Boxmining v2

Category: Ethereum

Ethereum is smart contract platform- it allows for the deployment of decentralized applications (Dapps). Dapps are programs that obey a certain set of conditions that cannot be altered once published – not even by the creator of the contract.
Programmable money can replace the use of third-party escrow or brokers by programming conditions directly into the transaction.

  • ERC Tokens Explained: What are they?

    ERC Tokens Explained: What are they?

    ERC (Ethereum Request for Comment) token standards are built upon and utilise the Ethereum blockchain. Most of us have only heard about the vastly used ERC-20, while becoming more familiar with the ERC-721 and ERC-1155 token standards thanks to the growing adoption of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) by upcoming projects. This article gives an overview of what are ERC tokens, their various types, and functions.

    Summary

    • ERC tokens are special forms of smart contracts that utilise the Ethereum blockchain, rather than having their own blockchain like Bitcoin.
    • They can have different functions and even a combination of features.
    • ERC tokens can be Fungible, Non-fungible, and Semi-fungible.

    What is a token and how do we classify them?

    First of all, ‘tokens‘ are programmable digital units of value that are recorded on a distributed ledger protocol such as a blockchain. Basically, ERC20 tokens are special forms of smart contracts that utilize Ethereum’s blockchain. They can also be described as digital assets which are not the main currency of that blockchain. While $ETH and $BTC both have their blockchain and are thus far considered as coins, tokens don’t.

    There are different types of tokens. Utility tokens differ from the rest because they usually offer a wider functionality than, for example, a means of payment (coins, like $BTC) or voting power on a platform (such as governance tokens, like $UNI). They can combine multiple purposes, are integrated into an existing protocol and used to access its services. They also provide network activity, which ensures strength of the platform’s economy.

    To easily understand how they fit into the blockchain ecosystem, we need to understand how Ethereum works first: we can think of it as an operating system on top of which applications (smart contracts) can be built (written), just like developers build applications for Android and iOS. One difference being that applications on Ethereum can be decentralized (Dapps). Once we have these platforms, we can (if we want) create tokens, each time choosing the most appropriate standard for our purpose.

    Years ago, when there was no standard in use, it was far more complicated for developers to make smart contracts interact with each other; they had to create specific implementation standards to develop a token and launch it on Ethereum’s network. Then, the ERC-20 came out and that heavily simplified the process.

    Another distinction is between Fungible and Non Fungible tokens.

    Fungible Tokens

    In this case, each token is equivalent to all the others and they are interchangeable (1 $BTC will always be equal to any other 1 $BTC).

    ERC-20

    First proposed in 2015, it’s the industry standard and most accepted one. It makes the initial distribution of tokens extremely easy, so it became massively used in the 2017 ICOs craze. The ERC-20 contracts are composed of 6 mandatory functions and 3 optional ones.

    ERC-20 contracts
    ERC-20 contracts

    6 mandatory functions:

    • balanceOf(): keeps track of the balance in each user wallet
    • totalSupply(): shows the current total supply in circulation
    • transfer (): lets the owner send a specific amount to another address
    • transferFrom(): allows a smart contract to automate the transfer process and send a given amount of the token on behalf of the owner
    • approve(): approves the withdrawal of tokens from the owner’s address to the receiving address. It also guarantees that nobody could create more tokens out of nothing, keeping the supply under control
    • allowance(): makes sure that the owner has at least as many tokens as the amount set in the approve function; the transactions added to the blockchain have been proved valid

    3 optional functions:

    • name(): pretty self explanatory!
    • symbol(): 3-4 letter abbreviation
    • decimals(): it is impossible to write decimal places in Solidity- only whole numbers, so this function is needed. Most tokens use 18 decimals

    How to send ERC-20 tokens?

    There are two ways of sending ERC-20 tokens, depending on if you want to send them directly or delegate the function to a smart contract. You can either:

    • call the transfer() function to send tokens to another wallet address
    • call the approve() function and then transferfrom() from the receiver contract

    Besides the ease of use and the popularity that this standard immediately gained among the community, its main flaw soon became obvious, causing millions of dollars worth of tokens to be lost forever in smart contracts.

    Limitations of ERC-20 tokens and what are wrapped tokens?

    What happens if you simply use the transfer() function to send tokens to a smart contract which is not made to receive them?

    The transaction will succeed and these tokens will be credited to the receiver address, but they won’t be recognized by the recipient and they will remain there forever, unusable.

    Another limitation is that since $ETH itself was obviously created before the ERC-20 standard was even developed, it is not compliant with it (nor with other standards). That is why to interact with many contracts, we need to “wrap” $ETH into $WETH (wrapped ether, which IS an ERC-20 token, pegged to $ETH 1:1).

    To solve the various flaws, new standards were proposed. The most famous ones are the following.

    ERC-223

    Summary:

    • prevents funds to be lost
    • half as expensive
    • backwards compatible

    This standard was proposed by a Reddit user known as “Dexaran”; it focuses on security and tries to fix the main flaw of its predecessor, by using a unique, new transfer() function, which allows tokens to be sent to either a personal address or a smart contract. Moreover, it includes a tokenFallback() function that checks the receiving contract for the same function.

    Basically, if the receiver is a regular address (not a contract), the transfer will be similar to the ERC-20 one, while if the receiver is a contract, the tokenFallback() function will be triggered. If the receiving contract does not have this function, the transaction will fail but all the funds will be returned to the sender address.

    Simplifying the transfer and reducing it to just one single step, the process will also be cheaper (less gas fees!). The ERC-223 standard is backwards compatible with the ERC-20, as it keeps all of the original functionalities and solves the biggest issues. The ChainLink ($LINK) token has been described by its developers as “an ERC20 token, with the additional ERC223 ‘transfer and call’ functionality of transfer, allowing tokens to be received and processed by contracts within a single transaction”.

    The ERC-223 standard has never been finalized.

    ERC-777

    Summary:

    • makes transactions smoother
    • allows for approved operators
    • standard for minting/burning tokens
    • backwards compatible with ERC-20

    This standard was developed by Jacques Dafflon and Jordi Baylina, it is similar to ERC-20 and it relies upon the ERC-1820. Before that, developers couldn’t identify the functions which can be implemented by smart contracts. By creating a central registry of contracts on the network, the ERC-777 can use it to identify the interfaces a smart contract uses.

    Its uniqueness is the friction reduction in transactions. It also defines a new set of functions, for example it uses send() instead of transfer(), authoriseOperator() instead of approve(), tokenReceived() handler function instead of tokenFallback().

    It also allows for more customization, a list of approved operators so that people can approve smart contracts to move tokens on their behalf, and creates a standard for minting and burning tokens (very useful for particular projects).

    A pure ERC-777 is not compatible with ERC-20 but the standard described how to make it compatible.

    The ERC-777 standard became finalized on May 6th, 2019.

    Other fungible tokens

    There have been many other proposals combining some aspects of different standards into each other.

    • ERC-827 combines some of the advantages of ERC-223 and ERC-20 standards, it enables token transfer for a 3rd party to spend it
    • ERC-664 is mainly centered on modularity and makes it possible to update token contracts
    • ERC-677 provides a safe way for new contracts to transfer tokens to external contracts
    • ERC-621 can increase or decrease the token supply
    • ERC-884 allows companies to use blockchain to maintain share registries

    Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

    These tokens are unique: each one can have a different value ant they are not replaceable. NFTs enable the tokenization of individual assets. They can often be found in games or you can imagine them as digital pieces of art, real estate… basically anything you like. Unique tokens can be further modified adding new “tools”, hence increasing their value overtime (like new bodyparts on a racing car). Check out our video on NFTs:

    Non-fungible tokens explained

    ERC-721

    It became famous with CryptoKitties. The contract is composed by 8 functions plus 2 optional ones. Most of them are the same or similar to the Fungible counterparts, with few important differences.

    ERC-721 contracts
    ERC-721 contracts

    8 mandatory functions:

    • name()
    • symbol()
    • totalSupply()
    • balanceOf()
    • ownerOf(): retrieves the address that owns whichever NFT ID number is searched; ownership is defined by simply having the token
    • approve()
    • takeOwnership(): transfer the tokens from another address that currently holds them
    • transfer()

    2 optional functions:

    • tokenOfOwnerByIndex(): allows NFT IDs to be searched through a list of tokens owned by the user; it is necessary if we want more ntfs
    • tokenMetadata( ): retrieves the metadata, i.e. info for identification

    While when new ERC-20 tokens are created, the supply simply increases. In this case, things are more complicated. We have to monitor the metadata, and that is expensive in gas fees. ERC-721 defines a storing method.

    A problem with this standard is that if we want to send more NFTs to someone, we will need as many transactions as the number of tokens sent.

    Along with the ERC-721, a few other Non Fungible standards have been proposed, like the ERC-875 and the ERC-998.

    Semi Fungible Tokens (SFTs)

    In some cases, NFTs and FTs do not provide the required level of flexibility that is necessary to build new projects. As we have said, Fungible tokens are all “equals” while Non Fungible ones are unique.

    But what if we need something that is neither Fungible nor Non Fungible? Like seat tickets?

    Seat tickets (or supermarket vouchers, lottery tickets etc.) are 99% equal to on another with a very small difference, like a serial number that makes them unique, preventing double-spending/selling. When we buy a seat ticket, we don’t want someone else to have the same exact token and be able to use it if he arrives before us at the cinema.

    In these circumstances Semi Fungible Tokens come in help: they hold their value until they are sold, changing from Fungible to not Fungible anymore.

    The Multi Token Standard: ERC-1155

    This one was created by Enjin in 2018 for its Gaming Multiverse.

    In all the other standards we have considered, we need to deploy a different contract for each type of token (one contract for all the same ERC-20s, one contract for each unique NFT). It is like being at the supermarket and not being able to buy all of the groceries we want at the same time, having to proceed one item after the other, from shelf to register, continuously. If we want to be able to buy a bunch of stuff at the same time, we need a new standard, and that is the ERC-1155. It allows for different “items” to be stored and created in the same contract (FTs, SFTs and NFTs), with the least possible amount of data; it is cheaper and more convenient.

    For example, in a game we may exchange a currency (ERC-20) and/or NFTs (ERC-721) with other gamers; the ERC-1155 makes it possible. Moreover, it can execute a deterministic smart contract function by simply sending a token to an address (i.e. sending a token to an exchange address, the exchange could immediately return another token back to the sender’s address).

    Practically, a single smart contract can mint infinite tokens forever (and it allows to save fees!)

    Learn more about the ERC 1155 token

    Conclusion

    Overall, among the Fungible tokens, some people think that the ERC-777 should be the designated one to become widely adopted. It offers, for example, more ways to protect our funds. Nevertheless, none of the above standards is without flaws and inherent risks. As a matter of fact, there are multiple reasons why ERC-20 is still the most popular one, and we can’t forget to mention that a new standard would create a lot of issues and interoperability problems, at least at the beginning.

    If we consider the Non Fungible world, we are yet to see an explosion in adoption, but more and more platforms and games are coming out and it will probably be one of the trends of the next years. There are different platforms where you can go and buy collectibles directly with your Ethereum wallet (such as Metamask). One of the most famous and used is Rarible.

    Only time will tell us which will be the next standard in use; proposing a solution and having the community embrace it are two very different things.

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

  • The End for Ethereum Miners after ETH 2.0?

    The End for Ethereum Miners after ETH 2.0?

    The newly launched Ethereum Merge has rendered mining obsolete. So what will happen to all Ethereum mining pools and its miners as well as the millions of dollars worth of hardware in the ecosystem?

    What is Ethereum Mining?

    Before Ethereum’s Merge on 15th September 2022, the blockchain used proof-of-work, the same consensus protocol as Bitcoin, to validate and record transactions. But unlike Bitcoin which solely uses application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners, you could use graphics processing unit (GPU) of gaming computers to mine ETH. As a result, it was generally easier to mine ETH than Bitcoin since GPUs are more accessible and widely applicable than ASICs.

    There were two main ways to mine ETH – pool mining or solo mining:

    Pool Mining (working together)

    • Work with others to mine and share rewards
    • Get paid per share, on a hourly or daily basis
    • Less random / dependent on luck
    • Pools take some fees (0.5-8% depending on pool)

    Solo Mining

    • You mine the entire block reward (differs based on mining difficulty changes) – no pool fees
    • Random chance and probability – you can go days or months without rewards
    • Not viable if hashrate is low – single GPU might take years to mine a block

    Ethereum mining pools were the go-to options for most miners as solo mining took a very long time to earn rewards. However, this work drew criticism for its impact on the environment and its excessive electricity consumption. It is a highly energy-intensive process as miners around the world pool together large amounts of resources and power to mine ETH. But all of that has changed with the arrival of the Merge on 15th September 2022.

    How does the Merge affect Ethereum Mining?

    On 15th September 2022, Ethereum switched its consensus protocol to proof-of-stake as part of an update known as the “Merge” that links Beacon Chain and the Ethereum Mainnet. The Beacon Chain is what allows users to stake ETH, which has been operational since the end of 2020. Many people have staked their ETH to support the transition as well as earn rewards on their stake. Here’s the kicker, after the Merge begins, mining difficulty will soar due to the “difficulty bomb”. It is a kind of self-destruct mechanism meant to make proof-of-work calculations almost impossible, incentivizing the move to an environmentally-friendly proof-of-stake model.

    What will happen to Ethereum Mining Pools and Miners?

    There is a divide in the Ethereum mining community between the organizations that have helped coordinate the resources of individual miners (mining pools) and the individual miners themselves.

    Good for Ethereum Mining Pools

    For mining pools, the transition does not affect them at all. Since these organizations never did the actual work of generating computing power themselves, they are not affected by the sunk cost of the eventual obsolete mining rigs. Instead, these pooling companies have human capital and infrastructure necessary to organize the pooling of resources, source new clients, and overall manage and maintain the operation and its security.

    For this reason, leading Ethereum mining pools like Ethermine or f2pool can simply transition to staking pools. They do not rely on the actual mining itself. It is not a matter of product, only business model. These companies operate on a fee structure, charging individuals for participating in their pools, and it will be unaffected by the move from mining to staking. They only require business development, customer service, and communication with core developers, softwares, and client teams.

    Bad for Individual Ethereum Miners

    However, for the miners who make up these pools and other independent Ethereum miners, the transition could mean the end for them. People who have benefited from mining ETH, either by managing large mining farms or by contributing moderate amounts of GPU power to mining pools, may be left stranded. They have invested large amounts of money in expensive GPUs or specialized mining rigs that are useless in staking. Some will not even be able to recoup their initial investment as they hoped to profit from mining.

    Although validating via proof-of-stake only requires a home PC with stable internet connection, it would require a minimum contribution of 32 ETH, which is a sum far greater than most people’s savings. Essentially, in order to fully cover the hole of lost mining revenues via staking, individual miners would have to establish and operate their own staking pools, which would be a considerably more difficult task than maintaining their own mining rigs.

    Potential Solutions for Ethereum Miners

    There is really no good option for ETH miners. They can still salvage their GPUs by selling them in the market as gaming computers are still popular products, but it is safe to say that there is certainly no demand for ASICs in the market. They could use them to mine other cryptocurrencies that are compatible with their processors such as Ethereum Classic, Ravencoin or Ergo, but they are also much less in demand than Ethereum. The profit margins are substantially lower.

    However, there are certain staking pools that encourage bringing current miners into the fold. According to Bitfly, EtherMine’s parent company, their goal is to “onboard current miners from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.” They also noted that most deposits to EtherMine’s new staking platform have come from existing miners. But whatever the case is, there is still no easy answer as to how Ethereum miners will ever again come close to generating the revenue produced by mining ETH.

    But the most popular option for ETH miners is to operate in a new proof-of-work hard fork of Ethereum known as ETHPoW or ETHW.

    What is Ethereum PoW Hard Fork (ETHW)?

    A hard fork is a major change to the blockchain’s protocol that results in the splitting of the blockchain, creating a seperate blockchain that inherits all of its history with the original, but is on its own towards a new direction.

    Hours after Ethereum’s successful merge on 15th September 2022, a group known as ETHW Core launched a proof-of-work hard fork of Ethereum known as ETHPoW or ETHW. The hard fork’s purpose is to preserve PoW and keep ETH mining alive beyond the Merge.

    The Problems with ETHW

    Although ETHW could be a safe haven for ETH miners, there is not a lot of optimism about its success. In fact, there are a lot of underlying issues that the core team has yet to address.

    ETHW Post-Launch Network Error

    ETHW is getting off to a bad start. Shortly after the ETHW mainnet debut, users began experiencing issues accessing the network. It became clear that the problem was that ETHW had chosen a chain ID already in use by a Bitcoin Cash testnet. If ETHW fails to change its network’s chain ID from the Ethereum mainnet, users could be susceptible to a replay attack — an exploit in which the attacker intercepts and then replicates a valid data transmission going through a network. Given the transparent nature of blockchains, this means that hackers can duplicate your transactions, allowing them to withdraw your funds.

    No Backing for Forked Stablecoins

    The two leading stablecoins USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) have officially confirmed to exclusively support Ethereum 2.0. This results in a smooth transition that is essential for the long-term growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem and its platforms.

    However, that leaves ETHW high and dry as lack of stablecoin support means insufficient liquidity. This is because 1:1 backing will only exist for the officially recognized blockchains, thus USDC and USDT balances cannot be duplicated onto a new blockchain. This is further amplified by the fact that ETHW announced they would temporarily freeze tokens in certain liquidity pools to “protect user funds.” This did not go well with many as this move is done without their consent and the community did not vote on such change.

    No Oracle Support

    Apart from facilitating transactions, decentralized applications (DApps) also interact with external data which requires off-chain computing. This is where blockchain oracle technology like Chainlink comes into play. They enhance smart contracts by connecting them with real-world data, events and transactions.

    On August 8, Chainlink has also officially confirmed to stay with Ethereum 2.0. This means that any DApps on ETHW can be negatively affected since oracle solutions are essential in retrieving and sharing data without jeopardizing the security of the blockchain.

    Lack of Support from Leading DApps and Projects

    On 16th August 2022, Aave, a leading decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum, proposed a governance vote to commit to using Ethereum 2.0, giving power to shut down any Aave deployments on any alternative Ethrereum forks. On their blog post, Aave advised developers and DApp teams on the Ethereum network to halt smart contract operations on forked Ethereum blockchains until they become stable.

    The lack of support from projects means that any tokens or NFTs on the forked Ethereum chain will less likely be accepted in marketplaces or DeFi applications. In turn this would affect investors who are looking to profit from trading these assets.

  • Understanding Layer 2 & Scaling Solutions: Arbitrum, Boba, Optimism, Polygon, Ethereum 2.0

    Understanding Layer 2 & Scaling Solutions: Arbitrum, Boba, Optimism, Polygon, Ethereum 2.0

    One of the core problems with the Ethereum network today is scalability. As more and more decentralized apps (dApps) are built on the network, the number of users and transactions increases. This has slowed down the speed of transactions and driven up the cost of using the network, creating the need for scaling solutions.

    At its full capacity, the Ethereum network is only able to process 15 transactions per second. To put Ethereum’s scaling limits into perspective, consider that Visa handles around 1,700 transactions per second on average. Therefore, increasing the network capacity in terms of speed and throughput is fundamental to the meaningful and mass adoption of Ethereum.

    There are multiple solutions being researched, tested and implemented that take different approaches to achieve similar goals. Two solutions that we will explore in this article are known as sidechains and optimistic rollups.

    Check out our explainer video on layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum, Boba, Optimism, and Ethereum 2.0

    Layer 2 solutions explained (Arbitrum, Boba, Optimism, Ethereum 2.0)

    What is Layer 2 and How Does it Work?

    The Ethereum main chain is known as Layer 1. Layer 1 applications and smart contracts interact directly with the native chain. Layer 2 refers to a series of different protocols that facilitate the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on top of the core Ethereum blockchain.

    Operating on Layer 2 frees up Layer 1 by taking transactions off the main chain, offloading it to Layer 2, enabling them to interact, and then recording the remainder of the whole transactions back to Layer 1. Due to transactions being processed off-chain on Layer 2, Ethereum benefits from higher transaction processing capacity, faster confirmation times, and lower gas fees. 

    In fact, many believe that Layer 2 solutions will be how Ethereum wins over mainstream users. It is estimated that 2,000 – 4,000 transactions per second can be processed in Layer 2, which is already in line with Visa’s processing capabilities. By combining the scaling of Layer 1 with Ethereum 2.0 and Layer 2, Ethereum is set to obtain a powerful economic bandwidth.

    Sidechains: Polygon Network

    Sidechains are a Layer 2 solution utilizing separate blockchains that run in parallel to the Ethereum main chain but operate independently, hence increasing its scalability. 

    Polygon is the most popular sidechain that aims to scale Ethereum by building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. Polygon operates on its own consensus mechanism and also has its own native token known as $MATIC.

    Because sidechains run on a separate blockchain, they do not inherit the security of Layer 1. If a sidechain is hacked or compromised, the damage will be contained within that chain and will not affect the main chain. Conversely, should the main chain become compromised, the sidechain can still operate.

    Sidechains also provide room for a lot of flexibility, allowing developers to experiment with new features or software updates before pushing them onto the main chain.

    Rollups Explained: Optimistic Rollups & Zero Knowledge Rollups

    Rollups are another Layer 2 solution intended to solve Ethereum’s scalability and complement the network. Rollups interact with the main chain, therefore inheriting Layer 1’s security features as well as its secure consensus mechanism. The term ‘rollup’ refers to the way that the chain bundles many transactions to be submitted to the main chain.

    Because rollups use smart contracts that reside within Ethereum, they do not require a native token like Polygon, but instead use $ETH as their currency. Rollups seem to be the most sound scaling solution for Ethereum as it does not compromise the security and sovereignty of Layer 1.

    There are basically two types of rollups: Optimistic Rollups and Zero Knowledge Rollups (ZK Rollups). Both aim to scale Ethereum by processing transactions on Layer 2 before submitting the results back to Ethereum. However, the difference is in how they validate transactions. 

    In simple terms, Optimistic Rollups assume that transactions are valid — hence an optimistic outlook. However, it also allows what are called “watchers” to call out fraudulent transactions since blockchain is transparent and public. If a watcher proves instances of fraud, the transaction is reverted, the bad actor penalized, and the watcher rewarded to incentivize them.

    On the other hand, Zero Knowledge Rollups attempt to prove that transactions are valid. They do so by submitting validity proof to an Ethereum smart contract along with the bundled transactions.

    Optimistic Rollups are currently the more popular option, so let us look at some projects that have adopted this mechanism. These projects are Arbitrum, Boba, and Optimism.

    Optimistic Rollups: Arbitrum, Boba & Optimism

    Arbitrum, Boba and Optimism are 3 projects which have the same goals of scaling Ethereum and reducing gas fees. All of these Layer 2 projects are competing with one another to be the best network. Therefore, each project offers different features to stand out from the others.

    • Arbitrum describes itself as a Layer 2 solution designed to improve the capabilities of Ethereum smart contracts — boosting their speed and scalability while adding additional privacy features to boot. Arbitrum is, according to the team, around 90-95% cheaper than Ethereum. And with their Nitro being launched soon, they expect costs to be cut even further.
    • Optimism is an EVM-compatible Optimistic Rollup chain designed to be fast, simple, and secure. Optimism pledges to uphold the values of Ethereum by producing infrastructure that promotes the growth and sustainability of public goods.
    • Boba Network is a next-generation Layer 2 scaling solution that reduces gas fees, improves transaction throughput, and extends the capabilities of smart contracts, shrinking the Optimistic Rollup exit period from seven days to only a few minutes, while giving liquidity pools (LPs) incentivized yield farming opportunities.

    Arbitrum’s fraud proofs seek to find the particular point of disagreement over transaction history. In contrast, Optimism’s tech looks at fraud a bit more holistically. And this means that Arbitrum has a higher transaction capacity equating to higher performance.

    Optimistic Rollups have a time period in which users can dispute transactions and call fraud. Both Arbitrum and Optimism allow one week for that dispute period, which means that transactions in a bundle under suspicion can be held in limbo for one week before they are verified and released. This is where Boba comes in as a serious player. 

    Instead of having funds locked for several days, Boba’s solution brings the dispute period down to only a few minutes. It also provides incentivized yield farming opportunities, both serving as very attractive features in comparison to its competitors. 

    Will Ethereum 2.0 Make Layer 2 Solutions Irrelevant?

    Ethereum 2.0 is regarded as the long-term solution that can bring speed, efficiency, and scalability to the Ethereum network. The long awaited upgrade will move the network from a Proof-of-Work consensus to a Proof-of-Stake consensus, a much more energy efficient method of maintaining the network that uses validators instead of miners.

    Ethereum 2.0 is currently slowly being released in different phases and will ultimately speed up transactions as well as drastically reduce the cost of gas fees. That brings up the question: Will Ethereum 2.0 make all these Layer 2 solutions irrelevant?

    While there are many different opinions and discussions surrounding this topic, however, we think that all of these solutions can coexist and benefit the network as well as its economy.

    This is because despite the upgrade, Ethereum 2.0 may still not be able to handle the amount of transactions per second required for widespread adoption. The impressive capabilities of Layer 2 solutions could eradicate Ethereum’s scalability issues for good, allowing the network to improve other aspects and prevent congestion on the main chain.

    Final Thoughts: Why Are So Many Solutions Needed?

    There is no debate that Ethereum has a stronghold over developer mindshare. It is the first network that enabled developers to build truly unstoppable decentralized applications with global distribution from day one. But competition is coming fast, and as it stands today, Ethereum will not be able to handle the scale necessary for millions of users. If the network wants to retain the same level of decentralization, it will have to look for new ways to structure use around the main blockchain. 

    As such, there are currently several Layer 2 solutions that aim to resolve Ethereum’s scaling issues. There are also some hybrid solutions which seek to improve the network’s scalability by combining the technologies. But is there really a need for so many solutions?

    We say yes, because multiple solutions can help reduce the overall traffic on any one part of the network, and also prevent single points of failure. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Different solutions can exist and work in harmony, allowing for an exponential effect on future transaction speed and throughput. Furthermore, not all solutions require utilizing the Ethereum consensus algorithm directly, and alternatives can offer benefits that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

    If Ethereum achieves its full potential of becoming a global trust layer, it is likely that these solutions and more will be required to scale the network in combination with Ethereum 2.0. In the future, the Ethereum ecosystem could see significant change as new projects assess the benefits and drawbacks of running on Layer 2. 

    If all of these solutions can come together in harmony, Ethereum will achieve a blockchain system that can match the speed and scale of programmatic advertising – one that can be used by industries with high data processing needs as well as users worldwide.

    Sources:

    https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/scaling/

    https://hackernoon.com/ethereums-layer-2-the-story-so-far-and-what-to-expect-next-kn41342c

    https://dappradar.com/blog/ethereum-rollups-a-simple-explanation

    https://medium.com/general_knowledge/rollup-rollup-top-layer-2-compared-arbitrum-vs-optimism-vs-polygon-4a469389faef
  • Crypto war- The role of cryptocurrencies in the Russian-Ukraine conflict

    Crypto war- The role of cryptocurrencies in the Russian-Ukraine conflict

    Crypto: The Power of Memes

    On Feb 24, on the same date Anton Drexler founded what would become the Nazi Party, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As Moscow’s bombs dropped on the country’s major cities, the nation’s Minister of Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov fled its capital city of Kyiv.

    Check our our video discussing the implications of the invasion of Ukraine on cryptocurrency:

    Ukraine Invasion: Implications for cryptocurrency?

    Two days later, Bornyakov’s boss, Ukrainian vice premier Mykhalio Federov posted Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet addresses over Twitter, requesting crowdsourced crypto donations.

    “We start to accept donations in meme coin. Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders,” said Fedorov on March 2.

    Doge Army

    According to data tracked by the blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, the majority of donations to Ukraine have been paid in Ether and Bitcoin, but donors have also sent the PolkaDot cryptocurrency as well as stablecoins like Tether.

    “We’re watching history being made in real-time here,” says Braintrust Network co-founder Adam Jackson.

    According to Crypto for Ukraine, over US$100 million in cryptocurrencies have been donated to Ukraine. The number is currently growing. Of the donations, nearly 40% were in Ethereum, followed by 31.51% in Bitcoin.

    A report by Yahoo! Finance states that the split of funds starts at 69% going to military support, 19% for humanitarian aid, and 12% for general aid as of the time of the report on March 8.

    Bornyakov thinks that in times like the current crisis, response time is crucial.

    “The National Bank of Ukraine created a fiat fund, but with the time and speed of a regular banking system, it was impossible to finance important things for the army. Crypto plays a role to get this flexibility when we really needed to respond quickly to deliver the army with its required supply,” Bornyakov said.

    Cryptocurrencies offer much faster transaction times, but not all businesses accept them as payment, according to Bornyakov. Currently, the government converts the donated crypto assets into dollars or euros through Ukrainian exchange Kuna, which it has partnered with to also custody the funds. 

    This helps reduce the friction arising when crypto donation funds are used to acquire goods for the military in order to fight off Russian forces.

    Some firms do in fact accept crypto, but for those who do not, cryptocurrencies are sent via the exchange into the conventional banking system for payment.

    Ettore Rosetti, the digital, marketing and innovation lead advisor for NGO Save the Children said that the group is seeing millions of USD in pledges in crypto projects. The humanitarian group has accepted crypto contributions since 2014, but the range is more varied now, accounting for the expansion of the crypto world.

    “You’re crowd-sourcing a humanitarian effort in real-time,” said Jackson.

    “What’s fascinating about the emerging currency types are NFTs. We’re getting inquiries from artists wanting to create an NFT to benefit Save The Children’s response in Ukraine,” said Rosetti.

    ntf created and sold to raise funds for the Ukrainian war effort
    NFTs created and sold to raise funds for the Ukrainian war effort

    Indeed, Crypto Punk NFTs worth USD200,000 form part of the contributions to Ukraine’s national crypto aid fund opened on Feb 26. And Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot’s co-founder ​​Nadya Tolokonnikova organised an auction fundraiser to sell an NFT of the Ukrainian flag for USD7mil.

    Amid the geopolitical and economic turmoil that has come about due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, a sense of a real impact being made seems to stand out. Never in the history of the highly linked phenomena of war and economics have we seen the impact of ordinary citizens come about so quickly. 

    Days before the Russian invasion, Ukraine legalised cryptocurrency after 272 of its 450 parliament members voted for the move. Then, according to a Vox article by Emily Steward and Rebecca Heilweil, some Ukrainians also turned to crypto as an alternative to Ukrainian financial institutions, which had been limiting people’s access to bank accounts and foreign currency amid the crisis.

    Now, Ukraine ranks 4th in the world in crypto adoption, according to research firm Chain Analysis.

    In Putin’s Russia, Crypto Exchange You

    Meanwhile in Russia, a report on ABC11 states that as Visa and Mastercard suspended their services and sanctions on the economy began to take effect, many are turning to cryptocurrency as well.

    Ordinary Russians are now using crypto as a lifeline as their currency collapses under the brunt of geopolitical economic reprisal, according to Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong.

    “Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them, too,” wrote Armstrong over Twitter just before midnight on March 3.

    “If the US government decides to impose a ban, we will, of course, follow those laws,” added Armstrong.

    Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the world’s largest crypto exchange, mirrored Armstrong’s sentiment but was more ambivalent with his stance on the conflict.

    “Should a coffee shop in Paris refuse to serve a Russian customer? Or take their wallet while they’re at it? The answer to that is no,” he wrote in a blog post. “We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts.”

    One issue driving the push towards crypto sanctions on Russian users is that nations are wary of the nation’s oligarchs and Putin’s real resource of power might use it to evade sanctions. As it stands, steps had already been taken by these oligarchs to secure their wealth amid threats from the US and its allies, particularly a US task force created for this specific purpose announced by US leader Joe Biden on Feb 27.

    On February 28, superyachts owned by Russian billionaires linked to President Vladimir Putin were on the move as the United States and its allies prepared further sanctions on their property following the invasion of Ukraine.

    However, US Treasury deputy secretary counselor Todd Conklin has suggested crypto can’t be used to fully circumvent the sting of sanctions, given its practical limitations.

    “Crypto is traceable, transparent. If someone is sending Putin Bitcoin from outside of Russia to evade US sanctions, then chances are they had to buy that bitcoin at an exchange and that exchange has their name,” added Jackson.

    “While technically it could be used to avoid sanctions, it’s not a great way to do it,” he adds.

    And as every transaction of the blockchain is transparent and public, cryptocurrency exchanges can use the information to trace the source of the funds to see if it is coming from blacklisted or sanctioned sources. In turn, the exchanges can also identify and block sanctioned persons from even opening an account.

    US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network acting director Him Das said in a statement on Monday that the agency had “not seen widespread evasion of our sanctions” via cryptocurrency.

    As it stands, analysts say wealthy and well-connected Russians often have a web of front companies through which they sift funds and crypto might not form a large part of this web.

    According to The Washington Post, Trump-era Treasury Department assistant secretary Marshall Billingslea said that “the oligarchs have so many well-heeled accountants and complicit bankers around the world, they don’t really need to go that way. And if they’re investing in sound sanctions advisers, they’re being warned that some of these blockchain currencies like Bitcoin are not nearly as opaque as they might have thought,” somewhat reflecting what Jackson said above.

    Large-scale avoidance of sanctions by say, turning fiat into cryptocurrency would prove difficult. For example, if an oligarch wanted to convert $1 billion dollars into cryptocurrency, they would find it very difficult since there is insufficient liquidity in the market to convert such a large sum. The oligarch would have to use multiple exchanges which would make the process extremely inefficient.

    But avoiding sanctions using crypto could happen at a smaller scale over a longer period of time. As Investors.com states, Iran and North Korea offer some shady guidance to the world of discreet digital asset fundraising.

    Crypto and blockchain analysis firm Elliptic found that Iran has used Bitcoin mining to bypass US embargoes, using Bitcoins their computers mined to pay for imports that would have otherwise been sanctioned. North Korea meanwhile employed hackers to steal some USD400mil in assets from cryptocurrency platforms last year, according to the research firm Chainalysis.

    Russia’s embargoed but wealthy persons of interest could also channel divert money through smaller crypto exchanges that seem legitimate but have dubious compliance protocols under closer scrutiny. These exchanges might even be cooperating with the person of interest or their group’s money-laundering or ransomware schemes. The US last year sanctioned two exchanges on allegations of facilitating ransomware transactions.

    Ironically, the failure to prevent Russian oligarchs from using crypto to squirrel away their millions around the world might force tighter regulations on cryptocurrencies themselves, putting proponents of crypto as a fair and balanced force for economic good, particularly during the Ukrainian conflict, in a bit of a moral dilemma.   

    As Forex.com global head Matt Weller was quoted at Investors.com said: “Those are the main two competing factors: The ideological-utilitarian perspective on the benefits of crypto assets versus the financialized investment component. Those are sort of pushing in opposite directions.”

    One situation that really highlights a potential irony in this dilemma is Pussy Riot co-founder ​​Nadya Tolokonnikova. That she is trying to help Ukraine as a protest against Putin seems to fit in the current zeitgeist of the conflict. But as Russian, imposing sanctions against Russian crypto to help Ukraine would stop her from raising money for Ukraine.

    As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

    Those Are Blood Money

    For Ukraine, they don’t have a choice in deciding how to balance the scales of this dilemma between economic fairness and moral-geopolitical good. As far as they are concerned, blind-but-fair adherence to crypto’s anonymous invisible hand of the market means their people will die.

    Bornyakov’s ministry has started to reach out to major exchanges to not work with Russia for the time being because as he puts it: “They use this money to kill civilian people, to invade a free country without any reason. We inform those exchanges with official letters, with calls, where we can reach to stop work with Russia. Because those are blood money and in many cases come from corruption.”

    According to the minister, some exchanges have stopped while others have limited their activity with Russia, and some working with Russia have been blocked, indicated by their complaints on social media.

    Outside of the US raising sanctions, the most likely situation to happen in the next few months is that certain high-risk exchanges that don’t comply with regulations, at least in the United States, will be sanctioned by the Treasury Department in the near future, according to digital asset risk assessment firm TRM Labs’ legal and government department leader Ari Redbord.

    “Because there is no central controller who can impose their morals on its user, crypto can be used to crowdfund for the Ukrainian army or help Russia evade sanctions,” said Elliptic’s chief scientist and co-founder Tom Robinson to The Washington Post.

    “No one can really prevent it from being used in either way.”

    According to Investors.com, TRM Labs recently identified 340 crypto businesses with strong Russian connections that it considers high risk such as lesser-known over-the-counter trading desks.

    World’s First Cryptowar

    Since Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War, the economics of defence has been widely discussed by both governments and private businesses alike. That it is now crypto’s turn to take up arms or rescue the helpless should surprise nobody. 

    But for a virtual asset so decentralised and antithetical to concerns of the state, the speed at which it has been applied to wartime has to a degree taken many state actors by surprise.

    Both The Washington Post and Vox agree to some degree that war has pushed the utility of crypto to such a degree that the unique circumstances of war have made crypto itself a part of it.

    According to the Vox article, “What we do know is that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now a real factor in global economies and in conflicts.” Meanwhile, The Washington Post has straight-up dubbed the Russia-Ukraine conflict “the world’s first crypto war”.

    What this conflict will do for the futures of individual cryptocurrencies is frankly anybody’s guess. But one thing we do know is that due to its unique attributes of speed and stealth, some of the most desirable attributes for any other tool or weapon, crypto’s role in the war is here to stay.

    Crypto becomes an invaluable asset to Ukrainian refugees

    Cryptocurrencies have been immensely valuable to Ukrainian refugees. As Russian attacks have destroyed critical infrastructure, many Ukrainians are finding it hard to withdraw cash from ATM machines. Therefore, many Ukrainian refugees are relying on digital currencies sent from relatives abroad in order to purchase goods and services. All that is needed for them to access their cryptocurrency wallets is a mobile phone and internet access, which is being provided by the thousands of Starlink satellite internet dishes provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

  • How to Fix Stuck Transactions on Ethereum

    How to Fix Stuck Transactions on Ethereum

    Ethereum is one of the world’s most versatile blockchains, with functionality that supports innumerable decentralized applications and blockchain assets. Although conceived in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum did not launch until 2015, it has since been at the forefront of blockchain utility, especially with the recent popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

    An NFT is an asset on a blockchain that is completely verifiably unique and therefore irreplaceable. Today, many people use NFTs to digitize real-world assets and expose these assets to a global audience. NFTs are very popular in art and photography, as they allow creators to access a wide pool of potential fans and buyers. Currently, most NFTs are on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Ethereum is also the most popular network for decentralized applications (DApps). These apps are powered by smart contracts that drive several functions on the blockchain using specified agreements and conditions. Since the NFT and DApp markets exploded, the Ethereum network has become very busy, and sometimes leaves some transactions stuck for long periods.

    Check out our video on how to fix stuck transactions on Ethereum:

    FIX stuck transactions on Ethereum

    Why Do Some Transactions Get Stuck?

    A delay in processing simply means that no miner has picked up the transaction yet. All Ethereum transactions require a gas fee (gwei), a processing fee set to incentivize miners to pick up and process the transaction. This fee is never static, as it depends on the network congestion at transaction time. Sometimes, gas fees may be very high if there are a lot of people transacting simultaneously.

    Ethereum wallets usually recommend a gas fee based on current network specifics but would let the user increase or reduce it as preferred. If a transaction is delayed for too long, it’s likely that the gas fees for other transactions on the network are considerably higher, and miners are ignoring the lower prices.

    What is a Nonce?

    Used in cryptography as an acronym for “Number Only Used Once,” a nonce is a number that functions as an identifier for a transaction. This number is sequential and follows an order such that transactions with lower nonces get processed before others. Since one Ethereum wallet can initiate any number of transactions, nonces represent a (sometimes chronological) sequence that transaction processing follows.

    How to Fix a Stuck Transaction

    There are three main ways to fix a stuck transaction: cancelling the transaction, increasing the gas fee, or introducing a new transaction with a custom nonce. Before fixing a stuck transaction, it is important to verify the transaction in a block explorer like Etherscan to confirm that it is pending. An ETH wallet may provide users with a cancel or reset button that helps to delete the transaction. After cancelling, it might be necessary to close the wallet application or browser and then reopen it.

    If it is a hardware wallet, turning off and disconnecting the device is also required. Although this is a simple and quick way to solve stuck transactions, users should note that this method may not always work. It is also possible to fix a transaction by increasing the set gas fee. If a user initiates a transaction with a low gas fee but later increases it to match the market’s current price, miners will pick up and process the transaction.

    Another way is to use a new transaction to clear the old one by setting a custom nonce. For instance, a wallet might have three pending transactions, each with nonces 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The network would process nonce 3 first before the others. However, if the gas fee for that transaction is low and miners aren’t picking it, all three transactions could remain stuck.

    The solution here is to initiate a new 0 ETH transaction with a high gas price and send the transaction to the user’s own address. To clear out the transaction, the user must ensure that the nonce specified in the new transaction is the same as the old one. Although this will cost some gas, it immediately clears out the clog and resolves all the other transactions.

    How to Prevent a Stuck Transaction

    The simplest way to prevent a stuck transaction is to ensure the gas fee you are setting agrees with current market prices. If the gas fee is high enough, miners pick it up almost immediately and process the transaction without delay. Users can confirm current gas prices from the wallet or from other online sources. If you are looking to save on gas fees, there are gas tracking websites and applications that will help you optimize this process.

    Conclusion

    Fixing a stuck Ethereum transaction is easy and usually takes a few minutes. When the transaction is still “pending” on the block explorer, these methods can help solve any problems concerning transaction delay. However, users should note that it is mostly impossible to fix any transactions where the status has moved from “pending” to “completed.”

  • Ethereum Merge is Coming, Is This the End of Ethereum Killers?

    Ethereum Merge is Coming, Is This the End of Ethereum Killers?

    The Ethereum network is said to be the fastest and most scalable blockchain after the Merge in September, effectively cementing its position as the front-runner of smart-contract networks. What will this mean for other popular competing layer-1 blockchains known as “Ethereum Killers?” If you are holding any of these coins, you might want to consider its future prospects.

    The Ethereum Merge in September

    Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin addressed at the Ethereum Community Conference in Paris that the Ethereum network will hit the 55% roadmap completion level after its much-anticipated “Merge” in September. The Merge will mark the beginning of Ethereum’s proof-of-stake upgrade, potentially enabling the network to process 100,000 transactions per second (tps), according to Buterin, which is significantly higher than even centralized financial services like Visa and Mastercard.

    For the longest time, the biggest problem that has been plaguing Ethereum is scalability. In its current state, Ethereum can only process 12 to 25 tps with an average confirmation time of around six minutes. As a result, the network gets congested, leading to extremely high gas fees. To address that problem, the Merge involves many protocol changes that would allow users to enjoy fast transactions and low gas fees. Buterin has even given each of these planned upgrades rhyming names which he calls the “merge”, “surge”, “verge” and “purge.“

    • Merge
      • Refers to combining the Ethereum mainnet with the proof-of-stake beacon chain, also known as EIP-3675.
    • Surge
      • Refers to the addition of Ethereum sharding, a scaling solution which will further enable cheap layer-2 blockchains and lower the cost of rollups or bundled transactions, making it easier for users to operate nodes that secure the Ethereum network. This reduces congestion on the main chain by distributing traffic to 64 shard chains.
    • Verge
      • Refers to the implementaion of “Verkle trees” (a kind of mathematical proof) and “stateless clients”, aimed at making the network more decentralized. These features will allow users to become network validators without having to store large amounts of data on their nodes.
    • Purge
      • Refers to the removal of historical data in a bid to streamline the network, also known as EIP-4444, a proposal focused on storing said historical data in execution clients such as The Graph, BitTorrent and block explorers, since relying to store everything on existing nodes can hamper scalability.

    What are “Ethereum Killer” Blockchains?

    “Ethereum Killers” refer to Ethereum’s competing layer-1 blockchains, namely Solana, Avalanche, Polkadot, Algorand, and Cardano. They inherited the killer name because they offer similar features to Ethereum but at significantly lower costs and faster speed.

    Ethereum Killer coins have been a very popular asset to investors looking for an alternative network to Ethereum. Smart-contract platforms have been dominating the market cap in the crypto space. According to Coingecko, it is the second highest crypto category by market cap, just behind the Ethereum ecosystem.

    What will happen to “Ethereum Killers” after Merge in September?

    If Buterin is able to deliver what he promised, then Ethereum will most certainly be the front-runner of smart-contract networks. People will look to Ethereum to being the primary platform for DApp development, DeFi activities, NFT minting and marketplace and more.

    Although Ethereum Killer coins have been pumping recently due to bullish sentiment surrounding Ethereum and its long-awaited Merge, communities are speculating whether this is just hype as competing blockchains of Ethereum will no longer have competitive advantage in terms of speed and scalability. Even until now, none of them have been able to dethrone Ethereum from its number two spot by market cap. The upcoming merge will only propel Ethereum upward, but that is if Buterin delivers what he promised. He stated that they will soon test the merge on Ropsten (Ethereum’s testnet).

    The largest future problem for Ethereum will most likely remain to be scalability. Although the new system will be faster, it is unlikely to solve the issue of high gas fees immediately since network demand is likely to rise as efficiency increases. But that is not to say that gas fees will forever be expensive on the Ethereum blockchain. But until Ethereum is able to achieve high scalability, Ethereum Killer blockchains remain to be viable alternatives for fast transactions and low gas fees. We will just have to wait and see in September.

  • Will the Launch of Ethereum 2.0 Crash Crypto Prices?

    Will the Launch of Ethereum 2.0 Crash Crypto Prices?

    Ethereum 2.0 is coming soon and the question everyone wants to know is “will it cause crypto prices to crash?” This is particularly as markets around the globe are not looking great, and that includes the crypto industry. Everything has been bleeding heavily for months without a sign of stopping, as central banks keep hiking rates, global supply chains struggle, and spending and investment dry up. Stagflation is a very real possibility, and there is no telling how long it will take for us to cool down the overheated markets that have been going only up since the last recession more than ten years ago. 

    The aforementioned notwithstanding, active development in the blockchain space continues to march forward. Although investments might drop significantly, many builders keep on building no matter the state of the markets. As Ethereum is steadily approaching the long-awaited transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), dubbed The Merge, it might be interesting to think about potential impacts of The Merge on the crypto market prices, especially in the context of a potential extended bear market.

    Learn more: 

    Ethereum 2.0 is coming- Here’s what you NEED to know

    Proof of Stake (PoS) explained

    Ethereum ($ETH) Merge: What is it and everything you need to know

    Plus check out our video!

    About Ethereum 2.0

    In short, The Merge will result in Eth2.0’s Beacon chain (the coordination mechanism of the new network) merging with the current Ethereum mainnet, signifying the move to a fully PoS chain. To secure the network, enormous amounts of ETH will be staked in addition to the ETH already staked in the Beacon chain, making all of this locked ETH illiquid. Combined with the EIP-1559 upgrade, which now burns 70-80% of the fees, The Merge is expected to cause the equivalent of 3 bitcoin halvenings, dropping Ethereum’s inflation rate to 0.43% and locking up a lot of ETH, potentially reducing sell pressure by up to 90%. In addition, the PoS mechanism will reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by up to 99.95%.

    So all is looking great for Ethereum and projects building on top of it, right? Possibly. However, there is still a decent chance that, given the current market conditions, ETH’s price pump might be short-lived, and would continue to drop, bringing down a lot of other projects with it.

    The Potential Impacts of The Merge

    There are two possible scenarios to look at when discussing the downside impact of The Merge on crypto prices:

    1. The external effect would be caused by Ethereum sucking out liquidity from other PoS alt-L1s and the projects built on top of them (especially if they’re EVM-compatible), as one of the more critical selling points compared to Ethereum is environmental sustainability.
    2. Beacon chain staked ETH unlocks, extended bear market, and poor treasury management of Ethereum-backed projects could see more capitulation events as HODLers and projects sell off their ETH to stay afloat as new investments dry up and stagflation looms.

    1. Ethereum Sucks Liquidity From Other PoS alt-L1’s

    By offering lower gas fees, fast transactions, and relatively high throughput at the expense of decentralization and economic sustainability, many PoS chains have attracted developers, investors, and NFT ecosystems to their networks away from Ethereum. Ethereum’s high demand (=high fees), poor L1 scalability, and the concerning PoW mechanism have severely limited its growth. (https://rpdrlatino.com) Understandably, regular people simply do not want to pay exorbitant fees when minting and trading NFTs, and developing inaccessible dApps on a network that is supposedly destroying trees and warming up the planet.

    The environmental argument will be completely invalid after the merge. Coupled with the enormous innovations in Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem, which have already reduced transaction fees to sub-$1 with no signs of stopping, Ethereum is set to once again become the most sought-after smart contract development platform. As post-Merge buy pressure of ETH increases and scalability improves, alt-L1’s could struggle to offer any significant unique selling points, making new projects opt to build on top of the most secure, established and decentralized smart contract chain out there.

    As more and more people flock to Ethereum, established projects might also decide to migrate to the platform with the most demand and upside potential, effectively sucking out liquidity from other chains, and leaving them dry with evaporated treasuries, limited runway, and reduced demand. The strategy of subsidizing transaction fees during a bull market when funds are plentiful will likely not work when no new investments are coming in during a bear market, and an exodus of users is reducing demand and network revenues.

    Of course, there is plenty of room for growth in this space, and projects existing on other chains might not find it too beneficial to move to Ethereum even though short-term liquidity issues might prove challenging.

    2. Beacon Chain ETH Unlocks in Extended Bear Market Cause Mass Capitulation

    The Merge will unlock a lot of ETH, resulting in a potential aggressive selling spree that might have trickle-down effects on a lot of other coins, especially those that have tight correlation with their ETH pair, are ERC-20 tokens, or have been sitting on ETH treasuries to fund their development. A lot more downside risk due to a selloff is also a very real possibility for ETH and other coins simply due to bad timing (i.e. bear market – with recession slowly creeping into our daily lives due to central banks raising interest rates, supply chain issues, energy crises etc.), the unlocked ETH might serve as a critical lifeline for those who had confidently staked their ETH during the bull market.

    During the bear market, investments will be scarce, and projects that during the bull market had made the decision to not convert their treasury ETH to stablecoins are now seeing their wallets drop in value significantly, forcing them to capitulate by selling at low prices to cover their expenses.

    However, it is important to note that the ETH unlocked from the ETH staked on the Beacon chain will not be immediately available right after The Merge. Rather, this feature – EIP-4895: “Beacon chain push withdrawals as operations”, will be enabled during the Shanghai upgrade. It will probably be deployed much later after The Merge, with estimates ranging from a month to 6 months. This means that any amount of potential sell-off of unlocked ETH would come with a significant delay post-Merge, at which point it’s impossible to predict where the market might be in 6-12 months and how it will behave, with contradicting bullish and bearish narratives clashing against one another in an attempt to drive price in either direction.

    This option does seem a bit far-fetched, however, and no one knows how much more pain we will have to suffer before the momentum shifts towards the upside, so it’s best to be prepared for both the upside and downside, and not fall prey to only bullish narratives.

    Conclusion

    As outlined in the two main points, post-Merge many alt-L1 coins could face a risk of crashing even further due to risks associated with reduced liquidity in a bear market (for non-Ethereum coins), liquidity that might flow towards the Ethereum ecosystem due to its established security, track record, and newly acquired environmental sustainability.

    On the other hand, ETH and other ERC-20 tokens living on Ethereum also run a risk of crashing, if the post-Merge ETH unlock from the Beacon chain results in a mass sell-off of ETH, which could crash other coins and project treasuries.

    As this will be the first time the crypto industry experiences a recession or a stagflation, there is a lot of uncertainty about how low the market could go and, most importantly, how long it could stay so low. This is uncharted territory, so making comparisons with past cycles might not be particularly useful. Nations and companies will keep tightening their belts, and spending will significantly decrease across the board, leaving risk-on markets such as crypto vulnerable to a continued mass exodus to safer investments.

  • Crypto BEAR MARKET NOW (2022) VS 2018: Similarities & Differences

    Crypto BEAR MARKET NOW (2022) VS 2018: Similarities & Differences

    The crypto market, together with stock markets and the global economy in general, have been experiencing a significant drawdown for the past 6 months, leading to a confluence of factors ranging from high inflation, rate hikes, supply chain issues, energy crisis, to geopolitical instability. This combination packs a powerful punch for any risk-on markets, such as stocks and crypto, forcing retail and institutional investors to exit their capital from markets during these uncertain times.

    With Bitcoin currently at $20k, down 70% from its $69k ATH, and the total altcoin marketcap being down 72% from its ATH, it is hard to deny that we’ve entered a bear market. But one question remains – is this anything like the bear market of 2018 and will it last equally as long as the previous one? Let’s dissect the situation and understand if this time is truly different, or if this is just a small bump in the road before an accelerated bull market.

    Check out our video comparing the crypto bear market now (2022) and in 2018- and more importantly, how to STILL make money during this downturn:

    2018 Bear Market

    2017 saw the first true mass influx of retail interest into the crypto space. Bitcoin saw a rapid increase in price, everyone’s friend and grandma were kickstarting their own ICOs to attract funds, and regular companies added the blockchain keyword to their names to increase their share prices. 2017 was the wild west, as there was even less regulation than currently, and the space was rife with opportunists spawning scam projects to extract money from ignorant first-time crypto investors.

    But, as with any bubble, it eventually pops. The crypto space was heavily overheated, with investors throwing money at everything that moved, doing minimal to no due diligence, just to get on the crypto hype train. Come 2018, things were starting to cool down and people were beginning to feel the pain. In less than 6 months after the peak ICO craze, over 90% of all the projects were already dead, with many more to go down with them in the rest of the 18-month long bear market.

    At the peak of the market, a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) was beginning to circulate. Fear of regulation due to the prevalence of scams, and with China/Korea considering banning cryptocurrencies, things were not looking great for the crypto space. Right around the peak of the market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched their Bitcoin futures product, which allowed institutional investors to get their hands dirty with Bitcoin. And, naturally, they did just that. With all of the FUD circulating and the market waiting to release a lot of pressure, institutions began shorting the market, creating an enormous sell pressure that brought BTC down to $7k, which kept grinding down to $3k till mid-2019.

    2022 Bear Market

    After Covid-19 hit, the market experienced a tiny two-month recession. As everyone was locked inside, demand dropped and supply shrunk as well. But once central banks began printing more money to help businesses and people via stimulus checks, many found themselves with a lot of extra cash and no way to spend it, so they turned to investing. After the March crash, the rest of 2020 saw the crypto market boom, calling it the “DeFi summer”, with BTC increasing in price by 400% by the end of the year. After that, it just kept on going. 2021 was the year of the NFTs and Metaverse, i.e. GameFi, with numerous projects sprouting up to capture some of the value amid all the hype.

    After reaching its peak in November 2021, the crypto market has kept on steadily grinding down. Those who had called the peak in November aptly understood that the markets were overheated, inflation was starting to get out of hand, and the only way for governments to keep that under control was to begin quantitative tightening through rate hikes. Unfortunately, many were still in denial about the onset of the bear market way into April, which has resulted in a lot of people holding bags that might or might not recover.

    Now the path forward seems clear. The US Federal Reserve’s hawkish monetary policy is causing markets a lot of necessary and unavoidable pain. Because the money printing since Covid-19 has been at such an unprecedented level, the Fed is finding it hard to slow down the inflation without causing a lot of damage. The result currently is a looming recession at the same time as inflation is still running rampant and driving up the prices of everything, all the while people’s incomes are stagnating and their expenses increasing.

    When is the Next Bull Cycle?

    At the moment, there are no clear signs of central banks reeling in their hawkish monetary policies. It might possibly take at least several months if not until the end of the year for the dust to settle, the bottom to come in, and for us to be ready for the next bull cycle once the Fed eases monetary restrictions. Continued geopolitical turbulence aside, the next bull cycle will certainly come, but it’s difficult to say what will be the narratives driving the rapid market expansion this time.

    The two most touted bull market catalysts are the long-awaited Bitcoin spot ETF and the Ethereum Merge, which will cause the Ethereum network to transition from its wasteful Proof-of-Work mechanism to Proof-of-Stake. However, as is common in life and in markets, the most obvious things tend not to be the ones to catalyze huge changes. Markets are irrational, and a confluence of new narratives that will be born only in 6 months might very well end up triggering the next bull run.

    How to Still Make Money During the Crypto Bear Market?

    With great pain come great opportunities, and this bear market is no exception. This is the time for learning, accumulating, and paying attention to the market. In our latest video about the current bear market, we outline a few strategies that you can use as an investor to maximize upside potential come next bull run:

    1) Dollar cost averaging (DCA) into your investments – instead of trying to catch the generational bottom and investing your whole capital in one go, better invest 20% of your capital at a time during a longer time period, so that way you are more likely to get a great average entry price and reap the profits in the future.

    2) Doing lots of research – fundamental analysis of projects is the best way to ensure you invest in projects that have a real potential, and this is the time to be doing just that. Many projects will die during this bear market, so it’s important to source trustworthy information and be critical of everything in order to position yourself properly during the next stage of growth.

    3) Diversify your portfolio – as we’ve seen in the past months, there’s no such thing as too big to fail in the crypto space. Instead of going all-in on one project, spreading risk across several projects will ensure your capital is better protected from a few bad investments.

     4) Shorting the market – this should not be practiced by anyone who doesn’t have experience trading, as without proper risk management things can get pretty ugly very fast. During a downtrend, a way to make money is by shorting an asset, which essentially means you’re betting on an asset to go down in value.

    Of course, none of this is financial advice, and we implore our readers to do their own research and never invest more than they are willing to lose. It’s a highly volatile market and not for the faint of heart.

  • Crypto Airdrops: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

    Crypto Airdrops: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

    Whether a blockchain project lives or dies depends on its capability to attract and grow its user base, and projects that are unable to gather or maintain their clientele eventually fold. To kickstart or encourage engagement within the community, these projects often find themselves doing token airdrops, using them to raise awareness and value for their products while also incentivizing new and existing customers. 

    Table of contents

    What is a crypto airdrop?

    A crypto airdrop is a method used to distribute cryptocurrencies to a project’s community of users for free, usually in exchange for participating in a campaign or owning other related assets. Airdrops are typically used as a marketing and awareness strategy to draw attention to a product or event. These projects may share tokens to existing users’ crypto wallets or encourage prospective users to register accounts to receive assets.

    Types of Airdrops

    Over the years, the airdrop marketing strategy has taken many different forms. Several projects have used airdrops to create awareness, promote features, and attract users. For instance, gaming metaverse ArcadeLand launched an airdrop in March where 850 participants shared a 2,000 USDT prize pool. Eligibility required simple tasks, including social media activity such as following ArcadeLand’s Twitter and participating in the project’s announcement channel on Telegram.

    There also was a MetaGods airdrop in November for 800 winners, including bonuses for the top 50 referrers. Participants also qualified for a $2,000 prize pool by completing tasks on Twitter and Telegram.

    The Sukhavati Network also launched an airdrop of 10,000 $SKT worth 6000 USDT to celebrate achievements, including an official startup sale on Gate.io and a MEXC listing. The prize pool was for a total of 1050 winners, with 1000 $SKT reserved for the top 50 referrers. Although projects use different types of airdrops depending on their aim for each one, the most common types include:

    Standard Airdrops

    During a standard airdrop, wallet holders receive small amounts of the new cryptocurrency in return for completing tasks, such as signing up for a newsletter or creating an account with the crypto project. Some projects require participants to complete a KYC (Know Your Customer) verification or provide their email and wallet addresses before receiving the tokens.

    Standard airdrops often serve as a good preface for projects to introduce themselves to the public. New projects, such as this recent airdrop hosted by Questian, attempts to pull in more attention by asking their community to complete tasks for USDT.

    Bounty Airdrops

    Projects that use bounty airdrops distribute their tokens among users who help to create awareness – usually across social media platforms. To be eligible for these airdrops, participants must perform simple tasks such as retweeting an official tweet, sharing a Facebook post, or creating Instagram media. Participants may also earn by referring new users. Although this type is similar to standard airdrops, the main difference is that crypto projects usually reserve bounty airdrops for people who help create public awareness. Standard airdrops are simply open to anyone who joins the project’s community via accounts, newsletters, or other similar channels.

    Exclusive Airdrops

    Blockchain projects usually reserve exclusive airdrops for loyal followers. In many cases, these airdrops automatically go to early adopters or users who are frequently active on the platform. Eligible members of the community receive these exclusive airdrops with no strings attached.

    Examples include a recent sudden airdrop hosted by MetaGods, which asks their community to simply drop their wallet address for an exclusive prize. The method was also utilized by AkiralGal, whose tweet asked their followers to screenshot their brand new AkiraGal wallpaper for more rewards.

    Holder Airdrops

    These are airdrops for users who already hold specific cryptocurrencies or tokens. So, to be eligible for these holder airdrops, users need to be holding a specified type and/or amount of a particular token by a specified date.  For instance, a new Ethereum-based project may offer free tokens to the Ethereum blockchain community, or a new exchange may offer its tokens to holders who own the native cryptocurrency of a competing exchange. 

    Hard Fork Airdrops

    This type of airdrop occurs when a permanent blockchain split creates the need for a new token to go with the new chain. While the previous blockchain still exists along with old tokens, users may receive tokens from the new blockchain via an airdrop. However, this does not happen with every fork, only with hard forks. A hard fork occurs when the community cannot decide how to move forward, and a new chain must be created via a split.

    Growth and Popularity of Airdrops

    Since the inception of cryptocurrencies, people have used digital assets to move finance to decentralized platforms. Several decentralized cryptocurrency projects have also emerged to satisfy the global need for decentralized finance, with many of them using airdrops to attract users. These projects usually airdrop a percentage of their total token supply shortly before or after an official launch. A recent example is the Looks Rare airdrop, distributing 12% of the total $LOOKS token supply to anyone in the OpenSea community that spent more than 3 ETH on the NFT exchange. 

    Another example of the popularity of airdrops was the recent MetaWars Alliance Gleam Campaign which features an extensive collaboration between multiple projects. Running from April 17 to April 22, the campaign had a prize pool of more than $20,000 open to 100 winners. The MetaWars Alliance Campaign had 9 partners, including Souls of Meta, MetaLand, Battle Saga, The Three Kingdoms (TTK), Bit Hotel, Age of Tanks, Mouse Hunt, MechaChain, and FitEvo. The initiative was yet another prime example of how multiple projects can use airdrops for cross-promotion that can help all involved projects gain much-needed traction. MetaWars successfully achieved this aim as the campaign saw nearly 232,000 different entries.

    The Dark Side of Crypto Airdrops: Scams and Controversies

    The need for blockchain projects to launch airdrops spurred the creation of several platforms that aggregate airdrops from promising projects. These platforms made airdrops a lot more popular, increasing the number of people who consider the method a channel for passive income and an opportunity to earn new crypto assets.

    (Beware of scams! This recent ApeCoin attack stole $1 million through hacked verified accounts)

    Unfortunately, the airdrop method has suffered its fair share of scams and controversies. As with anything tagged “free,” illicit players exploit community members’ innocence and use deceptive means to obtain funds from unsuspecting people. In March, a Twitter phishing scam pretending to airdrop ApeCoin tokens successfully stole $1 million from unsuspecting users. The Ape Coin scam promised users a rare NFT airdrop which can only be received after paying an ETH gas fee. The scammers then not only made off with the ETH fee, but because users had to approve and sign the transaction with their cryptocurrency wallets, the scammers were able to take the rare and often valuable NFTs contained in those wallets. Some notable NFTs stolen in this scam included Jay Chou’s Phantabears, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Doodles. 

    There was also a fake Azuki NFT airdrop where self-proclaimed Azuki affiliates hijacked verified user handles, got users to connect their Ethereum wallets, and made away with their highly valuable NFTs.

    How to Protect Yourself Against Airdrop Scams

    In light of these scams, members of the crypto community should adhere to certain precautions when participating in airdrops. The most important is the DYOR (Do Your Own Research) rule, which requires people to do extensive research on projects advertising airdrops before buying in. 

    However, scammers are keeping ahead of the game. For example in the ApeCoin airdrop scam, the scammers hacked into and hijacked the Discord servers for Doodle and BAYC, posting the faked website on the server to make it look like a legitimate announcement. The scammers also used faked Twitter accounts (including some from verified Twitter handles) to spread the fake links. 

    The following are other steps that help avoid airdrop scams:

    • Never pay for airdrops;
    • Check multiple sources and social media accounts belonging to the project to see if the airdrop is legitimate. For example, if a projects’ Discord server is being compromised they may make an announcement on their official Twitter or Telegram;
    • Never participate in an airdrop that requires user private keys or mnemonic phrases;
    • Protect personal identity and data as much as possible;
    • Avoid KYC airdrops if possible (although not always the case); and
    • Most airdrops require an email address. Users should create a new ‘burner’ email address to use only for airdrops.

    It might be impossible to create an exhaustive list of steps required to avoid scams because fraudsters get more creative with their illicit activities, but participants should always be on the lookout for airdrops that do not tick security boxes or have little to no information obtainable from research.

    Airdrops have many benefits in the blockchain space, such as marketing, building communities, and providing additional value to loyal users of crypto assets. Authentic airdrops help people earn extra income and provide additional utility with little to no effort. However, airdrops may be harmful to people who do inadequate due diligence or personal research. If an airdrop seems too good to be true, there’s a good chance it is.

  • Sienna Network ($SIENNA): Privacy Meets DeFi

    Sienna Network ($SIENNA): Privacy Meets DeFi

    Sienna Network is a privacy-first decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that allows a completely private lending, borrowing, and trading experience with great scalability and low transaction fees. 

    Sienna Network allows users to avoid the lack of privacy on exchanges that allow others to see what users are doing and arbitrage on those transactions with front-running — a key weakness of crypto transactions today. Front-running is the act of getting a transaction first in line in the execution queue, right before a known future transaction occurs. Bots executing such front-running operations by paying slightly higher transaction fees have been a difficult problem for DeFi users.

    Background

    Banking, cryptography, and even decentralized finance go back a long way; as far back as the 12th Century when financial crime took place on the roads of Europe. In 1135, Sienna (known as Siena in 21st Century Italy) was an important trade city and heists were common. To stop the scourge of constant robberies to places such as Veneto, the Bishop of Sienna offered loans against collateral and interest to Sienna citizens and the people who traveled to the city to trade.

    At the same time, the Knights Templar initiated a network of money transfer locations so people could deposit money in the Veneto region and travel to Sienna and Venice without the risk of losing all their money and possessions. Upon arrival at either destination, traveling tradesmen could withdraw their money from a Templar location by handing in an encrypted document that could only be decrypted by the Templars.

    By today’s standards, that encryption was so primitive that the so-called algorithm could be cracked in seconds, but it set the scene for today’s intricate systems. This is where Sienna Network comes into the picture — to build on that same idea and contribute to solutions that will become the standard in privacy-first DeFi.

    What is Sienna Network?

    Until now, the activities of DeFi users have remained an open book — publicly preserved on the blockchain and forever vulnerable. This level of disclosure has created a chilling effect for the industry, discouraging even remotely privacy-conscious users from participation in DeFi, whilst concerning regulators who wish to ensure that users, private and professional alike, are properly protected. 

    Modern blockchain-based technologies fall short when it comes to preserving privacy, and Sienna Network aims to solve the same problem that has been solved by banks for their customers for many years — privacy in terms of funds and transactions, as well as computational privacy, but without the need for any third party to be involved. 

    With Sienna Network, transactions are private. Which means that the user — and no intermediary — decides if any of the data exchanged should be shared with anybody else. This occurs by default, and uses strong encryption to protect the data. 

    Sienna Network is powered by the Secret Network blockchain, a privacy-first smart contract platform by Cosmos. To share data, users need to generate a viewing key, which allows them to decrypt the contents of the data they have sent to contracts on Secret Network. Only the user can decide if they want to share this key and their viewing key only corresponds to their own transactions and cannot be used to monitor a third party’s wallet transactions.

    By building Sienna Network on programmable private smart contracts, it enables a variety of powerful new use cases in DeFi. Programmable privacy allows feeding verifiable sensitive data into a decentralized world without revealing said data. Decentralized identities, credit scores, under-collateralized loans and privacy for institutions are some important examples.

    SiennaSwap

    At the heart of Sienna Network are robust tools for the assurance of privacy to users, including the decentralized exchange (DEX) called SiennaSwap. 

    SiennaSwap lets users trade “secret versions” of popular tokens like Ethereum ($ETH) and Cosmos ($ATOM), and flip them anonymously on the platform. For now, the number of assets is limited to the bridges the project has created, hence the absence of a secret version of Bitcoin ($BTC). The bridges currently available are to Ethereum, Monero, Polkadot, Cosmos, and Binance Smart Chain. Users are able to create as many swap pairs as they wish among each of the assets.

    Leveraging Cosmos means gas fees are low and transactions are almost immediate. A typical transaction costs about $0.02, which is extremely low compared to other blockchains and protocols.

    But perhaps the most important cost that SiennaSwap seeks to omit is that of front-running, or traders cutting to the front of the queue and scooping up lucrative trades before others. This is possible due to the platform’s privacy-first approach. Using Secret Network’s protocol, Sienna Network has found a way to turn legacy public smart contracts into Secret Contracts, which allow private interactions where Third Parties cannot monitor what’s going on. This is because the data remains inside TEEs — Trusted Execution Environments; not even the node operators of the underlying network.

    What does it mean for a user? On public ledger chains where anyone with a wallet address could see others’ entire transaction history and that of their friends, with Sienna’s token and via the SiennaSwap, the wrapped ‘secret’ tokens such as secretETH the transaction history cannot be looked up and seen. This fixes several core issues including the aforesaid blight of front-running.

    Sienna Lend

    Another important product by Sienna Network is Sienna Lend which allows users to borrow and lend both public and private crypto assets. Moreover, users can deposit their tokens and earn interest from them or use their deposit as collateral to borrow a wide range of assets. These assets include stablecoins, cryptocurrencies, and tokenized assets such as real estate, stocks, gold, NFTs, and more.

    The entire process will be private and no one can see a user’s earnings or other financial details.

    The Need for Financial Privacy

    Privacy is a fundamental human right — or it should be. It is a basic individual right to choose whom to share with — not just information, but other important aspects of life such as financial transactions. 

    But here a problem arises — while cash has relevant anonymous uses — larger transactions should not be anonymous because no system should enable money-laundering or the funding of bad actors. This is especially relevant at a time when the opinion of policy-makers has transmuted into a surveillance economy, with market actors required to police and report with severe penalties for failures. Whether we like it or not.

    If a crypto user sends a beneficiary an amount of tokens, both wallets are consequently linked via that transaction. This seems like a basic and fair exchange, but it also means that the beneficiary can now see the complete transactional history of that person’s wallet. This is patently an infringement of privacy and needs to be fixed.

    So, privacy matters. It is a mechanism for individuals and institutions to decide to control their data — sometimes transactionally, at other times to prove or disclose information or financial actions by choosing to share that data with relevant and selected Third Parties.

    $SIENNA Token Utility

    $SIENNA is a governance token which provides a dual function in the network’s ecosystem.

    It acts as the governance token of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), allowing its holders to vote on possible changes on both the Decentralized Exchange (DEX) and the lending protocol.

    It also powers the incentivization mechanism to encourage positive behavior from users. Users are awarded with $SIENNA based only on its actual usage, activity and contribution on the Sienna Network, whereas users of the Sienna Network and/or holders of $SIENNA which did not actively participate will not receive any $SIENNA incentives.

    The token can be bought directly on Secret Network on SiennaSwap, but wrapped versions can also be bought on Uniswap and Pancakeswap.

    Conclusion

    Until now, DeFi users have had to choose between the personal freedom of decentralized finance, or the personal privacy of centralized finance. Never were both achievable at the same time. 

    Sienna Network solves this core problem by developing a course correction for the industry, delivering all of the many benefits within the DeFi space, while at the same time protecting users from the unwanted prying of third parties. 

    Sienna Network’s users can freely interact with powerful DeFi products, enjoying the same levels of privacy, or even greater, as in centralized finance. Sienna Network will seek to spur the sector onto new frontiers, providing tools that are programmatically private. Sienna Network’s protocols will also be used to empower self-sovereign identities. 

    These factors place Sienna Network at the vanguard of privacy-first decentralized finance. Now is the time to unlock the full potential of DeFi.

    Project Links

    Website — https://sienna.network/

    Discord — https://discord.gg/jZk8ggm7XP

    Telegram — https://t.me/GoSiennaNetwork

    Twitter — https://twitter.com/sienna_network

    Medium — https://medium.com/sienna-network

    Sources:

    https://sienna.network/static/documents/Sienna-Network-Whitepaper-V1.3—November-2021.pdf

    https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/frontrunning.asp

    https://scrt.network/blog/introducing-sienna-a-privacy-first-defi-protocol

    https://decrypt.co/82825/sienna-network-launches-privacy-centric-defi-crypto-exchange

    https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/07/shooting-for-greater-privacy-in-defi-sienna-network-launches-siennaswap/?guccounter=1

    https://medium.com/sienna-network/privacy-matters-9ed864973f5f