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.

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

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

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

    Background

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

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

    What is Public Mint?

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

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

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

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

    Features of Public Mint

    Fiat-Native Blockchain

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

    Simplified Key Storage

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

    Direct Fiat Access

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

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

    Public Mint wallet
    Pay others from your public mint wallet

    Multi-custodial

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

    Public Mint supported merchants
    Public Mint supports several major payment merchants

    Instant Transaction Settlement

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

    Ethereum-Compatible

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

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

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

  • Benchmark Protocol ($MARK): Supply Elastic Collateral and Hedging Device

    Benchmark Protocol ($MARK): Supply Elastic Collateral and Hedging Device

    Benchmark Protocol ($MARK) is a supply elastic, stablecoin-alternative that connects traditional finance with the cryptocurrency market by revolving around the volatility index. It provides liquidity to the DeFi space during periods of high volatility to optimize value and stability.


    Background

    Founded by David Mass, the Benchmark protocol aims to bridge the digital currency market to traditional financing. The project was set in motion by a team composed of investors, blockchain engineers, and financial experts to strengthen security and the efficacity of loan collateral within the blockchain.

    The sudden selling pressure experienced by the crypto market in march of 2020 prompted the team to act as they understood the risks within DeFi. The Birth of Benchmark exhibits the unique drive of the ambitious team behind the platform.

    Ultimately, Benchmark’s team looks to be a household name within the market by staying relevant within the mainstream DeFi space and optimizing their product to the needs of the blockchain.

    What is Benchmark Protocol?

    Benchmark Protocol is a supply-elastic collateral and hedging system driven by a volatility index. Simply put, the Benchmark Protocol lessens liquidation events and hedges risk with its very own cryptocurrency, the $MARK token.

    Furthermore, Benchmark’s algorithm functions as a rule-based utility that adjusts supply, and is supported by the CBOE volatility index (VIX) and deviations from the target metric, which is equal to 1 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) unit. The Benchmark team believes that implementing the SDR creates a larger and far more efficient use case rather than exposure to just one currency.

    The Benchmark Protocol provides a dynamic and supply-elastic token in the MARK token, as it manages to connect traditional capital markets to DeFi. The platform’s protocol is unique and efficient; completely separate from the crypto market prices and trends.

    The protocol prides itself as an ideal hedge exhibiting total transparency with all users and transactions making a secure and reliable solution for the DeFi sector. Its immutability is robust enough to prevent systematic risk arising from cease and desist orders.

    Benchmark’s innovative approach has isolated the recurring issue of overshooting the target peg within the varying market conditions. Through the MARK token, the platform can effectively rebalance supply within a 5-hour window after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ensuring the reduction of arbitrage activity for token users.

    The distinct algorithm effectively adjusts to trends within DeFi while implementing traditional finance market strategies. The protocol actively monitors and regulates the total supply of tokens to compensate for anticipated price movements. This method helps in reducing excessive amplitudes of price percentage changes.

    SDR

    SDR Breakdown (Source: Benchmark Protocol website)

    Since its implementation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the international reserve asset SDR has been an important factor concerning the health of the international financial system. SDR value is supported by five currencies: the Euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, U.S. dollar, and British pound sterling.

    The Benchmark Protocol has been targeting the SDR’s historic price of $1.4075, with a long-term view utilizing macro-exposure to the world’s most established currency basket. The SDR is a superior and secured peg that will not face a tough path should the US Dollar experience strong inflation.

    The Benchmark Protocol primarily benefits from SDR diversified and global currency risk instead of single currency risk, which will attract more users globally, thereby, contributing to the growth of the project long term.

    Volatility Index (VIX)

    Described as the market’s “fear indicator”, VIX is a real-time market index used to estimate the market’s expectations for the relative strength of near-term price changes and volatility typically within the S&P 500 index (SPX).

    The blockchain-based platform relies on the VIX as an accurate and suitable predictive element for price development. The VIX enables the platform to be ahead of its competitors by allowing it to be more dynamic and proactive in the DeFi market.

    The Press

    The platform values Liquidity providers a great deal, as they are essential for the proper operation of the MARK token as a stable collateral utility. Furthermore, liquidity mining is an essential component of the Benchmark Protocol during the bootstrap phase.

    The Press is the second phase of Benchmark’s liquidity providers rewards distribution program. It is the largest token allocation with 27% of the total supply provided to liquidity mining initiatives that compensate the liquidity providers’ active participation in the Benchmark network. The Press will feature core MARK Pairs, such as MARK-ETH and MARK-USDC on Uniswap.

    The team plans to implement The Press for a period of 3 to 7 years, all depending on distribution velocity.

    MARK Token

    Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Mark Token is Benchmark’s native asset. MARK is an ERC-20 utility token and was released to the market while taking into consideration SDR and the VIX. So, MARK is secured to the world’s most stable currency (the SDR). Additionally, the token’s rebalances are smart and fast, derived from VIX.

    Overall, Benchmark’s native token can be described as a supply-elastic collateral utility designated to increase liquidity during periods of high volatility and in direct correspondence with global equities markets.

    MARK is a dynamic digital asset separate from other crypto implementations as it does not rival traditional fiat or paper currencies, which enables token holders to rely on a global currency risk profile versus a single currency risk profile. Additionally, through the platform’s utility token, users are shielded from inflation and further benefit from collateralization of risks.

    XMARK Token

    xMARK is another ERC-20 utility token within the platform, which represents MARK but is not affected by rebases. xMark is designed to help move the platform towards on-chain governance. The token is minted by holders staking MARK tokens within the single-asset staking platform and is currently available on Binance Smart Chain and Quickswap.

    Conclusion

    Overall the Benchmark protocol manages to deal with the issues of volatility and inconsistency within the blockchain elegantly. Through MARK and xMARK utility tokens, users are ensured that rules-based, non-dilutive, and supply-elastic collateral will facilitate their crypto journey.

    The DeFi sector is set to benefit tremendously from such technology, which provides a unique product that is currently lacking in the blockchain.

    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.

  • The Graph ($GRT) – The Next Level of Decentralized Apps

    The Graph ($GRT) – The Next Level of Decentralized Apps

    What is The Graph?

    The Graph ($GRT) is a decentralized and open-sourced indexing protocol for blockchain data. Developers can build and publish different APIs, which are referred to as subgraphs, and perform queries through the GraphQL.


    The platform can easily be used to look for any Ethereum data conveniently through simple queries. This addresses the common problem faced by a lot of other blockchain indexing platforms.

    Blockchain applications face difficulties in keeping properties like finality, chain reorganization, and security in their process of fulfilling query tasks. These are also potential complications that applications usually address, but unfortunately make the process of querying time-consuming. The Graph has a workaround for this, and it is built exactly for that purpose.

    Through “subgraphs,” The Graph indexes blockchain data, which users can access via the GraphQL API. According to the team, they will make it fully decentralized in the future, where more nodes will be involved and made responsible for maintaining the index.

    The interest for the platform is steadily growing. In fact, they hit over a billion queries last June 2020. This was right at the time when decentralized finance was also gaining much institutional attention.

    Background

    Yaniv Tal, co-founder and CEO of The Graph, together with his team, has created an indexing protocol meant to ease the process of accessing blockchain data. Tal and his co-founders had personally witnessed themselves how difficult it was to actually create new applications on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Thanks to their experience on applications, they have found out that there is actually no decentralized indexing and querying softwares yet for blockchain. The problem back then was that developers had to come up with their own method to gather data and transform them from different sources.

    The mission of the platform, which Tal and his team developed, is to help create applications that require no servers and make Web3 accessible to everyone.

    How Does The Graph Index Data?

    To index Ethereum-based data, The Graph uses the “subgraph manifest.” This refers to the description of a subgraph containing data about smart contracts, blockchain events, and the procedure in mapping event data with one another, before they are all kept in the platform’s database.

    The flow of the data from transactions, subgraph manifests, and the database follows a particular structure. All of it begins with decentralized applications that are adding data to the Ethereum blockchain through the help of smart contracts.

    All of that data will contain a record of all events and transactions up until the point that they have achieved finality. Then comes the Graph Node, which scans the whole blockchain database, gathers new data, and filters out those that are relevant to the queries that users make. To make the indexing much easier, it identifies every information that answers the questions from subgraphs.

    GraphQL is the link between blockchain data and the application that a user wants to provide it with. But then again, it is through the Graph Node that users can deliver searches to the platform. After the whole process, users can finally look at the results of their query from their applications.

    Basically, this is how the cycle of data query and indexing works in the platform. Users can refer to the Graph Explorer to scan through the subgraphs that are already in the platform. Each of these subgraphs have a playground where users can perform queries through GraphQL.

    How the Graph Works? (source: https://thegraph.com/docs/introduction#how-the-graph-works)

    As of latest, The Graph can support the indexing of data coming from Ethereum, IPFS, and PoA networks. There are more networks that the platform will support in the future. But right now, they already have more than 2,300 subgraphs deployed, which developers for applications utilize. Some of these applications are AAVE, Aragon, Balancer, DAOstack, Uniswap, Synthetix, and many others.

    There is a lot of institutional support for The Graph network. Michael Anderson of Framework Ventures, said in a press release that they “couldn’t be happier to back Yaniv and the team, and we look forward to helping grow the decentralized network when it launches.”

    Hayden Adams of Uniswap also shared how useful the platform was for their analytics needs: “As a company we don’t manage or run our own databases. … Right now it’s pretty difficult to get historic data from the Ethereum blockchain in an efficient way.”

    Their plan, apart from expanding to other blockchains soon, is to make it community-owned and governed in the future. This is also in response to the shift of many blockchain applications to a decentralized model of governance.

    Key Roles

    The platform’s whole ecosystem is composed of the following:

    • Consumers – These are the users who pay indexers for their searches. It could also be web services or any other software linked with The Graph.
    • Indexers – These are the nodes that maintain the indexing function of the platform.
    • Curators – Using GRTs, curators identify to the subgraphs the information that is valuable for the platform’s index.
    • Delegators – These are other stakers who delegate their GRT to existing indexers and earn a portion of the rewards run by nodes.
    • Fishermen – They check whether the network’s response to queries is accurate.
    • Arbitrators – They decide whether an Indexer is malicious or not.

    The Graph Council

    The Graph plans to decentralize its governance in the future. This will most likely be similar with MakerDAO and Compound. At the point of the protocol’s maturity, the team plans to launch a Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) that would allow core interest groups to participate in important protocol decisions.

    Similar to other DAOs, the Graph Council, which will be the governing body for the technical parameters of the protocol, is also in charge of how The Graph Foundation allocates its native, utility tokens.

    Among their basic functions include decisions on allocating grants and ecosystem funding, protocol upgrades, protocol parameters, and other emergency decisions.

    GRT Token ($GRT)

    The Graph Token, or $GRT, is its native ERC-20 based token, which can serve as a medium of exchange and the reward distributed to community participants who function as Indexers, Curators, and Delegators.

    GRT token distribution
    GRT token distribution (Image source: The Graph)

    GRT also has a vesting and distribution schedule ranging between 6 months to 10 years depending on the bucket. Around 12.5% of the total token supply (i.e. 1,224,999,438 GRT) is expected to be in circulation at launch. However this figure is exclusive of stakeable but locked tokens.

    GRT token distribution at mainnet launch

    The Graph launched its mainnet at 9:00a.m. (PT) on 17th December 2020. Upon launch, GRT has been distributed to all of the participants of the public sale. Members of The Graph’s Curator Program also received an initial USD $1,000 worth in rewards, with the remainder to be distributed to them on a quarterly basis based on their contributions to the Program.

    The Graph Foundation also received around 20% of the supply for the future development of The Graph. In particular, contributors who want to help building on The Graph can apply to their Grants Program, around 1% of the total supply of GRT will be allocated to support these participants in 2021.

    Here’s a graph showing the GRT circulation over the course of 5 years from the date of launch (i.e. 17th December 2020 at 9:00a.m. PT)

    5-year GRT circulation schedule by Bucket
    5-year GRT circulation schedule by Bucket (Image source: The Graph)

    Indexers that assisted during the Testnet phase have also ben rewarded between USD$10,000 to USD$100,000 in GRT as a reward for their contributions.

    In addition, around 2% of the total GRT has been granted to several Education Programs and loans totalling around 2.5% had been made to independent ecosystem partners.

    Indexer Staking

    In order for users to stake in the nodes that operate the whole platform and sell their services in the query market, they have to lock their GRT. In return, they are given financial rewards. If the indexers work maliciously, like altering data intentionally, the GRT that they staked will be slashed.

    Mainnet now live!

    The Graph Network launched its main net on 17th December 2020 after 3 years of development! According to the team the mainnet launch includes the following components: Deployment of The Graph Network contracts on Ethereum mainnet, deployment of the GRT contract, distribution of GRT to takeovers, launch of the Bug County Program and new docs for network roles.

    With the mainnet launch, Indexers will first stress test and improve performance before supporting real query volume, which will be upwards of 5,000 queries per second. Of course, there will be rewards for Indexers who will now begin earning on-chain indexing rewards and query fees.

    Graph Roadmap: What’s next?

    Now that mainnet has launched, The Graph will continue building. The Team has stated that the Graph Foundation will work on building a production-ready Graph Explorer dApp and Gateway that will support all network contributors.

    The Graph is also open to any individuals or third-parties that want to build for the network and as mentioned previously, they an apply to the Grants Program or collaborate with other community contributors.

    Conclusion

    Looking at the current boom of the DeFi space, we can see how important it is for developers to be able to freely access blockchain data. Making the process faster and less difficult for everyone could potentially influence the growth of the space as well as its reliability, security, and capacity.

    Everyone saw the need to create a bridge of information between applications and blockchain data. The Graph sought out to answer that.

    And with the deployment of smart contracts that depend on user data, The Graph has proven itself to be easy to use, cost-efficient, and fast. The platform is seen as a promising tool to empower everyone in the community, especially those who are developing more use cases for the blockchain.

    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.

  • Shadows Network ($DOWS): new hub for synthetic assets?

    Shadows Network ($DOWS): new hub for synthetic assets?

    Shadows Network ($DOWS) aims to be a hub for people to issue, trade, lend and borrow synthetic assets. The protocol is built using the Substrate blockchain network and is compatible with the Polkadot ecosystem.

    Background

    Iror Chen and Bruce Lin lead the Shadows project. Apart from being the co-founders, they double as the CEO and CTO, respectively. The two have extensive experience in diverse fields. To elaborate, Chen previously worked for Amphenol Group while Lin worked for Baidu.

    Other Shadows team members include Ted Shao (co-founder and COO), Claire Cai (co-founder and CMO), Sue Xia (overseas CMO), and Liang Li (risk control).

    Shadows’ list of partners includes Consensys Lab, NGC Capital, Polka Fund, Blocksync, DuckDAO, OneMax Capital, Oasis Capital, among others.

    What is Shadows?

    Shadows is a distributed platform focusing on the issuance, borrowing, lending, and trading of synthetic assets. The project leverages the Substrate framework that powers other popular DeFi networks like Polkadot.

    Note that synthetics are derivatives or clones of real-world assets. Derived assets can be of anything from cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices, fiat, and commodities. Also called synths, they enable holders to share in the profits and losses of an asset without necessarily having such asset in their portfolio. Doing so opens the DeFi scene to a global audience who would be locked out of the space.

    The platform sits on the Polkadot network as a parallel thread. As such, it has inter-chain compatibility with other platforms leveraging EOS and Ethereum to focus on synthetic assets. Cross-chain support opens the network to more blockchain-based assets. For instance, users can use Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) to create synths.

    Shadows integrates an off-chain worker to help capture the system outside the blockchain. Note that the platform uses the worker to replicate trusted oracles. Furthermore, the oracles receive data from external decentralized platforms to trigger activities inside the blockchain. Unfortunately, traditional oracles suffer from security, efficiency, and scalability.

    The worker employs Substrate allowing it to perform non-deterministic tasks such as encryption and web requests, and other long-running tasks. The Shadows network achieves the above features through a layered system, focusing on different aspects of synthesizing the assets.

    Critical Areas on the Synthetic Network

    Synthetic Asset Issuance Agreement

    The platform secures the synths using its native asset, DOWS (more on this later). Users deposit the token into a smart contract for them to gain a right to create synthetics on the network.

    Consequently, the created tokens are DOWS backed. To reclaim back their tokens, users have to burn their synths. Note that the platform needs a collateralization ratio of 800 percent.

    Synthetic Asset Transaction Agreement

    The agreements support the trading of synths. These agreements minimize slippage and insufficient liquidity. Also, they ease and provide efficient trading.

    Debt Collateral Lending Agreement

    The platform employs lending pools that hold users’ debt into the pool to facilitate lending activities. How this works is simple. To elaborate, the borrowers access the pool to place a synth debt.

    Next, they pay interest and receive the loan in synthesized USD (xUSD). The need for xUSD funding is to provide flexible financing.  This funding option offers a balance between demand, supply interest, and rates.

    What Drives the Shadows Network?

    Four significant aspects power the platform.

    1. Rewards system – Users are rewarded when they use the native token to create synths. However, the rewards only apply to those who have reached the needed collateralization ratio.
    2. Governance – In the DeFi scene, governance is everything. On Shadows, the native token gives holders a voice when making governance decisions. Some areas falling under community governance include upgrading.
    3. Staking – The base asset does more than just governance, the token can be staked as collateral and at the same time benefit from staking rewards.
    4. Trading bonus – This goes to DOWS holders and is generated by those trading on the platform.

    How Does Shadows Work?

    First, note that the platform is compatible and connects to Polkadot.

    How Shadows Network works
    How Shadows Network works

    It works as an off-chain enterprise that connects to various parts such as inflationary supply, fee pool, and external services. It connects to Polkadot as a single service.

    The Protocol Offers Three Types of Incentives.

    The first type of incentive is where a user is charged 0.3% as the trading fee. How is this an incentive? It’s because they can send it to a fee pool and receive a mortgage in terms of DOWS.

    However, the trading fee incentive’s applicability varies between users because it’s dependent on the amount of debt that the user has and the amount in the debt pool.

    The second type of incentive goes to mortgagors who benefit from holding the base asset on a weekly basis. Notably, the amount of bonus received depends on how much debt the mortgagor has in the debt pool.

    Third comes rewards for lenders in the lending pool. These incentives have a weekly timeline.

    The Shadow Token ($DOWS) tokenomics

    DOWS is the backbone of the Shadows network. Apart from governance, casting synths, lending, and distributing rewards, the token can also be used to power the token destruction mechanism.

    The destruction part utilizes the transactions and debit pool fee. And, it follows a fixed ratio of 30% per week. Note that the token’s destruction is automatically driven by a smart contract. Observe that this makes the native token a deflationary base asset.

    Shadows did a double Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on Ignition and DuckSTARTER. The allocation of tokens were as follows:

    • Ecological Incentives: 63% — 63,000,000
    • Early Investors: 20% — 20,000,000
    • Foundation: 10% — 10,000,000
    • Advisors: 5% —5,000,000
    • Liquidity Provision: 2% — 2,000,000

    The vesting periods for various allocations are as follows:

    Shadows ($DOWS) vesting period
    Shadows ($DOWS) vesting period

    Is Shadows Network safe?

    Recently the Shadows project faced some accusations because they are allegedly connected to another project that recently suffered an alleged “hack” of their smart contract.

    On 6th March 2021, the Team Tweeted to address the concerns, saying that their smart contract codes were audited twice by Certik. And on both occasions the contracts were found to be secure and met the highest security standards.

    The Team in their Tweet on 7th March 2021 also said that Shadows Network uses a proxy contract to upgrade its smart contract and deliver key functions such as issuing, trading, borrowing or lending synthetic assets on the network. Most notably, the proxy contract will deploy incentive DApps for users such as LP staking and DAO governance etc. From these Apps, 63 million $DOWS (representing 63% of the total supply of $DOWS) will be minted as a reward to the community. Once all 63 million $DOWS have been released, the Team will permanently remove the mint function from the Shadows smart contract. This has the effect of stopping the Team from producing any more $DOWS and most importantly, to potentially prevent the price of $DOWS from being diluted.

    Further, this proxy contract and ERC20 contract are kept secure through multisig and is on Openzeppelin- an open-sourced protocol. The Team also notes that other popular names in the cryptocurrency scene i.e. Compound and Coinbase also use Openzeppelin.

    Conclusion

    Shadows helps bring traditional assets onto the blockchain. In doing so, the platform opens the conventional assets to more users. For instance, it brings these assets to DeFi users and those who don’t want to hold real crypto assets.

    Notably, the platform takes on a layered-approach to bring these possibilities to life-enhancing functionalities. Furthermore, the DOWS token helps power different aspects of the Shadows network.

    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.

  • Covalent ($CQT): unified blockchain data for the entire ecosystem?

    Covalent ($CQT): unified blockchain data for the entire ecosystem?

    Covalent is a multichain protocol that provides easy and quick access to deep, granular, and historical blockchain data.

    So far, the blockchain has had an irrevocable impact on modern technology. The spread of decentralized architectures and frameworks has given birth to numerous technological innovations. Despite the technological freedom the blockchain has brought, granular and historical blockchain data is almost impossible to access. Blockchain product users and developers often have no way to explore data on the blockchain; data that are highly unstructured and unstandardized in most cases.

    Through its special algorithm, Covalent resolves this issue and guarantees mass adoption for Decentralized ledger technologies (DLT), powered by a rich data infrastructure.


    Background

    Founded in 2018, Covalent prides itself as a new frontier of development for enterprises, consumers, and software developers. The very first version of the protocol was built at a distributed systems hackathon back in 2017.

    After winning the hackathon, co-founders Ganesh Swami and Levi Aul decided to turn the ambitious blockchain implementation into a highly secure, reliable, and easy-to-use decentralized solution. Covalent technology strives to resolve the huge infrastructure problems slowing down blockchain adoption and acceptance worldwide.

    The team behind Covalent is a diverse 30-persons group of financial, marketing, and blockchain experts and engineers all with rich experience in decentralized finance (DeFi).

    What Is Covalent?

    Covalent is a multichain API that provides easy and quick access to deep, granular, and historical blockchain data. This efficient blockchain protocol has managed to index the whole blockchain space to empower blockchain pioneers and leaders of the future. Additionally, the solution bridges the entrenched world of centralized databases with the new world of distributed blockchain technologies.

    Covalent’s unified API enables access to the richest and most secure data infrastructure within the decentralized ecosystem. Additionally,  through its immense data infrastructure,  The API allows users to scrutinize numerous well-known and specific blockchain protocols. This gives endless possibilities to participants in terms of transparency and total visibility throughout decentralized networks.

    The covalent network’s unique API implementation offers incredible access to historical transaction activity, positions, and token balances to many top Defi and NFT projects. Currently, the protocol is working with the likes of Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, and Avalanche to provide substantial, granular, and accessible data.

    Covalent Use Cases

    Overall, the full extent of the protocol’s use cases is relatively unknown. However, developers and partners within the platforms have come up with multiple ways to leverage data provided by the protocol.

    Wallets

    There are over 200,000 ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum and growing all thanks to the composability of DeFi Solutions. Under the Covalent algorithm, wallets are well structured, as they show real-time and historical balances, positions, and most importantly, portfolio value for all of their assets.

    Taxes

    All DeFi actions are taxable, and having easy access to such data facilitates blockchain transactions and makes firms compliant. Covalent is the only protocol in the market that provides this service for decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

    NFT Dashboards

    Mainstream blockchain products like Chainguardians and NFTX rely heavily on the platform’s Investor tools to show price trends, liquidity, and ROI of collectibles to educate their clients.

    What Makes Covalent Unique

    It is no doubt that Covalent is special in regards to other solutions within the market. The platform’s incredible algorithm is rooted in 4 main features, which allows Covalent to provide clients with the best transparency and visibility tool in the blockchain sphere. The features are:

    Data availability

    Covalent’s infrastructure is responsible for every transaction, contract, and wallet address under its ecosystem. Hence, this blockchain solution is accountable for billions of rows of data and terabytes of data, unlike most projects on the market that provide smaller or minuscule amounts only.

    Composability

    Composability is viewed as an important tool for DeFI implementations, as it grants users the ability to build financial solutions leveraging building blocks from a multitude of projects. Therefore, Covalent’s immense multichain API ultimately enables developers to instantly construct scalable and data-rich applications powered by a granular data infrastructure. (Xanax)

    Multi-blockchain Support

    One of the platform’s greatest strengths is its multichain support, as the covalent team is currently working with customers on 7 different well-known blockchain networks, with many more set to join and rely on the protocol soon.

    In general, the Covalent team works closely with technical and business teams of their customers across the blockchains networks to ideate, plan, and execute a turn-key solution for developers building on top of their blockchains.

    No code solution

    The multichain API firmly believes in no-code solutions for clients and participants. Therefore, no overpriced and complicated SQL queries, no subgraph development and maintenance, and no need to invest in highly-skilled developers to simply retrieve blockchain data, which can be a huge waste of engineering time. With one fast and secured API, customers are sure to be satisfied.

    Covalent Query Token (CQT)

    CQT is the platform utility token and is primarily a proof-of-stake governance token powering Covalent’s rich and robust network. Additionally, the token facilitates the democratization of the multichain solution and enables the creation of blockchain data apps in Covalent’s vast marketplace.

    CQT will primarily serve as a governance token, giving voting rights to holders concerning the system’s parameters such as new data sources, specific geolocations, and data modeling requirements. CQT will also be used as a staking asset within the multichain API.

    Conclusion

    The Multichain API aims to organize the world’s blockchain information, enabling more transparent blockchain actions and transactions. Covalent has successfully managed to resolve issues concerning transparency and visibility within the blockchain.

    The platform’s unified API has indexed billions of blockchain data points in the scope of empowering blockchain leaders of tomorrow. It is fair to conclude that Covalent is ahead of its competition, as more than 7 prominent blockchain networks rely on the services of this protocol.

    The team’s continuous drive to elevate and scale blockchain technologies is a testimony of the platform’s innovative ecosystem built to bring forward key attributes of decentralization in complete transparency and visibility. Overall, Covenant is set to impact the blockchain space positively, thereby contributing to the worldwide adoption of decentralized technologies.

    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.

  • Yearn.Finance merging the DeFi Ecosystem

    Yearn.Finance merging the DeFi Ecosystem

    The decentralized finance (DeFi) space has grown to include platforms in various sectors such as spot trading, derivatives, and futures. Interestingly, some networks such as Yearn Finance support yield farmers and liquidity providers through an aggregation service.

    Instead of offering spot trading, lending, or borrowing functionalities, it allows users to deposit funds, then it distributes it based on projected returns and the risks involved.

    However, this isn’t enough to drive meaningful DeFi adoption. Therefore, Yearn followed the partnership route to expand its ecosystem and to improve interoperability between DeFi systems.

    In this article, we look at the most impactful partnerships in the Yearn ecosystem:

    Yearn + SushiSwap

    On November 3, 2020, Yearn’s creator, Andre Cronje, took to Medium to announce the coming together of his platform and Sushiswap. The connection between the two platforms meets as Sushi improves its automated market-making (AMM) outlooks while Yearn digs deeper into aggregating formulas. These qualities brought a need for cooperation between them, leading to:

    • A combination of development resources.
    • A rise in the total value locked (TVL) on each platform.
    • Working together to develop and launch Deriswap, a platform bringing together spot trading, derivatives, and futures trading.
    • Introducing Keep3r Network, an on-chain price oracle on the second iteration of Sushswap.
    • Additionally, liquidity providers on Sushi provide collateral for the Sushi money market.

    Partnership with Cream Protocol

    The DeFi aggregator platform partnered with Cream, a lending network similar to Aave, in developing the system’s second version. With the partnership, the Yearn and Cream team created Cream V2, which introduced or enhanced leverage and lending features. Notably, the new platform enables yield farming using leverage.

    Additionally, Cream V2 acts as a springboard to power stable credit and yet-to-be-built lending functionalities. Apart from merging resources allocated towards development and seeing a rise in individual TVL, the partnership saw shares in Yearn Vaults qualify to provide collateral in Cream.

    One feature added to Cream’s new version includes rotating multi-signature keys in order to improve deployment, iteration, and testing. Unchanged features include those that touch on governance and native tokens.

    Akropolis and Yearn

    The partnership is rather a unique one. Why? It aims to bring out the best in each platform’s team. Therefore, each team continues with their previous journey but leans on the other if they need help.

    Furthermore, Akropolis users can access Yearn and a host of other networks such as Cream and Pickle. In return, Yearn investors benefit from Akropolis’s investment strategies and a pool of institutional networks. The partnership between the two platforms brought with it improvements on Akropolis.

    For instance, there was a development of new vaults, an institutional application, some strategies, and a rotation of multi-signature. In addition, Akropolis’s native token was upgraded to be able to track losses.

    The PowerPool Partnership

    PowerPool is a decentralized protocol accumulating governance strengths in systems built on the Ethereum blockchain. In short, it brings together governance tokens from a wide range of DeFi protocols, such as Compound and Balancer.

    Yearn x Powerpool
    Yearn x Powerpool (source: Yearn Finance Newsletter #13)

    The partnership with Yearn Finance connected YFI, the governance token on Yearn, with PowerPool’s PowerIndex. PowerIndex provides a DeFi index inspired by distributed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The index exudes meta-governance functionalities and contains eight tokens, including YFI.

    Note that the meta-governance aspect rides on concentrating user tokens from different DeFi platforms into a single contract. Next, the tokens’ voting weight is delegated to a group consensus. Notably, the contract generates a token that its holders can use to decide the other tokens’ fate in the pool.

    So, what does the partnership bring to Yearn?

    • Having a share of the index gives DeFi lovers a share in Yearn.
    • It increases participation in YFI governance issues.
    • PowerIndex supports swapping. Thus, anyone can exchange another platform’s token with YFI and vice versa.
    • In return, Yearn benefits from more liquidity. Additionally, pooling YFI helps stabilize its price.

    The Cover Merger

    Although Cronje formally announced the partnership on November 28, 2020, the two platforms have been collaborating since Cover’s launch. The marriage between the two opens doors to advanced features targeting optimization, among other aspects.

    The partnership allows Curve to provide backstop coverage to products built on Yearn. Their coming together allows Cronje’s network to enjoy Cover’s range of coverage known for supporting multiple collaterals. Yearn can mitigate risks for users through vault coverage. That’s not all. Underwriting coverage on Yearn becomes more profitable.

    Yearn x Cover (source: Yearn & Cover merger medium article)

    Fortunately, the benefits aren’t one way. For Cover, it’s hoisted to expand its wings to unchartered money markets. Additionally, it’s empowered to seek a bigger share of perpetual coverage and other products in the market. However, components such as the native COVER currency remain intact.

    Pickle and Yearn

    This is another key partnership in the Yearn ecosystem. Its uniqueness emanates from the fact that it’s supposed to eradicate duplicate works among the two teams. Doing so lets each team and individuals within a team work on what they’re extremely good at.

    As a result, Pickle will launch new features such as reward Gauges. Governing members on the Pickle ecosystem receive DILL tokens when they lock their tokens for governance-related purposes. DILL holders share Gauge performance, withdrawal, and deposit fees.

    On the other hand, Yearn users, especially Vault depositors, are incentivized to interact with Gauges through Vault shares. The depositors also receive more rewards by setting aside Pickle tokens to receive DILL. (www.chronicpainpartners.com)

    Others benefits originating from the partnership include:

    • A merger of the platforms’ TVL.
    • Pickle finds its way into the Yearn ecosystem.
    • Pickle enjoys Yearn’s security, among other features.
    • Pickle’s reward Gauges rake in incentives from Yearn depositors.
    • The two protocols’ teams work together on strategy creation and split profits from the strategies.
    • There’s an overall increase in rewards for users in both circles.

    Conclusion

    By expanding the Yearn ecosystem, Cronje and his team seek to build an inter-connected DeFi world. With everything connected to everything, DeFi adoption naturally sets in.

    Apart from interconnection and adoption, the partnerships focus on, for example, reducing the duplication of roles within teams working on DeFi projects. This encourages the birth of new products and features to help drive growth in the space.

    In the process, DeFi enthusiasts benefit from enhanced products and yields, which further encourage interaction with DeFi-focused systems.

    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.

  • Konomi Network ($KONO): bringing money markets to Polkadot

    Konomi Network ($KONO): bringing money markets to Polkadot

    Utilizing Substrate as a development blueprint, Konomi Network aims to develop a fully interoperable service product that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies, manage their holdings, and make a profit out of decentralized money market options for the Polkadot ecosystem.

    Background

    The problem that has since limited the use of cryptocurrencies and hindered its mass adoption is the lack of interoperability. Holders of a particular token belonging to a different blockchain cannot easily make cross-chain transactions. This also means that all other digital asset providers cannot simply work together to provide financial services due to network restrictions.

    Konomi Network is designed to solve that issue. Built on top of the Polkadot blockchain, the project addresses the problem with gas fees on Ethereum. This is to improve transaction speed and network scalability.

    As of now, the protocol already supports a decentralized liquidity swap and money market. The team behind Konomi is currently working on the launch of the bridge to Polkadot’s parachains, wallets, and the open virtual machine to support smart contracts. Before the end of the year, the team is planning to launch the Konomi mainnet on the Polkadot ecosystem, link with other assets through a cross-chain bridge, as well as introduce fiat payments.

    What is the Konomi Network?

    Konomi Network is an independent blockchain project that features a comprehensive asset management platform on top of the Polkadot ecosystem. It provides cross-chain products and services such as trading, lending, and deposits. Since the platform is supported by parachains and Ethereum bridges, it can facilitate blockchain-agnostic services.

    One of the strongest suits of the platform is its liquidity. Any trader can access liquidity from other exchanges through the platform in performing their trades and it relies on automated market makers (AMM) to supply buy and sell orders without the need for order books.

    For further decentralization, the platform implements the same consensus model as Polkadot, the Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS). In this system, network security is maintained by the validators selected by the protocol’s stakers. They can freely choose how much they want to delegate to a validator and earn rewards in proportion to the amount of their stake.

    In the beta phase of the platform, it can be accessed as a web application. But in the next upgrades, the team will introduce a mobile version with the objective of making it easier for users to open the application.

    Konomi Wallet

    Konomi Wallet features a decentralized asset storage function. Users can freely deposit their cryptocurrencies on the wallet while still being able to monitor their holdings across different protocols. Through this application, users can also access either Konomi Trade or Lend easily.

    Konomi Trade

    Konomi Trade allows users to conduct their trades with the supply of liquidity coming from different markets in the Polkadot network. Supported by its AMM implementation, traders enjoy immediate on-chain transaction execution without the need for any third-party facilitator.

    Konomi Lend

    Konomi Lend is a decentralized money market protocol designed to allow users to borrow and lend their digital assets to other interested users. This product features the collateralized debt position model. This is where borrowers are required to lock at least the minimum amount specified for collateralization before they are allowed to make loans. For now, Konomi supports Polkadot’s native token (DOT) for collateralization.

    Decentralized Trading Protocol

    Konomi is designed to implement AMMs that are similarly deployed in most Ethereum-based exchanges. Its architecture is patterned after the DODO exchange, allowing it to effectively mitigate the risks of impermanent loss on the part of the traders.

    Decentralized Money Market

    Konomi’s money market protocol backs its borrowing and lending services for assets based on the Polkadot ecosystem. The interest rates imposed on borrowing depend on the total supply and demand in the platform’s liquidity pool. Patterned after the Compound protocol, these rates will be computed on a per-block basis.

    For those who would like to supply assets to the protocol’s existing liquidity pools, they can lock their holdings in smart contracts as collateral to earn lending interest. This also lets them access borrowing services.

    Cross-Chain Messaging Passing Feature

    Konomi will implement the Cross-Chain Messaging Passing (XCMP) function in order to achieve interoperability. XCMP is designed to link parachains together for the purposes of relaying transactions from one network to the other.

    What this does is it allows transactions made in different parachains to work despite their independence with each other. This allows users to tap other markets on the Polkadot ecosystem even if their assets are only on the Konomi protocol.

    KONO Token

    KONO is Konomi’s native utility token that is used to pay for the platform’s minimal transaction fees, trade between other market participants, collateral for loans in the network, staking, and protocol governance. The supply of KONO is limited and fixed to 100 million tokens.

    KONO token uses
    KONO token uses

    KONO holders are given the right to cast their votes on network proposals concerning different protocol parameters such as staking fee, transaction fee burn, liquidity mining ratio, and others. Participants to the governance mechanism are also given rewards for joining.

    The reward system for the protocol is also powered by KONO tokens. Those who stake their tokens and supply liquidity to the protocol are entitled to a reward proportional to the amount of token they locked in the network.

    Conclusion

    Konomi is an up-and-coming addition to the array of decentralized finance (DeFi) products in the space today. Since its infrastructure is supported by the Polkadot blockchain, it can stand to be a valuable competitor of other decentralized money markets and asset management services in the near future. Furthermore, its products can potentially entice a lot of users looking to make additional profit out of their holdings through staking. Its outlook for future adoption is positive.

    However, until the platform is fully operational, we cannot absolutely compare it with the initiatives that were first launched in the market. While Konomi is built on a high-performing blockchain with cross-chain functionality, its application’s capacity to support the needs of its users is still going to be the best metric for its growth and success.

    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.

  • KeyTango ($TANGO): the easiest way to DeFi?

    KeyTango ($TANGO): the easiest way to DeFi?

    KeyTango is an investment solution built on Web3 technologies that function as a gateway for DeFi products and services.

    While the decentralized finance (DeFi) market is growing, the struggle to keep up is getting bigger for many users. And sometimes, because of so many rug-pulls in DeFi, scam tokens, and underdeveloped projects in this space, people choose to avoid it altogether. KeyTango is a solution to these concerns.

    KeyTango offers a one-stop shop for various, reputable, and secure DeFi projects to minimize the risk that a new cryptocurrency holder or trader absorbs. It also offers learning options that can help anyone better understand what DeFi’s underlying concepts and technicalities actually mean.

    Background

    The growth of DeFi projects has been outstanding, posting 725% growth within just 3 months. However, there are still a lot of investors who are unfamiliar with how the ecosystem functions. Most of the new retail traders find themselves into sketchy projects that claim to be DeFi, only to find out later that these projects cannot actually deliver their promise.

    KeyTango is developed with the help of experts from cryptocurrency, financial technology, and investments. The project is also supported by many Outlier Ventures staff members as their angel investors. The goal of the team behind it is to introduce an easy-to-use, Robinhood-like platform, where users can easily trade in the DeFi space within just a few clicks.

    What is keyTango?

    KeyTango is a Web3-based investment solution that functions as a gateway for DeFi products and services. It is connected with multiple projects on a variety of DeFi markets. This gives users a wide selection of financial tools to choose from if they are looking for ways to maximize the capacity of their assets in making a profit.

    KeyTango features a user-friendly interface for any cryptocurrency or DeFi user and focuses on three main goals: discover, learn, and invest.

    Moreover, the platform offers its users a tailored recommendation on the products they could access based on the history of their activity on the wallet they linked. This makes it easier for the users to choose which asset fits their profile and easily avail of the products and services in the instruments suggested for them.

    Discover

    One of the things KeyTango gives to its users is exposure to different DeFi products, such as yield farming and liquidity mining. The platform is backed by a team of investment experts and venture capital managers. More than that, any product posted on the application is carefully curated by MIT and Y-Combinator Alumni, which assures users that the DeFi projects they discover through the protocol are guaranteed of good quality and reputation.

    Learn

    To address the problem of most cryptocurrency holders who do not completely understand some of the complex DeFi projects that they could potentially benefit from, KeyTango introduced a “Learn” layer on the application. Every technical knowledge that any user would need to know will be made accessible on this part of the platform.

    Invest

    Once a user has already understood what it means to put their assets in DeFi, from how they can earn yields to DeFi protocols’ underlying risks, they can easily use the platform to start their investments. The process is simple. Users just need to link their cryptocurrency wallet.

    Products

    Liquidity Pools

    Users who are looking to put their idle assets in a liquidity pool can now easily do so using the platform. In this product, a holder of a token can supply them to the liquidity of any supported decentralized exchange (DEX) to earn additional tokens from trading fees.

    The products that can be accessed on this market are DEXs like Balancer, Bancor, Curve, SushiSwap, and Uniswap.

    Yield Farming

    DeFi projects have their own native utility tokens. Holders of these tokens earn rewards for keeping them and using them to participate in the network’s activities. What yield farmers do is they stake their tokens to DEXs where these utility tokens are traded and supply their liquidity there.

    This way, they can also earn rewards in the form of the token that they supplied liquidity to. There are various yield farming protocols in the market today, however, they can be too difficult for others to access because due to the challenges is finding a safe platform. KeyTango makes it a safer opportunity for investors since they have also curated the projects they support on the application.

    DeFi Trading

    DeFi applications that offer spot trading and leveraged trading functions can be easily found in KeyTango. In these platforms, users will be able to access exchanges powered by automated market makers (AMM). Some of the platforms that are known for this product are 0x, Aave, and Sushiswap.

    Derivatives and Other Products

    As the DeFi economy continues to grow, KeyTango will also adapt accordingly. The application will be working on providing access to new DeFi opportunities such as NFTs, derivatives, and many others.

    TANGO

    TANGO is the platform’s native, utility token. It can be used to pay for the protocol’s transaction fees and to participate in the platform’s governance functions. A portion of TANGO’s total supply will also be allocated to the community treasury.

    Staking

    The platform will have four staking pools: Earlybird Staking, Pro Staking, Expert Liquidity Mining ETH, and Expert Liquidity Mining USDT. They have specific maturity periods and pool sizes which users can see in the interface. Users can also have an estimate of their potential profit as the pools also indicate their APY for each one.

    keyTango staking
    Some of the staking options available on keyTango (Image credit: keyTango)

    Conclusion

    KeyTango is a project that the whole DeFi space could benefit from. Having assembled a team of experts to curate the projects that will be made available on the platform provides a tremendous advantage. More than the minimization of risks and breaking the psychological barrier that keeps people from adopting DeFi, it also raises the awareness of the public as to what DeFi can offer.

    This is why the project is a promising complement to the DeFi ecosystem. Getting people to understand how DeFi works and enabling a way to easily supply their assets in the best projects available can be a huge boost when it comes to achieving wider adoption.

    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.

  • Best Crypto Savings Accounts 2022

    Best Crypto Savings Accounts 2022

    Let’s be honest, traditional banking methods are starting to lose their value. Brick-and-mortar banks are paying disappointingly low rates on savings accounts these days. So if you want a higher return for lending out your money, it might just be the right time to explore alternative routes to engage your idle cash.

    More and more investors are exploring the advantages of cryptocurrency savings accounts. A crypto savings account allows you to enjoy the benefits of an old-school savings account but with the growth potential of cryptocurrencies.

    In this guide, we will explore some of the best crypto savings accounts for you to earn interest with your crypto assets.

    What is a Crypto Savings Account?

    The concept of crypto savings accounts are similar to traditional savings accounts. You put crypto assets into your crypto savings account, which are then lent on your behalf by a third party. The difference with a traditional account is that instead of dealing with fiat currency you will keep your funds in the cryptocurrency of your preference. 

    If you are looking for high returns but don’t want the risk of volatility in cryptos like Bitcoin or Ethereum, you can also choose to earn interest on stablecoins that offer high rates with more stability. Stablecoins are fixed to the value of the US dollar so you will not be exposed to cryptocurrency price fluctuations. 

    The best crypto savings accounts offer up to 12% interest on stablecoins and lets you earn 6% interest on popular assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

    What are the Best Crypto Savings Accounts for 2022?

    With so many players in the market, it may help to compare crypto interest rates side-by-side before deciding on where to put your money. That being said, high interests should not be the only consideration for choosing a crypto savings account. Some other factors to consider are supported coins, compound interest, loan-to-value rates, withdrawal restrictions, transaction fees and security. You should always choose a platform that best fits your needs.

    Let’s have a look at some of the best and most trusted crypto savings account providers for 2022.

    Nexo

    nexo crypto savings

    Nexo boasts a high yield of interest, as high as 20% APY, on a wide range of cryptocurrencies. It also has a minimum lock-up time below 24 hours, which means that the interest is paid on a daily basis. The platform also has security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA), login alerts, and withdrawal confirmation.

    With no account minimums and a tiered withdrawal system, Nexo allows you to make instant transfers with no fees or restrictions. You may withdraw any amount for free up to the percentage of NEXO tokens you possess. A Mastercard debit card is also available and accepted by millions of merchants worldwide.

    NEXO token owners earn bigger interest rates on savings accounts. Daily compounded interest is credited to your account, so there’s no need to wait a month to begin earning passive income.

    Despite the fact that the platform is jam-packed with features, it is geared toward novices. It is simple to learn and even easier to get started.

    Highlights:

    • Daily payouts
    • No minimum deposit
    • Tiered withdrawal limits
    • Clean layout and shallow learning curve

    Consensus:

    Best for daily interest and beginners

    Gemini Earn

    gemini earn crypto savings

    Since its inception, Gemini has best been known for its unbeatable high-level security. When a certain amount is deposited, a vast majority of it is stored offline, in an air-gapped cold storage system, and only a small amount is stored in hot wallets. This minimizes the chances of theft and malware attacks. Gemini also provides two-factor authentication (2FA) and bug bounty to prevent hacking. According to reports, Gemini has secured the highest amount of insurance, around $200 million.

    With Gemini Earn, you can receive up to 8.05% APY on your cryptocurrency, including stablecoins. Gemini is highly rated, secure, and simple to use for basic functions like making a trade or linking to external bank accounts. There are some good educational tools available on the website and app and it also offers competitive rates, a broad variety of cryptos, and a solid yield on stablecoins.

    Gemini is a sophisticated trading platform that is ideal for amateur and experienced traders and investors of all skill levels. However, the fee structure for small transactions is expensive, as is the case with most exchanges. There is no linked debit card but you can shop at a variety of internet retailers through their mobile app.

    Highlights:

    • Most safe and secure provider
    • No minimum deposit
    • No withdrawal fee, but costly transactions fee and convenience fee
    • No collateral required for loans

    Consensus:

    Best for security

    Binance Earn

    Binance earn crypto savings

    Binance Earn is the one-stop crypto interest solution from Binance. With Binance Earn, you get a complete suite of staking and savings products for earning passive income on your crypto holdings without any trading involved. There are more than 60+ cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to choose from and you can earn interest under fixed or flexible terms.

    Users can select between regular savings products, staking, and DeFi solutions, each with its own risks, terms, and returns. These include Savings with flexible or fixed terms, Locked Staking, DeFi-Staking, ETH 2.0 Staking, Liquid Swap, Launchpool, and the BNB yield aggregator Vault.

    If you’re not interested in trading but want to increase your holdings, the interest-bearing products from Binance are worthy of choice. While the many features can be overwhelming at first, the savings and staking solutions from Binance could potentially create a passive income if you’re willing to learn how to use them.

    Highlights:

    • Flexible and locked terms
    • Minimum deposits varies
    • Largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world
    • Overwhelming for beginners

    Consensus:

    Best for experienced traders looking for flexibility

    YouHodler

    youhodler crypto savings

    YouHodler is a European bank-like crypto asset management platform with offices in Cyprus and Switzerland. The platform focuses on long-term cryptocurrency holdings, offering attractive crypto savings accounts with high compound interest of up to 12.3% APR and crypto-fiat loans with high loan to value ratios of up to 90%.

    YouHodler has no lock-up periods, and investors are allowed to withdraw or sell their assets at any given time. Accumulated interest is paid out once every week, and the weekly interest period starts compounding as soon as you deposit funds into your savings account.

    YouHodler keeps your digital assets secure with insurance, two-factor authentication, withdrawal stopping feature, and by using a combination of hot and cold storage. It also has bonus features like crypto-backed loans, margin trading, and it also supports NFTs.

    Highlights:

    • Weekly payouts
    • No lock-up period or special tokens required to get the best rates
    • 5 USD minimum deposit
    • Zero weekly or monthly fees

    Consensus:

    Best all-in-one

    Coinloan

    coinloan crypto savings

    CoinLoan ranks next to Gemini when it comes to the safety and security of your digital assets. Apart from their security features, CoinLoan also offers about 26 types of cryptocurrencies offering APYs between 3% to 12.3%, which vary depending on the type of cryptocurrency. 

    Interest for crypto is accrued daily on your deposit and credited directly to your wallet on the first day of each month. There is no minimum deposit requirement.

    Coinloan is a European-based cryptocurrency lending and borrowing platform licensed and authorized in the EU. For security, CoinLoan stores crypto-assets in offline, cold, multi-signature wallets with the digital asset trust custodian BitGo with $100 million worth of insurance from Lloyd’s. Furthermore, all transactions are done in accordance with Cryptocurrency Security Standard (CCSS).

    Highlights:

    • Licensed and certified platform with fund insurance
    • No minimum deposit
    • Intuitive and easy-to-use platform
    • Excellent customer support

    Consensus:

    High yields and second best for security

    Coinbase

    coinbase crypto savings

    Coinbase is one of the most well-known names in crypto wallets as well as holding and trading cryptocurrency. They also cater as one of the best crypto savings accounts for newbies. Coinbase does not loan out the currency that you invest in, and this is what makes it a great alternative to traditional banks because there are fewer restrictions when it comes to funding withdrawal.

    The crypto savings account provides a wide range of currencies with small minimum deposits needed. Coinbase has a simple, top-rated mobile app with additional features. There is a wide range of beginner tutorials, crypto hints, and lessons in the app. You may also get free cryptocurrency by enrolling in certain courses.

    The current APY for stablecoins is around 4% compounded monthly. Because Coinbase is said to be more rigorous in its lending procedures, the yield is relatively modest.

    Coinbase charges a high 0.50% fee on every transaction, which few people are willing to pay for tiny purchases. On most currencies, interest rates are little. More experienced traders may want more sophisticated trading tools and low trade costs.

    Highlights:

    • Well-known and trusted platform
    • Easy-to-use for beginners with plenty resources and tutorials
    • Low yields
    • High transaction fees

    Consensus:

    Best for beginners

    Conclusion

    Cryptocurrencies are quickly becoming mainstream, and an increasing number of providers now offer crypto savings accounts that pay monthly or daily dividends. These platforms provide a great investment opportunity for crypto owners looking for ways to generate passive income.

    With such a high yield, it’s no surprise that crypto owners are increasingly demanding reliable crypto savings accounts to put their money to work for them. However, before you invest your hard-earned savings in any crypto savings account, there are many factors to consider.

    If chosen wisely, crypto-based savings accounts can provide pretty good long term returns. 

    It all depends on the choices you as an investor make in terms of the currencies you choose, the duration and size of your investment, and your risk-taking ability.

  • Aries Market Guide

    Aries Market Guide

    Aries Market is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on Move, the same programming language used by Aptos to build its blockchain. Aries Market provides a wide range of decentralized finance (DeFi) products such as borrowing, lending, and margin trading on 1 single platform. Products include lending, borrowing, margin trading, swapping, and account risk management.

    What is Aries Market?

    Aries Market is a decentralized crypto exchange offering a wide range of DeFi products on a unified platform. On Aries Market, users can have a unified margin account on which they can borrow from various liquidity pools, earn interest on deposits, and do swaps and trades.

    What products are available on Aries Market?

    Aries Market is currently in a “soft launch” phase where all its features are not available yet. At present, the following products are available on Aries Market: lending, borrowing, swaps, and global account management. Notably, trading features are not yet available on Aries Market.

    There are, however, deposit limits for the available asset pools on Aries Market. The limits are as follows: 4 million zUSDC (LayerZero), 4 million USDC (Wormhole Bridge), 500,000 APT, 10,000 SOL.

    Aries Market
    Aries Market

    Supported assets

    Aries Market currently supports the following assets: zUSDC (LayerZero), USDC (Wormhole Bridge), APT and SOL. The team expects more assets to be listed soon.

    Coming soon on Aries Market

    The Aries Market team expects the following features to be available in the coming months:

    • Full set of features will be available on Aries Market;
    • integration of Aries Market with Aptos; and
    • Gamified events and campaigns on the Aries Market and Aptos community.

    Learn more about Aries Market

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