Author: George Spencer

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Bitcoin Blockchain

How to Earn Up to 12.73% Passive Income on Your Crypto Assets

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How To Earn Up To 12.73% Passive Income On Your Crypto Assets

If you have invested in cryptocurrency and are looking for ways to grow your investments passively, then you need to consider crypto lending platforms like Hodlnaut.

Crypto lending platforms allow individuals to earn interest on their crypto assets without having to actively manage the account. This way, you can start earning almost immediately and get consistent payouts without waiting for the price of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency to appreciate.

While there are many platforms that offer this service, Hodlnaut is definitely worth keeping tabs on.

What is Hodlnaut?

Founded in 2019 by self-proclaimed Bitcoin maximalists Juntao Zhu and Simon Lee, Hodlnaut is a Singapore-based crypto lending platform that allows users to earn interest on their crypto assets. The company aims to help hodlers maximize their crypto earnings by offering favorable interest rates.

Hodlnaut is also recognized by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore and is part of global venture capital firm Antler’s portfolio. The platform is also known to be certified by the Singapore Fintech Association, which is an accreditation recognized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Plus, it is even actively undergoing licensing applications with MAS to become the first regulated crypto lending firm in Singapore.

Why Should You Start Earning Interest on Your Crypto with Hodlnaut?

While there are a slew of crypto lending platforms that allow you to earn interest on your crypto assets, Hodlnaut is definitely one to note. Here’s why.

High-Interest Rates

The main feature of the platform is the Hodlnaut Interest Account. Users can earn up to 7.46% APY on Bitcoin and 12.73% on stablecoins with no minimum deposit requirement or lock-in periods.

Users would be able to earn interest on six supported currencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), Dai (DAI), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). Once deposited into the Interest Account, users will start earning interest immediately at a compounded rate, which is calculated daily and paid out weekly.

Hodlnaut Crypto Interest Rates

You can check their interest rates here.

If you are keen on earning more on top of the offered interest rates, Hodlnaut provides higher interest rates to users who deposit more than 100 BTC. This is known as the VIP Fixed-Term Loan. Should you be interested, you can drop an email to rm@hodlnaut.com.

Preferred Interest Payout Feature

In addition to earning high interest rates on your crypto assets, Hodlnaut has introduced several features that make hodling on the platform a convenient and seamless method of earning passively.

For one, the platform has a Preferred Interest Payout feature that enables users to pick amongst the six supported currencies to earn interest in. This would mean that if a user deposited BTC, he can choose to earn in ETH or stablecoins like USDC and USDT.

Not only does this allow for greater flexibility and control for users to manage their portfolios, but it is also a method to hedge against market downturns by earning in stablecoins.

Token Swap

Hodlnaut also has a Token Swap function that allows users to seamlessly swap between different asset classes. This would mean that users do not need to leave Hodlnaut’s platform if they are looking to rebalance their holdings, allowing them to save on double fees associated with conducting trade in numerous steps.

Moreover, since Hodlnaut supports Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), users can get instant access to WBTC without having to source for a wrapping merchant. This enables ease of swapping from Bitcoin to Wrapped Bitcoin and vice-versa.

iOS Mobile App

To make earning passively more convenient for users who are constantly strapped for time, Hodlnaut recently launched its much anticipated iOS Mobile App. The mobile app allows users to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies and manage their crypto holdings from the convenience of their iPhones. Additionally, users can access the Token Swap feature on the iOS Mobile App to make the swapping of tokens easier and more convenient.

Bonus: The company is already working towards the launch of the Android App.

Are Your Funds Safe with Hodlnaut?

To put it simply, yes your funds are safe with Hodlnaut. The platform has implemented several measures to ensure funds are secured.

Hodlnaut requires all users to perform a mandatory Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification process to follow the regulations enacted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This is to ensure that the identity of all users who sign up is verified and real.

As for the platform’s security, Hodlnaut runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure and uses industry-grade SSL encryption. Data is encrypted and anonymized as much as possible onto servers. Users are also required to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for account transactions and withdrawals can only be made to whitelisted addresses.

And that’s not all – Hodlnaut also offers an optional Nexus Mutual Custody Cover to give users the choice of purchasing insurance on their funds. This acts as an additional safeguard for those looking for a more secure option.

Final Thoughts

Hodlnaut is a crypto lending platform that offers solutions to investors who are looking to grow their crypto investments passively while hedging against any market decline. Not only does Hodlnaut offer attractive high-interest rates, but also the web interface and an easy-to-use iOS Mobile App making it even more effortless for you to check on your funds.

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Bitcoin Blockchain

One River Digital Make Millions From Coinbase

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One River Digital Make Millions From Coinbase

Greenwich-based asset manager One River Digital has completed a Series A funding round that saw it raise $41 million from new investors, including notable cryptocurrency and traditional financial firms.

Bloomberg reported today that some of the participants in the just-concluded funding round include American banking giant Goldman Sachs and popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, with both firms acquiring a minority stake in One River Digital.

Other participants in the round included insurance company Liberty Mutual Group Inc. and Infinity Investment Partners, a London-based investment firm, the report stated.

Valued at $186M

The new $41 million cash injection has boosted One River’s valuation to $186 million. The funding will contribute to One Rver’s goal of managing assets for institutional investors and developing its clients’ portfolio via its investments in cryptocurrencies.

“What’s clear is that asset management is going to make the transition to the tokenized world. And in that world, the opportunity is so much bigger. The question was: How do we capitalize on that?” Eric Peters, CEO of One River Digital, said.

This is not the first time One River will be securing investments from high-profile companies.

The company previously partnered with Alan Howard, a deal that saw the co-founder of macro hedge fund Brevan Howard Asset Management purchase a 25% stake in the asset management company.

One River Launches Solana Fund

Recall that One River Digital disclosed last year that it holds $600 million worth of its portfolio in cryptocurrencies.

The company, which earlier operated two major cryptocurrency funds dedicated to holding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), respectively, recently launched a third fund that focuses on investing in the popular blockchain project Solana.

Since the funds were established, the company has cashed in $1.25 billion with the money returned to investors. At the time of writing, all three cryptocurrency funds hold a combined $500 million.

One River Digital is planning to unveil two new cryptocurrency funds – an Ethereum staking fund and a cryptocurrency lending product – to help the firm generate more revenue.

According to the report, the Greenwich-based asset manager is considering developing an index that will only allow it to venture into cryptocurrencies that meet institutional investors’ standard in terms of security, liquidity, decentralized ownership, and function.

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Blockchain News Press Release

U.S. Treasury Department Penalized Crypto Exchange

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U.s. Treasury Department Penalized Crypto Exchange

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned a Russian-based cryptocurrency exchange dubbed Suex for its role in processing crypto payments for ransomware attackers.

According to the unit of the Treasury Department, Suex was accused of processing transactions for more than eight ransomware variants, which constituted more than 40% of its transaction history.

Following the sanctions, OFAC would have blocked all trade involving Suex and U.S. entities as it moves to protect U.S. residents. In addition, citizens or firms that devise means to continue dealing with the exchange could be sanctioned in the process.

The development is the first of its kind against a cryptocurrency exchange by United States regulators.

The Growth of Ransomware Activities

Understandably, ransomware attacks have become increasingly popular since last year. The practice involves malefactors gaining control of unsuspecting users’ computers or important programs and demanding ransom before the victim can regain access.

The illicit actors usually demand payment in cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR).

Last year alone, the OFAC noted that over $400 million was paid to ransomware attackers, which is more than four times what was recorded in 2019.

Commenting on the development, Janet Yellen said:

“Ransomware and cyber-attacks are victimizing businesses large and small across America and are a direct threat to our economy. We will continue to crack down on malicious actors.”

Several companies have been on the receiving end of ransomware activities, including Colonial Pipeline, which agreed to paying nearly $5 million as ransom to criminals before it was able to turn back its system on.

In July, Coinfomania reported one of the largest ransomware attacks that saw attackers demand $70 million worth of Bitcoin from Kaseya VSC, before it could restore its victims’ data.

Kaseya VSC denied paying the ransom to REvil, the group that launched the attack, in a bid to distance itself from possible sanctions from authorities.

Recall that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies had warned ransomware victims from making payments to their attackers.

In today’s statement, OFAC reiterated its stance that ransomware victims could face sanctions for making payments to illicit actors. Instead of succumbing to ransomware attackers’ demand, victims are urged to quickly report these incidents to the appropriate authorities and comply with the directives that would be given.

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Bitcoin Blockchain

Bitcoin May Drop To $30k

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Bitcoin May Drop To $30k

Bitcoin is becoming widely unpredictable lately. We saw a golden cross that is supposed to indicate the start of a new bullish but the king coin is experiencing a price dip instead. The market is slowly falling into another era of unforeseen FUD as the fear and greed index reading is slowly dropping. The theory of a golden trap is slowly gaining ground amongst traders and leading to questions like when will BTC recover? are we going to see the king coin worth six digits worth this year?

Will Bitcoin Recover?

Many traders are puzzled about the reason why bitcoin is dipping and when it will end. It is important to take note of the bitcoin quarterly return to get a hint of how prices will play out. We are currently in the third quarter of the year and taking a look at the returns, we see that of seven Q3, the largest crypto ended four at loss. Currently, this year’s third quarter is up by 20%.

The image above shows the largest coin by market cap returns on previous September. It is hard not to notice that BTC lost seven to the bears and on average. a loss of 9.4% is seen. Currently, the largest crypto is down by 10%. The third quarter has the reputation of more loss than gains as well as the month under consideration. Using the preceding price action to predict the next, we may see another 10% drop that will leave BTC at $38k.

The last 24 hours have seen stabilize between $41k and $42k. Bitcoin has to gain more leverage against the current price correction by surging to $50,000 before the month’s end. Failure to flip $50k may result in the above prediction coming true. A prolonged stay above $40k will only delay the inevitable.

Will BTC Attain Six Digits?

Bitcoin performance as of the time of writing does not support the prediction that it may attain $100,000 this year. This means we need a “super rally” to surpass the current digits. Will we see such a rally? When will it start?

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Bitcoin Blockchain DeFi News

$12 Million Stolen From DeFi Platform

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$12 Million Stolen From Defi Platform

277 btc which is worth more than $12m was stolen from pNetwork, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol.

The theft was announced on September 19 via Twitter, attributing the hack to a codebase vulnerability. The robbery was carried out on Binance Smart Chain, which featured in the biggest ever DeFi heist in history – the $610m Poly Network hack that took place in August.

pNetwork supports several blockchains, including xDAI, EOS, Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Telos and Ultra. Wrapped tokens increase interactiveness between different blockchains by making it possible for currency created on one blockchain to be able to cross onto another.

pNetwork said that they are sorry to inform the community that an attacker was able to leverage a bug in our codebase and attack pBTC on BSC, stealing 277 BTC (most of its collateral). The other bridges were not affected. All other funds in the pNetwork are safe.

The DeFi platform claimed it had identified the bug but would keep certain data bridges confidential until a reliable fix has been found. In an attempt to recover the stolen cryptocurrency, the platform publicly offered to pay the hacker 12.5% of their total illegal haul. 

The platform said on Twitter: “To the black hat hacker. Although this is a long shot, we’re offering a clean $1,500,000 bounty if funds are returned.”

“Finding vulnerabilities is part of the game, unfortunately, but we all want the DeFi ecosystem to continue growing, returning funds is a step in that direction.”

pNetwork has began an investigation described as a detailed post-mortem. The platform wants to assure everyone that they are prioritizing security over speed at the moment.

“Bridges are being extensively reviewed for that and similar exploits. A detailed post-mortem will be shared tomorrow. Updates to follow on the gradual reactivation of all other bridges,” said pNetwork.

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Blockchain

Binance Will Stop Crypto Derivatives Offerings For Australian Residents

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Binance Will Stop Crypto Derivatives Offerings For Australian Residents

In a bid to comply with the country’s regulations, popular cryptocurrency exchange Binance has revealed that it will end its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings for Australian customers.

Announcing the unfortunate development in a blog post today, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said Australian crypto traders will no longer be able to open and close positions on options, futures, and leverage trading by year’s end.

Australian Users to Close their Positions

Based on this, traders within the jurisdiction are required to close or adjust their positions in the above crypto derivative products from September 24, 2021 up until the next 90 days.

While traders will not be allowed to open new positions for crypto derivatives within this period, Binance users in Australia can top up their margin balances to prevent abrupt liquidation.

Australian traders who fail to comply with the instructions before midnight on December 23, will no longer be able to manually reduce their positions and all open positions will be automatically closed, Binance said.

The development is a follow-up of last month’s move from Binance, which saw the exchange barring Australians from opening new accounts to trade crypto derivatives, including options, margins, and leveraged tokens.

Binance stated at the time that the move was “in-line with its commitment to compliance and its plans to become a regulated financial institution.”

Binance Moves to Pacify Regulators

There has been widespread confusion among Australian traders between Binance and Binance Australia.

To be clear, the exchange giant is a separate entity to Binance Australia, which is operated by InvestbyBit, a company registered under the laws of AUSTRAC as a digital currency exchange provider.

Recall that the former has been on the receiving end of a wider regulatory crackdown from several countries’ financial watchdogs, including Singapore, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Germany, and most recently the United States, which accused the exchange of conducting wash trading and market manipulation.

The exchange is working round the clock to remain in the good books of global regulators, as it has gone a step further to hire the services of previous traditional financial experts.

As reported last month, Binance said it has onboarded former U.S. Treasury Criminal Investigator Greg Monahan to act as its global money laundering reporting officer.

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Bitcoin Blockchain

Bitcoin Took Plunge To $40k Causing Traders to Lose $1.4 Billion

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Onlyfans To Ban Is Crypto Opportunity Of A Lifetime

Many went into crypto to earn money even in their sleep. This concept became flawed when Bitcoin took a plunge to $40,000. Long positions worth more than $1 billion got liquidated during the BTC dive. The price dip took place at 00:00 UTC while many were sleeping as a total of $1.4 billion got liquidated in the last 24 hours.

One analysis last week hinted at the possible reason for the dip. The article stated that a prolonged stay above $48k with no breakout may place bitcoin at risk of dropping as low as $46,000. Increased selling pressure may lead to the coin testing and flipping the $44k support. After waiting for a breakout for more than two days after the writing of that report, it seems some bulls became bored of the stable price at the level and decided to take profit.

Will We See A Recovery Today?

As of the time of writing, current open orders in crypto derivatives show a recovery from our bearish dominance as there are 50.9% short orders as opposed to the 52% of the last trading session. We may see the spot market react with a price recovery.

The fear and greed index on the other is painting a different picture as its readings show increased Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). Recently, the fear and greed index is displaying 27 – fear, against 53 – neutral. Recovery is possible only if the buyer fights the current FUD and rally the market.

The 1-hour price chart shows a gradual price hike underway since the intraday low. RSI is also stable after it fully recovers from dipping as low as below 30; oversold and is at this time 40. This is the first time since August that the $40k support is coming under attack. Persistent attacks may result in Bitcoin trading as low as $37,000 in the coming days.

In its quest for $50k at the current price, the toughest short term resistance is $46,000 and will flip after continuous testing.

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Blockchain News

Binance’s Rally Against China & Centralized Banks Propaganda

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Binance’s Rally Against China & Centralized Banks Propaganda

Binance exchange has had a controversial week. The Monetary Authority of  China’s Singapore province first red-flagged the Decentralized Exchange (DEX) a few days ago. Next, South Africa issued an alert to investors saying Binance is not licensed to operate in the country.

However, these hurdles are not stopping the Seychelles & Cayman Island-based crypto conglomerate from announcing US IPO plans and more. Even one BEP20 cryptocurrency, dubbed China’s Solution Coin, has taken aim in helping resolve hurdles set for token trading. The war of decentralized finance, old money vs new money, liberation from those who control money,  has begun.

China’s Digital Yuan vs All Cryptocurrencies

The first hurdle for Binance Smart Chain (BSC),  BNB token, and other coins  is getting countries to accept that cryptocurrencies are here to stay.   

Contrary to popular opinion, cryptocurrency is not banned in China.  It’s not even protected or covered by law.  The People’s Bank of China restricted all banks from  dealing with virtual-currency transactions, but as any internet investor knows, regional banks are antiquated.    

Publicizing all of these reactive actions, however, while also highlighting that digital currency is used for “dirty money,” simply reveals a hidden truth.   If one reads between the lines, one truth seen is the Chinese government’s obvious attempt to create FUD.

First off, “dirty money,” has always been used by crooked politicians and businesses. Yet, fiat currency has never been replaced nor posed as such a threat. Why?  The government controls its manufacturing.

And it seems the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the reigning government want to install their own digital currency.  If virtual-money was so bad, knowing that any computer can be manipulated, why would they create a Digital Yuan?  

If the second truth is exposed, the FUD will help eliminate competition. If it’s not the Digital Yuan (DY), which will be run by the government on a PBOC centralized exchange, China hopes to discourage people from trusting it.

Nonetheless,  through all the propaganda spread by news outlets clamoring for another story centered around government publication, one thing is not stated clearly.  China has no laws banning cryptocurrency.  It’s not at all covered by Chinese law.      People have the right to use cryptos and cross-chain exchanges like UniSwap, and in 2022 comes the  “SafeTitan Swap.” 

However, the People’s Bank of China has said you cannot convert fiat currency to, nor from cryptos using their platforms.  The centralized banking system will not help people decentralize banking. 

Banks Thirst Over Billions in Profits Lost to Crypto

The reason for the decision to stop helping is simple. Billions of dollars are fading from the banking industry’s yearly revenue reports that were gained from antiquated services’ fees.   

Money transfers, bank wires,  swift deposits,  and even NSF fees are no longer profitable tools.     

Bankers have always been tied to politics, so the ultimate “tag team” or allies in this war against cryptos is using their number one tactic.  Something seen in any war of two major nations with massive reach.  Elites have begun spreading FUD propaganda.    

Is any of it true?   Sure.  However, if comparing most facts to how Fiat money is used and the risks associated with a government-regulated currency, not many differences are visible.  It’s simply a topic of who controls the money, the people or the governments.

Allies of Cryptocurrency and DeFi

However, in this struggle of Decentralized Finance (DeFi),  Binance has more allies than just its vaillant BEP20 Warrior Token, $STTN.   Though the coming “SafeTitan Swap ” cross-chain exchange can help cryptocurrency investors far east tremendously next year,  it’s the tech world superpowers of today  that will keep the needle moving forward in 2021.

Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cardano,  Solana, Mina, DOGE, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, Paypal, Jeff Bezos and Amon are amongst a few of the crypto-future allies.      They are using their platforms to spread positive messages about the usage of cryptocurrency.   Above that, they are using their multi-billion dollar companies to spread token culture.

Twitter Adds Bitcoin & Ethereum Payments

Just this past week, it was discovered that the Twitter Tip Jar feature will soon adopt Bitcoin and Ethereum, possibly more.   Photos were leaked which revealed the upcoming update.   The leaker, developer Alessandro Paluzzi, also made it clear that to accept payments with this feature users will need a strike account.

The push by Twitter to further grow token culture comes as no surprise.  CEO Jack Dorsey has been a long-time ally of cryptocurrency and says BTC is a “big part” of the social media microblog’s future.  

The Twitter Tip Jar feature, a pop-up tool with various payment options, will include a new selection to ‘copy bitcoin address’ or ‘copy ethereum address.’    Once copied, one can simply paste the address into their cryptowallet’s send payment form, where necessary.

Elon’s Nod For DOGE’s Nodes

And of course, there’s no crypto hype without Elon Musk.   He’s been a fierce ally of the cryptocurrency market, though many hate his ability to increase volatility.   

In an August 29th tweet by the Doge Whisperer (@TDogeWhisperer), a reply comment from Musk can be seen reminding the world he’s still a cryptocoin ally.     Elon replied “Important” to a major statement indicating DOGE has an update for computer nodes which handle transactions.   

With the new DogeCoin 1.14.4 nodes, security will be enhanced and fees lowered for DOGE transactions.

El Salvador and the Ukraine

While China is pushing back against the cryptocurrency, Ukraine in Europe and El Salvador in South America have officially legalized Bitcoin.

Ukraine legalized cryptocurrency and drafted a bill to regulate the industry earlier this month.  The fine print for taxes and regulation was put on the desk of the President of Europe’s 2nd biggest nation.  It affects over 44-million people, who could potentially begin using  Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and other tokens in 2021.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is very well prepared for the coming cryptocurrency age.  He also promotes there’s opportunity for investors who come to the country to lend resources to projects involving innovative virtual assets..

On the other side of the globe, the South American country El Salvador has also legalized Bitcoin. And not just that, the country’s President Nayib Bukele has made it a requirement that all businesses learn to use technology to accept cryptocurrency.    

All transfers will be handled by the government’s digital wallet app, Chivo. On September 7th the changes began taking place and as expected, there were errors with the new digital wallet.  But with a dedicated effort, all problems were resolved promptly.

Now things are rolling quite uphill for El Salvador with Bitcoin.   President Bukele has been sharing videos of El Salvadorans using their Chivo wallet at major community destinations like Starbuck and McDonalds.

The President expects people of his country of under 7-Million people to save an outstanding $400-million-dollars annually on international money remittance fees. 

Not only this,  Bukele is so sure about this, helping propel his country forward, he’s giving every citizen that signs up for the Chivo wallet $30 in Bitcoin.

The Future of Cryptocurrency

In the end, the final straw of the war on decentralized currency and finance will break with education.  This is what’s expected by non-influenced analysts.

If El Salvador will save $400-million yearly from money remittance fees, by using cryptos  for it’s population of 7-million, imagine what’s at stake for other banking systems globally. These “power vampires” are not concerned with helping the public at all.  Many believe that the propaganda or “FUD” being spread is simply an effort to control the nearly $1.5-trillion-dollars banks earn every year from money transfers, consumer bank error fees, and more.

JPMorgan and others are suggesting a market crash here soon, but why is this news? Every market falls and rises later. None have risen to the heights of cryptocoins.

And lastly, if it is so bad, why are all the companies spreading FUD, so heavily invested? No one buys what they cannot benefit from at a Wall Street office. Binance is an ally of the people and as long as the people are the most invested, it shall overcome the tricks of Wall Street Whales and propaganda.   

Cryptocurrency will continue to thrive.  With the modern infrastructure of cross-chain exchanges like SafeTitan Swap and crypto credit cards from Visa & Mastercard, the flow of digital currency to fiat won’t stop.  

With the cryptocoins being accepted by billion-dollar brands like Tesla and Twitter,  along with economies of entire countries like the UK and El Salvador, it’s set in stone. Cryptocurrencies and digital money are here to stay.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Golden Cross Might Be A Trap

Bitcoins
Bitcoin Rally Expected To Pause

The bulls are in a state of disbelief as Bitcoin prices came crashing down to $42,502 at night (UTC) today. The price drop is especially shocking as BTC experienced a Golden Cross barely seven days. Speculation increased with one stating that Bullish run 2.0 may finally be here as Bitcoin experience a golden cross. An earlier price correction had little or no effect on BTC technicals as they stayed the same after the dip.

Most bullish speculations are that we should be seeing BTC above $50,000 now but we are seeing a reverse of these predictions.

Commenting on the golden cross, the analyst stated that using the Fibonacci Retracement, we can create price channels. The current channel that BTC is trading in has coin trading between $42,500 and $51,000. This means that the strongest support in this channel is $42,500. If BTC fails to continue its uptrend and remain above $42k, it will fall back to the $42,500 and $37,000 channel.

The above image shows a chart containing price movement and RSI. Looking at the Relative Strength Index (RSI), it is hard not to notice the decrease in this indicator. It is taking a dip going as low as 40 – the lowest in more than 30 days. Price movement suggests that although the $42,500 support flipped, the buyers were quick to rally the market and send BTC back to $43k.

Did the bitcoin golden cross just turn into a golden trap? The concept of a golden trap is one that only time will define. The term will be firmly established if BTC dips as low as $37,000. It is also important to note that the correction the king coin faced affected the Moving Average (MA) and as a result, we are about to see another death cross on BTC.

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Bitcoin Blockchain

Is Setting Up A Bitcoin Lightning Node Worth It?

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A Family Who Had Put Everything They Had In Bitcoin – Now This Family Travel The World As ‘decentralised Nomads’

A Bitcoin Lightning Node is a singular node set up to process Bitcoin on the Lightning Node, which is a layer 2 (because it sits on top of the bitcoin blockchain) payment protocol. It was designed to make payments faster so users didn’t have to worry about block confirmation times. It’s one of the solutions offered to deal with the issue of bitcoin scalability. It’s a peer to peer network largely used for micropayments.

Bitcoin nodes connect to the network to help facilitate faster and cheaper payments, and as more nodes are set up the network grows, which allows bigger transactions to more users.

How do Bitcoin Lightning Nodes work?

The way it works is not dissimilar to how a tab works at a bar. Two participants in the network transact but do not send these transactions to the blockchain, meaning they aren’t bogged down with the time it takes and the fees associated.

Like in the bar tab, the payment isn’t finalized until later, which saves the bar owner from running your card on each drink. The network has a number of bidirectional channels set up, but does not rely on every node being connected. If two nodes aren’t connected they can piggy back off a node they are connected to. This is all possible due to a blockchain readable smart contract script that enforces payments from intermediary nodes. This system makes it possible to find a path across the network to the desired recipient of bitcoin without needing to trust the nodes along the path.

The two participants’ channel is a multi-signature address, meaning both users must both agree for bitcoin to move. One of the participants funds the channel, if the other party for any reason disappears there is a transaction signed before the funding transaction that refunds the money to the party that funded the channel.

The other complication that could occur is if one of the participants pushes an older revoked transaction (that was in their favor) to the blockchain. The way the Network handles this is that the non-offending party can punish the cheating party using a secret phrase that is generated with the newest transaction. This secret phrase gives the victim the offending parties balance as well as their own. There’s a bit more logic that stops a party from using this punitive tool unfairly but it gets fairly complicated. Suffice it to say the creators of the network have found a way to keep the network running equitably. 

What’s the cost of setting up a node?

In short it’s about $250-$300 depending on the gear you buy. 

You’ll need a Raspberry Pi (an external hard drive sized computer.) which ranges from $40-60 depending on the version. Also a Raspberry Pi case similar to hard drive enclosure.

You’ll also need a storage device like a solid state drive 1TB and the enclosure (to plug your power source and other USB’s into.) If you want to run software that limits your need to code and connect to the network you’ll also need a 16GB MicroSD card.

Finally, an Ethernet cable

The process of setting up a node is extensively covered, but essentially requires plugging your Raspberry Pi into your router and downloading software to make the SD usable with Umbrel which is by far the easiest software to set up a network.

How much can you make?

It’s a really good question, the answer is it really depends on how actively you manage your node. It depends on how much you route. For example, if you route 100,000 worth of transactions, you could make around $250 for a 0.25% fee. Ultimately you as the node will decide the fees, but if they’re too high nobody will use your node. If you’re active and have decent liquidity ($10000s) some users have been able to make anywhere from $100-$4000 a month. However, many Reddit users also talk about making nothing or even running at a negative.

Is it worth it?

The answer is on you, if you:

  • You have the time and energy to actively, on a daily basis, manage your node.
  • Believe the value of bitcoin will increase.
  • Have capital (at least in the thousands) you’re ok investing and leaving the network to help with liquidity.

Then it’s not impossible to make hundreds or even thousands a month. The real question is, is it worth your time? Or are you better off just buying crypto and holding on to it?

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Blockchain News

Coinbase No Longer Launching Its Crypto Lending Product

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Coinbase No Longer Launching Its Crypto Lending Product

Coinbase announced today that it will not be launching the USDC APY product as previously planned. The program, which is proposed to help customers earn interest on USD Coin (USDC), with rates greater than 50x the national average of a traditional savings account and guaranteed peace of mind while they earn interest, will unfortunately not go live.

The Reason

The announcement of the termination of the lending program comes barely a week after Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, called for better regulatory clarity in the crypto space after the company was stopped from launching its cryptocurrency lending product by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Coinbase CEO took to Twitter at the time to lament the unfair treatment the San Francisco-based exchange has suffered at the hands of security regulators. Armstrong showed his displeasure as the SEC denied the exchange’s efforts to offer a cryptocurrency lending product that would enable investors to earn yield when they lend their funds because the offering “is a security.”

Armstrong noted that the exchange reached out to the SEC but the regulator did not give any explanation as to why it was stopping the exchange’s proposed lending product and instead threatened legal action against Coinbase should it proceed to launch its crypto lending product. To avoid a legal battle with the regulator, Coinbase has decided to discontinue its crypto lending product.

The Threat List Grows

The SEC is not only going after crypto exchanges as popular billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of Bridgewater, Ray Dalio, recently said that financial regulators would take control of Bitcoin (BTC) once the cryptocurrency gains widespread mainstream adoption.

Dalio believed that if regulators fail to take control of Bitcoin when it eventually gains mainstream success, they may choose to “kill” the cryptocurrency from existing because “because they have ways of killing it.”

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Bitcoin News Press Release

Will Elon Musk Return to Tweeting About Bitcoin?

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Will Elon Musk Return To Tweeting About Bitcoin?

Bitcoin flourishes and dwindles with just a few words, emoji, or smiley on Elon Musk’s Twitter handle. Elon Musk’s tweets have been a significant influencer on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While some of his tweets positively affect bitcoin, others do impact crypto’s portfolio negatively. His tweets shook the whole community of investors and affect the price of bitcoin and dogecoin. 

Back in May the bitcoin industry lost almost $1 trillion. The most widely used cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has dropped to $30,066 from its usual April peak. Ethereum, too, was battered by the cyclone, falling 57% to $1,850 just because of Elon Musk’s statement,

“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea… but this cannot come at great cost to the environment.”

He also claimed that the electric carmaker would not sell any Bitcoin and plans to use it for transactions after mining moves to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

According to market observers, Tesla’s move is an attempt to appease investors who are concerned about climate change and conservation.

Musk’s statement had a tremendous impact on the cryptocurrency market that there were records of loss as bitcoin’s price fell by 10% immediately after the tweet. Many controversies arose at this point when Musk expressed Tesla’s withdrawal from accepting bitcoin for payment. Now that bitcoin’s price has dropped, furious and unhappy investors are accusing Musk of betrayal in the discussion boards.

Contrary to his earlier statement at the beginning of 2021, he discussed investing more in bitcoin. However, his other tweet in May was contradicting and misleading, but it could affect the price of bitcoin as a whole.

Also, because one bitcoin transaction, according to Digiconist, consumes the same quantity of electricity as an ordinary American household does in a month and emits about a million times more carbon than a simple Card transaction. 

Elon Musk was also criticized earlier this year for using his influence to encourage bitcoin, with some believing that environmentally beneficial electric vehicles were being purchased with energy-intensive crypto.

During the crypto chaos caused by Musk’s tweet, he was able to cite the reason behind the new action and Tesla’s status with bitcoin at the moment of his tweet that he will not sell the company’s bitcoin, and it’s likely that some kind of cryptocurrency will be accepted to purchase a Tesla again in the future.

He also tweeted that Tesla would probably resume receiving payments in bitcoin once it undertakes thorough research on the utilization of renewable energy used in bitcoin mining.

He further explained that “Tesla’s goal is to hasten the arrival of renewable energy and that the firm can’t achieve that while also failing to focus particularly on bitcoin’s energy usage.” 

Elon Musk’s Cryptocurrency Status and Tesla’s

On June 13, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla will begin permitting Bitcoin transactions after reasonable 50 percent renewable energy utilization by miners is confirmed by a brighter economic future trend.

In response to Chinese mining crackdowns, a large portion of bitcoin mining was done in China, where cheap coal and hydropower made it slightly more cost-effective. However, Musk noted that some of these coal plants had been shut down, and a substantial chunk of miners in China had begun to relocate elsewhere.

However confusing they were, Musk’s statements demonstrate that he still maintains enormous influence over cryptocurrency prices. As a result, many investors have changed their minds and decided to buy bitcoin. Despite the sharp decline in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others rose when the billionaire founder revealed more details about his and his companies’ stakes at the virtual panel.

His aerospace business SpaceX also owns bitcoin, in addition to his bitcoin holdings and Tesla’s bitcoin holdings. Elon Musk also mentioned that he owns ether and dogecoin. Following his words, the value of all three cryptocurrencies increased.

The billionaire also stated that he is inherently strong on Bitcoin and an enthusiastic fan of cryptocurrencies. With this comment, it is clear that he is not abandoning cryptocurrency altogether. Still, due to the big issue of bitcoin mining, which is posing environmental and economic concerns, Tesla had to take a step back. 

“If Bitcoin price falls, I lose money. I may pump, but I never dump.” Musk stated his opinion. “I don’t believe in creating a high price and then selling it. I want Bitcoin to succeed.”

Elon Musk did not reveal the exact size of his investment or SpaceX’s stake in the cryptocurrency portfolio. However, he implies that his rocket technology firm would delve into Bitcoin just as he claimed earlier this year that Tesla had put $1.5 billion in Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

From past and recent experience of Elon’s tweets on bitcoin, the cryptocurrency market should be ready for more moves of bitcoin impacted by the crypto influencer.

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Blockchain Guides & Tutorials

Choosing The Best Crypto Exchanges

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Choosing The Best Crypto Exchanges

One of the most essential first steps when getting into cryptocurrency is to choose a crypto exchange. Choosing the wrong platform might lead to a journey filled with hacks, diversions, and wasted time.

First, you must define what you want to achieve before even looking for the right crypto exchange. Is your purpose to simply invest for the long-term or to do short-term trade(s) on a regular basis? By evaluating your needs, you can find the best for you and for your needs.

Here’s a quick guide to help you choose a crypto exchange that is more suitable for you.

  • Draw up a list of exchanges
  • Consider the reputation of each exchange
  • Review geographical locations and restrictions
  • Receive licenses and regulatory status
  • Consider their security features
  • Compare fees and other charges
  • Explore their features.

How to Choose the Best Crypto Exchange

1. Draw up a List of Crypto Exchanges 

At the time of writing this guide, there were 475 cryptocurrency exchanges in existence, according to data from industry tracker CoinGecko. These trading platforms differ in terms of supported cryptocurrencies, features, and services, as well as what clients are allowed to use them.

Since you are considering choosing the best exchange, you might want to make a list of the most suitable platforms that align with your trading needs and conduct due diligence on them, in order to select the best. 

2. Consider the Exchange’s Reputation

Due to the fact that the cryptocurrency business is still relatively young, it is important to be aware of the company’s reputation before you choose a crypto exchange. Many exchanges have involved malicious activity, including hacking and exit scams, putting customers in a bad financial situation.

It’s critical to do research on various exchanges or legit bitcoin investment sites simply by searching for them on Google with the phrase scam and reviewing the results. Check what other people are saying about the exchange on social media to see if there have been any complaints.

Another point to look into is the exchange terms and conditions, noting and keeping in mind anything that is concerning or out of place. You can easily find the T&Cs on their respective websites.

3. Review Exchange’s Geographical Locations and restrictions

Geographic location and limitations are at the heart of the user’s cryptocurrency exchange experience. The vast number of cryptocurrency exchanges only serve people from a certain geographic area. Consider this: what good is signing up for an exchange if you can’t legally trade on it?

So, before you sign up for a cryptocurrency exchange, make sure it’s accessible from your country (and legal). Because the law and other rules around crypto and blockchain are still in development, it’s possible that your government has imposed restrictions on your ability to access and utilize an exchange.

4. Review Licenses and Regulations

Another consideration is where the exchange is registered and licensed. The majority of anonymous crypto exchanges may be licensed in crypto-friendly jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands, Malta, and other countries. These jurisdictions have enacted legislation that would allow cryptocurrency companies to engage in their financial ecosystems. Some exchanges also opt to establish themselves as tax havens in order to avoid paying exorbitant taxes. 

When it comes to decentralized exchanges, regulations are still unclear. According to some experts, DeFi platforms are most certainly violating financial regulations in at least some jurisdictions. These DeFi platforms may soon be forced to get suitable licenses, depending on the services they provide, and regulators will be allowed to investigate them.

5. Consider Their Security Features

The more difficult it is to open an account at a specific exchange, the better. It implies that an exchange is not very trustworthy if it is too easy to create an account. 

Each exchange has its own set of security measures. Check whether the crypto exchange supports two-factor authentication (2FA). If not, the exchange may not be up to today’s security requirements.

For instance, Google authenticator and other popular third-party 2FA options arguably provide better security than mobile text-based 2FA.

Some exchanges could also have additional security measures worth taking a look at, such as cold storage wallets and custodial storage services.

6. Compare Fees and Other charges

You’ve looked through the list of possible exchangers and discovered a few that look to have good reputations, solid security histories, and no history of hacks or frauds. That’s a good start, but you’ll also need to think about how each exchange will affect your investments on a daily basis. 

The fees and currency pairs available are two significant features that define different exchanges.

Most exchanges charge a fee for your transactions; this cost may be based on the quantity of the transaction, or it may be based on your level of activity, or it may be unrelated to either of those variables in certain situations. 

Some sites offer comparisons between crypto exchange fees and they can help you determine which exchange has the most attractive fee structure.

7. Explore Their Features 

The importance of conducting adequate research on how to choose a crypto exchange that aligns with your trading needs cannot be overemphasized. Exchanges differ, and the features supported on platform A could be entirely different from what is hosted on platform B.

You either get to explore these features first hand by registering on your favorite platforms, or you surf the web for unbiased reviews that clearly state what services and features are supported. Either way, you would have to put in the work and find out for yourself. 

The features you should look out for include: basic and advanced trading tools, ease-of-use, mobile app compatibility, customer service support, among others.

FAQs on How to Choose a Crypto Exchange

What are the Fees to Register? 

Registering a trading account attracts no fee, it is usually free. However, it is important to consider the amount of fee the exchange charges users to trade, deposit, and withdraw funds. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency by trade volume, is known for its relatively low fees that may be considered almost insignificant by many investors.

How Long Does it Take to Create a Crypto Exchange Account? 

Depending on the exchange you opt for, creating an account is usually simple and fast. On most exchanges, signing up for an account and commence your cryptocurrency trading journey does not take up to five minutes. 

While some exchanges have simplified their registration processes, others may require users to comply with a mandatory know-your-customer (KYC) requirement, which usually takes longer. 

What is the Best Crypto Exchange? 

At the moment, the most widely adopted cryptocurrency exchange for traders outside the United States is Binance. This is because of its user-friendly interface, wide support of several altcoins, and relatively lower fees. 

For users in the United States, Coinbase seems to be the most reliable for American traders. Regardless of the listed exchanges, it is important that you conduct adequate research to discover what cryptocurrency exchange meets your trading needs.

Final Thoughts on How to Choose a Crypto Exchange

Here you have it, the seven steps to choose a crypto exchange that is right for you. Going forward, before choosing an exchange, you might want to consider going through the points listed above to guide your choice. 

Whatever you do, always conduct due diligence before you choose a crypto exchange.

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Bitcoin Guides & Tutorials

Where To Buy And Sell Bitcoin In Nigeria Right Now

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Nigeria Is The Sixth In Global Crypto Adoption

One significant interception of Bitcoin gaining mainstream adoption is the sour relationship between cryptocurrency and central banks.

Many governmental authorities believe that the cons of holding and investing in bitcoin outweigh the pros such as allowing decentralized peer-to-peer transactions. This belief has led some countries to place certain restrictions on cryptocurrency trading to reduce the adoption of this form of digital currency.

Nigeria is one of such countries facing a kind of cryptocurrency ban.

Nigeria is confirmed to be Africa’s largest bitcoin market, and the second-largest peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency market globally. However, they might not be able to keep that record anymore.

In a recent development, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular stating that all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Non-Financial Institutions (NBFIs), and Other Financial Institutions (OFI) in the country should stop dealing with cryptocurrencies or providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges, warning that failure to adhere with the directive will “attract severe regulatory sanctions.” 

Some lawmakers in the country disapproved of the crypto ban in the country by the CBN claiming that Cryptocurrency is gaining recognition as a financial asset and that the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were making plans of providing regulatory clarity before the ban. 

Individuals can still trade or invest in Bitcoin as authorities did not specify that doing so could result in a sort of punishment.

Yet, the ban has severed all connections between Cryptocurrency and Nigerian banks. Before now, people could purchase bitcoin from an exchange and complete the payment via a credit or debit card or through a bank account.

With that option no longer available, we take a look at alternative methods of buying and selling Bitcoin in Nigeria despite the CBN ban.

Alternative Methods to Trading

Personal contacts: This is one of the most direct and private ways to trade your bitcoin. You can decide to transfer with an interested person who either wants to sell or buy bitcoin. This other party could be a trusted friend or regular acquaintance, or you can find an interested person at a bitcoin meetup. 

Bitcoin meetups refer to places where you can meet, interact and even trade with other crypto enthusiasts. Since this trading method also has its risks, individuals need to adhere to some safety measures during transactions.

The first box to check off is to ensure that the other party is a trusted and reliable person. On the safer side, do not conduct such transactions with unfamiliar faces to avoid scams or fraud.

Coinfomania recently covered a report about a Hong Kong cryptocurrency trader woman who lost USDT worth about US$448,700 to a gang of thieves posed as buyers at knifepoint.

To avoid situations like this, you can choose to conduct transactions in an open, public place and ensure that the buyer has made the payment before transferring the Cryptocurrency. 

Use of peer-to-peer-trading (P2P) platforms: P2P trading platforms are exchanges where two interested individuals trade cryptocurrency directly. 

Unlike personal contact or face-to-face method, the P2P platform offers features for more trading effectiveness and to reduce risks. These services may include searching, screening, rating, payment processing, or providing escrow services.

How P2P Trading Works

A peer-to-peer trading platform offers escrow services, providing a wallet where a seller can deposit the coins to be sold. When the seller confirms a buyer’s successful payment, the escrow will release the funds to the buyer’s wallet. 

Due to the crypto ban in Nigeria, citizens who hold Bitcoin can use either of these two methods since using exchanges is out of the picture (for now).

The use of peer to peer trading platform is much safer, provides more liquidity, and is regulated; therefore, it is a better choice than the face-to-face or personal contact method of purchasing Bitcoin.

The following is a list of peer-to-peer exchanges Nigerians can purchase bitcoin from at this time.

Where To Buy And Sell Bitcoins in Nigeria Despite Ban

Binance P2P

Binance P2P is one of the divisions of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange founded by Changpeng Zhao. Created in 2018, the peer-to-peer marketplace connects sellers and buyers from different countries with various payment methods.

Due to the bank crypto ban in Nigeria, Binance stopped customers from making deposits with the Nigerian Naira (NGN) and advised them to withdraw their money.

However, Nigerian users can still buy and sell crypto on Binance using the P2P trading feature. The process involves creating an order, making or receiving payment, and then release the crypto to the buyer after payment confirmation.

To solve the issue about withdrawing Naira from Binance, the exchange launched an NGN FIAT/NGN pairing, allowing customers to buy and sell their NGN balance at no extra cost.

Binance P2P also offers an “Express Mode” allowing buyers and sellers to have their orders filled instantly, instead of browsing through the P2P order book to find the ideal offer. To use the Express Mode feature, users must complete the compulsory Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and identity and business verification checks.

Supported Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Binance coin (BNB), Ethereum (ETH), tether USD (USDT), and Binance USD (BUSD). 

Supported P2P Payment Methods: Bank Transfer, Mobile Top-up.

Paxful

Paxful is a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange. Founded in 2014 in Wilmington, Delaware, the USA by Mohammed Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback, the business was known as ‘EasyBitz’ before changing its name to Paxful in 2015.

The exchange does not sell or store cryptocurrencies but is an exchange platform connecting buyers and sellers on their platform. Users on the platform can have access to 300 payment options which include cash payments or digital payments.

Paxful offers escrow service to its users, holding the cryptocurrency first and then release it to the buyer as soon as the seller confirms payment.

Supported Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin only.

Supported P2P Payment Methods: Bank Transfer, Mobile top-up.

LocalBitcoins

LocalBitcoins, located in Finland, is one of the oldest and largest Bitcoin peer-to-peer platforms globally. It was founded by a programmer and entrepreneur named Jeremias Kangas in 2012; the platform works as an escrow for all the traders. 

The platform allows traders from 16000 cities and 248 countries, including Nigeria to meet directly and trade on acceptable terms. 

LocalBitcoins is regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). Users do not have to pay any money to either register, buy, or sell bitcoin on the platform. However, it charges a 1% fee per completed trade to customers who create advertisements on the platform.

Supported Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, with fiat currencies like the USD, Euro, British Pound,

Supported P2P Payment Methods: Bank Transfer, Cash (in-person)

LocalCoinSwap

LocalCoinSwap claims to be the world’s first multi-blockchain P2P exchange. It is the world’s first community-owned peer-to-peer Bitcoin and even for Altcoin. Users have access to the P2P cryptocurrency exchange platform with about 160+ fiat currencies with 23+ cryptocurrencies that you can buy or sell, and over 250+ payment methods.

The platform offers traders optional Know Your Customers check options to reduce fraud and scams. Although LocalCoinSwap does not charge for placing buy and sell advertisements, they charge the market maker a reasonable 1% fee from completed trades.

Local coin swap uses a 2FA security method. The platform also acts as an escrow between individuals buyers and sellers. 

Supported Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), LCS (LocalCoinSwap’s own loyalty token), Dash, Tether (Stablecoin), USDC (Stablecoin), DAI (Stablecoin), and Kusama (KSM).

Supported P2P Payment Methods: Cash in person, Bank Transfer.

Remitano

Remitano is a peer-to-peer trading platform owned by Babylon Solutions Limited and created in Seychelles. At first, the exchange was created in April of 2016 as a P2P bitcoin exchange but later added more currencies and other services like Remitano Invest, Remitano Swap, Wallets, and Affiliate program.

On this platform, buyers and sellers can buy and sell bitcoin and other supported currencies with their local currency like the Naira for Nigerians directly from and to one another. They support cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ripple (XRP).

Talking about countries recognized by Remitano, Nigeria is one of the exchange’s biggest markets with about $600,000 daily trade volume.

Supported Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Tether (USDT). They also support Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), EOS, Stellar’s Lumen (XLM), and Tron (TRX for swapping).

Supported P2P Payment Methods: Bank transfer and in cryptocurrencies.

While the peer to trading option provides alternative methods for Nigerians to trade due to the Nigerian crypto ban, it is not always flowers and rays of sunshine.

Let us now consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of using it.

Pros and Cons of P2P Trading

Pros

  • Peer to peer trading provides privacy and anonymity since there is no third party involved and traders deal directly with each other. This method also reduces the exposure of the KYC protocols since this feature is not compulsory in most P2P platforms.
  • Peer to peer trading platforms is cheaper to operate than regular bitcoin exchanges since it is run by computer software and don’t need to pay workers who stand as middlemen in trades.

Cons

  • In a case of a mistaken transaction, since there are no middlemen involved, a refund is difficult or even impossible to initiate.
  • There are higher chances of falling into fraud traders’ hands than a regular exchange.
  • Price is controlled by buyers and sellers, and sometimes may be above the actual Bitcoin market price.
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Blockchain Guides & Tutorials NFT

Trending NFTs At The Moment

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Trending Nfts At The Moment

NFT projects have grown quite popular this year, some may have heard of it while some probably still haven’t. NFTs stands for Non-fungible tokens, the non-fungible here means something that is unique.

What is NFT?

A non-fungible token or NFT for short is a unique digital item that can be sold and bought. Most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, like Bitcoin. If you are a first-time bitcoin investor, you can check this website for all you need to know about bitcoin investment. 

When NFTs first started, some of them were gamified crypto-collectibles but in 2021, most of the common NFTs are digital art collectibles. Pascal Boyart, a French artist, supplied one of the most important works.

Now that you know what NFTs is all about, let’s move on to the top 5 trending NFT projects to follow in 2021. 

Rarible

Rarible is a marketplace that allows both the creators and the buyers to make transactions without a middleman. It allows creators to sell custom crypto assets that show their ownership in their digital work. It is a network built on the Ethereum blockchain, and has a very simple and straightforward setup. You can find digital artworks and virtual parcels of land on the Rarible marketplace. 

Rarible makes use of RARI tokens. Users can earn these tokens by selling or buying them on the platform. Owning these tokens means users can curate artwork, make important decisions that affect the platform, etc.

Rarible distributes 75,000 tokens to its users who actively interact every week. Users on the platform can create NFTs (non-fungible tokens) for unique digital items. According to Google (statistics), Rarible price is $39.53, the price to BTC is 0.000665, ranks  90, 24-hour volume of $12.10 million, and a market cap of $985.61 million. 

Flow

The team behind Cryptokitties is also responsible for Flow, which launched in 2020. The NFT project allows developers to create and trade digital assets, also a foundation of games and apps. Flow divide the responsibilities of each node (validation stage of a transaction) into collection nodes, consensus nodes, execution nodes, and verification nodes, this has increased efficiency. 

When using Flow, the blockchain allows developers to release their dapp in beta, at the same time updating their code in case any problems arise. Once they submit the final version of the code, it cannot be changed again. Flow created a new programming language called Cadence which is easy to use and designed for digital assets and dapps. Upgradeable smart contracts are also written in Flows programming language. 

Users need to have ownership and stake FLOW tokens in order to become a node, through this, they have a say in the governance of the platform. There are rewards in store for these users. Developers are also allowed to create their own cryptocurrency on Flow. According to Google (statistics), Flow price is $35.43, price change 24 hours is $-1.68 4.53%, trending volume of $209,936,328.64 41.00% and a market cap of 0.1744. If a user does not want to run a node, he/she can delegate their stake to professional operators. They will participate in the network on their behalf. 

Decentraland (MANA)

This NFT project is a virtual reality platform that is an Ethereum blockchain in accordance with the ERC-20 (MANA) standard for tokens. It is a world where users can buy, sell and develop virtual land, and users can also play games on this platform. A non-fungible ERC-721 (LAND) token represents users’ ownership of virtual land on the platform. Due to the fact that it is non-fungible, each land is unique and users determine what to publish on their land. The MANA token can be used to purchase virtual plots of land while the token, LAND, is used to define land parcel ownership. 

When users own MANA, they have a say in land auctions and can vote on policy updates. MANA tokens are deflationary, this is because when a land is auctioned, the MANA tokens used to purchase the LAND are burned or removed from circulation. Each LAND is equivalent to 100 square meters in the Metaverse (the virtual reality land). According to Google (statistics),  Decentraland price is $0.9561, has a market cap of 0.1688, and a trading volume (24 hours) of $254,648,717.12 4.37%.

Origin Protocol 

A decentralized shopping platform, a protocol for sharing and creating marketplaces without intermediaries using the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS. Users can buy goods and also sell these goods on the platform. Creators and developers can create their own application, this is powered by the Origin blockchain. Users can purchase the Origin token (OGN), this gives them a say in the governance of the Origin ecosystem. According to Google (statistics), the origin token price is $2.66, the price to BTC is 0.0000447, has a market cap of $780.23 million, a 24-hour volume of $236.45 million, and a rank of 103. 

Terra Virtua Kolect

This is a crypto marketplace that allows digital assets to be viewed online, through a mobile app and a 3D environment using augmented reality. The NFT project has a unique social, gaming, and creative experience and is enabled by blockchain. It is a curated cross-platform and blockchain ecosystem for sharing, interacting, and trading digital collectibles. It makes use of an ERC-20 utility token (TVK token). Users with TVK tokens have access to premium activities such as competitions, they can vote on the platform and they can earn unique non-fungible tokens on the marketplace.

The project has partnered with media houses like Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment. According to CoinMarketCap, Terra Virtua Kolect has a price of $0.6744, a market cap of 0.1159, a trending volume (24 hours) of $17,137,448.81, and a market rank of 330. 

If you are a lover of creating crypto art or a fan of crypto art, the above-listed NFT projects are guaranteed to suit your taste. Remember that when getting started with NFT there are steps to follow. Set up an Ethereum wallet (like Trust Wallet, MetaMask, or Rainbow), purchase some units of ETH, and connect your wallet to an NFT marketplace.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Ethereum Interview News

Coinbase CEO Donates Money To Fight Aging

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Coinbase Ceo Donates Money To Fight Aging

Brian Armstrong, CEO of popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has disclosed that he and other crypto enthusiasts have made significant donations toward research to prolong life.

Armstrong, who made this known in a Twitter post today, said they all made an undisclosed amount of donation to the $2.5 million longevity research project in dogs launched by Matt Kaeberlein, a co-director at Dog Aging Project.

At the moment, the research team is focused on dogs as a breakthrough in the species could mean the feat can be successfully replicated in humans since dogs share the human environment, Armstrong said.

It is worth noting that the Coinbase CEO did not disclose whether his donation was made in cryptocurrency or fiat.

While the post was made to inform his over 828,000 followers about the ongoing project, the crypto mogul also used the opportunity to seek more funding, since the project still requires an additional $200,000 to reach the $2.5 million requirement.

“I made a donation along with a number of others from the crypto community and we are close to hitting the $2.5m. But they need to raise the final $200k,” excerpt from his tweet reads.

In response to Armstrong’s calls, Peter Xing, co-founder of Transhuman Coin, a crypto initiative focused on funding research and development to solve disabilities and various diseases, said the company will be donating to the longevity project as he hopes to make the aging process a treatable disease in our lifetimes and for future generations to come.

The Dog Aging Project Initiative

The initiative was originally funded through a grant from the National Institute on Aging, making it possible for the Dog Aging Project to enroll 350 dogs into the program.

The company is seeking to increase the number of dogs it would be studying and has requested for funds from interested individuals.

Once the $2.5 million funding is complete, it would help the research institute increase the number of dogs it is currently researching from 350 to 580.

The research will focus on the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD), to discover whether the Rapamycin drug can slow aging and increase lifespan in middle-aged companion dogs by 9%.

Vitalik Donates Too

Meanwhile, Armstrong, who recently called out the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for refusing Coinbase’s crypto loan initiative from launch, is not the first popular cryptocurrency enthusiast to donate to longevity research in different species.

Back in 2018, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum donated $2.4 million worth of Ethereum to The SENS Research Foundation, a charity organization focused on treating age-related disease and extending people’s biological ages.

Earlier this year, Buterin also made a similar donation worth $2million in ether to Methuselah Foundation, a non-profit poised to reduce aging in humans and the parent organization of the SENS Research Foundation.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Nigeria is the Sixth in Global Crypto Adoption

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Nigeria Is The Sixth In Global Crypto Adoption

During the 2021 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index report on Tuesday, Nigeria was named the sixth country in the world adopting to crypto at the moment. This comes in despite the central bank ban placed on holding the virtual currencies.

The African region has been reported to have one of the highest grassroots adoptions, with Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania ranking along in the top 20 list of Global Crypto Adoption Index.

The report also added that even though Africa has the smallest cryptocurrency economy than any other region, the continent has received $105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2020 and June 2021 and is now one of the most dynamic and exciting place for global adoption of cryptocurrency.

Africa has the third-fastest growing crypto economy, and a bigger share of its overall transaction volume made up of retail-sized transfers than any other region at just over 7%, versus the global average of 5.5%.

Peer-to-Peer platforms are especially popular in the continent compared to any other region, and many of the cryptocurrency users rely heavily on those platforms not just as an on-ramp into cryptocurrency, but also for remittances and even commercial transactions.

It should also be noted that cross-region transfers make up a bigger share of Africa’s cryptocurrency market than the other regions at 96% of all transaction volume, versus 78% for all regions combined.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had warned people who invest in cryptocurrencies, saying such currencies are not accepted as legal tender in Nigeria earlier this year, and the bank even directed all banks to close accounts of persons or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions within their systems.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Guides & Tutorials News

How Cryptocurrency Exchanges Report to the IRS

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How Cryptocurrency Exchanges Report To The Irs


Cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and others that operate within the U.S. market use a specific type of 1099 Form to report tax information to the IRS. 1099’s of all types serve the same purpose within the United States; all 1099’s report non-employment related income. 

In other words, 1099’s tell the government how much income you made outside of your job. Income is taxable within the U.S., so it makes sense that the IRS wants to be informed of income sources outside of typical W2 wages.

The problem with the way cryptocurrency exchanges report is that they use a specific type of 1099 known as Form 1099-K.

1099-K reports gross proceeds from a specific platform, and it is typically used by third-party settlement organizations like Uber, Lyft, and others to report gross income incurred on the platform.

When cryptocurrency exchanges use this form, they report gross amounts transacted on the cryptocurrency exchange. This can massively inflate your income, and the document actually becomes useless for cryptocurrency investors for tax reporting—as they need to be reporting capital gains and losses, not merely gross proceeds.

In this sense, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense for cryptocurrency exchanges to be issuing a 1099-K. However, they do so to cover their regulatory bases from a liability standpoint and also to reduce the reporting that they have to do.

If they issued a different type of 1099 that is more common within the world of stocks and investing, they would have to issue forms to many more customers, almost all of them. This would be a significant compliance burden that the exchanges would prefer to avoid if possible. Right now, Forms 1099-K only goes out to a small percentage of customers within the exchanges overall user base.

If you meet certain qualifying requirements (based on trading volume and gross proceeds), both you and the IRS will be sent a copy of Form 1099-K by your cryptocurrency exchange. This alerts the government that you have cryptocurrency activity that you should be reporting on your tax return.

Frustratingly, 1099-K does not help the taxpayer actually report his or her capital gains and losses on a tax return. Again, this is because 1099-K does not report any of this, it only reports gross proceeds or the total volume of your transactions on your cryptocurrency exchange.

To properly report, you need to calculate your gains and losses for each trade and report them on Form 8949 and include it with your tax return. You can learn more about the specifics of cryptocurrency tax reporting in this complete guide for investors.

As sending out 1099-K to customers is obviously extremely misleading and frustrating experience for the customers of cryptocurrency exchanges, it is likely that they move away from this practice in the future. 

As the IRS continues to pass legislation in the space, cryptocurrency exchanges will likely be forced to send out a Form 1099-B to customers who meet specific requirements. 1099-B is typically used within the world of stock trading and investing, and it does indeed report gains and losses to the taxpayer — this greatly helps when it comes to reporting on your tax return.

There are other challenges that cryptocurrency exchanges face when trying to issue a 1099-B, and they all stem around cost basis reporting. Because cryptocurrency is transferable, cost basis information is not always held by a single cryptocurrency exchange which makes 1099-B reporting extremely difficult. 

As long as you are reporting your capital gains and losses from your cryptocurrency investing activity, you don’t have anything to worry about.

Coinbase, Gemini, and others may still send out a 1099-K, but you will have your bases covered. When the government receives the 1099-K, they will see that you have indeed claimed cryptocurrency on your tax return and reported the income associated with it properly.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Guides & Tutorials

Is Bitcoin a Scam or Not?

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Is Bitcoin A Scam Or Not?

Due to Bitcoin’s flexibility, autonomy, and accessibility, the cryptocurrency has been regarded as a game-changer in the 21st-century financial system. With Bitcoin, users control how they spend their money without having to deal with the bottlenecks of banks and government restrictive policies.

That said, the volatility and perceived anonymity inherent in it also makes it somewhat a potentially high-risk venture. There are mixed feelings that surround investing in the leading virtual currency as demonstrated by the comments made by various popular billionaire investors and business tycoons when asked the question.

Experts Opinions

Warren Buffett

“Cryptocurrencies basically have no value. They don’t produce anything. “You can’t do anything with it except sell it to somebody else. But then that person’s got the problem.”

Paul Tudor Jones

“Wall Street could be witnessing the historic birthing of a store of value through popular cryptocurrency bitcoin. It’s great speculation.” 

John McAfee

“Bitcoin is in the mid 10’s and people worry. LMFAO!! Why do you pay attention to weekly fluctuations? Look at the past few months FFS! It’s rising drastically. I’m still positive about…”

The above comments emphasize the level of volatility and uncertainty associated with the leading virtual asset, which underlies the authenticity and sustainability question on the digital asset.

While we shall still make reference to the above-mentioned comments later in this review, we would like to quickly highlight what Bitcoin entails and whether it is the right investment for you.

Bitcoin: A Snapshot

Bitcoin is the first successful blockchain-based cryptocurrency that was launched in 2009 by an anonymous person or group called Satoshi Nakamoto. Since its release, the digital currency as recorded massive gains, with its value racing from almost zero in 2009 to almost $20,000 in 2017. The coin is trading around $10,000 at the time of writing this article.  

Getting started with Bitcoin trading simply begins with having a Bitcoin wallet installed on either one’s computer or mobile phone. You can then buy or sell the currency via trading platforms like  Coinbase, Binance, Robinhood, and many others. 

Is Bitcoin Legit?

For the prospective investors in bitcoins trading, the issue of Bitcoin’s legitimacy or scam is a crucial one. In spite of the growing skepticism about the legitimacy of Bitcoin, it seems to offer something exciting to its investors.

Regulation and mainstream adoption

Although Bitcoin has not yet become a legal tender of any country, it is considered as a property in some nations. And it is shaping the regulatory perspectives of some governments of the world. For instance, in 2019, the second Chinese jurisdiction declared that Bitcoin is a legal property, despite the country’s unfriendly regulation in previous years.

There is also increasing adoption of Bitcoin for payment purposes like taxation and donation. It was reported recently that Switzerland’s canton of Zug now allows taxpayers within its jurisdiction to pay their taxes using Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Institutional interests in Bitcoin

Traditional institutions are becoming more open to the idea of adding digital assets like Bitcoin to their portfolio. For example, it is reported that Fidelity Investments in 2018 launched a cryptocurrency-investment focused subsidiary named Fidelity Digital Asset Services for institutional investors.

More recently, Microstrategy, a reputable data analytics company with a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, recently acquired $250 million worth of Bitcoin (21,454 BTC) as part of its cash reserves.

Industry growth

The birth of Bitcoin created a multi-billion dollar market. The crypto market is currently valued at over $320 billion with more rooms for growth. Additionally, the industry has also seen the rise of reputable blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused companies, including Binance, Coinbase, Bakkt, and Chainalysis to mention a few.

Aside from these, experts and entrepreneurs in the cryptocurrency space have also been featured in mainstream magazines as some of the most promising business people in the world.

In 2018, the Huran Research Institute ranked Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and 13 other crypto persons in its list of China’s richest businesspeople.

More recently, Binance’s Catherine Coley, Bakkt’s Adam White, eToro’s Yoni Assia, and other crypto entrepreneurs made it to Fortune 40 under 40 2020.

Is Bitcoin a Scam?

Despite the above arguments for Bitcoin’s legitimacy, the industry is still fraught with some downsides that critics usually use against the digital assets. Potential investors should be aware of these before concluding if Bitcoin is a scam or legit.

Fake Bitcoin investment schemes

 There is a growing number of fraudulent investment schemes taking advantage of the rising global interest in Bitcoin to lure and dupe unsuspecting investors.

Chainalysis reported one of the biggest ever Ponzi schemes known as PlusToken that made about $2 billion in 2019 from fake coins from investors. The scammers promised investors high returns on their investments if they used Bitcoin to buy the project’s token called Plus. But it all ended in pains.

As a potential investor in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, it is important to do adequate research before investing your money in any project or platform that claims to offer Bitcoin investments.

Keep up with our Scam Alerts section to know how fraudulent crypto projects operate.

Hacks

Aside from fraudulent schemes and scams, the crypto industry has become a favorite playing ground for hackers. Crypto exchanges and investors have become victims of this nefarious act, which has led to the loss of millions if not billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.

One of the greatest hacks of all time in the crypto world is that of Mt. Gox, one of the first Bitcoin exchanges in the early days of the digital asset. According to reports, the exchange was hacked in 2014, losing approximately 850,000 BTC, which were worth over $450 million at that time. As of today, those BTC are worth more than $8.5 billion.

Other notable hacks include the Bitfinex hack with $76 million lost and Cryptopia’s with over $20 million stolen by the hackers, which forced the exchange to shut down.

High level of volatility

Bitcoin is a volatile asset. And this has been a key argument for many critics to discourage Bitcoin investments. For instance, in March, the price of Bitcoin fell from over $9,000 to $3,500 within a few days.

Following the bloodbath, critics, including Bloomberg’s editor, Joe Weisenthal, gave several reasons why 2020 has been a bad year for Bitcoin.

But the volatility in the crypto market is what keeps many existing traders interested in trading cryptocurrencies over traditional assets like stock and gold. An August report published by analysts at JP Morgan confirmed this.  According to the report, Bitcoin has become more attractive to millennials since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Final Words

Although Bitcoin investments offer exciting benefits to investors, it should be noted that all that glitters is not gold. A prospective investor should do thorough research about Bitcoin trading and exchanges before investing.

The comments of Warren Buffett, John McAfee, Paul Tudor Jones mentioned above highlight the level of skepticism and optimism that surround Bitcoin as a digital asset.

Since the leading cryptocurrency is mostly stored online, investors stand the risk of losing their coins to hackers, which may not be easy to trace. Thus, it is important for investors to learn how to secure their digital assets, especially with cold wallet storage for high-net investors.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Guides & Tutorials News

What Will Bitcoin Look Like In Ten Years?

Bitcoins
Bitcoin Rally Expected To Pause

Bitcoin is a digital currency created by the pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It is the online version of money. It was the first cryptocurrency created, and it set the pace for other cryptocurrencies. It allows users to send and receive funds without a third-party intermediary, making it a decentralized payment system. 

People can obtain the coin through different ways including mining, trading, and receiving it as a payment for goods and services. Bitcoin mining is the process of confirming and validating Bitcoin transactions, and by so doing, new coins are created and released into circulation. 

Mining involves solving computational puzzles to discover a new block that is added to the blockchain. A blockchain is a virtual giant account book that keeps track of every bitcoin mined and traded. It makes it easy to trace the history of coins and prevents people from spending coins they do not own, making fake copies and undoing already conducted transactions. 

Peculiarities and risks involved with Bitcoin

Independent Reserve is the commonest way of acquiring coins, either by buying or selling them. People can send coins to your virtual bitcoin wallet, and you can do equally the same. This makes becoming a trader easy and straightforward.

Bitcoin’s price is very volatile and mostly unpredictable. The cryptocurrency once traded as high as $19,783 during the crypto boom of 2017. At the time of writing, the BTC price is $8,100. 

There are a few risks associated with trading bitcoin.  Trading becomes a security risk because all exchanges are digital, and as with all virtual systems, hacking, bugs, and malware are possible. This risk can be mitigated by not storing encryption keys on a computer. It is a better idea to print them on paper and keep them in a safe place or use a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S to store large amounts of cryptocurrencies.

There is also the risk of fraud. Fraudsters may attempt to sell false bitcoins. This can be discovered easily by looking into the blockchain of the transaction properly. There have also been cases of bitcoin price manipulation by fraudsters.

The main danger of bitcoin trading is market risk. Like all investments, coin value can fluctuate. The currency has seen significant oscillations in price over its short life span. The worth of coins has been known to depreciate over 61% in a single day. However, the reverse scenario is also possible, so this risk can also double as an advantage.

What the future holds?

Despite all that, a silent Bitcoin revolution is going on. Over 200,000 stores in Japan accept the cryptocurrency as a means of payment for a transaction. In ten years, more stores and merchants will start accepting Bitcoins worldwide. This will increase both the Bitcoin price in USD and the market for the coin.

The more top brands endorse Bitcoin as a valid means of payment, the more everyday people will be willing to use BTC and cryptocurrencies in general. This move will exponentially increase the value as there would be more demand with limited supply.

Bitcoin may still not be used as a medium of exchange soon; however, analysts predict it would become an invaluable store of value. It will serve as a means of keeping one’s money safe from currency depreciation. This makes it a good investment.

Conclusion

All in all, Bitcoin trading is an evolving trend. There are some risks involved, but it’s no surprise for every investment. The trends demonstrate a steady but slow increase in the number of companies that accept bitcoin and the number of traders. It is compatible with technology, convenient, and virtual nature makes it accessible from anywhere in the world.

More young people are investing in cryptocurrencies, and according to market trends, more people will get join the bandwagon.

In ten years, the cryptocurrency is expected to have more users and traders, a better price, and be more acceptable by a majority of stores and trading companies all over the world, barring any drastic changes in world market trends.

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Altcoins Blockchain Guides & Tutorials News

Guide To Selling Tether In Istanbul

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Guide To Selling Tether In Istanbul

Undoubtedly, Tether (USDT) is one of the most popular and significant stablecoins that serve various purposes and is considered a core cryptocurrency in the market- especially in Istanbul.

Due to its increasing popularity and multiple benefits, tether has now become the third-largest cryptocurrency in the world. However, it’s still far behind other crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. But not to mention, it’s stable enough to beat coins like Dogecoin, Cardano, and XRP.

The bonus part is tether’s price always be steady at $1 making it reliable crypto for investors.

Buying and Selling USDT in Istanbul

So, if this largely growing crypto is on your radar and you are planning to buy Tether in Istanbul for more profits, then here are a few important things you should consider first before finalizing your deal.

  1. Tether is a stablecoin linked to the US Dollar:

As mentioned above, tether USDT is a stablecoin that is linked to the US dollar. Now, these assets have an equal value, like $1 is equal to 1 tether always.

Since the price of this crypto is always intended to mirror the dollar, it’s usually not the kind of cryptocurrency that can be bought and held in hopes of seeing an increase in its price like other coins.

  1. Tether is useful for several other things but not the best for investment:

If you want to sell Tether in Istanbul, it’s important to know various uses and qualities of tether so you can easily convince people in the market about its versatile uses.

Tether is not very ideal for investments but yes, it has a lot of other uses such as:

  • Money transfer: If you are looking to transfer money between crypto wallets, then USDT is probably the best thing to consider. You can easily manage this between your own accounts or can even send money to someone you know. The best part is tether doesn’t charge any kind of fee while transferring money between wallets.
  • Earn interest: Many cryptocurrencies’ exchanges offer you to pay money when you lend crypto. You can even earn 20-25% interest by lending out your crypto assets. The reason to do this is, tether’s price doesn’t fluctuate like other coins. However, with other cryptocurrencies, there is always a fear of price drops, and you could end up lending with loss.
  1. Transit cryptocurrency:

Another important thing to keep in mind is that you can easily transfer your real money into digital cash. Yes, tether facilitates a lot of conversions.

This is usually considered to be a big deal in different parts of the world, even in Istanbul. But remember, there are many locations where crypto conversions into a fiat currency are a very difficult task. In fact, in some countries, this practice is considered to be illegal.

So, for all these parts of the world, the tether is definitely a smart choice.

  1. Buy and sell tether on a reliable crypto exchange:

Well, there are thousands of platforms in Istanbul and other parts of the world that can give you access to hundreds of cryptocurrencies.

But the important thing to consider is, you need to evaluate and choose the reliable crypto exchange in Istanbul that is already trusted by many people around the world.

  1. Remittance:

The tether can revolutionize international transaction systems.

You can send it anywhere without the need to convert funds or pay exorbitant transference fees. Tether USDT is as easy to send as other cryptos all around the world.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Top Cryptocurrencies To Watch This Week

Cryptocurrency-market
Top Cryptocurrencies To Watch This Week

As the new week unfolds, the crypto market is on the verge of another breakout. Some coins like Cardano and ONE are setting the bars high as they kick start a new week with multiple news that is sure to positively impact the prices of these coins.

The crypto market ended on a very bearish note last week. This week may be a reverse of the last seven days, let’s take a look at the top four cryptocurrencies to watch this week.

BTC/USD

BTC closed the last seven days with a loss of more than 18%. The king coin recorded a high of $52,936 and a low of $42,900 during this time. Many traders are hopeful that the new week will usher in a different situation than what the coin closed last week. Market trends as been disrupted but recent events earlier today suggest that these trends may be back in play.

Price movement tends to go higher over the weekend and dip as another week unfolds. The last 24 hours have stayed true to these actions and bitcoin has recorded an intraday low of $43,400 and a high of $46,060. BTC current price revealed that the coin is currently at a loss of 3%.

The next 24 hours may be a continuation of the current situation. We may see bitcoin dip as low as $43,000. If the bulls don’t support the $43k mark, BTC may be on a free fall as there are no visible supports until $37,000. The current market sentiments are a little bullish and suggest a rally soon. We may see the largest crypto surge as high as $47,000 and higher.

ADA/USD
Cardano is starting a new week with much positivity. IOHK tweeted earlier today that Cardano completed Alonzo hard fork, ushering in its long-awaited smart contract functionality. He added that this is where the mission truly begins as Cardano and it’s whole community, start delivering on the vision it has been working towards for so long. Building a decentralized system that extends economic identity and opportunity to everyone, everywhere.

Unfortunately, ADA failed to excite as it losses 10% of its worth per unit. A failure to pick up momentum will result in the coin dipping to $2.2. Although the $2.2 support is weak but critical to guarantee that the ADA/USD pair will continue to trade above $2. We may see Cardano surge as high as $2.8 as it aims for $3.

DOT/USD
Polkadot is the only coin in the top 10 that closed last week in gains above 3%. A recent analysis stated that many predictions are aiming at $40 and there is a lot of resistance to this course. Aside from retesting $35, the bulls also take care not to leave any space for bearish dominance as the $38 resistance is a very strong one and may take repeated attempts to flip it. The analysis concluded by reinstating the bulls commitment as the RSI is on the rise and showing no signs of dipping.

DOT did not slip into the bearish dominance like most coins did as was previously predicted. The eighth coin by market cap ranking surge to another high during the last 24 hours. Polkadot hit a “wall” as the $38 resistance proved the strongest so far after $35. The current price shows that some traders are taking profit as the coin under consideration is trading at $35.8 following a correction at $38.

Polkadot may continue to fall back on the $35 support until it flips $38. Massive seller congestion may result in the coin falling back to $30. The DOT/USD pair has the potential to surpass $40 this week as the bull will continue to push the coin.

ONE/USD
Harmony had a 20% price hike over the last 24 hours. The surge in ONE price came after the project announced a new $300 million ecosystem fund that will attract 10,000 developers and project founders to build on the protocol. Unfortunately, the coin failed to stay off bearish sentiments as it lost 14% over the last 20 hours.

The coin could be heading for a new week of bullish actions. We may see improvements to the coin in the coming days. These improvements span from price to projects features. ONE is headed for $2.5 as the bulls are looking to take profit at this mark. After failing to stay above $2, the mark will be a tough one to flip.

The crypto market is knee-deep into the bearish dominance. Will it continue or will the bulls respond? Let’s see.

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Altcoins Blockchain

Uniswap Labs Being Probed By The U.S SEC

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Uniswap Labs Being Probed By The U.s Sec

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly on the heels of Uniswap Labs, the company behind the popular Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Uniswap.

The Wall Street Journal reported the development Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The report claims that enforcement attorneys are specifically seeking information regarding how investors use the token and how the project is marketed to the public.

The latest development comes a few weeks after SEC Chair Gary Gensel confirmed that decentralized finance (DeFi) projects are top of the regulator’s watchlist.

It is worth recalling that in July, Uniswap restricted the trading of synthetic assets on its front-end. Synthetic assets are tokens that track the price movement of traditional assets such as stocks and ETFs, which are labeled securities under U.S. laws. The decision to disable the trading of such assets on the Uniswap front-end is likely to be a result of the reported probe by the SEC.

A spokesperson for Uniswap Labs reportedly told the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the latest probe, that the project is “committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing our industry and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry.”

The Uniswap governance token, UNI, is trading at $29.7 at the time of writing, relatively unscathed by news of the SEC probe.

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Blockchain

El Salvador Penalize Businesses That Don’t Accept Bitcoin

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El Salvador Penalize Businesses That Don’t Accept Bitcoin

El Salvador’s government just passed a law that it will penalize businesses that don’t accept Bitcoin as payment.

El Salvador has recently made Bitcoin its national currency, and with that, many changes to the previous money system and the advocates behind the Bitcoin adoption law are now working tirelessly to ensure that Bitcoin usage reaches every part of the country.

Javier Argueta, the legal counsel to the Presidential House of El Salvador, had declared, just a day before Bitcoin became legal tender, that businesses all over the country are expected to accept all Bitcoin payments from customers. Failure to comply with the law will lead to sanctions. As such, all businesses are required to have a Bitcoin wallet in order to carry out the transaction. Businesses can decide to receive the transaction in Bitcoin or in dollars.    

However, it’s worth knowing that the World Bank, the IMF, the U.S government, the European Union, and opposing parties in El Salvador are among the naysayers who have repeatedly opposed to the Bitcoin law.

A week ago, social organizations even took to the street to protest against the law. Previously, the IMF had warned the president repeatedly on the risks that could precede his decisions, but Mr. Bukele seems baffled.

Although Bitcoin has had a 10% dip in prices on the same day that the law was implemented, President Bukele remains confident. Taunting the IMF, Bukele tweeted It appears the discount is ending Thanks for the dip IMFNews. We saved a million in the printed paper. El Salvador now holds 550 bitcoin.

Gold bug Peter Schiff has pointed out that the move might cause huge damage going forward and he attributes this to Bitcoin whales. President Bukele, however, did not respond to the gold advocate, he has already made his thoughts clear on the matter.

Clearly, he is not oblivious to the volatility that comes with cryptocurrencies. He acknowledged that the move is a learning curve and notes the importance of breaking the norms and advancing technologically in the country.

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Altcoins Bitcoin Blockchain

Nigeria’s Chimezei Chuta Is Convinced That Crypto Industry Is Uncertain

8-december-3-1
Crypto Excelling In Nigeria Amidst Central Bank Ban

Chimezei Chuta, the Founder and Coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria’s User Group (BNUG) claims that the state of the cryptocurrency market is still uncertain. He believes so because the industry is still not being regulated by any official government agency.

He said that Nigeria’s premium hybrid blockchain and crypto assets conference was birthed to explore technology, value and innovation trends to shape the future of money across the entire population.

He believes that the activities of blockchain have enhanced the growth and development of the ecosystem in the last four years in Nigeria and across Africa. Now the SEC has rolled out a notification that it will resume its intension to regulate the virtual currencies. As soon as it is done, cryptocurrency companies will be permitted to run bank accounts.

One of Africa’s largest and most untapped markets is the creator economy. Using NFTs and crypto arts, creators across art, film, gaming, and sports, among others, can monetize followers and intellectual property, which can then bring about royalties and revenue streams across multiple assets.

On the regulation holding down Nigerians’ ability to tap into the benefits of crypto and Bitcoin opportunities, he said BNUG is a strong advocate for blockchain technology and works with all levels of government policymakers and regulators like SEC Nigeria, NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency), NDIC (Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation), the CBN (Central Bank of) and other stakeholders to support businesses.

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Bitcoin Blockchain

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption Could Result in Huge Loses

El-salvador-bitcoin-1-740x492-1
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption Could Result In Huge Loses

El Salvador has made a lot of headlines in the past few months after adopting bitcoin as a legal tender and becoming the first country to add bitcoin to its portfolio.

A recent report from CNBC has revealed that several remittance providers like Western Union can lose a lot of money, a whopping $400 million monthly, once Salvadorans adopt bitcoin on a large scale.

In El Salvador, about 70% of the population relies on remittances from their relatives living abroad and for some people, it makes up about 50% of their total income.

As per the report, these remittances from abroad account for nearly a quarter of El Salvador’s GDP, about 23%.

Several major remittance providers take advantage of this large annual money movement to charge hefty fees for sending and receiving transactions, some charge as much as 12.5% for sending $100.

Not only do these companies charge hefty fees, but the money also takes too long to get to the owners, in some instances, a couple of days.

Jaime García, a Salvadoran currently living in Canada and serving as the head of a team of researchers at SGI Canada Insurance, told CNBC of the hassle involved in sending money to his family in El Salvador.

He said. “In this day and age, it is wild that I had to go to a physical Western Union office, give them actual cash, and then hand them another $25 on top of that before they would send my money over. And then, of course, it takes three days for it to actually arrive in El Salvador.”

García, however, noted that he was mostly concerned about what happens when his family goes to get the money. “They have to take a bus to go to a physical location to pick it up, and there are gangs that hang out around those offices. They know what people are going there for, and they basically rob them.”

Since legalizing the use of bitcoin in El Salvador, citizens have the option of sending and receiving money at extremely low fees, little time wasted and increased security.

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management, told CNBC. “Remittances are one area where the status quo in our legacy financial system is terrible, with extraordinarily high fees leveled at populations that can ill afford them. It’s a worn-out Twitter saying, but bitcoin really does fix this.”

The $30 worth of free bitcoin given to Salvadorans using the Chivo wallet gives them an added incentive to adopt the digital asset.

Now, citizens who receive remittances can withdraw their funds from any of the bitcoin ATMs scattered across the country.

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Altcoins Blockchain News

Still On SEC vs. Ripple

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Still On Sec Vs. Ripple

The SEC vs. Ripple (XRP) case keeps going on, taking turns for both good and bad. For one, the SEC has just officially and legally admitted that it never told anyone XRP was a security prior to when the lawsuit was brought against the company.

This comes after Ripple agreed to the SEC’s request to produce its internal recordings. The scope of the production process will include various categories of the all-hands meetings starting from the fourth quarter of 2014, SBI town halls, fireside chats, among others.

The SEC will also have access to the recordings of the specific town halls, during which Ripple employees discussed the investigation, in Dec. 22, 2020, the company’s outlook in the light of an XRP price dropped in Feb. 26, 2018, and the centralization of cryptocurrencies in March 30, 2020.

Both Ripple and SEC has admitted that Ripple owes no fiduciary duty to XRP holders in the ongoing case. Therefore the XRP army is ready to represent its own interests in the case.

Ripple’s first request for admissions to the SEC was attached to the most recent court filing and in it the SEC admits that it never told anyone that XRP was a security, until the lawsuit was filed. It is now an official admission in the case.

In response, the SEC objected to the request, tagging it as irrelevant to the case as the commission was entitled to proceed with the case even if the requested fact was true. It however admitted that the commission never stated a view on the status of XRP being a security or not and therefore it is significant to Ripple’s fair notice defense as it shows what the company has been arguing about for a long time.

The company stated that it hasn’t sold a security to investors and even if it unwittingly did, it was not given fair notice by the regulator. This filing in a way confirms this to the court.

This led experts to believe that the case is finally coming to an end. Many market observers are considering the tide to be in Ripple’s favor however as the SEC has continuously failed to follow through with the directives of the Judge, Sarah Netburn.

Both parties will meet and converse regarding the scope of production. There is an ongoing dispute concerning relevant recordings regarding whether or not Ripple should search for recordings that feature certain employees as relevant speakers.

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Altcoins Bitcoin Blockchain News

Crypto Excelling In Nigeria Amidst Central Bank Ban

8-december-3-1
Crypto Excelling In Nigeria Amidst Central Bank Ban

Cryptocurrency being a big deal in Nigeria is not a breaking news. Nigeria is one of the leading countries adopting crypto at the moment. Almost half the country have properties in crypto. The people of Nigeria do not want to miss out on the opportunities that the virtual currencies offer and so the number of them looking to buy Bitcoin and altcoins are getting high by the minute.

The rate of adoption keeps growing day by day despite the ambiguous legal status of cryptocurrencies in the country. Nigeria has never had a law that governs cryptocurrency, but earlier this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria released a statement that says the use of Bitcoin and other digital assets have been banned in the country.

Initially, the ban was regarded by many to be the end of owning virtual assets in Nigeria. However, the situation took a rather opposite turn as crypto continues to flourish in the country, proving that the ban hasn’t had a major effect on cryptocurrency usage in the country.

Instead, many citizens have adjusted to the current situation. They have found new ways to buy the virtual currencies and continue their trades.

While the government ban has prevented all financial institutions and banks from any crypto transaction and have commanded that they shut down any account involving crypto trade be shut down immediately in this kind of trade. Crypto traders in Nigeria have found a way around this restriction.

The ban has limited one of the most common ways to buy BTC which is the operations of centralized exchanges which are one of the most common ways people buy BTC in Nigeria. On centralized exchanges, people buy bitcoin in Naira directly from their bank accounts and according to the statement released, if you carry out such a transaction, your account is going to be flagged. One of the solution to this is peer-to-peer exchanges.

After the ban, Nigerians turned to P2P exchanges for their cryptocurrency transactions. So while the ban was supposed to limit the number of transactions carried out in the country and affect the growth of crypto, Nigerians have been trading on P2P platforms like Remita no.

On P2P platforms, you don’t buy BTC with the Naira directly from the exchange: you buy from another person. The P2P exchange only serves as a marketplace to bring buyers and sellers together. So on P2P exchange platforms, the buyer transfers the worth of Bitcoin or any altcoin they want to buy directly to the seller’s bank account just like the normal inter-bank transaction and the seller sends the crypto to the buyer’s wallet through the exchange.

No financial institution is needed to authorize the transaction. When you send money directly from one account to another, it is almost impossible for banks to know the purpose of the transaction as it could be used for any other purpose. So P2P trades are difficult for the regulatory bodies to trace and this makes it hard to fish out and shut down such accounts.

A lot of people in Nigeria have turned to Bitcoin for foreign transactions, taking advantage of the decentralized nature of the currency. The ban does not affect the use of crypto for inter-border transfer long as it is not facilitated by a financial institution.

Other reasons why crypto continues to thrive in Nigeria is that a lot of Nigerians use Bitcoin to hedge against the hike as naira continues to lose its value, so crypto traders and investors continue to find ways to buy bitcoin in Nigeria.

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Bitcoin Guides & Tutorials Technology

How Bitcoin Scams Work

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How Bitcoin Scams Work

People ages 20 to 49 are over five times more likely to report losing money on crypto scams since around October last year. Specifically people in their 20s and 30s have been hit the hardest. They have lost far more money on crypto investment scams than on any other type of fraud scheme.

More than half of all reported investment scam losses are in cryptocurrency. However, while people over the age of 50 are less likely to report losing money on crypto scams, their reported individual losses were higher, with a median of $3,250.

We all need to be more susceptible to crypto scams especially the people that are more likely to take risks and are more active and fluent with online banking platforms and apps like Venmo and Cash App. Millennials are also more likely to have an interest in or knowledge of cryptocurrency than their older counterparts. This might bring you to ask yourself how exactly do Bitcoin scams even work?

The FTC’s report reveals median losses from Bitcoin scams have totaled $1,900. But compared to the same period a year prior, there were 12 times the number of reports and a nearly 1,000 percent increase in reported losses.

Thanks to the anonymity of the internet, scammers are able to blend into the crypto scene with claims that can seem plausible. Cryptocurrencies are still not a completely known territory for many people, and this makes it harder for them to tell what’s real and what’s a scam

Scammers are increasingly impersonating government authorities and business. Some people have reported to the FTC that they deposited cash into Bitcoin ATMs to pay imposters claiming to be from the Social Security Administration. Others reported losing money to scammers posing as Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that only 14 percent of reported losses to imposters on the internet involved cryptocurrency. A much larger proportion, 86 percent, involved fiat currency. But this ratio is likely to change as the crypto industry is growing exponentially. If it continue, the percentage of losses involving virtual currencies is likely to increase in the coming years.

Another way scammers do it is by appearing friendly and willing to share their investment tips with you. This is often part of the ruse to get people to invest in their scheme. Some of these schemes are based on referral chains and work by bringing in people who then recruit new investors.

Scammers tell people to pay in crypto for the right to recruit others into a program in turn for rewards paid in cryptocurrency. The more you pay, the more money they promise you’ll make.

Other tactics involve using online dating to draw people in. Not long ago, the FTC received reports of investors who are tricked into believing they are in long-distance relationships. When a trust has been established, these lovers will promise huge returns on exciting, new cryptocurrency investment schemes, then ghost them after they have invested, leaving with the money.

Another way is through giveaways that are promoted on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media site that appear to be sponsored by celebrities promising to immediately multiply the cryptocurrencies people send. In most cases, duped investors are just sending coins directly to a scammer’s wallet. Impersonators of crypto enthusiast and self-described received over $2 million this year alone.

Bottom-line is if you’re interested in getting involved with cryptocurrency, use common sense and be careful where you invest your money and who you invest it with. Be smart, do your research, and you’ll likely come out unscathed.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Ukraine Makes Bitcoin Legal

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Ukraine Makes Bitcoin Legal

Ukraine just legalized Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies after Parliament overwhelmingly passed a new digital asset law. The bill was passed in a near-unanimous vote on Wednesday and will shortly be signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The main purpose of this bill is to provide clarification on the virtual asset and protect those who own bitcoin, as it wasn’t previously officially legal or illegal in the country. Though not illegal, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies treated bitcoin and other virtual currencies as a scam, resulting in bitcoin businesses getting raided.

Ukraine is the latest in a string of nations that have moved to integrate Bitcoin into the economy, and this comes in following El Salvador’s move to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The bill, which was originally crafted in September 2020, provides greater protections for investors and businesses alike against fraud. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said that more locals would invest in Bitcoin if cryptocurrency is made legal and therefore safer.

Courts can properly protect individuals and businesses now that this bill has been passed, since it provides tax clarity and officially allows Bitcoin businesses to operate within the country. It also sets some guidelines for how Ukraine may try and regulate bitcoin more in the coming future.

The country plans to open up the cryptocurrency market to businesses and investors by 2022. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, also recently said the country was modernising its payment market so that its National Bank could issue digital currency. This bill gives the citizens permission to own and trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on exchanges. The bill also gives clarity on wallets and what private keys are.

Before the bill, Ukrainians were largely given mixed signals on dealing with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Investors have been free to trade on cryptocurrency exchanges. At the same time, businesses and trading platforms were regarded as suspicious by the authorities.

If anything, cryptocurrency businesses have been the target of unjustified raids in which equipment has been seized by Ukraine’s law enforcement authority, which has been known to doubt the validity of digital assets. Apart from Ukraine and El Salvador, Cuba and Germany have also made strides. Panama is expected to be the next country to regulate cryptocurrencies as it is currently considering a draft law.

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Blockchain NFT

La Liga Is Launching NFT Fantasy Football Cards For All Its Players

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La Liga Is Launching Nft Fantasy Football Cards For All Its Players

The Spanish top soccer league, La Liga, is joining the blockchain world by launching officially licensed digital cards of players to be sold and traded online. The platform will now launch NFTs based on all of the players playing in the league, which fans can buy, trade, and play with.

La Liga is teaming up with French start-up Sorare to launch its NFTs. Sorare’s platform lets users trade digital player cards and manage teams of five in a number of fantasy football tournaments. Sorare is a marketplace for digital cards from more than 180 football clubs and with more than 500,000 registered users. The platform lists the Cristiano Ronaldo card as its most expensive one at ($289,000). Next is the one for Antoine Griezmann, who is now back with Atletico Madrid, valued at $112,900. Nicolas Julia, Sorare’s CEO and co-founder, has said, “Today is a huge milestone for us because it’s the first top five league joining the platform.”

La Liga clubs will be receiving royalties on sales, and Sorare has paid a minimum guarantee to ensure exclusivity, the company said. The firm’s partnership with La Liga also includes Spain’s second division, La Liga Smartbank. Clubs from these leagues will enjoy additional revenue via the new category of NFT licenses. Since the start of the year, Sorare’s marketplace has seen card sales volume of around $130 million.

Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, said, ““At La Liga we are always looking for innovative ways to offer our fans new and exciting experiences and to broaden the appeal of our competition, the greatest in the world. This partnership with Sorare, the most exciting sports NFT projects today, enables us to reach new audiences globally and gives existing fans additional ways they can get involved with the players and the clubs they love.”

NFTs have been increasingly used in the arts and collecting world as they effectively provide certificates of authenticity to digital items thanks to the blockchain technology, which generates blocks of information or transactions that are secure and transparent. The transactions are stored on a network of computers around the world without the need of a centralized party or authority to control the data. The information can’t be altered, and the blocks are chained together using cryptography to form a protected and public digital ledger.

Several top soccer clubs worldwide have joined the blockchain technology, including Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Roma, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

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Blockchain News

Mastercard Acquires CipherTrace

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Mastercard Acquires Ciphertrace

Mastercard continues to strengthen its digital asset capabilities, buying CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency intelligence company, according to a Thursday announcement.

CipherTrace was founded in 2015 and the company focuses on cryptocurrency intelligence, anti-money laundering (AML), blockchain analytics and forensics, and compliance solutions. The company first started tracking Bitcoin criminal activity in 2011, and claims to have insight into more than 900 cryptocurrencies.

The financial terms of the acquisition by Mastercard remain undisclosed, but the payments company said it would leverage the analytics capabilities of CipherTrace to enhance security and fraud detection in crypto assets by integrating this with its own cybersecurity technology. Its plan is to give businesses greater transparency into the crypto space and help them understand risks and manage their digital asset regulatory and compliance obligations.

Commenting on the acquisition, president of Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard Ajay Bhalla was quoted to have said: “Digital assets have the potential to reimagine commerce, from everyday acts like paying and getting paid to transforming economies, making them more inclusive and efficient. With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure it is trusted and safe. Our aim is to build upon the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do just this.”

Earlier this year, the payments company announced that it was buying digital identity verification company Ekata for $850 million. In early 2020, it acquired third-party risk management firm RiskRecon, and in 2019, it acquired Ethoca, a firm that helps merchants and issuers to identify and resolve digital frauds such as false chargebacks. The latest acquisition is believed to be a part of Mastercard’s aggressive full-proof strategy in the digital assets space, which has seen it partner with Uphold, Gemini and BitPay to create crypto cards, build platforms to test and support CBDCs, and programmes to support the broader use of blockchain technology and NFTs.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Bitcoin Is Now El Salvador’s Official Currency!

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Bitcoin Is Now El Salvador’s Official Currency!

El Salvador has just became the first country to make Bitcoin its official currency as announced by President Nayib Bukele in a press release late Monday, who tweeted that the country had bought its first 400 bitcoins.

The digital currency is the official currency of El Salvador alongside the US dollar. This is a move that will surely draw attention to the opportunities and risks associated with virtual currencies.

Back in June, the country passed a legislation approving Bitcoin as a valid legal tender; allowing all businesses to accept the currency as a legitimate payment if they have the means and technology to do so. Under the law, El Salvador will continue to use the U.S. dollar alongside Bitcoin and the exchange rate between the two currencies will be determined by the market price.

The government has created a $150 million fund to back conversions of bitcoin to US dollars and 200 ATMs have been installed throughout the country that operate with both Bitcoins and dollars.​​ Salvadorans can also download the government’s digital wallet Chivo and receive $30 in Bitcoin. The government said the measure will benefit those living abroad by saving millions of dollars in commissions on remittances given such transactions account for more than 23% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to figures from the World Bank.

The president shared that the adoption of Bitcoin as a national currency was motivated partly by El Salvador’s reliance on remittances. Since Bitcoin allows for the exchange of money without a middleman guaranteeing the contract and collecting transfer fees on remittances, adopting the cryptocurrency would save billions of dollars previously lost to financial intermediaries.

However, polls show that most Salvadorans are skeptical about Bitcoin and have expressed concerns about how the leading virtual currency will affect their overall earnings. A survey showed that seven out of ten Salvadorans disagree or strongly disagree with the use of Bitcoin and that they prefer the dollar.

In any case, this is a huge move towards Bitcoin’s global adoption.

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Blockchain Business News People

Financial Watchdog Criticizes Crypto Ads After Kim Kardashian Post

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Financial Watchdog Criticizes Crypto Ads After Kim Kardashian Post

The head of UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Charles Randell, just said that crypto advertisements, especially from social media influencers, should face regulations, after an ad post by Kim Kardashian that promotes Ethereum Max.

The FCA has repeatedly warned against the risk of cryptocurrencies, arguing that investors can potentially lose all their money because the assets are not backed by the UK government’s financial services compensation scheme.

He said in a speech warning of the risks of speculative cryptocurrency tokens that Kim Kardashian had asked her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens by joining the Ethereum Max Community. Randell believes that the post may have been the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history.

“As we live more and more of our lives online, we can’t allow online business to operate in ways we wouldn’t tolerate with any other business,” he said. “That includes rules which protect people from investment fraud and scams.”

He thinks that Kardashian didn’t have to disclose that Ethereum Max is a speculative digital token created a month before by unknown developers; one of hundreds of such tokens that fill the crypto-exchanges. Randell stressed the fact that Ethereum Max is not connected to Ethereum, and might even be a scam.

“Social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation,” he expressed, adding that some influencers have even promoted tokens that turned out to not even exist. 

Randell finally warned that cryptocurrency tokens are not currently regulated by the FCA, nor are they covered by the U.K.’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which offers reimbursements for losses on certain investments or other financial products. If you buy them, you should be prepared to lose all your money.

Despite these risks, he believes that the hype around cryptocurrency is generating a powerful fear of missing out from some consumers.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Regulation

NFL Imposing Crypto Restrictions on Teams

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Nfl Imposing Crypto Restrictions On Teams

We have all seen cryptocurrency adoption becoming rampant throughout the years due to its huge success. But even with all of that, there are still those who see it as a bad development or a scam scheme that should not be encouraged in any way. Like the former president of the United States and the Governor of South African Central Bank.

The most recent occurrence of this is the United States NFL (National Football League). The NFL has ostensively decided to foist certain crypto restrictions on football teams. The restrictions implore that the teams are no longer allowed to accept crypto sponsorships, advertisements, or NFT sales. It is said that these restrictions are going to remain until the league manage to come up with a working strategy for sports digital trading cards and art.

An anonymous NFL member familiar with the situation going on has revealed the new guidelines/restrictions; that clubs are not allowed to sell or otherwise allow ads for specific cryptos, ICOs, or other types of token sales within club-controlled media. Same goes for any other media category that relates to Blockchain technology, virtual assets, or blockchain companies, except as outlined in the policy.

The guideline has completely ruled out the creation and sales of NFTs for the time being. The guideline comes after a recent trend that was previously noted among mainstream soccer teams, like Arsenal, Manchester United, and also the NBA. An NFL official also said that any discussions regarding crypto sponsorship deals will only be allowed if the advertising sponsorship rights are limited to promoting the company’s corporate brands.

The NFL still has not respond to questions regarding the new guideline, so the new protocols have currently neither been confirmed nor denied. However, given the amount of attention that the NFT market received from athletes in the recent months, some of of which are massive sports stars Naomi Osaka and Lionel Messi. It’s likely only a matter of time before every other professional player follows in their footsteps.

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Blockchain

How To Avoid Losses In Crypto?

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How To Avoid Losses In Crypto?

Crypto sure is a big chance for everyone to make a lot money. Signups at crypto brokers are easy and fast and sometimes there is not even an ID verification needed.

Crypto trading can be both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. You can make $20,000 as easy as you can lose it. Crypto trading can be treated as an investment or a business, but you need to approach it with a complete understanding. Alas, a lot of investors jump into crypto trading without having the proper knowledge on how everything works. Most of them are just eying on the profit that their someone else made or the market price of different cryptocurrencies.

This lack of knowledge about cryptocurrencies and the pros & cons of investing in it leads to a vast amount of loss. Today, we’ll be talking about how to minimize/avoid losses in crypto.

The first two things you need to avoid are: panicking and selling urgently. Panicking wouldn’t change anything and selling when you see the stats going positive or negative. Always have the presence of mind when you are buying/selling crypto and try to use exchange website features like order history to be able to track down your mistakes.

One of the common mistakes that new traders make is having the urge to buy cheap crypto that promise to be better at what they do thus increasing the cheap coins’ value within the next few months. Very important thing to note is to never let your emotions get the best of you when investing. Know when to turn off your emotions and be logical when choosing what to invest in.

Next point is don’t ever assume with crypto. It doesn’t mean that it has gone up and down the level, it would do that for eternity. Always use stop loss order to actively provide yourself with a safety net in case something goes wrong. You need to keep in mind that things that go down does not necessarily go up again.

Finally, never put your entire life savings into one coin that you “think” will skyrocket within the next couple of weeks or month because chances are that you are wrong. Never heed to marketing strategies that were curated specifically to lure new traders into investing money. If you’re new to trading, stay away from ICOs and never put all your eggs in one basket because if you lose that bet you lose it all.

Good traders always learn from their mistakes and acknowledge them. With this in mind, traders that are good at what they do actually excel because of the failures they have personally experienced in the past. The best coins to trade today are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and ZCash

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Bitcoin Blockchain Gaming

What Are The Best Games On Crypto Right Now?

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What Are The Best Games On Crypto Right Now?

Are you interested in gaming and Bitcoin? If so, then this article is definitely for you.

Cryptocurrencies have grown a lot in recent years, becoming a completely unique asset class that stands on its own. Between the original Bitcoin, and the various other virtual currencies that have popped up after it, there are tons of different options to invest or spend in crypto. There is already a lot of crossover between gaming and crypto. From games creating their own cryptocurrencies, crypto exchanges investing into esports and gaming and even crypto gambling on esports.

Nowadays, you can even play games to get crypto. However, it can be tricky to separate them between those that are legit and those that aren’t. Read below to see the top crypto mobile games out there:

  • ALIEN RUN

Alien Run is easily the best crypto game at the moment. It has quite a different style. In this game, you run through levels of platforming, like a traditional 2D side scroller, and for every five levels you complete, you earn a fraction of Bitcoin! Doesn’t that sound awesome?! There are loads of levels on the game too, so you can earn quite a bit as you progress. This game is also quite engaging and will need your active input a bit more.

  • BLANKOS BLOCK PART

Blankos Block Part is a MMO that runs on the Ethereum blockchain network. Blankos are vinyl toy figure that players can collect, customize, and play. The toy figures live in a world created purely for enjoyment. This game is only available on devices supported by Microsoft Windows. The status of the game currently is Beta, giving users early access. Players can create an account and play the game for free on the PC. Blankos Block Part is a game filled with innovation, enjoyment and customization which appeals to users.

  • SPARK PROFIT

Spark Profit is a bitcoin market prediction app. This financial trading simulation is fun and interactive in the sense it allows you to make predictions on real money markets such as FX and cryptocurrency markets. The more accurate your predictions are, the more points you earn. Once you reach enough points, you can cash out your earnings in BTC. The app is available for both iOS and Android users and as a web-based game.

  • CRYPTO PLANET

Crypto Planet is blockchain game that allows you to explore a crypto planet and mine crystals. Like most mobile games, this one is also reliant on you letting time pass. You leave the dagger running on a crystal for a few hours and return to collect your crystals. The more crystals you mine, the more space chests you can buy. These are the things you can actually get cryptocurrency in. The game also has an in-game wallet the coins you earn are stored, but your crypto can then be moved to any other wallet.

  • BITCOIN SOLITAIRE

Bitcoin Solitaire is one of the best crypto mobile games out there. It combines a game a lot of people like to play with the ability to get bitcoin. This is a standard solitaire game but the faster you complete it, the more points you earn which you can then transfer these points into cryptocurrency via Coinbase. This game is perfect for mining crypto.

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Blockchain DeFi News Technology

What is Cere Network And What Is The Use Of It?

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What Is Cere Network And What Is The Use Of It?

Cere Network is the first Decentralized Data Cloud platform optimized for service data integration and data collaboration. While most blockchains are simply distributed ledgers, Cere network allows for turnkey hyper-customization of enterprise data ecosystems.

The platform focuses on being more ethical, more efficient and more interoperable than any of it’s centralized counterparts. In other words, Cere delivers fast-tracked consumer enterprise adoption through decentralized data clouds, data interoperability and connectors for bridging enterprises with Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

Working with businesses that already have millions of loyal users already. Cere’s blockchain innovations– like the Decentralized Data Cloud and a SaaS solutions suite of enterprise– have been built in calibration with the blockchain platform Polkadot in order to bring a collection of enterprise-focused interoperable networks and solutions into the substantial blockchain world.

Cere Network has built a strong set of tools that can allow businesses to implement incentive and reward services flawlessly into any app and ease direct user acquisition from one business to another without the use of a middleman. Its strong features include delivering fast-tracked consumer enterprise adoption through decentralized data clouds, data interoperability and SaaS DeFi, and working with businesses that already have millions of loyal users.

Cere’s Decentralized Data Cloud is the first blockchain-based data warehouse solution that is optimized to capture user/app interactions that are individually signed and encrypted, along with potential value transfers, to be stored in a tamper-proof and time-capsule data scheme.

Cere’s innovation can be classified as data onboarding using identity abstraction technology, turn-key private/permissioned blockchain networks built on Substrate, Cere’s Decentralized Data Cloud platform, Cere Open Data Marketplaces, and cross-chain interoperability bridges with other Web3 projects.

How To Buy Cere

Unlike other main cryptocurrencies, Cere cannot be directly bought right now as is not in the market yet.

They are planning to launch as soon as polkastarter finish.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Students Are Using Crypto For School Expenses

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Students Are Using Crypto For School Expenses

Students are now turning to crypto to bridge the financial gap that comes with schooling. It is not a surprise that the cost of schooling has tremendously gone higher over the years. This means that now more than ever, tons of students are graduating with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. Somehow, even with the huge loans students take out to pay for schooling, it doesn’t quite cover them for everything.

Basic things like food and rent have become big issues for students. And even after taking huge amounts of student loans, they find themselves with financial needs that haven’t been filled yet. This force them to look for other funding sources. Part-time jobs are usually the go-to for it, but with the pandemic, the part-time job market has became drastically unstable. Students are now left to rely on their parents as a funding source, but these parents have also been affected largely by the pandemic and so their incomes have been affected.

Students have been left with nary a choice to fill up their financial gap with. And that is when crypto entered the picture. The pandemic and school closures left a lot of students with time on their hands as countries went into weeks lockdown. Inability to work coupled with dwindling savings made a lot of students to look towards other means of income to supplement their loans. A report has said that students loans usually cover about 58% of their expenses.

Students are increasingly looking for other ways to make money in order to get by in university. Data shows that the number of students turning to crypto to source funding has tripled in just one year. The number is up from the 2% who said they were investing in crypto in 2020 to 6% this year.

We all know that students are generally unprepared when it comes to finances, so even though more students are investing in crypto, they are not doing their due diligence before investing. This, of course, led to mistakes in investing, which in turn led to money being lost in the market. Concerns have been raised about students investing in crypto without fully understanding the risks and strategies to implement.

This is what called for the need for a proper financial education and information regarding cryptocurrency in order to make sure that students are making the best decisions when it comes to investing in the virtual currencies.

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Blockchain News Technology

AriseCoin CEO Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Fraud

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Arisecoin Ceo Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison For Fraud

Jared Rice, Sr., the inventor of AriseCoin, Jared Rice Dr. has been was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a heist that defrauded investors out of $4.25 million worth of cryptocurrency.

Mr. Rice also settled a civil action involving AriseCoin filed by the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office just last year. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud that happened in early 2019 and was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade, who ordered him to pay $4,258,073 in restitution.

Mr. Rice, 33, admitted he lied to his potential investors, claiming that AriseBank, the world’s first decentralized banking platform based on the proprietary digital currency AriseCoin, will offer consumers FDIC-insured accounts and traditional banking services, including Visa-brand credit cards, in addition to cryptocurrency services in his plea papers. 

In reality, AriseBank had not been authorized to conduct any banking in Texas, it was not FDIC-insured, and it did not have any sort of partnership with Visa. Apart from lying about the company’s benefits, Mr. Rice also silently transferred investor funds for his own personal gain. He spent the money he laundered on hotels, food, transportation, a family law attorney, and even a guardian ad litem. These are all facts he hadn’t disclosed to investors.

He also didn’t reveal the fact that he had pleaded guilty to state felony charges in connection with an internet-related business scheme. As for now, hundreds of investors have bought almost $4,250,000 in AriseCoin using cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Litecoin, as well as fiat currency. The FBI’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Walters, Sid Mody, and Erica Hilliard prosecuted the case.

Rice was sentenced to five years in prison afterwards.

Regulation of Cryptocurrency

As cryptocurrencies continue to grow in market cap and influence, whistleblowers will be essential in helping the government catch wrongdoers and prevent fraud. Whistleblowers can also take advantage of the various whistleblower reward programs offered by the SEC, CFTC, and IRS and potentially share in any government recovery.

The SEC, CFTC, and IRS all assert regulatory control over cryptocurrency under certain circumstances. For the SEC, a given cryptocurrency must qualify as a security, or the investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others. The SEC developed its application of this test to cryptocurrency in its now-famous report on The DAO, a German crypto ecosystem.

The CFTC also has authority to regulate crypto as a commodity in accordance with the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC has recently stated that crypto enforcement is a top priority because of its high risks for investor fraud.

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Bitcoin Blockchain News

Twitter Has Began Beta Testing For Bitcoin Lightning Tipping Service

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Twitter Has Began Beta Testing For Bitcoin Lightning Tipping Service

Micro-blogging platform, Twitter, has began beta testing a feature that will allow users to tip using Bitcoin.

Leaked tweets show that the feature will be coordinated using Jack Maller’s wallet service, Strike, which is powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

As reported by MacRumors, Twitter’s latest beta update introduces support for providing content creators with Bitcoin tips using the “Tip Jar” feature that was introduced earlier this year. The report stated that Bitcoin is not yet available to select as a tip option in the release, but closer inspection of code suggests that Twitter is in the process of rolling it out to beta users and maybe eventually all users. 

Mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi also leaked an image of what the service will look like. Details in the leaked image indicate that users will be directed through a Bitcoin tutorial that includes details on the Bitcoin Lightning Network and custodial and non-custodial Bitcoin wallets.

Based on the image, Twitter is clearly working closely with Bitcoin Lightning App Strike and will use the service to generate bitcoin invoices. As a result, Twitter users will need a Strike account to receive tips over the lightning network. 

The addition of a Bitcoin tipping option is in keeping with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s promise to investors in July that Bitcoin was important to the company and would be coming to the Tip Jar in the future. Currently, Twitter allows users to add Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal, and Venmo links to their Twitter profiles.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a layer 2 scaling solution that is applied to Bitcoin. It uses micropayment channels to scale its blockchain capability to conduct transactions more competently, making them much faster, less costly, and more readily confirmed than those conducted directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. It is no surprise then that it is being considered at Twitter. Jack Dorsey has always been a vocal promoter of Bitcoin and has stated his commitment to driving its adoption. He has said that he considers Bitcoin to be the native currency of the internet.

Dorsey also considered the notion of receiving Bitcoin as a form of payment for advertising. He was asked by Elon Musk, during their panel discussion back in July, whether the platform would accept Bitcoin as payment for advertising. While he didn’t exactly agree, he also did not entirely rule out the possibility. He expressed that if users want to pay in Bitcoin, the company would consider it.

Right now, we’ll have to wait and see what the eventual outcome will be when the time comes.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Might No Longer Be The Market Lead

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Sex, Drugs And Bitcoin? How Crypto Is Being Used In The Dark World?

Bitcoin’s price has been doing well lately; following a steady, ascending trend for the past several weeks as the leading virtual currency climb toward the all-time high they set earlier this year. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached $51,037.01 today; its highest since May 14. It is believed that at this point, it had risen more than 75% since hitting a local low on June 22.

Amidst Bitcoin’s impressive comeback, other virtual currencies have been outshining bitcoin lately with their superior performance. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, more than doubled in the past few months, and Cardano’s ADA token tripled during the same time. Ether reached $4,026.93 earlier today, having climbed more than 130% after falling to a recent low of $1,711.23 two months ago. After the recent all-time high, Ether was up more than 400% year-to-date.

Cardano’s ADA token has been getting even more compelling gains, and has rose to an all-time high of $3.10 yesterday, at which point it had climbed more than 200% after reaching a local low of $1.00 June 22.

These latest developments makes us wonder if Bitcoin is still the market leader it has been for years. Unlike the early days of digital assets where Bitcoin was the only game in town, this asset class has now evolved far beyond cryptocurrencies. Over the past 12 months, there’s been an incredible amount of institutional and even sovereign interest in the space. This interest has been focused almost exclusively on Bitcoin.

Big-time asset managing firms like Capital, Fidelity, Blackrock, and Tudor are trying to build Bitcoin exposure, but are still largely limited to listed proxies and derivative products. Even if Bitcoin is the poster child of crypto, bifurcation and a decrease in correlation was to be expected in the long run.

As time goes on, it is expected that individual virtual assets will derive their values less from speculation and more based on their own specific characteristics. Bitcoin has emerged as a store of value and inflation hedge while Ethereum has become the currency for DeFi and NFT applications, and thus in many ways the reserve currency for Web 3.0.

Think it is safe to say that Bitcoin will follow more macroeconomic trends as it is doing right now.

“This is an exciting transition as we are seeing some of these more blue-chip cryptos come into their own beyond being used as tools for speculators.”

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Altcoins Bitcoin Blockchain

Crypto In The Past Week

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Crypto In The Past Week

Quite a lot has happened in the past couple of day, so in case you’ve missed the sagas that happened in the crypto world during the past week, here is a brief summary.

Crypto exchange Binance faced yet another regulatory scuffle this week, adding to the numerous problems including the Monetary Authority of Singapore issuing an investor alert against the business. The Singaporean regulator placed Binance’s global entity Binance.com on an investor alert list on two days ago; listing the firm among entities that are unregulated by the body. This may quite possibly be wrongly assessed as licensed or regulated.

The world’s biggest crypto exchange platform has been getting hit by regulatory warnings after regulatory warnings in multiple countries around the world during the past couple of months; some of which are the UK, Japan, Italy and Germany. Authorities have taken issue with the company’s lack of transparency and alleged offering of regulated products without appropriate approvals.

Binance operates via a network of local affiliate businesses since it has no official headquarters, and even after undergoing questioning from regulators, the platform hasn’t been able to provide the names, locations and senior staff of all affiliates publicly available. It did apply for license to operate in Singapore through its local subsidiary, and is now permitted to continue operating while it resolves the issues at hand.

Moving on, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States has accused crypto platform BitConnect and its founder, Satish Kumbhani, of a $2bn fraud involving Bitcoin raised from global investors. Back in 2016, the platform sold its own cryptocurrency token to investors in exchange for Bitcoin, claiming that it had an automated program that would make money by trading the contributed virtual currency. Profits made would then be shared with investors through interest payments.

However, the SEC claimed that BitConnect’s CEO didn’t use a program to trade bitcoin and that instead it kept some of the Bitcoin for himself and other promoters of the scheme. The current whereabouts of Kumbhani, who was based in India at the time of the alleged scam, are unknown.

The SEC said in the lawsuit filed in New York on 2 September that thousands of people have invested in BitConnet; many of whom lost most or all of their funds.

The SEC’s chairman Gary Gensler said that the gaps in US regulation of the cryptocurrency sector must be fixed if watchdogs are to sufficiently protect investors from the growing risks that comes with putting money in virtual currencies. Speaking as he gave evidence to the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee on three days ago, the boss of the US’ top markets authority said there are holes in the country’s legislation that will allow the public to be hurt.

Gensler, who is also a former chair of the CFTC, added that “the transformation we’re living through right now could be every bit as big as the internet in the 1990s”.

In other news, Crypto exchange platform FTX has agreed to acquire LedgerX, the first company to gain federal approval to offer crypto-linked derivatives in the US, for an undisclosed sum. The move means FTX’s US entity, FTX.US, might soon move into the derivatives market.

FTX.US’s president has said in a 31 August statement that they believe it is incumbent upon the industry to be proactive and to seek out working relationships with regulatory groups like the CFTC to help shape the industry’s future. FTX lately set the record as the largest private funding round in the cryptocurrency sector ever, and raised $900m at a valuation of $18bn in July. Its founder Sam Bankman-Fried is the richest person in crypto with a net worth of $16.2bn.

Lastly, smaller cryptocurrencies are having a resurgence, as Bitcoin posted its eighth consecutive week of outflows and Cardano reported record-level inflows. Altcoins including Ether, Solana and Polkadot have made up 32% of total digital assets under management by investors last week, according to data from CoinShares, surpassing levels sighted in 2018 when the crypto market was much smaller.

Cardano, which trades under the ticker ADA, gained $10.1m in inflows, setting a new record for the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency. Cardano’s market capitalization was nearing $100bn as its price rose to a record high on 2nd September, which is far behind Ether’s $455bn and Bitcoin’s $926.7bn.

Bitcoin, however, continues its slide with outflows of $3.8m. The cryptocurrency has reported outflows in 14 out of the last 16 weeks.

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Blockchain

Everything To Know About NFTs

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Everything To Know About Nfts

Nonfungible tokens, widely known as NFTs, are a kind of collectible that could quite possibly earn you some big bucks.

An NFT is a unique digital token, with most using the Ethereum blockchain to digitally record transactions. It’s not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, because those are fungible — exchangeable for another Bitcoin or cash. NFTs are recorded in a digital ledger in the same way as cryptocurrency, so there’s a listing of who owns each one.

They started in 2017 and quickly became a sensation faster than any other cryptocurrency. Like other cryptos, NFTs are entirely digital. NFTs offer a blockchain-created certificate of authenticity for a digital asset or piece of art. This has created a digital market that boasted like $250 million in sales back in 2020, with NFTs reaching new levels of hype from the likes of Visa, Warner Music Group and Nike.

The crazy sensation of the token also drove scores of people to put up their own digital art and tweets for sale as NFTs. Even paper towel companies were in on the latest cryptocurrency wave. What make NFTs unique is the digital asset tied to the token. This can be an image, video, tweet or piece of music that’s uploaded to a marketplace, that creates the NFT to be sold.

Are NFTs assets?

Straight answer is no. NFTs are not assets.

The person who buys the NFT doesn’t own the actual asset. NFTs challenge the idea of ownership: digital files can be reproduced infinitely and you do not usually buy the copyright or a license when purchasing an NFT.

For example, if a creator of a meme sold an NFT of it for $50,000, the person who bought the token owns the token but doesn’t actually own the meme. No that still belongs to the creator, who will still hold onto intellectual and creative rights. What the owner of the token has however is a record and a hash code showing ownership of the unique token associated with that particular digital asset. People might download the meme in question and even use it on social media if they want, but they won’t own the token and they can’t sell it. Only the owner can. 

Why NFTs are so expensive 

As with physical collectibles, there’s a market for NFTs. Buyers tend to be tech-savvy people who understand the idea of wanting to purchase digital goods and have likely made a killing this past year or so with cryptocurrencies. Ethereum, for example, went from just over $100 last March to a current price of almost $4000.  

Where to buy or sell an NFT

You might not want to jump right into bidding six figures, and that is justifiable. There are numerous NFT marketplaces out there to check out like Opensea where you can search for art, domain names and random collectibles to bid on without having to ‘break the bank’. If you want to sell an NFT of your art, you can use a platform like NFTify (the Shopify NFT) store to sell NFTs without having to create your own store. 

Downsides

One downside of NFT is the hundreds of dollars in fees required to create the token. If you’re making your own token on the Ethereum blockchain, you will need to use some Ethereum, which as aforementioned is kind of expensive at the moment. After you make an NFT, there’s also a fee you’ll need to pay for the work that goes into handling the transaction; that’s also based on the price of Ethereum at the time you’re creating your NFT. Marketplaces make the process a little easier by handling everything for a fee that they charge after an NFT is sold. There’s also an environmental cost.

Just like Bitcoin, Ethereum requires computers to handle the computations known as mining. Those computations require a lot of energy; even more energy than the entire country of Argentina as a Cambridge University study shows.

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Blockchain News Regulation

Vast Bank is The First U.S Bank To Offer Crypto Services

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Vast Bank Is The First U.s Bank To Offer Crypto Services

Vast Bank just became the first bank in the United States with FDIC insurance and a Federal Reserve charter to offer Bitcoin services.

The announcement came after it was approved by the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) in the United States. The financial firm is now the first federally chartered bank in the U.S. to offer users the ability to buy, sell, and custody digital currencies directly from a checking account.

The firm is presently offering 8 cryptocurrencies to its customers. They are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Filecoin, Litecoin, Orchid, Algorand and Bitcoin Cash. Users of the bank can now buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly from their FDIC-insured checking account. However, its Bitcoin custody solutions include a mobile trading platform with instant settlement to accounts.

Brad Scrivner, the CEO of Vast Bank, explained in an interview with Forbes explained that the decision stemmed from their realization that the best place to buy and sell cryptocurrencies right now will be through a national bank. He said that they’re quite familiar with the regulations and that they are going to do things right. He promised that they’ll do everything in their power to make sure the financial system is safe and sound.

The CEO explained that they can now bring Bitcoin to people who may not have the time or the interest in learning how to buy and hold the digital asset themselves. During the interview, Mr. Scrivner assigned the shift to offering virtual currencies as a way to meet the current demands of users. He believes it can also serve as a way to stay relevant in expectations of future demand. He was quoted to say, “We also believe that technology has enabled the customer in a way that it really hadn’t been enabled in the financial services industry previously, and that cryptocurrency was going to be very disruptive in financial services.”

Vast Bank first looked into the cryptocurrency custody back in July of 2020, after the OCC announced that with a National Bank Charter the institution could hold cryptocurrency assets. According to Brad Scrivner, an inhouse poll was held where it was disclosed that more than 60% of their customers are interested in Bitcoin and other digital assets, but they’re also saying we want to have a bank involved with our custody of cryptocurrency. The decision comes in after Vast partnered with Coinbase, who refer their customers to Vast about custodial solutions.

Categories
Blockchain

Ripple (XRP) Price Hitting $1.50 Amidst SEC Lawsuit

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How To Create A Ripple (xrp) Wallet | Beginner’s Guide – Coindoo

Amidst the ongoing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple, the platform’s token, XRP’s, price is anticipated to hit a new high of $1.50 soon.

As expected, XRP flipped to great heights on September 2. This pushed bulls to roughly evaluate that the altcoin would win over the SEC in the ongoing lawsuit. Additionally, the XRP to USD exchange rate soared mightily up to 4.74%.

The 4.74% cascade has remarkably raised the XRP price to $1.296 which represents a first back in August 23. The XRP to USD exchange rate cascaded however mainly because of the trading volume which spiked astronomically. This, in turn, gave some assurance that confirmed traders’ intention to support any upcoming upside move in XRP.

Also, the report had further insisted that the altcoin is highly likely to push higher in this coming week. The impressive bullish movement of XRP looks similar to how other virtual currencies are also performing in recent days. Based on it, the altcoin’s price could reach $1.60 or even more.

Many bulls speculate that the trend of purchasing XRP could be because of the assumption that XRP would be labeled as a utility token after the Ripple versus SEC saga is over. At the moment, Ripple trades at $1.28 with a 24-hour market volume of $5,187,438,967.

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Blockchain News Press Release

Nigeria’s SEC Develops a Fintech Unit to Study Crypto

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Nigeria’s Sec Develops A Fintech Unit To Study Crypto

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set up a Fintech unit to study crypto products and investments in order to help institute protocols that will assist in regulating the sector. So far in 2021, financial institutions that operate in Nigeria have been the spindle of a government crackdown of cryptocurrencies in the country.

Back in February, the central bank placed a notorious ban against crypto exchanges in the country. The ban was lifted a few weeks after of course, but it might be what paved way for the SEC to introduce the regulations that are hoping will regularize the crypto industry and offer investors protection.

The Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda, made the disclosure about the regulations during a virtual interview with Reuters on Thursday in Abuja. He said that they are looking at the market closely in order to see how they can develop regulations that will help protect investors and their investment in the Blockchain industry. However, the exact time for issuing the regulation has not been provided.

Mr. Yuguda only said that the capital market regulator will step in with the protocols once crypto is allowed within the Nigerian banking system. The SEC sought to regulate crypto on the grounds that they qualify as securities transactions. The SEC boss said that the recent launch of the country’s digital currency, e-naira, is the result of its engagement with the CBN.

A report on Sept 2nd has shown that the SEC has developed a dedicated fintech unit assigned to study crypto and the blockchain industry. The agency is also reportedly looking to work with Fintechs to strengthen the domestic market for securities to dissuade capital flight, which continues to beset multiple sectors.

Mr. Yuguda said that the SEC is looking to boost savings through numerous investment schemes. They currently have over $9.7 billion (N4 trillion) under management split between public and private fund managers. He also said the regulator has asked private managers to put in place custody arrangements to protect investors.

Amidst it all, the Central Bank of Nigeria is partnering with a Barbados-based fintech as a technical partner for its proposed e-naira digital currency, preliminary guidelines that were issued back in August. At a meeting about the country’s Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja this spring, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele expressed his confidence that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) will eventually be legal in the country but stressed that the government would do its best to prevent them from being used to do illicit activities.

Categories
Altcoins Blockchain

Here Are The Best Performing Cryptocurrencies At The Moment

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Here Are The Best Performing Cryptocurrencies At The Moment

In spite of recent fallbacks and innate risks, cryptocurrencies and the overall blockchain market have proven to get stronger with each passing month.

New cryptocurrencies are emerging regularly and are quick to meet up with one or more needs of users and bulls. This has been attracting new investors, as well as keep existing ones in the bullish market. Let’s take a look at the best performing altcoins at the moment:

  • ARWEAVE (AR, 450%)

Arweave, initially announced as Archain in August 2017, was rebranded to Arweave in 2018. It is a decentralized storage network that offers a platform for the indefinite storage of data. Arweave’s market cap is a little over $1,999 million. Presently, its trading at over $59. It has gained more than 2,100% year-to-date. Right now, Arweave has an all-time high of $70.04 and an all-time low of $0.4854.

  • Revain (REV, 278%)

Revain was created in 2018. It is an online exchange platform for Ethereum blockchain-based tokens reviews. Basically, it allows developers to get feedback about their projects. Companies that have registered on the platform can use the REV token to encourage users into giving their feedback. Revain has a market cap of over $2,050 million, and is trading right now at more than $0.024. It has also gained more than 100% year-to-date.

  • Solana (SOL, 243%)

Solana was established last year March. It is an open-source project that uses blockchain technology’s permission-less nature to provide DeFi solutions. The altcoin has a market cap of over $33,902 million, and is presently trading over $114. It has gained more than 6,200% year-to-date. Solana has an all-time high of $130.01 and an all-time low of $0.5052.

  • Avalanche (AVAX, 241%)

This altcoin was created in September 2020. The platform enables the launch of DeFi applications, trading and other services, as well as financial assets. Avalanche has a market cap of over $7,639 million. It’s currently trading at over $43 and has gained more than 1,088% year-to-date. Avalanche has an all-time high of $59.94 and an all-time low of $2.79.

  • Fantom (FTM, 239%)

Fantom was initially launched in 2018 as a DAG (directed acyclic graph) smart contract platform that offers DeFi services to developers. Fantom has a market cap of over $2,119 million, and is currently trading at over $0.826. It has also gained more than 4,700% year-to-date. Fantom has an all-time high of $0.9632 and an all-time low of $0.001935.

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