Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Can Uniswap v3 prevent forks? Top lawyer breakdowns its license

After the release of Uniswap v2 in May 2020, several competitors for the DEX emerged, forking its codebase, launching new incentives, and their own governance model to attract users. Sushiswap is perhaps the most important.　　To prevent something similar, the third iteration of the automated market maker will be released with a Business Source License 1.1. The license will expire after two years unless the community decides to accelerate its expiration. It will then adopt a GPL 2.0 open-source license.　　With a tentative deployment date of May 5, General Counsel for Compound Finance, Jake Chervisnsky, believes it is possible that Uniswap v3 could prevent further forks, for a trade-off.　　Chervinsky señala que es importante que los protocolos de finanzas descentralizadas operen con licencias de código abierto. Sin embargo, indica que la licencia de negocio de Uniswap no será “inútil” como muchos piensan. El experto afirmó:　　“This is where people say ”good luck enforcing copyright against anon devs,“ as if Uniswap‘s BSL 1.1 license is useless. Wrong, for a few reasons. First, most dev teams aren’t fully anonymous. Like it or not, anonymity is tough to maintain, especially when a project succeeds.”　　In addition, Chervinsky said that the developers of a successful project have a difficult

2021-03-26Deep Dive

Will Ethereum Moving To PoS Spark Another Ugly Split In Bitcoin?

Pierre Rochard, a Bitcoin strategist at Kraken and co-founder at Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, sparked an interesting debate on Twitter on a potential tiff emerging in the Bitcoin community. According to Rochard, Ethereums transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) may trigger a potential future conflict in the Bitcoin community.　　“When Ethereum switches from proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake, theyre going to push the ”green“ anti-Bitcoin narrative *hard*. Its going to be well funded and highly coordinated. If you thought the 2017 scaling debate was ugly, this is going to be much, much nastier.”　　What Is Rochard On About？　　Right now, both Bitcoin and Ethereum utilize the PoW consensus algorithm for maintaining the overall network. In PoW, you use your computer resources to solve cryptographically challenging puzzles. If successful, you get to add your block to the main blockchain and receive a block reward. While this process is highly secure, it can be expensive and highly wasteful. In fact, the Bitcoin network consumes more energy than the country of Austria!　　Ethereum Moving To PoS　　The proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism turns this entire mining process virtual. In this situation, a users hash power is directly related to the size of their stake or coin age, instead of the amount

2021-03-26Deep Dive

IBM Ventures Further Into Crypto Custody With METACO, Deutsche Bank Tie-Ups

IBM, known for pitching banks and blue-chip firms on private blockchain technology (the sectors equivalent of alcohol-free beer) is taking decisive steps toward working with the hard stuff.　　The 110-year-old computing giant is licensing its software to METACO, a Switzerland-based firm that specializes in custodying digital assets for financial institutions, the companies said Thursday. This is the business of safeguarding the cryptographic private keys that control a cryptocurrency wallet, the 21st-century version of protecting a vault full of gold bars.　　Separately, Deutsche Bank, Europe‘s eighth-largest bank, is enlisting IBM’s help to build its planned crypto custody and trading services offering, two people familiar with the arrangement told CoinDesk. The parties are close but no deal is signed yet.　　These are not IBM‘s first steps into crypto custody; Big Blue has been quietly making moves into digital asset safekeeping since at least early 2019. Most recently, IBM’s Cloud Hyper Protect was teaming up with Zug, Switzerland-based decentralized finance (DeFi) data oracle, DIA (Decentralised Information Asset).　　IBMs further wading into these waters speaks to a broader change in the posture of corporates toward crypto. In the late 2010s, the preferred approach for banks and other large companies was to try to shoehorn blockchain, the decentralized recordkeeping

2021-03-25Deep Dive

Is Coinbase Taking Care Of Its Customers?

Coinbase is the most well-known fiat on-off ramp app for major cryptocurrencies and is looking to go public with an IPO in the next few weeks. However, is all as it should be for such a giant of the crypto space？ Some of Coinbase‘s customers certainly don’t think so.　　According to an article published by the New York Times, Coinbase customers are suffering hacks and worse still, the $100 billion valued company has done little to help.　　The article highlights some worrying incidents. One entailed a customer who received a text from an unknown number on his phone. Concerned that his phone was being hacked, he tried to login and check his Coinbase account that contained $100,000 in cryptocurrencies.　　He was unable to do so and contacted Coinbase for help. After investigation, the company told him that an attacker had reset his password and stolen all the funds on his account. The customer told of his shock that Coinbase security was unable to stop the theft.　　The customer, who was a lawyer, and also a former employee of Coinbase, began to plead with his former colleagues to investigate the case and urged Coinbase to reimburse the funds. He reported that he received minimal assistance

2021-03-25Deep Dive

Goldman Files to Offer Notes Linked to an ARK ETF That May Have Bitcoin Exposure

Goldman Sachs dipped another toe into the cryptocurrency pool by filing to offer notes linked to the performance of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that may have exposure to cryptos such as bitcoin (BTC, -4.12%).　　In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Goldman said it plans on offering $15.7 million of the “autocallable contingent coupon ETF-linked notes due 2026.”　　Payout on the notes would be dependent on the performance of the ARK Innovation ETF, an actively managed fund offered by Cathie Woods ARK Investment Management.　　The ARK Innovation ETFs strategy involves exposure to companies that are capitalizing on disruptive innovation and developing technologies, including blockchain.　　The ETF may also have exposure to cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, indirectly through an investment in a grantor trust, according to the filing.　　The filing continues a trend by Goldman of offering structured notes with payouts tied to the performance of other instruments or funds with possible bitcoin exposure and that trend seems to be accelerating. A keyword search of such filings yielded 81 results from 2021 with no results showing up for prior years. Of the 81 results from 2021, 15 were from January, 28 were from February and 38 were from March.　　The filing comes weeks after

2021-03-25Deep Dive

StarkWare Raises $75 Million for Scaling Products

StarkWare has raised $75 million in its series B funding round, according to an announcement from the firm on Twitter.　　Top VC Funds Lead Series B　　Paradigm led this round of funding, just as it did during StarkWares Series A round in 2018. Other returning investors include Pantera Capital, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, DCVC, and Wing Capital.　　StarkWare also attracted Three Arrows Capital and Alameda Research as investors for the first time.　　Previous seed rounds and funding rounds have raised approximately $36 million for StarkWare. The new batch of $75 million brings the companys total raised capital up to $111 million.　　StarkWare has also partnered with notable Ethereum firms and projects such as ConsenSys, Infura, and Metamask.　　Scaling Ethereum　　StarkWare has numerous projects underway, largely focused around ZK-starks, which are used to scale up blockchains like Ethereum.　　Ethereum has suffered from numerous congestion issues, largely brought on by the rising popularity of DeFi apps in the summer of 2020. The Ethereum network is now saturated by thousands of retail investors who are using DeFi exchanges and dApps in search of lucrative financial opportunities.　　Ethereum also has native scaling improvements underway, such as proof-of-stake and sharding. However, StarkWare is one of the most notable second-layer efforts working on the issue.

2021-03-25Deep Dive

New NFT platform returns power and autonomy to photographers

A new decentralized NFT platform is vowing to give back power and autonomy to photographers — enabling them to prove ownership of their work and avoid the hefty commissions that are charged by major online marketplaces.　　The team behind Unique.Photo says the site has been built in response to the challenging environment that experienced photographers face. Copyright infringement is a widespread issue, and the proliferation of third-party platforms has made it increasingly difficult for professionals to secure and control their income.　　Launching in May 2021, the permissionless marketplace is the next milestone in the creation of an ecosystem that is tailored to creative industries. As reported by Cointelegraph, this journey began with the launch of Unique.One, which is designed to make it easier for artists to mint their own NFTs.　　How it works　　Unique.Photo is designed to be managed by the community it serves — and the ultimate objective is to ensure that the platforms users eventually become owners.　　The founders believe blockchain technology can solve some of the biggest problems that modern photographers face — facilitating peer-to-peer transactions and fairer terms. Photographers who sell their work in NFT form receive payments instantly, and no longer have to wait for periodic payments from traditional outlets.　　NFTs

2021-03-25Deep Dive

Marshall Islands digital currency would 'raise risks,' says IMF

A representative for the International Monetary Fund has said the Marshall Islands‘ digital sovereign currency would currently pose a risk to the islands’ financial stability.　　Following a March consultation, International Monetary Fund, or IMF, representative Yong Sarah Zhou said the issuance of the Marshall Islands digital sovereign currency, called SOV, as legal tender would “raise risks to macroeconomic and financial stability as well as financial integrity” of the islands. According to Zhou, the measures the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or RMI, took to contain COVID-19 may have been “swift and strong,” but also strained the local economy.　　“The issuance of the SOV could jeopardize the RMIs last USD corresponding banking relationship,” said Zhou. “This combined with anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism risks (including those related to the SOV) could disrupt external aid and other important financial flows, resulting in a significant drag on the economy.”　　She added that the “cautious approach” towards the SOV already in place was warranted, given that the “potential cost of the SOV issuance will likely outweigh the expected benefits.” According to the IMF representative, the RMIs gross domestic product fell more than 3% in FY2020 and is expected to decline another 1.5% this fiscal

2021-03-25Deep Dive

Sales and Income Rocket at South Korea’s Biggest Crypto Exchanges

South Korean crypto exchanges are having a bumper 2021, with sales and income figures rising through the roof at the nations two largest trading platforms.　　Per Herald Kyungjae, recently released data from Vidente, a minority shareholder in the market-leading Bithumb exchange, showed that the platform‘s net sales for the past financial year were USD 193.5m. The company’s net income was up by over 873% on the previous year, at USD 112.5m.　　There was also a bumper rise in consolidated sales at Dunamu, the operator of Bithumb‘s biggest rival Upbit. The media outlet said that information released by Dunamu showed that the operator posted consolidated sales figures of USD 156m for the same period, a rise of 26% on last financial year. And Dunamu’s net income was USD 46m – a rise of almost 400% on the previous financial year.　　The Dunamu figures also include income from the operator‘s securities trading platform, Stock Plus – although Herald Kyungjae stated that this was likely to represent only a tiny fraction of the company’s consolidated sales.　　The media outlet added that an increase in transaction fee income was likely to have contributed to the huge rise in profitability.　　Much of this growth is likely Q4-led, as the first

2021-03-25Deep Dive

DeFi - CeFi Convergence & 'Explosive' Growth Are Coming

Decentralized finance (DeFi) and centralized finance (CeFi) are heading towards convergence as we are entering a period of rapid development for DeFi applications worldwide, according to the participants of a panel discussion at this years BIS Innovation Summit, an event hosted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).　　The panel, entitled CeFi to DeFi: can global finance be de/re-constructed？, featured a mix of private and public sector participants who voiced their ideas and concerns related to how the opportunities and risks inherent to DeFi could transform the global financial landscape.　　David Puth, CEO at Centre, the company that manages USD Coin (USDC), said that “the promise of what can happen in decentralized finance” is increasingly appreciated by the world of legacy finance.　　The world is heading toward a “convergence” of centralized finance and DeFi, according to the CEO, who said “theres an explosive period of growth ahead of us”.　　Asked about the potential coexistence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins, Puth argued that, while “every central bank is going to move at its own pace accordingly,” he was confident that “stablecoins and CBDCs are going to be peacefully co-existing for an indefinite period of time.”　　Joseph Lubin, Founder and CEO of blockchain company

2021-03-25Deep Dive

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