As we make our way through Q4 2020, several cryptocurrency projects are making upgrades to their platforms and other changes that could arouse the interest of the broader cryptocurrency community. As always, we have prepared a selection of top 3 coins to watch. This week’s selection includes a cross-blockchain DeFi platform token, a token of a cryptocurrency derivates exchange and a native token of crypto Visa card issuer. We should warn you, however, that this is not investment advice, since, especially in this week’s selection, the price change is likely to end up in the red.
1. Kava (KAVA)
Developed by Kava Labs the Kava blockchain boasts with the title of the first multi-blockchain DeFi platform. Users are eligible for rewards in the form of KAVA tokens for depositing various cryptocurrencies to the protocol’s multi collateral CDP system. The Kava blockchain utilizes the Tendermint consensus and is secured by 100 validators.
The team Will Patch a Minor Bug in the Kava 4 Gateway Mainnet Release
The team behind the cross-blockchain DeFi platform successfully launched the much anticipated Kava 4 Gateway mainnet on October 15, which featured Harvest.io, the world’s first cross-chain money market application and brought support for BTC, XRP, BUSD, KAVA, USDX, and HARD Collateral types. Nevertheless, the mainnet did come with a minor bug, which prevented some interchain transfers. Although no user funds are at risk, the team has put a stop on all interchain transfers until November 3, 10:00 UTC, when the patch v0.12.0 will take effect. All network validators must update their software prior to this date. Instructions on how to update can be found here.
2. FTX Token (FTT)
FTT is a token issued by the popular FTX cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, which says that “FTX Token (FTT) is the backbone of the FTX ecosystem”. In reality, users can enjoy fee rebates based on the amount of FTT being held in their exchange wallet, but the exchange’s official cryptocurrency can also be used for other purposes, such as participating the Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) or other programs offered by FTX.
FTX To Gradually Start Rolling Out Crypto/Stock Trading Pairs
Following the revival of their IEO platform earlier in the year and the launch of their unique Hashrate Futures, which correlate to the total hashpower of the Bitcoin blockchain, the FTX team is set to roll out another interesting set of products. As announced last week, the FTX futures exchange will start to offer so-called “tokenized stocks” of major U.S. companies, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Tesla, and the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund. Users will be able to purchase these stocks, or even fractures of them, through several crypto/tokenized stock trading pairs and all the trades will be monitored by and regulated by CM-Equity, a fully licensed German financial institution. The exchange did not provide a more detailed schedule of the launch of specific trading pairs, but the trade is said to start this week. More information regarding the tokenized stock offering can be found here.
3. Crypto.com (CRO)
Crypto.com is a Hong Kong-based crypto debit card issuer, which aims to increase the usage of cryptocurrency as a payment method for everyday purchases. The company, which started out under another name – Monaco, conducted a token sale between May and June of 2017 which raised $26.7 million of funds.
Crypto.com Discontinues the MCO Token and now only operates with CRO
Up to now Crypto.com used two tokens: the MCO token, which was linked to the functionalities of the MCO Visa card and the CRO token, which could be utilized on the Crypto.com exchange for fee discounts, discounted purchases of crypto as well as staking and other earn programs. Crypto.com decided it is inefficient to maintain two native tokens and announced the discontinuation of the MCO token in August 2020. Holders had to swap their MCO for CRO prior to November 2, 2020, 23:59 UTC, when the swap program concluded and all unswapped MCO tokens became useless.
However, the merger of the tokens seems to have only accelerated the decline of Crypto.com. Many users jump onto the CRO bandwagon early on due to their insane offering of cryptocurrency debit cards and perks and discounts that came with them. Although users had to stake CRO to receive these benefits, the offered staking deals were very lucrative compared to those offered by rivals. It has now become obvious that these perks could not be sustained over the long term and Crypto.com had to reduce them as well as lower the interest rate on its earn scheme and slash the referral program bonus in half, dropping it from $50 to just $25. The fall of Crypto.com empire became inevitable when industry giant Binance rolled-out its own Visa debit card on top of the already lucrative staking, earn and launch pool deals. This resulted in many Crypto.com’s customers selling their CRO and leaving the platform. The negative sentiment can be observed in the CRO price movement as well since the value of the token is down by almost 50% since October 13. In addition, Crypto.com offered a 20% early swap discount for users wanting to swap their MCO for CRO at a better rate. However, the deal was offered under one important condition – the users were required to stake their CRO tokens for a period of 6 months. Once these contracts unlock, the freed CRO is likely going to end up being sold on the market, thereby significantly increasing the sell pressure, and decreasing the token’s price. If Crypto.com does not find a way to drive the demand for CRO up, which can be generated by the influx of new users, the CRO is set to plunge even lower.
