Category: News

Crypto prices are dropping, but BTC is the most solid of them all. The community also fully supports it, let’s find out why!

Bitcoin’s price trend, historical data in hand, follows a 4-year cycle. The trend is marked by the halving event, which occurs precisely every 4 years. The Halving refers to the gradual halving of the BTC rewards that miners receive for their work. The event seems to coincide with the end of one of Bitcoin’s price cycles and the beginning of the next. In fact, since the creation of BTC, its price has followed a pattern where the halving is followed by 18-24 months of a bull market, which is subsequently followed by two years of bear market. Taking into consideration the timing of this theory, we are in the middle of a bear market. The next halving is expected to happen in 2024, when the supply of BTC will then change and consequently so will market behaviour. A bear market can be broken down into several phases, and understanding them can help us look in perspective at Bitcoin’s current market momentum. Discover Bitcoin’s 7 strengths in the face of dealing with a bear market!

Phases of a bear market

If we consider the previous bear market we went through, we can distinguish 7 phases:

1. The collapse: when the market collapses very quickly, for both Bitcoin and altcoins;
2. Rejection/denial: when there is a tendency to think that prices are only subject to one of the many usual declines;
3. Realisation: when you realise that you’re not faced with just a temporary market downturn. Often this realisation also comes from a broader observation of the macroeconomic context;
4. Panic: after a general realisation of what is happening, people panic and this perspective changes the market mentality. Any attempt at a rebound is eliminated by those who try to limit their losses by selling. At this stage, the rebounds are pushed by bitcoiners attracted to buying BTC at reduced prices;
5. Accumulation/stabilisation: although the majority of users panic, those who take a long-term view accumulate mainly ‘solid’ coins such as BTC rather than altcoins;
6. Anticipation: at this stage funds begin to return, Bitcoin is on the rise again. People are also start to buy medium market cap altcoins again;
7. Steady growth: the market is growing steadily again. There is a shift from extreme fear to neutral sentiment.

We are currently in the panic phase, number 4, where the Fear and Greed Index has the lowest values (extreme fear). The market is slowly trying to move into number 5, or stabilisation. Those who are fully immersed in panic mode find it difficult to perceive the build-up. It is not possible to precisely predict when the bear market will evolve into the next phase. However, if we compare BTC to other cryptos, we can see that although they are all falling, Bitcoin is the one that is dropping the least. While most altcoins are falling more than 90% from their ATH, Bitcoin’s decline is just under 70% from its ATH of $69,045.

The only certainty is that the next halving will be in early 2024 (this is determined by the algorithm), and the market equilibrium will then be upset again. Those who take a long-term view and are convinced of Bitcoin’s value beyond its mere price will continue to buy and hold. The foresight of bitcoiners begs the question: why does Bitcoin continue to be supported? Here are Bitcoin’s 7 strengths to face the bear market!

Bitcoin’s strengths: why bitcoiners don’t give up

Bitcoiners don’t panic. The bear market can sow all the panic it wants, but there are those who just won’t abandon Bitcoin. This is because the strengths and potential of Bitcoin go beyond its price. Bitcoin is in fact:

1. Open source: everyone can have access to and verify information processed by the blockchain, but above all, everyone can contribute to the development and improvement of the whole network;
2. Transparent: you don’t need to have blind trust in how it works. One of the slogans the BTC community is fond of is ‘don’t trust, verify’, precisely because everything is in front of your eyes, available and verifiable;
3. Neutral: it knows no politics and does not depend on any national or international legislation (at least as far as the functioning of its blockchain is concerned, mining for instance may be restricted);
4. Decentralised: the BTC network is composed of nodes scattered all over the world and no single company or person holds all the decision-making power;
5. Resistant to censorship: the only way to block Bitcoin is to block the internet (and we can only imagine what the consequences of disconnecting the whole world would be);
6. Secure: Bitcoin’s security is guaranteed by its Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. The work of miners makes transactions secure and the decentralisation of nodes means that there is no interference;
7. Characterised by a winning monetary policy. Its scarcity and digital nature make Bitcoin an alternative to economic systems as we know them.

Will the next halving save us?

As always, the market mirrors many factors, most of which are unpredictable. The halving gives us hope for an improvement in Bitcoin’s performance because it has always had a positive impact in the past. However, the consequences of the last halving in May 2020 were also influenced by external elements such as the FED’s restrictive policy. In all this the stock-to-flow can be useful as a trend indicator but the future of BTC is all to be written!

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ETH’s price is going through a crisis, and it may possibly fall below $1,000. The market has been impacted by Celsius’ issues, and the possible delay of Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum’s performance in June leaves no room for optimism, and as of today (the 16th of June), the price is hovering around USD 1100. What is happening to Ethereum? Will the price of ETH go back up? The crypto market has been in a bearish phase ever since the collapse of Terra (LUNA) and UST. Many people have decided to wait for stricter regulations or a bullish market before buying crypto again. In addition, problems with Celsius (a crypto lending platform) and a possible delay in the arrival of The Merge have contributed to this delicate moment, which is affecting Ethereum’s overall performance. Find out what is happening to the crypto market, Celsius and The Merge, and why Ethereum’s price is dropping.

Could Ethereum 2.0’s release be delayed? What is the ‘difficulty bomb’?

Here is the first piece of bad news for Ethereum that may have had an impact on its performance: the ‘difficulty bomb‘ has been postponed. But first; let’s see what is implied by this term.

Ethereum is a proof-of-work blockchain, but it won’t be for much longer. The most anticipated update of all, Ethereum 2.0, will change the consensus mechanism and make it proof-of-stake. According to Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, and the other developers of the Ethereum Foundation, the update (called The Merge) will improve the performance of the network and decrease the environmental impact of crypto caused by mining.

The ‘difficulty bomb’ is a system that developers have implemented to make ETH mining more difficult and less profitable. This is meant to discourage miners and to convince users to stake their ETH on the Consensus Layer (i.e. the proof-of-stake layer, now still in beta). This system was supposed to make mining counterproductive the day the update was released, but it was postponed. Tim Beiko, Ethereum’s lead developer, said that postponing the difficulty bomb could ease the stress on developers:”… too much pressure puts a strain on development teams, and that’s a situation we want to avoid”.

What can be deduced from this situation is that the delays to the release of Ethereum 2.0 are putting the entire crypto market in trouble. In fact, Ethereum’s overall performance is dropping. This is probably also due to fears that the update will not work and it could cause the entire network to collapse. According to the developers, however, this fear is unfounded, since the testing phases have gone quite well and the code is almost ready to be made public.

DeFi’s largest lending platform, Celsius, is in trouble: is Ethereum’s performance falling because of this?

One of the factors that could have a bearing on the performance of Ethereum and the price of ETH is the difficult time that the lending platform Celsius is facing. Celsius is one of DeFi’s largest centralised platforms for exchanging, borrowing and staking crypto. The platform was well known in the crypto environment because it offered high rewards to users who staked their cryptocurrencies, up to 17% per year.

How does Celsius work? It is a centralised DeFi platform, in essence, an ‘intermediary’ between the user and the world of decentralised finance. Users entrust their cryptos to these platforms, who use them to exploit DeFi’s potential (e.g. through lending, staking or liquidity farming). In return, the platform offers an annual return to users.

This system worked well when the crypto market was bullish, but now Celsius seems to be struggling. On the 12th of June, the platform was forced to halt all operations, probably because it found itself unable to pay its users back. If that were the case, the halting of Celsius’ operations could prove to be a blow to the entire crypto community. However, the platform has announced that it still has a good amount of BTC in its reserves that it can sell to repay debts. The issue is, Bitcoin sell-off would put Satoshi Nakamoto’s crypto even further into crisis. Bitcoin is already dangerously close to the $20,000 mark. If this were to happen, it is possible that the price of Ethereum would also be affected.

The price of Ethereum in the first 6 months of 2022

This first half of 2022 proved to be full of surprises for the traditional market and also for the crypto market. Ethereum’s performance in particular has been mixed, although the first week of 2022 proved to be positive for Buterin’s crypto. In fact, at the beginning of the year, Ethereum’s price structure was even more solid than Bitcoin’s, holding firmly at around $3,700.

The first difficulties occurred around mid-January, when Russia announced that crypto would be regulated or, worse, banned. On that occasion, the price of Ethereum fell, reaching a low of USD 2160. And just as it was trying to rise again, a second blow, the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war in mid-February dashed the hopes of all Ethereum enthusiasts, sending the price of ETH back to around USD 2150.

Signs of an upturn only returned around the beginning of April. On the 5th April, the price of Ethereum reached USD 3520, only to fall to a resistance threshold of 3200. The threshold was quickly broken, however, and Ethereum began a downward trend along with the rest of the crypto market. It was precisely in these ominous market conditions that the collapse of Terra (LUNA) took place, which shook the market terribly. The price of Ethereum reached a low of 1966 dollars! The last time ETH was trading at less than two thousand dollars? the 21st of July 2021.

Over the past few days, the price of Ethereum has continued to drop precipitously, and on the 15th of June it came perilously close to three digits, trading for $1030. In all of this, Ethereum miners are preparing for the transition to proof-of-stake, selecting new shores to migrate to.

The Ethereum mining industry, currently worth $19 billion, has been struggling for some time. In May, for example, revenues from mining activities fell by 27%. The average price of gas fees for transactions on Ethereum also fell. While this is positive news, it also means that there is less interest in Ethereum. Perhaps users are waiting for The Merge to happen before they start using Buterin’s blockchain again.

The crypto market is not the most prosperous at the moment, and the price of Ethereum is falling. But the reasons are not only to be found within Ethereum, as The Merge update is proceeding smoothly. Despite this, Ethereum’s psychological threshold of one thousand dollars has come close. Will Ethereum’s price be able to recover and return to its ATH of 4878 dollars? Especially during a bearish market, always remember the old adage of the crypto world: DYOR!

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It’s official: the new Terra 2 chain will be released on the 27th of May! Find out everything about the new chain wanted by Do Kwon and how the LUNA 2.0 airdrop works

Do Kwon’s proposal passed: a new Terra is on the way. With 66 percent of votes in favour, the community voted in favour of the creation of a new chain. The old LUNAs will be called LUNA Classic (LUNC) and the migration will take place on the 27th of May, through an airdrop that will try to give back to the LUNAtics what they deserve. Find out all about the release of Terra 2, how LUNA 2.0’s airdrop works, and how to get it!

What is LUNA 2.0, the new chain proposal from Do Kwon

After the collapse of LUNA and UST, the crypto community found itself in dire straits. Terra’s founder, Do Kwon, came up with a proposal to create a new chain from nothing. The proposal in question, published on Terra’s Agora, received 66% positive votes despite the fact that some members of the Terra community spoke out against the idea.

Despite criticism from some users, Do Kwon has found support from the majority of the community in creating a fork of Terra. Terra 2 will not exactly be a ‘hard fork’ similar to Ethereum’s actions after the 2017 attack. Instead of “resetting” the blockchain to a time before the collapse (7th of May, in this case), Do Kwon will create a new blockchain from scratch, but without the UST algorithmic stablecoin.

With this fork, Terra’s founder wants to recreate the blockchain by eliminating the weak point that led the old chain to collapse, namely UST. Terra 2 will become a strong DeFi ecosystem with all the dapps already ready to be implemented.

How LUNA 2.0’s airdrop works

The airdrop of the new LUNAs will be gradual and will mainly reward those who held LUNA and UST before the collapse. Before launching the new chain, the developers will take a snapshot (at 8:59pm UK time on Thursday 26 May) of all tokens in the old chain and then distribute the new LUNAs on the updated version. The new LUNAs received will automatically be staked.

Do Kwon’s plan is for the new chain to start from a ‘virgin’ state, i.e. block 0, with a circulating amount of tokens equal to 1 billion. How does the airdrop of LUNA 2.0 work? The new tokens will be distributed in this way:

–       35% of the initial tokens will be divided among all LUNA holders before the crash. This means that as much as 350 million of the new LUNAs will be reserved for LUNAtics who purchased the tokens before 7 May, and held them even during the crash. Wallets with less than 10,000 LUNAs will get 30 per cent of their share immediately, and 70 per cent will be returned gradually over two years. Whales, on the other hand, will have worse conditions, and will get all the LUNA they are entitled to over four years.

–       15% of the LUNAs will be reserved for those who held aUST (i.e. USTs locked on Anchor Protocol) before the collapse. In this case, however, whales will have a maximum of 500,000 LUNA, to give priority to small UST holders.

–       15% of the initial tokens of the new chain will be reserved for those who bought USTs after the 7 May collapse.

–       10% of the new LUNAs will go to those who bought LUNAs after the collapse, and will be returned gradually over a period of two years.

–       Finally, the remaining 30% will end up in the community pool, to support the effort of dapp developers and ensure that the new chain maintains its value as a DeFi ecosystem.

The system is quite complex but Do Kwon thinks this is the best way to compensate LUNAtics fairly and to recreate a functional and effective network in the DeFi landscape.

In the proposal, Terra’s founder writes that the LUNA airdrop will take into account all on-chain assets (including, for example, LUNAs in staking or those on some centralised exchanges), except for a few specific ones due to technical reasons. For example, USTs and LUNAs ‘transferred’ with a bridge to other blockchains will not be part of the airdrop unless they are returned to the original chain (e.g. Terra’s official wallet, Terra Station). LUNAs blocked in the most popular DeFi protocols will also be returned. For more information, please refer to Do Kwon’s official proposal, which is constantly being updated.

Criticisms for LUNA’s fork go beyond the community

The collapse of LUNA and UST has obviously divided the crypto community. Although many support Terra’s fork, not everyone believes that the airdrop of LUNA 2.0 is the best solution to repair the damage caused by the collapse. Criticism, especially on Twitter, abounds: but it is not only the users who oppose Do Kwon’s and the rest of the community’s decision.

Lido Finance, one of Ethereum’s most important liquid staking protocols, refused to support Terra 2.0. Lido’s DAO voted ‘no’ decisively, with 95 per cent voting. Less than 5% of the participants were in favour of bringing Lido Finance onto the new Terra chain.

Despite the fact that Lido Finance had a locked-in value of almost $10 billion on Terra before the collapse of LUNA and UST, the DAO practically rejected Do Kwon’s proposal. “We will think about it after the launch, first it is better to see if Terra 2.0 is a legitimate project and supported by the community. At the moment there are too many doubts about the new chain,’ wrote one of the users against Terra 2.0.

The 27th of May will be a date that will go down in history not only for Terra, but for the entire crypto world. Only one day to go until the decisive date: will airdrop be enough to win back the market’s favour?

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What metaverse and NFTs are on Fantom? Why is it linked to Cronje? What is its logo doing on F1 circuits? Find out 5 interesting facts about Fantom!

FTM, the Fantom token, is now available on Young Platform! Surely you’ve already heard about it, this blockchain platform is one of the most widely used for the provision of DeFi services, but are you sure you know everything about it? Certainly its “spooky” branding doesn’t go unnoticed, between emoji of ghosts and the reference to the musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” the developers who use Fantom indulge in metaphors and creepy names. One example? The BOO token from Spookyswap, the dapp Tomb Finance and the NFTs from Fantums of Opera. But the FTM ecosystem doesn’t only hide horror easter eggs, here are 5 interesting facts about Fantom!

1. Andre Cronje’s history with Fantom

A simple search on Google or Twitter shows that Fantom is often associated with the name Andre Cronje. But who is Andre Cronje? And most importantly, why is he so important to Fantom? Cronje is one of the most prolific developers in the DeFi industry, creating several protocols and dapps that have helped shape the current image of DeFi and Web3. Cronje has become a crypto star because of his coding skills but also because of his repeated “rage quitting” over DeFi (after the last one a few months ago, in the past few days he broke his silence by talking about the need for crypto regulation). His most famous creations are Yearn Finance and Keep3r, but Cronje has also contributed to the development of other protocols such as Fantom. The developer worked on Fantom from 2018 to 2022 as a technical advisor and as chairman of the Fantom Foundation Technology Council. His imprint was decisive and his prestige in the DeFi field attracted the trust of many people who became Fantom supporters.

After Cronje’s farewell, Fantom suffered in terms of popularity and TVL decline, but DeFi is not made by individual developers. The team has continued to work, gaining deserved success!

2. Fantom cradle of Metaverse

When designing a Metaverse on blockchain you have to take into account all the transactions that need to be processed by all the active users, and Fantom has all the makings of a platform loved by Metaverse developers: it’s fast, scalable and cheap! 8BIT Nostalgia is one of the Metaverse on Fantom, essentially an interactive 3D space that can be explored by avatars sold as NFTs. On 8BIT there are game areas and arenas where users can come together to chat and design new features. 8BIT is expanding through various collaborations, for example owners of the ADAPunks collection on Cardano will be able to use their skins on Fantom as well. As the name implies, the atmosphere of 8BIT is very nostalgic. You can’t help but shed a tear when you think back to Pokemon Perla on Nintendo DS!

Another Metaverse on Fantom is Pod Town, which is distinguishing itself by building a solid in-game economy. Pod Town is integrating a number of DeFi services that allow players to manage and monitor their in-game assets and wallets. The third noteworthy project is Slothtopia, this Metaverse on Fantom is developing a 3D virtual world compatible with VR. 

3. A strong team

Fantom works with the crème de la crème of Web3. In fact, among the protocols integrated into the blockchain platform are Chainlink, The Graph and Ankr. In detail, Fantom works with Chainlink to ‘build secure and scalable DeFi products such as decentralised stablecoins, lending protocols and synthetic assets’. Developers using Fantom’s infrastructure can freely access Chainlink’s oracles to combine and compare on-chain and off-chain data from trusted sources. The Graph, on the other hand, comes in handy when one wants to consult information from different blockchains, information that can be useful for developing and offering cross-chain solutions. With The Graph, Fantom has found the solution to interoperability problems. Finally, Fantom uses the API and development tools of the Ankr protocol.

4. Book your holidays with Fantom

Among the five facts about Fantom, there is an initiative that makes people dream about holidays. In 2020, Fantom started a partnership with Travala.com, the leading cryptocurrency travel booking platform active since 2017. Thanks to this partnership, people can directly use their FTMs on Travala to book hotels, houses, flights, tours and various activities. The Travala project aims to make the travel industry cheaper, fairer and more inclusive, those who use FTM for payments will be able to save over 40% (compared to other classic online travel agencies) and be able to choose from 2 million properties and 600 airlines. 

5. Speed champions agree: Fantom and F1

Fantom has signed two agreements to sponsor Formula 1 projects. In 2021, the partnership with the Italian team Scuderia Alpha Tauri was announced, with the Fantom logo appearing on the car, helmets and drivers’ overalls. 

Since March 2022, the Fantom brand has also been present on the equipment of Pietro and Enzo Fittipaldi, the two F1 drivers also known as the Fittipaldi Brothers. In addition to the sponsorship, the two brothers have chosen Fantom as the platform to create their first NFT collection. “My brother and I have been interested in the cryptocurrency space for some time, we are fascinated by the potential it has to inspire financial freedom and the tools for athletes to engage with their fans,” commented Pietro Fittipaldi.

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According to European legislation, Ripple is compliant. Therefore Young Platform will not be removing XRP

The Enquiry

On 22 December, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the company behind the cryptocurrency XRP. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is the federal agency that oversees the US stock exchange. The SEC is investigating the relationship between Ripple Labs and XRP, alleging that the latter is actually a security token.

The SEC alleges that the founders launched the XRP currency by selling it as a share of the Ripple company, without registering it as such. The ICO launched by XRP raised more than $1.3 billion from investors all around the world. Therefore, the lawsuit centres on the fact that the SEC holds Ripple Labs responsible for failing to register its offering as an investment contract for investors. Ripple promptly responded to the lawsuit, anticipating the SEC’s official charges on Twitter.

XRP will stay on Young Platform

The debate has led to the major US-based exchanges delisting or planning to delist XRP.

However, according to European legislation, Ripple is compliant. Therefore Young, like other European exchanges, will not be removing XRP from the Young Platform and Young Platform Pro exchanges at this time. This is because we want to avoid harming our users and give them the ability, in accordance with current European regulations, to continue to sell, buy or trade their XRP.

The future of XRP on Young Platform

Should the company’s main liquidity providers remove Ripple from their offerings, it is likely that Young will also be forced to delist XRP. Should this happen, our customers’ funds will still be protected by allowing them to be converted to fiat or sent to external wallets prior to removal. Again, users will be notified well in advance to allow them to better plan and manage their XRP funds.

Young will continue to follow the debate closely and keep its users updated.

XRP recorded a 55% growth in the last 24 hours.

Read more about Ripple and XRP in our dedicated Academy article.

Looking at the fundraising campaign powered by Croce Rossa and Young Platform: Bitcoin are a powerful tool to deliver fast economical aid during calamities,

On April 6th the second level Advanced Medical Post for pre-triage was set up in Castel Gandolfo by the Italian Red Cross – Colli Albani Committee. The AMP was purchased using the bitcoin donations raised thanks to the Helperbit platform and with the support of Young and Blockchain Education Network Italy, and in a short time, it was delivered and deployed.

On March 12th, Colli Albani Committee launched a bitcoin fundraising campaign focused on the COVID-19 emergency in Italy. This was the first initiative in the cryptocurrency sector and this led to media attention and international visibility. The first target of € 10,000 in BTC was achieved in just three days; it was possible to quickly exchange the raised money in Euro and purchase the material needed to build the AMP, which is already functioning at the time of writing. The fees of the procedures, from the initial donations to the purchase, are worth 0.55%.

The campaign is still running and the second target of € 25,000 in BTC is almost reached.

Bruno Pietrosanti, President at Colli Albani Committee, said: “With great pleasure, we reached the first main milestone of our fundraising. We are happy to have turned the received donations into a tangible aid and we are excited to have received so much help from the Bitcoin community.”

Guido Baroncini Turricchia, CEO at Helperbit, commented: “When Colli Albani Committee sent me photos of the tent, a gift granted by the solidarity of the Bitcoin community, I was excited. The efforts of Helperbit, jointly with Bitcoin donors, are now saving lives and helping to protect first responders on the front line. Those people, that in the silence of their home donated to the project, must be proud to be part of this charitable initiative. Bitcoin confirmed to be a powerful tool, a technology that allows to deliver direct and fast international aid during calamities, increasing also the transparency level. ”

Fundraising project created by Colli Albani

The list of women in Italian FinTech, a tribute by Young Platform.

What better way to celebrate March 8th, if not by honouring the 10 women who are helping make the Italian FinTech great?

Paola Papanicolaou

Executive Director – Group Head of Innovation Intesa San Paolo
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Benedetta Arese Lucini

Co-Founder & CEO – Oval Money
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Valeria Portale

Head of Mobile Payment & Commerce Observatory and Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Observatory – Politecnico di Milano

Elena Lavezzi

Head of Southern Europe – Revolut
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Maria Magenes

Community Lead Europe – Maker Foundation
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Claudia Vassena

Head of Buddybank – UniCredit
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Doris Messina

Chief Digital Transformation Officer – Banca Sella
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Serena Torielli

Co-Founder and CEO – Virtual B
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Silvia Attanasio

Head Of Innovation at ABI – Italian Banking Association
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Tamara Belardi

National Blockchain Board Member – MISE
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