Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

“Bitcoin Cures Cancer,” Says Elon Musk As BTC Aims For $60K

Elon Musk humorously tweeted in the early hours of Saturday that Bitcoin is the cure to cancer.　　Since the tweet, Bitcoin has climbed higher and is within reach of $60K.　　Elon Musk has been known to skirt between cryptocurrencies that has left sleuths stumped over his next move.　　Elon Musk‘s tweet that implied that Bitcoin cures cancer has sent a small jolt at Bitcoin’s prices but it raises the question of whether or not Satoshis invention can provide a cure.　　Elon Musks Bants　　On Friday, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla posted a meme portraying what appears to be a Viking raid in a settlement with the tag, “Not a cellphone in sight… Just people living in the moment.” Despite the chaos in the picture, Musk oxymoronically described it as “a simpler time, it was” in his typical display of wittiness.　　A tweep called The Chairman replied to Elon Musk saying, “Bitcoin fixes this” while Musk responded humorously that “Bitcoin cures cancer”. Elon Musk‘s tweet has gone on to garner 350K likes and over 32K retweets while Bitcoin’s price lurches forward.　　In the hours preceding the tweet, BTC has climbed nearly 3% to reach a daily high of $59,040. Recall that Bitcoin suffered a near-fatal slump over the

2021-11-22Deep Dive

India may create obstacles to crypto trading and holding

India plans to tighten regulation of cryptocurrencies to deter investors from holding them though the government is unlikely to follow through with an earlier plan to ban private digital coins.　　Instead, it could allow only those that have been pre-approved by the government to be listed and traded on exchanges -- an intentionally cumbersome process, said the sources, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private.　　“Only when a coin has been approved by the government can it be traded, else holding or trading it in may attract a penalty,” said the source.　　The government aims to introduce and pass a cryptocurrency law in the parliamentary session that begins this month.　　Such a pre-verification approach would create obstacles for thousands of peer-to-peer currencies that thrive on being outside the ambit of regulatory scrutiny.　　On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all democratic nations must work together to ensure cryptocurrency “does not end up in wrong hands, which can spoil our youth” -- his first public comments on the subject.　　Earlier this year, the government considered criminalising the possession, issuance, mining, trading and transference of crypto-assets.　　Its stance has changed since then -- but only slightly, according to the two sources, who said hefty

2021-11-22Deep Dive

Decentralized exchanges aren’t ready for derivatives

If the words “derivatives trading” conjures up images of men in suits with disheveled white sleeves rolled up to the elbows and exacerbated expressions on their faces — like something out of The Big Short — then the word decentralized exchanges (DEXs) must conjure up, well, nothing. 　　There are no offices, no floor traders waving papers and certainly no men in suits. DEXs are managed automatically or semi-automatically with the involvement of platform participants in the process of making mission-critical decisions. DEXs are a bulb of a system that is sprouting groundbreaking opportunities for many, but they are not yet suited for the soil of derivatives trading in this season of the crypto market.The technological gap　　The technology isnt available right now to have a proper options market on a DEX with the level of sophistication that you find in the traditional space. Current offerings, therefore, suffer from capital inefficiencies, poor pricing and added risk for traders. Instead of tech first, the people must be put first and the tech layered in as it matures, providing decentralization in progressive components. The success of dYdXs hybrid approach of a centralized order book with decentralized custody shows that this is the viable route

2021-11-21Deep Dive

Shiba Inu makes up the biggest holding of the top 1,000 ETH wallets

Data from whalestats.com shows that controversial meme token Shiba Inu is the most significant holding of the top 1,000 ETH wallets, excluding Ethereum.　　Following a tremendous October run-up, in which $SHIB hit over 1,000% gains at its peak price of $0.00008846, things have cooled off significantly.　　The Shiba Inu price is currently caught in a downtrend with $0.00004519 providing support, having bounced off this price level on three occasions since the peak.　　Nonetheless, despite demonstrating instances of “Dogecoin-killing” throughout October. For example, overtaking $DOGE on market cap ranking on several occasions and consistently higher 24-hour trading volume, so far, $SHIB has failed to sustain this form.　　On top of its meme coin status, this has led many to question if Shiba Inu is a flash in the pan thats doomed to fail in the long term. However, regardless of this, as implied by the data from whalestats.com, ETH whales are not concerned, at least not in the short term.What are ETH whales holding？　　According to whalestats.com, Shiba Inu makes up the most significant holding of the top 1,000 ETH wallets excluding Ethereum, accounting for just over 20%, at $2.4 billion.　　All other holdings are significantly lesser than $SHIB. The second-biggest being crypto.coms CRO token, making up

2021-11-21Deep Dive

U.K. launches an investigation into Floki Inu ads on the London Underground

The Advertising Standards Authority, U.K.s advertising watchdog, has launched an investigation into a London bus and underground ad campaign for Floki Inu (FLOKI).　　The investigation is part of ASAs larger crackdown on crypto-related ads, which it finds “misleading and irresponsible.”The latest memecoin gets a controversial ad campaign on London‘s public transport　　Named after Elon Musk’s dog, FLOKI is the latest memecoin craze that has swept the crypto market. Looking to replicate the huge success the original memecoin DOGE had, the developers behind FLOKI launched an ad campaign on Londons bus and underground system, calling for people to buy the token.　　“Missed Doge？ Get Floki,” one underground ad says.　　According to The Guardian, the campaign ran for three weeks in October and caused numerous complaints from the public. On Wednesday, an ASA spokesperson confirmed that they were investigating both Floki Inu and the Transport for London (TfL), the government body that oversees public transportation in the city.　　The investigation is part of ASA‘s larger crackdown on cryptocurrency-related ads, which is supported by the Liberal Democrat and Green party. Last week, members of the two parties called on TfL to stop taking advertisements from cryptocurrency companies until the country’s financial watchdog sets out new guidance on marketing.　　And

2021-11-21Deep Dive

Binance Smart Chain Surges To ATH Activity; How Blockchain Games Are Driving It

Retail users are loving Binance Smart Chain. On a single day, BSC recorded 14.7 million transactions, reaching an all-time high. Behind its momentum are blockchain games and decentralized finance (DeFi) on BSC.　　On November 17, the Binance Smart Chain team tweeted:　　“Binance Smart Chain hit a record-breaking milestone of over 14.7 million blockchain transactions in one day; a milestone no other blockchain project has ever achieved!”　　What’s Catalyzing The Momentum Of Binance Smart Chain？　　Binance Smart Chain has been immensely popular in Southeast Asia for a prolonged period.　　A combination of the retail friendly meme components of key platforms, like PancakeSwap, made it more comfortable for casual users to utilize Binance Smart Chain.　　PancakeSwap is the main automated market maker (AMM) or decentralized exchange on Binance Smart Chain. With cute graphics modeled after pancakes and syrup, it made DeFi easier to use for newcomers.　　Lending and earning protocols, like Belt Finance, Venus, and Alpaca Finance have also retained high total value locked (TVL), indicating high user demand.　　In DeFi, TVL means the amount of capital or money that is locked in a platform or a protocol.　　According to the data from DeFiStation, the top five DeFi protocols on Binance Smart Chain are sustaining TVL in between $700 million to

2021-11-21Deep Dive

NFTs In A Nutshell: A Weekly Review

NFTs have found another month this year where Google searches hit an all-time high. The Macy‘s parade will come with a non-fungible friend. And Phil Spencer at Xbox shares his thoughts on NFTs. It’s just another week of non-fungible news.　　Every weekend, we take a quick recap at the past seven days of what‘s been happening with NFTs. Let’s dive in on these stories, and more:This Week‘s Non-Fungible Token NewsMacy’s Turkey Day NFT？　　With Thanksgiving coming up for many next week, the Macy‘s Thanksgiving Parade has been a staple each year around the holiday. This year, however, Macy’s is adding a little extra flavor. The iconic Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons will be released as part of a 9,510 NFT set series, free for anyone to mint on the holiday. This year is the 95th annual edition of the parade. Proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and will be made available on the Sweet marketplace.Xbox‘s Phil Spencer Shares His Thoughts On NFTs　　Microsoft’s EVP of Gaming, Phil Spencer, sat down with the folks at Axios this past week to share a bit of his skeptical thoughts on NFTs in gaming. Spencer stated “I think there‘s a lot of speculation and experimentation that’s happening,

2021-11-21Deep Dive

New report shows 50% of Uniswap V3 liquidity providers are losing money

Fintec advisory firm Topaze Blue, in conjunction with Bancor, recently published a report about impermanent loss (IL) on Uniswap V3. They discovered that 49.5% of liquidity providers had suffered negative returns due to IL.　　The report said liquidity providers, during the analysis period, would have been better off if they just held their tokens.What is impermanent loss？　　Uniswap is a decentralized finance protocol for exchanging cryptocurrencies. The protocol carries out this function as an Automatic Market Maker (AMM). This refers to smart contracts deployed on the blockchain using mathematical formulas to price assets.　　This is instead of an order book method used by traditional centralized exchanges, which rely on a pricing algorithm to facilitate the buying and selling process.　　AMMs work similarly to the order book method in that there are trading pairs, for example, ETH/MATIC. But the main difference is, with an AMM, you dont need a counterparty (another trader) on the other side to make the trade. Instead, interaction takes place with the smart contract that “makes” the market.　　To facilitate this, AMMs rely on liquidity pools which are crowdsourced pools of tokens locked in a smart contract. Investors add their tokens to liquidity pools looking for returns.　　IL happens when an investor adds

2021-11-20Deep Dive

Acala wins Polkadot’s first parachain slot with over 32 million DOT staked

DeFi protocol Acala has won the first-ever Polkadot parachain auction on Thursday. The platform raised a total of 32.5 million DOT from 81,000 contributors, worth over $1.3 billion at press time.Polkadot‘s first parachain auction was a huge success　　After a tight race for Polkadot’s first parachain, DeFi platform Acala emerged as a winner, beating its competitor Moonbeam. The winner of the auction was decided through a candle auction process, which determines the highest amount of contributions in a randomly selected block from the past seven days.　　Despite Moonbeam gathering more contributions overall—raising 34.4 million DOT by the end of the auction—Acala was in the lead 63% of the time. The DeFi platform raised 32 million DOT, worth around $1.2 billion, from 81,000 wallets.　　While many consider this to be a historic moment both for Polkadot and Acala, this isn‘t the first time the platform won an auction—in June, Acala’s sister project Kurara was the first project to win a parachain auction on Kusama, Polkadots so-called more chaotic cousin blockchain.　　The 32 million DOT users pledged to Acala will be locked for two years, or the duration of Acala‘s slot as a parachain on Polkadot. In return, those that participated in the crowdloan will receive

2021-11-20Deep Dive

Ethereum becomes a ‘first-class currency’ on Sotheby’s for Banksy auction

For the first time ever, Ethereum was listed as a payment option on Sothebys price table during the auction of two Banksy paintings.　　While the auction house has been accepting cryptocurrency payments since May this year, this was the first time ETH has both been listed as a first-class currency and used as payment.Banksy‘s legendary pieces put Ethereum on the map on Sotheby’s　　Two legendary Banksy paintings, “Trolley Hunters” and “Love Is In The Air”, have been bought with Ethereum on Sotheby‘s this Friday. And while major art purchases made with cryptocurrencies have long stopped being news, Banksy’s latest auction was rather unique.　　This was the first time Sothebys, the 250-year-old British-American auction house, accepted Ethereum (ETH) as payment. The company officially began accepting payments in cryptocurrencies in May this year, but the Banksy auction was the first time ETH was used in an auction.　　Sotheby‘s also made history by listing ETH as an official payment method on the auction’s price table, with the cryptocurrency joining the ranks of the USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, and other fiat currencies. The two pieces, called “Trolley Hunters” and “Love Is In The Air”, sold for 1,696 ETH ($6,698,400) and 1,397 ETH ($8,077,200), respectively. The sale was part

2021-11-20Deep Dive