Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Cathie Wood’s Ark Files for Bitcoin ETF

Zug-based exchange-traded product (ETP) issuer 21Shares AG and Cathie Woods ARK Investment Management have filed a joint application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund:　　21Shares US LLC (the “Sponsor”) is the sponsor of the Trust, Delaware Trust Company (the “Trustee”) is the trustee of the Trust, and Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC (“Coinbase Custody”) (the “Custodian”) is the custodian for the Trust, and will hold all of the Trust‘s bitcoin on the Trust’s behalf. ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) provides assistance in the marketing of the Shares.　　If approved, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF will be trading on the Cboe BZX Exchange.　　In early May, Wood was appointed to the board of Amun Holdings, the owner of 21Shares.　　This is already the twelfth ETF application in the U.S. The likes of Fidelity, Galaxy Digital, and VanEck have already jumped into the race.　　Ark currently owns roughly $250 million in the shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

2021-06-29Deep Dive

AMP and LPT Listed on Coinbase: To Surge or Not to Surge?

Flexas AMP has been officially listed by Coinbase, exposing the asset to a wider user base.　　Livepeers LPT has also been listed on the Coinbase exchange, fueling bullish sentiments for the token.　　In terms of utility, these tokens offer users extensive real-world capabilities as cryptocurrencies take a global outlook.　　Founded in 2012, Coinbase recently went public with an almost $100 billion valuation.　　An asset receiving a listing on Coinbase secures a variety of benefits, from wider reach, to a surge in prices. Somewhat justifiably, the communities of Flexa and Livepeer were elated when the news broke that AMP and LPT have been listed on Coinbase. Investors are rubbing their hands in glee, expecting the assets to see a price rally following ‘the Coinbase effect.’　　The Listing of AMP　　Coinbase revealed the listing of AMP, much to the delight of the community. While AMP has been listed on major exchanges before, the effect has been minimal in terms of price action. Before being listed, AMP was uplisted and this translated to a jump in the price of the cryptocurrency.　　The Coinbase listing is historic because it grants credibility to Flexa. Before being granted a listing on Coinbase, there is a strict vetting process that the development team of

2021-06-29Deep Dive

China Imposed Crypto Crackdown to Clear the Way for Its CBDC: Christopher Wood

The financial analyst and Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies – Christopher Wood – opined that the Chinese officials want no competition for its digital renminbi. That is why they enforced the crackdown on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies lately.　　China Cares About its CBDC Not Carbon Footprint　　Christopher Wood – the prominent financial analyst focused on the Asian market – surmised that there is more to the story behind Chinas negative stance against crypto mining and trading. In his opinion, the authorities do not truly care about CO2 emissions and the environment as they may have claimed before. All they aim for is to neutralize the competition to its own digital yuan:　　“Certainly, the decentralized aspects of blockchain technology, which is so appealing to libertarians opposed to fiat currencies as state monopolies, is the complete antithesis of Chinas collectivist system.”　　“The Peoples Republic of China clearly understands this. This is certainly a far more important issue to Beijing than the carbon generating aspects of bitcoin mining.”　　Wood predicted that the most populated country is very close to launching its CBDC as he expects that to happen at the end of 2021:　　“China does not want any competition when it launches the digital renminbi nationally, most

2021-06-29Deep Dive

Privacy protocol’s dogged focus on untraceable coins and anonymous communication

In a battle of animal-themed cryptocurrencies, a bullock-branded, anonymity-focused protocol is making the case that it is faster, safer and cleaner than the shiba inu-faced joke coin that became a top 10 cryptocurrency this year, largely on the strength of Elon Musks memes.　　Animals aside, the Oxen privacy coin does have some reason to compare itself with market darling Dogecoin. Speed, for one. While DOGE‘s block time is one minute compared to OXEN’s two, Oxen can use what it calls Blink technology, which is the default setting for OXEN to make the transactions nearly instant.　　On top of that, Oxen has moved to a far more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, rather than the power-hungry proof-of-work (PoW) technology that DOGE shares with Bitcoin. Additionally, Oxen uses staked service nodes, which can be used to power blockchain-based, mass market-focused DApps — like the anonymous messaging DApp Session and Tor-challenging router Lokinet that Oxen has launched.　　While Oxen was designed specifically with anonymity in mind — something that the Colonial Pipeline ransomware hackers discovered is not inherent in pseudonymous-but-transparent Bitcoin after the FBI recovered $2.3 million in ransomed Bitcoin — DOGE was literally designed as a joke.　　“Although DOGE might be a meme — that

2021-06-29Deep Dive

Fitch Ratings Warns Against El Salvador Bitcoin Move

Fitch, one of the “big three” credit rating agencies, has cautioned that El Salvadors move to make Bitcoin legal tender would put banks at risk of money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion.　　El Salvadors president, Nayib Bukele, announced last week that Bitcoin would become legal tender on September 7.　　However, the World Bank, the IMF, and other global authorities have been critical of the move. The World Bank has refused a request from El Salvador to assist in the countrys implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender.　　In a blog post on Friday, Fitch warned that Bitcoin could potentially violate international anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing standards, and facilitate tax evasion.　　Links between organized crime and Bitcoin are a particular concern for regulators. Bukele has repeatedly denied links to MS-13 and Barrio 18, two of the largest drug cartels in Central America. But critics have said that he worked with the gangs to assist his political career.　　One of the Salvadoran governments partners in its plans is Chicago-based Zap Solutions Inc., whose digital wallet, Strike, is already being used by some Salvadorans.　　Last week, Decrypt reported that Zap lacks licenses to operate in most U.S. states. This makes it illegal for Salvadoran emigrants to send

2021-06-29Deep Dive

South Korean Crypto Exchanges Ready for Legal Fight Amid Closure Threats

South Korean crypto exchanges are preparing lawsuits to sue the government or challenge it in the constitutional court if they fail to meet a September regulatory deadline and are obliged to close.　　New regulations for crypto exchanges, which have already passed into law, will be enforced as of September 24. But thus far none of the nations 60 functioning crypto exchanges have met the exhaustive list of criteria required to obtain operating permits.　　Even the nations “big four” exchanges – Upbit, Korbit, Bithumb, and Coinone – are still to secure the key banking deals required, while the regulatory Financial Services Commission (FSC) is set to conduct on-the-spot checks at all 60 South Korean trading platforms.　　But while exchanges are holding onto the hope that the FSC and the government will soften their stances as the deadline approaches, anger is mounting in the crypto sector, with a grim acceptance across the industry that as things stand “most exchanges” are still set to close on September 24 unless the government backs down.　　According to Yonhap and Dailian, the chasing pack of larger non-big four exchanges is growing increasingly disgruntled with what they see as “unreasonable demands” placed upon them and the regulators “preferential treatment” of the

2021-06-29Deep Dive

Banco Sabadell's TSB Bank to Ban Cryptocurrency Purchases

London-based TSB Bank—which is owned by Spanish banking giant Banco Sabadell—is intending to prohibit cryptocurrency purchases, according to a June 28 report by Business Insider.　　Its unclear when the ban will come into effect.　　Crypto-related fraud appears to be the primary concern that influenced the decision, according to the banks spokesperson:　　“We take our obligation to protect customers extremely seriously and continually review merchants and websites with excessively high fraud rates.”　　The ban might also have been prompted by the Financial Conduct Authority banning Binance Markets Limited from operating in the country last week. Its worth noting that all products and services offered by the Binance crypto exchange are still fully accessible in the U.K.　　849 TSB customers lost money on Binance in the span of one month.　　As reported by U.Today, British digital bank Starling also suspended payments to cryptocurrency exchanges in late May to protect customers before resuming them in early June.

2021-06-29Deep Dive

Trik Dimainkan dalam Perdagangan Cryptocurrency!

1. Menuai keuntungan　　Peranan yang dimainkan oleh influencer dan media massa dalam industri ini sangat kuat, dengan menggunakan aset digital sehingga menjadikan nama rumah tangga tidak diketahui dan secara dramatik meningkatkan nilainya kepada para pemula untuk melabur. Manipulator menjual duit syiling mereka kepada pemula dengan memanfaatkan nilai yang mencapai puncaknya.　　2. Duit syiling untuk pemasaran pelbagai peringkat　　Beberapa syarikat cryptocurrency melancarkan kempen untuk pembiayaan orang ramai dan melanggan. Harga untuk duit syiling sangat rendah dan dijanjikan akan melonjak dengan cepat. Sebilangan peniaga yang tunduk pada godaan itu dirugikan oleh harga yang dimanipulasi oleh syarikat-syarikat ini. Semua dana mereka yang dilaburkan akan berakhir dengan apa-apa apabila harga mencecah palung dan runtuh.　　3. Perdagangan over-the-counter (OTC)　　Beberapa pemula yang merancang untuk membeli mata wang digital mungkin ditipu oleh iklan untuk menjual duit syiling dengan harga yang jauh lebih rendah daripada pasaran dalam kumpulan sembang. Mereka terpikat untuk membuat simpanan untuk duit syiling tanpa rasa curiga biasanya oleh pesanan dari penipu yang menggunakan potret yang menawan sebagai penyamaran tetapi disenarai hitam segera setelah kedatangan dana mereka di akaun penipu. Oleh itu, jangan menjadi bijak dan bodoh kerana tidak ada makan tengah hari percuma di dunia!

2021-06-28Deep Dive

Hashing out a future: Is Bitcoin hash rate drop an opportunity in disguise?

China‘s crackdown on Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations has led to a significant drop in the network’s hash rate, but industry participants believe it presents an incredible opportunity for the wider mining ecosystem.　　China has long been a major contributor to the Bitcoin mining space, at times accounting for more than 70% of the global hash rate of the world‘s preeminent cryptocurrency. That was up until June 2021, when the Chinese government moved to shutter a number of the world’s biggest mining centers.　　The Chinese southwestern province of Sichuan has an abundance of hydroelectric power, which is fed by Asia‘s largest river, Yangtze. The advent of ASIC mining saw the province become home to some of the biggest mining operations in the world over the past few years due to its favorable electricity rates. But that is now coming to an abrupt end, driven by the country’s hardening stance on cryptocurrency mining and the ecosystem in general.　　Local media has reported that 26 major Bitcoin mining hubs were forced to shutter in Sichuan, which has had a dramatic effect on the global hash rate. The Bitcoin hash rate peaked mid-May at 171 terahashes per second (TH/s) but has dropped to a low of 83

2021-06-28Deep Dive

Chia: The Main Hard Drive Price Influencer

Hard disk sales are expected to diminish as the price of Chia falls by 70%.　　Seagate has increased its revenue expectations with an improved SEC filing from $2.85 billion to $2.95 billion.　　Plotting Chia on SSD and HDD impacts the lifespan of the hard drives.　　Rising demand in hard drives increases the utilization of the production line, which otherwise would be idle.　　Examining the potential of green Bitcoin alternatives involves directing attention to newer consensus mechanisms. The Chia Network has developed a reputation of being environmentally friendly as it does not rely on the proof of work mechanism to secure the network. Built by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen, Chia operates on a proof of space and time protocol that requires hard drives to plot blocks. SSD and HDD prices have soared amid early adopter hysteria.　　Digging for Hard Drive Gold　　The Chia Network‘s green mining marketing positively impacted the public’s attitude towards mining. The network represents an energy-efficient alternative as it is solely dependent on hard drives. Reports indicate hard drive shortages occurred for both enterprise and consumer-grade hardware. A Vietnamese report highlights that enterprise-grade hard disks were being resold to Chinese consumers. Furthermore, Chinese reporter WuBlockchain revealed that a 16T WD hard drive amounted to

2021-06-28Deep Dive

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