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How NFTs, DeFi and Web 3.0 are intertwined

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While blockchain itself provides the technology constructs to facilitate exchange, ownership and trust in the network, it is in the digitization of value elements where asset tokenization is essential. Tokenization is the process of converting the assets and rights to a property into a digital representation, or token, on a blockchain network. 

Distinguishing between cryptocurrency and tokenized assets is important in understanding exchange vehicles, valuation models and fungibility across the various value networks that are emerging and posing interoperability challenges. These are not just technical challenges, but also business challenges around equitable swaps.

Asset tokenization can lead to the creation of a business model that fuels fractional ownership, the ability to own an instance of a large asset. While discussing asset tokenization in a previous article, I also mentioned the value of an instance economy in democratizing finance, commerce and global access, as well as in creating a broader global marketplace at a scale never before seen.

With digital assets and their fungibility in a blockchain ecosystem, there are various drivers of valuation. These include: 1) tokens based on crypto economic models that are driven by supply and demand, and the utility of the network; 2) nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, which have an intrinsic value such as identification, diplomas and healthcare records — essentially, tokens that are simple proof validations of the existence, authenticity and ownership of digital assets; and 3) fungible tokens that are valued on various bases, such as the sum total of economic activity in the network (cryptocurrency), its utility (smart contracts and transaction network processing), assigned values (stable coins and security tokens), and so on.

In this article, I address the complex issue of the hyperbolic and rapid rise of NFTs, after a similarly meteoric rise of decentralized finance, or DeFi, creating amazing innovations — with immense promise of democratization, new business models and global marketplaces with global access — all fueled by the basic premise of decentralization and fundamental constructs of tokenization and wallets. While NFTs may be characterized as one-of-a-kind cryptographic tokens with some intrinsic value to a holder or to a market (art, collectibles), the NFT movement is indicative of a larger token revolution that will not only fuel massive innovation and growth in Web 3.0 protocols but also test the resolve of the DeFi movement, along with its ability to intersect and provide platforms and an exchange vehicle for all token types.

Growth in Web 3.0 protocols

The first two generations of web protocols were largely about disseminating information and connecting people. They fueled a massive growth in information and collaboration, and did wonders for connecting the world. However, those web protocols were never designed to move things of value. Also, as the Web 2.0 era reached its fullest potential, vulnerabilities such as “fake news” and the “batched relay” of the movement of assets via a series of intermediaries emerged. Threats to the commerce and financial infrastructure of the system risk destabilizing it.

Web 3.0 promises to safeguard all things we value: information, truth and digital assets — both fungible and nonfungible. Whereas Web 2.0 was driven by the advent of social, mobile and the cloud, Web 3.0 is largely built on three new layers of technological innovation: edge computing, decentralized data networks and artificial intelligence.

The growth of NFTs has not only empowered the ability for artists, skilled professionals and entrepreneurs to encapsulate innovation in a tokenized form but has also fueled the democratization of the platform as one of the promises of blockchain technology. The underlying infrastructure includes decentralized storage technologies, efficient consensus protocols, off-chain computing, and oracle networks to provide connectivity and validation to existing systems.

Collectively, the Web 3.0 set of technologies envisions a connected, trustless, accountable network for efficiently delivering value, thus crafting an infrastructure for things of worth. NFTs represent both transferable entities and nontransferable tokens that we value. The latter include things such as our identification, healthcare records and passports, things that represent us and allow us to participate in the digital economy with our own unique, digital identities.

As we dare to envision a shift toward a world with decentralized control, governance based on distributed technology that challenges every business model, and governance structure built upon centralized business frameworks, we do have to ponder some things. Not only the shift itself, but the motivation, incentive and monetization elements that fuel and power the economic infrastructure to move things that have value — thereby keeping up with our changing perception and subsequent realization of that value.

Intersecting with finance — DeFi

DeFi is the movement in the blockchain applications space that leverages decentralized network technology to disrupt and force a transformation of old financial products into trustless, transparent protocols, facilitating digital value creation and dissemination with few to no intermediaries. It is widely understood and accepted that — due to new synergies and co-creation via new digital interactions and value-exchange mechanisms — blockchain technology lays the foundation for a trusted digital transactional network that, as a disintermediated platform, fuels the growth of marketplaces and secondary markets.

While DeFi aims to deliver the promise of finance democratization, NFTs test the resolve of DeFi by delivering a competitive yet inclusive asset class, plus avenues to provide a medium of exchange, fungibility by other fungible asset classes, and liquidity to a traditionally illiquid market.

Asset classes resulting from DeFi protocols and NFTs avail themselves of the advantages of fractional ownership of the assets, blurring the lines between asset classes and using constructs like digital wallets as a receptacle for them. This is all supported by underlying layers of Web 3.0 that provide security and availability via decentralization, as well as trust and immutability via consensus, extending these principles to basic computer infrastructure like storage and interconnect.

Commercialization of Web 3.0 protocols, which manifest as fungible utility tokens, further blurs the lines with diverse financial innovation products introduced by DeFi (such as base assets and derivatives), products that are also tokenized. So, while decentralization is the underlying theme — and the wallet and the token are fundamental constructs — these blurring lines are quite profound.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Nitin Gaur is the founder and director of IBM Digital Asset Labs, where he devises industry standards and use cases and works toward making blockchain for the enterprise a reality. He previously served as chief technology officer of IBM World Wire and of IBM Mobile Payments and Enterprise Mobile Solutions, and he founded IBM Blockchain Labs where he led the effort in establishing the blockchain practice for the enterprise. Nitin is also an IBM Distinguished Engineer and an IBM Master Inventor with a rich patent portfolio. Additionally, he serves as research and portfolio manager for Portal Asset Management, a multi-manager fund specializing in digital assets and DeFi investment strategies.

How NFTs, DeFi and Web 3.0 are intertwined

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Ripple Vs SEC: Discussions Opened For Defining Crypto As Securities

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs have had a very long, very interesting relationship. Recently, however, Ripple Labs has been granted access to the documents of the SEC that express the interpretations and views of the SEC when it comes to crypto assets.

Playing The Technical Game

Law360 showed that one Sarah Netburn, a US Magistrate Judge, had granted Ripple Labs the motion “in large part.” The Judge had concluded that the memos and minutes of the SEC regarding cryptocurrencies are likely discoverable but asserted that staff-to-staff email communications are not to be produced. Another detail Netburn allowed is for either RIpple or the SEC to raise disputes with the ruling if they wished.

It was back in December of last year when the SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple. In this lawsuit, the regulator accused Ripple Labs, including Christian Larson, the Chairman, and Brand Garlinghouse, the CEO, of raising a total of $1.38 billion by way of an unlicensed security offering, which they did all the way back in 2013.

A Crack Legal Team Is Severely Versatile

Not to give the jig up just yet, Ripple promptly challenged the SEC’s lawsuit, claiming that an asset expressly used for online settlements is more akin to Ether or Bitcoin. Both of these assets have been declared commodities by the SEC. Another important factor Ripple hammers home about is the 8-year time gap the agency took in terms of filing a complaint against RIpple as a whole.

Matthew Solomon stands as the Counsel of Garlinghouse, with Law360 reporting that Matthew Solomon is convinced that the SEC’s lawsuit could be “game over” should they manage to find any evidence that the regulator had compared XRP to ETH or BTC. Through this technicality, XRP would be classified as a commodity instead of security, and thus be outside of the jurisdiction of the SEC.

The Legal System Is Always Complex

Another point lawyers are hammering home on, is the fact that the SEC has taken a whole of 8 years to file the complaint. As such, the law firm is doing its best to undermine the claims of the regulator should they find any documentation that is counterintuitive to the official classification of XRP by the SEC.

Solomon declared that this sort of discovery is needed in order to defend the client in question

Time will tell how successful this antic will be. Many in the crypto space already see RXRP as a security and are simply waiting for them to be caught out for it

Ripple Vs SEC: Discussions Opened For Defining Crypto As Securities

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Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase is Permitting Traders and Investors to Purchase Stocks

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According to the latest announcement, Coinbase, an American cryptocurrency exchange platform, is all set to go live within two weeks, allowing investors and traders to purchase stocks in the trading platform. 

An official announcement states that Coinbase’s stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol COIN on April 14, 2021.

Founded in 2012, Coinbase is a leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange that operates remote-first without an official physical headquarters. It has a strong presence in the cryptocurrency market. The company aims to build the crypto economy to establish a transparent financial system enabled by cryptocurrency assets.

Initially, last year in December 2020, a leading crypto exchange platform announced that it is going public. Brian Armstrong expressed concerns about Bitcoin trading at that time, and despite that, Armstrong appears confident that whatever bitcoin is incurring, it is likely the start of something big.

After deciding to go live, the crypto exchange filed Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As things are now going in the right direction, one can only conclude that the exchange passed the financial agency’s approval procedure, which is applied to all firms requesting public trade options.

As a part of this announcement, Armstrong commented that we are committed to bringing the potential of crypto to everyone. He further stated that we would continue to strive to provide customers with the highest levels of security, trust, and transparency during times of intense demand. 

The Period of Extreme Demand Has Truly Arrived, Says Armstrong

In December 2020, when Armstrong announced that Coinbase plans to go public, he noted that all have to believe that we are still in the initial stages and that there’s a lot more to come. Now, as Bitcoin is trading for more than $59,000 per unit, it seems like Armstrong’s statement has truly arrived. 

Many major companies, including Tesla, Mastercard, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Visa, and others, are showing interest in crypto space and allowing crypto payments for goods and services. Tesla announced that people can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin in the U.S. Similarly, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., according to the announcements, is also investing in a cryptocurrency startup named Fireblocks to embrace digital assets. Visa, a major credit card provider, also announced that it is collaborating with cryptocurrency exchange platform and card issuer Crypto.com to facilitate a crypto settlement system for fiat transactions. 

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

Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase is Permitting Traders and Investors to Purchase Stocks

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Tokenomics From Myths to Reality

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Codezeros

Now that the world is transforming towards a more technologically enhanced environment, newer terms are occupying markets. Every day there is something new coming up and surprising us. The tech market has given us a brand-new term to ponder upon, Tokenomics!

So, what is it? Well, Tokenomics is widely defined as a system used for formatting pricing policy for tokens. Tokenomics is basically an amalgamation of two words: Token and Economics.

The driving concept of Tokenomics is none other than Blockchain and cryptocurrency development services. Here, we will have a look into how Tokenomics is becoming prevalent for tokenized transactions and what the challenges are waiting on its way.

codezeros.com

Tokens and Tokenomics:

Tokens are value units assigned by a specific organization and a part of an existing blockchain. Tokens can have value in the form of a certain service, ownership, or rights over any asset. The values are more of use cases than currency.

Tokens should also possess certain qualities to qualify as valid Tokens. The value assigned to a token must be scalable and be resilient to inflations. The basic Tokenomics is what helps a token to get funded, thus promoting a financially sustainable business model of tokenization blockchain service provider.

The future is digitized, and thus, improvising on the revenues in digital spaces can be richly aided with the involvement of Tokenomics. Digitization of assets is the very first step towards building a digitally stable and competent business system by virtue of tokenization security.

Why Tokenomics?

Tokenomics is fundamentally different from economics and has an important role to play in the growth of digitization. With the intervention of Blockchain and cryptocurrency, the security of transactions has increased manifolds, and it is strongly believed that the future is tokenized.

Let’s see some applications of Tokenomics.

Producer-Consumer Alignment:

Tokenized economies are helpful for consumers whose values are not aligned with big profit-centered enterprises. Bypassing such enterprises will bring you closer to token-based blockchain networks where consumers and producers join hands to meet each other’s specific needs and establish a healthy relationship.

Full Cost Accounting:

With the use of tokens, the prediction of both social and economic costs can be done effortlessly. This is a great benefit for multiple stakeholders, and thus, the involvement of Tokenomics is highly encouraged in such fields.

Investments:

Investors all around the globe are searching for opportunities that will let them analyze and look through the vulnerabilities and benefits of each investment made. This not only lets them build a reliable and robust model but also helps them to mobilize their business throughout the community. Token Development Services, along with Tokenomics, is an aid for the aforesaid plan and certainly is a factor that lets the business ecosystem grow to match the ongoing digitization standards.

Challenges about Tokenomics

Now there are four challenges that Tokenomics is facing while growing into a reliable business aid.

The first one is mental inertia. This is basically a stopping force that is raging among people who have never used such technologies in their business. Thus, fear and uncertainty creep in to form a rigid belief that may be; the outcome would not be as expected.

Tokenomics, being quite an infant technology, is still not preached globally, and many businesses resort to equip such newer technologies in their model. This is certainly because Tokenomics is either overly simplistic or cautious.

The next challenge about Tokenomics is associated with the inculcation of Artificial Intelligence. A lot of stakeholders believe that AI involvement might lead to False paths, and thus, the ultimate outcome will be that the business failed to reach where it headed to. The lost path might not be a good risk to take, and hence tokens are avoided by such businesses.

The third and one of the biggest challenges that token development services face is the existence of Government rules and restrictions. In many cases, these rules and regulations are contradicted by Tokenomics policies, and thus, they are unable to cross through the judicial barriers, to reach out to potential businesses.

The last Challenge to mention regarding Tokenomics is that people think differently about this new aspect of the digital business scheme. The dilemma to decide on whether to bring in Tokens or avail of cryptocurrency development services as part of a business is a confusing question, and the answer solely depends on one’s requirement.

How to overcome the challenges?

Now that these challenges are visible around, it is important to seek help from crypto security companies and systemize the entire process of bringing in Token services in a business.

  • Start with describing the expectations from the product of the project, along with customer characteristics. This will enable you to assign the value of each Token accurately.

Conclusion

The arrival of new technologies does face a bit of resistance in the first go, but with time and developments, the option available widens, and people start trusting the newcomer. Tokenomics has a long way to go, and it has already started the journey with little steps. Businesses that have equipped Tokenomics will serve as encouragement for others, and the growth will stabilize soon.

Tokenomics From Myths to Reality

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Former Chainalysis brass is now FinCEN’s acting director

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The current acting director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, will bid farewell to the governing body in April. His replacement: Michael Mosier, Chainalysis’ former chief technical counsel. 

“Director Kenneth A. Blanco today announced several leadership changes impacting the bureau,” said a public statement from FinCEN on Friday, adding:

“Director Blanco announced he will depart FinCEN on April 9, after serving as the organization’s director since December 2017. Michael Mosier, former FinCEN Deputy Director and current Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, will return to FinCEN as Acting Director.”

Blanco was the government agency’s eighth director. AnnaLou Tirol, FinCEN’s deputy director, worked as the agency’s associate director of its Strategic Operations Division in the past, the statement said. Mosier takes his post as acting director on April 11.

This is not the first crypto-experienced hire by a government agency. President Biden chose Gary Gensler as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Gensler is well-educated on the crypto industry as he taught an in-depth course on the subject at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, in 2018.

After Mosier’s work for Chainalysis, he spent time working for FinCEN in other capacities, as well as for the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple other U.S. government positions.

“I am proud to have led an incredible organization with an important national security mission that has a profound effect on the lives of so many people, especially the most vulnerable in our society,” Blanco said in the statement upon his exit. “I have every confidence in Mr. Mosier and Ms. Tirol’s ability to lead the bureau forward and continue the progress of ensuring our national security and protecting people from harm.”

U.S. government agencies have become increasingly involved in the crypto industry over time.

Former Chainalysis brass is now FinCEN’s acting director

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A Beginner’s Guide: Hedera Hashgraph Vs. Blockchain

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Hedera Hashgraph Vs. Blockchain

Wondering how Hedera Hashgraph differs from Blockchain technology? Well, you have landed on the right page. This article explains what Blockchain and Hedera Hashgrah is and how they differ. 

Table of Contents 

  • What is Blockchain Technology?
  • What is Hedera Hashgraph?
  • How It Differs From Blockchain?
  • Concluding Lines

What is Blockchain Technology?

Before we move on to understand Hashgraph, we just need to get a glimpse of what Blockchain is all about and why it is so hyped? 

So, Blockchain is a peer-to-peer, decentralized distributed ledger technology that maintains the history of transactional data (records) without involving any third-party intermediaries. As the name suggests, in Blockchain, the key concept is the blocks where records are stored safely, and there is no way data can be changed or forged in any way. Its ability to offer complete transparency, immutability, privacy, and security makes it an exceptional technology, but it has some drawbacks too. One of the notable problems that the current Blockchain-based solution is the transfer speed associated with them. Like for instance, Ethereum Blockchain allows 15 transactions per second, whereas Bitcoin allows only 5 transactions per second. Moreover, sometimes, Blockchains can be slow and cumbersome, especially when the user number increases on the network. 

What is Hedera Hashgraph?

Hedera Hashgraph describes itself as the only public decentralized distributed ledger that utilizes the fast, fair, and secure hashgraph consensus mechanism. 

Just like Blockchain, Hashgraph is another DLT devised by Leemon Baird and licensed under the Swirlds Corporation. In fact, it is an improved version of distributed ledger technology that offers security and decentralization by utilizing hashing. Here it is important to note that Hedera is unique and capable of achieving the same result as the most ubiquitous public blockchains, but in terms of energy efficiency, stability and security, it is way better. 

The best part is that, unlike Blockchain, Hedera can process thousands of transactions per second, and thus it doesn’t suffer from the speed difficulty.

Hashgraph lacks a chain of blocks, and to improve its overall efficiency, Hashgraph uses two algorithms, such as Gossip about Gossip and Virtual Voting. 

How It Differs From Blockchain?

Bandwidth and Transaction Speed

Unlike a traditional Blockchain that utilizes Proof-of-work(PoW), which selects a single miner to choose the next block, Hashraph uses gossip-about-gossip and virtual voting as consensus mechanisms. By utilizing these consensus, the hashgraph comes to a consensus on the validity and the consensus timestamp of every transaction. And if the transaction is valid, the state of the ledger will be updated in order to include the transaction with 100% certainty. 

Hashgraph technology is known to provide almost near-perfect efficiency in terms of bandwidth usage and high transaction speed (because transactions can be processed in parallel) compared to the traditional Blockchain. 

Blockchain has a transaction speed of around 100 to 1000 based on protocol implementation like ethereum, hyperledger, etc., whereas Hedera can support 500,000 transactions per second.

Transaction Cost 

When it comes to transactional cost, Hedera Hashgraph outperforms compared to Blockchain. Hedera’s transaction fees are under 1 cent, whereas in Bitcoin, an average transaction fee keeps fluctuating and is around 14.84 (at the time of writing).

Due to its advantages over Blockchain, Blockchain Experts and technocrats believe that Hashgraph could be the next wave of blockchain technology, allowing developers to create apps with high speed, reliability, and security.

 High Computation Power and Electrical Supply

Another advantage of Hedera over Blockchain is that it does not need high computational power and high electrical supply, unlike Blockchain, where mining for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.

Hedera Hashgraph is Fairer 

Hedera proves to be fairer than Blockchain as miners can choose the order of transactions, can delay, or even stop from entering the block if required. But Hedera uses a consensus of timestamps, which prevents people from changing the transaction orders.

Are There Any Drawbacks?

Hashgraph is an innovative technology, but there are some drawbacks. The first and the foremost limitation is its acceptance as it has been deployed in a private and permission-based network and needs to be tested in a public network. Blockchain Experts believe that Hedera Hashgraph’s technology is fascinating, but it is exceptionally intriguing, whose effectiveness can only be realized until it is opened to the public and implemented on a non-permission-based network.

Concluding Lines 

This has brought us to the end of our discussion. Hope you have gained a clear understanding between the Hedera Hash graph and Blockchain technology. 

If the domain of Blockchain interests you, you can get enrolled in Blockchain Council and become a Certified Blockchain Expert. 

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

A Beginner’s Guide: Hedera Hashgraph Vs. Blockchain

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