Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

KPMG, BitGo, Coin Metrics Launch New Offering to Drive Institutional Adoption

KPMG, BitGo and Coin Metrics announced Thursday a combined offering that seeks to manage and monitor risks on public blockchain networks.　　The offering combines KPMG‘s Chain Fusion services and accelerators, BitGo’s custody technology and Coin Metrics data and intelligence products via a “deeply integrated combined offering.”　　Coinciding with the firms‘ offering, Coin Metrics also announced the commercial launch of a new suite of products known as FARUM providing BitGo’s existing and future clients the ability to monitor and manage risk on networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.　　FARUM seeks to provide users with the tools to identify network attacks, transaction reorgs, fee volatility risks and unusual network event risks, according to the firms website.　　The combined offering is the result of a strategic partnership between KPMG and Coin Metrics that was formed in October. The alliance seeks to deliver data and insights, proprietary analytics and crypto-asset services to support growth in institutional adoption.　　The alliance also pairs Coin Metric‘s suite of institutional data products and infrastructure with KPMG’s Chain Fusion, a suite of tools designed to provide customers a way of handling financial reporting regulations.　　The firms said their offering also “collapses implementation cycles” while delivering core capabilities for financial institutions by leveraging their experience in system

2021-02-19Deep Dive

BTC Transaction Stuck? Bitcoin Cash-Powered Accelerators Can Speed Up Transfers

At the time of publication, there‘s more than 69,000 transactions waiting in line to get confirmed by a bitcoin miner. Since bitcoin’s price rise, at certain times, transaction fees have climbed to $10 to $20 per transfer, and people who pay less than the median fee may have to wait a while. However, people might not realize that theres a tool people can leverage called a transaction accelerator, a platform that increases the probability of getting a transaction confirmed.　　Bitcoins Transaction Backlog and Transfer Fees Ramp Up　　On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) touched a lifetime price high at $52,640 per unit. Since then BTCs value has retreated a hair but the crypto asset has continued to keep steady between the $51,000 to $52,000 price range.　　Meanwhile, BTC fees have also steadily increased as the cost per transfer is currently $16.62 to get a transaction into the next block according to bitcoinfees.cash data. BTCs median fee is lower and around $10.76 per transfer according to the web portal. Stats from bitinfocharts.com shows the average bitcoin transaction today is $22.70 USD or 0.0000011 BTC per byte.　　Because fees are so high and competing, the Bitcoin networks transaction backlog (mempool) shows a great number of

2021-02-19Deep Dive

Cosmos launches Stargate, paving the way for interoperable DeFi applications

After months of development, the Cosmos (ATOM) project has launched the Stargate update, which includes the highly anticipated Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol, or IBC.　　Announced on Thursday, the Stargate upgrade includes a series of improvements to the Cosmos protocol and its Software Development Kit.　　The most important of Stargates features is IBC, the interoperability layer for Cosmos blockchains. The protocol is one of the key elements of the Cosmos vision, allowing for effortless interoperability between Cosmos SDK blockchains and other blockchain protocols. IBC allows bridging tokens and arbitrary data between all blockchains it supports, primarily those built with the Cosmos SDK. Other blockchains can also be supported, but they require case-by-case implementations.　　There are a number of projects that have been built with the Cosmos SDK in the past, including Binance Chain, Kava, Terra and Secret. Before the introduction of IBC, the networks were siloed and the individual projects had to create their own bridges to connect to the wider blockchain ecosystem. Brian Kerr, CEO and co-founder of Kava, told Cointelegraph that the project spent “years of developer time and millions of dollars in investment to construct the custom bridges that exist today,” notably for the Binance ecosystem.　　The launch of IBC would “accelerate the

2021-02-19Deep Dive

'Insane' Bitcoin price consolidation means $48K is the new BTC support level

Bitcoin (BTC) has seen “unreal” price consolidation since the start of February 2021 — and fundamental support is now at $48,000.　　According to on-chain monitoring resource Glassnode, the second month of the year has been a formative period for Bitcoin like no other.　　$35,000 Bitcoin？ So last month　　Discussing the current state of the Bitcoin network, co-founders Yann Allemann and Jan Happel said that many price indicators had been allowed a “reset” in February.　　“The amount of consolidation Bitcoin has seen since January is unreal. It really allowed fundamentals to catch up and indicators to reset,” they wrote in a tweet on Feb. 17.　　“Looks like $48k is the new $35k now.”　　BTC/USD volume chart with support levels marked. Source: Glassnode/ Twitter　　The buoyant perspective adds fuel to the bulls hoping that $50,000, a level Bitcoin took for the first time this week, will form a solid foundation without a major correction.　　Despite wobbling around the $50,000 mark, any drops were quickly bought up, indicating solid buyer support in place at higher levels regardless of the pace of price gains or any negative external narrative surrounding Bitcoin.　　“Under capital flow models, it would take a black swan to break $36k on a daily close,” statistician Willy Woo added in

2021-02-19Deep Dive

DLT-Based Synthetic Derivatives: What They Are and How They Work

IN BRIEF　　Synths allow contract holders to hedge against the volatility of an underlying asset to reduce losses.　　BeInCrypto looks at some of the specific use cases in the DeFi space.　　Being DLT-based, synths also feature the advantages that come with decentralization and smart contracts.　　‘Tis the season, alt season specifically. Led by the industry’s number two cryptocurrency, ethereum (ETH), the altcoin market is posting all-time highs on a regular basis.　　Several relative new-comers to the cryptocurrency scene, such as aave (AAVE), SushiSwap (SUSHI) and Alpha Finance Lab (ALPHA), saw rapid growth last month — both in terms of development and price.　　All three of the above have one thing in common: decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi aims to make the financial services industry more accessible to everyone.　　Also called Open Finance, the space creates a system in which individuals can access services such as loans, insurance, and investment products, without having to go through a central party.　　It seeks to achieve this by integrating decentralized ledger technology (DLT) with the financial products mentioned above.　　These days, synthetic derivatives — an advanced financial product used in risk management — are gaining popularity.　　In this piece, BeInCrypto explores the arrival of DLT-based synthetic derivatives (synths) in the cryptocurrency industry. We evaluate the

2021-02-19Deep Dive

Crypto Payment Gateways: Similarities And Differences

Crypto popularity and demand is growing with every passing day. Consequently, the market enjoys an increasing number of services that allow users to earn, convert, exchange, store, and spend cryptocurrencies. Businesses that focus on one type of service quickly lose their user base due to the inconvenience customers feel when having to constantly switch platforms. Nowadays, all-in-one universal platforms are trending where users can exchange and buy cryptocurrencies and purchase goods using digital assets.　　The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has led to the increased demand for crypto processing services that help businesses handle payments in crypto. Crypto processing solutions can be implemented not only in online shops but also in offline “brick-and-mortar” stores. The first crypto processing service was launched in 2011 by a company called BitPay, which still retains a position among industry leaders.　　In 2021, the crypto processing market now includes over two dozen players, the most advanced of which we will discuss here. Each service has its distinctive features: geographical coverage, fee structure, and solutions pack. Clients can easily find solutions that best suit their business needs. Here we review Cryptoprocessing by CoinsPaid, B2Binpay, CoinGate, BitPay, CoinPayments, CryptoPay, and DAOWallet. They differ by the number of cryptocurrencies and means

2021-02-19Deep Dive

How Blockchain Is Affecting the Future of Advertising

IN BRIEF　　The revolutionary technology has taken the advertising sector by storm.　　Blockchain technology is a better alternative for cybersecurity, trust, transparency.　　Advertisers, publishers, and ad tech vendors are turning to blockchain technology.　　The revolutionary technology has taken the advertising sector by storm, thereby disrupting the advertising and marketing industry by redefining advertising and marketing processes, management, accounting and communications with users.　　Interestingly, it offers solid solution to diverse programmatic advertising challenges of the industry like growing ad fraud, system and data integration and more.　　As such, advertisers, publishers, and ad tech vendors have embarked on a widespread adoption of the blockchain technology for a better alternative for cybersecurity, trust, transparency, and privacy of users information in the advertising sphere.　　Recently, big brands like Unilever, Kellogg, Kimberly Clark, McDonalds, Nestle, and more have all taken to the adoption of blockchain for improved transparency in online marketing, thus harnessing the power of blockchain technology in providing solutions to ad fraud, trust issues, data inflation and discrepancy.　　Meanwhile, lets take a look at the unconventional ways in which blockchain is transforming the future of the advertising industry.　　Ad fraud prevention　　Fraud is constantly evolving and the way we tackle it, should too.　　Basically, online advertising is built on an open system powered

2021-02-18Deep Dive

New York AG accuses Coinseed of defrauding investors

New York State Attorney General Letitia James has sued crypto investment platform Coinseed Inc for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors out of more than $1 million.　　According to the Attorney General, Coinseed and its CEO Delgerdalai Davaasambu and former CFO Sukhbat Lkhagvadorj, traded unlawfully, defrauding investors between 2017 and May 2018:　　“Rather than selling stock, Coinseed sold digital tokens to raise funds to support the growth of its business. Defendants represented to investors that money raised in the ICO would be used to ‘accelerate [Coinseed’s] growth and global expansion.”　　The allegations laid out in the court documents center around Coinseeds violation of the Martin Act, a New York-based anti-fraud act. In the ICO of their CSD token which launched in December 2017, Coinseed raised more than $100,000 by selling 200,000 tokens.　　The Attorney General stated investors were misled about the potential to profit from CSD Tokens, which were distributed by the defendants despite their failure to register as securities dealers.　　“Investors were led to expect profits solely from the Defendants efforts to establish, operate and expand the Coinseed mobile application. Defendants, however, were not registered as securities dealers with the OAG as required by General Business Law,” she said.　　The complaint also accuses Coinseeds execs of

2021-02-18Deep Dive

Token-Driven Karaoke Platform Gets a Boost in South Korea as Pandemic Hits Over 2,100 Singing Rooms

Coronavirus-driven lockdowns and social distancing limits affect peoples way of entertaining themselves, such as going to karaoke. In South Korea, that activity is too popular, and despite the COVID-19 outbreak, the crypto industry is trying to capitalize on it.　　Somesing: A Blockchain-Based Karaoke App　　Per Fn News, Somesing, a blockchain-based karaoke app, already hit the 400,000 users‘ milestone. The figure is significant, considering that it’s doubling the user base (195,000) for the last six months.　　Karaokes hobby is like the norm in several Asian countries, and the coronavirus pandemic knocked down this sector heavily.　　In fact, according to figures published by local media, at least 2,137 “noraebang” businesses had to shut down across South Korea since the outbreak started. The number is the lowest level ever recorded, stated the Shopping Center Information Research Institute.　　“Noraebang” is the Korean name given to private singing rooms, translated into Western countries language as karaoke places. South Koreans have the habit of going with friends and even workmates after finishing their duties to sing in the noraebangs.　　Somesings platform allows people to sing along to their favorite tunes and upload them on the app. Moreover, the app rewards active users with tokens from other users or friends according to their

2021-02-18Deep Dive

More Competition For Bitcoin and DOGE As Elon Musk Mulls ‘MarsCoin’

A recent twitter-interaction with Elon Musk hints that Dogecoin may not be the only digital asset going to Mars after all. While Bitcoin is being considered as a potential payment currency at Tesla, it looks like Mars residents will be needing a fitting asset, and “MarsCoin” may be the primary digital currency for this. The name “MarsCoin” was coined by the CEO of Binance whose recent interaction with Elon Musk revealed the Billionaires plans of launching a digital asset for potential use in Mars.　　The conversation started as a response to Musk‘s request to Dogecoin users, asking them to circulate their coins in return for his full support. After going further to say that he would “literally pay actual $ if they just void their accounts,” a user proposed that the Billionaire creates his own cryptocurrency. “Develop a new ElonCoin,” he says, “offer them to the existing non-major Dogecoin holders to void their wallet. You wouldn’t need to pay $ to make those majors dogecoin holders richer than they already are and allocate your time and support to make the ElonCoin the currency of the Earth” he added.　　Is an ElonCoin/MarsCoin on the way？　　The comment elicited a positive response from the billionaire

2021-02-18Deep Dive

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