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Abermals ist Solana unter die psychologisch wichtige Marke von 200 US Dollar gestürzt: In den letzten 7 Tagen ging der Preis um 16 Prozent zurück und bewegt sich nun bei 183 US Dollar. Zu Jahresanfang bewegte sich Solana bei 217 US Dollar, am 6. Januar übersprang Solana sogar die 220 US Dollar-Grenze. Auch wenn es in den letzten Tagen steil bergab ging, bleiben die langfristigen Prognosen aber positiv. Einige Experten sind überzeugt, Solana könnte noch in der ersten Jahreshälfte in Richtung 300 US Dollar gehen; werden von der SEC die ersten Solana Spot ETFs zugelassen, könnte das ebenfalls positiv für weitere Preisexplosionen sein.
Kein Grund zur Sorge: Der Preis könnte sich 2025 verdoppeln Analyst Ted Pillows ist überzeugt: Solana könnte in diesem Jahr in Richtung 400 US Dollar gehen – das behauptet er jedenfalls auf X. Auf lange Sicht würde es keine negative Markteinschätzung geben; es bestehe zudem eine sehr hohe On Chain-Aktivität im Netzwerk von Solana. Dabei hebt der Analyst auch vor, Solana würde bereits in unterschiedlichen Anwendungsbereichen zum Einsatz kommen – etwa im Bereich dezentraler Finanzanwendung (DeFi), künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und Meme Coins. Diese breite Nutzung zeigt ganz klar, dass das Netzwerk von Solana durchaus relevant bleibt.
2024 ging es für Solana steil nach oben: Im Januar 2024 lag der Preis bei rund 85 US Dollar, im März ging es dann über 200 US Dollar. Das Allzeithoch wurde am 23. November aufgestellt: 263 US Dollar. Im Ranking der Top Kryptowährungen laut Marktkapitalisierung befindet sich Solana auf Platz 6 mit knapp 90 Milliarden US Dollar.
Solana ist mit Sicherheit eine jener Kryptowährungen, die für 2025 empfohlen werden kann – vor allem, wenn man langfristig investieren möchte.
Zudem gibt es neben Solana noch Solaxy, eine neue 2 Layer-Lösung, die ebenfalls ein nicht zu unterschätzendes Potential hat.
Hier geht es zur Homepage von Solaxy
Sollte man in Solana und Solaxy investieren? Bei Solaxy handelt es sich um die erste für Solana geschaffene 2 Layer-Lösung, die innerhalb kürzester Zeit viel Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen konnte. Im Zuge des aktuellen Presales wurden bereits über 9,5 Millionen US Dollar eingesammelt. Das Ziel, das bei Solaxy verfolgt wird? Durch eine weitere Skalierungsebene soll die Performance von Solana optimiert werden. Solana, bekannt für die sehr hohen Geschwindigkeiten und die relativ geringen Transaktionskosten, stößt nämlich bei einem immer größer werdenden Wachstum regelmäßig auf Belastungsgrenzen. Hier kommt eben Solaxy ins Spiel und bietet eine neue Lösung an.
Spielen bei Ethereum die Layer 2-Lösungen längst eine Schlüsselrolle, so steht Solana bei der Massenadoption vor vergleichbaren Problemen und Herausforderungen. Solaxy will einerseits an der Skalierbarkeit schrauben, andererseits auch die Netzwerkrobustheit verbessern. Das Projekt verfolgt den innovativen Ansatz, indem es Ethereum und Solana kombiniert. Durch diese parallele Speicherung der Transaktionsdaten auf Ethereum soll eine höhere Ausfallssicherheit erreicht werden.
Des Weiteren punktet man mit einer flexiblen Architektur, die erlaubt, dass Vermögenswerte problemlos zwischen den beiden Netzwerken übertragen werden können. Das heißt, Entwickler können auf neue Möglichkeiten zugreifen und Multi Chain-Anwendungen entwickeln, die dann auf den Stärken der beiden Blockchains basieren.
Hier geht es zum Presale von Solaxy
Der Plan: 138,046 Milliarden SOLX Token sollen ausgegeben werden. Um das Projekt auf lange Zeit zu sichern, werden 20 Prozent der Token als Reserve aufbewahrt. 15 Prozent der Token stehen für das Marketing zur Verfügung, damit das Wachstum und in weiterer Folge die Bekanntheit von Solaxy vorangetrieben werden kann.
25 Prozent der Token stehen für die frühen Unterstützer bereit. Also jene, die schon während dem Presale investieren. Nach dem Ende des Presales stehen 10 Prozent für die Listung auf einer Kryptobörse zur Verfügung.
Der größte Anteil der Token wird für die Weiterentwicklung verwendet – das sind 30 Prozent der Token.
Derzeit können all jene, die von Solaxy überzeugt sind, über die Homepage Token erwerben. Was man dafür benötigt? ETH, USDT oder BNB sowie eine kompatible Wallet, damit die Token dann übertragen werden können. Die Token können übrigens gestaked werden. Die Rendite geht bis zu 370 Prozent.
Draufklicken und in Solaxy investieren
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Crypto markets slowly starting to correct; VeChain and BNB going strong, Stellar, ADA and NEO dropping fastest. Market Wrap Yesterday’s minor movement did not last and crypto markets have fallen back a little as we end the week. The week-long rally looks like it is about to run out of steam as resistance is hit for the big cap cryptos. Total market capitalization has held though and is still above $134 billion for the time being.
Total market cap, 24 hours. Yet again Bitcoin hit resistance at $4,000 and failed to break through. The longer this happens the less likely there will be a break to the upside. BTC is trading down marginally on yesterday’s levels but it still holding around $3,970 at the moment, volume is slowly shrinking however.
Ethereum is holding $147 for now but it too has failed to break resistance at $150 so further losses could be on the cards. XRP is falling back and has lost 2% on the day dropping it to $0.322. This has widened the gap between it and ETH to $2.1 billion.
The top ten is all red during Friday’s Asian trading session aside from Binance Coin which is back up again while others are falling. BNB has made over 3% on the day taking it to $10.90. The biggest drop in the top ten is Stellar losing 3% but remaining above Tron for now.
The top twenty is awash with red at the time of writing. Cardano and NEO are dropping the most with 4% losses each. The rest are dumping between 1 and 3 percent as markets correct from three days of buying pressure.
QASH has surged back into the top one hundred with a fomo pump of 33% but today’s surprise mover is VeChain which has made 12% over the past 24 hours. Daily volume has almost quadrupled from $5.7 million to almost $20 million, over half of it traded on Binance. The recent blockchain integration with Amazon Web Services appears to be driving momentum;
AWS services enable one-click VeChainThor Blockchain deployment for enterprises.
Original: https://t.co/qIWZVS9mbR
English: https://t.co/lBtB6T5vCZ
— VeChain (@vechainofficial) February 18, 2019
Total market capitalization has cooled off and settled at $134 billion, down 1.5% from yesterday’s levels. Daily volume continues to dwindle and is now $10 billion less that it was a couple of days ago at $25 billion. It has been a strong week for crypto markets which are still up 10% on the same time last week.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top 20 cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
In a market where most major cryptocurrencies are struggling to find momentum, AI tokens are posting significant gains.
Even as blue-chip assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana remain stagnant, the likes of SingularityNET (AGIX), Fetch.ai (FET) and Oraichain (ORAI) are up 57%, 53%, and 11.5% over the week respectively.
Much of the recent buzz around AI tokens has been significantly fueled by the anticipation of Nvidia's Q2 earnings report.
The AI hardware titan has been at the forefront of the AI revolution, and its financial performance is closely watched by investors across various sectors, including cryptocurrency. Analysts are expecting sales of $28.7 billion, or a 112% increase, which would be 139% higher than the prior year's Q2.
The anticipation of strong earnings has driven a wave of optimism towards these tokens. Nvidia's influence on the AI token market is profound. As the company continues to dominate the AI hardware industry, it indirectly boosts the confidence of investors in AI-driven cryptocurrencies, which are seen as part of the broader AI ecosystem.
NVIDIA’s AI Winning Streak is Good News For Web3
NVIDIA’s net income surged 769% from last year due to AI chip sales but how can Web3 get a piece of this pie?
BlockheadBlockhead
This divergence between cryptocurrencies and AI-themed tokens can further be attributed to the growing interest in sector's innovation. Investors are increasingly looking at AI tokens as a new frontier, offering growth opportunities that blue-chip cryptocurrencies currently lack.
Additionally, as traditional cryptocurrencies face regulatory scrutiny and market saturation, investors are seeking new and innovative opportunities such as AI. The success of these tokens suggests that this rally is not just a short-term hype but could signal a more sustained interest in AI-driven cryptocurrencies.
BlackRock, in partnership with Securitize, has launched the USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). This innovative offering aims to provide qualified investors an opportunity to earn US dollar yields by leveraging blockchain technology.
The fund’s debut took notice when a $100 million transaction involving USDC stablecoin was executed on the Ethereum network. As a result, BlackRock’s Ethereum address became a magnet for meme coins and NFTs.
BlackRock Now Holds Meme CoinsBlackRock introduced BUIDL, offering qualified investors a channel to earn returns on their US dollars via blockchain. This venture marks a significant departure from traditional investment mechanisms. Indeed, it promises to redefine the financial system.
“This is the latest progression of our digital assets strategy. We are focused on developing solutions in the digital assets space that help solve real problems for our clients,” Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets, said.
The strategic maneuver into the crypto market was underscored by a notable transaction where $100 million in USDC. Presumably, the funds serve as the financial bedrock for BUIDL.
The crypto community’s response to BlackRock’s initiative was swift and vivid. Indeed, the fund’s Ethereum wallet, distinguished by its address 0x13e003a57432062e4EdA204F687bE80139AD622f, became a magnet for meme coins and NFTs airdrops. Among these digital assets, four meme coins have stood out:
DETF Token (DETF), with 250,000 tokens valued at $15,385.66, Realio Network (RIO), comprising 10,000 tokens worth around $13,800.10, unshETHing_Token (USH), totaling 500,000 tokens, estimated at $12,749.20, and Shina Inu (SHI), amounting to 9,197,214,541 tokens worth $9,165.50. Read more: 7 Hot Meme Coins and Altcoins that are Trending in 2024
BlackRock Crypto Holdings. Source: EtherScanAs BlackRock embraces a new era of investment, combining traditional finance’s rigor with blockchain technology’s dynamism, the decision to hold or sell these meme coins still awaits.
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Bitcoin’s (BTC) breakout above $65,000 could lead to ‘exceptionally high’ chances for a wider crypto rally in Q4 2024, according to Markus Thielen, head of research at 10x Research.
Sustained Bitcoin Rally Could Spark FOMO In Altcoins In a recent report, Thielen outlined several factors that could set the stage for a crypto rally in the last quarter of 2024. According to the report, further upside for the crypto markets could be on the cards due to two key factors.
First, the acceleration in stablecoin minting signals rising interest among investors and traders in re-entering the crypto market.
In the weeks following the July 31 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, nearly $10 billion worth of stablecoins were issued, boosting market liquidity and even eclipsing Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows.
The report states:
Circle, which typically caters to more regulated institutions, has accounted for a disproportionate 40% of recent stablecoin inflows, signaling increased allocation from larger market players. Unlike USDT minting on Tron, typically associated with capital preservation, USDC minting may indicate a rise in DeFi activity. Year-to-date, stablecoin inflows have reached $35 billion, pushing the total value of outstanding stablecoins to $160 billion.
Thielen emphasizes Bitcoin’s recent breakout above $65,000, stating that it could rapidly move toward the psychologically important $70,000 price level before it attempts to print a new all-time-high (ATH) value.
Another metric suggesting a potential altcoin rally later this year is the declining Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) following the September FOMC meeting. BTC.D’s decline coincides with rising Ethereum (ETH) network gas fees, likely driven by increased altcoin activity on the smart contract blockchain.
The chart below shows the rise in Ethereum gas fees, surging from $1.89 million on August 13 to consistently hovering above $7 million since September 22.
Source: DefiLlama.com The report adds that assuming the US Federal Reserve (Fed) continues to cut interest rates, high-beta altcoins could become increasingly attractive to crypto traders.
Encouraging Cryptocurrency Trends In South Korea, China The report highlights South Korea’s crypto trading activity as a factor strengthening the altcoin trend. Daily trading volume in the country now floats around $2 billion, with altcoins dominating trading activities ahead of BTC.
Notably, Shiba Inu (SHIB) has reclaimed the first position in trading volume in South Korea, indicating enhanced speculation and paving the way for a potential altcoin-dominated market in Q4.
Finally, Thielen highlights that Chinese over-the-counter (OTC) brokers have reported regular quarterly inflows of roughly $20 billion over the last six quarters, totaling $120 billion.
As reported recently, the Chinese central bank reduced its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points to inject liquidity into the market, which could fuel a parabolic rally in digital asset prices later this year.
The report concludes by forecasting that Bitcoin’s next target will be $70,000 within two weeks, with a potential new ATH by late October. BTC trades at $66,298 at press time, up 1.4% in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin looks to reclaim $70,000 on the daily chart | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Charts from DefiLlama.com and TradingView.com
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Ash is a seasoned freelance editor and writer with extensive experience in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to major publications, playing a key role in shaping informative, timely content related to decentralized finance (DeFi), cryptocurrency trends, and blockchain innovation. His ability to break down complex topics has allowed both seasoned professionals and newcomers to the industry to benefit from his work. Beyond these specific roles, Ash's writing expertise spans a wide array of content, including news updates, long-form analysis, and thought leadership pieces. He has helped multiple platforms maintain high editorial standards, ensuring that articles not only inform but also engage readers through clarity and in-depth research. His work reflects a deep understanding of the rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem, making him a valuable contributor in a field where staying current is essential. In addition to his writing work, Ash has developed a strong skill set in managing content teams. He has led diverse groups of writers and researchers, overseeing the editorial process from topic selection, approval, editing, to final publication. His leadership ensured that content production was timely, accurate, and aligned with the strategic goals of the platforms he worked with. This has not only strengthened his expertise in content strategy but also honed his project management and team coordination skills. Ash's ability to combine technical expertise with editorial oversight is further bolstered by his knowledge of blockchain analysis tools such as Etherscan, Dune Analytics, and Santiment. These tools have provided him with the data necessary to create well-researched, insightful articles that offer deeper market perspectives. Whether it’s tracking the movement of digital assets or analyzing blockchain transactions, his analytical approach adds value to the content he produces, ensuring readers receive accurate and actionable information. In the realm of content creation, Ash is not limited to just cryptocurrency markets. He has demonstrated versatility in covering other emerging technologies, market trends, and digital transformation across various industries. His in-depth research, coupled with a sharp editorial eye, has made him a sought-after professional in the freelance writing community. From developing editorial calendars to managing content delivery schedules, he has honed a meticulous approach to project management that ensures timely, high-quality work delivery. Throughout his freelance career, Ash has consistently focused on improving audience engagement through well-researched, insightful, and relevant content. His ability to adapt to the evolving needs of clients, whether it's enhancing the visibility of digital platforms or producing thought-provoking pieces for a wide range of audiences, sets him apart as a dynamic force in the field of digital content creation. His contributions have helped to shape a well-rounded portfolio that showcases his versatility, technical expertise, and dedication to elevating the standards of journalism in blockchain and related sectors.
When Bitcoin began gaining prominence, few bodies were as concerned as the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]. A currency that is not tethered to a single person or entity, operating on something that cannot be shut down, and plied by a technology that is immutable, irreversible and transparent, it was the perfect problem for regulators.
From being touted as the currency of the Dark Web, to having derivatives contracts in its name being traded on the CBOE and CME, the regulatory journey of Bitcoin has been like no other. One would think regulators have eased their concerns with cryptocurrencies, but things were just getting started.
ICO: Initial Coin Onslaught Regulators were not immediately taken aback by the 2017-price surge. Instead, they remained on their toes and began a severe crackdown on the digital assets market.
In 2019, many crypto-entrepreneurs began registering their issuances as “tokens” and hence, escaped the regulatory hassle that would follow a security registration, which was when the SEC began to take a closer look. Stephanie Avakian, the SEC’s Co-director of Enforcement, said in a statement following one such case,
“We have made it clear that companies that issue securities through ICOs are required to comply with existing statutes and rules governing the registration of securities…we continue to be on the lookout for violations of the federal securities laws with respect to digital assets.”
Some were genuine cases, however, there were multiple cases of deliberate manipulation. Take the case of Maksim Zaslaviky, who raised money for two separate projects, “RECoin” and “Diamond,” tokens allegedly backed by real estate and diamonds. Zaslaviky pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and argued that laws surrounding digital currencies were “unconstitutionally vague.”
Jay Clayton, the SEC’s Chairman, made it clear that the SEC will not budge on the definition of a “security.” Months after clarifying that all ICOs are securities and “if it’s a security, we’re regulating it,” Clayton stated,
“If you have an ICO or a stock, and you want to sell it in a private placement, follow the private placement rules. If you want to do any IPO with a token, come see us.”
In fact, the ICO fervor got so tense that the SEC created a new role to oversee cryptocurrencies. Valerie Szczepanik, who previously served in the SEC’s cyber-unit, was given the brand new position of Associate Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation. In the SEC’s press release, her role was defined as,
“Ms. Szczepanik will coordinate efforts across all SEC Divisions and Offices regarding the application of U.S. securities laws to emerging digital asset technologies and innovations, including Initial Coin Offerings and cryptocurrencies.”
SEC’s home turf Due to increased regulatory oversight of the SEC, projects began leaving the US in search of other markets. The main concern for entrepreneurs was the definition of their issuance and if that would lead to the SEC stepping in, especially if they confer a “security” tag. Robert Greene, a former member of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Token Alliance, told Longhash,
“The SEC’s regulatory posture has certainly driven projects seeking to conduct an open digital token offering to locate outside of the United States.”
Some projects went a step further. BitTorrent, which saw its early-2019 token sale finish in 15 minutes and generated $7.1 billion, restricted US residents from taking part, owing to increased regulatory scrutiny.
The ICO craze didn’t continue to 2019, particularly in the US. As seen in the chart below, the number of projects from January 2018 to November 2019 almost dropped to 0.
Token Problem The setting in 2018 was vastly different from the one in 2019. ICOs were on a decline, moving to the premise of Initial Exchange Offerings [IEO] where internal governance of partnered exchanges come into play, rather than external regulation. The SEC’s focus hence waned from nabbing ICO criminals to defining a “token.”
Even though issuances present different regulatory cases, they’re unified by a common theme – the SEC is concerned not with the tag “security” or “token,” but the underlying means of fundraising and its purpose, said Chainalysis’ Chief Technical Counsel, Michael Moiser.
In a joint statement, the three most important financial regulatory bodies of the United States – the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [FinCEN] reiterated this principle,
“As such, regardless of the label or terminology that market participants may use, or the level or type of technology employed, it isthe facts and circumstances underlying an asset, activity or service, including its economic reality and use (whether intended or organically developed or repurposed),that determines the general categorization of an asset.”
Four token issuances which caught the SEC’s attention and set the stage for regulation were – Block.one, Telegram, Kik, and Blockstack.
Block.one’s EOS
A previous piece covering Block.one’s regulatory issues can be found here.
Block.one was fined $24 million by the SEC for its EOS token sale in 2017-2018. The Brendan Blumer-led company clarified that the fine pertained to ERC-20 tokens issued on the Ethereum blockchain which are “no longer in circulation or traded.”
Stephen McKeon, Associate professor of finance at the University of Oregon and former Chief Strategy Officer at Security Token Academy, told AMBCrypto that this is an issue of “transitional securities,” based on when the token sale occurred and when the fine was imposed. He stated,
“The settlement could affirm the viewpoint that a network’s token should always be offered as a security during an initial raise, but a future sale of that asset might later be deemed to fall outside of securities laws once the asset’s network is “sufficiently decentralized.”
In relation to the Howey Test, once a network is “sufficiently decentralised,” it would not satisfy two of the determining factors and hence, “what was once a security is no longer treated that way by the SEC,” clarified McKeon.
Like the case of EOS, cryptocurrencies can essentially fall out of the “security” definition if it “evolves,” according to the SEC’s Director of Corporation Finance, Bill Hinman. Clayton seconded the ‘Hinman doctrine’ in a letter to cryptocurrency advocacy firm, Coincentre, stating,
“A digital asset may be offered and sold initially as a security because it meets the definition of an investment contract, but that designation may change over time if the digital asset later is offered and sold in such a way that it will no longer meet that definition.”
Telegram’s GRAM
The SEC halted Telegram’s GRAM token sale less than a month before its opening. Telegram told investors that discussions with the federal agency had been ongoing for eighteen months. Yet on 11 October, the SEC filed an emergency action against the platform for “conducting an alleged unregistered, ongoing digital token offering in the U.S.”
Steven Peikin, Co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated,
“Telegram seeks to obtain the benefits of a public offering without complying with the long-established disclosure responsibilities designed to protect the investing public.”
Moiser said that the case of Telegram directly ties to the SEC, CFTC and FinCEN’s joint statement [issued on the same day as the Telegram complaint], and is based on ‘function, not label.’ Next, the coming together of messaging and token sales is a case in its own regard, and hence, the SEC took the extra measure. Moiser added,
“The messaging app-to-crypto token space is an important one to watch, for fast adoption through existing networks, as well as natural synchronicity with privacy-oriented users.”
Telegram’s use as a covert-messaging device was also a concern. The Chainalysis CTO added that the messaging application came in for far more “scrutiny” owing to its alleged use by “nefarious actors.” The privacy messaging platform is the “number one source for terrorist organizations online,” according to Steven Stalinsky, Executive Director of the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute [MEMRI], a think-tank that released a 253-page report on how terror-outfits’ use of GRAM could be a “security threat.”
Moiser was surprised that Telegram, with its deep pockets and ability to put forth a strong legal team, could not, at the very least, avoid a “temporary restraining order.” He stated,
“Given their resources, knowledge of the publicly stated illicit finance concerns and ability to work through these issues in advance with regulators before market actions, the impact on investors from them not doing so makes this important in an unfortunate way.”
Kik’s KIN
In 2017, Kik, another lesser-known messaging platform, issued a token sale for their crypto Kin, raising $55 million from US investors in the process. Kin’s sale commenced during a period when the messaging service saw little use. The same was attested in the SEC’s June 2019 filing.
The crux of SEC’s complaint follows previous cases, stating that Kik “sold the tokens to U.S. investors without registering their offer.” The complaint was further divided into two parts – the value and the promotion. The value at the time of the complaint was “about half of the value that public investors paid in the offering.” Secondly, the SEC alleged that Kin was marketed as an “investment opportunity.”
Kik further told investors that a “profit” could be expected from their investment, which, according to the Chief of Enforcement in the Cyber Unit division of the SEC, Robert A. Cohen, satisfies the Howey Test. He stated,
“Future profits based on the efforts of others is a hallmark of a securities offering that must comply with the federal securities laws.”
Months after the complaint, Kik hit back, stating that the regulator has made a consistent effort to “twist the facts” by “misrepresenting the documents and testimony” gathered. Kik demanded a Jury trial and detailed 200 points of clarification against the SEC’s initial complaint.
The tussle got so heated that FT called it the “acid test for whether certain digital tokens count as securities.” It was hence, one of the most pivotal regulatory cases of 2019.
Blockstack’s STX
In July 2019, Blockstack saw its token offering – Stack [STX], approved by the SEC under Regulation-A. This was the first case of token issuances that was approved by the regulator. An alternative to an IPO, Regulation A is based on two tiers. Tier 1 pertains to offerings up to $20 million within a 12-month window, while Tier 2 has a ceiling of $50 million over the same period.
The case of Blockstack’s approval was hailed as being historical for token issuances under the purview of the SEC. The National Law board stated,
“The SEC’s decision to qualify Blockstack’s offering circular represents a milestone for Blockstack, as well as the blockchain industry as a whole. It is a key step down what may be a viable pathway for companies to raise capital to develop open, cryptographically secured networks powered by digital assets.”
Kraken’s Steven Ehrlich, in a piece for Forbes, stated that Blockstack’s approval was important for three reasons. The $28 million offering will be widespread between retail and institutional investors. Blockstack is ahead on development, having over 170 applications operating on its blockchain. Being over half a decade old, Blockstack belongs to the ‘old-guard’ of crypto-companies and serves as a “good barometer to assess the industry’s progress as a whole.”
With the cases of Kik and Telegram happening before and after Blockstack’s approval, the SEC took a more nuanced view with the blockchain company, compared to the messaging giants. Blockstack’s fundraising could be a “path to SEC-approved IPO-type fundraising with a crypto-token,” stated Moiser. He added,
“While many noted the $2mm that Blockstack spent to achieve this, it sets a precedent and blueprint that can be replicated on the shoulders of that capital investment.”
Lowering of the Iron-Fist
Token issuances were the most important regulatory decisions that the SEC had to make this year, and their approach from 2018 to 2019 has evolved. While in 2018, retail fever was pushing projects towards ICOs, the basket was spoiled by a few bad apples that used the method of raising funds for nefarious reasons, which rightly ushered scrutiny.
Moving on from the iron-fist decisions, the SEC immediately came out and stated that the ‘tag’ is secondary to ‘activity’ and ‘means.’ Four token security decisions dominated the sphere, with the messaging giants getting the short-end of the stick, more so due to other reasons surrounding their issuances, rather than the method itself.
For Kik, it was the financial situation and Kin’s drop in valuation, while for Telegram, it was the platform’s reported use by terror-elements. The regulatory decision for Block.one underlined the case for a more nuanced approach to token regulations, which looked at the lifetime of a token. Blockstack’s case also spelled out the alternative to IPO-means towards securing an SEC green light for crypto-fundraising.
All-in-all, it can be stated that the SEC is looking at the complete picture of token issuance, issuer, network, means, and amount before regulations are meted out.
Welcome, once again, to your week in crypto. Granted, this may read like my week in crypto, but, as a faithful reader of Decrypt (you are, aren’t you?), some of the stories you’ve read may well be the ones I’ve written. So let’s make this our week in crypto.
And what a week we’ve had: Telegram battled the SEC; hackers exploited a DeFi loophole to net nearly $1 million; and Cristiano Ronaldo’s ended up on the blockchain.
Cristiano Ronaldo goes on the blockchainDue to a strange contortion of the cosmos, beloved footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has ended up on the blockchain. Back of the net; goal!; score!; off-side! Choose your favorite soccer-related pun, but don’t let it distract you from the truth: Ronaldo is on the block, and he’s here to stay.
To be more precise, his likeness has been uploaded onto Sorare, a fantasy football game that’s based on the blockchain, due to a licensing agreement with his soccer club, Juventus FC. The premise is smart: buy a Cristiano Ronaldo card, or win one in a pack, and you’ll have one of only 111 in existence. That’s because the card is a non-fungible token, or NFT, which means it can’t be duplicated or replicated.
Sure, you can copy-paste Ronaldo’s image into another file, and tokenize that, but it’s not the same. If it’s not Sorare-branded—and in today’s super-sized-extra-patty-no-cheese hyper-capitalist economy, that’s what matters—it’s not legitimate. Sorare hopes that, if their fantasy football game takes off, then the value of rare tokenized representations of soccer players will rise. Based on Ethereum, the tokens could be used elsewhere, even as collateral to secure DeFi loans.
Hackers stole nearly $1 million using flash loans on DeFiThis week, a hacker has exploited decentralized finance software tools to net $645,000. Another hack last week used the same modus operandi to grab $350,000. That means that the exploit has caused the system to lose around $1 million.
Hackers used “flash loans” to take money from DeFi programs. Here’s how Decrypt described the incident: “A clever set of instructions—all executed in one big transaction—enabled the trader to leverage current weaknesses in the DeFi ecosystem for their own gain. By using several decentralized financial tools, and a small dose of price manipulation, they were able to take home a lot of Ethereum.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
In fact, so big and clever were the hackers, that they caused bZx to shut down their system temporarily while they sort out the issue. One PR flack told Decrypt he saw the bZx team at a stall at ETH Denver. Following the hack, its booth was empty.
Don’t shoot the messengerTelegram, the operators of the 300 million-strong messenger app, this week defended itself in a court case with the SEC from allegations that the $1.7 billion token sale for its upcoming blockchain network, the Telegram Open Network, constituted an unregistered securities sale.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, "reserved"—meaning the judge, Judge Kevin Castel, will be issuing a written ruling before April 30. The timing matters: Due to a peculiarity in the purchase agreements Telegram issued for Grams, investors could be entitled to claim their money back if the network doesn’t launch by April 30.
A bunch of companies, like Polkadot, Dfinity, and Kik, also raised money in SAFT sales, a fundraising mechanism that’s popular among crypto companies. Kik has been battling the SEC for its cryptocurrency, Kin, for roughly the same thing, since June. The court case near bankrupted Kik, which also ran a messenger app with a similar number of users to Telegram. Kik laid off the majority of its workers, was bought by another company that introduced ads into its app, and split from Kin.
Yankun Guo, a lawyer who set up her own practice in Chicago to help early-stage startups, told Decrypt that Judge Castel has to weigh up the implications of impeding Telegram’s operations versus allowing the token sale to continue, she said, “which could signal to other companies that their activities are legal and potentially allowing illegal activity to occur.”
That’s because, lawyers told Decrypt, the counsel for both sides is well equipped, and the project is large enough that it’s likely both sides will battle it until a court ruling is made. The SEC has settled other cases; indeed, this week it forced crypto project Enigma to return funds raised in a $45 million ICO to investors. But if the SEC and Telegram don’t settle, the judge would rule and the case would set a legal precedent, and potentially even result in new legislation being passed. All this would affect the future of token sales, crypto exchanges, and venture capitalists.
On the outcome of the Telegram hearing, Guo said, “The fact that Judge Castel had granted an emergency restraining order signals that he believes the SEC position has merit and is likely to succeed.”
John Berry, a partner at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, told Decrypt that Judge Castel’s decision was purely to sustain the status quo. “He's got to issue his ruling on a thorny issue,” he said, but added that the longer Judge Castel delays his ruling, the more likely it is he’ll rule in favor of Telegram.
In this case, the worn-out journalistic cliché applies: if Judge Castel issues his ruling too late, for investors, and Telegram, only time will tell.
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Delegated proof-of-stake (DPOS) is a consensus mechanism in which coinholders stake their coins with large node operators (aka delegates, witnesses, or block producers). Instead of mining, coinholders elect delegates to create blocks and provide computing power. This is less energy-intensive than proof-of-work schemes, and allows much higher transaction throughput than other blockchains.
DPOS was created by Dan Larimer, who introduced the system via Bitshares, Steemit, and EOS. Many other platforms also use DPOS as well, including Lisk, TRON, Tezos, and ARK.
But although DPOS has become popular, it has also attracted plenty of controversy from critics who say it’s too centralized. Is that a real issue? Let’s take a deeper look.
How Many Node Operators Does DPOS Give Power To? The most basic concern comes from the fact that most DPOS-based blockchains put power into the hands of just a few delegates. EOS, for example, has just 21 active delegates (or “block producers”) at any time. However, other blockchains have more delegates. Here are the numbers at a glance:
Number of delegated block producers for various DPOS chains. Tezos stands out because it uses a variant of DPOS called liquid proof-of-stake. The number of delegates (or “bakers”) who are active on Tezos is always in flux. In practice, Tezos has had more than 400 bakers at times, and about 100-150 are active each day—but the protocol can support even more bakers if needed.
Additionally, some blockchains use a “hierarchical” variant of DPOS, in which different parts of its blockchain network serve different roles. Vite, for example, has just 25 snapshot block producers at the top of its hierarchy. However, it can also support an unlimited number of consensus groups, which provides greater decentralization.
How Widely Distributed Is Coinholder Voting? Now let’s look at how coinholders vote for delegates. In theory, some delegates might accumulate a lot of votes, but in practice, coinholders tend to vote more or less equally for each active block producer. For example, take EOS and TRON, where each delegate gets roughly equal support from coinholders:
Vote distribution for EOS and TRON, based on data from TronScan and EOSAuthority. These charts only show votes for active delegates. If we were to include votes for standby delegates (aka candidates), voting would be even more widely distributed. That doesn’t mean that power would be more widely distributed, though – just that other delegates might gain power at different times.
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Is Bitcoin More Centralized Than DPOS? Bitcoin doesn’t rely on DPOS. It relies on mining, which is usually considered far less centralized than DPOS because each miner competes individually to create blocks. Bitcoin does not have large delegates, but miners usually combine their hash power in mining pools, which do gather power.
In fact, mining pools have made Bitcoin mining very centralized at times. By some measures, Bitcoin is more centralized than EOS and other DPOS-based blockchains. Currently, about 12 pools dominate Bitcoin mining.
Compare the distribution of Bitcoin hashpower among mining pools, against how EOS users have distributed their votes among block producers:
Bitcoin mining hashrates by pool, based on data from Blockchain.com, vs votes for EOS block producers. Since 51% of hashing power can exert control over a network, it would only take four mining pools to collaborate in order to reverse a BTC transaction. Mining and DPOS work in different ways, so this is a very reductionist (but widely circulated) portrait of power consolidation.
However, delegates and mining pools do have one thing in common: both types of entities wield influence. Users can, in either case, express their approval or disapproval — either by moving between pools, or by voting for other delegates.
Is Proof-of-Stake More Decentralized Than DPOS? Proof-of-stake (POS) is an older consensus model that allows coinholders to stake their own holdings by locking up funds in a contract. Unlike DPOS, this is not done to support a delegate – instead, individual stakers are chosen to create new blocks. This selection process is usually weighted in favor of those with more at stake and/or the age of their stake.
Proof-of-stake and DPOS both rely on economic incentives and penalties to prevent power from centralizing around wealthy entities. However, this is hard to visualize, and there are two areas in which staked wealth could be concentrated: staking pools and exchange-based custodial staking.
That said, Emurgo has discussed the ways in which Cardano could prevent centralization among stake pools, and SFOX has speculated about the implications of exchange-based staking for Ethereum 2.0. In any case, proof-of-stake allows users to allocate their funds to large entities, but it still requires precautions against centralization.
Is the Lightning Network More Centralized Than DPOS? One of the main advantages of DPOS is the fact that it provides excellent scalability and high transaction throughput. DPOS can achieve this because it relies on just a few high-powered nodes rather than many small nodes. EOS can handle about 3000 transactions per second, whereas Bitcoin can handle only seven.
Bitcoin and other non-DPOS blockchains typically achieve greater transaction speeds through second-layer scaling solutions like the Lightning Network. Although Lightning is quite unlike DPOS, it does have a tendency toward centralization. One Lightning node operator, LNBig, provides about 2/3 of Lightning’s channel capacity:
Lightning Network channel capacities, based on data from 1ml.com At first glance, Lightning would seem to be far more centralized than anything we’ve looked at, and naturally, many people have observed this.
However, it’s not clear if LNBig’s dominance actually puts Lightning at risk of an attack, as Lightning nodes don’t work like DPOS nodes – instead, they simply provide payment channels.
Why Does It Matter? Decentralization matters for two reasons (and possibly more). If a blockchain or related system becomes centralized over time, it is possible for those who have gained power within that system to attack or undermine it. Second, if a system is centralized by design, the operators of that system can exert control over users.
However, it’s important to consider that resource centralization doesn’t translate directly to centralized power. Every system is designed to allocate power to node operators in a different way, which means that direct comparisons can be misleading. Simplified charts are popular, but they present an incomplete picture of reality.
So what’s the verdict? Well, on one hand, delegated proof-of-stake blockchains are somewhat more decentralized than their critics give them credit for. On the other hand, DPOS chains are still quite centralized in an absolute sense. Since DPOS is still quite young, it’s hard to say how it will be seen in the future — and the next few years could be critical.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Editor's note: The Matic Network is now known as Polygon.
The Matic Network (MATIC) is a project that’s been working on a solution to the scalability issues of the Ethereum blockchain.
Their vision is to improve scalability through proof of stake sidechains, and they believe that once scalability issues are resolved we’ll also get lower transaction fees, faster confirmations, and a number of other benefits. They are also one of the latest ICOs to be conducted on the Binance Exchange Launchpad.
Yet, how is this project different from the other scalability solutions?
In this Matic Network review I will take an in-depth look into the project and attempt to answer this. I will delve into their tech, development, roadmap and the long term potential and use cases for the MATIC token.
Matic Network GoalsIn addition to solving scalability issues, the Matic Network is also focused on improving usability without losing the benefits of decentralization. They also hope to leverage the existing developer community in providing improved dApp functionality and improved user experience.
The founders of the Matic Network noticed that even though dApps are being proposed and developed in large numbers, the networks they run on are hardly prepared to support mass adoption of dApps. Plus in many cases, the user experience is quite poor, and the dApps are not designed to be approachable for the average user.
Overview of the Matic Network. Image via Matic.network
The first blockchain chosen to highlight the potential of Matic is Ethereum. The developers began with a working implementation on the Kovan testnet. While it is an adapted version of the Plasma network, ultimately the Matic development team envisions using it as a side chain scaling solution for any blockchain.
In 2019 the team was able to first launch an alpha mainnet in June, which was the first Matic sidechain working on top of the Ethereum mainnet, which allowed developers to begin building and testing dApps. That wasn’t the end though. In September the beta mainnet went live as well. This included new features such as Heimdall, Bor and Plasma predicates.
Below is a deeper look at the problems of current blockchains and how the Matic Network plans of solving them.
Addressing Blockchain ChallengesDespite how advanced blockchain technology has become, there are still a number of problems that they face. In some cases, trying to improve one challenge could lead to potential sacrifices on other features.
The Matic Network has taken stock of all of the challenges that blockchains currently face and have attempted to address these through a number of solutions.
ScalabilityScalability can be achieved by adding additional side chains horizontally, with each side chain theoretically adding the capacity for 216216 transactions per second using the same proof-of-stake checkpoint layer. This gives the Matic Network the ability to scale to millions of transactions per second.
Size of BlockchainBecause public blockchains require each node to manage a full copy of the blocks and state of the chain, as time goes by and the blockchain grows larger, fewer nodes tend to participate, which threatens the decentralization of the blockchain.
In the case of the Matic Network, it is possible for the primary layer to store only the blocks from the last checkpoint to the most recent checkpoint. It can do this because all the prior blocks have been submitted to the main chain. This allows even mobile devices to run a node.
Slow TransactionsIn most cases, blockchain transactions are slow, especially when it comes to proof-of-work blockchains. Matic uses Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to avoid this limitation, but in a special way so it is also able to maintain decentralization.
Matic Network Architecture. Image via Whitepaper
In the Matic Network consensus is done through a selection of block producers who are chosen by a set of stakers. Matic then uses proof-of-stake as a layer that validates blocks and publishes Merkle roots of the side chain blocks to the Ethereum mainchain. This allows Matic Network to keep block confirmation times under 2 seconds while also providing a high level of decentralization.
Low Transaction ThroughputIn public blockchains, there is always a lag between blocks as there needs to be enough time between blocks to ensure propagation. Block sizes are also intentionally kept small to encourage rapid propagation. This limits the number of transactions per block.
Matic Network avoids this problem by producing blocks in a Block Producer layer. This allows for the rapid creation of blocks, and decentralization is ensured through the use of proof-of-stake checkpoints. This configuration theoretically allows for 216216 transactions per second on each side chain.
Multiple micropayment channels with other off-chain solutionsSolving the problem of opening multiple channels to allow for micropayments is complex, and several projects have proposed solutions. The Matic Network has solved this issue by using an Ethereum Virtual Machine, which negates the need to open payment channels for micropayments.
Instead, any valid Ethereum address is also a valid Matic address, which means any receiver doesn’t need to be in the Matic Network. They only need a Matic Wallet to retrieve the payment.
High Transaction FeesThe limited block size of most blockchains has led to variability in fees based on the pending transaction pool, and in some cases, fees have become exorbitantly high for periods of time.
Matic is able to take advantage of economies of scale by completing a large number of transactions in the Block Producer layer. This keeps costs for each individual transaction low.
Poor UsabilitySo far most dApp user interfaces are quite poor compared to established centralized counterparts. This needs to change. If mass adoption is to occur the dApp user experience needs to be as good as, or better than, the current centralized apps.
The Matic team is working to create mobile and web browser integrations and protocols to improve usability in a secured interaction environment for dApps.
The MATIC WalletThe team at MATIC has been working on a wallet that aims to bridge the gap between scalability issues and the user experience of the Ethereum network. The wallet plans to make it easier for users to interact with the dApps that are deployed on Ethereum and Plasma chains.
The wallet will significantly increase transaction speed by allowing access to two different networks at the same time. Additionally, it permits connecting desktop Dapps to mobile Wallets using end-to-end encryption as simple as by scanning a QR code. This allows for user interaction with dApps without the private key leaving their device.
Matic Mobile Wallet UI. Image via iTunes Store
The MATIC wallet currently remains in beta and the team is cautioning everyone not to send mainnet tokens to the wallet or they will be lost. Anyone who downloads the wallet now, there are both Android and iOS versions available, will receive MATIC test tokens.
Taking a bit of a closer look at the reviews of the wallet, they are pretty average. Users seem to be taking issue with the fact that the wallet forces either fingerprint access or Facial idea. This is a particularly sticky point especially for privacy hawks in the crypto field. It is also slightly troubling that the Matic support team has not responded to any of these questions.
Matic DaggerAnother really interesting product in the Matic suite is Dagger. This is basically infastructure which provides reliable and scalable real-time events. You can think of it as akin to an offchain solution where information needed within a dApp is fed from.
What's really neat about Dagger is how easily it can be integrated with your current dApps. Very few lines of code are required in order to get any event stream from the Ethereum blockchain. All of the integration code can be obtained from their Javascript library in their GitHub.
Matic Dagger Unique Selling Points
Dagger also helps you to engage with your users when they are offline. Essentially, you can listen for user specific events 24/7. Once these events come through you can send notifications via email or DMs to make the apps more user friendly.
Potential use cases for this? Well, you can use it to ensure the safety of your users and notify them in case their are any suspicious transactions. This could help them react almost instantaneously.
The Matic Network team remains quite small, consisting of the three co-founders, eight engineers, a head of operations and one community manager. The project has also added a pair of Operations & Marketing VPs in the past year, a VP of Finance and Operations, and several individuals whose focus is the design including a Head of Design.
Jaynti Kanani is the CEO and one co-founder of Matic. He comes from a software engineering background and was most recently a data scientist at Housing.com.
Sandeep Nailwal is the COO of Matic and a second co-founder. In addition to working as a blockchain developer he also previously held the position of CEO of Scopeweaver, and CTO (E-commerce) of Welspun Group.
Matic Network Co-founders
And finally, there is Anurag Arjun, who is the third co-founder of Matic and the CPO (Chief Product Officer). His background is in engineering and he has over a decade of product management experience.
The Matic Network is also partnered with several important blockchain projects, including MakerDao and Decentraland. In addition, Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano, the CEO and CTO of Decentraland serve as advisors to the project.
Matic Marketing and Social NetworksWhile Matic has a good group of partners and advisors, and it is notable that they’ve been chosen to launch their ICO on the Binance Launchpad platform, they have very poor social media presence.
On Reddit, which is known as one of the top social platforms for crypto, the Matic Network has grown from just 13 readers in April 2019 to 1,600 readers in March 2020. The YouTube channel has over 1,300 subscribers, and the Twitter account has grown to 32.5k followers since in the 11 months from April 2019 when there were only 2351 followers.
Matic also has a Medium blog, which was previously updated once a month or every few weeks. It’s been updated more frequently recently, and the team has been doing a good job in keeping the community updated on developments from the project.
The largest group of followers is the project’s Telegram channel, where there are more than 30,000 members.
Taken all together, there has been huge growth in the social presence of the Matic Network in 2019, highlighting just how strongly people have gotten behind the project.
MATIC TokenThe Matic Network conducted an ICO on the Binance Launchpad platform on April 24, 2019. Unlike a typical ICO where tokens are simply sold, Matic conducted their ICO as a lottery, with a total of 16,666 winning lottery tickets.
There is a total supply of MATIC of 10,000,000,000 and 19% of that, or 1,900,000,000 were made available for the ICO. That means each winning lottery ticket received 114,068.44 MATIC, which was $300 worth at the ICO price of $0.00263.
Register on Binance to Participate in IEO
Lottery tickets were allocated based on each users BNB balance, with the final calculation occurring at 00:00 UTC on April 24, 2019. Ticket claims for eligible users begans at 08:00 UTC on April 24, 2019 and continued for 24 hours.
Once the ticket claim period ended the winning tickets were drawn and announced at 14:00 UTC on April 25, 2019. Payments were made in BNB within 24 hours with users ensuring they had sufficient BNB in their account if they had a winning ticket.
The MATIC tokens will allow holders to become stakers and receive staking rewards once staking is implemented on the network. As network usage increases the value of MATIC tokens is expected to increase commensurately.
MATIC Price HistoryFollowing the ICO, in which MATIC tokens were priced at $0.00263, the price took off like a rocket to the moon. In less than one month, by May 21, 2019 price had reached an all-time high of $0.045017.
Of course price didn’t remain at those elevated levels, but it also didn’t sink all the way to ICO levels. In fact, price hasn’t dropped below the $0.01 level, although it did come close in October 2019.
MATIC Price Performance. Image via CMC
December 2019 saw a huge spike that took price from $ 0.012603 to $0.042440 in the span of two weeks, however a week later price had given back all those gains. There was no fundamental reason for the rise or crash, and some have said it was all due to market manipulation.
As of February/March 2020 MATIC has been marching higher again, lifted first by news of staking going live on the testnet, and then a week later by the Indian Supreme Court lifting the ban on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading in India. As of March 11, 2020 the MATIC token is trading just above the $0.02 handle
Matic Network StrengthsOne of the strengths of the project is the broad number of available use cases. These include decentralized exchange, identity features, credit scoring, atomic swaps, payments, and gaming networks among others.
One very interesting feature Matic has been developing is Zappier integration through Dagger. This allows developers to connect Ethereum platforms with hundreds of applications and is expected to help boost user and developer adoption.
DevelopmentSomething that I am quite interested in when looking at cryptocurrency projects and ICOs is the amount of development work that is being done. One of the best ways to assess this is through the amount of code commits they have pushed in to their public GitHub.
So, I decided to dig into the Matic Network GitHub and take a look at the code commits that have pushed. These are only the repos that they have made public and there are many more that are still being worked on. Below are the commits for the top two most active public repos.
Code commits to repos in past 12 months
As you can see there has been quite a bit of activity in these repos. This is in fact more than we have seen on other projects that have completed their ICO 2 years ago. There are also a further 13 other public repos.
Moreover, it is important to point out that these are only their public commits to their main GitHub. According to this Binance Rating Report, they are working on a further 17 private repositories that have plenty more code.
All this shows that the Matic Network is indeed actively rolling out product and working on their protocol. This should be seen as another pro of the project when compared to other ICOs.
This frenetic pace of development can be considered reasonable when one is to look into their updated roadmap.
ConclusionMatic is focused on improving the scalability of Ethereum in an adapted Plasma network. Because scalability is so important to the Ethereum network there are several competing projects aiming to do the same, but if Matic can deliver a solution first, or the best solution, they stand to become one of the top blockchain projects.
It was encouraging to see MATIC growing its community rapidly in 2019. It not only shows the ability of MATIC to market its product, but also shows the belief and support from the community. And of course the ruling of the Indian Supreme Court in March 2020 that lifted the ban on cryptocurrency trading is ultimately a positive for Indian blockchain projects like MATIC.
The mission of Matic hasn’t been proven yet, but development on the testnet, and both alpha and beta mainnet implementations seems positive. One thing the project could use is the implementation of staking. They’ve been promising this since the beginning, and actually implementing it could bring a whole new group of MATIC users and investors.
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There are many great ideas in the blockchain space. While projects like Bitcoin worked to change the way we view money, other projects like the GET Protocol have their sights set on more focused issues, like the sale of event tickets.
While many startups have come and gone in the last few years, the team at GET Protocol has shown it has what it takes to survive, and expand an interesting business model.
We all love to see live events, but the ticketing system that most venues use is less than perfect. In some places, there are major companies that get in the middle, and make a huge markup on an event’s ticket sales.
As tickets are sold into the public sphere, things get even more complex. Not only are tickets marked up by unauthorized resellers, counterfeit tickets are also an issue for everyone in the events industry. When overpriced or fake tickets are sold, it is bad for everyone by the unscrupulous actors.
GET Protocol has a blockchain-based solution to mitigate all these risks, and it has been shown to work in the real world.
GET Protocol is Working Today The Guaranteed Entrance Token Protocol (GET Protocol) project was founded in the heady days of 2017 and has been able to expand its global reach, even as cryptos and blockchain struggled through a rough 2018, and volatile 2019. Unlike many start-up companies that have big dreams and no income, GET Protocol is the opposite.
One of the company’s most recent success stories involves the new Klaytn blockchain platform, which GET Protocol was invited to join as an initial service partner. Klaytn is backed by South Korea’s Kakao (via Kakao subsidiary GroundX), which is the nation’s largest mobile platform.
According to the Klaytn homepage:
Klaytn is a service-centric blockchain platform that provides easy development environment and friendly end-user experience. It is an advanced hybrid platform, combining an enterprise-grade performance based on solid reliability and significant stability with an open access in a decentralized trust system. The platform allows real world applications of large scale to be produced right away.
The move to work with the Klaytn platform is a natural progression for GET Protocol, which has sold more than a quarter-million tickets via the platform since it went live. That number is projected to expand by as much as 800% over the next calendar year, as more people use the service.
How it GETs Done As mentioned above, the existing ticketing chain has multiple flaws that affect entities at every level, from the performing artist to the venue, all the way down to the person who is buying the ticket.
GET Protocol addresses the entire ticketing chain by ensuring transparency at all levels. Unlike some systems that make tickets non-transferable, the GET Protocol platform allows tickets to be resold by end-users, but not at a profit.
Here is how GET Protocol works for everyone in the ticketing ecosystem (via GET Protocol whitepaper):
Users: GET ensures that event participants enjoy a secure and stress-free ticketing experience, and provides a simple and inexpensive way for ticket holders who cannot attend the event to securely sell their tickets to other consumers/users.
Content-creators: The GET Protocol prohibits commercial ticket resellers from disturbing the value chain; artists can be certain that their fans pay a fair price for a guaranteed, authentic ticket.
Event organizers: GET provides a scalable ticketing protocol to manage ticket sales for any size events in a secure and controlled manner. GET controls and accounts for the true value and cost of transactions, the ticket and possible margins/discounts. The blockchain ensures transparency in the true price and properties of the tickets sold. This transparency by design aims to eliminate middlemen from the value chain. The protocol increases market efficiency as a whole while increasing margins for the stakeholders delivering actual value.
Venues: GET provides users with an honest and fraud-free experience that promotes a higher occupancy rate of the venue. The token will also allow venues to offer dynamic pricing of their tickets and thereby maximizing for attendance. As tickets are only used by actual attendees it allows for accurate re-marketing (on opt-in basis) and giving discounts to their loyal and non-scalping customers of their venue.
It is easy to see that GET has created a system that works at every level of the ticketing ecosystem, and makes sure that anyone who is working within the rules is given a fair position to use, or sell their tickets. Additionally, GET ensures that any secondary ticket sales are free from corruption, as well as scalping for abusive profits.
Grassroots Success Story in Native Holland GET was founded and is based in the Netherlands, where it has found a home in the local economy. One of the most recent successes for the company was an agreement it signed with ITIX, a Dutch company that works with the entertainment industry.
ITIX was founded a decade before GET, and today the two companies will be working to use blockchain and the internet to deliver the best possible ticketing experience to the Dutch public. ITIX has sold more than 14 million tickets in its history, which bodes well for an expansion of GETs usage rates.
GET Protocol CEO Maarten Bloemers commented on the new partnership:
Our partnership with Dutch ticketing company ITIX is very exciting in various ways. Not only will we learn how to make the technical onboarding for ticketing companies as easy as possible with a committed local partner, also the opportunity costs for choosing not to service theaters directly but through an established brand are virtually non-existent. GET Protocol is extremely committed in helping ITIX grow in market share with our unique features, to both our benefit.
There is little doubt that GET will learn more about how to expand into the existing marketplace with this new partnership, which should help the company to continue its global growth trajectory. The world needs companies like GET, who are committed to creating fair systems that reward entities who play by the rules.
GET Tokenomics The GET platform doesn’t require that end-users interact with a blockchain interface of any kind, which makes it an easy sell for ticketing platforms that don’t want to make buying tickets a hassle. On the other hand, the GET Token has compelling tokenomics that could see its exchange value rise over the next few years.
While the end-users won’t use GET tokens directly, they are at the core of the GET platform and are designed to drop in quantity as the platform is used. This may lead to a virtuous price cycle for the tokens as the usage rate of the GET platform rises, and the amount of tokens in circulation drops.
GET Protocol has a Growing Niche Market Live performances aren’t going anywhere, and GET has created a platform that allows people to buy tickets, and ensures that they are the real deal. Not only is the legitimacy of a ticket ensured for every entity in the ticketing ecosystem, but end users are also able to sell their tickets to other end-users at fair prices.
The team at GET has demonstrated that it can launch a great idea, and develop it in adverse market conditions. Blockchain is a novel solution to numerous problems, and GET is demonstrating that blockchain has a home in the global ticketing ecosystem.
If you want to learn more about GET, GET tokenomics, or the recent, successful sale of GET tokens in Korea, have a look at the company’s website, or Medium account. GET is bringing honesty and transparency to a long-overlooked market, and the company likely has a bright future ahead of it!
Nicholas Say
Nicholas Say was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has traveled extensively, lived in Uruguay for many years, and currently resides in the Far East. His writing can be found all over the web, with special emphasis placed on realistic development, and the next generation of human technology.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Aave has suspended operations in a number of markets after receiving a problem report on a certain function of the protocol.
DeFi Protocol Discovers Vulnerability; Is User Funds At Risk? On Saturday, November 4, decentralized lending protocol Aave announced – via a post on X (formerly Twitter) that it has paused the Aave V2 Ethereum market and suspended certain assets on Avalanche. In addition, the protocol has frozen specific assets on Aave V3 on Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
Today we received a report of an issue on a certain feature of the Aave Protocol. After validation by community developers, the guardian has taken the following temporary prevention measure (no funds are at risk):
— Aave (@aave) November 4, 2023
According to the protocol’s announcement, these actions serve as a temporary precautionary measure following a problem report on a specific feature.
Furthermore, Aave said in the post that the Aave V3 markets on Ethereum, Base, and Metis and the V2 markets on Polygon and Avalanche are unaffected. Meanwhile, no funds on any of the markets were at risk, according to DeFi lending protocol.
🚨🚨 🚨 On 11-04 17:38:35 UTC, Aave Guardian has taken necessary protection measurements to pause AaveV2 protocol (and all Aave pools are safe): https://t.co/3xJzfiejig
Given the protocol is “forked” by multiple third parties and the exact details are not disclosed yet, it is… pic.twitter.com/OkO1EZv6pW
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) November 4, 2023
While Aave did not specify what the issue is or the feature that caused the problem, the protocol said it would release a detailed explanation once there is a full resolution. The statement read:
A governance proposal to restore the normal operation of the protocols will be submitted shortly. A detailed postmortem will be released once the issue is fully resolved.
Aave further clarified that users supplying or borrowing from a frozen assets pool can still withdraw and repay positions. However, these users can’t supply or borrow more funds from the frozen assets pool until the issue is resolved. The protocol added:
On paused assets, no action can be done until unpaused.
AAVE Price Remains Steady Despite Protocol Vulnerability There is no evidence to suggest that the problem has had any impact on the value of the protocol’s native token, AAVE. As of this writing, the token is valued at $90.15, reflecting a negligible 0.9% price dip in the past 24 hours.
Nevertheless, the token is outperforming on a bigger timeframe. Over the past week, AAVE’s price has swelled by more than 10%, touching the $100 mark – for the first time since February – at some point during the week.
Although the price of AAVE has been moving mostly sideways in the past few days, a resolution of the current issue might trigger renewed momentum for the token. Hence, there is a chance that the cryptocurrency might revisit $100 again, especially considering the optimistic climate of the crypto market.
AAVE price slows down upward momentum on the daily timeframe | Source: AAVEUSDT chart on TradingView Featured image from Binance Academy, chart from TradingView
Radiant Capital, a lending and borrowing protocol for users to borrow various assets across multiple chains, is rapidly closing in on Aave, looking at earnings data over the past six months.
Radiant Capital Earnings Rising: What’s The Trigger? According to Token Terminal statistics on November 8 shared by one user on X, @Flowslikeosmo, Radiant Capital generated $5.8 million in revenue despite a relatively lower level of liquidity than Aave. @Flowslikeosmo, who claims to be a crypto researcher, said Radiant Capital’s earnings will likely explode in the upcoming sessions, especially once the 2.8 million ARB begins to be deployed.
Radiant Capital earnings | Source: Token Terminal via @Flowslikeosmo on X Radiant Capital is a popular cross-chain decentralized money market through which users, regardless of their choice blockchain, can either lend their assets and earn passive income or borrow assets trustlessly. This way, the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol has opened up liquidity and boosted access to multiple blockchains.
Related Reading: Dogecoin In Tight Zone: Why A Rally Will Happen If DOGE Clears $0.076
To perform effectively, the protocol relies on LayerZero, which enables trustless and decentralized communication between blockchains using Oracle Relays, allowing platforms to be more interconnected and ledgers to be more interoperable. As Radiant Capital offers services, the DeFi protocol generates earnings or revenue primarily from fees.
The platform charges a protocol fee on all transactions. Earnings from this allow the team to be operational while allowing the protocol to generate revenue.
However, it should be noted only 15% of this fee is used to cover operational expenditure, with the rest redistributed to users as yield. Besides, there are fees billed to users taking flash loans. The protocol rewards providers with RDNT to incentivize liquidity provision, depending on the amount provided and the duration locked.
ARB Airdrop, Will RNDT Rally To New 2023 Highs? Earnings generated depend on the activity level, directly influencing protocol fees accrued and the number of users taking flash loans. Following Radiant Capital’s recent announcement that it plans to airdrop 2 million ARB following the Arbitrum DAO‘s approval of a proposal first floated in late September, activity could skyrocket in the coming months, boosting earnings.
Moreover, the protocol’s liquidity is expected to increase with this approval. The ARB airdrop will be used to incentivize liquidity provision. Additionally, Radiant Capital will strike more partnerships, allowing it to expand to other chains, including Ethereum and Arbitrum.
Radiant Capital price trending upward on the daily chart | Source: RDNTUSDT on Binance, TradingView According to Dune Analytics data, the number of RDNT holders continues to rise, mirroring its general price performance. Thus far, RDNT is up 40% from October lows. The immediate resistance level at $0.33 must be broken for the coin to rally, even registering new 2023 highs.
Decentralized non-custodial lending and borrowing protocol Aave is voting to onboard PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company.
In an ongoing governance vote, 99.98% of the participating AAVE token holders favor integrating PYUSD into AAVE's Ethereum-based pool. The voting on the proposal, termed temperature check, floated by Trident Digital on Dec. 18, will end later Thursday. The vote follows decentralized exchange Curve's December decision to host PYUSD.
PYUSD, the dollar-pegged stablecoin, came into existence in August and now has a market capitalization of $289 million, or 0.3% of industry leader tether’s $94 billion.
Aave is a decentralized finance protocol enabling users to lend and borrow funds without an intermediary. Per DappRadar, AAVE is the world's third-largest DeFi solution, with nearly $5 billion worth of crypto assets locked into the protocol.
Majority of the participating AAVE token holders favor PYUSD integration. (Aave)Trident’s proposal says that AAVE's integration of PYUSD will help build synergies with PayPal's stablecoin and strengthen the relationship between PYUSD and AAVE's decentralized multi-collateral stablecoin GHO.
Trident, which is incentivizing the PYUSD/USDC liquidity pool on Curve, will contribute $5 million to $10 million in liquidity for PYUSD on AAVE from day one, the firm said in the governance proposal chat.
"The idea is to keep yields quite high on Curve. This will create organic borrowing demand for PYUSD on AAVE. So while we don’t intend to provide direct incentives on AAVE we believe our overall incentive strategy will allow for borrowing demand on day 1," Trident said.
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On-chain data suggests that whales are accumulating large amounts of Maker (MKR) and Aave (AAVE), two leading decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens. This accumulation trend coincides with a broader cooling-off period in the crypto scene days after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Whales Accumulate MKR And AAVE According to ScopeScan data, Anchorage Digital, a digital asset custody firm, purchased a significant amount of MKR on January 15. The firm acquired 12,103 MKR tokens, valued at approximately $24.7 million, from Coinbase, a leading crypto exchange in the United States.
Two whales, “0xbb5f” and “0x4a7,” also accumulated large quantities of MKR and AAVE. Specifically, “0xbb5f” bought 50,000 AAVE and 2,452 MKR worth around $5.03 million and $4.95 million from Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. Meanwhile, 0x4a7 purchased 39,000 AAVE and 2,350 MKR, valued at approximately $3.95 million and $4.75 million, also from Binance.
Whales Accumulating Maker and Aave | Source: Scopescan These whale purchases signal a strong belief in the long-term potential of MKR and AAVE. Maker and Aave are two of the world’s leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocols across DeFi. MKR serves as the governance token for MakerDAO, which also manages the DAI decentralized stablecoin. On the other hand, AAVE is the governance token of Aave, a top decentralized lending platform.
According to the latest DeFiLlama data, Maker and Aave have total value locked (TVL) of over $8.4 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively.
Top DeFi protocols | Source: DeFiLlama Notably, whales are accumulating MKR and AAVE when the DeFi scene is recovering following the sharp contraction from 2022. The industry manages over $56 billion, with Ethereum hosting more liquid DeFi protocols, including Lido DAO when writing in mid-January 2024.
Will Maker and Aave Rally To New 2024 Highs On Recovering DeFi? Last year, MKR and AAVE were among the top-performing DeFi tokens, with MKR rising by over 200% and AAVE appreciating by more than 150%. Protocol-specific fundamentals, including the launch of Spark in Maker, partly drove this strong performance.
Aave launched the GHO stablecoin and the Lens protocol on the Ethereum sidechain, Polygon. Moreover, expectations of the spot Bitcoin ETF forced aggressive traders to consider top DeFi protocols, lifting altcoins.
Maker price trending upward on the daily chart | Source: MKRUSDT on Binance, TradingView As whales accumulate, there is more headroom for these tokens to grow. Presently, AAVE and MKR are lower, based on their respective performance in the daily chart. However, overly, the uptrend remains. To illustrate, MKR is within a bullish breakout formation with a critical support level of around $1,560. Any surge past $2,300 might ignite demand, lifting the token to new 2024 highs.
PANews reported on November 3rd that Radiant Capital posted on its X platform: "Reports indicate a security vulnerability in certain Balancer V2 liquidity pools. Radiant is working closely with Balancer contributors and security partners to actively monitor the situation. Based on current information, the issue is limited to specific versions of liquidity pools not used by Radiant. As a precaution, it is recommended to temporarily avoid interaction with dLPs (such as Zapping) and suspend the use of Balancer liquidity pools on Arbitrum and the Ethereum mainnet until further confirmation is received. Deposits within the Radiant platform remain safe, and markets on the Base and BNB chains continue to operate normally. More updates will be released after a full assessment of the situation."
Synternet, the blockchain innovator across networks like Ethereum (ETH) and Cosmos (ATOM), has launched its mainnet on the Cosmos network, per the latest information shared with Finbold on June 27.
This launch is expected to start a new chapter in the decentralized data economy and unlock Synternet’s SYNT token’s full potential.
The advantages of Synternet’s mainnet With the mainnet launch, Synternet activates real monetary value for data in its ecosystem, enabling practical use of SYNT and advancing the Pikes Peak roadmap.
This allows developers to build new applications using real-time, trustless data streams from all major chains.
With its flourishing ecosystem and extensive portfolio of projects, tools, and services, Cosmos offers Synternet a robust foundation for future growth.
The launch on Cosmos also brings lower gas fees and faster transactions, reinforcing Synternet’s commitment to democratizing data access.
Synternet CTO Jonas Simanavicius remarked on the significance of the launch, stating:
“The launch of Synternet’s mainnet on Cosmos is not just a technical milestone — it’s the beginning of a new era for the decentralized data economy. With $SYNT, we’re providing real utility, enabling users to pay for data services at reduced fees and fostering a more inclusive and efficient ecosystem.”
CEO Daniel Haudenschild further added:
“The mainnet launch is a key event for Synternet, signifying the realization of our vision for a decentralized data economy. With the $SYNT token now powering monetary value for data, we’ve created meaningful opportunities for developers and businesses. As we celebrate this milestone, we also look forward to the future growth and expansion outlined in our Pikes Peak roadmap.”
The SYNT token Central to Synternet’s ecosystem is the SYNT token, which users can utilize to access and pay for real-time data streams from various publishers across multiple chains.
Synternet also offers token holders a staking mechanism, allowing them to vote on proposals and influence protocol upgrades, feature prioritization, and resource allocation.
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AIOZ Network has defied the overall market conditions with its 30% price pump over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) prices both slumped at the last check Sunday.
However, AIOZ Network (AIOZ) was up from a low of $0.8657 to as high as $1.17 before retracing to its current price of $1.14. The token price is also up by over 40% in the last seven days.
AIOZ 24H price chart from CoinGecko The AIOZ project has recently unveiled its latest video-on-demand streaming model, which could have aided in the price surge.
Explore Video-on-demand (VoD) Streaming Models with @AIOZNetwork!
VoD streaming comes in different models, some of which you might be familiar with, and some other you might have not explored yet.
As we gear up for the launch of W3Stream, we want to dive into a few key models… pic.twitter.com/UHAUc0wfVN
— AIOZ Network (@AIOZNetwork) January 3, 2025 Second on the list is meme coin Would (WOULD) with a 15% price pump. The price has surged from a low of $0.2695 to as high as $0.3244.
WOULD 24H price chart from CoinGecko However, the exact reason for the surge of WOULD remains unclear. It could also be the general volatility of meme coins that could have helped the $310 million meme coin to pump.
The third coin on the top gainers list is Akuma Inu (AKUMA) with a 15% surge. The price of AKUM has surged over 1200% in the last 30 days and 260% in the last seven days.
AKUMA 24H price chart from CoinGecko AKUMA has been trending on X and touts itself to be the next Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Even though the meme coin project only has around 5700 X followers, the meme coin seems to have gained traction on X, which could explain its price pump.
As data has become synonymous with “digital gold,” it’s no wonder the demand for access to real-time data is skyrocketing. On the same side, as Web 3 or decentralized technologies are emerging, the shortcomings of centralized services within the Web3 stack are being addressed.
Streamr is among such decentralized projects that provide a real-time data infrastructure as it allows data to travel via a global peer-to-peer network that is scalable, robust, and permissionless. Streamr sets itself apart through the use of blockchain technology for data sharing.
Streamr’s real-time data delivery system operates through the help of a P2P or a Peer-to-Peer network in a pub-sub fashion. Pub-sub or Publish-Subscribe is an asynchronous communication model that supports scalable and reliable communication.
Similar to BitTorrent, Streamr is a network of nodes that can pipe messages to one another without intermediaries. However, the key difference between the two is that Streamr is for real-time data streams, whereas BitTorrent does not operate real-time data streams.
Background of Streamr Launched in 2017, Streamr was launched by the founders of Streamr, who believed there needed to be a way to connect billions of devices with real-time data through the help of a decentralized network.
The importance of real-time data must be addressed, particularly due to the growth of DePIN or Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks. This is because DePIN helps to move the work of large data centers to non-technical people around the globe, ultimately bringing in huge benefits, particularly of trust.
DePIN is owned and operated by users, making it neither a public nor a private infrastructure. DePINs allow for building real-time data ecosystems, giving stakeholders the power to add value and additional services that help to support the ecosystem.
At the same time, for the development of a decentralized future, real-time data is needed as this helps to power decentralized applications or dApps. DApps need external data to function, and if they remain dependent on the existing centralized data networks, dApps will eventually become liable to all the existing problems that are present in Web 2.
These liabilities include user data being susceptible to cyber attacks, power remaining in the hands of a few, a complete lack of robustness, misuse of private data, monopolistic positions that cause inflated costs, and the risk of a single point of failure.
These issues bring serious concerns to not only the development of decentralized applications but the entire decentralized internet or Web 3, where the promise is to give users more power over their data through decentralization.
Development of StreamrWhile an ecosystem of decentralized P2P networks already exists, Streamr development takes a completely different approach, focusing on real-time data. Through the help of this real-time data, anyone can publish events on data streams, and anyone can subscribe to streams.
First and foremost, Streamr is a P2P network that utilizes a Pub-sub messaging pattern, including one-to-many, many-to-many, or many-to-one streaming. This allows DePIN builders to build in a UP, ACROSS, or BROADCAST fashion, depending upon the different use cases.
For example, DIMO, which is an open and user-owned IoT network that uses Streamr, is built in a UP fashion from Miner to Network. With the help of DIMO, developers can easily access barometric pressure, temperatures, and other weather-related data in real-time. This gives developers who require weather data to power their applications an ideal solution.
In the future, DIMO plans to build in an ACROSS fashion, giving miners more flexibility to connect. This will help to ensure that DIMO’s data stream is completely decentralized and not owned or controlled by any centralized authority.
Streamr 1.0, which is the final milestone in Streamr’s original 2017 roadmap, means when it is implemented, it will lead to the implementation of the network tokenomics, meaning the network is fully decentralized. Anyone can now set up an operator node, and delegators can now delegate their tokens to the operator node.
The Network Tokenomics of $DATAWithin the Streamr Network, both data publishers and subscribers are Nodes in a P2P network.
Nodes that are involved in a stream of data connect one another in a certain way, ultimately helping to form the stream’s topology through which the main function of Streamr Network can be performed.
Therefore, every node that joins a stream does two things: it consumes the data and relays it onwards to other nodes interested in the stream.
To incentivize good nodes who ensure data flows robustly and stably, the honest and stable nodes are paid, forming the basis of Streamr Network Tokenomics. Streamr tokenomics works similarly to the gas price of Ethereum. In Ethereum, users are constantly in a battle to incentivize miners to execute their transactions faster.
On Streamr, users have to pay less or nothing at times if they are happy with the best-effort performance. They can also pay to incentivize nodes to make the stream more robust and secure.
However, it is important to note that Streamr Network tokenomics is not based on buying more access to data on The Hub. On the Network, users pay for infrastructure costs for data delivery. On the application layer, users pay for access to data content.
Users can use the Network for data delivery without using The Hub, similar to a person who can send and receive packages without ordering products or services from online stores.
Streamr Stack The Streamr infrastructure consists of a tech stack that helps to connect and incentivize computers within a global peer-to-peer network. The entire stack is built on top of a decentralized transport layer, which helps to ensure resilience, fault tolerance, robustness, transparency, openness that comes with decentralization, and community building.
To facilitate their goal, the Streamr stack offers the following multilayered technology stack:
Streamr HubThe Hub or Streamr Hub serves as an entry point for developers, helping them to create and connect with live streaming data. The Hub is a portal that leads directly into the Streamr Network and is a step forward towards a more consciously open data approach, all while ensuring it does not undermine any Web3 ethos.
Other than DIMO, there are several other projects on the Hub. The first includes Polygon, in which Polygon Validators are sharing their validator node’s live metrics. The second includes EthWatch, which broadcasts the live stream of Ethereum and Polygon contract events.
Other projects that are built using Streamr include Swash, Redstone, and Unbanks. In the DePIN space, they include MapMetrics, IoTeX, and Peaq Network apart from DIMO.
As the demand for AI is growing, Streamr hub has 90% of the features of an AI marketplace. The smart contracts can be extended to allow users to publish prompts that can get access to the output of a pay-to-access remotely run model.
In the end, the goal of the Streamr hub is to facilitate the discovery and the delivery of what type of data exists out there, give users a comprehensive toolkit for its creation along with its management, and make it simpler for the users to subscribe to a data stream of their choice.
Streamr Network Streamr Network acts as the “transport layer” of the entire Streamr stack. The network handles all messaging in a decentralized data pipeline. This layer consists of primitives known as events & streams and broker nodes.
The Streamr Nodes operate on primitives, and the collection of broker nodes consists of a P2P network that handles the decentralized messaging. The infrastructure layer, on the other hand, uses the Ethereum stack for its operations as node coordination requires robust consensus, which the smart contract implements.
Streamr network has multiple different parts, all of which play an important role in transporting data. These include:
EventsAn event is a timestamped piece of information that contains headers and content. Headers provide the metadata of the vent, which includes its timestamp, content type, and origin. The content gives information on what format the content is in. Both are encoded in a binary format.
StreamsAll of the events that occur are a part of the stream. They are grouped in a logically relatable manner and stored in an ascending order. The entire metadata is stored on Ethereum’s smart contract. Streams carry five different pieces of information, namely user ID, name, description, owner, and permissions.
Publish-SubscribeThe data delivery in the Streamr network follows the publish-subscribe paradigm. Events that occur are promptly delivered to all those who are authorized and subscribed to the stream. This can be limited depending on what kind of access the user has.
Partitioning (Sharding)To achieve scalability, not all the Streamr nodes handle all the traffic. This is because the event traffic within the whole network is divided into several independent parts called partitions. Each broker node handles traffic that belongs to a different set of partitions.
Node CoordinationStreamr uses node coordination, which acts as a key coordinator for the assignment of network partitions to broker nodes in the network. Node coordination also helps to maintain changes when nodes appear and disappear. Streamr network uses its underlying Ethereum network to establish consensus for node coordination in the P2P network.
IncentivizationStreamr incentivizes Operators (who act as the miners on Streamr) to do two things: report the checksums for their assigned partitions to the network and deliver the data to any smart contract subscribers. To incentivize, Streamr sends them $DATA.
Event PersistenceFor Streamr to turn its entire network into a decentralized time series database, the events in data streams persist in the P2P network. The achieved decentralization allows the Streamr network to achieve greater robustness, fault tolerance, anonymity, and lower costs.
Data ProvenanceTo ensure hackers do not manipulate data for their monetary advantage, the Streamr Network cryptographically signs a private key. This helps to attest to the data provenance and ensures that the events on the network always carry a signature that can be verified.
Data ConfidentialityAs anyone can participate in the Streamr network by running a node, all of the event payloads of non-public streams in the Streamr network are encrypted. This encryption is done with the help of asymmetric key cryptography. Such an approach, combined with the help of encryption, brings safety.
Streamr Smart ContractsWhile several Ethereum-based smart contracts support the Streamr Network and The Hub, the Streamr Network also uses its smart contracts. These smart contracts help to improve coordination, permissions, incentivization, and integrity checking.
StreamThe Stream smart contract is the main smart contract that holds static information and carries the permissions for the stream.
Stream RegistryThe stream registry contract holds important information about the known streams in the network.
Network CoordinatorThe network coordinator contract assigns partitions to broker nodes. These Streamr Nodes register themselves with the coordinator and receive updates on the network state by looking at the smart contract.
$DATALastly, in the Streamr stack is the $DATA token, which is a means of compensation between the data producers and consumers. It’s an ERC 20 token that ensures that the payments are handled securely. It also provides interoperability with different wallets and other tokens. $DATA has the following main jobs:
Implement a monetization mechanism for data producers, which helps them act as a data vendor to step in wherever necessary and help the community grow to everyone’s benefit.
$DATA is also an incentive for maintaining and operating a P2P network, as it takes resources, time, computing power, and communication bandwidth. Without such an incentive, Streamr Nodes will not participate, and the entire P2P network in which the real-time data runs will collapse.
The primary application of $DATA includes when developers and subscribers pay for the data they want to get access to using $DATA. Additionally, data producers and the network participants are reimbursed for their participation with $DATA securely and automatically. Tokens can also be earned by running a particular node and then staking $DATA tokens on that node.
Streamr reimburses staking awards through the help of a supply inflation process, which was decided through the help of the project’s governance. In Streamr 1.0, delegated staking was introduced, which allowed token holders to not only run a node but also stake their $DATA in return for a reward.
Stream sponsorships are the final milestone of the Streamr project, as they bring the long-awaited incentive layer that fully activates the $DATA token economy. As streams operate an overlay of the network, stream Sponsorships attract new nodes to join the network. With the help of this, the Streamr network will become more robust from external attacks.
It will also help to prevent the data loss which is caused by node churn. When churn nodes consistently join and leave the stream, it adds instability to the topology, thereby leading to disruption in the message flow.
In other words, through the help of Sponsorships, Streamr nodes will become bulletproof.
Sponsorships work through the help of a smart contract that will release funds over time to operators who have joined them. Sponsors will fund sponsorships, as they will be the ones to create them by defining the terms of engagement.
The smart contract will help to ensure the agreed terms are fulfilled, and then DATA tokens will be transferred. They must deliver on their promise to avoid losing their tokens.
Operators and DelegatorsOperators are Streamr node runners. Operators can join or leave a sponsorship at any given time as long as they agree to the penalties while signing up. Delegators, on the other hand, are the passive liquidity providers for Operators. In return, they will earn revenue from well-performing operators.
The lifecycle of the Stream sponsorship will comprise 5 different steps and is as follows:
Firstly, a sponsorship smart contract will be created, which will describe all policies and parameters. Secondly, sponsors will pay DATA tokens on the agreed terms. Thirdly, operators will join sponsorship by staking on it. Fourth, Operators will join the sponsored stream network and relay data in the stream.
In the last step, if or when the sponsorship runs low on tokens, they can either be “topped up” or the reward will be given based on the configured emission rate. This process will ensure sponsorship contracts act as a decentralized mechanism that helps to manage a stream of earnings distributed within different operators.
Advantages over competitorsThe unique selling point of Streamr is that it provides a real-time data infrastructure of the decentralized web or Web 3, which already sets it apart from its competitors. There are several other advantages that Streamr brings, but other decentralized data storage projects are unable to do so. Some of these include:
Ease of miningUnlike Filecoin, which is one of Streamr’s primary competitors, users have an ease of mining and become a part of the network. In the case of Filecoin, users have to purchase expensive hardware. In addition, users also need to have some experience in systems deployment and administration, which makes it extremely difficult for non-technical people to enter.
In the case of Streamr, the barrier to entry is kept as minimum as possible as the project believes that’s the only way for the blockchain ecosystem to grow.
Fair token distributionThere’s an ever-existing fear of FIL, which is the native token of the Filecoin network to be dumped by its advisors. This is because, at the time of the launch, almost half of FIL supply was given to the advisors at half its existing price. In fact, Filecoin community members alleged 2020 token dumping when an unknown account received 1.5 million FIL tokens.
Meanwhile, Streamr has ensured the supply of its $DATA is done reasonably.
Non-DiscriminativeAnother key area that helps Streamr set itself apart from other projects is that it maintains a neutral stance on data and content.
On the other hand, Arweave has a Democratic Content Policy, which creates a potential conflict as network nodes have the power to issue a blacklist against certain data types, thus hindering the idea of an “open economy.”
Emphasis on adequate user interfaces & appropriate informationStreamr has a major focus on developer user interfaces that are much easier to use and are targeted toward people who have a relatively less technical background. Siacoin, which is one of its main competitors, has yet to offer adequate user interfaces.
A similar issue is also present with Arweave, where the project developers are unable to provide in-depth information that can help developers when they are building on their stack. What Streamr offers is unique as it provides in-depth, dense knowledge in a relatively easy-to-navigate manner to ensure developers do not face any issues.
Analysis of StreamrThe importance of data, especially one that runs in a combination of a real-time data market and the data pipeline, all while remaining decentralized, is transformative for the entire Web3, particularly because this gives a decentralized ecosystem exposure to data that has never existed before all while remaining true to decentralization.
Streamr maintains its tech stack layered and modular to allow non-tech individuals to participate in the network in one capacity or another.
It also hosts a publish-subscribe mechanism, which is a framework for exchanging messages between publishers and is widely used in Web2 due to its reliability. Streamr uses the same framework while making it decentralized, spread across different nodes rather than concentrated in one area, similar to centralized technologies.
To ensure transactions are scalable, with minimum latency, Streamr divides its throughput scales linearly. This allows the network not just to scale but also to process millions of events per second.
Streamr also allows users to sell their data directly, which gives them the power to monetize their data, all while knowing which companies and industries are using their data. Through the help of this transparency, users will be empowered, unlike in a centralized system where power is monopolized.
Anyone who owns a personal computer or a laptop can become part of the Streamr network by becoming a node operator and earning yield on staked tokens.
Emerging use cases of StreamrProving its versatility and adaptability, Streamr has the potential to revolutionize different industries and applications. Some of the emerging use cases of Streamr include:
[1] Video StreamingTraditional streaming services often need help with bandwidth limitations and central server outrages. Streamr’s P2P network can help distribute video content more efficiently by reducing latency as stream viewers become P2P distribution nodes as they consume the stream. This will help to improve the user experience.
[2] Decentralized AIStreamr helps to provide a strong infrastructure for real-time data collection and distribution. This is critical for training AI models, ultimately ensuring that AI systems can function without the hurdles present within centralized data servers. This helps to enable more efficient and scalable AI solutions.
The Streamr developer community has already developed the next generation of AI technologies. Some of these AI technologies include the Streamr node AI plugin, AI video distribution, LLM routing, AI chat, Verifiable AI, AI Audits, and AI data crowdsourcing.
As the need for decentralized data exchanges has become more apparent, Streamr can provide help to the entire Metaverse ecosystem. This can be done by providing a foundation for real-time data transmission that will enhance the interactivity and responsiveness of the virtual metaverse worlds.
[4] Web 3 GamingAs the importance of real-time data exchange and decentralized infrastructures is maintained in the fast-growing world of Web 3 gaming, Streamr provides a strong solution. It offers a platform where game developers can build decentralized gaming experiences with real-time player interactions and data exchanges.
[5] dApp MessagingDecentralized applications (dApps) at times rely on centralized servers for messaging, which leads towards a contradiction of Web 3 ethos. Streamr brings a solution as it can provide a decentralized messaging platform that enables dApps to embrace decentralization.
Final Thoughts Decentralization is a much-awaited answer that users are looking for due to their declining trust in large corporations. With data becoming an integral part of our day-to-day lives, it is only necessary to ensure it does not become monopolized in the same manner as that of several other industries.
Projects like Streamr bring an important answer to the problem, giving users the utmost possession and freedom over their data. Streamr allows users to access data in real-time, which empowers the existing infrastructure by allowing it to become more decentralized.
Streamr is bringing this power transfer to individuals, all while improving user privacy, resilience, fault tolerance, and efficiency. This will help the future of the internet to become more connected and decentralized, with the users having more freedom over their data and power over important decisions.
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Bpifrance, a state-owned French bank, has announced that it will buy $27M worth of crypto.
Unlike the likes of Japan, Hong Kong, and businesses like MicroStrategy, though, Bpifrance will only invest in projects that support local blockchain and crypto development.
Keep reading to find out Bpifrance’s investment strategy, how the US’s crypto push is accelerating global crypto adoption, and which could be the next crypto to explode as a result.
A Move to ‘Strengthen the French Blockchain System’ As mentioned earlier, what’s interesting is how France is modeling its push for digital assets. It doesn’t just want to ride the crypto wave; it wants to be a part of it.
Furthermore, the investment will benefit local crypto and blockchain projects involved in all major crypto-related niches, including decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, staking, and AI.
We are convinced of the growing importance that these players will take on in the years to come, and we want to increase French competitiveness and presence in the field of digital assets – Arnaud Caudoux, Deputy CEO of Bpifrance
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t Bpifrance’s first crypto rodeo. In 2014, it invested in a hardware wallet firm called Ledger (yes, that Ledger). It has also made crucial contributions in ACINQ, Morpho, and Aleph.im.
With the new pro-crypto Trump administration pushing for lenient crypto regulations and announcing their desire to make the US the crypto capital of the world, countries like France are taking note and rallying in support of local talent.
The global crypto push is only getting started, and with conventional economic superpowers racing for the top seats in DeFi and blockchain tech, there’s undoubtedly a fortune to be made in this new-age investment niche.
To help you make the most of the world’s new-found (and potentially long-lasting) love for crypto, we’ve handpicked three top cryptos you should consider buying right now.
1. BTC Bull Token ($BTCBULL) – Most Likely to Be the Next Crypto to Explode in 2025 The market’s love for Bitcoin – which is a direct reflection of the US government’s support for it – has well and truly ushered in a ‘digital gold rush.’
BTC Bull Token ($BTCBULL) is, therefore, the best altcoin to buy right now, seeing as it gives you front-row seats to Bitcoin’s success – but at a fraction of the cost.
That’s because it will give token holders free $BTC. We’re also impressed by the fact that these Bitcoin giveaways have been masterfully scheduled to take place every time $BTC reached a new milestone – such as $150K, $200K, and $250K.
The only other thing you should take note of is to buy and hold $BTCBULL in Best Wallet, as that would qualify you for automatic $BTC airdrops.
Moreover, there will also be a token burn event when Bitcoin reaches $125K, $150K, $175K, and every subsequent $25K price point.
As you might have guessed, this will contract supply, which would then increase the token’s demand – and ultimately its price.
$BTCBULL is currently in presale ($4.2M+ raised), meaning you can buy it for a low price of $0.002435.
Check out our BTC Bull Token price prediction to better understand why we’re so excited about it – and here’s a guide on how to buy it.
2. Solaxy ($SOLX) – Top Altcoin Building First-Ever L2 for Solana Solana has been a huge facilitator for meme coins, offering a low-cost and highly scalable blockchain network – exactly what meme coin developers are after.
However, things haven’t really been ideal for Solana for the last few months.
The launch of $TRUMP, $MELANIA, and Pump.fun overloaded Solana, and it has been struggling with scalability, congestion, and failed transactions.
It will offload a hefty portion of Solana’s total transactions onto a sidechain, thereby reducing the burden on the blockchain’s mainnet.
It’s worth noting that $SOLX is a multi-chain token – it’s designed to benefit from not only Solana’s speed but also Ethereum’s vast liquidity pool.
Thanks to its one-of-a-kind application, the Solaxy presale has seen unprecedented interest from investors. It has already raised over $28M, and we’re still a long way out from its end.
You can join one of the biggest crypto presales for just $0.001676 per token. If this is your first presale purchase, here’s a detailed guide on how to buy Solaxy.
3. Ghiblification ($GHIBLI) – New Meme Coin Dominating the Market Ghiblification is the perfect example of what meme coins truly embody – surreal gains within a short period thanks to community backing and market hype.
A new version of ChatGPT is currently all the rage on the internet. It allows people to transform just about any picture – a popular sports event or a personal picture with a partner – into the famous Ghibli-style animation.
Studio Ghibli, by the way, is a renowned Japanese animation studio and the creator of popular movies like ‘Spirited Away.’
After launching on the exchanges just over a couple of days ago, $GHIBLI is already up over 31%. This includes a mind-blowing 91% gain in the last 24 hours.
The token is currently trading at $0.03205. Given that the hype for these AI-generated animated pictures is still alive and kicking, $GHIBLI could well replicate $BROCCOLI’s returns.
Bottom Line With another country joining the crypto fray, the above-mentioned trending cryptos are in the best position to benefit from crypto’s next rally.
Despite the promise being shown, though, it’s crucial you only invest a sensible amount because crypto – and particularly meme coins – is unpredictable.
Also, kindly do your own research before investing, as none of the above is financial advice.
Xai, the layer-3 gaming network built on Ethereum scaler Arbitrum, kicked off 2024 with a bang, launching its XAI token to early supporters and then announcing that noted NFT game studio Laguna Games will bring Crypto Unicorns and related titles to the network.
So what’s next? More games, of course.
Ex Populus, which co-founder and CEO Tobias Batton described to Decrypt’s GG as the “labs company that serves the Xai Foundation,” is a game studio—and its games are set to be the first out the gate in the coming months as the Xai ecosystem takes shape.
The first, called Final Form, is a card-battler game with NFTs. According to its official website, the game will support NFT cards previously released on Solana via a bridge to Arbitrum. Batton said that the game is “penciled in for April,” but that the ETA could change. He said the game is playable and “moving into a polish phase,” so it can’t be far off.
LAMOverse is the other game from Ex Populus, and it’s a long-in-development online action game with colorful, cartoonish environments. Tied into physical LAMO toys based on gaming influencers like Ninja and Dr. Disrespect, LAMOverse is set to debut sometime after Final Form, and the game studio says it’s likewise playable and nearing a proper launch on Xai.
Batton recounted that Ex Populus spent substantial time seeking an ideal gaming chain for its projects and said that it explored building on other Ethereum scaling networks like Polygon or Immutable X. But, he said, each chain the studio tried had trade-offs that made the team “not enthusiastic” about committing to those ecosystems.
Ultimately, Arbitrum creator Offchain Labs proposed building a custom gaming chain that would suit the needs of Ex Populus while also providing a home for other studios in the future. Thus Xai was born.
In this team-up, Batton said, Ex Populus built the software that powers the Sentry Nodes that early users have purchased to support the Xai network. It also makes games and works in a publisher-like role to help other studios onboard to Xai and get their games in front of players.
That’s the kind of role that Ex Populus will serve for Laguna Games as it migrates its Crypto Unicorns games and associated NFTs from Polygon to Xai this year. And Batton said that he’s seen a “massive influx” of other studios reaching out since the airdrop to get involved with Xai, whether they’re building new games or migrating from existing chains.
In this dual role of game developer and distribution partner, Batton said that Ex Populus is attempting to be the Web3 version of Valve. That gaming powerhouse is known not only for operating the popular Steam PC gaming store, but also developing iconic games like Half-Life, Portal, and Counter-Strike. Fortnite maker Epic Games has charted a similar path.
Ex Populus doesn’t yet have the storied gaming legacy of those long-running giants, of course, but it also faces the immense challenge of trying to convince traditional gamers that user-owned NFT assets and crypto-driven economies are beneficial. And gamers have broadly not been too receptive to such overtures in the past.
What could make that easier is the way that the Xai network abstracts away the complexities of wallet use and asset handling for users who don’t want to get deep into the “crypto” of it all. Your average player doesn’t have to worry about self-custody of NFTs or tokens, plus Xai provides a gas-free experience for players.
“We had this crazy idea that if you remove wallets and remove gas from everything, that you can experience large growth,” Batton explained. “Really, the benefits of blockchain are the ability to trade items and own items—all the stuff we always hear about—but there's a tremendous amount of friction that stands in the way of that.”
There still are wallets, but for traditional gamers, they’re managed in the back end by the Xai team. And if you’d rather bring in your own wallet and self-custody your assets, that option is certainly available for veteran crypto users.
“As a traditional gamer who maybe isn't familiar with crypto or is a little averse to it, these games just seem like a normal game,” said Batton, who added that there would be wallet management features in the settings. “And then you're like, ‘Oh, I have a wallet. I didn't even know it.’ So it sort of breadcrumbs people into this experience in a way that doesn't seem so obtuse.”
our competitors aren't treasure, imx, ronin, or beam.
our competition is nintendo and valve.
decentralized gaming is inevitable.
— XAI (@XAI_GAMES) January 29, 2024
It’s been a busy couple of months for Xai. The Sentry Node sale, which let users invest in supporting the network and receive an allocation of XAI tokens, was a sizable success with about $30 million in sales. And the XAI airdrop that followed certainly made waves, putting over $150 million worth of tokens (at peak value) into users’ wallets.
But as Batton described, the journey dates back to 2022. It’s been a steady rise in prominence and buzz, in his view—and the biggest moves are still yet to come as games start going live on the network.
“It’s a grassroots approach—it didn't happen overnight,” he affirmed. “It took months and months and months of building this hype and this community and excitement.”
“Having Laguna agree to deploy their games is a big deal, because before this news, it was just hype. It's just an empty chain,” Batton added. “But now it's not an empty chain. It's got real games coming.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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November 27, 2024
Andreas Brekken, the founder of SideShift.ai, a platform offering direct-to-wallet trading, sat down (in his hammock) for an exclusive interview with the Cryptonews Podcast.
Talking with host Matt Zahab, Brekken recalled how difficult it was for people to buy BTC in 2011, noting that the ease of purchase today contributes to its adoption.
He remarked that meme coins are actually great for the crypto space because they are fun, cheap to get, and generally harmless. Importantly, they are stress-testing the biggest chains in the sector.
The crypto veteran talked about multiple markets happening simultaneously and the potential significance of the Ethereum Dencun upgrade.
Brekken also touched upon the necessity to re-examine our interaction with centralized exchanges and the need for services like SideShift.
In this interview, Brekken discussed:
Buying BTC in 2011 vs. today; Multiple markets currently happening at the same time; Rethinking how we interact with crypto exchanges — particularly as the bull run ushers in a new wave of mainstream adoption; How products like SideShift encourage mass adoption; The Ethereum Dencun upgrade; If meme coins are generally good or bad for the crypto space; How increased meme coin trading will show us the limits of current protocols, forcing chains to compete with each other to show who can handle the most traffic.
Brekken gave a wide-ranging exclusive interview, which you can see above or read below.
How the Bitcoin Times Have Changed!
Brekken discovered Bitcoin in 2011.
At that time, he said, there were very few routes for people to get BTC. One option was dark web markets, including the infamous Silk Road.
“But in my case, I’m just too much of a nerd,” Brekken remarked. He didn’t know about this avenue at the time.
But he had an advantage over an average Joe: he was a programmer.
Therefore, Brekken discovered information on BTC online and started learning about the novel technology.
Notably, at the time, anyone interested in BTC needed to install a program on their PC to get it. This program would create addresses and allow users to find a place to buy the coin, receive it, and send it.
This was obviously a much more difficult system than what we have today.
But Brekken said another advantage a programmer or engineer would have at the time is the way they view and think of technology.
They seek to understand how it’s made and how they can build upon it. They’ll to to find a way to improve it, create something similar, find another use case, etc.
Not every shiny coin on social media will lead to generational wealth.
AI recommends DYOR and safe trading.
Good job! 🎈 pic.twitter.com/q4O0SXuMFO
— SideShift.ai – Direct to Wallet Trading (@sideshiftai) March 24, 2024
Direct-to-Wallet Trading: Recipe for Mass Adoption
And this is how SideShift.ai was created. There was a way to make a piece of tech that would help fulfill a demand, and Brekken went for it.
The team developed an efficient, easy-to-use, newcomer-friendly platform that offers direct-to-wallet trading.
When one uses a centralized crypto exchange, there are many steps to complete before finally getting the coins.
This includes all the necessary log-ins, 2FA, KYC, choosing the deposit, finding the network, waiting for confirmations, and so on, says Brekken.
However, it can get more complicated in certain cases, such as buying a specific meme coin. For example, the user needs to trade BTC for UDTS first before getting WIF.
SideShift.ai performs the trade immediately and delivers the coins to the wallet, the founder said.
// USD WEEKLY SHIFT VOLUME – APR 9 TO 15 //
SideShift recorded a gross weekly volume of $22.9m alongside a SHIFT count of 11,669 shifts. These figures combined to produce healthy daily averages of $3.3m on 1,667 shifts. pic.twitter.com/8urons5elK
— SideShift Research (@XAIResearch) April 19, 2024
“That’s why we call it direct-to-wallet trading because it’s the only way I know to explain that you don’t have to click 700 buttons in order to do something as simple as just going from what you have to what you want.”
There was lots of demand for this service, he added.
But speaking of exchanges, Brekken gave a warning: take your funds out.
The more long-term view for this industry is that people need to stop leaving their money on exchanges. It’s a huge problem, he said.
Simply said, the incentives are not aligned between the user and the exchange.
The exchanges have full control over users’ funds and make money off of it.
Also, they may use the funds without telling users, be attacked, do a rug pull, etc. There are too many red flags.
Oui oui! SideShift about to be available directly in the Ledger wallet https://t.co/ytGDcUxwHN
— Andreas (@abrkn) April 16, 2024
AI In Name Only
Brekken briefly touched on the ‘AI’ part in ‘SideShift.ai.’
“I’m going to be completely honest with you,” he said, “I just thought it sounded really awesome.”
The closest the company will get to an actual AI is the amount of automation they’ve done.
The company has a small team of people who deal with “quite a lot of volume.”
Yet, they keep everything smooth and stable thanks to “excessive automation internally,” Brekken said.
There’s very little human intervention, he added. “It’s like a giant machine” running nearly everything.
AI advises HUMANS to do their own research to be confident in their financial journey.
ATTACHING: Meme for motivation
Good job! 🎈 pic.twitter.com/eRli2v5Iw1
— SideShift.ai – Direct to Wallet Trading (@sideshiftai) April 13, 2024
However, when talking to customer support, the team “makes it a bit confusing” for people to know if they’re talking to a human, a machine, or a machine pretending to be human.
“More likely, you might be talking to a human pretending to be a machine,” Brekken said.
And speaking of the team, the founder noted that SideShift.ai is currently hiring for a number of roles, especially engineers.
Meme Coins Are Stress-Testing Major Chains
Commenting on the ongoing meme coin craze, Brekken said that he himself was “really into” Dogecoin when it launched in 2013.
Looking at the craze now, “It was the exact same thing back when there was only Dogecoin, but obviously, this is on steroids.”
There are many more of these coins now, many more communities, and more people involved – even those outside the crypto space. It’s difficult to visit a café without overhearing a conversation about WIF or BONK, Brekken remarked.
But, generally speaking, meme coins are beneficial for the space, Brekken remarked. “I think it’s good in many ways that people are trading meme coins,” he said.
He argued that these coins create fun for friends and communities, that they are harmless, and also an excellent way for people to enter crypto.
Bitcoin’s $60,000-$70,000 price tag can be intimidating for newcomers. Once bought, there’s also a lot to lose.
But with meme coins, it’s a lot easier to afford and trade them.
Degens need something to gamble on, and the shiny new things are memecoins. 🤡
Catch all of the PvP action, hot takes and more in this week's spicy newsletter!
Read it now: https://t.co/dmEDPBMuyr pic.twitter.com/289DdZ9819
— Shitcoin.com (@ShitcoinDotCom) March 23, 2024
And this space is growing as well. Now, users have more advanced tools at their disposal trading BONK than they do trading Apple shares, Brekken argued.
Additionally, trading meme coins is potentially becoming a competitor to another giant: sports betting.
“It’s quality fun with your friends,” Brekken said.
Lastly, but importantly, all this activity is stress-testing the technology, specifically the chains these tokens reside and move on.
Solana and Ethereum, in particular, are being stress-tested. Different chains are competing. They must work hard not to fall behind and lose users.
“I will bet you, [the developers] are all working day and night on all these platforms and chains […] to just keep this running and to try to find ways to deal with this record-level high demand for throughput and capacity,” Brekken said.
Multiple Parallel Markets At Work
Another exciting point Brekken made is that we currently seem to be witnessing multiple markets happening simultaneously.
Previously, we’d see one sector at a time significantly rising above others, each with its own cycle.
For example, in the last cycle, there was a decentralized finance (DeFi) summer that turned into a Solana summer. This gradually shifted into a “mania” centered around FTX, and so on.
Today, however, we’re seeing the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) taking off, the meme coin market continuation, and a new DeFi wave.
It also seems like these three have separate risks and somewhat separate users, Brekken opined.
Don't be a piggy in the fight between bulls and the bears.
Plan your trades wisely. Good job! 🎈 pic.twitter.com/WSm848Yp9V
— SideShift.ai – Direct to Wallet Trading (@sideshiftai) April 13, 2024
That said, he hopes that the meme coin cycle will continue to attract more newcomers to the space and encourage users within other cycles to explore other crypto-related markets.
The bull market has been “creeping up on us since the desperation we all felt” when Bitcoin was $20,000-$25,000.
Therefore, Brekken hopes the three different cycles will affect each other positively and prolong this bull run.
“If you’re still alive with a good-looking meme coin portfolio [by the end of summer], I think you are a genius,” he added.
Ethereum Dencun Upgrade and Path to Sharding
Lastly, Brekken briefly discussed certain developments in the space, including the Ethereum Dencun upgrade, which went live in March.
The upgrade aimed to significantly boost the Ethereum ecosystem, reduce Ethereum layer-2 blockchain transaction fees, and pave the way for sharding in the future, which will finally lower Ethereum’s high layer-1 fees.
What surprised Brekken about these Ethereum upgrades is that everybody connected to the Ethereum ecosystem, including other chains, was fully ready at the moment the update went live.
This is a positive development.
There is no longer a need to develop separate software for several years to support an upgrade. These are instantaneous now.
Another notable thing is the ongoing talk about sharding.
Deep dive on Ethereum's sharding roadmap from @Delphi_Digital. It's very good! https://t.co/oiTEqLFXGx
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 27, 2022
Sharding is a solution that optimizes the process of verifying transactions and smart contracts by splitting the blockchain network into partitions called shards.
This way, every node does not need to review the entire transaction history on the network.
Instead, specific nodes are assigned to specific shards, optimizing the process of nodes verifying transactions.
This, said Brekken, has the potential to send ETH to $5,000.
Therefore, the upgrades we’re seeing now are the developers gradually building a path towards sharding. Brekken said it’s a large project that will likely take a few years to complete.
__________
About Andreas BrekkenAndreas Brekken is the founder of SideShift.ai, a platform offering direct-to-wallet trading. To date, the exchange has processed over $1.25 billion in volume.
Brekken first discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has a deep technical understanding of the cryptocurrency space.
In addition to being a long-term crypto supporter, he has substantial hands-on industry experience.
In 2013, he founded Justcoin.com, a Norway-based cryptocurrency exchange (later acquired by ANX INTL), and then worked as a software engineer at Kraken in 2015 and 2016.
Brekken is also the founder of Shitcoin.com, a wide-reaching crypto content platform.
The EEA Mainnet Working Group, an initiative backed by both the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and the Ethereum Foundation to bring enterprises to the Ethereum mainnet, has formed a new task force that includes decentralized oracle project Chainlink as a key member.
That task force, dubbed EMINENT for “Ethereum Mainnet Integration for Enterprises,” will work to create reliable standards for businesses that want to use “corporate systems of record” like the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in conjunction with Ethereum.
We're excited to work w/ @UnibrightIO, @AnyblockTools, & other EEA members on EMINENT (Ethereum Mainnet Integration for Enterprises). Its focus is on the standards & specs for integrating Ethereum Mainnet with ERP, CRM, & other corporate systems of record. https://t.co/BO802xNWGE
— Chainlink (@chainlink) January 27, 2020
Chainlink has been welcomed to the EMINENT initiative as its resident oracle authority.
Chainlink will also be joined on the task force by analytics firm Anyblock Analytics and Unibright, a company that helps enterprises integrate with blockchain technology.
What Comes Next? The task force will spend up to two years on their work, first in researching the recording dynamics at hand and thereafter in establishing guidelines and creating open-source reference implementations that businesses can follow.
As the EEA Mainnet Working Group explained further in its announcement of the task force this week:
“Initially, the task schedule will focus on defining work packages, then expand into building best practice solutions within proof-of-concept implementations, and finally provide open-source available documentation and specification basis (like ERC standards) for further development by the public Ethereum community and EEA members.”
Chainlink a Natural Fit to Help John Wolpert, the vice-chair of the EEA Mainnet Working Group, noted on the news that Chainlink was uniquely suited to productively contribute to the new task force:
“To make this work, we need experts laying down the standards for common-sense integration with enterprise systems of record. Unibright has the experience connecting blockchain to ERP. Chainlink has the experience keeping different databases, run by different companies, in a state of consistency. That’s a promising combination.”
Sergey Nazarov, the co-founder and de facto face of Chainlink, commented that he and his team are looking forward to helping the EMINENT initiative tackle the challenges in front of it head on, saying:
“We’re excited to work closely with the EMINENT Task Force to continually push the boundaries of what’s possible in public blockchain environments. Developing mainnet integration standards that take into account the specific challenges of enterprises is key to the EMINENT Task Force being able to leverage the unique advantages of public blockchains, while seamlessly and securely incorporating their current systems of record and key data sources.”
Chainlink Presses Ahead on Integrations No stranger to locking down integrations with other projects, Chainlink’s backers have secured another three melds with their decentralized oracle middleware in just the last week alone.
The first of those newly announced integrations was with BetProtocol, a decentralized gaming platform. Among other things, the protocol will look to leverage Chainlink so users can settle bets with off-chain data.
The second fresh link up comes courtesy of ICON, the South Korean blockchain project associated with the ICX cryptocurrency. “The initial application is securing the ICX/USD price feed so ICON Dapps can build financial products based on the USD equivalent of ICX,” the Chainlink team explained.
Thirdly, Chainlink also just revealed that its tech would be used by the Alkemi open finance prime brokerage platform to “to enforce price thresholds (for unlocking assets pre-expiry date) set by on-chain liquidity providers.”
In other words, it’s been a typical week for the Chainlink community, which is now used to quickly racking up such integrations after locking down dozens last year.
If the project can keep up a similarly rapid and productive pace in 2020, then it’s likely to remain the most interesting oracle effort to watch in the months ahead.
William M. Peaster
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and editor who specializes in the Ethereum, Dai, and Bitcoin beats in the cryptoeconomy. He's appeared in Blockonomi, Binance Academy, Bitsonline, and more. He enjoys tracking smart contracts, DAOs, dApps, and the Lightning Network. He's learning Solidity, too! Contact him on Telegram at @wmpeaster
