Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

There’s Only Room for ‘Three or Four’ Bitcoin ETFs: Valkyrie Funds CIO

In brief　　The Valkryie Funds CIO has said there is only room for three or four Bitcoin ETFs in the United States.　　Steven McClurg also discussed contango and the mechanics of tracking the price of Bitcoin.　　Steven McClurg, chief investment officer of Valkyrie Funds, the company behind the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF, said there is probably only room for a few U.S. Bitcoin futures ETFs.　　“As it grows, theres probably only room for really three or four of us,” he told CNBC during a recent interview.　　The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has limited issuers to 2,000 contracts for October and 4,000 for November. If the Bitcoin futures ETF space grows, said McClurg, “I think the CME will extend those limits.”　　McClurg emphasized that he was pro-competition in the space, saying “the best strategy is actually just open up the playing field and letting other ETF issuers in.”　　Tracking Bitcoin　　The Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF is a Bitcoin futures ETF, meaning that users dont receive shares backed by Bitcoin, but shares tied to Bitcoin futures—contracts to buy Bitcoin at a later date.　　However, McClurg is not necessarily very worried about tracking Bitcoins price.　　Futures trading is regulated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. One of the most important aspects of that regulation

2021-10-28Deep Dive

Facebook, Mastercard, and Adobe Integrate With Blockchain and Metaverse

In its early days, institutional bodies regarded Bitcoin as an unsustainable asset coveted by criminals. In the intervening decade since its development, the tables seem to have turned, and more firms are beginning to find new avenues and ways to get involved with digital assets.　　In 2021, NFTs, the Metaverse, and GameFi seem to have taken center stage in this development. With blockchain technology offering a glimpse of the future for humanity, many institutions are hoping to position themselves appropriately to ensure they dont miss out. This has resulted in inflows of over $17 billion into space in 2021 alone.Increasing Crypto Opportunities For Big Players　　Due in part to Bitcoins price appreciation, there is now a growing list of large investors seeking to add this asset class to their balance sheet. This has caused a domino effect as other financial institutions are also looking to capitalize on the increasing user adoption of cryptocurrency.　　The recent approval of a US Bitcoin ETF and its subsequent debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has presented another avenue for these institutional investors to partake in Bitcoin. Since it started trading a week ago, CoinShares has reported a staggering $1.47 billion inflow of new money into

2021-10-27Deep Dive

Decentralised Data Storage: A Fairer Economy for Web 3.0

The advent of the internet has completely changed the way information and content are being proliferated and used. With the democratisation of knowledge, there has also come increased control and censorship from government and private institutions which seems to be increasing day by day.　　While we have gained access to this brave new virtual world, we have done so in exchange of ownership and rights over the information that we consume and share online, which can be manipulated, monetised, and even used against ourselves without our consent.　　Big tech companies have transformed our personal data, regularly selling it to advertisers so they can efficiently target us, easily exploiting our desires and emotions for profit. While some argue that this brings convenience for the consumer, those who claim to have nothing to hide, some psychologists warn that the loss of privacy can lead to harmful psychological effects.　　This novel kind of profiling can even be easily used for nefarious purposes, even in the political arena as a method to sway elections, with the most scandalous example being the Cambridge Analytica scandal.　　The tracking of our online searches and communications is often done without the knowledge of the end-user. Now, as we continue to walk towards

2021-10-27Deep Dive

Supply for Binance Coin set to decrease as BEP-95 seeks to burn BNB in ‘real time’

Binance has pulled a new trick out of its bag as it plans to introduce a real-time burning mechanism, Binance Evolution Protocol, BEP-95, to its Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network. This was announced via a press statement issued by the largest crypto exchange by trading volume recently.Binance proposed BEP-95 upgrade　　According to the released statement, the new BEP-95 will lead to the BSC network being more decentralized as it would drastically increase the burning speed of BNB, its native token.　　This new mechanism would burn some BNB for every transaction that is carried out on the network and it is also capped to a maximum of 100 million BNB which is half of the total supply of the token itself.　　The abstract behind this BEP is to speed up the burning process of BNB and make BSC more decentralized, as part of the gas fee will be burned. The BEP-95 burn is solely dependent on the activity on the BSC network, and it will continue functioning (decreasing BNB supply), even after the scheduled BNB burns by Binance.com reach the target supply of 100m BNB in circulation.　　Crypto assets are beginning to embrace burning as a way of becoming deflationary in nature. The process involves

2021-10-27Deep Dive

Third largest Bitcoin whale purchases BTC worth $37.5 million

One of the largest Bitcoin whales has resurfaced with the purchase of over 596 Bitcoin yesterday, data from sources show.　　They were purchased at the price of $62,934 per Bitcoin.　　A ‘Bitcoin whale’ is a term used to denote hefty investors who purchase Bitcoin in bulk. These whales hold enough cryptocurrency that they have the potential to manipulate the cryptocurrency valuations　　It is to be noted that the purchase has been made by the whale after showing no signs of trading these past few weeks. Initially, it has been reported that the whale had made multiple purchases in the past, including selling 500 Bitcoin in August, followed by trading 321 Bitcoin in September.Third largest Bitcoin whale returns to the market　　This anonymous whale has reportedly bought and sold an extensive amount of the cryptocurrency when the price of Bitcoin had passed the $60,000 mark. The whale had also later begun to reaccumulate the asset when it had lost half its value.　　Recently, the whale had sold some Bitcoin worth $56,000 this month before purchasing them back at a higher price. Whales have been known to study crypto surge patterns and transact deals accordingly to acquire maximum revenue through crypto trading.　　The current rally of Bitcoin which

2021-10-27Deep Dive

How NFTs are changing the Play2Earn scene

A bunch of blockchain-based games are now using NFTs to power the in-game economy and change the way that we play games. 　　To find out more about Play2Earn games and how NFTs are taking gaming to the next level, the NFT experts from BuyNFT.com are going to share the industry secrets! What are Play2Earn Games？　　The concept of Play2Earn games has been around for a while now, but NFTs and blockchain have taken it to a new level. What we mean by this is that you‘ve always been able to buy and earn in-game currency, but that’s all it was. Whether you earned FIFA coins, FarCry credits or Minecraft coins, you could buy these or earn them by completing achievements, but thats all they could do. 　　Games are now starting to change this money system and replace it with actual currency and items that you can sell. We saw this with the likes of Diablo 2 where you could sell in-game items to other players. But you still couldnt take the money out of the game. 　　By using NFTs as the in-game items and currency, gamers are now able to farm items and characters in games and then sell them on

2021-10-27Deep Dive

Ripple deploys its first on-demand liquidity tool in the Middle East

As digital payments transactions rapidly continue to grow in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Ripple partners up with an international blockchain-based financial services company Pyypl in a bid to bring instant, low-cost remittances to the area.　　According to the official announcement, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be the first country in the region to welcome the new services.First-ever in-market ODL deployment in the Middle East　　“Today, Ripple announced its continuing contribution to this hotbed of fintech innovation with the first-ever in-market On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) deployment in the Middle East,” read the announcement. 　　“The MENA region is home to 2 of the top 3 remittance corridors in the world – having sent $78 billion in remittances in 2020 – which is why were excited that this partnership will drive innovation thereby facilitating instant, low-cost remittances,” Ripple pointed out on Twitter.　　Using ODL and leveraging XRP, Pyypl will provide faster and cheaper remittance options for people sending money into and out of the region.　　“XRP will not be held within the UAE and transactions will not involve the currency AED as part of the payment flow,” Ripple noted in the announcement.　　RippleNet Managing Director in APAC and MENA Brooks Entwistle commented on the

2021-10-27Deep Dive

DeFi stablecoins protocol Ampleforth launches on Avalanche (AVAX)

Ampleforth development firm Fragments Inc. announced today the completion of Avalanches integration with the Ampleforth protocol to bring AMPL, the Ethereum-born decentralized unit of account for denominating stable contracts, over to the sixth-largest blockchain in the world.　　Since August, the decentralized finance stack on Avalanches Layer 1 blockchain has grown to become one of the most robust in the industry, with more than $8 billion total value locked (TVL) across more than 40 decentralized exchanges and lending/borrowing protocols. 　　And to support the sustainable growth and liquidity of its DeFi ecosystem, Avalanche has worked closely with the Fragments team to bring a more durable and censorship-resistant alternative to stablecoins into the mix. 　　“It is ironic that the DeFi ecosystem currently relies so heavily on centralized stablecoins for liquidity and lending collateral,” explained Evan Kuo, CEO of Fragments, Inc., in a written statement. 　　“With the changing regulatory landscape and uncertainty around what the verdict around stablecoins will be, it‘s important for DeFi to have a financial building block that’s decentralized, uncensorable, and have some aspect of price predictability or stability,” he added.How the move to Avalanche helps　　AMPL is a fully algorithmic unit of account that acts as a fundamental building block for DeFi.

2021-10-27Deep Dive

$200 million ‘Bitcoin Fund’ receives approval for listing on Nasdaq Dubai

The Bitcoin Fund, the Middle Easts first listed digital asset-based fund has received approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) for its At-the-Market program on Nasdaq Dubai.Rising investor demand from the Middle East　　In line with the approval of the offering, The Bitcoin Fund is now in a position to list up to $200 million worth of units on Nasdaq Dubai which will allow the Middle Easts first listed digital asset product to be able to deliver on the growing demand from regional institutional investors.　　“We are extremely proud to have received the approval of the ATM program from the DFSA. Since we listed The Bitcoin Fund on the Nasdaq Dubai, we have seen an ever-increasing appetite from the large regional institutional investors. With the ability to now execute significantly larger sale offerings we anticipate that this will help to further grow the fund in the region,” explained Frederick Pye, Chairman and CEO, 3iQ Digital Asset Management.　　Since June, Bitcoin has been on a price rally crossing a new all-time high of the $66,000 mark earlier this week. Driven primarily by a fresh round of adoption by institutions and renewed interest by retail investors, the worlds number one digital asset continues to

2021-10-27Deep Dive

Coinbase CEO Armstrong Stirs Hope Of Relisting XRP After Throwing His Weight Behind Ripple

Coinbase boss Brian Armstrong has expressed his support for Ripple amidst its legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latest comments by Armstrong have reignited rumors among the XRP Army that the leading crypto exchange may soon restore XRP trading on its platform.　　Armstrong Supports Ripple In Its Case With The SEC　　In an October 26 tweet, Armstrong wrote that the ongoing battle between distributed ledger technology firm Ripple and the SEC appears to be “going better than expected”.　　The CEO observed that the securities regulator has come to the realization that attacking the crypto sector and subsequently harming consumers is “politically unpopular”. He then said its quite ironic that the crypto investors the SEC claims to be protecting are the ones attacking the agency.　　XRP Relisting Rumors Reignited　　The SEC unleashed legal action against Ripple in December 2020. Shortly afterward, multiple cryptocurrency exchanges — including Coinbase — and crypto lenders halted their XRP services in light of the SEC lawsuit. What followed was a significant drop in the value of the crypto asset.　　The latest statement from Coinbase CEO Armstrong has raised the prospect of the exchange once again allowing trading of the token. ZyCrypto previously reported a rumor suggesting

2021-10-27Deep Dive