Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

How To Fight Money Laundering In The Crypto Space

Money laundering is described as a process where cash that is acquired through criminal activity is ‘washed clean’ to make it appear genuine or legitimate. The funds acquired via illegal activities like drug trafficking and terrorist financing are normally laundered to eliminate any trace of criminal activity.　　This practice has been going on for decades, taking place in the traditional industry and the nascent crypto sector. Money laundering normally happens in three steps. First, the criminals place the stolen funds into a financial system and they are strategically broken down into smaller amounts to ensure that they can be hidden quite easily.　　A ‘layering’ system is mostly deployed to create some distance between the criminals and their stolen funds. Then, they finish the process by ‘integrating’ the money which enables the thieves to retrieve their loot through seemingly legitimate income streams or clean money sources.　　Fiat currencies are normally laundered by distributing money into multiple accounts in smaller amounts, which is also known as “smurfing.” To transfer funds internationally, currency exchanges, wire transfers, or smugglers might be used.　　Criminals may also decide to invest in other assets to hide the funds. They can buy gold, real estate, or invest in various businesses. Cryptos can

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Members of the U.S Government Share Conflicting Views About Bitcoin

Members of the United States government have made several conflicting statements about the benchmark cryptocurrency Bitcoin. While some house members have strongly defended Bitcoin, others have firmly spoken against the asset.　　For objectively valid reasons, observers in the crypto-community have hinted that the contradicting comments are suggesting that there could be some friction with the assets growth in the near future.　　Although the arrival of a democratic government hinted that a potentially bullish environment would be created for Bitcoin, there have been mixed reactions from different members of the house. Essentially these views could affect future policies for digital assets and so far, it is unclear whether more favorable policies will be stifled by the naysayers.　　Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Bitcoin is speculative　　The recent comments by Senator Elizabeth Warren created room for assumptions that Bitcoin may not be as welcomed by even the most progressive House member as expected. The senator who is considered to be one of the most progressive recently stirred emotions in the crypto-space when she echoed the same sentiments as Janet Yellen, the United States secretary of Treasury.　　When quizzed on CNBC‘s Squawk Box about her thoughts on Janet Yellen’s comments about Bitcoin being speculative and unreliable with a structure that

2021-03-12Deep Dive

Will Dollarization Kill Bitcoin Trading in Venezuela?

Venezuelas complex economic conditions have led to it often being referred to as a “case study” in Bitcoin—a cryptocurrency practically tailor-made for an economy saddled with hyperinflation and a repressive government.　　And even though Bitcoin use is hardly mainstream in Venezuela, that narrative has more or less held up: the country ranks third in the world in terms of Bitcoin adoption, according to a September 2020 report from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis.　　But recent societal and political changes in the South American nation may soon put that narrative to the test.　　Part of the reason why some tech savvy Venezuelans turned to Bitcoin to protect their wealth and escape the devaluing bolivar was because US dollars were difficult to obtain. Buying them was technically illegal, so citizens would resort to the black market to find them.　　They no longer have to do that. Whats more, the notoriously “anti-imperialist” government of Nicolas Maduro appears to have now conceded defeat to dollarization—accepting the fact that the dollar is the de facto currency of Venezuela.　　Earlier this year, Maduros government began allowing Venezuelan banks to open accounts for their customers in dollars. Businesses can now even start paying their workers in foreign currencies—something that would have been unimaginable

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Spanish Real Estate Agency Begins Accepting Bitcoin Payments for Properties in the Canary Islands

Crypto adoption keeps spreading among the real estate industry in Europe, specifically in Spain. Recently, a leading agency in the Canary Islands announced it would start accepting cryptocurrency payments.　　Firm Praises Bitcoins Decentralized Nature　　According to Digital Sevilla, Piso Barato Inmobiliaria, a Tenerife-based real estate firm, has enabled the feature that allows customers to acquire properties by paying with bitcoin (BTC).　　Although they mentioned the word “cryptocurrencies,” the firm talked mostly about BTC throughout the announcement.　　Piso Barato Inmobiliaria argues that a group of experts stated that bitcoin is becoming the “primary currency” of exchange globally, and thus, the firm became interested in digital assets. Future owners of properties, through the real estate agency, can purchase any property in Tenerife.　　The Tenerife-based agency pointed out:　　“The evolution of expert agents in the real estate market has been so constant that buying a flat in Tenerife with bitcoin is currently possible. They assure that it is a positive contribution to expand the number of potential buyers internationally and give life to the sale and purchase of the real estate.”　　Moreover, Piso Barato Inmobiliaria praised the fact that bitcoin payments avoid tampering in the acquisition process of the properties. The agency also says that cryptocurrencies decentralized nature avoids any

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Mining Cryptocurrency Becoming Wildly Popular and Accessible for the General Public

The act of mining cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin is truly going global, including a recent announcement that Bitcoin mining has come to the Arctic circle. The surge in interest in cryptocurrencies has driven all types of challenges and solutions in generation of the digital money, including a global chip shortage thats even hit China. Early adapters to Bitcoin are doing quite well, with those who wouldve invested $100 into the cryptocurrency in 2009 would see their initial investment worth over $48 million today. Along the way, the impact of the rapid rise in mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin and other crypto has driven even more interest towards opportunities to mine the digital currencies, such as those from Hello Pal International Inc. (CSE:HP) (OTCQB:HLLPF), Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT), Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ:CAN), and HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSXV:HIVE) (OTCQX:HVBTF).　　One strategy being implemented by Hello Pal International Inc. (CSE:HP) (OTCQB:HLLPF) is to leverage and utilize its rapidly growing userbase of more than over 5.4 million users from over 200 countries and regions to take part in the mining of the popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum.　　By partnering with cryptomining company Yitang, Hello Pals rapidly growing social media platforms users buy

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Crypto Censorship Hits Twitter: Top Influencer Accounts Suspended Mysteriously

Overnight last night, the Twitter accounts of many crypto influencers and top Bitcoin supporters mysteriously were suspended without warning.　　Speculation pointed to accounts being targeted that had previously been tweeting about the popularity of NFTs, causing conspiracy theories to circulate and other major accounts to go private. Here‘s what’s really going on behind the strange incident.　　The Mysterious Crypto Twitter Suspension Saga　　Over the last year, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have shown how strong their fundamentals are and how far they‘ve come in ten years. And there was never any denying the technology’s disruptive potential.　　However, the asset class still remains more speculative than currently applicable to society. Like the internet before it, thatll eventually change and real utility will be created, for now, part of the allure of crypto is the speculation itself.　　It attracts the likes of angel investors, entrepreneurs, evangelists, anarchists, researchers, economists, and pseudonymous characters who all join in on the predicting future price action and industry outcomes.　　This speculation takes place on Reddit, Internet forums, and social media platforms like Twitter. However, last night, several key crypto industry figures and influencers suddenly had their accounts suspended without warning.　　Among the figures whose accounts were locked unexpected, was Bitcoin expert Willy Woo, stock-to-flow model

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Solving Blockchain Interoperability with the Cosmos Hub

Cosmos, an interoperability-based ecosystem, aims to create an internet of blockchains and connect even more blockchain projects. To accomplish this idea, Cosmos built a central Hub ledger under the Inter-Blockchain Communication network(IBC), capable of hosting other multiple blockchains dubbed as Zones.　　It is important to note that most crypto ecosystems design their blockchain networks, such as Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains. Therefore, these blockchains may not be compatible with each other, hence opting for the IBC protocol approach, which is features a primary Hub.　　A Bridge for Blockchains　　Similar to other blockchains, the Hub contains decentralized validators who maintain the ledgers overall security. The validators safeguard the Hub from threats such as a nation-state-sponsored attack or a continental network partition. Moreover, a Zone itself contains validators who stake a particular amount of ATOM (Cosmos native token) within the Hub.　　Any dishonest validator will automatically force the Cosmos blockchain to cancel their staked ATOM. The exchange of tokens between blockchains presents a trust issue whereby zones remain hesitant of the token source and the validators as well.　　Nevertheless, leveraging the hub ledger will ensure trust levels are maintained as it works as the primary source between other chains. It also eliminates the trust obligations that the zones

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Why the crypto community has its eyes peeled out for these 3 altcoins

Altcoins have been dabbling between a bullish and a bearish storm since the year began. For the most part, the bulls have taken charge, forcing different assets to switch positions as the market cap surpasses the other. With the new month marking the mid-term of the first quarter of the year, the market could take a different form as trading activities intensify.　　While many fundamental factors will affect the turn out of events, these three altcoins have gripped the communitys attention for the most part of the week. Particularly for bullish reasons dating from the month before. The generally shared sentiments are bullish, but the controversy surrounding some of these assets hint at a potential downward correction that could be recorded in the near term.　　The unexpected rise of Cardano (ADA)　　The massive selloff that hit the altcoin community in the last weeks of February somehow managed to skip Cardano. While Bitcoin and other assets were shedding between 15% to 22% in losses, ADA surged by 13% in the same week, bringing its estimated gains for the month to 269%.　　ADAUSD Chart By TradingView　　Many critics have claimed that there is no reliable source backing the assets growth. But counterpoints with some noteworthy objective backings

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Crypto Influencers Rush To Recover Twitter Accounts After Suspensions

In recent times, Twitter suspended several major crypto-related accounts, which included some of the sectors biggest influencers. Based on a March 10 tweet by Peter McCormack, a bitcoin (BTC) podcaster, up to six cryptocurrency-related accounts had been suspended by the social media platform.　　The listed accounts include some of the most prominent names on Twitter with more than 300,000 subscribers, including BTC stock-to-flow model creator PlanB and Bitcoin on-chain analyst Willy Woo. Also, crypto advocate TheCryptoDog was not spared by these suspensions.　　Other industry-related accounts that have also been suspended include TheMoon, Koroush AK, MMCrypto, and WSBChairman. WSBChairman purports that the account is not associated with Reddits r/WallStreetBets community.　　At the time of writing, five of the listed accounts are still inaccessible, while PlanB and Willy Woo‘s accounts seem to have been recovered. Currently, PlanB’s account seems to be entirely restored, while Willy Woo has about 600 followers.　　Despite that brief suspension of PlanB‘s account, Twitter did not pull down some of the prominent cryptocurrency influencer’s impersonators. Twitter user Ankeborgare said that some of the phony PlanB accounts like 100TrillionUSDT and 100TrillionUSDD were not suspended on the social media platform as part of the latest series of bans and suspensions.　　On March 8, Twitter Support

2021-03-11Deep Dive

Are Governance Tokens the Future of DeFi?

A DAO-governed platform that offers to users over ten revenue streams such as IPO participation, Nimbus has recently announced the launch of its Governance Token, GNBU. GNBU will be launched on the 10th of March 2021, at 12 PM GMT on their official website.　　This launch will help the company become a complete decentralized ecosystem where all the monetary benefits and the platforms governance will be distributed among the GNBU holders.　　Nimbus plans to get listed on a North American Stock Exchange by the years end.　　About Nimbus　　Nimbus was started in 2019 with a user base of 50,000 users accumulated with their innovative crypto arbitrage-trading bot. Last year, the company started its journey to become a DeFi ecosystem of dApps including Crowdfunding dApp, IPO Hub dApp, P2P Lending dApp, and Crypto Arbitrage-Trading dApp.　　NBU is a Nimbus utility token that after two days of launch reached the market cap of $35 Million. The launch of GNBU is the second milestone for the company, which will bring the company closer to becoming a truly decentralized ecosystem.　　How does this event benefit its users？　　Governance tokens are a valuable asset that has become increasingly popular in the DeFi space in a short time. GNBU will take the efficiency

2021-03-11Deep Dive

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