Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Crypto exchange FTX launches a $2 billion venture capital fund

Crypto exchange FTX recently announced the launch of a $2 billion venture capital fund–FTX Ventures.　　According to the official announcement made by the crypto exchange, FTX hired a former partner at Lightspeed and Discovery, Inc. executive Amy Wu to lead the new fund focused on investing in top projects building in Web3.A broad investment mandate　　With a “core mission” to further global blockchain adoption, FTX Ventures will focus on investing in teams building in Web3–covering a broad range of sectors, including social, gaming, fintech, software, and healthcare.　　“Our investors at FTX have made a deep impact in supporting our growth and development. We strive to do the same at FTX Ventures and are excited to find the brightest minds and disruptive innovation in tech,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX.　　While investing in multi-stage companies and projects, FTX Ventures will be leveraging flexible funding and strategic support from FTX and its network of partners.　　According to the announcement, FTX Ventures will kick off with a team of eight, which will include Ramnik Arora as a general partner and Armani Ferrante as an advisor, amongst others.Particularly interested in Web3 gaming　　“I am thrilled to be joining FTX to work alongside Sam and some of the

2022-01-16Deep Dive

El Salvador is down $12 million on its Bitcoin buys

With the ongoing market slump, El Salvador is holding significant losses on its Bitcoin investments.　　Its buying process and wallets are undisclosed, so the exact amount remains unknown. But estimates put the loss at between $10 million and $12 million.　　El Salvadors “Bitcoin experiment” was hailed by some as pioneering in so far as leading the way for other nation-states to follow.　　But the losses highlight the risks involved with crypto investing. More so given the quantities involved and the public manner in which El Salvador has gone about its business.　　But has any of this unnerved other countries from adopting Bitcoin as legal tender？When the dip keeps dipping　　El Salvador made history on September 7 by being the first sovereign nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.　　In the run-up to “going live,” and ever since the move has been vehemently opposed by some quarters. Including international agencies, such as the IMF, who warned it would interfere with funding negotiations. And private companies, including S&P Global and Moodys, which spoke of negative implications for its credit rating.　　This isnt helped by teething problems with the Chivo Wallet. Some users report identity fraud, and others talk about their Bitcoin balance mysteriously disappearing.　　Despite all of the above, President

2022-01-16Deep Dive

After Celo’s success, Polkastarter integrates Avalanche

As part of its efforts to achieve its multi-chain goal, Polkastarter has officially announced the integration of Avalanche. Polkastarter integrates Avalanche into its platform　　The move to integrate Avalanche commenced following the success recorded by the last integration exercise by the company. The exercise led to the addition of Celo into its network. 　　This new decision is primarily part of its effort to become a global multichain, as integrating Avalanche would make it available for IDOs and fixed swaps.　　With this integration, users of the platform can now take part in even more IDOs by having access to the Avalanche ecosystem. Interestingly, users will now pay lower network charges after the integration. 　　Already, Polkastarter has helped more than 90 projects raise capital through its IDOs. 　　Speaking on the development, Polkastarters Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Stockhaus, explained that it would bring more liquidity to the project. 　　He noted that with the integration, Polkastarters IDO process becomes even more accessible to participants and will propel its mission on multichain interoperability. 　　In his words,　　“Polkastarter is integrating Avalanche Network to bring more liquidity and foster community adoption of emerging protocols. Polkastarter‘s IDO process becomes even more accessible to participants and will propel its mission on multichain

2022-01-16Deep Dive

Which cryptocurrencies made the biggest gains in 2021?

Two weeks into 2022 and cryptocurrencies as a whole have had a stuttering start.　　The year opened with a total market cap of $2.2 trillion. Still, talk of inflationary pressures and interest rate rises hit hard, sparking a sell-off which bottomed at $1.9 trillion on Saturday.　　While we see signs of recovery, the looming threat of tightening monetary policy is ever-present. With that, crypto sentiment is caught in a precarious state, with investors waiting to see what happens next.　　This contrasts with the start of 2021. Back then, Bitcoin was riding a wave of momentum after breaking a three-year resistance level in December 2020. It went on to hit $65,000 in April 2021 and posted a new all-time high of $69,200 in November 2021.　　Nonetheless, Bitcoins overall 2021 performance was somewhat pedestrian (by crypto standards), up +60% over the year.　　Over the same period, Bitcoin managed to outperform the S&P500, which gained 27%, the Dow, up 19%, and the Nasdaqs 21% rise.　　All the same, these performances pale in comparison to the biggest cryptocurrency gainers of 2021.　　Which cryptocurrencies performed best in 2021？　　According to entrepreneur.com, these were the best performing cryptocurrencies of last year.　　Decentraland (MANA) – this virtual world platform comes in tenth place, posting +3,900%.　　Harmony (ONE)

2022-01-16Deep Dive

Sweden’s inflation rate at a 29 year high, “transitory”

Inflation is on the rise in many parts of the world. On Wednesday, The U.S. Federal Reserve reported a CPI inflation of 7.0% for December. Following this trend, the inflation rate of the Swedish krona SEK rose to 4.1% in December, a strong increase from November’s inflation rate of 3.6%.　　These levels of inflation have not been seen since December 1993, almost 29 years ago. The inflation, as reported by the Swedish Bureau of Statistics SCB, was higher than market expectations and far above the two percent target set by the Swedish central bank Riksbanken. The most important contribution to the higher inflation came from rising energy prices, but important contributions also came from raising prices on food, clothing and transportation.Inflation was down to zero in 2020　　The inflation pressure on the Swedish economy has been relatively low the past few years, which has led the Riksbank to drive an expansive monetary policy to keep the inflation rate around the two percent target. This has put a lot of pressure on the krona leading up to the Corona crisis. Consequently, the inflation rate fell down close to zero during the crisis in 2020, actually hitting zero percent in May 2020.　　In 2021 inflation

2022-01-16Deep Dive

Jack Dorsey’s Block to build an open Bitcoin mining system

Jack Dorseys Block, formerly known as Square, is actively pursuing plans to build an open Bitcoin mining system. The news was first tweeted by Thomas Templeton, general manager for hardware, which was later confirmed by Dorsey on Twitter. Jack Dorsey‘s Block is building an open Bitcoin mining system　　In a comprehensive Twitter thread, Thomas Templeton explained the company’s plan of building an open Bitcoin mining system.　　According to Templeton, the emphasis will be laid on creating new Bitcoin by solving increasingly complex computational problems in a “distributed and efficient way.” He later added that the company is viewing this project as a long-term need for a future that will be “decentralized and permissionless.”　　Dorsey reiterated a similar sentiment earlier when he first shared the idea of exploring Bitcoin mining in October.　　“The more decentralized this is, the more resilient the Bitcoin network becomes” Dorsey asserted earlier. 　　Speaking on initial issues that the company might face during the process, Templeton explained that since mining rigs are expensive and “become nonfunctional each day” the company is also exploring ways to build its mining ASIC machine to further simplify the process. 　　“Developing products is never a solo journey, and evaluating existing tech is always part of our

2022-01-14Deep Dive

Elon Musk’s Tesla now support Dogecoin payment

Tesla is accepting crypto payments again. The leading electric car maker earlier today revealed that it is now supporting payment for some of its products using the popular meme coin, Dogecoin, via its platform.Tesla now supports Doge payments　　According to available information, Tesla users looking to adopt the new payment option need to have a DOGE-enabled wallet that they can use to transfer funds once they are connected.　　Teslas adoption is evidence of the role Elon Musk has played in pushing the coin mainstream. It is no secret that the wealthiest man in the world has regularly maintained his support for the coin through several tweets and initiatives.　　The latest move is an indication of the length Musk is willing to go to further push the cause of the meme coin.　　While the prices of some of the products are still displayed in the US Dollar, the company has said that all of its prices would soon be displayed in DOGE. Already, The Giga Texas Belt Buckle price is listed for 835 DOGE which is roughly $155. Another products price, Cyberquad for Kids, is listed for 12020 DOGE which translates to $2339.　　It should be noted that products purchased using DOGE cannot be canceled, returned,

2022-01-14Deep Dive

Will Shiba Inu List on Robinhood in February? Here’s What We Know

On Wednesday, the heavily trafficked global news website ZeroHedge tweeted to its 1.1 million Twitter followers this statement, “SHIBA INU ROBINHOOD LISTING SAID TO COME AS EARLY IN FEB – this is about 6 months too late.” As of this writing, Robinhood has not replied to requests for confirmation or denial of the claim.　　However, during its earnings call last October, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev stated that it is very cautious when considering whether or not to add new coins or tokens to its offerings. “We feel very very good about the coins that were currently listing on our platform and any new coins that we add we want to feel equally, if not more good,” Tenev said.　　Regardless, the rumor pumped the price of Shiba Inu more than 15%, but it has since retraced and is down 6.5% over the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap.com.　　Shiba Inu (SHIB) was created anonymously in August 2020 as an Ethereum-based alternative to Dogecoins Scrypt-based network. The Scrypt network has low functionality since it was designed for crypto mining of certain Proof of Work blockchains. In 2021, thanks to publicity support from Elon Musk and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, SHIB became wildly popular and experienced

2022-01-14Deep Dive

Annual Report 2021丨What to expect from the blockchain world in 2022?

2021 was an exciting year for the blockchain. The total market cap of blockchain projects surpassed $2 trillion, and Bitcoins price touched a record high of $67,674.　　Meanwhile, Ethereum skyrocketed 5x in price after the London upgrade, while blockchain investment also flourished, with cumulative funding for the year topping $30 billion.　　We witnessed the explosion of DeFi 1.0, followed by the booming multi-chain ecosystem and the rapid expansion of the stablecoin market.　　2021s Biggest Trends　　1. DeFi 2.0　　The TVL of DeFi 2.0 projects soared from zero to $30 billion in 2021 within eight months.　　Composable DeFi Legos have become some of the key features of blockchain applications—referring to components that can be combined and integrated across different platforms and apps.　　DeFi 1.0 created liquidity, LP tokens, and decentralized stablecoins as the first generation of DeFi Legos. 2021 saw the rise of DeFi 2.0, which turned liquidity into a new Lego portfolio for DeFi.　　Footprint Analytics – TVL of DeFi 2.0 Projects soared from 0 to 30 Billion in 2021　　2. Cross-bridge　　The TVL of ETH cross-bridge projects surpassed $25 billion in 2021.　　The booming multi-chain ecosystem has made the flow of assets across different chains an immediate need.　　Cross-chain bridge protocols are bridges to link assets across chains, allowing assets to

2022-01-14Deep Dive

Fidelity expects more sovereign nations to acquire Bitcoin in 2022

In a recent report, Fidelity said that there was a high chance for more sovereign nation-states to acquire Bitcoin this year.　　According to the asset manager‘s 2021 roundup, last year was marked with opposed developments when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. And while it’s still too early to tell which path was more successful, the company said the high-stakes game theory at play will lead more countries to follow El Salvador and adopt cryptocurrencies.　　To Bitcoin or not to Bitcoin？ Fidelity says yes　　The past year was marked by huge changes that shook the crypto industry far and wide. The rise of NFTs, GameFi, and institutional adoption has brought crypto into the mainstream, pushing the industrys market cap to its all-time high.　　Aside from price action, the biggest impact was made in government and regulatory recognition. In its 2021 Digital Asset roundup, Fidelity Investments said that the regulatory developments observed this year couldnt have been more opposed.　　China issued multiple bans throughout the year—the country cracked down on Bitcoin mining in May and effectively banned all cryptocurrency transactions in September. Later in November, it shut down all cryptocurrency mining in the country, completely wiping out a thriving mining ecosystem.　　On the other hand, El Salvador took

2022-01-14Deep Dive

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