Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Travala launches decentralized home-sharing service — will it be the next Airbnb?

The site claims to repair “the broken relationship between hosts and guests created by existing centralized home-sharing platforms.”　　Pro-crypto travel booking agency Travala.com is releasing a decentralized property rental service.　　In a Wednesday announcement, Travala said it had partnered with former executives from Airbnb, Expedia, and other companies to launch Dtravel, a decentralized vacation rental platform that may serve as a competitor for sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. The platform is community governed through Dtravels Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO, and uses DeFi to facilitate smart contracts between hosts and guests.　　Dtravel claims to repair “the broken relationship between hosts and guests created by existing centralized home-sharing platforms.” The platform said that issues stemming from centralized control on competing home-sharing platforms have led to high fees and lack of direct communications between hosts and guests, in addition to many not allowing cryptocurrency as a payment option.　　“Traditional home sharing platforms are aligned with their users in the early stages, but over time this changes,” said Travala co-founder and CEO Juan Otero. “With the need to return profits to shareholders, home-sharing platforms are forced to extract as much as possible from transactions on their platforms.”　　Many have criticized platforms like Airbnb for higher-ups rarely — if

2021-06-17Deep Dive

Diversification into Bitcoin a ‘prudent move,’ says Bloomberg strategist

The statement appeared as Bitcoin investors waited for fresh economic projections from the Federal Reserve and China pledged to release metal reserves amid concerns over commodity rally.　　Bitcoin (BTC) price has retreated by more than 40% after topping out near $65,000 in mid-April. But that is not enough to derail the flagship cryptocurrencys long-term bull trend, especially as global markets grapple with declining national currencies and the prospect of a commodity market crash.　　So believes Mike McGlone, the senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, who said Wednesday that diversifying into store-of-value assets is a wise strategy against gloomy currency and commodity market outlooks.　　“Theres little risk of the dollar dropping in value vs. similarly depreciating currencies, which means that diversification into store-of-value assets like gold and Bitcoin is simply a prudent move, in our view,” he tweeted Wednesday.　　Money printer goes brrr　　McGlones bullish analogy took references from a recent spike in money injected into the U.S. and Eurozone economies. The U.S. Money Supply M2, a measure of the money supply that includes cash and checking deposits (M1) and near money, reached $20.256 trillion on May 3, 2021, from $15.384 trillion on Feb. 10, 2020.　　A surplus liquidity injection into the U.S. economy left the dollar

2021-06-17Deep Dive

CNN selling historic news ‘moments’ as NFTs

CNN has followed Fox and Time Magazine into the NFT market, announcing the launch of collectible historic moments from the news.　　CNNs NFT project is dubbed “Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us” and includes a series of tokenized iconic moments from its 41-year history, along with a vault to purchase, store and display the NFTs.　　Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us　　The news organization has not revealed which specific historic moments will be tokenized, however, it noted that themes including CNN exclusives, notable firsts, world history, and presidential elections, will be covered.　　The initial launch will include six weekly drops starting from late June, with CNN teasing the first drops may depict space travel and election results. The NFTs will be sold in a combination of open and limited editions.　　The NFTs will be minted on the Flow blockchain, which CNN chose for its energy-efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Flow is also home to NBA Top Shot, which has had huge success selling iconic sporting ‘moments’.　　To purchase NFTs, users will need to sign up to CNN‘s vault, where they will store their moments. Cryptocurrency is not be required to purchase, with the platform accepting credit cards via third-party payment platform Stripe. The vault’s description

2021-06-17Deep Dive

Top Economist Steve Hanke Calls El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption Decision Stupid

Steve Hanke has lambasted El Salvador for adopting bitcoin as a legal tender. The economist believes it was a “very stupid” decision influenced by dark forces.　　While the entire crypto industry was extremely delighted with the news of El Salvador‘s bitcoin adoption as a legal tender, several financial analysts have called out the country’s president and congress for the decision.　　A “Very Stupid” Decision　　In a recent report, Steve Hanke, a professor of Applied Economics at the John Hopkins University, has called the decision a “very stupid” one.　　According to him, El Salvador is one of the three officially dollarized American nations, and adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender will ultimately cause its economy to collapse.　　He alleged that the decision was influenced by “dark forces” who wish to completely drain the entire US dollar in circulation.　　Bitcoin for Daily Transactions　　“Dark forces clearly are behind this, that is the criminal element and the reason for that is the criminal element wants to be able to get in and actually obtain real legal tender,” Hanke said.　　He also pointed out that it will be very difficult to use bitcoin in day-to-day transactions as the transaction rate of bitcoin will be too high when converting it to US dollars.　　Hanke

2021-06-17Deep Dive

50 Korean crypto firms apply for new licenses as strict regulation looms

Fifty crypto businesses based in South Korea have applied for a license under the new Information Security Management System (ISMS), a government-backed certification that certifies companies that meet stringent standards of data protection and privacy.　　Crypto regulations are coming　　The regulation takes effect in September 2021 and is one of the first certifications for crypto businesses in Korea. The country enjoys one of the biggest crypto trading populations in the world, with a large number of young adults trying their luck in the crypto markets.　　However, with the space being infamous for its non-regulated nature and the seemingly never-ending amount of scams, the Korean government has introduced or is planning to introduce, a number of laws to better regulate the local crypto scene.　　The ISMS is one of these. As per a release, the certificate assesses businesses over various criterias—such as overall risk management, access control, server and security management, and others—to prevent untoward incidents and lapses that may cost Koreans a fair bit of losses.　　And exchanges arent shying away from getting certified either. 20 local exchanges have already received the ISMS certificate (including UpBit and Kobit), while 30 others have applied and are in the wait lines. Of the latter, eight applications are

2021-06-17Deep Dive

Crypto Regulation and Decriminalization May Be on their Way in Africa

As El Salvador forges ahead with its bitcoin (BTC) adoption plans, in Africa, there are signs that hardline crypto policies could be set to soften, or even give way to crypto inclusion.　　In South Africa, the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) – a collective of South African financial sector regulators formed last year – revealed that its Crypto Assets Regulatory Working Group (CARWG) had concluded that cryptoassets “will be brought into the South African regulatory purview in a phased and structured manner.”　　In a position paper, the CARWG set out a “roadmap” for regulation, which will involve placing the nations crypto exchanges under the regulation of financial regulators. It also suggests amending existing financial laws in order to ensure crypto services providers fall under the remit of the regulatory Financial Intelligence Center (FIC).　　The recommendations will sound familiar for anyone familiar with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) crypto exchange regulation policies, and the kind of regulations widely adopted in a number of European nations, as well as Japan and more recently South Korea.　　The CARWG has made the following recommendation, stating that exchanges will need to:　　1.adopt Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) protocols　　2.register with the FIC　　3.conduct customer identification and verification checks　　4.carry out

2021-06-16Deep Dive

Do You Regret Investing in Cryptocurrencies?

All traders invest in digital currencies because of cravings for wealth. However, many of them have encountered devastating losses due to the plunge in this market recently. In this case, do you regret investing in this industry？　　All investments in financial products are risky, and digital currencies are no exception. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Traders‘ regret is ascribed to their failure of gaining profits because winners in this game won’t be regretful. Some tips of trading cryptocurrencies presented as follows may give you some help:　　Investing in this market equips you with more patience in systemically learning courses such as the pricing of derivatives and stochastic calculus for finance, which can assist you to make a virtuoso out of a nobody.　　Please keep greed and emotions under control and learn to use trading tactics. Every market has its inherent law which plays a decisive role in profit gaining.　　Owing to the capricious market, clinging to the existing rules can take a heavy toll on you. In this case, the fortune beyond your competence will never flock to you. Instead, all profits you have earned by luck will end up with nothing. In addition, dont believe in the talk of becoming wealthy in

2021-06-16Deep Dive

More Brits bought crypto than shares last year new survey suggests

A new survey suggests Brits have become more eager to invest in cryptocurrencies than in traditional stocks and shares-based investments.　　UK investment firm AJ Bells survey found that 7% of British adult respondents reported they had bought crypto over the last year, compared to 5% who invested in stocks and shares ISAs (individual savings accounts). A stocks and shares ISA is a type of savings account that lets users invest without ever paying tax on any income or capital gains.　　The survey was conducted by online market research tracker Findoutnow and polled 1,269 respondents. Financial analyst at AJ Bell, Laith Khalaf, commented that the results overturned common perceptions:　　“When more people are buying cryptocurrency than investing in a stock market Isa, you have to conclude the worlds gone crypto crazy,”　　The poll found that crypto investors are predominantly male and under 35 and 71% of those who said they had bought crypto assets claimed to have made a profit, while 12% reported making a loss in the past year. Amusingly, 17% said they did not even know if they had made or lost with their crypto investments.　　The survey seems to be in contrast to research from UK think tank Parliament Street in March that

2021-06-16Deep Dive

Exodus: Chinese Bitcoin Miners Set Their Sights on Texas

Beijing is still issuing orders to shut down Bitcoin mining operations, and many of them are now seeking friendlier climes overseas to base their operations.　　On Monday, CryptoPotato reported that Yunnan, the fourth-largest Bitcoin mining producer, had been targeted in the regimes latest crackdown.　　In what crypto industry observers are calling the “great mining migration,” many of these companies are looking towards North American, and specifically Texas, to base their mining facilities, according to a report by CNBC.　　Everything is Bigger in Texas　　Texas often has some of the world‘s lowest energy prices, and its share of renewables is growing over time. Currently, Texas is the nation’s leader in wind-powered electricity generation, producing almost 30% of the U.S. total, according to the state comptroller.　　The lone star state has a deregulated power grid that lets customers choose between power providers. Additionally, its political leaders and bankers are very pro-crypto, which makes it a dream destination for Bitcoin mina miners seeking a new home.　　Brandon Arvanaghi, previously a security engineer at crypto exchange Gemini, commented:　　“You are going to see a dramatic shift over the next few months. We have governors like Greg Abbott in Texas who are promoting mining. It is going to become a real industry

2021-06-16Deep Dive

Why Nigeria Could Be The Next Nation To Embrace Bitcoin

There has been a high level of speculation on the next country that could massively adopt Bitcoin. El Salvadors new law granting BTC legal tender status has caused excitement, after its approval many politicians and government officials around the globe have shown support for pro-BTC legislation.　　In parallel, some high-profile citizens have been asking their governments to adopt a Bitcoin Standard. NFL‘s professional football player, Russel Okung, send a letter to the Nigerian government to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps.　　His argument is based on the idea that every country will eventually adopt BTC and the ones to do so first will be the most beneficial. Okung claims that Nigeria has suffered from central banking, inflation, and the consequences of the Fiat Standard.　　As a recent report by Arcane Research suggest, there is an ongoing rise in BTC adoption in Nigeria. As seen in the chart below, the number of Nigerian users on the wallet Luno has increased exponentially since January 2017.　　In January 2020, this metric stood at around 1,000,000 users and currently sits at more than 2,500,000 active users. Arcane Research claims: “its clear that the Nigerian Bitcoin adoption is growing”.　　P2P Bitcoin Trading Volume Skyrocket In Nigeria　　Thus, Nigeria could be in a

2021-06-16Deep Dive

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