Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Sushi.com Now Belongs to a Decentralized Finance Project

Crypto venture firm Future Fund yesterday announced that it had bought the sushi.com domain name for decentralized finance project SushiSwap.　　The VC firm said that it acquired the domain to “greatly increase internet traffic and exposure to the sushi brand for their forthcoming new projects.”　　Its a great gift for Ethereum based DeFi platform SushiSwap, since its online presence has so far been scattered piecemeal among domains like “sushiswapclassic.org” and “sushiswap.fi.”　　Year of the Oxley　　The new domain is a welcome gift for SushiSwap. It was first registered by GoDaddy in 1999, before being acquired by domain investor Brent Oxley, who reportedly listed it for sale on February 13 this year.　　Though Future Fund hasnt disclosed the price it paid for the domain, domain listings site Category Defining still has it erroneously listed for sale at $1.9 million.　　Sushi: A beginners guide　　SushiSwap is very similar to Uniswap, a decentralized exchange created on Ethereum that allowed users to trade ERC20 tokens. ERC20 is a set of standards that allow developers to create their own tokens on the Ethereum network.　　SushiSwap launched on August 28 last year. An anonymous developer, known pseudonymously as ‘Chef Nomi’, copied Uniswaps source code to make SushiSwap and threw in a key addition: the

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Uniswap’s 2020 UNI Airdrop Now Worth $12,000

Its safe to say that the past year has been particularly tumultuous and interesting when it comes to the cryptocurrency markets.　　The entire market exploded, Bitcoin officially became a trillion-dollar asset, while many altcoins saw massive gains. Uniswaps UNI token is no different.　　Uniswaps UNI Journey　　Uniswap is the leading decentralized exchange and automated market maker on Ethereums network. It provides means for users to create liquidity pools for any token based on the ERC20 protocol standard and trade them in a completely decentralized way.　　It also rewards those who provide liquidity to each pool by distributing the fees amongst all the providers, creating serious incentives for investors while also bringing a platform where users can trade against each other without having to go through any verification procedures.　　Interestingly enough, the exchange didnt have its own Uniswap token until all the way back in 2020. One of the more exciting things that Uniswap did was the airdrop distribution of their tokens to anyone who used the exchange before a certain date. In essence, everyone who used Uniswap received 400 UNI tokens that they could claim for free. At the time, the price was ranging between $2 and $4, and many sold their tokens for a

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Gold Bull Jeffrey Gundlach Says 'BTC Maybe the Stimulus Asset' Ahead of the Precious Metal

Renowned gold bull and CEO of investment management firm Doubleline, Jeffrey Gundlach says bitcoin may be the “stimulus asset” while adding it “doesnt look like gold is.” Gundlach, a self-professed long-term dollar bear, had preceded his comments about bitcoin by remarking that “lots of liquid poured into a funnel creates a torrent.”　　BTC Outperforming Gold　　In the same tweet, Gundlach suggests that he came to the conclusion after staying “neutral (on both gold and the dollar) for the past six months.” In the past six months, the two stores of value have had contrasting fortunes with BTC appearing to win the battle for supremacy.　　After starting September 2020 trading at just under $12,000, BTC has since rallied to peak at $57,399 on February 20, 2021, according to Messari. At the time of writing, the crypto asset was trading above $57,000. In contrast, gold, which reached its all-time record high of $2,067.15 per ounce on August 7, 2020, has largely stayed under $1,900 for the rest of the year.　　Also, despite the many predictions of gold breaking out, the commodity has so far failed to match the expectations. On the other hand, BTC could be on course to beat the $100,000 mark after breaking past

2021-02-22Deep Dive

A Quarter of US Investors Own Crypto: Survey

A new study has found that a majority of American believe cryptocurrency is a safe investment. Further, 25% already own crypto with another 27% saying they plan to invest this year.　　Thats according to a February survey of 30,000 people over the age of 18 conducted by Piplsay, a global consumer research platform. The findings fall roughly in line with other recent surveys.　　In October, Grayscale found that 55% of U.S. investors were interested in buying crypto. While Bitwise found 24% of financial advisers already owned bitcoin or some other crypto in a survey published in January. (Grayscale is owned by CoinDesks parent company Digital Currency Group.)　　Bitcoins meteoric rise has put it among the top-performing assets of the last year and the past decade. This strong performance has attracted institutional players from MassMutual to BlackRock, and MicroStrategy to Tesla, though some argue that retail interest has not kept pace.　　Google searches for “bitcoin,” an adequate proxy for public interest, have yet to reach levels seen in 2017, the previous crypto market bullrun.　　Piplsay found that 41% of respondents think the stock market and cryptocurrencies are equally risky investments. Of those that believe cryptocurrency is not a safe investment, 27% were concerned about hacking or

2021-02-22Deep Dive

First-Ever North American Bitcoin ETF Breaks Records In Opening Week

The first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to receive regulatory approval in North America has already demonstrated the markets huge appetite for such a product.　　The Purpose Bitcoin ETF (ticker: BTCC), brought to market by Purpose Investments earlier this week, traded $80 million worth of shares in its first hour and $200 million in its first day — a figure thats ten times greater than that of the average ETF and broke records in Canada, according to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.　　In its second day on the market, BTCC traded $350 million in shares, which was three times more than any other ETF, per Balchunas.　　While BTCC is the first bitcoin ETF to hit the North American market, it will not be the last. Ontario regulators approved a second bitcoin ETF from Evolve Funds Group this week. And bitcoin custodian NYDIG recently submitted a regulatory approval filing to offer a similar bitcoin ETF product in the United States.　　The extreme volumes and interest generated by the BTCC ETF have already demonstrated startling retail excitement for easy, safe bitcoin exposure from such products.

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Cape Cod's Biggest Hospital Received an $800,000 Bitcoin Donation

In brief　　Cape Cods leading medical centre now accepts crypto.　　They opened a new crypto-ready account at the request of a longstanding benefactor.　　Crypto gifts could soon be widely accepted by all sorts of institutions reliant on public donations.　　In these pandemic-stricken times, its good to get a little optimism in the morning.　　On Friday, on the coastal island of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, when staff at its leading not-for-profit medical centre Cape Cod Healthcare checked their email, they saw a message telling them to look in their newly established crypto-integrated bank account.　　Inside was a surprise donation of Bitcoins amounting to $400,000. It was the second they‘d received from the same benefactor. The first came on January 28. Both transactions arrived less than a month since they’d started accepting crypto.　　 A benevolent crypto believer　　The donation was not entirely out of the blue. According to Cape Cod Healthcares senior vice president and chief development officer Christopher Lawson, the longtime donor, who previously gifted them cash every year, originally sent them a feeler email in mid-January inquiring whether they could accept Bitcoin donations.　　Speaking to The Boston Globe, Lawson said: “Before we responded, we had to make sure there were not any issues.” Lawson continued: “It required a good

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Bitcoin Is a Hedge Against U.S.-China Trade War: FalconX CEO

In brief　　Raghu Yarlagadda cited three reasons for the recent institutional interest in crypto: inflationary hedge, geopolitical risk and a 24/7, always-on trading desk.　　Tesla is an outlier both in terms of inflationary hedge and the sheer volume of investment.　　The price is more sustainable this time thanks to the quantity and quality of money coming into the space.　　Bitcoins recent price rally and institutional interest in crypto are hot topics, and, with any luck, a virtuous circle.　　Raghu Yarlagadda, CEO of FalconX, a California-based cryptocurrency trading platform targeted at institutional customers, sat down with the Decrypt Daily podcast to explain why institutional investors keep flocking to Bitcoin and whether thats really pumping its price.　　Reasons Behind Institutional Interest　　“The first and foremost reason is the inflationary hedge,” Yarlagadda told Decrypt. “As the world is printing more money, it is very clear that Bitcoin is emerging to be one of the inflationary hedges,” he said.　　Yarlagadda told Decrypt that the second reason is less obvious—less publicly known—but all the last ten institutions that came to FalconX mentioned this: the geopolitical risk hedge. “With the new US administration coming in, there are a lot of people who say that the trade war between the US and China is going

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Nvidia bets big on Ethereum mining with new dedicated graphic chip

The chipmaker was overwhelmed by the massive use of its graphic chips by Ethereum and Bitcoin miners in 2017. But its prepared this time around.　　Nvidias Ethereum bet　　Graphics chipmaker Nvidia said Thursday it will release a new series of semiconductors specifically for mining Ethereum, as per a report on Verge. The firm saw huge success with the sector back in 2017 when it claimed to have made hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter selling chips to cryptocurrency miners.　　The California-based firm designs graphics processing units for the gaming and professional markets, as well as system on chip units for the mobile computing and automotive market. These are of significance to crypto miners, who utilize massive computing power to “mine” blocks on PoW networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin, in turn of “rewards.”　　Nvidia was overwhelmed by the demand for its chips in 2017 when the crypto market picked up in a big way. Prices swiftly increased beyond the budget of the average gaming and P.C. enthusiast—leading to criticism from several quarters.　　But this time is different for Nvidia; its now prepared for the upcoming bullrun. The new chip type is called CMP, or Cryptocurrency Mining Processor, and will go on sale in March, an

2021-02-22Deep Dive

How ethbox Protects Your Crypto Transactions

With cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin becoming huge news in recent months, more and more transactions are taking place every day. While the blockchain offers countless benefits for sending money, these transactions dont always run smoothly. Actually, some people have lost millions in crypto simply sending funds to the wrong wallet address.　　Wrong addresses is an issue thats easily solved with ethbox, the smart contract security system for the Ethereum blockchain.　　We‘re going to look at how users can stay protected with ethbox, and how it could secure all your Ethereum transactions for better peace of mind—and a low cost (it’s often free).　　ethbox works by obfuscating ETH transactions so that they arent publicly visible as trackable transactions (when the privacy feature is enabled). Both their source and destination are hidden, to protect them from malicious intent.　　ethbox can encrypt both the sender and receiver‘s wallet addresses locally, so that no information is ever shared on the blockchain or transmitted publicly. This process allows users to even remain anonymous from each other. ethbox makes it practically impossible to reconstruct a user’s transactions.　　How ethbox works—in detail　　Users start by depositing their ETH funds inside the ethbox smart contract to send, or retrieve funds that have previously

2021-02-22Deep Dive

Indian Cryptocurrency Dilemma: Just How Much Will A Ban Hurt The Country?

Indian cryptocurrency investors are facing severe uncertainty regarding the cryptocurrency future of the country. The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, leaves investors with the question of to liquidate or not.　　Bitcoins recent value rise crossing the $50000 mark has made heads turn, hinting at the possibility that the cryptocurrency might be here to stay and its potential addressed. India should jump on the crypto bandwagon and utilize this potential instead of resisting the tremendous change blockchain applications will bring about.　　What Does India Stand To Lose With A Ban On Cryptocurrency？　　A ban on the currency will elbow out blockchain user organizations in healthcare, supply chain management, finances and banking services system, and wildlife conservation, forcing employment sectors to find options in countries with open perspectives. A ban could push us into the dark ages while the rest of the world has a chance to be the forerunners of a fantastic new technology built on mutual trust and gain.　　Where Does India Stand With Cryptocurrency Right Now？　　The bill seeks to ban private cryptocurrencies. There is no clarity regarding the definition of private cryptocurrency, with the finance minister suggesting that digital currency other than those issued by a central would

2021-02-22Deep Dive

...

705707

...

736