Crypto Weekly Issue 51 by Cryptoweekly

CRYPTO WEEKLY cryptoweeklymag.com $2 may 2023 | Volume 51 HIDDEN GEMS Page 42 Page 44 BEGINNERS GUIDE Page 48 VIDEO OF THE WEEK Page 28 THE METAVERSE Creating New Worlds Page 38 FUTURE OF NFT GAMING Page 08 RECOUPING CRYPTO LOSSES Page 14 LITECOIN IS ON FIRE! Page 22 SHOULD BUSINESSES TAKE CRYPTO? Page 24 CRYPTO SAVES VENEZUELA cryptoweeklymag.com $2 March 2023 | Volume 48

01 02 03 04 05 Fully Doxxed Team Amazing Community Super Fast Listings 125K Mag Subscribers Earn Rewards in USDT 2 Audits Passed BKEX listing first 2 weeks www.t.me/CMC_COIN_1 www.cmccoin.io CoinMarketCap/CoinGecko Within hours of applying www.cyptoweeklymag.com Get first 12 Months Free! Weekly & Monthly Rewards

cryptoweeklymag.com $2 may 2023 | Volume 51 CONTENTS PEPE Coin's 111% Overnight Surge: The Crypto Phenomenon 7 Cryptocurrency Market Collapse and Losses Reported on U S Income Taxes 8 It's Bitcoin's 'Last Gasp' Before Irrelevance, ECB officials say 9 Unsiwap's New NFT Aggregator Dubbed the Google Search of Trading �� 10 Kraken CEO: Binance Poof of Reserves Makes no Sense Without Liabilities 12 Litecoin Outperforms Other Top Tokens Amid Crypto Winter 14 Ohio Man Imprisoned for Stealing $21 Million in Bitcoin from Brother 16 Will Twitter 2 0 Incorporate Crypto Payments? 18 Bitcoin Wallet of the Defunct BTC-e Crypto Exchange Reactivates �� 20 Should Small Businesses Take Crypto Payments? 22 Venezuelans Have Turned to Cryptocurrency to Survive 24 The Metaverse and Blockchain: Creating New Worlds 28 What are the Chances of Recouping Cryptocurrency Losses in court? 32 Can we have privacy and compliance at the same time? �� 34 Ethereum Far From finished After "The Merge" 36 The Future of NFT Gaming in the Metaverse 38 Cryptocurrencies and Stocks Offer Different Kinds of Investing Experiences 44 14 29 38

CEO Nathan Hill nathan@cryptoweeklymag.com

Editors Letter

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Nathan Hill nathan@cryptoweeklymag.com

Publisher Colin Woolley colin@cryptoweeklymag.com

Editor Robert Stone editor@cryptoweeklymag.com

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ISSUE 48

ISSUE 51

Welcome to Crypto Weekly

IAnother week has gone by, and this is our 48th issue of Crypto Weekly I am Rob Stone, the Editor and, along with the guys at CMC, hope to bring you another weekly read about significant happenings in the world of crypto.

Writing and painting are organic forms of self-expression I resonate with Creatively, I identify as a sensualist, I love tactility in art It is an impressive experience for me I want to be surrounded by it and to make love to it Dry old crypto talk far beyond the interest of the normal reader becomes a soulnourishing transcendent epistle worthy of transcription by monks of the crypto revolution

Another week has gone by, and this is our 48th issue of Crypto Weekly I am Rob Stone, the Editor and, along with the guys at CMC, hope to bring you another weekly read about significant happenings in the world of crypto.

am Rob Stone, the Editor and I, along with the guys at CMC, hope to bring you another weekly read about significant happenings in the world of Crypto On this issue, representing the 51ist week of Crypto Weekly I cannot help but reminisce over the last year In that time, Crypto Weekly became a worldwide phenomenon and birthed Crypto Monthly, which has gone to print worldwide and become a bestseller The thought came to me that means I have authored over one thousand eight hundred articles and written a soon-to-be-published book in that time It makes me feel like I have graduated from something We are, in fact, breaking long-held sales records in competition with publishing leaders like Entrepreneur and Bloomberg and accomplishing greatness in the industry�

It's also how I feel about Crypto Weekly & Crypto Magazine It's my chosen focus and means in the world of cities and people I always feel it necessary to take whatever I am doing as means and sustenance and make it a deeply immersive experience To treat it with the respect of a student to their master to the utmost degree in order to transcend normality and make it soulful nourishment I have got to get to the root of life to see and feel it clearly Yes, crypto is life Crypto is freedom from those who feed off of the people of Babylon like a fungus— extracting sustenance by the point of law and gun

I have made a realization about how DeFi will transform financial services and take over the world More than a revolution, Crypto could better be described as a transcendent evolutionary technology that is transporting us to places we haven't yet imagined and enabling us to see what lies beyond the places we discover once we arrive We live in a world of increasing complexity, competition, and alienation but also a world of unfolding possibilities, fulfilling experiences, and human connections� Here as we publish new content, you will find news and rumblings of the wider cryptosphere, and you will find personal reflections, stories, and ideas that cut through the posturing, the commercializing, and the dehumanization we have all experienced We bring crypto and the blockchain revolution to the people, and we tell it like it is�

It has been another smashing week with crypto, and a lot has happened in the last week because the music never stops in the cryptosphere, and time keeps rolling on I hope you all enjoy what we have brought together for you this week Please let us know your thoughts, and if you would like to see something featured, please do get in touch

Welcome to Crypto Weekly Follow Us

editor@cryptoweeklymag.com

It has been another smashing week with Crypto, and a lot has happened in the last week because the music never stops in the cryptosphere, and the time keeps rolling on� I hope you all enjoy what we have brought together for you this week Please let us know your thoughts, and if you would like to see something featured, please do get in touch

editor@cryptoweeklymag.com

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Crypto Weekly Magazine is published by the Crypto Marketing Company 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ

CRYPTO WEEKLY

Editors Letter ISSUE 48 CRYPTO WEEKLY Crypto Weekly Magazine is published by the Crypto Marketing Company 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ

Crypto Weekly Magazine is published by the Crypto Marketing Company 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ

CRYPTO WEEKLY

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has done a lot despite 'fraud,' says Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin

PEPE Coin's 111% Overnight Surge: The Crypto Phenomenon

Whilesuggesting FTX's collapse resulted from fraud, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin cautioned critics to be more discerning Although Bankman-Fried's crypto empire continues to collapse amid federal probes into possible mismanagement of customer funds, Vitalik Buterin, who has been vocal about crypto adoption and blockchain technology, isn't ready to dismiss everything he's done

The crypto world is buzzing about PEPE, the latest meme coin that's taking the market by storm In just two weeks, PEPE has skyrocketed to become one of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, with a market cap of a whopping $582 million! And get this, in the last 24 hours alone, the PEPE token has soared a staggering 111%, and over the week, it's up an incredible 304%. Crazy, right?

Buterin tweeted, "Downgrading everything SBF believed in automatically is an error… We must figure out what contributed to the fraud and what didn't " This crash has been compared to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and Enron, Theranos, and Bernie Madoff fraud cases

So, what's driving this coin's meteoric rise? Well, for starters, PEPE is an ERC20 token with a supply of 420�69 trillion tokens, putting it squarely in the meme coin category And while there have been other Pepe the Frog tokens and NFTs released before, this latest PEPE coin has really caught investors' attention

chaos that hit crypto markets earlier this year

and suggested returning to "principles-based

—Crypto Weekly

Just ask the lucky investor who turned $250 in PEPE into over $1 million in just a few days! They bought the token on April 15 and watched as it pumped an unbelievable 40,7900% in just four days Today, their wallet holds 3 9 trillion coins, worth over $5 3 million! Not bad for a little-known meme coin, eh?

Vitalik Buterin warned against DeFi (decentralized finance) and self-custody pitfalls, specifically bugs in smart contract codes, in a tweet from his verified Twitter account� In response to the loss of trust in centralized exchanges, which led to

record exchange outflows, Buterin wrote, "The DeFi and self-custody ethos did very well this week " To prevent smart contract exploits, Buterin advised developers to keep their code simple and perform audits and formal verification.

But it's not just individual investors who are jumping on the PEPE bandwagon� This coin's popularity is reflected in the Google Trend score for "pepecoin," which surged from 3 to 100 in just one week! And with listings on several cryptocurrency exchanges, including OKX, Huobi, Gate io, and MEXC, it's no wonder that PEPE is attracting so much attention

Buterin warns of DeFi risks.

"My biggest concern is if we have $10B in a ZK-rollup 2 years from now and it gets hacked due to circuit constraint bugs or the EVM wrapper," wrote Buterin, attaching "Hardening rollups with multiproofs "

In fact, DeFi volumes for PEPE have surged, with volumes around the token jumping from $2 99 million on April 15 to over $240 million with multiple liquidity pools and centralized exchange listings And if you need more proof that this coin is hot, just take a look at Nansen's Ethereum analytics dashboard, which shows that over 30 "smart money" wallets bought

PEPE tokens worth around $1 million in the last week alone� That's some serious coin!

As crypto exchanges saw a record-high week of outflows of bitcoin following the FTX saga, industry leaders have begun advocating self-custody solutions �

So, what's next for PEPE? Who knows! With its wild success so far, the sky's the limit for this meme-inspired cryptocurrency All we can do is sit back and watch as PEPE continues to soar to new heights —Crypto Weekly

—Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

Cryptocurrency Market Collapse and Losses Reported on U.S. Income Taxes

U.K. POLICE HAVE CRYPTO

due to the cryptocurrency losses that will offset up to $7,000 of those gains The worst case scenario - no capital gains - entails a $3,000 write-off in 2022 and a $4,000 carry forward to offset future capital gains and ordinary income in 2023

An official with the U K National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has deployed crypto tactical advisers to investigate and secure digital assets associated with crimes At a hearing on Tuesday for the new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, Andrew Gould, staff officer for NPCC's cryptocurrency portfolio, said that "all forces and regional organized crime units have officers trained and equipped to do that "

Whenour grandparents told us not to believe something that seemed too good to be true, they were right� Throughout 2022, the cryptocurrency industry has taken major hits in terms of publicity and dollar losses� FTX declared bankruptcy a few weeks ago, causing the cryptocurrency market to collapse.

Cryptocurrencies are considered capital assets by the Internal Revenue Service� It's good news when long-term capital gains are reported since preferential tax rates may apply The offset of capital gains is generally limited to the year's capital losses We recommend that you start generating capital

Law enforcement will be able to freeze crypto assets associated with criminal activity if the British government passes the bill Yet police

gains between now and the end of 2022 if you have any "winners" in your portfolio.

Your losses can offset the capital gains by $7,000 in your case The Internal Revenue Code provides relief if there are insufficient capital gain-generating assets� In the case of individual taxpayers who can deduct up to $3,000 of capital losses over capital gains, the rule that capital losses can be deducted only against capital gains allows for some "wiggle room."

According to Gould, the U K government has seized cryptocurrency assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds within the past year or so "The police force has procured

If no capital gains are generated between now and Dec 31, you can deduct $3,000 of ordinary income from your 2022 tax return Another $3,000 of other

income or capital gains can be offset with the remaining $4,000 in 2023 Selling capital gain assets after the Gator Bowl kickoff is the best scenario for you Your 2022 capital activity will be zero

a number of investigative tools and a capacity for storing seized crypto," he explained� Police seized cryptocurrencies from Komainu during investigations in January to provide them with a more "robust" means of storing them Gould still believes crypto is too costly for the NPCC to keep up

Our officers are struggling in the face of the growing complexity of crypto assets," Gould said, adding that their tools can't handle everyone An investigation is best conducted by using more than one tool

"That's very expensive

Other financial losses, such as those from the sale of stock or other property held as an investment, can also be affected by the above advice about cryptocurrency losses To put it another way, after capital losses are offset by capital gains, an individual's taxable income can be reduced by up to $3,000 per year

Furthermore, Gould explained that the police have difficulty retaining staff while competing with the hard-to-turndown salaries offered by the private sector� "One of my sergeants

—Crypto Weekly

the biggest risk we face in

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Weekly NEWS & UPDATES

—Crypto

It's Bitcoin's 'Last Gasp' Before Irrelevance, ECB officials say

Ina blog post, European Central Bank officials wrote that the price stabilization of bitcoin is just "an artificially induced last gasp before the road to irrelevance."

According to ECB officials Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf, the demise of Bitcoin was "already foreseeable" before the bankruptcy of exchange FTX

FDIC

CHIEF SAYS STABLECOINS

In addition to these two ECB officials, many others in the central bank are skeptical about crypto Digital assets have repeatedly been called out as a source of "funny business" and money laundering by ECB President Christine Lagarde

In reference to Lehman Brothers, which failed before the 2008-09 financial crisis, U S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that FTX's collapse was a "Lehman moment" for crypto.

Considering the profound impact stablecoins could have on the established banking system, U S regulators must ensure the digital tokens fit in without disrupting it, according to Martin Gruenberg (chairman of the FDIC). Gruenberg's agency will significantly impact how stablecoins are regulated in the United States Recent sanctions against firms that misrepresent how FDIC deposit insurance backstops the FDIC has also imposed their operations

Gruenberg said that U S banks have increasingly offered crypto services, including custody of customers' digital assets, which is why his agency has remained cautious about accepting regulated lenders to participate

The post by Bindseil and Schaaf on Wednesday covers mainstream criticism of digital assets, including the claim that "Bitcoin is seldom used for legal transactions" and that crypto mining consumes a great deal of energy� Also, those who promote crypto do so at their own risk, stating that crypto constitutes a speculation bubble that will harm investors

Gasping for Air

The price of cryptocurrencies plummeted in 2022 The bitcoin price has fallen by more than 75% from its alltime high, near $69,000 in November 2021 The market capitalization of digital assets has dropped to $850 billion from nearly $3 trillion

Banks face reputational risks when they promote Bitcoin New money is needed to create speculative bubbles Moreover, Bindseil and

cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are necessary to create a digital currency issued by a central bank in the U S "A stablecoin for payments could fundamentally alter the banking landscape," Gruenberg said A new form of shadow banking could be created with payment stablecoins, "possibly resulting in forms of credit disintermediation that may harm the viability of many U S banks "

Stability Oversight Council, Gruenberg is involved in cross-agency crypto oversight efforts� However, he has been openly skeptical of the usefulness of crypto�

Schaaf wrote that Bitcoin has repeatedly benefited from waves of new investors� Contrary to popular opinion, while many crypto critics call for strict regulation of digital assets, the collapse of FTX will likely trigger newfound scrutiny from regulatorsBindseil and Schaaf argue exactly the opposite

According to him, the industry has primarily focused on trading, and so far, we have not seen many benefits� "It remains to be seen if there is any potential there "

To deal with stablecoins, he said Congress should pass new legislation

"Regulation can be misunderstood as approval," the ECB officials wrote. "Misconceptions partly shape the current regulation

were offered through bank subsidiaries, fully backed by short-term treasury bonds, and placed on regulated "permissioned ledger systems "

of cryptocurrencies

There are almost as many arguments against crypto as there are against innovations A severe price decline might look like a bursting bubble to many traditional investors and regulators, but in the crypto world, traders are already gearing up to buy the dip." The belief persists that space must be provided for innovation at all costs Bindseil and Schaaf probably believe that such gambles won't pay off —Crypto Weekly

"Knowing all parties involved in payment stablecoin activitiesincluding nodes and validators - is crucial to ensuring compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, preventing terrorism financing, and deterring sanction evasion " —Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

Unsiwap's New NFT Aggregator Dubbed the Google Search of Trading

At a hearing on Tuesday for the new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, Andrew Gould, staff officer for NPCC's cryptocurrency portfolio, said that "all forces and regional organized crime units have officers trained and equipped to do that "

Law enforcement will be able to freeze crypto assets associated with criminal activity if the British government passes the bill Yet police

The Uniswap website will eventually feature an NFT aggregator after Uniswap acquired NFT trading aggregator Genie and its founder, Scott Gray, five months ago. Decrypt interviewed Gray, who is now Uniswap's Head of NFT Product. He explained that people think of NFTs and tokens as two different experiences with two audiences, “but that's not the case."

additional 100 million pounds sterling helped the NPCC strengthen its crypto capabilities " Reports indicated that in 2018, police chiefs lobbied the government for funding to train and equip 250 crypto tactical advisors

According to Gould, the U K government has seized cryptocurrency assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds within the past year or so "The police force has procured

DeFi protocol Uniswap has a total volume locked of approximately $3 48 billion, making it one of the most popular protocols for selfcustodied token trades Through its aggregator, it wants to level the playing field for NFTs. The tool allows users to view listings and "global floor" prices across seven different marketplaces, buy NFTs in bulk, and list NFTs for sale across multiple marketplaces In addition to

to provide them with a more "robust" means of storing them� Despite this, Gould still believes crypto is too costly for the NPCC to keep up�

being a repackaged Genie product, Uniswap's NFT is more Gray told Decrypt that more marketplaces have been added, and its smart contract has been reworked to be 15% cheaper on gas fees than other aggregators� Uniswap will offer limited gas rebates on its first 22,000 aggregator users' first transactions until December 14, up to 0 01 ETH each (roughly $12) Uniswap's app will be available after January 16 for claiming rebates

"One of my sergeants just got offered 200,000 pounds to move to the private sector We can't compete with that at the moment� That's probably the biggest risk we face in this area," Gould said The NPCC has not responded to a request for comment at present time Some police officers in the U�K� earn salaries ranging from anywhere between 28,000 to 100,000 pounds a year

As part of the launch celebrations, early Genie adopters may also be eligible for $5 million USDC in airdrops for “certain historical Genie users” through Uniswap's official website�

More than one transaction made by Genie users between April 15 and August 15 will qualify them for $300 each, and holders of Genesis and Gem NFTs will qualify for $1,000 each

—Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

Google Search, where we're directing traffic to where it's most efficient."

FDIC

CHIEF SAYS STABLECOINS COULD FUNDAMENTALLY ALTER THE BANKING

When asked if Uniswap will add any fees to an aggregator in the future, Gray said Uniswap currently has no plans to do so The Uniswap aggregator will be open-source, allowing users to suggest improvements on GitHub As of now, the aggregator only supports Ethereum NFTs, but Gray says more may be added in the future, "We definitely have more chains on our radar."

OpenSea, X2Y2, Sudoswap, LooksRare, Larva Labs, Foundation, and NFT20 are all included in Uniswap's NFT aggregator UniSwap can add more in the future, but most marketplaces store data off-chain To add those marketplaces to Uniswap, Uniswap would need their cooperation to obtain API keys

What are the benefits of using an aggregator? NFT marketplaces are changing, with OpenSea remaining the most popular With the launch of more and more NFT marketplaces, trading experiences become more complex as users create accounts on multiple platforms Market fragmentation, according to Gray, is actually a good thing for decentralizationand aggregators simplify the shopping experience

"As long as you have a really

good aggregator, it's safe to have all this fragmentation since it lets creators and users control rather than the platform," said Gray. "Unlike Apple App Store, they can remove anything they want at any time, and because they want 30% of the NFT sale, they are limiting the NFT space."

As a result of various marketplaces announcing that they will (or won't) enforce creator fees for secondary sales, Uniswap's aggregator won't enforce creator fees Gray acknowledged that creator fees are a huge catalyst for the NFT space but clarified that Uniswap would not enforce them via its platform

The reason we can't set creator fees or enforce creator fees as an aggregator is that we don't create listings ourselves Accordingly, we made it easy

Gruenberg noted that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FDIC) also inputs into the federal government's policy towards stablecoins, which will work with the Federal Reserve's future realtime payments system, FedNow Besides being used for trading volatile cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are necessary to create a digital currency issued by a central bank in the U S "A stablecoin for payments could fundamentally alter the banking landscape," Gruenberg said A new form of shadow banking could be created with payment stablecoins, "possibly resulting in forms of credit disintermediation that may harm the viability of many U S banks "

for users to filter out which marketplaces they wanted to use or which they didn't want to use

Gray also believes that aggregators like Uniswap could help bring about mass adoption. "If we have a lot of information asymmetry, and if we have a lot of capital inefficiency in the NFT buying process, then we will not get the mainstream adoption we need," he said. "I see an aggregator like Uniswap more like

President Joe Biden has yet to name a permanent replacement for Gruenberg, who previously served as FDIC chairman Two people were nominated last month to join the board, and the next chairman is reportedly on the way Aside from his roles at the Financial Stability Oversight Council, Gruenberg is involved in cross-agency crypto oversight efforts� However, he has been openly skeptical of the usefulness of crypto

According to him, the industry has primarily focused on trading, and so far, we have not seen many benefits to be seen if there is any potential there

To deal with stablecoins, he said Congress should pass new legislation

because "our authority is clearly limited, particularly when it comes to protecting consumers as well as provisioning of wallets and similar services by non-bank entities "

Uniswap's shiny new aggregator isn't the DEX's first foray into NFTs. It previously offered a limited collection of "phygital" Ethereum NFTs called Unisocks, which can be burned for physical socks According to Gray, Uniswap's inventor, Hayden Adams, and the company's CEO, Uniswap Labs, still deliver Unisocks by hand. "It has become a meme among Ethereum OGs and Uniswap supporters."

—Crypto Weekly

As Gruenberg sees it, stablecoins would be sufficiently safe if they were offered through bank subsidiaries, fully backed by short-term treasury bonds, and placed on regulated "permissioned ledger systems "

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—Crypto

Weekly

NEWS & UPDATES

Kraken CEO: Binance Poof of Reserves Makes no Sense Without Liabilities

Cryptocurrencies Recognized as Financial Instruments by

Brexit economic strategy regarding financial services and markets

InPowell's view, a full proof-of-reserve audit includes the sum of client liabilities, cryptographical evidence that each account is included, and signatures confirming the custodian's control over the wallets Crypto exchange FTX's collapse demonstrated the importance of proving reserves in order to prevent situations where users' funds are misappropriated While exchanges have proactively shared wallet addresses to prove that users' funds exist, several entrepreneurs, including Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, have criticized the practice as pointless�

As part of the debate about the bill, legislators considered several proposed amendments, including one proposed by Andrew Griffith from the People's Party that would include crypto assets within regulatory oversight It was already outlined in the draft bill that a number of measures would be included to extend current regulations on stablecoins, which are essentially cryptocurrencies linked to other assets such as the U S dollar or gold

"This amendment essentially involves treating crypto assets

Powell believes that a complete proof-of-reserve audit should include client liabilities, cryptographic

proof that each account is included in the sum, and signatures proving the custodian controls each account Kraken's proof of reserve allows it to verify assets against liabilities Powell continues to call out other players who have missed out on including negative balance accounts� A number of times, Powell has criticized CoinMarketCap for sharing insufficient proof of reserves, as it lacks "cryptographic proof of client balances." Powell reiterated that reserves do not represent wallets, but assets minus liabilities�

Nevertheless, Powell expressed disappointment over the absence of negative account balances, stating that: "The whole purpose of this is to see if an exchange holds more crypto than it owes clients It is worthless to put a hash on a row ID without the rest of the information."

sense." Griffith, the finance and city minister, said before lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the amendment

The crypto industry, which is currently celebrating the announcement that Rishi Sunak has been appointed as the country's new Prime

Using a Merkle tree, users can verify their assets with Binance's new proofof-reserves system

quickly to developments in the cryptocurrency sector and deliver regulation in a way that aligns with its broader approach to financial services regulation

plans that involve third-party auditors auditing its proof-ofreserve results. CZ's response to Kraken CEO's concerns was well received by the community� However, there were those who criticized the hypocrisy that CZ disabled public commentary for the post that invited “questions and checks ”

In the crypto provision, which uses the definition of "crypto asset" in new clause 14, Griffith said it clarifies that crypto assets may fall into the scope of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, which governs regulated financial activities Crypto promotions may

In addition, he has asked journalists and media to refrain from " overstating the case and deceiving consumers." Instead, he has suggested they take the time to understand the motivation behind proof of reserves� Few members of the community, however, denied Powell's need for an auditor In response, Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao shared Binance's upcoming

The Treasury will consult with industry and stakeholders before implementing the powers to ensure the framework reflects the unique benefits and risks associated with crypto activity Despite this, the rules remain a long way from becoming law

As soon as the House of Lords approves the amendments, the bill will be sent to King Charles III for his royal approval�

CZ confirmed on Nov. 19 that it has begun work on building a safe centralized exchange (CEX), an idea posed by Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin� To prevent crypto exchanges from withdrawing a depositor's funds without consent, the best-case scenario would be to build a system that prevents them from doing so —Crypto Weekly

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—Crypto Weekly

NEWS & UPDATES

Litecoin Outperforms

Other Top Tokens Amid Crypto Winter

NATIONWIDE

Whilemost of the cryptocurrency market has plunged following the collapse of the FTX exchange, one digital asset is surging 43% to its highest level in six months As a result of upcoming changes to mining rewards and the issuance of new coins, Litecoin (LTC-USD) jumped 43% in November from $55 to $78 14 In essence, new Litecoins will be created at a slower rate, lowering the supply of new coins, which usually encourages price appreciation

An official with the U K National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has deployed crypto tactical advisers to investigate and secure digital assets associated with crimes

After the previous halvings in August 2015 and August 2019, the price of Litecoin rose against the majority of the market Digital assets have climbed since May this year to their highest point Although the bear market that started in April 2021 has not crossed above the trendline, the price has not risen above it On the eve of Terra's UST/Luna stablecoin's cataclysmic crash, Litecoin's all-time high of $381 was reached on 10 May 2021

What is Litecoin?

The first Litecoin block was mined in 2011, and miners received 50 Litecoins for completing it� Roughly every four years, the reward, also called a "subsidy," is halved. During the third halving in 2023, the LTC subsidy will be cut from 12 5 to 6 25

Law enforcement will be able to freeze crypto assets associated with criminal activity if the British government passes the bill Yet police

According to Gould, the U seized cryptocurrency assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds within the past year or so police force has procured

Cryptocurrencies are thousands strong, but many still need unique use cases or tokenomics that make them stand out Over the past decade, Litecoin has become known as the silver to Bitcoin's gold A proof of stake consensus algorithm validates it as a digital asset similar to bitcoin Bitcoin will always have a maximum supply of 21 million coins, while Litecoin has 84 million coins in its finite supply

a number of investigative tools and a capacity for storing seized crypto," he explained� Police seized cryptocurrencies from Komainu during investigations in January to provide them with a more "robust" means of storing them� Despite this, Gould still believes crypto is too costly for the NPCC to keep up�

Litecoin has a much lower value than bitcoin and can be mined using a computer� When mining a block of the Litecoin blockchain, Litecoin miners receive dogecoins When a processor mines Litecoin, it merge mines Dogecoin

as well In 2011, software developer Charlie Lee created the cryptocurrency Prior to 2017, Lee was the Director of Engineering at Coinbase

Furthermore, Gould explained that the police have difficulty retaining staff while competing with the hard-to-turndown salaries offered by the private sector� "One of my sergeants just got offered 200,000 pounds to move to the private sector We can't compete with that at the moment� That's probably the biggest risk we face in this area," Gould said The NPCC has not responded to a request for comment at present time Some police officers in the U�K� earn salaries ranging from anywhere between 28,000 to 100,000 pounds a year

As with many other cryptoprojects, Litecoin had a fair launch in 2011, and Lee was not reported to have given himself a pre-launch share In the beginning, Lee mined Litecoin, but now he says he has sold everything he has An organization called the Litecoin Foundation has its headquarters in Singapore and the stated purpose of "advancing Litecoin for the benefit of humanity. Approximately eight main mining pools contribute to its decentralized mining distribution, which is not controlled by any central authority."

—Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

OUR MISSION

Ohio Man Imprisoned for Stealing $21 Million in Bitcoin from Brother

U.K. POLICE HAVE CRYPTO EXPERTS STATIONED NATIONWIDE

Law enforcement will be able to freeze crypto assets associated with criminal activity if the British government passes the bill Yet police

Gary James Harmon, an Ohio resident, was given a four-year and threemonth prison sentence for pilfering 712 Bitcoin from his own brother, as reported by the U S Department of Harmon confessed to the criminal charges in January, confronted with one count each of wire

fraud and obstruction of justice, potentially facing a combined maximum sentence of 40 years At the time of theft, the 712 Bitcoin was valued at approximately $4 8 million However, its worth has skyrocketed to over $21 million in today's market The crime took place in February 2020, following

agencies have already increased their efforts to target criminals who use crypto for money laundering or terrorism financing According to Gould, "the government's additional 100 million pounds sterling helped the NPCC strengthen its crypto capabilities " Reports indicated that in 2018, police chiefs lobbied the government for funding to train and equip 250 crypto tactical advisors According to Gould, the U K government has seized cryptocurrency assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds within the past year or so "The police force has procured

a number of investigative tools and a capacity for storing seized crypto," he explained� Police seized cryptocurrencies from Komainu during investigations in January to provide them with a more "robust" means of storing them� Despite this, Gould still believes crypto is too costly for the NPCC to keep up�

the arrest of Harmon's brother, Larry Dean Harmon

Brother's Illegal Activities and Arrest

Larry Dean Harmon was apprehended in February 2020 for running a coinmixing service named Helix Between 2014 and

2017, Helix processed over 350,000 Bitcoin and was affiliated with several darknet markets, according to the Justice Department In 2021, Larry pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy and charges related to improper money transmission The Financial Crimes Enforcement

—Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

CHIEF SAYS STABLECOINS

Network (FinCEN) also imposed a $60 million penalty on him, marking the first penalty levied against a Bitcoin mixer

Seized Assets and Gary's Deception

During the prosecution, law enforcement officials seized

multiple assets, including a cryptocurrency storage device that was initially inaccessible due to security features Gary James Harmon, however, managed to covertly send himself the 712 Bitcoins by recreating Bitcoin wallets using his brother's credentials Authorities reported that he subsequently laundered the assets, transferring the stolen Bitcoin to two other online mixing services� As a result of his illegal actions, Gary Harmon agreed to forfeit cryptocurrencies worth over $20 million, according to the Justice Department� The forfeited assets included 17 4 million Dogecoin, around 647 Bitcoin, and just over 2 Ethereum

Although coin mixers have been praised as essential tools for preserving the privacy of crypto transactions, government officials have criticized these services as instrumental to

hackers and other malicious actors Coin mixers obscure the origin and destination of funds by combining various transactions

Treasury Department's Actions and Legal Challenges

In the summer of last year, the U�S� Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the coin mixer Tornado Cash, effectively prohibiting U S citizens from engaging with the

because "our authority is clearly limited, particularly when it comes to protecting consumers as well as provisioning of wallets and similar services by non-bank entities "

application The Treasury Department claimed that Tornado Cash was being utilized by the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group, Lazarus Group This decision faced backlash from politicians such as Rep Tom Emmer and whistleblower Edward Snowden, who dubbed it a "do or die" moment for crypto

The crypto policy nonprofit Coin Center is currently suing the Treasury Department, accusing it of overreach in blacklisting the tool In a related development, a Dutch court recently ruled that a Tornado Cash developer named Alexey Pertsev could be released on bail after spending nine months in detention� Pertsev celebrated his release on Twitter, reflecting on the changes in the crypto space since his arrest last August —Crypto Weekly

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"It remains pass new legislation

NEWS & UPDATES

Will Twitter 2.0 Incorporate Crypto Payments?

Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, Andrew Gould, staff officer for NPCC's cryptocurrency portfolio, said that "all forces and regional organized crime units have officers trained and equipped to do that "

Elon's team is delivering impressive results with Twitter 2�0� As long as Elon Musk remains at the helm of the platform, blockchain enthusiasts can expect better treatment from the company It's impossible for the community not to wonder when the platform will accept crypto payments It is another matter entirely whether their optimism or

Law enforcement will be able to freeze crypto assets associated with criminal activity if the British government passes the bill Yet police

expectations are matched by reality

Is Elon Going to Add Crypto to Twitter?

the NPCC strengthen its crypto capabilities " Reports indicated that in 2018, police chiefs lobbied the government for funding to train and equip 250 crypto tactical advisors

He shared recent achievements and upgrades on Twitter 2�0 on November 27, deliberately omitting the 'Payments' slide Analysts suggested big news might be coming soon due to

According to Gould, the U K government has seized cryptocurrency assets worth hundreds of millions of pounds within the past year or so "The police force has procured

storing them Despite this, Gould still believes crypto is too costly for the NPCC to keep up�

the move, which left the community guessing

Our officers are struggling in the face of the growing complexity of crypto assets," Gould said, adding that their tools can't handle everyone

Other achievements announced by the magnate included:

Recording new user signups and active minutes

Daily active users at 250M

An investigation is best conducted by using more than one tool Gould said, "That's very expensive ”

Reports of hate speech and impersonation will be dropped�

pounds to move to the private sector We can't compete with that at the moment� That's probably the biggest risk we face in this area," Gould said The NPCC has not responded to a request for comment at present time Some police officers in the U�K� earn salaries ranging from anywhere between 28,000 to 100,000 pounds a year

A number of upgrades were made to Twitter 2 0, including the introduction of encrypted messages and long-form tweets The company also relaunched 'Blue verified.' Elon is a big advocate of digital assets, and when

—Crypto Weekly

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NEWS & UPDATES

his bid materialized, the digital asset market cap surged The magnate's other businesses accept digital asset payments, and Tesla consumers can pay for products with DogeCoin, for instance

by multiple interactions on the platform� Digital asset payments are difficult to predict and how they will be applied to the platform, however Advertising and subscriptions, which could arguably be paid in digital assets, are the main funding sources for social media platforms Twitter payments in DOGE? This announcement will affect the meme token's price a lot if it is true

FDIC

CHIEF SAYS STABLECOINS COULD FUNDAMENTALLY ALTER THE BANKING SYSTEM.

It has been a long time since Elon became a fan of DOGE During a TV comedy show on Twitter (Saturday Night Live), Elon branded himself the Dogefather, which caused DOGE to surge and hit an all-time high of $0 73 DOGE's price has been affected

As a result of Elon Vs Twitter, which attempted to back out from the platform deal, strings of messages leaked between Elon and controversial figures. An example is a discussion with Steve Davis, president of Boring Company, about the potential development of a blockchain Twitter He discussed possible charges for tweets and retweets and moving the platform to the blockchain during the meeting However, the idea was deemed unfeasible later�

many U S banks

because "our authority is clearly limited, particularly when it comes to protecting consumers as well as provisioning of wallets and similar services by non-bank entities "

Social Media and Crypto Platforms

According to him, the industry has primarily focused on trading, and so far, we have not seen many benefits� "It remains to be seen if there is any potential there "

To deal with stablecoins, he said Congress should pass new legislation

The relationship between digital assets and social media platforms has not always been smooth sailing A ban on all digital asset ads, including influencers, was enacted by Facebook in 2019 YouTube also made similar attempts� Digital assets, however, have changed platforms' stance� The Metaverse is the next chapter in the internet, according to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. Corporations are taking chances with blockchain and digital assets, while decentralized platforms are embracing them," he said.

Among other issues, users are dissatisfied with how corporate platforms deal with privacy, censorship, data theft, sharing, and user control� The protection from censorship that decentralized platforms provide provides them with the leverage to attract new users A single motivated individual can still disrupt a market even when the media are buggy and slow

Some decentralized platforms that could disrupt social media include Lens Protocol, Steemit, Only 1, and Mastodon The platforms have all reported a growing user base in 2022 —Crypto Weekly

—Crypto Weekly

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participate

NEWS & UPDATES

Digital asset payments are difficult to predict and how they will be applied to the platform, however. Advertising and subscriptions, which could arguably be paid in digital assets, are the main funding sources for social media platforms.

Bitcoin Wallet of the Defunct BTC-e Crypto Exchange Reactivates

ABTC-e crypto wallet involved in the 2014 Mt Gox hack sent 10,000 Bitcoin (US$167 million) to two unknown wallets on Wednesday, according to blockchain analytics firm Crystal Blockchain. Crypto researcher Sergey Mendeleev discovered the transaction

Centralized Finance's Flaws are Exposed For All to See and Learn From with the Fall of FTX.

Data from blockchains offers limited information, which can be interpreted in many ways After receiving 3,500 BTC, one wallet forwarded 300 BTC to another wallet, which was then split up into several wallets, while the other wallet still holds onto the remaining funds According to blockchain analytics system Crystal Blockchain, the wallet involved in Wednesday's transaction belongs to BTC-e Sergey noticed the transfer and wrote about it on his Telegram channel�

Robert Stone

We crypto aficionados keep re-learning the lesson of decentralization the hard way In the absence of U S regulations and crypto's centralized development, FTX collapsed A decentralized and transparent protocol would never have been able to melt down Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto trading empire We should all realize that an alternative to government-backed finance has one crucial flaw: no backing from the government After centuries of mistakes by

the past decade

Alexander Vinnik, the alleged operator of BTC-e, was arrested in 2017 by the U S Department of Justice for allegedly facilitating the laundering of funds acquired in the notorious hack of crypto exchange Mt Gox Co , Ltd During 2014, 744,408 bitcoins

were stolen from Mt Gox, the first bitcoin exchange. The U�S� Department of Justice arrested Alexander Vinnik, who is alleged to be the operator of BTC-e, at a resort near Thessaloniki, Greece, on allegations of money laundering and other crimes in 2017 Vinnik denies the allegations The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down BTC-e in 2017 after it handled US$9 billion between its founding in 2011 and then

A top-five rival crypto exchange was provisionally rescued by the founder of the largest crypto exchange, Binance In the equivalent of a bank run, clients abandoned FTX After the problems were deemed too severe to overcome, Changpeng Zhao walked away. FTX has now filed for bankruptcy as its CEO resigned FTX's future looks grim, and the crypto economy's ripples have been devastating for some projects

In 2020, he received a five-year prison sentence in France for money

laundering, and in the same year, he was extradited to the United States�

Mt Gox was once the world's largest Bitcoin exchanges, accounting for over 70% of global Bitcoin transactions in 2014�

cannot be rescued by anyone due to its immense size� It will be left to the market to resolve a potentially systemic crypto crisis without the deal Even Mr Zhao, known as CZ, poses an obvious danger of relying on one person

What DeFi Can Do

criminals gain control of the central, private keys, putting that much power in one body can be dangerous

However, it collapsed in 2014 after being hacked and losing 850,000 bitcoins worth about $500 million In July, Nobuaki Kobayashi, the firm's Rehabilitation Trustee, informed creditors that customers and creditors would receive 137,000 BTC,

The decentralized ethos would place that authority in a decentralized autonomous organization, if that

blockchain to traditional

survival of the fittest. We are there's no reason for them

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FEATURE

to exist since they don't offer anything new� The NYSE is better if you want to own centralized companies and trade assets in a centralized market

worth roughly $2 8 billion at the time, causing concern that Bitcoin's price would drop

Several countries demanded Vinnik's extradition, including Russia, France, and the United States. A five-year prison sentence was imposed on him for money laundering after he was extradited from Greece in 2020. In an indictment filed in 2020 by the California court, he was extradited to the U S for alleged computer intrusions, hacking incidents, ransomware scams, identity theft schemes, and drug distribution rings Based on the court case docket, he is currently at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California

Russian Connection

A clone of BTC-e called WEX was created shortly after BTC-e closed, and its servers were seized by the FBI in 2017 WEX froze all withdrawals and shut down after a year of operation The exchange was sold to Dmitri Khavchenko by CEO

Dmitri Vasilev

It does sound ironic that decentralized finance's main problem is centralization But the fact that we're even talking about this shows the importance that decentralization as an ideology commands in the world of crypto Economic incentives drive them to under-collateralize and risk user funds, just like the financial institutions that collapsed in 2008 Despite claiming to care about consumers, the companies play political games and cozy up to those who are supposed to regulate them This is exactly what SBF was doing CEO CZ of Binance didn't like it and said so It was the very reason he first announced he would sell all of his holdings, and the collapse of FTX precipitated from there

Problems with Centralized Financial Systems

Centralized financial systems can fail.

The Bitcoin white paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," published by Satoshi

According to CoinDesk, a large amount of crypto was drained from WEX wallets before and after the shutdown In Russia and Kazakhstan, police investigations were reported to have been launched after users filed police reports. As a result of Russian police requests, Vasilev has been arrested in Italy, Poland, and

financial

systems can inflate the money supply.

Croatia but has always been released quickly

According to Vasilev's Instagram profile, the most recent picture was posted on May 3, geotagged as being taken in Amsterdam

The photo shows Vasilev standing in front of a store called Scamm WEX admins

Quantitative easing (QE) has become an addiction for monetary institutions since the 2008 financial crisis Central banks increase the money supply through quantitative easing to stimulate a weak economy Central

have always controlled users' crypto, Vasilev said in public talks and group chats with WEX users The admin has been revealed to be a Russian, Alexei Bilyuchenko, in 2019

According to BBC's criminal case materials obtained, the money was transferred to two unidentified officers of

Governments have a monopoly over the money supply, and they use it Wealthy nations have generally experienced an economic decline due to heavy wartime expenditures, lavish social welfare, or both During the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson's The Great

Centralized

We are not used to the government confiscating assets, except in cases of criminal activity like the FBI seizing drug dealers' assets Bankrupt governments take

the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) A group of WEX users reported receiving a letter sent to Bilyuchenko through the official prison mail system, and that the letter was sent to a Russian prison in Moscow called Matrosskaya Tishina —Cryoto Weekly

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Nixon to remove the United the money supply became

financial systems cannot be trusted.

FEATURE

Should Small Businesses Take Crypto Payments?

ROBERT STONE

Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular, and small businesses are beginning to accept them as forms of payment Do you think this is a good idea? Consider these reasons for accepting crypto payments for your business

Credibility & Visibility Increase

Until recently, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were largely unknown and misunderstood Businesses worldwide are now taking them seriously as legitimate payment methods Suppose your small business accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin In that case, it will be in line with major corporations such as Microsoft, Expedia, and Overstock�com, all of which have begun to accept digital currency

As a result, customers will be able to find you more easily while also building customer trust and credibility Transactions can be made using cryptocurrencies without being forced to share sensitive financial information in an era in which data breaches are becoming more and more

common� You can therefore improve your business' competitiveness by accepting crypto payments� The mainstreaming of cryptocurrency is increasing every day� According to Colin Palfrey, CMO at Crediful, "to appeal to a larger customer base, small business owners should consider accepting cryptocurrency."

Increase Your Customer Base

Small business owners strive to attract new customers and

grow their businesses� By accepting crypto payments, you can tap into a whole new customer base� Crypto payments are becoming increasingly popular, and accepting them will help you tap into a whole new market Moreover, by accepting crypto payments, you'll be seen as a forward-thinking business that stays on top of the latest trends� The benefits of crypto payments include fast processing times, security, and efficiency, all of which your customers will appreciate

Process Fees Can Be Reduced

Processing credit cards can be a burden on small businesses, eating into their already slim profit margins Fortunately, there is a solution to help reduce these costs: accepting cryptocurrency The problem is even more acute for businesses that rely heavily on online sales Because cryptocurrency transactions are handled without thirdparty intermediaries, businesses can save money

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EDITORIAL

Furthermore, cryptocurrency payments can be processed directly without the need for a bank account, so small businesses can cut their processing costs and improve their profitability by accepting cryptocurrency

"Our experience has shown that processing payments through traditional channels can be expensive� By accepting cryptocurrency, businesses are avoiding these high fees and saving money," said Daniel Apke,

CEO of Land Investing Online

Fraud Risk is Reduced, and Security is Increased

There is a risk of fraud in today's digital world for businesses of all sizes From data breaches to cyber-attacks, fraud is always a threat Accepting cryptocurrency can help protect your business Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are secured by cryptography

Therefore, accepting cryptocurrency can help your business reduce fraud risks In addition, cryptocurrency is more secure than traditional payment methods With cryptocurrencies, you control your funds, and no one has access to your account without your permission Due to this, accepting cryptocurrency can provide your business with greater security� By accepting cryptocurrency, businesses can protect themselves from fraud and theft Cryptocurrency offers a more secure way to conduct transactions�

Paying Internationally Has Never Been Easier

The process of making international payments can be challenging for small businesses The acceptance of cryptocurrencies allows small businesses to make international payments much more accessible by reducing bank fees and dealing with currency fluctuations.

Cryptocurrency is not subject to the same rules and regulations as traditional fiat currencies, so no banks or other intermediaries are involved in the transaction Businesses can avoid high fees and save on time and paperwork In addition, because cryptocurrency is decentralized, it is not subject to the same fluctuations as traditional fiat currencies. As a result, businesses can be sure they will receive the exact amount of money they expect

Anthony Martin, Founder and CEO of Choice Mutual, says, "By accepting cryptocurrency, businesses can streamline the international payment process and avoid many of the challenges associated with traditional methods."

Increased Profitability and Revenue Growth

While there are many benefits to accepting cryptocurrency as payment, one of the most impactful is the potential for increased revenue growth For businesses that deal in high-ticket items or international transactions, cryptocurrency can provide a much-needed boost� By accepting cryptocurrency, companies can tap into a global market of buyers who may not have access to traditional forms of payment

In addition, cryptocurrency transactions are often fast and fee-free, providing an additional incentive for customers to choose

your business over a competitor� With more and more consumers using cryptocurrency daily, now is the time to start accepting it as payment Doing so could give your business the boost it needs to reach the next level

Cryptocurrency provides businesses with a way to expand their customer base and grow their revenue By accepting cryptocurrency, businesses can tap into a global market of buyers who may not have access to traditional forms of payment In my humble opinion, businesses that don't adopt the transformational opportunities that come with Web3 and blockchain technologies are at risk of being left behind

Conclusion

Small businesses must consider a number of factors when deciding whether to accept cryptocurrency Companies can enjoy several benefits from reduced processing costs to increased security by accepting cryptocurrency In addition, with more and more consumers using cryptocurrency every day, taking it as payment could give your business the boost it needs to reach the next level Ultimately, whether or not to accept cryptocurrency is up to you However, accepting cryptocurrency is a great place to start if you are looking for ways to improve your business

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By accepting cryptocurrency, businesses can streamline the international payment process and avoid many of the challenges associated with traditional methods."

FEATURE

Venezuelans Have Turned to Cryptocurrency to Survive

ROBERT STONE

In the past months, the Venezuelan bolivar has lost almost 40% of its value against the U S dollar Some reports attribute this problem to seasonal payments the government must make as well as a lack of liquidity on the government's part to intervene in the currency market

The Venezuelan Currency is in Free Fall

Despite enjoying a recent period of relative stability, the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, is losing value rapidly� As of Oct 25, each dollar was worth 9 05 bolivares, according to the popular price index Monitordolar

On No 26, the exchange rate increased to 12�63 bolivares per dollar Against the U S dollar, the currency has lost almost a 40% in parallel markets, alarming citizens who worry about the accelerated pace of devaluation

in the market as a result of bonuses and payments that the government and companies give out According to Venezuelan economist Jose Guerra, this is part of his theory As Guerra stated, high inflation has decreased demand for bolivars, so when they are put into circulation, people buy goods and dollars to protect themselves from inflation and deflation.

head of Ecoanallitica, a research firm specializing in economics, the Central Bank of Venezuela has also been unable to inject liquidity into the official exchange markets During one week in August, Venezuela's currency lost 35% of its value against the dollar

Crypto's Influence

use black-market dollars for everything they need It is not all doom, peril and gloom, however Venezuelans are thriving thanks to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which are breaking out of their government's self-made crisis�

Economic Disaster Due to Crashing Bolivar

This plunge can be explained

several

ways During the holiday season, analysts expect this nosedive to occur as a consequence of the increased liquidity

In addition to sanctions, which impede the movement of money collected mostly in cash for oil sales, the lack of dollar inflows is due to various reasons According to Asdrubal Oliveros, the

Venezuela is in crisis due to hyperinflation, stalled oil operations, and escalating tensions with the United States� Ordinary Venezuelans are suffering the most as a result

A hyperinflationary economy forces many Venezuelans to

Venezuela's economic collapse has driven crypto use Compared to the US dollar, the Venezuelan Bolivar has lost more than 200,000 percent of its value since 2013 Prices have skyrocketed as a result The tightening of US

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sanctions and the rise in unemployment have made this situation worse

Cryptocurrencies Mean Survival to Venezuelans

Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin have become popular among Venezuelans during these times By using Peer2Peer (P2P) exchanges, Bitcoin (BTC) can be purchased digitally and directly without using US dollars A global asset, it can be purchased anywhere Remittances and foreign bank accounts can now be digitally converted into cryptocurrencies by Venezuelans Buying it is possible anywhere in the world Compared to the local Bolivar, this is more stable.

The country is one of the fastest adopters of cryptocurrencies in the world Venezuelans typically do not hold cryptocurrency as a long-term inflation hedge Food, medical supplies, and everyday purchases are being purchased with it instead Venezuelans may be able to breathe easier once decentralized currencies help break down the state's grip

Venezuelan merchants have started accepting bitcoin payments directly in order to accommodate this demand With 20,000 point-of-sale terminals

being created in Venezuela through a deal between Panamanian cryptocurrency exchange Cryptobuyer and Venezuelan payments processor Mega Soft

Bitcoin can be difficult to use, even with these services, so many Venezuelans have instead turned to custodial solutions like AirTM Using this wallet, Venezuelans can send and receive cryptocurrency within a network Venezuelans can now make purchases abroad more easily with this service, which is especially helpful for freelancers It would be extremely difficult for many Venezuelans to function without Bitcoin and the related services offered by private companies

Taking Control of Crypto is a Government Priority

For many Venezuelans, cryptocurrency is a lifeline, but it is a headache for Nicolás Maduro The primary advantage of Bitcoin is that it allows citizens to engage in commerce and trade without government interference� By doing this, the government could lose control of the black market, which could weaken its grip on the populace

A nationalized cryptocurrency has been created by the government to combat this The Petro was created in 2018 as the first attempt. This coin was tied to Venezuelan

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oil and provided a stateapproved alternative to other cryptocurrencies Passports and other government services must be paid in Petro, a cryptocurrency eagerly embraced by the government

Despite this backing, the Petro failed to gain traction PDVSA, the debtridden state oil operator, was alleged to be the true backer of the coin, which was supposed to be backed by Venezuelan oil Furthermore, Venezuela's allies supported the Petro to a limited extent Petro is all but dead due to Venezuelans' reluctance to adopt the cryptocurrency

As a result of Glasnost and Perestroika, the Soviet Union fell Venezuela may be experiencing a similar phenomenon Inadvertently, state-backed economic freedom via cryptocurrency might undermine government control over its citizens and usher in more libertarian economic policies by weakening the state's control� Regardless, Venezuelans can only benefit from increased access to cryptocurrency� The socialist government's disastrous decisions would be mitigated to some extent with more liquid and stable payment and transfer methods� With some luck, decentralized currencies could help to break down the grip of the state and let Venezuelans finally breathe free.

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There is no longer a distinction between science fiction and the Metaverse Technological advancements usually do not come as a surprise Many modern technologies, including the Internet, smartphones, and the cloud, had their origins in science fiction. With the arrival of the "next big thing" of the digital age, everyday life may change forever� We call it "the Metaverse."

Virtual reality, augmented reality, and the Internet are combined into the Metaverse Although no one knows exactly what the Metaverse will look like,

The Metaverse and Blockchain: Creating New Worlds

ROBERT STONE

its basic characteristics are well established - it combines both physical and virtual worlds, has a fully functioning economy, and allows users to travel between its different "places" while keeping their purchased goods and avatars Like a virtual theme park with no limitations to size or creativity, users will be able to travel effortlessly from one location to another within the same virtual world

Why is the Metaverse Important?

A collective virtual experience may bring new opportunities to creators,

gamers, and artists in the same way that non-fungible tokens have reshaped and invented the creator economy even if the Metaverse fails to achieve the epic vision many have for it�

Described as a successor to the Internet, the Metaverse could become a trillion-dollar industry It's a destination for entertainment, commerce, and for some, even a place of employment� Blockchains and decentralized applications are used to build it

Matthew Ball believes that

the Metaverse will become "the gateway to most digital experiences, a component of every physical experience, and the next great labor platform." It will be a driving force behind a new generation of companies, similar to how the Internet created new companies In an interesting twist, the rise of digital platforms could lead to the fall of incumbent industry leaders�

Consider Facebook

Facebook announced in June that it would be working on "bringing the Metaverse to life." Instagram's Vishal Shah will

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lead the project along with Vivek Sharma and Jason Rubin from Facebook Gaming

Zuckerberg discussed his ambitions for the Metaverse in an interview with The Verge During his talk, he introduced the concept of virtual workspaces, which he called "infinity offices." Working in VR, he argues, allows for increased multitasking, and meeting in a virtual, metaverse-like environment can be more effective and productive Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he already prefers to hold his meetings in VR if possible since Zoom calls have obvious limitations

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook plans to invest heavily in this area Currently, it owns Oculus, the maker of the popular Quest VR

headset According to Zuckerberg, VR technology will be capable of enabling metaverses "within the next decade."

Tech giants stepping into the Metaverse include Google and Microsoft

Although no single person or company can control the Metaverse, the usual suspects of the tech world have already staked their claim Facebook has joined Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Sony in the XR Association, a group of technology companies working on the evolution of "experiential reality." Games have pioneered many aspects of metaverse technology and could continue to do so� The concept of in-game economies has been popular in video games for years, where players can buy and sell items with no real value outside the game itself� Fortnite is the most recent example, but Grand Theft Auto V is a longer-standing example Although released almost seven years ago, the

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game grossed over a billion dollars in profit in 2020, thanks to a large, active online community

In the Metaverse, these ingame economies are unified under one cohesive virtual experience Metaverse is not based on objective standards, as is the case in video games It will be more like the way we treat the Internet than some sort of virtual role-playing game

What role does crypto play in the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is driven by the need to deliver permissionless identities, financial services, and high-speed exchanges It will be necessary to store and serve data to millions, if not billions, of users Cryptocurrencies provide a solution to these problems� Virtual worlds such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, which incorporate

cryptocurrencies, allow gamers to create virtual casinos and theme parks, which can be monetized Decentraland's currency is known as MANA, and it can be purchased on exchanges like Coinbase Decentraland even has casinos where you can gamble in MANA, with dealers paid in MANA to show up for

work Metaverse NFTs will also play a crucial role in allowing people to own their characters, game items, and even virtual land A virtual estate consisting of 259 parcels in Decentraland recently sold for over $900,000, making it the largest sale so far Interoperable marketplaces will eventually allow the purchase and sale of virtual goods from different games and universes In Decentraland, a person could sell their virtual plot of land and use the money to buy Fortnite skins NFTs could be the only legal tender used in the Metaverse, with all virtual objects and intangible items expressing themselves in cryptocurrency

"Players are truly blown away by the amount of

money they spend on digital assets These digital assets are worth hundreds of thousands and probably millions," said Arthur Madrid, CEO of

The

Sandbox "Building a NFT economy will add another layer to that existing marketplace."

The Metaverse's growth is inextricably linked to the role cryptocurrencies play No one can predict what the final form of the Metaverse will look like, but the impact of cryptocurrencies is certain� As we monitor the advancements in technologies like virtual reality, and how current industry leaders like Facebook are getting involved, blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency sector will also play an important role in shaping the Metaverse's future.

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What are the Chances of Recouping Cryptocurrency Losses in court?

Investors are trying to recover their losses in a 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 their stablecoin

On June 17, a cryptocurrency investor sued the Seoulbased 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�

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

The investor will also have to show that their tokens qualify as securities or commodities under securities or commodities

laws There have 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

Last year, blockchain company Block one and token holders reached an agreement, 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 —Crypto Weekly

32 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51 FEATURE

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Can we have privacy and compliance at the same time?

ROBERT STONE

Celsius's digital asset lending platform has revealed nearly half a million depositors' names and transaction histories The blockchain's transparency and traceability pose a risk Most public blockchains use anonymous data as their privacy protocol, which can be easily exploited to track user activity and balances Because of this, leaks of names and wallet addresses can harm blockchain users' privacy because anyone with access to the internet can easily match on-chain activity and wallet addresses Because of this, wallet owners were exposed to theft and extortion when the filing disclosed their wallet transaction dates and amounts

In practice, such data leaks can also happen simply by transacting with someone you know� Consider using crypto for payroll, for example Their paychecks and the employer's balance would be visible to employees If you use crypto to pay, you could give your local coffee shop access to your income and where you bought groceries yesterday Digital asset holders employ several privacy-

enhancing technologies to mitigate this risk In order to assess the identity of users on blockchains, current techniques rely on transparency and traceability to manage illicit finance risk. Government investigations into malicious activities can also be impeded by the same tools that protect legitimate privacy interests on public blockchains

Among the most widely used privacy protocols was

Tornado Cash, shut down or sanctioned this summer by the U S Treasury OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) because it was used to facilitate illegal financial transactions totaling $7 billion Blockchain users are left with a difficult decision: either rely on pseudonymity, which may be compromised—or their funds could be linked to criminal activity, resulting in penalties, blocking their funds, or increasing their risk

profile, limiting their ability to transact freely as they can with fiat money.

Financial intermediaries balance privacy with legitimate government interests in traditional finance. In the traditional financial system, citizens enjoy a high level of confidentiality, which makes minimizing illicit finance risks in virtual assets an important question As a result of the civil right to privacy and financial

34 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51

FEATURE

confidentiality in Europe and the U�S�, intermediaries have limited access to financial and other information for commercial or other purposes, with exceptions for law enforcement and regulators to share legally required information It's unacceptable in the context of blockchain technology and DeFi if financial intermediaries can't effectively protect sensitive personal information (as evidenced by the frequency of data breaches)

In essence, blockchains act as a digital "if-then" statement between parties interested in transacting, automatically enforcing rules as they are programmed into smart contracts In the early days of blockchains, the rules governing virtual assets were purely based on who owned them and when they moved–but now it's possible to add additional rules that address issues such as illicit finance and compliance. In the blockchain space, technologists are developing technology to address risks identified by authorities and policymakers, such as zero-knowledge proofs (methods that ensure that a statement is valid without conveying unnecessary information) As a result of these methodologies, which have been used in some existing blockchains since the beginning, a more reliable way of maintaining privacy and compliance is now feasible

It is possible to block unlawful transactions, automate government reporting, and selectively reveal confidential information while limiting access to authorized agents with the right to view information In contrast, transactions and wallet balances remain private and secure from unauthorized access

Regulators and legislators cannot remain silent To achieve more effective outcomes, they must adopt flexible regulatory approaches that allow and encourage these technological developments Compliance and financial privacy can become integral parts of the virtual asset ecosystem through the use of these technologies and with the support of regulators

DeFi and NFT Users Can Get KYC Help From Equifax-And Their Data Will Be Protected

The data privacy solution for Web3 projects will be developed by Equifax, best known for its historic data breaches DeFi protocols and NFT projects, for example, will benefit from an identity management and know-your-customer (KYC) product that privacyfocused cloud company Oasis Labs are developing Companies offering Web3 products and services - including some DeFi

products and servicesare subject to regulatory compliance, such as KYC standards - regardless of whether users want their identities to remain private "It's really important to build privacy-first solutions because personal data privacy is a basic human right," says Dawn Song, a University of California Berkeley professor and founder of Oasis Labs� But, she says, "Responsible innovation is also important, so it's important to build solutions that comply with regulatory requirements as well."

To achieve this, Equifax and Oasis are developing a KYC solution where "privacy technology plays an important role throughout the entire stack," Song says, adding that Oasis plans to ensure privacy using anonymous credentials, zero-knowledge proofs, secure hardware, and decentralized identity management

Song points out that the company's capabilities beyond KYC, such as fraud detection and credit reporting, will help bridge Web2 and Web3 According to Song, the partnership represents the first step toward creating a "universal KYC" that can be used across different blockchains, companies, and communities

Despite the decentralization blockchain affords, Web3 products still require KYC and identity verification procedures Equifax and Oasis claim that the Web3 space does not currently have a KYC solution that offers strong privacy protection

To build a solution, the two companies will issue "anonymous KYC-ed credentials" to Web3 users Its proponents believe Web3 will be more decentralized, built upon blockchain networks, and use cryptocurrencies

35 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51

FEATURE

Ethereum Far From finished After "The Merge"

ROBERT STONE

Amajor and highly publicized upgrade to Ethereum's blockchain technology occurred midSeptember With the update, the method is changed from proof of work, a clunky, energy-consuming method, to proof of stake, a more efficient and streamlined method Are you aware that this is just one of many upcoming upgrades for Ethereum?

In recent months, the most recent upgrade of the Ethereum network, aptly named The Merge, has caught the attention of cryptocurrency investors and blockchain users, mostly due to the complexity of the upgrade� Ethereum developers had deep doubts about their ability to pull it off Since they have, The Merge has set the groundwork for other upgrades that should increase Ethereum's value and enable it to serve more purposes

The Ethereum Foundation released a list of updates that will be included in the next upgrade on Oct 14 It is expected to be released by September 2023 at the latest and will add functionality to Ethereum

It's common for upgrades of this nature to begin with a list of updates before being narrowed down to just a few The number of possible candidates is currently seven, but as testing proceeds and developers prioritize which ones are most feasible and necessary, that number will likely decrease�

The Shanghai upgrade includes new functionality� Ethereum has boomed in popularity over the past couple of years, bringing rise to Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism In addition

to making Ethereum faster and cheaper, these Layer 2 solutions will be even more affordable soon As part of the Shanghai upgrade, there are three Ethereum Improvement Protocols (EIP) updates The most important update will be reducing gas fees on Layer 2 solutions

Two EIPs on the list aim to lower the gas fees associated with Layer 2 solutions � Developers will likely test both before one of them is implemented The bottom line is that Ethereum transactions will be cheaper for

users Besides the ether withdrawal, another important update in Shanghai will be the removal of staked tokens The Merge replaced miners with validators, who were required to stake 32 tokens to become validators � These tokens are more than $45,000 based on today's prices � It is possible to withdraw or trade staked ether once Shanghai is unveiled but not before� In the next upgrade, this EIP will be included to keep validators happy and ensure they continue supporting the networks

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Lastly, smart contract functionality will be updated� Writing smart contracts can be a little technical, but developers can now validate their code as they write it rather than waiting until the end to have it validated Keeping up with new developer demands is extremely important for Ethereum to remain competitive because smart contracts are the backbone of things such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)

This will provide two main benefits, according to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko Separating code from data will make it easier and faster for Layer 2s to handle smart contract code by separating code from data This will further reduce gas fees with the new smart contract functionality

Blockchain with longterm potential

Ethereum will require many more upgrades to reach its goal of being "powerful enough to help all humanity," providing investors with a great opportunity Major upgrades such as The Merge and Shanghai are carefully planned and executed to ensure that

the blockchain can meet the growing demand from its users and developers It will take a long time before Ethereum is a finished product

Ethereum is a no-brainer investment at today's price of about $1,250, considering its potential long-term value� Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated that Ethereum

has only reached 55% of its potential in its current state As a result, Ethereum's all-time high of almost $5,000 might be the tip of the iceberg.

Why it might not matter if crypto crashes

In a world where token prices break records on a near-daily basis, who's really profiting from crypto moves? When trading in an educated way with good money management, you should be able to make money regardless of which direction any particular token is moving Traders have the best odds � There are methods where traders put the odds in their favor Yes, they lose regularly, but they also win bigger than they lose and make successful careers out of it, but that is for another article.

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The Future of NFT Gaming in the Metaverse

ROBERT STONE

Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum after his warlock was nerfed, according to legend According to Vitalik, he played World of Warcraft from 2007 to 2010. "At some point, Blizzard removed the damage component from my beloved warlock's Siphon Life spell I cried myself to sleep and realized the danger of centralized services," young Vitalik purportedly said

In the story, we see the power of decentralization A game skill or item could not be nerfed or weakened, even if a company like Blizzard Entertainment wanted to if it were an immutable blockchain token The software of any game can read nonfungible tokens since they are based on public blockchains If Siphon Life lived on a public blockchain, it could be used in World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, and possibly Tetris

A winking joke ("I cried myself to sleep"?) rather than a serious design proposal; Vitalik was 16 when this happened Nevertheless, some have

taken it literally as a call for games that use immutable tokens to represent skills or equipment� World of Warcraft-like games proposed to do exactly that during the 2017-2018 initial coin offering bubble, selling virtual swords and

armor before even starting development

Non-fungible items are facing increasing challenges

New blockchain gaming projects, such as Ember Hearts and Mirandus, have abandoned the

concept� Leaders of blockchain gaming are generally unenthusiastic about the concept, and traditional game studios need more incentive to support interoperability

Counterstrike is looking less likely to feature bow and

38 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51 NFT FEATURE

arrows from Horizon: Zero Dawn any time soon

New possibilities have emerged with the rise of the "metaverse" concept Instead of NFT interoperability across games, innovators are

increasingly expecting games to emerge from NFT ecosystems, like races between CryptoKitties or platform-jumping Bored Apes Therefore, while Vitalik's warlock may not be safe from the nerf bat, NFTbased game assets may become even stranger

But why blockchainbased games?

"I began getting YouTube ads for rune marketplaces a week or two after Elden Ring came out," said Carlos Perierra, an investor at Bitkraft Ventures The currency of Elden Ring is the rune, a popular video game whose multiplayer features make it possible to trade or sell items However, these are risky markets

Perierra explains the complex process for buying Elden Ring runes: "You have to enter PVP [player versus player], and the seller drops them for you." The seller says, "These behaviors have been around for a long time, but they have to be done on the gray market, which can be scammy."

"What's the point of not extending it to become more efficient and scalable?"

Using blockchains to track virtual items makes sense from that perspective: Items are already being bought and sold at a furious pace, leaving players exposed There is already a multibillion-dollar

industry (yes, seriously) dedicated to transferring cosmetics between players involving a lot of trading and speculation Many companies, such as Valve, moved to legitimize and shape the market without the support of game developers

The introduction of NFTs would make it easier and safer for players to buy and sell cosmetics or other items while at the same time helping developers capture a larger share of revenues Games like Counterstrike: Global Offensive, which has skin trading enabled, generate tens of millions of dollars for Valve and independent skin designers

NFTs would simplify and improve the buying and selling process while allowing developers to capture more of the value of their products Skin trading generates tens of millions of dollars for Valve and independent designers alike in games like Counterstrike: Global Offensive�

Nonetheless, Valve controls a significant portion of that market through Steam, the world's most popular digital games marketplace� Items for other games, such as Elden Ring and World of Warcraft, are also sold through Steam, but Valve takes a 30% cut Such fees are why item sellers for games like Elden Ring or World of Warcraft frequently

use awkward, unofficial workarounds that leave players vulnerable to scams

'Pay to win' is an Issue

In the meantime, there's a good reason these markets aren't official: While many players love them, others strongly oppose them. Specifically, in multiplayer games, players often see buying in-game achievements as cheating that devalues their achievements

Items that make characters more powerful or competitive are especially prone to be derided as "pay to win." Changing powerful game items into NFTs isn't a foregone conclusion Such a model would make any game "pay to win."

It's probably impossible to make items or skills immutable within a single game for related design reasons Many games now have multiplayer components, and character abilities must be adjusted so that the competition is even While a teenage Vitalik was frustrated by losing power, nerfing Siphon Life made the game more fun for others - and World of Warcraft's success after Vitalik quit suggests that Blizzard actually got this and related tweaks right (Sorry, Vitalik )

In addition, cross-platform transferability would cause

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I began getting YouTube ads for rune marketplaces a week or two after Elden Ring came out

CARLOS PERIERRA

balancing and player experience issues � An NFT is little more than a marker of ownership, and it would not consistently indicate the utility of game items

A moderately powerful weapon in one game could be made completely overpowering in another "Even if we agree that interoperability is a good idea, it's still very complicated if we open the walled garden," states Pereira. "It gets a lot harder, a lot faster."

There is also a challenge at the level of the graphical interface 3D visual assets for games can be designed with various tools, such as Unreal Emgine or Unity "The problem is that these proprietary formats are linked to specific rendering engines," Joel Dietz, CEO, and Founder of MetaMetaverse, told me "It's not easy to integrate them." The goal of MetaMetaverse, Dietz said, is to enable interoperability across engines for assets

By developing standards for interoperability, for instance, much of this complexity could be moderated. "That is the Holy Grail That is the dream," said Ahmed AlBalaghi, co-founder and CEO of Biconomy, which builds blockchain games infrastructure. "But who will create these standards?"

The company with the highest potential to lead that effort has squandered its position: "Meta cannot lead on standards," Al-Balaghi says of the company formerly known as Facebook, "given all the blowback they've gotten."

Game publishers will have to figure out how to make money from NFT items, which is the biggest challenge. "From a business perspective, [traditional developers] sell in-game items that people are happy to buy Still, they do not demand any reward for

doing so." That may be a disincentive to tokenizing items, which is why AlBalaghi says widespread interoperability of game items is "very far away."

Despite this, the incentives are not clear for some current Web 3-centric projects Many have pursued branded partnerships with celebrities and deals with designers A major goal of those deals is attracting users to a platform, so making assets interoperable might be challenging

"The Sandbox team is

paying many people to develop on Sandbox, so even if the item works elsewhere, I'm sure they would have defensive licensing in place to prevent it If you're pushing interoperability, that's a hard thing to deal with."

Build Back Backwards

The most popular NFT implementation relating to in-game items has been Loot, a video app launched by Dom Hoffman in August 2021, who founded Vine before TikTok Loot's NFTs

40 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51 NFT FEATURE

are incredibly minimalistic: Each is just a list of adventuring gear like wands and cloaks

A few thousand dollars for these black-and-white text blocks was greeted with disbelief by the general public, not least because the NFT market was in the midst of an irrational boom� As the market has dropped, loot prices have also dropped Conceptually, however, Loot is one of the most interesting projects to date The NFTs for Loot don't include any images or stats because they're "intentionally left out

for interpretation by others." The idea was that items would be created by one entity, then the game would be built over top of the items

The Loot experiment hasn't produced a notable game, and it might end up serving more as a platform for games than a game itself Even before the current NFT or metaverse craze, the general idea proved compelling and practical CryptoKitties gave us 60 apps a few months ago, "Kitty hats, kitty races," says Mik Naayem, Dapper Labs' chief business officer. Naayem refers to KittyRace, a simple racing game where owners race their Kitties According to Naayem, it is a better model for NFTs in gaming than simply tokenizing in-game items

He said that "taking something from World of Warcraft and adding it to Need for Speed will probably not happen." But the moment developers see an audience for an asset; they'll start working on it."

In general, that's what has happened with NFTs over the past few years Yuga Labs, the makers of Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced a virtual environment called Otherside in April Yuga will reportedly be able to import not just BAYCs, but CryptoPunks, Meebits, and other collections as playable avatars Since CryptoKitties was built by the same

company that made NFTs, it differs from what happened with CryptoKitties However, it demonstrates the basic premise that NFT "items" can be used as the basis for a game rather than being created just for one

In addition to being an entire "metaverse," Otherside differs from the early, smallscale CryptoKitties add-ons Such virtual worlds have grown in popularity over the last four or five years, and blockchain gaming has taken on an entirely new meaning Metaverses might provide a more streamlined, if less revolutionary, vision of NFT-based gaming, just as Otherside is more vertically integrated than KittyRaces

The most important model for Charles Smith, CEO of Nifty Island, is the children's game Roblox, where a large world is filled with minigames, most created by users Smith says Roblox is Roblox's first attempt at being the YouTube of gaming A Roblox game can have more DAUs [daily active users] than most [big-budget game] titles at any time� There are still studios that act like old Hollywood, but the future is small developers who build narrow experiences in shared environments

One controlling entity can determine how items behave in the real world and transfer between games, thus enabling a limited

degree of interoperability Games are being developed across various blockchain ecosystems, and technical interoperability on the back end is still somewhat hazy, so keeping things confined to one chain is likely more practical for now

Al-Balaghi argues that having different experiences within one ecosystem will lead to more success in the short term He said self-contained worlds are easier to make and easier to market, but if users push for them, they could become a platform for greater openness The code must be changed for it to be interoperable Can these semi-open systems be fully opened by their guardians?"

I heard the most precise roadmap to the future of interoperable gaming while reporting for this story But it echoes an increasingly evident sentiment: making good games is the key As of now, there are no blockchain games that have caught on with users, except for "play-to-earn" games that emphasize financial elements rather than gameplay

A bear market may be a better environment for focusing on substance, exploring new NFT-based models, and attracting investors interested in more than simply watching numbers go up

41 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51 NFT FEATURE

PROJECT 1

1 Shade Protocol (SHD) SILK

Flasko ($FLSK)

shadeprotocol

Flasko is a new platform

Developed on Secret Network, Shade Protocol consists of a network of privacypreserving Dapps to the high speed of the Secret Network, Shade has not only created a product that is privacy-friendly, scalable, and interoperable, but is also very easy to use

ShadeProtocol

“bringing the alternative investment industry to your fingertips.” The platform makes it easier than ever to invest in the constantly growing luxury beverage industry, including vintage whiskey, wine, and champagne Each investment is minted and “represented by a fractionalized NFT ” Flasko has centered their new platform around this industry due to “unprecedented growth in whiskey, wine, and champagne investments over the past five years,” meaning investors in Flasko will be earning an average of at least 28% per year returns

Despite their inherent security, traditional stablecoins, such as those pegged to gold or fiat, have a major weakness; they lack privacy Using a stablecoin means that the merchant knows far more about you than with a credit card or debit card, allowing them to discriminate against you

Shade_Protocol

Flasko is essentially aiming to become the first NFT whiskey, wine and champagne investment platform According to the whitepaper, “Users have the ability to purchase either a fraction, or 100% of an NFT and have the whiskey, wine or champagne delivered to their designated address free of charge ” A Flasko NFT represents each individual investment of whiskey, wine or champagne, and each NFT or fraction of NFT

Based on the Secret Network and SNIP20 private and fungible token standard, SILK gives

PROJECT 2

Dogeliens (DOGET)

Arbitrum is a DAO that have created two protocols making ETH transactions faster and cheaper, Arbitrum

Rollup and Arbitrum

dogeliens

DogeliensOfficial

Dogeliens are coming The new king of meme coins has come from Puptopia to save the earth from mediocre cryptocurrencies

The meme coin newcomer that could overthrow Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, Dogeliens Token (DOGET), is also one of the newly introduced ideas and has raised a huge amount in a heartbeat

AnyTrust It’s an interesting project that still has lots of potential to catch on Both protocols use Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova which are blockhains developed exclusively for use within the Arbitrum ecosystem, with the intended purpose of building user-friendly dApps

Dogeliens (DOGET) is an upcoming meme coin that aims to offer individuals an enjoyable cryptocurrency that both maintains the meme coin pleasure whilst including utility value These combine to make it a token you’ll want to consider Dogeliens is predicated on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which supplies the community with faster transaction processing and easy scalability

Arbitrum utilizes the native token ARB which decentalizes government of these protocols and chains, as well as any other future chains that the Arbitrum DAO develops or authorizes Arbitrum differs to many projects featured in our hidden gems section as it is a fully functioning DAO, meaning ARB tokens are used to vote on Arbitrum DAO governance proposals If you’re a holder of ARB then you have a say in the future of Arbitrum overall

dogeliens

The coin supplies video games and academic info to newbies, aiming to assist the

The team at Arbitrum state that “Decentralization of Arbitrum's technology governance represents an important step towards community governance

holders the option to make their transactions private or public. With advanced flexibility and auditable privacy, SILK is a 4th generation stablecoin

will be tradeable on the Flasko Protocol platform – users can buy and sell their Flasko investments

The native token, FLSK, weaves tightly into the Flask ecosystem as token stakers cast governance votes which help to decide “whether Flasko sells the investments back to the global market, auction or sell independently and share this revenue with token investors ” There has been unprecedented growth in alternative investments such as whiskey, wine or champagne over the last few years, with each increasing by 65, 57 and 93% respectively

Since inflation remains a growing concern globally, Shade Protocol offers a stablecoin that doesn't adhere to a single fiat currency or asset, but can react to global trends as they change With Shade Protocol, everything will be under one umbrella, including a decentralized exchange

As governments consider how to interact and use cryptocurrencies, and more nations adopt cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation, at the same time the world's population becomes more familiar with cryptocurrency, stablecoins will remain a major topic of discussion The answer to the question of what a stablecoin should be, can be found in SILK

Flasko aims to merge the gap between vintage alcohol beverages and cryptocurrency investors, offering an opportunity for crypto fans to get involved in a passionate project, and to bring new investors into the crypto fold There will be opportunities for investors to receive exclusive new alcohol brands as well as membership rewards, more of which is detailed in the project’s whitepaper FLSK is currently in its presale stage, where you can join through their website

uninitiated and those wishing to learn about cryptocurrencies Their purpose is to create one of the best blockchain-based training platforms to attract extra individuals to the Dogeliens completed this by establishing the ‘College of Barkington,’ which provides customers with a broad assortment of content material

of Ethereum's scaling technologies, and further aligns the Arbitrum community's incentives with those of the Ethereum community at large This is a big deal because it means that the Arbitrum DAO will be able to democratically make decisions that are in the best interest of the Arbitrum and Ethereum communities, rather than having faith in the good will of a small group of people ”

Dogeliens Academy, a new educational platform, will be launched by Dogeliens This platform will provide a virtual class with video content so that everyone may learn more about blockchain technology Dogeliens will also provide DeFi services like staking and trading, which will be supported by the platform’s DOGET tokens The token is also required for users to mint NFTs to engage in the platform’s play-to-earn (P2E) games and obtain DOGET token prizes� While Dogeliens aspires to imitate Dogecoin, it will not remain in its shadow Instead, Dogeliens will grow and recruit additional next-generation utilities within its ecosystem

In other words, Arbitrum could have a big effect on the future of Ethereum and trading and it’s a good time to get involved with the project at the moment An exciting airdrop has recently been announced so if you’re a holder already then you can get involved and start earning some ARB for free If you haven’t bought any ARB yet, which I assume will be the case for most readers, then it’s still a fantastic time to check the project out as future airdrops and other events will be occurring in the near future You never want to miss the jump, so check out ARB when you next have some free time and experience the future of decentralized ETH scaling

42 www cryptoweeklymag com May 2023 | Volume 51 www.cryptoweeklymag.com December 2022 | Volume 48

HIDDEN GEMS

flasko Flasko_io PROJECT

flaskoio

arbitrum.blue ArbitrumFound1

arbitrum

PROJECT 2 Arbitrum (ARB)

bigeyes.space

cookiesale

BIGEYESOFFICIAL

Bigeyes is a huge project, also currently in its presale stage Their community is one of the biggest out of new and upcoming tokens, with a telegram group of over 27,000 members It’s one of the most hyped and safest projects currently out there with mounds of potential Their main goal is to “shift wealth into the defi ecosystem and to protect an important part of the world’s ecosystem ” The Big Eyes team are building a blockchain ecosystem that “self-propagates for hyper growth using NFTs to offer access to more content and events that make the blockchain hype ship well worth boarding ”

CookieSale will be bought back into Kodi and then airdropped to holders, holding 10 million or more Kodi tokens

tokens in total and there are no buy or sell taxes 70% of tokens are being sold in the current presale and 20% is kept for future use on exchanges The initial liquidity pool has been locked for 2 years, ensuring stable growth and prosperity There are many future plans for Big Eyes NFTs, which one can read further information about in the project’s whitepaper

Backed by powerful auditing companies such as Certik, SpyWolf, Brewlabs, Dessert Finance, Contract Checker, and HashEx developers will be able to choose between three pre-audited contracts or create their own and have it audited separately Other key features include liquidity locking, anti-bot features, custom airdrops, visual cues to aid in identifying safer investments, and more

cookiesaleio

Cookie Sale Kodi (KODI)

Cookie Sale launched in February 2022, and aims to become one of the biggest launchpads for tokens on the BSC sleek design and easy-to-use interface, CookieSale looks to be adaptable and adoptable for developers and a safe environment for investors CookieSale works side by side with Kodi’s marketing & advertising agency Pitch. This benefits developers and holders of Kodi as well As a developer, you will be able to use CookieSale as an “A to Z” platform

Big Eyes is owned by the community, with 90% being available at launch A visible wallet holds 5% of the tokens, saved exclusively for philanthropic charity causes, with the remaining 5% being held in a marketing wallet There are 200,000,000,000

From advertising to zhooshing up your “cookie” there will be something that satisfies almost anyone’s tastes As a Kodi holder, a percentage of the revenue generated through

PROJECT 4

voltinu VoltInuOfficial PROJECT 4 Volt Inu (VOLT) VoltInu_Portal

cookiesale kodicoinofficial

Kodi’s mission is to create a one-stop-shop IDO platform and provide investors with an interactive Entertainment Network that will keep users engaged, informed, and entertained while investing in the crypto space

Out of all current crypto projects, Big Eyes really does seem like it’s one of the most promising It has a huge and active community who are committed to giving back and expanding the project’s offering A keen emphasis is being placed on benefitting the real worlds, from saving the oceans to creating a unique stable ecosystem Big Eyes has been fully audited by Solidity Finance and CoinSniper to ensure the token and team are 100% safe and secure The roadmap is fully planned out and the project is sailing along smoothly Join the presale now and don’t miss out

One notable feature that stands out amongst other launchpads is that CookieSale will only charge a flat fee for listing Developers will be able to launch the right way, without the fear of a large sell from the launchpad taking profit.

Volt Inu is a popular token right now and it’s a great time to get involved in the project as V2 has only recently launched In the team’s own words, Volt Inu is a whole ecosystem “aimed at becoming a one-stop shop offering DeFi products while bringing profits back to the native token to support its deflationary purpose ” In other words, it’s not just a token, it’s got lots of uses beyond trading

Clear Vision

Beyond the VOLT token, and tying intrinsically into it, lies a whole DEX platform, VoltiChange, an NFT collection titled VDSC (Volted Dragons Sailor’s Club), an entire gaming platform in VoltiGames and an upcoming project called VoltiFlex, with further details arriving shortly

The VDSC NFT collection gives NFT owners access to gaming integrations and exclusive rights and revenues Voltigames already includes a P2E racing game which includes further rewards for players, and VoltiChange makes any Pancakeswap or Uniswap project deflationary for free That’s a lot of content available for owners of VOLT already, and the team have so much more planned

Kodi`s vision is to create an ecosystem that will be a driver in promoting a safer economic environment for crypto investors to participate in and for developers to grow their projects. Kodi is creating an industry-first Entertainment Network that will become THE place for crypto investors to socialize, have fun, win prizes, and learn about everything crypto Is there anything more about Kodi? How do you, as an investor benefit? Kodi by itself, is an entertainment project Kodi plays games post podcasts, do AMAs, have tournaments, live streams, and play plenty of music� At Kodi there are two subsidiaries� "Pitch" being the in-house advertising agency, which is a one-stop shop, all things content creation, both in crypto and fiat. Branding, websites, commercials, you name it Kodi does it The Pitch Advertising Agency and

CookieSale launchpad Cookie Sale will work in unison to become the go-to destinations for developers to build their brands and launch their projects With Cookie Sale, you can launch your project from A to Z Gone are the days of taking your token supply Kodi simply charges a flat fee, no strings attached.

VoltiChange alone is a revolutionary platform and something you should check out right away Projects get listed on the DEX platform in a free and permissionless way and enables them in becoming deflationary by burning their supply There is no liquidity to add and only a 0 25% fee for burning your supply when trading It’s a platform that could prove pretty important in the future, however if DEX’s aren’t your thing then VOLT is also listed on 79 centralized exchanges, including Gate io, HotBit, DigiFinex and XT com

As for tokenomics, VOLT is available on the Ethereum blockchain, BSC as well as Polygon The percentages vary depending on the blockchain but for BSC, 4% of the tokens are kept for marketing purposes, a further 4% for Treasury, 4% are burnt and 1% is kept for reflections. These are trustworthy statistics and a solid tokenomics setup

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kodicoin

So how do you benefit as a holder? Well, if you're, a holder of at least ten million KODI you receive BNB, rewards automatically deposited into your wallet You also can participate in Kodi`s weekly games where you can win, BNB for free But here's where things get really exciting Two percent of every transaction goes straight into the Kodi treasury contract The treasury buys back Kodi tokens, creating an increase in price, and stores them in the treasury Twenty percent of these tokens are burnt and 80% gets used to top up the staking pools as needed revenue generated through pitch and cookie sale also gets added to the treasury contract This creates the everincreasing price floor, whilst also removing tokens from circulation Go say hi on their telegram community, or check out their website at Kodicoin com kodi_coin

PROJECT 3

HIDDEN GEMS

BigEyesCoin PROJECT 3 Big Eyes ($BIG)

VOLT has a dedicated team behind it, a clear roadmap, and has achieved a lot of success already There have been some crazy sponsorship deals and partnerships with financial companies to allow users to buy physical items with VOLT tokens It’s time to check this project out before it fully blows up

Cryptocurrencies and Stocks Offer Different Kinds of Investing Experiences

ROBERT STONE

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

PART TWO: LAYER 2 CONSENSUS MECHANISMS: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW DO THEY WORK?

Over a 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 already matured 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

Robert Stone

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

government agencies audit the company’s business, exchanges list the assets so stock market participants can speculate on their prices

allowing them to grow without relying on loans or paying interest

Layer 2 Examples

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

Before stocks are publicly accessible, companies must go through a regulated process - the initial public offering (IPO) Then, after relevant

ast week we went into a bit of depth about what layer 2 consensus mechanisms are, what they do, and how they work. We talked about Optimistic Rollups, ZK Rollups, and Validiums. I then discussed a bit about the contrast between layer 1 and layer 2 chains. Today I will finish up by explaining some of the more common layer 2's and what they do.

The market has two primary functions:

1 It gives companies a means to raise capital,

In general, layer 2s (which anyone can build), provide a greater range of options for end users as they harmonize with the Ethereum ecosystem� There can be a balance between the advantages of a layer 2 blockchain and the limitations of another layer 2

These are Some of the More Common Layer 2s:

General Layer 2s Defined

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

The general layer 2 project mirrors Ethereum's mainnet's performance and functionality, but with lower fees (gas). Here are a few examples:

Most stock trading activities are carried out through centralized or over-thecounter (OTC) exchanges Government agencies

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BEGINNERS GUIDE

(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

control the issuance of cryptocurrencies� Instead, anyone can create a cryptocurrency, and exchanges can list them at their discretion

Issuance

Trading cryptocurrencies can be accomplished in a variety of ways:

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 speculative assets that can be traded in the open market

Stock exchanges can be either:

Physical, where traders buy and sell shares in person

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-topeer 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�

An investment contract is defined as an “investment in an enterprise with the expectation that profits will be generated by others ” Unlike stocks, government bodies don’t

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

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

PART TWO: LAYER 2 CONSENSUS MECHANISMS: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW DO THEY WORK?

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

Stocks represent equity in a company, meaning

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,

Robert Stone

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

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

Differences Between Crypto & Stocks

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

lower fees (gas). Here are a

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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

Conversely, in crypto, you can start trading for under $100�

Asset Valuation

PART TWO: LAYER 2 CONSENSUS MECHANISMS: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW DO THEY WORK?

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

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, newlylaunched 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

results in lower volatility

than many cryptos

also means investors must wait longer to see significant ROI.

Concluding Words

Robert Stone

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

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

Layer 2 Examples

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

These are Some of the More Common Layer 2s:

General Layer 2s Defined

The general layer 2 project mirrors Ethereum's mainnet's performance and functionality, but with lower fees (gas). Here are a few examples:

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