Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Chiliz Announces Partnership With Coincheck, A Top-Tier Japanese Exchange

It was announced today by Chiliz, that their NFT, fan-voting and rewards app Socios.com will now be available to CoinChecks NFT marketplace, which already supports 2.25 million users.　　Coincheck, one of the foremost exchanges in Japan, launched its NFT Marketplace in Summer last year. Five of the most prominent Japanese games are already in place on the platform with NFTs available for purchase. There are reportedly 2.25 million users registered.　　Kensuke Amo, Coincheck CEO, said:　　“We look forward to collaborating with Chiliz. Coincheck already has 3 million app downloads, 2 million users and over $100 million ETH in our custody. Japanese users will have the opportunity to get to know Chiliz and get closer to some of the biggest sporting organizations in the world by purchasing Socios.com NFTs on Coinchecks NFT marketplace.”　　Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com stated:　　“The partnership with Coincheck is hugely exciting. We already have a big following in Japan and want it to grow in the next 12 months. The availability of these Socios.com NFTs on their NFT Marketplace will allow Japanese users to own assets linked to some of the biggest clubs in the world.”　　20 of the biggest sporting brands in the world are already partnered with Socios.com.

2021-02-02Deep Dive

Top Five Aspiring Crypto Coins for February

The month of January was quite bullish for the cryptocurrency industry, with numerous coins reaching new all-time highs throughout it. Will February provide similar bullish returns in the crypto space？　　If so, which coins are likely to lead the way, and why？ Continue reading below in order to find out.　　1. Ether (ETH)　　Current price: $1,321　　Market cap: $151 billion　　Market cap rank: #2　　Ether is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trailing only bitcoin (BTC). It enjoys significant use cases, since its blockchain serves as a platform for smart contract development for numerous other cryptocurrencies.　　An interesting development for ether in the month of February is the release of cash-settled ether futures by the CME Group, which are expected to be launched on Feb. 8, 2021.　　After bitcoin, whose cash-settled futures launched in 2017, ETH is now the second digital asset which has futures that are handled by the CME Group. This would potentially allow market participants a simpler method of managing their risk when investing into ether.　　Technical analysis wise, ETH seems to be in the final leg of its bullish impulse, but could increase all the way to $1,780 before potentially breaking down.　　2. Elrond (EGLD)　　Current price: $59.94　　Market cap: $1 billion　　Market cap rank: #45　　While EGLD is

2021-02-02Deep Dive

Decentralized identity is the way to fighting data and privacy theft

In the digitizing world, identity is everything and blockchain is to make it safe for everyone: users, businesses and governments.　　Decentralized identity is a function of blockchain technology that delivers real-world benefits to users quickly and easily, allowing them to benefit from things such as easier logins, faster credit checks and an overall smoother online experience.　　The proliferation of websites, e-commerce hubs and social media platforms means we can all have a huge database of logins, passwords and usernames to remember. As these increase, the use of password managers has become commonplace (as has the use of one-time passwords and two-factor authentication) to effectively allow websites and services to double-check our identity.　　The result is that the end-user now faces an almost overwhelming number of hoops to jump through if they lose their password or two-factor authentication application or access to their smartphone.　　The whole process of transacting online has become much more complicated. However, with the advent of blockchain, businesses are now in a far stronger position to provide their customers and end-users with a much more streamlined identity verification process, which removes many hurdles and comes with the added benefit of not placing users at risk of harmful privacy or data breaches.　　Growth

2021-02-01Deep Dive

UBS: Crypto Has Fundamental Flaw, Bitcoin's Fixed Supply Could Cause Its Value to Collapse

A chief economist at UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, says cryptocurrency has a fundamental flaw. Bitcoins fixed supply could cause the collapse of its value and spending power, making it unattractive to use as a currency, he claims.　　A UBS Chief Economist Says Bitcoin‘s Fixed Supply Is a ’Fundamental Flaw　　Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, explained last week why people wont want to use bitcoin as a currency. UBS is the largest bank in Switzerland.　　“The debate about bitcoin and other crypto tends to be very passionate. Crypto supporters say that economists are just dinosaurs, and economists say that crypto supporters are just selling a bubble.” He also pointed out that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been volatile in price terms.　　“If we look objectively at the issue, I think an important question is whether bitcoin and other crypto could be currencies,” the UBS chief economist continued, emphasizing, “And, I dont think that they can.”　　He explained that “One of the key reasons for that is that a currency has to be a stable store of value. With a proper currency, you got a genuine certainty that the basket of goods you can buy today is going to be the

2021-02-01Deep Dive

Beginner’s Guide: How to Use Matcha, the DEX Aggregator on Ethereum

One of the most groundbreaking developments in the decentralized finance landscape today is the steady rise of Automated Market Makers (AMMs). But with so many AMMs, the need for aggregators like Matcha has become essential.　　AMMs are currently the most popular type of decentralized exchange. They use smart contracts to create liquidity pools, and token pairs are traded based on an algorithm rather than an order book.　　Examples include Uniswap, Balancer, and Curve, all of which run on Ethereum. They are powerful tools that enable open and permissionless trading on the blockchain.　　As AMMs use liquidity pools to calculate trading prices, there‘s often a difference in price between the various decentralized exchanges at any one time. That’s why aggregators can be useful: they combine networks to find the users best rate.　　One of the most popular DEX aggregators on Ethereum is Matcha, a tool built by the 0x team.　　It integrates many leading DEXes, including Uniswap, Kyber, Curve, Bancor, and Mooniswap. This guide explains how it works with a simple step-by-step guide.　　How to Use Matcha　　1. Connect Your Wallet　　To make trades on Matcha, youll need to start by connecting your wallet.　　Select “Connect Wallet” in the top right-hand corner. Matcha supports MetaMask, WalletConnect, Coinbase Wallet, and Bitski

2021-02-01Deep Dive

Bitcoin miners made more than $1 billion in January revenue

Bitcoin miners made more than $1.09 billion in January revenue, which is the highest point since December 2017, The Blocks Dashboard data shows.　　The revenue for bitcoin miners last month has surpassed the level seen in January 2018, which was at $1.02 billion. The highest monthly revenue for bitcoin miners was recorded in December 2017 with over $1.25 billion at the peak of the last market bull run.　　Of the $1 billion revenue last month, $977 million came from the networks block subsidies, the value of which increased sharply compared to December 2020 as bitcoins price jumped above $30,000 and reached as high as $42,000.　　Meanwhile, bitcoins mining difficulty growth has been relatively more static given the supply shortage of the newest mining equipment.　　As a result, bitcoin miner daily revenue per each terahash second (TH/s) of computing power has also increased in January to as much as $0.25, a level not seen since mid-2019.

2021-02-01Deep Dive

For Bitcoin, the market’s stablecoins may hold the key for another bull run

After the market frenzy observed a couple of days back, the Bitcoin market has been preparing for another rally. This bullish sentiment was rising in the market, as the stablecoins in the exchanges hit an all-time high. According to the data provider CryptoQuant, the stablecoin holdings on exchanges have reached a peak of $4.98 billion on 30 January.　　Source: CryptoQuant　　The above chart noted that the stablecoins on the exchanges remained stable until late December but towards the end, they started to rise. The exchanges holding has since been rising and has not hit a cap yet.　　The current value of $4.98 billion made up a significant part of the stablecoin market capitalization of $37.8 billion, at the time of writing. The increase in stablecoin inflow has often been regarded as a short-term catalyst for the value of Bitcoin and the current peak suggested a massive amount of stablecoins has been parked on the sidelines for the right opportunity.　　Meanwhile, given the restlessness in the Bitcoin market, the trading volume of stablecoins has reduced to $84 billion, but Tether [USDT] still was the most preferred stablecoin as its trading volume was around $78.9 billion. Following USDT in the second place was USDC, which was

2021-02-01Deep Dive

Grayscale Bitcoin Fund in Emerald Mutual Holdings

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisors Trust filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Jan. 29 for December 2020. Holdings include 78,090 shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).　　Twitter user MacroScope17 noted the filing and pointed out that Emerald Mutual Fund also managed $4.7 billion in September 2020. At current BTC prices and one GBTC share equaling under 0.001 BTC, the GBT holding equals approximately $2 million, or 0.5% of Emeralds assets under management in September.　　Other Filings　　MacroScope17 also pointed out that Hellman Jordan Management reported owning 63,355 shares of GBT. Kingfisher Capital also filed with the SEC, and reported on owning 10,667 shares of GBT.　　The entry of institutional investors is considered to be the main driver behind the bitcoin rally of 2020. Retail investors made their case at times, such as during the year-end push that brought bitcoin to $35,000. Overall, however, the headlines belong to institutional investors such as MassMutual.　　Enter the Enterprises　　Enterprise investors such as MicroSystems, which buy bitcoin to replace cash in their corporate treasuries, are an upcoming feature of the current environment. MicroSystems CEO Michael Saylor stated that in February 2021, the company would share its corporate game book for purchasing bitcoin.　　Companies following MicroSystems lead would be able

2021-02-01Deep Dive

‘When alt season?’ eToro may have some answers

In 2020, holding the top 100 altcoins equally was a more lucrative investment than Bitcoin up until Dec. 18, according to eToro.　　Investors who knew when to swap Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins could have boosted their gains significantly in 2020, according to new research from eToro, the popular social trading platform. The challenge, of course, is pinpointing when the coveted alt season begins.　　In its latest quarterly report, eToro breaks down various cryptocurrency investment themes related to the 2020 bull market. It also devotes an entire section to alt season – the part of the cryptocurrency market cycle where altcoins rally against the dollar and, possibly, outperform Bitcoin.　　The research found that the top 100 altcoins, when held equally, were “a more lucrative investment” than BTC for most of 2020 – until Dec. 18, to be precise. However, investors who knew when to cycle from BTC to altcoins and vice versa could have nearly doubled their gains for the year.　　As eToro explains:　　“If you started with bitcoin, with only two swaps the entire year – bitcoin to altcoin in May, and back into bitcoin in September – the 3x or 4x gains seen by either investment grows to over 7x.”　　Although eToro admits that predicting

2021-02-01Deep Dive

Gemini Survey: 13% Of UK Has Invested In Crypto

Gemini, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, recently conducted a survey wherein they found that over 13.5% of the UK (population 68 million) is either a current or ex crypto investor.　　Along with this, they also found some results which challenged certain long-standing beliefs.　　Number Of Investors Up Drastically　　As per the survey, the numbers are up over 152% compared to the studies they did in the past. They did a similar survey in 2019 and found that only 6% of the population had invested in crypto. The finding also found out that the average investor was married, middle-aged, likely to have children, and no dominant gender type among them. This challenged the long-held notion that the average crypto investor was young, single, male, and childless.　　Other Findings From The Survey　　More women in the UK invest their funds into crypto than ever before. Women now make 41.6% of the UK crypto investors.　　Over 91.8% of current and previous crypto investors had a household income of 100,000 pounds. This shows that crypto isnt the playground of the super-rich, as far as the UK is concerned.　　When it comes to age, youngsters and young adults are leading the charts. Over 60.6% of the investors are

2021-02-01Deep Dive

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