Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

The Year Of Crypto? Almost 50% Of Investors Got Started In 2021

2021 was no doubt one of the most bullish years for crypto. Not only did the prices of cryptocurrencies surge tremendously during this time but there were many new entrants into the market both on an individual level and an institutional level. All of this contributed to getting the market to hit its highest market cap ever at above $3 trillion. However, looking at the growth in 2021, shows that crypto adoption was much higher than believed.How Many Investors Got In？　　The crypto market may not be the most popular form of investing in the finance world currently but one cannot deny that it is quickly catching up to its peers despite being very young. In this vein, it has seen more investors enter the space, mostly driven by the returns recorded by cryptocurrencies in 2021. A survey has shown that almost half of all investors who have purchased digital assets began doing so just last year alone.　　This survey that was carried out by Gemini showed that almost 50% of all crypto holders had performed their first purchase in 2021. The survey which consisted of 30,000 respondents from 20 different countries is one of the largest performed. 　　Countries like Brazil and

2022-04-05Deep Dive

Australia continues regulation drive with new policy targeting crypto and financial influencers

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued new warnings to financial influencers.　　This was contained in its Information Sheet, highlighting what influencers and companies hiring them should be aware of. While theres no specific mention of cryptocurrency, these rules will most likely apply to the crypto industry.　　ASIC issues warning to financial influencers　　The rule appears to target the promotion of unlicensed financial services, something that crypto services fall under. In a warning directed at financial influencers who are unsure of whether the brand violates the law, ASIC states,　　“Think about your content carefully and whether you are providing unlicensed financial services.”　　The new information sheet says that influencers may need a license to give financial advice. The penalties for breaking the rules appear severe as companies could get up to 5 million dollars in fines while individuals could get as much as five years imprisonment.　　The rules come amidst new efforts by regulators to protect consumers in the country. In recent weeks, several Australians have fallen victim to targeted crypto scams.　　Regulators have also doubled down on their effort to prevent and recently filed legal actions against Meta for not preventing the promotion of crypto scams on its platforms.　　Influencers have a hold over youths　　Influencers

2022-04-05Deep Dive

Australian Convenience Store Chain to Start Accepting Cryptocurrencies

On The Run (OTR), a major convenience store chain, will soon enable support for payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at all of its locations in South Australia, according to a report by The Australian. 　　Customers will soon be able to pay for fuel at 170 service stations located in the state, which include both rural and metropolitan locations. OTR has also opened several locations in Victoria, but it is not clear whether or not crypto payments will be available there. 　　Other brands that operate alongside OTR outlets, such as Subway and Oporto, will also be able to enable the novel payment method, thus allowing customers to purchase food and drinks with a slew of cryptocurrencies. 　　The move is expected to further accelerate cryptocurrency adoption in Australia.　　According to a recent survey published by Finder, roughly 18% of Australians own cryptocurrencies. The country has the third-highest rate of adoption in the world.　　As reported the Australian government is also currently working on a robust cryptocurrency regulatory framework as part of its effort to overhaul the countrys payments system.

2022-04-04Deep Dive

Washing crypto is a problem as exploiter gets away with $15 million

Inverse Finance is the latest victim of a DeFi exploit resulting in the loss of over $15 million, Peckshield revealed this weekend. The blockchain security firm released a tweet simply stating, “Hi, @InverseFinance, you may want to take a look,” linked to a transaction on Etherscan.Washing crypto through Tornado Cash　　Over the past few hours, the exploiter sent hundreds of Ethereum transactions to Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash is a standard tool among hackers and exploiters to attempt to obfuscate their transaction history. They describe their service as a tool that “improves transaction privacy by breaking the on-chain link between source and destination addresses. It uses a smart contract that accepts ETH deposits that a different address can withdraw.”　　Users generate a random key and deposit ETH along with the note. The user then provides proof of the key to the note from another wallet to withdraw the ETH, thus breaking the transaction chain that “only the user possessing the Note can link deposit and withdrawal.”　　The exploit involved a TWAP oracle which requires manipulating the price of a governance token of a DeFi project with low liquidity. TWAP stands for Time Weighted Average Price and “is constructed by reading the cumulative price from

2022-04-04Deep Dive

Bitcoin mining network difficulty reaches new all-time high

The past week has been one of multiple milestones for Bitcoin. Soon after SBI Crypto mined the 19 millionth Bitcoin, the mining difficulty of the flagship digital asset reached a new all-time high of 28.587 trillion.　　The jump in mining difficulty happened on March 31 at block 729,792. This is the first time the mining difficulty will go up since February.　　The mining difficulty describes how difficult it can get for miners to find a block reward. The essence of the mining difficulty is to ensure that the network stays consistent. The period between each block reward is usually around 10 minutes, and the difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) adjusts every two weeks.　　Usually, the mining difficulty increases as the hash rate increases. The hash rate, which is the network computing power, increases as mining participants join the network.　　With a higher hash rate, the DAA adjusts mining difficulty to match the rate and make it more difficult for miners to find a block.　　The latest increase in mining difficulty saw it rise by 4.31%, the first time in 4 weeks. Though the hash rate level has dropped from its previous ATH of 248.11 exahash/second reached on February 13. The 90-day average hash rate as of

2022-04-04Deep Dive

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Shares Dogecoin Video — Says It 'Explains Everything'

Elon Musk Shares Dogecoin Video　　Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk shared a video about the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE) on April 1 in reply to a tweet about bitcoin by Brett Winton, Ark Invests director of research.　　In the tweet, Winton quoted a conversation about bitcoin mining where he seems to be having difficulty explaining to his mom on April Fools Day that bitcoin miners are computers. Replying with a meme video titled “Ð is for Ðogecoin” on the same day, Musk wrote: “Just show her this video explains everything.”　　The short video features the DOGE mascot on a journey to the moon. The shiba inu on a rocket passed bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies as the price of DOGE soared.　　Winton replied to Musk: “A meme too far for her Im afraid. (On the other hand, my 5-year-old is now frantically agitating to set up a Coinbase account).”　　Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus commented on Musks tweet, stating that the meme video is the “best cryptocurrency video in history.”　　Musk shared this particular video on Twitter before, including on Feb. 7 last year when he tweeted: “Ð is for Ðogecoin! Instructional video.”　　The DOGE community is ecstatic that Musk tweeted about their favorite cryptocurrency again. They

2022-04-04Deep Dive

JPMorgan Sees Limited Upside for Crypto Markets

JPMorgans Crypto Outlook　　Global investment bank JPMorgan reportedly warned about cryptocurrency markets having limited upside in a note published last week.　　JPMorgan sees stablecoins share of the total cryptocurrency market value as an indicator of potential for rallies or declines. Previously, when stablecoins accounted for almost 10% of the total crypto market cap, JPMorgan analyst Panigirtzoglou said it “pointed to further upside for crypto markets.”　　In the note issued last week, he explained: “The share of stablecoins in total crypto market cap no longer looks excessive … This share currently stands below 7% which brings it back to its trend since 2020.” The JPMorgan analyst continued:　　As a result we believe that any further upside for crypto markets from here would likely be more limited.　　Panigirtzoglou pointed out that the price of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) rallied in early March following financial sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries after its invasion of Ukraine.　　The note describes: “These sanctions had raised expectations that cryptocurrencies will be used more extensively in the future to circumvent the traditional banking system given cryptocurrencies are not attached or depend on any government.”　　However, citing the stablecoin share indicator, the JPMorgan analyst warned that the rallies seen in crypto markets may

2022-04-04Deep Dive

EU Officials Want EBA To Keep List of Crypto Companies at Risk of Criminal Activity

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are urging banking authorities to keep track of crypto services that could be used to conduct crime.　　According to a press release, MEPs have adopted new rules mandating the European Banking Authority (EBA) to create a registry of crypto businesses that are at risk of money laundering, terrorism finance and other criminal activity.　　The rules are part of the EUs latest vote to clamp down on unhosted cryptocurrency wallets, which requires that crypto exchanges perform know-your-customer (KYC) routines on wallets sending and receiving funds from their platforms.　　MEPs want the [EBA] to create a public register of businesses and services involved in crypto-assets that may have a high risk of money-laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activities, including a non-exhaustive list of non-compliant providers.　　Before making the crypto assets available to beneficiaries, providers would have to verify that the source of the asset is not subject to restrictive measures and that there are no risks of money laundering or terrorism financing.　　Ernest Urtasun, co-rapporteur for the EUs Committee on Economic Monetary Affairs (ECON), says that the change will close a common loophole criminals use to facilitate their illicit activities.　　Illicit flows in crypto assets move largely undetected across Europe and

2022-04-04Deep Dive

US Lawmakers Introduce A Bill Targeted at Stablecoins

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that usually peg 1:1 to fiat currencies like the US dollar. For every stablecoin in circulation, supposedly, there should be a $1 bill or its equivalents as redeemable in the reserves. The rising concern regarding the security of stablecoins has caught lawmakers attention.　　The US Lawmakers Ask for Transparency　　According to the release by Senator Hagertys office, the newly introduced bill would require stablecoins to be “backed by government securities with maturities less than 12 months or U.S. dollars” and requires stablecoin issuers to publicly release audited reports of their reserves that are executed by third-party auditors.　　The so-called “Stablecoin Transparency Act” is a clear indicator that American lawmakers are stepping up to hold the $180B industry in accountability and transparency.　　Transparency regarding stablecoin issuers has been a growing issue in the industry as Tether, the centralized entity that issued USDT has been called out for its deliberate concealments over its reserve status.　　As outlined in the release, the bill wouldnt equip regulatory bodies with the power to regulate the stablecoin industry out of existence or to “impose onerous requirements on stablecoin issuers.”　　Representative Hollingsworth revealed that the purpose of the bill was not to stifle technological innovation and that the bill would

2022-04-04Deep Dive

Binance adds the GRAMMYS feather to its cap of partnerships

Binance announced on April 1 that it has signed a partnership agreement with the Recording Academy to become the first cryptocurrency exchange partner of the 64th GRAMMY Awards.　　The award ceremony is slated for April 3rd. Binance will also act as a partner for GRAMMY® Week events, including the inaugural Recording Academy Honors celebration, according to the announcement.　　“Starting with the GRAMMYs, we are excited to work together with the Recording Academy to bring fresh new experiences powered by blockchain and all the great things Web3 technology can bring to entertainment.”　　Binance co-founder Yi He said about the partnership. The worlds largest crypto exchange by trading volume added that further details of the partnership will be announced sometime in the future. It is likely that the company will release more information once the event begins.　　Meanwhile, Recording Academy Co-President Panos A. Panay said the crypto exchange was the “perfect partner” for the organization to further its goals of empowering people involved in the music industry around the world.Aggressive Marketing　　Binance and various other crypto exchanges have been on the warpath of marketing in recent months, signing partnership and sponsorship deals worth millions of dollars across the globe.　　Binance in particular has been targeting multiple industries to

2022-04-03Deep Dive

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