Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

The Global Economy Comes Before Savers: ECB Christine Lagarde Defends Negative Interest Rates

The European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is keeping the central bank‘s monetary easing policies unchanged according to her statements from a press conference last Thursday. Moreover, the central bank’s Twitter account recently shared a video of Lagarde defending negative interest rates, as the banks President stresses that they “support companies and people in the eurozone.”　　ECB President Christine Lagarde Wants to Preserve Favorable Financing　　Since well before Covid-19, a great number of central banks started to initiate monetary easing practices and pushing interest rates down to zero or below. On Thursday, Lagarde spoke during a press conference after the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep policies the same after keeping rates below zero and issuing lots of fiat. Lagarde says that the financing conditions must be maintained to fend off the economic effects of the global pandemic.　　“Preserving favorable financing conditions over the pandemic period remains essential to reduce uncertainty and bolster confidence, thereby underpinning economic activity and safeguarding medium-term price stability,” the ECB President Lagarde emphasized on Thursday to members of the press.　　The ECB also said last month that the central bank was planning on increasing government bond purchases and data shows the bank did just that. Statistics from Deutsche

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Staking on Polkadot (DOT): How do users pick a validator to nominate?

Staking using a crypto protocol is not that straightforward. But this guide helps you.　　Polkadot has become one of the most popular staking platforms, and with returns of over 13%, its not hard to see why.　　So if you‘ve stocked up your wallet with DOTs and read the staking guides, you’re probably now wondering how to choose which validator to nominate. Heres what you need to know.　　 How Will Your Rewards Be Calculated？　　First, some general information about how the staking rewards work. The rewards are spread proportionally among validators according to their stake, which also applies to the nominators who have bonded their DOT to each validator. You can view the validator list on the Polkadot.js.org website.　　So let‘s say a validator is currently staking 900 DOT, and you stake a further 100 DOT. You’ll get 10% of the nominator rewards. Therefore, you want to nominate a validator who will receive a decent proportion of the rewards, but where your stake also represents the highest possible percentage of that validators rewards.　　However, there are only a fixed number of slots available for validators, and you want to offset the risk that your chosen validator won‘t make the cut. After all, if they aren’t validating,

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Biden’s proposed capital gains tax rise will hit only richest 0.3%

Only 0.3% of taxpayers in the U.S. would be hit by higher levies on their investments under the new capital tax plan, a senior Biden administration official said.　　Following major sell-offs in cryptocurrency markets amid reports of United States President Joe Bidens capital gains tax rise proposal last week, the Biden administration defended nearly doubling tax levies for only the “very, very richest.”　　A senior Biden administration official claimed that only 0.3% of taxpayers in the U.S. would be affected by higher levies on their investments under the new capital tax plan.　　“Theres increasing evidence that over recent years in fact many, many of the returns at the very top are what they call above-market rates of return, rents and so on. Taxing the people who are doing extremely well in the economy is one way of asking somewhat more from that,” the Biden administration official said in a Monday interview with the Financial Times.　　Under Bidens plan, the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals will rise to 39.6% from the current base rate of 20%. For those earning $1 million or more, the new top rate will be accompanied by an existing surtax, bringing the U.S. capital gains and dividends tax rate

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Chinese online retail giant JD.com adopts digital yuan for salary payments

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has upped its support for the countrys central bank digital currency.　　JD.com has been using Chinas Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP, system to pay the salaries of some employees since January.　　The e-commerce firm revealed the news on Sunday while announcing its participation in the one-year DCEP trial show at the fourth Digital China Summit in Fuzhou slated for Sunday and Monday.　　Commenting on its digital yuan adoption journey, the company stated that apart from paying staff salaries, JD has also utilized the DCEP in business-to-business payments to partner firms as well as cross-bank settlements.　　As previously reported by Cointelegraph, JD Technology and Digital Currency Research Institute — the company‘s fintech arm — has been a DCEP development partner with the People’s Bank of China since September 2020.　　In December, the online retailer began accepting the digital yuan as a payment method on its website. According to a previous Cointelegraph report, JD.com received almost 20,000 DCEP-funded orders during the first week of adoption.　　JD has also supported DCEP trials, contributing about $4.6 million to Suzhou‘s second public lottery event back in February. Commenting on the company’s continued support for the digital yuan, Fei Peng, DCEP head at JD Tech, said: JD

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Don-key Is Gearing Up To Launch It’s Yield Farming App

Don-key.finance, the yield farming social network, has recently raised $2.2 million in a strategic funding round led by macro investors. They include Black Edge Capital, AU21. Genesis Block Ventures, Spark Digital, Solidity Ventures, MoonWhale, MarketAcross, and Morningstar Ventures.　　Designed for both the retail and institutional market, Don-key enables global yield farmers to enjoy a seamless, gamified crypto-asset management experience. The offering caters to investors who are looking for ways to passively earn on the crypto assets they want to hold long-term.　　Don-Key aims to become the eToro of yield farming by reducing entry barriers for both yield farmers and liquidity providers. Its automated platform allows DeFi farmers and traders to get access to the best DeFi farmers strategy and simply mimic their trades in a completely automatic manner.　　As such, Don-Key solves the pain points of this industry, including for those who don‘t master the skills to create their own yield farming strategies or know how to allocate their crypto assets. Other Defi farmers and traders simply don’t have the time to follow every single market development as being a successful farmer is a full-time job on its own. The platform will offer a frictionless way to pool their liquidity by copying the

2021-04-27Deep Dive

MyCryptoParadise Crypto Trading Signals: How Accurate Are They?

This unbiased review attempts to decode all those factors contributing to the rise of MyCryptoParadise (MCP) as a popular go-to destination for premium crypto trading signals.　　Choosing the best crypto trading signal group on Telegram is no longer an easy endeavor in 2021. The platform is literally teeming with hundreds of these crypto groups. Some provide paid crypto signals, some are free, but each claim to be led by superstar traders.　　In fact, the task is even tougher now that we‘re in a bull market. After all, making profits in a bull market usually tends to be somewhat easy – relatively speaking. This is why if you’re looking to join a paid crypto signal group, it makes good sense to stick only to the groups with a proven track record. Especially those that also offer active free channels with free crypto analysis and updates.　　And this is where a Telegram group like MyCryptoParadise grabs your attention with its original approach to delivering premium crypto trading signals and daily insights of the market so you can learn at the same time.　　MyCryptoParadise: An Overview　　Why do so many people say that MyCryptoParadise is among the best crypto signals providers in 2021？ From the looks of it,

2021-04-27Deep Dive

NFTs: Trend is Cooling Off, Will it End Like ICOs in 2018?

Following the peak in May, the global Google searches for “NFT” have been gradually decreasing. With the numerous assumptions that the NFT market is in a bubble state and the comparisons with the ICOs from 2017/2018, the question arises if non-fungible tokens could be bursting soon.　　NFT Searches Drop Sharply　　What was 2020 for decentralized finance is 2021 so far for non-fungible tokens. Although NFTs were not invented this year, their popularity saw a massive boost in the past several months.　　In this same timeframe, everything became an NFT. From digital artworks, albums, rare collectibles to even historic tweets and announcements. The industry saw the entrance of countless celebrities all talking about cryptocurrencies and this new hot topic non-fungible tokens.　　Naturally, this craze expanded to retail investors who, in wondering how they can get on the NFT bandwagon, went to Google. CryptoPotato reported in early March that the worldwide “NFT” queries on the worlds largest search engine skyrocketed to new all-time high levels. They stood there for a few consecutive weeks.　　However, more recent data shows a trend reversal. The number of searches has decreased almost by half since the peak in March.　　Google Searches for NFT 12-m Back. Source: Google Trends　　Separately, the average price of

2021-04-27Deep Dive

University of Zurich Adds Cardano to their Blockchain Curriculum for 2021

The University of Zurich has announced that they are adding Cardano to their “Deep Dive into Blockchain 2021” curriculum.　　It will be taught to students studying in the UZH Blockchain Center modules and is being posited as a ‘blockchain platform for changemakers, innovators, and visionaries’ to ‘bring about positive global change.’　　Blockchain Education　　The course aims to teach students about several facets of blockchain technology: not just limited to their technical scope, but also critical design theory, the economics & incentives behind blockchain-based systems, and how such systems interact with existing infrastructure in the real world.　　The University of Zurich has brought in several talented guest lecturers to teach the course, including members of the Tezos Foundation and IOST. The CEO of Cardano will also be a guest lecturer on this course.　　Further Implications　　This move signifies how the blockchain spaces emerging technologies are quickly being adopted by forward-thinking educational institutions, as they see the long-term potential of giving students the relevant knowledge and expertise early on.　　There are already several major universities across the world that offer students blockchain courses, such as MIT, Cornell University, and Harvard University.　　This is also a great sign for the Cardano ecosystem as a whole, as it shows that institutions are

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Mercurial on crypto: Will India’s latest stance lead to positive regulation?

Indian officials are switching their stance on crypto, but the countrys regulatory environment may have additional bottlenecks in store.　　For most of the last decade, India‘s stance on cryptocurrencies has been uncertain, to say the least. The current soft ban is hurting the country’s potential every day, but recent reports suggest the country is having second thoughts.　　In March this year, a notification published by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs stated that companies dealing in cryptocurrencies would have to disclose their holdings to the government in financial statements. Crypto-holding companies will also have to disclose total profits and losses, as well as any deposits or advances received from other traders and investors.　　Just two weeks earlier, there was a report that cryptocurrencies were expected to be criminalized under an upcoming legislative bill, including their trading, mining, issuance and possession. So, why the sudden change of heart？ And does anyone really know whats going on？　　Uncertain on being uncertain　　The MCA notification couldn‘t have come at a more ambiguous time for cryptocurrencies in India. In the Reuters report, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government was taking a balanced approach to regulation and not shutting down all options. The waning and waxing of stances

2021-04-27Deep Dive

Americans say cryptocurrencies have a ‘negative’ impact on their relationships

In a recent survey, 60% of US investors reported a decline in the quality of their personal relationships after being involved in the crypto sector, a report on Bloomberg pointed out Sunday.　　The findings were among the first of their kind, a nod to the adage of money not necessarily equating to happiness.　　Crypto leads to breakups…perhaps　　The study, performed by online survey tool SurveyMonkey on behalf of .Tech Domains, surveyed 1,000 Americans to delve into the demographics, long-term outlooks, and social standings of crypto traders and investors.　　One of the most interesting parts of the survey was the section on relationships and cryptocurrencies. It found over 60% of all investors found their sheer belief and interest in the cryptocurrency market to have rubbed off the wrong way among friends and family—they stated their involvement in the space was a “negative” impact.　　.Tech domains opinionated why the results were what they were. “With countless stories of people selling homes and businesses to invest in crypto and the sheer polarizing nature of the topic, perhaps its not surprising that so many crypto investors have experienced strain on their personal relationships,” wrote Tasmina Sayed, author of the report.　　Some experts agree with Sayed, however: “The stress on relationships

2021-04-27Deep Dive

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