Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Ruling Russian Party Conducts Blockchain-Powered Online Primaries

Blockchain-powered voting concluded for United Russia (known locally as ER) Party primaries over the weekend, with many staying away from polling booths due to the COVID-19 pandemic – instead favoring online platforms that make use of votes registered on a blockchain protocol.　　ER is Russia‘s ruling party and holds 336 of the State Duma’s 450 seats. That could change at the legislative elections likely to be held in mid-September this year, but the pandemic has disrupted normal primary processes for the party. While booths were operational across the nation, social distancing measures were put in place, and the ER also said it would allow online voting via the voting platform.　　Some critics have stated that government-run blockchain voting platforms have been riddled with errors and bugs, while others claim they lack transparency, are not true blockchain solutions, and are open to manipulation.　　But nonetheless, multiple local media reports from around the country appear to show that many voters decided to make use of PC and smartphone-based solutions.　　Per Echo Severa, a media outlet in the Western Russian city of Arkhangelsk, the citys regional organizing committee for preliminary voting stated that ER “is the only party in the country that forms lists of candidates for

2021-06-01Deep Dive

Bitcoin Closing in on Biggest Monthly Dip Since 2011

Bitcoin is down over 36% in May with hours left until the monthly closing. Ethereum has dipped 9% this month.　　Bitcoins Big Correction　　Bitcoin looks like its about to close its biggest monthly dip since 2011.　　Bitcoin is down 40% from record highs recorded in April, while Ethereum is roughly 42.4% off its all-time high. The correction has been particularly notable over the last two weeks after the market suffered its heaviest drop since Mar. 2020 earlier this month.　　Bitcoin broke support around $45,000 in the second week of May, leading to a massive sell-off due to cascading liquidations. It hit lows of around $30,000.　　Bitcoin first dropped below $50,000 on May 12 after a three-month consolidation. The sell-off was initiated by spot sellers and later intensified due to liquidations in the futures market.　　Source: TradingView　　On May 19, the sell-off reached its peak, causing cascading liquidations across the futures market and in DeFi positions.　　The total Open Interest (OI) volume of the derivatives market at the beginning of the month was $31.1 billion. Nearly $12.2 billion has been wiped out from the futures and perpetual swaps in May.　　According to data from Glassnode, 76.5% of the Bitcoin supply is in profit. In other words, 76.5% of circulating coins

2021-06-01Deep Dive

South Korea – A Peculiar Crypto Paradise

Bitcoin has established itself as a gateway to financial sovereignty from financial institutions as well as any one central authority. Cryptocurrencies yield high financial returns for investors since they belong to a substrate of the economy. Stock prices are dependent on speculation as well as news events, and the prices of cryptocurrencies are similarly affected, if not even more susceptible to such external factors. As nation-states have embraced digitization in their financial systems, theyve encountered a variety of irregularities pertaining to cryptocurrency.　　How cryptocurrency is socially and economically perceived by countries is in a constant state of change. Every article of news such as “China To Ban Crypto,” or “Tesla Accepts Bitcoin,” directly affects crypto market prices. Related to the effect of such current events, opinions held on bitcoin are in a constant state of flux. South Koreas views on Bitcoin and crypto have fluctuated between 2017 and 2021, ranging between “zero,” and “hero,” in recent times. With that said, cryptocurrencies in South Korea stand in contradiction to the global market. But why is this？　　A Strange Inclination To Cryptocurrency　　In 2017, the Central Bank of South Korea stated in a research paper that cryptocurrencies and fiat issues currencies could coexist. However, they

2021-06-01Deep Dive

Bitcoin ‘of great concern,’ Ireland’s central bank official warns

Irelands central bank director general for financial conduct is the latest official to point out issues of Bitcoin (BTC) and the cryptocurrency industry following a major market sell-off.　　The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is “of great concern,” the Central Bank of Irelands Derville Rowland warned, Bloomberg reports Monday.　　“Crypto assets are quite a speculative, unregulated investment,” and investors should be “really aware they could lose the whole of that investment,” Rowland stated after crypto markets shed nearly $1 trillion in a matter of days in one of the biggest historic crypto sell-offs.　　Rowland‘s perspective on the crypto is set to contribute to the global regulation of the space as the official will take over as chairwoman of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s investment management standing committee in July. Earlier this year, the financial authority outlined the same concerns around crypto, stating that these types of assets are not regulated and pose significant risks for investors due to its highly volatile nature.　　One of the top executives at Ireland‘s central bank, Rowland is known for her stringent stance on financial violations as well as involvement in major enforcement investigations. In March, the central bank fined Ireland’s largest stock broker, Davy, for breaching

2021-05-31Deep Dive

China: Crypto traders turn to OTC platforms amidst Bitcoin crackdown

Millionaires in China are turning to over-the-counter services to trade and buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies even as the local government says it would crackdown on the sector, as per a report on business outlet Bloomberg today.　　Rising exchange rate　　Officials in the country said earlier this month they would hunt down and end mining activity in the country. “[We will] crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior,” said Vice Premier Liu He and the State Council, citing climate concerns.　　Prices fell over 40% across the crypto market after those comments. But while sellers are cutting back on risk, some others are buying more cryptocurrencies via OTC platforms instead.　　OTC platforms are simply an exchange platform for assets not listed on a formal exchange or traded via a private book. Such platforms allow wealthy traders or investors (these usually have higher criteria for users) to invest in markets more privately.　　And business is booming. The report said the rising exchange rate between Chinas yuan and the stablecoin Tether—which fell as much as 4.4% earlier this month—has increased to half of the pre-crackdown value, suggesting OTC platforms are doing big business.　　OTC bets for crypto　　Heres how they are carried out: Firms like Huobi and OKEx, two popular

2021-05-31Deep Dive

Why The U.S. Treasury Wants Brokers To Provide More Information About Crypto Assets

The United States Department of Treasury has published the “General Explanations of the Administrations Fiscal Year” as President Joe Biden released his Budget for 2022. In its document, the Treasury claims that tax evasion using crypto assets is a “rapidly growing problem”. Therefore, they proposed to request more information from Brokers to “prevent” this alleged problem.　　A Broker, according to the definition provided by the Treasury, is a dealer, barter, exchange, or person that “regularly” acts as an intermediary for a customer that transacts with crypto assets. The features of crypto assets and their digital nature allow customers to transact with offshore entities while remaining in the U.S., the Treasury claims.　　Thus, these customers have opportunities to “conceal taxable income” with crypto exchanges or wallet providers. The institutions claim that crypto investors also create offshore entities to avoid tax reporting. Therefore, they deem it necessary to demand information from brokers to “bolster voluntary tax compliance”.　　The Old And The New Demand For Crypto Asset Transactions　　The current law gives the U.S. the privilege of receiving “certain information”, such as identity, proceeds from sales, and other information about a customer.　　Crypto entities already must hold information about their clients, and many have a Know Your Customer

2021-05-31Deep Dive

Understanding the systemic shift from digitization to tokenization of financial services

The financial industry has seen a rise in demand for exposure to digital — and crypto — assets in all asset classes. This has led to interest, demand and investment from institutional finance, ranging from digital asset custody to digital asset trading desks, regulatory and compliance frameworks, and audit and risk models.　　It is fair to say that digital assets have taken the financial services industry by storm. While the attention and investment from traditional finance in decentralized finance (DeFi) is hailed as a progressive step, there are enormous challenges and hurdles that financial services and institutions need to consider to make digital asset adoption mainstream.　　For one thing, the industry is on a massive digitization path to modernize aging financial systems that are reliant on a ledger-based transaction system. It must ensure that the path to digitization is smooth, minimally disruptive and brings the financial system that moves assets and payments to the speed of the digital era, keeping up with digital commerce and digital delivery of services.　　These efforts have brought innovation with application programming interfaces (APIs) to support new business models. These strategic APIs not only take the shape of digital products and services but also of co-creation vehicles to

2021-05-31Deep Dive

Four Reasons To Consider Ethereum Mining Pools in 2021

1. Polygons Success Indicates Future ETH Price　　If the performance of Polygon (MATIC) is to go by to judge Ethereums near-future valuation, it will be stellar. Because Polygon already employs the Layer 2 Ethereum sidechain, its transaction fees represent a tiny sliver of the currently exorbitant Ether gas fee at $20.79. Consequently, Polygon is the new hit on the blockchain, its token MATIC had also witnessed a price increase of about 228% in May 2021 alone.　　While this unrelenting demand for affordable yield farming is good news for ETH hodlers, not so much for Ethereum miners. Once Ethereum completes its upgrade by the end of 2021, and becomes as successful as Polygon, it will leave mining pools behind. However, Vitalik Buterin has a track record of adjusting Ethereums road map, so this may still leave you with plenty of time to tap into the best mining pools for Ethereum.　　2. ETH Mining Is Worthwhile　　Because Ethereum mining has a lower barrier to entry compared to Bitcoin, it remains profitable. That is, providing you have suitable Ethereum mining hardware and a relatively cheap source of electricity. If you are not sure that your situation fits these requirements, there is still time to obtain ETH on

2021-05-31Deep Dive

The remaining steps to mainstream institutional investment

The crypto space suffers from its checkered history and, to grow further, the ecosystem must become safer, more usable and more mature.　　It has been said that you only get one chance to make a first impression. Perhaps the best example of this old adage is the cryptocurrency space.　　From exit scams and money laundering, to unaudited code and high carbon footprints, the crypto landscape has spent the better part of the past decade scrubbing itself of its infamous past. For many, the sanitizing of the decentralized ecosystem was inevitable — simply a matter of when, not if. This mindset hindered the sense of urgency that should have been on display and may have ultimately contributed to the skepticism exhibited by mainstream institutional investors.　　Today, however, the decentralized economy has grown into something much larger. Even in the face of market volatility, the culmination of decentralized finance, the nonfungible tokens craze, and the year-over-year increase in token prices have demanded the attention of these same investors who once shunned the decentralized economy.　　How, then, do we convert this institutional interest into institutional investment？ While the answer may be simple, the execution will likely prove far more challenging. Lets take a look at what must

2021-05-31Deep Dive

How ParallelChain® Redefined The Mechanics of Blockchains

Since its inception, blockchain has struggled to find its feet in the enterprise and consumers spaces; from concerns around scalability, privacy, transaction fees, to slow speed and high finality, the inherent limitations of blockchain have made it difficult for industries to fully accept this disruptive technology. In comes ParallelChain®, a fast-emerging layer 1 protocol that not only has overcome nearly all mainstream blockchain pain points that have thwarted its development, but is also purposely constructed to address a multitude of real-world applications and needs, from FinTech to crypto storage, and almost anything in between.　　ParallelChain®, developed by blockchain technology startup Digital Transaction, has honed in on being the fastest blockchain currently available in the market, with the ability to execute over 100,000 TPS per chain at an average latency of 0.003 second. It is privacy-friendly and can scale limitlessly without degrading its performance in the slightest. Whats more remarkable about ParallelChain® is that it can be seamlessly configured into three different blockchain modes – public, personal and enterprise, depending on what the user wants or needs. This gives the chain substantial talk points when it comes to advantages in the marketplace, especially versatility and agility.　　Last year, third-party tests on ParallelChain®s throughput

2021-05-31Deep Dive

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