Crypto markets hit another new 2019 high yesterday; Bitcoin holding gains, TRX moving up ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH and EOS falling back. Market Wrap It has been a wonderful weekend for crypto markets, the best so far this year. Bitcoin’s push through five figures has lifted total market capitalization to a one year high of over $325 billion. Monday morning markets remain buoyant as BTC has held on to most of its gains yet again.
The Bitcoin parabola has continued as it topped out at $11,250 during Sunday trading. It was the second time over the weekend that BTC broke above $11k but it could push no further and fell back twice. Bitcoin is currently starting to consolidate around the $10,750 level during Asian trading today. Daily volume peaked at $30 billion over the weekend which pushed market cap to $200 billion.
Ethereum also got a lift from its big brother as it finally broke above the $300 barrier. ETH hit a top of $320 yesterday before pulling back a couple of percent today to settle at around $305. Gains were solely on the back of Bitcoin as ETH remains slow to recover in comparison.
Altcoin Outlook The crypto top ten is starting to correct during Monday trading across Asia. Most altcoins are shedding their weekend gains with XRP, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and EOS dropping 4 percent each. Only Tron has made a gain today with 4 percent added to reach $0.038. Justin Sun did not miss the opportunity to point out that TRX has flipped Stellar for a top ten slot as market cap topped $2.5 billion:
Back to Top 10 now. #TRON #TRX $TRX #BitTorrent #BTT $BTT pic.twitter.com/0OevisDE6M
— H.E. Justin Sun 👨🚀 🌞 (@justinsuntron) June 24, 2019
The top twenty is all red today as altcoins drop gains and remain weak. Cosmos and IOTA have dumped over 4 percent while Stellar and NEO are close behind. Monero and LEO have remained flat on the day.
FOMO: Lambda Launches Today’s crypto top one hundred pump is going to LAMB which has surged by 48 percent to reach an all-time high of $0.17. The Chinese decentralized data storage token has recently been listed on Bittrex and OKEx which is likely to be driving momentum.
Aeternity is also spiking at the moment with a 13 percent boost and Hedge Trade is the third altcoin with a double digit gain. Insight Chain is getting dumped hard as it falls to the bottom of the pile losing 30 percent. MaidSafeCoin and KuCoin Shares are also in pain with 10 percent dropped a piece.
Total market cap 24 hours. Coinmarketcap.com Total crypto market capitalization hit a one year high of $336 billion yesterday. Bitcoin’s push above $11k has contributed to most of it and altcoins dumping today has dropped total cap back to $324 billion. Daily volume peaked at almost $100 billion on Sunday but has since cooled off as markets correct slightly.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
As promised, the leading US crypto exchange Coinbase has dramatically increased the number of coins supported on its platform. The company just added Stellar (XLM), a few weeks after the long-rumored debut of XRP.
So which coins will land the coveted Coinbase listing next?
Back in December, Coinbase revealed it’s taking a hard look at 31 additional cryptocurrencies. The platform now supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, Zcash, 0x, Basic Attention Token and USD Coin.
That leaves 28 coins on Coinbase’s list of prospects.
Coinbase Pro, the company’s professional trading platform, already supports a handful of the coins on the list above: Civic, Dai, District0x, Golem, Loom, Decentraland and Zcash.
Internet penetration has reached so far that, currently, more than half of the world’s population has an Internet connection. Today, everything is migrating toward the Internet, including businesses, education, communication, and, of course, jobs. For example, the segment of global e-retail sales amounted to $2.8 trillion last year. You don’t need to drive to the office every day or follow corporate rules anymore; everyone is free to work online and follow their own schedule. That's why the number of freelancers increases every year; there are currently 53 million freelancers in the US alone.
Finding a freelance job online is becoming easier, and this trend is likely to increase in the coming years. Thus it’s very important that freelancers and their employers could have a reliable platform where they could communicate, make deals, and accept payments for the work they do, minimizing the risk of fraud.
There will always be the problem of trust. On one hand, there are a lot of malevolent people who would leave a freelancer without payment after receiving the results of his/her work. On the other hand, many people would take money with great pleasure and disappear without moving a finger to do the job they were tasked with. That's why it's necessary to have an arbitrary third party, a freelancing platform that keeps the funds in its custody when two parties agree on a task only to release it upon completion (or solve the dispute).
Source: websiteplanet.com
Undoubtedly, freelancing platforms are priceless for those who don't have regular employers and have to deal with new, unknown customers everyday. But they also have a handful of hidden problems.
Global freelance platforms: pros and consCurrently, any freelancer can find a job that would suit his/her skills on many sites:
Upwork is a platform targeted to IT professionals Fiverr has many different categories, but it's famous for its cheap, creative freelancers from around the world Freelancer is the oldest platform and includes many categories Peopleperhour is a lesser known platform, which can be an alternative to the previously listed ones Guru.com has some rare categories, including legal If you have any skills that could be sold online, there's a chance that you'll be able to find a task on any of these platforms. But there’s also a chance that you'll face problems with employers who may try to persuade you to accept other forms of payment outside of the safety of the platform, and after doing the work they will refuse to pay. Not only are the employers are abusing the system, but freelancers can often deliver low-quality work and still demand payment, as the platform only counts the fact that the task has been delivered, not that it is quality work. And to top it off, both parties face fees up to 20-30%, taken by the platforms for its middleman services.
So, the problem of trust isn’t fully solved by existing solutions. They’re good, but they have flaws. Perhaps blockchain technology could be a better alternative?
Smart contracts improving the freelance experienceWhat is a smart contract? It’s basically a program that contains the condition of its execution.
Person A places a reward in the form of cryptocurrency and a condition. If Person B fulfills the condition the contract is executed automatically and Person B gets the reward.
It doesn’t require trust, so the smart contract can be created between total strangers and can involve any amount of money - both parties can be assured that the deal is safe.
Source: slideshare.net/SergeiTikhomirov
For the freelance field, it's the exact thing that everyone needs. Smart contracts can bring:
Trust - Since you know for sure that the other party can’t be malicious, it locks up money in the contract in the moment of creating the contract, and if you deliver the work, you get the money released. Confidence - Freelancers can concentrate on their tasks instead of worrying about payment. Transparency - Any smart contract can be checked. It’s publicly visible that at the certain address there’s a certain amount reserved. So if a freelancer doesn’t believe his customer, he can take a look by himself. Also, there are more benefits compared to centralized platforms - such as increased security. A smart contract is protected by the principle of blockchain technologies. In a brute-force attack it would take more time than our universe exists to find the correct private key containing funds. Also it’s said that the chances of hacking a wallet is equal to winning a Powerball nine times in a row.
Decentralized freelance platformsAs blockchain technology continues to improve, more and more solutions are being introduced. We’ve picked three interesting platforms for freelancers that may serve the mission of connecting the freelance workforce with employers in the future.
The first one is Freelanex. It has the ambitious goal of creating a global, decentralized platform for all kinds of freelancers and to fight unemployment among young people. The project is integrated with Hyperledger, which is used by half of the biggest companies implementing blockchain today. Also, it uses ERC20 tokens, a universally accepted standard, as the means of payment within the platform.
Another platform is StormX. It’s a bit different from the previous platform, because it’s designed for microtasks; participating in surveys, watching videos, trying new products, and all similar things that can be done in 5 minutes. The payments are released instantly upon task completion, from the pool reserved for a task by a person/company who creates it. The platform has its own Storm Tokens working on Ethereum network, but it also supports payouts Bitcoin and Ethereum.
CryptoTask is a more traditional freelance platform, supporting all standard categories you may find on a centralized freelance site, such as freelancer.com. It works on the Aeternity blockchain and it targets the eastern European and African countries such as Kenya and Croatia. The platform works as a decentralized app containing a system of smart contracts, which defines how all participants interact.
For those people who want to be able to work at the legal and global platform, the most convenient solution may be the Freelanex platform, since its competitor, CryptoTask, is oriented toward non-Westernized countries. So, what advantages does Freelanex have over all the centralized platforms?
Nobody controls your work and your earningsFreelanex aims to provide the most user-friendly experience for all participants. That’s why it doesn’t restrict payments only to cryptocurrencies like many other blockchain services do; it supports both crypto and fiat. Those users that adopt FLXC get discounts if they create tasks, or they receive more tokens if they complete tasks. Freelancers pay an 8% fee, clients pay a 10% fee, but initially after the launch the platform will be operating without any fees. So, it might be a good idea to try it as an early adopter.
All operations get regulated by smart contracts and operate independently in a decentralized manner, which excludes the possibility of fraud from any one party. Also, there is a KYC procedure which isn’t obligatory for freelancers, but they get a FLXC bonus for completing it.
Also, Freelanex has a very noble incentive. They say that currently there are 73 million young men and women who don’t have a job. The platform plans to establish courses and laboratories to provide free online training for those who are unemployed for free in order to promote the freelance economy and create more jobs.
The only issue we can see with the platform is the possibility of the smart contract to be hacked, as it’s often prone to human error. Smart contracts rely on blockchain security, but if they contain any security holes due to poorly written code, it can be exploited to withdraw funds from the contract. Last year, EOS users lost more than $500,000 in EOS smart contracts because of such an exploit. That’s why it’s crucial to choose a reliable and safe platform if you want to use a decentralized solution.
ConclusionThe freelance economy, or “the gig economy” as it’s often called, is growing fast. 50 years ago, people would work at one job their whole life, but now everything has changed. The job market, thanks to the Internet, has become global, and now professionals with good skills can work and earn from any place on the planet. The more people connected to the Internet, the more jobs will be created. According to Intuit, by 2020 the number of people participating in the gig economy will grow to 43%.
Source: upwork.com
People use freelance earnings as a secondary income; some people freelance to increase their savings, in some poor countries it allows people to earn more than they would get working a normal day job. The gig economy even creates new jobs for those with disabilities. It’s highly probable that in the future everyone will be employed in a freelance activity. Forty-seven percent of Millennials are already calling themselves freelancers, more than any other generation, and there will be more and more young people accustomed to online work. All this workforce will need reliable platforms to communicate and interact, and blockchain will play a huge role in this future economy.
Bangalore, November 11, 2019: Genesis DevCon, India’s largest Blockchain Developer Conference will be held on Nov 24- 25, 2019 at NSSC, IISc, Bangalore, to commemorate the concluding chapter of the Genesis developer program. Hosted by IBC Media – growth and advisory firm for emerging technology companies, Genesis DevCon aims to create a learning environment for budding blockchain developers, by bringing the best speakers from industry, community and academia under one roof. The event will also see the launch of the Aeternity Global Starfleet programme, a corporate blockchain accelerator program as well as the announcement of the winners of the Genesis developer program.
Identifying the lack of a rich pool of blockchain developers in India, the Genesis Developers program has been working aggressively for the last 8 months to create a vibrant blockchain developer community in India. Concluding the program, Genesis DevCon will host some of the biggest leaders in the blockchain space including Yanislav Malahov, founder of Aeternity, also known as the Godfather of Etherereum, Dilip Krishnaswamy, Vice President – New Technology Initiatives, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Loi Luu, CEO/Co-founder, KyberNetwork, Manish Bhatia, CTO, Amazon India, Avinash Pitti, CTO, Nucleus Vision, Sanjeev Narsipur, Managing Director-Blockchain, Accenture among many others.
“India is an ever-growing technology hub in the world with the second-largest pool of blockchain developers. The Genesis Developer’s program has constantly strived to build this pool of innovators in India and we, at IBC Media, are happy to be a part of this movement and to provide a platform that fosters an ecosystem of growth for blockchain in India. Genesis DevCon will be a testament to India’s potential in blockchain,” says Raghu Mohan, CEO of IBC Media
The two-day conference is being organized with the objective of bringing leaders, innovators and developers together under one roof, to share their expertise and innovations, and create a collaborative environment as well as build a strong community. It also gives attendees an opportunity to gain expertise, learn and understand the tools, new challenges and solutions for creative ideas and strategies through multiple interactive sessions, panel discussions and B2B engagement opportunities
With over 5 panel discussions, 30+ speakers, and attendees expected to attend, the event will witness a proactive interaction between developers, researchers, industry leaders and startup innovators.
For more information, visit https://theibc.events/
About IBC Media:
IBC Media is a marketing solutions company that works with emerging technology companies. Co-founded by Raghu Mohan, CEO and Kaavya Prasad, COO, IBC Media in 2018, the company offerings include Accelerator activation, Public Relations, Marketing Growth and Corporate Events.
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IBC Media is all set to organize the largest Blockchain Developer conference in India – Genesis Devcon 2019. The event is set to happen at NSCC at IISC Campus, Bengaluru on November 24th and 25th. The event has an excellent line of speakers from various sectors of Blockchain such as public chains, private chains, enterprises, startups, academia, etc.
Raghu Mohan is the CEO of IBC Media, he is a seasoned marketing professional with over 9 years of experience in helping startups scale from the ground up. He has worked in various marketing managerial roles at some remarkable companies like YourStory, HackerEarth and Udacity.
We at Blockmanity had a chance to catch up with Raghu in an exclusive interview.
Blockmanity: What is your take on the Blockchain developer ecosystem in India?
Raghu: It is a mixed bag if you look at it in terms of absolute numbers, India has the second-largest Blockchain developer base in the world. As with most other developer segments, we will be the first in one or two years. On the enterprise side of things, I am seeing a very good Blockchain community there is a lot of system integrator level Blockchain work that is happening for overseas clients. The exposure to private Blockchains seems to be more than public Blockchains. The hobbyist/enthusiast community in India is not as big as it is for other technologies like machine learning or mobility for example.
I think it has been a mix of lack of awareness or general associative connotations of the government’s stance on Cryptocurrencies that probably have deterred developers away from this tech who would have usually taken this up. Thirdly, there is also a general lack of awareness in this space because avenues to make money as a developer is not established yet. I foresee in a year or two before this ecosystem picks up a critical mass and can be compared to other tech areas. It is growing and is vibrant with some exceptional people working on it but in terms of absolute numbers nowhere close to AI, IoT or other tech.
Blockmanity: What was the intent behind this event and how is it different from other Blockchain events?
Raghu: The main objective is that developers are the precurses to users and adoption. When the developers and the builders pick up a technology the users automatically follow, decentralization has really strong use cases in many areas and in order for it to be adopted in masses, you need enough builders around it. This was one of the main learnings we had from IBC one where the majority of the audience was mostly non-tech and non-builders. A majority of the Blockchain movement in India is driven by product and business folks and I think for real adoption to happen in India you need developers and builders at a grass-roots level.
So we started a developer program called Genesis and this event marks the end of the first cycle of Genesis wherein we have built a good developer community, conducted a hackathon and it all kinda concludes at the developer event that we are doing. So, as a whole, it is to get people who are building to attend and to speak. It captures the mind of the Indian developer and we hope more people start talking about this amazing technology.
Blockmanity: Who is your target audience for the event?
Raghu: Our core target audience is someone with some capability of writing software and has some knowledge of computer science with an interest in distributed computing and Blockchains. I would say if you are in business or marketing it is important for you to know the technology that you are building your product around and the capabilities of it. This conference will also be good from an understanding standpoint but it is primarily aimed at developers.
Blockmanity: Could you tell us more about the speakers attending the event?
Raghu: You can break the editorial in 4 parts: Startups who are building innovative products, Enterprise side working on large scale system integration, Academics and the Public chain side. On the public chain side, you are looking at guys from Aeternity, Tezos, and NEO who I am sure need no introduction.
On the enterprise side, Dilip Krishnaswamy from Reliance Jio is someone exciting to talk to. He is building a nationwide Blockchain network and he is specifically speaking on Blockchain microservices which may give you an insight on what Reliance itself is probably thinking about with respect to Blockchain in India. There is also Raghavendra Deshmukh from SAP, he is the director of computer science there and is involved in production level deployment of Blockchain which is quite rare as most Blockchain projects are at POC level.
We have got a good Indian contingent as well which includes Matic, Nucleus Vision, Elevon 01 among others. There are some very interesting updates coming from there as well. We also have people from Kotak Mahindra Bank. The founder of Curl Analytics, who is a speaker at the event was also the former CIO at Societe Generale and has a lot of insights into Fintech.
On the academic side, we found out that there are only 3 people in India who are doing cutting edge research on Distributed Computing – Dr. Narendra Kumar, Head of Computer Science wing and is building the Blockchain offering for the RBI. Kannan Srinathan, IIIT Hyderabad who has done a lot of work in Cryptography and is doing interesting work in Blockchain. And of course, there is Sathya Peri from IIT Hyderabad who is one of the three people that we could get to speak at the event. There is also a great contingent of researchers from NUS Singapore who will be speaking on sharding, Zero-knowledge proofs, and other interesting topics.
There are a total of 35 speakers who have been carefully picked based on what value and content they will be sharing.
Blockmanity: Apart from the speaker sessions you also have workshops for developers, could you expand on that?
Raghu: Sure. We want the workshops to be hands-on at the moment, but it is not restricted to tech. There is a workshop by Rohas Nagpal from Primechain on how to build a Blockchain startup from India, this is something that we think is essential for developers who are trying to start their ventures.
There is a workshop by Tezos on who will go into the details of building Blockchain products on a Proof of Stake based Blockchain (Proof of Bake as they call it). There is also the folks at Matic who are building scaling solutions on Ethereum, this workshop would be super interesting to developers who are looking to build scalable Dapps on Ethereum. Blockstack will also be conducting a workshop, given their approach developers can use Javascript to build on their network which is great from an adoption standpoint as there are a lot of Javascript developers based in India.
There are also some other really good workshops that we will be announcing in the coming days.
Blockmanity: Who is sponsoring the event and what are the fees you are charging for the attendees?
Raghu: With respect to sponsors, I think we have a good spread of public chains, Dapps and Entreprises. Tech Mahindra has been a supporter of IBC from early 2018 and we continue to work with them. The Tezos Foundation launched in India recently, they have an aggressive developer agenda here. I see a lot of exciting work coming from them.
Microsoft and we have been working together behind the scenes on a very large project and it is kind of come into fruition at the developer conference where we will be announcing something really big as to what we will be doing with Microsoft in the coming days.
Aeternity is running their first edition of Starfleet accelerator in India and IBC is running that as well so the conference is an opportunity for them to launch the conversations around it. Elevon 01 and Nucleus Vision have been supporting us in our ventures through IBC one, Genesis to where we are right now. I am quite excited about what they are launching at the event too, a real-world Blockchain implementation that they build at a production level so stay tuned for that.
These are forward-thinking companies that have invested in a very foundational layer of this ecosystem which are the developers and I can’t thank them enough.
As far as the attendees are concerned, we wanted to keep the entry barrier as low as possible. A full ticket is at Rs. 1500 but you can get a 50% discount by using the coupon code BLOCKMANITY. The only reason why we are taking a fee is to commit to attending, our aim for enough people to have the least barrier to entry in learning more about Technology.
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Indian economy has been surfing troubled waters for quite some time. Several proposals have been made by economists and taxpayers across the country to resolve the situation. The Indian government, although it has embraced the idea of “digital India”, isn’t really convinced about the entire concept of cryptocurrency, while being cautious about blockchain.
The government of India had announced back in July that it would impose fine and jail time for cryptocurrency users. As a result, Facebook had backed out the launch of its Calibra crypto wallet in India.
Reserve Bank of India had also notified banks not to provide services to cryptocurrency companies. Koinex, a local exchange, reportedly shut down due to the uncertain regulatory climate.
The stunted growth of the Indian economy is now being discussed on an international level and many seem to suggest blockchain as one of the solutions.
In a recent YouTube video uploaded by Crypto Kanoon, Yanislav Malahov, founder of Aeternity blockchain stated that “Blockchain and India fit well together”.
In Yanislav’s words,
“Blockchain technology is the driving factor for globalization. Since democracy is deeply grounded in India, blockchain can be a solution for India’s slowed down economic growth.”
He believes that cryptography might make for a sound foundation of Indian financial laws and is of the opinion that with the implementation of blockchain, the level of corruption can be brought down in the country. The proof-of-work mechanism, he says, makes it just next to impossible to hack and manipulate a system.
However, the scene is not the same anymore as India is slowly opening its doors to Blockchain technology. Recently, Indian parliament member Dr. Subramanian Swamy stated that ”cryptocurrency is inevitable”.
India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also recently told the Indian media that blockchain technology might be the next step in contemporary warfare. Reliance Jio’s Mukesh Ambani is also reportedly setting up one of the world’s largest Blockchain networks across India.
Chainlink has announced that it now offers price reference data for more than 25 trading pairs. These kinds of feeds are vital for decentralized finance applications.
As of today, Chainlink’s list includes data on 16 Ethereum trading pairs and nine USD trading pairs. Notable trading pairs include ETH/USD, BTC/USD, and EUR/USD.
So far, three sites have integrated Chainlink’s data. Synthetix, an asset backing platform, is supporting USD trading pairs. Meanwhile, the lending platform Aave is supporting ETH pairs. Loopring has also added support for one pair in each category.
This development marks a significant expansion for Chainlink: until recently, the platform only offered price data for seven trading pairs.
Now, Chainlink’s data collection is the largest of its type, according to the project itself.
Advertisement
How It Works Unlike CoinMarketCap and other market aggregators, Chainlink does not gather its data from exchanges. Instead, it gathers data from independent node operators.
These node operators are given incentives to provide accurate data. They also undergo security reviews and are resistant to Sybil attacks that could disrupt reporting.
This means that the data can be audited and verified for accuracy and integrity. It is possible to do so simply by visiting the project’s website.
In the image below, Chainlink shows which data sources are online and displays the time of the next update. Ethereum’s average price is shown in the center:
Via Chainlink The Importance of Oracles As Chainlink has noted, decentralized finance (DeFi) services require reliable access to market data in order to execute transactions and to swap assets.
Though some DeFi services can make use of basic on-chain data, that option is not practical for the vast majority of services. “Obtaining the most reliable price for an asset requires aggregation from multiple off-chain data sources,” Chainlink explains.
That is precisely the role that Chainlink provides as an oracle provider, along with other comparable platforms such as Aeternity and Band Protocol.
Of course, the fact that oracles require strict data handling means that they are not comprehensive. Though Chainlink may be the largest oracle platform, it offers far less data than market aggregators, which track price data for thousands of assets.
However, as demand for DeFi grows, it is likely that demand for oracles will grow along with it — and Chainlink is by far the top-performing project in its category.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aeternity is a Blockchain protocol started in 2016, Aeternity Ventures is the investment arm of the project started in 2017. Nikola Stojanow is the Co-Founder of the Aeternity project and is the CEO of Aeternity Ventures.
We at Blockmanity had a chance to interview Nikola on a call recently. We hope you enjoy the interview.
Blockmanity: Hey Nikola, I would love to know more about your background and the story of how you got into this space.
Nikola: To start my journey from the beginning, I was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany. While I traveled a lot for most parts of my life, I decided to move my base back to Bulgaria for the last couple of years. Before starting AE Ventures in 2017, I worked in the corporate world for a while, specifically in the pharmaceutical sector in Europe, MENA and Asia and Pacific regions. I last held the position of Director, Business Development until I felt a need for change. I entered the realm of blockchain technology with a travel company that was built based on decentralized open source bookings technology where I was involved with fundraising campaigns. The entrepreneurial bug bit me and I moved back to Berlin where I met my old friend Yanislav Malahov, who is now my co-founder at æternity. He was looking for a business guy and invited me to join the æternity team. From there we toiled and managed to build one of the few blockchain unicorns in Bulgaria.
It was during our journey at æternity that we realized the significance of quality startups and projects adopting our infrastructure and so I created AE Ventures, the company that would do exactly that: incubate, accelerate and invest into startups around the world.
At that point, Sofia had an incredibly vibrant startup ecosystem that welcomed me and showed how much potential we locally have and how people have the desire to innovate and work towards a positive change and so we decided to set up AE Venture in Bulgaria. That I would say was one of my best decisions as things developed really quickly and strongly, our Starfleet accelerator started growing and is now on several continents. We are building an amazing international team, which is creating a global ecosystem, where people actively collaborate with us around the world, allowing us to be at multiple places, at the same time!
The immense potential and seeing how much need there is for funding and proper mentoring has been my fuel to nurture my desire to do more and help more people to get the chances that we got, when we started off with the Starfleet Program.
Blockmanity: æternity was founded in 2016 and the mainnet launched in late 2018, How has the journey been so far? And how would you describe æternity to those who haven’t heard about it?
Nikola: Yes, we launched the mainnet in November 2018 and since then the race to bring blockchain technology to the mainstream has begun. æternity has been constantly improving and developing, numerous implementations have been made and we are happy to see that the ecosystem is growing. æternity blockchain is a public blockchain protocol that is highly-scalable and is interoperable with several other blockchains. Developers can build dApps or æpps, as we’d like to call it, with several features that include accessing oracles and state channels to use real-world data in a trustless environment. In its essence, æternity aims to solve problems of scalability, and security making it more economical and user-friendly when it comes to accessing the smart contracts on the network.
Blockmanity: So how is æternity similar and different to other Blockchains like Ethereum, Tezos, etc?
Nikola: æternity is one of the few blockchain protocols that have solved the fundamental problems that lie in archetype protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum -it is decentralized, public, global, censorship-free, tamper-proof transaction technology.
It’s a scalable smart contract platform that can handle more transactions and smart contract calls and has far more advanced features capable of handling an enormous amount of people all over the world.
One of the main differences between æternity and earlier blockchains lies under the hood: æternity is written in Erlang, which is a proven functional language for distributed systems.
Blockmanity: Ok now let us get into AE Ventures, what is the vision for the fund and tell us more about the Starfleet accelerator program.
Nikola: AE Ventures is built on the vision to enable the creation of decentralized businesses that would be a great improvement on the prevailing systems. With this conviction, we work towards funding blockchain startups from around the world alongside providing them with the advisory and training to built market-ready products that can solve real-world problems.
This is something we have brought to life through direct investments and with the Global Accelerator Programme for Blockchain startups – Starfleet. With three editions completed over the last two years, we’ve invested over $1.9 million in 18 startups. We are drawn to people who not only build exceptional products that go past the proof-of-concept stage that can be taken to the market, but to those who are solving problems that contribute to the greater good of society.
Blockmanity: At what stage of the startup do you mainly invest in? And do they have to build exclusively on the æternity blockchain to get funded?
Nikola: We usually like to enter at a seed/pre-seed level and predominantly through the Starfleet accelerator program. We are very industry-agnostic – the only common thread we look at is the use of Blockchain tech and its implementability.
The participating startups need to build the product entirely or as a part of æternity blockchain as it is one of the most scalable and interoperable blockchains out there. And this way, we can provide the startups with the right kind of help and hand-holding required to build their products.
Blockmanity: What are the best use-cases for Blockchain that you have seen so far and what use-cases are you excited about for the future?
Nikola: I truly believe that Blockchain has the power to impact every sector. Every Starfleet program reveals interesting use-cases solving real-time problems. It is not surprising that DeFi is developing very rapidly. I expect a huge boom and adoption in this sector. It also makes a lot of sense since blockchain technology serves the financial sector with almost instant transactions at almost no cost.
In the future, essentially everything might be tokenized. There is a whole other world of opportunities with tokens.
Identity management is another critical segment with a focus on individuals owning their own data and deciding who to share with and for what. With the recent concerns of privacy, we have seen some very interesting use-cases in this aspect as well.
Another sector that I am very keen to explore is bringing in more transparency in political campaigns, voting etc. We have seen political parties collaborate with the open-source blockchain and developer platform in order to optimize the participation processes of citizens in internal voting. This is the need of the hour in every democratic nation and more and more players from the ecosystem should focus on it.
Other interesting applications of blockchain use-cases include banking with fiat on and off-ramps, decentralized exchanges and of course gaming!!
Blockmanity: Could you share some names and numbers from your portfolio of startups you have already invested in?
Nikola: We are proud to say that so far we have invested directly or through our acceleration program more than $2mln in 19 startups. To name a few: WeiDex (Bulgaria) – decentralized exchange for cryptocurrencies, which just recently released their cross-chain atomic swap widget called Jelly. AmpNet (Croatia)- a whitelabel, all-in-one platform for running energy cooperatives and energy communities. Abend (Germany) – the cashless, on-site payments platform aiming to be an “own little economy” for each festival and club around the globe. Cryptic Legends (Serbia/Malta) — blockchain-based, team management game in an awesome ancient fantasy world. SmartCredit (Switzerland) – a platform for crypto-loans creating 2-click consumer credits (money on demand) for the borrower and tools like credit tokenization, credit transferability and interest-bearing to the holder.
Blockmanity: Recently you teamed up with IBC Media to build a presence and get Indian startups to apply for the program, what is the thought process behind this and what other markets are you targeting?
Nikola: India has a booming blockchain ecosystem and armed with its strong developer pool and the burgeoning startup ecosystem with over 27,000+ start-ups, there is tremendous scope for a decentralized future. Raghu and his team from IBC Media have shown great potential in tapping the Indian market and identifying blockchain startups with interesting use cases. We had over 175 blockchain-based early-stage startups up registering for the Starfleet India in its first edition, of which we have shortlisted 13 very interesting startups for the Genesis Week. We are hoping to see strong Indian problems being identified and looking forward to solving them with blockchain technology. We are happy to partner with IBC Media to launch the first edition of the Global Starfleet program here in India and look forward to successfully finding these Indian startups gems with a proven capability to build technology products that can scale, and a strong underlying blockchain use case.
Blockmanity: What is in store for the æternity ecosystem in 2020, what are you most excited about?
Nikola: I am extremely happy to watch how the æternity ecosystem is growing. All the startups we invested in brought value and some diversity. It is also great to observe how the projects are building partnerships between each other and creating synergy. In 2020, we organized the First Indian edition of our Starfleet accelerator. We are confident that we are on the right place as we are confident that people Developing countries such as India, Kenya, and others in East Africa are discovering and implementing an increasing array of applications for blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that promises a secure, low fee, peer-to-peer mechanism for verifying and validating information.
We are also very excited about the development of the blockchain startup which we accelerated as now it is their time to prove their concept.
Blockmanity: If a startup founder is reading this, where can he/she apply for your program?
Nikola: Well, we’ve closed applications for Starfleet India this year and we’re well on our way with the Genesis Week. However, if you’re a startup that has a great product that is built on blockchain, you’re more than welcome to contact us on our website. However, do keep in mind that when you’re pitching your idea you have to be as clear as possible and give us a suggestion of how we can work together to improve your product and perhaps, fund it if it makes it through the selection process. And more importantly, take a good look at the æternity blockchain and do your due diligence. See where it can help your product become a better version of itself; don’t try to force-fit it.
Blockmanity: Last but not the least, which is your favorite company in Crypto other than your own?
Nikola: Interesting question, but not simple to answer. There are numerous companies that I have been following for some time now, but with the market and interests changing rather quickly, new interesting projects are coming to light more often.
For me, the most interesting Dapps have not been developed yet, as the idea is to have them function in a way, where the user does not need a Ph.D. in Computer Technologies or Cyber Security, in order to use a product.
Simplicity should be key, without jeopardizing the integrity or security of users and product. If I would have to choose, I would go with either wallets, payment gateways, or products that engage the user to do something, in order to receive tokens (positive incentivization to do good seems to be quite a powerful medium, in order to have a large number of people to positively impact their surrounding).
But as mentioned above, I admire all projects that have a sincere agenda and want to improve or innovate in a space, which has not seen innovation in a long time, as simply building products and having projects succeed is what excited me most in the entire space, rather than a single favorite company.
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Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.
[PRESS RELEASE – Sofia, Bulgaria, February 6th, 2024]
The Aeternity Foundation is making a strategic move to accelerate the growth of the æternity blockchain ecosystem. Under the leadership of Nikola Stojanow, co-founder of Aeternity, the Foundation is gearing up to integrate advanced strategies encompassing technology and marketing, aiming to synergize technological innovation with ecosystem development.
In this ambitious endeavor, the Foundation is collaborating with AEVentures and Rezolute. AEVentures, known for its blockchain incubation capabilities, and Rezolute, a prominent Web3 marketing firm, are set to amplify the visibility and reach of æternity’s projects and innovations.
This strategic reorientation signifies a shift from a purely tech-centric approach to a more holistic ecosystem development model. The new vision for the Foundation focuses on adaptability and leveraging collective strengths to unlock the full potential of æternity.
The partnership aims to utilize the distinct capabilities of each entity to foster growth across the æternity ecosystem. This coordinated effort promises enhanced transparency, community engagement, and talent attraction.
The Foundation’s adjustment underscores its commitment to long-term success, promising to actively integrate community feedback into its strategic initiatives. The Foundation is proud to show that over 20 grants have been given out since the recent change of direction, which can all be found at æternity forum.
As the æternity ecosystem enters a new era, the rejuvenated Foundation, with its strong leadership and strategic partnerships, is set to make significant strides in the blockchain industry, propelling æternity towards a future marked by innovation and collaboration.
About Aeternity Foundation
The Aeternity Foundation advances the æternity blockchain ecosystem, championing open-source development, technological innovation, and global community engagement. Providing funding, resources, and support empowers creators and builders to explore blockchain’s potential for decentralized applications, aiming to create a more secure, transparent, and equitable digital future.
Contact Managing Director of Aeternity Foundation
Nikola Stojanow
Aeternity Foundation [email protected]
The Aeternity Foundation is making a strategic move to accelerate the growth of the Aeternity blockchain ecosystem. Under the leadership of Nikola Stojanow, co-founder of Aeternity, the foundation is gearing up to integrate advanced strategies encompassing technology and marketing, aiming to synergize technological innovation with ecosystem development.
In this ambitious endeavor, the foundation is collaborating with AEVentures and Rezolute.
AEVentures, known for its blockchain incubation capabilities, and Rezolute, a prominent Web 3.0 marketing firm, are set to amplify the visibility and reach of Aeternity’s projects and innovations.
This strategic reorientation signifies a shift from a purely tech-centric approach to a more holistic ecosystem development model.
The new vision for the foundation focuses on adaptability and leveraging collective strengths to unlock the full potential of Aeternity.
The partnership aims to utilize the distinct capabilities of each entity to foster growth across the Aeternity ecosystem.
This coordinated effort promises enhanced transparency, community engagement and talent attraction.
The foundation’s adjustment underscores its commitment to long-term success, promising to actively integrate community feedback into its strategic initiatives.
The foundation is proud to show that over 20 grants have been given out since the recent change of direction, which can all be found at the Aeternity forum.
As the Aeternity ecosystem enters a new era, the rejuvenated foundation, with its strong leadership and strategic partnerships, is set to make significant strides in the blockchain industry, propelling Aeternity towards a future marked by innovation and collaboration.
About Aeternity Foundation The Aeternity Foundation advances the Aeternity blockchain ecosystem, championing open-source development, technological innovation and global community engagement.
Providing funding, resources and support empowers creators and builders to explore blockchain’s potential for DApps (decentralized applications), aiming to create a more secure, transparent and equitable digital future.
Contact Nikola Stojanow, managing director of Aeternity Foundation
Unlike other industries, the crypto world is a very transparent one. As its core philosophy comes from the most popular blockchain-based projects such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, it’s no wonder that these projects are being developed in such open communities. Anyone willing to participate can join and propose their improvements and upgrades for networks. This was, after all, the vision of Satoshi, the original Bitcoin developer, who wanted complete transparency for blockchain technologies. In addition to the publicly available code, many crypto and blockchain projects have public ledgers of all their transactions along with whitepaper documents with detailed descriptions of their projects.
All this transparency is necessary since many projects are getting funding for development by conducting initial coin offerings (ICO). That means that somebody has to invest based only on ideas or by looking at a minimum viable product (MVP). After fundraising, projects have to continue informing their investors about their progress and maintain a good reputation.
Various crypto ratings to inform youAs an individual, it can be difficult to keep track of all projects out there, but luckily there are a lot of crypto rating sites that can help you make a decision on whether to buy or sell the various projects’ tokens.
Source: weisscrypto.com
One of the most famous ratings platforms is Weiss Crypto Rating, a reputable agency providing ratings for stocks and other assets on a global scale. They started to publish crypto ratings at the end of 2017 and currently they have 125 coins and tokens in their ratings.
Another well-known rating report is published by China’s Center for Information and Industry Development. It features 35 coins, with EOS leading the pack. Nobody knows their criteria, but some projects get a lower basic-tech score despite being more advanced than the other projects getting a higher score.
We can’t overlook Xangle, a disclosure platform for retail and institutional players. It contains information about listings, partnerships, new updates, and it gathers on-chain data from all available blockchains. It’s entrusted by such exchanges as Bithumb, and it has the reputation of keeping an unbiased stance toward all projects, so it’s a mark of high quality when any project gets a high score.
One of such projects is Max Crowdfund, which got a perfect score of 63/63 recently, being the first project to achieve this on Xangle. It scored so high because of their complete transparency, providing all information about their finances, management, and working practices.
“We wish that all companies would provide information so openly and transparently. Max Property Group should be the benchmark for disclosure in the blockchain space,” says Hae Min Park, Managing Director of Xangle.
Source: xangle.io
To provide such information, the team at Max Property Group had to go through a due-diligence process by Xangle. As a result, the Due Diligence Report will be available to all Xangle-partnered exchanges, which will help the project in the listing process.
There are several reputable projects reviewed by Xangle, such as Ardor, Aeternity, IOTA, Binance Coin, and Bancor, but none of them achieved a perfect score yet, unlike Max Crowdfund. With such a high score the company has set the bar very high, and it is to be seen whether other companies will follow this exemplary way of providing an insight in their operations and finances.
