Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Bitcoin Should Not Be Measured In Dollar Terms, Says Pompliano

The value of bitcoin is currently being measured in dollar terms and this is understandable given that fiat is still the most dominant form of currency. While those in the crypto space believe this will not continue for much longer, it is still important to price the digital asset in fiat currency to show its value to investors.　　However, millionaire investor Anthony Pompliano has countered against this accepted form of valuing bitcoin. He addressed the way the digital asset is valued as well as the dreaded volatility on a recent episode of CNBCs Squawk Box.　　Dont Value Bitcoin In Dollars　　Presently, one bitcoin is trading for around $51K. This apparent value is derived from the dollar, which confers a fiat value upon an asset that was created to replace it. Pompliano says that this should not be so. Instead, bitcoin should be priced in bitcoin. This way, “one Bitcoin still equals one Bitcoin,” says the investor.　　Bitcoins value, when gauged in bitcoin, does not really change. The deflationary asset was designed in a way that it appreciates in value over time rather than depreciate, as is the case with the dollar.　　However, Pompliano notes that people ignore or overlook this part because they are so

2021-12-30Deep Dive

North Korean Hackers Have Stolen Over $1.7 Billion Of Crypto From Exchanges, Here’s Their Intention

North Korea is reportedly harboring over $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency stolen from crypto exchanges over the course of five years and has been conspiring with money-laundering criminals to launch cybercrimes around the world.　　These crimes are instigated by hackers and cyber warriors trained and sponsored by North Korea who are now being blamed for the Bithumb and Kucoin hacks that saw the exchanges lose $32 million and $281 million respectively in 2017 and 2018. They are also being blamed for stealing over 4,000 Bitcoins after hacking the YouBit crypto exchange based in South Korea in 2017. After training, the cybercriminals are allegedly instructed to storm western-associated cryptocurrency exchanges.　　Surprisingly, North Korea has not sold all proceeds from the hacks and many times choose to hold. For North Korea, the financial and economic sanctions placed by the west against it are the greatest motivation for launching these attacks. This is according to Asian Institute for Policy Studies Senior Research Fellow Koh Myung-Hyun.　　“Considering the fact that the price of bitcoin (BTC) has risen over 60 times since 2017 when North Korean hackers started hacking cryptocurrency exchanges, North Korea is using the stolen cryptocurrency from the perspective of long-term investment. For North Korea, cryptocurrency

2021-12-30Deep Dive

Robinhood to Roll Out Crypto Wallets Beta in January 2022

Robinhood has finally announced the approximate date for rolling out the beta test version of their cryptocurrency wallets – something that the SHIB community has been looking forward to since late September, hoping that the app will list this meme crypto.　　According to the Sept. 22 announcement, these wallets would allow trading, as well as sending and receiving crypto on the app.　　Meanwhile, over 1.6 million people have signed up on the waitlist for these wallets already. Less than one million people signed up in one month.　　Beta trials to commence in mid-January　　As alpha tests are over now, the beta version of the wallets will be launched in just a few weeks – in the middle of January next year. According to a survey that Robinhood conducted among its users, customers who tested the alpha version, they would like Robinhood to provide educational content on crypto so they can understand terms like “transaction ID” and “network fees.”　　So, for this educational purpose, the app will expand its Robinhood Learn articles to cover crypto in addition to regular asset classes.　　 Extra security for wallets　　The blog post by Robinhood states that there will be a separate wallet for every cryptocurrency traded on the app. The survey

2021-12-30Deep Dive

All you should know about Astroport–AMM built to become Terra ecosystem’s DeFi liquidity hub

Astroport will allow users to opt between different pool types within a single AMM system while leveraging support for all of Terras asset types.　　The stage is set for the swap and pooling functionality launch, as $1.2 billion in liquidity was successfully migrated from Terra‘s DEX Terraswap to Astroport’s smart contracts.ASTRO generators dual distribution model　　Like many DeFi protocols out there, Astroport has its own governance token–ASTRO.　　Holders who choose to stake their governance tokens in the ASTRO pool will be granted voting power on matters relevant to the communities surrounding the protocol. This power can be amplified if holders opt for locking their ASTRO tokens for the duration of up to two years–while also benefiting from an additional share of trading fees, as well as boosted liquidity mining rewards.　　ASTRO, which will be distributed to LPs through liquidity mining, will be ‘emitted’ at a predetermined rate from the Astral Assembly–Astroports version of a DAO.　　Since, on a pool-specific basis, LPs stand to receive different governance tokens from both Astroport and extrinsic DeFi communities, the protocol introduced proxy-based smart contracts called ‘ASTRO generators’ that allow a double set of incentives.　　According to the protocols recent announcement, ASTRO generators allowing simultaneous farming of ASTRO tokens and other

2021-12-29Deep Dive

Ethereum co-founder Taylor Gerring bought an M3 Serum for $3.6 million, wants to livestream the Mega

Ethereum co-founder Taylor Gerring recently purchased a Bored Ape Mega Mutant Serum NFT for 888 ETH ($3,6 million) from a seller who received it for free by being a part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) community. 　　The new NFT owners announcement that he will be livestreaming the serum drinking event made a serious splash within the most famous yacht club in the world, as the BAYC community got excited to witness the new Mega Mutant reveal.Mega Mutant Ape reveal 　　Gerring purchased the M3 Serum NFT from a seller who received it for free–by being part of the BAYC community. 　　In August, Yuga Labs airdropped BAYC owners a Mutant Serum–an NFT that enables the original Bored Apes to mutate into a Mutant Ape. 　　Mutant Serums belong to an NFT collection dubbed Bored Ape Chemistry Club and come in three different tiers–M1, M2, and M3–with M3 being the rarest of them all.　　Following the concept, each of 10,000 Bored Apes can receive only one serum hit, opening a spot for 10,000 Mutant Apes.　　Gerring announced he will livestream the Mega Mutant Ape reveal on Twitter, and caused quite a stir among the BAYC community.　　The serum drinking event is scheduled to take place

2021-12-29Deep Dive

Binance Coin Dubbed “Winner Of 2021” By Crypto Research Firm

It‘s official, this was Binance Coin’s year. There are no two ways about it, BNB crushed it throughout 2021 and cemented itself as the third more popular coin in the world by market capitalization. Not a small feat, considering the phenomenal year that altcoins had. Several projects had their moment in the sun, capturing capital, headlines, and attention. No one got near Binance Coin, though.　　According to Arcane Researchs The Weekly Update:　　“Bitcoin may have beaten the stock market in 2021, but it has been left in the dust by other cryptocurrencies. Binance Coin (BNB) is the best performer of the three biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap, with a 1344% gain. The Binance Smart Chain ecosystem has seen massive growth in 2021, taking some market share from Ethereum.”　　That‘s why they dubbed Binance Coin as “the winner of 2021,” and their point is well taken. However, there’s more to the story. Binance as a company was in hot water for a while there. And their own validators blasted the Binance Smart Chain, saying things like, “There doesnt appear to be any reasonable testing process in place. Every update appears to make things worse.”　　Let‘s explore the Binance Coin ecosystem’s tumultuous year.Big Projects Decided To

2021-12-29Deep Dive

Elon Musk Says He’s Not Satoshi

During his latest appearance on a podcast with Lex Fridman, Musk has once again refuted the rumors about him being Satoshi Nakamoto.　　He argues that computer scientist and cryptographer Nick Szabo, who also denied creating Bitcoin, is mainly responsible for pushing the ideas that led to the creation of the worlds first cryptocurrency:　　“He claims not to be Nakamoto, but I‘m not sure. That’s neither here nor there, but he seems to be more responsible for the ideas behind Bitcoin than anyone else.”　　Bitcoin is “comically” slow　　Since Bitcoin‘s latency is too long, Musk argues that Bitcoin cryptocurrency is useful as a store of wealth, but it’s useless as a currency for payments.　　Musk notes that the Dogecoin has a much higher transaction volume capability compared to the crypto king as well as much lower fees:　　“Right now, if you want to do a Bitcoin transaction, the price of doing that transaction is very high so you could not use it effectively for most things, and nor could it even scale to high volume.”　　Having a small block size made sense and a long synchronization time was appropriate in 2008 due to relatively poor internet infrastructure, but Bitcoins speed is “comically low” now, according to Musk.　　The Tesla

2021-12-29Deep Dive

German telecom giant supports Polkadot, acquires DOT tokens

Polkadot, the “blockchain of blockchains” infrastructure developed by the Parity project, has entered a partnership with T-Systems MMS (MultiMedia Solutions), a subsidiary of the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.　　As per the announcement, T-Systems MMS will “promote secure communication between blockchains.” T-Systems MMS will use its infrastructure to participate in the Polkadot public blockchain network as a validator. In addition, T-Systems MMS has acquired DOT tokens and will support the interoperability between decentralized blockchain networks running on the Polkadot mainchain.Solves the lack of interoperability between blockchains　　DOT, the native token of the Polkadot network, is ranked number ten by market cap at a current valuation of over $32 billion. The announcement does not include information on the amount of DOT tokens acquired by T-Systems MMS.　　Polkadot aims to solve the lack of interoperability between blockchains, which today are typically data silos. Polkadots relay chain, the central chain of Polkadot, coordinates the interactions between different parallel networks, called parachains. By participating in the Polkadot network as a validator, T-Systems MMS“ supports the secure and trustworthy exchange of messages between independent blockchains.”　　For the provision and operation of the infrastructure, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary will use the Open Telekom Cloud. According to T-Systems MMS, the OTC

2021-12-29Deep Dive

Decentralized Finance Won’t Substitute Traditional Financial System, According to S&P Global Report

Decentralized finance (DeFi) will continue to complement the traditional finance system rather than supplant it in 2022, says a report by financial information and analytics provider S&P Global.　　According to the firms Global Credit Outlook for 2022, the traditional finance sector will need to innovate and invest to remain relevant in the coming twelve months.　　“We believe it will continue evolving in 2022 toward complementing the current financial system rather than substituting financial services companies. To remain relevant, we think incumbent players will have to further step up investments in new technologies – otherwise, the balance could shift away from them in the longer run.”　　While most decentralized finance applications are not competing with traditional finance at the moment, the report says that the situation could change in the future.　　“Most DeFi applications (DApps) currently dont compete with incumbents. They are mostly still restricted to transactions within the emerging digital ecosystem – for instance for the purchase, exchange, lending, or insurance of digitally native assets. But this could change as technology and acceptance evolve.”　　Per the report, the most profitable activities in the traditional finance sector stand to be disrupted the most.　　“DeFis potential is greater in higher-cost activities, which often provide higher margins to incumbents.

2021-12-29Deep Dive

These 300 CryptoPunks may be lost forever

CryptoPunks are among the most cherished and valuable NFTs on the market. Released by the Larva Labs studio in June 2017 for free, the 10,000 profile picture NFTs quickly became popular among the crypto crowd and virtually exploded in value over the years. Today, the lowest price for a Punk currently for sale is 66 ETH, approximately $258 000 at the moment of writing.　　But are there really 10 000 Punks available to the market today？5 Punks are lost for sure　　According to a tweet thread by @punk9863, as many as 300 CryptoPunks may be lost forever; five of these are definitely known to be lost due to the owners mistakes. Indeed, there are only five known “burnt” Punks in existence. One “alien” Punk was burnt inadvertently by @ArtOnBlockchain, two Punks were sent to the token contract (a grave mistake, in effect burning the token) and two Punks were sent to a malformed address and thus burnt (an equally bad mistake).　　The reason why we can assume the rest of the 300 CryptoPunks are lost, as pointed out by @punk9863, is because there hasn‘t been any activity on their owner’s wallet for the past three years. “Over 50 wallets that hold Punks havent

2021-12-29Deep Dive

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