Boxmining v2

Category: Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a sector within the cryptocurrency and blockchain space which aims to provide a decentralized version of the products available in traditional finance- without central control and at a lower cost with potentially higher returns. These products include loans, interest-bearing deposits and borrowing services.

The advantages of decentralized finance are that it addresses the problems we have with the traditional banking system. For example, decentralized finance protocols are controlled by multiple people, and all participants are required to abide by the rules written into the smart contracts underlying the protocols.

  • Polkastarter ($POLS) – Kickstarter for Cryptocurrencies?

    Polkastarter ($POLS) – Kickstarter for Cryptocurrencies?

    Polkastarter ($POLS) is a cross-chain decentralised protocol, powered by Polkadot, that allows start-ups to raise funds in a decentralised and interoperable environment.

    In 2020, the decentralized finance ecosystem (DeFi) recorded encouraging figures in the number of DeFi protocols, as well as the number of funds locked in these platforms. On the number of protocols, the platforms addressed different spheres such as lending, trading, and insurance.

    Unfortunately, not many protocols touched on revolutionizing conventional fundraising models such as initial coin offerings (ICOs), initial decentralized exchange offerings (IDOs), and initial exchange offerings (IEOs).

    However, projects like Polkastarter are on their way to bring a sigh of relief to startups looking for innovative ways to attract funding. Before we dig deeper into the project and what it brings to startups, let’s take a look at the group behind it.

    Background

    Daniel Stockhaus and Tiago Martins are the top brains behind Polkastarter. As project co-founders, Stockhaus is the CEO, while Martins is the CTO. Notably, the two have vast experience spanning from tech entrepreneurship to software development.

    Other members of the team include Danilo Carlucci and Matthew Dibb. Carlucci is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, while Dibb is a strategic advisor.

    What is Polkastarter?

    Polkastarter is a decentralized platform enabling startups and other projects to attract capital through token auctions and inter-blockchain token pools. As you would have guessed from its name, the project is built on the Polkadot network that sits on Ethereum.

    Polkadaot Network

    Stockhaus settled on Polkadot because of the network’s major strengths in scalability, speed, interoperability, upgradeability, and governance. To elaborate, Polkadot surpasses Ethereum and Bitcoin transaction speed thanks to its use of parachains, which power horizontal scalability, and Grandpa consensus mechanism, which drives vertical scalability.

    Polkadot’s Proof of Stake consensus, GRANDPA (Source: Polkadot Wiki ‘Polkadot Consensus’)

    Polkastarter taps into these strengths to enable governance through community voting and staking. The network also relies on Polkadot to drive liquidity mining.

    Using these features, the project scores better than existing decentralized exchanges and swap protocols such as Uniswap, Bounce, and Primablock. For instance, these networks don’t support cross-chain pools, while Bounce and Primablock support a limited array of virtual assets.

    Polkastarter’s Use Cases and Major Features

    Polkastarter expands outside the fundraising space to crowdfunding and allows participants to benefit from discounted sales. Additionally, the protocol can increase privacy to over the counter deals by enabling password protection during such trades.

    The network differs from other similar projects since it allows:

    • Inter-chain swaps
    • Fixed and dynamic swaps
    • Community voting on critical governance issues
    • Decentralized and permissionless token listing
    • Comprehensive Know your customer (KYC) procedures
    • Users to spot scams from a distance through a built-in anti-scam feature

    Notably, combining these features brings low-cost transactions, fast cross-chain token swaps, the ability to move virtual assets across decentralized platforms, and a user-friendly design.

    How Polkastarter Handles Fixed Swaps?

    Fixed swaps pools are significant components of the network. Unlike with automated market making, fixed swap counteracts price volatility. Also, fixed swaps provide a greater level of transparency on the amount raised during fundraising.

    Polkastarter employs fixed swap pools instead of AMM swap pools. This approach solves, among other challenges, the risk of private investors artificially inflating the price and dumping their holdings and the cost of token offerings.

    Additionally, fixed swap pools ensure a fair distribution of tokens while eliminating the risk of rug pulls in a liquidity pool.

    Note that instead of using a bonding curve approach to determine token prices in a pool, Polkastarter sets a fixed price when swapping tokens. As such, it’s possible to add other parameters, such as how much a single user can contribute to a project. Additionally, it’s easier to set more parameters to ensure transparency and fairness on new token holders.

    Immediate advantages of using fixed swaps are:

    • The amount raised and tokens sold can easily be calculated.
    • It attracts investors distributed both demographically and geographically.
    • Token holders are given a chance to acquire tokens at a standard price.

    Polkastarter’s Native Token ($POLS)

    Tokenomics

    The network has a native token called $POLS, which it uses for various sections on the platform. POLS’s total supply is 100 million tokens. Exactly 42.5 percent of the tokens were sold during the seed sale, private sale, and Uniswap listing. Other tokens went to the marketing fund, team, advisors, and foundational reserve.

    $POLS Token Distribution & Utility (Source: Polkastarter Docs – What are the Tokenomics?)

    Funds raised during the sales periods went into legal/accountancy (5%), ecosystem growth (20%), liquidity/exchanges (30%), and product development (45%).

    POLS is used on the Polkastarter ecosystem as a utility token. Among its major uses are governance and fees.

    As a governance token, its holders can vote on crucial matters such as protocol features and tokens to be displayed on the network. On fees, transactions on the platform are paid using the native currency.

    Other Utilities

    • Staking – The token can be staked to earn staking rewards on various fronts. For example, it can be staked to receive pool rewards or for pool access. Note that the option to stake POL for pool access is solely upon pool creators. However, the choice is ideal for giving top liquidity providers private access to high-end pools.
    • Liquidity mining – Additionally, Polkastarter’s native currency can be staked to participate in liquidity mining. Rewards are distributed to entities providing liquidity on the secondary markets, among other subsections.

    Two Key Partnerships With Polkastarter

    Although Stockhaus and the team have inked many partnerships with reputable decentralized platforms, two stand out.

    Polkastarter and Covalent

    Covalent is a platform capable of fetching intricate details about a crypto wallet. As such, it allows Polkastarter and its users to check the trustworthiness of a token contract. The users have access to the token contract age, verification, transaction volume, among other details.

    Polkastarter and DIA

    Decentralized Information Asset (DIA) is a platform that provides distributed oracles on Polkastarter. Thanks to the exceptional qualities of its oracles, DIA helps Polkastarter provide warnings against massive price slippage.

    Other partnerships involve Moonbean, Shyft, and Orion Protocol.

    Conclusion

    By using fixed price swaps instead of AMM, Polkastarter sets the bar higher in decentralized funding. It adds the transparency and fairness aspect that has been missing on similar platforms. The projectl’s partnerships with Covalent and DIA gives its users peace of mind knowing that they can pick a suspicious project from the crowd and avoid price slippage.

    Furthermore, Polkastarter’s native token opens the door to distributed governance while giving its holders an extra way to earn rewards through staking.

    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.

  • Uniswap v3 DEX: What is it? New features?

    Uniswap v3 DEX: What is it? New features?

    Uniswap v3 is targeting to launch on 5 May 2021 on an L1 Ethereum mainnet, L2 deployment on Optimism is expected to follow shortly afterwards.

    Learn how to use Uniswap with our Uniswap review and tutorial: beginners guide and advanced tips and tricks.

    Since the inception of distributed ledger technologies (DLT), the idea that no single entity controls the ecosystem has been at the center of decentralized finance(DeFi) growth and development. The introduction of automated market makers (AMMs) to blockchain systems expanded that idea by resolving liquidity challenges early DeFi pioneers faced. 

    As of today, AMMs are the primary way to trade digital assets within the DeFi sphere, allowing users to create liquidity pools, which incentivize liquidity providers (LPs) to supply pools with tokens or assets. Therefore, the more assets a pool has the more liquidity within that pool increases, which makes crypto trading easier.

    Powered by a constant product formula, the AMM protocol has reached new heights under Uniswap’s pioneering technology, which has become the most popular AMM model in the DeFi space.

    Background

    Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) running on the Ethereum blockchain. Its revolutionary technology was first introduced in 2018 through the company’s first iteration, Uniswap v1. Uniswap v1 is an on-chain system of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, implementing an automated liquidity protocol based on a “constant product formula”. 

    Uniswap v1 was the first of its kind, a type of exchange where anyone can pool assets into shared market-making strategies. The v1 protocol allowed users to create a liquidity pool with any pair of ERC-20 assets, ensuring the constant (K) that the product of the reserves (X and Y) cannot decrease as shown in “the constant product formula”.

    Two years later, the ambitious Uniswap team again disrupted the international DeFi ecosystem with Uniswap v2, a better and new implementation of the Uniswap algorithm based on the same formula, with new highly-desirable optimizations, setting the stage for exponential growth in AMM adoption.

    V2 enabled the creation of ERC-20 to ERC20 liquidity pools in addition to the previous ERC20 to ETH pools within the DEX, which facilitated over $135 billion in trading volume, becoming the top cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

    Uniswap has inevitably become one the most popular platform on the Etherum blockchain. The platform’s unique infrastructure for DeFi has empowered developers, traders, and liquidity providers to engage in a secure and powerful financial marketplace.

    Despite the astonishing success of v1 and v2, the pioneering Uniswap team seeks to make even more history with the recent introduction of Uniswap v3.

    What is Uniswap V3?

    Uniswap v3 is a noncustodial automated market maker implemented for the Ethereum Virtual Machine. In comparison to earlier versions of the protocol, Uniswap v3 provides increased capital efficiency and fine-tuned control to liquidity providers, as well as improves the accuracy and convenience of its price oracle, with a more flexible fee structure.

    LPs now can provide liquidity with 4000x capital efficiency relative to Uniswap v2, earning higher returns on their capital. The new v3 implementations demonstrate that the Uniswap team values capital efficiency and its ability to pave the way for low-slippage trade execution, surpassing both centralized spot exchanges and stablecoin-focused AMMs.

    Based on the same constant product formula as earlier versions of the protocol, LPs will have better control over price ranges in which their capital is used, with limited effect on liquidity fragmentation and gas inefficiency.

    Additionally, v3 introduces a multiple fee tiers system, where LPs will be duly compensated for taking on varying degrees of risk. This version of the Ethereum-based algorithm seeks to be the most flexible and efficient AMM ever conceived by focusing on the importance of liquidity providers in the DeFi sphere.

    Under v3 new features, LPs will benefit from increased exposure to favored assets and lower their downside risk, granting them the ability to sell one asset for another by adding liquidity to a price range entirely above or below the market price, approximating a fee-earning limit order that executes along a smooth curve.

    Furthermore, v3 platform oracles are better and far more efficient than previous versions, as they are easier and cheaper to integrate providing time-weighted average prices (TWAPS) on demand for any period within the last 9 days, bypassing the need for integrators to checkpoint historical values.

    Overall, Uniswap v3 anticipated groundbreaking innovations, and efficiency is set to impact the DeFi ecosystem in a big way. Despite all the added improvements, the gas cost of v3 swaps on Ethereum mainnet is cheaper than v2, further attesting to the tremendous technological advancements behind the platform.

    Uniswap V3 New Features

    Concentrated Liquidity 

    In Uniswap v3, LPs can centralize their capital within custom price ranges, providing greater amounts of liquidity at desired prices, enabling them to build unique price curves reflecting their preferences. This feature gives LPs the power to estimate the shape of automated market makers.

    Active Liquidity

    This specific feature ensures LPs’ wellbeing in the trading ecosystem. Specifically, when market prices change course and move outside an LPs’ specified price range, their liquidity is effectively removed from the pool and is no longer earning fees. This situation causes the LPs’ liquidity to shift to the less valuable asset while waiting for the market price to bounce back to the specified price range. 

    However, this concept allows LPs to actively update their price range accounting for the current or market set price range, and start earning trading fees again.

    Range Orders

    The idea behind the range orders implementation is to enable LPs to deposit a single token in a custom price range above or below the current price: If the market price enters into their specified range, they sell one asset for another along a smooth curve while earning swap fees in the process.

    Powered by the concentrated liquidity concept, range orders are set to benefit LPs tremendously as it accounts for wider ranges which are particularly useful for profit-taking, buying the dip, and primary issuance events.

    Non-Fungible Liquidity

    The v3 protocol guarantees that LPs’ positions are represented by non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Nevertheless, commonly shared positions can be made fungible (ERC-20) via peripheral contracts or bridged protocols. 

    Flexible Fees

    V3 offers users three separate fee tiers per pair of assets, 0.05%, 0.30%, and 1.00%. These options ensure that LPs model their margins according to expected pair volatility as LPs take on more risk in non-correlated pairs like ETH/DAI and, conversely, take on minimal risk in correlated pairs like USDC/DAI

    Conclusion

    The DeFi space has undoubtedly benefited from the advent of AMMs unique features, which have since given birth to audacious and pioneering platforms like Uniswap. The Uniswap ecosystem provides a complex yet efficient technology that has revolutionized decentralized crypto trading through its distinct implementations of liquidity pools.

    From Uniswap v1 to the anticipated v3, users and LPs are presented with a series of improvements that will facilitate the use of decentralized assets and eventually catapult the DeFi ecosystem to ever newer heights.

    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.

  • YFV Finance Yield Farming

    YFV Finance Yield Farming

    YFV (YFValue) is a YEarn inspired governance token that is rewarded to cryptocurrency yield farmers (also known as liquidity miners). YFV functions as a DeFi Yield aggregator – they will release a “Vault” like product which will deploy different strategies to farm DeFi yields. $YFV in the governance coin on the platform which will be used to vote on Decentralized Autonomous Organisation (DAO) decisions. YFV sets itself apart by also minting two elastic supply coins, $vUSD, and $vETH – coins that will rebase to target the price of USD and Ethereum respectively. These tokens will function similar to “Ampleforth” in terms of rebasing functionality. The team behind the project has chosen to remain anonymous.

    The official website for YFV is https://yfv.finance.

    Summary

    • YFValue functions as a DeFi Yield aggregator, releasing a “vault”-like product which will deploy different strategies to farm DeFi yields.
    • There are 2 types of pools for $YFV farming: Seed Pool v2 and Balancer Pool.
    • Farming $YFV also generates $vUSD, and $vETH – these rebase to target the prices of USD and Ethereum respectively.
    • $YFV acts as a governance token for voting on decisions relating to the project. Some people also trade the token on exchanges.

    How do you farm $YFV

    Yield farmers can farm $YFV in two types of pools:

    Option 1: Seed Pool v2. This your classic yield farming pool – tokens are staked into the pool and $YFV will be distributed over time. There is no risk of impermanent loss

    1. Log onto https://yfv.finance/
    2. Connect your wallet
    3. On the “Seed Pool v2” page, deposit either USDT, USDC, TUSD or DAI (i.e. stablecoins)
    4. Click the Stake token button.

    Option 2: Balancer Pools. This is the higher risk pool, where funds are added to a Balancer liquidity pool. This means the funds will be actively used in automated market making and possibly risk impermanent loss. On YFV there is a total of 8 Balancer Pools. For the purposes of this tutorial, let’s look at the example of using the WETH Balancer Pool of WETH:YFV.

    1. Wrap Ethereum into $WETH using the ETH->WETH tool on the sidebar https://pools.balancer.exchange/#/pool/0x10DD17eCfc86101Eab956E0A443cab3e9C62d9b4
    2. Stake WETH & YFV in the Balancer Liquidity Pool https://pools.balancer.exchange/#/pool/0x10DD17eCfc86101Eab956E0A443cab3e9C62d9b4
    3. This will generate BPT tokens
    4. Stake BPT tokens on https://yfv.finance/stake in “Balancer (YFV-WETH)” Pool

    How to claim your YFV

    On the main page, you will easily be able to see how much you have staked into each pool, how much YFV is claimable and the ROI in USD.

    • To claim your rewards, click into the pool. There you will see several important items of information:
    • Next Epoch: When your next rewards will be paid out.
    • Your Estimated 24h Reward: Estimated earnings of YFV in 24 hours.
    • Rewards available: How many YFV tokens are available for collection.
    Staking pool (Image credit: Denome)

    You can claim your YFV rewards by simply clicking “Claim Rewards”. However, this requires gas fees so you need to consider the gas fees paid to stake your tokens in the first place etc and decide if it is actually worthwhile to collect your rewards.

    How are people profiting off YFV? What do I do with the YFV tokens?

    So what is the purpose of farming all these YFV tokens? YFV is the governance token of YF Value protocol. This means holders of the YFV token can use it to determinate and update the functionality of YFV protocol and change or update the rate of distribution of YFV tokens. Those that stake in YFV pools has the right to vote on-chain for the distribution rate. At the end of each week, the total votes will be automatically counted and the distribution rate of YFV will be automatically changed.

    On the other hand, you can also trade your tokens for ETH or USDT on exchanges such as Uniswap, Balancer, Hotbit, BKEX and Bilaxy. The below chart shows the value of YFV/USD.

    What is vUSD and vETH?

    As you can see in the above section “How to claim your YFV”, in addition to YFV tokens, staking YFV also gives you vUSD and vETH tokens. A total of 1,000,000 vUSD and 1,000 vETH will be distributed to all the yield farming pools according to their percentages. According to YFV, once all the pools have been exhausted of YFV, vUSD and vETH will use an oracle price feed to match the prices of USD and ETH. Similar to Ampleforth (AMPL), there will also be a rebase of vUSD and vETH every 24 hours.

    YFV Farming risks

    The biggest risk of YFV farming comes from potential vulnerabilities in the staking contract. on 30th August 2020 YFV announced that the audit of YFV Protocol had been successfully completed by The Arcadia Group. According to YFV, the audit identified a small number of low severity issues relating to code quality and health. No high or critical severity issues were found. The letter from Arcadia and a summary of the audit report can be found here.

    There is also the question of the limited supply of YFV tokens. There is only ever going to be 21,000,000 YFV tokens so some of the (perceived) value of the token is because of its limited supply. But what happens when every YFV token has been mined or distributed? This is unknown and it is worth noting that YFV is currently backed by any other asset.

    Minting Risks

    One of the biggest concerns about YFV was the presence of minter keys – which could potentially mint an infinite number of $YFV tokens. Developers have stated that all minter keys are burned, and pools which could mint new tokens have also had minting features removed.

    YFV had previously also confirmed and addressed community members’ concerns that there was a minting key oversight and exploit related to vUSD and vETH which would allow funds to be locked. What YFV did to remedy this was that they kept the minting keys until they were able to recover the funds that some users may have lost by farming in Pool 0. After that, the team transferred the governance keys of vETH and vUSD from YFV protocol to several members of the community to hold in safe custody. The community members selected were: Reuben Yap (COO of Zcoin), DeFi Dude, Matthew Neimerg (CEO of Cardinal Cryptography), TQT, Ian Ocasio and myself.

    More Information

    YFV Github
    YFV Medium and news
    YFV Telegram
    YFV Discord

    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.

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

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

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

    Background

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

    What is CertiK?

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

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

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

    CertiK Token ($CTK)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    What is CertiK Chain?

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

    Let’s dig into each of these components.

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

    CertiK’s Security Oracle

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

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

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

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

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

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

    CertiKShield Pool

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

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

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

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

    CertiK Chain Architecture

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

    CertiK Virtual Machine (CVM)

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

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

    DeepSEA Toolchain

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

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

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

    CertiK Governance

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

    CertiK accommodates five types of proposals from its community:

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • DAO Maker ($DAO): can retail investors become venture capitalists?

    DAO Maker ($DAO): can retail investors become venture capitalists?

    One notable challenge for every startup is finding the required capital to set up businesses. This is where concepts like venture capital help such businesses to meet the required level of capital to help them blossom. However, this has traditionally been a field accessible by funds and institutions with ample resources.

    DAO Maker is here to improve the process for both parties by respectively creating growth technologies and funding frameworks for startups, and reducing risks for investors.

    Background and Team

    The Founder of DAO Maker is Christoph Zaknun who entered the cryptocurrency space in 2017. The idea of private permissionless money and the gains associated with cryptocurrency lured him further into the creation of ICO DOG, a platform that allowed for investing in token presales.

    His Co-founder, Giorgio Marciano, also acts as DAO Maker’s CTO. Marciano has over 16 years of experience in developing software and products.

    Other notable team members include Hatu Sheikh, who has overseen over 35 crypto assets marketing campaigns, and Malte Christensen, who works as the COO and Head of Sales, Dima, who works as the Head of Visual Communication.

    What is DAO Maker?

    DAO Maker is a provider of a participation framework that allows retail investors (small-scale investors) to participate in global retail venture capital. Essentially, the primary goal of DAO Maker is to raise a fundraising platform that would allow for equal participation of crowd equity and tokens.

    The reality is that most of these small-time investors are likely unable to afford to invest large sums of money in venture capital. DAO fills the gap by enabling the average man on the street an opportunity to grow his own capital. This creates a win-win situation, the business is able to effectively provide a new source of funding while at the same time helping to improve the lives of many.

    Achievements of DAO Maker

    The platform has over time proven itself to retail investors. In the last 2 years, over 70,000 unique retail investors were signed up and allowed to participate in the funding of early-stage ventures. Apart from attracting investors, DAO Maker has also been able to attract startups with enormous potential to join the burgeoning ecosystem.

    Advantages of DAO Maker

    One major reason these startups join the DAO Maker ecosystem is simple: it provides them a safe, decentralized, and free environment that allows them to reach their potentials. In addition, the platform also has one of the leading solutions that would allow for the growth of these companies.

    As a result, the ecosystem has seen a marked increase in the demand for its services, which enabled them to begin working on a permission version.

    DAO Maker’s approach to fundraising stands out since not only does it connect startups with funding, it also assiduously works to assist them in facing challenges in the initial stages of their development.

    This is why the track record of the fundraising platform has defied many market cycles.

    DAO Maker’s Venture Bond

    DAO Maker’s new flagship product is Venture Bond. It allows startups to issue bonds that users can access, whilst users benefit from close to zero-risk venture investments.

    Venture Bonds work as follows:

    • startups issue Venture Bonds;
    • users purchase these bonds, giving the startups a principal sum of money;
    • startups then use the principal sum generated by bond purchases to generate interest through insured margin funding activities in decentralised finance (DeFi) or centralised finance (CeFi);
    • the generated interest serves as the funding for the startups;
    • the startup will then deposit tokens/equity to the Venture Bond holders; and
    • when the Venture Bond matures, the principal sum is returned to the buyer, so they are left with both their initial funding and also any newly acquired tokens or equity.
    DAO Maker's Venture Bonds
    DAO Maker’s Venture Bonds (Image credit: DAO Maker)

    Other DAO Maker Services

    Other notable services of DAO Maker are Refundable Strong Holder Offering and Dynamic Coin Offering.

    Strong Holder Offering

    Strong holder offerings are designed to build a community that would actively participate in providing an increased level of awareness for a company, and at the same time, induce confidence by imposing a strict refund policy.

    DAO Maker strong holder offerings
    DAO Maker strong holder offerings (Image credit: DAO Maker)

    Dynamic Coin Offering

    For dynamic coin offerings, 100% of the circulating supply is backed by a notable portion of the funds raised during the sale.

    DAO Maker then escrows this fund through a trusted and insured custodian, allowing the platform users the opportunity to claim a refund within a specified period.

    Social Mining

    One of the earliest offerings of DAO Maker is Social Mining, which has played a pivotal role in the successful launch of some tokens in the space. The software was conceptualized in 2018, and since then, it has seen various upgrades and usage, which made it an essential part of the DAO Maker community.

    What social mining does is simple; it enables any project to create token-based incentives that encourages community members to offer value. In other words, it helps energize a project’s community to participate in its growth and development.

    The first use of this software was with LTO Network, where it served as a core component in the community creation of the project, and subsequently enjoyed tremendous growth despite the bear market of 2018. Despite the notable success of this first project (LTO), there were still some notable lapses like the dependence of the software on centralized involvement, which negated the core idea of building a decentralized and self-organizing community in the first place.

    However, since then, the team of developers have developed the software to allow pluggable DAOs and also allowing for stake-based voting. The voting allowed the community to determine the value each token holder contributed to the project. This voting system became a quite effective distribution network that was decentralized as token holders were the ones in charge.

    As it stands, work has already begun on the two key pathways social mining is being geared to: granting permissionless support for tokenized startups and permissioned access for equity startups.

    DAO Maker Token ($DAO)

    DAO, the protocol’s native token currently allows its holders to stake in the platform and enjoy governance power in submitting proposals, as well as vote on them.

    By participating in governance, stakers would also receive a part of the fee generated from the source. And in order to promote long-term participation, the staked DAO tokens are locked for a period of time.

    As can be seen below, more utilities for the DAO token are in the works.

    Conclusion

    The idea behind DAO Maker is to create a platform where startups can enjoy early stage exposure from retailers. Thus, DAO Maker could be a single platform that elevates the capabilities of ordinary retail investors. The platform would also enable them to be issued with equity, while others are issued with tokens. All in all, the platform will enable varying levels of downside protection as early-stage startups face inevitable risks in their early days.

    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.

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

    Oddz Finance ($ODDZ): decentralised options trading?

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

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

    Background

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

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

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

    What is Oddz Finance?

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

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

    Products of Oddz Finance

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

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

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

    Attributes of Oddz Finance

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

    Liquidity Pool

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

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

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

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

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

    ODDZ Token

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

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

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

  • Coin DeFi($COIN): Cross-chain P2P DEX powered by AI?

    Coin DeFi($COIN): Cross-chain P2P DEX powered by AI?

    Coin DeFi ($COIN) aims to disrupt finance services by democratizing the industry, returning financial sovereignty to the people via decentralized Finance (DeFi). Through Coin Protocol, anyone can make cross-border and peer-to-peer transactions with ease and convenience, without incurring expensive fees. It also offers greater profit-generating opportunities through its stake-based incentive program.


    Background

    Coin DeFi is a project founded by Damon Nam (also the project’s CEO), who worked with Microsoft for 16 years, and has more than 20 years of experience in the tech industry. The team’s CTO, Byron Levels, also worked with Microsoft for 8 years.

    A group of advisors coming from different fields of expertise is supporting the development of the platform. These are professionals who have been known to work on blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and marketing initiatives, such as Christina Apatow, founder of FetchyFox, Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable, Alex Mashinsky, founder of the Celsius Network, and Jeremy Gardener, founder of Augur.

    What is Coin DeFi?

    Coin DeFi is an Ethereum-based DeFi platform designed to facilitate a peer-to-peer transaction system that implements a community-based governance model. Through the platform, users can conveniently conduct cross-border money transfers, purchase cryptocurrencies, and earn additional profit from their assets through staking.

    There are two main components to the Coin ecosystem, namely, the COIN protocol and COIN token.

    COIN Protocol

    The COIN protocol is the project’s blockchain platform powered by smart contracts. The deployment of smart contracts enables the network to achieve greater performance and scalability while facilitating peer-to-peer transactions without the need for any third-party oversight.

    The COIN token is the backbone of the protocol’s economy. It is the platform’s native cryptocurrency asset that primarily functions as a medium of exchange as well as a staking token. It is also required for the execution of smart contracts on the platform and in backing the incentive scheme for the protocol’s liquidity providers. More details on this later.

    COIN Exchange

    The platform also features a non-custodial, peer-to-peer crypto-assets exchange. COIN Exchange is a cross-chain, decentralized wallet and exchange supported by smart contracts that enable atomic swaps complemented with AI technology.

    Some of the digital assets that can be traded in the protocol are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and a selection of ERC-20-compliant tokens. Since the platform features cross-chain atomic swaps, a user can trade any token with another digital asset through the platform, even if they belong to different chains.

    To facilitate these peer-to-peer trustless, and cross-chain swaps on the exchange, it utilizes Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLC). Basically, this is a system that requires transaction recipients to first acknowledge payments by way of a cryptographic proof within a defined time period, which is also the same technical framework implemented in Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.

    Liquidity

    Liquidity is a common concern amongst many decentralized exchanges (DEXs). To address this, COIN partnered with Coinbase to leverage their order books. This is facilitated by a matching algorithm that combines the liquidity in COIN and Coinbase order books.

    What the platform earns from transaction fees, they use for their COIN buyback programs and pool deposits. Here, half of what they earn is redistributed to liquidity providers and market makers as a reward. The rest is allocated to buy COIN tokens back to support its supply of liquidity and staking reserves.

    Governance Model

    The governance of the platform follows the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) model, one that is community-driven.

    In this framework, COIN holders are considered the protocol’s stakeholders. Developers on the platform can propose protocol amendments, upgrades, features, and other changes, which stakeholders have to vote on before they are deployed. If the community doesn’t agree with any proposed modification on the protocol, it can be rejected by the community if it doesn’t garner enough votes.

    Coin DeFi’s Native Token ($COIN)

    COIN is the platform’s native utility token. Apart from functioning as a medium of exchange, the token can be used to pay for the platform’s transaction fees, staking, and voting. The incentive system of the platform also utilizes COIN tokens as its rewards.

    COIN is also a network access token, which means that the token is required to execute smart contracts, represent their voting rights, and compensate liquidity providers.

    $COIN Buybacks (Source: CoinDefi Pitch Deck)

    Staking

    $COIN can be used to supply liquidity to the platform. Furthermore, there are smart contracts designed to enable staking functions on the protocol. COIN holders only need to deposit their tokens and lock them in smart contracts. In return, they can earn additional COIN tokens as a reward.

    The reward for stakers is in proportion with the amount that they staked, prevailing interest rates, and the duration of their stake.

    A portion of the COIN tokens deposited on staking smart contracts goes to the platform’s staking reserve. This is used to supply funds that are redistributed to long-term COIN stakers. Around 25% of all COIN tokens in circulation fills the supply of this pool.

    $COIN Distribution (Source: CoinDefi Pitch Deck)

    Coin DAO

    The protocol also enables the implementation of a DAO, through a stakeholder model represented by COIN tokens, which enables the community to gain better control over the direction of the platform, including the introduction of new products, amendments to the existing protocol, and other forms of protocol modification, through a stake-based voting system.

    COIN holders can deposit tokens in the governance smart contract within the platform. The amount of tokens that holders lock in these contracts guarantee them an equivalent voting power on the platform. For example, a user who has locked 100 COIN tokens gains an equivalent of 100 votes as a consequence.

    Conclusion

    There are a lot of DeFi projects in the cryptocurrency space today. While Coin DeFi’s objective is a promising alternative away from the traditional financial system, it certainly comes with a lot of other competitors in DeFi offering the same financial products and services as well.

    From where the project stands today, it still has a lot to prove when compared with the more prominent DeFi platforms and exchanges. Perhaps its biggest strength is its AI assistant implementation to support platform users, but we have yet to see how that will be developed for the benefit of its user base. As a relatively young DeFi project, how it will grow its own community in the months ahead is going to be a significant factor in assessing how successful the project can be.

    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.

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

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

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

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

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

    Background

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

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

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

    What is Moonbeam Network?

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

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

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

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

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

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

    How Moonbeam Works

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Glimmer token (GLMR)

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

    GLMR is used to:

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

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

    River token (RIVER)

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

    Governance on Moonbeam

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

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

  • ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) has been a standout project in the cryptocurrency industry since its creation in 2017 by San Francisco based company, SmartContract. The Company is renowned for being a decentralised oracle solution, they act as a middleware agent between traditional data sources, blockchain projects and smart contracts (which drive Decentralised Finance (DeFi) projects) using their $LINK token. Partnership wise, the Company has been linked with national governments like the Chinese government and are consistently building new partnerships with major brands. Clearly, ChainLink is a company that any crypto or blockchain enthusiast should have an understanding of, so here we have compiled a complete guide to this revolutionary project.

    ChainLink has prominence because they solved the Oracle Problem. The oracle problem originates from an issue with smart contracts, which are coding instructions that would automatically execute under specific conditions on blockchain networks. Smart contracts are. also immutable, cost effective and self-executing, so technically they are perfect for automating transactions which are transparent and have zero chance of failure. These smart contracts derive their data from “Oracles” (i.e. data sources, APIs etc) , and this is where the problem lies. Smart contracts are only as “smart” as the information fed to them by the oracles. If you feed a smart contract with malicious code or bad data, the smart contract will still process it anyway because it is just code, and what comes out would be incorrect or unpredictable. This is known as the “Oracle Problem”.

    That all changed when ChainLink worked out how to retrieve and share information from the Oracles without jeopardizing the security of the blockchain. This was by creating a decentralized blockchain that bridges between the Oracles and the smart contracts. While researching this, I stumbled upon a 스포츠토토 사이트 추천, which provided insights into secure and reliable platforms for sports betting. The system is built on a collection of individual nodes that act as smart contracts on their own to gather the information and, as a result, have created a smart contract infrastructure. Now, instead of having to blindly trust a source, smart contracts can access resources like data feeds, traditional bank account payments, and web APIs.

    ChainLink infrastructure
    ChainLink infrastructure (Image credit: Data Driven Investor)

    Why is this important? It is because ChainLink believes its technology will do away with traditional legal agreements and instead the information will be stored on blockchain forever. 

    ChainLink is also relevant to the cryptocurrency industry because its Oracles also provide a solution for decentralized applications (dapps) as they too provide a bridge to the outside world.

    The $LINK token is ChainLink’s native cryptocurrency and was set up on the Ethereum network using an ERC677 token whose functionality is based on the ERC-20 token standard, it also boasts ‘transfer and call’ functionality. The $LINK token is used as staking for a bidding system for provision of information and for rewards, as will be seen in the following paragraph.

    The decentralized oracle network works through a two way system between those who wish to purchase data and those who bid to be the providers of the said data. Providers, also known as “Node Operators” stake ChainLink’s $LINK tokens to make bids to the intended data purchaser. If they win, they must provide the information required by the purchaser on chain through their APIs. The “winning” Node Operator’s payout is determined by the number of operators using the site, and the Oracles implement this decision. Payouts are in the form of the $LINK token. 

    This system has a number of benefits. When ChainLink is popular with Node Operators, then their value increases. Not only that, but Node Operators are also rewarded for accumulating $LINK tokens through easier access to larger contracts, also increasing $LINK’s value. Those who act maliciously, however, are punished by removal of $LINK tokens. 

    As you can see the $LINK token allows for self regulating governance of the ChainLink network. Some have suggested that payouts needn’t be in $LINK, but rather any other cryptocurrency would have done the job. Yet, ChainLink’s price performances in recent times have suggested the team in San Francisco were right to go down the native token route.

    The $LINK token can be traded on exchanges and is gaining in popularity too. Currently it ranks as the 8th highest market cap according to Coingecko. Available on most major exchanges like Coinbase Pro, Binance and OKEX ChainLink’s token has been a standout performer in recent months. Check out our Coinbase Pro review, Binance review and OKEX review.

    Unlike other companies who rely on PR and word of mouth to promote themselves, ChainLink has gone about it by courting various companies and governments around the world. Their CEO Sergey Nazarov has been on a charm offensive for a while and has secured numerous allies. This is because ChainLink provides businesses the benefits of decentralization, trust and immutability, all without them having to make a new system. Here’s some of ChainLink’s key partners.

    Other Cryptocurrencies- Bitcoin and Hyperledger

    In terms of the cryptocurrency field, ChainLink’s oracle services are available on other blockchains such as Bitcoin and Hyperledger. This openness has also opened up the door for a number of high profile partnerships with other blockchain projects that have made commentators and traders take notice of the Company.

    Synthetix Network

    In March 2019, ChainLink and Synthetix announced a partnership with the aim of improving the Synthetix platform’s price feeds. SNX, the company’s native token, receives data feeds using Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network. 

    Celer Network

    ChainLink has been used by Celer to bring accurate real world data to their layer-2 scaling solution. Now, payments executed off chain can be registered on chain making the real world and blockchain more cohesive. Their joint statement described their union as, “a combination of off-chain conditional state transition with an on-chain oracle dependency. Or put it simply, introducing the capability to combine real-world information and layer-2 scalability.”

    ChainLink and their oracles are not just reserved for the cryptocurrency industry. The use cases and partnerships stretch to major internet companies like Google. The search engine company integrated ChainLink’s oracles for its blockchain cloud service. According to a blog post, the oracles will help with data communication between Big Query and other blockchains on the cloud.  

    Chinese Government Blockchain Service Network (BSN)

    In June, the Chinese state backed Blockchain Service Network (BSN) announced its intentions to bring ChainLink in on a consultancy and application basis to help develop the BSN. Reports at the time suggested ChainLink will foster the creation of a “service hub” which would form the bedrock of its “internet of blockchains.” For a full breakdown of the partnership which also involved Cosmos, click here. 

    SWIFT 

    SWIFT is a major financial institution/telecommunications company which connects the banking world. They have brought ChainLink on board and are regularly using their technology. SWIFT began using ChainLink’s technology as now any real-world money transfer can be sent into the blockchain from SWIFT via Chainlink. So ChainLink now allows cohesion between traditional banking and the crypto sphere. 

    Other partnerships

    The partnerships don’t stop there. ChainLink has teamed up with betting company, BetProtocol to provide decentralized Esports and Sports Oracles on their website. DocuSign, an online contract company has also brought them onboard. 

    Overall, it is clear that ChainLink is an important figure within the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Quite how important the oracle technology proves to be will be easier to judge as the world understands and develops blockchain technology. Though currently, all signs point towards a more optimistic outlook

    As for the $LINK token, they are clearly a standout which has risen rapidly in the past few months, having gone from $3.72 in early May 2020 to reach a new all-time high of over $14. In fact, as a Forbes report noted in July 2020, the $LINK token has “soared 1,000% in just over 12 months”. One factor in the token’s recent success is the increase in partnerships since 2019. Another reason is definitely the recent DeFi fever, especially since ChainLink and the DeFi space are so interlinked as ChainLink provides oracles for the smart contracts that power various DeFi projects.

    We can also see that people also have positive thoughts on the project, a huge majority of users on Coingecko voting positively.

    Zeus Capital, purportedly an asset management and research firm published a report on 15th July 2020 accusing Chainlink of being a classic “pump and dump”. The Report alleges ChainLink of using techniques such as inside trading, artificial transactions, overhyping the project, and questioning whether ChainLink actually has partnerships with companies like Google and Oracle. According to Zeus Capital, this was to drive up the price of $LINK prior to the team dumping the coin onto innocent investors. They concluded their Report saying that “Based on our findings we have opened a short position in LINK and recommend you doing the same with a target price of USD0.07 and potential upside of nearly 100%.”

    In addition to promoting the Report through advertisements on Twitter, screenshots have also been circulating saying that Zeus Capital was offering Twitter cryptocurrency influencers rewards of up to 5 Bitcoin to post price analysis indicating that LINK prices would fall.

    Twitter user @iceberg trolls Zeus Capital asking for 5 BTC to post bad chart and Zeus Capital actually seems to accept the offer.

    Supporters of ChainLink retaliated, accusing Zeus Capital of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). On the day the Report was published, prices for LINK went up to $8.73. Meanwhile, the real Zeus Capital, a prominent investment banking operation based in London came forward on 20th July 2020 to say it did not produce the Reports.

    Zeus Capital then doubled down on their allegations against ChainLink by publishing a follow-up report on 31st July 2020 titled “Exposing Chainlink’s Pump and Dump Scheme”. They also doubled down on their stance in the Report: “The current tokenomics and lack of commercial applications cannot justify LINK’s price. As a result, we recommend short selling LINK with a target price of 7 US cents”. The Follow-up Report also concludes with a disclosure that they hold a short position on $LINK.

    Despite these damning reports, prices for LINK continued to remain strong. This meant that those who were shorting LINK, i.e. counting on prices to drop, were getting squeezed out of their positions. This all came to a head on the morning of 8th August 2020 when prices for LINK crossed over the USD $11 threshold. During that time, data showed that millions worth of Chainlink short positions were partially or fully liquidated. A notable example of this was a short position worth around USD$20 million which seems to have been entirely liquidated, leaving the wallet pretty dry with only USD $299.66 remaining.

    It is noted that there is no conclusive evidence to say that any of these liquidated accounts belonged to Zeus Capital. However one thing is certain- ChainLink, helped by its supporters i.e. the Link Marines were able to successfully shake off the FUD. And as at the time of this update, LINK prices had peaked at USD$14.34, almost double the prices when the first Report was published.

    2020 has been a favorable year for Chainlink ($LINK). It has been one of the best performing coins and secured its spot in the top10 assets ranking by mcap. It is now sitting at n°9 with a market cap close to $8 billion dollars.

    Chainlink is widely recognized as the most used oracle in crypto and has been a backbone for Defi’s explosion. Many are the collaborations announced, over 300, not only on the Ethereum blockchain. Chainlink is also expanding to other chains such as Polkadot and Tezos. Results have exceeded expectations and the company has also been recognized, among 6 other blockchain companies (Lightning Labs, MakerDAO, Elliptic, Bitmark, Ripio, Veridium Labs) by the World Economic Forum among the 100 most promising Technology Pioneers of 2020.

    The team has allegedly doubled its size and acquired important strategic pieces. Ari Juels, now Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs, was one of the 2 writers of the first Proof of Work paper. He has also developed Deco, a privacy-preserving technology now acquired by Chainlink, at Cornell University together with other researchers.

    “Deco allows oracles to attest to the validity of information in trusted databases/systems without exposing it to the public or even the oracle itself using … Zero-Knowledge Proofs. Essentially, the oracle can join a user-initiated web session to attest to some requested information— possibly to verify someone’s identity, approve their financial information, or check key government records”.

    The data will never leave the selected database so the info will remain stored in trusted locations, enhancing the privacy and usability of the blockchain. An important possible application could be transactions that can meet KYC (Know Your Customer) or AML (Ant Money Laundering) requirements without exposing sensitive information on-chain.

    2021 looks certainly promising. The company will continue with its focus on security while bringing as much data as possible on-chain, from different sectors. This will provide huge improvements and development to the whole crypto space.


    Sources: Decrypt, Maxbit

    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.

  • Yield ($YLD): An Incentivized P2P Lending dApp?

    Yield ($YLD): An Incentivized P2P Lending dApp?

    Yield ($YLD) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency lending/borrowing platform with incentivized mechanism. Decentralized finance (DeFi) has opened new profit-making avenues for people who have additional funds to spare. Instead of just keeping assets in their wallets, DeFi has introduced several models in facilitating peer-to-peer lending and borrowing. Holders of digital assets can now earn interest income from supplying their funds to those who are willing to borrow. Yield introduced an individualized lending pool for each user who wants to earn interest income from their assets.

    What is Yield?

    Yield is an Ethereum-based, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency lending platform. It connects available lenders to borrowers without the need for any third-party to permit the approval of loan requests. Lenders can also conveniently place their offers on the platform which will then link to current requests.

    Yield Lending Page (Source: Yield ‘Lending’ Beta App)

    Loans made on the platform can be repaid anytime the borrower wishes to. Furthermore, lenders receive a fixed and guaranteed interest income which starts with 2% of the principal amount of the loan.

    The borrower also earns YLD as a reward for paying their loans. As of now, the reward for borrowers stands at up to 350 YLD.

    Yield Lending Page (Source: Yield ‘Borrowing’ Beta App)

    This peer-to-peer set-up for a lending platform is cheaper and more profitable for both the lender and borrower, as opposed to the traditional system of lending. After all, in conventional financial firms, looking for available borrowers who will not default on their loans is difficult. On the other hand, borrowers also find it difficult to pass the rigorous financial standards imposed by traditional banking institutions for their lending instruments.

    The Yield project is still in its Beta stage. There are no recent updates yet as to when the program will be launched on the mainnet.

    With Yield, the power to leverage on one’s assets is vested to the owner. Not any bank nor any other financial institution.

    How does Yield Differ from Other Crypto-Lending Platforms?

    Loans made on Yield do not follow the money-market model in supplying funds to borrowers. What does this mean? Let us first take a look at how its competitors do it.

    The biggest crypto-lending platforms, MakerDAO or Compound Finance, for example, have their own pool of funds for specific digital assets available for lending. This is what users see from dashboards that reflect a list of ERC-20 assets, or whichever asset the platform is supporting.

    The pools from these platforms come from users who lock their tokens in smart contracts that are designed to supply the requests of borrowers. The supply of these tokens and the number of its borrowers affect the calculation of its annual percentage yield (APY). So normally, the change in the depth of the pool also impacts its APY.

    While the commonly employed method of lending in most platforms ensures that lenders earn interest from their idle assets and borrowers have funds to access, there are some disadvantages as well.

    One disadvantage that Yield is trying to address is the potential volatility in lending APY. Since the APY for asset pools are automatically computed, lenders do not have control over it. This affects borrowing rates and the amount of profit lenders can earn from supplying funds to a pool.

    And most of the time, borrowers lose out on these market shifts, specifically because this can lead to higher collateralization requirements and risks of liquidation.

    Personal Non-Pooled Loans

    Loans made on Yield are individualized. This means that the supply of a particular asset that you are offering will not be affected by other loan offers since it is not pooled. There are no supply-to-borrower dynamics that will drive wild fluctuations in a lender’s expected APY as well.

    In these loans, borrowers stand to benefit from the transaction too. Yield rewards good peers: those who pay their loans through its native token $YLD. This is expected to incentivize lending and borrowing, a feature that not all crypto-lending platforms have.

    $YLD Token

    $YLD token is the platform’s native utility token. Interest fees on any asset borrowed from the platform are paid in YLD. Transaction fees also use $YLD.

    According to the team behind the project, the purpose of these fees is to discourage malicious actors from taking advantage of the platform and incentivize user activity.

    YLD’s token supply model is deflationary, which means that each time YLD is used to pay for transaction fees, the YLD is burned.

    Additionally, holding YLD gives them benefits such as a 25% discount from transaction fees, an increase in YLD rewards for borrowers, and lower collateral liquidation ratios for borrowers.

    Yield Garden

    Yield has also set up a liquidity staking pool. Through the Garden, users can stake their YLD and earn rewards in doing so. Available staking pairs are YLD-ETH and YLD-RFI.

    Yield Garden (Source: Yield website – The Garden)

    According to the team, the Garden is powered by a slightly modified version of the smart contract from Ampleforth’s (AMPL) geyser. There is a cooldown period for stakers (the time that stakers are not yet allowed to unstake or withdraw) which is set at 7 days.

    Unstaking also incurs 0.75% unstaking fees if it is done earlier than 14 days since the initial stake, 0.5% after 14 days but before 27 days, and 0.35% after 27 days.

    As of now, there is already a total of $2,456,403.31 staked in the platform.

    Conclusion

    While the DeFi space is still relatively young, it certainly has a lot of potential in helping cryptocurrency holders make the most out of their assets. There are a lot of projects today in the space that aims to provide passive income to asset owners and Yield is among those. As new as it is, the approach of the project in the business of crypto-lending seems positive and promising.

    However, how this new approach will work in maintaining a steady supply of funds for borrowers to tap remains to be seen. As of today, Yield’s individualized pooling method on loan supply cannot assure that there will be enough assets to borrow every time. Even with all things considered, Yield is still definitely a project that the DeFi community has to watch out for.

    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.