Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Altcoin Roundup: DEXs come to the rescue after China bans crypto

Over the past few months, there have been some major developments coming out of China that have rocked the cryptocurrency market and the global financial markets. China‘s Evergrande debt repayment crisis sent shockwaves throughout global equities markets, as well as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SECs) consistent signaling of upcoming regulation for stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi) continued to weigh on sentiment within the market. 　　While the Evergrande situation somewhat resolved itself, for the time being, the government crackdown on unregulated DeFi platforms and stablecoin transactions continues. This has resulted in cross-chain equipped layer-one protocols and layer-two solutions seeing increased volumes as traders search for non-centralized venues to interact with.　　According to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, after China announced a ban on all cryptocurrency transactions, major cryptocurrency exchanges like Huobi suspended services for accounts in mainland China.　　This triggered an exodus of funds from Asia-based centralized exchanges (CEXs), and these funds were eventually deposited onto decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and the wider decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.　　This phenomenon is particularly interesting and requires further investigation, given the assumed failure of Ethereum‘s London hard fork in addressing untenable gas fees and the regulatory concerns mounting over the U.S. and China’s response to

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Solana-built decentralized exchange uses AI to make trading more accessible

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) empower users by getting cryptocurrency assets into the hands of more people.　　One platform is attempting to make the trading of crypto more accessible and straightforward with the use of artificial intelligence. Currently, new users must learn about markets and the assets they want to trade, adding to the barriers of getting started.　　The decentralized exchange, Soldex, is eliminating these barriers by giving traders the capabilities to use AI-powered trading algorithms developed by users.　　Beyond its innovative AI trading capabilities, Soldex offers many additional features over other DEXs. Since it is natively built on the Solana blockchain, it resolves many of the infrastructure issues apparent in older systems. It is relatively quick and cheap to use compared to anything built on Ethereum (ETH). 　　To remain decentralized, the internal infrastructure consists of smart contracts and the use of oracles.　　Throughout the last decade, exchanges continued to evolve to keep pace with the development of the crypto market. The team at Soldex shares, on their platform, “you can experience real-time transactions, conveniently deposit using your exchange wallets and make light-speed swaps. It also allows investors to participate in community governance and incentivized liquidity. The latter means that users can lock their funds for

2021-10-09Deep Dive

NYC’s Penn Station transformed into the largest public crypto NFT sale

Crypto fever reaches Penn Station in New York City with an interactive art sale featuring over 50 works of digital NFTs, accessible by QR code.　　Launched October 4, the ‘Art in Motion’ exhibition is curated by Plug Talk Media founder Nathan Nakhmanovich, also known as Mogul, and transform Penn Station into the first-of-its-kind digital art sale, featuring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from dozens of artists.　　The station domination will include more than 200 media assets throughout Penn Station, the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. Advertisements on column wraps, rotunda banners, directional clocks, and stair risers, to name a few, will encourage visitors to participate in the exhibit by scanning QR codes placed on the ads that will unveil the digital artworks available for bid through NFT marketplace OpenSea.　　The artists in the exhibition were hand-selected by Mogul and executive producer Eric Spivak, known as Motivate.　　“This campaign is a statement on the NFT revolution and the power of OOH,” said Nathan Nakhmanovich. “While other NFT galleries have used smaller public and private spaces, the ‘Art in Motion’ gallery will bring NFT to the real-world scale of public transit and showcase how to effectively drive attention from IRL to digital for the masses.”　　NFTs have

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Cryptocurrencies Pose Limited Risk To UK Financial Stability, Bank Of England Avers

The Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England has today published a report on the financial stability in the U.K., a report that also contains the position of the committee on crypto assets. The report notes the rapid adoption of crypto assets and their integration into the mainstream financial system in the region.　　“The FPC judges that direct risks to the stability of the UK financial system from crypto assets are currently limited. However, regulatory and law enforcement frameworks, both domestically and at a global level, need to keep pace with developments in these fast-growing markets to manage risks and to maintain broader trust and integrity in the financial system.”　　The FPC recommends that financial institutions willing to offer products and services in the crypto market in the region should adopt these assets cautiously and prudently.　　The committee said it is closely monitoring the association between crypto-assets and the larger UK financial system, intending to manage any systemic risks that may ensue from crypto market growth in the region.　　Mainstream banks are among the financial institutions with the lowest crypto adoption rates in the UK — way lower in adoption rates than investment funds and groups. One of the commonly mentioned drawbacks to

2021-10-09Deep Dive

South Korea’s crypto exchange Upbit limits withdrawals for unverified users

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit is to limit services for unverified users in a bid to step compliance efforts in line with new crypto regulations. The crypto exchange revealed that it would begin by limiting withdrawals from unverified users from this week in a move that will see unverified customers restricted to maximum withdrawals of no more than $850 per transaction.　　 Upbit will remove restrictions once a user is verified.　　The following week after introducing the withdrawal limits, the South Korean crypto exchange said it would go further in restricting trading services to verified users only, including all deposits and withdrawals, effective October 13. According to Upbit, these limits will be removed for users on successful verification, which can commence at any time. “Once customer verification is completed, the 1 million won limit will be lifted; members who submit an order with less than 1 million won can proceed with customer verification at any time,” the exchange said. “Once customer verification is completed, trading and deposit or withdrawal transactions will be resumed,” Upbit noted.　　Korean exchange accounts for some 80% of the local market for digital currency transactions.　　The new policy by the exchange means users signing up after October 6 are required

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Dapper Labs Partners With Chainalysis to Curb NFT-Based Money Laundering

Dapper Labs, one of the most successful companies in the NFT space, has partnered with Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence company, to increase its compliance profile in the NFT business. The company will use Chainalysis insights to have a better understanding of each one of the transactions that users make with their products and the purpose of each transaction. This will help them detect money laundering instances and market manipulation attempts.　　Dapper Labs to Use Chainalysis Solutions to Increase Oversight　　Dapper Labs, the creators of notable projects like Cryptokitties and NBA Top Shots, has partnered with Chainalysis, one of the leading blockchain intelligence companies, to increase oversight of transactions involving its products. The company is seeking to have a better understanding of what users are doing with its creations, and if these are indeed being leveraged by bad actors for illicit purposes.　　NFTs have gotten a bad rap, with some members of the cryptocurrency community making allegations they are being used to launder money due to the outrageous prices of some of these NFTs. Dapper Labs acknowledges the need for more awareness to make their products safer for anyone wishing to enjoy NFT markets. Naeem Bawla, associate director of compliance at Dapper Labs, stated:　　NFTs

2021-10-09Deep Dive

BITMEX CEO: FIVE COUNTRIES WILL ACCEPT BITCOIN AS LEGAL TENDER BY THE END OF 2022

The recent move by El Salvador to make bitcoin a legal tender alongside the dollar spurred some criticism worldwide, but mainly among mainstream media, such as the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, and renowned financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.　　Alexander Höptner, the CEO of bitcoin exchange BitMEX, explained in a blog post on October 6 that the immediate backlash sparked by the Bitcoin law in the Central American country reflects the opinion of those who benefit from the status quo.　　“What the critics fail to recognise is that developing countries like El Salvador are leading the world in embracing decentralised digital currencies and payments,” Höptner wrote. “Theyve had decades to analyse how the global financial system works – and doesnt work – for their populations. They acknowledge their powerlessness to influence monetary policy decisions that can have grave consequences on their citizens.”　　Höptner went on to explain that making bitcoin a legal tender as El Salvador did in September doesnt mean a complete opt-out of the established financial system. Instead, it means countries are looking for alternatives to better benefit their population and economy.　　“They arent quite opting out of the monetary system status quo (El

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Binance to Close Down Derivatives Services for South African Users

Binance continues to close down some of its services in certain regions, with the latest country being South Africa.　　Binance users based in South Africa will have until January 6th next year to manually close their derivatives positions as the exchange is halting these services. This is the latest action by the worlds leading crypto trading platform in its efforts to comply with local regulators.　　As announced earlier on October 8th, Binance has alerted its South African customers that it will cease offering any derivatives services. More precisely, those are trading of futures, options, margin, and leveraged tokens.　　Effective immediately, users based in the African nation will not be eligible to open new accounts for those products.　　Existing clients will have 90 days to “reduce and close their positions” manually. They will still be able to top-up margin balances to prevent margin calls and liquidations. However, they wont have the option to increase or open new positions.　　Should users fail to close their positions by January 6th, 2022, at 11:59 PM (UTC), they will be automatically settled.　　Once again, Binance attributed this decision to its efforts to comply with local regulators. As previously reported, the exchange has faced enhanced scrutiny from watchdogs and had to close

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Mike Novogratz: NFT Investors Should Take Profits and Put Them in BTC and ETH

Michael Novogratz – the CEO of Galaxy Digital and a prominent bitcoin bull – thinks that prices people pay for NFT products are not normal “in any way, shape, or form.” As such, they should consider “taking some money off the table” and investing it into the two leading digital assets.　　Dump NFTs, Go for BTC And ETH　　Speaking at the Londons Token2049 crypto conference, crypto billionaire Mike Novogratz aired his thoughts on non-fungible tokens, specifically their soaring prices and implementation in the financial network.　　The CEO of Galaxy Digital believes NFT fans are heavily committed. As such, they pay surreal sums to acquire digital artworks:　　“Thats not normal, in any way, shape, or form,” he said.　　Being an ultimate supporter of bitcoin, Novogratz advised investors to take some profits from the NFT market and relocate it into the primary cryptocurrency or Ethereum:　　“It seems to me like a pretty good time to at least book some profits, and fold it back into Bitcoin or Ethereum or another token.”　　Although previously regarded as a BTC maximalist, Novogratz has started to show support for Ethereum as well. Recently he even stated that Vitalik Buterins blockchain project “may become the biggest cryptocurrency one day.” However, it will have a

2021-10-09Deep Dive

Google Partners with Bakkt, Pushing Crypto Further into Mainstream

Intercontinental Exchange-owned cryptocurrency company Bakkt has struck a partnership with Mountain View-based tech giant Google, according to a press release published on Oct. 8.　　As part of the deal, Google Pay has added support for Bakkts virtual Visa debit card that was launched in June.　　The card makes it possible to purchase goods and services with Bitcoin or cash balances.　　On top of that, Bakkt will also leverage Google Clouds capabilities in order to develop new analytics powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning.　　Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael claims that the partnership demonstrates the companys strong position within the industry:　　“This partnership is a testament to Bakkts strong position in the digital asset marketplace, to empower consumers to enjoy their digital assets in a real-time, secure, reliable manner.”　　In April 2019, the ICE subsidiary hired Google veteran Mike Blandina as its chief product officer and was later appointed as its chief executive officer. Blandina left Bakkt for banking giant JPMorgan in April.　　Bakkt, which is expected to go public this month via a SPAC merger, also rolled out a consumer wallet app for various digital assets in late March.　　For more blockchain news, please download WikiBit - the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.

2021-10-09Deep Dive

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