Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

BitGo Launches Wrapped Bitcoin, Ether on Tron Blockchain

BitGo clients are already minting WBTC and WETH as TRC-20 tokens on Tron, according to the companys public orderbooks.　　After a few test mints executed by BitGo in mid-December, nearly 100 BTC (roughly $3.4 million at current prices) have been wrapped and minted as TRC-20 WBTC tokens by Alameda Research and CoinList.　　Alameda also minted 1 WETH on Tron Tuesday morning. The trading firms TRC-20 WBTC and WETH mints were made to meet over-the-counter (OTC) client demand and test the new product, Alamedas Ryan Salame told CoinDesk.　　BitGo announced a partnership with Tron in September with plans to bring WBTC and WETH to Justin Sun-founded network, per CoinDesks prior reporting. Now the project is fully operational.　　“Our blossoming alliance with BitGo has finally brought cross-chain solutions like WBTC and WETH to fruition,” Sun said in a statement.　　Read more: BitGo Is Bringing DeFi-Friendly Wrapped Bitcoin to the Tron Blockchain　　The supply of ERC-20 WBTC, BitGos original tokenized bitcoin project, saw nearly parabolic growth through the second half of 2020, peaking at over 124,000 BTC wrapped on Ethereum in late November. As the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has cooled off, however, the supply of ERC-20 WBTC has dipped to its current level of nearly 110,000 tokens.　　In September,

2021-01-06Deep Dive

Origin Brings Back Interest-Earning OUSD Stablecoin Following $7M Hack

Origin is relaunching its yield-generating stablecoin following a November attack that drained OUSD holders of $7 million.　　Starting now, users can once again exchange USDC, USDT and DAI for OUSD.　　As CoinDesk reported in September, the smart contract powering OUSD was not yet audited. OUSD allowed users to deposit the most popular stablecoins that would be plugged into decentralized finance (DeFi) yield farming strategies, the returns on which would be returned to OUSD holders by increasing the balance in each wallet.　　By November, the smart contract had $7 million locked in it, which the company argues proved demand. However, in mid-November it was drained due to a re-entrancy bug in the smart contract (the same exploit that sunk the original DAO).　　“We remain committed to our vision of a superior stablecoin for the Ethereum network. Despite the setback from the hack, we are returning with renewed confidence that we are building something important, that people really want,” Josh Fraser, Origin CEO, said in a statement.　　OUSD compensation plan　　On Dec. 11, Origin released a plan for compensating users who lost funds in the attack. The first 1,000 OUSD lost for each user would be fully compensated in OUSD. After that, holders still get compensated but with

2021-01-06Deep Dive

Ethereum: The Last Bastion for Yield

In the legacy financial world, yield has dried up. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds have never been lower. The 10-year Treasury bond now offers you a less than 0.9% return. At around 2.1%-2.3%, AAA corporate bonds arent doing a whole lot better.　　Knowing this, while also hearing about the Federal Reserve‘s strong intentions to get inflation above 2%, it’s no wonder investors are ditching low-yielding assets and getting into more speculative investments. People are allocating capital in increasingly distorted ways. How else are they going to get a return？　　On Ethereum its difficult to avoid yield. Yield is the default incentive for successful decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to attract capital.　　At the most basic level, borrowing and lending applications like Compound and Aave are offering 4.6% and 6.2% interest, respectively, on deposited USDC. More sophisticated yield aggregators like Yearn are generating 7.8% in their basic yield strategies, and up to 16% in more aggressive strategies.　　Uniswap, averaging over $1 billion in trading volume per week, is putting its 0.3% trading fees into the hands of those that have supplied liquidity to the protocol. Those that have supplied ETH and USDC to Uniswap have received a staggering 35% APY on a hybrid 50-50 USD/ETH position

2021-01-06Deep Dive

Here are some of the big projects coming to Polkadot (DOT) in 2021

After signing off on an action-packed year, Polkadot is gearing up for an even more eventful 2021. We take a look at some of the projects that are set to launch on the blockchain platform this year, as well as a few major updates to the networks that are set to see the light of day in the coming weeks.　　Frontier　　With interoperability being one of the key foundation blocks Polkadot was built on, Frontier pops up as one of the most important additions to the blockchain. Developed by Parity Technologies, Frontier is an Ethereum-Substrate compatibility program thats set to be released this year. Substrate is a modular, extensible blockchain network that makes it easier to build custom blockchains and Polkadot parachains.　　Frontier Readme file. Source: Github　　Gavin Wood, the founder and lead developer of Polkadot, said that the program was “almost completely done” in his end-of-the-year blog post, adding that it will lead to a major interoperability movement within the blockchain.　　Frontier is Substrate‘s own Ethereum compatibility layer that allows developers to run unmodified Ethereum dApps. The program will allow any Substrate chain to appear exactly as an Ethereum chain would, as well as host any tooling supported by Ethereum’s Solidity programming language, which

2021-01-05Deep Dive

There could be a one million Cardano (ADA) wallets created in 2021

The number of new ADA wallets has skyrocketed in the past month, with an average of 64 wallets created every hour between Dec. 16 and Jan. 4. Using the data, projections have shown that there could be a million more ADA wallets created by the end of 2021, making Cardano one of the fastest-growing blockchain networks in terms of user acquisition.　　The number of new ADA wallets continues to grow in 2021　　While 2020 has been a major year for Cardano, this year is set to be record-breaking in every sense of the word. Both IOHK and the Cardano Foundation have dedicated 2021 to building the Cardano community, with Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOHK, saying that this will be the year when the power of the community is fully harnessed.　　These plans are additionally reinforced by the latest data coming from the Cardano network, which shows that there has been significant growth in the number of new addresses and wallets created on the network.　　According to data aggregated from AdaStat, an average of 121 new wallets were created every hour on Jan. 4. This represents a 98 percent increase from the 63 wallets created per hour on Jan. 1 and a 255 percent

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Stuck on Uniswap: Average Ethereum Transaction Fees Spike Above $10

While ETHs price went on a wild ride in the past 24 hours, the average fees on the network have spiked to above $10 for the first time in four months.　　ETHs price is not the only Ethereum metric rising in the past few days as the transaction fees on the network have skyrocketed to an average price of above $10. The popular decentralized exchange Uniswap still accounts for the largest share with over 30,000 ETH spent in the past 30 days.　　Surging Fees On The Ethereum Network　　According to data from the monitoring resource Ycharts, the average fees on the Ethereum network have surged recently to above $10. This development came following months in which the gas paid sat below $5.　　Nevertheless, exceeding $10 means that the average fees have increased to their highest levels since September 2020.　　Fees On The Ethereum Network. Source: YCharts　　This increase is a direct consequence of the high number of pending transactions on the Ethereum network. Etherscan data reveals that therere over 150,000 such transactions as of writing these lines.　　Uniswap accounts for the largest share, with nearly $13 million (31,700 ETH) spent in the past 30 days. The most widely used stablecoin, Tether (USDT), takes the second place with

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Canada’s NexTech AR Solutions increases Treasury Bitcoin holdings to $4M

Bitcoin has been registering new highs on the price charts this year, despite the crypto seeing a period of mild correction. Unlike the 2017 rally, the 2020-2021 rally has been associated with institutional interest. Many prominent institutions have shown trust in the asset value of Bitcoin and included it in their company portfolios. These include many names like MicroStrategy and Square Inc., among others. In fact, at the time of writing, the cumulative total of the companies holding Bitcoin sat at 1.151 million BTC.　　Joining the long list of investors is NexTech AR Solutions, with the firm increasing its Bitcoin ownership to 130.187 Bitcoins at an aggregate cost of $4 million. The provider of virtual and augmented reality (AR) experience technologies and services also noted that it may add more BTC to its treasury in 2021.　　The investment in Bitcoin is a part of the firms new capital diversification and allocation strategy, one announced on 29 December. Under this strategy, the company aims to maximize long-term value for its shareholders. It had initially purchased $2 million worth of Bitcoin last week, before adding an additional $2 million this week.　　The CEO of NexTech Evan Gappelberg stated,　　“This doubling down reflects our strong belief that

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Bitcoin Mining Machine Shortage Worsens as Bitmain Sells Out Through August

Even though leading bitcoin mining manufacturer Bitmain doubled prices to capitalize on overwhelming demand resulting from the surge in the price of bitcoin, it still pre-sold three months of inventory in a few weeks.　　In early December, Bitmain was pre-selling bitcoin ASIC miners with an expected shipping date of May 2021, per CoinDesks prior reporting. Less than a month later, Bitmain has sold out through August 2021 and has raised its prices significantly.　　In late November, Bitmains Antminer S19 was priced at $1,897. Now, the same machine sells for $3,769 a 98% markup.　　Bitmains prices have gone up, said Kevin Zhang, vice president of business development for New York-based mining company Foundry, noting that demand for new ASICs shows no sign of abating soon. “But there also has been very limited extra allocation for May though July next year for S19s and S19 Pro models.”　　With miners eager to buy any available machines, secondary mining markets continue to benefit from primary manufacturers low inventory with activity surging to its highest levels since 2017. Prices for more efficient, second-hand models have climbed to 12-month highs, per Luxor Technologies market data.　　“Secondary markets are also booming”, said Amanda Fabiano, head of mining at Galaxy Digital. “S9s that

2021-01-05Deep Dive

US regulator: Federally chartered banks can facilitate stablecoin payments, issue their own

National banks and federal savings associations can use public blockchains and stablecoins for settlement, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in an interpretive letter published late Monday.　　The letter indicates that banks and savings associations can now run crypto nodes and utilize associated stablecoins for “permissible payment activities.” This means banks can use public blockchains to validate, store, record and settle payment transactions as long as theyre compliant with existing laws.　　It also specifically mentions the use of stablecoins for transactions, saying blockchain networks can mitigate costs for cross-border transactions as a “cheaper, faster, and more efficient” means of payment. For that reason, its empowering banks to utilize blockchains and their stablecoins for converting to and from fiat during remittances — and even issue stablecoins if they so choose.　　The regulator noted:　　“Likewise, a bank may use stablecoins to facilitate payment transactions for customers on an independent node verification network, including by issuing a stablecoin, and by exchanging that stablecoin for fiat currency.”　　As the letter notes elsewhere:　　“Just as banks may buy and sell ESV as a means of converting the ESV into dollars (and vice versa) to complete customer payment transactions, banks may buy, sell, and issue stablecoin to facilitate

2021-01-05Deep Dive

Ukraine Government Picks Stellar Development Foundation to Help Build National Digital Currency

Announced Monday, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build out a “virtual assets ecosystem and national digital currency of Ukraine.”　　The National Bank of Ukraine has been researching the possibility of CBDC implementation since 2017, and the Stellar partnership will now be the basis of its virtual currency development, according to Digital Transformation and IT Deputy Minister Oleksandr Bornyakov.　　“The Ministry of Digital Transformation is working on creating the legal environment for the development of virtual assets in Ukraine,” Bornyakov said in a statement. “We believe our cooperation with the Stellar Development Foundation will contribute to development of the virtual asset industry and its integration into the global financial ecosystem.”　　Stellar, the cryptocurrency and non-profit organization launched in 2014 by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, was selected last month by German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH) as the means to issue a euro stablecoin. German regulator BaFIN has also approved the issuance of tokenized bonds on Stellar.　　Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon said the partnership with Ukraines government and other stakeholders to digitize the hryvnia will officially launch this month.　　“We‘ve been in conversations with governments and institutions all over the

2021-01-05Deep Dive

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