Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

IOTA Smart Contract Fees Advantages Explained: "No Bidding Wars"

Recently, IOTA Foundation dropped a bombshell by releasing the alpha version of its smart contracts environment. It is powered by the concept of cutting-edge fees. Today, IOTA engineers explained why it is better than existing solutions.　　“No bidding wars” in IOTAs smart contracts　　IOTA Foundation released a video to explain the model of charging fees for smart contracts usage. In that system, the fee amount will be set by the contract owner and will not be subject to change.　　Image via Twitter　　Typically, when authorizing transactions, network users can customize the level of fees they are ready to pay. The bigger fee paid, the faster the transaction will be included in the blockchain.　　Thus, volatile and unpredictable fees can reduce the possibility that network users can predict when their transactions will be confirmed. That, in turn, leads to a “bidding war” and eventually increases the costs of blockchain usage.　　Thus, the proposed model, in which the owner of the contract sets the fee level him/herself, will make in-app processes more robust in terms of business logics.　　dApps developers are welcome　　IOTA Foundation released an Alpha version of its smart contract environment on March 4, 2021. The initial release includes an IOTA Smart Contract Protocol Architecture description document that

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Crypto Investment Firm CoinShares Begins Trading on Nasdaq Nordic

The Jersey-based investment firm said its offering was oversubscribed, garnering subscriptions for nearly $80 million.　　Digital asset manager CoinShares has begun trading on Nasdaq Nordic after an oversubscribed public offering.　　CoinShares listed Thursday on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, an alternative stock exchange for small and medium-sized growth companies in Europe.　　The offering consisted of 3,364,403 shares at 44.90 SEK ($5.29) apiece and totaling 151 million SEK ($17.8 million), according to an announcement.　　The Jersey-based investment firm said the offering was oversubscribed by over 400%, garnering subscriptions for 675 million SEK (nearly $80 million) from 2,280 new shareholders.　　Shares are trading under the ticker “CS”, despite an earlier release stating it would be “COIN” – one also proposed for Coinbases upcoming listing.　　In February, CoinShares launched an Ethereum-back exchange-traded product (ETP) on Swiss SIX exchange, which already boasts around $75 million in assets under management.

2021-03-12Deep Dive

South Africa’s Regulatory Uncertainty Driving Away Crypto Startups: Report

A looming regulatory clampdown following a major Ponzi schemes collapse is already prompting some exchanges to flee abroad.　　Fear of a regulatory clampdown in South Africa is driving cryptocurrency startups to look to more friendly environments.　　Some crypto exchanges have already made the decision to go, Bloomberg reported Monday.　　For example, Revix is shifting its head office to the U.K. and also planning a Germany-based location.　　The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is seeking to regulate cryptocurrencies with more power to prosecute fraudsters, Head of Enforcement Brandon Topham told Bloomberg in January.　　The looming changes come after the collapse of Mirror Trading Investments (MTI) in December 2020, which had collected over 23,000 bitcoin (BTC, +1.2%) from investors before its CEO allegedly fled to Brazil.　　Regulators will focus on better protection for consumers rather than businesses, according to Topham, who added more proposals are expected in coming months.　　Until now, authorities in South Africa have been “incredibly slow in terms of regulation,” according to Sean Sanders, CEO of Cape Town-based Revix.　　This stymies growth as customers “arrive at our platform with skepticism,” he said.

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Chat App KakaoTalk’s Crypto Wallet Now Has 0.75m Users

The South Korean chat app operator Kakao says some 0.75 million, or more than 1% of its users are now using its chat app-linked crypto wallet that was launched in June 2020.　　Per a report from TechM, the service is firmly “en route to the 1 million-user mark,” although it still has a long way to go before it reaches the wider swathe of the South Korean public.　　The KakaoTalk chat app has some 50 million+ total users, the vast bulk of whom are South Korea-based. Last year, the companys blockchain arm, GroundX, unveiled the Klip wallet, which is compatible with its own klay token, as well as over 10 other tokens built on its Klaytn blockchain platform.　　The wallet is directly accessible through a tab on the KakaoTalk interface.　　And, in an interview with Hankuk Kyungjae, senior GroundX executives spoke of the company‘s plans to “strengthen Klip’s functions” for both the “transaction and management of digital assets,” adding that it plans to “increase the types of assets supported.”　　The wallet also supports a number of blockchain-powered digital certificates, such as those widely used for authentication in government and banking operations, as well as a range of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company said that it

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Microstrategy CEO: Sovereign Wealth Funds Are Ready To Enter the BTC Market

BTC price is once again rallying higher and retesting resistance near its current all-time high above $58K. Since breaking above $50K this past weekend, the BTCUSD exchange rate has gone on to hit a two-week high around $57,000.　　BTCUSD Chart By TradingView　　There are currently no signs that any sell-off is brewing in the near term as the BTC price extends its gains for the sixth straight day.　　According to Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor, existing institutional players are likely to double or even triple their BTC allocation in the coming months. He also sees a new round of hedge fund playerscoming into the space as the king coin continues its uptrend.　　Interestingly, the CEO also predicts that sovereign wealth funds are next in line to procure large quantities of bitcoin. He argues that these investors acknowledge crypto as the best performing asset class of the last year; they only needed to see other big-money players delve into digital assets for them to join in.　　“I think it‘s inevitable that you’ll see the sovereign wealth funds. They have to move, I mean, they have infinite money, and see the asset class coming and you see its the best performing asset class,” Saylor observed.　　Blockchain Data Dismisses Risk

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Video Cards, Crypto Mining Facility Demand Soars in Russia

The demand for video cards and ready-made bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin crypto mining centers is rising astronomically in Russia as more people in the nation flock to the fast-expanding sector.　　Per a report from the media outlet Gazeta, data from the Russian e-commerce platform Avito revealed that last month demand for GPUs rose by 2.6 times on last years figures, with demand for ready-to-go data center mining facilities grew almost fourfold in the same time period.　　The same media outlet quoted experts as pointing out that an increase in GPU sales pointed to a rise in altcoin mining, as BTC mining is now impossible on video cards, due to a rise in complexity.　　However, the experts, including an analyst at the forex trading platform Alpari, opined that many Russians were apparently rushing into mining without a clear plan of action, and could expect to lose out unless they had “millions of dollars to spare,” as well as plentiful space and “low electricity costs.” However, they added that mining was “definitely not” advisable “on video cards.”　　The Alpari analyst opined that miners “first need to draw up a business plan so as not to burn out,” adding that cryptoassets are “very volatile, so the situation

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Bakkt Becomes the 29th Crypto Company to Receive BitLicense Approval by NYDFS

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced that Bakkt Marketplace has become the 29th cryptocurrency company to receive BitLicense since 2015. This approval comes amid the firms endeavors to be publicly listed and to launch the long-anticipated Bakkt App.　　The NYDFS started granting such licenses to digital asset businesses in 2015, with the first one being Paxos. Earlier today, the organization announced the latest company to receive the coveted BitLicense – Bakkt.　　The license enables Bakkt to offer New York customers the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency assets.　　SuperIntendent Lacewell explained that the rapidly growing digital asset space requires clear legislation to prevent malicious activities from bad actors. BitLicense enables NYDFS to be “at the forefront of financial innovation through our continuous efforts to set the conditions for virtual currency companies to germinate and grow.”　　Lacewell added that the approval for Bakkt will provide more confidence for New Yorkers while the “state continues to rebuild and recover.”　　Gavin Michael, the recently-appointed CEO of the Bitcoin futures trading platform, said that the approval is another “major milestone to achieving our vision of making digital assets accessible to all.” Although he failed to provide more specific details about the long-awaited Bakkt App,

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Students in Georgia set to be taught about crypto at high school

The Georgia House of Representatives has passed a bill that calls for state education officials to implement a study program based around financial literacy for high schoolers — and cryptocurrency is on the curriculum list.　　The bill passed the lower chamber of Georgia on March 8 by a vote of 169-2. The bill was sponsored by six Republican candidates and has been sent to the Senate for further deliberation. The program outlines 16 areas of financial literacy to be studied by students in the tenth or eleventh grade.　　The bills text states:　　“The State Board of Education shall prescribe a program of study in personal financial literacy to be completed by students during high school.”　　Cryptocurrency has found itself on the list, along with more traditional subjects such as balancing a checkbook, investing, money management, loan applications, and tax assessments.　　However, given cryptos lowly position at number 16 out of 16 subjects, it may not be the most comprehensive overview. But at least its a start.　　Georgias bill is not the first time cryptocurrency has been included in a high school curriculum. Back in 2019, the French education ministry implemented a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency module to its high school curriculum.　　The module was designed to give students

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Why Bitcoin Dominance Is No Longer Relevant To Crypto

Bitcoin dominance is a metric weighing the top cryptocurrencys market share against the rest of the crypto space, including Ethereum, Polkadot, Cardano, and other altcoins. For years, analysts used it as a tool to predict divergences between altcoins and Bitcoin.　　However, recently, the metric has lost just about all meaning, and could explain why it has done nothing but trend sideways for weeks now on end. Heres why BTC dominance is no longer a relevant measure in crypto.　　Why Bitcoin Remains The Most Dominant Cryptocurrency Today　　Years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto designed the first system of peer-to-peer digital cash and the cryptocurrency industry was born. The advent of Bitcoin, also brought with it a revolutionary distributed ledger technology called blockchain.　　Bitcoin the asset, secured by cryptography and a consensus mechanism, cannot be duplicated, but the technology it was built on has been adapted in many unique ways since. Ethereum, for example, ties smart contracts to transactions so that decentralized applications can run on the blockchain.　　Thousands of altcoins have since been created that compete for market share with Bitcoin. As the first ever cryptocurrency, BTC enjoyed first-mover advantage and all that comes along with it, including brand recognition, trust, familiarity, and being further along in adoption.　　When

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Former CFTC Chairman Says Digital Money Is the Future Facebook

In a recent interview with Fox Business, Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission behind the non-profit Digital Dollar Foundation, said that regulations can offer a competitive advantage.　　The U.S., as he notes, competes with other countries for regulated exchange on a daily basis.　　Giancarlo adds that China has now launched a digital yuan while the U.S. is falling behind.　　He further explains that the country that controls the underlying standards will end up controlling the new asset class, which will indeed be the future of money:　　“The United States was the leader. The United States was the leader in the space program. And, as a result of that, we had a leading role in setting the standards for these innovations.”　　The “Crypto Dad” is urging Americas regulators to take the leading role:　　“We need to lead in these innovations as well so that the standards for the future of money, the digital future of money are the standards that weve longed believed in: the rule of law, free and fair open markets, and economic privacy.”　　“Ride it or get knocked over”　　Giancarlo compares the digitalization of money to how photos have changed over the past decades:　　“Our kids take a photo (a snap) on

2021-03-12Deep Dive

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