Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

This Spanish AR NFT Campaign Will Give You Pokémon Go Flashbacks

If you thought youd read all there was to possibly read about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), think again, because a Spanish platform giving out hundreds of USD worth of crypto to Pokémon Go-style augmented reality (AR) hunters – as part of a plan to sell NFTs.　　Per La Voz de Galicia, residents of Viga, a city on the northwest coast of Spain, the project is part of a promotional campaign from a firm named OVR, which calls itself an “open-source, decentralized augmented reality platform.”　　To drum up interest in the token, the media outlet reports, the firm has placed NFT “treasure chests” containing varying amounts of its Ethereum blockchain-based OVR tokens at strategic points of the city. Would-be participants are obliged to make use of a designated app, and must also connect via their social media profiles.　　And just as was the case with Pokémon Go around a decade ago, “treasure hunters” armed with the OVR app on their smartphones can roam around the city in pursuit of the chests.　　A local blockchain business leader named Antonino Comesaña was quoted as stating,　　“I went hunting with my six-year-old son. We found chests full of 100 tokens and we made two or three dollars a day. But

2021-04-08Deep Dive

China Could Dominate the Crypto Space, According to Michael Saylor – Here’s Why

MicroStrategy‘s Michael Saylor is warning that China could claim hegemony over the crypto ecosystem if the US doesn’t step up.　　In a new interview at the MIT Bitcoin Expo Conference, the billionaire says its inevitable that Bitcoin will become an underlying store-of-value asset that can move across mobile payment rails around the globe while propping up fiat currency.　　However, Saylor says that if the US doesn‘t take initiative to lead that revolution, then China will. He doesn’t think this scenario will work out well for America.　　“The question really is: is the United States going to provide technology that‘s going to solve the problem of monetary economics for the entire planet or are we going to abdicate our leadership role？ And all that means is the capital moves offshore, the technology moves offshore, and people – maybe they don’t use English or the dollar, they use Chinese and CNY (Chinese Yuan). I don‘t really think that’s good for the United States.”　　The MicroStrategy chief executive says to avoid passing the torch to China, American entities need to embrace Bitcoin and its ability to serve as the underlying asset layer.　　“The mobile wallet‘s coming to everybody on the planet whether we like it or not. And

2021-04-08Deep Dive

Escalating Tensions Between Europe and the USA, and China: The Effect on Blockchain

Tension between China and the United States of America has once again resumed.　　China has accused the United States of inciting other countries “to attack China”.　　While the bout between both countries drags on (including an ongoing trade war) Europe is being sucked in.　　The reach of blockchain projects are being limited, owed, in part, to the ongoing trade war　　China, a global superpower, has endured strained relationships with other superpowers, including those in Europe and the United States of America.　　Although blockchain is not the most prominent topic of contention among these nations, the industry has been affected because of the stake these countries hold. China, for example, has blockchain companies such as NEO Smart Economy, CargoX, VeChain Tech, Pragmatic DLT inc.　　The United States Vs. China　　The United States (U.S.) Vs. China was a major source of concern during President Trumps administration. However, the strained relationship between both superpowers appears to have dragged on, entering the concerns of the new administration.　　The first high-level talks between the Biden administration and China held in Alaska in March, ended in less than ideal circumstances. In the March 19 meeting, some Chinese officials accused the U.S. of inciting other countries “to attack China”, while U.S. officials stated that China

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Here’s why Kusama (KSM) is set to change the crypto landscape

Kusama is a unique project that has been drawing a lot of attention in recent months, mainly because of its unique design functionality and future-oriented ecosystem.　　The project can be thought of as a polished iteration of Polkadot, with the platform meant to serve as a testing ground for projects, allowing them to check their scalability and interoperability functionalities before they are finally released on the Polkadot network.　　Why Kusama？　　Straight off the bat, it bears mentioning that Kusama lowers many significant barriers to entry for early-stage projects, especially those projects that are quite innovative in their design but still feature a high degree of experimentation and therefore may not be ready for large-scale deployment.　　In other words, the platform sort of serves as a precursor to Polkadot where developers can experiment and test out new blockchains or applications before releasing them.　　Another important facet of the project worth noting is that all official Polkadot updates are also tested out on the Kusama ecosystem before being released for public consumption.　　However, the difference lies in the fact that, unlike Polkadot, Kusama is quite flexible and provides developers a lot of flexibility, primarily in terms of less stringent governance parameters.　　From a design standpoint, Kusama largely resembles Polkadot

2021-04-07Deep Dive

CoinShares Introduces Litecoin Exchange Traded Product (ETP)

On Tuesday, Asset manager CoinShares, announced the launch of a new exchange-traded product (ETP), CoinShares Physical Litecoin (Ticker: LITE), making its total investment number of products to seven. The ETP will be listed on SIX Swiss Exchange first under the ticker LITE.　　According to an announcement, each unit of the ETP will be backed with 0.20 LTC listed under the ticker LITE, thus providing investors with passive exposure to the Litecoin networks native asset. The product will be traded against the US dollar as the base currency with a fee of 1.5% per annum.　　LITE will be the third such product launched by CoinShares in 2021, following ETPs announcement backed by BTC (-1.3%) and ETH (-0.69%) in January and February, respectively.　　Digital Asset Ecosystem　　Frank Spiteri, Chief Revenue Officer at CoinShares, noted that as the demand for digital assets amongst the traditional investment community gradually increases, they are beginning to observe the green shoots of demand for investment exposures outside of the two popular networks.　　He added that CoinShares dominates in designing novel ways for investors to access the digital asset ecosystem.　　CoinShares intends to add several new products to its platform to meet this growing demand from investors in the coming year. CoinShares Weekly Fund

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Here’s why billionaire Mark Cuban is picking Ethereum over Bitcoin

Mark Cuban says Ethereum is a better store of value than Bitcoin. Speaking to host Laura Shin on her Unchained podcast, Cuban said Ethereums versatility made it a more attractive prospect in his eyes while, Bitcoin, other than as a store of value, offers little else, at least on layer 1.　　“There‘s significant differences between the two. Both of them are effectively platforms that enable a lot to happen. But Bitcoin right now has evolved to be primarily a store of value and it’s very difficult to use it for anything else,” Cuban said.　　Versatility makes Ethereum the better store of value　　Although Bitcoin is almost five times the market cap of Ethereum at present, that doesnt necessarily mean Bitcoin is five times better. Some, Mark Cuban included, say Ethereum makes for the better choice between the two regardless of market cap size differences.　　According to Cuban, the reason is because of Bitcoins inferior utility compared to Ethereum. He pointed out the fundamental difference comes down to smart contracts or lack of on the leading cryptocurrency:　　“Theres just a lot more built in utility in its organic and native form. Just the ability to use smart contracts organically and natively is a significance difference right

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Blockchain Education Is Necessary for a Decentralized Future, and Here’s Why

IN BRIEF　　Education about the blockchain is key to going mainstream.　　Blockchain provides a future where we all control our data.　　Becoming “trustless” will make the world more trustworthy.　　Blockchain is an amazing tool for personal freedom. To become mainstream it needs to overcome the stigma of speculation and suspicion. The best way to do this is through education.　　The asset is new, its nature is a mystery for many and its price is rising (and sometimes falling) spectacularly. In addition, anyone with an opinion rushes into the debate trying to prove it either is a scam or a blessing for humanity.　　Meanwhile, the average person starts wondering if they too should buy some of that magic internet money that will reach astronomical heights and make them rich fast.　　They should not.　　Cryptocurrencies were not invented for speculation. It is an inevitable byproduct, yes, but speculation on an asset does not change its nature. So for all of us out there who do not feel like Wolves of Wall Street — is crypto even worth paying attention to？　　Oh yes it is.　　Why does blockchain matter？　　Blockchain — the technology behind cryptocurrencies — is a unique invention that made it possible to store and manage data without any central authority.

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Polkadot Investors Unimpressed With Tether News

Polkadot (DOT) investors seem to be unimpressed by the news that the most popular stablecoin is coming on this blockchain.　　The issuer of the stablecoin, Tether, announced today that tether (USDT) will launch on Polkadot, becoming the first stablecoin on this network.　　However, DOT, ranked 6th by market capitalization, is moving lower today after it rallied by 25% in a week. At 14:20 UTC it trades at USD 42.82 and is down by 2% in a day, becoming the worst-performing coin in the top 10 club today.　　In either case, USDT is first set to go live on the canary network Kusama, before being deployed on the Polkadot mainnet, a blockchain created by Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), and developed by Web3 Foundation.　　As reported, the experimental version of Polkadot, called Kusama, launched in July 2019, with real economic conditions, for developers to experiment in and test out a Polkadot-like environment. Less than a year later, in May 2020, as Polkadot Network - one of the top 10 ICOs of 2017 - went live as well.　　Polkadot is a sharded protocol that enables different blockchain networks to operate together. It allows connecting and launching blockchain applications by using parachains (sovereign blockchains, or shards, with

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Bitcoin Hashrate Surpasses All-Time High as Even 2014 ASICs Stay Profitable

Bitcoins hashrate is moving alongside its price as old and new mining machines come online.　　Bitcoins hashrate – a way to measure the total power consumption and mining output of the network – has topped a new all-time high.　　The current mean hashrate of the Bitcoin network is 179.4 exahashes per second, according to data from CoinMetrics.　　Ethan Vera, the CTO of North American mining firm Luxor, told CoinDesk that the all-time high comes during a scramble for the semiconductor chips that power ASICs, along with a scramble for the machines themselves.　　“The run up in Bitcoin price paired with a shortage on ASIC chips has caused mining economics to turn favourably to miners, with many miners running at 85%+ mining margins,” he said.　　“Miners are trying to get their hands on every machine possible, and even ASICs launched in 2014 are profitable. All of Luxors clients have all of their rigs plugged in and hashing including their oldest machines. There is little to no idle hashrate out there.”　　Building on Vera‘s comments, the all-time high is partly driven by previously backordered ASIC shipments finally reaching their North American buyers. Bitcoin’s mining industry has enjoyed surging growth over the past year, as big players continue to

2021-04-07Deep Dive

Ripple Wins Ruling to Expose SEC Docs on Bitcoin, Ethereum

The price of XRP is up 22% in the last 24 hours, its highest level since 2018.　　Since December, Ripple Labs has been fighting a $1.3 billion case brought against it by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses the digital payments company of offering an unregistered security in the form of its native XRP token.　　The company today won a discovery ruling that will require the SEC to hand over internal documents about Bitcoin and Ethereum. As a result, the general public may soon get a peek behind the curtain of the SEC, which has been historically tight-lipped about cryptos regulatory status.　　On March 15, Ripple Labs along with its co-defendants, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen, filed a motion to compel the SEC to produce documents regarding the SECs communications about Bitcoin and Ethereum or its internal communications about XRP.　　“For almost a decade, the SEC watched as XRP grew and developed, all the while issuing no formal guidance that its sales may be illegal,” it wrote in the March 15 filing to US District Court Judge Sarah Netburn. “The SEC did, however, announce that sales of two similar digital assets — bitcoin and ether — were not

2021-04-07Deep Dive

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