Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Bitcoin Is Speculative Fad, Says The Government of Denmark’s Central Bank

The substantial growth of the cryptocurrency sector in the past year has caught the eye of central bankers. The latest to opine on the matter and, somewhat expectedly, to dismiss the industry‘s chances of actually disrupting the centuries-old financial space was the governor of Denmark’s central bank.　　Crypto Is Speculative Fad　　During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Lars Rohde, the governor of Danmarks Nationalbank, took a few stabs at the cryptocurrency sector. Despite their recent growth and the total market capitalizations 10x increase in a year, the central banker still remains skeptical by calling the industry “speculative fad.”　　As with most of his colleagues, Rohde outlined the infamous volatility and lack of a central authority as the primary reason for his dismissal. Consequently, he noted that he is “tempted to ignore” BTC and the rest of the market.　　“Its a very speculative asset at best. There is no stability and no guarantee from any side about the value of cryptocurrencies.”　　While deriding crypto‘s chances of disrupting the financial space, the central banker highlighted a challenge coming from fintech companies. If large tech firms, such as Facebook’s Diem attempt, decide to invade the “currency area,” it could be “very interesting and maybe also a real threat

2021-05-28Deep Dive

Binance Smart Chain Adds CipherTrace for Tracking Illicit Transactions

Decentralized finance (DeFi), or at least Binances version of it, is officially being given the blockchain analytics treatment, courtesy of California-based CipherTrace.　　Announced Thursday, CipherTraces transaction tracking and wallet attribution software will support Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a more or less decentralized base layer to run DeFi applications on.　　Why this is important is because CipherTrace, which has counted Binance as a client for some time, will likely appease crypto regulators with regard to the experimental DeFi space, an area the global anti-money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently warned is on its radar.　　Its also a timely addition, given that Binance said this week at Consensus 2021 that rollbacks of the blockchain following exploits and hacks on BSC are not possible; so-called “rug pulls” on the community-governed chain are not something Binance is responsible for, the exchange said.　　Binance Smart Chain spokesperson Simran Alphonso said the system is based on “progressive decentralization,” which basically means its faster and cheaper than alternative blockchains.　　“Its decentralized and the community handles it, but we [Binance] are also involved to an extent,” said Alphonso, adding:　　“We cannot do any rollbacks because we do not have any sort of authority over the chain. We do have the

2021-05-28Deep Dive

How Convergence Finance Is Revolutionizing Private Investment Markets

There are numerous ways to enhance the appeal of blockchain technology and decentralized finance. Bridging the gap to the real world and its available liquidity remains a worthwhile option. Convergence tackles this aspect by attempting to revamp the concept of private investment markets.　　The Power of Real-World Investments　　Even though one may think that decentralized finance will replace the traditional economic system one day, that may not necessarily happen right away. In fact, it may prove more beneficial to bridge the gap between the two industries and create more encompassing, appealing, and robust financial products and services.　　Bringing the liquidity of real-world assets to decentralized finance is an approach well worth exploring. As there is plenty of liquidity in the real world - and not always as much in DeFi - it is often better to combine the best of both worlds and see what can be achieved. Decentralized finance currently caters to cryptocurrency users primarily, yet those who dont know these assets have a tough time exploring the options at their disposal.　　Introducing support for real-world assets can enhance the overall DeFi liquidity. More users will be able to enter this compelling industry to contribute liquidity to protocols and services. Tokenization will be

2021-05-28Deep Dive

Ethereum Bridges — Are They the Blockchain Scalability Solution?

Blockchain networks are fantastic digital ledgers that offer various forms of financial freedom. Bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and cardano (ADA), among other cryptocurrencies, each bring something unique to the industry. However, one of blockchains biggest downfalls is its lack of interoperability.　　The process of utilizing one asset on another blockchain is all but impossible, forcing users to deal with trading pairs and transaction fees.　　With the rise of decentralized finance and the many variants of projects offering new ideas, this lack of interoperability is a significant barrier. Fortunately, there is a way through in the form of blockchain bridges.　　What is a Blockchain Bridge？　　A blockchain bridge allows the use of one asset on another blockchain. Well, sort of.　　Say youre on the Ethereum network, but transaction fees are ridiculously high. Instead of biting the bullet and paying fees, a blockchain bridge would allow that transaction to occur on a cheaper network, like Tron. If Ethereum is congested, the bridge will enable a faster transaction as well.　　Such a concept is ideal for dApp developers. Bridges mean they can utilize the benefits of a popular network, like Ethereum, without suffering from its scalability and fee issues.　　Bridges also bring awareness to the other blockchain – the one

2021-05-28Deep Dive

Convenience Store Giant Sheetz to Start Accepting Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Other Coins

Convenience store behemoth Sheetz made an announcement Thursday about accepting digital currencies after partnering with crypto payments startup Flexa.　　It will enable support for Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies at select café stores in summer.　　By the end of the year, it will also be possible to pay for gas with crypto at Sheetz locations.　　Payments manager Linda Smith says the company is giving customers “what they want” in her statement:　　“Were very excited to be working with Flexa to roll out support for cryptocurrencies and other types of digital assets at our stores,”　　Founded back in 1952, Sheetz operates 634 stores and boasts an annual revenue of $6.2 billion.

2021-05-28Deep Dive

Charles Hoskinson Lists 3 Reasons Why Cardano Is Better Than Ethereum

Charles Hoskinson – the founder of the blockchain platform Cardano – revealed his three reasons why Ethereum falls behind his project. Additionally, he scratched the topic of BTCs energy consumption.　　Why Cardano Is Superior to Ethereum？　　In a recent Yahoo Finance interview, Cardano‘s founder Charles Hoskinson criticized Ethereum’s network by calling it overrated and outlining a lack of vital qualities.　　First, Ethereum can only process smart contracts while the rival Cardano can do that with governance and compliance. Hoskinson added that his project could operate with metadata and also with automated regulation. Moreover, he concluded that Cardano was created to bring identity to the blockchain system.　　Second, Cardano was built as a collection of protocols that could offer economic support to billions of people, specifically in poor regions. Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Georgia are examples where the network cooperated with the local governments to benefit their citizens. In comparison, he mentioned that Ethereum has never done something similar:　　“We‘ve already started deploying ADA’s system in Ethiopia for five million students.”　　Third, Hoskinson opined that Ethereum has a very confusing structure and the upcoming ETH 2.0 release will lead to the demise of the entire network:　　“First of all Ethereum is killing itself. They are replacing Ethereum with Ethereum

2021-05-28Deep Dive

Bank of Canada sees no strong case for a digital dollar — for now

The Bank of Canada does not see a strong reason for issuing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC at the moment.　　Timothy Lane, the Bank of Canada‘s deputy governor and head of research at the bank’s fintech and crypto department, spoke on CBDC issues at a Wednesday panel, Reuters reports.　　According to the official, the Canadian central bank is now focused on CBDC implementations in more concrete terms, thinking about how it might work and look. However, the Bank of Canada has not found any solid case for issuing a CBDC, Lane said:　　“In terms of where we are with the project, we dont currently see a strong case for issuing it, but the world is progressing very rapidly and probably even more so in the wake of the pandemic.”　　Not only does the Bank of Canada not see a solid case for issuing a CBDC but also it has outlined a number of risks related to a state digital currency previously. In October 2020, the bank issued a report on CBDC-associated risks, paying special attention to threats arising from CBDC storage issues and competition between crypto exchanges and banks in terms of attracting users.　　Last December, Lane said that the global coronavirus pandemic

2021-05-27Deep Dive

Elon Musk not right person to lead green Bitcoin debate, Nic Carter says

Castle Island Ventures Nic Carter doesnt think Elon Musk is the right person to lead the “clean Bitcoin” debate, “possibly not as far as the Bitcoin community is concerned.”　　He told Bloomberg, “Bitcoiners are still intensely skeptical of Musk, and they view him as conflicted given that his business partially involves the sale of offsets.”　　However, asking for Bitcoin miners to be more transparent about their energy mix is a good proposal no matter who its coming from, Carter stressed, alluding to the recently formed Bitcoin Mining Council.　　Bitcoin is a decentralized synthetic commodity that is very resistant to regulation, he noted. If you ban Bitcoin in one jurisdiction, the hash power will just flow to a new jurisdiction. There will be no shortage of friendlier jurisdictions even if individual countries do ban it.　　Instead of banning Bitcoin due to its energy consumption, Carter suggests policymakers should create greener grids for Bitcoin mining.　　North American Bitcoin miners are cleaner than many other industrial consumers of electricity. Carter believes this is why the idea of miners being more transparent about the kind of energy they are using is going to vindicate them.　　Carter also doesnt seem to be convinced on the “Bitcoin is used for money laundering”

2021-05-27Deep Dive

dCanvas Employ Secure Proxies, On-Chain Meta Data on Collaborative NFT

Positioned as the biggest collaborative NFT art project, dCanvas opened up for the public for the second time by allocating 256 public release NFTs in its community pixel board on May 6th, 2021.　　Before this allocation, dCanvas had made 1024 NFTs available that got sold within five days. To understand why these public releases are so popular, we need to delve deeper into what dCanvas is, the purpose it serves, and how it is unique from other NFT projects.　　dCanvas: Owning Community Art　　At its core, dCanvas is about a 1024X1024 community art pixel board, divided into blocks of 4X4. Each block is an NFT. Once you own a block, you win exclusive rights over the blocks colors and governance in the creation and sale of art pieces commissioned based on the picture of the overall canvas. In the end, as an owner of a block, you can earn your share of the potential royalties with your co-block owners.　　Before its official launch, dCanvas offered a limited number of NFTs in the first two bouts, as mentioned earlier. These blocks were up for a fixed price, located at a premium central location of the board. These public releases have been successful. Outpacing the average

2021-05-27Deep Dive

Billionaire Carl Icahn Prefers Ethereum Over Bitcoin

During a Bloomberg TV interview, Icahn Enterprises founder Carl Icahn had some words of praise for Ethereum, the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency, claiming that it can function as both a store of value and a payment system:　　“With Ethereum, its the underlying blockchain. So, Ethereum has two things — you can use it as a payment system, you can use it as a store of value.”　　When it comes to Bitcoin, the American businessman—whose net worth is estimated to be $15.6 billion—says that it can only serve as a store of value:　　“So Ethereum and Bitcoin are different. Bitcoin to me is just a store of value.”　　Icahn is not the only Ethereum-curious billionaire. Earlier this week, hedge fund legend Ray Dalio, who now owns Bitcoin, also said that Ethereums transactions are more efficient.　　A $1 billion bet　　While Icahn is yet to make a foray into crypto, he wants to eventually do it in a “big way”:　　“Im looking at the whole business, and how I might get involved in it…”　　The activist investor claims that he could put over $1 billion into digital currencies.　　Overall, he thinks that crypto is here to stay but warns that many cryptocurrencies issued today will not survive.

2021-05-27Deep Dive

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