Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Is Bitcoin Becoming the Victim of China’s Carbon Neutrality Pledge? What’s Next

China is the epic center of Bitcoin mining despite the government‘s ban on Bitcoin and crypto trading in the country. Chinese mining pools currently contribute more than 60% of the Bitcoin network’s hash power, but that could change for good as the central government is increasing crackdown on Chinese provinces known for housing some of the biggest mining farms in the country. The recent crackdown is also being attributed to the governments long-term pledge for carbon neutrality and the high energy consumption by these mining farms have already led many provinces in the country to meet their energy targets for the quarter especially the inner Mongolian province, one of the hotspots for Bitcoin mining.　　The state government back in March had proposed to ban all Bitcoin mining activity in the area as well as heavy industrial work in April this year. Many insiders even claimed that the recent proposal is to curb fossil fuel-based mining in the country which could be a good thing in the long run as Bitcoin is paving the path for making renewable energy usage mainstream. Yesterday, the state provinces also issued notice to crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading leading to heavy crypto market correction owing

2021-05-24Deep Dive

Polygon (MATIC) skyrocketing: why and what’s next?

Scalability issues and resistant blockchain networks are the impediments to enabling mass adoption. Ethereum has been scrutinized as early as 2017 when Cryptokitties clogged the network. As a result, sequencing in the blockchain space has operated to enhance network capabilities and provide faster and effortless integration solutions for mass audiences.　　Matic Network – recently rebranded into Polygon, has hit the headlines in the previous days as it related positively to the market. Despite Bitcoin and other dino coins losing ground to the market makers, Polygon positively projected itself onto the market. Additionally, Polygon traded positively against both Bitcoin and Ethereum amind the massive sell-off on May 18th, reaching a market capitalization of over $14 billion and ranking on the 14th spot.　　Polygon – A Layer 2 Solution　　The central locus of blockchain technology surrounds interoperability and scalability issues and concerns. Faster and cheaper transactions facilitated by Polygon‘s side chain architecture generate a much-anticipated hype in both price and public perception. In contrast, Polygon’s surge as a viable solution comes from latent transaction times and higher transaction fees on Ethereum.　　According to data from DappRadar, the Polygon network drew over 75,000 new users in the past 7 days, with data indicating activity related to wallet

2021-05-24Deep Dive

Huobi Halts Futures Trading Services, Mining Pool in China as Regulatory Pressures Mount

Per Bloomberg, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi began blocking its Chinese customers from being able to access some of their services.　　When China banned crypto exchanges back in 2017, Huobi moved its operations overseas to Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea, among others. Despite the ban, however, the trading platform was able to maintain its large Chinese user base up until this point, as their parent company continued to operate out of China.　　Huobi Abruptly Halts Trading Services in China　　In light of the Chinese government proposing a ban on Bitcoin mining and trading within the Mainland, however, the trading platform is now stopping some of its services in China. The list includes the majority of the exchanges derivative trading features, including futures contract trading, leveraged investment products, and exchange-traded products.　　In a statement, a Huobi spokesman stated that its limitations would allow the company “to focus on the expansion of [its] overseas presence.” The exchange also suspended the sales of its mining products.　　“Due to recent dynamic changes in the market, in order to protect the interest of investors, a portion of services such as futures contracts, ETP, or other leveraged investment products are temporarily not available to new users from a few specified countries and

2021-05-24Deep Dive

Buterin: ‘Elon Musk’s Influence on Crypto Prices Won’t Last Forever’

The Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has claimed that the crypto markets will learn their lesson from the latest price crash – and stop hanging on every word tweeted by the Tesla chief Elon Musk.　　In a video interview with CNN, Buterin pointed out that Musk tweeting about the crypto space “is something that the crypto space has only been introduced to for the first time literally last year and this year.”　　He added,　　“I think its reasonable to expect a bit of craziness. But I do think that the markets will learn. Elon is not going to have this influence forever.”　　He said the markets will “build up an immune system over time,” although he conceded that prices have been “vulnerable” to disruptive events.　　But Buterin dismissed the idea that Musks bitcoin (BTC)- and dogecoin (DOGE)-related activity was motivated by malice, stating:　　“The fact that he is a 100-plus billionaire and he runs Tesla and SpaceX and all these things do not change the fact that ultimately [Musk] is a human. And humans get excited about dog coins. That‘s just a thing that humans get excited about. I don’t think that Elon has a kind of malevolent intent in any of this.”　　The Ethereum mastermind also

2021-05-21Deep Dive

How Whales Benefit From High Ethereum Fees

If youve used Ethereum at least once in the last month, then you may have noticed one thing — the fees are terrible. Transactions which would have cost a few dollars just months ago can now cost an arm and a leg, making transacting on network an expensive task.　　But while many users are griping about the fees, high volume traders and so-called whales are actually turning the current fee market to their advantage and have effectively monopolized two of Ethereum‘s biggest use cases right now — yield farms and decentralized exchanges. Here’s how.　　Yield Farming Become a Whales Game　　Right now, if you want to participate in a yield farm on Ethereum, then youre probably going to have to contend with the extremely high transaction fees that come with both depositing your investment and later withdrawing it.　　Unfortunately, yield farms are almost all smart-contract-based and involve transferring ERC-20 tokens. This means the fee that comes with interacting with one is much higher than a simple ETH transfer. At peak times, it isnt uncommon to see deposit and withdrawals transactions come to more than $100 a pop.　　Assuming a yield farm pays 10% APY, this means you would need to invest a minimum of $2,000

2021-05-21Deep Dive

What Coinbases Media Play Means for Crypto?

Coinbases apparent move into media is part of a trend of crypto companies developing their own content. Is this a good thing for the industry？　　In case crypto media wasnt fraught enough, Coinbase is now apparently launching a media arm.　　The U.S.-based exchange is looking for a top editor, who would report to the companys marketing department, Axios reported Tuesday. Coinbase said in an email that it has nothing to share at this time, but a job posting for a content director suggests that the exchange is branching out into media.　　This may just be the beginning. Exchanges like Kraken already have content operations, and the top-tier venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a Coinbase investor) is also getting into the media game. As more new investors rush into the market, there will be greater demand for crypto content. Exchanges can use media arms to raise brand awareness, attract users and just spark wider interest in crypto, which could ultimately be good for business.　　But at what cost to the crypto industry？　　Okay, let‘s get a few things out of the way. And, yes, CoinDesk is owned by Digital Currency Group, or DCG, a for-profit company with deep-pocket investments throughout the industry. CoinDesk maintains a policy

2021-05-21Deep Dive

Bitcoin correction heralded as a ‘BTD’ opportunity, but what about DeFi?

DeFi protocols were buzzcut as their token values plummeted and the total value locked on all platforms fell to levels not seen since April.　　Cryptocurrency investors are still picking up the pieces from the May 19 market-wide implosion which saw Bitcoin (BTC) drop to an unexpected low at $30,000. Post-mortem analysis now shows that the correction catalyzed a mad dash among traders running for the exits as the cascading sell-off resulted in a record 10,525 BTC liquidated across all exchanges.　　Altcoins were quick to follow suit as they joined Bitcoin in its plunge and hardly a token was left unscathed by the downturn as a wider-sell-off rippled across the market, resulting in a $437 billion haircut to the total market capitalization to $1.672 trillion, its lowest level since April 25.　　Decentralized finance (DeFi) took an especially hard hit as many of the lending protocols offer flash loans and other forms of leverage to users.　　With Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) accounting for a large portion of the funds locked on such protocols, their rapid price decreases resulted in a similar decline in TVL across the DeFi sector which fell by 21.5% to $114.15 billion according to data from Defi Llama.　　The AAVE lending platform, which is

2021-05-21Deep Dive

State digital currency to get more trust than crypto, says Russian ex-PM

Former Russian Prime Minister and President Dmitry Medvedev believes that it is time to recognize the importance of crypto and CBDCs.　　Trust in state-backed digital currencies will be “immeasurably higher” than trust in public cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russian former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev argued.　　Medvedev, the incumbent deputy chief of Russias Security Council, spoke on cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, at the Saint Petersburg International Legal Forum on Tuesday, local news agency TASS reported.　　The official pointed out the crucial role of digital transparency associated with emerging financial technologies like public cryptocurrencies. “Its time to recognize their importance,” Medvedev noted, also stressing the role of new digital forms of money like central bank digital currencies.　　“It is essentially a new form of money, and their trust will be immeasurably higher than trust in cryptocurrencies,” Medvedev declared. The official also emphasized that the development of state digital currencies should involve input from all the stakeholders in the financial market:　　“We must not allow global standards of conduct [...] to become an instrument of international economic totalitarianism. All actors, state and non-system, must be involved in the development of these approaches.”　　The news comes shortly after the Bank of Russias first deputy governor Olga

2021-05-21Deep Dive

Institutional investors bought more Ethereum than Bitcoin last month

Bitcoin (BTC) witnessed the largest on record outflow last week, said the London-based digital asset manager CoinShares in a report earlier this week.　　Bigger bets for Ethereum　　In the report, CoinShares, the second-biggest and largest European digital asset manager said Bitcoin investment products recorded a colossal $98 million in outflows:　　“The outflows were solely from Bitcoin investment products which totaled $98 million or 0.2% of total assets under management. While small, this marks the largest outflow we have recorded, with the second largest at $19 million in May 2019.”　　Before crypto prices plummeted last week, BTC investment products had major outflows. Meanwhile, the second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH), experienced ample institutional investment inflows. Compared to BTCs $3.1 billion worth of inflows, ETH trading volumes in digital asset investment products totaled $4.1 billion.　　Only BTC investment products documented outflows while ETH and other altcoins saw sizable inflows last week. Altcoin investment products overall totaled $48 million in inflows, suggesting “that investors have been diversifying out of BTC and into altcoin investment products,” as per CoinShares.　　Inflows on other alts　　Following on the heels of ETH, which saw $27 million worth of inflows last week, Cardano (ADA) recorded $6 million and Polkadot (DOT) $3.3 million.　　After hitting an all time

2021-05-21Deep Dive

Virtual Open World Games Are The Future of Crypto

Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, many people spend most of their time online, supported by technological advancements and social networks intelligent algorithms that keep people online. The digital world has become acknowledged worldwide that investors started putting their money into virtual assets.　　Thanks to the Blockchain industry‘s latest developments, people can now purchase assets with cryptocurrency. Blockchain was deemed as disruptive tech that significantly changes the way consumers or businesses operate. Currently, Blockchain’s revolutionary applications are poised for the gaming industry.　　Experts say that the first actual use for Blockchain is gaming, making games more alluring than ever. With the surge of Blockchain awareness in the gaming sector, many projects have accessed the space, and more people began making virtual worlds.　　Virtual Lands　　What are virtual lands？ A virtual land refers to a piece of land in the digital space, wherein users can do whatever they want with their land. Many virtual world projects and games have different benchmarks of the grounds they offer.　　Whats more, many experiences can be established on these lands. For example, a user who owns a virtual land in the virtual game can rent it or sell it, just like what you can do in the real world.　　With the

2021-05-21Deep Dive

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