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Category: Coin Guide

There are several thousands of cryptocurrencies out there, known also as altcoins. These coins and tokens all have their own unique features and uses, for example, some are used to help decide the direction the creator company should take, others give you discounts or access to special features. The Coin Guide is a concise summary of the aims and technology behind a certain cryptocurrencies. Insight is crucial in this field. Many projects disguise their progress through complicated jargon, making it hard to distinguish those who are building something meaningful from those who are not.

  • OIN Finance ($OIN): DeFi’s first foray into Ontology

    OIN Finance ($OIN): DeFi’s first foray into Ontology

    OIN Finance ($OIN) devised a way to build a Decentralised Finance (DeFi) project that seeks to deliver what most Ethereum products can too, but on a different blockchain — the Ontology network. This can potentially solve issues of blockchain congestion and rising gas fees which recently is a cause for concern and a real obstacle to mass adoption.

    As the first DeFi project running on Ontology, it is interesting to know what they have done and what they have in store in the space in the months to come.

    Check out our explainer video on OIN Finance:

    Background

    Renard Zhang, CEO of OIN Finance and his team began the project with a three-pronged mission of promoting DeFi, becoming a gateway for DeFi, and helping it grow into a more mature market. The team helped recreate the developments of the decentralized technology from the Ethereum ecosystem into the Ontology blockchain.

    What is OIN Finance?

    OIN Finance is a DeFi ecosystem focused on providing a liquidity pool lending platform on top of the Ontology network. Its purpose is to create a cross-chain interoperable platform for services like lending, borrowing, swapping, and minting of stablecoins.

    With OIN, users can add liquidity on their own decentralized exchanges (DEX) and build their own market makers through OINSwap. Another project inside the OIN ecosystem is OINLend, where users can make loans or borrow cryptocurrency assets.

    Other services available in the ecosystem are OINWallet, OINDAO, and the USDO stablecoin. Through OIN’s bridge technology, these services built on the platform can be accessible to the Ethereum community, as well.

    For now, OIN is focusing on building the Ontology network to provide low-cost services while avoiding the congestion problems that users experience in the Ethereum blockchain, more so recently. Once the project has a strong enough user base on the ONT DeFi platform, they can move to scale the project further.

    The road ahead for OIN is to first build a community of early adopters and give them an opportunity to be a part of the initial pool of stakers. Then, it can be made available to the larger public.

    Cross-chain interoperability

    OIN’s architecture enables the growth of not only its own platform but also the whole DeFi space, by linking several blockchains together. Its cross-chain design opens up the platform to other existing networks to expand offerings to a vast number of users.

    Decentralization

    By adopting Tendermint’s consensus algorithm, nodes can function without any problem whilst trying to achieve consensus. And through its own stablecoin, there are enough incentives for nodes to continue securing and maintaining the health of the network.

    Data Security

    OIN uses Merkle proof to secure the data of its users. In such a set-up, any information on actions initiated on top of the Ethereum blockchain will be kept in a secure line of codes so they cannot be written back to.

    OIN Finance’s Services

    OINSwap V1 Pool

    OIN will launch the first DEX on Ontology, enabling Ontology users to conveniently trade their ONT tokens with the tokens supported by OIN. The swap pool powers the whole DEX while its prices are determined by prevailing market conditions. V1 and V2 pools are currently in the works and there is no official launch date yet.

    OIN swap v1 pool
    OIN swap v1 pool

    OINSwap V2 Pool

    As soon as the cross-chain bridge is successful, and ERC-20 assets can run to and from the Ontology network, they can begin the operation of OIN Swap’s V2 pool. In here, OIN tokens are used to reflect the value of some tokens into OIN Swap.

    OIN Swap v2 pool

    OIN Wallet

    OIN Wallet can be used to store tokens supported by the Ontology and Ethereum network. As soon as the second phase of the project is completed, which is to successfully run the Ontology-Ethereum bridge, OIN wallet can be able to access other Ethereum-based DeFi projects. These are protocols such as Curve, Balancer, or Compound.

    OIN wallet
    OIN wallet

    USDO

    USDO is the stablecoin of the network, pegged to the US Dollar. It is the first decentralized stable token built on top of Ontology. USDO is backed by Ontology’s native token, ONT.

    The stablecoin can be used to deposit into OIN Swap or OIN Lend pool to gain profits from staking and liquidity mining.

    $OIN Token

    OIN token is the native asset of OIN Finance. It will be utilized as the governance token, as well as for collateral rewards and clearing compensation.

    Through OIN token, the platform implements a community governance model to manage operations. Elaborately, the token can be used to pay for transaction fees, staking, or community voting.

    OIN token is hugely popular. The public sale of the token was around 50 times oversubscribed and was launched on Uniswap and Bitmax and BiBox on 3rd September 2020. Those lucky few that were able to get into the public sale, purchased their OIN tokens at USD$0.08, and considering prices of OIN at the time of writing is almost USD$1, these holders have every reason to be ecstatic.

    OIN DAO

    OIN DAO also has the ability to issue USDO. Since USDO is collateralized by ONT, it has its own pool in the Ontology platform. Those who have ONT can mint USDO at an initial collateralization rate of 300%.

    The clearing mechanism (similar to how liquidations work in MakerDAO) kicks in if the collateralization of the USDO drops below 180%. But if users do not wish to borrow or lend USDO, they can send them over to OIN Swap or OIN Lend to do liquidity mining.

    OIN Lend

    Lending is decentralized on the OIN platform. Through smart contracts, both lenders and borrowers can safely deposit tokens to become underlying assets on the platform. Then, OIN chooses between different tokens supported by the Ethereum and Ontology network to mint OIN tokens at a specific exchange rate.

    A minimum over-collateralization of 150% is required for loans, similar to other DeFi lending protocols. The interest fees are determined automatically by smart contracts based on different market factors such as supply and demand.

    Interests are accumulated per block and a portion of it is kept in the reserves. This is to allow lenders the option of withdrawing their token deposits should they wish to do so.

    OIN Chain

    OIN Chain is a layer built on top of the OIN platform designed to support the cross-chain interoperability feature of the protocol. This will help integrate Ethereum’s DeFi projects to also supply more assets in the Ontology network. (nelsongreerpainting)

    It will be a multi-functional adaptor that will bridge both Ethereum and Ontology, as well as more public chains in other developments ahead.

    Liquidity Mining and Staking

    Half of all the OIN token supply is generated from liquidity mining and staking. The supply created via stakers will be derived from USDO collateral pools collected in the OIN DAO and OIN Lend platforms.

    OIN tokens that are created by way of liquidity mining will be injected in the OIN Swap pools. Once the OIN Lend pool is made available with its cross-chain architecture in place, ERC-20 compliant tokens can be staked too.

    Exactly 40% of all minted tokens are distributed every day via staking rewards, while the remaining 60% will be distributed as liquidity mining rewards. Through OIN DAO, the community can decide how to shift the ratio of the daily reward allocation for the network.

    Conclusion

    As one of the pioneers of DeFi on the Ontology network, the outlook for OIN Finance appears increasingly positive, especially with Ethereum’s rising gas fees. While the number of DeFi projects launched on the Ethereum blockchain increases daily, whether they can continue to sustain their operations continues to be a prevailing concern.

    Establishing a successful proof of concept on top of other platforms for DeFi projects can be helpful for the community and whole crypto space at large. After all, it only adds more options for users to explore the services that fit their needs best.

    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.

  • What is AAVE ($LEND)?

    What is AAVE ($LEND)?

    Aave Protocol with their native token $LEND is a leading company within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sphere. The Company allows its users access to its open-source and non-custodial protocol to create money markets, joining a growing list of projects like Compound to bring decentralized options to the masses. We look at who is Aave ($LEND), its uses and how it differs from other projects such as Compound Finance.

    What is Aave?

    Named after the Finnish word for “ghost”, London-based company Aave was set up in September 2018 after a successful initial coin offering (ICO) the previous year for its ETHLend token which raised USD$16.2 million. The executive team under ETHLend migrated to Aave upon its establishment with ETHLend becoming a subsidiary of Aave. In January 2020, ETHLend announced it was no longer in operation and its website would only remain active for current users to close down their existing loans.

    Aave’s aim is to fill in the gaps left by centralised fintech industry giants like PayPal, Skrill and Coinbase. Their main product is Aave Protocol, an open source and non-custodial protocol for creating money markets on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Who is the team behind Aave?

    Aave has a wealth of talent and experience within its team. Stani Kulechov (CEO) and Jordan Lazaro Gustave (COO) have retained and migrated their roles from ETHLend, bringing their wealth of knowledge to Aave. Their diverse 18 man team bring together a wealth of experience in the startup scene.

    What is Aave Protocol?

    Aave’s biggest and most integral aspect is Aave Protocol which was launched in January 2020. Its shift from ETHLend marked a significant shift in strategy for the Company. Going from decentralized P2P lending to a pool-based strategy, Aave Protocol is an open source an non-custodial protocol that allows users to create their own decentralized money markets on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Aave Protocol
    Aave Protocol

    Depositors provide liquidity by depositing cryptocurrencies into lending pools which will then allow them to earn interest. Meanwhile, borrowers can obtain loans by tapping into these lending pools in either an overcollateralized or undercollateralized way. The loans do not need to be individually matched i.e. one lender to one borrower. Instead, deposits into the pool and the amounts borrowed/ collateral are used to make instant loans based on the pool’s state. There are currently 2 money markets that users can enter into, these are Aave and Uniswap.

    Aave markets
    Aave markets

    Flash Loans

    Aave has one feature that sets it apart from the rest. Flash loans allow customers or to take out loans without any collateral. These flash loans enable a customised smart contract to borrow assets from Aave’s reserve pools within one transaction. The loan is made on the condition that the liquidity is returned to the pool before the transaction ends. However, if it’s not repaid by that time, the transaction gets reversed- which will effectively undo any actions executed until that point and guarantee the safety of the funds in the reserve pool.

    The Fast Loan feature is designed for developers to make tools that require capital for arbitrage, refinancing, or liquidating purposes. Aave explained Flash Loans saying it is “designed for developers/people with some technical knowledge”, with the benefit of risk-free loans. Aave charges a 0.09% fee on flash loans.

    Rate Switching

    Rate switching is another unique selling point for Aave, which arrived during the May upgrade of their borrowing/interest rates. Rate switching allows borrowers to switch between fixed and floating interest rates, something useful in a volatile decentralized market. For high-interest rates, users will usually opt for the fixed-rate but when it is more volatile and expected to be lower, one might go for the floating option to reduce borrowing costs. The fixed-rate can change but only when the deposit earning rate increases above the fixed borrow rate as the system could get unstable by paying out more than its being paid. If so, the fixed rate is rebalanced to the new stable rate. On the other hand, when the variable rate is lower than the fixed-rate by 20%, the loan will automatically decrease to account for the difference.

    Which Cryptocurrency Tokens are linked?

    There are 19 tokens available on Aave. These include DAI, USD Coin (USDC), TrueUSD (TUSD), USDT Coin (USDT), sUSD, Binance USD (BUSD), Ethereum (ETH), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Kyber Network (KNC), ChainLink (LINK), Decentraland (MANA), Maker (MKR), Augur (REP), SNK, Enjin Coin (ENJ), REN, WBTC Coin (WBTC), Yearn.finance (YFI) and Ox Coin (ZRX).

    Please note: Each asset has a different collateral requirement. This is because of the differences in price volatility. Stablecoins naturally give loan-to-value ratios, due to their price stability. A full breakdown of Aave’s grading process can be found in their Risk Framework.

    Alongside these tokens, there is also a native token that Aave uses and which is called Lend. An explanation and analysis of the token can be found below.

    LEND ($LEND) Token

    Often referred too as ETHLend, the LEND cryptocurrency token has rolled over to become the native token of Aave following the winding-up of operations by ETHLend in January this year. Although it has kept the name, the new Aave version of Lend is largely different from the previous one.

    LEND token metrics
    LEND token metrics

    Binance Key metrics on Lend

    Built based on the ERC-20 standard, $LEND tokens can be used for fee reductions. The tokens are burnt from the fees collected from the Aave Protocol, with around 80% of platform fees used. This appears to suggest that Lend tokens will be worth more over time. LEND owners can also claim on protocol fees in exchange for acting as the first line of defense in the case of liquidity events by malicious borrowers.

    In addition, $LEND tokens can be used for voting on Aave Improvement Proposals (AIPs). What’s more, LEND holders can vote with their LEND deposited on the Aave platform, even if it is currently being used as collateral. Currently, this feature is pre-launched on the Ropsten test network before it is launched on the Ethereum mainnet. This is so the Aave community can vote on proposals without incurring huge gas costs, try out the module and provide feedback to the Aave team before it is formally launched. It is also worth noting that the outcomes of all votes on the testnet are not considered as valid for the long term.

    How to lend on Aave

    Depositing and earning interest on Aave is a simple process. Before you start, you must visit https://app.aave.com/ and connect using a web 3.0 wallet such as Metamask, Coinbase Wallet or Fortmatic.

    Depositing is easy, just simply pick your desired asset in which to invest and then allow Aave access to the asset. Once the transaction is processed, and the interest rate is confirmed you can check the rate changes on the Aave app. The interest-earning tokens are called aTokens which are similar to Compound’s C tokens.

    Interest generating tokens

    There are some differences between Compound’s tokens and the aToken. The main one being that the aToken’s keep their underlying assets price and will increase the amount of owned tokens when the price goes up rather than increasing the tokens price.

    Aave vs Compound ($COMP)

    Both Compound Finance and Aave appear to be the two top DeFi lending platforms. However, both have unique features that set them apart. Compound does have USDT as a usable asset, but Aave has a wider range of tokens on offer. For Aave, their new interest rates and regulations, like rate switching gives them a slight edge. For first time users, Aave offers great incentive rates. However, lending rates and Borrow fees are higher on average with Aave. Either way though, Aave has proven a good addition to the Defi community and should prove popular. You can read more about Compound ($COMP) here.

    Key features of Aave 2.0

    Aave 2.0 was announced on 14th August 2020. Aave Market now offers 19 assets, plus the Uniswap Market offers different Uniswap pairs as collateral. The platform has also grown to over 15,000 users. Here are some of the key new features which can be expected in Phase 2 of Aave.

    Pay with collateral

    Currently, if users want to repay their loan with part of their collateral they need to do 4 separate transactions on several protocols: withdraw the collateral, buy the cryptocurrency which is borrowed, repay the debt and unlock all the deposited collateral. With this new function, Aave users can deleverage or close their positions by directly paying with collateral in 1 transaction.

    Debt tokenization and native credit delegation

    Users’ debt positions will be tokens i.e. users will receive tokens which represent their debt. This enables native credit delegation within the Aave Protocol, in addition to other features such as native position management from cold wallets and user-specific yield farming strategies.

    Fixed rate deposit

    Deposits on Aave can generate predictable interest rates which are not bound by market variations.

    Improved Stable Borrow Rate

    This will further ensure the predictability of interest rates by locking down their borrow interest rate to a specified time period.

    Private markets

    Aave will allow governance to open private markets to open private markets to support all types of tokenized assets. The Aave team are also working on a collaboration with RealT which will bring mortgages onto Ethereum.

    Improved aTokens

    aTokens are Aave’s interest bearing tokens which are minted when a deposit is made and subsequently burned when redeemed. The aToken is pegged 1:1 to the value of the underlying asset deposited with Aave. In Aave 2.0, there will now be a version 2 of the aToken which integrates the EIP 2612 which allows for gasless approvals.

    Gas Optimizations

    This feature is currently in the works and will lead to a significant drop in transaction costs for most of the interactions on Aave. For some interactions the gas cost may even be reduced by 50%. Aave version 2 will also implement native GasToken Support.

    Security

    In version 2, the internal design has been made simpler, the architecture is also improved so it is more formal verification friendly. Aave is also working with top auditors such as Consensys Diligence and Certora- a leading company in automatic verification technologies.

    Native trading functionalities

    Aave v2 will introduce the ability for users to natively trade their debt position from one asset to another, i.e. you can borrow DAI, and if USDC becomes cheaper to borrow, you could change your debt position to USDC in one transaction.

    Users can also trade their deposited assets across the various cryptocurrencies supported by Aave, even when it is being used as collateral.

    Margin trading is also introduced in version 2, so users can directly take long and short leveraged positions without using third party services. Conversely with margin lending, liquidity providers can increase the weight of their deposits to take opportunities.

    Governance

    Aave version 2 also introduces several new governance features. Now, AAVE token holders can delegate their voting weight to any other address. Aave believes this may lead to the emergence of Protocol Politicians, who will represent the interests of their peers to delegated their votes to them. But unlike most representative democracies we see around the world today, vote delegation is a liquid democracy so this means a user can instantly remove the delegation in a single transaction if they so wish.

    The Aave team also recognises the pain points of the need to move tokens to another location to participate in governance. So Aave now allows users to be able to sign messages from their cold wallet to participate in Aave Governance. This will in turn reduce the security risk.

    References:

    AsiaCryptoToday: https://www.asiacryptotoday.com/aave/

    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.

  • Kusama ($KSM): How is it Polkadot’s wild cousin?

    Kusama ($KSM): How is it Polkadot’s wild cousin?

    Kusama ($KSM) calls itself “Polkadot’s wild cousin”. Yet, is an initiative that seeks to solve the Polkadot ecosystem’s concerns of coding vulnerabilities. Going beyond the usual testnet, Kusama deployed on its platform a network focused on research and development with real costs to its community and developers. This makes it more mainnet-like, without having to actually put new developments up on the main Polkadot platform.

    Background

    Dr. Gavin Wood founded Kusama with a goal of supporting the Polkadot ($DOT) network via building a parallel blockchain that allows experimentation and development with very realistic conditions. With that in mind, Dr. Wood thought of having a “canary network” that functions as a warning and early problem detection protocol that can reveal the weaknesses of the Polkadot code base.

    With Kusama, new features that are planned for implementation on the main Polkadot chain can be tested. The difference between Kusama and all other testnets is that the decisions made in the platform have actual economic implications. Testnets only provide playground tokens that bear no actual value.

    What is Kusama?

    Kusama is Polkadot’s canary network, which means that it is an experimental community research and development protocol. Its main purpose is to help developers test and deploy parachains on the Polkadot project, or experiment on its governance and staking functions with real economic conditions.

    Canary testing
    Canary testing

    Canary testing is important as the developers behind both chains hypothesize that it is the best way to completely understand the critical risks that lie in Polkadot’s development.

    As an unrefined version of Polkadot, Kusama functions as an independent decentralized main network. It will continually function as long as the community allows it to since decentralized systems inherently have no kill-switches. It could possibly become a para relay chain to Polkadot, however, it is never intended to merge with Polkadot’s chain itself.

    Kusama Token ($KSM)

    Kusama’s native token is the KSM, which holders can use to stake, become a validator or nominate one, and vote on its governance mechanism, among others. Furthermore, it is the token that powers most of the mechanisms in the Kusama network.

    Investors who purchased DOT during Polkadot’s ICO are qualified to receive an equivalent amount of KSM on the Kusama Network.

    Consensus Protocol: Nominated Proof-of-Stake

    Kusama follows the Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) consensus model where validators are elected based on their stakes and the stakes of those who are voting for them. As much as possible, the platform balances the weight between validators every election.

    In Polkadot, the election of validators focuses on the balance between these three metrics (Phragmen’s algorithm):

    • The total amount staked by the nominee and their nominators
    • The stake behind the minimally staked validator
    • The variance of the stake in a set.

    Validators

    To become a validator, users are required to stake KSM first. Once users already have the minimum amount of tokens needed to become candidates for a validator set, they are elected based on the Phragmen’s algorithm.

    There are currently over 130 validators on Kusama.

    Parachains

    Parachains are application-specific data structures secured by validators on the Polkadot Relay Chain and run in parallel with the Polkadot network. This allows them to process transactions with the speed and scalability of the Polkadot blockchain.

    How parachains work
    How parachains work

    Collators, on the other hand, are tasked to maintain the whole parachain. Collator nodes keep every data concerning the parachain and create new block candidates for the verification and recording of validators.

    Parachains can have an independent economy from the Polkadot network and their own native token.

    Governance

    Before every protocol update or revision is made, they are voted upon by the network composed of token holders and Kusama’s council. Through innovations such as on-chain voting systems and stake-weighted decision making, Kusama has enabled a community-driven governance model.

    The governance function follows the following procedures:

    Proposing Referenda: Each referendum contains a specific proposal that serves as a privileged function call. Included in the referenda is the period designated for the voting process. They can be submitted by Polkadot (DOT) token holders and the council, or taken from prior referenda or recommendations by Kusama’s Technical Committee after the approval of its Council.

    Voting for a proposal: There are only two options when voting, either “aye” or “nay.” If proposals receive a majority, they can be carried out for implementation. Before the enactment of a proposal, however, users are required to lock their tokens until the whole enactment delay has lapsed. The purpose of this parameter is to ensure that a proposal has met the minimum economic buy-in and discourage vote selling.

    Tallying: There are three scenarios whenever the network votes on specific proposals. Since each proposal is distinguished on whether they are from the public or the council, the votes also differ in bias.

    Kusama vote tally
    Kusama vote tally

    For every proposal, the number of “aye” and “nay” votes are accounted for as the turnout, or the total number of voting tokens, are factored in.

    In a positive turnout bias (if the voter turnout is low), more votes in favor of the proposal are required. In a negative turnout bias, it requires more votes against the proposal. And for Council proposals, only a simple majority is necessary.

    Kusama Council

    While there are active stakers, there are also passive stakeholders in the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem. Through an on-chain entity comprising of 17 seats, the Council decides on three main tasks of governance. These include proposals of referenda, striking out clearly dangerous referenda, and electing members of the network’s technical committee.

    Kusama council
    Kusama council

    Community on Kusama

    Kusama has deployed the Society module, an economic game that seeks to reward users for participating and maintaining a membership society. Rewards, however, are given maturity periods. This means that the user cannot instantly get their incentives until the maturity period of their entitlements has already lapsed.

    Societies can punish members by slashing their incentives if they are not being collected. There are many other violations, such as not participating in voting calls, among others.

    By a strike system, members who have committed a number of punishable actions exceeding the limits decided upon can be booted out of the society.

    As of now, Kusama only has one society organized on top of its platform. In the future upgrades though, they might add more.

    Conclusion

    The growth of the DeFi space is dependent on the participation of both its developers and the community behind them. Projects that empower developers to test out new features before they are actually implemented on main channels are important, especially if the security and reliability of a particular network are at stake.

    A project like Kusama enables developers and their community to play around the Polkadot platform while making sure that each feature they are planning to deploy is not only audited but also tested realistically.

    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.

  • Curve Finance ($CRV) guide

    Curve Finance ($CRV) guide

    Curve Finance is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for trading stablecoins. As with every other Decentralised Finance (DeFi) project, Curve Finance has its own token known as Curve DAO token ($CRV). The Curve Finance DEX has already been up and running since January 2020, and yield farmers have already been making gains off of it. However, it was the abrupt listing of the $CRV token on 14th August 2020 that really turned heads in the cryptocurrency space, and not necessarily in a good way. In this article, we take a look at the background and features of Curve Finance and the controversial launch of its $CRV token.

    To learn more about Curve Finance and specifically $CRV yield farming and how to see if YOU may have any $CRV, check out our latest video:

    Curve Finance ($CRV) Yield Farming

    Background

    Michael Egorov CEO of Curve Finance, also worked with the NuCypher team as Co-founder and CTO for five years. Egorov has served Curve through his expertise in software development, thanks to his managerial stints at different tech companies in the past.

    The team behind Curve Finance officially began working on the exchange back in December 2019, and they launched it in January 2020. Even then, Curve was already being used by several arbitrage traders, but its popularity shot up after it recently (and surprisingly) launched its governance token this August 2020.

    Interestingly, it appears that even after the launch of the CRV token, some members of the Curve team did not know that it was already out. It was so abrupt that the team had to adopt it after having no option but to just review its codes following the deployment.

    What is Curve Finance?

    Curve is a decentralized exchange liquidity pool built to support the efficient trading of stablecoins. At present, Curve supports BTC pairs, as well as DAI, BUSD, sUSD, TUSD, USDC, and USDT.

    And through the help of AMMs (automated market makers), Curve makes low slippage trades possible while keeping transaction fees low. Most arbitrage traders prefer Curve compared with other liquidity pools like Uniswap simply because of the savings in trades.

    With only a few months in existence, the platform has already beaten other exchanges in terms of trading volume. With Uniswap at the top of the ranks, Curve performed stronger than projects such as Aave, Compound Finance and Balancer.

    What sets Curve apart from other DEXs?

    The problem with DEXs like Uniswap is the cost that users incur for token trades. If you look at other DEXs, they can’t facilitate direct token trades. In Uniswap’s case, for example, stablecoins still have to be traded for ETH, before they are traded with the stablecoin that the user wishes to get (Uniswap V2 might have already eliminated this drawback). Given that the transaction involves two trades, the transaction fees are also doubled for every user.

    Curve functions differently. The platform’s liquidity pool allows direct token trades among listed pairs. With a direct swap function, users save more by paying lower trading fees. And as of now, the fees are still set at 0.04% per transaction. This means that users have the opportunity to execute more efficient trades without having to pay much in fees for every transaction.

    The algorithms for both DEXs are also different. Uniswap focuses on maximizing available liquidity, but Curve’s algorithm puts more importance in minimizing slippage. Because of this, high frequency and large volume traders save more by using Curve.

    Compared with the order book systems, Curve uses an AMM model that maximizes on-chain liquidity pools to provide the necessary funding even before trades are executed.

    Making Money Providing Liquidity in Curve

    On-chain liquidity pools refer to funds held in exchanges to facilitate trades. With Curve, users can freely deposit any supported token in the pool and become a liquidity provider. This is what we mean when we talk about funding specific pools for Curve’s trading pairs.

    And in turn, liquidity providers earn fees from the swaps that are performed in the exchange.

    Thanks to Curve’s composability, its liquidity pool is also accessible to many other protocols. In fact, the platform experienced increased trading volume after the introduction of liquidity mining from yEarn.

    yCRV

    In liquidity mining, miners help run an exchange’s market-making bot to help it run its trades. This trend enticed miners to provide additional liquidity in yEarn’s yCRV token because it appeared to be quite profitable.

    The yCRV token is a wrapped token composed of Curve’s supported trading pairs and represents its liquidity pool. Additionally, since Curve’s liquidity pool is available to other protocols such as Compound, liquidity providers also earn additional income from their interest fees.

    While supplying liquidity in Curve’s pool appears profitable, it also entails some risks. These are some of the uncertainties that Curve’s liquidity providers are likely to face.

    DeFi Ecosystem Vulnerability

    Since Curve is already integrated with some other DeFi platforms, users have to be able to monitor ongoing issues on these other protocols. Looking after security issues in other projects will ensure that liquidity providers are well-knowledgeable about the risks of depositing their assets in Curve’s pools.


    Yield Volatility

    Curve’s yields fluctuate a lot. Although high yield pools entice users to provide liquidity over time, it also ultimately becomes low or medium yield pools over time.

    To combat this, users can opt to supply liquidity to all Curve pool, a diversification strategy. And this would give out the average yield of all pools. Unfortunately, it also raises slippage and gas fees, as well as exposure to smart contract vulnerability.

    Calculating Profits after Gas and Fees

    One hurdle with supplying liquidity on the Curve protocol is calculating your profits after gas and slippage fees are deducted.

    The platform splits liquidity across various pools and is linked to external protocols. As a result, gas fees are relatively high. And depending on tokens you supply, you may encounter significant slippage as well.

    This makes it rather difficult to do yield-hunting — the chasing of high yields by changing of pools. It is recommended that liquidity providers deposit tokens to pools for long enough periods in order to make a profit after slippage and gas fees are paid.

    $CRV Token

    $CRV is Curve’s native token, it is generated when you deposit and stake cryptocurrencies on the platform. It is awarded to liquidity providers proportional to their share from the yield which their pools make. And since CRV has just been released, those who have contributed to Curve’s liquidity pool will receive a prorated amount of it.

    With Curve’s transition to become a DAO, CRV tokens also represent the holders’ rights to take part in its governance mechanism, so they can make proposals and vote on them. And with CRV, governance will follow a ‘time-weighted’ voting system. It simply means that the longer they hold CRVs, the greater their voting power in the DAO becomes.

    What yield-farmers also do is to take advantage of the popularity of DeFi to speculate on tokens such as $CRV. So what they would do is after depositing and earning the $CRV token, they would sell $CRV on the market for profit.

    What happened with the $CRV token launch?

    Prior to the launch, $CRV was one of the most anticipated and talked about tokens, and the team saying it would launch in “early August 2020”. On 14th August 2020, the $CRV token was suddenly launched by an anonymous developer without anyone, including the Curve Finance team knowing. The developer was able to do this because the code of the $CRV token and DAO was available on GitHub, so all the developer had to do was to put the two together and launch the smart contract.

    Of course after the initial launch of the token other cryptocurrency enthusiasts started posting on Twitter about the news. This meant the Curve team had to go around clarifying the situation and saying it was a scam. The Curve team also scrambled to confirm that the contract deployed by the developer had the same code and that there were no significant changes or backdoors added i.e. there was nothing malicious in the contracts.

    So Curve ended up declaring that this was their official token and DAO launch, and needless to say, the cryptocurrency community were not happy about it. This was made worse by the fact that in the hours between the time the developer launched $CRV and Curve declaring it was an official launch, 80,000 CRV tokens were already mined by some users. This led many others to say that it was unfair to others considering the Curve team had previously announced there would be 24 hours between the contract being deployed and the first token being issued.

    Curve team declares their DAO and $CRV was launched

    Following this announcement, other major exchanges such as Binance, OKEx etc. also began listing $CRV.

    $CRV is highly volatile, prices were at an all time high of $54.01 on 14th August 2020, and went to an all time low of $4.17 on 17th August 2020. Also being a mined currency, the initial supply will be extremely low and only increases over time after more has been mined. This results in prices being highly volatile as we can see because with more tokens will be mined, these miners will quickly sell their tokens on the market. This is especially the case during the initial launch phase where there is a lot of hype, but very little supply.

    So those speculating on $CRV really need to exercise caution because it is very risky.

    How to Use Curve to Trade

    In order to use Curve Finance, simply go to their web portal at https://www.curve.fi and connect a web3 wallet like MetaMask.

    Choose which cryptocurrencies you want to trade. Then, click “Sell” at the bottom. You will then be prompted by your web3 wallet to confirm the transaction.

    Once confirmed, it means that your trade is successful.

    Conclusion

    While Curve can also be a profitable alternative against Uniswap in terms of high frequency and large volume trades, everyone still has to consider how to effectively balance potential earnings from its corresponding risks.

    And if the Curve project continues its run successfully in the months and years to come, it might even become one of the best performing DEXs in the DeFi space for offering low slippage trades as compared with its competitors.

    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.

  • What is Elrond Network (ERD)?

    What is Elrond Network (ERD)?

    Elrond is a high-performance blockchain that aims to provide extremely high network speeds of up to 10,000 transactions per second. The network supports smart contracts, thus allowing programmers us the WASM VM engine to develop both enterprise and commercial decentralized applications. Elrond promises ‘internet-scale blockchain‘ as its extremely fast and scalable nature means it can handle all the stresses of modern applications and allows the masses to access the digital economy. The platform native currency, $ERD, is used as a form of value transfer on the network and will also be required to interact with decentralized applications.

    On 30th July 2020, Elrond launched its mainnet.

    Built from scratch with a leaning on high performance, the Elrond Network promises a 1,000 fold improvement on costs, speed and most importantly throughput. The project itself compares what it is building with the transitioning from dialup to broadband and how massive this could be to the general blockchain sphere.  

    Components of the Elrond Network 

    Keen on breaking barriers and innovating, the Elrond Network architecture brings forth a genuine state Adaptive sharding scheme and merges that with a secure proof of stake consensus algorithm.

    The core components of the Elrond Network are as follows: 

    • Virtual Machine: creating a trustless network, eliminating intermediaries from where smart contracts are executed seamlessly and in a scalable manner.  
    • Adaptive State Sharding is in place to reduce energy or computational wastage while ensuring the network can practicably scale. To that end, the Scheme boosts communication between Elrond Network shards or partition of nodes. Note that each shard can only process a portion of the transaction. And as more users plugin, the network automatically scales as shards increase. At the same time, there is an improvement in storage and transaction processing capabilities because of sharing of resources. 
    • Proof of stake consensus algorithm is a channel through which there is a haphazard sampling of network validators. Sampling is from the previous signature of blocks and each signature, in turn, is from a network validator voting from a Byzantine Fault Tolerance consensus. 

    Key Features of the Elrond Network 

    From the above components, the Network is different from the rest. It is efficient with low latency while remaining secure and scalable. Specifically, Elrond has the following features: 

    • Because of Adaptive State Sharding, the network is inherently scalable. 
    • There is an incentive for participation through staking because of the secure Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. 
    • The interface is intuitive and easy to use as unnecessary hardware mechanisms are absent.
    • There is minimal wastage of computational as well as power translating to a low cost per transaction.

    Clearly, Elrond developers are going to great lengths to differentiate themselves from other networks. For example, compared to Ethereum which is still using the proof of work consensus algorithm for their processing but plans to shift, Elrond’s use of SPOS brings above cost saving and better efficiency.  

    Besides, for interoperability, their Virtual Machine is compatible with Ethereum’s. Meanwhile, same with Algorand, Elrond’s developers incorporate Random Selection but diverging from Algorand approach on scalability, Adaptive sharding by default gives them an edge. At the same time, the use of adaptive sharding taking into consideration state and transaction sharding overruns Ziliqa’s take. 

    Elrond Economic Model

    Elrond has an economic model that encourages adopters with competitive rewards during its current growth phase. The network allows ERD holders to earn passive income by either delegating their stake or serving as a validator for the network. The highest reward is from becoming an Elrond Validator Node, which will reward a 36% yearly return in the form of ERD. (https://bluffsrehab.com) In return, this requires the holder to actively participate in the network consensus via an always online machine that answers network requests. For a simple option, ERD holders can simply delegate their stake and receive a 29% return without doing any hard work.

    Elrond Partners

    Since blockchains cannot work in isolation, Elrond has formed partnerships with several platforms including: 

    • Samsung Blockchain – Elrond is added to the Samsung Wallet and listed as one of the dapps.
    • TypingDNA, a biometrics company, where the objective of this joint venture is to improve the security of the Elrond Network while guaranteeing the privacy of users. 
    • Smartbill, a SaaS provider for general management inventory. Through Elrond, users will have better transparency and traceability. 
    • Netopia, a payment processing company based in Romania. Processing more than $400 million worth of transactions in 2018 alone, Elrond will have exposure in Eastern Europe as ERD token is incorporated. 
    • Distributed System Research Laboratory which is part of the Technical University of Cluj. 

    Verdict 

    Elrond is demonstrating that building a high-performance architecture from where dApps can be launched and operate seamlessly even with an increase in activity is strenuous but potentially possible. By building from scratch and enhancing previous scalability solutions while fronting interoperability, Elrond attempts to be cost and energy efficient with high throughput. 

    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.

  • Orion Protocol ($ORN) explained

    Orion Protocol ($ORN) explained

    Orion Protocol ($ORN) offers a unique liquidity aggregator that connects major exchanges into one simple platform. Orion sees traders having difficulty in performing profitable transactions from popular exchanges. And while there are many exchanges to choose from, the liquidity in these exchanges remains an issue and not everyone has the time to research which exchange offers the best returns. Hence Orion wants to set itself apart, not by competing with exchanges, but by aggregating their order books into one simple terminal.

    Background

    Alexey Koloskov, CEO and Co-Founder of the Orion Protocol, launched the project in 2020 in a bid to deal with the problems of large exchanges monopolizing the cryptocurrency exchange market. In his view, both centralized and decentralized exchanges have their fair share of issues. Centralized exchanges are vulnerable to hacks, whilst decentralized exchanges are still relatively underdeveloped.

    Hence accordingly to Yanush Ali, CSO of Orion Protocol, their project is exactly what the cryptocurrency industry needs today as it is a truly decentralized platform that meets the demands of businesses and consumers alike.

    What is Orion Protocol?

    Orion Protocol is an open-sourced, decentralized finance project mainly created to aggregate liquidity from different major liquidity providers i.e. exchanges. Primarily, Orion helps users get the best return out of their funds while lowering the risks associated with going onto multiple exchanges (both centralized and decentralized).

    Orion operates by collecting the liquidity offered across multiple exchanges in the cryptocurrency market into a single, universal API. This API combines multiple order books from exchanges in order to make it easier for users to make trading calls whenever they wish to.

    For example, when the user makes an order and a single API call is made, Orion itself will split and route this action to multiple exchanges at once. This leads to them being able to find lower buy and sell spreads and eventually the best exchange prices for users.

    With Orion, traders do not have to bother themselves too much with APIs from different exchanges, data formats, modes, and order types. They can just focus on executing their trades or managing their assets.

    In addition, Orion seeks to address another risk from centralized exchanges — hacking. Hot wallets usually provided by online cryptocurrency exchanges are susceptible to hacking. Recent reports already revealed how vulnerable centralized exchanges (and even decentralized ones) are. And users have no option but to deposit their cryptocurrencies there for trading, which inevitably puts them at risk. Orion’s non-custodial solutions try to solve this by letting users freely manage their assets on the platform, whenever and however they want, without ever giving up their private keys just to do so.

    Along with Orion’s multi-currency wallet, it is easier to keep track of your portfolio’s overall performance as they can easily be found in just a single API. The hassle in using and maintaining multiple wallets just to trade in multiple exchanges is eliminated.

    Since Orion is open-sourced, third-party developers can join the protocol and make their own decentralized applications on top of it.

    Orion Products

    Orion aims to be a one-stop shop, so naturally they have a whole suite of products and ecosystem for traders. Let’s take a look at them in turn.

    Orion Trading Terminal

    The trading terminal is Orion’s platform to allow traders and investors to conveniently execute trades in its universal API. In just a single call, users can make trade orders that will be automatically executed across different exchange platforms in search for the best spot prices.

    If users want to invest in emerging blockchain initiatives or are interested in purchasing new tokens, they can also perform such transactions with Orion’s trading terminal.

    Portfolio management application

    Instead of having to check different accounts from multiple exchanges one by one just to monitor your portfolio, Orion simplifies the process by collecting all relevant information together in a single tool for the user.

    Orion’s portfolio management application allows users to monitor and record their activity across exchanges, set alarms for arbitrage opportunities, and automate asset management processes, among others.

    All these processes do not require the user to give up custody over their funds because the application offers a non-custodial portfolio management feature. Surrendering your private keys to a third party is no longer necessary.

    App store

    Orion has a marketplace of decentralized applications that users can access to purchase Orion-based software. Many of these software may be third-party developments built on top of the protocol. Some applications users can gain access to are:

    • Arbitrage apps;
    • Algorithmic trading bot; and,
    • Payment integration systems.

    Enterprise trade

    While interoperability is a concern for some aggregators, Orion has developed a system made to address this. Orion has its own extension that firms and traders can embed into their own software to provide access to Orion’s API.

    Liquidity boost plugin for exchanges

    Orion has its own plug-in that centralized and decentralized exchanges can place on their own platforms to contribute to Orion’s aggregated liquidity. This also helps bring market-makers to exchanges at a reasonable fee.

    Orion shared liquidity pool — brokers are liquidity providers who hold funds in exchanges while also executing orders on behalf of the users. They stake a minimum amount of ORN tokens to join the liquidity pool. The more ORN they have, the more fees they get from executing orders.

    DEX launcher

    This is the platform where users can launch their own decentralized exchange with access to Orion’s liquidity. It is not just a simple method to open new exchanges but also provides instant liquidity.

    Orion Token ($ORN)

    Orion Protocol’s native utility token, $ORN, is an ERC-20 token. The token supply is capped at 100,000,000 ORN and the circulating supply is around 3.8 million coins. Orion claims it is committed to ensuring ORN’s sustainability and they aim to achieve this through several means:

    • providing uses for the token;
    • non-inflationary staking;
    • diminishing supply;
    • benefits for holders; and
    • refund opportunities.

    Uses for ORN

    ORN can be used throughout its various products. For example:

    • Orion terminal: Users receive fee discounts when paying using ORN, and can earn terminal transaction fees and interest by staking ORN tokens.
    • Decentralized brokerage: brokers are required to stake ORN in order to be chosen to execute trades. Whilst non-brokers can stake ORN to vote for their chosen broker.
    • Orion Enterprise: All licensing fees generated will be used to buy ORN from the market and removed from the total supply.

    Non-inflationary staking

    Currently Orion has a multi-exchange pre-staking initiative and according to them, it yields a 39% APR. Apparently it is so lucrative that 50% of circulating ORN ahs already been staked.

    Upon Mainnet launch in Q4 2020, Orion will utilize a Delegated Proof of Broker (DPoB) staking model. This model has 2 components: Broker Stakers and Non-broker Stakers. Brokers run the Orion Broker Software, which automatically executes trades routed there from Orion’s liquidity aggregator. The more ORN staked by the Broker, the more likely they are chosen to execute trades. Brokers can also increase their chances of getting chosen through Non-broker Stakers who stake ORN to “vote” for their chosen Broker to execute the trades. Both Broker Stakers and Non-Broker Stakers receive rewards. Broker Stakers receive a portion of fees from each trade they execute, whilst Non-Broker Stakers a variable reward share offered by the Brokers in exchange for their vote.

    The DPoB model for staking ORN is non-inflationary because, under existing mechanisms used by other exchanges, miner/staker benefits are typically minted as new tokens which hurts the underlying asset over time. Orion departs from this existing mechanism because Orion does not mint tokens for the purpose of giving rewards, instead, DPoB stakers receive rewards that are generated through Orion’s 13 revenue streams. This in turn preserves the necessity and the value of the ORN token.

    Diminishing supply

    Orion actively removes ORN from ciruclation (thus increasing its value over time) through the following means:

    • Staking: Under the DPoB model, both Broker and Non-Broker stakers remove their ORN from the circulating supply. The rewards generated are compounded into their stake which further reduces circulating supply.
    • Licensing fees: 100% of licensing fees generated from Orion’s DeFi solutions will be used to purchase ORN from the market and removed from circulation.
    • Refunds: ORN tokens refunded via the Dynamic Coin Offering (DYCO) will be destroyed.

    Benefits for ORN holders

    As seen above, Orion Terminal users get fee discounts when paying using ORN and stakers get additional incentives.

    Refund opportunities

    Orion is the first project ever to implement a DYCO. 80% of the funds which were raised during the token sale were set aside to buy-back holders’ tokens if they so requested. Any refunded tokens will be burned.

    Where can I trade ORN?

    ORN can be purchased with Ethereum (ETH) or USDT in several exchanges such as KuCoin, BitMax or Uniswap (v2), although according to Coingecko, it is most actively traded on Bilaxy exchange. Orion also claims that through a multi-exchange pre-staking program, ORN tokens can be staked on Bitmax, KuCoin and Biki for staking rewards of approximately 39% APR.

    Orion roadmap: What can we expect?

    Orion’s token sale had ended on 14th July 2020 and as mentioned above ORN is already listed on several exchanges. In the upcoming Q4 2020 we can expect the launch of the public mainnet, decentralized brokerage and Orion price oracle. Most importantly upon public mainnet launch the DPoB staking model will be place.

    Here’s a look at Orion’s roadmap:

    Conclusion

    The challenge for traders and investors is how they can make sure that the transactions they make are still profitable. This is because day-to-day market prices can be manipulated by crypto whales and other large investors as they influence overall liquidity.

    Orion’s aggregated liquidity promised to solve this issue and so far, it is off to a good start. With Orion, no single entity or investor can influence its aggregated liquidity. Users can consider this platform if they want to execute trades that are much more profitable, or if they just simply want to have a better view of how their portfolio is performing on different exchanges.

    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.

  • Velo: The Biggest Payment Network Ever?

    Velo: The Biggest Payment Network Ever?

    Velo Labs is building out the biggest payment network in Southeast Asia to improve remittance and money transfer markets. As some may know, today’s remittance system involves hurdles of middlemen who each charge high fees. This makes remittance extremely expensive and slow.

    Velo Labs is solving this problem by allowing people to transfer value between each other in a timely and transparent manner without middlemen using digital credits that are pegged to any currency and are collateralized by a cryptocurrency (VELO) issued on Stellar.

    What initially got me to look deeper into Velo Labs was their company’s backing. It’s founded by Chatchaval Jiaravanon. This may not be a household name to most, but he is a prominent entrepreneur in Asia. He sits on the board of lots of corporations including True Corporation, the leading Telecom Group in Thailand, and owns Fortune Magazine. His family also owns the CP Group: the largest conglomerate in Thailand.

    The CP Group is also Velo Lab’s largest backer. The company owns all the 7-Elevens (over 20,000!) in Thailand and is one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

    Recently we spoke to Mr. Gaurang Desai on the Velo Economics team about how remittance currently works in Southeast Asia

    Below are some key points we covered in the interview:

    • Problems with the existing international remittance system in Southeast Asia
    • How Velo Labs fits into the current system
    • The advantages of the Velo Protocol over current remittance methods
    • What makes the Velo Protocol different from competing protocols
    • How many money transfer operators and agents are currently on the network

    Velo Labs is hosting an AMA on Stellar’s subreddit on August 7th. So feel free to ask Mr. Michael Cowans, Velo Lab’s Commercial Advisor

  • What is Utrust ($UTK): Full guide and review

    What is Utrust ($UTK): Full guide and review

    Utrust aims to distinguish itself from the competition and overcome the volatility and lack of consumer protection which are some of the biggest factors preventing user adoption of cryptocurrencies. Utrust tries to do this by merging the best features of traditional payment gateways with the security of blockchain technology.

    Background and team

    Sanja Kon is the CEO of Utrust with an extensive track record working as the Head of Marketplaces and Large Enterprises at PayPal. She also has previous experience working as the European Partner of Development at eBay. Coming from PayPal, she has a full understanding of the eCommerce ecosystem and how to handle merchant partners. This positions Utrust at a very strategic position in terms so cryptocurrency payment adoption.

    What is Utrust?

    Utrust is a digital payment platform built on the blockchain. It combines the features of the traditional online payment system and blockchain technology to offer the best of both worlds. One that offers an affordable payment system that secures transactions between buyers and sellers from the point of payment until they receive the products.

    The platform also streamlines the exchange between merchants and consumers by making payments simpler. There is no need to bear huge operational costs or conversion fees anymore just to establish a cryptocurrency payment gateway. This makes the option of accepting and making cryptocurrency payments within everyone’s reach.

    Utrust goes further by promising real-time business-to-consumer transactions without having both parties suffer from the volatility of cryptocurrencies. After all, there is nothing scarier than transacting in cryptocurrencies only to later find out that the payment you accepted significantly changed in value.

    The Utrust platform supports different digital currencies and its native token, $UTK. Users can make payments for goods and services without any exchange rate fee if they are paid in UTK.

    UTK is backed by the platform. Each time a transaction happens, a small percentage of the fees are converted into UTK and burned. This decreases the total supply of UTK, causing its value to rise. The more transactions, the higher the token value becomes.

    Others believe that Utrust might just be the alternative to PayPal because PayPal can be expensive and at times, inconvenient to use. Here is how they do it.

    How Does Utrust Work?

    Perhaps one of the biggest problems in transacting in cryptocurrency is that at any given time, the price of a particular coin may change drastically. Or, a transaction that was already finalized might turn out to be disadvantageous for the buyer but cannot be reversed anymore.

    Here is how Utrust combined the traditional buyer protection system with blockchain technology:

    1. The transaction begins with buyers looking for merchants accepting cryptocurrencies. Through the merchant’s website, they can see if they have integrated Utrust with their payment system. Buyers can also use the Utrust wallet on their mobile phones to store, send and buy products and transactions will be processed instantly.
    2. The buyer is charged a total payment fee that covers a 1% commission and conversion fee. This is what Utrust carries to convert cryptos into fiat currencies in real-time with the best conversion rates.
    3. When the buyer completes the purchase of a product, the fiat money they pay will be converted and held in escrow. It will only be released after a prescribed holding period.
    4. Should there be no disputes in the transaction, the payment is released from escrow.
    5. The seller receives the payment in fiat currency, which he can withdraw, or convert to another cryptocurrency.

    What is the holding period? Utrust’s Performance-Based Criteria

    The holding period in point 3 above refers to the time period before the merchant receives the actual payment for the product sold. Utrust determines the length of the holding period depending on the reputation of the merchant in the marketplace.

    The purpose of the holding period is to ensure that the products each customer buys are received in a condition agreed upon before each transaction. If the transaction is all well and good, the amount held in escrow is released.

    For successful transactions or those that are dispute-free, the merchant earns good reputation ratings. But the more disputes they experience in their transactions, the lower their rating becomes. And the lower their reputation rating is, the longer their payment holding period is.

    UTrust’s Third-party Mediation

    Utrust’s third-party mediation in transactions takes the form of establishing a safe communication platform for everyone involved. Through a messaging system, buyers and sellers can easily discuss their concerns with a particular product if they need to. And if a conflict arises, Utrust has impartial mediators who can resolve arising disputes and decide whether to refund a buyer or release payments to the merchant.

    What Problems Is Utrust Trying to Solve?

    Cryptocurrency Volatility

    The reason why some merchants do not accept payments made in cryptocurrency is because of high transaction fees and volatility. This makes crypto transactions less feasible and much riskier for merchants and buyers.

    Consumer Protection

    Consumer protection is the process where the merchants can interact with the seller before a transaction is actually finalized. If a product received seems to be faulty, it must be settled accordingly before each transaction is closed. But this is not the case with most payment gateways. Blockchain’s immutability makes it difficult for merchants and buyers to reverse problematic transactions because of the nature of blockchain transactions.

    Advantages of Utrust

    Immediate Conversion From Crypto to Fiat

    Sellers have the option to accept the fiat currency of their choice for payments. To protect sellers from market volatility, funds are immediately converted into fiat currency whenever customers pay in cryptocurrency.

    The seller then receives the payment and is offered the option to withdraw it in his bank account, store it in their wallet, or convert it into another cryptocurrency.

    Buyer Protection System

    Apart from addressing market volatility, Utrust also took steps in protecting consumers from scams by acting as a third-party mediator between transactions. Every purchase is protected from the point of payment to delivery.

    Utrust has a blockchain-powered buyer protection system that creates a safe and secure environment for payment transactions between customers and merchants. This is done via Utrust holding the funds and releasing them to the seller on performance-based criteria.

    And because transactions are recorded on the blockchain, they are irreversible and final. This eliminates the possibility of fraud from buyers, chargebacks, and other financial losses arising from failed transactions.

    While there are a lot of other payment gateways available in the cryptocurrency space, Utrust is the first to provide consumer protection and third party mediation, unlike other blockchain payment gateways.

    Partners

    Utrust has already on-boarded several businesses such as S.L.Benfica, PRW Jewlery, Phone House, iperfumes.com, Bleu Jour, Whow, Alternative Airlines, Woocommerce, Morefrom and Elrond, among others.

    Conclusion

    We can get the best out of technology and innovation by putting together the best features of traditional innovations and blockchain technology. UTrust did exactly that when it meshed together the traditional process of consumer protection and the advanced infrastructure brought by blockchain.

    If we are looking at increasing the adoption rate for cryptocurrencies, this is the way to go. Utrust addresses the risk of price volatility that scares merchants from accepting them as payment transactions and offers a solution to the problem of fraudulent payments.

    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.

  • Ampleforth ($AMPL) review: The essential guide to this DeFi protocol

    Ampleforth ($AMPL) review: The essential guide to this DeFi protocol

    Ampleforth is a game changer that is claiming the spotlight on Decentralised Finance (DeFi) following the success of several lending platforms such as Compound ($COMP), Aave ($LEND), dYdX, etc. Ampleforth is a DeFi protocol that aims to reinvent money both within and beyond the cryptocurrency space. While centralized finance (CeFi) and DeFi as we know today have their own unique sets of problems, the Ampleforth protocol is here with the aim to address them.

    The protocol has a native token known as $AMPL. It is a stable currency that has both inflationary and deflationary capabilities designed to adapt to demand.

    Background

    Ampleforth was created by Evan Kuo, an engineering graduate of UC Berkley. He was also the former CEO of Pythagoras Pizza, the first pizzeria to tokenize its franchise.

    Evan Kuo
    Evan Kuo (Image credit: Cody Pickens)

    Kuo’s motivation for creating Ampleforth was twofold. The death of his father, which made him want to leave a legacy after his passing, and his passion for tech and finance which brought him into the cryptocurrency industry.

    He recognised two things that cryptocurrency was trying to reinvent: money and banking. Of the two, money was a lot easier to work with and so that became his focus.

    The Ampleforth Foundation was then funded by Pantera Capital, True Ventures, Huobi exchange and Brian Armstrong. Most of the members of the foundation consist of “engineers, academics, investors, and enthusiasts” from Ivy League universities.

    Ampleforth raised a total of nearly $10 million USD in 2 Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).

    Ampleforth Protocol

    Ampleforth Protocol is a cryptocurrency ecosystem built on the Ethereum blockchain. What makes it stand out is its adaptive supply, that is to say, Ampleforth adjusts the circulating supply according to demand.

    When the demand for Ampleforth increases, the supply increases. Conversely, when demand decreases, the supply also decreases. This makes Ampleforth prone to being mistaken as a stablecoin since it does function quite similarly.

    However, it is not backed by any cryptocurrency or fiat currency like most stablecoins are. And although the system attempts to keep the value close to $1 USD, sometimes it could go way past $3 USD depending on the demand.

    As of press time, $AMPL is trading at $1.64 USD according to Coin Market Cap.

    The Ampleforth Protocol is autonomous, but not decentralized. The Foundation still holds the keys to the system, and have the power to freeze all assets or change token supply arbitrarily. So for some decentralization purists, this is a red flag.

    Ampleforth Monetary Policy

    Kuo came up with Ampleforth’s economic design after examining the history of the U.S. Dollar. Back in the day, every U.S. Dollar bill was backed by gold bullions, which were stored in government vaults. Gold is a great store of value but it has an inflexible supply. Furthermore, going by the gold standard alone runs the risk of runaway deflation.

    After World War II, the Dollar was in high demand globally and the U.S. couldn’t keep up. The amount of gold is fixed since mining can only introduce very small amounts of new gold in a given timeframe. Therefore, the U.S. government decided to abandon the gold standard to avoid stagnation of international trade.

    And that became the birth of the fiat U.S. Dollar, which we now know has its own set of shortcomings. One problem with fiat money is that you could only print more of them but not destroy them. Therefore, the supply can only be partially controlled in a sense. Furthermore, the people in charge of the minting facility is also subject to greed and corruption.

    Ampleforth’s monetary policy is a solution to both fiat and gold-backed currencies since it is designed to maintain a stable value by adjusting the supply to match demand.

    As an illustration, say you have 1 AMPL worth $1 in your wallet. If the demand for AMPL rises and causes the price to jump to $2, the Amplforth Protocol will expand the supply of AMPL such that you’ll end up with two AMPL in your wallet worth $2. This process is called a “rebase”.

    The rebasing process does not dilute existing token holders. You get to retain the same percentage of the total supply yet the value you held doubled.

    Ampleforth use cases

    Ampleforth divides its use cases based on its goals: near term, medium term and long term use cases. In the near term, AMPL aims to diversify cryptocurrency portfolios. Most cryptocurrencies are correlated to Bitcoin’s price pattern, which poses a risk. But because of AMPL’s rebase mechanism, it is decoupled from Bitcoin’s price pattern and allows cryptocurrency traders to have some diversity in their portfolio.

    In the medium term, Ampleforth aims to work as a stable store of value or form of collateral for decentralised banks and DeFi applications. This is because unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, it does not pose the risk of devaluation of its underlying asset.

    Ultimately, Ampleforth hopes to become a “A better Bitcoin”. It wants to be an alternative to central-bank money that can adapt to sudden shocks in the market. In that sense, it is competing with Bitcoin and XRP; not to mention national currencies. But as of the moment, it is being used primarily in the cryptocurrency space.

    Another opportunity it offers is arbitrage. Arbitrage traders have the chance to reap profits during the time the supply is reduced when the price rises. On the other hand, they can increase their AMPL allocation before the supply is increased when the price drops.

    How the Amplforth ($AMPL) rebase process works

    The supply of Ampleforth adjusts daily every 1pm EST to match the demand via a smart contract. The system utilizes Chainlink’s oracle network alongside the Ampleforth oracle to siphon price data from KuCoin and Bitfinex.

    The smart contract ensures that Ampleforth sticks within the designated equilibrium range, which is between $0.96-$1.06. If the price of AMPL hits beyond the two extremes, the smart contract will continue to “expand” or “contract” accordingly until the value of the token is in the equilibrium range again.

    Ampleforth Geyser: What is it?

    Ampleforth Geyser is a smart faucet that incentivizes liquidity providers to supply AMPL to a Uniswap pool. It is brought about through a collaboration between the Ampleforth Foundation and Uniswap.

    Users are rewarded with AMPL tokens for depositing AMPL to Uniswap. The longer the tokens are held in the pool, the higher the returns.

    Ampleforth geyser
    Ampleforth geyser

    To make money from Geyser, visit their web portal at ampleforth.org/geyser and connect either your MetaMask or Coinbase wallet. You will need to deposit equal amounts of ETH and AMPL to participate.

    How do I get AMPL tokens?

    Aside from getting AMPL tokens during the rebase process (though this requires you to stake some AMPL in the first place), people can also buy AMPL from cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are the major exchanges that offer AMPL tokens for sale: Uniswap (v2), KuCoin, FTX exchange and Bitfinex. Learn more about our picks for the top best cryptocurrency exchanges of 2020.

    Conclusion

    Ampleforth has to some degree successfully redesigned the way money works despite only being a few years old. Their influence has not penetrated a huge portion of the market as of yet but there is a lot of room for them to grow. And being part of the DeFi movement makes it a lot easier to gain more traction. As a matter of fact, over 36 million AMPL has been deposited in Geyser as of now. This is a great stepping stone for the protocol.

    Ultimately, Ampleforth’s goal is to compete against national currencies, and perhaps against Bitcoin as well, to become the world currency. For now, Ampleforth should work on establishing its trust and legitimacy within the cryptocurrency community, which will be a stepping stone for it to achieve its use-cases.

    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.

  • Balancer Finance Guide and Review ($BAL)

    Balancer Finance Guide and Review ($BAL)

    Balancer ($BAL) is an automatic market maker (AMM) protocol that reduces the cost and slippage between trades of different cryptocurrencies. Balancer is a decentralized replacement for the traditional market-maker, a 3rd party entity that provides liquidity to traded assets. Balancer protocol can be called upon by different decentralized trading platforms to automatically figure out the best rates and trading prices using Smart Order Routing (SOR). The protocol also provides the funds necessary to complete the trade, using the funds from available Balancer Pools. Balancer Finance was Launched in September 2019 by Mike McDonald and Fernando Martinelli, since then the Company had a successful seed round with $3 million invested.

    Balancer Exchange Interface

    Balancer uses the N-dimensional invariant surface that is built upon the Uniswap dapp. They also use Automated Market Makers (AMMs), much like UniSwap, which are built off computer algorithms to regulate the market. Their Pools are doing away with portfolio management fees with users instead of collecting fees from traders, who re-balance the portfolio by “following arbitrage opportunities”.

    Balancer has shifted itself into a prominent position within the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) hierarchy, as it’s BAL token caught the coattails of Compound Protocol’s governance tokens rise at the start of 2020. This saw increased attention on the exchange and has been earmarked as a competitor in the DeFi field. This perception coincides with an increase in popularity for DeFi projects and their mining qualities, something highlighted in a recent Forbes report on “DeFi Yield Famers”. So, if you are a budding or curious yielder or someone looking to understand the emerging DeFi market, this is the guide for you. In this article we provide a full breakdown of the project, what it is and explain the benefits of using this DeFi exchange and protocol.

    To learn more about Balancer including its strengths and weakness, check out our video:

    Balancer Finance: What you MUST know about this DeFi platform

    Balancer’s Pools Explained: What are they?

    Balancer pools are collections of user supplied funds that are used to provide liquidity to trades and transactions. These pools can total up to more than $11 Million USD (eg, the USDT, BAT and COMP pool). This collection of funds will be called upon during cryptocurrency trades as the as the counter-party to the transaction, thus providing liquidity to traders.

    Controlled/Private Pools: These are when a fixed state is over the pool and the creator can set out the tokens and weights. This is usually done for private actors who don’t want outside liquidators, for example third party liquidators working with large quantities.

    Finalize/Shared Pools: These pools are open for all actors to add liquidity and is a one way transition. They can not be amended and have a fixed parameter, unlike controlled pools and are usually for the general public to liquidate and make profits.

    Alongside the two main subcategories of pools, there are other more specific smart pools that you can use. For example, Liquidity Bootstrapping Pools (LBPs) give the opportunity for teams to release a project token while at the same time building deep liquidity. Other examples include stablecoin pools with zero impermanent-loss, which founder Martinelli wrote an extended explainer here.

    Pool creator tool
    Balancer’s Pool creator tool

    $BAL Token

    In its initial launch, Balancer didn’t have their own native token but this changed this year, with the company revealing their governance token $BAL. The Company began distributing the token on June 23rd 2020 and will be distributed on a weekly basis for liquidity providers on the site.

    However, there is no economic value to BAL tokens, rather they are currency for governance rights on the protocol. These rights allow the holders to have a say on the structure of Balancer protocol, with weight in terms of implementing new features, protocol fees, and larger structural changes like layer 2 scaling as well as contracts on other blockchains.

    There are 100 million tokens created but 25 million of them have already been allocated to the founding members, core developers, advisers, and investors. The rest though are free to be mined by Balancer users who add liquidity.

    According to Balancer’s website: “Every week 145,000 BALs, or approximately 7.5M per year, are distributed to liquidity providers. This means in the first year of BAL’s existence there would be 30% supply inflation off the initially allocated supply of 25M tokens.” So, how can you earn the weekly BAL allocation? This is done through BAL liquidity mining, which is discussed below.

    BAL Liquidity Mining: How to earn $BAL tokens?

    Liquidity mining has become one of the most popular topics of conversation in the space of decentralized finance (DeFi) in recent weeks. At its core, liquidity mining is essentially when users supply liquidity of assets to a DeFi protocol in exchange for some kind of reward. That reward may be various tokens, including governance tokens of the underlying DeFi protocol (which may end up having monetary value – like COMP). It basically offers a way for users to earn money on assets that they hold.

    The main way to earn $BAL tokens is through Liquidity Mining. Essentially, Balancer rewards liquidators who pay into their pools in the form of $BAL tokens. The Company’s proposal is to give out BAL tokens in proportion to the amount of liquidity each address contributes relative to the total liquidity on Balancer.

    Another way to make BAL is through creating a pool and reaping the benefits of trading fees. These are handed out in the form of $BAL. This system also incentivises the pool creator to lower fees as the lower the fees are, the more BAL they receive. Balancer’s fee gives pool creators a short term or a long term option, and they hope it will encourage lower fees so that traders are lured onto the exchange.

    Speaking on the issues concerning distribution of BAL and governance rights, founder Martinelli said: “By far the most important factor or reason why we are doing that is because we want this thing to be decentralized. We believe in a decentralized, trustless future, and we want Balancer to do that. We need the distribution to be in a healthy way.”

    Balancer Yield Farming & Best Pools

    Top liquidity pools on Balancer are currently returning up to 30% APR on Return on Liquidity. These rates have drastically improved after the Cap Factor update on July 5th 2020.

    The best way to find the current best rates and return on liquidity is via the Predictions Exchange Chart.

    Balance Coin Whitelisting

    In order to quality for airdrops of $BAL Balancer Governance token, pools need to have at least two coins that are on the whitelist. Coins are added to the balancer whitelist on a weekly basis. The amount of $BAL being distributed depends on the trade volume and total liquidity, with a maximum of $

    Trading on Balancer’s Exchange

    Alongside their liquidity and pools, Balancer is first and foremost a decentralized exchange. With no KYC or signups, the anonymity and privacy is upheld. All you need to start trading on there is a wallet like MetaMask. Learn how to set up a Metamask account here.

    The Exchange has a number of tokens available to trade. These include: Ethereum (ETH), DAI, MKR, USDC, REP, BTC++, WBTC, WETH, BAT, SNX, ZRX, LINK, DZAR, UMA, LRC, REN, LEND, KNC, COMP, OCEAN. The Exchange also has a number of tokens without pools such as tBTC, ANT, cUSDC, cDAI, imBTC, pBTC, sBTC, sUSD, PNK, AST and RPL.

    Balancer: are there any risks?

    Decentralized exchanges are often associated with high risks. This sort of ability to trade so easily with high interest rates is a concern. This was highlighted more recently by Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, who cautioned that they were “flashy DeFi things” which sometimes come with “unstated risks attached”.

    Tweet from Vitalik Buterin

    Balancer has acknowledged the risks, with their website warning users that: “Balancer is a very new protocol. Although we are taking every precaution and doing extensive audits, this is still very much a beta product. Use small amounts of funds to start.”

    Conclusion

    Overall, Balancer has position itself as a powerful tool to automate marketing making and reduce transaction fees for different cryptocurrencies. It’s leading the liquidity pool market with the ability to create n-dimensional liquidity pools which is a market first. With their unique formula which negates and actively discourages large fees, Balancer has created a decentralized project that could potentially be a self-sufficient system with a community emphasis.

    For now though, the main target for Balancer is to create stiff competition for UniSwap and make themselves the industry leaders in the AMM field on Ethereum. Many believe this is possible as the DEX functionality on Uniswap is the same as Balancer, as one Uniswap token-for-token pool is equal to the Balancer pool with two tokens set to 50/50, or 1:1, value.

    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.