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AscendEX, formerly BitMax, an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, congratulates PlotX – a cross-chain prediction market protocol on their v2 Mainnet launch on the Polygon Network on May 14 at 12:00 p.m. UTC.

PlotX Version 1 (“v1”) was launched in October 2020 as a decentralized non-custodial prediction market protocol on the Ethereum Blockchain. PlotX allows crypto-traders to use their skills to predict the future value of digital assets like ETH, BTC. Markets on PlotX v1 were automatically created in intervals of 4 hour, 1 day and 1 week.

The v2 has been under development since December 2020 and the testnet was released on April 13th, 2021 for the public. After rigorous testing by the community, the launch of PlotX v2 on the Polygon Mainnet is now scheduled on May 14th, 2021.

PlotX v2 has focussed heavily on simplifying the prediction-making experience for users thanks to a consistent dialogue with their community via the research forum and their official community telegram group. It brings the experience closer to mainstream applications while retaining the DeFi ethos of being non-custodial and permissionless.

This can be seen in the marquee features that PlotX announced via their recent blog post about the mainnet release:

1. Gasless prediction-making – via meta-transactions that abstract the process for users so they only have to make a single transaction while making predictions
2. Smooth token bridging – via cross-chain swap technology, that enables users to move $PLOT between Ethereuem, Polygon and other EVM compatible chains like BSC & Solana, from within the application itself
3. Guaranteed liquidity provisions – via incentive alignment of market creators for providing liquidity for new markets, making it lucrative for users to participate in
4. Simple onboarding experience – for users, especially ones who are not familiar with metamask and RPC changes, to login using their email addresses without compromising on the non-custodial nature of the dapp

The team has built a class product and is highly receptive to the community. As per the roadmap, upgrades in V2 do not end here; numerous new features are slated to be introduced that will equip users with exciting new prediction opportunities.

Ish Goel, co-founder PlotX, shares his thoughts “It has been an exciting journey for us since the launch of PlotX v1 in October 2020. Prediction markets have always been an exciting derivative for crypto traders. However, they have always faced the challenges of a complex UX, high gas fees & low market liquidity that has also resulted in a lack of growth of the space. With PlotX v2 we have worked alongside our community to solve these challenges by introducing an overhauled UX, deploying on Polygon and introducing liquidity bootstrapping mechanisms for new markets. The community has reacted positively to these features and we’re super excited to reveal the mainnet app to them as well as the larger crypto trading community!”

About AscendEX

Originally founded in 2018 as BitMax.io, AscendEx is a leading crypto and digital asset financial platform catering to both professional and retail traders. Our venue offers spot, futures, margin trading and staking products and incorporates key elements from the DeFi space to foster a unique market structure for users. AscendEx is led by a team of Wall Street veterans who have applied traditional markets’ rigor to create a robust, secure, and reliable experience for all participants; and a consistent source of liquidity for primary offerings.

About PlotX

PlotX is a cross-chain Prediction Market protocol built by the ex-CTO of Nexus Mutual (>$1bn mcap). It enables crypto-asset price predictions, like “What will be the price of BTC/USDT in the next 1 hour?”

Dubbed as the Uniswap of Prediction Markets, PlotX is the simplest and most fun DeFi derivative for crypto traders.

Edward Chancellor – a British journalist and financial historian, explained that the first central bank digital currencies are likely to raise inflation which can lead to the destruction of Bitcoin. He agreed that CBDCs are ”cool” but certainly not stable.

CBDCs Would Mean The End Of BTC

Nowadays, many central banks of numerous leading economies such as China, Japan, and the US, are researching the option of launching their own CBDC. In a recent interview for Reuters, Edward Chancellor opined that central bank digital currencies are highly risky projects.

He said that CBDCs might even kill Bitcoin. Chancellor explained that it is much easier to distribute and ”print” digital currencies rather than cash, and that will cause an utterly high level of inflation.

He then added that in order to solve the issue, the governments and central banks would have to fix the emission of their digital coins – which number would be much higher than 21 million bitcoins:

”When banks get it right with CBDCs this will kill Bitcoin.”

The historian analyzed that changes in the form of money are normal and have happened multiple times in the past. As an example, he pointed to the paper money which once replaced metal coins. Chancellor predicted that in the process of the financial revolution, digital currencies would invade the world, but he opined that Bitcoin would not be among one of them.

In conclusion, the journalist said that central bank digital currencies are ”cool” as a project but can not qualify as stable.

Deutsche Bank on CBDCs

Recently, the multinational investment banking giant – Deutsche bank – shared similar thoughts. The CIO of the German institution – Christian Nolting – predicted that CBDCs could damage Bitcoin’s role as a payment instrument. He also suggested that the primary cryptocurrency could serve as a store of value.

According to Nolting, the crypto industry is ”here to stay.” On the other hand, he warned that ”governments and more digitally-aware populations might ultimately prefer to go with CBDCs,” instead of relying on the decentralized nature of BTC. Furthermore, some potentially harming legislative frameworks developed by world regulators could reduce digital assets’ chances of serving as international payment instruments:

”A widespread introduction of CBDCs accompanied by higher regulation of cryptocurrencies could create a more challenging environment for crypto assets as some of their advantages compared to traditional financial assets would fade in the longer term.”

It goes without saying that Tesla took center stage last week when the company announced it would no longer support bitcoin payments for its electric vehicles.

The message seems to have resonated, as Greenidge Generation Bitcoin Mining has vowed to be carbon neutral in 2021 and beyond.

Carbon Neutral Bitcoin Mining

After announcing plans to expand its Bitcoin mining operations last month, Greenidge is now looking to go entirely carbon neutral this year and in the future.

The company is committed to the cause, and it plans to invest in US-based renewable energy projects.

According to a recent press release, the company will also take part in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is a market-based program where participants sell CO2 allowances through auctions and invest the proceeds in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Speaking on the matter was Jeffrey Kirt, the CEO of the company, who said:

“Our bitcoin mining capability is already best-in-class and seamlessly integrated with our electricity generation that powers thousands of homes and businesses. By taking the bold and unique step of making or cryptocurrency mining fully carbon neutral immediately – as opposed to some distant date in the future – Greenidge is once again leading in environmental efforts.”

Musk’s Message Resonates

Greenidge’s announcement comes days after the leading electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, revealed that it would no longer support bitcoin payments. As a reason for its decision, the company cited environmental concerns related to bitcoin mining.

Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, confirmed and reiterated that he is bullish on crypto but so long as it doesn’t have a negative environmental impact.

The company also said that it’s looking for ‘greener’ alternatives to Bitcoin so that it can continue accepting crypto payments. This led to many speculations about which cryptocurrency it would choose. Shortly after, Musk said that he’s working closely with Dogecoin developers to improve transaction efficiency, causing many to believe that the meme-inspired coin might be Tesla’s choice.