What Is DEX?1 What is a decentralized exchange? Decentralized exchange (DEX) is an exchange built on a distributed ledger. It does not store users’ private data on its servers and only serves as a platform for matching users’ bids and asks. All trade that happens on such a platform is strictly peer-to-peer with no financial intermediaries. That […]
What Is Stablecoin?1 What is a stableсoin? Stablecoin is a cryptocurrency with a fixed exchange rate or with certain means of resisting exchange rate fluctuations. In most cases, stablecoins are pegged to real-life assets like fiat currencies, precious metals, or asset baskets. Others emulate certain monetary policies practiced by central banks in a decentralized fashion. 2 How […]
What Is Bitcoin ETF?1 What is an ETF? An ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) is an index fund traded on stock exchanges. An ETF is a type of security that acts as a certificate for a portfolio of stocks, bonds, commodities, or cryptocurrencies. The price of this security follows an index based on certain base assets. In the US ETFs […]
What Is OTC Trading?1 What is OTC? OTC stands for “over-the-counter.” It refers to extra-exchange trading between clients and market makers. The seller and the buyer conclude a deal directly with each other. For a long while, OTC has been an important part of traditional finance. Since 2018, it is also used in cryptocurrencies. 2 Why is OTC […]
What Is Delegated Proof Of Stake and What Does Staking Have to Do With It?1 What is the difference between PoS and DPoS? Delegated Proof of Stake (or DPoS) is a consensus algorithm created by developer Dan Larimer in 2014. Here is a list of famous projects using DPoS: Bitshares Steemit Lisk Ark Eos If PoS resembles direct democracy then DPoS emulates representative democracy. Classic PoS allows coin holders […]
What Is Bitcoin Halving?1 What is halving? Halving literally stands for halving the size of the miner reward for adding a new block to the blockchain. Satoshi Nakamoto hardcoded halvings on the Bitcoin network every 210,000 blocks (approximately every 4 years). 2 How many Bitcoin halvings have already happened? In Bitcoin network halvings were carried out twice: November […]
What Is Atomic Swap?1 What is an atomic swap? An atomic swap is an operation of trading one cryptocurrency for another instantly without a third party, such as an exchange. As a result, the deal is controlled only by the parties involved. Atomic swaps can be conducted either on-chain (i.e. directly between blockchains of two different cryptocurrencies) or […]
What Are Smart Contracts?1 What is a smart contract? A smart contract is a computer algorithm meant for signing and maintaining self-executable contracts in a blockchain. These contracts are written in a form of code in a distributed ledger, namely a blockchain, that is maintained and governed by a network of computers. 2 What’s the point of smart […]
What Is SegWit?1 What is Segregated Witness? Segregated Witness or SegWit is a protocol update developed by Bitcoin Core team. SegWit’s mission is to optimize the Bitcoin block structure which can be a solution to the long-standing issues of network scalability, block overflow, transaction speed, and commission size. In other words, SegWit improves Bitcoin blockchain’s efficiency without […]
What is ERC-20?1 What is ERC-20? ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comments. It’s the official protocol for proposing improvements to the Ethereum network. 20 stands for the number of the proposal. Technical specifications for tokens issued on Ethereum have been published in 2015. The tokens that meet those specifications are called ERC-20. In fact, they are […]
What are Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake?1 What is Proof-of-Work? Proof-of-Work (PoW) is an algorithm that protects distributed systems from misuse (DoS attacks, spam, etc.). There are two key points: The need to perform a reasonably complicated and time-consuming task. The ability to check the result easily and quickly. PoW tasks aren’t meant for humans. These can always be solved by […]
What Is Blockchain?1 What is blockchain? Blockchain is a distributed database that anybody can access. It’s also sometimes called “distributed ledger technology” as there is no centralized entity or a regulator to control it. 2 How is blockchain different from a regular database? A regular database is stored on designated servers controlled by the organization that owns […]