Bitcoin pioneer Jeff Garzik's production company NextCypher has tapped "Star Trek's" Jonathan Frakes to direct an adaptation of sci-fi novel "Deathlands."
Frakes, who starred as Commander Riker on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," is a veteran director who's helmed TV shows including "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," "Star Trek: Picard," and "Leverage: Redemption."
"It's absolutely amazing," Garzik told Decrypt, adding that he was "incredibly humbled and blessed" to have Frakes join the project.
Based on a series of novels by James Axler and Jack Adrian, "Deathlands" follows a band of survivors traversing a post-apocalyptic world using teleportation technology. "It's post-apocalyptic, Mad Max meets AI meets the monsters from 'Tremors' and everything in between," Garzik said.
The TV show is a "refreshed" adaptation of the novel series, Garzik explained, noting that "the books were a post-Cold War, post-nuclear war scenario," and that the TV show updates the setting to "post-AI driven chaos and all the fun that happens after that."
"I know 'Deathlands' doesn't scream optimism from the title," he said. "But it's about a group of plucky survivors that continue to persevere despite what we throw at them every week. To me, that's optimistic—and I think that inspired Frakes."
Source: Jeff GarzikThe first show into production on NextCypher's slate, "Deathlands" will go before the cameras in Sofia, Bulgaria this spring. Garzik serves as executive producer on the series alongside Thomas P. Vitale, with "Pandora" and "Agent X" producer Mark A. Altman as its showrunner.
A key developer of the Linux operating system and Bitcoin Core project, Garzik founded NextCypher Productions in 2022, aiming to use Web3 tools to produce independent science fiction entertainment.
Garzik, who also co-founded Bloq, Spacechain, and Vesper Finance, explained that the firm plans to leverage Web3 technologies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to give fans early access to productions.
While stressing that the "details may change," Garzik explained that the production company's playbook includes a run of 1,138 NextCypher multipass NFTs that are "cross-production, not tied to any one IP or one specific production," as well as "production-specific NFT runs."
Holders of the multipass NFTs will be offered a "discount or a tranche or a first bite at the apple" for the "Deathlands" NFTs, which will offer rewards such as gated access to downloadable digital assets, Discord events and competitions. Other ideas on the roadmap include contests to win Zoom chats with the showrunners, contributing to the design of props, costumes and sets, competitions to win those show-used items, and a "very rare trip to Sofia, Bulgaria" to visit the set.
Garzik said that NextCypher isn't currently exploring Web3 financing and distribution models for its shows.
"It's not there yet from a practical basis for NextCypher specifically, to the point where we would dedicate an IP to a Web3 streaming platform." He added that the production company is taking a "hybrid approach," involving traditional financing and distribution models for known properties, while "weaving in" Web3's "proof of fan base" element.
"Hopefully the flywheel starts moving," he said. "We gain some momentum, we prove that we can actually produce, and then more of the Web3 funding doors open."
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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The ICON Foundation has marked an important milestone in the advancement of decentralized finance when it announced about the $50,000 grant from the Stellar Community Fund. The grant is expected to support the integration of Balanced, one of the ICON’s popular cross-chain decentralized exchange and stablecoin platform, with the Stellar blockchain. The integrated connection between the two blockchain networks is expected to create more synergies in the global DeFi ecosystem.
ICON’s Balanced Platform Enhances Global DeFi Efficiency Balanced is an established innovator in its cross-chain DeFi solutions, making it easy for participants to interact with native cross-chain DeFi primitives. From now on, the integration seeks to create a more interconnected and efficient global DeFi ecosystem.
At a high level, Balanced is a cross-chain DEX and CDP-style stablecoin platform where users can attach their native wallets, lock collateral in native assets, mint Balanced-native USD, and swap among various secure decentralized blockchains. However, using a significant percentage of the ICON network’s monthly ICX emissions to augment deep Network Owned Liquidity within cross-chain liquidity pools sets the platform apart in terms of delivering capital-efficient on-chain data-based solutions.
Therefore, ICON plans to first put the Balanced and ICON GMP smart contracts into Soroban, Stellar’s decentralized smart contracting environment, as part of the grant alternative strategy. Here, ICON can realize the future integration direction on a small scale. The full integration of Balanced with Stellar will increase the experience for Balanced’s current users and introduce Balanced’s advanced trading and stablecoin services to the Stellar ecosystem.
Integrating Balanced with Stellar will provide users with advanced trading and stablecoin use within the Stellar ecosystem. It will grant opportunities for taking native stablecoin loans to lend simply by depositing XLM, increase liquidity, and make cross-chain interaction easier. Additionally, it will provide more smooth DeFi experiences for both Stellar and Balanced users.
Moreover, this partnership between the ICON Foundation and the Stellar Community Fund is just the first act of what we all can accomplish together. Therefore, the grant will be an important sign of the sophisticated infrastructure that the ICON Foundation aims to create in terms of DeFi interoperability.
AUTHOR
Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.
The halving has just commenced, and plenty of bargains abound. Cardano and ICON are among the altcoins being mentioned as potential candidates for a recovery in 2025, while the smart money is betting on low-cap gems with major moon potential in presale opportunities like DeeStream. DeeStream is widely expected to become one of the top performers out of newly launched cryptos in 2024 thanks to its unique decentralized live streaming platform that seeks to provide THE Web3 alternative to YouTube. Learn why DeeStream could be in line for parabolic profits in 2024, regardless of whether Bitcoin and Ethereum perform well.
Will ICON ever make a comeback?ICON is the native token of the Layer-1 ICX blockchain, founded at the height of the 2017 bull market. ICX is an interoperability-focused project featuring the ICON Cross-Chain Framework that enables cross-chain development. ICON last hit all-time highs in January 2018, when it peaked at $13.16 per ICON token. Since then, however, ICON token prices have plummeted to 98.2% below their previous all-time highs, changing hands at $0.24 as of press time. However, ICON holders and prospective investors looking for a retest of its all-time highs in 2024 and 2025 will be better off investing in low-cap gems without a chance to undergo a proper bull market yet—including DeeStream.
Cardano continues to lag behind other altcoinsCardano was a big-time performer in the previous bull cycle after breaching all-time highs of $3.09 back in September 2021. However, since then, Cardano has been among the worst performers of any of the top-20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. As of press time, Cardano was trading at $0.49, far below its September 2021 all-time highs. Cardano, in fact, isn’t any closer to hitting $1 ever since scaling heights of $0.77 in March.
DeeStream seeks to make waves as the “YouTube of Web3”DeeStream is among the hottest new presale investment opportunities of 2024, with the projects building the premier Web3 alternative to streaming platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and TikTok. As of stage 2 of its presale, DeeStream is putting up its DST token for sale at just $0.06, indicating what could be a perfect entry opportunity into a project with 100x potential. DeeStream has the talent, team, and tech to establish itself as the “YouTube of Web3” with its robust, full-featured live video streaming and distribution platform paired with blockchain technology and principles.
DeeStream will enable content creators to publish and distribute premium, studio-quality content without the exploitative and censorious practices associated with traditional platforms. Using its native token DST, both content creators and audiences will have access to diverse monetization and engagement opportunities. Content creators could earn more using the myriad of Web3-based earning opportunities, while early adopters will be entitled to passive income from a revenue share on platform fees. With industry insiders forecasting a potential 20x to 100x increase for DeeStream, there’s no better time to join the launch than right now.
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Disclaimer: This article is a press release. COINTURK NEWS is not responsible for any damage or loss related to any product or service mentioned in this article. COINTURK NEWS recommends that readers carefully research the company mentioned in the article.
The highly anticipated Southeast Asia Blockchain Week, an event aimed at "Bridging Web3 Innovations in Southeast Asia," scheduled to take place from March 30th to April 5th, 2025, has been cancelled.
Organizers announced the cancellation on Monday, citing the recent devastating earthquake in the Myanmar-Thailand region as the reason for the decision.
pic.twitter.com/WwfOJ5MFlF
— Southeast Asia Blockchain Week (@SEABWofficial) March 29, 2025 "As a Web3 conference representing the Southeast Asian region, we stand in solidarity with those affected and extend our deepest condolences. Out of respect for the victims and ongoing concerns around safety due to potential aftershocks, we believe this is the most responsible course of action," organizers said in a statement posted on the event's website and Twitter page.
The cancellation comes in the wake of a powerful Mw 7.7 earthquake that struck the Sagaing Region of Myanmar on March 28, 2025, at 12:50:54 MMT (06:20:54 UTC). The earthquake's epicenter was located near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city.
The earthquake is considered the most powerful to hit Myanmar since 1912 and the second deadliest in the country's modern history, only exceeded by upper estimates of the 1930 Bago earthquake. The seismic event caused widespread damage in Myanmar and significant damage in neighboring Thailand, with hundreds of homes also damaged in Yunnan, China.
Tragically, the earthquake has resulted in a significant loss of life, with reports indicating more than 2,900 deaths in Myanmar and 18 in Thailand. Over 3,400 individuals have been reported injured, and hundreds remain missing.
The skyscraper collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand is the Budget Bureau building constructed by CR10g, a subsidiary of state owned China Railway Engineering Corporation. At least 3 dead and 81 people remain trapped at scene. pic.twitter.com/OMaMEPsFRi
— The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动 (@TGTM_Official) March 28, 2025 In Bangkok, Thailand, a collapsed construction site highlighted the city's vulnerability to seismic waves due to its shallow geology, increasing its susceptibility to earthquake-related impacts. Authorities in both Myanmar and Thailand have declared a state of emergency, and concerns remain that the death toll may rise further. The ongoing civil war in Myanmar has further complicated disaster relief efforts and information dissemination.
Conference organizers have assured attendees that full refunds will be issued within 1-2 weeks. They also plan to organize a community meetup for those who have already arrived in Bangkok for the event.
[PRESS RELEASE – Amsterdam, Netherlands, February 18th, 2026]
ICON Amsterdam today announced that it closed 2025 with its strongest financial performance to date, marking a milestone year following a period of internal restructuring and operational realignment. The company also confirmed that it is preparing to explore expansion into the United States in 2026.
According to the company, 2025 revenue reached record levels compared to prior years. Leadership attributes the performance to refined product focus, tighter inventory management, improved departmental accountability, and strengthened coordination between marketing, operations, and product teams.
The milestone follows a period earlier in the decade marked by rapid scaling, rising costs, and internal coordination challenges that affected cash flow and alignment. In response, the company initiated a structured operational review instead of continuing accelerated expansion.
As part of this process, ICON updated its performance tracking systems, clarified departmental responsibilities, and introduced standardized operating procedures to support more consistent execution. According to leadership, the company adjusted its growth strategy to prioritize operational stability and the development of repeatable processes over rapid expansion.
“Growth must be supported by structure,” said Samuel Onuha, Founder of ICON Amsterdam. “The focus over the past two years has been on strengthening the fundamentals of the business.”
In addition to reporting record performance for 2025, ICON confirmed it is evaluating phased entry into the U.S. market in 2026. The company indicated that any expansion would be incremental and aligned with existing operational capacity.
ICON is also preparing for the opening of its first physical retail presence in Amsterdam. While details remain under review, the initiative would represent a transition from a primarily direct-to-consumer model toward a blended retail approach.
Leadership emphasised that the company intends to maintain a measured growth strategy moving forward, prioritising operational discipline and financial sustainability.
Further updates regarding retail development and international expansion are expected to be shared in 2026.
About ICON Amsterdam
Founded in 2018, ICON Amsterdam is a Netherlands-based direct-to-consumer menswear company focused on modern tailoring and stretch-engineered apparel. The company operates primarily online and serves customers across Europe and international markets. ICON emphasises structured operations, product consistency, and disciplined growth strategy.
DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating
U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).
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Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.
Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.
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US officials: Israel has withdrawn troops from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
A U.S. State Department official said Israel has withdrawn from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, describing the move as a "goodwill gesture" toward the Lebanese government.
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CBRS trades below IPO price post-earnings: Erases all gains six weeks after listing, two smart money firms net $5.8 million from first-day IPO shorts.
According to Hyperinsight monitoring, Cerebras (CBRS), the AI chip firm previously dubbed "Nvidia’s strongest challenger", saw its stock price fall in stages after reporting its first quarterly results since going public, as negative guidance overshadowed better-than-expected performance. The stock has dropped roughly 22% since the earnings release and officially broke below its IPO price today. On-chain whales are overall bearish. CBRS trades at $184 on the Hyperliquid platform, down 7.7% in 24 hours. Large-scale short positions (million-dollar level) total around $11.62 million, 2.39 times the long positions ($4.87 million). Two major short positions were placed precisely at high levels as early as the IPO day or even before the IPO: - Whale 0xe0ff: Shorted at $284.51 on May 14 with a 3x leveraged position of $6.13 million, generating an unrealized profit of $3.24 million (+104%); - Whale 0x9996: Shorted at $275.92 on May 11 with a 5x leveraged position of $5.48 million, generating an unrealized profit of $2.64 million (+162%). It is learned that both addresses currently hold short positions in both CBRS and SPCX, and have recorded substantial unrealized profits, preferring to place short positions at high levels before or on the day of major stock listings. With the realization of negative earnings news in this round, the combined unrealized profit of the two positions is around $5.88 million. Currently, the average entry price of CBRS short whales is around $275, and the current price is over 30% lower than that. The nearest short liquidation line is at $200.13, about 7% away from the current price.
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Multiple high-performing domestic public mutual fund products have tightened their purchase restrictions.
E Fund Management announced in its latest filing that the E Fund Information Industry Select Fund, managed by Zheng Xi, has cut its purchase limit to 10,000 yuan. The same purchase limit reduction to 10,000 yuan applies to another fund under his management, E Fund Information Industry Fund, while E Fund Global Growth Select Hybrid Fund (QDII) has lowered its purchase limit to 10 yuan. In addition, Guolianan Preferred Industry Fund, Harvest Tech Innovation Fund, and Principal Performance-Driven Fund have also announced purchase limits or adjustments to their limits recently. Jin Zicai, a fund manager closely watched by the market, imposed additional purchase limits on multiple public offering funds under his management, with the four funds involved cutting their purchase limits to 500 yuan starting June 23. Purchase limits on high-performing funds likely stem from multiple considerations: they can avoid return dilution caused by short-term concentrated subscriptions, and proactive limits during overheated market conditions also send risk warning signals to the market. As the first half of the year draws to a close, such moves have become increasingly frequent. Overall, Wind data shows that since June alone, 19 funds with year-to-date net asset value returns exceeding 90% have suspended large subscriptions or adjusted their purchase caps. (Source: Cailian Press)
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The US stock market's optical communication sector rises across the board in pre-market trading, with Corning up 9.28%.
According to Bitget market data, the U.S. stock market's optical communication sector saw broad pre-market gains, with MRVL rising 4.99%, LITE up 3.24%, Nokia up 3.11%, Corning up 9.28%, and AXTI up 6.69%.
PANews reported on May 25th that the public blockchain project ICON Network will officially shut down and permanently cease operations on December 31, 2026, retaining only read-only historical query functionality. The deadline for migrating tokens from ICX to SODA is the same day; transactions after this date will no longer be possible. From September 30, 2026, the migration channel will be adjusted to only support one-way exchanges from ICX to SODA. The official statement indicates that this marks the project's full transition to the cross-chain execution and liquidity infrastructure SODAX. Currently, it has connected to 18 networks and migrated all of ICON's protocol-owned liquidity to SODAX for cross-chain exchanges, lending, and other businesses. Users holding ICX must complete the migration through SODA Exchange before the deadline; centralized exchanges will gradually support automatic conversion in the future.
The ICON Network will be permanently shut down on December 31, 2026, with ICX holders given until that date to migrate at a 1:1 ratio into SODA on SODAX, after which the legacy chain will exist only as a read only archive.
Summary
ICON will cease operations and go offline on December 31, 2026, after an economic shutdown phase The final deadline to swap ICX for SODA is December 31, 2026, with one way migration from September 30 Liquidity and incentives have already moved to SODAX, and Kraken has added SODA to its listing roadmap In a series of blog posts, the ICON Foundation outlined a phased wind down of the ICON Layer 1 that ends with a full shutdown of the network at the close of 2026 and a transition of the ecosystem to the SODAX stack, where SODA becomes the primary token.
An earlier update confirmed that as of March 26, 2026, the ICON Network has entered “economic shutdown,” with all ICX emissions and staking rewards halted and the chain kept alive only to support migration to SODA on the Sonic network.
The latest roadmap sets December 31, 2026 as the final date: after that point, the ICON blockchain will be switched to a read only archive for historical transaction queries, and no further ICX to SODA conversions will be possible.
Until then, ICX holders can migrate via the official dashboard at sodax.com/migrate at a fixed 1:1 ratio, with the Foundation stressing in February and March posts that “the ICON blockchain will remain live” specifically so users retain full access to their balances during the wind down.
However, starting September 30, 2026, the migration path will become one way: the Foundation says that two way swaps between ICX and SODA will be disabled, and only ICX to SODA conversions will be supported as value is consolidated into the new token with a fixed max supply of 1.5 billion.
Economically, everything has already shifted.
Why is ICON shutting down and what is the SODAX migration plan? Binance Square posts and the Foundation’s own schedule note that SODAX Stake launched on March 16, 2026 and SODAX Pool on March 31, with protocol fee backed rewards beginning for SODAX Pool on April 2 and for SODAX Stake on April 8, creating strong incentives for ICX holders to migrate and stake.
A separate TradingView alert and SODAX’s X account confirm that centralized exchange support is also lining up: Kraken has placed SODAX on its listing roadmap, and exchanges such as Kraken and Coinone have announced they will support ICX to SODA migration for custodial balances, reducing friction for users who keep assets off chain.
What happens to ICON users and liquidity after the shutdown date? Once the ICON Network is turned off at year end 2026, it will exist only as a static ledger.
The Foundation says a read only archive will be made available so that users, auditors and explorers can still query historical transactions, but live block production and state changes will stop, and any ICX left un migrated will be effectively stranded on an inert chain.
That mirrors other recent shutdowns in the sector, such as Zero Network and Bit.com, which have set hard withdrawal or migration cutoffs and warned users that assets left behind could become permanently unrecoverable once infrastructure is decommissioned.
In ICON’s case, the team emphasizes that it has deliberately staged the process over many months: economic activity and rewards stopped in March, two way migration continues in the interim, one way ICX to SODA swaps begin at the end of September, and the absolute final migration deadline is December 31.
By that point, the intention is that all meaningful liquidity, DeFi activity and governance has moved to the SODAX protocol, where SODA and its derivative xSODA govern a fee funded staking and pooling model on Sonic rather than the inflationary, emission driven economics that powered the original ICON L1.
For ICX holders, the message from both the Foundation and ecosystem validators is blunt: the network’s economic lifecycle is over, rewards are gone, and the only rational path forward is to migrate to SODA, stake or pool in the new environment, and stop treating ICON as an active settlement layer well before the December 31, 2026 shutdown switch is flipped.
Crypto markets remain sideways; Litecoin still surging, BNB and Cardano doing well, Bitcoin and ETH flat. Market Wrap As the crypto consolidation continues markets have fallen back again following a day of minor gains. There is still no sign of this correction that everyone is expecting as total market capitalization remains above $250 billion and Bitcoin remains sideways.
Bitcoin fell back to $7,780 yesterday before recovering back to $8,050 during Asian trading today. As was the case yesterday, BTC dropped back below $8k pretty quickly and is still trading there, flat on the day. Unless the bulls can take it above $8.2k BTC will remain range bound.
Predictably Ethereum has also done absolutely nothing and remains trading at $248, a fraction higher than it was this time on Tuesday morning. ETH is still hopelessly tied to Bitcoin and is likely to remain so until some fundamentals kick it into gear.
The top ten is a mixed affair during the morning’s trading session. Many altcoins have not moved at all since yesterday but one is showing a lot of strength with a 34 percent gain on the week and another 9 percent added today. Litecoin has turned $125 from resistance into support and has surged to $140 as the halving fomo heats up. Analysts expect LTC to reach $150 before traders start taking profits and it retraces a little. Binance Coin is the only other one moving with a 4 percent gain to reach $33.
The top twenty is looking equally mixed today with Cardano leading things adding 5 percent to $0.088. Tron, IOTA and NEO have notched up a further 2 percent each but the rest remain flat, unchanged from yesterday.
FOMO: Egretia Emerges Entering the crypto top one hundred with a spike of 30 percent is EGT which is now priced at $0.015. OKEx is driving momentum for this Singapore based video gaming token with a series of giveaways.
A Breaking News: 5 Million EGT Giveaway!!!
11:00 am June 11th - 11:00 am June 18th in OKEx
More details: https://t.co/jn3pTaOv17 #egt #okex #airdrop #gaming #blockchain pic.twitter.com/DOFzalUUKz
— Egretia (@Egretia_io) June 10, 2019
Zcoin is also on a pump today as XZC adds 20 percent largely driven by crypto exchanges in Thailand. WAX is the third best performer today with a rise of 11 percent. Such a surprise at the red end – it is Aurora again dumping 23 percent; this altcoin is so predictable that everyone should be trading it.
Total market capitalization 24 hours. Coinmarketcap.com Total crypto market capitalization is up a tiny fraction from yesterday at $256 billion. The mini $6 billion dump was quickly recovered meaning that markets are still at the same level and still consolidating. Nothing is likely to happen until Bitcoin makes a bigger move, its dominance has been steadily eroding this month and it is now down to 55.4%.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
Crypto markets still range bound; Bitcoin, BCH and BSV moving marginally, Litecoin, BNB and ADA fall back. Market Wrap It has been another day of consolidation for crypto markets as they end the week flat. Very little movement outside of the channel has occurred this week as total market capitalization has been range bound around the $250 billion level. Things have picked up marginally for some crypto assets but others have lost ground.
Bitcoin hit an intraday high of just above $8,300 a few hours ago but pulled back to its current price of $8,230. The move is bullish but not strong enough to break the resistance at this level. Volume has picked up again and is approaching $20 billion which is a sign that further gains could be on the cards.
Ethereum is still flat and holding around $255. There has been very little momentum in the ETH camp and it is down 1.5 percent on the day. Volume is declining as the head and shoulders formation reaches its closure and a drop could be imminent. Current support for ETH lies at $230.
The top ten is showing more red than green during Asian trading this morning. The only two aside from Bitcoin that are up on the day are Bitcoin Cash with 2.5 percent and Bitcoin SV with 3.5 percent. The rest are in the red with Litecoin and Binance Coin dropping the most at over 3 percent each.
Top twenty movements are also minimal with a couple of percent being dropped by Cardano and Tron. Gaining a similar amount are Cosmos and NEO reaching $6.25 and $13.13 respectively. The rest are plus or minus a percent or so as the crypto consolidation continues.
FOMO: Chainlink Spikes on Google Hints It comes as no surprise that today’s top one hundred top performer is Chainlink. The 43 percent spike came after Google Cloud dropped hints that it would be working with Ethereum based LINK. The Reddit feed went wild and the altcoin spiked in volume from $24 million to $390 million as the fomo frenzy gathered pace. Binance is getting the majority of trade at the moment with 67 percent.
Energi is a newcomer to the top one hundred with a 30 percent pump as NRG gets listed on KuCoin. Bytom has also had a productive 24 hours with 14 percent added. As predicted the big dump is Aurora as it peaks and troughs on a daily basis, today dumping 50 percent for no obvious reason.
Total market cap 24 hours. Coinmarketcap.com Total crypto market capitalization is currently marginally higher than this time yesterday at $262 billion. Markets are still range bound however and are unlikely to see any bigger moves until Bitcoin breaks out. The push back above $8,200, albeit briefly, is a bullish sign though so the weekend in crypto land could get interesting.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
Crypto markets reach 2019 high; Bitcoin still in charge, XRP and BNB pumping, LTC retreating slowly. Market Wrap Crypto markets have reached their highest level since July 2018 in terms of market capitalization. The momentum has come from Bitcoin hitting another 2019 top, and Ripple’s XRP pumping on a new partnership announcement.
Bitcoin has been grinding higher for the past 24 hours until it topped $9,400 briefly marking its highest price since early May 2018. There is heavy resistance above this and BTC quickly started to retreat back to the $9,200 area where it was trading this time yesterday. According to coinmarketcap.com daily volume dumped 25% in an unnatural looking spike so the figures could be spurious.
Ethereum has been static again and remains at $270 where it was this time yesterday. Without any solid fundamentals ETH remains sluggish and unable to push towards $300. It is still 80 percent down from its all-time high and ‘altseason’ has yet to materialize.
The top ten is a mixed affair during Asian trading today but the top performer is XRP. The Ripple token surged 9 percent after the announcement that the company was partnering with MoneyGram. The deal would involve the deployment of xRapid for cross border transfers using XRP. After topping $0.46 XRP corrected to $0.44 where it currently trades.
An industry defining milestone: together, @MoneyGram and @Ripple are solving the challenges with cross-border payments using the speed and efficiency of #XRP. https://t.co/xIfeJJgSy7
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) June 17, 2019
Binance Coin is also doing well today adding 5 percent as the exchange announced that it will issue a number of crypto-pegged tokens on Binance Chain in the coming days, starting with $BTCB, a BEP2 token pegged to $BTC. BSV is up marginally and Litecoin is starting its pullback, dropping 3 percent back towards $130.
The top twenty is also mixed but red is dominating over green as altcoins slide again. NEO and Tezos are dumping 5 percent a piece right now and IOTA and NEM are not far behind dropping 3 percent. Only Cosmos is making anything with 3 percent added on the day.
FOMO: Chainlink Churning Higher Today’s top one hundred top performer is LINK which has cranked 18 percent to hit $2. The fomo is still lingering from the Google Cloud tie up as this altcoin climbs the charts to 24th with a market cap of $700 million. Japan’s Monacoin is also on a roll today adding 15 percent, unsurprisingly most of it on Bitbank in JPY. Zcash is the third most popular altcoin today making 13 percent.
The two usual suspects are at the bottom end of the performance pile, Maximine Coin and Aurora.
Total market cap 24 hours. Coinmarketcap.com Total crypto market cap hit a new 2019 high of $290 billion a few hours ago. The move was driven by BTC and XRP which both pumped within a few hours of each other. Market cap is currently back at $286 billion where it was this time yesterday. BTC is still in the driving seat.
Market Wrap is a section that takes a daily look at the top cryptocurrencies during the current trading session and analyses the best-performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.
[Beijing, Jul 1] Leading public blockchain Aurora Chain (token: AOA) publish new feature – Upgradable Block, bring more flexibility and utility to the public chain landscape. Developers using Aurora chain will be able to enjoy the lasted feature that Aurora brings. This upgrade can also reduce cases of hard forking.
Cases of hard forking are rather abundant during the industry’s short history. Take Bitcoin for an example, it now has more than 6 hard forks including Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin cash. Furthermore, the already forked Bitcoin Cash forked again last year by it’s two major mining pools, creating BCHABC and BCHSV.
Hard forks can be a good way to gain attention in twitter wars, it ultimate lowered the utility of bitcoins and undermines its mining capability. For more up-to-date and advanced blockchains, this could potentially be catastrophic. Hence, the Aurora tech team came up with a solution that can lower this risk.
Basically, the solution requires mining agents or agent candidates to vote for upgrading the blockchain within a 14 days limit. When votes for an upgrade exceeds the total number of voting agents and agent candidates, this upgrade passes and a block height will be chosen for implementing the new upgrade.
An upgrade should include URL of the version released on Github, the version code, description of the update and md5 information of the new upgrade.
When the upgrading program on the network received upgrading request, it will automatically retrieve the new release and proceed to verify this version. Once the verification is successful, the test network will be activated.
Users can try this new version on the test. If any problems or glitches happened before the implementation of the release, the agent that requested the upgrade can put the upgrade to a halt. Until the halt is revoked, the upgrade will not be carried out even if the network reaches the agreed block height.
The solution has two smart contracts and an upgrade control:
Smart contract A manages the upgrade smart contract, which is smart contract B. It can substitute the old version of the blockchain code with the new one
Smart contract B regulates the process of voting and retrieving of an upgrade. It supervises 5 major parts of the solution:
Agents and Agent node candidate votingsOther mining agents or agent candidates participating in the voting processThe upgrade is passed when “Yes” votes exceed 2/3 of the total number of the mining agents and agent candidatesThe agent that requests the upgrade can halt the upgrading process in case of emergencyThe agent that requests the upgrade can resume the upgrading processUpgrading control has three purposes:
oversee the who network, supervise the initiation, processing, and pausing/abanding the upgrade.Monitor the communication between contract A and contract b,Optimize the concurrence of Testnet and Mainnet.Upgradable chain markes a major step for the Aurora team. It could be the antidote to the scalability issues that the industry is facing. Aurora network is faster than most public chains. “Upgradable Blockchain” further boosts versatility and utility of Aurora chain based decentralized apps.
About Aurora
Aurora makes a breakthrough in the Blockchain world. By applying DPOS+BFT consensus mechanisms, we create lightning-fast contracts to link industries such as gaming, big data, artificial intelligence and IoT. Aurora offers unique intelligent application isolation, enabling multi-chain parallel expansion and an unlimited increase of TPS with guaranteed security.
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Author
Ishan Garg Ishan is a cryptocurrency trader and a journalist. He joined the cryptocurrency space in 2017. He is the founder of Blockmanity. He is a HODLER and is holding BTC, ETH & UGT.
The cryptocurrency market doesn’t appear to be in the best of shape. Most cryptocurrencies are losing large chunks of value in the last 24 hours, and the total market capitalization has dropped with $6 billion in a few days to the current level of $187 B.
The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, is among the worst-performing altcoins. ETH lost over 7% during the last day, and it’s currently trading at $132. Its latest hard fork, called Istanbul, was released a week ago, but it doesn’t seem to have a positive effect on the price as of yet.
Ripple’s price has been struggling for months, and now it went as low as $0,19 on Bitfinex, before bouncing back to the current level of $0,196. It broke below the strong support level at $0,215 earlier this week, and if it closes below $0,20, the next one will be at $0,185. Last time XRP was under $0,20 was back in 2017 before it skyrocketed to its all-time high of $3,80.
The situation with other major altcoins is not any different. Litecoin is below $40, EOS has lost almost 8%, and it’s at $2,34, and Binance Coin has decreased to $13,08, which is a 10% decline since yesterday. Somewhat unsurprisingly, only one digital asset is green in the top 10, and that’s Tezos. XTZ continues its positive trend as of late surging with 4.5% against BTC and 2% against the dollar.
CryptoMarket. Source: Coin360 As far Bitcoin goes, it’s down with 2.7% to $6,870 on Bitstamp but also tested the $6,800 support level, which managed to keep its stance. If it keeps going down, $6,500 is the next level, and if it reverses, the first resistance is $7,000. With so much blood in the altcoin market, BTC’s dominance is actually increasing, and it has reached 67.2%, after being at 66.4% three days ago.
Total Market Capitalization: $187 B | Bitcoin Market Capitalization: $125 B | Bitcoin Dominance: 67.2%
Major Crypto Headlines The Next Crypto Trend for Exchanges? Coinbase Is Now The Largest Tezos Validator. Tezos is quickly rising as a favorite within the community, and the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, Coinbase, has become the largest validator for XTZ. People began wondering if this could be the newest trend and if users will be able to choose a specific baker.
You may also like: Market Meltdown: MemeCore Crashes 76% as MIM Breaks Peg to $0.50 Bitcoin (BTC) Dips Below $62K, Ethereum (ETH) Plunges 6% Daily: Market Watch XRP’s Price Could Explode to $8, But This One Zone Is Holding It Back Ready To Explode: Bitcoin Longs Surge 12% To A New ATH, Squeeze Might Crash Bitcoin Price. The number of BTC long positions placed on Bitfinex has reached its all-time high, and it could be related to the following drop. Generally, too many open longs mean that the price of the asset is set to decrease.
Bitmain’s Miner Manufacturing Subsidiary Had $680K In Assets Frozen In a Contract Dispute. One of the largest mining companies, Bitmain, had assets worth $676,000 frozen as ordered by a district court in Shenzhen, China. The decision came after another company, Dongguan Yongjiang Electronics, filed an application for asset protection to dispute a contract with the defendant.
Significant Daily Gainers and Losers Waves (26%) WAVES rises above all other cryptocurrencies in the top 100 with its increase with 26% against the dollar, and it’s currently trading at $0.89. Moreover, it skyrockets with almost 30% against Bitcoin to 12840 SAT. The company recently published an updated explaining how Waves staking works, and it also conducted a Twitter giveaway.
Fetch.ai (12.9%) FET is next on the list, with almost 13% gain against USD. The rise to $0.05 also means that the market cap has reached $34,5 M, and with so many altcoins losing value, FET has broken into the top 100. It surges with 16% against Bitcoin to 765 SAT. The company is set to launch its mainnet today and apparently has attracted severe attention to itself.
Aurora (-27.40%) While red is the predominant color, AOA has taken the lead with its loss of over 27% in the last 24 hours. The current price is $0,0048, and the market cap has plunged to $31,7 M, which actually threatens Aurora’s place in the top 100. Oddly enough, the drop comes a day after the popular crypto exchange, Bithumb, announced a 40,000,000 AOA airdrop event to take place this week.
The third-gen blockchain platform Aurora (AOA) is working with Korean crypto fund “Alliance X”, cementing a close partnership in the greater northeast Asian region. At the same time, Aurora token was successfully listed on Bithumb crypto exchange. The crypto fund is actively supporting the Aurora project on multiple fronts, which includes attracting investment and conducting Korean marketing consulting and execution.
As a light-speed decentralized blockchain platform, Aurora supports numerous Dapps and seeks to connect various industries such as gaming, big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things via its multi-chain parallel system. A multi-chain network structure has the best isolation, performance, and scalability. Due to the parallel nature of the chain, the newly added chain will not upgrade the chain in the original network. It only needs the new chain to follow the original network protocol standard.
To live up the vision that the Aurora community have for the blockchain project, Aurora developed a series of tools and functions: Aurora Dev, a bundle of tools for developer to develop decentralized apps native to its unique industry; AuroraDist, a smart distribution engine for both game developers and gamers, which combines big data, blockchain, and deep learning, creating a targeted marketing and distribution platform; AuroraDex, a crypto exchange that bridges conventional economy and crypto economy; AuroraDID, a ID system on blockchain, used in crypto economy between Dapps and blockchains; AuroraPay, a payment system that supports multiple digital assets including Aurora-based assets.
Prior to partnering with Alliance X, Aurora is a major project in the Achain galaxy and has launched partnerships with other renowned industry innovators, such as Achain, Kcash, Huobi, DAPPX, BiYong, PundiX, 8btc and many other. The blockchain has capital backings from A Capital, HyperHash Capital, H2Capital, Quest Capital, etc. It has active communities across the globe, including but not limited to China, South Korea, Indonesia, United States, Germany, Malaysia.
More importantly, Aurora has launched several deals across various industries. In 2018 and 2019, Aurora signed a contract with Capstone, a US-based gaming company; a contract with Egretia, an HTML5 based gaming lab; a partnership deal with Green Agriculture Technology, a high tech firm with an agricultural background.
Aurora will continue its effort to connect different industries with blockchain, empowering different verticals with cutting-edge distributed computing and decentralized ledger tech and eventually creating a boundless blockchain world.
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Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.
Author
Ishan Garg Ishan is a cryptocurrency trader and a journalist. He joined the cryptocurrency space in 2017. He is the founder of Blockmanity. He is a HODLER and is holding BTC, ETH & UGT.
Internet penetration has reached so far that, currently, more than half of the world’s population has an Internet connection. Today, everything is migrating toward the Internet, including businesses, education, communication, and, of course, jobs. For example, the segment of global e-retail sales amounted to $2.8 trillion last year. You don’t need to drive to the office every day or follow corporate rules anymore; everyone is free to work online and follow their own schedule. That's why the number of freelancers increases every year; there are currently 53 million freelancers in the US alone.
Finding a freelance job online is becoming easier, and this trend is likely to increase in the coming years. Thus it’s very important that freelancers and their employers could have a reliable platform where they could communicate, make deals, and accept payments for the work they do, minimizing the risk of fraud.
There will always be the problem of trust. On one hand, there are a lot of malevolent people who would leave a freelancer without payment after receiving the results of his/her work. On the other hand, many people would take money with great pleasure and disappear without moving a finger to do the job they were tasked with. That's why it's necessary to have an arbitrary third party, a freelancing platform that keeps the funds in its custody when two parties agree on a task only to release it upon completion (or solve the dispute).
Source: websiteplanet.com
Undoubtedly, freelancing platforms are priceless for those who don't have regular employers and have to deal with new, unknown customers everyday. But they also have a handful of hidden problems.
Global freelance platforms: pros and consCurrently, any freelancer can find a job that would suit his/her skills on many sites:
Upwork is a platform targeted to IT professionals Fiverr has many different categories, but it's famous for its cheap, creative freelancers from around the world Freelancer is the oldest platform and includes many categories Peopleperhour is a lesser known platform, which can be an alternative to the previously listed ones Guru.com has some rare categories, including legal If you have any skills that could be sold online, there's a chance that you'll be able to find a task on any of these platforms. But there’s also a chance that you'll face problems with employers who may try to persuade you to accept other forms of payment outside of the safety of the platform, and after doing the work they will refuse to pay. Not only are the employers are abusing the system, but freelancers can often deliver low-quality work and still demand payment, as the platform only counts the fact that the task has been delivered, not that it is quality work. And to top it off, both parties face fees up to 20-30%, taken by the platforms for its middleman services.
So, the problem of trust isn’t fully solved by existing solutions. They’re good, but they have flaws. Perhaps blockchain technology could be a better alternative?
Smart contracts improving the freelance experienceWhat is a smart contract? It’s basically a program that contains the condition of its execution.
Person A places a reward in the form of cryptocurrency and a condition. If Person B fulfills the condition the contract is executed automatically and Person B gets the reward.
It doesn’t require trust, so the smart contract can be created between total strangers and can involve any amount of money - both parties can be assured that the deal is safe.
Source: slideshare.net/SergeiTikhomirov
For the freelance field, it's the exact thing that everyone needs. Smart contracts can bring:
Trust - Since you know for sure that the other party can’t be malicious, it locks up money in the contract in the moment of creating the contract, and if you deliver the work, you get the money released. Confidence - Freelancers can concentrate on their tasks instead of worrying about payment. Transparency - Any smart contract can be checked. It’s publicly visible that at the certain address there’s a certain amount reserved. So if a freelancer doesn’t believe his customer, he can take a look by himself. Also, there are more benefits compared to centralized platforms - such as increased security. A smart contract is protected by the principle of blockchain technologies. In a brute-force attack it would take more time than our universe exists to find the correct private key containing funds. Also it’s said that the chances of hacking a wallet is equal to winning a Powerball nine times in a row.
Decentralized freelance platformsAs blockchain technology continues to improve, more and more solutions are being introduced. We’ve picked three interesting platforms for freelancers that may serve the mission of connecting the freelance workforce with employers in the future.
The first one is Freelanex. It has the ambitious goal of creating a global, decentralized platform for all kinds of freelancers and to fight unemployment among young people. The project is integrated with Hyperledger, which is used by half of the biggest companies implementing blockchain today. Also, it uses ERC20 tokens, a universally accepted standard, as the means of payment within the platform.
Another platform is StormX. It’s a bit different from the previous platform, because it’s designed for microtasks; participating in surveys, watching videos, trying new products, and all similar things that can be done in 5 minutes. The payments are released instantly upon task completion, from the pool reserved for a task by a person/company who creates it. The platform has its own Storm Tokens working on Ethereum network, but it also supports payouts Bitcoin and Ethereum.
CryptoTask is a more traditional freelance platform, supporting all standard categories you may find on a centralized freelance site, such as freelancer.com. It works on the Aeternity blockchain and it targets the eastern European and African countries such as Kenya and Croatia. The platform works as a decentralized app containing a system of smart contracts, which defines how all participants interact.
For those people who want to be able to work at the legal and global platform, the most convenient solution may be the Freelanex platform, since its competitor, CryptoTask, is oriented toward non-Westernized countries. So, what advantages does Freelanex have over all the centralized platforms?
Nobody controls your work and your earningsFreelanex aims to provide the most user-friendly experience for all participants. That’s why it doesn’t restrict payments only to cryptocurrencies like many other blockchain services do; it supports both crypto and fiat. Those users that adopt FLXC get discounts if they create tasks, or they receive more tokens if they complete tasks. Freelancers pay an 8% fee, clients pay a 10% fee, but initially after the launch the platform will be operating without any fees. So, it might be a good idea to try it as an early adopter.
All operations get regulated by smart contracts and operate independently in a decentralized manner, which excludes the possibility of fraud from any one party. Also, there is a KYC procedure which isn’t obligatory for freelancers, but they get a FLXC bonus for completing it.
Also, Freelanex has a very noble incentive. They say that currently there are 73 million young men and women who don’t have a job. The platform plans to establish courses and laboratories to provide free online training for those who are unemployed for free in order to promote the freelance economy and create more jobs.
The only issue we can see with the platform is the possibility of the smart contract to be hacked, as it’s often prone to human error. Smart contracts rely on blockchain security, but if they contain any security holes due to poorly written code, it can be exploited to withdraw funds from the contract. Last year, EOS users lost more than $500,000 in EOS smart contracts because of such an exploit. That’s why it’s crucial to choose a reliable and safe platform if you want to use a decentralized solution.
ConclusionThe freelance economy, or “the gig economy” as it’s often called, is growing fast. 50 years ago, people would work at one job their whole life, but now everything has changed. The job market, thanks to the Internet, has become global, and now professionals with good skills can work and earn from any place on the planet. The more people connected to the Internet, the more jobs will be created. According to Intuit, by 2020 the number of people participating in the gig economy will grow to 43%.
Source: upwork.com
People use freelance earnings as a secondary income; some people freelance to increase their savings, in some poor countries it allows people to earn more than they would get working a normal day job. The gig economy even creates new jobs for those with disabilities. It’s highly probable that in the future everyone will be employed in a freelance activity. Forty-seven percent of Millennials are already calling themselves freelancers, more than any other generation, and there will be more and more young people accustomed to online work. All this workforce will need reliable platforms to communicate and interact, and blockchain will play a huge role in this future economy.
Bangalore, November 11, 2019: Genesis DevCon, India’s largest Blockchain Developer Conference will be held on Nov 24- 25, 2019 at NSSC, IISc, Bangalore, to commemorate the concluding chapter of the Genesis developer program. Hosted by IBC Media – growth and advisory firm for emerging technology companies, Genesis DevCon aims to create a learning environment for budding blockchain developers, by bringing the best speakers from industry, community and academia under one roof. The event will also see the launch of the Aeternity Global Starfleet programme, a corporate blockchain accelerator program as well as the announcement of the winners of the Genesis developer program.
Identifying the lack of a rich pool of blockchain developers in India, the Genesis Developers program has been working aggressively for the last 8 months to create a vibrant blockchain developer community in India. Concluding the program, Genesis DevCon will host some of the biggest leaders in the blockchain space including Yanislav Malahov, founder of Aeternity, also known as the Godfather of Etherereum, Dilip Krishnaswamy, Vice President – New Technology Initiatives, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Loi Luu, CEO/Co-founder, KyberNetwork, Manish Bhatia, CTO, Amazon India, Avinash Pitti, CTO, Nucleus Vision, Sanjeev Narsipur, Managing Director-Blockchain, Accenture among many others.
“India is an ever-growing technology hub in the world with the second-largest pool of blockchain developers. The Genesis Developer’s program has constantly strived to build this pool of innovators in India and we, at IBC Media, are happy to be a part of this movement and to provide a platform that fosters an ecosystem of growth for blockchain in India. Genesis DevCon will be a testament to India’s potential in blockchain,” says Raghu Mohan, CEO of IBC Media
The two-day conference is being organized with the objective of bringing leaders, innovators and developers together under one roof, to share their expertise and innovations, and create a collaborative environment as well as build a strong community. It also gives attendees an opportunity to gain expertise, learn and understand the tools, new challenges and solutions for creative ideas and strategies through multiple interactive sessions, panel discussions and B2B engagement opportunities
With over 5 panel discussions, 30+ speakers, and attendees expected to attend, the event will witness a proactive interaction between developers, researchers, industry leaders and startup innovators.
For more information, visit https://theibc.events/
About IBC Media:
IBC Media is a marketing solutions company that works with emerging technology companies. Co-founded by Raghu Mohan, CEO and Kaavya Prasad, COO, IBC Media in 2018, the company offerings include Accelerator activation, Public Relations, Marketing Growth and Corporate Events.
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IBC Media is all set to organize the largest Blockchain Developer conference in India – Genesis Devcon 2019. The event is set to happen at NSCC at IISC Campus, Bengaluru on November 24th and 25th. The event has an excellent line of speakers from various sectors of Blockchain such as public chains, private chains, enterprises, startups, academia, etc.
Raghu Mohan is the CEO of IBC Media, he is a seasoned marketing professional with over 9 years of experience in helping startups scale from the ground up. He has worked in various marketing managerial roles at some remarkable companies like YourStory, HackerEarth and Udacity.
We at Blockmanity had a chance to catch up with Raghu in an exclusive interview.
Blockmanity: What is your take on the Blockchain developer ecosystem in India?
Raghu: It is a mixed bag if you look at it in terms of absolute numbers, India has the second-largest Blockchain developer base in the world. As with most other developer segments, we will be the first in one or two years. On the enterprise side of things, I am seeing a very good Blockchain community there is a lot of system integrator level Blockchain work that is happening for overseas clients. The exposure to private Blockchains seems to be more than public Blockchains. The hobbyist/enthusiast community in India is not as big as it is for other technologies like machine learning or mobility for example.
I think it has been a mix of lack of awareness or general associative connotations of the government’s stance on Cryptocurrencies that probably have deterred developers away from this tech who would have usually taken this up. Thirdly, there is also a general lack of awareness in this space because avenues to make money as a developer is not established yet. I foresee in a year or two before this ecosystem picks up a critical mass and can be compared to other tech areas. It is growing and is vibrant with some exceptional people working on it but in terms of absolute numbers nowhere close to AI, IoT or other tech.
Blockmanity: What was the intent behind this event and how is it different from other Blockchain events?
Raghu: The main objective is that developers are the precurses to users and adoption. When the developers and the builders pick up a technology the users automatically follow, decentralization has really strong use cases in many areas and in order for it to be adopted in masses, you need enough builders around it. This was one of the main learnings we had from IBC one where the majority of the audience was mostly non-tech and non-builders. A majority of the Blockchain movement in India is driven by product and business folks and I think for real adoption to happen in India you need developers and builders at a grass-roots level.
So we started a developer program called Genesis and this event marks the end of the first cycle of Genesis wherein we have built a good developer community, conducted a hackathon and it all kinda concludes at the developer event that we are doing. So, as a whole, it is to get people who are building to attend and to speak. It captures the mind of the Indian developer and we hope more people start talking about this amazing technology.
Blockmanity: Who is your target audience for the event?
Raghu: Our core target audience is someone with some capability of writing software and has some knowledge of computer science with an interest in distributed computing and Blockchains. I would say if you are in business or marketing it is important for you to know the technology that you are building your product around and the capabilities of it. This conference will also be good from an understanding standpoint but it is primarily aimed at developers.
Blockmanity: Could you tell us more about the speakers attending the event?
Raghu: You can break the editorial in 4 parts: Startups who are building innovative products, Enterprise side working on large scale system integration, Academics and the Public chain side. On the public chain side, you are looking at guys from Aeternity, Tezos, and NEO who I am sure need no introduction.
On the enterprise side, Dilip Krishnaswamy from Reliance Jio is someone exciting to talk to. He is building a nationwide Blockchain network and he is specifically speaking on Blockchain microservices which may give you an insight on what Reliance itself is probably thinking about with respect to Blockchain in India. There is also Raghavendra Deshmukh from SAP, he is the director of computer science there and is involved in production level deployment of Blockchain which is quite rare as most Blockchain projects are at POC level.
We have got a good Indian contingent as well which includes Matic, Nucleus Vision, Elevon 01 among others. There are some very interesting updates coming from there as well. We also have people from Kotak Mahindra Bank. The founder of Curl Analytics, who is a speaker at the event was also the former CIO at Societe Generale and has a lot of insights into Fintech.
On the academic side, we found out that there are only 3 people in India who are doing cutting edge research on Distributed Computing – Dr. Narendra Kumar, Head of Computer Science wing and is building the Blockchain offering for the RBI. Kannan Srinathan, IIIT Hyderabad who has done a lot of work in Cryptography and is doing interesting work in Blockchain. And of course, there is Sathya Peri from IIT Hyderabad who is one of the three people that we could get to speak at the event. There is also a great contingent of researchers from NUS Singapore who will be speaking on sharding, Zero-knowledge proofs, and other interesting topics.
There are a total of 35 speakers who have been carefully picked based on what value and content they will be sharing.
Blockmanity: Apart from the speaker sessions you also have workshops for developers, could you expand on that?
Raghu: Sure. We want the workshops to be hands-on at the moment, but it is not restricted to tech. There is a workshop by Rohas Nagpal from Primechain on how to build a Blockchain startup from India, this is something that we think is essential for developers who are trying to start their ventures.
There is a workshop by Tezos on who will go into the details of building Blockchain products on a Proof of Stake based Blockchain (Proof of Bake as they call it). There is also the folks at Matic who are building scaling solutions on Ethereum, this workshop would be super interesting to developers who are looking to build scalable Dapps on Ethereum. Blockstack will also be conducting a workshop, given their approach developers can use Javascript to build on their network which is great from an adoption standpoint as there are a lot of Javascript developers based in India.
There are also some other really good workshops that we will be announcing in the coming days.
Blockmanity: Who is sponsoring the event and what are the fees you are charging for the attendees?
Raghu: With respect to sponsors, I think we have a good spread of public chains, Dapps and Entreprises. Tech Mahindra has been a supporter of IBC from early 2018 and we continue to work with them. The Tezos Foundation launched in India recently, they have an aggressive developer agenda here. I see a lot of exciting work coming from them.
Microsoft and we have been working together behind the scenes on a very large project and it is kind of come into fruition at the developer conference where we will be announcing something really big as to what we will be doing with Microsoft in the coming days.
Aeternity is running their first edition of Starfleet accelerator in India and IBC is running that as well so the conference is an opportunity for them to launch the conversations around it. Elevon 01 and Nucleus Vision have been supporting us in our ventures through IBC one, Genesis to where we are right now. I am quite excited about what they are launching at the event too, a real-world Blockchain implementation that they build at a production level so stay tuned for that.
These are forward-thinking companies that have invested in a very foundational layer of this ecosystem which are the developers and I can’t thank them enough.
As far as the attendees are concerned, we wanted to keep the entry barrier as low as possible. A full ticket is at Rs. 1500 but you can get a 50% discount by using the coupon code BLOCKMANITY. The only reason why we are taking a fee is to commit to attending, our aim for enough people to have the least barrier to entry in learning more about Technology.
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Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.
Indian economy has been surfing troubled waters for quite some time. Several proposals have been made by economists and taxpayers across the country to resolve the situation. The Indian government, although it has embraced the idea of “digital India”, isn’t really convinced about the entire concept of cryptocurrency, while being cautious about blockchain.
The government of India had announced back in July that it would impose fine and jail time for cryptocurrency users. As a result, Facebook had backed out the launch of its Calibra crypto wallet in India.
Reserve Bank of India had also notified banks not to provide services to cryptocurrency companies. Koinex, a local exchange, reportedly shut down due to the uncertain regulatory climate.
The stunted growth of the Indian economy is now being discussed on an international level and many seem to suggest blockchain as one of the solutions.
In a recent YouTube video uploaded by Crypto Kanoon, Yanislav Malahov, founder of Aeternity blockchain stated that “Blockchain and India fit well together”.
In Yanislav’s words,
“Blockchain technology is the driving factor for globalization. Since democracy is deeply grounded in India, blockchain can be a solution for India’s slowed down economic growth.”
He believes that cryptography might make for a sound foundation of Indian financial laws and is of the opinion that with the implementation of blockchain, the level of corruption can be brought down in the country. The proof-of-work mechanism, he says, makes it just next to impossible to hack and manipulate a system.
However, the scene is not the same anymore as India is slowly opening its doors to Blockchain technology. Recently, Indian parliament member Dr. Subramanian Swamy stated that ”cryptocurrency is inevitable”.
India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also recently told the Indian media that blockchain technology might be the next step in contemporary warfare. Reliance Jio’s Mukesh Ambani is also reportedly setting up one of the world’s largest Blockchain networks across India.
Chainlink has announced that it now offers price reference data for more than 25 trading pairs. These kinds of feeds are vital for decentralized finance applications.
As of today, Chainlink’s list includes data on 16 Ethereum trading pairs and nine USD trading pairs. Notable trading pairs include ETH/USD, BTC/USD, and EUR/USD.
So far, three sites have integrated Chainlink’s data. Synthetix, an asset backing platform, is supporting USD trading pairs. Meanwhile, the lending platform Aave is supporting ETH pairs. Loopring has also added support for one pair in each category.
This development marks a significant expansion for Chainlink: until recently, the platform only offered price data for seven trading pairs.
Now, Chainlink’s data collection is the largest of its type, according to the project itself.
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How It Works Unlike CoinMarketCap and other market aggregators, Chainlink does not gather its data from exchanges. Instead, it gathers data from independent node operators.
These node operators are given incentives to provide accurate data. They also undergo security reviews and are resistant to Sybil attacks that could disrupt reporting.
This means that the data can be audited and verified for accuracy and integrity. It is possible to do so simply by visiting the project’s website.
In the image below, Chainlink shows which data sources are online and displays the time of the next update. Ethereum’s average price is shown in the center:
Via Chainlink The Importance of Oracles As Chainlink has noted, decentralized finance (DeFi) services require reliable access to market data in order to execute transactions and to swap assets.
Though some DeFi services can make use of basic on-chain data, that option is not practical for the vast majority of services. “Obtaining the most reliable price for an asset requires aggregation from multiple off-chain data sources,” Chainlink explains.
That is precisely the role that Chainlink provides as an oracle provider, along with other comparable platforms such as Aeternity and Band Protocol.
Of course, the fact that oracles require strict data handling means that they are not comprehensive. Though Chainlink may be the largest oracle platform, it offers far less data than market aggregators, which track price data for thousands of assets.
However, as demand for DeFi grows, it is likely that demand for oracles will grow along with it — and Chainlink is by far the top-performing project in its category.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Aeternity is a Blockchain protocol started in 2016, Aeternity Ventures is the investment arm of the project started in 2017. Nikola Stojanow is the Co-Founder of the Aeternity project and is the CEO of Aeternity Ventures.
We at Blockmanity had a chance to interview Nikola on a call recently. We hope you enjoy the interview.
Blockmanity: Hey Nikola, I would love to know more about your background and the story of how you got into this space.
Nikola: To start my journey from the beginning, I was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany. While I traveled a lot for most parts of my life, I decided to move my base back to Bulgaria for the last couple of years. Before starting AE Ventures in 2017, I worked in the corporate world for a while, specifically in the pharmaceutical sector in Europe, MENA and Asia and Pacific regions. I last held the position of Director, Business Development until I felt a need for change. I entered the realm of blockchain technology with a travel company that was built based on decentralized open source bookings technology where I was involved with fundraising campaigns. The entrepreneurial bug bit me and I moved back to Berlin where I met my old friend Yanislav Malahov, who is now my co-founder at æternity. He was looking for a business guy and invited me to join the æternity team. From there we toiled and managed to build one of the few blockchain unicorns in Bulgaria.
It was during our journey at æternity that we realized the significance of quality startups and projects adopting our infrastructure and so I created AE Ventures, the company that would do exactly that: incubate, accelerate and invest into startups around the world.
At that point, Sofia had an incredibly vibrant startup ecosystem that welcomed me and showed how much potential we locally have and how people have the desire to innovate and work towards a positive change and so we decided to set up AE Venture in Bulgaria. That I would say was one of my best decisions as things developed really quickly and strongly, our Starfleet accelerator started growing and is now on several continents. We are building an amazing international team, which is creating a global ecosystem, where people actively collaborate with us around the world, allowing us to be at multiple places, at the same time!
The immense potential and seeing how much need there is for funding and proper mentoring has been my fuel to nurture my desire to do more and help more people to get the chances that we got, when we started off with the Starfleet Program.
Blockmanity: æternity was founded in 2016 and the mainnet launched in late 2018, How has the journey been so far? And how would you describe æternity to those who haven’t heard about it?
Nikola: Yes, we launched the mainnet in November 2018 and since then the race to bring blockchain technology to the mainstream has begun. æternity has been constantly improving and developing, numerous implementations have been made and we are happy to see that the ecosystem is growing. æternity blockchain is a public blockchain protocol that is highly-scalable and is interoperable with several other blockchains. Developers can build dApps or æpps, as we’d like to call it, with several features that include accessing oracles and state channels to use real-world data in a trustless environment. In its essence, æternity aims to solve problems of scalability, and security making it more economical and user-friendly when it comes to accessing the smart contracts on the network.
Blockmanity: So how is æternity similar and different to other Blockchains like Ethereum, Tezos, etc?
Nikola: æternity is one of the few blockchain protocols that have solved the fundamental problems that lie in archetype protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum -it is decentralized, public, global, censorship-free, tamper-proof transaction technology.
It’s a scalable smart contract platform that can handle more transactions and smart contract calls and has far more advanced features capable of handling an enormous amount of people all over the world.
One of the main differences between æternity and earlier blockchains lies under the hood: æternity is written in Erlang, which is a proven functional language for distributed systems.
Blockmanity: Ok now let us get into AE Ventures, what is the vision for the fund and tell us more about the Starfleet accelerator program.
Nikola: AE Ventures is built on the vision to enable the creation of decentralized businesses that would be a great improvement on the prevailing systems. With this conviction, we work towards funding blockchain startups from around the world alongside providing them with the advisory and training to built market-ready products that can solve real-world problems.
This is something we have brought to life through direct investments and with the Global Accelerator Programme for Blockchain startups – Starfleet. With three editions completed over the last two years, we’ve invested over $1.9 million in 18 startups. We are drawn to people who not only build exceptional products that go past the proof-of-concept stage that can be taken to the market, but to those who are solving problems that contribute to the greater good of society.
Blockmanity: At what stage of the startup do you mainly invest in? And do they have to build exclusively on the æternity blockchain to get funded?
Nikola: We usually like to enter at a seed/pre-seed level and predominantly through the Starfleet accelerator program. We are very industry-agnostic – the only common thread we look at is the use of Blockchain tech and its implementability.
The participating startups need to build the product entirely or as a part of æternity blockchain as it is one of the most scalable and interoperable blockchains out there. And this way, we can provide the startups with the right kind of help and hand-holding required to build their products.
Blockmanity: What are the best use-cases for Blockchain that you have seen so far and what use-cases are you excited about for the future?
Nikola: I truly believe that Blockchain has the power to impact every sector. Every Starfleet program reveals interesting use-cases solving real-time problems. It is not surprising that DeFi is developing very rapidly. I expect a huge boom and adoption in this sector. It also makes a lot of sense since blockchain technology serves the financial sector with almost instant transactions at almost no cost.
In the future, essentially everything might be tokenized. There is a whole other world of opportunities with tokens.
Identity management is another critical segment with a focus on individuals owning their own data and deciding who to share with and for what. With the recent concerns of privacy, we have seen some very interesting use-cases in this aspect as well.
Another sector that I am very keen to explore is bringing in more transparency in political campaigns, voting etc. We have seen political parties collaborate with the open-source blockchain and developer platform in order to optimize the participation processes of citizens in internal voting. This is the need of the hour in every democratic nation and more and more players from the ecosystem should focus on it.
Other interesting applications of blockchain use-cases include banking with fiat on and off-ramps, decentralized exchanges and of course gaming!!
Blockmanity: Could you share some names and numbers from your portfolio of startups you have already invested in?
Nikola: We are proud to say that so far we have invested directly or through our acceleration program more than $2mln in 19 startups. To name a few: WeiDex (Bulgaria) – decentralized exchange for cryptocurrencies, which just recently released their cross-chain atomic swap widget called Jelly. AmpNet (Croatia)- a whitelabel, all-in-one platform for running energy cooperatives and energy communities. Abend (Germany) – the cashless, on-site payments platform aiming to be an “own little economy” for each festival and club around the globe. Cryptic Legends (Serbia/Malta) — blockchain-based, team management game in an awesome ancient fantasy world. SmartCredit (Switzerland) – a platform for crypto-loans creating 2-click consumer credits (money on demand) for the borrower and tools like credit tokenization, credit transferability and interest-bearing to the holder.
Blockmanity: Recently you teamed up with IBC Media to build a presence and get Indian startups to apply for the program, what is the thought process behind this and what other markets are you targeting?
Nikola: India has a booming blockchain ecosystem and armed with its strong developer pool and the burgeoning startup ecosystem with over 27,000+ start-ups, there is tremendous scope for a decentralized future. Raghu and his team from IBC Media have shown great potential in tapping the Indian market and identifying blockchain startups with interesting use cases. We had over 175 blockchain-based early-stage startups up registering for the Starfleet India in its first edition, of which we have shortlisted 13 very interesting startups for the Genesis Week. We are hoping to see strong Indian problems being identified and looking forward to solving them with blockchain technology. We are happy to partner with IBC Media to launch the first edition of the Global Starfleet program here in India and look forward to successfully finding these Indian startups gems with a proven capability to build technology products that can scale, and a strong underlying blockchain use case.
Blockmanity: What is in store for the æternity ecosystem in 2020, what are you most excited about?
Nikola: I am extremely happy to watch how the æternity ecosystem is growing. All the startups we invested in brought value and some diversity. It is also great to observe how the projects are building partnerships between each other and creating synergy. In 2020, we organized the First Indian edition of our Starfleet accelerator. We are confident that we are on the right place as we are confident that people Developing countries such as India, Kenya, and others in East Africa are discovering and implementing an increasing array of applications for blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that promises a secure, low fee, peer-to-peer mechanism for verifying and validating information.
We are also very excited about the development of the blockchain startup which we accelerated as now it is their time to prove their concept.
Blockmanity: If a startup founder is reading this, where can he/she apply for your program?
Nikola: Well, we’ve closed applications for Starfleet India this year and we’re well on our way with the Genesis Week. However, if you’re a startup that has a great product that is built on blockchain, you’re more than welcome to contact us on our website. However, do keep in mind that when you’re pitching your idea you have to be as clear as possible and give us a suggestion of how we can work together to improve your product and perhaps, fund it if it makes it through the selection process. And more importantly, take a good look at the æternity blockchain and do your due diligence. See where it can help your product become a better version of itself; don’t try to force-fit it.
Blockmanity: Last but not the least, which is your favorite company in Crypto other than your own?
Nikola: Interesting question, but not simple to answer. There are numerous companies that I have been following for some time now, but with the market and interests changing rather quickly, new interesting projects are coming to light more often.
For me, the most interesting Dapps have not been developed yet, as the idea is to have them function in a way, where the user does not need a Ph.D. in Computer Technologies or Cyber Security, in order to use a product.
Simplicity should be key, without jeopardizing the integrity or security of users and product. If I would have to choose, I would go with either wallets, payment gateways, or products that engage the user to do something, in order to receive tokens (positive incentivization to do good seems to be quite a powerful medium, in order to have a large number of people to positively impact their surrounding).
But as mentioned above, I admire all projects that have a sincere agenda and want to improve or innovate in a space, which has not seen innovation in a long time, as simply building products and having projects succeed is what excited me most in the entire space, rather than a single favorite company.
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Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.
[PRESS RELEASE – Sofia, Bulgaria, February 6th, 2024]
The Aeternity Foundation is making a strategic move to accelerate the growth of the æternity blockchain ecosystem. Under the leadership of Nikola Stojanow, co-founder of Aeternity, the Foundation is gearing up to integrate advanced strategies encompassing technology and marketing, aiming to synergize technological innovation with ecosystem development.
In this ambitious endeavor, the Foundation is collaborating with AEVentures and Rezolute. AEVentures, known for its blockchain incubation capabilities, and Rezolute, a prominent Web3 marketing firm, are set to amplify the visibility and reach of æternity’s projects and innovations.
This strategic reorientation signifies a shift from a purely tech-centric approach to a more holistic ecosystem development model. The new vision for the Foundation focuses on adaptability and leveraging collective strengths to unlock the full potential of æternity.
The partnership aims to utilize the distinct capabilities of each entity to foster growth across the æternity ecosystem. This coordinated effort promises enhanced transparency, community engagement, and talent attraction.
The Foundation’s adjustment underscores its commitment to long-term success, promising to actively integrate community feedback into its strategic initiatives. The Foundation is proud to show that over 20 grants have been given out since the recent change of direction, which can all be found at æternity forum.
As the æternity ecosystem enters a new era, the rejuvenated Foundation, with its strong leadership and strategic partnerships, is set to make significant strides in the blockchain industry, propelling æternity towards a future marked by innovation and collaboration.
About Aeternity Foundation
The Aeternity Foundation advances the æternity blockchain ecosystem, championing open-source development, technological innovation, and global community engagement. Providing funding, resources, and support empowers creators and builders to explore blockchain’s potential for decentralized applications, aiming to create a more secure, transparent, and equitable digital future.
Contact Managing Director of Aeternity Foundation
Nikola Stojanow
Aeternity Foundation [email protected]
The Aeternity Foundation is making a strategic move to accelerate the growth of the Aeternity blockchain ecosystem. Under the leadership of Nikola Stojanow, co-founder of Aeternity, the foundation is gearing up to integrate advanced strategies encompassing technology and marketing, aiming to synergize technological innovation with ecosystem development.
In this ambitious endeavor, the foundation is collaborating with AEVentures and Rezolute.
AEVentures, known for its blockchain incubation capabilities, and Rezolute, a prominent Web 3.0 marketing firm, are set to amplify the visibility and reach of Aeternity’s projects and innovations.
This strategic reorientation signifies a shift from a purely tech-centric approach to a more holistic ecosystem development model.
The new vision for the foundation focuses on adaptability and leveraging collective strengths to unlock the full potential of Aeternity.
The partnership aims to utilize the distinct capabilities of each entity to foster growth across the Aeternity ecosystem.
This coordinated effort promises enhanced transparency, community engagement and talent attraction.
The foundation’s adjustment underscores its commitment to long-term success, promising to actively integrate community feedback into its strategic initiatives.
The foundation is proud to show that over 20 grants have been given out since the recent change of direction, which can all be found at the Aeternity forum.
As the Aeternity ecosystem enters a new era, the rejuvenated foundation, with its strong leadership and strategic partnerships, is set to make significant strides in the blockchain industry, propelling Aeternity towards a future marked by innovation and collaboration.
About Aeternity Foundation The Aeternity Foundation advances the Aeternity blockchain ecosystem, championing open-source development, technological innovation and global community engagement.
Providing funding, resources and support empowers creators and builders to explore blockchain’s potential for DApps (decentralized applications), aiming to create a more secure, transparent and equitable digital future.
Contact Nikola Stojanow, managing director of Aeternity Foundation
This week, NEO joined Microsoft’s .NET Foundation, serving as a major asset to Microsoft’s blockchain efforts.
Mainline Blockchain Efforts From Microsoft Following the integration, NEO will be able to introduce a new set of tools for Microsoft Visual Studio, making it easier for mainstream developers to create NEO dApps. This news comes just months after NEO expressed interest in the .NET stack.
This isn’t Microsoft’s first time using blockchain. Over the past few years, Microsoft has allowed enterprises to make use of various blockchains through its Azure services. Azure provides access to popular chains like Ethereum, Quorum, and Corda, as well as obscure blockchains like SIMBA Chain, Rootstock, Stratis, and more.
Microsoft’s most frequent collaborator, though, is JPMorgan. This year, Microsoft introduced Quorum as Azure’s first fully-managed blockchain, offering a more simplified blockchain experience. Microsoft also uses Quorum in-house to manage XBOX royalties. A strategic partnership is ongoing, so there may be more to come.
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Microsoft’s blockchain efforts don’t stop there: the company is also a member of several blockchain groups, such as the Hyperledger Foundation, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and the Token Taxonomy Initiative. Microsoft hasn’t produced much in the way of products with these groups; rather, it is contributing to standards.
The company has also developed ION, a Bitcoin-based decentralized identity system, covering the costs of the project through its Identity Division.
Funding, Acceptance, and Other Efforts Microsoft is also pouring funding into blockchain projects. Notably, it has contributed funds to events like the Ethereal Virtual Hackathon, which took place in April.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Research’s blockchain division has contributed to a handful of research papers over the years. Microsoft Research was responsible for Microsoft’s first foray into blockchain: in 2012, the group published “On Blockchain and Red Balloons” with Cornell University, describing a Bitcoin information propagation system.
Finally, casual crypto users might be interested to know that Microsoft accepts Bitcoin in its stores. You can deposit Bitcoin into your account and receive credit in return.
Are Microsoft’s Blockchain Efforts Overrated? Blockchain endeavors are sometimes exaggerated in the media, and Microsoft is no exception. In 2017, a Microsoft representative mentioned a partnership with IOTA before both companies denied it. Although Microsoft was indeed participating in IOTA’s IoT marketplace, there was no formal partnership.
Likewise, Microsoft may never live down Bill Gates’ attacks on Bitcoin: he has called it a “greater fool” investment. Gates is now only minimally involved in Microsoft, and current reps have made more positive comments. Some have even said that blockchain is “at a tipping point.”
Despite a few disappointments, Microsoft’s blockchain efforts make it one of the most pro-blockchain companies. Ultimately, the company must change with the times: other tech giants like IBM and Amazon have made their own blockchain breakthroughs, while Microsoft is just getting started.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Mike Dalton. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Crypto exchange giant Binance today announced the launch of its staking platform. Binance will issue monthly rewards and distributions to those holding certain tokens on its platform.
Customers will receive rewards for staking tokens for the following projects: NEO, Ontology (ONT), VeChain (VTHO), Stellar (XLM), Komodo (KMD), Algorand (ALGO), Qtum (QTUM), and Stratis (STRAT).
Staking rewards are essentially just rewards for HODLing your crypto in a Binance wallet. Crypto rewards will take the form of, er, more crypto—a little like interest in a bank account. This gives Binancians an incentive to hold their funds in Binance.
For staking, there will be no minimum staking amounts or time lengths, and users won’t have to set up any nodes. Come October 1, Binance will take a snapshot of the network every hour to calculate a snapshot of each day.
There are, however, “holding” amounts. To start receiving staking rewards on Algorand, for instance, you’d need to hold 2 ALGO. Luckily, the price of the ALGO has tanked, so that’s only around $0.34.
Tezos is notably absent from the launch. Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao hinted that users could earn rewards for staking Tezos earlier this week. A user asked CZ if Binance would offer staking rewards for Tezos, and the cryptic crypto CEO replied with a single laughing emoji.
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