De Crypto Blog

What is Ripple?

Ripple is a unique payment solutions organization that was created to serve the financial service industry. Although many platforms use Ripple and XRP interchangeably, they’re actually both quite different.

Ripple is an OpenCoin network for money transfers that allows financial services and large organizations as counterparties for blockchain transactions.

In essence, Ripple sees itself as a global payments network that serves major institutions such as banks and the financial services industry.

What is XRP?

XRP is one of the top 5 most popular cryptocurrencies that is issued and partly used by the Ripple network. XRP was developed by Ripple to moderate the exchange between two currencies or networks.

One of the benefits of XRP compared to a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, is that it’s considerably cheaper and faster at processing transactions. Since mining and validating transactions can be intensive and demanding, Bitcoin transactions can often take longer and inquire higher transaction costs. Conversely, XRP transactions can be completed within seconds and thus transactions are usually accompanied by lower fees.

How to Buy Ripple (XRP) on Binance?

Login to your Binance account and click “Trade” and then click “Convert”.

Once you are there, specify which cryptocurrency or stable coin you’d like to convert to XRP token and the quantity. Then select XRP from the bottom dropdown menu.

Once that is done, click “Preview Conversion”. On the next page, review the details of conversion before hitting “Convert”.

Future Outlook for Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is actively looking to make their network and consequently their cryptocurrency XRP more valuable. Currently, Ripple is in ongoing discussions with more European and Latin American banks who look to implement both XRP and the Ripple payment network into their infrastructure. This news should bode well with investors who are looking to invest in a coin that has true real-world practicality.

Ripple has had its fair share of trouble with the SEC. The SEC has filed a lawsuit against Ripple for raising $1.3 billion by obtaining unregistered digital asset security offerings. This is an issue as Ripple has not registered XRP to be a security.

The uncertainty around the outcome of the ongoing lawsuit is something investors should monitor as a loss for Ripple could lead to lower prices for XRP.

However, the coin is getting more and more adopted in the market, and having global banks as major customers are certainly something that investors appreciate.

Currently, XRP is trading at about 0.68 cents as the crypto market falls into a bear market. This may provide investors and traders a chance to get into XRP at a discounted price. Some forecasts predict the price may reach about $30 by 2030. Not financial advice.

Ethereum known for its vast and distinctive network capabilities separates itself from much of the cryptocurrency world. Such prowess has toted Ethereum as the second most popular crypto behind Bitcoin.

As a result, many frameworks such as MATIC are being developed to make use of and improve the functionality of the Ethereum network.

What is Polygon (MATIC)?

Polygon, previously known as the MATIC Network is a framework for creating and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.

This framework sets to address some of the known faults of the Ethereum network such as efficiency among transactions and lack of community governance.

The predecessor MATIC processed transactions off-chain before heading to the Ethereum network. Polygon provides one platform for creating interoperable blockchains that can be tailored to a developer’s needs.

How Does Polygon (MATIC) Help Ethereum?

Polygon (MATIC) helps Ethereum with some of its most known problems, especially on efficiency and fees. Polygon will help developers build secure and faster off-chain transactions.

Where to Buy MATIC (Polygon)?

Despite the name-change, Polygon still uses the same token, known as MATIC. In turn, the MATIC token is still currently one of the Top 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap and benefits from thriving liquidity.

This token is used in the Polygon network for purposes such as governance, security via staking as well as payment of fees.

To buy MATIC on popular cryptocurrency platforms like Binance and Coinbase is quite simple.

How to Buy MATIC on Binance:

After logging in, head over to the “Trade” section and click on “Convert”.

Once there, specify how much of USDT (1:1 USD equivalent) you would to convert to MATIC.

Next, change the conversion to MATIC using the dropdown menu in the “To” field.

Once that is done, hit “Preview Conversion” and then click “Convert” to complete the conversion.

How to Buy MATIC on Coinbase?

Once you login, click “Buy / Sell” on the top right.

Once there, click “Convert” and specify how much of your balance you want to convert.

Then, choose Polygon (MATIC) in the “To” section using the dropdown menu.

Once that is done, click “Preview Convert” and click convert to complete the conversion.

Outlook for MATIC and Polygon

In the past month of May, $MATIC was able to create a new all-time high near 2.73. This is a good sign to see as for much May many of the popular cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have had faced losses.

In fact, during the major selloff of cryptos on May 23rd, MATIC showed the greatest recovery of all coins by going from a low of 0.75 to 2.45. This is an excellent sign for a token that is based on Ethereum’s network.

Ethereum is looking to rebound back higher and as a result, MATIC should follow along. Currently, the price is trading at 1.80 which is fairly cheap for a token that is making sizeable improvements on the already solid network of Ethereum.

This may be a great investment that can grow substantially in the next few years. Of course, this isn’t investment advice, and we recommend everyone to do their own research. But the problems that MATIC solves and current confidence in its usefulness show great potential.

What is the Helium Network?

The Helium Network sets to provide bandwidth to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices that do not require a huge power supply. Helium sets to do this securely, without proprietary technology, and at very cheap costs to the users. The Helium Network is essentially a network of hardware devices called Helium Miners or Helium Hotspots that are set up all over the world by it’s community.

What is the Helium Miner or Helium Hotspot?

A Helium Miner, or Helium Hotspot, or Helium Hotspot Miner, is the hardware device that is used to create the wireless network of hotspots used for Helium’s Network. In the Helium blog, they describe as something “like a Wi-Fi router, but for devices sending small amounts of data over long ranges.”

At the time of writing, there are approx. 56,000 hotspots worldwide across major countries such as the United States, Europe, and China. All Helium mining and hotspot devices use a wireless broadband connection to deliver data over a long distance at a speed of 900MHz.

Although signals can push up to ranges of 25 miles, 10 miles is generally the quoted distance. This still greatly outpaces and outdistances the limited coverability of traditional 4G and 5G networks. Also due to its decentralized nature, the network could be built out faster than other centralized IoT / Internet of Things networks.

What are the Advantages of the Helium Network?

One of the major advantages of the Helium Network is the need for very little amount of power supply. The Helium Network provides greater coverage than 5G and is a more cost-effective approach to securing internet. Helium also stated they have plans to provide 5G coverage in the future.

What is the Helium Token (HNT)?

One major incentives for Helium miners is the Helium Token (HNT), which they receive for mining on the Helium Network. This token is used to process the peer-to-peer network transactions. The idea is that Helium users will be rewarded HNT tokens to for helping with the security and reliability of the network. Helium miners and users can then use these tokens on exchanges to convert them to other cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies. You can also buy $HNT directly from a miner or through an exchange.

How to Buy the Helium Token ($HNT) on an Exchange?

We’ll show you step-by-step how to buy HNT Helium tokens on the most popular crypto exchange, Binance.

Step 1:

Login to your Binance account and click “Trade” and then click “Convert”.

Step 2:

Once you are there, specify which cryptocurrency or stable coin you’d like to convert your HNT token to and the quantity. Then select the HNT token from the bottom dropdown menu.

Step 3:

Once you selected HNT as the toke you want to conver to, click “Preview Conversion”. On the next page, review the details of conversion before hitting “Convert”.

 

How to Mine Helium Tokens (HNT)?

Crypto mining enthusiasts looking to mine Helium tokens (HNT) can do so by purchasing a Helium hotspot device from one of the approved manufacturers of Helium. There are many brands of Helium miners to choose from that are approved by the Helium Network including the Bobcat Miner 300, RAK hotspot miner V2, Cal-Chip, Nebra, and SyncroBit to name a few. However, all Helium miner manufacturers are backlogged with pre-orders with a wait time upwards of 12-20 weeks at the current time of writing. You may be able to purchase them on the secondary market for a premium on marketplaces like eBay or find  services like Bobcat Preorders for expedited delivery.

Future Outlook on Helium Network

Current forecasts from experts in the space see the global Helium Network reaching $18.18 billion in 2025. One of the leading forces for this growth is the increasing demand for consumer electronics. A second major driving force is the practicality of the technology which can be applied to industries such as diving, manufacturing, military, space, fiber optic, and more. Helium Network aims to create a world where internet access is decentralized while providing low competitive prices.

As the time of writing, the Helium Network Token is trading at $13. With technology moving towards a wireless world and Internet of Thing (IoT) technology becomes more significant and favoring convenience, an investment in Helium is worth a look for value investors.

What is AUDIUS?

Streaming platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud may have a new platform to worry about. This platform is called Audius.

Audius is a decentralized Ethereum-based platform that is looking to provide music artists with better monetary payouts as well as other advantages. Their goal is to revolutionize the way artists in the music industry, and their fans interact by creating one of the most unique and innovative music platform.

What is the $AUDIO Token?

Audius is powered by it’s native token AUDIO, which helps maintain the network security and provide users access to their features. Their ticker on TradingView is $AUDIO where you can find it’s current traded price.

 

The Audius Business model

In essence, Audius is looking to provide music artists with more return on their content as the music industry generates $43 billion in revenue but only a mere 12% goes to the artists. Artists on some of these more traditional platforms also have a hard time controlling how their content is distributed and how fans can pay them. Audius is looking to solve all these issues using public blockchain infrastructure and other decentralized technologies.

 

AUDIO comparison with other Altcoins

Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency next to Bitcoin, has gained a sizable amount of support and trust in recent years. The practical implementation and public investing in cryptocurrencies, in general, is a growing space. Taking a step back, the music industry had a $24.4 billion market size valuation in 2020. The forecast for 2027 has this number sky-rocketing to $76.9 billion. Investors may find that Audius, is a unique platform in a niche sector can be something worth investing in. Similar platforms for other sources of media such as THETA for video-streaming and Decentraland for gaming can be viewed as great proof-of-concepts and are leading indicators to what Audius could achieve.

 

AUDIO features

The AUDIO token is the incentive that this platform will provide for its content creators. Audius advertises a 90% payout for its content creators — meaning 90% of the revenue will go straight from the listener to the uploader. The remainder of the 10% covers operational nodes on the Audius network. In the end, Audius takes 0% of the money. In comparison, Spotify would have taken approximately 40% after deductions to the artist. Another incentive for Audius is that the platform is completely free at the current time, allowing for over 3,000,000 unique users each month. This allows artists ample time to build up a following which they can later monetize.

Among these few things, Audius has unique features such as Audius Passport which allows crypto and NFT enthusiasts to purchase NFTs from their favorite artists. NFT functionality has gained a lot of traction this year in Crypto and is only expected to grow in the coming years. All these unique characteristics and functionalities of Audius points to a new innovative way of music-sharing that could compete with the platforms of the like of Spotify and SoundCloud.

 

What Audius means for music artists, investors, NFT lovers?

For music artists looking to create a audience on a new and better platform, Audius may be something to look into. For cryptocurrency investors, Audius solves a problem in the music industry-backed on the secure network of Ethereum. With an Audio token priced currently under $2 at the time of writing, this could be a project worth adding to your portfolio. We shared a trade idea to our community when it was at $1.75 and our community was able to pick up on this project early on. Be sure to join our community to get early access to these ideas. This is not investment advice and should only be used for educational and entertainment purposes.

 

The Audius Team of Advisors and Investors

The Audius team is among one of the best we’ve seen in a long time, with a huge team of senior engineers and business development specialists, and the likes of popular EDM artists like as deadmau5, 3LAU, and RAC as Advisors, as well as the late Avicii’s former manager, Ash Pournouri, Co-Founder of EA Games, Bing Gordon, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Standard Crypto, Adam Goldberg, and many more.

Audius also has the backing of prominent investing firms like Coinbase Ventures, Binance, Blockchange, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, Standard Crypto, Patera Capital, and Multicoin Capital.  You can see the the full Audius team, advisors and investors by clicking here.