Crypto Shake

2022-06-13 20:30:00 ​​Former Engineer at Coinbase Issues Tips to Grow DeFi by 100x

Blake West, a former senior engineer at Coinbase, shares tips he believes may put the decentralized financial (DeFi) industry at a better competitive edge against the traditional financial economies.

He did this via a 12-paragraph Twitter thread on June 9, 2022, in which he started by posing a question: “Want DeFi to grow 100x from here? The answer is to be boring!”

Firstly, he compared the revenue of the markets. According to him, the global e-commerce companies made $2.2 trillion in revenue last year, while the non-fungible token (NFT) revenue from creators was only $3.9 billion.

West argues that speculative activities in crypto, NFTs, gaming, or web3 social are great but would do the DeFi industry less good. He believes the DeFi industry needs to move away from speculations and into the boring everyday financial activities of the legacy industries.

He added that the DeFi industry would prove a strong adversary only when it solves financial problems more efficiently.

Ad spending did not only happen to “internet native” activities. It stole market share from TV, radio, newspapers, etc. because it offered a better way to solve the same problem. So the challenge in front of DeFi is the same faced by every other technology that has aimed to disrupt the status quo. It must solve the same old problems, but better.

According to Binance Academy, DeFi is the use of decentralized networks and open-source software to create financial services and products. The functions of DeFi include creating monetary banking services like the issuance of stablecoins, providing peer-to-peer or pooled lending and borrowing platforms, and enabling advanced financial instruments such as DEX, tokenization platforms, derivatives, etc. Open / Comment

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2022-06-12 22:00:01 ​​Orderly Network Raises $20M for DeFi Infrastructure on Near Protocol

Orderly Network, a decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol, completed a $20 million strategic round of financing from several crypto funds, it said in a note shared with CoinDesk.

Orderly Network is a permissionless protocol and modular ecosystem built on top of Near Protocol. It relies on smart contracts to conduct peer-to-peer trading and offers risk management and shared asset pools for users.

Crypto funds Three Arrows Capital, Pantera Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Sequoia China, Jump Crypto, Alameda Research, GSR Ventures and MetaWebVC participated in the round.

“We are proud to back Orderly as they build out top-performing infrastructure and deep liquidity on Near,” said Kyle Davies, co-founder at Three Arrows Capital, in a statement. “Infrastructure being built for traders by traders results in better products that are designed to meet the specific needs and provide the best possible trading experience.”

Orderly will use the financing to enlarge its team, enter partnerships with other crypto firms and build new decentralized finance (DeFi) products, the firm said.

It will also start community lending pools to enhance liquidity on its platform. Token holders will be able to lend assets to market makers on such pools while receiving yields.

Founded in April 2022, Orderly Network received initial investment from Near and liquidity platform WOO Network. Market maker Kronos Research will provide initial liquidity, ensuring trading pairs are liquid after the platform’s public launch. Open / Comment

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2022-06-10 21:30:00 ​​EU Countries Close to Reaching Deal on Crypto Regulation

European Union countries are close to reaching a deal in the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework, Bloomberg reports.

Negotiators still have to iron out certain issues before reaching a consensus.

The regulation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and stablecoins is a hot-button issue at the center of ongoing debates.

Regulators are mulling over limiting the size of transactions made with dollar-backed cryptocurrencies.

Member states are also considering creating a slew of anti-money laundering rules that have to be included in the regulatory framework.

The EU also wants to introduce climate-related disclosures in order to keep track of Bitcoin's environmental impact. Negotiators are discussing specific requirements for cryptocurrency service providers. As reported by U.Today, several amendments were introduced in order to restrict the use of proof-of-work. However, the European Parliament voted against including a de facto ban on Bitcoin mining in the MiCA framework after facing backlash from members of the cryptocurrency industry.

In March, EU lawmakers also approved a crackdown on anonymous cryptocurrency transfers. The draft bill is still undergoing trialogue negotiations.

France, which is currently at the helm of the council of the European Union, is presiding over the ongoing discussions. Open / Comment

2022-06-07 21:51:52 ​​Microsoft is hiring a Web 3.0 product manager as expansion into crypto accelerates

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) continues to strengthen its position in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space through relevant hirings, with the company announcing a position for Web 3.0 and Blockchain Principal Product Manager.

The job posting published on the company’s website on June 6 indicates that the successful candidate would be part of the Microsoft Cloud for Industry Growth and Expansion Team (MCIGET). Under this role, the primary task will be to ‘bring clarity, generate energy and deliver success for Microsoft in blockchain and crypto.’

Additionally, other responsibilities entail interacting with external blockchain and crypto ISVs to build on the Microsoft Cloud. The candidate will also be responsible for assisting in refining the general Microsoft blockchain and crypto strategy and execution.

One notable requirement for the job is experience in crypto, blockchain, distributed ledgers, or Web 3.0 and conceptual knowledge of modern cryptography.

Microsoft’s advances into crypto world
Overall, the team’s expansion adds to Microsoft’s recent efforts to integrate crypto into its existing products. According to the company:

“The blockchain and crypto market presents Microsoft with an opportunity to grow usage of our tools, platforms, and products in new ways and with new customers. We can apply lessons learned from prior blockchain work to guide engagement with partners who extend these technologies into their industries.”

Microsoft has been scaling its cryptocurrency and blockchain teams with strategic hiring in recent months. For instance, the software firm announced the Director of Crypto Business Development position in February. The successful hire was to assist in laying the foundation for Microsoft’s Web 3.0 strategy.

An analysis of the hiring spree indicates that the company is gradually establishing itself as a key player in emerging technologies like Web 3.0.

Already, the firm has expressed interest in venturing into the virtual worlds after successfully acquiring video gaming company Activision Blizzard for a deal worth $95.00 per share. The acquisition is expected to close in 2023 and will play a vital role in the company’s shift towards the metaverse. Open / Comment

2022-06-05 20:30:00 ​​DeFi Ledgers Can Help Regulators Oversee Sector, BIS Official Says

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) can be regulated by relying on its own trust-creating mechanisms to collect compliance data, according to Raphael Auer, head of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Eurosystem Innovation Hub.

A working paper authored by Auer titled "Embedded supervision: how to build regulation into decentralized finance," published Wednesday, argues that the compliance of DeFi players can be automatically monitored by "reading the market’s ledger."

"This reduces the need for firms to actively collect, verify and deliver data," the paper said.

DeFi is a term used to describe a range of intermediary-free financial applications built on a blockchain. The applications are built on distributed ledgers used to record transactions and for verification purposes. Although it is often championed by the crypto world and Web3 enthusiasts, DeFi has left regulators around the world sounding alarms over the urgent need to supervise the space.

But aside from a 2021 quarterly review by the BIS, an umbrella group for central banks, that called "decentralization" in DeFi an "illusion," and argued that centralized points within DeFi could allow regulators ways into establishing control over the space, little practical headway has been made in establishing oversight.

The technology of embedded supervision, however, has attracted interest from policymakers. At the request of lawmakers, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union responsible for proposing new legislation, is currently preparing to charter a study on the potential impact of linking supervisory data applications to decentralized finance, as a precursor to potential further legislation.

But some have expressed skepticism about whether it is even possible to carry out such supervision on smart contracts where the code is unchangeable. Embedded supervision is “both nice to have and unworkable in practice,” George Giaglis, professor at the University of Nicosia Department of Digital Innovation told CoinDesk.

"You cannot enforce this at the protocol level. Unless you did something totally stupid like, you know, embedding code in smart contracts that would allow regulators to peer into transactions or something like that, which are things that cannot happen in practice," he said. Open / Comment

2022-06-03 22:30:00 ​​Lawmakers introduce bill to include crypto in Congressional disclosures

Representatives Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) have introduced a bill that would require members of Congress to disclose financial interests in crypto.

The lawmakers introduced the bill on May 20, when it was referred to the Committee on House Administration as the "Cryptocurrency Accountability Act."

The bill would amend the Ethics in Government Act, a 1978 law passed in the wake of the Watergate Scandal requiring public officials to disclose their financial and employment history and the history of their immediate families. If passed, it would amend the section describing the necessary disclosures to include:

"A brief description, the date, and category of value of any purchase, sale, or exchange in cryptocurrency by the Member or spouse or dependent child of the Member during the preceding calendar year which exceeds $1,000."

Here, cryptocurrency is described as "any digital representation of value which is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology."

It would also require the "identity and category of value" expressed as a dollar amount of any interest in crypto. It sets a 45-day clock from notice of the purchase of the asset to the disclosure. Failing to do so could result in a small fine or civil action brought by the Attorney General if the incident is willfully hidden. Open / Comment

2022-06-01 22:00:03 ​​Polkadot’s Moonbeam Adds Liquid Staking Giant Lido

Polkadot is bringing liquid staking to its network of blockchains, allowing cryptocurrency owners who’ve pledged to support the proof-of-stake (PoS) network an avenue to increase their revenue streams by earning additional yield in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

Moonbeam, a connectivity layer between the Ethereum blockchain and services being built on Polkadot, is working with Lido, a staking derivatives platform that allows ether (ETH) and other cryptos locked up in staking contracts to be used elsewhere.

The move to bring Lido’s liquid staking to Polkadot was also facilitated by blockchain auditing and staking specialist MixBytes, the companies announced on Tuesday. In February, the same group unveiled liquid staking on Kusama, Polkadot’s so-called canary network, an experimental version of the blockchain.

Under liquid staking, cryptocurrency owners who’ve pledged to support proof-of-stake (PoS) networks by dedicating their tokens to the process, receive a kind of staked IOU token. That token can then be invested to earn yield in DeFi apps.

The Lido integration enables holders of Polkadot’s native cryptocurrency, DOT, to stake their assets in the form of xcDOT (cross-chain DOT), for which they receive an stDOT (staked DOT) token. Both xcDOT and stDOT are XC-20 tokens, a token standard created by Moonbeam for compatibility between the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the Substrate framework that powers Polkadot.

Moonbeam, which went live in January after raising over $1.3 billion to secure a parachain slot on Polkadot, has been assembling the infrastructure and tools needed to harmonize activity across multiple blockchains, said the platform’s CEO Derek Yoo. Lido, with some $8 billion in locked value on Ethereum alone, is an important integration, he added.

“Liquid staking is really a basic building block of the ecosystem,” Yoo said in an interview. “We’re positioning Moonbeam as the best place to make multichain apps, as we believe there’s a shift from people deploying apps with a single chain to deploying them to multiple chains, which is part of why we chose to build on Polkadot.”

As well as the smart contract-based application that lives on Moonbeam, there’s also a component that lives on the Polkadot relay chain, the ecosystem’s rule-enforcing centerpoint that handles blockchain security and staking services in particular, explained Yoo.

“Behind the scenes, these specialized components are being combined to present one simple application to the user,” he said. “That’s a little bit of our thesis in a nutshell: apps are going to start to be built with multiple specialized chains, but at the same time, you’re kind of hiding the complexity away.”

Part of Lido’s concept as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is that any team can create liquid staking on any chain, according to Lido CEO Konstantin Lomashuk. Still, liquid staking on Polkadot was difficult, Lomashuk added, pointing out that Polkadot’s cross-chain communication format (XCM), which the integration leveraged, was only delivered three weeks ago.

“It was quite hard to develop because you have these two different blockchains that communicate, the relay chain and parachain, and you also need to redistribute the stake on different validators,” said Lomashuk in an interview. “So it took a lot of research, but has made a great addition to our product line, where institutional and retail users can get liquid staking of the same quality on Polkadot as they do on Ethereum.” Open / Comment

2022-05-30 21:00:04 ​​Here's how much Kazakh gov't made off crypto mining in Q1 2022

The government of Kazakhstan, one of the world’s largest countries by the Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate distribution, has reported budget earnings derived from cryptocurrency mining.

On May 30, Kazakhstan’s state revenue committee of the Ministry of Finance released a report on the amount of total energy fees paid by local crypto miners in the first quarter of 2022.

According to the report, Kazakhstan’s budget added 652 million Kazakhstani tenge ($1.5 million) in energy fees from crypto mining in Q1 2022 after the government introduced a digital mining fee on Jan. 1, 2022.

The committee stressed that a significant amount of the expected sum of fees has not been received by the budget as the government has shut down a wide number of crypto mining firms in order to “ensure energy security.” Additionally, the authority mentioned that the government is considering increasing local fees for cryptocurrency mining as part of the new crypto bill.

The committee also noted that tax reporting on digital mining-related payments is not provided for by Kazakhstan’s tax code. On May 25, the Kazakh parliament passed in the first reading the amendments to the national tax code to introduce the crypto mining tax tied to the electricity prices consumed by mining entities.

In late 2021, the Data Center Industry and Blockchain Association of Kazakhstan estimated that cryptocurrency mining could bring as much as $1.5 billion in revenue for the country in five years. As previously reported, Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest countries by BTC mining hash rate. According to the latest update of the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Kazakhstan was the third-largest BTC mining location in the world as of January 2022, with the hash rate share amounting to 13%. Open / Comment