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  • Fogo Testnet Airdrop Full Guide

    Fogo Testnet Airdrop Full Guide

    Introduction

    Fogo is an innovative Layer 1 blockchain designed to deliver unparalleled performance in throughput, latency, and congestion management. Extending the Solana protocol, Fogo aims to provide a seamless migration path for existing Solana programs and infrastructure while achieving significantly higher performance and lower latency. Built by traders for traders, Fogo focuses on institutional-grade finance on-chain, combining the speed of traditional finance with the decentralization of blockchain technology.

    This guide will walk you through the steps to interact with the Fogo Testnet for a potential airdrop, followed by a comprehensive overview of the project, its core innovations, the team behind it, and its funding status. We will also explore the potential revenue model of the Fogo ecosystem.

    Fogo Testnet Airdrop: Step-by-Step Guide

    Interacting with the Fogo Testnet is crucial for potential eligibility in future airdrops. Follow these steps to get started:

    Step 1: Connect Your Wallet

    Fogo Testnet supports all Solana-compatible wallets, such as Phantom and Nightly. You do not need to create a new wallet if you already have one. The platform utilizes a temporary session key to handle actions securely, eliminating the need for constant transaction signing and gas payments.

    1. Navigate to the Fogo Testnet platform: https://www.fogo.io/start
    2. Click on the “GET STARTED” or “Connect your wallet” button.
    3. Select your preferred Solana wallet (e.g., Phantom, Nightly) from the options provided.
    4. Approve the connection request in your wallet.

    Step 2: Claim Testnet $FOGO Tokens

    Testnet $FOGO tokens are essential for interacting with the Fogo ecosystem. These tokens are used to power transactions and explore the decentralized applications (dApps) on the network.

    1.Once your wallet is connected, look for the option to “Claim testnet $FOGO” tokens.

    2.You will likely be able to claim two types of tokens:

    •Fogo (FOGO): The native utility token of the Fogo blockchain.

    •Fogo USD (fUSD): The yield-bearing fiat stablecoin native to the Fogo ecosystem.

    3.Follow the on-screen instructions to claim your free testnet tokens. This usually involves a simple click and a confirmation in your wallet (though the session key might handle this seamlessly).

    Step 3: Explore Apps on Fogo DApps

    Engaging with the dApps on the Fogo Testnet is a key activity for demonstrating active participation. Fogo highlights several types of applications. Here’s a detailed guide for each:

    3.1 Valiant (Swap Spot Pairs)

    Valiant is Fogo’s decentralized exchange designed for high-speed token swaps. Interacting with Valiant demonstrates your engagement with the core trading functionalities of the Fogo network.

    1.Access Valiant: On the Fogo Testnet dApps page, click on the ‘Valiant’ application. This will typically open the swap interface.

    2.Select Tokens: Choose the testnet tokens you wish to swap. For example, you might swap $FOGO for fUSD, or vice-versa. Ensure you have sufficient testnet tokens claimed from Step 2.

    3.Enter Amount: Input the amount of the token you want to swap. The interface will usually show the estimated amount of the other token you will receive.

    4.Approve Transaction: If this is your first time swapping a particular token, you might need to approve the token spending in your wallet. Confirm this transaction.

    5.Confirm Swap: Review the swap details (amounts, fees, slippage) and confirm the transaction. Your wallet will prompt you for final approval (though with Fogo’s session key, this might be streamlined).

    6.Repeat: Perform several swaps with different token pairs and amounts to show consistent activity.

    3.2 FluxBeam (Real-time Trading)

    FluxBeam offers advanced real-time trading features, including limit orders, allowing you to experience Fogo’s low-latency environment for more complex trading strategies.

    1.Access FluxBeam: Navigate to the ‘FluxBeam’ application from the Fogo Testnet dApps page.

    2.Select Trading Pair: Choose a trading pair (e.g., FOGO/fUSD) that you wish to trade.

    3.Explore Order Types: Familiarize yourself with the available order types, such as ‘Market Order’ (for immediate execution) and ‘Limit Order’ (to set a specific price for your trade).

    4.Place a Market Order: To execute a quick trade, select ‘Market Order’, enter the amount, and confirm the buy/sell. This demonstrates basic trading activity.

    5.Place a Limit Order: For more advanced interaction, select ‘Limit Order’, specify your desired price and amount, and place the order. Monitor your open orders and consider canceling or modifying them to show further engagement.

    6.Monitor Trades: Keep an eye on your trade history and open orders within the FluxBeam interface.

    3.3 RugCheck

    RugCheck is Fogo’s token scanner, providing instant risk scores to help users avoid scams. While primarily an informational tool, interacting with it demonstrates awareness and utilization of the ecosystem’s safety features.

    1.Access RugCheck: Click on the ‘RugCheck’ application on the Fogo Testnet dApps page.

    2.Search for Tokens: Use the search bar or browse the list to find different testnet tokens. You can try searching for tokens you’ve acquired through Valiant or other dApps.

    3.Review Risk Scores: Observe the risk scores and associated details provided for each token. This helps you understand the potential risks involved.

    4.Explore Details: Click on various tokens to delve into more detailed analysis, such as liquidity, contract information, and potential red flags.

    3.4 Pyron (Lend and Borrow)

    Pyron enables lending and borrowing of assets on the Fogo Testnet, showcasing the DeFi capabilities of the network without the typical delays.

    1.Access Pyron: Open the ‘Pyron’ application from the Fogo Testnet dApps page.

    2.Supply Assets: Choose a testnet asset (e.g., fUSD or FOGO) that you wish to supply (lend) to the protocol. Enter the amount and confirm the supply transaction in your wallet.

    3.Borrow Assets: If you have supplied assets, you can then choose to borrow other testnet assets against your collateral. Select the asset to borrow, enter the amount, and confirm the borrow transaction.

    4.Repay/Withdraw: To complete the cycle, try repaying a borrowed amount or withdrawing your supplied assets. This demonstrates full interaction with the lending and borrowing functionalities.

    3.5 Ambient (Trade Perps – Coming Soon)

    Ambient is slated to be Fogo’s platform for perpetual futures trading with high leverage. While currently marked as ‘Coming Soon’, keep an eye out for its launch as it will be a significant dApp for demonstrating advanced trading activity.

    Actively use these applications to generate transactions and interact with the Fogo blockchain. The more diverse and consistent your interactions, the better your chances for potential airdrop eligibility.

    Step 4: Provide Feedback and Engage with the Community

    Fogo encourages users to provide feedback, report bugs, and share their experiences. Active community engagement can also be a factor in airdrop eligibility.

    1.X (formerly Twitter): Share your feedback, hype, or bug reports on X by tagging @FogoChain. Engage in discussions and contribute to the public conversation.

    2.Discord: Join the official Fogo Discord server (link usually found on their website or X profile) to interact with the team and other community members. Participate in discussions, ask questions, and provide valuable insights.

    By consistently performing these actions, you increase your chances of being recognized as an active and valuable participant in the Fogo ecosystem.

    Project Overview: Fogo – The Fastest Layer 1 Blockchain

    Fogo is positioned as a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain, built on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) and leveraging the Firedancer client. Its primary goal is to achieve real-time experiences at scale, addressing the limitations of existing blockchain networks in terms of throughput and latency. Fogo aims to bridge the gap between traditional financial market performance and decentralized infrastructure.

    Key Innovations of Fogo [1]:

    •Unified Client Implementation: Fogo runs with a single, canonical client based on pure Firedancer. This approach, unlike Solana’s client diversity, allows Fogo to operate at the speed of the fastest client, achieving performance levels currently unattainable by other networks.

    •Multi-Local Consensus: This novel approach dynamically balances the performance benefits of validator co-location with the security of geographic distribution. It enables ultra-low latency consensus during normal operations while maintaining the ability to fall back to global consensus when needed. This model is inspired by the “follow the sun” trading model in traditional finance.

    •Curated Validator Set: Fogo utilizes a curated validator set that incentivizes high performance and deters predatory behavior. This mechanism ensures that the network can reach its physical performance limits and aligns validator incentives with the network’s long-term health.

    Fogo is designed to be fully compatible at the SVM execution layer, allowing existing Solana programs, tooling, and infrastructure to migrate seamlessly. It aims to provide institutional-grade finance on-chain, offering speeds comparable to traditional financial systems like NASDAQ, CME, and Eurex, which process over 100,000 operations per second, far exceeding typical blockchain TPS.

    Team Information

    The Fogo project is backed by a team of industry experts and contributors, many of whom have significant experience in traditional finance and blockchain development. The website lists several key contributors [2]:

    •Robert Sagurton: Co-founder of Fogo, previously Global Head of Digital Asset Sales at Jump Crypto. He is a Director at Fogo Foundation [3, 4, 5].

    •Doug Colkitt: Founding contributor at Fogo, a former Citadel high-frequency trader and founder of Ambient Finance [6, 7, 8, 9].

    •Michael Cahill: CEO of Douro Labs and a founding contributor to Pyth Network and Fogo Chain [10, 11, 12].

    This collective expertise suggests a strong foundation in both financial markets and high-performance blockchain technology.

    Funding Information

    Fogo has successfully secured significant funding from various sources, indicating strong investor confidence in the project’s vision and technology. Key funding details include:

    •Seed Round: Fogo raised $5.5 million in a Seed funding round on December 1, 2024, led by Distributed Global with participation from CMS Holdings [13, 14].

    •Public Sale/Initial Coin Offering (ICO): Fogo raised an additional $8 million in a Public sale round at a $100 million Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) on January 24, 2025. This sale was hosted on the Echo platform [15, 16, 17, 18].

    In total, Fogo has raised $13.5 million in funding [19]. This substantial backing from reputable investors and successful public sale provides the project with a solid financial runway for development and growth.

    Revenue Model

    While the whitepaper primarily focuses on the technical architecture and performance aspects of the Fogo blockchain, the revenue model can be inferred from standard blockchain operations and the project’s focus on institutional-grade finance and trading. Like most Layer 1 blockchains, Fogo’s primary revenue streams are likely to include:

    •Transaction Fees: Users will pay fees for transactions processed on the Fogo blockchain. Given Fogo’s emphasis on high throughput and low latency, it aims to handle a large volume of transactions, which would generate significant fee revenue.

    •Native Token Utility: The native $FOGO token will be essential for network operations, including staking by validators, governance, and potentially as a medium of exchange within the Fogo ecosystem. The demand for the native token would contribute to its value and the overall economic health of the network.

    •dApp Ecosystem Growth: As more decentralized applications (dApps) are built and utilized on Fogo, they will contribute to network activity and transaction volume, indirectly benefiting the Fogo ecosystem through increased fee generation and token utility.

    •Potential for DeFi and Trading-Specific Revenue: Given Fogo’s focus on trading and institutional finance, there might be specialized revenue models related to high-frequency trading, lending/borrowing protocols, or other DeFi activities that leverage Fogo’s unique performance capabilities. For instance, the whitepaper mentions “SPL Token Fee Payment” as a prospective extension, which would allow users to pay transaction fees using SPL tokens, creating a market for relayer services [20].

    Fogo’s design, particularly its curated validator set and multi-local consensus, suggests a focus on efficiency and performance that could attract high-volume users and institutional players, thereby driving substantial transaction fee revenue.

    Conclusion

    Fogo presents a compelling vision for a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain, aiming to redefine the standards for speed and efficiency in the decentralized space. By participating in the Fogo Testnet, users can not only contribute to the project’s development but also position themselves for potential future airdrops. With a strong technical foundation, experienced team, and significant funding, Fogo is poised to make a substantial impact on the blockchain landscape, particularly in the realm of institutional-grade decentralized finance.

    References

    [1] Fogo Whitepaper. Available at: https://www.fogo.io/whitepaper.pdf

    [2] Fogo Official Website – Contributors. Available at: https://www.fogo.io/#contributors

    [3] Robert Sagurton LinkedIn. Available at: https://ag.linkedin.com/in/robert-sagurton

    [4] Robert Sagurton X (Twitter). Available at: https://x.com/robertsagurton

    [5] Robert Sagurton Email & Phone Number | Fogo Director Contact. Available at: https://rocketreach.co/robert-sagurton-email_70222069

    [6] Doug Colkitt X (Twitter). Available at: https://x.com/0xdoug?lang=en

    [7] Why I Left 10+ Years in Traditional Finance to Build the … – YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdanXVYQ1i0

    [8] A passion for pushing the limits of performance led Ambient Finance … – LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fogochain_a-passion-for-pushing-the-limits-of-performance-activity-7295534882363953153-K7vW

    [9] Doug Colkitt, Co-founder of Fogo – YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO6bwOcjFDA

    [10] Mike Cahill | Pyth (@mdomcahill) / X. Available at: https://x.com/mdomcahill?lang=en

    [11] Michael Cahill’s Post – LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michael-d-cahill_fogo-activity-7311126169657970688-rtiq

    [12] Fogo on X: “Catch the full interview between @mdomcahill … – X. Available at: https://x.com/FogoChain/status/1943257657927684473

    [13] Seed Round – Fogo Digital – 2024-12-01 – Crunchbase. Available at: https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/fogo-digital-inc-seed–0d94dd6a

    [14] Fogo raised 5.5MSeedFundingonDec30,2024−CypherHunter.Availableat:[https://www.cypherhunter.com/en/e/fogo−chain−raised−funding−2024−12−30/]

    [15]Fogo ICO FundingRounds,Token Sale Review…−CryptoRank. Available at:[https://cryptorank.io/ico/fogo]

    [16]Initial Coin Offering − Fogo Digital−2025−01−24−Crunchbase. Available at:[https://www.crunchbase.com/fundingr​ound/fogo−digital−inc−initial−coin−offering−−5bb5fc9d]

    [17]Fogo active in the testnet, aiming for the airdrop∣MEXCNews. Available at [https://www.mexc.co/lt−LT/news/fogo−active−in−the−testnet−aiming−for−the−airdrop/62405]

    [18]SVM Layer1 blockchain Fogo completes 8 million financing, led by … – Followin. Available at: https://followin.io/en/feed/15899779

    [19] Fogo Project Introduction, Team, Financing and News_RootData. Available at: https://www.rootdata.com/Projects/detail/Fogo?k=MTU3ODg%3D

    [20] Fogo Whitepaper – Section 6.1 SPL Token Fee Payment. Available at: https://www.fogo.io/whitepaper.pdf

  • Memecoin Trading Guide on Axiom Trade

    Memecoin Trading Guide on Axiom Trade

    Introduction

    This guide provides a comprehensive overview of strategies and tips for making money on Axiom Trade, a decentralized finance (DeFi) trading platform. Based on insights from experienced traders, this article will delve into specific techniques, filter settings, and risk management practices crucial for navigating the volatile world of memecoin trading. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your approach, understanding these methods can significantly enhance your trading success on Axiom.

    Axiom Trade: https://axiom.trade/@alphabox

    Keep in mind memecoins are highly volatile in nature. Always implement risk management before you enter a trade!

    Core Trading Strategies

    Successful trading on Axiom, particularly with memecoins, hinges on a few core strategies that prioritize efficiency and risk mitigation. Unlike traditional markets, the rapid pace and inherent volatility of memecoins necessitate a streamlined approach, focusing on key indicators rather than an overload of data.

    The Power of Simplicity: Filters and Strategy

    Many new traders on platforms like Axiom often fall into the trap of believing that more filters and complex settings equate to a better edge. However, as highlighted by experienced traders, the most effective approach is often the simplest: identifying one or two crucial filters combined with a solid, well-understood strategy. Overcomplicating your setup can lead to confusion and missed opportunities in a fast-moving market.

    Navigating Axiom: The ‘Pulse’ Tab

    The Axiom platform offers various tabs for exploring tokens, such as ‘Discover’ and ‘Trending.’ However, for the specific purpose of identifying profitable memecoin opportunities, the ‘Pulse’ tab is paramount. This section of the platform is designed to provide real-time insights into market movements, making it the primary focus for traders employing the strategies discussed in this guide.

    The 9K Market Cap Filter: Your First Line of Defense

    One of the most critical filters for beginners, and indeed for all traders looking to avoid common pitfalls, is the 9K market cap filter. Setting this filter on the ‘Pulse’ tab is a fundamental step in safeguarding your investments. The rationale behind this specific threshold is to exclude tokens with extremely low market capitalizations, which are often prone to ‘rug pulls’ or simply lack the momentum to generate significant returns. Tokens below the 9K or 10K market cap often represent pure chaos, making it difficult for even experienced traders to discern legitimate opportunities from scams. By filtering these out, you significantly reduce noise and focus on projects with a higher probability of upward movement.

    Volume and Trend: The Dual Pillars of Analysis

    Beyond market capitalization, the two most important metrics to scrutinize when evaluating a token on Axiom are its volume and its trend. High trading volume indicates active participation and liquidity, which are essential for entering and exiting positions swiftly. A clear upward trend, supported by consistent volume, suggests growing interest and potential for further price appreciation. Conversely, tokens with low volume or erratic price movements should be approached with extreme caution, as they may lack the necessary market support for sustained growth.

    Capitalizing on New Pairs: The ‘Recently Migrated’ Advantage

    Experienced Axiom traders often focus on tokens that have ‘recently migrated’ to the platform. These new pairs can present significant opportunities for rapid gains, as they are often in their early stages of price discovery and can experience explosive growth if they capture market attention. Identifying these tokens quickly and assessing their potential based on volume and early trend indicators is a key component of this strategy.

    Decoding Viral Coin Signs

    When a memecoin is poised to go viral, it typically exhibits several tell-tale signs. These include a surge in trading volume, a steady increase in the number of holders, and growing buzz across social media platforms, particularly Twitter. Monitoring these indicators can provide early signals of a token’s potential to become a ‘runner’—a coin that experiences rapid and substantial price increases. However, it is crucial to differentiate genuine viral trends from artificial hype, as many scams attempt to mimic these characteristics.

    Avoiding the ‘Final Stretch’ Trap

    While the ‘Final Stretch’ tab on Axiom might seem appealing, it is generally advisable for short-term traders to avoid it. Tokens listed in this section often lack sufficient trading volume, indicating a waning interest or a stagnant market. A lack of volume significantly increases the risk of being unable to exit a position without substantial losses, as there may not be enough buyers to absorb your sell orders. Therefore, for rapid trading, the ‘Pulse’ tab remains the preferred destination.

    Scam Spotting and Risk Management

    In the highly speculative and often unregulated world of memecoin trading, the ability to identify and avoid scams is as crucial as identifying profitable opportunities. Many projects are designed solely to enrich their creators at the expense of unsuspecting investors, a phenomenon commonly known as a ‘rug pull.’ Axiom provides tools and indicators that, when understood and utilized correctly, can significantly reduce your exposure to these fraudulent schemes.

    The Market Cap to Volume Ratio: A Critical Indicator

    One of the most straightforward yet effective methods for spotting potential scams is to analyze the ratio between a token’s market capitalization and its trading volume. Ideally, for a healthy and legitimate project, the trading volume should be relatively close to its market capitalization, especially for lower-cap tokens. A significant disparity, where the market cap is disproportionately high compared to the volume, is a major red flag. For instance, a token with a 48K market cap and only 2K in trading volume suggests that the reported market cap is inflated and not supported by genuine trading activity. This indicates a lack of liquidity and a high probability of a rug pull. Always aim for projects where the market cap and volume are at similar levels, indicating organic interest and trading.

    Understanding Bundlers and Developer Holdings

    Another critical aspect of risk management on Axiom involves scrutinizing the distribution of token holdings, particularly focusing on ‘bundlers’ and developer (dev) wallets. Bundlers are individuals or entities that control multiple wallets, often accumulating a significant percentage of a token’s supply. While not all bundlers are malicious, a high concentration of tokens in a few bundler wallets can pose a substantial risk. If these large holders decide to sell their positions, it can lead to a drastic price drop, effectively ‘nuking’ the chart. Ideally, you want to see less than 10% of the token supply held by bundlers.

    Similarly, the percentage of tokens held by the project’s developers is a crucial indicator. If a developer retains a large portion of the token supply, especially without a clear vesting schedule or transparency, it creates a high risk of a rug pull. The term ‘DS’ (Dev Sold) on Axiom is a positive indicator, suggesting that the developer has already divested their initial holdings, reducing the likelihood of them dumping tokens on the market. A general rule of thumb is to avoid projects where the dev is still holding a significant percentage of the supply, as they often buy in with a small amount and then sell off their entire holdings once the price pumps, leaving other investors with worthless tokens. Furthermore, aim for projects where the top 10 holders collectively own less than 30% of the supply, as this indicates a more decentralized and less manipulable distribution.

    The Importance of Bubble Maps

    Axiom’s unique ‘bubble map’ feature is an invaluable tool for visualizing token distribution and identifying potential risks associated with concentrated holdings. If the bubble maps are not automatically generated, it is imperative to click the icon to generate them. These maps visually represent who owns what percentage of the tokens, allowing you to quickly identify large individual or bundler holdings. This visual representation can be a decisive factor in determining whether to invest in a token, as it provides immediate insight into potential vulnerabilities to price manipulation or rug pulls. No other platform offers this level of transparency, making it a significant advantage for Axiom users in mitigating risk.

    Optimizing Your Trading Setup

    Beyond identifying promising tokens and avoiding scams, optimizing your trading setup within Axiom is crucial for maximizing efficiency and minimizing losses in the fast-paced memecoin market. This involves configuring your charts, slippage, and other settings to react swiftly to market movements and protect your trades from predatory practices.

    Chart Settings: The 5-Second Advantage

    Given the extreme volatility of memecoins, using a standard 1-minute chart or longer timeframes can be detrimental. The rapid price fluctuations mean that by the time a 1-minute candle closes, the opportunity may have already passed, or a significant portion of your gains could have evaporated. The recommended chart setting for memecoin trading on Axiom is the 5-second chart. This granular view provides sufficient data to observe immediate price action and react quickly without being overwhelmed by excessive information. While a 1-second chart might seem to offer even more detail, it often presents too much noise, leading to panic selling or impulsive decisions. The 5-second chart strikes a balance, offering real-time insights without inducing analysis paralysis.

    Slippage Settings: Navigating Volatility

    Slippage refers to the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is actually executed. In highly volatile markets like memecoins, slippage can be substantial. Many traders set their slippage too low (e.g., 5%), which can prevent their orders from being filled, especially during rapid price movements. For fast-moving memecoins, it is strongly recommended to set your slippage to at least 20%. While this higher percentage means you might experience a larger price difference between your order and execution in extreme scenarios, it ensures that your buy and sell orders are filled, allowing you to enter and exit positions effectively. This is particularly vital when a coin is dumping rapidly, as a higher slippage setting can be the difference between getting out with a manageable loss and being stuck in a rapidly depreciating asset.

    Priority, Bribe, and Sell Settings

    Specific values for priority, bribe, and sell settings can further optimize your trade execution. While the exact configurations may vary based on individual preferences and market conditions, the transcript mentions specific values used by an experienced trader: Priority 0.03, Bribe 0.03, and Sell 0.01 (with a Bribe of 0.01). These settings are designed to ensure that your transactions are processed quickly on the blockchain, which is critical for capturing fleeting opportunities in a competitive environment. Experimenting with these values and understanding their impact on your trade execution is essential for fine-tuning your setup.

    MEV Protection: Enabling ‘Me Production’

    Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) refers to the profit that can be extracted by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. In simpler terms, malicious actors (often referred to as ‘mebots’) can front-run your transactions, buying a token just before your buy order and selling it immediately after your buy order pushes the price up, thereby profiting from your trade. To protect yourself from such predatory practices, Axiom offers a feature called ‘Me Production.’ Enabling this setting is crucial as it utilizes MEV-resistant execution paths, providing frontrunning and sandwiching protection. This ensures that your limit orders are safe and that you are not losing potential profits to bots.

    Advanced Techniques: Leveraging Smart Money and Community Insights

    Beyond individual trading strategies and optimized settings, Axiom offers advanced features that allow traders to leverage the insights and actions of other successful participants in the market. These tools, such as smart wallet tracking and copy trading, can provide a significant edge, especially for those looking to learn from experienced traders or identify early signals of market movement.

    Smart Wallet Tracking: Following the Pros

    One of the most powerful features on Axiom is the ability to track specific wallet addresses. This allows you to monitor the real-time trades of highly successful or ‘smart money’ traders. By observing what these individuals are buying and selling, and the amounts they are allocating to each trade, you can gain valuable insights into potential opportunities. The transcript highlights the example of tracking a notorious memecoin trader named ‘Cupsy,’ whose significant buy-ins often precede price pumps. While not a foolproof strategy—as even experienced traders incur losses—it provides a data-driven approach to identifying potential trends and entry points that might otherwise be missed. This feature essentially democratizes access to information that was once exclusive to a select few, allowing beginners to learn from the best.

    Exit Buyer Tracking: Identifying Bearish Signals

    Complementing smart wallet tracking is the ability to identify and track ‘exit buyers’—wallets that consistently sell at the top of low-cap coins, often just before a significant price drop or rug pull. The transcript mentions an anonymous ‘insider wallet’ that has an uncanny ability to sell at the peak of every insider memecoin. By adding such wallets to your tracker and monitoring their selling activity, you can gain a crucial bearish indicator. If an identified exit buyer begins to offload their holdings in a particular token, it serves as a strong signal to avoid purchasing that coin or to consider exiting your own position. This proactive approach to risk management can save you from substantial losses by providing early warnings of impending market downturns.

    Copy Trading: Automating Your Strategy

    For beginners or those who prefer a more hands-off approach, Axiom’s copy trading feature offers a compelling solution. This functionality allows you to automatically replicate the trades of selected successful traders. When a tracked trader makes a buy or sell, your account can execute the same trade, effectively allowing you to mirror their strategy. While convenient, it is crucial to remember the caveat mentioned in the transcript: following someone else’s trades means you are also exposed to their losses. Therefore, it is advisable to carefully select the traders you copy and to understand their risk profiles before committing your capital.

    The ‘Slow Cookers’ Strategy: Patience Pays Off

    While much of memecoin trading focuses on rapid, high-volatility movements, the ‘slow cookers’ strategy offers an alternative approach for those with a longer time horizon. This strategy involves identifying tokens with strong narratives that are slowly but steadily growing in market capitalization, typically in the 20K to 30K range, and have not experienced major dips. These tokens may not offer instant, explosive gains, but they can provide substantial returns over time as their narrative gains traction and more volume enters the market. Axiom’s ability to highlight such tokens, which may be overlooked on other platforms, makes it a suitable environment for this more patient, narrative-driven trading style. The key is to identify projects with genuine potential and a compelling story that can attract sustained interest.

    Conclusion

    Making money on Axiom Trade, particularly in the memecoin market, requires a blend of strategic insight, diligent risk management, and an optimized trading setup. By focusing on key indicators like market capitalization, volume, and trend, and by leveraging Axiom’s unique features such as the ‘Pulse’ tab and the 9K market cap filter, traders can significantly improve their chances of identifying profitable opportunities while mitigating the risks associated with fraudulent projects.

    Furthermore, understanding and implementing advanced techniques like smart wallet tracking and exit buyer analysis can provide a crucial edge by allowing you to learn from the movements of experienced traders and avoid potential rug pulls. While the allure of rapid gains is strong, it is imperative to approach memecoin trading with caution, recognizing the inherent volatility and the prevalence of scams. Always prioritize due diligence, manage your risk effectively, and remember that even the most successful traders experience losses. By adhering to the principles outlined in this guide, you can navigate the Axiom Trade platform with greater confidence and work towards achieving your financial objectives in the dynamic world of decentralized finance.

  • Klout (Solana) Airdrop Step-by-Step Guide

    Klout (Solana) Airdrop Step-by-Step Guide

    Klout Project Overview

    Klout is a platform that aims to “tokenize influence” by assigning users a “Klout score” to measure their social influence and engagement, particularly on X (formerly Twitter). The platform is built on the Solana blockchain and is powered by Meteora. It focuses on connecting creators with their audience through presales and token launches.

    Key Features and Concepts:

    • Klout Score: Your Klout score is a central element of the platform, determining how much you can contribute to each presale. This score is likely influenced by your social metrics on X and your engagement within the Klout platform.

    • Tokenizing Influence: Klout enables creators to tokenize their influence, allowing their followers to participate in presales for their favorite creator’s X account. Once a presale is filled, the creator decides when to launch their token.

    • Revenue Model: Klout tracks creators’ social metrics and earns fees from trading activity related to the launched tokens. This suggests a revenue model where Klout takes a percentage of the trading volume or a fee from token launches.

    Klout Airdrop Step-by-Step Guide

    To participate in the potential Klout airdrop, follow these steps:

    Step 1: Connect with X (Twitter)

    Navigate to the Klout platform at https://klout.gg/. You will be prompted to connect your X (Twitter) account. The platform is invite-only. Use code AlphaDropYT

    Step 2: Engage and Earn Points

    Klout emphasizes earning points by inviting others. Actively use the referral system to invite new users to the platform. While not explicitly detailed, engaging with the platform beyond just connecting your account and sharing a tweet, such as interacting with other users or exploring available features, could potentially increase your Klout score and airdrop eligibility. More ways to earn points are expected to be introduced in the future.

    Team Information:

    Klout.gg is powered by Meteora, a platform focused on enhancing liquidity, capital efficiency, and yield opportunities for Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) and other staked assets on Solana. While Klout itself doesn’t have a separately listed team, its association with Meteora means the Meteora team is effectively behind Klout.

    Key individuals associated with Meteora include Ben Chow, who is a Co-Founder [10]. The Meteora team is described as an independent group of content creators, traders, and KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) aligned with Meteora, with a focus on building a secure, sustainable, and composable yield layer for Solana and DeFi.

    Funding Information:

    As Klout is powered by Meteora, the funding secured by Meteora is directly relevant to Klout’s development and operations. Meteora has secured significant funding, although the exact total amount was not explicitly stated in the provided search results. However, the connection to Meteora, a prominent entity in the Solana ecosystem, suggests a well-funded project.

    Revenue Model:

    Klout’s revenue model is directly tied to its core function of tokenizing influence. The platform generates revenue primarily through fees earned from the trading activity of the tokens launched by creators. This implies a commission-based model where Klout takes a percentage of the trading volume or a fee on each transaction that occurs on its platform. Additionally, given its connection to Meteora.ag, there might be other revenue streams related to liquidity provision or yield generation within the broader Meteora ecosystem.

    Conclusion

    Klout presents an intriguing approach to tokenizing social influence, particularly within the X ecosystem. By participating in its early stages, connecting your X account, sharing designated tweets, and actively engaging with the referral system, you can position yourself for potential rewards from future airdrops. As the platform evolves and introduces more ways to earn, consistent engagement will likely be key to maximizing your Klout score and airdrop eligibility.

    References

    [1] https://klout.gg/

    [2] https://www.rootdata.com/Projects/detail/KLOUT?k=MTg0MzE%3D

    [3] https://x.com/kloutgg

    [4] https://www.meteora.ag/

    [5] https://www.linkedin.com/company/meteora-ag

  • Aptos Blockchain Guide: the Next Big Innovation in Blockchain Scaling (Layer 1)?

    Aptos Blockchain Guide: the Next Big Innovation in Blockchain Scaling (Layer 1)?

    Aptos, a repurposed blockchain initiative of Meta’s abandoned web3 project (formerly Facebook). Its mainnet and token launch were hugely anticipated owing to its revolutionary infrastructure that might just surpass all other layer-one protocols. All you need to know about Aptos is in this article, made simple to understand and updated in real time.

    What is Aptos?

    Origin of Aptos

    Aptos also known as Aptos Labs is a web3 startup focused on building a scalable layer-1 blockchain. I know what you’re thinking, not another new smart-contract layer claiming to be more scalable than the others.

    But Aptos is not a new entity of its own, in fact, the company was founded by developers who formerly worked on Diem, Meta’s blockchain initiative that was abandoned in January. This means that the project already has a solid foundation to build its products off of.

    Key Features of Aptos Blockchain

    Aptos utilizes key elements of the former Diem blockchain and Move, a Rust-based programming language independently developed by Meta. The company also claims the network will be able to process over 130k transactions per second using its parallel execution engine (Block-STM), which results in low transaction costs for users.

    For context, most blockchains either execute smart contracts sequentially or require a massive parallel workload for improved performance, which requires a lot of power. Aptos differs from other blockchains because a single failed transaction will not hold up the entire chain. Instead, all transactions are processed simultaneously and validated afterwards. The ones that failed are aborted and re-executed, thanks to their STM (software transactional memory) libraries which detect and manage conflicts.

    As a result, the combination of these technologies streamlines the entire network’s throughput capacity, which has been a major bottleneck for other layer-1 blockchains. This is a short summary of Aptos’ smart contract execution according to their white paper published in August 2022. Their model is based on cloud infrastructure as a scalable and cost-efficient platform for building widely-used applications.

    Aptos enables DeFi projects to be built on its blockchain. So far, there are over 30 DeFi projects on the ecosystem. These projects include decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and liquid staking. An example of this is Aries Markets– a margin trading protocol.

    Who is the Team behind Aptos?

    Aptos is co-founded by Mo Shaikh (CEO) and Avery Ching (CTO), both former Meta employees who have years of experience as a senior developer and engineer in the blockchain industry.

    The team consists of a battle-hardened group of PhDs, researchers, engineers, designers and strategists. They are the original creators, designers and builders of Diem.

    What’s Happening with Aptos?

    Aptos Funding

    Aptos has been securing a sizeable amount of funding from numerous crypto heavyweights despite the bear market. In March 2022, the company received $200 million in funding from a16z, Tiger Global, and Multicoin Capital, among many other venture capitalists.

    In July, the company raised $150 million in a Series A financing round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto.

    Moreover, during the Venture Round on 15th September, Binance Labs doubled down on Aptos, bringing up the blockchain startup’s valuation to a massive $4 billion according to Bloomberg. With the new funding from Binance, Aptos quadrupled its valuation in six months as per Crunchbase’s report.

    A few days later on 28th September, an undisclosed amount was also raised during the Venture Round by Dragonfly Capital.

    Being backed by Binance Labs is a good sign that the project shows promise. In fact, Yi He, co-founder of Binance and the head of Binance Labs, chose to invest in Aptos in part because of the Move programming language the company is using to build its blockchain.

    Aptos Team and Ecosystem Expansion

    Moreover, the team at Aptos has been actively hiring, most notably they have acquired several former Solana staff such as Austin Virts, former Head of Marketing at Solana.

    Not only Solana staff but a lot of hardcore Solana proponents have jumped ship for Aptos as well. With the narrative of Aptos being the next Solana, people are speculating whether investors actually believe in their tech long-term, or it is simply a pump and dump for venture capital firms (VC) and whales to make back their money due to the series of liquidation across the market. VC-heavy projects should be considered a red flag, but in the case of Aptos, there is more than meets the eye.

    Aptos Testnet

    Aptos has been focusing on driving the growth of their ecosystem. Since May, Aptos has launched their testnet campaign named “Aptos Incentivized Testnet” (AIT) and is divided into four stages according to their roadmap: AIT1, AIT2, AIT3 and AIT4. The goal is to invite and reward node operators, developers, ecosystem builders, and auditors alike to deploy applications and stress-test the decentralized network, ensuring the community is ready to launch a production-grade Aptos mainnet. Each stage focuses on executing different deliverables that contribute to the overall function of the blockchain.

    AIT3 concluded on 9th September 2022, preparing for the final testnet which will lead to the mainnet launch if successful. Throughout the series of testnets, millions of transactions have been carried out, tens of thousands of nodes have been put up, and more than 1,500 have forked the Aptos-core repository. The codebase is open-source and the project has onboarded well over 100 projects. Teams such as Pontem Network, Protagonist, PayMagic, MartianDAO, Solrise Finance and more have already been building and testing on the network.

    Furthermore, Aptos also has a grant program to offer project teams and individuals non-dilutive funding in order to further develop the ecosystem. One thing is certain that the earliest projects to develop on a blockchain are the ones that tend to moon if the blockchain is successful.

    Aptos Mainnet Launch

    Aptos Labs officially launched its mainnet “Aptos Autumn” on 12th October 2022, making it the first blockchain to debut Move technology. The mainnet is currently using the latest version of AptosBFT (version 4), which leverages a Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus protocol with responsive production optimization. To put it simply, this mechanism quickly minimizes the impact of failed validators on throughput and latency, significantly improving the blockchain’s performance. Aptos team has announced that they are developing AptosBFT (version 5) and will release it in a future upgrade.

    The Aptos Bridge

    The Aptos Bridge went live on 19th October 2022, powered by LayerZero, a trustless omnichain interoperability protocol. With this deployment, users will be able to move USDC, USDT, and ETH into Aptos from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain. Users can also withdraw their funds out of the Aptos ecosystem, but as of now, there will be a 3-day transfer window to keep the network stable. According to LayerZero Labs, this will decrease as stability and time in production increase.

    Another thing to note is that there is a rate limit to the bridge, starting at an outbound value cap of $1 million every 24 hours. As stability and time in production increase, this will also increase. Finally, since Aptos is an entirely new ecosystem, native assets outside of the APT token do not exist. This means that the only way to get other assets into the ecosystem is via “wrapped assets” from other chains.

    Aptos Goes into Web3 Gaming

    Aptos has recently announced its partnership with NPIXEL, a Korean Triple-A gaming studio. NIPXEL have been behind popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Gran Saga, which boasts 4 million downloads since its launch in Korea and Japan.

    Aptos and NPIXEL are joining forces to create METAPIXEL, a Web3 gaming ecosystem. This partnership sees NPIXEL creating games on the Aptos network. The goal of their partnership is to create a triple-A game that boasts true ownership of game assets.

    Partnership with Google Cloud

    Google Cloud and Aptos Labs have announced an expansion of their partnership, which now includes Google Cloud running a validator for Aptos. Additionally, Aptos has selected Google Cloud as the preferred infrastructure provider for its ecosystem, and the two companies will collaborate on an accelerator program through the Aptos Foundation that supports Web3 startups and developers working on Aptos.

    Moreover, Aptos and Google Cloud will collaborate in hosting global hackathons and other events. The purpose of these hackathons is to bring decentralized developer communities together to collaborate and address common challenges. They will also invite both the Google developer community and the Aptos community to participate and work alongside engineers from both companies to deploy projects that can be quickly scaled globally. In line with their joint events at Bitcoin, Consensus, and Converge last year, they also plan to continue engaging their communities through happy hours and panels in 2023.

    MoonPay Fiat On-Ramp Integration into Petra Wallet

    Aptos Labs and MoonPay have teamed up to make it easier for billions of people to join the web3 space. This means that users can now purchase APT using Apple Pay. Aptos Labs’ wallet, Petra, now features an easy-to-use interface for exchanging value within the Aptos ecosystem. The partnership began in November 2022 when APT became available on MoonPay.

    The integration of the MoonPay fiat on-ramp into Petra was a crucial step in enhancing the web3 user experience. The fiat on-ramp makes it easy for both new users and early adopters to get started on the Aptos network, as they can purchase APT using a variety of payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

    Securing Move as the Underlying Programming Model

    To ensure that Aptos is secure, their team has been developing bug-free code through a combination of disciplined software engineering practices and the right tools. This includes mandatory code review, continuous testing and integration, and best practices in the Rust ecosystem.

    Moreover, Aptos has contracted auditing companies (Certik, Holburn), conducted community auditing, and worked closely with OtterSec. They also run a bug bounty program that offers rewards of up to $1,000,000 for critical bugs and $100,000 for crash bugs. Aptos has invested in fuzzing and added redundancy through a paranoid mode in the Move Virtual Machine.

    Lowering Gas Fees with Community-Driven Feedback

    Aptos is engaging with community builders to improve its ecosystem, with a focus on reducing gas fees. The team has analyzed on-chain data and interviewed builders to gather insights. Their three-stage plan includes reducing costs for dynamic NFTs, developing gas-efficient data structures, and creating a demand-driven gas model.

    The current gas framework combines execution and storage fees, leading to an unbalanced gas price. The team will separate storage and execution fees and provide storage refunds to solve these issues. The team is committed to delivering these improvements in the coming months to better serve the network’s demand.

    What is the APT token?

    APT is the native token of the Aptos platform. The APT token is used to pay for transaction and network fees on Aptos.

    Fees will be charged on all transactions on the network and are specified in Aptos tokens. Validators will have the opportunity to prioitise the highest-value transactions on the Aptos network, and to discard transactions of lower value. The result is that the blockchain would still be able to operate efficiently when the system is at capacity. Eventually, network fees will also be deployed so that the cost of using Aptos would be proportionate to the costs of deploying hardware, maintenance, and node operation.

    In addition, APT can be used for governance voting on upgrades to the protocol and on/off-chain processes, and to secure the blockchain by way of a proof-of-stake model.

    Validators holding a minimum number of staked APT tokens can participate in transaction validation on the Aptos blockchain. The benefit of being a validator is that they can decide on the division of rewards between themselves and their respective stakers. On the other hand, stakers can select any number of validators to stake their tokens with in order to receive a pre-agreed split of the rewards. Rewards will be distributed to validators and stakers at the end of every epoch.

    At present, the maximum reward rate for stakers starts at 7% per annum and this amount is evaluated at every epoch. The maximum staking reward however will decrease by 1.5% per year until it reaches 3.25% per year. However, all reward amounts and mechanisms can be changed by governance voting.

    Aptos Token Listing

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange and trading of the APT token commenced on 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. The spot trading pairs include APT/BTC, APT/BUSD, and APT/USDT, and withdrawals for APT will open on 20th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. Moreover, the listing fee for APT is at 0 BNB and users can now start depositing APT in preparation for trading.

    In addition, Binance will add APT as a new borrowable asset on cross margin and isolated margin within 48 hours from 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC. Both margin pairs include APT/BUSD and APT/USDT.

    Where can I buy the Aptos ($APT) token?

    Aptos and MoonPay have recently partnered up to allow Petra wallet fiat on-ramps. So users can now buy APT using Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

    The APT token can also be purchased and traded on the following exchanges: Binance, Coinbase Exchange, OKX, and Digifinex.

    Start trading $APT on Binance and enjoy 20% off trading fees by signing up here.

    Is Aptos Worth Investing?

    Aptos offers unique and promising features that cannot be found in other layer-1 protocols (except for Sui which is also a Diem-based blockchain). As such, Aptos has the potential to compete with Ethereum and Solana in terms of scalability and overall network capacity.

    However, Aptos is heavily backed by venture capitals (VC), and in light of the VC bankruptcy domino effect toppling across the industry, investors should be cautious when dealing with VC-heavy projects. In fact, according to Aptos Explorer, its total supply is over 1 billion and more than 800 million of the tokens are actively staked, suggesting that early investors, private buyers, and the Aptos team collectively control 80% of the token supply.

    Nevertheless, at the end of the day, Move technology is most likely here to stay as it is a revolutionary programming foundation for blockchain scalability and security. And with decades of experience in the blockchain industry as well as Meta, Aptos Labs stakes its reputation on the long-term success of the blockchain.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    What is Aptos?

    Aptos is a layer-1 blockchain that uses key elements of the former Diem blockchain and Move, a Rust-based programming language independently developed by Meta.

    How to buy Aptos?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Does Aptos have a coin?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    When is Aptos ICO?

    Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Who is the Aptos team?

    The Aptos team consists of researchers, designers and engineers of Diem, Meta’s blockchain initiative that was abandoned in January 2022. Aptos currently has 60 employees on their team.

    Who is the founder of Aptos?

    Aptos Labs is co-founded by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, both former Meta employees who have years of experience in the blockchain industry.

    Is Aptos funded?

    Aptos Labs has raised $350 million in total from FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, a16z, Tiger Global, Multicoin Capital, among many other capital ventures. Currently, Aptos Labs has 28 investors. Aptos Labs also received an undisclosed amount in strategic investment from Binance Labs, bringing its valuation to $4 billion.

    What is the Aptos testnet?

    Aptos has an incentivized testnet program where the Aptos team welcomes community members to help with testing. The first testnet was Aptos Incentivized Testnet 1 (AIT1) where the community and the Aptos team created and deployed a decentralized network for over a week. Those who met a 95% participation rate were rewarded. Eligible individuals who were unable to meet the original expectation, but still participated in at least 5% of the testing rounds were also offered 50% of the rewards.

    Aptos Incentivized Testnet 2 (AIT2) was concluded in late July 2022.

    The latest Aptos Incentivized Testnet 3 (AIT3) opened for registration on 19th August 2022 and will launch on 30th August 2022. Participants that meet the team’s success criteria will receive 800 Aptos tokens. For more details and signup, check out the Aptos blog.

    Is Aptos Labs listed on any stock exchange?

    Aptos Labs is a private company and is not listed on any stock exchange.

    What is the price of Aptos Labs (APTOS) cryptocurrency?

    Aptos Labs (APTOS) does not currently have a cryptocurrency token. Binance announced the listing of Aptos (APT) on their exchange, and will be available for spot trading at 19th October 2022, 01:00 UTC.

    Is Aptos the same or related to Sui?

    No, Aptos and Sui and completely different and unrelated projects. The only connection between the two projects is that both teams have previously worked in blockchain development at Meta (formerly Facebook).

    Is Aptos worth investing?

    Aptos shows a lot of promise but investors should be cautious as the project is heavily funded by venture capitals. But at its core, Aptos’ programming language, Move, is most likely here to stay as it offers better scalability and security compared to other layer-1 blockchains.

    Is Aptos backed by Binance?

    Aptos Labs received an undisclosed amount in strategic investment from Binance Labs, bringing its valuation to $4 billion. In fact, Yi He, co-founder of Binance and the head of Binance Labs, chose to invest in Aptos in part because of the Move programming language Aptos is using to build its blockchain.

    Is there any Aptos $APT token airdrop?

    Early Aptos network participants were given an airdrop of APT tokens. A total of 20,067,150 APT tokens were airdropped to 110,235 participants.

    How do I participate or be eligible for an Aptos APT airdrop?

    Previous Aptos users who had completed an application to join the Aptos Incentivized Testnet or minted an APTOS:ZERO testnet NFT were eligible to claim APT tokens. Those who were eligible to receive APT tokens were notified by the Aptos team via email. There are no plans for further airdrops for the time being.

    Which wallet support Aptos?

    Petra Wallet and Pontem Wallet are native non-custodial wallets for the Aptos ecosystem, and can integrate with many Aptos DApps.

    Why is Aptos dumping?

    Aptos’ price usually comes under pressure whenever there is a token unlock event. This is because early investors will typically sell those unlocked tokens to take profit. The next one will unlock on February 12, 2023.

    What is the price prediction for Aptos in 2023?

    Aptos will most likely increase in value, as the narrative for layer-1 blockchain scaling solution is trending in 2023.

  • Is Solana (SOL) Dead After FTX Bankruptcy?

    Is Solana (SOL) Dead After FTX Bankruptcy?

    Over the past two years, Solana has risen to be one of the largest blockchains by both market cap and usage, rivalling that of Ethereum. This rapid growth was largely driven by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), former CEO of recently bankrupt exchange FTX, who was a huge proponent of the project. In light of the FTX contagion, Solana was hit hard, leaving investors to question the state of the ecosystem.

    In case you are out of the loop, we have covered the entire timeline of the FTX contagion in chronological order listed down below:

    How is Solana Affected by the FTX Collapse?

    Solana (SOL) Token Holdings of FTX

    According to an FTX balance sheet shared with investors, the exchange held $982 million in SOL. It is also reported by CoinDesk that the second largest holding of Alameda Research, the sister company of FTX, is SOL. It stands to reason that FTX and Alameda might have dumped their holdings to raise liquidity, though not confirmed.

    Since the beginning of FTX’s downfall, SOL has tanked -59% in price, putting it at -94% below its all-time high. It is also expected that many investors have exited their SOL position out of fear.

    Moreover, FTX and Alameda Research purchased 50.52 million SOL tokens from Solana Foundation and 7.56 million SOL from Solana Labs, representing nearly 11% of the total supply. On the bright side, most of these tokens are vested through a linear monthly unlock mechanism, which means FTX do not have them in custody yet. The last of these unlocks will occur by January 2028.

    Given FTX and Alameda are undergoing bankruptcy, their tokens will be frozen once unlocked, preventing further sell pressure. But it is likely that proceedings will involve liquidating SOL to repay FTX creditors.

    Massive TVL Decline in Solana’s DeFi Ecosystem

    Apart from SOL’s price, Solana’s DeFi ecosystem has also been severely impacted. Since the beginning of FTX’s downfall, more than $700 million have exited Solana’s ecosystem, leaving just a mere $285 million in total value locked (TVL) at the time of writing, according to DeFi Llama.

    A lot of this has to do with Project Serum, an order book based decentralized exchange (DEX) laying at the heart of Solana’s entire DeFi ecosystem, providing liquidity and pricing data to many other major DeFi protocols. Unfortunately, Serum was launched by SBF, and most of its liquidity comes from FTX and Alameda. Moreover, the recent FTX hack revealed that the private key of Serum’s program was compromised, suggesting FTX insiders were in control of them. As a result, Serum developers forked the program to separate from FTX and protect end-users.

    Depegged Wrapped Tokens on Solana

    Another critical issue is that wrapped tokens notably soBTC and soETH are depegged. This is because these wrapped assets are backed by collateral held in FTX, but because their liquidity dried up, no one knows if FTX still has the underlying assets. As a result, these wrapped tokens are no longer redeemable.

    This is very problematic, because almost all DeFi protocols have soBTC and soETH as collateral since it is accepted as the de facto BTC and ETH in Solana. But if underlying assets are completely invalid, then these wrapped tokens have no value, which could worsen the contagion.

    Will Solana Make a Comeback?

    It is important to remember that this collapse is from centralized players and not from decentralized protocols. The technology behind the Solana blockchain is not affected. Though Solana is experiencing big price declines, its community remains resilient and bullish as they continue to build despite market sentiment.

    Better Technology for Solana

    Recently, Coinbase Cloud has been helping with the network upgrade of Solana, implementing (1) Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), (2) Stake-weighted Quality-of-Service (QoS), and (3) local fee markets.

    1. QUIC gives validators more control over incoming traffic. It will help prevent spammed transactions from overwhelming validators like in the April 2022 outage.
    2. Stake-weighted QoS ensures that validators can forwards transactions to slot leaders based on stake-weight, regardless of network conditions. Even if the slot leader is being spammed, other validators should be able to forward transactions to them. This QoS feature has been rolled out with QUIC.
    3. Local fee markets allow users to have their transactions included over others by adding a prioritization fee. This addition unlocks a new dimension in competing for transaction inclusion, whereas in the past, spamming was the only way to compete.

    Moreover, Google Cloud is running a block-producing validator on Solana, introducing Blockchain Node Engine to the blockchain next year. All of these features together will immensely increase the throughput capacity of the network.

    Improved Network Performance and Decentralization

    As a result of recent development, network performance has improved as average time to produce a block has decreased, increasing transactions per second. Moreover, active user number on Solana remains strong despite this year’s market downturn. As of October 2022, there are 11.5 million active accounts and 1.7 million active fee payers.

    Solana’s validator network is becoming more decentralized, ranking third on the Nakamoto Coefficient, a measurement for network decentralization. Furthermore, with FTX and Alameda expected to liquidate their SOL holdings, new buyers will come and help spread out the holding percentages, further increasing decentralization.

    Strong Developer Community

    In 2022, Solana has seen unprecedented developer activity across DeFi, DAOs, NFTs, GameFi, payments and mobile apps. Open source repos and developer activity on Solana surged this month, thanks to growing developer education resources and an easier onboarding experience. Additionally, DAO tooling and adoption has made it possible for large numbers of Solana projects to be managed on-chain.

    Solana also has a thriving NFT ecosystem. Even after the dip, it remains the second largest NFT ecosystem, according to CryptoSlam!. Solana NFTs are onboarding hundreds of thousands of users to the network, with over $3.6 billion in primary and secondary sales.

    According to sec3, a security research firm for Solana projects, thousands of developers are using, deploying, and auditing 1,000+ unique programs on Solana. Between the Phantom wallet, the NFT ecosystem, big partnerships with Instagram, and new use cases like StepN (move-to-earn), Solana continues to bring new users into the web3 space.

    Final Takeaway

    It is important to remember that Solana is NOT FTX. Even though Solana was heavily invested by FTX, its technology and decentralized protocol were never affected. The huge price declines we are currently seeing is most likely due to mass panic sells and forced liquidations of the FTX Group as well other ventures. As long as Solana continues to build, fresh healthy money will come flowing in the ecosystem.

  • Urgent: Ongoing Solana Hack, Million Dollars Drained from more than 5,000 Wallets

    Urgent: Ongoing Solana Hack, Million Dollars Drained from more than 5,000 Wallets

    What Happened to Solana?

    More than $6 million have been stolen from more than 5000 Solana wallets late Tuesday night, according to a tweet from Solana auditor OtterSec. The tweet is supported by other accounts on Twitter that claimed their holdings were wiped in a matter of minutes.

    The Solana auditor revealed that the transactions were in fact authorized by the owners of the wallets, suggesting a private key breach on a massive scale.

    ETH users may also be impacted by the attack. It is uncertain that the attack is limited only to the Solana blockchain. A TrustWallet and Slope wallet user reported losing USDC on both Solana and Ethereum.

    See also: What is Solana (SOL token): explained

    What Caused the Solana Attack?

    The exact cause of the Solana attack is as yet unknown, but Magic Eden, leading NFT marketplace of Solana, urged all Solana users to “revoke permissions for any suspicious links” as well as all apps if necessary.

    Reports indicate that all internet-connected hot wallets on Solana such as Phantom and Slope have been affected. Wallets that have not been used in more than six months seem to be mostly targeted, and all Phantom wallets have been compromised.

    Phantom tweeted, “We are working closely with other teams to get to the bottom of a reported vulnerability in the Solana ecosystem. At this time, the team does not believe this is a Phantom-specific issue.”

    On the other hand, crypto security firms believe that the exploit was not the result of a vulnerability with the Solana blockchain itself. Instead, they suspect the attack was a result of a mass compromise of users’ private keys by a third party.

    Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, commented in an interview with Fortune, “this wasn’t a core blockchain problem, likely seems like one app someone built was buggy.”

    Slope wallet to blame for the Solana attack?

    Solana is still investigating the hack, but so far is suggesting that wallet provider Slope is largely responsible for the security exploit. In a tweet, they state that “…it appears affected addresses were at one point created, imported, or used in Slope wallet applications.”

    Solana’s investigation is suggesting that Slope may be responsible.

    The Solana team has also found that whilst 60% of the victims were Phantom users, those who were affected did not generate their seed phrase using Phantom. Also, those who were solely Phantom users did not have their wallets drained.

    How Do I Protect Myself from this Attack?

    Users are advised to move their funds to a cold wallet such as a Ledger or Trezor hardware wallet, and ensure that the wallet has no previous approved authorizations to spend funds and is created offline following best security practices.

    For users without a hardware wallet, sending funds to major crypto exchange is a viable temporary solution.

    In the form of a community warning, web3 gaming company Star Atlas also urges users to withdraw permission for all of the apps in their wallets and shift money to cold storage with the Solana exploit underway.

    I have been affected by the Solana attack. What should I do?

    As ongoing investigations suggest that Slope may be responsible for the recent hack, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko advised Slope wallet users to regenerate their feed phrase in a different wallet.

    Slope has also issued a statement recommending ALL Slope users (not just those affected by the Solana attack) create a new and unique seed phrase wallet and transfer all their assets there. They also reassure users who have been using hardware wallets that their keys have not been compromised. Check this page for our hardware wallet reviews and guides.

    Note: Until 8th Aug 2022, Ledger is offering 10% off the Ledger Nano X and Ledger Nano S Plus when entering the code MOVESOL2LEDGER at checkout. Click here to buy!

    Is the Attack Still Ongoing?

    It’s unknown at this point whether the breach is still active, where it came from, and whether any further user funds are still in danger. Blockchain fraud investigator @zachxbt revealed that the attackers funded the main wallet connected to this operation via Binance seven months ago.

    The transaction history reveals that the wallet was inactive until today, at which point, the hackers made transactions with four separate wallets ten minutes before the incident occurred.

    Solana Hacker Wallet Address

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    How do I protect myself from the Solana Hack?

    The current best strategy is to move funds into a cold wallet – such as the ledger hardware wallet. Make sure that the wallet has no previous approved authorizations to spend funds and is created offline following best security practices.

    Where to move my Solana funds if I don’t have hardware wallet?

    If you don’t have a hardware wallet, moving funds to a major crypto exchange is also a viable option now. However, it is recommended that users should get a hardware wallet and transfer their funds there as soon as possible. Check this page for our hardware wallet reviews and guides.

    Which Solana wallets were hacked?

    Multiple wallets – Phantom, Slope, Solflare, TrustWallet – across a wide variety of platforms are compromised. It is advised to move your funds to a hardware wallet or major crypto exchange for security purposes.

    Who were the Solana hackers?

    Investigators identified the following four wallets as the address of the attackers:
    CEzN7mqP9xoxn2HdyW6fjEJ73t7qaX9Rp2zyS6hb3iEu Htp9MGP8Tig923ZFY7Qf2zzbMUmYneFRAhSp7vSg4wxV 5WwBYgQG6BdErM2nNNyUmQXfcUnB68b6kesxBywh1J3n GeEccGJ9BEzVbVor1njkBCCiqXJbXVeDHaXDCrBDbmuy

    Is Solana dead?

    The widespread Solana wallet hack certainly impacts the market sentiment toward Solana, and many investors have expressed doubt about the project’s future. As of now, the attack has prompted an 8% drop in Solana’s price in the two hours following the first reports of the attack.

    What caused the Solana wallet hack?

    Crypto security firms believe that the exploit was not the result of a vulnerability with the Solana blockchain itself. Instead, they suspect the attack was a result of a mass compromise of users’ private keys by a third party.

    An ongoing investigation by Solana suggests that wallet provider Slope is responsible. This is because affected addresses were once created, imported, or used in Slope mobile wallet applications.

  • 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.