Kraken and Binance’s Domination on the Ethereum 2.0 Staking Market

Jenson Nunez
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Kraken and Binance’s Domination on the Ethereum 2.0 Staking Market

At least 26% of staking users prefer to do so through a recognized exchange. There are currently more than 61,641 active validators on the network.

The data that can be seen in the Etherscan block explorer reflects that the exchanges Kraken and Binance play the role of main providers of staking services in Ethereum 2.0. Kraken is leading the way with 14.8% of dominance; and Binance follows with 11.1%.

At least 32.2% of the users who are staking prefer to do so through a recognized platform to grant more security to their tokens, as well as the payment of interests due to their participation in the ETH bets.

The breakdown of staking deposits revealed by Etherscan offers an insight into the current staking scenario in Ethereum 2.0 since its activation. This alternative seems to encourage users to put their ethers (ETH) at the hand of the platforms that pay interest in exchange for their participation.

Kraken clients have staked more than 390,000 ETH (about $ 545 million at the current price of the cryptocurrency, according to CoinMarketCap). The figure places the platform in the first place.

Binance is in 2nd Place

Binance deposited ($ 417 million). Among other recognized exchanges is important to mention Huobi, despite a distance that positions the exchange in the sixth place, with a figure of 2.44% in deposits.

The formula that Kraken launched last year is receiving more and more users to use its service. Perhaps this growing interest resides in the fact that this formula offers interest rates that will fluctuate between 5 and 17% for ETH token bets, with the advantage of users being able to bet, even if they do not have the required 32 ETH to be a validator.

Binance, one of the most recognized exchanges in the world of cryptocurrencies, positions itself as one suitable alternative to be taken into account by users. It ranks second on the list of alternatives that highlight the service.

Binance brings allowance to its users to deposit an arbitrary amount of ETH with the promise of safe a return that lingers between 5% and 20%.

What is a Staking Service?

Staking is a service that appears on the Ethereum network since the Beacon Chain launch in December last year. It is the first of a bunch of steps in a long and hard road regarding the transition to Ethereum 2.0 and for this platform to migrate the type of consensus from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) in the network, this means eradicating all the miners.

For those who do not know, staking is a term that refers to the process by which a user gains access as well as the option to block a certain amount of tokens on a PoS network to validate transactions and receive rewards.

The Etherscan data shows that 37.4% of the ETH used for staking comes from validators who are betting on their account without a pool acting as an intermediary. More than one million ETH on the network are being blocked by these users.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan showed data during a recent community call and said that there are currently 61,641 active validators. The number of requests is seeking to reach a new peak of approximately 16,000 validators requesting activation.

By: Jenson Nuñez

IMF asks Countries to Spend as Much as Possible and a Bit More

Jenson Nunez
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IMF asks Countries to Spend as Much as Possible and a Bit More

The IMF asked the governments not to withdraw the economic aid that already began. Thanks to public spending, the restriction of production-consumption would heal and generate compensations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that planners around the world should adopt an expansive fiscal and monetary policy; this policy would recover and reactivate their respective economies in the face of the global crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva took part, last Friday, in “the Future of economic growth” conference, this conference is part of the XII edition of the Gaidar Economic Forum, An event that Russia organizes.

 “In terms of policies for the present moment, although it is unusual on the part of the IMF, my message is ‘please, spend’, spend as much as you can, and then spend a little more,” said the official, according to a Reuters dispatch.

Regarding the aid programs by various countries, the Bulgarian economist asked the governments not to withdraw such aid.

“We still have to be very careful and not to withdraw support prematurely. Because if we do, we will have a wave of insolvencies, and structural unemployment that would be very difficult to reverse. ”Georgieva said.

On the other hand, Georgieva shows an admissive point of view about the fact that qualitative relaxation policies can help increase the economic breach between rich and poor.

“The accommodative monetary policy is good for the economy as a whole, but it tends to favor the richest, such as those who work in the digital sector, who are already present in the financial economy,” said the official.

Bitcoin Could Result in a Winner when it Comes to Monetary Expansion

In a speech during the IMF’s annual meeting, Georgieva noted that the global health crisis that COVID-19 unleashed already claimed more than a million lives and the numbers keep reaching high peaks.

Besides, among the negative impacts for 2021, the crisis will require constant resources of about USD 11 trillion, a figure that can suffer a potential surpassing, according to the official.

Continued fiscal easing, keeping interest rates low, and continuing to print unsupported money would imply that bitcoin (BTC) will maintain its attractiveness to investors, as a hedge against an increasingly weak dollar.

These past days bitcoin’s been trading at $ 36,300, this figure marks a 20.3% rebound from the beginning of the year, and 303% from the start of the current bull cycle at the end of July 2020.

According to analysts, these increases are happening due to the posture of institutional investors that include investment banks and other important organizations that see a possible new peak of at least $ 50,000 in the months to come.

On December 16, the cryptocurrency surpassed the record of $ 20,000 for the first time and reached $ 21,295. From that moment on, it went to an unstoppable climbing.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Mitsubishi is Developing Blockchain to Sell Surplus Electricity

Jenson Nunez
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Mitsubishi is Developing Blockchain to Sell Surplus Electricity

Residents, owners of solar panels and residential complexes will now be able to sell their surpluses. The institution is working on the new system to be functional and operating by April once its test takes place.

Mitsubishi Electric, a multinational that specializes in the manufacture of electrical products, together with the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), is working on the development of a system that works with a blockchain to sell surplus electricity.

Both entities published a statement on January 18th, clarifying their interest in building a decentralized network to consolidate the commercialization of energy. The idea is that users such as residents, companies, and owners of solar panels gain the ability to sell the excess electricity to other people without the intervention of third parties or other intermediaries.

The entire system will be person-to-person (P2P), based on blockchain, and will possess its mining scheme, the press release notes. The network will link energy providers with consumers through electronic devices like their phones or computers, as both groups will be able to create a bargain market for surplus electricity by sharing their operations, data, and business objectives.

More Effective Use of Electricity Surpluses

The developers believe that this decision will achieve “a more effective use of electricity surpluses” thanks to a four-step mining scheme that can be controlled from microcomputer servers.

These servers share all the data of every transaction order that has business objectives in common. This happens when a company desires to buy a more considerable amount of surplus. Then the servers prepare themselves to browse suppliers that are also selling large amounts of electricity.

Once the servers end sharing the data of each of the offers, the servers will look for those orders that link with each other now.

The third step will focus on sharing the search results with the other servers; the received results will generate a block that picks all those operations that show more compatibility.

A Blockchain Prototype under the Magnifying Glass

The electronics manufacturing company will lead the process of design of the entire trading system as well as the management of its clearing functions. At the same time, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, which shows more expertise in sectors regarding blockchain networks, will be the leading entity to assist the development of an optimal algorithm to consolidate the proper functioning of the system.

The company wants to carry out some tests on the algorithm to optimize its balanced operation. Both entities stated that the goal is to launch the system on the market as soon as possible.

Mitsubishi Electrics played its cards on blockchain long before this project. In 2019, the company joined forces with 100 other Japanese manufacturers to adopt blockchain and increase their range of productivity by using it.

Mitsubishi Electrics is just an example of how companies that dedicate their efforts to the sale of energy keep growing interest in the world of cryptocurrencies. Cases like the one reviewed as well as the case of (CENER), a company that already tried blockchain technology to improve their performance are proof that cryptocurrencies are gaining more and more field.

By: Jenson Nuñez

There are Accounts with more than USD 10 Billion Coming from Defrauded funds in Venezuela, According to Swiss Prosecutors

Jenson Nunez
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There are Accounts with more than USD 10 Billion Coming from Defrauded funds in Venezuela, According to Swiss Prosecutors

The money identification from Venezuelan public institutions in hundreds of bank accounts in 30+ banks led to a prosecution in the Swiss nation.

Swiss prosecutors identified bank accounts with figures up to 9,000 million Swiss francs, an amount that equates to approximately USD 10,100 million, which “probably come from public defrauded funds in Venezuela.”

According to the Le Matin report, since the investigations began their course at the end of 2019, Zurich public prosecutors noted funds that people close to the Venezuelan government keep in various accounts belonging to at least 30 banks in the Swiss nation. Le Matin said the finding happened due to a series of investigations in Zurich in the fourth quarter of 2019.

A Zurich police spokesman said that the funds are split all over the number of the abovementioned bank accounts. This event places Venezuela as the first source of malicious financial behavior and suspicious funds in Swiss Banks.

Consequently, it means that one in eight Swiss banks suffer the consequences. The Zurich prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the event.

These Investigations are Aiming at two Schemes that Allowed the Misappropriation of an Exorbitant Amount of Money

The Zurich prosecutor’s office opened at least five independent money laundering investigations. These investigations are aiming at two schemes that allowed people close to the regime to misappropriate billions of dollars that damaged their country’s public treasury during 2010-2013.

These systems create a pre-establishment of dual currency exchange (CADIVI quotas), the source added. Through such a system, private operators under the direction of the government were able to increase a rapid system of profits thanks to the exchange of bolivars against foreign currencies at advantageous rates.

According to the media, one of the protagonists in this exchange system situation would have been Raúl Gorrin, a television magnate and an actual fugitive that has a close relationship with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

One of the Swiss accounts controlled by Raúl Gorrin launched the Company Helvétique (CBH) bank in Geneva. According to account statements, Gorrín received the sum of USD 2.9 billion from April 2012 to March 2013. This action was to return the money in small bits so it could help shell companies.

Part of these amounts got blocked by the Zurich court. From these accounts, a millionaire sum went to the purchase of sumptuous properties like mansions, yachts, and racehorse farms in The United States.

Also, In March 2020, the highest court of justice in Switzerland set an agreement to make public some bank documents that guard a relationship to a corruption scheme with a result of USD 4.5 stolen billion to Venezuela, according to the newspaper El Nuevo Herald.

Venezuela Is in Crisis

The Swiss media Sonntags Zeitung describes that Venezuela is in a critical state, this conclusion comes from a report by the UN Human Rights Council in September, according to the report nine out of ten people live in poverty.

The crisis hit every corner of the Venezuelan economy, the years of austerity, mismanagement, and an incompetent exchange rate policy that reflects on all the changes that occurred to the bolivar, as well as its rise only paves the way to corruption.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Regulators are Turned upside down Due to DeFi, According to US Official

Alexander Salazar
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Regulators are Turned upside down Due to DeFi, According to US Official

He believes that advances in the use of blockchain technology in the financial sector defy current laws. According to Brian Brooks, it is necessary to regulate the technology rather than who operates it.

In recent days, Brian Brooks said that regulators need to rethink the way they make and enforce regulations. He made that point in the context of the advances of new apps and their use cases in decentralized finance (DeFi).

The US Comptroller of the Currency believes that regulators should create new rules, according to The Financial Times. They should set restrictions on the technology, rather than control who operates it.

He stated that most regulations currently create supervisory systems that only focus on people. “What we call regulation of banks is regulation of bankers,” he explained. This situation led the technologist and lawyer to state that DeFi is turning regulators upside down. The main reason for this is a market that operates with blockchain and that seeks to provide services without human intermediation.

DeFi Projects with Decentralized Exchanges

Brooks mentioned DeFi projects with decentralized exchanges, which allow trading without intermediaries or protocols for loans. Regarding these, he said that they do not involve loan officers or credit committees.

He classified these new financial entities as autonomous banks. These services allow giving and requesting loans, in addition to obtaining returns for providing liquidity on decentralized platforms, according to the official.

Besides, he said that they speculate on certain assets and insure against risks, among other operations, without resorting to intermediaries. To that end, most DeFi platforms rely on smart contracts.

“Under the current law, it is only possible to issue the letters to human beings,” said the comptroller. For this reason, the existing rules lead to outdated rules, which are inadequate in the face of technological advances.

Need to Review Current Laws

This situation generates a lack of regulatory clarity, without which “states can only produce a mosaic of inconsistent rules.” Brooks noted that this prevents “the orderly development of a national market.” This problem not only involves US supervisory agencies but those of many other countries.

Dan Larimer, former CTO of Block.one, the British company in charge of the EOS project, recently resigned. Concerns about regulatory pressures led him to make that decision since he considers them limiting for innovation and decentralization. Brooks agrees with this idea since he proposes to review these rules and focus on the management of technology.

He recommends that regulators train “examiners to read and test whether algorithms meet legal requirements.” In his opinion, this is the most appropriate way to regulate these autonomous banks.

Advantages that DeFi Offers to Users

One advantage of DeFi is that algorithms, rather than savers, are the ones seeking the best interest rates, according to Brooks. He says that some platforms even offer unsecured loans and delegate their lines of credit to other people.

However, the risk of illiquidity may increase due to depositors’ withdrawal of funds and the frequency of those operations. This situation puts these platforms at a disadvantage compared to traditional banks.

Regardless of this, the former director of the Coinbase exchange believes that it is possible to overcome all these problems. After all, the human brain is the one behind the law and the software.

“However, it is necessary to review the outdated rules, as well as the regulations that still require the use of fax machines,” says the US official.

By Alexander Salazar

While Bitcoin’s Price Doubled, Its Hash Rate Grew by 950% in the Last Three Years

Alexander Salazar
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While Bitcoin’s Price Doubled, Its Hash Rate Grew by 950% in the Last Three Years

Despite the market volatility, computing power continues to grow. The increase in the difficulty and costs of Bitcoin mining has not prevented its expansion.

People normally consider the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to be a determining factor when talking about the expansion of the cryptocurrency. Its price recently doubled the all-time high of around USD 20,000 that it had recorded in 2017. However, all the computing power (hash rate) of the network has grown even more in the last three years.

Even though many elements have intervened in the price variations, the general trend has been upward, as has the hash rate. In recent days, the price of Bitcoin was around USD 41,940 per unit, according to data fromCoinGecko.

That figure captures the attention of the media, traders, newcomers to the world of cryptocurrencies, and the general public. However, the growth of the hash rate by almost 100% demonstrates the interest in making the network more secure and reliable, regardless of the price of BTC.

Arrival of New Miners to the Network

The hash rate of the Bitcoin network went from 13.4 EH/s, in mid-December 2017, to 155.4 EH/s, today, according to data from blockchain.com. The arrival of new miners and equipment with greater processing capacity made that happen.

The increasing difficulty and costs of mining Bitcoin have not prevented more miners from reaching this public and open network. The difficulty is currently at the top with 20.6 T as a relative measure, so the mining of the blocks occurs about every 10 minutes.

Furthermore, this increase in the hash rate has an impact on the companies that manufacture ASIC equipment for Bitcoin mining. For example, companies like Bitmain, Canaan, and Innosilicon continuously announce new miners that adjust to the difficulty of the network. Something similar happens with the manufacturers of video cards or GPU to mine.

Incentives for Bitcoin Miners

One reason to enter Bitcoin mining could be to keep the network secure and reliable. In recent years, miners have entered due to the incentives derived from fees and rewards for blocks mined.

Last December, Bitcoin miners recorded revenues of nearly USD 3 million per day from fees alone. In January 2020, the incentives for validating operations were around USD 70,000 per day.

A piece of evidence of the good state of the network is the increase in the hash rate since it shows how protected it is. That allows users to validate transactions and mine new blocks, thus decentralizing data processing.

Furthermore, it would be difficult to attack the network as this would represent a high cost. That amount of hash rate implies that it is impossible to arbitrarily modify or violate the rules of the protocol. In other words, no one can corrupt or manipulate the network at will.

Apart from delays to confirm transactions, the network’s security is essential to move funds in this system. Other projects seek faster operations while Bitcoin focuses on a higher reliability weighting.

By Alexander Salazar

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