Robert is a freelance researcher, with a background in information science currently interested in blockchain technology and technical developments in the field.
One of the new DeFi kids on the block has shot up over 300 percent in seven days, making it the top gainer on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) over the past week.
TRAVA.FINANCE (TRAVA) is a decentralised marketplace for cross-chain lending. What TRAVA does to stand out is that it performs blockchain data analysis to optimise pool parameters to calculate a credit score. This is done to increase profit and decrease risks for all users using the platform.
After the coin’s listing and official launch on September 14, it was initially quiet until it broke out with a 343 percent price increase, most of that movement in the past four days. The protocol currently has a US$60 million locked supply and $9.9 million value locked within the protocol.
Existing approaches provide only one or a few lending pools with their own parameters, such as borrow/supply interest rate, liquidation threshold, or a limited list of exchangeable cryptocurrencies. TRAVA offers a flexible mechanism where users can create and manage their own lending pools to start a lending business.
TRAVA also offers the credit score function based on financial data on-chain analysis as a useful tool that reduces risk.
Based on the knowledge graph, TRAVA evaluates credit scores for users. Pool owners can define minimum credit scores for pool members to reduce lending risks and offer high Loan to Value ratios for those with high credit scores to stimulate borrowing.
TRAVA allows users to use special assets such as NFT or stock tokens as collateral. Previously, these assets had to be priced through auctions, with auction winners involved in the lending contract to either earn a profit or buy the assets at a low price.
There are various opportunities for people to earn rewards for staking their coins. Check out Crypto News Australia‘s list of the top 10 crypto staking websites for that purpose and getting daily returns.
In a major milestone for the global crypto community, the number of cryptocurrency user addresses has reached 50 million, according to data from CoinMetrics.
Steady Increase in Addresses
In the past half-decade, everything from governments to influencers have caused fluctuations in price. But however the market values these digital assets, the amount of crypto addresses continues to grow as more people start using cryptocurrencies and transacting on the various chains.
Crypto address growth. Source: CoinMetrics
The chart above shows the number of addresses holding at least one ten-billionth (> .00000001 percent) of total supply of various crypto assets. This tiny metric is used to determine new addresses that hold even a smidgen of crypto. Although a single user can have several wallets, the point here is that there is a steady increase in the number of crypto addresses/users.
According to a market size measurement study based on on-chain metrics, Crypto.com has shown that:
The number of global crypto users reached 106 million in January 2021.
A strong increase in bitcoin adoption was one of the main drivers for January’s 15.7 percent increase in global crypto adoption.
Some 2021 events have also driven crypto adoption, such as the massive growth of the DeFi sector, the NFT craze, El Salvador adopting bitcoin as legal tender, and major companies like PayPal opening up crypto services.
BTC and ETH comparative growth rate. Source: crypto.com
There has also been a significant increase in the number of bitcoin whale addresses over the past year. These are wallets that hold over 1,000 BTC. From January to December 2020, this class of bitcoin address grew by 6.7 percent, according to data from Glassnode. However, in a single month from December 2020 to January 2021, the number of addresses increased by 7.2 percent, indicating major interest from deep-pocketed investors.
Active bitcoin addresses have also been on the rise in the past month with an increase in exchange outflows, indicating investors are taking their BTC out of exchanges and putting it back into their wallets.
ETH Overtakes BTC
Data on CoinMetrics also shows that in July 2021, the number of Ethereum addresses overtook those associated with the Bitcoin network.
This is quite the turn of events but is most likely due to the adoption of NFTs, DeFi, and the use of all sorts of Dapps on Ethereum as opposed to BTC, which acts as a store of value and only recently gained the ability to run smart contracts with the Taproot upgrade. The number of addresses on the Ethereum blockchain should overtake bitcoin simply for its utility, unless the whole planet uses bitcoin at some stage.
With more blockchain projects adding real-world value, it’s obvious individuals are starting to make use of the services offered. And as the industry moves further beyond its infancy, businesses and individuals alike will need to create addresses to participate in the ecosystem.
The Australian government has passed its new amendments to the Surveillance Legislation Bill, giving the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) new powers over online accounts and communication. This has spurred various ethics and law groups to comment on the rationality of the bill.
The Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 was revised and amended earlier this month, giving the AFP and ACIC powers to surveil, intercept data, and alter data online.
Concerns have been raised by various groups and, according to the Human Rights Law Centre, the bill has insufficient safeguards for free speech and press freedom.
Given the powers are unprecedented and extraordinarily intrusive, they should have been narrowed to what is strictly necessary and subject to robust safeguards. That is why the committee unanimously recommended significant changes.
Kieran Pender, senior lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
New Updates to Surveillance Legislation
Data disruption warrant: gives police the power to “disrupt data” by modifying, copying, adding, or deleting it.
Network activity warrant: allows police to collect intelligence from devices or networks used, or likely to be used, by those subject to the warrant.
Account takeover warrant: allows police to take control of an online account (eg, social media) for the purposes of gathering information for an investigation.
The two Australian law enforcement bodies will soon have the authority to modify, add, copy or delete your data should you become a suspect in the investigation of a serious crime.
It is alarming that, instead of accepting the committeeâs recommendations and allowing time for scrutiny of subsequent amendments, the Morrison Government rushed these laws through Parliament in less than 24 hours.
Kieran Pender, senior lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
The wording enables police to investigate any offence that is punishable by imprisonment of at least three years, including terrorism, sharing child abuse material, violence, acts of piracy, bankruptcy and company violations, and tax evasion.
In fact, refusing to comply could see offenders end up in jail for up to 10 years, according to the new bill.
Australian Privacy Projects Voice Concerns
The Australian surveillance bill has been heavily criticised by Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for Justice:
The Richardson review concluded that this bill enables the AFP and ACIC to be âjudge, jury and executionerâ. Thatâs not how we deliver justice in this country. The bill does not identify or explain why these powers are necessary and our allies in the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand do not grant law enforcement these rights.
Senator Lidia Thorpe, Greens spokesperson for Justice
Enabling law enforcement agencies to modify potential evidence in a criminal proceeding is also a major issue of concern.
Under the Identify and Disrupt Bill, access can be gained to encrypted data that could be copied, deleted, modified and analysed even before its relevance can be determined. This significantly compromises usersâ privacy and digital rights.
Whatâs more, legal hacking by law enforcement may make it easier for criminal hackers to illegally access computer systems via the same vulnerabilities exploited by the government.
How to Protect Yourself Using Privacy Apps
Due to insufficient safeguards contained within the recently passed Identify and Disrupt Bill, Australia is failing to uphold its commitment to protect the privacy of its citizens. This means that individuals need to find ways to secure their own privacy through the use of technology such as decentralised services.
Many of these already exist, but Melbourne-based Oxen is a private messaging, anonymous web browsing and instant, private transactions project with privacy and security at its core.
A global network of staked Oxen Service Nodes power Oxenâs second-layer privacy tools and services, including Session, the end-to-end encrypted anonymous messenger.
Decentralisation is at the heart of Sessionâs design. The service has 1,500 community-operated servers that are currently routing Session messages for more than 200,000 users across the globe.
No other app can do what a private messenger does.
Blink, Oxenâs instant anonymous payment mechanism, powers instant transactions with absolutely no privacy or security compromises.
As methods for surveillance become more prevalent through the internet and financial channels, individuals who value their privacy are moving toward technologies such as these to avoid surveillance as far as possible.
The New York-based Drone Racing League (DRL) has landed its biggest partnership to date with Algorand (ALGO), an open source blockchain project. The US$100 million partnership will span five years, with DRL spreading its reach in the crypto industry by making use of innovative blockchain technologies to spice up the sport.
According to an announcement by Algorand, “DRL, recognised globally for cutting-edge technology, immersive sports entertainment, and thrilling, high-speed drone racing, will bring to life next-generation fan experiences on the Algorand blockchain”.
Drone racing is seen by some as the sport of the future, and studies conducted by ALGO and DRL show that their target market is 40 times more likely to follow and engage with crypto social media than the general population, being part of the tech-savvy and early adopter market segment. According to DRL president Rachel Jacobson, “DRL is a defining 21st-century sports property, and weâre only going to do 21st-century business deals”.
DRL president Rachel Jacobson: “We’re only going to do 21st-century business deals.” Source: thedronegirl.com
Algorand has been growing its ecosystem at an exponential rate, with more than 500 global organisations already leveraging its technology. Australian blockchain solutions have also partnered with the project.
JUST IN: @DroneRaceLeague & @Algorand strike big deal. DRL will unveil blockchain-enabled ticketing, collectables, fan transactions and NFTs on Algorand, include crypto developers, programmers and coders to Algorand hackathon events at DRL races around the world. pic.twitter.com/NFUI0XZGB1
DRL’s global, tech-obsessed fans love that our sport constantly evolves, and blockchain was the next groundbreaking technology in our sights. Algorand shares our values of speed, innovation and inclusivity. We have ambitious plans to deliver a unique sports experience in the metaverse and are incredibly excited about how this partnership will change the game for sports and tech fans and the global blockchain community.
Rachel Jacobson, DRL president
A Growing Community of Innovation
The five-year partnership will allow for blockchain-enabled ticketing, collectibles, fan transactions and NFTs on Algorand, and crypto developers, programmers and coders will be welcomed to Algorand hackathon events at DRL races around the world. From title sponsorship to metaverse gaming, this deal is nearly all-encompassing.
You need to build in the right programming so that itâs not just a logo slap […] The crypto community are too smart – they see through just a jersey patch or signage. They want to know, âHow do I get involved? And how is this going to change my sports experience?’
Rachel Jacobson, DRL president
DRL starts its sixth season on September 29, and the league has media rights deals with NBCUniversal and a streaming deal with Twitter. Other sponsorships include DraftKings, T-Mobile, Bodyarmor and the US Air Force. DRL helps the Air Force with recruitment and training of future drone drivers.
The global drone market – specified as the âUnmanned Aerial Vehicleâ sector – is projected to be worth US$58 billion by 2026, according to MarketsandMarkets Research. With DRL also functioning as a drone maker, Jacobson says it wants to leverage products to lure more revenue.
Renowned European football club Paris Saint-Germain has signed a multi-year deal worth up to 30 million euro (US$35 million) with Crypto.com to make the exchange its official cryptocurrency platform partner.
The partnership will be celebrated by the release of exclusive Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on Crypto.comâs native NFT platform.
According to a blog post from Crypto.com, it has partnered with PSG with the exchange paying a large part of the sponsorship in Crypto.com coin (CRO), its native cryptocurrency.
𤊠We're thrilled to announce https://t.co/vCNztABJoG and Paris Saint-Germain have signed a multi-year deal
â˝ď¸ First Crypto Platform Partner â˝ď¸ Release of exclusive #NFTs â˝ď¸ Special rewards for https://t.co/vCNztABJoG users
As of September 17, the PSG fan token will be available for purchase by fans on Crypto.com. The token recently surged almost 62 percent after superstar Lionel Messi left Barcelona FC to join Paris Saint-Germain. Messi was reportedly paid up to US$35 million worth of the PSG fan token as part of his âwelcome packageâ to the French club.
Our mission since day one has been to accelerate the worldâs transition to cryptocurrency. We do so by finding the best partners in the world, and Paris Saint-Germain is second to none … Between the brand visibility, stadium and team access, and collaborative development of NFTs, I have no doubt weâll create new and exciting experiences for football fans around the world.
Kris Marszalek, Crypto.com co-founder/CEO
Crypto.com Takes a Shot at Football After Partnering With Other Major Sports
Crypto.com has led the industry in sports partnerships, recently announcing global deals with the UFC, Formula One and Lega Serie A. The exchange became the first crypto platform to partner with an F1 team and an NHL team, and through its new partnership with PSG it aims to bring crypto to the fans.
PSG is the most successful club in French football, with an overall trophy count of 44 including seven of the last nine championships in Franceâs top professional league.
With this partnership, Paris Saint-Germain demonstrates once more its vision and leadership as a pioneer in areas such as lifestyle, esports and digital. It is an exciting time for cryptocurrency and we cannot wait to work with Crypto.com to bring new experiences to all of the clubâs fans.
Marc Armstrong, chief partnerships officer, Paris Saint-Germain
As the NFT game industry continues to boom, independent games have sprung up all over the place, boasting the trending play-to-earn mechanism players are fired up for.
INFBundle
Perform daily tasks such as fighting sea monsters while competing with other players to earn INF tokens. Players make a profit in helping the INFBundle hunt the strongest beasts of the deep sea.
Use INF tokens to get premium characters to boost your profits; players can buy and sell treasure chests in the shop and NFT marketplace.
The INF Pack has two modes: solo (one character) and line-up (seven characters of each class). Players can purchase characters on the NFT marketplace, treasure chests, or by directly buying them from other players.
My Pet Social
My Pet Social is a social network for gaming NFTs to increase their exposure by sharing them on the network for all to see. The aim is to generate more profit from gaming NFTs owned by players. The platform will be running on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), giving the community the power to connect with players and creators from all other platforms.
đ IDO Announcement!
We are excited to launch our first IDO on @Oxbull5 đ
IDO Details: đ September 11th ⢠Total Hardcap: 1450 BNB ⢠IDO rate per BNB 1.860.000 ⢠Listing price per BNB 1.550.000 ⢠40% at TGE ⢠30% monthly
The platform will host a game ecosystem where other projects can sell their games among those of My Pet Social. For NFT creators, a feature has been added where fans can tip their favourite creators in MPS, their native token.
By working with major NFT issuer platforms, MPS can generate profits for users by staking their NFTs.
NFT Play
Crypto Magic War is the first product of NFT Play ecosystem, a play-to-earn NFT RPG Game hosted on BSC.
Players fight for legendary weapons and use magic in combination with the four elements to battle it out. Playersâ assets, or NFTs, are minted according to ERC-721 standard, which can be traded on the proprietary marketplace.
The mission is to “create a more favourable environment for players to experience relaxing entertainment every day while it steers players in rich opportunities”, according to the official Medium page. The ecosystem will integrate multiple products, including games.
The IDO will have 1000 lucky winners sharing US$8,000 worth of NFP token (US$8/each). Interested persons must complete eight entries to be eligible for whitelist winners. All registered participants can take place in the IDO, which will be based on first-come-first-served rules until all US$150,000 worth of NFP is sold out on NFT-Starter & Unicrypt platform, ending September 18.
Australian multinational investment bank and financial services giant Macquarie has formed a partnership with Blockstream to create a carbon-neutral bitcoin mine in the US.
According to a release from Blockstream, the crypto mining firm has teamed up with Macquarie to leverage its expertise in finance, energy and commodities markets and green infrastructure.
The initiative is targeting a greener approach to mining cryptocurrency and builds on Blockstreamâs previously announced collaborations with Aker and Square to establish sustainably powered crypto mining facilities. Blockstream is currently one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America.
In this pilot project, Macquarie will invest in the facility while utilising Blockstream’s expertise in exploring opportunities to provide renewable energy to power the mining process. With more than US$428 billion in assets, the Macquarie Group is one of the worldâs leading investors in renewable energy infrastructure, with 44 gigawatts of generation under development, construction or operation as of March 31, 2021.
Macquarieâs experience and scale in traditional infrastructure investment, as well as commodity and energy markets, and Blockstreamâs position as a leading Bitcoin miner and provider of Bitcoin-based technology solutions offers terrific potential.
Dr Adam Back, Blockstream CEO
Making Bitcoin Green
As bitcoin becomes more mainstream, its adoption has slowly grown from individuals to investment funds to entire countries. With more than 25 bitcoin mining companies joining forces to make bitcoin greener, the push toward a carbon-neutral bitcoin is well under way.
Based on the Bitcoin Mining Council survey of the network, mining electricity mix increased to 56% sustainable in Q2 2021, making #Bitcoin one of the cleanest industries in the world.https://t.co/wWWgjebdtN
— Michael SaylorâĄď¸ (@michael_saylor) July 1, 2021
Isn't this something. Could Bitcoin help to free those in the developing world from the economic tyranny of their own governments? https://t.co/QgVbUIdrq4
As bitcoin progresses on its journey towards widespread acceptance, it remains to be seen if the digital asset can uplift those countries whose currencies have depreciated to the level where they’re no longer worth holding on to.
The crypto market experienced one of its most volatile days this week since the China miner debacle, with whales taking part in a major sell-off that caused a downward spiral in the market and Tether needing to print over $3 billion in USDT.
A Sell-Off Domino Effect
Ever heard of “buy the rumour, sell the news”? As Bitcoin (BTC) inched towards its all-time high, news of El Salvador’s world-first to make bitcoin legal tender was on many crypto enthusiasts’ minds.
When the day finally came on September 7, the price started falling from above US$52,500 to below US$44,000 the following day. It dipped, but the dip was exacerbated by over-leveraged positions, since the market was in a very bullish state. Trader and analyst Scott Melker blamed large-volume traders for bitcoinâs plunge:
Leave it to whales to dump #Bitcoin on the day that El Salvador makes it legal tender.
When the price started to dip, it was enough to trigger liquidations of those who were long on Bitcoin. In essence, there was a domino effect where the drop prompted more people to sell, in turn triggering more liquidations, which led to more people selling and so on.
Overall, crypto derivatives saw a 32 percent haircut in [open interest] following this correction.
Vetle Lunde, analyst, Arcane Research
Before the dump, open interest in bitcoin futures was trending upward to its highest level since May. When looking at the altcoins, traders also reckoned the price would continue to rise.
A very hefty and bullish appetite for altcoins in the last month might have contributed to exaggerating the chaos in the market.
Vetle Lunde, analyst, Arcane Research
According to CoinGecko, both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were hit with 11 percent and 15 percent losses respectively, with a 13 percent drop in the overall crypto market cap in 24 hours. The plunge wiped billions off the overall market, which is worth about US$2.35 trillion.
âHorrible chart damage being done in BTC and the rest of the crypto market,” tweeted crypto analyst and author Glen Goodman.
Tether Printing $3 Billion for Dip Cashouts
The combined value of the crypto market has dropped from above US$2.4 trillion to $2.1 trillion, with bitcoin itself now falling below a US$1 trillion market cap, meaning that a lot of cryptocurrencies left the market and were converted to stablecoins or fiat.
According to Whale Alert, the Tether treasury minted US$1 billion multiple times. This is usually caused by increased demand for the stablecoin, which can happen directly with Tether or indirectly through people acquiring more Tether. This leads to those directly at the Tether window getting freshly minted supply to satisfy demand.
PSA: 1B USDt inventory replenish on Tron Network. Note this is a authorized but not issued transaction, meaning that this amount will be used as inventory for next period issuance requests and chain swaps.
The current number of Tether token-holders can be around 882k, not taking into account that one person might have many wallets and that it’s used as a trading pair for many cryptocurrencies.
Tether had previously been scrutinised for having a bit of a shady reserve, but it has recently been clarified. At the moment, Tether is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap due to its wide usage.
Solana (SOL) will host three new NFT games on its blockchain where players can compete and trade with NFTs.
The gaming industry is in the midst of a growth spurt and is evolving along with the technology. With nearly US$24.8 billion generated to date, 2021 is already close to surpassing 2020’s full-year revenue (US$30 billion) and on track to overtake 2019 (US$43.6 billion) as the highest-grossing year ever for commercial gaming.
With the rise of the blockchain gaming industry, people can actually earn for time spent in the digital universe. For individuals looking to play some games while earning crypto and NFTs, this is quite appealing. The expanding Solana (SOL) blockchain is now playing host to three new NFT games.
Star Atlas
Star Atlas is setting its sights on the strategy genre where players explore space, fight for territories and use other dynamics to dominate the “grand strategy game”.
Welcome to the final frontier. Welcome to Star Atlas.
The full Teaser Trailer offers you a glimpse into a vast cosmic metaverse of the future. â¨
Players can also mine resources in the digital universe which they can sell in both in- and outside marketplaces.
Game assets are divided into four pillars, with ATLAS and POLIS being the monetary tokens. POLIS is the governance token where players have a say in the fate of the metaverse and the rules governing it, and ATLAS is the payment token for monetary exchange.
Planets are divided into parcels that can be owned and traded. These land parcels allow payers to reap a land tax, which is similar to staking the coin. In-game items like ships and their components can also be bought and sold on the secondary NFT marketplace with Solana-supported currencies.
Aurory
Aurory will be another gaming platform based on the play-to-earn mechanism. The platform wants players from all over the world to discover blockchain use cases in a fun and educational way.
Aurory will use an SPL token as the core of its gaming ecosystem in both solo and multiplayer modes, but also in its marketplace. The 2D animation side scroller has multiple modes that allow players to earn NFTs when defeating creatures in the single-player mode. The NFTs can then be used in multiplayer mode wherein other NFTs can be earned by battling.
Each time players complete a quest, they gain some tokens that will be usable to play multiplayer games or to buy items in the marketplace.
Genopets
Genopets is an innovative game where users can create a Genopet or “digital familiar”, which is an NFT connected with your fitness data. Genopets is the first Move-to-Earn MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) where players that stay active evolve with their pets.
$KI tokens are generated through data collected by fitness devices and are used in battle, to craft valuable items, and to upgrade your Genopetâs style and performance. Players can earn by trading items and move-sets on the NFT marketplace as well as battling one another in play-for-keeps mini-games.
Solana is currently the seventh-largest crypto by market cap and has seen massive growth and utilisation in the past few months, raising US$450 million to challenge Ethereum for the dapp and DeFi market. In a related event, Australia’s Power Ledger has moved from Ethereum to Solana, favouring its higher throughput and speed.
Decentralised Finance (DeFi) project COVER and its lending affiliate RULER have closed down after the unexpected departure of the protocol’s development team, causing a significant drop in the value of both tokens.
In the announcement by COVER community manager DeFi Ted, there was no mention as to why the development team decided to pack up:
The decision to do this did not come easy and is a final decision the remaining team made after reviewing the path forward after the core developers suddenly left the projects.
DeFi Ted, COVER community manager
It was decided that the remaining treasury funds would be split among the token holders and that they will no longer continue with the RULER & COVER token or contracts, meaning the user interface will remain shut down.
The DeFi insurance agreement Cover and the lending platform Ruler announced the closure and will use the treasury funds to compensate token holders pic.twitter.com/tlcbSVGuih
Compensation will be distributed as per block number 13162680, though founding members won’t be among the holders being compensated.
Tokens Take a Dive
COVERâs token has fallen US$45 since Tedâs announcement, from US$269 to $224. As uncertainty from the news grips token holders, daily trading volume has soared from US$3.5 million to $19 million. The price of both protocolsâ tokens dove on the news, RULER also crashing from $10.68 to $1.37, according to CoinMarketCap.
RULER & COVER protocol will shutdown after the core developers suddenly left the projects.
The remaining treasury funds be evenly dispersed to token holders.
After the news RULER price decreased by 93% and COVER price decreased by 20%.
After it fell victim to an infinite minting hack in December 2020 which left its customers markedly uncovered by its insurance policies, there has been speculation about the protocol’s safety. At least the white hat hackers returned the 4350 ETH they stole, attaching to the transaction the message, “Next time, take care of your own shit.”
Both DeFi and their insurance platforms are targets for hackers looking to exploit volatilities on platforms holding large volumes of assets. Earlier this year, Nexus Mutual was also targeted by an attack.
What is DeFi Insurance and Why Do People Want It?
By locking up tokens on COVER as collateral, users received tokens that would cover them in case a DeFi protocol they invested in was hacked, rug-pulled or exploited. The value of these tokens depended on the degree of risk of the smart contract.
According to fintech company Yield, “DeFi insurance aims to protect users from losses in return for a specific premium based on the size of their holding and which platform they are holding it with. “
A DeFi insurance policy instead relies on its community of users to dictate premiums and orchestrate payouts, where traditional finance relies on a multinational insurer.
