In this blog, you can find an overview of Xahau, highlighting its unique approach to governance and finding out what the Burn2Mint Liquidity Solution is. We'll also look at the Xahau Launch Alliance, a decisive collaboration driving this project.

Monthly Governance Validator Rewards

Xahau's Genesis Account is equipped with a Hook that controls the emission of Xahau token (XAH). This Hook, which is vital for network stability, requires a powerful governance arrangement to simplify monitoring, amendments, and replacements in response to developing network conditions. While XRPL mainnet validators provide invaluable services to maintain the mainnet Ledger, they don’t receive any direct rewards. This often results in a shortage of actively managed validators. As a solution to this issue, Xahau introduces the Genesis Hook Governance Game, a mechanism that rewards certain Validators for supervising the Hook. This creative approach encourages active participation and ensures that trusted accounts are rewarded.

Burn2Mint Liquidity Solution

Xahau recognizes the need for value exchange between different blockchain chains. To address this, it presents the Burn2Mint Liquidity Solution. Unlike other mechanisms with their respective drawbacks, Burn2Mint offers a seamless, secure, and decentralized method for cross-chain value transfer. That means that users can basically clone their XRP account on Xahau and burn XRP on the XRPL mainnet in exchange for an equivalent amount of Xahau token (XAH) in their cloned account. This approach allows for self-sovereign, non-custodial, and secure cross-chain value transfers, lowering potential risks associated with other mechanisms.

Xahau Governance Game

Similar to XRPL, Xahau relies on validator UNLs to determine the canonical ledger. With that being said Xahau faces a unique governance challenge concerning its Genesis Hook. To ensure the stability and trustworthiness of the Genesis Hook, Xahau presents the Governance Game.

This system features two levels of governance:

• Level 1 Seats, which is controlled by individual Xahau Accounts and
• Level 2 Seats governed by self-managing committees of 3-20 Accounts.
  

You could say that the Governance Game provides encouragements for validators to participate actively in consensus and ensuring that key governance decisions receive the required level of support at the same time.

The Xahau Launch Alliance

Xahau's development is a collaborative effort led by the Xahau Launch Alliance, a coalition of five independent entities with a strong track record in the XRPL ecosystem. XRPL Labs, GateHub Limited, Titanium OU, Evernode Labs Ltd, and Digital Governing OU, have joined forces to develop and support Xahau, contributing expertise and resources to make this project a reality.

For a limited period, trading fees on GateHub have been waived for all XAH pairs on Xahau, including XAH/USD, XAH/EUR, and XAH/XRP. Enjoy the benefits of free trading until further notice!

Conclusion

Xahau's innovative approach to governance, the Burn2Mint Liquidity Solution, and the collaborative efforts of the Xahau Launch Alliance position it as a significant player in the cryptocurrency space. With its unique mechanisms and a commitment to decentralization, Xahau offers a fresh perspective on blockchain technology.

Stay tuned for more updates and developments from Xahau.

For more information on Xahau, read Xahau whitepaper.

If you need information on GateHub supporting Xahau, check our Xahau support article or contact us.

It’s finally here! Our mobile wallet app is out and we’re super excited to share this moment with all our customers and the XRP Ledger community.

Today on November 15, 2023, we are happy to announce the GateHub mobile app for Android and iOS.

The power of GateHub and the XRPL is now available on every step.

Your favourite XRPL wallet and app has gone mobile.

Easiest As Can Be

GateHub Wallet is easy to set up and easy to use. It allows you to access the decentralized XRPL network, with instant and cheap payments over blockchain and trading on the XRPL DEX.

Never Worry About Security

GateHub Wallet is equipped with multiple security features: AES encryption, 2-factor authentication, push notifications, anti-phishing protection, lock account option and more. We are actively engaging in network forensics and anomaly detection to keep you and your assets protected from emerging threats.

Track As Much As You Want

With our analytic tools, you are able to track your account NET worth, analyze your transaction flows and manage your asset distribution. You can easily see your crypto portfolio grow and be on top of your inflows and outflows.

Extra Protect With Wallet Protect

GateHub also offers you a state-of-the-art on-chain crypto insurance solution called Wallet Protect. Wallet Protect uses multisignature (another built-in feature of the XRPL) to provide additional protection to your XRPL wallet, offer emergency recovery of funds and provide theft insurance in a worst-case scenario.

And Much More

Download the app, explore all its options and enjoy seeing what your finances can do!

Get it here

Try it out and be amazed!

NEW!

GateHub launches a new Wallet Protect plan
to cover up to $1M of cryptocurrency assets per wallet.

Aug 24th 2023

Get your $1M Plan

Wallet Protect gives you the ability to easily protect your XRPL native wallet with multisignature and theft cover at the same time. Check out our Press Release for more info about our partnership with Coincover who provide theft coverage underwritten by Lloyd’s of London.

What is Wallet Protect?

Wallet protect is a yearly paid subscription that includes:

• Fraud Shield: real-time scanning for suspicious addresses provided by GateHub, xrplorer and Chainalysis.
• Emergency Recovery: recovery of funds in worst case scenarios like losing access to your account.
• Theft Cover by Coincover: up to $1M theft cover provided by Coincover and underwritten by Lloyd’s of London.

How do I enable Wallet Protect?

Wallet Protect can be enabled on the Wallet Balances screen or via Wallet Advanced. The process takes just a few steps. You will need to select your coverage plan and payment option. Multisign will be set up for your wallet and at the end your wallet’s Master key will be disabled.

See our support article for detailed instructions.

Once you receive your confirmation that Wallet Protect is enabled, your coverage period will begin.

How do I know I have Wallet Protect enabled?

After the process is completed, you will see that your wallet has Wallet Protect enabled on your wallet and in your wallet settings under Wallet - Advanced. A shield icon will appear on your wallet in the wallet list too.

You can also generate and print out your own personalized Certificate of Protection after Wallet Protect has been enabled. Go to Wallet - Advanced and look for the “View certificate” button.

What is the Wallet Protect pricing?

Wallet Protect pricing depends on the covered amount.

*All payments are made in XRP. The payment amount is calculated at the latest rate.

How does it work?

It works by making your wallet a “multisignature” or “multisig” wallet. Your transactions are signed by multiple keys which makes it possible to perform scanning and recovery in cooperation with Coincover.

Fraud Shield works by running all destination addresses through xrplorer, Chainalysis and GateHub’s own fraud checks. That way we can prevent certain losses of funds.

If you lose access to your wallet, we can recover the funds from your Wallet Protect enabled XRPL wallet(s). This is a manual process so you will need to set up a new account and any funds that can be transferred will be moved to your new account.

Theft Cover is provided by Coincover. To start a claim get in touch with GateHub via our support desk. We may ask for additional information about your claim.

Do I need to enable Wallet Protect for all my wallets?

You must do this for each of your wallets separately if you want to protect more than one wallet or more than $1M. You can decide if you wish to keep Wallet Protect disabled for some or all of your wallets.

Can I disable Wallet Protect?

Wallet Protect can be disabled, but this means you will lose your protection. If you decide you don’t want to use Wallet Protect on your XRPL wallet(s), you can continue using your XRPL wallet using a single key setup as before, however your protection is canceled once Wallet Protect is disabled.

How do I create transactions with Wallet Protect enabled?

You can continue using your GateHub wallet as before with Wallet Protect enabled.

Caution: If you were using your wallet with some other app like XUMM or another client, you will not be able to use it outside of GateHub any more.

Why use Wallet Protect?

In case your key gets lost, GateHub can recover your funds with Coincover’s help. If your key gets stolen, the thief can’t empty your wallet with just the stolen key and your funds are insured by Coincover. See ‘How does it work?’ to find out more.

What else do I need to know?

Your transactions are protected on multiple levels with volume and destination checks. If any suspicious activity is detected by our system, you will be notified and your funds will be temporarily locked or returned to you.

Wallet Protect currently only works with XRP and GateHub issued IOUs and trust lines. If your wallet holds IOUs or trust lines for other currencies, you will need to withdraw and disable them before enabling Wallet Protect.

What happens when my Wallet Protect plan expires?

You should renew your Wallet Protect plan to keep using your wallet and reap all the benefits. However, you don’t need to worry if your plan expires before you manage to renew it. Your wallet remains protected by multisign, however, you will not be able to make any new transactions with your wallet until you decide to renew your plan.

Alternatively, you can disable Wallet Protect. This will enable you to start creating new transactions but revert your wallet to a standard one key setup. Your funds will also remain unprotected this way.

How do I renew my Wallet Protect plan?

Simple! Navigate to your wallet and you will see a “Wallet Protect is about to expire” banner. From there simply click on “Renew” and follow the instructions.

Your old plan will be disabled if you decide to renew before it expires. In this case, your new plan will be discounted proportionally to the remaining days on your old plan.

GateHub and XRPL Labs (the makers of Xumm), two of the most active companies on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) have teamed up to bring more assets to the XRPL, enabling seamless value transfer between the XRPL and other supported networks such as SEPA, SWIFT, Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In a significant step forward for the XRPL ecosystem, the partnership brings new capabilities and convenience to users worldwide and eases the retail adoption of cryptocurrency payments.

Enej Pungerčar, CEO of GateHub, said:
“We are excited to join forces with Xumm and make it easy for its customers to seamlessly transfer funds in and out of their XRPL account straight from Xumm. Any new asset that GateHub lists in the future will also be supported by our On/Off-Ramp bringing even more value to the XRPL ecosystem in the years to come.”

The collaboration with GateHub provides Xumm users with a simple and effective On/Off-Ramp for various assets.

This increases the adoption of XRP and other digital assets across the DeFi ecosystem and fosters interoperability across different blockchains.

The On/Off-Ramp will be rolled out gradually today and you can access it by clicking on any GateHub token in the Xumm app and then clicking on the Add or Withdraw button.

The Founder and Lead Developer of Xumm, Wietse Wind, expressed confidence about the new solution:
“Blockchain technology has a lot to offer when it comes to making existing payment flows viable. GateHub and Xumm joining forces, will remove most of today’s friction by streamlining the On/Off-Ramp process. This kicks off many of the XRPL powered retail and utility focussed endeavors we envisioned years ago.”

The partnership with GateHub to offer a new On/Off-Ramp for 14 assets globally is just one example of its ongoing efforts to make digital assets more accessible and convenient for users.

The added 14 assets are:

EUR

USD

GBP

BTC

BCH

LTC

ETH

ETC

SGB

FLR

USDC

WXRP

GALA

DSH

All GateHub-verified customers can use the new On/Off-Ramp worldwide, while European users can also take advantage of the instant card top-up method.

Background:

Xumm is the largest XRPL wallet, with tens of thousands of daily users worldwide.

Please visit www.xumm.app to learn more about the Xumm self-custodial wallet.

GateHub is the largest XRPL gateway provider, offering On/Off-Ramps to various digital assets. For more information about GateHub and its platform, visit www.gatehub.net.

Staking cryptocurrencies is a way to earn money by holding onto coins that you already own. It's similar to interest earned on the bank account or dividends earned from owning stocks, except that staking cryptocurrency involves no loan and comes with no risk of losing your investment. You can stake any amount of cryptocurrency, as long as it's enough to meet the minimum requirements, and you'll receive a percentage of your coin holdings back as part of your reward.

What is staking?

Staking is a process by which you can earn rewards by holding coins in your wallet. It is an alternative to buying more coins or selling your existing ones, and it allows you to receive periodic payouts as long as you are staking the correct coin(s). The amount of rewards that you receive depends on several factors:

• The size of your stake (the number of coins that you are staking)
• Unstaking period (the period required to unstake your coins and earn rewards)
• The staking rewards (usually expressed in APY)
• Staking rewards are usually expressed in yearly percentages but you are usually able to compound your earnings by claiming your rewards periodically.

Staking vs. Mining

Staking and mining are often compared to each other, but they have significant differences. They are both used to validate transactions and secure the network. They both also provide an incentive for participation in the form of newly (minted) coins.

Staking is more passive than mining, in that it requires less time commitment and energy expenditure. Miners must rely on large amounts of specialized hardware to participate while stakers can do so with any computer that is connected to the internet.

The risks associated with mining and staking also differ slightly. Miners need to set up their mining rigs and constantly evaluate prices of hardware and energy. The barrier for entry is very high. Miners compete to become the first to “discover” a new block. The probability of finding a new block is proportional to the share of hashing power the miner operates on the network.

Staking only requires a certain amount of a token and some software that will automatically validate new blocks when required. The more coins a validator node holds or operates, the higher the chance that it will be chosen to validate the next block. The only risk is slashing. Slashing occurs when a staking node behaves maliciously. In those cases the node might lose some or all of its stake.

How do I stake my coins?

Staking is a way for you to make your coins work for you. You will need to download a wallet or app that supports staking and make sure that you're connected to the internet. Most networks, apps and wallets let you stake your crypto with just a few clicks and you are not required to do anything else most of the time. Such apps usually provide staking via pools like Everstake.

If you want to stake on your own, you will need a little more knowledge and run a validator node.

You can also simply start staking at some exchanges that offer such an option. In most cases, you only need to allow staking and you are all set. It is, however, possible you will not be able to withdraw your rewarded coins for a certain amount of time. This might happen on some exchanges when staking ETH, where ETH might be permanently locked in a smart contract where a new token is created to represent your stake, called ETH2 (it exist on the Ethereum 2.0 beacon blockchain). Staking on Ethereum is posible due to one of the upgrades (transitioning from proof of work to proof of stake).

What is a validator?

A validator is a node that is connected to the network and running a wallet with coins in it. There are two types of validators:

• Those who stake their coin, or “immature” coins, to help secure the network. They do this by taking part in consensus rounds, where they have an opportunity to vote for new blocks. The more coins you stake (your weight), the more likely your votes will be selected as winners in these consensus rounds.
• Those who run full nodes on their computers and servers around the world—these individuals help distribute information about transactions across the network so everyone can be informed about what happened during each block time period.

Validators are responsible for generating new blocks within each round which happens somewhere between 2 and 20 seconds depending on the network. Staking is less labor intensive than mining and no dedicated hardware is needed for the staking process.

What are the benefits of staking?

Staking is a great way to earn passive income. You don’t have to be online 24/7, and you can let your computer do all the work for you—you don’t even have to worry about security or price fluctuations since it’s all automated. It can be made even easier by using an app that provides access to a pool.

At times of declining prices, it could make sense to buy into a well established staking coin, set up your wallet for staking and forget about it until the next crypto bull run.

Does it cost anything to stake?

Staking is free except for any transaction fees required by the network to stake and unstake your coins. When claiming your staking rewards, you could be charged a transaction fee by the network but these should be minimal. You can further reduce the costs by claiming your staking rewards in less frequent intervals. Possibly only when you intend to sell. The downside here is that you will not be able to earn any compound interest if you claim rewards only at the end of your staking endeavor.

Is there a minimum amount of coins that I need to stake?

While each project will have a unique staking requirement, there are some general guidelines that apply to most. For example, most Proof-of-Stake coins require you to hold at least a certain amount of coins in order to be able to stake them. If you are staking for yourself, these requirements might be higher. If you are staking through an app that provides access to a pool, the requirement should be very affordable.

Can I stake any crypto?

The short answer is no.

Cryptocurrencies require some sort of consensus and validation in order to mitigate the double spend problem. Many cryptocurrencies use a consensus mechanism called Proof of Work (for example Bitcoin and Ethereum 1.0 and Dogecoin). That means the network spends a large amount of processing power to validate transactions. The process involves miners, contesting to be the first to solve a cryptographic enigma. The one that solves it gains the right to add the latest block of transactions on the blockchain and receives a reward.

Proof of Stake is a more environmentally friendly and less labor intensive process where validators need to put forward some or all of their balance for the right to create a new block. Malicious behaviour is punished by something called “slashing”. If a staking node behaves badly, their stake is taken away.

Conclusion

Staking is a great way to earn a truly passive income. You are able to stake your crypto on chain using an app or use a custodial service that will give you staking rewards. There are very few and very affordable requirements for staking compared to mining. Make sure to find a stable project with a sensible staking reward yield and use a reputable and secure app to keep your stake safe. Finally, when the time comes to unstake and sell off your earnings, stay on top of any applicable tax obligations to stay on the right side of the law.

In crypto, mining signifies the process of confirming new blocks of transactions via a process called proof-of-work. A complex cryptographic puzzle is solved by miners to create (mine) a new block of transactions. For this achievement the miner that managed to solve the puzzle is rewarded with some coins.

What is mining?

In the most general terms, mining is the process of processing transactions in a trusted and predictable manner.

A trustless system like Bitcoin faces a few challenges which proof-of-work elegantly solves. On Bitcoin, mining is the process where new groups of transactions (called blocks) are added to the chain.

Prevent double spending of digital assets

The most pressing problem for a dependable digital vehicle of value is that digital assets can easily be duplicated. Digital ledgers and blockchains all have this problem. In the Bitcoin whitepaper, the proposed solution to solve the “double spend problem” is proof-of-work. Performing proof-of-work is called mining.

On Bitcoin and virtually every other blockchain all transactions are publicly announced to every node on the network. Validator nodes or miners are interested and incentivized to only perform valid transactions and prevent double spending. This means that such transactions will not be accepted into a new block. A 51% attack is the only known way to circumvent this and would require significant resources to pull off.

Why would anyone want to do this?

Mining a block rewards the miner or miners who managed to solve a cryptographic puzzle with some coins. The reward is made of newly minted BTC, called the block reward and of transaction fees paid by transactors whose transactions were mined. Miners need to run dedicated hardware and software setups for mining which consumes energy.

When it comes to profit, miners need to balance the costs of running mining operations (hardware, software, maintenance and the cost of energy) with yields of new BTC coins to their accounts.

Why is mining becoming more expensive?

Mining serves to secure and harden the network. Bitcoin has an adaptive mechanism of mining difficulty which makes the cadence of mining new blocks (and new coins) very predictable. The more miners there are, the more likely it is that they will solve the cryptographic puzzles faster than intended. In this case the mining complexity is increased. Conversely, when many miners stop their operations, it becomes more likely that the block time will increase. In this scenario the difficulty will be lowered. For this reason, Bitcoin blocks are always mined in intervals of ~10 minutes.

What do miners actually do?

Initially, a block is composed of the previous block’s hash and the block data (transactions). The network sets a target difficulty where the next block’s hash must satisfy some criteria like how many zeroes it will start with.

The miners are tasked with finding a value that will produce a new valid hash. This value is called “nonce”. When the previous block hash, transaction data and the nonce return a valid hash when run through a hashing algorithm (in Bitcoin this is SHA-256), the miner posts their result. The nonce is very, very hard to guess but very simple to verify once found.

After this, the results are propagated across the network and every other node can validate the result. When they do, the block is added to the chain and the process starts over again. For a deeper understanding of the whole process see this article:

How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?

Bitcoin mining is how new bitcoins enter into circulation. It’s also a critical component of the security of the blockchain ledger.

InvestopediaFull Bio

How do they do it?

Miners on Bitcoin must use dedicated Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) hardware. It used to be possible to mine Bitcoin with standard graphic cards, and most other PoW systems can still be mined using them.

When miners receive a fresh block of transactions, they repeatedly try adding a nonce to the block to see the resulting hash. Once the hash satisfies the requirements a block can be considered mined. The block is added to the chain and the work needs to restart from scratch.

Check out the data structure of a block here.

This process is performed by machines which are not aware of all the ins and outs of mining. The people or organizations running mining operations however need to keep three main things in mind to stay profitable. The cost of hardware, the cost of energy and the value of BTC. For miners the main source of income is BTC. The current reward for a mined block is 6.25 BTC but keep in mind that there is fierce competition in the mining industry.

How can I start mining?

One way is to buy all the mining gear and just jump into it but the industry has evolved so much that that does not make much sense. An exception could be made for smaller networks where a home mining rig could compete.

There are two ways to make money from mining even if you don’t own a dedicated mining rig. A mining broker like NiceHash lets you provide hashing power from your personal device(s). This way you participate in a so-called pool of miners who share the block rewards evenly depending on your hashing contribution.

You can also participate in mining via brokerage by buying hashing power with the hope to turn a profit. In this model, a miner will sell their hashing power to you for a fixed income while you receive the proceeds of their mining operation.

Why do we call it Proof of Work?

The process explained above is not a trivial endeavor. Miners have to actually perform all of these computations in order to achieve the desired result. The result of this process, the nonce, is proof that this work was completed.
In theory, it is possible for a miner to randomly stumble upon a correct nonce immediately. In practice, the combination of available hashing power from the miners (calculations per second) and adjustable difficulty (every 2016 block) makes it possible to mine a block in approximately 10 minutes.

Some cons of mining

There are two main reservations about mining.

First, there is the question of profitability. Miners need to buy and maintain their hardware setups. Next, they need to search for the cheapest source or provider of energy. And last, they need to take into account the forecasts for the price of BTC. It’s a delicate balance that can be broken if even just one of these goes wrong.

The second consideration is one of the major critics of mining and Bitcoin in general. The environmental impact of mining is a contentious topic where proponents claim it’s a necessary cost to pay while adversaries claim it’s irresponsible to the environment. The fact of the matter on this topic is that greener alternatives exist to solve the same problems. There is still heated debate about whether these alternatives are as robust.

In conclusion

Mining crypto solves the problem of double spend, predictable supply and security of the network. Cryptographic functions are used to address all of these problems and mining is just one of the possible solutions. Its advantages and disadvantages are well documented. The crypto industry offers many ways to participate and mining is just one of them.