Crypto Pirates

In the years 2020 to 2021, two things happened. Cryptocurrencies exploded to record valuations as a result of the global healthcare crisis. 

By mid-2021, the price of Bitcoin had risen to over $68k, bringing the total value of the sphere to more than $2.1 trillion. Simultaneously, following various governments' directives to lockdown in desperate contagion measures, people all over the world found solace in gaming. 

According to research findings, over £2.1 billion was spent on video games alone in the United Kingdom in 2020, representing a significant increase from the previous year. From Animal Crossing to Fortnite to Call of Duty, video games have become a popular form of digital interaction and convenient entertainment. 

Crypto Gaming Seeks a Piece of the $180 Billion Industry 

The rise of blockchain gaming, however, was a notable development in all of this. According to InvestGame, private investment in the sector tripled to more than $17 billion in the first half of 2021. 

Blockchain gaming, also known as cryptocurrency gaming, is a new gaming model that replaces the traditional gaming model by putting the gamer first and compensating them for their efforts. Analysts believe that in a gaming industry worth more than $180 billion, the growing popularity of cryptocurrency gaming will gradually see associated games carve out a decent market share, directly increasing their valuation. 

Why is Blockchain Gaming so popular? 

The implementation of the blockchain as the equalising layer is directly related to the success of blockchain gaming. 

By leveraging a decentralised foundation, game developers are free to create exciting and interactive games that incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as in-game items, cryptocurrencies, and even decentralised finance (DeFi), allowing gamers to earn money from their interests. 

Because NFTs can be exchanged for fungible tokens such as ETH or BNB. As a result, marketplaces serve as a bridge between the digital and physical worlds. Furthermore, because the player is at the forefront, they earn significantly more than in legacy models where gaming is throttled through a gatekeeper who, in turn, squeezes out extra fees and demands more, such as the submission of potentially identifying information. 

This overhaul is necessary, and it exemplifies the nature of gaming, which, as history has shown, frequently benefits from being the first to implement cutting-edge technology. Cryptocurrency gaming expands investment opportunities for all stakeholders, including players, investors, and developers. Simultaneously, the ability to seamlessly connect to a web3 game like GG Dapp, which has no advertisements and an attractive and intuitive user interface, is exactly what is required. 

How to Make Money from Blockchain Gaming Even if You Don't Play Actively 

Although most blockchain gaming dApps incorporate play-to-earn models that reward gamers and developers while also increasing adoption, it is often overlooked that these dApps also provide earning opportunities without the need to actively play. 

GG Dapp investors and gamers can acquire in-game items existing as NFTs as investments, in addition to being laid out in a simple and popular format. As the game's popularity grows, their holding strategy can turn out to be a profitable investment when they later liquidate them for other fungible tokens on the platform's internal marketplace. 

At the same time, investors who do not want to be active participants can buy tokens directly. Already, the Axie Infinity's exponential rise has propelled the majority of the AXS's early adopters into the millionaire club. Over $3.2 billion in assets were traded in the game's in-house marketplace, a demand that directly props up AXS token prices, rewarding holders. 

This success is being replicated by astute investors who are confident in the future of cryptocurrency gaming. Investors in gaming ecosystems such as GG Dapp can acquire their utility token, GGTK, and stake it in potential games rather than simply holding it. They earn the game's tokens here, increasing their revenue streams. Furthermore, GGTK stakers receive a proportionate share of the platform's commissions generated from in-game purchases.

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The cryptocurrency myth that its security is impenetrable has been debunked numerous times. The most recent is a multimillion-dollar swindle being investigated by Pakistan's federal agency, or the FIA. According to Cointelegraph, the fraud entailed deceiving investors into transmitting funds from Binance wallets to unknown third-party wallets.

Fraudsters defraud investors worth millions of rupees.

The FIA, Pakistan's principal federal investigative body, has issued notifications to cryptocurrency exchange Binance in order to uncover the linkages behind a multimillion-dollar crypto scam in the region. A criminal enquiry was launched following many allegations of investors being deceived into sending funds from Binance wallets to unknown third-party wallets.

According to local reports, the FIA's Cyber Crime Wing has issued a summons to Binance Pakistan's general manager Hamza Khan. In addition, the investigation into the exchange's connection to fraudulent online investing mobile applications has begun.

The necessary questionnaire has been sent to Binance Headquarters Cayman Islands and Binance US to explain the situation, according to the Notice. The fraud's method was straightforward.

Users were duped into registering on Binance and transferring funds to third-party wallets after being promised huge and unrealistic profits. These strategies benefit existing customers at the expense of new customers. They eventually vanish after earning a killing worth billions of rupees.

Mobile crypto apps that are fraudulent

More than 11 fraudulent mobile apps that abruptly ceased operation after successfully taking the user's funds have been found. FIA has identified the following apps: MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKIMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, UG, TASKTOK, and 91fp.

In addition to duping users into transferring funds, the apps connected the victims to a Telegram group for professional betting signals. On average, each application housed roughly 5,000 consumers.

Binance was apparently served with an official notice by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. According to the notice, "at least 26 suspect blockchain wallet addresses (Binance wallet addresses) where fraudulent money may have been transmitted have been found." A letter has been sent to Binance Holdings Limited in order to obtain the details of these blockchain wallet accounts and to debit block them."

The FIA has already frozen the bank accounts associated with the suspect apps and warned Binance that noncompliance could result in severe penalties imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan.

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The situation in Kazakhstan has had a significant impact on the value of cryptocurrencies.

On the morning of January 7, the Bitcoin price continued to decline. The price of the world's most popular cryptocurrency plunged by 8% to below $42,000, while altcoins also suffered losses. A considerable fall in the hash rate — the entire computational power of mining equipment — was observed in pools popular with Kazakhstanis. 1THash, OKExPool, and KuCoinPool were also impacted, while larger pools such as F2Pool, AntPool, and ViaBTC saw a drop in performance.

Bitcoin's decline has been directly linked by experts to Kazakhstan's lack of internet access. On January 7, Kazakhstanis awoke to the news of internet suspension as anti-government rallies shook the country.

According to Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at the Bestchange.ru project, the situation in Kazakhstan is more of a trigger for the pricing phenomena than a cause.

"It would be naive to suppose that what transpired will have no impact on the crypto market." "However, it is not worth exaggerating Kazakhstan's significance within the overall business," the researcher emphasises.

According to him, Bitcoin prices fell mostly as a result of the global stock market's decline against the backdrop of a possible increase in the Federal Reserve's key rate in the spring.

Miner's hideout

According to an October analysis by the University of Cambridge Business School, Kazakhstan ranks second among countries where Bitcoin is mined. Its share is 18.1 percent, lagging the US, which accounts for 35.4 percent of worldwide output of the primary cryptocurrency. According to the experts' research, these countries' rankings jumped significantly during the year, owing to mining limitations in China.

In September 2019, Chinese enterprises accounted for 75% of all crypto mining, but by the first half of 2021, that percentage had dropped to 46% since, on September 24, last year, the People's Bank of China imposed a comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency transactions in the nation.

The crypto crisis was novel in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan's capital. The Kazakh power grid provider Kegoc announced in October that its grids are being overloaded by the dramatic increase in energy usage by individuals involved in digital mining. The practise has also increased the number of accidents at power plants, while power demand has outpaced generation in the country. Later, the Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with Kegoc, proposed a variety of solutions to lessen the strain on the country's power facilities.

The possibilities are limited.

In actuality, global protests in 2019-2020 have already revealed the bitcoin market's vulnerability: technological security was one of the areas affected. For example, during the height of civil instability in Lebanon, a large number of Bitcoin merchants complained that unknown hackers had gotten access to their mobile phones and were able to win a large reward. Furthermore, hackers had acquired access to the enormous Lebanese communications operator Touch, which could have played a role in harming so many people.

The fact that Bitcoin and related systems are not ready for usage in the event of a force majeure, which was also debated by bitcoiners in Hong Kong when large-scale demonstrations erupted there. They bemoaned the fact that transactions remained overly reliant on official telecommunications networks, which were easier for the state to regulate. According to CoinDesk, an unnamed insider in the Hong Kong business, "people are increasingly simply transferring their money outside, but it happens from bank to bank."

CoinDesk's contacts in Iran concur, where protests against a backdrop of social dissatisfaction occur with frightening regularity. "In a circumstance where we don't have a normal physical connection, none of this damn technology will help you!" said one of the Iranian bitcoiners in a talk with a publication, commenting on the operation of the common cryptocurrency system. "We are imprisoned in a prison erected for us by the governments of America and Iran."

The protests in Kazakhstan had an impact not only on the global value of Bitcoin, but also on the price of uranium, one of the Central Asian republic's main natural resources. In reality, Kazakhstan accounts for more than 40% of global uranium output. This week, the spot price of uranium oxide concentrate has risen by roughly 8%.

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This coin's potential is supported by increased investor interest and the possibility of real-world use cases.

I'm sure you've heard about the cryptocurrency market's incredible returns by now. The total value of these digital assets nearly tripled by 2021, and the market is now worth slightly more than $2 trillion.

Bitcoin (BTC), the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, ended 2021 up 61% year on year. However, there is still the possibility of massive gains ahead. Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Investment Management, believes Bitcoin, which was trading around $43,000 on January 6, will surpass the $500,000 mark in 2026.

Let's take a look at what needs to happen in order for the top cryptocurrency to grow tenfold in the next five years.

Bitcoin is renamed "digital gold."

The current value of all gold in the world is slightly more than $9 trillion. Based on Bitcoin's market cap of around $800 billion, it's not difficult to believe that if the cryptocurrency ever truly becomes what many investors and speculators think of it as — a "digital gold" — its value could approach that of the precious metal. Both are scarce, as there is only a finite amount of gold in the earth's crust and only 21 million bitcoins will be mined. Bitcoin cannot be used in electronics or worn as jewellery, but it is simple to own and transfer. Bitcoin may be the answer for proponents of "digital gold" looking for a reliable store of value.

According to Cathie Wood, if institutional investors allocate 5% of their portfolios to Bitcoin, its value could reach $500,000 by the end of the year. The likelihood of this occurring is anyone's guess, and it will undoubtedly be dependent on volatility decreasing significantly, but there are signs that point to increased investor interest.

There are already a slew of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on the market. And investment bank Goldman Sachs even has a Bitcoin trading desk. These developments make it easier to persuade institutions to join. The allure of owning Bitcoin, or any cryptocurrency for that matter, is that it is uncorrelated with other financial assets. As a result, it can increase portfolio diversification.

Then there's the possibility of corporations converting a portion of their cash on hand into Bitcoin, as Block, MicroStrategy, and Tesla have already done. If this trend continues, it will undoubtedly provide support for Bitcoin's price increase in the coming years.

Bitcoin's utility is increasing.

Another reason Bitcoin could tenfold by 2026 is that its utility may increase. While we in the United States may take our advanced payment system and financial services for granted, citizens in developing countries see things differently.

El Salvador is a prime example of how valuable Bitcoin can be. Remittances account for a quarter of the country's GDP, but sending money home costs an average of close to 3% per transaction. Bitcoin has low (or no) fees for sending payments across borders, which means that hundreds of millions of dollars can be released immediately to improve people's livelihoods in El Salvador. The Central American country also recently made cryptocurrency legal tender, setting a precedent that other countries may soon follow.

Block CEO Jack Dorsey considers Bitcoin to be the most important project he will work on during his lifetime. TBD and Spiral are his company's two initiatives that aim to build the tools and infrastructure, such as a decentralised exchange for converting fiat currency to Bitcoin and improved wallet functionality, to significantly improve Bitcoin's user experience.

And Coinbase Global, the leading crypto brokerage and exchange company in the United States, operates with the overarching goal of creating and propelling the crypto economy. Some of today's brightest entrepreneurs are clearly working to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. Bitcoin, as the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, should naturally benefit because it will most likely be the general public's first exposure to the nascent asset class.

Bitcoin has increased by a whopping 4,800% in the last five years. A tenfold increase over the next five years equals a total return of 900 percent, or 58 percent on an annualised basis. This is an incredible rate of return that will annihilate the broader stock market. However, it is still a significant slowdown from Bitcoin's previous performance.

There will undoubtedly be ups and downs along the way. That is simply the cost we must pay in order to achieve high returns. However, based on the arguments we've presented previously, We believe Bitcoin has the potential to increase tenfold by 2026.

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According to a review of messages on Coinsuper's official Telegram chat, dozens of clients have been unable to make withdrawals from the company since late November.

Five customers told Bloomberg News that they had filed police reports after their withdrawals were apparently frozen, leaving them unable to retrieve approximately $55,000 in tokens and cash.

The uproar over Coinsuper, which is backed by Pantera Capital, may fuel calls for more regulatory oversight in Hong Kong. In November 2020, the city's securities watchdog announced that it would propose a licensing regime for all crypto-trading platforms, a strategy that rival financial hub Singapore is also pursuing.

Calls and messages seeking comment from Coinsuper executives went unanswered. In response to a Bloomberg enquiry about the Coinsuper complaints, a Hong Kong police spokesperson said via email that the department is looking into one case in which a person who purchased cryptocurrency "via an investment company" has been unable to withdraw her funds since December.

The administrator of Coinsuper's Telegram chat stopped responding to questions about failed withdrawals in late November, then reappeared this week to ask affected users to provide their email addresses.

In interviews, some clients stated that there was no follow-up, and the administrator did not respond to messages from Bloomberg.

VOLUME DROP

Terry Chan, a financial industry worker in the city, began using the platform in November 2020 because it was "quite large in Hong Kong" at the time.

In early December, he attempted to withdraw US$4,000 from the exchange after noticing that trading was becoming less liquid. On January 5, he and two other Coinsuper customers filed a group complaint with Hong Kong police.

According to crypto data firm Nomics, Coinsuper's trading app is still operational, and the exchange handled around US$18.5 million in volume on Friday (January 7) - down from a daily peak of US$1.3 billion in late 2019.

According to Nomics data, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, handled approximately US$51 billion in transactions during the same time period.

For crypto exchanges, Hong Kong has a "opt-in" regulatory regime, which means they can apply to be regulated. However, strict regulations make that route "not very appealing" for platforms, according to Joshua Chu, a consultant at ONC Lawyers in Hong Kong.

According to Chu, the city will most likely abandon the opt-in model later this year. He went on to say that problems with crypto exchanges, such as long withdrawal times, are "not uncommon," and that regulation may be required for technical issues.

RESIGNATION OF EMPLOYEES

According to Chinese media reports, Chinese tycoon Zhang Zhenxin, who died in 2019, founded Coinsuper in 2017. Karen Chen, who became CEO of Coinsuper in early 2018 after working as a senior executive at UBS Group, stated in an interview that she will leave the company in July 2019 for personal reasons.

Chen stated that she is still a minority investor in the company as a result of shares she received while working there, but she has no involvement in its operations.

According to a filing with the companies registry, she resigned as a director of Coinsuper in March 2020. Chen was named as Coinsuper's largest individual shareholder in the company's most recent annual report, which was filed with the companies registry in October. She last mentioned Coinsuper on Twitter in November of 2019.

According to a press release that did not specify the amount raised, the company completed its most recent funding round in early 2019. A partner at one of Coinsuper's venture capital backers, who requested anonymity, said his firm has written off its entire roughly US$1 million investment.

According to the source, the firm lost contact with Coinsuper's management about 6 to 8 months ago, and Chen stopped responding on WeChat. According to data from Hong Kong's Companies Registry, several employees left the company between July and December.

Pantera Capital, led by veteran Bitcoin investor Dan Morehead, did not respond to requests for comment. Coinsuper was a part of the firm's June 2018 Series A funding round. Pantera's website continues to list the crypto exchange as one of its investments.

Coinsuper's last major announcement was on Twitter in September of last year, when it announced the addition of the Solana token and the Tether stablecoin to the exchange. Since December 1, its social media accounts have been inactive.

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Stockhead continues our cryptocurrency prediction series, with developers, thought leaders, founders, and creatives weighing in.

After lagging in 2021, DeFi tokens are expected to gain ground

"I think it's been interesting to see this year that leading assets in DeFi—the sector of crypto with the most solid user traction, product-market fit, and revenues—have significantly underperformed more speculative sectors like the metaverse, NFTs, and nascent L1 projects," says Jeremy Musighi, head of growth at Balancer, an automated portfolio manager and trading platform.

"Some experts, such as [Three Arrows Capital CEO] Su Zhu, have proposed that this reflects market scepticism about the long-term growth of the Ethereum ecosystem, in favour of DeFi ecosystems on other chains." However, I would like to highlight two points that I believe contradict this notion:

"1) DeFi protocols that have most aggressively expanded cross-chain (e.g., Aave, Sushi, Chainlink) have performed just as poorly in markets as those that have not.

"2) Managing native DeFi projects on Solana and Avalanche has also taken a beating" (That is Raydium, Trader Joe, Pangolin).

"The cryptocurrency market is both narrative-driven and cyclical." Momentum is constantly shifting from one sector to another, as whales cycle profits and narratives shift on a dime.

"Market narratives will continue to shift in 2022, and it's difficult to see them continuing to discount DeFi as they did in 2021."

DAOs, NFTs, and play-to-earn trends will continue to evolve

"I believe that many of the crypto trends that emerged in 2021 will evolve in 2022," says Xavier Ekkel, the Australian founder of prePO, a Singapore-based crypto platform that aims to disrupt pre-public investing by allowing retail investors to invest in projects as early as pre-IPO.

"DAOs will evolve from niche crypto collectives into a legitimate structure for forming a community around a common goal."

"NFTs will progress from collectable jpegs to high-utility multipurpose digital assets."

"Play-to-earn will transition from a crypto-native experiment to a business model adopted by the mainstream gaming industry" (alongside premium and freemium).

"The metaverse is already transitioning from a niche concept to a mainstream inevitability for which every major brand and crypto project will require a strategy, but high user counts will be years away."

"DeFi protocols' capital efficiency (including cross-chain) will continue to evolve, and the DeFi user experience will evolve from complex crypto-native interfaces requiring a crypto wallet to familiar FinTech UXs powered by DeFi infrastructure in the background."

"Layer-2 scaling solutions for Ethereum will transition from testing to rapid adoption, aided by native token incentives, massive ecosystem grants, and direct withdrawals from popular centralised exchanges."

'I'm very bullish on the market for next year.'

Yubo Ruan, the Stanford, California-based founder of Parallel Finance, the Polkadot and Kusama-based DeFi project with a total value of $675 million locked in, says he's looking forwards to a big 2022.

"Thanks to Layer 2 solutions, we will see much easier access for scalability and low-cost transactions next year, which means web3 applications such as marketplaces, social networks, and so on can exist more easily," Ruan told Stockhead.

"For these reasons, I am very bullish on the market for next year."

The mainstream acceptance of digital property

"There will be a lot of play-to-earn integration in blockchain gaming," predicts Bianca Beers, a Sydney-based NFT artist, designer, creator, and brand collaborator.

"This will reshape how we as a society interact with the world around us, including how we perceive value and value our time."

"With the rise of the play-to-earn culture, more social platforms will incorporate ways for creators to profit directly from posting." There will be a significant shift in how we view and value ourselves, as well as how we perceive online content.

"More and more, work, play, finances, and interactions will take place in digital spaces, causing a shift in the value of digital property — digital items will be perceived as just as 'real' or valuable in the common psyche as physical items and spaces."

"An interesting social divide will emerge between people who are open to the evolution and integration of the metaverse (and technology in general) and people who would prefer to interact solely in the physical world and live 'off-the-grid.'

"I predict that platforms will add fiat-purchase capabilities for NFTs, attracting a completely new demographic to the NFT community."

"There will be a tipping point towards mainstream adoption, with more companies accepting crypto and a shift towards digital payments, eventually leading to the abandonment of physical fiat."

Gaming assets that are interoperable

Beryl Li, co-founder of Yield Guild Games, a play-to-earn crypto gaming guild, predicts that Web2 games will begin incorporating crypto features such as governance and NFT assets in 2022.

Meanwhile, she predicts that native crypto and Web3 games will begin to offer more innovative tokeneconomics as well as interoperable gaming assets.

'Everything is becoming tokenized.'

"Security tokens will take off now that key infrastructure — broker-dealers, exchanges, and custodians — is in place," says Julian Kwan, CEO of InvestaX, a Singapore-based blockchain platform for digitising securities such as private equity and real estate.

According to Kwan, key players around the world include not only his company, but also OSL in Hong Kong, Archax in London, Atlas One in Canada, and Securitize, INX, Tzero and Republic in the United States.

"DeFi and CeFi will become more intertwined, with everything being tokenized, creating an explosion of value," Kwan says of decentralised and centralised finance.

According to Kwan, NFTs will continue to grow and will be divided into utility tokens representing art and collectibles and security tokens representing income and royalty streams.

"95 percent of projects will still fail," he predicts, "just like in the non-blockchain start-up world."

However, "crypto will continue to suck in capital and the number of users will continue to grow.... "Everything is turning into a token."

Using NFTs for Social Good

"We'll see more verticals harness the power of Web3 for higher purpose goals," says Bianca Musico, cofounder of AussieMates NFTs, a collection of digital kangaroo companions that can hop around with their owners in the metaverse, with a portion of the mint price going to a mental health charity.

"Imagine a future in which NFT ecosystems are used to reward social impact and better behaviour by industry and citizens alike, which is ultimately beneficial to the world."

"As an example, consider ecotourism. Imagine receiving a POAP (proof of attendance protocol) from each country you've visited and local ecotourism initiatives you've supported. "It's kind of like a virtual passport stamp for how much goodness you put back into the world."

"I predict that more creatives, NGOs, and agile small businesses will use NFTs to generate long-term revenue streams."

"As NFTs approach an exciting tipping point, NFT creators will devise more imaginative utility to attract and retain members." Similarly, NFT creators will face pressure to deliver on their promises."

'NFTs will revolutionise global economics,' says one expert.

"NFTs will fundamentally transform global economics – featuring verifiable ownership of digital assets; tokenization represents freedom, empowerment, streamlined efficiencies, eco-friendly alternatives, global interconnectedness, and opportunity," says Robbie Cochrane, cofounder of Chain Guardians, a sci-fi anime blockchain game and metaverse.

"2022 will be a year for economic advancement and the expansion of blockchain mass adoption, fuelled by cutting-edge innovation in NFTs."

NFTs will continue to evolve.

"Digital fashion NFTs will offer greater interoperability both across the Metaverse and into the real world," predicts Brad Morris, founder of tech-luxe fashion house MYAMI.

"NFT drops will foster deeper forms of connection and community belonging by bringing people together through shared passions, values, and interests." There's a community in the making, no matter who you are, where you are, or what your vibe is."

@Betty nft, the founder of the DeadFellaz NFT community, predicts big things for non-fungible tokens in the coming year.

"By 2022, we'll see NFTs begin to shake up the outdated structures of centralised businesses as mass adoption continues in gaming, sports, fashion, art, and other industries," she predicts.

"There will be a shift in power dynamics in a bilateral relationship between consumer and creator as a result of this."

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Less than a year after China announced its decision to crack down on cryptocurrency mining – not to mention Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, and Tunisia, as well as a de facto disruption in Kazakhstan as authorities shut down the entire internet – another country has followed suit in an effort to alleviate soaring energy prices and blackouts.

Kosovo, located in south-eastern Europe, announced this week that it would also ban mining after spending the previous 60 days in a government state of emergency due to an ongoing energy crisis.

The BBC reported power outages and protests after the country's largest coal-fired power plant shut down last month, owing to the government's high-priced imports of electricity. Authorities stated that the country imports roughly 40% of its energy, prompting Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli to announce the crypto ban in an effort to relieve the pressure.

"The Kosovo police have organised an action to discover and confiscate equipment for a minimum of crypto-currencies," said Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla on Facebook yesterday. "272 of these items were seized, and one person was arrested." All of the action took place and ended without incident.

Bitcoin mining already consumed more energy than 159 countries combined in 2017. Since then, the situation has deteriorated gradually, and there has been little progress in developing environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies. Indeed, some mining operations have allegedly turned entire lakes into hot tubs as a result of the heat and energy pumped by a nearby mining rig.

In short, the Kosovo ban makes sense, and the government doesn't appear to be slowing down seizures anytime soon.

"Such actions will continue until the decision of the Parliament and the government of the Republic is fully implemented," Svecla said in a statement.

Will the cryptocurrency ban actually help to alleviate the energy crisis? It's complicated, as the BBC reports, because geopolitical tensions with Russia and Ukraine are also playing a role in the crisis, but it's a step in the right direction for consumers and the environment.

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Investing in any stock, commodity, security, or cryptocurrency can be risky. While traditional investors who invest in the stock market or the equity market are protected from any type of scam or market malpractice through various regulatory authorities such as the FCA or SEC, cryptocurrency investors, on the other hand, are not.

Because cryptocurrency is largely an unregulated market, investors risk losing money due to volatility, scams, or hacking. Due to the lack of a regulatory authority, if an investor loses money, crypto companies are not currently obligated to cover these losses. This has frequently resulted in investors urging the need for crypto regulations or crypto insurance to protect themselves from losses.

In fact, according to a Chainalysis report titled 2022 Crypto Crime Report, crypto crimes totalled $14 billion in 2021. Scams involving digital wallets increased by 80% year on year. Scams on darknet markets and ransomware were among the illegal activities.

There is a growing demand for cryptocurrency insurance.

Given the market's unpredictability, market participants are increasingly in need of cryptocurrency insurance. The concept of crypto insurance is still in its infancy, and even the limited ones that are available do not cover all aspects of insurance. Because of the relative immaturity of the cryptocurrency market, most major insurance companies are wary of crypto insurance.

Currently, no government agencies or regulatory authorities offer crypto insurance. The insurance-backed cryptocurrency protection platform, Coincover, provides a limited form of insurance for wallets such as Vesto and Civic.

Coinbase, BlockFi, and Bitstamp are among the exchanges that provide crypto protection against crime, but they are not insurance. Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an independent agency of the US federal government, has been holding discussions on crypto insurance, but it is still in its early stages.

Can rules bring about insurance?

Crypto regulations could provide a significant boost to the insurance industry, bringing in larger players. When cryptos are legalised, they will become more traditional investment commodities, which could lead to larger banks and players offering dependable schemes to protect your investments.

The regulations may also serve as a watershed moment for the crypto insurance industry. Investors must be protected from unjustified losses, and safeguarding their investments or protecting them in the event of a fraud could go a long way towards strengthening the sector.

Conclusion

With the rise of institutional investment in cryptocurrencies, we may soon see the introduction of crypto insurance. This has a lot of potential, which could lead to more investors adopting it. 

Given the unpredictability of cryptocurrencies, this could be a novel idea that benefits investors and puts them in a better position to protect themselves from frauds or scams.

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You don't have to concentrate on specific cryptocurrencies to gain exposure to this market.

Options for investors who are interested in the cryptocurrency trend but do not want to invest in individual names such as Bitcoin are expanding.

In the episode of "The Virtual Opportunities Show," which aired on December 21, 2021, Fool contributors Asit Sharma and Demitri Kalogeropoulos highlight another investment opportunity that focuses on blockchain infrastructure projects.

10 stocks we prefer over Bitcoin

It can pay to listen when our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip. After all, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter, which they have been running for over a decade, has tripled the market.

They've just revealed their picks for the top ten stocks for investors to buy right now... and Bitcoin was not among them! Yes, they believe these ten stocks are even better buys.

Asit Sharma says: This was posted on CoinDesk.com. "Polkadot Parachains Go Live, Capping Yearslong Tech Build for Ambitious Blockchain Project," the headline reads. Now, I believe this is part of what Demitri was referring to. You're either spending a lot of time in this space to understand all of the terminology and various investment opportunities, or you're learning about it slowly. That's the title, which I probably wouldn't have understood even a few months ago, let alone a year or two ago, but bear with me as I explain.

Polkadot is essentially a technology that underpins and connects various blockchains. It has a technology called a parachain, which essentially means that you build a network that runs alongside a main network so that it can differ from the characteristics of the primary blockchain while remaining compatible and harmonious. In some ways, this resolves the issue of one blockchain technology versus another. Is Ethereum's technology better than Solana's?

These are big-picture battles, but there is plenty of room in the digital asset realm for different versions of blockchain technologies to coexist. They've basically been working on five of these parallel networks, or parachains. Acala, Moonbeam, Parallel Finance, Astar (spelt A-S-T-A-R), and Clover are their names.

That last name, Demitri, I think is a difficult one because Starbucks purchased a really great small coffee company that had designed a super advanced coffee machine with lots of variable controls. I believe they purchased it to eliminate their competitor, but that is known as a Clover. Clovers can still be ordered at various larger Starbucks around the world, as well as at financial institutions, so I'm not sure why they chose such a common name that already has different trademarks and usages associated with it.

Nonetheless, these are really interesting names, and according to this article, the parachains are really centred on DeFi, or decentralised finance investments and loans. I wanted to talk about this just to show you an example of the innovation going on in the space and to show you that it doesn't have to be a winner-take-all environment. You are not required to attempt to answer this massive question. Will Bitcoin eventually be the most valuable digital asset, or will Ethereum be the most valuable digital asset, or will Cardano or Solana become mainstream assets in which everyone wants to invest? I believe that as time passes, there will be opportunities to diversify into a variety of different blockchain technologies and digital assets that will endure. I believe that some of these technologies are creating investable ecosystems.

They're attracting capital, as you mentioned, Demitri, as well as enthusiastic first adopters and engineers, and as they build, they're also becoming more aware of the various types of regulation that will be imposed at some point. Some of the newer technologies are attempting to design themselves in such a way that they will continue to function even if the big hammer falls. In this first article that I wanted to share, I guess my message is very similar to yours.

There is a lot to learn, but you can take your time. My small addition to yours is that it is not a winner-take-all situation. If there is one aspect of the digital asset world that piques your interest as an investor, say, decentralised finance, then something like a Polkadot is for you, and there are other companies blazing trails in decentralised finance.

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Stablecoins are a good option for cryptocurrency investors looking for a hedge against volatility.

Stablecoins are a less volatile cryptocurrency than traditional cryptocurrencies.

Although cryptocurrencies are valuable, many investors are concerned about their price fluctuations. Bitcoin's value has increased by over 1,000 percent in the last three years. Over that time, the coin's value has also dropped dramatically. These price swings are simply too much for some investors to bear. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose values are linked to another asset such as the US dollar, a commodity, or even other cryptocurrencies. As a result, the currency's price remains more stable. J.R. Willett first proposed the concept of stablecoins in a white paper that was published online in 2012. They've skyrocketed since their inception. The total market capitalisation of the world's stablecoins exceeds $150 billion. Here's a list of the top tokens in this category, ranked by "best stablecoins."

Tether (USDT)

Tether, the world's first stablecoin, was founded in 2014 as Realcoin. It's also by far the largest, with a market cap of $78 billion. Tether, a fiat-based stablecoin, was first described in a white paper published in 2012. In other words, the value of each coin is roughly equivalent to the value of one US dollar held by the parent company Tether Operations Ltd. This means that the coins can always be exchanged for an equal amount of money in the United States. Despite paying a 2021 settlement to the New York attorney general's office over allegations of a lack of financial transparency, an auditing firm Moore Cayman reported in June 2021 that Tether's "reserves held for its digital assets issued exceed the amount required to redeem the digital asset tokens issued." InvestorsObserver, a market analysis firm, rates the coin as low risk, implying that price manipulation is unlikely.

Dai (DAI)

According to the white paper on MakerDAO's Dai stablecoin, "Dai is generated, backed, and kept stable" through the use of Ethereum-based currency deposited into MakerDAO's vaults. This deposited cryptocurrency serves as collateral for withdrawals of Dai currency by the user. Because the deposited cryptocurrencies are worth more than the US dollar, MakerDAO is able to keep its stablecoin pegged to the US dollar at a 1-to-1 ratio. This theory piqued the interest of some investors, as venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz invested $15 million in MakerDAO in September 2018, less than a year after the currency debuted. This amounted to 6% of the company's total token supply at the time. This institutional investment also contributes to the stability of the coin's value. Despite the fact that InvestorsObserver believes Dai is slightly more volatile than Tether, the currency is rated as low risk.

Binance USD (BUSD)

BUSD, the third-largest stablecoin in the world, is the next contender for best stablecoin, with a market cap of more than $14 billion. The New York State Department of Financial Services "greenlisted" Bitcoin USD in August 2020. This means four things for cryptocurrency investors. First, Paxos Trust Co., Binance's BUSD partner, has enough reserves to cover every BUSD coin in circulation. Second, regulators keep a close eye on the reserves that underpin these coins. Third, all reserves must be held in credible forms, such as US Treasury securities and FDIC-insured bank accounts. Finally, token reserves are completely independent of corporate assets. This means that they are distinct from any holdings declared by Paxos in bankruptcy filings, making the coins even more secure for investors. As a result, it's no surprise that InvestorsObserver rates the BUSD as low risk.

TrueUSD (TUSD)

TrueUSD was the first regulated stablecoin to be backed by the United States dollar. Of course, "regulated" is the key word in that statement. TUSD regulations were put in place because TrustToken Inc., the exchange that issues TrueUSD, wanted to protect the cryptocurrency industry's trust by rooting out fraudulent and manipulative schemes. As a result, TrueUSD is a relatively transparent coin with a market capitalisation of approximately $1.3 billion. Cohen & Company, a cryptocurrency audit and tax firm, has audited TUSD's reserves completely. Many investors are drawn to TrustToken because it does not charge any trading fees on its TUSD coins. However, TrustToken is not completely decentralised, and users must adhere to the TrustToken platform's standards. Regulatory actions on the TrustToken platform, in other words, will affect TUSD holders.

USD Coin (USDC)

USDC – like many of the coins on this stablecoins list – was created in collaboration with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) and Bitcoin mining company Bitmain Technologies Inc. USDC, which was launched in September 2018, has a current market cap of more than $42 billion, making it the second-largest stablecoin in terms of market capitalisation. Grant Thornton LLP, a Chicago-based accounting firm, certifies the USDC reserves on a monthly basis. The reserves, while attested to, are not audited. This means that the company will verify the accuracy of existing data but will not conduct an internal audit. InvestorsObserver considers USDC to be a low-risk cryptocurrency, despite its volatility ranking being slightly higher than that of industry leader Tether.

TerraUSD (UST)

The goal of TerraUSD, according to its white paper, is to be "both price-stable and growth-driven." TerraUSD's protocol is supported by Terra, Terra's own native cryptocurrency. It's pretty simple how this works. The Terra platform protocols incentivise users to earn extremely low-risk profits when TerraUSD's price is less than $1; by linking TerraUSD to the regular Terra (LUNA) coin and allowing LUNA to be exchanged for either UST or dollars (and vice versa), more UST is created when its price rises above a dollar, while the UST pool begins to contract when its price falls below a dollar, bringing the UST pool back into balance. This give and take keeps the TerraUSD price stable in relation to the USD. It appears to be effective. InvestorsObserver considers TerraUSD to be a low-risk coin, despite being rated slightly riskier than Tether and Binance USD.

Digix Gold Token (DGX)

DGX operates differently than the other stablecoins on this list. As a result, InvestorsObserver assigns a higher risk rating to this coin than to the others mentioned previously. According to the site, DGX is a medium-risk coin, which means that while the price may be more volatile, it is unlikely to be manipulated. Because DGX is not pegged to a fiat currency, its volatility has increased. Rather, each DGX coin is worth one gramme of gold. This means that the value of the coin is determined by the value of gold. The price of DGX changes in tandem with the price of gold. Although this increases the currency's volatility, many investors who believe in the power of hard assets find it appealing. There are approximately 58,000 DGX coins in circulation, with a market capitalisation of approximately $4.1 million.

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