ALTCOIN Binance is topping Bitcoin and Ethereum, as Polygon fixes a bug and crypto staking is revealed.
This as a drop in the cryptocurrency market led to an almost $300 million loss in liquidations this week.
Bitcoin prices, in particular, dropped by as much as $3,000 early Tuesday, though it is slightly back up over the past 24 hours as of Thursday morning.
Plus, "futures on ether, the native currency of the Ethereum network, saw over $57 million in liquidations," Coindesk reported.
Other major coins, such as Solana and Terra, also saw losses, the outlet reported. Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have also been down over the past week as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, Decentraland, and Basic Attention are all tokens that some experts think are poised for rebounds in 2022.
Contributors at Motley Fool think those three cryptocurrencies could see gains next year no matter what else happens with the highly volatile market.
"Ethereum stands out as a great crypto for 2022 and beyond," the outlet noted, but the site thinks BAT and Decentraland are good bets, too.
Read our cryptocurrency live blog for the latest news and updates…
- G. P. Rodriguez
China stopped its crypto exchanges
In 2017, China shut down its local cryptocurrency exchanges.
Despite the war on crypto, Chinese mines power nearly 80 percent of the global trade in cryptocurrencies.
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- G. P. Rodriguez
Record crypto investments, part two
The crypto industry blew up in 2021 with crypto exchanges, start-ups dealing with NFTs, and play-to-earn gaming all highlighted as factors by Fortune.
Increasing interest in the Metaverse also led to multi-million dollar investments.
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- G. P. Rodriguez
El Salvador adopts Bitcoin, continued
However, those who do not have access to technologies that can carry out Bitcoin are excluded from being required to accept it.
The US dollar and Bitcoin are now the country’s official currencies.
It’s the first time Bitcoin has been adopted as a legal tender in a sovereign nation.
- G. P. Rodriguez
El Salvador adopts Bitcoin
The nation’s president Nayib Bukele passed a bill in June that stated that from September 7, Bitcoin can be used in any transaction and all businesses must accept the e-currency as payment.
The law also states that tax contributions can be paid via Bitcoin and exchanges in the cryptocurrency will not be subject to capital gains tax.
Under the new law, El Salvador will “promote necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access [Bitcoin] transactions.”
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- G. P. Rodriguez
How to check for blockchain scams
Cryptocurrencies operate on blockchain networks.
Scammers often claim their blockchain is “in development” or “about to be released,” but all legitimate cryptos will have an accompanying website to verify the currency.
Users can type the name of the crypto into any search engine with the phrase “blockchain explorer” or “blockchain scan” to find the connected blockchain, if it even exists.
- G. P. Rodriguez
What is a blockchain?
A blockchain is where encrypted data can be transferred securely, making it nearly impossible to duplicate or counterfeit.
This ledger is the foundation of any cryptocurrency transaction.
The cryptocurrency allows people to trade currency or assets digitally outside of any government or bank.
- G. P. Rodriguez
Less than 10 percent of Bitcoin left to mine
There is less than 10 percent of Bitcoin left to mine as the cryptocurrency passed a major milestone in December.
Data from Blockchain.com showed 18.9million out of a possible 21million of the virtual coins have been mined.
Bitcoin is the world’s first entirely virtual currency and new currency is created by mining, a complex online process that uses computer code.
It involves using a computer to solve a mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution to create new coins.
For each problem solved, one block of Bitcoin is processed. The miner that is first to solve the problem is rewarded with a new Bitcoin.
These new coins are then stored virtually through an online database called the blockchain.
- G. P. Rodriguez
Co-founder of Ethereum named a TIME100 most influential person
One of the co-founders of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021.
Former executive chair of Reddit Alexis Ohanian praised him in a write-up for the piece.
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.”
- G. P. Rodriguez
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.
- Jennifer Korn
What are red flags of scams?
Gizmodo shared that other red flags of the SQUID coin being illegitimate was that the website that the creators launched was filled with spelling and grammatical errors.
The crypto’s telegram channel also did not allow comments from outsiders, and its Twitter account did not allow users to reply to posts, which Gizmodo flagged as suspicious.
- Jennifer Korn
R.I.P. Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster
Sadly, Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster, passed away on November 23.
The tragic news was shared on Mr Goxx’s official Twitter account.
“We feared this day like no other and are truly shocked for it to happen just now,” Mr Goxx’s Twitter account tweeted on Wednesday.
“In deep sorrow, we have to announce the loss of our beloved furry friend.”
The account continued: “Being with us as a pet for quite a while, he became famous out of nowhere. Mr. Goxx has brought joy to people all across the globe and reminded us not to take life too seriously.
“He shed light into dark moments of pandemic, inflation and many kinds of trouble.”
- Jennifer Korn
‘Decision tunnels’
The amount to be traded is determined when Goxx runs through one of two “decision tunnels”.
Depending on which tunnel he runs through, the amount he will buy or sell the cryptocurrency changes in 20 euro increments.
All of the data is rigged to a computer that makes the transactions in real-time on Goxx’s behalf.
- Jennifer Korn
Goxx’s creators
Speaking to the BBC, the two 30-something German men behind Mr Goxx the crypto-trading hamster explained that the idea started as a joke.
“We felt that everything keeps getting more expensive these days and building savings is super-hard to achieve with high rents to pay,” they said.
“It seems like most people from our generation see no other chance than throwing a lot of their savings on the crypto market, without having a clue what’s going on there.
“We were joking about whether my hamster would be able to make smarter investment decisions than we humans do.”
- Jennifer Korn
Crypto-trading hamster, continued
The four-legged financial fiend was not completing transactions himself, of course.
Instead, Goxx’s trading decisions were made inside a camera-rigged “office” attached to his regular cage.
Every day, when he entered the office, a stream was started on Twitch and a tweet was sent out to his followers notifying them that trading had begun.
The hamster then ran on an “intention wheel” that chose one of 30 different cryptocurrencies to trade.
- Jennifer Korn
A crypto-trading hamster outperformed market
A hamster in Germany previously traded in cryptocurrencies and consistently outperformed the S&P 500.
The furry animal, called Mr Goxx, was busy working since June, thanks to a specially adapted cage.
He determined which currencies to buy or sell by running on his wheel or walking through one of two tunnels.
Mr Goxx started trading on June 12 this year.
The site states that the page is just for fun and does not offer financial advice.
- Jennifer Korn
Major meme coins, part 2
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 off the past month, which is based on the popular Netflix series.
- Jennifer Korn
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 this year.
- Jennifer Korn
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.
- Jennifer Korn
Can you trade crypto on Robinhood?
Unlike most of its discount rivals, Robinhood offers 24/7 crypto trading through its platform.
That means you’ll have access to trade major cryptocurrencies including, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.
Its crypto investors can buy or sell with a market order, which means it’s executed at the current market price.
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