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Decentralization As A Solution For Scams In Crypto Space
Cryptocurrency was introduced 13 years ago, and to be honest, not many cared. Back when esports competitions gave prizes in Bitcoin, which may have gotten you a pizza.
Today, having 25 Bitcoins can be a pension plan, a new house, or whatever else you want. Many things have changed in the crypto market, and the greatest change comes from everybody suddenly caring. We saw one of the biggest bull markets in history, where everybody and their mothers were investing in one or the other project.
Decentralized financial heaven. Power in the hands of the small people. With some savvy investment, patient hodling, nose for opportunities, it was an easy way out from the 9-5 grind. But while people thought they got the power, the rich and powerful were still getting richer while the small guy remained small.
Whales that could easily outbuy any individual came into play and shook the crypto market to its core. Is it really decentralized if one tweet can plummet a project? Not to dwell deep into the workings of the crypto market, let’s shift our focus onto the ones that claim to be here for us – the small and mediocre players. Read More
The Importance Of Building Financial Services For Digital Assets
It is undeniable that DeFi has made a giant leap in innovation and created significant market demand. There are now separate market sectors for payments, security, marketplaces, NFTs, blockchain gaming, and DAOs.
People view these purpose-built applications as investments, like stocks and real estate. They want to own the asset fueling the ecosystem and translate the value to the real world. However, it has been challenging to build that bridge to the real world with the current state of financial services for digital assets. It is also one of the biggest bottlenecks to driving mainstream adoption.
What is required to bridge the real world and DeFi is a suite of financial services that have mainstream finance-like features but don’t need centralized or censored accounts. Users should be able to convert their crypto holdings quickly to use, both on online and offline stores.
As prominent financial service providers, like Visa and PayPal, are already on board with providing crypto services, it should be seamless for users to transact using crypto debit cards connected to their wallets. Read More
Building blocks: Gen Y can use tokens to get on the property ladder
“You no longer need to find one investor… willing to hand over $50 million, you can find thousands of investors willing to pledge lesser amounts.”
The explosive combination of blockchain and physical assets is making a real difference in how young people can access traditionally illiquid, expensive, and slow-moving physical assets such as property. Formerly a once or twice in a lifetime purchase for most people, this lucrative investment opportunity is now being democratized so everyone can share in the wealth.
This is important because many Millennials and members of Gen Z are effectively locked out of the property marketplace. According to The Intelligence Lab’s October 2021 report, global house prices are rising at the fastest rate since the first quarter of 2005. The pandemic fiscal stimulus-induced housing boom continues with prices rising by 9.2% on average across 55 countries and territories in the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year.
Harry Horsfall, almost young enough to be a member of Gen Z and founder of Zebu Digital, is no stranger to crypto. In 2103, he bought his first Bitcoin and has not looked back since. His team has grown to 70 young crypto fans globally and he runs digital marketing programs for Web3 projects. However, he says that it’s only via crypto that he has any shot of ever buying an apartment.
“With current UK prices comparative to salary and mortgage multipliers there is no way I could afford a down payment on an apartment and save for a deposit while living in London, let alone get a big enough mortgage for my own place,” says Horsfal.
“However, with an ability to use staking and yield farming through crypto, I am hopeful I can look at purchasing something modest — hopefully in Lisbon.” Read More
New feature allows enterprises mint NFTs with minimal coding
NFTs are the new darlings of the crypto industry, but the process of minting them is still quite a headache. Long, expensive, confusing headache.
Recent Chainalysis data showed that users moved over $40 billion worth of crypto to Ethereum’s non-fungible token (NFT) smart contracts in 2021. While this reflects the rapid growth of NFTs, there are still many obstacles when it comes to minting these tokens, and one startup is addressing this problem by doing all the behind-scene processes.
NFTs have been all the rage during the last few months, and most experts agree that the trend is here to stay given the transformative potential for a lot of industries, from digital art to supply chains.
While the rapid growth of the nonfungible market has fostered the development of more intuitive processes to help onboard a wider range of users that are not necessarily tech-savvy, minting these tokens is still a headache for the uninitiated. For example, on Ethereum (ETH), where most NFTs are created, users have to first hold Ether in their digital wallets and be ready to pay gas fees. Read More
Finally, FACTS That Counter The FUD
Cryptocurrency is more popular than ever as the mainstream populace realizes its potential as a new monetary system, especially in light of hyperinflation in our legacy financial system. The control that the “powers that be” already have over our sovereignty and the introduction of Central Bank CBDCs will only result in a more oppressive regime for sovereign citizens.
There are factions of people intent on discrediting crypto to minimize adoption, particularly Bitcoin or any Proof of Work protocol that relies on mining. Their primary focus is on damage to the climate due to fossil fuel emissions, even though the statistics for their claims have been negligible and inconclusive at best.
The highly reputable firm, Coinshares, has published a recent report to counter this argument of concern ramped up last year, under the guise of ESG. The report illustrates how much of an effect Bitcoin mining has on the climate relative to other industries, including printing fiat currency, and what it means for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Mining report begins with a brief history of the concerns about the energy used by Bitcoin mining. This includes a famous response from Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who already dealt with energy critics way back in 2010.
“The utility of the exchanges made possible by Bitcoin will far exceed the cost of electricity used, therefore not having Bitcoin would be the net waste.”
The authors of the report agree with Satoshi because the economic incentive to spend caused by the constant inflation of fiat is wasting a lot more energy than Bitcoin mining and destroying the environment.
The report also points out that concerns about Bitcoin mining are recurring subjects that tend to get resurrected in full force with each successive market cycle. In other words, when Bitcoin is on the rise and sensationalist commentators have not been shy about offering their (often poorly supported) opinions. However, many Bitcoin-fluent commentators have conveyed retorts to the contrary. Read More
Ransomware crypto payments hit at least $602M last year: Chainalysis
The total amount of value extracted through ransomware payments in 2021 is expected to rise above 2020 levels once all the data is sorted through.
A new report estimates that ransomware payments tallied at least $602 million in 2021 — but the actual total could be much higher.
Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis released new data on Feb. 10 about ransomware activity related to cryptocurrency in 2021. However, it stated that the total value is likely to end up surpassing the $692 million taken in 2020.
“In fact, despite these numbers, anecdotal evidence, plus the fact that ransomware revenue in the first half of 2021 exceeded that of the first half of 2020, suggests to us that 2021 will eventually be revealed to have been an even bigger year for ransomware.” Read More
Internet Guru Tim O’Reilly: Crypto and NFTs Are 'Pretty Serious Speculative Bubble'
The man who coined the term Web2 says Web3 is “a long way from prime time.”
Tim O’Reilly, the internet guru and the man who coined the term Web 2.0, does not sound like a big fan of Web3.
On Wednesday, O’Reilly appeared on CBS Moneywatch and discussed crypto, blockchain, and the rise of Web3, the term for the next wave of the internet built on decentralized blockchain networks and platform-specific tokens.
Underlining the general theme of the interview, O’Reilly was asked about Web3 and what the future may hold for it. “The metaverse itself is full of bubble hype,” he answered. “The Meta Quest2 [the VR headset previously called Oculus], they're selling a bunch of 'em, but the technology is a long way from prime time,” he said.
And while O’Reilly recognizes that the cryptocurrency and NFT space is booming, he believes its growth may be unsustainable: “... I believe that it really is a pretty serious speculative bubble on a very small foundation,” he said. Read More
Manchester United sign £20m sponsorship deal with Tezos blockchain
Top-flight premier league football team Manchester United has chosen blockchain platform Tezos for a £20 million shirt sponsorship deal.
The multi-year partnership will see Tezos's branding displayed across the club’s range of men’s and women’s kits, beginning with its 12 February match against Southampton.
As well as kit branding, the deal will see new fan experiences built on Tezos as the company becomes Old Trafford’s official blockchain partner.
Launched in 2018, Tezos is an open-source blockchain that aims to address the major barriers facing blockchain adoption today. Its native coin, XTZ, has the 42nd largest market cap of any cryptocurrency at the time of publication
Describing itself as “designed to evolve”, Tezos sees its security and in-built upgradeability as key strengths that will help it to remain a state-of-the-art scalable blockchain. Read More
YouTube sees ‘incredible potential’ in Web3 and NFTs
The online media giant YouTube shared in a Thursday blog post which sported a positive view of Web3 technology like blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for content creators.
“Web3 opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they’ll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible,” YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan wrote in the post. Read More
Crypto Stories: Gavin Wood discusses why he decided to code Ethereum
The latest episode of Cointelegraph's YouTube series tells the story of Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Polkadot and Kusama networks.
Among the original founding fathers of Ethereum (ETH) is Gavin Wood, who joined a group led by Vitalik Buterin that set out to build Bitcoin's competition. Wood is the computer scientist who wrote the first smart contracts for the Ethereum blockchain back in 2014. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Wood admitted that at the time, he just needed a job.
A self-described "technologist at heart," he knew coding was his calling and made the "obvious" switch from building LEGO bricks to writing blocks of code from an early age. Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
