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Club benefit: up to €450 free for WeRoad travels

August is coming and you still don’t know where to go on holiday? Discover WeRoad trips with Club Benefits!

Planning holidays at the last minute is never a good idea. Luckily, Young Platform can save your holiday with WeRoad trips!

What is WeRoad?

As well as being one of the most important Italian Tour Operators, also present in France, the UK, Germany and Spain, WeRoad is the largest community of travellers in Italy.

Forget the old agencies that print your tickets by fax, crumpled brochures or buses full of tourists: with WeRoad you book and manage your entire trip online!

On WeRoad you find trips for curious and adventurous spirits, who want to discover the world with new people and an experienced travel coordinator without having to worry about the organisational side.

How does the benefit work?

Thanks to the partnership with Young Platform, Club members can enjoy a unique advantage on WeRoad travels.

This is a coupon that can be used for 3 different trips, the value of which varies depending on the Club:

  • Bronze Club: €50 discount usable on 3 trips (total discount €150)
  • Silver Club: €70 discount usable on 3 trips (total discount €210)
  • Gold Club: €100 discount usable on 3 trips (total discount €300)
  • Platinum Club: €150 discount usable on 3 trips (total discount €450)

If you are already subscribed to a Club, you will automatically receive 1 unique coupon by email today.

If you are not in any Club today, but you sign up at any time in the future, you will receive your coupon by email immediately after the subscription.

How to use the coupon?

1) Read the email containing the coupon, it will tell you its expiry date. Then save it so you will be able to find it again for your next trip.

2) Visit the WeRoad website.

For the coupon to be accepted, use the site of the country you signed up with on Young Platform: 

  • If you indicated Italy as your country of residence when verifying your identity on Young Platform, use the coupon at weroad.it
  • If you indicated France as your country of residence when verifying your identity on Young Platform, use the coupon on weroad.fr
  • If you indicated any other country as your country of residence when verifying your identity on Young Platform, use the coupon at weroad.co.uk

3) Choose your WeRoad trip with the search bar or via the menu.

If you have found a destination, click on ‘Show departure calendar’, select the date that suits you, and click on ‘Book’.

Or if you are already on the page of a trip on a specific date, click on ‘Book your tour’.

4) When paying, enter the coupon in the ‘Promocode‘ box: check that the discount has been applied!

Please note that it is not possible to apply more than one code to the same WeRoad trip.

If the coupon does not work or you experience problems of any kind, please contact support at [email protected].

Travel with WeRoad and have an unforgettable adventure!

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New levels available on Step: let the games resume!

20 new levels on Step mean more rewards you can reap and more fun. But there’s more

As anticipated during the announcement of Step 3.0, we have also planned something for the app’s most loyal players. Here are all the news and some clarifications on the updates.

The news

As of today, those who have reached level 50 can continue to earn experience points and go up another 20 levels!

So the total number of levels available on Step is 70.

To view the levels click on the blue hexagon at the top left of the homepage, then click on ‘Show levels’.

NB: For technical reasons, XPs accumulated after level 50 before today’s date were not counted, so that you may redeem rewards for the subsequent levels.

There is one extra piece of news: at the community’s request, we have added the new 1-hour Duration to Up&Down, with the corresponding reward of 25 XP.

Frequently asked questions about Step 3.0

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points you have asked us about Step’s innovations.

1. The transfer of YNG

Currently, it is only possible to transfer YNG tokens to Young Platform if you have at least 45 YNGs, which at the time of writing corresponds to just €5. 

These numbers are not random: €5 is the minimum amount allowed for the sale of YNG. Consequently, facilitating the transfer of a lower amount, such as 30 YNG (€3) could mislead many people making their first transfer.

Indeed, consider that the transfer of YNG is not reversible: you cannot send them back to Step if you change your mind. 

Thus, transferring €3 in YNG to Young Platform for the first time would mean that you would not be able to convert them into Euro and thus not even be able to withdraw it to your bank account or card (the minimum withdrawal is €21.99).

However, some of you, including those who already have YNG on the exchange, have expressed the need to transfer even smaller amounts. Once again, we listened. This is why we will be testing the lowering of the minimum threshold in the coming weeks to see the extent of the negative and positive effects for users.

2. The rewards of previous levels

Some people, who arrived on Step 3.0 with levels higher than the first, asked us why they did not receive the rewards of the previous levels.

Virtually, these people have already received the rewards due them during Step 2.0, using all the features, and have also had the opportunity to collect far more YNG than what can be obtained through levels, as opposed to new users.

How did we give these Levels? We simulated the experience that each of the users accumulated by actually using the app, and assigned a level proportional to the tokens obtained. So it is as if Step always had some sort of system based on Levels and XP.

In this way we give newcomers to the community the opportunity to obtain YNG, but without penalising the price of the latter. Indeed, if excessively distributed, it risks inflation and thus devaluation.

Enough chit-chat! Time to play and level up on Step.

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Quizzes: What they are and how they work on Step

quizzes on step

Test your knowledge on the world of cryptocurrencies with Young Platform Step quizzes

Do you keep reading articles about cryptocurrencies but you can’t seem to get anything into your head? Do your friends talk about bitcoin but you still don’t quite understand how it works?

Today you can delve into all the most interesting topics and test your knowledge with the Quiz feature on Young Platform Step!

How do the Quizzes work?

It’s easy! Open the Academy section of the Hub, choose the topic, read the first unlocked article and take the quiz. 

Lives

Starting each quiz you will lose one life, which you can recharge by waiting, or by watching a video advertisement, or even by purchasing Unlimited Lives with 1YNG. This way you can take as many quizzes as you want for 1 hour without losing lives.

Victory and defeat

Did you answer less than 60% of the questions correctly?

In the event of total or partial defeat, the quiz is repeatable if you have Lives available. 

Did you answer all the questions correctly?

The prize in XP will be the maximum, i.e. the one indicated in the preview of the individual quiz.

Did you pass the quiz with more than 60% but less than 100%?

You will receive a proportional share of the prize. 

Quizzes are a game with really simple, yet effective mechanics. Now it’s up to you to read our lessons carefully to guarantee your victory and satisfaction with Step Quizzes!

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Young Platform launches the ‘Fiscal Report’ in Italy – Now it is easier to declare crypto-assets

Turin, 9 May 2023 – Young Platform, the leading Italian cryptocurrency exchange platform, announces the introduction of the new ‘Fiscal Report’ feature, which simplifies the declaration of capital gains and losses by the user, by making the tax declaration document available for download in PDF format in the personal account area.

The report, designed by Young Platform in line with the new regulations, will indicate the value of the user’s wallet, any rewards obtained from staking, income tax, and can be accompanied by a .csv file with the complete list of movements. The Fiscal Report is available on the Young Platform Web version. From June, the new functionality will also be available in France, where Young Platform has been present since 2022.

The Fiscal Report is the first service of its kind offered by an Italian exchange and at the same time compliant with Italian and French tax regulations, allowing users to connect not only their own private wallets such as Metamask, but also other wallet providers, the latter from June 2023. It may also include royalties from NFT or Web3 domains and transaction tracking. The Fiscal Report may thus be a service not only for Young Platform users, but also for any type of professional, company or cryptocurrency investor who needs to declare their assets for tax purposes. 

“Finally, a service that allows both users and professionals to calculate taxes on crypto assets, enabling constant tax planning throughout the year, in a simple and straightforward manner,” comments Alberto Bertagnolio Licio, Chartered Accountant and Senior Partner at Studio Boursier.

Fiscal Report was created in collaboration with Taxtris, a leading provider of tax advisory services for the crypto market, specialising in tax solutions for the cryptocurrency sector. Taxtris has a team of experts in taxation and blockchain technology and thanks to this partnership, Young Platform is now able to offer its users a new, simple and comprehensive solution for accessing cryptocurrencies. 

“It is through simple, life-simplifying tools, such as the Fiscal Report, that such complex technology manages to permeate into the lives of us all. At Young Platform, we strive to equip all our users with the best tools to operate with ease.” – Lorenzo Palombi, Head of Legal & Corporate Affairs at Young Platform.

On the other hand, Italians remain keen on cryptocurrencies and tokens: more than 7 million have already bought them and just as many say they are interested in doing so in the future. The most used method to get hold of these instruments are exchanges (40%) (data ‘Blockchain & Web3: time to build’, report by the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano).

Globally, the crypto market has again surpassed $1 trillion in capitalisation, as of mid-January 2023 (CoinMarketCap data). Despite unfavourable factors influencing a broad industry downturn in 2022, following previous record highs in 2021, cryptocurrency holders equally increased by 39% during 2022, rising from 306 million to 425 million in total (Crypto.com data).

“It is essential to have tools that facilitate the correct tax management of cryptocurrencies in Italy, an increasingly relevant market in the crypto ecosystem on a global scale. In this sense, the solution proposed by Young Platform is an important step forward to simplify and make transparent the taxation of crypto-assets, which facilitates both users and professionals,” – comments Stefano Capaccioli, chartered accountant and founder of Studio Capaccioli and Coinlex.

“Young Platform’s main objective has always been to bring a wide audience closer to the world of cryptocurrencies, building a relationship of trust with its target community and in full compliance with current regulations,” explains Andrea Ferrero, CEO and co-founder of Young Platform. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to make the crypto purchase phase accessible, but also to simplify wallet management, on several levels. This includes functions that ensure full compliance with national and international tax regulations. Fiscal Report is the solution that once again demonstrates Young Platform’s commitment to the correct and transparent management of crypto-assets, a tool that is increasingly understood and appreciated by a growing number of Italians, and not only“.

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Moneybox 2.0: a new way of hodling

The Moneybox section gets a makeover for an increasingly flexible and customised crypto hodling experience. Discover the promo!

With the new crypto Moneybox, your buy and hold strategy is easier and more customisable. 

Keeping up with the market is stressful for many, who instead find it more comfortable to buy little amounts regularly. Studies confirm the validity of this approach on both traditional markets and cryptocurrencies. Thus was born the Moneybox 2.0 – discover all its new features and the dedicated promo!

Crypto Moneybox: what it is and how it works 

Young Platform’s crypto Moneybox is a separate wallet from the one you use to store your cryptocurrencies normally. It is used to put virtual currencies aside for a long time and avoid spending them on everyday or frequent transactions.

The cryptocurrencies compatible with the feature are as follows:

Already available

  • Bitcoin (BTC)
  • Ethereum (ETH)
  • Young (YNG)
  • Ripple (XRP)
  • Cardano (ADA)
  • Polygon (MATIC)
  • Dogecoin (DOGE)
  • Polkadot (DOT)
  • Uniswap (UNI)
  • Decentraland (MANA)
  • The Sandbox (SAND) 

Newly added

  • Aave (AAVE)
  • Chainlink (LINK)
  • Litecoin (LTC)
  • Avalanche (AVAX)
  • Axie Infinity (AXS)
  • Basic Attention Token (BAT)
  • Solana (SOL)
  • Pax Gold (PAXG)
  • Fantom (FTM)

New: Multi-crypto Moneybox

There are now 3 ways to create a crypto Moneybox:

  1. The Single Coin Moneybox
  2. The Curated Bundle
  3. The Bespoke Bundle

The ‘Single Coin Moneybox‘ is the standard mode: simply create a Moneybox in which to set aside a single cryptocurrency via recurring purchase.

Things get even more interesting with the ‘Curated Bundle‘: these are ready-made cryptocurrency mixes that can be purchased on a regular basis. These sets contain coins similar in application and sector, designed for those interested in specific crypto applications:

  • Web3 (DOT, LINK, UNI, BAT, MANA)
  • Metaverse (SAND, MANA, AXS)
  • PoW (BTC, LTC, DOGE)
  • Smart Contracts (AVAX, ADA, ETH, DOT, MATIC)
  • DeFi (AAVE, UNI, LINK)
  • Popular (BTC, ETH, YNG, XRP)

Want to put your own spin on it? Now there is also the possibility of creating a ‘Bespoke Bundle‘: select between 2 and 5 cryptocurrencies to include in your moneybox (from those available) and choose the percentage for each. 

Whereas for other Moneyboxes you can create one per currency or per curated bundle type, in this case there is no limit: you can create as many bespoke bundles as you want.

The real icing on the cake? Until 30 June, all purchases made for the bundles will be 100% commission-free. The promotion will not apply to the single coin moneybox.

How do you create a crypto Moneybox?

The Moneybox is a section of the Young Platform app and web version, which you can find in the main menu.

The creation is guided step by step and will allow you to choose in order:

  1. What kind of crypto Moneybox to create
  2. Which cryptocurrencies to include
  3. The percentage in which to distribute cryptocurrencies, if it is a bundle (minimum 10%)
  4. The frequency of recurring purchase
  5. The amount of each purchase, which in the case of bundles indicates the total amount of Euros with which all cryptocurrencies are purchased together. 

For each type of bundle, a different minimum amount is indicated, which is based on the minimum amounts of the individual cryptocurrency markets. The maximum amount, on the other hand, is always €250.

We understand this better with an example of a bespoke bundle:

  • You selected the monthly purchase of 10% of A, 40% of B and 50% of C.
  • You entered €100 as the amount of the recurring purchase
  • This means that each month you will get €10 of A, €40 of B and €50 of C in a single bundle.

As your Moneybox grows, you will have richer and richer statistics to monitor the performance of each crypto or bundle.

In case you want to change your strategy, you can always close the crypto Moneybox and recreate it, or deactivate and reactivate the recurring purchase with different settings.

Remember that when you close any Moneybox, your cryptocurrencies are only transferred to your spot Wallet, they are never sold unless you sell them.

Please note: for those who, prior to the launch of the Moneybox 2.0, already had active Single Coin Moneyboxes with recurring purchases, their balances were moved to the Spot Wallet, but they are still active. Those who, on the other hand, had Moneyboxes without recurring purchase, they have been closed and the cryptocurrencies stored in these have been moved to the Spot Wallet. More info on the Support page.

Discover the new crypto Moneyboxes now and make the most of zero purchase fees before 30 June!

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Investment strategies compared: how to make time work in your favour 

The best investment strategies? 5 types of investing compared

Comparing the best investment strategies: should we wait for the right moment to invest or buy regularly?

The first thing to consider when choosing your investment strategies is time: is there a right time to invest? If you too have thought at least once about making your savings pay off, without knowing when to start, there is good news: you can start now and get results even without being a financial guru and spending all day interpreting numbers and charts. 

According to research by Charles Schwab, a multinational financial services company, waiting for the right time to enter a market is very expensive. In other words, buying an asset by trying to calculate ideal market conditions is less convenient than relying on a recurring purchase. 

Is market timing the best investment strategy?

The purpose of Charles Schwab’s 2021 analysis, which we will present in this article, is to understand whether market timing works. That is, to seek an answer to the question: is there a right time to invest? The term ‘market timing’ refers to the attempt to find the best time to buy or sell an asset. You can consider market timing as one of the investment strategies adopted by investors who try to anticipate market movements and, for example, sell before a fall and buy before a rise. For the company’s analysts, market timing does not help to make one’s savings pay off. Let’s see how they came to this conclusion. 

The 5 investors’ thought experiment 

Charles Schwab scholars conducted a thought experiment on five different investment strategies. Each investor was given a $2,000 budget per year to invest in the S&P 500, the most important US stock index, for twenty years, from 2000 to 2020. 

  1. Peter Perfect

Peter is the perfect market timer, that friend who is always successful at what he does. By skill or luck, he has managed to place his annual $2,000 by always finding the right time to invest. For example, in 2001 he waited until 21 September, the lowest closing level of that year for the S&P 500.

  1. Ashley Action

Her investment strategy is simple and consistent: each year she invested $2,000 in the market on the first day of the year. 

  1. Matthew Monthly 

Matthew divided his budget into 12 equal shares that he invested at the beginning of each month, with a strategy called dollar cost averaging that can be implemented with recurring and automatic purchases.

  1. Rosie Rotten

The fourth investor had poor timing and a lot of bad luck: she placed $2,000 each year at peak market times. For example, Rosie invested her first $2,000 on 30 January 2001, the highest closing level of that year for the S&P 500.

  1. Larry Linger

He, waiting for the right time, never invested in stocks but kept his budget in cash or Treasury bonds. 

At the end of twenty years of investment, the profits are as ranked below: 

  1. Peter Perfect: $151,391
  2. Ashley Action: $135,471
  3. Matthew Monthly: $134,856
  4. Rosie Rotten: $121,171
  5. Larry Linger: $44,438

So what was the best investment strategy?

The best results of course are Peter’s who waited and planned his annual investments perfectly. But the most surprising and least expected results of the study concern Matthew and Ashley, the latter coming in with only $15,920 less than the first ranked and Matthew with only $16,535 less. Matthew’s recurring purchase approach performed well. The difference in profits is relatively small, considering that he simply invested regularly without calculating timing or market forecasts.

Another obvious consequence of the research is that even bad timing still wins out over inertia. Although Rosie lost $14,300 compared to Ashley (who did not try to predict the market), Rosie still made almost three times what she would have made if she had not invested at all.

To sum up, the experiment shows that it’s worthwhile to invest now, and not to wait for supposed better times. And that putting one’s savings in motion even in a difficult market moment is still better than not investing at all. 

Charles Schwab examined 76 other 20-year periods and almost always found similar results in the ranking of investors for their returns. Even in periods with unexpected rankings, those who invested early never came last. 

What all this means for you

If you have a budget to invest in some market and do not know the best time to do so, starting now and on a regular basis could be the winning choice. 

The benefits of market timing do not stand out; this investment strategy only pays off for those with the skills or luck to anticipate trends. Regularity is less risky and more efficient. 

The winning choice of recurring purchase 

If you do not have the possibility or do not feel like spending your entire annual budget at once, consider recurring purchases. This way you can place smaller amounts more frequently. Recurring purchase has the advantage of: 

  1. Preventing laziness: this research shows that the ‘I’ll do it later’ or ‘maybe it’s better to wait’ approach does not work at all; 
  2. Minimise the stress of those who seek the perfect moments at all costs and the regrets of large investments that have failed; 
  3. Untie your profits from the timing of the market and its volatility. 

The best investment strategies? There is no such thing! The research concludes that, given the difficulty of predicting the market, the most realistic strategy for most investors is to set up recurring purchases. 

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The fourth edition of the Reply Investment Challenge with Young Platform kicks off 

Reply Investment Challenge

Turin, 11 April 2023 – Young Platform announces its partnership with Reply to launch the fourth edition of the “Reply Investment Challenge”. Aimed at students and young professionals. The international online competition in 2022 reached record numbers with 13,750 participants from 95 countries, with a total volume of 36,000 transactions carried out.  

The online trading competition will focus this year on a very topical subject: cryptocurrencies. The objective of the Challenge, which will take place from Monday 8 May to Friday 19 May 2023, will in fact be to invest in cryptocurrencies and participants will be asked to implement profitable investment strategies, making tactical choices based on the fluctuations of the crypto market. 

In addition to deepening their trading knowledge, the competition will enable participants to broaden their skills on cryptocurrency market dynamics and blockchain technology through exclusive e-learning content which will be provided by Young Platform and MIP, and made available, in the month before the competition, on the Challenge platform. MIP, which will thus support Young Platform in providing high-level materials for the preparation of the competitors, is the Graduate School of Business of the Politecnico di Milano, active for more than 40 years in the provision of management training programmes for graduates, professionals, companies and institutions.

Participants will have a virtual capital of $1,000,000 to invest in real time in the cryptocurrency market. On 8 May, the participants’ wallets will be credited and the challenge can begin. Participants will be ranked and evaluated according to their investment choices, and only the top three, those who have maximised the most in terms of profit, will win the competition. This year players will also be able to choose between two different interfaces: a simpler and more intuitive one and a more comprehensive and detailed one, respectively Young Platform and Young Platform Pro.

This year’s Reply Investment Challenge will have Young Platform, Italy’s largest regulated cryptocurrency platform, as a partner. Young Platform is a Turin-based scale-up founded in 2018 with the aim of making the cryptocurrency market accessible to everyone. The platform acts as a reference point for those who want to use cryptocurrencies in a simple, transparent and effective way, even without having specific skills in the field. It stands out for its focus on the security and privacy of its users, guaranteeing the use of cutting-edge technology to protect data and transactions. 

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Join the Crypto Investment Challenge by Reply

Register from 4 April to 5 May to take part in the Reply Investment Challenge for free and win Apple products!

In collaboration with Young Platform, Reply is launching one of its famous challenges: the Investment Challenge, which this time is purely crypto-themed. In fact, the competition will take place on the demo version of our exchange, so participants can test their strategies with virtual money! The international competition in 2022 reached record numbers with 13,750 participants from 95 countries, with a total volume of 36,000 trades executed.  

Who is Reply?

Reply is among the largest Italian consulting companies in the field of digital services and technological innovation, with a main subsidiary in Germany and stakeholders from all over the world. In order to be able to support so many companies in digitisation and technological development, it has a large research area, but does not limit itself to developing in-house knowledge. 

The company also promotes innovation externally, organising many different international challenges throughout the year: from software development to creativity challenges.

Small history trivia: we are fellow citizens! In fact, the company was founded in 1996 in Turin, just like Young Platform. 

What is the purpose of The Challenge?

Reply organises these challenges not to create competition, but rather with an educational intent. These events open up access to theoretical resources, opportunities to put them into practice and learning through confrontation in a young, international environment. 

The Investment Challenge, specifically, aims to promote financial awareness, and this is its fourth edition, following the one in 2022.

On this occasion, the team chose to give participants the opportunity to learn more about the trend of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and their application in trading.

What prizes are up for grabs?

  • For 1st place: MacBook Pro M2
  • For 2nd place: iPad
  • For 3rd place: AirPods

How to participate in the Investment Challenge?

  • Registration: Registration starts today 4 April and closes on 5 May
  • Duration of the challenge: The challenge will last from 7 a.m. UTC on 8 May to 4 p.m. UTC on 19 May.
  • Access: Participation is completely free of charge.

To register, simply create an account and complete the registration from the Challenge page. 

How does the Investment Challenge work?

Here are the terms of the competition:

  • It opens at 7 a.m. UTC on 8 May and closes at 4 p.m. UTC on 19 May.
  • You will have a total balance of €1,000,000. Of course, this is not real money, but a simulation.
  • You will be able to trade on selected cryptocurrency markets.
  • You can participate on both Young Platform and Young Platform Pro, even switching platforms while the challenge is already in progress.
  • During the game week, the Reply Team will publish useful clues for your in-game decisions on the “Your Challenge Page”.
  • Each day, the global and daily rankings will be updated. 

What are the criteria for moving up in the rankings?

The ranking algorithm follows a bonus/malus logic: thus some results earn points to move up in the rankings, others imply a fall in position.

Bonuses/malus are determined by the sum of 4 positive or negative values:

  • Profit & loss (P&L): the profits and losses generated by ‘investments’.
  • Average number of trades made daily during the Challenge. A bonus is awarded if the trades fall within the ‘optimal range’, i.e. a number that reflects a trading strategy that lies between long-term investment and high-frequency trading, and exceeds the minimum amount indicated. A malus is applied if the number of trades is below or above the optimal range. 
  • Diversification index: this metric cross-references the number of daily trades with their value in Euros. Higher diversification earns a higher bonus and vice versa. 
  • Beware of hints: players who follow the team’s ‘hints’ during the challenge will receive a bonus.

How to prepare for The Challenge?

  1. Demo – From the moment you register until 7 May at 4 p.m. UTC, you will have access to the Young Platform Demo in order to test the trading platform with a virtual balance of €1,000,000 already available. From 4 p.m. UTC onwards, you will no longer be able to log in until 7 a.m. UTC the following day, which is the start time of the challenge and the time when the balance will return to €1,000,000 after your trials.
  2. Support – before and during the competition, you can ask any questions or concerns you may have at the chat available on the Reply Challenge platform, by providing your username.
  3. Educational content – created in cooperation with Young Platform Academy and enriched by materials produced by the POLIMI Graduate School of Management, is accessible from the Learning section of the Challenge from 4 April, but we give you a preview of our content so you can start preparing:
    1. What does investing mean? A beginner’s guide 
    2. Bull vs Bear Market: what they mean and their difference
    3. Technical Analysis: How to Draw Trendlines 
    4. Technical Analysis: How to Identify Support and Resistance 
    5. Technical Analysis: How to Read Candlestick Charts 
    6. What’s the Order Book and how to read it? 
    7. Buy limit and buy stop: what is the difference and how to trade with them 
    8. The meaning of stop loss and take profit: the art of closing 
    9. Limit orders and stop orders: trading on Young Platform Pro 

Read the regulations.

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Compliance as the key to cryptocurrency adoption

There are several reasons why, at Young Platform, compliance with local regulations is the top priority. It is not only a question of ethics and respect for the law, but above all of user protection, which in turn must be the very purpose of financial laws.

Furthermore, we believe that regulation is the key to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, and that the first step in this direction is the harmony between crypto players and their reference legal system from the outset.

The events of the last year underline this message more than ever: the failures of Terra-Luna and FTX are certainly not the result of virtuous behaviour. While some regulators are particularly alert and wary of cryptocurrencies, the responsibility for proving that there is no reason for this lies with those who work in the industry.

From day one, Young Platform has always put compliance first, with a collaborative attitude towards regulators and law enforcement in defining and controlling a new sector like cryptocurrency in the Italian and French markets. Our Anti-Fraud and Anti-Money Laundering team continues to develop up-to-date solutions to manage the risk of financial crime, with a specialisation in blockchain.

This commitment can be seen, for instance, in the procedure required by law from all exchange users: the Know-Your-Customer, i.e. the Identity Verification managed through specialised providers. 

User protection also concerns the service itself, which is why no cryptocurrency derivatives or other high-risk trading instruments such as leverage are offered on the exchange. In addition to this, all the educational resources necessary to use the service and explore the sector with awareness are provided, both to protect one’s own accounts, to properly guard one’s funds, and above all to avoid scams that exploit the cryptocurrency trend. A section of the official website is also dedicated to frequently asked security questions for users of our products.

Not only that, Young Platform was the first company to be registered with the Italian Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM), an obligation that came into force in January 2022 following an enactment by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Also when entering the French market, the first step was to obtain registration as an operator of digital asset services (Prestataire de Services sur Actifs Numériques, or PSAN) under number E2022-60 from the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

These practices, unfortunately, are not a given: even basic information such as the registered headquarters is not always known in the industry. In the case of Young Platform, this is public information, available on any page of the official website. Overall, you can find our legal documents.

However, the contribution of exchanges is not enough. The road to mass adoption requires the joining of all forces: if service providers need to be compliant, their customers must use them legally. This scenario requires in turn that governments work on legislation that favours both financial freedom and investor protection.

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Polygon zkEVM: mainnet beta is live. The most eagerly awaited tech news of the year

Polygon zkEVM: the mainnet beta is live. What do you need to know?

Everything you need to know about Polygon zkEVM, Ethereum’s Layer 2 that exploits zero-knowledge technology

We’re live: the Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta went online on 27 March. MATIC‘s blockchain team announced on 20 July 2022 the development of an innovative scalability solution for Ethereum (Layer 2), capable of improving the performance of the entire industry. Thus, the Polygon zkEVM was born, combining zero-knowledge (ZK) technology and compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. 

The project has become the most eagerly awaited tech news in recent months, so much so that 2023 has been dubbed the year of ‘zero-knowledge’.  

Now that the mainnet beta is live, here’s everything you need to know about Polygon zkEVM, Ethereum’s latest scalability innovation!

Polygon zkEVM: blockchain focuses on zero-knowledge

For Ethereum, there is no more pressing challenge than scalability. The increasing amount of dapps and DeFi services using its network are testing its efficiency. The number of transactions to be processed increases day by day and according to Polygon, the most promising solution to meet this challenge are Layer 2s based on zero-knowledge technology. Which allows so many transactions to be processed at once and at a reduced cost. 

One type of Layer 2 derived from this technology are rollups. These aggregate a series of  off-chain transactions into a ‘rollup’ that is transferred to the reference Layer 1 blockchain with one and only one proof of validity for all transactions (zero-knowledge proof). In other words, transactions are not verified one by one, transferring a large amount of data to Ethereum. Everything is reduced to a single step.

This makes the finalisation of transactions and the amount of data that ends up on the blockchain lighter. Polygon zkEVM rollups allow instantaneous transactions unlike other types such as optimistic rollups, chosen as a scalability solution by protocols such as Arbitrium and Optimism. 

Zero-knowledge rollups: pros and cons

Although promising, zk rollups are an underused technology as a scalability solution for Ethereum. In general, these take a long time to develop and are expensive to integrate. Most importantly, in most cases, they are not compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and are therefore not interoperable with Ethereum. 

Compatibility is crucial because it allows different projects to be standardised and interchangeable with each other, facilitating the exchange of information and value. 

Polygon decided to work precisely on this weakness of zk rollups: ‘We knew that Ethereum needed to scale. We knew that ZK Proofs were the best way to do so. We knew that EVM-equivalence was the secret sauce that would empower both devs and users. So we built Polygon zkEVM”. 

The Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta that went online on 27 March is thus a zero-knowledge Layer 2 solution for scaling Ethereum, that is fully compatible with the EVM. 

Polygon zkEVM: why it’s really news

Zk rollups yes, but compatible with Ethereum. This is Polygon‘s project that is finally a reality! Basically, not being EVM compatible is a big disadvantage, it means not being able to use the same programming language as Ethereum (Solidity), its code or development tools. The problem with zk rollups is therefore one of usability. 

Polygon zkEVM however is a Layer 2 that can be used exactly like Ethereum. Developers and users can find the same security and decentralisation of the ETH network but more speed and convenience. 

Polygon zkEVM: what changes now for blockchain

To summarise, the advantages of Polygon zkEVM are: 

  • More scalability and security for the network;
  • Lower transaction processing costs;
  • Faster transaction finalisation times;
  • Compatibility with Ethereum, the most widely used smart contract platform.

So what is going to change with the arrival of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta? The first immediate consequence according to the project team is that the cost of transaction fees on Layer 1 (i.e. on Polygon itself) will decrease by 90%. 

Moreover, thanks to full compatibility with EVM, Web3 developers who want to improve the performance of their dapps built on Ethereum can simply transfer the execution of existing smart contracts to Layer 2. 

Polygon zkEVM: first applications

The Polygon team explained that the main applications of Polygon zkEVM will be in the field of DeFi dapps, NFTs, blockchain gaming and payments. 

One of the first projects to have chosen the Polygon zkEVM to scale its activities is ImmutableX, the blockchain dedicated to crypto gaming that has always used zk rollups since its foundation.  

Earlier this month, Polygon unveiled a new product built on its zkEVM: Polygon ID. It is a service for verifying one’s digital identity, in which users can register credentials in a wallet via smart contract. The owner of a café, for instance, could verify the age of a customer even without documents. Or developers could build decentralised solutions for KYC. 

After the launch of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta on 27 March, we will see further applications of the new scalability solution. Which has all the makings of setting new tech standards for blockchain and its development.