Author: coins520

Making Passive Income in Crypto with CopytradingMaking Passive Income in Crypto with Copytrading

As part of our first article in our passive income in crypto series we will be discussing Copytrading. This article will run through what Copytrading is, how Copytrading works, the risks and the potential benefits of it, and a guide on how to start Copytrading.

What is Copytrading?

The vast majority of people who start trading lose money. This is a known fact. Some will slowly bleed their account away bit by bit over the course of weeks months or even years. Others will bet the farm on a handful of trades and be wiped out in two weeks. However the result in both scenarios is the same. Whether you blow up your account in 2 weeks or 2 years you are just another addition to the statistic of 91% of retail traders who have lost money.

This poses an interesting question if 91% of people fail trading why don’t we just give our money to the 9% of people who do. This is in essence what copy trading is. When they place a trade you copy it exactly.

In the “Real World” that’s what happens for the most part. People entrust others to invest their money into an index fund, hedge fund, bonds, or some other type of passive fund.

Up until recently there hasn’t been the infrastructure to do the same in the crypto world. But in steps PrimeXBT which gave the ability to do it all through crypto when they launched their Copytrading module this year with the help of Covesting.

How Copytrading Works

Copytrading works on PrimeXBT by letting you choose between a variety of ‘funds’. These are set-up by users of the platform to allow others to copy their trades.

Users can then deposit money in a fund of their choosing. From then on anytime the fund manager makes a trade you will automatically copy it.

It is important to note when you ‘deposit’ Bitcoin into a fund they do not actually have control of your Bitcoin. They cannot withdraw any Bitcoin that you deposit in their fund. Your Bitcoin remains on PrimeXBT in your ownership only every time they make a trade the PrimeXBT platform will automatically copy it.

There of course is an incentive structure for starting a fund and allowing users to copytrade you. They earn a percentage of the profits that their followers earn.

The Risks of Copytrading

Like everything there are risks associated with Copytrading. The most obvious one is that you are letting someone else trade your Bitcoin. You could lose your deposited Bitcoin if the fund starts to lose money.

A lot of the funds have extraordinary total profits as previously seen in the image above. Be very careful when depositing in these funds. If they can make 5000% profit in a few weeks there is the potential that they could lose it all tomorrow. If you are investing in high risk funds like this ensure that you are only depositing a small amount of money that you feel comfortable losing should things go bad.

Most of the funds have a description of what type of strategy they are employing and the risk associated with said strategy. Read through the description before making up your mind on what fund(s) you are going to deposit your Bitcoin in.

Many of the fund managers have Twitter accounts and Telegram channels linked in their funds description. Read through them to again gain further incite into the risk level associated with certain funds.

Another piece of advice is to check the funds star rating and ensure they always have over 0.5BTC of equity in the fund. This ensures that the trader has skin in the game and is a lot more incentivized to trade well.

You can also check the amount of equity the fund manager holds within the funds description.

The Benefits of Copytrading

Again the benefits of Copytrading are obvious. It is a way to generate some potential income without having to do much of anything. In essence it is as the name implies ‘passive income’.

There are risks attached which we have just mentioned but if you are willing to manage these risks appropriately copytrading can be a decent source of income with whatever spare amount of Bitcoin you have lying around.

How to Start Copytrading

PrimeXBT makes both Copytrading and starting your own fund very easy. We will first start with Copytrading.

Copytrading

Step 1) Creating an Account

Creating an account on PrimeXBT is just like making one anywhere else. All you need is an email, phone number, and password. PrimeXBT also has the added benefit of not requiring KYC.

Step 2) Depositing your Bitcoin

Once you’re all registered the next step is depositing your Bitcoin which we will use to Copytrade.

First find the accounts menu in the top navigation bar.

Secondly look for the deposits tab in the dropdown menu on the left hand side of your screen.

Finally you will see your personal deposit wallet. Scan the QR code or enter the wallet address manually into the send function of your Bitcoin wallet.

You can also buy Bitcoin directly on PrimeXBT if you so choose using the button on the right.

This will bring you to the following screen where you can complete your transaction.

Step 3) Depositing in a Fund

Once your Bitcoin transaction goes through we can invest in a fund.

Firstly go to the Covesting tab in the top navigation bar.

Next you will see the full list of available funds as shown below.

Here you will want to research which fund suits your needs and risk profile best like we have previously mentioned.

Once you have found a fund that suits you click the follow button on the right hand tab.

This will bring up the following tab.

Enter the amount you are willing to deposit, agree to the terms and conditions, and click follow.

Voila! You have successfully started copy trading. You can view all the funds you are following and their total profit and loss in the ‘Portfolio’ tab on the left.

Becoming a Fund Manager

If you think you have what it takes becoming a fund manager is also very easy. Within the same Covesting tab mentioned on the left side of your screen there is a ‘Create Strategy’ tab.

Once you are there you can enter the name of your strategy, a description and social links your followers can use.

You will then be asked to deposit the minimum amount of 0.1BTC to open a fund. Once you have done that congratulate yourself on opening your first fund.

Conclusion

If you have made it this far you know everything you need to know about Copytrading. Whether you choose to start is entirely up to you. You know the drawbacks and risks and you know the benefits.

If you are still unsure about it start with a small amount. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, that’s fine too you haven’t lost much of anything.

How to Trade Forex with Bitcoin – 3 Easy StepsHow to Trade Forex with Bitcoin – 3 Easy Steps

Many people get into the realm of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because its something different. They have might have traded stocks or foreign exchange in the past and are looking for something new and exciting. Which the cryptocurrency market can definitely provide.

But what if you want to go in reverse? You already hold some Bitcoin and maybe the crypto market is having a downturn, The FOREX market is going crazy and you want in on the action.

Well look no further than this guide. We will show you the simple 3 step process for how to trade FOREX with Bitcoin

  1. Creating an Account
  2. Depositing Your Bitcoin
  3. Buying Stocks with Your Bitcoin

1) Creating an Account

To trade FOREX with Bitcoin we first need a platform to trade said currencies on. The platform we will using in this guide and the one we recommend is SimpleFX. After looking through a variety of potential options SimpleFX is the one that has the greatest number of FOREX pairs on their platform.

In terms of currencies it has 50+ to choose from. Including nearly all the majors specifically Cardano, one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, is one of the listed cryptocurrencies. The platform also has support for trading a variety of commodities, precious metals, indices, cryptocurrencies, and you can even trade stocks with Bitcoin on the platform if you ever want to change things up.

Registering an Account

Creating an account on SimpleFX is very straightforward. Click the link below to be brought to the sign up page.

Once there you will be brought to the homepage. From there click ‘Create Account’ in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Once done you will be brought to the account registry box. You can sign up through Facebook, Google, Telegram, Twitter, and of course email which we will be using. Simply enter in your account email and password like any other account. Agree to the terms and conditions and click ‘Create Account’.

SimpleFX Registration Page
SimpleFX Registration Page

You will then receive an email to confirm your account registration, find the email and click ‘Verify’.

SimpleFX Confirmation Email
SimpleFX Confirmation Email

2) Depositing Your Bitcoin

The next step is depositing funds to trade. Again this is like any other Bitcoin transaction. Firstly once fully signed you will want to click the deposit button in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will bring up the potential options.

You can choose from Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, Monero, and Tether. This article is entitled how to trade Stocks with Bitcoin so we will use Bitcoin however the process is the exact same with other cryptocurrencies.

SimpleFX Deposit Method
SimpleFX Deposit Method

To deposit your Bitcoin click the Bitcoin logo. You will then see the details for depositing on the right read through them to confirm you are okay. Then click deposit. Once done you should see the screen below.

From here its exactly like any other Bitcoin transaction. Either scan the QR code with your Bitcoin wallet app or copy and paste the address into your wallet. Double check the wallet address is correct and hit send.

3) Trading FOREX with your Bitcoin

Once you have waited a while and your Bitcoin has been successfully deposited you can start trading FOREX right away. As long as the market is open that is!

Trading on SimpleFX might be a little different than your previous trading platforms you have used so we recommend playing around with demo trading to get a feel for things. To access Bitcoin demo trading click the Bitcoin icon in the top right hand corner of the screen. From here you can change between demo trading and live trading.

SimpleFX Demo Trading
SimpleFX Demo Trading

Selecting Markets

To start trading you will want to first find a market you are interested in trading. You can scroll through the list of available markets via the tab on the left. Markets are organized by category, Once you click the dropdown menu the full list of markets will show.

Market categories
Market categories

Alternatively you can use the search function at the top of the screen. Using the search bar you can also filter by country, and asset type.

Placing a Trade

Once you have selected a market you want to trade simply click ‘Place Order’ and the following order entry menu will be brought up. We are trading Apple here but the process is the exact same for currencies.

SimpleFX Trade Menu
SimpleFX Trade Menu

At the top you are obviously given to main options. Buy or Sell. Below that then you have the options to use a market order or a pending order. A market order will immediately either buy or sell your chosen asset at the current market rate. A pending order will give you the option to buy or sell at a certain price.

Below that in the ‘Units’ you can decide how much of your chosen asset you want to buy.

Required margin shows the minimum amount of margin you need to place a trade. Free margin shows the total amount of margin you have available.

With take profit you can set the price or point movement at which your trade will automatically close in profit. Stop loss does the same except you set the price or point movement your trade will close to prevent further loss.

Margin Trading

SimpleFX also has support for highly levered margin trading. When you are placing the amount of units of a stock you want to buy the ‘Available’ figure shows the amount of stocks you could buy with the Maximum amount of leverage.

I currently have funded my account with roughly 0.3BTC yet I can get exposure to over 1317 Apple shares. In dollars my 0.3BTC can get me exposure to nearly 175,000$. 50x my initial margin.

DO NOT use this amount of leverage unless you know exactly what you are doing. Even if only using small amount of leverage be very careful. If price turns sharply against you there is a risk that your entire trade value could be liquidated. If you are not experienced with leverage trading keep the ‘Trade Value’ roughly equal to the ‘Free Margin’.

Closing and Monitoring Trades

Once you first place a trade your order might appear in the ‘Pending’ tab down the bottom. If price reaches your order your order will be filled and will appear in ‘Open’. Here you can see the order details including your order price and profit and loss.

Conclusion

If you have made it this far pat yourself on the back. You now know how to buy and trade stocks with Bitcoin.

As always when trading make sure your risk is managed well. The typical rule is to not risk more then 2% of your account per trade.

Crypto Market Volumes Continue to SoarCrypto Market Volumes Continue to Soar

It was another “exciting” month in the cryptocurrency space. Bitcoin has taken a tumble from 12000$ to 10000$ bringing the market as a whole with it with many altcoins down significantly as a result.

It was also another big month for cryptocurrency trading volumes as revealed by CryptoCompares monthly exchange report. The report highlighted many trends within the crypto industry

Spot Volumes are up Massively

highlighted in the report is the news that spot volumes for top-tier crypto exchanges are up 58.3%. Bringing the total to $529 billion in volume across the month of August.

Volume on lower tier exchanges also increased 30.2% to $291 billion. This makes the volume split between higher and lower tier exchanges 64:36 in favour of top tier exchanges. Among the exchanges with the biggest increase in spot volume was Binance which was up 83%.

Derivatives Volume Surge

Volume for derivatives exchanges also increased significantly. Total derivatives volume increased for another consecutive month up 53.6% to $711.1 billion.

This means that derivatives trading continues to hover around 40% of total cryptocurrency trading. Binance again took the cake for the largest individual increase in exchange volume. Their derivatives volume up 74%.

Options Trading Holds Steady

The previous report from CryptoCompare documented the record breaking month for cryptocurrency options trading in the month of July. In the month of August these volumes held steady with down slightly by 0.6% to $4.05 billion.

How to Buy and Trade Stocks with Bitcoin – 3 Easy StepsHow to Buy and Trade Stocks with Bitcoin – 3 Easy Steps

Many people get into the realm of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because its something different. They have might have traded stocks or foreign exchange in the past and are looking for something new and exciting. Which the cryptocurrency market can definitely provide.

But what if you want to go in reverse? You already hold some Bitcoin and maybe the crypto market is having a downturn, Tesla’s valuation is going through the roof and you want in on the action.

Well look no further than this guide. We will show you the simple 3 step process for how to buy and trade stocks with Bitcoin

  1. Creating an Account
  2. Depositing Your Bitcoin
  3. Buying Stocks with Your Bitcoin

1) Creating an Account

To buy and trade stocks with Bitcoin we first need a platform to trade said stocks on. The platform we will using in this guide and the one we recommend is SimpleFX. After looking through a variety of potential options SimpleFX is the one that has the greatest number of tradeable equities on their platform. Not only from the US but also British, French, German, and Japanese.

In terms of US equities it has 35+ to from. Including nearly all the majors from Tesla, Apple, and Google to Boeing, Netflix, and Nvidia. The platform also has support for trading a variety of commodities, precious metals, forex, indices, and cryptocurrencies if you ever want to change things up.

Preview of US Equities
Preview of US Equities

Registering an Account

Creating an account on SimpleFX is very straighforward. Click the link below to be brought to the sign up page.

Once there you will be brought to the homepage. From there click ‘Create Account’ in the top right hand corner of the screen.

Once done you will be brought to the account registry box. You can sign up through Facebook, Google, Telegram, Twitter, and of course email which we will be using. Simply enter in your account email and password like any other account. Agree to the terms and conditions and click ‘Create Account’.

SimpleFX Registration Page
SimpleFX Registration Page

You will then receive an email to confirm your account registration, find the email and click ‘Verify’.

SimpleFX Confirmation Email
SimpleFX Confirmation Email

2) Depositing Your Bitcoin

The next step is depositing funds to trade. Again this is like any other Bitcoin transaction. Firstly once fully signed you will want to click the depsoit button in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will bring up the potential options.

You can choose from Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, Monero, and Tether. This article is entitled how to trade Stocks with Bitcoin so we will use Bitcoin however the process is the same with other cryptocurrencies.

SimpleFX Deposit Method
SimpleFX Deposit Method

To deposit your Bitcoin click the Bitcoin logo. You will then see the details for depositing on the right read through them to confirm you are okay. Then click deposit. Once done you should see the screen below.

From here its exactly like any other Bitcoin transaction. Either scan the QR code with your Bitcoin wallet app or copy and paste the address into your wallet. Double check the wallet address is correct and hit send.

3) Buying Stocks with your Bitcoin

Once you have waited a while and your Bitcoin has been successfully deposited you can start trading stocks right away. As long as the market is open that is!

Trading on SimpleFX might be a little different than your previous trading platforms you have used so we recommend playing around with demo trading to get a feel for things. To access Bitcoin demo trading click the Bitcoin icon in the top right hand corner of the screen. From here you can change between demo trading and live trading.

SimpleFX Demo Trading
SimpleFX Demo Trading

Selecting Markets

To start trading you will want to first find a market you are interested in trading. You can scroll through the list of available markets via the tab on the right. Markets are organized by category, Once you click the dropdown menu the full list of markets will show.

Market categories
Market categories

Alternatively you can use the search function at the top of the screen. Using the search bar you can also filter by exchange, country, and asset type.

Placing a Trade

Once you have selected a market you want to trade simply click ‘Place Order’ and the following order entry menu will be brought up.

SimpleFX Trade Menu
SimpleFX Trade Menu

At the top you are obviously given to main options. Buy or Sell. Below that then you have the options to use a market order or a pending order. A market order will immediately either buy or sell your chosen asset at the current market rate. A pending order will give you the option to buy or sell at a certain price.

Below that in the ‘Units’ you can decide how much of your chosen asset you want to buy.

Required margin shows the minimum amount of margin you need to place a trade. Free margin shows the total amount of margin you have available.

With take profit you can set the price or point movement at which your trade will automatically close in profit. Stop loss does the same except you set the price or point movement your trade will close to prevent further loss.

Margin Trading

SimpleFX also has support for highly levered margin trading. When you are placing the amount of units of a stock you want to buy the ‘Available’ figure shows the amount of stocks you could buy with the Maximum amount of leverage.

I currently have funded my account with roughly 0.3BTC yet I can get exposure to over 1317 Apple shares. In dollars my 0.3BTC can get me exposure to nearly 175,000$. 50x my initial margin.

DO NOT use this amount of leverage unless you know exactly what you are doing. Even if only using small amount of leverage be very careful. If price turns sharply against you there is a risk that your entire trade value could be liquidated. If you are not experienced with leverage trading keep the ‘Trade Value’ roughly equal to the ‘Free Margin’.

Closing and Monitoring Trades

Once you first place a trade your order might appear in the ‘Pending’ tab down the bottom. If price reaches your order your order will be filled and will appear in ‘Open’. Here you can see the order details including your order price and profit and loss.

Conclusion

If you have made it this far pat yourself on the back. You now know how to buy and trade stocks with Bitcoin. In the next section we will clarify some questions you may have about the SimpleFX platform.

As always when trading make sure your risk is managed well. The typical rule is to not risk more then 2% of your account per trade.

UMA Protocol – Synthetic Assets for the DeFi EconomyUMA Protocol – Synthetic Assets for the DeFi Economy

UMA describes itself as a protocol for building synthetic assets. In a trustless, permissionless, and decentralized manner.

But what is a synthetic asset you may ask? Put simply a synthetic asset is an asset that is artificially created to mimic or copy another asset.

The best example we have of this in the cryptocurrency space is with Tether or USDT. When you buy USDT you are buying a synthetic version of the US Dollar. USDT matches the value of the US Dollar because you can exchange your USDT for real US Dollars at a number of exchanges at a price that is almost exactly 1:1.

UMA Protocol aims to allow users of the platform to create synthetic assets for almost anything storing them immutably on the Ethereum blockchain. From bringing equity trading to crypto to allowing users to advanced cryptocurrency derivatives UMA wants to do it. But can it?

In this review we will discuss how the UMA Protocol works, the UMA Protocol team, the use case for UMA Protocol, the value of the UMA token, and more.

The UMA Protocol Team and Backers

The Founders

UMA Protocol was founded by Hart Lambur and Allison Lu.

Hart Lamu formerly was CEO and founder of Openfolio. He also worked as a trader at Goldman Sachs

Allison Lu was formerly founder and VP of Credit and Risk at Tala a consumer credit company. Similarly Lu also worked as a trader at Goldman Sachs.

UMA Protocol Backers and Investors

UMA is backed by some of the biggest cryptocurrency investors and venture capital groups. Perhaps the one that draws the eye the most is Coinbase ventures who are obviously a giant in the crypto space.

But there is also BainCapital and Two Sigma ventures who are also 2 major venture groups both in and outside of the crypto industry.

Trading UMA

UMA can currently be traded on a variety of exchanges both centralized and decentralized. The one we currently recommend is OKex. If you sign up for OKex and choose to purchase more than 100$ in UMA you will get 10$ in free Bitcoin.

How UMA Protocol Works

How the protocol works is explained simply on the UMA project homepage.

UMA uses concepts taken from traditional financial markets and derivatives and brings them to the realm of blockchain. In the ‘real world’ derivatives between two parties are often secured by legal contract. However with UMA they are secured purely by economic incentive

Step 1 – Lets imagine a scenario with Alice and Bob. Alice thinks the price of apples will go down over the next 6 months, Bob thinks they will go up. Alice and Bob create a trade using UMA. Both sides deposit a margin requirment of 10% that is lost if they misbehave.

Step 2 – Over the next few months the value of apples goes down. As the price shifts down Bob automatically contributes more money to cover his 10% margin. The more the price falls the more he has to contribute to not lose his 10%

Step 3 – After the 6 months the price of apples has fallen by 30%. Here Alice was right. As Bob was consistently adding funds to ensure he kept his 10% the contract is settled and the profit is transferred to Alice.

The Oracle

One of the main questions that may strike you is how do you get the data for the price of an apple into the smart contract. Its not like there is a command you can call on Ethereum that can find this data. Its also very risky to use API’s and data providers as these can create centralized points of failure within our contract.

The solution to this is through what is called an Oracle. An Oracle simply put allows us to access off-chain data and information in a trustless and decentralized manner.

An Oracle simply put allows us to access off-chain data and information in a trustless and decentralized manner. We have previously reviewed Oracle projects such as DIAdata and Tellor before. However UMA has built their own built especially for the UMA Protocol.

This Oracle focuses especially on creating economic incentives that eliminate any chance of corruption. Founder Hart Lambur explains this well in his Medium Blogpost

The Value of the UMA Token

The UMA token has 2 major roles within the protocol. Firsty, holders of the UMA token will be asked to vote on price requests for the oracle. In the example we provided that would be the price of apples. Secondly, the UMA token is used to vote on governance issues within the protocol. These include voting on parameter changes and system upgrades.

But how are valued derived from these well again incentives are at play. By voting correctly on price requests you earn network rewards based on how much UMA they hold.

Value is also derived from governance as it gives equity to holders in the protocol allowing them to get a say in the network.

The Use Case for UMA Protocol

The DeFi space has grown exponentially in the past few months and it is in this market that UMA is targeting, The potential is there to create a variety of cryptocurrency products and derivatives.

UMA also has potential in bringing real world assets to the blockchain. You can create a synthetic asset for almost anything these don’t just include things like dollars or euros but potentially equities and derivatives from traditional financial markets. All on Ethereum and freely transferable.

FTX Launches Uniswap IndexFTX Launches Uniswap Index

FTX an exchange launched in 2019 which became popular among traders for its diverse range of trading products and markets has today launched a Uniswap index

Uniswap is a decentralized protocol based on Ethereum for providing liquidity to the Ethereum Network. It became popular in the past few months due to the yield farming craze.

The Uniswap index price will be the sum of the asset prices of the pools listed on FTX’s support page multipled by FTX’s ETH index.

With the launch of the index came the 4 products based around it. A Uniswap perpetual contract, a Uniswap futures contract, and 2 Uniswap leveraged tokens.

100x Group Announces $40,000 Grant to Bitcoin Developer Calvin Kim100x Group Announces $40,000 Grant to Bitcoin Developer Calvin Kim

100x Group the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has today announced a $40,000 one-year grant to Bitcoin developer Calvin Kim.

Kims area of expertise and development was in the area of Utreexo. Within the blog post 100x describe Kim as being instrumental in the development of the first demonstration release of Utreexo.

What is Utreexo?

On the Bitcoin network user balances in wallets are stored as a collection of ‘unspent transaction outputs’ or an acronym you might be familiar with ‘UTXOs’. In terms of size the full Bitcoin blockchain is around 300GB with the UTXO set being 4GB.

Nodes on the network can shed some of the blockchain data. However, with the UTXO’s nodes are required to keep the full set on hand to validate transactions and spend coins. This could be a major bottleneck for Bitcoin in the future.

Utreexo will allow these UTXO sets to be compressed into much smaller sizes with no loss of security. It works with some presumably complex cryptography but the gist of it is that instead of the network being responsible for keeping track of UTXO’s the burden is put on the wallet owner instead.

With Utreexo the holder of funds maintains a proof that the funds exist, and when they wish to spend those funds they provide said proof. This can drastically reduce the size of unspent transactions.

In response to the grant, Tadge Dryja from MIT’s Digitical Currency Initiative, credited with inventing Utreexo, said the following to 100x:

It’s great that 100x is not only funding Bitcoin research and development, but also providing support for newcomers to the Bitcoin open source ecosystem. We at the DCI are looking forward to working with Calvin on improving Bitcoin’s scalability & security, and making Bitcoin the best digital currency we can

Kleros (PNK) – Justice in a Decentralized WorldKleros (PNK) – Justice in a Decentralized World

Kleros is a platform that’s attempting to bring courts to the realm of blockchain. Yes, you did read that correctly courts to the blockchain. Where there are jurors, plaintiffs, and defendants. With real value at stake.

Your first thought upon hearing that might be slight bemusement. However, Kleros has some very interesting ideas and incentives structures to try and make decentralized justice work.

But will Kleros work? And will the Kleros token Pinakion (PNK) succeed? In this article we will discuss that, the Kleros team, the value of the Kleros token, how Kleros works, and more.

The Kleros Team and Backers

The Team

The founders behind the Kleros project are Federico Ast and Clément Lesaege.

Federico Ast is CEO of Kleros. Holding a PhD in management he specializes in blockchain, fintech, and now legaltech most notably with Kleros.

Clément Lesaege is the current CTO of Kleros. Being a computer scientist he become interested in using blockchain to enforce dispute resolution. When Ethereum launched he realized that might just be possible.

Among the two founders there is also a solid team of researchers, advisors, developers, and ambassadors backing the project. They can be seen below.

Project Backers and Grants

Just this year Kleros was the winner of the European Commissions Blockchains for Social Good Prize. In January they also received a grant from investment bank BPI France.

Trading Kleros

Kleros is currently being traded on a variety of platforms. Both centralized and decentralized. Some of these lack liquidity and reputation so we currently recommend OKex. If you buy 100$ of PNK on your first purchase you will earn 10$ of Bitcoin for free.

How Kleros Works

If you have ever bought anything from a freelancer or even just a product online you will understand the headache that can sometimes occur if there is a dispute.

You buy a product that is not to your liking you raise the issue with the supplier and then its constant back and forth trying to reach a compromise if yo ever reach one at all

Kleros takes the headache out of this with a simple 3 step process:

Step 1 – The first step in most financial transactions is handing money over. Typically this means handing money over to the supplier of a good or service.

With Kleros this is not the case. Instead of handing your money over to the supplier. Your money is sent to a securely locked smart contract.

Step 2 – Once your money has been locked into the smart contract the seller or supplier begins work. Once work has been completed the seller submits the product to the buyer.

If the buyer is happy with the work the money is taken out of the smart contract and sent to the supplier and that is the end of the transaction.

However, if there is a dispute that’s where Kleros steps in.

Step 3 – If there is a dispute initiated the transaction goes to the consideration of the jurors on the Kleros network. Jurors selected randomly by the Kleros protocol are then given time to consider evidence from both sides. Once they reach a decision the funds are either refunded to the buyer or sent to the seller. The transaction is then complete.

Kleros Incentive Structure

After reading the above you may be able to point out some major flaws in the process. However, Kleros uses economic incentives to solve these problems.

How do You Become a Kleros Juror?

To become a Kleros juror you must first hold some PNK tokens. Once you do you will want to go to the Kleros Dapp, select a court to join, and then stake your PNK.

Once your PNK has been staked within a specific court when a dispute arises you will be included in the jury pool who may be randomly selected.

The courtrooms are based on a variety of specializations. Currently there are 6 categories. The advantage of this is that the jurors have specialization or technical knowledge in the court they wish to become a jury member. For example if you are fluent in English you can join the court for ‘English Language’. Or, if you expertise in video production you can sign up for the video production court.

Why Become a Kleros Juror?

Nobody is going to give up their time for free. Thats why Kleros offers economic incentives for being a juror. By being a juror you can earn ETH as as a reward.

If you are a juror on a case and our asked to make a decision. If you vote with the majority you earn ETH. While if you vote in the minority or on the losing side you lose a partial amount of your PNT. This creates an economic incentive where people are both encouraged to become jurors and vote correctly so they can earn rewards.

The amount of rewards you receive is based on the courts you are staked in. Typically the higher the expertise required the higher the stake amount. Courts like Blockchain Technical have rewards of up to 0.89ETH while English language is only 0.1ETH.

Can Kleros be Attacked?

Like most networks Kleros can be attacked. However, that does not mean that it will be. One of major attacks that Kleros could face is a sybil attack. This is where the reputation of the network is attacked by creating multiple identities

In Kleros’s case this would mean staking multiple ETH wallets with PNK in them and then using this PNK to manipulate jury decisions undermining the project. However, if you were to carry out this attack you would destroy the value of tokens you just bought. This economic incentive reduces the likelihood of an attack but if someone wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on attacking Kleros it is possible.

The Value of the PNK Token

We have already discussed how the ability to become a jury member creates value for the PNK token. But that is not the only way the token is valuable.

The PNK token is also used as a governance token. Through DAO platform Aragon. Via the Aragon platform holders of PNK tokens can vote on key issues for the platform. For example in a previous vote the holders of PNK tokens voted to add a data analysis and statistical modelling court.

This creates value for the PNK token as in order to get a say in the network you must hold PNK.

The Use Case for Kleros

As you can imagine if Kleros is to succeed the use case could be quite large. Kleros themselves cite use cases in areas such as small claims, e-commerce, DeFi, intellectual property, and insurance. But the potential is there for use in any scenario where disagreements between two parties need to be resolved quickly and effectively.

Trading Kleros (PNK)

Kleros is currently being traded on a variety of platforms. Both centralized and decentralized. Some of these lack liquidity and reputation so we currently recommend OKex. If you buy 100$ of PNK on your first purchase you will earn 10$ of Bitcoin for free.

Former Head of Robinhood Crypto Joins FTX.US as COOFormer Head of Robinhood Crypto Joins FTX.US as COO

Today as revealed by The Block former head of Robinhood Crypto, Sina Nader has joined FTX.US as COO. Nader had also previously worked with Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and crypto investment firm CryptoLux Capital.

Founder and CEO of FTX Sam-Bankman Fried told The Block “We’re really excited for Sina to join — he brings a ton of experience, energy, and vision for the exchange, and in general for the U.S. crypto market.”

Also revealed by Bankman-Fried that this new hiring coincides with future expansion plans for the FTX.US exchange.

FTX was first founded in 2019 and gained significantly popularity among traders for its innovative range of trading products. These include leverage tokens, options, perpetual swaps, and futures contracts. Currently FTX trades well over $300 million a day.

FTX.US was FTX’s foray into the US market. Currently offering 8 trading pairs it is a more bare-bones trading experience to that of FTX. This being due to financial regulations in the US.

FTX.US Trading Pairs

Since its launch in May this year FTX.us has remained rather stagnant but with the reveal today that may be about to change.

Nader said via LinkedIn that he is “”super excited about all we will do.”