Polkadot

The Most Viewed Crypto Videos: Ethereum Captured More Views on Youtube in 12 Months Than Bitcoin

09/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

Total Processing, a merchant services company has published a study this week about the most-watched cryptocurrency videos on Youtube during the last year. Even though bitcoin has climbed 700% since last April, ethereum has climbed 1,100% and videos pertaining to ethereum have accumulated the most views since April 2020.

Ethereum Videos Are the Most Viewed Crypto Asset Videos on Youtube

Digital currencies have exploded in popularity during the last 12 months, and it’s hard to believe how much some coins have gained. There’s a lot of statistics that show the enormous growth of cryptocurrencies like onchain data, the community’s representation on social media, and crypto trading statistics. A firm called Total Processing decided to analyze the data on Youtube during the last year in order to calculate the most viewed crypto-centric videos. Data shows that the smart contract blockchain Ethereum has captured the most views in the last 12 months.

Stats from Total Processing’s data show that ethereum (ETH) videos obtained 231 million views on Youtube, while bitcoin (BTC) captured 199.9 million views. Those two digital assets capture the lion’s share of views and get 4x the amount of views that the third position holds. Chainlink (LINK) got 45.7 million views since April 2020 and the fourth position cardano (ADA) acquired 43 million views. Total Processing notes that while the media plays a big role in cryptocurrencies, “Youtube’s role is just as significant” the company says.

Study Processed 10,000 Youtube Videos

Behind cardano (ADA) is XRP which acquired around 38.5 million views on Youtube throughout the year. This is followed by litecoin (LTC 27.5M views), uniswap (UNI 27.3M views), binance coin (BNB 25.4M views), tether (USDT 22.8M views), and polkadot (DOT) which captured 18.8 million views during the last year.

Total Processing says that other coins and channels saw considerable traction in 12 months. For instance, JRNY Crypto published a video explaining which altcoins he would buy which increased the price of stormx by 189.68% in seven days. Total Processing looked at the crypto assets in the top ten and processed 10,000 videos in total during the course of the study.

What do you think about Total Processing’s findings in regard to Youtube views per cryptocurrency? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The Missing Link: How Chainlink’s Pallet Aims to Deliver Greater Informational Access

08/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

As demand for smart contracts climbs, Chainlink’s modular oracle for the Substrate framework aims to power developers and defi applications with trusted off-chain information and pricing data needed to attract projects to Polkadot and Kusama.

Blistering Growth in Defi and Smart Contracts Beckon New Layer of Trust

As the smart contract revolution continues to gain traction, the fissures and flaws in existing infrastructure that supports these transactional protocols are becoming more apparent. Among the chief issues facing smart contracts, costs and security are the main factors in the spotlight.

To continue growing and scaling these unique protocols while not only addressing the accompanying shortcomings, smart contracts will effectively need to be “smarter.” Yet, given blockchains’ validation constraints, which are intended to preserve stability and security, there is a barrier to off-chain information by design.

Concerning smart contracts, satisfying contractual conditions may depend on external data (like pricing for instance), which may not be available on the corresponding blockchain hosting the contract itself. Besides creating a unique headache for developers, it corresponding restricts the use cases of smart contracts.

Chainlink stepped in with one answer among the pioneering solutions after introducing “oracles” to the blockchain universe. The main idea behind oracles involves connecting trusted external data sources to smart contracts, providing the missing link between the onchain and offchain worlds.

Smart Contract Adoption Depends on Data Access & Availability

Just like an API can connect two separate systems and share information, Chainlink can connect smart contracts to external data sources in the same manner. Akin to the premise that centralized sources of information can have a slant or bias, the idea behind Chainlink is to decentralize information inputs and outputs. This helps maintain a commitment to building open-source resources for developers that a single, controlling entity can’t compromise.

One of the main applications of Chainlink is pricing information, especially in the realm of decentralized finance (defi) applications. Borrowing and lending protocols like Aave already pull their rate pricing information from Chainlink, helping inform decisions and smart contract conditions. The architecture of oracles is such that they effectively provide another layer on top of existing blockchains, meaning they don’t compromise the integrity or security of the first layer.

Still, the oracle has many more applications besides defi. It can pull all manner of information, including weather conditions, sports results, and economic data changes, to name a few. To power these protocols and ensure greater adoption, smart contract access to off-chain data resources will be paramount.

Since Chainlink’s oracle was launched on Ethereum in 2019, it has been a mainstay among popular defi projects. Now the oracle is being adapted for other blockchains as the project attempts to maintain its agnostic stance. The latest iteration, designed for Polkadot and Kusama’s Substrate development framework, will act slightly differently from earlier versions.

The Pallet Module

Unlike the Ethereum version of Chainlink, which has nodes that report price information, Kusama and Polkadot parachains can individually determine whether they want to embrace Chainlink pricing data. By including their specific module, termed a “pallet,” developers can effectively bridge the Chainlink data into their respective smart contract applications.

For Polkadot Defi projects like Acala, this means that their parachain can choose to incorporate the oracle in a modular fashion. Yet, parachain projects that don’t need access to the data won’t be required to integrate the module. By extension, this means they won’t need to allocate any blockchain resources to Chainlink.

As defi projects seek greener pastures for more affordable cost structures and scalability, Polkadot and Kusama’s Chainlink integration will make it even easier for smart contract developers to make the leap. Meanwhile, a great number of alternative oracle-centric projects like Band, DIA, API3 are competing with Chainlink to offer similar services.

How do you see the oracles’ off-chain information impacting smart contracts usage? Let us know in the comments section below.

Polkadot’s Potential Gathers Momentum as Tether Joins the Ecosystem

06/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

The largest stablecoin by market capitalization will be the first to enter the ecosystem as the Kusama canary network adds support for tether before the eventual deployments to parachains.

Tether Inclusion Complements Polkadot’s Efforts to Attract More Defi Applications

With cryptocurrency once again on the ascent and the aggregated market capitalization nearing $2 trillion, tether (USDT) is increasingly playing an outsized role in many of the ecosystem’s activities.

Since emerging as the stablecoin of choice for many participants and applications alike, Tether’s market capitalization has eclipsed $40 billion, underscoring its large footprint, which outstrips any competing stablecoins by a large margin.

Now, as decentralized finance (defi) applications expand new horizons while hunting for more cost-effective and scalable platforms, support for USDT in the Polkadot ecosystem will grant the stablecoin new avenues for growth.

A Partnership to Catalyze Adoption

Polkadot, which is in the process of rolling out its multi-chain network, has developed a reputation as a potent alternative for Ethereum due to its inherent security and scalability delivered through its unique parachains.

USDT compatibility will ensure that the many new and existing defi applications endeavoring to become parachains will have access to a stablecoin needed to facilitate borrowing and lending protocols, yield farming, and more.

At the outset, USDT will join Kusama, Polkadot’s canary network, which serves as a more flexible testing ground and sandbox for new projects to test features with looser governance. Given Tether’s widespread use, this network’s interoperability will help transfer value across the blockchain universe.

While Polkadot does not seek to displace competing blockchains, the inclusion of USDT will make it possible for users and projects to transition between networks smoothly. Above all, tether will ensure greater stability in planned Polkadot defi projects given its low volatility and ability to preserve value. Moreover, its properties make it an excellent liquidity source, which is paramount for running successful defi protocols.

This new development adds value for both Polkadot and tether by fusing stability with scalability and affordability. Together, these two projects are forging a promising relationship that can overcome many pain points currently hamstringing other networks’ growth.

Will we see a rise in tether’s value as a result of this? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Crypto Economy Nears $2 Trillion, XRP Gains 37%, BTC Dominance Drops to 56%

05/04/2021 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have seen some significant gains on Monday as the entire market capitalization of all 8,500+ cryptocurrencies in existence has jumped a few percentages. Bitcoin’s price has spiked a touch over 1.5%, but a number of other coins have seen much larger gains during Monday’s trading sessions. Market aggregators show the crypto economy’s overall valuation is steadily approaching the $2 trillion handle.

Crypto-Economy Jumps 3% and Nears $2 Trillion in Valuation

Crypto assets have seen their values jump northbound on Monday as the entire crypto-economy has spiked 3% during the morning trading sessions (EST). Bitcoin (BTC) has risen by 1.9% and during the last seven days, BTC has gained 2.3%. The leading cryptocurrency, in terms of market valuation, BTC is currently exchanging hands for over $59k per unit. Ethereum (ETH) has done much better as the crypto asset has jumped over 16% this week and ether is swapping for $2,117 per coin.

Binance coin (BNB) has seen a massive 8.39% gain during the last 24 hours and is up a whopping 35.4% this week. The digital currency BNB is trading for $374 per unit on Monday. The fifth-largest market valuation is held by Polkadot (DOT) which is swapping for $44 per unit. Cardano (ADA) has jumped 2% today and each ADA is trading for $1.21 during the morning trading sessions. ADA is down 0.21% during the last week but is still up 6.26% over the last 30 days.

Ripple Starts to Rip, While Bitcoin Cash Gathers an 11% Lead

One of the biggest movers on Monday is XRP which has spiked 37.4% during the last day alone. XRP has been doing extremely well for investors as XRP has gained 68% during the last month. XRP is currently exchanging hands for $0.824 per unit.

Bitcoin cash (BCH) has shined on Monday as well jumping 12% against the U.S. dollar today and 9.3% against BTC. Bitcoin cash is trading for $626 per unit and prices are up +17.56% during the last week and 21.78% against the USD.

Today’s biggest gainers are the IOV blockchain token (IOV) up 323% and hitchain (HIT) up 208%. Paid (PAID) token is down 55% today and the coin elysian (ELY) is down 46% making up Monday’s biggest market losers.

What do you think about today’s crypto market movements? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

First Brick & Mortar NFT Art Exhibition Debuts In Beijing

26/03/2021 by Idelto Editor

In an industry first, a physical exhibition for digital art in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) is set to launch in China, showcasing notable works from leading artists in the NFT space and the winning entries from a global digital artwork competition.

Initiative Designed to Forge Greater Connections Between the Physical and Digital Art Realms

As greater mainstream attention turns to the NFT collectible and art mania that delivers new auction records every passing month, one group of industry leaders is bringing digital art to the physical realm. With its inaugural event titled, “Virtual Niche – Have you ever seen memes in the mirror?” a group of leading NFT evangelists and platforms are attempting to bring the Bitcoin and Polkadot communities together alongside the more traditional art world.

On March 26th, the 14-day event will begin in the UCCA Lab in Beijing before transitioning to Shanghai’s JinArt Center. The exhibition, which features hosts and sponsorship from both the art world and digital ecosystem, is designed to highlight the expanding potential for digital art while fostering greater connections between the two communities.

Besides hosting works from high-profile NFT artists, including 20 works from Beeple and Robert Alice’s “Portraits of a mind,” the exhibition will showcase the six winners of a digital art competition run by BlockCreateArt (BCA). The competition, which received 200 entries, asked participants to use Kusama’s canary logo as the inspiration for their submissions.

Christie’s, which recently auctioned Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” for a record-breaking $69.3 million, will be serving as an education support partner for the event. Their session, “Valuing Art in the Digital Age,” will be run by Christie’s Sara Mao. Additionally, Kusama will also be holding NFT workshops over the weekends for aspiring Chinese artists.

Growing Competition in the NFT Ecosystem

Beyond the big-name organizations orchestrating and hosting the event, the initiative is also supported by the Kusama Treasury. Kusama has come into greater focus in the NFT space as it vies to provide an alternative to Ethereum-based applications that currently dominate the space.

Kusama, which behaves as Polkadot’s “canary” network, effectively allows developers to build projects in an ecosystem expressly designed for experimentation. The idea behind this parallel network is to give developers a proving ground for their applications before moving into a Polkadot parachain if the proof of concept manages to attract adoption and awareness.

The canary network is already home to many organic NFT projects. Among them is BCA, which oversaw the aforementioned digital art competition. Other prominent projects also working off the network include Moonbeam and Unique Network.

These initiatives aim to list on a Polkadot parachain and form the go-to ecosystem for NFTs through a range of connected services like the open-source components needed to mint digital collectibles. Ultimately, these projects aim to bring together the communities, all while facilitating ease of use for artists and other creators seeking to join this transformative trend.

When NFTs are shown in the physical world, doesn’t it simply misses the whole point? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.