Arweave (AR) is a utility token of the Arweave project — a blockchain-like decentralized storage solution. Arweave was founded in 2017 and as of 2021 is in its alpha stage. The project has attracted the attention of well-known investors like Andreessen Horowitz.Arweave’s team points out that the centralized information storage model puts too much control in one agent’s hands: the information can be easily changed after it was first put into storage, for example. This is what the blockchain solutions are designed to avoid. Arweave uses blockweave — a blockchain-like structure that ties every new block (by hashing) not just to the previous one, but also to one additional block chosen at random. This is a part of what is called Proof-of-Access consensus; the nodes don’t have to store copies of the whole blockchain as long as they can access a specific block.Among other novel features of Arweave are blockshadows: this is the technology allowing not to waste space and bandwidth distributing every mined block to every node in the network. Instead, only partial information is disseminated, letting the nodes reconstruct the block. To facilitate rapid data retrieval, Arweave implements the Wildfire system, which resembles a peer-provided rating system and encourages efficient work.Arweave’s consensus mechanism combines Proof-of-Access (described above) and Proof-of-Work. As an incentive for their work, the miners get AR tokens. They are also used as transaction fees and as a payment for the Arweave storage services.Arweave’s price has seen decent growth in the spring of 2021, going from ~$2–$3 at the year’s start to more than $32 by March. It wasn’t immune to the crypto market summer slump, climbing down steadily over a couple of months and trading barely above $7 in July. By mid-August AR went through its first big jump, breaking through its previous resistance and…
Archives for September 2021
Elrond Price Prediction
Elrond (eGold, EGLD) is a native utility token powering Elrond — a platform offering very fast transactions through the use of Adaptive State Sharding. It builds on the concepts introduced by some blockchain networks like Algorand, bringing innovative features into the mix. Elrond was founded in 2017.Elrond’s purpose, as often is the case in the blockchain space, is to offer an optimal solution for the blockchain trilemma: providing scalability while keeping the network secure and decentralized. One of the more promising ways to achieve this is sharding, a technique first used in traditional databases. It entails splitting the database into interconnected pieces, or shards, which can be processed simultaneously, thus speeding up the work. Blockchain can utilize three types of sharding: network, transaction, and state sharding, all of which come with their challenges. Elrond uses all three types, which makes this network especially fast.Another innovation pioneered by Elrond is the Secure Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism (SPoS), which is an improvement on the original Proof-of-Stake. In SPoS, the block proposer node is selected randomly, making it unpredictable and therefore hard to tamper with. Also, validator nodes are chosen not only based on their stake but also taking into account their rating — a history of the node’s behavior.Elrond coin — eGold — is used for staking, transaction fees, other payments like the smart contract fees, and is a primary medium of exchange on the platform. EGLD token holders will also be eligible to claim Elrond MEX — the token that will be distributed to the users of Maiar Exchange, a DEX that is a part of the Elrond ecosystem.Elrond price rose spectacularly in the first months of 2021: it was trading at ~$25 around New Year’s, but by February EGLD price has already reached ~$196. The bull run on the crypto market…
How to Earn Interest on Your Cryptocurrency (2021 Guide)
Yes, you can earn interest on your cryptocurrency — and some say that you are missing unrealized gains if you aren’t. But, much like the cryptocurrency market itself, using a cryptocurrency lending platform to earn interest on your crypto is not for…
What Does A Bullish Q4 Look Like For Bitcoin?
BTC shows Reversal SignsOver the weekend, BTC/USD started the session by sliding from $43,000 to $40,700. Shortly after, the coin witnessed a bullish engulfing candle that stopped the sell-off in its tracks.Notably, the slide in prices came just as it was revealed that Huobi exchange would no longer offer its services to users from mainland China due to another regulatory crackdown. The latest crackdown came as one among many policies peddled by the Chinese regime, which also banned cryptocurrencies yet again that same week amidst a spiraling property crisis triggered by Evergrande’s ongoing insolvency issues.The aforementioned ban was picked up by Bloomberg and other mainstream news outlets — and regurgitated wholesale — despite there being no actual news, causing no small amount of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.As this concoction of bad news and worse reporting came to fruition, the BTC/USD outlook appeared grim.However, the technical outlook has since changed after the proverbial ‘nail in the coffin’ failed to cause a cascading sell-off. Instead, the market rallied after news regarding the Huobi exchange became widely known. The announcement was followed by a 44% nosedive in Hong Kong stock.As noted on Twitter and on the telegram channel, the Chinese FUD was likely part of a final shakeout aimed at fleecing new participants.At the time of writing, Bitcoin exchanges hand at $43,800 — nearly 2% above the opening weekend trading prices. From a technical point of view, BTC/USD has coiled up within a bullish descending wedge pattern — the targets of which are $48,000 and $52,800, respectively, depending on how one plots the structure.What could a Bullish Q4 look like?As you are aware, I’ve been quite vocal about a $100,000 bitcoin by the end of the year and a $200,000 — $300,000 bitcoin price by the middle of next year.Technically, BTC/USD closed the…
Bitcoin is going down — also in October?
Photo by Maxim Hopman on UnsplashYesterday, Bitcoin fell below $42,000, continuing to lose value overnight. Late Monday, Bitcoin dropped $1,000 in just one hour, ending hopes of a bull market. This came as something of a surprise, as the flagship cryptocurrency had only reached a high of 44,400 US dollars over the weekend. Now, experts are even predicting a level below $40,000 as the new low. With only two days left until the end of the month, the…
How Cardano’s new stablecoin Djed will reduce gas fee for crypto transactions?
Courtesy: COTICardano’s new stablecoin Djed will make it easier to run DeFi projects.After the Alonzo update empowering Cardano to support smart contracts, a new stable coin Djed (pronounced Jed with a silent D) is arriving on the Cardano blockchain. Djed will be issued by the decentralized payment platform, COTI.Investors in the market have strong expectations about the booming DeFi platforms and Djed can make it easier to run DeFi projects on the blockchain.Here’s what you need to know about the Djed coin:On its website, Djed says it is “a crypto-backed algorithmic stablecoin that acts as an autonomous bank, developed by IOG and issued by COTI.COTI is a decentralized payment platform that organizations can use to build their own digital payment solutions. COTI already acts as a payment platform for Cardano’s ADA Pay.Djed is based on an algorithmic design that uses smart contracts to ensure price stability. Smart contract programming is also used to ensure that the stablecoin will work effectively for decentralized finance (DeFi) transactions.Stablecoins are pegged to a range of assets from fiat to gold or another cryptocurrency to maintain a stable value with respect to a reference. Popular stablecoins include USDT, which is pegged to fiat currencies, PAX Gold (PAXG) and Digix Gold (DGX), pegged to gold. The function of stablecoins is to offer an easy way to trade in and out of a volatile market.Read more: Should You Invest In Stablecoins? Are They Really Stable?Djed operates by maintaining a reserve of base coins, while minting and burning various other stable assets and reserve coins. It is designed to be used for paying transaction fees on the Cardano network. One benefit of this is to make transaction costs more predictable, so avoiding volatile and exorbitant gas fees for users.The value of Djed is kept stable by an algorithmic…
2021 Bitcoin Predictions
Q4 will close a historic year for crypto.Bitcoin remains in a tight trading range below $50,000. Despite China making crypto-related transactions illegal, BTC is even on the week.Bitcoin is down ~9% in SeptemberAfter a rally to $53,000 is early September, Bitcoin failed to retake the $50,000 price level and the August close is now the more…
NewTribe Capital Invests in MRHB DeFi
Melbourne, Australia, Sep 29, 2021 — NewTribe Capital, a Venture Capital Private Equity Group has made a strategic investment in MRHB DeFi, the world’s first halal decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.This marks the seventh institutional investment in the DeFi ecosystem startup, following strategic investments from DeFi Mutual Fund Sheesha Finance, Dubai-based angel innovation investors Acreditus Partners and EMGS Group, the French Systems Integration company operating in the Middle East since 2003, to name a few.NewTribe Capital: A Bold Investment ApproachWith an ideology to ‘Invest in People’, NewTribe Capital takes a bold stance in their approach to investing — they back only the projects they feel add value to the blockchain ecosystem.“Our philosophy is successful because we invest in relationships, not deals,” says Dhaval Parikh, Partner at NewTribe Capital. “Deals are simply transactions. We build exceptional relationships with companies that last, collaborating on projects with conviction.”Investing in the first ethical, inclusive and faith-based MRHB DeFi ecosystem platform aligns with NewTribe’s company ethos and strategic goals. As an early investor and supporter, NewTribe recognizes both the vision and the long-term market potential of the faith-based DeFi pioneer.Besides investment funds, which will support the continuing technology development and growth of MRHB DeFi, NewTribe Capital will also offer network and cross marketing support for the DeFi startup.“We’re excited about collaborating with the highly successful NewTribe Capital team who share our long term visions for ethical DeFi. This relationship creates additional opportunities and industry connections that will drive more value for our community members. NewTribe has a proven track record of helping their partners succeed, and we are delighted to welcome them amongst other strategic stakeholders in our ambitious journey,” says Naquib Mohammed, MRHB DeFi Founder & CEO.“This strategic alliance with NewTribe Capital is the latest institutional move by MRHB DeFi as we work to establish…
Yields On Stocks Currently Produce Negative Real Returns: Will This Continue?
Investors Are Currently Coping With The Lowest Real Returns Since The 1970s.Photo by Molnár Bálint on UnsplashThe real earnings plus dividend yield of US equities have fallen below the rate of inflation for the first time since the mid-1970s. It is noteworthy that the 1970s event preceded a very sharp decline by…
Combination of MDEX and Alpaca Finance
MDEX, a well-known DEX on both HECO and BSC chain, announced its collaboration with Alpaca Finance, the largest lending protocol allowing leveraged yield farming on Binance Smart Chain recently, by which users from Alpaca Finance can benefit from farming liquidity pools with massive rewards on MDEX. The first rounds of pool integrations will take place on 30th September, 5th October and 7th October respectively.This is a win-win collaboration for MDEX and Alpaca Finance. MDEX is the second-largest decentralized trading app in terms of TVL with a total lock-up asset of $2.3 billion (24th Sep 2021) and occupied the first for a long time a few months ago. Alpaca Finance is the largest lending protocol that attracts assets with a total amount of $1.41 billion (24th Sep 2021). MDEX and Alpaca Finance are two stars that have significant market shares in their respective sectors in the Defi space where DEX and leveraged yield farming protocol are naturally combinable. Alpaca Finance will generate more liquidity incentives for users, while the TVL on MDEX will increase to result in a better liquidity performance as multiple pools are integrated with leverage, and the asset exchange involved in several pools will become smoother and more cost-effective for traders.In the announcement published by Alpaca Finance, it revealed the reasons for this collaboration which is MDEX is the second-largest DEX in terms of TVL and daily trading volume of hundreds of millions of dollars per day and the APR on MDEX are higher for most of the pools Alpaca Finance had added. As MDEX focuses on stablecoin asset pools, Alpaca Finance’s cooperation with MDEX will bring users higher annualized returns (APR). In particular, this integration will utilize the AUM of Alpaca Finance in all safe pools on MDEX and create larger buybacks, burns, and performance fees for…