HIDDEN GEMS
BEGINNERS GUIDE
CRYPTO Page 22
WALL STREET LOVES CRYPTO
DAO`S & HOW WE WORK Page 24
Page 11
N. KOREA`S CRYPTO HACK Page 16
$2 cryptoweeklymag.com April 2022 | Volume 24
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TOUCHING IN THE METAVERSE
Page 14
WEEKLY CRYPTO`S GOVERNMENT THREAT
Page 08
NFT BUBBLE BURST?
Page 34
Page 18
"BEST PAYMENT NETWORK EVER"
Page 10
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
QUANTUM HACKING RISKS
Page 07
ETHEREUM WILL PASS BITCOIN
Page 30
BITCOIN MORTGAGES
just setting up my twttr
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3:50 PM • Mar 21, 2006
CRYPTO NOT ANONYMOUS Page 33
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CONTENTS $2 cryptoweeklymag.com April 2022 | Volume 24
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24
14
05
Users Get to Keep Their Cryptocurrency with Nexo's Payment Card
06
Dubai Leading the Way in Developing the Middle East as a Crypto Hub
07
Blockchain Technology is Increasingly Embraced by Wall Street Executives
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Bitcoin "Best payment Network Ever" Says Strike CEO
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Crypto-Laundering Norms Still Not Applied by Nearly Half of Jurisdictions Global Regulator Reports
10
BitBoy Crypto says Ethereum Will Pass Bitcoin in Market Cap
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Metaverse Objects Can be Felt with New Tech
12
No Transaction Fees with Coinbase NFT Beta
14
Are We Already Seeing the End of the NFT Bubble?
16
North Korea's Crypto Hack of $625 million Presents a New National Security Threat
18
Blockchain and the Quantum Computing Risk
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Crypto Seen as a Growing Threat to Governments Says Edward Snowden
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The Impact of DAOs on How We Work
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What if You Could Buy a House with Bitcoin?
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A Look at Liquidity Pools - The Funds That Keep DeFi Running
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A Collection of NFT Tokens on the Cardano Blockchain Expand Snoop Dogg's Crypto Investment Footprint
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Most Crypto Not Anonymous and More Centralized than People Think
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Video of the Week
CRYPTOWEEKLY CEO | Nathan Hill
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
nathan@cryptoweeklymag.com Publisher | Colin Woolley colin@cryptoweeklymag.com Editor | Robert Stone
Welcome to Crypto Weekly
editor@cryptoweeklymag.com Editorial | Anthony Burton editorial@cryptoweeklymag.com Features | Thomas Stokes tom@cryptoweeklymag.com Advertising | Philip Greenwood philip@cryptoweeklymag.com Design | Dilin Divan dilin@cryptoweeklymag.com
Hello, and a warm welcome to the 24th issue of Crypto Weekly. Crypto Weekly is the brainchild of the guys at CMC, and I am Rob Stone, Editor, and I hope to bring you an informative read on everything crypto, every week of the year.
Crypto Weekly Magazine is published by the Crypto Marketing Company 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ
Another week has gone by and this is our twenty-third issue of Crypto Weekly. I have been mining the search engines for the best stories in the news, current happenings, and the ideas the world is excited about in the cryptosphere. At times it is overwhelming, all the work, curating, and writing, that goes into the next issues. But, I am also caught up in the excitement of the crypto revolution and everything I come across that I want to share with all of you on these pages. The hours that my work entails pass so quickly that I don’t have time to feel daunted by it. I can only wish they could pass more slowly so I might be able to make the next edition even richer. As usual, a lot of stuff has happened in the last week because the music never stops in the crypto sphere and the time keeps rolling on. I hope you all enjoy what we have brought together for you this week. Please let us know your thoughts, and if you would like to see something featured, please do get in touch.
editor@cryptoweeklymag.com
Follow Us Stay Connected Robert Stone Editor
cryptoweeklymag
NEWS
5
Crypto Weekly
Users Get to Keep Their Cryptocurrency with Nexo's Payment Card European markets and can be linked to Apple Pay and Google Pay. Nexo Bank is offering the Nexo Card in partnership with Mastercard (MA) and DiPocket, giving cardholders access to 92 million merchants worldwide. Nexo claims the card is the first that allows users to spend without selling digital assets. Cardholders' digital assets serve as collateral for a Nexo crypto-backed credit line. You can pay through the credit line, which is available in fiat and stablecoins.
N
exo has launched a crypto-backed payments card that enables users to use their digital assets without selling them across select
Linked debit and credit cards are common in the crypto industry, but many users may be put off by the risk of losing gains in crypto's value. Nexo's card might encourage more people to use cryptobacked cards in everyday transactions by reducing the risk associated with them.
Currently, Amazon Does Not Plan to Accept Cryptocurrency as a Payment Method
I
n an interview with CNBC, Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., said, “The company does not plan to add cryptocurrency as a payment option to its retail business anytime soon.” Jassy believes cryptocurrencies will grow in the future, but he does not own any Bitcoin. Additionally, he said it might be possible to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on its e-commerce platform and that NFTs would grow "significantly" in future years. Known as NFTs, these digital assets exist on a blockchain, and have exploded in popularity over the past few years. NFT artwork has been sold for millions of dollars. Increasingly, companies are accepting virtual currencies as payment, making an asset class once shunned by major financial institutions a few years ago, more mainstream. eBay Inc., which started selling NFTs for digital collectibles like trading cards, images, and video clips last year, was the first to tap into the NFT frenzy. The company had also expressed an interest in accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method in the future.
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April 2022 | Volume 24
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NEWS Crypto Weekly
Dubai Leading the Way in Developing the Middle East as a Crypto Hub The United Arab Emirates is poised to become a regional hub for crypto businesses after accepting some of the world's largest exchanges. The Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has his eyes on Dubai for Binance's global headquarters and his base of operations after receiving inprinciple approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market last week.
I
n an interview with Arab News over the weekend, Binance's regional head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Richard Teng, said that the company wants to offer more products to more clients in the region: "Our goal is to promote crypto adoption and improve freedom of money in the Middle East and North Africa."
Middle East Crypto Expansion Binance can now operate in the region under the Emirate's 'test-adapt-scale' model for crypto assets thanks to its official license from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority. According to Teng, the government is taking a proactive approach to digital assets and not classifying them as securities, as U.S. regulators would like to. He said: "It's a very innovative approach from the government." “The government
April 2022 | Volume 24
recognizes that crypto is quite different from securities, digital tokens, and commodities and proposes a framework that can serve different value chain participants, manage risks, and promote innovation.”
is preparing the groundwork for the next generation: “We are working closely with institutions to ensure the next generation is prepared for blockchain, cryptocurrency, and cryptotokenomics.”
Middle Eastern countries are set to become a crypto hub as Asian countries such as China, India, and Thailand ban and restrict cryptocurrencies, while America stalls on regulations. Teng has over 20 years of experience in regulatory affairs, as well as six years as the head of the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
In December, Binance announced a partnership with the Dubai World Trade Center Authority for the purpose of setting up and regulating an international digital asset ecosystem. A hiring spree has also been conducted in the UAE to put these plans into action. In March, FTX was granted a license to operate in Dubai, while other exchanges have similar licenses to operate in Bahrain.
Crypto For The Next Generation After working with the Dubai government, he was able to see how well the nation supports innovation, crypto adoption, and blockchain development, adding that these will be the foundation for the future economy. Teng
As part of its crypto ambitions, Emirates has announced plans to transform its Dubai Expo 2020 venue into an innovation center to attract talent to the area. A series of projects involving NFTs and the Metaverse will be undertaken by the airline.
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NEWS
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Crypto Weekly
Blockchain Technology is Increasingly Embraced by Wall Street Executives Executives at financial firms recapped an underwhelming quarter on Wall Street last week as they recapped a war in Ukraine, inflation, and a cloudy economic outlook. Yet another major topic in those conferences largely went unnoticed: heavy talk about imminent blockchain plans from some of the industry's biggest names. During the company's Q1 2022 earnings call on April 13 that "BlackRock is studying digital assets and their associated ecosystem, including crypto assets, stablecoins, tokenization and permission blockchains. Larry Fink that can be used in the public and private sectors, whether or not they have permission to do so," wrote Dimon.
S
everal big financial institutions, including BlackRock (BLK), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS) reported quarterly results last week, and the CEOs highlighted a growing demand from clients for digital assets. They also hinted at plans to embrace blockchain technology in new ways - a turnabout for the financial sector, which once shunned cryptocurrencies. “Larry Fink, the company's CEO, said during the company's Q1 2022 earnings call on April 13 that "BlackRock is studying digital assets and their associated ecosystem, including crypto assets, stablecoins, tokenization and permission blockchains." A couple days earlier, the world's largest asset manager disclosed it has made a minority investment in the global internet payment company Circle, which is also the sole issuer of USD coin, a dollar-based full reserve stablecoin. Throughout BlackRock's history, Fink has
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always believed that the company leads by listening to its clients, anticipating and embracing change, and investing in the future. In his letter to shareholders last month, Fink said the war in Ukraine could accelerate central banks' adoption of digital currencies. He called Bitcoin "a money laundering index" last year. When asked about the bank's payments business, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the company was building out "blockchaintype things" but added that more details would be revealed at JPMorgan's investor day, which is scheduled for May 23. In a letter to shareholders earlier this month, Dimon-who once called Bitcoin "worthless"outlined JPMorgan's financial technology initiatives, including blockchain technology to transfer tokenized deposits in U.S. dollars using JPM Coin. "Decentralized finance and blockchain are both real new technologies
Goldman Sachs also embraced blockchain technology this reporting season. “Many central banks are studying digital currencies and determining how they will impact global payment systems in the long run,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said on an April 14 conference call. “Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are also receiving significant attention, where the trajectory is less clear as participants evaluate their options as a store of value.” According to Goldman Sachs, the bank is looking for ways to grow its capabilities and meet client needs, though only within "current regulatory guidelines," noting the bank cannot directly own or trade Bitcoin. Earlier this month, Goldman completed its first over-the-counter crypto transaction through Galaxy Digital Holdings, a crypto services firm founded by Michael Novogratz, a former Goldman executive. During the call, Solomon stated that cryptocurrency, blockchain and the digitization of money will lead to “significant disruptions and changes in the way money moves around the world.”
April 2022 | Volume 24
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NEWS Crypto Weekly
Bitcoin "Best payment Network Ever" Says Strike CEO Bitcoin is being hailed as the first real change to the payments industry since the invention of the credit card, according to Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of payments application Strike.
B
itcoin has dipped about 2% over the past month, trading at just over $41,000 on Tuesday afternoon, making it less useful than cash as a medium of exchange. Bitcoin is almost exclusively used as a store of value. However, Mallers argues that if Bitcoin's underlying network is harnessed properly, it can be the world's most efficient payments network. He contends that the use of Bitcoin as a payment network is better than card networks, bank networks, or remittance networks like Western Union. He says consumers and merchants need not touch Bitcoin in any way to reap the benefits. "This is a free, real-time, global payments network. Anyone can use the technology to move value worldwide. This makes it more accessible and innovative. To the consumer who's remitting money or buying Chipotle, they don't know Bitcoin is involved so whether you want to have a stablecoin, a Euro, Starbucks points, it's the payment
April 2022 | Volume 24
network that facilitates the settlement of value that's the disruptor here." We began by discussing the history of credit cards. In a black baseball cap and hoodie, he strutted back and forth on the stage as he told his audience, "It's a story as old as 1949." In 1949, Frank McNamara forgot his wallet while dining out in New York, sparking his idea for the Diner's Club card, the first credit card with multiple functions.
payments system built on Bitcoin, which he compared to the internet's impact on communication. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and most governments, including the United States, are exploring the use of digital assets to enhance payments -from the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock. Those organizations outside of El Salvador are considering either using a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin or creating their own digital currency.
Mallers announced a series of partnerships at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in April, including partnerships with Shopify, Blackhawk, and NCR, the world's largest point-of-sale provider. "Since then, many consumers have innovated... but no one has helped the merchant," Mallers said. According to NerdWallet, accepting credit cards costs merchant businesses between 1.5% and 3.5%. To eliminate these fees, Mallers recommends that businesses use the Lightning Network, a second-layer
The first quarter of 2022 saw payment volume on the Lightning Network average around $20 million per month, according to a report from digital asset firm Arcane Research. Lightning Network use has grown more than 400% over the last year. In 2021, Visa handled $1 trillion in payments volume and close to 20 billion transactions, but it is nowhere near Visa's size. “Strike's own usage numbers aren't available,” Mallers said, "we're in the middle of some pretty large deals."
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NEWS
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Crypto Weekly
Crypto-Laundering Norms Still Not Applied by Nearly Half of Jurisdictions Global Regulator Reports
A
ccording to a report released Tuesday by the Financial Action Task Force, nearly half of jurisdictions worldwide still do not require crypto providers to identify their customers properly. The Paris-based international organization has committed itself to increase its monitoring of its members, including the European Union, United States, and China, and to conducting regular assessments of areas with the highest risk of illicit financing. According to the report, 9% of jurisdictions fail to comply with the regulations that require virtual asset service providers (VASPs), such as wallet providers and exchanges, to prevent money laundering or financing terrorism. Moreover, 37% are only partially compliant, putting the crypto sector near the bottom of the league tables alongside other risky non-financial businesses like accounting, law, or real estate. Some have feared that 2018 brings with it an opportunity for loopholes to be introduced
in laws pertaining to sanctions and other financial restrictions since international money-laundering norms now allow for the use of virtual assets. Those standards are
currently being implemented in jurisdictions such as the EU, which is extending the FATF rules in ways that critics say could diminish privacy and stifle innovation.
Gaming on Blockchain Explodes by 2000% in a Year The recent DappRadar x BGA Games report indicates that blockchainbased games accounted for 52% of all blockchain activity in Q1 2021. Despite the $615 million Ronin Bridge hack, blockchain games attracted 1.22 million unique active wallets in March of this year, including 22,000 from Axie Infinity. Since the start of 2022, a 219% increase in Polygon's gaming activity has been driven by the popularity of non-fungible token (NFT) games on Ethereum sidechains, including Crazy Defense Heroes, Pegaxy, Arc8, and Aavegotchi. In contrast, activity on chains like BSC and Ronin has decreased since the end of last year, as users try to minimize risk. Globally, $2.5 billion of funding was raised in Q1 of 2022, an increase of 150% over the yearago quarter. Animoca Brands was among those to receive investments, raising $360 million at a $5 billion valuation, solidifying its position among Web3 brands.
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April 2022 | Volume 24
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NEWS Crypto Weekly
BitBoy Crypto says Ethereum Will Pass Bitcoin in Market Cap BitBoy Crypto founder Ben Armstrong appeared on Yahoo Finance to discuss the current crypto market landscape and the possibility of Ethereum passing Bitcoin to achieve new all-time highs.
T
he Bitcoin four-year cycle is based on the Bitcoin halving, where the block rewards are cut in half. Basically, the production of Bitcoin is halved every four years. As a result, prices surged for about a year and a half and then dropped precipitously. "At this point, we are right where we should be during a bear market. Therefore, I believe the only way that Bitcoin is going to hit alltime highs again is if Ethereum finally takes its place as the market leader by the end of this year or the beginning of next year."
April 2022 | Volume 24
"I ultimately believe Ethereum will pass Bitcoin in market cap. I don't even think it's a question, it's just a matter of when. I think this is a tremendous moment in crypto history. And, this is going to be the moment that is going to determine, can Eth take its seat and lead the market or will we still be slaves and dependent on Bitcoin to move the market? And if that's the case, then buckle in. The next year might be kind of rough as we lead up into the 2024 halving, which should occur sometime March or April in 2024."
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NEWS
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Crypto Weekly
Metaverse Objects Can be Felt with New Tech
U
sing a new technology, its developer claims, virtual reality users will be able to feel objects in the metaverse as realistically as possible. According to WALA, the SpinOcchio's spin process differentiates the senses associated with objects, so users can feel things in the metaverse as if they were touching them in reality. Researchers at MAKinteract Lab developed the controller
by detecting differences in how objects glide across skin or slip in the hand of the user and combining this information with visual input from the user, WALA reported.
testing how "haptic realism of motion and thickness is perceived with varying visual cues in VR," the researchers were able to replicate slippage with the controller.
According to the report, the controller will then provide a realistic feel of an object, possibly even allowing a user to feel the thickness without holding the item. After
The 2022 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems will launch SpinOcchio in New Orleans between April 30 and May 5.
Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse obsession is driving some current and former Facebook employees nuts: 'It's the only thing Mark wants to talk about
S
everal current and former Facebook employees say Mark Zuckerberg is so wrapped up in building the metaverse that it's becoming a frustration. According to a former director-level employee who recently left, it is "the only thing Mark wants to talk about." This person said the company is "messaging the hell out" of its new focus, "spinning up teams that are Metaverse specific," including one that will reach across all groups within the company and be tasked with explaining that "there is a playbook," for a story on its big pivot and current business struggles. Some staffers are still confused, though. "It's basically fomenting disorganization and anxiety," one current employee said. "People don't really seem to know what to
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deliver or what to work on because there is still no coherent strategy." A spokesperson said the company is "going through a defining period for the company and we're going all in." "A lot of people are excited, but they have a lot of questions at the same time," the spokesperson added. Facebook has renamed itself Meta. The Reality Labs segment, which handles metaverse projects, lost the company $10 billion last year. It plans to spend that much this year, too, and possibly for years to come. A former employee said there has been little to show for so much money spent on the metaverse so far. Zuckerberg has said the project won't be complete for a decade or more. "There's still not much to touch or look at, much less use," the person said, "for all of its metaverse proclamations."
April 2022 | Volume 24
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NEWS Crypto Weekly
No Transaction Fees with Coinbase NFT Beta Coinbase, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, today unveiled its Web3 NFT Marketplace, Coinbase NFT. First, the company is offering users a beta version that has just a few features.
NFT`s are Now Available on Coinbase Coinbase NFT, built on the Ethereum blockchain, offers a wide range of NFT collections already available on the market, such as Cool Cats and Doodles. Coinbase has said that during this beta period they will not be charging transaction fees, but once they do, they will follow
industry standards. The message also stated, "We're starting with a small group of beta testers who will be invited based on their position on the waitlist. Over time, we'll open access to more people at the top of the waitlist. Coinbase NFT beta testers will be able to buy and sell NFTs using a Coinbase Wallet or another self-custody wallet.”
under collections and allow creators and collectors to engage in a conversation.
As part of the NFT community-building effort, Coinbase will also allow comments
Coinbase Is Not on the Charts, but on the Cards
Furthermore, Coinbase NFT will support drops, minting, token-gated communities, and the purchase of NFTs with a Coinbase account or a credit card, ultimately decentralizing the platform.
The announcement is a major milestone for Coinbase, but the price action of its token didn't reflect the news. At the time of this writing, Coinbase was trading at $147, down by 4.47% from its opening price of $154. As the news picks up attention and the market closes, prices might climb back and even post green, but for now, Coinbase NFT failed to impress the stock market investors.
April 2022 | Volume 24
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14
NFT FEATURE Crypto Weekly
Are We Already Seeing the End of the NFT Bubble? A
n Iranian crypto entrepreneur bought a Non Fungible Token (NFT) of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first tweet for $2.9M earlier this year. He listed it on NFT marketplace OpenSea on 6 April, hoping for $48M and promised to donate half of the proceeds to charity. The Wall Street Journal reported that the largest bid stood at $6,823.54 as of 14 April. Critics of the NFT have seized upon this news as further evidence that the bubble is beginning to burst. Is that possible? Can we trust this news?
Trends in the NFT Market In the crypto industry, NFTs were a littleknown, extremely niche segment up until the start of 2021. A collage of Mike "Beeple" Winklemann's digital art was auctioned for
April 2022 | Volume 24
$69.3M by Christie's last February, spurring a historic period of growth for the NFT market. Nonfungible.com's Market Tracker shows that global NFT sales averaged around 2,000 per day at the start of 2021, with a value of a few hundred thousand dollars max. At the market's peak in August 2021, on the other hand, over 200,000 NFTs were sold every day, with the market's value briefly exceeding $400M. Since then, market conditions have changed significantly. Market Tracker's daily NFT sales have mostly stayed between 10,000 and 30,000, excluding occasional spikes. Despite the occasional spike over $100M, the total value of daily sales has largely stayed in the tens of millions. CryptoSlam reports that total NFT sales in March this year totaled $2.435 billion, the lowest figure since July 2021,
while 661,748 people purchased NTFs, the lowest figure since September 2021.
A Collector's/Analyst's Take on Digital Art According to Fortune in February, Museum of Crypto Art founder and curator Colborn Bell is prepared for a cataclysmic market crash. The NFT marketplace is plagued by a shortage of buyers and too many sellers, according to Bell. This formula does not work because the entry barrier for artists is much lower than it is for collectors. According to Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, "The enthusiasm and interest we had at some points last year aren't present anymore.” "I think we achieved something last summer that couldn't be sustained,” he stated, referring
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NFT FEATURE Crypto Weekly
The market is on the rise. Reuters reported last week that, instead of declining, the market is consolidating after its meteoric growth in 2021. "Everyone expected that there would be a consolidation period... It isn't going away, it's just consolidating," Modesta Masoit DappRadar
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to high valuations and high volume of sales. According to Modesta Masoit of DappRadar, the market is on the rise. Reuters reported last week that, instead of declining, the market is consolidating after its meteoric growth in 2021. "Everyone expected that there would be a consolidation period... It isn't going away, it's just consolidating," he said.
Social NFTs-The Next Area of Growth? 2022 has not seen much slowdown in Bored Ape Yacht Club's demand for NFTs. Since the start of the year, the price of the 10,000 variations of the iconic cartoon ape has continued to rise, with an average of more than $250,000. Last August, when most of the rest of the NFT market peaked,
15
the average was around $87,000.Analysts have commented that growing demand for so-called "social tokens" is represented by continued growth in the market for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. In addition to celebrities like Paris Hilton and Madonna, buyers of Bored Ape NFTs join an exclusive group of high-profile owners. Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape's NFT collection, recently raised $450M to create an NFT Metaverse. Last month, Bored Ape NFT owners received Yuga Labs' new cryptocurrency ApeCoin, which already has a market capitalization of over $3.7B. Raoul Pal, a widely followed former Goldman Sachs executive, wrote recently that expectations for growth in the market for Bored Ape NFTs had encouraged him to invest about $400,000. “Social tokens are the BIG thing,” he exclaimed.
April 2022 | Volume 24
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
North Korea's Crypto Hack of $625 million Presents a New National Security Threat April 2022 | Volume 24
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FEATURE
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Crypto Weekly
T
his week, U.S. authorities linked North Korean hackers to the $625 million Axie Infinity crypto swindle, with the massive hack signaling the emergence of a new type of national security threat, according to a blockchain expert. The U.S. Treasury Department added an Ethereum wallet address to its sanction list on Thursday after the wallet facilitated the transfer of more than $86 million of the stolen funds. According to the FBI, North Korean-linked hackers, Lazarus and APT38, committed the theft, which is generating revenue for Kim Jong Un's regime. According to Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at blockchain research firm TRM, even a country like North Korea can use cyber warfare. “North Korea has committed many hacks in recent years,” Redbord told Insider. "However, the magnitude of this crime shows that things have moved from small exploits to national security concerns. It is astounding - a bank robbery at the speed of information." A high-profile cyberattack against Sony was carried out by North Korean actors in 2014. Groups such as Lazarus, however, have grown more sophisticated and ambitious. The nascent crypto sector is still finding its footing when it comes to cybersecurity, which makes it vulnerable to hackers who are continuously fine-tuning their methods. "It became evident that hacking an online retailer was one thing, but targeting cryptocurrency exchanges was an even more efficient way for North Korea to fund
North Korea's use of the group Lazarus confirms that the country's isolated status and lack of modern infrastructure doesn't hold it back from participating in cyber warfare on the world stage Ari Redbord Head of legal and government affairs at blockchain research firm TRM
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destabilizing activity for very little money," Redbord said. He said that the country has been an early adopter of cryptocurrency money laundering, and there's no sign its bad actors will slow down their efforts since it has proved to be extremely lucrative. Redbord also noted that social engineering attacks such as the Axie Infinity infiltration are becoming more sophisticated. He explained these hacks aren't the result of simple massphishing emails, but rather specific and targeted attacks on specific people.
The New Digital Battlefield While North Korea has an extremely small economy and limited infrastructure, it has proven it can participate in cyber-warfare at a scale similar to global superpowers like the U.S. and China. The Axie Infinity hack in particular reinforced Redbord's belief that the scale of digital attacks are climbing at such a rate that a new type of warfare is emerging. "Over the last year or so, we've moved from a post 9/11 world into a new digital battlefield," Redbord said. "Nation-state actors know to go after crypto businesses to fund real weapon proliferation, it's not just some hackers trying to fund a lifestyle." “North Korea's use of the group Lazarus confirms that the country's isolated status and lack of modern infrastructure doesn't hold it back from participating in cyber warfare on the world stage,” Redbord explained. The cryptocurrency industry is an excellent target for these attacks because of the volume of transactions and funds being moved every day, but also because the businesses aren't fully mature and may still be developing their own cyber security protocols. Unfortunately, this means many firms often do not have the most up to date security measures in place, Redbord said. "It comes down to hardening cyber defenses. We're still in a world where these companies are learning how to protect themselves, and now we've seen that a small group is responsible for crypto's largest hack," he said. "If there was ever a doubt that hacks were not tied to national security, that's been resolved."
April 2022 | Volume 24
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
Blockchain and the Quantum Computing Risk Crypto industry leaders have long argued that quantum computing poses a near-existential threat. Cryptography is the foundation of blockchain and the Bitcoin network. But, what if computers advanced to the point where current cryptographic standards could no longer be relied upon one day in the not-too-distant future? This is both the promise, and the danger of quantum computing, a technology that allows computers to rely on the rules of quantum physics to accelerate calculations and process massive amounts of data at rates that current computers may not be able to handle. Currently, quantum computers are in the infancy stage and are not widely available. But, they are closer than you might think.
Is it possible to crack a Bitcoin private key?
Where are we with quantum computing?
Frequently cited ways to attack a Bitcoin private key-though it has never been successfully done-is to "brute force" attack the key itself. An external actor can gain access to another person's cryptography through brute force attacks, which are exhaustive, computer-assisted searches for combinations of possible private keys.
The technology has already made great strides. The Azure Quantum service, announced by Microsoft in February 2021, will bring quantum technology directly to Microsoft computers.
Hackers today face a problem since a private key is a number between 1 and 2*256, aka 115 quadrillion. The number is real, and it's estimated to be greater than the number of atoms in the universe. Unless you have a few hundred years to spare, numbercrunching of that level is simply beyond the capabilities of today's computers.
April 2022 | Volume 24
Computer manufacturer SpinQ is working on a quantum computer that will cost just $5,000 when it's released. The NATO Cyber Security Center announced in March 2022 that it successfully tested secure communication flows in what it described as a "post-quantum world."
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
Could Bitcoin be at risk? As transactions queue up to be processed, Bitcoin is most vulnerable. It won't take long. New blocks are mined every 10 to 15 minutes (though not every eligible transaction is included in the first available block). After that, they cannot be tampered with anymore. However, before that happens, a hacker could theoretically replicate a private key, allowing them to steal funds from a user's wallet before a new block is confirmed on the blockchain. Andersen Cheng, CEO of Quantum Computing, said, "Once the public key is exposed, a quantum computer can calculate the private key fairly quickly, perhaps within minutes or hours." We're not there yet, though. But Cheng says the danger is not even necessarily about tampering with actual transactions—it's about trust. "The main threat is not whether quantum computers can 'open up' private key information," he said in April 2022. "It's more about the power of a quantum computer to replicate a private key without you knowing, undercutting trust in the entire signature process." Mark Webber from the University of Sussex in the U.K. said that breaking this level of encryption
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would require a quantum computer with 1.9 billion qubits. This is a staggeringly high number, especially when you consider that IBM's best quantum computer only has 127 qubits. As Cheng previously told Decrypt, quantum computing is not something that will hit the mainstream market any time soon. But that doesn't mean the crypto industry can turn away from quantum computing and the risks this technology may present. "When people say that we don't need to worry about quantum computers—[that] they are still 10, 20, 30 years away—they are often speaking about a commercial quantum computer," Cheng said, adding that "in the cybersecurity world, the threat is much closer." In fact, according to some estimates, the functional reality of a quantum computer cracking encrypted systems may only be five years away. "We are concerned with a massive, poorly built prototype in a basement, which is all that's needed to break current encryption and lead to the risks in crypto that I outlined," Cheng said, concluding that, inevitably, "the entire crypto ecosystem will need to become quantum-safe."
What can be done? Others are thinking about how to avoid this potential problem, which would affect Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and other systems that rely on cryptography—such as banks. Imperial College researchers have suggested a soft fork of the Bitcoin blockchain that would allow the "secure transition of funds to quantum-resistant wallets." Others have proposed increasing the size of Bitcoin keys. Nevertheless, crypto asset management firm CoinShares recommends using the next decade to "modify existing cryptographic infrastructure" to prevent quantum computing's threat: "We believe that combining development costs and technical capabilities, it will remain technically and economically unviable to compete with ASIC miners for the foreseeable future."
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
Crypto Seen as a Growing Threat to Governments Says Edward Snowden During his presentation at Camp Ethereal 2022, Edward Snowden discussed how crypto disrupts the regulatory status quo. According to Edward Snowden, a whistleblower at Camp Ethereal 2022 who spoke extensively with Marta Belcher of Filecoin Foundation and Protocol Labs, governments see crypto as an "evolving threat." "In terms of regulating private lives and private transactions," Snowden said," I believe government officials correctly see cryptocurrency as a threat."
The Financial System in the US is Invasive Taking further aim at the United States financial system, Snowden called it "incredibly invasive." "Considering how invasively the U.S. financial network operates," he said, "it is hard to believe that if they had the technical capability to easily obtain the serial numbers of every dollar bill they handle, they don't do it." For Snowden, these characteristics undermine the idea that money is anonymous. The presupposition that cash is anonymous that we had inherited from a time when it
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was meaningfully anonymous is no longer valid. While Bitcoin is believed to have a public ledger, a private ledger is available to those monitoring the finances once a dollar enters the banking system. In other words, it's private to all, but publicly known to the prominent.
Bitcoin and Financial Surveillance Bitcoin is harshly criticized by Snowden, just as it is by the traditional financial system. Snowden believes Bitcoin must become a "private by design" currency to thwart law enforcement attempts to suppress other
cryptocurrencies, like privacy coins such as Monero and Tornado cash. During this year's Ethereal Summit, he noted that Ethereum suffers from privacy issues similar to Bitcoin and that with the Bitcoin blockchain, "you get chain analysis people and whatnot who are doing certain things that are devious," such as "trying to get an edge from the on-chain analysis." Nonetheless, he called the Bitcoin blockchain an "even playing field" and said none of his privacy concerns had stopped him from seeing the power of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technology.
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As legacy technologies give way to decentralized ones, he said, "people don't realize how transformative power relationships become once everything is said and done." Do governments see the crypto industry as an "evolving threat?" Based on recent regulatory signals in the U.S., it's easy to argue that they do.
Crypto, National Security, and the US According to former FBI agent Crane Hassold, cryptocurrency is the "primary factor" driving today's ransomware industry. United States officials have regularly raised concerns about using cryptocurrencies in undermining national security. Last summer, Biden's administration created a cyber task force that was specifically charged with fighting cyber attacks and tracking cryptocurrency ransomware payments. Biden urged Russia to stop its own citizens from committing ransomware crimes. According to Chainalysis data, Russianbacked criminals generated 74% of the world's ransomware profits in 2021. That includes profits generated in the heart of Moscow, where the prestigious skyscraper Vostok was found to facilitate business for a range of crypto hackers, cybercriminals, and money launderers. It was revealed in a U.S. Treasury report in October of last year that cryptocurrencies could undermine economic sanctions,
a cornerstone of American foreign policy for decades. "These technologies offer malign actors ways to transfer money outside the collar-based financial system." “They also empower our adversaries working to undermine the dollar's global influence," the report stated. Several experts have stated that Russia would have difficulty evading sanctions using crypto due to Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine. In his remarks about governments and crypto, Snowden did not explicitly mention Ukraine, but his observations also apply here.
a threat to national security, are well documented. Earlier this month, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it would issue new rules to restrict financial transactions to enforce existing sanctions against the Russian state.
Ukraine, Russia, and Sanctions
Jake Chervinsky, director of policy at the Blockchain Association, challenges the notion that cryptocurrencies can be used to evade sanctions. Some precedents do exist, however. Cybercriminals connected to the Russian government are using several non-compliant exchanges, according to Elliptic's David Carlisle, director of policy and regulatory affairs.
The Biden administration's concerns over the use of cryptocurrencies to undermine economic sanctions, and therefore pose
According to the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, the U.S. Government will take action against "deceptive or structured transactions or dealings, including using digital currencies or assets to circumvent sanctions."
"We have seen cases where crypto-asset exchange services helped Russian criminals launder large amounts of money," he said in an online webinar, citing SUEX as an example. SUEX was sanctioned by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control following an Executive Order that authorized sanctions against those complicit in cyber-related activities against the interests of the United States. In terms of how national governments can "get it right," Snowden pointed to the recent steps taken by Canadian authorities to block protesters from accessing their bank accounts as a troubling example.
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April 2022 | Volume 24
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HIDDEN GEMS Crypto Weekly
PROJECT 1
estatex.eu
EstateX
EstateX enables the tokenization of real estate through new and highly advanced blockchain solutions. With this, anyone can get into real estate with as little as $100. Using these solutions, EstateX is able to trade real estate security tokens on their secondary market 24/7 without financial, or country, barriers. The advantage of fractional ownership is that it removes entry barriers and lowers entry and exit costs. Previously, non-accredited individuals could not participate in the real estate market due to restrictions and limitations. By using smart contracts, blockchain offers safe, secure, and transparent transactions that are not controlled by humans, preventing human error and wasting time. It is now possible to buy a fraction of a property and enjoy
PROJECT 2
catcoincrypto.me
perpetual returns, without the need to maintain the property. We all know that the old-fashioned system is in need of an update. And that update seems to be coming; EstateX offers good, realistic solutions to open up this market. Although it seems that the big players and banks don’t like to see this system change, it’s a matter of adapting or giving up for these parties. Blockchain, which is going to be as big as the rise of the Internet, will bring about this revolution. EstateX is acting smartly and is one of the first parties to offer a new way of investing. The only question that arises isn’t or but when will the big banks, real estate parties and investors join the queue behind EstateX
Catcoin
catcoin_bsc
CatCoin was launched on November 26, 2021 by Miaoshi Nekomoto (Satoshi Nakamoto's Cat) as a community-influenced project with big goals but little funding. Renounced by Miaoshi shortly after launch, CatCoin is now completely owned and run by its amazing community. Catcoin is a community-influenced project that connects the crypto world with social media. Catcoin is the first crypto-related project to offer a 24/7 live stream on Twitch.tv, allowing the community
April 2022 | Volume 24
estatexeu
estatexofficial
catcoinbsc
to share their thoughts on Catcoin at any time. Catcoin values a friendly and caring community. Anyone can be a part of the Catfamily. In addition, Catcoin's development is primarily focused on the Catnip project, which will be developed and released by mid-2022 at the latest and implemented into the Metaverse (Catverse) at the request of the community.
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CLICK HERE
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
The Impact of DAOs on How We Work
T
he way we work has changed with every technological revolution. For example, the plow made hunters into farmers. Farmers became factory workers with the spinning jenny and power loom. Automation and computers transformed factory workers into office dwellers, and the Internet fundamentally changed how we do business. We're seeing a new transformation on the horizon that will change the way we work once more with decentralized autonomous organizations and Web3.0. This is the next generation of the World Wide Web. decentralization, transparency, and shared ownership are key characteristics of the network built on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Web3 has the potential to revolutionize work as we know it. Decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, will lead the way. A DAO is effectively owned and controlled
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by people who hold a sufficient number of its native token, which functions like a virtual currency. Friends With Benefits is a popular social DAO, and $FWB is its native token, which people can buy, earn, or trade. DAOs come in a variety of types, some more decentralized than others. Among the DAOs are media organizations, venture funds, grant programs, social networks, video games, financial and tech platforms, and philanthropic organizations.
might look like, with the typical creator earning income from coaching, consulting, and content monetization through sites like Patreon, YouTube, and SubStack.
Freedom to Do More Fulfilling Work
DAOs will Provide More Autonomy Over Where, When, & How We Work
Because DAOs are technology-centric, rudimentary, algorithmic work may be automated, allowing contributors to be more creative and useful and spend more time on high-value activities that stimulate flow states and less time on boring, mundane tasks.
With the proliferation of DAOs, instead of working for one employer and 40 hours a week, we might contribute several hours to several DAOs. Early adopters are already doing this. Taking a look at today's creator economy, which is populated by vloggers, bloggers, and podcasters, can provide a glimpse of what the Web3 working world
DAOs will enable people to work on projects whose mission and vision resonate with them, find jobs aligned with their strengths, and find people who share their values. Work-life conflicts, excessive workloads, a lack of autonomy, and office politics that cause workplace stress may also be mitigated by this measure.
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tend to be NFTs, which are cryptographically unique tokens that can be used for proof of ownership of content such as music or images. NFTs represent in-game assets, such as virtual tools or weapons that players can use during the game. As soon as players win them, they can either exchange them for other assets within the game or sell them for real money on an NFT marketplace. As of right now, Axies can fetch up to 300 Ethereums (ETH), the equivalent of $1 million in the Philippines. Axies can earn $10 to $20 per day, about the same as the average salary in the country, while their prices can increase over time. According to Axie Infinity, $1.3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue was generated by Axie marketplace transaction fees and Axie breeding fees in 2021.
What are learn and earn crypto programs? The Ability to Make Decisions May Also be Improved The native tokens of DAO contributors will be used to vote on key decisions. With Snapshot, which is essentially a decentralized voting system, you can see what kinds of decisions DAO members are already voting on. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, an opensource blockchain, criticized the voting mechanisms of existing Web3 applications. This type of voting will likely change over time.
There are Different Compensation Models
Token holders can then stake their tokens. Staking a token involves depositing it into a central liquidity pool where it is used to validate blockchain transactions. APY (annual percentage yield) is what investors earn, and in some cases it can even exceed 30%.
Play-to-Earn A variation of W2E, the play-to-earn (P2E) model, is already bearing fruit for teenagers in developing countries. In playto-earn games, players are rewarded with something that has value in the real and virtual worlds by using crypto. The rewards
Cryptocurrency is a minefield, full of unique terminology, jargon, and concepts that don't really exist in other fields. When you're just starting out, it can be a bit overwhelming, especially when you're figuring out how to invest your money. You can earn crypto while learning with some amazing crypto-learning programs like what is found at Coinbase. Do you want to earn cryptocurrency by watching videos? It may seem unreal to be paid in crypto just for learning about it, but it's not. What is the purpose of these programs? Promotion of different exchanges and cryptocurrencies. Some of the largest
The majority of contributors to DAOs accomplish individual tasks, or "bounties," such as "build a messaging app" or "moderate an online community forum." Contributors may earn native tokens, fiat currency in USDC, a digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar, or both. For example, I regularly contribute writing services to a number of these DAO's and often am paid with their native tokens. On exchanges such as UniSwap, these tokens can be traded in exchange for other tokens or fiat currencies, as well as representing ownership of a DAO, whose number of tokens is limited, similar to the amount of shares available to corporations.
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
are only identified by their NFT profile pictures. DAO contributors will likely work remotely instead of working at a central office all year long and taking two to four weeks off. Companies that require employees to work two or three days a week effectively bind them to one location, usually near a central business district. The battle for Millennials and Gen-Z talent will continue to become increasingly difficult for firms with such archaic and mobility-limiting positions.
centralized exchanges provide learn and earn programs, including Binance, Coinbase, and many others. If you eventually start trading crypto, they offer a small incentive to encourage you to use their platform. Further, they are able to partner with different cryptocurrencies with dedicated modules that allow you to learn about a new coin or token and earn a small amount of it as a reward. Like an airdrop, this raises awareness about the coin, decentralizes ownership from its creators, and increases initial trading volume. Another permutation is create-to-earn (C2E) - like writing
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articles like I do or designing artwork to be exchanged for tokens, and use-to-earn (U2E), like posting comments and engaging with Web3 social media applications like Minds or Steemit. As with traditional shares in a company, token holders can speculate on the value of their tokens, which may increase over time.
Work From Any Location The DAOs don't only care where you work but also when you work or what you look like while you work - in fact, many contributors
It may be argued that DAOs, like many gig economy companies, threaten labor rights, but the DAOs themselves are addressing this issue. DAOs are in their infancy, and there are still a number of challenges to overcome when it comes to governance and trust. In order for Web3 to become mainstream, questions related to user experience (UX), security, scalability, and regulatory clarity need to be resolved. Although mainstream proliferation could occur sooner rather than later, at the current pace of talent acquisition, capital raising, and innovation in the space. A core goal of Web3 is to create work that is more fulfilling and resultsfocused, with a more equitable distribution of ownership and rewards - and that is a future worth building.
Robert Stone Editor
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
What if You Could Buy a House with Bitcoin?
Buying a home can pose a challenge for those who hold a lot of their wealth in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The majority of sellers are not interested in trading their houses for crypto, and traditional lenders won't accept crypto as a down payment. The alternative, converting your digital currency into cash, can have significant tax repercussions.
M
ortgage companies are now accepting cryptoassets as collateral for mortgages. This type of loan allows you to get a home without having to sell your crypto. Crypto mortgages can be helpful to those who have a lot invested in cryptocurrencies but not as much wealth in more traditional assets. It is still a very new type of loan, and it carries a lot of risk.
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The Cryptocurrency Mortgage Process Several companies offer crypto-backed mortgage products, but they work differently depending on the lender. Milo and Figure, two early entrants in the cryptocurrency market, lend 100% of a borrower's cryptocurrency value with no down payment.
A Milo mortgage can be up to $5 million, while a Figure mortgage can be up to $20 million. Both Milo and Figure accept Bitcoin, Ether, and stablecoins. Both lenders offer 30-year mortgages, like traditional loans. Depending on the value of your cryptocurrency relative to the loan amount, you may change your interest
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rate periodically. At the end of April 2022, Milo advertised rates between 3.95% and 5.95%. Freddie Mac reports that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate for the first week of April was 4.72%. Despite your cryptocurrency value, lenders will still look at your credit, debt, income, and the home you're buying. While the credit of a borrower isn't used as a basis for approval or denial of a mortgage, Milo's CEO and founder says that his firm still wants to know the borrower's entire financial picture to ensure they are able to repay the loan. The appraisal and title insurance will still be required, Rupena says. "We will check this person's credit profile if they have one." As soon as you close your loan and own the home, you will make monthly payments, similar to a traditional mortgage. Once the debt is repaid, you'll receive the cryptocurrency you pledged as security.
Mortgage Risks Using Crypto Richard Levin, chair of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough's fintech and regulation practice, advises people who are posting digital assets as collateral for loans to proceed cautiously. If the value of your cryptocurrency drops, you might have to bring more money into the transaction if you get a crypto mortgage. Cryptocurrencies are characterized by high volatility, meaning their prices fluctuate widely. In the event that you use your Bitcoin as collateral on your mortgage and the value of Bitcoin drops dramatically, you may be asked to add more to your collateral. These are known as margin calls. Levin suggests borrowers considering crypto mortgages learn the lender's rules for situations like this, and whether they can use other cryptocurrencies or traditional currency to get their collateral back up to an acceptable level. Milo, for instance, will request a margin call if the collateral value drops to 65% of the loan amount. The cryptocurrency will be liquidated once it reaches 30%. Your interest rate may also change based on the crypto underlying your loan. Crypto mortgages should probably only be used if you cannot buy a home using traditional means due to their risks. Rubena himself recommends that those with the income and qualifications to get a regular mortgage do so.
Benefits of Crypto Mortgages Crypto mortgages are attractive because you don't need to sell your crypto to get a mortgage. The sale of your assets will not be subject to taxes, and the value of your assets will increase. "It's a fundamental innovation around mortgages, where you're combining two assets and delivering the consumer's wish, which is to own both simultaneously," Rupena says. "I hope both will increase in value." Rupena adds that another advantage of crypto mortgages is that lenders have other options than foreclosure if borrowers can't pay. Nonetheless, if you stop making payments and your cryptocurrency isn't sufficient to cover your debt, the lender may still be able to foreclose on your home.
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BEGINNERS GUIDE Crypto Weekly
A Look at Liquidity Pools - The Funds That Keep DeFi Running Liquidity is the lifeblood of finance. The financial system cannot function without it. Liquidity pools are crucial to the smooth functioning of decentralized finance (DeFi). Decentralized finance falls apart in the absence of available funds.
D
ecentralized finance refers to financial services and products on the blockchain. The smart contract is a self-executing code that enables DeFi activities, such as lending, borrowing, and token exchange. Liquidity pools are contracts that allow users to lock crypto assets in so that they may be used by others. There are no direct counterparts in traditional finance for the liquidity pools of the crypto industry. Furthermore, liquidity pools serve as hotbeds for investors with a high appetite for risk and reward in addition to providing a lifeline for the core activities of DeFi protocols.
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How do liquidity pools function? As soon as you look past the technical language, you will understand the logic behind liquidity pools. Cryptography is required for any economic activity to occur in DeFi. It is precisely liquidity pools that are set up to supply crypto, which is exactly what cryptocurrency needs. (On centralized exchanges, this role is fulfilled by order books and market markers.) A decentralized exchange's liquidity pool is what users rely on when they sell token A and buy token B. By buying B tokens, fewer B tokens will be in the pool, and the price of B
will increase. That's just supply and demand. The platform's users provide smart contracts containing locked crypto tokens through liquidity pools. As self-executing processes, they do not need intermediaries to function. These algorithms are supported by other pieces of code, such as automated market makers (AMMs), which use mathematical formulas to maintain liquidity pool balances.
When is low liquidity problematic? Slippage occurs when liquidity is low, resulting in a significant difference between the expected and actual price of a token
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available pools. The Balancer liquidity pool allows up to eight tokens. There is an easier way, however. In 2020, Zapper invented the concept of zapping into a liquidity pool, adding liquidity in one transaction. Simply connect your wallet at Zapper.fi. On the "pools" page, you can see all the liquidity pools available for zapping in and out. You can add liquidity to the pool with any asset you have. Zapper splits the assets into equal shares of the relevant pair. That eliminates the need for two different deals! There aren't all liquidity pools on DeFi, so Zapper only lists the biggest liquidity pools.
Liquidity Pools and the Future trade. A pool with so few tokens locked up results in higher slippages when tokens are changed through a swap or any other activity. Liquid pools mean traders will experience little slippage. High slippage isn't the worst outcome. If a given trading pair doesn't have enough liquidity (e.g., ETH to COMP) on all protocols, then users will be unable to sell their tokens. The same thing happens with rug pulls, but it can also happen naturally if the market is not liquid enough.
Does DeFi have enough liquidity? Typically, liquidity in DeFi is measured as "total value locked," which measures how much crypto is entrusted to protocols. A metric site called DeFi Llama estimates that the TVL for DeFi, as a whole, is $222 billion as of April 2022. DeFi's fast growth is also partly reflected in TVL: only $1 billion was recorded in early 2020 for Ethereum-based protocols.
What are the benefits of pool liquidity?
However, there are risks involved. Impermanent losses can occur when tokens in a liquidity pool (like ETH and USDT split 50:50) become unbalanced as a result of significant price changes. You could lose the money you invested in such a case.
What can be done to add liquidity?
Investors continually chase high yields elsewhere and take liquidity from liquidity pools in a competitive environment. An analysis by Nansen, a blockchain analytics platform, found that 42% of yield farmers who provide liquidity to a pool on launch day eventually withdraw from the pool. By the third day, 70% had left the pool.
DeFi activities are usually two-sided - you exchange ETH for USDC, you borrow DAI against ETH, and so on. Therefore, you need equal tokens to trade, borrow, and conduct most other DeFi activities.
In an attempt to combat "mercenary capital," OlympusDAO has experimented with "protocol-owned liquidity." Instead of setting up a liquidity pool, the protocol lets users sell their crypto into its treasury in exchange for its discounted protocol token, OHM. OHM can be staked for high yields. However, the model has been hit with a similar issue-investors who just want to sell their tokens and leave for other opportunities, which diminishes confidence in the protocol's sustainability.
In order to maintain a balanced pair, most protocols require liquidity providers to pledge 50/50 of two crypto assets to
Until DeFi solves the transactional nature of liquidity, there isn't much change on the horizon for liquidity pools.
There are two ways to add liquidity. If you already own ETH and USDC, which you can swap on a decentralized exchange, you can add funds directly to a liquidity pool, such as SushiSwap's ETH/USDC liquidity pool.
This can be profitable for investors. Token rewards provide incentives to liquidity providers. A crypto investment strategy called yield farming has been developed as a result of this incentive structure. Moving assets between different protocols can help users take advantage of yields before they dry up. The majority of liquidity pools also offer LP tokens, a sort of receipt, which can be exchanged for rewards from the pool based on how much liquidity was provided. To enhance yields, LP tokens may also be staked on other protocols.
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April 2022 | Volume 24
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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
A Collection of NFT Tokens on the Cardano Blockchain Expand Snoop Dogg's Crypto Investment Footprint S
noop Dogg is going back to expanding his crypto footprint. The collection is being launched on Cardano's blockchain this time, in partnership with Clay Nation. The Clay Nation collection is a collection of 10,000 digital clay characters. The collection is currently sold out, but the tokens sell on the secondary market. Clay Nation tweeted about their tie-up with Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and crypto investor Champ Medici. The tie-up will feature collectibles, unreleased music, and plots of Clay Nation land. Medici and Charles Hoskinson shared a Twitter space with Snoop last week, courtesy of Clay Nation. Hoskinson suggested collaborating with Snoop Dogg on a guide for getting involved in crypto during the conversation. “Putting together a visual piece on 'how to' from both
April 2022 | Volume 24
invested in social media platform Reddit as well as retail trading platform Robinhood.
your and my perspectives, you know – you from your angle on how you got involved, and I from mine, then we'll take care of the whole planet," the musician said. This year, he has invested in several NFT and crypto projects. The fact that Snoop Dogg is the first celebrity to switch from Ethereum to Cardano is causing a lot of hype. GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou, who told the world last week that NFTs are all about brands and identities, said last week that Snoop Dogg recently made a music video entirely inside the Sandbox Metaverse. Snoop Dogg
Of his other notable investments, Klarna, a Swedish payments company, and previously invested in Moon Pay, a company that lets users purchase crypto easily with a credit card and a bank transfer. In addition, he is one of thirty-seven investors who have invested in Yuga Labs, the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, according to Crunchbase data. It is noteworthy that Snoop Dogg is one of the first celebrities involved in digital assets to venture beyond Ethereum's blockchain. Ethereum may be the most dominant platform for NFTs at the moment, but with Solana and Cardano making advances and lowering fees, this hegemony could be challenged.
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Most Crypto Not Anonymous and More Centralized than People Think Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC-USD), are so attractive because of their anonymity - the ability to exchange payments directly with a third party without a commercial bank or government getting involved. Experts say we're actually seeing some centralization rather than the opposite.
“Instead of having decentralization and anonymity, we may end up with a world where large companies and central banks have more visibility into our financial transactions,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University. Prasad believes cryptocurrency could become more centralized with central banks issuing their own digital currencies. “Several other private cryptocurrencies, including digital payment platforms, may be undercut by central bank digital currencies,” he said. “Central bank digital currencies may end up providing governments or central banks acting as their agents with tools for monitoring both financial and economic practices. Cryptocurrency could
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provide more visibility into our financial transactions. And it’s not just the prospect of the government coming in,” Prasad said. Prasad said, "Stablecoins are being issued less on decentralized platforms and more by specific issuers." “Stablecoins, which are the fiat currencies that have a stable value because they are backed by fiat currencies, can certainly gain a lot of traction if they are built on top of existing social media platforms or an existing commercial platform, such as Amazon or PayPal," he said. According to him, while setting up your own account and digital wallet on a trading platform gives you a little bit more anonymity than trading on a centralized exchange,
it's still very difficult to keep your identity hidden if you use these cryptocurrencies extensively. "Anonymity is no longer the main selling point anymore," he said. He noted that crypto's relative lack of anonymity has a positive side, as it means Bitcoin is being used less for illegal transactions. Prasad noted that the FBI can uncover transactions and link digital identities to real identities if Bitcoin is extensively used to acquire real goods. “When your country's currency collapses, you may be able to get your money out of the country if you're a malicious actor using this to evade sanctions, but it's harder than people think," he said.
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of the
week
NFT
BITCOIN HOLDERS...IMF SAYS 'CRYPTOIZATION' IS HAPPENING! Today, let's talk about Bitcoin's growth around the world and how IMF may be warming up to crypto.
April 2022 | Volume 24
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2022. The Year of the CAT
Time to
SUIT UP!
