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Stay updated with our hand-picked featured news, top market insights, and the most important stories from the cryptocurrency world.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 46

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 46

    As we make our way through Q4 2020, several cryptocurrency projects are making upgrades to their platforms and other changes that could arouse the interest of the broader cryptocurrency community. With all eyes on Bitcoin and Ethereum, this week’s selection of top 3 coins to watch aims to shine a light on some smaller market cap cryptocurrencies, which look set for some interesting price action.

    1. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) 

    Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of the world’s largest cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. It started out on August 1, 2017 following a dispute regarding block size among Bitcoin developers. Bitcoin Cash supporters, led by Roger Ver, pushed for a larger block size limit in order to facilitate more transactions. Bitcoin Cash blockchain thus features an 8 MB block size and can handle up to 116 transactions per second (TPS).

    Buy/Sell BCH

    BCH Hard Fork Expected to take place on November 15

    Due to a disagreement among Bitcoin Cash developers regarding the allocation of BCH for future protocol development funding, Bitcoin Cash is expected to undergo a hard fork around November 15. Already in August, a group called Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCH ABC) proposed a protocol update, which includes a rule that 8% of mined BCH would be distributed to Bitcoin ABC developers in order to finance ongoing protocol development. However, Roger Ver and Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) were against this change, leading to the only possible solution to address the wishes of both sides – a hard-fork. It appears that Bitcoin Cash Node will prevail, though:

    “At the present time, over 70% of blocks are signalling for Bitcoin Cash Node while less than 1% are signalling for Bitcoin Cash ABC, so Bitcoin Cash Node looks like it will be the dominant chain by far.”

    BCH holders are advised to keep an eye on the developments around the hard-fork and move their coins to a personal wallet under their control, although some of the leading exchanges such as Binance, Huobi and OKEx have announced that their exchange wallets will support the chain fork. Kraken exchange announced that it will be supporting the Bitcoin Cash Node regardless of the outcome, but as far as Bitcoin Cash ABC is concerned, it will be supported only if hashpower on the ABC network is at least 10% of the hashpower on the Bitcoin Cash Node network. Definitely worth to follow the event, especially if you are already a holder of BCH.

    2. Stratis (STRAX) 

    Stratis is a blockchain environment and a cryptocurrency for enterprise users. With a focus on the financial industry, the project aims to offer its customers an easy way to build blockchain-based solutions. Stratis supports the native C# programming language, which is already widely used, and therefore acts as a simple bridge to blockchain technology.

    Buy/Sell STRAX

    Stratis Mainnet Release to take place on November 12

    The team behind the Stratis project has announced that their mainnet will finally be released on November 12. The updated and renamed STRAX Blockchain will include several new features, including support for the development and deployment of DeFi smart contracts. Even though the name of the project will stay the same, holders are required to swap their STRAT tokens for STRAX tokens, which will be the medium of exchange on the mainnet. Users must swap their tokens until November 12 at 9 AM GMT as STRAX tokens that remain unclaimed in this swap window will be irreversibly destroyed in October 2021. More information regarding the token swap can be found here.

    3. PChain (PI)

    PCHAIN is the world’s first native multichain system, which features the support for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It consists of one main chain and multiple derived chains and the consensus is reached based on the patented PDBFT algorithm, which has significantly reduced the cost of communication. The smart contracts of PCHAIN can be easily invoked with other non-native Tokens (BCH, ERC20).  Much like Stratis, third-party developers, including corporations and financial institutions, can build smart contract-enabled applications atop PChain.

    Buy/Sell PI

    First Monthly Token Burn Following the Successful Mainnet Update

    PChain’s team completed a successful Mainnet upgrade in October and is set to conduct its fourth monthly token burn. The burn, which will destroy 50 million PI tokens is scheduled to take place on November 15. After November’s burn, the team has 6 more to go, as they plan to continue burning the tokens, until destroy a total of 500 million tokens. Around 2.6% of the total supply is forever removed out of circulation during each burn. In addition, the team has just confirmed the launch of their mobile wallet application for iOS. Android users will sadly have to wait a bit longer, but PChain assures that the wallet will be made available for download in Google Play store soon as it is already being reviewed. Furthermore, Epoch 17 delegation and voting process is scheduled to end this week, with the vote results being publicly announced by November 10.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 44

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 44

    As we progress through Q4 2020, several projects are moving ahead with continued development. In addition, Pay Pal recently announced its intent to offer cryptocurrency buying and selling within its platform, which triggered a smaller bull run. Everything looks set for another exciting week on the cryptocurrency markets and our weekly selection of top 3 coins to watch is here to help you choose the most compelling and promising coins this week.

    1. Bitcoin (BTC)

    Although we believe Bitcoin does not need much introduction and that all eyes would be on it even if it were not featured on our list, here is a short summary of the history and key characteristics of the first truly decentralized digital currency. The world’s pioneer cryptocurrency was launched by pseudonymous figure named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and has a capped supply of 21 million coins. The decreasing miner block rewards makes the cryptocurrency scarcer with time, ensuring a deflationary nature. Lately, increased interest from institutional investors has been driving the price further up.

    Buy/Sell BTC

    PayPal’s Move into Crypto Pushes Wall Street into FOMO

    As you may already know, PayPal announced that it would be offering cryptocurrency buying, selling, and holding of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash last week. Although such a move has been anticipated by some, the big news echoed throughout the cryptocurrency community and further. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, who is a Wall Street veteran himself, believes that PayPal’s move did not pass unnoticed and may impel established financial institutions to rethink their policies on cryptocurrency. If, or should we say when, these institutions decide to gain some exposure to cryptocurrency, they are very likely going to choose the world’s oldest and most mature cryptocurrency – Bitcoin.

    In addition, it is not just the sentiment that makes the outlook on the future of BTC so positive, but according to Abra CEO Bill Barhydt, also the fundamental and technical indicators are pointing up. Barhydt, who recently revealed that Bitcoin constituted 50% of his portfolio, wrote:

    “I believe #Bitcoin is the best investment opportunity in the world right now. There are three reasons I believe this to be true today….  Fundamentals, Technicals, and Sentiment.”

    With BTC dominance currently well above 60%, the performance of Bitcoin also has a significant effect on the sentiment of the whole crypto market. While Bitcoin it is by far not the best-performing asset in the crypto top 10 (for example ETH is +200%, LINK +525%, BNB 123%, ADA +200%, while Bitcoin is only +77% YTD) it is hard to imagine these percentages if BTC was in red. Furthermore, Bitcoin recently broke through the $13,000 mark with no bigger effort. Will we see Bitcoin above $14,000 soon?

    2. Horizen (ZEN) 

    Previously known as ZenCash, Horizen is a privacy-focused coin that enables encrypted messaging and utilizes supernodes and Zk-snarks technology.

    Buy/Sell ZEN

    ZEN 2.0.22 Testnet Scheduled for Launch on October 28

    The ZEN 2.0.22 upgrade, which features several security improvements, general maintenance and paves the way to the upcoming reward halving, will launch on the testnet through a soft fork. The soft fork is scheduled to take place at Block 735700, which is estimated to be mined on October 28. The currently utilized ZEN 2.0.21-1 will stop operating at Block 831936 (estimated to occur around November 17) and ZEN 2.0.22 is set to go live on Horizen mainnet at Block 835968 (around November 24/25). Nevertheless, the team urged all exchanges, mining pools, node operators, and full node wallet users to upgrade their software to ZEN 2.0.22 before November 17. You can find more information regarding the mandatory upgrade here. In addition, a ZEN block reward halving is a bit more than one month away. It is set to take place at Block 840000, which is estimated to be mined around December 1.

    3. Aragon (ANT) 

    Aragon is a Ethereum-based enterprise focused-project that aims to simplify the operation of decentralized organizations. The project conducted a very successful ICO in May 2017, which raised 275,000 ETH worth almost $25 million in mere 15 minutes. Aragon creates a virtual land where entrepreneurs and businesses are invited to interact. Disputes among them are resolved through its own decentralized court system. The protocol also features a decentralized governance system, allowing ANT holders to participate in the voting process.

    Buy/Sell ANT

    Governance token’s Upgrade to ANTv2 Starts This Week

    The Aragon Network’s governance token is set to get revamped to ANTv2, a fresh and drastically improved version. The token upgrade process started on October 27 and is outlined here. Once completed, Aragon’s governance system will be much more cost-efficient, as ANTv2 will feature up to three times lower transaction fees and support gasless transfers. In addition, the community is currently voting on the merger proposals for the ANJ (Aragon’s court token) and ANT tokens. The team has extended the period for community review of the merger proposals, hoping that it will help them make a more objective decision regarding the future of the two tokens.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 43

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 43

    As we progress through Q4 2020, several projects are moving ahead with continued development. May it be a just recently launched coin, an already established exchange-issued token or the world’s first cryptocurrency – this week’s selection of top 3 coins to watch has them all.

    1. Filecoin (FIL)

    Filecoin is a decentralized file storage platform that rewards users who offer data storage space to be rewarded in FIL. On the other hand, users can also purchase decentralized storage space at selected provides, depending on their specific storage needs. Filecoin utilizes IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), a protocol that enables the distributed data storage and sharing.

    Buy/Sell FIL

    FIL Gets Listed at several Exchanges Following Mainnet Launch

    The Filecoin project conduced an ICO in 2017 and raised more than $257 million for the development of the decentralized data storage platform. The highly anticipated mainnet launch finally took place at block 148,888, which got mined on October 15. Following the mainnet launch, Filecoin’s native FIL token got listed at several leading exchanges including Binance, Huobi, Bittrex, and Kraken, while FTX already opened the trading of FIL futures. In addition, the FIL token was also widely traded in IOU form. It is expected that the high trading volumes and speculation around FIL will continue over the coming weeks, so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on FIL.

    2. Binance Coin (BNB)

    Binance Coin (BNB) is a native token of the Binance Chain, a blockchain launched and operated by the established cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Users that utilize BNB to pay for exchange, withdrawal and listing fees they can enjoy a 25% discount. Initially the discount stood even higher, at 50%, but it gets halved every year.

    Buy/Sell BNB

    Binance Completes 13th Quarterly Burn

    The BNB team have confirmed the completion of their 13th quarterly BNB token burn which saw 2,253,888 BNB worth approximately $68,000,000 being destroyed and removed from circulation forever. While the number of tokens burned is just the fourth highest among the 13 conducted burns, their fiat denominated value is the highest ever. The leading exchange is moving forward with the continued development of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and the launch of the BSC Accelerator Fund, which offers $100 million worth of funding opportunities to DeFi and CeFi projects.  The exchange also expanded its fiat gateway system, which now covers already 232 countries. The Binance environment continues to thrive and new features are getting added to the BNB on a weekly basis. You can follow the latest developments on the exchange’s official blog post.

    3. Bitcoin (BTC)

    Although we believe that Bitcoin does not need much introduction and that all eyes would be on it even if it were not featured on our list, here is a short summary of the history and key characteristics of the first truly decentralized digital currency. The world’s pioneer cryptocurrency was launched by pseudonymous figure named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and has a capped supply of 21 million coins. The decreasing miner block rewards makes the cryptocurrency scarcer with time, ensuring a deflationary nature.

    Buy/Sell BTC

    The demand for Bitcoin Could Increase as Investors seek Inflation Safe-Haven

    According to a post from Anthony Pompliano, also known as ‘The Pomp’ we “sit at an unprecedented time in the macro-economy”, also due to the COVID-19 induced stimulus packages, which already total to more than $3 trillion, with another $2 trillion on the way. The fear that the uncontrolled money printing will cause an inflation has driven significant capital flows to inflation-hedge asses, such as gold, real estate and Bitcoin. With its supply capped at 21 million and the market capitalization of less than $220 billion, Pompliano believes that Bitcoin’s price growth is far from over. In his opinion, we will see a significant upward movement in the Bitcoin price by the end of 2021 due to the increased demand combined of this programmatically scarce digital asset. The fact that more than 60% of Bitcoin has not been moved in the last 12 months reinforces the bullish sentiment. Pompliano’s realistic prediction states that Bitcoin’s value will increase by a factor of 10 over the next 15 months, while in his bullish scenario features a new all-time high at around $250,000 per Bitcoin. Nevertheless, the Pomp warns that we will likely see many 15-30% dips along the way, as Bitcoin is a highly volatile asset.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 42

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 42

    During the second full week of Q4 2020 several cryptocurrency projects are making advancements and upgrades to their protocols. As always, the increased attention usually translates to increased amplitude of the price movements due to higher trading volumes. If the testnets and the rolled-out features prove to be successful, the tokens associated with these projects should appreciate.

    1. Zilliqa (ZIL)

    Zilliqa is a high-performance and very secure blockchain platform which aims to solve the scaling issues that most of the popular blockchains are facing. Zilliqa supports the creation of smart contracts and dApps and incorporates sharding technology, which means nodes are broken down into groups of 600, i.e. shards. A unique consensus algorithm, a combination of Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) and the standard mining algorithm Proof of Work (PoW) is used.

    Buy/Sell ZIL

    Zilliua to Test ZilSwap and Release Non-Custodial Staking

    The Zilliua project is set to release its decentralized exchange feature named ZilSwap on testnet this week. The decentralized trading pool, which was build by Switcheo will allow users to trade ZIL for several other tokens. In addition, ZIL non-custodial staking is set to roll-out on Zilliua mainnet on October 14. The October 14 mainnet upgrade will also readjust payment transaction fees and smart contract transaction fees to address the issue of disproportion of gas fees between both types of transactions. As described in ZIP-9, the costs for payment transactions will double, while the costs of smart contract transactions will be slashed by a factor of 4. More details regarding the mainnet upgrade and the ZilSwap feature can be found on Zilliua blog.

    2. Kava (KAVA)

    Developed by Kava Labs the Kava blockchain boasts with the title of the first multi-blockchain DeFi platform. For depositing various cryptocurrencies to Kava’s multi collateral CDP system users get rewarded in Kava tokens. The Kava blockchain utilizes the Tendermint consensus and is secured by 100 validators.

    Buy/Sell KAVA

    Kava 4 Gateway Scheduled to go Live on October 15

    The Kava project recently announced the launch of the Kava 4 Gateway Testnet 11k, which is set to take place on October 12 at 14:00 UTC. The Testnet 11k is an exact replica of the Kava 4 Gateway Mainnet release which will go live on mainnet just a few days later, on October 15 14:00 UTC. The testnet will allow validators to try out their set-ups prior to mainnet launch, in order to ensure a smooth mainnet upgrade. Furthermore, Kava Labs announced that the Harvest V1 will launch alongside the Gateway mainnet upgrade on October 15. Harvest is a cross-blockchain money market that allows users to earn interest on their crypto deposits, and to borrow funds from the platform. At launch, it will only support BTC, BNB, BUSD, USDX, XRP, and HARD deposits. HARD token is a governance token for Harvest, which will also be used as incentive to attract platform users to participate in the project’s decentralized governance. Kava is a promising DeFi platform and Harvest will likely drive the further growth and usage of the Kava platform. You can read more on Harvest V1 here.

    3. Elrond (EGLD)

    Elrond is a highly scalable, fast and secure blockchain platform for aApps and enterprise use cases. The EGLD token, also referred to as eGold is Elrond’s native token. It represents a medium of exchange between developers, who pay to use the network, and validators who get payed in fees for the services they provide. The Elrond network currently offers services such as general staking and delegation, and various DeFi options.

    Buy/Sell EGLD

    EGLD Incentivized Delegation Queue Will Open Up on October 14 

    While the Elrond network does offer EGLD staking, the number of tokens that can be staked is very limited. The project’s team recently decided to unlock more EGLD staking slots by launching the Phase 1 of the Incentivized Delegation Queue. Starting October 14 at 14:00 UTC, new users will be able to reserve their spot in the queue, which ultimately leads to them being able to delegate and stake their EGLD tokens and consequently enjoying an amazing APR of between 6.95% and 20%.  You can read more on EGLD staking in the October 6 announcement. In addition, the Elrond team recently disclosed that already 50,000 EGLD (currently worth $400,000) have been staked in the Centaur Launch Pool. The EGLD stakes and CNTR rewards will be distributed to participating users no later than October 16 at 09:00 UTC.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 41

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 41

    As we enter the final quarter of the year, several projects are moving ahead with continued development. This week’s selection of top three projects to keep an eye on focuses heavily on decentralization. A decentralized options trading protocol, a DEX governance token and a decentralized cloud computing protocol are featured.

    1. Hedget (HGET)

    Hedget is a decentralised options trading protocol that allows its users to create and trade different option series by depositing some collateral. Doing so, users can hedge the price fluctuation and the risk in their collateralised lending positions. The protocol also utilizes a Layer 2 scaling solution to enable faster, cheaper, and more complex transactions.

    Buy/Sell HGET

    HGET Liquidity Mine V1 to Launch on October 5

    Hedget developers have recently announced the kick-off of the HGET Liquidity Mine V1 program, which aims to provide more liquidity to automated market making platforms (AMMs). Users providing liquidity to the HGET/ETH pool will be rewarded in HGET tokens with higher rewards dedicated to those who participate from early on and those who decide to deposit larger amounts of funds. Liquidity providers will enjoy a dynamic APY based on a bonding curve (260% to 110%) from the Uniswap’s liquidity mining reward pool. A reward pool of 7500 HGET with an additional 2500 HGET bonus pool was set in place to pay out the incentives. The program will start on October 5 with a 2-week locked staking period. More info about HGET Liquidity Mine V1 can  be found here.

    2. Uniswap (UNI)

    UNI is a governance token of Uniswap, an automated liquidity protocol and currently the most popular decentralized exchange (DEX). UNI tokens are ERC-20 tokens that allow holders to decide on the future of Uniswap protocol by voting on proposals. The governance token holders also oversee the usage of funds from the community treasury, and the protocol’s fee switch.

    Buy/Sell UNI

    Version 3.0.0 Release and Liquidity Mining Launch   

    The governance token of currently the most popular DEX continues to be a hot asset as the DEX’s popularity and trading volumes continue to rise. The team, which has recently released the Version 3.0.0 of the Uniswap protocol, is now preparing everything needed for the move from HTTP to IPFS, a peer-to-peer based hypermedia protocol. In addition, Uniswap is set to launch its UNI liquidity mining service on the Coinlist platform this month. With many more updates and upgrades to come (all information is available on Uniswap’s Github page) UNI definitely remains a must-watch or should we say a must-have token.

    3. Ankr Network (ANKR)

    Founded in 2017, Ankr aims to build a resource and cost-efficient Distributed Cloud Computing blockchain. The project’s proprietary cloud infrastructure connects enterprise-grade datacentres from all around the world, into a network, that makes it easy to deploy Web3 applications. The project also puts a lot of effort into providing a user-friendly infrastructure for businesses that want to build on its platform.

    Buy/Sell ANKR

    Ankr Released Stkr Public Testnet

    With cryptocurrency staking becoming more and more popular and Ethereum 2.0 launch just around the corner, Ankr looks to expend its offering with a new service dubbed Stkr. Stkr is an Ankr-based protocol for decentralized proof-of-stake infrastructure, that will allow users to run Ethereum 2.0 staking nodes on the platform and become a hosting service provider by staking ANKR and ETH. Later on, the team plans to add support for other PoS blockchains such as Polkadot, EOS, and Binance Chain. Its micropools feature will lower the barrier to participate in staking, as also users with less than 32 ETH will be able to participate in a hosting pool. Stkr began Ankr internal testing on October 1. The testing phase, which is expected to take around 2 weeks, will be followed by a Stkr public testnet release. The team noted that we can expect the public testnet sometime in the second half of October in its ‘Countdown to Stkr’ blog post.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 40

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 40

    This week’s selection of top 3 coins to watch features three altcoins, which belong to three promising projects. Since we are already a bit late with publishing the article, let’s cut right to the point.

    1. ChainLink (LINK)

    ChainLink aims to provide data and price oracles, which are essential for the normal function of smart contract-enabled blockchain platforms. ChainLink’s price and real-world data oracles have seen numerous implementations and their popularity has only been increasing. Their oracles are said to be reliable and trustworthy and the connection with smart contracts is end-to-end secured, leaving very little space for the manipulation of the execution of smart contracts. Furthermore, ChainLink is developing a framework, which allows developers to build customized decentralized oracles. The project launched in 2017, when it also raised $32 million of funding through an ICO. The ChainLink mainnet was launched in June 2019. The associated LINK token has a total supply of 1 billion tokens and is built on the ERC-677 standard.

    Buy/Sell LINK

    Technical analysis shows that LINK is at a breaking point pricewise

    LINK being featured in this article is largely a consequence of its recent price action. The token reached its all-time high of $20 on August 16, 2020, amidst the peak of the DeFi hype. The bullish market carried Link up and cemented the project among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, where it remains until today, despite loosing more than 50% of its value since then. After a rather long bearish market, the price of LINK dropped to mere $7 last week, but in a swift recovery that followed, LINK reached a price above $10 again.

    As of now, the technical analysis shows that LINK is at a tipping point, as it could go either up or down from here. The token is currently trading just below the 21-day EMA, which coincides with the .618 fib extension. Both of which currently represent a major resistance level. Technical analyst Kevin Svenson believes, that if ChainLink manages to close the daily candle above this resistance level, it’s bound to go up to $13.25 (+30% from the current price). If it closes below that line, however, we might see a drop to $9.2 (8% drop). He advises not to place any orders until it is clear where LINK is headed.

    2. Uniswap (UNI)

    UNI is a governance token of Uniswap an automated liquidity protocol and currently the most popular decentralized exchange (DEX). UNI tokens are ERC-20 tokens and allow holders to decide the on the future of Uniswap by voting on proposals. The governance token holders also overs the usage of funds from the community treasury, and the protocol’s fee switch.

    Buy/Sell UNI

    Uniswap just released Version 3.0.0

    The team behind the project has just recently released the update 3.0.0 of the Uniswap interface, with further updates already scheduled. In addition, Uniswap v3 is set to move from HTTP to IPFS, a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol. Uniswap users recently received 400 UNI tokens for each Ethereum address that interacted with the exchange, increasing the number of UNI available for trading. All recent changes to the protocol can be found on Uniswap’s GitHub repository.

    3. Lisk (LSK)

    Lisk is a blockchain platform and associated cryptocurrency that emerged in 2016 forking of Crypti. The blockchain boasts with extremely fast transaction times as a new block is created every 10 seconds. This as achieved by utilizing blockchain apps with their own sidechains and a Distributed Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. The project has also partnered with Microsoft, whose Azure Blockchain makes use of Lisk for its cloud computing infrastructure.

    Buy/Sell LSK

    Lisk Block Reward Reduction Took Place on September 27    

    The Lisk protocol saw its fourth block producer reward reduction this week. The event, which was scheduled to happen at block number 13451520, halved the reward from previous 2 LSK to just 1 LSK. This happened on September 27, 2020 at 10:58:12 PM (CET). The protocol started with a block producer reward of 5 LSK, but the block reward has seen a 1 LSK reduction each year. More information about the block rewards and fees can be found in the team’s official documentation.  Nevertheless, some investors believe that the block reward reduction will likely have little effect on the price of LSK. Perhaps we will see a reduced sell-pressure in the long run, but until Lisk rolls out some crucial updates, the token is going to trade sideways more or less. Lisk 3.0.0. is expected to launch in 2021.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 39

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 39

    The cryptocurrency markets continue moving at a rapid pace, and we are seeing leading crypto and blockchain projects coming out with significant updates every day. However, it can be hard to keep up with all of the innovation that’s happening in crypto – here’s where we can help you out. Let’s check out 3 projects that will be particularly interesting to follow this week.

    1. Neo (NEO)

    NEO is a blockchain platform that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). NEO also allows users to create and deploy custom tokens through NEP-5 and other token standards. NEO leverages a dBFT (delegated byzantine fault tolerant) consensus mechanism. Users who hold NEO periodically receive GAS, which is necessary for paying transaction fees and running dApps on the NEO blockchain.

    Buy/Sell NEO

    Why NEO? The Mainnet Upgrade Takes Place   

    The NEO mainnet was upgraded to the newest version of neo-cli v2.12.0 on September 20. Due to the upgrade, the NEO blockchain experienced a hard fork at block 620,000.

    The update introduced an increased free sys_fee GAS threshold, which  increased from 10 GAS to 50 GAS. In addition, the maximum amount of transactions allowed per block was adjusted to 200, and a bidding mode was  implemented for all transactions.

    2. Avalanche (AVAX)

    Avalanche is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that’s strongly focused on scalability. The Avalanche platform supports smart contracts, making it suitable for launching highly scalable decentralized applications. Like other blockchain platforms that support smart contracts functionality, Avalanche is suitable for DeFi apps, non-fungible tokens, DAOs and more. Avalanche also allows users to create highly complex digital assets that feature custom rules, covenants, and riders (smart assets).

    Buy/Sell AVAX

    Why Avalanche? The Mainnet Launched This Week

    The Avalanche mainnet launched on September 21, meaning that the platform can now start supporting DeFi activities through its EVM-compatible feature set. Applications built on Avalanche can benefit from the platform’s impressive throughput of around 4,500 transactions per second.

    Avalanche is positioning itself as a convenient way to help Ethereum-based applications scale without having to make significant changes to their code. This is possible because the Avalanche Contract Chain (C-Chain) is an implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

    3. Binance Coin (BNB)

    Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by the Binance cryptocurrency exchange in 2017. Originally deployed as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, BNB is now the native asset of the Binance Chain blockchain. In addition to its use on Binance Chain, BNB provides several benefits to users who hold the token on the Binance exchange. BNB holders enjoy reduced trading fees on Binance and have access to some of the exchange’s exclusive products.

    Buy/Sell BNB

    DeFi push and Binance Card

    Binance continues to release new products and expand its offering. The exchange is making a move into the DeFi space with their Binance Smart Chain, and has set up a $100 million fund to attract developers onto its blockchain platform.

    The exchange has also created multiple new programs that incentivize users to hold BNB.

    First, Binance has launched its Binance Card crypto card, which allows users to spend their cryptocurrency wherever Visa cards are accepted. By holding BNB on Binance, Binance Card users can benefit from better cashback rates, and this could serve as yet another driver of demand for the BNB token. In addition, BNB holders can participate in Binance Launchpool by staking their BNB. In exchange for staking BNB, users receive tokens from new projects that are about to be listed on the Binance exchange. Projects that have participated in the Launchpool program so far include Bella Protocol and Wing.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 38

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 38

    The cryptocurrency markets continue moving at a rapid pace, and we are seeing leading crypto and blockchain projects coming out with significant updates every day. However, it can be hard to keep up with all of the innovation that’s happening in crypto – here’s where we can help you out. Let’s check out 3 projects that will be particularly interesting to follow this week.

    1. Binance Coin (BNB)

    Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. BNB started off its journey as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, but moved to its own blockchain platform called Binance Chain in 2019. BNB is the native asset of the Binance Chain blockchain and also gives its holders a host of benefits when using the Binance exchange. Binance runs a periodical BNB burn program, destroying a portion of the total BNB supply each quarter to make the token more scarce.

    Buy/Sell BNB

    Binance Hops on the DeFi Bandwagon

    DeFi (decentralized finance) is the hottest trend in crypto right now, and Binance is not shy about capitalizing on it. The exchange launched a centralized version of yield farming with its “Launchpool” products, which allows users to stake their BNB and earn new tokens such as BEL in return. The Launchpool gives users another reason to hold BNB tokens, and could be a significant driver of demand.

    For BNB, this creates a constant demand for holding/staking the token making it an attractive asset to own. Meanwhile fees that accrue from the exchange continue to burn existing supply. I expect BNB to claw back the underperformance YTD as a result.

    — SpartanBlack (@SpartanBlack_1) September 12, 2020

    Binance is also courting DeFi projects to migrate from the Ethereum blockchain, which is currently struggling with high transaction fees, to Binance Smart Chain. Even though Binance Smart Chain is significantly more centralized than Ethereum, this doesn’t seem to be enough of a deterrent for some projects and we could see more DeFi projects make the jump to Binance Smart Chain moving forward.

    2. NEM (XEM)

    NEM is a blockchain platform that was launched in 2015, with a focus on Plug-and-Play architecture. While users can leverage the decentralized NEM public blockchain, they can also deploy private, permissioned NEM blockchains. The NEM platform is highly customizable and its API can be used with a variety of programming languages. The consensus algorithm used by NEM is called Proof-of-Importance (POI).

    Buy/Sell XEM

    XEM Holders Can Opt-in to Receive Symbol’s XYM Tokens

    The NEM project has created a new business-oriented blockchain platform called Symbol, which will have a native token called XYM. The holders of the NEM platform’s XEM token can opt in to receive Symbol’s XYM token once the platform is ready for launch in December. The Opt-in program is accessible through the NEM desktop wallet as well as the mobile NEM wallet for Android.   You can learn more about the Opt-in program here.

    3. TrustSwap (SWAP)

    The TrustSwap DeFi platform features a number of ways in which users can engage in trusted transactions on the blockchain. The TrustSwap platform features transaction mechanisms such as escrows and time-releases, as well as a platform for launching token sales. TrustSwap can be used to launch a variety of blockchain-based tokens.

    Buy/Sell SWAP

    The TrustSwap Mainnet Launches This Week  

    The TrustSwap mainnet went live on September 14. The mainnet launch allows the platform to start processing payments, escrow transactions and automated payouts. Before starting their move to the second phase of the project’s roadmap, the TrustSwap team also plans to deliver the token sale platform and the Trusted Coin Offering (TCO) feature. In the second phase of the TrustSwap roadmap, users will be able to “wrap” cryptocurrencies and trade them as ERC-20 tokens.

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 37

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 37

    Many cryptocurrency markets entered Week 37 deep in the red numbers as almost $60 billion were wiped during the weekend’s market drop. While the start of the week was not very good, to say the least, we hope that the remainder of the week will bring some better news. We believe that the coins in our selection have a higher chance to quickly recover and return in the green than other crypto assets.

    coins-to-watch-bitcoin

    1. Bitcoin (BTC)

    Although we believe that Bitcoin does not need much introduction and that all eyes would be on it even if it were not featured on our list, here is a short summary of its history and key characteristics. The world’s pioneer cryptocurrency was launched by pseudonymous figure named Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and has a capped supply of 21 million coins. The decreasing miner block rewards makes the cryptocurrency scarcer with time, ensuring a deflationary nature.

    Buy/Sell BTC

    Bitcoin Struggles to Keep above $10,000

    The price of Bitcoin has fallen under $10,000 for the first time since the end of July on September 5 and it’s trading around 3% lower than a year ago. The world’s first born crypto has lost nearly $2,000 of its value since the end of August in a relatively steep negative market trend. The price drop comes after a relatively successful month for Bitcoin, in which we saw five promising attempts to break the $12,000 resistance level. While Bitcoin did tumble on March 12 along with the stock market, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization quickly recovered and entered a rally that lasted nearly half a year and drove the price from $4,000 to almost $12,000. It seems that the market needs to breathe a little (and readjust a little too) since the move has been quite substantial.

    In addition, there are currently two big gaps on CME Bitcoin futures market: the first $260-gap between $9,665 and $9,925 and the second $160-gap between $10,425 and $10,585. Typically, when a gap in futures markets appeares, the market will move to fill the gap. The aforementioned Bitcoin gaps are expected to be filled in near future as well, which means that even a drop to $9,600 or even $9,200 should not come as a surprise.

    At the time of writing, Bitcoin is changing hands at the price of $10,180, but continues to struggle to keep above $10,000 as the support level at that price is weakened. Next levels of support lie at $9,800, $9,600, $9,430, $9,284 and $9,200. Nevertheless, if Bitcoin manages to stay above $10,000 things would be looking better for BTC than for most of the altcoins in this plunging times.

    2. Ampleforth (AMPL) 

    Ampleforth is synthetic commodity money that adjusts its circulating supply daily, based on market circumstances. Based on the inputs from trusted price oracles, the protocol proportionally increases or decreases the total number of AMPL tokens that each user holds. The result is a digital currency that it less affected by price moves of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.

    Buy/Sell AMPL

    Ampleforth Will Launch Beehive 2.0 Geyser Program on September 10

    The Ampleforth team is getting ready for the launch of its latest edition of the Geyser liquidity mining program dubbed the Beehive 2.0 that is scheduled for September 10. Participants in Beehive 1.0 program will need to withdraw their UWETHAMPL-V2 and deposit them in the new contract. Any new stakers, that wish to participate in the program will have to first deposit ETH and AMPL into the Uniswap V2 liquidity pool. They will than receive UWETHAMPL-V2 tokens that can be staked in the Beehive 2.0 Geyser. The liquidity mining program will distribute 1% of the total AMPL supply as rewards for stakers over the course of 90 days. Users that stake their tokens for 1 month will receive doubled rewards, while those who choose a 2-month staking period will benefit from tripled rewards. More details on the Beehive 2.0 are available here.

    3. Enigma (ENG)

    Enigma (ENG) is a crypto investment platform that allows users to set-up and run micro-crypto funds. In addition, the project aims to solve the problem of privacy on the blockchain by introducing secret smart contracts.

    Buy/Sell ENG

    Launch of Secret Smart Contracts is Just Around the Corner

    The Enigma decentralized governance community will vote on the proposal for the integration of secret contracts to the Enigma Secret Network on September 8. Provided that the ENG holders approve the addition new feature, which they almost certainly will, the secret contracts will roll-out with a mainnet upgrade that will take place on September 15. After the upgrade users will be able to program and sign secret contracts on the Enigma’s Secret Network. The blockchain will facilitate private computation across a node system with secure enclaves by encrypting smart contract inputs and outputs and distributing them redundantly among Enigma nodes. Such system will allow the contents of the smart contracts to remain private, even to the nodes executing them. The whole proposal, which is described here, might prove to be a pivotal move for the project.