Category: Hot Crypto

Kyber Network is a decentralized, blockchain-based protocol that facilitates the exchange of tokens without an intermediary and provides liquidity for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. At the time of this writing, Kyber Network is integrated with more than 100 applications, and powers KyberSwap, Kyber Network’s decentralized exchange (DEX). Kyber Network is governed by the holders of its native KNC token through KyberDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

Kyber Network Provides Critical Liquidity to DeFi

Before examining Kyber Network’s design, let’s first unpack why liquidity is important to the DeFi ecosystem. In the cryptocurrency community, liquidity refers to several things: the ability to exchange an asset without substantially shifting its price in the process, the amount of trading activity in a market, and the ease with which an asset can be converted to cash. Liquidity is essential to healthy, functional, user-friendly markets, but can be difficult for new DeFi protocols to both attain and retain.

In traditional financial markets, liquidity providers are centralized entities like banks and financial institutions. However, utilizing centralized entities to provide liquidity in DeFi markets would run contrary to the ecosystem’s ethos of decentralization. As a result, permissionless protocols like Kyber Network have emerged to take their place. Kyber Network’s mission is to create a world in which any token of value can be used anywhere for swaps in any wallet, as well as for payment services, and other newly developed financial products.

How Does Kyber Network Work?

Kyber Network consists of a set of smart contracts that can be implemented on any smart contract-capable blockchain, though it is only implemented on Ethereum as of December 2020. The protocol aggregates liquidity from a variety of reserves, including token holders, market makers, and decentralized exchanges, into a single liquidity pool on its network. Anyone can provide liquidity to the network. Kyber Network enables its three primary users — decentralized applications (dApps), vendors, and crypto wallets — to execute instant token swaps without the use of a trusted third party.

Let’s run through two types of trades.

In every trade, there is the token that represents the core asset. Ether (ETH) currently acts as this token in the Ethereum implementation of the protocol, so any trade must involve an exchange of ETH for another token. Imagine that you want to trade ETH for BAT, Brave’s Basic Attention Token:

• You send your ETH to the Kyber Network smart contract.
• The contract then queries all of its reserves for the best ETH to BAT exchange rate.
• The contract then sends the ETH to the reserve with the best ETH to BAT exchange rate.
• Finally, that reserve then sends you your BAT.

Now let’s imagine that you want to trade BAT for DAI. In this example, since you are not trading directly in ETH, some additional steps are required because ETH is the core asset:

• You send your BAT to the Kyber Network smart contract. 
• The contract then queries all of its reserves for the best BAT to ETH exchange rate.
• The contract then sends the BAT to the reserve with the best BAT to ETH exchange rate. 
• That reserve then sends ETH to the contract. 
• The contract then queries all of its reserves for the best ETH to DAI exchange rate. 
• The contract then sends the ETH to the reserve with the best ETH to DAI exchange rate.
• Finally, that reserve then sends you your DAI.

Despite the second trade involving more steps, both trades are completed in a single blockchain transaction. Likewise, with Kyber Network, all trades are instantly settled on the blockchain and are either executed in full or reverted. In other words, your trades should never be partially executed (though they may be partially executed on other types of exchanges). Additionally, all exchange rates offered by reserves are publicly verifiable if you query the smart contracts.

When integrated into dApps, DeFi platforms, and crypto wallets, the Kyber Network has a wide range of use cases. For example, a dApp that would like to accept users who do not hold its native token can integrate the Kyber protocol to allow for in-app token swap and token conversion functionalities. These features enable the dApp’s users to utilize any Kyber Network-supported token and simultaneously enable the dApp to receive payment in the token of its choice.

KyberDAO and KNC

Holders of KNC can participate in the governance of Kyber Network through KyberDAO. By staking their tokens, KNC holders can vote on the network’s fee model, rebates for reserves, and other proposals, and also earn staking rewards denominated in ether. KNC is a deflationary staking token, which means its supply will decrease over time. KNC is only an ERC-20 token as of December 2020, but Kyber Network anticipates that it will also be implemented on other blockchains in the future. Nonetheless, its supply will be managed as if it were a single token, and Kyber Network is developing technologies that will enable the transfer of KNC across blockchains.

Kyber Network’s broadly integrated protocol offers an on-chain, decentralized solution to DeFi’s liquidity challenges and provides ERC-20 tokens with ecosystem-wide utility.

What products support KNC?

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔

What regions support KNC?

	US	NY	EU	UK	CA/SG
Coinbase	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✔	✖️
EUR	✖️	✔	✔

Crypto to crypto trading pairs

	USDC	BTC	ETH
KNC	✖️	✔	✖️

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

How many confirmations are needed for KNC?

KNC requires 35 network confirmations. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts KNC?

KNC is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain.

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.01 KNC

Maximum: 121,000 KNC

On April 20, 2021, KNC (Kyber) deployed their new token and swap contracts. You can reference KNC’s tweet for more on the token swap. While we won’t support the new smart contract at the time of the initial token swap, we will support it a later date in 2021. 

What do I need to know about the KNC token swap?

The new KNC smart contract will be available on Coinbase and Coinbase Pro.

New smart contract

Coinbase will not support the new smart contract at the time of the token swap. You won’t be able to trade (buy/sell) the new token. You can still trade the older version of KNC before the conversion tha occurs later in 2021. 

Once Coinbase supports the new smart contract later in 2021, Coinbase will automatically convert all the KNC tokens in your account and trading will be enabled. If you have KNC in your Coinbase accunt, we’ll notify you a few weeks before the conversion once a conversion date is determined. 

Moving KNC Tokens

You have the option to move your KNC tokens out of Coinbase any time before the conversion date. 

Sending and receiving KNC Tokens

When sending/receiving KNC tokens, please check what version of KNC tokens you currently hold. Exchanges and wallets might have or have not updated to the new token contract, and your funds might be lost if you send an unsupported version of KNC. The Ethereum contract address for the old KNC token is: 0xdd974d5c2e2928dea5f71b9825b8b646686bd200.

Will I be able to deposit the new KNC token to Coinbase before the conversion? 

No. Coinbase KNC wallets supporting the new smart contract won’t be available until afterthe conversion later this year.  We’ll announce this date on Twitter once we know.

What happens if I deposit the new KNC token into my Coinbase account before the conversion?

If you transfer the new KNC token from another exchange to Coinbase before the upgrade then the token will not be accessible or available for withdrawal from Coinbase until the KNC smart contract is supported.

What happens if I deposit the old KNC smart contract after it’s deprecated on Coinbase?

These deposits would not be supported and would be treated as an unsupported digital currency. Depositing unsupported assets in your Coinbase account will cause you to lose them.

Sending and receiving

Old KNC: You will be able to send & receive the old KNC before update/conversion.

New KNC smart contract: You will not be able to send & receive the new KNC smart contract before the upgrade/conversion.

After the upgrade, sending and receiving the new KNC tokens will be enabled on Coinbase Pro but sending and receiving old KNC tokens will no longer be available.

What happens to my KNC after the mandatory conversion to the new KNC smart contract?

As previously mentioned, all of your KNC tokens will automatically convert to the new smart contract and your new KNC tokens will be available in Coinbase products. You’ll then be able to buy, sell and convert KNC on Coinbase products.

Will we support the new KNC token on Pro trading books?

Yes, but only after Coinbase supports the conversion later this year.

What does this mean for KNC in my standalone Coinbase Wallet?

If you have KNC in your Coinbase Wallet, KNC funds will not convert to the KNC. You will need to follow the instructions outlined by KNC in their Migration Guide. 

By Gemini and Coinbase

Mask Network is a portal that allows users to seamlessly send encrypted messages, cryptocurrencies, and even DApps (Defi, NFTs, DAO) over the top of social networks without migrating, and thereby creating a decentralized Applet(DApplet) ecosystem. In short, we want to bridge the New, Open Internet right on top of the current one.

An Overview 🔍

Instead of creating a new platform, Mask Network aims to bridge Web2 (the current web) and so-called Web3, to empower the general public to use the better web within the current mainstream platforms, without using any API or centralized server.

Our Vision 🚩

People live on the Internet. The current version of the internet consists of big techs after big techs where people essentially have to give up control of their own autonomy and cannot even get a breathing room in between the platforms. Many want to overthrow them by starting new ones.

We don’t — We want to create something above them. Cryptography and Web 3 technology (including blockchain, decentralized storage, and peer to peer networks, etc) is enabling us to pull off the job.

The historical reference is the Operating system vs Web browser. Microsoft Windows used to be the ‘evil’ dominant player, taking over 90% of the OS market share. But the Internet (more specifically, Web) changes everything. Everyone still uses operating systems, but the pie has been significantly diluted by the Internet. The web browser is built inside the operating system and sucks in most of the operating system usage gradually and effectively — became the operating system. Microsoft had to preinstall IE to fight back against Netscape — finally leading to DOJ’s action against Microsoft.

Now onto the social networks. Some 90% of the global Internet users are social network users. Social networks have become the infrastructure that few can bypass. Directly competing against those giants seems infeasible. What if we can create something over-the-top of them that people want? Lots of problems have arisen in social networks. They can barely do cross border payments, no space to permanently store files, no real secure encryption. They monetize based on our data and labor and we have little bargain power to stop that.

Is there something that can fix all those problems? The rise of peer to peer networks, blockchain, decentralized storage, collectively denominated as Web 3, are giving us a silver lining. We want to piece them together and give ordinary users a whole new Internet inside the existing one.

What Have We Done and How Has it Been Received

Mask Network has been up and running for almost a year. In the earliest version back in July 2019. The basic function it provides is sending and receiving encrypted posts (tweets/fb posts) with access control. This is achieved without having a centralized server. We also kept UI consistency with platforms to reduce on-boarding costs.

What products support MASK? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✖️	✖️

What regions support MASK?

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✔	✖️
EUR	✖️	✔	✔

Crypto to crypto trading pairs

	USDC	USDT	BTC	ETH
MASK	✖️	✔	✖️	✖️

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

How many confirmations are needed for MASK?

MASK requires 35 network confirmations. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts MASK?

MASK is hosted on Ethereum.

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000010000000000

Maximum: 33,069

By Mask Network and Coinbase

Civic is a blockchain identity verification technology that allows consumers to authorise the use of their identities in real-time. It allows businesses and financial institutions to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of background checks.

About Civic Coin:

Civic (CVC) is a cryptocurrency based on Ethereum. This is what powers the Civic’s identity verification mechanism. Upon verifying their information using Civic, users may safely share and verify personal information with service providers. This eliminates the regular re-verification requirements. Service providers may give CVC to users and verifiers in exchange for this convenience.

Jonathan Smith and Vinny Lingham founded Civic in 2015.

Primary features of Civic

CVC coin is an ERC20 token. This means that you can store it on any wallet that supports Ethereum.

• Civic is a network of decentralised applications built on Ethereum that focuses on verifying and requesting information about one’s identity.
• It enables people to use the blockchain to verify their age when purchasing beer from vending machines.
• The Civic ecosystem is composed of three distinct components: Users, Requesters, and Validators.
• The user is in complete control of their data as it is stored locally on their mobile device. They can share the information with whom they want to.

Is Civic a promising cryptocurrency?

Civic coin price currency has increased over 200% in 2021 and by around 800% in the previous year.

According to different civic currency price forecasts, the coin still has the opportunity to grow. There may be a higher upside potential after the coin resumes its ascent to the peak.

Suppose you missed the Civic Coin’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO). In that case, you could purchase it on third-party cryptocurrency exchanges such as CoinSwitch Kuber.

How to use Civic coins?

It is more than a coin and aims to serve as both a wallet and an identification card. You may use it to build a safe and handy personal database. It can save virtually anything you desire, from your passport details to your medical history.

Pros & Cons of Civic coin

Pros

• Civic securely verifies the identity of any user without requiring a username and password.
• It does a thorough background check on the individual by examining publicly available information such as social media accounts. This effectively prohibits the creation of false identities and identity theft.
• It seeks to address real-world issues and has enormous development potential.
• As their technology is patented,  it may be advantageous against competitors in the future.

Cons

The platform may face stiff competition soon. More blockchain applications may emerge in the future as the size of the identity verification business is huge. Thus, Civic must establish several relationships and enter the mainstream market soon to flourish.

Which products support CVC? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✔	✖️

What regions support CVC? 

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️
Pro	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️
Wallet	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✖️	✖️
EUR	✖️	✖️	✖️

Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.

Crypto to crypto trading pairs 

	USDC	BTC	ETH	USDT
CVC	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.

How many confirmations are needed for CVC?

CVC requires 35 network confirmation. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts CVC?

CVC is hosted on Ethereum. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000000000000001 CVC

Maximum: 1,130,000 CVC

By coinswitch and coinbase

Braintrust is the first decentralized talent network that connects highly skilled tech freelancers with the world’s most reputable brands, aligning the interests of both talent and enterprises. This week, we sat down with the Braintrust team to discuss what they are building, its use cases, recent traction, and their thoughts on Web 3.0 more broadly.

1. To begin, what is Braintrust and what problem does it solve?

Braintrust is the first decentralized talent network that connects highly skilled technical freelancers with the world’s most reputable brands like Nestle, Porsche, Atlassian, Goldman Sachs and Nike. Braintrust’s unique business model allows talent to retain 100% of their earnings and enables organizations to spin up flexible, skilled teams on-demand at a fraction of the cost of traditional staffing firms. This new business model that limits fee extraction and enables community ownership is uniquely enabled by a blockchain token.

Since coming out of stealth in June 2020, Braintrust has grown gross services volume (GSV) from $3.5 million in 2020 to a $31 million GSV run rate in 2021, growing over 34% on average each month. Braintrust’s community has scaled its use, adoption and talent earnings, with 215% growth in the talent community and individual hourly rates for talent on the network averaging nearly $100 per hour–all without any fee extraction.

2. Are there certain industries that your marketplace focuses on?

Braintrust’s talent community primarily focuses on large, complex technology and design projects spanning software, machine learning, data analytics, and related functions. Examples might include creating a health insurance shopping platform for a major insurance carrier, or the staffing of five full-stack engineers for a transportation company.

Braintrust attracts top tech talent from companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and more—and it’s currently focused on four core categories involved in agile software development and IT:

• Designers (Graphical + UI/UX)
• Engineers / Architects
• Product and Project Managers
• Quality Assurance

Currently, approximately 50% of the talent on Braintrust is based in the U.S., with the other 50% based in 100+ different countries around the globe.

3. There are many marketplaces out there for global talent. Why use blockchain? Why is decentralization important?

What makes Braintrust unique is its model: the marketplace is decentralized and user-controlled. Other platforms like Toptal, Upwork, Gigster, etc., take 20-40% of what the talent makes on the platform and ownership is highly concentrated among a few people and investors. Braintrust takes 0% of what the talent makes, and it’s controlled by its token governance community. This approach enables Braintrust to attract and retain higher-quality talent. Blockchain technology is what enables Braintrust to cut out the middlemen and keep incentives aligned. This dramatically reduces costs for clients and increases the earnings of talent by eliminating hefty fee extraction, and therefore attracts the best people in the world who keep 100% of what they earn on the Braintrust platform.

Braintrust’s blockchain-powered model aligns the incentives of the network itself with the people building it. This is made possible by awarding control and user ownership through BTRST tokens based on contributions to the network. The token powers the entire decentralized network’s governance, incentivizing the community to build the network through referring clients and inviting and vetting new talent. It has a fixed supply of 250 million tokens, meaning the total number of tokens in circulation can never surpass that amount. This blockchain approach is in stark contrast to Web 2.0 models, where a centralized platform would extract disproportionate value in the form of high fees paid by its knowledge workers.

Not only does this put more control in the hands of the community, it has the potential to help grow the network rapidly.

4. What has been your acquisition strategy for top talent and how do you incentivize them to refer other qualified candidates?

Braintrust’s user-ownership structure has enabled a strong talent acquisition model built on BTRST, driving down talent acquisition costs to nearly zero while scaling demand rapidly. Today, almost 50% of Braintrust’s new client acquisition and talent acquisition is driven by referral programs based on BTRST tokens. These referral programs are called Connectors. Anyone can sign up, get a unique code and start adding their network to Braintrust. When those connector-introduced users start transacting, the Braintrust network pays out rewards programmatically to the connectors as a percentage of the transactions — or Gross Services Value (GSV) — they produce. Connectors earn tokens for each successfully paid invoice, giving them more network ownership for helping drive talent and value to the network.

The combination of platform growth and community growth illustrates how Braintrust’s unique tokenization model aligns the incentives of freelancers with the marketplace itself.

5. What are some of the brands hiring on Braintrust? What have you learned from those early adopters?

Braintrust’s highly skilled, vetted talent attracts enterprises and organizations across the business spectrum. Since June of 2020, Braintrust’s client community including Pacific Life, Nestle, and Stanley Black & Decker has more than tripled in size, while the average project size has grown to $57,000, with some as large as $300,000. In addition to project size, jobs on the platform have more than tripled in 2021.

6. Traditional marketplaces tax their users with fees. How does Braintrust make money?

Braintrust charges a flat 10% success fee to the client (employer). Braintrust is a “public good” not-for-profit, and the project’s goal is to fulfill its mission of creating a decentralized talent marketplace, and make the network more useful for everyone that controls it and runs their business on it.

7. What are the primary use cases for your native token, BTRST?

The BTRST token has a number of uses, including:

• Governance: BTRST token holders can discuss ideas for improvements, propose changes, and vote on governance proposals. Because each token represents one vote, users who hold more tokens have greater say on how the network develops.
• Bid Staking: In a competitive market, talent may stake tokens to stand out, offering their tokens as collateral, which they would lose if they fail to deliver on the contract (based on community-based adjudication). Clients can also stake tokens, which go to qualified applicants if the clients don’t go forward with the job — encouraging talent to apply knowing they will be compensated for the time they spend crafting a proposal. Token bid staking helps “un-stick,” or reduce friction, in the marketplace, keeping it more transparent by addressing mismatches of supply and demand.
• Career Benefits: The tokens are also expected to be redeemable for special perks offered by other community participants exclusive to the Braintrust community, including free and discounted software, products, and career resources. Users can also earn tokens by taking courses on Braintrust Academy, a community-run organization, which teaches talent valuable skills to help them earn more on the network.

Note: BTRST tokens do NOT represent equity, debt, a claim on profits, or dividends and do not constitute any financial instrument of any business or organization.

8. What crypto trends are you most excited about in the next six months?

There have been a number of major technological shifts in the last 20 years that have reset the technological landscape, whether that be the rise of mobile computing or of cloud computing. New tech giants have risen out of these macro shifts in how we use technology in our daily lives, and have basically cornered the market on innovation.

Web 3.0 is another one of these major tectonic shifts, and we’re beginning to see it move beyond the experimental phase and to very real, very tangible use cases. Because of the decentralized nature of this particular new model, these new use cases are growing adoption and usefulness at a clip that’s never been seen before. That’s because Web 3.0 isn’t about amassing swollen organizations with tens of thousands of employees; instead, it’s all being driven by large numbers of people engaging and taking part as contributors and beneficiaries.

In that way, it’s really two trends converging to create something incredibly powerful. The first is the continued maturity of Web 3.0 tech and its open nature that gives anyone the opportunity to build cool, useful things. The second is that enough people are understanding that the old way — centralized institutions that call the shots and make the rules — is not beneficial to them as users.

Together, this ownership economy and the rise of Web 3.0 are going to spark some incredibly cool projects that bring more and more people into crypto, not just as curious onlookers or speculators, but as users of protocols and tools that are enhancing their lives.

9. What is the best way for the community to get involved with Braintrust?

Stay connected to us on Discord, Twitter and Telegram to hear the latest — and start earning tokens as a community member by helping build the Braintrust network.

Which products support BTRST? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✖️	✖️

What regions support BTRST? 

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✔	✖️
EUR	✖️	✔	✔

Crypto to crypto trading pairs 

	USDC	BTC	ETH	USDT
BTRST	✖️	✔	✖️	✔

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

How many confirmations are needed for BTRST?

BTRST requires 35 network confirmation. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts BTRST?

BTRST is hosted on Ethereum. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000000000000001 BTRST

Maximum: 125,000 BTRST

By CoinList and Coinbase

Orion Protocol (ORN) is an open-source decentralized blockchain platform that acts as a liquidity aggregator for centralized and decentralized exchanges. Orion Protocol was created with the goal of providing cryptocurrency users and traders with the best rates for trading tokens and coins across multiple exchange markets and platforms.

Orion Protocol collects liquidity from a great variety of exchanges so that users can get the best rates and lowest fees for their trades. The system collects the liquidity from exchanges to transform it into a single API that finds the best routes for users. The system is also based on order books, so when an order is made, the aggregator immediately searches for multiple routes until it delivers the most suitable trading rates for network users.

With Orion Protocol, trades become simple and easy as traders don’t need to search for the best rates themselves, which would require them to find, access, and compare various exchange platforms. Users also don’t need to get used to a multitude of APIs and features on different exchanges. Network users can manage and access their assets with Orion’s non-custodial solutions. Orion addresses one of the biggest issues on centralized exchanges: hacking, by providing non-custodial solutions for asset management.

How Does Orion Protocol Work?

Orion Protocol forms an entire ecosystem for traders by unifying the whole crypto market in a single API. Orion offers a full suite of features, tools, and products for traders and crypto users, which includes a portfolio management application, trading terminals, enterprise trading, liquidity boost, app store, and DEX launcher.

With all these widely available features and products at their disposal, users can trade tokens and cryptos at the best available rates. Orion seeks the most optimal routes so users don’t have to search through different exchanges to find the best trading opportunities. Users can also manage their assets within a single application with the Orion portfolio management app, which shows all relevant trading data for individual traders.

Network users can also access the Orion app store and buy and access apps that may help them with trades. Some of the available apps are payment integration systems and trading bots. Orion also has an extension for enterprise trading that companies and firms can integrate with their systems. Exchanges, both centralized and decentralized, can also use Orion’s liquidity boost extension as a built-in feature to contribute to the overall liquidity.

Who Are the Founders of Orion Protocol? (History of Orion Protocol)

Orion Protocol launched in 2020 with its utility token ORN. Orion Protocol was founded and developed by Alexey Koloskov, who is also the CEO of the protocol, and his team. The CSO of Orion Protocol, Yanush Ali, claims that Orion Protocol is what the cryptocurrency industry needs to resolve some of its biggest issues.

The project was created with the aim of reducing risks, such as hacker attacks, that sometimes happen on centralized exchanges. The project also addresses the fact that decentralized exchanges, although far less prone to malicious attacks, are underdeveloped. Orion resolves these issues with aggregate features and a series of products available in the Orion market and app store. The main goal of the team is to create a one-stop ecosystem for traders and crypto users.

What Makes Orion Protocol Unique?

One of the factors that make Orion Protocol unique is the goal of the project, which is to reduce the risks involved with trading on decentralized and centralized exchanges. Orion Protocol also finds the best trading routes for network users with the most favorable fees and trading rates. The project aims to create a one-stop ecosystem for traders and cryptocurrency users.

Traders and crypto users can make the most out of liquidity on the protocol, manage their assets, and access apps for trading and other purposes. As a unique project that unifies multiple crypto trading and blockchain-based services, Orion Protocol simplifies trading by finding the best options for traders in an instant.

What Gives Orion Protocol Value?

Orion Protocol’s value is defined by a variety of specific factors, which include the technical capacity of the project, its technology, the activity of the dev team, and mainstream use and adoption. The roadmap plans also contribute to the overall value of the project, while Orion Protocol plans to introduce a price oracle and high-margin DEX trading.

The market value of the Orion Protocol token (ORN) depends on a multitude of specific factors, among which is volatility. The cryptocurrency market has proven to be more volatile than traditional financial markets, like the stock market. The value of ORN may depend on important events and elements like roadmap developments and the activity of the dev team, updates and upgrades, partnerships, integrations, mergers, and other important news.

How Many Orion Protocol (ORN) Coins Are in Circulation?

There are currently 31,995,000 ORN in circulation out of a total of 100,000,000 ORN ORN. The Orion Protocol token is supply-capped, which means that its supply is limited and no new tokens should be minted beyond the token generation event. The finite supply acts as an anti-inflation mechanism, meaning that ORN could be a good store of value in the long term. There are also mechanisms in place to regularly remove tokens from the circulating supply and burn them, such as those used for licensing fees and refunds, making the token deflationary.

The number of ORN coins in circulation multiplied by the current price of Orion Protocol equals the market cap. The market cap determines the rank of ORN among its cryptocurrency peers and decides its market share.

Other Technical Data

Orion Protocol enables non-inflationary staking that increases the annual percentage rate for the liquidity of the ecosystem. The protocol employs a Delegated Proof of Broker staking. This mechanism has two components, Broker Stakers and Non-broker Stakers. With DPoB, Orion Protocol preserves the value of ORN as it regulates rewards for staking. DPoB collects rewards from 13 different revenue sources instead of minting new ORN tokens to incentivize network participants.

Brokers or Broker Stakers execute trades in the system, and Non-broker Stakers stake their ORN tokens to choose Brokers. The network participants are rewarded with network fees, which is how the value of ORN is preserved.

How Is the Orion Protocol Network Secured?

The system is secured through the use of automation and staking for voting and liquidity, while the protocol also performs regular and thorough audits. With the launch of the Orion Protocol mainnet, the network was fully audited for security purposes by CertiK. CertiK is a security company that ensures and checks the overall correctness of smart contract operations.

How to Use Orion Protocol

Orion Protocol is a multi-purpose decentralized finance system that aggregates the best routes for crypto traders to facilitate low fees and top trading rates. Users can access Orion Protocol to trade their assets instead of searching through multiple exchange platforms to find the best rates for various cryptocurrencies and tokens.

Orion Protocol also delivers an entire ecosystem of applications and services for traders, enterprises, and individuals, so users can take advantage of liquidity, trading terminal, app store asset management, wallet integration, and staking rewards. ORN tokens are used as the main method of payment on the network, as a reward for stakers, and for staking. ORN can also be traded in the crypto market for a profit.

How To Choose an Orion Protocol Wallet

ORN can be stored in any wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens and the type you choose will likely depend on what you want to use it for and how much you need to store.

Hardware wallets or cold wallets like Ledger or Trezor provide the most secure option for storing cryptocurrencies with offline storage and backup. However, they can require more technical knowledge and are a more expensive option. As such, they may be better suited to storing larger amounts of ORN for more experienced users.

Software wallets provide another option and are free and easy to use. They are available to download as smartphone or desktop apps and can be custodial or non-custodial. With custodial wallets, the private keys are managed and backed up on your behalf by the service provider. Non-custodial wallets make use of secure elements on your device to store the private keys. While convenient, they are seen as less secure than hardware wallets and may be better suited to smaller amounts of ORN or more novice users.

Online wallets or web wallets are also free and easy to use, and accessible from multiple devices using a web browser. They are, however, considered hot wallets and can be less secure than hardware or software alternatives. As you are likely trusting the platform to manage your ORN, you should select a reputable service with a track record in security and custody. As such, they are most suited for holding smaller amounts of cryptocurrencies or for those making more frequent trades.

Kriptomat offers a secure storage solution, allowing you to both store and trade your ORN tokens without hassle. Storing your ORN with Kriptomat provides you with enterprise-grade security and user-friendly functionality.

Buying and selling ORN, or trading it for any other cryptocurrency, is done in mere moments when you choose our secure platform as your storage solution.

Orion Protocol Staking

Orion Protocol depends on staking for liquidity and for voting, while the staking system is based on a Delegated Proof of Broker consensus mechanism.

What products support ORN?

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✔	✖️

What regions support ORN?

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✖️	✖️
EUR	✖️	✖️	✖️

Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.

Crypto to crypto trading pairs

	USDC	BTC	ETH
ORN	✔	✔	✖️

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.

How many confirmations are needed for ORN?

ORN requires 35 network confirmations. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts ORN?

ORN is hosted on the Ethereum blockchain.

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000000000000001

Maximum: 16,667

By kriptomat and Coinbase

The XYO Network, short for XY Oracle Network, is offering a people-powered location network built on the blockchain. In a nutshell, the XYO Network is a trustless cryptographic location network that enables layered location verification across many devices and protocols. The network utilizes a cryptocurrency called XYO to function.

XYO taps into the Ethereum blockchain to allow users to “call out” for specific queries that revolve around location requests.

The XYO Network is a project launched by a company called XY, which has been around since 2012 building location technology solutions for autonomous drones, self-driving vehicles, smart cities, and space exploration. The first product XY launched is XY Findables, a network of over 1 million people connected by Bluetooth and GPS devices. These devices are essentially little fobs that can be attached to frequently misplaced items such as keys, backpacks, dog collars, etc.  

How Does XYO Network Work?

The XYO Network contains four primary pillars: Sentinels (The Data Gatherers), Bridges (The Data Relayers), Archivists (The Data Storers), and Diviners (The Answer Aggregators).

1. Sentinels gather location information through radios, sensors, and other methods. These act as the location witness.
2. Bridges take data from Sentinels and relay it over to Archivists. These act as location data transcribers.
3. Archivists store the information for Diviners to analyze it.
4. Diviners serve as oracles and analyze all the location heuristics to provide answers to queries and assign accuracy scores. Diviners then relay these answers back into a smart contract.

The XYO Network debuts an original Proof of Origin consensus algorithm combined with Transient Key Chaining to ensure that ledgers flowing into the network are valid while making it impossible to falsify the chain of origin for the data. The XYO Network stores the information on a public blockchain called the XYOMainChain.

Who Would Use the XYO Network?

Beyond the technical guts of the XYO Network lays a multitude of use cases that span several industries.

An example noted in the whitepaper is for eCommerce merchants who use XYO to offer a premium “payment upon delivery” service to its customers. The merchant would write a smart contract (on Ethereum’s platform), XYO would track the location of the package every step of the way until fulfillment, and only once it has arrived does the vendor gets paid.

Which products support XYO? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✔	✖️

What regions support XYO? 

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✖️	✔	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✖️	✔	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✖️	✖️
EUR	✖️	✔	✔

Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.

Crypto to crypto trading pairs 

	USDC	BTC	ETH	USDT
XYO	✖️	✔	✖️	✔

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.

How many confirmations are needed for XYO?

XYO requires 35 network confirmation. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts XYO?

XYO is hosted on Ethereum. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000000000000001 XYO

Maximum: 2,770,000 XYO

By ALEX MOSKOV and Coinbase

GYEN is a stable coin built on the Ethereum blockchain, backed by the Japanese Yen (JPY). According to its website, GYEN crypto is the first regulated digital JPY. This ERC-20 token is issued by GMO-Z.com Trust Company Inc (“GMO Trust”) and strictly pegged 1:1 to the Japanese Yen. The GYEN stablecoin is 100% fiat-backed. Meaning, the coin is 100% backed by the physical currency (JPY), which you can trade online in real-time at any GYEN-accepting exchange.

As per the whitepaper, the stablecoin is introduced to “alleviate the problems inherent with unregulated and non-fiat backed stablecoins. Moreover, the GYEN crypto offers high liquidity. You can always redeem 1 GYEN for 1 JPY directly with GMO Trust, or by trading with other digital assets on exchanges that list the stablecoin.

How Much is GYEN Crypto?

As of Nov 17,2021, GYEN’s price is $0.0474.

If you would like to buy GYEN, the top cryptocurrency exchanges for trading in GYEN stock are currently Coinbase Exchange, Gate.io, and Liquid.

Which products support GYEN? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✔	✔
Pro	✔	✔
Wallet	✔	✖️

What regions support GYEN? 

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✖️	✖️
EUR	✖️	✖️	✔

Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.

Crypto to crypto trading pairs 

	USDC	BTC	ETH	USDT
GYEN	✖️	✖️	✖️	✔

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.

How many confirmations are needed for GYEN?

GYEN requires 35 network confirmation. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts GYEN?

GYEN is hosted on Ethereum. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum: 0.000000000000000001 GYEN

Maximum: 13,736,264 GYEN

By Stealthoptional and Coinbase

Gala Games, founded by Eric Schiermeyer on July 21, 2019, is a blockchain gaming platform that combines Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) to create a blockchain game ecosystem that allows players to trade and own game assets with anybody on a global scale and at any time.

In other words, Gala Games aims to take the gaming industry on a whole new path by reclaiming control of the game for the players. According to the platform’s website, Gala Games’ objective is to create “blockchain games you’ll actually want to play.”

Gala Games essentially wants to shift the community’s perception of the reality that gamers can invest hundreds of dollars on gaming assets and countless hours playing the game, all of which can be taken away with the click of a button. As a result, the project aims to give players authority over the games and in-game assets and reintroduce the concept of creative thinking into the games, all using blockchain technology.

The Utility Token & Games On The Platform

GALA token or coin is the platform’s native utility token, used for various purposes, including network governance, node operator incentives, and in-game awards for players participating in the platform’s games. It can be used as an in-game currency to purchase NFTs and assets in the Gala store.

Start trading GALA Token today on Zipmex. Click to view our exchange now.View Exchange

When it comes to NFTs, you may be wondering what part they play in the entire process. In essence, users will be able to hold non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and influence game governance inside the Gala Games ecosystem. The platform’s founder introduced the Nodes voting mechanism, allowing users to vote on which games should receive financing and which games the platform should focus on developing.

As we all probably know by now, Play-to-earn games and NFTs are two of the hottest trends in the cryptocurrency industry now. They both present new ways of onboarding new users and increasing mass adoption. The specific characters of each category allow gamers to generate revenue rather than just spending money to join the community.

If you want to learn more about Blockchain Gaming, check out our related article, Let the blockchain games begin.

Returning to the issue, Gala Games, as a blockchain-focused gaming platform, allows users to use their unique NFT characters while playing the game, which in turn made Binance notice the project’s potential and prospect for profits. They announced plans and eventually listed the GALA Token on their centralized exchange as well.

In addition to purchasing non-fungible tokens for individual games, Gala Games can also use its utility token, as we mentioned earlier. When it comes to the games available on the platform, it’s worth noting that Gala Games has only been able to release one playable game, Town Star, as well as a series of NFT collectibles, VOX, while planning to release many more games in the future. Here is the list of all games by Gala:

• Mirandus is an epic fantasy role-playing game in which players battle monsters in various places while also developing their property to make money.
• Spider Tank is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game in which players battle it out with their spider tanks and various armaments on several maps.
• Town Star is a town-building and development game in which players compete for NFTs from all around the world.
• Fortified is a PvP tower defense game in which players use a range of player-owned assets to put their strategies to the test.
• Echoes of Empire is a massive sci-fi strategy game where players compete for rare resources distributed across the universe.

Gala Games has expanded to over 1.3 million monthly active users since the platform’s launch in 2019. Approximately 26000 NFTs have already been sold, with the most expensive piece costing three million dollars. Not to mention the fact that the Gala Games team now has more than sixty members.

The Gala Project has really taken off since it launched, and it has been progressively gaining speed for a few months now, while the NFT sector is also booming! Gala Games successfully completed the first sale of VOX, the platform’s primary NFT offering, on August 11, and it was sold in less than eight minutes, despite high gas prices and network congestion.

GALA could be seeking to follow the road left down by other popular play-to-earn gaming platforms like Axie Infinity with these recent efforts to deliver an update for the Town Star game and announce specifics about Spidertanks.

What Makes GALA Special?

Gala Games, unlike others, is not a single game but rather a collection of various blockchain games that prioritize a thrilling user/player experience on the blockchain. As we mentioned earlier, Town Star is now the Gala Game platform’s one of the playable games, and the best part is that it can be played in a DApp browser. Isn’t that amazing? So much value for simplicity.

The players actually control and own the town in the game, making it a far more genuine experience. VOX, on the other side, is a group of Gala NFT avatars.

It’s also worth noting that each VOX is distinct and different from the others, with some being extremely rare. Furthermore, when VOX was first released, it could distribute about 8,888 VOX for an average price of 0.888 ETH, which is roughly 3535 USD now.

In addition, when it comes to game creation, community feedback is quite important. Gala Games is noted for interacting with its community on social media channels like Discord and Telegram regularly, allowing players to impact the design and direction of the games. Users on the Discord can also run Gala Nodes, which are known to assist the Gala network in exchange for prizes such as limited edition NFTs, GALA, and a variety of other options.

The Gala Node ecosystem comprises a triple-proof node system that includes Proof-of-Work(PoW), Proof-of-Storage, and Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Founder Nodes, which are tier-1 Nodes based on approximately fifty thousand fully-owned NFTs, are used in PoW. These include early support for the project, which will receive NFTs from all games, and GALA being assigned to their node license.

PoS, on the other hand, are paid nodes that are known to run for specific games using a smart contract rental design architecture. Finally, what makes Gala nodes even more unique are Proof-of-Storage nodes, which are free nodes that allow games to be totally stored on the node ecosystem, eliminating the need for centralized hosting solutions like Amazon S3.

GALA Tokenomics

The GALA token’s maximum supply is set at 50 billion tokens. Approximately 7 billion GALA are now in circulation. This accounts for roughly 14% of the total. Each day, a total of 17,123,286 GALA are issued, half of which goes to the founder’s node operators and the other half to the Gala Games conservatorship, according to official GALA paperwork.

Gala Games’ emission schedule contains a halving cycle, similar to Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies. Every year on July 21, the emission is cut in half. The next halving date is July 21, 2022, when the emission rate will be reduced to 8,561,643 GALA per day.

What’s Next For the Gala Token?

At $0.1449 per token, the GALA token attained its all-time high value. Similarly, trade activity for the digital asset increased dramatically due to the revelation, rising from $4 million per day to over $200 million as of this writing.

There are various reasons why someone might wish to buy the GALA token right now (beyond mere speculation). Buying in-game assets, running a node, and optimizing in-game earnings are just a few examples.

However, the vast majority of Gale Titles’ games are still unavailable, like we mentioned earlier. Four of the five games are still in production, with Town Star being the only one ready to play (in its beta version). With 1.3 million people eager to sign up for these games, it’s evident that the GALA token might see a significant increase in demand.

Which products support GALA? 

	Send/Receive	Trading
Coinbase	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️
Wallet	✔	✖️

What regions support GALA? 

	US	NY	CAN	EU	UK	DE	SG	JP
Coinbase	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
Pro	✔	✖️	✔	✔	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
Wallet	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖️

Crypto to fiat trading pairs

	US	UK	EU
USD	✔	✖️	✖️
GBP	✖️	✖️	✖️
EUR	✖️	✖️	✔

Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.

Crypto to crypto trading pairs 

	USDC	BTC	ETH	USDT
GALA	✖️	✖️	✖️	✔

See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.

Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.

How many confirmations are needed for GALA?

GALA requires 35 network confirmation. Learn about transaction confirmations.

Which blockchain network hosts GALA?

GALA is hosted on Ethereum. 

What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?

Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.  

These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.

Minimum:  GALA

Maximum:  GALA

By Zipmex and Coinbase

The team behind the Power Ledger platform sees blockchain technology as a key tool for reforming the existing systems of energy creation and distribution. Their arguably novel concept involves creating an ecosystem in which the local communities would be empowered (pun intended) to distribute and sell their excess electricity without the interference from the existing power players in this market. The developers of the platform have identified several issues with the current energy market they hope to see fixed with the help of Power Ledger:

• Energy supply is in need of decentralization and blockchain can help with it. Power Ledger utilizes blockchain to create a system in which the customers would be able to choose their own preferred source of electricity. This should reduce their exposure to rising grid supply costs and strengthen their impact on energy network management.
• Energy market continues to implement age-old distribution and management mechanisms unsuitable for the contemporary demands. Power Ledger wants to use blockchain to create an electricity marketplace marked by transparency, auditability and automation, while seeking to make trading easier for both the energy producers and their consumers.
• Energy prices are rising and this can endanger the whole of economy. Elimination of intermediaries and promotion of individual energy production with Power Ledger should give both the consumers and entire communities easier access to electricity which is cheaper, greener, more reliable and more in line with the demands for the renewable energy sources.
• Co-creation of energy and self-supply should be given more spotlight, as they are supposed to reduce the pressure on citizens coming from the centralized power authorities. Power Ledger recognizes that the rise of blockchain technology goes in parallel with the rise of distributed energy resources (DER), particularly in the field of solar energy. This platform aims to become a building block of the energy distribution system which favors easier monetization of investments in DER systems and more efficient utilization of excess energy.

How Is Grid Parity Used by the Power Ledger?

The Power Ledger has devised an ecosystem focused on enabling P2P transactions with renewable sources of energy. To make this possible, it uses blockchain to keep track of all the information related to the generation of electricity as well as its utilization. The data on these activities are stored on the Power Ledger platform. Transactions taking place on the platform will have their rates set in advance, both for energy generation and consumption.

This approach should become a reality not only through the Power Ledger alone, since the creation of energy microgrids became feasible thanks to the fact that an increasing number of countries across the globe now faces the phenomenon of “grid parity”. In short, this boils down to having the situation when the prices of electricity generated by the alternative energy sources (such as individually produced solar energy) and those imposed by the centralized power suppliers become more or less equalized.

In practice, this means that Power Ledger’s blockchain will provide the platform and the interface for energy trading taking place within microgrids. One of the examples is its partnership with Thai energy company BCPG which should enable building managers of several local facilities to trade their solar panel generated energy (up to 2MW was made available for trade) via a banking interface. As the transaction layer in the system, the Power Ledger platform enabled easier trading, invoicing and monitoring of the tradable excess energy created by the facilities involved in the project, with the hope to drive their energy costs down and utilize energy more efficiently.

How Does the Power Ledger Ecosystem Work?

The Power Ledger platform operates two blockchains which perform different functions:

• The Ethereum blockchain. This blockchain functions as the public one and serves as an external layer of the network. Its main purpose is to provide the technological backing for the use of the Power Ledger (POWR) tokens which can be bought, sold and traded on this globally available Ethereum-powered layer.
• The EcoChain. If the Ethereum blockchain is an external layer of the Power Ledger, the EcoChain is clearly its internal counterpart. Access to it is gained by acquiring and holding the network’s POWR tokens. This private consortium blockchain is designed, developed and run by the Power Ledger team and it features the second token of the platform: Sparkz token. These tokens are designed to provide a direct link with the Power Ledger interface which connects various facilities which produce electricity, be those individual homes or private businesses. Unlike the Ethereum blockchain on this network which largely performs the same function across the globe, the EcoChain can be easily customized to the energy production conditions in a specific local area. This includes modifying the chain to work in line with varied local regulations and the existing levels of supply in an area connected to a particular grid.

What Is POWR Token?

The Power Ledger’s ecosystem operates based on the interactions between its layers and two tokens. This is made possible with the use of Ethereum-based smart contracts. The transactive layer of the platform establishes communication with the power grid via devices called smart meters. These are electronic systems which keep track of the level of electricity consumption and send the information to energy producers so that they can issue bills based on these data. The power generators are in charge of maintaining both power supply and distribution infrastructure. These producers, alongside any entity (property managers, retailers) running the Power Ledger application are known as “application hosts”.

Access to the platform for both the hosts and users is secured by holding a predetermined amount of POWR tokens. These utility tokens act as the fuel of the Power Ledger platform and perform several roles on it:

• Facilitating access in order to use the platform. Application hosts are required to escrow POWR tokens to get access to the platform. If the application host does not have a sufficient amount of tokens, it will be denied the right to make transactions on the network. Application hosts will need more POWR tokens over time to scale with an increased number of transactions that comes with the development of their consumer base. The more POWR tokens are escrowed, the stronger the demand for the POWR tokens will be. In turn, the more application hosts are in the network, the more valuable the POWR tokens will become.
• They are used to provide loyalty rewards to the participants in the network. All producers of energy and consumers which purchase renewable energy receive POWR tokens for using the Power Ledger platform as part of the Green Energy Loyalty Rewards program. The program is funded by charging fees for P2P transactions taking place on the platform.
• They foster relationships between renewable energy charities and provide access to Asset Germination Events. These events deal with crowd-funded assets which use renewable energy and implement the Power Ledger blockchain. They can be both solar and wind farms as well as batteries.
• POWR tokens serve as the bond backing on the Power ledger platform. Consumers are protected by Smart Bond technology. Smart Bonds function as automated contract bonds which use smart contract technology. They feature a built-in code which enforces compliance among the contractual bond parties.
• POWR tokens can be converted into Sparkz tokens, which are, in turn, made redeemable through fiat currencies used in the energy trading markets or on other similar platforms.

As of January 2019, the Power Ledger cryptocurrency had the market cap of over USD 42 million, down from its current historic high of USD 641 million in January 2018. Currently, 395,889,007 POWR tokens are in circulation. The tokens are available for trading on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex and Binance.

What Are Sparkz Tokens on the Power Ledger Network?

Sparkz tokens function as electricity credits pegged to local fiat which are used to pay for the services provided by the application hosts. The utility POWR tokens one holds are used as a surety for the Sparkz tokens.

Sparkz tokens are purchased and redeemed by using fiat currencies which are supported on the specific trading platform. Application hosts introduce their consumers to the trading platform with the help of Sparkz in the following manner:

• Consumers buy Sparkz for their money.
• After this, Sparkz tokens can be traded for the produced energy, i.e. they function as credits which the customers use to buy and sell energy.

Creation of Sparkz tokens is virtually unlimited, as they are created whenever they are needed, put to use and destroyed after they are redeemed. In addition to the local fiat, their prices are also linked with the energy costs in a particular area which is supposed to help them maintain a stable exchange rate. The ties between Sparkz and local currencies are supposed to bring additional stability to the energy trading ecosystems which use Power Ledger. In order to allow for more flexible use of the Sparkz token and easier pricing, Power Ledger needs to provide support for the use of various fiat currencies which is done by enabling access to individual chains dedicated to each of them.

Power Ledger Products

Power Ledger platform is implemented with three main products running this solution. These are xGrid, uGrid, and Power Port.

• xGrid is the main product featured on the Power Ledger platform. It allows the energy producers which generate excess power to sell their energy to the potential customers. The trading is done on a regulated electricity grid, with the platform’s blockchain mechanism being in charge of managing transaction settlements in an instant, transparent and low-cost manner. With xGrid, the energy producers have an opportunity to extract more value from their investments in renewable energy, while the customers should be offered the benefit of paying lower power bills. By its very design, xGrid aims to win over several key user categories in the Power Ledger ecosystem, particularly households and business premises connected to the power grid, producers of renewable energy such as those using solar panels, and electricity sellers who want to offer their customers a cleaner and cheaper product.
• uGrid is another Power Ledger product which, in this version, focuses on more affordable electricity metering in real time, the collection of big data, management of microgrids and processing of micro-transactions. The electricity trading is done with the help of regulated electricity master meter, which allows for greater transparency when it comes to transactions and utilization of energy. Based on this, uGrid is aimed at the customer communities connected via networked grids such as shopping malls, parks, apartment complexes and similar units which want to track their collective energy use in a highly precise manner and manage their networks better via the use of big data.
• Power Port is specifically designed for electric vehicles and their charging stations. Similarly to other products in the Power Ledger line, Power Port is supposed to bring more affordable and secure metering, transparent settlement mechanisms, low-cost payment, implementation of user IDs and integration with existing systems such as Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP).
• Finally, Power Ledger series of products also includes C6 and C6+ systems for the reporting and management of carbon credits and related certificates with the help of blockchain technology.

Power Ledger Team and Project History

The technical and planning team behind the Power Ledger is led by Dr. Jemma Green, David Martin and John Bulich as its co-founders and Dr. Bill Tai, a renowned venture capitalist n the role of the main advisor. The team is dominated by professionals with backgrounds in the field of blockchain technology, finances and engineering.

Launched in May 2016, Power Ledger project featured one of the more successful initial coin offerings (taking place in 2017) among startups in the history of Australia. The first trial of the proposed network-based solution took place in 2016 in Australia, only to include New Zealand, Thailand and other countries soon afterward. In 2019, the project plans to bring its technology to Europe as well.

Potential Competitors of Power Ledger

Power Ledger project has to contend with several energy-focused projects which plan to use blockchain and other decentralized technologies as their technical backbone. These projects include Restart Energy Democracy, a renowned European manufacturer of solar cells which plans to allow energy producers to sell electricity directly to their customers via its platform. SunContract (SNC) is yet another platform dedicated to decentralized trading with electricity with the help of cutting edge technologies. Finally, Electrify Asia (ELEC) is the energy marketplace focused on the Asian market which aims to enable direct purchases of energy from private producers.

By Power Ledger

ARPA is a blockchain-based layer 2 solution for privacy-preserving computation, enabled by cryptographic Multi-Party Computation (“MPC”).

The goal of ARPA is to separate data utility from ownership, and enable data renting. ARPA’s MPC protocol creates ways for multiple entities to collaboratively analyze data and extract data synergies, while keeping each party’s data input private and secure. ARPA allows secret sharing of private data, and the correctness of computation is verifiable using information-theoretic Message Authentication Code.

The use cases of the ARPA token include computation cost, data and model usage fee, security deposit, community governance, etc. The ARPA token currently runs on the Ethereum network.

Developers can build privacy-preserving dApps on blockchains compatible with ARPA. Some immediate use cases include credit anti-fraud, secure data wallet, precision marketing, joint AI model training, or key management systems. For example, banks using the ARPA network can share their credit blacklist with each other for risk management purposes without exposing their customer data or privacy.

2. Economics and supply

The supply distribution is as follows:

• Private Sale 1: it was conducted in June 2018 for 100,000,000 ARPA at an average rate of $0.02 per token, and raised a total of 1,370 ETH and 1,383,500 USDT（$2.00MM), for 5% of the total token supply.
• Private Sale 2: it was conducted in December 2018 for 100,000,000 ARPA at an average rate of $0.02 per token, and raised a total of 2,000,000 USDT, for 5% of the total token supply.
• Public Sale: it was conducted through an IEO with BISS on 25 April 2019 for 140,000,000 ARPA at an average rate of $0.018, and raised a total of 2,520,000 USDT, selling 7% of the total token supply.

ARPA token distribution (%)

The following chart represents the number and breakdown of all ARPA that are to be released into circulation on a monthly basis. For every month from August 2019 to February 2021, the ARPA team will repurchase from the open market and burn 0.5% (10,000,000 ARPA) of the initial total ARPA token supply.

ARPA token release schedule

3. ARPA’s activity and community overview

3.1 Development activity

ARPA migrated its repository from Github to Gitlab.

3.2 On-chain activity

Number of Transactions

---

Number of TransactionsJun 2021Jul 2021Aug 2021Sep 2021Oct 2021Nov 20210 txs500 txs1k txs1.5k txs2k txs

7-Day Average

126.29 txs

7-Day High

202 txsNov 12 2021

7-Day Low

75 txsNov 9 2021Number of Large Transactions

---

Number of Large TransactionsJun ’21Jul ’21Aug ’21Sep ’21Oct ’21Nov ‘210 txs50 txs100 txs150 txs200 txs250 txs300 txs

Last 24h

44 txs

7-Day High

44 txsNov 12 2021

7-Day Low

11 txsNov 9 2021

3.3 Social and community data

Social Metrics Summary

Powered by Search Trends 30-daysNov 3 2021Max InterestTelegram Members Change 0.21%7 DAYSTelegram Sentiment 7-Days0%Positive0%Neutral0%NegativeTwitter Sentiment 7-Days41%Positive56%Neutral3%Negative

Strategy overview

ARPA will initially focus on business development and community building in Asia and Europe. The focus of community growth will gradually expand to other markets as the project gains popularity.

Current community growth strategies of ARPA include:

• International community bounty programs to spur user growth on social media & community.
• Global supernode program, local community builder and media partner program to promote ARPA globally.
• Host & participate in blockchain and cryptography related conferences, workshops, and meetups to engage with potential users and supporters.
• Monthly meetups in China, Korea and South East Asia.
• Multi-language, bi-weekly technical & community updates.

Future community growth strategies of ARPA after Mainnet launch include:

• Host global meetups, hackathons, and conferences on topics such as blockchain, cryptography, privacy and privacy-preserving computation.
• Partnerships with top local enterprises and tech-focused communities on implementation of privacy-preserving computation.
• Top media coverage and partnership with research institutions, policy makers and think tanks.

Community and social channels

Telegram (English)
Telegram (Vietnam)
Telegram (Russia)
Telegram (Indonesia)
Telegram (Thailand)
Telegram (Philippines)
Kakao (Korean)
Twitter (English)
Medium (English)

4. Appendix

• Project Website
• Gitlab
• Project Team
• Whitepaper

By Binance Research