The network effect is a phenomenon where the value of a product or service increases as more people use it. As the user base grows, there are more opportunities for interactions, which can lead to increased benefits and positive outcomes for each user. The network effect is a powerful driver of growth and adoption for many technologies and platforms, including social media, messaging apps and marketplaces. The network effect and cryptocurrencies The network effect is also a central concept in the world of cryptocurrency. In general, it means that a cryptocurrency’s value rises as more people use it. This is …

The multichain exchange aggregator DexibleApp has been hit by an exploit, and $2 million worth of cryptocurrency has been lost as a result, according to a Feb. 17 post-mortem report released by the team on the project’s official Discord server. As of 6:35 p.m. UTC on Feb. 17, the DexibleApp frontend shows a popup warning about the hack whenever users navigate to it. At 6:17 a.m. UTC, the team reported that they had discovered “a potential hack on Dexible v2 contracts” and were investigating the issue. Approximately nine hours later, they released a second statement that they “now know $2,047,635.17 …

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR Government) announced on Feb 16 that it had issued HK$800 million in tokenized green bonds, under the Government's Green Bond Program (GBP). The bonds were underwritten by four banks and priced at a yield of 4.05%. According to the announcement, the platform used Goldman Sachs' tokenization protocol GS DAP for the bond, which uses a private blockchain network to settle security tokens representing the beneficial interests of bonds in a T+1 payment-vs-payment (DvP) manner, and cash tokens representing claims on the HKMA's Hong Kong …

The crypto industry will “probably” start using euro, yen, or Singapore dollar based stablecoins in the future, reducing its reliance on US dollar based stablecoins, according to a Feb. 14 statement on Twitter Spaces by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ.” CZ gave the statement in answer to a question about the crypto industry using gold as a standard of value instead of the US Dollar. CZ agreed that it “makes sense” to use gold. However, “most people’s costs are still in fiat currencies.” For this reason, most people calculate their investment returns in dollars, which is why …

For readers looking for unique, meaningful gifts for their valentine this Valentine’s Day, consider giving a cryptocurrency-related gift. Here are nine options: A cryptocurrency gift card Give your significant other the gift of choice by giving them a cryptocurrency gift card. They can use it to buy food or any digital asset they want, whether that’s Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) or a stablecoin like USD Coin (USDC). Virtual real estate Readers can buy virtual real estate in the metaverse, such as in Decentraland or The Sandbox, as a unique, romantic gift. Their significant other can build and customize their own …

What captivates many creators in the realm of blockchain and Web3 is the possibility to create, own and earn without intermediaries, and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have emerged as a catalyst in how it could be possible. On this week’s episode of NFT Steez, co-hosts Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond chat with Justin and J.P. Alanis, the co-founders of StoryCo — an open media platform — on the prospect of creators co-creating and franchising intellectual property through their storytelling and the integration of soulbound tokens — but how? Create-to-own and fandom trends emerging in Web3 As creators themselves, the Alanis brothers …

105-year-old German bank DekaBank is planning to launch a blockchain-based tokenization platform as part of its collaboration with the digital asset firm Metaco. DekaBank targets the release of its blockchain platform sometime in 2024, while the infrastructure is expected to be ready in 2023, DekaBank’s digital asset custody executive Andreas Sack told Cointelegraph. “The tokenization platform infrastructure will be ready in the foreseeable future, and that will launch the first minimum viable product in our crypto custody solution,” Sack stated. He added that the first test transactions of the tokenization platform are likely to take place this year. DekaBank’s upcoming …

As Uniswap DAO’s vote to deploy to BNB chain continues, LIFI CEO Phillip Zentner argued in a February 6 forum post that the current proposal is flawed. According to him, the plan to use Wormhole as the sole governance bridge for Uniswap should be abandoned. Instead, he claimed that Uniswap researchers should work on a standardized system for using multiple bridges to handle governance decisions. The ongoing discussion on @Uniswap's forum is critical for the multi-chain ecosystem in 2023. TL;DR: Uniswap's model for x-chain governance will likely become industry standard. As an unbiased member of the community, @lifiprotocol is rooting …

On Jan. 24, the dYdX Foundation, the entity responsible for the dYdX decentralized crypto exchange, announced “changes” to its tokenomics — the way it distributes tokens to early investors, employees and contractors, and, of course, the public. So, what’s uncommon about the situation? The project’s foundation, in agreement with dYdX Trading Inc. and its early investors, decided to amend the project's tokenomics and extend the period for which such investors’ initial batch of tokens would be locked, changing the date from Feb. 1 to Dec. 1, 2023. Whether this was a good or a bad thing depended on which side …

The research arm of cybersecurity software firm Check Point has flagged the Dingo Token (DINGO) as a “potential scam” after reportedly discovering a smart contract function that has been used to manipulate transaction fees. In a Feb. 3 blog post, Check Point Research (CPR) said it looked into the code behind the Dingo Smart Contract, discovering a backdoor function "setTaxFeePercent," which can change the contract's buy and sell fee up to 99%. This is despite the project’s whitepaper stating that there is only a 10% fee per transaction. According to CPR, this essentially allows the project’s owner to withdraw up …

Following the global regulatory race, Australia opened the public consultation on its own taxonomy of crypto assets. The national regulators propose to distinguish four major types of products related to the crypto industry. On Feb. 3, the Australian Treasury released a consultation paper on “Token Mapping,” announcing it as a foundational step in the Government’s multi‑stage reform agenda to regulate the market. It seeks to inform “a fact‑based, consumer conscious and innovation-friendly” approach to policy development. The paper, based on the “functional” and technology-neutral method, proposes a number of basic definitions for all the things crypto. At the first level, …

Bitcoin Ordinals causes fees to spike The Bitcoin (BTC)-native Ordinals protocol is taking up record-breaking space on the blockchain and in the process is hiking the transaction fees on the network. The divisive newly launched protocol allows for nonfungible token (NFT)-esque assets on the Bitcoin mainnet by inscribing satoshis with content. So far, inscriptions have included content such as images, documents including a PDF file of the Bitcoin whitepaper and even a fully playable clone of the video game DOOM. On Feb. 2, independent developer, Udi Wertheimer, tweeted he had conducted the “largest transaction in Bitcoin’s history” after using the …