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We are delighted to announce the listing and support of Quant (QNT) on Tap!

QNT is now available for trading on the Tap mobile app. You can now Buy, Sell, Trade or hold QNT for any of the other asset supported on the platform without any pair boundaries. Tap is pair agnostic, meaning you can trade any asset for any other asset without having to worries if a "trading pair" is available.

We believe supporting QNT will provide value to our users. We are looking forward to continue supporting new crypto projects with the aim of providing access to financial power and freedom for all.

The Quant Network was designed to connect blockchains and networks on a global scale, prioritising interoperability and trust functions between them using the Overledger operating system, the first OS built for blockchains. The Quant protocol was designed to remove barriers commonly encountered on blockchains in communication, interoperability and scaling.

QNT is an ERC-20 token from the Quant blockchain that provides digital access to a particular application or service and is used to access the Overledger network and validate transactions on the network.

All product users, developers, and gateway operators are required to purchase annual licences, used to maintain platform efficiency. These licence fees are converted to QNT and locked up in the Quant treasury. If a user does not renew their licence, they forfeit their fees, discouraging them from dumping tokens on the market if the price increases.

Get to know more about Quant  (QNT) in our dedicated article here.

We are delighted to announce the listing and support of Dai (DAI) on Tap!

DAI is now available for trading on the Tap mobile app. You can now Buy, Sell, Trade or hold DAI for any of the other asset supported on the platform without any pair boundaries. Tap is pair agnostic, meaning you can trade any asset for any other asset without having to worries if a "trading pair" is available.

We believe supporting DAI will provide value to our users. We are looking forward to continue supporting new crypto projects with the aim of providing access to financial power and freedom for all.

Launched in 2017, DAI is an algorithmic stablecoin issued by MakerDAO.  This stablecoin cryptocurrency is aiming to maintain a soft peg with the United States dollar. This goal is achieved through the use of smart contracts which incentivize participants to perform essential maintenance and governance functions.

Due to the coin’s soft peg to the US dollar, the DAI stablecoin not only provides a stable long-term store of value but also a strong medium of exchange.

Get to learn more about DAI in our dedicated article here.

The Graph is making the process of interacting with blockchains much simpler by streamlining the building of new apps and the process of tracking valuable data, powering the growth of DeFi and Web3 platforms. The platform allows developers to provide improved user experience across the board, as opposed to having to create custom back-end infrastructure for each application.

The Graph indexes blockchain data in a unique and decentralized way which allows for the seamless querying and retrieving of data that is easily accessible and can be adopted by many. The platform's contribution to the global DeFi and Web3 infrastructure will be felt in years to come.

What is The Graph?

The Graph is a unique decentralized protocol that utilizes DLT (decentralized ledger technology) and the powerful GraphQL programming language to enable blockchain data collection without relying on third parties. The cutting-edge technology makes it simpler than ever before to index, organize, and query blockchain data information with remarkable accuracy and speed.

The Graph provides indexing and querying services that are compatible with networks like Ethereum, IPFS and PAO, with more to come in the future. The infrastructure can then organize data through the hosted service and implement automated workflow processes through open APIs, called subgraphs in The Graph ecosystem.

This indexing protocol resolves the issue of querying data security, chain reorganization, and other related matters with the subgraphs.

The launch of The Graph mainnet marked a milestone in creating entirely decentralized applications compatible with an expansive network of service providers. With these open, public subgraphs, developers can now build thousands of dapps on the network, with hundreds already hosted by The Graph mainnet. This allows for secure blockchain data access making the world far more connected than ever before.

The Graph (GRT) successfully raised $12 million from a public token sale and an additional $7.5 million from a private round funded by Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and Framework Ventures including Multicoin Capital's investment of $2.5 million.

How is The Graph network secured?

The Graph mainnet is powered by nodes, while indexers, curators, delegators, and consumers use GRT tokens to ensure the integrity of the data secured within the network. GRT is The Graph network's native cryptocurrency which helps to assign resources within its ecosystem. All network participants are required to stake GRT in order to perform their roles, and in return can earn fees from the network.

The Graph Foundation offers the network participants coordination and support while steering and growing the ecosystem. The foundation is financially and legally accountable to The Graph Council, which oversees governance decisions.

Who created The Graph platform?

Driven by his firsthand experience of how hard it is to create new dapps on Ethereum, Yaniv Tal joined forces with Brandon Ramirez and Jannis Pohlmann in 2018 to form The Graph team. The Graph aims were to design the world's first decentralized indexing and querying application that could make Web3 and dapp creation accessible to anyone. This vision included the ability to build immutable APIs with the GraphQP query language. 

The three co-founders previously launched a developer tools startup together sharing a common interest in optimizing API stacks. All with engineering backgrounds, Yaniv Tal acts as project lead, Brandon Ramirez is the research lead and Jannis Pohlmann the tech lead.

The Graph launched on December 17, 2020.

How does The Graph protocol work?

By leveraging the Graph Protocol, developers and users can open APIs to build subgraphs for a variety of applications. In April 2021 alone, The Graph’s hosted service managed 20 billion queries - further demonstrating its power in data indexing, querying data, and its collection of data.

The Graph node sustains the whole system, scanning through the blockchain database to organize and index data. The platform's structure is centered around delegators, indexes, curators, and consumers, who use GRT tokens to participate in the network. 

Indexers - Graph node operators

With staked GRT, indexers can provide querying and indexing services to the network, earning query fees and rewards for their efforts. They are also responsible for running node software providing a vital part of The Graph ecosystem that grants access to data stored on Ethereum or other supported networks at lightning speed. Indexers are the most technical positions within the ecosystem.

Curators - identity blockchain data sources

Curators are responsible for developing subgraphs (open APIs are called subgraphs on the network) and signaling to indexers which ones should be indexed by the network. They also identify the most reliable data sources using their knowledge of the blockchain ecosystem, consumers and apps.

To incentivize the quality of their data sourcing, curators are required to deposit GRT into a bonding curve on specific existing subgraphs, earning a portion of the query fees for the subgraphs they signal on. The earlier a curator signals on a subgraph the higher the share of query fees they earn, dependent on the amount of GRT deposited. 

Curators are semi-technical positions within the ecosystem as they require an understanding of open data. As an example, say a new DeFi subgraph appears and a curator thinks it looks promising. They can signal on the subgraph so that indexers recognize its potential and make it discoverable for dapp developers. In return, curators receive a portion of query fees for being among the first to spot it.

Delegators - securing the network

Delegators are non-technical contributors to the network and are responsible for securing the network without running a node. They select indexers based on performance metrics and delegate GRT to indexers via the Graph Explorer dapp, earning a portion of the query fees and indexing rewards in return. 

Consumers - end-users

Consumers are the end-users of The Graph and are the ones who query subgraphs and pay fees to indexers, curators, and delegators for their services. These query fees are paid through gateways or wallets that are built on top of the open-source contracts on the network. 

What is GRT on The Graph network?

The Graph (GRT) is an ERC-20 token and the native token to The Graph network. The coin is integral to the reward system created to benefit indexers, curators, and delegators, which incentives them to improve the market and network operations. 

Delegators can delegate their GRT holdings to Indexers, who use locked GRT to power the nodes on The Graph network. Curators receive a reward in the form of GRT for providing curation services and consumers pay using GRT to access indexing services. Additionally, unlocking dapps available through The Graph network as well as interoperable networks is done by using GRT tokens. 

Participants of the network earn money by receiving The Graph GRT tokens, which have a market value when traded on the cryptocurrency market.

10 billion GRT were created when the project launched, with an annual issuance rate of 3% for indexing rewards. The platform then burns the withdrawal tax that curators are charged as well as 1% of the total query fees. All issuance formalities are subject to future technical governance. At the time of writing, the current circulating supply of GRT was 6,9 billion. 

How can I buy The Graph (GRT) tokens?

It's now easier than ever to add GRT to your crypto portfolios with the convenient Tap app. The mobile app has recently introduced The Graph among the list of its supported currencies, enabling anyone to effortlessly and safely access this crypto market anytime. Get ready for a whole new level of trading experience.

GRT can be acquired with both cryptocurrency and fiat currency, or users may prefer to turn to more traditional payment solutions like bank transfers. The wallets integrated into the platform make it easy for customers to organize and manage their GRT tokens safely.

While this is an outline of the project we encourage all users to conduct their own research before investing in an cryptocurrencies or investments in the global economy.

Whether you're new to investments or you've been active in the markets for years, it's never too late (or early) to get your head around the different types of investment opportunities available. As we know, one size never fits all, so in this piece we're going to run you through the options out there and help you to determine which category will best suit your needs. 

The 3 tiers of investments

First and foremost, when diving into the world of investing one must first determine their risk tolerance. How much risk you are willing to engage in will help you establish which investment avenue to go down. The three options are:

1. Low-risk 

These types of investors are not looking to take risks with their capital. The primary goal is to preserve the initial investment despite the opportunity to gain returns. This is a great start for new investors as the risk is minimal while they learn the ropes. 

A great investment option here is a money market fund. The funds are typically managed by professional, licensed fund managers, and involve bank deposits, commercial papers and treasury bills. While the risk is low, the potential for returns is moderate and the investment is liquid, meaning that the investor typically have access to the funds at any time. 

2. Medium-risk 

Providing an option for the more confident investor, medium-risk investments incorporate moderate risks but have measures in place to stop any high losses. This strategy is often made up of low-risk and high-risk investments, ensuring a balance between the two components. 

Medium-risk options include a mix of mutual funds and dollar funds, which will invest in medium-risk stocks, bonds and treasury bills. The risk of losing capital is therefore lower than with high-risk investments while your potential for returns are higher than low-risk investment options. 

3. High-risk 

This category is for the investors with an appetite for risk. They're comfortable with losing their invested capital in the pursuit of higher gains. A huge note here is that Ponzi schemes are never good investments. Rather stick to professionally managed investment funds that are catered to those with a high-risk threshold. 

These might include equity mutual funds that invest in stocks of vetted companies with large public listings. These are best catered to long-term timelines, as volatility might hinder the returns in a shorter space of time. High-risk investments have the potential to bring about higher returns, however this is never a guarantee. 
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How to distinguish what type of investor you are

While a professional financial advisor can do this for you, we've created a three step, simple way to determine whether you fit into the conservative investor (low-risk), moderate investor (medium-risk) or aggressive investor (high-risk) category. Consider these three factors below:

• what is your age?

If you're younger, there are more years ahead of you to recover from a bad investment. As a result, each passing birthday slightly lowers your risk tolerance.

• what is your marital status?

As a general rule of thumb being married incurs more expenses and allows for less risk taking when compared to a single person with no-one else to be responsible for. With fewer financial responsibilities comes a high opportunity for risk-taking. 

• what is your net-worth?

Last but not least, your net-worth will also impact your appetite for risk. The more money you have, the more you can risk to make that money grow (and the bigger the cushion if an investment does go south). 
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In conclusion‍

It's important to remember that one investor type is not better than another, rather, it is what's best suited to your needs and requirements. The longer you leave these investments the higher the returns, so be sure to have a solid savings account built up prior to investing to ensure that should something go wrong you have alternative sources of funds to support that. Liquidating your investment early might lead to losses and most certainly lost opportunity. 

A platform every sports fan needs to know about, Chiliz is the number one place to go for sports-related fan tokens. CHZ is the token behind the platform, and the platform is the gateway for fans to tap into unique experiences with their favorite sports team. 

What Is The Chiliz Network?

Chiliz is the company that owns Socios.com, CHZ is the token that fuels the platform. Through the Socios NFT marketplace, traders can buy their favorite fan tokens, using CHZ to facilitate all transactions. 

Built on Ethereum, Chiliz provides users with an opportunity to buy branded NFT tokens using the ERC-20 and BEP-20 CHZ tokens. Fans can also earn NFTs through contests or exchange them for team-specific merchandise and benefits. Some fan tokens reward fans with access to meet the players and vote on club decisions. The platform currently supports over 50 different sports and entertainment-specific fan tokens.

Leveraging blockchain technology, Socios directly engages fans with the team/entertainer, a step up from just watching games or buying team merchandise. Chiliz allows each team that partners with them to design unique experiences for their Fan Token holders. These Fans Tokens also give the holder sway over decisions usually left up to the team, like what songs play when a goal is scored, new uniform designs, and even which players start in some games.

Additionally, Chiliz helps sports franchises make money from fans in new ways, while providing unique experiences to their most loyal supporters.

Who Created The Chiliz Network?

Chiliz was founded in 2012 by Alexander Dreyfus, its acting CEO. The company falls under the Mediarex Group, an international sports and entertainment organization, and holds esteemed partners including Sam Li, former Vice President of the NBA, Nicolas Maurer, CEO of esports team Vitality, and Dr. DisRespect, one of the world’s largest video game streamers.

In 2018, the blockchain-based Socios platform was launched, alongside the CHZ token. Following funding of $66 million by Private Placement in 2019, the platform launched its website and app. Today, the company also has offices in France, Turkey, Spain, South Korea, and Brazil.

How Does The Chiliz Network Work?

The CHZ token can be used on both the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC20 token and on the Binance Smart Chain as a BEP2 token. Fans looking to engage on the platform can buy CHZ tokens from Chiliz.net, the platform's own exchange, or from other cryptocurrency platforms like Tap.

Users can then purchase Fan Tokens using CHZ from the Socios marketplace. The platform supports a wide range of sporting teams, from Formula 1 teams to FC Barcelona to Golden State Warriors basketball team. Each team that partners with the platform can dictate the fan tokens prices, distribution and supply as well as unique opportunities they wish to give to fans. Based on the token's performance, they can be burned in order to make a winning team's tokens more valuable. 

As an example of the privileges offered with fan tokens: for eight years, the Juventus soccer club played Chelsea Dagger in the stadium whenever the team scored a goal. Recently, however, fan token holders chose Blur's Song 2 as the new victory song, and Juventus made the switch. The more fan tokens one holds, the bigger their vote.

The blockchain network is built on Ethereum and uses a Socios sidechain to create and verify all fan tokens. This process utilizes the Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism which relies on a small group of authorized verifiers. This consensus model leans towards business structures looking to be scalable and efficient.

Chiliz is also partnered with the decentralized oracle network Chainlink, through which it creates unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These NFTs are used to celebrate special events such as championships or player milestones.

What Is CHZ?

CHZ is compatible with both the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain platforms. The token is used as a medium of exchange on the Socios platform, allowing fans to buy Fan Tokens. 

There is a maximum supply of 8,888,888,888 CHZ in existence, and at the time of writing roughly 70% are in circulation. 

Where Can I Get CHZ?

Users can simply buy /sell CHZ through the Tap app, one of the most secure solutions in the crypto space. Using a range of cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies on offer, users can exchange any of the supported currencies to build a healthy portfolio that can be safely stored in the unique wallet linked to the account. Find links to download the app from the Tap website.

Aave is one of the leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols on the market, allowing users to easily borrow and lend over 20 different crypto assets. Leveraging the age-old financial practice of lending and borrowing, the platform empowers users to manage their assets in a decentralized manner.

The Aave token also allows users to vote on the platform’s direction and future Aave protocol developments. Aave token holders are granted voting rights based on their holdings.

What is Aave?

Created in response to the rising demand for decentralized money markets, Aave has successfully and firmly positioned itself in the top 10 biggest DeFi markets. Based on the Ethereum blockchain, the protocol allows users to lend and borrow a wide range of cryptocurrencies, from altcoins to stablecoins.

Native to the platform, the AAVE token acts as both a utility token, providing discounts for fees, and a governance token.

By placing digital assets into specific liquidity pools within the Aave protocol, lenders earn interest. Those who need money can use crypto as collateral to take out a flash loan from these same pools.

The decentralized lending protocol was launched in November 2018 under the name ETHLend (with LEND tokens) but later underwent a rebranding after losing traction in the 2018 crypto bear market. After revamping the concept of decentralized crypto lending, the Aave team relaunched the protocol under the name Aave. Aave means ghost in Finnish.

Who created Aave?

Aave was created by Stani Kulechov and a team of developers. Stani Kulechov was disappointed with the lack of lending applications available on Ethereum, so he and a team of developers took it upon themselves to create a space to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies. This project occurred before decentralized finance was even an idea, and launched following an ICO in November 2017.

Kulechov is a self-taught programmer who went to law school after high school and began programming in his teenage years. He is also an early blockchain adopter. The CEO announced that he intended to rebrand ETHLend as Aave in order to provide additional services beyond just ETH lending, incorporating the greater crypto assets market.

How does Aave work for Aave users?

The Aave protocol uses an algorithm that automatically enables loans from the platform's liquidity pools, instead of individually matching each lender to a borrower. On the Aave network, lenders can deposit their cryptocurrency into liquidity pools and in turn earn interest based on the amount deposited.

These interest rates are then paid to the lenders depending on the number of assets being used in the pool. For instance, if all the assets are being utilized, the interest rates are higher as this will provide greater incentive to lenders and more deposit options for Aave borrowers. If utilization is low, the interest rates are lower, attracting more borrowers. Borrowers and lenders are mutually dependent.

Aave loans require users to make a deposit in the form of collateral that is higher in value than the amount they are borrowing. If borrowed assets are not returned within the given timeframe, lenders will take possession of the collateral.

Aave employs a liquidation procedure in the event that the collateral value falls below the collateralization rate established and determined by the Aave protocol. Flash loans are also available, allowing borrowers to borrow money without putting up any assets as long as they pay for the interest fee known as one-block.

What are AAVE tokens?

AAVE is an ERC-20 token that acts as a backstop for the Aave protocol, protecting the system from having a shortage of capital. Known as the "Safety Module", AAVE is sold for assets to cover the deficit if there isn't enough cash in the DeFi protocol to cover lenders' money. Only AAVE deposited in the module will be liquidated. To encourage deposits, a regular yield is paid out in AAVE.

The second major application for Aave is protocol governance. Holders of the cryptocurrency can discuss and vote on Aave Improvement Proposals, which may be implemented if accepted by a specified number of AAVE token holders. This covers altering the money market parameters as well as managing funds in the ecosystem reserve, similar to other governance cryptocurrencies. Each AAVE equals one voting right for Aave holders.

The Aave system uses fees paid on the platform to buy back AAVE tokens and remove them from circulation. Approximately 80% of the fees paid are used for this burn purpose, while 20% are used to incentivize lenders. Aave has a limited supply of 16 million units.

How can I buy the AAVE token?

For those looking to enter the world of DeFi and incorporate Aave into their crypto portfolios, things just got a lot easier. The Tap app has recently added AAVE to the list of supported currencies, allowing anyone with a Tap account to quickly and conveniently buy Aave.

Users can buy / sell AAVE by using balances in either their crypto or fiat wallets or can buy the cryptocurrency with traditional payment options like bank transfers. Through the integrated wallets on the platform, users can also store and manage their AAVE holdings easily and conveniently.