Peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin (BTC) exchange platform Hodl Hodl added Dollar on Chain (DoC) to its payment options. DoC is a stablecoin pegged to the dollar price with collateral in Bitcoin that runs on the protocol for smart contracts on Bitcoin RSK.

For a few days, the users of this non-custodial exchange have had this currency among the dozens of payment options available on the platform. Bank transfers, various digital means of payment, and cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), or Monero (XMR) are some of the alternatives found on HodlHodl. The Dollar on Chain project team posted a video stating that with the new alliance Hodl Hodl users can now switch from DoC to BTC (and vice versa).

Unlike other P2P exchange sites, such as LocalBitcoins, the Hodl Hodl platform does not require the safeguarding of its users’ funds. When opening an exchange operation on this platform, a multi-signature wallet is generated with the funds in BTC as collateral. These funds are released only when the parties involved confirm that the payment transaction was successful.

DoC is one of several stablecoins attached to the dollar that currently exists in the market, and that has been gaining visibility in recent months. Not only is Hodl Hodl adding dollars on Chain, but other exchange platforms are also adding stablecoins to their options.

Buy cryptocurrencies on Hodl Hodl

Recently another P2P exchange site also joined the growing interest in these coins., Paxful added to its services the exchange between Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) direct from its platform.

Now, Hodl Hodl adds a new currency option anchored to its payment methods. Exchanges with USDT and USDC were already allowed, to which we can add DAI and the stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar L-CAD, created by the company Bull Bitcoin on the Bitcoin side chain, Liquid.

 Like in many other exchange houses, there are two ways to buy or sell cryptocurrencies: you can search for an offer and start an immediate exchange, or you create a publication with your offer and await until another user gets to initiate the exchange.

Final thoughts on Hodl Hodl

The first thing to highlight about this exchanging house is, in fact, its speed. Since users´ made transactions from their wallets, and there is the option of zero confirmations on the blockchain, this allows fast exchanges. This, compared to other exchange houses, is a very interesting advantage and a plus. Otherwise, since Hodl Hodl is a relatively new exchange, the number of offers is a bit smaller.

A particular use of this exchanging house is that users can use it as a payment guarantee. As they are contracts of only two people when buying an item, the payment can be deposited in guarantee; once the product is received, it can be released. This is possible thanks to the option of creating private ads.

By: Jenson Nuñez.

Since last July, the cryptocurrency of the NEM Foundation, XEM, has been several times in the top weekly of CriptoNoticias. In the course of this 2020, the cryptocurrency has reached a level of appreciation that exceeds 300%. This growth seems to have a connection with the progress of one of the projects conducted by NEM: the Symbol platform.

According to the NEM Foundation, Symbol Network is an update of the NEM or NEM 2.0 blockchain, a new network aimed at the institutional sector. It will serve businesses of all sizes, from one-man operations to those run by large corporations.

The platform will provide support in data management, logistics, notarization, construction, finance, and asset management. “What NEM intends is to reduce operating costs while providing new ways to create value,” read some writings. The goal is for companies to design blockchains, private, open, or hybrid, with different levels of interaction, configuring an asset tokenization system. Symbol is scheduled to launch on December 17 of this year, although it may be delayed up to 3 more months depending on testing.

NEM co-founder Jeff McDonald stated that building Symbol has applied all the learning that comes from running version 1 of the NEM blockchain, for over four years.”Symbol is a more functional, scalable, and feature-rich protocol that has the potential and eventually will become the core engine of NEM, powering private and public blockchains,” said Jeff, who sees three other blockchain projects as competitors: Hyperledger, Ethereum, and Libra from Facebook (the latter in plans).

Origin of NEM Symbol: Catapult project

The idea of creating Symbol came from a re-construction process that took part and began in 2019. To carry out the reorganization, the Foundation received the approval of the NEM community, with the financing of 160 million XEM (USD 19 million at the current exchange rate).

The restructuring focused on Catapult, “a development platform for industries interested in adopting and building applications on NEM.”The testing of the beta version of the Mijin v.2 (or Catapult) blockchain engine began in 2018. With this platform, NEM promised, in addition to speed and scalability improvements, “uses that have never been available on any blockchain.”

Mijin v.2 is the improved version of Mijin v.1, released in 2015 when creating NEM. The first version sought to satisfy business needs with a private blockchain, while the second version sought to reduce operational costs and make it easier to create utility tokens for companies.

In March 2020 it was considered to change the name of Catapult, adopting the brand “Symbol for NEM”. The proposal was supported by the community alongside the XYM denomination for NEM Symbol tokens. The change involved technical rearrangements to adapt the project to the technological development that occurred since the creation of Catapult.

NEM is getting ready to exchange XEM for Symbol XYM tokens

News about Symbol’s advances has been circling since 2019 and has risen since January 2020, when the testnet was launched. In April, NEM laid out its new governance plans in preparation for launch. Since then, he has been carrying out an intense information campaign aimed at his community.

The most recent announcement is the activation of Opt-in for Symbol on September 15th. This is the method for XEM holders, interested in participating in the new platform to claim their Symbol XYM tokens, which will be used as peer-to-peer cash and for transactions.

The allocation will be made taking into account the balance in XEM of the users, according to the capture of the network accounting on the scheduled date. It solely depends on the amount. An equivalent amount of XYM will be allocated to the subscribers’ portfolios. Non-subscribers will be able to claim their XYM within 6 years from the launch date.

By: Jenson Nuñez.

New firmware update for Bitcoin’s Trezor hardware wallets counteracts a vulnerability associated with password management on devices. This vulnerability, which affects an extra password known as “word 25”, exposes the wallets to the hijacking of funds.

This vulnerability happens when a user enters the password to synchronize the wallet with the computer. As a consequence, the Trezor system does not require the confirmation of this password on the device.This password is an optional security factor plus the 24 words that Trezor uses as a seed. Its use is optional and serves to hide funds.

When word 25 is enabled, a mechanism is activated. Every time a user enters a wrong tem, a new address is created and is displayed as if it were the main one of the purse.

Bencum, who is part of the team that makes BitBox wallets, points out that an attacker could interfere between the data shared between the wallet and the computer, preventing the user from accessing their extra password. And since the Trezor doesn’t ask for confirmation, the user would have no way of noticing that something is working incorrectly. It would only be in front of the new wallet, without reflecting its balance in bitcoins.

Trezor vulnerability does not allow direct access to bitcoins

Thanks to the vulnerability, a potential attacker could “run a server from which the malicious wallet would obtain a false passphrase every time the user unlocks their wallet.” With this method active, it prevents the user from accessing the address with their funds before a question for a ransom is ready.

“Without the passphrase, the user has no way to regain control of the coins without the cooperation of the attacker,” adds the developer, who notified Trezor last April about this error.

The attacker could only prevent access to the funds, but since that extra password is encrypted, it would not directly access the BTC. Otherwise, instead of a hijack, you could send the bitcoins to any address you wanted.

Another Bitcoin wallet is exposed

The vulnerability exposed by Bencum did not just affect Trezor wallets. Also, the KeepKey devices, from the Shapeshift exchange, are at the same risk of funds hijacking.

However, there is no immediate interest in correcting the error at KeepKey. Bencum says he has been “in regular contact with a KeepKey representative.” The company has informed him that “they have not yet proposed a solution for development, stating that they are working first on higher priority elements,” Bencum said in his publication.

The update of Trezor follows another from June of this year. They also had to correct a vulnerability that exposed their users’ funds. In that case, they updated the firmware of their devices due to an error with the SegWit transaction management found in March.

By: Jenson Nuñez.

The Department of Digital Policies and Public Administration of the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia launched a Blockchain Observatory to promote and evaluate the use and development of this technology in that part of northwestern Spain.

One of the most relevant operations that we can highlight among the initial actions of this company is the mapping of the agents that make up the ecosystem of blockchain technologies in Catalonia. The activity started since the end of last July, has made it possible to identify three cases of use of this technology that qualify as successful.

The projects are closely related to the control of the operating costs of the airlines through the AirSensus platform, the management of digital assets in videogames, of the company Freeverse, and Vocdoni’s decentralized digital voting governance models.

In the case of the AirSensus platform, blockchain is applied, together with the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Machine Learning. In this way, they use smart contracts based on Hyperledger Fabric to program the interaction between airlines and their suppliers.

As explained in a document on the project, this interaction involves considerable efforts in the preparation and execution of contracts, monitoring of service compliance, conciliation, billing, and settlement of services. All this activity has been improved with blockchain, creating automation in the reception of data and reducing the workflow considerably. They have achieved a notable reduction in costs in this industry with this process.

On the other hand, Freeverse’s video game management presents a new model that allows users to monetize their game time. Unlike other video games where you pay to unlock game elements, on this platform, the players are the owners of the assets and can use the tokens to transfer or sell them to other players.

The team developed a technology layer that puts the complexity of the blockchain where video games operate in the background using XDai Stable Chain, an Ethereum-compatible secondary chain. As for Vocdoni, some people say that this company uses blockchain to facilitate organizations and institutions to reinvent their governance systems and implement verifiable and decentralized digital voting processes.

The infrastructure, which integrates Ethereum-based tools and the allowed blockchain Vochain, opens the chance for the system to be resistant to censorship and attacks. It has the purpose to be scalable and easy to use from mobile devices and guarantees a complete set of privacy for its users. The voting system can now be used by any group that wants to use the news, simple voting, and database management tool, the project document exposes.

 The support of various organizations made possible creating the Observatory 

The goal of the Blockchain Observatory is to identify, catalog, and analyze trends in the development of this technology on a national and international scale, also “generating a space to share conclusions, analysis, and learning from good practices.”

Thanks to the support of various organizations in Spain and Europe, the creation of the new space as possible. Some of them are the National University of Distance Education (UNED); and Tecnalia, the first private center for applied research and technological development in Spain and one of the most important in Europe.

Some companies closely related to communication also promoted this observatory. Some of them are the European Press Freedom Center, chaired by journalist Henrik Kaufholz, the EFE Agency, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), and the OléChain platform. Singular DTV, a blockchain for filmmakers, musicians, and artists that are part of the Ethereum Foundation are also present.

By: Jenson Nuñez.

NomiChef, an anonymous developer of SushiSwap, liquidated his tokens for more than USD 6.3 million. The SUSHI token loses 55% of its value, and there is questioning whether the project will continue on its way.

The founder of DeFi liquidity platform SushiSwap sold all of his SUSHI tokens in exchange for 17,971 ETH, equivalent to about USD 6.3 million.

In recent days, the anonymous founder of this platform released the information on his Twitter account, causing a stir that points to what happened as an exit scam.

Users can trade ERC-20 tokens and do yield farming on SushiSwap, which is a fork of Uniswap, in the middle of this DeFi ecosystem. However, SushiSwap distinguishes itself in that it provides fixed returns in the SUSHI token just for participating in the platform. On the contrary, Uniswap provides rewards according to the number of funds (contributed liquidity) used in this market.

Cinneamhain Ventures shareholder Adam Cochran, who was a SushiSwap investor, recently said that he decided to withdraw from the project upon detecting the risk of a vampire attack. Analysts recently explained that this type of attack would allow transferring other SUSHI-pegged tokens on Uniswap to the SushiSwap platform, leading to the bankruptcy of Uniswap.

Cochran withdrew from this project as no governance contract prevented SUSHI tokens belonging to their developers from being properly burned or withdrawn under consensus. Currently, it has become a reality that a developer would flee or depart from the project by liquidating huge amounts of the token.

The developer identified as NomiChef (represented by a sushi panda bear chef), announced to his followers on Twitter that he had converted all his SUSHI tokens into Ether.

He stated that he would remain close to the project, assisting in the technical aspect. However, his decision caused the price of SUSHI to decrease from USD 5.53 to USD 2.32 in a matter of a few hours, devaluing by 54%, according to Uniswap.

NomiChef says that what he has done is not very different from what Charlie Lee, founder of Litecoin, did in 2017. That year, he sold his positions in LTC, sowing doubts about the credibility of this cryptocurrency (one of the first created after Bitcoin).

However, some Internet users note that, unlike NomiChef, Lee spent years developing a cryptocurrency that relatively has credibility, a track record, purpose, and decentralization.

Independently on perceptions regarding Litecoin, the launch of SushiSwap occurred in the last few weeks, amid the excitement about new tokens taking their names from dishes or types of food, such as sushi, hot dogs, and pizza.

The aforementioned event is a perfect example of the ponzinomic economy in DeFi. A project takes an attractive brand design, issues its token, and does not stop promoting it to inflate its value to disproportionate levels. However, when there is no liquidity, or one of the pieces at the top of the pyramid is moved, the price falls faster than it rose.

By Alexander Salazar

The deficit will reach 16% of GDP this year, as the CBO estimates. This is the worst deficit concerning the size of the economy since 1945.

The US 2020 fiscal deficit will be about US 3.3 trillion, or 16% of gross domestic product (GDP), as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates in a report that it published on September 2^nd. This would represent the highest public debt concerning the gross domestic product (GDP), in percentage terms, since World War II ended.

In its report, the CBO states that the current economic and public health crisis has led the United States to record levels of public debt and a deficit of several trillions of US dollars.

According to the US Congressional Budget Office, the effects of the crisis, and the laws enacted to fight it will lead the debt and deficits to grow more. They consider that these will reach levels never seen before, both in US dollars and as a percentage of gross domestic product.

A graph shows that the deficit might decrease since 2021. It would decline in 2027, but it would grow again to reach -5.3% of GDP in 2030.

According to the graph, the US economy had been facing deficits since 1970. Until fiscal the year 2019 (from October 1^st, 2018 to September 30^th, 2019), the average deficit was 3.0% of GDP. The graph also registers the 2007-2009 recessions. However, the maximum deficit in the fiscal year 2009 was 9.8% of GDP, according to CBO’s report.

On the other hand, the fiscal deficit this year was 11 percentage points larger than the deficit in 2019. That increase comes mostly from the resources dedicated to responding to COVID-19, the checks distributed as relief, and other resources related to the CARES law, enacted on March 27^th, 2020.

The CBO made deficit estimates in March that were aimed at reflecting the relief measures that the FED implemented. However, there was still no estimate of the record contraction that took place in the second quarter of 2020. They expected a record drop in GDP, but nothing like the one that happened.

Last July, there was a report on a 32.9% contraction in the US gross domestic product for the second quarter. It was the largest quarterly decline since the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) began its records in 1947. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst GDP decline occurred in the first quarter of 1958, when it fell by 10%.

The health crisis has affected the economy on a global scale. Last March 12^th, all markets collapsed, including those of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the case of the pioneering cryptocurrency, it has maintained a 45% return since the beginning of 2020, despite recent price fluctuations. It has also achieved a 117% recovery, compared to the drop occurring in mid-March. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading for USD 10,476, according to data from Messari.

By Alexander Salazar