Now Pools

Hey Hackers, Gift exchanges, where friends and family randomly swap gifts with each other, are a staple of the holidays. Of course, with blockchain and NFTs it’s straightforward to program an expanded gift exchange where folks from can participate in random gift swapping together. around the world One project that’s bringing such an NFT gift exchange to life for this holiday season is , a new NFT gift exchange protocol that lets you deposit an NFT in order to receive a new NFT from its gift pool on Christmas Day. Santa.FM As with all things new in web3, you should approach this app as an experiment! If you try it, do it for fun and only deposit NFTs you’re okay with giving away. All that said, let’s walk through the basics of Santa.FM and how it works for today’s post! -WMP Spreading holiday cheer with Santa.FM The tl;dr 🎁 is a recently launched NFT gift exchange protocol created by the VenturePunk web3 studio, which is spearheaded by . You can deposit NFTs into the Santa.FM gift pool up until Dec. 24th, 2022, at 10PM PST, after which you can redeem an equivalent amount of new NFTs from the pool that ensuing Christmas morning starting at 6AM PST. Santa.FM Jordan Lyall How Santa.FM works 🖇️ Since Santa.FM is a decentralized peer-to-peer protocol, it needs a way to exchange Ethereum-based NFTs in verifiably random fashion and without centralized interference or management. Toward that end, cue in the (VRF) resource, which allows web3 projects to securely tap into gas-efficient on-chain randomness. Chainlink Verifiable Randomness Function Accordingly, Santa.FM relies on Chainlink VRF to ensure the gifts deposited to its gift pool will be fairly and randomly distributed. As the VenturePunk team has : explained “ .” The Santa.FM smart contract will only accept the random number input if it has a valid cryptographic proof, and the cryptographic proof can only be generated if the VRF process is tamper-proof. This provides you with automated and verifiable assurances directly on-chain that the NFT gift randomization is provably fair and was not tampered with by the oracle, outside entities, or our VenturePunk team Inside the gift pool ⛲ In order to prevent an influx of spam submissions, the Santa.FM pool is only accepting deposits from NFT collections that are verified on OpenSea. The VenturePunk team has kickstarted the pool with a handful of NFTs ranging from collections like Art Blocks to SupDucks, and upon public contributions the pool’s now at +770 NFTs and counting at the time of this post’s writing. Ahead of the gift exchanges on Christmas Day, you can view all the deposited NFTs that are set to be randomly distributed via . In my opinion, there’s definitely some cool stuff in here so far! the pool’s OpenSea profile page How to use Santa.FM 🎄 Go to santa.fm and connect your Ethereum wallet Click the Open Exchange button Select the NFT you want to gift and then press Approve Contract and complete the approval transaction with your wallet Press Add Gift and complete the final deposit transaction That’s it! If you participate, you can return to this same dashboard on Christmas morning and select the Unopened Presents option to start redeeming your gift claims on a 1:1 basis The big picture 🤔 Santa.FM is celebratory, communal, experiential, fun, and open. My kind of experiment, in other words. But if you look deeper it’s also a sign of what’s to come. In our increasingly digital world, we bring our old customs online in new ways as we gain more techniques and understandings. Santa.FM does this in light-hearted style for holiday NFT gift exchanging, but it’s also just the tip of the iceberg for all the culture that’s going to be coming on-chain via NFTs in the years ahead. Believe that! Action steps 🧑‍🎄 Check out — just remember that this year’s gift pool closes in four days on the night of Dec. 24th! Santa.FM 🗓️ Read my previous write-up if you missed it! 2022 NFT highlights Author Bio William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal —a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the crypto economy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond! First Published Here .

Santa's Brought Us An NFT Gift Exchange Platform 

Santa nos trajo una plataforma de intercambio de regalos NFT

Le Père Noël nous a apporté une plateforme d'échange de cadeaux NFT

सैंटा हमारे लिए एक एनएफटी गिफ्ट एक्सचेंज प्लेटफॉर्म लेकर आया है

サンタさんが私たちに NFT ギフト交換プラットフォームをもたらしました

Papai Noel nos trouxe uma plataforma de troca de presentes NFT

Ông già Noel đã mang đến cho chúng tôi một nền tảng trao đổi quà tặng NFT

圣诞老人为我们带来了 NFT 礼物交换平台

There’s never a dull moment in the world of Bitcoin. In less than a year, it has survived two contentious scaling proposals: Bitcoin Cash and Segwit 2x. Even though the drama has died down for the most part, a new subject of contention is starting to brew; this time regarding Proof of Work. 2 weeks ago, published an “ ” urging them to consider changing the Proof of Work mining algorithm. In it, he asserted three main points: Cøbra Open Letter to the Bitcoin Community Bitcoin mining is becoming more centralized around Bitmain. A recent calculated Bitmain’s profits to be in excess of $3 billion in 2017 alone. Bernstein report This is concerning because Bitmain owns both and , which equate to 43.8% of Bitcoin’s hashrate (3/14/18). BTC.com AntPool https://blockchain.info/pools Now even though BTC.com and AntPool are mining pools, it’s unclear how much of that hashrate the Bitmain owns with their own mining rigs. With a warchest of $3 billion, it’s a very real possibility that Bitmain can increase their hashrate dominance either by creating more ASIC’s for themselves or buying out/investing in other mining companies like they did with AntPool. However, these concerns were somewhat allayed a couple of weeks later when released their feature on the . Bitcoin Magazine Bitcoin Defensive Patent License The Bitcoin Defensive Patent License (BDPL) “One of the best ways to (reduce miner centralization) is to encourage mining individuals or entities to grant their respective mining patents under a mutually defensive patent license that is tailored to address the unique needs of the Bitcoin or other blockchain protocol(s) and prevent any one mining consortium from obtaining the dreaded ability to launch majority (or near majority) attacks.” - BDPL This exciting new patent is an extension of the former Bitcoin Defensive Patent proposed by Blockstream. Crafted with the help of an incredibly qualified intellectual property attorney of 14 years who is also a “ ,” the patent seeks to re-facilitate the spirit of sharing blockchain innovation (which has been stunted due to the rising number of blockchain patents). By signing up, companies will be able to gain access to all the other patents in the BDPL, but they must also share theirs as well. director of emerging technologies for a non-governmental organization working with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization Now this may not sound like the most attractive arrangement for businesses, especially because proprietary products are how many companies thrive in today’s capitalistic economy. Luckily there’s a huge incentive to join the BDPL, especially if you’re a mining company. Asic-Boost as the Lure Little Dragon Technology LLC that it would sign up for the BDPL. As the current holders of the patent on Asic-Boost, they are essentially offering it as an incentive for other mining companies to join the BDPL. announced on March 1 In fact, one company has already started to reap the benefits of being part of the defensive patent. has announced that they have successfully integrated Asic-Boost into their specialized computers, becoming the first Bitcoin mining hardware company to do so. This bodes well for the Bitcoin community as has also added overt Asic-Boost support in preparation for some of these miners to come online. Halong Mining Slush Pool Now if I’m Bitmain, I have two choices: Join the BDPL to use Asic-Boost but give up my other patents I have and/or could be developing. Not join the BDPL and watch my profitability and hashrate dominance dwindle slowly as others capitalize on the increased efficiency up to 30%. Many in the blockchain community view this as a win for decentralized mining: However, not everyone in satisfied with the result: The two-fold sense of irony should not be lost on those who follow Bitcoin closely: Asic-Boost, the once criticized mining exploit, may possibly become the unifying factor to increase decentralized mining. Bitcoin’s network security is being protected by the very financial infrastructures it was designed to overthrow. This became a reality the moment that the Asic-Boost patent was used prior to the implementation of SegWit. It is reinforced even more now with the BDPL. to threaten miners The truth of the matter is, Bitcoin has reached a level of adoption where its network is being directly affected by government regulation. The BDPL serves as another step towards this direction. I believe this is the fundamental underlying issue for those who aren’t thrilled about the new defensive patent. Instead of relying on protocol, blockchain-extrinsic measures are being leveraged to protect the security of the network. On the other hand pragmatists argue Bitcoin exists in a regulated world and has finally grown “too big for its britches.” Even though this patent license situation isn’t ideal, mining hardware manufacturers are willing to use their patents aggressively. Therefore, using patents defensively is justifiable as it simply levels the playing field. The Bitcoin community now has two paths laid out before them: Do they adapt to a new era of pragmatically relying on extra-blockchain factors for network security should the occasion arise? Or do they remain a “purist” by refusing to let anything outside of the blockchain protocol to influence the network, especially its hashrate security? The success of the BDPL remains to be seen as only two companies have signed up for the BDPL: (3/10/18) https://blockchaindpl.org/users Meanwhile, a notable member of the Bitcoin community has been advocating for a change in Proof of Work: Though this may sound like a high-risk solution, it is not new idea. In fact, it was once to the Bitcoin community and is also on ’s roadmap as a threat to any miner who attempts to run an Asic on their network. Furthermore, there is a cryptocurrency (Monero) that is scheduled to perform a hard fork to specifically address this problem of centralized mining: proposed back in 2012 Vertcoin https://www.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/83d3vk/a_call_to_mine/ What’s left now is for us to simply wait and see how successful the BDPL will be. If it eventually fosters more decentralization in regards to Bitcoin’s hashrate, it may create an open stance towards a continued integration of Bitcoin’s protocol with government regulation. Meanwhile, it may be worthwhile to keep track of the successfulness of the Monero hardfork and use it as a case study to see if changing the Proof of Work algorithm is a viable solution. Remember to give me claps to the left, donations below, and share with your friends! Until next time, onwards and upwards. 😁 **Donation Addresses**BTC: 1CG5N9CHZiweJHcB8cPb9Hv5mMCanYftzwLTC: LVKPSSctKUuperwdzoffYBDTEQjNMNf2cm

The New Bitcoin Debate: Proof of Work Change vs. Defensive Patents

Some quite interesting things happened inside the crypto world in 2023, and some others will come in 2024, likely. We ended the year with a bullish note in the whole market —something that we couldn’t say in 2022. On the other hand, according to some sources, crypto adoption didn’t rise last year, but it still holds some promises for the future. Per Chainalysis, the global crypto adoption landscape is being dominated by central and southern Asia. Their led to this conclusion considering factors like cryptocurrency value traded on centralized exchanges and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) DeFi protocols in different countries. More specifically, Global Crypto Adoption Index India, Nigeria, Vietnam, United States, Ukraine, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Thailand (in that order) were the top crypto-adopters worldwide in 2023. Let’s explore more about them, and also about some other relevant factors for crypto adoption in 2023 and this new year. Top Crypto-Adopters Well, despite people trading online a lot, not everything is sweet for the top countries by crypto adoption. India finished 2023 by of nine global crypto exchanges, including Kraken and Binance, for supposed non-compliance with their Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws. They also have a 30% and are still crypto regulations. banning the websites tax on crypto profits exploring more The landscape seems better in Nigeria. After several years of hostilities, This, of course, could increase the adoption this year even though the government imposed a 10% on crypto profits. They also plan Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and stablecoins. their central bank finally to lift the ban on financial institutions serving crypto users and firms. decided tax to regulate Vietnam, for its part, is still hostile against cryptocurrencies —or at least its government is. There’s a banking ban in place, while the cryptocurrency underlying technology (DLT) is for other purposes. Pakistan and the Philippines have almost identical stories, banning coins or but maintaining to build their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Indonesia is also planning a CBDC, but they created a for exchanges to operate through it. Thailand has been more crypto-friendly, but crypto lending operations. being embraced exchanges plans crypto-specific bourse they have banned Beyond Asia, Ukraine has gladly adopted cryptocurrencies to help in its war against Russia. Meanwhile, in Brazil, several financial institutions crypto services, while a 15% tax will be on offshore crypto earnings from 2024. Now, as usual, the United States is involved in some high-profile crypto news this year, given its massive adoption. It’s been that they’ve received at least $225 million from global crypto donations. calculated are offering in place What happened to crypto in 2023? We can say that the US is an ambivalent country, with different laws in different states. For instance, Wyoming has been considered one of the most worldwide; while the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over 150 crypto projects and brands since 2013. And last year wasn’t different. crypto-friendly destinations has been suing Seeing the conclusion of those processes may take a while, considering that their lawsuit against Ripple started in 2020 and barely finished this year —with favorable results for the crypto firm in July. In June 2023, the and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchanges by volume. SEC sued Binance However, in November, Changpeng Zhao (ex-CEO of ) pleaded guilty to charges of violations of AML laws in the US. The exchange to pay over $4 billion in penalties, while Zhao will be judged in the country. Binance's new CEO is Richard Teng, and the brand’s products are working normally. Binance is expected Also in the US, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ex-CEO of the infamous crypto exchange FTX, was declared guilty in his fraud trial. He’s expected decades in prison, while Zhao could barely face some months. to serve Moving away from the US, Terra (LUNA) founder, Do Kwon, was arrested in Montenegro in March. El Salvador, still the only country with as legal tender, is planning to issue new Bitcoin “ ” for 2024 and passed a law to to foreigners who invest BTC in the country. In the European Union, the MiCA law (Markets in Crypto Assets) was finally in April, and it’s set to take full force in June 2024. Bitcoin Volcano Bonds offer citizenship approved In general, the whole crypto market capitalization increased by over 101% in 2023 (according to CMC). Investors can start 2024 with some good news. Besides, cryptocurrencies are now legal in 119 countries, which is most of the world (according to ). CoinGecko Obyte in 2023 We released several DeFi products in 2023, available for everyone, and Obyte had its seventh birthday last Christmas. We’ve been working hard to improve our ecosystem and add awesome new opportunities for all users. This asset is an integral part of the Oswap.io DEX, and not only serves as a governance token but also acts as a reward mechanism. Users can stake their holdings to get long-term rewards, deposit their LP tokens to receive a share of OSWAP emissions, and participate in the governance of the system. The farming pools are now offering up to 900,257% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) to liquidity providers. April brought us the , the first-ever DEX token issued on a bonding curve. OSWAP Token June saw the official release of the , a groundbreaking decentralized escrow platform featuring professional arbiters and a new type of smart contract in the Obyte wallet ( ). ArbStore provides a secure and trustless environment for international trade, ensuring a fair and efficient dispute-resolution process. ArbStore Contracts with Arbitration Both parties of a contract can write and privately share their own terms inside their Obyte wallets, deposit the funds, and take advantage of the smart contract and selected arbiter to protect their mutual conditions. As part of the program, Dapps developers receive generous rewards of 1,000,000 KAVA tokens (approximately $1 million) monthly. Obyte enrolled two Dapps: and . The funds obtained from it are used to create buy pressure for GBYTE, and we're distributing 90% of the acquired GBYTEs to users actively contributing to the TVL on Counterstake and LINE. In August, we joined the reward program and launched the new LINE token, a price-protected asset for rewards. Kava Rise Counterstake Bridge LINE Cryptocurrency Trends for 2024 We can never be sure about the future, but some early trends can give us some clues about what’s next for the crypto world. According to the by Gemini, we could have some interesting things going. They expect, for instance, a higher intersection between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency systems. 2024 Crypto Trend Report In the meantime, AI-related tokens are experiencing a notable surge in prices, signaling a growing interest and confidence in the market. The integration is expected to revolutionize various aspects, including smart contracts, secure data solutions, transparent large language models, crypto security (audits), and the fight against disinformation. On the other hand, there’s hype around a potential approval for a Spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States. The release of this product, along with the next Bitcoin halving (to reduce the supply inflation) in April 2024, could positively affect the Bitcoin price, and, by extension, the whole crypto market capitalization. Even if most countries have legalized cryptocurrencies, only 52.1% have applied specific frameworks (according to ). The MiCA law is the first one to cover multiple aspects of cryptocurrencies for numerous countries at one time. As a consequence of a major regulatory clarity, more institutions and companies could adopt cryptocurrencies to invest or offer services for users, and even to create their own stablecoins. More regulation is coming worldwide, though. CoinGecko What’s next for Obyte? We have some interesting projects in progress for Obyte. For instance, we’re planning to update the selection process soon to make it entirely controlled by the users. Let’s remember that the OPs are reputable Obyte users, often companies or organizations, whose transactions serve as waypoints for ordering all others. order provider (OP) The new listing will come very soon, and we’re going to announce all the details in the next few weeks. Besides, we’re currently in negotiations with a reputable global exchange to list GBYTE. For now, you can enjoy any of our current features, including but not limited to autonomous agents for automatic tasks, wallet chatbots, textcoins, ID solutions, smart contracts, and new reward programs. Our liquidity providers receive weekly payments, and our average users can always transact in a fast, inexpensive, and censorship-free environment. Let’s make 2024 awesome and decentralized too! Featured Vector Image by jcomp / Freepik

Cryptocurrency Horizons: A 2023 Recap and Glimpse into 2024 Trends

ক্রিপ্টোকারেন্সি হরাইজনস: একটি 2023 রিক্যাপ এবং 2024 প্রবণতার ঝলক

Kryptowährungshorizonte: Ein Rückblick auf das Jahr 2023 und einen Einblick in die Trends für das Jahr 2024

Horizontes de las criptomonedas: un resumen de 2023 y un vistazo a las tendencias de 2024

Horizons de crypto-monnaie : un récapitulatif de 2023 et un aperçu des tendances de 2024

क्रिप्टोक्यूरेंसी क्षितिज: 2023 का पुनर्कथन और 2024 के रुझानों की झलक

暗号通貨の地平線: 2023 年の総括と 2024 年のトレンドの概要

암호화폐 지평선: 2023년 요약 및 2024년 동향 엿보기

Horizontes de criptomoeda: uma recapitulação de 2023 e um vislumbre das tendências de 2024

Горизонты криптовалют: подведение итогов 2023 года и взгляд на тенденции 2024 года

Kripto Para Ufukları: 2023 Özeti ve 2024 Trendlerine Bakış

Tầm nhìn về tiền điện tử: Tóm tắt năm 2023 và cái nhìn thoáng qua về xu hướng năm 2024

加密货币视野：2023 年回顾和 2024 年趋势一瞥

You are looking to and are probably weighing your options from different ways to earn. Staking is one of the most lucrative investment options in the crypto world. It involves collateralizing assets in wallets, exchanges, or staking platforms for a predetermined period, after which you can earn incomes in the form of rewards. invest in crypto There are many staking assets in the crypto and world that offer excellent rewarding opportunities. However, identifying the right asset may be a problem for new investors. This guide will look into the top 5 Defi tokens to stake based on the rewards offered by each. Defi 1. CAKE (PancakeSwap) CAKE is the native token of a decentralized exchange called PancakeSwap. Due to its use in the PancakeSwap, this token has successfully gained vast demand, with its market cap standing at nearly $2 billion. It has been an excellent staking asset for many investors, with some claiming to earn super high rewards. How can you successfully stake CAKE tokens to stand a chance of earning a reward? Here are a few steps to consider; Transfer some CAKE and BNB to either Metamask, Trust, or other wallets supported by Pancakeswap and connect your wallet to the PancakeSwap DEX. Go to the pools section in the platform click the unlock button You can now stake your tokens in the pool by clicking the button dubbed Approve CAKE. At this point, you have completed your staking, and all you can do is wait for your rewards. According to a staking pool reward calculator, the annualized APY's in staking cake currently . stands at 75% 2. SUSHI (SushiSwap) Sushiswap is another platform offering excellent rewards on staking the native token SUSHI. This asset helps in the provision of DEX services and has garnered vast adoption. For instance, the current market cap of SUSHI, according to coinmarketcap, is $800 million. As a major alternative to UniSwap, Sushiswap has very high prospects for investors, and its token is a major beneficiary. As a Defi asset, SUSHI is among the best tokens to stake and earn rewards based on its staking. According to some staking calculators, a user can earn an annualized , which translates into $176 if the investment is $1k. How can a user effectively stake a SUSHI token? Here is a short guide; APY of 17.61% Visit the Sushi website ( ) and go into the application. Sushi.com You need to integrate your wallet into Sushiswap. Select the amount of SUSHI to the stake, or if you want to stake all, click the Max button, then confirm staking. Approve transactions, and your SUSHI is staked. You can now wait for the end of your staking period to get your rewards. 3. DYP (Defi Yield Protocol) DYP is Defi Yield Protocol's native token, introduced with a vast array of opportunities to earn income. It's an excellent staking Defi token, and investors can benefit from the staking returns. DYP is paired with different assets in four pools: DYP-ETH, DYP-USDC, DYP-WBTC, and DYP-USDT. The process of staking the coins is relatively simple and involves the following steps; Follow the link to the staking app using this link . https://app.dyp.finance Once you open this page, click connect wallet, where you can add the details to your Metamask wallet. Once you link the wallet, you can now connect staking pools like DYP/ETH pool. There are four staking options involved ranging from 3 to 90 day locking period. Select one of the pools you want to work with, add the liquidity required, supply, and approve You will need to follow a few steps, including selecting the gas charges, and then you will fully stake Note; As mentioned earlier, there are four staking options in each pool. The shortest is a three-day locking period with rewards starting from 30k DYP. The second is the 30 days locking period with 45k DYP as rewards. There is a 60 day locking for 75k DYP reward and 90 days locking for 100k DYP. 4. SNX (Synthetix) SNX is another profitable Defi tokens to stake and earn excellent rewards. SNX is a token powering the Synthetix network and providing options for investors to earn via investing in SYNTH tokens. The Synthetix network leverages the PoS consensus when releasing new tokens. Generally, SNX is a good staking asset, with rewards . If you invest $1k, you earn $235 by the end of the year. But how can you effectively stake the SNX token? Here are a few steps; standing at 23.57% Foremost, make sure you have transferred the SNX token you want to stake into the wallet and link the wallet with the staking app. Secondly, visit their staking page, , which is the staking app. staking.synthetix.io On this page, select the minting option. Tap the max button to make the maximum sUSD possible You can adjust the amount of input, select the mint option and confirm the transaction. 5. Luna (Terra) Luna is another excellent Defi token providing ample passive income-earning opportunities for the average user. As a product of the Terra Defi network, this token helps in running the primary services within the network. Terra is a Defi network introduced to leverage fiat pegged stablecoins to power the global payment networks. The tokens' rewarding , meaning, if a person stakes $1k of Luna tokens, they earn an average of $10 monthly. To stake Luna, you need to follow the following steps closely; rate is 12% The first step is downloading the t and login into your desktop wallet. Terra Station walle After setting up the Terra Station, go to the staking tab section, available on the Terra station wallet. Visit the validators section and select staked from the validators list. Finally, you will notice a blue delegate button, click it and enter the amounts to delegate. Finish the process by submitting and approving, and your value will be staked. Final Word Identifying the right asset to stake and earn excellent rewards is hard for new investors. However, this guide has looked at the top assets you can consider when investing in crypto staking. These assets include CAKE, SUSHI, DYP, SNX, and Luna, all of which offer excellent APYs for the users. DYP is especially an interesting asset since it provides a vast array of options to make it easy for investors to stake. Other assets are excellent tools for staking, including coins like Ethereum, Dot, and ADA, all of which can offer excellent rewards for investors. You must research the assets before making investment decisions. DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this article constitutes professional investment advice and should be used for informational purposes only. Please do your own thorough research before making any investments.

5 DeFi Coins With the Best Rewarding Options

Cryptocurrencies have proven to be the most innovative technology to be developed in a while. From making payments and settling remittances to serving as a hedge for investments and helping to transfer assets over a secure and anonymous network, there are various uses of cryptocurrencies- and each of them continued to get developed almost as the days go by. So far, Bitcoin itself has become the most popular digital asset by far. The top cryptocurrency is the dream of everyone looking to slip from the control of , and it has gained mainstream adoption much faster than anyone could have guessed. traditional financial and currency systems Bitcoin Isn’t Perfect However, for all the benefits that Bitcoin provides, it continues to pose several threats. There are those who have continued to hammer on bitcoin’s anonymous nature, pointing to the fact that the asset is being used as a means for criminals to launder money and hide their ill-gotten wealth. Some also contend with Bitcoin as having no value, although this argument is being put to death more and more by the day, thanks to the entry of various parties into the Bitcoin space and massive development being given to the asset, it has become obvious that there’s a lot of value that the asset can provide to investors. Mining in Focus Regardless, all of these arguments and many more could easily be spun and rebuffed. The most significant one by any standards for now is its mining technique. Mining is the way that a lot of cryptocurrencies are created. It involves people (known as “miners”) verifying transactions and getting rewarded for the work they put in. Every cryptocurrency that is being mined has a specific reward structure that governs how many assets will be given to miners, including Bitcoin. Currently, the top cryptocurrency gives miners 12.5 BTC for their validation work, although a “halving” is coming that will see things cut to 6.25 BTC. It’s worth noting that mining is much more complicated than this. However, the problem that a lot of people tend to have is with the type of mining that Bitcoin employs- Proof of Work (PoW). This firm of mining is used by currencies like Bitcoin, DASH, Litecoin, and much more, and there are some problems that have been identified with it- especially in relation to Bitcoin itself. Energy Consumption The first and most significant problem that Bitcoin mining has is the fact that it is consuming too much energy. Estimates suggest that mining operations are consuming as much electricity as the entire nation of Denmark. While the numbers aren’t enough to cause a global epidemic, it’s obvious that this is a bit of a problem nonetheless. The problem with mining as regards electricity is the fact that Bitcoin mining uses energy-consuming rigs 24 hours a day. Each of these devices consumes as much as 1400W of electricity. When they’re made to run for 24 hours, the consumption levels are staggering. These days, a lot of the mining operations are done by large, factory-type operations. A lot of governments have looked to increase investment by creating special zones and electricity discounts for Bitcoin miners, but even they know that a point will come when they won’t be able to keep up with the demand. Increasing Centralization Then, there’s the problem of increasing centralization. Instead of running their own mining individually, a lot of miners have chosen to band together to form “mining pools.” These pools have the power to control the entire Bitcoin network, thus rendering individual miners unable to compete. While the concept of mining pools isn’t so bad, the problem is that a lot of the top mining pools are now being controlled by companies. Therefore, they’re getting more centralized. Increase centralization will put the needs of many on the shoulders of a few, thus granting them more control over activities being run on the Bitcoin network. Enter: Bitcoin Ultimatum Several top names in the industry have spoken out against these issues, but only a few can actually proffer lasting solutions. One of such is Bitcoin Ultimatum (BTCU). Bitcoin Ultimatum was co-founded by Nikolai Udianskyi, as well as teams from crypto exchange and blockchain firm Prof-it. It is a hard fork of Bitcoin, and it operates like Bitcoin’s biggest competitor- Ethereum. Coinsbit To help solve the problem of mining and its effects, BTCU and its blockchain will be running on the L-Proof of Stake (LPoS) mining algorithm, combined with PoA, both will be used for mining and transaction validation respectively. When it is launched, the blockchain of this asset will need 20 validators. To ensure that centralization is prevented, half of the validators will be chosen by the development team, while the community will determine the identity of the other half. The BTCU blockchain will also bring a significant change to the PoA algorithm as transaction validators will be able to change and will also be chosen by cor-coin holders. By allowing transaction confirmation to be done by PoA, developers will be able to realize the blockchain throughput at the 200-transactions-per-second level. However, the blockchain is still able to scale up to 1,000 transactions per second. The BTCU blockchain also makes use of smart contracts, which will save users from the need to get intermediaries or other ways to protect themselves and their transactions.

Bitcoin Ultimatum – The Next Generation Bitcoin by Nikolay Udianskyi

Today we will look at some strategies for raising additional investment funds before the main round of an IEO. Toward the end of the article, you’ll find a step-by-step practical guide on how to do a Pre-IEO. Initial Exchange Offerings have become the predominant method of decentralized crowdfunding in 2019. However, the average amount raised per IEO has been falling, and many in the crypto world have noticed it. In previous articles we sorted out and talked about , even touching on the topic of Pre-IEOs briefly in the latter. Now we want to consider it in more detail, discussing why it often makes sense to pursue additional sources of investment to complement an IEO and how a Pre-IEO can help with that. How to launch your IEO Innovative Strategies to Launch an IEO What is a Pre-IEO? A couple of months ago, a Pre-IEO was most often understood as the process of preparing a project for the main IEO round — working on a marketing campaign, creating excitement and spreading awareness. However, during this process, some projects received offers to buy their tokens in advance, but at a lower price than directly at IEO itself. So what is the essence of a Pre-IEO? The main idea is to take the IEO itself as an information base, and to build an additional fundraising campaign around it as a sort of private ICO. What exactly is needed for this, we will understand further down in the article. First, let’s understand why investors might be interested in a Pre-ICO to begin with. Why investors are interested in Pre-IEOs The main problem associated with ICOs was that many projects either ended up on very small exchanges without liquidity, or weren’t listed on exchanges at all. Early investors bought tokens with huge bonuses compared to the price of ICO, but then they weren’t able to use those tokens in an application nor to trade them and get back some returns. When a project holds an IEO instead of ICO, it always means that it will be listed on at least one exchange, but often even more than one. So for an investor who decides whether or not to buy tokens before the IEO round itself, they can be confident that they won’t be stuck holding an illiquid token and losing all of their money. At the same time, having the guarantee of future liquidity means that the bigger the bonus compared to the IEO price, the more money is on the table here and now. As a result, we commonly see a surge in sales of tokens from our customers in the period before the main round of IEO. How to launch Pre-IEO 1. Negotiate with an exchange As it became clear from the article, the main driving force behind the private sales round is the IEO itself. Therefore, an agreement with the exchange is important. Depending on the project budget ( ), the project chooses an exchange. Often, consultants and advisors who monitor the current market situation have access to exclusive offers from exchanges. yes, all exchanges charge an upfront fee for launching IEO Of course, the bigger chosen exchange, the better — but even with medium-sized exchanges, this strategy works. 2. Marketing and PR In general, this should be a combined campaign targeting both the IEO and Pre-IEO. There must be content on social media platforms, activity on the Telegram chat of the project, efforts to get new participants (we have a special package for this called Community Engagement), PR should be widely published, and so on. You can find more details about marketing and PR campaigns for IEOs in the Hacker Noon article I wrote . here 3. Contacting Investors Crypto Funds At this stage, the project begins to look for investors and make them offers. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is to make a list of crypto funds and contact them. Technically, the project does not need its own IEO dashboard — large transactions can be carried out directly through contracts (mutual agreements). ICO Pools Another way to attract investment in Pre-IEO is ICO Pools. This kind of community was formed during the ICO hype, when many people were gathering together, most often in open and closed chat rooms in Telegram. The pool organizer negotiated with the projects about bonuses and all participants sent ETH, so that projects were collecting a solid amount of investment funds in return for good bonuses. Many pools are now investing in Pre-IEOs and this is a good chance for projects to negotiate with them before the start of IEO. Technically, everything usually happens through pool’s own smart contract. Participants send investments to it, which are then sent to the project. In return, the project sends tokens to the same contract, which are automatically distributed among the pool members in proportion to each respective investment. Private investors Several approaches are possible to attract private investors — from the classic search through advertising, to the more effort-intensive method of searching for them in chat rooms and groups. Our experience shows that individuals who want to invest in Pre-IEOs of strong projects tend to appear after several quality publications in the media. Sales with private investors can vary significantly from a technical standpoint. Some projects make dashboards implemented on their websites (like those that were on the ICO), while others work directly on developing a contract with investors. 4. Creating hype around the IEO Of course, you shouldn’t forget about the main round(s) of the IEO either — it’s important to keep targeting it in your marketing and PR campaigns. Moreover, receiving lots of early investments and rapidly close in on your hard cap is the best advertisement and hype possible for any IEO. Pre-IEO Main Strategies It probably goes without saying, but any token sale begins with the preparation of the basics, including tokenomics. All rounds and bonuses should be taken into account there. In this regard, there are quite a lot of strategies, but I will quickly mention a few basic things. Bonuses Of course, for a Pre-IEO, there should be higher bonuses than for the IEO itself. This is one of the factors that will attract extra potential investors. Minimum Investment Amount With a bigger bonus, we advise you to have a bigger minimum investment amount on the Pre-IEO as well. A progressive model is possible in which the higher the investment amount is, the bigger the bonus it receives. Lock-Up and Vesting Tokens sold in a Pre-IEO may be frozen for a so-called lock-up period — (the period specified in the smart contract for which part of the tokens cannot be forwarded or sold). This is necessary so that when a project gets listed at the exchange, early investors can’t immediately sell all their tokens with bonuses, bringing down the token price. But at the same time, it’s not necessary to tighten too strongly by doing a lock-up for many months. Vesting is also possible — to explain it simply, you do not send the entire volume of tokens right away, but gradually, for example, at 20% per month for 5 months. But again, the conditions should be both attractive and fair for investors. Conclusion The IEO market is changing and some exchanges are starting to raise less for projects. To the contrary, some projects have managed to generate loads of extra interest even as IEO difficult has increased. Nevertheless, successful cases show that there is still plenty of interest and money in the market. To access it, you just need to work on your strategy. If you have any questions or if you need help with your IEO — you can write me in Telegram (@baloyan) or LinkedIn .

How to attract more investments with a Pre-IEO

Peeling the invisibility cloak to reveal what magic of Grin and the magical world of the MimbleWimble blockchain implementation Expecto Patronum — Grin is conjured Grin has just launched as of 11PM GMT+8. I’m extremely excited for this event and have chosen to put together this content piece to help commemorate this milestone and make an easy to read piece for people who are new to Grin. This should bring you in as first years and equip you with enough resources to venture to the second year and beyond. You can use this post as a guide, read the links and come back later to finish the rest of the post. Onwards~ Read the whitepaper(s) to understand why Mimblewimble or Grin On 19 July, 2016 — A person or a group nicknamed: “Tom Elvis Jedusor” dropped the whitepaper for Mimblewimble on the world in a private IRC channel as an introduction to Grin: https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/wizardry/mimblewimble.txt “I call my creation Mimblewimble because it is used to prevent the blockchain from talking about all user's information” - Tom Elvis Jedusor Within a span of 3 months, Andrew Poelstra submitted a follow-up whitepaper solving various issues and thus bringing us deeper down the rabbit hole. https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/wizardry/mimblewimble.pdf If you’re relatively new to cryptocurrencies and blockchain, I’d suggest this explanation of the benefits of Mimblewimble by the Beam team: https://medium.com/beam-mw/mimblewimble-explained-like-youre-12-d779a5bb483d You can then supplement the information with the official documentation and introduction to Grin and Mimblewimble: https://github.com/mimblewimble/grin/blob/master/doc/intro.md Note that Grin and Beam are both implementations of the MimbleWimble blockchain. Now that you understand what’s Elliptic Curve cryptography, Pederson commitment, and how it enables the node to never know what the transaction amounts were, you can proceed. How many Grin coins does Gringotts have? The number of Grincoins can be modeled in the following chart. The total supply at any time can be determined by block height * 60 since Grin is designed to have a block every 60 seconds on average with 60 Grincoins in each block. One can see that this is very similar to that of Bitcoin. CryptoProfG goes in depth and analyses Grincoins’ monetary model in detail with his views as a store of value: https://medium.com/@CryptoProfG/grin-money-explained-4-exploring-grins-monetary-model-e48b1761653 Am I contributing to someone’s pockets again? Since last year, we’ve seen many companies where the team receives outsized rewards and have not delivered on product. Grin is not doing an ICO, there’s no premine and the development of Grin is entirely funded by donations and the community. Needless to say, this gets us very excited to be a part of the community to actively contribute. Supply starts from 0. Let the chanting (mining) begin As Ethereum miners shut down their miners due to profitability issues, we’ve seen significant mining demand for Grin. Most large pools are now supporting Grin: f2pool, SparkPool, MWGrinpool, Grinmint to name the top few. Grin Mainnet will accept Cuckaroo29 and Cuckatoo31+ with the latter comprising 10% of blocks mined. Cuckatoo31+ is meant to be ASIC friendly and will likely be 100% after 2 years, giving manufacturers ample time to plan ahead and develop ASICs. The primary proof-of-work is designed to be ASIC friendly and is not expected to change in the future. ASICs manufacturers are encouraged to design specialized machine to mine it. For existing GPU holders, the estimated GPU mining stats for the various supported cards can be found here: https://github.com/mimblewimble/docs/wiki/GPU-Mining-Stats If you are curious on what the network hashrates and difficulty are, keep close tabs on this resource by the BlockCypher team. _grin mining pool_www.grinmint.com Grinmint - Grin Mining Pool | Network Charts Viewing the Triwizard Grin tournament Not everyone can participate in mining, but if you want to just watch the blocks get created, I’d recommend you build or use a Grin block explorer (Grinscan maybe? I checked and it’s bought by some cunning folk). _GrinExplorer.net is powered by grin-explorer released under the GNU AGPL._grinexplorer.net GrinExplorer _GrinMint/Explorer is powered by grin-explorer released under the GNU AGPL._www.grinmint.com GrinExplorer Our friends at Counter.network built this too: https://grin.merklepath.com/ You can also head over to CoinMarketCap.com and CoinGecko.com to observe prices and other information once they have successfully integrated the APIs. Greed is good As with any amazing cryptocurrency project, we all have to admit speculation is part of the fun. Exchanges, decentralized exchanges, OTC networks and derivatives markets all serve that purpose and more. We also need a healthy market and liquidity to make sure all participants have a healthy playground. We see a growing list of exchanges throwing their hats to the game. bisq.networkcounter.networkbitmesh.comgalleon.exchangegrinpay.orgchainrift.comhb.topnexex.iovinex.networkkkex.vipbitforex These exchanges will be possible places to store your tokens. I’d also recommend holding them in your own wallet with your own keys. You can follow this guide to install and run a Grin node + wallet on your MacOS or Linux device: . https://medium.com/luxor/how-to-install-and-run-a-grin-node-wallet-32f344591478 Wallet713 for Grin by Vault713: https://github.com/vault713/wallet713 I definitely hope to see good hardware wallet solutions being developed. Time to get to work Ledger, KeepKey, Cobo Vault, Trezor and imKey team. Keep the party going Donation is a key part of making sure Grin core developers continue making Grin more awesome. You can buy Grin merchandise, organize events, attend events and contribute to the general fund: https://grin-tech.org/funding Meet other fellow wizards What’s a community without conversations, discussions and debates? You can discuss over telegram chats, meetups, conferences Gitter: Discord: Grinhub Telegram Group: t.me/GrinCoinGrinfans Telegram Group: t.me/grinfansGrincon US: Grin Asia meetup: https://gitter.im/grin_community/Lobby https://discordapp.com/invite/Z3sEfEU https://grincon.us/ https://meetup.com/grinasia/ Spencer Yang can be found lurking on Telegram @spenceryang. He’s a partner at Hashtag Capital. Hashtag Capital is a multi-strategy electronic trading fund. We specifically provide OTC services for Grin. We will donate a certain % of profits to the Grin community fund. We co-organize events like Grin Asia (meetup.com/grinasia) in Singapore on 23 January, 2019. The partners of Hashtag Capital have supported the growth of companies like CryptoAudiences, Counter Network, CryptoKitties, CoinMarketCap, Cobo, Chainrock, Akio Labs, PledgeCamp, EOSIO.SG and many others over the past 2 years.

Expecto patronum — a starter user guide to Grin & Mimblewimble

While crypto prices are skyrocketing (yet again), the very important technology behind crypto asset #1 gets unnoticed. We screened the news for experts’ take on a technical upgrade of Bitcoin. Starting August 23, 2017, Bitcoin allowed the process of splitting transactions into blocks by separating signatures. This format is called SegWit (or Segregated Witness) – a soft fork designed to avoid accidental transactions and make the network run faster. Since the digital signature accounts for 65 percent of a transaction, removing it from the data increased the maximum size of the Bitcoin block from 1MB to almost 4MB. It allowed transactions to reduce the size and fit more of them into a single Bitcoin block. The BTC network gained additional scalability and made transactions faster. In January 2018, Bitcoin developer Gregory Maxwell , called ‘Taproot’. According to his paper, the new technology will increase transaction privacy, make it more efficient, and eliminate some of SegWit’s deficiencies. proposed a new BTC protocol update since the SegWit soft fork of 2017. It is intended to increase Bitcoin's fungibility, improve the functionality of smart contracts, and boost privacy by making all transactions look the same to outsiders. Taproot is the most significant BTC update Notably, the Taproot upgrade comes along with the . It is considered among the best in the cryptocurrency field by offering high effectiveness and supporting multi-signature options. Bitcoin transactions often include multiple inputs and each of them requires a separate signature. Schnorr allows all of the signatures to be combined and stored as one, freeing more room and simplifying the transaction. Schnorr Signature algorithm A Schnorr signature is a digital signature algorithm developed by a German mathematician Claus Schnorr in 1989. It is well-known for the ability to aggregate multiple signatures into a single one, which makes transactions indistinguishable thus increasing privacy. Credit: https://imgur.com/PbCUysl Taproot and Schnorr Benefits According to Bitcoin Optech contributor , the Taproot & Schnorr soft fork brings the following opportunities: Steve Lee : 30-75% savings on multi-signatures and 2.5 faster block validation. Scaling : all outputs become indistinguishable, increasing privacy. Fungibility : provides a simple way to structure crypto signatures. Script Innovation Taproot’s biggest role is to make transactions similar so they cannot be recognized by outsiders. Even the most complex smart contracts on the blockchain will look analogous to regular transactions. Taproot’s actual innovation is its flexibility for privacy-protecting cooperative spending: and use it as programmable funds without identifying their purpose, which improves both privacy and fungibility. Bitcoin users can combine their signatures into one key Taproot Activation – Avoiding a Hard Fork After Binance Pool’s approval in December 2020, the Taproot upgrade is now supported by mining pools with over 90% of the total hash rate. As , this signals the agreement to proceed with implementing Taproot in the nearest future. A number of experts foresee . VP at Poolin Alejandro De La Torre said Taproot and Schnorr to be the biggest topic and development focus in the 2021 Bitcoin world Credit: https://imgur.com/PIGovHB Being a consensus protocol upgrade, Taproot requires changes to Bitcoin nodes (network connections), that have to be made through a soft fork. There are several proposed ways to implement the upgrade and all of them rely on two Bitcoin Upgrade Proposals (BIP): BIP8 or BIP9. They are similar and offer slightly different approaches: BIP8 includes a ‘flag day’ rule, which requires all the miners to adopt the update by a set date. On the other hand, BIP9 offers a signaling period when miners have to express their support for the changes. If this does not happen, then the process starts again. Per , a Bitcoin Core developer, BIP9 is the most favorable and reasonable choice. If miners have enough time to approve the update and signal their support, it will minimize the possibility of a hard fork scenario. Jonas Nick There seem to be no apparent concerns , Nikita Zhavoronkov, portfolio tracker Blockchair developer, expressed his doubts over the upgrade’s privacy benefits. In particular, Nikita assumes that it is Lightning developers who advocate for Taproot to make transactions cheaper. We quote: “they want a for their product at the expense of (formatting is ours). Among all the approving voices discount broken no one uses everyone’s privacy!” However, his unsupported claims have been dismissed by George Maxwell since Taproot was developed specifically to address the issues Zhavoronkov spotlighted. Tech that looks bullish At the time SegWit was introduced, it was strongly contested. In fact, the initial proposal, SegWit2X, was rejected and replaced by what is known as SegWit. However, after the soft fork occurred, it has been quickly adopted as a new standard. On the contrary, Taproot seems to cause no disagreement among the Bitcoin community. Since its publishing, many developers have reviewed the proposal and expressed no considerable concerns so far. As pointed out, overall the Schnorr signature and Taproot soft fork proposal have hardly any downsides. . Given that the overwhelming majority of mining pools have already approved Taproot, now it is only a matter of time when the new technology gets implemented. Messari and BitMEX Research Their scalability and privacy upgrades are obvious improvements as compared to SegWit

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