Crypto Magazine The SQUIDGROW Issue

Magazine

CRYPTO

CEO | Nathan Hill nathan@cryptomag.finance

Editor | Colin Woolley editor@cryptomag.finance

Editorial Assistant | Anthony Burton

AB@CryptoMag.Finance

Art Director | Dilin Divan

Contributors

Nicole Grinstead

John Potter

Seth “MineYourBiz” Estrada

Dan Valez

Jose Ortiz

JMan Ivan Djordjevic Rob Stone

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Crypto Magazine is published by the Crypto Marketing Company

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Welcome to this special SquidGrow edition of Crypto Magazine.

We are honoured to have SquidGrow as our editor for this issue, enlightening us with everything Squid. When you look to invest into crypto, then look no further at SquidGrow, as you’d be wise to make it an essential part of your portfolio.

With utility and use-case being paramount, SquidGrow delivers in abundance with its own exchange and NFT collection. Which can only enhance the already attractive proposition.

As well as giving SquidGrow a well-deserved platform, in this issue we give you the ins and outs of NFTs. Showing you how you can add them to your portfolio, create and profit from the sector, while enjoying the ability to express your artistic eye. There’s more to just buying an NFT, and we have found some of the most forward-thinking experts in the industry to guide you through the maze, and technological capabilities of NFTs. Like everything in crypto, it’s essential that you “Do your own research” and we deliver tips and strategies to be a savvy crypto investor in our comprehensive research guide.

We show you how to recognize and safeguard yourself from the latest scams to protect your hard-earned money. Scammers will always try and develop new ways to trick unsuspecting victims, and we will always push the envelope to counter that before you fall prey to these selfish individuals. We want to help bring success to everyone, and the crypto table is big enough for us all to have a seat and eat well. We want you to find value within the pages of this publication, and we have another $5000 giveaway, brought to you by our friends at SquidGrow, so make sure you enter this month’s competition. It’s free to enter, and everyone has an equal chance at winning. Who doesn’t like the sound of that?

We love hearing from our readers and this month the inbox has been filled with your kind comments and suggestions, and all we ask is that you keep the feedback coming.

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Dream Come True If you Believe 10

Experienced Tips to Help Avoid Crypto Scams

What is an NFT?

Why NFTs are the Biggest Revolution Since Bitcoin.

A to Z on Buying & Selling NFTs

Possible Issues Coming This Year for Binance Coin (BNB)

The Future of the Music Industry 30 Explainer- Can Crypto Holders Recoup Losses in Court? 34

Battle of the Exchanges: Centralized vs. Decentralized 36

Shade Protocol, the Future of Safety and Privacy on the Blockchain 42

What's the Difference Between Crypto currencies and Stocks? 46 New Metaverse Crypto Battle Infinity, Smashes 16,500 BNB Presale Hard Cap in 24 days!! 50

People in Crypto 52

The UK Man Who Lost 7,500 Bitcoins

How to DYOR & Really Win: Confessions of a Crypto Insider - Part 2 64 NFT Interoperability is Imperative for a Decentralized Metaverse

Crypto Market Outlook

How to get Started Understanding Cryp to Investing

How to Make Money Mining Cryptocur rency from Home, for Ambitious Readers Only

Graffiti on the Streets, How Bitcoin is Changing the World

The Doorsteps to the Future

Day 1 Holder of Shiba Inu, has the Means and Heart to Send SquidGrow to the Next Galaxy

Anthony Burton – Crypto Magazine

If you told me a year ago that I would have my name cemented in history, inside the pages of a global publication, I would have told you, “You’re crazy.” A year ago, I never would have imagined crypto would become a full-time career. Of course, I imagined wealth beyond my wildest dreams because I was so enamored with the potential that cryptocurrency investing possesses. If only I knew then, what I know now. Or better

yet, if I knew 10 years ago, what I do now.

My crypto journey started in April 2021 when co-workers were showing me Trust Wallets with 2 to 3 thousand dollars in them, from an initial couple hundred-dollar investments.

I told them, “Show me how to do that!” So they walked me through the rigorous process of setting up multiple apps on my phone; Coinbase, Bitmart, Trust

Wallet, and CoinMarketCap. You know… the crypto starter kit. By the time I had been verified and was able to deposit funds from my bank to Coinbase, this Safemoon thing my co-workers were talking about, had already “taken off.” Wanting to get ahead of the game, I started looking for “the next thing.”

I did days of research before picking the perfect vehicle for my future fortune. I stumbled

across a launchpad. I didn’t know what the hell a launchpad was, but this thing looked promising. Locked liquidity for over 200 years, great audit, had recently listed on a major exchange: This is IT!

Then, like a thief in the night, it was gone. Within 2 months of me investing the developers had rugged a project that was rug-proof. The locked liquidity ultimately didn’t mean shit; they stole the marketing wallet. For those new to the space, rugging, and all variations of the word rug are terms used when a developer, or team, of a project, steals an investor’s funds. Projects have multiple wallets sometimes, which the

team can access to use for the designed function of that wallet ie. using the marketing wallet to pay for marketing or an airdrop wallet to airdrop tokens. The locked liquidity wallet was there to ensure if an investor wants to withdraw their funds, the project has the funds to cover the investor’s sell transaction.

I lost hope. Yes, it was only $100 that I had lost. But I had involved friends and family in my belief. My dreams of watching this $100 turn into millions, vaporized. So, I walked away from crypto.

In mid-2021 crypto was booming. Like a runaway train just blessing all those who were invested in it. Even though I had walked away from investing, I couldn’t pull myself from the urge. The aspirations to find the next golden ticket never left me. I still researched, still had interest, but wasn’t about to lose any more money.

Even though I had walked away from investing, I couldn’t pull myself from the urge. The aspirations to find the next golden ticket never left me. I still researched, still had interest, but wasn’t about to lose any more money.

investor that believes we will be voting in elections in the US on-chain within the next few election cycles. The guy that doesn’t understand the depth of the Metaverse or how we will interact with it, but understands the potential for daily interaction to happen, realizing fortune 500 companies are seeing future profitability within the virtual worlds. I’m the person that sees the vision of the future where donations and personal identification are all moved and held on the immutable blockchain. (Unless the right-sized solar flare hits just the right spot on Earth and sends us back to the stone ages.)

I digress.

Then I got a Telegram phone call that changed my life.

“Hey mate, how ya doin’? Ya alright?” he said in a peaceful, British accent. He had seen my vision and long-term belief in crypto and saw value in that. I’m of the breed of crypto

The gentlemen I spoke with that night detailed all these plans for a crypto project that he was actively working on. He was already working on a digital publication and had plans to distribute a traditional printed publication while utilizing a native cryptocurrency to attract investors and advertisers. 4 hours later I knew, this was the one. This was the project and the guy that I need to follow. So, I did. I watched his marketing expertise take a project from 6k holders to 92k holders in a few weeks. He sent me 3k coins for some shilling work one time. For

those that have never heard of the term, shilling is going out to your favorite social network and spreading the word about a project. I shilled my ass off for 3 days. Collected my tokens and waited. Not even 2 weeks later those 3k tokens he had sent me went from $0.03 cents to $1.21 a piece!

It was around this time that I noticed what this man was offering me. He was offering me guidance, which you can never place a dollar amount on. He was offering me a platform. He was offering me a path to a new life.

Admittedly, in the crypto space, there’s a lot of drama and negativity. Competition is also very prevalent because everybody wants you to invest in their project. I can’t even argue that I feel the same way about our project. Not because I want you to invest to inflate my digital wallet. No no. I want you to invest because I want you to succeed. If you believe in me and my team, I want to make sure you are rewarded for trusting in our shared passion and vision.

Would you believe me if I told you that only 3.9% of the world was invested in cryptocurrency in November 2021 when pretty much everything was at its alltime high? Now, would you believe me if I told you that investing in cryptocurrency today was like investing in internet and tech companies in 1994? This doesn’t mean that everything you put your

money into will be the next Google, Amazon, or eBay. But are the next multi-billion-dollar companies being built today? Of course, they are.

If you move with passion and trade without emotion, this gives you a recipe for success. What you do with that recipe is up to you. If you told me a year ago that my 12-year-old son would’ve sold an NFT, or that I would be doing something

I love (writing) for a globally distributed retail publication (Crypto Magazine) I would have told you, “You’re crazy.” If you would’ve told me that I would afford a vacation, and support a comfortable life for me, my wife, and 3 kids with crypto, I would’ve told you, “That’s the goal.”

My goal is to leave this Earth a more valuable place when I go. That I leave a positive impact on everyone I interact with. I hope that I can help others achieve their personal goals and have a hand in making their dreams a

reality. When the Lakers went up 2 games to 0 in the 2009 NBA Finals, Kobe Bryant famously said, “Job’s not finished. Job finished? I don’t think so.” Unlike Kobe, I’m happy to be up 2-0, but that mentality to know there is always something we can progress on is instilled in me. I won’t ever be perfect, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t strive to be. Find the positives. When you can’t, learn from that. Learning from a negative experience is a positive. If you stick to these keys to life, you can find success.

Do Your Own Research (DYOR), this is Not Financial Advice (NFA), and all the other shit you’ll hear in the space, but most importantly; be you and trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t trade off emotion, don’t invest more than you can afford to lose, and diversify. This crypto table is way too big for 96.1% of the world to not be eating at it. We’ll save you a seat.

Experienced Tips to Help Avoid CRYPTO SCAMS

By Justin MacLachlan

Congratulations on getting involved in cryptocurrency. This industry is incredibly lucrative, but it’s also filled with coins that will go nowhere and projects that were never intended to succeed in the first place i.e. scams.

Scams in the cryptocurrency industry come in many shapes and sizes. A few of the most common scams are - liquidity

rug pulls, a slow rug pull (Ponzi scheme), draining of your wallet funds through interacting with a malicious contract, and raising funds never intending to build anything in the first place. Lastly, you have the most basic scammer, a person who either asks you directly or tries to trick an individual into giving up their private key or seed phrase, usually through phishing with a fake website.

The first rule of thumb when you come into contact with a cryptocurrency project is DYOR (DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH) and then dig even deeper after that. But what does it mean to DYOR?

It means to do your homework about what you are planning to invest your hard-earned money into. If you don’t feel safe putting money into a project and you

have a bad gut feeling. Don’t. 9 times out of 10 you have that doubt for a reason.

So how does one do their homework before choosing to deploy money into the market?

Here’s a short checklist to help keep you safe when

researching projects you come across in your crypto journey.

Ask yourself these questions and mark any that you can’t answer with a red flag. Three red flags and you should probably move on as it’s usually a bad sign.

TIPS

1. Start by asking: does the coin have a utility value and is it something the market needs?

2. Does the project truly require a decentralized database (blockchain) to function, or can it operate without one?

3. Is there active development visible by updates or changes on a project’s Github or similar code repository?

4. Is the contract or custom blockchain audited by well-known, reputable firms in the industry? (The more audits the better.)

5. Is the project team doxed or identified to the public?

6. Does the team’s goal, and goals, seem feasible, and do they have the experience required to complete their roadmap?

7. Does the project claim huge

partnerships but then the partners haven’t acknowledged them?

8. Is the project more focused on social proof, using celebs and influencers for promotion, rather than giving updates about development to the community?

9. Is the community active and discussing the project?

10. What’s the community sentiment like; is it positive or negative?

11. Is the coin showing volume, aka trading activity?

12. Does the team engage with the project’s investors/token holders in question and answer sessions?

13. Does the project have media releases in mainstream outlets?

14. Is the liquidity for the token locked up?

After you have established a good research routine, it’s important to be mindful of everything you do when interacting with smart contracts and in general when you are online. Doing so ensures that your funds are safe, or as Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, says, “SAFU.”

This writer recommends that you purchase a hardware wallet, and use multiple software wallets, such as Metamask, for untrusted contracts. This type of security precaution will help to avoid malicious contracts potentially draining all of your funds, which seems to be more common with the NFT market over cryptocurrency. Regardless, one can never be too safe with their funds.

It’s important to also briefly mention having good cyber security practices. Don’t click potentially malicious unknown links, make sure programs and your operating system are up to date, and when visiting websites

while doing your research, ensure that you are doing so in a virtual machine environment, like Virtual Box, or VMWare. Another quick tip is to use strong passwords and a password manager, such as KeepPassX, Dashlane, or another trusted software to manage them. There is much more that I could get into, but I will leave that for a follow-up in our next issue.

The final warning I will leave you with, never divulge your private keys or seed phrase to anyone. Think of these series of words and series of numbers and letters as your bank account information.

Because that’s exactly what it is; your WEB3 bank account. If anyone gains access to your private keys or seed phrase, they essentially own your wallet and in turn, can send your funds anywhere they please. Protect your seed phrase and your private key like it’s your life.

What is an NFT?

Non-Fungible Tokens have been taking the world of cryptocurrency by storm, with pieces on the extreme end of the spectrum selling for well over $5 million US dollars. These otherwise unassuming entries in the distributed ledgers of the Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, and Algorand blockchain (as well as other less notable collections on other chains) have made a huge impact driving forward the adoption of cryptocurrency; but what’s all the fuss?

Ever since NFTs exploded in popularity, the industry has seen pictures of pixelated heads selling for millions, drawings of apes generating insane capital, and even (albeit staged) protests decrying NFTs as evil, satanic, and a blight on society. Social media activity for NFTs

remains high, even after the initial NFT mania, and pop stars such as Snoop Dogg, Champ Medici, and Seth Green have all been seen sporting the digital decentralized artwork as their

profile pictures on various social platforms.

With all the rampant speculation surrounding non-fungible tokens, what does this mean for the average crypto investor? And what is an NFT actually?

An NFT, or Non-Fungible Token, is just that; a token stored on a blockchain that is non-fungible, which in this case can be read as ‘unique’. It cannot be replaced or copied, and it has a one-of-a-kind identifier that is recorded publicly. NFTs can be created by anybody using simple web tools with no coding skills required. They typically don’t store the image directly in the case of art NFTs, instead

including a reference field that points to an image stored elsewhere.

Not All NFTs are Created Equal

The value of NFTs can vary significantly across blockchains and between projects, with most NFTs ending up worthless. While older NFTs, or NFTs that have substantial community backing, may, for some time, retain their value, in the long-term 99.99% of NFTs will be utterly worthless.

Many in the cryptosphere consider ‘investing’ in nonfungible tokens to be solely the remit of gamblers and degenerates, and with the prevalence of scams and rugpulls in the NFT space, that outlook is becoming more and more common. All hope is not lost for NFT investors, however. Many of the NFTs that do retain their value will do so the same way that, for example, vintage baseball cards trade among collectors.

Why are Some NFTs More Successful?

Nobody is entirely sure as to why some NFTs have seen such overwhelming success. Some credit passionate communities with exclusive benefits. Others blame rapacious speculation under the ‘always a bigger idiot’ theory. Then, some look to NFTs and see the golden opportunity for copyright, ownership, regulatory, and collectible applications. There are even

some video game developers that have started to implement NFTs into their products, allowing players to ‘own’ ingame items and trade them on secondary marketplaces; from exclusive vehicles to entire plots of virtual land.

Art isn’t the only way people and companies make money with NFTs. Toilet paper manufacturer, Charmin, auctioned a series of collectible NFTP (non-fungible toilet paper) as part of a charity drive and it is rumored that Blockbuster Video (yes, that blockbuster) is looking into producing their own series of NFTs too.

Just having a big brand backing an NFT drop is no promise of success; the Mee6 NFT drop promising countless benefits to

its holders and initially selling for over a thousand dollars worth of Ethereum now trades at less than $100 per piece. Despite a wildly successful multi-national business offering social media augmentation services via their critically acclaimed Mee6 bot, the team failed to deliver a return for investors, due in most part to poor customer service and a lack of experience in the Web3 space.

While some NFTs seem to be the proverbial golden goose, others are nothing more than a bad egg. The savvy investor will exercise caution when stepping into the NFT space. The best advice that can be given for investing in NFTs is the following; only invest what you’re willing to lose, because there’s a strong chance, you will.

Why NFTs are the Biggest Revolution Since Bitcoin.

Dan Valez

As paradigms shift, and even the biggest antagonists of Bitcoin find some way to get skin in the crypto game, many people, both pro & anti-crypto, have some sharp-tongued things to say regarding NFTs. Whether you think it’s bad for the environment, or you don’t see past the pseudo-gambling global experiment of PFP art, let’s deep dive on why you are monstrously, crushingly, and painfully wrong.

To any cynics and nay-sayers out there, here is a whole thesis

on why NFTs are just getting started. What are NFTs you say? Non-Fungible Tokens are a new layer of cryptocurrency taking the world by storm. Coins like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and even tokens like Shiba Inu, are what you call ‘fungible assets’ (Bitcoin slightly debatable on that point but I digress). In the dictionary, fungible is defined as “able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.” What that means for coins like the ones stated previously,

is one DogeCoin is just as interchangeable as any other Dogecoin in circulation. One Bitcoin is just as interchangeable as any other Bitcoin (unless you’re one of the unlucky few holding onto banned coins that have interacted with illegal activities previously). Fungibility is an important feature for something to be useful as a form of “money”. What’s awesome about NFTs is we throw that whole paradigm in the garbage. Here are a few reasons one might want to keep that paradigm in the trash.

When assets are fungible, liquidity can be provided when it comes to exchanging them with other coins or tokens. This is the very first reason I believe NFTs are the best form of cryptocurrency and it’s a bit of an onion (layers to it��) so buckle up. Liquidity providing is a way to fluidly transfer different coins between wallets in a trust-less fashion. Let’s start with a simple breakdown of why liquidity providing is needed with fungible assets. Example A will be called Jack Coin, Example B will be called Jill coin. If both Jack and Jill coin are both worth $10 dollars each, then one should be able to give you Jack coin and receive Jill coin. Unfortunately,

in blockchain however, you can’t just send someone 1 Jack coin, and trust that they don’t run away with Jack and Jill (up a hill maybe? ). This isn’t very trustless. How do we solve this in a trust-less manor? What if there was someone who could write

a smart contract to take Jack and Jill, and swap them for one another, for a small piece of each coin? That’s liquidity providing in a nutshell. It’s a little more complex than that but one gets the gist. Enter reason #1: why NFTs are better. You can’t take a “piece” of my NFT for liquidity providing. It’s one.. whole.. NFT.. forever. There are no decimals, because there’s no reason to divvy it up into decimals. It makes things much simpler. Another thing to note about liquidity providing is, historically it’s done by large market makers and exchanges. These fees are accrued over years and generally make the space more toxic, and subject to manipulation; as these exchanges tend to take all this free money, and pump and dump the entire space to

“Bitcoin’s days are numbered.”

- Michael Saylor

“Probably rat poison squared.”

- Warren Buffet

oblivion. Centralized exchanges have come and gone in crypto for nearly 12 years now. From the infamous Mt. Gox, to today’s relevant exchanges, like Binance or Kucoin; none of them have really done any good for expanding on the Ethos of “Not your keys, not your Crypto.” NFTs are a great way to get new users to adopt the Ethos of Defi rather easily, because centralized exchanges can’t really list them the same way they list tokens, like ElonRocketsBabyInu. To get an NFT you have to, at least, know how to spin up a Metamask account, create a private key, and deposit the coin you will be using to purchase the NFT with.

That’s DeFi to the core baby! We want more of that if we’re to truly stop the censorship, manipulation, and sometimes, just straight up, criminal activities of banks and exchanges over our net worth.

Are you still a skeptic? Well, if you are, then you should be more skeptical of fungible

assets in crypto and legacy finance more, and here’s why. Remember all that liquidity providing we just spoke about? What if I told you, that it’s all a part of a giant interconnected web of liquidity providing, that not only is connected to fiat

systems, but can be influenced by it? (Secures tin foil hat on nice and snug) What if I told you that the fiat system is so heavily disrupted by cryptocurrency that it’s currently weaponized against it? Fluctuations in fiat, like the US dollar, are more volatile than they ever have been, and all of these movements make, or break assets tethered to it every day. What if I told you NFTs are the cure for all of that? Are you becoming less skeptical? I hope so. Let’s deep dive on the current use of NFT projects to understand how today’s use of it is pretty nifty.

NFTs can be minted and distributed in whatever form one pleases. They are essentially serial numbers in your wallet,

loosely related to whatever we want them to be related to. Some cool things people have done with these tokens is create “collections” with them. The most notable in the “digital art” realm to date are the likes of The Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks, among others. Whether you like the artwork or not is neither here nor there. Let’s deep dive on the reason the gamification of NFT art collections also known as PFP collections are so damn cool. PFP stands for Picture for Proof and essentially means you can use it as your profile picture on Twitter blue if you’d like… Whether that’s silly or not, again, neither here nor there, but yes, I agree it is quite silly. But, sillier things will never be more lucrative, I promise (not financial advice! Lol) .

The Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks have 10,000 unique items within their “collections”. Most PFP projects have around the same number of items in a collection, although

some have smaller amounts. Some as small as 1000 pieces in the collection. Because these tokens are not fungible, one token within a collection doesn’t have to equal another within the collection and here’s where the gamification starts.

Rarity within the collections is what determine value here, and the great part about NFT collections is that the rarity can be based on the projects distribution of traits (ape has cigarette in mouth or zombie has a beanie on) or can be completely based on the market liking one trait over another. In Crypto Punks there are only 9 aliens (.09% of the entire collection). This makes them extremely rare based on the project’s distribution of traits and types. For this reason, these items are almost priceless (aliens have sold for up to 8000 ETH; about $13 million dollars, according to the price of Ethereum today). A good example of a trait that the market has chosen as special, is a special clan of people referred

to as the Lazy Hats. The Lazy Lions is another PFP project, similar to the ones mentioned above. Within the project there is a trait referred to as the Lazy Hats (snapbacks with the word lazy on the brim) and a small group of people have adopted the trait and have created a unique sub group within the Lazy Lions and have brought value to that specific trait, so much so, that the floor for Lazy Hats is currently 12 ETH (approx. 20k+). There are only 255 of them, and to even get one, you have to be “diamond paw” approved by Loudmouth.eth, the alpha lion of the Lazy Hat crew (or should we call them a pride?). As you can see, NFTs and the projects built using their technology, is like opening a can of worms, just to find another can of worms inside (wormception?). Either way, let’s try and find some order in the chaos by talking about simple mechanics about how the prices are determined.

There’s a cool little term in crypto that helps describe a lot of the smaller market cap projects within the space. Whether you’re a “shitcoiner”, or an NFT speculator, just know that: you are the true ape (unlike AMC holders who claim to be apes on Wall Street Bet SubReddits).

A to Z on Buying & Selling NFTs

Jose Ortiz

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The technology of a Non-Fungible Token is much more than just a digitally created photo (.jpeg) that one trades for the hopes of profit. Auction houses like Christie’s are preserving history permanently on the blockchain by auctioning off

popular 20th-century art like Andy Warhol, which fetched values in the millions of dollars per collection. This is just one example of how NFTs can preserve history permanently. As the adoption curve progresses, the technology of digital identity will be another

crucial step in our society. This is because counterfeiting and falsifying a specific NFT contract on the blockchain doesn’t exist in the crypto space, currently. This is making giants, like Ticketmaster, look toward blockchain technology for providing tickets to events.

Here are some of the most popular NFT marketplaces to date and what types they are:

Centralized Market Places:

American sports franchises NFL (nftallday.com) and the UFC (ufcstrike.com), have capitalized on the NFT collectible trading card market by creating their own proprietary marketplace on the Flow blockchain. Users can register and purchase easily with a credit card, and some sales have topped over $60,000.

Popular fantasy sports platform DraftKings created its own marketplace (autograph.io) built on the Polygon blockchain. Even Tom Brady is getting in on the NFT action, and to date his NFT sales have over $1.3 million on the secondary market.

Crypto.com, Coinbase, and FTX US are large centralized crypto exchanges that have NFT marketplaces. Though not as popular with the NFT community due to ID verification, all 3 marketplaces have made partnerships with popular NFT collections or celebrities to feature collections.

Auction houses

Both Christie’s (christies.com) and Sotheby’s (sothebys.com) are auction houses that sell physical and digital (NFT) assets. Each auction house, respectively, has specialized in high-end art sales, and sales volume for each marketplace for the year 2021 has topped over $100 million (US dollars).

Decentralized Market Places:

1

LooksRare (LooksRare.org) is an Ethereum marketplace that only accepts ETH cryptocurrency. The secondary sales marketplace is comparable with 100 wallets using wallet connect, which is permissionless and anonymous (hence the term decentralized). LooksRare received its initial funding from upset NFT traders that didn’t like the controversial insider trading, and NFT collection censorship that we’ve seen with the top NFT marketplace, OpenSea (opensea.io). LooksRare has a unique model for the NFT marketplace, which allows you to share the profit from the marketplace’s fees. The startup NFT marketplace’s revenue topped $8 billion in trading.

2

X2y2 (x2y2.io) is a secondary crypto marketplace, like LooksRare, which allows you to profit on marketplace fees. And like LooksRare, you would have to buy its native crypto token to stake on the platform. Volume for X2y2 to date has exceeded $2 billion (US dollars).

3

The king of NFT trading marketplaces is still held by OpenSea (opensea.io). There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the platform with the leaking of clients’ emails and personal information, insider trading, and project censorship from the self-proclaimed “decentralized” marketplace. Unlike LooksRare and X2Y2, OpenSea does not share any of its fees with the users of the marketplace. OpenSea has the majority of the market share for NFT trading volume and sales. With close to $40 Billion (US dollars) in value traded in its marketplace, OpenSea stands to be the top marketplace by user activity and sales.

4

An honorable mention would be Magic Eden. This NFT marketplace supports Solana and now Ethereum blockchain, but the majority of the sales volume is on the Solana blockchain network. With collections like Solpunks, one can see why it has been a force in the Solana NFT space. With a total trading volume of about $100 Million, it’s quickly becoming a contender in NFT marketplaces.

Your Next 250X Return May be in Web3 Gaming, Here’s Why:

$1000 invested into popular web3 game Axie Infinity on New Year’s Day 2021 would have been $296,249 just 10 months later! Axie was the first web3 game to reach mainstream success as hundreds of thousands of players were earning enough money to quit their jobs to play full time.

It wasn’t just a fluke. $1K invested in metaverse game The Sandbox on January 1st, 2021 would have hit $221K in value mid November later that year. It’s clear that web3 gaming is the future. Games built on the blockchain can provide transparency and asset ownership to players as well as income from playing the game by being able to buy, sell, and trade your characters or other earning mechanics that are continually being introduced.

However these first versions of web3 games have proven unsustainable. Poorly planned tokenomics with inflationary tokens have tanked prices by 90%.

So what’s next and is it too late to find the next 250X gaming return?

There’s a new movement called “play-to-own” that is a more sustainable, gameplayfirst model where companies focus primarily on providing value to the player, versus the player extracting value from the ecosystem.

Games like Honeyland (https:// honey.land) are pioneering the play-to-own movement, creating innovative earning mechanics with a completely sustainable economy while following traditional gaming principles of creating an insanely fun and profitable game. And the potential is HUGE. Think about a Candy Crush or Farmville where the players can earn actual money.

They’re the first web3 game to build their economy on a single token with a fixed supply, which means as more players come in, the value of the token goes up, instead of down.

We’ve seen 250x returns on boring games that lack sustainability, who knows how high the next games could go.

With companies like Honeyland building the future of web3, it could be that the next 250X is hidden in plain sight, wrapped in a fun mobile game played by millions of users around the world.

Scan the QR code below to learn more about Honeyland and the future of web3 gaming.

So where do you start? That depends on what you value the most. Ask yourself, do you have something you want to catalog and or sell? Maybe you just want to collect a favorite NFL star trading card. Whatever the reason for wanting to start your NFT journey, there is a marketplace to meet your needs.

By now you should already have access to a Metamask wallet. If not - from a chrome browser on your computer, download the (metamask.com) extension - follow the online instruction, and do as most of us in crypto do, and save your seed phrases, which is like a fixed password to regain access to your special Metamask wallet, in a laminated paper stashed away in a safe. If not, remember to practice security, and never store seed phrases anywhere digital.

If you still don’t know where to start let’s look at LooksRare.org. Here you can browse collections of different NFTs that are just art, or NFTs with utility, like

characters in games. Art is very subjective - so something that may have value to you may not have value to someone else.

If you’re looking at NFTs as an investment vehicle, please consult a financial advisor, but know this: Just like any volatile asset, price points can be manipulated, and inflated. There are many tools used to analyze the performance of an NFT collection. Websites like Nansen. ai and Dune.com, are some of the most widely used analytical tools for NFT collections and marketplace research.

Now having a Metamask wallet set up, you will have to fund the wallet. Since we are starting on LooksRare.org, you would have to transfer ETH (Ethereum) to the wallet. You can refer back to Crypto Magazine issue 1 page 26 on how to exchange dollars/fiat to crypto. Once your Metamask wallet is funded with ETH, you can proceed on to connect the wallet to LooksRare.org (green connect button on the top right

Once your Metamask wallet is funded with ETH, you can proceed on to connect the wallet to LooksRare. org (green connect button on the top right of the screen).

On the top left, there is a search bar where you can search for a specific collection, or you can browse.

of the screen). On the top left, there is a search bar where you can search for a specific collection, or you can browse. Once you have the NFT you are wanting to purchase, it’s as easy as selecting it, then hit buy now or make an auction offer and wait to see if the owner accepts the offer. If you hit buy now - just follow the instructions from the menu. Congratulations, you are now an NFT owner. It’s industry recommended that if you value your crypto or NFT, you place the asset in a hardware wallet to store them securely offline.

Interest in selling the NFT just takes decisions on when, and how much, to sell it for. Or accept the offer if there is one place on the asset. Luckily, that research can be done using online tools like Dune.com and Nansen.ai. To sell your NFT on LooksRare.org you would hit the same place where you hit the connect dial on the top right of the page. That

will bring up your wallet and you would select the “My Items” tab. Select the NFT you are wanting to sell by clicking anywhere on the NFT. As long as you hold your NFT in your online wallet, it will be viewable to everyone, and they are able to place an offer. If you happen to get an offer in the price range of which you are willing to part with your

NFT asset, you can select the offer tab and accept the offer. Once this is accepted it cannot be reversed so be careful.

If you are interested in selling the NFT, then from the “My Items” section back when you selected your wallet, you would select the sell button in the middle of the page. You can do a fixed price only at this time. Here you would select the time frame, select desired price, and hit sell.

Congratulations, if you have decided to join the NFT community by owning your very first NFT. The NFT journey is an artistic, and collectible way to approach crypto. Whether it’s for investments, or just because you want to own a piece of cataloged history, you have a growing, open sea (pun intended), on which blockchain technology you want to start, or continue your NFT journey. Happy Sailing.

Select the NFT you are wanting to sell by clicking anywhere on the NFT. As long as you hold your NFT in your online wallet, it will be viewable to everyone, and they are able to place an offer

Possible Issues Coming This Year for Binance Coin (BNB)

Coin Bureau’s host speculates about what could happen to Binance Coin (BNB) after the SEC announced last week that it is investigating the crypto asset over possible securities law violations. According to Guy, a pseudonymous cryptocurrency analyst with 2.07 million

YouTube subscribers, the worstcase scenario for BNB is that it could be delisted from Binance. US this year. Guy points out that delisting in the U.S. wouldn’t affect the token’s price that much since most of its trading takes place abroad. Here is what Guy said, “BNB may be delisted

from Binance.US in the worst case, but considering that most of BNB’s trading occurs on the international version of Binance and other exchanges outside of the United States, it is unlikely to have a profound effect on BNB’s value. Binance may have to pay the SEC a small fine over its

BNB ICO (initial coin offering), which is pennies on the dollar compared to how much it earns today. However, this settlement could come with a clause that BNB is a security and therefore cannot be listed on U.S. institutions.” Due to Binance’s increasing decentralization,

Guy says the company may attempt to convince the SEC that BNB is no longer a security. “Alternatively, Binance could argue that although BNB was a security at one point, it has since become sufficiently decentralized, that it is no longer a security. If Binance takes this

route, I don’t think the SEC will approve it since it doesn’t like that the Binance team holds so much BNB.”Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they would investigate Binance to determine if the 2017 ICO of BNB violated securities laws.

The Future of the Music Industry

By Dan Valez

There’s a term in crypto that helps describe a lot of the space currently. “Number goup technology” roughly means; something that is designed to appreciate over time. A lot of people have tried to design the perfect number go-up technology, and some have gotten some decent short-term results, but very few get to hold the heavyweight title of “longterm sustainable”. How NFT projects, music NFTs specifically, are so useful as number go-up technology is interesting.

Because NFT PFP collections usually have 10,000 items or less in their collections, technically speaking this is comparable to a hard cap (like Bitcoin’s 21-million-coin supply), and similar rules apply. Example A will be The Simple Ape NFT Entourage, and it has 100 unique items in its collection. If 100 people show up to mint a 1/100 item NFT collection and 100 more people show up wanting one, the price can more than double, as demand has doubled, and depending on how many

of the 100 owners want to sell at a certain price, the price has the potential to explode if most of the 100 HODLers don’t sell. What things would prevent the holder from selling their PFP at 10X the price they minted you say? Well, that’s where the community comes in and why I think music NFTs will be the most lucrative sector of NFTs that currently exists, because of its community.

The baseline utility of any PFP project, outside of the artwork,

is its community. I like to think of NFT projects as ships on the open sea. Whether you’re a trade ship or a pirate ship, generally you sail to make or take a value (unless you’re cruising on your yacht). As these “ships” make or take value, that value is shared with its crew and company to expand and scale. What makes Music NFT communities superior ships? In a traditional PFP, you will have die-hard holders that will never sell because of the art or the community.

In fungible tokens, there have been holders that have held hundreds of thousands to millions in profit, and have held all the way down to zero, because they believe in the project. Both of those examples will never hold more diligently or longer than a music fan. And for that reason, I believe music NFTs to be not only huge but hugely disruptive to one of the most vicious industry leaders

in any industry. Goodbye music labels. The days of pillaging your artists and their fans are over.

The music industry labels to date have found success contracting talented individuals into toxic deals that only give the artist a small part of their potential. These labels then turn around and drain the fans of these artists of as much capital as they can, selling them whatever produces max profit from that existing contract with the artist. So how do music NFTs stop the labels from arbitraging both artists and fans? It starts with the nature of NFTs. Because NFTs have a side effect as an investment vehicle, the musicians that require funding to produce and market music can get it directly from a fan, instead of getting it from

a toxic label, just to get it into the fans’ hands. This stacks a function because if that music does well in the market and the musician gains fans, the NFT collection associated with the artist will increase in value, as demand from fans for that NFT, increases. No more label arbitrage. The fan can directly contribute to the artist and the artist can directly benefit from the contribution, gaining maximum capital to reinvest into production. The successful production then brings value back to the project, its HODLers, and the musician. If you were a die-hard fan of someone when they were nobody and funded them on their venture, you potentially have much to gain from believing and investing in what you believe in. Some

believe that there could even be a future where dying music labels looking for ways to turn a profit could find salvation by doing exactly what the fans do and investing directly into the artist by sweeping floors and investing in NFT music projects.

This has the potential to be the biggest win-win scenario musicians, and their fans as a whole, have ever seen and musicians are already capitalizing on this revolution.

While companies like Geojam and Audius deserve an honorable mention for trying to design a space in Web3 for musicians to thrive outside of the toxic labels, the winner-winner chicken dinner has to go to the individual artists. Perfect examples of musicians taking full advantage of NFT tech to expand their reach are the likes of Violetta Zironi (Twitter: @ZironiVioletta) and Sammy Arriaga (Twitter: @ SammyArriaga). Not only are these individuals amazingly

talented musicians, but they are also exceptional entrepreneurs, as well as amazing community builders and leaders. Which is essential to creating NFT economies that benefit everyone involved. Violetta’s collection ‘Moonshot’ is a 5-song album that has recently trended to #1 most popular music NFT on OpenSea. Sammy Arriaga’s ‘Pixelated’ is currently minting, and I expect it to do just as well!

In conclusion, it’s evident there’s something here that has yet to be uncovered by the mainstream media. Whether you’re in it for the number goup tech, the community, or the rebellious nature of the music NFT sector in general, it is the new Bitcoin, so it’s best to keep your eyes open wide for this next wave of disruption. In a bear market, independent artists are surpassing the likes of Snoop Dogg on some of the world’s largest NFT marketplaces. Musicians everywhere are breaking free from the paradigm of a label “signing” them, and soon all the liquidity that existed in these toxic markets will have no choice but to pump our bags, as the true innovators of society take part in the largest revolution the world has yet to see. The revolution will not be televised, it will be a TxID on the blockchain.

The fan can directly contribute to the artist and the artist can directly benefit from the contribution, gaining maximum capital to reinvest into production

Explainer- Can Crypto Holders Recoup Losses in Court?

Investors are trying to recover their losses in U.S. court following a downturn in cryptocurrency prices and the crash of one stablecoin. Here are some of the challenges investors may face in cryptocurrency litigation.

What is the lawsuit about?

Individuals who promoted cryptocurrencies, as well as companies that created them, have been sued. According to

Kyle Roche, who represents cryptocurrency holders in several lawsuits, U.S. claims over cryptocurrency often involve alleged violations of federal securities and commodities laws, which prohibit fraud and manipulation, and require registration of products and operators.

In the latest lawsuit, Terraform Labs, the company behind Terra USD, is accused of causing the collapse of the stablecoin.

On June 17, a cryptocurrency investor sued the Seoul-based company and Chief Executive, Do Kwon, alleging they failed to register Terra USD's digital assets as securities and defrauded investors through several venture capital funds. According to a Terraform Labs spokesperson, "The claims are unfounded." One of the world's largest stablecoins, Tether, is being accused of rigging cryptocurrency markets in a lawsuit filed in New York. In

addition, Ripple, the company behind XRP, has been sued for selling unregistered securities in California. Motions to dismiss both lawsuits were denied.

In response to the allegations, Ripple said it disputes them and will defend itself. A request for comment from Tether was not responded to. Investing in cryptocurrency exchanges has also been a target for investors looking to recover losses.

According to investors, Binance U.S. falsely marketed TerraUSD as a safe asset before it collapsed on June 13. Coinbase was accused of selling 79 digital assets as unregistered securities in March.

The allegations have been denied by Binance and Coinbase.

Celebrities who have publicly endorsed cryptocurrency are also being sued by investors. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. have been accused of pumping and dumping cryptocurrency. A request for comment was not responded to by Kardashian or Mayweather.

Obstacles in the Legal System

Several lawsuits brought in 2020 against exchanges, alleging they fueled an illegal boom in digital coins, failed after judges dismissed them as too late or lacking a connection to the U.S.

For newer lawsuits, timing should not be an issue, but cryptocurrency holders could still face obstacles when suing overseas companies in the United States. Singapore-based exchange KuCoin won a default judgment against token holders in New York after a Singaporean court refused to require it to provide information.

An inquiry to KuCoin went unanswered.

The investor will also have to show that their tokens qualify as securities or commodities under securities or commodities laws. There has been some court rulings that certain cryptocurrencies fit the bill, but

the issue remains unresolved. The process of going after exchanges may pose additional obstacles for cryptocurrency holders. According to Coinbase, private litigants cannot enforce registration requirements against the exchange, since Coinbase is not a party to the transactions.

Has Anyone Ever Won?

SEC settlements have reclaimed some funds for investors in a handful of digital assets, while many cryptocurrency lawsuits are still pending. Investors may still lose out even after a settlement because they face long delays.

An agreement was reached last year between blockchain company Block.one and token holders, alleging that it had violated securities laws. According to court filings, more than 100 token holders filed claims worth more than $75.7 million. Final approval of the settlement has not yet been granted.

BATTLE OF THE EXCHANGES: CENTRALIZED VS. DECENTRALIZED

By John Potter

Unbeknownst to many, crypto trading norms have changed dramatically. 2020 marked the first year decentralized exchanges (DEXs) experienced higher transaction volumes than centralized exchanges (CEXs). Today, the shift towards DEX use continues

unabated for crypto traders seeking greater control and autonomy over their assets.

The attraction isn’t hard to understand. First, DEX users don’t have to verify their identities before trading assets. Moreover, DEXs don’t

collect personal information that can jeopardize traders’ privacy or data. Instead, they merely provide an interface that facilitates peer-to-peer trading.

In addition, DEX users don’t have to transfer their assets to

start trading. DEXs are noncustodial, meaning users retain access to their private keys. This feature reduces the theft risk and allows users to maintain control over their assets.

Of course, CEXs still offer a few advantages: they’re faster, have higher liquidity, and provide easy-to-use on and off-ramps.

New crypto traders are drawn to ease of use. For occasional crypto traders, this feature alone can encourage loyalty to a CEX.

CEXs:

A handful of top-tier CEXs continue consolidating market share to a few trusted companies.

Coinbase

With a customer base of over 89 million users, Coinbase is the most prominent CEX in the U.S.

The company caters to retail consumers with products like Coinbase Wallet and Coinbase Earn. However, it also provides value to professional traders, small businesses, and institutional investors.

The most significant issue crypto investors have with Coinbase is their lack of customer service. Coinbase customers frequently assert that contacting a real person is nearly impossible.

Binance

Founded in 2017, Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which enables users to buy, sell, or trade over 500 cryptocurrencies.

While Binance faces ongoing accusations of fraud and money laundering, many crypto traders don’t care because the exchange works. Although U.S. customers can’t access Binance.com, they can use Binance.us - the company’s separate CEX for American residents.

Kraken

Kraken was founded in 2011. Similar to Coinbase, Kraken offers roughly 110 trading pairs. Although not as prolific as Binance, Kraken has over 1.5 million visitors per week and is the world’s fourth most popular centralized exchange.

Kraken has operated relatively scandal-free throughout its existence. Still, in 2018, the New York Attorney’s Office accused the CEX of failing to disclose “all order types offered to certain

traders .” Kraken maintains that the office was singling them out without due cause.

Crypto.com

Attributing crypto.com’s success primarily to its domain name would be a faulty assumption. Founded in June 2016, the website’s easy-to-use interface quickly amassed 50 million active users from over 90 countries. Second only to Coinbase, which has been around for significantly longer, the company continues to expand its service offerings,

from NFTs to a DeFi wallet to a Visa payment option. However, while the site’s future looks bright, in January, the exchange experienced a $35 million hack.

Although all of the above CEXs retain a sizable customer base, they’re prone to theft, mismanagement, and customer service issues. Likewise, no safeguards exist to prevent the gross abuse of customer trust evident in Voyager’s recent bankruptcy hearing.

DEXs

While DEXs only rose to prominence in the 20202021 cycle, they continue to gain traction within the DeFi industry.

UniSwap

Built on Ethereum and since branched onto multiple chains, UniSwap quickly gained popularity after its 2018 launch.

With the advent of their nonopen source V3 model, UniSwap has siphoned transaction volume from multiple competing DEXs to maintain cross-chain dominance. In addition, their V3 - concentrated liquidity model enables UniSwap to handle larger transaction volumes with less

capital. This increase in capital efficiency provides smart money managers with higher returns.

However, a study published in November 2021 revealed that nearly 50% of UniSwap V3 liquidity providers lose money to impermanent loss.

PancakeSwap

A fork of UniSwap’s open-source V2 software, PancakeSwap is the second-largest DEX by volume and the largest DEX by user base. PancakeSwap launched in 2020 on BNB chain (formerly BSC) - a quick and inexpensive alternative to Ethereum’s mainchain.

Loyalists hail PancakeSwap the king of DEXs on BNB chain. They praise PancakeSwap for its easy-to-use interface, high APY single-asset staking, and provably fair on-chain games. However, some are less enamored with the platform’s unique features and chose to stay away from anything related to BSC.

QuickSwap

Built on Ethereum’s leading layer-2 scaling solution, Polygon, QuickSwap emerged as a faster and less expensive alternative to Uniswap. By the summer of 2021, QuickSwap’s immense popularity had gained

the attention of mainstream celebrity Mark Cuban, who claimed the DEX could soon overtake UniSwap in transaction volume. But that all changed when UniSwap launched their V3 on Polygon later that year and vampired much of QuickSwap’s volume.

The dragon-mascot DEX hasn’t given up, though. In April, QuickSwap’s community voted to acquire an exclusive license to operate Algebra’s V3, which many believe is superior to UniSwap’s due to their dynamic rates. QuickSwap plans to implement its concentrated liquidity model in Q3 of this year. We’ll see if they can pull some of their volume back from the industry leader.

Additionally, Coinbase recently enabled direct deposits and withdrawals to/from Polygon. As a result, users can now buy select crypto assets from their debit or credit cards and move them directly to Polygon without going through Ethereum.

Osmosis

An entire Cosmos exists outside of Ethereum and the associated EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). Many believe Cosmos’ inter-blockchain communication protocol (IBC) offers vastly superior technology.

Built using the Tendermint SDK, Osmosis DEX has experienced rapid growth since its 2020 founding. Like other AMMs (automated market makers), Osmosis’ transaction volume has steadily increased over the past two years, but that doesn’t mean the team behind Osmosis has stopped innovating.

Instead, Osmosis has sought to differentiate itself by offering customizable liquidity pool parameters, superfluid staking, and the ability to prevent frontrunning trades (via MEV resistance).

Soon, Osmosis plans to incorporate a passive form of concentrated liquidity into its business model.

Conclusion

CEXs remain necessary for onboarding/ offboarding crypto users. Still, the well-known phrase “not your keys, not your coins” remains as true today as it was in 2013. In short, no technological fix will remedy the inherent flaws of a third-party arrangement. Therefore, rather than rely on a breakable trust, crypto enthusiasts who seek more control and autonomy prefer to rely on trustless DEXs.

Shade Protocol, the Future of Safety and Privacy on the Blockchain

Developed on Secret Network, Shade Protocol consists of a network of privacy-preserving Dapps. Privately, Shade has formed partnerships with Secret labs, Composable Labs, Sienna, and more. These partners invested in Shade after the vision of Shade Protocol was revealed.

Right now, Shade is sharing that vision with you, so that you can decide if you want to become a partner too. So here we go.

First. What problem does Shade solve, and why is Shade unique?

If you've been around DeFi long enough you've seen a trend emerge. When a new platform gains traction, there's a core set of Dapps that follow it. Stablecoins, Synthetics Insurance Lending, DEXs, Options, and more.

These core DeFi Dapps are needed for each protocol. Three years ago these apps were innovative and new. Today

they're the standard. Every protocol has them. The problem is, on many early platforms, each Dapp has its own token. You end up with fractured attention, inefficient systems, and lost opportunity from not having a cohesive and connected ecosystem of DeFi Dapps.

Shade solves this problem. Shade is a set of connected privacypreserving DeFi applications

on Secret Network. Each app is innovative, self-sustaining, and contributes revenue directly to the Shade Dao. Instead of having multiple apps and multiple tokens, there is one treasury token. Shade accumulates revenue from the suite of Shade apps, while also serving as the singular universal governance token. That's what Shade is, and that's the token you're getting when you buy Shade.

Powered by squidgrow.wtf

Well, Shade is building the first native stablecoin for Secret Network. It's called Silk.

But Silk isn't a typical stablecoin. As opposed to being pegged to a sovereign currency that is susceptible to inflation, like the dollar; Silk is instead pegged to a basket of global currencies and commodities. This makes Silk the most stable currency ever created, allowing everyday people to retain their purchasing power safely. When you hold and transact with Silk, you are protected from the adverse effects of inflation and volatility. Silk has unique tokenomics. It has privacy baked in. It's fast, and it's scalable.

Silk is just the beginning for Shade Protocol. New applications, other than Silk, are already being created by other teams and partnerships, that understand the vision of Shade Protocol.

In the next phase of Shade Protocol, the core dev teams will be hard at work; testing and launching staking derivatives, governance, bonds, and more. Imagine multiple teams of developers, united, with the shared values of privacy, innovation, and scalability, all building Dapps under the same Dao. Each generates revenue and value for Shade token holders. Shade Protocol is already partnering, and/or integrating, with products and protocols such as Supra Oracles, Band Protocol, Secret Swap, Sienna Swap, and more.

Along with that, Shade is safe. Despite Shade's love of privacy, the team is doxxed, the code is audited, and investors are all KYC ` d. We know at Shade that the earliest community and believers are what make our protocol work. Join Shade today because, with you, we're all going to make it to the finish line together.

Check out the Shade Protocol website at https://shadeprotocol.io/ and visit Shade on Twitter https://twitter.com/Shade_Protocol. Ask questions from experts on the protocol in the Shade Protocol Community Chat on Telegram

But it gets better. What's the first Dapp, and what makes it special?

What's

By Ivan Djordjevic

Cryptocurrencies have come a long way since Bitcoin’s 2009 debut. The original cryptocurrency spawned a whole new world of digital assets, most of them with different applications across numerous industries.

Overa decade, these assets have contributed to a technological revolution that disrupted the financial world we once knew. With a market cap of over $1 trillion, cryptocurrencies have established themselves as the new horizon for aspiring investors. They provide a highrisk, high-reward investment paradigm that allows people to believe in financial freedom.

At the same time, the alreadymatured equities markets have seen their fair share of innovations. For example, stock trading apps like Robinhood and eToro have made equities more accessible to mainstream investors than ever.

That said, cryptocurrencies and stocks retain more than a few differences. Understanding their dissimilarities is critical to deciding which asset(s) will suit you best.

Stocks & the Stock Market

Stocks, or equities, are financial instruments that represent fractional ownership of the company that issues its shares. Shares entitle holders to a portion of the corporation’s assets and profits relative to their holdings.

Before stocks are publiclyaccessible, companies must go through a regulated process - the initial public offering (IPO). Then, after relevant government agencies audit the company’s business, exchanges list the assets so stock market

participants can speculate on their price.

The stock market is the collective marketplace where shares associated with publiclytraded companies are bought, sold, and issued.

The market has two primary functions:

1. It gives companies a means to raise capital, allowing them to grow without relying on loans or paying interest.

2. It offers investors the opportunity to share in a company’s profits. Investors can sell their shares at a higher price or access potential passive income through dividends.

Most stock trading activities are carried out through centralized or over-the-counter (OTC) exchanges.

Government agencies (like the SEC in the US or the ESMA in the EU) regulate these financial

activities. Consequently, they provide a perceived “safe” environment where participants can transact with company shares and other eligible financial instruments.

Stock exchanges can be either:

ƒ Physical, where traders buy and sell shares in person

ƒ Electronic, accessed solely through a computer

Finally, since stock exchanges list thousands of companies, a series of indexes, like the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100, helps traders track the market’s performance.

Cryptocurrencies & the Crypto Market

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that use math to secure peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries. While some cryptocurrencies are utility tokens, which offer a variety of functions, others will be classified as securities and subject to all the same regulations that stocks already are.

The Howey Test determines what qualifies as an “investment contract” and is therefore subject to securities laws. In a later edition of this magazine, we’ll learn more about the differences between securities and utilities and why that matters. Just bear in mind: An investment contract exists if there is an “investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others.” Unlike stocks, government bodies don’t control the issuance of cryptocurrencies. Instead, anyone can create a cryptocurrency, and exchanges can list them at their discretion.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts employ various avenues to trade them:

ƒ Centralized exchanges (CEX) are platforms that facilitate crypto trading by matching buy and sell orders and taking a small fee for successful trades. They allow users to trade for FIAT currencies in addition to other cryptocurrencies.

ƒ

Decentralized crypto exchanges (DEX) use smart contracts to secure peer-topeer transactions.

ƒ Brokerage exchanges allow users to buy and sell popular cryptocurrencies and send them directly to their wallets.

ƒ

Peer-to-peer platforms act as escrow services where users can buy and sell cryptos directly from one another.

Learn more about the differences between Centralized and decentralized exchanges in this issue’s article by John Potter.

Differences Between Crypto & Stocks

With that in mind, cryptocurrencies and stocks differ in numerous ways.

Issuance

Only companies that government agencies deem legitimate can issue stocks. Stocks must follow strict regional regulations to get listed on an exchange. When the initial number of shares has been sold, the company must apply to sell more, which could dilute its market value.

In contrast, anyone can release a cryptocurrency without approval from any regulatory body. Users must either do their own research or rely on trusted sources to determine a coin or token’s legitimacy.

Ownership & Accessibility

Stocks represent equity in a company, meaning investors own a part of the company they hold stock in. Conversely, cryptocurrencies don’t provide holders with a share of the business. Instead, they’re simply speculative assets that can be traded in the open market.

However, owning a cryptocurrency is much easier than owning a stock. Stocks require investors to do more than just buy on an exchange. In addition, shareholders must gain access to the paper version of their shares, which involves a lot of paperwork. As a result, multiple third parties, including legal and financial advisors, brokers, account managers, etc., are all involved, dramatically increasing administrative costs.

Owning cryptocurrency is much easier. For example, if you purchase coins or tokens on a DEX using a self-custodial wallet to which you hold the

private keys, all you have to do is buy. The process is slightly more complicated when trading on a CEX, however.

Most centralized exchanges require users to KYC (know your customer). This procedure can be completed in a few minutes, but that isn’t the only step. CEXs keep the private keys of the assets stored on their exchange. The phrase “not your keys, not your coins” means that if you don’t hold your private keys, you don’t really own the assets that you may consider yours. Moving coins or tokens from a custodial wallet to a self-custodial wallet can be compared to accessing a stock’s paper shares. The most significant difference is the absence of intermediaries required. You don’t need to pay anyone to move your assets from a CEX to a self-custodial wallet. Additionally, having access to your private key allows you to spend your crypto immediately and without restraint. You can transfer assets to your wallet in just a few minutes and remain in control of your funds at all times.

Finally, the barrier to entry is much lower in cryptocurrency than in the traditional market. Stock market investors must reserve considerable capital before they can participate. Conversely, in crypto, you can start trading with under $100.

Asset Valuation

When determining a stock’s value, investment banks factor in the company’s physical assets and past performance, making valuations easily verifiable through fundamental analysis.

In most cases, newly-launched cryptocurrencies aren’t backed by established companies. They have no historical financial data before their initial listing. As a result, their values are more subjective, and their prices are readily manipulated with hype campaigns and innovation promises rather than historical data. While it doesn’t come without increased risk,

this allows cryptocurrencies to make astronomical gains in a short time, which is nearly impossible with stocks.

Market Maturity & Volatility

The stock market has been around since the 17th century, meaning it’s much more mature than cryptocurrency.Given this advantage, stock markets have considerably higher volumes and offer a wide diversity of company shares. Moreover, higher liquidity enables traders to buy and sell securities with

tight spreads. The stock market’s long history also results in lower volatility than many cryptos.

By comparison, cryptocurrencies are still a nascent asset class. With only a decade of trading history, lower volume, and much lower liquidity, cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and extremely volatile. For instance, where a 5% change in a company’s stock price is an extreme event, cryptocurrencies routinely swing by 10%+ in a single day.

Many perceive the stock market’s lower volatility to mean that investing in securities is more stable and less risky than cryptocurrency. However, recent events have shown that this isn’t always the case. Furthermore, low volatility also means investors must wait longer to see significant ROI.

Concluding Words

Stocks and cryptocurrencies each offer advantages and disadvantages. In recent years, however, top cryptocurrencies have outpaced stock market returns by at least 10:1. This is without considering highly volatile cryptos that have gained 5000x or more. The current bear market might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire some undervalued assets and prepare for an upwards cycle. Whether the increased risk is worth your while is up to you to decide. Final thoughts: You don’t have to choose just one.

tocks require investors to do more than just buy on an exchange. In addition, shareholders must gain access to the paper version of their shares, which involves a lot of paperwork

New Metaverse Crypto Battle Infinity, Smashes Presale Hard Cap in 24 days!! 16,500 BNB

Battle Infinity is the latest metaverse gaming crypto offering to light up our skies. Spectators on the ground have been marveling at the sight, as the project’s IBAT token presale has now sold out with the 16,500 BNB hard cap (currently worth over $5m) being reached in just 24 days.

We caught up with Suresh Joshi, co-founder of Battle Infinity, and asked him why he set up the project, what Battle Infinity is going to do differently, the problems it aims to solve in the process, and the response to date from the crypto community.

“The incredible rise of Axie Infinity impressed me and got me thinking on a number of levels,” Joshi begins.

“People being able to make a living out of gaming was not new. You only had to look at the ways that esports have taken off, and the professional teams that video games have attracted, and the thousands of fans who gather in stadia to watch those teams go controller to controller in tournaments.”

“But Play-to-Earn powered by blockchain was taking things to a whole new level. Now, you didn’t have to be an elite esports player to make a living - it was open to all.”

“Then there was Facebook changing its name to Meta in a nod to the potential and possibilities of, what is now being termed, “The Metaverse” - where individuals can be represented in virtual worlds with avatars and interact

in real-time and engage, virtually, in all the activities they might do in real lifeplus activities they never dreamt of doing in real life, like flying a fighter jet.”

“Well, there are problems with P2E. First off, they started to become more expensive to get started as

So what problems are you solving, what is Battle Infinity doing differently, and what’s the USP?

Interview with Co-founder Suresh Joshi

players because speculators drove up the price of in-game currencies.”

“So we saw the scholars phenomenon emerge as a way around that, where NFTs are rented out.”

“Then there’s the problem that the games were just plain boring. It gets tedious doing repetitive tasks that involve zero skill.”

“With Battle Infinity, we have chosen to start with fantasy sports because it overcomes the boring problem.”

“We believe those who already play fantasy sports will be attracted to our platform, not just because it matches what the legacy companies do, but because it adds value in a way that they don’t.”

You are aiming for the first instance at the Indian Premier League market that is currently dominated by India’s Dream 11 and Mobile Premier League. That’s really ambitious. Too ambitious?

“Definitely not. Those two companies you mention have 185 million users between them. We only need to win over a fraction of that audience to be successful. We think we can do a lot better than that. P2E done right will shake this market to its core, and not just in India, but around the world.”

“Cricket is only the start for Battle Infinity and our IBAT Premier League model. Football, basketball, and more will follow.”

“Before the end of the second week of our presale, we expected to have achieved our soft cap [2,000 BNB], but we actually doubled that and hit 4,000 BNB. We also sold out the presale hard cap [16,500 BNB] in just 24 days! Which is an incredible achievement

and even caught us by surprise, as we haven’t even begun proper marketing yet, and the presale was meant to run for 90 days!”

“As the word gets out, the chance of 10x, or even 100x gains, feeds the FOMO. Our investors will not be disappointed in this project, we have barely just started.”

Joshi says that IBAT will launch on the Pancakeswap decentralised exchange on 17th August 2022 16:00 UTC and his team has already entered into discussions with a number of high-profile centralised exchanges.

Check out the website at: battleinfinity.io for more information or simply scan the QR code.

“So we saw the scholars phenomenon emerge as a way around that, where NFTs are rented out.”

People in Crypto

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I got into crypto in 2018. I took several classes in law school on crypto and was fascinated and from there started managing other people’s crypto portfolios.

I’m holding lots of projects. Some of my holds are Nano, Avax, Link, Croge, and Floki. I have a wide variety of risk profiles in my portfolio. I think all the projects have very strong fundamentals and could sit here talking about each forever.

The primary strategy I use; accumulate and hold for longterm. Obviously, this strategy is not applicable for all types of projects, so I adjust accordingly. But from a high level, I try to consciously accumulate. It’s important to separate any emotions when trading, especially in crypto. As far as research goes, I’ll watch videos, read various sources online, and try to attain my own well-

When did you get into crypto and why?

What was your first coin?

What do you currently hold? And why?

Have you made a profit since you started? Yes What strategies do you use and what research do you do?

Name: Andrew Location: New York City Job: Corporate Lawyer

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Avid crypto fanatic and someone that strives to hopefully bring mass adoption to the space

reasoned opinions. I try to avoid being tempted into FOMO.

Which wallet & exchange do you use?

Binance.us and Kucoin. The former for the low fees, and the latter for the large variety of coins.

What do you think the future of crypto looks like?

I think crypto will gradually integrate itself into the daily life of everyone globally. It will take time, of course, but mass adoption takes time. It’s hard to predict what the future will look like, but one thing is for certain, without trying to sound cliche, if you’re in crypto now, you are very early.

been blessed to meet thousands of people in crypto, spanning 100’s of projects, and that’s helped fuel my passion. Crypto has introduced me to some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. So, what it’s done for me, has changed my life, and provided me lifelong friends in the process. What will it do for me in the future? That’s yet to be determined, but I’m optimistic it will help me better the lives of those around me, and those I have yet to meet.

Nano, Avax, or Link. Again, thinking long-term.

It has helped me understand different areas of technology and how it interacts with various sectors of finance. As a corporate lawyer, there are times where I’m devoting 20+ hours a day to close a deal. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there are times on the weekend where I can devote the better portion of my day to crypto. So, on the days that I get free time, I’ve

What’s going to be your next buy?

What do you think crypto has done for you?

As a corporate lawyer, there are times where I’m devoting 20+ hours a day to close a deal. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there are times on the weekend where I can devote the better portion of my day to crypto.

Name: Dave | Location: UK | Job: Partner at Go428 Enterprises

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Ifirst got into crypto in 2013 after reading about Silk Road which then led me to Bitcoin and altcoins. My first Bitcoin purchase was through LocalBitcoins and my first altcoin purchase was actually done on eBay, which is crazy to think about today.

I’ve worked in the industry since 2018 after becoming a validator on the Tron blockchain. I’m now a part of the Go428 Enterprises team and we have multiple projects including Vision Crypto App and 428 Athletics (a sports and tech Facility in the USA which has integrated crypto and blockchain.) We are also launching our first NFT project with NFL legend Bernie Kosar.

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In 2013, I was aware of Silk Road. Its connections to cryptocurrency made me instantly aware of Bitcoin, which then led me down the altcoin route. After reading the Bitcoin whitepaper I was hooked.

What was your first coin?

Quark Coin

What do you currently hold?

This is a question I’ve never answered in all of the time I’ve been in crypto, but here’s the exception:

Bitcoin is definitely my biggest holding, I also hold ETH, Matic, FTT, LTC, BNB, TRX, SOL plus many smaller altcoins

What strategies do you use and what research do you do?

Long-term holding, and staking are my main strategies. When it comes to research, I like to watch projects for a few months after their launch to see how they grow.

What wallet & exchange do you use?

Vision Crypto App wallet and portfolio tracker. On the rare occasions that I use a centralised exchange, it’s usually Binance

What do you think the future of Crypto looks like?

I believe the future is undoubtedly bright for crypto; there will be regulations which will give confidence to bigger investors. I’m also excited to see where the NFT markets go, especially as “the metaverse and web3” mature.

Yes

What’s going to be your next buy?

Always more BTC and I’m getting into NFTs much more too.

What do you think crypto has done for you?

Crypto has given me a reason to wake up every day and be a part of a great community.

When did you get into crypto and why?

Have you made a profit since you started?

Matt Whiteway

Location: UK

Job: Telecommunications planner

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I have a beautiful family, am very grateful to be alive, and I am blessed to be where I am today. I used to be a drug addict for 11 years, I overdosed on heroin twice during that time but I’m still alive to tell the tale. I found Jesus and he set me free from all of that, so now I no longer live for myself anymore and I no longer seek to destroy myself either. I am a partner in a new up-and-coming global financial market trading group, we currently exist on Telegram and are from over 9 different countries. We also trade crypto.

When did you get into crypto and why?

2 years ago, I was introduced to the crypto space by some trader people I worked with at the time. I no longer do business with them as they were an MLM scheme.

What was your first coin?

I think it was ETH, which I swapped out for CELO, then SHIB, then back to ETH.

What do you currently hold?

My main holding at the moment is CMCC.

And why?

There is honestly no other project quite like CMCC that has its own magazine and lots of other upcoming utilities that are soon to go live. But most of all I think it’s the community

that is the winning point for me, the integrity and the transparency of the leadership go a long way, so my investment is really in the company and the guys running the show probably more than it is the coin.

Have you made a profit since you started?

I think I’m about break even at the moment give or take, managed to avoid any major losses, and had a couple of gains here and there.

What strategies do you use?

While I’m still relatively new to the crypto space my strategy is very conservative but also loyal, mainly to just one project, so I don’t have a very wide portfolio at the moment. I’m looking to expand out into different projects as I make profit gains from the trading business.

What research do you do?

I am a part of a few Telegram groups, so I take note of wise advice, but also I study price action on charts. I use technical analysis to assist with my research.

What wallet & exchange do you use?

Currently using Metamask wallet and Binance exchange.

What do you think the future of Crypto looks like?

I think the crypto space will look very different than what it has looked like. I believe we will see the death of coins like BTC and XRP, (not sure about ETH), but we will see the likes of CMCC

and other up-and-coming projects that do more for the holder than just be a coin. The projects that actually provide some kind of utility that makes the investment more than just another coin to hold.

What’s going to be your next buy?

More CMCC, I also like the look of ODL as well.

What do you think crypto has done for you?

It has expanded my knowledge of the financial markets overall, how crypto works, and what the future of money may look like.

I am a partner in a new up-and-coming global financial market trading group, we currently exist on Telegram and are from over 9 different countries. We also trade crypto.

Akpe flora

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I’m married with 8 children. I’m 47 years old from a tribe called tiv in benue state Nigeria. I’m a graduate of physics and i have been teaching it for almost 10 years now.

I have 7 beautiful girls and a boy.

When did you get into crypto and why?

Well, my journey in crypto started in 2020 during the Covid19 pandemic. Woah! It was rough. I didn’t know a thing. I got scammed soooo many times I can’t even count. I didn’t know what a crypto wallet was,

I had no single idea as to how to buy or sell, let alone transfer or receive. It was all so confusing.

What was your first coin?

The first crypto I tried to get was Tron so I could use it for these compounding/doubling sites. The person scammed me. I didn’t give up, I kept trying,

Location: Abuja Nigeria | Job: Physics teacher

and kept getting scammed. Until 2021, when I paid someone to teach me how to use the wallet. I got scammed again. Finally, my cousin Kenneth (Telegram: @ tersoo) came to my rescue. He took his time to teach me all I needed to know. So, my first real coin was KCL

I didn’t have a lot of money, but I bought about $30 worth of it, and then I saved some in the KCL Wealth pool. Luckily, I found KCL early, then sold some at $0.90. It was awesome, and for the first time, I felt good about crypto.

Have you made a profit since you started?

The amount was small, but I had made some gains. No losses, no

scams, this time. Then, I gave out my seed phrase and lost all my savings on Metamask��.I went on.

All taken together, I have made losses, but I have also made some gains.

Which wallet and exchange do you use?

Presently, I have a Kucoin account (love it), a Binance account, Bitmart, and I use Trust Wallet. I stopped using Metamask when I got scammed.

What do you currently hold?

Presently things have been very rough for me. Very rough. I hold a very little amount of CMCC, FCF, OLE, and I have Hibacy on Kucoin. Luna I bought at $92, waiting for it to rise, and I opened my app the next evening to see Luna at $0.9!! . Hmm. Couldn’t laugh, cry, or anything. Just looked at it and shrugged my shoulders.

What do you think the future of crypto looks like?

Since the beginning of this year, we have been seeing terrible things in crypto. Bears with long mouths and a lot of energy everywhere, swallowing tokens and coins left, right, and center. I believe that it’ll get better. Even in the bear market, gains can still be made if you watch the market carefully and learn to take profits early. In crypto

I have come to realize that he who is greedy and wants to take disproportionate gains will always lose.

Do you have any advice for someone who may be just getting started in crypto?

My advice to upcoming crypto enthusiasts is that you should take your time and do proper research, study the market properly before venturing into it. DON’T TRUST ANYONE.

buy?

My next buy will come from a project that is coordinated by Nathan Hill and his team. Real world utility will thrive, even in a bear market.

If there was one thing you could change since your crypto journey began, what would it be?

If I could change anything, it would be to not trust anyone with my seed phrase.

What’s going to be your next

The UK Man Who Lost 7,500 Bitcoins

James Howells is notoriously famous in the crypto sector. The reason for his notoriety is an unfortunate situation, but he has a new plan.

a hard drive that contained 7,500 Bitcoins he had earned from mining Bitcoin. At the time of writing the cache was worth $175 million and has seen a value of over half a billion during the November peak. Howells has presented multiple proposals

he believes the hard drive is located.

The city council contests environmental risks and funding issues are too high to allow Howells to search for the drive, even after his proposal to offer

Now, James has a new plan.

drive is recovered. Howells is certain that even though the outer shell of the hard drive may be damaged and rusty, the “platter”, which contains the data needed to recover the valuable Bitcoins, may still be intact.

His latest proposal would utilize artificial intelligence to scour through the filth to find his lost treasure. Not only has he secured the A.I. tech, but has also secured venture capitalist funding, and an entire environmental team to help mitigate the risks of digging up the landfill.

Howells believes it could take about 9 to 12 months to recover the hard drive, but his plans for after recovery would last

much further into the future. If found, he plans to use the money on the drive for a power generation facility, as well as wind turbines. “We want to set up a community-owned mining facility which is using that clean electricity to create Bitcoin for the people of Newport,” Howells told CNBC.

The Newport City Council stated, “We have statutory duties which we must carry out in managing the landfill site.

Part of this is managing the ecological risk to the site and the wider area. Mr. Howells’ proposals pose a significant ecological risk which we cannot accept, and indeed are prevented from considering by the terms of our permit.”

Only time will tell what happens to the lost hard drive with James Howell’s fortune, but if luck is on his side, the city council will approve his requests when Bitcoin is at a new all-time high.

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- Part 2

By Nicole Grinstead

Last month, I wrote about how bad actors who don’t have retail investors’ best interests at heart manipulate cryptocurrency. Then, I explained how I know. Now, I’ll share the insights I’ve gleaned from years inside the crypto industry. Hopefully, this will help teach you how to do your own research so you can minimize your vulnerability and maximize your profits.

In April, Covduk - a popular Crypto-Twitter personatweeted a thread claiming to help readers get 10x better at evaluating projects and making gains. When I read it, I had to laugh.

It’s not that all of his tips are garbage. It’s just that most of them are.

If I didn’t work in this industry, I would have thought Covduck’s points were valid. In fact, a little over 2 years ago, my friend Seth Estrada and I wrote a guide detailing 12 steps to spot a crypto

scam, and now, I cringe at how wrong we had it. I’m telling you this, so you’ll understand I’m not picking on Covduck. Instead, I’m going to use some of the terrible tips that people espouse to show you that they don’t work the way people think they do and highlight best practices to follow while you DYOR.

I usually start by breaking it into 9 critical components: team, expert endorsements, exchange listings, centralization, marketing, product-market fit, functionality, legality, and community.

1. Team

Covduk is right when he says that you have to properly evaluate the team, its founders, and their record of accomplishments. However, I would say he falters by relying on information that the projects and people provide themselves. People tend to put their best foot forward, so I take everything with a grain of salt.

Experience & Background

When researching founders and team members, you’ll inevitably find yourself looking at their

LinkedIns or other professional profiles. Remember, these resources are designed to help people sell and promote themselves. As such, people control the information that’s published about them there, and it may or may not be true.

Depending on how deep you want to investigate, you should consider verifying any outstanding claims and/or looking for information that isn’t as tightly controlled as someone’s own resume.

For example, when Seth and I were evaluating a potential scam project a couple of years ago, the project’s lead developer claimed that he worked on Matic (now Polygon) in 2013. That’s a significant assertion, so we verified with Matic’s core team instead of taking his word for it. As it turns out, they had never even heard of him.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Lots of people are not who they say they are. Even big crypto names have fabricated their credentials.

When you DYOR, take time to evaluate your sources. If their claims seem too good to be true, you better ensure they aren’t before you invest.

Watch and/or listen to interviews

Doxxed teams often appear on podcasts and YouTube channels to promote their products. Suppose you’re considering investing substantial funds into one of them. In that case, you should probably watch or

listen to at least a couple of their interviews. This is where it gets kinda tricky. Because many popular crypto media outlets do undisclosed paid promotions, it can be difficult to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s staged. One thing to look for is live interaction with the audience because that’s the kind of thing that isn’t easy to fake.

I tend to prefer founders who aren’t trying too hard and make time to interact with their

communities, but you might like the cold and distant type. If all of their answers seem rehearsed, I lose interest because it often means they have something to hide.

How much money do the founders have outside of their coin or tokens’ value?

This might seem like a weird question, but it’s actually essential. No matter which way you slice it, money affects human interaction. Moreover, when people who have never had much money suddenly acquire wealth, it can cause significant stress and anxiety, leading to poor decision-making.

If I’m holding large bags of an asset, I want to know that the person or people who are making decisions that most impact its value have clear heads. This means they should have enough funds outside of the asset to cover their living costs for some time, so they aren’t overly concerned about its price. While numerous academic studies link wealth with low emotional intelligence and lack

of empathy, stress adversely impacts decision-making. People in leadership roles must be able to think clearly and make good decisions.

What about an anon team?

If the team isn’t doxxed, this goes out of the window. How to DYOR on an anon project is outside the scope of this article, but I will cover it in an upcoming issue, so subscribe and keep reading!

2. Expert Endorsements

Venture Capital

Covduck continues (and once upon a time, I would have agreed), “Who is backing them? Investors & VCs have way more information than us. If they’ve got some big names like Sequoia or A16z backing them, that’s a good sign. These guys do their research & their backing is a stamp of approval.”

I can’t say this loudly enough, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

If you base your decisions on VCs, you relegate responsibility for your financial future to someone else. You assume that they’ve done more than adequate due diligence. After all, they’re VCs; they must be good at this, right? Wrong!

VCs take huge risks because they have enough funds to not have to worry. Out of 30 projects an average VC invests in, only one has to perform well (or even survive) for the VC to profit. That’s because VCs only purchase assets they can buy for a discount. I know because I’ve sat in numerous meetings with them. If the asset already exists, VCs get a minimum 15% discount on the token’s price at the time of investment. If the asset is new and the VC provides seed capital, they buy with the knowledge that the asset will list for significantly more than they paid.

As far as investors go, if VCs know more than ordinary people, they leverage that information to manipulate the public, not to benefit it.

If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. Just look at who invested in the Nomad bridge.

Days before the Nomad bridge was exploited for almost $200 million, numerous high-profile crypto investors - including Coinbase Ventures, OpenSea, Polygon, and Crypto.com Capital - participated in Nomad’s $22 million seed round. I’m not saying they shorted Nomad or participated in the sociallyengineered bridge hack, but they might have. And even if they didn’t, this incident and many others should prove that following the money isn’t always the best strategy. From my perspective, you want to get in

before the money to maximize your profit, so the real move is not to follow the money but to get the money to follow you. By and large, I prefer investing in projects that didn’t take VC capital because it usually means fewer big players to dump the price later. But VCs aren’t all bad. If you’re going to invest in a project that accepted VC funds, here are the questions that you’ll need to find the answers to:

ƒ How much capital was obtained?

ƒ

At what price(s) did the VCs buy?

ƒ What do the vesting contracts look like?

ƒ

When are the token unlocks?

ƒ Which VC(s) invested?

ƒ

Do the VCs have a history of dumping?

Strategic Advisors

Covduck - “Are they able to get big people as advisors? Are they able to partner with key strategic partners?” - SMH - This clearly represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how the crypto market works.

The more people and companies that get involved, the higher the probability of corruption. Look at how many projects partnered with Luna, Celsius, Voyager, 3 Arrows Capital, Curve, and more to see for yourself.

Advisors are usually compensated with a percentage of the token’s supply. They exchange their credibility and/ or influence for funds they may or may not dump later. For those reasons, I pass when I see big names listed as partners or advisors.

Just because “experts” don’t endorse something doesn’t mean it isn’t a good product. Cryptocurrency is in its infancy. Few (if any) real experts exist. Solid projects with strong tokenomics don’t need to

compromise their assets by giving away large amounts.

Exchange listings

Is the coin/token listed on centralized exchanges? If so, which ones? And why?

CEXs profit from assets’ trading volume, so it follows that they list those with high volume and those that their user bases demand. But these days, so many tokens with minuscule volume and next-tozero holders are listed on big centralized exchanges.

If a token has low volume and little adoption, someone probably paid for its listing, which calls into question the legitimacy of CEXs.

The problem is that many still believe centralized exchanges

conduct extensive due diligence reports on any asset they list, but that’s not true. If it were, Coinbase, Binance, and others wouldn’t have listed so many assets that got rug pulled or exploited. I suppose some CEXs probably still have standards, but not many. A majority require only an audit and “co-marketing fee,” which they say will be

used for giveaways and trading competitions but isn’t. Really it’s just a cover for a listing fee, a majority of which the CEX recoups through wash-trading (which they call market making) and fake giveaways, and then dumps on the market.

I’ll write more about CEXs’ egregiously offensive practices

Have you ever wondered why that is?

in an upcoming issue. For now, the point is that you cannot trust assets because they’re listed on a CEX. In fact, the opposite might be closer to accurate.

Projects that pay for CEX listings relinquish control of their coin/ token to the CEX by paying for the listing in their native token. CEXs may keep those tokens for

a certain period, but they won’t hold them forever.

Assets listed only on DEXs may be harder to attain. Still, they’re less likely to be manipulated by bad actors. Decentralized exchanges rely on token holders and teams to supply the liquidity needed for trading. Few understand how liquidity works,

but it’s not how you might think, which lends to the next section…

(De)centralization

This is yet another topic on which the crypto community is divided. Depending on who you ask, an asset might be considered centralized or decentralized based on the token percentage

held by the founder or team. Many believe that a team shouldn’t control a majority of their token, but in reality, the more decentralized an asset’s ownership is, the harder it tends to dump. Founders and teams often put a premium on their assets and reputations, meaning they’re less likely to take actions that would cause the price to drop than average holders.

Understanding liquidity

Centralized ownership of an asset is critical in its infancy because of the advent of decentralized exchanges where anyone can create their own trading pair. Assets rise and fall with the value of the asset that their primary liquidity is bonded to. I will go into greater detail about how liquidity works in a future issue. For now, consider this: If someone other than the founder or team controls the majority of an asset, that person or people can supply liquidity for a pair that bonds the asset

to something that could result in disaster. For instance, many Cosmos assets were bonded to UST when Luna was exploited. They all lost value along with it. If the founders or team holds the majority of an asset, they can ensure what that asset is bonded to and further protect its price.

With everything I know, I’m more likely to buy an asset

whose founder or team holds a large portion of the token’s supply than I am to buy one that is more evenly distributed. But, of course, this goes back to point one about carefully evaluating the team.

No More Words

I’m out of words for today, so if you’re enjoying this series, please remember to subscribe or pick up next month’s issue of CryptoMag, and follow me on Twitter @NrdGrl007

Founders and teams often put a premium on their assets and reputations, meaning they’re less likely to take actions that would cause the price to drop than average holders

NFT Interoperability is Imperative for a Decentralized Metaverse

By Dan Valez

The Nomad bridge recently joined the ranks of hacked interchain protocols when $200 million was stolen in a sociallyengineered exploit. While Nomad is the most recent (at the time of writing) bridge to be exploited, it’s far from the only one. Bridges, which allow users to transfer their assets from one blockchain for use on another, are the most common vectors of attack in DeFi. In 2022 alone, hackers have gained over $3 billion from bridge attacks. This problem isn’t easily remedied,

and it isn’t an issue for DeFi users alone. Metaverse adoption might also be hindered by siloed NFTs that can’t be transferred from one chain to another. Some projects have been relentlessly working to resolve this issue, and maybe we’ll even see some critical breakthroughs soon.

Ethereum’s NFT Gold Standard

Because NFTs emerged on Ethereum, it’s natural that they set the standard. The two most

popular and widely accepted NFT standards are: ƒ ERC-721 ƒ ERC-1155

Both can be freely transferred between EVM-compatible blockchains with a chain bridge enabled; however, using a crosschain bridge is a significant security risk.

Ethereum’s Dilemma – High Liquidity; No Interoperability

As the reigning king of smart contracts, Ethereum is the most popular blockchain for NFTs. This popularity allows creators to access a high amount of liquidity for their collections and ensure their NFT creations reach their respective niches.

However, this supremacy comes with a caveat. As more people adopt Ethereum, blockspace demand increases, making mint fees prohibitive. What’s more, NFTs created on Ethereum stay there, forcing these assets to evolve in a contained ecosystem that only works on EVM chains.

For a genuinely open metaverse, users should be able to transfer their assets onto whichever blockchain or dApp they want. A closed environment where a single chain handles NFTs is neither sustainable nor decentralized.

Can New Layer 1 Chains Solve the Dilemma?

Up-and-coming blockchains like Avalanche, Solana, and Polygon, among others, have picked up the slack. Successful collections are starting to appear on these chains, providing more

versatility for creators and users. However, while these chains’ scalability solves the high gas fees, the interoperability problem remains. Moreover, cross-chain and layer2 bridges are only a partial solution.

Bridges compromise security to provide interoperability, which can be a considerable risk with high-value NFTs that may be worth millions.

This brings us to the pressing issue of a new NFT standard that will provide interoperability for assets across multiple chains.

Out-of-the-Box Interoperable NFTs on Cosmos

Interoperable blockchains like Cosmos provide the transfer of fungible assets between multiple sovereign blockchains. AssetMantle, a project built on the Cosmos SDK, is spearheading an interNFT standard that will expand interoperability to NFTs.

Unlike other NFT standards where the metadata is at the application level, interNFT standardizes metadata at the protocol level. This allows NFTs to be used across blockchains and metaverses without bridges.

The interNFT standard provides two key components:

ƒ

A chain-agnostic wallet that will allow users to store NFTs across different blockchains.

ƒ

Natively swap NFTs across chains through interchain communication protocols without requiring permissioned bridges or token wrapping.

Moreover, the interNFT standard will eventually go beyond the Cosmos network. AssetMantle is already collaborating with natively interoperable projects like Polkadot and Interchain to push the adoption of this new standard even further.

Concluding Thoughts

All the signs indicate that NFTs are still gaining popularity, and their adoption will continue to rise as we discover new use cases. Artists and creators are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, releasing intriguing artworks, collectibles, domain names, music, and NFTs tied to gaming & metaverses.

The concentration of NFTs on Ethereum hindered the medium’s evolution because NFTs that aren’t created with interoperability in mind are trapped on a single blockchain. This prevents users from transferring their assets freely across chains. Cross-chain bridges are not the solution to this problem, but AssetMantle’s interNFT standard could be, and it’s worth paying attention to.

By Nicole Grinstead and Seth Estrada

Richard Heart, easily the most outrageous figure in crypto today, joined CryptoMag to talk about how cryptocurrency can return power to the people and his evolution within the spacefrom Bitcoin Maximalist to founding the controversial but highly-performant HEX and now PulseChain.

Disclaimer: The author of this piece holds some HEX and sacrificed for other up-andcoming Richard Heart products. Additionally, this interview was conducted with input from Seth Estrada, who wrote many of these questions, owns HEX, and sacrificed for PulseChain.

I’ve known Richard at a distance for many years through his content. In 2019, I resonated with his no-BS approach to blockchain. While other prominent crypto figures put on a show for the camera and present as someone completely different behind the scenes, that isn’t the case with Richard, at least not that I can tell. He wears flashy clothing, talks about things that others won’t touch with a ten-foot pole (or Red Bull

can), and speaks truth to power - even when it’s to his own detriment. Listening to a Richard Heart live stream is like coming up for fresh air after drowning in the voices of charlatans. While his outrageous marketing tactics make Richard the most controversial figure in crypto today, he’s also quite possibly among the most misunderstood.

Years before launching his own token, Richard was already a self-made millionaire and selfhelp author who had garnered a cult-like fanbase. He has staunchly supported Bitcoin for years, called out scammers, and made content warning young crypto investors about the dangers ahead - a mission that he continues to this day. I asked Richard about best opSec (Operational Security) practices and common mistakes people make in crypto.

“I’ve always found it best to not let anyone know how much money you have,” he said, as I imagined him shopping for luxury goods or a new supercar online. “The most common mistake in crypto is trading. If you trade, you’re going to lose all

your money. People say, ‘money management will save you from that,’ but it won’t. Money management just changes the rate at which you lose all your money.” Richard continued by listing other common mistakes people make: losing their keys, not writing down their seed words in more than one place, getting hacked, falling for scams, leaving their money on exchanges, and putting their keys in someone else’s hands. In the end, it all boils down to this simple, cliche concept:

“Not your keys, not your coins.”

Crypto’s king of controversy continued, “Cryptocurrency was invented for you to hold your own keys, and if you give your keys or your coins to someone else, you’re in trouble.”

Time to Update your Worldview

Several years into Richard’s involvement with Bitcoin, he started to see that his maximalist viewpoint was faulty. He commonly refers to this change of heart as the ability to “update his worldview.” Now,

In an exclusive for Crypto Magazine, renowned billionaire Richard Heart discusses the Fed’s abuse of power, the importance of censorship resistance, and the impact of outrage marketing.

instead of focusing all of his time and energy on spreading the good word of Bitcoin, he promotes only his own products to the point of literal absurdity. Richard has been known to flaunt ridiculous-looking monogram designer garb as he twerks in front of well-known landmarks, but that’s not all.

In February, the eccentric billionaire purchased the world’s largest diamond - formerly known as ‘the Enigma’ - for $4.3 million in cryptocurrency.

HEX’s price performance from launch through August 12th, 2022. Source: Nomics.com

When I asked if outrage marketing was part of his strategy from the outset, he said it wasn’t. “I never set out to be outrageous, but when you speak truth to stupid and truth to power, it just seems outrageous to many.” But, he adds, “now that I’ve seen some profit in it, I’m sticking with it.”

The hex.com diamond has 555.55 carats and 55 sides, making it the perfect complement to Richard’s high yield Certificate of Deposit on the blockchain.

While this might seem like an outlandish tactic to some, it was brilliant positioning. Because the Enigma is the world’s largest diamond, it holds a place on Wikipedia, which doesn’t typically allow cryptocurrencies to have their own dedicated pages. The Hex.com diamond, however, now does.

But between the seemingly random outbursts of narcissistic anger - much of it designed to elicit a calculated response - there are kernels of truth delivered as tough love.

“People who don’t understand marketing don’t understand the outrage. They don’t know why or how it works. They’re just a

bunch of rekt pleb losers who don’t have any followers who try to give me… their weak pleb, rekt advice on how to become popular. While I’m the popular guy . They need to learn from me instead of trying to give me educational advice.” While his statement may be off-putting, what he’s saying isn’t untrue. Richard has been gaining followers rapidly, possibly even outpacing HEX’s price performance in 2020-2021.

Time for some Cypherpunk Subtext

I’ve always admired Richard’s unwavering adherence to the cypherpunk values of liberty, freedom, and rebellion against a corrupt system. For years, Richard has refused to pay centralized exchanges to list HEX, declined partnership and collaboration offers from respectable crypto leaders, and

“If I had it to do all over again, I would have been more outrageous earlier.”

maintained that crypto should be a path towards freedom.

I asked Richard what would be helpful for non-crypto holders to know about it. He said, “Cryptocurrency is one of the few things in the world that can truly return power to the people. Right now, a bunch of unelected guys called the Fed that have no relationship to the federal government decide the value of money. They decide what interest rates are. They

decide what you have to pay to borrow money. And that’s not okay. They’ve abused that power and created artificially lowinterest rates for so long that we have all-time high 40-year inflation rates. That’s their fault, from them printing the money and setting the interest rates too low, which causes boom and bust cycles… and the hunting of yields to try and cancel out all the inflation they’re creating by printing money from thin air. Real cryptocurrency - like HEX,

PulseChain, Ethereum, Bitcoinsolves that.”

Richard then provided a reallife example of why crypto’s censorship-resistant properties matter:

“Recently, Canada seized the funds and froze the bank accounts of people who bought sandwiches for those who were part of a political protest. That’s not okay…. People are fleeing war-torn areas, and the existing

payment reels are broken. The only way they can pay for things is with crypto because the ATM machines don’t work, so even if they have money in the bank, they can’t get their cash out. People in Ukraine who needed to get out were buying cars with bitcoin to escape the country.”

While Richard espouses the values that bitcoin was founded on, his views on decentralization are somewhat at odds with those that many crypto proponents hold.

“Decentralization of the infrastructure and nodes that carry transactions is very useful. Decentralization of ownership doesn’t really exist. 42% of bitcoin sits in 2,000 addresses.

“2% of bitcoin addresses hold 90% of the coins.”

“Decentralization works great in node infrastructure, processing, and block making, but it doesn’t really matter much for ownership. Some of the best-performing assets of all

time - Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla - have extremely centralized control, decision making, and ownership.”

This jives with the nearly totalitarian control Richard holds over the coins and tokens he creates, but it’s not for nothing. Numerous crypto influencers and thought leaders have criticized HEX because the Origin Address (OA) - which many believe is Richard - holds a majority of the token’s supply. Meanwhile, HEX is among the

only authentic DeFi products to perform exactly as it was designed to.

A Turning Tide

To wrap up, I asked Richard if he thinks people’s opinions of him have changed in the 2.5 years since HEX’s launch - when everyone and their mother were calling it a scam and him a scammer.

“Many people talked trash when I said that HEX was designed to

do 10,000x price performance in under 2.5 years, and then it did it in 1.7. I think that has shut their little mouths… HEX has had 100% perfect flawless operation for 1,000 days. Everything else is getting rekt left and right, and going down… and losing billions of dollars, but our stuff works perfectly. I think people figured out that I was right, and they were wrong.”

From my perspective, it also seems that the tide against HEX and Richard Heart is turning. Today

when I mention HEX, PulseChain, or Richard in conversation with a client, they rarely grimace and often even smile. That’s a vast difference from the landscape of just two years ago.

Looking into the future…

Although sentiments against Richard and his products have begun to shift, there’s still a long path ahead. For the last 2.5 years, establishment crypto has excluded HEX from its offerings. Data aggregator sites like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko have intentionally obfuscated HEX’s market cap, assigned it an arbitrary ranking, and held the asset on page three of their sites, even though HEX has been as high as number 4 by market cap. Centralized exchanges have refused to list the token even though their customers have asked for it. And big-name crypto media outlets have declined to publish anything against the narrative calling HEX a scam. And yet, the more the popular outlets attempt to push Richard away, the more his unorthodox outrage marketing tactics have worked to draw an audience in.

Could it be that cringe matched with outrage is the new black?

That it’s not only hip to be square- but it might soon be cool to have HEX?

We checked Richard’s claim against Glassnode’s freely available Bitcoin charts & found it to be frighteningly close to the current numbers for Bitcoin distribution.

Crypto Market Outlook

By DBillionaer

So far, we have been in this current “bear market” for nearly 10 months now and it has been hell for those with diamond hands, but we are starting to see regulation discussed more heavily within the halls of congress.

Some decentralized finance (DeFi) proponents may see this regulation as a negative.

This could very well be true or maybe not. There’s a delicate balance between regulation and

mass adoption, as we’ve seen with every global technology to ever come out (computers, internet, cellphones etc.)

When governments are trying to figure out how to regulate a global technology sector, the use and adoption will usually rise because the trust that someone is looking out for you will help gain more traction.

This can be good, and bad, at the same time. While government oversight can be a positive thing

lending credibility, too much oversight, and crypto loses its prowess as an advocate for the people.

UST. LUNA. CELSIUS. VOYAGER. 3AC. HOTBIT. RONIN. HARMONY. ACALA.

You should be familiar with these names, and specifically UST and LUNA.

These names are a large part of the reason the government is so gung-ho lately about regulation

and more specifically, regulation in the stablecoin space.

The domino effect of the collapse of UST and LUNA has given the federal regulators even more ammo recently to push for such regulation.

There are also almost monthly hacks of bridges connecting the different blockchains.

Mt. GOX distribution (140,000 BTC) is supposed to be coming at the end of the month (August.)

There is also a trial coming up regarding the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Many of the crypto sector businesses have laid off people or put a freeze on hiring new people. All the while however, people’s interest in crypto remains high: it’s a hot topic, not only among investors, but in popular culture too, thanks to everyone from long-standing advocates like Elon Musk and Michael Saylor, to that guy you met at Wendy’s talking about babydogerocketinu.

It’s difficult to predict where we will end up but most of the smart

people are following things like regulation and institutional adoption of crypto payments to try and gauge where the market is heading.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March that called on government agencies to study the “responsible development” of digital assets, including stablecoins.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently published the first framework to stem from President Biden’s executive order on digital assets, which outlines how the U.S. should engage with other countries regarding digital assets.

More regulation could mean more stability in this highly volatile crypto market.

It also has the potential to protect long-term investors, prevent fraudulent activity within crypto, and provide clear guidance to allow companies to innovate.

In a worst-case scenario, it could completely stifle growth due to red tape and higher financial burdens.

In the private sector we are starting to see more commercials for crypto, NFT’s, and the Metaverse.

People who weren’t interested in crypto last year are starting to ask more questions about it. More celebrities and corporations are leaning towards promoting cryptocurrency.

But what does all this really mean?

It could mean that big money, and smart money, are wanting to get involved, or already are figuring out ways to make profits from the space.

It could mean that the sector is about to turn for the better.

It could also not matter at all, and it all goes to zero at some point because of some inherent flaw yet to be seen.

Never forget this is an experiment and we have yet to reach its conclusion.

Therefore, the most common saying in crypto is, “don’t invest more than you can afford to lose,” right next to “do your own research” and “not financial advice”.

For me particularly it does not change much as I can make just as much money in a crash as I can in a bull run if I play my cards right.

So, in conclusion, the market outlook, depending on your vantage point and your skill set, is never set in stone, one direction or the other.

My final recommendation to people in crypto is work on your skill set. Learn how to make money in both directions so that there is no such thing as a bear market, just another direction to make money in.

How to get Started Understanding Crypto Investing

Frequent headlines proclaim that Bitcoin or some other new cryptocurrency is the gold standard in the new world of digital assets. Even though no one wants to miss out on a gold rush, Bitcoin isn’t gold, while its rival protocols like Ethereum, Solana, or FTX Exchange Token aren’t either. Nevertheless, just like gold mining, crypto mining requires energy to acquire something that may have a finite supply depending on the coin’s inflation schedule.

There are currently more than 12,000 cryptocurrencies that facilitate peer-to-peer transfers of data and value. In a study conducted in 2022 regarding financial literacy, 56% of adults said they were beginners in crypto. If you believe in the future of crypto-assets but have no idea how to invest in them, what does this mean? You can

make sense of this relatively new landscape if you have an advisor who is well versed in crypto.

The Most Important Points to Know When Getting Started Investing in Crypto

ƒ Most advisors are hesitant to recommend crypto to clients since they aren’t well-versed in it.

ƒ There is no such thing as an industry standard for certification in crypto investing as there is one for CFPs.

ƒ

While crypto has a market cap in the trillions, many do not consider it an investment vehicle and instead, see it as more of a way to gamble.

ƒ There are no guarantees regarding future performance. Investors and advisors should keep this in mind.

Is Buying Crypto Investing or Gambling?

Futures trading has been asked that since 1710 when the Dojima Rice Exchange in Japan opened for business. There are many factors to consider when educating yourself about cryptocurrencies’ technology. Who can give you advice on whether to invest?

ƒ

The majority of adults in the U.S. lack a deep understanding of digital assets.

Don’t expect your financial advisor to recommend buying, holding, or selling crypto. Most investment advisors who like alternative assets that move independently of the S&P 500 Index, are unlikely to recommend putting part of your portfolio into crypto. Here are

two reasons wealth managers steer clear of crypto.

Adviser Skepticism is Rampant Due to Lack of Education

In the first place, they see this rush as just another fad in the financial sphere that must play out before any guidance can be provided. Additionally, it is a space that does not have established regulatory bodies but does have some companies that hate all cryptocurrencies when they are sold to retail customers.

Several individual investors are interested in cryptocurrencies because of their abundance and the game-like nature of obtaining them. However, please make no mistake: cryptocurrencies may be thrilling, but it is not a good idea to bet money on a new financial product without knowing how it works.

Your Financial Advisor Is Trying to Keep you Safe

Even if he or she has in-depth knowledge of crypto, a digital

currency advisor cannot advise on buying or selling cryptocurrencies. In this regard, they are not alone. Rather than sell transactions, an advisor’s job is to manage their clients’ money and hopes. To protect advisory clients from themselves, the advisor filters out the noise in the market and steers them away from cryptocurrency scams. As an example, crypto scammers stole $14 billion in 2021.

Financial Advisors Find it Hard Recommending Cryptocurrency

Financial advisors in Boston note that when clients inquire about investing in crypto, it’s often because they’ve heard how much money they can make. Investing in cryptocurrencies is essentially gambling at the moment, according to the advisor, because they are so risky.

Focusing on the technology behind cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, is a better way to think about cryptocurrencies. This technology is a distributed ledger in a sense. The most well-known cryptocurrency

is Bitcoin because it was the first feasible cryptocurrency and has the highest market capitalization. Initial blockchain technology was developed for payment processing, but it actually has a lot of truly solid potential applications. Data management, identity tokenization, secure audit trails, and data tokenization are all possibilities.

Financial Advisors Can Help, if they are Crypto Literate

In an ideal world, your financial advisor would decide which cryptocurrencies to include in your portfolio and how much to invest. A vast majority of advisors in the real world do not even recognize them as an investable asset class. This prevents them from being discussed intelligently.

Where can you get good advice if you consider investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other cryptocurrency? As a safe haven, you can always rely on the less-than-5% rule, which tells you not to put more than 5% of your portfolio into highrisk investments. If you’re working with most financial advisors, you’ll have to get a little creative in your quest for crypto investments.

Here are Some Options for Getting in the Market

Cryptocurrencies can be accessed in more ways than one, however, not all of them involve actually purchasing the digital

assets directly. Rather than helping you own cryptocurrency now, some knowledgeable advisors prefer to take one of these indirect approaches.

Your financial advisor might choose one of the following options:

ƒ Bitcoin stocks or blockchain-related companies

ƒ Buying Bitcoin futures

ƒ Hedge funds focused on cryptocurrency

ƒ ETFs related to cryptocurrency mining

As with betting on a horse race, you should only bet how much you can afford to lose on cryptocurrencies. Cryptoassets are not automatically gambling and are not investments because of their high level of risk. As with “real” assets, there are plenty of other investments that are equally risky. Yet, if cryptocurrencies replace conventional investments, advisors will need to catch up with those who were there first. A person or government cannot inflate cryptocurrencies due to the mathematical limitations built into them, reducing some risk.

Buying Cryptocurrencies

You may have to do the heavy lifting and buy the cryptocurrency yourself, if you have spent time studying blockchain technology and wish

to invest in it, and not just as another investment vehicle. To store your cryptocurrencies securely, you need a digital wallet, such as a Bitcoin Wallet.

The best way to convert any cryptocurrency into cash is to find an exchange that supports trading the currency you want to purchase. For example, Coinbase is one of the most well-known crypto exchanges. Using fiat currency, you can buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto products on this exchange.

The regulation was required by an executive order issued by President Biden in March 2022. Regulations are being drafted by both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. President Obama has also suggested that a new regulator may be needed.

Are Your Advisors Knowledgeable About Cryptocurrencies?

Some digital exchanges do not support all cryptocurrencies and/or all fiat currencies (the technical term for dollars, euros, yen, and other currencies). You should begin with well-known companies like Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, and do your homework before investing anything. Even the best crypto exchanges are not without flaws. Analyze each exchange’s history of account closures, outages, and ties with traditional banks.

If you plan to use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, you should learn the safest ways to store them. Authenticating your account on the exchange you have selected, either in its mobile app or through its website, is all it takes to buy or

sell cryptocurrencies. Failing that, you may want to create your own cryptocurrency wallet to hold the currency rather than using one provided by the site.

How Do Crypto Advisors Work?

Crypto advisors understand how cryptocurrency works and the best ways to invest in

it. Those who stay abreast of cryptocurrency and blockchain developments may be registered as investment advisors, licensed representatives, or hold a credential such as Chartered Financial Analyst or Certified Financial Planner.

Interested in Becoming a Crypto Advisor?

Currently, there is no “official” way to become a Professional Cryptocurrency Advisor. Nevertheless, most states require businesses selling cryptocurrencies to obtain a license as money transmitters. Retailers of cryptocurrencies fit this definition, although not very comfortably, as state licensing and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are in charge of combating fraud and money laundering.

Why Would a Financial Advisor Recommend Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies are ideal for investors who believe in the future of digital currencies and

wish to protect their financial information online. Inflation and political manipulation are also less of a threat with cryptocurrencies. In most cases, mathematical algorithms are used to enforce a cap, preventing dilution. Furthermore, if you have surplus assets to spend, crypto is a great place to speculate.

Where Can I Find an Advisor Experienced in Crypto?

Cryptocurrencies may appear on advisor websites, but there is always the possibility they are merely promoting it. Ask them some probing questions about blockchain and Bitcoin and see if they are able to engage in an intelligent discussion. Some advisors seeking a deeper understanding of crypto may pursue the Certified Digital Asset Advisor designation.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology is still in its infancy. Every day, new coins are added, and the once niche concept of blockchain is gaining real-world traction and government attention. As regulators gain more knowledge about how to tax crypto, new taxes are likely to be imposed. While it is becoming more and more important for advisors to understand the asset class, many are reluctant to do so and even hesitant to recommend it. This makes finding an advisor well-versed in crypto difficult, but not impossible.

By Seth “MineYourBiz” Estrada

Powered by squidgrow.wtf

Is mining still profitable? In a word, yes.

But before we discuss how to mine, let’s first review why you’d even want to, starting with a sweetened and condensed history of the crypto mining industry.

Tales of the early days of Bitcoin mining still live on in online forums. Back when bitcoin was still abbreviated as “BC,” no fancy artwork was available, and the only way to mine was to sync the entire blockchain; you could download the main Bitcoin core wallet and then press an inconspicuous-looking little menu option called “Generate Coins.”

Your laptop or desktop PC would transform from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde. Roaring to life, miners would heat up an office or bedroom and sound like a micro jet turbine as the CPU violently executed as many SHA256 hashes as possible, racing

against time, adjusted network difficulty, and other miners.

But in exchange for that minor discomfort and a few pennies of electricity daily, one of the world’s first provably unique sources of wealth was created, 50 Bitcoin at a time.

And, of course, the amount of risk this type of mining exposed to any individual user of Bitcoin was meager. Hundreds of dollars. Not hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, as is the case with corporate mining interests.

Things were truly simpler back then.

Fast forward to the present day, and the situation has changed drastically.

Huge mining facilities with onsite power generation dominate the blockchain industry for every major coin, especially Bitcoin.

Energy exploration companies that traditionally posted annual losses for their natural gas flares are now capturing that run-off with generators feeding mobile Bitcoin mining units, fueling a cottage industry for each piece of infrastructure.

Nowadays, mining SHA-256 for Bitcoin is not remotely competitive on a solo laptop or even a warehouse full of highend servers or graphics cards.

Speaking of graphics cards, heck, even Ethereum, the GPU miner’s safe haven of 7 years (almost to the day as of composing this article), looks like it will no longer be a viable way to trade watts for coins once the beacon chain merges.

So how is it possible that crypto miners are as bullish as ever?

And more importantly, how can the average person- not a network engineer or systems administrator- manage to mine profitably from their home?

First, there are more ways than ever to provide blockchain consensus security or “mine.” And some of the current options would have been considered impossible when Satoshi Nakamoto was active. Crypto miners are bullish, not only because there are now more choices for which hardware is viable but also because recent price action has given the best pricing on hardware in many years.

As Baron Rothschild said, miners also tend to buy when there is “blood in the streets” - even if that blood is their own!

And before we answer the second question…

It’s time to get a little nerdy.

Put on your DIY goggles, and let’s evaluate the following 6 hardware options. Most of them can be purchased, assembled, and run by novice computer enthusiasts (except one).

We’ll briefly go over why miners are excited about each of them. Then, we’ll show clear steps on how a person who has never mined before can get started profitably today:

1. CPU - the central processing unit of any computer or smartphone. Every wellknown smart device, from home security systems to Tesla automobiles, has a CPU inside it. Monero & several other coins have been intentionally crafted to be mineable as “CPU-only.” Socalled “CPU-only” coins will continue to provide the same decentralization model that the earliest Bitcoin miners enjoyed.

ƒ CPU mineable currencies give young adults and college students with only smartphones and laptops a fighting chance to earn coins from the small amount of electricity their devices produce.

2. GPU - the video processor inside a computer, capable of fewer general purpose calculations but at a massive performance boost for the specialized algorithms and maths they are designed to do. Multiple GPUs can fit into a single box or be run by a motherboard. One GPU can mine Ethereum and many other popular PoW coins.

ƒ With GPU’s current commercial and retail distribution, this is the highest bang-for-the-buck in decentralized hashing. Most GPU miners (including this author) believe that the blockchain industry will always provide gainful work

for their mining rigs - even if that work isn’t securing Ethereum.

3. HDD - hard drives for general use. It’s common to see over a dozen hard drives stuffed into a single server chassis or find high-capacity USB backup drives on sale at local retail stores.

ƒ Dozens of new coin networks offer mining rewards for something like “Proof of Available Capacity.” This means that any empty external storage drives you have lying around can offer some crypto rewards instead of just gathering dust.

3. ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit machines - the little “toasters” made by Bitmain, DragonMint, and other Chinese companies. Bitcoin and most of its forks will remain locked into this type of hardware unless a significant code change adjusts the trend.

ƒ Bear markets have a way of reallocating these machines into lowerpriced power markets and at rock-bottom pricing for what was once bleeding edge hardware. During the 2019 bear market, ASIC rigs were sold by the pallet load, by weight rather than compute power.

5. IoT/WAN - Custom devices for networks that offer valueadded services through free coverage and are used as blockchain proof for securing consensus.

ƒ “Proof of Coverage” and “Proof of Bandwidth” are common terms for this hardware type. Networks like Helium (HNT) are the current kings of lowpower mining. Still, they have experienced severe infrastructure problems vis-à-vis supply chains for the single-board computers used in their proprietarylicensed mining boxes.

6. Validator Nodes - servergrade machines designed for 99.999% uptime, attracting the delegation of coins from whales on proof-of-stake networks. Yes, this is still considered “mining.”

ƒ This category of equipment does require a systemsadministrator level of expertise. Still, it promises to be hugely rewarding in the coming years, as nextgen Ethereum competitorsand even Ethereum itselfwill depend on the reliability and high throughput that only industrial hardware can provide.

OK, so we’ve nerded out.

Now how do I make computers mine “free” coins? And how much profit can it yield?

1. Take account of all the hardware you already have access to.

2. Find out which hashing algorithms (and coins) your hardware can mine.

3. Set up a secure software environment.

4. Weigh short term profit against long term investment.

5. Use what you already have access to.

Considering the hardware you already have, it’s important to understand that the two major pitfalls of mining are overpaying for gear and overpaying for electricity.

There is no better price than free (or at least “already paid for”), so be thorough in your assessment.

Do you have an “old” gaming rig? It might have a pretty decent GPU in it!

How about some “old” smartphones or tablets? They

may be able to mine certain CPU coins!

Additionally, let your friends and family know that you are actively looking for “old” computers, computer parts, and smart devices. Your personal sphere of influence can potentially drum up tens of thousands of dollars in mining gear for the price of asking around.

Above all, if you can get it for low or no cost, gather hardware first and ask questions later.

You can always donate to the local second-hand store or sell them on eBay if the parts don’t serve for mining.

Find out which coins this hardware can mine.

Three simple resources for beginners are:

1. the monero benchmarks (which give a good indication of how profitable a given CPU might be) at xmrig.com

2. the ASIC comparisons at asicminervalue.com, and

3. the various data tabs at whattomine.com (which are particularly useful for GPU mining).

Once you have a solid understanding of which coins are accessible for the hardware you already have and know which coins you want to mine, you’ll need the correct software to get the hardware hashing!

Setting up the right environment for that hardware.

Depending on which hardware you’ve rounded up (i.e., CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, etc.), you may only need a windows application, or you might consider running a different operating system altogether (like Linux).

This is where most average people give up.

You will not.

Instead, you will make it all the way through to “profit.”

In the case of “mining OSes,” there are plenty of great options to choose from, and they make the management of your mining rigs extremely simple.

Some popular options are SMOS (Simple Mining), HiveOS, Minerstat, EthOS, and the more

esoteric MMP OS.

They can all be run from a $5 USB thumb drive (for PC-based hardware). In the case of one or two of these options, special firmware can be flashed onto old ASICs to make them run faster and manageable from your central web dashboard.

The current state of mining

control systems is nothing short of miraculous. It has truly never been easier to get started.

It’s also possible to set up your mining rigs on Microsoft Windows or Ubuntu Linux if you’re comfortable manually installing the mining applications.

Without going too deep into

the process, it should already be evident that this side of your mining journey will require a lot of research, trial, and error.

Making a profit; short sale vs the long game

OK, so to recap, you’ve:

1. Gotten your whole tribe involved.

a. They’ve given you every scrap of available computer hardware they could findeven grandpa’s “secret” GTA V gaming rig.

2. Discovered which coins can be mined, given the right software.

3. Decided which OS and mining applications you think

will work best for the gear in hand.

The rigs are humming along beautifully, and you know that coins will soon come in consistently.

Now you have to measure your costs, subtract them from your gains, and decide what winning looks like for yourself.

As of writing this article, the US national average for electricity is about $0.14 per kilowatt-hour.

And mining most crypto currencies will be done at just a small margin above break-even in the present market.

On a given day, something like an RTX 3090Ti (the current flagship gaming GPU from Nvidia) returns almost $2.50 USD on Ethereum. But this reckoning only makes sense if you are counting the present day value of that ETH.

So here’s the big secret. Are you ready…?

THE SHORT SALE IS FIAT & THE LONG GAME IS CRYPTO

OK, there may be good reasons to sell off mining profits early & often. And only you know your personal financial picture.

But using this “fiat standard”, you might target a specific amount of cash profit daily and realize that gain by selling on

Coinbase or perhaps trading into a stablecoin.

And in the scenario above, this would yield about “two fiddy” each day.

No more, no less.

And adjusting for inflation, those dollars become worth less & less every month.

Using a “crypto standard”, you might want to trade at the most profitable times for a solid highcap coin.

If you’re a Bitcoiner, you’ll want sats. Ethereans will measure profit (and loss) in gwei.

In this case, at Ethereum’s current price ($1,885), an upward move back to all time high ($4,878) puts that daily profit of $2.50 closer to $6.47

Not bad!

But when that upward move happens (not if), Ethereum will very likely surpass its previous all time high!

And of course for the misfits, the true degens, the real adrenaline junky risk takers, there are the speculative coins. Micro-caps. Memecoins. Obvious potential rugpulls like “Baby Burt Reynolds Wrastling A Gator Inu” (not a real project…yet) . And early new launches like DogeChain or Pulsechain (real projects)

These long shots are just as accessible to miners as they are to anyone else. In fact, the slow drip of mining profits can help some speculative investors to pace themselves, or only play with “house money”.

In any case, miners generally win when they trade their watts for the highest possible return on the best-performing asset. So speculation is still a strong case for mining.

This will be the ongoing bumpy road of portfolio management, so buckle up.

Now that you’ve learned the basics of how to mine when it comes to profits and yield:

You can always dig deeper.

Crypto miners are bullish, not only because there are now more choices for which hardware is viable but also because recent price action has given the best pricing on hardware in many years

Graffiti on the Streets

How Bitcoin is Changing the World

There has been a new wave of artists that have used the cryptocurrency's symbolism in several different ways as bitcoin and the idea of decentralized technologies continue to disrupt the economy. Several of these street artists employ graffiti in their works to describe Bitcoin's revolutionary aspects in a rebellious manner.

The Bitcoin/cryptocurrency phenomenon has gained popularity over the past few years, and last year it entered a new stage of attention when mainstream observers finally took notice. As with most evolutionary concepts, Bitcoin is no exception since its logo can be found on clothing items, coffee mugs, as well as murals and paintings. There is certainly a lot of street art that features Bitcoin and other crypto symbols all over the world as the following examples demonstrate.

Graffiti on the Streets How Bitcoin is Changing the World

The infectious spirit behind Bitcoin has seeped into our everyday lives, making it a renaissance of economics. Just a glimpse of what’s to come is shown in these street murals. As you can see, many of the graffiti-masters displayed above have their QR codes on their paintings, and some of these artists have collected thousands of dollars from passersby.

Graffiti on the Streets How Bitcoin is Changing the World

Many lives are being changed by crypto today, and the streets around the world can attest to this paradigm shift by some of the messages sprayed in multicolored arrangements across our concrete jungles.

The Doorsteps to the Future

By Anthony Burton

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Weare at the doorsteps of the next revolution in technology and finance. Knocking on the doorway to a digitized world, where typical boundaries and limitations are forgotten.

Most people think of crypto as a tool for illicit transactions, or nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. While there are reasons to believe the previous statement is true, there are many more reasons to believe crypto is everything but.

What if I told you that you could have transparency and privacy, all wrapped into one legacy system? What if I told you that, in my vision of the future of blockchain, every record you’ve ever kept could easily, and anonymously, be secured on the blockchain? Would you believe me if I told you that within the next 3 election cycles in the US, your voter ID, and your vote will be immutably tallied using blockchain tech?

That time is closer than most might think. If you aren’t involved in crypto, some of

these visions of the future seem like something from a sci-fi novel. They are. By now you’ve probably heard of crypto, the Metaverse, or NFTs, but not understand their purpose. The Metaverse will shape how we interact, learn, and grow as a species. We have already seen a rise, during a global pandemic, in meeting in a virtual space, such as Zoom meetings. Now imagine, instead of your real face, you present your avatar in a virtual realm, where the technology allows a fluid work environment.

Meta, Facebooks’ version of the Metaverse, is already allowing students a “hands-on” learning experience, in a 3d, limitless existence. Major corporations are planting their seeds for when the Metaverse becomes as natural as a computer with the internet.

NFTs aren’t just pixelated images of ridiculous monkeys, or other loveable characters. NFTs can be set as timed, or location based, digital tokens. Picture this: You bought a ticket to a concert or sporting event. When you arrive

within a specified distance to the venue, your digital token will change to a QR code. You scan your NFT, or QR code, and your access is granted. Nobody else can copy and use your ticket.

What you didn’t know when you scanned your digital ticket was that you were the 100th person to purchase a ticket. BOOM! You just won a backstage pass to a meet and greet with your favorite artist. This is only the beginning. We have seen blockchain elections, on a

smaller scale, and they work flawlessly. Your ID, medical records, birth certificate, social security number, EVERYTHING, can be stored on the blockchain. Nobody but you, and anyone you allow access, can see your private info. At the same time, everything that’s done on-chain leaves a public record. With the wallet address, anyone in the world can see what that wallet is doing, but nobody can say who that wallet belongs to. Brilliant right? After the claims that the 2020 election was stolen, what

better way to secure a voting system, than to only give a vote to those who meet the prerequisites. Your vote would be administered in a specified location. You can’t use your vote in multiple jurisdictions, and it can only be used once. Are you seeing the benefits yet?

Traditionally, sending money abroad meant going to your local Western Union, or obtaining a MoneyGram. With systems like PayPal and CashApp we are seeing an end to the detriments

that held us back. I can send, or receive, payments to/from anyone in the world, in as little as a few seconds. I don’t have to worry that it will arrive at its destination, because I can see when it does. Which brings me to my next point.

Have you ever tossed some change in the red Salvation Army buckets at Christmas time? How do you know where your money is going? You don’t. In 2021, Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk said he would donate $6

billion to fight world hunger. So long as the UN World Food Programme would share their plan on how the funds would be used. What he meant was, if you want me to donate a small fortune, accept it on the blockchain and allow everyone in the world to see how it’s being used. Organizations rarely do things for free, and we don’t know how much of our donations actually make it to the people that need it the most. With the public ledger that blockchain maintains, anyone with internet access could see what money is being spent, and where.

There are so many valuable resources for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Some have a proven track record; some haven’t been thought of yet. I firmly believe that the blockchain will change our everyday lives. We will use some form of blockchain daily,

like we do with the internet. I’ve heard that investing in cryptocurrency, and blockchain, today, is like investing in the internet and tech in 1994. Who, in 2022, doesn’t wish they invested in Google, Amazon, Ebay, and many others in 1994? Welcome to the next revolution my friends. You’re in for a hell of a ride.

NFTs aren’t just pixelated images of ridiculous monkeys, or other loveable characters. NFTs can be set as timed, or location based, digital tokens

When society looks at the crypto industry today, one cannot deny that Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are just as widely known as Bitcoin (BTC). SHIB, to date, has had the highest percentage gain which is estimated to be a 30 million percent increase from launch to its all-time high. No other cryptocurrency can claim the rights to such a high percentage increase. Yet.

While most meme coins have taken a -70% beating from their all-time highs (like the rest of the cryptocurrency market), one has promised it’s going to be a force, even during this bear market. We had a chance to catch up with Shibtoshi (anonymous alias), the CEO of SquidGrow, a meme coin launched back in June of 2022, that may show some future promise. Shibtoshi told us he has been a cryptocurrency supporter ever since the early days of Bitcoin, around 2011.

“My first major Bitcoin purchase was $30,000.”

Shibtoshi has set an example for us all by showing that diamond hands can win. Apart from diamond handing Bitcoinhe has made it to the top wallet in Shiba Inu. During the all-time high of Shiba Inu (Oct 2021), his holdings in SHIB were estimated to be close to $5 Billion. So, what does one do once they’ve accumulated all this wealth? You pave the way for others, who may not have been lucky enough to find crypto in its infancy. Crypto aside, this man has given bone marrow, donated time and money to sick and/or terminally ill children, and the list of heartwarming sentiments goes on. Shibtoshi gives

us a positive outlook that there are still amazing people in the world.

These character qualities truly highlight what kind of CEO Shibtoshi will be. Though with his success, the road to bettering the lives of others has come with its fair share of downfalls as well. Part of these failures (we’ll call them learning experiences) were getting into projects that ended up being total scams. This motivated him to make a safe place for his friends and family, and anyone else with a dream, to invest their hard-earned money, and the blessing to many that arises is SquidGrow. SquidGrow was made with the intention of having a meme quality, but with some future utility plans. Adding to the mystique behind the generous genius, when asked if he could lay out some details for the future utility, he replied: “I would rather be surprised than be disappointed.” Meaning he would rather have a working product, or close to working, than to overpromise a timeline or product that would end up disappointing investors if estimated timelines were not met. Over-deliver, underpromise.

Already attracting an investor base of over 11,500 holders, SquidGrow has reached an alltime high market cap of $50 million since its inception. With a 1 quadrillion total supply, launched on the Binance Smart Chain, audited by Solidity Finance, and listed on some of the world’s top exchanges

(Bitmart, BKex, Cointiger, and Reflex) , there is still plenty of room for explosive growth. The team has the benefit of having a day 1 holder of Shiba Inu at the wheel, accelerating the means to catapult this project straight to the stratosphere.

With a team focused to deliver (staking already live, and more utility being built), and a CEO so passionately dedicated to sharing the gift of winning and profiting with crypto investing, SquidGrow is set to make waves in the memecoin ocean. Everybody in crypto wishes they were an early investor in Shiba Inu, and while that boat may have sailed, there’s another fish in the sea that promises to deliver similar surges, and its name is SquidGrow.

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“I would rather be surprised then be disappointed.”

Meaning he would rather have a working product, or close to working, than to overpromise a timeline or product that would end up disappointing investors if estimated timelines were not met. Overdeliver, underpromise.

Resource Guide

Crypto Magazine values our audience. We value your time and your investments, no matter where you choose to put your hard earned money. We understand how confusing it can be to do your own research, which is why we’ve compiled this list consisting of valuable knowledge and experience to cover every aspect of the cryptoworld. Whether you’re new to cryptocurrency, or you’ve been involved for years, we hope that you find value within the pages and people we choose to highlight as a reputable source for making your crypto journey a positive one.

YOUTUBERS

Bitboy Crypto

1.44m Subscribers

Bitboy is one of the most recognizable names in the crypto influencer game. Posting multiple videos a day, he keeps his content fresh and up to date. Bringing you the best of the crypto world with news, project reviews, and cryptocurrency trading advice. Scan the QR code and grab your seat as the next member of the “BitSquad!”

Coffeezilla

1.21m Subscribers

Coffeezilla takes aim at anyone involved in scams. Earlier this year he shook the crypto-sphere by claiming to uncover a billion dollar fraud, Safemoon. He does his due diligence to uncover and call out scams, fraudsters, and fake gurus that prey on the unknowing, innocent people that are being deceived by projects, developers, and even influencers.

CryptoDeb 7k Subscribers

CryptoDeb is a kind soul, with a welcoming personality. She gives you honest insight into what projects she’s bullish on, what to look for to avoid losing money, and in-depth analysis of projects that her followers want to know more about. If you see her on a livestream, feel free to ask in the comment section what she thinks about your favorite project, but be prepared. If it looks like a sketchy project, she doesn’t pull punches, and will definitely let you know why she doesn’t feel it’s a good investment.

GROUPS

Whale Coin Talk

24k Members

Whale Coin Talk is the creme de la creme of the AMA world. Their team consists of genuine crypto enthusiasts, with the utmost passion and knowledge on what’s what in the space. It’s no surprise they host multiple AMAs every day, and if you’ve attended one, you know what I’m talking about. They don’t go into the conversation blind. They research every aspect of a project prior to the AMA to give their followers the best insight possible. They aren’t afraid to ask the tough questions, and they do it all in a professional manner, while keeping the AMA entertaining and fun. If you’re an investor, you want to hear a Whale Coin Talk AMA. If you’re a project owner, your project will most definitely benefit from having a Whale Coin Talk AMA. Keep an eye on their Telegram group because as they grow, and partnerships are being formed, there are some exciting things you won’t want to miss.

Vetter.ai

14k Members

Vetter is breaking the mold of traditional AMA groups where you would typically go to find your next potential big gain project. They have created their own token called VSL. Holding Vetter SkyLabs token will guarantee you an allocation based on the amount of VSL you hold. The more you hold, the more you can allocate into projects launching with Vetter’s launchpad. Ready for the best part? VSL offers revenue supported staking! What this means is in addition to guaranteed participation in upcoming launches, stakers get royalties generated through the business model. Not only can you find your next favorite project through Vetter, holding VSL will guarantee you early entry into those projects as well.

Space Lounge

2.4k Members

If you’re looking for a great atmosphere, with amazing people, that covers everything from the next moonshot token, to celebrity interviews, crypto education, and everything else crypto, Space Lounge has a seat for you. Space Lounge not only hosts AMAs, conducts interviews, and posts regular crypto education series in their Telegram group, they’ve partnered with DYOR Media, which expands their livestream Telegram broadcast to YouTube, Twitter Spaces, and can also be streamed to multiple other Telegram groups simultaneously. If you think that’s impressive, go check your Roku streaming device and search for Space Lounge. Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.

Crypto Street Squad

3k Members

Don’t let the number of members fool you. The experience and knowledge of this group far exceeds that of some of the top Fortune 500 companies boardrooms. The only difference is, you can join and engage in the conversation. Their voice chat is open 24 hours a day, and everyone is encouraged to join. In Crypto Street Squad you will find decades of knowledge from some of the most forward thinking minds in the crypto space. If the conversation needs brutal honesty, that’s what you’ll get. If you’re looking for unbiased opinions, pro-tips, education, best or worst moves of the day, you will most certainly find that here. Whether you’re just getting started in crypto or you’re a seasoned vet, CSS has what you didn’t know you needed. Resources galore, and wisdom abound, Crypto Street Squad is a must have group to add to your list.

Resource Guide

TWITTER

Darcy Donavan

230k Followers (7+ million across all socials, and for great reason.)

If you’ve ever attended a Darcy hosted Twitter Space, you know how charismatic and energetic she is, and it’s contagious. She can make a mundane Monday feel like a concert on a summer Saturday night. She’s got her hands in everything crypto, and with a repertoire like hers, it’s not surprising. She’s a film and tv actress, author, public speaker, recording artist, producer, and the list goes on. Most of all, she’s one of the most positive, honest, and polite people we’ve had the pleasure to meet. She carries the same mentality that we at Crypto Magazine value so much, and that’s to put our heart and soul into everything we do, with the sole intention to bring success to as many people as we can.

TaraBull 88k Followers

Tara uses her voice and platform for the people. While she’s a major advocate for $AMC, and mainly focuses on the traditional stock market, she doesn’t limit her conversation to just that sector. We see the correlation of stocks and crypto, and Tara’s knowledge on everything between, is always on full display. Tara is becoming a voice for those of us that feel we may not have an edge against hedge funds and the multi-billion dollar corporations that manipulate both stocks and crypto. If you’re looking for a guiding light against the machine, TaraBull is that beacon.

Hello, new world.

Picture a whole new world on the rise. A decentralized society fuelled by blockchain technology. It could affect our economy, banks, businesses, even our social media. Cartesi connects what we know today with the new, bridging the gap between Linux and the blockchain world.

Let’s get ready for the future. Join us for what’s next: cartesi.io