A new age in investing: The transformative power of asset tokenization
From real estate to franchising, and from renewable energy to Hollywood, tokenization has the potential to transform the way we do business.
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Autor Cointelegraph By Chris Jones
Crypto and fiat savers are making a fatal error — and DeFi can come to the rescue
There’s no escaping it: the DeFi markets have cooled down over the past year.After breaking $180 billion in total value locked last November — coinciding with Bitcoin racing to a new all-time high of $68,700 — data from DeFiLlama shows the collective value of this market has now dwindled to around $40 billion.Nonetheless, experts remain bullish on the potential of decentralized finance. Protocols are continuing to build furiously during the bear market — ensuring that they’ll be in a strong position for the next wave of adoption. And although this recent contraction has scared away some retail investors, there are still opportunities to be had.Here’s the problem — across crypto and fiat, many consumers are making a fatal error. Whether their savings are denominated in U.S. dollars or stablecoins, they’re letting their capital sit idle in accounts that aren’t earning interest. And given the runaway levels of inflation seen in major economies right now, this effectively means that their wealth is diminishing — and spending power is eroding with every passing month.DeFi can be the answer here, but finding the best opportunities within this nascent space and ensuring that your assets are always allocated efficiently is a task that is virtually impossible to do manually. And even if you come across market-beating levels of yield, it can often change before you are able to take advantage of the opportunity.Crypto is a volatile market that requires 24/7 monitoring in order to be an efficient investor. Plus, traders often end up with FOMO — a fear of missing out — after deploying their assets to a specific protocol.What’s the answer?A new concept that’s emerging in DeFi is reactive liquidity. This means that crypto enthusiasts have the ability to ensure their digital assets are earning the best risk-adjusted yield up until the very moment their assets are needed in a different position. Investors are given the ability to add customizable market triggers to their liquidity which ensure that their positions are monitored on-chain at all times. The moment conditions are met — which are set by the user — liquidity is shifted to where it is needed.Mero is championing this approach to decentralized finance, and argues that it can have big benefits during this time of market turbulence. It allows funds to be deposited into liquidity pools in exchange for Mero LP tokens. Liquidity that is provided into Mero liquidity pools earns auto-compounded yield from automated yield-farming strategies. Any user who holds Mero LP tokens can register market triggers or actions to their liquidity — enabling them to earn yield on Mero up until the very moment their assets are needed elsewhere.Mero currently supports market triggers, or actions, for topping up or adding additional collateral for loans on protocols such as Aave and Compound. Once registered, the Mero protocol’s network of keeper bots keeps a close eye on these loans — and shifts liquidity out of Mero pools (where it earns yield) to the loan’s collateral in the blink of an eye in order to avoid liquidations.The team behind Mero, which was formerly known as Backd, say that they have been driven by a desire to make allocating capital in DeFi not only more efficient, but also a better user experience. Their approach effectively automates the process of asset deployment — ensuring that funds are always allocated most efficiently. When better opportunities emerge, or funds are required for time-sensitive purposes, they can be delegated elsewhere.All of this can take a lot of weight off a DeFi investor’s shoulders — freeing up precious time so they can focus on other things.Working across DeFiAs you would expect, continually uncovering competitive yields hinges upon onboarding as many pieces of DeFi infrastructure as possible. Fresh from securing $3.5 million in funding over the summer, Mero Finance intends to do just that.The platform’s core liquidity pools, which support deposits for DAI, USDC, and ETH have continuously been ranked among the top 10 pools for base APY on Ethereum according to DeFi Llama. Furthermore, since its initial launch last Spring, three security audits have been completed and new dedicated liquidity pools for USDT and FRAX have been added.More features beyond collateral top-ups are scheduled to launch in the next six months, and work is underway to roll out a governance token, too.The project told Cointelegraph: “Mero enables you to maximize the power of your assets with reactive liquidity. Start using DeFi like a pro with Mero’s 24/7 on-chain monitoring, interest-bearing assets, and automated liquidity management.”Material is provided in partnership with MeroDisclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.
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Automation opens up pathway to a simplified, more user-friendly DeFi
Few doubt the potential that DeFi has to redefine crucial aspects of finance for all. But, as it stands, using DeFi platforms and protocols is often time consuming and anything but easy.One of the biggest draws of DeFi are the yields users can earn on farming and staking protocols. However, the yields on offer are constantly changing, meaning crypto enthusiasts need to stay locked to their screens to ensure they aren’t missing out. Given the 24-hour nature of this fast-moving industry, keeping on top of things is often easier said than done.Some protocols are also pretty difficult to use, requiring users to monitor a plethora of different pools. And even when you find the best returns that the market has to offer, the process of manual compounding can be quite tedious.In search of growth, DeFi traders often have to switch between different blockchains and delve into pools that lack liquidity. Not only can this be pretty expensive once transaction fees are accounted for, there are safety concerns to consider too.Given that part of the push behind decentralized finance is bringing money into the 21st century, one has to ask: Why isn’t this sector more automated? Where are the tools that can do all of the heavy lifting on the user’s behalf? And if aggregator sites can scour the market for the best deals on things like car insurance and flights, surely there can be one keeping track of DeFi too?Now there is — and it’s saving crypto enthusiasts a lot of time and energy. This means they can focus on the things they’re truly passionate about. Better still, it’s a tool that’s ripping down the high entrance barriers that have undoubtedly put off some tech-savvy consumers from getting involved in the first place.Introducing AutostratsEarlier this year, research by Morning Consult suggested that just 77% of those who own crypto had actually heard of decentralized finance, and that figure is at just 31% among non-crypto owners. All of this suggests there are huge strides to be taken in demystifying DeFi, and ensuring it’s accessible to the masses.UNO aims to tackle this by taking the grunt work out of DeFi once and for all, meaning that consumers can “just deposit and relax.”It offers a new approach called Autostrats that achieves two things. First, it automatically compounds crypto holdings to naturally enhance annual percentage yields. And second, it continually moves assets to the highest APY sources available — irrespective of whether this involves a switch across trading pairs, pools, protocols or blockchains.Ultimately, Autostrats is positioning itself as a crypto enthusiast’s best chance of unlocking everything that the world of DeFi has to offer by maximizing efficiency and eliminating that dreaded sense of FOMO.Speaking to Cointelegraph, the UNO team compared this evolution to the switch from coal to petrol, which once transformed the world we live in. The project believes it has found the silver bullet for usability that will entice millions of consumers around the world to finally experience DeFi’s potential.Keeping tabsOf course, automation should never be regarded as a replacement for keeping a close eye on how your capital is performing and that’s why UNO has placed a heavy emphasis on providing its users with the tools they need to scrutinize their portfolios.Handy analytics offer at-a-glance insight into the current state of the market, and the impact this has had on funds. Crucially, funds can also be redeemed at any time — along with the interest that’s been accrued to date. The fact that UNO offers all of this in one place is a big benefit, especially considering how much time it would take to analyze profits and losses across an array of different protocols quickly. Transparency is another key tenet of this platform, meaning users can monitor liquidity transfers and see where their funds are going.UNO says it is proud to have been backed by some of the biggest names in the space, too — Polygon, Aurora, Axelar, Everscale and Chainlink among them.The project offers a range of easy-to-understand explainers on its website, breaking down how DeFi works, the risks associated with these protocols, and step-by-step tutorials concerning UNO’s features and how to make the most of them.For beginners and experts alike, this is a team determined to defy DeFi’s current limitations.Material is provided in partnership with UNODisclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.
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Why the battle for low or no transaction fees really matters
During the frenzied bull run, transaction fees were running rampant. Over on the Ethereum blockchain, they hit eye-watering highs of $196.638 back in May — rendering the network unusable for most everyday consumers.The Bitcoin blockchain suffered from a similar issue the year before, accelerating to a record-breaking $300.331. When demand is high, it’s easy for Proof-of-Work networks to get congested — prompting miners to prioritize the transactions with the highest fees.Here’s the problem: high fees undercut one of crypto’s most potent use cases — a decentralized way of offering peer-to-peer transfers. If sending funds from A to B is impractically expensive, millions of would-be users aren’t going to leverage this technology.Heavyweights in the crypto sector know this. Over the summer, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that the cost of single transactions “potentially takes up people’s entire daily income” — especially in developing economies.Prior to The Merge, Ethereum transactions typically cost between $1 and $20 — and he argued that this simply isn’t good enough for billions of people around the world. Typical daily take home pay stands at $16 in Mongolia, and $4 in Zambia.Bear markets switch focus from growth to operational improvements — and now, blockchain developers are making a concerted effort to bring costs down. This can help crypto achieve its full potential — especially in vital use cases such as remittances.Some of the solutions that have been put forward recently include rollups, which bundle transactions together and settle them outside of a Layer 1 network. Not only is this less expensive, but it can also be faster — with data sent back to the mainnet later on.And just like trying to shove even more clothes into a suitcase, much more emphasis is now being placed on data compression too — ensuring that each transaction takes up a lot less space. This, when coupled with concepts such as sharding, are incredibly encouraging.But trading platforms — which play a crucial role in interacting with crypto enthusiasts directly — also have a role to play here. Facilitating zero-fee transfers can help deliver an experience all consumers deserve, one where they can move their digital assets without giving a single thought as to how much it will cost.Making things intuitiveHitBTC is one of the exchanges that is driving forward transactions that incur zero fees. The trading platform offers an intuitive, user-friendly wallet that’s available for Android and iOS devices — providing a simple and powerful on-ramp for those making the switch from fiat.A particularly new development allows HitBTC users to send crypto to their friends, family and business associates for free — provided they also have an account on this platform. This could be a game changer. Data from the World Bank shows that the average cost of sending $200 across borders stood at 6% in the fourth quarter of 2021. And in countries that really rely on foreign workers sending money home to their loved ones, $12 is a lot to lose.Zero-fee transfers really have the potential to change the game — opening up financial services to all while saving consumers billions of dollars in the process. Plus, when crypto is being bought or sold, HitBTC claims to offer some of the lowest fees in the market today.But this is just one piece of the puzzle, and this exchange says even more needs to be done. Demystifying cryptoMany crypto enthusiasts remember the first time they tried to send Bitcoin from one address to another. Confronted with a wallet represented by a long string of letters and numbers, there’s so much pressure to avoid typos — amid fears the crypto could be lost forever.But it doesn’t have to be this way. With Web3, we’re already seeing human-readable addresses gain popularity, with snappy domains such as .eth and .crypto. And while this is an encouraging development, HitBTC believes there should be other options too. To help reduce the inconvenience associated with sending funds, HitBTC offers its customers an opportunity to transfer digital assets to each other by email, a user ID, or using anonymous links. Irrespective of whether someone prioritizes privacy or simplicity, there’s an option to suit everybody.HitBTC’s straightforward approach has also been reinforced by an elegant interface for send and receive screens that enables the process to be completed in a couple of taps.Crypto can often be incredibly daunting for people who aren’t technically savvy, but HitBTC proves that it doesn’t have to be like this. And when coupled with the advent of zero-fee transfers, it’s tackling the pain points that stand in the way of mass adoption.Overall, HitBTC’s crypto wallet aims to be a one-stop shop for beginners and experts alike. Assets can be secured with two-factor authentication, biometrics or Face ID, and managed across more than one device. Innovative measures are also used to shield funds from fraudsters, and a dedicated customer support team is always on hand to offer help if access to an account is lost in an emergency.Even more useful features are on the horizon, and it’s all part of an ambitious quest to make crypto far less scary for newcomers… and much more practical for the veterans.Material is provided in partnership with HitBTCDisclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.
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What is necessary for Web3 to fully replace Web2?
Web3 is the buzzword that’s on everyone’s lips — but when you put the mania aside for a moment, there’s a burning question that needs to be asked: Can these projects fully replace Web2… and what stands in the way of this happening? The likes of Google and Facebook have made a killing during the Web2 era, amassing billions of dollars in profits and a profound influence over the shape of the internet. But their continued influence is far from guaranteed. The 30-year history of the web is littered with the collapses of once-indestructible companies… MySpace being a notable example.Amid countless concerns over how the data of users is harvested and used, plus fears that content creators aren’t being properly compensated for their hard work, Web3 is positioning itself as a democratizing force that puts power back in the hands of the public. Even the Web2 giants themselves see the potential of this new approach — it’s been almost a year since Facebook changed its name to Meta and declared plans to focus on the Metaverse. While the vision and ambition of Web3 startups is to be applauded, there are challenges that must be tackled. Critics rightly point to the vast energy consumption of some blockchains — especially those based on a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. They argue that creating a level playing field online can’t be at the expense of the environment. And with a dizzying number of DeFi protocols and cross-chain bridges falling victim to eye-watering hacks, with billions of dollars lost, there are safety issues to take into account as well. For Web3 projects to achieve their full potential, the infrastructure they rely on needs to have fully decentralized data management — and that means eliminating a reliance on centralized cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services. Owners need to be in the driving seat too, and blockchains have to be immutable, affordable and more eco aware. Ticking all of these factors is no mean feat.Big ideas, worrying teething troublesThe Metaverse has been touted as a $1 trillion opportunity by JPMorgan — a silver bullet that could revitalize the music industry and reinvent the way we work and play. But before virtual worlds truly go mainstream, tricky security and privacy challenges must be overcome. A lack of interoperability risks standing in the way of adoption, too. And while the internet was pretty clunky in the early days, Metaverses have a long way to come before they’re usable and intuitive. The aspiration of people using blockchain technology without even realizing is some way off yet.And that brings us to some of the other use cases that have been proposed for blockchains. A number of entrepreneurs firmly believe these immutable ledgers could drag the healthcare sector into the 21st century — ensuring medical records are properly digitized and easily transferred between facilities. Here’s the problem: this is an industry that has copious amounts of data, and patient confidentiality is sacrosanct. Big opportunities lie ahead for networks that can achieve interoperability, immutability, security, transaction transparency, and medical data sovereignty. Blockchain could also be nothing short of revolutionary if it tackles the sheer volume of fake medication that’s in this space — with some estimates suggesting 10% of the drugs in circulation are counterfeit.So… what’s the answer?Inery is a Layer 1 blockchain that aims to tackle some of these burning issues — seamlessly connecting systems, applications and a plethora of networks. Its database management solution, IneryDB, champions high throughput, low latency and complex query search — all while ensuring data assets remain fully controlled by their owners.The team behind this Proof-of-Stake network say it’s scalable, resistant to Sybil attacks, energy efficient, tamperproof and speedy — capable of achieving 5,000 transactions per second, with new blocks created every half a second. All of this is achieved without compromising on security.Dr Naveen Singh, the CEO of Inery, told Cointelegraph: “With Inery, our efforts are focused on envisioning a decentralized, secure and environmentally sustainable architecture for database management. Inery enables an affordable and scalable solution that allows people to issue and control data assets to activate a new paradigm for data accessibility.”Inery says it’s already achieved a number of big milestones, and has been listed on Huobi. The network’s testnet has now been launched, and it has secured a $50 million investment commitment from GEM — as well as other contributions from the likes of Metavest and Truth Ventures. It’s also attracted some big-name talent. The founder of Orange Telecom now serves as chairman, and the ex-VP of global marketing at Apple is joining as a principal advisor.Looking ahead, the project wants to enter into strategic partnerships that will unlock compelling use cases for its systems in more industries. It’s hoped that the mainnet will launch in the first quarter of 2023 — paving the way for developers and users alike to properly discover what the future of Web3 should look like.Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.
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