PRESS RELEASE. In a significant stride towards revolutionizing the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, xuirin Finance is excited to announce the launch of its presale, effective immediately. This pivotal event marks a monumental milestone for the innovative DeFi platform, known for its comprehensive suite of services designed to transform how international transactions are conducted. xuirin Finance, […]
Bitcoin News
Tim Draper Expects Bitcoin to Transform El Salvador Into One of the Richest Countries in the World
Tim Draper, a venture capitalist famous for his bitcoin price predictions, has praised El Salvador’s vision of embracing this new technology and talked about the benefits of this decision for its people. According to Draper, bitcoin will make El Salvador one of the richest countries in the world in the next 30 or 40 years. […]
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Bitcoin Fisher Transform Reaches Critical Level Not Seen Since 2021, What This Means
The Bitcoin price has had a rocky start to the new week after losing its footing above ,000 on Tuesday. However, all hope is not lost, as indicators still point to a continuation of this trend. Crypto analyst Tony The Bull has identified an important trend in the Bitcoin chart which could trigger a continuation of the trend back above ,000.
Bitcoin 1-Week Fisher Transform At Crucial Point
In an analysis posted on X (formerly Twitter), the crypto analyst shared a chart that showed the Bitcoin Fisher Transform in comparison to price. Most importantly, the chart showed the 1-week Fisher Transform and how it has moved since 2017.
The analysis shows some similarities between the current trend and the trends seen in 2017. A similar trend was also seen in 2019 and 2021, where the Fisher Transform rose rapidly before falling. But the importance of this trend lies in where the Fisher Transform heads next from here.
The current important level is the 1.5 Standard Deviation, which has been a crucial point whenever this trend has occurred. Now, if the Fisher Transform is able to stay above this level, it is bullish for the price. However if it falls below this standard deviation, it is very bearish for the price.
“This is a pivotal area based on historical price action and its exhibiting 2017-like behavior not seen in 2019 or 2021,” the crypto analyst explains. “Below it tends to incite bearish trends, while holding above gives bulls extra vigor.”
Bears And Bulls Vie For Control Over BTC Price
The interest in the next direction of the Bitcoin price has seen bulls and bears lock horns over which camp will reclaim control of BTC. This has seen the price of the digital asset fluctuate wildly over the last few days, going from ,000 to below ,000, before bouncing back up once again in the early hours of Wednesday.
This tug-of-war continues to hold the price of Bitcoin down, but investor sentiment seems to be climbing even through this. According to the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index, investor sentiment has reached Extreme Greed for the first time in one year.
Historically, the index going into extreme greed has signaled the top of the market, with prices trending downward not too long after. However, Bitcoin is still seeing positive indicators, with its trading volume rising more than 40% in the last 24 hours alone.
Polygon Unveils ‘Type-1’ Prover Upgrade, Promising to Transform EVM Chains With Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Polygon Labs has rolled out its latest innovation, the “Type-1 prover.” This upgrade could introduce a new era for Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible chains, enabling the generation of zero-knowledge proofs while ensuring transaction costs plummet. Polygon Unveils ‘Type-1’ Prover to Enhance Ethereum’s Ecosystem Polygon Labs has launched the Type-1 zkevm prover upgrade. Developed in collaboration […]
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Dfinity Foundation and Singularitynet Partner to Transform Decentralized AI with Blockchain Integration
The Dfinity Foundation and Singularitynet have announced an initiative to merge the Internet Computer blockchain with Singularitynet’s marketplace. This collaboration aims to transform the accessibility and transparency of decentralized large language models. By integrating these advanced technologies, the initiative is aiming to redefine the landscape of decentralized artificial intelligence.
Dfinity and Singularitynet Merge for AI Advancement
The Dfinity Foundation, a nonprofit research and development organization, in conjunction with Singularitynet, a decentralized AI marketplace, is embarking on a mission to enhance decentralized artificial intelligence infrastructure. In a statement provided to Bitcoin.com News, the teams say the collaboration focuses on integrating the Internet Computer blockchain with the Singularitynet framework, thereby addressing current challenges in AI tools and services.
The advent of AI and large language models (LLMs) has shown immense potential in transforming various industries. However, Dfinity and Singularitynet believe the centralized nature of existing AI tools raises issues regarding the transparency of training data and trust in output results. The duo’s initiative aims to counter these challenges by offering AI and Web3 developers access to a unique blockchain capable of running genuine decentralized artificial intelligence.
Under this initiative, decentralized AI models on the Internet Computer Protocol will operate entirely within smart contracts, ensuring open-source, tamper-proof training parameters and inputs. The Singularitynet Marketplace, connecting AI service providers with blockchain application developers, will guarantee the transparency and verification of all large language models published.
“The Internet Computer, has been at the forefront of hosting artificial intelligence on the blockchain,” Dominic Williams, the founder and chief scientist of the Dfinity Foundation stated. “Since the launch of the million [decentralized AI] grant in July, we have seen an uptick in projects leveraging AI on ICP. This initiative with Singularitynet will further realize our vision for [decentralized AI] and we’re excited to work alongside Dr. Ben Goertzel and his team to refine the [decentralized AI] framework,” Williams added.
The collaborators think this synergy will empower developers to deploy sophisticated AI models using blockchain technology, executing algorithms at unprecedented speeds. Additionally, both organizations will merge their grant programs, creating an expansive platform for community developer engagement. The integration aims to not only foster development within the decentralized AI space but also provide resources for developers to innovate and advance projects.
Each of these initiatives features its own native digital currency, with the internet computer’s (ICP) value declining by 4.5% this week compared to the U.S. dollar. In contrast, Singularitynet’s AGIX token has seen a significant boost, soaring 19.4% in the last seven days. Concurrently, ICP has experienced over a 40% increase this month, while the 30-day data reveals that AGIX has accumulated a 70% gain against the greenback.
What do you think about the Dfinity Foundation and Singularitynet collaborating? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Space And Time Secures $20 Million To Transform Central Business Logic Databases Into Trustless Data Sources For Web3
Space and Time paves the way for establishing a decentralized data warehouse with tremendous Web3 implications. The project secured an additional million in funding to make smart contracts more robust.
A Big Step For Space and Time
The new million in strategic funding is a big deal for the Space and Time team. It signifies the importance of taking a decentralized approach to business logic. More importantly, the investors, including M12, SevenX Ventures, Polygon, Fellows Fund, Mysten Labs, MarketAcross and Stratos, see merit in the Proof of SQL cryptographic approach. Bridging the gap between enterprise database data and smart contracts can lead to many new potential use cases.
Under the hood, Space and Time combines on-chain and off-chain information in a trustless environment to enable enterprise-scale analytics at minimal cost and low latency. Additionally, mutable and immutable tables can be created, joined, and queried with cryptographic guarantees through the next-generation data platform.
Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov adds:
“We’re proud to support Space and Time through the Startup with Chainlink program in their mission to build a decentralized data warehouse and bridge the on-chain and off-chain worlds with Chainlink oracles. With the total addressable market for trust-minimized applications in the trillions of dollars, providing core infrastructure to Web3 developers is crucial for scaling and meeting this global demand.”
Chainlink has been a crucial partner for Space and Time. Through future collaboration, Space and Time will extend the functionality of its hybrid smart contracts to drive the future trustless web or Web3. Moreover, developers can build multi-chain applications and access analytical insights in a decentralized and secure manner. Chainlink’s oracles are a crucial cog in that machine.
Coming To Azure Soon
The fundraising enables Space and Time to accelerate its engineering and product development. More importantly, the team wants to build familiar enterprise-grade solutions processing tremendous data volumes. That is an essential aspect in connecting smart contracts with enterprise database capabilities. Moreover, it will automate business logic in centralized systems.
Space and Time is coming to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform shortly. That integration serves as an on-ramp for customers looking to access and analyze blockchain-native datasets.
Moreover, Azure provides the necessary tools and services to build and deploy Web3 applications, unlocking the decentralized web of the future. Partnering with Microsoft ensures future support and paves the way for broader Web3 use cases and mainstream adoption.
Metaverse Avenue, The Solana Based Marketing Platform Set To Transform A Billion Dollar Industry
Digital assets have experienced a boom in the past years with new trends, such as DeFi, NFTs, and digital property, supporting a new wave of adoption led by institutional demand. These players have embraced the technology upon which they are planning to build the internet of the future, the Metaverse.
In the coming years, as younger generations inherited wealth and power, every financial and business sector will need to have a presence in the Metaverse. Thus, understating the benefits and opportunities earlier could reward projects and investors that develop a business strategy around these assets.
A new project called Metaverse Avenue and built on Solana was created for users to begin their journey into this sector. This advertising metaverse platform leverages the power of NFTs for users or companies to promote their products, personal and corporate brands, in the digital world.
Create Your Profile Or Rent Property On The Metaverse
Metaverse Avenue has a strong team of people with deep knowledge in the promotion and development of crypto and blockchain products. In total, there are around 10 people that understand design, marketing, and the crypto industry as a whole, that decided to create a unique way to combine the power of NFTs with marketing.
Metaverse Avenue will let users purchase NFTs and get a block on the project digital billboards. Therein, a person or company can upload information and an image on themselves or a brand. Billboards will be formed of a specific number of blocks.
According to the project’s official website, Metaverse Avenue will only mint a total of 10,000 tokens. These digital assets will be worth 1 block on the platform and will be available in a pre-sale on January 26th at 20:00 London time.
Investors and interest parties can sign up for the pre-sale via a whitelist. More information on this upcoming event can be obtained via the Metaverse social media, and their Discord Channel. Those people that sign up and get one of the limited places on the whitelist will receive a discount during the pre-sale.
At that time, 1 Metaverse Avenue NFT will have a value of 0.99 SOL. Post-event, during the project’s main sale, 1 NFT will be valued at 1.99 SOL that will provide them with their size of the block and location, each to be determined randomly and with their own individual size.
The Metaverse Avenue, How To Generate Passive Income On Digital Land
Once these events are concluded, the NFTs will be listed at a marketplace, such as Solanart.io or Alpha.art. However, each owner will be able to set the cost for renting one of their blocks for advertisement. Offers are to be set on Metaverse Avenue’s official website.
Thus, the platform will operate as a guarantor between a potential advertiser and a digital block owner. Per the project’s website, the functionality to rent-out block will be activated in April 2022 as the platform heads out into a multi-year development phase with exciting new features and capabilities.
Data from Republic Real Estate, one of the largest property agencies in the U.S., estimates that digital land has seen over 10x returns since 2019. The growing demand, and financial possibilities to capitalize on fresh opportunities, such as marketing and advertising with Metaverse Avenue and similar projects, seems poised to support more appreciation for the sector.
Image: Pixabay
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How Social Platform Chingari is Using Web 3.0 to Transform the Traditional Way We Use Social Media
The world is changing.
This isn’t news to anyone, but sometimes it is nice to realize that—contrary to news headlines—not all the change is bad. In fact, the last decade has seen so much innovation and so many improvements to technology that even 2015 seems like a different world. Internet speeds, connecting with anyone globally (for free), and our ability to reach large groups of people without a middleman is nothing short of revolutionary.
When it comes to technology evolution, this often happens with different iterations. Once a system is mature, there’s a better idea of what we would like to change and improve. We go back to the drawing board, target our creative minds at the issues, and create a new version that has evolved to better meet our needs. The Internet has followed this model since its inception, evolving through three distinct stages. We are only at the cusp of the third stage, called Web 3.0, with technologies such as blockchain and AI only now being capable of supporting it.
A key aspect of Web 3.0 is decentralization, which nearly always involves blockchain. To date, this has been the only way to scale a massive network efficiently and safely. But there aren’t an abundance of social media companies who have a blockchain-based platform. While the big players like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have been experimenting with blockchain, it might be impossible to swap out the massive infrastructure running these platforms today with a blockchain-based ecosystem. That would be like wanting to swap out the foundation of a house without the people living there even noticing.
To date, the social media platform Chingari is the only one to succeed in all areas: growth (over 85 million in less than two years), a blockchain-based roadmap, and a vision for a truly decentralized ecosystem.
Is Chingari the best hope for the first truly Web 3.0 social media platform? It’s hard to say. But to really answer the question, it’s helpful to look briefly at the key differences between Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, and then to see if Chingari ticks all the required boxes for a genuine Web 3.0 platform.
Web 1.0 – 2.0 Evolution, Simplified
The first iteration of the Internet, later dubbed Web 1.0, spanned from its birth in the 1980’s to around 2005. This version of the internet was marked by static websites (think of a brochure-style Geocities website) and is called the “readible” phase. Information was displayed for others to find, but interactions such as reviews, comments, and feedback were largely absent.
The second state, Web 2.0, is considered the “writable” or “social” phase because of its use of interactive data. A key aspect is the facilitation of interactions between companies and customers, users to users, and communities. This phase is still dominating the internet today, and encourages collaboration, being an active participant, and sharing information. Dominating platforms are those that have a major social aspect, giving users the chance to post their own information and respond to the posts of others.
The Web 3.0 Features and How Chingari Uses Them
It can seem a little confusing right now because the world is dominated by Web 2.0 platforms, but there are a few pioneers who are using Web 3.0 features to transform their industries. Chingari has a distinct advantage here for a few reasons. As mentioned before, Web 3.0 requires a significantly improved foundation, and that is incredibly hard to change on a platform whose customers don’t accept downtime. Chingari was launched recently enough to see the future Web 3.0 trends and build their foundation accordingly but has grown very quickly to become an established name for Web 3.0 social media. Let’s look at five key Web 3.0 characteristics and how Chingari is using them.
Feature: Open protocols, decentralized approach (blockchain-driven)
While there are ways for a platform to have an open protocol that is decentralized, only blockchain has the ability to scale and provide the necessary security to prevent hacks, takeovers, and other risks. Chingari is built on a roadmap that will lead to an actual DAO, with the staked users helping to govern and decide the platform’s future.
Feature: Built-in business model instead of platform-driven ads (embedded ecosystem)
Instead of the current social media model, where the platform works with advertisers and provides creators with a small percentage, Chingari is designed to connect marketers directly with creators. As the platform grows using the $GARI token, Chingari will benefit as well. However, giving significantly more power to the creators has been a key reason for the platform’s exponential growth, attracting talent and improving the quality of content as creators have a chance to actually earn a living.
Feature: Immersive experience through AI that is intuitive to user preferences, personal, and custom (consolidating content with intelligent algorithms)
This feature can be seen with current Web 2.0 platforms, as this type of feature can be developed as a bolt-on service instead of replacing infrastructure. That said, Chingari’s massive library of content would be impossible to navigate without its AI-driven recommendations and personalized curating algorithms.
Feature: Facilitates strong connections between creators and audiences (user engagement)
This too can be seen by current platforms, but Chingari is using the $GARI token to allow more ways to interact with creators directly. The platform even allows users to commit tokens into a creator pool, which returns dividends if their favorite creators continue to grow in popularity.
Feature: New ways for users to get involved and even take part in governance (smart applications)
This is a broad Web 3.0 feature. In addition to the DAO, the Chingari platform allows its creators to establish their own store, user interaction services, physical/digital/NFT marketplace, and in a very real sense to run their own business within their channel.
Conclusion
Until the major social media platforms find a way to convert their platforms and ecosystems to a blockchain-driven, decentralized business model, Chingari and a handful of others may become the most popular social media platforms globally. Because Web 3.0 is a culmination of those features we have wanted to experience for the evolving internet, these are features that we have collectively stated are important to us. And once users experience a truly decentralized platform and ecosystem, and see just how much it can enhance the creator/user experience, going back to a Web 2.0 platform will seem as antiquated and jarring as stumbling on ancient Geocities site.
Image source: Business Standard
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UPenn’s Wharton: DeFi Can “Transform Global Finance”
The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business is consistently seen as one of the best business programs in the U.S., and is the oldest collegiate school of business on the globe. In a new ‘Blockchain and Digital Asset Project’ report, titled “DeFi Beyond the Hype”, Wharton School contributors detail the ins and outs of DeFi, and conclude that DeFi has the “potential to transform global finance”.
DeFi Beyond The Hype: An Overview
The Wharton report, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, provides an excellent high-level overview of the current DeFi landscape. On the first page of the twenty page brief, the team acknowledges that despite growth in DeFi services surging from under B in 2019 to over B in present day, DeFi as we know it is still “early in its maturation”.
The Wharton collaborators, led by Professor Kevin Werbach, bucket DeFi services into six different silos: stablecoins, exchanges, credit, derivatives, insurance, and asset management. The report goes on to take a deep dive into each of these silos and how DeFi operates within them, while still acknowledging that at times, the lines between them can get blurred. Werbach and team provide a strong fundamental overview looking at all the key parts of the DeFi machine as well (wallets, oracles, digital assets, etc.).
The team also outlines four “defining characteristics” of DeFi: engaging with financial services, trust-minimized operation and settlement (i.e., public permissionless blockchain integration), non-custodial design, and open, programmable, and composable architecture.
Related Reading | Top 10 DeFi Projects In Q2 2021
Addressing The Details
The report takes the time to address the gritty details that make DeFi so desirable for some, such as governance tokens and other incentives that drive liquidity. It also addresses the costs and benefits of this decentralization, and outlines the fine lines between centralized governance, partially decentralized governance, and decentralized governance.
Additionally, the report looks to outline opportunities and challenges in DeFi while being somewhat partial. Opportunities are vast, and include aspects such as reduced friction and transaction costs, improved accountability, improved market access, and greater inclusivity of financial services. However, they don’t come without inherent challenges, like throughput, operability across blockchains (and with traditional services), regulatory questions (particularly in the current landscape), and more.
Ethereum has been a focal point in the DeFi landscape. | Source: ETH-USD on TradingView.com
That’s A Wharton Wrap
The detailed report condenses a well-rounded full scope of DeFi in a thick twenty pages. However, beyond simply providing a broad perspective of what DeFi is, the Wharton team also takes the time to address protocols such as Uniswap and SushiSwap, asset pool protocols like Compound and AAVE, and more.
Wharton (and increasing academic institutions) are continuing to show and share their perspective around DeFi and blockchain tech as it develops. As the report aptly states, “tools are emerging to simplify the user experience on and across DeFi services”.
In closing, the report concludes that “DeFi will ultimately succeed or fail based on whether it can fulfill its promise of financial services that are open, trust-minimized, and non-custodial, yet still trustworthy”. It’s safe to conclude that there are many who believe that DeFi is well on it’s way to achieving exactly that.
Related Reading | DeFi Is About To Undergo A Radical Transformation
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
Bitcoin and How Crypto will Transform the Financial World
On January 13, 2021, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it had given conditional approval to Anchorage Trust Company, a chartered trust firm, to become Anchorage Digital Bank. This has made Anchorage the first cryptocurrency services provider to have received the national bank charter in the United States. The company was quick to announce that it intended to launch innovative digital currency-based financial products in the near future.
Such recognition for the use cases of cryptocurrency in the financial sector has been pouring in over the past couple of years. In 2019, Visa, in partnership with Coinbase, released a debit card backed by cryptocurrency, which lets users convert digital currency into fiat currency to make payments. In 2020, JPMorgan and PayPal joined in, to permit crypto-based payments on their platforms.
Institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies has also come in the form of an explosion of DeFi projects. DeFi or Decentralised Finance refers to financial products that are created on a decentralised network, not controlled by any large corporation or government. It is being viewed as a worldwide move to open financial systems. These projects have also received an endorsement from large financial institutions. On December 1, 2020, Visa announced that it had entered into a partnership with BlockFi, a DeFi startup, to offer credit cards that would reward users in Bitcoin.
So, the question is no longer whether blockchain and cryptocurrencies can disrupt the financial sector, but when and how.
“The financial services sector has already made significant investments in decentralised applications to overcome challenges such as security breaches, transaction delays, collateral costs and transparency. The decentralisation, immutability and transparency that cryptocurrencies offer will be the way forward,” states Jean-Yves Sireau, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Deriv.
Transforming Banking
The traditional banking sector, consisting of centralised institutions, has long been plagued by problems typical of such centralised networks. Cumbersome regulatory environments or the huge fees customers have to bear, whilst having limited control of their account being a few. Traditional banking is inefficient and time-consuming, while also being vulnerable to data threats.
Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, offer a much more secure, transparent, efficient and inexpensive way to complete banking processes. They also eliminate the need to share the personal information of customers with a third party or intermediary. Data integrity is ensured by the immutable nature of all data on the network. No one can change the information, not even the bank.
Even when it comes to bank granting loans, not only can the process of disbursal of funds be expedited, banks can trace where their loaned funds are being used since every transaction will be recorded on blocks in the blockchain ecosystem.
Cross-Border Transactions
While domestic fund transfers can take just minutes, cross-border ones can take up to several days through the traditional payment routes. In addition, issues like inadequate infrastructure raise concerns regarding the security of international payments, leaving them vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Cryptocurrencies have emerged as the most efficient means to conduct cross-border transactions. They lower operational costs, while also eliminating cyber theft and human error. Since no intermediaries are required for crypto transactions, the costs of processing such payments are significantly reduced for both the financial institution and the customer. The lack of intermediaries also makes it a much simpler process.
Identity Verification and KYC
KYC is not just done for regulatory compliance, verifying the identity ensures greater security, by weeding out fraud and money laundering. While digital verification has simplified this process to a great extent, customers need to go through the entire process for every new service provider. Some also require physical authentication of documents.
With a blockchain network, once the KYC process has been completed by one service provider, the verification information can be shared or re-used by other providers. The customer can choose to give permission for their identification information to be shared over blockchain, so they do not need to go through the entire registration process every time they seek services from a new financial provider.
Smart Contracts and DeFi
Smart contracts have the potential to disrupt the way any business is conducted across the world. In the financial arena, it can completely change how money and information are exchanged. Smart contracts can automate processes in a completely decentralised manner, enabling the implementation of shared rules of conduct, engagement and operations.
Being self-executing, smart contracts take cryptocurrencies much further than efficient means of transactions and record keeping. One way in which smart contracts have made quite a splash is through decentralised finance or DeFi projects. With DeFi, not only are multi-party agreements automated, these agreements no longer require intermediaries, such as lawyers or banks, to ensure enforcement.
In the three years from September 2017 and August 2020, DeFi contracts surged in value from .1 million to .9 billion. This also led to the skyrocketing of the value of tokens associated with these projects. Tradable native tokens of DeFi smart contracts almost doubled in value through just the month of August 2020.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Most importantly, turning to a cryptocurrency ecosystem to provide financial services can lead to significantly better customer experiences. Not only would it fuel innovation, but it would also lead to secure financial products and services. New products and services could be introduced much faster and in a much more cost-efficient way.
“With blockchain technology, delays due to duplication of information, as well as confusion and conflict regarding service provision can be eliminated. Also, transparency and seamless customer services will become much easier to achieve for financial and fintech firms,” added Sireau.
The Way Forward
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have the power to transform the financial world by helping to bridge the gap that exists between financial institutions, regulators and customers. The future financial ecosystem could be one that is characterised by collaboration, innovation, partnerships between traditional entities and fintech start-ups and increased competition. In the end, everyone will have the potential to benefit from such transformation.
It might be very refreshing to see traditional financial institutions transition from the lumbering behemoths they have been known to be in the past to agile and responsive entities.
About Deriv.com
Deriv.com is an online trading service provider offering a comprehensive suite of products with flexible pricing, where its customers can trade currencies, indices, commodities, and volatility indices 24/7. Committed to customer satisfaction and high ethical standards, the company delivers quality products and services with integrity.