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Chainlink (LINK) Award a Grant to DeFi Alliance to Support DeFi Ecosystem Partner Program and Accelerator

Zabi
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Chainlink (LINK) Award a Grant to DeFi Alliance to Support DeFi Ecosystem Partner Program and Accelerator

On Friday, Chainlink (LINK), a blockchain abstraction layer that enables universally connected smart contracts, declared via blogpost that the DeFi Alliance—a leading decentralized Web3-focused accelerator platform for DeFi, gaming, and NFT projects — had received a Chainlink Community Grant. As part of this grant, Chainlink is going to sponsor the DeFi Alliance Accelerator Program and join the Ecosystem Partner Program to help developers create hybrid smart contracts.

The company noted that by supporting DeFi Alliance, startups would discover increased access to resources on how to best utilize Chainlink services and boost the growth of their Web3 application in an ever-expanding ecosystem.

The DeFi Alliance Accelerator Program runs three accelerator programs per year over nine-week periods and features talks from leading experts, hands-on mentorship, and demo days. The program also provides support for startups in sourcing liquidity and obtaining support from a broad industry network consisting of 60+ market makers and 85+ industry mentors, including some of the most prominent trading firms, venture funds, exchanges, law firms, code auditors, community builders, and Web3 founders. Since its inception, DeFi Alliance has successfully accelerated the growth of 80+ startups, including numerous Chainlink-connected DeFi protocols such as Synthetix, Loopring, DODO, dYdX, and many more.

Discussing the importance of this grant for the DeFi Alliance, the company explained:

“With this grant, the DeFi Alliance will be able to expand its Accelerator Program, helping train the best and brightest startups in DeFi, gaming, and NFTs utilizing Chainlink oracles. Through workshops and education sessions, startups connect with industry leaders and gain knowledge regarding the nuances of building within specific ecosystem verticals. By supporting innovative startups, the Web3 ecosystem as a whole can continue to grow at an accelerating pace and enable the creation of increasingly advanced permissionless financial applications.”

In addition, Chainlink said that they are also going to join the DeFi Alliance Ecosystem Partner Program, with the intention to provide Chainlink-focused educational resources to participants in the Accelerator Program, covering how to integrate Price Feeds, VRF, and Keepers into smart contract applications and more. Current ecosystem partners include a wide range of protocols, such as Aave Grants, Uniswap Grants, Avalanche, Algorand, Filecoin, Polygon, Solana, Celo, and Polkadot, all of whom help DeFi Alliance participants by providing ecosystem-specific resources for startups.

“We are proud to have received a Chainlink Community Grant to support the DeFi Alliance Accelerator and have Chainlink join the Ecosystem Partner Program, helping us provide startups with the resources they require to enter the next stage of their growth,” stated Imran Khan, Core Contributor at DeFi Alliance. “Support from Chainlink across these three pivotal fronts will play a significant role in expanding the Web3 ecosystem as a whole.”

Polygon Studios Welcomed Colexion and the World of Cricket to the Polygon (MATIC) Ecosystem through NFTs

Zabi
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Polygon Studios Welcomed Colexion and the World of Cricket to the Polygon (MATIC) Ecosystem through NFTs

Polygon Studios, the Gaming and NFT arm of Polygon (MATIC) welcomed Colexion and the world of cricket to the Polygon ecosystem via medium.com.

Colexion, the most elite & curated digital collection marketplace for premium NFTs, plans to bring a collection of 30 exclusive NFTs featuring top Australian cricket players which will be launched using the Polygon blockchain through collaboration with Polygon Studios.

Polygon Studios further sharing the details said:

“NFT launch is part of Colexion’s celebration of Australia’s win in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Each individual NFT is licensed by star players and is scheduled to be released on December 12th. Cricket fans worldwide will be able to grab an NFT featuring their favorite players and use them in Colexion’s Virtual Cricket League.”

The Gaming and NFT arm of Polygon further noted in its medium that the exclusive release would include the likes of Marcus Stoinis, Australia’s T20 World Cup hero; Glenn Maxwell, one of the fastest cricket scorers ever; and Adam Zampa, a bowler for the Australian team.

Discussing the benefits of owning Colexion cricket NFTs, the company said that the owners of NFTs would be able to take part in a new layer of fan-athlete engagement through the form of a virtual fantasy league. These NFTs will act as playable cards that act as in-game assets, giving them a long-term utility. Additionally, collectors will earn tokens as they continue to hold.

Besides all this, Colexion has licensed dozens of more star cricket players with the objective of releasing a new form of content for fans to enjoy.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)’s Utility is Expanding and Now Officially Accepted for Payments by the Global Leader in Pure-Digital Payments, Flexa

Zabi
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Shiba Inu (SHIB)’s Utility is Expanding and Now Officially Accepted for Payments by the Global Leader in Pure-Digital Payments, Flexa

Flexa, the global leader in pure-digital payments, has officially declared via tweet that Shiba Inu Token can now be used for fast and fraud-proof payments anywhere Flexa is accepted—including more than 40,000 stores across the US.

Flexa further noted that Shiba Inu (SHIB) holders could download SPEDN at https://spedn.io/ to try instant SHIB payments from now onwards. The company also offered a 20% discount at Regal Movies, the best place to stay on top of movie news, through the end of December with terms and conditions applied.

Shytoshi Kusama, a pseudonymous developer of Shiba Inu (SHIB) responded to the news and said:

“Keep hating CTO of that token over there… we will keep growing places to spend and utilize SHIB.”

Formerly, on Tuesday, Flexa enabled support for Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD at the thousands of locations on the Flexa network. The company noted that it is currently supporting the Ethereum versions of Luna and TerraUSD.

Binance vs Kraken. Pros & Cons

Mark Brennan
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Binance vs Kraken. Pros & Cons

Deciding on the right cryptocurrency exchange trading platform for you can be a difficult process. Because crypto has become such a widespread and globally used phenomenon, many different platforms have popped up in the last few years.

There are some which are reputable and worth using, but there are also many which are pretty much useless. And the unfortunate thing is that there are still minimal resources out there that are providing helpful information in regards to which ones are which.

Binance and Kraken are two platforms that each boast millions of users and have a lot of upsides in regards to their functionality for traders. If you are still mulling over which platform to use, these two should be close to the top of your list. 

They each have their own advantages and disadvantages and there are numerous differences in terms of what each platform offers. Let’s look a little deeper into the two platforms and the pros and cons you can expect when dealing with each one. 

Binance

Binance was founded in 2017 by a developer who had been involved in creating high-frequency trading before the rise of crypto. In terms of daily trading volume, Binance is currently the largest exchange in the world.

Despite being such a massive platform, one thing that you will notice about Binance if you use their services is the fees that you can expect for trading. Using the maker-taker fee structure, typically their fees range from 0% to 0.1%.

This really is quite low for a service that is as popular and widely used as Binance and it’s a huge advantage especially if you are relatively new to trading. Do keep in mind though, that any platform like this is going to have a steep learning curve for beginners and Binance is no exception.

Another huge advantage present is the sheer amount of currencies that are available. Compared to Kraken which as we will discuss below, has 69 different coins, Binance has more than 500 for you to trade with.

There are very few platforms that have as substantial a variety as that. It is important to also note that while this wide range of currencies does give Binance a global presence, ther services for the U.S are quite limited. 

Of those 500+ currencies, U.S residents only have access to 47. There is also a different Binance website for Americans which has quite a few less features than the international equivalents.

Margin trading is not available for the U.S, there’s no rewards center for earning crypto and the Binance Academy, which is a useful resource for people new to crypto-trading, is unavailable in the American market. 

This is unlikely to change any time soon either because Binance still hasn’t acquired the U.S Money Service Businesses license. They just don’t prioritize America and don’t really need to due to their worldwide presence.

In addition, it’s worth considering that Binance had a substantial security breach in 2019 and while every measure has been taken to ensure that doesn’t happen again, they are not quite as transparent with their security measures as one might like. 

Pros:

  • Wide range of currencies.
  • Trading fees are low.
  • Numerous deposit options.
  • Discounts offered.

Cons:

  • Security is not as tight.
  • Limited features for U.S.
  • Unlicensed in America.
  • Buggy mobile app.

Kraken

Kraken was founded all the way back in 2011 when cryptocurrency was really just getting started and has been operating out of the U.S ever since. Though it obviously doesn’t boast as many users as Binance, Kraken is still one of the top platforms out there for traders.

The main reason why they initially became so successful was because they were selected to provide bitcoin trading data to the Bloomberg Terminal. This is the leading data provider, meaning that a lot of early crypto traders would have been familiar with it and been led to Kraken as a result.

The big advantage that this platform has over Binance is the fact that it is much more widely available to American users. Being a U.S-based company, it is available to all American residents apart from those in New York and Washington.

In this regard, it is a much more enticing platform for Americans but may not have as much international appeal, because it offers trading with a substantially lower number of currencies than Binance. 

There are 69 in total, seven of which are fiat currencies. The trading fees are higher than they are for Binance, but still not as high as some of the lesser-known platforms are. They can get as high as 0.26%.

And similar to Binance, it won’t be that easy for new users to get accustomed to but it does offer a very quick and easy verification process, a variety of well-designed and up to date mobile apps and their security is second to none.

Security is something that Kraken takes very seriously and they are constantly looking for ways to improve it and also looking out for new pieces of technology that can enhance security too. 

Pros:

  • Efficient verification.
  • Widely accessible in the U.S.
  • Fully licensed.
  • Excellent mobile apps.

Cons:

  • Not beginner-friendly.
  • Fewer Currencies.
  • Fees are higher.
  • Customer service is lacking.

Verdict

Both platforms boast a number of advantages, but considering it from every angle I would say that Binance is probably the superior choice overall. The greater number of currencies, the lower fees and the discounts are a huge incentive.

If you are trading in the U.S, you might be better served by Kraken because of the restrictions that Binance has. You will get a lot out of either one, it just comes down to certain personal factors such as your location, your budget and how much experience you have as a trader.

Polygon Acquires Ethereum Scaling Startup Mir for $400M in MATIC

Zabi
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Polygon Acquires Ethereum Scaling Startup Mir for $400M in MATIC

Polygon, a Layer 2 scaling solution backed by Binance and Coinbase, is ongoing to expand its list of scaling technologies.

On Thursday, Polygon declared a $400 million acquisition of Mir, a project focusing on zero-knowledge proofs. The announcement was made at Polygon’s “zk day” virtual event by co-founders Mihailo Bjelic, Jaynti Kanani, and Sandeep Nailwal.

According to a press release provided to CoinDesk, Mir’s system generates recursive zero-knowledge proofs that “allow many Ethereum transactions to be verified with a single tiny proof.” This will allegedly make Mir one of the fastest and most efficient layer 2 options. Zero-knowledge proofs are a cryptography technology that takes into account the verification of information, such as a transaction on the blockchain, without illuminating the exact details of that information.

“The industry is still in an early phase when it comes to scaling and blockchain infrastructure in general,” said Bjelic in a statement. “One of the key missing components required to build highly scalable solutions has been performant recursive proof systems; they simply haven’t existed so far. This ends today.”

The purchase was executed with 250 million MATIC tokens at a price of $1.60; since the agreement, MATIC has risen to $2.18.

Layer 2s are among the fastest-growing blockchain networks per the closely-watched total value locked (TVL) metric. A layer 2 is a second blockchain built on top of the layer 1 Ethereum platform to reduce transaction costs. Arbitrum, which uses Optimistic rollup scaling technology, recently cracked the top 10 in TVL at $2.23 billion.

The buy marks a trend for the rapidly expanding Polygon. In August, Polygon cut a $250 million check to merge with Hermez Network, another zero-knowledge scaling solution, using a token swap.

The buys aim to make Polygon a multipurpose scaling solution for Ethereum – a significant strategy shift from what used to be branded as an Ethereum competitor.

Polygon is also reportedly planning further acquisitions, targeting a gaming studio as well as non-fungible token (NFT) properties.

TRON Owned Bittorrent (BTT) Listed By Bybit Following ZebPay

Zabi
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TRON Owned Bittorrent (BTT) Listed By Bybit Following ZebPay

BitTorrent (BTT), a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and torrent platform which has become increasingly decentralized in recent years declared that the project is officially listed on BYBIT, the fastest growing cryptocurrency exchanges, with more than 2 million registered users, on USDT-Margined Perpetual Contracts.


Bybit made an official announcement regarding the listing of Bittorrent on its official Twitter handle.

The tweet states,

“BTT/USDT is now live for trading on Bybit. Personal computer BTT is a TRC-10 utility token based on the blockchain that powers features of decentralized protocols & applications such as BitTorrent Speed & BitTorrent File System.”

Formerly, on December 7, ZebPay, the leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange for 3 million traders worldwide, announced support for BitTorrent (BTT).

In 2018 TRON officially acquired BitTorrent. BitTorrent has more than 100 million active users worldwide and has one of the top-rated apps on Google Play and other products, including BitTorrent Play (iOS), uTorrent Web, and desktop clients for PC and Mac.

Litecoin Becomes Payment Method For U.S. Based Real Estate Investment Company, Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ: SQFT)

Zabi
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Litecoin Becomes Payment Method For U.S. Based Real Estate Investment Company, Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ: SQFT)

Litecoin (LTC), a cryptocurrency that was designed to provide fast, secure, and low-cost payments by leveraging the unique properties of blockchain technology.



Litecoin is officially accepted by US-based real estate investment company, Presidio Property Trust (NASDAQ: SQFT), for commercial tenant payments.

Litecoin use is increasing day by day and is among the 2nd most transacted crypto with BitPay merchants since July 29 when for the first time BitPay, the world’s largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, officially declared support for Litecoin in the BitPay Wallet app. Newegg.com was the first merchant to accept Litecoin through BitPay.

The official announcement regarding the acceptance of cryptocurrency as a valid form of payment for tenant rental and CAM (common area maintenance) charges is made via press release:

“We are now set up to accept a number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Litecoin (LTC), from our commercial tenants,” said Jack Heilbron, President, and Chief Executive Officer.

“We believe that these additional payment options will be attractive to some of our current and prospective tenants, especially in new, expansion markets,” added Gary Katz, Senior Vice President of Asset Management. “This is another way that Presidio Property can differentiate itself as a forward-thinking landlord.”

 

Presidio specializes in model homes, office, industrial, and retail properties. Presidio’s model homes are leased to homebuilders located primarily in Texas and Florida. Presidio’s office, industrial and retail properties are located primarily in Colorado, with properties also located in North Dakota, Texas, and Southern California.

Tether And Shiba Inu Are Becoming Bitcoin Competitors In Turkey Amid The Collapse of Lira

Mark Brennan
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Tether And Shiba Inu Are Becoming Bitcoin Competitors In Turkey Amid The Collapse of Lira

Trading activity in Turkish Lira pairs with Shiba Inu and Tether was more than five times higher than Bitcoin, amid a sharp devaluation of the lira.


 

According to Coindesk, At the end of November on Binance, the trading volume of the BTC/Lira amounted to $918 million, while the trading volume of SHIB/Lira and USDT/Lira was $5.26 billion and $5.58 billion, respectively.

“The data shows despite the instability faced by the lira, local traders are still attracted to the exceptional returns associated with coins such as SHIB,” said Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics for crypto platform FRNT Financial.

The lira has weakened against the dollar for the ninth year in a row. Since the beginning of the year, the currency has fallen by 46.5% and became the third currency in the world to fall against the Dollar so aggressively, Only the Cuban peso (-95.8%) and the Libyan dinar (-70.9%) are worse-performing currencies than Lira.

Inflation in Turkey jumped to a three-year high of 21.31%, according to TradingEconomics.

Cryptocurrencies are perceived by the Turkey population as a measure of capital preservation and a hedge against extreme inflation, however, this creates additional pressure on the local currency.

 

Sabri Aygun, a crypto investor based in Istanbul told Coindesk:

“The priority of Turkish citizens is gold and the dollar. They also buy cheap cryptocurrencies like SHIB, VET, XRP because BTC is expensive. Traders in Turkey also use tether as a proxy for dollar exposure. I hold USDT because sending USDT is fast and cheap across different exchanges, also swapping between spot and futures.”

According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, one Bitcoin cost 679,904 Lira, One Tether cost 14 Lira, and one Shiba Inu almost 0.0005 Lira.

In May, Turkey-based cryptocurrency exchanges were ordered to notify the Financial Crimes Investigation Board of users’ transactions exceeding the 10,000 Lira ($1,200) limit.

As a reminder, the Bank of Turkey has identified cryptocurrency as a non-monetary asset and has banned its use as a form of payment.

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor suggested Turkey should buy BTC and launch bitcoin-backed currencies to boost its economy. Saylor suggested that if Turkey buys $5 billion worth of BTC and stores it for five years, it would significantly strengthen the Turkish Lira exchange rate.

Opera Partners With Solana (SOL) To Integrate Solana Dapps On Its Browser

Mark Brennan
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Opera Partners With Solana (SOL) To Integrate Solana Dapps On Its Browser

Opera announced the integration of Solana in the first half of 2022.



“Opera joins forces with Solana. The integration will enable Opera Android users to enjoy seamless access to Solana DApps alongside low-fees and fast transactions within the ecosystem. You’ll be able to access it through Opera in Q1 2022.”

Opera says:

“Opera has been providing web3 support and a built-in crypto wallet in its browsers both on mobile and desktop since 2018.  As the interest in web3 and Defi grows, Opera is taking the next steps to integrate faster blockchains with lower transaction costs amid a growing community of developers and users. 

The Solana blockchain brings fast, low-fee transactions that will help onboard more people to web3 and Defi. Opera will bring direct access to Solana to its hundreds of millions of users, Solana will first be integrated into Opera for Android.”

In the first stage, new features will be implemented in Opera for Android users.

In November, privacy-focused Brave announced the integration of Solana, implementation is also scheduled for the first half of next year.

In December 2018, Opera introduced a Web 3.0-ready browser with a built-in Ethereum wallet for Android. Six months later, a version for iOS was released.

In July 2020, Opera announced that 170,000 people use its cryptocurrency product every month.

Indian Prime Minister To Make Final Decision On Crypto Bill

Jakkk
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Indian Prime Minister To Make Final Decision On Crypto Bill

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make a final decision on the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies amid conflicting views, the Economic Times reports.


 

The bill on cryptocurrencies was finalized by the Treasury Department, but certain parts of the government felt that more detailed discussions might be needed, according to the report. Officials will likely meet later in the day to reach a final consensus on the law, the report added. The draft law is to be presented in the current parliamentary session.

Earlier this week TheCryptoBasic reported that India is looking to classify crypto as financial assets. The new bill will give crypto holders a deadline to declare their digital assets holdings and meet any new rules. The bill is likely to use the term ‘crypto assets rather than ‘cryptocurrencies,’ and won’t refer to the central bank’s plan to create its own digital currency.

Violators can face a fine of up to 200 million rupees ($ 2.6 million) or imprisonment for up to one and a half years. The authorities consider setting a minimum threshold for investment in digital assets to protect small investors.

Citizens of India would be obliged to disclose information about their cryptocurrencies and transfer them to Bitcoin exchanges regulated by SEBI. Non-custodial wallets may be prohibited.

At the start, information about the ban of ” private cryptocurrencies”, provoked a short-term panic on local Indian crypto platforms.

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