Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

What Are Fungible and Non-Fungible Tokens? How Do They Affect the Future of Blockchain Respectively?

In the world of cryptocurrencies, the number of tokens is gradually increasing almost every day. According to Statista, there are over 4,000 cryptocurrencies as of early 2021.　　A cryptocurrency is a conventional currency that we use to make or receive payments on the blockchain. Crypto tokens portray a distinct fungible and tradable asset or a utility created by an initial coin offering.　　There are two fundamental types of cryptographic tokens – fungible and non-fungible.　　 What are fungible and non-fungible tokens？　　Fungible cryptocurrencies constitute the majority of tokens in the market today. Fungible tokens are digital assets configured in such a way that each token (or fragment of the token) is equivalent to the next.　　Fungibility is a characteristic seen in fiat money. For instance, a $20 bill can be exchanged for any other $20 bill or even fractions of it. Even where it cannot be an absolute $20 bill, it can be in multiples of $5 bills or even less with the total equaling $20.　　On the same hand, one Bitcoin is equal to one Bitcoin, and its value is not different from any other Bitcoin. This is why fungibility is vital to the concept of currency, notwithstanding whether its a crypto or a fiat

2021-03-19Deep Dive

Why Is Forex Trading More Popular Than Bitcoin In South Africa?

South Africa is the biggest forex market in Africa. To put this into perspective, South Africa‘s daily trading volume is $2.21 billion, which is a far cry from Nigeria’s $314 million daily turnover. Moreover, the average customer deposit in SA to South African forex brokers is $742, while in Nigeria, deposits average $514.42.　　That said, you would expect the two countries to have a similar appetite for bitcoin. Well, that is not the case. While Nigerians have adopted bitcoin massively, bitcoin popularity is not as much in South Africa.　　Why is Forex more popular than Bitcoin in South Africa？　　According to Paxful data, Nigeria is the second biggest bitcoin market globally, only second to the United States. Nigerians have traded about 60215 bitcoins in the last five years totaling about $566 million. The country has recorded a 19% volume since 2017. On the other hand, South Africa ranks 10th globally with a total volume of $18 935 812 in the same period.　　The big question is why bitcoin is not widespread in South Africa like in Nigeria. Below are some of the main reasons. Lets delve right in.　　The Government Is Clamping Down On Crypto Users　　The South African Revenue Services has sent taxpayers audits requesting

2021-03-18Deep Dive

bZx DeFi Protocol the Latest to Launch on Binance Smart Chain

As Ethereum shows no signs of abating in terms of transaction fees, more DeFiplatforms are making the switch to the rival Binance Smart Chain. The latest to do so is bZx according to a March 17 announcement.　　The platform stated that its margin trading, borrowing, and lending products Torque and Fulcrum will be moving to BSC but it will remain “Ethereum focused.”　　“All we are doing is – expanding our margin trading, borrowing, and lending products to BSC.”　　BGOV Liquidity Mining Program　　The protocol also announced that it will also enable margin trading via the BSC powered automated market maker, PancakeSwap.　　“bZx is pleased to announce that it is the first and only platform enabling margin trading to occur over PancakeSwap using intelligent routing. So, users are always given the best possible rate.”　　It will also be launching its own yield farming incentives for a new BEP-20 token called BGOV. These tokens are the Binance Chain equivalent to its native BZRX token.　　BGOV is a fork of the SUSHI token contract with an inflationary issuance model. This makes bZx the first lending AMM with Sushi-like token economics. The platform mulled the idea of launching a wBZRX token on the existing model. It would then funnel fees from

2021-03-18Deep Dive

This Undervalued Altcoin Is Heading for the Top 10, Says Crypto Trader Tyler Swope

Crypto trader and influencer Tyler Swope believes the utility token behind an energy-focused blockchain is set to overtake most crypto projects in market cap.　　Swope says the ambitious project is working to modernize the electricity markets and break up its existing monopolistic structure.　　He explains that Energy Web chain (EWT) employs the Decentralized Autonomous Area Agent (D3A) market model which “leverages smart contracts to perform control and financial settlement for energy resources of any size and type.”　　The analyst highlights that Energy Web has important ties to Kevin Johnson, the principal energy strategy & innovation lead at PG&E, one of the largest energy storage players in the game.　　Back in 2019, PG&E executed a pilot program to test existing distributed energy resource management systems (DERMs) and determined that there were not any (DERMs) ready for the firm‘s investment. However, Swope notes that Energy Web’s blockchain was not live at that time and thus was not part of that pilot program.　　Energy Web has a live blockchain, but also the D3A, decentralized autonomous area agent. This is the comprehensive DERMs PG&E was looking for in 2019.　　What does the D3A do？ The D3A optimizes the operation of each grid device through a modeling tool, allowing each hierarchy

2021-03-18Deep Dive

GraphLinq Protocol: The Gateway to Automated Blockchain Functionalities

Established at the beginning of 2021, GraphLinq brings users in the crypto sphere a new model of integrating blockchain automation on any blockchain-related task. Simply put, GraphLinq Protocol contains unique tools such as an engine and an integrated development environment(IDE) to provide automated services while leveraging centralized data streams and several blockchains.　　The protocol accomplishes its goal using graphs, a group of nodes that automate off-chain and on-chain tasks. To deploy a graph, users have to import any template or glq file using the IDE tool and execute it on the network through the engine tool.　　GraphLinq also allows users to receive ticks and up-to-date data on centralized exchanges and DeFiapplications. As a safety measure, every information derived from apps and blockchain connections is safely located in the Engine database storage. An added advantage is that users dont need any coding knowledge to initiate any blockchain-oriented task!　　A Token Sale on The Way　　GraphLinq plans on conducting a public sale on Uniswap via Unicrypt scheduled to start on March 21, 2021, at 18:00UTC as an Initial Liquidity Offering(ILO). The protocol plans on hosting the GLQ token sale for 48 hours or less if they attain a targeted hard cap of 350ETH. GLQ is the

2021-03-18Deep Dive

U.K Advertising Watchdog Bans Bitcoin Advert

The U.K advertising regulator has banned an advertisement by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinfloor aimed at pensioners, on the grounds that it was misleading.　　Coinfloor is the Uks longest running Bitcoin exchange, and has previously marketed itself on being a trustworthy, verified exchange. The Bitcoin ad suggested that Bitcoin would be a good way to invest savings or pensions, however it failed to mention the risks involved. While this advertisement ban may be a reflection of the lack of foresight by Coinfloor, it is also an example of the hazy view with which the government regards crypto-assets, as well as the lack of clarity in cryptocurrency regulation.　　The Advertising Standards Authority banned Coinfloor from releasing the advertisement in its current form, citing a complainant who questioned whether the ad was misleading and socially irresponsible for failing to make clear the risks associated with Bitcoin.　　The ASA commented in their statement:　　“We told Coinfloor to ensure that future marketing communications made sufficiently clear that the value of investments in bitcoin was variable and could go down as well as up, that Coinfloor and the bitcoin market were unregulated, and that they also did not irresponsibly suggest that purchasing bitcoin represented a secure investment of ones savings

2021-03-18Deep Dive

Bitcoin Jumps As Fed Signals Greenlight and Funding Rates Cool off

After an early-morning slump as the crypto market waited in anticipation for the Fed meeting, Bitcoin (BTC) prices bounced more than 7% to $58,000 from an intraday low of $54,000. The broader crypto market welcomed Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s words as he reinstated that interest rates would remain at current levels until 2023. Alongside BTC, Ethereum (ETH) and other altcoins rallied to pare this past weekend’s losses.　　FEDERAL RESERVE MAINTAINS NEAR-ZERO INTEREST RATES; WHAT THAT MEANS FOR BITCOIN　　As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to keep interest rates at low levels, while continuing repo operations of at least $120 billion bond purchases on a monthly basis. In the meeting, the committee also expected core inflation levels to rise, forecasting a long-run inflation rate of 2%. The economic recovery from the pandemic and expansion of the money supply are two major factors that will influence inflationary forces in the near future.　　Following the FOMC meeting, the US dollar retreated as Treasury yields dropped. This is positive news for Bitcoin, as investors and institutions will turn to the digital asset as a hedge from inflation and the dollar. As the Federal Reserve opts to not use contractionary monetary policy by raising interest

2021-03-18Deep Dive

Bitcoin and Litecoin Move Closer to Their Privacy Improvements

The Speedy Trial (ST) proposal for Taproot, a protocol upgrade that should improve Bitcoins privacy and flexibility, has received a lot of ACKs over the past eleven days, signaling the communitys support for it and the upgrade activation.　　The vast majority of the participants voiced their acknowledgment (ACK), while some had additional opinions or reservations, such as longer deadlines, a concern that a failed speedy trial will become “a major driver in favor of LOT=true,” as well as other more technical opinions, including those on timeline, start time, stop time, and earliest active time.　　“If it avoids contention and deadlock and nothing else is on the docket, it is worth a try,” christianriley said.　　But there were some NACKs too. Free software programmer and developer working on Bitcoin Lightning Rusty Russell argued that “Taproot could be activated by a blind monkey, but that doesnt mean we should do it that way.” According to him, given that it will “almost certainly” pass, ST “avoids the hard questions. [...] Weve made it as easy as possible for miners to say ”yes“. They dont have to upgrade, just flip a bit and promise to do so later,” and added,　　“Nobody has to answer the hard questions on

2021-03-18Deep Dive

'Deflationary' Eth2 could flip Bitcoin: Messari analyst

Ryan Watkins, a senior research analyst at crypto analysis firm Messari, has speculated that Ethereum could overtake Bitcoin as the largest crypto asset once its Eth2 and Proof-of-Stake overhaul is complete.　　Appearing on Youtube show FinTech Today on March 18, Watkins noted that while he does not know “if or when” Ethereum will flip Bitcoin, he does believe Ether could emerge as the leading crypto asset in the future, due to Eth2, stating:　　“The selling point of Bitcoin over Ethereum as a store of value asset boils down its monetary policy being very predictable and the Bitcoin blockchain being very secure. I think that with the shift to Eth2 and to Proof-of-Stake, [...] Ethereum may actually potentially be more secure than Bitcoin.”　　Watkins also emphasized Ether‘s changing underlying economics amid the Eth2 transition, highlighting expectations that Ethereum’s forthcoming burn mechanism will result in Ether being destroyed at a rate exceeding the creation of new supply.　　“Ethereum‘s monetary policy will actually change in Eth2 so that it actually won’t just be just be less inflationary than Bitcoin, it would actually be deflationary. So then, every year, there is actually less and less Ether in existence because its being burnt.”　　He posted the question: If Ethereum is

2021-03-18Deep Dive

Thailand’s central bank warns against ‘illegal’ THT stablecoin

The Bank of Thailand has issued a stern warning against a privately issued stablecoin pegged to the national currency, the Thai Baht.　　According to a Bangkok Post report on March 18, the central bank has told citizens that Thai Baht Digital (THT) has no legal assurances or protection and that users could be at risk of cyber theft or money laundering　　Citing a sixty-year-old law, the central banks assistant governor of the legal group, Pruettipong Srimachand, stated that any activities involving the stablecoin are considered illegal:　　“The creation, issuance, usage or circulation of any material or token for money is a violation of Section 9 of the Currency Act 1958.”　　The stablecoin is issued on the Terra platform which has produced various other stablecoins including the TerraUSD, first issued in September 2020, and TerraKRW. It is also behind the Chai payments app, an e-commerce wallet powered by stablecoins that is widely used across Asia.　　The THT is pegged to the Thai Baht raising fears it could cause fragmentation of the Thai currency system should it attempt to compete with the central bank issued currency. Mr Pruettipong added:　　“Such usage would ultimately affect the general publics confidence in the stability of the national currency system, which is

2021-03-18Deep Dive

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