Tag: defi

Cat Links Canuck's Corner, Crier's Corner, Newsletters

Beyond the FUD

Posted on nrn

FTX isn’t crypto! This can’t be stated frequently or loudly enough! SBF and his band of shysters have been all over the news. The Crypto exchange and its native token FTT have many shell shocked investors wonder WTF happened.

FTX did not have its own blockchain. It didn’t create, it didn’t program. They were simply some math loving nerds making increasingly riskier bets using Other People’s Money (OPM).

In the early days the bets paid off and they made some money. Ok, a lot of money. However, their luck which they mistook for skill, soon ran out. Remember, when making bets, the house always wins! Those big Vegas Casinos weren’t build by gamblers being successful.

Unlike blockchains, coins and tokens, Crypto Exchanges are not products. They are marketplaces more akin to a bank or brokerage firm.

SBF was a cocky dick. He made brazen bets with OPM while many Investors didn’t know they weren’t actually investing in crypto.

What were the warning signs?

What can we learn from this? … Continue readingBeyond the FUD

Cat Links Canuck's Corner, Newsletters

The Playable future of NFTs

Posted on nrn

Leveling up! A term that has become ubiquitous in our vernacular. Video games have long been an escape from reality for kids and adults alike. Within the games, players are on a seemingly endless quest to gain an edge. A jacket for an armour boost. A more powerful sword to vanquish the next-level boss. Even a new wide receiver to get a few more touchdowns in your Sunday game against the Bears.

Now, as we look at in-game items, I thought, who better to ask than our in-house Nerds? Co-hosts of NerdFT Radio, CryptoCrier, and RedSoxGuy aka RSG.

Many big game brands have focused their historical attention on console gaming. One of the big problems with this is the high costs associated with the setup. Additionally, they are not portable. We now have a new generation of players who grew up playing video games on mobile devices. Much of the developing world won’t have big-screen TVs and an Xbox at home, but they do have tablets and smartphones.

As the platform you access the game from becomes less (or not at all) important, the conversation shifts to where does the game live? Blockchain technology feels like the simplest and most obvious answer to this.
… Continue readingThe Playable future of NFTs

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DFK Sails to Klaytn

Posted on nrn

Here today, gone tomorrow! When the Harmony network was exploited for $100M , DeFi Kingdoms (DFK) was the blameless victim of the hack. Making up as much as 90% of the traffic on the Harmony network, the popular game bore the brunt of the fallout.

In a recent release, DFK announced it was leaving the Harmony chain and heading to Klaytn.

So why go to a chain so few people have heard of? Klaytn is more centralized than many blockchains. We have different theories as to why Klay chose centralization. … Continue readingDFK Sails to Klaytn

Cat Links Canuck's Corner, Crier's Corner, Newsletters

Anniversary reflections

Posted on nrn

One year in, we take a light hearted look at NRN on our first anniversary.

What a difference a year makes. The first anniversary is the paper anniversary. That is fitting since much of what has defined web3 is paper hands. Perhaps the most critical aspect of Web3 is community, which NRN has blossomed into.

Most days start with a GM, well, usually a series of GMs. These extend to most hours of the day, given our community’s wide variety of time zones. The NRN Discord has become a home base for our community, where most of us start and end our days.

We’ve had some great predictions and some colossal fuck ups. We have been transparent all the way through. … Continue readingAnniversary reflections

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Autumn Predictions

Posted on CryptoCanuck

Crystal balls, tea leaves and palm lines. Are these practices any more or less reliable than monetary policy? It often seems like Jerome Powell and his cronies at the Fed are just making it up as he goes, doesn’t it? The sad reality is monetary policy is reflectionary and often influenced more by election cycles than data. It examines events that have already occurred and then makes adjustments based on yesterday.

Crypto doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We often forget it isn’t an isolated market. Sometimes Eth is down because some old white man in Washington was grumpy and made a bad decision. As a crypto investor I find it important to separate overall market and economic conditions from web3 conditions. It is possible to be bullish on crypto as economic conditions are making crypto profits seem like a pipe dream.

So what does the economic data mean for crypto? … Continue readingAutumn Predictions

Cat Links Canuck's Corner, Crier's Corner, Newsletters

Perilous Bridges: Crypto’s Achilles’ Heel

Posted on nrn

Hacked! Millions of Dollars lost! These types of headlines are often the only crypto related ones the mainstream media will publish.

Many people want crypto to fail. “I knew that fake internet money was a scam all along”. People are afraid of what they do not understand. Since crypto can be scary, many people would rather see it crash and burn. Seeing other folks get rich and not understanding how is not a comfortable experience for many people.

Catastrophic failure have occurred and millions of dollars stolen. Much in the same way cars require bridges to cross a river, liquidity requires a bridge to cross from one blockchain to another. Under these bridges are where the trolls lurk.

… Continue readingPerilous Bridges: Crypto’s Achilles’ Heel

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NFTs- Pt. 1, Did the bull never stop?

Posted on CryptoCanuck

Bears! The bane of hikers, salmon and investors alike. NFT collectors have been loudly lamenting the current market conditions we find ourselves in and thinking back longingly to the “good ole days”. But, are we actually in a bear market? Twitter sentiment says we are, but what do the numbers say? What does history tell us?

What if I told you the bull actually never went away? Volumes never really changed. What if I told you, your worthless crap is just worthless crap? The market analytics may just surprise you.

Let us first explore history, then we will get back to our current market. Like any good mania, “investors”, “founders” and “artist” flocked to the NFT PFP space. Much has been made about how this resembles the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 17th century.

Numbers, charts and pretty flowers. What does it all mean? Why TF do I care Canuck? I know, I know, bear with me here (pun intended)…… … Continue readingNFTs- Pt. 1, Did the bull never stop?

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Layer 1s

Posted on nrn

Decisions decisions decisions. Choosing a blockchain is kinda like choosing an outfit for a fancy occasion.Similar to a bad outfit, being on the wrong chain at the wrong time can leave you standing out in a crowd for all the wrong reasons.

So why is layer 1 important? Ethereum was the first smart contract layer 1. Many smart contract platforms have developed to try and compete with Ethereum. A few major players in this space are Avalanche, Solana, Binance chain, Algorand, Cosmos, Cardano, and Harmony. Each of these chains offers a currently improved transaction speed.

Can a project survive if it is not a layer 1?
Are subnets a viable solution?
What is our personal investment strategy? … Continue readingLayer 1s

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The Celsius death spiral

Posted on CryptoCanuck

Only up! Big returns! Set it and forget it! What could be better? Growing up in the 80s, for me it was late night infomercials. In the mid to late 90s it was tech stocks, YOU CAN’T LOSE. Mid 2000s it was real estate. I mean who doesn’t pay their mortgage? Housing only goes in one direction, right? The year 2020 kicked off a whole new bull market. Come one, come all, crypto is the future! Give us your funds, you’ll be rich!

On June 12th, 2022 in A memo to the Celsius Community, the company announced “Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts.” DOH! History was once again repeating itself.

The more the company lost, the more the market dipped, the more desperate Celsius became. Their liquidity was required to make the weekly payouts to keep new marks investors, coming in. Investment firms like all good politicians are all about taking risks with other people’s money. Why risk your own money when someone else’s is so readily available? … Continue readingThe Celsius death spiral