What is peer-to-peer (P2P) trading? Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading is a type of cryptocurrency exchange method that allows traders to trade directly with one another without the need for a centralized third party to facilitate the transactions. Unlike traditional Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges, which typically have strict regulations and require users to go through a verification process before they can access and use the platform, P2P trading platforms tend to be much more relaxed in terms of their requirements. In P2P trading, you can select your preferred offer and trade directly with a counterparty rather than using an automated engine to execute …

Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are turning out to be a treasure store with prices striding into the millions of dollars. Instances of an NFT garnering more than $69 million or a tweet fetching $2.9 million are not a fantasy, but an incredible reality. In 2021, an NFT by digital artist Beeple, or Mike Winkelmann, sold for a whopping $69 million, making NFTs a media hotshot and opening the floodgates for a string of other NFT sales, many of these in millions of dollars. Prompted by the plentiful talk about NFTs, stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Eminem, Grimes and many …

Government-issued electronic currency seems to be an idea whose time has come. “More than half of the world’s central banks are now developing digital currencies or running concrete experiments on them,” reported the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, in early May — something that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. The BIS also found that nine out of ten central banks were exploring central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, in some form or other, according to its survey of 81 central banks conducted last autumn but just published. Many were taken aback by the progress. “It …

Utility tokens vs. equity tokens Investors familiar with the concept of equity investing will find equity tokens to be an extension of the same thought process as initial public offerings while those with a riskier appetite can venture into plonking their capital on the utility tokens in which they believe. One glaring difference between utility and equity tokens is the fact that the former is not regulated as they provide access to a service rather than a specific investment in an asset or company as do equity tokens. However, for those asking the question of whether utility tokens can be …

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry has lost over a billion dollars to hackers in the past couple of months, and the situation seems to be spiraling out of control. According to the latest statistics, approximately $1.6 billion in cryptocurrencies was stolen from DeFi platforms in the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, over 90% of all pilfered crypto is from hacked DeFi protocols. These figures highlight a dire situation that is likely to persist over the long term if ignored. Why hackers prefer DeFi platforms In recent years, hackers have ramped up operations targeting DeFi systems. One primary reason as to …

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has tabled a proposal to preserve the Terra ecosystem following the historic depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin, UST, and the resulting death spiral that plunged Terra (LUNA) tokens to practically zero. In a Friday post on Terra’s research forum, Kwon said, “The Terra community must reconstitute the chain to preserve the community and the developer ecosystem.” His proposal, which was in response to validator groups discussing the possibility of forking the Terra chain, involves compensating UST and LUNA holders who were unable or unwilling to sell their holdings during this week’s price collapse. Kwon proposed …

The past week has been a dark period in the history of crypto, with the total market capitalization of this industry dipping as low as $1.2 trillion for the first time since July 2021. The turmoil, in large part, has been due to the real-time disintegration of Terra, a Cosmos-based protocol that powers a suite of algorithmic stablecoins. Approximately a week ago, LUNA ranked among the 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies in the market, with a single token trading at a price point of $85. By May 11, however, the price of the asset had dropped to $15. And, 48-hours on, …

Aurora, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) designed to scale decentralized applications (DApps) built on the Near protocol, has launched a token fund worth $90 million. The fund was launched today in partnership with Proximity Labs and will be focused on financing decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on the Near protocol. Near Protocol is a DApp platform that focuses on usability among developers and users. As an emerging layer-1 competitor to Ethereum, Near Protocol is also smart-contract capable and runs a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Funding was provided by Aurora Labs, which allocated 25 million AURORA tokens — currently valued at roughly …

Many know nonfungible tokens (NFTs) for their original take on art. However, their utility is much more significant with use cases such as event ticketing. The current market for live event ticketing is estimated to be worth $72 billion and is projected to reach $95 billion by 2026. Unfortunately, despite significant growth, the ticket has not evolved past the barcode. However, it isn't the format alone that makes the ticket inefficient; it is the concept. The traditional ticket has received criticism for its ability to be sold on secondary markets at a much higher price, enabling scalpers to profit at …

It goes without question that there has been an influx of excited investors piling into Web3 and this is despite the decrease in total volume sales in the last seven days. Since the start of May, the total market capitalization for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) rose to over $19.4 billion with the total volume exceeding $1.2 billion in the last seven days. Although volumes are lower than usual, spectators are quick to wonder whether the projects launching are delivering workable products given the amount of liquidity that pumps into them. Although this is not always the case, NFT investors are making …

Even though the cryptocurrency market seems to be going through a bit of a lull at the moment, there’s no denying the fact that the industry has grown from strength to strength over the last few years, especially from an adoption perspective. To this point, a recent study revealed that the number of adults in the United States using digital assets for everyday purchases will increase by 70% by the end of the year when compared to 2021, with the metric rising from 1.08 million to 3.6 million users. The study’s chief author suggests that as the crypto market’s volatility …

Like most new-age networks, Solana was developed to resolve major issues confronting the blockchain industry. While the network has addressed some of these issues by its very nature, it has also encountered a few unique problems. From resource exhaustion to a halt in block confirmation, the Solana network has suffered a number of setbacks that resulted in repeated power outages, causing the network to shut down for hours on several occasions. The network went down on December 4, 2020, about three years after Solana was introduced, causing confusion in the community. The chain appears to have stopped validating new blocks …