternative from stablecoins is high.

    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.

  • Vortex DeFi ($VTX): One-stop Gateway to DeFi

    Vortex DeFi ($VTX): One-stop Gateway to DeFi

    Vortex DeFi ($VTX) aims to provide users a one-stop access to all leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and protocols from a single web-based user interface.

    Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has evolved from a niche subcategory to the biggest catalyst driving the cryptocurrency and blockchain field today. It’s primarily focused on the Ethereum network, which has the majority of the DeFi share. There are, however, a large number of core DeFi protocols, combinators, and countless forks. All of this can become confusing fast.

    Fortunately, users don’t have to delve into the complex workings and nuances of these protocols, which can be overwhelming even for long-term users. Vortex DeFi is introduced to simplify the access and exposure to the sector. It has integrations with different protocols, which abstracts away the complexity in a simple and yet intuitive interface, to level the playing field and ensure greater participation.

    Background

    Vortex DeFi launched in Aug 2020 through a private investment round. It accrued interest and funding from X21 Digital, DuckDao, Moonrock Capital, Magnus Capital, Pluto Digital Assets PLC, Faculty Capital, A195 Capital, etc. A public sale will be held soon.

    It has a multicultural team, led by CEO Rahul Singh and strategic advisor Lester Lim. The other prominent team members are technical lead Arun Sunil and product lead Shaz. All team members have previous experiences in market-leading companies and blockchain projects.

    What is Vortex DeFi?

    Vortex DeFi is a web-based DeFi management system or a comprehensive DeFi aggregative solution platform, serving as a bridge between Ethereum and Polkadot. It combines the functionality and power of core protocols in a sleek dashboard to allow users of all categories to engage in yield farming. The core services provided are NFT asset management, lending and borrowing, insurance, and exchange.

    Vortex DeFi will also utilize the yEarn finance protocol to access and extract value from various lending protocols to enable automated profitable yield farming. The added advantage of cross-chain compatibility ensures that users don’t have to choose between two promising blockchains. Vortex DEFI also has several components, taking the guesswork and experimentation out of the process.

    Vortex DEFI – Components

    V-Swap

    Being the Uniswap or Bancor equivalent of Vortex, V-Swap will offer an automated digital assets exchange on the Ethereum and Polkadot blockchain. It’s likely to offer liquidity aggregation from multiple sources, so a peer to peer exchange of tokens can be performed without a direct counterparty or orderbook.

    V-Pay

    It will offer a fiat gateway for users, so they can acquire and sell crypto assets from FIAT, in their cards or bank accounts. This is required for onboarding new users, as well as ensuring that they have a way for realizing their returns.

    V-Yield

    A yield aggregator as the name goes, V-Yield will combine yield from different sources and optimize them according to the best return rate. It will spare users from the trouble of manually finding sources and having the need to rotate them.

    V-NFTs

    An asset management, V-NFTs will allow users to manage their asset collection and swap them for each other. Given that NFTs are an illiquid asset class and their infrastructure is scattered, it’s hugely important to develop a unified interface.

    V-Insure

    DeFi protocols are rife with exploits and smart contract risks. Therefore, to onboard new users and even to retain existing ones, it’s necessary to grant them peace of mind by ensuring the protection of their funds. V-Insure will seek to insure user funds by seeking out integrations with multiple DeFi insurance protocols.

    Vortex DEFI Native Token ($VTX)

    The native token of the platform is Vortex DeFi Token ($VTX), ERC-20 token, which will be used to incentivize users. It has four purposes:

    1. Liquidity pools (LP) rewards are distributed in VTX
    2. Usage for staking on the platform.
    3. Holding VTX tokens allows users to save on the platform fees
    4. The team has announced plans to regularly buy tokens and burn them every quarter to reduce supply and increase the value of existing tokens.

    All of these benefits and value accrual mechanisms will motivate users to hold tokens, in anticipation of rising demand and prices.

    $VTX Token Metrics

    The VTX token has a total supply of 100M $VTX and an initial circulating supply of $0.4M $VTX.

    Funding Rounds

    Private Sale (concluded): 32,500,000 VTX sold at 0.0276 USD per token.(25% TGE, 75% vesting over 120 days)

    Public Sale (on 28 February 2021): 2,500,000 VTX to be sold at 0.04 USD per token. No vesting period.*

    Advantages of Vortex DeFi

    The platform offers users the advantages of a unified DeFi management dashboard, the ability to fuse several protocols together offering a seamless experience with abstracted complexity, powerful lend and earn functionality, automated rotation of funds for optimized returns, non-custodial function, and insurance against loss of funds.

    Vortex DEFI Connected Protocols

    Vortex DeFi connected protocols (source: ‘Introducing Vortex DeFi Beta & Access to the Vortex of DeFi‘ medium article)

    Vortex DEFI will have integrations with several key DEFI protocols, including but not limited to Maker DAO, Compound, Kava, Idle, Aave, Yearn, Uniswap, Nexus Mutual, Curve. This will allow for a powerful user experience, which is likely to improve penetration of decentralized finance.

    Vortex Vision

    The team hopes that Vortex will become the top one-stop solution for a user’s DeFi needs and allow them to simplify their experience. Vortex hopes to make financial applications accessible and simple for all users, regardless of their technical expertise. It will also allow saving on transaction fees (gas) by batching and combining transactions.

    Vortex can also enhance the decentralization level of DeFi protocols by ensuring broad participation and an increase in user activity. Furthermore, it will feature the DAAS (DeFi-As-A-Service) business model. Currently, the product is in development and more changes are expected as the platform launch draws near.

    Conclusion

    DEFI was founded on the principle of openness, equal opportunity, transparency, trustlessness, lack of centralized control, fast processing, and lego-like composability. It is generally presented as a superior alternative to the traditional financial system, which differs heavily from the principles of the crypto community and disallows these services to a large number of people.

    On the other hand, DeFi is accessible to almost everyone with an internet connection and a personal computing device or smartphone. However, primitive user interfaces and experiences of the existing DeFi protocols were a problem. Thankfully, Vortex will overlap the strong functionality of these protocols with an amazing and simple interface.

    Currently, there is a lack of dashboard-style platforms connected to multiple DEFI protocols, aggregating their services and offering a one-stop solution. All of this is about to change with the Vortex launch, which is likely to onboard a large number of new users as well as provide a novel interesting solution to the existing ones.

    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.

  • Polkadex: Polkadot’s DEX for the DeFi ecosystem

    Polkadex: Polkadot’s DEX for the DeFi ecosystem

    Polkadex is a new addition to the Polkadot ecosystem. Polkadex a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) concentrating purely on tokens powering decentralised finance (DeFi) applications through a user-friendly interface and lightning-fast transactions.

    Background

    Polkadex is developed by a team of highly skilled professionals led by Matthias Hafner (cryptoeconomic advisor), Vivek Prasannan (executive director), Gautham J (CEO & tech lead), and Deepansh Singh (COO). In addition, the team comprises advisors on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and banking.

    The project has struck key partnerships with notable firms such as CMS, Cluster, Blocksync Ventures, Existential Capital, Web3 Foundation, among others.

    What is Polkadex?

    Polkadex is a non-custodial decentralized platform powering the P2P exchange of tokens used in the DeFi ecosystem. The platform looks forward to building a financial-inclusive future through bridges that connect traditional and decentralized finance spaces.

    The project leverages the power of the Polkadot platform.

    The decentralized exchange is designed to solve liquidity issues plaguing many platforms in the market today. The root of the problem is the use of an orderbook on a decentralized protocol.

    The introduction of automated market-maker (AMM) as the solution led to the birth of Uniswap and other DeFi protocols. Unfortunately, the approach had its own limitations.

    For example, it can only be beneficial when there’s a price difference on exchanges using an orderbook. However, even though AMMs rely on orderbook-based platforms, these platforms don’t need AMMs for them to run.

    To bridge the disconnect, Polkadex brought AMMs and the orderbook together. The project is unique because it uses on-chain bots for market making.

    Key Components of Polkadex

    To bring its vision into focus, the project is built on FIVE core components. They include:

    Fluid Switch Protocol

    The switch changes between the platform’s orderbook and automated market-making AMM. The shift ensures that the decentralized exchange (DEX) has seamlessly-flowing liquidity for traders and liquidity providers.

    By utilizing professionally-designed AMM algorithms, Polkadex provides a fully-supported orderbook, which in turn eradicates impermanent loss and price slippage, which are the biggest ills in the DeFi sector.

    Trading Bots

    Polkadex powers high-frequency trading using trading bots. Notably, these bots handle both institutional and retail customers. They use a carefully manicured architecture that optimizes cancellation fees by managing traders’ entry and exit points depending on the situations in the market. (radiomusical.com)

    The bots are also used to perform on-chain market making. This approach fuses AMMs with an orderbook. How does this work?

    When the bots don’t find a match during a trade, they automatically place the trade in an orderbook adding liquidity to the network.

    When a trade doesn’t find a match in the orderbook, the bots are tasked with finding a suitable pair. Note that trades on Polkadex are only completed using the best price.

    Ethereum Bridge

    With most DeFi networks running on the Ethereum blockchain, Polkadex employs a trustless Ethereum bridge to facilitate the movement of any token to the decentralized exchange. Consequently, it makes it possible to interact with other liquidity providers in a trustless way that allows users to maintain control of their virtual wealth.

    High Performance

    Currently, Polkadex is operating in a testnet capable of reaching a speed of 300 transactions per second (tps). Although this speed is enough in the current landscape, the project targets a throughput of 20,000 tps.

    Polkadot Parachain

    The exchange incorporates the Polkadot Parachain as an additional way to drive liquidity into the DEX. However, the parachain is only used to bring tokens from the Polkadot ecosystem to the Polkadex world.

    During the movement, the security of the tokens is provided through an interoperability layer provided by Polkadot. In addition, the layer assumes a non-custodial approach letting token holders have full control of their digital wealth, effectively eliminating centralized service providers.

    Types of Trades Supported by Polkadex

    The exchange supports market and limit orders. Limit orders enjoy zero trading fees while market orders incur a 0.2 percent trading fee.

    The main reason for the difference in trading fees is that limit orders add liquidity to the platform while market orders remove liquidity. Liquidity providers share the trading fee charged on market takers on a 50-50 ratio with the Polkadex team.

    Since bot-based transactions aren’t viable on a decentralized exchange using smart contracts, Polkadex moves above this hurdle by removing network fees.

    However, this presents another problem where malicious actors can attack the application through a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. To guard against such incidents, Polkadex lets the blockchain anticipate such attacks and impose a network charge for specific trades.

    The exchange uses several methods to determine a potential DDoS threat. For instance, if a trade has an invalid price, trading pair, order type, or insufficient balance, then it’s categorized as a likely DDoS attack.

    Two Critical Polkadex Partnerships

    Polkadex X KILT Protocol X Fractal

    Polkadex joined hands with KILT Protocol and Fractal to bring decentralized know-your-customer (KYC) functionalities to the DEX. The partnership saw Fractal, an identification firm, and Polkadex leverage KILT’s infrastructure to manage KYC procedures needed by the exchange.

    The move eases the onboarding process for the DEX’s users. Note that KILT stores customer information. Thus, with the collaboration, new exchange users are directed to the KILT platform, where they set-up a wallet that stores their data in a decentralized way.

    Polkadex X Cryptecon.org

    This partnership involved including Cryptecon’s Matthias Hafner into the DEX’s advisory board. Hafner’s experience in developing economic models helps the exchange effectively merge its orderbook with multiple AMMs.

    Current status of Polkadex

    Polkadex is currently in the testnet phase and has recently released version 2.0. New features in this release include:

    1. ability for the public to use testnet tokens to submit trades; and
    2. ability to watch live trades being executed by the Polkadex engine.

    To participate in the testnet, you will need to download the Polka Chrome extension and create an account. Then you can ask for testnet tokens in their official telegram group.

    Polkadex interface
    Polkadex interface (Image credit: YouTube)

    Roadmap: What’s next for Polkadex?

    The next exciting phase for Polkadex of course would be its mainnet launch. It appears that they intend to be on track for mainnet launch in Q1-Q2 2021.

    As for Polkadex’s token sale, they have indicated on their Telegram group that the community round will take place in March 2021.

    Conclusion

    Polkadex takes a superior approach in fusing AMMs with the orderbook through the inclusion of on-chain market-making bots. Notably, the provision of a user-friendly design, a high throughput, and a non-custodial approach add to the exchange’s uniqueness among other DEXs in the market.

    Additionally, its partnership with KILT and Fractal eases the onboarding process while the Cryptecon collaboration enhances its Fluid Switch component.

    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.