Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Lawmakers should treat crypto like gold or real estate: Indian tech magnate

Indian technology mogul, Nandan Nilekani, has urged local lawmakers to allow citizens to speculate on crypto assets.　　The co-founder and chair of Infosys, an Indian multinational information technology firm, has urged regulators to embrace digital assets and get a handle on accommodating the technology.　　Speaking to the Financial Times, Nilekani warned that prohibitive regulations could result in significant missed opportunites for India, asserting that a more permissive approach would let the country to tap into the $1.7 trillion digital asset market and allow crypto guys to put their wealth into Indias economy.　　However, Nilekani is not bullish on an unfettered crypto market for India, asserting cryptocurrencies are too volatile and energy-intensive to use as a means of payment. Instead, he believes the Reserve Bank of Indias Unified Payments Interface infrastructure offers superior infrastructure for real-time payments.　　Instead, the tech mogul advised allowing Indians to access crypto assets for speculation and as a store of value, stating:　　“Just like you have some of your assets in gold or real estate, you can have some of your assets in crypto. I think theres a role for crypto as a stored value but certainly not in a transactional sense.”　　Nandan Nilekani has long worked alongside Indian authorities to help

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Government Cannot Stand in the Way of Crypto Technologies, Iran Minister Says

New technologies, including blockchain and cryptocurrency mining, have helped Iran to increase budget receipts and withstand foreign sanctions, according to the country‘s minister for economy and finance. The high-ranking official believes the government can’t interfere with their development for too long.　　Government Official Cautions Against Impeding Crypto Development　　Over the past few years, Tehran has moved closer to reaching its income tax targets, Irans Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Farhad Dejpasand, remarked recently. He revealed that the implementation of new technologies accounts for about a third of the budget revenue growth. Commenting on the data, Dejpasand elaborated:　　Blockchains will account for 10 percent of the worlds gross domestic product in the next four years. As electricity consumption has increased we limited the mining of cryptocurrencies, while in the long run, we cannot stand in the way of technology development.　　The economy minister was referring to a seasonal ban imposed on cryptocurrency mining amid electricity shortages in the country. Digital coin minting has been booming in Iran due to high cryptocurrency prices and access to cheap energy. But the government has blamed its excessive power consumption, along with this years drought, for the frequent blackouts in many cities. Authorities have estimated that licensed and

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Tragedy Again: Traders Hit by Unavailable Withdrawals and Robbed of USD 50 Million by Hackers!

Trading in cryptocurrencies has suffered from turmoils recently. Plummets several days ago just caused hefty profits to be reaped and now the industry is rocked by unavailable withdrawals and hacker attacks!　　Unavailable withdrawals at PKEX　　Several users have disclosed on WikiBit that withdrawals have not arrived at their accounts after a week following their applications, and the customer service has been out of touch. According to WikiBit, the rating of PKEX is only 2.42, and it is under no regulation right now. Please be careful!　　Hacker attacks encountered by Belt　　As a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) contract at Binance Smart Chain, Belt Finance was just attacked by hackers which caused it around USD 50 million losses! Fortunately, there will be compensation schemes for users in the future.　　Latent rules in this field are presented herein for your reference with the aim of protecting you from frauds:　　Small and medium-sized exchanges may be out of business at any time. It is safer to trade at famous exchanges.　　Please watch out for exchanges that impede withdrawals with various excuses.　　Cryptocurrencies are vulnerable in exchanges as they are apt to be stolen by either exchanges or external hackers.　　WikiBit, a platform world-renowned for regulation info search and rating, equips you with risk management

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Why Bitcoin's next breakout may not be an altcoin season signal

On April 14, Bitcoin (BTC) reached a $64,900 all-time high after accumulating 124.5% gains in 2021. However, a 27.5% correction followed over the next eleven days, marking a $47,000 local bottom.　　The popular Crypto Fear and Greed Index reached its lowest level in 12 months on April 25, signaling that investors were closer to “extreme fear,” which was a complete reversal from the “extreme greed” level seen during the Bitcoin rally above $60,000.　　This downward move from April 14 to 25 wiped out $200 billion from the altcoin market capitalization. Still, the recovery that followed could serve as a guide on what to expect when Bitcoin finally manages to exit the sub-$40,000 level.　　Altcoins posted a similar trend, bottoming at $850 billion on April 22 but fully recovering to a record $1.34 trillion high on May 10. There is no guarantee that this pattern will repeat, but there is no better source of information than the recent market itself.　　 Cheaper is not always better　　Many investors believe that altcoins consistently outperform when Bitcoin price takes off, but is that an absolute truth？　　Although that has been the case in 2021, Bitcoin was the clear winner in the last quarter of 2020 as it surpassed the

2021-06-07Deep Dive

The NFT bubble may have popped, but the sector is still primed for expansion

NFT sales and active wallets fell by more than 40% in the past month but new layer-2 infrastructure is preparing the sector for the next surge.　　Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) took the world by storm in March and April of this year with an onslaught of daily headlines about record-breaking sales and big-name companies dropping their own one-of-a-kind digital art pieces dominating the mainstream media.　　Fast forward a few months and the narrative has shifted to the NFT bubble popping and doom and gloomers warning that NFT investors are on the verge of losing all of their money.　　The rapidly declining prices and activity on the top NFT marketplaces have prompted many to speculate on the death of the nonfungible token space despite the well-known cyclical nature of the crypto market that can spring back to life at the drop of a hat.　　Active users jump ship　　Active users are the lifeblood of NFT marketplaces, but the choppy nature of the cryptocurrency markets over the past two months, including the May 19 sell-off which saw $1.2 trillion in value wiped from the crypto market cap has led to a precipitous decline in user activity.　　The active wallets on NFT marketplaces peaked near the end of March and

2021-06-07Deep Dive

BTSE Open Up Digital Art World With NFT Marketplace White Label Solution

The NFT craze that has swept the globe, shows no signs of slowing, and now one of the leading digital exchanges has made NFT marketplaces available as a white label solution, to those people or businesses that would like to run their own NFT marketplace.　　BTSE, who are a BVI based digital exchange offering the trading of derivatives and spot, with multi currency support, including both digital and traditional currencies, are best known for their outstanding technology. They currently offer digital exchange white labels, as well as OTC trading on a huge selection of pairs and assets, in addition to asset management services for those who want to gain exposure to the non-stop digital currency arena.　　This latest offering comes as welcome news to those artists, collectors and auction houses that would like to start offering their work and collections over the blockchain as non fungible tokens.　　What does this mean？　　Just like traditional art pieces, digital art pieces are non fungible. This means each piece is absolutely unique and collectible, unlike tokens such as Bitcoin, which can be exchanged for one another without compromising the value.　　NFTs have grabbed the attention of celebrities with names like Lindsay Lohan dropping her comeback single as an

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell: Don’t Gamble Your Rent on Bitcoin

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell thinks that Bitcoin will hit $200,000 in 2021　　He said that people would be willing to go on Ramen diets to buy more BTC.　　According to an interview with Bloomberg TV, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell thinks that Bitcoin will hit $200,000 in 2021. He said that people would be willing to go on Ramen diets to buy more BTC.　　Further, Powell stated his belief about the BTC value. He predicted that BTC could hit $200,000 by the end of 2021.　　Powell noted,　　“Personally, I am googling how to sell my kidneys at this point. People are getting ready to go on ramen diets to buy bitcoin at these levels.”　　Also, Powell called the recent price action a slight dip. Despite the recent drop of over 43% since reaching an all-time high of $64,800, he remains bullish on BTC.　　“We‘ve seen this over and over. Crypto is a rollercoaster. You’ve got to be able to have an iron stomach to tolerate the ride, but the gains are massive for those that can handle it,” Powell added.　　However, he emphasized that people should not gamble their rent on BTC. Further, he said that people shouldn‘t invest more than they can afford to lose. “It’s still a

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Two-fifths of Aussie millennials think crypto investments beat real estate

Research has revealed that one in five Australians believe that crypto is the key to homeownership as confidence in traditional savings dwindles.　　The survey, conducted by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, found that an increasing number of young Australians are becoming disheartened by traditional investment options. Almost one quarter of those surveyed expressed concern that the value of money in traditional cash savings is decreasing.　　The study found that 22% of the Australians surveyed believe investing in cryptocurrency is an easier way to save for a mortgage deposit than storing fiat in a bank account or other traditional savings methods.　　Nearly 40% of Millennials — respondents born between the early 1980s and the mid-to-late-1990s — said that crypto assets are a sound alternative to buying an investment property. Further, 31% of Generation X participants — Australians born between the mid-1960s to early 1980s — also believe crypto assets are better investments than real estate, while only 24% of Generation Z respondents — those born between the late 1990s and 2010 — echoed this sentiment.　　Almost half of the baby boomers surveyed — those born between the mid-1940s and mid-1960s — have not invested in crypto, citing volatility concerns.　　One in five survey participants either currently own or

2021-06-07Deep Dive

How Crypto Volatility Index Realizes The Upside In Market Downturns

In its infancy, the crypto market was very directionally one-sided. You could speculate on the markets upside appreciation, but capitalizing on the downside was limited. Until the introduction of accompanying derivatives like futures and options that are more zero-sum in nature, hedging positions or betting against the market was challenging.　　Now, within this expanded universe of derivatives and synthetic instruments, these strategies are not only possible but readily practiced. Even leveraged margin trading is available from many established exchanges. Yet, the crypto markets qualities have exposed some weaknesses in the exotic instruments designed to capture directional movement upwards and downwards.　　The latest downturn in prices underscored this point after Binance‘s leveraged DOWN tokens didn’t perform as expected during the crash in prices, causing outrage amongst users. The tokens, which are expected to benefit from price declines, did the opposite in some cases. Despite disclosing the risks, the exchange was quick to note that the tokens rebalancing mechanism worked as designed, despite the resulting investor losses in these products.　　Fortunately, some products did show that they can deliver as advertised, and among them is COTI‘s Crypto Volatility Index (CVI). COTI’s CVI index fills a previously unmet need in one of the most explosive and

2021-06-07Deep Dive

Hybrid smart contracts will replace the legal system

Hybrid smart contracts will change the world by revolutionizing the legal system that exists today.　　The era of unintelligible contracts written in legalese by lawyers in $2,000 suits with degrees from Ivy League schools is over. The contracts of the next century will be hybrid smart contracts, written in code by programmers wearing $20 hoodies and living in their NYC-shared apartment.　　What is a hybrid smart contract？　　Smart contracts are self-enforcing contracts, written in code and executed by the blockchain. These smart contracts are great at sending and receiving money, and doing simple calculations, but they cannot access off-chain data, perform complex calculations or generate random numbers on their own.　　Those limitations previously prohibited smart contracts from fulfilling many of the roles that traditional legal contracts currently hold. Now, the introduction of oracle networks onto the blockchain promises to solve this problem. Oracle networks can provide verifiable randomness, off-chain data and additional computational resources to smart contracts.　　Oracle networks are made up of validators that write data onto the blockchain. The oracle aggregates inputs from multiple validators so that no one validator has control over the oracle feed. Validators might also use different mechanisms to come up with the data they write to further increase

2021-06-07Deep Dive