Crypto of the Day: Universal Market Access (UMA). See Why!

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

One of cryptocurrency's most significant advantages is its unrestricted accessibility. Unfortunately, classic derivative financial contracts are quite the opposite of unrestricted and easily accessible. The process to enter a swap position is currently riddled with verification questions and daunting legal responsibility.

To get set up with a brokerage account, you'll have to complete the know your customer, anti-money laundering and investor suitability questions. On top of this, many brokerage accounts have a minimum required amount of money you will need to put up before you can get started. If your positions fall past the available limit into negative equity, you could be charged with legal recourse.

Universal market Access does not require any personal verification because it doesn't rely on a system of trust between multiple entities. Instead, UMA is an open-source protocol that facilitates any two parties to design and create their own financial contracts. This protocol is all done through Ethereum smart contracts that ensure a completely trustless and decentralized framework that cuts out the risk of human error.

What is Universal Market Access?

UMA is a Defi protocol that cuts out the centralized brokerage firm and allows users to trade contracts similar to futures and options by using smart contracts. UMA was created in 2018 by two former Goldman Sachs employees that wanted to use decentralization to bring derivative contracts to an open market without high brokerage fees and regulations.

The UMA protocol has five main structural components in its contracts to ensure all sides are adequately protected and well informed: margin accounts for each counterparty, public addresses of all the counterparties, agreed-upon economic terms to calculate the value, smart contract functions that maintain the margin balances and an oracle that provides secure and verified off-chain record in case of a dispute.

Through UMA's open and automated structure, investors looking to leverage funds can freely do so without the hassle and legal risks of using a brokerage firm. UMA uses its own off-chain oracle to allow for variability that other oracle platforms like chainlink don't handle. This off-chain oracle allows commodities, stocks and altcoins also to be used within its smart contracts. The variety of its market connects traditional finance to this automated transaction service that ensures all of its users are informed about their positions and protected against fraud.

Universal Market Access (UMA) is Up %14 in 24 Hours

UMA has been affected by the recent market downturn like any other altcoin, but its recent price movements have many of its holders hopeful about the future of this coin. UMA made a lot of noise this year in early February when it made the outrageous jump from $11 to peaking at around $43 in only 3 days. Unfortunately, this was a very short-lived success for the project as it immediately broke into a downward trend after its peak. It currently sits at around $10 with only hope that it could correct itself back to where it was just a couple of months ago. Its recent low of $7.50 is a %480 downfall from its peak but also not at its low price right before the 3 day jump of $5.90, which at this rate it could easily fall past.

Why is UMA Moving?

There isn't anything directly responsible for this %14 increase, which might signify this is a fleeting correction. A coin that is so involved in the volatile market of derivative contracts and margin trading is susceptible to erratic price movements itself, which is largely responsible for its jump to $43 earlier this year. At this rate, it might take a while for UMA to move into a positive trend which will most likely come through another strong crypto bull market. 

Where to Buy UMA

UMA is a popular coin that has been around for a relatively long time now. It can be traded on most of the popular crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. If you are looking to be involved in their trading markets, they have a list of projects built off of their platform on their website. 
 

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.