Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Yearn.finance founder hints at collaboration with top DeFi protocol Curve

Over the past few months, Yearn.finance (YFI) has been on a collaboration spree.　　Late last year, project founder Andre Cronje announced that it would be absorbing Pickle Finance, a DeFi yield aggregator. This was followed by a series of other announcements in which Cronje revealed that Yearn.finance would be absorbing the resources of other protocols to realize key synergies.　　By now, Yearn.finance has Pickle Finance, Cream Finance, Akropolis, SushiSwap, and Cover Protocol under its expanding wings.　　Cronje is not done yet, though. On Saturday, the developer revealed that his team is currently working with the Curve team on an unannounced project.　　YFI x CRV　　On Sunday, Curve turned one year old. Yearn, launched as iEarn, is now also around one year old.　　Both projects launched in early 2020, as did Aave, to kick off the explosion in the DeFi space that took place last year.　　Thus far, Yearn‘s involvement with Curve could arguably be seen as “parasitic.” Right now, users deposit stablecoins into Yearn’s Vault system, which is then used to systematically yield farm and dump Curve‘s native token, CRV. It is sometimes argued, in fact, that Yearn’s Vaults are one reason why CRV has performed so poorly since its launch in Q3 2020.　　This may soon change,

2021-01-11Deep Dive

HSBC Blocks Transactions From Crypto Exchanges

As Bitcoin cools from its recent all-time high, HSBC has become the latest banking giant to restrict what its customers can invest in by preventing them from transferring any profits from crypto exchanges to their bank accounts.ban　　According to a recent report in The Sunday Times, HSBC has blocked transactions to or from crypto exchanges as it takes a heavy-handed approach to Bitcoin and its brethren. A number of U.K. banks have also made moves to prevent their customers from buying crypto assets using their debit or credit cards.　　The U.K. is regarded as one of the more anti-crypto nations, alongside the U.S., as its financial institutions and regulators have increasingly strived to stifle the industry.　　More Banking Duplicity　　CNBC host and Onchain Capital founder, Ran Neuner, pointed out that customers will ultimately make the choice to bank elsewhere when faced with draconian restrictions on what they can and cant do with their own money;　　Many banks will put themselves out of business like this. pic.twitter.com/7JvRT777qT　　— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) January 9, 2021　　Jason Yanowitz from Block Works Group added;　　“Legacy financial institutions will do everything in their power to stop this movement. Theyre literally denying their customers access to the greatest performing asset of the past decade.”　　Banks

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Solana (SOL) trading volume soars as DeFi investors seek ETH alternatives

2021 got off to a quick start and the current crypto bull market has seen assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) shoot to new all-time highs on an almost daily basis.　　While new price highs are positive for investors, they do present a range of challenges relating to fees, transaction speeds and the centralization of what is meant to be a decentralized ecosystem. Since mid-2020 institutional investors have been steadily flooding into cryptocurrency and this is exacerbating the issue of scalability, high transaction costs and lengthy confirmation times on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain.　　Eth2 is steadily rolling out, but it could still be some time before users will benefit from its host of new features. This leaves the door open for other viable candidates to fill the void and a handful of layer 2 projects are gaining traction in the decentralized finance space.　　One such project that has been making waves in the past 6 months is Solana (SOL). Founded by Anatoly Yakovenko and designed a team of former engineers from globally recognized companies including Intel, Dropbox, and Qualcomm, Solana claims to be a censorship-resistant blockchain that provides the open infrastructure required for global adoption.　　SOL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView　　Some experts view

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Bitcoin Collapses to $37K as Miners Start Dumping Their Coins

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, dropped below the $38,000 at 17:23 UTC on the Bitstamp exchange after trading at as high as $41,450 earlier today.　　The cryptocurrency is currently down almost five percent over the past 24 hours.　　Image by tradingview.com　　Miners are in a selling mood　　As noted by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, the Miners Position Index (MPI) recently reached its highest level since July 2019, the month Bitcoin topped out at roughly $13,700 before seeing a huge correction.　　Image by @ki_young_ju　　Very high MPI readings suggest that miners are actively taking profits instead of accumulating, thus exerting pressure on the market.　　Bitcoin is extremely overbought　　Earlier today, NorthmanTraders lead market strategist Sven Henrich noticed that the relative strength index (RSI) had reached 93, it highest level ever, on the weekly Bitcoin chart. This suggests that the volatile commodity is extremely overbought.　　Image by @NorthmanTrader　　However, earlier this week, veteran trader Peter Brandt claimed that assets typically remain overbought during raging bull markets, which is exactly what happened during Bitcoins last bullish cycles.

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Maker’s Daily Transfers Hit All-Time High as Price Surges by 50%

Makers transfer volume over the last 24 hours hit an ATH of $11 million, surpassing the former ATH set on 13 August 2020 of $10.9 million, according to metrics site Glassnode.　　The transfer volume describes the total value of coins transferred on-chain.　　Glassnode distinguishes between transfer volume, which involves the transfer of wealth between network participants, and overall trading volume on exchanges, some of which occurs off-chain and also comprises reshuffling between internal wallets. Daily trading volume for Maker today sits at close to $1 billion.　　Makers price also rose by over 50% in the last 24 hours. Taken together, the metrics indicate a greatly heightened demand in the token.　　Maker‘s price largely fluctuated in the $500s throughout most of December, though by New Year’s Day it crossed $600, a growth spurt that remained an important portent for its performance since. On January 6 it hit a remarkable ATH (albeit briefly) of $1,244. Today it stands at an impressive ATH of around $1,750.　　MKR‘s recent rally is the result of a growing DeFi sector. MKR is a governance token that helps stabilize MakerDAO’s native stablecoin, DAI, at a price of $1.　　Buying a governance token is like buying shares in a company. MKR holders, for example,

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Altcoin Daily Predicts Ethereum and Five Crypto Assets Will Explode in 2021

Altcoin Daily host and Bitcoin bull Austin Arnold is pulling back the curtain on his top altcoin picks for 2021.　　Arnold tells Altcoin Dailys 332,000 subscribers that Ethereum is number six on his list. The crypto trader says that while the leading smart contract platform is often compared to Bitcoin (BTC), the two projects offer unique use cases.　　“Ethereum is trying to be something else. It doesn‘t have a fixed supply. It’s not the hardest form of money we have. But think of it as a global super computer where anybody anywhere can build on top of [it] without the permission of a middleman… While Bitcoin for the first time in human history gives you the option to be your own bank, Ethereum gives you the option for banking type services like credit and lending without the need for a middle man.”　　Coming in at number five is decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing protocol Aave.　　“Were already seeing massive utility on the protocol. Over $2 billion right now of people depositing their assets, peer-to-peer lending and borrowing without any centralized middleman… This could be huge for giving average people financial freedom.”　　Arnold also notes that Aave plans to expand in Asian markets as it

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Wrapped Bitcoin ‘Burns’ Outpaced Minting for the First Time in December

BitGo saw a record 11,613 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) swapped for real bitcoin(BTC) in December, with only 2,731 BTC exchanged for the bitcoin-backed ERC-20 tokens last month.　　December marked the first time in the young projects history that “burns,” the reversion of WBTC back to BTC, have outnumbered “mints.”　　The total value of the “burned” WBTC is approximately $235 million, based on bitcoins price at the time the tokens were swapped for BTC.　　Diminishing yields in decentralized finance (DeFi), a primary use case for WBTC, and increased trading activity on traditional cryptocurrency exchanges amid bitcoins recent eye-popping surge are likely reasons for the increase in burns and slowed rate of minting.　　Most of the burns came from trading firms Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital.　　BitGos Wrapped Bitcoin project gained wide popularity through Q3 and early Q4 2020 amid a DeFi frenzy that saw over 124,000 BTC tokenized on Ethereum at its peak after starting the year with less than 600 BTC.　　In mid August, demand for WBTC was so high that bitcoins were being tokenized faster than they were being mined.　　To date, roughly 110,000 WBTC are still circulating in the DeFi ecosystem.　　Wrapped Bitcoin mints and burns in December　　Source: Wrapped Bitcoin, CoinDesk Research

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Privacy coin narrative gains steam despite Bittrex delistings: XMR, ZEC, DASH gain 20%

Early this year, privacy-focused coins were seemingly dealt a death blow by Bittrex, a popular crypto-asset exchange.　　In an announcement, the exchange said that it would be delisting the trading pairs that pertain to three privacy-focused altcoins: Monero (XMR), ZCash (ZEC), and DASH (DASH).　　No point was mentioned for the proposed delistings, though many were quick to assume that it was due to the privacy benefits they enable. Jake Chvervinsky, a lawyer working for Compound Labs, wrote:　　“It‘s deeply disappointing to see exchanges remove assets just because they have privacy-preserving features. There’s no law or regulation requiring this, just DOJs opinion that privacy is ”indicative of possible criminal conduct.　　In the wake of the announcement, the three coins targeted by the exchange plunged by 15-25 percent, falling in spite of Bitcoin moving to new all-time highs.　　Many thought this trend would continue as other exchanges were expected to follow suit.　　But this didnt happen: in fact, on the day of the delistings were announced, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss doubled down on the commitment to supporting privacy coins.　　Today, these same coins that plunged earlier this year are starting to rally, outpacing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all other cryptocurrencies except for some DeFi plays.　　Privacy coins surge higher　　According to CryptoSlate

2021-01-11Deep Dive

European eToro Traders Call Foul Over Closure of Leveraged Crypto Contracts

Retail investors in the U.K. and U.S. are barred from buying into crypto derivatives, including financial contracts that allow margin trading where investors need only put up a small amount of the contracts notional payoff.　　Customers of eToro in European countries that allow such trading in contracts for differences (CFDs), were told via email on the evening of Friday, Jan. 8: “If you do not increase the margin to 100%, then the position will be closed at 21:00 GMT today.”　　By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.　　This came with an explainer, saying clients with available balance could keep the positions open by adding funds, while those that dont have available balance had the option to close other positions in order to free up funds.　　However, disgruntled traders have taken to Twitter stating that four hours later eToro closed all leveraged positions on cryptocurrencies, including those that users had attempted to keep open.　　“eToro violated the contracts it had agreed with its clients,” said Slavko Vesenjak, an attorney in Slovenia who represents several eToro clients from across Europe. “A four-hour notice before closing all leveraged crypto positions made people wake up

2021-01-11Deep Dive

Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software

Square Crypto‘s latest grant will fund a Bitcoin developer’s work on software that could improve how mining collectives pool hash power.　　Pseudonymous developer Fi3 (@piccioneLibero2 on Twitter, or “free pigeon”) will receive an undisclosed sum to work on an implementation of Stratum V2, the next iteration of a Bitcoin mining protocol software developed by Braiins.　　“Square Crypto is excited to support the development of a high quality open-source implementation of Stratum v2,” Square Crypto lead Steve Lee said to CoinDesk. “This software benefits miners by maximizing their revenue and providing more freedom and security.”　　Personal freedom to pursue Bitcoin development　　“I wanted to work on something related to Bitcoin,” Fi3 told CoinDesk. The Bitcoin developer has previous experience working with Bitcoins mining industry via a collaboration with Italian mining company Bitminer Factory. Fi3 is proficient in the Rust programming language, which will be used to code the upgrade, so once they saw the opportunity they “caught it.”　　“I also like the personal freedom that this kind of grant gives you,” Fi3 continued.　　Read more: Square Cryptos 20th Grant Will Support Bitcoin Design, User Experience　　The co-author of the proposal, Jan Kvapil, will begin work on the implementation in February, Fi3 said.　　Stratum V2: Giving Bitcoin mining a boost　　A

2021-01-09Deep Dive

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