Boxmining v2

Category: Crypto Trends

Make sense of the news and how it affects the blockchain space as a whole. Crypto trends is a collection of relevant news and insights to help you make an informed decision.

  • PlotX ($PLOT): Putting prediction markets on the blockchain

    PlotX ($PLOT): Putting prediction markets on the blockchain

    PlotX allows people to plot the next possible outcome and are rewarded for correct predictions. This whole concept originates from prediction markets. Prediction markets such as sports betting are expected to reach a valuation of $155.49 billion in the United States by 2024. The markets have also been supported by the uptake of online casinos and betting sites. In some cases, more than a few players have tapped into the power of blockchain technology to provide transparency in a market that has been kept in secrecy and under unfair setups.

    With the growing popularity of open finance (OpFi), blockchain-based platforms are helping users to predict the direction of the market and, just like in the traditional prediction market, be rewarded if their prediction is correct. PlotX is one such platform.

    Check out my interview with Ish Goel, Co-founder of PlotX:

    Background: Who is behind PlotX?

    The project lives by the popular mantra by Abraham Lincoln that the future can only be predicted by visualizing it in the present. PlotX has a dedicated team led by Ish Goel, Nitika Goel, Kartic Rakhra, and Satheesh A. Furthermore, the team’s vast experiences are spread across various sectors.

    For example, Ish Goel has been involved with Ethereum since 2016 and won the London Blockchain Week Hackathon in 2017. Meanwhile, Nitika Goel led the development of Nexus Mutual and co-founded GovBlocks. PlotX’s key partners also include GovBlocks, Matic, and Venrai.

    PlotX team
    PlotX team

    What is PlotX?

    Built on the Ethereum blockchain, PlotX is a network that seeks to make trading in decentralized finance (DeFi) “simple and fun!” by powering a prediction market with cryptocurrency traders in mind.

    At the heart of the platform is a decentralized application (Dapp) that enables virtual currency traders to forecast the future of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), among other cryptocurrencies in a weekly, daily, and hourly basis. The project also takes decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms such as Uniswap that use an automated market maker model into consideration.

    Notably, the decision to provide market predictions stems from somewhere, i.e., the problems found in centralized platforms offering prediction services. The major problems include the high cost of using conventional systems, assuring fairness, and counterparty risks.

    Tried but failed, time to do it again

    Although the creation of cryptocurrency-centric prediction markets has been tried on decentralized systems, the time was not ripe. Therefore, it saw little, if any, adoption.

    Being a DeFi-focused prediction platform, PlotX aims to power crypto-based predictions using distributed ledger technology. It enables on-chain market creation using smart contracts. PlotX enables participation mining via a gamified experience by drawing inspiration from yield farming or liquidity mining as used in DeFi protocols.

    Additionally, PlotX seeks to provide instant rewards, short market cycles, and employ a mechanism that spreads the risks. Spreading risks enables a user to tailor his exposure to mitigate losses emanating from wrong predictions. With this option, users lose roughly 20% of their total prediction stake.

    PlotX platform
    PlotX platform

    However, the staked amount can be customized to mirror the users’ risk appetite starting from 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x. Note that the higher the risk, the higher the reward and potential loss.

    Governance on PlotX

    The protocol employs a community-based governance model through the use of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that votes and initiates proposals regarding changes to the system.

    This approach plays a vital role in providing on-chain governance in a blockchain-based prediction market. However, for non-blockchain dispute resolution, the platform has an advisory board. The board does not have any rights to funds, and its roles grow weaker as the community grows stronger.

    To power this model, the platform mirrors the approach used by Nexus Mutual. In addition, it incorporates smart contracts built on the GovBlocks network to strengthen community involvement.

    The platform also uses smart contracts that allow decision points to be edited, token holders to raise issues, as well as enable the token holders to reach an agreement.

    PlotX’s components of a healthy DeFi prediction protocol

    How does PlotX create a healthy DeFi prediction protocol? This is through several features in the PlotX protocol as follows:

    Market creation – This handles the network’s creation of different cryptocurrency pairs for prediction. A typical market on the platform can be, “What will be the price of ETH/BTC on October 17 at 1800hrs GMT.”

    Market positioning and pricing – A position can range from neutral, to bullish, to bearish and can only be influenced by a user’s experience on digital currency trading. A formula is used to calculate a position price on-chain. The odds are changed in regards to participation.

    Position buying – Buying into a position requires a user to stake crypto such as ETH. A user can buy into more than one position depending on the amount of token’s staked, the amount required for each position, etc.

    Positions trading – Here, users can trade positions in a decentralized way and exit positions before they expire.

    Market settlement – Closing prices are calculated from data provided by distributed oracles such as Chainlink.

    Market reward claims – Rewards are distributed once the market closes. However, the distribution of rewards is halted in case of a dispute until the dispute is resolved. However, a dispute can only be raised within the cooling period, given after the market closes.

    PlotX Alpha and PlotX Token ($PLOT) use cases

    Alpha is a version of PlotX existing on Ethereum’s Kovan testnet network. Although the system largely uses ETH when making predictions, it has a native token called PLOT. The token allows for:

    ·         P2P commissions.

    ·         Referral mining – Existing users can invite friends and family and be rewarded.

    ·         Community mining – Attracting more people into the platform using mineable airdrop rewards.

    ·         Play mining – Users are rewarded for staking PLOT before participating in market predictions.

    ·         Governance mining – The voting strength depends on the amount of PLOT staked.

    ·         Liquidity mining via staking.

    PlotX ($PLOT) mainnet launch and listing

    On 13th October 2020, PlotX will be launched on the Ethereum mainnet. Upon launch, BTC/USD and ETH/USD trading pairs will be available for users to predict on using PLOT and ETH.

    On the same day at 1:00pm (UTC), its native token PLOT will be listed on Uniswap.

    Conclusion

    Being a non-custodial protocol, PlotX users access the platform using their MetaMask wallet or any of their mobile wallets. The network’s users can also sign in using their email addresses. However, they have to integrate centralized finance bridges to enjoy the benefits of a prediction market in the DeFi world.

    The project’s reliance on the Ethereum blockchain and the ETH token allows its users to optimally interact with OpFi protocols since most of them are built on the same chain. With online prediction markets gaining traction in the centralized space, PlotX provides a superior service for those in the decentralized world.

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • Newsletter #11

    Newsletter #11

    Week in review

    Regulators are catching up…but who are they really protecting?

    The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be banning the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives to retail consumers from January 2021. The ban will cover exchange-traded notes (ETNs), crypto futures, options, CFDs and other derivatives. Whilst direct cryptocurrency trading and commodities, and central bank digital currencies, e.g. China’s DCEP will not be covered.

    Their rationale was that cryptocurrency derivatives were not suited for consumers due to the harm they pose. Specifically, the inherent nature of these products meant that there is no reliable basis for valuation and that market abuse and financial crime is prevalent. From the consumer’s standpoint, the FCA took the view that they have an inadequate understanding of crypto assets, and there is a lack of legitimate investment need for them to invest in these products.

    When interviewed by CoinTelegraph, Coinshares, a UK-based company providing cryptocurrency ETNs expressed its disappointment in the ban. Coinshares recalls they were heavily involved in the consultation process and lobbied against it. Yet the FCA ignored the reasons put forward by Coinshares and other industry participants against the ban or dismissed them with little additional information. Further, they take the view that the FCA had made it clear in initial consultations and draft rules that they do not believe digital assets including Bitcoin have any value, suggesting that the FCA had long ago made up its mind on the matter.

    Coinshares also expresses concern that the ban would instead have the opposite effect, driving UK retail investors to unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges.

    We also consider this ban a step backward for investors who are now deprived of options. Looking at the reasons put forward by the FCA, it appears they would like to maintain the status quo rather than allowing room for innovation. And shutting it down on the basis of consumers’ ignorance before they even have a chance to understand it. And in fact, according to the FCA’s Policy Statement on the matter, 97% of the respondents to the FCA’s consultation opposed the ban. Which brings up questions on who the FCA is really interested in protecting.

    RAMP DeFi ($RAMP) sells out in 4 minutes

    RAMP Defi held it’s public sale at 10 pm on the 10th of October (what perfect timing). The sale was packed with a few hard questions, but this didn’t deter avid buys from buying out the token sale in less than 4 minutes. Overall, this shows that the demand for good projects is still extremely strong.

    Meanwhile, financial heavyweights are banking big on Bitcoin

    Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ), a US mobile payment company and creator of Square Cash App- an app used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies announced it has purchased USD$50mil in Bitcoin. This amounts to 4,709 BTC at an average price of USD$10,617.96 per BTC.

    The Company calls Bitcoin an instrument of “economic empowerment” and that the purchase is in alignment with their vision of building products based on a more inclusive future. They also believe that Bitcoin, “…has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future”.

    But Square is not the first to do this, in early 2020 business intelligence firm MicroStrategy already invested half a billion dollars into Bitcoin.

    This news gave the markets a much-needed breath of positivity. Prices for Bitcoin hovered below USD$10,750 earlier this week and upon the news effortlessly pushed back up to over USD $11,250. Now it remains to be seen whether this positivity can be upheld.

    DeFi/yield farming scams are ruining things for the space?

    Not a day goes by on our Telegram/Discord without discussions about potential issues with DeFi/yield farming projects or worse, outright scams. Please note that some of these raised issues are subject to further verification so please do your own research. Here’s what was looked at this week in our Telegram/Discord alone:

    • Amplyfi.money: Rug pulled after collecting 2,500 ETH from investors. Their social media and websites are gone
    • Beer Garden Finance: Founder holds over 50% of the token supply in his personal wallet. When our community asked for more details such as a github link for the project, or timelocks for the tokens they were banned from the Telegram group.
    • Burn Vault Finance ($BFV): Allegedly rug pulled. Their Telegram and social media no longer exist.
    • CBDAO ($BREE): The project had a presale for $SBREE tokens which would be swapped for $BREE. One of the admin wallets exploited a backdoor in the SBREE token contract, minted 50,000 SBREE, converted it to BREE and sold it on the market, pushing down the price of BREE at the expense of other holders. The 50,000 BREE was sold for under 200 ETH.
    • Degenballz: staking may steal 1% of your LP tokens.
    • Emerald Mine (EMD): User tokens worth nearly USD$2.5mil that were supposedly locked under a smart contract were moved to another account. Fortunately, cryptocurrency exchange ChangeNow managed to stop the sale of 135,020 EOS. However, this only represents a small fraction of the total amount stolen.
    • Lv.finance: Falsified audit results, after investors deposited their funds in they found they were unable to withdraw. The team has disappeared.
    • Minions Farm: Has cute Minions but will access all your assets when you connect your wallet to the Minions Wallet site.
    • Steaks.finance: Developers apparently had trouble interacting with their own timelock. Though some consider it may be due to a problem with their code rather than ill-intentions.
    • Tomatoes.finance: Hacker triggered simple permission granting and withdrew tokens.
    • UniCat ($MEOW): Back door in smart contracts allowed UniCat to keep control over users’ tokens even after they were withdrawn from the pool. Around USD$200,000 worth of crypto has supposedly been stolen.
    • Unirocket ($URCKT): Apparently rug-pulled, cannot be located on social media.
    • Yfdex.finance: Project promoted themselves on Twitter for 2 days, took a total of USD$20mil of investor funds and absconded.

    These incidents have caused users substantial losses, even more so when some people unwisely put in more than they can afford to lose. As a result, it seriously affects their appetite and even the ability to believe in DeFi’s potentials. What’s more, it affects people’s interest in yield farming which like it or not, was the main draw for people since some farms promised unheard of returns not found in any other asset class. Now with the interest and returns for yield farming decreasing due to how prolific these scams and exploits are, the corresponding interest in DeFi, in general, is also losing steam. This is a huge shame considering DeFi had huge potential to bring financial services to the unbanked and was a direct challenge to the status quo being perpetrated by institutions and regulators, as we can already see above.

    Will DeFi push governments to finally adopt CBDCs?

    With DeFi gaining traction and new projects emerging every day, what can central banks and governments do to maintain their dominance whilst benefitting from the new technologies and conveniences brought by DeFi? An answer could be to create a Central Bank Digitial Currency (CBDC). In an article published in Forbes, the author suggests that governments should push towards issuing CBDCs as it would allow users to enjoy cheaper and faster transactions. The article also touches upon our coverage of DCEP and contrasts China’s progress in testing DCEP with the US which is still only debating the topic.

    Indeed the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced it would pursue the possibility of issuing a “digital Euro”. Though there are no concrete plans yet, the ECB recognises consumers’ demand for digital payments, and in their Report on a Digital Euro published on 2nd October 2020 noted that they would be “..ready to introduce a digital euro, shall the need arise.”

    In any event, as the Forbes article suggests governments need to be quick to catch up to DeFi. The legion of innovators in the DeFi space is growing, and will the overwhelming advantages of DeFi, there is a real risk of it toppling the status quo long-held by governments and institutions in their favour.

    Upcoming events

    11 Oct 2020: Results for Shenzhen, China’s DCEP lottery will be announced. Winners will receive RMB 200 (US$30) in DCEP and can spend it at 3,389 participating shops. We are eagerly awaiting winners to post how DCEP will work in action!
    12 Oct 2020 3:00am: Boxmining livestream
    15 Oct 2020: Filecoin ($FIL) mainnet launch. Huobi Global will launch FIL on the same day and trading, deposits and withdrawals will be opened.

    *All times are listed in UTC unless otherwise stated.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

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

  • 8Hours Foundation (VIMworld) $EHrT: The Next Evolution of Gaming?

    8Hours Foundation (VIMworld) $EHrT: The Next Evolution of Gaming?

    8Hours Foundation ($EHrT) aims to integrate the real world into the blockchain to create beneficial implications for the time we spend with our friends and family. In line with this vision, the foundation partnered up with PlayTable, the world’s first blockchain-enabled game console, to facilitate social gaming platforms. EHrT, is the native currency of the PlayTable ecosystem. It is used for anything and everything for the PlayTable. Toymakers and game developers have to buy EHrT from the open market to register their toys or assign data to their products.

    Powered by VeChain’s blockchain technology, VIMworld is a smart NFT platform for collectables and digital characters. VIMs, or Virtually Integrated Metadata, are digital collectable tokens living on the VeChain Thor Blockchain. Each VIM can be seen as a digital character with unique properties and capabilities. They can be traded, collected, or used in PlayTable games.

    Background

    John Dempsey, the founder of the 8Hours Foundation, is both a gamer and a collector. These were exactly the same interests that allowed him to conceptualize the whole project and later be built together with his team and the community.

    Dempsey felt the need to use technology to bring people together through the help of social activities, such as games.

    He built the foundation to create a blockchain platform that encourages and rewards people when using it. The platform’s goal is to ensure that its participants can spend at least a minimum of eight hours per week being engaged in meaningful social interactions.

    What is the 8Hours Foundation?

    Eight Hours Foundation

    8Hours Foundation is an organization put together to build a real-life community even in the blockchain space. The primary purpose of the team’s efforts, as already mentioned, is to create a platform where people are rewarded for interacting with other individuals.

    The foundation collaborates with PlayTable, a blockchain-based gaming platform, to spearhead a program called ‘Toy Reality’. This way, they can build a virtual social network that emulates the real world through the tokenization of real-life assets on the blockchain.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yzyZa3dZ0w&feature=emb_title

    A mixture of real-world and blockchain data storage technologies power the whole platform. Furthermore, RFID technology and tagging enable the creation of their verifiable blockchain counterpart. The same set-up supports ownership tracking, asset journey recording, and asset customization.

    Eight Hours Token ($EHrT)

    Eight Hours Token, or the EHrT, is the native token of the platform. It can be used as a medium of exchange, fees payment, staking, and voting. EHrT also has specific functions that help run the whole platform. Mainly, these are:

    • Authentic Asset Certificates (AAC) – In making blockchain representations of real-life objects, users have to spend EHrT. The process allows for the creation of AAC, which act as proof of ownership on a blockchain-counterpart of real-life assets. Additionally, these belong to the non-fungible token (NFT) classification, the same kind that allows for the tokenization of assets in the real world. For users to be able to register and join the platform, AAC’s are required.
    • In-Game Currencies (IGC) – Through EHrT, users can create in-game currencies. These are tokens that developers can create to back the economy of their games. Since these currencies can work cross-platform, other gaming systems on the 8Hours Foundation ecosystem can use them as well.
    • Colored Tokens – These tokens function like marks or records on an AAC that display their digital journey. This means that colored tokens can be referred to in looking for the history of an AAC’s ownership, its authenticity, progress, and wealth, among others. Furthermore, only developers can create new colored tokens and deposit them on AAC.
    $EHRT Token Mechanics
    $EHRT Token Mechanics (Image credit: 8hours Foundation Whitepaper)

    Other uses for the EHrT involve other financial services such as staking and rewards. But generally, EHrT is held by users for:

    • Staking – Through a grants system, users can make investments in the projects built within the 8Hours ecosystem. This entitles stakers to receive benefits from a platform in the event that they grow.
    • Reward – Through a rewards system, the platform incentivizes its users to participate in network activities, especially those that involve platform developments or updates. These users receive a proportional amount of EHrTs for their participation.
    • Support – Users who want to show their support on a platform that is currently being built, that can freely use EHrTs to fund a project.

    8Hours backs its transaction system with the VeChainThor chain. This allows it to support a multi-party payment protocol without requiring gas fees that platforms usually charge whenever users perform these transactions.

    What is the VIMworld?

    VIMworld logo
    VIMworld logo

    Powered by EHrTs, the foundation has created VIMworld, a collaborative initiative between them and PlayTable, with the purpose of establishing a gaming platform built within its own ecosystem.

    VIMworld refers to a virtual community that gathers a collection of all Virtually Integrated Metadata (VIM) that its participants have created on the platform. These are powered by AACs that help VIMs store and verify data, record transactional history, as well as the whole journey of virtual objects, among others.

    VIM holders can then join any community activity with other users, or simply interact with them. These interactions are made possible by games that get people to perform certain tasks.

    Features of VIMs

    There are several features that help distinguish VIMs from the usual NFTs. These are:

    • User-managed – Owners of VIMs can only grow in value if the owner attends to them by participating in VIMWorld activities. In addition, they can be customized based on their history.
    • Asset-powered – VIMs require users to spend EHrTs from time to time if they want it to grow. This means that VIMs can hold actual value and grow at the same time.
    • Digital Representation – It is one of the more innovative aspects of VIMs. VIMs allow real-life objects like toys and collectibles to increase in value through their blockchain representations.

    As of late, the ecosystem behind VIMworld is already composed of more than 2,100 community members and 7,000 VIM collectibles. It is now considered one of the most adopted digital platforms, overtaking CryptoKitties’s record back in 2017.

    Gaining VIMs and Growing their Value

    VIMworld's Characters
    VIMworld’s Characters (Image credit: Vimworld.com)

    There are plenty of ways to gain VIMs, such as rewards when winning games from various platforms on the 8Hours Ecosystem, donations or incentives given out by the foundation, purchase from marketplaces, or acquisitions of toy packages.

    Besides representing the ownership of a user on an item or a game, VIMs are also valued based on the amount of game data and progress they hold. They are classified into a variety of rarities and tiers, but can be easily upgraded by adding more EHrT in them. Furthermore, higher-tiered VIMs accrue bigger benefits for its holders.

    VIM tiers
    VIM tiers (Image credit: VIMworld Whitepaper)

    VIMs can soon be traded on the VIMExchange, the marketplace that 8Hours designed to support all NFTs in the ecosystem. When more partnerships are established, VIMs can be made available for trading on other VeChainThor-compatible marketplaces.

    Conclusion

    Creating real-world use cases for blockchain technology is one of the biggest drivers for its adoption. And since social interactions have been reduced in this modern and digital age, having platforms that help alleviate this problem could certainly have a real use case.

    If VIMworld and 8Hours succeed in their goal, it can be a very interesting case study for the benefits that blockchain can bring. The project shows a promising potential to prove that the technology behind cryptocurrencies can be an effective instrument in bringing people together.

    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.

  • Flamingo Finance ($FLM): What is it?

    Flamingo Finance ($FLM): What is it?

    Flamingo Finance aims to provide everything a DeFi user needs in one swipe. The project is also built on the NEO blockchain, enabling it to evade the high cost and congestion of Ethereum. Here, we take a deeper look at Flamingo, why it chose NEO, its native token, and what it has to offer to DeFi enthusiasts.


    Background

    The protocol is a NEO Foundation project brought to life through the NEO Global Development (NGD) team and is meant to expand NEO’s vision of a smart economy. Flamingo offers an all-round service to its users by taking care of back end and front end issues under one platform.

    What is Flamingo Finance

    Flamingo is a full-stack DeFi protocol that is interoperable and powered by the NEO blockchain. Operations on the network are divided into distinct components to enable a smooth operation for the platform. (Modafinil) Currently, the system supports access using the NeoLine wallet for NEO assets, Metamask wallet for Ether (ETH) holders, and Cyano plugin wallet for ONT token holders.

    Flamingo’s 5 Key Components

    Flamingo ecosystem (Image credit: NeoNewsToday)

    Swap

    This handles automatic on-chain market making. The module interacts with wrapped tokens on the parent blockchain to provide liquidity. Uniswap, a leading DeFi platform, inspires its approach to automated market making. Liquidity Providers (LPs) converge on a pool by providing tokens with NEO’s standard, NEP-5.

    Wrapper

    Flamingo uses this component to power inter-chain interaction of blockchain assets. Wrapper works with Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEO, and Ontology, where tokens from these platforms can be ‘wrapped’ by being converted to NEP-5 tokens and used on the NEO network.

    Vault

    The Vault module provides an interface for managing, mining, and staking assets. Also, it handles the issuance of collateralized stablecoins. Vault stakers earn rewards in the form of the platform’s native token, FLM (more on the token later).

    Vault is projected to go live anytime between September 25 and 29 in 2020.

    Perp

    Perp is derived from the word perpetual and is designed with perpetual contracts in mind. It uses automatic market-making to power a perpetual contract exchange that deals with a host of assets. The exchange has a leverage of up to 10X for both long and short positions.

    Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

    In the decentralized world, everything should be distributed, including governance. Flamingo uses DAO to allow for optimum community involvement in the running of the platform. Issues that fall under DAO include token economics, functionality changes, and parameter configuration.

    Generally, DAO has a say in things happening on the Wrapper, Swap, Perp, and Vault modules.

    Flamingo Finance Token (FLM) and Flamingo USD (FUSD)

    FLM is Flamingo’s native currency dedicated to governance. It’s built using NEO’s NEP-5 standard. Interestingly, the token does not have a cap on its maximum supply.

    FLM coins are distributed to the community with regards to participation on the network. For example, the token will be given for staking cross-chain assets, staking LP tokens, minting FUSD, depositing stablecoins to provide a margin when interacting with perpetual contracts, and contributing to governance proposals.

    Note that before DAO takes over the governance, the Flamingo team will address governance issues through proof-of-authority (POA). FLM can be held by anyone wishing to join the NEO DeFi ecosystem. Furthermore, FLM holders are entitled to submit proposals to the DAO and also be able to vote for submitted proposals.

    Flamingo supports FIP and FCCP proposals.

    Flamingo Improvement Proposal (FIP) involves anything related to system design features such as risk control, liquidation, and liquidity improvement. Flamingo Configuration Change Proposal (FCCP), on the other hand, contains proposals directed towards the FLM release schedule, staking, fee structure, FLM distribution mechanism on the Perp module, etc.

    FUSD is a stablecoin on the platform that is pegged to the US dollar (USD). Staking LP tokens allows one to mint the stablecoin. However, to unlock their collaterals, the minted FUSD has to be burnt.

    Key strengths of Flamingo Finance

    Interoperability

    Flamingo is part of an ecosystem made up of NEO and the Poly network. Poly is a protocol developed on NEO in conjunction with Switcheo Network and Ontology. The protocol connects to other blockchain platforms such as Cosmos, Bitcoin, Ontology, and Ethereum.

    To bring the interoperability factor, Flamingo connects to NEO, NEO connects to Poly, and Poly connects to other decentralized networks.

    Capital Efficiency

    Popular decentralized exchanges (DEXs) using an automatic market maker model underutilize capital from LPs. Flamingo provides capital efficiency by clustering individual aspects such as a liquidity pool (LP) and a collateral pool.

    For instance, Swap handles the LP while Vault provides the collateral pool. Therefore, LPs can provide liquidity in Swap and still stake their tokens in Vault.

    Fair Launch

    To enable a fair launch for all, the platform does not support a pre-mine. Neither does it allocate coins to its founding team. Instead, all FLM tokens are distributed to the community.

    What is Flamincome?

    Being a DeFi-focused platform, it has a dedicated platform for yield farming or liquidity mining; Flamincome. The system provides yield farming functionalities identical to those offered by Yearn.Finance (YFI).

    Flamincome
    Flamincome (Image credit: Medium)

    Flamincome comprises an optimizer and a normalizer. An optimizer converts staked assets into interest-focused assets, while a normalizer changes interest-based assets into synthetic assets with a 1:1 peg ratio to the underlying asset. Synthetic assets can be transferred to other DeFi networks for additional liquidity mining.

    Flamingo Swap: What is it?

    Flamingo Swap is one of the modules on Flamingo Finance’s DeFi platform. It is an on-chain automated market maker powered exchange that allows users to swap one token from another. Similar to other swapping platforms, Flamingo Swap needs users to add token pairs into these pools which in turn creates a supply for traders to come in and exchange tokens. Users i.e. LPs who add tokens to specified pools are rewarded for their contribution as they receive a distribution of the trading fees (currently 0.3% per swap) and LP Tokens. The LPs can then stake these LP Tokens in the Vault and get FLM in return.

    Note the below section titled “Flamingo swap launch and change of $FLM distribution: 5th Oct 2020” to see which Vaults are eligible for distribution of FLM rewards.

    How to add liquidity to Flamingo Swap and what are my rewards?

    By way of example, if you wanted to be a LP for the FLM/nNEO trading pair you would need to do the following steps:

    1. Go to the “Pool” tab on the Swap page;
    2. connect your NeoLine wallet;
    3. click “Add Liquidity” and choose FLM and nNEO. Note the the amount deposited must be of equal value based on the market price of the tokens but this will be calculated for you;
    4. check the respective exchange prices for the FLM and nNEO tokens and the share of the pool your liquidity will form after adding the same. If this is confirmed by you, click “Supply” and confirm; and
    5. the NeoLine wallet will pop up and you will be asked to adjust and agree to the GAS fee to be paid for this transaction.

    For a full walkthrough on how to provide liquidity to Swap and withdraw your liquidity from the same, click here.

    LPs will be rewarded with LP Tokens, in this illustration, the LP would get FLP-FLM-nNEO tokens. They will also get a share of the fees collected from traders equal to the proportion of their liquidity in a pool. So for example, if their deposited liquidity forms 2% of the FLM/nNEO pool they would get 2% of all the trading fees paid by traders, which is 0.3% per swap.

    LPs can then stake their LP Tokens in specified trading pairs to get FLM. For a walkthrough on how to stake assets, claim FLM and remove your staked assets from the Vault, check out the detailed guide from Flamingo here.

    LATEST NEWS

    Are you eligible for refund of Flamincome withdrawal fees?

    Due to an issue with the Flamincome interface, some users who withdraw USDT before 5:00am (UTC) on 26th September 2020 were charged 0.5% withdrawal fees without their knowledge. Flamingcome will refund the withdrawal fees to these users, which Founder Da Hongfei said on Twitter he will “personally subsidize”.

    There is also a proposal being put forward to extend this refund period to any deposits that were made before 5:00am (UTC) on 26th September 2020 but “…withdrawn before 3 hours after the MintRush Resume.” Which from our understanding would be 4:00pm (UTC) on 25th September 2020.

    Flamingo swap launch and change of $FLM distribution: 5th Oct 2020

    At the initial launch of Flamingo Swap, only 6 trading pairs will be supported i.e. FLM/nNEO, pnWBTC/nNEO, pnWETH/nNEO pONT/nNEO, nNEO/pnUSDT and pnWBTC/pnUSDT.

    As Mint Rush 2 has finished distribution of rewards, FLM tokens will no longer be distributed to single-asset stakers. Instead, only users who stake LP Tokens from specified trading pairs in the Vault will continue receiving FLM. From 1:00pm (UTC) on 5th October 2020 to 1:00pm (UTC) on 7th October 2020, 2,857,143 FLM will be distributed per day to these trading pairs in the following proportions:

    • FLP-FLM-nNEO 20%
    • FLP-pnWBTC-nNEO 20%
    • FLP-pnWETH-nNEO 10%
    • FLP-pONT-nNEO 5%
    • FLP-nNEO-pnUSDT 20%
    • FLP-pnWBTC-pnUSDT 25%

    From 1:00pm (UTC) on 7th October 2020 to 1:00pm (UTC) on 14th October 2020, 1,071,429 FLM will be distributed per day in the same proportion as above.

    SCAM ALERT: Flamingo airdrop

    There is currently a Flamingo airdrop scam which asks participants to send their NEO tokens to a “designated contribution address” where you can get FLM tokens at a rate of 1 NEO=1,000 FLM.

    The @FlamingoAirdrop as well as the FlamingoFinanceAirdop Telegram Channels are FAKE. Be careful!

    Fake Flamingo account
    Fake Flamingo account

    I have all this FLM? What happens next?

    FLM is currently listed on the following exchanges: Binance, FTX (FLM-PERP)

    Conclusion

    A full-stack DeFi protocol, like Flamingo, presents numerous advantages to DeFi users. And among them is capital efficiency, where LPs can provide liquidity and collateral at the same time.

    The inclusion of a yield farming system gives DeFi enthusiasts a similar but improved network to YFI and SushiSwap.

    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.

  • MEME ($MEME): A DeFi Joke?

    MEME ($MEME): A DeFi Joke?

    MEME ($MEME) is a hybrid between decentralised finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) on the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs are tokens that represent unique digital items with verifiable scarcity. They can be used to represent digital ownership as with the case of rare cryptocurrency art. MEME allows users to stake tokens to farm limited edition NFT memes.


    Background

    MEME started out as a meme. Yes, it was a joke made by Jordan Lyall, the DeFi Product Lead at ConsenSys. Lyall’s Twitter post joked about an offering that could allow easy and fast (less than five minutes) creation of a DeFi platform.

    A Twitter user took the joke seriously and created MEME coin. “I was commenting on the silliness of it all. But in doing that, I’ve created the very thing I sought to destroy,” Lyall commented after the coin went live.

    The birth of memes dates back to 1976 when the word appeared on ‘The Selfish Gene’, a book by Richard Dawkins. In the book, memes are portrayed as ideas quickly spread from one person to another within a community. They have since found their way into our daily lives to refer to the viral spread of information on the internet.

    What is MEME?

    MEME is a decentralized project connecting the DeFi world with NFTs through yield farming or liquidity mining. The network stresses that it does not offer coins for sale but allows farming. The system was launched on August 14, 2020, and has since attracted a ton of attention from the crypto community.

    MEME’s Meteoric Rise

    The genesis of the project’s meteoric rise dates back to Lyall’s tweet, which garnered 1,200 likes and a high number of retweets within minutes. After its launch, it was listed on CoinGecko with a hard cap of 28,000 tokens.

    It was followed by an exclusive Telegram airdrop that was done 30 minutes after launch. After launch, the protocol’s Telegram community grew to over 3,000 participants. In its first few days, MEME reached a 24-hour trading volume of $1.2 million with a single coin changing hands at $40.

    MEME token
    MEME token (Image credit: Coingecko)

    Roughly a month later, MEME was trading at $795, had a one-day trading volume of $8.8 million, and a market capitalization of $18.7 million. Also, the coin moved from position 610 in early September 2020, to 276 as of September 18, 2020, based on market cap.

    By September 18, MEME token holders were roughly 1,400 while the NFT holders were about 700.

    How to farm MEME?

    Farming requires staking MEME and then receiving rare NFT versions. This increases liquidity mining opportunities for DeFi enthusiasts. As with other DeFi systems that support yield mining, farming MEME involves liquidity mining pools.

    Note that the NFTs up for grabs are created by a select number of artists. The first digital artist listed is Sven Eberwein, a popular digital artist living in Los Angeles.

    MEME Artist - Sven Eberwein
    MEME Artist – Sven Eberwein (Image credit: dontbuymeme.com)

    Eberwein combines internet culture with computer graphics. Sven “works of the internet, by the internet, for the internet.” The artist’s first MEME-themed collections are titled ‘Don’t buy MEME,’ ‘Volatile Pineapples,’ The MEME Shitcoin Cycle,’ and ‘Crashtest (Because it will).’

    According to Eberwein, MEME’s uniqueness comes from being the first to capture the DeFi and meme worlds.

    MEME farming pools

    Genesis pool

    MEME farming pool - Genesis
    MEME farming pool – Genesis (Image credit: dontbuymeme.com)

    This accommodates the staking of MEME tokens.

    • The first step is to access the pool from https://dontbuymeme.com/farms .
    • Then the next step is to unlock your Web3 wallet. Note that Web3 wallets are just browser functionalities added to the standard self-custody wallets to allow access and usage of decentralized applications (Dapps). Wallets in the Web3 ecosystem include Metamask, imToken, Huobi, AlphaWallet, Enjin, infinito, Opera, Trust Wallet, Coinbase, Dexwallet, Ledger, exodus, Trezor, and Mist.
    • Approve MEME
    • Enter between a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 1 MEME token. Rewards from farming on the platform are called pineapples. For instance, staking 5 MEME results in five pineapples per 24 hours.
    • Claim NFT. This can only be done when the required number of pineapples has been farmed.

    MEME Genesis LP pool

    MEME farming pool - Genesis LP
    MEME farming pool – Genesis LP (Image credit: dontbuymeme.com)

    Here, Uniswap V2 liquidity pool (UNIV2-LP) tokens are staked to earn pineapples.

    • To get the tokens, stake Ether (ETH) and MEME tokens on the Uniswap pool. However, to receive approximately 0.0002 UNIV2-LP tokens, one needs to stake roughly 50 MEME coins and ETH of equal value.
    • Access https://dontbuymeme.com/farms to join the LP Genesis pool.
    • Unlock your wallet.
    • Approve the tokens from Uniswap and specify your stake amount. The pool supports a maximum of 0.0002 and a minimum of 0.00004 UNIV2-LP tokens. As with the previous pool, the minimum amount staked births one pineapple per day while the maximum stake results in five pineapples per 24 hours.
    MEME Genesis Economics
    MEME Genesis Economics (Image credit: Don’t Buy $MEME Medium article)

    A pineapple farmer can claim their NFT of choice when they have enough pineapples. Note that pineapples cannot be shared between pools and the amount staked must not exceed the set limits to avoid failed transactions.

    NFTs earned from mining MEME can be sold on OpenSea, a marketplace for trading NFTs and virtual currency collectibles. OpenSea lists assets created using Ethereum’s ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards.

    MEME at OpenSea
    MEME at OpenSea (Image credit: OpenSea)

    Governance

    As with other non-custodial financial systems, MEME handles governance issues through a decentralized autonomous organization called MemeDAO. To be a member, you have to hold a minimum of 100 MEME tokens. Towards the end of August 2020, $1.7 million worth of capital was locked in the DAO.

    Conclusion

    In the cryptocurrency community, memes are used as a universal language and MEME joins others like Doge and CoronaCoin that started as a joke but attracted interest from the crypto community.

    MEME’s uniqueness comes from its connection with the DeFi and NFT world, which adds a new reward stream for yield farmers. However, it’s yet to be seen how long ‘a joke’ can be taken seriously.

    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. (https://colorreflections.com) Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Newsletter #10

    Newsletter #10

    Week in review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    BitMEX is in hot water

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

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

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

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

    Bitcoin resilient against negative news hammer

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

    Upcoming events

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

    *All times are listed in UTC unless otherwise stated.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

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

  • Kyber Network ($KNC): On-chain Liquidity Protocol

    Kyber Network ($KNC): On-chain Liquidity Protocol

    Kyber Network is an Ethereum-based protocol that can access any ERC-20 tokens, bridging liquidity pools and enabling tokens swaps all under a single platform. It is a tool for payments, financial applications, and liquidity providers.

    Background

    Loi Luu, CEO of Kyber Network, conceptualized the platform out of the need to link liquidity pools across different blockchains to facilitate cost-efficient trading. The team also decided to do away with the centralized model for creating new exchanges because of their dark history with hacking and fraud, with Mt. Gox being a notorious example.

    With decentralised finance (DeFi) leading the crypto space, it was also ideal for the team to create an ecosystem born out of the same model. Through DeFi, Kyber can connect liquidity pools with one another to create a cost-efficient exchange that can accommodate smart contract innovations as well.

    What is Kyber Network?

    Kyber Network Explained
    Kyber Network Explained

    Kyber Network is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) powered by smart contracts. It is designed to support liquidity pools from different blockchains for market-making, allowing traders to get the best rates out of their transactions. The DEX currently lists 81 cryptocurrencies and 82 trading pairs.

    Kyber’s main goal is to aggregate different liquidity providers in a single, unified ecosystem where users can conduct their trades conveniently. Since the network is decentralized, even users can provide liquidity by staking in Kyber’s partner pools.

    The architecture of Kyber allows for instant transaction settlement while offering a wide array of use cases, such as building new financial services and operating crypto-based payment systems. Through its flagship models like Peace Relay and the Waterloo Relay Bridge, Kyber connects multiple blockchains together in creating a liquidity network that can be deployed in almost every other protocol.

    Included in Kyber’s thrust is to create a community-guided network through governance tokens. Like other decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), users can help maintain the network by voting on important protocol updates, parameters, and implementation features.

    Features of the Kyber Network

    The design of the network is mostly facilitated by smart contracts that can work cross-chain. As mentioned, the end goal is to make a market that offers the best token exchange rates for traders and the best returns for liquidity providers.

    • Aggregated Liquidity Pool: The protocol can put together different liquidity sources into a single pool to reduce the risk of huge spreads and help traders get the best value out of their transactions. Users do not have to broadcast multiple trade calls in order to find the best prices themselves.
    • Diversified Liquidity Source: Since the system of the network is designed for cross-chain functionality, any other liquidity network can connect with Kyber to join the platform.
    • Permissionless: Unlike centralized exchanges, the network is not governed by a single company. This gives more freedom for liquidity providers or developers to work on their own strategies without the risk of an entity monopolizing control over the exchange platform.
    Kyber Network: Features
    Kyber Network: Features

    Users can receive the best return out of their transactions with Kyber, whether they are the ones initiating trades or providing liquidity.

    • Quick Transaction Settlement: Through the help of smart contracts, traders can make orders and complete them with just a single transaction. Smart contracts are coded to complete a series of transactions without requiring the user to make multiple trading calls just to achieve their own objectives.
    • Atomicity: Kyber does not allow transactions to be partially executed, differentiating them from centralized exchanges where users are exposed to the risk of their trading calls not being completely executed. With Kyber, it is either the trade is finalized wholly, or they do not get executed at all.
    • Transparency: Anyone can launch a query from smart contracts to check the rates offered by liquidity providers. This gives the public the best transparency over their transactions.
    • Interoperable: Since trades are trustless and atomic, they can be easily plugged into other smart contracts in the platform. This enables the network to simply execute trades through smart contract functions.

    Network Actors

    Kyber Smart Contracts: They are the backbone of the protocol, supporting functions such as listing and delisting of trading pairs, reserves, and queries, among others.

    Takers: These can be any blockchain entity that gathers the liquidity coming from reserves listed within the network to facilitate trades from token-to-token.

    Reserves: These are liquidity sources for the network that supply the token inventory and prices in Kyber’s smart contracts. Reserves determine the price for a particular asset as well as their supply.

    Kyber Network's Protocol Overview
    Kyber Network’s Protocol Overview

    Kyber Network Crystal Token ($KNC)

    Kyber Network Crystal ($KNC) is Kyber’s economic, governance, and treasury token. KNC was launched in September 2017 with the aim to raise 200,000 ETH. The KNC token distribution is as follows: 61.06% to public; 19.47% to team; and 19.47% to founders, advisors and seed investors.

    How KNC is used differs across chains. But mainly, here are the use cases for the KNC token:

    • Economic Facilitation: KNC can be used to facilitate system operations, such as payments for every transaction made within the network, or to incorporate into the market spread. To get instant liquidity, users can also pay fees in KNC and get their transactions confirmed right away.
    • Treasury Funds: The distribution of all KNC in total supply will include an allocation for the platform’s reserves. This reserve can be used by network maintainers and members of the DAO to fund network development. This is designed to support developers and network contributors by giving them an economic return for their work with KNC.
    • Governance Token: Holding KNC gives users the chance to vote on important protocol decisions such as token parameters, network upgrades, and token listing, among others.

    KyberDAO

    KyberDAO, above all the things that have already been mentioned, incentivizes users to remain active in the network. But the following are key network parameters that KNC holders can vote upon:

    • Voting Rewards: This is the allocated reward for stakers and governance participants.
    • Burning: KNC holders can vote on whether to decrease the total supply of the KNC token.
    • Reserve Incentives: This is the allocated reward for Kyber’s reserve managers.

    As of now, Kyber is in charge of maintaining the DAO. They are facilitating community discussions, decision making, and execution of community decisions. This will remain so until more operational parameters in the network can be integrated with DAO votes.

    KyberDAO rewards
    KyberDAO Rewards

    Staking and Voting

    There is a fixed period of time where users are allowed to stake and vote. These are called “epochs,” which is a denomination of Ethereum block times. Each epoch lasts for two weeks until the next cycle starts.

    This allows Kyber to hasten the reward period for KNC holders and DAO participants, which also incentivizes them to vote within a fixed amount of time.

    Delegating

    If a KNC holder decides not to vote but keep a share in its rewards, they can delegate their voting power to another party who will do so on their behalf. They then retain their control of their KNC, which they can withdraw or use to transfer delegation to another party.

    Conclusion

    Many DeFi projects had their weaknesses exposed due to the volatility of crypto assets. However, Kyber Network is one of the few to have weathered the price instability of a lot of digital currencies in recent months.

    So far, Kyber seems to be a very promising DeFi innovation that promotes a community-governed network. With the progress that it has made, Kyber is considered to be one of the toughest players in the DeFi space.

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • Newsletter #9

    Newsletter #9

    Week in review

    $FEW tried to profit off the backs of others

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

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

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

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

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

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

    KuCoin gets hacked

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

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

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

    NFTs suddenly becomes hot

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

    Upcoming events

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

    *All times are listed in UTC unless otherwise stated.

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

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

  • Rio DeFi ($RFUEL): The next frontier of finance?

    Rio DeFi ($RFUEL): The next frontier of finance?

    Rio DeFi ($RFUEL) is a blockchain technology company. It aims to bridge the traditional finance with the blockchain space with its powerful digital infrastructure, Rio Chain. It focuses on security, speed, scalability, and interoperability with existing blockchain.

    The whole Rio ecosystem promises a wide array of services that users can utilize as an alternative from the traditional financial system. From savings and lending services to trading and insurance opportunities. All of these are accessible with just a smartphone and internet connection.

    Background

    James Anderson, the CEO of Rio DeFi, as well as his team, believes that today’s financial system is in dire need of new development that can respond to the needs of globalization. Services provided by intermediaries such as payment solutions and money transfers, or control of fiat currencies by local governments, bear multiple concerns that impact the whole financial landscape as we know them today.

    The team behind Rio worked on an ecosystem that can easily be used by users in their daily lives to perform financial transactions without much friction and cost. And at the heart of the project is the objective to support the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies among the general public.

    There is still a lot of work to do but Rio has developed a model that can respond to the rapidly-changing international financial landscape.

    What is RIO DeFi?

    Rio Chain is a decentralized finance (DeFi) service platform powered by smart contracts. The purpose of the platform is to provide an ecosystem that can back decentralized applications (dApps) providing financial services based on a single but effective and fast blockchain.

    It is built on its own chain, seeing the problems that the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are experiencing. Right now, the volume of transactions that are going through those top chains has caused slow transactions, expensive gas costs, and poor adoption rate. There had to be another platform to base their new ecosystem on and it was the Rio Chain that they came up with.

    Through Rio DeFi, new dApps can support new wallets, services, and cryptocurrencies.

    How RioDeFi works
    How RioDeFi works

    Parity Substrate

    Rio’s team believes that the best way to move forward with crypto development is to create a blockchain that can freely interact with the others. That is why they went on to implement the Parity Substrate technology to enable other blockchain projects to easily plug into Rio through parachains.

    Parachains are standalone blockchains that can be used to develop new dApps which can be conveniently deployed onto other chains without any interoperability issues.

    Parachains
    Parachains

    Three Main Focuses of the Rio project

    Rio’s solution to the all too common problem of slow, inefficient, and expensive blockchains is a model that supports their three main focuses, namely: usability, scalability, and security.

    Hybrid model: Putting together a new network that can provide scalability and higher transaction throughput (with as fast as two seconds per block in confirmation time) is achieved by developing a federated model for the Rio blockchain.

    Flexibility: Through the deployment of virtual machine interpreters with very low client requirements and customizable consensus algorithms rid the Rio chain of rigidity and risks of centralization. Everything built on top of the Rio chain can be easily adjusted according to the prevailing market conditions without any friction when it comes to implementation.

    Interoperable: Because the Rio chain is designed to support easy linkage between other chains, it can efficiently connect different organizations together despite the difference in their blockchain platforms.

    Three main focuses of RioChain
    Three main focuses of RioChain

    Consensus Algorithm (Proof-of-Authority)

    Rio uses the Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism that adopts Substrate’s Aura (Authority round) and GRANDPA (GHOST-based Recursive ANcestor Deriving Prefix Agreement) consensus algorithms.

    These two new combinations for the PoA implementation ensures that there are different algorithms that govern how the block data is handled and how finality is achieved for each transaction. By delegating the task of splitting block data writing to Aura, and handing over the finality verification process to GRANDPA, Rio has achieved better flexibility without compromising the security of the transactions performed on-chain.

    In the pipeline is Rio’s plan to switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), similar to the consensus mechanism implemented on the Bitcoin blockchain. As of now, the team behind Rio is working on shifting to BABE (Blind Assignment for Blockchain Extension) from Aura to lay the groundwork needed for the eventual PoS adoption.

    • AURA: It is designated as the consensus algorithm to produce the next blocks from confirmation. It functions through the help of a select set of validators that generate the blocks at a given time. Only the authorized nodes are allowed to become validators.
    • GRANDPA: It is delegated with the task of providing block termination with the help of “weighted authorities.” They are not going to produce any block for the network, but they vote on the “best” version of the blocks produced by the validators. If more than two-thirds of the delegated authorities vote on a version of the state of the blockchain, it is then considered final.

    Federated Blockchain

    Rio believes that a federated blockchain is better than a permissionless public blockchain for several reasons. It provides faster transaction speed, scalability, low transaction costs, low energy consumption, stronger security, and increased ability to provide data privacy features.

    The implementation of the federated model allows Rio to achieve a 2-second block time confirmation, faster than other existing blockchains in the DeFi space. And even at this speed, Rio chain is still capable of protecting the network from 51% attacks while being able to process almost 3,000 transactions per second.

    Right now, the team behind Rio is considering the implementation of a hybrid PoS and PoA consensus model, complemented by light node validators. This means that anyone can probably be able to participate in network validation with just mobile phones as the assigned nodes.

    Rio Fuel token ($RFUEL): Rewards for token holders

    Rio rewards its blockchain participants with Rio Fuel ($RFUEL), which is also its native token. RFUEL can be used as a store of value, payment for gas fees, or to execute smart contracts.

    1 billion RFUEL tokens will be created via a token generation event (TGE), which 70% of these tokens will be distributed to incentivise applications and users that contributes to the growth of the ecosystem, 20% will be sold through community crowd sales and private sales, and 10% (100 million) will be maintained as reserves that will slowly release over the span of 5 years.

    Refer to the chart below for more detailed on RFUEL token distribution:-

    RFUEL token distribution

    Rio Fuel token ($RFUEL): public sale

    The first round public sale of Rio Fuel’s RFUEL token was sold out in 40 minutes on 11th September 2020. The first round price is at $0.16, minimum contribution cap is USD $1,000 and maximum contribution cap is USD $10,000. Vesting period is 61 days with unlocks of 1/3 starting at Token Generation Event (TGE) and on days 31 and 61 after TGE.

    The second round was held on 15th September 2020 at 6:00 a.m. UTC. The price for round 2 will be at $0.18, minimum contribution cap is $1,000 and maximum contribution cap is USD $10,000. Vesting period is 1 month with unlocks of 1/4 on TGE and on days 11, 21, and 31 after TGE. All vested tokens are automatically staked to receive RFUEL staking rewards.

    RFUEL public sales round 3 is a Uniswap Initial DEX Offering (IDO). RFUEL will be available for trading on Uniswap with a starting price of $0.20 and all tokens will be fully unlocked i.e. immediately available for trading. However $0.20 is only the initial price and considering the previous rounds were all oversubscribed, there is a possibility that prices will immediately fluctuate after trading starts.

    For more detailed info, please check on Rio DeFi telegram.

    Use Cases of Rio Chain

    Bitcoin Lending Platform: Users can deposit their BTCs in smart contracts on top of the Rio Chain to earn interests from their assets. Borrowers can also easily leverage their BTC by borrowing through the Rio Chain.

    Bitcoin lending platform
    Bitcoin Lending Platform

    Savings Account: Rio’s security can be a haven for BTC savers too. Users can safely deposit their BTC and other supported cryptocurrencies while earning high-interest rates as compared to traditional savings services from banks and other providers.

    Savings Account

    Decentralized E-commerce: Merchants can freely tap on the Rio chain to digitize their business and cut huge operational costs in doing so. Establishing their managing and sales operations on the Rio Chain can enable merchants to access a wider array of shoppers thanks to lower costs, better payment gateways, borderless transaction models, and greater consumer data privacy, among others.

    Conclusion

    The development of the DeFi space relies on the success of projects that are able to bridge all existing developments on multiple blockchains. This is especially true for useful innovations that are stuck in high-traffic networks. If adoption is the goal, building an interoperable blockchain that supports cross-chain implementation is a great way to go about it.

    Rio DeFi’s blockchain-agnostic model could create an infantile avenue of innovations in the DeFi space. By bridging different blockchains together, not only can we possibly achieve faster adoption, but also greater interest in developing interoperable DeFi models as well.

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • Newsletter #8

    Newsletter #8

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

    Week in review

    YFValue is evolving-but is it for the best?

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

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

    Yieldfarming.insure- DeFi drama on x4 speed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    $UNI-versal free lunch

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

    Claim Free Uniswap ($UNI)

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

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

    Ledger hardware wallet sale!

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

    Upcoming events

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

    See here for back issues of our newsletter.

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