Kategorie: Crypto Markets

Syscoin, the only scalable layer-1 Blockchain with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality, is set to launch a zero-knowledge cross-chain bridge (ZKCross) for demonstration by September. The bridge is expected to work on the principle of preventing bridge exploits while also facilitating cross-chain decentralized exchanges and lowering fees.

This year alone, hackers have managed to get away with over $1 billion, causing tension among the investors. Over the years, cross-chain bridges have been using multi-party computation (MPC) or multi-signature to authenticate trades, and this is what has fuelled the rampant cross-chain bridge attacks.

Managing liquidity and trading across multiple chains.

Syscoin’s ZKCross bridge will come as a relief to investors as it will operate an off-chain automated market maker (AMM) mechanism. The mechanisms curb all exploitable consensus protocols as well as manage trade and liquidity across multiple chains.

During the transactions, zero-knowledge proof, a fast and private data authentication, will be used before transactions are compressed and rolled up on the Syscoin base layer to ensure accuracy.

According to Syscoin, the bridge technology will aid economies of scale. However, when the AMM goes offline, the users will be required to exit to the base layer.

 Syscoin lead developer, Jagdeep Sidhu said:

“If it’s not this bridge, someone else will release a zero-knowledge bridge and that’ll be the bridge solution everyone is using. I really think this is where things are headed.’’

Zero-knowledge advantage and limitations

Zero-Knowledge bridging will be cost-effective to users as the only cost the users will incur is that of their CPU. However, zero-knowledge technology has limitations with the main one being a lack of decentralization.

Sidhu said:

“All the rollups are centralized right now, we’ll start with a centralized sequencer, but the goal is to create a decentralized sequencer down the road.”

Meanwhile, Syscoin is optimistic about creating a zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine (EVM), which is the best proof system for Ethereum smart contracts, like the zkEVM protocol launched by Polygon. Besides, Sidhu believes that no one in the crypto industry has ever created “proper EVM” however, he noted that all protocols will eventually join the space.

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Coinbase has said in a blog post that it is not financially exposed to bankrupt and restructuring crypto companies, including Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, and Voyager Digital.

Coinbase is not exposed to the crypto companies that are currently engulfed in bankruptcy, restructuring and such other troubles, the crypto exchange has reaffirmed.

The company is moving to reassure its customers and the broader crypto community that its business and consequently client assets are safe amid all the contagion within the crypto market.

Nasdaq-listed Coinbase says it has “no financing exposure to the groups” of platforms that have hit turbulence and that the company did not engage in the lending malpractices associated with many of the platforms.

The exchange’s reassurance comes as Zipmex became the latest platform to pause withdrawals citing liquidity issues and exposure to beleaguered counterparties.

A ‘credit specific’ problem

Writing in a blog post, Coinbase executives Brett Tejpaul (Head of Coinbase Institutional) Matt Boyd (Head of Prime Finance), and Caroline Tarnok, (Head of Credit and Market Risk) noted that “the shocks to the crypto credit environment over the last few weeks are likely to be a major inflection point for the industry.”

According to Coinbase, the solvency issues currently surrounding crypto firms like lender Celsius, and Voyager Digital, and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), reflect the lack of risk controls during the bull market.

The failing companies have what the firm sees as a “credit specific” problem, which has nothing to do with them being just crypto platforms.

“Many of these firms were overleveraged with short term liabilities mismatched against longer duration illiquid assets,” the Coinbase executives wrote in the blog post.

Coinbase notes that the events around the unhedged bets, with massive exposure to the collapsed Terra ecosystem, and 3AC are highlights of similar events in the traditional financial markets – the 1990s Long Term Capital Management and 2000s Lehman Brothers among the standout episodes.

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Tesla, which is the leading electric motor company and one of the companies that had accumulated the largest amount of bitcoins, has sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings in the second quarter of 2022.

According to Tesla’s second-quarter report:

“As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency. Conversions in Q2 added $936M of cash to our balance sheet.”

While giving reasons as to why they sold the bitcoin holdings, Tesla said that it sold the butch of bitcoins because they “were uncertain as to when the Covid lockdowns in China would alleviate.” Tesla also went ahead to say that the move should not be taken as a form of a verdict on Bitcoin.

Tesla retains its Dogecoin holdings

After revealing the sale of 75% of its bitcoin holdings, Elon Musk went ahead to confirm that the company has however not sold any of its Dogecoin holdings.

Tesla had accumulated bitcoins worth about $1.5 billion by early last year and it even went ahead to briefly accept it for payment in the purchase of Tesla vehicles before dropping due to environmental concerns. According to the financial statement by Tesla, the company is only left with $218 million worth of digital assets including Dogecoin, which it currently accepts as payment for Tesla merchandise.

A surprise turn of events

The sale of bitcoins by Tesla took a majority of the crypto community by surprise since Musk had in May said that the company would not sell Bitcoin.

In addition, nobody expected the company to sell bitcoin after it dropped the way it has.

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Zipmex, a Thai-based crypto exchange, has halted withdrawals citing a combination of circumstances. The Southeast Asian exchange has halted withdrawals until further notice.

A tweet by the exchange said:

“Due to a combination of circumstances beyond our control including volatile market conditions, and the resulting financial difficulties of our key business partners, to maintain the integrity of our platform, we would be pausing withdrawals until further notice.”

Failed acquisition by Coinbase

Prior to the halting of withdrawals, Cointelegraph had issued reports that Zipmex could be in trouble but the crypto exchange ended up dismissing that as just rumors. This came after a failed acquisition of Zipmex by Coinbase.

Responding to Cointelegraph, the CEO and co-founder of Zipmex, Marcus Lim, said:

“While Coinbase is an interesting partner, an investor makes more sense at this stage.”

Lim went ahead to explain the reason for the failed acquisition saying:

“The acquisition fell through due to market conditions. They’ve pulled out in many countries around the world such as Turkey and in Latin America. Coinbase is a great strategic partner to the business.”

Coinbase had made an offer to acquire Zipmex in the first quarter of 2022 but the acquisition plan fell on June 9. However, Coinbase went ahead to make a strategic investment into the Thai-based crypto exchange.

Other than halting withdrawals, there are reports that Zipmex is planning for a Series B+ that could value it at $400 million.

By August 2021, Zipmex had reached a 200,000 user base with over $1 billion in gross transaction volume since it was launched in 2019.

Zipmex troubles

According to sources some funds, about $100 million from Zipmex were given to Hong Kong-based asset manager Babel Finance with the aim of generating yield. However, there is a risk of default since Babel halted withdrawals in June due to unusual liquidity pressures resulting from the crypto market meltdown and hasn’t resumed the withdrawals.

Though not confirmed, there are fears that Zipmex could go the way of Celsius, which has already filed for bankruptcy seeking financial restructuring.

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Multi-chain NFT platform WEYU has partnered with Zilliqa to provide users with easy access to NFTs.

Commenting about the partnership, the head of Metaverse and NFTs at Zilliqa, Sandra Helou, said;

“Multichain integration is one way for L1 blockchains like Zilliqa to achieve greater interoperability. More importantly, it enables the value and utility that NFTs offer to extend beyond its native platform. Think about the possibilities that could unleash for creators, who now have a far wider audience to showcase their unique works too. By partnering with WEYU, Zilliqa is helping to bring more users into our ecosystem and the blockchain space in general. Ultimately we’re supporting mass adoption by making NFTs more accessible to individuals and brands through a no-code solution.”

WEYU’s YU Launch tool

By integrating with WEYU, Zilliqa’s ecosystem will become an NFT powerhouse. Zilliqa is designed as a scalable and secure platform for building decentralized applications while WEYU is purpose-built to drive the large-scale adoption of NFTs. Together the two will enable anyone to easily access, create and manage digital assets including NFTs.

WEYU has created an NFT generating tool called YU Launch that is specifically designed for the Zilliqa blockchain. This will subsequently increase the number of NFT creators joining the WEYU platform and the Zilliqa blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

One of the main advantages of this partnership is providing creators and builders to construct digital assets free of cost and within minutes using the YU Launch tool.

Commenting about the partnership, WEYU Co-Founder, Chris Dawe, said

“WEYU believes that Web3 can deliver a new chapter in accessing opportunities never before available on the internet. By building user-friendly applications on top of the greatest technology of our times, blockchain, people across the globe will be able to transact digital items of value and create new economies across the World Wide Web. By partnering with Zilliqa, a mature and attractive alternative to Ethereum and other layer 1’s, WEYU taps into a new and exciting frontier of possibilities. With our first collaboration we bring – YU-Launch – the no-code NFT generation platform but this is just the beginning! The next chapter of this collaboration is sure to attract the masses to the Zilliqa ecosystem.”

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