Our mission is to improve the security maturity of the global supply chain ecosystem, reducing the number of data breaches experienced through supply chain attacks by companies and consumers alike

Risk Ledger

Zeeve ensures adherence to all standard data privacy and security practices required by even the most stringent industries, such as finance. Zeeve, the leading Blockchain Infrastructure-as-a-Service ( ) platform, has announced a strategic partnership with the India Blockchain Alliance (IBA). This partnership aims to accelerate evangelism and adoption of blockchain across the Indian subcontinent and contribute to the Blockchain-enabled infrastructure of the government, universities, and various enterprises through multiple initiatives. IaaS Zeeve, with its no-code, plug-and-play infrastructure, helps businesses leverage blockchain by providing access to dedicated node infrastructure and RPC APIs for over 40+ public, permissive, and application-specific blockchain protocols. As an ISO, SOC2 TypeII, and GDPR-compliant company, Zeeve ensures adherence to all standard data privacy and security practices required by even the most stringent industries, such as finance. On the other hand, the India Blockchain Alliance (IBA), established in 2018, is a non-profit organization fostering evidence-based adoption of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT). Its alliance comprises a diverse network of experts, academics, blockchain engineers, venture capitalists, and visionaries committed to transforming India into a global blockchain destination. “We are thrilled to embark on this journey with the India Blockchain Alliance,” said Dr. Ravi Chamria, co-founder & CEO of Zeeve. “This collaboration resonates with our commitment to making blockchain accessible and comprehensible across sectors. As an infrastructure partner of IBA, Zeeve will provide no-code web3 infrastructure to enterprises and governments across India. We will also work with IBA’s initiative of establishing Centers of Excellence in various universities, by providing blockchain infrastructure as a sandbox for innovation and development. We strongly believe our combined efforts will expedite blockchain adoption, fueling substantial business growth for blockchain-based startups in India.” Sandbox initiatives and COEs will provide practical touchpoints for blockchain adoption. These sandboxes are intended to simulate real-world environments where stakeholders can experiment with blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, risk-free. Meanwhile, the COEs will disseminate advanced knowledge and foster innovative ideas, helping to cultivate a new generation of blockchain-savvy professionals. “We at India Blockchain Alliance regard this partnership as vital to our vision of mainstream blockchain adoption,” said Raj Kapoor, Founder of India Blockchain Alliance.  ”Being an end-to-end ecosystem catalyst, IBA loves to work with those whose passion is reflected in their work through quality and resolution in their products and services and the good news is that with Zeeve we can now move towards our collective ecosystems with a vision to grow together. With today’s announcement, two industry leaders are coming together to provide world-class capabilities across verticals.” Blockchain and Web3 innovations in India are projected to propel the digital asset economy’s value to over $200 billion in the next ten years, contributing over $1 trillion to our GDP. Such joint initiatives from responsible players like Zeeve and IBA will undoubtedly help achieve these impressive numbers easily. This story was distributed as a release by Zeeve under HackerNoon’s Business As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author

Zeeve Collaborates with India Blockchain Alliance to Drive Blockchain Adoption

Zeeve colabora con India Blockchain Alliance para impulsar la adopción de Blockchain

Zeeve collabore avec India Blockchain Alliance pour favoriser l'adoption de la blockchain

ज़ीव ने ब्लॉकचेन को अपनाने के लिए भारत ब्लॉकचेन एलायंस के साथ सहयोग किया है

Zeeve、インドブロックチェーンアライアンスと協力してブロックチェーンの採用を推進

Zeeve colabora com a India Blockchain Alliance para impulsionar a adoção do Blockchain

Zeeve hợp tác với Liên minh Blockchain Ấn Độ để thúc đẩy việc áp dụng Blockchain

Zeeve 与印度区块链联盟合作推动区块链的采用

In the past few years, the term blockchain has gotten a lot of attention from major media outlets and the public. It's a fairly new technology that has proven to benefit many companies in different industries. It is relatively easy to understand, although it can seem difficult for beginners. This article will explain how it works and why it’s so revolutionary. What is Blockchain? Blockchain is a decentralized and public information database. It's the technology that powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Simply put, a blockchain is a database with additional functionalities. It is not really a database, but rather a ledger. A ledger is a record that contains transaction details such as who sent who, how much, and when the transaction occurred. Unlike a traditional database, data added to the blockchain ledger cannot be changed or removed. Why do we need Blockchain? Assume Alice owes Joe $100 and has agreed to pay him in three days. They can both agree by recording it on a ledger (a pinky promise?). A lot can happen in three days. Alice has the possibility of reducing the payment from $100 to $10. Alice can change Joe's name to something different. Alice can easily remove the record. The ledger can be hacked. This is terrible! What should we do now? The ledger must be encrypted. You may now ask - "Why do we need such a complex technology like Blockchain for this? Aren't powerful encryption techniques used in modern systems? ". No, there will always be a way to bypass current encryption algorithms, or an administrator may become corrupt and leak or alter all data. Once data is added into a blockchain ledger, it cannot be changed or erased. It will remain in place permanently. But wait! There's another problem.
Assume that Alice and Joe are best friends. Alice is a trustworthy individual who will honor her obligations. Now, Alice does not always keep her money in her pockets or at her house. No one else, of course. She deposits her funds into a bank account. A lot of things can happen to the bank. The bank may declare bankruptcy. Some money heist shit can happen 👀. This is just another disaster! Because your account is managed by a centralized bank, they have access to your funds. "Don't we have legislation, security, and whatnot to protect our money?" you may ask again. They cannot secure your money completely, and you must waste years chasing after courts. What do we do now? Blockchain technology has the potential to fix this problem. Blockchain is (DLT), which means your data is distributed. Your data is not controlled by a single company, person, or authority. This is accomplished by replicating the datastore over a number of internet peers. Distributed Ledger Technology So blockchain's two key features - 1) Immutability and 2) Distributed ledger - made it a revolutionary technology. How does Blockchain work? Let's see how these two key features - 1) Immutability and 2) Distributed ledger works. To encrypt data, Blockchain implements hashing. Unlike basic encryption methods such as the , SHA-256 is a one-way function, which means you can calculate the hash with your data but not decrypt the hash. SHA-256 Caesar Cipher How does SHA-256 work? You enter data -> the SHA-256 algorithm computes the hash and generates a 64-character hash. It will always generate a fixed size (64 ch) hash regardless of the size of the data. Try out SHA-256 here SHA-256 algorithm implementation in JavaScript Let's understand how the Bitcoin blockchain works. Bitcoin blockchain data structure Every block in Bitcoin blockchain contains: - The block number in the chain. Block number - A number used to validate a block. Adjusted by miners to meet conditions that make a block valid. Nonce - The block's actual data. Data - The previous block's hash. Previous Hash - The hash of the current block. Calculated by appending all the above elements and hash them. Hash So we put our data in the block and hash it with a nonce. (To validate a block, we must change the nonce value until the number of initial zeroes in the hash matches the difficulty level of the block. Miners are responsible for this. More on nonce - .) here If you try to change anything in the block, the block goes into an invalid state because the hash will change. This is all about how a block works. How do we add blocks to the chain? To add a block to the chain, we compute the preceding block's hash and store it in the newly added block. This is how all of the blocks are connected. If you modify anything in any block, all subsequent blocks will become invalid since all blocks are linked and any change in the hash in one block impacts the hash in all subsequent blocks. This is how a blockchain achieves immutability. Now Alice can't cheat 😂. You can see how this works visually here Now let's understand how distributed ledger works. We saw how blockchain achieves immutability, but what if data is changed and the hash is recalculated? All of the blocks are now valid again. This is precisely the issue with the current centralized approach. However, blockchain has another feature: distributed ledger. This means that the ledger is shared across a number of peers (you can also say computers or hosts). The hashes of all blocks will be the same for all peers. If any peer attempts to modify the data and re-validate the blocks, the ledger will no longer match the other ledgers. As a result, we can conclude that the peer is guilty. For example, in a room of 10 students, assuming everyone has the same copy of the question paper. A single person cannot simply change and claim that he received a different paper. But there is a risk with distributed ledger technology: what if 6 out of 10 students altered the question paper? Who's guilty now? Blockchain is constructed on the idea that honest peers are in the majority and the above situation is unlikely to happen. All of this has resulted in the creation of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, where there will be no banks, no intermediaries, and no third-party individual controlling your money. However, the major breakthrough occurred following the introduction of . There will be more on this in future articles. Ethereum I tried to explain blockchain in a simple manner. I hope you enjoyed it. Also Published Here

The Blockchain - A Look At How It Works and Why We Need It

Every blockchain must be decentralized; that's the formula we've been hearing for years now. The prophets of decentralization, such as Vitalik Buterin, tell us that it's the most effective way to do almost anything. But let's think for a minute. Instead of having unknown people motivated only by small incentives, isn’t it better to have some reliable entities that care about their reputation? Many blockchains allow anyone to become nodes, and in some cases, that mentality could backfire. Let’s see what problems can appear and what solutions we have. Troubles of permissionless blockchains All blockchains can be divided into two classes: permissioned and permissionless. We know many examples of permissionless blockchain: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Lisk. Such blockchains allow anyone to join the network and validate transactions, if this new participant has enough power or staked coins. The real problem is that we don't know the intention of the new nodes, and they can be malicious. That's how Ethereum Classic suffered a 51% attack. That's why the Lisk community suffers from the cartels (anonymous nodes) who established their governance over the years and who pay almost nothing to their voters; because they know that there's no way to replace them. Source: ey.com We can take a lesson from Antpool, one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools that empty blocks from time to time. That same Antpool to stop mining SegWit blocks, while the whole community accepted this update. Decentralization is problematic when it comes to upgrading. To make changes, even the minor ones, you have to get the consensus of the whole network. was mining decided Otherwise they won’t upgrade their software and will continue to run nodes without the upgrade, which may lead to a . That’s hardly acceptable for any commercial businesses running on blockchain. hard fork Plus, decentralization comes with a tradeoff in performance. All current consensus mechanisms aren’t scalable because syncing all the nodes takes time. Slow networks can be used only for tasks that don’t involve many users. Any application that want to be compete with a traditional solution should think about scaling their network. In other words, permissionless blockchains may have their advantages, but at the same time they are slow, hardly upgradable, and nobody has control over bad actors. If a developer of that blockchain didn't foresee it and didn't include the protection from that type of behavior in the initial code, anyone can come and try to impose its own rules. That's why commercial companies may prefer another approach - the one that allows them to run and upgrade their network, as well as giving them the opportunity to control the content written within the blockchain to avoid legal problems. Permissioned blockchains Some might say that a permissioned blockchain goes against the very idea of the blockchain itself. They have to remember that the main characteristics of any blockchain are the structure of its ledger, which is a sequence of blocks, and the distribution of that ledger on multiple nodes. It doesn’t require anonymous nodes or a certain number of them. The blockchain has its advantages even being private; when its nodes are held by independent parties, instead of one centralized ledger, the risk of corruption is much lower. What permissioned blockchains we can name? Our list will consist of: - A new gaming blockchain platform, offering competitive fees for developers and new interesting features for gamers, such as obtaining token rewards for activity and streaming. Ultra has an intricate permissioned system that allows securing its operations. It runs on the Ultra Protocol, an EOS-based fork, supported by trusted nodes. The use of a permissioned blockchain is very logical here, because the primary goal of Ultra is providing gamers and game developers with a reliable solution based on established technologies, which would make it better than the existing ones (Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store), and only the permissioned blockchain can provide the necessary level of security for the highly loaded network. Initially, the block producers for the Ultra platform will be elected by the Ultra team themselves, and it will include trusted block producers from the crypto industry, the corporate world, and from gaming companies. Ultra - A permissioned blockchain, developed by the creators of the NEO project. It allows any business to create a private blockchain connected with a public blockchain. Initially that public blockchain was NEO, but now they are integrations with Ethereum and EOS. According to the idea, a private ONT blockchain can be used to store any type of information, and then that information can be accessed by those who have the necessary permissions. It can be used to store medical info, documents, all kinds of other sensitive data. The permissions system makes it easy to store and share data without worrying about leaks. Ontology building - A private blockchain that can be customized for any need. It was created by 30 corporate members, including IBM, Airbus, Baidu, American Express, Deutsche Bank, and J.P.Morgan. They used Ethereum’s code to build their own blockchain. Currently anyone can use Hyperledger, as various companies offer it as a service. For example, Microsoft allows for the of a Hyperledger blockchain on its Azure service, and according to them, it can be configured and deployed in minutes. This blockchain can also set permissions to define the levels of access. Hyperledger Fabric creation Why 10 nodes by large companies are better than 20 anonymous nodes Using the example of Ultra because its the most concrete real-world use case, let’s think about what advantages we get by letting a few trusted producers run a blockchain. First of all, what is necessary for a platform with millions of users? Speed and scalability. All current permissionless blockchain technologies can’t offer any kind of scalability. While Ethereum can support 15 transactions per second, the EOS technology that’s used by Ultra can support tps. And if that’s enough to handle the load, given that only the operations with token rewards will require using blockchain, in the future, the amount of transactions per second could reach 100,000. 11,000 Source: mesmary.com Secondly, a large business can’t rely on strangers who don’t risk anything with its commercial operations. Imagine how much money could be lost if Steam went down for a single day - that would cost more than ! So, the stability of operations is one of the most important requirements for a commercial company. That’s why Ultra is electing its block producers from established market leaders. $12 million As a company, being chosen as a block producer is a great opportunity to earn money, because this is a way to get rewards just for hosting a node. There’s no benefit in acting maliciously for them, because they have a lot at stake: their reputation. For example, it’s very unlikely that Microsoft could intentionally corrupt your Hyperledger database, because right after doing it, it will lose thousands of other clients. It’s possible that in the future all current market leaders will be offering the service of hosting blockchain nodes for large businesses. That’s their reputation they could be making a profit on. And for these businesses it would be as safe as establishing and running a node by themselves. Carrefour Group, a large food retailer, the Hyperledger solution of IBM, and trusts it with the security of its blockchain. It could have developed the solution by itself, but it chose IBM to solve its problem - and it works fine, its sales from implementing the blockchain. uses have boosted Ultra recently announced that EOS NY, EOS RIO, and Bitfinex will be the first technical block producers on its network. These will also help them to onboard more corporate block producers in the future, possibly from the large gaming publishers that may be interested in the platform. Source: pinterest.com/ievos Of course, it’s still only in the planning phase, as many platforms have tried to achieve the same goal - to dethrone Steam - but none of them succeeded. It may be hard to attract publishers and players initially because the platform must offer something more than the word “blockchain” stamped on it. It must offer real gaming and user experience. Luckily, Ultra seems to already be aware of all these needs as they are present in their roadmap, and if the market leaders will support it; soon we’ll likely see another big name in the gaming industry. By using a permissioned blockchain, it doesn’t mean that companies are against permissionless blockchains. Quite the opposite. The two types of blockchains can coexist in an ecosystem where they are connected and used to build new applications that store sensitive and non-sensitive data differently. Not every commercial company is ready to put its data on a public blockchain (in many cases due to legal reasons), so the immutability of a distributed ledger and the privacy of a centralized solution is the best option. But to extend their functionalities they will need to leverage the advantages of permissionless blockchains too. There will be no competition, only integration, because they’re completing each other. And this could change the landscape of how decentralized applications will operate in the future. The author is not associated with any of the projects mentioned.

Today’s Market Leaders will be the First Block Producers of Future Blockchains

Top 10 Reputable Blockchain Development Companies

If you recently read my last few articles “ “ and “ ”, you might now be an owner of cryptocurrency. If that’s the case, you’re required to use a cryptocurrency wallet which holds your private key that unlocks the stored tokens on the blockchain. An Introduction to Bitcoin, what is it, why it exists and where to buy it An Introduction to Ethereum Oftentimes, the exchanges or apps that you purchase cryptocurrency on like or the app, for example, offer their own version of cryptocurrency wallets. Other digital wallets exist but they are each c_rypto specific._ For example, MyEtherWallet is used for Ether and ERC20 tokens, Bitcoin wallet for bitcoin, and Stellar wallet for XLM (lumens). Coinbase Square Cash With a cryptocurrency wallet, you’ll have access to your private key, and then your public key. This is an important distinction since your public key is used when someone sends you cryptocurrency or if you need to request payment in cryptocurrency. Your private key should never be shared and should be kept offline. If you keep your cryptocurrency on an exchange, you don’t own your private key and you can only retrieve your cryptocurrency when you submit a sell request. Why should you buy a hardware wallet? If you are an investor who owns multiple cryptocurrencies, it’s difficult to keep track of all the currencies in multiple wallets and places online which is why purchasing a hardware wallet is important. Moving your cryptocurrency into a hardware wallet is one of the forms of “cold storage” which essentially just means that your cryptocurrency is not left online on either an exchange or a wallet. In other words, cold storage means that it remains offline entirely. Further, it’s important for investors to maintain control over their cryptocurrency and not be forced to hold tokens just because their digital wallet or exchange has a bug or the site is down. With access to your cryptocurrency on a hardware wallet, you can sell on virtually any other global exchange without worrying about any site or app related issues or lock-ups. Further, as we’re well aware after Mt.Gox, exchanges can and have been hacked. And while many exchanges claim to move their crypto offline into cold storage and offer 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) there is still a risk in keeping your cryptocurrency online as a number of wallets have been hacked and your security is dependent on the security of the exchange. A major value proposition for owning cryptocurrency is reducing the dependency on a middle-man or 3rd party. Why would you want an exchange to become the middle-man between you and your cryptocurrency when you have an alternative route? This was a major reason for creating a distributed, decentralized blockchain to begin with. Managing your cryptocurrency without using a middle-man is the opportunity for individuals to take ownership of their own assets and become the managers of their own personal banks. Which hardware wallets you can purchase The most popular hardware wallets to date are and . These are physical USB drives that must be plugged into your computer with a pin code that you create to access your cryptocurrency. In short, it’s the safest way to store your cryptocurrency today. Ledger Trezor The Ledger team sits in France, and their most popular device is the Ledger Nano which allows you to store Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and many more cryptocurrencies. Trezor is another hardware wallet which works similarly to Ledger except it holds much less cryptocurrency than Ledger. You can check their respective sites for the full list. ( Do NOT buy these off anywhere except for the actual sites as there have been a number of scam incidencies on Amazon.) Note: Hardware wallets are really secure because they have pins and a physical hardware device which makes it difficult if not impossible for hackers to access your cryptocurrency. However, if you do purchase one, you have to take responsibility and ownership and ensure that your recovery password is stored in a safe place. While we still have a very long way to go before purchasing and storing cryptocurrency becomes accessible for the mainstream and non-technical audiences, my hope is that in the interim, you’re equipped with knowledge of the various options available and can make a decision that suits your individual need and risk appetite. _Additional Resources:_ Ledger Nano Tutorial Trezor Wallet Tutorial — — — — — — — *This was written in collaboration with from Luna Capital. If you liked what you read, you can follow & on Medium. Lindsey Maule me Lindsey

An introduction to cryptocurrency wallets

…or Wall St. meets blockchain Despite the ongoing boom in decentralized solutions, the realm of finance is still pretty much centrally governed by banks and other financial institutions that are in full control of people’s assets while making decisions about investment on industrial scale. #DeFi has recently emerged as a viable alternative that leverages a set of more progressive agile tools to the status-quo claiming to hand over the control over to the hands of users. What are these bespoke tools and mechanisms, and how are they more competitive compared to their fintech counterparts? Essentially, DeFi is advantageous compared to its fintech predecessor mostly because it provides thanks to its decentralized nature of minimizing trust at the software level. Besides being built with trust-minimized software, which brings down the bureaucracy level typical of fintech (banks are still disposing of the apps users funds and data), there is a number of other reasons for DeFi gaining ultimate traction as or hybrids thereof. Here we’d like to focus on these five: some extra functionality and fewer operational risks a new tech layer set to re-invent conventional financial instruments bearing either some ultimate novelties DLT is able to ensure that the individual is the sole custodian of their assets at all times. With open source code and developer tools, DeFi presents an infinite scope for experimentation with new financial instruments. While most of existing fintech solutions are merely digital versions of registered financial instruments, programmed finance allows to create novel bearer instruments and operate a whole new class of cryptographic assets. DeFi doesn’t merely put existing financial mechanisms like loans, collateral or debt obligations on the blockchain, but also operates a whole new class of tokenized assets in the sense that pretty much anything can be tokenized. Blockchain assets are inherently accessible and transparent, so issuances, repayments, and loan terms are both human and machine readable. In this piece we are first to examine the essence of decentralized settlements, and then will look into how decentralized capital formation boosts the overall efficiency of the newly built system. Let’s dive in. Hybrid financial instruments: Wall St. meets blockchain Hybrid instruments are those that mix cryptocurrencies with legacy finance, each being the product of very different settlement systems. Before figuring out the types of hybrid instruments, let’s outline the core distinction between the two settlement systems, and see why crypto is eventually set to outplay its legacy counterpart. First off, crypto assets are essentially digital bearer instruments by nature that function as peer-to-peer settlements in real time on a gross basis. What is means is that the buyer and seller simultaneously exchange value for value with no counterparty risk that simultaneously delivering the asset and the payment to buyer and seller in a peer-2-peer manner. Conversely, the legacy financial system uses a delayed-net-settlement system involving layers of intermediaries, i.e. buyer and seller do not simultaneously exchange value for value in every trade. All of the above eventually leads to counterparty risk and inaccurate ownership ledgers. Differences between the two settlement systems Two type of hybrids A critical distinction between a hybrid asset and a non-hybrid one would be the way they are issued and settled: “ ”, like stablecoins and tokenized gold bars. Crypto wrapped around legacy Issued, traded and settled on a blockchain, but the underlying assets (e.g., cash, gold) that back this category of hybrid operate in the legacy financial system. With legacy assets ( dollars, securities, commodities or real estate) collateralizing the crypto instrument “ ”, like bitcoin-settled ETFs, futures, and other derivatives: Legacy wrapped around crypto Issued, traded and settled in the legacy system, but the underlying crypto assets (e.g., bitcoin, ether) that back this category of hybrid operate on a blockchain. With crypto assets collateralizing the traditional financial instrument. Why does the hybrid category involve fewer operational risks? By nature, crypto systems objectively have lower settlement risk than legacy systems. Here’s the ranking of settlement risks by category from lowest to highest. Advantages of hybrid products holders More so, by virtue of underlying blockchain tech stack, DeFi is currently laying out the operational ground for new decentralized forms of capital formation to emerge, ultimately making fundraising mechanisms more advantageous compared to a conventional VC: ’s keynote at the recent Web3 Summit Ryan Zurer Current trends & further challenges Turning to some major challenges of of decentralized Web, these bullets are worth mentioning: financial infrastructure In the wake of emerging secondary derivatives and decentralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges would generally make more sense for non-institutional crypto only investors. The absence of complex derivatives on the market puts institutional investors at risk, especially pensions funds as they won’t have investment mandates, because there is yet no way of managing risks. Probably the last thing worth pointing out is that comparing fintech and Defi from the performance perspective is inherently wrong, since the key point worth comparing is the elevated level of trust, not the performance. When the technology is finally ready to scale to provide multiple access points, the adoption will come. What are the prospective time frames and major factors for #DeFi to gain mass adoption? Share your take in comments! More juicy stuff in here: http://www.technomads.wtf

#DeFi vs. #Fintech

Solving the Crypto Custody Problem Cryptocurrencies threaten to revolutionize major sectors of the global economy. By replacing trusted intermediaries with technology, startups aim to disrupt banking, crowdfunding, supply chains, real estate, healthcare, and more. blockchain To capitalize on this opportunity, cryptocurrency investors, traders, hedge funds, and enthusiasts have used centralized exchanges to create one of the most volatile and dynamic markets in financial history. However, currently 100% of the top 50 exchanges by volume are centralized. With Opportunity Comes Risk Exchanges still remain vulnerable to unrelenting cyberattacks and fraud. Since 2011, have occurred worldwide, with investors suffering . over 60 major cryptocurrency hacks $12.6 billion in losses Brief History of Crypto Hacks The Pre Mt. Gox Era (2011–2014) Only was stolen as altcoins were effectively non-existent. bitcoin Over this time period, about 300,000 of the roughly 10 million bitcoin circulating were stolen (3% of total supply). Mt. Gox: First Major Heist (February, 2014) Mt. Gox volume dominance was a historic anomaly, handling ~80% of all crypto volume. For comparison, no exchange today handles more than 10% of total volume. The Mt. Gox bankruptcy kicked off a +75% correction that took more than three years to recover from. Post Mt. Gox: Ecosystem Growth (2014–2017) There were 36 major publicized hacks, equivalent to one every five weeks. In August of 2016, $72 million worth of bitcoin was stolen from Bitfinex, causing the price of BTC to decline 23%. Current Landscape (2018–Present) 2018 has been the worst year on record for both the frequency of hacks and the amount stolen. The largest single hack in history occurred when Japanese exchange Coincheck was robbed of $530 million over the course of eight minutes. Comparing the Pre and Post Mt. Gox Eras Despite an increase in security procedures, the frequency and severity of hacks has only increased. Surprisingly, the rate at which centralized exchanges have been hacked has remained consistent at ~70% since 2011, even with a rise in other potential targets for hackers (ICOs, DAOs, stable coins, and private companies). During the nine hacks that occurred before Mt. Gox, $7.6M was stolen, representing an average of . $850k per hack During the 53 that have occurred since then, a total of $1.3B has been stolen, causing the average hack value to jump to $24M. That is from the pre-Gox era. 28x jump in average hack value What options do investors have? Hack severity has dramatically increased and will continue to get worse as the ecosystem grows. If an exchange is compromised, the true cost of the hack is felt by depositors. This is because those who stored funds on the exchange are unable to recover that money. The risk that an exchange is unable to give your money back is called credit risk. Investors, traders, funds, and users currently have two main options when it comes to dealing with exchange credit risk. Option 1: Store on Cryptocurrency Exchange Investors that require liquidity to capitalize on profitable trading opportunities can choose to keep their money on centralized exchanges like Binance, Huobi, or Bitfinex. Advantages Access to liquidity Simpler custody option compared to personal offline wallets Disadvantages Open to exchange credit risk Obvious target for hackers Little transparency about the security of the exchange This option is best for investors who demand immediate access to the markets, such as traders, market makers, and people who are not comfortable with self-storage options. Option 2: Personal Cold Wallets Investors can choose to keep their crypto in personal offline wallets, meaning they are not exposed to the risk of exchange hacks. By using paper wallets or hardware wallets, like Trezor or Ledger, investors eliminate the risk of a cyberattack by disconnecting from the internet. Note: hot wallets such as MyEtherWallet are still exposed to . cyber attacks Advantages Zero exchange credit risk Disadvantages No immediate access to liquidity, useless custody option for active traders High potential for user error Legal restrictions limit many institutions from self custody This method is best for long term investors or “ ”, as they have no need to access the markets to trade on a regular basis. However, the investor must be comfortable storing their own private keys offline. HODLers New Alternative: CDx Investors have lacked a solution that protects their crypto assets from risk, while simultaneously maintaining access to the liquidity needed to profit from the fast moving world of crypto. CDx is a smart contract protocol that aims to solve this problem. Credit default swaps are effectively tradable insurance policies. The buyer pays the seller a premium upfront in return for protection from an exchange being hacked. CDx: The Protocol for Tokenized Credit Default Swaps CDx protects investors’ crypto assets by allowing them to hedge the risk of an exchange hack or scam through an entirely new asset class: tokenized credit default swaps. This protects investors’ crypto assets, allowing them to insure against exchange hacks and exit scams. Advantages Zero exchange credit risk Access to liquidity Full transparency into each exchanges’ perceived risk Allows users to profit by selling insurance on exchanges Disadvantages Must pay a premium in exchange for protection CDx is valuable to anyone that currently stores their assets on an exchange, including both active investors and HODLers. By eliminating credit risk, CDx allows investors to store their crypto assets on exchanges and trade with confidence.

The $12.6 Billion Black Hole: Are Your Assets Protected?

Image: Source Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most popular rising technologies in the 21st century. Cryptocurrencies are also one of the most popular investments in recent years. With the rise of digital currencies fueled by AI, investing in the crypto industry has become more difficult. Some investors tend to wonder if they should invest in AI coins and how to determine the risks and rewards involved. In this article, we will discuss AI coins and provide you with a simple blueprint to rate the risks and rewards involved, explaining what AI coins are, how they work, and what to look out for before investing. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting out, this guide will help you make informed decisions about investing in AI coins. Overview of the Basic Concept AI digital currencies (AI tokens) make use of modern AI technologies to enhance key areas of their platforms. Through applying AI algorithms and machine learning methodologies, these tokens provide unique functionality and address complicated challenges, positioning them as transformative forces in various sectors such as finance, gaming, health, and logistics. The true quality of these tokens lies in their capacity to execute procedures, enhance operational success, and provide creative solutions. For example, if AI tokens are accepted by Uber cars, it can improve the method of payment completely and introduce AI-driving cars like Uber. Similarly, finance-centric tokens can enable AI-programmed trading, maximize investment techniques, and strengthen risk management. You might ask, “How do the coins work? Are AI coins the same as ” Bitcoin and Ethereum? At their core, AI crypto coins make use of blockchain technology to create a decentralized structure for AI coins. This includes everything from developing models to executing driven tasks in a secure, transparent manner across countless industries, such as logistics and finance. They are similar to Bitcoin but more advanced. AI is data-dependent, and it keeps improving itself over time. The larger the dataset fed to it, the better it becomes at learning and predicting. On the other hand, cryptocurrency uses a concept that involves the most secure ledger possible—blockchain. To understand the risks and rewards, comprehensive research into projects for these tokens is necessary. Factors such as team competence, collaborations, technological advancements, and market demand are essential in assessing the potential success of these tokens. The Non-Fun Part of Investing Investing in these might seem like an amazing opportunity, but it's important to understand the risks involved in it. Just like any investment, there's a chance of making money or losing it, so it's crucial to carefully think through the before investing. potential downsides The value of these coins can skyrocket or crash without warning, which can mean big wins or big losses. Being prepared for this rollercoaster ride and having a solid plan to handle it is key. Another thing to watch out for are the rules and regulations. Governments are still figuring out how to deal with AI coins, and different places have different rules. Changes in the law or what the government decides to do can have a big impact on how valuable these coins could become. Keeping an eye on what's happening with the rules and understanding how it might affect your investments is really important. Image Source: Statista is also a big worry. Since they are all digital assets, they're vulnerable to hackers and cyberattacks. It's crucial to use trustworthy platforms such as , co, etc. Using two-step verification and keeping your software up-to-date can help keep your investment safe. Security Binance Bitget, And finally, there's the risk that the technology itself could become outdated. AI is always changing and improving, so what's hot today might not be so great tomorrow. Staying informed about the latest developments in AI technology can help you make smart decisions about the right token to invest in. Delving Into the Rewards Offered Exploring the potential gains of these coins is an important step in navigating the investment world. That's why investing in such projects can be quite exciting for those who are ready to weigh the risks and opportunities. To figure out if a coin could bring here's what you need to think about. First, get to know how the coin works and what real-world problem it's fixing. Find projects that are solving a problem lots of people care about, and make sure they have a strong team behind them. big rewards, Next, think about how many people might use the coin. Could it catch on with lots of different industries? Are there companies partnering up to help spread the word? Knowing how many people want the coin is super important for seeing if it'll do well. For example, if Tesla starts using a certain coin for buying cars, that coin's value could shoot up, and more people might want to invest in it. Also, check out the whole project, not just the coin itself. How does it fit into the big picture? And what does it do to get folks excited about using it, which helps it become more valuable over time? Understanding all these bits and pieces can give you a clearer picture of whether a coin has big rewards waiting for you. Checking out what the community is saying is also important. Are people excited about it? Do they believe in its potential? A strong community can make a difference in how successful a project can be. By taking the time to think about the potential rewards of the project, investors can make more informed choices and be rewarded accordingly. Always keep in mind that investing in cryptocurrencies comes with its fair share of risks, so it's always a good idea to do your research before diving into any project. Know the Team Behind the Project When thinking about jumping into any project, one thing that matters more is the team leading the project. Let's dig into why looking into the team behind the project is so crucial and how to do it right. Know their Backgrounds and Skills Take a look at the backgrounds and skills of the team members. Check where they've worked before, especially if it's on AI-related projects. And do proper research to note how familiar they are with blockchain technology, which is super important for the project to work. What People Think of Them Check out how they are perceived by the crypto community. Have they done cool stuff in the past? Check if what they've accomplished can give you a good idea of whether they can pull off their plans for the project. Look for Transparency and Communication How open and communicative is the team? Are they chatting with folks, giving updates, and listening to concerns? A team that's transparent and responsive shows they're serious about making their project work. Make Sure They're in It for the Long Haul Ensure the long-term commitment of the team. Do they have a clear roadmap, and does it suit your ideology of what a project should look like? A team that's dedicated to sticking with the project for the long run is key to keeping the project strong. Conclusion but doing proper research can help. Taking a good look at the team behind the project can help boost confidence and ensure a great investment choice. After all, the success of any project depends on having a team that knows what they're doing and can get the job done even under intense pressure to deliver. Investing in AI coins can be risky, Image: Source

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