Phemex, a top 5 cryptocurrency exchange, has been embracing decentralization and pioneering a hybrid operational model. Its Web3 ecosystem combines decentralized decision-making with centralized efficiency, while its upcoming native token will allow ...

The future of crypto trading is hybrid — Interview with Phemex

Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now TIA, the native token of modular blockchain network Celestia, is trading at $3.15 on decentralized derivatives exchange Helix ahead of the mainnet launch later this week.

Celestia's TIA Token Trades at $3.15 on Futures Market Ahead of Airdrop

Ireland is emerging as an attractive destination for crypto firms; Coinbase designated the country as its EU hub earlier this month.

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The company also said it tokenized its interests in the abrdn market fund in euros, pounds and dollars and has a pipeline of several hundred million dollars to be held in the fund.

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Customers who may be having withdrawal or refund problems with Phemex Global Ltd can turn to Zorya Capital for international recovery services. Zorya Capital professionals are recovery experts who assist those who have been victims of withdrawal ...

Phemex Global Ltd – Claim Your Deposits

In this review of Phemex, our team of professional crypto testers has taken on the assignment of diving deep into the Phemex exchange to find out all the pros and cons. This team consists of David, Charles,

Phemex Review: Pros, Cons, Fees, Withdrawals, Security [Tested]

In an effort to help you choose the best crypto exchange or trading platform in Canada, our team of experts has analyzed over 30 platforms to find the top picks. Our team consists of Henrik, Jerry, and Anna who together have over 25 years of experience in the field of blockchain and retail trading.

Best Crypto Exchanges And Trading Platforms Canada

Terms may apply to offers listed on this page. The Phemex cryptocurrency exchange is a full-service platform. It offers leverage trading up to 100 times your initial investment amount and accepts ...

Phemex Review: Advanced Trading, Charts, and Passive Income

PT is an on-chain, transferable platform utility token for the Phemex exchange. The ERC20 coin can be used to pay for trading, gas, deposit and withdrawal fees on Phemex. It can also be staked to obtain vePT, wherein “ve” stands for “vote escrow”.

Future ‘Shock’? Phemex Probably Won’t Be Even Mildly Surprised

On September 5, 2023, the OSC issued a Statement of Allegations against Phemex Limited and Phemex Technology PTE. Ltd. (Phemex or the Respondents), a Singapore-incorporated company that operates the Phemex crypto trading platform. Phemex operates an online ...

Canadian Regulators Continue Enforcement Efforts Aimed at Offshore Crypto Platforms

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Despite its popularity, traditional finance has some inefficiencies that need to be addressed. There is still a lot of financial inequality, both in monetary value and access to investment products and services. Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be done from within the financial sector, as regulators, legal requirements, and other constraints prevent a global solution that creates a level playing field. With decentralized finance and blockchain assets, that situation becomes different. Even those who work in traditional finance acknowledge something needs to change. Rather than waiting for someone to do it for them, some take matters into their own hands. Retail investors are a key market to tap into, and traditional finance may not [always] present that option. Exploring alternative options through blockchain technology holds tremendous potential, although Wall Street veterans agree there is still much work ahead. I decided to talk with Jack Tao, the CEO of digital assets derivatives exchanges, Phemex, to get more insights about the topic. 1. Now that introductions are out of the way, could you tell us a little about your background? Before founding Phemex, I was an executive for Morgan Stanley for over a decade. When I started out, I had a good grasp of how financial markets work, but I wasn’t prepared for how hostile Wall Street can be towards retail investors. 2. From Wall Street to digital assets, what made you switch sides? *laughs* I wouldn’t say Wall Street and digital assets are opposing forces, but there’s a lot wrong with traditional finance, and decentralized assets are a solution to many of its issues. Between the inflated fees and frozen trades to the exclusive pre-sales, there’s so much bias in financial services. When we heard about blockchain, we knew what we had to do. 3. What got you into the cryptocurrency space? I was quite curious about blockchain as soon as I heard about it. I started out mining Bitcoin, and even made an account on a reputed cryptocurrency exchange to invest in a more diverse range of assets. It fascinated me that these currencies could exist without centralized intermediaries, but I knew the technology was far from ready for mainstream consumption. Even today digital asset regulation is scarce, but back then it was even worse. I ended up losing a significant part of my crypto portfolio after a platform malfunction, and this made me realize that though blockchain was supposed to represent ideals like decentralization and transparency, the industry lacked both maturity and mature players. 4. What do you prefer about working in blockchain as opposed to traditional finance? Unlike on Wall Street, there’s a real sense of community in the blockchain industry. It’s heartwarming to see people from all over the world come together to build the future of money, and I’m proud to be a part of that movement. Globally, stock markets house over $80 trillion in assets, and with so much money at stake it’s hard to view each trade as anything other than moving numbers on a screen. But there are real people behind every market, and though our financial systems weren’t designed to be unfair, the harsh reality is that they are. 5. We know traditional finance has its flaws, but what are the problems you’ve seen in the digital assets arena? Decentralization isn’t a competing approach to today’s financial systems. It’s an evolution of our financial infrastructure that ensures its fairness. With blockchain, people aren’t trusted to do what they need to, but are economically incentivized to act in the network’s interests, and disincentivized from acting against it. Today, one of the biggest issues in the space is the lack of regulation and education. The technology isn’t at a stage where it’s ready for mainstream adoption, and uninformed early adopters are falling prey to the scams. The lack of regulation only furthers this problem, since there are no systems in place to resolve these disputes. There’s also the matter of ethics. Since the industry is still growing, large players do have the ability to manipulate markets. This doesn’t produce any permanent effects, and markets eventually stabilize to their previous levels, but sudden price movements are going to put a lot of potential investors off. 6. In your experience how has the blockchain industry evolved over the last decade? As I mentioned before, my terrible experience with an exchange led to the founding of Phemex. At the time, it felt like the same restrictions towards smaller investors in traditional markets were creeping their way into the blockchain sphere. It would have been so easy to give up here. However, the existence of centralized entities in a decentralized ecosystem isn’t really the problem. It’s about having centralized entities that have your best interests at hand — regardless of who you are. This is what Phemex strives to be. 7. At this point, it’s obvious that blockchain is altering the face of financial services globally. What makes it so special? After the global financial crisis of 2008-09, there’s been a growing shared sentiment that ineffective middlemen were ruining economies for the rest of us. Blockchain is our collective response to a system that keeps breaking. Of course, DLT is still in its early stages, and it could take years, decades even, for the technology to accomplish what it’s set out to do. 8. What does ‘Phemex’ mean? With blockchain being such a community-driven ecosystem, we knew from the very start we wouldn’t get far without their support. The word ‘Phemex’ is actually an amalgamation of two words — ‘Pheme,’ the name of the Greek God of fame and renown, who was known for championing the public’s views, and ‘MEX,’ an abbreviation for mercantile exchange. Together, Phemex stands for our dream of a more transparent financial system, where voices are never stifled and no one is given an unfair advantage. 9. How does Phemex fit into the broader blockchain industry’s narrative? Building Phemex was definitely not a one-man job. Our founding team, which included eight other executives from Morgan Stanley, didn’t create Phemex to be just another exchange platform. We’re out to fix financial services. Since Phemex was founded in 2019, we’ve grown from a few thousand members to over 1.5 million active traders on our platform, reporting quarterly trade volumes greater than $250 billion. This month, we’re also giving our user interface a complete overhaul, including a whole new visual design so users can easily navigate and utilize our services. Our leadership consists of Wall Street veterans who understand money, and how financial systems can be made to favour everyone. Trading may be fundamentally competitive, but that doesn’t make it a zero-sum game. Phemex wants to encourage an economy that’s powered by equal opportunity and monetary freedom, so everyone can make meaningful contributions to their future. 10. Do you have any advice for someone just getting started with cryptocurrencies? Start small, and don’t think about profits just yet. Blockchain is a complicated sphere, and it’s important to understand where the real value lies before trying to capitalize on it. With thousands of digital assets to pick from, there are so many projects doing groundbreaking work, but not all of them are worth your time and money. Our goal is to provide everyone, even those just getting started with digital assets, with a platform that doesn’t play favourites, where winners are determined by their own skills, ability to adapt, and market foresight. Break through the noise with blockchain, and break free from the limitations of traditional finance with Phemex.

How Wall Street Veterans Decided to Fight Back Against Traditional Finance

The underlying technology of crypto and blockchain can theoretically be applied to any type of market sector/industry. It is simply a matter of introducing the technology correctly, somewhere in the supply chain/business model. Whether service-based, physical goods, or informational products there are touchpoints at which the presence of a digital asset or distributed ledger can serve beneficially towards improving a system. The natively digital economy is composed of a slew of different markets. Given the financial/accounting nature of cryptocurrency in general, a large portion of sectors stem from similar primitives and in turn overlap, due to the commonalities in infrastructural/ design elements. Let's look at 18 of the most popular sectors of the crypto economy: Content overview DEFI Store of Value Smart Contract Platforms Oracles Stablecoins CEXs DEXs Gaming Metaverse Wallet Logistics/Supply chain Social Media Prediction me I go score. Insurance Media/Entertainment Storage REFI Analytics 💱 💱 DEFI . The holy grail of crypto and blockchain applications. Decentralized Finance is an incredibly broad term that encompasses a multitude of different sub-categories relating to finance including insurance, exchanges, lending/borrowing, payments, liquid staking, and others. Decentralized Finance What set decentralized finance apart from traditional finance is the “operating system” upon which it runs and the distribution of ownership over the application and the industry; in the case of a crypto-based DEFI, that system is a blockchain network. At the highest level decentralization is the diffusion of power throughout multiple parties, decentralization in regards to finance exists across two paradigms; the application level, where a single protocol is decentralized, and at the industry level, where it is possible to create competing protocols without having regulatory moats deny access to regular people. Application of Crypto: Strong - Incentive for bootstrapping liquidity into a protocol - Distributing governance rights UniSwap ( ), Compound ( ) Ex: UNI COMP 👑 👑 Store of Value A commodity of the digital economy. This is basically a class of monetary assets that specifically serve the function of facilitating the protection of buying power over the course of time. The purpose of projects in this space should be to minimize any technical complexities in their networks (which reduce risk vectors and the surface area of potential hacks) and focus on optimizing monolithic architectures that heavily prefer maximizing security. Generally speaking in order to classify as a store of value, the economic design that underpins a digital/crypto asset must exhibit characteristics superior to fiat systems with concepts such as deflation, fixed supply policy, and resistance against being controlled by any geographic entity. Application of crypto: Very Strong - Tool to represent digital claims on a repository of tokens (UTXO) - Object of attributing energy storage Bitcoin ( ), Litecoin ( ) Ex: BTC LTC 🧫 🧫 Smart Contact Platforms Distributed ledger networks that allow for the instantiation/deployment of code with arbitrary logic to create general-purpose programs. Also commonly called, Layer 1’s, smart contract platforms allow for applications to be built on top of them while providing them with security and computation. The timeless interest in scalability has brought a new generation of blockchain technology to the forefront with modularity called L2. There has been insane hype around this and funding by venture capitalists attempting to introduce even newer L3’s modular scalability technology trying to garner its own sector of the digital economy, however, I personally do not think that it will last. My thesis is that while L2s will survive and thrive, the modular narrative will die; rollups don't need tokens. Application of Crypto: Very Strong - Incentive for node management Ethereum ( ), Solana ( ), Polygon ( ) Ex: ETH SOL MATIC 🔭Oracles 🔬 Pipelines that connect on-chain and off-chain data sources to feed information between siloed digital environments that are otherwise not capable of transferring information. Oracles are a middleware that exists somewhere between the fabrics of Web2 and Web3 which act as an added layer of trust for providing accurate, timely, and relevant information to applications. Applicable to every industry/business model, Oracles are generalized automatons that have strict input-output demands. Giving an Oracle a hard set of “if-then” rules helps create a monitoring system for guaranteeing arbitrarily anything. The dominant application of oracles within crypto has been to provide price feeds. Since blockchains are not “aware” of themselves they need external prompts in order to trigger some kind of action. Ethereum the blockchain does not know the price that society is paying for ETH. Thus for an application such as decentralized exchange, oracles are needed in order to fetch information about the prices of assets and bring them on-chain. Application of Crypto: Very Strong - Incentive for node management - payment method for requests ChainLink ( ), Band Protocol ( ), UMA ( ) Ex: LINK BAND UMA 💵 Stablecoins 💶 Tricky terminology with two categories of meanings that depends on the context and the group of people talking. At the most basic level, the term is used to express a token that is stable in price, . While 99% of the conversations around stablecoins relate to pegged fiat currencies; is also the terminology used to describe wrapped crypto assets across chains and representative commodities such as gold-backed cryptos. stablecoin relative to the asset which it represents stablecoin Ultimately, stablecoins are just tokens that represent the price of their underlying asset. Technically this is a very intuitive sector to comprehend, the complexity in this sector arises from over-ambitious testing (ahem, algorithmic stablecoins ) and political intrigues relating to the countries that issue the underlying assets. {basically money out of thin air} Application of Crypto: Strong - Tool to track price , , , , Ex1: USDT USDC BUSD DAI TUSD , , , Ex2: WBTC WETH DGX PAXG 📉 CEXs 📈 Centralized Exchanges. Possibly the most common interface for onboarding traders and investors. CEX’s provide the industry with a wealth of important services and information. They are venues where users can engage in exotic financial operations (such as 100x margin), they are the primary sources of price data for oracles, they typically. Many modern-day, crypto-centric centralized exchanges also tend to issue their own tokens. The utilities of their tokens tend to be over-imaginative, but generally, they are just fee discounts for using the exchange. Starting from the shenanigans of Mt. Gox in 2014 and rolling into the crazy FTX saga of 2022, centralized Exchanges have a muddled history in the crypto industry of constant consumer allegations and regulatory scrutiny for fraudulent behavior, faking data, fund misappropriation, and other undesirable things. Application of Crypto: Moderate - Tool to track price - discounts on trading fees KuCoin ( ), , , Binance ( ) Ex: KCS Phemex MEXC BNB 📈 DEXs 📉 Decentralized Exchanges. One of the many sub-categories of DEFI and the potentially better twin sister of CEXs. Decentralized exchanges are the facilitators of trade for digital assets in the crypto economy. Within the context of exchanges, decentralization exists in two major ways; decentralization of the control over order flow with the utilization of AMM bonding curves (allowing anybody to become an LP), and decentralization over the ownership of the platforms through a DAO. There are two general models of placing bids/trades in a DEX, AMM, and order books. Automated Market Making involves pricing assets on a bonding curve based on the ratio of assets within a pool. Orderbooks are the traditional model where bids/asks are organized according to wherever users set their prices. Both models have merit and both models have been getting a lot of innovation taking place around them. Application of Crypto: Moderate — Strong - Incentivizing LP’s for liquidity provisioning - Mechanism to offset hacks - DAO membership Balancer ( ), Pancake ( ), ThorChain ( ), 1inch ( ), Bancor ( ), SushiSwap ( ), TraderJoe ( ) Ex: BAL CAKE RUNE 1INCH BNT SUSHI JOE 🎮 Gaming 🎮 One of the most actively pursued areas of development within the crypto industry is gaming. Beyond crypto, gaming has always been one of the most sought-after industries by investors and startups due to its extremely high rate of growth. Even in 2023, the gaming industry, as a whole, is anticipating a CAGR of over 13% over the next 5 years. The reason that gaming is such a hot topic is due to the fact that it holds the promise of incredibly high user retention, high transaction frequency, and near-zero costs for new product releases. Once a game penetrates society, the incremental costs of releasing new products (such as skins in a game) are laughable in comparison to the income that it brings for the game. Application of Crypto: Weak - In-game currency Gala (GALA), Enjin (ENJ), Illuvium (ILV) Ex: 📺 Metaverse 📺 A grossly misunderstood and misappropriated term, Metaverse is a generic, broad word typically used to drive conversations around AR/VR, gaming, and the intersection of human evolution with technology. So many startups in the space just throw out Metaverse as a buzzword in an attempt to appeal to unknowing retail users, meanwhile, there is more worthless vaporware projects in the Metaverse category than nearly any other. There is only one sub-category of “meta-verse” assets that hold potential and that is digital land. Land in cyberspace might be valid, but then again, this teeters quickly from the catchphrase of metaverse into gaming, as these lands are typically used for and belong in, games. Application of Crypto: uncertain - Reward for users participating - promise of DAO membership - promise of abstract, non-tangible things Decentraland ( ), Sandbox ( ) Ex: MANA SAND 👛 Wallets 👛 A pioneering OG sector of the digital economy, wallets were one of the first applications to exist and remain as possibly the most important. Wallets core functions of managing Public/Private key pairs, and storing, receiving, and transferring cryptocurrency puts it at the very heart of basically all other applications. They are the foundation for onboarding and retaining users. Decentralization of wallets is a vitally important aspect to the creation of a holistic crypto economy because the presence of a decentralized enough system of ownership will protect a wallet’s users from nefarious governments trying to monitor their activities. Application of Crypto: Moderate - Incentive for attracting users to hold deposits on their platforms - Vehicle for distributing protocol/application ownership TrustWallet (TWT), SafePal (SFP), TokenPocket (TPT), XDEFI Wallet (XDEFI), Klever (KLV) Ex: 🚚 Logistics/Supply chain 🚛 One of the most intuitive applications of blockchain technology relates to its properties of transparency and auditability. The ability to prove product provenance and trace its tracks from origination to end consumer without having to worry about any of the potential liabilities relating to malicious parties in the supply chain manipulating the product is a tremendous natural benefit to all businesses. Application of crypto: Very Weak Application of blockchain: - timestamping (TRAC), TE-Foods (TONE) Ex: Origin Trail 🤳 Social Media 🤳 Platforms that provide engaging interfaces for communities to build and users to connect with one another. Savagely competitive sector. Thus far, all of the attempts in this niche have been failures, primarily due to easily manipulable incentive designs and not being able to reach inflection points in adoption. Whenever a platform’s only differentiator is the presence of an incentive, the odds are that platform will never reach mass adoption. Mercenary actors would come to platforms such as Steemit and manipulate their systems via astroturfing/Sybil attacks and extrapolate all of the value. Once all of the rewards are gone, those early users that joined just for the rewards leave and new users don't want to go somewhere where there are no users. Whenever a platform's only differentiator is the presence of an incentive, odds are that platform will never reach mass adoption. The trickiest part of building social platforms from scratch is the fact that this sector is dependent on an adoption flywheel. Users will go wherever their friends already are. Bootstrapping a new social media platform would mean having to compete with existing platforms and take away their user market share; this requires strong enough drivers for user behavioral adaptions (having to get familiarized with new platforms) and users will typically not want to leave behind the reputations they have already spent time building in order to start all over again. Application of crypto: Weak - access to platform (pay/hold for use) - mechanism to secure identity (staking) - rewards for creator/audience engagement SocialEX, DESO, GM.xyz, Torum Ex: 💹 Prediction Markets 💹 Prediction markets allow for the creation of markets around arbitrary, non-financial objects of social interest. From outcomes on new regulations to environmental turnovers to the results of sporting events, prediction markets are exactly what they sound like, predictions. Anything that can be predicted can have a market created. Will Manchester United win this year? Will they place in top 10? Will RFK jr become the next president? Will Beyonce release a new Album? Will Eminem find a new girlfriend? Literally, anything the mind can conceive and society can measure can be transformed into a market. I am a huge fan of this sector and believe that this form of the market has simply yet to be properly understood by the general public or perhaps might have just not had enough proper innovation due to potential regulator hurdles. Application of crypto: Moderate - DAO ownership/membership - Asset for placing wagers - Reward for payouts Augur (REP), Prosper (PROS), Numeraire (NMR) Ex: 🔐 Insurance 🔐 A very underappreciated industry sector with massive potential, yet it has been hardly addressed by the crypto industry. The main reason this sector lags behind in terms of adoption/innovation is that implementing insurance in crypto gets tricky when the elements of decentralization and pseudonymity invite dis-honest, malicious actors looking to subvert the system. Users can get creative in orchestrating systems of failure just to collect potentially outsized insurance claims. That said, the size of the surface area of what insurance can be used for in crypto is MASSIVE. From smart contract failures to Oracle misbehavior and even exotic uses such as hedging yield, the raw amount of demand vectors for decentralized insurance products are insane. Highly recommend this area for startups looking to enter and provide genuine value with solutions to burning problems. Application of crypto: Strong - tools for DAO membership - Pool of assets to balance out potential claims - backstop mechanism to offset funds lost in hacks InsureDEFI (SURE), Nexus Mutual (NXM), Etherisc (DIP), UnoRe (UNO) Ex: 📺 Media/Entertainment 🎥 Primarily CDN (content delivery networks) the media sector within the digital economy is among the few that remains relatively quiet even during moments of peak euphoria in bull markets. From music to visual entertainment to active engagement, the Media/Entertainment sector exists with heavy overlap with the gaming and social media sectors. I would pose that this is a general pseudo-category similar to what DEFI is. The main distinction for quality projects in Media would depend on the nature of their product designs; building a CDN is high value with strong arguments for the presence of a toke, meanwhile building applications that merely use CDNs are more abstract and likely should not have their own digital assets. Application of crypto: Moderate - Depends on exact application - Reward for use - Incentive for node operators to become relayers/providers Theta ( ), LivePeer ( ), LBRY ( ) Ex: THETA LPT LBRY 📦 Storage 📦 The storage sector of the crypto economy has only begun to gain traction. One of the potentially limitless sectors in terms of size, as humanity continues to exponentially grow its digital footprint, the demand for storage will only continue to grow in tandem. Application of crypto: Moderate - Incentive for node operators to dedicate storage space on their hardware FileCoin (FIL), Arweave ( ), Storj (STORJ), SiaCoin (SC) Ex: AR 🌳 REFI 🌴 Regenerative Finance. A somewhat strange morphology of DEFI regarding a class of financial products that serve as a vehicle to provide environmental benefits as a byproduct of its operations. Driven by a model of doing good for the environment, REFI focuses on creating a “sustainable” financial system that takes into account its impact on ecological aspects of social life and looks to address climate change. Application of crypto: Moderate - Incentives for carbon emission controls Application of blockchain: - Record Keeping - Auditing , Toucan Ex: KlimaDAO 🔎 Analytics 🔍 Providers of information about the industry. Analytics tools are the backbone of organized data; every grade of market participant, from the most Degen retail investor to sophisticated high-frequency trading firms all rely on some kind of empirical and statistical data to help them drive their decision-making. By the nature of the products themselves, analytics contribute to basically all other sectors. Application of crypto: Weak - DAO Acces , , Ex: DexTools DexCheck Nansen We have just covered 18 sectors of the crypto economy; roughly half of the total ~36–40 that exist. Categories that have not been included in the list are: Gambling, Art, AI, Memes, DAOs, Health, Launchpads/incubators, Real Estate, RWA, lending/borrowing, derivatives, energy, IOT, AR/VR, and a few others. I hope this information can serve you well in understanding just how nuanced and broad the landscape of the digital economy really is. Live long & prosper 🥂 Also published here.

Exploring the World of Crypto: 18 Key Categories of the Digital Economy

Do you still think it is impossible to transact huge sums of money with strangers on the web? In 1995, believed that no online database could replace a daily newspaper. But look at us today. When last did you buy a newspaper to read? I can't remember the last time I bought one myself. Clifford Stoll With the rate at which Web3 is being adopted, in no time, you'll have to learn about Web3 to stay ahead. What if I told you there was an easy way to learn and earn while learning Web3? It means you're getting something from it apart from gaining new knowledge. In this article, you'll learn about different Web3 learning platforms where you can earn while learning diverse topics, including crypto, Web3 development, DeFi, Ethereum, Solidity, etc. Pre-requisites I suggest you see the before or after you read this article. dummies guide to Web3 What Is Learn to Earn in Web3? It's as simple and direct as the title. Learn to earn is a concept in Web3 where individuals are rewarded for learning about crypto, Web3 development, or completing tasks to earn NFTs, crypto, or tokens. So, what's the motive behind paying people to earn? Well, for some of the platforms listed below (which are mostly exchange platforms) — when you learn from their platform, you're more likely to become a customer once you complete your learning. It's an excellent win for the beginners and the company that has offered to teach them. Apart from the earning potential, why should I learn about Web3? See answers in the next section. Why Learn Web3? When people ask this, they mostly ask to see if it's possible to build a successful career in the field. The average application users are usually only interested in using the apps, not learning about their inner workings. Take a look at Illustration one below. A few years back, Danny had to prepare for her project at the web development boot camp she partook in. It was a hassle to learn and finally deliver on the project, but she did it, and her team came in second place. Illustration One: Danny got her hands dirty with several projects but started to earn when she landed her first job as a web developer. Currently, Danny would like to transition into Web3, but she can earn while learning and without a job this time. That's an excellent reason to want to learn Web3 as a developer, but there's so much more. Discover them below: Other career paths in Web3 include investors, designers, community managers, product managers, Web3 business owners, etc. 1. Countless Job Opportunities There's a high demand for jobs in Web3 like blockchain engineers and designers and a massive knowledge gap as there're only a few blockchain developers worldwide. This means there's still a low entry rate into the industry and minimal competition. 2. High Demand and Scarcity According to , the average annual blockchain developer salary is around $119,000, but about ⅓ earn over 180,000 USD. However, about 80% exceeds 115,000 USD. You can already tell that starting a career in the industry is a profitable one. I've also seen design jobs that pay around 70,000 to 100,000 USD. 3. High Pay Dataconomy There's an opportunity to learn on the job as employers aren't expecting you to know everything as there're many new technologies, so you can quickly get to learn. Gregory — the founder of dapp university, has something to say about his experience of being paid to learn on the job. 4. Learn on the Job paid It allows you to become early adopters and have an edge against when web 3 becomes mainstream. 5. Early Adopter How to Learn and Earn in Web3 In this section, you'll discover several Web3 learning platforms where you can earn. These are sites where you can learn the basics of Web3 before you proceed to the other media in this article. Let's get down to business. I divided this part into two sections, so you can go to the section that concerns you or go through it all — that's totally up to you! Web3 Learn To Earn Platforms For Investors Below you will find Web3 learning platforms to learn about crypto and the blockchain to become a better investor and make smarter choices. 1. CoinMarketCap CoinMarketCap is the number one site for sourcing the price of crypto assets if you have ever wondered where the crypto pros get their insights from. It aims to empower crypto investors with the accurate information they need to make informed investment decisions. As an investor, if you would ever love to learn about crypto and earn while learning, CoinMarketCap is a suitable option. There are several video training available on-site, after which you complete quizzes to earn crypto through the site. Thanks to some of CoinMarketCap's partnerships, you can dive deeper into various cryptocurrencies and blockchains, including Tron, BNB Chain, Solar, Oasis Network, NEAR Protocol, Only1, etc. 2. Binance Binance is a lot of things, but at this moment, it's the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of its trading volume and number of users. Another essential piece of information is that you can learn and earn crypto through the Binance Academy. The goal behind Binance is to foster a world where everyone has the freedom to earn, hold, share and give their money no matter who they are. So, if you're interested in learning about cryptocurrencies, earning, and trading on Binance, the academy offers free training to beginners and pros alike. 3. Cake DeFi Cake DeFi's one of the fastest growing online platforms that provide investors with easy access to decentralized financial services through their products. Cake DeFi aims to help entry-level and existing investors build wealth through the decentralized financial applications they provide. Through Cake DeFi, you can earn small amounts of crypto with the lessons and quizzes they provide on cryptocurrencies. if you signed up on Cake DeFi anytime from the 29th March 2022 till the present, you'd be eligible for up to 10 USD in crypto. However, you'll only receive your earnings after you complete the signup process and the quiz at the end of each module. Note: If you signed up before 29th March 2022, you can participate in the training for free but will not earn the 10 USD. 4. Phemex Phemex is a crypto trading platform where you can buy, sell and do many cryptocurrency-related activities. The d-app is highly trustworthy as it records 300,000 executed orders per second. The goal behind Phemex is to allow anyone anywhere in the world to trade crypto at any time. Although Phemex has temporarily suspended their learn and earn bonuses due to their restructuring, you can still access the courses and enhance your crypto knowledge. How does Phemex learn and earn program work? You have to watch the videos on the platform, take quizzes, and earn cashback vouchers when you complete quizzes. 5. KuCoin Kucoin is one of the largest crypto exchanges that offer services such as buying and selling crypto, spot trading, etc. With Kucoin, you need to complete tasks to earn USDT. Once you sign up, you can start performing a specific weekly task and will have an idea of how much you can earn from these tasks. You can also navigate to the learn to earn section on the site, where you can learn about the birth of Bitcoin, how to deposit, etc. Web3 Learn to Earn Platforms for Web3 Developers Below you'll find Web3 learning platforms to earn while you learn Web3 development. 1. Web3 University Web3 University is a literal goldmine. The online university is an educational platform that brings us the best resources on blockchain development. I was stunned by how filled it was with knowledge on Web3 development. Although you can't earn while you learn with Web3 university, you can learn anything about Web3, from writing your first smart contract and how to build your first NFT to building a Web3 front end with React. They are currently offering a free 10 days course on Web3 development, and you don't want to miss out. 2. useWeb3 useWeb3 is not your regular Web3 learning platform as it's filled with resources ranging from books, courses, code challenges, guides, starter kits, tutorials, and videos to recommended Web3 resource sites. useWeb3 is for both beginner and Web2 developers looking to transition into Web3 by providing them with a handful of resources. One thing about useWeb3 is that you might not earn while learning, but it provides you with a pool of jobs you can upskill and apply for. 3. Pointer Pointer, similar to Web3 University, is an online educational platform that rewards software engineers in crypto to improve their skills. The demand for blockchain developers is relatively high, and with the help of Pointer, you can meet industry standards and qualifications. After researching the site, I must say that Pointer has a great UX design, which is a plus apart from learning and earning on their site. Another plus would be from the developers who've taken their courses; they've some excellent reviews on taking Pointer courses. 4. Proof of Learn Proof of Learn is an education platform founded to address the knowledge gap and shortage of skills in Web3 and to help students earn while learning. Proof of Learn aims to unlock accessible, high-quality education worldwide through the blockchain. Their vision is to help anyone with an internet connection and a passion for gaming to learn smart contract development and earn alongside. Through the platform, you can earn crypto incentives, gain hands-on Web3 skills and build your career. It sounds like the perfect plan for anyone looking to learn Web3 development. Proof of Learn has a project called Metacrafters to help bring their dreams to reality. So what's Metacrafter? Metacrafter is the premier project of Proof of Learn, where developers can learn to code on the blockchain through the immersive gaming experience that brings the history and core of the blockchain to life. The project is still underway and not fully realized yet, but you can have it in mind when you want to start your Web3 development journey. 5. QuestBook QuestBook aims to become the Uber app of builders (Web3 developers). What do I mean? When you use the Uber app to order a ride, a driver registered on the app and is close by can come and pick you up — no questions asked. QuestBook is looking to achieve similar feats for builders by plugging developers into businesses/projects that require their service. It aims to help builders realize the dream of decentralization by providing them with the needed tools and resources. When you learn and complete quests on QuestBook, you can earn some crypto or NFTs. You can also earn indirectly from the program if you build your skills over time and join the community to make inquiries. You can learn many new things, such as building on Solana, NEAR, Polygon, Ethereum, etc., through QuestBook. 6. Moralis Moralis is a Web3 as a service tool that provides API, SDK, and data for building high-performance dapps. You can see that their target audience would be builders or Web3 companies searching for builders. With Moralis, you can learn anything from Rust programming and DeFi in 2022 to building an NFT marketplace. Moralis also comes in handy because it provides a personal roadmap for you depending on your level of knowledge and interest in Web3. Another plus of Moralis is that it provides a free professional CV template tailored to blockchain development. Join 60,000+ other Web3 students who want to master Web3 programming just like you when using Moralis. 7. StackUp Stack up is an online platform that offers much more than earning while learning. You'll get the chance to learn, earn, connect, grow, attend events, and level up with StackUp. You can also choose any programming language, from Python to Rust. You may get paid in USD if you complete the quests or campaign that meets the standard requirement. You should also connect with like-minded individuals in their discord community and participate in organized events. Other web3 development learning sites include Buildspace, Thirdweb, Odyssey, etc. FAQ Is Web3 worth it? Yes, because there'll be mass adoption of Web3 years from now, it's worth learning. Q: A: How do I start Web3 development? You can get started in Web3 by taking action steps towards what you've learned in this article. Q: A: What programming language does Web3 use? There're several languages in use when Web3 is involved, but the non-negotiable language you must learn is solidity. Q: A: How do I get a job in Web3? Check out web3.career page for job opportunities once you've started building your skill set. Q: A: Closing — The Dummies Guide to Earning While Learning Web3 Through this article, you've learned more than 12 Web3 learning sites and d-apps where you can learn about Web3 and its related topics. I'm grateful I got to research and write this article because I've learned many new things, and I'm sure you've too. A great tip would be to select a few from this Web3 platform when starting and focus on them before trying every other resource because you don't want to spread yourself too thin. Choose based on your interest and which platform you're most comfortable with learning on. Adios!

12+ Web3 Learn to Earn Platforms

Always write down your private keys and mnemonic seed phrases! Your future self will thank you! “Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, and this article was written for entertainment & educational purposes only. Never invest more than you can afford to lose, as the crypto markets tend to be very volatile. Don’t invest blindly because your buddy told you it was a sure thing. Do your own research and be responsible for your decisions. Have fun, build community, c u @ the moon!” -Mike Ballistic @BallistiCoinNetwork && @hash0xmaster Within my lifetime, having been born into this earth in the early 90’s, I have witnessed an evolution in technology that is unmatched in recorded history by most concepts aside from the great enlightenment taking Europe, and then the world, by storm in the 17th and 18th centuries. I was born into American society, one that had been in the midst of technological progress for nearly a century, if we begin the count from the timeframe wherein Benjamin Franklin sailed his kite bearing the key that would eventually equate to the discovery of electricity, or so our history books described the happening as such. When it comes to money and the way we transact, barter, trade, and produce economy, the greatest of revolutions is happening right before our eyes. It has been ever since Pizza Hut successfully implemented the first online ordering/purchasing mechanism that allowed consumers to order a pie via Pizza.com from a home PC using a credit card in 1994. Seems ironic to me that one of Bitcoin’s first real-world applications was similarly the infamous story of how a man named Lazlo Hanyecz successfully purchased two pizzas for the mere 10,000 BTC on May 25th, 2010. At the time the crypto had just started trading publicly with a monetary value of about $0.003 per coin. Had he known what implications Bitcoin would have on economies the world over through the course of the decade to come, he may have chosen to not barter 10,000 of his purse for just 2 pizzas. Namely because at the time of this writing in Q4 2021, said 10k BTC could retrieve a whopping $479 at the going rate: just shy of $48k each. Million Another event that seems to be an all-too-commonly told story, the old “I found a crypto wallet on an old device/ hard drive, but can’t seem to recall the seed-phrase mnemonic, password, and/or private key!” This is most commonly experienced by early adopters, cyberpunks of the time, who may have lost the recorded keys before crypto really took off to become so lucrative as a market and asset. Having the ability to recover wallets from close to a decade ago, could result in life-changing monetary value, which wasn’t the case when instantiated, therefore wasn’t seemingly as important to securely record mnemonics and private keys back then. That being said, provides segue and relativity to the topic. Seed Phrase Mnemonics, Private Keys, and YOUR MONEY! Are you like most new-to-crypto users, dipping your toes in the atmosphere by trading or investing on a centralized exchange (aka CEX) where your transactions are overseen, processed, and in the custody of the governing entity of each respective platform? The most likely instances I think of would be in the neighborhood of websites and apps including but not limited to: Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, Crypto.com, Kucoin, Voyager, Gemini, Phemex, Nexo, and so on. Decentralized exchanges (aka DEX) operate in a different manner, in that you would be prompted to connect your own wallet (which could be in the form of a hardware wallet like Trezor, or a software wallet like Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, and Trust Wallet) in order to transact with the exchange, make trades, and purchases. While each path has it’s own ratio of benefits: setbacks, there is one determining factor that means the difference in the control; or lack thereof over your assets. If you guessed KEY PAIRS, it seems you’re beginning to catch on! :) Key Pairs There is a common saying amongst members of crypto communities. When moving coins and tokens on a network or protocol, there are two main components in transacting securely: private keys and public keys. As depicted in the diagram at the top of this article (yes I drew it by hand just this morning), public keys (aka Wallet Address) are visible by within the block explorer once a transaction is completed and added to the current block of the chain’s ledger. “NOT YOUR KEYS, NOT YOUR WALLET!” ANYONE Private keys are to the contrary, as they should only be known by the two parties involved in each transaction. If your private key were to be mistakenly shared with an unintended party, it could result in the impeding party gaining ability to decrypt the message, access your wallet, or in this case, receive the coins or tokens that were intended for someone else. Or even remove the funds held by the compromised wallet. Each transaction has its own set of key pairs, however, your public key correlates with the wallet the transaction originated from, therefore if you were to create multiple transactions with the same wallet address, your public key would be publicly recorded to the ledger once for each transaction. This is why it’s usually best to create a new wallet for each transaction. While this may sound difficult, it’s actually really simple, and suggested by professionals to maintain utmost security, but also isn’t always necessary so long as your secrets remain as such. Metamask has one of the simplest and most modular GUIs out there, offered as a browser extension with a feature for simply creating new wallets w/ keys with a single click of the mouse and compatibility with almost every browser and crypto network out there in configuration. The main downfall I have personally witnessed with Metamask, it is possible for a hacker with ill intent to recover an account having the login username or email, and possibly brute-forcing a password attack by way of mnemonic seed phrase. This is not a very common occurrence, as an attacker would need to have your login details and means of verifying the account holds a number of coins or tokens worthy of the effort and risk, but it has happened. There is also an open bounty regarding a bug that affects seed phrase recovery of Metamask accounts on gitcoin.co right now, so there is a current effort from developers and pen. testers being directed to creating the most seamless functionality. Centralized Exchanges With a better understanding of how key pairs govern how transactions are made, we can look back at our centralized exchanges. Only to notice that, when you create an account or login to an account, there is no option of implementing a seed phrase for recovery in most cases. More importantly, when you make trades or transactions like sending coins or tokens to another person’s wallet, it is not required to provide a private key, and the public ones used, are created and provided by the exchange and out of your hands. What does this mean? It means that the exchange is the third party, central provider, governing entity, and has complete discretion over If the exchange were to experience technical difficulties, or even shut down completely in the worst-case scenario, you would be essentially S.O.L. This is why it is detrimental to utilize crypto wallets and exchanges that are non-custodial. For users of Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, the equivalent to the solution is as simple as using the to maintain custody and control of your assets and the key pairs that deem them as such. “your money". “Coinbase Wallet” If you were a user of Coinbase or Coinbase Pro less than a month ago, and you were a member of the demographic group of people that had invested in GYEN or POWR, then you saw first hand what it can look and feel like to have a custodial entity make implications in the state of your holdings without being able to have a say or any repercussions in the state of your trades or assets, as many members of this demographic found themselves either locked out of their accounts or unable to sell the very same assets they had previously purchased on the same platform. Caused by a mistake made by a developer, and none by the users, while the users suffered the consequences as a whole. I was a member of this group, and I am in no way bad-mouthing Coinbase. Just sharing my gained knowledge from the incident in hopes that the newcomers to the movement of crypto mass-adoption, in both private and retail environments, are able to differentiate their choices and know-how decisions in platform and protocol, can mean the difference in owning your assets or allowing others to own them for you. The key component in a custodial centralized exchange that proves attraction, is that they take transaction fees. This takes the place of high gas fees that are necessary to interact with any decentralized exchange that is operating as a second layer of ERC20, meaning it runs on Ethereum’s blockchain. So while you would be in control of your keys and assets when using a wallet like Metamask, transacting with other wallets or decentralized exchanges costs in gas, that can often be more than the initial amount of value in the sent or traded coins or tokens. With that in mind, I would advise any who inquired to choose a centralized exchange when dealing in small amounts of monetary value but use a wallet in which you are the implementer and controlling entity of key pairs when dealing with larger investments where it would be more economic to pay the gas fees in order to maintain discretion of your assets. For example, if you are simply investing $5 USD weekly or monthly, it may not be so lucrative at first to maintain your own keys, and certainly wouldn’t stand as economic to pay a gas fee of $20-$200 on each purchase/ trade. However, if you were making an investment in the thousands of dollars, the gas fee doesn’t amount to being higher than a fraction of the value you are securing, making it more sensible of a strategy. I hope this information helps everyone in a way that avoids the possibility of mistakes or being taken advantage of. Like any other economic market, there will always be scammers and someone trying to gain your confidence in order to take advantage. But the crypto community stands out from other markets in that many of its users are in it for the communal qualities, NFTs, implications for artists and creators; making charitable efforts that impact the real world, and paving the path of the largest social movement across the metaverse. Be safe, have fun hodling, trading, and all the transacting in-between. Always write down your SEED PHRASE! Never share it, nor your PRIVATE KEYS. Don’t send your crypto to anyone promising to send you double in return! If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is! Just a friendly reminder, I am not a financial advisor. This publication is intended to be entertaining and educational, and you should always research projects and protocols, relying on trustworthy sources only, before making any decisions regarding investments. The volatility of crypto markets can go both ways, so never invest more than you can afford to lose! Happy hodling, heavy hashing!

How to Store Your Keys in the New World: Key Pairs in Crypto

Ishan Pandey: Hi Jack, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Would you mind telling us about yourself and the story behind Phemex? For me, Phemex is more than just another cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. I spent over a decade on Wall Street as a VP at Morgan Stanley, and if that taught me anything, it’s that the world of financial services as it stands today isn’t designed for retail investors. Jack Tao: I encountered blockchain technology in its early days and even earned some Bitcoin from mining. However, despite the community’s philosophy of decentralization, transparency, and distributed control, I found few of these ideals implemented on mainstream exchanges. This is what led to Phemex’s inception. Ishan Pandey: Could you tell us about crypto derivatives and how they work?  Furthermore, could you enlighten us about the regulations surrounding these products? Cryptocurrency derivative products are precisely what they sound like: products that derive their value from an underlying crypto-asset. Jack Tao: They come in the form of traditional products like futures and options, but unlike what’s available in conventional offerings, Phemex also provides perpetual swaps, which allows traders to maintain their positions indefinitely using a funding mechanism. Digital asset regulation is complicated, but with governments slowly learning the value of blockchain technology, we’re seeing more and more regulators looking into how they can control the asset class. We don’t see DLT as a replacement for the current infrastructure but rather an evolution of the financial system. Phemex adheres to a variety of regulations, but as lawmakers realize how blockchain is paving the way forward for finance, it should become much easier for platforms to start adhering to legal standards globally. For interested traders who want to learn more about cryptocurrency derivatives, please read our blogs. Ishan Pandey: Many cryptocurrency platforms are operating without a license from the regulator where they are registered. What are your views on such unregulated platforms, and what are the risks attached to them? Blockchain has only survived so long because of its philosophy of decentralization. Jack Tao: Many believe the 2008 financial crisis sparked the need for distributed control, and with how carelessly centralized entities have handled our economies throughout history, this seems like the only way forward. However, money as a concept has always been centralized, and hundreds of years of regulation designed for centralized money can’t suddenly be applied to a decentralized ecosystem. We believe that regulating the blockchain space is the only way to push these ideas into the mainstream, but we also understand that it’s not as simple as slapping the same old rules on a new form of money. Regulation will take time, and until we can develop sound laws that respect both the traditional and futuristic aspects of money, there will always be unregulated platforms. A decrease in these platforms could signal the industry starting to mature, but I think they will always exist. In the meantime, whether a law dictates it or not, upholding a commitment to protect all users and their assets is a must. Ishan Pandey: What advice would you give to traders on how to trade financial instruments? Start small, and don’t buy into the FUD or the FOMO. Jack Tao: Especially in an industry like crypto, with absurd profit margins, it’s easy to buy into the get-rich-quick mentality. However, it’s important to remember that a successful portfolio has more to do with avoiding bad decisions than making good ones. Education is critical here: there will be all kinds of people and projects trying to convince you to invest in a particular token, and without understanding why or how a project creates value for the community, it’s impossible to weed out the genuinely worthwhile investments from the scams. Speaking of community -- get involved! The cryptocurrency community is quite welcoming. Take part in events and get to know other people in the space. For example, we conduct trading competitions, giveaways, and other events all the time. In fact, Phemex is celebrating its 2nd anniversary this month! We’re also conducting a ‘Dream With Phemex’ event as part of our 2nd anniversary, where we’ll be selecting a few special winners and making their dreams come true. What are your views on Web3, and how can it be leveraged in different industries? Ishan Pandey: Just like Web2 made it simpler for end-users to interact with the Internet of Information, Web3 will revolutionize how the world interacts with the Internet of Value. Jack Tao: Already we’re seeing applications that have no parallel in the realm of traditional financial services, and as Web3 applications continue to be built for more mainstream audiences, decentralized value transfer should become the norm for most modern web-based applications. Web3 will also change how things are monetized. One of the biggest challenges with today’s Internet is how information is gathered and utilized. With how blockchain networks make data monetizable, we should see a significant shift in modelling businesses. Fields like supply chain and identity security are entering a new paradigm, and with DAOs, entire organizations can take on and contract work without a central entity calling the shots. Ishan Pandey: How do you see the Web3 revolution impacting the development of dApps and the DeFi space? Decentralized Finance is a relatively new facet of the Web3 revolution, but arguably one of the most important. Only around 60% of the world’s population has access to the Internet, with approximately 80% of that demographic representing people between the ages of 18-54. Jack Tao: DeFi enables anyone with a smartphone to access the blockchain and its associated services, which is an enormous step towards global financial inclusion. Ishan Pandey: What role has the pandemic played in allowing traders to profit from cryptocurrency investments? Also, what do you think the post-Covid-19 scenario would look like for the blockchain ecosystem? The current narrative has hinged on the idea that Bitcoin is a hedge against inflation, and with the U.S. dollar’s wholesale price index rising, it’s a great time to be invested in digital assets. Jack Tao: Bitcoin’s deflationary model is an excellent avenue for long-term store of value, and this has caught the attention of investors across the globe as inflation continues to ramp up. However, as the world begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, economies too will start to stabilize, and the fear surrounding inflation will start to wane once more. After all, inflation isn’t entirely a bad thing. The benefits of cryptocurrencies will continue to become apparent, and this should keep bringing people into space. I believe that while the pandemic may have encouraged many to diversify into the asset class, its absence will not pull them back out. Ishan Pandey: According to you, what new trends will we see in the blockchain industry? Facebook’s recent foray into the metaverse narrative has investors everywhere looking for the next new trend, but we’ve seen this coming for quite some time now for those in the blockchain industry. As a concept, the metaverse has existed for decades, portraying a world where the lines between our online and physical personas are blurred. Jack Tao: This year we’ve seen the NFT sector explode with activity, and with the metaverse slowly creeping upon us, the concept of digital ownership is only going to become more critical. As I said during my speech at the recent World Blockchain Summit in Dubai, no one really knows what the metaverse will look like, but that’s because no one person, entity, or conglomerate will design it -- instead, it will be constructed by billions of distributed, disparate individuals across the planet. Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to remove informational asymmetry existing today in our digital markets by performing due diligence, asking the right questions and equipping readers with better opinions to make informed decisions. The material does not constitute any investment, financial, or legal advice. Please do your research before investing in any digital assets or tokens, etc. The writer does not have any vested interest in the company.

"Web3 will revolutionize how the world interacts with the Internet of Value"

Bitcoin isn't the most accessible asset in the world, but it was even harder to obtain until just a few years ago. Despite the first Bitcoin transaction taking place in January 2009, between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney, the first sale of Bitcoin for fiat currency wouldn't occur until October. It wouldn't be long before things picked up -- the infamous Bitcoin Pizza Day took place in May 2010, and less than a year later, the Silk Road was born. Most Bitcoin trades that took place before cryptocurrency exchanges became mainstream were conducted on forums, discussion boards, and chat rooms. But if Bitcoin was to replace traditional money, there needed to be a more convenient way to distribute it. An exchange acts as a supply, enabling millions of people to buy, sell, and hold their investments. Today, anyone can sign up for a cryptocurrency exchange account and access thousands of digital assets. Of course, nothing is perfect, and this applies to exchanges too. Centralized exchanges have been the dominant form of trading platform in the cryptocurrency space for the last decade. Traders use these platforms to place bids and asks, while a central server collects these requests and arranges them so everyone gets what they want. This is an incredibly efficient process and can scale to billions of dollars of transactions in a day. The problem with this form of exchange is that it has a central point of failure. With every trade and transfer being run through a single entity, it creates a rather obvious attack surface for people with malicious intent. Because of this, centralized exchanges are forced to have some of the most secure networks in the financial services industry, and their reputation depends severely on this image of security. However, until recently, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) were not yet functional enough to cater to a more mainstream audience. By trying to imitate the functions of a centralized exchange using decentralized infrastructure, these platforms became slow and unreliable. Further, because most DEXs were running on un-audited code, they became instant targets for traders looking for loopholes. Decentralized exchanges have come a long way from their early days, and with the advent of Automated Market Makers (AMMs), they could pose a threat to even the most popular centralized alternatives. Not only do they offer more privacy, but they also enable traders to access less popular assets that may not be available on centralized exchanges. So why haven't we seen a mass shift from CEXs to DEXs? Will decentralized exchanges ever dominate over the space? And will centralized exchanges ever go out of fashion? The answer is complicated. Different people have different priorities for what they want out of an exchange, and while this creates two distinct (perhaps slightly overlapping) groups of traders in the market, consumers can't complain about choice. Similar Roles, Different Goals Today, there are exchanges that cater to all kinds of investors, from retail traders with little disposable income to hedge fund managers trading million-dollar derivatives contracts. The recent boom in has also opened up the industry to various services and enabled countless people to access financial services with just a smartphone and an internet connection. DeFi Exchanges are pillars of the blockchain ecosystem and are part of the industry's essential infrastructure to maintain markets. Centralized exchanges don't just launch IEOs and handle transactions – they are also responsible for providing accurate market data for APIs running into other dependent applications, and protecting the assets stored on the exchange. Cryptocurrency markets don't close, meaning these exchanges have near-zero downtime. Most popular centralized exchanges handle billions of dollars worth of transactions every day, forcing them to employ the highest security measures available. However, trading fees are higher on centralized exchanges, and while they can seem harsh, it pays to understand what those fees cover. Decentralized exchanges have recently become more efficient with the introduction of Automated Market Makers, but while they may be cheaper and offer a wider variety of cryptocurrencies to invest in, there are certain conveniences they don't provide. Bringing CEXy Back The most significant difference between orderbook-based CEXs and AMM-based DEXs is that centralized exchanges have you trade with other people, while decentralized exchanges have you deal with a – a program on the blockchain designed to perform a few pre-determined functions. DEXs also allow users to trade anonymously, but this can be a double-edged sword. smart contract Since there is no central database to verify KYC data, it's much harder for DEXs to comply with regulations, and this also forces users to use third-party off-ramp services to cash out their tokens. DEXs also ask users to take custody of their assets, which might seem like a good thing, but while funds stored on exchanges are at risk of attack from hackers, most CEXs’ insurance coverage ensures users don't lose any assets. At the time of writing, the largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange, , is processing over every day. Between early 2020 and Q1 this year, the number of active users on has nearly doubled to 60 million, with a 13x increase in the total assets on the platform, while daily volumes on have increased sixfold since the start of the year. Binance $32 billion Coinbase Binance Relatively new derivatives exchanges like and have also seen astronomical growth numbers in 2020-21. FTX last month handled enough volume to make it one of the largest exchanges. It now processes $14 billion per day which marks a 25-fold increase from April 2020. FTX Phemex Just comparing Q1 of this year to last, Phemex saw over 450.2% growth in trade volume, and a 150.9% increase since 2020 taking the number of active traders to over 1 million on the platform. Seeing education as a bottleneck for adoption, the exchange has also produced detailed user-guides for its features, along with highly informative articles on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology through its comprehensive Academy section. However, centralized exchanges do present an easy target for governments to censor cryptocurrencies if they determine their use opposes their financial laws. This also affords regulators unadulterated oversight into the data collected by the exchange to ensure compliance with their policies. DEXs are crucial to the growth of the blockchain industry and represent the new wave of innovation and development coming to the space. However, genuinely decentralized exchange offerings are still very much in their infancy, with low trading volumes, and this lack of liquidity makes using them even more inconvenient. Still, they do give newer projects a way to list their token without going through the stringent, and often restrictive listing processes on centralized exchanges. This also gives centralized exchanges a chance to see how a project performs and ensure its validity before offering it to more mainstream users. They represent how far the technology has come and are a signal of the innovative applications that the future of decentralized networks holds. With more platforms arising every day, providing everyone from individuals to institutional investors access to digital assets, the industry is going through a fundamental shift. As the industry evolves, so too will its underlying infrastructure. Modern exchanges are only in the first stage of a long evolutionary path to the perfect financial architecture, but with the constant innovation seen in this space, we might be there faster than expected.

DEX vs CEX: Competition or Allies?

Cryptocurrency derivatives are financial products that have gained popularity of late. For the uninitiated, a derivative is a security that obtains its value from other assets (cryptocurrencies). A common form of cryptocurrency derivative is the Bitcoin futures. Over the course of the years, several cryptocurrency derivative platforms have been launched. Former Developers at Morgan Stanley Launch Cryptocurrency Derivatives Platform Earlier this month, eight former developers at U.S. financial services  company Morgan Stanley launched a cryptocurrency derivatives platform called Phemex. According to the developers, the platform will offer 100x leverage to retail and institutional investors in  Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple contracts. And so far, 1000BTC is traded daily in its BTC/USD perpetual contracts. What's more, the former Morgan Stanley developers expect that other traditional financial products including stock indexes, foreign exchange, interest rates, etc. will back these contracts. They also revealed that Phemex will be ten times faster than regular cryptocurrency trading platforms. Exchange is “on par with Nasdaq” Jack Tao, Phemex's co-founder who was an executive at Morgan Stanley for 11 years also revealed that Phemex could have an option trading soon. Tao outlined that the founding members of Phemex have a great level of expertise given that they have worked with Morgan Stanley for a while now. Tao also said the exchange was the first to bring the level of sophistication at Wall Street to crypto derivatives markets. “Our matching engine, trading engine, and risk engine were six months in the making," he said. That being the case, Tao is confident that Phemex is on par with and will rival existing platforms like the Nasdaq derivatives exchange. More Crypto Derivatives Platforms On the other hand, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchabitcoin futures.nge (CBOE) were the first to introduce Bitcoin futures in December 2017. Likewise, a Bitcoin derivative was launched by LedgerX, who became the first regulated institutional exchange to introduce a crypto derivative. CME, a Chicago-based exchange is also to launch options (on its bitcoin futures contract), another form of cryptocurrency derivatives in the first quarter of 2020. Also, Bakkt also that it looking revealed "launch the first regulated options contract for bitcoin futures,” on December 9, 2019. Will Cryptocurrency Derivatives Be Worth the Risk? Cryptocurrency derivatives were developed as a way to mitigate the risk associated with the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Hence, it served to reduce risk exposure for individuals and corporations. Moreover, they were meant to aid investors to protect their investment portfolio from losses. In line with that, it also became a useful tool for cryptocurrency enthusiasts to speculate on the price of these virtual assets. Despite these benefits and popularity of cryptocurrency derivatives, there are still uncertainties if it may be worth the risk in the first place. CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett, for instance, : stated "In my view,  derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.” Nonetheless, Buffet noted that the major problem with these derivatives lies in their overexposure. In his opinion, this overexposure was caused by banks and ignorant investors. And derivatives can bring immense value to companies if only leaders of such companies have some restraint and hold a limited amount. Conclusion There seems to have been weathered interest in cryptocurrency derivatives, An instance of this, is the case with Bakkt, who launched its derivatives in September 2019. The turnout was far from impressive especially when consideration is given to the hype that surrounded its launch.

Cryptocurrency Derivatives Trading: Potentials, Players, and Pitfalls

In Oct 2009, the New Liberty Standard was the first exchange to price bitcoin by calculating the value of electricity used to mine those bitcoins. It was 1 cent for 10 BTC, selling a total of 5050 BTC for $5.02. Fast forward 10 years to 2019 and Bitcoin is now priced at $10,300. Bitcoin has become a Treasure Chest that is like the precious Ring that just became more valuable than Gold in just a decade of existence. Not Your Keys, Not Your Bitcoins The Private Address (or key) and Public Address (or key) makes the blockchain, safe and transparent.  This is where we store our Bitcoins or any Cryptocurrency Assets. But.. What if you lost your private keys? What would happen? Can’t have gold without old If you do not want to be like this old guy, you should always put your keys into the safest place you've known, if not, then you should not own bitcoin. This is actually a fundamental problem i.e. if you do somehow manage to lose bitcoin due to being an idiot it’s much like going sailing for gold and losing all the gold overboard into the deepest trench it’s gone forever insurance won’t cover it either since insurance is just in fiat. We have to find a way to fundamentally allow transactions to be reversible in special situations. Until then most people prefer fiat money with many different ways of recourse available if something bad happens. “The private key must remain secret at all times because revealing it to third parties is equivalent to giving them control over the bitcoins secured by that key. The private key must also be backed up and protected from accidental loss, because if it’s lost it cannot be recovered and the funds secured by it are forever lost, too.” ― . Andreas M What is a Private Key The Private Key  a tricky form of cryptography that entitles a user to access his cryptocurrency. It is a alphanumeric password/number that is 256-bit long numbers which is generated randomly whenever you make a wallet. It is an integral aspect of cryptocurrencies Below is a private key in hexadecimal - 256 bits in hexadecimal is 32 bytes, or 64 characters in the range 0-9 or A-F. Bitcoin private key length; The Range of Valid Private Keys Nearly every 256-bit number is a valid private key. Specifically, any 256-bit number between 0x1 and 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4141 is a valid private key. The range of valid private keys is governed by the standard used by Bitcoin secp256k1 ECDSA Base 58 WIF This is how the Bitcoin private key looks ( : This 51 characters will always starts with 5 and starts with the capital K or L) 5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF What if you get someone's Secret Keys? Remember, after creating your wallet, keep your secret keys in a safe place. Print it, copy it, because once a person knows your key, he can create a correct transaction. About 2 years ago, October 2018, the games of minds called - started with a . The most heated 310 Bitcoin puzzle, on this game: Try to unlock any Bitcoin wallet with the numbers you've seen on the image below and if you have successfully accessed the wallet means that you won. bitcoinchallenge.codes pot price of 310 BTC The puzzle’s creator goes by the name of “Pip” and claims to be an early adopter of BTC who mined most of his Bitcoin from a desktop computer, then later bought in large numbers. He says he no longer cares about money and that most of the 310 BTC are from free airdrops. The 310 Bitcoin Puzzle was cracked and the wallet address containing 310 btc was divided into 15 transactions. The encrypted image tells everything but a direct message to the jackpot. 39uAUwEFDi5bBbdBm5ViD8sxDBBrz7SUP4 We have seen multiple puzzles alike, and this is not the first time although it has the biggest pot, one of the most watched wallets owned by a lady was cracked back in February, after three years worth of attempts. Salvador Dali-esque puzzle worth 4.87 BTC And this last Evening of January 16, , a new crypto derivatives exchange founded by eight ex-Morgan Stanley programmers announced a Bitcoin puzzle, where they have hidden 2.1 BTC worth 18,166.20 USD in a computer generated portrait of a Japanese-American Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a Japanese-American resident of Los Angeles who bears the same name as the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, but denies having anything to do with the leading cryptocurrency. Phemex The public key is which contains 1.1 btc. Once a participant has found the correct private key in the image, they will be able to transfer 1.1 BTC to the public key address of their own wallet. A further 1 BTC will be deposited to their Phemex account  once they prove they control the private key. 1h8BNZkhsPiu6EKazP19WkGxDw3jHf9aT Everyone in the RT chain that led the winner to the puzzle will also receive a $100 trading bonus. It's a brain whack of a job. Finding private keys, it's like finding a needle in the middle of the ocean, but the clues are embedded into the image, You can't just enter random keys you must use the given clues and decipher it. Programmers has an advantage, you need to be familiar with cryptography, advanced mathematics, but it is not necessary. You just  need some creative thinking. The picture has lots information. “Overall “hot” online wallets tend to be much more vulnerable than “cold” offline wallets. Managing thousands of private keys is inoperable and risky for an exchange, which is why we built our own Hierarchical Deterministic Cold Wallet System. From a “seed” our system can generate millions of private keys, each of which will be linked to their public keys, basically BTC addresses. All keys are independent of each other but can be easily recovered by the Phemex seed key if any private key goes missing. The seed key and all private keys are stored offline, hence in “cold” storage, to ensure maximum security for users.”  - Phemex ﻿CEO The Phemex CEO originally hadn't expected the Puzzle takes so long to solve, so they've announced on that they will reveal more and more hints until someone gets it. Telegram Still, you got a chance to claim the 2.1 BTC.

Crack This Crypto Puzzle to Win 2.1 BTC

All over the world, blockchain is gaining popularity now. But what about Latin America, especially Mexico? and recognized cryptocurrencies not as a currency, but as digital assets, similar to the shares of companies for which they established rules to prevent money laundering and corruption. The Central Bank of Mexico is responsible for monitoring cryptocurrency companies. The Mexican Congress approved a bill Mexico was able to become one of the first countries in Latin America to regulate blockchain and cryptocurrencies. At the state level, the ubiquitous distribution of blockchain technology is taking place and for ordinary citizens this could not go unnoticed. First Blockchain Association in Mexico The Blockchain Association of Mexico was established companies Bitso, Volabit, BIVA, GBM, Lvna Capital, ConsenSys and Exponent Capital. The organization’s objective is to educate citizens in the technology’s deployment and its potential applications. - It is one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges founded in 2014 in Mexico. Bitso offers users and developers a user-friendly interface, instant transfers and MXN exchange, and API support for creating their own applications. Bitso is a crypto hedge based in Mexico, aimed at seeking value in the blockchain ecosystem. Lvna Capital in Mexico is aimed at educating citizens on the blockchain technology by providing them the professional training from experienced blockchain trainers. ConsenSys Academy is a cryptocurrency trading platform in Mexico which allows users to buy and sell the amount with a click of the button. The platform charges only 0.8% for every buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. Volabit is the first cryptocurrency investment firm in Mexico which believes that the decentralized model can eliminate the intermediaries from the financial system. They are contributing to the development of the financial system with blockchain technology. Exponent Capital - Incorporated in 1992, GBM is a controlling entity of financial activities in Mexico. Having its subsidiaries in Mexico, the United States, Brazil and Chile, the organization has been able to position itself as a business group with some of the reputed financial entities for international and national investment. GBM is the second stock exchange in Mexico which is aimed at contributing to the growth of the stock exchange through latest technologies. BIVA Also, among other projects launched by the Mexican government, there were several interesting projects that are currently still under development or were cancelled because of COVID-19. The main problems that blockchain can solve in LATAM Corruption Corruption is considered a social plague not only in Mexico, but throughout Latin America. This is an acute political problem that needs to be addressed. Mexico, one of the richest countries in the oil sector, is a country with high levels of population migration, theft and homicide. Corruption has swelled to unprecedented proportions, for example Pemex, the largest oil and gas company based in Mexico, published a report in 2018 that cited a staggering $ 1.6 billion as the amount they lost annually to fuel thefts. In the 2019 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, the country was ranked 130th out of 180 countries. Elections The problem with the transparency of elections in Latin America is very acute. In a number of countries, fraud elections is on an unprecedented scale. Unfortunately, the use of the current election mechanisms allows the ruling party and the president to use their influence to falsify the voting results. Blockchain should solve this problem. Nowadays, many blockchains with this problem and they are close to solve it. are struggling Migration Mexico's population is growing at 1.4 percent annually, which has remained unchanged since 2000. But over the past ten years, some areas have seen a decline in population growth. Due to the lack of documents, people have to become political and economic migrants. With a global digital identity, refugees can become the owners of their identity, and a blockchain-based payment system can help displaced people transfer money without a banking system. Blockchains that can help solve these problems - One of the famous projects launched by Vitalik Buterin. Initially, it was created not so much as a payment system, but as a base for the affordable implementation of blockchain technology in third-party projects and startups. Simple code, fast integration and a lot of educational information helped the project to firmly take the second place in the world after Bitcoin. It is actively used by developers Microsoft, IBM, Lufthansa airlines, etc. Ethereum Certainly one of the most affordable options for engaging developers from Latin America and the government - Was created as the "killer" of Ethereum. launched in September 2020, is a blockchain service that allows developers to create their own decentralized applications using smart contracts. The original Binance chain was not able to provide this functionality, but the Binance Smart Chain was designed to provide the same fast transactions, as well as significantly expand the available features and capabilities. It is also compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which means it is capable of running dapps ported from Ethereum. By this he justifies his name "the killer of Ether". Binance Chain Now Binance is actively developing in the Latin market and of course, due to the expensive transactions of Ethereum, it can become its serious competitor in this market. - In May 2020, Pavel Durov announced that Telegram was officially abandoning the TON project, and made all underlying TON code open source for anyone to use as they wish. As the Gram lawsuits in the United States continued for a fairly long period of time, programmers and project development partners that collaborated on the TON project foresaw this outcome. After Pavel Durov's official renunciation of the project, a group of TON developers and development partners picked up an almost finished open source TON code and launched their own blockchain platform, which was called Free TON, and cryptocurrency token TON Crystal. Free TON is a project with decentralized framework when it comes to the project's technical development and management. Free TON de facto has no CEO and managed by the community via a system of proposals and contests. Free TON In the fact that the project is only one year old, it has already managed to gain distribution among blockchain developers and hold a in America with transparency of elections. g designed to help Lat Blockchain Opportunities in Mexico Despite the backing of the government and regulatory laws in Mexico, there is an acute shortage of experienced workforce - one of the main problems preventing Mexico from becoming a leader in the blockchain space. Innovation Evangelist for : TCS Latin America, Arun Ramachandran said “There are very capable people in Mexico, but most are moving to the US. We want to reverse the tide by giving them the opportunities to grow their knowledge of blockchain at home, taking the technologically versatile people and training them to fully understand how blockchains work.” We are only at the beginning of the technological path and it is expected that technology start-ups will be able to make a huge contribution to the development of not only Mexico but also all countries of Latin America.

Across The American Border, Mexico Is Quietly Making Big Moves Towards Blockchain Adoption

Introduction A recent study revealed that more than about 30% of the top ICOs have dipped in value, and an enormous majority of ICOs are trading at a loss. All of this has led to a drop in the volume of trading thereby making it exceedingly difficult for the budding ICOs to raise more capital in the past few months. But what strikes as a surprise is the high amount of institutional interest in blockchain, the development of cryptocurrency infrastructure, and the launch of new capital. A close correlation has been observed between the performance of the Nasdaq between 1994 and 2003, and that of Bitcoin between October and August, 2018. This has raised questions like whether the price of Bitcoin too will see an increase like that of NASDAQ. An interesting fact is also that a lot of companies that issued tokens will see the effect of multiplication in the market, with token prices likely increasing alongside Bitcoin, aiding the enhancement of the overall capitalization of the cryptocurrency assets in the market. Perhaps the price of Bitcoin will see pressure from different hard fork versions of its protocol, like Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, and many more. Regardless, one thing to keep in mind moving forward is the concern surrounding the operation of the Bitcoin blockchain and the enormous amount of electric power that it consumes, specifically from the public perception perspective of the average individual. Reduction in retail involvement due to the adoption of cryptocurrency by institutions Despite the significant fall in the capitalization of the cryptocurrency assets from $800 to $130 billion, there has been an uninterrupted flow of declarations from several multinational businesses and companies who are filing patents — including Amazon, Google, Facebook, MasterCard, and others — around blockchain due to an increased institutional interest in the technology. The institutional interest in blockchain has been further reinforced by stock exchanges in London, New York, Gibraltar, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland, Boston, that are working to launch of security exchanges and thereby enabling the enlisting and trading of tokenized securities. Allowing pension managers and mutual funds to easily invest in diverse cryptocurrency assets through listings on recognized exchanges could prove essential for growth. Another significant part of the framework that the institutional managers require for trading in cryptocurrency assets are custody services, and so Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, and Coinbase have confirmed that they will provide such services. All over the world, banks are testing out blockchain technology for an extensive variety of use cases. In Europe, the ABN Amro bank commercially launched the Escrow management solution use case, and Allied Irish Bank and BNP Paribas are still in pilot mode with regards to domestic interbank payments and trade finance respectively. In North America, Citigroup is in pilot mode for a digital payment solution for the private securities use case, and Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are in a testing phase with equity swap trading and private label MBS securitization use cases respectively. Korean Banks and Woori Bank in Asia are in pilot mode with customer identification and cross border transaction processing use cases respectively. The institutional interest in blockchain technology is not restricted to banking services. Vitana of Metlife is the first automated insurance product in the world for gestational diabetes powered by Blockchain technology. Beluga Pay of Pemex allows cryptocurrency payment at the Pemex gas station. TradeLane of Maersk IBM has established a joint business to conduct trading with the utilization of Blockchain technology. Walmart Food Traceability Initiative of Walmart has devised a way of tracing the leafy green products of Walmart back to the original farm by the employment of the platform powered by Blockchain technology. These are just some of the many use cases that are sprouting up around the world. Conclusion The institutional interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency resources was initially centred around raising capital, predominately for technology startups and new ventures. But alas, with almost $20 billion being raised against a setting of negligible guidelines and regulations, various con artists were attracted to the guarantee of making quick and easy money, and as such, vast numbers of the 4,500 of current ICOs launched on the market are bound to come up short. Nonetheless, crypto resources have heralded enthusiasm for this new asset class and the wider technology in general, and there is expanding and unmistakable proof that actual cash is being spent on valuable blockchain projects. Two examples of such are supply chains and loyalty schemes, both of which are being disrupted by companies leveraging blockchain technology. Lastly, crypto resources are currently progressing on their way towards being utilized for offering partial proprietorship in substantial resources bonds, private and cited funds, property, and even products such as gold bars that JP Morgan is tokenizing. In this way, there are tons of proof that institutional interest in Blockchain and crypto resources is growing. Blockchain innovation is not a worldview, nor are crypto resources the response to every one of our issues, although they do offer some impressive new apparatuses to limit the expenses of working together, and they offer straightforwardness, security, and control in our quickly digitizing world.

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