Dmitriy Prikhodko

What Is Unisocks (SOCKS)?

Unisocks is an “experimental” non-fungible token (NFT) listed on the Uniswap exchange, which represents a real pair of limited edition and dynamically priced socks that users can purchase from anywhere in the world. Holders of $SOCKS can sell them through the Unisocks platform anytime they want. Furthermore, it can also be used to redeem the pair of socks that the token represents.

Uniswap warns that Unisocks is one of the experimental projects on the protocol, which means that it’s very risky to invest in. Anyone with an ERC-20 compliant token can purchase SOCKS. Every time a SOCKS is purchased, its value increases, which is what is referred to as the “bonding curve” model.

Who Are the Founders of Unisocks?

The Unisocks project was launched by the Uniswap team, and first brought to the limelight during the Fluidity Summit in New York City on May 9, 2019. In keeping with the zany and envelope-pushing nature of DeFi in 2020, the Unisocks project may seem completely absurd at first glance and a game between DeFi degens. However the end goal of shifting the borders of DeFi applications is very serious indeed, much like the MEME token that transformed the world of art and NFTs last year did.

Some of its known developers are Noah Zinsmeister, Uniswap’s engineering lead, and Callil Capuozzo, Uniswap’s designlLead. Leander Capuozzo, Callil’s brother who worked with Uniswap on the design of Unishirt for their V0 birthday, also helped out on the sock design.

Dean Eigenmann, a security researcher and co-founder of the blockchain governance startup Harbour and decentralized exchange platform Dexy, performed a quick review of the Unisocks platform before it was launched.

What Makes Unisocks Unique?

Unisocks is an experimental NFT project. Unlike other NFTs in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, $SOCKS follows a “bonding curve” model governing its price, which enables the early adopters to earn more in profit than the late majorities. This is because when there are more tokens bought and brought to the supply, its value increases accordingly.

Here’s how it works: the bonding curve model is facilitated by a smart contract, which is designed to function as an automated market maker with very specific purposes related to the tokens in circulation.

First, the model allows for the initial minting and purchase of the token based on a price determined within the smart contract. Then, the supply of the token will dictate how the token will be valued later on. If the token supply increases, the price increases consequently.

All the assets used to purchase NFTs, which is $SOCKS, in this case, are kept in a different smart contract labeled as the “reserve pool.”

Finally, in $SOCKS, the corresponding NFT gets burned, which simply means that it is removed from circulation, as soon as it is redeemed for a real pair of socks.

What Is Kin?

Kin is a decentralized cryptocurrency purposely designed to integrate easily across Mobile and Web Apps, with a built-in incentive model that rewards developers for increased usage. Apps built with Kin get paid for creating compelling cryptocurrency-based user experiences, where greater engagement results in shared economic benefits for users and developers. It was initially launched in 2017 as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, but has since migrated to the Solana blockchain, enabling consumer-scale apps to transact swiftly, with minimal-to-no fees. Today, the Kin ecosystem boasts 60+ million wallets, and has distributed over $70M in rewards across 60+ apps since its inception.

How Does Kin Work?

Kin tokens enter circulation via an incentive-based revenue model referred to as the Kin Rewards Engine (KRE), which rewards developers for creating compelling cryptocurrency-based experiences that lend themselves to the value of Kin. The KRE creates a user/developer first economy, offering a sustainable and fair monetization model that incentivizes the adoption of new use cases and creation of value for a cryptocurrency, as well as encouraging the exchange of value between users, as opposed to harvesting user data and attention at no benefit to users themselves. This alternative monetization model re-aligns users and developers around a shared digital economy in which content creators and users are rewarded for the value they bring to the platform, and not the big-data monopolies.

Kin offers the fastest and easiest path for developers to integrate cryptocurrency within their web & mobile apps, using out-of-the box OS tools & technologies along with a wide array of plug-and-play SDKs. Kin’s SDKs remove the intricate complexities of cryptocurrency integration so all the developer has to focus on is creating awesome in-app experiences where users can earn and spend their Kin tokens. Designed for mainstream adoption, Kin removes the hurdles facing developers to provide a quick, easy & intuitive cryptocurrency development experience.

The distribution and algorithmic logic of the Kin Rewards Engine is overseen by the Kin Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Ontario, Canada. Undistributed Kin is held in an institutional-grade treasury that is controlled via a series of vesting periods, inflation guidelines and fiduciary custody controls that ensure the safe transfer and proper use of funds. No more than 10 trillion Kin will ever exist in the Kin ecosystem by the end of the distribution period, the large supply meant to allow mass adoption by users around the world while still transacting in whole-number denominations, as opposed to decimal places.

Wrapped BNB a wrapped version of the BNB native tokens on the BEP-20 standard on the Binance Smart Chain

What Is X World Games (XWG)?

X World Games (XWG) is a gaming ecosystem built on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

The main goal of the project is to connect the fast-growing crypto world with the gaming space to create a global gaming community where users can create, collect and trade NFTs, while taking part in multiplayer games. X World Games is a decentralized gaming platform where members can play-to-earn. Players earn XWG tokens during the game that can be used to implement in-game functionality and trade for other assets.

The metaverse of X World Games brings together millions of gamers and, simultaneously, introduces them to blockchain technology and the concept of NFT.

X World Games took inspiration from the popular card game Pokémon. The team began the project in 2019, and arranged their launch in 2021 on BSC. The first title available on the platform is the digital collectible card game, Dream Card. Developers hope they can attract gamers through its captivating plot following the legendary Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Who Are the Founders of X World Games?

The X World Games executive team consists of three people: Fernando Liu (Chief Executive Officer), Xi Chen (Chief Technology Officer) and Erick Wu (Chief Marketing Officer).

Fernando Oscar Liu is the founder of X World Games and presently holds the position of CEO at the company. He has been a member of the team since 2017, in addition to investing in a number of projects. He was one of the initial backers of Hangzhou Zhexin - a company focused on online mobile gaming. Liu is a skilled entrepreneur with over ten years of experience in venture capital, private equity, fundraising, restructuring mergers and acquisitions.

Xi (Sean) Chen is CTO at X World Games. Chen is a talented software engineer with 15+ years of experience in the gaming industry and in software development. Prior to joining X World Games, Chen launched several successful gaming projects in China. Moreover, he was engaged in the development of the ZoroChain architecture, creating cross-chain application solutions focused on the gaming world, and founded a blockchain gaming platform - BlaCat.

Erick Wu, the third member of the team, holds a Master's degree in Financial Marketing from New York University and a Bachelor of Economics from Shanghai Fudan University. Wu has been immersed in cryptocurrency and finance the past three years. He also has a background in marketing and strategy, with experience in international investor relations.

What Makes X World Games Unique?

X World Games (XWG) is a blockchain-based gaming system that seeks to introduce blockchain technology and NFT gaming to non-cryptocurrency players. The platform is designed around simplicity and convenience featuring low gas fees, fast-minting ability, decentralized governance, and a user reward system. The first game launched in the X Game World ecosystem was Dream Card, in which players can create their first blockchain wallet, gain insight into networked assets, and understand the concept of NFT. More games are planned to appear on the platform in the near future.

Features of the game:

NFT cards: Players create their own character cards, choose weapons and types of equipment, customizing both the combat effectiveness and the uniqueness / value of the card. Game cards are tokenized and presented as NFT. Gamers can trade their NFT сards via the X World Games Marketplace.

DAO: In the X World Games ecosystem, XWG holders form a DAO called Community Council, where token owners make proposals for the development of X World Games, vote on important management decisions, and design their game economy as a whole.

Thus, X Game World offers a high speed and high quality decentralized gaming space, where gamers can take part in a blockchain based gaming experience with fast and cheap transactions, mining incentives and DAO governance.

According to the creators of the project, the mission of X World Games is to construct the gaming economy on a completely different level. Utilizing all the advantages of blockchain, including NFT exchange, cross-chain bridge mechanism, DeFi swap & staking, and a game metaverse of creation and play, X World Games hopes to become more of a social network rather than a gaming platform.

Jed McCalebWhat Is Stellar (XLM)?

Put simply, Stellar is an open network that allows money to be moved and stored. When it was released in July 2014, one of its goals was boosting financial inclusion by reaching the world’s unbanked — but soon afterwards, its priorities shifted to helping financial firms connect with one another through blockchain technology.

The network’s native token, lumens, serves as a bridge that makes it less expensive to trade assets across borders. All of this aims to challenge existing payment providers, who often charge high fees for a similar service.

If all of this sounds familiar, it is worth noting that Stellar was originally based on the Ripple Labs protocol. The blockchain was created as a result of hard fork, and the code was subsequently rewritten.

Who Are the Founders of Stellar?

Jed McCaleb founded Stellar with the lawyer Joyce Kim after leaving Ripple in 2013 over disagreements about the company’s future direction.

In explaining the rationale behind Stellar in September 2020, McCaleb told CoinMarketCap: “The whole original design of Stellar is that you can have fiat currencies and other kinds of forms of value run in parallel with each other and with crypto assets. This is super important to drive this stuff mainstream.”

McCaleb’s goal is to ensure that Stellar can give people a way of moving their fiat into crypto — and eliminate the friction that people normally experience when they are sending money around the world.

He currently serves as the CTO of Stellar, as well as the co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation. This not-for-profit organization aims to “unlock the world’s economic potential by making money more fluid, markets more open, and people more empowered.”

What Makes Stellar Unique?

Fees are a sticking point for many. However, high costs when making cross-border payments aren’t just exclusive to fiat-based payments solutions such as PayPal — transaction fees have also been known to go through the roof on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains because of congestion.

Stellar is unique because every transaction costs just 0.00001 XLM. Given how one unit of this cryptocurrency only costs a few cents at the time of writing, this helps ensure that users keep more of their money.

Few blockchain projects have managed to secure partnerships with big-brand technology companies and fintech firms. A few years ago, Stellar and IBM teamed up to launch World Wire, a project that allowed large financial institutions to submit transactions to the Stellar network and transact using bridge assets such as stablecoins.

Although other blockchains have community funds, meaning that grants can be given to projects that help further the ecosystem, Stellar allows its users to vote on which ventures should be given this support.

How Many Stellar (XLM) Coins Are There in Circulation?

A total of 100 billion XLM were issued when the Stellar network launched in 2015 — but things have changed since the release date. At present, the total supply stands at 50 billion XLM, and the circulating supply is currently 20.7 billion.

In 2019, the Stellar Development Foundation announced that it was burning over half of the cryptocurrency’s supply. This means that it now controls approximately 30 billion XLM. While some of this capital is earmarked for marketing and helping the organization develop, about one third is reserved for making investments in other blockchain ventures.

Explaining why it took this drastic move — and promising not to burn any more XLM in the future — the foundation explained: “SDF can be leaner and do the work it was created to do using fewer lumens… Those 55.5 billion lumens weren’t going to increase the adoption of Stellar.”

How Is the Stellar Network Secured?

This network is secured using the Stellar Consensus Protocol, which is described as having four main properties: “Decentralized control, low latency, flexible trust, and asymptotic security.”

Through SCP, anyone is able to join the process of achieving consensus, and no single entity can end up with the majority of decision-making power. Transactions are also confirmed cheaply and within a few seconds — and safeguards are in place if bad actors attempt to join the network.

Where Can You Buy Stellar (XLM)?

It is possible to buy Stellar from a wide range of top exchanges - including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, Bitfinex, Upbit and Huobi.