Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

DeFi Yield Protocol Bridge To Binance Smart Chain Is The Hottest Crypto Connection

High gas fees still plague Ethereum and the plan to upgrade isn‘t fast enough for the pace the industry is moving at. Crypto market participants are demanding more options. Projects such as DeFi Yield Protocol and countless others are moving to Binance Smart Chain. Here’s why the newly launched bridge between DeFi Yield Protocol to Binance Smart Chain has become cryptos hottest connection.　　 DeFi Yield Protocol Launches Bridge To Binance Smart Chain, Boosting Accessibility　　Beginning in February of this year, DeFi Yield Protocol announced the BSC integration, which included the DYP staking and governance dApp. The goal of the bridge is to provide greater liquidity overall for the DYP user base and encourage more innovative developments down the line.　　The DYP ecosystem itself is now more accessible than ever before. For example, DYP liquidity providers have earned more than 7000 ETH worth over $14 million USD since the staking dApp made its debut.　　Total liquidity on Uniswap has grown over 20x, reaching more than $19 million USD. The company also added more than half a million dollars worth of liquidity to PancakeSwap. Users, there will be able to add their liquidity to the various pools, including DYP/BNB, DYP/ETH, and DYP/BUSD, and earn rewards

2021-04-26Deep Dive

Brexit and fintech: A spring stocktake

The United Kingdom no longer has the choice but to adapt to the post-Brexit times, making digital finance one of its priorities.　　It has been four months since the Brexit trade deal came into effect between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The deal, in common with other free trade agreements, does very little to support the export of financial services from the U.K. into the single market. As a result, spring has seen financial services firms, including those in financial technology adjusting to different trading relations with the EU, while also managing the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.　　Most notably, U.K. financial services have lost their automatic rights to service EU clients from their U.K. base, using the so-called passporting rights that U.K. firms had during the time as a member state. Passporting has been replaced by equivalence decisions. However, this is not a fair replacement. Equivalence is a unilateral decision granted by the EU in areas of finance, where it recognizes the U.K.‘s regulatory framework to be equivalent to its own. These decisions can be withdrawn with 30 days’ notice and do not cover the whole financial services sector. For example, retail bank lending and depositing are not subject to equivalence

2021-04-26Deep Dive

Paxos Becomes Third Federally Regulated Crypto ‘Bank’

Stablecoin issuer and blockchain startup Paxos has become the third crypto-native company to score a federal trust charter through the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).　　The national bank regulator announced Friday it has granted Paxos a preliminary charter, letting the firm bring its new Paxos National Trust entity online as a federally regulated entity offering custody services, stablecoin management, payment, exchange and other services.　　With the approval, Paxos joins Anchorage and Protego in becoming one of the only national trusts that were born in the crypto ecosystem. Kraken and Avanti have also become state-regulated crypto bank entities after securing Special Purpose Depository Institution charters through Wyoming.　　The move is another sign that the global cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming increasingly acceptable to regulators, who have traditionally been wary of the still-young industry. In particular, the preliminary approval indicates that the OCC is comfortable with Paxos as a custodian, which is significant for an industry prone to hacks or exchange crises.　　Becoming an OCC-regulated trust is one way crypto exchanges can operate nationwide without needing to secure state-level licenses in each of the 49 different U.S. states (Montana doesnt have a licensing requirement).　　“This is a preliminary conditional approval, which means that the

2021-04-26Deep Dive

How Bitcoin and DeFi are Completely Different Phenomena

Decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, specifically on Ethereum (ETH), have exploded in popularity over the past couple of years. While bitcoin appears to be here to stay as a global, apolitical store of value, the basic idea behind DeFi is to go beyond the creation of a new, base monetary asset and bring a greater degree of decentralization to other areas of finance (or at least the appearance of decentralization).　　While bitcoins key value proposition is built around the removal of trusted third parties in the realm of digital money, it is much more difficult to completely remove counterparty risk in other areas of the traditional financial system.　　Sure, some people are making fortunes by earning yields on the speculative tokens found in the DeFi ecosystem, but with greater yield comes greater risk.　　Its vital for anyone involved in the cryptoasset market to understand that Bitcoin and DeFi are not at all the same when it comes to risk profiles.　　 Bitcoin is a savings technology　　Bitcoin is often referred to as a speculative investment, but the reality is it is a new type of savings technology. A key difference between savings and investment is that savings does not generate yield and should not involve potential

2021-04-26Deep Dive

UK Banks Getting Tough on Bitcoin, But AML Rules Are The Real Problem

NatWest, the UK retail bank, has announced it will not engage with business customers who accept payment in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. It follows recent announcements from HSBC that it won‘t allow transfers from digital wallets and won’t enable customers to buy shares in companies associated with cryptocurrencies, such as Coinbase or MicroStrategy.　　The feeling from both banks is that cryptocurrencies are high risk and therefore justify a cautious approach, though they note that their stance could change if and when regulation evolves.　　Interestingly, this is not a view shared by institutions across the Atlantic. Both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are now offering their wealth management clients the opportunity to invest in bitcoin. Indeed, the initial uptake has been strong, with Morgan Stanley alone drawing in nearly USD 30m of investment in two weeks.　　Why the caution？　　The cautious approach of NatWest and HSBC stems from the 2012 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, a G7 initiative geared towards defeating money laundering. These recommendations mandate each member state to implement measures requiring their banks to scrutinize customers transactions for the purposes of money laundering and terrorist financing.　　Under recommendation one, the anti-money laundering (AML) framework is to be applied on the basis of

2021-04-26Deep Dive

Discovering financial literacy: Crypto leads retail investment charge

Momentum trading driven by retail investors seems to have taken on a new life since the onset of the global standstill occasioned by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Where celebrity challenges used to dominate viral trends on social media, issues relating to personal finance and investments seem to be as popular these days.　　This increasing interest in the financial markets from workaday folks has also spread to the crypto space as digital currencies posted sharp price recoveries from the slumps that characterized the Black Thursday crash of March 12, 2020.　　While interest is palpable, some gatekeepers question whether the new generation of retail investors is sufficiently knowledgeable to be investing in risky assets. But has the management of personal finances and investing become a new fashionable trend？　　COVID-19: Challenge and opportunity　　Trading apps like Robinhood and Coinbase have recently become the most downloaded on Apples App Store, ahead of popular social media services such as TikTok and Instagram. Given the sway held by social media over popular culture in the last decade, investment apps seeing the most downloads could point to a pivot in interests especially among the younger demographic.　　According to a survey published by U.S. investment giant Charles Schwab, 15% of the current retail

2021-04-26Deep Dive

These 3 Altcoins on Binance Smart Chain Could Skyrocket, Says Lark Davis

Popular crypto YouTuber Lark Davis talked about Binance Smart Chain (BSC) many opportunities for investors. With its low fees and fast transactions, Davis believes this ecosystem provides the kind of experience that the people want.　　BSC flagship product PancakeSwap (CAKE) has given its competitor a run for their money and even managed to “eclipse Ethereum” in terms of transaction volume, according to Davis. The analyst cited data from DappRadar that claims BSC outperformed Ethereum on this metric, at least for a 24-hour period.　　Source: DappRadar　　PancakeSwap experienced an all-time high number of users during the past week and registered some issues due to the high congestion. Davis said:　　Binance Smart Chain hit a an all-time of 8.5 million transactions. I think it is pretty obvious what we are seeing right here. People want exposure, they want to get into DeFi. They want to get into crypto and use the different products.　　The analyst reiterated Ethereum‘s disadvantages and the high number of users that have been price out of the platform. When it comes to adoption, the “numbers speak for themselves”. PancakeSwap’s native token trading volume sits at $1.1 billion in the daily chart. Ethereum DEX Uniswap record a similar number but has been lagging behind

2021-04-26Deep Dive

Analysis Reveals Why This Year’s Altcoin Season Will Be “Significantly Wilder” Than 2017’s

As Bitcoin stagnates, altcoins make their way into their traditional bullish cycle, making them one of the most promising assets in the market at this time. The bullish takes from analysts have outweighed the bearish ones by a large margin, and if the market continues to imitate historical patterns, then we might witness one of the biggest altcoin bull runs this year. Weiss Crypto Ratings, a leading cryptocurrency, and stocks rating platform has supported the bullish claims in a new reveal.　　This years altseason could send the market to new levels　　As shared in a Twitter post, Weiss is of the opinion that Ethereum (ETH) is ushering the market into the bullish uptrend. For context, the altcoin season is one of the highly anticipated cycles for the altcoin market. The altcoin season usually precedes an exponential movement in the markets demand.　　Investors will then quickly go into panic mode, forcing them to secure their assets and accumulate gains from alternative assets. This usually results in an outflow of funds from Bitcoin to Ethereum, and with time, many more altcoins begin to benefit from the outpour of funds.　　This pattern, as posted by Weiss, is one that the market could still follow. And although there

2021-04-26Deep Dive

4 Key Factors Why Ethereum Gas Fees Could Get Cheaper

Ethereum has the biggest gains on the daily chart for the main cryptocurrencies by market cap. At the time of writing, ETH is up 4.9% and trades at $2.328,58. With sideways movement in the weekly and 46.7% gains on the monthly chart.　　ETH recovering on the daily chart. Source: ETHUSD Tradingview　　More appreciation for ETH seems to be imminent. The network appears to be solving a “disadvantage” that has been leverage by its competitor to gain market share, high transaction fees. Data from EthGasStation indicates that a fast or standard transaction has a cost between 45 to 50 gwei.　　As shown in the chart below, ETHs gas fees are on a decline since April 20th. At that moment, this metric soared to an average of $37, their highest cost since February 2021. The trend appears to be reversing and the metric is close to its lowest point this year with an average cost of $10.22 per transaction.　　Source: ychart　　Co-founder of EthHub, Anthony Sassano, believes there are 4 main reasons for fees getting cheaper: the increase in the gas limit (block size) by 20%, a cooled down on the crypto market, implementation of second-layer solutions, and the adoption of Flashbots. The latter seems to be

2021-04-26Deep Dive

Peter Brandt: “Biden Presidency May Become A Big Negative Factor For Bitcoin”

After winning the November 2020 presidential election, pundits were optimistic that President Joe Biden would cause a wave of much-needed regulations and reshape the crypto industry.　　However, in a two-part Twitter thread on April 24, veteran trader and chart guru Peter Brandt has voiced concerns that the Biden administration may have undesirable effects on the firstborn cryptocurrency.　　Brandt shared the link to an article by the Wall Street Journal regarding Biden‘s capital gains tax proposal. It’s a mere consideration for now, but if the proposal is passed, it will raise the capital gains tax to almost 40% from the current 20% for investors who make $1 million or more. In some U.S. states, Brandt notes that it could be raised to 55%. The tax rate doubling will bring in $370 billion for government spending.　　This means that families with huge amounts of unrealized gains will be forced to change their investment plans and make it hard for business owners to pass on assets to their children.　　This will arguably be the largest tax increase in history. It‘s no wonder the price of bitcoin fell over 10% to below $50,000 after news of Biden’s aggressive capital gains proposal was first revealed. Other cryptocurrencies like ethereum

2021-04-26Deep Dive

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