ACTOR Matt Damon is being resoundingly mocked on Twitter for being featured in a Crypto.com commercial.
In the ad, “Fortune Favors the Brave,” Damon talks about risk-takers “who embrace the moment and commit,” but people on social media were not impressed.
“Y’all think Matt Damon got paid in Real American Dollars for that crypto ad or,” one person joked.
Plus, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Shibu Inu coin were all down on Coinbase on Monday, with Bitcoin seeing a more than 10percent drop in the past seven days.
And the first LGBT+ cryptocurrency launched Friday, and its creators are hoping to start trading early this year.
The founders of Maricoin said they want the coin to be a means of payment at LGBT-friendly businesses and events, as have an aim of “changing the world.”
Read our cryptocurrency live blog for the latest news and updates…
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What is play-to-earn gaming?
A unique model called play-to-earn gaming is driving non-fungible token (NFT) and cryptocurrency growth, Forbes reported.
Axie Infinity is the most popular platform for play-to-earn gaming at the moment.
It allows users to build a collection of “Axies” that players can use across its universe of games.
The company then uses Blockchain to reward players for gaming, according to Forbes.
Any digital assets earned by participants can be sold on the platform or traded outside Axie Infinity’s universe.
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What are Altcoins, continued
Simon Peters, crypto-asset analyst at eToro, said: “They build on the success of bitcoin by slightly changing the rules, economics or use cases to appeal to different users.”
“Altcoins vary greatly in their use cases and practical application. They typically have a form of technology they underpin or provide a liquidity solution to a product or service.
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What are Altcoins?
Altcoin stands for alternative coin, a type of virtual currency that uses the so-called blockchain to allow secure transactions.
Altcoin is a category of cryptocurrency rather than a currency itself, and there are more than 900 different altcoins available.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part five
Finally, the truth in marketing materials is a risk in investing in cryptos.
Firms may overstate the returns of products or understate the risks involved.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part four
Another risk of investing are the charges and fees.
Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part three
A third risk of investing in cryptocurrencies is product complexity.
The complexity of some products and services relating to cryptoassets can make it hard for consumers to understand the risks.
There is no guarantee that cryptoassets can be converted back into cash.
Converting a cryptoasset back to cash depends on demand and supply existing in the market.
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Risks of investing in cryptos, part two
Another risk of investing is price volatility.
Significant price volatility in cryptoassets, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places consumers at a high risk of losses.
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Risks of investing in cryptocurrencies
Investing in cryptocurrencies means taking on a number of different risks.
The first is Consumer protection.
Some investments advertising high returns based on cryptoassets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering requirements.
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Major meme coins, part two
Another dog meme that has picked up traction this year has been Saitama inu, whose logo appears to feature a wolf surrounding a human face.
“Tokens like Shiba Inu, Dogecoin and newest gainer Saitama are all a part of the evolution of digital finance in their own unique way,” Chris Kline, chief operating officer and co-founder of Bitcoin IRA, recently told The Sun.
Separately, Tiger King is a meme coin that has picked up strong momentum recently. It is based on the popular Netflix series.
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The major meme coins
The surge of the meme coins this year all started with Dogecoin.
That was then followed by Shiba Inu, which both feature the same dog breed in their logos.
The image became a popular internet meme called doge, and it features the dog surrounded by text in the comic sans font with words like “much wow.”
Both Shiba and Dogecoin have been popular dog meme coins in the past year.
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What are meme coins?
A meme coin typically gains off a social media or an internet-based joke.
It all started with GameStop and AMC earlier this year, when a Reddit mob trolled short-sellers by driving up the prices of those stocks.
The memes then spread over to cryptocurrencies – and there are now a few major ones today.
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No guaranteed returns
There are no guarantees when it comes to cryptocurrencies, so when someone mentions “guaranteed returns,” they are often scammers.
There is no way to eliminate the element of risk from cryptocurrencies, although scammers may try to convince you otherwise.
Check out these other ways to spot scammers in the crypto space.
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What is Hbar crypto?
Hashgraph is similar to a blockchain and was created in 2017 by American computer scientist Leemon Baird.
The Hedera Hashgraph system is a distributed ledger built on Hashgraph and was created by Baird along with Mance Harmon.
HBAR is the cryptocurrency of the Hedera Hashgraph.
The company itself explains: “HBAR is the native, energy-efficient cryptocurrency of the Hedera public network.”
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Microstrategy spends $414 million on Bitcoin
The business intelligence company led by Michael Saylor revealed in a November 29 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it bought 7,002 bitcoins between October 1 and November 29.
MicroStrategy reportedly spent $414million on the coins.
The company now has a reported stockpile of 121,044 bitcoin tokens.
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The most valuable cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency prices hit record highs earlier this year amid interest from high profile individuals such as Elon Musk and more institutional investment in the sector.
The most valuable coins are Bitcoin and Ethereum but there are lots of alternatives or altcoins aiming to benefit from crypto interest.
Values can be volatile though and regulators have warned that investors could lose all their money.
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Man loses $1.6million, part three
The app demanded $1.5million from the victim and threatened to freeze his account if he didn’t pay.
“I go look on the FBI site and lo and behold, there’s this public alert about this type of scam,” he told the news outlet. “I’m 52, my entire life savings, gone in a matter of a month.”
The common scam, which involves meeting someone on a dating app, depositing money into a fake investment app (which is constantly changed, renamed or deleted) then losing it all, is called the “Pig Butchering Scam,” KMGH-TV detailed.
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Man loses $1.6million, part two
The man said he successfully deposited funds into the account, including money from his retirement accounts.
He was reportedly able to withdraw cryptocurrency too, until he attempted to take out more.
A “customer service agent” with the app told him “you need to repay the loan before you can withdraw cash from your account,” KMGH-TV reported.
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Man loses $1.6million in scam
A man says he lost his life savings in a scheme dubbed the “Pig Butchering Scam.”
The 52-year-old told Denver ABC affiliate KMGH-TV that he met a woman on a dating app who appeared to have similar interests to him.
The conversation turned to cryptocurrency, something he’d made about $70,000 on in a few years.
The man told the news outlet that the woman he fell for online convinced him to invest on a mobile and web app that seemed legitimate to the software engineer.
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Robinhood prepares to launch cryptocurrency wallet
Robinhood announced a new partnership with a blockchain data analytics platform ahead of its planned cryptocurrency wallet launch.
Robinhood will use Chainalysis’ data, analytics, and software to meet compliance requirements and provide secure crypto transactions, Motley Fool reported.
The partnership comes ahead of the planned 2022 launch of Robinhood’s crypto wallet.
More than 1.6million people are on a waitlist for the new feature, according to Motley Fool.
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Banks embrace crypto, continued
Executives at large banks are beginning to hop on the cryptocurrency train as some invest their time in learning about the new payment method.
Bank of America spokesman Mark Pipitone told the New York Times, “The bank sees potential in blockchain, and we’re currently a leading patent holder in the space with more than 160 patents. But we still haven’t found a use at scale to make the financial lives of customers and clients better.”
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Banks embrace crypto
Banks are paying for slowly catching on to the future of cryptocurrency as they struggle to benefit and profit.
As cryptocurrency start-ups explode, they are starting to offer credit cards and loans while banks are left in the dust.
According to the New York Times, “Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian Moynihan, barred the giant company’s wealth managers from putting any client money into cryptocurrency-related investments.”
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Dogecoin spikes after Tesla news
Dogecoin saw a more than 20 percent jump after Elon Musk announced Tesla would start accepting it as payment.
He said in a Tweet that Tesla would allow purchases of some merchandise with Dogecoin and “see how it goes.”
Dogecoin went from a fraction of a penny in worth at the start of 2021 to a record-high price above 74 cents in May, CNBC reported.
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Elon Musk says Dogecoin is best for transactions
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX says Dogecoin is the best cryptocurrency for transactions.
Elon Musk told Time Magazine that the meme coin is better suited to transact with over Bitcoin for two reasons.
He said the transaction volume of Bitcoin is low and the cost per transaction is high.
Musk said he believes Bitcoin is more suitable as a store of value while Dogecoin “encourages people to spend, rather than sort of hoard.”
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Crypto investments top $30billion
Investors contributed a record $30billion to the cryptocurrency industry in 2021, according to Fortune.
The news outlet cited data from Bloomberg News that reportedly showed $7.2billion came from investors based in the United States.
The $30billion is almost four times the $8billion that investors spent with companies in the crypto industry in 2018, Fortune reported.
