Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

CoinDCX and Devfolio Team Up with Solana for New Hackathon

Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX has announced a virtual hackathon, in the hopes of strengthening Indias crypto market.　　For this latest event, CoinDCX will partner with the Solana blockchain, as the exchange confirmed on their official Twitter.　　The exchange will also organize the event in association with Devfolio. The company has helped host hundreds of hackathons all over the world. This includes India‘s largest Ethereum hackathon, ETHIndia, which Devfolio’s late CEO Shakti Goap founded. The tech entrepreneur passed away earlier in May, after suffering with COVID-19.　　Devfolio postponed their latest ETHIndia online hackathon, ETHOdyssey, in April. The companys official twitter stated this was due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation in India. They postponed the event again in May. The month-long hackathon is currently scheduled to begin on June 25.　　CoinDCX announced their partnership with Devfolio and Solana amid the Solana Season Hackathon. An even that began on May 15 and will run for 20 days, ending on June 7. Reports indicated from the beginning that Devfolio and CoinCDX would contribute to the events India track. A track that would have a $50,000 prize pool, a fraction of the $1 million prize total.　　Reports also stated that the event had attracted over 10,000 registrations. Many of whom

2021-05-24Deep Dive

OCC Will Review Its Cryptocurrency-Related Guidance, Says the New Chief

Michael Hsu – the new chief of the OCC – revealed that the US independent bureau plans to put under review its crypto guidelines offered over the past year. He added that all federal banks should provide interpretive letters and guidance, including issues around digital assets alongside pending matters.　　Is Stance Towards Crypto Getting Tougher？　　The United States Office of the Comptroller of Currency, which regulates all national banks and federal savings associations, will analyze its crypto guidelines. The new chief of the watchdog, Michael J. Hsu, announced that the agency would put under inspection its propositions put out in 2020.　　Nevertheless, the upcoming review does not necessarily predict a pessimistic future for the crypto community. As Hsu noted in his statement, the OCC has supported and updated the banking industry, so what follows now is some analysis on those previous operations:　　“At the OCC, the focus has been on encouraging responsible innovation… we created an Office of Innovation, updated the framework for chartering national banks and trust companies, and interpreted crypto custody services as part of the business of banking. I have asked staff to review these actions.”　　OCCs move could also aim to provide better support for the industry while also offering protection,

2021-05-24Deep Dive

What Role Could NFTs Play In E-Commerce?

At the advent of Web 2.0, the now ubiquitous e-commerce platforms were presented and sold as a fairer alternative to how business was done up to that point. The premise seemed simple: connect buyers and sellers and automate the process as much as possible by using cutting edge software to create a fair and competitive sharing economy that would benefit all parties. However, it didnt play out quite like that.　　As we know, their ability to control every stage of every transaction meant that these platforms found themselves with a huge amount of market power. As centralized business models, they fuelled a self-perpetuating imperative to extract maximum value from each cog in the wheel.　　Cue the snowball effect and nearly 20 years later, we now have a global commercial ecosystem completely dominated by Amazons and Alibabas, each extracting maximum value from all participants at a rate they are free to determine. It is clear to many that these systems of commerce are anti-competitive, monopolistic, hyper-extractionary, and unsustainable.　　Thankfully, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have provided a solution.　　Much of the hype surrounding NFTs in recent months has been focused on the digital art space, however, their value proposition extends far beyond their representation of a digital

2021-05-24Deep Dive

Search query ‘Should I sell my Bitcoin’ skyrockets on Google Trends

Cryptocurrency-related search queries have surged in popularity to a new all-time over the past week—but not for positive reasons, according to Google.　　“#cryptocurrency is at an all-time high for search interest, Worldwide,” Google Trends Twitter account reported on Thursday.　　As CryptoSlate reported, the crypto market swiftly plunged deep into the red zone on May 19 as prices of most digital assets dropped by anywhere between 20% and 50% on average. The massive dip was largely attributed to several announcements coming from China, including a potential ban on institutions that deal in cryptocurrencies and a crackdown on Bitcoin mining.　　According to Google Trends, an analytic tool that allows users to measure the frequency of various search queries, topics such as “What happened to cryptocurrency today” and “Should I sell my Bitcoin” (or “crypto” and “Bitcoin” in general) are currently showing a worldwide score of 100 on the “interest over time” chart—the highest value possible.　　Fear and energy concerns　　Interestingly, Bitcoins environmental impact—which has become a hot topic lately—is also extremely popular among Google users.　　“Most energy-efficient cryptocurrency‘ and ’environmentally friendly cryptocurrency‘ are breakout searches. ’How does bitcoin use energy‘ +1,050%, past week US,” Google Trends’ team noted.　　Other queries such as “Bitcoin carbon footprint” (87 points), “crypto electricity”

2021-05-24Deep Dive

These 3 factors will determine if Ethereum’s recovery will be sustainable

Ethereums recovery is well underway, with the price holding near the $2000 level. Despite a price drop of nearly 45% in the past week, over 85% ETH HODLers are profitable at the current price level. The number of large transactions dropped over the past week, there were $193.39 Billion worth of large transactions on the Ethereum network. The on-chain sentiment continues to remain bearish, but the inflow of investment in Ethereum makes it likely that the recovery starts.　　ETH Futures Aggregate Daily Volume || Source: Skew　　Factor 1　　Since Ethereum was overleveraged and the longs led Ethereums price to plummet. However, based on the above chart, the aggregate daily volume of ETH futures is below $70 Billion since May 19, 2021. Since the volume is consistently lower than the peak hit on May 19, it is likely that the recovery is underway, just as on-chain metrics point.　　Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETHE || Source: Skew　　Factor 2　　The daily volume of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust has dropped, just as the aggregate futures daily volume. The last time Grayscale Ethereum Trust volume hit this level, Ethereums price rallied to the $3000 level, it is likely that if the volume remains below this level, the rally that starts will

2021-05-24Deep Dive

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

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