Obviously not the best series on Non-fungible Tokens yet, but if you’ve been following this series; one thing for sure is, you realize that NFT isn’t just about creating art and selling them or buying art on NFT marketplaces. Check out the previous part, hopefully, you’ll be able to get your flight tickets as NFTs in the very near future. NFTs are here to stay, the question is how far they will go in penetrating the most important aspects of human life, especially where it concerns flexible ownership structure and ownership verifications.
We’ve discussed a few of these possible applications and again, we take a look at a few others.
Unarguably the most popular application of NFTs. You probably own a number of digital art NFTs. The weirdest images are hitting NFT marketplaces and getting sold for some tangible price. Artists are jumping in to at least make a living through their craft. Musicians and video content creators are also exploring the chances of distributing ownership rights of their media via NFTs. Non-fungible tokens have proven to be competent in this aspect, obviously.
It’s no news that “NFT arts are overhyped”, arguments about ownership of these sold arts continue to heat up too. Regardless, NFT arts continue to grow even stronger.
Paid online subscription
Netflix and chill? Even if you’re not a fan of movies, you still have to subscribe to a couple of online services. The only tangible change in online subscriptions since they became a thing is the cost of a subscription. The technology and the user interface…basically the same thing. Not really so progressive, in my opinion, especially when there are available alternatives that work even better. Paid Subscriptions, in contrast to the aforementioned application, are rather time-based and not a one-time redemption process.
NFTs still come into play, regardless. Developing NFTs to represent and validate subscriptions will improve the accuracy of financial estimations. Not just that; NFTs are immutable, and subscriptions cannot be maneuvered if they are issued as NFTs.
Meal tickets and food stamps
We’ve mentioned ‘tickets’ in almost every part of this series, and you’d at least agree that the current tradition of carrying physical tickets is getting boring. It’s arguable if anyone ever found them aesthetically appealing. NFTs are the best bet if we’re ever going to go paperless in ticket vending. Meal tickets, food stamps…presenting these at the counters is so 1980s.
NFT tickets are a perfect replacement. In addition to adding the very much-needed flair to the ticket vending system, NFT tickets are easier to disburse, handle and redeem. Redeeming NFT tickets at the counter is as easy as buying coffee with the bitcoin lightning network and easier than surfing through your wallet to find a frail-looking paper ticket.
The list is actually inexhaustible; it only takes a little more exposure to realize a couple of other ways digital signatures could replace a number of existing options in some concerning areas. You surely have a few suggestions, share them!
A follower once referred to Bitcoin cash as bitcoin’s ‘Dumb’ brother. That sounds funny anyways, but it’s a perfect representation of the friction between bitcoin and bitcoin cash communities. One cut out from the other, these two don’t really share a very ‘lovey’ history. According to many, “Roger Ver was a bitcoin legend until he decided to fork it”. This article itself could get some stern backlashes and it is easy to understand why.
Bitcoin maximalists are hardly (rarely) impressed with anything outside Satoshi’s brainchild, but the spite for bitcoin cash is on another level. Pretty weird stuff considering the fact that bitcoin and bitcoin cash could serve two different purposes…competently.
As a newbie in the crypto space and before you grasped the concept of blockchain technology, you probably already regard bitcoin as the ‘digital gold’. Making cryptocurrencies tradable and integrating them on exchange platforms similar to that of digitized gold sparked off the long-lasting comparison between gold, bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies at large. Bitcoin is at the helm of this comparison.
Bitcoin’s initial purpose was a flexible payment technology; its current orientation designates it as a store of value… principally. The perpetual comparison with gold, firms adding bitcoin to their reserves, values reaching thousands of dollars; bitcoin is simply a better replacement for gold… even the transaction speed suggests.
Bitcoin Blockchain is adapted to perform about seven transactions per second. Working at this speed, transactions could take over ten minutes to be executed and verified on the blockchain. With the Bitcoin lightning network, you can transact faster. Well, the bitcoin lightning network basically applies clever tweaks to parse your transactions, and via ‘verified trust’ transactions are confirmed ‘offline’.
Borne out of an infamous turmoil and living through a series of ‘dramas; bitcoin cash, a more flexible fork of the original bitcoin presents a more sustainable payment solution. Built for merchants; the ‘cash’ suffix says everything you need to know about it. Albeit criticism from bitcoin maxis, bitcoin cash is ultimately faster than the original bitcoin and works better for the purpose bitcoin was initially created.
Say “bitcoin for investors; bitcoin cash for merchants”. Bitcoin should rather spar with gold and lustrous metals, but adopting bitcoin (in its purest form) for day-to-day financial activities is simply not sustainable. Bitcoin is not scalable and flaunts a rather archaic technology. Bitcoin cash is more developed in these areas and more adapted to suit merchants.
If any ‘bitcoin’ must be used in commerce, it should be cash. You’d have to wait for minutes before the barista confirms your payment and serves you coffee. Relative to most other cases, this is actually a manageable scenario. Bitcoin causes this, bitcoin cash fixes it. Well; the lightning network does too, you’d argue.
Love bitcoin? Buy bitcoin cash as well. Or at least, acknowledge its technological advantages. In Contrast to the current situation, bitcoin and bitcoin cash complement each other and should grow along. Instead, we are witnessing a case where one is pushed to serve both purposes.
Don’t get it wrong; any store of value can serve as a medium of exchange, including gold. But bitcoin cash actually fits better into the idea of a ‘cash’. A number of other blockchain solutions boast faster and more flexible transaction speed; however, bitcoin cash is built on the original bitcoin framework.
If you minted a bored ape NFT at 0.08Eth; watched it climb to $380,000 and got airdropped tangible thousands of dollars in Ape Coins; this title and the whole discussion may sound a bit ‘off’ to you. That’s easy to understand, I’d probably feel the same way. Bore Ape Yacht Club is arguably the most popular NFT art in the world. After that airdrop, it’s probably the undisputed star brand in NFTs and crypto. Hats off to the brilliant team that worked to get it to this height…and of course, the celebrities and influencers who did a great job too. I personally love Eminem’s Ape and I’m not afraid to say that; pun intended.
BAYC’s success rings a bell in the NFT and crypto space, feel free to regret not minting and holding, most people who missed out feel the same way.
In a move to create a more decentralized and accommodating consensus mechanism, Yugalabs introduced the APE coin. APE Coin was designed to be the Bored Ape community’s governance token. In addition to being used for political purposes, APE Coin was also designed to be the reward token for Play-to-earn GameFi projects developed by the team.
Anyways, does a project like this need a governance token? The idea of DAO has long existed, many older projects have implemented this before it became so popular in the past few years. Many projects have launched tokens whose primary use is to vote on proposals. A brilliant move, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this hasn’t really worked so well. Not just APE coins, most DAOs are just another money-doubling scheme.
Looking over the fact that APE coin has added some free money to your portfolio and the fact that it has had more marketing and financial impact on the project, the real purpose for introducing this token could as well be ignored. A governance token for decentralized digital art? Well, you surely have your arguments but Bored Apes has done so well without a DAO.
Yugalabs is a brilliant team and has the best ideas to push its project forward. Demanding approval from a community of people who are less informed on issues like this is more likely to defeat the whole purpose. This is the exact issue with most DAOs, the community is more likely to get it wrong than a team of specialists. Communities consist of tons of people with different (personal) goals which might not necessarily be beneficial to the greater public. Their personal needs are what their individual votes reflect and not the community’s well-being.
To date, about five proposals have been voted on APE coin’s voting portal. Three of these have been voted in favor while the rest couldn’t make the cut. There are certainly more in-depth reasons why that staking proposal didn’t make the cut. Proposals like this easily pass the voting stage. However, these proposals have been centered around developing the voting process and incentivizing token holders. When more vital proposals are made, the complicated nature of DAOs will be put into play.
Project teams are shying away from leaving vital decisions to the community, a major reason why DAOs are becoming grossly uninteresting. Albeit decentralizing the community, DAO project teams still execute important proposals without the consent of the community. Many argue that a complete DAO is ‘dumb’ and unsustainable. You’d agree too. It falls through at some point. The majority isn’t always right, this happens more often than not. In cases like this, project founders face the hard decision of going against the community or not consulting them properly.
The community will happily vote in favor of token burns but not a proposal to lower the floor prices by minting more NFTs at cheaper prices. While token burns have shown to be good for the numbers, a lower floor price will invite new members. But the community will prefer to see numbers go up…I will too.
You just bought your first cryptocurrency; it feels great, I know. Makes you want to buy even more, sometimes the same token; other times a different one. That’s probably not you, you might have bought your first crypto many years ago. Regardless, the feeling is basically the same. Being in a space of over twenty-five thousand cryptocurrencies, promising ones; it is hard to just stay glued to one cryptocurrency. Maximalists think the opposite, but that’s fine anyways.
Love happens many times, naturally. Whatever makes you like a cryptocurrency project can happen all over again, as many times as possible and in different ways. You’d end up investing in a couple of projects. one term for this — Diversification.
The majority of cryptocurrency investors prefer to split their funds across a number of crypto assets. Personally, I do this too. For several reasons, a diversified portfolio is a common practice in the cryptocurrency space. Why pick one when you can actually get as many as possible? You know who has a different answer…
A number of reasons would make an investor diversify. A gamer and a believer in Artificial intelligence will probably put his money on two projects related to this, maybe some Axie Infinity and SingularityNet tokens. If you fancy crypto as a portable payment medium, you’d probably add some ripple and stellar to your portfolio. This may go on as long as your cravings and sentiments.
Apart from personal interests and minimizing risks, certain ethics held up by a project is enough to attract an investor’s attention to the extent of investing in them. Projects with a certain level of decentralization and encouragement for community involvement tend to attract a good number of investors. In contrast; centralized projects are also attractive to some. Whatever serves your taste the most. Investors love to put their money where their mouth is. But this could happen more than once and diversification may come in as a result. Diversification isn’t all shade of good anyways.
Thousands of cryptocurrency projects, each one with plans of ‘taking over the world’; even baseless meme tokens plan to be the new world currency; even though they don’t even run on their own blockchain. Every cryptocurrency project is painted with buzzwords and sounds all cool. It’s hard not to fall in love too many times. But resist the urge to go with these feelings.
Most times they result in you splitting your funds to satisfy your ragging love for several projects. An over-diversified portfolio might sound like a hedge against the volatile cryptocurrency space. But it’s not. In a space as wild as this, spreading your investment could turn out to be just another way of increasing your risk level; especially when this diversification is (almost) based on hypes and external suggestions.
Capitalizing on a few credible investments has proven to be profitable; in fact, maximalists hardly get it wrong. The strong conviction that keeps one glued to just one project is most times a result of extensive research and belief, this works better than sporadic investments driven by little knowledge. Your investment in over fifty cryptocurrency projects still stands more chance of failure than an investment in ten well-studied projects or even less.
It’s a nice approach to have your eggs spread through a number of baskets. Diversification might simply be a representation of your convictions and personal interests. However, spreading your investments irregularly stands more chances of backfiring than not. Every cryptocurrency project is shiny and ‘full of potential’; most times this turns out differently. Diversification, just like any other strategy works when done well. But here’s a suggestion, “don’t overdo it”
Ukrainians face an uphill battle to retain their country as the conflict with Putin-led Russia continues. Peace talks between the Waring nations haven’t really yielded tangible results; the Russian military is showing no signs of backing off while Ukrainians are keen to fight off their invaders. The harsh effects of the sanctions on Russia’s economy and citizens haven’t been enough to convince her leader to call off the attempts. Russia’s invasion has grounded the central European country’s economy and has displaced millions of its citizens.
While the rest of the world continues to condemn Russia’s actions and assist Ukraine, the conflict could linger on for a while. Support for Ukraine comes from all parts of the world in different forms. As usual, cryptocurrency communities are getting involved. Drumming their support for the eastern Europe nation, over $100 million in cryptocurrencies have since been donated to Ukraine to assist them in their plight.
Being handed millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies via donations, Ukraine nets more than just one advantage. In addition to the financial reinforcement this could bring, cryptocurrencies offer a more efficient financial system relative to the traditional system. For a government thrown into war, an ‘unblockable’ means to exchange value comes in handy. Cryptocurrencies’ underlying technology makes for the most flexible exchange. Devoid of third parties and powering universally acceptable stores of value, it is actually meant for turbulence.
Seeing the role cryptocurrencies have played in his struggle, the Ukrainian president moved to make bitcoin a legal tender in the region. This a reasonable thing to do when you have a tangible amount of cryptocurrency in your custody. We currently have no clue how exactly Ukraine is using the cryptocurrencies donated to them, but at least we can guess. The move to legalize bitcoin hints at positive results from using cryptocurrencies; especially at a time like this. And if more nations will consider adopting positive policies for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a question of if they are actually watching the role cryptocurrencies are playing currently.
In conflict, Ukraine is demonstrating just how useful cryptocurrencies could be in turbulent times. A point of consideration for other nations. It is already playing an important role in digital assets. And even after the war, Ukraine is poised to be a catalyst for digital assets in Europe and the rest of the world…obviously.
The nation of Ukraine is currently in ruins. Thanks to shellings from Russia’s artillery, important structures in Ukrainian cities are in rumbles. Once the conflict ends, Ukraine will be looking to rebuild its nation again. That stash from donations will once again play a role. And as long the nation stays, open to cryptocurrency donations, the benevolent cryptocurrency community will continue to support their recovery. As a legal tender, donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be circulated through the nation’s government. Probably as payment to the different bodies assisting in development plans.
With bitcoin etched in the legal books of a country whose development has been badly affected by war, the need to adopt futuristic solutions to fast-track its recovery and competitive ability is a matter of importance. An optimized medium of payment and a superior store of value are good options, bitcoin fits perfectly into this. Just like El Salvador, Ukraine could be the next country to utilize digital assets for national growth.
Unlike Salvadorians, Ukrainians have learned the benefits of using swift payment solutions like cryptocurrencies in a rather unfortunate way. The banking experience during this conflict period is already enough to make them appreciate the distinctions between bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over their custodial financial systems. Many already hold a majority of their funds in cryptocurrencies, this will continue even after the war.
Ukraine will double as a case study for cryptocurrencies’ relevance in turbulence and recovery. As a nationally accepted medium of exchange, it will play a role in the normal lives of people living in this region. As the rest of the world watches; every event in Ukraine as it concerns cryptocurrencies is a major demonstration of utility. For a concept met with so many restrictions, cryptocurrency and blockchain are proving the rest of the world wrong. Playing vital roles in contrasting times is proof of versatility.
If you live in the crypto space for a day, the acronym ‘DeFi’ comes your way almost twice per hour. No doubt, my statistics are right…or very close to it. The crypto space is a very dynamic environment and everything moves so fast, but you must be living under a rock if you’ve only got to hear about DeFi a few times. You’re unlikely to discover this article if you live under a rock anyways. So, the most probable case is that you’re yet to fully grasp the concept of DeFi.
Swaps, farms, pools, and ‘connect wallet’ lol. Like a ‘plug and play’ system, connecting your wallet to a website is all you need to experience a whole world of fun …and risk. Yeah, accidents on DeFi platforms could get very popular and your first encounter might be through an exploitation report. But DeFi is way more positive than this.
DeFi is an acronym for Decentralized Finance. Decentralized financial systems comprise applications built on top of blockchains that facilitate ‘permissionless’ financial services and provide seamless options for running financial activities. DeFi hopes to introduce the core virtues of blockchain technology to the financial system. Bitcoin introduced the concept of ‘decentralized means of payment’ which runs on a distributed ledger system, the blockchain.
DeFi is a blockchain notion. It encompasses every attempt by blockchain and cryptocurrency projects to create a decentralized replacement or alternative to real-life financial activities.
From Bitcoin blockchain itself and its lightning network to decentralized exchanges and financial institutions built on the blockchain; blockchain technology has dived deep into the economic sector and is making attempts to create a new and better way of handling financial activities.
Contemporary and emerging DeFi projects are, expanding the scope of decentralized financial systems. They are shifting the paradigm from ‘portable means’ of payments to smart contract applications running independently on a parent blockchain and offering advanced financial services such as insurance, lending, wealth management, and an array of other financial management using blockchain resources and exhibiting desired blockchain features such immutability, security, privacy, speed and interoperability.
Smart contract blockchains are hence home to DeFi projects, Ethereum particularly is housing the majority of DeFi projects. Augur, one of the earliest smart contract projects on the Ethereum blockchain and a popular DeFi project offers a decentralized alternative to advanced financial instruments such as index trackers and futures. Aave (LEND) runs on Ethereum Blockchain and provides decentralized lending and borrowing service. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and TRON blockchain smart contract layers also facilitate DeFi and provide resources that allow DeFi projects to thrive.
Amongst the numerous enticing features of decentralized finance projects, ‘liquidity farming’ has gained its place as the most exciting exercise in decentralized financial systems. The idea of leveraging DeFi protocols to generate annualized interest returns of up to 30% of your initial investment and a couple of other benefits will surely impress any investor. Due to this, DeFi presents enticing opportunities for cryptocurrency investors to dive into the crypto space — a major cause of the recent boom in DeFi projects.
DeFi has benefited highly from incentivization. Flexible staking opportunities, high-interest loans on lending platforms, and high APR liquidity farm rewards…you might want to give up your agriculture career and join crypto. Well, you can do both.
DeFi isn’t without some shortcomings anyways. DeFi space marks a huge resemblance to early crypto space. The emergence of new projects which are mostly a copy of already existing projects with just very little differences; bogus promises, pump and dumps, naive and gullible investors, shady project teams, and ‘get rich quick’ schemes. It has become a hotspot for ‘decentralized accidents’.
Nevertheless, it is still a brilliant invention and is developed to fix these major issues. Mainstream firms are also impressed by the potential of decentralized financial systems.
Just like most other hyped blockchain concepts, DeFi has become a goldmine for many believers. Unfortunately, a tangible more has a relatively different story to tell; but that’s a topic for another day. Diving in early into deFi and exploring the vast opportunities it offers has earned this class of people, life-changing opportunities. Luckily, it is benevolent enough to benefit even newer participants as well.
DeFi is powered by lots of brilliant algorithms, protocols, and project teams, but as usual; it is the ‘money-minting’ potential that attracts most participants. A Normal phenomenon in this space. Well, I wouldn’t blame an investor for levitating towards a platform that promises a 10x annual return on investment, hassle-free. Not just the rewards, the projects’ tokens go parabolic too.
It takes a special conviction to ignore the high APRs on DeFi staking pools and liquidity farms. Like the early days of cryptocurrency mining scams, these rewards seem too good to be true. Actually, they are true; at least they work as stated. But these DeFi incentives aren’t really ‘free money’
Most airdrops aren’t even free money in the right sense. Airdrops are known for the ‘free money’ tag and have maintained this reputation over the years. But the tasks associated with certain airdrops are in fact more worthwhile than the airdrop rewards. Staking and liquidity farming is, however, different in many ways.
One is a tokenomics and marketing strategy; the other is a proper reward for a (vital) service; staking and liquidity farming have become the most accessible and arguably lucrative DeFi opportunities.
Staking is a low-risk reward program that incentivizes token holders for locking their assets in the staking pool. Staking rewards are flexible and Annual rewards may vary depending on the platform and circumstances. Most DeFi staking programs are flexible too and stakers can unstake their assets from the pool at any point in time. Others might require locking your assets for a specified time during which these assets cannot be unlocked or can be unlocked with penalties. The DeFi staking process is simplified and is a popular choice for micro and medium investors. Most investors prefer staking over liquidity farming for some reasons…
Liquidity farming on the other hand provides investors an opportunity to earn more tokens by locking their assets in the liquidity pool. Assets locked in the pool enable seamless swapping of the locked tokens. A liquidity provider locks an equal value of a pair of tokens/coins. Other holders can swap any of the pairs in a simplified swap transaction. This is powered by Automated Market Makers.
Liquidity providers are in fact one of the most important parties in decentralized exchanges. The role they play is irreplaceable. The reward for this role is the liquidity provider fees. Some projects go ahead to set up an extra incentivization scheme — Liquidity farming. Liquidity farm APRs are usually higher than single-side staking.
‘Free money’ might have different definitions by different people, but amongst these two, Single-side staking would fit into most of the definitions. Liquidity farm rewards are more of compensation for a very important service. Liquidity providers risk losing a tangible percentage of their investments to impermanent rewards depending on the volatility of the market and the assets they supplied to the liquidity pool.
Want some free money? Well, you are better off staking your assets in a suitable single-side staking pool. Sometimes, liquidity farm rewards aren’t enough to pay for the impermanent losses incurred by variations in asset value. In contrast, staking rewards are closer to being ‘free’.
No pun intended; I’m not poking fun at the popular COVID-19 prevention slogan. But if that’s what will make you refrain from centralized exchanges for a while, then I’ll happily do so. My frequency of using centralized exchanges has decreased over twice times the initial. If we can get rid of fake volumes, centralized exchanges are probably rubbing shoulders with decentralized exchanges; in terms of volume, user base, and application.
Despite years of efforts and modifications, fake volumes have continued to bite down on the reputation of centralized exchanges. Aided by exchange officials or solitarily, cryptocurrency projects could easily fake buy and sell orders to lure investors who are attracted by high volumes as proof of demand and liquidity. This could happen anywhere though, but it is more prevalent in centralized exchanges. Centralized exchanges and their technology have served for the time they dominated the space. No doubt, they flourished due to the incredibly handy services they offered. In essence, these services were the best available.
Hacking centralized exchanges is unarguably the most profitable for cryptocurrency scammers. The incidence of exchange hacks lead to the loss of huge amounts of funds. Mt. Gox, Bitfinex, Binance, Kucoin…the list is actually inexhaustive. Getting access to hot wallets of custodial exchanges is a jackpot for hackers who are in a constant attempt to break their way through.
Funds on centralized exchanges are in fact not owned by the ‘owners’. ‘Not your keys, not your coins’. Regardless of how ‘SAFU’ the exchange promises you about the safety of your assets, your cold wallet which you (and only you) hold its private key is the safest place to store your cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology assures fund security, but this is only when they are truly in your custody, and this is as long as you’re the (only) one with the knowledge of your wallet’s passcodes and private keys.
So, here’s a simple fix; decentralized exchanges…
Unlike the rampant centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges do not have buy walls and sell walls, yet the exchange of assets is unrestricted. Even a cryptocurrency veteran would wonder how this works exactly. Well, decentralized exchanges are powered by a number of protocols that allow users to swap assets seamlessly without third-party holding custody of their assets before, during, and after the swap.
Decentralized exchanges are powered by Automated Market Maker (AMM) protocols which leverage liquidity pools to ensure a seamless exchange of assets while retaining blockchain-level security.
Automated Market Markers are programmed to be highly organic and responsive. Like a real-time trading system, every bit of supply and demand creates a relative effect. Traders and investors are handed efficient tools for making decisions and projects are represented for what they truly are…at least for that point in time.
Thanks to liquidity pools, AMMs provide a basket of exchangeable assets to enable unrestricted trading for the period in which the liquidity providers wish to leave their assets on the pool. The transparency of the liquidity pool allows traders to make their decisions.
AMM protocol ensures that every buy and sell effect reflects relatively on the asset price. AMMs are not completely resistant to manipulations, this is evident in the rampant rug pulls. But on the brighter side, these actions are transparent; an important feature of blockchain technology.
Albeit certain shortcomings too; here’s how decentralized exchanges keep you safe(r).
Custody of assets
Decentralized exchanges provide ‘blockchain-level’ security by allowing users to exchange their assets without having to give up their private keys. Private keys give everyone complete control over their individual cold wallets. The security of assets in these wallets is only compromised when the wallet owner gives away their private keys. The recipient of this private key assumes ownership of the concerned wallet and assets therein. In centralized exchanges, asset owners are not in possession of their wallets’ private keys; these keys are rather held by the exchange and are in complete control of the assets in their possession.
In cases of exchange scams, or accidental demise of the holder(s) of this key, assets held in these exchanges are completely lost and there are little or no chances of the holders reclaiming their lost funds. This won’t be the case in a proper decentralized exchange as wallets and asset ownership are not compromised in any way, holders retain private keys to their individual wallets and simply connects to the exchange and enable their assets for trading.
Programmed and time-based permissions
Decentralized exchanges require certain permissions to interact with your wallet sufficiently to allow asset swaps, but these permissions are essentially approved by you and last as long as the particular swap is executed. Once a swap is completed, the permission is retrieved. The protocol will need to make another request before regaining this access to execute another transaction. This ensures that you retain control of your assets at any time you’re not interacting with the platform.
In-wallet assets’ resistance to exchange exploitation
Decentralized exchanges run into hazards too. Countless technical exploitation has been reported on certain decentralized exchanges and defi platforms. This is more rampant with DEXes offering other specialized services powered by novel protocols. Flash loan services have been subjects of exploitation and a large number of assets have been lost in the process. However, this doesn’t affect assets in wallets even if the wallets have interacted with the platform. Fraudulent smart contract codes can avail hackers of a sustained connection to personal wallets, but this is a special case. Assets safely stored on wallets are safe, even if the DEX runs into hazards.
In addition to preserving your identity and allowing you to swap assets from the comfort of your (personal) wallets, decentralized exchanges are evolving to keep your assets as safe as possible while you perform core exchange activities. Stay safe; use a DEX
Rough statistics estimates about twenty new cryptocurrencies are created daily, only a few make it to tracking platforms. On average, half of this figure is listed on tracking platforms every day. The past five years have seen a meteoric growth of cryptocurrency projects, thanks to widespread interest and adoption. Over twenty thousand (20,000) cryptocurrencies are listed on digital assets tracking platforms, most of them coming to life in the past three years.
As the crypto space grows and assets proliferate; investors are always in search of simpler ways to keep track of this growth and manage their investments as well. As a result, asset tracking and management utilities are great tools for digital investors and enthusiasts.
Like crypto itself, platforms offering this service are also getting rampant and investors could easily mention a handful. Regardless, these platforms have not really been able to satisfy most investors’ needs, individually. Investors either resort to using multiple platforms or finding a different walk-through for features not available on their asset management platforms.
A number of asset tracking platforms boast “an ‘all in one’ stop for everything an investor needs”, but in practice, only a few come close to this. In addition, these platforms are marred by other inefficiencies. Making up the list includes; inaccurate data, loading lags, and poor asset representation.
Personally; I always have to switch through a few asset trackers, a tedious process. This experience is the same with most other investors, probably you. If you relate to this (and even if you don’t), you might want to pay attention to the rest of this article.
Meet CoinLore; A complete investor utility platform.
CoinLore is a unified, free-to-use asset tracking and management platform built to meet the need of everyday investors in crypto assets. CoinLore provides untampered data for almost ten thousand (10,000) crypto assets and empowers investors with vital tools for investment research and management. In addition to already existing assets, more reputable digital assets are being added daily on the platform to allow holders to keep up with price developments for their assets.
Built for investors, by investors
Investing in crypto is a special exercise; ‘tricky’ is a proper term. With every new cryptocurrency project comes new proposals, algorithms or technology. One thing in common with these projects is that they present ‘huge’ potential and are the ‘next big thing’…until they are not. The high rate of project proliferation is also followed by a spike in the frequency of project failure. In each case, investors are left to nurse mild to grave losses.
The best way to empower players in a space of this kind is to optimize services provided to suit them; protect them.
Developed and managed by a team of experienced investors; CoinLore is runby a team that understands what it means to be in the crypto space. This is depicted by the platform’s structure and resources presented to users. The white-themed platform easily fits an investor’s cravings.
A glance through the platform shows a user-centric design. On a desktop view, the platform’s design is crafted to shine users’ path through investment utilities in a presumed order of importance. Quick navigation options are displayed on the top bar to allow visitors to surf through the platform. Easily log in for existing users or create a new account by clicking ‘Login’ from the menu bar. Platform and total market metrics follow this in a relatively familiar fashion. Following this are other sections of the platform containing asset and market data. In the main section are crypto assets listed in order of their market capitalization. Users can easily modify this section according to the information needed. The parameters shown at the top of CoinLore’s main asset listing section can be used to select a specific class of assets to be shown and the order of appearance. This feature is best suited for users who are interested in separate asset classes such as DeFi, NFTs, smart contract tokens, and coins using a specific consensus algorithm.
While logged in, you can add coins to your watch list by clicking the star icon on the left side of the asset. Adding assets to the watch list makes it easier for investors to monitor their price developments.
On the right section are classified market data and general information. A market overview section and compartmentalized list of daily top gainers precedes the news feed. The news feed features remarkable happenings in the crypto space, it is a minimized version of CoinLore’s news aggregator. More crypto-related news and resources can be obtained by expanding this section.
The event section follows and features major upcoming developments for projects. This includes exchange listings, DAO voting, token migrations, launches, and other events investors might need to take note of. Spot and margin traders can utilize this for their periodic investments. This section is followed by a video section and other metrics which can be easily accessed by any user.
Track your assets on the go!
Hectic day? We’ve all been there a couple of times. But unlike most other investments, cryptocurrencies have pronounced volatility and a whole lot could happen in just a very short space of time. A few hours might be too long. Being in this space requires a certain level of dedication, especially for day traders. Long-term holders aren’t left out anyways.
Staying informed while you go about your daily activities is easy with the CoinLore mobile application. Just like the desktop platform, the mobile application enables you to track your assets, manage your investments and obtain vital information; but this time, you can do all these from the comfort of your mobile devices. With the mobile application, CoinLore offers a mobile-friendly version of its platform to users who might be unable to use the desktop platform. Your Coinlore account can be used on mobile applications and desktop platforms.
The mobile interface differs tangibly from the web platform; but like the latter, it is simplified and easy to use. Coinlore mobile application is available for Android and Apple devices.
Why CoinLore?
There are a good number of asset-tracking platforms and you surely use at least one of them. This article might be the first time you’ve heard about CoinLore. In a sea of options, what makes CoinLore special and why choose it? If you read through to this point then you already have your answers. But, here are more reasons why you should try out CoinLore today;
Frank asset ranking and detailing.
A major issue on many asset tracking platforms is wrong information as regards prices, distribution, and history. Cryptocurrency investors are fond of making hasty decisions and only a few care to verify claims before going ahead to hold, purchase or sell their assets. Tracking platforms then have a duty; to deliver accurate information as possible for their users. Unfortunately, this is not the case on many platforms, and sometimes last year following a hitch on a popular asset tracking platform; you would have to pay over a trillion dollars for one Ethereum.
The popular price hitch was obviously unbelievable, but a good percentage of investors didn’t understand it this way. CoinLore understands this obligation and embraces it through sincere information on assets and careful practices to avoid running into generalized issues.
Real-time asset valuation
Asset values on CoinLore are flexible and are updated regularly using information generated from exchanges where these assets are traded. Data from the exchanges’ API are collated and average prices are displayed. CoinLore’s technology allows the displayed prices to vary according to activities on the exchanges. Prices displayed on the platform are in fact the assets’ value at that particular time, this could change in the next second.
Handy metrics and information for investors
You’ve seen the news feed and the events section; these are incredible utilities for cryptocurrency investors. CoinLore goes beyond this and adds other features that assist investors in making decisions and also simplify asset management. CoinLore’s asset widget contains detailed information about a selected asset. Events and distribution information can be obtained on the asset page. Blockchain statistics for coins are also available. Traders can also determine their next move using accurate price charts provided on the asset page. Asset performance by sector is also important data for investors wishing to dive into a specific cryptocurrency sector.
These data come in handy for every investor regardless of their involvement in the space. In one stop, your next move can be decided; no, you don’t need to get any information from another platform. CoinLore makes that possible
A user-centric interface
Have you ever stepped into a store where everything is placed just the way you want it? This special feeling is the same when you use CoinLore’s asset tracking platform. The platform’s appearance and flows are designed with a cryptocurrency investor in mind. Every feature on the platform serves a special purpose for at least a level of crypto investment. Looking for a tracking platform where your preferences are highly represented? You have your answer
Responsive and performance-optimized pages
I jumped from Coinlore’s desktop platform to the mobile application and again to the web platform on my mobile device. Different appearances, but one thing that didn’t change is the impressiveness of the user interface and the smooth user flows in each of these platforms. The responsive design ensures that the platform can be used on every device without a dip in the quality of users’ experience. You can manage your assets and plan your next investment move without having to worry about lags and an ‘annoying’ platforms.
CoinLore is impressive, no doubt. A few caveats would be the number of assets listed on the platform; many users would also suggest a more contemporary user interface feature. However, the listing process is open and you can contact the team to get your favorite asset listed on the platform. The listing process is manual as projects go through manual auditing before being added to the platform. Adding some contemporary UI design trends might slow the platform down as well. Regardless, the platform is in constant development and the team is responsive.
NFT enthusiasts have moved Billions of dollars in NFT arts and multimedia since the idea came to life as a valuable item. Mainstream and local artists have since made life-changing wealth from selling otherworldly arts and rare pictures. (successful) NFT traders have turned their fortunes around by flipping NFTs on NFT marketplaces. The widespread rumors of staged trades and artificially bloated NFT might not be a fact, but the mind-blowing NFT value figures could easily trigger rumors like these. Bored Apes are arguably the most popular NFTs and have seen incredible growth; in popularity and value, but many other similar projects have seen wild growth as well.
I’d assume every NFT trade and positive statistics to be 100% real, even if they are not; the concept has been undoubtedly yielding for anyone who dived in successfully. Do share your NFT story with us anyways! That being said, the scope of NFTs has been grossly limited to art trades and multi-media vending. Denis Rodman’s NFT collection has moved over 590 Ethereum at the time of this writing. The popular ‘tough’ guy made it clear that he simply “want to make money” from his NFT drop. Not sure about his current financial condition, I only hope 500Eth is enough money. He probably made more from throwing balls for a few hours.
Expensive arts have a rich history, you might have seen movies about them. Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds did a good one too. In contrast to NFT, these are (very) special Arts and usually ‘one of ones’. Well, when you simply have to move some nerdy virtual coins, you are bound to be a bit extravagant. The NFT buzz has tuned down a bit, but this can be blamed on the crashing cryptocurrency market. A return might be possible when the market returns, or even before then. Regardless, most NFTs have seen their peak and will always be a shadow of their best, but NFTs will continue to be a prized asset for quite longer.
The future of NFT is however not geared towards a continuation of the photo-vending use case. While artists will still be able to drop their arts on marketplaces for collectors, this practice will begin to fade when NFT arts fail to meet up with the utility demands.
Arts and multimedia trading is the current buzz, but the utility of NFT as technology lies elsewhere. Cryptocurrency projects are already exploring ways of introducing NFTs as a competent way of assigning viewership tickets to sports fans. A welcome development and NFTs will do just well in this aspect. NFT sports tickets are easily verifiable and immutable. Just like NFT vouchers, these tickets can be easily redeemed and reused. Cinemas can also adopt this exact technique to issue movie tickets to their customers. NFT attributes can be used to encode the provisions of these tickets.
NFTs could replace the traditional algorithm of assigning ownership rights to vouchers. Spending NFT vouchers is as easy as redeeming an NFT for a prize. This also saves the institution from producing new vouchers regularly as NFT vouchers can be re-used over and over again…as much as possible.
Novel Cryptocurrency ideas have a record of fading into obscurity after a period of hypes and panic buys. A rather general phenomenon. NFT arts could follow a similar route while real utility NFTs take place in mainstream sectors. Would be a win for the technology itself. In contrast, these will struggle to command the financial sways NFT arts have easily pull-off for the past year. NFT minting platforms and marketplaces could still retain their function though not for billion-dollar daily transaction volumes.
Not to worry anyways; the most used words here are ‘might’ and ‘could’. These new use cases are still a couple of years away from relevance. Even if they come earlier, you’ll still be able to flip your ‘rare’ arts as long as collectors are willing to throw some heavy bucks on your collection. This is, however, for new NFT projects or older ones that stood the test of time. There won’t be many of the latter…of course.
