Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

What Happens to ETH If It Becomes PoS?

The first stage of the transition to Ethereum 2.0, the Beacon Chain, has already begun.　　 ETH 2.0 will increase accessibility, performance, decentralization, and scalability.　　 Regular users wont be affected as existing ETH will carry over.　　 Despite uncertainty over the 2.0 roadmap, its likely to inspire a large ETH rally.　　Ethereum‘s move from a Proof of Work (PoW) to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus system has raised questions about its effect on ETH prices since its first formal proposal in 2018. The initial release of this system in December last year, the ’Beacon Chain, only increased speculation, financial or otherwise.　　Rather than expending resources (i.e. ASICs and electricity) to mine blocks, Proof of Stake users “validate block transactions according to how many coins they hold,” by definition. Project lead Vitalik Buterin has been pushing for PoS since Ethereums early days as it “offers more security for the same cost,” among other improvements.　　As the shift will only affect the internal workings of Ethereum, the platform states that the existing ETH of HODLers, dApp creators, and regular traders “will not need changing or upgrading.” Any changes to the coins price will rest solely on the new features 2.0 brings.　　PoS Is Attractive to New

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Binance’s Global Dominance Under Threat, Barclays Blocks Payments to Binance

Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, is now at the risk of losing its global dominance. The recent regulatory crackdown from some of the top regulators worldwide is putting Binance in a bad light.　　Institutional-grade crypto market data provider Kaiko notes that the recent “onslaught” of regulatory action is putting pressure on Binances overwhelming global dominance. The crypto exchange is facing restrictions at multiple locations like the U.K, Thailand, Cayman Islands, Canada, and even Singapore.　　As a result of this several banking and payment partners of Binance have started cutting ties with the exchange. The recent one is from British banking Barclays which has blocked its customers from transferring funds to Binance.　　The thing with Binance is that it has been constantly changing base over the last few years. The crypto exchanges lack of global headquarters has been the major reason behind the scrutiny. Originally started in Asia, Binance moved out of China following the 2017 crackdown.　　Based on the trading volumes of the BTC/USDT trading pairs, Binance relies heavily on the European and the North American market.　　Courtesy: Kaiko　　As we can see in the above chart, Binance still dominates the market in terms of the hourly trading volume. But it looks

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Stobox Exchange Promises Innovative Approach to Crypto Investing

Stobox is an award-winning company that provides technology tools and consulting services to streamline all operations with digital assets and tokenized securities. Launched in 2019, Stobox has spent two years on R&D and building a comprehensive ecosystem of products and services in the field of digital assets and tokenization (read more about Stobox here).　　July 5 2021 — Stobox is glad to announce the launch of Stobox Exchange, a centralized exchange where investing is prioritized over trading, designed to be a place of digital assets research and profit.　　The Stobox team developed Stobox Exchange as a part of an ecosystem of products intended for tokenizing and managing digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Stobox Exchange will provide full access to the world of selected cryptocurrencies and digital assets.　　Operations on Stobox Exchange are powered by Stobox Utility Token, which is used as a commission token for reduced fees and product preferences.　　 Stobox Exchange vision: increase the level of crypto adoption　　Gene Deyev, Stobox CEO: “Even though the adoption of crypto is growing, the number of worldwide users is still comparatively small. Our focus is on new-to-crypto users, who seek long-term investments in digital assets rather than margin or futures trading”.　　Thus, Stobox Exchange was designed to serve

2021-07-06Deep Dive

OpenOcean Announces Strategic Investment By Huobi Ventures Blockchain Fund

OpenOcean, a leading DeFi and CeFi aggregator, has announced a strategic partnership with Huobi Ventures Blockchain Fund. According to the firm through a press release, the two anticipate working together closely to offer more solutions to the decentralized financial ecosystem and the CeFi sector.　　Following the strategic partnership, OpenOcean received the financial backing of an undisclosed amount. Notably, Huobi Ventures Blockchain Fund is a subsidiary of Huobi Group, which is a revered blockchain company.　　Consequently, the partnership is expected to help OpenOcean users access higher capital efficiencies and profits from enhanced trading strategies. Moreover, OpenOcean has been making strategic partnerships in the recent past to provide seamless trading experiences for its global customers.　　The DEX aggregator has integrated with the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Tron, Solana among others. Hereby, the platform has been able to surpass 200,000 active unique addresses that have made over 730,000 transactions worth over $2 billion in USDT. Mind you, the milestone has been recorded in less than a year since its launch back in the third quarter of last year.　　The team behind OpenOcean has been involved in prior funding rounds from strategic crypto investors including Binance. Notably, the firm managed to raise a total of $2 million back

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Cryptocurrencies: Not Expected Peaks but Unexpected Cliff Edges

Traders are easily stimulated in the investment into digital currencies because of no limitations on the extent of rises and drops in this industry featuring 24-hour trading without interruptions. They are prone to a capital introduction when getting lucrative information regardless of whether it is true. Sometimes they are lucky to see the rapid growth in the value of coins in a few weeks, but sometimes they will suffer hefty losses.　　Cravings for success may make you blind to impending risks. Several recommendations regarding investments in cryptocurrencies are listed herein:　　1. Never stop learning. The idea of long-term investment is correct, but it is incorrect to be oblivious of the outside world when you trade in the long run.　　2. Investment diversification. It is unwise to invest in only one type of digital assets in an ever-changing market.　　3. The purchase of coins featuring a high market value is safe when you cannot understand the market as the higher the market value is, the lower the investment risk will be.　　4. Identity the timing. When you buy in/sell out at the wrong timing, you will not book profits even if you gain floating ones at the earlier stage.　　Investing in cryptocurrencies is a kind of speculation,

2021-07-06Deep Dive

South Korean Politician: North Has Stolen USD 310M in Crypto Since 2019

A senior South Korean opposition politician has claimed hackers from the North have raided South Korean crypto wallets to the tune of almost USD 310m over the past two years.　　According to Chosun, Ha Tae-keung, the former head of the New Conservative Party and currently an MP for the main opposition People Power Party, says that he is aiming to stand for election at next years presidential elections.　　He claimed that in addition to the 35 cases of hacking identified by the UN in 2019 – whereby USD 2bn was allegedly raided by North Korean cybercriminals (wich the country denies), Ha stated that he had seen evidence that in the two years since, Pyongyang-backed hackers have made off with a further USD 310m worth of tokens from South Korean wallets.　　Ha added that North Korean raiders have also successfully carried out attacks on the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) – the government-run intelligence unit tasked with carrying out anti-cybercrime efforts.　　Gina Kim, a Seoul-based IT security expert, told Cryptonews.com:　　“While it is true that crypto exchanges were once seen as low-hanging fruit, with lax security protocols and money lying around in hot wallets, much of that has changed in the past couple of years.

2021-07-06Deep Dive

‘Only 4 Korean Exchanges to Be Left Standing’ in September, Warn Banks

South Korean commercial banks “increasingly believe” only four crypto exchanges will survive beyond a September 24 deadline – after which crypto exchanges will need to adopt anti-money laundering (AML) protocols and find banking partners in order to keep operating.　　The nations first piece of crypto-specific legislation promulgated in March, requiring all exchanges to adopt what had been guidelines on real name-authenticated banking. All crypto exchange customers will be required to hold fiat on/off ramp bank accounts at partner banks, with all transactions, fiat and crypto, monitored in real-time. At present only the “big four” exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit and Coinone) offer such services, and time is running out for other exchanges hoping to join their number.　　Banks in the country, as previously reported, are growing increasingly reluctant to work with crypto exchanges – as they have been told that they will need to absorb all money laundering and security-related risks. Some have already ruled out the possibility of teaming up with exchanges post-September 24.　　Per Hanguk Kyungjae, banks were dismayed by comments made last week by the chairman of the Financial Services Commission Eun Sung-soo. Eun dismissed calls from bankers complaining that burdening them with the full extent of the blame in instances

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Can Google Trends Predict The Last Bitcoin Leg Up?

The Google trends data for the search term “Bitcoin” shows that the curve today is similar to that of the 2017 bull market.　　Can Google Trends Predict A Bull Market？　　As pointed out by Twitter user Bitcoin Archive, the Google Trends graph for “Bitcoin” matches up with the last leg up for the 2017 bull market.　　Here is how the Google trend chart in question looks like:　　Trends for the search term “Bitcoin” today compared to 2017 | Source: Google Trends　　As you can see in the above chart, the oval marks the region from 2017 that seems to be similar when compared with today (marked with the circle).　　2017 was a historic bull run where the price of Bitcoin rose from $900 at the beginning of the year to $20000 in December of the same.　　However, a similarity in these Google trends may not mean a bull run is imminent.　　Here is how the Google trends chart looks like for the search term “crypto”:　　Trends for the search term “crypto” in the last 5 years | Source: Google Trends　　From these trends, it indeed looks like the 2017 and the current periods are indeed similar. However, these charts are different in that the search trends for the term “crypto”

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Jeff Bezos Bersara Dari Jawatan CEO Amazon Dengan Kekayaan RM840 Bilion

Jeff Bezos memilih tarikh 5 Julai ini untuk berhenti, kerana ia genap 27 tahun sejak syarikat Amazon ditubuhkan. Beliau kini akan digantikan oleh Andy Jassy yang sebelum ini menerajui AWS sejak 2016 yang lepas.　　Jeff Bezos akan terus menjadi pengerusi Amazon, dan pada masa yang sama, turut menguruskan beberapa syarikat lain dibawah beliau.　　Dibawah Jeff Bezos, Amazon bukan sahaja menjadi kedai jual buku, tetapi telah menjadi sebuah perkhidmatan edagang gergasi, dan kini turut menyediakan perkhidmatan AWS untuk web yang digunakan pelbagai pihak, dan menjadi manusia terkaya di dunia.　　Kelak pada bulan ini juga, jeff Bezos akan menjadi salah seorang penumpang misi angkasa pertama untuk roket New Shepard.

2021-07-06Deep Dive

Instagram Looking to Implement NFT Collectibles on User Profiles

Instagram appears to be working on implementing NFT features on its app according to mobile developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi.　　The mobile developer has a knack for finding mobile updates ahead of time. Instagram could be looking to implement its own form on non-fungible tokens in the upcoming future according to Paluzzi.　　Paluzzi commented on his findings on Twitter, showing potential updates to both Twitter and Instagram. Both platforms appear to be looking to implement big updates to their current offering. Twitter could be looking to add two new services in Chipper Cash and Wealthsimple.　　 Instagram collectibles　　More importantly, Paluzzi mentioned that “Instagram continues to work on Collectibles. Here‘s the onboarding screen,” he stated. According to the developer’s sleuthing, Instagram posts that offer NFTs, will have the “Collectible” label on it. This will show users that there is a purchasable NFT on the post.　　Instagram has yet to publicly announce the launch of an NFT offering on its platform. However, the company has made mention of potentially adding payment features into the platform. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri has previously spoken about tools that could help creators make a living through the app.　　 Instagram discusses monetization for creators　　Mosseri was speaking at Instagram‘s Creator Week

2021-07-06Deep Dive

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