Crypto JBro

Note: This is a lesson from my free DEX course.

Decentralized exchanges (aka DEXs) are made of code (smart contracts and user interfaces) that allow people to trade assets against a liquidity pool, eliminating the middleman of centralized exchanges.

Traders plug in and use their personal crypto wallets to interact with DEXs. This is in contrast to making an account on a trading site and sending your fiat money there.

I am growing a full DEX course here so check that out. Now onto my vid about the basics:

Wallets for DEXs Explained

The decentralized exchange will tell you which wallet they accept when you start using it. Wallets might be hardware ones, browser apps, mobile apps, or other software wallets.

For the most part now (Mar ’22), each DEX allows coin trades that are on one blockchain. That is changing through many efforts, though.

I also made these slides to condense the workings of DEXs and keep it simple in my mind:

Teams are working to link up blockchains and allow for cross chain trades as well. This is often called “interoperability”. A part of this is through “wrapped” crypto that is locked up. I see future protocols linking up liquidity pools to allow trade between every crypto with ease in seconds.

Why are DEXs Exploding Now?

Decentralized networks can now verify trades and accounts balances without central databases, using consensus algorithms. This revolutionary way of trading is also allowed by smart contracts, which are programs that cannot be changed once they are live on a blockchain. It’s how cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets can be locked up.

If the chain and code are secure, then we know the funds will be there for trading. This is the underlying tech of the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) revolution.

Those databases and accounts have needed to be held and run by centralized exchanges until recently. These choke points of fees, control, and manipulation are being released.

Features of Decentralized Exchanges

• An asset seller does not need a buyer to perfectly match their order.
• Liquidity pools of assets are locked up in smart contracts.
• Traders trade against the pool.
• Cryptocurrency holders (or DEX creators) lock up assets in the pool for rewards. Often, they get a cut of the trade fees.
• Smart contracts sit on the blockchain and wait for traders to interact with them.

There are many revolutions in global finance going on at the same time. DEXs take advantage of a few of them. They are evolving quickly and are the future of investment and trade.

ICOs and Token Sales are Giving way to DEXs

Initial coin offerings and token sales have been a breeding ground of scams in the past. Decentralized exchanges are changing the model after regulators cleaned up the issue.

Early backers in new crypto projects swap the base coin or the DEX coin for these new cryptocurrencies directly. It’s how we can invest early and support new coins that we have researched. It’s also a new “micro-cap strategy”.

To Summarize Decentralized Exchanges

The global exchange of assets is undergoing a revolution. DEXs on faster, cheaper, and more scalable chains are evolving. Massive innovation is also happening with interoperability (the ability to trade across various networks).

There are also many efforts aiming to tokenize traditional assets such as stock, bonds, and fiat currency with cryptocurrency and tokenized assets.

Bottlenecks and middlemen are being subverted by thousands of these new DeFi projects. In the near future, I feel that swaps of almost every asset will be completed within seconds against gigantic liquidity pools that have linked together.

DEX trading will be done for investing and also at point of sale. This is why DeFi and DEXs have captured my attention and imagination.

Globiance (GBEX coin) is a financial services group made up of crypto exchanges and financial institutions around the world. They are centered in Malta and are working to bridge traditional finance with crypto payments. I am on the fence about the future of this project to be honest. It is one I am watching closely, though.

Their focus is to allow for payments between crypto, stablecoins, and fiat (country) currency for retail customers and institutions. They also have a DEX for XDC coins. I’ll cover that below.

Their platform is built on the decentralized XinFin (XDC crypto) network, XinFin is an “enterprise ready hybrid blockchain” that is part of the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard. It’s “hybrid” since companies can use a private and permissioned ledger internally while also connecting to the public XinFin network for payments and trade.

I have a full write up of XinFin here, so check that out.

Globiance Main Features

• Allows integrated accounts to trade crypto and withdraw fiat money.
• Creating stablecoins on the XinFin network (a fascinating thread of info)
• Provides multi-currency accounts to businesses.
• Provide payment solutions and global transfers for point of sale and trade.
• Growing their decentralized exchange for XRC20 coins (XDC network crypto coins)

My Favorite Part: The Globiance DEX

The main thing that interests me about Globiance is their decentralized exchange (DEX), since that’s my niche obsession. It’s the first DEX built on the XinFin network and is just getting off the ground. As of now, they allow for XRC20 crypto swaps through a few wallets.

For full disclosure, I used the XDCPay Chrome extension to interact with the Globiance DEX. XDCPay is basically a new generation of MetaMask for XinFin crypto tokens. I swapped some XDC for their GBEX tokens with three trades. They completed in a few seconds and all three transactions went through perfectly. It was impressive.

Fyi, the second XinFin DEX being launched is the XSwap Protocol DEX (XSP coin). I’m not sure about XSwap’s legitimacy either since there is not much info about their team. Also, be careful in your research since there are two XSwaps out there!

These two decentralized exchanges will be for new project coins being launched on the XinFin network. In a way, they are like funding platforms to directly connect with investors.

The Globiance Team

Globiance CEO Oliver La Rosa has a background in systems computing, esports, gambling, and a long career in financial IT. His wife is the “Chief People Officer” (strange title) at Globiance and has a background in psychology. The rest of their team has a strong and relevant background, which lends them some legitimacy.

GBEX Coin Details

GBEX was designed with unique features. It’s starting with a very large supply with a tiny cost per coin. At least 60% will be burned over time and GBEX holders will be rewarded through staking and fee transfer. Here are the details.

• A XRC20 coin ONLY (ERC20 or BSC versions of GBEX are a scam so please beware!)
• A third generation exchange token
• Transactions have a 4% tax with a 2% burn and 2% to holders, making the supply deflationary. They wanted this as a HODL incentive too.

Globiance Audit Details

Code audits are critical for vetting new cryptocurrencies. There seems to be one by “Rug Busters” that was “passed”. They are undergoing more, so I will study them further.

GlobiancePay Explained

Another part of Globiance is GlobiancePay. This is a platform with multiple services such as:

• IBAN accounts within the SEPA and Swift networks for a business
• Payment gateways between fiat and cryptocurrencies for multiple payment options
• 10 cards per account with high limits

My Conclusion on Globiance

Their DEX functioned well when I tested it. I can recommend that if you are looking to swap XDC tokens around.

Their CEO is doing interviews and AMAs. He seems knowledgeable and genuine, for what it’s worth. I’m not in a position to test out their payments platform, so I can’t review that. All in all, Globiance is an interesting project that is worth further study.

This is just my opinion. I am not a professional of any kind. Nothing I say or write should be considered financial advice. Thanks for reading.

I see tons of people get wrecked when they invest in crypto without a strategy. They do very little research and just fall for whatever hype some turd is peddling on Twitter. Please don’t be that person (or try to change if you already are)!

In this post, I’ll give you the five best cryptocurrency strategies that I learned from studying crypto millionaires. I’ll let you know my personal strategy at the end. Read through and choose JUST ONE that makes sense to you, then go deep into it for months on end.

Choose a few coins in that direction. Dedicate some study before you invest and you will be light years ahead when you are laser focused. I have a crypto study guide here. That is the second layer to your strategy. Here we go!

1. Focus on One Niche to Find Value

In this video, I cover the idea of crypto niches and go through a big list. Pick one of these sub industries where you have experience, have a related hobby, or that interest you. This might be considered a kind of value investing approach to crypto.

2. Focus on One Blockchain and its Coins

Do a survey of the cutting edge blockchains out there, or maybe a framework such as Cosmos / Tendermint. Focus in on one that sounds promising to you. It is best if it’s fast, cheap, being used on a large scale, and energy efficient. Some examples might be: XRP, XLM, XDC, or ALGO, among others. I would avoid proof-of-work coins such as Ethereum since they are slow, energy wasting, and expensive.

Then, research the many new cryptocurrencies that are being created on top of those blockchains. Again, just keep to one blockchain. Browse through Twitter, Reddit, Discord, and Google for your research. Use my crypto study guide to filter out some good ones that you feel will bring value.

3. Buy a First Layer Coin to Score Airdrops

This is related to the last strategy and could be combined. Focus on one or two chains at first. Many of these established blockchains and projects will airdrop free crypto for a new project being built on top of it. Airdrops are sort of like stock splits from the old investing world, but be aware. Airdrops can be a cesspool of scams.

Be careful about giving out personal information. Some airdrops want you to do some light promotion such as tweeting, following, or sharing something. That’s not a big deal. But, please don’t give out any info or send your coins somewhere. That’s a scam!

4. Focus on Staking and Passive Income

Staking and farming coins for transaction validation / consensus can bring us consistent, free crypto coins. You can either focus on blockchains, lending websites, or other projects for this line of research and investing.

The recurring point of this post is to focus on one of these tactics and research deeply. For staking and farming, the reviews of others is vital.

5. Fire up a Node or Validator

For you developers, there are a ton of avenues for nodes and validators. Mining is another topic which might be lumped in here. Many blockchains and DeFi projects allow people to set up servers that help verify transactions.

Then, there is a payout in crypto, usually from the transaction fees. But, there are a ton of models out there to research. From what I read, it’s a challenging and rewarding project to try.

Conclusion on Crypto Strategies

I hope this gives you an idea for a crypto investing strategy that matches you. Maybe one or two stuck out, so research heavily. The opportunities are vast and the growth potential is major in the space if you dive deeply. We are still early in adoption in 2022. Decentralization and blockchain continue to expand into many industries.

Please research for at least a couple weeks before you commit to anything. Start small, see how it goes, and gently push your comfort zone. If you listen to hype and start feeling a time constraint, you are on the WRONG path. It is called Fear of Mission Out (FOMO) and can cost you a lot of money.

Turn off the time wasting stuff like TV, games, and movies (for a little while at least). Do some crypto research down one of these avenues and you will help your future immensely. Good luck and be suspicious!

Sologenic (SOLO) is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the XRP ledger. As of right now (Mar 2, 22), it is confined to trading XRPL coins by adding trustlines, but its new decentralized NFT platform is exploding. Here’s my video overview:

This is due to the speed and ZERO GAS FEES allowed by the XRP Ledger. The Ethereum blokchain and DEX is losing out to these more sophisticated Proof-of-Stake projects, in my view. Many new chains allow for Ethereum DApps to be easily ported over, but all that is for another post…

The Sologenic team hopes to allow tokenized trading of almost every traditional asset in existence. Their aim is over 40,000 assets.

Think: stocks, bonds, funds, and commodities all being traded against crypto 24/7. How does that tickle your trading fancy? To reach this goal, they realized they needed their own new blockchain with built in smart contracts and better cross-chain interoperability.

This interview from the Thinking Crypto Youtube channel launched me into my SOLO and CORE obsession. He is interviewing the co-founder and tech lead of Sologenic, Reza Bashash. (fyi, he has a Twitter imposter with the last name of Beshash, so beware.)

They wanted native tokenization and smart contracts. The XRP Ledger does not have built in smart contracts, so their team started brainstorming and building a new chain just for Sologenic.

Coreum (CORE) is the name they are giving this upcoming blockchain. Here is my video overview for that piece of the puzzle.

Key Coreum Points

• A 3rd generation, 1st layer blockchain to expand the functions of the Sologenic DEX.
• Aiming to launch in August 2022.
• Building on Tendermint for: consensus and its Cosmos ecosystem with cross chain functions.
• Smart contracts will be native and run with the safe and fast WebAssembly (WASM), a cutting edge web technology allowing for many different programming languages to be run by browsers.

Throw in Some Binance Smart Chain, Why Not?!

From the Reza Bashash interview above, he told us the Sologenic DEX will also run in parallel on Binance Smart Chain. This is a new, growing, open ecosystem. SOLO coins will be locked on the XRP Ledger so that amount can be used on Binance. They had a SOLO airdrop in early 2022, fyi.

I tied the pieces of the Sologenic / XRP Ledger / Tendermint / Cosmos / Binance Smart Chain puzzle together in this even more obsessive video. I feel like I just blacked out and had verbal diarrhea on that one!

Final Thoughts about Sologenic (SOLO)

This is a fascinating DEX that is taking off even in its early stages. I see their NFT marketplace success fueling rapid growth. If they can get all the planned parts working, it will be revoluationary. All the technology is maturing quickly.

If they can get tokenized traditional assets working both on the XRP Ledger and Binance Smart Chain while at the same time having access to the Cosmos ecosystem, then I’ll just let your mind wander for Sologenic value.

Disclaimer: I am a holder of SOLO tokens, but have not been paid for this study. These are just my opinions and does not constitute financial advice. Do your own research before investing.