Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Nifty News: NFT searches at ICO-mania levels, a robot and Snoop Dog drop NFTs, plus more

Interest in non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has surged to almost the level of searches for the term ICO during the 2017 bull market mania, according to data from Google Trends. With eight days left in March, the current spike in interest could even surpass interest in ICOs back then, which would be an impressive feat indeed.　　The Initial Coin Offering mania in 2017 was partly the cause, and partly the result, of the 2017 bull run that culminated in Bitcoin peaking just shy of $20,000.　　Given NFTs span gaming, music, art, virtual land — and can even represent real world objects like houses — they potentially have a much larger audience than the predominately finance and tech people who were drawn to ICOs.　　Search interest has no doubt been sparked by the mainstream media enthusiastically covering NFTs being sold for jaw dropping prices including a collage from digital artist Beeple selling at Christies for $69 million and music producer 3LAU selling his new album as NFTs for $11.7 million.　　Snoop Dog, Lionel Richie, and Boy George　　Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has announced it will launch a new NFT marketplace featuring drops from Snoop Dog, Lionel Richie, and Boy George along with James Bonds favorite Formula One

2021-03-24Deep Dive

South Korean Deputy PM Make Crypto ‘Overheating’ Claim as Alt Interest Rises

Politicians speaking out in disapproval of crypto is not uncommon in many regions, but readers with good memories may recall that the last time Hong used this sort of vocabulary to speak about bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins was back in 2017 – after which the government followed up with strict new regulations, including a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs).　　Per Yonhap, Hong has not explicitly hinted that any new crypto legislation would be forthcoming as of yet, but claimed that “virtual assets and the cryptoasset sectors are overheating compared to their actual value.”　　He opined that “overheating” “can be problematic,” adding,　　“From an economic standpoint, [investors] should be very cautious.”　　He also underlined the fact that starting on Thursday, new legislation will promulgate that will force, as Hong put it “exchanges trading virtual assets” to “report transaction details to the government.”　　Meanwhile, there appears to be some evidence that an altcoin boom is taking place in the country. As previously reported, bitcoin “fever” appears to have returned to South Korea after a three-year lull, with the over 40s and so-called “crypto moms” joining the action, inspired by Teslas BTC-buying move and more USA-based crypto activity.　　But per a report from Newsis, many investors are flocking

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Ethereum's high gas fee crisis won't be solved by EIP-1559

A report by analytics provider Coin Metrics has delved into the world of Ethererum transaction fees noting that theyre still at highest-ever levels and even a much touted approaching network upgrade is unlikely to alleviate the problem.　　According to the Ethereum Gas Report by Coin Metrics, median fees on Ethereum have been consistently over $10 for most of 2021. Comparatively, the average Ethereum transaction fee reached just $5.70 at the height of the 2017/2018 bull run.　　It attributed some of this increase to the increase in ETH prices themselves which will make gas more expensive. Since the beginning of 2021, ETH has surged 125% to current prices despite a correction of 19% from its all-time high of $2,050. However, over the same period, the median gas price has increased by 532%.　　Different types of transactions require different amounts of gas — a simple ERC-20 token transfer uses much less gas than a complex smart contract operation for an automated market maker for example. However, it noted that rather than DeFi being the root cause of the high gas fees, it is simply more transactions in general.　　“Since January 2020, the amount of gas used per transaction has trended downwards. This shows that increased transaction

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Elon Musk says Tesla now accepts bitcoin as a payment method

Teslas founder and CEO Elon Musk has said the electronic car maker now accepts bitcoin as a payment method.　　Musk said in a tweet early Wednesday UTC time that “You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin.”　　“Tesla is using only internal s U.S. stores for all models of its electronic cars.　　Musk said the bitcoin payment will be available for its U.S. store at this stage. “Pay by Bitcoin capability available outside US later this year,” he said.　　Indeed, The Block has verified Teslas official U.S. pages and is able to see the bitcoin payment support in its U.S. store.　　Bitcoin payment method of Teslas Model Y　　Based on the bitcoin payment details that The Block has seen, it appears Tesla generates different bitcoin addresses each time for different buyer orders.　　Tesla also told users it currently does not accept payment in digital assets other than bitcoin and would require potential buyers to send the exact bitcoin for their orders in one single transaction.　　The support for bitcoin as a payment method is not surprising as the electronic car maker said in its February filing that it was planning to accept bitcoin.　　Tesla also made headlines last month with its announcement that it made a $1.5 billion investment

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Teller Finance’s Mainnet Launch Puts NFTs to Work – But Not How You Expect

Unsecured commercial-grade lending is one step closer to making its debut in decentralized finance (DeFi).　　And, in perhaps a sign of the times, it involves a non-fungible token (NFT).　　Algorithmic credit risk protocol Teller Finance‘s limited alpha mainnet is now live on the Ethereum blockchain following a testnet earlier this year, the startup said Tuesday. The protocol links with traditional finance player Plaid and other data providers to bring real-time credit risk info onto the blockchain. And it’s bootstrapping in a novel way – NFT liquidity provisioning.　　Each “Fortune Teller” NFT token will not only depict various commissioned collectibles, but will be used for the protocols initial liquidity, the team said. Half of NFT sale funds will be placed into the protocol with yield paid out to NFT holders staking funds on Teller. The token will be needed in order to participate in the full alpha mainnet, which goes live April 5.　　“With our NFT system, we‘ve found a way to supply the protocol’s liquidity and reward our early community members while simultaneously offering a unique access mechanism for the early alpha,” Teller Finance CEO Ryan Berkun said in a statement. “Teller NFT holders will gain immediate APY benefits, and will also have access

2021-03-24Deep Dive

FCA Report Indicates Young People Invest In Crypto Without Understanding Potential Risks

Reuters has reported findings from Britains Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that indicate that younger people invest in cryptocurrencies without having a full understanding of potential risks involved. The UK financial watchdog noted that a number of social factors were also responsible for younger people getting involved in high-risk investments.　　The report from the FCA outlined the profile of crypto and FX traders in the UK and their involvement in so-called high risk investments.　　 “A new, younger, more diverse group of consumers are getting involved in higher-risk investments, potentially prompted in part by the accessibility offered by new investment apps”　　59% of the study subjects also said they had less than three years experience in investment, and said a significant investment loss would have a fundamental impact on their current or future lifestyle. It was also suggested that the pandemic has increased the number of british citizens who participate in trading and investment. The FCA findings listed an increase in the female under 40 demographic, as well as those from a BAME background.　　 “The research found that for many investors, emotions and feelings such as enjoying the thrill of investing, and social factors like the status that comes from a sense of ownership

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Decentralized NFT project takes on major marketplaces and woos artists

A decentralized non-fungible token project says it is committed to lowering barriers to entry for artists, creators and photographers — making it easier for them to mint their own NFTs.　　Unique.One says interest in digital art is continuing to accelerate, and there is an “incredible opportunity” for creatives to reach new audiences and earn an income.　　Although an array of NFT platforms already exist, the volunteer founding team behind Unique.One argues that some of these marketplaces overcharge creators, censor their work, or have too much of a corporate backing to truly represent the communitys needs.　　It has embraced a different structure and governance model to ensure that its NFT project has been designed by the community… for the community.　　A Unique story　　The idea for Unique.One emerged during a late-night discussion in the midst of the coronavirus crisis last year, when lockdowns and quarantines were commonplace.　　A community of artists, developers, designers, programmers, engineers, marketers and project managers from around the world — all with extensive interest and experience in the crypto space — came together with one goal in mind: To level the playing field for talented individuals who are seeking new revenue streams because of the pandemic.　　The art marketplace they have created celebrates diversity

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Bitcoin Transfer Worth $806M Might Reveal Big Institutional Purchase

Digital-asset traders and analysts were scrambling Tuesday to assess a fresh data point extracted from the Bitcoin blockchain: Some $806 million worth of the cryptocurrency apparently transferred earlier in the day off of the Coinbase exchanges institution-focused unit, Coinbase Pro.　　The jury is out on what it means. It could be that a large investor or several just completed a fresh round of buying and now are taking the bounty off the exchange for long-term holding or other purposes. Or it might be something else more innocuous, such as an internal transfer.　　According to data provided by the blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, some 14,666 BTC were moved off the exchange during the early U.S. hours in a small number of transactions.　　The transfer came after bitcoin prices tumbled Monday by the most in a month to about $54,000, a level the market hasnt seen for almost two weeks. By Tuesday, the largest cryptocurrency had steadied and was changing hands around $55,000.　　“The outflow was split into multiple wallets, which could be their hot wallets, representing an internal transfer or custodian wallets for institutions,” Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, told CoinDesk.　　Coinbase Pro outflow　　Source: CryptoQuant　　Coinbase‘s cold wallets for custody are directly integrated with the exchange’s

2021-03-24Deep Dive

Coinbase execs explain why the soon-to-be-public crypto exchange opted against a security token

Coinbases top brass detailed how the crypto exchange unicorn weighed a possible security token on its path to going public -- but ultimately set the idea aside given technological and regulatory constraints.　　The crypto exchange hosted a Reddit ask-me-anything session last week, a move that came as it prepares to go public by way of a direct listing. That listing is expected to take place as soon as early next month.　　Coinbase was asked whether it has plans to provide special share access to Coinbase customers, airdrop shares or provide direct access to share purchases via its platform.　　In response, CFO Alesia Haas wrote that “[t]heres no opportunity to invest in the company at this time, prior to that direct listing.”　　Far more intriguing in the answer was an extended disclosure of Coinbases exploration of a security token. Security tokens are digital representations of stocks and other types of securities. Theyve been advanced as a blockchain use case in the finance space by companies like tZERO and INX, both of which have created security tokens of their own as a means to obtain funding from investors.　　Haas noted that “we wanted to be able to share with all investors and all the public actually how

2021-03-24Deep Dive

BTC is not Equivalent to Fiat Yet

Background　　BTC is considered to be the new favorite of investors in the financial markets across the globe. It increased in values rapidly from $5,000 in March last year to an all-time high of $40,000 earlier this year. Market analysts and the more optimistic participants in the market believe that this rally will go on for a long term, carrying the BTC price to even $100,000 level or beyond it. However, despite all these positives, BTC has still not reached the level of fiat or become equivalent to the dollar as yet.　　The faith and trust of people in the government fiat currencies has been falling down in recent years, and as a result, people such as investors and traders have been very keen in investing in crypto and other unconventional financial assets. Due to this decrease in demand and decreased reliability of fiat among people, central banks across the world, and The Federal Reserve in the United States have greatly reduced interest rates and have been generating enormous quantities of fiat money to finance coronavirus relief programs and in an attempt to provide financial relief and support to the suffering economies.　　After an increased adoption from several renowned institutions and companies

2021-03-24Deep Dive

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