A significant year in crypto is coming to an end. From mainstream adoption, emergence of new digital coins, to a country accepting Bitcoin as legal tender, 2021 will surely be remembered as the defining year of cryptocurrency across the globe. On top of that, electric vehicle company Tesla announced a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin in February 2021, not to mention MicroStrategy stacking another $600 million worth of Bitcoin in October, now holding a staggering 114,000 Bitcoins on their balance sheet.
While on the one hand the macro view and the overall progress in crypto is important, on the other hand developments and progress specifically tied to our project is what we’ll focus on. So, let’s dive into the major events here at NewsCrypto as the year is drawing to a close.
Let’s start with some of the most prominent partnerships we concluded so far this year. The most important one is probably with Enjin, who will help us build our own metaverse on Efinity. Called NewsCryptoVerse, our digital world will offer personalized offices with a window of opportunity that will provide an escape from trading-related stress, provided by our partner Travala, which will enable you to book your favourite destination within a few clicks. Another one on the list is Polygon, for whom we have developed the revolutionary Polygon-Stellar bridge with the Chainlink integration for security. But it doesn’t stop there, as we have partnered up with many more prominent partners in 2021, such as Elrond, Zignaly, MILC, Pinknode, etc.
Let’s dive into the specific developments now.
Since different blockchains offer different capabilities, we enabled a cross-chain swap on our website in order to facilitate the adoption of our token in DeFi protocols and decentralized exchanges, as well as making it available to a wider user base. This is done by locking NWC tokens in a smart contract on one chain, while a corresponding token is minted on the destination chain. Because the different versions of the token are linked by a smart contract, it’s possible to swap one version for another at any time.
Our cross-chain solutions don’t stop there, as the most important development was probably the Stellar-Polygon bridge. The bridge gives all XLM holders the ability to swap their tokens from the native Stellar blockchain over to Polygon. The bridge gives Polygon users the opportunity to have exposure to XLM, as well as Polygon's DeFi ecosystem. When a user swaps their XLM tokens to Polygon, they receive wrapped Stellar Lumens (wXLM), which can always be redeemed for the native version on Stellar via the bridge for the constant fee of only 1 XLM. Why is it revolutionary? The bridge opens the door for billions of dollars of liquidity from Stellar that can enter different DeFi protocols Polygon’s rapidly growing ecosystem has to offer.
Security is crucial when it comes to any cross-chain solution, which is why we implemented Chainlink Proof of Reserve to make sure the balances and transactions are always synced up. This way, even if the data flow of the bridge itself is somehow compromised, the relevant data is always backed up by an independent Chainlink oracle solution on Stellar. Chainlink Keepers continually update the balance to a smart contract when bridge transactions are made to give an extra layer of security. As a result, users and applications can verify that every wXLM is backed by XLM on the Stellar blockchain.
The biggest software development is tied directly to enhancing your user experience. In September we successfully launched the platform 3.0 update, which even more successfully solves the problem of finding the right information at the right time and directs you from making wild guesses to coming up with educated and well thought out moves instead. How?
The upgrade provides users with greatly increased educational content, which is available for free. Now you can dive deeper into the cryptocurrency world and learn even more, as it really covers everything, from buying and selling cryptocurrencies, to technical and practical information on unfolding trends. The update also brought about a new addition, the Unchained Education Hub, a place where educators and analysts from all over the world share their knowledge, all to help you improve. The platform is also very community-focused, and this is especially visible in the Community Predictions section, where users can earn valuable weekly rewards for sharing their trading ideas with other members of the community.
Besides all that, the tools got updated as well, with both new functionalities and a smoother interface. There are plenty of basic tools, which are perfect for all, from beginners to more advanced users, and Professional tools, which allow you to take trading to the next level.
Additionally, we added plenty of new tools to the Professional section afterwards. Everything from the Backtesting Bot that allows you to backtest your trading strategy, to the On-chain Analytics tool that gives you access to all of the key on-chain data in one place is available at a more than affordable price.
At the beginning of the year we also released our own mobile app that gets rid of the need to use multiple crypto apps. It allows you to track over 5000 cryptocurrencies along with their charts, news related to crypto, your own portfolio, as well as gives you access to community predictions and the Doodle Pump game that rewards the best players with NWC tokens. The improved and even more useful 3.0 version is already in the final stages and will be released in Q1 of 2022, so get ready for a huge upgrade really soon.
Since we believe that the metaverse will be the most important frontier for bringing crypto into the mainstream, we have announced our own move into the metaverse. We’re building the biggest upgrade to the NewsCrypto ecosystem by bringing it to an open, interactive, social and feature-packed virtual universe in collaboration with Enjin.
NewsCryptoVerse users will have totally customizable digital working space, determining the tools they want and need to trade crypto successfully. There will also be a separate virtual space where users will be able to enrol in the NewsCrypto Academy, attend courses, webinars, workshops and organize or even attend 1 on 1 live sessions with professionals in the field.
Our digital world will enable users to test and optimize their trading strategies, as well as discuss them with other traders through a customizable and completely immersive trading simulator. In addition to that, NewsCryptoVerse will also have an NFT marketplace and battlefield. A place where individuals create, sell and exchange their digital assets such as NFTs or visual assets, like trading strategies, blueprints, or images and participate in play 2 earn games
Today we also concluded our last burn this year. Altogether we’ve burned 10 million of NWC tokens, on top of 20% of all subscription fees that we remove from circulation regularly. This is only one of the numerous programs we have to ensure a sustainable growth structure for NWC, which will benefit our Community. If you’re still wondering why burning tokens normally goes hand in hand with appreciation of tokens we’ll explain it briefly once again.
Not only does buying tokens on multiple exchanges increase demand, but sending them to an unusable wallet address to remove them from circulation also reduces the supply, all to reward our token holders and users.
Looking back at the progress, we need to point out we’re deeply thankful for all of the support we’ve received from our community. Without it, we couldn’t achieve nearly as much as we had. Lots of progress has been made so far, but it’s nothing compared to what is yet to be accomplished in the years that lie ahead. Looking forward to the bright future ahead.
