Alpaca Finance—Ease of Use, Fees, and More

1inch Exchange Review—Ease of Use, Fees, Wallets, and More

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) provide multiple benefits compared to Centralized Exchanges (CEXs)—benefits such as heightened security, self-custody, a broad basket of tokens to trade, and anonymity. Nevertheless, with the introduction of numerous DEXs and liquidity pools, monitoring and tracking asset price movements on different exchanges have become a nightmare. Besides, the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) industry is threatened by a wave of thin order books with minimal liquidity, which may cause huge losses through order cancellations. This is what led to the creation of the 1inch Exchange. 1inch is a non-custodial crypto aggregator that aims to solve the issue of thin order books and front-runner miners. It works by splitting orders and sharing them with other DEXs to get the best rates and reduce slippage. Read on to learn more. What Is 1inch Exchange? 1inch is a DEX aggregator, in other words, instead of functioning as an exchange itself, 1inch shares orders with DEXs and individual liquidity providers–fishing for the best exchange rates. It integrates flawlessly with many DEXs like UniSwap, MooniSwap, SushiSwap, the Balancer, and others. Users find it easy to swap ERC20 tokens with a single click. Currently, the aggregator supports more than 250 cryptocurrencies. 1inch aims to provide the best exchange rates for crypto traders by leveraging effective swapping routes from DEX exchanges and private liquid providers. In this regard, 1inch shows its users' available market prices and liquidity to make wise trading decisions. This eradicates the need for users to manually monitor different exchanges concurrently for the best rates. ProsCHI Gas Tokens minimize transaction charges further.Experienced no security breaches so farUser-friendly interfaceNo charges for deposits, trading, or withdrawalsThe platform aggregates exchange order books and private liquidity pools and ensures better liquidity and ratesConsDoesn't support fiat currencyThe "Infinity Unlock" tool could potentially be exploited in the future How Does 1inch Work? Let's use an example of a trader who wants to purchase 10,000 ETH at $3,000 per coin to better illustrate how 1inch works. However, he only has 7000 ETH available on the DEX he is using when his order reaches the market. Consequently, the DEX will move his 'buy order' to the subsequent 'sell order' after filling the 7000 ETH. Assuming that the subsequent sell order is set at $3,050 per ETH; in this scenario, the buyer will incur $150,000 ($50 per ETH * 3000 ETH) more than he initially projected. The 1inch aggregator prevents such instances by merging trades across multiple exchanges, increasing liquidity, and reducing market slippage. Slippage happens when inadequate market volumes compel traders to buy assets at higher prices than they initially intended. 1inch Exchange Fees The popular exchanges 1inch uses include UniSwap, Ox, SushiSwap, the Balancer, and Kyber Network. The aggregator doesn't charge users' trading, deposit, or withdrawal fees. However, like in other decentralized stock exchanges, you will pay network gas fees for every transaction you make on 1inch. It's also good to note that since 1inch is a DEX aggregator, your trading fees will significantly depend on the exchange you choose to complete your swaps. It's advisable to check the trading fees of your preferred DEX before making a swap, and most importantly, you should activate CHI Gas Tokens to enjoy lower gas fees. 1inch Key Features As a DeFi aggregator, 1inch seems to be on the right track in accomplishing its original promises, although they still have much so more in the pipeline for its users. Below, we delve deeper into the key features of 1inch. 1INCH Token The 1INCH token acts as a utility and governance token. It's an ERC20 token with a circulating supply of 415,088,966 and a maximum supply of 1.5 billion. At the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.com, 1inch had a market cap of $403,934,400 and was trading at $0.973334. 1inch Exchange CHI Gas Token When transacting on the Ethereum network, you will be charged gas fees in ETH. These fees are based on the computation power required to validate and add a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain. The more difficult the exercise is, the more gas you will spend. In this regard, it's unrealistic to calculate precisely the gas fee you will incur. The CHI Gas Token (CHI) is an Ethereum-based token designed to minimize gas fees on the 1inch platform. Its value is tied to the gas price set on the Ethereum blockchain. When you purchase CHI tokens, you save 1% more in transaction costs than the Ethereum Gas Token (GST2). Besides, when you sell/burn CHI, you save 10% compared to GST2. You can purchase CHI tokens on 1inch or on other exchanges, afterward, you can activate them to minimize your transaction costs. 1inch Exchange MooniSwap This is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) DEX meant to provide similar services as UniSwap. MooniSwap leverages smart contracts to pool liquidity for ERC20 coins. Buying 1INCH Tokens You can buy 1INCH Tokens on the 1inch exchange or on popular exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Huobi Global, Crypto.com, UniSwap, etc. The 1inch Foundation is the body that is responsible for issuing 1INCH tokens. The foundation decided to distribute the tokens through airdrops, spread across four years. They aim to engage their early users, encourage them to stake 1INCH in governance protocols, and offer development grants for businesses using the 1inch aggregator. 1inch Supported Wallets 1inch supports multiple web3 wallets, including MetaMask, 1inch iOS Wallet, Opera, Arkane, Authereum, Ledger, Binance Chain Wallet, KeepKey, WalletConnect, etc. How to Connect Your Wallet to 1inch Linking your Web3 wallet with 1inch is a straightforward process. Here's how to do it: Access the 1inch app on app.1inch.ioPress "Connect Wallet" on your upper right-hand side. Read and accept the service terms and privacy policy.Select your preferred network.Select your wallet.Lastly, confirm the connection request sent to your Web3 wallet. How to Trade Tokens on 1inch Exchange After you have successfully connected your wallet to 1inch, you will see your wallet address on the upper right side of the exchange. You can click on it to view your transactions, copy the address, or disconnect your wallet. Below, we look at the trading steps that you should follow to trade on 1inch: Basic Settings Select the token you own and the token you want to acquire in the dropdown windows. You can also specify whether you want 1inch protocol to use the "Maximum Return" or the "Lowest Gas Cost." The "Maximum Return" option exploits complex routes to find the best exchange rates. While on the other hand, the "Lowest Gas Cost" option searches for the trade with the best and most minimal gas cost. The first option is necessary when trading large orders, while the second option is ideal with small trades. Advanced Settings Click the "Advanced Settings" button on the top right-hand side of the aggregator to access more features. For example, the "Activate CHI" feature enables you to use the CHI gas token, minimizing transaction costs by up to 43%. The "Disable Partial Fill" feature allows you to deactivate automatic particle filling. Besides, the "Advanced Settings" section lets you access comparison tables, charts, and the complete swap routing you want to execute. You can also adjust the slippage tolerance and transaction fees through advanced settings. Swap Initiate the swap and access the best exchange market rates at the shortest response time. Is 1inch a Legit DEX Platform? 1inch is a legit DEX aggregator that every crypto trader should try out. As liquidity continues to plague the DeFi landscape, 1inch is one of the solutions that cannot go unnoticed. It increases liquidity and minimizes price slippage by scanning DEXs order books and private liquidity pools to offer the best market rates. Besides, its primary features, such as the CHI Gas Token and MooniSwap, are great innovations that will revolutionize the DeFi world.

Aragon DAO—Ease of Use, Fees, Tokens, and More

Aragon is a unique Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) project with a mission of championing community governance models. The beauty of blockchain technology is that it facilitates the development of multi-layered worlds. Though the name seems like a misspelling of Aragorn, the famous Lord of the Rings character, Aragon DAO draws its name from an autonomous district in Spain that once experienced a stateless form of governance for almost six years in the 1930s. The DAO aims to reintroduce this organized and functional community governance via blockchain. Aragon considers itself the mother of all DAOs—like what Bitcoin is to cryptocurrency. Although it's a DAO, it provides comprehensive templates and support for entrepreneurs to create DAO projects. In this regard, Aave and Decentraland DAO are built on Aragon. This review aims to address some of the commonly asked questions about Aragon, such as: What is Aragon?Is Aragon DAO free?How can you create your DAO with Aragon?How does Aragon make money? Read on to learn more. ProsAragon smart contracts are easy to read and understandThe Aragon protocol prevents impermanent lossAnonymityUser-friendly development tools, like templates and appsConsNot a common household name Aragon Fees and Pricing The growth of DAO communities has overwhelmed Ethereum capacity, making DAO functioning and voting ridiculously costly. Aragon DAO is not a free DAO creation tool. It will cost you 0.2 ETH, approximately $360 at the current market prices, and an average transaction cost of 30gwei to create a DAO on Aragon through the Ethereum blockchain. However, Aragon partnered with the Polygon network in 2021 to enable almost zero gas fees for DAO development, functioning, and voting on its protocol. Additionally, the partnership aims to provide faster transactions and a frictionless user experience. Aragon developers will also enjoy the composability of Polygon's growing ecosystem, which consists of popular DeFi projects like Sushi and Slingshot. Aragon's integration with Polygon offers almost a 5,000x discount on the cost of creating a DAO—from more than $500 on Ethereum to nearly $0.1 on Polygon. This is undeniably a game-changing partnership for DAO creators and users. Polygon and Aragon share a mutual vision of a freely accessible, borderless, and decentralized world. The Polygon network is trusted by many blockchain projects and boasts a vast amount of traction, particularly in the DeFi landscape. For instance, Polygon has three times more SushiSwap users than Ethereum. Create Your Own DAO With Aragon Follow these simple steps to create a DAO with Aragon: On the Aragon dApp, choose a QuickNode Rinkeby Node in your Web3 wallet, assuming you own at least 0.2 ETH in your wallet.Press the "Connect Account" tab, select your preferred wallet, and confirm the connection request sent to your wallet. Choose "Ethereum Testnet" Rinkeby.Press the "Create Organization" button.Choose a template for your entity, press the "Use this Template" tab, and insert your company name.Set your preferred support percentage, minimum approval percentage, and vote duration. Enter your token name and symbol. Specify your token holders and issue them with tokens—ensure the information you have entered is correct before clicking the "Launch your Organization" button. A window will show up on your Web3 wallet for transaction confirmation—approve the two transactions to create your DAO. After confirming the transactions, press the "Get Started" tab to create your first proposal query and initiate the voting process. Press "Voting" on the left side of the window, then "New Vote" to generate a new proposal query and open it for voting. When the proposal is live, community members can agree or disagree with it during the period you set earlier. That's it! ANT Tokens and How Aragon Works Aragon works by combing multiple techniques and features to achieve its goals. Every DAO comes pre-loaded with the primary organization components. Developers can create business systems like finance, token sales, and voting mechanisms. Aragon DAO has three tokens: ANTANJARA ANT is an Ethereum-based currency that acts as the native currency of Aragon. Aragon users need it for governance voting. ANT tokens entered the crypto market with a bang. Aragon DAO's Initial Coin Offering (ICO) fundraised $24 million within 15 minutes of launch. The ICO took place in May 2017, and the funds raised helped steer the company to stardom. You can buy ANT tokens on popular exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, WazirX, etc. ANJ is also an Ethereum-based token used for rewarding juries of the Aragon Court. In addition, you can stake the ANJ tokens and generate yield in the Aragon protocol. DeFi staking protocols are becoming more and more popular as they offer steadier returns than crypto trading. These protocols also do not require users to surrender asset ownership. The ARA token is used in the Aragon Chain, a side chain that acts as a foundation in the Aragon DAO. The prices of Aragon tokens are subject to regular changes caused by the volatility of the crypto market. The market values of Aragon tokens are influenced by multiple elements such as the total supply, technical upgrades and updates (like the Aragon V2 launch in 2020), developments, integrations (like the Aragon-Polygon Integration of 2021), and network users. Aragon token prices are also influenced by the broader economy, collective trends, regulations, and Bitcoin's momentum. ANT's intrinsic value is driven by its applications, technology, and technical capacity. Is Aragon a Realistically Viable System for the Future? Aragon DAO offers developers and entrepreneurs a frictionless and easy way to start DAOs. It works as a website creator by relying on pre-defined modules, which can be tailored to align with a business's specific needs. This way, Aragon offers valuable templates and dApps that allow users to exploit the power of blockchain without necessarily assembling an internal team. As the native currency for Aragon DAO, ANT will continue to rise in value with Aragon's network development. So far, we can confidently say Aragon is a realistically viable project for the future since its approach to decentralized governance adoption continues to be highly effective. Aragon strives to further integrate blockchain adoption through its modular tactic to standard business applications. Notably, the platform has experienced significant success since its inception. It has over $900 million in value held across 15,000 DAOs. The organization is wholly decentralized through a governance system, enabling community management of its core functions and code.

Decentraland Review—Ease of Use, Fees, Profitability, and More

As the name suggests, Decentraland is a fully decentralized virtual reality platform where its users can create assets, trade coins, and explore the virtual world while using cryptos and NFTs. This virtual reality platform is in the form of a browser-based game where the main goal is working with virtual real estate and earning money. Once a user joins the Decentraland platform, they can start buying virtual real estate in the form of parcels with cryptocurrencies. If you have a parcel, you can use it to construct buildings like museums, art galleries, theaters, and much more. Since the platform is built on the Ethereum blockchain, anyone can join it as long as they have an ETH wallet. To learn more about Decentraland, continue reading. ProsOne of the biggest platforms in the VR worldOne of the largest collections of NFT artMANA has risen over 3,000% in value since its inceptionA lot of potential for an industry that's still undervaluedConsThe platform is still in its early stages of development There is massive competition in the VR spaceDecentraland charges a fee for every transaction How Decentraland Works Unlike other virtual reality games and worlds, Decentraland is entirely decentralized and runs on the blockchain. With the governance of a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), Decentraland has preset policies and rules that it runs on. Since Decentraland is—you guessed it—fully decentralized, it must be on a blockchain. In this case, the software is on the Ethereum blockchain, and it requires the user to have MANA (Decentraland's coin) and an Ethereum wallet to start playing in their virtual world. Decentraland can run on the ETH blockchain and build its own components on top of it with the help of smart contracts. Smart contracts regulate every transaction that happens on Decentraland, with all parcels of land having real coordinates written on the blockchain. So, what is the purpose of Decentraland, and how does it work? Once a user joins, they can start buying and exchanging LAND tokens (representing parcels) with MANA. Users can buy parcels of land, construct buildings on them (like a museum with a collection of great NFTs), and then sell them for more MANA than they were originally bought. Decentraland Fees Decentraland is on the low end when it comes to fees, though the platform charges a fee for every transaction. Each time there is a transaction with a land parcel on the Decentraland marketplace, the platform burns 2.5% of the transaction’s value. This is because Decentraland runs on the Ethereum blockchain, and just like Ethereum, it must pay gas fees for all transactions that happen on their blockchain. Still, you can expect this number to drastically lower in the near future, as Ethereum has announced its shift from PoW to PoS by the end of 2022. This will lower the gas fees by approximately 90%. Could Decentraland Be Profitable for the User? Absolutely! Decentraland can be incredibly profitable for the user, as it’s not just a simple virtual reality game with land parcels. The platform offers an entire virtual universe where you can do everything that happens in your day-to-day life. This includes working a job, buying clothes from a mall, going out with friends, learning new skills, or even working on real projects in the VR world. So, can you make money on Decentraland? Yes, there are many ways you can earn money in Decentraland. Let’s go over them: Buying and Selling Land Since Decentraland’s VR world was primarily based on working with virtual real estate, it is no surprise that you can do that for a profit. In the Decentraland universe, every land parcel comes as a unique 16m x 16m NFT, and there is proof on the blockchain that you’re the owner. Once you’ve purchased the land parcel, you can build something on it to increase its value. Keep in mind that Decentraland has a massive virtual universe where many real-life cities are featured. For example, you can buy a plot of land in virtual New York City and then sell it for a profit. Work in the Virtual Universe Many aspects of our day-to-day lives are featured in Decentraland. For example, you can work at a company and have a part-time job in the virtual universe where you will be paid in MANA tokens. Some of the most popular jobs in the Decentraland universe are designing clothes, creating NFTs, offering freelance services like making videos, marketing, and more. Play Mini-Games Decentraland’s virtual universe offers users the opportunity to play games and win rewards. Of course, these rewards don’t come in the form of classic fiat money. Instead, you’ll get paid in cryptocurrency and NFTs. Some of the most popular play-to-earn games in Decentraland are poker, blackjack, and roulette. Should You Invest in Decentraland? If you believe that the virtual reality industry has potential, you should invest in Decentraland. The overall market size of the VR industry was estimated to be around $20-30 billion in 2021, but many experts believe it will exceed $80 billion by 2028. If you’d like to invest in Decentraland, all you have to do is buy MANA. As of June 2022, the MANA token has jumped in price by over 3,000%, and we believe it still has big potential. To buy the Decentraland coin, you'll need an ETH wallet and an account at an online exchange. You can then search for MANA and buy as much as you want.