Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Cboe Files With the US SEC Again to List VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has received an application from Cboe to list VanEcks already proposed Bitcoin ETF.　　Yet another attempt for a US-approved Bitcoin ETF is on the horizon coming from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe). The organizations filing with the SEC aims to build on a previous S-1 filing initiated by VanEck.　　CryptoPotato reported in late 2020 that the US investment giant with about $50 billion in AUM, VanEck, has filed for its latest S-1 form with the SEC to establish a Bitcoin ETF called The VanEck Bitcoin Trust.　　The company‘s application indicated that the ETF’s shares would be traded on the Cboe BZX Exchange if approved.　　Although the Commission has not issued a formal response yet, Cboe has interfered with the application by filing a proposal of its own.　　It works as an addition to the previous attempt as the proposal “builds on VanEcks earlier S-1 filing” and “represents the next steps in bringing what could be the first US Bitcoin ETF to market.”　　Furthermore, the filing reads that such a product would “present certain advantages for retail investors compared to buying spot bitcoin directly. The most notable advantage is the use of the Custodian to custody the Trust‘s bitcoin assets.”

2021-03-03Deep Dive

Discover Financial Planning a ‘Roadmap’ for Crypto, Blockchain Products

The third-largest US credit card company is on the hunt for a crypto products strategist.　　Discover Financial is planning to break into the crypto space with a suite of yet-to-be-developed digital currency products, according to a new job posting.　　The third-largest credit card brand in the U.S. on Tuesday began searching for a Blockchain & Digital Currency Product Manager to sketch out its crypto roadmap. This new strategist position will be tasked with identifying opportunities in crypto, educating C-suite suits on the tech and managing rollout, the listing said.　　It is unclear how Discover might try to leverage its 57 million cards for crypto. Indeed, the Tuesday posting for an early-stage blockchain strategist makes clear that any corporate plans are still in the works. The positions exceptionally broad mission only serves to underline that Discover could take its roadmap in any number of ways.　　Discover did not immediately return multiple requests for comment.　　At the very least, the position signals Discover does not want to be left behind in the traditional financial services industrys race toward cryptocurrencies. Its financial services competitors have already jumped well ahead, with Visa and Mastercard both planning to integrate cryptos directly on their far-larger card networks.

2021-03-03Deep Dive

A Beginner’s Guide to Crypto Margin Trading

With the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies, even spot trading—where you simply buy and sell cryptocurrencies—can be thrilling. However, for the experienced trader, the risk to reward ratio could use an increase, which is where margin trading comes in.　　Margin trading is an advanced trading strategy that includes borrowing assets from a broker to make an investment. It lets the trader invest much more than they would usually be able to afford—even up to 100 times more, depending on the platform and what they offer—but it is also inherently riskier, as an unsuccessful trade will leave the trader liable for the total amount of the loss. In other words, if you trade at a margin of 50x, you can profit fifty times more than you would without that margin — but if you lose, you lose the entire amount you used for opening the trade.　　This crypto trading strategy is most often used on assets with low volatility because it is much easier to predict the price movements and stay profitable. This means that the international forex market sees the most margin trading. However, it is also used when trading stocks, commodities, and even cryptocurrencies.　　Some Terms You Should Know　　A margin is the percentage

2021-03-03Deep Dive

Alfacash- the One-Stop Solution for All Crypto Needs

Cryptocurrencies popularity has risen tremendously over the last few months, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum. From being the youngest entrant in the world of currencies, cryptocurrency is rapidly becoming one of the most accepted ways of transacting throughout the world. Moreover, cryptocurrencies have not only become a global currency but it has also opened new avenues for investors and traders to make fortunes.　　Seeing the tremendous growth of the crypto industry, many new crypto trading platforms have risen. An industry that was once dominated by Bitcoin and Ethereum is seeing fierce competition. Different platforms have come up with novelties and new services that have forced the old players to up their games as well.　　However, not all of these platforms are viable choices because of unsafe and costlier transactions. Considering all the available options in the market, it becomes a daunting task to find the right platform to indulge your funds. But, Alfacash is one platform that has made its mark on its arrival because of its unique features and its promise of secure transactions.　　Alfacash store is a one-stop-solution for all cryptocurrency transactions making your crypto holding equal to Fiat currency for the most part. This cryptocurrency trading platform has made the process

2021-03-03Deep Dive

Cryptos Rally off Equity Markets and Institutional Interest

The Crypto market rose on Monday as new macro factors and institutional interest weighed in.　　CRYPTOS RECOVER FROM SELLOFF　　Following last weeks sell-off, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market rallied alongside the US equity markets. Bitcoin (BTC) retraced back up to $49,000, with Ethereum (ETH) recovering to $1,500. The biggest crypto names all recovered to varying degrees, except for Cardano (ADA) which saw a small dip to $1.24 earlier today. In the equity markets, the Dow soared 603 points and NASDAQ 496 points respectively, as treasury yields cooled and the Congress revealed that the stimulus package was well on its way.　　The stimulus package may also turn out to be a significant boon to the Bitcoin rally. The $1,400 direct payments to all eligible Americans will likely find its way to the crypto markets. Historically speaking, this has been the case. When the past two stimulus checks were passed by regulators, exchanges surged in usage.　　In 2020, CoinTelegraph reported that deposits equal to stimulus check payouts appeared across crypto exchanges. An analyst team from Bank of America stated in late January that a dramatic increase in retail activity was imminent with another round of stimulus checks.　　With a renewed public interest in Bitcoin and altcoins,

2021-03-03Deep Dive

ETHEREUM DEFI TRENDS SET TO DOMINATE 2021

2020 was the year of DeFi, not just in terms of the explosive price increases – but the technological advances and support from public figures.　　From the growth of UniSwap, Chainlink, AAVE, and BNB into the top 20 tokens by market cap to tech billionaire Mark Cuban revealing his positions in the aforementioned tokens, one must wonder what comes next.　　IMPROVED SECURITY AND AUDITING OF CONTRACTS　　Exploits performed by hackers on vulnerable DeFi smart contracts resulted in the loss of tens of millions of funds throughout 2020 and early 2021.　　Flash loan attacks, where hackers can borrow large uncollateralized quantities of ETH and extract funds from exchange through complex arbitrage opportunities between stablecoins or manipulation of price oracles (the price providing part of a smart contract that interacts with market data outside the chain).　　Auditing smart contracts before they go live as part of yield farming or lending strategies by third-party firms such as Nexus Mutual is necessary – and becoming the accepted norm for DeFi platforms. Users becoming acquainted with the basics of DeFi development processes and community-led initiatives to ensure complete auditing of contracts are also vital to its long-term resiliency.　　ETH 2.0　　DeFi has grown from the Ethereum ecosystem but has reached a point

2021-03-03Deep Dive

The 5 Most Highly Anticipated Blockchain Mainnets in 2021

In years to come, the early days of 2021 will be remembered for the success of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and for the institutional FOMO that propelled their native assets to fresh all-time highs. Less than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic first made headlines, the market is breaking new ground as billionaires expand their balance sheets and bet big on crypto. But what does the rest of 2021 have in store？ While Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to strengthen their position, a number of rival layer-one blockchains are readying for lift-off…　　1) RADIX　　The first layer-1 protocol built specifically to serve the booming decentralized finance (defi) sector, Radix is a high-performance platform that demonstrated 1.4 million transactions per second (TPS) with its 2018 algorithm, while their current algorithm is theoretically definitely scalable. By this metric, the defi protocol leaves Ethereum, Bitcoin and pretty much every other network in the dust – but what else has it got going on under the hood？　　Like Gavin Woods interoperable Polkadot protocol, Radix utilizes sharding. Rather than a static set of shards, however, it supports a virtually unlimited number in order to achieve the parallelism required for a global-scale defi platform. Radix is built around its own consensus

2021-03-03Deep Dive

Canada’s CoinSmart Crypto Exchange Raises $3.5M for European Expansion

The exchanges owner is also planning a reverse takeover with the aim of listing on TSX Ventures.　　Canada-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinSmart has announced the closing of a CAD$4.5 million (roughly US$3.5 million) seed funding round.　　CoinSmart, owned by Simply Digital Technologies, told CoinDesk in a statement Monday the investment was raised earlier this year through the issuance of interest-bearing convertible debentures, a type of debt instrument. Investors in the round were not disclosed.　　The funding will be used to expand CoinSmarts platform into European markets and support operational changes. It will also help Simply Digital Technologies prepare for a planned reverse takeover ahead of a hoped-for public listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, said the firm.　　Enabling its European expansion, CoinSmart said it has obtained a Financial Intelligence Unit license issued in Estonia.　　“CoinSmart‘s fundamental mission is to make cryptocurrency accessible for people of all experience levels,” said CoinSmart CEO Justin Hartzman. “We’re excited about the ways in which crypto can help streamline payments within Europes financial system and subsequently better serve and protect our customers.”

2021-03-02Deep Dive

Cboe Applies to List First Bitcoin ETF in US

In brief　　US firms are still trying to get a Bitcoin EF through regulators.　　An ETF has several qualities attractive to investors.　　In the closing days of 2020, investment firm VanEck filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to form the VanEck Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded fund (ETF).　　Equities market operator Cboe BZX Exchange has now filed a proposal with the SEC to list and trade shares in that trust. The filing, it says “builds on VanEcks earlier S-1 filing” and “represents the next steps in bringing what could be the first U.S. bitcoin ETF to market.”　　The proposed rule change would “list and trade shares of the VanEck Bitcoin Trust...under BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4), Commodity-Based Trust Shares.” According to the rule, shares would be redeemable for Bitcoin.　　Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, first proposed a Bitcoin ETF in June 2016. The SEC rejected the proposal. Since, several firms, including VanEck and Cboe, have filed proposals with the regulatory agency, only to see them rejected or withdrawn.　　An ETF is an investment fund that trades like a stock, meaning people can buy or sell it as long as the market is open. Mutual funds and other investment products act

2021-03-02Deep Dive

Visa: 25% of Latin Americans Want to Pay With Cryptocurrencies

In brief　　Many Latin American users expect to use cryptocurrency for payments.　　Cryptocurrency is increasingly popular in South American countries.　　Latin Americans want cryptocurrencies, and not just as hedges for inflation or savings. They want to be able to spend them, too.　　A recent Visa survey shared with Brazilian media revealed that 25% of all credit card users in Latin America would like to experiment with cryptocurrencies if payment processors gave them the opportunity to do so.　　The third Visa COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment survey sought to assess consumer trends during the lockdown. The survey data revealed that 78% of consumers expect to use new payment technologies in the future—including cryptocurrencies.　　The majority of users (58%) expect to make payments through social networks (like WhatsApp Pay or WeChat Pay). Many (42%) also expect biometric payments—transactions authenticated via fingerprints, retinas, or facial recognition.　　Cryptocurrencies ranked third in order of importance, with 25% of users eager to use the technology. Digital assets beat other technologies, such as the Internet of Things with 22% and virtual/augmented reality with 10%.　　Latin America is already a global leader in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. A recent study by Chainalysis revealed that Venezuela and Colombia were at the top of the world ranking in this area.

2021-03-02Deep Dive

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