Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

How Chainlink 2.0 Will Expand The Reach for DeFi and Smart Contracts

Chainlink the Whitepaper for its second iteration. Chainlink 2.0 has been created to allegedly take the “next steps in the evolution of decentralized oracle networks”.　　With one of the most used applications in DeFi, these protocols need oracles to feed them with off-chain information. In the new iteration, Chainlink could go beyond, as the document claims:　　We foresee an increasingly expansive role for oracle networks, one in which they complement and enhance existing and new blockchains by providing fast, reliable, and confidentiality-preserving universal connectivity and off-chain computation for smart contracts.　　Chainlink 2.0 will be based on a concept called Decentralized Oracle Networks (DON). Maintained by “a committee of Chainlink nodes”, the platform will be able to support an “unlimited” number of functions.　　What are Chainlinks hybrid smart contracts？　　The DON will be a layer to deploy smart contract interfaces with the capacity to support off-chain computing resources without the intervention of a third party. The Whitepaper says:　　Decentralized Oracle Networks can go on to create a decentralized metalayer that enhance smart contracts with highly scalable, confidential, and secure forms of off-chain computation, in addition to the external data that Chainlink already provides today.　　With the above capacities, Chainlinks team of developers will focus on 7 core areas,

2021-04-16Deep Dive

What Are the Legal Challenges That Crypto Faces and the Way Out?

The popularity of the cryptocurrency space has catapulted to new levels in recent times. Apart from retail investors, institutional interest in the crypto space has grown massively. The next logical step for the progress of the crypto industry is some sort of government validation while remaining totally decentralized. While this seems too good to be true, this has to be the next step in the evolution of blockchain.　　For that to happen, the crypto industry must take care of the stigmas revolving around it that make it seem too risky, complex, and unapproachable.　　What are the factors that are defaming the cryptocurrency？　　Are you piqued with the legal challenges disarming you from making the best out of the cryptocurrency market？ According to an excerpt from Chainalysis 2021 report, in 2019, criminal/illegal activity represented 2.1% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume (roughly $21.4 billion worth of transfers).　　Lets look at the two main challenges that cryptocurrency faces at the moment as far as legality is concerned.　　（1）Use of Illegal Assets　　One of the factors contributing to this stigma is the use of illicit assets for investment. Not that Fiat has never been used for illegality, yet cryptos being relatively new and fresh, it does arouse doubts. The use

2021-04-16Deep Dive

World’s Third Richest Insurer AXA Now Accepts Bitcoin Payments in Switzerland

AXA, a multinational insurance firm is all set to offer a Bitcoin payment option for its customers in Switzerland, making them the first all-line insurer to do so. The new payment option is available for all the customers in Switzerland since the start of April and would allow them to pay premiums for all non-life products of AXA Insurance Ltd. The firm would soon send out bills with Bitcoin Payment QR code along with it to make the transaction seamless.　　Source: AXA　　Claudia Bienentreu, Head of Open Innovation at AXA Switzerland said,　　“This is AXAs response to growing demand from its customers for alternative payment solutions, with new technologies playing an ever-greater role,”　　The insurance firm is also the third richest in the world, and their offering of Bitcoin as a payment option is another leap forward for Bitcoin adoption. The insurance firm in its official release noted that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been a part of their discussion since 2019.　　The firm had conducted research back in 2019 asking their customers for their thoughts on cryptocurrencies and nearly one-third of the respondents either already owned cryptocurrencies or were willing to invest in them.　　More Crypto Payments to be Added in Future　　AXA in its official release

2021-04-16Deep Dive

Environmentalists say Bitcoin must do what Ethereum is doing to fix climate impact

The New York Times published an article featuring calls from experts saying Bitcoin will eventually need to follow what Ethereum is doing and change to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.　　Bitcoin‘s ravenous demand for electricity is an undisputed fact. But things get muddled when it comes to where that energy comes from, i.e., fossil fuels vs. renewable sources. As much as switching to a PoS mechanism would bypass both issues, that isn’t something that will happen soon, if at all.　　Bitcoins environmental impact　　Data from Cambridge University estimates Bitcoin‘s annualized electricity consumption is 138.6 TWh. That’s more than Sweden, which consumes 131.8 TWh of electricity a year.　　Bitcoin relies on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. This process enables miners to add new blocks based on whoever comes up with the winning PoW.　　Finding the winning PoW is matching a “guess” of random letters and numbers to the target. The more guesses get churned out, the more likely to match the target and earn the block.　　Millions of calculations a second are made in what is a highly competitive endeavor. All of which places a huge demand on electricity supply.　　The founder of Blockchain for Climate, Joseph Pallant, spoke about Ethereums switch from PoW to PoS, saying Bitcoin

2021-04-16Deep Dive

Coinbase CEO Says Listing Is a ‘Shift in Legitimacy’ for Crypto

The direct listing of Coinbase Global Inc. on Nasdaq is a turning point for the whole cryptocurrency sector, according to the firms Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong.　　Banks used to hang up on Coinbase‘s calls and many people thought the digital-currency platform was a bad idea, Armstrong said during a discussion on the Clubhouse app after the stock’s debut. Now top executives from the banks that helped Coinbase go public are calling to ask how they can get more into crypto themselves, he said.　　“It feels like a shift in legitimacy not just for Coinbase but the whole industry,” Armstrong said. “Crypto has a shot at being a major force in the financial world.”　　Coinbase, which fell 14% on its debut Wednesday to close at $328.28, now has a valuation of about $86 billion on a fully diluted basis. That compares with a 2018 funding round that valued it at around $8 billion. The listing was widely anticipated by the wider crypto community, with many coin prices and crypto-affiliated company shares rising in advance of it, before falling back once the trading started.　　The company‘s growth hasn’t been without controversies, such as restrictions Armstrong placed on employee discussions of politics last year, or frequent

2021-04-15Deep Dive

Tezos (XTZ) is testing a new consensus algorithm called ‘Tenderbake’

Smart contract platform Tezos has confirmed that it is trialing a new form of consensus algorithm called ‘Tenderbake,’ it said in a release shared with CryptoSlate.　　First touted as “a blockchain synchronizer and single-shot consensus algorithm” in a blog post published last January, Tenderbake is being utilized in the latest Tezos testnet, with team members seeking to identify potential implementation errors and optimize performance.　　The introduction of Tenderbake follows a hectic period for Tezos, which has seen approximately one upgrade implemented every quarter. The latest single-shot consensus algorithm was developed by Tezos engineers and academic researchers over the course of the last year, including those from the Baking Bad cooperative.　　Demystifying Tenderbake　　Distinct from Tezos existing Emmy+ algorithm, Tenderbake was inspired by Tendermint, the first adaptation of classical BFT-style consensus algorithms. In a recent Medium post,　　Tezos revealed that Tenderbake was capable of shorter block times and near-instant finality, with block times of 1 second or less. This would make it a market improvement on Emmy+, and bring Tezos in line with Visa levels of transactions per second (TPS) – without sacrificing decentralization.　　Because Tenderbake is capable of handling a large number of validators, the latest upgrade is seen as a major milestone for the network,

2021-04-15Deep Dive

WisdomTree Lists Bitcoin ETP on Deutsche Boerse as ETF Application Awaits SEC Review

Asset manager WisdomTree Investments announced Wednesday it has listed its bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) on Deutsche Boerses Xetra market, based in Frankfurt.　　The firm said the WisdomTree Bitcoin ETP tracks the spot price of bitcoin has a total expense ratio of 0.95%, and is trading under the ticker “WBIT.”　　WisdomTree said the product will give investors access to bitcoin without having to hold the crypto directly, store private access keys or interact with the digital currency infrastructure in any way. In March, WisdomTree said it had taken on Coinbase as its second custodian for the WisdomTree Bitcoin ETP.　　“The Xetra listing, along with the recent appointment of Coinbase Custody as our second custodian, will appeal to a wide range of professional investors and really demonstrates our commitment to delivering a superior investment experience to those allocating to our Bitcoin ETP,” said Jason Guthrie, WisdomTree European head of capital markets and digital assets.　　The listing comes against the backdrop of a looming decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over whether to approve the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) for U.S. investors.　　On April 9, the SEC officially started its review of WisdomTrees bitcoin ETF application.　　So far, the SEC has blocked all attempts at launching

2021-04-15Deep Dive

Privacy Will ‘Become a More Popular Investing Theme’: Barry Silbert

In an appearance this morning on CoinDesk TVs First Mover, Silbert said he believes privacy tech will be a draw for investors.　　In his first public interview in eight months, Barry Silbert, co-founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (CoinDesks parent company), placed an emphasis on privacy and privacy coins when discussing what protocols and areas he was following closely.　　In an appearance this morning on CoinDesk TV‘s First Mover, Silbert said he believes privacy will be a draw for investors and mentioned two privacy coins he’s particularly excited about and focused on: Zcash and Horizen.　　“Thematically, I think privacy is – and is going to become – a more popular investing theme,” Silbert said.　　Zcash, currently the 51st largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was developed by Electric Coin Company (ECC). It recently announced a timeline for launching a variety of upgrades to the protocol that include privacy enhancements.　　The Horizen protocol, whose token Zen is the 101st largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is a sidechain platform that “focuses on scalable data privacy and enables businesses and developers to custom build their own public or private blockchains using its unique sidechain technology, Zendoo,” according to its website.　　“Privacy is at the core of what we‘re all

2021-04-15Deep Dive

Cardano’s Next Upgrade to Introduce Smart Contract Support

Cardanos next upgrade Alonzo will introduce smart contract support to the blockchain. Alonzo will use the Plutus platform to establish the infrastructure and tools for smart contract development.　　Last week, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson laid out the roadmap for his blockchains development until 2025. He mentioned that with the final Voltaire update, the Cardano ecosystem would operate as a self-sufficient system.　　Before that happens, several steps need to take place first. The next update expected is the Alonzo upgrade. This will introduce smart contract support to the blockchain.　　The Plutus platform　　In an IOHK blog post, the development of Alonzo was described utilizing the Plutus platform. The platform will provide a native smart contract language for the Cardano blockchain.　　According to the post, Plutus requires understanding three concepts. The first is the Extended UTXO. Next is the Plutus Core, the on-chain part of Plutus. Finally, there is the Plutus Application Framework (PAF). PAF is the off-chain part of Plutus that enables interaction with smart contracts.　　Like Bitcoin (BTC), Cardano uses the unspent (U) transaction (TX) output (O) accounting model (UTXO). According to the post:　　“EUTXO extends the UTXO model by allowing output addresses to contain complex logic to decide which transactions can unlock them, and by

2021-04-15Deep Dive

The Real Reason Behind Bitcoin Explosive Rally is Not Coinbase But Inflation

Bitcoin surged past $64,500 this week, shattering yet another record-high milestone after a month of downside consolidation, over sentiments that a fresh Wall Street listing of one of the leading crypto firms, Coinbase, would attract more wealthy investors to the booming sector.　　But the flagship cryptocurrency borrowed its bullish cues from elsewhere, as well. On Tuesday, the US Bureau of Labor released Marchs Consumer Price Inflation data, showing that the index rose by its most in nearly nine years, led by pent-up demand and rising fuel prices as the US economy continued to recover from pandemic-driven lockdowns.　　 Beating Expectations　　The labor department noted that inflation rose 0.6 percent in March than February, making its quickest pace since February August 2012. According to Reuters‘ poll, the outcome beat economists’ expectations of a 0.5 percent raise. Meanwhile, the headline inflation surged 2.6 percent against the expectations of a 2.5 percent raise.　　Kathy Bostjancic, the chief US financial economist at Oxford Economics, said that inflation could rise to 3.5 percent this year.　　US Consumer Price Index 12-Month Percentage Change. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics　　Bitcoin behaves bullishly against inflation fears. The cryptocurrency‘s massive upside move after its mid-March crash came on the prospect that the US dollar

2021-04-15Deep Dive

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