This degree of player-driven control seems to have attracted many famous brands and personalities to invest heavily in the metaverse concept. This seems especially true for Facebook, which has rebranded itself as ‘Meta’ to champion the vision of a metaverse. While many metaverse projects are in development, the most popular metaverses such as Decentraland and Sandbox have been built on Ethereum.

In this article, we’ve decided to explore a metaverse built on the Cardano blockchain – Pavia. This particular project saw its virtual land prices soar in the past month even as the broader crypto market fell. Why? Let’s find out!

What is Pavia?

Pavia is a metaverse built on the Cardano blockchain. The project is named after an Italian town called Pavia, which is the birthplace of Gerolamo Cardano. This is interesting because Gerolamo Cardano is an Italian mathematician, whom the Cardano blockchain was named after.

The project is still at its very early stages of development and is yet to deliver a testable version of the metaverse. The project follows a 3D art style and has a total of 100,000 land parcels which have been sold in three phases. However, at this stage in development, while landowners can view the position of their land parcel on the Pavia Map, they cannot visit or deploy any content on their land parcel in-game. Pavia also aims to be an interoperable metaverse so that its residents can explore the broader metaverse ecosystems within or outside of Cardano.

Team

Pavia is managed and owned by Pavia Corp, a legal entity registered in Seychelles. Its legal office is located in the Czech Republic. Pavia Corp is run by a decentralized global team with the conscious exception of the USA. The project claims to have had no funding from any Venture Capital investors. Notably, while the project has a list of team members, the real-life identities of the team remain undisclosed at the time of this writing.

According to the website, the CEO and COO of the project go by the pseudonymous names of Morgan and Paul, respectively. Morgan, the CEO, claims to be an investor with 5+ years in the blockchain & cryptocurrency space and comes from a UK legal & compliance background. Paul, the COO, claims to be a seasoned technology executive and business growth specialist with seven years of experience in game services and cloud tech.

Metaverse Ecosystem

Since the Pavia Project is still in its infancy, the project’s ecosystem is in a state of conceptual development and addition. As it stands now, the team plans to develop the below listed specific components for the ecosystem.

Land

This is the first and most fundamental component of the Pavia Ecosystem. Pavia has a total of 100,000 land parcels which were sold in three different sale phases. On the Cardano blockchain, these land parcels are minted and sold as NFTs (cNFT). Each parcel has a unique coordinate that indicates its position on the Pavia map.

The first two land sale phases of 29,000 and 31,000 land parcels happened in October and November 2021. After witnessing an unprecedented level of interest in the land sale, the Pavia team decided to hold a whitelist campaign for the third land sale of 40,000 land parcels in February 2022. The whitelisted land sale is currently in progress, with almost all land parcels successfully minted and purchased at the time of writing.

Similar to the Sandbox, adjacent land parcels can also be grouped to form ‘Estates’ in Pavia, provided there is at least a minimum of 9 adjacent land parcels arranged in a rectangular or square shape to form an estate.

Where to buy land?

Currently, the floor price of Pavia land parcels sits at around 400 ADA. Users can purchase land parcels at cnft.io, jpg.store, and tokhun.io. Always keep in mind to cross-verify the policy id of the cNFT given on the official project website before making any purchases.

Pavia Map

Pavia Map via pavia.io

The Pavia Map is the visual representation of the Pavia Metaverse. Players can visit the map to see the position of their plot in the overall Pavia Metaverse. Using this feature, investors can make strategic decisions on buying a specific parcel of land at a particular price. There is also an inter-land messaging function in development that landowners can use to message other landowners on the map.

Pavia Plot types via pavia.io

If you look across the Pavia website, you will notice six types of plots on the Pavia Map. They are Land, Sand, Sea, Deep Sea, Mountain, and Forest. While the land parcels being sold are only the light green plots called ‘Land’, the other five plots will be public spaces. While there is no official confirmation, there is some speculation that some of these public plots might see some sort of public utility and experience being built on them.

Pavia Compatible Assets and VR 

Like any metaverse project, it is important to add experiences on top of the purchased land cNFTs. These experiences are user-generated and can be in the form of 3D models and scenes such as a virtual store, game experience, zoo, buildings, etc. It can be anything that the user wants to build. In Pavia.io, these are known as Pavia Compatible Assets (PCAs). The team plans to have a player-built asset economy that can be traded on the marketplace in the future. They also plan to provide early public access to the v1 of the official PCA building tool in the near future.

Pavia Compatible Asset Model built by 3DVerse01

Currently, users can build 3D models of PCA using modeling software such as Blender, Maya, 3Ds Max, or a mixture of a few if they wish. These assets will be deployable on Pavia as long as creators follow the guidelines in the official document that can be found in the pinned messages of the Pavia discord channel.

More importantly, one of the best long-term goals of the project seems to be its focus on VR experience for its metaverse users. Pavia Corp will finance the build costs of the in-game VR experience. They also plan to showcase their initial efforts in early 2022 (or earlier if possible) by showing you the ‘Pavia Plaza’. The Pavia Plaza is the central hub where users will spawn when entering the metaverse.

Pavia Smart Contract Marketplace

Pavia also plans to build an independent on-site marketplace to facilitate trades of Pavia Compatible Assets (PCAs) and Lands in the Pavia ecosystem. The marketplace is currently being developed in partnership with cnft.io. This partnership with cnft.io aims to build an engine for their marketplace that will lower transaction costs.

Avatars

Pavia Avatar created via readyplayer.me

Avatars refer to the appearance of the user within its metaverse. Pavia has partnered with readyplayer.me to create its user avatars. This partnership plays well into Pavia’s vision for an interoperable metaverse. This allows users to use their avatar across multiple applications and games, not just the Pavia metaverse. The avatar creation feature is currently available to users. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the platform offered to create an avatar by uploading a photograph of my face. It’s safe to say I was impressed by the likeliness of my avatar with my IRL picture. The clothing and customization options available on the platform was also extensive.

Pavia Portals

One of the exciting things about Pavia seems to be its long-term goal of interoperability. The Pavia team has hinted at the possibility of traveling between the metaverses. It is worth noting that they seem to have purchased land at both Decentraland and the Sandbox. Pavia Portals aims to be the plot of land in different metaverses, allowing users to travel between other metaverses through the Pavia Portals land located in those metaverses.

PAVs – Digital Pets

#PavsnotPets. That’s the tagline of this new and hyped announcement from the Pavia team. While much detail is not known, it seems like Pavia will have creatures known as Pavs that users can catch and domesticate. What happens after that is unknown, but with the way things seem to be playing out, one can speculate that we might see something similar to a Pokémon-inspired metaverse. Maybe?

Pavia Community Forum

One of the core missions of Pavia is to be a community-driven project, which is exactly why the Pavia Community Forum exists. Users can post improvement proposals called Pavia Improvement Proposal (PIPs) on the community forum.

PAVIA Token

The Pavia token is the native utility token of the Pavia metaverse. While it remains to be seen how the token would be used in the ecosystem, we can speculate that it might be used as the primary currency in Pavia’s on-site marketplace once it goes live. In addition, the token could also be used to monetize gaming experiences built on the land parcels of the metaverse.

Token Allocation

Pavia Token Allocation via pavia.io

The total supply of the PAVIA token is 2 billion tokens. The token was minted in December 2021 and distributed in the following manner:

Community Airdrop– Around 25 percent of the total supply of Pavia tokens was airdropped to land parcel holders from the first and second land sales. The snapshot for the airdrop was taken on 16th December 2021. The airdrop rate was 8,333 PAVIA per land parcel in the wallet at the time of the snapshot.

Liquidity and Utility– Around 25 percent of the tokens are allocated for liquidity and utility measures. These tokens will be slowly released into the ecosystem through different programs such as play-to-earn gaming, public sales, and liquidity offerings through DEXs.

Project Development and Ecosystem– Around 30 percent of the tokens are allocated to developing the project and ecosystem. For example, this could be in the form of incentivization programs for PCA creators and game developers.

Pavia Team and Advisors– Around 20 percent of the tokens are allotted for the Pavia Founders, Team, and advisors. The tokens are vested and will be distributed according to a schedule that will be released by the team soon.

Price History

Pavia Token Price History via MuesliSwap

The Pavia token is currently trading at 0.081 ADA or 0.09$ per token. The token reached an all-time high of 0.18 ADA per token on Jan 18 before steadily declining down to current levels. However, this is expected as the token currently does not hold any utility until the initial version of the metaverse or the on-site marketplace is launched.

Where to buy Pavia tokens?

The Pavia token is currently trading on SundaeSwap and MuesliSwap.

Partnerships

Pavia’s most notable partnerships are with cnft.io and readyplayer.me. The partnership with CNFT is to develop an engine for their on-site marketplace to keep transaction fees to a minimum. The partnership with readyplayer.me is to ensure their Avatars are interoperable and can be used across many applications. Pavia also recently acquired ‘CardanoKidz’, a popular NFT project on the Cardano blockchain.

Roadmap

Even though the project is in its early development stage, it has a clear roadmap laid out for the current year. The goals of the roadmap are split into four quarters.

Pavia Roadmap via pavia.io

Q1- We are already midway through the completion of Q1 of the roadmap. So far, the team has already completed the liquidity provision to Cardano DEXs and started developing PCAs and user-generated content. The team has also begun work on creating the in-game experience of the Pavia Plaza. The final goal of Q1 happens to be the final land sale which is almost done at the time of writing the article. The team seems to be well ahead of schedule in their goals for Q1.

Q2- The team has five goals for Q2. These goals seem to focus on releasing the Pavia Ecosystem’s key components, namely the PCA builder tool, the in-game marketplace, the PAVIA tokenomic model, and finally, a limited-edition airdrop ‘Pavs’ to landowners.

Q3- This quarter’s goals seem to be focused on testing and deploying the in-game functionality of the metaverse components. This quarter will see the team test out the PCAs by deploying them at scale onto land parcels and testing out the functionality of Pavia Portals. The quarter ends with announcing the date for full deployment of the metaverse.

Q4- This quarter’s goals seem to be one of refining the experience of the users of the Pavia metaverse. The team plans to refine the tokenomic model based on past data and experiment with integrating the Pavia metaverse into the wider metaverse ecosystem inside and outside of Cardano.

Controversies

One of the recent controversies which seem to have some from the Pavia community in a state of panic is the virtual disappearance of ‘Cardano Buzz’. He was the project’s CMO and also one of their public faces. This panic was spurred by the sudden disappearance of CardanoBuzz’s Twitter, YouTube, and other social channels.

However, the Pavia team has quelled rumors by tweeting that Cardano Buzz has officially left their team, and they are planning to bring in a new CMO. They had stated that CardanoBuzz had left the project after completing all contractual obligations.

The main gripe from some of the community seems to be the team’s pseudonymous nature. Whether the team plans to dox themselves concerning the incident remains unclear. The subject of pseudonymous identities in the crypto-space remains a hot topic. Just last week, the identities of the Bored Ape Yacht Club founders were doxed by the Buzzfeed team. This particular move by BuzzFeed was met with much debate from both sides of the conversation.

Conclusion

The Pavia Project certainly brings a new dimension to metaverses with their specific focus on metaverse interoperability. While there are some concerns regarding the founders’ pseudonymous identities, most of their community seems to be unbothered on the matter. Their roadmap looks promising, but it remains to be seen whether Pavia can achieve all their goals without delay, especially considering the metaverse’s plans to be interoperable with other projects.

If this article has piqued your interest in the project, I would suggest reading through their website and roadmap once again on the official website. The goals and plans of the project might have changed depending upon the passage of time since this article was published. The Pavia website also has helpful tools that community members and investors can use to scout for land on the open cNFT marketplaces. I find this particular tool by 3DKiwi to be very useful for beginners to get started sorting through the lands on Pavia.

The post The Pavia Metaverse- Cardano’s Decentraland or something more? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Rise of GameFi

It is easy for those of us who follow the GameFi and Metaverse spaces closely to feel that we are late to the party. Axie Infinity’s AXS token has provided early investors with a roughly 4,000% return on investment from June to all-time highs of around $160 in early November.

Meanwhile, the Metaverse took centre stage in late 2021, supercharged by Facebook’s rebranding and projects like The Sandbox and Decentraland squeezing out as many high-profile partnerships as possible.

The Price of AXS in 2021- Image via coinmarketcap.com

However, the reality is that the overlap between video games, social interaction and blockchain is in its infancy and anybody involved deeply, at this point in time, is well ahead of the curb.

To me, this thesis was ratified by an article published on Bloomberg on 15th January 2021.

The article, titled ‘Why GameFi Is Crypto’s Hot New Thing (and What Is It?)’, signalled a tipping point in the GameFi/Metaverse lifecycle wherein traditional mainstream financial media begin to acknowledge its potential and, thereby, fuel it with TradFi credibility.

TradFi interest in GameFi is ramping up… – Image via bloomberg.com

The piece was nothing more than a surface-level introduction to this new phenomenon that touched somewhat on the rise of Axie Infinity (the world’s most prolific play-to-earn game). However, in my mind, it illustrated two key tenets of the GameFi doctrine:

• Firstly, GameFi had reached critical mass. (Consider the boom experienced by the wider cryptocurrency market once institutional interest was peaked)
• Secondly, those involved in the crossover between traditional gaming and cryptocurrency were some of the earliest adopters. (GameFi is only now bridging the gap between specific crypto-oriented and mainstream media)

The Traditional Gaming Methodology and its Failings

With gains incomparable to any traditional market, attention is shifting to cryptocurrency and blockchain across a range of industries.

With the size of the video game industry being measured in the hundreds of billions and exponential growth expected for the coming years, it is no surprise that traditional gaming franchises are looking for a blockchain-shaped facelift.

In standard games, players regularly use in-game currencies (think COD Points in Activision’s Call of Duty or Robucks in Roblox) and use unique items and avatars that they can ‘level-up’ or even use to trade with; some have in-game significance, and some are purely cosmetic. Some cosmetic items can even provide an in-game advantage, as with the ‘Roze’ skin in ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’, wherein players are rendered difficult to identify in-game by the skin’s dark motif.

The infamous ‘Roze’ operator skin from Call of Duty: Warzone

These are all phenomena that cryptocurrency and NFTs are well equipped to accommodate and improve upon. In the future, it will be possible to exchange your hard-earned in-game currency for real-world value and even own, trade and sell weapons, skins, avatars and vehicles if minted as non-fungible tokens.

The fundamental reasoning behind the pursuit of blockchain integration is sound. That said, franchises, brands and projects have, for the most part, failed to implement effectively…

Ubisoft

In late 2021, Ubisoft (of Assassin’s Creed fame) announced the incorporation of NFTs into its business model and game mechanics.

Ubisoft’s project, Quartz, was met with abject hostility from their existing gamer base. The top comment that slammed the announcement even received more likes than the introductory video.

One commenter had the following to say:

“To me, this is a blatant signal that you’re just milking the Ghost Recon franchise for literally every cent while putting in minimal effort into the actual game itself. Not playing a GR game in the future if there’s this level of degeneracy in the team”.

GameStop & Immutable X ($IMX)

Similarly, when traditional video game retailer, GameStop, announced a partnership with layer 2 Ethereum NFT-oriented scaling network Immutable X, pundits were not all happy.

Reinvigorated and saved by anti-institutional Redditors back in 2021, GameStop announced that their upcoming NFT marketplace would be built on IMX. However, despite this presenting a positive alternative to the gas-fee issues when using a platform like OpenSea, the community had very few kind words to offer.

According to one Tweet:

“Wow, you guys will really do anything to stay in business, including investing heavily into a fad.”

GameStop announces its partnership with Immutable X – Image via cointelegraph.com

The problem in the above two cases is that blockchain gaming’s target market falls broadly into two primary categories:

1. Cryptocurrency advocates are desperate to see mainstream adoption and implementation of the blockchain.
2. Traditional lifelong gamers with little-to-no understanding or interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain (perhaps even cynicism).

The mistake is made when a franchise or project attempts to accommodate both simultaneously.

To demographic 1, Ubisoft’s announcement was fantastic news that signalled the start of crypto-oriented gaming going mainstream.

However, to demographic 2, the announcement was a shameless money grab from big institutions trying to force the merits of GameFi and NFTs down their throats. Naturally, this wasn’t helped when a spokesperson for Ubisoft suggested that customers just “don’t get” NFTs…

Therefore, the question remains, ‘How can both groups of users be appeased?’

The GensoKishi Methodology

The answer is surprisingly simple but has been overlooked by the vast majority of gaming franchises headed in the blockchain direction.

One very straightforward answer is to simply ‘make another game’. Bring the expertise and resources of traditional video game companies and implement blockchain via a distinct vehicle. This way, game developers can capitalise on the rise of GameFi without forcing those resistant to crypto down the same path.

Naturally, this is not as straightforward as it sounds. A successful project launch requires a serious degree of funding, experience, and vision. GensoKishi has done just that…

GensoKishi vs Elemental Knights Online

Elemental Knights Online, or EKO, is an MMORPG played in real-time. Developed by Tokyo-based game development company, Winlight, Elemental Knights is available on iPhone, Android, Nintendo Switch and even PlayStation 4. According to Winlight’s homepage, EKO has a user base of 500,000 gamers.

In the early 2010s, Elemental Knights secured the “Game Star Award of Taiwan” and achieved a total of 8 million downloads. This is particularly impressive given that it occurred in the early days of the mobile-gaming boom that we’ve witnessed throughout the last decade. Clash of Clans, developed by Supercell, has surpassed 500 million downloads and generated more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Award-winning game, Elemental Knights Online

GensoKishi online is taking all that success and bringing it to the blockchain…

By establishing a new project and even appointing a separate CEO, in the form of Maxi Kuan, GensoKishi is employing an altogether different strategy to most traditional game development studios that pacifies some of the issues faced by the likes of Ubisoft and GameStop.

GensoKishi Metaverse

The team behind GensoKishi is well qualified. The CEO, Maxi Kuan, has been “working in Japan (Tokyo) for 10 years and running a consulting business for startups for 5 years. Since 2017 [Maxi has been] in the blockchain industry as a senior consultant for blockchain media” and has strong connections in the game-development sector.

Similarly, Hayate, GensoKishi’s Head of Global Communications, has worked in blockchain startup incubation since 2018 and oversees “one of Japan’s biggest NFT marketplaces, Rakuza, right now”.

Together, the team envisages an entire Metaverse ecosystem incorporating its own native currencies ($MV and $ROND) and supported by an NFT based economy, bringing cutting edge technology to the gaming scene, all underscored by tried and tested game mechanics.

Within the GensoKishi metaverse, players will cooperate in defeating ‘boss-type’ enemy monsters, earn in-game items and go on thematic adventures. All this on top of the successful aesthetic and in-game mechanics that allowed its older cousin, Elemental Knights, to succeed.

Genso brings a tried and tested game-model to the blockchain – Image via genso.game

The latest development footage for the GensoKishi gameplay can be found on their homepage here.

What’s more, with a free-to-play element, no users will be priced out as they are with multiple pre-existing Metaverse/GameFi ecosystems.

However, GensoKishi becomes especially exciting when we consider the in-game NFTs – and they certainly have big plans here…

GensoKishi intends to become a ‘fully formed metaverse’. By this, I mean they are looking to use a virtual real estate system (perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of metaverses), with land plots being minted as NFTs. Ownership of said land will allow owners to construct their own worlds and maps and even develop their own monsters to be combatted within the GensoKishi ecosystem, with decisions on traits and aesthetics left to the designers.

Moreover, owners of GensoKishi land will receive revenue as other players use the plot for adventures and various other activities.

GensoKishi incorporates the well-known ‘virtual real estate’ element

In this respect, GensoKishi allows for an impressively high degree of agency. Something essential when it comes to player retention in the long term.

In addition to this, just about every ownable item within the metaverse will be tokenized as an NFT. This goes for weapons, equipment, fashion items and much more.

This will be supported by in-game marketplaces and be available on traditional NFT marketplaces.

Several items have already been listed on the world’s most prolific NFT marketplace, Opensea, including various clothing items, weapons and equipment pieces.

Incorporating NFTs, gamification and metaverses, GensoKishi is addressing some of the hottest topics in cryptocurrency right now.

In a recent AMA, the team highlighted the importance of “providing so much freedom for [their] users” – a key tenet of the GensoKishi thesis and one we can see manifested in the degree of agency afforded to players.

With “multiple worlds and continents where they can explore”, players should be especially excited by the range of ‘user-generated content’ afforded to the metaverse. According to the team, “Users can generate their own character/weapon/rare items/monsters and can use it to play in-game or make it valuable and sell it on the NFT market. They can also make their whole entire world where users can come in and explore”.

I see providing players with real freedom in-game as an effective method of manufacturing a strong and loyal gaming community, so it comes as no surprise to me that GensoKishi has done just that.

GensoKishi’s roadmap is equally exciting. With upcoming NFT giveaways, coupled with an eventual transition to DAO governance and, of course, full metaverse rollout, the future could be very bright indeed for GensoKishi.

The excitement around GensoKishi is reflected in its growing community. At the time of writing, their Twitter has a fellowship of 63,000 fully engaged audience members and their Discord hosts a full 40,000. Some very impressive figures for a project whose native currency is just two weeks old.

The GensoKishi community has been expanding since its launch

GensoKishi has drawn the eye of top cryptocurrency influencers and even featured on Lark Davis’ YouTube channel, which boasts a subscribership of nearly half a million viewers.

GensoKishi Native Tokens ($MV and $ROND)

GensoKishi has two associated tokens, ROND and MV (Polygon, ERC20), each fulfilling a different purpose. The ecosystem itself is built on Ethereum layer two scaling solution, Polygon. According to the team, this is due to the low gas fees, player-base, and even the integration support they have received from the Polygon team.

ROND Token

ROND acts, effectively, as the metaverse’s native stablecoin. It will be available via DEX listings and can also be earned by selling in-game items to non-player characters (NPCs) and internal GensoKishi weapon and items shops.

It can be used to purchase items and weapons, upgrade your own NFT equipment, fund expedited in-game travel, pay fees to accept quests and more.

MV Token

More exciting, however, is MV, which is described in their whitepaper as the “most important token of the game”.

Entirely separate from ROND, MV has important in-game functionality, allowing holders to buy in-game items at discounted prices and cover internal trading fees.

However, depending on holdings, MV provides voting rights for deciding future game policy, providing a community-driven incentive for the token.

What’s more, holders can use their MV to “create lands, monsters and non-player characters”.

One further exciting use-case to the token is the recent staking feature, which is already functional on GensoKishi’s website, allowing holders to earn daily rewards from their MV positions.

GensoKishi So Far

It would be an understatement to say that GensoKishi and its MV token have had a strong start to their life in cryptocurrency.

Having launched on January 18th on a well-known launchpad, TrustPad, Genso’s MV was born into as adverse a market sentiment possible. All price action has manifested when top cryptocurrencies by market cap were experiencing aggressive price suppression.

MV received its first USDT pairing on tier 1 exchange, ByBit, on January 27th when BTC and ETH were sitting double-digit percentages below all-time highs.

Even before listing, MV set records. GensoKishi became the most participated in a project of all time in ByBit’s launchpool with more than 65,000 participants and upward of $200 million in TVL.

After that, post listing, MV has delivered those lucky enough to participate in their Trustpad IDO with profits of nearly 9,000%, recently soaring to all-time highs of around $1.66 in recent days. This amounts to roughly 87x from its IDO price of $0.019.

The price action of MV since its listing on ByBit – image via bybit.com

In addition, at points, MV was even afforded a higher daily trading volume than Ethereum on ByBit on certain days.

According to GensoKishi CEO Maxi Kuan, the team is “happy with the performance, but we are still standing at the starting stage”. They are certainly expecting big things in the future and are hugely excited about “the metaverse x DAO fantasy world on GensoKishi”, which uses the “MV token for creating/enjoying everything [users] could imagine and make it come true”.

MV is off to a very bullish start and, though it is practically impossible to accurately predict the performance of recently established tokens, especially those in emerging sectors such as GameFi and Metaverses, the team behind the project has the resources to maintain GensoKishi’s status as a very exciting project indeed.

Conclusion

Now, I must conclude by disclaiming that I have chosen to personally invest GensoKishi’s MV token. Though none of what I write is financial advice, I would hope that the rationale I used in my decision to invest is clear on the above account.

At a time where countless new GameFi and Metaverse projects are emerging from the woodwork, the importance of identifying projects that will stand the test of time, as opposed to simply riding the GameFi wave for short term returns, is at an all-time high.

To me, GensoKishi has a solid chance of seeing long term success. Its community is strong, its developers are well qualified and well connected, and the game mechanics utilize a successful pre-existing franchise.

Their MV token has performed with unprecedented strength so far, and there is no lack of exciting developments on the horizon for GensoKishi.

I certainly look forward to witnessing the project develop and reach its future milestones.

The post GensoKishi: A Blockchain Gaming Revolution appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Optimistic Rollups

While the world waits for the Ethereum network to do the necessary, other ideas emerged to help with ETH’s issues and offer another way of moving the cryptoverse forward. One of these concepts is Optimistic Rollups. Similar to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, where transactions occur away from the main blockchain, this concept batches transactions and, like rolling a carpet, bundles them together into a block and submits it together with an ETH bond for inclusion into the main chain. Just like the US justice system, which goes by the theory of “innocent until proven guilty”, these transactions are deemed honest and legitimate transactions by default until proven fraudulent.

Any node can issue challenges to question the validity of the proposed block within a set period such as seven days. If a node finds the block fraudulent, the proposed node’s bond gets slashed. On the other hand, if the challenger is proven wrong, the challenger’s bond gets slashed. Finally, if there are no successful challenges at the end of the period, the proposed blocks will get passed to the Ethereum main chain.

A diagram of how Optimistic Rollup works Image via Ethereum.org

What Is Arbitrum

One of the blockchain projects using this concept is Arbitrum. Built on top of the Ethereum network (L1), this is a Layer-2 blockchain, or L2 shortened. Adopting optimistic rollups helps Ethereum solve the scalability issue, thus boosting the throughput for transactions, which in turn lowers the transaction fee as more transactions can get added to the block faster. Although transactions are processed on Arbitrum via ArbOS, the operating system that handles the transactions and collects fees, security for the transactions are still processed by the Ethereum network. So it’s essentially combining the best of both worlds.

The consensus mechanism used by Arbitrum to process transactions is known as the AnyTrust Guarantee. How this works is that all the validators need to agree for a block to be added. As long as there is one validator who disagrees, the block won’t be added to the blockchain.

The project’s primary target audience is developers, as it offers an ETH-friendly environment for them to build dApps without the costly fees. There are also various key features of the projects that we will point out in the following sections below.

Arbitrum Rollup

One of the ways to distinguish one type of rollup from another is the number of rounds of disputes required to resolve challenges. Arbitrum’s version uses the Multi-Round Interactive Optimistic Rollup. An on-chain contract referees the back-and-forth between the challenger and asserter. In addition, the amount of data on-chain is low.

EVM-Compatible and Ease of Use

Another highlight of Arbitrum is its high compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In a nutshell, the EVM is the “computer” that runs the Ethereum network for smart contracts execution. Arbitrum has its own”supercomputer”, known as Arbitrum Virtual Machine (AVM), that underpins everything that is Arbitrum. On top of the AVM is ArbOS, mentioned earlier. The AVM supports the EVM architecture. This means that ETH developers can develop on Arbitrum just as if they are developing it on the Ethereum network itself.

In this sense, Arbitrum is positioning itself as the “home-away-from-home” option for ETH developers. Not only is it compatible with EVM, but it also natively supports all Ethereum development tools without any special add-on. This includes all smart contract languages like Solidity, which works just as well on Arbitrum. Therefore, dApps originally developed in Ethereum can easily move over to Arbitrum with minimal code changes. It’s never been easier to move dApps over, making it a most attractive option as the transaction costs are drastically lower than working on the Ethereum network itself.

Brief History

The project had a soft launch back in May 2021. By early July, two months later, about 300 dApps were running on it. The mainnet launch, known as Arbitrum One, was launched on Aug 31, 2021.

Arbitrum Ecosystem

L2s currently have a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $5.53 billion, of which Arbitrum has snagged $2.28 billion of it. That’s more than half the market share! This goes to show the popularity and belief from the Ethereum developer community. Let’s see what kind of dApps are actually on Arbitrum now.

Arbitrum leading the pack of L2s in TVL Image via L2Beat

Arbitrum Portal

“Your gateway to the Arbitrum ecosystem” is the first thing you see when you are at the Arbitrum Portal. There are five categories to choose from and one to see all the dApps running in the ecosystem. So let’s dive right in!

Wallets

There is no shortage of wallets to choose from that supports Arbitrum. Top names like Metamask, Coinbase, Trust, and MathWallet sit alongside lesser well-known ones such as DefiYield, LoopRing, Sequence, and Zapper. The wallets are used to help tokens get transferred (“bridged”) from L1 to L2 through the Arbitrum token bridge (mentioned below).

Some examples of wallets that supports Arbitrum

DApps

A rich collection of dApps have already made Arbitrum their second home, if not their only home. You can find almost all the top DeFi names here, including Uniswap (the most traffic), Aave, Curve, DAI/MakerDAO, Balancer to some of the more esoteric ones like Frax Finance, Cream Finance, Beefy Finance and even non-DeFi dApps like IdeaMarket (highly-ranked URLs become the public narrative) and Kaki (play-to-earn NFT games).

So many to discover and try at a fraction of the cost.

Tools

The tools listed in this section are mainly for developers to use when building their Ethereum projects on Arbitrum. Only a few familiar names stick out to the average user, like Etherscan (public records on Ethereum network) but are the Arbitrum version, Tether (USDT), USDC and perhaps The Graph.

Bridges & On-Ramps

Bridges play one of the most essential roles in the crypto sphere due to the siloed nature of the blockchains. When the blockchain projects were initially conceived, it was like a start-up company where the focus was on making it the best it could be. However, as the proliferation of projects grew and the founders had the opportunity to interact with each other, they recognise how some projects might be of use to their own and vice versa, especially in the world of DeFi, where users can often use tokens generated from one blockchain and use them to get yield at another blockchain. Bridges became the necessary component to move these tokens from one blockchain to another.

The list of bridges currently on Arbitrum is also some of the more popular ones used. They include but are not limited to, AnySwap, Banxa, Binance, Hop Protocol and Crypto.com.

NFT Marketplaces

Compared to the plethora of choices in the other categories, this one is the thinnest, featuring only two NFT marketplaces, TofuNFT and Treasure. While OpenSea may have the lion’s share of the NFT market, the popularity of NFTs is growing by the day. With that comes the demand for cheap gas fees. It won’t be long before more listings are added to Arbitrum as the NFT space continues exponential growth.

Arbitrum Token Bridge

After having feasted your eyes on the wide selection of dApps to try out, the most important step is to fund your wallet with ETH to get started. When you buy ETH for the first time, especially if using fiat money, it’s most likely ETH located on the Ethereum network that is L1. Interacting with the Arbitrum dApps requires the extra step of moving the ETH from L1 to L2, which is where the Arbitrum token bridge comes in. This handy tool is specifically designed to transfer not just ETH but any flavour of ERC tokens from L1 to L2. It’s not just a one-way bridge, either. You can also move your ETH from L2 back to L1 again anytime.

To use this tool, connect your Web3 wallet to the site. Since Arbitrum has no native token, all fees are paid in ETH, so be sure to have some available for making payments.

Use this to move your ETH from L1 to L2 by clicking Deposit to get started

Offchain Labs

The team building Arbitrum carries an impressive resumé. Based in New York, prior experiences range from Deputy US CTO at the White House and senior Advisor to the President (Ed Felten) to co-author of the leading textbook in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies (Steve Goldfeder) to technical consulting for cryptocurrency projects. In addition, many rank-and-file employees are also crypto-enthusiasts and have their areas of interest in the crypto-verse. 

They have managed to secure funding with major well-known ventures in the blockchain space. Major investors include Lightspeed, Pantera and Polychain Capital. Together with other VCs such as Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain, Fenbushi Capital, and Mark Cuban Companies, to name a few, a total of $120 million of series B funding was raised for the venture. 

With this amount of institutional support, it’s safe to say that Arbitrum is no fly-by-night operation, and the calibre of its team is proof of its staying power in the crypto world. They’re also looking to expand their team to cater for their dramatic growth.

Arbitrum Reddit Project

One of the more exciting projects the Offchain Labs team was involved in was a collaboration with Reddit. When Reddit decided to launch its ERC20 token, known as Community Points, to its members, it had a “Scaling Bake Off” to pick the best blockchain for collaboration. Arbitrum beat out 21 other competitors to win the competition. Reddit users earn these tokens by providing quality comments or contributing in other ways. The tokens can be spent on items within the Reddit ecosystem.

Risk & Pain Points

As much of a powerhouse as Arbitrum has been with its success, it is not without some weaknesses. Here are two key areas to pay attention to:

Optimistic vs zkRollups

The design of optimistic rollups involves a challenge period, which can be up to 2 weeks, as it gives people ample opportunity to check that all blocks are actual transactions. For those who want to withdraw their tokens, this can be a long wait time before getting their tokens back. Here is where zkRollups shine. 

Unlike Optimistic rollups with the challenge period, zkRollups, also known as zero-knowledge Rollups, generate a validity proof known as SNARK to validate the authenticity of the transactions. SNARK contains only key details of the transaction, not the complete data. This rollup method does not require a challenge period, which makes moving funds around a lot faster. 

Fund Security

According to L2Beat, a website that compares L2 projects together with analysis on them, there are a few ways that the security of funds can be compromised on Arbitrum, including, but not limited to: 

• Mistakes in the AVM implementation could lead to lost funds.
• The centralised validator going down, which means users cannot create new blocks. However, exiting the system requires a new block to be produced. In this case, funds can be frozen. This recently happened due to the current centralised structure. 
• No delays in code upgrades might mean that a malicious code can slip in without knowing. This kind of incident could result in stolen funds.

If you’re interested to find out more, you can take a look here. 

Lack of Native Token

As of the time of writing, the Arbitrum team has not made any announcements about issuing a native token. Arbitrum knows that one of its weaknesses is the centralised validator and have plans to make things more decentralised in the near future. To get more people on board, there needs to be an incentive. The quickest way to get that going would be through a token issuance. 

Conclusion

In 2021, we saw the rise of L1 alternatives like Solana, Avalanche and Fantom chomping away at Ethereum’s market share. These L1s honed in on Ethereum’s weaknesses and jumpstarted their ecosystems of dApps to provide an alternative to Ethereum’s offerings. These alternative L1s may have gotten a headstart with faster transaction speed and low-cost fees, but is it as secure as Ethereum? They also have their growing pains to contend with, as can be seen with Solana’s on-off outages in the past few months. As the excitement and novelty of the alternative L1s start to wear off, 2022 is likely the year that we will see Ethereum’s L2s come into the spotlight. 

In the space of L2s, Arbitrum is the top dog and the one to beat. How long it can retain its winning crown depends on its development pace to secure the blockchain. News of a bug causing a 7-hour outage within five months of another bug is not something it wants to be known for. “The Arbitrum network is still in beta, and we will keep this moniker as long as there are points of centralisation that still exist in the system”, Offchain Labs said. The way forward for Arbitrum is to get decentralised as soon as it can, with or without a native token.

There is talk that L1s will mainly be for the bots in the future as humans will likely be interacting with dApps built on L2s. When you think of it, internet users don’t need to know about IP addresses or website domain hosting to shop online or check their email. It is very plausible in the not-so-distant future that things like gas fees and which blockchain is hosting the dApps will also be of no interest to the general public as these friction/touchpoints will already have been ironed out or “rolled up” under a slick UI and compelling service/ product. When that time comes, Arbitrum would only be a brand name known to developers but largely unknown by the general public.

The post Arbitrum: The Complete 101 Guide appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Today, there are dozens of firms which specialize in analyzing these transactions. Some governments are even on the cusp of making it mandatory to tie your personal identity to your crypto wallet. This degree of regulatory overreach has been rightfully seen as unacceptable by many in the crypto space.

However, the fact of the matter is that some degree of oversight is necessary if large institutions and the public are going to fully embrace cryptocurrencies. With privacy coins like Monero at one extreme and fully compliant cryptos like Stellar at the other, Secret Network is a cryptocurrency project that seems to have found the middle ground everyone has been looking for.

A brief history of Secret Network

Secret Network has its roots in another cryptocurrency project called Enigma. Enigma was founded in 2014 by MIT graduates Can Kisagun and Guy Zyskind. Enigma was a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum which added privacy to smart contracts.

Guy Zyskind was a research assistant in the MIT Media Lab prior to founding the Secret Network. He was the author of all the Secret whitepapers (which have over 2,500 academic citations) and remains as the CEO of SCRT Labs.

Can Kisagun has extensive experience in the business sector, having founded several companies of his own before co-founding the Secret Network.

On February 13th, 2020, the Enigma mainnet launched, which was then rebranded to Secret Network after a community vote held on May 16th. This may have been partially due to the bad press Enigma had received around that time; they were hit with charges by the SEC that February over their 2017 ICO.

Although Secret Network is technically a continuation of Enigma the project, Enigma MPC (the core development company, now known as SCRT Labs) is now just one of many parties involved with the project.

Image via CoinDesk

Tor Bair is a core contributor of the Secret Network. He completed his MBA at MIT with Can Kisagun which is how he became involved in Enigma. Prior to his post-graduate studies, Tor was a professional options trader. He also worked as an intern at Spotify and was a data scientist at Snapchat before going full time with Enigma in 2017.

What is Secret Network?

Secret Network is the first cryptocurrency blockchain to offer completely private smart contracts. This means that all smart contract inputs and outputs are completely encrypted. Transactions made on Secret Smart Contracts cannot even be viewed by the nodes running the Secret Network blockchain.

That said, Secret Network’s native SCRT coin is not a privacy coin. All transactions made in SCRT are publicly viewable just like those on Bitcoin or Ethereum. By contrast, Secret tokens issued on the Secret Network preserve privacy by default like Monero.

A few of the use cases for the Secret Network.

Secret Network believes that this balance of transparency and privacy is what is required for cryptocurrency to achieve mainstream adoption. It also unlocks multiple use-cases for cryptocurrency that were previous unavailable due to their transparent blockchains which could reveal sensitive information.

How does Secret Network work?

Secret Network was built using the Cosmos SDK. As such, it uses the Tendermint Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus mechanism – delegated proof of stake.

A detailed overview of the Secret Network.

Like Cosmos, Secret Network has a block time of 6-7 seconds and can process close to 10,000 transactions per second.

Secret Contracts

Secret Contracts are privacy preserving smart contracts built on the Secret Network. These are coded in Rust and compiled using WASM. All Secret Contract transactions are made inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs).

TEEs are used in many devices including smartphones and video game consoles, and act like a “black box” wherein it is possible to compute encrypted data.

Secret Tokens

Secret tokens on the Secret Network can be made using the SNIP-20 standard. As you may have guessed, this token standard is like Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard except that all Secret tokens have their privacy preserved by default (balances and transactions). Secret tokens are used in Secret Contracts.

How a blockchain explorer would look like to someone holding Secret tokens.

Secret token holders will have access to something called a Viewing Key which can be given to third parties to prove ownership of their secret tokens if necessary. This is to make it possible to comply with regulators if need be. The first Secret token is secretSCRT (recall SCRT is public by default).

The Secret Ecosystem

Secret Bridges

An interesting feature in the Secret Network is the Secret Bridges function. Basically, it allows holders of assets in Ethereum and the Binance Smart Chain to create a privacy-preserving version of their assets. These Secret Tokens can then be used on the DeFi space in the Secret Network, known as Secret Finance. Not all assets on those blockchains work though, so it pays to check in advance. They are also working on integrating with other blockchains such as Terra and Plasm. Note that Monero is live on mainnet now, and they’ve also integrated IBC.

Create a privacy version of your asset through Secret Bridges

The secret sauce to making this work is the 3 of 5 multisig authorisation process approach adopted by the Secret Network team. 5 appointed bridge operators monitor the network for new events. When something comes up, need a 3 out of 5 consensus by the bridge operators before the event can officially become a transaction that will be added to the blockchain.

Secret Finance

Viewing keys are also used in Secret Finance, the DeFi arm of the Secret Network. In addition to using Secret smart contracts and issuing private Secret tokens, all this would be futile if the blockchain explorer itself reveals all the financial data of a wallet address. What Secret Finance does is to privatise that data, which can only be viewed by someone who has access to the viewing keys. This is so that regulators and auditors can be satisfied while still keeping the information private for your regular Tom, Dick, and Harry.

This also prevents front-running, where bad actors can see what kind of transactions are going on or waiting to be added to the blockchain, thus pumping up the gas fee to make sure their own transactions are listed first. The other risk is MEV, aka Miner Extractable Value, where the miners themselves decide which transactions to add to the blockchain, thus giving themselves an edge.

These are the functions that token holders can do on Secret Finance:

• Swap Secret Tokens
• Provide liquidity for Secret Token pools to earn attractive yields
• Exchange assets peer-to-peer privately within a sealed bid auctions

A list of DeFi services on Secret Finance

Secret NFTs

What’s a blockchain without NFTs these days? The Secret Network is also jumping on the bandwagon and bringing its own flavour to this popular concept. The key differences between a regular NFT and as Secret one is, once again, the emphasis on privacy. This means private metadata like unlocking hidden elements that increases the uniqueness (and possible rarity) of the NFT, private ownership for individuals who don’t want the whole world to know what they own through their wallet address, and access control, which gives creators the ability to do a view-only version of a NFT that comes with a watermark or thumbnail before buying vs getting the full version after the purchase.

It’s probably this level of security that prompted Quentin Tarantino to launch his Pulp Fiction NFT project on the Secret Network. Having gained cult status throughout the years, the film has enough diehard fans to drive up the NFT price, especially as the content of the NFT is only available to be viewed by the NFT owner. It’s like having the key to a special mystery box and being the only person who can admire its contents. Compare that to buying a public piece of artwork and having everyone know you bought it. These Secret NFTs are certainly not for those seeking bragging rights but for those who truly value their privacy.

Why we need Secret NFTs

Once you’ve gotten some Secret NFTs, head on over to Stashh, Secret Network’s own NFT marketplace, to get some privacy-enabled NFTs. One of their more popular collections is Anons, where each NFT is a faceless person. The floor price is about $10,400 going all the way up to $73,000.

The Anons NFT Collection on Stashh   Image via Stashh

Secret Network Staking

Staking on the Secret Network can be done in two ways: as a validator or as a delegator. Validators on the Secret Network only need to stake 1 SCRT token to participate. However, there is currently a limit of 70 validators on the Secret Network. As such, to be a validator you must stake enough SCRT to rank among those top 70.

Image via StakingRewards

Delegators also only need to stake 1 SCRT token to participate. Both validators and delegators have an unstaking period of 21 days, though delegators can freely move their stake to another validator at any time. Staking rewards on Secret Network are currently 30% per year for validators, and around 22% for delegators.

To incentivize good behavior from validators and good judgement from delegators, the Secret Network has two types of slashing: soft slashing and hard slashing. Soft slashing occurs when a validator is offline for roughly 14 hours and results in a 0.01% loss in stake for both validators and delegators. A validator is also put in ‘jail’ and must manually rejoin the network.

You don’t want to get slashed. Image via Secret Network Docs

Hard slashing occurs when a validator double signs a block and results in a 5% loss in stake for both validators and delegators. This would not be all that hard were it not for the fact that a validator is also ‘jailed forever’ – permanently booted from the network. This is called getting ‘tombstoned’.

Secret Network Governance

Everything about the Secret Network can be changed through community vote wherein 1 SCRT equals 1 vote. Each voting period lasts 2 weeks and occurs in two stages: proposal and voting. To table a proposal, 1000 SCRT worth of votes must be locked during the first week of voting.

A visualization of governance on the Secret Network

For that proposal to pass, more than 33.4% of all SCRT must participate and at least 50% must vote in favor during the second week. Delegators can choose to vote differently than the validator they are staking on but will vote in the same way as the validator by default. All SCRT in vetoed votes are burned.

SCRT Labs

SCRT Labs is the organisation building the Secret Network. Their mission of wanting to create products that are privacy-first with decentralisation is taking a slightly different spin when compared to other blockchains such as Solana and Avalanche, where the focus is more on scalability and throughput. Not to say that the Secret Network isn’t designed with scalability in mind, their calling card is really on the privacy end, which is what makes it unique in the blockchain space.

The team behind the Secret Network is known as SCRT Labs. 8 principles are named on their official website, ranging from administration to software engineers. A cursory view of their LinkedIn profiles show their expertise and focus in cybersecurity.

SCRT Cryptocurrency

SCRT is the native coin of the Secret Network blockchain. It is used to for staking and governance on the Secret Network. SCRT has a theoretical initial supply of 150 million SCRT (more on this in a moment).

SCRT has an inflation rate of anywhere between 7-15% per year depending on what percentage of SCRT is being staked on the Secret Network (more stake, less inflation). This is to incentivize participation.

SCRT Price Analysis

Although SCRT has been available since February, it did not begin trading until mid-September when it was listed on Binance. SCRT took a gradual plunge during its first two months of trading, falling from 70 cents USD to a low of 25 cents in early November.

From less than $1 to $9   Image via Coingecko

The price of SCRT has seen a pretty meteoric rise from its humble beginnings of about 50 cents to an all time high that almost touched the $10 mark in Oct 2021.  Given that the Secret Network is still in the early developmental stages of the project, SCRT could continue to see some positive price action in the coming months (not financial advice).

Where to get SCRT cryptocurrency

If you are looking to get your hands on some SCRT, your best bet is Binance. The trading volume is fairly decent and if you play it safe, can offer some good gains. Gate.io is also a good consideration for USDT pair. If you’re a DEX fan, you can give Osmosis a try by doing a paired trade wth ATOM.

Get your hands on some SCRT for staking or trading Image via Coingecko

SCRT cryptocurrency wallets

If you are looking for a place to store your SCRT, you currently have three options. The first is the Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X hardware wallets. The second is Math Wallet which is available for desktop and mobile.

The Keplr wallet is used by major Cosmos-based cryptocurrencies.

Finally, you have the Keplr wallet, which is also used for staking on the Secret Network.

Roadmap and Recent Developments

Taking a sneak peek at their roadmap, there seems to be quite a number of exciting things coming up. Here are some of the highlights:

Some exciting developments ahead for the Secret Network

Secret Lottery

The mechanics of the lottery is based on PancakeSwap’s Lottery function. Basically, users choose 6 digits for the ticket they buy. There is also bulk discount available for buying more. The winning ticket is matched in order of the numbers’ appearance. For example, if the winning number is 398078, those who match on the first number (“3”) gets a prize. If you match the first two numbers (“39”), you get a bigger prize. If you match on other numbers but not the first one, you get a nothing burger.  Simple mechanics, and if the cost is low enough, can be pretty addictive because you want to get closer to guessing as many correct numbers as possible. Each round refreshes every 12 hours.

Secret Terra Bridge

The collaboration of Secret Network and Terra is a combination that results in a win-win situation for both. Secret’s privacy-first features gives certain Terra assets the option of a private version that would appeal to some users. Terra has a healthy variety of asset-types, some of which would benefit from a privacy twist. The benefit for Secret is to get Terra’s users to start using SecretSwap, thus establishing itself as the go-to blockchain for all things privacy-concerned. From a technical point of view, the collaboration should be easier than most since both are written in the Rust language and come from the Cosmos blockchain.

I would be interested to see the level of adoption by the general crypto community for a privacy-version of the UST, one of the stronger stablecoins in the market. With the CBDC starting to chomp at the heels, perhaps an evolved version of a stablecoin will find favour amongst the initiated.

Orbem Wars

Play-to-Earn (P2E) gaming is also another area that could capture the general public’s interest, so it’s natural there be a gaming app on the Secret Network. According to the game developer Domerium Labs, Orbem Wars is “a full blown Tower Defense game with four game modes, set in a distant future in which humankind has ventured into space in search of riches.” The game modes are:

• Single-player: more of a discovery-style game where you wander around adding treasures and exploring the constellation of Ehen.
• Event: a co-op style working with others to build infrastructure projects
• League: battle-style where you fight other mercenaries.
• Contract: task-completion style where you compete with others to be first to complete tasks set out by various factions in Ehen.

Explore the constellation of Ehen in Orbem Wars

The gaming NFTs that consists of artillery, weapons and all kinds of tools used in the game are all airdropped to users based on participation level. The dev team proudly proclaims that no NFTs are sold to players. All one has to do is play the game, earn their way to various rarities of NFTs, and when they need to upgrade their loot, head on over to Stashh to trade them for better stuff.

The game has not been launched yet so it’s too early to say what kind of success it could gain from the community. It is nice that the NFTs are all earned, which gives players the prospect of fair play.

Shockwave

Not content with the roadmap outlined above, the Secret Network team has lofty ambitions for H1 2022 which sees them:

1. Build 100 new projects in the Secret ecosystem
2. Onboard hundreds of thousands of new users onboarding onto Secret Apps
3. Achieve 10,000+ active users on multiple Secret Apps

The biggest push on their end is Shockwave, a multi-initiative project aimed at driving up adoption and solidify their standing as the go-to Web3 privacy hub.

What ka-ching can bring into the Secret Network

Secret Network is throwing in serious moolah and effort to entice developers to build on their blockchain by offering grants, providing developers the best support they can offer, giving them a safe space to unleash their creativity. In addition to enhancing development tools and better documentation to make development as easy and painless as possible, the Secret Network team will also be organizing hackathons, likely in collaboration with other blockchains within the Cosmos ecosystem, spurred on by the success of HackAtom and NFTerra.

On the community side, they’re looking to expand their international reach by providing more educational material and funding for creating tutorials and hosting local events. There are more Asian languages supported than European and African ones so it’s easy to guess where their focus of expansion will be headed in 2022.

Contributors to the Secret Network are known as Secret Agents and in 2022, there is also a big push to get more Agents active in the network. The roles of an Agent varies as some are more like employees working for the project full-time while others are out evangelizing or operating nodes. Basically, anyone involved with network in a more-than-casual capacity can be considered as an Agent.

2022 looks like a year of continued explosive growth for the Secret Network. With so many grand plans, I hope they manage to find enough deep pockets to help them achieve what they want.

Secret Ecosystem Funding

In fact they have found those deep pockets to keep them funded. On January 19, 2022 they announced $400M in ecosystem funding – including a new $225M ecosystem fund and a $175M accelerator pool – alongside new investment from DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, CoinFund, HashKey and more.

Deep pockets indeed. Image via Twitter

This announcement continues the Shockwave growth initiative, establishing Secret Network as the data privacy hub for Web3. The ecosystem fund is led by SCRT Labs and features contributions from 25 orginasations, including: DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, CoinFund, HashKey, Hashed, Arrington Capital, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Fenbushi Capital, Skyvision Capital, Blocktower Capital, Terraform Labs, Hartmann Ventures, NGC Ventures, Figment, Arkstream Capital, Shima Capital, Magnus Capital, Bison Fund, Momentum6, Arca, Iconium, Huobi Ventures, Kucoin Labs, and Skynet Trading. Developers around the world are now invited to join Secret in their mission, and to build the next generation of Secret Apps that will protect and empower millions of global users. They pledge to support and mentor participants at every stage.

Our Take on Secret Network

Secret Network may just be one of the most important projects in the cryptocurrency space. This is because they have developed a protocol that has found that balance between transparency and privacy. To understand the significance of this, we must take a step back and consider the bigger picture.

If you want to preserve your privacy in the cryptocurrency space, how do you do it? Using a privacy coin like Monero and others which hide transaction histories and balances by choice or by default. Almost every other cryptocurrency has a completely public record of all transactions and balances.

The problem is that this privacy extreme is not ideal since transparency is necessary to get regulators and institutions on board. However, those same institutions and regulators are not too keen on entirely public blockchains either because they too want to be able to maintain some degree of privacy.

The brilliance of Secret Network is that its SCRT token is completely transparent whereas any actions involving Secret tokens or Secret Contracts are completely private. It is now possible to turn to regulators and say, “you can see how much money I put in and how much money I take out, but what I do with that money inside that network is none of your business”.

This degree of transparency should be enough to satisfy regulators and allows businesses to preserve their privacy as well. This has been the main selling point of Secret Network from the outset, and it is a value proposition that cannot be understated.

Just a few of Secret Network’s growing list of partners.

The Secret Network has also put in the work when it comes to development. It has a functioning product and an engaged community.

Although the tokenomics of SCRT are not entirely ideal, what Secret Network is looking to accomplish here goes far beyond price action. They have arguably created the template for the future of cryptocurrency privacy and transparency. As they continue to build bridges to other blockchains, they may just become the standard in this regard.

While you’re at it, enjoy this funky background image from the Secret Network website.

To finish off this article, enjoy this amazing quote from the Secret Network website FAQs. It is a useful one to keep in mind when someone asks you why privacy is so important if you have nothing to hide.

“A secret is something that you don’t want to share with everyone, but still want to share with people you choose to trust. A secret is something that you want to keep protected – not because it’s something bad, but because it’s something valuable.”

The post Secret Network (SCRT) Review: Privacy Meets Compliance appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In this edition, we have the previous champion KuCoin who has held the number three spot as the largest exchange for a long time behind Binance and Coinbase, versus the new champion FTX who has recently dethroned KuCoin and now sits comfortably in the number three spot. So, does KuCoin have what it takes to reclaim the third spot, or will FTX remain ahead of KuCoin as they gun for the top spot?

This article is going to cover a high-level comparison of the two. I have used both exchanges myself over the years and will put together my research and my experience with both. We have an in-depth KuCoin review here and a deep dive review on FTX here that you may want to check out. For our US-based readers, you want to check out the FTX.US review here.

Summary: FTX vs KuCoin

FTX vs KuCoin

Let’s look at each exchange individually, but first, we will cover an overview of our findings when comparing FTX to KuCoin.

Currencies and Products Offered

I would have to say that FTX and KuCoin are both fantastic options for any traders who want to take advantage of derivatives and margin trading. Both platforms offer an advanced trading screen with all the technical analysis and charting tools that traders need to make well-informed trading decisions. For anyone looking to improve their technical analysis skills and improve their trading, be sure to check out Guy’s three-part series on how to perform technical analysis; the first video in the series can be found here.

A Look at the FTX Homepage Image via ftx.com

Both exchanges offer trading with up to 100x leverage for professional traders, leveraged token trading, and staking and earning features such as lending and borrowing. A word of caution for new traders considering leverage: leverage can be a hazardous tool that causes more blown accounts than profitable traders and has been the cause of multiple mass liquidation events in the crypto markets. Be sure to understand the risks associated with leveraged trading before jumping in.

A Look at the KuCoin Homepage Image via kucoin.com

The real difference lies in that FTX has an NFT marketplace, while KuCoin does not. KuCoin has automated crypto bot trading directly accessible on the platform. In contrast, FTX has a debit card for US users and FTX pay which integrates into online shops for direct payments. In addition, FTX offers prediction and volatility markets for traders. At the same time, KuCoin has “gamified” trading by running frequent trading competitions, daily reward giveaways for activities, offers a lottery-style section called KuCoin Win and has Kucoin Brawl, which allows users to wager USDT and choose to go long or short on the price of Bitcoin. Traders who are fans of casinos and gambling will enjoy the gamified trading features on KuCoin.

NFT Marketplace on FTX Image via ftx.com.nfts

Both platforms have an intuitive, clean, and easy to use mobile application though I prefer the FTX look and layout; that is just personal preference. Both exchanges have perks and benefits such as reduced fees for holding the native exchange token, and both platforms have low fees, with FTX beating out KuCoin for having slightly lower fees. As for asset support, KuCoin is the clear winner with a whopping 600+ digital assets and supporting over 50 fiat assets through various integrations.

KuCoin Win Image via kucoin.com

User Friendliness

Both KuCoin and FTX offer trading products and features that are not beginner-friendly, nor are they designed for beginners, such as leveraged tokens/trading, trading derivatives, and auto trading bots. KuCoin and FTX are well-suited suited for professional traders. However, both platforms work just fine for beginner and average users looking to use the basic spot purchase crypto exchange and staking features. Users will easily get familiar with both platforms quickly, and anyone who can navigate an online banking platform will be able to manage either one as they are intuitive and have drop-down menus that make navigation a breeze.

Both platforms have a handy and robust self-help knowledge article section to help with any navigation issues or questions users may have. However, if I had to recommend one to a brand-new user who was only planning on trading crypto, I would have to give the edge to FTX as KuCoin can be a bit overwhelming for new traders with all the features and different sections of the platform.

Fee Structure

FTX has a slight advantage over KuCoin in terms of fees, with rock bottom fees of 0.02% for the maker and 0.07% for the taker, which is the highest fees traders will pay. However, traders on FTX can lower those fees a further 60% depending on how many FTT tokens they hold, as shown below.

Image via help.ftx

The most traders will pay on KuCoin is 0.1% for both maker and taker, with KuCoin traders also able to save an additional 20% if they pay fees in KuCoin’s native KCS token. Both platforms have a tiered pricing structure based on trading volume. Interestingly, the lowest fees are 0% and 0.04% on FTX for high-volume traders, while KuCoin pays whales an incentive for high volume trading. The tier structures can be seen below.

KuCoin:

Image via kucoin.com

FTX:

Image via help.ftx

As if the fees on these platforms aren’t low enough already, the Coin Bureau has even managed to sweet talk both exchanges to give our community further discounts. Using our sign-up link, users who sign up to FTX can enjoy an extra 10% discount for life and have their first $30 in trading fees covered. Users who sign up for KuCoin using our sign-up link can enjoy a discount of up to 60% on trading fees for life and a free trading bot! We care about you guys stacking those sats, and the lower the fees, the better

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

Crypto withdrawal fees on KuCoin are dependent on the token. A complete directory is located here. The fees to purchase crypto via debit or credit card ranges from 3.5% to 5%, depending on the third-party application. There are no fees for SEPA bank deposits, and withdrawing fiat is not supported on KuCoin, which is a major drawback.

FTX has no deposit fees, which the fine print states may change at some point, but it is sweet free deposits for now. FTX only charges withdrawal fees for USD and BRL, so this is an excellent choice for European and UK readers. But, again, for our US audience, I would recommend using FTX.US as users on FTX could be seeing a hefty $75 fee for USD withdrawals under 10k, and users who withdraw BRL are looking at a 0.3% + R$10 withdrawal fee.

FTX is immeasurably better in this regard as they have a fiat off-ramp, allowing users to withdraw cash to their bank account. The fact that KuCoin has no option to withdraw cash is likely one of the reasons that they have fallen below both FTX and Kraken in the rankings, as most traders want a way to convert crypto to cash and withdraw it.

Pro Tip: Be sure to check with your bank before making crypto purchases or deposits, as they may charge additional fees. Make extra sure that you won’t have your card blocked if you use a credit card and won’t be hit with a nasty cash advance fee. Those are things I have faced myself as my bank took a hard-nosed, anti-crypto approach blocking all crypto-related transactions (so naturally, I changed banks).

Security

Both KuCoin and FTX place a strong emphasis on security as any good exchange should. KuCoin states that their crypto is kept in cold storage but do not say what percentage, and they have partnered with a company called Onchain Custodian to help ensure the crypto on the exchange is secure. KuCoin is also covered by insurance to reimburse customers from hack attempts which is fortunate as the KuCoin exchange did experience one of the largest exchange hacks in history in 2020, where hackers made off with over $275 million worth of customer’s funds. Luckily all the customer funds were reimbursed.

Image via blog.chainalysis

KuCoin offers a mix of security procedures and protocols at the system and operational levels. KuCoin offers the following security features:

• 2FA for login
• Security questions
• Anti-phishing safety phrase
• Login safety phrase
• Trading password
• Activity monitoring on the system
• Phone verification
• Email binding and notifications for suspicious activity
• Whitelisting IP addresses.

FTX, on the other hand, is one of the very few exchanges that have not suffered any known hacks to date, and the company does keep funds set to the side to reimburse customers in the unlikely event a hack does occur. In addition, FTX has the following safety features:

• 2FA for login, account changes and withdrawals
• Minimum password complexity
• Secondary withdrawal password
• 24-hour lock features
• Whitelisting withdrawal addresses
• Whitelisting IP addresses
• Partnered with Chainanalysis to monitor suspicious transaction activity
• Manual review process for suspicious or large withdrawals
• Email notification for suspicious activity.

The KuCoin hack aside, both platforms follow industry best practices, and users can feel confident using both of these platforms. However, I would have to give FTX the edge here as being one of the very few exchanges that have never been hacked gives me a lot of confidence in their security protocols, and the partnership with Chainanalysis is also a nice additional touch to safeguard user funds.

Support

For years, poor customer service has been a common complaint from crypto exchange users. Many crypto exchanges are constantly under harsh criticisms from their customers for deplorable response times; you’d think a multi-billion dollar earning company could afford to spend a bit more on scaling support staff. Luckily, both KuCoin and FTX are pretty good in terms of support.

FTX has made it possible to contact their customer support team through Telegram channels and offer email ticket support. KuCoin offers online chat and an email ticketing system as well. Both platforms provide a self-help FAQ section which is well built out, though FTX has done a better job in terms of filling out their help articles and making them easier to follow.

Image via help.ftx

Ultimately, I would have to say that KuCoin support is better for the simple fact that they offer live chat support. Though FTX has various Telegram channels, Telegram is a perilous place to try and get support as there are scammers everywhere. I once posted in a Telegram support chat for help on a technical issue and instantly received over a dozen DMs from scammers pretending to work for the support team trying to get me to send them personal info. Remember that no member of any support team will ever ask you for passwords or seed recovery phrases, and anyone who asks for this information is most likely trying to gain access to your funds.

Pro Tip: If you have questions about the platforms, don’t forget that most crypto exchanges have very active communities on social media sites like Reddit, Facebook and Telegram. KuCoin even has a community section on its site. Therefore, it is often worth posting questions in these community forums as it can result in quicker answers.

Now, Let’s dive into each exchange individually.

FTX Overview

What is FTX?

I’m sure you’ve already pieced together that FTX is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that features derivatives/futures, spot crypto, margin trading, volatility and prediction markets with options to use leverage. FTX was founded in May 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried (currently the CEO) and Gary Wang (currently the CTO), with the headquarters located in the Bahamas. FTX has been expanding and growing its client base at a very impressive rate, being one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

FTX has leapt into the number three spot as the third-largest exchange after an aggressive marketing and fundraising campaign, which saw the company acquire the naming rights for an NBA Arena in Miami, sign deals with America’s Major-League Baseball, and signed the largest naming rights deal in eSports history, acquiring the naming rights for eSports organization TSM.

FTX Homepage

Along with their marketing efforts making FTX a household name, FTX was also able to rise in popularity as they were able to fill a niche in the market. FTX was one of the first exchanges to primarily focus on the derivative and prediction markets, offering trading for futures, options, and volatility markets. FTX also provides a place for traders to speculate on world events such as in 2020 when the exchange issued TRUMP-2020 Presidential 2020 futures contracts and others which allowed traders to speculate on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. As a result, FTX has become the go-to exchange for many professional and beginner day traders who rely on an efficient platform and high liquidity, as well as a multitude of trading options.

Whatever you Want to Trade, FTX has Likely got you Covered

Thanks to the fact that the FTX platform was designed by traders for traders, it is an easy to use and intuitive platform that’s a pleasure for experienced traders and easy to pick up for new traders.

Currencies Offered

FTX supports over 275 crypto assets traded against six base currencies. The base currencies are BTC, USDT, BRZ, TRYB, USD and EUR. In addition, FTX also has great fiat support for fiat onboarding, including USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, TRY, ZAR, CAD, CHF and BRL, with TRY coming soon.

FTX exchange also has their exchange token, the FTX token with the ticker symbol FTT. The token has a lot of utility and use cases within the FTX ecosystem, providing benefits such as trading fee discounts, creating leveraged tokens, and can be staked to earn passive income. The FTT token can be picked up on FTX, Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex, etc.

Products

FTX offers a great variety of trading products and features, making the platform excellent for not only day traders but crypto holders looking to take advantage of many different crypto benefits. FTX provides traders with plentiful options, along with some of the most unique trading products available in the Crypto markets.

Staking and Earning

No crypto holder should be denied the option to earn some sweet passive income from staking and earning features, and FTX has users covered here. FTT token holders can stake their tokens for an impressive APY and additional rewards. In addition, FTX users can also take advantage of lending their crypto to other users, earning a nice kickback in return. You can read more about how this works in our in-depth FTX review.

Staking on FTX provides the following benefits:

• Maker and Taker fee discounts: FTT stakers enjoy a discount on their trading fees.
• Bonus votes: FTX often takes polls from traders before launching a new financial instrument on the site and FTT holders get additional votes.
• Increased SRM airdrop rewards: SRM is the native token of the Serum ecosystem. FTX disperses 5% of the total supply of SRM to FTT holders over time.
• Increased referral rebate rates: Traders who stake FTT receive a higher percentage on rates for their affiliate sign-ups.

Futures

FTX offers the highest number of Futures markets available among its competitors. FTX has over 80 Cryptocurrencies in the futures section and allows for high leverage options of up to 100x. There are three types of futures contracts: maturity, perpetual and index.

Stocks

Another hugely popular feature that has attracted traders is that FTX provides traders with an option to gain exposure to stocks. Popular stocks such as the ones seen below can be traded, though it is important to note that these are only tokenized versions of the stocks that track the stock price, not the actual stocks themselves.

Some of the Tokenized Stocks Available on FTX

Leveraged Tokens

FTX offers leveraged token trading. The leveraged tokens are ERC-20 tokens that mimic the underlying token’s movement using a defined leverage level. For example, if Ethereum moves up by 1%, the ETH/USD Bull 3x Long token would move up by 3%, but if it drops by 1%, the leveraged token will drop by 3%. Traders can choose long or short leveraged tokens by selecting the ones that say bull for long or bear if they anticipate the markets will drop. There are three types of leveraged tokens: Bull, Bear, and Hedge.

Leveraged Tokens on FTX

Prediction Markets

Prediction markets are a fun way for speculators to bet on global events. For example, traders here can bet on the outcomes of events such as elections and political decisions such as the Brexit vote.

BVOL Tokens

BVOL tokens are ERC-20 tokens that track the volatility of the Crypto markets by gaining exposure to volatility using FTX MOVE contracts and BTC-PERP contracts. There are two BVOL tokens: BVOL and iBVOL. BVOL attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x long on the volatility of Bitcoin, while inverse BVOL (iBVOL) attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x short of the volatility of Bitcoin

KuCoin Overview

What is KuCoin

KuCoin is one of the first crypto exchanges to cater to serious traders, offering an advanced trading platform and futures trading options. KuCoin also gained mass adoption by supporting an impressive directory of altcoins. They still do both things very well, with many cryptocurrency enthusiasts turning to KuCoin to pick up rare altcoins as they are often supported on KuCoin well before many other exchanges.

KuCoin has been providing high quality and reputable services since launching in August 2017 but has a history dating back to 2011, when the founding team members first began working in the early days of blockchain technology. The team began KuCoin’s design back in 2013, but the platform wasn’t launched for years until the team felt it was polished enough and suitable for the market and met the team’s expectations. Talk about perfectionism! Since 2017, the platform quickly rose in adoption and has become a favourite for its gamified, almost Vegas-like trading competitions, promotions, and giveaways. Once launched, KuCoin branded itself as “The People’s Exchange” due to its heavy emphasis on user experience.

Some of KuCoin’s Benefits Image via kucoin.com

KuCoin is also popular as they have very low fees, a platform interface suitable for pros and beginners, institutional-grade security, and several other services that can be difficult to find elsewhere. Their peer-to-peer trading service has also become popular. Many traders who do not want to submit KYC identification verification choose KuCoin over any other large exchange if they only want to purchase coins and do not anticipate high trading volumes. The limits for trading amounts and KYC verification are as follows:

KuCoin KYC Verification Levels can be Found at support.kucoin

Currencies Offered

KuCoin is one of the most “global-friendly” exchanges in fiat support, boasting support for an impressive 50 different fiat currencies. Users from exotic locations are likely to opt for KuCoin as they know what a pain it can be to try and use an exchange that doesn’t support their local currency and need to exchange funds and get hit with nasty conversion fees. As mentioned, KuCoin also supports an incredible list of 600+ crypto assets, making it an excellent exchange for rare altcoin gem hunters. A complete list of their supported fiat currencies is here, and the list of crypto assets and Futures markets can be found here. 

KuCoin Supports 50 Fiat Currencies Image via kucoin.com/news

Products

KuCoin Futures

KuCoin launched its futures platform as KuMEX in mid-2019 and later rebranded it to the more easily recognizable KuCoin Futures. Here users can trade several margined contracts for various popular crypto assets with leverage as high as 100x.

Some of the Futures Available to Trade Image via kucoin.com/markets

Traders can go long or short, which is great as they can take advantage of bear markets. The platform comes in both a Lite version for beginning futures traders and a Pro version for those with more experience. The Pro Futures platform provides additional insights into the Futures markets and features a more powerful trading and analysis interface.

A Look at the KuCoin Pro Trading Platform Image via KuCoin Futures

Futures Brawl

Futures Brawl began as a promotion in August 2020, and it remains on the platform ever since due to its popularity. Users became hooked as they could win prizes such as an iPhone, a full Bitcoin and cash prizes. Additionally, users can participate by betting USDT on whether they think Bitcoin price will increase or decrease. Bets can be placed once per day, and there is a Wheel of Fortune to spin daily for a chance to win extra points.

How to Participate in Futures Brawl

P2P Fiat Trading

KuCoin users also can buy and sell major cryptos like BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and KCS peer-to-peer directly with other members. This can be done via ACH and PayPal.

Peer-to-Peer is a Great Alternative to Buying and Selling Crypto

KuCoin Earn

Like FTX, users on KuCoin can earn extra APY from lending out their crypto to other traders, staking tokens or participating in pool-X. Passive income is a big attraction for crypto holders, and KuCoin is an excellent place to benefit from both staking and the ability to lend out coins for 7, 14, or 28 days. Pool-X is essentially a staking pool designed to provide liquidity services for staked tokens.

Pool-X is a Great Way to Earn Some Extra Income Image via Kucoin.com

Closing Thoughts

FTX and KuCoin have more similarities than differences in their features, and the choice will come down to user preference. Unfortunately, KuCoin missed the boat by allowing FTX and Binance to beat them to the punch in having an NFT marketplace. NFTs have been an explosive phenomenon recently, and many people believe that as NFTs become a mainstay in the gaming and Metaverse industries, these NFT marketplaces could become an integral part of our lives as more and more assets become digitized.

After using both exchanges for a couple of years now, I do have to say that I prefer FTX due to the lower fees and easier to use and navigate platform. I keep a KuCoin account for the rare occurrence that I want to pick up a super rare altcoin that I cannot find elsewhere, and that is about it. I do find the KuCoin exchange to be a little less user-friendly as it is just too busy and packed with features that I do not need. However, many crypto traders like the gambling style games and competitions offered on KuCoin, plus the use of the trading bots directly available on the platform is a must-have for many traders.

Both platforms are ideal for pro or beginner traders and have great passive earning features. Another factor to consider for anyone who is going to stake on these platforms is they should think about whether they would rather hold and stake a bunch of FTX’s FTT token or KuCoins KCS token. FTX is becoming much more of a household name thanks to their aggressive marketing campaign and features that helped them rise to the third-largest exchange as KuCoin continues to lose market share, recently falling below FTX and Kraken.

In my opinion, the FTX token has more capital appreciation potential and higher demand as the exchange is available both globally and in the US, unlike KuCoin, which is not licensed in the US. FTX also has significantly more VC funding and hype behind it, which can carry a project a long way. Look at what Elon Musk was able to do for Dogecoin, and that was just one person. FTX is also becoming very close and friendly with the entire Solana ecosystem, further increasing demand for the FTX platform and, therefore, increasing demand for the FTT token.

The post FTX vs KuCoin: Which Exchange is right for YOU? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

While the NFT bull-run was predominantly on the Ethereum blockchain- traders, gamers, and hodlers found it becoming increasingly difficult to transact on the blockchain due to its high gas fees. NFT enthusiasts hoping to get into a project at mint had to engage in gas wars, sometimes paying double or more the cost of mint in gas to secure an NFT. Most gamers and games on the Ethereum blockchain could no longer be profitable as on-chain games require many transaction approvals, resulting in inflated gas costs.

This was a serious problem that needed solving, and that’s exactly what led to the creation of Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling solution on Ethereum for NFTs. When it comes to concerns about gas fees, Immutable X boasts of a zero-gas fee layer 2 solution. In this article, we shall be diving into what exactly Immutable X does and how it compares to the other Layer 2 solutions in the market.

What is Immutable X?

Immutable X is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It is an open-source ZK Rollup protocol built with the vision of facilitating a gas-free NFT ecosystem that allows users to build and develop their own decentralized apps, such as games and marketplaces. It can facilitate up to 9000 transactions per second while still leveraging Ethereum’s security and network effect.

Immutable X Architecture

Immutable X is a layer-2 open-source protocol that is highly scalable and easy to build, use and trade on due to the integration of four core components in its architecture, namely:

1. StarkEx ZK Rollup Technology – StarkWare’s proprietary ZK Rollup technology that utilizes ZK-STARK instead of ZK-SNARK
2. APIs and SDKs – Immutable X’s developer and partner-focused tools that enable easy onboarding and development with the Immutable X protocol.
3. Immutable X Link – The trustless intermediate layer of the protocol
4. Immutable X Marketplace – The default trade platform for the Immutable X protocol

Let us look at each of these components in depth.

StarkEx’s ZK Rollup Technology

Immutable X solves the scalability problem of Ethereum by utilizing the ZK Rollup technology for its layer-2 protocol.  To be more precise, it uses StarkEx, a proprietary ZK rollup system that utilizes ZK-STARK for proof instead of ZK-SNARK.

“The Ethereum ecosystem is likely to be all-in on rollups as a scaling strategy for the near and mid-term future.” Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum

If you got lost in that word-web, fear not, I shall break it all down so we can understand better. Let’s start by addressing what a ZK Roll up is.

What is ZK Rollups?

The technical definition of Zero-Knowledge Rollup (ZK Rollup) is that it’s a layer-2 solution that bundles hundreds of transactions into one, which is then separated by smart contracts to verify each transaction.

To give a relatable and simplified example, think of it like this- consider ‘Ethereum’ to be a notebook in which you can write by hand up to 15 lines (i.e., transactions) on a page, whereas a ZK rollup protocol is a typewriter collecting and printing many lines on a single long sheet of paper. This long sheet of paper is then rolled up and pasted within the space of a single line on a page in the Ethereum notebook. This effectively enters and validates all the transactions present on the long sheet of paper within the space (computational energy) required for a single transaction on the main Ethereum network. This advanced method significantly lowers the storage and computational demand in validating blocks, providing cost-efficiency and greener execution for blockchain transactions.

But to enable the acceptance of this ‘batching’ of transactions on a roll-up, we need to submit proof (also called a Zero-Knowledge Proof) to show its validity. Traditionally, ZK rollups use a ZK-SNARK (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). However, Immutable X utilizes a proprietary ZK proof model called ZK-STARK (Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge). What’s the difference you ask? Let me tell you.

ZK-STARK vs ZK-SNARK

While both ZK-STARK and ZK-SNARK are Zero-Knowledge proofs, the way they achieve this is different. There are two core components in a Zero-Knowledge proof- the Prover and the Verifier. The Prover refers to the one who provides ‘proof’ for the validity of the batched-up transactions. The Verifier refers to the smart contract on the main chain which verifies the mathematical veracity of the proof submitted.

Now, this is where a ZK-STARK or ZK-SNARK comes into the picture. A ZK-STARK or ZK-SNARK refers to the way this proof is created.

ZK Rollups dramatically improve scalability. Image via Hackernoon

In a ZK-SNARK, the prover utilizes a pre-determined complex system (think of it as a handbook) for generating the cryptographic encryption of the proof. This means that all the proofs generated by a particular ZK-SNARK follow the same complex cryptographic system. While these systems are extremely complex for existing modern-day computing systems to solve, they are also equally hard to debug.  This was seen first-hand by Zcash when a bug in its ZK-SNARK allowed anyone to mint counterfeit copies of its cryptocurrencies out of thin air.

In a ZK-STARK, the prover encrypts the proof with a function of randomness. There is no pre-determined system (i.e., handbook/set of instructions) that the prover follows for encrypting the data for the proof. This means that ZK-STARK is less complex and more transparent when it comes to the proof generated, which makes them more scalable in terms of speed and computational size compared to ZK-SNARKs.

So, what does this mean?

• In terms of security, the ZK-STARK is more reliable as there is no need to worry about the method of encryption being compromised as there is an element of randomness in it. Whereas in a ZK-SNARK, there is a risk of the trusted pre-determined complex system (i.e handbook) being compromised. This allows for bad actors to use this compromised encryption system to create fake proofs and submit them on-chain.
• Secondly, also concerning security, ZK-STARK is inherently more resistant to quantum computing attacks due to the randomness function in their encryption when compared to ZK-SNARK which bases the security of its encryption solely on the complexity of the system it follows.
• In terms of scalability, the speed and computational scaling capabilities of ZK-STARK are higher than ZK-SNARK over the long term.

Scalability of ZK STARKS via Medium

There is one noteworthy tradeoff that comes with using ZK-STARK instead of ZK-SNARK; STARK proofs are larger and cost more to publish on-chain. However, the Immutable X team considers this a reasonable tradeoff for the increased user security that the ZK-STARK system offers. If you’re looking for a more in-depth technical explanation of the differences between ZK-SNARK and ZK-STARK, I’d suggest checking out this medium article by Adam Luciano.

APIs and SDKs

Immutable X prioritizes developer and user on-boarding, this can be seen from their APIs and Platform SDK options for developers and partners. They wrap their ZK rollup system in a set of robust REST APIs to enable building NFT applications easier. Every activity on Immutable X is as simple as an API call, from minting to trading to transferring. Converting sophisticated asynchronous blockchain interactions, which can take minutes or hours, into synchronous REST API calls is a powerful enhancement to current blockchain development paradigms. New participants in the field, such as existing gaming and multimedia firms, can develop better initiatives, faster, without having to interface directly with smart contracts.

Moreover, software development kits (SDKs) for certain platforms and programming languages make it easier for partners to interact with Immutable X.  Currently, a Typescript SDK implementation is available, this can be used to quickly integrate the protocol into websites. Regardless of platform, the SDK offers typed access to the Immutable X APIs and Wallet. More SDKs will be available in the future for all popular programming languages, as well as development platforms like Android, iOS, Unity, and Unreal Engine. The Immutable X SDKs, when combined with the APIs, will allow partners to construct NFT projects in just a matter of hours rather than weeks.

IMX Link

Immutable X’s ‘Link’ is a trustless intermediate layer that acts as the medium between any Ethereum wallet and the Immutable X protocol. This means that users do not have to switch networks in order to use the Immutable X protocol. This allows Immutable X to leverage the inherent security of Ethereum.  The ‘Link’ plays a key role in two areas of the protocol- trading assets and the NFT Wallet experience.

Trading Assets

Every time a user wishes to trade on the protocol, he must sign transactions using a STARK key-pair. This key pair is generated by ‘Link’ whenever a user signs a security message while connecting to their Ethereum wallet using an Immutable X-enabled website or dApp. Even if the STARK keypair is lost, the user can re-generate it using a fresh Ethereum signature. This “delegates” wallet security and recovery to the user’s underlying Ethereum wallet. This STARK keypair is then used to sign transactions inside the Link, with the transaction type determining the precise encoding of each signature.

NFT Wallets

Since Link acts as an intermediary between Immutable X and the users’ existing Ethereum wallet. It allows the user to experience a pure NFT-focused wallet interface and experience on the Immutable X platform without needing to create a new wallet. This also allows Immutable X to support a thriving third-party marketplace ecosystem, without presenting a security risk: users can rely on the Immutable X Link to ensure they are not being deceived about the assets they are purchasing.

Immutable X Marketplace

The Immutable X Marketplace exists to provide users with a default home for trading NFTs on the protocol, to ensure that users and developers shall always have at least one place to trade. The Immutable X Marketplace also lowers the entry barrier for content creators and small developers who lack the capacity to build their own marketplace platform. The marketplace also allows users to check previous transactions and trade history, a feature that is generally present in most layer-1 NFT marketplaces.

Immutable X Marketplace via Immutable X

However, third-party marketplace developers need not worry about marketplace trading volume displacement due to Immutable X’s built-in shared global order book and liquidity system. This means that orders placed on one marketplace can be fulfilled on another, allowing for more efficient bootstrapping and price discovery. This also means that Immutable X can be used to create NFT marketplaces without the need for a backend. Immutable believes that allowing NFTs to be traded on many platforms that cater to different types of customers is a significant method to increase their liquidity.

The marketplace supports ERC-721 and ERC-1155, giving users an expanded choice and flexibility in managing their NFT assets. Assets can also be minted using the Immutable X platform. It gives users the ability to create and distribute NFTs on a large scale, and whether they mint a single item or a huge batch, the platform can handle all minting operations for free. These freshly minted NFTs can immediately be listed for sale on the Marketplace.

Immutable X Team

Immutable X is the fruit of a partnership between two significant entities in the blockchain and gaming industry- Immutable and StarkWare. Immutable, previously known as Fuel Games, is an Australian blockchain gaming company founded back in 2018 by James Ferguson, Robbie Ferguson, and Alex Connolly. They are the developers behind the now popular game ‘Gods Unchained’. StarkWare Industries, on the other hand, is a blockchain-scaling-focused company based in Israel created by Eli Ben-Sasson, Uri Kolodny, and Michael Riabzev in 2018.

Immutable X’s IMX Token

IMX is an ERC-20 utility token designed to reward pro-network activities such as trading, liquidity provision, and application development on Immutable X. The token matches incentives between traders, creators, and marketplaces, ensuring that protocol activity benefits all players.

Digital Worlds Ltd. NFTS (the “Foundation”) has teamed with Immutable to distribute IMX for usage on the Immutable X protocol. Both these entities take on distinct roles within the project, Digital Worlds functioning as the token issuer will be tasked with the management of both the protocol and the token, whereas Immutable will act as the exclusive service provider developing the Immutable X protocol and token. Moreover, no Immutable director, employee, or Foundation director shall be receiving any tokens directly as remuneration for their services or involvement in the project.

Token Supply and Allocation

IMX Token Allocation via Immutable X

Initially, IMX was supposed to be launched with a token supply of 20 million which was later changed to a 2 billion token max supply in October 2021. The allocation of the token supply is split into four main heads

Ecosystem Development – Around 51.74 percent of the total supply is allocated to the development of the ecosystem.  These tokens are used to reward the network participants and incentivize third-party developers to use the protocol to launch and develop their projects. There are two main initiatives through which these tokens are distributed.

1. Daily Rewards – Users who engage in protocol positive activities like trading, minting, and depositing of assets accumulate points which are used to calculate their share of the network activity. The daily IMX rewards pool will be allocated to users every 24 hours based on their proportional share of all users’ total points earned. To guarantee that usage and rewards are aligned with long-term protocol users, two-thirds (66.6 percent) of these daily reward tokens are subject to a six-month linear unlock.
2. Developer Grants – Developer grants may be offered to parties interested in working on Immutable X, with milestones set in place to guarantee that developers add value to the protocol. Some funds will be allocated directly by the Foundation, while others will be allocated by the protocol’s decentralized governance.

Project Development – Around 25 percent of the total supply is allocated towards the development of the project. Immutable, the blockchain gaming company is the entity in charge of developing the protocol. While no team member or founder shall be paid directly in IMX, these tokens that are allocated can be sold to generate money that fuels the development of the project.

Token Sales – Around 19.26 percent of the token supply is reserved for the public and private sale of the token to investors. Specifically, this 19.26 percent is split into 14.26 percent for private sale and 5 percent of the tokens for public sale. The tokens sold in the private sale are locked for a total of 2.5 years, with a vesting frequency of 28 days that begins after the first year of lockup. The tokens sold in the public sale are locked up for a total of 3 months with a vesting frequency of 28 days that begins from token launch.

Foundation Reserve – Around 4 percent of the tokens are allocated for the ‘Foundation Reserve’. These tokens are to be used by the Foundation to fund ecosystem-related developments and to provide liquidity in centralized and decentralized exchanges.

Token Circulation Schedule

Token Circulation Schedule via Immutable X Whitepaper

The graph above represents the proposed token circulation schedule, it shows that the IMX token will be fully in circulation in 54 months from launch. The circulating supply of IMX is designed to incentivize long-term growth and sustainability

Token Utility

Currently, the IMX token has three main utility functions- fees, staking, and decentralized governance.

Fees – While it is true that Immutable X is a zero gas fee protocol, it earns its revenue through the collection of a 2% fee from trades executed on the protocol. Around 20% of the protocol fees collected must be paid in IMX. This fee can either be paid directly in IMX, or Immutable will automatically swap the actual purchase currency (e.g. ETH) for IMX on the open market. This means users do not need to explicitly hold IMX tokens to be able to transact on the protocol.

Staking – All the IMX used to pay transaction fees is sent to a staking rewards pool. This pool will be proportionally distributed among users who are currently staking IMX. For your IMX to be considered staked, you must:

1. Hold IMX on L1 or L2
2. Have voted on a governance proposal in the last 30 days, and
3. Either: Be holding an NFT on Immutable X, or have completed a trade in the last 30 days.

This staking structure ensures that holders are actively participating in the protocol.

Decentralized Governance – Token holders are also given voting rights to vote on governance proposals. These proposals cover a range of matters such as how to allocate token reserves, voting on developer grants, activating daily rewards, and changes in token supply. The weight of each holder’s vote depends on the number of tokens he holds.

Price History

Immutable X Price History via CoinMarketCap

The IMX token is currently trading at $2.89 at the time of writing, this is 69% down from its all-time high of $9.61 in November. Granted of course we must keep in mind that we are currently experiencing an overall downward trend in the crypto market. The IMX token currently holds a market cap of $556 million with a circulating supply of roughly 189 million tokens (i.e., 9% of the total supply).

IMX made its early investors a lot of money as it sold for just between $0.10 to $0.15 in its public sale in September, that’s almost a 20x return at current prices. Personally, I happen to be bullish on the future of Immutable X and its token in the long term as they have a healthy vesting schedule and they facilitate the growth of one of the most important budding ecosystems in the crypto industry- the play-to-earn and NFT ecosystem.

The IMX token is currently available on all major exchanges such as Coinbase, FTX, Binance, and Huobi Global.

IMX Play to Earn Program

As a part of rewarding its early backers, a total of 50 million IMX tokens were allocated to participants who fulfilled the eligibility criteria of its ‘play to earn’ program. This involved rewarding early players of Immutable’s NFT Trading-Card game – ‘Gods Unchained’. These tokens are claimable by eligible participants on the platform page of Immutable X. If you’re a long-time player of Gods Unchained head over to see if you’re eligible to claim any!

Projects and Partnerships

Some of the earliest projects and NFT collections launched on Immutable X include Gods Unchained, Moody Krows, Landloot, and AstroBros. The protocol has also seen adoption by commercial entities like Tiktok and Stardust. Due to its API and SDK set, Immutable X can easily be integrated into many existing commercial platforms. This bodes well for the platform as there is already existing interest from social media giants like Facebook and Instagram to venture into the NFT and metaverse ecosystem. Some might speculate that Immutable X could very well be the protocol considered for implementing this vision.

Conclusion

As long as problems exist, there will always be solutions for those problems. Currently, Immutable X happens to be one of the best layer-2 solutions for Ethereum’s high gas fee problem when it comes to NFTs. But with the supposed rollout of Ethereum’s Consensus Layer sometime this year, it remains to be seen how this would affect all layer-2 solutions, not just Immutable X. Nevertheless, if you’re someone who has participated in the blockchain gaming ecosystem, I’m confident that you’ve been frustrated with endless gas costs that you incur from signing all those pesky transactions in the game. This is an issue that stretches far beyond just the Ethereum blockchain, just a few months ago Polygon faced a similar situation because of the Sunflower Farmers game. This is why I see a bright future for Immutable X in the play-to-earn ecosystem at least, regardless of whether Ethereum’s Consensus Layer rolls out or not. As a gamer, Immutable X’s zero gas fee protocol is one offer that’s just too sweet to resist.

The post Immutable X: The Future of NFTs and Play-to-earn Gaming? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Not all exchanges are created equal in terms of fees, asset support, rewards distributions, features etc., which is why many crypto holders are plagued by having their coins spread across a dozen different platforms. My crypto holdings are about as sporadic as an overly caffeinated monkey on a trampoline if you are anything like me. I have crypto in one place for the lowest trading fees, in another for the highest security, another place for the highest yields, another for the best staking rewards, another for rare coin support and so on. I think you get the point.

It feels like a full-time job just trying to keep track of it all which can be a pain. While I am not saying that I have found the holy grail of exchanges, nor does one exist as they all have their pros and cons, I did come across a platform a while ago that checks quite a few important boxes such as rare asset support, low fee trading and fee-free staking rewards. I felt it was worthwhile sharing this find with the Coin Bureau community as feeless staking and rare coin support on a regulated exchange is, well…rare. The exchange I am covering today is OKcoin.

OKcoin At a Glance

What is OKcoin?

OKcoin was founded in 2013 by Star Xu and was initially based out of Beijing before expanding globally and is currently regulated in the United States, with its headquarters located in San Francisco. Xu has a background in technology management and has worked at Yahoo and Alibaba in technical departments and held the position of Chief Technology Officer at Docin.com. Star Xu was also the founder of the popular exchange OKEx.

OKcoin is globally licensed with offices located in Miami, Malta, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. They have over 100 employees, and customers enjoy the OKcoin platform from over 190 countries. OKcoin is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the USA, registered with FINTRAC in Canada, registered in Malta and with the Dutch Central Bank to legally serve European customers, and registered in Hong Kong and Singapore, providing legally registered services to the Asian markets.

OKcoin Trading Platform and User Experience

The OKcoin platform is very clean, easy to navigate and simple to use. The exchange is web-based and can be accessed from a computer or mobile device, and through the beautifully designed and intuitive mobile app on IOS and Android.

Image via okcoin.com

OKcoin features one of the most advanced trading platforms with highly liquid markets and a stable platform. The trading platform has all the trading features and technical analysis tools to make informed trading decisions. In addition, it is very smooth, with orders executed instantaneously, which is essential with how fast crypto moves. If you are interested in upping your trading game, be sure to check out Guy’s three-part series on how to perform technical analysis like a pro, link to the first part here.

Image via okcoin.com

OKcoin underwent a total rebranding overhaul in April 2021, changing the look and feel and the platform and what a fantastic upgrade it was. The company has discovered their identity, brand and niche in the crypto industry. The platform is very user friendly and is suitable for both advanced and beginner traders and hodlers alike.

A Look at the OKcoin Mobile App Image via twitter.com/okcoin

Trade Types/Instruments

OKcoin provides traders with advanced and straightforward trading types and technical analysis tools. The platform supports margin trading, futures, Iceberg orders, trailing stops, price alert notifications and TWAPs. In addition, traders can trade popular assets with up to 3x leverage.

Account Types

OKcoin likes keeping things simple, which is why there is just one basic personal account type that is suitable for all users and a corporate account option for businesses. It is important to note that different verification levels grant traders greater deposit and withdrawal amounts.

The verification levels are as follows:

Level 1 Verification-permits up to $2000 per day but does not allow withdrawals. The following is required for level 1 verification.

Level 1 KYC needed:

• Nationality
• Full legal name that’s on your government issued ID
• Date of birth
• Country and state of residence
• Street address

Level 2 Verification– permits up to $50,000 in deposits and withdrawals per day for personal accounts and up to $500,000 per day for corporate accounts. All the standard verification is required plus:

• A photo of your passport or government-issued ID card
• A utility bill or bank statement showing proof of residence

OKcoin Premiere

OKcoin has a premiere option designed for professional traders and business partners. With a premiere account, traders enjoy access to dedicated coverage, accelerated fiat processing, and a range of exclusive product features.

Premiere members can benefit from instant funding options via SEN and PrimeX and wire pre-credit up to $100,000 to ensure they can begin trading instantly.

Premiere members can also benefit from additional market-making incentives and earn rebates and additional perks for consistent liquidity provision. Here is a look at the premiere benefits.

OKcoin Premiere benefits image via okcoin.com/premiere

Supported Jurisdictions

OKcoin is legally registered to serve 192 global markets but does not support sanctioned countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Sudan, Syria, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Kyrgyzstan.

While OKcoin is regulated in the US, customers residing in the following states cannot access the platform: Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, West Virginia

A complete list of all 192 supported countries can be found here.

Asset Selection

One of the best things about OKcoin is that they are passionate about being the first to bring many great crypto projects to the mass markets and often beat their fellow regulated competitors in this regard. For example, they were the first US registered exchange to provide US-based users with access to Avalanche and rare, hard to find tokens like Axie’s Smooth love potion (SLP), the Star Atlas (ATLAS) Metaverse token, Pocket Network (POKT) and were the first exchange to list the revolutionary CityCoins both MiamiCoin (MIA) and New York Coin (NYC).

While OKcoin is great at beating rivals to the punch in offering new and exciting tokens that cannot be found on other regulated exchanges, being a regulated exchange is a double-edged sword in terms of what assets they can offer, which means coin support is limited.

OKcoin suffers the same restrictions as other US regulated exchanges such as Coinbase, which results in them supporting substantially fewer assets for users to choose from than many non-US regulated exchanges as they need to be careful not to list any assets which could be deemed securities. The complete token directory can be found here.

A Look at Some of the Supported Assets Image via okcoin.com

OKcoin currently supports over 50 crypto assets, and USD, EUR, SGD and BRL are supported for cash deposits and withdrawals.

Grow Your Crypto with OKcoinEarn

Users can earn crypto rewards and grow their moonbags from DeFi protocols directly integrated seamlessly within the OKcoin app. The platform has behind the scenes integrations allowing users to stake with DeFi protocols like Compound and Yearn seamlessly with one click and without the user needing to know anything about DeFi or navigating outside of the OKcoin platform.

Navigating the world of DeFi can be complex and overwhelming for many crypto users. OKcoin provides users with the ability to benefit from the power DeFi with the convenience of an easy to use and navigate platform that does the hard work for you. 100% of the profit generated from Earn goes to the user.

Earn up to an insane 145% APY on tokens like MiamiCoin and around 1.5-16% on over 20 different cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. OKcoin offers higher APY’s on average than many other exchanges as OKcoin utilizes DeFi protocols and allows users to keep 100% of the profits earned without OKcoin taking a cut, which sets them apart from much of the competition.

Grow Your Holdings with OKcoin Earn Image via okcoin/earn

Fees

There are no fees charged for users who utilize the Earn section, which is great. OKcoin has also kicked things up a notch by removing any transaction fees associated with recurring buys set to happen automatically, meaning that users can dollar cost average into their favourite tokens like pros without any fees. Note that this has been a long-running promotional offer that may end at some point, but any users who participate are notified before this offer ends.

The only fees incurred are for spot trading in the form of maker and taker fees and some withdrawal and deposit methods which will be discussed later in the article. Similar to FTX and Coinbase, OKcoin’s fees are based on a tiered structure, with maker fees starting at a beautifully low 0.1% and taker fee at just 0.2%. This makes OKcoin competitive with price leaders such as FTX and Binance while being significantly lower than Coinbase. A capture of the tiered fee structure can be seen below:

Image via support.okcoin

Deposits and Withdrawal Options

Users can deposit funds by transferring crypto directly or depositing fiat, with the supported currencies being USD, EUR, SGD, and BRL.

Note that funds can be used to trade instantly, but any funds deposited or crypto purchased cannot be withdrawn for ten days.

The platform supports bank transfers, wire transfers, Apple Pay, and crypto purchases via debit and credit cards for fiat. The fees vary greatly depending on the user location and method, with zero fees for many wire and bank transfer options and up to 3.99% for debit and credit card purchases. I recommend checking out their deposit and withdrawal options and associated fees found here.

Security

OKcoin takes security seriously, as every good exchange should. The platform has several different layered protection systems in place that helps prevent, detect, and address risks and vulnerabilities of the platform. The security features supported are:

• 2FA
• Password on account access and optional secondary withdrawal password
• Mobile verification option can be enabled to confirm withdrawals or security changes
• Anti-phishing code in emails
• Email verification
• Round the clock transaction monitoring
• Users can set trusted IP addresses

95% of the funds held by OKcoin are kept in cold storage, away from hackers, and unlike many major exchanges, OKcoin has not suffered any known hacks to date. OKcoin works with external cybersecurity firms to address vulnerabilities and undertake regular security audits.

A Look at the Comprehensive Security Features Image via okcoin

Support

OKcoin has a fantastic self-help and educational area with dozens of beneficial self-help articles. It is great to see companies place such a strong emphasis on crypto education as education will be the key to mass adoption and ensuring users are comfortable as they venture into the cryptocurrency space. Self-help articles are also great as many issues are often just one article away from resolving yourself without needing to wait for a member of customer support.

OKcoin currently supports ticket submissions from the platform, email support, and chat support on desktop should you need customer support. From reviews online and my own experience, their customer support is quick to respond to emails, friendly and professional, which is a bonus as many crypto exchanges are notorious for deplorably slow response times.

OKcoin has a Fantastic Blog on Crypto Education Image via blog.okcoin

OKcoin Cares about the Industry

I know this sounds corny, and many businesses claim to care, but OKcoin seems very genuine and passionate about the health of the entire crypto industry, which is one thing I like about them. Check out the recent interview between Altcoin Daily and OKcoin’s Head of listings, Alex Chizhik, where he describes part of their mission and vision for the company.

OKcoin has undertaken a challenging mission and is dedicated to being a cost leader in the space. They want as many people as possible to reach a level of financial health by offering the lowest fees and allowing users to keep 100% of what they earn in the Earn section.

But it is more than just what is best for the customers. OKcoin also helps develop the entire crypto space by offering tokens for early niche projects not listed on other regulated exchanges. They look to support projects that they feel are making a change in the space that have high potential. It is difficult for many early projects to see success without having their tokens available on major exchanges, and OKcoin aims to support as many of these projects as possible.

As if that isn’t enough, OKcoin also donates substantial amounts of money through their Developer grants which fund crypto projects that accelerate ecosystem growth. They primarily provide grants towards Bitcoin development by backing open-source developers looking to build out projects on the Bitcoin network. This is done to help ensure that the crypto ecosystem remains healthy and thriving, and OKcoin works closely with the Stacks protocol and foundation as they are the leading protocol for the Bitcoin network.

Image via developergrant.okcoin

For anyone who doesn’t know, Stacks extends the use cases for Bitcoin as the protocol allows for DeFi and Smart contract functionality on the Bitcoin Network. OKcoin remains heavily focused on promoting new and exciting Bitcoin DeFi protocols that will be launching in the near future using the Stacks protocol.

Closing Thoughts

How OKcoin has grown and evolved from its early days is truly impressive, and I highly respect what the team is doing. After undergoing their rebranding, it seems that OKcoin has found its identity, hit its stride and cemented its niche in the space, which is offering and supporting tokens for early projects before any other regulated exchange. They have been doing that very well.

OKcoin retains a deeply personal touch with their community, with many of their team members being available to be contacted through social media and are often keen to respond. It is refreshing to see a platform that cares so much about the crypto community by supporting the entire crypto ecosystem through funds and grants. It is not profit crazed, milking every bit of profit from its users like many other exchanges. Their support staff is friendly and professional, with much better response times than many other platforms.

The biggest drawback to using OKcoin is its lack of asset support. While it is awesome to see new and small-cap tokens like Star Atlas, LunarCrush, and Spell Token hitting OKcoin before any other regulated exchange, allowing users to get in early, there are many other large and mid-cap altcoins that would be nice to see. The most significant benefit to OKcoin is, without a doubt, the incredible staking APYs available in their Earn section and the fact that they are regulated means you can stake your crypto here without fear of the Fed coming along to crash the passive income party.

The post OKcoin-Fee Free Earning and Low Fee Trading! appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a nutshell, it builds on all the lessons learned from other coins to create a layered and distributed computing platform that places a special emphasis on security and engineering rigour.

Cardano was officially launched in September 2017 under the so-called ‘Byron’ bootstrap phase. It is led by an early Ethereum and BitShares co-founder, Charles Hoskinson. The technology has been developed by a blockchain engineering firm called Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK).

Cardano adopts a slow and deliberate process of formalizing a “science” for distributed systems design. This is achieved by re-evaluating everything that has been done in the industry for the past decade. This has resulted in a lot of negative criticism towards Cardano for being slow to release many updates, DApps and projects. Some critics have even gone as far as calling Cardano a “ghost chain.” A lot of this stems from the fact that a lot of Cardano competitors follow the “move fast and break things,” model while Cardano is more focused on research and academic peer review papers to ensure they do things right before going to market.

Many feel that Cardano taking the, “take it slow and get it right,” approach is better as we have already seen issues with competitors such as the Solana network going down multiple times in 2021, Ethereum’s insane gas fees, even blockchains like Avalanche are already showing early signs of struggle in terms of network fees as these networks were released before they were deemed fit to scale. Cardano is one of the few networks that is looking to ensure that they will be able to do everything in their power to avoid the pitfalls that other networks fall into.

The team began by asking basic, foundational questions to aid the development. These include: What is a blockchain? What are the objectives of a given blockchain? How do different solutions apply to those particular objectives? What types of centralization is one inviting by choosing one approach over another?

The Cardano Project

Cardano is made up of three entities, each with their role in the project.

1. Cardano Foundation: A Swiss non-profit for the Cardano ecosystem and community. It is proactively working with governments and regulatory bodies and forming strategic partnerships with enterprises and other relevant open source projects.
2. IOHK: An engineering company dedicated to instrumentalizing peer-to-peer technologies. It is also determined to provide financial services to over three billion people that don’t have access to them. The group is contracted to design, build, and maintain the Cardano platform.
3. Emurgo: a company formed to integrate, develop and support companies, businesses and industries that want to make use of Cardano’s decentralized blockchain and computation platform.

Cardano Foundation Overview Image via Coinrevolution.com

Haskell, Formal Methods, and Academic Peer-Review

Cardano makes extensive use of Haskell, a purely functional and statically typed language with a high degree of fault tolerance. It also uses a Haskell derived language (Plutus) to define smart contracts.

Haskell is not used as frequently as some other programming languages, but is widely utilized within the academia industries. It is considered to be one of the most secure programming languages providing extremely robust security and formal verifications. This allows for mathematical proofs of code correctness (see zkSNARKs).

Cryptol, for example, is a Haskell-based cryptographic toolchain extensively used by the NSA and in systems used by aerospace companies and defense contractors.

Such formal-mathematical proofs are of paramount importance in applications where value is at stake. Haskell is ideally suited for large scale and enterprise-level smart contract applications and mission-critical infrastructure intended to secure billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.

One of the defining features of Cardano is the level of technological scrutiny and the high assurance of software standards. They also have a number of relationships with researchers in the academic world. For example, they have partnered with the University of Edinburgh and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Cardano’s research-driven approach builds on a foundation of diligent, academically peer-reviewed work. This introduces extremely high standards in the space of crypto-economic theory and distributed systems engineering.

Architecture

Cardano is structured as a two-layered blockchain that makes architectural distinction between a settlement, or accounting layer (called Cardano Settlement Layer, CSL) and a computation layer where smart contracts are executed (Cardano Computation Layer or CCL). Included are side chains which are used to connect transactions between the two layers.

This multi-layer architecture allows for easier soft fork updates than Ethereum does. This is because there is no clear-cut distinction between the two layers in Ethereum’s architecture.

Cardano Settlement Layer

The settlement layer provides the basic accounting ledger (think Bitcoin) and the functionality of ADA. The CSL is based on the Haskell implementation of the paper describing Cardano’s consensus engine. It is developed by IOHK in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, the University of Athens and the University of Connecticut.

Cardano Computation/Control Layer

The CCL that the Settlement Layer is to be extended with will serve as a trusted framework enabling smart contract functionality. This will be done in a manner that doesn’t necessitate the changing of the ground level protocol responsible for the native cryptocurrency. This separation makes it possible that regulated computation layers can be structured to conform to different jurisdictions.

Ouroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Protocol

The logic of consensus algorithms is what drives activity and the production of validated transaction blocks in distributed ledgers. This results in an updated and current state of the ledger consistent with the total history of the records. There are two broad categories of consensus mechanisms running on blockchains – Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS).

The basic idea of Proof of Stake is that instead of wasting electricity to brute force the hash before appending a block to the ledger, a node is instead selected to mint a new block. The probability of the selection is proportional to the amount of coins/tokens this node has. PoS is meant to encourage honesty and long term, engaged participation.

There are two main groups invested in the research and development of PoS mechanisms: one is Ethereum’s Casper and the other is Cardano’s particular iteration of PoS called Ouroboros, developed by IOHK scientists led by Prof. Aggelos Kiayias.

Ouroboros has gone through formal academic peer review and is supported by formal security proofs. Ouroborous is designed to be modular and future-proof. Ouroboros applies cryptography, combinatorics, and game theory to guarantee the protocol’s integrity, longevity and performance. How Ouroboros works is outside the scope of this article, you can read more about it here, but the TL;DR in their own words is that “Ouroboros exists to define the parameters of the new world. A protocol that is more secure, scalable, and energy efficient than anything that has come before.”

Quite the bold statement indeed.

Ouroboros About Page Found Via cardano.org/ouroboros

Epochs and Slot Leaders

The Ouroboros protocol divides time into epochs which are subdivided into slots. These slots, which are short periods of about 20 seconds, will have exactly one block being created within it. Slot leaders are elected among all stakeholders with the probability of being selected proportional to the amount of coins a node has.

To ensure that the election process is unbiased, a degree of randomness is introduced via a multi-party implementation of a coin tossing protocol. This will produce the final result where one node is selected to verify and append exactly one block.

The Recursive Inter Network Architecture (RINA), a proposed alternative of the TCP/IP and OSI model, is to be implemented in Cardano. RINA is so engineered that it could seamlessly connect and interoperate with TCP/IP. In Cardano, this would allow for multiple epochs to be run in parallel on different chains thereby making it highly scalable.

Treasury and Monetary Policy

Cardano will have a treasury which is a decentralized bank account. This is similar in principle to the early DAO on Ethereum, but modeled on Dash’s treasury system. This special address/wallet is collectively controlled by all ADA holders for the purposes of Cardano development projects.

The participants will vote for which projects the funds should be released to. This enables the system to pay for its own improvements and ensures its long term sustainability. The treasury is funded via inflation, or deducting a small percentage of every transaction that takes place on the Cardano platform and some portion of newly minted ADA.

The ADA currency has a fixed supply, arbitrarily capped at forty-five billion. More details on Cardano’s monetary policy can be found here.

Highly Decentralized

The Cardano network currently has over 3,100 staking pools, placing it among the most decentralized Cryptocurrencies in the world. Users of the Cardano staking pools are evenly distributed, ensuring decentralization. This is ensured thanks to Cardano’s K parameter which reduces staking rewards if there is too much Cardano staked in any single staking pool.

Cardano Network Becomes 100% Decentralized Image via finance.yahoo

Daedalus Wallet

Daedalus is the Cardano Settlement Layer wallet application that holds the ADA currency. It is intended to be further developed to function as a universal crypto-assets wallet with features such as automated trading, exchanges integration and crypto-to-fiat transactions.

Mantis, the Scala-based Ethereum Classic client, has also been integrated with Deadalus wallet to connect to the Ethereum Classic network.

Scala is another language that is highly suited for distributed systems and blockchains. This is because it is concise and data immutable while adopting a functional style of writing code.

Furthermore, Scala is interoperable with Java and JavaScript and also compiles with the LLVM and to Java bytecode (which makes the process of integrating with Ethereum easier).

While Daedalus was one of the first, and is often considered the “main” Cardano wallet for the Cardano network, there are browser, or, “lite” Cardano wallets such as the very popular AdaLite web-based wallet, Yoroi Wallet which is considered the “Metamask” of Cardano and popular hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger both also support Cardano. Be sure to check out our article on the top Cardano wallets here.

Cardano Team

Charles Hoskinson’s Ted Talk on why the Future Will be Decentralized can be Found on YouTube

The IOHK team is composed of a large number of engineers and academic researchers. Founder Charles Hoskinson is well-known and highly respected in the Crypto community. He is a trained mathematician having studied Analytic Number Theory at the University of Colorado. The other founder is Jeremy Wood who has been involved in Cryptocurrency dating back to 2013 and worked on Ethereum, managing operations before leaving to be a Cryptocurrency consultant. Jeremy started IOHK with Charles in 2015.

Charles is well known for being originally involved in the early development of Bitcoin and co-founding Ethereum along with Vitalik. He was also the founding chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee and established the Cryptocurrency Research Group in September of 2013.

Chief Scientist and developer of the Ouroborous consensus engine is Prof. Aggelos Kiayias who is presently the Chair in Cyber Security and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests are in the field of applied cryptography and foundations of cryptography with a particular emphasis in blockchain technologies and distributed systems. A full list of their over 300 members can be found here.

The vision for Cardano as is taken straight from the Cardano website states: “Cardano is built by a decentralized community of scientists, engineers, and thought leaders united in a common purpose: to create a technology platform that will ignite the positive change the world needs. We believe the future should not be defined by the past, and that more is possible – and, through technology, can be made possible for all. We measure the worth of a task not by its challenge, but by its results.”

Making the World Work Better Sound Good to me Image via cardano.org

Roadmap, Achievements, and the Year Ahead

Byron Era- Completed in 2017, it took the Cardano community 3 years to build the infrastructure and academic-based architecture of the core network.

Shelley Era- Completed in 2020, this phase was defined by the Cardano community developing nodes to sufficiently decentralize the network. This phase also introduced ADA rewards from Staking pools, Delegation and incentive programs.

Goguen Era- Completed in 2021, this is where things get interesting as Smart-contract capability was added to the network, opening the doors for developers to launch DApps on the network. Cardano smart- contracts will be compatible with all programming languages which is an important breakthrough as developers will not need to learn Cardano’s core Haskel coding language. Users can now utilize Cardano to create stablecoins, native assets, and use multi-asset ledgers.

Cardano Roadmap Image via roadmap.cardano

Basho era– Currently underway, expected to be complete in 2022. This is Cardano’s solution to scaling. The Basho era will introduce Hydra which is a layer two scaling solution for Cardano which has been in development for over a year. The Basho Era will focus on scaling in the following six major areas:

Hydra- Hydra will make it possible for each stake pool operator to securely process transactions off-chain then submit them on-chain using cryptography. Each hydra “head” or stake pool will be able to process around 1000 transactions per second. Given that Cardano currently has over 3,000 stake pools, a number that is growing, this means that Cardano will be able to process over 3 million transactions per second once Hydra is complete.

Large scale optimization program– released node 1.3.3 which cuts sync time in half which is coming to the Daedalus wallet. Now that Cardano is moving from a correctness focus to a performance focus, users will begin to see optimizations of libraries and business processes,

Pipelining- focusing on the workload of the Cardano network and introducing a dag-like idea to utilize input endorsers. In simple terms, this means that transactions can be put into micro blocks between the blocks on the Cardano blockchain, these micro blocks can aggregate up and serialize, allowing users to process as many transactions as the network will allow, meaning that there will no longer be a constraint based on block size. The only constraint will be bandwidth and network availability which will increase Cardano’s input and output transaction capabilities.

Smart-contract optimization- Better utilization of the extended UTXL model meaning a lot more tasks can be performed off-chain for better efficiency.

Mithril- improve client experience as this makes parallel validation of the epochs so users get really fast sync for full nodes. This will result in wallets like Daedalus being a lot faster, while lite clients get full node security whether users are using a browser-based client or cell phone.

Side Chains- This is where there will be different computing models which can be layered and made interoperable with the main chain.

The Basho Era Summed up Beautifully Image via reddit/cardanostakepools

Voltaire Era– Also called the governance era, this introduces project catalyst which gives the Cardano community their say in determining important priorities for ecosystem growth via majority vote. This creates a powerful decentralized launching platform with a governance system for distributing valuable funds to projects.

A technical update tracker which follows github commits and roadmap progress can be found at Cardano updates. Cardano has reached a very impressive milestone recently as the number one project in the world for comments on GitHub which is a community for developers where they discuss developer activities.

Interestingly, a strong sign for Cardano’s future can be seen on the chart below that shows active development on the Cardano network has surpassed all other networks including Ethereum in 2021. As the saying goes, “if you build it, they will come,” and Cardano is building more than any other network as we head further into 2022.

Cardano is also making leaps and bounds as it passed Ethereum in 24hr transaction volume in January 2022, with one of the highlights here being that Cardano users only paid fees totalling 66,000 dollars for $7.02 billion dollars worth of transactions which is very impressive when compared to transaction fees hitting a staggering 45 million for just $5.41 billion dollars in transaction volume on the Ethereum network.

Cardano Blockchain saw the Most Developer Activity in 2021 Image via unitynews.net

Since 2017, the Cardano Ecosystem has grown to over 2 million people, firmly establishing itself as a top ten project. Cardano currently has over 130 DApps being built and has over two million assets and counting issued on the network. The team has proudly executed on all major updates without any significant issues or downtimes, and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of value has been transferred around the Cardano network in 2021. The Cardano foundation continues to contribute to the entire blockchain space, having written 130 academic papers to date and defining the entire science of proof-of-stake.

As an interesting sidenote, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin put out a poll to his 3 million Twitter followers asking which network they think would be king without Ethereum and the majority of votes went to Cardano.

Cardano was the Crowd Favourite Image via news.bitcoin.com

Cardano has some very interesting developments coming down the line, with DApps rolling out in full force in 2022. Up until now, as the team was still perfecting the network, there has been little incentive for Cardano enthusiasts to want to hold the token as its only real value was staking rewards. Cardano often sees between 70%-80% of its circulating supply staked, meaning that there are a lot of Cardano Hodlers which effectively reduces the supply, leaving many to think that an increasing demand for ADA as DApps launch will send tye price of ADA price to moon-city.

A Look at the Growing Cardano Ecosystem Image via coin98insights.com

Ethereum and NEAR Protocol Interoperability– The cross-chain bridge between Ethereum and Cardano is now open, allowing NFT creators to transfer their Ethereum-based NFTs seamlessly onto the Cardano network. This bridge aims to be further developed in 2022 to allow other assets and smart-contracts to pass between chains as well. Cardano also launched KEVM which is a K Ethereum Virtual machine to build a bridge with leading smart-contract developers on Ethereum and an Ethereum sidechain has been created called Milkomedia allowing wrapped ADA (wADA), which is a Cardano pegged asset, to be ported into the Ethereum ecosystem.  The Cardano project Ardano also partnered up with Near protocol to build a cross-chain bridge between NEAR and Cardano.

IOG has also announced that they have released a testnet of their own for a Cardano ERC-20 converter that will make it possible to transfer ERC-20 tokens between Cardano and Ethereum in a trustless manner.

Cardano’s ERC-20 Converter has Launched on Testnet Image via cryptoslate.com

Cardano DApps

SundaeSwap-Set to launch in Q1 of 2022, with the Beta hitting the community on January 20th. SundaeSwap will be the first DEX to launch on the Cardano network. Think of it like the Uniswap for Cardano, providing users in the ADA ecosystem with the ability to swap tokens, provide liquidity and even has added staking features to allow users to earn passive income and NFT support. SundaeSwap will also introduce a new type of token distribution model called Initial Stake Pool Offering (ISO or ISPO) which will act similar to an ICO or IDO, as a form of airdropped token that can accompany a project’s token sale.

Among all the DEX’s launching on Cardano, SundaeSwap is the most highly anticipated with over 270k followers on Twitter, catching up quickly to the largest DEX Uniswap which has over 700k followers.

MELD- MELD can be thought of like the Aave of Cardano. In November, MELD announced the completion of their funding round which saw over $1 billion dollars worth of ADA staked as part of the initial stake pool offering (ISPO). MELD is a lending protocol that allows users to access DeFi services such as lending/borrowing and liquidity providing on the Cardano network.

One Page Overview of MELD Image via coin98insights.com

Ardana-Ardana raised $10 million dollars from VC firms such as Three Arrows Capital to launch a Cardano Stablecoin Protocol.

OccamFi– The first IDO launchpad for Cardano will be launching in 2022. Launchpads are great for users who want to get their DeFi degenerate hands on token releases as early as possible. The biggest gains to be made in Crypto are often had by gaining access to tokens before their public sale launch and OccamFi will allow users to get involved in the Cardano ecosystem.

Cardano NFTs– CNFT is the largest NFT marketplace on Cardano. Launched in mid-2021, Cardano NFTs have been seeing a lot of action in the back half of 2021 and as we enter 2022 as the world is going crazy over NFTs. Some Cardano NFTs have already sold for over a million dollars as the NFT market is heating up on Cardano. EMURGO also announced that it would be creating an NFT marketplace on Cardano called Fiborite.

Cardano Metaverse- Project Pavia is the first Metaverse project to launch on Cardano. While this Metaverse is still in its infancy and not much is known other than it will be like Decentraland on Cardano, Metaverse enthusiasts are already getting involved, purchasing land plots with some going for over 60k worth of ADA, and the majority of land plots selling out almost instantaneously.

A Look at Project Pavia, the First Metaverse built on Cardano Image via coinspeaker.com

There are so many amazing projects launching on the Cardano network in 2022, I would have liked to have covered them all but you’d be here reading this article all day. More Cardano projects being launched in 2022 can be found here.

Notable Partnerships

Chainlink- Cardano announced a partnership with Chainlink as its go-to data oracle which surprised many in both the Cardano and Chainlink communities due to the historic friction between both communities… Come on Crypto Chaps and Gals, can’t we all just get along? We are all on the same team after all.

Coti- Cardano has announced that they will be working with Coti, which is a fintech start-up company based out of Israel. Together, Cardano and Coti will work to create the world’s first platform for developing stablecoins and decentralized payment systems. Coti is developing a network to bridge the gap between traditional fiat and cryptocurrencies. Coti will also help with the launch of Djed, which will be Cardano’s US value pegged stablecoin. Cardano’s Djed stablecoin will be the first stablecoin to use formal verification to eliminate price volatility.

Dish Network- In September 2021, Input Output Global announced a partnership with the Dish network, one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the United States to help provide digital identity services to Dish Customers.

Formation of UTXO Alliance- In October of 2021, a consortium of crypto projects that use the same transaction format as Cardano joined together with a vision to cultivate innovative solutions to advance interoperability, programmability and scalability across the crypto industry.

Veritree- Cardano has teamed up with the global land restoration and tree planting company to verify and secure its records on Cardano’s Blockchain. To celebrate this, Cardano and Veritree launched the First Global Cardano Impact Challenge, inviting the global Cardano community to make donations to Veritree using ADA tokens which were used to launch the first #CardanoForest.

Cardano is Making the World a Better Place, not Just for Humanity, but Nature as Well Image via climateneutralcardano.org

Rival- eSports giant Rival has partnered with Cardano to develop agnostic NFT marketplaces, fan rewards and more, which will see Cardano facilitate the ability to create and distribute NFTs, redemption of NFTs for physical goods, and marketplace-based royalties within the Rival platform. Some of Rival’s clients include the likes of NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, NBA’s Detroit Pistons, and others.

Samsung- Making a big announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, tech giant Samsung announced that they will be working with Veritree, which utilizes the Cardano network to facilitate their 2 million tree planting land restoration efforts. This is a big sign of confidence as Samsung also announced their TVs will have direct exposure to an NFT marketplace. Perhaps it will be Cardano NFTs?

Price Action

Cardano is often criticized for poor, if not downright strange price action. With a tendency to sleep for months, wake up for a sprint, then sleep again, and occasionally fall down some stairs with some nasty red candles, Cardano’s price action has been frustrating, and often boring for many ADA holders.

Truthfully, these criticisms often come from crypto investing tourists who are looking to get rich overnight. Many early Cardano buyers seem to forget that they purchased tokens for a chain with no DApps launched yet, meaning there is little use or demand for the ADA token, so why they would expect explosive gains is beyond me. That being said, even with no DAapps built, the Cardano token was able to achieve an impressive price rally from $0.026 at its initial launch all the way up to an all-time high of just over $3.

 Cardano’s Price Action Since Inception Image via coinmarketcap

There is no way to sugarcoat the fact that Cardano had some rough price action in the back half of 2021, falling worse than many other altcoins, leaving Cardano holders feeling the hurt even more as they had to watch competitors such as Avalanche and Solana skyrocket. Aside from little demand of the ADA token before DApps, much of Cardano’s poor price action likely stems from the fact that Cardano does not have the VC funding or “hype,” as many other projects like Solana. As we have seen with Doge, hype alone is enough to pump price more than the utility or use cases of a network.

As Cardano is more community-focused, VC funding is not one of their priorities. This lack of funding has also resulted in many projects on Cardano, along with IOG and EMURGO needing to sell their ADA to fund projects and cover costs which has also been causing sell pressure.

Price troubles started back in September of 2021 right after the launch of the Alonzo testnet hard fork which caused Cardano to rally to its all-time high of over 3 dollars. It would appear that this was a very extreme example of “buy the rumour, sell the news”…and sell the news they did, dropping ADA’s price significantly.

Another reason for the crash after Alonzo was caused by the concurrency issues many Cardano projects faced during Alonzo testnet, namely minswap. At that point, it became painfully clear to investors that DApps would not be deploying on Cardano anytime soon. This seemed to greatly reduce the morale of many Cardano enthusiasts for the months that followed. To make matters worse, the circulating supply of ADA had also increased by 1.5 billion since August which further suppressed the price.

Cardano Concurrency Issues Resulted in Additional Damage to Cardano Price Action in mid-2021 Image via cryptopolitan

January of 2022 has seen Cardano back in the spotlight being among the best performers out of many of its peers with the anticipation of SundaeSwap launching and with more DApps being released. This will cause more demand for ADA and a supply shock as holders continue to stake. Many are holding on and excited as 2022 could be a very intense year for Cardano. For some additional hopium, there have also been a lot of institutional funds gaining exposure to ADA such as Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap fund and on-chain analytics show that many institutional funds have been accumulating ADA over recent months in anticipation of the expansion of the network in 2022.

Those looking to purchase some ADA tokens now can find the token on pretty much every major excahnge, and many minor exchanges as well.

Powerful Use Cases

While Cardano is no doubt developing revolutionary blockchain technology, the real benefit lies in real-world use cases such as the article from Long Finance that was published, a 78 page long report that is sponsored by the Cardano foundation.

This examines the economic impact of smart/distributed ledgers on world trade and global capital flows. It also hints at Cardano’s scope of ambition to serve as a framework and operating system upon which human civilizations could flourish and prosper. As stated in the publication:

Conceptually, the impact of Smart Ledgers will be realised by reduced cost frictions associated with processes such as paperwork and identity checking, facilitating the creation of new business opportunities, and reducing the volatility associated with international trade.

Cardano’s mission is particularly focused on developing and third-world countries that are encumbered by corruption, arcane bureaucracies and lack of access to financial services. Cardano envisions that their blockchain will be used for high impact solutions such as the ability to verify people’s access to water rights, shipping and logistics tracking, creating voting systems to overcome the trust that has been lost in the American political system, increased transparency of government spending, verify consent with the digital signing of contracts, authenticating and verifying any sort of licenses and certifications, significantly reducing issues like identity theft by storing individual identities on the blockchain and more.

When watching Charles in interviews, it is clear that he is passionate about blockchain technology being able to provide people with the ability to have self-sovereign identity rights and data protection to end surveillance capitalism conducted by companies such as Facebook and Google.

Path to a Billion Users and Social/Environmental Causes

We already mentioned some of the environmental endeavours that Cardano is focusing on such as becoming carbon neutral, the planting of the Cardano Forest and their Partnership with Veritree. To grow the social impact of Cardano, several projects are running in Africa including Empowa, which aims to make property affordable to everyone. Among all the Crypto projects in existence, Cardano is among the most dedicated to making the world a better place as it states directly on their website. This is in part to the multiple altruistic and charitable endeavours undertaken by the Cardano community.

The Empowa Project Image via empowa.io

This has had a snowball effect as what started as the core team doing good deeds across the globe has now attracted an army of developers and projects who also have goals aligned with the Cardano Foundation in terms of wanting to help those in need. Many Cardano community projects are now running initiatives for supplying fresh water, power, and education for the African people. In 2021, Charles completed his Africa tour, vising South Africa, Burundi, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Egypt looking to change the lives of the people who need it most. A link to his recent interview about this can be found here.

$100 million Cardano Ecosystem fund– EMURGO launched a $100 million dollar Cardano fund to help invest in early start-up and growth-stage companies making positive impacts in the world. Emurgo also announced the establishment of EMURGO AFRICA which will aim to support 100 local start-ups on Cardano within 3 years.

Announcement of Cardano Ecosystem Fund Image via emurgo.io

In this interview, Charles discusses how nearly every domain and system that is frustratingly nepotistic, corrupt and inefficient can be made better through the use of Cardano’s blockchain technology. Government technology is one of Cardano’s areas of focus which shows with all the work they are doing in Africa. If governmental infrastructure built on Cardano roll out successfully in Africa, the sights will be set on other global governments such as the United States.

The Go-To Blockchain for Enterprise Companies?

As it stands today, Cardano is the only network with a path to contingent staking that will comply with the 2023 infrastructure bill. Cardano Foundation partnered with Coinfirm for FATF and 6AMLD compliance. Coinfirm has verified that they will be able to provide AML/CFT analytics for assets minted on Cardano. This allows Coinfirm to track Cardano transactions in accordance with the FATF’s recommendations. More can be found about FATF’s “recommendations,” by checking out Guy’s video here.

Cardano is Eager to Play ball With the FATF’s Recommendations Image via cointelegraph

As companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google look to expand into Web 3.0, adopt blockchain solutions and venture into the Metaverse, their primary focus in this new venture is not going to be how to further expand their reach and grow customer acquisition, nor will their primary focus be partnering with whichever blockchain network will make them the most money. These companies have already achieved hypergrowth, massive profits and dominate the market and are already experts in those fields.

What they are going to be most concerned with are compliance and regulations and ensuring that they are operating within legal confines and the regulatory framework. They are going to be looking to work with crypto projects with a strong focus on safety, regulation, compliance, and software quality which Cardano are the leader in those areas, far surpassing any of their peers.

Charles Points out That Many Companies are Choosing to Build on Cardano Image via trendswide

There is a good argument that Cardano may become the institutional network of choice. While partnering with major corporations could be great for ADA holders who only care about capital appreciation, the Cardano network has come under quite a bit of scrutiny from the Crypto community as Cardano seems to be bending to the pressure of regulatory scrutiny and are opening the doors to working with corporations, which many in the Crypto community consider, “the enemy.”

Cardano’s partnership with transaction tracking companies and their KYC/AML focus, along with already complying with the FATF’s recommendations is concerning many Crypto users who prioritize privacy and access to financial instruments without the need for KYC. If an anarchy style, libertarian type future is what you are after then Cardano may not be your favourite project and you may want to consider privacy coins such as Monero. This is clearly some artistic liberty on my part, but maybe Charles has a master plan of partnering with these, “evil,” corporations as he knows they won’t be able to be as evil in a true Web 3.0 and blockchain environment.

Additional Resources

• cardano.org is the main place to keep up with all the news on Cardano.
• Cardano Foundation is the best place to stay up to date on all the endeavours behind the Cardano Foundation and their mission to make the world a better place, along with their blog.

• Cardano Hub is the main Cardano website housing all information and resources.
• Cardano Block Explorer for searching addresses, transactions, epochs and slots on the Cardano network.
• Safety guidelines for avoiding falling victim of phishing attacks and scams.

There is also extensive technical documentation by IOHK which can be viewed here.

Closing Thoughts

Cardano is without a doubt, one of the most advanced, if not, the most advanced blockchain network in existence today. The network is ultra-fast, highly decentralized, scalable, cost-efficient and eco-friendly. The Cardano team has learned from the mistakes of many of their predecessors which has positioned them well with a competitive advantage where they are overcoming foreseen issues before fully rolling out and preventing issues before they arise.

This foresight and heavy reliance on peer-to-peer reviews and extensive research is progressing the entire blockchain industry and benefitting the entire Crypto ecosystem. Though it is Cardano’s focus on perfectionism which also puts them at risk of falling behind their competitors as their competition consistently beats them to the markets albeit with inferior networks and features. Cardano has accepted multiple double-edged blades as perfectionism is respectable but may also be their downfall as they are slow to move, and their community-first focus, while noble and is great for the Crypto community, poses a risk to ADA holders as lack of VC funding, marketing and attention can negatively impact a project’s growth.

Despite all this, Cardano has remained in the top ten in recent years even with no DApps, which means it is still incredibly early days for Cardano and there is so much room to grow, especially in 2022 as this will be the first time we see dozen of projects launch on the network. To me, this feels like being invested in Ethereum in 2015, and I cannot wait to see how the Cardano network grows and evolves in the coming years.

The post Cardano Deep Dive: Info you NEED about Cardano and ADA appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Navigating the world of Cryptocurrency exchanges can be tricky, especially if you are looking to get into Crypto for the first time and are unsure of which exchange to choose. We hope that this article will help make your research easier in choosing which Crypto exchange is right for you by breaking down the key features and stats from FTX and Coinbase to help you along your Crypto Journey.

FTX vs Coinbase at a Glance:

FTX vs Coinbase

Let’s take a closer look at each exchange individually, but first, we will cover an overview of our findings when we compared FTX to Coinbase.

Currency and Products Offered

When it comes to products offered, we gotta tip the scales to FTX here quite a bit as their product offering is far more robust than Coinbase. Coinbase is primarily a Cryptocurrency exchange with a few basic methods for users to earn passive income via staking, lacking behind the earn features offered by competitors such as Binance and FTX. FTX also offers derivatives and options trading as well as an NFT marketplace which is a real game-changer as many crypto traders are also NFT enthusiasts.

A Look at the NFT Collection on FTX Image via ftx.com.nfts

Coinbase has announced plans to roll out an NFT marketplace and derivatives trading in 2022 with their recent purchase of FairX, but you have to be left wondering what on Earth has taken so long and why they let their competitors beat them to the punch. Both FTX and exchanges like Binance have supported these products for a while now. Both FTX and Coinbase offer a Crypto debit card for US-based customers, if you are based in the US be sure to check out our FTX.US exchange review here.

As far as Cryptocurrencies go, FTX has a wider selection of altcoins which may make them the better choice for rare altcoin gem hunters and FTX also offers more markets for advanced traders such as Volatility and Prediction markets. If day trading is your thing, FTX has the edge here but if you are just looking for a really simple and clean place to simply buy and store Crypto then you really can’t go wrong with Coinbase.

User Friendliness

For anyone who has ever used an online bank before or a brokerage account, you should have no issues navigating either of these platforms. They are both very easy to navigate and have an intuitive layout and design.  When doing research for both of these platforms I found both FTX and Coinbase have a fairly robust knowledge base/self-help section which is more important than you may think! I can’t tell you how many issues are a simple knowledge base article away from resolving, though I did find the FTX knowledge base far easier to find the information that I was searching for as the search function returned more relevant articles.

Both FTX and Coinbase Offer Robust Self-Help Articles Image via help.ftx

If we really had to strip both of these platforms back I would have to say that Coinbase is a little more user friendly but this comes at the cost of having fewer features. The FTX platform has a lot of bells and whistles and is more robust for experienced traders which may be overwhelming to brand new Crypto users. Coinbase is very clean and has a minimalistic style, so if I was introducing my grandmother to Cryptocurrency, I would direct her towards Coinbase.

Coinbase is Incredibly Clean Looking, Easy to Navigate and Simple to Use Image via blog.coinbase

Fee Structure

The number one criticism against Coinbase comes in the form of poor customer support (more on that later) and their fees! I am trying my best to remain unbiased here but there is no way to sugarcoat the fact that Coinbase has higher fees than most of their competitors in nearly every metric from trading fees to deposits and withdrawals. Though before beating them up too bad on this one, many users feel that the fees are worth the opportunity to use such a reputable and professional exchange that is fully regulated and compliance-friendly. If paying the least amount of fees is your main goal then you are definitely going to want to choose FTX.

Tier Table Images Taken From the Support Sections From Both Coinbase and FTX

Both FTX and Coinbase use a tiered pricing structure based on trading volume where the more you trade the more you save. Coinbase users don’t start seeing competitive trading fees until they are trading over 1 million dollars in volume and even then the prices are still higher than the average user will pay on FTX. As if the rock bottom maker and taker fees on FTX aren’t low enough already, we have even managed to sweet talk them into giving Coin Bureau readers a further lifetime 10% further fee reduction and your first $30 of fees covered if you sign up for FTX using our link.

FTX also offers further discounts for holders of their FTT token, the more you hold the better the perks. A breakdown of FTT discounts can be seen as follows:

Discount Tiers for Holding FTT Tokens Image via help.ftx

For deposit and withdrawal fees, FTX takes the trophy here as well. Coinbase has free ACH deposits and withdrawals but charges $10 dollars for wire deposits and $25 dollars for wire withdrawals, €0.15 Euro for SEPA deposits and withdrawals, and £1 pound for Swift withdrawals. For FTX, there are no deposit fees and they only charge for withdrawals made in USD and BRL, so our European and UK readers rejoice! For our US readers, again, I would definitely say that FTX.US would be your best bet but if you are set on using the international FTX then you could be seeing a $75 dollar fee for any USD withdrawals under $10,000 and residents of Brazil who want to withdraw BRL are looking at a 0.3% + R$10 withdrawal fee.

Pro Tip: Be sure to check with your bank before depositing funds as they may charge additional fees. Make extra sure that you won’t have your card blocked if you are using a credit card and that you won’t be hit with a nasty cash advance fee. Those are things I have faced myself as my bank took a hard-nosed, anti-crypto approach blocking any and all crypto-related transactions (so naturally I changed banks). I have heard similar stories from many of my crypto comrades as well.

Security

When it comes to Crypto exchanges it is really important not to fall into the “it won’t happen to me,” mindset as Crypto exchanges are notorious for hack attempts and many unsuspecting people were left pretty hurt after hacks did in fact, happen to them. It is important to disclose that Coinbase had suffered a hack in May of 2021 where over 6,000 Coinbase customer accounts were drained and Fox recently released an article in December of 2021 about a couple whose account was hacked and drained of $24,000 dollars even though they stated that they had two-factor authentication enabled and the account was password protected. It is not known how hackers gained access to the account but it is sad to see that Coinbase did not reimburse the couple as they do not cover unauthorized access to accounts, but they did reimburse the funds to the over 6,000 customers that were hacked in May as the fault was found to be in a 2FA breach on the Coinbase platform. To date, there have been no known hacks on FTX which is a good sign.

Coinbase Hack Affected 6,000+ Customers Image via pcmag.com

FTX takes security seriously, there is of course the industry standard 2FA option for logins, account changes and withdrawals (which should always be enabled) and FTX enforces a minimum password complexity requirement. FTX offers the additional security barriers preventing hackers from draining an account by allowing users to set a secondary withdrawal password and 2FA, so even if a hacker somehow gains access to your account, they will also need the secondary 2FA and password before they can do any real damage.

These features allow FTX users to boost the security of their accounts to Fort Knox level, preventing hackers from entry. In the unlikely event that a hacker manages to get past all that and gains access to a user’s account, that Fort Knox grade account can also turn into Alcatraz prison, preventing any unauthorized escaping of funds with 24-hour lock features, whitelisting withdrawal addresses and whitelisting IP addresses. FTX has also partnered with Chainanalysis to monitor suspicious transaction activity and the FTX team perform manual reviews for any suspicious or large deposits and withdrawals.

Additional Security features and User Settings for Whitelisting Addresses Image via help.ftx.com

Hacks aside, Coinbase is no slouch when it comes to security either. They have over 10 years of experience perfecting their security systems and even offer custodial solutions where institutions trust Coinbase with hundreds of millions of their dollars worth of Crypto that Coinbase holds in cold storage on their behalf. Along with the standard 2FA, Coinbase also operates on a bulk cold storage policy where 98% of coins held by the company are located in air-gapped cold storage wallets. Coinbase is one of the few exchanges that offer FDIC insurance to US customers, FTX.US also has insurance policies in place to protect US-based customers. I was unable to find any official word on either of these exchanges offering insurance for the funds of international customers, but it has become common practice for exchanges to pull from company treasuries to reimburse customers when they lose funds due to breaches in the platform’s security as we have seen from both Coinbase and Binance in the past.

Support

Customer support is another thing that is often seldom considered by exchange users until an emergency arises, and it really should not be overlooked. If you are experiencing a serious issue, the customer support time could be the difference between saved and lost funds. We’ve already mentioned the hack incidents which gave the Coinbase reputation a pretty serious black eye. What made this worse was that their customer support seriously dropped the ball after the incident as not only did these users lose their funds, but they were not able to reach customer support for days, or weeks in some cases as their support was overwhelmed.

Coinbase has an Ongoing Struggle with Criticisms Regarding Poor Customer Support Image via CNBC

You’d think they would have learned from this and scaled their support which they are getting better at to be fair, but there are still many complaints online about their poor support times. Both FTX and Coinbase offer email support, but FTX has an edge here as they can also be contacted across various social media platforms.

Though I would have to say to both of them, come on…It’s 2022 and much of the competition has made customer support great with live chat support, get with the times! Be very careful when contacting support on social media platforms as there are thousands of cases of people being tricked by users on social media pretending to work for customer support. Remember that no support member will ever ask for private keys or passwords, so if you are ever asked for personal information, anything other than usernames or emails, you are most likely talking to someone who is trying to gain access to your account.

FTX Offers Multiple Methods to Contact Their Support Team Image via help.ftx

That should give you a decent high-level overview of each FTX and Coinbase in a head-to-head showdown for some of the main important features. Read on for a deeper overview as we dive into each FTX and Coinbase.

FTX Overview

What is FTX

FTX is a centralised cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that was founded in May 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried (currently the CEO) and Gary Wang (currently the CTO). The headquarters were originally set in Hong Kong but likely due to regulatory worries, they moved the headquarters to the Bahamas in September 2021. FTX was able to explode in popularity and adoption in a short period of time, rising to the number 4 spot for the largest crypto exchange after an aggressive marketing and fundraising campaign.

A Look at the FTX Homepage and The Features Available Image via ftx.com

FTX received backing in July 2021 in the form of $900 million dollars from over 60 investors including the likes of Paul Tudor Jones, Coinbase Ventures, VanEck with other notable players and VC firms such as Paradigm and Sequoia capital and the private equity group Thoma Bravo, giving FTX the whopping valuation of $18 billion dollars at the time and now worth an even more impressive $25 billion. Interestingly, one of the early backers of FTX was competing exchange Binance back in December 2019 but as of July 2021, the two exchanges have parted ways, likely because of their competing platforms.

FTX Received an 18B Dollar Valuation After 900M Capital Raise Image via reuters.com

FTX continues to gain global exposure, helping to pave crypto adoption for the mainstream and bringing crypto into the spotlight with their recent acquisition of the NBA arena where the Miami Heat play, becoming the “Official and Exclusive Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner of the Miami Heat,” and having the arena name changed to the appropriately named “FTX Arena.” FTX is also the first crypto company to sign deals with America’s Major-League Baseball, and signed the largest naming rights deal in eSports history, acquiring the naming rights for eSports organization TSM. FTX is making large strides in becoming a household name and placing itself firmly at the forefront of people’s thoughts when they think about cryptocurrency.

FTX is Making Deals in Many Major Leagues Image via Coinquora

FTX was able to fufill a niche in the market which helped their meteoric rise in popularity as they are largely focused on the derivative and prediction markets, offering trading for futures, options, and volatility markets. In 2020, the exchange gained a lot of attention for issuing President 2020 futures contracts such as TRUMP-2020 and others which allowed traders to speculate on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. FTX has become a staple for day traders who enjoy speculating on a multitude of markets. FTX also recently acquired Blockfolio, an app-based portfolio tracking service for USD 150 million. This move was done with an intent to increase the exchange’s global retail userbase.

Whatever you Want to Trade, FTX has Likely got you Covered

Thanks to the fact that the FTX platform was designed by traders, for traders, it is an easy to use and intuitive platform that’s a pleasure for experienced traders and easy to pick up for new traders.

Currencies Offered

FTX has excellent asset support with over 275 crypto assets supported which can be traded against 6 base currencies which are: BTC, USDT, BRZ, TRYB, USD and EUR. FTX also has excellent Fiat support for Fiat onboarding including USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, TRY, ZAR, CAD, CHF and BRL with support for TRY coming soon.

FTX exchange also has their exchange token, the FTX token with the ticker symbol FTT. The token is widely used within the FTX ecosystem and provides benefits such as discounts on trading fees, can be used to create leveraged tokens and provides staking rewards. The FTT token can be found on FTX (of course), Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex and others.

Products

FTX offers some of the most unique trading products available in the Crypto markets while also meeting the needs of the average Crypto holder and trader.

Staking

Passive income is an alluring feature now being provided by many exchanges and FTX is no different. FTT token holders have the ability to stake their tokens for yield and additional rewards.

• Improved maker fee schedule: Stakers have a separate maker fee schedule that overrules the normal fee schedule. This is in addition to the standard FTT discounts.
• Bonus votes: FTX often takes polls from traders before launching a new financial instrument on the site. For instance, until January 11, 2021, traders could vote on which tokenized stock groups FTX should list next. FTT holders get additional votes on such polls.
• Increased SRM airdrop rewards: SRM is the native token of the Serum ecosystem. FTX is committed to dispersing 5% of the total supply of SRM to FTT holders over time.
• Increased referral rebate rates: In FTX’s affiliate program, traders who stake FTT receive a higher percentage of their referee fees.

Futures

FTX has become the “go-to,” place for futures traders with the highest number of futures markets available among their competitors. FTX has over 80 Cryptocurrencies in the futures section for traders to choose from and offers high leverage options for those experienced enough to utilize it. The futures contracts are divided into three types: maturity, perpetual and index.

Stocks

FTX is more than a one-trick pony as they also offer their customers exposure to stocks. Popular stocks such as Apple, Tesla, and Meta (Facebook) can be traded, though it is important to note that these are not the physical stocks themselves, but a product that mimics the actual stock value on a real-time basis.

Leveraged Tokens

The Leveraged tokens offered are ERC-20 tokens that mimic the underlying token’s movement utilizing a predefined leverage level. If Ethereum moves up by 1% then the ETH/USD Bull 3x Long token would move up by 3%, but if it drops by 1% then the leveraged token would drop by 3%. The reverse applies for the ETH/USD Bear 3x Short token which can be traded if the trader feels the price is going to drop. There are 3 types of leveraged tokens: Bull, Bear, and Hedge. These tokens will automatically rebalance themselves meaning that the tokens will reinvest the profits and will sell some of the position to reduce leverage in case of losses.

I would not be a very good Crypto educator if I didn’t mention that leveraged trading is extremely risky and has resulted in more traders losing everything than winning, so please do your own research on leveraged trading before deciding to use it and know that this tool is generally utilized by professional traders.

A Look at the Dozens of Leverage Tokens Available on FTX

Prediction Markets

Prediction markets can be thought of sort of like betting, where speculators can bet on the outcomes of global events such as elections. A popular one that traders loved speculating on was the previous Trump election in the United States.

BVOL

BVOL tokens are ERC-20 tokens that track the volatility of the Crypto markets. BVOL tokens get their exposure to volatility by using FTX MOVE contracts and BTC-PERP contracts. There are two BVOL tokens: BVOL and iBVOL. BVOL attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x long on the volatility of BTC while iBVOL (inverse BVOL) attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x short of the volatility of BTC.

Security and Insurance

Security and insurance was covered earlier during the head-to-head comparison but just as a recap here are the security features offered by FTX:

• password strength and 2FA requirement for login
• 2FA and password option for withdrawals
• withdrawal lock after 2FA removal or password change
• Email notifications of any suspicious activity
• subaccount functions (allowing others to access account with limited permission)
• whitelisting IP addresses
• whitelisting wallet addresses

The exchange maintains an insurance fund to protect clients in the cause the auto-liquidation engine fails which is good as 101x leverage can quickly wipe out a user’s account, so users do not want the liquidation engine to fail. Users who use leverage of higher than 50x are required to pay slighter higher trading fees which will contribute to the insurance fund.

Coinbase Review

 What is Coinbase

I am assuming that you have heard about Coinbase which is what brings you to this article today. As the largest US exchange, second-largest global exchange and the first Crypto exchange to go public, it is hard not to have heard of them. Along with Binance, Coinbase is the other “OG” exchange in the cryptospace and has its sights set on being the most regulation friendly crypto exchange, and the “go-to” for institutions and retail users who prioritize regulatory security, unlike their bad-boy rival Binance who is always in trouble from regulatory bodies for one reason or another. It is important to state that both FTX.US and Coinbase are regulated and legally operating within the confines of the US legal system, though on a global front, it is harder to navigate the regulatory waters to appease every country. Both FTX and Coinbase are the most friendly globally in terms of regulation, so if regulatory concerns are your main worry then I would highly recommend sticking to one of these two.

A Look at the Coinbase Homepage Image via coinbase.com

Coinbase in the News

There has been a fierce battle raging between Companies to become the most recognized brand in Crypto. We already mentioned FTX’s sponsorship deals, the exchange Crypto.com has been marketing very aggressively and Coinbase has not been sat idle either. Getting your brand in front of as many eyes as possible is a proven marketing strategy which is why Coinbase has signed sponsorship deals with the NBA, WNBA, NBA G and 2K League, going all-in on American basketball.

Coinbase Joins the Likes of Crypto.com and FTX in an Aggressive Marketing Sponsorship Campaign Image viasporttechie.com

Currencies Offered

Coinbase has a nice selection of over 100 cryptocurrencies, which is less than FTX and many of their counterparts. One of the reasons that Coinbase lacks in Crypto support is that as a publicly-traded company, they need to be careful that the tokens they offer cannot be deemed as securities which many of the tokens launched in IDO’s and ICO’s could come under regulatory scrutiny. I am not sure what their excuse is for the lacking fiat support as they only offer fiat onboarding and offboarding for USD, GBP and Euro. Coinbase also does not have its own exchange token, one of the few exchanges that don’t which may or may not be a deal-breaker depending on what you are looking to get out of an exchange.

A Look at Some of the Tokens Available on Coinbase Image via help.coinbase

Coinbase Pro Trading Platform

While Coinbase makes buying and selling Crypto incredibly easy and provides a clean interface for new users or for those who prefer simplicity, Coinbase also has Coinbase pro which can be accessed via the same login credentials to access a more robust trading platform that is more suitable for day and swing trading. Here is how that looks:

Coinbase Pro Trading Interface

Traders can place buy or sell market orders, limit orders and stop orders depending on their trading needs.

Security

 We’ve already covered the unfortunate hack cases earlier and provided a high-level overview of the security features on Coinbase, but let’s dive into the specifics, here are the security features supported on Coinbase:

• Phone number verification
• Two-Factor Authentication for login and crypto transactions
• Minimum password complexity requirement
• Address book and whitelisting addresses
• Multi-Email required Crypto Storage Vault feature

Fantastic Feature Offered by Coinbase For Long Term Crypto Storage Image via coinbase.com/vault

Closing Thoughts

Both FTX and Coinbase are great choices for the average crypto user, though I would really have to give the edge to FTX for any serious crypto traders as they provide significantly more markets and options for trading. Fees are also important as they can really eat away at your moonbags so FTX blows Coinbase out of the water there as well. From my years in Crypto, I have noticed a trend of many early crypto users starting off with Coinbase, like a bicycle with training wheels, then end up moving onto cheaper and more robust crypto trading platforms with more features.

I do feel like Coinbase is the best choice for brand new users as it is in my opinion, the “least scary” exchange due to its simplicity, minimalistic outlook and lack of overwhelming features. I remember after being a Binance user myself for years, I signed up for Coinbase as my, “back up,” exchange and spent some time clicking around the platform convinced that there had to be another hidden menu or something with more features but nope, Coinbase is just a simple, no-frills, easy Crypto exchange, though that could be changing soon with derivatives and NFTs coming on board to Coinbase in the near future.

For full transparency, I mentioned Coinbase as my “backup,” exchange but quickly changed and primarily use Binance and FTX as my main exchanges due to the high fees on Coinbase. We also have a detailed review on Binance which can be found here. This may be just my opinion, but I also wonder why Coinbase has dragged their feet in rolling out and implementing new and innovative features. FTX has been incredibly innovative in their few short years on the market with great features and new products, and Binance has been blazing up a trail as well, all the while, Coinbase has not been very proactive in many of the same ways. I would think that they would be more competitive with things like their Coinbase debit card as even brand-new, start-up companies are rolling out crypto cards with more features than the Coinbase card.

This makes it easy to see why Coinbase has lost quite a bit of market share to competitors like FTX, Kraken and Huobi in recent years. I am assuming that much of this has something to do with the fact that Coinbase is now a public company and need to follow regulations more closely leaving their hands tied on many fronts. Also, as with many publicly traded companies, more speculation on my part, but there is a chance that Coinbase is more concerned about making their shareholders happy than their customers which isn’t very crypto-cool in my opinion. Another company that faced similar criticism was Opensea when they recently announced they were considering going public, they later backtracked on the statement after the outrage of their community as they were looking to do it in a way that goes against much of the ethos that makes the crypto industry great. I guess time will tell if Coinbase will keep their number two spot or if quickly adopted exchanges like FTX will take the mantle.

The post FTX vs Coinbase Review appeared first on Coin Bureau.

If you are just entering the world of crypto trading and investment, navigating through the exchanges might seem a little overwhelming amongst all the options one can choose from. To help you out, in this article we will be comparing two of the top crypto exchanges you can choose from, Binance and FTX. Both of these exchanges are not more than 5 years old, but they were able to capture the market with their innovative products and features.

FTX vs Binance Summary

Binance vs FTX

Further on in the review we’ll take a closer look at each exchange individually, but first we want to give you an overview of our findings by comparing FTX versus Binance.

Currency and Products Offered

When looking at the types of product both the exchanges have to offer we can say that both have quite a lot of similarities based on their general offering. Where we see the major difference is that Binance is more focused on the spot market and have a wider offering of currencies there, whereas for FTX the major focus is on the derivatives market. Both the exchanges also have products that are unique to them such as Binance has Binance Earn, Crypto Loans, P2P market, etc. While FTX has volatility and prediction markets. Also, we see that both these exchanges are venturing into the NFT market and just released their NFT marketplace.

User Friendliness

Both these exchanges have a very clean and user-friendly web and app interface. It might be a little hard for a complete novice to understand the interface but in case of a trader with some experience will easily navigate through the exchange. However, here we believe Binance has an upper hand due to its rich resource library called Binance Academy. Binance Academy not only helps users understand how the exchange works but also help users understand how the crypto market works and the latest trends in the market.

Fee Structure

Both the exchanges charge very low fees on their spot trade market and the fees keep getting lower as the volume increases, however, here FTX takes the win as it charges 0.02% as maker fee and 0.07% as taker fee at tier 1 accounts. This is significantly lower than what Binance charges, i.e. 0.1% maker and taker fee. Matter of fact even after using native currency BNB for the trading user will have to pay 0.075% as a fee, which is still higher than what FTX is charging. Therefore, in this category, FTX is a winner.

Security

Security is one of the biggest factors to decide which exchange to choose and we can gladly say that both the exchanges do well in this category. Both the exchanges use 2FA and keep the account funds and data safe. Both the exchanges insure their funds by putting a certain amount of fee away as an insurance fund. However, we see that FTX also do 3^rd party transaction audits via Chainalysis and have never been hacked unlike Binance therefore we slightly favour FTX here.

FTX Overview

What is FTX

FTX is a centralised cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that was founded in May 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried (currently the CEO) and Gary Wang (currently the CTO). Originally it had its headquarters in Hong Kong, but in September 2021 its headquarter moved to the Bahamas. Over its 2 years of existence, the exchange has been able to rise to the level of top tier exchanges with a strong userbase and high daily trading volumes. As of 2022, the FTX has more than a million registered users and an average daily trading volume of billions of dollars.

Image via ftx.com

FTX is largely focused on the derivative and prediction market offering a plethora of futures, options, and volatility products. It has more than 290 listed crypto assets on its platform trading daily. In 2020 the exchange gained a lot of attention for issuing President 2020 futures contracts such as TRUMP-2020 and others which allowed traders to speculate on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

FTX aims to cater for both retail and institutional traders and provides a range of products and services aimed at more dedicated traders. FTX also recently acquired Blockfolio, an app-based portfolio tracking service for USD 150 million. This move was done with an intent to increase the exchange’s global retail userbase.

Currencies Offered

Although FTX is more focused on its derivative markets it has more than 170 cryptocurrencies pairs offered in its spot market. These 170+ crypto assets are paired with 6 base currencies; namely BTC, USDT, BRZ, TRYB, USD and EUR. The exchange does cover the majority of the top crypto assets but still lacks some big cryptocurrencies in the spot market such as Monero, Tezos, and Vechain.

In terms of fiat currency FTX facilitates deposits and withdrawals of many fiat currencies this allows more users from different geographical locations to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on FTX. These fiat currencies include USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, HKD, SGD, ZAR, CAD, CHF, and BRL, with TRY to be added soon.

FTX exchange has its native utility token called FTX Token aka FTT which is widely used in the FTX ecosystem. FTT is an Ethereum based (ERC-20) utility token and is listed on many cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Huobi, Bitfinex and others. There are multiple uses of the native token. Some of them include a discount on the trading fee. FTT can be used to create leveraged tokens, and it also enables staking for validating transactions. Other benefits include increased airdrop rewards, bonus votes and IEO tickets.

Products

FTX offers some of the most unique products that one can trade in the crypto market, some of the offered products are mentioned below.

Image via ftx.com

Futures

FTX have a lot to offer in this field with one of the highest number of crypto asset products compared to any other product segment in the exchange. The exchange has more than 80 cryptocurrencies in its futures segment which is quite a lot when compared with other top exchanges. The unique thing about FTX’s futures is that it offers many lesser-known currencies in its futures market. This allows traders to have more options to gain exposure in these low market cap coins. Another feature of this segment is that it offers very high leverage to its customers. These futures contracts are divided into three types; maturity, perpetual and index.

Stocks

This is one of the most unique products which FTX offers, as it allows traders and investors to gain exposure in some of the most popular stocks such as Tesla, Apple, and Facebook irrespective of your geographic limitations. This product mimics the actual stock on a real-time basis and allows traders and investors to diversify their portfolios.

Leveraged Tokens

Leverage tokens are ERC-20 tokens that mimic the underlying token’s movement but by a predefined leverage level. For example, if Bitcoin moves up by 1% then BULL/USD 3x Long BTC Token would move up by 3%, and if Bitcoin drops by 1% then it will move 3% in the negative direction. There are 3 types of leveraged tokens BULL, BEAR, and HEDGE. These tokens automatically rebalance themselves, i.e., the tokens will reinvest the profits and will sell some of the position to reduce its leverage in case of losses.

Prediction Market

This market works like a betting market where the speculators bet on the possible outcomes of different global events. One such example was the US presidential election of 2020 where people could bet on Trump’s second term as president.

BVOL

BVOL tokens are ERC-20 tokens that attempt to track the implied volatility of crypto markets. BVOL tokens get their exposure to implied crypto volatility using FTX MOVE contracts and BTC-PERP contracts. There are two BVOL tokens: BVOL and iBVOL.  BVOL attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x long the implied volatility of BTC; iBVOL attempts to track the daily returns of being 1x short the implied volatility of BTC.

Types of account and Fee

There are 3 tiers of accounts in FTX with different features and limitations. These 3 tiers are distinguished based on different KYC requirements. Non-verified accounts can withdraw up to $9,000 a day, while Tier 2 account holders can withdraw an unlimited amount of crypto funds, and Tier 3 account holders can withdraw unlimited fiat via an OTC desk.

The exchange also has a different level of trading fees that it charges its users based on their 30-day trading volume as shown below:

Image via help.ftx.com

Security and Insurance

Like any other top tier exchange, FTX puts a lot of emphasis on its security protocols. It has placed all the necessary protocols at various levels to protect its customers’ funds from hackers. Some of these protocols include:

• password strength and 2FA requirement;
• 2FA for withdrawals & withdrawal password;
• withdrawal lock after 2FA removal or password change;
• tracking and notifying users of any suspicious activity;
• subaccount functions (allowing others to access account with limited permission);
• whitelisting IP’s;
• whitelisting wallet addresses.

Image via ftx.com

Given that there is a leveraged market with access to as much as 101x leverage the exchange maintains an insurance fund to protect its clients in case the auto-liquidation engine fails at any given point in time. Traders who take advantage of leverage of between 50x and 100x are required to pay slighter higher trading fees – which will be directly contributed to the insurance fund. FTX has set aside around 5% of non-FTX owned FTT tokens as a contingency.

On top of this FTX uses a third party blockchain forensic firm called Chainalysis to monitor suspicious cryptocurrency transaction alerts in the Chainalysis Know Your Transaction (KYT) product, the real-time anti-money laundering (AML) compliance solution for monitoring cryptocurrency transactions.

Binance Review

What is Binance

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of traded volume. It was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao (a.k.a CZ), a developer who previously worked in creating high-frequency trading software. Binance was initially based in China but later moved its headquarter out of China as the government increased its restriction on cryptocurrencies, as now there is no fixed headquarters for Binance.

Image via binanace.com

Since its launch Binance has been rapidly growing. It was able to be one of the top three exchanges in less than 150 days of its launch. This unprecedented growth is the result of multiple factors; some of them including a successful ICO, superior infrastructure that was able to handle high volumes, a huge offering of cryptocurrencies for clients, and the launch of BNB token. Due to these factors and more Binance was able to become the top cryptocurrency exchange based on traded volume and still holds that position.

Up until recently, Binance was a crypto-to-crypto exchange, meaning that traders can not deposit or withdraw any fiat currency on the exchange. This recently changed and now the exchange offers fiat as part of its currency offering too.

Currencies Offered

Binance has the highest number of cryptocurrencies that any exchange offers to its clients. It currently has more than 350 cryptocurrencies in the spot market. This is an advantage Binance has over other exchanges, as it offers clients a plethora of currencies to choose from. These currencies further have more than 23 base currencies making it a truly diverse marketplace for traders and investors. This allows better arbitrage opportunities and diversification opportunities to traders.

Currently, Binance support approximately 60 fiat currencies either through credit and debit card deposit or through its P2P marketplace. This allows the client to enter the crypto market easily as one can choose their local currency to buy crypto and not worry about converting it into USD or any other international currency.

BNB is Binance’s native cryptocurrency that has been a game-changer for the exchange. It was one of the first native exchange tokens to be launched and had a pivotal impact on the operation of many exchanges. BNB was initially issued as an ERC-20 token but was later transferred into the Binance Chain network. There are many uses of BNB tokens within the Binance ecosystem, some of them include a reduced trading fee, staking, BNB vault, etc.

Products

Binance has a huge arsenal of products to offer its clients. Binance has been very active in providing its userbase with different types of products to help them capitalise on new market opportunities. Some of these products are mentioned below.

Image via binanace.com

Futures Market

Binance’s Future market can be broadly classified as USD stable coin market and Coin market. The main difference in these markets is that the former has a base currency of various USD stable coins such as USDT and BUSD but the latter has only USD fiat currency as its base. These can be further divided into perpetual contracts and quarterly contracts. Currently, Binance has more than 130 cryptocurrencies listed on its futures market.

Vanilla Options

Binance offers its users “European-style” Vanilla Bitcoin Options contracts. The options are priced and settled in USDT. It is offered with the intent to give users more choices to diversify their portfolios and manage their market exposure. Users can both buy the options for hedging and trading, as well as write and sell options as an issuer.

Leveraged Tokens

Similar to FTX, Binance also offers leverage tokens that mimic its underlying token but by a predefined leverage level. The design of these tokens, as mentioned in the Binance academy website, is inspired by FTX’s leverage tokens but Binance offers users up to 4x leverage tokens.

Binance Earn

Binance launched an innovative new offering to its users which they call Binance Earn. This includes products that allow users to earn passive earning by using the assets that they intend to hold for long periods. Binance Earn allows users products such as staking, opening a savings account, liquidity farming, BNB vault, etc. All of these methods also give the users the option to invest in a fixed or flexible method, i.e. if the user would like to invest the fund for a fixed amount of time where she cannot redeem her funds before maturity or in a flexible manner where the fund can be redeem whenever requested.

Types of Accounts and Fees

Binance has 10 tiers of accounts which are distinguished by the VIP level. A user can upgrade the VIP level by two methods, either by achieving a set trade volume in the margin or spot account or by buying and holding a certain number of BNB tokens. Adding to that if the trader uses BNB as the base currency for trading then they receive an additional 25% discount on trading fees. The following table shows how the maker-taker fee changes as one rises in the account hierarchy.

Image via www.binance.com

Security and Insurance

Binance, being the biggest exchange pays special attention to its security and the safety of funds. It offers a number of security safeguards for the safety of its users’ funds. Some of these safeguards include 2FA login and fund transfer, wallet and device management, restricted sub-account creation and email/mobile notification to alert the user of any malicious practice.

In May 2019 Binance was a victim of a malicious attack where it lost $40 million worth of funds, however, due to its fund insurance it was able to navigate through the critical time with ease. This fund is called Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) that Binance introduced in 2018. The SAFU function acts as insurance. The reserve SAFU pot is funded by taking 10% of all trading fees that Binance generates. As the transaction volume increases on Binance so will the value of the fund making the exchange safer as it grows.

Conclusion

Both FTX and Binance are highly ranked exchanges with top tier technology working round the clock to provide a safe and best user experience. They have a lot of similarities and at the same time, both are unique in their offerings as well. Both exchanges have a huge userbase and are continuously growing and evolving since their inception. Based on our four deciding criteria we see FTX as a better exchange. However, we believe that the decision to choose the best exchange is also dependent on what style of trading or investing you do, in case you like to trade low market cap coins or want to buy and hold coins and earn passive income then Binance is a better choice. If you are more of an active trader and would like to get exposure in not only crypto but also volatility and other stock assets then FTX is a better choice for you. Therefore, the final decision is always up to the user.

The post Heavyweight Bout of Crypto Exchanges: FTX vs Binance appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Gala Games has an impressive project with an even more impressive approach to the sector. I think their approach will be easy enough for everyone to understand and it does make a lot of sense. What Gala Games is trying to do is create AAA games that will attract gamers not because it’s on the blockchain but because the games are excellent.

In this article I’ll dive into Gala Games as well as their native token GALA. However, I’m going to differentiate a bit from the other traditional reviews and focus more on Gala’s games and team. To find even more useful information you can take a look at a recent video about Gala Games on the Coin Bureau YouTube channel.

Looking At the Competitors

When you think of blockchain gaming there’s probably a few names that immediately pop into your mind. Axie Infinity, Decentraland, The Sandbox, Star Atlas, and some other big names – although Decentraland and The Sandbox are more metaverse than gaming. Then when you think about traditional gaming you might think of GTA, Call of Duty, Sports Games (EA Sports), World of Warcraft, Halo, Counter Strike, and many more. Now take a moment to think about what separates these blockchain companies from traditional ones (apart from the blockchain of course).

After thinking about that for a while you might have come to the same conclusion as me, blockchain games aren’t that great to play compared to traditional games (no offense). None of these games have anything special in them apart from maybe Star Atlas but that’s years from launching, Axie Infinity is a simple game with not that much excitement on top of the earning aspect. Decentraland and The Sandbox have graphics that are not that great and there isn’t much to do in these games.

A good game for sure, but the gameplay isn’t that exiting. Image via Axie Infinity.

Therefore, Gala Games has taken the approach to create the best games out there – blockchain or not – and on top of that they’ll have the additional benefit of being on the blockchain incorporating both full ownership with NFTs as well as the earnings aspect. How Gala Games manages to do this is by having an amazing team which we’ll get into in the next part. The result can already be seen with one game operating and one in beta mode. The one in beta mode is called Spider Tanks and they’ve even hosted a world cup in Seoul that gathered thousands of viewers. The game has some good e-sports qualities and it wouldn’t surprise me if this game completely blows up when released.

The Team 

Let’s get straight into who’s on the team. First, we have Eric Schiermeyer who’s the co-founder and CEO of Gala Games. Eric is the former CEO of Intermix Media, the company behind Myspace, and he’s the co-founder of Zynga. Eric himself brings the first super star talent to the team with his background from Zynga, and in case you don’t know Zynga, they have many popular games including FarmVille. The second co-founder and currently the studio director at Gala Games is Michael McCarthy. He’s the former creative director at Zynga and also the one behind FarmVille 2. Another grade A quality to say the least, FarmVille 2 had over 40 million monthly active players at its peak.

This came out just as I was finishing this piece, not a small valuation! Image via Financial Times

The next big name on this list, and someone with a title that every kid dreams of, is the President of Games at Gala games, John Osvald. John has a 15-year background in the gaming industry, most of It from Zynga, but his most recent position was Head of Products at the mobile games division at Electronic Arts. His job at Gala is to oversee the games under development and with that background he looks like the right man for it.

Next up we have Warren Marshall and Craig Matchett, both of them working with 3D designing. Warren is the co-founder and art director at Gala. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry and 5 of those were spent at Epic Games where his most recent project was Fortnite. Craig is working on one specific project at Gala which is Mirandus, which will get into later. Craig’s CV speaks for itself since it includes being a part of the creation of Dead Space 2 and 3, Battlefield Hardline, and many more popular games.

Not a bad list of games that Craig has on his CV. Image via Gala Medium

Lastly, I’ll mention Jason Brinks since he has kind of become the face of Gala Games. Currently Jason has the role of Head of Blockchain which is why I believe he’s been the one that has been taking the stage. And, he actually said in an interview that he was a few hours late from becoming a co-founder at Gala. Jason doesn’t have a long and impressive background in gaming but that’s alright since as revealed by his title he handles the blockchain part. Jason got into the blockchain industry by doing voluntary work where he saw the need and the good that this technology can do. He’s even got an award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for something called the Aid Dollar. However, he realized that traditional players can’t move with the speed of which is necessary which led him to see the possibilities gaming has with its fast pace of innovation.

On top of this group there’s much more talent available at Gala. In the recent year they’ve been hiring like crazy and are now over 200 employees. Also, as you can imagine the more Gala and the more the whole blockchain gaming industry grows, the more talent Gala can hire. So, if you ask me, I believe that these talents are only the beginning and as we go on, we’ll see lots more quality people migrate from the traditional big players (EA, Activision, and Take-Two) to blockchain gaming companies like Gala.

Gala’s Games

To really express the value created at Gala Games I want to talk about what they’ve already created and what’s currently in development. Now these games are some fun and engaging games and while you might have come to read this article to know whether GALA is the real deal or not, you might instead find yourself a fun play-to-earn game. Keep in mind also that these are just three games out of a long list of games Gala will be launching so I recommend visiting their website to see if you’d like any of the other upcoming games better than those I’ve picked.

Town Star

Town Star is currently the only fully launched game and it is still being developed and updated all the time. This is a farming game, and it can’t be a coincidence that many at Gala had previously been working on Farmville at Zynga. Town Star is available on your computer as well as IOS and Android compatible, and it’s completely free. In October of 2021 Town Star incorporated play-to-earn and currently there are multiple ways to earn, as well as NFTs to be acquired within the game.

The first way to earn is by competing in weekly competitions. This is done by just playing the game and earning Star points as you go. The 100 players who’ve earned the most points each week get rewarded, the whole reward sum is 198,000 GALA. These weekly competitions are fun, and it doesn’t really require anything else from you than just playing the game.

It’s a fun game, I suggest you try it. Image via Town Star.

The second way to earn is by doing daily challenges. However, in order to do daily challenges, you need to own an NFT. These NFTs can be found either in the Gala shop or on secondary markets like OpenSea. Then when you own and deploy these NFTs in a game you’ll be given challenges based on how many NFTs you have. When completing these you earn the TOWN token. The amount you can earn depends on your NFT, but it can be anything from 1 up to 100. However, the amount you earn isn’t finite and it has a cap which apparently depends on a variety of factors which to me are still a bit unclear even after reading about it from the official website.

That legendary basketball court sold for close to $10k. Image via Gala Games.

There are two types of NFTs on Town Star, some with game advantages and some are only cosmetics. In order to earn rewards, you need to have at least one from the first category. When it comes to how much these NFTs are worth there’s a lot of difference based on the rarity and the potential income. For example, one NFT could be worth many thousands of dollars because it gives you the possibility to earn 100 TOWN tokens (≈ $66) a day. Also, you can always sell your NFTs and if the game keeps gaining popularity there shouldn’t be any reason why your NFTs wouldn’t sell for the same price or even more. However, there’s no guarantee so don’t go spending too much money on the game before learning about it more.

Spider Tanks

Spider Tanks is a PvP brawler available on PC and desktop, and as I already mentioned, I believe it has some great e-sports qualities. The game is currently in beta mode, and you can buy NFTs. What makes this game a bit different from Town Star is that it’s not developed in-house. This game is developed by an award-winning game studio from Netherlands called Gamedia.

The game seems extremely simple and could be compared to, for example, Brawl Stars, the popular game created by Super Cell. You simply need a tank and then you can jump in different game modes and play. The game is advertised as free to play so my guess is there’s some way to gain a free tank to begin with. The tanks are extremely interesting since you can customize which body and what gun you use, there are a total of 8 abilities that vary depending on what combination of gun and body you use (Health, Speed, Clip size, reload speed…)

This is what I want to play with, chicken legs X lava launcher. Image via Spider Tanks.

The play-to-earn mechanism in Spider Tanks will be in three different forms, skill-based competition, resource collection, and something called player driven upgrade cycle. The amount you can earn is yet to be determined but I’m guessing we’ll see something similar to Town Star. There will likely be a Spider Tanks own native token as well as the GALA token available. Currently all the NFTs are sold for GALA tokens.

Mirandus

This is perhaps the most anticipated game from Gala and it can clearly be seen in how popular the NFTs have been. Mirandus is a fantasy RPG in which players will have full control and freedom. Unlike others the game likely won’t be free to play since you’ll have to buy a character to start playing. Currently the rarest characters are already sold out and not many remain from other tiers either (don’t know what happens when all are sold out).

Guess we’ll see the servers full of Elves named Legolas. Image via Mirandus.

The game will include many different features. The world will be ruled by five-player monarchs but since there is freedom you can choose what you want to do. You can, for example, become a knight of a monarch, or maybe you want to go for an adventure in the wilderness and try your luck against monsters found there. The game hasn’t yet released tons of details about the gameplay itself but let me tell you about one of the play-to-earn mechanisms.

The game will have 1625 deeds which correspond to owning land. These deeds will earn you money since people who want to build on top of that land will have to lease the land from you. And, from what I understand there will be high demand for this since anyone in the game can buy buildings and they can be built on anyone’s land as long as the lease is paid. Naturally, there will be other earning features too but this more metaverse approach seems really interesting. I totally see where this game has gotten its popularity and I’ll be keeping a close eye on this project and also all the others from Gala.

How does Gala Games Work?

For the time being both the GALA token and the in-game tokens are on the Ethereum blockchain but will later be moved to the Gala sidechain. Currently much of the traffic on the games and marketplace is powered by Gala nodes, also known as Founders Nodes, but the details surrounding this are a bit unclear. Later on, these nodes will power the Gala sidechain. According to Jason Brinks there will only ever be 50,000 nodes which should be able to handle up to 100 million monthly active users. Other details surrounding the Gala sidechain are unclear since no documentation has been released. Currently there are just over 21,000 nodes active but according to an interview with Jason Brinks only about 10,000 licenses remain. Currently a node license costs about 286k in GALA ($85k) and can be purchased through the Gala Games website. To learn more about the requirements and how node operators earn I suggest you watch the already mentioned Coin Bureau video on Gala, TLDR, earnings are about $150 per day according to another YouTube video.

On top of the Founders Nodes there will be game specific nodes. These nodes won’t earn rewards in the GALA token but in the in-game currency of the specific game. Only one game currently has active nodes and that’s Town Star. One of the benefits of these nodes is that it allows games to run without needing the browser open. These nodes will also vote on game specific updates.

Have a look at the node architecture. Image via Gala Games blog

Tokenomics

As mentioned, GALA is an ERC-20 token, but it also exists on the Binance Smart Chain as a BEP20 token. GALA is used to pay for NFTs on their marketplace and as payment for the Founders Node licenses. In the future GALA will likely also be used as payment for transactions on the Gala sidechain.

Gala Games tokenomics are a bit unclear but according to their own page the max supply is around 50 billion. GALA is distributed a bit over 17 million daily and 50% go to the Founders Nodes while the other half goes to the Gala Games Conservatorship for further development of the ecosystem. This issuance will be halved each year until it eventually reaches 0. What’s weird and unclear about Gala is its current circulating supply. CoinMarketCap and Coingecko both show small amounts of supply while Etherscan shows a massive circulating supply of 36 billion. This is concerning since without knowing the actual supply it’s hard to judge the price potential. There’s also no way of knowing the market cap.

Price Action and Concerns

In the last year the GALA token has increased over 30x but the majority of the gains have come during the metaverse hype which started last September. GALA has also fallen over 50% from its all-time high. When it comes to how much room the token has to grow it’s hard to say, and that’s because of the market cap issue I mentioned. It has a huge difference whether the market cap is somewhere around $2-3 billion like CoinMarketCap and Coingecko suggest or if it’s somewhere closer to $11 billion as the statistics from Etherescan show.

Here’s a look at the price. Image via CoinMarketCap.

Another downside to the token is that it lacks sufficient demand compared to its supply. As mentioned, there’s millions of GALA issued each day and it’s safe to assume that at least some of the Founders Nodes are selling their share since there’s not much to do currently with GALA. This won’t change until the GALA sidechain is released and the token gains more utility, and the timeline for that remains unknown.

The third concern I have with GALA as an investment is related to both the lack of utility and supply. From the many interviews and documents I looked at it seems as though the team doesn’t really care about GALA being a good investment. They talk multiple times about how GALA should be used to interact with the games which makes me think that the token might better be thought of as any in-game currency and that the in-game items are those with the value. This is of course pure speculation from my side, and I do believe it’s likely that GALA will see great price action moving forward if they manage to launch multiple successful games.

Conclusion 

You might have noticed I didn’t include a roadmap or an updates section but that’s because there isn’t a clear roadmap and not much has happened since Guy last covered to project on the CB YouTube. Therefore, if you haven’t already, I again urge you to go watch that, at least you can watch the roadmap and concerns parts which contain most of the information not included here.

Hopefully this article otherwise gave you some insights into Gala Games and what they’re doing to become the number one gaming project. The great potential seems to lie in playing these games and earning through that. The games are quality games and will compete with traditional games not only because of the play-to-earn function but also because they are great and fun games. Now whether they can wrestle with big names like Axie Infinity in terms of market cap remains to be seen.

The post GALA Games Review: Everything you NEED to Know appeared first on Coin Bureau.

 But what if I told you there is a Layer-1 PoW blockchain that’s not only energy-efficient but completely scalable, decentralized, and secure, would you believe me?

That’s exactly what Kadena claims to be. Kadena’s token (KDA) has gone parabolic the past few months, quickly growing from a $100 million market cap to a $3 billion market cap in just 60 days. Some have even gone so far as to call it an Ethereum killer (yes, every coin seems to brand itself as so), but its founder Stuart Popejoy insists that Kadena is the next generation of smart contract blockchains working alongside ETH and BTC, offering true scalability with a proposed 480,000 transactions per second (TPS).

We’re going to take a deep look into Kadena in this review to see if the claims are true, if Kadena can work alongside ETH and BTC, or if it really is The Ethereum Killer.

What is Kadena?

Kadena is a layer-1 proof-of-work blockchain with a proprietary chain architecture called Chainweb that allegedly allows Kadena to scale limitlessly. It also has a layer-2 blockchain called Kuro that allows for permissioned (private) transactions. Both layers are built using the native smart contract programming language called ‘Pact’, which is built in Haskell.

Kadena’s vision is to be a highly scalable and developer-friendly blockchain that offers the same level of security seen in PoW blockchains like Bitcoin.  Except, unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, Kadena offers smart contract functionality even on a Turing-incomplete programming language (more on this later).

Kadena is designed to be appealing and functional for not only retail or regular users but also institutional and enterprise users. Theoretically, Kadena’s innovative PoW consensus mechanism called Chainweb seems to have solved the infamous blockchain trilemma. This should come as no surprise considering the Kadena team’s rich heritage.

Kadena’s Team

The project was founded in 2016 by Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino and has deep ties to traditional finance, with the founders being former members of the JPMorgan blockchain development team for Juno and the SEC’s Cryptocurrency Steering Committee respectively. Among the list of advisors to the team, there is one name that stands out like the sun on a hot day, that is Dr. Stuart Haber, the co-inventor of ‘blockchain’ and the most cited author in Satoshi Nakamoto’s renowned 2008 Bitcoin white paper.

Will Martino and Stuart Popejoy- Founders of Kadena via Kadena

Interviews with both Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino are especially impressive and show the founders’ bright vision for Kadena’s future and their understanding of both the legacy financial system and the blockchain ecosystem. This understanding helped the founders design Kadena to combat the flaws found in both CeFi and DeFi.

Kadena’s Architecture

The brilliance of the team is displayed when analyzing all the components of Kadena’s architecture, namely:

1. Chainweb – the layer-1 public blockchain that provides limitless scalability in a PoW consensus mechanism utilizing an innovative system of ‘braiding’ between multiple parallel ‘peer’ chains.
2. Kuro – the layer-2 open-source private blockchain built specifically for eEnterprises providing a speed of 8000 TPS across 500 nodes.
3. Pact – the native open-source smart contract programming language created by the Kadena team using Haskell for implementation.

Let’s look at each of these components in more depth.

Chainweb

Chainweb refers to the layer-1 public blockchain developed by the team that provides limitless scalability in a PoW consensus mechanism. It also refers to the unique architecture of the Kadena blockchain. One of the most prevalent problems of a proof-of-work blockchain is its inability to effectively scale, but with Chainweb, Kadena has been able to overcome this particular issue through the incorporation of two key features to its architecture; namely ‘sharding’ and ‘braiding’. Now, what does that mean?

‘Sharding’ refers to the splitting of one blockchain into multiple individual chains and ‘Braiding’ refers to the mechanism in which each block in a peer chain contains references to the hash of the previous blocks from other peer chains. Simply put, Chainweb is an interconnected bundle of multiple parallel chains called ‘peer chains’ that all simultaneously work together for a single network.

The Chainweb graph for Kadena’s 20 ‘peer’ chains via Medium

Scalability – The element of ‘sharding’ helps in the scalability of the blockchain as each shard is only concerned with a small subset of transactions in the whole blockchain. Therefore, this leads to an increase in throughput as each shard in the chain can simultaneously process transactions and produce blocks. The more shards in the blockchain, the more transactions the blockchain can process.

Security – When it comes to providing security to these chains, the element of ‘braiding’ helps secure the network as each block in the network contains the hash of its previous block as well as the hash of previous blocks in other peer chains of the network. This feature allows each block to validate other blocks in the network, regardless of the particular shard or chain it is from. Therefore, for an attacker to harm the network, he must gain control of over 51% of the total hash power in the complete network instead of just one or several individual shards. This prevents a single shard attack and secures the network. While the implementation of braiding is slightly more complex, with the introduction of ‘degrees’ and ‘diameters’ in the structure of the Chainweb, you can gain a better understanding through Kadena’s educational article on it.

At present, Chainweb has a total of 20 ‘peer’ chains or shards in its network with a throughput of 480,000 TPS when working along with its private chain ‘Kuro’. At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that one of the leading criticisms for proof-of-work blockchains is their nature of being extremely energy-intensive. So naturally, the question now remains whether Kadena can be energy-efficient as it scales further and adds more peer chains in its network. And the answer to this is YES.

Kadena initially launched with a total of 10 peer chains, which later scaled to 20 peer chains in Aug 2020, and the results show that the energy consumption of the network remained the same even after doubling the number of chains on the network. This acts as a proof of concept for the blockchain’s ability to scale from 20 chains up to 1000 peer chains and more while using the same amount of energy to run the network, making the blockchain extremely energy efficient, especially at scale.

Kuro

Kadena also developed a private blockchain before launching its public smart contract platform. The Kadena Kuro (previously ScalableBFT) private blockchain is an open-source layer-2 blockchain that uses a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus method and is optimized for enterprise-grade use cases.  Kuro is built using the Pact language and is tailored to serve enterprises with their blockchain needs. Some of the features that Kuro offers that other private blockchains don’t offer are:

• Automatic bug detection through formal verification.
• Human-readable code that is accessible to programmers and executives alike.
• Flexibility to upgrade smart contract terms to reflect changing business needs.
• Easy integration to existing enterprise databases with a native API.
• Advanced security options like key rotation and pluggable encryption allow you to dial up security to meet your specs.

Features of Kadena Kuro via Medium

As a proof of concept, a healthcare consortium has been using Kadena Kuro to help decrease the effort required to acquire and retain insurance provider information since 2018. Kuro can be used as a side-chain with a public blockchain network (such as Kadena’s public platform) to speed up transaction processes and build new data marketplaces. This feature is especially useful for enterprises with a good collection of user or market data that can be monetized and sold on a private blockchain.

Pact

Pact is the native open-source smart contract language of Kadena with built-in bug detection. It is the first truly human-readable smart contract language that is Turing-incomplete. It allows anyone to write on a blockchain in a straightforward, direct, and secure manner. Pact was designed to solve some key problems that are present in current-day standard smart contract programming languages like Ethereum’s solidity. Solidity, being a Turing-complete language, suffers from various attack vectors like unbounded loops and a lack of Formal Verification. Additionally, when you reference code from other contracts in Pact, you stay in control of what happens with your transactions, even if they change their code

Formal Verification (FV) – This is a feature of Pact that lets developers automatically verify whether their code has any bugs or loopholes through mathematical computation. Think of the ‘Formal Verification Tool’ as the ‘Grammarly Tool’ of coding. Formal Verification in Pact is designed to not only tell you whether your smart contract can execute what you intended but also verify whether it will perform no other action besides your intended programming.

Blockchain Governance – Unlike Solidity-based contracts, Pact smart contracts can be updated, altered, or fixed via an update system that allows users to declare new versions of a smart contract that are only applied when the new code has been properly run. Any faults will cause the smart contracts to revert to their original state and prevent any further changes.

Smart Contract Security – To understand the smart contract security of using Pact, we must first understand the concept of ‘Turing Completeness’ in programming languages. To describe it simply, ‘Turing Completeness’ refers to a programming language’s ability to express all possible programs or functions. In non-technical speak, it refers to whether a programming language is all-powerful and unlimited in its application according to modern computer standards for building all types of programs.

Turing Completeness vs Incompleteness via Medium

Pact was purposefully designed to be a Turing-incomplete language, unlike Ethereum’s Solidity which is a Turing-complete language. While it is true that Turing-complete languages are much more diverse and powerful in terms of their programming capabilities, they also offer a wider range of options to bad actors to exploit and attack a program or code. Most blockchain applications currently being run do not require the full range of features that a Turing-complete language offers. Therefore, a Turing-incomplete language like Pact can offer all the programming functionality needed for most smart contracts and the applications that run on it are even more secure.

One of the key functions that give rise to a variety of attacks in a Turing-complete program on the blockchain is ‘recursion’. Recursion refers to a program’s ability to loop an action until a specific condition is met for it to terminate. In a Turing-incomplete language like Pact, any recursion that is detected will cause an immediate failure and terminate all running code. This feature significantly reduces any potential attack vectors that may be present in smart contracts.

Remember the 2016 DAO attack on Ethereum? That’s one of the most famous examples of where an attacker was able to exploit the ‘re-entrancy’ function (courtesy of the Turing-complete nature of the programming language) of the smart contract and drain the DAO’s funds before the balance was updated on-chain.

Kadena’s KDA Token

Kadena’s native token is called KDA and is used to pay for computing power on the Kadena blockchain similar to how ETH is used for the Ethereum blockchain. KDA is also paid to miners for mining blocks similar to Bitcoin’s block reward of BTC for successfully mining a block. The total supply of KDA is 1 billion tokens and the current circulating supply at the time of writing is 166,581,608 KDA (i.e 17% of the total supply).

Token Allocation

Kadena Token Allocation via Medium

Kadena’s total token supply is divided into five.

Platform Reserve – Around 20 percent of the total supply is allocated to the platform reserve. The Platform Reserve is a form of treasury for the project, where the tokens in the platform reserve will be partially monetized and used to provide services such as insurance, smart contract verification, and gas station grants.

Miners – Around 70 percent of the total supply is allocated to miners. These tokens will slowly be released into supply as block rewards for miners. The emission rate is projected to last more than 100 years before the block reward pool runs out.

Investor/Strategic – Around 6 percent of the total supply is allocated to Investors/Strategic. These tokens are to be issued in token sales to investors or to be distributed for strategic partnerships with other projects or ecosystem initiatives.

Contributor – Around 3 percent of the total supply is allocated to ‘Contributors’. Contributors include employees, consultants, and advisors. These are essentially tokens reserved for the team and people behind the project.

Burned – Around 10 million tokens (1% of the total supply) were burned during the initial launch of the project.

Emission Schedule

KDA Emission Schedule up to 2031 via Medium

Token emissions in Kadena come from two sources – mining and platform emissions.

Mining Emissions – The mining pool accounts for around 700M tokens (70% of the supply), which will slowly be released into circulation through block rewards awarded to the miners for successfully mining a block. The emission rate is scheduled to last for a total of 120 years. The block reward began at about 2.3 KDA per block or 23.04523 KDA per block height at genesis. This amount will decrease by roughly 0.3% every 87,600 block heights until block height 95,308,800 when the mining reward stagnates at 1 KDA per block height. The block reward will eventually drop to zero at block height 125,538,057. This makes the token economy fall somewhere between inflationary (in terms of circulating supply) and deflationary (in terms of purchasing power of the token with successful adoption).

As a non-technical person, understanding and calculating the block rewards by looking at their GitHub was a headache. If you’re someone like me, fear not, I shall explain. Block Height refers to a position in a blockchain. In a traditional blockchain, the block height increases with every block that is produced. However, in a sharded blockchain like Kadena, the block height is calculated as follows: if there are 20 shards in the network, at any given block height, there will be 20 blocks (one produced by each of the shards/chains) positioned at the same block height.

Therefore, as Kadena scales into a higher number of peer chains, the individual block rewards become smaller and smaller, as there is a fixed reward at each block height. At any particular block height, the KDA rewards have to be split between all the blocks present in that block height.

Platform Reserve Emissions – The platform reserve accounts for 200M tokens (20% of the total supply). These are pre-allocated tokens that are vested over time. The time-locked slow vesting schedule was placed on the platform reserve to prevent inflation and at the same time provide strong economic backing to the platform so that it can fund and provide grants for various initiatives that will help its growth. At the time of writing, the platform emission rate stands at 22.08M tokens/year and 2M tokens/month. However, the team has reserved the right to change the emission rate in the future based on what they deem to be in the best interests of the project. With the current emission rate, the platform reserve tokens will be completely unlocked over 10 years from 2021 to 2030.

KDA Price History

Kadena’s token (KDA) has gone parabolic the past few months, quickly growing from a $100 million market cap to a $3 billion market cap in just 60 days. Kadena held two private token sales in early 2018 in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT), the tokens were sold at the price range of $0.50-$0.75. Kadena also had a public token sale where it sold each token for $1. With the current price of KDA sitting at $9.72, that’s a 1,812% return since launch.  According to CoinMarketCap, it has hit an all-time low of $0.1213 in Jan 2021 and an all-time high of $28.25 in Nov 2021. All within 11 months! KDA especially caught investors’ attention during October and November in 2021. Some reckon this is because wrapped KDA had just launched on the Ethereum (ETH) network, along with Kadena’s rollout of non-fungible token projects, their new exchange listings, and the addition of support for KDA staking.

KDA’s race to the top in November! via CoinMarketCap

The KDA token is currently available on KuCoin, Gate.io, Bittrex, and more.

Kadena Ecosystem

The Kadena ecosystem is rapidly expanding with unique features like a ‘gas station’ and a new native NFT standard. It also has diverse projects building on it in the areas of DeFi, DEXs, NFT Marketplaces, and wallets.

Gas Station

In a blockchain first, Kadena offers the first crypto ‘gas station’ service. Gas stations are accounts that refund all gas utilized to execute specific smart contracts to users. The idea behind gas stations is to ease the user on-boarding in dApps, helping users experience a dApp without being forced through the hassle of acquiring the native crypto on an exchange and then transferring to the wallet to use the dApp’s services. Gas stations are a powerful means for the platform to cover many years of gas prices when combined with Pact’s ability for dApp developers to co-sign transactions and pay for a user’s gas expenditures when utilizing a dApp.

Kadena DAO

Dao.init is the name of Kadena’s first DAO that is currently in the test net before being launched to the main net. The formation of a DAO will allow the broader community to contribute feedback in a decentralized manner as Kadena’s ecosystem continues to grow. The DAO will serve two purposes: 1) it will allow the Kadena community to submit and vote on suggestions aimed at advancing the Kadena ecosystem, and 2) it will establish a decentralized procedure for adding new features to the Kadena platform.

Wallets

Currently, there are 2 wallet services on the Kadena blockchain – Chainweaver and Zelcore

Chainweaver – This wallet service is developed by the Kadena team. It uses a 12 words seed to generate your public keys.

Zelcore – This wallet service is developed by a third party and it uses a combination of your username and password for security. In Zelcore you are responsible for your security, a bad/short username/password will put your account at risk.

If you’re wondering which wallet to use, I suggest reading this article.

Kaddex

Kaddex is a decentralized multi-protocol AMM DEX with native decentralized bridges that is run by a DAO on the Kadena blockchain. It can offer zero gas fee transactions due to Kadena’s ‘gas stations’. Kaddex has its token called KDX which functions both as a governance token for the DAO and a utility token for the DEX. Kaddex provides unique LPs incentives that will attract new DeFi customers to the network. When a swap is performed the user is charged a standard 0.3% trading fee, of which 100% goes to Liquidity Providers.

NFTs

Non-fungible tokens on Kadena built with Pact, solve one key issue present in the ERC standards of Ethereum – lack of additional function besides ‘transfer’. According to Stuart Popejoy, the co-founder of Kadena, NFT sales in ethereum marketplaces that involve the function of ‘royalties’ are solely left at the hands of the marketplace. This creates a need to trust in a world that is supposed to be built on the concept of ‘trust-lessness’. Therefore the native NFT standard on Kadena makes it possible to automatically transfer royalties to the creator even if the sale/transfer is done outside of an NFT marketplace. This ensures and upholds the creator’s right to receive royalties from his NFT creation.

Future Plans

Kadena’s future looks bright according to its roadmap. The team seems ready to plunge headfirst into mass adoption with the roll-out of bridges connecting Kadena to blockchains like Terra, Celo, and Ethereum. The team has also hinted at a possible integration of Kadena into the Ledger hardware wallet. The team additionally has plans to offer various incentives in the form of grants like the developer grant and ambassador programs.

Conclusion

Honestly, Kadena’s architecture is beyond impressive and investors seem to be catching on to the platform’s vision. Kadena has effectively solved two major obstacles in the blockchain ecosystem, the first being the blockchain trilemma. Kadena’s unique Chainweb architecture promises to scale like no other blockchain in the market at the moment, while still holding onto the pillars of decentralization and security. It has even managed to become energy efficient at scale.  The second major obstacle Kadena seems to have solved is the onboarding of institutional and enterprise entities onto the blockchain through its innovative layer-2 platform called Kuro. Kadena, through its ‘gas station’ feature, has also made it possible for retail investors and laymen to interact with dApps built on its blockchain without the need for any native utility tokens for gas. Thus, with continued real-world application and commercial viability, Kadena seems closer to bringing blockchain to mass adoption than any other project in the market.

The post Kadena Deepdive! The Blockchain Trilemma solved?! appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In the NFT space, what catches the most number of eyeballs is usually the launch of a new NFT art project. What’s the next best thing to buy that will, after a few flips, hit the moon – the metric that most people use to measure the value of a NFT.  Therefore, it is a nice surprise that the biggest NFT event to end 2021 was the $SOS token airdrop to the users of OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in terms of users, trading volume and number of artworks for sale. If you’re like me, scratching your head asking: what’s the big deal? Free money raining on folks in crypto is the norm, right? Well, read on to find out why this particular rainfall is not just the average one resulting in a piddly flood or two. 

An NFT user blessed with $SOS tokens Image via Shutterstock

OpenSea, OpenDao and the SOS Airdrop

Basically, anyone who has bought, sold, listed anything on OpenSea before Dec 23, 2021, are eligible to receive $SOS tokens rewarding them for their participation and support. The distribution period starts from Dec 13th through to June 30, 2022. The distribution of the token is dependent on the amount of ETH, DAI, USDC transacted, which carries about 70% weight, and the total number of transactions, according to the official website, theopendao.com. For the individual users, it’s proportionate to their own activity on the platform based on the distribution allocation. 

To claim your tokens, simply browse to the website, connect your NFT wallet (Metamask, Coinbase, WalletConnect), and the website will inform you how many tokens you can get. 

Here’s how you can calculate your $SOS token claim Image via theopendao.com

Tokenomics for $SOS

According to Coinmarketcap, 91% of the 100 trillion tokens are already in circulation since its inception little more than 2 weeks ago. Listed at an initial price of $0.000000674 per token, it went on a roller-coaster ride, peaking at $0.00001108 a day after its airdrop, went through a few swings, and finally settling at its current trading price of $0.00000418, indicating a downward slide thus far.

Did I miss out on not selling earlier? Image via Coinmarketcap

Out of the 212,858 addresses holding the token, three of them possess 63.57% of the supply. The distribution plan outlined in the OpenDAO website lists the following:  

• 50% to OpenSea users
• 20% to OpenDAO
• 20% for staking incentives
• 10% for LP incentives

Those top three wallets are likely related to the organisers. Meanwhile, rank-and-file users would consider themselves lucky to have more than 1% of the tokens, if that. Is it worrying? A little. It’s still early days yet, so let’s keep an open mind. As to where it could go? Well, depends quite a lot on the momentum, really. Despite having some partnerships announced, the general direction is still unclear. As is frequently mentioned by traders, the market doesn’t like uncertainty. Once some concrete plans are in place, we could see some upward movement that might at least place it back at the starting price if not beyond. 

How is OpenDAO Involved? 

This is where things get interesting and here are the salient facts: 

• The organisation behind the $SOS token airdrop, OpenDAO, is not officially affiliated with OpenSea.
• The team behind the OpenDAO project is spearheaded by a collector known as 9x9x9eth. Together with a small group of people, they pooled together some money to do the airdrop. 
• A plausible reason for the airdrop may be linked to the rumours of OpenSea, the company behind the platform, looking to get listed in an IPO. There was community backlash because the platform’s success is based on the users’ participation but they are not getting rewarded for their efforts. 

At first glance, it may not seem like much. Look deeper though, and you can see that the ramifications of this particular event is huge and here’s why.

People and the DAO

Before we go too far ahead of ourselves, let’s start with the concept. An acronym for Decentralized Autonomous Organization, the DAO was a key concept that gained awareness last year, aside from NFT and the Metaverse. Although it was first coined in May 2016, according to this Medium article, it got the most traction last year as more and more projects embraced this concept.

An easy way to understand the DAO concept is to think of it as “…an internet community with a shared bank account,” says Cooper Turley, an investor and heavily-involved in several DAOs, on CNBC Make It program. From a technical point of view, it is an entity running entirely on smart contracts with the blockchain serving as its spine. The rules governing the DAO’s operations are written in the smart contract. Any changes to the code will need to be voted on by the members of the DAO. MakerDAO, the project behind the DAI stablecoin, maybe one of the more prominent DAOs that are familiar to the general crypto public pre-2021.

What Does a DAO look like?

For most of us working for an organisation, few are in the position to make decisions determining the direction of the organisation we work for. In general meetings we are usually told about things. Even if we disagree with the direction, we typically have two choices: go with it or leave.

In a DAO though, we would have a much more active voice in the organisation. Everyone is clear about their contribution to the organisation’s well-being and growth. There would likely be regular voting sessions on matters that affect everyone. It’s like an entire class of students being tasked with the job of painting a mural of the school walls. Everyone would volunteer to do the job best suited to their ability. This is a loose form of organisation but there wouldn’t be too much pressure exerted from the top. The success of the mural is dependent upon each student’s contribution. The ownership of the project is shared with everyone involved.

OpenDAO and $SOS

In the case of OpenDAO, this is a project jumpstarted by a handful in the community “to pay tribute, to protect, to promote” the OpenSea NFT users. It’s an entirely community-led effort to give the users a voice since OpenSea wasn’t doing anything of that sort. You can’t blame OpenSea for this as it is, after all, a traditional company acting in the standard way like all companies do. Even though the success of the platform is contingent on the users’ participation, as evidenced with the 90% market share in NFT trading, they’re not big enough like Amazon where people couldn’t not participate in the platform.

The DAO’s mission as stated in its website, should its community choose to accept it, is to:

• Compensate verified scam victims on OpenSea with $SOS
• Support emerging artists and their original work
• Support NFT communities
• Support art preservation
• Provide a developer grant for participating in $SOS ecosystem 

We can already see that current plans include staking and LP, which is indicative of some foresight of wanting this to be sustainable in the long-term, instead of just airdropping free stuff and leaving it at that. 

Already, the first proposal has been voted through for a 1-year linear vesting schedule, striking a balance between early adopters being rewarded, while latecomers don’t feel like the ship has already sailed. The voting for this proposal happened on Christmas, and managed to garner a 64.36% approval rating from 634.25 billion tokens. How many of these are unique users, well, that’s kinda hard to tell, hopefully not a handful. For the data geeks, feel free to geek out about the data here. 

Geek out on these stats! Image via Dune Analytics

For a 100% community-led effort, getting the results we’ve seen so far, I find it pretty amazing. Not only were the organisers able to mobilise people to rally together in such a short time, the enthusiasm of the community for this event is gosh darn impressive. This level of fervor is also largely in part, an expression of a group of active and loyal users who sincerely want what’s best for the platform and the community. You could say that they have almost “hijacked” OpenSea’s own strategic direction, which comes from the company’s C-Suite execs.

OpenDAO and OpenSea

Thanks to the rumours flying around about an IPO, this lit a bonfire under every user, some more than most, to incentivise them to do something about it, thus taking matters into their own hands. Basically, it’s a “if you won’t do the right thing, we will”, resembling a kind of pre-emptive action from the community.  From the company’s point of view, I don’t know if those in management could have foreseen this kind of outcome. Although they still own the platform, one can’t help thinking how much of the control over the product got diluted when the user base is as strong as that of OpenSea.

While the company is still able to dictate the platform’s operations and inner workings, how could they not be wary of the feedback from the community, which could either push the platform to newer highs or end up falling by the wayside when another competitor that is more community-friendly appears? Perhaps this is giving too much weight to the community. However, I’m also certain that key decisions regarding the platform, while not yet at the point of seeking a vote outright from the community, are not taken in ignorance of the community’s wishes. Could OpenSea end up being a victim of its own success? Only time will tell.

Taking this line of thought one speculative step further, would it be too difficult to imagine some kind of official co-existence between OpenSea and OpenDAO? Maybe having the latter play the role of the canary in the coal mine? It would be interesting to see if something like this would come to pass, for example:

• Day-to-day operations remains solely in the hands of company while certain strategic decisions affecting users gets voted on or seeks some kind of consensus from the DAO.
• The company leveraging on the user base to garner feedback for prototypes of new products or features, testing them out in the community before launching them officially. This kind of measure might even further enhance the level of participation amongst core users.
• A NFT issued by the company denoting some kind of membership club to eligible users, giving rise to different levels of users based on frequency of participation or other kind of criteria, might be an interesting experiment for the company to try walking the talk.

Lack of a Roadmap

One thing that has investors and some holders being cautious about is what sort of life OpenDAO and the token could have after the initial hype has died down. As the organiser so poignantly puts it on Discord, according to Decrypt:

“Coz it is a DAO, we are undergoing set up for the DAO (getting candidates for muti-sig), it is not a COMPANY with ROADMAP, decisions are decided by all $SOS holders.” 

This could turn out to be a double-edge sword for all intents and purposes. Currently, other than voting rights and staking rights, which yields ve$SOS that also carries full voting rights, not much else has been planned. All sorts of speculation are flying around, such as having $SOS be used to pay fees etc., but nothing concrete yet which might be cause for concern. On the other hand, there exists an open canvas as to how $SOS could be used to further bring value to the project and the community that could likely be proposed and decided by its holders. The scope of the token’s usage is only limited by the holders’ imagination.

In summary, the community has shown OpenSea what they are capable of without the company’s benediction. It’s now up to the company to decide whether or not to keep the rally going, and if yes, how that would look like.

If I were the head of a company offering a similar kind of service, especially the kind that relies on community participation to achieve success for the product, I’d do well to take heed of what’s going on and glean whatever lessons I can out of it. This could point to a type of outcome that I would not like to be caught unaware of. 

The Other Forms of DAO

All DAOs share the following elements:

• Mission
• Way to communicate
• Community treasury
• Governance framework for the treasury

Aside from OpenDAO that has the potential to extend into an organisation more focused on the governance of the community, there are also other DAOs that have a narrower focus. One such project is PleasrDAO, a DAO that’s about buying “culturally significant pieces and then creating fundamentally additive to the soul of the piece before sharing it with the community.”, according to their About profile. 

Artwork collected by the members of PleasrDAO Image via PleasrDAO

Then there are those that are much more short-lived. The most shining example is ConstitutionDAO, a single-purpose DAO organised for the sole purpose of bidding for a copy of the US Constitution put on auction at Sotheby’s. Upon failure of the mission, the crowdfunded tokens are being returned to the holders and the DAO itself disbanded. If there are others who wanted to extend the life of the $PEOPLE token, these would be ad-hoc efforts unrelated to the original organisers. 

Another group, likely drawing inspiration from the GameStop event, call themselves BlockbusterDAO with the purpose of buying the Blockbuster video chain from its parent company Dish Network for $5 million and reviving it as a decentralized streaming platform for films and funding film projects.  

This level of community efforts and get-together is somehow reminiscent of the guilds and campaigns in video-gaming. People getting together and pooling resources, whether it’s time, volunteering for tasks, coordinating attacks and strategies etc., all in order to achieve a shared goal. In some ways, DAOs can almost be seen as a more organised form of these ad-hoc groups. With the blockchain acting as the most neutral intermediary and smart contracts executing all the rules coded in the system, what makes it enticing is a very plausible sense of fair play for every participant. 

Conclusion

A DAO can be:

• a crowdfunding project like what’s available on Kickstarter and more.
• an organisation looking to achieve a temporary singular purpose.
• a nonprofit organisation. 
• a company where jobs are broken down into tasks that employs contractors to do each task based on their abilities.
• a community where the residents vote on proposals and the management team implemented measures voted-on by everyone.
• a country where citizens cast their votes for policies instead of candidates and politicians act as stewards of the country on behalf of the people instead of running it for the sake of the people. 

 In order for a DAO to succeed, active participation is needed from everyone. Voting sensibly entails understanding what is the proposal, able to weigh the pros and cons for and against it, and drawing one’s own conclusions through a vote. This requires a change in the education system. It’s no longer about having good memory and being able to recite facts. It’s about having the facility to think critically and make the kind of decisions that’s beneficial for all, not just the individual.

The future is bright for the DAO. The top-down hierarchy format has long ruled the roost. Now, it’s about to have some stiff competition. There will always be space for both to exist. Like all things crypto, it’s not a zero-sum game but about having options.

The post OpenDAO Airdrops SOS on OpenSea Community appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a recent report, Accenture estimated that the full value of the gaming industry now exceeds $300 billion which is undoubtedly a staggering number, however, this metric should come as no major surprise. In fact, the consulting firm additionally noted that the gaming demographic has increased by half a billion players over the course of the past three years, with approximately 2.7 billion active players in the world, and is expected to grow at a rate of roughly 10% between 2021 and 2025.

Since 2018, players have spent more than $100 billion on virtual in-game assets, such as unique character skins, items and exclusive unlockable content. Thus, sooner or later, it was only natural to witness the development of a symbiotic relationship and an ultimate convergence between the majorly profitable, booming gaming industry and the disruptive, cutting-edge infrastructure offered by blockchain technology. 

For Years, Gamers Have Spent Billions On Virtual In-Game Assets

This is primarily because gaming applications being developed on the decentralised frameworks powered by blockchain allow players to leverage some of the most avant-garde utilities when it comes to DeFi and NFT implementation, or ‘NFT-Fi’ in short, and forge a completely alternative set of economic principles and financial paradigms. 

Thus, throughout 2020 and 2021, the blockchain-based gaming ecosystem has turned into a real powerhouse in the space, not solely for its gamification of DeFi elements, but because it began merging with the artistic, economic and immutable nature of non-fungible tokens, bringing life to perhaps one of the most exciting environments in cryptocurrency at the moment, Play-To-Earn (P2E). 

Play-To-Earn: An Innovative Gaming Model

NFTs have been on an absolute moon mission as of late and, with their entrance into the gaming sphere, non-fungible assets have progressively structured new mediums to deliver value and embody innovative use cases. But, this highly anticipated gaming and NFT ensemble is indeed not that new a concept.

CryptoKitties Embody One Of The Earliest Expressions Of DeFi, NFTs And Gaming Symbiosis

One of the earliest expressions of blockchain gaming and NFT symbiosis dates back to 2017 when the cat-centric collectibles game CryptoKitties infamously almost brought the Ethereum blockchain to a total halt due to unprecedented demand and trading volume. Since then, a plethora of other arguably more sophisticated blockchain games have launched, with perhaps the two most iconic ones being Axie Infinity and The Sandbox.

Since its inception back in 2018, Axie Infinity has helped architect a new genre in the gaming vertical and has ever since focused on building the infrastructure necessary for players to enjoy the benefits of advanced, blockchain-powered gameplay while also profiting handsomely along the way. The underlying pioneering force of Axie Infinity relies on its entirely unique, value-rich and thriving micro-economic structure revolving around its platform and its platform alone. This is because, in parallel with players battling, breeding, buying and selling Axie NFTs, the game’s proprietary and in-house Play-To-Earn ecosystem has fuelled the development of an Axie-native, autochthonous economic model based on arbitrage opportunities.

Now, the ability to earn whilst playing the game also led to the formation of what is commonly referred to as an Axie Scholarship, a system that essentially sees well-established players and in-game NFT holders, called Managers, lend out their assets to other smaller players or gaming communities around the globe to generate yield on their behalf in exchange for a cut of the profits based on a revenue-sharing model. 

This, in turn, led to the development of other more broad, community-based and gaming-central economies known as game guilds.

Game Guilds: Community, Yield And NFTs  

While gamers have traded virtual assets for years, from Second Life’s real estate and World of Warcraft’s gold, to Dota and Fortnite’s cosmetic character skins, these virtual economies have thus far operated almost exclusively within ‘walled gardens’, or enclosed and centrally-controlled marketplaces that prohibit players from exchanging their in-game assets for real-world economic value, such as fiat currencies or crypto. 

Players have tried to circumvent these centralised structures time and time again, usually resulting in untrustworthy markets subject to fraud and failure. However, blockchain-powered gaming can break these marketplaces wide open so that players can exchange value and earn yield for their work, dedication and time spent in-game.

Players Can Leverage Blockchain-Powered Applications To Earn Yield Whilst Playing Their Favourite Crypto Games Image via GeekCulture Medium

Thus, blockchain gamers can earn yield either by playing a game individually or by teaming up with a community of like-minded players which, in terms of purely generating revenue from gameplay, has thus far proven to be an exponentially more lucrative solution. With the emergence of online gaming back in the 1990s, particularly MMO-RPGs, gamers quickly built social and democratic structures within these virtual worlds forming ‘guilds’ or ‘clans’, and other gaming communities to coordinate around shared goals, or ‘quests’, and share in the spoils of victory, or ‘loot’. 

The same underlying social principles can also be applied to blockchain gaming and its Play-To-Earn framework, where gaming communities around the globe coordinate and come together to perform a ‘quest’ and earn some of that mighty NFT loot. 

But, as opposed to traditional gaming guilds designed as groups of players who routinely play together in a game on a ‘Free-To-Play’ basis, blockchain gaming guilds democratise the entire process of generating revenue through gameplay and take the concept of online entertainment to an entirely new level.

So, without further ado, let’s dive deep into one of the top crypto gaming guilds in the space right now, Yield Guild Games. 

Introduction To Yield Guild Games (YGG) 

YGG deems itself as a ‘Play-To-Earn gaming guild bringing players together to earn via blockchain-based economies’ and as the ultimate settler of new worlds in the Metaverse.

YGG Is One Of The Most Prominent Blockchain Gaming Guilds Enabling Users To Leverage In-Game NFTs To Generate Yield Image via YieldGuild.Games

Like the majority of existing P2E guilds, the Manila-based YGG is structured as a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) for investing in NFTs used in virtual worlds, blockchain-based games and emerging Metaverse ecosystems. 

YGG was built on the belief that digital economies will someday be worth way more than physical and tangible ones and, as one if not the most successful guild in the space at the moment, it combines DeFi, NFTs and gaming to forge an exciting new paradigm of employment, one that is fully guided by its participants. 

The Origins 

The story of YGG and its initial proof of concept date back to 2018, when gaming industry veteran Gabby Dizon started lending out his Axie NFTs to other Axie Infinity players who couldn’t afford to buy them outright. And by October 2020, it was clear that Axie had created an innovative employment model that could help players in the Philippines generate additional revenue sources while also enjoying the gameplay.  

Scholarships Enable Axie Infinity Players To Borrow Axie NFTs In Order To Generate Yield In-Game Image via TechShali.com

As a result, YGG was co-founded by Gabby Dizon, Beryl Li and Owl of Moistness in October of 2020 and its primary objective was to introduce as many people as possible to the play-to-earn revolution spearheaded by Axie Infinity, particularly in the South East Asian region.

According to the YGGSPL Litepaper and as part of its initial project roadmap, YGG set some rather straightforward and realistic goals, with these being:

• Researching and investing in the most profitable and yield-bearing NFTs in the Metaverse ecosystem. 
• Building a global, decentralised economy of P2E Gamers. 
• Producing income by leveraging and renting out valuable in-game NFTs. 
• Encouraging the development of a global gaming community through active participation in the guild. 

Currently, after just over one year into its existence, the YGG guild is already one of the largest and most prominent of its kind, having registered almost 250,000 members across its social media platforms and expanded operations into a variety of P2E games. 

NFTs Under Management 

As part of the guild’s investment portfolio, YGG manages a trove of game-related NFTs, digital assets and virtual land parcels which can be leveraged and implemented in-game by members to produce greater earnings for both themselves and YGG through a revenue-sharing model. 

YGG Has Invested Extensively Into A Variety Of P2E Games And It Will Actively Look To Expand Its In-Game NFT Allocations Image via YieldGuild.Games

In addition to Axies, YGG’s Assets Under Management (AUM) include gaming NFTs from a plethora of P2E protocols including:

• League of Kingdoms
• F1 Delta Time 
• Monkey Ball 
• The Sandbox 
• Illuvium 
• Star Atlas 
• Zed Run and many more. 

Given the expected growth trajectory for the gaming industry in the near and mid-term outlook, in tandem with the ongoing development of the GameFi sphere, YGG will actively look to expand and acquire more NFTs from a set of up-and-coming, promising games in the future. 

How Does YGG Work? 

The business model implemented by Yield Guild Games is indeed rather unique, and it is based on producing real-world, monetary value by creating new virtual worlds and supporting the emerging digital economy through the buying and renting out of top-tier NFTs to players.

The primary source of income for the DAO ecosystem in YGG is directly correlated to the ownership of YGG-owned NFT assets. Now, in-game NFT ownership inherently presents a series of advantages for both the guild and players, as they will equally benefit from the rise of the game’s unique economic value being reflected in the value of its NFTs on the open market, producing a sophisticated, dynamic and cyclical market structure revolving around the guild’s primary economy. Guild members will then be able to use these NFTs, either their own or rented, as the proprietary medium and trading currency to extract in-game rewards, bringing the Play-To-Earn framework to life and fundamentally expanding its use cases.

Now, it is important to note that, while it is currently feasible to allow players to farm or rent NFT assets, the present ERC-721 token standard does not technically enable such functionalities. Consequently, the process for farming and renting NFTs still remains within a centralised and somewhat siloed environment. Thus, to remedy this, YGG has designed an in-house smart contract architecture to issue ownership tokens to create a database to monitor and track ownership and rental assets, which is actually a rather cost-effective solution as it does not require any gas fees to be implemented. In this way, users will receive native YGG tokens by renting YGG-owned NFTs and participating in active gaming guilds. 

Axie NFTs taken from the YGG guild, for instance, may be used to cultivate Smooth Love Potion (SLP) tokens within the game and the SLP earned during gameplay will be returned to the DAO, with the player receiving a predetermined share of YGG tokens for playing and participating in the DAO structure.

Furthermore, in order to engage and vote in governance proposals, as well as benefit from the DAO’s various features, guild members will require native YGG tokens which will act as their entry ticket into the ecosystem’s governance structure. 

YGG’s Main Architecture

In its entirety, the main architecture of the YGG DAO can be subdivided into a few major components and defining elements all working in conjunction with one another: 

• Treasury 
• YGG Vaults 
• SubDAOs 

Subsequently, in order to gain a better understanding of how this works, a comprehensive analysis of each one seems only constructive. 

YGG Treasury 

First of all, the Treasury. 

The YGG Treasury Is In Charge Of Overseeing In-Game NFT Asset Management Image via Yield Guild Games Medium

The primary finality of the YGG Treasury is to oversee the management of YGG’s assets to maximise value returned to the DAO over time. The Treasury performs a series of economic activities such as the purchase of assets in the form of cryptocurrency, virtual assets in the metaverse such as land plots, Simple Agreements For Future Tokens (SAFTs), in-game tokens, as well as innovative NFTs that can benefit the development of the GameFi sphere overall. The Treasury is also in charge of managing locked, unvested and undistributed tokens to all guild members and to any affiliated third parties. 

Following in the footsteps of the Axie Infinity Scholarship model, the Treasury also provides guidance in events that involve debt, interest payments and acquisition of assets, including any buybacks and future fundraising rounds. The Treasury also performs all major financial operations such as accounting, audits, reporting and tax.  

It is important to note here that the Treasury’s assets are currently managed by the three co-founders via a multi-signature Gnosis wallet, with two out of three Trezor wallet signatures required to validate transactions.

Second in line, the YGG Vaults.

YGG Vaults

Unlike traditional DeFi platforms that involve staking tokens to accrue yield at a fixed interest rate or allocating tokens to a liquidity pool to earn a share of the collected revenue, the YGG DAO incorporates a slightly different methodology in that its tokens can be staked into a number of different YGG Vaults.

With YGG Vaults, Investors Can Allocate Capital And Bet On The Upside Potential Of A Specific Guild Activity Image via Yield Guild Medium

Each Vault represents a compartmentalisation of the token rewards derived from either one or all of the guild’s revenue sources. For instance, one of the Vaults could be dedicated to the revenue from the breeding and sales of Axie NFTs, whereas another could be dedicated to the distribution of revenue acquired from NFT rentals.

These aforementioned token rewards generated from gameplay or NFT lending are distributed to guild members according to: 

• The portion of tokens staked by each guild member.
• Amount of revenue generated by the source assigned to the Vault. 

This essentially means that, as opposed to offering a traditional fixed interest rate on staked assets, YGG Vaults give YGG holders the opportunity to invest in the success of specific components of the guild’s revenue stream.

This could indeed prove to be an appealing proposition for investors, as it allows those YGG holders who want exposure to revenue from the DAO’s Axie breeding program or the soon to be announced Monkey Ball NFT rental program, for instance, to stake their YGG tokens in a Vault built specifically for that purpose. 

YGG Vaults Allow Token Holders To Gain Exposure To Particular Programs Within The YGG Ecosystem Image via Yield Guild Games Medium

Interestingly, there are also plans to develop a YGG Vault representing a collection of all yield-generating activities, known as the YGG ‘Super Index Vault’, which will include returns in the form of rewards derived from subscriptions, merchandise, NFT rentals, Treasury performances and an Index of all SubDAOs. 

Which leads us on to the third major component of YGG’s DAO structure, SubDAOs. 

YGG’s SubDAO Ecosystem 

SubDAOs embody perhaps one of the most cutting-edge elements within YGG’s DAO structure. 

SubDAOs Are An Integral Component Of YGG’s Main DAO Ecosystem And They Act As Subsidiaries Of The Underlying Organisation’s Structure Image via Yield Guild Games Medium

In essence, a SubDAO is a specialised portion of the YGG DAO ecosystem that is centred around a specific game’s activities and assets. For instance, there will be one SubDAO dedicated exclusively to Axie Infinity players, another to League of Kingdoms, another to Zed Run, one to Monkey Ball, Illuvium, The Sandbox, Star Atlas, and so on and so forth. 

What’s more, token holders within a SubDAO become ‘citizens’ of the particular game that the SubDAO is associated with, playing and working together to increase their collective yield generated from gameplay. In addition to this, players within a SubDAO can use assets owned by the main DAO Treasury to better equip and strengthen their in-game characters, thus furthering their potential for greater income while also increasing the quality of their gameplay.  

Now, as the primary objective of a DAO structure is to automate the functions of an organisation, SubDAOs can inherently streamline this automation process by compartmentalising it into highly-specialised fractions, boosting the effectiveness of the DAO’s native architecture as a whole. Furthermore, SubDAO participation will be motivated by a series of incentives provided by the guild, such as greater DAO contributions destined to highly-performant players from a specific SubDAO. This means that the better the SubDAO members perform, the more they can contribute to the overall DAO and, thus, the greater they are rewarded for their contributions.  

In parallel with these game-specific SubDAOs, YGG is broadening its horizons, quite literally, through the development of regional, DAO-affiliated, geographical partner entities such as the YGG South East Asian SubDAO, or YGG SEA. 

Regional SubDAOs: YGG SEA 

YGG SEA lines up with Yield Guild’s roadmap to help expand and bring Play-To-Earn experiences to the vast global gaming community, starting with South East Asia. And for good reason too! 

YGG SEA Is Yield Guild’s South East Asian SubDAO Ecosystem Looking To Expand Play-To-Earn Experiences In The Region Image via YGGSEA

Technically speaking, YGG SEA is a SubDAO designed specifically to capture South East Asia’s emerging P2E market and gaming activities and, according to YGG SEA’s documentation, the South East Asian region currently offers greater return opportunities compared to other areas primarily because of its large community of gamers and play-to-earn aficionados, making it the perfect environment for a localised SubDAO structure.

This is because countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, among others, are characterised by an unprecedented young working population that has traditionally lacked spending power due to regional politico-economic instabilities and now, in 2021, due to the pandemic. However, because of the huge financial upside offered by P2E, the recorded penetration of play-to-earn ecosystems in the area is currently among the highest and most significant. Therefore, according to its Roadmap, YGG SEA will initially focus on Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand in Phase 1 before eventually implementing its subsequent Phases of expansion throughout the entirely of South East Asia. 

The YGG SEA SubDAO will boast a team of Local Operations Experts with deep networks in the South East Asian gaming sphere, with members associated with gaming production behemoths such as Electronic Arts, Unity, Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games. In tandem with this, the SubDAO aims to establish multi-country local operations and translation houses, hire regional community managers, set up localised strategic and marketing partnerships as well as tech integrations to ensure efficient fiat on and off ramps, and ultimately create a geographical ancillary entity to Yield Guild’s Main DAO ecosystem.

The SubDAO is spearheaded by: 

Evan Spytma – Co-Founder

Brain Lu – Co-Fouder

Richie Jiaravanon – Co-Founder

Josh Ho – Co-Founder

Irene Umar – Co-Founder

The ancillary will focus, firstly, on identifying and investing in locally-significant P2E games at early-stage and, secondly, on working in conjunction with the Main DAO and YGG’s Treasury to deliver in-game NFT assets to local gamer communities in order to maximise and extract regional value whilst benefitting the development of P2E in the area as a whole. 

YGGSEA SubDAO Token

In a similar fashion to YGG, YGG SEA will implement its own SubDAO native token, called YGGSEA, to allow members to vote in governance proposals, ecosystem reward allocations, local strategic partnerships, LP staking and more. 

Capped at a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens, the YGGSEA token will derive its value from a combination of economic principles and will abide by the formula displayed below. 

YGGSEA Will Derive Its Value From A Series Of Economic Elements Working In Conjunction With One Another Image via YGGSEA

Thus, the YGGSEA token will gain its market valuation from an addition of: 

• A regional economic index tracking the cumulative yield generated by the SubDAO Treasury’s in-game NFTs allocated to local gaming communities. 
• The fair value of the NFTs within the YGG SEA SubDAO portfolio. 
• A multiple of the SubDAO’s social growth and user base.

To date, YGGSEA has raised $15 million to help fund its growth from top-tier VCs in the blockchain space, including Crypto.com Capital, YGG, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Animoca Brands, MindWork Ventures and DCG, among others.

In terms of upside potential, as per the majority of tokens in the crypto space, the future value of YGGSEA will be entirely dependent on the growth of its ecosystem, in both economic and social terms, and on the percentage of regional value captured by the SubDAO. YGGSEA, like YGG, is a bet on the future success of play-to-earn environments and on the increasingly apparent integration of non-fungible tokens within our daily lives and online economies. Thus, while the native token of the YGGSEA SubDAO is yet to be launched, its use cases and utility might very well prove to be an interesting proposition in the long-run.  

 *Disclaimer: YGG SEA has concluded its Seed, Private and Strategic Funding Rounds. Coin Bureau will be investing in the YGG SEA strategic round.*

YGG Token 

With a circulating supply of 69 million, YGG is the native ERC-20 governance and utility token of the Yield Guild Games ecosystem.

YGG will be utilised for staking in YGG Vaults, voting in governance proposals, funding the DAO Treasury, rewarding P2E gamers as well as Yield Guild’s advisory team. 

YGG has a maximum circulating supply of 1 billion tokens being minted in aggregate with its distribution occurring in multiple phases scheduled at different dates and for different purposes. YGG’s monthly distribution breakdown can be consulted here.

YGG Has Retraced Rather Drastically From Its November Highs Of Over $11 Image via CoinMarketCap

At present, YGG has a market capitalisation of $370 million and a fully diluted market cap of $5.3 billion. YGG is currently trading above the $5 mark and is down more than 50% from its all-time-high of $11.50 which it hit in November of 2021. YGG is currently listed on some of the most liquidity-rich exchanges in crypto and it can be purchased on Binance, KuCoin, Huobi and Uniswap, among others.

In terms of price potential, the upside that the YGG token may experience is contingent on a variety of factors. Firstly, if YGG continues to onboard top-tier games that turn out to be a success in the long-run, then the future does indeed look promising for YGG token holders. Secondly, the rental offerings that YGG offers are unique and one-of-a-kind in the sense that not many NFT or gaming NFT platforms provide this type of feature. Pair this with the ongoing development of the YGG Vaults, holders may very well be attracted to deposit their assets into these Vaults to earn additional staking rewards from the YGG ecosystem as a whole, which is actually a win-win scenario for both holders and YGG.

In addition, it is important to emphasise here that given the eruption of the GameFi market in 2021, the revenue from P2E games is only expected to grow in the long-term. Thus, if we assume that YGG is poised to become the ultimate, go-to gaming guild in the space for players and investors to earn rewards, consequently it is reasonable to assume that YGG’s market and ecosystem value will appreciate over time.

Always Remember To Do Your Own Research! Image via Tenor.com

However, as per usual, there’s nothing more relevant here than doing your own research!

YGG IDO

YGG held its Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on July 27th 2021 at MISO by SushiSwap.

The offering saw YGG raise roughly $12.5 million, with the token sale distributing 25 million tokens or 2.5% of the project’s 1 billion token supply via a Dutch auction at a price of roughly $0.50 per token.

Disappointed investors criticised the sale after 32 wallets exhausted the allocation in just 31 seconds, even though YGG’s Discord exceeded 47k members at the time.

One Wallet Managed To Secure A 4.5 Million Allocation Of YGG Tokens At IDO Price Image via Twitter

What’s more, a single address appears to have been able to snatch up a whopping 4.5 million YGG tokens, or 18% of the tokens available in the offering, however, onlookers have speculated that this address could very well have been a liquidity pool. As a result of this and in order to quench any suspicions about possible whale activity, YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon publicly announced that the 32 wallets did not belong to a group of individual whales, but to a different group of investors personally dedicated to the project’s long-term vision.

Investors

YGG raised $1.3 million during its Seed funding round in March of 2021 spearheaded by heavyweight VCs such as Animoca Brands, Sparq, Delphi Digital and Scalar Capital. Then, in June, Yield Guild raised an additional $4 million during its Series A round led by BITKRAFT Ventures, ParaFi Capital and Animoca.

Finally, in August of 2021, Yield Guild Games raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by digital asset behemoth a16z, with participation from Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures and the gaming entrepreneur Gabriel Leydon. The funding was designed to allow YGG to increase its digital asset portfolio and help expand and grow its community of play-to-earn gamers and guild members.

Team

YGG has an incredibly strong and well-experienced founding team, with its members being long-term gaming and blockchain gaming veterans as well as deep connoisseurs of the crypto space. As previously discussed, the Team at YGG is dedicated to the ongoing development of the GameFi ecosystem and to facilitating user-onboarding into the play-to-earn experience on a global spectrum.

YGG’s Founding Team Image via YieldGuild.Games

The primary Team at YGG is made up of:

• Gabby Dizon – Co-Founder
• Beryl Chavez Li – Co-Founder
• Owl of Moistness – Co-Founder

Conclusion

GameFi currently represents one of the most roaring and promising ventures in the digital asset realm and, given its expected growth trajectory over the course of the next few years, its future potential, quite frankly, remains untapped.

With the newly-rediscovered match and symbiotic relationship between DeFi, NFTs and gaming, the proposition of blockchain-powered gaming projects seems to have taken the markets by storm in the last year, ushering in an entirely new set of financial paradigms and investment theses revolving around Metaverse worlds and interactive gameplay.

However, in-game NFTs have been a hot commodity for quite some time now and, due to this, the barrier to entry into some blockchain games is high and it simply just isn’t cost-effective nor a feasible option for many gamers around the globe.

Gaming guilds such as YGG, for instance, via its sophisticated DAO and attractive revenue-sharing model, allow players to gain access to some of the hottest, top-tier in-game NFTs in the space at the moment, giving them the opportunity to generate yield whilst enjoying the innovative gameplay offered by GameFi and blockchain technology.

While the future of the GameFi sphere still undoubtedly remains unclear, guilds such as YGG could prove to be the ultimate, go-to solution for social gaming communities around the globe looking to generate additional revenue streams that can improve, enhance and ultimately change lives, especially in areas hit by political and economic instability.

Therefore, while still uncertain as a whole, the future of Yield Guild Games, of its YGG token and of its growing regional SubDAO ecosystem appears to be very promising indeed.

The post Yield Guild Games: The BEST Guild In GameFi? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Another reason to seriously look into lending is that if you say you’re in it for the long run then why not earn that additional reward? I understand you don’t want to lend your asset if you’re looking for a price to exit at since you don’t want to have your funds locked up. However, if you’ve bought Ethereum talking about how you’ll hodl for 10 years because you believe in it for the long run then why not earn that 3-6 % extra per year while doing so.

In this article I’ll go through the top 5 centralized lending platforms. I know some of you prefer DeFi platforms but seriously these CeFi platforms are great and there are many benefits these platforms offer. Plus, I know some might appreciate the feeling of a more secure environment (not saying it is).

Quickly before starting I want to point out that not all of these platforms are available globally, so you’ll have to check on that before using them. For example, I know that YouHodler and Swissborg are completely out of reach for US customers while Nexo is restricted to customers from the state of New York. Also, a few of these platforms have their own tokens and the tokens might also be out of reach for US customers.

Celsius 

Founded in 2017 by Alex Mashinsky (check the link – he has an extremely impressive background) Celsius is perhaps one of the best-known lending platforms with over $22 billion in funds and over 1.4 million users. The Celsius platform offers lending, borrowing, and payments. They are also working on a credit card and swap feature. Celsius also has features aimed specifically for businesses but in this piece, we’ll be focusing on retail use cases. And on top of all that Celsius has its own token called CEL, but we’ll get to that a bit later.

Not your average dude. Image via Celsius

First let’s look at the lending and borrowing side. When lending with Celsius the amount you earn will depend on a few things:

• which token you lend
• how much you lend
• where you’re located
• which currency you receive your interest

When lending coins with Celsius they will pay you interest based on how much they can earn by “re-lending” your coins to institutions. When Celsius does this, they give 80% back to you in form of interest and keep the rest (I think that’s fair and that’s how all of these CeFi platforms work).

Naturally, the interest you receive therefore depends on the demand for certain assets, as well as the supply. Typically, some the highest interest rate is paid on stablecoins. From Celsius you can earn up to 10.73% on your USDC if you’re not based in the US and take your interest in the CEL token (I’ll use this rate going forward). If you’re in the US the rate is 8.50%. Other high interest coins currently are SNX at 14.05%, MATIC at 9.10%, and DOT at 9.02%. For the big boys Bitcoin and Ether, the rates are 6.20% up to 0.25 BTC and 3.05% for over 0.25 BTC, and for ETH 5.35% up to 100 ETH and 3.52% over 100 ETH.

Here’s a look at the highest earning assets on Celsius. Image via Celsius.

If you’re looking to borrow cryptocurrency you can easily do that using the Celsius app. When borrowing you can choose the loan term and the interest rate too. The more you provide as collateral the lower the interest rate, and you’ll also get an additional interest rate discount if you pay in CEL. Celsius also has a calculator where you can check everything before borrowing. For example, if I wanted to borrow 1000 USDC one option would be to do it like this: I could borrow it with a 1-year loan term and 0.75% interest rate by paying the interest in CEL and putting 0.9841 ETH as collateral (not bad if you ask me). Celsius also has a similar calculator for lending so make sure to check that one out too.

As mentioned, Celsius plans to offer more features and it seems that they’re trying to become more of an all-in-one platform rather than focusing completely on lending and borrowing, which is good for the platform’s users. Being able to pay using the Celsius mobile application and later being able to have their credit card and swap currency on Celsius will make it easier to make the decision to deposit crypto there. Currently you basically lock your currency in Celsius when using the services since you can’t really do much else without first moving the cryptos to some other platform. It’ll be interesting to see if these other services can attract more money into Celsius and it certainly seems more appealing to put money there knowing that it’ll still have utility.

Those high tier rewards do look good but 25% in CEL, hmm. Image via Celsius.

Lastly, I’ll briefly discuss the CEL token. The token basically works as a rewards program that gives you higher rates when lending and lower rates when borrowing. On top of that you can earn over 5% APY for hodling. From the picture above you’ll see the different tiers associated with the token. What’s great is that to achieve those higher tiers you don’t need more tokens you simply need to keep a higher percentage of your overall holdings in CEL. However, before rushing into this you should calculate it carefully since putting a big chunk of your holdings in CEL hasn’t been that rewarding. The tokens performance in the past year is at –17% which I doubt can be compensated for with those higher rates.

Nexo 

Nexo is a subsidiary of Credissimo that was founded all the way back in 2007. The Nexo platform was deployed in 2018. To date Nexo has paid over $200 million in interest, gathered over 2.5 million users in over 200 jurisdictions, and they support 27 different cryptocurrencies. Nexo offers both lending and borrowing as well as a payment card, which is one feature that differentiates it from Celsius. Nexo also has its own native token called NEXO, and that has the highest market cap of those mentioned here.

Starting with lending, Nexo has extremely good rates and for almost all tokens they’re higher than what Celsius offers. For example, the interest on your Bitcoin and Ether can be as high as 8% if you opt for a fixed term and get paid in Nexo tokens. Other interest rates are also extremely high, DOT at up to 15%, and then AVAX and MATIC have limited time boosted rates 17% and 20% respectively. For stablecoins the rates are up to 12% but what really differentiates Nexo is that you can lend fiat money too. Currently it’s possible to lend USD, EUR, and GBP, the rates are the same as for stablecoins. What’s also different with Nexo is that the interest earned is paid daily while Celsius only pays weekly. However, while some might enjoy this depending on where you live, I would not since it would be a huge burden to keep up with the taxes, so make sure to check what the reporting requirements in your country are and be sure to follow them.

A look at all the assets and their rates on Nexo. Image via Nexo.

When it comes to borrowing, you’ll be happy to know that interest rates can be as low as 0% in certain situations, and they never exceed 13.9%. I couldn’t find exactly what the interest rates for different situations look like even though they have a calculator, therefore I prefer Celsius when doing calculations before committing to anything. What caught my eye in borrowing with Nexo is that they’ve deployed the possibility to apply for a loan against your NFTs. Currently they support two collections, Crypto Punks and Bored Ape Yacht Club. When applying you can get up to 20% of the floor price. This is something many platforms haven’t yet done and I’m sure there will be good demand for this, especially now that the prices have gone sky high. Still, when talking about NFTs be careful when lending against them since we have yet to see them tested in case of a bear market and even that 80% buffer might not be enough.

Other features on Nexo include the already mentioned payment card as well as an exchange. The Nexo card is issued in partnership with Mastercard so using it shouldn’t be a problem. The card earns you up to 2% cash back and additional benefits on the Nexo site. However, before ordering it I suggest reading this piece on Coin Bureau and watching this video, both of them are about the best crypto cards. The exchange on Nexo is decent but certainly not the best. Exchanges are a topic multiple times covered on the Coin Bureau YouTube channel so you can find more information there.

As you see it’s easier to reach the high tiers on Nexo than on Celsius. Image via Nexo

Then to wrap up Nexo we’ll have a quick look at the token. Looking at its one-year performance it’s a lot rosier than for Celsius with a solid rise of over 300%. Due to the price action, you’ll probably be much more comfortable opting for the tiers on Nexo which are very much similar to what Celsius had. When you move to a higher tier you get benefits on all features on Nexo, my favorites are higher rates when lending as well as more free crypto withdrawals since with the basic plan you only have one.

BlockFi 

Here’s another platform well known to those into cryptocurrency. What separates BlockFi from the two previous platforms is that it doesn’t have its own native currency. BlockFi took the traditional route of raising money from VCs and high net worth individuals first when it was founded in 2017 and since then they’ve had a few refills. On top of those borrowing and lending features BlockFi offers both an exchange and a payment card, and they also have a separate side specifically for institutions.

There are some big names backing the project and that’s for sure. Image via BlockFi.

What’s disappointing after reading about the two previous platforms is that BlockFi sadly only supports 13 different cryptocurrencies and from what I could find Nexo or Celsius beat BlockFi on every asset. However, for some coins the rate was good, so I wouldn’t completely dismiss BlockFi before reading more about them.

The interest rates on BlockFi work similarly to Celsius’ meaning that they vary depending on the amount you deposit. For example, for BTC and ETH the rates get quite low as your position increases (look at the picture below). But BlockFi does have one strength when it comes to lending which is a huge deal for me; they can pay your interest in stablecoins. Why this is so good is simply tax purposes. Depending on where you live it might be a pain to keep track of all the interest you earn in which coins and to what prices, therefore earning in stablecoins helps and might even be worth sacrificing a little interest to make your life easier. BlockFi also pays the interest monthly which again is easier to deal with, at least in my country.

Here’s a look at the rates, not that exciting. Image via BlockFi.

Borrowing on BlockFi is pretty much the same as for the other platforms but again you might get better rates elsewhere. The lowest rate possible here is 4.5% and compared to what the others offer that’s quite high. However, BlockFi also has a calculator on both borrowing and lending so it’s easy for you to compare it to other sites.

If you’re a fan of cashbacks, then you’ll be happy to know that the BlockFi payment card includes a 90-day period with 3.5 % cashback, after that it’ll drop to 1.5%. While that 1.5 % cashback is less than what Nexo offers, you might want to order it and use it in the beginning to maximize your rewards since there are no annual fees. When it comes to the exchange it’s decent but as I pointed out regarding the Nexo exchange, I think there are better ones out there. Lastly, one thing that needs to be pointed out is that BlockFi only allows one free withdrawal a month and after that they charge a small fee. However, as Guy points out in a Coin Bureau video comparing BlockFi and Celsius, the fee is justifiable by the high security BlockFi has in withdrawals.

YouHodler 

I know the last three options have been fairly similar and it’s time to provide something new. YouHodler was founded in 2018 and differentiates itself by supporting a multitude of different currencies that others don’t. Another difference is that they have a few unique features, however, with the downside that a few features like a payment card aren’t on the list.

As with all the others let’s start with lending. YouHodler offers competitive interest rates with 12 % on most stablecoins, 4.8 % on BTC, and 5.5 % on ETH. On top of that they have rates on coins like YFI (4.5%) and Sushi (7%). Altogether YouHodler supports 39 different cryptocurrencies. The interest is paid weekly in the same currency you deposited, nothing new here.

Couldn’t fit all of them in one picture but here’s most of them. Image via YouHodler.

The borrowing side is also fairly similar to others excluding one major difference. On other sites the amount you can borrow on your collateral is around 50% while YouHodler allows as high as up to 90% and you can use all of the top 20 coins as collateral. Now, while some might think this is great, I find it a bit scary. That’s because cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile, and your collateral might easily drop in value and leave you with a huge amount of debt compared to what’s left of your collateral. Speaking of collateral, YouHodler also offers the possibility to provide NFTs as collateral but that needs to be applied for separately. Now I don’t know which collections are supported but my guess would be that those blue-chip NFTs like BAYC and Punks are among them.

I only agree with the max 20% here (although 0% is what I would prefer), there is risk with “traditional” savings and potential loss in Multi-HODL is higher than 50%! Image via YouHodler.

The two features not offered on other platforms are Turbocharge and Multi-Hodl. These are essentially borrowing, and lending combined with steroids. When using this what happens is that you put your coins as collateral and take a loan with which you’ll buy more crypto which will again be used as collateral for a new loan, and so on (everything is done automatically of course). What should immediately go through your mind is the extremely high risk of this and as a personal opinion I wouldn’t suggest this to anyone. The potential gains are nice, but you can lose a lot of money with this which is why YouHodler itself doesn’t suggest allocating more than 20% to this and the rest in traditional savings (traditional meaning the normal crypto lending).

Swissborg 

As with YouHodler, Swissborg is vastly different from the previous platforms. This is the only place I could consider using as my exchange and the yield earning possibilities are an extra bonus to use in earning additional rewards on my portfolio. Swissborg was founded in 2017 and has since gathered over 500k users with over $1.6 billion on the platform. Different from the other platforms Swissborg doesn’t offer borrowing, but how are the yields? 

Well, I have good news and bad news. The yields are great IF you have the genesis premium plan which boosts your earnings by 2x, I’ll get to the plans later. If you have the genesis premium, you’ll be earning almost 9% on stablecoins and for big boys BTC and ETH roughly 1% and 5.6% respectively. Now you might be wondering what else you can earn interest on and sadly there’s not much to wonder about since including those mentioned above Swissborg only supports earning on 9 different cryptocurrencies. The highest yield here is that of the Swissborg native token CHSB and currently the rate is sitting at 24%.

Not that competitive without the Genesis premium. Image via Swissborg.

Why I said I might be open to using Swissborg as my exchange is because with the genesis premium you get low fees of only 0-0.25%. On top of that Swissborg offers some analytics tools as well as good portfolio statistics. They also allow trading with many more cryptocurrencies than they offer yields on, so you don’t need to be worried about that.

Now to the disappointing part. I’ve been writing about the wonderful things in Swissborg for those who have the Genesis premium, but the truth is that I don’t think many will go for it. In order to get it you need 50 000 GHSB tokens which will cost you over $30k in today’s prices. Another possibility you can go for is the community premium which only requires 2000 GHSB tokens (≈ $1200). With the community premium you get 1.5x yield boost and 0.75% trading fees. Now depending on the size of your portfolio this could be worth it since the GHSB has been able to get you a 115% gain in 1-year excluding the high staking rewards on top of that, but it’s up for you to do your own research and decide.

Conclusion 

Before getting to the actual conclusion, I just wanted to quickly add that all of these platforms are available as mobile applications and some of them are even mobile first built. This includes Celsius and Swissborg. Therefore, if you can’t seem to have access to some features you should check if it’s available in their mobile app. Another thing I want to remind everyone about is that the rates stated here do fluctuate based on supply/demand. Those high rates for DOT might quickly fade if more people lend them. Also, the total amount you receive does take a hit if the underlying asset falls in value so don’t trust all the calculations you do to a full 100% since your earnings will fluctuate.

Now, when it comes to which you should use there’s no definitive answer that I can give you. All of them come with their own pros and cons, therefore it’s your job to weigh which is the right for you. For example, as mentioned earlier I’m a fan of simplicity which is why I’m up to sacrificing small gains in order to make the tax burden easier.  

Then if not only picking from these options is hard there are several more options to take into consideration. These include the likes of Crypto.com and KuCoin which both offer competitive earn features. And to make it just a tiny bit harder you also have the whole DeFi space to explore but that’s a topic for another day. 

The post Top 5 (CeFi) Lending Platforms: Earn Interest While HODLING appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Sandbox recently launched their alpha season and boy oh boy was it an experience. While the event was available to everyone, the holders of the exclusive Alpha Pass were the only ones who could access the ‘play-to-earn’ aspect of the game. There was a total of 5,000 Alpha Passes and they were distributed for free to the community via Twitter and other contests. If you were one of the few lucky ones who won an alpha pass through their contests, you could have made a sweet profit as these Alpha passes sold for as high as 2.7 ETH on the secondary market, that’s a whopping $11,000 at current prices.

If you are anything like me, you’re probably wondering why anyone would trade such large sums of money for access to a gaming metaverse. This question led me down the deep rabbit hole of trying to understand what the sandbox is, and how to be a part of it. And trust me, it’s not something you want to miss. Keep reading to find out.

This review of the sandbox will guide you in understanding how to be a part of the sandbox and kickstart your journey towards mastering the game mechanics, along with offering a glimpse into the sandbox’s journey and its vision for the future.

The Sandbox Journey

This is the tale of a classic game that ascended into blockchain heaven. That’s right, the Sandbox, had its humble beginnings as a regular cross-platform game-builder, not on the blockchain. This version of the sandbox was a 2D pixel-art world creator and it was officially launched in 2012 for mobiles and later expanded to Steam for PCs in 2015.

Animoca Brands, a blockchain game development company, acquired The Sandbox in 2018 and announced its plans to bring the sandbox to the Ethereum blockchain. This new version of the sandbox on the blockchain is a voxel-style virtual land and game-experience building platform. This expansion to the blockchain aimed to solve certain key issues with traditional gaming, namely; true ownership of in-game assets and a free open market economy for creators and players without interference from centralized institutions.

The Sandbox is designed with a comprehensive economy and is suited for artists, investors, gamers, and game designers. The Sandbox has three main pillars which help it run this economy, they are; the Marketplace, the VoxEdit, and the Game Maker.

Marketplace

The Marketplace is built on the Ethereum blockchain where ASSET owners and creators can freely trade. The primary currency to trade on the marketplace is $SAND. To access and use this marketplace, you must be connected to the Ethereum mainnet and have an account created at the sandbox website. Once you have satisfied these requirements, you can buy and sell NFTs on the platform for $SAND, provided you have a little bit of $ETH in your wallet for gas.  For all assets sold on the marketplace, 95% of the proceeds go to the seller and 5% goes to the Sandbox Creator and Game Maker Fund.

The Marketplace via The Sandbox Gitbook

Currently, there are four categories of ASSETS that can be purchased in the marketplace; Entities, Equipment, Wearables, and Art. Some of these categories are purely cosmetic and some offer additional utility to your game experience. In the future, The Sandbox plans to add more categories to the marketplace such as Blocks, Games, and Avatars.

The Marketplace helps fulfill the brand’s vision for a truly decentralized and open marketplace. Well, somewhat decentralized. As of writing this piece, for your assets to get published to the marketplace as NFTs, they need to be vetted by the marketplace curation team and you as the artist need to be a part of the ‘Creator Fund’.

VoxEdit

The VoxEdit is a Voxel Editing software developed by the Sandbox team and is an integral part of The Sandbox ecosystem. It helps artists create the ASSETS for The Sandbox metaverse. The Voxel, in simple terms, is a 3D-pixel and is the building block for all the ASSETS on The Sandbox.

The VoxEdit App Interface

VoxEdit offers three key functions, Modelling, Animation, and NFT Conversion.

With the Modelling function, artists can design and create the 3D voxelated versions of the particular design they have in mind for their asset, or import an earlier work made for another game like Minecraft. With the Animation function, artists can ‘rig’ and animate various parts of their ASSET and create unique movements for various scenarios in the game. Finally, once the artist is satisfied with his creation and has tested its interaction in a game, he can choose to mint his ASSET into an NFT with the VoxEdit platform. If you have exported your assets to the Sandbox, they will be visible on your profile. You can then choose to share it via the marketplace as a virtual asset on the blockchain.

The VoxEdit also has preset templates that artists can work on top of. These templates greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to create an ASSET and is quite beginner-friendly. The Sandbox team has a tutorial series on how to use VoxEdit, which I found quite useful and simple enough for beginners. Don’t believe me? Well, look at the masterpiece I’ve made after watching a few videos.

If you’ve managed to recognize what I’ve attempted to create, Congratulations! You are a supporter of the Coin Bureau, through and through.

Creators Fund

The Sandbox Creator Fund was launched in 2018, with a fund pool of $2 Million. It focuses on developing the talents of its users in Voxel Art to produce high-quality ASSETs for the game. The program is limited to the first 1000 participants, it will help the artists in creating and publishing the ASSET to the Sandbox Marketplace in addition to rewarding the artists monetarily for their creation based on the complexity and quality. The artists that are a part of the Creator Fund are the only ones who can publish their assets during the Sandbox’s Alpha and Beta stage. This provides them with much better exposure, making them be able to stand out from the list of artists creating on the platform post public launch.

Game Maker

The Game Maker is the third and final pillar of the Sandbox Ecosystem. Game creators and gamers create and test various game experiences made using the ASSETs developed by the Artists. The Game Maker allows users to place and use their ASSETS within a piece of LAND (an ERC-721 token) that they own in The Sandbox. As of this moment, to publish a game you’ve created you must own a parcel of LAND in The Sandbox or partner with someone who owns a LAND in the Sandbox.

While ASSETs can be used as decorative items on LANDs, they can also be used to construct fully immersive and fascinating gaming experiences and mechanics. Based on the player’s actions within the game, the ASSETs can be programmed to behave in a certain way using visual scripting nodes, this transforms a LAND from a decorative experience to an immersive game experience. The Game Maker allows you to make games without any coding. So, if you’re interested in making your own games in The Sandbox but aren’t sure how to, then you must check out the official tutorial playlist by the Sandbox and this tutorial by one of the members of the Sandbox team.

The team hosts regular events called ‘Game Jams’ with a pretty attractive reward pool. Game Jams are events where Game Creators are encouraged to create an interactive and engaging game with the use of the Sandbox Game Maker and submit it for the competition.  The games are judged according to pre-announced criteria and the first 10 places receive rewards from the reward pool. The most recent Game Jam is a partnership between The Sandbox and Round21 with a theme centered around a sports-related gaming experience.

Game Maker Fund

The Game Maker Fund is an exclusive fund that focuses on developing the talent of its users in game creation and development on The Sandbox. It rewards and incentivizes those who have proven skills in game design or digital world design by sponsoring them with the $SAND tokens required to create and publish their game design. Admission into the fund has a very thorough selection process, this is to ensure that the games published via the Fund are only the best of the best. This focus on quality will enrich the experience of players playing the game and bring in more people to the platform.

Token Economy

The token economy of the Sandbox features five types of Tokens; namely:

1. LAND (ERC-721)
2. SAND (ERC-20)
3. ASSET (ERC-1155)
4. GEM (ERC-20)
5. CATALYST (ERC-20)

LAND

LAND in The Sandbox is an ERC-721 NFT token that grants its holders rights over a 96×96 meters parcel of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse. LAND owners can build unique experiences using ASSETs for users to visit and experience. There is a total of 166,464 parcels of LAND in The Sandbox, and no more will ever be minted. This makes LAND an incredibly scarce NFT within The Sandbox.

Concept Art for LAND in the Sandbox via Medium

Land Distribution:

• 123,840 LANDS (∼74%) are available for sale in total.
• 25,920 LANDS (∼16%) will form the Reserve, which will be distributed to partners, creators, and gamers as rewards.
• 16,704 LANDS (∼10%) will remain the property of The Sandbox. They will be used to host special events, feature exclusive games and ASSETS.

There are 2 ways owners of LANDs can monetize them.

First, by creating gaming experiences on their LAND and charging players in $SAND to play the game experience. This method is especially effective if the gaming experience is very high quality and/or if it offers players a chance to earn some $SAND in the process.

Second, by renting LAND to other Game Creators, artists, or players to build their own experience on the LAND that they can display and monetize. This method provides the LAND owner with steady passive income from the user renting his LAND.

LAND Ownership Relations Chart via Medium

Estates– Estates are a combination of multiple adjacent LAND parcels. They come in 4 different sizes (3×3, 6×6, 12×12, and 24×24). Estates can be owned by one single person or by multiple different owners. They offer great visibility to owners as they can be seen quite distinctively (due to their size) by players who click on The Sandbox map. Estates are usually desired by big brands and companies who want to establish a digital presence in the Sandbox metaverse.

Districts– Estates that are made of LAND parcels owned by multiple different people are called Districts. They are essentially a congregation of LANDs that ally to self-govern and build towards a common purpose. While Districts are yet to be released in the current version of the game, they should be available with the full release of the game to the public. The Sandbox team envisions that ‘districts’ will give rise to DAOs within the Sandbox metaverse. LAND owners within a district must stake $SAND to create and be a part of the district.

SAND

$SAND Use cases via The Sandbox Whitepaper

$SAND is an ERC-20 token that serves as the primary currency of The Sandbox metaverse. $SAND is a utility token that can be used by all participants within the Sandbox economy for various purposes such as:

Transacting on the Sandbox Platform– Artists and Players can buy and sell ASSETs with $SAND. Users can only purchase LAND with $SAND during the primary sales and for all sales done through the Sandbox Marketplace. Artists must also spend $SAND to upload their ASSETs to the marketplace.

Governance– The Sandbox will follow a DAO structure and $SAND is the governance token. Holders of the token can take part in key decision-making regarding the future of the platform. Such key issues include Foundation grant attributions to content and game creators and feature prioritization on the platform Roadmap. SAND owners can also delegate voting rights to other players of their choice.

Staking– The token can be used for staking on the platform allowing the user to gain passive income in $SAND during the holding period of the token. Staking is also the only way for Artists and other players to farm Gem and Catalysts, both of which are key elements in ASSET creation.

Fee Capture Model– The 5% fee charged by the Marketplace will be utilized towards strengthening the treasury and foundation of the Sandbox.

Foundation– The foundation can be regarded as a collection of funds that are used towards the development of the economy and its participants. The foundation will be offering grants to deserving artists and game projects. All the grants offered by the Foundation will be in $SAND.

The sleeping giant: $SAND’s meteoric pump in November 2021 via CoinMarketCap

Price History- To say that the $SAND token has given its early investors amazing returns, would be an understatement. The $SAND token had an IEO back in Aug 2020 and was sold for just $0.0083 per token. With the current price of $SAND sitting at $5.91, that’s a 72,050% return since launch. The token began publicly trading at $0.086 in Aug of 2020 and hit an all-time low of $0.028 in November 2020, just a couple of months post-launch. Most of this dumping in the price was due to IEO investors booking profits as the token had already achieved 10x in the launch.

The token traded at a consistent $0.03 to $0.1 until the start of the 2021 bull market. During the early half of the bull cycle this year, the SAND token hit an all-time high of $0.84 in March, but this pales in comparison to its all-time high of $8.44 in the second half of the 2021 bull cycle in November. Most of this price action is thanks to a big inflow of money from institutional investors into metaverse projects. This coupled with Facebook’s announcement regarding its rebranding to ‘Meta’, sent the crypto markets into a frenzy around blockchain gaming and metaverse projects in particular. While the token is currently seeing a healthy correction, we can expect a better upside with the full launch of the game and public marketplace, sometime in late 2022 to early 2023.

Sandbox Vesting Schedule via Binance Research

The $SAND’s total supply is 3 billion and current circulating supply is 919,498,319 (i.e 30.64% of total supply). The Sandbox’s token unlock schedule indicates that 100% of the supply will be unlocked by 2024. The founders of the project have also indicated that their vision for the Sandbox is to be a fully self-governing community-run DAO, this could mean that the team would slowly be selling all its tokens to the community. This sell-pressure coupled with Sandbox’s token unlock schedule could mean that while an upside is likely for $SAND, it may not be as meteoric as compared to its previous pumps.

The $SAND token is currently available on Binance, Uniswap and Simplex.

ASSET. 

ASSETs refer to the voxel creations of artists and other creators. ASSET can be minted into NFTs which follow the ERC-1155 standard. ASSETs are the tokens that build the actual experience in The Sandbox metaverse. Artists create ASSETs which are used by Game Creators to build immersive experiences for the players and citizens of the Sandbox.  As explained earlier, Artists use VoxEdit to create and publish an ASSET. Once the artist has created and selected the desired ASSET, he will be able to mint and ‘publish’ the ASSET as an NFT on the Marketplace. During this stage, the artist can determine the scarcity of the NFT by deciding on the number of copies to be minted of that particular asset. The NFTs will either be common, rare, epic, or legendary, depending on the number of copies minted.

• Common has a maximum of 20,000 copies
• Rare has a maximum of 4,000 copies
• Epic has a maximum of 1,500 copies
• Legendary has a maximum of 200 copies

The ERC-1155 Standard – The Sandbox went with the cautious decision to follow the ERC-1155 standard for their ASSETs instead of the ERC-721. This can often seem puzzling to users because the ERC-721 is touted as the gold standard for NFTs. However, in a gaming metaverse such as The Sandbox, where gamers will use the NFTs for various interactive gameplay and artists will be selling multiple copies of the Same ASSET, it makes more sense to use the ERC-1155 instead of the ERC-721. Artists and gamers can save on gas fees by being able to trade NFTs in one flexible contract.

ASSET Categories: Currently, there are five different categories of ASSETs in The Sandbox. They are; Entities, Equipment, Wearables, Art, and Blocks.

Classification of Asset Categories based on functionality

Entity – Entities are functional environmental ASSETs. They give interaction to an experience and help bring the environment to life. Typical examples of Entities are animals, birds, avatars, landmarks, etc. Entities are often animated and can be programmed to interact with the user in different ways for different scenarios.

Equipment – Equipment is functional player ASSETs. They are accessible from the inventory and can be worn by the player. Equipment often offers boosts to the player in a particular gaming experience. Typical examples of Equipment are swords, shields, gloves, helmets, etc.

Wearables – Wearables are cosmetic player ASSETs. They can be used to customize the player’s complete Avatar or specific body parts. An avatar is typically composed of four different body parts, that consist of the head, torso, legs, and feet. Each of these wearables can be customized at will to create a unique avatar. Cosmetic wearables will be fashionable to customize avatars and give them unique styles.

Art – Art ASSETs are cosmetic environmental ASSETs and are used mainly for their visual aspects. Art can often be used to add a certain uniqueness to the gameplay visually. Typical examples of Art ASSETs are voxelized versions of traditional works of art, stylized items, buildings, landmarks, statues, etc.

Blocks – Blocks are cosmetic environmental ASSETs that change the look of the landscape. Typical examples of blocks can be water, mud, sand, and lava, etc.

GEM

GEM is an ERC-20 token that is burnt during minting an NFT. NFTs that are minted this way, gain special attributes that grant the ASSET a boost when used in a game experience. By burning GEM, you can boost the ASSET’s stats. One GEM will be able to provide up to 25 attribute points to an ASSET and, with the help of CATALYSTs, you’ll be able to socket up to 4 GEMs, meaning up to 100 attribute points. As of now, the only known way to obtain GEM will be through staking $SAND on LAND.

There are five types of attributes that can be obtained with GEM, they are;

1. Power
2. Defense
3. Magic
4. Speed
5. Luck

These attributes will have functionality within the Game Maker, allowing the creator to create even more engaging and interactive games.

CATALYST

CATALYST is an ERC-20 token that is burnt when used during minting an NFT. CATALYST help determine the rarity of an ASSET and provides slots for storing gems. As of writing this article, it has not yet been revealed how Catalysts may be obtained.

Catalysts are divided into four tiers; they are-

1. Common- 1 GEM socket- up to 20000 ASSET copies can be minted
2. Rare- 2 GEM sockets- up to 4000 ASSET copies can be minted
3. Epic- 3 GEM sockets- up to 1500 ASSET copies can be minted
4. Legendary- 4 GEM sockets- up to 200 ASSET copies can be minted

How to get started in The Sandbox Today

The easiest way to get started with The Sandbox today would be as an Investor. LAND prices have almost 200x from their initial sale price of $48 a couple of years ago. The $SAND token has also seen an incredible pump from the metaverse craze in the current bull market. But The Sandbox as a project is yet to be fully deployed and launched. One might say that there is still incredible potential ahead for $SAND.

The second way to get started with The Sandbox would be as a Creator or Artist. I would argue this is the best way to get involved with the project. Even with the incredible hype surrounding Metaverses, the creator economy for such metaverse projects is still ripe for the picking. The Sandbox has incredible incentives for artists and game creators alike to be involved through the grants offered by the Creator Fund and Game Maker Fund.

Alpha Pass

The Sandbox Alpha was a special multi-week event that took place between Nov 29^th – Dec 20^th. It offered players the chance to experience 18 game experiences created by The Sandbox Team as well as the chance to win 1000 $SAND and 3 special Alpha NFT ASSETs. While the play-to-earn aspect of the event was only available to Alpha Pass holders, everyone could experience some open-world gameplay in the Alpha HUB along with 3 full game experiences.

There was a total of 5000 alpha passes available that were distributed to the community for free via various contests.  While the first season of the Alpha has ended, the team seems to have plans for a potential second season. If you don’t want to miss out on the second season, make sure you’re glued to their discord and medium.

Future Sandbox Plans

According to the roadmap, the next on the list for The Sandbox seems to be the gradual opening of the Marketplace to public artists to create and publish their ASSETs along with the adoption of the DAO system. The Sandbox team also plans to host the first virtual concerts by Q3 of 2022. More events such as public LAND sales, launching of multiple gaming experiences across LANDS, more Partnerships and NFT collaborations, and launching of periodic play-to-earn events are planned for the end of 2022.

Future Plans via The Sandbox Gitbook

Conclusion

The Sandbox seems to be the strongest metaverse project with active collaborations and periodic updates and events. While it might seem all fine and dandy, the most troubling concern seems to be the lack of decentralization when it comes to the server hosting The Sandbox platform. The game is currently hosted on AWS and this leads to a single point of failure. Secondly, the platform and the Marketplace are currently on the Ethereum blockchain, with the recent spike in the gas costs for Ethereum it has become almost impractical for gaming projects to transact on the chain. Unless of course, you’re ETH rich. On a positive note, the team is considering a layer 2 for the marketplace in the future. Layer 2 solutions like Polygon and Immutable X will significantly lower gas costs and make the project much more viable to mass adoption.

The post The Sandbox Review: Have we missed the Boat?! appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The search for passive income strategies is very popular among day traders who trade forex, stocks, crypto, commodities, indices, corn, oil, cotton, basically, anything that has a price chart, people will trade it, and try and automate their trading. Day trading is a very labour and focus intensive way to make money, and it comes with a lot of stress and long hours in front of a computer studying price history, price patterns, practicing trading strategies, tweaking strategies and ultimately, trading. To make the lives of traders easier, many of them have turned to automated strategies and trading bots.

Yes, My Army of Trading Bots, Do Thy Bidding! Image via Shutterstock

What are Trading Bots?

Spoiler alert, they are nothing like that creepy image above. In reality, it is much less robot-like, and more of just a program that runs on your computer. No Terminator/I,Robot droids here.

Trading bots are tools used by both beginner and advanced traders to assist in their trading. Trading bots can range from being fully automatic, basically as a “set and forget,” just let it run type program, or they can be used alongside manual trading strategies to automate some of the tedious tasks manual traders need to perform. Trading bots have many benefits as they allow traders to be able to trade around the clock while they work another job or at times when they are not at their computers, and they can increase the efficiency of full-time traders as they can execute their bot on one chart while they are focusing on other charts, searching for additional trades using the bot more like an assistant. And of course, another benefit is that bots do not have emotions so they can reduce risks associated with a trader’s biases and emotions such as fear and greed which do not belong in trading strategies.

I have used trading bots myself for years, designing my own and testing literally hundreds of different ones. In my experience, the most beneficial way that I have seen traders effectively utilize bots is when experienced traders use a bot to assist them in their own, already formed trading strategies as more as an assistant and not so much trying to run a bot by itself on full auto. While trading bots that run on full auto-pilot sound great and are every trader’s dream, I don’t want to fuel hopium and be completely transparent when I say that fully automatic trading bots do not have a great track record and far more people have lost their accounts than have made money using them. This is mostly due to people who do not know how to trade or recognize chart patterns or trends thinking that they can throw a trading bot on any chart at any time and let it go which is not the case. Please be sure to do your own due diligence and learn more about expert advisors/trading bots to decide if they are worth the risk and always test bots on demo accounts before risking live capital.

Words of Wisdom Brought to you by Investopedia

What is TradeSanta?

TradeSanta is an automated crypto trading platform that looks to simplify crypto trading by allowing traders to use customizable automated trading bots so they can benefit from the use of trading bots without having to have the skills or knowledge needed to program their own. The TradeSanta platform allows users to create, monitor and adjust the bots in a way that suits their trading style.

Image via TradeSanta

For anyone who has ever tried to use trading bots in the past, you will know that trying to find a good trading bot on the internet is like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. It is a complete minefield with literally thousands of them being spammed all over the internet on scammy looking websites and trading forums, with many bots being about as useful at trading as a rock. Fortunately, TradeSanta is a well-established and well-respected company within the crypto community and has been around since 2018 with hundreds of positive reviews and happy users so you can be confident that their system is dependable and will function as expected. Of course, keeping in mind that the trading success of the bot is completely dependent on the settings and strategy that the trader chooses, and how they choose to deploy the bot.

Some of the Features on TradeSanta Image via tradingbot.info

TradeSanta is great for beginners to the world of automated trading systems as it is very user friendly, but also has loads of customizable features making it also suitable for intermediate or advanced traders who are looking to add some automation to their trading.

Pros:

• Simplified and easy plug and play process for programming a bot with the custom indicators and parameters of your choice. No coding skills necessary!
• Simple and intuitive dashboard that makes it easy to monitor bot trading performance and adjust settings, portfolios and parameters on the fly.
• Incredibly convenient mobile app to make adjustments or deploy the bot when you are on the go.
• Affordable, tiered subscription plans.

Cons:

• Only a 3-day free trial, not enough time to get to know the platform or test the bot thoroughly.
• Trading Bots deploying dollar cost averaging (AKA Martingale) and Grid trading strategies can be VERY dangerous and are considered high risk as they can quickly wipe out the trading accounts of inexperienced users. Be sure to do your research on Martingale and Grid trading strategies to decide if this type of trading is right for you.
• Does not support many popular trading indicators to use with the bot’s settings.

Pricing

TradeSanta offers subscription packages at three different price points. The differences between the packages are based on the number of bots a trader wants to deploy and other features such as enabling trailing profit settings and receiving trading signals. The number of bots needed depends on how many trading pairs a user wants to trade as each bot will be assigned to one pair.

The price plans are as follows:

• Basic Package-$14 per month, up to 49 bots.
• Advanced- $20 per month, up to 99 bots, trailing take profit, TradingView signals
• Maximum- $30 per month, unlimited bots, everything included in the lower plans plus access to Binance Futures.

Pricing Plans Image via TradeSanta

Types of TradeSanta Bots

Traders start by choosing a bot with a long strategy if they are bullish or a short strategy if they are bearish. Once a trader has their directional bias, they can then choose which technical indicators to use like the RSI and MACD and use trade filters and volume filters. Traders can then choose if they want their bot to follow a dollar cost averaging or grid trading strategy which I will cover more in a bit. Traders can choose from a selection of preset templates that they can tweak as well.

Traders Choose a Long or Short Template to Start Image via TradeSanta

DCA (dollar cost average)- DCA bots are great for volatile markets where price swings up and down multiple times throughout the day or week, remaining within a fairly stable range. This trading style is ideal for traders who want to ensure their position is fully exited once a profit target is reached. The weakness is that dollar cost average strategies can fall apart and result in heavy losses when price is in a strong trend against the trader’s open position. If there are no retracements in price, the basket of trades is unable to close out in profit and due to the extra open positions will result in larger losses. During ideal trading conditions, the DCA strategy has the potential to substantially increase a trader’s win rate. The chaps over at the FX Axe YouTube trading channel have a fantastic video discussing everything you need to know about the dollar cost averaging (aka Martingale) strategy, along with the risks associated with it here.

Example of how a DCA bot Trades Image via TradeSanta

Grid- Grid bots treat every order separately, so if one order buys x quantity of a coin, the bot will trigger sell orders for the same quantity. Grid trading strategies work best in stable markets when price is consolidating. You can learn more about Grid trading strategies and the pros and cons in this great article from tradingbot.info

Example of how a Grid Bot Trades Image via TradeSanta

Technical Indicators Available

TradeSanta supports technical indicators that can be used when setting the bot’s trading strategy. These include the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), and Bollinger signals. Traders can also choose trading and volume filters to further customize their strategy. There are literally thousands of different trading indicators out there, it would be nice to see TradeSanta support a few more highly popular ones such as moving averages and Stochastics.

Creating a Bot Image via TradeSanta

Trading Bot Trade Example

Let’s say you believe your crypto asset of choice is going to increase in value, so you choose a long strategy. You buy 10 coins each costing $20 dollars for an investment of $200 dollars. You expect that the price will rise and want to sell once you have made a profit of 1%, the bot will automatically close the position once you have made that 1% profit, or whichever profit target you set.

But what happens if the price goes against you? In that case, the DCA bot will place extra orders as price falls further against your profit target to dollar cost average (lowering) your average entry price. You can choose how many extra orders the bot will take if price goes against you and the percentage of your account to risk on each trade. So, in this example say you allow the bot to open up two extra orders if price falls with each trade being opened with 5% risk. If the price drops to $19 per coin, the bot will by 10 more coins, then another 10 if price drops to $18 per coin. As a result, if the market goes down by 10% you will now have 30 coins with $19 dollars as your entry price, lower than the original $20 dollars per coin. This is advantageous as now you only need the price to increase to $19.19, which is below your entry price in order to reach your 1% profit goal.

The TradeSanta Bot can use Dollar Cost Averaging to Manage Trade Entries Image via TradeSanta

How to Get Started on TradeSanta

Users will first need an account with a crypto exchange. They can create and connect to a new crypto exchange through the TradeSanta platform or connect an existing exchange account which is more common. The supported exchanges are Binance, HitBTC, Huobi, UPbit, OKEx, Coinbase Pro and Binance.US.

How to Connect a TradeSanta Account to an Exchange Image via TradeSanta

Users will need to insert the API keys from their crypto exchange account into their TradeSanta account to synchronize the two together. Don’t worry, this is easier than it sounds as there is a setting directly in Binance under the Account settings called “API Management,” and from there you will be able to generate an API key. I am assuming the process is similar for other exchanges, but through Binance it is a breeze. Once a user has generated the API key in their exchange of choice, an API secret key will also be automatically generated and both the API key and API secret key can simply be copy and pasted into the user’s account on the TradeSanta platform.

Entering the API Key Easy as Copy and Paste Image via TradeSanta

Mobile App

The mobile app offers the same tools and features as the desktop dashboard. Each bot has a dedicated, “bot card” where users can check their performance and make any tweaks on the go. This is really convenient as I can’t tell you how many times I was out when the markets took a serious dive and I had to rush home (often too late) to tweak my bots or shut them down on the computer. As you know, markets move fast and can flip on a dime so being able to tweak bots on the go is a real positive.

Customer Support

Users of the platform seem genuinely satisfied with the great level of customer support. This is always a good sign as many of the trading bots available online have no support service whatsoever. TradeSanta provides in-platform support via live chat and are quick to respond. Customers can also reach out to them on Telegram or email at team@TradeSanta.com

User Interface

The dashboard and mobile app both have a great interface that is clean, easy to navigate and use. All the metrics and features are easy to locate and finding your way around to the different areas is a breeze, definitely one of the most user-friendly platforms I have seen.

A Look at the TradeSanta Interface Image via Benzinga.com

Education

As I have mentioned, the TradeSanta platform makes creating trading bots easy regardless of technical skill meaning that it is suitable for any level of trader from advanced to beginner. However, as I have also mentioned, trading bots and trading, in general, carries a high level of risk. If you are a beginner, while TradeSanta is beginner-friendly, the world of day trading and automated trading bots isn’t. Fortunately, TradeSanta has done a fantastic job at creating educational content and have some great educational resources in their blog and FAQ section to help you get more fluent and up to speed in the world of trading. If you’ve never traded before, YouTube is also a great place to go and learn the basics such as Guy’s part 1, part 2 and part 3 series on learning technical analysis. A little bit of homework and you’ll be well on your way to securing your best chances of using TradeSanta safely and profitably.

TradeSanta Offers Comprehensive Educational Blog and FAQ sections Image via TradeSanta

Security

While cryptocurrency trading can be risky, the TradeSanta platform itself is very secure, using two-factor authentication and password protection. The API key used to link a user’s brokerage account also only grants trading permissions, not withdrawal permissions so you don’t need to worry about the TradeSanta team or your bot going all AWOL and running off with your funds.

One concern that I am seeing a lot of as I dive deep into this review is a lot of customers claiming that TradeSanta is a scam, claiming that TradeSanta has taken money out of customers wallets and exchange accounts. After looking into these claims I can confidently say that these allegations have nothing to do with the TradeSanta team and is yet another one of hundreds of sad stories where customers are being tricked on Telegram by scammers impersonating support staff of crypto companies. The “trade only” API integration makes it impossible for TradeSanta to withdraw any funds and each of the “scam” reports I am reading have the common theme that customers were talking to someone on Telegram who pretended to be from TradeSanta and the customer provided personal information that gave the scammers access to their exchange account or wallets. I see this same story regardless of the company so please always be certain of who you are talking to and know that no support team will ever ask for passwords or private keys.

The TradeSanta support team seem to be very active and engage with reviews, complaints and suggestions across various review sites so kudos to them.

Closing Thoughts

TradeSanta has done a great overall job at completing what they set out to do and that is making automated cryptocurrency trading as easy as it can be. The very user-friendly plug and play settings makes programming and deploying the bots easy. Before companies like TradeSanta, users would basically need a degree in computer science to create these bots then figure out how to install them on their trading platforms but being able to do everything directly on the TradeSanta platform thanks to the API integration is such a time saver and game-changer. The two biggest criticisms that I have is the lack of available indicators on the platform and settings for the bot, making the bots not ideal for more complex trading strategies, and the fact that they only offer a 3-day free trial is pretty lame. Many similar companies will offer a 7 to 14-day trial as it can take a while to get used to the platform and users should be able to test the bot and run it for a few days to see if it’s right for them.

For the price, you can’t really go wrong. Being able to deploy an army of 99 bots to trade around the clock while you kick back and enjoy a pina colada for $20 dollars a month is a steal. As I have alluded to, TradeSanta is best suited for traders who do have experience in crypto trading and just need a tool to handle the programming side of automating their strategies. From the customer reviews I have read, TradeSanta has generally positive reviews across various sites and customers seem satisfied with the TradeSanta product, price, and customer support. I haven’t seen any glaring red flags other than a few traders who left angry reviews as they thought auto trading bots were supposed to work like money printing machines and used the bots irresponsibly and with too much risk and inevitably lost money.

TradeSanta has been around since 2018 which is a good amount of time for companies who offer trading bot software. I have seen it happen over and over where a trading company releases a trading bot, a bunch of users lose money with it, then the company disappears or goes bust in 6 months so the fact that TradeSanta has been around a while and has a lot of great reviews means that they are offering a product that works and that people are happily using it. The TradeSanta team also have a good reputation within the crypto community and over 4000 active members in their official Telegram group. Overall I think TradeSanta is a good option for experienced crypto traders who understand crypto market conditions and know when to, and when not to deploy a trading bot and have a fairly straightforward trading strategy that can be easily automated by the TradeSanta bots.

The post TradeSanta Review: Merry Trading or Mischievous Bots appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Unstoppable Domains Addresses The Problem

As you likely already know, crypto transactions are irreversible. So, when you send crypto to that 42-character, ridiculously long ERC-20 address and heaven forbid you mess up one character, you could be sending your precious crypto into oblivion never to be seen again. We all know the painstaking moments between when you send crypto, to when it arrives at the destination, praying to the crypto gods that the address was correct. The reverse is also true, say someone wants to send you some crypto and they mess up even a single digit, good luck asking them to resend more after they just lost their funds. This is hugely troublesome, especially if you are trying to run a business and are relying on crypto payments, with your customers all running the risk of entering your crypto receiving address incorrectly.

I know what you are probably thinking, “dude, just copy and paste the address… not that hard.” You are right, but that opens up another issue and that is the rise of clipboard hacking software. Thousands of people have lost funds as they copy a crypto address that they want to send funds to, not knowing they have malicious malware hidden on their device. Then when they go to paste the crypto address they copied, the address gets automatically changed to the receiving address of a devious and dastardly hacker’s wallet. Those Scoundrels! That is why it is important to ALWAYS double-check the address even when copying and pasting to make sure it was pasted correctly.

Clipboard Hijacking Software is a Serious Threat Image via bleepingcomputer

Also, Mr. Smarty-Pants with your “just copy and paste it,” solution, that isn’t very convenient or feasible during day-to-day life when we are away from a computer or phone. Imagine you are out with some mates for milkshakes, and someone wants to send you some crypto to pay for the next round. Unless you’ve memorized your 42-digit address (and want to take ten minutes to recite it to them), you now have to rummage around looking for it on your device and send it over to their device. Or imagine a future where crypto becomes more mainstream and you are running a lemonade stand at the side of the road and accept crypto payments. What are you going to say? “Please send funds to this ridiculously long crypto address” or just say, “Hey, thanks, send the money to bob.wallet” (Please don’t actually send funds to Bob.)

The solution? Well, that’s easy, Crypto Domains of course!

What are Crypto Domains?

Crypto, aka Blockchain domains, are a really fascinating development in the decentralized world. They have the ability to change the way we think about traditional “.com” domains and how they relate to online real estate. Crypto domains add a level of transparency, functionality and security to traditional domain names, a true evolution in domain name technology.

The leader in the blockchain domain space is Unstoppable Domains who build domain names using blockchain technology. This means that each domain is a unique, non-fungible token (NFT) that gets stored inside of a user’s cryptocurrency wallet instead of with a traditional centralized website registrar such as GoDaddy.

Some of the Benefits of Blockchain Domains Image via chrisberno.net

Unstoppable Domains is a San Francisco-based company formed in 2018 and was founded by Mathew Gould who is the current CEO. Matthew saw the need for interactions with crypto addresses needing to be easier while also providing a way to support a similar function to how DNS systems created a solution so that internet users did not have to learn and memorize IP addresses for traditional websites. Unstoppable Domains have since been making massive advancements in the world of crypto domains. Blockchain domains are essentially suites of smart contracts coded on the blockchain and they can work as a naming registry for crypto wallet addresses, linking crypto addresses to a name, or they can point users to content hosted on a blockchain network, acting similar to a website.

Unstoppable Domains Landing Page Image via unstoppabledomains.com

This gives crypto domains the unique ability to be multi-functional and censorship-resistant as websites hosted on a decentralized network cannot be shut down or censored which is a big step towards moving away from tyrannical tech giants such as Google and Amazon being able to shut down any websites or accounts hosting content that they don’t agree with or shutting down websites that directly compete with them. This will also effectively prevent the stifling of innovation and free speech as we have seen happen this past year with the banning of social media companies like Parler and seeing countless YouTube channels and Twitter accounts being banned for one reason or another.

Two Very Popular and Massively Respected Crypto YouTube Channels Were Temporarily Banned Highlighting Censorship Over-Reactions Image Via Coindesk 

Another way they have more utility is that it is possible to build programs on top of the domain and run them like apps and build software that can interact and integrate with them, making them far more versatile than traditional website domain names.

Crypto domains have been receiving quite a bit of hype lately and for good reason. If you recall back in the early dotcom days, people would purchase website names and sell them to companies for absolute fortunes such as the fella who first purchased the website techcrunch.com which was later purchased by AOL for a whopping $30 million dollars. We are seeing the next stage in that revolution now with big companies like Budweiser, the world’s largest beer company buying the crypto domain beer.eth for around 100k. A lot of investors and speculators are attempting to front-run this trend and buy .crypto and .eth domain names hoping to sell them off for big money as more companies start realizing the utility behind blockchain domains. Check out Guy’s video on flipping domain names if you want to get involved in domain flipping.

Building Decentralized Digital Identities for the World Image via unstoppabledomains.com

How Does Unstoppable Domains Work?

As mentioned, blockchain domains aren’t stored on a server like traditional domains, they are held in the public registry on publicly accessible blockchains. Unstoppable Domains Co-Founder Brad Kam sums it up by describing crypto domains as, “Your username for Crypto.” Users can choose from any available crypto domain which can essentially be any name or word and followed by: .crypto, .zil, .coin, .wallet, .bitcoin, .x, .888, .nft, .dao and .blockchain. I myself have acquired tayler88.crypto and that is fantastic as I can tell people to send any of the top ten crypto tokens there plus others that I have added regardless of the network and the funds are deposited easily and conveniently into my crypto wallet.

Crypto Domains Image via medium/swlh

Unstoppable Domains currently supports over 240 different tokens with thousands of ERC20 and BSC tokens also being supported. The fact that Unstoppable Domains is chain agnostic and can support tokens on different networks is a huge game-changer. A full list of supported assets can be found here. Crypto domains will also become more prevalent as blockchain gaming rises in adoption as all those NFTs you can earn, buy and create can be identified in-game and inside of metaverses with your crypto domain acting like your gamer tag. I would way rather have my character running around and shooting things with a cool crypto gamer tag that my teammates could call me by instead of running around with a name that is just a 42-character long string of gibberish.

Unstoppable Domains Makes it Easy

The team at Unstoppable Domains has made the entire process really easy. I won’t go into the step-by-step guide on how to set it up as Guy has already done that for you in a video here, but what I will say is that I have gone through the process myself and found it very straight forward and I was able to get it all setup and running in less than an hour.

All you need to do is search for the domain name you want and check to see if it is available. The price of the domains range between $10 to well over $1000 dollars depending on how common the wording is and its popularity. I was able to scoop mine up for around $15 dollars using the Coin Bureau discount link, a great deal for a lifetime blockchain domain name!

Search for a Desired Domain Name to See the Prices and Suggestions Image via unstoppabledomains.com

Fees

Oh Ethereum, will you ever give us a break with those gas fees? Once you purchase your domain name you will need to pay the network fee to mint the domain name. While Eth gas fees may get you down, the team over at Unstoppable Domains have partnered with Polygon to support fee-free minting!

That’s right, users can choose to mint their blockchain domain on either the Ethereum network or for free on the Polygon network which is a nice break for the wallet. Other than the cost to purchase the domain name and the gas cost to mint it should you choose Ethereum, there are no monthly subscription, renewal, or any other fees you will need to pay, it’s yours for life!

Unstoppable Domains accepts payments with credit card, PayPal, and of course, crypto, which is awesome. Users will need to connect a wallet either by using Metamask, MyEtherWallet, Coinbase Wallet or Wallet Connect which works with dozens of wallets to connect their wallet to Unstoppable Domains and approve the minting transaction and cover any network fees. For users who choose to mint on Polygon and have not already set their Metamask up to support the Polygon network, that can be a bit tricky the first time so I have included a step-by-step guide on how to add the Polygon network to Metamask for you here.

Add Your Coins and Tokens

This is where things get really cool. Users will need to enter which of their crypto addresses they want associated with their domain name. I really like the versatility as I can use the same domain name to have Bitcoin deposited into my Exodus wallet, and Ethereum deposited to my Trezor or an exchange address, (just be sure to find out if your exchange addresses change, and be mindful of memos or ID tags required if using an exchange address)

Supported Applications

As we are still in the very early days of crypto domains, not every app and exchange supports sending or receiving to crypto domains yet, but they will! The list of supported companies and applications is quickly growing and already include major exchanges such as OKEx, Okcoin, wallets such as Trust Wallet, Huobi Wallet, Bitcoin.com Wallet, and NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. Unstoppable Domains have also been integrated into the ever-popular Brave Browser. More on the Brave browser integration can be found here, a full list of supported applications can be found here.

Build and Connect Websites

The same domain that users use to receive crypto also enables them to build, connect and integrate websites and apps on top of the domain. All this sounds quite technical but the team at Unstoppable Domains have actually provided some great tools and templates to get started that anyone can use. Unstoppable Domains currently offer free templates for the following categories:

• Personal use
• For Sale
• Coming Soon
• Blogging

When building a website, Unstoppable Domains will assist in the storage of it with the decentralized storage network InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) with one click. Advanced users can build the site from scratch and manually link the IPFS has through the Unstoppable Domains user interface.

Decentralized websites built on the blockchain are viewable natively in the Brave and Opera web browsers, or through Chrome, Firefox and Edge for users who install the Unstoppable Domains browser extension.

Unstoppable Domains and Brave Browser Provide Access to Web 3.0 for Millions of Users Image via brave.com

Is it Safe?

It is about as safe as it can be! Once you have minted your domain name, the name resides within your non-custodial wallet. Nobody can ever take it from you and you have full 100% ownership of it for life unless you decide to sell it or give it away…Or in the unfortunate event that you lose access to the wallet where it is stored. Keep those recovery phrases safe people!

Crypto domains are as secure as the blockchain network itself and are made even safer due to nobody being able to censor or block the domain site.

Closing Thoughts

In the words of Guy, “Long-string crypto addresses are so last year,” and I couldn’t agree more. Not only are blockchain domains easier to remember, but feature so much versatility and utility as they can be used for both linking crypto addresses to names and hosting web content for the inevitable evolution to Web 3.0. Blockchain domain names are becoming a hot commodity as their use cases are being realized more and more with companies and individuals both jumping on board and purchasing them at accelerated rates.

If crypto reaches mainstream adoption, and Web 3.0 is built on blockchain, it is likely that everyone will someday have a blockchain domain name associated with them, much like how nearly everybody has a phone number or an email address associated with them today. These blockchain domains are likely to become our very identities in metaverses and online and may become the main way in which businesses collect payments. Instead of entering card information into a website like Amazon.com for your items, it is possible that we all may just someday send digital currency payments to Amazon.crypto. My only advice would be to try and get yours soon before the masses or else you are going to have the same conundrum as we saw with email addresses where you want bob.wallet, but it’s taken so now you need a much less cool bob3244543.wallet. Or, if you do miss out on that dream domain, perhaps Bob may be willing to part with the name bob.wallet and sell it….for a price.

The post Unstoppable Domains for ALL your Crypto Domain Needs appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In 2020, Binance had to give United States users the boot from their platform and pushed them to use Binance.us, which is a poor substitute for the original platform and not even available in all states. This announcement sent shockwaves through the crypto industry as crypto users were left in constant worry about getting kicked from their favourite platforms. Continued announcements, such as the UK also banning Binance, continued to rise throughout 2020 and 2021. FTX US has emerged from these draconian regulations in all the splendour of a knight in shining armour wearing a cape to bring clarity, regulation, safety and most importantly, a much-needed confidence boost for crypto enthusiasts based in the good old USA. Some feel this even answers the debate over FTX vs Binance.

If you want to check out a review on the international version of FTX we just so happen to have one which can be found here.

FTX History, The Who and The What

FTX was launched in May 2019 by co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. The exchange launch enjoyed early support with an endorsement from the quant crypto trading firm Alameda Research, which was not surprising at all since Bankman-Fried also founded Alameda Research in 2017.

FTX quickly grew in popularity and adoption within the crypto trading ecosystem by focusing on futures and leverage trading, but have now grown to also feature things like simple spot trading, staking, an NFT marketplace and even supports FTX Pay with a debit card available for US members. The FTX exchange is a great place for an “everything solution,” for crypto traders, holders and investors for both beginners and experienced traders alike.

Some of the Features for FTX Image via ftx.com

It is due to the already mentioned regulatory scrutiny that led FTX to create their subsidiary for US residents FTX US.

FTX US Review

FTX US have their headquarters built right on US soil, based in Berkeley, California. Having a physical headquarters in the US is always a good first step to keep old Uncle Sam happy. FTX US enjoyed massive success right from the get-go with daily trading volumes being between $150 million and $1 billion in the first half of 2021, making them instantly one of the largest and most popular crypto exchanges in the US by volume.

Their success and growth story does not stop there, while already well established, FTX received backing in July 2021 in the form of $900 million dollars from over 60 investors including the likes of Paul Tudor Jones, Coinbase Ventures, VanEck with other notable players and VC firms such as Paradigm and Sequoia capital and the private equity group Thoma Bravo, giving FTX the whopping valuation of $18 billion dollars at the time and now worth an even more impressive $25 billion. There is some big money backing the continued expansion and success of FTX.

FTX Received an 18B Dollar Valuation After 900M Capital Raise Image via reuters.com

With some of that money, FTX US continues to gain exposure in the United States, helping to pave crypto adoption for the mainstream and bringing crypto into the spotlight with their recent acquisition of the NBA arena where the Miami Heat play, becoming the “Official and Exclusive Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner of the Miami Heat,” and having the arena name changed to the appropriately named “FTX Arena.”

The FTX team have also signed an approximately $10M international rights sponsorship with the Golden State Warriors basketball team giving FTX brand placement with the Warriors’ G League club and the NBA 2k eSports team, in-arena sign placement at Chase Center and obtains the teams NFT rights. For anyone who isn’t a fan of Basketball, FTX was also the first crypto exchange to sign a 5-year sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball to allow the FTX logo to appear on umpire uniforms, giving FTX worldwide marketing rights and exposure to MLB’s broadcast, digital and social media platforms. If eSports is more your speed, FTX also acquired naming rights to eSports organization TSM in a $210m dollar deal, the largest deal in eSports history.

FTX US is really getting their name out there on the road to becoming a household name for Crypto-loving Americans.

The Previously Known American Airlines Arena in Miami is Now the FTX Arena Image via CNBC

FTX US Exchange Features

Starting off with one of the most important things and that is regulation and safety. FTX US is regulated at both the federal and state level so you don’t need to worry about Uncle Sam breaking through your door for buying Bitcoin, nor worry about a rug pull with the team running off with your funds. FTX US is registered as a Money Services Business with FinCEN and is compliant with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act.

The FTX US platform layout is beautifully designed, easy to use and navigate, laid out similar to the original FTX platform which enabled FTX to quickly become one of the most popular exchanges on the planet. This is one of the things that makes FTX and FTX US great for any skill level of trader or crypto investor.

Crypto exchanges such as Binance and Crypto.com have become so much more than just simple crypto trading exchanges and FTX US has followed suit, providing crypto users with a one-stop-shop to meet many crypto needs such as earning staking rewards, minting, buying and selling NFTs, trading derivatives, providing merchant services with FTX Pay and even having a debit card for those of us looking to ditch the bank.

FTX US Built by Traders, For Traders Image via ftx.us

Trading

The FTX US exchange itself is intuitive and easy to use whether you are a day trader, or simply just want to buy and hold crypto. Trading with up to 10x leverage is supported on the platform and while FTX US does not offer as many assets as their FTX counterpart, leaving some rare altcoin gem hunters disappointed, they still support many large-cap and mid-cap coins with support for more coins being added all the time. At the time of writing, FTX US supports over 20 different cryptocurrencies which can be found here.

Some of the USD Trading Pairs Available Image via ftx.us/markets

Withdrawal and Deposit Options

FTX US supports deposits and withdrawals in the form of wire transfer, ACH, Debit or Credit Card, Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) and Crypto. Be careful with debit or credit cards and always be sure to check with your bank first to see if they allow crypto-related transactions. Many crypto users, (myself included) have had issues with their bank blocking crypto transactions (so naturally, I changed banks) and there have also been cases where users get blocked access to their accounts altogether for making crypto-related transactions. Also, be aware that the banks may also charge additional fees for debit or credit card transfers.  ACH is generally the cheapest and safest way to deposit funds to your trading account.

Many users mention that their deposits typically land in their FTX US account within the same day on weekdays which is great, though ACH transfers can take 2-3 days sometimes up to 5 which can be a real bummer if you are in a rush to buy a coin before it pumps, so just make sure you have some cash at the ready already on the platform to take quick advantage of price movements

Fees

I know, fees… A topic nobody ever wants to think about. Luckily FTX US is easier on the wallet than many other major exchanges out there being a low-cost leader in the space. And, as our way of saying thank you for being a Coin Bureau supporter we actually have a great offer for FTX US if you sign up using this link, you get the first $30 dollars in fees covered and 10% off trading fees for life! Which is pretty darn slick.

A Look at the FTX US Trading Screen Image via FTX US

Trading Fees

FTX US has a tiered fee structure for all spot markets which covers the maker and taker fees. The fee percentage is based on the amount a trader is trading but even the highest fee is still below half of a percent. Here is what the fee structure looks like:

Spot Trading Fees Image via ftx.us

Wire/ACH Fees

FTX US reserves the right to charge a fee for USD wire transfers, deposits and withdrawals. At the time of writing, FTX US is not charging at all for wire deposits or withdrawals with is fantastic, but they do reserve the right to charge 1% on deposits/withdrawals but are capped at a maximum of $35 dollars and a minimum of $5 dollars. You can find a breakdown of the fees here.

$0.50 is the standard fee for ACH transfers, however, the folks at FTX US are kind enough to waive the fee for first time ACH deposits, if a user has not deposited in the last week and the deposit is over $10 dollars, or if a user has deposited in the last week but the deposit amount is over $100 dollars. Plenty of options to fund your FTX US account for no cost which is always nice to see.

Crypto Fees

There are no deposit fees for blockchain transfers and FTX US will pay the withdrawal blockchain fees for all tokens except for ERC20/ETH & OMNI token withdrawals.

Staking

Ah staking rewards…Is there anything better than free passive crypto? FTX US users can earn staking rewards on their crypto balances through the FTX US app. Users will be eligible to earn rewards of up to 8% APY on certain tokens, which is higher than the staking rewards offered by most exchanges. While the staking program is technically still in “beta,” users will be able to find the tokens that are available to stake directly within the app, FTX supports staking for FTT, UXBT, SOL, SRM, FIDA and RAY.

Available Jurisdictions

Though it is branded as FTX US, the exchange is actually open to anyone worldwide with the exception of New York, Cuba, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, Antigua or Barbuda, Sudan, Ontario or Japan.

Security and KYC

FTX US supports two-factor authentication such as Google Authenticator to safeguard access to your account. Users can (and should) set passwords on the account for things like withdrawals and logins and choose the option to only allow withdrawals to whitelisted addresses so no shady characters can withdraw your funds into their accounts.

There is KYC needed, so no anonymous sign-ups here. Users will need to provide their name, proof of residence, date of birth, government registered ID document, social security number, and a selfie to confirm identity as well as disclose the source of funds.

FTX US Debit Card

As someone whose income is 100% paid in crypto myself, I love crypto debit cards as they make my life so easy. The FTX card is powered by Swipe Visa and is accepted anywhere that Visa is accepted which is almost everywhere. The card is connected to the user’s FTX US account so when a user makes a purchase with the card it will automatically make the purchase from the user’s FTX US account balance.

What is great about this card is that funds do not have to be sold into USD then loaded onto the card separately like most crypto debit cards. Cardholders are free to hold any token they want on FTX US such as Bitcoin, and the Bitcoin will be converted automatically to the USD needed at the time of purchase. The FTX card is available only to FTX US users and US residents with a valid SSN/ITIN, with hopes of offering the card to additional regions in the future. There are no fees to use the FTX card and users will also receive a virtual card right away while they wait for the physical one to be delivered in the mail which takes about 7-14 business days.

The Sleek Looking FTX Debit Card Image via blog.swipe.io

FTX Pay

Users of FTX US can also use FTX pay to get paid or pay in crypto or fiat with FTX’s fast and secure, low-fee payment processor. FTX Pay is a widget that can be placed on a website, app, or store that allows users to accept crypto and fiat payments. It is customizable and allows users to receive payments according to their requirements.

FTX US NFT Market

Boom! FTX US really upped their game here competing with the big dog Binance in bringing a very convenient NFT marketplace directly onto the platform. I really like this added functionality as it brings NFTs to the masses and makes everything easy and familiar. Anyone who has ever used something simple like a banking app can navigate a crypto exchange and get involved in NFTs. Sure, there are NFT platforms like OpenSea and Rarible, but as soon as you need Metamask to get involved with anything that is just another barrier to entry, a hurdle that many people aren’t quite ready to overcome yet when it comes to things like non-custodial wallets and the world of DeFi as it can all be a bit tricky. Be sure to check out my article on the top places to mint NFTs where I actually cover FTX and Binance NFT marketplaces here.

FTX US has a native platform built in where users can mint, buy/sell or auction off Solana or Ethereum NFTs. Users can hold their NFTs in their FTX US NFT Gallery. Be aware that FTX US will review NFTs before being offered on the marketplace and has the right to reject them. FTX US charges a 2% fee to the seller on each sale or trade and charges $1 dollar to mint/list NFTs. If you want to learn more check out their FAQ on Solana NFTs here and Ethereum NFTs here.

FTX US NFT Marketplace, Built by Creators, for Creators Image via ftx.us/nfts

Account Tiers and Limits

FTX US provide both individual accounts and corporate accounts for both US and non-US customers. Tier 1 individual accounts are limited to $10k per day and $300k lifetime on crypto and fiat deposits and withdrawals, while Tier 2 enjoys full access.

Account Tiers and Limits Image via help.ftx.us

ACH deposit limits for KYC level 1 is $500 for any rolling 10 day period and a maximum of a $2,999 single deposit limit while KYC level 2 enjoys a $30k limit for a rolling 10 day period and a $20k single deposit limit.

For card deposits, users who reach a KYC 2 verification status can deposit $5k limit per week while new users will be limited to $2k per week subject to increase to the $5k based on previous successful deposit history. Check out the full breakdown on deposit limits here.

VIP Program

VIPs at FTX US have a number of benefits including:

• Lower fees: 04% taker fees for VIP1 and 0.025% taker fees for VIP2, 0.00% maker fees
• Access to an account manager
• Flexible API limits
• A direct line with a senior developer for API questions
• The ability to provide input to the products that FTX US launches
• FTX US customized VIP swag and access to VIP meet-ups
• *VIPs do not generate referral fees from their account, though they can still refer other traders and receive fees for that.

In order to qualify for VIP 1, users need to have a 30-day trading volume of at least $150 million, or a 30-day maker volume of at least $40 million so this program is definitely not for your average retail trader. In order to qualify for VIP2, users must constitute at least 5% of 30-day exchange volume.

Customer Support

FTX US does provide a support portal on their platform where users are able to submit tickets. It is also worth keeping an eye on their Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram for any ongoing issues or outages, all their contact info as well as social media links can be found here. FTX US also has a fantastic self-help knowledge base area that will likely be able to answer many of your questions or concerns and that can be found here.

The FTX US Knowledge Base is a Great Place to Answer Many Concerns and Questions Image via help.ftx.us

If you do choose to try and contact them via Telegram or Facebook be very certain that you are speaking to a legitimate support team member as there are literally thousands of scammers on Telegram pretending to be support for many different crypto wallets and exchanges. Remember that no support team member will EVER ask you for things like 12-word recovery aka secret phrases or passwords so be wary of who you are speaking to and what information you provide them with as anyone with your password or recovery phrase will be able to access your account/funds. Check out Guy’s video on how to spot a scam as knowing this stuff could save you from losing your precious crypto!

Founders and Team

CEO and Founder- Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam was a trader at Jane Street Capitals International ETF desk where he traded a variety of ETFs, futures, currencies and equities. The multi-talented Bankman-Fried also went on to design their automated OTC trading system. This all makes sense that Bankman-Fried would be so multi-talented at such a high calibre to be designing OTC trading systems and founding Alameda Research as he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the most prestigious technical school in the world where the most gifted technological minds study.

CTO and Founder– Gary Wang

Gary was a software engineer at Google prior to founding FTX US and Alameda Research along with Bankman-Fried. With his time at Google, Gary built systems to aggregate prices across millions of flights, decreasing latency and memory usage by over 50%. Gary also graduated from MIT with a degree in mathematics with Computer Science making Gary one heck of a smart fella.

CSO– Nishad Singh

Nishad is the head of engineering at Alameda Research and FTX US. Prior to joining Alameda Research, Nishad was a software engineer and worked with Facebook’s Applied Machine Learning team. He graduated with the highest distinction from Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, so another member of their team who knows a thing or two about computers and technology.

The FTX Leadership Team Image via about.ftx.com

Closing Thoughts

The FTX US platform and app really are intuitively designed and a pleasure to use for crypto traders or investors of any skill level and is able to meet the requirements of most crypto users. The fact that FTX US is regulated and legally operated within the United States and has such a strong team of founders and backers/supporters behind them makes FTX US one of the safest and most reliable exchanges available to crypto traders.

FTX US users enjoy lower fees than many of the competitors out there and is a great option for US-based users. The only real downside in my opinion is the coin support is not nearly as robust as one would find on the likes of Binance, though the platform is still quite new and new cryptocurrencies are being added frequently. With excellent features like FTX Pay and the FTX debit card, FTX US is really making strides in becoming the all in one platform for US-based crypto users who want to actively trade, or simply buy, hold and stake crypto, or even go as far as jumping “all in” on crypto and ditching the bank altogether.

The post FTX US Review: Crypto Trading for US Investors appeared first on Coin Bureau.

This article explores just how deserving this mantle is, details how to utilise Karura’s current functionality, and considers how much potential this fledgling app may have.

What is Karura?

While we’ve already let the cat out of the bag regarding the DeFi nature of Karura, a little context should help to place it within the wider cryptoverse. For those unfamiliar with Karura, think “Acala’s slightly more carefree younger sibling”. Karura is to Acala what Kusama is to Polkadot, Moonriver is to Moonbeam, and Altair is to Centrifuge – chiefly a lesser-known instantiation that the community has afforded a little rope in order to hasten the development of both ecosystems.

Being the first anything brings a bit of extra pressure. Being the first project to launch on an unaudited “Canary Network” which proudly dons a tagline warning users to “EXPECT CHAOS”, ratchets this up several levels.

One of the most telling aspects of Karura’s launch was the absence of any obvious mayhem, carnage, gremlins or glitches. I mean, come on Karura, was it really too much to ask for one or two hiccups through the process? Nothing catastrophic, obviously. Just enough to evoke a heightened state of tension heading into the third act. It’s almost as if the entire team knew exactly what they were doing months before the final implementation. You know, rather than just having a bunch of cobbled-together ideas that hopefully all come together in the end. (future project developers please take note) The fact that the launch went off without a hitch gave many early investors and crypto enthusiasts even greater confidence in the project, understandably as this is the world of crypto after all, where things seldom run so smooth. It is almost as if the crypto space is becoming more “mature,” and developed, hmmmm, imagine that.

Karura is Reimagining DeFi Possibilities Image via acala.network/karura

“THE all-in-one DeFi hub of Kusama”

The Karura DEX went live approximately two weeks after winning the first Parachain Auction. Since then, steady progress through various launch phases has resulted in regular additions to functionality and increases in use cases. While Karura is still in its infancy, such a self-proclamation motivates scrutiny even at this early stage. Let’s begin by examining the DeFi applications currently supported and how to get started.

Getting Started

The “All-In-One” DeFi Hub Image via apps.karura.network

For completeness, let’s first go over how to use Karura. The image above depicts the app running on Google Chrome and offers a high-level insight into what is currently available. No login is required. Like Metamask, the Polkadot.JS browser extension stores your account details allowing you to interact with decentralised applications. So while there is no specific Karura signup or login, it really is essential to have a Polkadot.JS account to unlock functionality similar to what Metamask does for other networks. Admittedly, much of the functionality is accessible via mobile wallets such as PolkaWallet and MathWallet, but it’s a far nicer experience via a desktop/tablet-based web browser.

Currently, the Polkadot.JS extension interaction is limited to applications within the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems. It works well within these domains, but before long, such network specificity shall, unfortunately, render it somewhat redundant.

Polkadot.js will likely be used much less in the near future as better, more user-friendly options like Talisman begin to launch. When the Acala EVM+ goes live, we’re likely to see support from well-known Ethereum wallets such as Metamask, which means users will be able to manage their assets and Web3 connections with their preferred toolset.

Polkadot.js Browser Extension. Not Quite as Catchy as the Name “Metamask” Image via polkadot.js.org

One important difference to be aware of is how addressing is handled within the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems. While one address can be used for various Ethereum-compatible network tokens on Metamask, Polkadot, Kusama, and their various parachain children all have their own distinct address format. This isn’t as bothersome as it may sound, and may even be preferable as it will avoid users sending unsupported tokens around different applications on the Ethereum network and needing to go through the process of “recovering” them or risk losing them altogether which happens frequently. Upon creating a Polkadot.JS account, addresses are generated for each chain within the greater ecosystem. All addresses are connected so are possibly best viewed as subaccounts contained within a primary account, each sharing the same account name, password, and all-important seed phrase. Let’s begin drilling down a little to explore some of the use cases nestled beneath this high-level view.

Mint kUSD

Karura Dollar (kUSD) was the first and remains the only stablecoin currently in existence on Kusama. Admittedly, these are early days, but with first-mover advantage, it is easy to imagine kUSD becoming the ubiquitous Kusama coin. Users are able to mint kUSD by using KSM or its liquid derivative, LKSM, as collateral. Mint kUSD is primarily a borrowing application. Users can borrow this utility token at an APR of 3% (stability fee) to use for any number of desirable use cases, without having to sacrifice ownership of an underlying asset that may be equally desirable to hold on to. Currently, only KSM and LKSM may be used as collateral due to their decreased volatility compared to far newer coins such as KAR or Bifrost’s BNC. In time, other candidates will emerge from the Kusama and Polkadot ecosystems, in addition to established cross-chain coins such as BTC and ETH upon the completion of certain bridging protocols.

Mint kUSD Directly Within the Karura DeFi app Image via apps.karura.network

Karura Swap- The “Uniswap” of the Kusama Ecosystem

Karura’s Swap function probably speaks for itself. It allows tokens to be traded in a permissionless and automatic way by employing liquidity pools that users of the DEX contribute to. As expected, tokens native to Kusama and Polkadot are supported, plus those compliant with the ERC-20 standard. Swap fees are negligible and may be paid for by any of the coins within your wallet.

Karura’s trustless, cross-chain exchange is powered by an automated liquidity provisioning protocol. Users can become liquidity providers and earn in two ways: Exchange fees from Karura Swap and stability fee profit-sharing from the kUSD stablecoin protocol.

Say Goodbye to High Gas Fees and Being Forced to Pay Fees in a Specific Token Image via acala.network/karura

Liquid Staking

This one is big, staking without having to lose the liquidity of your tokens? I’ll take that any day!

The Liquid Staking protocol offers two important benefits for the greater Kusama ecosystem. By encouraging users to perform their usual KSM staking via Karura, network security is maintained due to less KSM flowing out to alternative DeFi applications. Karura achieves this by offering users the freedom sorely missing when staking via the usual method. We might refer to this as negating the cost of tying up KSM. You spend long enough in crypto, it’s almost inevitable you’ll experience one of those awful “opportunity-of-a-lifetime-is-going-to-pass-me-by-due-to-the-unstaking-period-infinite-FOMO” moments. We could equally describe it as having your cake and eating it too.

Staking KSM on Karura offers the same 16% APR benefit, with little obvious downside. Each KSM staked generates approximately 9.65 LKSM for the user which is yield-bearing. As long as the user doesn’t trade it away, they shall receive the usual staking rewards while various other opportunities are also afforded.

Liquid Staking-What DeFi Dreams are Made of Image via acala.network/karura

Earn

Karura’s Earn section offers users the ability to earn trading fees and other rewards for performing various activities on the platform. There are a number of liquidity pools for a user to contribute to, with each pool being proceeded by a bootstrapping event in order to establish an initial exchange rate between the two tokens which make up a given LP pair.

Liquidity Providing (LPing)

Karura App offer users the ability to earn trading fees and other rewards by providing liquidity to Karura Swap. Users who choose to provide liquidity earn a cut of the trading fees relevant to the amount of liquidity they provide. It is important to note that liquidity providing does come with the risk of impermanent loss. This can happen when there are significant fluctuations in the underlying asset exchange rates which results in LP’s being worse off than they would have been if they simply chose to hold the tokens. If the exchange ratio of the underlying token diverges from the exchange ratio when the LP provides liquidity then there is a potential loss compared to if they just held the tokens, the bigger the deviation, the bigger the loss. The loss is, of course, only realized at the time the LP withdraws their liquidity. If you want to go way more in-depth about the liquidity rewards and risks associated, you can find all that information in the Acala Wiki here.

Liquidity Mining

The Karura network from time to time may also choose to offer additional incentives to users who perform certain activities on the network. To mine liquidity, users need to first become a liquidity provider (LP) then stake their LP tokens where they can earn liquidity mining rewards, loyalty bonuses and a kUSD surplus bonus.

How to Mine Liquidiy on Karura Swap Image via Wiki.acala.network/karura

Liquidity Bootstrapping

Users can participate in bootstrapping during the bootstrap period. The bootstrap period is the process by which new token pairs launch on the Swap. Users will be able to submit a proposal to bootstrap a pool and if it is accepted users will be able to participate under the following parameters:

• Not Before: Pool cannot be started before a particular block number
• Target Provision for Token A: Minimum requirement of liquidity for Token A
• Target Provision for Token B: minimum requirement of liquidity for Token B
• Minimum Contribution for Token A: Each contribution requires a minimum amount of Token A
• Minimum Contribution for Token B: Each contribution requires a minimum amount of Token B

A liquidity pool can only be started once the following criteria are met:

• The “Not Before” block has passed AND
• Either “Target Provision for Token A” OR “Target Provision for Token B” has been met AND
• Both Token A and Token B has >0 liquidity

During the bootstrap period, no trading will be allowed, but approved users can contribute liquidity for token A, or Token B or both at the same time. Users should only participate in the bootstrapping process if they intend to be liquidity providers for the pair as well, users will not be able to withdraw their tokens during the bootstrapping period.

Here is a chart showing an example of what participating in a bootstrapping event would look like:

Example of bootstrapping share change and calculations image via wiki.acala.network/karura

After the bootstrap is completed and the tokens are available for users to swap, the LP tokens are allocated to each liquidity provider. LP shares are a pro-rata representation of an LP’s contribution to the overall liquidity of a given pool. LP Tokens can then be redeemed for the underlying asset at any time. Liquidity bootstrapping is more appropriate for advanced users and the entire wiki on Karura bootstrapping can be found here.

Lending and Borrowing

Yes, that is right, this “all-in-one” DeFi Hub lives up to its name and users can also participate in lending and borrowing, one more way to say bye-bye to those pesky, fee hungry banks who take and take and give so little. It is refreshing that these advancements are being made in the crypto space where all this can be done directly on the Karura platform as having coins spread across 6 different platforms as I currently do for different purposes can be burdensome!

Users will be able to lend their tokens out directly on the Karura platform and earn interest and borrowers will be able to take out loans in the form of kUSD. The lending and borrowing mechanism will work via an over-collateralization method meaning that borrowers must put up more crypto as collateral than they are trying to borrow. This is the network’s way of ensuring that they aren’t losing any money in the event that the borrower is not able to pay the borrowed funds back.

This allows users to not have to liquidate their crypto holdings so they can hodl-on and keep their crypto assets without needing to sell them for access to cash. It is important to note that there are risks involved such as liquidation events should the value of the tokens drop too much in price, generally below 100% of the value of the token at the time it was borrowed. This would result in a fraction of the collateral being sold at 20% intervals until price recovers or heaven forbid, your entire collateral is liquidated due to a severe price crash. Borrowers can further reduce this risk by offering even more funds up for collateral than they are borrowing to allow for more, “breathing room.”

The Features of Karura DeFi Image via pbs.twimg.com

Governance

The least sexy section of the app allows users to participate in the governance of the platform protocols. While governance is rarely the first section we’re likely to seek out on a DeFi application, it highlights the inherent ethos of Karura, and indeed the entire Kusama and Polkadot ecosystems. Each phase of launch and each new coin must be given the green light via the democratic process. Of particular interest is an upcoming vote regarding the addition of USDT to be used as collateral and as part of a trading pair. Several concerned voices within the community have already questioned this step. This particular vote may not be as straightforward as those which have preceded it. It begs the question as to whether the Karura team have a backup plan should USDT prove unpalatable to the Karura community.

Karura will take a phased approach to employ various governance mechanisms that will allow for the decentralization of the platform. Karura’s governance framework is based on Polkadot’s technology that employs a referenda chamber, a general council and a technical committee to govern the network.

Referenda– Referenda is a straightforward, all-inclusive, stake-based voting scheme. A referendum can be started by public proposals or council proposals, and be brought forth to the governing community. There is an 8-day enactment delay associated with it, emergency proposals (e.g. fix urgent network issues) can be “fast-tracked” to have a shorter enactment period. Karura has adopted Polkadot’s voting mechanisms including Tallying, Voluntary Locking and Adaptive Quorum Biasing.

General Council– Karura will initially be governed by a Referenda Chamber together with a General Council appointed by the Acala Foundation. It is their decisions that will determine important network considerations such as runtime upgrades, resolving network issues, improvements etc. In true blockchain fashion, all decisions are made transparent on-chain. Meanwhile, any KAR holders can propose any changes to the network or protocol and the proposal will be voted for or against by the Referenda Chamber. The General Council then provides oversight with veto rights to stop proposals that they may deem of ill-intent or pose security risks or anything deemed to not be in the best interest of the Karura network.

Once the network is sufficiently stabilized and security measures are in place, a Referenda will be started to move governance to the Elected Council phase where the candidacy of councillors is open, and councillors will be elected via a public voting process.

Financial Council– Will oversee updates of stablecoin parameters, DEX parameters, Liquid Staking fees, and protocol tasks. The Financial Council will be elected by the General Council with a 2/3 approval rating needed.

Liquid Staking Council– Will oversee updates of Liquid Staking parameters for things like validator selections. Liquid Staking Council members will be elected by LKSM Token holders.

Oracle Collective- Membership of the Oracle Gateway will require approval from the General Council, which is essentially a Proof-of-Authority model that only allows authorized trusted operators to provide price feeds into the network. This model will evolve with the contemporary research and development of the Oracle problem. Membership will be elected by the General Council with a 2/3 approval rating.

Technical Committee- The Technical committee can fast-track emergency proposals that are critical to the network operation, delaying an enactment, or cancelling dangerous proposals. Technical Committee members will be elected by the General Council with a 2/3 approval rating.

This seems to be a well-rounded, all-encompassing fair and democratic decentralized approach to governance. Even with a few coins, holders vote in an impactful manner. The voting algorithm is more formally defined as quadratic voting and it’s a mathematically optimized way to make a choice in a democratic community. Zero knowledge voting provides collusion resistance (ie. after the voting takes place, what each person voted for is not revealed), and the on-chain snapshots before announcing voting provides some sybil resistance (eg. with one wallet one vote, whales could move to multiple wallets, therefore voting with all their coins but spreading it under multiple identities, increasing the net weight of their vote)

Karura (KAR) Tokenomics

Karura is all about providing utility. However, it would be remiss to omit and direct examination of the native coin itself. The Karura ICO happened between the 8^th to 22^nd of June 2021 with an initial price of 3 dollars per token. What was really great to see is that the price did not instantly drop hours after the token launched to the public which is often the case following a public sale as early investors are eager to take profits, resulting in a stark drop in price. Karura enjoyed fairly stable price action right from the launch of the token which is a good sign as it shows that many of the investors who participated in the private sales rounds believe in the long-term growth of the project, and not everyone was only involved just to make a quick buck. The token has been enjoying a steady price increase since the launch, seeing an all-time high of $13.20 and is now back down to just above the ICO price at $3.36 following the overall drop we have seen across the entire crypto space.

Karura Experienced Truly Encouraging Price Action Following the ICO Before the Overall Crypto Trend Changed in the Fall of 2021 Image via Coinmarketcap

Market corrections aside, the other tokenomics behind KAR also look fantastic in terms of overall token distribution and the vesting schedule. The community has access to the vast majority of the tokens, 60.87%. Early backers and investors have access to 18.33%, general backers have 10.8%, and the founding team hold 10% of the tokens. It is always important to know whether or not the community are the majority holders of the token as this means that no founders or insider investors are holding the majority of the tokens which means they can’t all decide to sell at once which can lead to massive drops in price or shady rug pulls where the community is left holding bags full of tokens that are falling in value.

The Fair Distribution of the KAR Token Image via acala.network/karura

The Community breakdown shows that 34% of community tokens went to the parachain auction and reward liquidity program, 5% to the ecosystem development, 10.25% to the reward reserve which Karura will be using in the future to grant active network participation, and 11.62% to the treasury/reserve which will be used to encourage growth within the network.

The vesting schedule should also give token holders confidence. These schedules are important to understand because it gives us information about what pool has access to how many of their tokens and when. This allows retail investors to better prepare for events where early investors gain access to a large number of their tokens who may choose to sell and trigger a significant drop in the price of the token. The founding team has an 18-month lock-up period followed by a consistent release for the next 18 months to avoid large sell-offs at once. The early backers will have a 12-month lock-up followed by a consistent release for the following 12 months, and the backers will have a one month lock-up followed by an even release for the following 5 months.

KAR Vesting Schedule Show’s a Fairly Stable Release of Tokens Which Should Result in Less Volatile Price Action as Whale Token Holders Won’t Be Able to Dump All at Once Image via acala.network/karura

The Karura token can be picked up at major exchanges such as KuCoin, Kraken, OKEx, BKEX, Hotbit and Gate.io.

The Team and Backers

As Acala and Karura are “sister networks” and Karura was founded by Acala, many of the Acala team members also work on the Karura DeFi protocol, which is a good sign as Acala has some serious talent and funding behind the project. Bryan Chen and Bette Chen, Co-founders of Acala are both also working on the Karura side, along with Fuyao Jiang, another Co-founder of Acala and the two also share multiple advisors and other team members. A full list of the Acala team can be found here and the Karura team can be found here.

Acala was founded in 2019 and has received five Web3 foundation grants and has backing from Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Hypersphere and many other top firms. Those are some of the biggest names in the industry folks, those guys don’t toss around money around to projects who do not have some seriously high-flying potential, I would be keeping a close eye on Acala and Karura.

The Firms Backing Acala/Karura Image via acala.network/karura

Roadmap

The Karura team have some exciting things in the pipeline including enabling Bitcoin and Ethereum bridges to be used in the Karura ecosystem which will be massive for increasing the adoption of the Karura app and Kusama network, and they will be implementing autonomous liquid staking and introducing the Ethereum Virtual Machine Plus (EVM+). A full list of their upcoming launches can be found on their launch phases roadmap here

Karura Has a Lot of Exciting Things in the Pipeline With EVM+, BTC and ETH Bridges and Autonomous Staking Having Massive Potential Image via the Team’s notion

Conclusion

With only a handful of parachains fully launched on Kusama, it is extremely difficult to contend with Karura’s claim as “THE all-in-one DeFi hub of Kusama”. However, without any genuine competition, it seems best to appoint Karura as the Crown Prince, heir apparent, (highly likely) future Kusama King of DeFi. A number of factors heavily favour Karura’s continued success.

• Favourable reputation
• First mover advantage
• Seamless launch
• Acala (“THE all-in-one DeFi hub of Polkadot”)

While distinct, these four factors closely relate to each other and create a perfect positive feedback loop. Acala’s favourable reputation preceded the first Kusama Parachain Auction and ensured a comfortable victory. The first-mover advantage could have quickly turned out to be a poisoned chalice due to the potential chaos of Kusama. Instead, the ostensibly smooth launch only added to the reputation, laying the foundations for Acala’s bid in the first Polkadot Parachain Auctions. Not every project launched on Kusama has made the most of this opportunity. The success of Karura and Moonriver have all but guaranteed success for Acala and Moonbeam in the first Polkadot Parachain Auctions. Unfortunately, some other projects, (which shall remain unnamed), may have unintentionally reduced their chances of success by struggling to achieve milestones throughout their Kusama launch.

If our assumption is correct that Acala will achieve similar early success on Polkadot, the positive feedback loop will be complete. As more and more utility becomes available on both parachains, and a likely integration with Acala’s third project Laminar, we will likely witness this combined monster of DeFi truly standing out. Right now, it is very difficult to doubt their original claim as being “The” all-in-one DeFi hub. Social media hype around Karura has also been on a steady increase, witnessing month over month growth as more and more users are becoming interested in the Kusama and Polkadot ecosystems and are naturally looking for the top DeFi solutions for these networks.

Karura has Enjoyed Growing Social Media Attention Each Month Since the Token Launch Image via icoholder.com

With the number of backers behind the project, the skill and experience of the Acala team, the innovation and ease of use and utility of the platform, and the highly anticipated mass adoption of the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems, Acala and Karura truly have a massive leg up on any competition, enjoying first-mover advantage in the race to be the most widely used DeFi protocol in the Kusama ecosystem. This of course means there are high expectations for the team and their projects have massive potential as we are still in the very early days of all things Polkadot and Kusama.

The post Karura: THE all-in-one DeFi hub of Kusama appeared first on Coin Bureau.

So, the only thing to do is to continue the research. However, sometimes it might be tricky to know where to start. For me it was weird when starting out with cryptos. Being familiar with stock research I thought I can do the same things with cryptos. Needless to say, that didn’t work. Looking through the sites used for analyzing stocks was useless and when finding the crypto sites, I had no idea what to look for, or if the sites were any good. That’s why I’ve gathered here the top 10 crypto research tools that have helped me along the way. I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of them too.

10. Glassnode

To start things off I wanted to go with Glassnode. Glassnode is an on-chain analytics tool and it’s one of my favorite places to visit when the markets turn red and I need to see the bigger picture to regain my confidence. Looking at active wallet addresses rising always helps me sleep at night. But that’s not all. Glassnode offers a variety of different metrics and they support many cryptos including big names Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, as well as many DeFi tokens and ERC-20 tokens.  

Last time I gave you a few metrics to look for and those were total active address and NUPL (Net unrealized profits/losses). However, Glassnode offers a lot more. The problem is that if you don’t know what to look for, or how to interpret the metrics and charts, it’s kind of useless. That’s why I want to redirect you to Glassnodes weekly on-chain analysis. You can read through these yourself or watch via YouTube, and I highly recommend you to do that. Watching those have helped me a lot in understanding the benefits of on-chain analysis as well as how I can do that analysis on my own. They also give you a sense of where we are in the market cycle which is often times helpful when managing your portfolio. Another place to really learn about on-chain analysis is from the Glassnode academy.

Here’s a look at the metric introduced in the last CB top 10 research tools article. Image via Glassnode.

And do you know the best part of all of the learning opportunities at Glassnode? They’re both free. No need to pay for anything before you know how to use these metrics. Then when you have learnt everything and want to start doing your own research, I suggest you opt for the $29 a month plan. They do offer one higher plan too but that costs $799 a month so I don’t think it’s relevant to many of us.

9. CoinGecko

Doing any research is kind if pointless if you don’t have anywhere to check your prices. That’s where GoinGecko comes in, although they do offer lots of other useful stuff. CoinGecko is available both online and as a mobile application so you can use it anywhere. The most obvious thing to do here is simply create your own portfolio and track it from the app. That way you’re always on top of crypto price movements.

On top of that CoinGecko is the perfect place to start when researching a new crypto. When you click on a crypto, you’ll find it’s market cap, price, volume, supply, exchange listings and a description. All of this is good to know when making up your mind whether the crypto is a s*itcoin or not. If you don’t know how to spot this type of a crypto then Coin Bureau has the perfect video on that. A few additional statistics you can find on CoinGecko are some social statistic, developer statistic and even brief analysis by IntoTheBlock.

Sadly not a green day when I took the screenshot. Image via CoinGecko.

Also, if you’re looking for something besides specific cryptocurrencies, you’ll find it here. On CoinGecko you’ll find derivatives, exchanges, DeFi, NFTs, Yield Farming, podcasts, and they have even published a couple of books. So, if there’s anything you’re looking for then steering your ship towards CoinGecko will be helpful. Most of the things they offer are free but they do have two paid plans available. First is the premium plan for roughly $4 a month which gives you an ad free CoinGecko. Then they have the premium+ for roughly $8 which opens up a lot more including access to their books, research reports, chat with their research analysts, and a lot more.

Last time I wrote about this topic I told you guys about CoinMarketCap and now I’ll say it the other way around. CoinMarketCap is just as good as CoinGecko and using either one will get you what you need. It’s often just about personal preference.

8. Messari

This is without a doubt the place you turn when searching for hidden gems and huge gains. That’s because the Messari screener is the best place to filter through your searches when on the hunt (or at least the best one I’ve found so far). You can filter by market cap, volume, liquid supply, on-chain indicators like active addresses, reddit subscribers and a lot more. On top of that Messari offers quite good research articles which do come in handy.  

Now I know it can be exhausting to go through so many different cryptos you’ve never heard of, since to be real 90% of them are worthless. However, it would be nice if someone were to do that for you so that you know which ones to look at and which to ignore. That can be done at Messari in form of community created screeners. Here you can find loads of different categories ranging from certain types of projects to asset manager portfolios. Often, I like to look at what large funds have invested in and see if I can find any good projects I should be holding too. These screeners include funds from the likes of Coinbase and Alameda Research, so pretty reputable names to say the least. Also, if you’re looking at metaverse or gaming projects there are separate screeners for them too. These screeners can’t be modified but you can always copy them by the click of a button and then edit them to be more suitable for your purposes. 

A look at Alameda Research Portfolio screener, not bad one year performance (800%). Image via Messari.

When it comes to prices there are two options, $25 a month for the premium and then $625 a month for the enterprise plan. So, if you’re a retail user like I am then that $25 dollar a month plan should be enough.

7. CoinMarketCal

Have you ever felt like you can’t keep up with all the events and upgrades going on in crypto? Well, I have. Luckily there’s CoinMarketCal. Here you can find a full calendar with everything surrounding crypto.

What I usually do is check the events listed as significant and then look at those concerning the top 100 coins. Often times I find stuff the news sites have totally missed, which is why this tool comes in handy. Did you for example know that if you’re an XLM holder you can be qualified for an AQUA airdrop in December? Or did you know that Stacks is getting a significant upgrade? Like the XLM example, it’s good to also check out what’s going on with those cryptos you hold. You don’t want to miss out on an airdrop just because you didn’t have a clue that there even was something to miss. We all know how lucrative airdrops can be.

Here’s a look at Coinmarketcal. The airdrop news is trending so guess I’m the only one not aware of the news. Image via Coinmarketcal.

Then lastly for those who like to trade. Looking here for potential big events can provide some good trading opportunities. That’s because CoinMarketCal supports a large variety of coins including small caps which tend to be extremely volatile. However, when trading based on news and events remember the saying, “buy the rumor, sell the news”. On top of that there can also be some opportunities find in the ‘Coins with Potential’ by CoinMarketCal. Here are those coins that have many and/or major events coming.

All of the features on CoinMarketCal are free and what I like about the site is that it’s strongly community driven. Anyone can post events and they then get voted on whether they’re legit or not. This voting system also allows CoinMarketCal to sort the hot picks from others and it makes it easier for you to find interesting opportunities.

6. Coin Metrics

Here’s a tool that doesn’t run out of things to look at and use. Coin Metrics is best known for their accurate and up to date on-chain data with over 400 metrics and 100 supported cryptocurrencies. Now what I do have to say is that this tool feels kind of aimed at more experienced people. The site is stylish and simple but I get a sense that Coin Metrics aims more for institutional clients. That’s because they offer some paid plans which you can’t get access to online but have to contact them directly, and when you purchase these plans you gain an access key to an API through which you can get access to more tools and data. That’s why if you’re a retail user doing some on-chain analysis I would go with Glassnode since I find it easier to use, and cheaper besides.

Definitely worth checking out. Image via Coin Metrics.

That said, Coin Metrics is still a great site which is why I have listed it here although my personal preferences are for other sites. I’ve come across multiple news sites using Coin Metrics’ research as a reference and you too can get access to those. These are useful since they provide you with important data while teaching you how to do the analysis yourself next time. They usually sum up each quarter with different charts showing a variety of useful statistics. Here you’ll get a good sense of how everything has been going and where we might be heading. On top of that they also sum up each week in shorter reports which are worth checking out.

5. LunarCrush

Hopefully you read the piece on sentiment analysis on Coin Bureau a few weeks ago, if you did you should be familiar with LunarCrush. But of course, not all of you read the piece so here’s a short introduction to LunarCrush. LunarCrush is a sentiment analysis tool that gives you all the essential information when it comes to public perception of a crypto. LunarCrush has two custom scores called AltRank and Galaxy score. I’ll leave a picture below so that you can see what they are based on. However, you don’t have to rely on this and LunarCrush does give you the ability to analyse cryptos yourself too.

Images via LumarCrush.

LunarCrush gives you the ability to sort by different metrics like social volume, bullish/bearish sentiment, volume, market cap and a lot more. Then you can look at the statistics for yourself and make your own analysis. One thing I like to look at is the total social volume and how much of that is bullish versus bearish. Looking at this as well as seeing how they develop along with the price might help you determine where a crypto is going. One thing I found that could present trading opportunities was looking at the bullish sentiment alone. There were many places in the last 3 months when an uptick in bullish sentiment was followed by an uptick in the price. However, I did not find any definite correlation and you could just as well have lost money trading. But if someone else wants to dig deeper into this I think there might be some possibilities in this.

The problem with doing more thorough analysis with LunarCrush is that you need to pay for access to more data. Without paying you will get a maximum of 3 months charts and no charts for the Altrank or Galaxy Score, only the values. This makes it harder to analyze the long-term trends. When it comes to the cost you will need to purchase LunarCrush’s native token LUNR. There are three levels, tier 1 for free, tier 2 for 30 LUNR, and tier 3 for 100 LUNR. At the time of writing this LUNR is trading at roughly $1.45. The problem with this system is that the Lunr token has been in a constant downtrend in the last 3 months which means that if it continues you can get the levels a lot cheaper in the future. 3 months ago, level 3 would have cost you about €1500 and now it’s only €150.

YIKES! Image via CoinMarketCap

Despite the potential cost LunrCrush is a great tool but there’s a one other thing I want to warn you about. While this is a place where you could find tradable assets and maybe even hidden gems there are a lot of scams. You should be aware that many meme projects use lots of bots and money to grow the awareness around their project. That naturally pushes these coins up in LunarCrush since that’s what this tool is for. However, these projects can be complete garbage and simply buying them based on the values shown on LunarCrush isn’t good. For example, right now there’s a crypto called Tacocat in the top 10 by social volume. I have no idea what it is or what it does but the name itself should ring some warning bells that tell you to do additional research.

4. Santiment

If you didn’t like the fact that you only see 3 months’ worth of data on LunarCrush then maybe you should consider trying Santiment. Here you can do similar social analysis on over 1000 cryptos. You can also include data like market cap, volume and even some on-chain analysis. This is a great tool to study individual cryptos.

Sanbase Studio is what features all the charts. Image via Santiment.

On top of that they offer great market insights that again, like Glassnode, offer both valuable information as well as context around the metrics found on the site. What I found is that they are quite active and tend to cover trending cryptos. One of their recent analyses is on Basic Attention Token (December 2021) that you might have noticed has had a good run lately. I’m not going to tell you here what they said about BAT, so if you’re a holder I suggest you take a look. I found it quite interesting. On top of this, Santiment has its own academy where you can learn lots about Santiment and the markets in general.

Then, on top of these two tools Santiment offers a screener tool. Here you can try and find those hot picks that’ll take your portfolio to the moon. However, to be able to use the social metrics you’ll need to have the pro plan. The Pro plan will set you back $49 a month and if you really want access to everything you can purchase SanAPI and that’ll with set you back $160 a month. SanAPI is, however, meant for developers and not retail users. If you want a discount on the prices, you can get that buy owning SAN tokens, a 20% discount to be exact. Staking these tokens will also unveil more possibilities which of one is SanR.

Take a look at this. Image via Santiment SanR

This is a decentralized market of trading signals. Here anyone that stakes 50 SAN can upload signals on where a cryptos price is headed. These positions will close in two weeks and the top performances in percentage terms will be awarded. Currently there aren’t many users so if you want to try to win some SAN you have a great probability. You can win up to $36 each two weeks with current prices. Other use cases for SanR are to look at the consistent top performers and maybe follow what they do. It’s interesting to see how this develops. Santiment also has plans to make the ecosystem even larger and greater by incorporating the SAN tokens. And don’t worry, the performance of SAN is a lot rosier than Lunr, though it is down considerably over the past month, mostly due to broader market forces.

3. Coinglass (Former Bybt)

Most of you might know this by its former name Bybt. I know wasn’t aware of the rebranding. Coinglass is a derivatives data tool and regardless of the name offers some valuable insights. In order to benefit from this data, you don’t need to be a derivatives expert. Most of the data here is useful for getting a sense of the market sentiment. 

One thing I like to look at here is the long/short ratio. From here you get a good view of what the sentiment around a crypto is. Another thing here is that you can adjust the time frame to as narrow as 5 minutes and this might help you spot the local top. For example, as I’m writing this Bitcoin is +6% in the last 24 hours and now the short ratio is starting to rise which might signal that a top for this short bullish run might be here. (Looking back the next day I was right). Another thing I regularly check here is the Statistics surrounding Grayscale and also now the ETF. That’s because I’m interested in how institutions view cryptocurrencies and currently many of them rely on these products to gain exposure. Now whether you should be getting your Bitcoin exposure through these is another question and you can find the answer to that in this Coin Bureau article.

Here’s a look at Coinglass and the Longs Vs Shorts by 24 hours, quite consistent. Image via Coinglass.

Lastly a nice thing to also check on once in a while is how Bitcoin is performing relative to the stock-to-flow model. If you don’t know what the S2F model is then CB has got you covered again. Shortly, it’s a valuation model that has so far proven to be one of the most accurate in projecting Bitcoin’s price. All the things on Coinglass are free and although I only mentioned Bitcoin, they have statistics on a variety of altcoins.

2. Coin Dance

Are you a fan of Bitcoin? If yes then you’ll want to have a look at Coin Dance. Here you can find tons of useful statistics on volume, nodes, politics, and adoption. Even if you aren’t a fan of Bitcoin this site is worth checking out since as we all know Bitcoin largely influences the whole market.

Interesting things I like to look at are those statistic that tell me about the wider adoption. Two in particular that I like to look at is Bitcoin by gender and Bitcoin by age. Currently Bitcoin is highly dominated by men so for those men reading this article try to get your better half to join us. And on the age thing, you should really try to get those elderly in on this too. It’s never too late to join a revolutionizing industry. And hey, they’re going to need those gains in order to fully enjoy retirement. Jokes aside, in order for cryptos to go mainstream we need to educate those who have no way of knowing what this whole crypto thing is. Regardless of age and gender everyone is needed and each of you can start by introducing cryptos to family and friends. And importantly, don’t just talk about the huge gains try to explain all the benefits since just entering because of 100x gains isn’t the right reason.

Those are two blue dominated pies to say the least. Image via Coin Dance.

Then back to Coin Dance for one last thing. Look at the adoption by country. This is an interesting statistic and you’ll see that countries with a weak currency are likely to adopt Bitcoin, look at Venezuela. Also, it’s interesting to see each country’s view on crypto and CoinDance have even listed which parties support Bitcoin in certain countries.

1. CryptoQuant

Again, a site filled with extremely important metrics. CryptoQuant offers data on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stablecoins, and then generally on Altcoins. This data consists of market data, on-chain data, and exchange flows.

Getting right into certain picks here, one metric suited for the current situation is all exchanges estimated leverage. In the recent crash (December 2021) that took Bitcoin all the way down to $42k we saw the leverage drop significantly due to liquidations. Now, the price has started to rebound while the leverage has stayed relatively low. I would argue that this is extremely bullish since the leverage was rising constantly for a longer time and now we’ve shaken out a lot of over leveraged people, the rise in prices is on more sustainable ground I would say.

Please people, be careful using leverage. Image via CryptoQuant.

Another thing to look at is all exchanges reserves. You’ve probably heard Guy on Coin Bureau mention that we’ll see high volatility in the markets due to low liquidity on exchanges and this is true. However, now you don’t have to wait for Guy to say this since you can check this yourself on CryptoQuant. If you don’t now have the time to check I can quickly tell you that it’s extremely low, so, expect volatility.

Lastly, if you’re wondering on the cost, I’ll be happy to tell you that to access those statistics I mentioned plus lots more it’s completely free. You just have to create an account. If you need more, then they have an advanced plan for $39 a month (if billed monthly) that includes more accurate on-chain indicators. On top of that there’s the professional plan for $109 a month and a premium plan for $799 a month. I would argue that the best way to go is starting free and then if you feel that it’s necessary upgrade to the advanced plan. Those other two might be a bit too expensive, especially if you want to get some other tools on this list.

Conclusion

As I mentioned with LunarCrush you shouldn’t be relaying on just one of these tools and not even only those mentioned in these lists. There’re tons more useful tools and doing research also includes looking at the project site, including reading the complete whitepaper. These tools are just meant to enhance the analysis and using them in combination which each other makes them more powerful. Naturally, you have a higher chance of picking the right investment if five sites give you a buy impression rather than just one giving that. Also, these sites listed here are in no particular order since all of them are good with different use cases. But, enough said, take the things you learned here and head on out to do your own research.

The post Top 10 Crypto Research Tools: Where To Do Your Own Research? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

By the way, if you are unfamiliar with DeFi concepts, I highly suggest taking a quick detour and learning a bit more about it, especially when it comes to liquidity pools and LP tokens. This review will be peppered with DeFi terminology which I won’t be able to go into too much detail. Ok, let’s continue!

What is Drops.co?

On the outset, it advertises itself as a lending & borrowing platform for NFTs. Further investigation reveals that it’s a lot more complicated than that. The pies it wants to stick its fingers in include:

• Being a launchpad for NFT projects
  • Facilitate the buying and selling part
  • Do NFT-drops for new projects with limited-edition NFTs
• Lending, borrowing, staking and yield-farming opportunities for NFT tokens
  • “DeFi-style infrastructure to NFTs”, according to its whitepaper.

The platform is built on the Polygon blockchain, one of the more popular Layer-2 scaling solutions for Ethereum to help users save on gas fees, making it a relatively painless experience for those heavy in NFTs transactions (minting, buying, selling, storing etc). It also utilises technology from Biconomy, a company that provides plug-and-play APIs for dApps to interact with the blockchain. Biconomy aims to provide mainstream users with a frictionless experience across multi-chains simply by connecting their wallet to any dApp and let the dApp take care of the gas fees, bridges etc under the hood. Looks like Drops is aiming quite high in their user experience.

Another note of interest is that this platform was developed in conjunction with a play-to-earn MMORPG NFT game called Node Runners Odyssey.  The game allows players to earn real crypto tokens while they build a thriving economy in space. The native token, NDR, is also used as one of the accepted forms of governance tokens for the Drops protocol.

We’ll go over the DeFi section of the website first since (half of) that part is already visible.

First Section: The DeFi Pie

The main page of the Drops website offers the ability for NFTs to participate in DeFi-like activities by using it as collateral to get a loan or earn interest. Those with DeFi tokens can also join in the fun. So far so good.

Ooh… so promising Image via Drops.co

Scrolling down the page, I see a short explanation of how the NFT loans work.

Just enough detail to have an idea

A cursory reading reveals that the mechanism is pretty much the same as DeFi lending & borrowing . The only thing missing is the actual meat-and-potatoes: which NFTs can be used? Any NFT or specific ones? How are the floor prices of NFT values gauged since that’s the basis for the ability to borrow up to 80% of the asset’s value?

The loans section of the website only has regular tokens available to loan and nothing on the NFT section. The likely place for the NFTs to be put into action is in the Stake section and that’s not ready yet either.

And I got royally disappointed. *Sob sob sob* 

The questions I had were partially answered in their whitepaper (not found on the website itself) where it gives more details about the mechanics of how things are conceived to work. Until this section is ready in the website, I can only go by what the whitepaper says.

How to yield-farm with NFT tokens

There are two ways outlined in the document: the vanilla way and the more complex way. Both are described in some level of detail. While reading through, some questions popped up in my mind.

The Vanilla way: Basic

Let’s say you have 1 NFT token worth $100.

1. Deposit the NFT token into a pool and mint 100 dNFT tokens in exchange. There is a 2% minting fee, so you’re only getting 98 tokens back.
2. At some point, you want your NFT back so you return the dNFT tokens to redeem it. There is also a 2% redemption fee, and here’s where it becomes a bit tricky.

• Minting dNFT: 100 dNFTs – 2 (2% minting fee) dNFTs = 98 tokens.
• Redeeming NFT: 100 dNFTs borrowed + 2 (2% redemption fee) dNFTS = 102 tokens
• Difference of 4 dNFT tokens to be obtained elsewhere

I can only assume that there is a way for you to use the dNFT tokens you have to stake them somewhere else, either on this platform or some other platform’s liquidity pool to earn them. The whitepaper doesn’t elaborate further at this point.  It’s also unclear what the minting and redemption fees are used for, ie how much goes back to the protocol vs admin fee etc.

The scariest part about this method is the possibility that you might end up with another NFT that’s not your own when it comes time to redeem it. This is implied in the next section. I’m not sure how this is going to work out because what’re the chances of you getting something more valuable than what you deposited? Even if that were to happen, it means someone else got the short end of the straw. That can’t be a good thing.

For real? 

Ok, scary thought aside, let’s continue to explore the other method.

Another Vanilla way: Lockup

Instead of depositing the NFT token into a pool, another way to obtain a loan is by locking up the NFT. Here’s how it would work:

1. Lock up the NFT that’s worth USD100 in our previous example in a contract and pay a 2% minting fee. That’s 100 dNFTs – 2 dNFTs = 98 dNFTs.
2. This method also incurs a 0.2% premium fee for each day the NFT is locked up. This is paid in advance from 10% of the collateral borrowed against. Therefore, the math is: (100 dNFTs – 2dNFTs) – (100 dNFTs * 10%) = 98 – 10 = 88 dNFT tokens available for the depositer.
3. When the balance of the 10 dNFTs reaches 0.2, the depositer has the option to extend the lock-up period by paying another 2 dNFTs. This would extend it for another 10 days.

Once again, there is no mention of how the fees would be used. Comparing both methods, the basic method seems to carry the biggest risk of losing your NFT in exchange for something else you wouldn’t want. However, to retain the NFT, you’d have to pay a premium price for using it as collateral. Depending on the value of the NFT, some might think it’s worth the price. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Out of curiosity, I wonder what kinds of NFT types are accepted and found quite a few, sorted into three main categories:

Types of NFTs accepted as collateral

As if the two methods weren’t exciting enough, the whitepaper details a third, more complex method, of making money from the NFT. 

Margin NFT method

Starting out with that NFT worth $100,

1. Deposit the NFT together with $100 worth of DAI into a pool. Let’s call this the NFT/DAI pool.
2. After passing the protocol checks, you get 200 LP tokens (100 dNFTs and 100 from the DAI).
3. By doing the above, you have opened a Margin NFT position within the NFT/DAI pool. This costs you a daily fee of 0.05% (subject to change). This is covered by the amount of LP determined by you.
4. You also get a Margin NFT Key that represents your claim on the position. This newly-minted token can be used for staking or to get a loan.

Illustration of a Margin NFT Position and NFT Key

5. Some ways that the Margin NFT Key can be put to use:

• As collateral to get a loan on the Drops lending section. The collateral value will be based on the underlying dNFT tokens associated with the Key.
• For transference of ownership of the Margin NFT Position between two people.
• Staking it to earn DOP tokens and fees associated with the protocol.

6. To redeem the NFT asset and the DAI, return the NFT key to the protocol. The Key and the associated dNFTs will be burnt.

If you go over the amount allocated for the daily cost and did not top-up, the protocol will unlock your position, making the NFT available for liquidation. This means, anyone who supplies 200 dNFT tokens (double the initial minted amount) can buy your NFT from the protocol and the LP tokens.

There will be a maximum cap on how many dNFT tokens can be minted from a NFT. The actual figure is subject to community voting.

The Margin NFT feature diagram from the whitepaper Image via DocSend

Loans on Drops

While it’s all well and good that the diagram shows plans for the Margin NFT Key to be used in a loan, this is still vaporware at this point. What is actually on the platform are a bunch of tokens with a total supply of $7 million.

What’s currently available for lending and borrowing

Most of the tokens on this list are known to me except DOP, aka Drops Ownership Power. It’s the native token for the Drops protocol. Before delving further into DOP, let’s continue with this section first. Using the ENJ token as an example, the interface for lending and borrowing is fairly straightforward except for the Distribution APY part. There is no mention of how this works anywhere I can find. 

Example interface for lending and borrowing on Drops

Their loan concept is based on Compound Finance’s business model. If you choose to supply the Margin NFT Key to the protocol, it will be placed into a “middleman” contract. This action activates the transference of the LP tokens from the Position to the Loan section of the protocol or the Vault section, which will be covered further down.

Launchpad for NFT Projects

The Drops team seem to have some kind of a master plan for having the platform be a one-stop-shop for NFT-related activities. They are initially targeting the gaming NFTs, presumably because that’s the space they are most familiar with from the experience they accumulated with the Node Runner game.

Based on the information I gleaned from various sources, I managed to deduce the following:

• The Drops team wants new NFT projects to be launched on their platform. These projects will be reviewed by the Drops team beforehand, check what kind of NFTs will be made available and rarity levels. The community gets to decide on the value of each NFT and what the rewards will be for holding it.
• The governance tokens of the NFT projects can be staked on the Drops platform to earn yield or used as collateral for loans.
• The team will organise NFT-drop styled events to encourage users to participate in the new NFT projects.
• These NFT projects will be mostly gaming-related ones, so the drops will be in-game items or rare merchandise.
• A variety of tokens can be used to purchase the tokens.
• Once the user obtains the NFT, it can be staked on the Drops platform in Vaults to earn dPoints. These points are:
  • non-transferable tokens
  • 1 dPoint = USD1
  • Up to 90% of a NFT can be paid using dPoints. The rest will be a mixture of other tokens.
• Buying NFTs also gives users the opportunity to earn DOP tokens through a cashback scheme. How much of a cashback is given to users depends on the the amount of liquidity staked by the user.

Drops Ownership Power (DOP) Token

The DOP token has the following functions associated with it in the protocol:

• Buying and selling NFTs on the platform
• Governance token in combination with NDR and veDOP tokens
• Payment for yield-farming rewards
• Cashback rewards for NFT Drops purchases
• Stake DOP for either dPoints or veDOP tokens

The token’s total supply is 15 million, with 3.2 million currently in circulation at the time of writing. The initial launch price of the token was $1.76 and it’s gone up to more than $4 in three months. Not spectacular by crypto standards but not too bad either, given that it’s only available on one (minor) exchange and a DOP/WETH liquidity pool in Uniswap.

How to get DOP Image via Coingecko.com

Just in case you’re wondering what’s the difference between wETH and ETH, the former is the ERC-20 standard version of the ETH token. This is because when ETH was first created, the standard didn’t exist yet. Since the standard was introduced, almost all tokens adopted it, so ETH created a wrapped version of itself, hence wETH.

Token allocation is as below:

Here’s how the tokens will be allocated.

The governance function is designed to be in two parts: on-chain and off-chain.

On-chain Governance

For the on-chain part, the DOP token is used to govern Loans, including collateralization ratio, DOP emissions and the acceptance of new tokens as collateral. In addition, there is the option for users to lock in their DOP tokens to get veDOP tokens, that are used as a “vote-boosting” mechanism. This is a concept pioneered by Curve via their veCRV governance. Locking up DOP tokens for a long period generates more veDOP tokens.

veDOP tokens are used to collect fees from pools. They also represent a higher voting power than DOP tokens.

Off-chain Governance

This part of the governance uses a weighted system of voting that involves multiple tokens. The types of things that get decided include the usage of Drops treasury fund (where’s the money coming from?), buybacks and distribution structure (of what?). The tokens involved are as follows:

• 1 vote for each DOP token in the wallet
• 3 votes for each veDOP token in the wallet (what about overlays?)
• 10 votes for each NDR token (why?)

Remember the Node Runner game and the NDR token mentioned early in the beginning of the article? Here’s where it pops up, carrying quite a lot of weight on the Drops protocol. This is a red flag for me. The other point of concern is how the DOP/veDOP tokens work in voting. Since you can only get veDOP tokens from staking DOP, do you get double the voting power? Or the staked DOP tokens used to generate veDOP is out of play?

The People and Companies Behind Drops

Amongst the personnel listed on the Drops team page, three are of especial interest:

Darius Kozslovskis

• Founder of Drops
• Also created Node Runner – created this first before Drops
• Has a Computer Engineering degree but subsequent jobs lean more towards marketing.

Nikita Ufimcev

• Co-founder of Drops and Node Runners
• Used to work for Goldman Sachs
• Bachelor’s degree in Banking, Finance and Management

Vakhtangi Gigauri

• Lead blockchain developer/engineer
• Has a PhD in Computer Science

On a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of how solid the team is, I’m giving it a 4. Overall, the team doesn’t have as much experience in blockchain projects as might be expected, except for the lead engineer, who has 6+ years of blockchain development experience. Their previous project, Node Runners, seems to be in a bit of a limbo. The website is down (as of time of writing) and the last meaningful interaction on their Reddit channel is more than 10 months ago.

After listening to Darius in an interview given earlier in the year, my skepticism did not abate. He did not sound as confident as I had hoped when answering questions from the interviewer, particularly when it came to the actual mechanics of how everything works.

The team managed to raise $1.1 million in a private round of investing from various blockchain ventures, some of which have spread their money around other big-name projects.

A sample of investors putting money into the Drops protocol. Image via chainbroker.co

It’s worth noting that most of the lead investors pictured above do not have Drops in their Selected Portfolio page of their website.

What the Future Looks Like

According to the roadmap in the whitepaper, they’re now at the NFT Fractionalisation stage of development. Next would be enabling the Margin NFT, NFT staking and NFT loans scheduled for Q3 2021 delivery, and a NFT price oracle by Q4 2021. Seeing that we’re already in November, they’re definitely running behind schedule.

Their Twitter channel is actively seeking NFT Loan Testers for their testnet program. If you’re interested to be one, click here to join. They are also active on Telegram and Discord.

Conclusion

This platform is all over the place in a major way, partly due to their ambitions. It’s good that they have such a grand vision of helping to unlock liquidity to NFTs that are fairly illiquid itself. They have good ideas, but execution is key to the success of the project. What worries me:

• Where is the yield for staked NFTs coming from? Why would someone want to own a fraction of a NFT? What can you do with it? There are still unanswered questions floating around.
• Overcomplicating things with the introduction of so many kinds of tokens. The more complicated things are, the more likely that someone might figure out a way to game the system, which may expose flaws in the design, leading to the occurrence of unwanted situations.
• Squeezing a lot of functionality onto their native DOP token, especially what one can get from staking it. What are the pros and cons of getting veDOP versus dPoints?
• The messaging is confusing and there is no central source of information. What’s in the whitepaper isn’t in the Medium channel, and neither is in the website.
• A weighted system of voting with multiple tokens could easily lead to some kind of centralisation where people figure out which tokens to get carries the most weight, thus being able to vote in their own favour. It would help if there is a ceiling of how many votes someone can have regardless of the amount of tokens held.
• The Node Runner game seems to be down. Did it get abandoned to redirect the resources to build this platform? Or is it an indication that things could go pear-shaped in the future for Drops?

Those who have non-gaming NFTs will have to wait a lot longer as they work out the kinks of the project with the gaming NFTs first. Still, there are lots to look forward with what they plan to achieve. If they manage to pull the whole thing off, it would be a really impressive feat. I am taking a “wait-and-see” approach.

The post Get DeFi Yields for NFTs at Drops.co appeared first on Coin Bureau.

FTX also has a number of innovative features that recommend it as the exchange for any crypto trader.

The following review of FTX will take you through a tour of the products on offer, the supported tokens, the fees you can expect to pay on your trades, and the functionality of the trading platform. Ready to get started? So are we.

What is FTX Exchange?

FTX is a fairly new crypto exchange, having been launched in May 2019 by co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. The exchange garnered early support with an endorsement from the quant crypto trading firm Alameda Research, which is not surprising, since Bankman-Fried also founded Alameda back in October 2017, though he has since handed the CEO reins along.

With its focus on futures and leveraged trading FTX quickly filled a niche in the crypto trading ecosystem.

Interestingly, one of the early backers of FTX was competing exchange Binance. All the way back in December 2019 they became a strategic backer of FTX. However as of July 2021 the two exchanges have parted ways, likely because of their competing platforms.

Thanks to the fact that the FTX platform was designed by traders, for traders, it is an easy to use and intuitive platform that’s a pleasure for experienced traders and easy to pick up for new traders.

FTX Exchange Review Pros and Cons

FTX is an excellent exchange for beginners who are looking for an easy to understand platform, but it’s also excellent for seasoned traders thanks to its low fee structure, leveraged trading options, and advanced trading features.

Pro Exchange

Here’s a closer look at some of those Pros:

Low Trading Fees: One of the primary draws of the FTX exchange is the low trading fees. Maker fees start at 0.02%, while taker fees start at 0.07%. For those unfamiliar with the maker/taker terminology, maker fees are charged on orders that aren’t filled immediately, that is the limit orders that go onto the exchanges order books. Makers get lower fees as a way to incentivize them to provide liquidity. Taker fees get charged to the market orders that are filled immediately. High volume traders and those staking the native FTT token of the exchange get even lower fees.

Large Cryptocurrency Selection: In total FTX has roughly 300 cryptocurrencies available to trade, either on spot or as futures. This is a great selection and FTX continues adding new coins all the time.

Earn on your Holdings: It’s possible to stake several coins at FTX and as of the date of writing this piece one of them pays 20% APY. That’s a pretty decent rate of return, especially since banks are currently paying interest rates of 0.1% or less.

FTX – The Good and the Bad. Image via Medium

Advanced Orders: Besides the basic market and limit orders FTX also has a number of advanced order types to help manage your portfolio and risk. These include Trailing Stops, Take profit market and limit orders, and stop loss market and limit orders. These advanced order types allow you to enter a position and then set all your selling conditions and forget all about the position until it’s closed. It’s very handy not to have to constantly monitor all your open positions.

Margin Trades: Not everyone can access margin trading at FTX, but if your account is over $100k margin trading is enabled. This means you can trade with up to 10x leverage, giving you a more efficient use of your capital. Remember that margin trading is high-risk and isn’t recommended for beginners or even most experienced traders.

The NFT Marketplace: FTX has recently opened a marketplace for buying and selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It’s also possible to use the marketplace to mint your own NFTs and then auction them off to other users. As of November 12, 2021 FTX has disabled minting on its international portal, however it’s still possible to mint NFTs at FTX.us, which is available to users inside and outside the U.S.

FTX User Experience

The second you land on the FTX homepage you’ll immediately see the amount of effort that the team behind the exchange has put into creating a positive user experience, not only for experienced traders, but for all experience levels. There are a number of customization options such as the sleep interface that will toggle the exchange website between light, dark, and black modes.

Nearly all the information you need about the exchange is accessible from the homepage, even if you aren’t yet a registered client. We loved this level of transparency in a world where so many exchanges try to hide features that prospective clients might not like. But then there’s very little about FTX that you won’t like.

Perhaps one of the greatest customizations is the ability to move elements of the trading platform around to best suit your own style. Note that you do not need to create an account and be logged in for this feature to be active. Simply go to Settings and choose “Unlock Layout”.

Have a specific layout in mind. Unlock and get creative! Image via FTX.com

If you have any questions on how to use various features of the exchange there’s a detailed help section where you’ll find user guides and tutorials explaining every aspect of the exchange platform. And those who trade on the go can download the FTX mobile app (for Android and iOS) and have access to all the same great tools and features everywhere they go.

FTX also supports automated trading through its Quant Zone and the use of API keys to automate trading easily.

FTX Trading Products

Because FTX is primarily a derivatives exchange it means in most cases you aren’t trading the actual asset. That means you can’t buy many of the coins and send them off the exchange to your own wallet. The derivatives offered are simply a reflection of the underlying asset, and so you’re trading on the price.

That said, because FTX is based around derivatives like futures and leveraged tokens they can offer some very unique tradeable products you won’t find elsewhere. Below we take a deeper look into the products being offered by FTX and their features.

FTX Trading Futures

A future is a financial derivative in which two parties agree to trade a specific asset at a future date and at a predetermined price. This allows for some interesting arbitrage opportunities at times, and it also means that traders can benefit from the use of leverage when trading futures contracts. On FTX most of the futures contracts allow for leverage of up to 10x to be applied when trading. That means your gains and losses are magnified 10x. It’s very powerful, but also very dangerous if not used properly.

One of the other benefits to the futures offered at FTX is that many aren’t offered as futures anywhere else. This is particularly true for the lesser known altcoins that have smaller market caps and lower liquidity.

It’s the Futures

As of October 2021 FTX is offering more than 200 different futures contracts on over 100 different cryptocurrencies. These futures are near dated (2 months), further dated (5 months) and perpetual. In addition to individual cryptocurrencies there are also a number of indices that can be traded as futures. Very powerful stuff.

Note on Perpetual Futures: These are futures contracts that do not expire. Instead, the price of perpetual futures is updated every hour to keep pace with the value of the underlying asset.

FTX Options

Options are another derivative product available on FTX. These are similar to futures, but don’t require the holder to actually purchase the underlying asset when the option expires. Rather options give you the right to buy or sell an asset at a specific price. You are not obligated however and can freely allow the option to expire without exercising it.

Currently FTX only offers a Bitcoin option. It’s also possible to design your own options contract and then request a quote on the exchange. If you do this FTX says it will give you the first offer in no more than 10 seconds. Once you receive the offer you can choose to accept it, or decide not to trade. You are also free to wait for additional offers to come in. The request for quote lasts for five minutes, and if you haven’t accepted an offer by that time it goes away.

FTX Leveraged Tokens

Leveraged tokens are one of the unique offerings being pioneered by FTX. These leveraged tokens are ERC-20 tokens that reflect the actual price of the underlying tokens, but with a leveraged component to allow traders to use their capital more efficiently.

For example, one of the leveraged tokens is the BULLUSD, which is basically a long BTC token that also includes leverage of 3x. That means for every 1% move in BTC the BULLBTC token moves 3%. So, a 1% BTC increase equates to a 3% BULLBTC increase. The same is true for declines, with a 1% BTC decline equaling a 3% BULLBTC decline.

Leveraged Tokens can be Very Powerful

Currently there are four flavors of leveraged tokens available at FTX:

• BULL is +3x leverage
• BEAR is -3x leverage
• HEGDE is -1x leverage
• HALF is +0.50x leverage.

Let’s look at Cardano (ADA) as an example. If ADA goes up 1% in a day, then:

• ADABULL goes up 3%
• ADABEAR goes down 3%
• ADAHEDGE goes down 1%, and
• ADAHALF goes up 0.50%.

The BULL, BEAR, and HEDGE tokens automatically rebalance themselves throughout the day to maintain the target leverage. In other words, if you made a profit, the tokens will reinvest the money. If you lose money, the tokens will sell some of the position to reduce its leverage.

This ensures that you avoid liquidation risk while trading with leveraged coins. Moreover, as the rebalancing is automated, it saves time and effort from the trader’s side to manually manage their exposure.

FTX Exchange Volatility Contracts

FTX has a number of volatility based derivatives that allow traders to trade on the volatility in the markets. This can be done strictly for profits or it can be used to hedge other open positions. There are two volatility based products available on FTX – the MOVE contracts and the BVOL tokens

FTX Trading MOVE Contracts

The MOVE contract is another unique and innovative product that can only be found at FTX. Basically the MOVE contract represents the movement of an asset over a specified period of time, making it a way to speculate on the volatility of various assets.

As an example, if BTC moves $100 over a 1-day period, the MOVE contract is then valued at $100.

Long MOVE contracts are best when you believe an asset is going to make a significant move in either direction, while short MOVE contracts are best when you believe the price of an asset will remain relatively stable.

FTX offers MOVE contracts on three different time periods.

Daily: These expire after a single day.

Weekly: These expire after a seven-day period.

Quarterly: These contracts expire after a three-month duration.

MOVE contracts speculate on volatility. Image via Medium

Similar to other tradable assets we have discussed thus far in this FTX review, MOVE contracts can also be traded with leverage.

FTX Exchange BVOL Tokens

BVOL tokens track the volatility in Bitcoin. They are ERC-20 tokens and they get their price data from the FTX MOVE contracts and BTC perpetual futures contracts.

BVOL tokens can be used to go either long or short the market, depending on where you think the price of Bitcoin is headed and how strong the move will be. BVOL tokens reflect the daily returns of 1x long volatility of BTC. Whereas iBVOL (Inverse BVOL) reflects the daily returns of 1x short the volatility of BTC.

FTX Spot Markets

While the primary focus of FTX is on derivatives, that doesn’t mean you can’t also get some cryptocurrencies on the spot markets as well. This means you are buying and selling the actual cryptocurrency rather than some financial derivative where you are simply speculating on the price movements of the underlying.

As of October 2021 FTX features spot markets for 65 different cryptocurrencies across more than 200 trading pairs. Most of the pairs are USD or USDT, but there are also a few EUR, BRL, and TRY pairs featured.

FTX Prediction Markets

The prediction markets on FTX are akin to the traditional betting setups. Rather than speculating on some financial asset, with the prediction markets you are speculating on the outcome of some real-world event. If your prediction is right you win, and if your prediction is wrong you lose your stake, or bet.

Can You Make the Correct Guess?

Not surprisingly, one recent prediction market was for the 2020 US Presidential election. The exchange allowed users to place trades on contracts named after the different election candidates – such as TRUMP for Donald trump, BERNIE for Bernie Sanders, and BIDEN for Joe Biden, among others.

In October 2021 there is a prediction market speculating on whether Donald Trump will win the U.S. presidency in 2024 and another that’s betting on whether or not Jair Bolsonaro will win the 2022 Brazilian Presidential election.

Such prediction markets are an interesting way of trading outside the traditional norms of cryptocurrency exchanges.

FTX Crypto Exchange New Products

FTX doesn’t just sit on its successes, it is actively looking to constantly expand on its offerings and products. In that vein, two of the more recent additions to the platform are stock and index trading, as well as fiat currency trading. In both cases there are some spot markets and a number of futures contracts that can be traded.

New Can be Very Good

In the stocks category some interesting names available include Tesla, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. All are available as tokenized assets or as futures.

With the focus on innovation and the trader at FTX it is quite likely we will continue to see new assets and even new tradable products added over time.

FTT Token

FTX is similar to other crypto exchanges in that it’s released its own native token that is the backbone of the FTX ecosystem. And another similarity in this token, which has the ticker FTT, is that it has rapidly jumped into the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap. This is partially based on the utility of the token, which can help users save on exchange fees, but it’s also based on the plans FTX has to burn half the token supply to create scarcity.

Of course FTT is available to trade from other exchanges too. You’ll find it listed on Binance, Huobi, and Kucoin among others.

Apart from its use as a tradable financial asset FTT is used on the FTX exchange to bring a number of benefits to its holders. Lower trading fees are one expected benefit, but users can also realize socialized gains from the FTT Insurance fund. The token can be staked for yield, and can also be used as collateral for futures trading at FTX.

Since the start of 2021 FTT has returned roughly 1,000%, going from the $6 range to the $60 range as of late October 2021.

FTT Staking

As mentioned above, one of the benefits that FTT holders get is the ability to stake their tokens for yield and additional rewards.

Staking FTT yields more than just $.

• Improved maker fee schedule: Stakers have a separate maker fee schedule that overrules the normal fee schedule. This is in addition to the standard FTT discounts.
• Bonus votes: FTX often takes polls from traders before launching a new financial instrument on the site. For instance, until January 11, 2021, traders could vote on which tokenized stock groups FTX should list next. FTT holders get additional votes on such polls.
• Increased SRM airdrop rewards: SRM is the native token of the Serum ecosystem. FTX is committed to dispersing 5% of the total supply of SRM to FTT holders over time.
• Increased referral rebate rates: In FTX’s affiliate program, traders who stake FTT receive a higher percentage of their referee fees.

FTT Exchange

Even though the FTT token is the native token for the FTX platform it doesn’t mean that you can’t exchange FTT at other cryptocurrency exchanges. As of the writing the FTT token is tradable at Binance, Huobi Global, KuCoin, and a large number of other small exchanges. Given that prices for tokens vary from one exchange to the next this means you might be able to get some FTT tokens at a discount elsewhere and then transfer them to FTX to secure all the benefits provided by holding and staking FTT tokens.

Note: FTT token is not accessible in the United States, or any other restricted jurisdictions. If you reside in one of these locations, you are not permitted to transact in FTT tokens.

FTX OTC Desk

FTX also caters to institutional traders looking to buy or sell large blocks of crypto assets through its Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchange service. While this is a commonly offered service, FTX has improved on the process to make it easier to navigate and more cost-effective as well.

The portal to access the OTC market can be found at otc.ftx.com and users can log in using the same credentials they have for the main FTX platform. This allows for access to instant OTC quotes on most major cryptocurrencies. The OTC platform features no fees, tight spreads, and lightening fast settlements.

FTX Over-the-Counter for Large Traders

Depositing and withdrawing from the OTC platform is simple since it’s connected to the main FTX wallet. Enjoy deep liquidity and no fees outside the spread.

FTX Quant Zone

Another great feature of FTX is their Quant Zone where users are able to build and share their own trading strategies. Given the background in quant shared by the founding team you’d expect this feature to be quite strong, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

The Quant Zone allows users to create their own predefined set of trading rules, and then automate trades on FTX based upon those rules. While this alone is nothing unique, you can find it on many platforms, FTX has added a number of customization options and flexibility to the rule set.

As an example, with the Quant Zone it’s possible to design rules using the price action, triggers, and other monitoring rules. And it’s also possible to string together multiple conditions for each rule that’s created.

There’s no limit on the rules you can create, and they can be enabled and disabled as needed.

Once rules are created and enabled they will look at the market every 15 seconds to determine whether or not the conditions specified in the rule are now met. If the trigger for the rule is true when checked the action or actions included in the rule are then executed. This goes on until you pause or disable the rule. And if you have multiple rules enabled they will all continue running simultaneously until they are paused or disabled.

Margin Lending

This is a really unique and interesting feature offered by FTX to add another arrow in the quiver of what makes the FTX Exchange one of the fastest growing and most popular crypto exchanges available. Margin lending is an option where users can lend out their cryptocurrency to other users on the FTX exchange, enabling them to borrow funds to use for their margin trading, paying the lender interest in return. Essentially, users on the FTX platform can enable their balance to be borrowed by someone else, earning some annualized interest paid hourly for the duration that their crypto is lent out. This option can be enabled and disabled at any time without delay if a balance is not currently being borrowed, but it can take up to 6 hours for your funds to be released and returned to your account if they are being borrowed.

Users can choose to lend their spot holdings for the different coins supported by the FTX exchange, allowing them to benefit from upside market volatility, or they can choose to minimize volatility risk as much as possible by only lending their fiat balance or stablecoin holdings. Users can only lend their tokens if there is someone willing to take up the lending offer and agree to borrow those funds. FTX states that there is little to no risk to the lender as the borrower needs to have sufficient margin available to borrow and FTX’s risk engine will attempt to liquidate any user before they could incur a negative net account balance. FTX and its backstop fund will attempt to protect users against other accounts’ bankruptcy risk. The only other risk to consider would be if the lent asset significantly dropped in value while it was lent out leaving the lender unable to sell the funds.

To use the margin lending feature, users will first need to enable the option for “spot margin,” in their account settings.  Once that is done, they will be able to see the option for “margin lending,” from their wallet screen and then they will be able to see a list of all the assets available to lend to other users. Lenders then need to choose the quantity they want to lend and the minimum interest rate they require, if the loan ends up being accepted, the lender receives the marginal interest rate hourly.

Lending can provide a good APY by the hour, but there are not always users wanting to borrow and lenders should keep an eye on fees and rates on various coins as they can fluctuate so to make the most of this feature users will need to be quite active in monitoring the lending/borrowing screens. This feature has a lot of potential and as crypto user adoption grows more people will be using the FTX platform, there will be more options for lending/borrowing opportunities. This is a great and easy way to make a bit of side income. To learn more about how the lending and borrowing works and see some examples check out the FTX help article on lending/borrowing here.

FTX Pay

FTX Pay is a widget that can be integrated into websites and e-commerce sites or apps which allow users to get paid in or pay in crypto and also supports fiat payments. It is fully customizable and allows users to receive payments according to their requirements using FTX’s fast and secure, low-fee payment processor.

Note that FTX Pay is moving to FTX.US which is available for users outside the USA. Current FTX users can continue to use FTX Pay but new users will need to access this feature through FTX.US. Be sure to check out our FTX.US exchange review.

FTX Pay is Making Crypto and Fiat Payments Easy Image via ftx.com/pay

FTX Mobile App

No FTX exchange review would be complete without mentioning their mobile application. One of the things that stands out with the FTX website is the beautifully designed, easy to navigate, intuitive and functional layout and the FTX mobile app meets the high expectations and functionality that users have come to expect from a leading exchange, the app does not disappoint.

As many crypto users are on the go, it is important to be able place and monitor crypto trades, positions, holdings and make modifications whenever and wherever we are. As we all know, the crypto markets move fast so the ability to access your account on the go is a must. The app provides users with the ability to buy and sell crypto, stocks, NFTs and has become one of the most popular crypto applications for investors as the app was previously known as Blockfolio, a popular crypto portfolio tracking app before being acquired by FTX in 2020.

The FTX app currently supports over 10,000 cryptocurrencies for data tracking and receives market data compiled from over 500 different sources meaning that traders will always be getting the most accurate and up to date price feeds and data. The application provides users with the ability to purchase some crypto-assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin with fiat currency and users can track and manage their portfolios with precision and ease. The “Track” tab allows users to organize their holdings and create watch lists so they are always in the know for matters regarding their favourite crypto assets and portfolios. Once a portfolio is set up it can be linked to a user’s exchange enabling the portfolio to be updated in real-time as users buy and sell positions.  

Supported Jurisdictions

While FTX is a global exchange, there are a number of jurisdictions where the platform is not legally available due to sanctions or other regulations. The following is a list of the countries where FTX is NOT accessible:

• Cuba
• Crimea and Sevastopol
• Syria
• Iran
• North Korea
• Antigua, or Barbuda

FTX Exchange USA

In addition, residents of the United States are not permitted to use the main platform at FTX.com, however the exchange has made accommodations and created the FTX.us platform specifically for those U.S. users. That platform has a more limited selection of cryptocurrencies and volatility products, but otherwise it functions in the same way as the primary FTX platform.

FTX Fees

As with any exchange there are several trading fees and commissions to be aware of when trading at FTX. The information and charts below will give you a better understanding of these fees and commissions.

FTX Taker and Maker Fees

Like many of the crypto exchanges FTX uses a tier-based fee structure for the assets in its spot and futures markets. As you can see from the chart below there are six tiers and fees are adjusted lower based on the 30-day trading volume of the user.

Tier 1 traders have to pay a taker fee of 0.07% and a maker fee of 0.020%. On the other hand, the highest tier – tier 6, comes with a 0.040% taker fee and a 0% in maker fee.

As you can see, the maker fees are lower. This is commonly done in order to encourage a larger order book, and increased liquidity, on the exchange.

FTX Exchange Fees

In addition to the trading fees there are some other minor fees to consider when using FTX as your cryptocurrency exchange. Fortunately there are no deposit or withdrawal fees, unless you are transacting with small amounts of BTC, or if you’re transacting with ETH and ERC-20 tokens. That said, the fees for ETH and ERC-20 tokens can be waived for those staking FTT. 

In addition, there are no fees on futures settlement at FTX. Leveraged tokens have creation and redemption fees of 0.10%, and daily management fees of 0.03%.

FTX VIP Accounts

If you fancy yourself a professional trader you’ll be happy to know that FTX has a special VIP account waiting for you with a number of perks that aren’t offered to the everyday retail trader. These perks include:

• Lower trading fees
• Dedicated account managers
• Flexible API limits
• Direct access to senior developers
• An option to provide inputs on new FTX products
• FTX customized VIP swag and access to VIP meet-ups
• Admin whitelisting of withdrawal addresses

Become an FTX VIP. It’s as good as going to the MOON!

Requirements

In order to qualify for VIP1, you need to either have a 30-day volume of at least $150m, or a 30-day maker volume of at least $40m.

In order to qualify for VIP2, you must constitute at least 5% of 30-day exchange volume.

Deposits and Withdrawals at FTX

As a global exchange FTX supports deposits and withdrawals in a number of fiat currencies. These currencies are currently as follows: USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, HKD, SGD, and ZAR

In addition users are always able to make deposits in all of the following cryptocurrencies:  Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), FTX Token (FTT), BitMax Token (BTMX), BiLira (TRYB), USD Stablecoins (USDT, USDC, TUSD, PAX, HUSD, and BUSD).

FTX does not charge any fees on crypto deposits and withdrawals, and they even go as far as to cover the transaction fees on crypto withdrawals. However, fiat withdrawals under $10,000 are subject to a $75 fee. All withdrawals above this amount are free from fees.

All wire transfers are processed on weekday evenings (Monday-Friday) at FTX (except Silvergate SEN). Wire transfers in USD can take up to 24 hours to process, while transfers in any currency besides the USD can take up to several business days.

Users are able to easily make both deposits and withdrawals in fiat directly from the FTX wallet. It’s also possible to convert from other currencies to USD stablecoins within the FTX wallet by choosing the ‘CONVERT’ button that’s located in the wallet.

All fiat transfers are handled via a third party OTC desk, and dealing in fiat is only available to users who are Level 3 KYC verified.  The FTX team encourages users to get in touch before depositing or withdrawing fiat for the first time, and have also produced a video walk-through to explain the process.

FTX Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

As discussed above, there are no fees associated with any cryptocurrency deposits or withdrawals at FTX. In the event of fiat withdrawals any withdrawal above $10,000 is free of fees, but withdrawals under that amount are subject to a $75 processing fee. There are no fees associated with fiat deposits.

Note that when your deposit or withdrawal exceeds your trading volume, the exchange can charge you a fee of up to 0.10%. FTX will reach out to you in case you are liable to pay this fee.

Other FTX Fees

Futures Settlement: FTX charges no additional fees for futures settlement.

Spot Trades: Fees on spot trades are deducted from the asset you receive. For instance, if you place a buy order on BTC/USD, your spot trading fees will be charged in BTC. If you place a sell order, the fee will be charged in USD.

Leveraged tokens: It costs 0.10% to create as well as redeem a token. In addition, you are also liable to pay a daily management fee of 0.03%.

Perpetual Contracts: The platform charges a funding fee on perpetual contracts. However, this is not kept by the exchange. Instead, the funding fee will be paid to holders at the other end of the contract.

Fees on Leveraging: Leverage fees will also apply. For example, leverage of 50x increases your trading fee by 0.02%. With leverage of 100x, the trading fee will rise by 0.03%. These additional fees are paid to the insurance trading fund. However, this fee is not applicable if you are leveraging BTC and ETH perpetual contracts.

MOVE Contracts: Fees related to MOVE contracts depend on the price of the underlying asset.

HTT Holders Discount: As we covered earlier, FTT token holders will also receive additional discounts on trading fees. The extent of this reduction will depend on the amount of FTT you hold.

FTX Review Security

Security is always a top concern when dealing with cryptocurrencies, and FTX takes the security of its platform extremely seriously. One of the steps they’ve taken is to provide the FTX wallet for each user to have a secure place for storing their digital assets.

2-Factor authentication is available and highly encouraged. This type of authentication requires a code, which is generated within a third-party app on the user’s device, to be used when accessing trading funds and when making withdrawals. FTX also has a requirement for minimum password complexity which is a good thing so users cannot simply use “password” as a password, which is just asking for trouble.

FTX have also taken additional steps which allow users to enable 2FA for withdrawals and have added an optional withdrawal password. This is a great second line of defense, if somehow your password to login gets compromised and someone gains access to your account, they will not be able to withdraw any funds without using an additional 2FA and a withdrawal password if these features are enabled. Users should take full advantage of these additional security features if they want to turn their FTX exchange account into the Fort Knox of safety.

Utilize Additional Security Features to Keep Your Account Safe Image via shutterstock.com

There is also a feature to have a 24-hour lock placed on the account any time there is a 2FA removal or password change. This is also a smart feature to have and will leave bad guys really banging their head because in the unlikely event they go through all that work and manage to break into your account and remove the need for a withdrawal password or 2FA, now they need to wait 24 hours before they can do anything, and as these shenanigans are going on the user would have been notified of these actions via email so they have 24 hours to go in and secure their account without losing any funds. Anytime there is suspicious activity on a users’ account such as unusual login attempts, or there is a login attempt without the 2FA, FTX will notify the owner so they can take necessary precautions.

Additional Security Features

Subaccount Login Features– FTX allows users to create custom logins that they can use to allow other people to log into their account with configurable permissions. This is quite unique and interesting, not to mention handy for any two or more people who want to share an account, or if someone wants someone else to be able to make trading decisions on their behalf. Users can set the subaccounts to be read-only, or set withdrawal permissions for withdrawals on the blockchain, to OTC, or transfer between subaccounts.

Subaccount Setup Screen Image via help.ftx.com

Whitelisting IP’s– FTX users can whitelist certain IP addresses when setting up their API Keys. IP addresses can be set to read-only, withdrawals enabled, internal transfers between subaccounts and for API keys to only be useable from a specified IP address.

Whitelisting Wallet Addresses– This is one of my favourite features and is almost enough to make me wish some bad actor would spend hours hacking into my account to finally gain access only to find that they can only withdrawal to a whitelisted wallet address, which of course, would be my own wallet address…Foiled again, bad guy! This feature allows users to only select certain crypto addresses that are allowed for withdrawals from a user’s FTX account. Adding or disabling this feature requires the confirmation of 2FA and withdrawal passwords if they are enabled.

User Settings for Whitelisting Addresses Image via help.ftx.com

Exchange Security Features

Chainanalysis & Manual Review- FTX has recently collaborated with Chainanalysis to monitor suspicious cryptocurrency transaction alerts in the Chainanalysis Know Your Transaction (KYT) product which is a real-time anti-money laundering compliance solution. This paired with a manual review of large or suspicious deposits and withdrawals adds for another layer of safety while using the FTX Exchange.

Backstop Liquidity Fund- The FTX Backstop Liquidity Fund holds approximately $200 million USD and is on reserve to compensate for losses that were not deemed to be the fault of the user.

Based on the information from the FTX website the company is constantly working with researchers and security experts to ensure the security of all its products and services. You can find the detailed security section of the Help articles here.

The company also has a liquidation engine that protects against clawbacks and negative balance situations for users.

The liquidation Process Keeps Traders Safe.

Overall we can tell that FTX has put serious thought and resources into the security of its exchange and wallets. To date FTX has not suffered any serious security breaches or hacks, nor has it been subject to any malware threats or clawbacks on user accounts.

It is clear that FTX has enough protocols and systems in place for the security of its traders.

FTX Insurance Fund

With leverage that goes as high as 101x on some assets it makes perfect sense that FTX would have some type of insurance against catastrophic losses. Indeed they have created just such an insurance fund, and it can be accessed in the case of a liquidation event.

Traders taking advantage of leverage do pay slightly higher trading fees, with the excess being shifted to an insurance fund that is used to protect against negative balance situations.

In the event that the FTX liquidation engine fails, this insurance fund will be used to pay out traders who were forced to close their positions at a loss. For instance, an unforeseen and a sudden fall in the price of Bitcoin could trigger the activation of this insurance fund.

In the event that this insurance fund proves to be insufficient to pay clients, FTX has set aside around 5% of non-FTX owned FTT tokens as a contingency.

The FTX insurance fund has historically increased in size during periods of high volatility. These additional returns are divided among FTT token holders as ‘socialized gains.’

FTX Account Registration and Login Process

In case you’ve made it this far and are now interested in creating an account at FTX the following section will walk you through the registration and login process step by step. For those who are more visually oriented you can also find a step-by-step guide to FTX from our own Guy.

As you’ll see, the registration process is quite straight-forward and easy to complete. Like many other aspects and features, FTX has made the registration process as simple as Possible.

1. Click on the “Register” tab at the top right of the home page.
2. Fill in your name and email address.
3. Enter a secure password. 
4. Complete the captcha and click the checkbox to agree to the T&C.
5. Click on “Sign Up” in the pop-up registration window.
6. Check the email inbox for a confirmation email.
7. Verify email address.
8. Click on “Account Security” and select Google Authenticator or SMS for authentication.
9. Deposit funds and get a maximum withdrawal limit of $1,000 prior to the KYC verification.
10. If you’re interested in higher withdrawal limits click on the “Settings” tab and complete the KYC verification process.

FTX KYC Requirements

FTX does not have a requirement to complete the KYC process to trade though them, however is does provide benefits in terms of trading limits and withdrawal limits. Here are the trading limits for each tier of KYC approval:

For Tier 0 – you only need to provide an email address to start trading. But, your limits will be capped to $1,000 per day.

For Tier 2 – you have to provide your country of residence, which gives you a trading and withdrawal limit of $2,000 per day.

For Tier 3 – you have to provide a photo ID, proof of address, and source of income. This will result in unlimited trading volumes and withdrawal requests.

Who is Behind the FTX Exchange?

FTX was founded in 2018 by current CEO Sam Bankman-Fried who was once a trader on Jane Street Capital’s international ETF desk, and current CTO Gary Wang, who is a former Google software engineer.

Bankman-Fried and Wang

Prior to founding FTX, in 2017 the pair founded Alameda Research Ltd which is a leading quantitative trading and cryptocurrency liquidity provider, and Alameda assists FTX in maintaining deep order books as well as 24/7 OTC services. As of October 2021 Sam Bankman-Fried has stepped down from his role at Alameda, citing his lack of time to devote to the position.

Alameda also incubated and developed FTX with the exchange successfully raising a total of $8m over three funding rounds. After the Seed and Corporate rounds which took place in 2019, the Series B round was completed on March 2, 2020 and attracted investment from Liquid Value Capital.

Binance acted as a Lead Investor during the Corporate round while FBG Capital, Greylock Partners, Kenetic, One Block Capital, and Proof of Capital were all Seed round investors.

As a result, the exchange is backed by a number of leading crypto venture funds and has a strong network to rely on. The core team behind FTX is also transparent in nature and has made their names and LinkedIn profiles publicly available. FTX exchange is owned by FTX Trading LTD, which has been incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda and retains offices in Hong Kong.

What does FTX stand For?

Bankman-Fried and Wang avoided getting fancy or cute when naming their new exchange. The ‘FTX’ term is simply an shortened form for ‘Futures Exchange’, which is exactly what FTX started as.

FTX Customer Service

Customer service, or rather the lack of it, has long been a complaint for crypto exchange users. FTX is trying to change that and has made it possible to contact their customer support team via a number of different channels. These include the usual direct email route, and a live chat box in the help section of the site.

Speaking of the Help section, FTX has made an effort to develop a comprehensive self-help portal that is there to answer most of the common questions that new (and experienced) traders might have.

There is also a notable social presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube and users can also take advantage of Telegram and WeChat groups in a number of languages to get answers to their questions.

All of that is very nice, however we should note that FTX still has a Trustpilot score of just 2.2 of 5 stars. That indicates they haven’t been quite as successful as they might like in transforming customer support for the crypto exchange industry.

Not so Great Customer Service

FTX Support

Perhaps if these exchanges simply went back to the old fashioned method of providing phone support, and enough knowledgeable agents to answer said phones, the support ratings would go up significantly.

Is FTX Suitable for Beginners?

That’s a very good question because, let’s be completely honest, trading in derivatives, particularly with leverage and automation, is a complex and risky proposition, even for those with experience in financial markets and trading.

When you consider the background of Bankman-Fried and Wang, and the features that are offered at FTX, it’s pretty clear that the exchange was not created with beginners in mind. After all, trading in derivatives, options, and futures, not to mention leveraged tokens and automation, requires deep knowledge of financial markets, and extensive experience.

With that in mind it’s very difficult to recommend FTX for beginners IF they plan on coming to the exchange with the intent for using leverage.

However if you’re a beginner and plan on trading the spot markets at FTX, or trading the derivatives without using any leverage, then it’s certainly worth checking out FTX. They’ve got a great platform and low fees, so you would definitely be remiss if you didn’t consider using them in a responsible manner.

FTX vs Binance

Users would be hard-pressed to find anything overly terrible with either Binance or the FTX exchange. Many traders see Binance as the “OG” in the space, being tried and battle-tested over and over for years, while FTX is like the shiny new kid on the block and is known for being highly innovative and is often considered the “next generation,” of crypto exchanges.

Supported Jurisdictions and Regulation Woes

Binance is the number one exchange in the world for spot crypto trading, and much of its popularity comes from its impressive array of altcoins, deep liquidity and multiple exchange features. One of the biggest drawbacks to Binance is the regulatory scrutiny they are constantly facing, and the barrage of bans and regulatory red tape faced by the company as they are not legally registered in any country. This has made Binance a popular scapegoat and punching bag for regulators and governments all over the world who need to make an example out of crypto exchanges.

Just a Few of the Seemingly Never-Ending Binance Dramas Image via finextra.com

It seems that FTX has learned some lessons from the trials, tribulations and woes faced by Binance and were quick to set up their headquarters in Hong Kong which is a great first step and “green light” to help get some governmental and regulation scrutiny out of the way. If you have been wondering how FTX has made it on everyone’s radar so quickly they have managed to raise $900 million dollars in mid-2021 from over 60 VCs, firms and private investors and have been on an aggressive marketing campaign, purchasing the naming rights for the eSports organization TSM for $210 million dollars, the naming rights to an NBA stadium in Miami for $135 million, and a 5-year baseball sponsorship deal in the States. This aggressive marketing campaign has quickly launched FTX into being the fourth largest crypto exchange in the world.

When it comes to supported countries, Binance doesn’t make it clear who can or cannot legally use the exchange, and I don’t even think that they know themselves. It feels like they are still living in the wild western early days of crypto while other exchanges like FTX make it very clear that they are compliant with global crypto regulations.

Things are much more straightforward with FTX as they clearly state what countries can and cannot use the exchange. Users from the USA need to use FTX.US and personal accounts for users located in Cuba, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, or Antigua and Barbuda are not allowed to use the exchange, everyone else is good to go, leaving no murky uncertainties.

Location Restrictions Made Clear Image via help.ftx

Asset Support and Fiat Onboarding

Binance is the clear winner when it comes to the sheer number of supported crypto assets, though FTX holds up quite well in this regard, supporting over 250 coins which is more than enough for the average crypto user. As for fiat onboarding, both Binance and FTX are very international friendly supporting fiat payments from a host of countries though Binance takes the cake on this one supporting dozens of different currencies from exotic and lesser-known countries while FTX currently supports most of the major currencies. When it comes to deposits and withdrawals FTX allows for bank transfers, while Binance offers that and more such as credit/debit card purchases and P2P trading. While Binance does offer methods other than bank transfers I would always recommend using bank transfers as they are often much cheaper and will save you money in the long run.

Fiat Asset Support Image via help.ftx.com

Fees

At Binance the highest maker and taker fees users will pay are 0.1% which is tough to beat. Those fees can be further reduced by 25% for users who choose to pay fees using Binance’s own BNB token. Users can reduce those fees by another 20% if they sign up for Binance using the Coin Bureau sign up link. Those fees are already insanely low and they are very tough for other exchanges to compete with but somehow FTX has managed to remain competitive in that regard. Users who trade less than 2 million dollars every 30 days only pay 0.070% on Taker fees and just 0.020% on Maker fees. If you plan on placing a lot of limit orders, then FTX will be the better bet with those incredibly low maker fees. FTX users can further reduce those fees by holding FTT tokens for an additional trading fee discount. Users who sign up to FTX using our link will enjoy an additional 10% off for life and your first $30 dollars in fees covered, not too shabby.

FTX Tiered Fee Structure Image via help.ftx.com

Both Binance and FTX deserve serious kudos for managing to offer such low fees, those greedy banks could learn a thing or two.

Platform Navigation and Support

There isn’t too much that needs to be covered in terms of platform navigation and use as both platforms are a breeze to use and the trading features themselves are both comprehensive and all-encompassing. You don’t become one of the top four exchanges in the world by having a shoddy user interface and both platforms are quite similar in those strengths. Customer support is something that many users do not often consider until they realize they need it, and there is nothing more frustrating than poor customer support, especially when your funds are on the line. Binance offers live chat support which is a huge convenience as they are normally quite quick to respond to issues, while FTX uses email ticket support, and users can reach out to them on social media platforms such as Telegram, WeChat, Facebook, and Twitter and users seem generally satisfied with the response times of the FTX admins on those sites.

FTX vs Kucoin

Kucoin is another popular exchange in the top four, you can find our in-depth Kucoin exchange review here. Kucoin is very well known and respected within the crypto community with a location-based out of Seychelles. Kucoin has established itself as a one-stop-shop for all sorts of crypto functions, offering the same level of service as the other major players such as Binance and FTX. Kucoin supports over 200 cryptocurrencies, over 400 markets, offers bank-grade security, an easy to use and beginner-friendly interface, margin and futures trading and a built-in P2P exchange.

Supported Jurisdictions

Similar to FTX, Kucoin is happy to comply with global crypto regulations and are clear as to who can and cannot use their platform. Kucoin has considerably more restrictions than FTX when it comes to unsupported countries as can be seen below:

List of Unsupported Countries Image via Kucoin.com

Asset Support and Fiat Onboarding

Kucoin gains the edge here when it comes to their impressive list of over 480 assets vs the 250 on FTX. Users need to go through a third-party company in order to purchase crypto with fiat on the Kucoin exchange, allowing users to pay by credit/debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and P2P. With all these options Kucoin has more convenient options to fund and withdraw, but not having the option to do direct bank transfers is a serious drag and this results in higher fees for depositing funds on the exchange and withdrawing so the edge here goes to FTX.

Fees

Kucoin has slightly higher Maker and Taker fees than FTX, with both Maker and Taker fees clocked in at 0.10% vs the FTX rock bottom fees hitting 0.070% for Taker and just 0.020% for Maker. The fees on both exchanges can be reduced by paying with and holding the exchanges’ native token. The trading fees on Kucoin can be reduced by 20% if users choose to pay fees in Kucoin’s KCS token and further discounts can be stacked up depending on how many KCS tokens are held can be seen below:

Kucoin Tiered Fee Structure Image via Kucoin.com

The edge here goes to FTX as users will avoid fees by both being able to utilize bank transfers and trading fees are also slightly lower for the average user. Users who prefer Kucoin can enjoy an additional up to 60% off trading fees, plus access a free trading bot by using our Kucoin sign up link here.

Platform Navigation and Support

Kucoin isn’t quite as beginner-friendly as FTX which is fine for users who have been around the space a bit longer and have experience navigating crypto exchange platforms. FTX also has the advantage of having a thorough and robust self-help section with plenty of resources available to help users understand and use the platform. Kucoin also has knowledge base articles, but it would be nice to see that area filled out a little more comprehensively. It is important for users to note that Kucoin did suffer a hack in September of 2020, resulting in a loss of $280 Million USD. Fortunately, all the users’ funds that were stolen were covered by Kucoin’s insurance fund, though FTX still has an edge here as they have suffered no known hacks to date.

Kucoin Hack Resulted in 280M Loss Image via coindesk

As for support, the edge definitely goes to Kucoin here for the simple reason they offer 24/7 chat support in both the mobile app and website. They also offer support on popular social media sites similar to FTX.

FTX vs Coinbase

Unless today is your first day in crypto then you have likely heard all about Coinbase. Along with Binance, Coinbase is the other “OG” exchange in the cryptospace and is one of the most well established and regulation friendly crypto exchanges. Coinbase was founded in the United States all the way back in 2012 meaning they are ancient in the crypto industry but have aged with the grace of a fine wine which is why they have long since enjoyed being the second-largest crypto exchange. Be sure to check out our Coinbase exchange review where we do a deep dive here. So, how does this crypto legend stack up against the new “rising star” exchange FTX? Coinbase vs FTX head-to-head.

Supported Jurisdictions

Coinbase is certainly more friendly for US-based user’s vs FTX as they are regulated in nearly every State and accept users from all States other than Hawaii. FTX’s response to this was of course the launching of FTX.US which is a great option for American based users. Outside the US, Coinbase is available in over 100 countries which is pretty darn impressive, a full list of their supported countries can be found here. FTX has the edge here as they support more countries than Coinbase and for them, it was easier to list the few countries they don’t support, than the hundreds they do. A list of countries not supported by FTX can be found here.

Coinbase Supported Country List Image via coinbase.com

Asset Support and Fiat Onboarding

Coinbase provides users with over 100 different coins and tokens while FTX allows users to hold over 250, making FTX preferable for rare altcoin enthusiasts. As far as fiat onboarding, Coinbase really needs to up their game on this one as they only support fiat deposits in USD, EUR, and GBP meaning users from outside those countries will need to pay fees to exchange their local currency to the supported currencies. FTX is the better of the two here as they support a wider range of currencies including many major currencies such as AUD and CAD and some more exotic currencies, a full list can be found here.

While FTX offers bank transfers, Coinbase has an advantage here as they also offer bank transfers but also offer Paypal and Debit/Credit card deposits for select countries. While Coinbase may be more convenient for deposit and withdrawal methods it is important to know that those conveniences come with a price as cashing out onto a card can set users back 3.99% in fees. Bank transfers generally tend to be the most cost-effective method here. Bank transfers using SEPA are often free which is much easier on the wallet.

Fees

When trading, Coinbase users start off paying a 0.5% percent on both Maker and Taker fees for trading under 10k. The higher the amount traded, the less you pay for fees on Coinbase as you can see on the chart below. One of the largest criticisms against Coinbase is that the fees are considerably higher than much of the competition, but I guess that is the price users are willing to pay to use a regulation friendly, secure and dependable crypto exchange that even provides insurance for certain user accounts. The highest fees users will pay on FTX are considerably lower (up to 7x lower!) as highlighted earlier in this article so the edge here undoubtedly goes to FTX for being easier on the wallet.

Maker and Taker Pricing Tier on Coinbase Image via help.coinbase

Platform Navigation and Support

As with Kucoin and Binance, Coinbase also had an unfortunate hack incident in May of 2021 which resulted in funds being stolen from at least 6,000 users and this was made even worse by the fact that their customer support completely dropped the ball as these users were left to fend for themselves as many of them were unable to receive any form of customer support as Coinbase support was overwhelmed for days, if not weeks. FTX is the only exchange in this article that have not experienced a known successful hack so kudos to them. Luckily, Coinbase did reimburse all the users who had funds stolen though the incident did give the otherwise sterling Coinbase reputation a black eye.

Over 6,000 Customers Had Funds Stolen due to Hack Image via reuters.com

There is not too much of a difference between the platform navigation and layout as both platforms are incredibly beginner-friendly, intuitive and easy to use. The Coinbase platform looks and feels a bit less cluttered and cleaner which may be better for brand new users but neither platform have any glaring issues that need to be pointed out and they are both very well designed. As far as charting, both platforms offer robust and comprehensive trading and charting tools suitable to meet the needs of most traders so you wouldn’t be missing out if you chose either one. As far as support, as mentioned, Coinbase is often criticized for very poor customer support, something that they have been working at and improving. Both exchanges offer email ticket support, with many users complaining that they have had to wait for days or weeks to hear back from Coinbase while FTX can be reached across various social media platforms. For support, we have to give the upper hand to FTX on this one.

Conclusion

FTX came onto the crypto exchange scene with a bank, and it continues pushing ahead to try and become the largest crypto exchange in the world. Aside from that, we rate it as one of the best exchanges, despite its relatively short time in the industry. The exchange continually improves on its own features, and on those of competing exchanges. Traders are understandably impressed with the innovative products and services offered by FTX.

The reputation of the exchange has continued improving since its launch, partially because it has been one of the few exchanges to avoid downtime during times of market volatility. When other centralized exchanges have alienated clients with downtime, FTX has continued to provide unparalleled service.

Even their CEO is helping the exchange to shine. Sam Bankman-Fried comes across as an open and trustworthy person, which is a rare trait in the sometimes less than transparent world of cryptocurrency trading.

There’s also the unique products to be found at FTX, such as the leveraged tokens and the prediction markets. Granted the prediction markets are little more than gambling, but it can bring a breath of something different and fun to the sometimes stressful world of the trader.

FTX has rapidly positioned itself as a go-to exchange for many traders, and there’s a reason for that. The reason is that the exchange provides traders with what they’re searching for. It delivers on its features, on the strength of its platform, and in the security and liquidity that all of us need when trading.

The post FTX Review: The BEST Crypto Exchange Ever? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

I first heard about Bitcoin from a friend of mine back in 2009 when Bitcoin was brand new, and I could have purchased a handful of them for mere dollars and been a multi-millionaire by now.  I thought Bitcoin sounded dumb and that the concept was ridiculous. Fast forward to 2014 when I was a Financial Advisor and Bitcoin was under 1k, it kept popping up on my radar and in my social circles and I still thought it sounded dumb and couldn’t understand why someone would spend nearly a grand on digital money with “no purpose.” I thought it was something that couldn’t possibly increase any higher in value, nor ever compete with banks who would inevitably crush Bitcoin if it ever became a threat. How young and naïve I was, brainwashed by the banking system and thinking the 0.2% interest I was earning from my bank was a pretty good deal.

Yup, I was that guy.

Fast forward another few years and here I am all-in, writing for The Coin Bureau, believing that Bitcoin and decentralization are the keys to a better future, and most likely being irresponsibly overexposed to crypto and DeFi, juggling more altcoins than I can count with my Bitcoin sats packed and ready for the moon and loving every minute of it.

Whether it is wishing we would have purchased Bitcoin, Apple or Amazon stock, or hoarding packs of Pokémon cards back when people were essentially passing them around for free, most of us not only have that regret but also want to keep an eye out for the next big thing and not make the same mistake again. Could blockchain games provide that next opportunity?

Trends in Crypto

First, it was Bitcoin that turned heads when it posted a 3,200% gain within 3 months back in 2011, leaving traditional investors stunned as they had gotten used to the 7-12% ROI per year they were receiving (and that’s considered a good year). Then in 2017, it was Ethereum’s time to shine, putting those Bitcoin gains to shame, increasing a whopping 10,000% for the year. And unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve no doubt noticed the massively explosive trend with 2021 being undoubtedly the year of NFTs. According to a Reuters report, the NFT market surged from pretty much nothing in late 2020 as nobody even knew what the heck NFTs were, then reached an astonishing $10.7 billion (yes billion with a “B”) by Q3.

NFT Sales Surge Image via Reuters

NFTs have reached a level of mainstream adoption faster than any other asset class in history with famous celebrities and athletes such as Tom Brady,  Jay-Z, Tony Hawk, Eminem, and Paris Hilton getting involved along with Snoop Dog who has not only had his own NFTs drop on Crypto.com but revealed that he himself is actually a massive NFT whale with his own collection reported to be worth over $17 million. NFTs are even being discussed in traditional financial publication articles and have been featured on Saturday Night Live all in less than a year, and it looks as if 2022 might be the year of blockchain gaming and metaverses as they are already taking off late in 2021.

Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson Educates the Masses NFTs in Hilarious Eminem Spoof Image via nme

Blockchain Games Already Showing Us What They can do

We have already had a taste of the power and potential that blockchain gaming projects have. Look no further than the likes of Axie Infinity who’s token AXS has soared a mind-blowing 71,900% in one year. Axie Infinity has turned many first-time crypto dabblers into millionaires in less than a year as they were able to turn a few hundred dollars into an absolute fortune.

Axie Infinity Token AXS ROI Image via coincheckup

And those cute little loveable Axies aren’t the only game that is making huge returns, this isn’t just a fluke or a “one-off,” as we see similar returns with the likes of Cryptoblades, another massively popular blockchain game whose price action enjoyed the parabolic launch going from under $1 to $160 dollars in less than a month before price abruptly crashed back down, with fortunes being quickly made and quickly lost.

Cryptoblades Token Skill Seeing a Parabolic Explosion in Price Image via CoinMarketCap

Blockchain gaming is still a very new industry with many of these massively popular games being adopted at an unimaginably fast rate and revolutionizing the world with their play-to-earn gaming model. The majority of blockchain games that utilize the play to earn gaming model and NFTs were conceived in 2021 and this industry is less than a year old. That means that this industry still has a lot of growing, maturing, and developing to do, with many analysts believing that blockchain gaming is a trend that is here to stay and will fundamentally change the future of the gaming and the metaverse industry. What this means for gamers and investors alike is that there is still massive upside potential and a lot of opportunities to be found in this budding industry, as the gaming industry itself is showing no signs of slowing down, nor is the growth rate of blockchain adoption or NFTs.

The Growth of the Video Gaming Industry since 2012 Image via Toptal.com

Blockchain Gaming Projects with Potential

With blockchain gaming just getting started, what are some projects that I feel are worth keeping an eye on? Of course, it should go without saying that this is not investment advice, and you should do your own research instead of listening to some stranger who writes articles on the internet, but in my opinion, these are some of the games and projects that I am keeping a close eye on to bolster up my portfolio.

Axie Infinity

I know, I know, you are probably tired of hearing about this game as it has been all over the headlines with its massive surge in popularity and adoption, with people already making life-changing wealth from it. And as a shrewd investor, you may also be thinking that I must be crazy for suggesting something that has already posted over 70,000% of returns this year alone but hear me out. While it is true that I will be taking a pass on Axie Infinity for this bull run, it is definitely something I am going to take a look at getting involved in during the next market correction.

Axie Infinity Main Page Image via axieinfinity.com

The reason I am looking to get involved with this project is that Axie Infinity has some really exciting things in the pipeline, with their roadmap looking enticing. With the project’s astonishing meteoric rise, the team have raised plenty of capital to support further development and innovation to expand the Axie Infinity ecosystem, not to mention they also have first-mover advantage in the space. You can find Guy’s Axie Infinity review here.

Sky Mavis, the Team Behind Axie Infinity Raises Massive Capital to Further Develop the Axie Ecosystem Image via Venturebeat

To start off on why I am bullish on Axie is that the team are going to introduce AXS staking which could lead to a surge in demand for the token as players and investors will be able to earn passive income. The team are also looking to add an entire social network, further develop the marketplace, release a breeding game, introduce PvP with ladder and tournaments, introduce PvE Adventure mode, and in my opinion, the most exciting development will be in the introduction of Lunacia, which will be the Axie homeland. Lunacia will be divided into tokenized plots of land which will act as homes and bases for Axies, which will be able to be upgraded over time. We have already seen the explosion of adoption and popularity of virtual worlds needing to look no further than Decentraland and the Sandbox, so think of Lunacia being like that…but you know, with Axies instead.

Land in Axie Infinity Image via Axie Infinity Whitepaper

Star Atlas

Star Atlas is a blockchain game that makes me feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. The only problem is that Christmas is many years away as we may need to wait nearly a decade before this game is fully released. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, I guess the entire Star Atlas Universe cannot be built in this decade which is fair as this is one seriously complex game containing its own society and economic system, complete with cinematic-like gameplay graphics.

Star Atlas is Working with Unreal Engine 5 to Provide Cinematic-like Gameplay Graphics Image via Solana.com

Though the full, main game launch itself is years away, the game is launching in stages with mini-game releases already underway that allows players to get a taste of what to expect as they can already set up their profiles, choose a faction, purchase and sell ships and equipment NFTs on the marketplace, and a “light version” of Star Atlas will be released sometime in Q4 where players will be able to take their ships out for a spin and do some exploring.

One of the Pieces of Star Atlas Concept Art Image via Cointelegraph

With the Star Atlas in-game token ATLAS recently being launched for public sale and the Star Atlas marketplace selling in-game items such as ships and equipment as NFTs which can be utilized in the game, both players and investors can get in early and scoop up items that will be highly valuable to players upon the successful release and adoption of what many are considering the biggest and most ambitious gaming and metaverse project of all time. A deeper review of Star Atlas can be found here.

Atari Chain

Yes, you read that right, Atari as in the iconic gaming icon that has been a Goliath in the gaming space since the 1970s. Atari has adapted with the times and have made their entrance into blockchain gaming in a big way. Atari has already broken into the two biggest metaverses in the blockchain world, Decentraland and the Sandbox and their ambitions are nowhere near slowing down. The developers at Atari have 50 years of experience knowing what it takes to make successful video games and now that they have fully immersed themselves in NFTs, Blockchain gaming and metaverses, expect these guys to have the Midas touch of the blockchain gaming world with anything they release likely to be golden for early investors and adopters. Investors and gamers can gain exposure to Atari’s upside potential by purchasing Atari Token (ATRI) and keeping an eye on future launch dates for projects. Check out our recent in-depth review on Atari Chain.

Atari Makes a Big Entrance into the World of Blockchain Gaming Being Featured in both the Sandbox and Decentraland Image via venturebeat

Big Time

Big Time is another blockchain gaming NFT project that has not been released yet but I am putting it on your radar early so you can consider getting involved as an early investor. I’m looking to get into this project big time and hopefully make some money because if I keep making corny puns like that the editor is probably going to fire me. Big Time has an all-star team of gaming industry veterans with experience from companies such as Epic Games, Blizzard, EA, and Riot on board who have worked on some of the biggest games in the industry such as Fortnite, God of War, Call of Duty and Overwatch, so these guys definitely know how to make a killer game.

Big Time Character Selection Image via bigtime

To me, it sounds like Big Time has all the ingredients needed to make an epic game that could see massive popularity and adoption. It is a multiplayer RPG where players can team up with friends to adventure across time and space. Yes, that is right, this game includes a time machine that players can use to span timelines while collecting valuable NFTs from different centuries as they explore ancient mysteries and futuristic civilizations with their friends. Sounds pretty fun to me!

Players will also be able to create their own little slice of personalized paradise in the Big Time universe as they will be able to personalize their own space with unique NFT decorations and items found while adventuring. Though the game is yet to be launched, the project is going to be releasing a public sale for SPACE NFTs in early December, which players can use to access new rooms, specialize crafting stations and more.  SPACE is going to be limited, making it potentially highly valuable as players will be able to use this to expand their personal universes and there will also be in-game tokens that players can collect to purchase NFTs as well as recharge items and more.

A Look Into the Big Time Universe Image via medium/playbigtime

NovaX

Have you ever wanted to own your own planet? Well, NovaX provides just that capability. The team behind NovaX created a universe consisting of 8,888 planets minted as NFTs which have already sold during the initial launch but are now available on secondary NFT marketplaces. Tiny digital plots of land smaller than my first apartment are already selling for astronomical amounts of money in many metaverses, imagine how much an entire planet could be worth? Simple economics of supply and demand is causing the increase in demand for scarce digital land, therefore increasing their value as many investors and speculators are looking to get involved in the growing digital real estate market. NovaX is looking to give people the opportunity to capitalize on that concept by selling a limited supply of entire planets.

Some of the Planets for Sale in NovaX Image via medium.com/novax

NovaX is a massive multiplayer online (MMO) play to earn game built on the Avalanche network. Planets are the key asset in the NovaX universe, with players needing to own one to play the game and there can only ever be 8,888 planets minted. Once a planet is owned, players can construct and level up buildings on their plants, each building having a different function, with new buildings and constructs being added in the future. This game has massive earning potential as not only can players capitalize on the capital appreciation of the planet itself, but also build solar plants, metal mines and crystal laboratories on their planets that all generate crypto tokens passively with in-game and real-world value so the planet can literally make money while you sleep. The tokens that get generated are also burned as they are used in the game ensuring they remain scarce and valuable.

Some of the Features and Constructions Available in NovaX Image via medium.com/novax

Aside from just constructing buildings on the planet, players can go on space missions and into battle, provide an education for their soldiers so they can be better equipped for those missions, players can build up an intelligence agency to gain valuable information about missions and manage their troops in warzones. The game also supports guilds and PvP battles, so players don’t need to hang out all alone on a planet like Thanos did after defeating the avengers.

NovaX is an evolving ecosystem, and the team will be consistently adding new features and content to ensure that players will remain engaged, entertained and interested. Investors and speculators can get involved by purchasing the resource tokens for the game: NovaXSolar (XSLR), NovaXMetal (XMTL) NovaXCrystal (XCRS) as well as purchase the planets from peer-to-peer NFT marketplaces. Next time you need a mortgage or a loan from your bank and they need to know about your net worth and assets, just tell them that you own an entire planet and that collateral should be of no concern.

Phantom Galaxies

For fans of Transformers, MechAssault, and Gundam Wing, this one is for you. Phantom Galaxies is an open-world space sim with fast-paced mech shooter action and an enticing storyline. This game has everything: Giant robot battles, giant robot battles in space, creator based and collectable NFTs, space exploration, and guilds so you don’t need to nerd-out alone. The guilds will allow for the governing of the galaxy as well as the creation of organizations and corporations for those who are looking for a side of capitalist economic gameplay with their order of giant mech robot space battles.

Gameplay Screenshot Image via Phantomgalaxies.com

While it is still very early days for this project and not a lot is known just yet other than NFT collectables and game utility NFTs are expected to launch sometime in Q4 of 2021, I recommend checking out their site for an action-packed game trailer that is sure to awaken your inner giant robot suit fantasies and keep an eye on their NFT releases as they are likely to sell out very quickly and be quite valuable as there is already a lot of excitement and anticipation behind this launch.

Phantom Galaxies Roadmap Image via Phantomgalaxies.com

Cradles: Origin of Species

We have had robots, aliens, axies, mechs, space exploration, spaceships, time travel, what next? How about dinosaurs? That’s right, I gotta tip my hat to the team who came up with this concept as so many games are based on dueling, shooting, looting, and resource pooling, that it is nice to see a team come up with an original concept, and this metaverse is going to be mind-blowing. Cradles: Origin of Species is a game that begins in prehistoric times (hence the dinosaurs), where a player must first get familiar with the landscape and gameplay, hunting and protecting a village. This is sort of like an interactive tutorial, and once completed the game takes a seriously evolutionary turn.

While the game starts out as an ancient human trying to survive in the Triassic period, they will eventually come across or purchase crystals with the DRepublic Coin (DRPC) that they can use to make props or use TimeSpaceSand to travel through time and space, entering different worlds and visiting the past or future. The in-game DRepublic (DRPC) token has not launched to the public yet so you may want to keep an eye on it for possible early investor gains.

The world will offer a main city and adventure area, in which players can find creatures that have long been extinct, with players being able to gather resources, create and trade items and even enter the body of a dinosaur to see how difficult it must have been to go through life as a T-Rex with those tiny arms.

Some of the Unique Gameplay Features of Cradles Image via Cradles.io

Now, one really interesting concept of this game is that it will be the first blockchain game to utilize life-like entropy, meaning that as time goes by, buildings will decay, landscapes will change, and creatures will die, players will need to update and perform maintenance to prevent the deteriorating world. To accomplish this, the team behind this blockchain metaverse needed to implement a new standard of NFT known as ERC-3664 which is the first NFT token type ever created that can change, evolve and decay over time to give this world the first gameplay features of this kind

The Four Different Attributes for in-Game NFTs Made Possible by the ERC 3664 Token Image via cradles.io

This game has many different gameplay styles available. Players can create their own worlds, introducing different species, landscapes, cities and building constructs to see how long their ecosystem can last, with the longer the world existing, the more the players earn which is an interesting concept. There will be survival and adventure type modes for players who like to explore, adventure and fight dinosaurs while finding hidden treasures and items,  though this game goes much deeper than that as Origins is also a true metaverse where players can essentially do anything, third parties can interact with the world, players can introduce new features and concepts in the world and vote on future development proposals.

Concept Art for How the Gameplay will look Image via Cradles.io

According to the whitepaper, Cradles creates open worlds that lacks in mainline and background stories which sounds strange at first. It is up to the player to develop the mainline and background stories, with players choosing the origin of their civilization and their decisions will result in the evolution of their world with many scenarios that will lead to the end of their civilization. Playing God must be difficult after all.  In Cradles worlds, the player community or development team can also develop their own mods which can focus on gameplay features such as survival in the wilderness and adventure modes, create plot experiences similar to games like Zelda, or even create revenue-generating gambling mods. Before a mod can be introduced into the game it must be recognized and accepted by the community.

What all that means is that this is an open-world game that is going to develop the way that players want it to develop, it is going to be the combined actions of the Cradles community that is going to dictate and conceptualize much of the gameplay.

While it is still too early to get involved at the time of writing, this is one project I am very intrigued by and will be looking to get involved as soon as more becomes known about the project. If you feel like you missed the boat on Decentraland and the Sandbox already, this could be your shot to get involved early in what could be the biggest metaverse yet. In the words of the Origin’s team, “This project is a salute to all life and civilization that has ever existed on Earth.” “This is the World’s Game”

Concept Art for How the Gameplay will look Image via Cradles.io

Enjinstarter Launchpad

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the massive number of blockchain game releases out there and don’t know which ones to pick, I have got you covered. It is hard to know what projects to invest in, which are good, which are rug pulls and goodness knows you can’t research them all and I’ve barely scratched the surface here. Launchpads are a fantastic option for investors looking to get into projects early and Enjinstarter launchpad gives investors early access to the next big projects gaming and metaverse projects.

Enjinstarter’s Mission Image via Enjinstarter.com

Enjinstarter is a blockchain gaming launchpad that focuses on the growth of the hugely successful and widely adopted Enjin Ecosystem. Built on Enjin’s JumpNet, Enjinstarter is a place where creators and game developers can run capital raising campaigns for their projects and connect with investors looking to invest in new and promising-looking projects.

Explanation on the Enjinstarter Home Page Image via Enjinstarter.com

This launchpad platform gives investors a chance to get into brand new ICO, IDO and IGO token offerings from new projects, allowing for early access before the tokens are available to the general public. Often the biggest gains in crypto are had by investors who were able to get into projects early and enjoy the parabolic growth of the token’s price once it launches to the public, and Enjinstarter provides a place that allows for just that. Instead of taking grueling hours out of your day to research and sift through articles and whitepapers trying to find the next big project, why not let the Enjinstarter team do it for you as they already research the projects and only bring on board the ones that they feel have potential and are legitimate. Enjinstarter is still undergoing their Token Genesis Event, but much of the Enjinstarter token (EJS) supply is currently available on Uniswap.

Some of the Active Projects Coming soon to EnjinStarter Image via launchpad.enjinstarter

Notable Mentions (Bonus Content)

Narrowing down all the amazing blockchain gaming projects launching in one article was a really difficult task as there are so many that caught my eye. At the risk of this article becoming the length of a textbook, I want to make some short but notable mentions here that you may also want to check out. If the idea of Axie Infinity home world of Lunacia interests you, you might want to check out Ember Sword. Land is already sold out from the initial offering but can be purchased on secondary NFT markets. You will also notice an appalling lack of first-person adventure shooting games in the blockchain industry, if those are more your thing, you may want to check out the dark sci-fi action-adventure game where you can explore abandoned space stations, caverns and ruins and of course, shoot things in the face while collecting blockchain assets in Age of Rust.

Concept Art for the Upcoming Age of Rust Blockchain Game Image via Age of Rust

For fans of 2D games and hand-drawn artwork, Aurory is a beautifully designed adventure game with a play to earn model where players are plunged into a rich and diverse universe where they will discover several non-playable characters (NPCs) and mystical creatures who they can eventually own and battle with, looking similar to Axie Infinity but nicer artwork and a more immersive adventure-style gameplay.

Conclusion

We are at a very interesting point in time where advancements in technology that have the ability to radically change our future are increasing and being adopted at an astonishing rate. We are also at the crux of where three massively accelerating, disruptive technologies that exist in separate ecosystems for different reasons with separate original use cases are all merging together and creating innovations and shaping the world in ways that we could not even imagine just twenty years ago.

Gaming, blockchain technology and NFTs are all technological innovations that are accelerating on their own separate trajectories with many different purposes but are now coming together at a crossroads where these three titans are being integrated to create some of the most ambitious metaverses and gaming projects which are going to shape our lives and the future in ways we can’t even fully conceive yet. If you think that is an exaggeration, I am not the only one who thinks that metaverse and blockchain advancements will shape the future as Facebook, Microsoft, Sony, and Amazon are all pouring billions of dollars into metaverse development in the race to metaverse supremacy.

Microsoft Introduces Microsoft Mesh Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Metaverse Technology Image via CNET

Another fascinating result of blockchain gaming is how the play to earn gaming model is revolutionizing economies as we have already seen thousands of people who struggled in poverty now being able to earn a living wage by playing games, and people quitting their full-time jobs to earn higher salaries in virtual worlds that pay them in cryptocurrencies that can be sold for real-world monetary value. If I had to choose between earning money zipping around the galaxy and fighting space robots or being a slave to a 9-5 job that I hated, I know which one I would choose.

Axie Infinity Player Purchases Houses With Money Earned in the Game Image via Cointelegraph

This is all a part of a bigger picture and to what many are referring to as the fourth revolution and the next stage in technological evolution. With this new revolution being widely available to anyone in the world with internet access, levelling the playing field more than at any other stage in history, fortunes are being made and lost quicker than ever before. Many analysts and crypto enthusiasts are referring to this revolution as the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Opportunities for investment and wealth generation of this scale is something that comes along once a century or less, whether it was the tulip mania phenomenon in 1636, the gold rush in the 1800s, or the dot com boom in the 1990s, the question is: Are you going to be one of the fortunate ones who is going to make life-transforming wealth during this once in a lifetime opportunity, or be on the side-lines kicking yourself as it passes by?

The post Crypto Investing: 8 Blockchain Games you NEED to Check Out! appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Video games have undergone massive advancements and transformations since the days back when a giant yellow circle that would aimlessly eat dots while being chased around by ghosts for no apparent reason, now evolving into some of the most advanced space-age shooting and virtual reality games that we have today. While the gaming industry has been evolving, The Atari brand itself has also undergone some major transformations of its own, developing not just in the video game industry, but in the world of blockchain as well.

Video Games Sure Have Come a Long Way Since Atari’s Space Invaders Launch in 1980 Image via Atariage.com

Atari has not sat idle as the world of blockchain technology has found its way upon us. They have successfully cemented themselves in each of the cornerstones and foundation of blockchain itself by creating their own cryptocurrency, crypto wallet, decentralized exchange (DEX) and DeFi platform while also getting involved in a big way into the metaverse. Atari has set up their very own Atari theme park in the Sandbox, and the Atari Casino in Decentraland, placing their stake in the two biggest blockchain-based gaming metaverses that exist today. Atari has also launched Atari-themed clothing NFTs and in-game items while partnering up with some of the biggest names in blockchain. Talk about keeping busy, and their impressive ambitions do not stop there.

Some of the Blockchain Features Available Directly From the Atari Site Image via atarichain.com

Atari Chain Origins

While Atari is already well known for being one of the first and biggest video game creators and manufacturers in the world, first founded in 1972, they have remained a juggernaut in the video game industry for the next 48 years. It wouldn’t be until 2020 when Atari would make their leap into the world of blockchain technology with the release of its own cryptocurrency called Atari Token (ATRI). The Atari Token intended to be a means of payment within the interactive entertainment agency and was launched as an Ethereum based ERC-20 token. While ATRI still exists as an Ethereum based token, about 20% of the circulating supply have migrated to the Fantom Network where users can enjoy the benefits of the cheaper, faster and more scalable network while Ethereum is still in the process of undergoing its transformation to Ethereum 2.0. The news of the Atari tokens migration to the Fantom Network was incredibly bullish news for the token, resulting in an increase of 72% within hours of the announcement.

Atari Token’s Price Rallied 72% Following The Fantom Network Migration Announcement Image via Markets Insider

Atari Token

The Atari token is a decentralized cryptocurrency that plays an important role in the evolution of Atari’s ecosystem, fuelling not only their blockchain presence but also planning to be integrated with the token’s having functionality within their hardware gaming and licensing businesses. The goal for Atari is to have the token used as widely as possible across the interactive entertainment industry, providing benefits to developers and publishers as well as players and investors.

The Atari token can be easily integrated into games and blockchain-based applications, and Atari has stated that they are working on innovative games where players will be able to stake their Atari tokens in high stakes matches against other players where the winner takes all. While the Atari token is a utility token that powers the Atari ecosystem, it also has the ability to be an in-game currency token as well.

The Atari Token is setting out to Power the Future of the Interactive Entertainment Industry Image via Atarichain.com

The Atari token has seen an impressive and steady rise since its launch in Q4 of 2020. The token launched at just under $0.25 then instantly sold off as early investors took profit as we often see following token launches. After the initial bottom at just under $0.10, the Atari token enjoyed a healthy adoption and gradual rise, peaking at $0.65 during the 2021 bull market before crashing back down with the rest of the market during the May 2021 correction to a low of around $0.04 where it remained steady for a number of months.

The Atari Token Showing Steady Increase in Value From Launch to 2021 bull Market Image via CoinMarketCap

As the market recovers from the May correction, the Atari token has been one of the better performing crypto assets along with the rest of the blockchain gaming and metaverse tokens rising from the lows of $0.04 to an impressive rise of over $0.18 and nearing it’s all-time high at the time of writing.

Atari Token Recent Price as Markets Recover from May Correction Image via CoinMarketCap

The Atari token is in quite a position of strength to see an increase in value as three of the fastest growing trends in crypto are blockchain gaming, NFTs and metaverses, and Atari has staked a position in all three and have made their presence known in a big way. This exposes the Atari token to potentially benefit from the rise in adoption from any one of the three trends. Atari token’s market cap is relatively low sitting at $65 million at the time this article was written with its circulating supply of roughly 890k coins and has a maximum amount of 7.7billion coins available, it looks like there may still be a lot of upside potential for ATRI.

The Atari token is currently available on Uniswap, PancakeSwap, BitBay, Hotbit and of course, the Atari Dex itself.

Atari Blockchain Division

In April, Atari announced that they would be creating two divisions within the company, one to focus on gaming, while the other one would focus on blockchain. While the names for these divisions may be a little unimaginative, with one division being simply called “Atari Gaming,” while the blockchain division is aptly named the “Atari Blockchain Division.” Atari gaming will be in charge of operating games in the physical world, the Atari VCS console and licensing, while the Atari Blockchain Division will operate the Atari token and explore new opportunities in blockchain, NFTs and online worlds. In doing this, the gaming giant intends to develop all-new, next-generation blockchain gaming experiences.

Atari Announcement of Atari Blockchain Division Image via Globenewswire

Given the launch of the Atari token, the primary goal of the blockchain division will be the continued development, integration and adoption of the token through further use cases and integration into the Atari ecosystem as a means of payment for digital goods within Atari games on the blockchain and as a peer-to-peer payment method. The Blockchain Division will also work towards expanding on strategic partnerships expanding the brand into other crypto ventures and metaverses as well as working with other blockchain developer companies.

Atari is working towards having the tokens useable with 3^rd party games and applications such as using the Atari tokens to be able to purchase Atari themed NFTs sold on NFT marketplaces. Atari is particularly keen to target NFTs, and have already partnered with Enjin and have launched NFTs on digital fashion house The Fabricant.  Atari’s partnership with Enjin will also allow developers to create Atari-branded blockchain games through licensing agreements.

Atari Has Launched NFT Digital Shoes Image via Highnobiety

As a part of this venture, Atari is considering the potential structuring of this division to possibly, someday become an autonomous entity with a view of handing the division off to Atari shareholders to give this division a bit more control over to the community.

At the end of last year, Atari’s CEO Frédéric Chesnais said to Decrypt in an interview that the gaming icon was betting big on crypto and stated, “I’m a strong believer in blockchain. I think it’s here to stay,” then added to his views on crypto by saying, “blockchain is the only way for some people to have access to meaningful income,” which is a strong use case for further crypto adoption. Atari is set on making collectable assets that are more dynamic and useable across various games and applications and are also in the unique position to get older generations who enjoyed Atari games back in the ’70s and ‘80s into crypto and metaverses to re-live their favourite childhood games.

Atari and Enjin Partnership Announcement Image via Atari Token at Medium.com

Atari Portal

From the Atari site, users can create a free account where they will be able to access the Atari Portal where they will be able to interact with their Atari tokens and the Atari ecosystem. From here, users will be able to see their transaction history, stake their Atari tokens, access their wallet, buy Atari tokens, deposit tokens, exchange and withdraw, all the features you would need to be able to interact with your tokens.

The Atari Portal Where Users can Interact With Their Atari Tokens

Atari Mobile Wallet

Atari has created the Atari Smart Wallet which is a mobile wallet that works with a combination of on and off-chain technology that enables users to manage and exchange their cryptocurrencies in one fantastic looking and easy to use application with no fees within the Atari ecosystem. Users are able to exchange their crypto with no fees or commissions in the Atari community and the wallet integrates within the Atari ecosystem so the balance of users’ Atari tokens will be displayed throughout all Atari gaming platforms. The Atari wallet will also give users a place to store their NFTs

The Atari Smart Wallet on Mobile Image via wallet.atarichain

Atari DEX

Atari also has a DEX integrated on their site which allows users to swap between Ethereum, Fantom, and Atari token via the Metamask browser extension. This provides easier access to Atari tokens and increased liquidity for users looking to swap tokens and get involved in the Atari ecosystem. While the selection of crypto is currently limited to 3 tokens, there are plans to add additional asset support soon.

Atari Dex Available for Users to Swap Assets image via dex.atarichain

Atari DeFi

Atari has also stepped into the world of DeFi, giving users a place to stake and lock up funds for a period of time and passively earn ATRI tokens. To help promote the growth and adoption of the Atari community, Atari added the DeFi interface which allows users to connect their Metamask wallet and purchase ATRI tokens using Ethereum or Tether which can be locked up into the protocol for a period of 1, 3, 6, or 12 months to receive ATRI staking rewards.

Atari DeFi Portal Where Users can Lock up Funds and Receive ATRI Image via defi.atarichain

Atari Token Launch on Fantom Network

On September 1^st, 2021, the Atari Chain token set out for massive adoption on the Fantom Blockchain (FTM). The Fantom blockchain is a fast and inexpensive DeFi network that can process transfers almost immediately, which allows users to use the Atari tokens without the high network fees and slow transaction times that are present on the Ethereum network until the highly anticipated Ethereum upgrade to Ethereum 2.0.

The migration of 20% of the total supply of the Atari Tokens to the Fantom network massively improved adoption, usability and use cases for users wanting to get involved in the Atari Chain ecosystem. This resulted in being a hugely bullish move, not only for the users who could now use the tokens at a fraction of the transaction fees but for the price of the token itself as it saw a rise in value of 72% shortly after the migration announcement. If you have not already seen it, be sure to check out Guy’s recent video on the Fantom Network which can be found here.

Yahoo News Reporting on Atari’s Adoption on the Fantom Blockchain Image via Yahoo

Atari in the Sandbox Metaverse

The Sandbox gaming metaverse partnered with Atari in March of 2020 to feature the first Atari theme park on blockchain, existing exclusively in a virtual metaverse where a variety of Atari gaming experiences can be enjoyed by users in the Sandbox virtual world. The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own and monetize their own gaming experiences on the Ethereum blockchain, creating an immersive virtual world where users can come together and interact with other users, companies and applications. The Sandbox even features hosted events from artists and celebrities who can perform virtual concerts or events all within the decentralized world of the Sandbox.

User Experience of the Atari Theme Park in the Sandbox Image via animocabrands.com

The agreement between the Sandbox and Atari resulted in Atari receiving large digital estate spaces within the gaming metaverse to create their Atari theme park. On these digital estates, users can travel to the Atari theme parks and play Atari’s classic and most popular gaming creations, while the Sandbox will develop Atari-inspired, in-game assets for game creators to use in their own games. These Atari theme parks will contain a variety of Atari game titles, Atari themed creations, attractions and buildings that users can explore, creating an immersive gaming experience that can be shared socially between players in the metaverse.

Atari Real Estate in the Sandbox Where Users can Immerse Themselves in the Atari Ecosystem Image via venturebeat.com

Atari in Decentraland

Fans of Atari had a chance to attend a virtual party to celebrate the launch of the Atari Casino within Decentraland in March 2021. The partnership announcement made by Atari informed players that there will be an Atari themed casino in the Casino Quarter of Vegas City in Decentraland. Shortly after the announcement of a virtual Atari casino launching in Decentraland, Atari mentioned additional ambitions to open the world’s first Atari-themed hotel in the real Las Vegas in 2022, with the CEO stating that they would like to expand the network of physical Atari themed hotels across the United States and would accept Atari token as payments in some capacity.

Yahoo Finance Covers the Story of Atari Casino Announcement Launch Party in Decentraland Image via Yahoo

The Decentraland Casino district houses the first community-owned metaverse crypto casino ever created and now players will be able to play Atari-themed games in the casino district and win based on skill as opposed to luck, being able to win crypto tokens. Decentraland is similar to the Sandbox in a sense that it is a virtual world where users can come together and immerse themselves in a digital world and experience concerts, events, games and essentially the same things we enjoy in the real world, but with a virtual spin.

Vegas City Casino District in Decentraland Image via Twitter/VegasCityDCL

Roadmap

The company currently has a lot of ambitious plates spinning and are showing no signs of slowing down. The Atari team are still remaining true to their origins, releasing physical hardware gaming consoles, promoting retro-gaming, while also venturing into the hotel industry. Atari are making big moves in crypto, really getting involved in the major pillars of blockchain technology that are most likely to have a large impact on shaping our future, being blockchain gaming, NFTs and metaverses.

We have already seen the massive rise in the trend of blockchain gaming with the likes of Axie Infinity and Spliterlands gaining record-breaking adoption and user growth, a trend that is likely to continue.

Wallet Addresses for NFTs and Blockchain Gaming Have Surpassed DeFi For the Largest Growth Sectors Image via Dappradar

NFTs have already far surpassed the use cases that they were originally created for and have been integrated into platforms and adopted in more ways than most of us could have ever imagined back when we first learned about the three-lettered acronym. And of course, nobody can deny the impact that metaverses are going to have in our future with the likes of Facebook and Microsoft already getting massively involved into virtual worlds. Atari has perfectly positioned themselves, integrating and developing themselves into these high-impact areas that continue to see growth at an exponential rate.

Partners

Atari has already partnered with some of the biggest players in the NFT, blockchain gaming, and metaverse industries. Seriously, whoever runs their partnership initiatives must have like a billion Facebook friends and be the coolest person at all the parties as the company has been very busy and successful in making friends in some high places. I’ve already mentioned their integration and partnership into the two largest metaverses Decentraland and Sandbox, (talk about hedging your bets). They have partnered with Enjin, Game Taco, Native Gaming, Rockstar Games, the Litecoin Foundation and Wax just to name a few.

A Few of the Partnerships Formed by Atari Image via Atarichain.com

Conclusion

Those folks over at Atari sure have been busy getting entwined and integrated into some of the best projects and working with the brightest teams that blockchain technology has to offer. I’m going to be honest, when I first heard about Atari making an appearance into the metaverse space I thought, “ah that’s cute, those little old retro games in a virtual world, sounds like a great idea, why not?” It wasn’t until I did more of a deep dive writing this article and going down the rabbit hole that I see just how ambitious their roadmap and vision is.

Atari Token Public Sale Announcement Made on Bitcoin.com

Atari is looking to go far beyond the 2D pixelated game consoles that are collecting dust in our basements and are making some big impacts in the major trends in the blockchain space. Atari seem to have a knack for getting involved in not just one, but three of the biggest sectors in crypto that are likely to continue for decades to come, looking to permanently cement themselves into the very foundation of the technology and platforms that are most likely to play a big part in our day to day lives in the near future. I for one, am going to be keeping a much closer eye on Atari and the Atari Chain token and won’t be surprised to hear it become a household name once again when we are all living in some crazy virtual universe.

The post Atari Chain: Retro Gaming to Blockchain Future appeared first on Coin Bureau.

What is YouHodler?

YouHolder is a centralised crypto-lending and borrowing platform offering services that caters to lenders and borrowers to earn interest and obtain loans. It also offers an exchange service to swap between fiat and crypto or two kinds of crypto. What makes it different from other platforms of similar function are the MultiHODL and Turbocharge products that helps users maximise their returns in a risky manner. 

Products and services offered on YouHodler Image via YouHodler

Exchanging Between Fiat and Crypto

For those new to the crypto space, YouHodler offers an exchange service for swaps between fiat and crypto. You can deposit your cash in this platform and exchange them for crypto. It is also handy for those who want to swap the other way around.

A straightforward way to exchange fiat and crypto

The rates may differ based on the cryptocurrency swapped but here’s a chart for deposit and withdrawal fees for your reference:  

Check carefully before making any deposits or withdrawals

The minimum deposit required to get started is $5. Opening an account with YouHodler requires going through the Know-Your-Customer ( KYC) process. This is where you are required to upload personal information, tying up your identity with the account. This step is a necessary element of the Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) policies enacted to prevent criminal activity.

After that, the next thing to consider is the security of the funds held on the platform. There are two main elements that are of key importance: insurance and the people running the company.

Insurance by Ledger Vault

The platform’s homepage advertises that it uses Ledger Vault to provide up to $150 million of pooled crime insurance. What does that mean really? To answer that question, I decided to take a quick peek at Ledger Vault and here’s what I found out:

• It is an enterprise-level product by the Ledger company (the same ones that make my Ledger cold wallet).
• It is a program for managing private keys that has access to the storage area where tokens are kept.
• Ledger Vault is relied on by one other lending platform, unlike some of its competitors which offers safety to a few. This is good because in the event of a major event, the number of companies seeking insurance at the same time is less.

In other words, access to the tokens are as well-guarded as those hi-tech bank vaults shown in action movies. The weakest link therefore, are the people who have access. Let’s direct our spotlight on the team.

Who Runs The Show?

YouHodler was set up in 2017 and there are two companies running it: Naumard Ltd based in Cyprus and YouHodler SA in Switzerland. I’m slightly raising one eyebrow here about the Cyprus location because of its ‘golden passport‘ scheme that raised a bit of a kerfuffle.  

Three key personnel are listed on the website: Ilya Volkov the CEO, Renat Gafarov the CTO, and Alex Vinny, Head of Product.

Ilya Volkov, CEO and Founder

Ilya graduated with a degree in Philosophy in Moscow before venturing into the FinTech world. He’d spent 10 years in Commercial Finance followed by another 10 years in online trading. In a recent interview, he shared his journey on starting YouHodler inspired by the LUMIAMI approach and Design Thinking. He sees YouHodler as an integral piece that connects banking, trading and cryptocurrency. This is certainly reflected in the offerings on YouHodler.

Renat Gafarov, CTO

Renat started his career as a frontend developer, quickly moving up the ranks while also going through multiple companies. His current stint at YouHodler is the longest he’s been in a company (4 years).

Alex Vinny, Head of Product

From what I can tell, I think Alex went to the same university as Renat, Altai State University in Russia. He is also connected to Ilya via The Forex Club where he worked, first as a UI/UX Designer, then a Product Designer before joining YouHodler as a UI/UX Designer.

The management team looks like they come from rank-and-file backgrounds, which is something I like because it means they know what they’re doing in their area of expertise. The risk is that there is not a lot of management experience, which hopefully, will be addressed as the company scales up.

In terms of how likely they will run away with everything in the middle of the night, aka do a rug pull, in that interview with the founder, his intention to build something better is convincing enough. Unless I can dig up more dirt about them, which isn’t easy because they seem fairly low-key, I am cautiously positive.

At this point, knowing what you know about the company, you can decide if you’d like to continue exploring the platform and the other services it offers. For myself, I am curious to see what else is available, so am proceeding with caution. 

How Does it Work for Lenders? 

The selling point on the website is that you can get up to 12.3% interest annually for both crypto assets and fiat. Usually, with these kinds of claims, there’s a bit of truth-stretching involved. Nice of them to provide a earnings calculator for me to check what I’m most likely getting for my crypto tokens. Here’s what I found out (in order): 

• MKR, COMP, REP 2.5%
• HT, BNB, BAT, BNT, DOGE, OMG 3.0%
• XLM, XRP, YFI. ZRX 4.5%
• BTC 4.8%
• EOS 5.0%
• LTC, BCH, DASH, ETH 5.5%
• SNX, ADA, AAVE 6.0%
• LINK 6.2%
• UNI, SUSHI, TRX 7.0%
• PAXG 8.2%
• DOT 9.0%
• BUSD 10%
• EURS, USDP 12%
• USDT 12.3%

Comparing my findings with their published list below, I noticed it has two tokens which were not from the dropdown menu of the calculator (marked in red). I wonder why. 

Accidental oversight?

In general, I like the idea of getting weekly interest payments, especially if it can also be compounded. The interest paid is also in the currency/token deposited. There’s no requirement to accept a platform’s native token in order to earn a better rate. I suppose there are two ways to look at this: 

1. There is security in having interest paid in the original form. For example, I’d take interest in BTC any day over any native token.
2. If there is a native token, then what you’re banking on is that the amount of interest in the original form is less than what you could potentially get with the native token, especially if the native token is doing well and fetches a higher price in the market. This would require an additional layer of monitoring. How much work are you willing to put in when it comes to keeping an eye on your assets? 

There’s also the flexibility of withdrawing my crypto anytime. It’s worth noting that I won’t get any interest for the week that I make the withdrawal. 

Putting my crypto to work here would require me to deposit a minimum of $100 worth of each type of asset I want to earn interest on.  Eg: If I want to earn interest for BTC, USDT, ETH, and UNI, I would need to lock in a total of min $400 worth of tokens in my account. No wonder they have a maximum deposit amount of $100k across all currencies. Compared to other platforms that have no minimum, this is a bit of an entry barrier.

MultiHODL 

One thing that makes YouHodler unique from other platforms for lenders is the MultiHODL product. The key idea for this product is based on something called The Barbell Strategy by Nassim Taleb, a mathematician and risk analyst, famous for his book “The Black Swan”. 

How it works

Let’s say:

• I put in $1,000 in USDT. 90% of it is in a deposit, and I decide, with 10% of my deposit, i.e. $100 on a crypto token like AAVE, that its price will go up. 
• I open a position, i.e. I place my bet. Then I watch and wait to see what happens.
  • If I’m wrong, I lose the hundred dollars. 
  • If I’m right, I could stand to gain more than 12.3%, depending on where I set the level of profit-taking. The profit goes directly into my account. 
• I get to decide how long to keep the position open or when to close it.  There is a fee associated with the duration of the open position.

Also, the position will automatically close after 10 days (in case I forget about it), or if the price falls below the level of loss. Other than stable coins, I could also use other crypto tokens as capital too.

Learning about risk with training wheels on.

The mechanics of how the bet placement works is similar to margin trading, where one sells another’s shares, then buys back the shares at a later price, either lower or higher than predicted. It’s usually paired with leverage, i.e. I put in $100 and buy $200 worth (that’s a 2x leverage). If things go wrong, I could stand to lose $200. 

Margin trading has always been something I’d shy away from because I’m not comfortable losing more than what I’ve put in. With the MultiHODL product, leverage is an option. They call it “multiplier”. There’s a slider to choose how far you want to go. Of course, the more you multiply, the higher the risk/reward. 

Give your chart-reading skills a test

If you’re getting started in crypto trading and got a bit of knowledge in reading charts or doing technical analysis (TA), you could consider testing out your hypotheses here, whether the price will go up or down. If not, and you’re feeling lucky, just close your eyes and pick something. You have a 50-50 chance of being right anyway. 

That being said, it’s worth giving it a go with a small amount, like nothing more than 10%. If you’re not sure of your risk level, try asking yourself: if I wake up the next morning and I found out that I’d lost the amount I’d put in, how awful would I feel on a scale of 1 to 5? 

Unlike the deposit-and-earn scenario, which is pretty much set-and-forget, doing the MultiHODL way requires a bit of effort to monitor your bets. If monitoring can be a stressful thing, I suggest skipping this product.

As for me, I’m just about ready to throw my pitiful BAT stash into this platform and allocate maybe 20% of my BAT holdings to this product. But wait, there are fees to consider: 

• one-time origination fee
• rollover fee – the hourly fees during the duration of the bet
• one-time 10% profit share fee

Example of Rollover fee calculation

By the way, YouHodler is running a promotion for first-time users of the MultiHODL product. Basically, any losses you have during your first outing will be absorbed by the YouHodler team. I guess they’re really confident that the product will be well-received once users had a chance to try it out. 

How Does It Work for a Borrower?

According to their loan page, the top 20 coins used as collateral can be used to secure up to a loan of up to 90% of the collateral value. This is commonly known as Loan-To-Value ratio, aka LTV. In this case, a 90% LTV means I can get $900 from collateral that’s worth $1,000. Whoa!

Further down the page, I noticed that it said top 14 coins as collateral. However, on the homepage, the advertising said top 15 coins. This kind of confusing messaging doesn’t sit well with me. If it’s a genuine error, they need to pay more attention to their copywriting; if it’s not, could something else be afoot? It didn’t help that the top coins were not listed. 

It’s things like this that triggers my alarm bell.

Getting a Loan and Risks

The shorter the loan period, the higher the loan amount is available.

As with all crypto platforms that uses smart contracts, as long as you have the required collateral, you’re practically guaranteed to get the loan. The downside is the risk of instant liquidation if the collateral amount is worth less than the loan amount, especially with the volatility in the market. This is where Price Down Limit (PDL) comes in. It’s like the minimum number of items in the warehouse waiting to be sold. Once that minimum number is reached, it’s time to order more stock before you run out of items to sell. In this case, once 2/3 of the Price Down Limit is reached, the YouHodler team will reach out to you to ask for more collateral. If you would like to add more collateral to the loan, you activate the Extend PDL function. 

In addition, you can also do one of the following for your loan: 

• Close the loan using the Close Now function – this allows you to not repay the loan by having your collateral liquidated.
• Set Close Price feature aka Take Profit – Set the price where you want to take profit. Once it reaches that price, part of the collateral is sold to repay the loan and the rest is deposited into the account. This can be defined upon applying for the loan or for the duration of the loan. 
• Reopen feature – extend the loan without repaying it by activating this function. Fees apply every time the loan is extended.

Last but not least, let’s check out the loan parameters and fees.

• Loan minimum: $100 or its equivalent.
• Loan maximum:  varies according to market conditions and collateral used.
• Loan currency:  USD, EUR, CHF, GBP, BTC and Stablecoins
• Loan repayment methods: crypto (by converting it to fiat), wire transfer, debit/credit card, from account, Close Now feature

Fees associated with the loan function

Turbocharge

The classic-loan scenario above is for those who want to use their crypto as collateral to get cash. But what if you want to make money from your crypto? Now you’re talking about leverage. It’s like using the still-mortgaged first property to act as collateral to take out a mortgage for your second property. Imagine that we’re talking about loans in this same fashion. Let’s say you deposit collateral that gets you $1,000. Then, you use that amount to get a second loan, which gets you $800. It then becomes the “capital” for the third loan and so forth.

That’s essentially what Turbocharge is, another unique product only offered on YouHodler. This product is designed based on the “cascade of loans” principle which sounds, to me, like a most dangerous phrase. It’s nothing more than the domino effect in action but in, hopefully, a positive way, i.e. everything going up instead of down. While it may feel like you only need to be out of wallet once for the first loan, and you’re using “free money” to take out the next loan and the one after, you are still responsible for the whole lot. All it takes is one loan to default and the entire thing will come tumbling down like a house of cards. I want my crypto assets to be working hard, but I don’t need them to be doing hard labour in a chain-gang! 

This is what happens in a Turbocharge loan

If you really want to have the experience, then do something really small, like the minimum of $100 and take out not more than 3 loans to get a taste, not max it out at 15 times.  Exercise extreme caution here! 

Competition

There is no shortage of competition for the space that YouHodler operates in, as the image below shows: 

When in doubt, shop around 

Since this chart was compiled by YouHodler, it is reasonable to find that it paints the platform in a fairly flattering light. Despite that, it also knows it’s not the best in everything and probably doesn’t try to be. With the two unique products it offers, it has confidence enough to capture the number of users it needs to remain healthy and competitive. 

General Safety and Risks

Ever since the data leak issue from 2019 occurred, YouHodler has beefed up their security including 2FA password protection (“what you have and what you know”) for all their users. They also included a 3FA security measure for those with more than $10k in their account that allows the users to disable all withdrawals. If a withdrawal is necessary, there will be additional verification steps taken to make this happen. Traditionally, 3FA requires some kind of pre-authorisation of the machine where you perform the task. A dedicated digital certificate on the machine is a common way to do this. Whether YouHodler takes this route in their definition of 3FA, I don’t know. It’s worth taking note of. 

When it comes to regulatory concerns, i.e. the platform getting shut down by some government, it’s unlikely to happen, given where they have their headquarters in. 

One key point of concern is how the platform actually makes money. While it is possible to believe that the fees they collect from the users’ transactions would be enough to cover all costs related to the operations of the company, there isn’t anything in the website that gives a clear indication of their business model. Some of their competitors openly mention loaning amounts to institutional investors via rehypothecation. This means that the deposited collateral is used as a pledge for another loan made by the company on its own behalf. YouHodler does not mention this but it does not mean they are not  doing it. More transparency in this matter would be helpful to know.

Conclusion

As platforms of this nature goes, YouHodler is no worse than what’s out there. The two unique products they have currently gives them an edge, but only until the next best thing comes along. I would not be parking all my assets onto one platform because diversification is important. Here’s what I would do:

1. Put in a small amount, maybe slightly above the minimum amount of $100 to get started on earning interest.
2. Once the interest accumulated has reached a sizeable level for me, I’ll allocate half of the extra interest into the MultiHODL product to make educated guesses of the market trends. 
3. With the other half (min $100 in value), I will put it in a Turbocharge loan 3 times over to observe what happens.
4. Last but not least, I’ll withdraw the extra profit earned and buy myself some ice-cream. (After fees are deducted, probably the only thing I can afford!)

After weighing all the risks and benefits, I think it’s worth going through the KYC process to give this platform a try. The amount of money I’m risking is not an amount I will lose sleep over. If everything turns out peachy, it will be a nice surprise. 

The post YouHodler: Too Good To Be True? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Now, to bring this example into the crypto world you need to see the book as a blockchain and you as a dapp developer. As we all know, everything on the Ethereum blockchain is visible for the public. For example, every transaction on Uniswap, which is built on Ethereum, is found there. It’s also known that many developers want to build applications which leverage the data found on the blockchain to create research tools, for example. However, without a way to query data from the blockchain it would be impossible to get information out of it fast and efficiently. That’s why The Graph was created.

The Beginning of The Graph 

The idea of The Graph was born in late 2017 and introduced in the summer of 2018 by Yaniv Tal, Jannis Pohlmann, and Brandon Ramirez. The three of them had previously worked together on multiple startups focused on software development. They wanted to make it easier developers to build powerful software. In 2017 the trio was introduced to Ethereum which quickly sparked their interest and made them start building dapps.

Why they first got into Ethereum was because of the highly centralized manner of today’s businesses and processes. Today we rely on mostly Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to store all of the data out there. Their combined market share of all cloud service is easily over 50%. This means there are a massive number of companies and individuals dependent on centralized entities in the form of using centralized APIs (Application Programming Interface). It also means that those centralized entities can choose who gets access to see or use this data. Usually those who pay get the data. An example of how this works; if I wanted to do some market analytics, a way to go would be for me to first pay Bloomberg for a subscription in order to access the data. At the same time, Bloomberg pays AWS (Amazon Web Service) for both data storage and query.

It’s pure dominance out there, and the amount of money they make from this is unbelievable.

Now, why it’s important to understand this structure is because what the trio quickly realized about working on dapps was that without the possibility for indexing and querying data it would be impossible to create powerful, lag free applications. The centralized structure of how we today operate does have some advantages like speed, however, this trio didn’t want the same structure, which made them develop The Graph.

The project has raised capital multiple times to a total of roughly $25 million. It is backed by some big names including Coinbase Ventures and Multicoin Capital. The first public sale of GRT was held in October of 2020 but only 4% of the total supply was sold during that. We will get more into the token distribution later.

What Does The Graph WE Do and Why We Need It? 

Continuing with using a book as an example to explain this, we all know books usually have indexes. If it’s a book used for research it can be sorted alphabetically or in some other logical way. This same applies to databases, they are sorted so that APIs know where to look for the data they need.

API’s are nowadays centralized entities querying data, The Graph wants to change this.

Blockchains don’t sort themselves since they are a history of all transactions connected in the order they are completed. Therefore, if you were to look for information without knowing where it is you would have to start with block 1 until you find what you were looking for. This is both extremely time consuming and energy intensive. That’s why programs like Etherscan have copied the whole blockchain to be stored in their own database from where they can query data efficiently using their own centralized APIs.

You might be asking yourself why we need The Graph if everyone can just store the blockchain themselves and have own APIs. Well, the size of the blockchain grows all the time which makes it harder and harder for small developers to store it. The next option would be to use the databases of those who do store it like Etherscan, and this is actually what many do. However, this brings us back to the problem of centralization. If you use the database of a company, you become reliant on their ability to store and query the data. If for some reason they fail to do this then you’re done. Another problem with both of these options is that there’s much work if you need data from multiple companies. For example, you would maybe want to use data from both Uniswap and Decentraland, but if they store their data in different databases then it makes it trickier to you.

Currently, you can use The Graph to query data from Ethereum and IPFS (Interplanetary File System, the decentralized layer of Filecoin). The Graph is also in beta test mode on multiple blockchains, but we’ll get more into that when discussing the roadmap later on. For now, let’s look at how The Graph actually functions in a truly decentralized manner with proper incentives.

How Does It Work? 

When a project uses The Graph, it creates an API of their project. These are called called subgraphs. These subgraphs are then available for other projects to query data from in order to run their application. A project can make use of one or many subgraphs and a subgraph can further consist of smaller subgraphs inside of each other. An example of two subgraphs you can find and query data from are Uniswap and Compound. As you can probably imagine both of these provide vital data for project developers. Just think of all the trading data on Uniswap, with volumes, prices, trading pairs, and a lot more. To find data from these subgraphs The Graph has created an explorer you can use. Using this you can query data with The Graphs own programming language called GraphQL.

Here’s a list of four of the key participants in the network. Image via The Graph

How the architecture around The Graph is built is essentially on four different kinds of network participants: delegators, indexers, curators, and consumers.

Indexers

Indexers are node operators in the network who stake GRT. The minimum amount staked to become an indexer is currently 100k GRT (roughly $96k at the time of writing). They are responsible for providing indexing and query services. To be sure that an indexer does the work appropriately the staked GRT is subjected to a thawing period, and slashing is also possible. If an Indexer acts maliciously, providing false information, or if the indexing is done wrong, then a portion of the staked GRT is slashed.

On top of the 100k of GRT to stake you also need some hardware to become an Indexer. You can learn more by visiting this link to The Graph’s guide

As incentives, indexers earn query fees and indexing fees, along with rewards from a rebate pool that distributes funds proportionately to the amount of work completed. This is calculated using the Cobbs-Douglas Rebate Function. The funds from the rebate pool come from the annualized inflation rate of 3%. The fees Indexers charge are set by themselves which creates a marketplace of indexers trying to sell their services. This marketplace also keeps the fees in check so that no one can overcharge, since with too unreasonable prices no one wants your services.

Consumers

Consumers are the ones paying for the services provided by indexers. Consumers are often end users like developers, web services, or middlemen. They naturally play an important role since they are responsible for the demand side of the supply/demand equation.

Delegators

Delegators are “normal” GRT holders that can stake their tokens by delegating them to one or many chosen indexers. When doing this you earn a portion of both the indexing fee as well as the query fee. However, the amount you earn is chosen by the indexers which means you as a delegator need to look into where you can gain fair percentages.

This is an example of what you might see when choosing which indexer to delegate to. Image via The Graph.

When delegating, you are subjected to a so-called tax of 0.5% which means that if you delegate 1000 GRT then 5 will be burnt. Another factor you need to think about is that if you choose an untrustworthy indexer and need to undelegate your tokens then you are subjected to a 28-day lock-up period in which doing anything with your tokens is impossible. There are also other factors you need to take into account which is why I strongly suggest you visit The Graphs’ website to read more about delegators and what you need to consider, you can find the page here.

Curators

Curators signal to indexers which subgraphs are worth indexing. The way the curators signal indexers to certain subgraphs is by depositing GRT into a bonding curve. If they wish to withdraw those tokens, they are subjected to a tax similar to the one delegators pay. For doing this they earn a proportion of the query fees generated from that subgraph. This way expanding the ecosystem is incentivized. Curators are also incentivized to find relevant subgraphs early to generate as much revenue as possible. Therefore, curators are often developers who signal to their own subgraph in order to be added to the ecosystem. Curators can also be other people highly knowledgeable about the whole ecosystem. They can use the explorer to find information about subgraphs and then assess whether it’s worth indexing.

Fishermen & Arbitrators

As I mentioned, indexers can be penalized for malicious behavior. That’s why there’s a need for someone who reports these issues as well as someone who decides on whether or not it really can be considered malicious behavior. Fishermen are those who verify that the indexers response to queries is correct, if not they report it to the Arbitrators who decide whether or not to slash the indexers staked GRT. These are important since although there are policies and threats like the thawing period and slashing meant to prevent malicious behavior there can still occur some. That’s why we need participants who can report it as well as follow through on the threat of slashing.

Here’s a picture of how it all works, it can get quite complicated so I suggest you readthis and thispost from The Graph if you want to learn more. Image via The Graph.

If you need more help with understanding how The Graph works I suggest you watch Finematics YouTube video about it, you can find it here. It helped me a lot!

Tokenomics

GRT is an ERC-20 token with an initial supply of 10 billion. It is subjected to a previously mentioned inflation rate of 3% but given the structure of the network GRT could become deflationary. This is because from query fees 1% is always burned, also the taxes implemented in the network result in token burning, and lastly all the unclaimed rewards from the rebate pool are burned. I couldn’t find any data on how much activity we would actually need in order for GRT to become deflationary but at least the possibility is there. However, a 3% inflation isn’t that bad either, remember that Ethereum too had an inflation rate far greater than 3% before the EIP-1559 while still providing good returns.

From the picture above you’ll see the GRT distribution. Since only a small portion is for the public, you can probably already guess that the vesting schedule we’re going to see won’t be pretty.

You can read more about the token distribution here

You were right. The aggressive flood of coins hitting the market in the beginning is just frightening. If you don’t know why I’ll briefly explain. Since all of these early backers are subjected to a lock-up they can’t do anything with their tokens for now. However, once the lock-up period is over they are likely sitting on 20-100x unrealized gains. Now, consider yourself in that position, you’re likely going to sell at least some of your holdings. This will result in massive sell pressure that will most definitely impact the price negatively. However, The Graph is an impressive project which hopefully can attract enough demand to offset the massive supply flood. So, let’s take a look at some news and updates for The Graph which could trigger huge demand growth.

Roadmap

As with most fully launched projects The Graph doesn’t have a clear roadmap. It’s now up to the development teams to put forward upgrade proposals to grow the network and make it more efficient. The development side of The Graph has previously been highly centralized and it’s now being addressed. Not so long ago The Graph’s development had been in the hands of the initial team behind The Graph. Then the project rebranded to Edge & Node, as well as the Graph foundation. However, in the past 6 months two new development teams have joined the Network to further decentralize the project and help scaling it, these teams are: StreamingFast and Figment.

Since Guy last covered The Graph on the Coin Bureau YouTube channel there has been an impressive number of projects deploying subgraphs. These include the likes of Audius and Livepeer. More and more projects see the benefit of joining The Graph and all the over 2000 curators seeking to capitalize on the opportunities presented here. The current total amount of subgraphs is more than 22,000 and the network has over 7000 delegators and 160 indexers. However, while projects joining The Graph is great there’s also another big move going on – I’m talking about The Graph expanding to other blockchains.

I highly recommend watching this. Image via Coin Bureau YouTube

Arguably one of the biggest things for The Graph is their expansion to other projects. As I previously mentioned there are many blockchains in beta test mode including both layer 1 and layer 2 projects like Polygon, Polkadot, Solana, and Fantom. Now imagine the growth this will add when already now, based on past statements from The Graph, daily query volumes ought to be closer to 1 billion a month.

On top of these upgrades, those of you who have watched Guy’s video on The Graph might remember that there were some structural changes coming. One of this was making The Graph Explorer a dapp, and that’s exactly what was done. On top of that, Subgraph Studio was created and it allows anyone to test creating a subgraph and also to deploy it.

If you didn’t already, I strongly suggest you watch the afore mentioned video since the roadmap part there basically mentions everything that has happened since Guy last covered the project. All of those steps on the roadmap has been met leading to where we are now, and now it’s up for the community to vote on upgrade proposals to help The Graph grow.

Is There Any Price Potential?

Sadly, I’m going to have to go with a firm no. I don’t believe that The Graph will be able to outperform other cryptocurrencies in the medium term. This is all because of their vesting schedule. An important part to know is that if you go to CoinMarketCap and look at The Graph you’ll see their market cap at roughly $4.5 billion. However, that’s just the market cap of the circulating supply, it doesn’t take into account all the tokens subjected to a lock-up period. The fully diluted market cap you can see closer to $10 billion. This means that just by staying at the same price the market cap would double when those locked up tokens become unlocked. Growing 10x from $10 billion is a lot harder than growing 10x from $4.5 billion, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that.

Here’s proof if you don’t believe me. Image via CoinMarketCap

There’s no question about whether or not The Graph network and the project itself will grow. We need a service like this to make dapp developing easier and more efficient. The Graph plays a vital role in main stream crypto development and if we could ignore the awful tokenomics I would call The Graph a no brainer that deserves a place in each portfolio. But that’s not the case. We’ll have to take a second look at the project when the vesting schedule is beyond its worst phases.

However, what you can do if you think The Graph is amazing, is delegating. Delegating has rewards of roughly 15% per year and 3% when counting the inflation and unlocks. This means that by delegating you will get a return of 3%, plus the return of potential price action. This could be a good choice if you’re a long-term believer in The Graph since after the vesting schedule is finished and the selling pressure eases those delegated GRT as well as the rewards you’ve earned might just take off. However, I want to again remind you to visit The Graph’s website and read about the risks about delegating before doing anything.

Conclusion

Smart contracts are without a doubt one of the most significant features of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. It allows us to build decentralized applications aimed at replacing the middleman who’s currently ripping off regular people. Smart contracts are also the key argument for Ethereum overtaking Bitcoin. Many see cryptocurrencies like Ethereum as strong assets with a real use case which they’re happy to invest in. However, to truly become decentralized and to provide developers an easy approach to building dapps we need the solution that The Graph offers. The Graph eliminates the last centralized entity and allows everyone to take advantage of the open nature of blockchains. Even I could go to The Graph Explorer and search for whatever I like.

The Graph could (partly already has) prove to be the missing piece to the puzzle of making crypto easier to approach from all angels, developer, consumer, and even regulator. It will be interesting to see how The Graph will succeed in launching on other blockchains and how much growth they can achieve. However, for that growth to be massive enough to offset the horrible vesting schedule it would have to be absolutely crazy. That’s why I believe we’re better off watching from the sideline The Graph help the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, grow rather than putting our money into it.

The post The Graph: The Future of Decentralized Data Access appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Fast forward 20 years and with the magic of widespread internet adoption, for better or worse, now everyone can voice their opinions online, whether asked for or not, with some folks even getting paid for it! I’m not talking about opinions in the form of your uncle’s crazy conspiratorial rants on Facebook, I am talking of course, about Revain.org.

Revain User Reviews about Their own Platform on Revain.org

Revain is a review website that pays users in crypto for writing reviews and rating other people’s opinions. With many people already doing this for free on social media anyway, why not put that time and energy to good use in a way that can provide useful and valuable insight and feedback for others, reviewing products and services while even getting paid for it? With traditional review sites becoming a cesspool, full of fake reviews, fake accounts, spamming review bots, and review websites now essentially becoming a place akin to the schoolyard with all the bullying and name-calling included, Revain provides a refreshing, much-needed evolution to the world of online reviews. Here is my full review on Revain to help you decide if it is worth your time and effort to get involved either as a reviewer, or a reviewee.

What is Revain?

Revain was founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Rinat Arslanov, who studied at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and has over ten years of experience in the blockchain industry. Rinat and the Revain team was originally funded by a crowd sale in 2017 where they raised 8.5 million dollars by selling R tokens which lead to the successful build and launch of the Revain platform.

Revain is a review website similar to Yelp, TripAdvisor or Rotten Tomatoes, but is the first to be built with blockchain technology and pays users rewards for productive and honest reviews in the form of cryptocurrency. Revain is open to anyone and encourages people to write reviews and while the community can attach ratings to them. As posts are made, reviewed and rated, Revain averages the reviews and ratings then publicly displays corresponding scores, rankings and comments to the platform where other users can gain valuable insight by reading them. The platform was built using immutable blockchain technology on the Ethereum network to prevent anyone from tampering with reviews while also being able to reward users.

Top Reviews for the past 7 Days Shown on the Revain home page

Since 2018, Revain has accumulated the biggest volume of user feedback on crypto-related projects across the entire internet. Revain currently has over 15,880 companies participating in Revain’s review ecosystem, attracting the attention of some of the biggest players in the blockchain industry such as Binance, Poloniex, and OKEX to name a few.  These companies pay a fee to be featured on the platform where reviews can be made for companies in the following categories: Blockchain projects, exchanges, wallets, blockchain games, mining pools, crypto cards, casinos, and blockchain-based training courses. Revain aims to become the “go-to” trusted review site for all things crypto-related, a place where reviews can be written by anyone and trusted by everyone.

Number of Companies, Reviews, and Authors Currently Using Revain Image via Revain.org

What Problem is Revain Aiming to Solve?

According to their site, Revain’s ultimate goal is to “provide high-quality and authentic user feedback on all global products and services using emerging technologies like blockchain and machine learning.” Review websites have become like the wild west of the internet, and companies have realized the powerful impact that positive reviews can have on their revenue. This has led to many companies becoming greedy and desperate for good reviews, with many reviews being flat out falsified as companies have now been caught countless times not only paying for positive reviews but also paying for negative reviews to be posted about their competitors.  

Increasing Fake Review Statistics and Legal Action Taken Image via websitebuilder.org

According to the local consumer review in 2020, 87% of consumers read online reviews regularly with 91% of users stating that they trust reviews and allow them to influence their buying decisions. There is big money to be made and big wins to be had in the online review sector which is why marketers and businesses will do anything to boost their own positive reviews while posting less than flattering reviews about their competitors. Review sites have quickly turned into a place full of paid reviews, spam, bots, fake accounts and essentially a childish game of name-calling as online feedback has become as valuable as Bitcoin in this modern age and reviews have become an important process of the consumer’s buying decisions with feedback reviews making or breaking sales targets.

2020 Survey Showing the Number of Consumers who use Online Reviews Image via Bright Local

Through the use of blockchain technology, Revain has created an economic and gamified model which allows everyday users to stay motivated, accurate, diligent, honest and trustworthy in their reviews while creating a transparent system that guarantees immutability and incorruptibility.

How has Revain Overcome These Issues?

Much in the same way that transactions on the blockchain cannot be edited or modified, Revain uses blockchain technology to ensure that every review remains as it was originally published by the original writer. Reviews are limited to five per day per user which protects against mass registration and multiple reviews from the same user, removing the possibility to spam reviews and comment sections. Each user needs to provide KYC to sign up, this ensures that one user is not able to make hundreds of accounts and littering the platform with false, non-useful reviews for either malicious purposes or posting pointless reviews to earn extra rewards.

The way that the platform protects against companies simply paying for reviews is by the fact that paying for reviews would get very expensive to the point where it would not be economically advantageous. The more reviews a company allows, the more it will cost them as review numbers increase exponentially by each basket level of reviews that a company opts in for. In doing this, the Revain platform makes it unprofitable for companies to purchase or generate a large number of false reviews while also being affordable at lower review numbers which allow small companies the ability to afford reviews as well, making the playing field a lot more level.

Usage Formula Which Prevents Companies From Paying for Large Numbers of Good Reviews Image via Revain Whitepaper

Revain overcomes the issue of false reviews by utilizing artificial intelligence that was developed in close collaboration with IBM AI system. Reviews undergo a comprehensive IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence enhanced screening process to identify fake and malicious reviews. The artificial intelligence ensures that bots and false reviews will be filtered out through Revain’s Review Automatic Filtering system or “RAF.”

Revain’s Review Automatic Filtering System Image via Revain Whitepaper

The filtering system has two stages, the first review filter is through artificial intelligence, where the review is checked for originality and accuracy, then it goes through a manual review. Once the reviews have passed the review automatic filtering system successfully it will be reviewed by the company that is being reviewed itself where the company’s moderators can either approve or reject the review, but regardless of the company’s decision the review will still remain visible to users.  

If a user believes that a company should not have rejected their review, they can file a dispute. In this case, the dispute will be handled by a decentralized system of oracles. Oracles are users with high reputations within the platform who will review these disputes. If a review gets rejected by the company, the reviewer will be asked to provide proof of their claim. If the reviewer is able to provide evidence, they will receive a reward and the company receives a warning and is penalized for 10 tokens.

A company may receive a total of three warnings for falsely rejecting reviews, the fourth warning will lead to the company being blocked from the platform. Reviewers can also receive warnings which can happen in two cases. The first case is if three of the user’s reviews within two weeks get rejected by the automatic filtration system, and the second way reviewers can receive a warning is if five of their reviews have been rejected by companies in a two week period. The fourth warning will lead to the user being blocked from the platform without being able to withdraw their funds. This is how the Revain platform ensures that everyone is being open, honest and transparent.

Revain’s Review Process Image via Revain Whitepaper

How Users Can Earn

Activity on the platform and earning achievements will give users valuable experience which equates to new levels and rewards. Revain gamifies the reviewer experience to keep them motivated and reward them fairly for their efforts. Users get paid to write reviews on the platform and other users can comment on those reviews. The more comments a review gets, the higher the level that user’s post reaches which means the more RVN tokens they receive.

Gaining XP and Increasing Levels Image via Publish0x

Users’ earning potential is also based on their level which can be increased by earning experience (XP) on the platform. Users gain XP by remaining active on the platform, ensuring they are regularly active by posting reviews and comments. Users can also gain XP by completing achievements that are much more challenging to complete but result in significantly more experience points being earned. These achievements can be found in the user’s “Achievement” section. There are a total of ten levels that users can reach, with each level unlocking new features and rewards.

Revain Platform’s Levels and Achievements Image via Revain

By posting reviews, users earn Revain tokens (RVN) which are dollar-pegged stable token that exists solely within the platform which is used to reward and penalize users and companies. This helps ensure that users are always receiving the same amount of RVN tokens for the same amount of work and that penalties are consistent. The Revain platform uses a two token system, with users earning Revain (RVN) in the platform which can then be converted to REV tokens when users are ready to send to an exchange and cash out. The REV token is also the platform currency that companies can purchase and use to pay for reviews and is the token that investors will hold with hopes of capital appreciation. The REV token exists on the Ethereum ERC-20 network and can be bought and sold on HitBTC, BitMart, KuCoin and Bittrex

In-Platform RVN Token and REV Token Explained Image via Revain

Users can also become “Experts” on the Revain platform which unlocks extra benefits. “Expert” is a special status that is given to the most skilled and knowledgeable review authors and allows for them to promote themselves among the entire crypto community. Experts earn substantially more tokens and have exclusive access to airdrops as well as additional rewards. Experts have their own rating table and are highlighted as the platform’s top authors. Experts are ranked by their karma and their reviews are featured on top of other user reviews. An expert’s likes and dislikes on user comments have more influence on the user’s karma than a regular user’s likes and dislikes. Experts are chosen manually by the Revain team, who give preference to active members of the community, looking for authors who write high-quality feedback. Authors need to reach a level 9 status before being able to apply for expert status.

Revain Experts Benefits Image via Revain

Users can earn between 0.5 to 1.5 RVN per review depending on the user level and the company they are writing about. The minimum length of a review is 600 characters or around 150 words. Users earn RVN for levelling up once enough XP has been earned, and there is also a “featured companies” section where users can earn an additional 60 RVN after reviewing 60 featured companies. Revain also has an affiliate program where users can earn rewards for inviting friends and users can earn extra RVN for writing reviews for companies that have 8 or fewer reviews to help ensure that each company has fair exposure to reviews.

Revain Promoting Featured Companies and Companies of the Week Image via Revain Blog

It is hard to give an estimate on how much users can earn as it is highly dependent on the user’s level and how quickly they can write reviews and whether or not they reach expert status. One user wrote that they earned around $40-80 dollars per month writing reviews until they reached level ten. Once you reach level 10, users earn a base 1 dollar worth of RVN for every review written. Another user mentioned that they were able to make $143 dollars in a week, but these figures are variable and depend on expert status, the user level, whether or not they participate in extra achievements or review companies promoted by Revain and if they participate in the affiliate program by inviting friends to use the platform.

Author Rating and Ranking System Image via Revain

Revain Price History and Recent Action

Revain’s token REV hit an all-time high shortly after launch in February 2018 of just over $4 per token. As with many tokens, REV fell after launch as early investors sought to take profit crashing all the way down to $0.005 where it remained steady for a number of years.

Revain’s Token Price Shooting to $4.06 Shortly After Launch Then Dropping to $0.005 Where it Remained Steady Until the 2021 Bull Run Image via CoinMarketCap

Since then, the REV token has remained fairly flat during the bear market years with the rest of the altcoin space, but enjoyed a rise to the $0.049 price range early in the 2021 bull market before crashing back down with the rest of the market during the May correction. Since then, REV is now trading consistently higher than its all-time low, showing increase in strength and currently trading at $0.015. The REV token price has been gaining in strength as more companies and users begin to use the platform and build a stronger community around the crypto review platform.

Revain’s Rev Token Enjoyed a Yearly high of $0.05 early in the 2021 bull run and is now Remaining Steady at Around $0.015 Image via CoinMarketCap

Revain Team and Partners

The Revain team have over 20 members, with some notable founders who make up the main management team behind the project. It is always important for a project to have a transparent and verified team to earn the trust and confidence of users which Revain has, making their team public. The CEO is Rinat Arslanov, a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and blockchain enthusiast with over 10 years of experience with different businesses. Grigor Aproyan is the CFO and Co-founder who studied at Bauman Moscow State Technical University and has been a part of the Revain team since its inception. You can do a deep dive on the rest of the team here.

Revain Management Team Image via Revain

Revain has formed some highly impressive partnerships that lend credibility to the project. There are far too many to name them all here, but most notably, Revain has partnered with the Kucoin, DigiFinex and Uniswap exchanges and have integrated with Kucoin, Hyperion, Zilliqa, Ravencoin and Fusion. A full list of their partnerships and integrations can be found here.

Conclusion

With the massive success and popularity of online review platforms such as Trust Pilot becoming the industry standard for how consumers research their purchasing options, Revain has achieved a first-mover advantage in this niche for crypto services and building out their platform using blockchain technology. Revain has already seen massive growth and success as a project, as crypto adoption becomes more mainstream, it is likely that the platform will continue to grow exponentially as Revain has positioned itself well to become the trusted “go-to” place where consumers can read verifiable and honest reviews about the products and services that they may consider using.

Benefits of the Revain Platform Image via Revain

The number of companies actively participating on the Revain platform has grown enormously from just 5,300 companies and 35,000 reviews in April of 2021 to over 15,500 companies and 72,000 reviews at the time of writing. Revain provides a fantastic platform where users are fairly compensated and rewarded for the time and effort they put into their honest and useful reviews, while also making it fun and motivating through the gamification of the platform, encouraging users to write reviews for the growing crypto ecosystem. Revain has found a way to successfully overcome the shortfalls and issues found in the traditional review websites, removing many of the problems with fake and paid reviews by companies and the reviews posted by bots and fake profiles, providing a much-needed solution and service to the consumer reviews industry, helping ensure the transparency, honesty and protection for both consumers and businesses.

The post Revain: The Future of Review Sites is on Blockchain appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Why Self-Custody?

Many crypto newbies simply keep all their crypto on the same exchange that they purchased it on. While this is by far the most convenient method, it is not the best idea. By keeping your crypto on an exchange you are giving up ownership and control over your crypto. The exchange owns that crypto and ultimately have control over it. By keeping your crypto on an exchange, instead of owning the underlying asset you are basically only holding an IOU from the exchange promising to give you access to the monetary value of those funds should you choose to sell, or a promise to give you that asset should you choose to move your crypto off the exchange. You have probably heard the old cliché, “not your keys, not your crypto” but you may not really know what it means. This saying applies to keeping your crypto on a centralized platform such as Coinbase, Binance or Celsius versus using a non-custodial software wallet like the ones on this list or a hardware wallet such as Trezor.

Brief Look at Custodial vs Non-Custodial Wallets Image via Bitcoin.com

When a user downloads a non-custodial software wallet or purchases a hardware wallet, that wallet comes with a set of private keys unique to that wallet and whoever holds the private keys for the wallet controls the assets within the wallet. By keeping your funds on a centralized platform or exchange, they hold the private keys and therefore have control over the funds. Even if you have an account on the platform, having an account does not mean the same thing as having your own private keys and having self-custody over your funds. You wouldn’t be likely to give your neighbour 500 dollars of yours to hold onto for safe-keeping, would you? So why would you trust a centralized exchange to hold your crypto for you

Another good reason to move your crypto off of exchanges is that there have been crypto exchange hacks in the past resulting in millions of dollars worth of users funds being stolen. When choosing to self-custody your crypto, it is very important to make sure you are downloading the wallet from the official source. There has been a slew of fake websites and apps in the app store that have resulted in users downloading a fake app that looks exactly like the real thing, resulting in a full loss of crypto as soon as they transfer their funds to the fake wallet so be vigilant in making sure you are downloading the official wallet from the right source.

Users Tricked into Downloading Fraudulent Wallet Software Masquerading as the Real Thing Image via Cointelegraph

Once you have downloaded your wallet of choice, the most important first step is to make sure that you have backed up the wallet by writing down the recovery phrase and storing it someplace safe. In the event that something happens to your phone, without that recovery phrase nobody will be able to help you recover those funds. Each wallet on this list will come equipped with a unique recovery phrase when downloaded which is specific to that wallet and users will be prompted to write that phrase down when first going through the setup process. Be sure to not skip past this step and keep those phrases offline and do not share them with anyone.

Binance Hack of $40m- Good Reason not to Keep Funds on an Exchange Image via Bloomberg

Benefits of a Software wallet:

There are a couple of different options that crypto holders can opt for when choosing how to store their crypto. When it comes to crypto storage, there is always a balance between security and convenience, that is to say, the more convenient, often the less secure and it is up to the individual crypto user to decide the right balance for them. The most secure method by far is storing your crypto on a hardware wallet, also known as using cold storage. Feel free to check out our top five hardware wallet picks. The downside of hardware wallets is they can punch a hole in your actual wallet costing a few pretty pennies and they are not very mobile or convenient to use.

The other side of the spectrum would be the software wallets discussed in this article. Software wallets are less secure than hardware wallets as they are installed on devices with internet access opening up risk of viruses and malware which can compromise the security of the wallet if the user isn’t careful. Most software wallets are free to use and quite user-friendly. They are also more convenient as most people already carry their mobile devices on them 24/7 so their crypto is always within reach, making it easy to check on their portfolio, make swaps on the go, and use crypto to make purchases at brick and mortar shops if they are able to find businesses forward-thinking enough to accept crypto. Another main benefit of software wallets is that many of them are packed full of convenient features like in-app exchanges and web access to the world of DeFi directly within the app.

Top 8 Crypto Wallets

Exodus- Best for Security and Design

My number one pick has to go to Exodus for a very simple reason, and that is that they have top of the line security features. The team over at Exodus really take security seriously and respect the privacy of their users which is why they are one of the most popular and widely used wallets available, with the company being highly respected within the crypto community. It doesn’t matter if a wallet looks amazing (which Exodus does) or has a bazillion useful features, bells and whistles (which Exodus also does) if the security is lacking. Aside from the high level of security and a plethora of features, there is no better-looking wallet that exists in the crypto industry. The Exodus team have really taken functionality, design, and beauty to the next level and a huge, well-deserved kudos is in order to their design team. Forget Feng Shui and Martha Stewart, I want the Exodus design team to come and decorate my bare, sad-looking apartment.

Exodus Mobile Wallet Image via Exodus.com

The Exodus wallet comes with a beginner-friendly user interface, making it easy to monitor and track your portfolio at a glance, and app navigation and usage is a breeze. Exodus mobile encrypts your private keys and stores them locally on your device, meaning your data remains private and under your personal ownership. No KYC registration or account setup is required to use the wallet. Exodus has a great selection of coin support, supporting over 145 assets, and comes with two different options that allow users to exchange their assets directly within the wallet. Users can swap their favourite assets in the wallet via third-party API exchange providers with no KYC needed, and Exodus has also partnered up with the hugely popular FTX exchange to provide users who have an FTX account the ability to swap assets directly from within Exodus so your crypto never has to leave the security of your wallet. The wallet also supports QR code scanning for crypto purchases and easier send and receive transactions. Exodus wallet users can also stake some of their assets directly within the wallet for passive income rewards, be sure to check out our full, in-depth Exodus review to find out all the functions and features which can be found here.

Another thing that makes this wallet top-notch is their customer support. Anyone who has been kicking around the crypto space for long enough knows that this industry is not known for very good support, leaving crypto users often waiting for days, weeks or even months for support. The team at Exodus breaks that stereotype, providing world-class 24/7 customer support with response times often within ten minutes. The folks over at Exodus are also very passionate about crypto, spreading awareness and supporting adoption, and are either incredibly generous or perhaps a few fries short of a happy meal as many of us tend to be in the crypto space as they even went as far as sending customers thousands of dollars worth of free pizza coupons to celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day to commemorate a true milestone in Bitcoin history.

The reason why Exodus is my top choice aside from the incredible customer support, the beautiful design and many features, the convenient in-app exchange options, and of course, the free pizza, is that Exodus took security to the next level while keeping it easy by forming a partnership and integration with the Trezor hardware wallet, making Exodus wallet suitable for even the most security-minded individuals. Additionally, the Exodus wallet can also be secured with face or touch ID, and a password. The only thing that Exodus is lacking is that the wallet does not support storage of NFT’s at the time of writing and the wallet does not contain browser support, leaving integration with many decentralized finance platforms not possible, making the wallet not the best choice for DeFi enthusiasts.

Exodus plus Trezor Partnership Image via Exodus.com

Coinomi- Best for rare Altcoin Support and NFTs

Coinomi is a fantastic wallet choice for those rare altcoin gem hunters as they support over 125 blockchains and 1770 assets, giving Coinomi boasting rights of supporting more networks than any other mobile wallet. Coinomi was the first multi-coin wallet that ever became publicly available, flying onto the scene since 2014. In all that time, there have never been any known hacks or compromises of the wallet. With a track record that is that well established, users can be confident in the security of the wallet. Coinomi also has one of the largest user bases, being trusted by millions of people worldwide who enjoy using this wallet on both IOS and Android. Coinomi has no KYC or account verification needed to get started and they take privacy seriously with advanced privacy and anonymity features with the app being designed to have no IP address association, no identity linking, no transaction tracking and the Coinomi servers go as far as anonymising app download requests to keep the IP location of their users private.

Coinomi Mobile Wallet Image via Coinomi

The private keys for the wallet are encrypted and locally stored on the user’s device, never being exposed or shared across servers or networks. Coinomi wallet also has the convenience of a built-in exchange, allowing users to swap their favourite assets while also enabling their users to be able to benefit from cold staking which is a more secure way of allowing users to earn passive income on their favourite assets.

The wallet has built-in Web3 DApp Browser support which allows users to interact with some of the top DeFi services without compromising security. For fans of digital collectables, Coinomi supports ERC721 tokens so users can store and manage their Ethereum based collectables and NFTs. This wallet is also perfect for any crypto users who hold blockchain domains, and unlike many wallets that do not offer customer support, I will tip my hat to these guys for their 24/7 live chat support. Coinomi has an incredibly easy to use interface and is perfect for DeFi and wallet users who want a great all-around, all-in-one wallet with all the bells and whistles. Coinomi also makes tax reporting and bookkeeping easy as users can export their crypto transaction history. The wallet supports QR code scanning for easier crypto transactions and in store purchases as well.

Some of Coinomi’s Main Features Image via Coinomi

Atomic Wallet- Best for Staking

Atomic wallet is a beautifully designed wallet that is easy to use, available for iPhone and Android. This is one wallet that I regret not using earlier in my crypto adventure as it is just an all-around fantastic, intuitive and simple to use wallet packed with great features and offers the best support available for staking assets. I have been holding crypto in other wallets for years now, letting them collect dust, having no idea that I could have been staking them all along in the Atomic wallet and earning passive income. While most of the wallets on this list offer staking for a few different cryptocurrencies, Atomic wallet currently supports staking for 12 different assets with plenty more being added soon. Atomic wallet also supports purchasing crypto directly with a bank card within the wallet but sending funds back to your bank is not yet supported.

Atomic Wallet Mobile View Image via nipekcelik.medium

Atomic wallet supports over 300 cryptocurrencies and users can download and use the wallet with no KYC, account creation and no verification process needed. Atomic wallet is 100% open-source so users can verify the code and user’s private keys are encrypted and stored on their device for security. Atomic wallet is also great for being able to add custom tokens and participate in airdrops and comes with a QR code scanner to make purchases on the go.

Users are able to swap cryptocurrency within the wallet via integrations with Changelly and ChangeNow, while also providing  one feature that sets Atomic wallet apart in terms of an in-app decentralized exchange feature utilizing what is known as “Atomic Swaps.” An Atomic swap is a cryptographically powered smart contract that enables two parties to exchange different cryptocurrencies or tokens without the risk of one party defaulting on the trade. The great thing about this is that the trade between two parties can happen in a trustless manner without depending on a third party. Many assets supported by Atomic wallet are available for Atomic swaps which can be performed for very low fees which is great as traditional exchange fees can really add up.

Atomic Swap Decentralized Exchange Within the Atomic Wallet Image via Atomicwallet.io

You can read more about Atomic swaps and how they work here. Even more amazing than the Atomic Swap feature and the comprehensive staking options, is that users can even earn 1% cashback on over 60 different currency pairs when performing swaps. Atomic wallet is also one of the few wallets that provide 24/7 support and is used by over a million users worldwide.

Trust Wallet- Best for Binance Smart Chain Users

Next, we have Trust Wallet. Trust Wallet was purchased by Binance in 2018, adopting them as the official Binance wallet in response to Coinbase creating their own wallet. Being backed and supported by one of the biggest companies in crypto catapulted Trust Wallet to mass adoption, being used confidently by over ten million users worldwide.  Crypto users can have a lot more faith in a wallet when they know it is backed by a powerhouse like Binance, I mean hey, if it is good enough for Binance, it is good enough for me. Trust wallet provides a secure wallet with the private keys being locally stored and encrypted on the device, never being broadcast to any networks meaning the private keys are kept away from potential, prying eyes. The wallet can additionally be secured via pin code and biometrics as well.

Trust Wallet Welcome Screen Image via Trust Wallet

Trust Wallet can be used completely independently from Binance, with over ten million users enjoying this sleek, easy to use interface on both Android and IOS. Trust Wallet Supports over 1 million assets…. Yes, you read that right, 1 million assets and 53 different blockchains so you will be hard-pressed to find a coin that isn’t supported here. Trust Wallet comes equipped with a fully functioning Web3 DApp browser built into the app, unlocking the utility of DeFi as the wallet can be used to interact with decentralized applications such as Uniswap, Aave, Compound Finance, PancakeSwap, basically any DApp that exists on either the Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain networks.  Trust Wallet also has great NFT and digital collectible support supporting ERC721 and ERC1155 tokens.

Trust Wallet DApp Browser Allowing Connection to the world of DeFi Image via Trust Wallet

Trust Wallet is fully open-sourced and users can benefit from staking 11 assets directly within the app for popular assets. Users can purchase crypto directly within the wallet and there is a built-in crypto exchange in addition to being able to access DEXs where users can instantly and seamlessly swap coins and tokens with no KYC or identify verification needed, with the security of your funds never having to leave the wallet. Trust Wallet also comes equipped with a QR code scanner making the wallet a good choice for users who want to use their crypto on the go and enabling easier send and receive transactions. Trust Wallet does provide an extensive support and knowledge base FAQ section and users can submit a support ticket if they need help but there are numerous complaints online about poor support times.

Coinbase wallet- Best For DeFi users and Layer 2 Scaling Solutions.

Appearing next on the list is the classic Coinbase wallet. This wallet is very popular among new and experienced crypto users alike as Coinbase is a well-established, trusted brand. Crypto users feel confident using a wallet that is offered and backed by a company with a sterling reputation and reputable history such as Coinbase. That level of trust and confidence in this wallet is well placed as this is a fantastic wallet, providing users with everything you would want and expect from a wallet offered by one of the world’s leading exchanges. It is important to note that the Coinbase wallet and Coinbase exchange are two separate apps and platforms. While Coinbase itself is a centralized exchange platform, the Coinbase wallet is a non-custodial wallet, similar to the other mentions on this list and is available for both IOS and Android.

Coinbase Wallet Welcome Screen Image via Coinbase Wallet

The Coinbase wallet supports layer two scaling solutions for Ethereum including Polygon network and Optimism.  This is important for users who enjoy using DeFi platforms such as Aave, Compound Finance, Uniswap, or who want to mint NFTs on platforms such as Opensea as Coinbase wallet users will be able to sidestep many of the high Ethereum gas fees and long confirmation times using these layer two solutions built into the wallet. It is a bit surprising that Coinbase, a centralized exchange, would provide a wallet giving users incredibly convenient and easy access to decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and DeFi protocol applications through their wallet, but I guess that just goes to show that centralized and decentralized platforms can exist in harmony and it is great to see users able to benefit from both in one place. Coinbase wallet users can also link their Coinbase exchange accounts for easy storage and transfer of crypto between the two.

Coinbase Wallet Offers Users Easy Access to the World of DeFi and NFTs Image via Coinbase wallet

The Coinbase wallet is also one of the best wallets available for users who want to be able to participate in airdrops and ICOs, and the wallet supports the storage of digital art, gaming NFTs and other collectables making it even more attractive as it covers all the DeFi bases. The Coinbase wallet is useful for making local payments in crypto and supports over 500 assets. The private keys for the wallet are encrypted and locally stored on the user’s device and the app can also be secured using biometrics and a passcode. The one area I feel that the Coinbase wallet is lacking is that they do not have a built-in exchange feature. I guess they felt that providing users with the ability to link the wallet to a Coinbase exchange account and providing easy access to decentralized exchanges through Dapps was enough to cover any exchange needs.

Mycelium- Best Bitcoin Wallet

For the Bitcoin maximalist out there, look no further than Mycelium for a top-of-the-line Bitcoin Wallet. While I was not able to figure out why they chose the name Mycelium, nor could I figure out what mushrooms have to do with Bitcoin, Mycelium is a wallet that is packed full of features making it ideal for simple or the most advanced Bitcoin users. Mycelium comes with the option to set customizable transaction fees, has hardware wallet support which is a huge benefit for added security, and it is open-source so you know you can trust the code. While Mycelium only supported Bitcoin for years, they have recently added support for Ethereum and some main ERC20 tokens, so no obscure altcoins here. Mycelium does come with a very simple to use and basic built-in exchange, though no DApp support.

Mycelium in-app Exchange, Trezor Integration, Marketplace and Wallet Design Image via Google Play Store

The vision to create one of the first, and best Bitcoin wallets was started by a team of hardware engineers in 2008 with the company being officially established in 2012 making Mycelium one of the earliest Bitcoin wallets. Mycelium has a very positive track record and long-standing history of their users never reporting any hacks or compromises to wallet security. Knowing that a wallet has withstood the test of time like that should give any Bitcoiners looking for a secure software wallet confidence in the product.