Blockchain
Exodus of key staff from Aragon amid philosophical differences


It’s been a rough week for the Aragon governance platform where philosophical differences have brought about a long list of resignations.
Aragon co-founder Jorge Izquierdo announced on Jan. 11 he would no longer be working as CEO of the for-profit Aragon One, a company dedicated to building tools and services related to Aragon.
Aragon is an Ethereum-based platform involved with decentralized governance.
The announcement took place just hours after news broke that Aragon had purchased Dvote Labs, the company behind blockchain voting protocol Vocdoni.
Today I resigned as Aragon One’s CEO.
Leading this team has been the privilege and adventure of a lifetime and I am immensely proud of what we achieved.
I feel quite sad that it’s come to this, but given circumstances following, I don’t think I can keep doing a good job.
— Jorge Izquierdo (@izqui9) January 11, 2021
Izquierdo cited his differences with decisions being made by the project’s governing body, the Aragon Association, as his reason to exit the project, which he had been a part of since 2015.
Sorry to hear it Jorge. Unfortunately another example of a governance startup with dysfunctional governance. Yes I’m subtweeting essentially the entire DAO sector.
— Richard D. Bartlett (@RichDecibels) January 13, 2021
One week prior to Izquierdo’s departure, Aragon Association Head of Governance John Light announced his resignation, stating he felt that the project no longer reflected his values or that of the original Aragon Manifesto.
In order to increase transparency and improve as an organization, Light suggested that association members “publish all meeting minutes and financials for public review” going forward.
Inspired by Light’s actions and agreeing with the sentiments put forth in his letter, 11 employees of Aragon One quit the company over the following few days, tendering their resignations publicly on the project’s official Discord channel.
After questions were raised about a December transfer of 52,000 ETH from the Aragon treasury in the project’s Discord chat, Aragon Association Head of Operations Joe Chatsworth stepped in to provide an explanation to address fears that the project was losing its transparency. According to Chatsworth, the ETH was sold to help “ensure sufficient runway in stable assets to weather any significant market downturns.”
Though insiders remain quiet on the subject, Izquierdo and Light have given subtle hints that indicating they believe Aragon is becoming too centralized. In Izquierdo’s last letter to the Aragon Association, he referenced the debate currently playing out over big tech censorship, and likened maintenance of internet neutrality to a great struggle:
“I believe that stopping the trend of important Internet infrastructure being owned by a few corporations to be the fight of our generation, akin to last century’s fight to eradicate fascism from Europe.”
In October, co-founder Luis Cuende made the case to Cointelegraph that Aragon could potentially be used to resolve social media moderation problems, as it provides a framework for a virtual court where contestants stake crypto to make a claim that is judged by a decentralized jury.
The May 2018 token sale for Aragon famously raised $25 million in ETH in 26 minutes, which at the time was the fourth largest crowd-funded event in history. According to stats trackers at DeepDAO, seven of the top 10 biggest DAOs by USD value use Aragon as their platform. The Aragon platform also powers popular DeFi projects like AAVE, Curve, and mStable.
The price of ANT, the Aragon Network Token, is down 8% over the last seven days.
Blockchain
Bitcoin: Here’s the long-term signal you might be ignoring

Bitcoin’s market capitalization hitting $1 trillion corresponded with a surge in price on the charts. In the said case, the last of the market volatility and network momentum pushed the price higher, before the drop that followed. However, if we look at Bitcoin as an asset to be used as collateral, there is wider scope for the vertical growth of its market capitalization.
Arcane Research’s latest report looked at the journey from $1 trillion to $20 trillion, a figure that is the value of the global market for collateral. Currently, while this $20 trillion market is dominated by government bonds and cash-based securities, there is a widening gap that is creating systemic risk in the system.
This makes it possible for Bitcoin to bridge the gap and make the collateral system largely risk-free and stable, unlike the fragility being observed right now. Counterparty risk and credit risk are currently the top two challenges in the collateral system and Bitcoin could emerge as the ideal solution in such a case.

Source: Arcane Research
Based on the aforementioned report, it can be estimated that around 6,25,000 BTCs are being used as collateral in the crypto-market. At their current price, that would be worth approximately $30 billion. However, right now, Bitcoin accounts for just 0.15% of the total collateral market. With the figures for the same expected to rise, the same is likely to have a positive impact on the price in the long-term.
Of late, whenever Open Interest on derivatives exchanges has hit a peak, it has coincided with times of high volatility and hikes in Bitcoin’s price, with corrections following soon after. An over-leveraged market is closer to price correction, based on past instances in previous cycles.

Source: Arcane Research
The attached chart, for instance, highlights the OI in Bitcoin Futures corresponding to March 2020’s Black Thursday and the recent ATH of $58,330. Since derivatives markets were the ones to first introduce Bitcoin as collateral, a hike in OI in Bitcoin Futures signals there may be an increase in the amount of Bitcoin being used as collateral, and eventually the price of the asset, in the long-term.
Now, this metric may not influence the price in the short-term as much as other metrics like trade volume, exchange reserves, and the SOPR. In the long-term, however, leveraged futures may lead to a hike in Bitcoin’s price.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/bitcoin-heres-the-long-term-signal-you-might-be-ignoring
Blockchain
ProBit Exchange Lists EXGold (EXG) | Gold For The Digital Age

EXGold (EXG) has officially listed their token EXG on ProBit Exchange as the digital gold solution solidifies their partnership networks with one of the top South Korean exchanges and its global demographics.
EXGold was developed to capitalize on the burgeoning stable coin niche through its innovative, digitized protocol. Eliciting unmatched price stability and promising conceptual NFTs, EXGold will offer a reliable revenue stream for holders willing to subscribe to predetermined lockup periods.
Pegged to the price of gold, EXGold will reflexively mirror the price of its real-world counterpart. This relationship is immutable, meaning 1 EXGold token will always be worth the price of 1 gram of gold.
Grounded in the Ethereum protocol, EXG offers frictionless transferability and inherent scarcity, with a circulating token supply fixed at 5 million. EXGold ensures a fair, secure incentive structure with programmable smart contracts and predetermined lock-up periods. Soon to be available on Uniswap, EXGold developers are pushing to establish EXG as a potentially leading stablecoin and safe-haven asset.
EXGold’s recent partnership with a Peruvian mine, enabling direct tradeability, is a first of potentially many, real-world partners and the platform is transforming how traders interact with gold and view the “buy” and “hold” process.
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EXGold is a digital secure way to buy and hold gold and is pegged to 1 gram of gold.
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DISCLAIMER Read More
The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/probit-exchange-lists-exgold-exg-gold-for-the-digital-age/
Blockchain
Bitcoin: Another Correction Stage is Over

By Dmitriy Gurkovskiy, Chief Analyst at RoboForex
The digital currency is actively recovering after a deep correction. For bulls, it was important to make the price rebound from the support area at $42,500. A lot of investors are scared by such high volatility of the cryptoasset, even hedge funds are pretty sure that the number of institutional investors, who are ready to invest in BTC, will significantly increase after these fluctuations slow down.
Citibank experts believe that there comes a crucial moment for Bitcoin and the digital asset may either become a global payment method or end up with another speculative blowout. JPMorgan specialists are very active in recommending their clients to hedge from other types of markets, such as stocks and precious metals, and invest up to 1% of their investment portfolios in Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
In the daily chart, BTC/USD has once again rebounded from the area between Moving Averages and that’s still an indication of a bullish impulse. The previous movement from such an area resulted in further growth of the asset by more than $29,000. Possibly, this scenario may repeat this time as well and BTC may reach $72,000-75,000. Another signal in favor of this idea is another rebound from the support line at the RSI. However, the bullish scenario may no longer be valid if the instrument breaks the rising channel’’ downside border and fixes below $42,950. After that, the price may move downwards with the target at $29,135.
The current asset growth can’t even be stopped by growing criticism of the primary cryptocurrency. Bill Gates is sure that the performance of transactions in the Bitcoin network is extremely power-consuming if compared with conventional transfers, and that causes a lot of harm to nature in the long run. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who is called Indian Warrant Buffett, appealed for regulating authorities to ban BTC in India and said that the asset was just a speculation of the highest order.
Many investors think that the current aggressive growth of Bitcoin is just a temporary phenomenon caused by heightening interest among major investors. As far back as a year ago, Ray Dalio said that with cryptocurrencies moving higher and being accepted everywhere, these assets may face aggressive criticism as well as an eventual ban by authorities. This is exactly what we are witnessing right now.
As we can see in the H4 chart, BTC/USD has broken the descending channel to the upside and may continue trading upwards to reach $65,000. However, one shouldn’t exclude that the pair may resume growing only after returning to the broken border. A strong signal in favor of a further uptrend will be a rebound from the support line at the RSI.
Disclaimer
Any predictions contained herein are based on the author’s particular opinion. This analysis shall not be treated as trading advice. RoboForex shall not be held liable for the results of the trades arising from relying upon trading recommendations and reviews contained herein.
Source: https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-another-correction-stage-is-over/
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