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In this article, BeInCrypto takes a look at the seven altcoins that increased the most last week, more specifically from Nov 26 to Dec 3.

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These altcoins are:

Gala (GALA) : -19.84%Hive (HIVE) : -19.51%Storj (STORJ) : 19.38%WAX (WAXP) : -16.17%Immutable X (IMX) : -15.29%Enjin Coin (ENJ) : -15.21%Zcash (ZEC) : -13.44%GALA

GALA has been moving downwards since Nov 26, when it reached an all-time high price of $0.84. This was the culmination of a 16-day upward movement with a magnitude of 1045%. Since then, GALA has decreased by 36%. 

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However, the token is approaching the $0.46 support, which is the 0.5 Fib retracement support level. 

If the area fails to initiate a bounce, there would be even stronger support at $0.36, created by both a horizontal support area and the 0.618 Fib retracement support level.

HIVE

HIVE reached a new all-time high price on Nov 26. After a drop, it initiated another upward movement. However, it failed to reach its previous highs and created a low high on Nov 30 (red icon). This is considered a bearish sign since the price did not have enough strength to reach its previous highs. 

However, HIVE is approaching the 0.5-0.618 Fib retracement support area between $1.73 and $2.05, an area which is likely to initiate a bounce.

On Nov 19, STORJ broke out from a descending resistance line. Afterwards, it returned to validate it as support three days later (green icon). 

Afterwards, it began another upward movement, which led to a high of $3.51 on Nov 27. However, the token was rejected by the $3.30 horizontal resistance area and fell. This if the final resistance prior to a new all-time high price. 

Therefore, a breakout above it could lead to an acceleration of the upward movement.

WAXP

WXP has been decreasing since Nov 17, when  it reached a new all-time high price of $0.99. So far, it has fallen by 39%. 

On Nov 30, it broke down from an ascending support line and further accelerated its rate of decrease. 

The closest support area is at $0.485. This is the previous all-time high resistance area, which is now expected to act as support.

IMX

IMX has been decreasing inside a descending wedge since Nov 26. The wedge is considered a bullish pattern, meaning that an eventual breakout from it would be likely. 

On Dec 2, the token bounced at the support line of the wedge, which coincided with the 0.618 Fib retracement support area. The confluence of support levels strengthened the validity of the bounce. 

If IMX breaks out, the next closest resistance would be at $8.25.

ENJ

ENJ has been decreasing since Nov 25, when it reached a new all-time high price of $4.84. So far, it has fallen by 31%. 

However, it bounced on Dec 3 (green icon), validating a long-term ascending support line.

As long as the ascending support line is in place, the bullish structure remains intact.

ZEC

On Nov 21, ZEC broke out from an ascending parallel channel. However, it failed to clear the $270 resistance area, which is created by the 0.618 Fib retracement resistance level. 

ZEC deviated above the resistance before falling back below it once more. 

However, the token bounced on Dec 2, validating the channel as support (green icon). Therefore, it is possible that it will soon make another attempt at breaking out.

For BeInCrypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.

Disclaimer All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk. SponsoredShare ArticleRelated topicsEnjin (ENJ)GALA/USDTStorj (STORJ)technical analysisWAXP/BTCZcash (ZEC) Valdrin Tahiri

Valdrin discovered cryptocurrencies while he was getting his MSc in Financial Markets from the Barcelona graduate school of Economics. Shortly after graduating, he began writing for several different cryptocurrency related websites as a freelancer before eventually taking on the role of BeInCrypto's Senior Analyst.

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The Bill does make exception understandably, on the Blockchain technology used, for it has several other uses which cannot be discounted. It is interesting to note that though Cryptocurrency trades most in US, that country still does not have a regulatory framework or mechanism in place.

Photo Credit : thetechportal.com

1495021523_riL5ZC_zebpay_final.jpg03December, 2021byDr S S Mantha Print this articleFont size -16+

Cryptocurrency is digital and also virtual. In as much as saying that all virtual currencies are digital, digital currencies are not virtual. “Crypto” in cryptocurrencies is a methodology of cryptography which allows creation and processing of digital currencies and their transactions. They are issued by a process called ‘mining’ and are used for payments, transmitting value similar to digital money. What should cryptocurrency be classified as? Is it security or commodity or property or legal tender? The definition would allow great insight to a possible regulatory regime emerging. 

Cryptocurrency’s security comes out of cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Their transactions occur on online networks or on the internet and are issued by private organizations or groups of developers and are mostly unregulated. Whereas the intermediaries are removed from the processes, transactions are speeded up, but will be susceptible to hacks and online scams.

No central authority issues cryptocurrencies. This must mean that they are theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. Is it also immune to private manipulation is not easy to answer?   

There are more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies in the market as on November 19th 2021 as per CoinMarketCap. Apart from Bitcoin being a de facto standard of cryptocurrencies, there are other important ones like Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Stellar (XLM), Dogecoin (DOGE), Binance Coin (BNB), Tether (USDT) and Monero (XMR). They all use decentralized peer to peer networks supported on blockchain technology. All these exist as digital tokens or “coins” on the Blockchain which is a distributed ledger formed out of disparate network of computers. Out of all these ‘coins’, Bitcoin, the most secure, leads in terms of market capitalization, user base, and popularity. Each bitcoin was worth roughly $60,000 as of November 2021, with a market cap of more than $1 trillion.

Some cryptocurrencies have even ventured into the physical world with credit cards. However, new ‘coins’, such as ‘altcoins’ or ‘shitcoins’ modelled after Bitcoins will keep evolving because of the need to handle more transactions per second or use more efficient consensus algorithms like proof-of-stake.

Sometimes Blockchain tokens are issued as utility tokens as in securities and stocks. If people wish to share files across a decentralized network Storj tokens are issued. Namecoin allows decentralized DNS service for internet addresses. However, they all trade similarly on a crypto exchange. 

Should India be really worried about cryptocurrency?  Why is the government bent on banning all cryptocurrencies? Not only ban but even issue its own cryptocurrency through RBI? The reason is simple. The technology allows individuals to engage in Peer-to-Peer or person-to-person financial transactions and enter into contracts. Most importantly, there is no need for some trusted third-party intermediary such as a bank, monetary authority, court, or judge to oversee the transaction. 

How does one get fiat money then? Simple. Bitcoin transactions are converted to fiat currency like a Rupee or a Dollar. PayPal had announced that in 2021, consumers will be able to use cryptocurrency as a “funding source for purchases.” Meaning it will be instantly converted to fiat currency and the transaction will be settled with the PayPal merchants in fiat currency. If Cryptocurrency were not to be treated as legal tender, is this not a backdoor entry to legalising all that happens on the blockchain? 

Should crypto investment firms be termed money service businesses (MSBs) or simply Banks? Should they not be covered under SEBI/CBDT regulations? 

Currently, huge rallying around Bitcoins and its effect on other stocks is driven by institutional investors. The government then is justifiably worried that such rallying and transactions can potentially disrupt the existing financial order and democratize finance. It can probably lead to unwanted transactions probably institutional gambling as well. Could they fund terrorist activities? Could they be a means to money laundering? The collective market cap of cryptocurrencies is more than $2.5 trillion. 

Compared to most investments, bitcoins are risky for they are highly volatile which means that there can be big returns and big losses. They are also risky for another reason. One need not trade only in large Bitcoins. One can also buy as little as $5 of bitcoin or buy fractional shares known as ‘satoshis’ which increases the propensity to gamble even by the small-time traders. 

Can Bitcoins be used as a hedge against inflation? Can it survive any economic or infrastructural collapse? Can it be compared to gold? If the answer to these questions is yes, then they can help the government as much as cause worries. Hedge funds in our country do not even need to be registered with SEBI, the market regulator or disclose their net asset value (NAV)s at the end of the day. But then, the supply of bitcoin is limited and is controlled by computer code, which means it is an effective protector of purchasing power.

Blockchain technology though is hard to crack, Bitcoin theft and fraud are possible. There is no technology that cannot be scammed today. Only the level of difficulty would depend on the number of security layers. The government must take heart in the knowledge that each bitcoin transaction is documented on the digital ledger, the blockchain, where a user’s cryptocurrency “wallet” is represented as a unique series of random numbers and letters. Scammers can be traced decoding the encryption, but only after the fraud has been committed. That is the difficult part. 

Our country like every other country, will take steps to protect its currency and its ability to tax the people. Should investors pay capital gains tax? Should they pay tax on long-term capital gains? If the people believe this is an area for making money more than they actually deserve, then the government will intervene more. 

It is a fact that cryptocurrency is slowly becoming a significant factor in the global investment landscape. India cannot be left behind in that space. In this scenario, the government seeks to bring a Cryptocurrency Bill 2021 in the Parliament this winter session. The bill is expected to make it illegal to issue, hold, mine, and trade in private cryptocurrencies, but will create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

The Bill does make exception understandably, on the Blockchain technology used, for it has several other uses which cannot be discounted. It is interesting to note that though Cryptocurrency trades most in US, that country still does not have a regulatory framework or mechanism in place.  

Probably, rather than banning private cryptocurrencies, asking the crypto exchanges operating in the country to register with SEBI and comply with adequate Anti money laundering / Combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) provisions may be a progressive step. Certainly, much is at stake in the Crypto world as we see some monumental changes overcoming us. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house. Unless otherwise noted, the author is writing in his/her personal capacity. They are not intended and should not be thought to represent official ideas, attitudes, or policies of any agency or institution.

cryptocurrencygovernment Dr S S Mantha

Former Chairman of AICTE, Dr. Mantha is an eminent academician. At present he is Chancellor KL University and Adjunct Professor, NIAS, Bangalore.

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Storj (CURRENCY:STORJ) traded 0.6% lower against the U.S. dollar during the one day period ending at 19:00 PM ET on December 31st. Storj has a market cap of $62.59 million and approximately $10.37 million worth of Storj was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Storj token can now be purchased for approximately $0.29 or 0.00001000 BTC on major exchanges. During the last seven days, Storj has traded down 5.3% against the U.S. dollar.

Here’s how similar cryptocurrencies have performed during the last 24 hours:

About Storj

Buying and Selling Storj

Storj can be traded on the following cryptocurrency exchanges:. It is usually not presently possible to buy alternative cryptocurrencies such as Storj directly using US dollars. Investors seeking to acquire Storj should first buy Bitcoin or Ethereum using an exchange that deals in US dollars such as Changelly, Coinbase or Gemini. Investors can then use their newly-acquired Bitcoin or Ethereum to buy Storj using one of the aforementioned exchanges.

This is the first article of a two part series on ICO’s. The second article is a guide on how to run your own ICO.

Market Capitalization Of All Digital Currencies.

https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/

The digital currency ecosystem has had a crazy year. The Bitcoin market capitalization has grown from $11 billion on June 5, 2016 to almost $47 billion USD on June 5, 2017. 

Negative news during that time included a 120,000 BTC heist from Bitfinex, worth $65m then and $350m now. The Winklevoss twins sought to create an exchange traded fund dealing in Bitcoin, but they were denied. Positive events were much broader, including Japan recognizing the coin as a legal payment method, Russia reversing their prior stand against Bitcoin, and Australia adjusting its policies to remove a double taxation problem for those accepting digital currencies.

Now a new phenomenon is sweeping the market, the Initial Coin Offering.

As of May of this year, over $380M has been invested into ICOs. Many of these companies are raising millions of dollars with nothing more than a white paper and a cryptocoin dependent on a small network of nodes running their blockchain. A year ago Bitcoin was 80% of the entire market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, and now it's less than 50%, despite its meteoric rise in price.

Something is clearly happening here, so I spoke with Michael Terpin, a pioneering investor in the space, James Prestwich of Storj, a company that has offered ICOs on two different blockchain platforms, the co-founder of Ethereum, Anthony Di Iorio, and Ted Livingston, the CEO of KIK, the first $1 billion company to announce an ICO.

But first, what is an Initial Coin Offering? This phrase, like cloud and blockchain before it, is becoming overloaded as the market seeks to explain new concepts.

The idea around an ICO is that you create a digital coin or token and then you offer this coin or token for sale in an initial offering. An ICO is in some ways similar to an initial public offering. Both are done to raise funds, but, instead of stock, your ICO purchase gets you a new type of coin or token, an asset rather than a security.

The token can represent some sort of value or be of value itself. An ICO might involve attributing equity to a token so that ownership gives you voting privileges and access to dividends, which is what the now infamous fund raising effort of The DAO did. Their use case for a token is the most similar to that of an IPO, however, the majority of use cases are for something different. The typical use case of a token issued in an ICO is the creation of an asset that gives you access to the features of a particular project. Instead of having cash or Bitcoin as the way to pay for goods and services from the ICO offerer, you use their token. You can think of these tokens as being similar to a store specific loyalty point, something you purchase with a general purpose digital currency and use at a specific location.

Ok great, now you have digital store specific loyalty point, why are these loyalty points so special? The reasons are tradability and use in decentralized applications.  

Because these tokenized loyalty points are put onto a public blockchain, the points are not limited to being traded in exchange for services within the platform, but instead can be traded anywhere. If there is enough activity within a given ICO's environment, their tokens will become globally traded on the various exchanges that handle cryptocurrencies. Successful ICOs are the product of careful thought on economics and game theory, and as a feature they intend that their tokens will increase in value as the volume of the activity on their platform rises.

As such, these loyalty points now have a variable value, based off of market perception and growing use of the platform. This creates a very interesting incentive mechanism because now the users of the platform who are receiving the tokens have incentives to bring other users to the platform in order to increase the value of their tokens.

Anthony Di Iorio

Anthony Diiorio

I spoke with Anthony Di Iorio, co-founder of Ethereum, the most successful ICO to date with over a $35 billion market cap, on the benefits of combining a token with a crowdsale. "Part of the goal of the [Ethereum] crowdsale was to create a community of ambassadors for the Ethereum project. We managed to grow our base of ambassadors by attending meetups around the world, targeting groups and leaders in certain communities. Once they got on board, these communities would become advocates for our project. In addition to being able to conjure up a massive community behind the project, about 9,000 people participated in the crowdsale, we were able to sell across the world.”  

Combining a token with an initial offering through a crowdsale allows you to build an international network of early adopters and investors who will actively work to educate and spread awareness of your project. Unlike a traditional crowdsale on a system like Kickstarter, where the users who invest typically only have an incentive to invite others to enjoy the product with friends and family, the users who participate in a token crowdsale have the additional incentive of a gain on the value of their asset.  

So what about the use case for decentralized applications? This is not as easily applied for typical companies. This assumes that you want to create an application that, instead of being centrally hosted by a company, is hosted in a decentralized manner. The main value of this is that, since there is a reduction in intermediaries, users have more control of the application and it can be faster and cheaper to use the application for certain use cases. A perfect example of a decentralized application is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin represents a decentralized monetary system, whereby users have direct control of their money and can send money to one another in a peer to peer fashion. No one company owns Bitcoin or verifies the legitimacy of transactions, instead, this is done in a decentralized way by stakeholders called miners, and to a lesser extent, user nodes. Everyone is incentivized to maintain the system through transaction fees directly from the users and the creation of new tokens, which in this case is the mining of Bitcoin. This mix of incentives and decentralization make it such that, for the first time, users no longer need to rely on a third party to issue, hold or transact with funds digitally.

But there are additional layers of complexity that a token can add to a decentralized application. I spoke with James Prestwich, co-founder of Storj, a pioneering decentralized storage platform, to learn more.

Storj

“Storj is a distributed network where machines can autonomously sell their storage space and bandwidth. Any computer can join the network and they pay each other with Storj. Storj Labs is a company built on top of this infrastructure. No one wants to learn how to use a distributed network and cryptocurrencies to push & pull data, so Storj labs inc builds the tools to make it easy.  

Shawn Wilkinson ran the initial crowd sale in the middle of 2014, selling 500k USD worth of Storj coin in exchange for Bitcoin. Storj executed a second crowdsale ending May 25th, where we raised $30m USD worth of tokens.  The coin is used to buy and sell storage space on the network. Micropayments to the users hosting storage space will be a lot easier than with Bitcoin or Ether itself, since the coin is built with the Storj use case in mind. But the reason for the token goes beyond payments. It is necessary for the system to have everyone on the same token to ensure that people are following the protocol rules and behaving fairly. This will be done through network specific smart contracts that will incentivize people to behave fairly and punish users who try to cheat the system.”

The Storj system is a bit complex, as it handles two commodities – spare storage space and unused bandwidth of those providing that storage. Unlike Uber, where there is a central company organizing everything, Storj is completely decentralized and all the funds go directly to the storage holders. Lacking a centralized service ensuring that everyone is behaving correctly, there has to be some means of enforcing the agreed upon behavior. This is where smart contracts enter the picture.

The easiest way to think about a smart contract is allowing for the movement of money, without a third party involved, based solely on data input that is defined when the contract is made. Since Storj coin is built atop Ethereum they have access to a Turing Complete programming language for smart contracts, which is the computer scientist's way of saying it's a full featured language.

Storj smart contracts require that funds be held in escrow for users to participate in the system, either as storage providers or renters. If a user tries to cheat the system in some way, the smart contract can drain the funds from the escrow account of the cheater and return it to the user affected by the cheating. By leveraging the Storj coin, the value of these smart contracts become more predictable and correlated to the Storj platform, instead of being subject to the volatility of general digital currency markets such as Bitcoin or Ether.

Storj’s approach to building a company working on top of an infrastructure that is built with a team of Storj Labs developers in addition to the open source community is a very common approach for decentralized applications. This is done to create a more transparent environment for the infrastructure and to create an open platform that encourages other companies to build on top of and contribute to the system.

While Storj & Ethereum participated in crowdsales for the initial offerings of their tokens, they are careful to never use the term ICO, fearing that it is too closely associated with an IPO. Alan Cohn, co-char of Steptoe & Johnson LLP’s Blockchain and Digital Currency practice and head council to the Blockchain Alliance, explains that by calling an ICO a token crowdsale, it helps investors understand that they aren’t purchasing equity or a security, but an entirely new asset class. This is important for protecting investors in addition to protecting the startups themselves so that the SEC does not confuse their tokens with an asset that does not pass the Howey test. That being said, there are many ICO that intentionally act as securities, the most popular of which being Blockchain Capital, which raised $10 million in six hours.

So why are investors so excited about the new technology? I asked Michael Terpin, who invested in the original ICO, Mastercoin, and has advised 30+ ICOs, including top ICOs such as Ethereum, Factom, Augur, Golem and Gnosis, either personally or through his company Transform Group.

Michael Terpin

Micheal Terpin

Terpin explains that “as a angel investor, you can put 25k into company equity, then the company goes through many more rounds of funding, and perhaps sells for $300m, but your stake has been diluted to almost nothing if there's a down round anywhere along the way. With tokens, you can do the same kind of analysis of team and technology, but because it's a trading token and not private equity, you can get out whenever you want. Even though tokens are typically not securities, they act more like gold or public stock from day one in terms of liquidity. This alone, coupled with the current bull market for ICOs, means a lot of investors are saying ‘I’ll take my chances with tokens’. Investors like it. Companies like it. Companies don’t give up any equity, just tokens, which in most cases are their product. Because it's a product, it's more akin to wine futures than stock. It’s a product with a resale value.”

Ted Livingston

Wikipedia

Another unique sign that ICOs are becoming mainstream is Kik’s upcoming Kin coin. Kik is a chat platform popular with U.S. teens with over 300 million users. Ted Livingston, Founder & CEO of KIK, explains, “A cryptocurrency creates a new way to economically align a large group of developers to work together to create a new ecosystem of digital services that are compelling for consumers, and fair and lucrative for developers. Doing an ICO is a new and exciting idea, and it took some time to run experiments like the Kik Points pilot program to prove that we could build an economy inside of Kik…[T]his was a new and viable way to monetize a community – instead of showing ads or selling items to our users, we could grow the value of a cryptocurrency with a larger community.”

Instead of relying on an ICO to raise money in order to build a product, Livingston sees this as a way to reduce friction for goods and services that already change hands via Kik, as well as creating the foundation for exciting new projects. 

However, a token doesn't have to be about raising money. My company, Bitwage, leverages the Bitcoin blockchain to help workers receive their wages faster and cheaper when working across international borders. We are looking at ways to leverage a token to create momentum around a new peer to peer recruitment platform we are launching. There will be no initial offering or selling of the token, we're going to provide a method to earn tokens in a way to incentivize users to refer others and create a community.

If you are thinking of running or investing in an ICO yourself, make sure to check out my next article on the “dos & don’ts” for running your own ICO and how investors should evaluate potential ICOs and tokens to invest in.

Jonathan ChesterPrintReprints & Permissions

Storj Cryptocurrency is currently on bearish momentum by 13.79% in the last 6 hours. At 12:15 EST on Saturday, 8 May, Storj is at $2.32.

Currently, Storj has 374 Twitter followers and 13100 Reddit subscribers.

As of now, on Github, there are 283 forks, 1832 stars, and 108 subscribers.

Square revenue more than triples, driven by Bitcoin purchases. According to Bloomberg Quint on Thursday, 6 May, "Surging purchases of Bitcoin have been a major boon for the company over the past year as more consumers have flocked to the cryptocurrency. ", "Revenue from Bitcoin sales — which includes the total value of Bitcoin purchases on its Cash App — climbed more than elevenfold to $3.51 billion, up from $306 million a year earlier, the company said Thursday in a shareholder letter. "

Bridgewater CFO dalby leaving for Bitcoin services firm. According to Bloomberg Quint on Friday, 7 May, "This week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it will offer new Bitcoin derivatives to Wall Street investors.", "John Dalby, chief financial officer at Bridgewater Associates, is leaving to join Bitcoin financial services firm NYDIG."

Bitcoin traders in U.S. lack investor protections, gensler says. According to Bloomberg Quint on Thursday, 6 May, "U.S. investors lack protections when they trade Bitcoin on cryptocurrency exchanges, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler told lawmakers.", "Gensler didn’t weigh in on whether the SEC intends to approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, something the cryptocurrency market is desperate for and is one of the most consequential issues for the industry."

Goldman offers new Bitcoin derivatives to wall street investors. According to Bloomberg Quint on Thursday, 6 May, "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is wading deeper into the $1 trillion Bitcoin market, offering Wall Street investors a way to place big bets.", "Goldman Sachs may next offer hedge fund clients exchange-traded notes based on Bitcoin or access to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, one of the people said."

More news about Storj.

Storj Cryptocurrency is currently on bearish momentum by 16.43% in the last 24 hours. At 06:16 EST on Sunday, 9 May, Storj is at $2.21.

Concerning Storj’s daily highs and lows, it’s 2.79% up from its trailing 24 hours low of $2.15 and 16.29% down from its trailing 24 hours high of $2.64.

Currently, Storj has 374 Twitter followers and 13136 Reddit subscribers.

As of now, on Github, there are 283 forks, 1832 stars, and 108 subscribers.

Storj’s last week, last month’s, and last quarter’s current volatility was 3.43%, 3.43%, and 3.43%, respectively.

Storj’s current volatility rank, which measures how volatile a financial asset is (variation between the lowest and highest value in a period), was 3.43% (last week), 3.43% (last month), and 3.43% (last quarter), respectively.

Goldman offers new Bitcoin derivatives to wall street investors. According to Bloomberg Quint on Thursday, 6 May, "But client interest and Bitcoin’s astronomical price gains — reaching a high of almost $65,000 in April — have turned many bankers around, with Morgan Stanley making a Bitcoin trust product available to its customers and JPMorgan working on a similar offering.", "For years after its creation in 2009, Bitcoin was shunned by Wall Street banks, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon once threatening to fire any of his traders caught buying and selling the digital currency. "

Square revenue more than triples, driven by Bitcoin purchases. According to Bloomberg Quint on Thursday, 6 May, "Revenue from Bitcoin sales — which includes the total value of Bitcoin purchases on its Cash App — climbed more than elevenfold to $3.51 billion, up from $306 million a year earlier, the company said Thursday in a shareholder letter. ", "Surging purchases of Bitcoin have been a major boon for the company over the past year as more consumers have flocked to the cryptocurrency. "

More news about Storj.

Bitcoin’s price is currently $56225 based on data from CoinMarketCap. The price is rangebound yet again below $60000 and this has increased trade activity in the altcoin market, with altcoins that were less popular before Q1 of 2021 saw a boost in interest. Band Protocol, based on the latest price data from Santiment is up 13% against Bitcoin’s price in the past 24 hours, and the trade volume is growing consistently. The 24-hour trade volume is up 183% and this is unlike most other altcoins currently.

The quantity of BAND held by whales (HODLing more than $1.4 Million) since early February 2021 has increased consistently. The current increased activity is considered to be the whale’s inverse reflection against HODLers in the mid-tier, and this has impacted the HODLing pattern and distribution of BAND.

Based on the above chart, the mid-tier holdings are dropping consistently, and BAND whales are buying, with the coin’s concentration by large HODLers hitting a record 97%. Another effective metric for tracking the price trends of altcoins like ENJ, MANA, STORJ, and MATIC is the deposits vs. non-deposit activity model. Based on data from Santiment, currently, most altcoins have an increasing ratio of non-deposits vs. deposits. Many altcoins, not for the same reasons, are surging against Bitcoin.

There has been an unanticipated increase in volume, with three-digit and two-digit gains the past week and the past 24 hours. This is an alt rally, as the charts suggest, however, altcoins that didn’t register growth in Q4 of 2020, have witnessed it in 2021. It is worth keeping an eye on ENJ, MANA, STORJ, and MATIC based on the following chart.

Based on the above chart, the 7 days vs the 90 days active deposit ratio has increased by over 50% for nearly all altcoins on the chart, and over 100% for a handful. This suggests that there is a peak in interest and investment inflow from both institutional traders and retail.

Investments are directed towards altcoins with low market capitalization, without concerns for liquidity and volatility, thus boosting trade volume on spot exchanges. It is critical to take note of changing trader activity as this could be the precursor to a bigger shift in trend, moving on from Bitcoin and range-bound price action to portfolio-focused double-digit growth. Since the launch of Grayscale’s altcoin funds, there is increased interest and traders are anticipating that most of the altcoins that emerged this quarter may soon see leverage trading on spot exchanges, further boosting the trend and conforming to the extended altcoin rally this season.

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Ekta is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto and her specialization lies in spot markets. Currently pursuing her MBA, she is passionate about trading, fintech, and everything decentralized.

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Order books for three lesser-known tokens, Ankr, Curve DAO (CRV) and Storj will open on Coinbase Pro this Thursday.

Inbound transfers for the three tokens are open now, with trading to commence at 9 AM Pacific Time (PT) on March 25, if liquidity conditions are met, Coinbase said in a blog post and on Twitter.

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As usual, the new listings will start with post-only mode and will proceed to full trading when the metrics for the healthy market are met. Coinbase will post tweets announcing the stages separately, but it may keep the book in one state for a longer period or suspend trading.

The US popular exchange points out that the new coins will be accessible for users in most jurisdictions, but will not initially be available for residents of the state of New York.

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Once the platform has received enough supply of each token, order books will open for ANKR, CRV and STORJ which are established on the platform, trading on ANKR-USD, ANKR-BTC, ANKR-EUR, ANKR-GBP, CRV-USD, CRV-BTC, CRV-EUR, CRV-GBP, STORJ-USD and STORJ-BTC, assuming liquidity is sufficient.

Each of the newly-listed tokens has garnered a lot of attention recently.

Storj is an open-source cloud storage platform that uses a decentralized network of nodes to host and secure user data using advanced encryption. Launched in 2014, the token was first introduced as the crypto version of Dropbox by creating an open market for participants to sell their available disk space.

The second listed assets, Ankr, is a similar concept that utilizes shared resources in order to provide affordable blockchain node hosting solutions.

Finally, Curve is the native DeFi token of a stablecoin exchange that uses an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity. While many tokens waited years for a Coinbase listing, Curve has had its token added to the exchange’s Pro trading platform just a few months after launching.

US crypto trade Coinbase stated it could checklist three altcoins, Curve, Ankr, and Storj, yesterday in a transfer that despatched the trio’s costs surging skyward. The trade seldom provides new cryptocurrencies to its checklist of choices and is understood for its strict compliance and regulatory stance.

“ANKR, CRV & STORJ are actually dwell on Coinbase.com and within the Coinbase iOS and Android apps. Coinbase clients can log in now to purchase, promote, convert, ship, obtain or retailer ANKR, CRV & STORJ,” it stated in a tweet.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) March 25, 2021

The three listings are vastly totally different by way of their features, goal market, and total use instances. As such, the Curve DAO token (CRV) launched in 2020, Ankr (ANKR) launched in 2018, and Storj launched in 2017 (it raised $30 million in an ICO).

Ankr makes accessing the ‘Net 3.0’ less complicated, providing distributed, multi-cloud blockchain infrastructure for one-click node deployment and administration. As an infrastructure platform and market, the undertaking goals to permit customers a simple method to blockchain networks and DeFi functions.

Deploying blockchain nodes is hard for brand spanking new customers or customers who don’t code, and there’s the place the Ankr node market is available in. It permits customers to deploy blockchain nodes by way of a one-click API resolution for public blockchains and DeFi protocols.

ANKR , its token, helps to facilitate funds on the platform and meter a community of worldwide distributed sources together with serving as an incentive for node suppliers.

Get able to discover the cross-chain staking with us!

Learn all about it: https://t.co/vzJjrHfuCV#StakeFi #Ankr #DeFi https://t.co/jZo0AY0oas pic.twitter.com/4kt2y3Sm6V

— Ankr (@ankr) March 19, 2021

Storj, pronounced as “storage,” is an open-source cloud storage platform that makes use of a decentralized community of nodes to host person knowledge. Anybody and everybody can promote their additional arduous drive area to different customers by way of the protocol.

The undertaking is owned and developed by Storj Labs Inc, which was based in 2014. The agency pre-mined its total provide of tokens at inception, that means no new tokens might be created by way of STORJ mining.

— Storj Labs (@storjproject) March 1, 2021

Curve is a decentralized trade that enables customers to swap stablecoins and different property with the similar worth . That is to assist customers simply change between ‘wrapped’ tokens (or ‘staked’ property) to permit for a seamless DeFi expertise.

CRV is a governance token that has carried out a time-based staking system. CRV holders can vest their tokens for ‘veCRV’—the protocol’s inner token that enables customers to assert money flows and participate in governance selections.

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Popular crypto strategist and trader Michaël van de Poppe is naming the five altcoins to keep an eye on for the month of November.

In a new strategy session, Van de Poppe tells his 139,000 YouTube subscribers that he’s watching the price action of interoperable blockchain Polkadot.

According to the crypto trader, Polkadot is in an uptrend against Bitcoin (DOT/BTC) as the pair continues to print higher highs and higher lows on the daily chart.

“The assumption is made that as long as we stay above this area of 0.00056 BTC ($33.83), I think that we’re going to have continuation happening in which we might flip this high (0.00085 BTC or $51.34) and create ourselves a new high.”

Using the Fibonacci extension tool, Van de Poppe says the target for the next DOT/BTC spike is around 0.001 BTC, worth $60.40.

Next up is Cosmos, a project that seeks to become the “internet of blockchains.” The crypto strategist highlights three potential entry points for Cosmos in its Bitcoin pair (ATOM/BTC).

“You can start scooping in between 0.00056 BTC to 0.00058 BTC ($33.83 -$35.03). If it depends on me, 0.00052 BTC ($31.41) is the next one and then finally, around 0.00045 BTC ($27.18).” 

Another coin on the trader’s radar is Curve (CRV), the governance token of stablecoin-focused decentralized exchange Curve Finance. According to Van de Poppe, Curve is trading within a wide range between 0.000036 BTC and 0.000086 BTC ($2.17 and $5.19) for almost a year.

However, the crypto trader says that a breakout from the range will ignite a massive rally to his target at 0.00022 BTC, worth $13.29.

The fourth coin on the list is decentralized oracle network Chainlink, which Van de Poppe says he’s still interested in even though it has gone through a deep correction against Bitcoin (LINK/BTC).

“Given the heavy correction that Chainlink has still been making during this year and has not been showing too much strength yet and DeFi (decentralized finance) is probably going to wake up, this is going to grant a massive opportunity.”

The last altcoin is The Graph, a platform that indexes and organizes blockchain data. Van de Poppe says The Graph could carve a bottom against Bitcoin (GRT/BTC) if it holds immediate support at 0.000013 BTC, worth $0.79.

“We’re seeking for a higher low here, and if that takes place, this entire trend reversal is going to happen.”

I

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Talk to a cryptocurrency enthusiast and there's a good chance you'll hear some version of this: It feels a lot like 1999.

That's not to suggest that bitcoin and its ilk are the next Webvan or Pets.com, but looking more broadly at the current trend, the analogy makes sense.

While bitcoin crossed $2,000 over the weekend and is up by almost 150 percent this year, other digital currencies have rallied even more. Ether has tripled in value in the past month and Ripple's XRP is up about tenfold.

In 1999 we saw the speculative internet IPO. Today, it's the ICO -- initial coin offering.

Companies built on blockchain, a digital database for recording financial transactions and other types of deals, are raising money by selling digital "tokens" that can typically be used to pay for goods and services on their platform, or just stashed away as an investment.

Thus far in 2017, companies have raised $180 million in ICOs, compared to $101 million all of last year, according to Smith + Crown, a blockchain research, data and consulting group. Often, these are very early projects that are far from generating significant revenue.

Sound familiar?

"We're in a very frothy phase of ICOs," said Naval Ravikant, a Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur who's also a venture partner at digital currency firm MetaStable Capital. "People are getting caught up in the vision and it's going to take 10 to 20 years to build out. In the meantime, people are throwing money at anything that looks like it has a shot."

Interest in cryptocurrencies is reaching the masses. This week, New York is hosting two industry conferences -- Consensus and Token Summit. On Monday, 86 firms from Toyota to Merck joined a group called the Enterprise Etherium Alliance (EEA) to create standards for smart contracts.

Meanwhile, 10 financial institutions signed up with cryptocurrency platform Ripple last month to send real-time international payments, joining a roster of clients that already included Bank of America and RBC.

The ultimate vision is a world in which all data and transactions are trackable via an electronic ledger that eliminates delays caused by disparate currencies and financial systems. Blockchain currently claims to process 160,000 transactions a day across 140 countries.

'Trouble with the SEC'

Start-ups building applications on blockchain are launching ICOs to raise capital without giving up big equity stakes in their companies and to drive interest and usage of their product.

Currently, the market is almost entirely unregulated. In its purest form, an ICO looks like a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, which is a legal way for a company to raise money by having users fund an early-stage project in return for perks and early access. Crowdfunding can be risky, because if the company cannot deliver the product as promised, backers have no recourse.

But unlike a campaign to fund a Pebble smartwatch or the development of a mobile game, ICOs are inherently financial in nature and can look more like securities, particularly when the tokens fluctuate in value. As ICOs gain popularity and dip more into the mainstream, look out for the regulators.

"If anyone is selling these securities to U.S. citizens, you will get in trouble with the SEC for sure," said Pamela Morgan, an attorney and the CEO of consultancy Third Key Solutions, at a bitcoin meetup in Switzerland last month.

VIDEO4:4404:44What is Blockchain?CNBC Explains

Civic, the developer of a digital identity platform for online transactions, is aiming to raise $33 million in an ICO beginning Thursday, to build out its network.

Vinny Lingham, Civic's co-founder and CEO, said the company is playing it straight and hired law firm Perkins Coie to try and stay out of the legal gray area.

"These tokens are tokens you need to use to function within our platform," said Lingham, who started the company last year. Unlike the case with an IPO, Civic is booking the proceeds from the ICO (or token sale) as revenue, since it's selling a product that customers can eventually use.

Investors in the ICO will pay with bitcoins or ether -- two popular types of cryptocurrency -- in exchange for Civic's tokens. Banks, travel companies and hotels can use the tokens as currency when clearing transactions, and customers can acquire more tokens by inviting friends.

Stan Miroshnik started the Argon Group in 2016 as an investment bank focused on digital currencies. He's advising on the Civic offering and has plenty more in the pipeline, with an ICO scheduled about every three weeks.

But Miroshnik said there's clearly excess in the market now, with companies that have no functional business and no real relation to blockchain looking to ICOs for a quick buck.

"We are very cautious," said Miroshnik. "This is something that should be coming from the community and projects related to blockchain."

Prior to Civic, Miroshnik's biggest deal was last week, when Storj Labs initiated a $30 million token sale. Storj is a cloud storage company that uses the available capacity on lots of individual computers to store and secure data. Imagine Amazon Web Services, but instead of owning massive data centers full of servers, Storj pays individuals to let others rent space on their machines.

If the SEC doesn't crack down, this party will be amazing, the biggest party in town for a long time. If they do crack down, a lot of people are going to feel a lot of pain.Naval RavikantCryptocurrency investor

For Storj, the offering lets the company capitalize on the surging value of digital currencies. The company created the Storjcoin three years ago and sold a portion of them in a $500,000 crowd sale. The value of the currency has jumped 50-fold since then, leaving Storj with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coins.

Storj is selling 15 to 25 percent of outstanding Storjcoins, which are based on the Ethereum platform after migrating from bitcoin.

"It's an asset on our balance sheet that has value and we're converting it into fiat," said John Quinn, co-founder of Storj. "Part of the rationale was to raise capital to accelerate development of the business."

A member of bitcoin trading club poses with bitcoin medals at the club's meeting in Tokyo.Yoshikazu Tsuno | AFP | Getty Images

As of late Wednesday, the ICO had raised almost $29 million of the $30 million target. Buyers in the offering can use the currency to pay for storage and bandwidth.

Storj competitor Filecoin is likely to hold an ICO in mid-June. But the prospective investor base is very different.

Filecoin will be the first offering on a new platform called Coinlist that is targeting accredited investors, or people with a net worth of at least $1 million (excluding the value of their homes)

Ravikant, who's an investor in both Filecoin and Coinlist, said he doesn't know when the regulators will come knocking, but he's certain that these companies will eventually have to exist within the confines of securities law.

"We're going to try and prove to the market that you and do a legal coin offering," Ravikant said. "If the SEC doesn't crack down, this party will be amazing, the biggest party in town for a long time. If they do crack down, a lot of people are going to feel a lot of pain."

TVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | ETListenTVWATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APPUP NEXT | ETListen

Beginning July 15, 2021, Clover Finance (CLV) is available for trading via Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase Android and iOS apps, the company confirmed in a blog post.

Coinbase (COIN:Nasdaq) clients are able to trade, send, receive, or store CLV in the US, with the exception of New York State. Trading is also being supported via Coinbase Pro. Coinbase clarified that it only supports ERC-20 CLV (running on the Ethereum blockchain).

Clover Finance (CLV) enables software engineers to bridge decentralized finance (DeFi) apps from Ethereum to Polkadot. The CLV token may be used to pay for Clover transfers and also to cast votes for performing network updates.

Coinbase also mentioned Clover aims “to enable interoperability between Bitcoin and other blockchains.” At present, the digital asset exchange supports CLV running on Ethereum (ERC-20).

As always, Coinbase pointed out that one of the most common requests they hear from clients is to have the option to purchase and sell more crypto-assets via the Coinbase platform. The company had announced a process for listing new assets, “designed in part to accelerate the addition of more cryptocurrencies.”

Coinbase further noted that they are investing in new tools in order to assist traders and investors with  understanding and exploring digtial currencies. Coinbase confirms that it introduced informational asset pages and a new section of the Coinbase website “to answer common questions about crypto.”

In another update, Coinbase revealed that Mask Network (MASK) and Rally (RLY) are now available on Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase Android and iOS apps.

Coinbase customers are now able to trade, send, receive, or store MASK and RLY in “most Coinbase-supported regions, with the exception of Singapore.” MASK will “not be available in New York State. Trading for these assets is also supported on Coinbase Pro,” the company clarified.

Mask Network (MASK) “enables users of popular social media platforms to send cryptocurrency, interact with decentralized applications, and share encrypted content.” As noted by Coinbase, MASK token holders can “vote on ecosystem initiatives via a decentralized autonomous organization called MaskDAO.”

Rally (RLY) is an Ethereum token that “powers the Rally network.” Rally enables creators and online communities “to launch their own cryptocurrencies.” Coinbase also mentioned that “by creating these so-called ‘social tokens,’ fans can gain access to benefits like unreleased content or merchandise, while creators can unlock new forms of revenue.”

Have a crowdfunding offering you'd like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!

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Over the last month, it’s been hard to miss talk in the media and on social channels about initial coin offerings, or ICOs. What are they? Where did they suddenly come from? Who’s investing in them?

When the popular investing platform AngelList announced on Monday that it’s jumping into the business of making ICOs easier to coordinate, attention reached a fever pitch, prompting my colleague Alex Wilhelm to yesterday tackle the question, “WTF is an ICO?”

Because this editor was still confused (I’m not proud), I talked yesterday with Stan Miroshnik, a UC Berkeley grad with an MBA from MIT who today runs L.A.-based Argon Group, one of the first digital finance-focused investment banks. Miroshnik nicely answered an array of questions about ICOs, including how these things get staged, how companies establish a value for their offerings, and more. If you’re still trying to get a handle of this latest investing trend, too, read on.

TC: ICOs are everywhere suddenly.  When was the first ICO staged?

SM:  You have to go back to around 2013, when Mastercoin, a protocol on top the bitcoin blockchain, raised $500,000. Then you had a number of other milestone token sales, such as Ethereum in 2014, then the DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, which was built on the Ethereum blockchain and that stored and transmitted Ether and Ethereum-based assets and that raised the equivalent of $150 million last year.

Momentum began to build after that, as a smaller group of [these offerings] grew in size, and by last fall, some companies were raising millions of dollars in minutes. That really kind of made people stand up and wonder if this is a new funding mechanism.

TC: How many ICOs have there been to date?

SM: There were 64 last year that collectively raised $103 million, excluding the DAO. So far this year, we’ve seen 25 offerings raise a bit more than $163 million, and we’re on track to see more than $210 million raised by the end of June.

TC: The idea is that instead of raise traditional funding from a bank or investors, a company that sells tokens to its customers ensures those customers are better aligned with the company’s success. Is that accurate?

SM: Yes. If I’m buying your token, I am incentivized to help the company’s product and ecosystem expand, bring in other users, maximize the tokens’ utility, and I’m hoping that demand for the token will increase and it may become more valuable. You’re creating the network and virality effect with these monetary incentives.

The term ICO is really a misnomer for what are token sales or token crowd sales.

TC: So how do these ICOs work, practically speaking? 

SM: There’s a cadence to these things. You do the prep-work and get your project to a natural technical milestone. Then you pre-announce when you’re planning to have a token sale, describing some of the terms, and telling a story of the project and its goals. You publish a white paper and disclosure and give people a chance to read it and comment. There are also usually threads that develop on Reddit, Bitcointalk, Slack, Telegram and elsewhere, where people actively debate the merits of the product. Then, on the landing page on the aforementioned date, there’s typically a tool that enables purchasers to acquire the tokens in exchange for bitcoin or ether.

TC: These require digital wallets?

SM: [The issuing company] requests [the investor’s] source wallet and the wallet where the token buyer wants to receive the token. Once the company collects the money, the sale is concluded, the smart contract is deployed, the tokens are issues via the smart contract, and delivered to the token purchasers.

TC: How do companies establish a value for the tokens they’re offering?

SM: Typically, a company sets out of a goal, then in the sales process, they can either discover what the market is willing to pay, as with a Dutch auction, or they can stipulate the price themselves and explain what the use of the proceeds will be. The value of the token lies in its functionality and utility.

Token holders are effectively prepaying for a product or service. If I run a video game company, for example, I can sell you tokens that represent in-game purchases once the game is built. If you know you’ll buy swords and shields and things like that, you can just pay for them now. It helps me develop the game and gives me more capital to do it, and you benefit from the currency becoming more valuable over time, because there’s a finite amount of it issued. The currency will presumably appreciate because the game will become more popular, and you were going to participate in it anyway, but now you’re also supporting the game developers.

TC: Do people always buy these tokens with cryptocurrencies?

SM: For the most part, they do. Sometimes, token sales involve dollars or other fiat currencies.

TC: Does it matter?

SM: Companies mostly use cryptocurrencies out of an abundance of caution. When you’re using fiat currency, you start touching the margins of banking and money transmitter regulations, and using cryptocurrencies keeps you clear of them. It’s also the case that a lot of your audience – right now, at least – is part of the cryptocurrency world anyway. These are people who have [digital] wallets. It’s not hard for them.

TC: Is there a concern that U.S. regulators will crack down on these ICOs?

SM: Lawyers are relying on case law that defines what a security is. The most well-known case is the “Howey Test,” created by the Supreme Court for determining whether certain transactions qualify as investment contracts. If they do, then those transactions are considered securities and are subject to certain disclosure and registration requirements. When tokens are structured basically as the sale of a service or product, they’re designed to make sure the various prongs of the test are not triggered.

TC: So the SEC hasn’t reached out to anyone about these.

SM:  The SEC and other regulators are engaged and aware of the developments in this market, but they’re taking a measured approach. It hasn’t taken a view publicly,  put out a paper, or taken an enforcement action in the space. Other regulators such as the CFTC, the OCC, and state-level bodies are watching carefully.

TC: Where are most ICOs staged?

SM: It’s really a global industry. Some are in the U.S. and structured through Delaware [where many companies are incorporated]. Some are structured in Switzerland, some in Singapore, which has a very token-friendly regime where tokens aren’t considered a security. Companies are coming from many countries.

TC: What types of companies are primarily using ICOs?

SM: It’s still a financing mechanism that’s very organic to the blockchain community.

It all started with protocols like Ethereum raising funding through this mechanism, and it has stayed close to related projects, like the distributed storage company Storj and Civic, a company that provides identify through the blockchain and is announcing its token sale this Thursday. A lot of these founders and token buyers are part of bitcoin forums and Reddit, and that’s why [certain companies] are able to raise these large sums fairly quickly; they’re reaching out to thought leaders and getting their support and generating buzz about their projects. It’s  basically the open source community, now with an open-source funding mechanism.

TC: For how much longer, do you think? ICOs are getting tons of attention suddenly, as you know.

SM: We’re definitely starting to see more and more companies that are outside this core space beginning to examine [this new financing mechanism]. But it’s early days.

TC: What happens when people want to sell the tokens they’ve bought?

SM: Well, first, you can use them in a company’s ecosystem. With Storj, maybe you buy storage. You can also accumulate these tokens over time, as a bet that with more enterprise demand for storage capacity, the coins will become more valuable, after which you can sell your tokens to someone else who needs to purchase storage space.

There are also a number of cryptocurrency exchanges where these tokens trade. In the case of Storj, you can sell or buy on Poloniex or Bittrex.

TC: Is there any kind of lock-up period, or can a token holder immediately sell that token if he or she wants?

SM: There hasn’t been a lock-up period traditionally, but over the last two months, a practice has started to develop [toward that end] as transactions are getting larger, because it clearly makes a lot of sense. In the case of Storj, some purchasers that committed early received discounts but were also locked up [from selling] for between 3 and 12 months. So I think we’re beginning to see the maturation of market [in a way that reflects] traditional dynamics.

TC: Should VCs be nervous about ICOs? You mention Civic, which is staging an ICO. Civic has also raised some venture capital previously. But plenty of other companies seem to be skipping the VC part.

SM: To some degree they should, but we’ve also talked with a lot of very smart VCs who are looking at this space, including August Capital, Tim and Adam Draper, Blockchain Capital. Many are doing the work to understand how to be involved and active in the space and the fundamental value of these protocols. Union Square Ventures has said it now has a mandate from its LPs to hold these assets.

For companies that raise funds through a token sale and that have had traditional angel or venture rounds previously, for example, their equity investors get to skip one or two rounds of dilution, which is great; it means their returns are hyper-levered.

TC: Is there a bubble forming?

SM: There is a lot of velocity, but it’s coming from the liquidity that’s coming into this industry. A lot of early bitcoin investors are [plugging some of their rewards from its run-up in price] into these projects where the team is technically strong and the product or protocol is robust and addressing a large or hard problem.

More, every day I talk with hedge fund managers who just stumbled across this space and recognize that a diversified portfolio that includes a non-correlated asset like bitcoin has been shown to raise their sharp ratio, so we’re starting to see more adventurous family offices and high-net-worth individuals participate in these token sales.

TC: These offerings largely center on projects and not fully formed products, if I’m understanding correctly. That makes some outsiders nervous. Do you worry about bad actors?

SM: It’s really early. This whole market is just a couple of years old. Many projects have been out for less than a year, so it’s too soon to tell. But this is a small community where people know each other, so there’s a lot of founder pride and reputations are at stake. Also, the companies post their white papers publicly, their code is up on Github, and their token smart contracts are often peer audited, so [potential buyers] have some transparency in terms of where a product is in its cycle and also the community’s level of buy-in.

As with everything, it’s buyer beware. You certainly shouldn’t be buying token in projects you don’t understand.

BEP-20, or Binance Chain Evolution Proposal, is the Binance token standard for creating tokens on the Binance Smart Chain.

If you’ve ever tried to make cryptocurrency transfers or withdrawals, then you know the importance of sending your coins or tokens to the right address and network to avoid loss of funds, and knowing the token standard is paramount. 

For example, an exchange such as Binance will have you pick between BEP-20, BEP-2, ERC-20, or similar, when making transfers, depending on the asset involved.

This “BEP-20” or “ERC-20” is called a token standard; token standards exist to provide a blueprint for creating tokens on individual blockchains via smart contracts (i.e, computer programs). In general, any token that adheres to a particular standard can be used to transact with wallets or exchanges that support it.

Although certain wallets and exchanges may automatically select the right network based on a recipient’s address or warn you if an address is invalid, it’s still helpful to know your way around the most popular networks and their associated token standards.

In this post, we’ll discuss the BEP-20 token standard and cover how it differs from other standards such as the ERC-20.  

First, however, we’ll briefly review what tokens are. Let’s get started!

A Brief Review of Tokens

As mentioned earlier, token standards such as Ethereum’s ERC-20 and others like it provide an outline of sorts for creating tokens on individual blockchains. This enables developers to create interoperable assets with similar functionality, based on common guidelines proposed by such token specifications.

The resultant tokens are transferable native assets and operate in decentralized applications running on an underlying blockchain. They can serve as a store of value, be used to pay for a service, or even represent off-chain securities.

One example of a token is STORJ, an ERC-20 utility asset which gives access to the service provided by the Storj Network.

Now, let’s take a look at the BEP-20, a standard that extends the ERC-20.

Understanding the BEP-20 Token Standard

To appreciate the significance of the BEP-20 standard within Binance and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, we’ll briefly review some history involving Ethereum, Binance Chain (BC), and Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and discuss how the standard relates to others like the ERC-20 and the BEP-2.

Ethereum was the first blockchain to implement a truly versatile smart contract and decentralized app (DApp) functionality. Its creator, Vitalik, co-wrote a specification, the ERC-20, that developers could build upon when creating tokens for the Ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts implementing the standard effectively had a set of mandatory functionality in common as laid out in the specification.

Since the launch of Ethereum, other blockchains have sprung up to offer similar or improved functionality. However, when Binance Chain went live in 2019, it eschewed smart contract functionality to optimize trading performance and speed. Its token standard was the BEP-2, which, by design, had no support for smart contracts.

In 2020, Binance dipped its toes into DeFi with Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a complement to the existing Binance Chain (BC). It introduced the BEP-20 token standard which included the smart contract functionality that was missing in the previous BEP-2 standard.

Some popular examples of applications and associated BEP-20 tokens built on BSC include:

A decentralized exchange on which you can swap BEP-20 tokens. The platform also enables you to earn its native CAKE tokens through yield farming or staking.Binance Coin (BNB): Initially built on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token, BNB is now the native coin of Binance Chain as a BEP-2 token. It’s used to pay trading and transaction fees on the Binance exchange platform, and can also serve as both a store of value and medium of exchange. Additionally, it can be staked on BSC to earn even more BNB. BurgerSwap (BURGER): BurgerSwap is another decentralized exchange on our list which enables you to swap tokens, except in this case, it’s not just BEP-20 tokens. BurgerSwap lets you swap between ERC-20 and BEP-20 tokens. Liquidity providers on the platform are also rewarded with its native BURGER tokens.

Nowadays, aside from native BEP-20 assets on BSC, there are also pegged coins, which are essentially BEP-20 equivalents of other cryptoassets such as Ethereum, Cardano, or Bitcoin. They are pegged on a 1:1 ratio to the corresponding assets. A useful analogy here would be stablecoins such as USDT being pegged to the dollar.

This feature essentially allows you to send native assets to BSC, receive their BEP-20 equivalent, and eventually withdraw them back to the asset’s original blockchain. 

One advantage of using the pegged equivalents of native assets from Ethereum, for example, is that it can be more cost-effective due to bypassed gas fees.

Since BC and BSC are meant to complement each other, they have cross-chain compatibility; BEP-2 tokens can be swapped with their BEP-20 equivalent and vice versa. This interoperability is enabled by the Binance Bridge service, and it currently supports 35 currencies.

Next, let’s take a look at the similarities and differences between BEP-20 and ERC-20.

BEP-20 vs ERC-20: A Technical Glance

As mentioned already, the BEP-20 token standard was modeled after Ethereum’s ERC-20, so they’re compatible. Some functions common to both standards include:

This returns the total number of tokens available in a contract.balanceOf. This returns the number of tokens available in a specific user address.transfer. This function is used to transfer tokens between users and requires that the person invoking the function owns the tokens.transferFrom. Unlike transfer, this function is used to automate transfers by approved persons or contracts. For example, you may prefer to authorize services you’re subscribed to deduct payments automatically rather than do it manually.approve. This is used to limit the number of tokens any smart contract is allowed to withdraw from your balance.allowance. Once a smart contract is authorized to spend a certain amount of your tokens, the allowance function can be used to check for any unspent portion of it.name. This is used to attach a human-readable name to the token, such as “Binance Coin”.symbol. Tokens may also have symbols such as “BNB”.decimal. This function essentially sets the number of decimal places a token can be divided into. The more decimals, the more divisible a token is.

While the last three are optional for ERC-20 tokens, symbol and decimal are required for BEP-20 tokens. Additionally, the BEP-20 standard specifies an extra (required) method called getOwner, which returns the owner of a BEP-20 token.

How to Create Your Own BEP-20 Tokens

There are multiple ways to create your to make your own Binance BEP-20 tokens. These include creating it manually and using online token generators such as the BEP20 Generator. The former method is more involved than the latter and requires some coding skills.

In general, to ‘code’ your own token, you’ll want to follow these steps:

Install Metamask and connect your Metamask wallet to BSC. For testing, connect to the BSC testnet. Otherwise, you’ll want to deploy to mainnet.Send some BNB to your Metamask wallet to cover transaction fees when deploying. (For testnet, you’ll want to get some test BNB.)Navigate to the Remix IDE. This is entirely online and does not need to be installed.Create your token in Remix and deploy it. Here’s a sample implementation of the BEP-20 specification that you could use as the basis for yours.Once you’ve deployed your token, you’ll want to grab its contract address and add the token to your wallet, whether on Metamask or Trust Wallet.

You’ll need to specify a cap or the maximum number of tokens you’ll want to mint. You may also want to make some tokens burnable. All in all, you can mint as many tokens as you want until you’ve reached your cap.

Final Thoughts: Why Do BEP-20 Tokens Matter?

Blockchains such as Ethereum and BSC create baseline standards such as the ERC-20 and BEP-20 to improve interoperability between tokens that adhere to the standard. One practical reason to familiarize yourself with these standards, even as a non-developer, is to understand enough to use the right mix of addresses and networks when making crypto transfers, thereby avoiding the unintentional burning of funds.

Not to mention, learning about these different blockchain platforms and their peculiar characteristics can potentially lead to cost savings, such as bypassed gas fees!

To recap, the BEP-20 is a token standard for Binance Smart Chain and it supports smart contracts, unlike Binance Chain (and its attendant BEP-2 token standard). Additionally, BSC supports pegged tokens, a feature that lets you use the BEP-20 equivalent of native assets on other blockchains.

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Plan B sticks to US$135k Bitcoin year-end price prediction after October ’rounding error’

Coinhead

| Derek Rose

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The original cryptocurrency is still hewing closely to one of its most famous price predictions — raising hopes in hodlers’ hearts that they’re all gonna make it.

At 11am Sydney time (midnight UTC), Bitcoin closed out the month of October at US$61,300, up 29 per cent from the end of September.

The pseudonymous “Plan B” made a bold prediction in June, when BTC was changing hands for US$35,000, having crashed from $64,000.

The Dutch former institutional investor with decades of experience in financial markets said that his “worst-case scenario” for Bitcoin was “Aug>47K, Sep>43K, Oct>63K, Nov>98K, Dec>135K.”

He was right about August and September – and Plan B tweeted that this morning his three per cent “rounding error” for October was “close enough for me”.

133 days ago:

-Price was 35k -Energy FUD -China bans -death cross -negative headlines predicted prices of ≈20k -Extreme Fear [email protected] -everyone was crying about S2F being broke

You predicted #bitcoin ATH on Oct (63k close enough) which is up 74% since June 20th

Respect✊

— ADS78 (@ADAlSabah) November 1, 2021

Plan B uses a “stock to flow” model to predict Bitcoin price. His thesis is that that the diminishing supply (or stock) of Bitcoin from the “halving” events every four years causes boom-and-bust cycles for the original cryptocurrency.

Imagine selling BTC now🤣 pic.twitter.com/skDZZgT1z4

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) October 29, 2021

Crypto market down 0.2%

Smaller altcoins are popping this morning while blue-chip cryptos have taken a breather over the past 24 hours.

Solana has been the only token in the top 20 to move more than three per cent, rising 5.6 per cent to US$206.

SOL was very close to flipping Carano as the No. 5 crypto.

Meanwhile, Dogecoin had reclaimed the No. 9 spot from Shiba Inu, currently No. 10.

Bitcoin and Ethereum were both down around 1.5 per cent, to US$61,392 and US$4,302, respectively.

But No. 69 crypto Holochain (HOT) has soared 37.1 per cent, No. 89 Qtum is up 13 per cent, and No. 77 Spell has risen 12.7 per cent. Outside of the top 100, Zenon, Vulcan Forged, Alchemy Pay, Storj and DigitalBits had all soared by between 59 and 25 per cent.

$HOT TARGETS (not financial advice) pic.twitter.com/3gCjYqLplq

— ₿ (@bryan_becma) October 31, 2021

Aussie-founded gaming token Illuvium was trading for over US$1,000 after hitting an all-time high of $1,040 yesterday.

Overall the crypto market was down 0.17 per cent to US$2.64 trillion.

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Das Berliner FinTech Vivid bietet über seine App ab sofort 50 Kryptowährungen an. Bis auf weiteres ist der Handel kostenlos. Die Käufer tauschen ihr Geld jedoch nicht in Bitcoin, Ethereum & Co., sondern erwerben OTC-Derivate.

Weltweit engagieren sich immer mehr Unternehmen in Kryptowährungen und befeuern so den Trend zum digitalen Geldersatz. Nach Signalen zu neuen Beschränkungen und Regulierungen aus China, USA, Europa und Japan zeigten sich die Kurse von Kryptowährungen in den vergangenen Wochen jedoch als sehr volatil. Angesichts dessen ist auch die deutsche Wirtschaft gespalten in der Frage, ob es sich bei Bitcoin, Ethereum & Co. eher um Spekulationsobjekte oder eine Ersatzwährung handelt.

Zugleich meldete das Krypto-Nachrichtenportal www.theblockcrypto.com im Mai einen neuen Handelsrekord von umgerechnet fast 2,2 Billionen US-Dollar. Das hohe Interesse auf Kundenseite befeuert Banken und Finanzdienstleister, den Kryptohandel ins Portfolio aufzunehmen. So hat die Börse Stuttgart neben der Bison-App nun eine weitere mobile Anwendung gelauncht, die einen direkten Zugang zum Krypto-Marktplatz BSDEX eröffnet. Sogar Krypto-Geldautomaten sind auf dem Vormarsch.

50 Coins auf einen Streich

Das FinTech Vivid Money setzt ebenfalls auf den Krypto-Trend und hat vor wenigen Wochen den Handel mit zehn verschiedenen Kryptowährungen gestartet. Nun setzt Vivid noch einen drauf und weitet das Angebot auf 50 verschiedene Krypto-Coins aus. Damit sei man führend unter den europäischen Banking-Apps, teilt das Unternehmen mit.

Kryptowährungen und Vivid als Banking-App: Das gehört einfach zusammen. So war es für uns nur ein logischer Schritt, unseren Nutzern weitere Kryptowährungen anzubieten. Wir sind besonders stolz darauf, mit 50 handelbaren Kryptowährungen das größte Angebot als Banking-App in Europa zu haben.”

Alexander Emeshev, Mitgründer von Vivid

Zu den neuen Coins in der App gehören unter anderem 0x, Aave, Aragon, Bancor Network Token, Compound, Chiliz, Decentraland, Dogecoin, Enjin Coin, Fetch.ai, Filecoin, FTX Token, Holo, IOST, Kyber Network, Loopring, Maker, OMG Network, Polkadot, Polygon, REN, Solana, Stellar, Storj, Swipe, Synthetix Network Token, Tron, Uniswap, VeChain and XRP. Coins, die bereits verfügbar waren, sind: Algorand, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Chainlink, EOS, Ethereum, Litecoin und NEM.

Abwicklung per OTC-Derivaten

Banking-Kunden, die per Vivid-App Kryptowährungen kaufen, erhalten allerdings keine echte Kryptowährung, zudem ist der Vertragspartner weder Vivid Money noch Vivid Invest. Die Aufträge werden an den Partner CM-Equity übermittelt, ein in Deutschland zugelassenes Finanzdienstleistungsinstitut unter Aufsicht der BaFin. Die Vivid Invest wiederum ist als vertraglich gebundener Vermittler der CM-Equity bei der BaFin registriert.

Transaktionen mit Kryptowährungen sind bei dem Berliner FinTech bereits ab einem Eurocent möglich. Der Handel funktioniert mittels Fractional Coins, also Anteilen an den Kryptowährungen, deren Kursverlauf ohne Hebel 1:1 per Over-the-Counter-Derivaten (OTC) abgebildet werden, wie das Vivid-Hilfeforum verrät.

Diese Konstruktion hat für Kunden zwei wichtige Konsequenzen. Zum einen besteht ein zusätzliches Kontrahentenrisiko, denn die in Kryptowährungen investierten Gelder liegen bei CM-Equity. Zum anderen kann der Kunde mit solchermaßen erworbenen Kryptowährungen weder bezahlen noch diese auf eine Wallet übertragen.

Leistungsvielfalt als Prinzip

Das umfangreiche Kryptowährungs-Angebot folgt der bisherigen Strategie, die Vivid-App zu einer Finanzplattform zu machen, die sowohl die täglichen Bedürfnisse um das Banking als auch längerfristige Ziele wie Sparen und Investieren mit einem breiten Leistungsportfolio vereint. Ähnlich wie nun bei Kryptowährungen bietet Vivid auch die Möglichkeit, per OTC-Derivaten in Aktien und ETFs zu investieren.

Ein weiterer Aspekt ist die finanzielle Bildung. Darauf habe man von Anfang an Wert gelegt, so Emeshev. Mit Vivid Classes will man den Kunden die notwendigen Informationen an die Hand geben, um fundierte Entscheidungen zu Sparanlagen und Investitionen zu treffen. Dementsprechend habe man gerade für Kryptowährungen, eine besonders volatile Anlageklasse, die Vivid Classes um neue Lektionen ergänzt.

Nicht zuletzt setzt das FinTech auch auf eine breite Abdeckung des Marktes. Neben Apples App-Store und Googles Play-Store können Kunden die Vivid-App auch in der App-Gallery für Huawei-Smartphones finden. Aufgrund der US-Sanktionen können aktuelle Huawei-Smartphones nicht mehr auf Googles Android-Dienste zugreifen. hj

(3 Stimmen, Durchschnitt: 4,33 von maximal 5) l drucken 

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Bitstamp and Coinbase are cryptocurrency exchanges available to U.S. and international investors. Both offer a digital hot wallet and follow strict security standards. Plus, they’ve been around for years. Bitstamp was founded in 2011 with headquarters in London. Coinbase began in 2012 and went public through a direct listing in 2021 (Nasdaq: COIN). The company recently announced the closure of its California headquarters.

Coinbase supports 66 cryptocurrencies versus Bitstamp’s 28, but the differences don’t end there. While Bitstamp caters to experienced, active traders, Coinbase is geared to beginners. However, Coinbase also offers the Coinbase Pro platform, which is a good fit for intermediate and advanced investors. 

We compared the crypto exchanges by looking at their features, supported currencies, and ease of use. Additionally, we reviewed fees for trading and withdrawing funds, mobile apps, and digital wallets.

Bitstamp Sign Up NowFees: 0.50% plus variable spreadCurrencies: 28Security: 98% of assets stored offline, crime insurance against theft or fraud, and 2FAWallet: Allowlisting, multi-signature, AES-256 encryptionTransactions Supported: Instant, limit, market, stop, trailing stop, and fill-or-kill orders, withdrawMax. Trading Amount: Varies by payment methodMobile App: iOS and Android Pros

Competitive fees

Advanced trading options

Pay by card or bank account

Cons

Limited rewards and staking

Not for beginners

Fewer supported cryptocurrencies

Coinbase Sign Up Now

Get $10 of BTC by signing up with promo code: INVESTO10

0.50% spread plus $0.99 to $2.99 fee or variable fee based on the payment methodCurrencies: 66Security: 98% of assets stored offline, 2FA, FDIC-insured USD balances, insurance against fraud or theft, and a bug bounty programWallet: Allowlisting, multi-signature, AES-256 encryptionTransactions Supported: Buy, sell, exchange, send, withdraw, and receive Max. Trading Amount: Varies by location and payment method Mobile App: iOS and AndroidPros

Crypto rewards and staking

Interest-bearing crypto accounts

Easy for beginners to use

Cons

Advanced features only available on Coinbase Pro

Higher fees than Bitstamp

Not for Hawaii residents

Bitstamp vs. CoinbaseBitstamp vs. CoinbaseAt a GlanceFeaturesCurrenciesSecurityFeesEase of UseMobile AppAccessFinal VerdictFAQsMethodology At a Glance Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Features

Although both cryptocurrency exchanges let users buy and sell altcoins, they’re geared toward different groups of people. Coinbase is recommended for beginners, thanks to its user-friendly platform and limited transaction types. Bitstamp, however, targets users familiar with cryptocurrency. 

Bitstamp features include:

Bitstamp supports institutions and provides several application programming interfaces (APIs) for custom business applications. Easy to add funds: Users fund accounts via credit or debit card and automated clearing house (ACH).Advanced trading: Investors can take advantage of advanced trading options, such as instant, limit, market, stop, trailing stop, and fill-or-kill orders.Bitstamp Earn: International traders can stake Ethereum (ETH) through Bitstamp to earn a return on their holdings. 

In comparison, Coinbase also makes it easy to add funds by supporting credit or debit, wire transfers, ACH, and PayPal. However, it also offers several features ideal for new investors, such as:

Coinbase users may earn up to $28 in altcoins by watching videos and reading guides about cryptocurrency and exchange basics. Staking: Earn 0.15% to 5% annual percentage rate (APR) for USD Coin (USDC), Dai (DAI), Tezos (XTZ), Algorand (ALGO), Cosmos (ATOM), and Ethereum (ETH). Coinbase card: The Visa debit card and Coinbase card app let users make purchases using their crypto. Interest accounts: Put USDC into a Coinbase account to earn up to 4% annual percentage yield (APY). Businesses: Coinbase offers several professional crypto products, including a prime brokerage platform and direct access to the exchange.Advanced platform: Once beginners feel comfortable, they can move to the Coinbase Pro platform for free to get reduced fees and more trading options.  Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Currencies

Users of both platforms can trade fractions of coins and deposit fiat funds, with Bitstamp supporting EUR, GBP, and USD, and Coinbase supporting more than 20 fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, and SGD. 

Bitstamp supports 28 currencies, whereas Coinbase offers 66. Investors will find popular coins and stablecoins on both exchanges, such as:

Tether (USDT)Bitcoin (BTC)Compound (COMP)Litecoin (LTC)Stellar Lumens (XLM)Aave (AAVE)Algorand (ALGO)The Graph (GRT)Uniswap (UNI)

Additionally, Bitstamp supports six coins unavailable on Coinbase: Chainlink (LINK), Maker (MKR), Paxos Standard (PAX), Gemini Dollar (GUSB), Audius (AUDIO), and Ethereum 2.0 (ETH2). 

In contrast, Coinbase offers 45 coins not found on Bitstamp, including:

1Inch (1INCH)Ankr (ANKR)Band Protocol (BAND)Cardano (ADA)Cosmos (ATOM)Dash (DASH)Dogecoin (DOGE)Ethereum Classic (ETC)Loom Network (LOOM)Polkadot (DOT)Storj (STORJ)SushiSwap (SUSHI) Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Security

Both platforms abide by strict U.S. regulations, including know your customer (KYC). The exchanges offer two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-signature protections on their hot wallets. Additionally, each service holds 98% of account assets offline in cold storage and maintains a crime insurance policy covering funds on the exchange from theft or fraud. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures USD deposits on the Coinbase platform. 

The cryptocurrency exchanges meet or exceed industry standards. However, the Coinbase website provides a detailed account of most security measures, whereas Bitstamp only references security through its frequently asked questions. Although Bitstamp was hacked in 2015, resulting in the theft of roughly $5 million in Bitcoin, no recent breaches have occurred. While Coinbase hasn’t had its exchange hacked, many users have been targets of various phishing schemes, leading to stolen funds. 

Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Fees

The beginner Coinbase exchange charges higher fees than found on Bitstamp. However, Coinbase Pro users pay about the same as Bitstamp traders. Bitstamp uses a tiered fee schedule based on total trading volume over the past 30 days, with $10,000 or less incurring a 0.50% transaction fee. Higher trading volumes reduce expenses. 

Meanwhile, the Coinbase fee structure is more complex. Users pay either a flat rate or variable fee, depending on their funding method, and incur a spread of about 0.50%. In most cases, traders using Coinbase will pay more than those on Bitstamp. However, the Coinbase Pro platform uses a maker-taker model with a 0.50% transaction fee for investors trading $10,000 or less over the trailing 30-day period.

Additionally, credit or debit card users will pay 3.99% on Coinbase versus 5% on Bitstamp. Both offer free ACH transactions, making this payment method the best way to save on fees.

Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Ease of Use

Bitstamp and Coinbase are web-based platforms offering mobile apps. The initial account signup and verification processes are similar. Moreover, each makes it easy to buy or sell crypto through their exchange by offering simple website or app navigational tools. However, Coinbase is better for beginners. It provides an array of instructional materials and guides. Its knowledge base and FAQs are comprehensive and cover nearly every topic a new investor would want to learn about. 

In contrast, Bitstamp provides a basic FAQ section to help users navigate website functions but doesn’t offer a complete database. Plus, some of the advanced features may be unfamiliar to new users, making it harder to know which transaction type to select. 

However, Bitstamp earns a slightly higher rating, as customer service is more responsive than Coinbase. Neither service offers customer support by telephone, but you can contact the companies through email, or Twitter for Coinbase users. 

Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Mobile App

Bitstamp and Coinbase provide mobile apps for Android and iOS users. The Bitstamp app offers complete trading functionality, including four order types, analytical tools, and real-time charts through Tradeview. Users can also view their crypto holds and trade right from the mobile app. 

The Coinbase crypto app features a clean dashboard where investors can get automatic price alerts, view portfolio value, and buy crypto on the exchange. Both mobile apps receive high ratings for ease of use, but advanced users will find more features on the Bitstamp app. 

Bitstamp vs. Coinbase: Access

Bitstamp and Coinbase operate in about or over 100 countries. While Bitstamp may work in all 50 states, Coinbase isn’t available to Hawaii users. In addition, U.S. residents can’t stake coins on Bitstamp, whereas they have access to most functions, including staking, on the Coinbase exchange. 

U.S. residents using Bitstamp can’t buy Ripple (XRP), while New Yorkers using Coinbase can’t buy the following coins using fiat currency:

1Inch (1INCH)Celo (CGLD)Chiliz (CHZ)Cartesi (CTSI)Dash (DASH)Enjin Coin (ENJ)Eos (EOS)Ampleforth (FORTH)Game.com (GTC)Augur (REP)Shiba Inu (SHIB)Tellor (TRB)Tether (USDT)Tezos (XTZ) Final Verdict

Coinbase and Bitstamp are well-known, trusted cryptocurrency exchanges used by people across the globe. Both offer hot wallets, mobile apps, and store 98% of account funds in cold storage. However, Coinbase is a great fit for beginners and provides an advanced platform for active traders, whereas Bitstamp works for mature investors but may confuse people new to trading. 

For many users, Coinbase is the better option. The beginner platform does have high fees, but it’s easy to trade crypto, stake coins, and earn rewards. Plus, when users are ready to move into advanced trading, the Coinbase Pro platform offers a fee schedule similar to Bitstamp’s while still giving users access to perks like the crypto Visa card. 

Frequently Asked Questions What Are Bitstamp and Coinbase?

Bitstamp and Coinbase are centralized cryptocurrency exchange platforms where users go to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Investors can view market prices, deposit fiat funds, and access their accounts through a web browser or mobile app. 

Additionally, Coinbase users may take advantage of rewards features to earn crypto, stake cryptocurrencies, or earn interest on certain stablecoins. The company also offers a Visa debit card, allowing investors to spend crypto at millions of online and retail locations worldwide. 

How Do Bitstamp and Coinbase Work?

Both platforms are centralized exchanges, meaning they verify accounts and transactions on behalf of investors. Users deposit fiat funds into Bitstamp and Coinbase hot wallets, which means the exchanges have more control over your assets than traders have when using decentralized exchanges. 

Bitstamp and Coinbase support funding types like ACH, credit or debit card, and wire transfer. However, Coinbase offers much more information about getting started with trading, their security levels, and their features. 

Can You Transfer Crypto From Bitstamp to Coinbase?

Yes, investors can transfer crypto from Bitstamp to Coinbase. Simply select “Withdrawal” from the main menu, enter your Coinbase wallet address, and choose the amount to send. Find your Coinbase wallet address by logging into your Coinbase account and tapping the “Receive” button. From there, you can choose your cryptocurrency type and view the address and quick response (QR) code.  

Who Should Use Bitstamp vs. Coinbase?

People new to investing or cryptocurrency should start with Coinbase, as it’s convenient and straightforward. The platform rewards users for learning about crypto and offers basic transaction types. Furthermore, once a beginner learns their way around, they can move up to the advanced Coinbase Pro platform for more features, such as advanced trading options and lower fees. 

On the other hand, Bitstamp is good for active traders and not as suitable for new investors. It offers several transaction types that require investing experience and doesn’t offer a large database of instructional guides and tutorials. 

Methodology

We reviewed Bitstamp and Coinbase by checking out features offered on both platforms, including unique offerings, and assessing accessibility for U.S. and international traders. We looked at the overall number of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and fiat currencies supported; the amount and types of fees; and security levels. Moreover, we checked out the mobile apps and web-based exchanges to evaluate each one for ease of use and functionality.

Article SourcesInvestopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in oureditorial policy.

Crunchbase. "Bitstamp." Accessed July 1, 2021.

Crunchbase. "Coinbase." Accessed July 1, 2021.

CoinDesk. "Coinbase Direct Listing: What's Happening Now." Accessed July 1, 2021.

Business Insider. "Coinbase is shutting down its San Francisco HQ as it plans for a decentralized, and remote-first, workforce." Accessed July 1, 2021.

CoinDesk. "Details of $5 Million Bitstamp Hack Revealed." Accessed July 1, 2021.

Yahoo. "Coinbase with hacked accounts get no justice from horrible U.S. laws: Fintech lawyer." Accessed July 1, 2021.

US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Pro has announced the addition of Tether (USDT) stablecoins to its trading platform. This means the world’s most popular stablecoin can now be traded on the Coinbase exchange.  

“Starting immediately, we will begin accepting inbound transfers of Tether (USDT) to Coinbase Pro,” the exchange announced. The listing is coming barely a week after Coinbase was listed on Nasdaq. The dollar-tied Tether stablecoin also operates on other blockchain networks, including Tron.

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Coinbase also stated that support for USDT will be available in the exchange’s supported jurisdiction, except in New York State. Also, the announcement revealed that Coinbase is only offering support for ERC-20 USDT running on the Ethereum blockchain.

As the most valuable stablecoin and the 4th most valuable digital currency in the world, Tether is approaching a market capitalization of nearly $50 billion.

The token’s market cap has surged to enviable heights since the beginning of the year. Coinbase also stated that trading on the USDT pairs will be rolled out in three phases: post-only, limit-only, and full trading phases.

The proposed USDT pairs include USDT-USDC, USDT-USD, USDT-GBP, USDT-EUR, ETH-USDT, and BTC-USDT.

The American-based crypto exchange is one of the largest digital exchanges in the world and the largest in the U.S.

When it debuted via a direct listing on Nasdaq last week, the exchange’s COIN token surged 30% within 24 hours, but it corrected in the following days.

During the first quarter of the year, the exchange reported an impressive increase in trading volume, ignited by the influx of institutional and retail traders in the crypto market. In the same period, the company’s revenue grew to $1.8 billion.

Coinbase has also recently listed several other tokens on its exchange, including Cardano (ADA), Curve DAO Token (CRV), Origin Token (OGN), NKN (NKN), Enjin Coin (ENJ), and Storj (STORJ).

Source

The nonprofit foundation behind the privacy-driven messaging app Signal is officially joining the cryptocurrency venture. In this case, the Signal Foundation announced it has started accepting crypto donations.

According to an announcement via Twitter, the organization encouraged people to arrange donations via cryptocurrencies, but it’s not limited to bitcoin (BTC) or ethereum (ETH).

Per their landing page, the foundation also supports litecoin (LTC), chainlink (LINK), zcash (ZEC), amp (AMP), Basic Attention Token (BAT), dai (DAI), gemini dollar (GUSD), storj (STORJ), and 0x (ZRX).

The addition of privacy coins comes in response to a number of social media users asking Signal to add such cryptos to “comply” with their privacy-driven philosophy.

A tweet from Signal reads:

As a nonprofit organization, we depend on your support. If you’ve been patiently waiting for Signal to accept cryptocurrency donations, you no longer need to hodl back your generosity.

Regarding the crypto payment processor used, the Signal Foundation stated it will handle all payments via The Giving Block, a company specialized in processing crypto donations for nonprofit organizations.

Moreover, the team behind the Signal app pointed out that those who want to claim U.S. tax deduction can optionally “provide an email address to receive a tax receipt.”

The foundation further clarified that The Giving Block supports anonymous donations.

Signal, created in 2018 by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, is a well-known privacy messaging app with more than strong encryption features.

In fact, the app has received mainstream endorsement globally from crypto-friendly personalities, such as American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and Tesla Technoking Elon Musk, who recently encouraged his Twitter followers to start using it.

Recently, due to the controversy sparked by Whatsapp changing its terms and conditions, Signal’s user base skyrocketed in a matter of hours.

What do you think about Signal accepting crypto donations? Let us know in the comments section below.

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