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The Automated Liquidity Protocol Utilized for Token Swaps On-Chain. Uniswap (UNI) Fact Sheet Uniswap is essentially a project that fills the role of being a decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol that is built on top of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and offers non-custodial trading of any ERC-20-based tokens. There have been numerous versions of Uniswap. These include Uniswap V1, Uniswap V2, and Uniswap V3, all of which have brought numerous improvements and updates to the overall functionality. Uniswap allows users to swap tokens, add tokens to a pool to earn fees, or even list tokens without trusting any central intermediary. Because all of the transactions are done on-chain and cost fees in the form of gas, Uniswap is one of the most active contributors towards gas usage on Ethereum. Uniswap is built on a system known as an Automated Market Maker (AMM), and liquidity is created by pools that have two ERC-20 tokens. UNI is the native cryptocurrency that powers the Uniswap protocol, and it is an ERC-20 token based on the Ethereum network. UNI Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD) What is Uniswap (UNI)? Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) project which features smart contracts that run on top of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. Understanding all aspects or components of the Uniswap ecosystem is important first. Uniswap Labs is the company that is responsible for the development of the Uniswap platform as a whole. The Uniswap Protocol is the underlying software of how the decentralized exchange (DEX) actually works and communicates with the Ethereum blockchain. The Uniswap Platform, on the other hand, is the application itself that works on both web and mobile, where users are provided with the opportunity to actually execute trades and swaps, and it is built and deployed on top of the Ethereum blockchain. The Uniswap Token (UNI) is the native cryptocurrency that allows users to buy, vote with, and trade or swap on cryptocurrency exchanges. Uniswap has the main goal of incentivizing its network of users to maintain the liquidity of the exchange and provide portions of the transaction fees as well as newly minted UNI tokens for those that participate. Over time, Uniswap grew to become one of the most popular protocols within the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space and leverages multiple crypto assets, which include its native UNI token, as a means of providing a service that is nearly identical to a traditional exchange, with the additional benefits that are aligned with its decentralization. The main goal that Uniswap had when it began development was to essentially rely on liquidity providers, to create liquidity pools, which can then provide liquidity across the platform. This would allow users to seamlessly swap between any ERC-20 tokens without needing to rely on an order book. Furthermore, due to the fact that the Uniswap protocol is completely decentralized, there is no real listing process such as a centralized exchange would have. This means that any ERC-20 token can be launched for trading on the Niswap platform as long as a pool is available. Due to this, Uniswap does not charge any listing fees, which makes it a solid resource for any project that is based on the ERC-20 token standard. Liquidity is the ease at which the asset or the cryptocurrency in question can be converted into cash or another cryptocurrency without affecting its market price. In other words, this is the ease with which tokens can be swapped to other tokens or to FIAT currencies. Liquidity Providers are essentially those that provide their crypto assets to a platform as a means of helping with the decentralization of the trading process, and they are also typically referred to as market makers. In return for doing so, they are typically rewarded in the form of the fees which were generated by the trades on the platform, which can be thought of as a form of passive income. Liquidity Pools are essentially digital piles of cryptocurrencies that are locked within smart contracts, which have the main goal of enabling liquidity for faster transactions, and a key component within them is automated market makers (AMMs). Automated Market Makers (AMMs) let digital assets be traded without permission, and this is a process that can be completed automatically through the utilization of liquidity pools instead of traditional markets for buyers as well as sellers. This is a system that allows cryptocurrencies to be traded automatically and without permission by utilizing liquidity pools instead of a traditional market that is composed of buyers and sellers. How is Uniswap (UNI) Used? Uniswap allows anyone the opportunity to essentially become market makers and even swap their own tokens. We had Uniswap V1 in 2018, a proof of concept, then V2, a production release in 2020, and V3, the latest version that launched in 2021. Uniswap is used by traders to directly swap cryptocurrencies, where they swap from one ERC-20 token to another ERC-20 token. However, the main way through which it stands out is in the fact that they do not trade with one another directly, however, they trade with a token pool that has both of the tokens within it. This token pool is known as a liquidity pool. The tokens in the liquidity pool are added by the users, that is called the Liquidity Providers. Liquidity Providers need to add their tokens within the pool due to the fact that they can earn fees when traders swap their tokens with the Liquidity pool. All of the liquidity pools within Uniswap are used for the process of trading specific pairs of ERC-20 tokens. Due to the fact that there are many token pairs, Uniswap can route the traders as well as the liquidity providers to the corresponding liquidity pool for their transactions. Use-Cases of Uniswap (UNI) Just like within any other decentralized project out there, Uniswap has to feature its own democratic way through which its future development and direction can be pushed forward. On Uniswap specifically, there are a lot of decisions that need to be made on the future of the project, and this includes swap fees, new features to research as well as how the UNI token gets distributed to the various players within the ecosystem. As such, the UNI token was issued in 2020, despite the fact that the network was originally launched in 2018. Furthermore, unlike other cryptocurrencies, UNI was not distributed through a pre-sale or through the utilization of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). However, it was airdropped to users as well as investors on the platform. Within the first round of the airdrop, 150 million UNI tokens were distributed to anyone that ever used the platform, which at the time accounted for 400 UNI tokens per single person. Usability & Primary Features of Uniswap (UNI) Within Uniswap, there are a total of three primary participants or parties that form the overall functionality of the network. There are the Liquidity Providers (LPs) that add assets to Uniswap pools, after which they get liquidity shares known as Pool Tokens to be compensated. They can create new pools, add liquidity to any existing pools or even remove tokens from reserves that they contribute to by sending LP Shares. There are traders, which are individuals that look to exchange two tokens where they have to pay the swap fee, which is added to the reserve of the pool in question. There are Arbitrageurs that monitor any of the price deviations with other trading venues as a means to profit out of it, which enforces a price mechanism at a pool level. Protocol When we look at the protocol structure surrounding Uniswap, any party is provided with the opportunity to earn a commission for the contribution of their tokens within a liquidity pool, which in turn ensures that the tokens become available whenever they are required for trading needs. A 0.3% fee gets charged whenever a swap gets made on top of Uniswap, and Liquidity Providers (LPs) get these fees as a reward, which is directly based on how much they have contributed to the pool in question. As such, Uniswap relies on a constant product function as a means of determining the market price. The forum utilized here is x * y = k, where x and y are equal to the pair reserve balances, while k is a constant. The fees get collected for every single swap, and this increases the k constant within the previous formula as after every trade, they are reinvested within the reserve directly. Ledger Many exchanges typically work in an order book mode. Within this model, the market prices get determined by the highest buy price and the lowest sell price. However, Uniswap differentiates itself by utilizing Liquidity Pools, where the price comes from the ratio of the token to another in a pool. This system works as follows: at the point in time when a trader executes a swap between two tokens, the balance of reserves changes, and this, in turn, results in a new pool price. The price of a token on Uniswap gets kept in check by arbitrage, and if a token gets priced too low, an arbitrageur can buy it or sell it for a profit on another exchange until its price gets balanced out. Smart-Contract Support Uniswap is essentially a binary smart contract system, where the core contracts provide fundamental safety guarantees for all of the parties that interact with Uniswap. Remember that Uniswap is built to enable the swap on ERC-20 tokens, built on top of Ethereum, and Ethereum has smart contract support. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution The total supply of Uniswap's native cryptocurrency and governance token, known as UNI, is 1 billion units. This supply has an allocation that goes as follows: 60.00% of all UNI is allocated towards the Uniswap community members. 21.51% of all UNI is allocated towards team members and future employees with a 4-year vesting period. 17.80% of all UNI is allocated towards investors with a  4-year vesting period. 0.069% of all UNI is allocated to advisors with a 4-year vesting period. Team & History Uniswap was developed by a team that states that their intent is to not be involved with the future development of the protocol, auditing, or other matters; where instead, the community has the full responsibility and is even encouraged to consult knowledgeable legal as well as regulatory professionals prior to implementing any proposal within the network. With that in mind, Uniswap’s original development team consisted of: Hayden Adams - Founder Noah Zinsmeister - Engineer Lead Ian Lapham - Engineer Moody Salem - Engineer Matteo Leibowitz - Strategy Lead Activities & Community When we look at the community surrounding Uniswap on the Official Uniswap Twitter page, we can see that the project has a huge following with over 918,300 followers. Then, when we take a look at the Uniswap Official Discord Page, we can see that there are over 92,566 members in total, indicating that there is quite a large community surrounding this project. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories When we take a look at the development activity surrounding Uniswap, we need to take a look at the official Uniswap Labs GitHub Page. Here, we can see that there are a total of 72 repositories that are a part of the project. Out of them, there are a total of 6 that are pinned, including: V3-core - this is the core smart contract of the Uniswap V3 repository. V3-periphery - Peripheral smart contracts for interfacing with Uniswap V3. Interface - This is the open-source interface used for the Uniswap protocol. V3-sdk - An Software development kit (SDK) for building applications on top of Uniswap V3. V2-core - Core smart contracts for Uniswap V2 V2-periphery - Peripheral smart contracts for interfacing with Uniswap V2 On-Chain Activity When we look at data from Etherscan, we can see that UNI, as a cryptocurrency, is trading at a value of $6.57. Furthermore, we can see that there is a maximum total supply of 1,000,000,000 UNI and that there are a total of 321,983 holders of the cryptocurrency, as well as a total of 3,619,872 transfers of the cryptocurrency. When we take a look at data from Info.uniswap.org, we can see that there is $13.03 billion in total value locked (TLV) and that there is a 24-hour trading volume of $672.68 million. Additionally, we can see that there are $726.13K in fees in the last 24 hours. Activities and Partners Uniswap launched on Arbitrum - users were provided with the opportunity to trade on the Arbitrum deployment of Uniswap V3 with low gas costs as well as instant transaction confirmations. The Introduction of the Swap Widget - Uniswap launched the Swap Widget, which bundled the whole Uniswap experience within a single React component that developers could easily embed within their application with a single line of code. Uniswap Acquired Genie - Uniswap announced that they acquired Geniem which is the first non-fungible token (NFT) aggregator which lets anyone discover as well as trade NFTs across numerous platforms. Uniswap on Optimism - Uniswap launched Uniswap V3 on the Optimistic Ethereum mainnet. References & Reports References Official Uniswap Twitter page Uniswap Official Discord Page Uniswap Labs GitHub Page V3-core V3-periphery Interface V3-sdk V2-core V2-periphery Uniswap launched on Arbitrum The Introduction of the Swap Widget Uniswap Acquired Genie Uniswap on Optimism Introducing UNI How Uniswap works - Uniswap Blog Uniswap v2 Core - Whitepaper Uniswap.org What Is a DEX (Decentralized Exchange)? - Chainlink What is Ethereum - Ethereum.org Smart Contracts - Investopedia Uniswap Labs Ventures Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Definition - Investopedia UNDERSTAND THE ERC-20 TOKEN SMART CONTRACT - Ethereum.org What Is Liquidity in Crypto? - Openware Core Liquidity Provider - Investopedia What Are Liquidity Pools in DeFi, and How Do They Work? - Binance Academy What Is an Automated Market Maker (AMM)? - Binance Academy Market Research TradingView Etherscan info.uniswap.org.

The Cross-Chain DEX That Can Automatically Adjust Trading Fees for Cost-Efficiency. THORChain (RUNE) Fact Sheet THORCHain (RUNE) is essentially a decentralized exchange (DEX) that enables cross-chain token swaps through the usage of liquidity pools and works across multiple different chains. The multiple supported chains include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Users are provided with the opportunity to essentially stake their digital assets within liquidity pools, through which they have enabled the ability to earn yield from trading fees and rewards in the form of RUNE tokens. RUNE is the native cryptocurrency that is utilized across the THORChain network and ecosystem as a whole, and users are required to ensure that their RUNE is bonded in order to operate a node and earn rewards. SRM Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD) What is THORChain (RUNE)? At one point in time throughout the history of the cryptocurrency space, there was a requirement for cross-chain liquidity, as well as a reliable way through which multiple assets spread out throughout different blockchain networks could be swapped for one another, alongside an increase in the development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and products as well as services built on top of it. THORChain is one of the largest DeFi projects out there that has managed to offer developers and users access to immutability as well as multi-chain exchanging of a variety of different cryptocurrencies without the need to wrap the tokens. In fact, its interoperability is one of its key factors and qualities that makes it stand out. THORChain (RUNE) is essentially an independent blockchain that has been built through the utilization of what is known as the Cosmos SDK, and its main goal is to serve the role of being a cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX). In fact, THORChain is based on Tendermint and Cosmos-SDK and utilizes Threshold Signature Schemes (TSS). It utilizes an automated market maker (AMM) model, and what this essentially means is that it will utilize its native cryptocurrency token, RUNE, to be the base swap pair. This is a model that enables traders to essentially move between different asset pools by utilizing RUNE as an intermediary. However, it has the additional benefit of rewarding liquidity providers (LPs), which are those that deposit or stake their assets on either side of the liquidity pool, with a portion of the trading fees. A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace that is responsible for the process of connecting cryptocurrency buyers as well as sellers, and it is non-custodial, which means that the user remains in full control of their private keys whenever they make a transaction on top of it. The automated market maker (AMM) works by allowing digital assets to be traded without permission, and they can be traded automatically through the usage of liquidity pools instead of a traditional market that includes buyers as well as sellers. Liquidity providers (LPs) are those that provide liquidity within what is known as liquidity pools, after which they receive liquidity pool tokens. These tokens act to fill the role of a receipt, which allows users to claim their original stake and interest earned through doing so. In the case of THORChain (RUNE) specifically, the automated market maker (AMM) model is utilized as a means of facilitating crypto asset swaps through an independent cryptocurrency network, which enables the exchange of assets across different blockchain networks in a way that is non-custodial. How is THORChain (RUNE) Used? The protocol utilized here features a cross-chain bridge system known as the Bifröst Protocol, which is responsible for connecting the different chains. Additionally, THORChain uses an adapted version of Bancor (BNT), another similar project's smart tokens, that it recognizes as Continuous Liquidity Pools (CLPs) as a means of facilitating the exchange of assets. However, the main difference here is the fact that the CLP can reward users for contributing to the liquidity within each pool. THORCHain also features its own native cryptocurrency, known as RUNE, which owners utilize as a means of participating within the network or adding to a liquidity pool. Use-Cases of THORChain (RUNE) Every asset is paired with the RUNE cryptocurrency in its own liquidity pool, and as a direct result of this, RUNE is required for every swap that occurs on top of the network. Rune is also utilized for the payment of fees, to reward the liquidity providers, to secure the THORChain network by staking RUNE, and to compensate nodes in the form of transaction fees whilst also providing governance for the THORChain protocol. Specifically, anyone that aims to run a node on top of the THORChain network is required to bond a predefined amount of RUNE tokens according to the value of the assets in the network’s liquidity pools. This is aimed at disincentivizing node operators from essentially acting maliciously, which will also drive the demand for RUNE further. Usability & Primary Features of THORChain (RUNE) THORChain supports an entire ecosystem of products as well as services, all of which integrate the network's cross-chain infrastructure. There are platforms such as THORSwap, which is the first multi-chain DEX on top of THORChain's network which utilizes it as a front-end interface and facilitates the swaps. THORSwap also enables any user to pick which two cryptocurrencies they want to swap, after which the protocol automatically calculates the fees, which are directly based on the activity on the network. Swaps that occur on top of THORChain are enabled by the network’s continuous liquidity pool (CLP), where RUNE gets used as an intermediary within every single swap. Protocol When we look at THORChain (RUNE)’s overall functionality, whenever any two assets get swapped on top of THORChain, they are swapped between two pools that are completely different. Every single liquidity pool on THORChain pairs RUNE with the available assets. The THORChain state machine swaps one asset for RUNE and then moves it to a second pool, after which it swaps RUNE for the user's required cryptocurrency, and all of this gets done without the need to convert any crypto or take custody of the RUNE cryptocurrency. Due to its CLP model, the protocol is fully able to respond to the fluctuating demand of liquidity. Ledger There are four main components, or in other words, roles, that need to be fulfilled by the participants of the THORChain blockchain in order for it to function. There are Liquidity Providers (LPs), Swappers, Traders, and Node Operators. We will be diving into each one of them individually. Liquidity Providers (LPs) - these are responsible for providing assets to the liquidity pools, and in return for doing so, they get block rewards as well as a portion of the swap transaction fees. These rewards get calculated directly based on the pool's overall activity and the share of the LP's tokens represented within the pool. Swappers - These are the user-base that essentially initiate trades between a variety of different crypto assets on top of THORChain. Traders - another key thing that THORChain relies on is arbitrage traders that aim to gain access to assets that are undervalued or overvalued on top of THORChain when compared to their overall market prices on other exchange platforms. Arbitrageurs can rebalance liquidity pools, and this is a procedure that is done through the process of buying or selling the assets across multiple exchanges until their prices in the pool reflect the overall market price at that point in time. Node Operators - these are operators that bond a predefined amount of the RUNE cryptocurrency as a means of supporting the network through the procedure of participating within its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. All of these operators remain anonymous and are rotated within the network, which is based on their reliability and churning. Churning is a process that ensures that any of the new nodes that meet the staking criteria can eventually be the next ones in line when it comes to completing the procedure of signing transactions. Every time the set of validations changes, the THORChain network moves funds to new vaults, which in turn ensures that the active nodes are still able to access the funds. This is a process that typically occurs every 50,000 blocks or every 72 hours, where the oldest or the most unreliable nodes from the active set get replaced by those from the standby set. Smart-Contract Support Through utilizing the technology found within THORChain, developers are provided with the opportunity to develop robust solutions, such as interoperable smart contracts and multi-chain decentralized applications (dApps). In other words, through the usage of the interoperability technology found within the network, anyone can develop robust solutions as interoperable smart contracts. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution There was a maximum supply of 1 billion RUNE tokens initially. However, this was later reduced to 500 million in 2019. 10.8% is circulating 10.5% is allocated to the OP Reserve. 10.4% is allocated to the community. 10% is allocated to the team. 5.2% is allocated as seed. 44.1% is allocated to the protocol. Any remaining tokens were retained for the funding of the project going forward. Team & History THORChain as a project was originally created in 2018 with the main goal in mind of improving upon the flawed use-cases surrounding the centralized exchange’s way of transferring cryptocurrencies between a multitude of differentiating blockchain networks. THORChain was founded and created by a team that is anonymous. There is no foundation, no official development team, and nobody that has the role of the Chief Executive officer for the project. Similarly to how Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, who is a pseudonym that we know nothing about, we do not know about the development team behind THORChain. At the point in time when they saw the viability of the product, the team made the decision to raise a small seed round and even worked up a Proof-of-Concept of the decentralized exchange that is built on top of the protocol they created, initially called instaswap. This was later demonstrated throughout a Cosmos hackathon in Berlin. After that point in time, they announced the first product known as BEPSwap in July of 2019, where the main goal was to enable BEP2 asset swaps and was limited to BNB Smart Chain (BSC). They carried on work on the protocol, and this resulted in a limited mainnet release known as the multi-chain chaosnet (MCCN) in April 2021. However, all of the development activity can be tracked, where there are consistently new updates and upgrades that are made to the project. The team works for the nodes through a procedure where they essentially upload code, which makes the network a lot more functional and the overall system a lot more valuable as a direct result of this. The rest is left to the network participant. What we do know, however, is the fact that THORChain was created at the Binance Dexathon (decentralized exchange coding competition) in 2018. Activities & Community When we go over the community of THORChain, if we look at the THORChain Official Discord channel, we can see that there are a total of 12,163 members. However, when we look at the official THORChain Telegram Group, it has over 20,737 members. Furthermore, going over its Official THORChain Twitter page, we can see that there are over 188,700 followers that are engaging with the project. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories When we go over the Official THORChain Github, we can see that there are six pinned repositories. These include: Resources - This includes all of the resources for the THORChain project. Bepswap-web-ui - the React Front-End for BEPSwap that allows users to connect Binance Chain wallets and then swap assets by using the BEPSwap pool address provided by the BEPSwap statechain. Thornode - software that allows a node to join and service the overall network, which will run with a minimum of four nodes. Asgardex-electron - ASGARDEX Electron App, which is a desktop wallet and decentralized exchange for THORChain that is 100% open-source. Thorchain-ios Docs When we go over the Official THORNode GitLab page, we can see that there are a total of: 8,053 Commits 551 Branches 105 Tags 31.3 GB Project Storage 101 Releases On-Chain Activity When we go over the THORChain explorer, we can see that the block height is at 7,231,560, with an average RUNE price of $1.79 and 53,731 total addresses. There is a total supply of 484,849,875 RUNE ($868.49 M) and a total circulating supply that's on-chain of 3,042,033,196 RUNE ($5.45 B). Furthermore, we can see that there are 4,511,170 Total Swap, Add, and Withdraw txs. Going over another THORChain explorer known as Viewblock, we can see that there are a total of 12,761,479 transactions, a block height of 7,231,563, 105,632,450.31898 in the vault reserves, $462,486,135 in total value locked and 119,737.37062 in BOND rewards. Activities and Partners There are numerous community projects that are a part of the THORChain ecosystem, all of which are a part of its overall activities. THORSwap - the first multi-chain dex powered by THORChain. Ferz Wallet - Decentralized, non-custodial cross-chain crypto wallet powered by Thorchain protocol. THORYield - Yield Tracker built for THORChain Brokkr - Investment Platform for optimized DeFi Investing Lendscape - A Decentralized Lending Protocol purpose-built oon THORChain Skip - Permissionless cross-chain DEX powered by THORChain. ShapeShift - a free open source platform to trade, track, buy, and earn that has implemented trading through the integration of THORChain. References & Reports References THORChain Official Discord channel THORChain Telegram Group Official THORChain Twitter Tendermint Cosmos-SDK Threshold Signature Schemes (TSS) THORChain Docs THORChain official website - THE DECENTRALIZED & AUTONOMOUS CROSS-CHAIN LIQUIDITY NETWORK The Bifröst Protocol: Bridging Chains Safely - How THORChain’s Bifröst Protocol Bridges the Blockchain Gap - Medium THORChain — a solution for decentralized exchange with incentivized liquidity THORChain-Whitepaper-May2020.pdf Official THORChain Github Binance Concludes Dexathon - Medium Resources Bepswap-web-ui Thornode Asgardex-electron Thorchain-ios docs Official THORNode GitLab THORSwap THORSwap Ferz Wallet THORYield Brokkr Lendscape - Skip ShapeShift integration of THORChain Satoshi Nakamoto - Wikipedia Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Definition - Investopedia THORChain’s Liquidity Breakthrough - How THORChain Generates and Incentivises Continuous Liquidity THORChain launch multichain chaosnet - Medium Announcing BEPSwap — DeFi on Binance Chain - Instantly swap and stake BNB and other BEP2 Assets. Market Research TradingView THORChain Explorer Viewblock n

The Cryptocurrency That Shaped The Entire Crypto Industry. Bitcoin (BTC) Fact Sheet Bitcoin (BTC) is the first decentralized open-source cryptocurrency in existence. Bitcoin is a representation of a Layer-1 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) digital asset exchange system that enables the transfer of digital currencies from one person to another without relying on a central authority such as a bank, brokerage, or any other institution. Bitcoin (BTC) was initially launched in 2009 by a pseudonymous person or group of people that used the alias "Satoshi Nakamoto," who published the original Bitcoin whitepaper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" in 2008. Bitcoin is secure and prevents the double-spending issue in a decentralized way by utilizing a unique consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Work (PoW), which uses SHA-256d-based cryptography to reach consensus. Within this system, miners compete against one another in a race to verify the next blockchain block, which, once confirmed, gets added to the previous block, forming a chain. The winning miner wins a newly mined BTC cryptocurrency. This process typically takes 10 minutes to complete. The maximum supply of Bitcoin (BTC) is capped at 21 million tokens. To ensure that they are not mined quickly, there is Bitcoin halving, where ever 210,000 blocks (or four years based on estimates), the mining rewards get cut in half. Bitcoin (BTC) is not controlled by any company, government, or other entity, and is completely decentralized. Bitcoin nodes are run by the community and the code is open-source and guided by a consensus of top contributing developers. Bitcoin Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD)  What is Bitcoin (BTC)? Bitcoin is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payment system created to fully operate without relying on a central authority to facilitate payment processing. It means that nobody controls Bitcoin, as all of it is based on a distributed ledger, where a set of computers spread out on a global scale are responsible for running the blockchain. The distributed ledger ensures that the network is entirely immune to manipulation, as every computer responsible for mining the BTC cryptocurrency has a full copy of its public ledger. All of the transactions within the network can be viewed publicly as a result, and users are allowed to buy and sell BTC directly through one another. The miners within the network are also referred to as validators, and nodes, among other names, are responsible for ensuring the network is secure. The Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism achieves tamper-proofing based on the SHA-256d hash algorithm. How is Bitcoin (BTC) Used? Bitcoin (BTC) as a network is currently being used to transfer digital currencies, specifically, its native cryptocurrency that goes by the ticker symbol BTC. A person with a cryptocurrency wallet with a public address can send a specific BTC balance to another person with a public address. The transaction time, known as the mining time, is typically around 10 minutes. Bitcoin (BTC) has a maximum supply of 21 million tokens. Another intriguing aspect surrounding Bitcoin is that it has implemented halving to ensure that all 21 million tokens aren't mined too quickly. Within the blockchain, we have the distributed ledger – a shared database responsible for storing the data. Data within the blockchain gets scared by the encryption method utilized by Bitcoin. The information from the previous block is copied to the new block alongside the latest data. Then this block gets encrypted, and the transaction is finalized through the verification process done by the miners of the network. When a transaction is fully verified, a new block gets opened, and a Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency is created and given as a form of reward to the miner that verified the data successfully. This way, Bitcoin is used by users who want to make transactions online and miners who want to monetize their hardware by contributing it as a form of security for the blockchain. Every 210,000 blocks, the mining rewards get cut in half. The reward began with 50 BTC in 2009; then the first halving was in 2012, where it split to 25 BTC, then in 2016 when the third halving occurred, meaning that the reward was split again to 12.6, and as of 2020, to an estimated length to 2024, the mining reward is at 6.25 blocks, after which it will decrease to 3.125 BTC. Bitcoin is also censorship-resistant. It cannot be censored or controlled by a government or corporate entity. This aspect of Bitcoin makes it a genuinely free ecosystem. Transactions throughout the Bitcoin network get verified by the nodes through cryptography. Additionally, every transaction on the Bitcoin network is stored on a block linked to a previous block of transactions. Bitcoin is fully immutable, and no entity can erase or alter any information that has already been recorded and approved on the network. Use-Cases of Bitcoin (BTC) Since its creation, numerous use-cases have emerged surrounding the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency. As the cryptocurrency industry evolved, so did the ways Bitcoin has been utilized thus far. The blockchain network that the miner's power through the incentive of the BTC cryptocurrency provides a secure way through which people can quickly and efficiently conduct transactions on a global scale. Anyone from anywhere in the world can send BTC as a cryptocurrency to any other person. What this also means is that the unbanked can also get access to financial services. For example, suppose someone could not access a traditional bank or banking system due to struggles surrounding political instability, hyperinflation, or any other issue. In that case, they could utilize a cryptocurrency wallet and send Bitcoin instead. El Salvador became the first country on a global scale to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender, which means that the population can use the cryptocurrency to pay bills, taxes, or anything else in the country. When we look at the business applications and use-cases surrounding the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency, we can also see that it has been utilized in various ways. The immutable ledger in the blockchain makes it well suited for completing tasks, such as real-time tracking of goods as they move and even change hands throughout the supply chain. Then there’s the ability to store health data on the blockchain, including general information such as age, gender, medical history, or anything else, all of which gets permanently recorded on the blockchain and cannot ever be tampered with. Usability & Primary Features of Bitcoin (BTC) There are numerous features found within Bitcoin which have been added throughout its lifespan as a blockchain-based project. Specifically, we have the following major updates and upgrades to the Bitcoin network: Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a protocol upgrade that initially went live in August 2017. The primary purpose of this upgrade was to separate witness signatures from transaction-related data. Witness signatures within legacy Bitcoin blocks typically take over 50% of the block size. By removing them, the protocol increased the number of transactions stored within a single block. Ultimately, this led to the network's ability to process many more transactions per second. Lightning Network is a Layer-2 micropayment solution specifically created to increase the scalability of the Bitcoin network. Its main goal is to enable near-instantaneous and low-cost payments between merchants and customers that aim to utilize the Bitcoin network. The Lightning Network was introduced in 2015 by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja. When we look at the Real-Time Lightning Network Statistics, there are currently 17,664 nodes that power the Lightning Network, making it one of the most significant developments within the blockchain. While a Bitcoin node must verify every transaction in the network, a Lightning Network node only has to check the validity of transactions with which it interacts directly. Schnorr Signatures and Taproot - When Schnorr Signatures are implemented, multiple parties can collaborate to produce a signature valid for the sum of the public keys. This benefits network scalability. Taproot is the upgrade that introduced the Schnorr digital signature scheme into Bitcoin and contributed to upgrading its overall cryptography. Ultimately, it is clear that all of these updates and upgrades to the Bitcoin blockchain had the primary purpose of increasing the transactions per second (TPS) and lowering the overall costs associated with conducting transactions on top of the Bitcoin network. Protocol The Bitcoin protocol is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that operates on a cryptographic protocol. In a traditional sense, P2P relates to a network where each computer can act as a server for the others using the network and allows shared access to data without the need for a centralized server. The users can send or receive Bitcoin (BTC) as a cryptocurrency by broadcasting digitally signed messages to the network using a cryptocurrency wallet. Ledger The Bitcoin ledger is fully responsible for anonymously maintaining the participants' identities and their cryptocurrency balances. Furthermore, it also keeps a record of all of the genuine transactions executed between the network participants. Smart-Contract Support By default, at its original state and development, Bitcoin (BTC) as a network does not support smart contracts. Simple contracts that are indeed able to get executed on Bitcoin are typically low in terms of the functionality they can provide and normally highly costly. Over the years, numerous developers and teams have been aiming to provide Bitcoin with the functionality and support for smart contracts in the form of a Layer-2 solution, something that sits above the main blockchain, or even as Layer-1 solutions connected to Bitcoin directly. Some examples include Rootstock (RSK), Liquid Network, Stacks, RGB, and Lightning, to name a few. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution When we look at the tokenomics and supply distribution surrounding Bitcoin (BTC), we need to go over the fact that the primary way through which the network reaches consensus and new blocks get created through the utilization of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person or group responsible for mining the Genesis Block, which is essentially the very first block of the blockchain network. Through mining this block, Nakamoto essentially created the chain itself. However, Bitcoin is not pre-mined, and a cap of 21,000,000 BTC can ever be mined and brought into a digital existence. There is currently 19.076 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined and in circulation. Source: Blockchain.com It is essential to mention that Bitcoin halving occurs every 210,000 blocks and that the initial block reward was 50 BTC per block. As of June 24, 2022, the current block reward is 6.25 BTC per block. It is expected that the next halving will occur by 2024 when we see a decrease to 3.125 BTC. Team & History An anonymous person or group created Bitcoin under the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto." Bitcoin project is open-source and has a global development community. As of 2022, there have been 872 contributors to the code of Bitcoin, and the chance is likely that this number will grow as the years move on. Bitcoin open-source contributions to the master branch. Source: GitHub You can refer to GitHub for the list of some of the most significant contributors to the Bitcoin code from August 30, 2009, to June 24, 2022. Activities & Community Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and popularity. It has the highest follower count, indicated by Bitcoin’s unofficial Twitter page, where the project had over 5.3 million followers at the time of writing. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories According to Bitcoin code data from GitHub, there have been 48 Active pull requests and 9 active issues from June 21, 2022, to June 28, 2022, in Bitcoin code. Of those, 14 authors have pushed 46 commits to the master branch and 46 to all branches. On master, 88 files have changed, and there have been 777 additions and 1,726 deletions. On-Chain Activity The average on-chain activity of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency is 243k tx within the last 7 days, with a high of 255.47k txs and a 7-day low of 199.78k txs. There is a 30-day average of 41.22 million addresses, with its high point at 41.41 million and low point at 41.08 million addresses. There have also been a total of 650.157k unique addresses used on the blockchain. Source: Blockchain.com When we go over Bitcoin’s ownership over time ratio, we can see that there are 28.27 million addresses that are hodlers for over one year, which makes up 61.15%. 15.15 million addresses are cruisers, 32.77%, and 2.81 million addresses are traders, which make up 6.08%. Activities and Partners The partners of the Bitcoin network include: Bitcoin Lightning Network - The Lightning Network depends upon the blockchain's underlying technology. Using genuine Bitcoin/blockchain transactions and its native smart-contract scripting language, it is possible to create a secure network of participants who can transact at high volume and speed. Bitcoin Cash - the main goal of this project is to provide digital money to the world by fulfilling the original promise of the Bitcoin network. Merchants can utilize it for low fees and reliable confirmations. Blockchair - a blockchain search and analytics engine for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash that can enable users to filter blocks, transactions, and outputs by 60 different criteria and perform text searches over the blockchains. FEE - Foundation for Economic Education is a think tank in the U.S. that reaches hundreds of millions of users globally and has 20,000 students through classroom programs. References & Reports References Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Wikipedia – Double Spending Wikipedia – Proof-of-Work (PoW) Wikipedia – SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) Wikipedia – Blockchain Wikipedia – Peer-to-Peer Computing or Networking PWC – El Salvador’s law: a meaningful test for Bitcoin Wikipedia – Segregated Witness (SegWit) The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-Chain Instant Payments Wikipedia – Schnorr Signature Investopedia - Bitcoin’s Taproot Update Technopedia – Transaction per Second (TPS) Wikipedia – Smart Contracts Investopedia – Genesis Block Wikipedia – Open-Source GitHub - Bitcoin code repositories Twitter - Unofficial Bitcoin profile Investopedia – HODL Definition Market Reports Bitcoin TradingView Report Blockchain.com Bitcoin Explorer IntoTheBlock - Bitcoin

The Blockchain Project that Defined Decentralized Finance. Ethereum (ETH) Fact Sheet Ethereum is an open-source smart contract and decentralized application platform featuring it’s own cryptocurrency Ether (ETH). Ethereum’s primary purpose is to enhance and expand the technical capabilities of cryptocurrencies, introduced by Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009. Ethereum’s introductory paper was originally published in 2014 by Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin titled “__Ethereum - A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform__.” The driving cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network is Ether (ETH), and users pay network transaction fees in the form of "gas" fees, typically calculated in "Gwei." Since the Ethereum blockchain was launched on July 30, 2015, it has relied on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. However, the Ethereum team plans to migrate to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model in late 2022. Ethereum (ETH) is the second-largest cryptocurrency and blockchain in global market capitalization, right behind Bitcoin (BTC). Through the utilization of the smart contract capabilities found within the Ethereum network, developers have created decentralized applications (dApps), which paved the way for decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), something competing projects would follow. Ethereum Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD) Ethereum Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD). Source: TradingView What is Ethereum (ETH)? Ethereum is an open-source smart contract and decentralized application platform featuring its native cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH). A better way to perceive Ethereum is as a computing platform that brings power to developers and allows them to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) that can run without the requirement of a centralized authority. Smart contracts are computer protocols that provide developers with numerous functions, such as the ability to facilitate, verify and even enforce specific rules and an agreement without the involvement of a third party. They are digital contracts stored on the blockchain, executed automatically whenever a particular action meets its predetermined conditions. The primary role of smart contracts is to automate the execution of a specific agreement so that all participants can be immediately sure of the outcome. Work-based instances can also trigger specific actions, leading to a higher level of functionality. Furthermore, Ethereum uses a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Instead of being run by a central server, individual users connect their computers, spread out on a global scale, to form a network that can exchange data. As of June 2022, Ethereum still utilizes its default Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism since its launch. Its role is to allow the network to come to a consensus, which means that it can agree on the account balances, and the order of the transactions to prevent "double spending," which can happen if someone spends the same amount of money twice. Transactions on the Ethereum blockchain are processed into blocks, where each block features “block difficulty,” “mixHash,” and “nonce”: Block difficulty is the measure of how difficult it is to essentially mine a block within the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus system. If a cryptocurrency has a high difficulty, it will require more computing power to mine the same number of blocks, making the network more secure. mixHash is a 256-bit hash that can prove that a block has carried out enough computation when combined with a nonce. A nonce is a hash that, combined with the mixHash, proves that a block has done enough computation. The nonce, in this case, is the number of transactions sent from a given address. Ethereum’s PoW protocol is known as Ethash and requires miners to compete against one another through trial and error to find the nonce for a specific block. Those that find a valid nonce can add blocks to the chain. A nonce is the number of transactions sent from a specific address. How is Ethereum (ETH) Used? Ethereum, at its core, is a network made up of multiple server nodes responsible for the process of mining the Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency by verifying that the transactions are legitimate. Smart contracts brought another dimension to the entire use-case surrounding Ethereum. The testing environment for smart contracts is the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The EVM is designed to operate as a runtime environment that can compile and even deploy the Ethereum-based smart contracts. Any application developed on Ethereum is coded in the native language specifically built for the network known as Solidity. The EVM operates in a sandbox, meaning anyone can deploy their environment and utilize it as a testing ground for their smart contracts or dApps. They can then test them, verify them, and deploy them on the Ethereum mainnet. Smart contract code is typically written via high-level programming language, such as Solidity. Solidity is the most popular language used to write smart contracts, as it is purpose-built for that specific task. The code is then compiled into the “EVM bytecode” and deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. The EVM bytecode is a low-level programming language compiled from other languages, such as Solidity. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a virtual machine placed between OS and application layers to mitigate the operating system's dependency. Bytecode is a computer object code that an interpreter can convert into binary machine code so that a computer’s hardware processor can read it. Bytecodes are a form of instruction set designed for efficient execution through the utilization of a software interpreter. Every Ethereum node that comprises the network stores an entire history of all the transactions, a history of the smart contract, and the handle to the current state of the smart contracts. Gas is required to power the smart contracts. Each user must pay gas through the Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency to process the transactions. Each transaction that gets executed through the usage of a smart contract deployed on Ethereum will require a gas fee. Throughout its time in the crypto space, Ethereum has been used for: Decentralized Applications (dApps) Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) A core network on top of which many Layer-2 blockchains have been launched. Use-Cases of Ethereum (ETH) Ever since Ethereum was initially released in 2015, developers have devised multiple use-cases for the technology. From finance to gaming, advertising, identity management, and even supply-chain management, thousands of projects are launched on the Ethereum network stack. Typically, the Ethereum blockchain has been utilized as a network with which developers create their Layer-2 projects. These projects essentially post their transaction data onto Ethereum and rely on the network for data availability and security. Throughout the years, many projects strived to increase the scalability and transaction speed, alongside transaction throughput in the network, without sacrificing decentralization or security. However, some projects took things further, and the community built entire decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on top of Ethereum. Some of the most popular projects that are built on top of Ethereum include: Uniswap (UNI) - Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform that enables peer-to-peer (P2P) market-making, providing users the opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies without the need or involvement of a centralized third party. Aave (AAVE) - Aave is a decentralized lending protocol to earn interest, borrow assets, and build applications, launched in 2017 as ETHlend. Through this protocol, users are allowed to lend or borrow cryptocurrencies without needing to utilize a centralized intermediary. The interest rates here are based on the utilization rate of the used liquidity pool. Curve Finance (CRV) - Curve is a popular automated market maker (AMM) platform that offers an efficient way to exchange tokens while maintaining low fees and low slippage by accommodating liquidity pools of similarly behaving assets. Curve differs from similar projects because it emphasizes stability over volatility. It aims to offer tangible ways through which people can exchange tokens while also maintaining low fees and low slippage. With the increase in popularity surrounding digital art represented in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the Metaverse, more highly-popular projects emerged based on the Ethereum network: CryptoPunks - created by Larva Labs, CryptoPunks represents 10,000 unique collectible characters that feature proof-of-ownership, which gets stored securely on the Ethereum blockchain. Since the project launched in June 2017, it paved the way for global NFTs popularity, and some of the CryptoPunks have sold for millions of dollars (USD). Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) - is another popular 10,000 NFT collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This project was developed by Yuga Labs and utilized the Ethereum blockchain to secure the NFTs. The Sandbox (SAND) - is a multiplayer Metaverse where players can create, monetize, and participate in blockchain-based gaming experiences fueled by SAND tokens based on the Ethereum network. Sandbox is one of the most extensive 3D Metaverse projects built on Ethereum that lets users interact with the virtual environment and each other. The Sandbox real estate is represented as LAND NFT parcels, all of which have a market value. Through the examples of these projects, we can see that Ethereum as a network has a vast and varied use case. Usability & Primary Features of Ethereum (ETH) The most popular token standard utilized within the Ethereum network is ERC-20. ERC is short for "Ethereum Request for Comment," and this standard saw its introduction in 2015. ERC is the standard embraced by the developers for creating and issuing smart contracts on the network. Tokens in the Ethereum network can represent anything – from financial assets to reputation points, character skill points in a game, lottery tickets, FIAT currencies like USD/EUR/GBP/AUD, an ounce of gold, or anything else the developers associate it with. FIAT money is any government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical community, such as gold or silver, for example, Some of the key functions found within the ERC-20 token standard include: the ability for the cryptocurrency to be transferred from one account to another account; the ability to get the current token balance of an account; the ability to get the total supply of the token that is available on the network; the ability to approve if an amount of a token from a specific account can be utilized by a third-party account. A smart contract follows the ERC-20 token contract whenever it implements these methods. Protocol Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform capable of establishing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that can securely verify and execute application code. In other words, its smart contract support can enable protocols to be built on top of it. These basic sets of rules allow data to be shared across the network. Ledger The Ethereum ledger's primary use-case surrounds the fact that it can maintain data relating to the identity of the participants anonymously and track their overall cryptocurrency balances. Through Ethereum's ledger and a blockchain explorer, we can access records of all of the genuine transactions that have been executed. Etherscan is one of the most popular Ethereum blockchain explorers that can provide us with this data, where we can review the latest blocks, latest transactions, mining difficulty, hash rate, transactions, and market cap, among other things. The Ethereum Blockchain Explorer. Source: Etherscan Smart-Contract Support Smart contracts play a pivotal role within the broader functionality and utility of the Ethereum ecosystem. Each smart contract has a balance and can send transactions across the network, not controlled by any user. Smart contracts are deployed on the Ethereum network and run as they are programmed. They execute at points in time when pre-programmed conditions are met. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution When we look at the tokenomics and supply distribution, initially, Ethereum had the ICO, which is considered Phase 0. The Ethereum ICO was conducted in the first half of 2015 for 60 million ETH, collected in the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency. The Ethereum network began with a supply of 72 million Ether (ETH), where the aforementioned 60 million were distributed to those who purchased ETH. The remainder of the 12 million was distributed at the launch of the network in 2015, where half of it was split across 83 early contributors to the protocol. As of June 27, 2022, the total supply is 119.48 million Ether (ETH). Total Ethereum Supply. Source: YCharts Team & History Ethereum was initially conceived in 2013 by a programmer known as Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik Buterin published articles for Bitcoin Magazine before beginning work on the Ethereum whitepaper in 2013 for the first time. However, there were additional co-founders, including: Gavin Wood – the creator of Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM). Charles Hoskinson – the founder of the Cardano (ADA) blockchain. Joseph Lubin – the founder of ConsenSys, a full-stack, global blockchain company. Anthony Di Iorio – the founder and CEO of a blockchain company Decentral which created Jaxx Wallet. Stephan Tua was originally the CCO of Ethereum before leaving in 2015. He is also the founder of Atlas Neue and the CCO of Slock. Mihai Alisie, another co-founder of Ethereum, was an editor at the Bitcoin Magazine before working on Ethereum. Jeffrey Wilke is one of the top contributors to Ethereum, even though he originally left the project in 2017. Amir Chetrit – the co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine. The Ethereum whitepaper, titled “Ethereum - A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform” was released by Buterin on November 27, 2013. The initial sales round of Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency went officially live from July 22 to September 2, 2014, for 42 days and could be bought through the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency. On July 30, 2015, the "Frontier" release went live – an active but barebone implementation of the Ethereum project. The following “Olympic” testing phase proved successful, and the Ethereum network went operational. Activities & Community Ethereum is the second-largest blockchain in value and market capitalization after Bitcoin (BTC), meaning it has one of the largest developer communities, constantly testing and improving the codebase. This fact, combined with the smart contract capabilities, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM,) and Solidity development tools, makes Ethereum the go-to choice for many developers. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories According to dApp statistics, as of June 28, 2022, Ethereum has a total of 2.970 decentralized applications (dApps). Total Ethereum decentralized applications. Source: stateofthedapps When we look at the Ethereum GitHub repositories, however, one of the most popular repositories is the official Go (Golang) implementation of the Ethereum protocol. There have been 784 contributors to the Ethereum codebase from December 29, 2013, to June 28, 2022. Furthermore, there were 37 active pull requests, 17 active issues, and 15 authors pushed 11 commits to master, as well as 17 commits to all branches. On master, 82 files were changed, with over 2,600 additions and 2,567 deletions. Ethereum open-source contributions to the official Go (Golang) implementation. Source: GitHub Many current Ethereum developments focus on switching to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) as part of the Ethereum 2.0 (ETH 2.0) roadmap. Ethereum has numerous testnets – live testing networks for upgrading the Ethereum blockchain before releasing it on the main network. The Merge project dedicated to switching from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) was successful on Ropsten and Sepolia testnets. On-Chain Activity According to data from Etherscan, there are a total of 199,578,957 unique addresses on the Ethereum network as of June 27, 2022. Ethereum Unique Addresses Chart. Source: Etherscan.io Activities and Partners Because Ethereum has been in the crypto space since 2015, the project has formed many partnerships, culminating in the form of The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) – the member-led industry organization that has the primary goal of driving the use of Ethereum technology as an open standard. Some of the most Ethereum partners include: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. – one of the largest investment banks and financial services holding companies operating in the USA. Chainlink – a decentralized oracle network that aims to bring off-chain data to the blockchain network through tamper-proof inputs, outputs, and smart contracts. API3 Foundation - technology that allows developers to create trustless applications that interact with web application programming interfaces (APIs). Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) – an American multinational semiconductor company that is a dominant force in developing computer processors, graphics processing units, and related technologies. References & Reports References Ethereum - A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform The Official Ethereum Website Ethereum Gas Ethereum Gwei ERC-20 TOKEN STANDARD - Ethereum Peer-to-Peer Networks - Wikipedia Proof-of-Work (PoW) - Wikipedia Bytecode Ethash algorithm Solidity Official Documentation Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Cryptopunks Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) The Sandbox (SAND) The Ethereum Blockchain Explorer Bitcoin Magazine ConsenSys Jaxx Wallet Web Archive of Ethereum's First Whitepaper Web Archive of Ethereum's ICO Sale Ethereum Open-Source Github Repository The Merge Announcement - Ethereum The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. Chainlink API3 Foundation Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Market Reports Tradingview Etherscan YCharts Stateofthedapps EEA Ethereum Business Readiness Report 2022

“Build & Build” – More Than Just Another Exchange-Based Cryptocurrency. BNB (BNB) Fact Sheet BNB (BNB) is the native cryptocurrency designed to power the Binance global ecosystem based on their proprietary blockchain BNB Smart Chain. BNB was created in June of 2017 as “Binance Coin” on Binance Chain and followed the ERC-20 token standard since it was built on Ethereum (ETH). In April 2019, Binance launched its own blockchain network, now known as the BNB Beacon Chain, where BNB became the native token and no longer required Ethereum's back-end. Binance Chain was rebranded to the BNB Beacon Chain, the Binance Smart Chain was rebranded to the BNB Smart Chain, and Binance Coin is now simply named BNB, where BNB stands for "Build and Build." The BNB Smart Chain is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network. It utilizes a consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Staked Authority (PoSA), and within this system, BNB is used for the process of delegated staking on the authority validator. BNB has a multitude of different use-cases, both on the blockchain and the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, where users can receive additional discounts on the fees, access payments on third-party services, or even participate within the Binance Launchpad. n BNB Historical Data Price Chart in U.S. Dollars (USD) BNB Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD). Source: TradingView What is BNB (BNB)? BNB (BNB) is the native cryptocurrency designed to power the Binance global digital asset exchange ecosystem based on their proprietary blockchain BNB Smart Chain. To truly comprehend BNB, let’s first go over its rebranding history so we can have a clearer perspective on how it ties together. BNB used to be called Binance Coin. However, the company decided to rebrand it to just BNB, which was initially its ticker symbol on crypto exchanges. On February 15, 2022, the entire ecosystem surrounding the BNB cryptocurrency underwent a rebranding process, as showcased here: Binance Chain was rebranded to BNB Beacon Chain. Binance Smart Chain was rebranded to BNB Smart Chain. The BNB Smart Chain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and supports the execution of smart contracts. It fills any role without developers needing to re-learn a new programming language or do something specific to make them compatible within the BNB ecosystem. Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, and trade hundreds of cryptocurrencies. It was originally launched in July 2017 by Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, on various social media channels. Binance features two blockchain networks, alongside many financial services and products, such as crypto loans, a crypto credit card, liquidity mining, fan token farming, and many more, all of which are accessible through their main website or app. Binance initially created the BNB cryptocurrency on the Ethereum blockchain by ERC-20 token standard but eventually built its proprietary blockchain, so it was moved to be native there. The initial use-case for the BNB cryptocurrency, just like any other exchange-based native token, was to simply let users get discounts on the trading fees on the Binance exchange. But as the Binance ecosystem evolved and introduced new products, so did the utility of the BNB token enhanced as well. The BNB Beacon Chain is the native blockchain of the Binance Platform and was created to enable fast and permissionless trading. The technology behind it includes a fork of Tendermint’s Cosmos SDK. It originally went live for the very first time on April 23, 2019. By design, the BNB Beacon Chain enabled high transaction speed and instant finality. However, it lacked programmability and flexibility initially. For these reasons, Binance launched a new chain known as the BNB Smart Chain on September 1, 2020. The goal of this second chain was to enable an alternative, user-friendly, smart-contract-enabled platform which could help developers build decentralized applications (dApps). The BNB Smart Chain features a 30-second block time, the Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism, and low average transaction fees. By taking advantage of this dual-blockchain system, each user was presented with the opportunity to utilize the fast transfers and trading fees within the BNB Beacon Chain but also gained access to the smart contract functionality and EVM-compatible programmability within the BNB Smart Chain. Binance has been around for a long time, launching a decentralized exchange (DEX) and a peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading platform, among many other products. How is BNB (BNB) Used? The BNB cryptocurrency can be utilized in numerous ways. As the Binance platform evolves, the chances are high that we might see the BNB cryptocurrency find even more utility use cases. When we take a look at its use-cases that are tied explicitly to the Binance platform, with BNB, you can: Save 25% on Spot Trading Fees; Save 25% on Margin Trading Fees; Save 10% on Futures Trading Fees; Stake BNB and earn rewards in the BNB Vault; Gain exclusive access to token sales on the Binance Launchpad; Send and receive payments with Binance Pay; Get up to 40% commissions through the Binance Referral Program; Earn flexible percentage yield through depositing BNB on BNB Chain Projects. Use-Cases of BNB (BNB) As of June 29, 2022, BNB is the number 5 largest cryptocurrency in market capitalization, and for a good reason. Specifically, the BNB cryptocurrency can be traded for other cryptocurrencies on various exchanges. If used on the Binance exchange, BNB can be used for the payment of transactions, where users can receive discounts for doing so. BNB can also be used as a form of payment for various credit cards that support cryptocurrencies, typically debit Visa cards issued by crypto exchanges. Merchants can offer the BNB cryptocurrency as a means of payment for customers as additional flexibility in payment methods. Many online booking services supporting crypto payments allow BNB to book hotels and flights, specifically where cryptocurrencies are available as a payment option. Several platforms let users invest in stocks, ETFs, and other assets through the utilization of BNB, and you can even use the BNB cryptocurrency as collateral for loans. Usability & Primary Features of BNB (BNB) Throughout its years within the crypto space, BNB cryptocurrency has evolved to include a variety of different features to make it differentiate itself from other projects. BNB Beacon Chain is a blockchain network with many unique features, such as recording account balances. Each balance can be comprised of 3 different parts, including locked, frozen, and available, which gets recorded on all accounts. The network can also represent how much fees were paid within a specific block and provide information about tokens, alongside their status. There is also a list of all the trading pairs available on the Binance decentralized exchange (DEX), as well as the governance information surrounding the validators, governance mechanism, and the blockchain. The BNB Smart Chain supports a communication protocol built on the Cosmos SDK. As a result, any BEP-2 token can be migrated between the BNB Smart Chain and the BNB Beacon Chain, making them interoperable with one another without the reliance on a third party. Protocol In the cross-chain transfer system utilized for BNB, there is an oracle relayer, where every validator has to run an oracle relayer that monitors the blockchain state changes. Whenever a cross-chain communication package gets submitted, each validator's role is to present a vote for a request. When a voting majority is achieved, cross-chain actions can be performed. A key feature of BNB is the BEP-2 token standard. BEP-2 is a technical standard that refers to issuing and implementing tokens within the BNB Beacon Chain. Each BEP-2 token needs to include specific information, including the source address, the token name, the symbol, the total supply, and a mintable trait. These rules are followed within the Binance ecosystem. Furthermore, the BNB cryptocurrency in this instance would also be used as a gas fee on the blockchain, and get used for the transaction fee, issuance costs for new assets, minting and burning fees, and trading fees. Ledger To comprehend how the BNB ledger works, we will review the BNB Smart Chain. The consensus algorithm utilized here is Proof-of-Staked-Authority “Parlia,” built on a network of validators and delegators, all of whom vote for validators. Within this chain, any party is allowed to become a validator. However, they are required to meet specific demands. These include hardware requirements to run the network, their own keys' management, and a high uptime guarantee. They also need to own and stake at least 20,000 BNB cryptocurrencies. The validators within this network receive network fees as a reward for working towards validating new blocks. Smart-Contract Support The BNB Smart Chain supports smart contracts because it is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Experienced developers who might have previously done work on the Ethereum blockchain can utilize languages such as Vyper or Solidity to write a set of smart contracts and compile them into bytecode, after which they can deploy them on the virtual machine. This software stack enables an easy development cycle and way to bring Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dApps) to the BNB Smart Chain to take advantage of its various improvements and the broader ecosystem. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution The total supply of BNB was defined at 200,000,000 coins; however, the supply has gradually decreased over time due to the regular coin-burn events. At the token sale, 100,000,000 BNB were initially offered, representing 50% of the total supply. BNB was originally issued as an ERC-20-based cryptocurrency, developed on Ethereum, before moving towards the BNB Beacon Chain. Binance burns BNB based on its overall revenue every three months. The supply of BNB regularly decreases, which leads to an increase in its scarcity and overall value. Team & History The founder, creator, and CEO of Binance is Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao. Before creating Binance, he founded a company known as Fusion Systems in 2005 in Shanghai. The company filled the role of creating high-frequency trading systems for stock brokers. In 2013, Changpeng Zhao joined Blockchain.com (formerly Blockchain.info) as the third team member. Throughout his years in the crypto industry, he worked as the CTO of OKCoin for less than a year. Then, he founded Binance in China. However, it had to move its servers and headquarters from China to Japan because the Chinese government banned cryptocurrency trading in September of 2017. Activities & Community Binance releases all of its news and updates directly on the Binance company blog, and it's the best source to follow for updates on the Binance ecosystem and BNB cryptocurrency development. Looking at the community of Binance, on the official Binance Twitter, there are over 9.1 million followers. On the Binance Discord, they have a total of over 87k members. Binance has over 1,15 million likes on its page on Facebook and 2.7 million followers on its Instagram page. Overall, Binance has a strong, healthy, and active community that is engaged across all of its activities on social media channels. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories On June 29, 2022, Binance launched a dual investment auto-compound feature and dual investment products. This development aims to enable users to buy low and sell high products at their selected price and date in the future, without any fees. The company also introduced a funding rate arbitrage table in the Binance Futures product that gives users access to arbitrage information about Perpetual Futures Contracts and their spot equivalents. There are consistent new developments and features implemented across Binance. When we look at Binance GitHub repositories, there are 24 repositories. However, four of them are pinned and of specific interest, including: Binance-spot-API-docs – official documentation for the Binance APIs and streams. Binance-API-postman – access to Postman, an API collaboration platform. Binance-public-data – the Binance public data, including all Kline, Trade, and AggTrade data for all pairs, month by month, online. Binance-connector-python – a lightweight Python library that works as a connector to Binance public API. On-Chain Activity According to data from YCharts, Binance has an average of 3.94 million transactions daily. Binance Smart Chain Transactions Per Day. Source: YCharts Etherscan’s BscScan blockchain explorer is one of the most prominent and most utilized BNB Smart Chain explorers. The BNB market cap on BSC is $4,978,437,951.00, and there is a med gas price of 5 Gwei or $0.02. The BNB Smart Chain Explorer. Source: BscScan We can also see 171,277,912 total distinct addresses, with a daily increase of 221,945 as of June 29, 2022. BNB Smart Chain Unique Addresses Chart. Source: BscScan Activities and Partners There is an ever-growing list of ways users can utilize BNB through partners and supported services. Numerous businesses can integrate BNB into their products; however, some of the most popular and most prominent companies that have done so include: Pundi X - a platform created to help retail businesses transform with its blockchain-based POS solution. Travala - a platform for hotel and accommodation booking that covers over 500,000 properties on a global scale with crypto payments support. TravelbyBit - an online travel booking platform that is built for blockchain integration. Decentraland - a 3D virtual world built on Ethereum that aims to incentivize a network of users on a global scale to operate a shared world. AAVE (previously ETHLend) - a decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform that uses smart contracts. Nexo - a platform for instant crypto loans that provides fast access to cash as well as support for the maintenance of the digital assets a user has. It is important to note that Binance announces and implements integrations with various partners almost daily. As such, the list of partnerships and integrations is ever-growing. References & Reports References Wikipedia - Binance What is BNB - Binance Binance Official Website ERC-20 Token Standard Binance Announcement of Rebranding Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Proof-of-Staked Authority (PoSA) Binance Launchpad Changpeng Zhao - Wikipedia Tendermint’s Cosmos SDK Binance Pay Binance Referral Program BEP-2 Token Standard Vyper Language Solidity Language Blockchain.com (formerly Blockchain.info) Binance company blog Binance Launches Dual Investment Auto-Compound Feature Binance Futures Launches Funding Rate Arbitrage Table Binance GitHub repositories Binance Twitter Market Research BscScan - BNB Smart Chain Explorer Binance Smart Chain Transactions Per Day - YCharts TradingView n

A Layer-2 platform for Ethereum scaling and Web3 infrastructure development. Polygon (MATIC) Fact Sheet Polygon is a platform for Ethereum scaling and web3 infrastructure development. Its growing suite of products offers developers easy access to all major scaling and infrastructure solutions: L2 solutions (ZK Rollups and Optimistic Rollups), sidechains, hybrid solutions, stand-alone and enterprise chains, data availability solutions, and more. Polygon (MATIC), previously known as the Matic Network, is a platform created as a Layer-2 solution to help scale Ethereum (ETH) and enhance its overall infrastructure for development. One of the core components surrounding Polygon is the Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that allows developers to create different types of decentralized applications (dApps). Using the Polygon (MATIC) network, developers can create optimistic rollup chains, ZK Rollup chains, or any other infrastructure required for specific developments. The key issues that Polygon aims to tackle are transaction speed and the lack of community governance found within the Ethereum blockchain. The native cryptocurrency token used across the Polygon network is the MATIC token, and it is used as a means of payment for the transaction fees. It can be earned by those providing computational power to the Polygon network and validating transactions or executing smart contracts. Polygon Technology is a private IT company headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.  Its scaling solutions have widespread adoption with 7,000+ applications hosted, 1B+ total transactions processed, ~130M+ unique user addresses, and $5B+ in assets secured. Polygon Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD) Polygon Historical Data Price Chart in the U.S. Dollars (USD). Source: TradingView What is Polygon (MATIC)? Polygon was formerly known as the Matic Network and is a framework specifically created to facilitate the process of building interconnected blockchain networks. Its primary purpose and the reason for its creation was to address some of the major limitations the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain experienced, such as transaction throughput, a lackluster user experience due to the delayed transactions, and its lack of any community governance. Through the power and opportunities provided by Polygon, developers can essentially launch preset blockchain networks that fill specific use-cases and requirements, all of which can be customized with a wide range of modules and contribute to the creation of sovereign blockchains. Since Polygon is a Layer-2 network, it means that it does not change the original blockchain Layer; however, it improves upon it. Specifically, it helps improve Ethereum's size, efficiency, security, and throughout in the form of transactions per second (TPS) while simultaneously incentivizing developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) on top of it due to the variety of different features it offers. To truly understand how Polygon works, we must first understand how off-chain Layer-2 solutions work. Their primary purpose is to lessen or eliminate components with evaluation power from the primary blockchain before they get executed at a different location, such as a sidechain. The primary purpose of this approach is for Layer-2 solutions to aid the main blockchain in terms of throughput, which can lead to more transactions per second (TPS) as a result, alongside a reduction in the transaction fees. The Matic solution can be considered a single part of the broader Ethereum ecosystem that offers improvements to the network, contributing to better utility. How is Polygon (MATIC) Used? Polygon's framework makes it easy for new projects to get up and running quickly and even allows developers to create their scaling solution if required. Polygon features a four-Layer system: the Ethereum Layer, the Security Layer, the Polygon Networks Layer, and the Execution Layer. When we take an individual look at each of these Layers, we can see the following: Ethereum Layer - Polygon chains utilize Ethereum as their base Layer, which means that they can take advantage of the high-level security available on the platform. It is implemented as smart contracts, which can be used for finality, checkpointing, staking, and messaging between the Polygon and Ethereum chains. Security Layer - This is the Layer that essentially provides "validators-as-a-service," and this, in turn, lets the Polygon chain take advantage of a set of validators, all of which fill the role of periodically checking the validity of a Polygon chain. In return for putting in the effort, they are paid in the form of a fee. Polygon Networks Layer - This mandatory layer features a sovereign blockchain network. Within it, each network can maintain the transaction collation and the local consensus and facilitate block production. Execution Layer - This is essentially the Layer that can interpret and execute transactions included in the chains that run on top of Polygon and serves as an execution environment that can implement logic subLayers. This Layer is also Polygon's Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation used to execute smart contracts. Polygon was created in India in 2017 and had the name of the Matic Network. However, the first time the Matic Network went live was in 2020, when it attracted much attention. In February of 2021, the Matic Network rebranded to Polygon. Due to Polygon's arbitrary message passing capability, any chains launched on top of the Polygon network can communicate with one another and with the Ethereum (ETH) main chain. Numerous use-cases surround the Polygon network, such as interoperable decentralized applications (dApps) and the exchange of value between different platforms. With all of this in mind, you might wonder why someone would be interested in using Polygon over Ethereum at Layer-1. Ethereum was designed with an auction-based model, which essentially encourages users to bid for their transactions to get included within the next block. Throughout its design, Ethereum motivates increasing costs at points in time when the network is congested for users that want their transactions processed as quickly as possible. Polygon's technology aims to link all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchains and let developers gain access to the benefits of other blockchain platforms with minimal friction. Polygon also stands out because it allows its token, MATIC, to get staked on the Polygon blockchain. Those who stake the token can earn interest on an annual basis since they are aiding in the process of validating transactions on the blockchain. Furthermore, Polygon stands out since it gives developers access to a stack of solutions throughout a single network. This approach, in turn, provides them with a high level of control and customization at points in time when they are choosing a scaling solution that is best suitable for the specific application they are building and its use-cases within the sphere of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Use-Cases of Polygon (MATIC) When we look at the use-cases of Polygon, the network has the primary goal of becoming an open, borderless network that enables anyone to interact with decentralized products without intermediaries. As a means of achieving this goal, Polygon (MATIC) takes advantage of numerous technologies. Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Chain - Polygon’s main chain is an Ethereum sidechain. It is known as the Matic PoS Chain because it utilizes the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to add a level of security to blockchains that get launched on top of it. Plasma Chains - Another technology utilized to scale the network is known as Plasma, used explicitly to move assets across the Polygon root chain and the child chains launched through the Plasma bridges. ZK-rollups - These are essentially an alternative scaling solution utilized to bundle together a more significant amount of transactions within a single transaction, where zero-knowledge proofs are used for the final public record that gets added to the Ethereum main chain. Optimistic Rollups - This is essentially a solution that runs directly on Ethereum and is used to enable near-instant transactions through the utilization of what is known as "fraud proofs." Fraud Proofs are essentially evidence that a state transaction was incorrect. At this point, we can see that Polygon utilizes more than a single scaling solution to minimize any barrier of entry within the network. All of them share the common goal of reducing transaction fees. Usability & Primary Features of Polygon (MATIC) Polygon (MATIC) cryptocurrency and network have high utility due to various features. Protocol The MATIC cryptocurrency is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. Its primary use case is to allow users to pay for the transaction fees across the ecosystem and governance efforts. Ledger The sidechains on top of the network take advantage of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, where participants can utilize the MATIC cryptocurrency to become validators, after which they can earn rewards generated by the network fees. The tasks validators have include validating blocks and publishing proofs; however, delegation is also possible. Smart-Contract Support Because Polygon (MATIC) is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, it has full support for smart contracts. Developers can utilize this to create decentralized applications (dApps) that push the envelope regarding the use-cases of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The core development component of the Polygon network is known as the Polygon SDK. This modular and flexible framework allows developers to build and connect Layer-2 infrastructures, including Plasma, Optimistic Rollups, zkRollups, and standalone chains. SDK stands for "Software Development Kit," It provides developers with tools, libraries, other types of documentation, code samples, processes, or anything else they might need to create software applications within a specific platform. The SDK can be seen as a workshop that facilitates the creation of applications. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution The MATIC cryptocurrency is essentially an ERC-20 token that is used to power the broader Polygon ecosystem. It is utilized for the payment of gas fees. However, users can also use it for staking and governance. After the project was rebranded to Polygon, it implemented new features for developers and users of the broader ecosystem. The total supply of MATIC tokens initially was 10,000,000,000 (10 billion tokens). The MATIC cryptocurrency has a supply distribution in the following order and percentage: 4% for the advisors 4% for the private sale 12% for the network operators 16% for the team 19% for the launchpad sale 23% for the ecosystem 22% for the foundation Team & History Polygon was created by a team of four software engineers who specialize in the field of software development, and they include: The project was initially launched under "Matic Network" in 2017. However, it was rebranded in 2021 to Polygon as we know it today. The four founders include: Jaynti Kanani - a co-founder and Senior Software Engineer who previously worked on notable blockchain projects such as Web3, Plasma, and even WalletConnect. Sandeep Nailwal - co-founder of Polygon and the founder of ScopeWeaver. Anurag Arjun - co-founder and Chief Product Officer who previously worked at SNL Financial, Cognizant Technologies, and Dexter Consultancy. Mihailo Bjelic - co-founder and Software Engineer with a background in Information Systems. Activities & Community Polygon (MATIC) network features numerous developments and activities. When we look at its communities, the Polygon Twitter Page has over 1.5 million followers. The Official Polygon Telegram Community has over 69,600 members, while the Official Polygon Discord Server has over 38,100 members. Furthermore, the 0xpolygon Instagram page has over 31,300 followers. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories Development Activity and GitHub Repositories When we go over the official Polygon (previously Matic) GitHub page, there are numerous pinned GitHub pages we can find on it, including: contracts - this is the smart contracts GitHub page that comprises the building logic of the Matic Network pos-portal - these are the smart contracts that power the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) based bridge mechanism for the Matic Network. matic.js - this is the JavaScript developer library to interact with the Matic Network bor - this is the official repository for the Matic Blockchain subgraphs - the subgraph for Matic Contracts launch - the Matic Network Mainnet v1 launch On-Chain Activity According to data from PolygonScan, which is the Polygon Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Chain explorer, we can see the following: The price of the MATIC token is $0.47. There have been 1,821.72 million transactions thus far, with a med gas price of 33.7 gwei. The MATIC market cap on Polygon is $3,759,194,409.00 (8,006,803,853 MATIC). The latest block is 30330789. n Polygon PoS Chain Explorer. Source: PolygonScan However, we can see additional information when we go over data from Cryptorank. Specifically, we can see that on July 1, 2022, Polygon (MATIC) had a transfer count of 18,059. Polygon On-Chain Activity Analytics - Token Transfers by Date. Source: Cryptorank.io Activities and Partners Numerous decentralized applications (dApps) have been created using Polygon (MATIC) or have conducted partnerships with the platform. Some of the most popular ones include: QuickSwap - a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) that runs on the Polygon (MATIC) network and provides quick transactions at a low cost. Aave - a yield-aggregating protocol that lets users borrow cryptocurrencies and even use them as collateral, allowing them to take out flash loans. 1inch - a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) aggregator that is a liquidity bridge across numerous decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and provides users with the best liquidity on multiple blockchains. Curve Finance - an exchange liquidity pool built on top of Ethereum (ETH) and provides stablecoin trading with a low level of risk. SushiSwap - a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) and Automated Market Maker (AMM) built on top of the Ethereum Blockchain. Decentraland - a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain where users are allowed to create, experience, and even monetize content and applications through the usage of a developer toolkit that works on any platform. Polygon aids in the process of scaling the transactions that occur as a result of the user interactions within the virtual world**.** References & Reports References Framework Explained - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ethereum Explained - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ethereum Scaling Solutions - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Transactions Per Second - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Polygon Whitepaper - Ethereum's Internet of Blockchains Decentralized Applications - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Plasma Chains - Ethereum.org Proof-of-Stake (PoS) - Ethereum.org Zero-Knowledge Rollups - Ethereum.org Optimistic Rollups - Ethereum.org ERC-20 Token Standard - Ethereum.org Sidechains - Ethereum.org Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Definition - Investopedia Decentralized Applications (dApps) - Investopedia Polygon Twitter Page  Official Polygon Telegram Community Official Polygon Discord Server  0xpolygon Instagram page Polygon (previously Matic) GitHub page contracts pos-portal matic.js  bor subgraphs launch QuickSwap Aave 1inch  Curve Finance  SushiSwap Decentraland Market Reports TradingView PolygonScan Cryptorank.io

The Decentralized Stablecoin Platform Developed on Top of the Ethereum Blockchain. Maker (MKR) Fact Sheet Maker (MKR) is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that lives on top of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and lets anyone lend or borrow cryptocurrencies without the need to check their credit. Maker is the decentralized network for lending, where MKR is the core utility as well as governance token. The network essentially fuses advanced smart contracts with a pegged stablecoin. Holders of the MKR cryptocurrency are provided with the opportunity to make critical decisions surrounding the system's overall service and its future. The project was originally created in 2014 with the main intention of providing cheap and quick transactions by using the Maker Protocol. MKR Historical Data Price Chart in the US Dollars (USD) MKR Historical Data Price Chart in the US Dollars (USD). Source: TradingView What is Maker (MKR)? Maker (MKR) is a cryptocurrency that MakerDAO developed. This cryptocurrency has the primary objective of supporting the stability of the Dai (DAI) cryptocurrency, which is MakerDAO's stablecoin and aims to enable governance within the Dai Credit System. In fact, throughout the MakerDAO ecosystem, there are two primary cryptocurrencies utilized in order to make it work the way it does. First, there’s the Maker (MKR) cryptocurrency, and then there’s Dai (DAI) as a stablecoin. DAI is, by design, meant to provide an alternative to the more volatile cryptocurrencies and enable users access to a new type of financial system. However, the MKR token is used to keep the DAI stablecoin as stable as possible. It is important to distinguish the three parts which make this ecosystem work, and these include: MakerDAO - this is the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which is filled by holders of the MKR token, who can guide the development of the Maker Protocol. The Make Protocol is a collection of smart contracts on top of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, which maintain the multi and over-collateralized DAI stablecoin. MKR - this is the native cryptocurrency of the ecosystem, and it is used within the Maker Protocol as a means of maintaining DAI's peg to the US dollar, and this occurs through numerous auctions that address the surpluses or even the deficits within the ecosystem, and as such is used by its holders to vote on governance protocol and maintain the protocol. How is Maker (MKR) Used? Within systems utilized across traditional stablecoins, they will typically utilize reserves of FIAT currencies, or even gold, to peg a cryptocurrency in order for it to have value to the real-world assets, as they can keep it as stable as possible. However, this has proven to historically cause some issues. MakerDAO, as a result of this, uses the MKR token to act as an alternative to the price fluctuations that DAI might encounter. Some stablecoins also gain a lower level of volatility because they are pegged to FIAT currencies, such as USD. However, others can be controlled through blockchain-based mechanisms or even algorithms that can aid them in maintaining the value they need to be at. However, MKR stands out because it can retain the value of the DAI stablecoin the same as $1. This is done through the creation and the process of destroying MKR in response to the aforementioned price fluctuations of DAI. DAI can also leverage a collateralization system, where holders can fill the role of being a part of a controlling mechanism aiding in the overall network management. DAI as a stablecoin is used at the point in time when buyers put a purchase order on a smart contract-based collateralized debt position (CDP), which can behave similarly to a loan. These CDPs are bought through the usage of the Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency, where DAI is provided in return for their ETH. ETH is the collateral to the loan, similar to how a house, for example, would serve the role of being collateral at the point in time when a person takes out a loan. This system can enable individuals the ability to get a loan against their ETH holdings, and when the loan gets repaid, the DAI is burned or destroyed, where the fees can occur in MKR afterward. Use-Cases of Maker (MKR) The MKR cryptocurrency has the use-case of being the solution to an event in which the value of ETH might decrease too quickly for the DAI system to be able to handle it. If the collateral system is not enough to cover the value of DAI, in that case, MKR is created and is then sold to the market as a means of raising additional collateral. The Maker Platform, which is known as MakerDAO, is the protocol, as well as the governance framework on top of which DAI and MKR are used. This is a DAO on Ethereum. The smart contracts, in this case, are computerized codes that can contain and perform specific instructions which were coded in them at the points in time when the pre-determined conditions are met. In fact, MKR holders are provided with the opportunity to make a decision surrounding how much DAI holders can earn if they are saving DAI on the platform. The amount of DAI that holders earn for doing this procedure is dubbed the DAI Savings Rate. The DAI Savings Rate has been as high as 8.75% and as low as 0%. What this means is that the market can influence how much they are earning. MKR holders have historically voted to make the DAI Savings Rate go to 0% due to the fact that through this, they encouraged the future sale of the DAI cryptocurrency, which brought the DAI stablecoin closer to $1. In fact, any time the value of DAI goes above $1, the MKR holders are then expected to vote to decrease the savings rate and to reduce demand, which causes the prices to fall as a result. If it goes under $1, then they can vote to increase the savings rate, which increases the demand to hold the DAI cryptocurrency, and this causes its value to increase. The more MKR a person holds, the more they will be able to have a say when it comes to which cryptocurrencies can be used in the protocol or which real-world assets can be utilized in order to generate more DAI. Furthermore, Maker as a network has seen a high level of usage and as such, has established a large ecosystem. The ecosystem is split across multiple categories, including: Get Dai - this features dApps and Services such as Bitcointrade, Buenbit, Coinbase, and Oasis.app, Panda Exchange, Swissbord, and Wyre. Use Dai - this features dApps and Services such as Foundation, imToken, Museum of Contemporary Digital Art, Set Protocol, ValentePOS, and Wirex. Hold Dai - this includes dApps and Services such as Anchorage, Coinbase Custody, Ledger, MetaMask, MyCrypto, and Trezor. Accept Dai - this includes dApps and Services such as Althea, DENT, OpenSea, PundiX, Red Cross Argentina, and Wiv. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) - this includes dApps and Services such as 1inch, Curve, DeFi Saver, InstaDapp, Oasis Borrow, REN, and Uniswap. Games - this includes GameFi projects, such as Blocklords, F1 Delta Time, League of Kingdoms, Marble.cards, Sandbox and Xaya. Usability & Primary Features of Maker (MKR) When we take a look at the usability surrounding the MKR cryptocurrency, any holder that has MKR in their balance will be able to gain voting rights within the platform’s approval voting system. In this case, MKR holders can vote on the collateralization rate of CDPs. For their participation, they can get MKR fees as a reward. The holders are incentivized to vote, in a direct way that can provide a broad benefit to the system. If the system works well, the value is maintained or increases for the MKR cryptocurrency. Protocol MKR, as a cryptocurrency, is an ERC-20-based token. What this means is that it utilizes Ethereum's protocol in order to function. Furthermore, MKR can also get stored within just about any ERC-20 wallet and is tradeable on a multitude of different exchanges. Ledger Maker (MKR) operates on top of Ethereum and, as such, can be analyzed through its public ledger. Smart-Contract Support Due to the fact that it is built on top of the Ethereum blockchain and uses smart contracts in order to enable its operations, Maker (MKR) does indeed have full smart contract support. They play an important role within the broader ecosystem. Tokenomics & Supply Distribution The initial token that was provided by Maker (MKR) included the following structure and overall distribution. 69.50% gets allocated to Founders & Project 15.00% gets allocated to the Team 4.00% got allocated to Seed Round 1 6.00% got allocated to Seed Round 2 5.50% got  allocated to Seed Round 3 Furthermore, it is also important to note that MakerDAO originally ended up launching with a supply of 1,000,000 MKR tokens throughout its inception. The total number of MKR in existence can also fluctuate, and this is directly dependent on how the system runs. For example, if the total supply of MKR can increase, based on the belief and analysis that the system is running in a deficit, then as a result of this needs to dilute MKR as a recapitalization source. However, if the system is maintained and governed well, then the total amount of MKR will decrease due to the fact that MKR gets destroyed in exchange for any excess DAI from the system. Team & History When we look at the team, as well as the history surrounding MakerDAO, it is important to note it was founded in 2014 in California by the developer as well as entrepreneur known as Rune Christensen. Since then, the core management team has increased gradually, and after the first three years of development, MakerDAO launched the stablecoin known as DAI. At this time, Rune Christensen chose a group of developers, which was later formalized into the Maker Foundation, a company in the Cayman Islands. When we look at its historical funding rounds, initially, $12 million was raised in the Secondary Token Sale which took place on December 16, 2017, and was funded by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, which were then joined by Distributed Capital Partners, Scanate, FBG Capital, Wyre Capital, and Walden Bridge Capital, alongside 1confirmation with an average price of $300. Then, $15 million got raised in the Secondary Token sale; this occurred on April 23, 2019, and was funded by a16z with an average price of $250. Furthermore, $27.5 million was raised in the Secondary Token Sale throughout April 2019 by the parties, including Paradigm and Dragonfly capital. Activities & Community When we take a look at the Maker (MKR) community, we need to go over its social media channels. There’s the MakerDAO Official Discord, which has over 14,200 members. Then there’s the MakerDAO Twitter Page, which was over 236,700 followers in total. This is followed by the MakerDAO Reddit page, which has over 34,600 members in total. Additionally, there is also the MakerDAO Telegram Chat, which has over 14,100 members in total. MakerDAO also has its own YouTube channel, which has over 4,120 subscribers. There’s also the Official MakerDao Forum. MakerDAO has a healthy community of enthusiasts behind it. Development Activity and GitHub Repositories Maker also has its own official GitHub page with multiple repositories. Out of them, the most popular ones include: Multicall - Aggregate multiple constant function call results into one. Awesome-makerdao - A collection of tools, documents, articles, blog posts, interviews, as well as videos related to MakerDAO as well as the DAI stablecoin. Dss - Dai Stablecoin System Developerguides - developer guides which can integrate with MakerDAO's smart contracts, SDKs, APIs, products, as well as partners. Market-Maker-Keeper - A framework for Market maker keepers for OasisDEX, EtherDelta, 0x (RadarRelay, ERCdEX), Paradex, DDEX, IDEX, Bibox, Ethfinex, GoPax, HitBTC, TheOcean, OKEX, and Gate.io. Multicall.js - a JavaScript blockchain state management library created for Decentralized Applications (dApps). On-Chain Activity Due to the fact that Maker (MKR) is based on top of Ethereum and, as such, follows the ERC-20 token standard, we can utilize Etherscan as a means of getting an indication as to what kind of performance the cryptocurrency has. Source: Etherscan Based on Etherscan data, the value of the MKR cryptocurrency is $660.91. It has a fully diluted market cap of $646,126,128.63, with a circulating supply market cap of $595,277,267.00. There are 90,582 holders of the MKR cryptocurrency and a total of 1,788,837 transfers. Activities and Partners Throughout its history, MakerDAO has undergone numerous different partnerships. In fact, the Maker Foundation has a large history of creating grant programs or just establishing solid partnerships. These are the most notable examples of these partnerships: The Maker Foundation community grant provided funding for blockchain projects, which aimed to bring financial stability as well as transparency within the global economy. Numerous projects got a lot of attention, which were funded through the Maker Grants, such as PoolTogether, Sablier, and the Gas Stations Network (GSN). DAI was integrated as a payment option on Coinbase Commerce, and at this point in time, the stablecoin was offered to millions of users through Shopify, WooCommerce, and other merchants. Maker and Dharma also Partnered to stimulate the meme economy. The Maker Foundation also carried out the Development Grants Program, where 1,092,581 DAI were awarded across eight nations and between 45 projects. References & Reports References MakerDAO Official Discord T__MakerDAO Twitter Page__ MakerDAO Reddit page MakerDAO Telegram Chat YouTube channel Dai Credit System MakerDAO GitHub Multicall - Aggregate multiple constant function call results into one. Awesome-makerdao - A collection of tools, documents, articles, blog posts, interviews, as well as videos related to MakerDAO as well as the DAI stablecoin. Dss - Dai Stablecoin System Developerguides - developer guides that can integrate with MakerDAO’s smart contracts, SDKs, APIs, products as well as partners. Market-Maker-Keeper - A framework for Market maker keepers for OasisDEX, EtherDelta, 0x (RadarRelay, ERCdEX), Paradex, DDEX, IDEX, Bibox, Ethfinex, GoPax, HitBTC, TheOcean, OKEX, and Gate.io. Multicall.js - a JavaScript blockchain state management library created for Decentralized Applications (dApps). Maker Foundation Community Grants Provide Funding for Blockchain Projects – Official MakerDAO Blog Dai Integrated as a Payment Option on Coinbase Commerce, Offering the Stablecoin to Millions via Shopify, WooCommerce, and Other Merchants – Official MakerDAO Blog The “Bailout” for Everyone Else—Maker and Dharma Partner to Stimulate the Meme Economy – Official MakerDAO Blog The Maker Foundation Development Grants Program Sunsets – Official MakerDAO Blog MakerDAO Official Website Official MakerDao Forum Maker Protocol 101 - Official Documentation Decentralized Applications (dApps): Definition, Uses, Pros & Cons What Are Smart Contracts on the Blockchain and How They Work Ethereum (ETH) - Official Website collateralized debt position (CDP) - Official Documentation Market Research TradingView Etherscan n n