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.

  • Solana Updates And Why Its Price Is Rallying

    Solana Updates And Why Its Price Is Rallying

    This article is an update of our previous Solana article to reflect the recent changes in the technology.

    Solana Rises 800% in Price Rally

    The price of Solana (SOL) saw an incredible surge from August 2021 to September 2021, breaking all time high after all time high, even surpassing the critical $200 barrier. 

    At the time of writing, Solana is the sixth largest cryptocurrency according to Coinmarketcap, amassing more than $50 billion in market value, surpassing Dogecoin and Ripple’s XRP. Solana has climbed a staggering 6,800% this year and the price of cryptocurrency has grown more than 800% in just less than two months.

    The stunning rally is attributed to numerous project developments and announcements from the Solana ecosystem, as well as growing interest from institutional investors.

    Learn more about Solana in our article What is Solana (SOL token): explained

    Solana’s DEX – Mango Markets Raises $70M in Token Sale

    Mango Markets
    Mango Markets raised a cool $70M in 24 hours

    In August 2021, Mango Markets, a high-speed decentralized exchange (DEX) powered by Solana, announced a successful $70 million crowdfunding in a 24-hour token sale. Investors at some point invested more than $500 million in USDC into the trading platform’s 24-hour sale. Most of the funds were extracted after the grace period of a day, but the project still managed to hold onto $70.5 million in locked value.

    The funding is aimed at providing an insurance fund to ensure the protocol is protected in case of a breach. U.S. investors were excluded from the sale, mostly to avoid any regulatory issues. Nonetheless, the token sale still turned out to be one of the largest seed-fundings in DeFi history.

    Mango offers a platform for spot markets, lending, and perpetual futures. It sources liquidity from its native pools and Serum, another Solana DEX, which is backed by FTX. The working model is very similar to other successful Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and Sushiswap.

    Solana Unveils Wormhole

    Wormhole
    Wormhole allowed tokenized assets to be moved across blockchains

    Solana has announced the launch of Wormhole, a bi-directional bridge that allows projects, platforms and communities to move tokenized assets across blockchains. The project also facilitates message exchange across blockchains, and more decentralized applications now benefit from Solana’s high speed and relatively low cost.

    Currently, Wormhole mainnet is live and supports the exchange of assets from the Ethereum blockchain. The Solana team has plans to expand the bridge and make it a three-way bridge. This implies that Wormhole will include Terra. 

    The community is awaiting further updates on the project, and it has garnered attention from traders and analysts. The 2.0 launch of the cross-network bridge is a trigger for SOL’s ongoing price rally. 

    As Solana gains popularity as a faster and cheaper “Ethereum alternative,” it has captivated institutional investors. Osprey Funds, a digital asset investment firm, has applied to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Solana trust, ahead of competitor Grayscale Investments, implying there is an increase in demand from institutions. 

    Launch of SOLSEA and Degenerate Ape Academy NFTs

    Solsea NFT
    Solsea is the first NFT marketplace on Solana

    SOLSEA is the first open non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Solana. The marketplace was introduced by All-Art Protocol, a project that offers NFT liquidity pools.

    According to the protocol’s introduction, the Solana NFT marketplace was created in response to user demand. The project, called SOLSEA, would serve as a secondary market for all NFTs created in the Solana ecosystem.

    SOLSEA will possess unique features that will attract a wide audience of NFT lovers, where the NFT platform will be differentiated by its low transaction costs, an ultra-fast, cheap minting process, and a new licensing standard. In addition to adding licenses to minted NFTs, SOLSEA will allow users to mint individual NFTs where sellers will be able to list NFT on the new marketplace and having a comprehensive list of payment alternatives for the NFTs, among other fascinating features.

    Another factor behind SOL’s skyrocketing rally was the launch of Degenerate Ape Academy, an NFT project on Solanart, another NFT marketplace built on Solana. Degenerate Apes was Solana’s first big foray into NFTs. The collection of costumed apes features various traits with various degrees of rarity. The launch had some technical issues (the team tweeted that they’d been “overwhelmed” by the demand), but that didn’t matter. The collection of 10,000 apes sold out in less than 10 minutes. At the time of writing, the trading volume had reached over 800,000 SOL. On September 11th, 2021, Moonrock Capital, a blockchain advising business, bought one of the Degenerate Apes for 5,980 SOL ($1.1 million), making it Solana’s first million-dollar NFT sale.

    Solana-based Music Streaming Company Audius Surpasses 500,000 Tracks Downloaded

    Audius
    Audius will be running TikTok’s sounds on the blockchain, making it easier for creators to track their sounds on the app

    Audius, a Solana-based music streaming company that just joined TikTok has seen tremendous growth. Artists will be able to easily integrate their music into TikTok thanks to the collaboration, which makes Audius the first streaming platform to negotiate a contract with the app. In addition, Audius will run the “TikTok Sounds” collection, which will provide access to artist music to the app. Moreover, TikTok has revealed that it has surpassed half a million track uploads.

    Roneil Rumburg, co-founder and CEO of Audius, expressed his joy in the recent partnership in a statement, where the collaboration will make it easier for musicians to obtain their songs on TikTok, which had previously been tough.

    Solana’s Partnership with Chainlink to Offer Crypto Price Feeds

    Chainlink
    Chainlink and Solana team up to make it easier to use pricing feeds when developing on the Solana network

    In a significant boost for its ecosystem, Solana has collaborated with Chainlink to give developers access to decentralized pricing feeds. 

    Solana announced in a statement that developers on its platform may now use Chainlink pricing feeds, where Solana developers now have access to decentralized, high-quality, and frequently updated pricing reference data. Likewise, Chainlink’s price reference contracts currently provide safe and accurate market data. The newly integrated pricing feeds, on the other hand, will help developers construct a wide range of hybrid smart contract applications in DeFi.

    Solana’s creator and CEO, Anatoly Yakovenko, expressed satisfaction with the new integration. According to him, the integration will greatly accelerate the rate at which Solana developers can create secure, rising DeFi apps. He goes on to add, “The combination of high-quality oracle infrastructure and Solana’s high-speed blockchain network can enable DeFi applications to scale to a global level.”

    Solend Goes Live on the Solana Mainnet

    Solend
    Solend allows investors to borrow assets against the tokens that they own

    Solend, a decentralized protocol for borrowing assets, went live on the Solana blockchain in August 2021. The protocol enables users to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets against their tokens on Solana. According to the announcement, Solend currently supports only four digital assets – BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC.

    Solend revealed that it chose to build on Solana because of its powerful blockchain that provides near-instant and cheap transactions. The protocol further expressed gratitude to Pyth Network, Switchboard, and Phantom for providing unique features on Solana that benefit the project. Additionally, Solend noted that there is an initial deposit limit of $1 million per market and $10,000 per user per market. This is explained as it will reduce the level of risk since the project is quite new.

    Launch of Galactic Marketplace on Solana

    The Galactic Marketplace is an NFT trading marketplace that was launched on Solana by Star Atlas, the blockchain-powered next-generation gaming metaverse.

    In the launch announcement, Star Atlas noted that the marketplace will enable its community to trade meta-posters, spaceships, and other assets. Owners of meta-posters and other in-game assets can also buy and sell NFTs directly within the marketplace.

    The Galactic Marketplace was launched as a result of the Star Atlas integration with Serum, which utilizes Solana’s cheap costs, fast processing capabilities, and other remarkable features.

    Michael Wagner, CEO of Star Atlas, expressed his excitement with the launch. According to him, the Serum integration paved the way to a blockchain-powered experience that gives power back to the people.

    Solana Announces Breakpoint Conference

    Solana announced its first-ever annual conference, known as Breakpoint, which is aimed at celebrating everything the ecosystem has achieved.

    The Breakpoint conference is scheduled to take place November 7th – 10th, 2021 in Lisbon. It will bring industry leaders, builders, and innovators across the globe together to celebrate Solana’s achievements.

    The conference will also attempt to solve challenges and create opportunities while building in a Web 3.0 space. Breakpoint will host over 100 panels and technical workshops. It will feature discussions from Meltem Demirors, Balaji S. Srinivasan, Kyle Samani, Sam Bankman-Fried, Jeremy Allaire, amongst others.

    Saber partners with Marinade Finance to Make Staking Liquid

    Saber is the leading cross-chain stablecoin exchange
    Saber has established itself as a stablecoin exchange on the Solana network

    Saber, the leading cross-chain stablecoin and wrapped assets exchange on Solana, has entered a strategic partnership with Marinade Finance to create a mSOL/SOL pool, making staking on Solana liquid and accessible to all.

    Marinade Finance is the first liquid staking protocol built on Solana allowing users to frictionlessly stake, trade, accrue rewards, and collateralize their staked SOL by tokenizing it in the form of mSOL.

    In the announcement, Saber stated that “Staking is the lifeblood of proof-of-stake blockchains like Solana. Democratizing access to staking is vital to ensuring the proper security, consensus, and decentralization of Solana itself.”

    The announcement also disclosed that the partnership will ensure liquid staking derivatives like mSOL are actually liquid. It further revealed that Saber’s stableswap AMM design will ensure low slippage, deep liquidity, and a rich trading experience.

    Sunny Aggregator Launches on Solana

    Sunny Aggregator
    Sunny Aggregator allows other developers to build on top of its core infrastructure

    Sunny Aggregator, a composable yield aggregator, has officially launched on Solana. The Sunny Protocol is designed with composability as a core feature, enabling other applications and protocols to easily build on top of it.

    Many DeFi projects provide token-based yield farming incentives as a mechanism for bootstrapping liquidity. With so many new Solana DeFi projects launching, it has become increasingly difficult for users to manage their yield farming positions across different interfaces.

    A yield aggregator simplifies this process by offering a streamlined solution for discovering and entering farms. The aggregator can then offer additional strategies, such as automatically compounding the farmed tokens. (https://bluejapan.org)

    Soldex to Offer AI-Powered Trading Algorithms

    Soldex exchange
    Soldex aims to use AI to make crypto trading more accessible

    The decentralized exchange, Soldex, is attempting to make the trading of crypto more accessible and straightforward with the use of artificial intelligence. Currently, new users must learn about markets and the assets they want to trade, adding to the barriers of getting started.

    Soldex is eliminating these barriers by offering traders the capabilities to use AI-powered trading algorithms developed by users.

    The objective of Soldex is to use a neural network algorithm to work on all market conditions. The algorithm will be able to analyze data about the market, make predictions about risks and buy and sell assets on the user’s behalf. As an automated trading suite, it will gather expert data and continue to develop its learning capabilities. 

    The CEO of Soldex, John Robertson, shares that the “AI will be so far advanced that users will be able to “create their own trading strategies and sell them on the marketplace.”

    Providing AI trading in a decentralized format can greatly impact the way people view cryptocurrencies. The platform is also completely permissionless, so anyone, regardless of location, can provide liquidity, trade or begin staking without a Know Your Client (KYC) requirement. 

    DeFi Land Raises $4.1M to launch DeFi Game on Solana

    Defi Land Gamified Decentralized Finance
    DeFi Land raised $4.1 million to gamify the DeFi landscape

    Blockchain gamification platform DeFi Land has secured $4.1 million in investments to launch a new decentralized finance game on Solana, further highlighting the growing ecosystem surrounding SOL. 

    The investment round had participation from over 40 investors, including some of the biggest names in blockchain venture capital. Animoca Brands, Alameda Research, Jump Capital, NGC Ventures, Solana Foundation and Gate.io were among the major investors involved.

    DeFi Land operates as an agriculture simulation game designed to gamify all aspects of decentralized finance. The goal is to create educational solutions for users looking to explore DeFi or other alternative finance solutions. The platform introduces a play-to-earn model that allows users to earn income for completing tasks or reaching milestones.

    Brian Lee, a senior executive at Alameda Research, said DeFi Land blends “two of the most interesting things happening in crypto right now – gaming and DeFi.” This increases the odds of casual gamers and crypto users entering the decentralized finance market for the first time.

    Sources:

    https://www.chron.com/business/article/Solana-rival-of-Ethereum-is-already-the-seventh-16442434.php

    https://www.altcoinbuzz.io/cryptocurrency-news/product-release/top-updates-from-the-solana-ecosystem-august-week-2/

    https://wormholecrypto.medium.com/introducing-wormhole-32b16d795c01

    https://allart.medium.com/solsea-the-first-open-nft-marketplace-on-solana-54c263cb864f

    https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/5-reasons-why-solana-sol-keeps-climbing-2021-08-31

    https://coinquora.com/first-million-dollar-nft-sale-for-solana-and-its-for-a-degenerate-ape/

    https://www.altcoinbuzz.io/cryptocurrency-news/product-release/avalanche-integrates-chainlink-price-feeds-and-sushiswap/

    https://solana.com/news/announcing-breakpoint-the-annual-solana-conference

    https://blog.saber.so/saber-partners-with-marinade-finance-to-make-staking-liquid-throughmsol-pool-1d5c75f63eb9

    https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-defi-platform-positions-itself-as-a-new-compound-built-on-solana

    https://cointelegraph.com/news/defi-land-raises-4-1m-to-launch-decentralized-finance-game-on-solana

  • HUMAN Protocol: A New Way for Humans and Machines to Interact

    HUMAN Protocol: A New Way for Humans and Machines to Interact

    HUMAN Protocol is an infrastructure that aims to redefine how humans work by supporting distributed job markets. 

    The Protocol provides tools for labor requesters to crowdsource people to perform tasks that help bolster machine-learning networks.

    HUMAN’s vision is to create a more human world: decentralized yet connected, with every viewpoint and background accounted for and represented, in which all value produced is rewarded. The Protocol facilitates direct, globally-mapped connections that bring workers closer to the rewards of their work, organizations to workforces, and machines to understanding.

    Distributed Job Markets

    To improve a digital world, we must look to its foundations: the mechanisms and systems through which people connect, interact, and collaborate. 

    HUMAN enables distributed job markets, but it is not the job market itself. Rather, it provides the tools, infrastructure, plugins, and APIs to support broad-scale data markets – which in time, will become markets to support any type of work. 

    It connects distributed workers with global opportunities to empower an already flourishing gig economy. This ensures it is the workers, not corporate authorities, that have control over the opportunities available to them, allowing the workers to receive more value for their contributions.

    AI training

    New technologies require new data. Data informs the capability of machines to accurately interpret the world. 

    If organizations can select who labels data, they can better assure the relevancy of the dataset produced. HUMAN Protocol provides the end-to-end infrastructure – the tools, plugins, integrations, and API – to hire, manage, validate, and compensate workers at any scale.

    How Does It Work?

    Three key entities within HUMAN Protocol are Requesters, Workers, and Exchanges. 

    The Requester submits work to the Exchange with a bounty attached to a smart contract. The bounty is a sum of Human Tokens (HMT) held in escrow until the Worker fulfils the specifications of the job.

    The Workers perform the work as specified by the Requester. A Worker can be an individual, a website, or derive from labor pools.

    The Exchange is the interface between Requesters and Workers. It monitors the blockchain for new jobs, manages bids for work, and serves the jobs to Workers.

    The Technology

    The Protocol enables Requesters of work to choose from job types supported by Exchanges, then create a job specification and set of tasks to complete. This is distributed by the Exchange to Workers. 

    Optimized execution of jobs by Exchanges is also possible. In this process, the Exchange can intelligently split jobs into smaller pieces. For example, when a Requester submits a medical document for labelling to a HUMAN Exchange, the Exchange can factor this into multiple sub-tasks: understanding where fields are on a page, what type of field each is, and what the contents of the field contain. Each sub-task can be represented by a standard job type.

    The Exchange then distributes these sub-tasks to other Exchanges that support those job types, which make sure that each part reaches an appropriate worker, whether human or machine or both. For example, complicated medical terminology may need to go to an Exchange with qualified doctors. Simple tasks may have no such constraints. 

    As Workers submit their individual answers, the Exchange submits results to a Recording Oracle, which does an initial evaluation and aggregates the work into chunks. These chunks are then evaluated by a Reputation Oracle, which performs payouts and computes a final result for the Requester.

    hCaptcha: The Anti-Bot Solution

    The first application running on HUMAN Protocol is hCaptcha, an online security service that distinguishes humans from bots via simple questions, e.g. selecting all image squares containing a dog.

    hCaptcha uses HUMAN Labs’s Proof-of-HUMANity tool to assist in the evaluation and compensation of the end users who get paid to solve the image-annotation challenges. 

    “Proof-of-HUMANity is a gamechanger for the blockchain industry, which has long been plagued by nefarious bot activity,” Alex Newman, hCaptcha co-founder, said in a statement.

    With the boom in decentralized finance (DeFi), front-running bots have increasingly become an issue. The bots are known to cut in line in an execution queue, right before a known future transaction occurs, in order to capitalize on a price change.

    By using hCaptcha, developers can ensure transactions on their networks are executed by humans, and this bot-buster is a more private alternative to Google’s reCAPTCHA. hCaptcha does not sell personal data and they collect only minimum necessary personal data. They are transparent in describing the information being collected, how the information will be used and/or disclosed, and they agree to only use such data to provide the hCaptcha service to Cloudflare.

    Partnerships and Integrations with Chainlink, Solana and Polkadot

    HUMAN Protocol has teamed up with Metamask and Chainlink to create on-chain proof-of-humanity, enabling ERC20 contract developers to verify that the actions in a smart contract are made by a human.

    Chainlink will be used to launch decentralized Reputation Oracles for HUMAN Protocol. These Chainlink-powered Reputation Oracles will enable the autonomous distribution of tasks and payments for HUMAN-powered work pools across the Ethereum, Polkadot, and Solana blockchains. HUMAN Protocol also plans to use Chainlink Price Feeds for payment exchange rates.

    Solana was selected by HUMAN Protocol Foundation as one of the leading choices to integrate with HUMAN Protocol. The integration is currently underway, with plans to launch new labor pools later this year.

    Polkadot functions as the middle layer that translates the information between the different chains HUMAN Protocol is operating on. Parity and MoonBeam have been implemented.

    HMT Token

    HMT is the native token of HUMAN Protocol. It is the primary mechanism of value transfer within the network. 

    Because HUMAN Protocol is built on the blockchain, it can apply smart contracts to execute high-volume micropayments across the globe. The openly verifiable smart contracts hold all funds in escrow, so there is peace of mind for all parties involved.

    The Requester spends HMT as they create a Smart Bounty for a job. The Requester prefunds the bounty, which is stored in escrow by smart contracts.

    Workers earn HMT by completing work. They bid for work in HMT and are compensated for their work in HMT. If the job is complete, the prefunded bounty is released to the Worker. If the work does not fulfil the requirements, the job is aborted, and funds are returned to the Requester.

    The Exchanges earn HMT for matching requested work with Workers. The Exchanges prioritise distribution of tasks based on the reputation, which is determined both by the quantity of HMT a Worker holds or has previously earned (Proof-of-Balance), taking into account both the total value of their past transactions as well as their balance.

    The supply of the HMT token is fixed.

    Human-Machine Collaboration

    Today, HUMAN Protocol already offers unprecedented artificial intelligence training capabilities.

    hCaptcha is interacted with by 15% of internet users, representing the world’s largest data-labeling workforce. This is only the beginning, however. 

    HUMAN and its partners are working to bring the Protocol to more applications, each functioning as an Exchange between Requesters and Workers, to realize new distributed markets and ways of working, and increase the points of human-to-machine interaction.

    Not only does HUMAN offer access to the world’s largest labor pool, and the means to effectively manage such a distributed workforce, but it is enabling systems to revolutionize human-machine interaction within AI: a mechanism for machines themselves to understand the data they need to improve their algorithms, and to have a means of asking for that data across an automated, global marketplace, where the answers can be provided.

    FAQ

    What is HUMAN Protocol?

    HUMAN Protocol is a broadly applicable technology to connect and validate human and machine workers.

    What does it aim to achieve?

    HUMAN is focused on creating the largest labor pool for humans to achieve greater potential, and machines to achieve greater understanding. They offer the ability to request work from other machines; repetitive tasks can be taken care of, and human workers can focus on more interesting, creative, or specialized tasks.

    How does it work?

    HUMAN Protocol creates a blockchain based, two-sided marketplace. On one side, it enables requests to label large volumes of data. On the other, it allows for the workers who complete this work to be evaluated and remunerated.

    Is the technology already available?

    Yes, the most widely used service by HUMAN Protocol is hCaptcha, a tool to distinguish humans from bots. HUMAN has also partnered with multiple networks to make their technology available on a global scale.

    Sources:
    Click to access 60511d72db8c7eb0b9799526_Human-litepaper.pdf
    https://www.coindesk.com/human-protocol-expands-hcaptcha-tool-launches-wallet-to-make-ai-smarter
    https://news.bitcoin.com/introducing-human-protocol-a-new-way-for-humans-and-machines-to-securely-connect-and-collaborate/
    https://www.humanprotocol.org/blog/introduction-to-the-human-token-hmt?lng=en-US
    https://www.humanprotocol.org/blog/development-update-collaborations-and-integrations?lng=en-US
    https://blog.cloudflare.com/moving-from-recaptcha-to-hcaptcha/

  • Why PAX Gold Is A Hot Topic In The Crypto Market

    Why PAX Gold Is A Hot Topic In The Crypto Market

    Introduction

    PAX Gold (PAXG) is a digital asset. Unlike Bitcoin, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies in the market, each PAXG token is backed by one fine troy ounce (t oz) of a 400 oz London Good Delivery gold bar. The gold bars are safely and securely kept in Brink’s vaults. 

    If you invest in PAXG, it means that you own the underlying physical gold which is kept in custody by Paxos Trust Company.

    Compared to the other cryptocurrencies in the market, PAXG is more stable as it is commodity-backed, which means investors take possession of real assets – gold. This kind of stablecoin might take over the bandwagon other cryptocurrencies have created. Let’s find out more about it to see whether PAX Gold will steal away the crypto’s spotlight or not.

    Background of PAX Gold

    PAX Gold (PAXG) is a commodity-backed, gold stablecoin issued by Paxos. Paxos is the first blockchain infrastructure platform that has regulated PAXG. Its products serve as the foundation for a new, open financial system that is more efficient and quicker. Other than Paxos website, PAX Gold is traded at Binance US, Uniswap and Kraken. It can be bought at any broker account that supports PAXG trading like Crypto.com. 

    Currently, trillions of money are locked up in inefficient, out-of-date financial infrastructure that millions of people cannot access. Paxos is developing a revolutionary technology that will enable assets to travel instantly anywhere on the planet.

    For corporate clients, Paxos utilises technology to tokenize, custody, trade, and settle assets. Its Paxos Crypto Brokerage and Stablecoin as a Service solutions allow Fintechs and financial institutions to provide crypto capabilities to their customers. It also provides securities and commodity settlement services. PayPal, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, StoneX, and Revolut are among Paxos’ clients.

    Stablecoin vs Cryptocurrency

    First, we should look into the distinguishing characteristics of Stablecoin that set it apart from cryptocurrency but interlink in some ways too.  

    Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another cryptocurrency, fiat currency, or exchange-traded commodities (such as gold, silver and some precious metals).

    Asset-backed cryptocurrencies like PAXG have the advantage of being stabilized by assets that vary outside of the cryptocurrency market. For example, the underlying asset is uncorrelated which lowers the financial risk. 

    Since Bitcoin and altcoins are strongly linked, cryptocurrency investors cannot avoid broad price drops without quitting the market or switching to asset-backed stablecoins. Furthermore, owing to arbitrage, Stablecoins are unlikely to fall below the value of the underlying physical commodity, provided they are administered in good faith and include a method for redeeming the asset backing them.

    Stablecoins that are backed are still subjected to the same volatility and risk as the underlying asset. 

    Why is PAX Gold the trend now?

    Stablecoins are a new type of digital currency that is backed by stable real-world assets such as fiat currency. The US dollar’s stability is combined with the efficiency of blockchain technology in PAX Gold.

    This is why many investors are jumping from the “cryptocurrency boat” into “digital versions of traditional asset boats” like PAXG. 

    As of May 19, 2021, the flagship cryptocurrency – Bitcoin – hit more than three-month lows, falling to around $30,000 at one point. The latest decline followed a significant surge that began in the second part of the previous year.

    Part of Bitcoin’s decline appears to be a temporary reversal in broader acceptability, as well as regulatory worries and weakening in more speculative sections of financial markets.

    These investors are choosing PAX Gold (PAXG) as an alternative to the more volatile cryptocurrencies in order to escape the US dollar’s inflation.

    PAX Gold combines the advantages of physical gold bar ownership with the speed and liquidity of a digital asset, fractional ownership, and none of the security risks associated with the physical gold bars stored in your house safe or paying for vault storage.

    5 Benefits of PAX Gold

    Actual gold on the blockchain provides the benefit of reflecting legal ownership of physical allotted gold while avoiding the disadvantages of limited transportability and expensive storage costs. It has the divisibility, fungibility, and tradability of any digital asset, such as Bitcoin. To put it another way, you get the finest of both tangible and digital assets at once!

    Here are 5 more detailed reasons why PAXG should be in your next investment portfolio: 

    1. Safety and security

    The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) regulates Paxos as a trusted business and custodian of PAXG, which is completely backed by allotted gold kept in the world’s most secure vaults. So if you’re wondering if PAXG is safe, rest assured. Every month, a nationally recognised auditor will testify to the matching supply of PAXG tokens and the underlying gold.

    1. Backed by gold and other stable currencies

      The only gold token that can be exchanged for LBMA-accredited Good Delivery gold bullion bars is the redeemable PAX Gold. Smaller quantities can be redeemed at a network of actual gold dealers for added convenience. Unallocated Loco London Gold is also available to institutional customers. Customers of Paxos can always redeem their funds for USD at current gold market rates. PAXG wallet has the same function like other cryptocurrency wallets, but what’s more special is that it can be redeemable for actual gold, if the need arises.

    2. Competitive fee structure

      Fee structure for PAXG token generation and redemption in the Paxos wallet is extremely competitive (0.03-1 percent depending on volume tiers), with minimal on-chain Ethereum transaction fees (0.02 percent) and no storage fees. For on-chain transactions, minimal Ethereum gas fees apply, as they do for all ERC-20 tokens.

    3. Highly accessible

    PAXG is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token that may be transferred and exchanged anywhere in the globe at any time. Anyone may now buy a fraction of an LBMA-accredited London Good Delivery gold bar with minimal investment.

    1. Flexible

    Using the Paxos platform, you can easily exchange or redeem PAXG for fiat, physical, or unallocated gold. On major crypto exchanges, you may trade PAXG for other digital currencies. PAXG can be used everywhere that ERC-20 tokens are accepted.

    Other than Paxos website, PAX Gold is traded at Binance US, Uniswap and Kraken. It can be bought at any broker account that supports PAXG trading like Crypto.com.

    Conclusion

    With over 20 vaults, exchanges, wallets and lending platforms, PAX Gold is handled securely without the hassle of you hiding physical gold behind your painting or underneath your bed. They handle everything. The speed and liquidity of this digital asset still has a long way to go before finally hitting the common ground with cryptocurrencies. But, it’s coming out strong as most of the people still trust gold which is less volatile than the peer-to-peer ecosystem.  

    Take the advice here with a pinch of salt as every fluctuation in the market is unpredictable and risky. 

    FAQ

    Is PAX Gold safe?

    Yes. Paxos, the custodian behind PAX Gold, is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). The currency is also backed by gold that is kept behind the world’s most secure vaults. On top of that, monthly audits are done on the PAXG tokens by a nationally recognized auditor. The auditor will testify to the matching supply of PAXG tokens against the underlying asset which is gold.

    Where can I trade for PAX Gold?

    PAX Gold can be traded at PAXOS website, Binance US, and Kraken. It can also be bought at any other broker account that supports PAX trading such as Crypto.com.

    What are the fees for PAX GOLD?

    Fee structure for PAXG token generation and redemption in the Paxos wallet is extremely competitive (0.03-1 percent depending on volume tiers), with minimal on-chain Ethereum transaction fees (0.02 percent) and no storage fees. For on-chain transactions, minimal Ethereum gas fees apply, as they do for all ERC-20 tokens.
    At 0.03-1%, Paxos wallet fees are among the cheapest in the market. There’s also on-chain Ethereum transaction fees of 0.02%, which is also minimal, and no storage fees. This makes it very cost effective to trade and hold PAX Gold.

    What’s the main advantage of buying PAX Gold?

    With the current uncertainties in the crypto markets, PAX Gold offers an in-between solution where you can invest in crypto that is also backed by real world currencies such as gold and fiat. This may help reduce the risk of an investor’s overall portfolio

  • KIRA Network ($KEX): What is it?

    KIRA Network ($KEX): What is it?

    KIRA Network ($KEX) is an interchain exchange protocol that allows users to earn block and fee rewards while staking any digital assets, such as cryptocurrency, stablecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

    Background

    KIRA is developed by a strong team consisting of full-stack developers, blockchain engineers, back-end developers, and technical architects. The team is led by Milana Valmont (CEO) and Mateusz Grzelak (CTO).

    In the past, Valmont had held different roles which include being a blockchain consultant at Adcoin, as well as a strategy advisor at KNOKS. Grzelak had also held prominent positions in firms such as Settle Finance, Barclays, and Bity.

    KIRA Network’s strategic partners include AlphaBit, TRG Capital, Swingby, and Math Wallet. In addition, the team also includes Roger Lim from NGC Ventures and Alssio Treglia from Tendermint.

    What is KIRA Network?

    KIRA Network is a blockchain-based protocol that brings liquid staking into the DeFi market. It enables access to all virtual currencies, digital fiat, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within a cross-chain ecosystem.

    KIRA Network: Liquid Staking
    KIRA Network: Liquid Staking (Image credit: KIRA Network Whitepaper)

    With liquid staking, liquidity providers can stake any digital asset. Consequently, they earn incentives emanating from new blocks and transaction fees.

    The protocol’s idea of liquid staking stems from the current staking space. Here, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges provide crypto trading, acquisition, as well as act as a hub for a host of digital currencies.

    Currently, a large number of those coins that are available for staking are found on centralized exchange platforms. For this reason, KIRA wants to change this by providing a decentralized platform that mirrors what traditional virtual currency exchanges offer.

    As such, even small actors in the PoS ecosystem will have access to liquidity and evade security risks found on centralized platforms. Also, the protocol removes the cap on fee and block incentives for liquidity providers.

    KIRA Network: 8 Key Pillars

    To have a profound impact on the DeFi scene, KIRA Network is supported by eight pillars, which include:

    Security

    Using the Multi-Bonded PoS (MBPoS) consensus mechanism, the network can harness its security from staked assets. In addition, MBPoS helps remove the barrier as to which virtual assets can be staked and/or can attract rewards.

    Utility

    KIRA uses IXP (Interchain Exchange Protocol) to provide market access to the wide range of assets staked on the system.

    Liquidity

    KIRA supports liquidity provision through staking derivatives. The platform has a 1:1 ratio between staking derivatives and staked tokens.

    Expansibility

    The protocol uses validators to ensure the credibility of transactions. Also, the validators operate Initial Validator Offerings (IVOs) that allow investors to raise funds for new projects without affecting their liquidity.

    KIRA Network: On-chain IVO
    KIRA Network: On-chain IVO (Image credit: KIRA Network Whitepaper)

    Investors delegate their tokens to the validators while the validators mine new tokens. Correspondingly, the former earn block rewards.

    Upgradeability

    Upgrading the system relies on developers. Therefore, to drive development, the protocol uses an on-chain contracting system as an incentive scheme.

    Sustainability

    To ensure the platform has long term viability, it uses an on-chain governance structure. To elaborate, the governing body touches on the network’s economic aspects that include inflation and interest rates.

    Scalability

    KIRA tackles scalability by removing restrictions on the number of validators and the stake value. In turn, this makes it possible to introduce shards or zones.

    KIRA Network: DeFi zones
    KIRA Network: DeFi zones (Image credit: KIRA Network website)

    Interoperability

    The Network makes use of Polkadot, Cosmos, and other cross-chain systems to power liquid staking. Notably, this staking mechanism does not discriminate against cryptocurrency assets.

    KIRA Token ($KEX)

    KEX is KIRA Network’s native token. Apart from being used as a staking token on the network, KEX is also used as a base asset upon which other currencies are valued.

    Additionally, KIRA’s native currency is a requirement when participating in the system’s governance issues. Moreover, it’s used to reward holders, delegators, and validators. Note that KEX holders are rewarded by being offered low transaction and exchange costs.

    In contrast, delegators earn almost 99 percent of all block rewards and close to 50 percent of all network fees. Validators, on the other hand, earn a commission depending on their configuration and sit on the system’s governance table. Their earnings could go up to 50 percent network fees.

    KEX is allocated to developers/team (15%), advisors (7%), the KIRA Foundation (20%), as well as reserve and liquidity (26.6%)

    $KEX Token Allocation
    $KEX Token Allocation (Image Credit: “KIRA Network Token Metrics” medium article)

    KIRA Network ($KEX) – Public Sale

    KEX token is not available to trade yet and the public sale is soon to be announced. KEX will be launching ERC-20 KEX token on Ethereum network before KIRA Network is launched with the initial supply of 300,000,000 KEX token. Users will be able to swap for the native KEX token with the equal amount of value once the mainnet is launched.

    KIRA Network has raised 3.6M during the seed (priced at $0.025) and private sale rounds (priced at $0.05), with a vesting period of 18 months starting at mainnet launch. All seed and private round participants will receive approximately 2.5% of their token after finalization of all stages of the public round distribution.

    Public round has a $400k cap, token price at $0.075. Find out more here.

    Governance on KIRA Network

    The protocol uses a governance structure that slowly hedges away from full dependency on stake and or wealth distribution. Governance is guided by rules that exclusively put whitelisted actors to execute on-chain actions that are cleared for execution.

    KIRA Network: Governance Structure
    KIRA Network: Governance Structure (Image credit: KIRA Network Whitepaper)

    On top of these rules are parameters and individually assigned permissions. The network puts checks and balances on its governance model through operators, a voting council, an electorate council, and a proposal council.

    Notable KIRA Network Partnerships

    To drive the adoption and usability of the KIRA protocol, the platform has partnered with notable players in the DeFi Space. Some of the most conspicuous are:

    • KIRA and Finance.vote – The partnership enabled KIRA to provide liquidity to Finance.vote’s social trading layer. For this reason, it opened a new revenue stream for Finance.vote users by allowing them to conduct yield farming using digital assets in their portfolios.
    • KIRA Network and Math Foundation – Here, the Math Foundation benefited from staking KEX (KIRA’s native token) tokens and the interaction with KIRA’s MBPoS.
    • KIRA Network and Swingby – The partnership brought staking functionalities to Skybridge users. Skybridge is a decentralized inter-chain asset bridge.
    • KIRA and Blockparty – This partnership made Blockparty one of KIRA’s validators.

    Conclusion

    From crucial partnerships to using a new consensus mechanism, KIRA Network is keen on expanding the possibilities in the DeFi space for liquidity miners and yield farmers. Furthermore, the protocol’s eight pillars help it to enhance security, sustainability, utility, scalability, among other functionalities that are key in driving DeFi 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.

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

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

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

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

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

    Background: Who is behind PlotX?

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

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

    PlotX team
    PlotX team

    What is PlotX?

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

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

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

    Tried but failed, time to do it again

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

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

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

    PlotX platform
    PlotX platform

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

    Governance on PlotX

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

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

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

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

    PlotX’s components of a healthy DeFi prediction protocol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    PlotX Alpha and PlotX Token ($PLOT) use cases

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

    ·         P2P commissions.

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

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

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

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

    ·         Liquidity mining via staking.

    PlotX ($PLOT) mainnet launch and listing

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

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

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

    Flamingo Finance ($FLM): What is it?

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


    Background

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

    What is Flamingo Finance

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

    Flamingo’s 5 Key Components

    Flamingo ecosystem (Image credit: NeoNewsToday)

    Swap

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

    Wrapper

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

    Vault

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

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

    Perp

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

    Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Flamingo supports FIP and FCCP proposals.

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

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

    Key strengths of Flamingo Finance

    Interoperability

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

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

    Capital Efficiency

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

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

    Fair Launch

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

    What is Flamincome?

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

    Flamincome
    Flamincome (Image credit: Medium)

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

    Flamingo Swap: What is it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    LATEST NEWS

    Are you eligible for refund of Flamincome withdrawal fees?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    SCAM ALERT: Flamingo airdrop

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

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

    Fake Flamingo account
    Fake Flamingo account

    I have all this FLM? What happens next?

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • MEME ($MEME): A DeFi Joke?

    MEME ($MEME): A DeFi Joke?

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


    Background

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

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

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

    What is MEME?

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

    MEME’s Meteoric Rise

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

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

    MEME token
    MEME token (Image credit: Coingecko)

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

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

    How to farm MEME?

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

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

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

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

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

    MEME farming pools

    Genesis pool

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

    This accommodates the staking of MEME tokens.

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

    MEME Genesis LP pool

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Governance

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Background

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

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

    What is Kyber Network?

    Kyber Network Explained
    Kyber Network Explained

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

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

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

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

    Features of the Kyber Network

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

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

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

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

    Network Actors

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

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

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

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

    Kyber Network Crystal Token ($KNC)

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

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

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

    KyberDAO

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

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

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

    KyberDAO rewards
    KyberDAO Rewards

    Staking and Voting

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

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

    Delegating

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Background

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

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

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

    What is RIO DeFi?

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

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

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

    How RioDeFi works
    How RioDeFi works

    Parity Substrate

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

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

    Parachains
    Parachains

    Three Main Focuses of the Rio project

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

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

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

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

    Three main focuses of RioChain
    Three main focuses of RioChain

    Consensus Algorithm (Proof-of-Authority)

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

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

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

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

    Federated Blockchain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    RFUEL token distribution

    Rio Fuel token ($RFUEL): public sale

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

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

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

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

    Use Cases of Rio Chain

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

    Bitcoin lending platform
    Bitcoin Lending Platform

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

    Savings Account

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

    Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

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

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

  • DOS NETWORK ($DOS): DECENTRALIZED ORACLE SERVICE NETWORK

    DOS NETWORK ($DOS): DECENTRALIZED ORACLE SERVICE NETWORK

    DOS NETWORK ($DOS) is a scalable layer-2 network that offers Decentralized Oracle Service that securely and reliably collects real-world data, event and computation power and delivers them to blockchain systems. Apart from allowing blockchains to interact with external data, the network also allows communication between blockchains.

    In this guide, we take a closer look at DOS Network, its use cases, incentives to miners, architecture, as well as two of its main components.


    Background

    The development of DOS Network was made possible by blockchain technology, with a special focus on smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapps). At present, these two areas are seeing increased attention but with only a few tangible results. The DOS system seeks to contribute to the crypto space by commercializing Dapps and boosting large-scale adoption of smart contracts.

    To do this, the project envisions a scenario where smart contracts can independently fetch internet data and activate web application programming interfaces (APIs). Additionally, the protocol’s background is hinged on making on-chain computations less expensive while improving scalability.

    This would allow artificial intelligence model training, matrix multiplication, and 3D rendering, among other applications, to be commercialized while using smart contracts.

    The whole project is supported by the DOS Foundation, along with several key partners including QuarkChain, BKEX, Ultrain, Meter SERO, IOST, and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).

    What is DOS Network?

    DOS Network is a decentralized oracle service network meant to boost blockchain-based systems’ interconnection with real-world data. It is built as a scalable layer-2 protocol that offers decentralized data feed oracles.

    What is DOS Network?
    What is DOS Network?

    The protocol is also built to be chain-agnostic and completely decentralized. Therefore, it is compatible with all existing smart contract blockchains. This enables the DOS Network to function as a distributed computational oracle that is verifiable and usable by established blockchains such as Tron and EOS.

    Furthermore, the network is also horizontally scalable, which means that the more nodes run on its system, the greater its computation power becomes. Being decentralized and designed with a crypto economic model, the DOS Network is resilient to sybil attacks and other cyber attacks.

    Major parts of DOS Network

    DOS Network Key Components
    DOS Network Key Components

    The DOS Network has two key components in its system: the on-chain and off-chain parts.

    On-chain

    The on-chain component deals with everything on the blockchain. It’s made of a set of the protocol’s contracts that handle computational result verification, node staking, payment processing, and other functionalities on supported blockchains.

    For ease of use, the contracts have a uniform user interface across chains.

    Off-chain

    The DOS network’s off-chain system focuses on client software operated by third parties in search of economic rewards. The software is made of a blockchain adaptor module, off-chain group consensus modules, among others. Generally, the off-chain part has a distributed data feed and a computation oracle.

    DOS Network Mainnet: Caelus

    DOS Network Mainnet - Caelus
    DOS Network Mainnet – Caelus

    On July 10, 2020, the DOS Network Caelus mainnet officially went live. The mainnet brought with it real-time verifiable results, enhanced security, and scalability. In addition, the launch was accompanied by a blockchain explorer which allows users to query available on-chain information.

    DOS Network: Use Cases

    Bridging the gap between decentralized systems and real-world data leads to multiple enticing use cases. While the utilities for DOS are limitless, they can be summarized into:

    Distributed Derivatives

    A financial contract between individuals can be hindered by a lack of trust, especially on a decentralized platform. To promote stability, a smart contract takes care of a derivative’s short and long positions.

    Although other projects like Decentralized Derivative Association are working on expanding the use of smart contracts on the derivatives market, DOS Network still has its place. The protocol can be used to securely access and feed the contracts with settlement values and price feeds.

    Stablecoin External Data

    In this context, Tether (USDT) is eliminated from the equation because it is issued by a centralized company and can be manipulated.

    Here, we recognize the likes of DAI and kUSD, which are stablecoins pegged to an underlying asset. As a result, these currencies need systems like DOS Network to trustingly provide data, such as the current exchange rate of their underlying assets.

    Decentralized Lending

    Decentralized finance (DeFi) has added great momentum to decentralized lending. And to ensure a fair loan process, the DOS protocol can be used to provide market rates and monitor the equivalence between the amount loaned and collateral provided.

    Also, it can be used to monitor the loan terms and activate liquidation.

    Distributed Insurance

    Insurance is one of the top sectors that would greatly benefit from blockchain technology. With projects like Etherisc looking into crop insurance, flight delay insurance, the DOS protocol can be utilized to feed them with the external data they require.

    DOS Network enables policy underwriting and making payout decisions on decentralized insurance applications by providing the required external data.

    Distributed Casino

    With conventional casinos having up to 15 percent house edge, decentralized casinos are the answer to fairness, transparency, and near-instant payouts. But, with random number generation being at the core of every casino game, providing verifiable random numbers on blockchain systems is difficult.

    To solve this, DOS Network can feed Dapps with verifiable and secure random numbers that are unstoppable, untamperable, and unbiased.

    Decentralized Prediction Markets

    This can be anything from election predictions to sports betting. Decentralized oracles provided by the DOS system can help solve these types of disputes safely and quickly.

    Decentralized Computation Execution Scalability

    The system can allow users to avoid costly on-chain computations and offer privacy to computing tasks. With low costs and private analyses, DOS Network can enhance scalability on Ethereum and other supported smart contract platforms.

    DOS Token ($DOS): What is it?

    DOS Network ($DOS) has a native virtual currency that follows ERC-20 standards. The token is used for both governance and incentivizing network participants. Participants on the network include Dapp developers, Node runners, and premium data providers. (https://nuttyscientists.com/)

    The DOS token supply is hard-capped at one billion. DOS tokens was allocated for mining incentive (35%), ecosystem building (19%), community token promotion (1.5%), private sale (14.5%), team (15%), foundation reserve for marketing, legal, PR & etc (10%) and advisor (5%).

    On Aug 17 2020, DOS Network has announced 2 improvements to the DOS token economy: liquidity rewards and token burning.

    Liquidity rewards

    The team will provide 100,000 DOS tokens every 7 days from the foundation reserve as liquidity rewards, of which 50% will be rewarded to the DOS/ETH pool on Uniswap V2 and 50% to the DOS/USDC pool on Balancer.

    Token burning

    Another 100,000 DOS tokens from the foundation reserve will be burnt every 7 days. Besides, staking interests incurred by foundational nodes (namely Gaia, Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Muses, Hades, Poseidon, Odin, Thor, Loki, and The Oracle of Delphi) will be burnt every 14 days and will not enter circulation.

    For more info, please visit here.

    Conclusion

    The interaction of blockchain-based systems with real-world data is the key to explosive blockchain adoption. This can happen in sectors like insurance, casinos, prediction markets, peer-to-peer lending, DeFi, all thanks to the DOS Network.

    Furthermore, allowing decentralized nodes to secure the network through a proof of stake-based system eliminates the need for highly specialized mining equipment, decreases the confirmation time, and increases the capacity of transactions.

    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.