Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Kanye West Says NFTs Reflect Why Celebrities Should Be Paid More For Media Coverage

Entertainers can benefit from the earning model propagated by the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) industry according to Kanye West, who now goes by Ye. In a recent rant, Ye noted that it was unfair that celebrity photographers and news outlets could earn money from using celebrities images without giving the owners of the image a cut from the earnings.　　Grammy award-winning rapper Kanye West cites NFT to bring fairness to the entertainment industry　　Multiple Grammy award-winning rapper Kanye West has shared his view on how celebrities can benefit from adopting the earning model in the NFT industry. In an encounter with Paparazzi photographers, Ye expressed his displeasure at being hounded by Paparazzi. He also frowned at the fact that the photographers and their employers got to use the images of celebrities to earn money and promote their brand without having to pay the artists for their image.　　The billionaire rapper said that he would change how the entertainment industry works to ensure that artists get paid for the use of their image.　　“You don‘t give us any percentage of what you make off of us, off of our kids, and I’m gonna change that,” Kanye said.　　One of the ways the 21-time Grammy award winner envisions

2022-01-25Deep Dive

Economic Crisis In Turkey Brings Nation Closer To Crypto

The Turkish people are embracing cryptocurrencies even as the government outlaws digital assets. The countrys struggling economy has pushed people into the crypto fold, and the number of Turks getting into the crypto space has been increasing in recent years.　　The Turkish Lira Is In Trouble　　The crisis facing the Turkish national currency, the Lira, is the single most potent reason that‘s causing the Turkish people to seek alternative ways of safeguarding their wealth. This was a result of the sharp slump of the Lira’s value after the countrys President fired the head of the Turkish central bank in March 2021.　　Amid the increasing influx of Turkish money into the crypto space, the government moved to ban the use of cryptos for payment, but that didn‘t curb the already-awaked people’s appetite for cryptos. Not even after the collapse of Thodex and Vebitcoin – which were the largest crypto exchanges in the country. The overly negative coverage of cryptos by Turkish media hasnt made much impact in discouraging people from crypto investments.　　The Turks Want Crypto　　It‘s clear that many people in Turkey want to invest their money in viable assets. Forex, Gold, and cryptos make the list of readily available choices, but cryptos seem to

2022-01-25Deep Dive

No Developed Nation Bans Cryptocurrencies, Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Warns Russia

Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has criticized Bank of Russias proposal to impose a blanket ban on a range of crypto-related activities. Such move would stifle high-tech development and chase away blockchain specialists, Durov says.　　 Durov Speaks Out Against Bank of Russia Push for Crypto Ban　　The cryptocurrency ban proposed by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) will destroy a number of high-tech sectors and spark an outflow of IT specialists, Pavel Durov, the man behind the popular-in-the-crypto-community messenger, Telegram, has predicted. The Russian entrepreneur also alerted that the restrictive policy would hinder blockchain development. In a Telegram post, Durov stated:　　“No developed country bans cryptocurrencies. Reason: such a ban will inevitably slow down the development of blockchain technologies in general. These technologies improve the efficiency and safety of many human activities, from finance to arts.”　　Durov emphasized that solutions based on distributed ledgers, and using cryptocurrencies as units of account, are replacing what he described as “the obsolete centralized financial systems of the second half of the 20th century.”　　He pointed out that Russia‘s neighbors, from Ukraine to Uzbekistan, are following in the footsteps of developed nations and adopting progressive laws for the blockchain space as they don’t want to

2022-01-25Deep Dive

South Korea Adds Cryptocurrency to Annual Household Finance Survey

IN BRIEF　　South Korea will examine the crypto holdings of households with the cooperation of the Bank of Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service.　　Status of crypto as a financial asset has not yet been decided upon.　　The country has been taking multiple actions in its bid to regulate the crypto market, including discussing taxation and requiring exchanges to register.　　The National Statistical Office of South Korea has announced that it will add cryptocurrency to its annual household finances report. The data will help in its effort to tax the crypto market starting from 2023.　　The South Korean statistics bureau has added cryptocurrency to the annual household finances reports — one step in bringing taxation to the asset class. Local media outlets reported the development on Jan 23, saying that the countrys National Statistical Office was making the addition in a bid to track household finances jointly with the Bank of Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service.　　The agency wants the data to better help make decisions related to taxation. South Korea is yet to impose taxation on the asset class, but it is well on its way to doing so. 20,000 households will initially be examined, though the data will not be made public.　　The National

2022-01-25Deep Dive

De-Dollarization Drive: Russia Could Turn To Crypto For A Way Out Only Under These Conditions

Russia has disclosed its plans to reduce dependence on the US Dollar over the next decade and it includes venturing into specific types of cryptocurrencies like stablecoins as a viable strategy. In a recently released report, The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) proposed a state-wide ban on all forms of cryptocurrency activities. The five-page report highlighted some gray areas of crypto often repeated and expressed fears about the tendency for cryptocurrency to threaten the liquidity and financial strength of the country.　　Alexander Pankin, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, had disclosed late last year that the country is hoping to cut back on losses from a now inflation-laden dollar and circumvent the sanctions placed on it by Washington D.C.　　To this, the Kremlin has added that it would let cryptocurrency service providers operate within its shores only when they agree to be subject to government regulatory oversight.　　One Condition for Crypto　　For Putin and Pankin, unfettering Russia from the shackles of US sanctions is paramount. This means the government would welcome any idea, specifically, one related to the creation of stablecoins backed by gold reserves and completely monitored by the CBR.　　Much unlike most Stablecoins that are backed by the US Dollar, the Kremlin believes

2022-01-25Deep Dive

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Warns of Cryptocurrency Scam

Scammers are continuing to evolve their tactics to get your money.　　The Lincoln County Sheriffs Office says now that includes demands for Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin. Lieutenant Tim Fischer says that ended up costing one resident thousands last week.　　“[We had] a lady receive a pop-up on her computer saying [the machine] was compromised, call this number.” said Fischer. “She called and the person who answered claimed to be from Microsoft.”　　“[We had] a lady receive a pop-up on her computer saying [the machine] was compromised, call this number.” said Fischer. “She called and the person who answered claimed to be from Microsoft.”　　The scammer then told her that there was a questionable transaction made to an online gambling site from her computer, and they offered to correct it in exchange for over $17,000 in Bitcoin. Fischer says thats no different than providing money through a gift card, as once you turn over the information it takes just seconds for those funds to disappear.　　“The way we understand it is there are actually Bitcoin machines in the Tomahawk and Rhinelander area. If you purchase those coins, they give you a QR code that you can scan and provide to the scammer. Once

2022-01-25Deep Dive

IS THE LIGHTNING NETWORK CENTRALIZED?

Bitcoin custody provider Casa held its annual Keyfest conference this month, and with it came many conversations around Bitcoin privacy, security and the Lightning Network.　　And one very important question was raised in the Q&A portion of the first session of the second day, “Lightning Network And Privacy,” hosted by Casas Andrew Yang, Impervious Developer Anthony Ronning, Surebit Software Engineer Nadav Kohen and Blockstream Lightning Protocol Developer Lisa Neigut: “Is the Lightning Network centralized？”　　This is a very important question for a plethora of reasons, but one massive reason stands out to me: If Bitcoin separates money from state, but we are just creating another centralized system to replace the old one, then whats the point？ As Rick from “Rick And Morty” would say, “That just sounds like slavery with extra steps.”　　So, we asked the question: Is Lightning centralized？ To decide, lets first do a comparison of the model we seek to replace.THE FIAT LAYER 2 SYSTEM　　Lightning is often referred to as the Layer 2 of Bitcoin, though really it is just the most prominent of any number of Layer 2 protocols built upon the Bitcoin base layer.　　It can be helpful to think about layering in reference to the Open Systems Interconnection

2022-01-25Deep Dive

ENS is taking first steps to Ethereum Layer-2 support

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is taking initial steps towards adopting Ethereum Layer-2 support. With Layer-2 support users with .eth domain names, or new users looking to register a .eth domain name, will be able to transact paying less for gas fees and with shorter settlement times.　　While registering a .eth domain name by itself is quite affordable for most people, Ethereum gas fees to do the involved transaction tend not to be.　　Announced by Nick Johnson, Lead Developer at ENS, in a tweet thread, ENS has the first version of an implementation of ENS off-chain resolution, based on ENS Improvement Proposal ENSIP 10 and Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP 3668, ready for testing by developers.Starter kit for developers to start building support　　This is the first step in ENSs plans for Layer-2 and off-chain resolution support. It will make it possible for wallet providers and others to issue, create or update ENS subdomains for their users without any transaction fees.　　As per the announcement on the ENS discussion forum, the so-called off-chain resolver 93 is a starter-kit for building infrastructure to resolve ENS names using external services.　　“This implementation defaults to using a backend that loads names from a JSON flat-file, but the backend is easily

2022-01-25Deep Dive

Boom or bust? Is there a way for Bitcoin price to hit $100K in 2022?

The internet is filled with Bitcoin (BTC) price forecasts. For example, some analysts believe that the flagship crypto will hit $1 million per coin in the next 10 years, while others think BTC price will eventually drop to zero.　　Without dwelling on predictions that are five or more years ahead of us, let us focus on what Bitcoin could do, say, in the next six months？　　Again, the forecasts vary drastically. For instance, Antoni Trenchev, the founder of Nexo Finance, sees Bitcoin price hitting $100,000 by mid-2022.　　On the other end of the spectrum is Sussex University professor Carol Alexander, who thinks Bitcoin price could drop to as low as $10,000, thereby wiping out all the gains it had made in 2021.　　Bitcoin has been trending almost in the middle of these two extremely far predictions and at press time the cost to purchase one BTC is close to $36,500 at Coinbase.　　BTC/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView　　Bitcoins circulation will increase on an average of 6.25 BTC per 10 minutes until the next halving in early 2024. This means miners will produce about 900 BTC every day. As a result, by the end of June 2022, there will be a total of 162,900 BTC created

2022-01-25Deep Dive

The case against Bitcoin as salary, Odell Beckham Jr. feeling the pinch

Odell Beckham Jr. is praised by many as instrumental in driving forward the Bitcoin as salary narrative.　　Last November, the L.A Rams wide receiver said he would take his salary in Bitcoin as part of a deal with payment provider Cash App.　　However, following Bitcoins dismal recent performance, financial research firm Hedgeye points out that, in doing so, Beckham Jr. may have slipped up.Bitcoin continues to slide　　Bitcoin continues to tumble on Monday as investors remain spooked by the Feds new hawkish stance on monetary policy.　　Recently, the U.S central bank signaled its intent to get tough with inflation by raising interest rates and cutting its balance sheet. Some analysts say a rate rise (of significance) would crash the market, while others say the Fed has no other choice.　　Fed officials will meet this week with spiraling consumer prices expected to be the front and center topic of discussion. The FT anticipates the Fed will follow through by confirming a rate rise in March.　　Since the turn of the year, total crypto outflows have come in at $694.3 billion. Devasting losses over the last week see Curve topping the list with -54% losses, followed by Wonderland and Near.　　Bitcoin is faring relatively better with -23% losses in

2022-01-25Deep Dive

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