cryptonews

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has reported that over 46,000 people have lost more than $1 billion to crypto scams in less than two years.

In a report published on June 3, 2022, FTC said cryptocurrency scams have risen by 60 times in size since 2018. They alleged the anonymity of the blockchain transactions has the main driver for crypto scams since the identity of the perpetrator is neither known nor the transaction reversible.

FTC said:

Crypto has several features that are attractive to scammers. There’s no bank or other centralized authority to flag suspicious transactions and attempt to stop fraud before it happens. Once the money’s gone, there’s no getting it back.

The top cryptocurrencies scammers used were bitcoin (70%), Tether USD (10%), and ether (9%).

FTC also noted that crypto scammers hunt for their victims mostly via social media. It said nearly half the people who fall victims to crypto since 2021 said it started with an ad, post, or message on a social media platform. The top platforms were Instagram (32%), Facebook (26%), WhatsApp (9%), and Telegram (7%).

Furthermore, it said most social media scams come disguised as business opportunities due to people’s tendency to fall for fake promises.

FTC added:

Indeed, since 2021, $575 million of all crypto fraud losses reported to the FTC were about bogus investment opportunities, far more than any other fraud type. The stories people share about these scams describe a perfect storm: false promises of easy money paired with people’s limited crypto understanding and experience.

Meanwhile, Romance scams accounted for $185 million in cryptocurrency since 2021.

The price of XRP is at a point where a breakdown of critical levels could result in a steep correction. On the other hand, the situation for XRP could flip bullish if the same levels are able to absorb the incoming sell pressure. If this happens, then we may see a bullish rally triggered.

Following the May 12 swing low at $0.336, the price of XRP bounced 38% towards a swing high at around $0.466. Since then, the remittance token has created a range that extends from $0.395 and $0.450 and has stayed within this range for the most part.

May 26 saw XRP’s price sweep the lower limit at $0.395 to create a somewhat equal low at $0.375 before attempting a rally. At this point, XRP had climbed 15% past the midpoint at $0.422, but the move failed to hold up. This sell-off pushed the token back to the range low of around $0.385 where it is currently trading.

Assuming bulls step in to save XRP, there may now be a chance for the price of XRP to sweep the equal lows formed at $0.375 and take a U-turn. If bulls step in, the resulting rally will likely move towards the range high at $0.450.

This move would constitute a 20% gain. However, if buyers do not book profit, then the total gain for the rally could reach 30% and look to challenge the $0.486 hurdle.

Even though things are looking relatively bullish for XRP, the narrative is based on the premise that bulls seize an opportunity around the $0.375 barrier.

Vitality T20 Blast has maintained its uniqueness through its show of riveting cricket games. As one of the top franchises in the T20, cricket fans always get to witness spectacular plays regularly.

The Benefit Season Tournament

Just as the T20 cricket is one of the most beloved cricket formats, cricket fans also love one of the sport’s oldest perks – the Benefit Season. It comes with its tradition of season-long benefits for players of many years’ service. 1xBit is poised to let fans participate in the Benefit Season tournament and share the 55 mBTC prize fund.

How to Register & Win

The Benefit Season tournament is a new opportunity to begin a lucky streak on 1xBit. The betting platform offers rewards for betting on any cricket matches during the tournament. It is a simple process to join the tournament; all anyone needs to do is register or log into their 1xBit account, click the “Take part” button on the tournament page, and place bets on any cricket matches.

It is the season of Benefits, and players should not let anything hold them back because the more bets, the higher the chances of winning. The tournament begins on June 3, 2022 and will continue until the late hours of July 18, 2022. The results of the tournament will be announced the next day.

Available Prizes to Be Won

Players with the longest streak of winning bets will win fantastic prizes in the Benefit Season tournament. The 55 mBTC prize fund will be shared by 10 lucky bettors who will get up to 10 mBTC.

Benefits of Using 1xBit

1xBit is a top online betting website that stands out amongst peers with its innovative model of using cryptocurrency as a form of payment. The sportsbook understands the importance of a simple onboarding process for potential users, thus implementing a simple registration process requiring only email. A successful registration comes with a generous welcome bonus of up to 7 BTC for the first four deposits.

While surfing the website, players can enjoy many features, like an extensive list of sports betting, live betting, esports, live casino, etc. Players can also enjoy instant payouts and pay zero fees for all earnings on 1xBit. It is worthy to note that all these transactions are cloaked with total anonymity offered by blockchain technology.

1xBit outpaces its opponents with its long list of more than 40 cryptocurrencies on the website, resolving to accommodate more crypto communities on the platform. If you enjoy the game of cricket, then the Benefit Season tournament is here for you. It is the time to earn more benefits for following your passion.

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Crypto.com, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced today that it received provisional approval for its Virtual Asset MVP License from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

This license allows Crypto.com to offer a full suite of crypto exchange products and services. The operating license under this specialized program is set to be issued as soon as the firm qualifies for all mandated requirements in the near term.

The Provisional License was granted following Crypto.com’s submission of documentation that outlined its assurance of compliance checks. The company will offer additional products and services to both institutional investors and qualified consumers following further due diligence and the final issuance of the Virtual Asset MVP License by VARA.

Established in March 2022, VARA oversees the issuing, trading, and authorizing of virtual assets in Dubai, regulates cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers, and monitors transactions to ensure the highest standards of consumer protection.

Talking about the VRA with CoinQuora, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, remarked that the United Arab Emirates is focused on developing a world-leading environment for innovative technology and collaboration. He strongly believes that cryptocurrencies, virtual assets, and blockchain will revolutionize the financial services sector.

Through our Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority and other important initiatives, we are attracting companies to the UAE to build on this vision and enable technologies of the future to flourish here.

Additionally, Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority that houses VARA, opined that establishing the specialized authority to regulate the virtual assets industry was a pioneering move by Dubai’s leadership.

Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, expressed his delight by saying: “We are excited to provide more of our products and services in a market of great importance to our business, and one that is equally committed to regulation and compliance. We look forward to working with regulators throughout the region to further expand Crypto.com’s offering and presence in the market.”

This is the latest example of Crypto.com expanding its capabilities in the Middle East and beyond. In March, Crypto.com announced its plans to set up a regional hub in Dubai. Crypto.com is also partnering with the UAE Government via Investopia to collectively advance global financial innovation both within the market and globally.

Charles Hoskinson fires back at Cardano criticism from Solana’s Co-founders.  On June 2, Twitter user @spudiot1 tagged Charles Hoskinson on a tweet with a podcast clip featuring Solana’s Co-founders – Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal. The podcast episode was uploaded 10 months ago and showed Yakovenko criticizing Cardano for being too careful.

In response, Charles Hoskinson ridiculed the criticism and said he would “love to see these guys build a hospital.”

So the primary criticism is that Cardano writes software carefully when billions of dollars are at stake from millions of users and thousands of businesses rely upon the infrastructure for their livelihood? I’d love to see these guys build a hospital. https://t.co/xjAmF7HPiu

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) June 2, 2022

The clip was from an August 2021 episode of the Superteam Podcast by Tanmay and Akshay. In context, the clip was from a segment of the Podcast where the hosts asked the Solana Co-founders to rank different chains. Yakovenko placed Cardano second to last, and prefaced his opinions by jokingly saying that it’s popular to “shit on Cardano”. 

Ironically, ten months later this clip resurfaced as Solana went offline for the eighth time in 2022. Yesterday, Solana’s mainnet caused a commotion on social media before going down for the second time in such a short period of time.

Approximately four and a half hours were lost due to the Solana Mainnet Beta delay. After this period of time, validators were finally able to restore service to the main network.

After Solana’s stoppage, Hoskinson tweeted a link to a video that teaches how to fix old video game consoles, saying that “this might help.”

When a user questioned the creator of Cardano whether he believes excessive arrogance may play a cruel joke on him as it did on Do Kwon and Luna, Hoskinson replied that nothing is absolutely safe.

My problem and why I tweet is that we were mocked relentlessly by the Solana and Luna backers and community for trying to do things the right way with peer review and formal methods in order to avoid these issues.

In May, Cardano thrived in the bear market as it had funded almost 950 proposals. Cardano’s on-chain wallets also increased from the previous month by 1.84%.

Originally reported by Bloomberg Law, the White House moves to set up policy recommendations to decrease the energy consumption and the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency mining activities.

Costa Samaras, principal assistant director for energy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said:

It’s important if this is going to be part of our financial system in any meaningful way, that it’s developed responsibly and minimizes total emissions. When we think about digital assets, it has to be climate and energy conservation.

The policy is expected by August 2022, and it aims to dissect the claims that have touted cryptocurrency as a local nuisance and a climate nightmare.

The team plans to assess the local noise pollution and the energy efficiency of different mining techniques. They will compare Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism with the proof-of-stake (PoS) technique of other cryptocurrencies, which is more than 99% energy efficient.

Crypto mining is chiefly a process of completing and verifying transactions of decentralized digital tokens on a blockchain network. Before the BTC and ETH blockchain network verifies a transaction, crypto miners solve a complex mathematical equation for a reward. This process is energy-intensive as it puts computers on the network at a race with each other. Last year, miners earned more than $15 billion, according to data from The Block Research.

The Ethereum team plans to migrate from PoW to PoS. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has announced no plans to do so despite public campaigns calling for it to follow suit.

At this point, anybody with an internet connection has come across or heard of NFTs. Some may believe NFTs to be a fad. However, they have expanded and continue to do so across several industries, such as gaming and real estate. Now, it will take the events industry by storm.

Covering the Basics

NFTs or non-fungible tokens, as described by most websites, refer to digital assets that represent real-world objects, such as art, music, and more. What this truly means is that through blockchain technology, these intangible, digital assets are verifiable, allowing the owner to prove their ownership of the said asset. The first stages of the NFT journey can be recognized by introducing NFT art, such as The Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks.

Not long after the popularity of NFTs started to grow — other industries, such as gaming, took a leap of faith through the integration of NFTs. This has created a new sector known as GameFi, which allows gamers to earn money through NFTs as they play games. The latest industry to take on the integration of NFTs is events. As much as NFTs make sense in the art and gaming world, some may ask, how can NFTs be present in the world of events? With several benefits, let’s take a look at some of the top uses for NFTs in events.

Memorabilia

Collecting tickets and stashing them in a shoebox is something that the 80s and 90s kids can admit to doing at some point in their teenage years. Life can be unpredictable though, and sometimes these memory boxes are lost or forgotten. NFTs, in the form of event tickets, are the perfect digitalized memorabilia that are unique to the holder and are engraved into the blockchain forever. These digital collectibles, depending on their uniqueness, can then increase in value over time, proving to be a potentially valuable investment.

Gifting

Who doesn’t love gifts? Whether a gala event or even a concert, NFTs as gifts could truly be an attractive part of the process. The gifting of NFTs is not a new concept. The 2021 Oscars gave NFTs to some nominees. Going as far back as 2019, NFTs were sent to conference members at the Consensus conference, which would then be redeemable for different gifts. Instead of having event attendees look under their seats for a golden ticket, the gift will be attached to their NFT ticket, allowing event organizers to confirm and verify the winners. Probably the most exciting part about gifting NFTs at events is that NFTs have the possibility of increasing in value, serving as a bonus to those who receive these gifts.

Anti-Scalping

Time and again, the events industry has seen ticket resellers inflate the price of tickets for highly demanded shows, ultimately raking in high profits while causing the buyers to spend a lot more than what the tickets are worth. With NFT tickets, specific rules (also known as smart contracts) can be implemented into the code of the NFT tickets, which could disable ticket holders from reselling their tickets at a hiked price. This concept can ensure that all event attendees and ticket purchases receive an equal chance to access the event without having others exploiting them through ticket scalping.

Where To Next?

As far-fetched as the idea of NFTs entering the events industry may sound, existing projects such as Project Galaxy protocol are already entering this exciting space. Project Galaxy has introduced the Galaxy OAT (On-Chain Achievement Token), which allows event organizers to distribute lightweight NFT badges in connection to the tickets. In essence, tickets will be verified through this protocol, attaching the credentials of the event through this NFT technology. Through Polygon Studios, powered by Polygon, as well as NFT Storage powered by IPFS and File Coin, event organizers will be able to build and distribute NFT badges to easily reward their community members and event-goers. Event organizers can submit the parameters and design of the badge, which will then allow ticket holders to claim their NFT via email in a gas-less minting environment.

The Future Is Now

NFTs are certainly not going anywhere any time soon, and they are continuing to expand across several industries – proving not to be a fad. The event space can truly benefit in many different ways, whether event organizers are looking to increase ticket safety, decrease ticket scalping, or even use NFTs as a tool to gift event-goers, with protocols such as Project Galaxy already jumping on the concept. Watch this space as we enter the new age of events and technology.