Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Ad restrictions won’t impact crypto demand, Binance CEO says

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” claimed that the growing restrictions on crypto advertisement wont impact the demand.　　During his interview with CNBC, CZ stressed that physical crypto advertisements and crypto ads, in general, have not had much impact on user growth, and it has only become common over the past few years. He said that the majority of crypto adoption comes from “word of mouth” marketing. 　　He also added that primary advertising services such as Google and Facebook had not allowed crypto ads for the longest time. Thus, it‘s clear advertisement doesn’t play a significant role in crypto adoption or demand. He went on to add that the series of regulatory clampdowns on crypto ads only shows the growing demand. CZ said:“The reason why regulators have to limit advertising is probably because of such high demand. Most of our users come from word of mouth anyway. [...] So, I dont think its going to have a huge impact.”　　The CEOs comments come amid the growing restrictions and slew of actions taken by various countries over the past few weeks. Singapore recently issued new guidelines for crypto companies, prohibiting crypto advertising in public spaces. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also

2022-01-24Deep Dive

Zimbabwe Signs Agreement Enabling Collection of Taxes From Crypto and E-Commerce Entities

The Government of Zimbabwe has confirmed signing an agreement with Daedalus World Limited which enables the latter to collect taxes from crypto and other content providers.　　Zimbabwes Stance on Crypto　　The Zimbabwean government recently said it had entered into an agreement with the British Virgin Islands-based Daedalus World Limited wherein the latter is expected to collect taxes from companies that offer “betting, gaming and cryptocurrency services to persons and organisations within the territory of the Republic of Zimbabwe.”　　According to a News24 report, the inclusion of crypto assets in the tax list is the latest signal from the Zimbabwean government suggesting the country is gradually changing its stance on cryptocurrencies. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the countrys monetary authorities have previously said Zimbabwe is not planning to adopt cryptocurrencies.　　Public-Private Partnership　　Despite these past pronouncements by the central bank and others, a general notice published by the information technology minister Jenfan Muswere may suggest the government has had a change of heart. The November 19 general notice states:　　“The Republic of Zimbabwe entered into a public-private partnership agreement with Daedalus World Limited of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, in terms of which Daedalus World Limited will assist the Republic of Zimbabwe by providing a revenue collection service

2022-01-24Deep Dive

Russia May Allow Crypto Mining and Gold-Backed Stablecoins, Lawmaker Says

Russia can legalize cryptocurrency mining and stablecoins backed by gold under government control, a high-ranking member of the Russian parliament has suggested. The statement comes after Bank of Russia proposed a wide-ranging ban on the use of cryptocurrencies, and their trading and mining.　　Mining and Some Stablecoins Can Be Legalized in Russia, Duma Deputy Insists　　The free circulation of cryptocurrencies must not be allowed as they carry risks for unqualified investors, but Russia may permit the use of gold-backed stablecoins and the mining of cryptocurrencies under government control, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, Vladimir Gutenev, told the RIA Novosti news agency.　　On Thursday, The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) published a consultation paper in which it presented its comprehensive view on cryptocurrencies. The monetary authority proposed to prohibit coin operations through the Russian financial system, crypto investments, exchange, and mining in the country. Meanwhile, the bank has launched the pilot phase of its own digital ruble project.　　Cryptocurrencies should be banned, Gutenev agreed, but Russia could make use of a stablecoin denominated in gold and under state control. Such a financial product would be an interesting proposition for both private investors and companies. It can also be used

2022-01-24Deep Dive

WHY JANUARY IS A HISTORIC MONTH FOR BITCOIN

It‘s almost difficult to believe that later in 2022, Bitcoin will celebrate its 14th “birthday.” Over the last 14 years, Bitcoin has made great strides, growing ridiculously and setting itself up to usurp the U.S. Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.　　Although Bitcoin has been around for what seems to be forever, the month of January has been important over the years with several historic events and milestones in Bitcoins past.2009: THE DAWN OF BITCOIN　　On January 3, 2009, months after publishing the Bitcoin white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto made history when he mined the Bitcoin genesis block, signing it with the message, “The Times Jan/03/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks,” officially launching the Bitcoin network and highlighting some of the financial turmoil that inspired his invention of Bitcoin.　　A mere six days later, on January 9, the first Bitcoin (0.1) client was released, enabling users to perform Bitcoin transactions and paving way for the first Bitcoin transaction to take place on January 12, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent Hal Finney 10 BTC on block number 170.2010: THE TRUE FIRST BITCOIN PURCHASE？　　Nearly everyone knows the story of Laszlo Hanyecz who famously paid 10,000 BTC for two large pizzas in May 2010, and

2022-01-24Deep Dive

SO YOU JUST BOUGHT SOME BITCOIN, NOW WHAT?

Congratulations and welcome to the Bitcoin network! This is the beginning of an exciting adventure full of countless resources, lots of helpful mentors and online friends who can become in-person friends if you go to local meetups or conferences. Not to mention ample hope for the future, as the magnitude of Bitcoins effect on the world is realized.　　The Bitcoin journey can have a noticeable impact on every aspect of life and the rabbit hole is as wide as it is deep. There are an overwhelming number of topics to learn about in myriad disciplines: economics, technology, philosophy, finance, personal responsibility, computer science, energy production, electrical engineering — the list goes on. Even narrowing the list down to matters specifically related to using Bitcoin can be overwhelming.　　This piece is meant to support those who have taken the orange pill, but dont know what to do next.　　Using Bitcoin responsibly means being one‘s own bank. While there are many topics to traverse about Bitcoin, the first necessary step is taking self custody over any bitcoin bought on an exchange. If you’re reading this, you‘ve hopefully set up an account with Swan Bitcoin, Cash App, Strike, River Financial or even Coinbase. Maybe you’ve heard

2022-01-23Deep Dive

Onomy announces a new bridge, its hybrid DEX and Forex market are arriving to Polygon

Onomy Protocol recently announced bridging to Polygon–expanding its list of cross-chain deployments.　　Onomys application-specific Layer 1 blockchain, which is built with Cosmos Tendermint, powers a hybrid DEX and Forex marketplace, a stablecoin minting system, and a non-custodial wallet.DeFi‘s first DEX that combines AMM liquidity pools with an order book UI　　The integration will unlock Forex trading, payments, settlement, lending, and yield opportunities using Onomy’s stablecoins for Polygon users.　　Onomys hybrid DEX, dubbed ONEX, combines automated market maker (AMM) liquidity pools with an order book user interface (UI)–enabling traders to place market, limit, stop, and conditional orders.　　Meanwhile, Polygon‘s full-stack Ethereum scaling solution will empower more efficient trading –boosting the utility of Onomy’s stablecoins, called ‘Denoms,’ within its budding dapp ecosystem.　　While Onomy‘s Cosmos-based blockchain, dubbed ’ONET, is poised for high throughput and efficiency, custom bi-directional bridges to other major chains–including Polygon–leverage frictionless cross-chain swaps.On a mission to onboard the Forex market　　Issued by the Onomy reserves dubbed ‘ORES,’ Denoms are the protocols solution for plugging Forex into DeFi.　　Users are able to mint Denoms of fiat currencies they require to execute their trades by locking the protocols utility token NOM, as over-collateral.　　Their usage, however, is not limited to Forex trading. As Onomy expands into further ecosystems, Denoms

2022-01-23Deep Dive

New data shows how Solana transactions compare against Ethereum

Solana network has become one of the viable alternatives to Ethereum in recent months. Like all other blockchain networks described as Ethereum killers, Solana claims to have the solution.　　Any network with lower gas fees and faster transaction speeds will address the primary problems of Ethrerum. But Solana went one step further by claiming that it could theoretically perform 710,000 transactions per second (TPS).　　Available data has shown that the actual TPS is much lower. According to SolanaFM, the average transaction per second on Solana is 3,000. While this is a far cry from the theoretically possible TPS, its still far above Ethereum, which is around 10.　　Solana’s current transactions per second (TPS)　　Analysis of the available data provides more information about this disparity. On Solana, transactions can be classified into successful transactions, failed transactions, vote transactions, and non-vote transactions.　　The successful transactions refer to the transactions that the validators successfully validated. These transactions have been finalized and dont contain any errors. At the time of writing, the average number of successful transactions on the Solana network is 2500 per second.　　On the other hand, unsuccessful ones are only 438 per second. This means that the ratio of successful to unsuccessful transactions is 5:1.Successful Transactions /

2022-01-23Deep Dive

The Fed’s proposed CBDC: a dystopian nightmare or a necessary evolution of the dollar?

The U.S. Federal Reserve has taken its first step towards issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). And while a digital dollar is still years away even if the Fed decides to move forward with the idea, the prospect of an American CBDC should worry the crypto industry.　　In its new report, titled “Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation,” the Fed outlined the problems a CBDC would face and mechanisms it could employ to solve them.　　The report states that the introduction of a CBDC would represent a significant innovation in American money, but remains cautious about the potential problems it might bring upon the countrys monetary system.　　It presents a CBDC as a way to achieve financial inclusion, expand access to digital payment services, reduce transaction fees, and speed up remittances and cross-border transactions.　　However, diving deeper into the report reveals that these benefits would come at a cost few seem willing to pay.The first step towards an American CBDC is a very scary one　　Federal Reserve policymakers and staff have been studying CBDCs for several years, but it wasn‘t until 2020 that they became more vocal about the possibility of a digital dollar. China’s massive statewide effort

2022-01-23Deep Dive

Crypto suffers $200 billion drawdown, what’s happening?

Thursday evening (GMT) saw the start of the crypto market slide. Of the top 100, excluding stablecoins, only Safemoon, Leo, and BitTorrent managed to stay green over the last 24-hours.　　Before the slide, the total crypto market cap was valued at $2.029 trillion. Over the course of the night and into the early hours of Friday, a brutal sell-off ensued, wiping $200 billion from cryptocurrency valuations.　　The Fear & Greed Index dropped five sentiment points, moving from 24 yesterday to 19 today.　　Social media chatter reveals a mix of rallying cries to hold strong, including talk of this being the last opportunity to buy Bitcoin under $40,000. In contrast, others say this is the start of an enduring bear market.　　Either way, whats behind this latest drop？Investors flee crypto and tech stocks, again　　The crypto sell-off coincided with the Nasdaq dropping 1.3% to close at 14,846.46, marking a 14-week low for the tech-heavy index.　　In recent weeks, there has been a circulating narrative that investors are fleeing risk-on assets, such as cryptocurrencies and tech stocks.　　A similar pattern played out earlier this month, seeing another approximate $200 billion drop in combined crypto market valuations.　　At that time, analysts had pinned the issue on various factors, including discovering a

2022-01-22Deep Dive

WHAT IS BITCOIN BACKED BY?

People often say: “bitcoin cant be money, it isnt backed by anything.” This is an old way of thinking that originated with paper money. Prior to paper money, people used precious metal coins (such as gold) because they maintained strong monetary properties: scarcity, durability, divisibility, portability, fungibility, and acceptability (the six monetary properties).　　Paper became money because it was superior to gold in terms of divisibility and portability BUT it lacked scarcity. People reasoned that we could benefit from the greater divisibility/portability of paper money as long as it was redeemable in a form of money that was scarce. This is when money needed to be “backed” by something.　　Since we changed money to paper money that wasnt scarce, it needed to be backed by something that was.　　Since the repeal of the gold standard, politicians have retarded the meaning of the word because our money is no longer backed by something scarce. Governments say money is backed by their “full faith and credit” as an attempt to allude populations into the belief that their horrendous credit is economically equivalent to one of the scarcest commodities in the world.　　So, what is bitcoin backed by？　　Nothing. Sound money, like gold, isnt “backed.”　　Only money that lacks

2022-01-22Deep Dive

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