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(Kitco News) - Astar Network, a layer-one smart contract blockchain platform in the Polkadot ecosystem, announced the start of its Astar 2.0 Vision rollout earlier this week as part of its mission to help drive the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology and Web3.

Astar 2.0 focuses on getting us ready to deliver web3 to billions and further decentralizing Astar, the company said in its announcement. 2.0 describes the future iteration of our network, as well as shows the direction were headed towards.

Kitco Crypto sat down with Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe at the Consensus Conference in April to learn more about the project and their plans for the future.

Astar has a global team of developers spread across 20 different countries, but Sota, who is Japanese, said the team is heavily focused on building out their presence in Japan.

We see a lot of opportunity in Japan," he said. "We have been working with Toyota, Sony, and other agencies to develop their use cases. The Japanese government made Web3 a national strategy, and I think almost all people think Astar is the leading project in Japan, so I would like the make the most of the opportunity.

Sota specifically highlighted the platform's work with Sony, which is the largest company Astar has collaborated with and which he believes has a promising future in Web3. They have music, movies, gaming, even car bunking," he said. "So I would like to onboard Sony to Web3 through Astar.

Astar and Sony have already begun to collaborate on multiple projects, and Sota is looking to deepen the relationship between the two in the months ahead.

We started an incubation program with Sony and are incubating 19 different projects right now. They are going to be launched in the coming months, he said.

According to the Astar website, the incubation period for the collaboration with Sony runs from mid-March to June 18, and the Demo Day is scheduled to take place on June 18.

Demo Day will be held in June at Sony Group Corporation Headquarters in Tokyo during Japan Blockchain, the website says. About 200 people, including companies and investors participating in the incubation program, will attend.

Sota said that they received more than 200 applications for the incubation program in less than two weeks.

Astar and Polkadot

Astar is currently the leading parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem, Sota said.

Parachains can serve a variety of functions, such as serving as a smart contract platform, DeFi application, decentralized identity provider, or as a non-fungible token platform. Thanks to the underlying structure that the Polkadot relay chain provides, parachains can specialize in offering one service.

The main limitation of the Polkadot relay chain, which is considered a layer 0 blockchain, is that it does not support smart contracts. This is what motivated Sota to develop Astar to bring smart contract capabilities to Polkadot.

We have two types of smart contracts, Ethereum native smart contracts and protocol native smart contracts, Sota said. Astar is the only platform that provides not only Ethereum smart contracts but also native smart contracts.

Astar has also added a bridge to the Cosmos network, he said. We would like to connect our blockchain to other ecosystems as well. Since Polkadot is not strictly Ethereum compatible, we are also compatible with networks like Near and Solana. Recently, the top NFT marketplace on Near [Paras] elected to deploy on Astar.

We would like to attract big projects from Ethereum, Solana, and so on, he said. And another narrative is that we are backed by Japan, so we would like to see a Japanese CBDC launched on Astar so that we can help create a lot of real use cases together."

Astar and the Japanese government

Sota said the Japanese government is being quite aggressive in the space because they see blockchain as an opportunity.

Japan used to be number one in terms of cars, electric goods, let's say 30 years ago. A lot of Japanese companies ranked toward the top in terms of valuation, he said. But right now, the biggest company in Japan is Toyota, which ranks near 50th.

We completely missed Web2, he said. We do not have a Tencent or Alibaba. We dont have a Line as they do in Korea. So we completely missed the opportunity. And thats why our economy is not growing. Web3 is the new opportunity, and they would like to invest a lot of money and resources on Web3 because if they miss it, we are probably going to see another 20 losing years.

Sota noted that while Japanese companies were good at developing products for Web2 platforms, the real money is in the platforms, which they did not succeed in building.

Platforms create a lot of money and value, so Web3 is going to be the same. If we miss building a platform, all we will have is small projects on top of other platforms, he said.

This is why he created Astar to be a layer-one smart contract platform, and why the Japanese government is endorsing the platform, even if they cannot officially push people to adopt it.

Blockchain interoperability and future plans

On the topic of why Sota selected Polkadot as the base chain for Astar, Sota said its ability to connect with other blockchain networks was a major factor.

In the future, I think blockchains should be connected, so we would like to enter the Ethereum ecosystem and the Solana ecosystem and so on," he said. "But, if we have a strong presence in Polkadot and are recognized as a leading chain in the Polkadot ecosystem, that will make it easier to work with other networks. This is one of our main objectives.

Other future plans for Astar include the possible launch of a stablecoin, but that process is still at the exploration stage.

Im actually speaking with a big bank to issue a stablecoin right now, Sota said. We can issue a stablecoin by ourselves, but history shows us this is pretty dangerous. So working with big banks to launch a stablecoin on Astar makes more sense than issuing a stablecoin by ourselves.

Crypto and Web3 are all about trustless infrastructure, but business is all about trust," he added. "Right now I see a big shift from trustless to trust, so working with big companies makes sense for mass adoption."

Sota also shared his perspective on the changing landscape of Web3, which he said was previously only for tech people but has started to move towards mass adoption.

The average person doesnt care which blockchain to use, he said. Just like the internet. When I interact with the internet, I dont care which server I use. Blockchain should be the same. While which specific blockchain to use matters more to the long-term adopters, general people, like your grandparents, will not care about which blockchain to use.

The main selling point of Astar is that it supports smart contracts, so it is capable of hosting protocols in the top sectors of the blockchain ecosystem. Sota said the network is already supporting a variety of projects from multiple sectors including the metaverse, artificial intelligence, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

One of the most exciting things for me is NFTs because [Japan] historically has strong IP, such as manga, anime, and so on, he said.

Sota added that he thinks this is one of the best opportunities for Japan to leverage in terms of the mass adoption of blockchain technology.

His ultimate goal with Astar is to make the network completely vertical and provide all the various components that other platforms provide individually. This includes indexing, node management, oracle capabilities, and wallet service, among others.

He would also like to see greater integration between Web3 and real assets. We should connect existing Web3 to real assets, Web2, Web1, and even the finance market," he said. "This is what we would like to do, and we are on the right track.

When it comes to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and a digital yen, Sota said that he would personally like to have the CBDC hosted on Astar first, and then see it expanded to other blockchain networks, but based on his understanding from conversations with the Japanese government, there is no timeline for the release of a digital yen and it has not yet been decided whether they will use blockchain.

As an entrepreneur, I would like to make something people want to use, something that can actually change reality, he said. Right now, Web3 does not change our reality much, so I would like to change the current status quo and make something people actually use.

People are using the internet, people are using ChatGPT, he said. I would like to make something similar within the next two years. The crypto market will be coming back, and I think the next bull market will be the biggest one. So we should not miss it. But making a great product takes time.

In the coming months, Sota said he will continue to work on making Astar the go-to-market chain for Japan, and then expand its presence in Asia and eventually to the U.S., once the regulatory landscape becomes more settled. I would like to make Astar a star, he said.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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What Is Sui?

Sui is a Layer-1 blockchain that is designed to limit how long it takes to execute smart contracts and support scalability for decentralized applications (dApps).

The blockchain uses an object-centric data model that stores digital assets and their attributes on-chain but outside of smart contracts. And parallel processing helps to finalize simple transactions, such as asset transfers, in real time while maintaining security.

Sui is named after the element water in Japanese philosophy, a reference to its fluidity and flexibility that developers can use to shape the development of Web3, according to the projects whitepaper.

The Sui blockchain shares common features with other networks, such as processing smart contracts, settlement of transactions, issuing tokens, and development of dApps. However, it introduces several new features that aim to solve the blockchain trilemma:

These include Suis consensus engine and the Move smart contract programming language developed by MystenLabs.

The Sui network uses a permissionless set of validators to reduce latency. Its delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS) approach allows validators to stake SUI coins to validate transactions. SUI is also used to execute custom programs, as a medium of exchange, and to provide incentivizes to developers.

However, Sui has had a low rate of transactions per second (tps) since the mainnets launch. While in testing, the network has reached 297,000tps, data from the Sui blockchain explorer shows that it has a peak of 1,367tps.

The $SUI token is the Sui blockchains native crypto. It has captured the attention of the markets since it launched its blockchain and native token in May 2023. The SUI token price soared by 2,000% on its first day of trading from its presale value.

$SUI has a total supply of 10 billion. A share of the total supply was released at launch, and the remaining tokens will be released over the coming years or distributed as future stake rewards, according to the projects documentation.

MystenLabs is allocating the tokens as follows:

There are three main sets of participants in the Sui economy:

Sui charges gas, or processing, fees on all network operations. It uses them to reward validators and prevent spam and denial-of-service (DOS) attacks.

Sui has a storage fund that it uses to shift staking rewards and compensate future validators for the cost of previously stored on-chain data.

The SUI coin has four main uses on the blockchain:

Sui grants rewards to holders that allocate their votes to other users. This incentivizes validators to act honestly, as delegators can switch their allocation each day.

While some crypto tokens initially launch on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and gain centralized exchange listings as they grow in popularity, SUI was able to secure listings on major exchanges, including Binance, Bybit, Kucoin, and OKX from launch.

You can also buy the token on Coinbase, Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp, Gate.io, and Huobi.

Sui Move is a variation of the Move smart programming language for building smart contracts that Facebook created for the Diem blockchain. Sui Move is written in the Rust code and defines the creation, transfer, and ownership of assets.

While most blockchains design smart contracts around accounts that send, receive, and hold the tokens that interact with smart contracts, Sui Move is based on programmable objects.

Developers can create rules for how the objects work, how they are transferred, and whether they can change. This makes programming assets for gaming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) easier.

Objects in Sui Move can be modified by the owner such as in token transfers, voting, and sending messages on dApps or they can be modified by anyone, such as in interacting with public smart contracts.

Transactions for owned objects do not need to reach a consensus to be finalized, as there are specific algorithms that allow transactions to be executed in parallel. But shared objects do need consensus from validators for the transactions to be added to the blockchain.

Unlike blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum where each transaction must be approved by all validators, which can cause bottlenecks Suis parallel transaction execution allows for more efficient transaction processing and increased throughput.

The SUI coin price history has been volatile since its launch. A presale and initial coin offering (ICO) in April offered SUI tokens at $0.03 and $0.10, respectively. In the tokens first trading session on May 3, the price soared to $2.16, a 2,000% return for the public sale investors.

The price then fell below $1 at the end of May on profit-taking. After the U.S. SEC announced its lawsuits on June 5, the decline in the SUI price accelerated, as the agency has taken the view that most cryptocurrencies other than BTC are trading as unlawful securities. SUI dropped to a low of $0.56 on June 10.

However, the price rebounded by as much as 27% in the following days, as Suis developers announced a new governance proposal to introduce liquid staking. With the team scheduled to release two mainnet upgrades in June, the future of the Sui project will depend on whether the enthusiasm around its technology can be sustained.

The value of the token is likely to remain volatile in line with the wider cryptocurrency markets, but it will also be influenced by the adoption of the SUI blockchain.

Sui was created by the company MystenLabs, which was founded by executives Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, Sam Blackshear, George Danezis, and Kostas Chalkias. They led the development of the Facebook wallet program Novi and the Diem (previously Libra) blockchain-based stablecoin payment system.

The Sui Foundation is supporting the development of the ecosystem as an independent organization providing grants to developers and creators.

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What Is Sui ($SUI)? Definition, Sui Blockchain, How to Buy $SUI - Techopedia

Exploring the Impact of Smart Contract Technology on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Growth and Innovation

The role of smart contract technology in decentralized finance (DeFi) has become increasingly significant in recent years, as the world of finance continues to evolve and embrace the potential of blockchain technology. As the traditional financial sector grapples with issues such as inefficiency, lack of transparency, and vulnerability to fraud, the emergence of DeFi offers a promising alternative that leverages the power of decentralized networks to enable a more secure, transparent, and efficient financial ecosystem.

At the core of this revolution lies the concept of smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into code. Smart contracts are designed to facilitate, verify, and enforce the negotiation and performance of a contract, without the need for intermediaries such as banks or other financial institutions. This not only reduces the potential for human error and fraud but also significantly lowers transaction costs and increases the speed of financial transactions.

The impact of smart contract technology on DeFi growth and innovation has been nothing short of transformative. By automating processes and removing the need for intermediaries, smart contracts have enabled the creation of a wide range of decentralized financial applications and services that are accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This has led to an explosion of innovation in the DeFi space, with new platforms and protocols being developed at a rapid pace to cater to the diverse needs of users.

One of the most notable examples of the impact of smart contracts on DeFi is the rise of decentralized lending platforms. These platforms leverage smart contract technology to enable users to lend and borrow digital assets without the need for a centralized authority. By automating the lending process and removing intermediaries, decentralized lending platforms can offer more competitive interest rates and lower fees than traditional financial institutions. This has led to a surge in the popularity of DeFi lending platforms, with billions of dollars worth of digital assets currently locked in these platforms.

Another area where smart contract technology has had a significant impact on DeFi is the emergence of decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Unlike traditional centralized exchanges, which require users to deposit their assets with a third party, DEXs allow users to trade digital assets directly with one another through smart contracts. This not only reduces the risk of hacks and theft but also enables users to maintain control over their assets at all times. The growth of DEXs has been fueled by the increasing demand for decentralized trading solutions, as well as the development of innovative smart contract-based protocols that facilitate more efficient and secure trading.

Furthermore, smart contract technology has also played a crucial role in the development of innovative DeFi products such as tokenized assets, yield farming, and liquidity mining. These innovative financial instruments have opened up new investment opportunities for users, enabling them to earn passive income and diversify their portfolios in ways that were previously not possible.

In conclusion, the role of smart contract technology in decentralized finance has been instrumental in driving growth and innovation in the sector. By automating processes, reducing the need for intermediaries, and enabling the creation of a wide range of decentralized financial applications and services, smart contracts have fundamentally transformed the way we interact with financial systems. As the DeFi ecosystem continues to evolve and mature, it is likely that smart contract technology will play an even more significant role in shaping the future of finance, paving the way for a more inclusive, transparent, and efficient financial system.

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Cryptocurrency has rapidly gained momentum as a promising asset class. Its an exciting time to speculate on which coins could provide the best return on investment over the next three years. This article will examine two sets of cryptocurrencies: $BTC, $LTC, $ETH, $XRP, $ADA, and $DOGE, $PEPE, $SHIB. We will delve into their prospects based on their historical performances, technological infrastructure, and market potential. Lets take a look at this Cryptocurrency trends article in more detail.

As the first cryptocurrency and the current market leader, Bitcoin ($BTC) has consistently shown strong performance. Its reputation and widespread acceptance make it a safe bet for investment. Despite periodic fluctuations, Bitcoins long-term trend is generally upward. With increasing institutional acceptance and the upcoming advent of Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoin might continue to increase in value over the next three years.

Litecoin ($LTC) is often considered the silver to Bitcoins gold. It offers faster transaction times and a different hashing algorithm. While it hasnt seen the same dramatic growth as Bitcoin, it has a solid foundation and a loyal community. Its recent developments, such as the MWEB upgrade for better privacy and fungibility, indicate that Litecoin may continue to grow steadily.

Ethereum ($ETH) is more than a cryptocurrencyits a platform for smart contracts, which has great potential in fields from finance to gaming. With the ETH 2.0 upgrade, Ethereums scalability issues are expected to be resolved, potentially leading to significant price appreciation.

Ripple ($XRP) is a digital payment protocol that enables fast, low-cost international money transfers. Despite facing legal issues with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), XRP has maintained a solid market position. If Ripple wins the lawsuit, this could significantly impact the XRP price positively.

Cardano ($ADA) is a blockchain platform for smart contracts, like Ethereum. Its unique multi-layer architecture and peer-reviewed development approach make it a strong contender for future growth. ADA could provide high returns, especially with the successful rollout of its smart contract functionality.

Initially started as a joke, Dogecoin ($DOGE) has gained considerable traction, largely driven by social media hype and celebrity endorsements. While its price volatility makes it a risky investment, if the momentum continues, it could offer significant returns.

Pepe ($PEPE) is an XCP asset that fuels the Rare Pepe economy. Its value primarily comes from the rarity of the digital art it represents. While this niche market has seen some success, its future profitability will depend largely on the continued interest and growth of digital art collectors.

Shiba Inu ($SHIB), another meme coin like DOGE, has seen explosive growth. Its success is mainly due to its strong community and aggressive marketing. However, such investments can be quite risky due to their reliance on continued social media hype.

Investing in cryptocurrency carries significant risk and potential reward. Among the more established coins, Ethereum ($ETH) and Cardano ($ADA) seem to have the most significant potential due to their smart contract capabilities and upcoming upgrades. Among the newer, more volatile coins, Dogecoin ($DOGE) and Shiba Inu ($SHIB) could provide high returns, but they carry more risk.

However, the golden rule of investing still applies: diversify your portfolio, never invest more than you can afford to lose, and always do your research before making an investment. Cryptocurrency trends can be useful only after careful consideration of everything.

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As the cryptocurrency market recovered from 2022 lows in Q1 2023, a Messari reportshowsthat Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, leads in various financial and ecosystem metrics, solidifying its position in decentralized applications (dapps) and smart contracts.

Despite a modest decline in network usage by around 2.5%, the report notes that Ethereum remained resilient and dominated across several key indicators. For instance, its market capitalization posted a quarter-on-quarter increase of 83%, outpacing its peers in the layer-1 category.

Additionally, the smart contracts platforms revenue, derived from the sum of all fees collected by the protocol, rose to $457 million in Q1 2023, nearly 2.8 times the combined revenue of all other featured competing layer-1 networks.

Ethereums leadership also extended to other areas of the ecosystem.

The platform led decentralized finance (DeFi) when ranked by total value locked (TVL) and transaction volume. DeFiLlama datashowsthat Ethereum manages over $24.9 billion, more than half of all the DeFi TVL when writing on June 18.

Moreover, Ethereum maintained its dominance in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), accounting for the highest volume among all featured layer-1 networks, Messari added.

The report also notes that inflation and deflationary pressures are critical to assessing a networks viability and sustainability. Using this metric, ethereum (ETH) and the binance coin (BNB) were the only tokens exhibiting deflationary tendencies, with their supply decreasing by 0.2% and 5.4%, respectively. This was primarily due to their mechanisms of burning a portion of transaction fees.

In Ethereum, the implementation of EIP-1559 saw the beginning of a portion of the Base fee that is not paid to validators. In Ethereums transaction fee model, the Base fee is a fee that every user must pay when transferring tokens or deploying smart contracts.

According to UltraSound Money, 3,398,675.70 ETH has since beenburnedand removed from circulation.

Ethereums network strength was also reflected in its validator ecosystem. With a security budget totaling $32.6 billion, Ethereum has a considerable staked value among all proof-of-stake layer-1 networks. Despite stake-weight limits, Ethereums vast number of validators, at 618,797, pointed out the networks decentralization and security.

As of June 18, on-chain datashowsthat 19,801,316 ETH has been staked, with the average stake per validator being 32.19 ETH.

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Ethereum dominates, Q1 2023 revenue stood at over $457 million - crypto.news