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Searching deep: The quest for Bitcoin scalability through layer two protocols

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As the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin’s (BTC) effectiveness as a medium of exchange is still a matter for debate. Unlike fiat money that is inherently infinite in supply and must be managed by a central bank, Bitcoin is akin to gold in that it is commodity money with a finite supply of 21 million.

However, the supply cap is not the major stumbling block for BTC as a medium of exchange, but rather, the transaction throughput. While Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system capable of facilitating online payments without a central counterparty, seven transactions per second on average is hardly the standard for scalability.

Indeed, scalability is only one of three major metrics required for any currency system to succeed as a medium of exchange along with adoption and liquidity. There is an argument to be made of Bitcoin’s growing adoption around the world across several strata of the global economy.

Price volatility that has seen Bitcoin peak at $58,000 and then briefly fall below the $30,000 mark within the first two months of 2021 likely indicates lingering issues with liquidity. However, it’s important to note that the current period is being characterized by a bullish advance that began in October 2020. Ultimately, some analysts expect Bitcoin’s volatility to level out as more institutions take up positions in the market.

What do the critics say?

Bitcoin’s scalability problem is even older than the network itself. Indeed, upon first proposing the system back in 2008, James A. Donald replied to Satoshi Nakamoto with: “The way I understand your proposal, it does not seem to scale to the required size.”

This astute observation has been at the heart of some of the more contentious and controversial debates within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Disagreements over how to solve the problem have even resulted in multiple hard forks.

These days, when Bitcoin critics cannot definitively dismiss BTC’s store of value proposition, scalability seems to be a low-hanging fruit with which to craft some anti-Bitcoin soundbite. Speaking during the 2021 Daily Journal annual shareholders meeting, Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charlie Munger remarked that Bitcoin will never become a global medium of exchange due to its price volatility.

The 97-year-old billionaire investor is no stranger to espousing anti-Bitcoin sentiments. Indeed, together with Warren Buffett, the two Berkshire Hathaway chiefs have been responsible for some of the more colorful negative remarks among Bitcoin. From being “rat poison squared” to “trading turds,” Munger once slammed BTC investors for celebrating the life and work of Judas Iscariot.

Munger, like Buffett, is among a class of Wall Street Bitcoin critics who have often claimed that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. However, with the price of BTC continuing its relentless upward advance over the past decade while attracting significant institutional interest, detractors now seem to be left with only the scalability argument.

Even among mainstream crypto adopters, Bitcoin’s inability to scale at the base protocol level also seems to be a significant issue. In an address during the Future of Money conference back in February, Mastercard executive vice chair Ann Cairns declared that BTC was not suited to its crypto payment plans.

According to Cairns: “Bitcoin does not behave like a payment instrument […] It’s too volatile and it takes too long to transact.” As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Mastercard recently announced plans to offer support for cryptocurrency payment on its network.

Lightning Network node count rises, but slowly

Together with the 10-minute block creation time, the one-megabyte block size acts as the actual transaction throughput constraint for the Bitcoin network. The block size debate of 2017 that ultimately led to the Bitcoin Cash hard fork proved the adamance of Bitcoin purists to the 1MB block size ethos.

With the “big blockers” now firmly on their own Bitcoin forks like BCH and Bitcoin SV, the question of how to get BTC to scale without changing a thing on the protocol level still lingers. From Bitcoin banks to sidechain protocols, and even deferred settlement infrastructure layers like the Lightning Network, several developmental projects are currently ongoing to make Bitcoin more suitable for microtransactions like paying for coffee.

At a high level, these scaling solutions involve the creation of trustless, centralized (pardon the oxymoron) entities or layer-two networks that maintain lightweight versions of the BTC ledger to handle the actual “coin” transfers without having to maintain the full Bitcoin ledger. These sidechain implementations then transmit the transaction data for final settlement on the actual Bitcoin network.

LN is one of the major Bitcoin scaling solutions under active development by several organizations including Blockstream and Elizabeth Stark’s Lightning Labs. The Lightning Network is perhaps the most popular of the “defer-reconcile” scaling implementations that allow users to create payment channels that offer instant coin transfers at minimal fees.

According to data from LN data aggregator 1ML, there are over 17,300 public Lightning Network nodes and more than 38,400 channels. LN capacity is currently north of 1,100 BTC.

While LN adoption is yet to attain significant heights, layer-two implementation might be about to get a boost with Zap — a Visa-backed Lightning Network payments startup. In February, the company launched Strike — a payments and remittance app that utilizes the Lightning Network for payments.

Strike has also partnered with crypto exchange platform Bittrex to deliver LN-powered payments to over 200 countries around the world. The company plans to issue Strike Visa cards to users in the United States as well as in Europe and the United Kingdom before the end of the year.

What about Statechains?

There is a school of thought that argues Bitcoin scalability is only possible via layer-two solutions. Ruben Somsen, Bitcoin developer, crypto podcaster and founder of the Seoul Bitcoin meetup, is one of the proponents of this argument.

Somsen is an advocate of Statechains, another layer-two implementation but with a twist — transaction participants send private keys instead of actual unspent transaction output, or UTXO. The process involves loading a Statechain-compatible wallet with the exact BTC sum required for the trade followed by the transfer of the private keys from the sender to the recipient.

Since transferring private keys across the blockchain is fee-less and instant, the Statechain idea seems to have gained some traction within the Bitcoin scalability discussion. However, revealing private keys comes with significant security implications.

Thus, in recent times, the Statechain concept has been modified to include a third entity that acts as an intermediary between the transacting parties. Detailing the workings of this counterparty federation within the Statechain matrix, Somsen told Cointelegraph:

“Statechains allow you to take your coins off-chain (meaning cheap transactions) in a way that puts a minimum amount of trust in others. You have to trust a federation, but the federation won’t know that they are getting partial control of your coins, and they can’t refuse peg-outs (moving back to the Bitcoin blockchain).”

Blockchain infrastructure firm CommerceBlock is one of the companies actively developing Statechains as a viable scalability solution for Bitcoin. The firm is credited with introducing the counterparty federation or “Statechain entity” to improve the security of the system. In a conversation with Cointelegraph, CommerceBlock CEO Nicholas Gregory outlined how Statechains operate:

“At a high level, Statechains are simply a way to transfer your private key to another user. To facilitate this, you have to cooperate with a Statechain entity. However, at all times, the user has full control of their funds; at any anytime, they can withdraw their Bitcoin to their own custody. Therefore, the transfer is instant and private.”

While Statechains is a scalability solution on its own, some proponents agree that the system could integrate with the Lightning Network. With Statechains operating on the UTXO level, it is theoretically possible for another layer-two protocol such as the Lightning Network to be implemented on top of Statechains.

Such a hybrid integration could solve the limited node capacity issue of Lightning Network while ensuring the ability to facilitate multiple microtransactions via Statechains. Since the exact transaction amount is loaded into Statechain wallets, it’s impossible to split UTXOs making Statechain in its present iteration unsuitable for microtransactions.

According to Somsen, the Statechains can operate independently as well as function together with the Lightning Network: “Statechains complement the Lightning Network perfectly because opening and closing channels can happen off-chain. This removes a lot of the friction that exists in the current Lightning Network design.”

For Gregory, integrating Statechains with the Lightning Network is among the future developmental plans for CommerceBlock: “Statechains are instant and do not require liquidity lock up; however, you are sending the private key, so you can’t do small or specific denominations. This is where LN excels.”

With these developments and more, the quest for a workable Bitcoin scalability solution is still ongoing. While critics, like Munger, who have been consistently wrong about BTC, continue to drop soundbites, developers are hard at work to solve one of the longest-running operability issues concerning Bitcoin.

Searching deep: The quest for Bitcoin scalability through layer two protocols

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Prepare Yourself With These Top 30 Blockchain Interview Questions 2021

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Prepare Yourself With These Top 30 Blockchain Interview Questions 2021

Want to have a career in the Blockchain space? This article talks about the top 30 interview questions to get you ready for a big interview. Excited? Let’s get started.

Table of Contents 

  • Top Interview Questions You Should be Prepared for
  • Wrapping Up: How to Learn Blockchain?

Top Interview Questions You Should Know

In this section, let’s discuss the top 30 blockchain questions and answers.

1. What is the difference between Bitcoin Blockchain and Ethereum Blockchain?

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have decentralized distributed databases of immutable records. But Bitcoin and Ethereum differ in purpose in a way that Bitcoin is considered as an alternative digital currency that offers various advantages, whereas Ethereum is regarded as the king of smart contracts that facilitates Peer-to-Peer contracts and applications via its own currency known as ETH. Ethereum was introduced with an intent to complement rather than compete with bitcoin.

2. How is Blockchain different from traditional databases?

A database is a kind of central ledger, whereas Blockchain has a distributed ledger, which means unlike the traditional databases, it is not governed by any central server. Due to this, Blockchain is a fully confidential and robust technology.

3. What is double-spending, and how can it be stopped?

It is the process of spending a balance of that cryptocurrency more than once. It is done by fooling the network to think that the original amount is never spent, thus making it available to be used for multiple transactions. 

However, this problem can be prevented in blockchain-based cryptocurrencies by utilizing a consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Work (PoW).

Bitcoin’s solution to deal with this crucial problem is that if the majority of the nodes agree on which transaction was first to be received, later tries to double-spend are pointless.

4. Out of the three types of Blockchain, which is the best one?

Out of public, private, and consortium Blockchain, to state which one is the best would not be right because each of has its own features, usage, and requirements. If you want to design and implement your own enterprise blockchain, a private blockchain is a one-stop solution. Consortium blockchain, on the other hand, is likely to interest organizations who want to efficiently streamline communication among one another.

Features  Public  Private  Consortium 
Accessibility  Anyone  Single Person/ Central Incharge  More than one central in-charge.
Who can join? Anyone  Permissioned and known identities Permissioned and known identities
Consensus Mechanism PoS/PoW Voting or multi-party consensus algorithm Voting or multi-party consensus algorithm
Transaction Speed  Slow  Lighter & Faster  Lighter & Faster 
Decentralization Completed Decentralized  Less Decentralized  Less Decentralized 

5 How ICO differs from IPO?

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering, whereas IPO stands for Initial Public Offering. The first difference between an ICO and an IPO is that ICO is generally for the young and risky, whereas IPO is mainly for well-settled companies. The process of issuing also differs in both. An IPO is an extensive process that requires underwriters and lengthy evaluations to determine the market price of each share. Moreover, for an IPO, you need lawyers, banks, and patience, whereas, for ICO, one needs programmers and the Internet. 

6 Name a few popular platforms for developing Blockchain-based applications?

There are multiple platforms available but before deciding on one, understand what type of Blockchain do you need, how popular is the chosen platform, what kind of scalability does your solution need, and ensure whether your preferred blockchain platform supports smart contract functionality or not. 

Blockchain platforms enable the development of blockchain-based applications that are in great demand and useful for businesses and enterprises. A few of the top platforms for developing Blockchain-based apps are Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum, R3 Cords, Quorum, and Ripple.

7 What do you know about the lightning network?

It is an off-chain, micropayment system designed to make transaction processing faster in the Blockchain. In Lightning Network, the members can directly interact with each other without offering anything to the miners, and members can engage in numerous microtransactions with each other. And finally, when the payment channel is locked, the concluding transaction set is added to the Blockchain.

Lightning network not only helps in scalability but also makes payments instantaneous, and transactions are not dependent on miners. The network is micropayment and multi-signature friendly and, moreover, reduces the load of the main chain and decreases waiting time.

8 Distinguish between Fungible and Non-Fungible.

  • Fungible are Interchangeable: Fungible tokens are interchangeable and can be exchanged with any other token of the equivalent kind. 
  • Non-Fungible are Non-Interchangeable: Unlike Fungible tokens, such tokens are non-interchangeable as they cannot be replaced with the non-fungible token of the same type.
  • Fungible Tokens are Uniform: Each token is different from all other tokens of the same type. 
  • Non-Fungible Ones are Unique: All tokens of each type are identical in specification, and each token is identical to the other. 
  • Fungible Tokens are Divisible: These tokens can be divisible into smaller units, and one can get any number of units, and it does not matter to holders as long as the value remains the same.
  • Non-Fungible Tokens are Non-Divisible: These tokens cannot be divided in any sense.  

9 What is Blockchain Wallet?

A blockchain wallet can be defined as a digital wallet or E-wallet that allows individuals to store, manage, and transfer their cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin(BTC), Ethereum(ETH), and many more. With such wallets, users can manage their balances of these two cryptocurrencies by paying transaction fees that depend on various factors such as transaction size. Since digital assets or cryptocurrencies are just a number, that is why the wallet keeps the private key of any particular individual, and the private key fetches the balance of that individual from the Blockchain.

10 Explain the features of DeFi.

  • Autonomy — DeFi platforms ensure that your assets are all yours, and no one has control over them.
  • Enables affordable and faster cross border payments
  • Tradability — You can trade more efficiently as they aren’t prone to an entire high-value investment at once.
  • Accessibility: DeFi has a financial system that is accessible to everyone regardless of their location.
  • Interoperability: DeFi apps and protocols are built to integrate and complement one another.
  • Transparency — In the DeFi environment, data is available publicly, which helps keep service providers impartial.
  1. Question: What are the requirements for implementing Blockchain technology for enterprise usage?

Answer: Here are the most basic ones:

  • Is the network peer-to-peer? 
  • Does the system offer smart contract functionality for the execution of decentralized applications or not? 
  • Can data be stored permanently without compromising the security measures?
  • Does it offer decentralized data storage?
  • What are its data privacy aspects? 
  • Is the immutability ensured?

12 Question: What is blockchain mining? 

Answer: Blockchain mining is a process by which transactions of a blockchain are verified without involving any third-party. Every time a transaction is sent from a Bitcoin wallet, it is sent to the transaction pool. Miners then pick hundreds of transactions and combine them to form a block with other overheads like Merkel Root, SHA-256 Hash, Nonce, etc. 

13 List some of the top blockchain development tools. 

  • Solidity
  • Remix
  • Geth 
  • Meta Mask
  • Truffle Framework

14 What, according to you, are the key Challenges for Blockchain Adoption

  • Scalability 
  • Interoperability 
  • Energy Consumption 
  • Lack of Talent 
  • Lack of standardization 

15 What are the drawbacks of Blockchain?

It is a complex technology that is hard to understand and implement. Scalability is another issue related to Blockchain. Moreover, network speed and transaction costs vary, and human errors still persist. 

16  Is it possible in Blockchain to remove one or more blocks from the networks?

No, it is not possible to manually remove a block. However, blocks can be removed with the help of default options and filters. Deleted blocks can be re-downloaded again whenever needed.

17 Enlist key features of Blockchain technology.

Transparency– Transparency is one of the significant issues in the current industry. Although to improve it, organizations have attempted to implement more rules and regulations, but there is one thing that doesn’t make any system completely transparent,i.e., centralization. But with the help of Blockchain, organizations can go for a complete decentralized network where there is no need for a centralized authority, improving the transparency of the system.

Immutability– Blockchain is immutable, meaning nobody can modify the data over a blockchain. This feature enables companies to ensure that there is no hamper of data, making their system more functional in a highly competitive market. 

High Availability– As we already defined Blockchain as a decentralized system of peer to peer network, thus it is highly available due to the concept of decentralization. It offers decentralized services that provide unique access to the options that are otherwise unavailable.

Security– Unlike traditional databases, Blockchain provides a high level of security to its users. High security is due to the cryptographic algorithms which are being run behind the Blockchain. Rather than trusting any individual or third party, in the Blockchain, one needs to trust only cryptographic algorithms.

Fast Dealing- Traditional banking organization takes a lot of time in initiating and processing the transactions and is prone to human error and often requires a third-party intermediary. Blockchain can streamline and automate the entire process without any human intervention and with complete accuracy.

Reduced Transaction Fees- As Blockchain removes the involvement of the third party, it eliminates the overhead cost of exchanging the assets; thus, it leads to reduced transaction fees. 

18 Mention types of Consensus Algorithms?

  • Proof-of-Work (PoW)
  • Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
  • Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS)
  • Proof-of-Authority (PoA)
  • Proof-of-Elapsed Time (PoET)
  • Byzantine Fault Tolerance

19 Explain how PoW consensus works.

The central principle behind PoW consensus is to solve complex mathematical problems and make the largest number of guesses as quickly as possible. Such requires a lot of computational power, and by using a more efficient mining machine to run calculations, a miner can maximize profitability in terms of crypto rewards. 

In this type of consensus mechanism, miners compete to be the first one to find a hash regarding a particular block, which can only be solved using sheer computing power to make the largest number of guesses. When a miner finds the right solution, they advertise it to the whole network, receiving a reward in cryptocurrency provided by the protocol. 

20 Explain the Concept of PoS

Proof-of-Stake is a consensus algorithm that deals with the main drawbacks of PoW. In this mechanism, every block gets validated before the network adds another block to the blockchain ledger. Unlike PoW, where miners have to solve complex puzzles, in PoS, miners can join the mining process using their coins to stake. It allows users to mine for rewards using very minimal hardware and software resources. Here, the mining capacity of a particular miner depends on how many coins they already have; thus, the more coins one has, the better chances are, which indicates only the richest can have control of the consensus. 

21 Define the term CBDC

CBDC stands for Central Bank Digital Currency, which is controlled directly by the country’s central bank and is backed by national credit and government power. 

In other words, CBDC is an electronic form of central bank money that can be used to store value and make digital payments seamlessly.

22 What is DeFi technology? Explain the term, DeFi Pulse 

Decentralized Finance can be defined as financial services using smart contracts that don’t need any central authority and uses decentralized, distributed ledger technology, Blockchain. Most of the DeFi protocols are based on the Ethereum Blockchain network. 

DeFi Pulse is a data site that lets individuals find the latest analytics and rankings of all DeFi protocols. Pulse rankings track the total value that is locked into the smart contracts of DeFi protocols so that individuals can stay up to date on the latest trends.

23 What is Hyperledger Fabric? 

Hyperledger Fabric is a distributed ledger platform that comes with versatility, modularity, and performance specially crafted to provide enterprise-grade solutions. It is an open-source enterprise-grade permissioned DLT platform known to provide modularity and versatility for a broad set of industry use cases, including banking, insurance, healthcare, supply chain, human resources, etc.

24 What are Smart Contracts? What are its benefits?

A smart contract is used to describe computer code that can facilitate the exchange of money, content, shares, or anything of value. When running on the Blockchain, smart contracts becomes like a self-operating computer program that executes automatically when desired conditions are met. Since such contracts run on the Blockchain, they run exactly as programmed, without any possibility of censorship, downtime, fraud, or any third-party interference. 

  • No intermediaries ensure a quick transaction process
  • Secure and Efficient
  • No Middleman, more savings 
  • Works with accuracy and precision 
  • Establish confidence
  • Automation saves time and effort. 

25 What are dApps? Mention some of the popular dApps.

Decentralized applications (dApps) are digital applications that exist and run on a peer to peer network of computers instead of a single computer. 

Some of the dApps that are popular, innovative, and feature-rich are:

  • Cipher
  • Chainlink 
  • EOS Dynasty
  • TraceDonate 
  • Brave  

26 Explain the role of Blockchain in Governance

Due to increased decentralization, data integrity, and transparency, along with better efficiency and reduced operational costs, blockchains are becoming popular in governance. From improving transparency to streamlining the tax collection mechanism, Blockchain distributed networks can help governments to operate more efficiently and build higher levels of trust among their citizens. 

27 Mention some of the myths related to Blockchain. 

  • Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies are the same. 
  • All blockchains are public blockchains.
  • Technology only targets the finance domain. 
  • Blockchain is just a database.
  • Blockchain is free and highly accessible. 

28 Are there any restrictions for putting records in Blockchain?

No, there is no such restriction. One can store any kind of record, depending upon their requirements. The most common type of records that are recorded in Blockchain are records of transaction processing, identity management, business transactions, health management data, and all other crucial documentation.

29 Is Blockchain a trusted approach?

Blockchain is undoubtedly a trustable technology that helps participating parties to share their valuable data in a secure and tamper-proof manner. It makes use of cryptography for securing crucial information, thus making it extremely hard for attackers to play with stored data. Due to its high potential to provide security, it is widely adopted and implemented by various organizations and businesses for their operations.

30 What do you know about the future of Blockchain?

Blockchain is likely to discover a whole new way of economic transactions and contribute to global economic development immensely. Although its mainstream adoption is yet to be achieved, once it is done, it will change the way businesses operate and transform the landscape of the technology sector forever.

Wrapping Up: How to Learn Blockchain?

We hope all the questions mentioned above will help you get ready for your interview.

If you are a beginner and want to get started with Blockchain, Blockchain Council can assist you. Whether you want to become a Blockchain Developer or an Expert, or an Architect, Blockchain Council can be your one-stop solution. Blockchain Council is a globally renowned organization with an authoritative group of subject experts and enthusiasts who are evangelizing Blockchain research and development, use cases and products and knowledge for a better world. 

All Blockchain certifications offered by Blockchain Council are meant for a duration of roughly 6-8 hours and to be completed as self-paced training. 

Getting certified will help you gain an in-depth understanding of Blockchain & its implementation and prove your Blockchain skills & understanding.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council.

Prepare Yourself With These Top 30 Blockchain Interview Questions 2021

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Crypto and blockchain: What the Brazilian market can expect for 2021

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2020 will be remembered as one of the most difficult years for contemporary societies: Countries and entire populations have faced lockdowns and economic crises, financial markets still suffer from the severe impacts of the economic recession, and more than 2 million lives have been taken by COVID-19.

Despite this, other sectors have been impacted in other ways during the severe global health crisis — which still seems far from over, even though vaccines are beginning to be distributed in wealthy countries. Economies have radically digitalized, hedge assets have attracted mistrust, and the crypto market has had one of its most important years since 2009, the year of Bitcoin’s (BTC) launch.

In fact, the crypto and blockchain markets have stood out in the face of a crisis that has spared almost no sector. Cryptocurrency funds are among the most profitable of the year, Bitcoin and the biggest altcoins reach new historic highs, large institutions and investors in the financial markets have allocated investments in Bitcoin, and blockchain technology has broken down barriers in the financial sector and in the production chains of the most varied of sectors.

Faced with a year of profound changes, what is to be expected for the future? Cointelegraph Brasil invited some of the country’s top crypto and blockchain experts to chart the next steps for the market.

Institutional investment

Institutional investment was highlighted in 2020, finally reaching the cryptosphere, and it promises another year of growth in 2021.

According to Rodrigo Borges, founding member of the Oxford Blockchain Foundation, large Bitcoin contributions by institutional investors — which have even bought more BTC than the production capacity of miners — will intensify in 2021: “Regarding Bitcoin, I imagine that there will be an increase in demand for institutional investors, enabling the emergence of new products with exposure to Bitcoin,” analyzed Borges. He also sees “2021 as a year of consolidation and strong development in the sector.”

As for Tatiana Revoredo, MIT blockchain expert and Cointelegraph Brasil columnist, the custody of cryptocurrencies by traditional financial institutions and the adoption of stablecoins will be key in the new year:

“In the financial sector, we will see applications for custody of crypto assets being launched in Brazil, with the possible participation of the traditional market. And if the regulatory authorities allow it, stablecoins will have an expressive role in the Brazilian market, with the turnover being able to quadruple in size.”

Crypto markets

Crypto markets experienced a year of extreme optimism — or greed, as demonstrated by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Bitcoin reached a dramatic bottom close at $3,800 in March, and it beat its 2017 historic high of $20,000 on Dec. 16. In Brazil, the currency set a new historical record in November when it reached $106,000 Brazillian reals.

Cointelegraph Markets reporter Marcel Pechman highlighted the behavior of the market despite the setbacks suffered during the year. He recalled: “The Bitcoin and Ethereum markets developed in 2020 as never before imagined, both in terms of trading volume, price and the contribution of renowned investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller.”

Pechman said that despite the crypto market suffering some setbacks, the impact of those setbacks on market performance was not so significant: “We had, for example, the US Department of Justice suing BitMEX — at the time, the largest derivatives exchange — and KuCoin’s $280 million hack, and none of those affected the market.”

Pechman also recalled that the 2020 DeFi race led to expensive transaction costs on the Ethereum network but did not impact market sentiment.

OriginalMy CEO Edilson Osório agreed with the promising future of the DeFi sector, but he cautioned against fraud:

“This is an experimental and very promising market, but it must be given extra attention because of malicious groups applying scams and fraud in general. As it is a very new market, platforms may have problems with hacks, and due to the great centralization that exists (even with many platforms presenting themselves as decentralized), there is still a risk of exit scams.”

About 2020’s innovations, and the digitalization imposed by the COVID-19 crisis, Pechman also said that it will go even deeper in 2021:

“Successive innovations, which include Taproot, Schnorr and Lightning Network in Bitcoin, in addition to the launch of Ethereum 2.0 phase 0, pave the way for the next wave, with increasingly larger, scalable applications, and interconnected with traditional finance. The final proof? Fidelity offers loans covered in cryptocurrencies.”

On the domestic markets, Osório is betting on the tokenization market in Brazil, which is already used by the country’s largest crypto exchange, Mercado Bitcoin. According to him, 2021 will be a year for “maturing the security tokens market.”

“Existing protocols are beginning to be well regarded by regulators, since most of them provide for greater participation and visibility on the part of the regulator itself and allow the mitigation of various risks inherent in this market. In this race, there is a great chance that Brazil will gain prominence because the local regulator has established a regulatory sandbox and the first projects are already beginning to mobilize to have their applications running in a more legally secure environment,” – noted Osório.

Another player at the Brazilian crypto markets, João Paulo Mayall — head of operations at QR Asset Management — is also optimistic about the tokenization market in 2021. He highlighted the role of regulators in the sector’s expansion in the South American country: “I believe that the future is the tokenization of assets, debentures, court bonds, government debts. Brazil is very advanced in its banking system and we will have many surprises in this sector, so I am very optimistic. Tokenization is a billion-dollar market, but it lacks the infrastructure. Innovation came in front of the regulators, but I think they are open to listening and working on it. I think [the regulation] will happen next year, even before March 2021.”

Finally, blockchain expert Tatiana Revoredo argued that crypto adoption in Brazil, which saw its currency melt in 2020, will intensify, with Bitcoin once again asserting itself as an economic-protection asset. She believes that the crypto markets will see “an increase in the interest of Brazilians, with consequent increase in the Brazilian market, with a prominent role for Bitcoin being adopted as a protective asset.”

CBDCs and national governments

The digitization of economies has placed the discussion of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, at the center of debates by financial authorities around the world. One of the countries that has definitely entered this race is China, which is already conducting real tests of the digital yuan in the country. Its main geopolitical rival, the U.S., announced that for the time being, it does not intend to digitize the dollar, but it is already seeing internal pressure from not following the Chinese leadership in the sector.

The Central Bank of Brazil has also commented on the transformation of the Brazillian real into a digital currency a few times, although there are no concrete plans for that in the short term.

Osório believes the European Union will join the hype soon, further accelerating the global race for CBDCs: “Although China appears to be leading the CBDC race, other countries are also beginning to move in this direction. Among them, Estonia, which recently started an internal consultation for the launch of its currency in the digital version. In particular, I believe that in Europe a more comprehensive and organized movement should take place in this sense, given the incentives promoted by the European Union.”

Many experts try to predict the impacts of CBDCs on economies — one of the main concerns of economic regulators. Governments, which largely study the adoption of blockchain in their public processes, should also enter the debate on privacy and the digitization of money.

According to Tatiana Revoredo, “in the government sector, the forecast is for the growth of [blockchain] applications in document registration and health applications, as well as a greater concern, by the citizens, regarding the relationship between privacy and CBDC.” She also claims that payments processors should closely monitor this innovation:

“Those who should be more attentive to these movements are the means of payment, such as PayPal and their peers. They will have to look deeply into their business models as soon as governments start issuing their currencies digitally. ”

Blockchain adoption

Governments have also viewed blockchain technology through a positive lens. In Brazil and Latin America, several state entities already use the technology to certify documents, including customs and notary offices. Big companies are also adopting blockchain to certify production, with use cases that are only expected to grow going forward.

Borges said that the acceleration of blockchain adoption by large companies and governments can positively impact crypto assets:

“Within the scope of blockchain technology, I see the development of interesting solutions, with the increasing involvement of traditional players, especially in the financial and agribusiness sectors, which may result in increased liquidity for certain assets.”

Revoredo agreed and highlighted the advancement of technology in the agricultural sector: “There has been a significant advance in agribusiness, with use in the identification of devices (drones, for example), integration with IoT and artificial intelligence to provide greater reliability and certify quality of agricultural production.”

Osório defended the growth of the blockchain market in 2020 and its prospects for the near future: “When we look at advances in blockchain with applications beyond digital currency, we see a growing market in the area of ​​decentralized digital identity, including with the approach of governments. We have seen movements in governments in the US and Japan, interested in modernizing their digital governance models. And the pandemic has certainly helped to accelerate and advance discussions on the issue around the world, as it understands that the digitization of analog and traditional services is a necessity.”

The end of 2020 was a milestone that closed out one of the most dramatic years in the history of contemporary societies, but it also revealed ways to combat global economic and health crises.

Blockchain technology has helped societies fight corruption, adopt more transparent processes and even contributed to the certification of medicines and vaccines during the most serious health crisis of the last 100 years, in addition to helping companies to improve procedures, products and services.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has strengthened as an economic protection and investment product, has attracted institutional investment giants, and — together with other crypto technologies — has even laid the foundation for central banks around the world to start implementing their own digital currencies.

We still do not know the depth of the revolution we are experiencing with the digitalization of societies and the weakening of national currencies around the world, but by the end of 2021, we will certainly know many of the answers to the questions that still plague us at the beginning of this new year.

Crypto and blockchain: What the Brazilian market can expect for 2021

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Philip Salter Says layer-two Bitcoin Solutions is Needed for Bitcoin’s Growth

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Philip Salter, Genesis head of mining operations, is of the view that Bitcoin would need second-layer solutions to be seen as a good store of value.

He said even if the coin can still be regarded as a good store of value now, it still needs such a solution to accommodate mainstream adoption.

“I think Bitcoin is a good store of value regardless of transaction fees,” he said.

Slater, however, noted that the high transaction fee on Bitcoin is posing a challenge since it affects the value that can be transferred. There have been several projections and predictions on Bitcoin even before the Bitcoin fork earlier last year. However, the top cryptocurrency is still waxing strong as is gradually proving naysayers wrong.

Bitcoin transaction price too unreasonable

Up to this point, Bitcoin (BTC) has stood the test of time, as the coin is the crypto with the highest market cap asset for the past decade.

These days, many people even prefer keeping Bitcoin as a store of value than digital cash. But Salter is not ruling out complications that may arise due to change in perceptions.

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“Some years ago it was possible to store and transmit $1 efficiently since tx fees were effectively zero,” he stated.

Salter added that those days have gone since some transaction fees can go as high as $15, and it’s not sensible to charge $1 anymore.

If the trend continues and Bitcoin continues to rise in price, transferring value in common amounts will be very difficult, but only when transferring very large amounts.

Second layer solutions will be feasible

Salter said the solution will be vital not only for transactions on BTC but also for the use of the coin as a store of value in the future.

There have been several layer 2 solution projects undertaken by industry players, many of which are still in a developmental phase. Some of the ready projects, such as Lightning Network, are intended primarily to make small BTC transactions more feasible.

Salter says he is one of those that use the Lighting Network solutions to facilitate transactions in small BTC denominations.

Philip Salter Says layer-two Bitcoin Solutions is Needed for Bitcoin’s Growth

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PayPal’s crypto integration means Bitcoin could triple its user base

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Bitcoin (BTC) price has again punched through the $13,000 mark after yesterday’s PayPal’s announcement sparked a powerful rally which drove the price to a new 2020 high. 

Currently sitting near $13,100, Bitcoin price has rallied nearly 10% since the announcement and BTC is now close to overtaking PayPal as the 21st biggest asset by market capitalization.

PayPal’s crypto announcement comes two weeks after Square, another payments giant, announced its own foray into Bitcoin by investing roughly 1% of its assets into Bitcoin.

According to Lanre Jonathan Ige, a researcher at Amun AG, the continuing trend of large sized investments will be material in bringing institutional interest to Bitcoin. Ige said:

“Corporations are often trend-following and we can expect a number of other corporations to follow the lead of Square and Microstrategy, as the returns of the assets continue to impress.”

However, the recent news from PayPal is more likely to bring the masses to Bitcoin, rather than Bitcoin to institutions. This is because PayPal may bring a more mainstream audience up to speed with the cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle for now and as a payment method in the future, which has been one of the main focus of the Bitcoin community when it comes to mass adoption.

PayPal should boost Bitcoin’s user base

According to data from glassnode, Bitcoin currently has over 187 million users or “hodlers”. While impressive, crypto analyst Willy Woo noted that this pales in comparison to PayPal’s 487 million users.

Total Bitcoin HODLers. Source: Twitter

By adding Bitcoin, PayPal is bringing the name to a mainstream audience. While it is only possible to buy, sell and hold Bitcoin through PayPal for the time being, the company announced that it would be adding cryptocurrency payment and transfers in 2021. Once this occurs, it could cement Bitcoin’s reputation as a payment and remittance mechanism.

Transacting through PayPal and other centralized platforms could even become one of the ways in which Bitcoin is able to scale to a mainstream user base. Centralized transactions (along with other methods like sidechains and lightning network) could be used to alleviate congestion in Bitcoin’s blockchain, allowing it to be used only for bigger transactions that require more safety, transparency or immutable proof of ownership.

Bitcoin is on the path to outperforming banks

While it seems that payment processing companies and cryptocurrencies are finding more synergy as time passes, the same can not be said for banks and this struggle is reflected in their stock price.

Jon Erlichman, tech correspondent at BNN Bloomberg, noted that assets like Bitcoin, Ether and stocks for payment companies like PayPal and Square were doing quite well this year but since the COVID-19 pandemic, financial stocks have underperformed.

Bitcoin and Ether YTD performance. Source: Digital Assets Data

To date, the prices of Bitcoin and Ether have appreciated by 80.5% and 217%. Meanwhile, PayPal rallied 99% and Square 186%. Banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America, on the other hand, have lost 28% and 32% respectively. Citigroup has seen its stock value drop by 46% and Wells Fargo has decreased by 58%.

As for Bitcoin, it continues to be one of the best performing assets in existence, beating gold and the S&P 500 by a wide margin in 2020.

Macro Assets Current Year Returns. Source: Skew.com

As a growing number of people interact with Bitcoin as an investment vehicle, it is possible that consumers will turn their backs to banks and invest in cryptocurrency.

According to experts, Bitcoin may even benefit from what some call the ‘Robinhood effect’, a phenomenon where retail investors with disposable income purchase an asset via fee-free, gamified investing platforms in order to avoid the rigamarole frequently associated with banks.

If this happens to BTC, the digital asset could see the same type of hyperbolic investing frenzy that occurred as Robinhood investors poured funds into Tesla earlier this year.

PayPal’s crypto integration means Bitcoin could triple its user base

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Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform 

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Bitcoin’s prominent role in politics is coming to the limelight once more as a state assembly candidate in Wisconsin launches a Bitcoin donations page. Earlier this month, Phil Anderson, a candidate for Wisconsin’s State Assembly, announced that he would be accepting campaign donations in Bitcoin.

Another Try at Bitcoin Donations

In a statement to the effect, the Republican candidate explained that his campaign had set up a Bitcoin donations channel through a partnership with crypto payment processor BitPay. The former real estate broker and businessman highlighted his belief that Bitcoin is a form of money, explaining that nothing should restrict him from using the asset to generate funds.

Anderson’s resolve comes after a contested Bitcoin campaign effort back in 2018. At the time, he had run for Governor of the state on the Libertarian platform and was one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoin in donations openly.

In the spring of 2018, the Wisconsin Libertarian Party had asked the state’s Ethics Commission to clarify if it was legal to use Bitcoin for political donations. The Commission passed the matter to the state legislature, explaining that allowing crypto donations could challenge its ability to ensure financial compliance.

Despite the Commission’s concerns, however, Anderson’s campaign moved ahead with the donation campaign. Speaking with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Anderson pointed out that his defiance didn’t mean he was thumbing his nose at the Commission. However, he believed that they would still be abiding with the law by accepting bitcoin.

“We will not allow the lack of appropriate interpretation of the current statute [to] affect the First Amendment rights of those who want to show support and contribute. I have no faith in the Assembly to handle this fairly nor expeditiously,” he said to the news source.

Now that he’s running for public office again, Anderson is sticking to his guns. He has also openly disagreed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on their crypto interpretation and its perceived risks. In part, he communicated his belief that cryptocurrencies are a legitimate form of money, adding that he would push for progressive crypto laws in the state.

“People have the choice as to how they contribute, and it’s my intention to honor those choices. If my opponent or the Ethics Commission are interested in challenging me, I’m ready for a fight,” his statement asserted.

Bitcoin in Politics

While Anderson appears defiant in his belief, he won’t be the first pro-crypto person running for public office. Most notable amongst the crypto advocates has been Andrew Yang, the Democrat candidate who ran for President last year.

Supporters of Yang — a philanthropist and tech entrepreneur — launched a PAC called the Humanity Forward Fund (Humanity FWD) that accepted Bitcoin donations in collaboration with the Lightning Network. Seth Cohen, the fund’s founder, said that they hadn’t determined whether the contributions would be converted into fiat. It’s also unclear if Yang had anything to do directly with the fund or not. Sadly, he didn’t go too far in the polls, and he dropped out of the presidential race in February.

Humanity FWD is also not the first crypto-centric PAC to be launched. In fact, data from the Center for Public Integrity showed that about $750,000 in donations were given to politicians between 2017 and 2018. 

Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform 

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