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Trend forecaster Gerald Celente told Bitcoin.com News that World War III has begun, weighing in on Covid-19, crypto, the Great Reset, and gold in an exclusive interview. Jordan Belfort, aka the Wolf of Wall Street, talked long-term BTC investing, as scorching inflation in the U.S. continues to plague Americans, though Bidens White House says the latest numbers are out-of-date. All this and more in your bite-sized digest of this weeks hottest stories from Bitcoin.com News.

This week Bitcoin.com News spoke with Gerald Celente, the popular trends forecaster, and publisher of the Trends Journal. During a telephone conversation, Celente discussed the uncertainty surrounding the global economy after governments worldwide locked down the worlds citizens over the Covid-19 pandemic, shut down businesses and injected trillions into the economy.

The discussion touches upon gold, bitcoin, the pandemic, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the Federal Reserve. The trends forecaster believes that World War III has already begun, and if people do not assemble to bolster peace in this world, then we the people are doomed. Celente stressed that if people want real change, they cannot rely on hope as they need to take a stand to make it happen themselves.

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Jordan Belfort, aka the Wolf of Wall Street, says if you take a three, four, or five-year horizon, he would be shocked if you didnt make money investing in bitcoin because the underlying fundamentals are really strong.

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Shark Tank star Kevin OLeary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has warned of an impending big panic event in the crypto space. I dont believe weve seen the bottom yet and I have a different view of it, he said.

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According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, U.S. inflation remains scorching hot as it has risen at the fastest yearly rate since 1981. Junes CPI data reflected a 9.1% year-over-year increase, even though a number of bureaucrats and economists thought Mays CPI data would be the record peak.

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What are your thoughts on this weeks hottest stories from Bitcoin.com News? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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'World War III Has Begun,' Says Gerald Celente; Plus, Long-Term BTC Predictions and Scorching US Inflation Bitcoin.com News Week in Review The...

BitMEX Research recently published a report detailing why Ethereum has dwarfed Bitcoin as the center of Dapp and developer activity within crypto. While there are technical reasons for the discrepancy, the team claims that Bitcoin developer culture prior to Ethereums launch drove alternative use cases away from its ecosystem.

The report explores online discussions from March 2014 among Bitcoin Core developers pertaining to Bitcoins application layer. They began with the launch of the Counterparty protocol early that year a layer 2 solution for creating new tokens and trading them on a distributed exchange.

Counterparty uses OP_Return to store data a type of transaction output that is provably unspendable. The function can be used to burn Bitcoin or store arbitrary data in the Bitcoin blockchain, explained BitMEX.

Some say these types of transactions help to scale Bitcoin, as they do not require pruned Bitcoin nodes to store their data. This makes running a node less storage intensive for the average person, helping Bitcoin retain its decentralization.

Nevertheless, on March 20th, 2014, Bitcoin contributor Jeff Garzik began criticizing CounterPartys use of Bitcoin blockchain space in a Bitcointalk forum. He argued that the functions storage of arbitrary data in the blockchain could have negative or unintended consequences and that more efficient scaling solutions such as sidechains already existed.

In a quick back and forth, Counterparty developers ultimately agreed with Garziks stance. They asked to discuss solutions with Bitcoin core developers on how Counterparty can survive while utilizing the security of Bitcoins blockchain in a responsible manner.

However, Bitcoiners did little to support the lesser protocol. Instead, a Bitcoin dev and mining pool operator at the time named Luke-Jr accused Counterparty users of forcing Bitcoin nodes to store unexpected transaction types against their will. Like Garzik, he recommended merge-mined sidechains as a place for such alternative uses of blockchain data.

Hopefully as mining returns to being decentralized, we will see less toleration of abusive/spam transactions whether the OP_RETURN variant or otherwise, he concluded.

Backing up his statement, Luke-Jr then began censoring all Counterparty-related transactions at his mining pool. On March 28th, he then compared Counterpartys use of blockchain space to abuse against Bitcoin nodes.

Luke-Jrs statement and actions drew anger from many members of the Counterparty community. Their counter-arguments centered around Luke-Jrs seeming attempt to dictate what the Bitcoin blockchain was meant to be used for. I cant believe this attitude, said one user. I didnt know bitcoin had owners.

Others argued that Counterpartys transactions constituted financial transactions and therefore were in line with what Bitcoin nodes agreed to store. You have a much narrower view of the possible use cases for Bitcoin than do others, said Counterparty co-founder PhantomPhreak.

Bitcoin does lots of things that it was not originally intended to do, he continued. We dont want to extend the Bitcoin protocol. We want to do something entirely within it, and as simply and directly as possible, for the benefits of stability, security, etc..

Based on the overwhelming reaction from Counterpartys community, BitMEX suspects that this moment drove many developers away from Bitcoin to develop their projects on Ethereum.

As BitMEX elaborates, sidechains had failed to gain critical mass as a scaling solution for Bitcoin due to various limitations of the technology despite support from Counterpartys opponents.

One of these limitations involved the complexity of building such a sidechain. Developers simply did not have time to build a secure, merge-mined sidechain before other protocols won market share. Though sidechains like Rootstock and Liquid now exist, they are still dwarfed by Ethereum in popularity.

A second constraint surrounds the use of Bitcoin as a native asset on each chain while remaining pegged to the main Bitcoin chain. To this day, developers are yet to find a solution for building a fully trustless two-way peg between blockchains. In January, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote a Reddit post on why he believes the security of blockchain bridges is fundamentally flawed.

Finally, sidechains are thought to have limited use cases that dont ultimately require security guarantees from the main chain. Therefore, sidechains may not fully solve Bitcoins data storage issues, depending on the application.

It seems that some of the people arguing in favor of sidechains as a solution was not particularly interested in many of the Dapp applications nor had they experimented with them, stated BitMEX.

Ethereum also holds properties that make it more developer and user-friendly, such as faster block times, a less conservative blocksize constraint, and a more flexible scripting language.

However the most significant factor is culture, concluded the report.

Late last month, the popular crypto venture capitalist and researcher Nic Carter wrote a scathing essay against Bitcoiners who denied alternative use-cases for blockchains, such as stablecoins and decentralized finance.

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BitMEX Explains Why Ethereum Has More Dapps Than Bitcoin - CryptoPotato

European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Chair Verena Ross says that the crypto market crash should be a cautionary lesson for investors. She noted that there is a real question about whether many crypto assets will survive.

Verena Ross, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), has cautioned investors about cryptocurrency investing after the crypto market lost 70% of its value, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

Emphasizing that there was no prospect of a European bailout for out-of-pocket crypto investors, she said:

We already warned earlier this year...about the serious risks retail investors were taking investing in some of the crypto assets.

ESMA will be responsible for licensing crypto asset service providers as recently agreed in Brussels as part of the provisional agreement on the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) proposal. The deal will enter into force from mid-2023 and has an 18-month implementation period.

The regulator will have the power to ban or restrict crypto platforms if they are seen to not properly protect investors, or threaten market integrity or financial stability.

Ross expressed concerns about small investors losing money, citing that the global crypto market has shrunk by more than 70% in the past year. In May, cryptocurrency terra (LUNA) and stablecoin terrausd (UST) collapsed, wiping out many investors. She opined:

I think there is a real question about whether many of these [crypto assets] will survive.

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, warned in May after the collapse of LUNA and UST that many crypto tokens will fail.

The ESMA chair continued: I hope that some of these investors will see this and will take a cautionary lesson at least to think about how much of their money they invest in these kinds of assets.

In March, ESMA and other leading European financial regulators warned consumers that many crypto assets are highly risky and speculative, noting that investors face the very real possibility of losing all their invested money if they buy these assets.

Ross was further quoted as saying:

We have all said that this is something that is not currently regulated, not something where there is any control over the providers We know there is a lot of fraud and aggressive marketing going on.

Last month, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, warned that crypto assets and decentralized finance (defi) could pose financial stability risks. This would be particularly the case if the rapid growth of crypto-asset markets and services continue and the interconnectedness with both the traditional financial sector and the broader economy is intensified, she stressed.

On Monday, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced that it will deliver a report outlining a robust regulatory framework for crypto assets to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in October.

What do you think about the comments by ESMA Chair Verena Ross? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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EU Regulator Warns About Crypto Questions Whether Many Will Survive Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

This is an opinion editorial by Interstellar Bitcoin, a contributor to Bitcoin Magazine.

Whether we like it or not, Bitcoiners still live in a world built on fiat currency. Fiat rules everything around us, from the food we eat to the houses we live in. Until we burn the ships, we are not prepared to realize our eventual victory.

In 1519, Hernn Corts led a Spanish army to modern-day Mexico to conquer the Aztec Empire. Upon landfall, two leaders mutinied to return to Cuba at the order of the governor who had commissioned the fleet Corts led. In response, Corts scuttled his fleet to forestall any future mutiny by closing the sole path of retreat.

Against all odds, Corts went on to defeat an opposing force of over 300,000 Aztecs, a few thousand Spaniards, superior military technology, an unforeseen smallpox outbreak, and shrewd political alliances ultimately prevailed.

Many of those on the expedition had never seen combat before, including Corts himself. Historians will point to August 13, 1521, as the final victory of the Spanish campaign against the Aztec Empire. However, Corts truly won the moment he burned the ships.

At its core, the metaphor of burning the ships represents the point of no return: the psychological commitment to crossing a line in the sand once and for all. Beyond this event horizon, there can be no hedging or looking over ones shoulder. From now on, everything all thoughts and efforts must be focused on succeeding in the new reality.

Like Corts, Bitcoiners have crossed the Atlantic to the promised land. However, while Bitcoiners still use fiat money, we will not be truly free. Until we burn the ships, we will not win.

Bitcoiners are the remnant. We lead by example. We must show the world we are not afraid to live on a bitcoin standard. We must use bitcoin not just as our store of value but as the unit of account and medium of exchange for our daily lives.

We must strive for peace and prosperity, by building circular bitcoin economies that remain resilient against the volatility of the fiat exchange rate. We must keep studying to build the knowledge and intellectual depth upon which rigorous discourse can thrive. We must build large stacks upon which generational wealth is built. In the end, only the strong survive.

There is a nascent movement in the Bitcoin cultural sphere known as #GetOnZero which polarizes many people. This movement represents burning the ships. This state change is both functional and psychological. It drives companies to build better products for Bitcoiners. It drives Bitcoiners to harden our resolve as Bitcoiners. It shows we are willing to go down with the ship. It proves we are fearless in the face of insurmountable odds.

Give me Bitcoin or give me death.

The critics will say its too early or point to statistics in an attempt to rationalize why holding some fiat currency is better. While such notions may seem correct on paper, in practice, until Bitcoiners take that grand leap of faith, we are not prepared to do what it takes to win. Until we are ready to completely let go of fiat currency, it will continue to culturally and functionally survive. Bitcoiners, like Corts, must embrace burning the ships. Once we do, the process of hyperbitcoinization already underway will rapidly accelerate.

The moment Bitcoiners burn the ships is the moment Bitcoiners win.

This is a guest post by Interstellar Bitcoin. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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For Bitcoin To Win, We Must Burn The Ships - Bitcoin Magazine

A new report by the European Central Bank (ECB), presented as a deep dive into crypto financial risks, calls for appropriate regulation and oversight of stablecoins and decentralized finance (defi). It also addresses the hot topic of Bitcoins carbon footprint in Europe, suggesting a ban on proof-of-work mining is probable.

Crypto-related financial risks, those associated with stablecoins and defi platforms in particular, as well as the threat to climate transition goals blamed on energy-intensive methods of crypto mining, are in the focus of the latest edition of the Macroprudential Bulletin issued by the European Central Bank (ECB). Key moments in the report published in July were highlighted this week by Patrick Hansen, crypto venture advisor at Presight Capital.

Exploring the policy implications of these segments of the crypto market, the authors of the paper insist that the growth and increasing use of stablecoins around the world require immediate implementation of the necessary regulatory, supervisory, and oversight frameworks, such as the MiCA legislation, before the interconnection between these digital currencies and the traditional financial system deepens further.

Recognizing the important role of stablecoins for the crypto ecosystem in one of the three articles in the bulletin, the ECB experts point out that their critical function could have contagion effects for the financial system, if unbacked crypto assets pose a risk to financial stability in the future. Reminding of Mays collapse of the terrausd (UST) algorithmic stablecoin, they comment:

Recent developments show that stablecoins are anything but stable, as exemplified by the crash of terrausd and the temporary de-pegging of tether.

Initially serving mainly as a relatively safe parking space, the use cases for stablecoins have multiplied in recent years, the eurozones monetary authority notes, even more so with the rise of defi applications, which represent another rapidly expanding segment of the crypto market, especially over the past year.

While acknowledging that defi platforms employ technology-enabled innovation and differ in certain aspects such as how assets are held, trust is generated and systems governed, the ECB claims they do not create novel financial products but rather mimic those offered by traditional financial providers. At the same time, defi is in many ways subject to the same vulnerabilities as traditional finance, the central bank says, elaborating:

Defi protocols or platforms claim to have a decentralized governance structure, although in reality governance is often concentrated.

The ECB believes that efforts are needed to regulate and supervise the defi space effectively, despite the challenges that stem from its decentralized and anonymous nature, that make the task harder for policymakers and respective authorities. The European Central Bank urges for a coordinated approach on the international level and common standards to identify and fill the regulatory gaps.

ECBs Macroprudential Bulletin comes as the European Union progresses towards adopting and implementing the comprehensive MiCA regulatory package. Key EU institutions recently reached an agreement on the legislation. A controversial proposal to prohibit the provision of services for cryptocurrencies using the power-hungry proof-of-work (PoW) mining was dropped from the draft.

Members of the crypto industry and community had warned that such a measure would have amounted to a ban on Bitcoin. But the ECB article asking the question Is climate risk priced into crypto assets? argues that authorities can incentivize the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms, described as the crypto version of the electric vehicle, and restrict or ban the PoW mechanisms, referred to as the crypto version of the fossil fuel car.

So, while a hands-off approach by public authorities is possible, it is highly unlikely, and policy action by authorities (e.g. disclosure requirements, carbon tax on crypto transactions or holdings, or outright bans on mining) is probable, the authors think. In their opinion, its also unlikely that the EU will restrict or ban fossil fuel cars by 2035, but not take action against crypto assets with their carbon emissions which they say are enough to negate most euro area countries greenhouse gas emission savings.

Do you think the EU will introduce strict regulations for crypto assets and ban bitcoin mining? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchenss quote: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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ECB Calls for Urgent Regulation of Stablecoins and Defi, Won't Rule Out Bitcoin Mining Ban Regulation Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Be[In]Crypto analyzes this weeks price movements for Bitcoin (BTC), gold, and our wildcard pickthe Ark Invest Innovation ETF.

Bitcoin has struggled to maintain a price level above $20,000 over the past two weeks. On July 1, BTC spiked up to nearly $21,000, before dropping back just above $19,000 by the next day. BTC rose from this point on July 4 reaching nearly $20,500 on July 5. Apart from a dip later that day BTC continued rising the following day and reached $22,000 by July 8. Sinking a bit the next day, BTC proceeded to fall below $21,000 on July 10 and then $20,000 on July 12. Apart from a brief bump over the past day, BTC is currently trading just below $20,000.

Bitcoin was able to reclaim the key psychological level of $20,000 despite red hot US inflation data. This will push the Federal Reserve to get more aggressive in tightening monetary conditions to slow the consumer-price increases. Bitcoin prices dropped following the release of the CPI data, according to Charles Tan, CMO, Atato. In an interesting but much-anticipated development, US inflation soared to a 41-year high as suggested by the latest CPI day, he said.

Gold has dropped a bit over the past two weeks. On July 1 the price of gold was roughly $1,805. Despite dipping from there, it hit $1,810 by July 4, which it maintained until the next day.

However, gold proceeded to see two midday drops in a row to $1,770, then $1,740 on July 6. There, it traded almost continuously until dipping to $1,730 on July 12. After a bump back to $1,740 on July 13 gold dropped again and is currently trading around $1,705.

Gold prices are hovering near a one-year low, as the dollar extended its rally after a hot U.S. inflation report affirmed expectations around an aggressive Federal Reserve rate hike. Gold tends to be pressured when interest rates rise as this increases the opportunity cost of holding bullion since it yields no interest. Gold is lower amid fresh attempts to send the dollar higher, especially against the yen while EUR/USD is holding above parity, said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.

Similar to the cryptocurrency markets, the Ark Invest Innovation ETF has taken a hit over the past few months. At the beginning of April ARKK was trading at around $70. From there it proceeded to fall in a linear fashion over the course of the rest of the month, hitting around $47 on May 1. Despite a small recovery, it fell even further during a period of greater volume to a low of $35 on May 12. From there it pumped back up to around $45, where it largely continued into June. On June 13, ARKK gapped down to $37, then ramped back up to $46 by June 27. After another dip to $40 and rise to $46, ARKK is currently trading around $43.

Earlier this week The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed making a decision on the ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application, adopting the same playbook it used before rejecting Grayscale last month. The SEC has extended the window for it to decide whether to approve the ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF application, pushing back the date for a decision by 45 days to Aug. 30.

According to a filing, the SEC through Matthew DeLesDernier, its assistant secretary, stated that postponing its decision was appropriate to earn sufficient time to consider the proposals before it.

DisclaimerAll the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk.

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Gold, Stocks, and Bitcoin: Weekly Overview July 14 - BeInCrypto

Saturday 16 July 2022 11:09 pm

As the bear market wears on, some are now calling for Bitcoin to go to zero as the number of such statements on Twitter has soared as of late. Others say cryptocurrencies are all a scam including Ethereum. Not much different from the FUD spread in 2014 and 2018.

History always rhymes. Today, we even have some thought leaders saying decentralised systems such as DeFi will never work as they point to the failures of Celcius, LUNA, BlockFi, and Voyager among others. Yet these were centralised companies! They were banking start-ups that were 20:1 leveraged, taking in short-term deposits while lending long to each other and others. Voyager lied to investors saying they were FDIC insured. BlockFi misrepresented its level of risk.

Meanwhile, DeFi protocols such as Aave, Compound, Uniswap, and MakerDAO cannot make such misrepresentations because everything is transparent on the blockchain. All were absolutely fine with 100% uptime. During the LUNA crash, DEXs continued to function flawlessly while some CEXs were forced to halt withdrawals.

The CeFi collapse proved DeFi works great even in the face of CeFi cataclysm. DeFi powers the financial backbone of blockchain for retail, institutional, and green loans. Yields secure the blockchain while incentivizing liquidity to minimize slippage. DeFis discipline for over-collateralization protects customers from CeFi. They can monitor their respective, fully transparent blockchain protocols knowing that code will execute all transactions. By contrast, CeFi shares no balance sheet visibility nor actions taken with your funds. CeFi under-collateralized in some cases while DeFi over-collateralizes typically between 110-150% with majors such as Aave, Compound, and MakerDAO at 200-300%.

All this disinformatic FUD reminds me of the early 2000s after the dot-com bubble burst with many making claims that the internet was just a fad and that streaming takes too much bandwidth while questioning how anything good could come from technology that was catalysed by pornography and credit card fraud.

Some argue that digital land is infinite and can be easily duplicated so question its inherent value. One can also travel in an instant from one area of the metaverse to another. But just as in the physical world, in the metaverse, its all about location, location, location. Think of it this way. Imagine if Google allowed you to place your ad on Googles landing page google.com. It would be seen by hundreds of millions of users. This might be the most expensive digital real estate.

With web3, its the person who owns the digital real estate that matters rather than in web2 where its the company who owns it. NFTs identify the owners. Big names will attract more eyeballs thus businesses will want to adspend in such places. Big name concerts in the metaverse will attract huge audiences. Advertisers will want to adspend on such occasions. While the Superbowl attracted 208 million viewers, a Superbowl held in the metaverse through multiple streaming sites can attract even more.

Online land will be worth more than physical land. Why? Because in the physical world, a business without online presence can only serve people local to that area, but the audience for the metaverse is global. So the number of eyeballs seeing your ad is orders of magnitude greater in the metaverse than in the physical world enabling customers to buy your product from anywhere on the planet. While e-commerce has massively impacted retail sales over the years #amazonetal, metaversal constructs from live performances to gaming platforms are already having an economic impact on advertising. People in avatar form might walk out of a virtual concert together and then meander down an adjacent virtual shopping strip. Just like in the physical world, then, the shops closest to the virtual conference hall will get the most foot traffic.

The metaverse is likely to have key clusters which pull in many eyeballs. Entrepreneurs can try to launch their own businesses in these clusters by developing novel resources that serve as hubs that would attract others to build around. This means digital land can be especially valuable to users when it sits atop a platform architecture thats already popular such as The Sandbox which integrates many digital communities. Some metaverse platforms will be built to support digital versions of day-to-day tasks while others will be multidimensional gaming worlds. Composability, a core feature of web3, lets people build on/add to existing frameworks to offer new services. Metaversal land is decentralized so anyone can create and benefit as opposed to web2 digital space which is controlled by central entities such as Google, Facebook (Meta), and Youtube. But just as with these centralized systems, the most successful metaversal platforms will be the ones that provide the greatest utility thus will attract the most users.

Keep an eye on SAND, MANA, and ENJ as three that led in the prior cycle that could continue to lead in the next bull cycle. All three still have formidable valuations though just as with all other cryptocurrencies, are off around -85% peak-to-trough since they peaked in late 2021. It will come down to the utility each provides their users. Utility can take the form of entertainment, finance, business, marketing, art, and music, among other themes. Each company has a vast network of users.

SAND jumped 20% when it was rumored it could be the target of a buyout. A property in SAND was recently acquired by HSBC, one of the worlds top banks. The Metaverse Standards Forum was recently unveiled and is comprised of Sony and Alibaba, but any company can join the group. It is designed to facilitate coordination and cooperation among the hundreds of enterprises competing for position in the metaverse.

Others say the metaverse is a meaningless buzzword. In reality, as with all words meanings, it has its roots in the PC revolution of the 1980s which pushed embryonic versions of the metaverse into mass adoption. Blockchain exponentially accelerates metaversal use cases from gaming to art to music to jobs to law to governance to publishing to most all creative endeavors. Blockchain as the beating heart of the metaverse blurs the line between the physical and digital worlds. Blockchain creates an efficient and transparent system for conveying rights and ownership such that groups can quickly coordinate to fund and pursue goals, catalyzed by DAOs.

Decentralised platforms on which to build and create provide a dev architecture that is limitless, private, secure, and uncensorable while minimizing switching costs. Contrast this with centralised systems that own your data and control your money. Such may not seem like such an issue until it is an issue. Those who tried to help the protesting truck drivers in Canada had their bank accounts frozen.

AI together with blockchain further catalyses freedoms in numerous ways while making the reporting of truth economic. I may not like what youre saying, but I defend your right to say it. Meanwhile, the centralized cancel-culture spurs censorship. We are supposed to convince people of things through rational debate, not starve them of information.

Fundamentally, blockchain has to do with freedom. Bitcoin is the magna carta of code. Blockchain drives transparency. Freedom is the use case. The 3AC disaster could not have happened with an on-chain protocol that was transparent.

(:B :B)

Dr Chris Kacher, PhD nuclear physics UC Berkeley/record breaking KPMG audited accts in stocks & crypto/bestselling author/top 40 charted musician/blockchain fintech specialist. Co-founder of Virtue of Selfish Investing, TriQuantum Technologies, and Hanse Digital Access. Dr Kacher bought his first Bitcoin at just over $10 in January-2013 and contributed to early Ethereum dev meetings in London hosted by Vitalik Buterin. His metrics have called every major top & bottom in Bitcoin since 2011 to within a few weeks. He was up in 2018 vs the avg performing crypto hedge fund (-54%) [PwC] and is up well ahead of Bitcoin & alt coins over the cycles as capital is force fed into the top performing alt coins while weaker ones are sold.

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Time to pour cold water on the FUD and misinformation from Bitcoin doubters - City A.M.

Bitcoin (BTC) may have further to fall, but CoinShares chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors believes the top cryptocurrency will reach new all-time highs within the next 24 months.

Speaking on CNBCs Squawk Box on Monday, Demirors noted that Bitcoin has always been a cyclical asset with drawdowns from peak to trough at 80 to 90% historically.

With Bitcoin currently sitting at about 65% down from its all-time highs in November 2021, Demirors believes there is still room for some downward correction.

However, Demirors noted there has been strong support around $20,000 and that she did not expect Bitcoin to fall below $14,000. She predicted the pain would be a distant memory by 2024, saying:

Bitcoin is currently priced at $19,401, down 2% in 24 hours and down 72% from its all-time high.

A reversal may be some time off, however, given Demirors can see no near upside catalysts which could signal more pain in store for weaker crypto projects.

We obviously had a lot of liquidations, a lot of insolvencies that had a massive impact on the market. [...] Were talking about $10, $20, $30 billion of capital that has basically evaporated overnight:

Demiror said she expected a large number of crypto assets to be wiped out during the bear market, similar to what has been seen in tech stocks.

Theres a very long, long tail of crypto assets that I think will go to zero, that doesnt really have any long-term prospect as weve seen with so many tech stocks as well.

Louis Schoeman, managing director at broker comparison site Forex Suggest, has a similar view. In a recent 9News report, hepredicted that the current crypto downturn could kill off as much as 90 percent of all crypto projects.

This is a cleansing process, Schoeman said, adding that only the strongest crypto projects will survive this bear market.

But it also serves as a massive opportunity for many no-coiners to enter the crypto market for the first time. Fortune favors the brave in crypto right now.

Related: Despite 'worst bear market ever,' Bitcoin has become more resilient, Glassnode analyst says

Last month, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said he doesnt expect the crypto bear market to be over until theres a better focus on applications with business-focused utility.

Cuban also believes mergers between different protocols and blockchains will eventually see the crypto industry consolidate, as thats what happens in every industry.

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Bitcoin to make new all-time-highs within 24 months: Coinshares CSO - Cointelegraph

About 14% of Saudi residents are either current crypto investors or have traded crypto in the past six months, the latest Kucoin study has found. The study has also found that 76% of investors have less than one year of experience and thus may be in need of relevant crypto education.

Around three million Saudi Arabians, or about 14% of the adult population aged 18 to 60, are either crypto investors or have traded crypto over the last six months, the latest study conducted by the cryptocurrency exchange Kucoin has shown. The study findings also suggested that a further 17% of the countrys adults are said to be crypto-curious and are likely to invest in cryptocurrencies over the coming six months.

According to the crypto exchanges Into The Cryptoverse report, the study also looked at how Saudi residents sentiment toward crypto trading has shifted since the onset of the ongoing crypto winter.

In the first quarter of 2022, 49% of crypto investors intended to increase investment in cryptocurrencies over the coming six months. The onset of the bearish market in the second quarter of 2022 saw a reversal of investor sentiment toward more conservative strategies related to the holding of cryptocurrencies, the report noted.

The report added that since the start of Q2, some 31% of crypto owners in the country have signaled a desire to keep their crypto balance as is rather than increase their investment. In contrast, investors with lower incomes have tended to liquidate part of their portfolios during the same period.

Meanwhile, Kucoin said it found that 76% of the investors have less than one year of experience. About 49% of these investors have only started crypto trading or investing in crypto in the past six months. According to the report, Saudi Arabias high proportion of newbies points to the need for crypto education.

With respect to their reasons for investing, some 51% of Saudi crypto investors said they are in this business because they believe it is the future of finance. About 44% said they are investing in cryptocurrencies because they can bring them higher returns in the long run compared to other types of financial investment.

While men were found to be the most dominant gender group (63%), young investors aged 30 and below are now thought to account for at least a third of the total. While 44% of male crypto investors said they would not want to miss the trend, the study observed that women are more focused on the realistic benefits of crypto.

In terms of sources of information, the report said 84% of crypto investors turn to [social media] when doing their research, particularly YouTube and Twitter. Just over a third (35%) reportedly rely on online communities when looking for crypto-related information.

Nearly 50% of crypto investors acquire digital currencies with fiat money and engage in spot trading every month. According to the report, this involves trading, buying, and selling on the current market value as the only form of crypto trading that is considered halal by some scholars in the Arab world.

What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Study: 14% of Saudis Are Crypto Investors, 76% Have Less Than One Year of Experience in Cryptocurrency Investment Featured Bitcoin News - Bitcoin...

The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), has had a 70% decline from its all-time high in November 2021, suggesting that it has already experienced the worst of this bear market as it touched the $17,500 mark.

The latest CPI report for June revealed that inflation in the United States had reached 9.1 percent, the highest level since November 1981. This news only fueled a downward trend in Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $19,590 down by more than two percent.

According to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, long-term bitcoin investors have maintained their holdings in recent weeks even as speculators have fled the market, pushing the cryptocurrency below $20,000.

The fact that long-term investors are keeping bitcoin suggests that they have faith in the currencys ability to weather what seems to be a Federal Reserve-induced down market and eventually flourish as a fiat alternative or digital form of gold.

Long-term investors are those that keep bitcoin in their wallets for a minimum of six months, according to the paper titled The Elusive Bottom.

Recent BTC selling has been carried out almost exclusively by short-term speculators, said David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase.

Duong referred to investors holding onto their bitcoin as a sign of optimistic optimism that maintains the equilibrium between supply and demand in the face of speculator selling, a regular occurrence in a bear market.

According to on-chain statistics, investors currently hold around 77 percent of the 21 million bitcoins available. Even if the percentage is a little lower than the early January high of 80%, it is still significantly higher than the highest of 60% that was recorded during the height of the late 2017 bull run.

The information indicates that over the last three and a half years, a good amount of money has been transferred from traders or speculators to investors.

This year, the Feds move to reduce liquidity in an effort to fight excessive inflation has mostly been to blame for the more than 50% decline in Bitcoins price to $20,000.

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Heres How Long-Term Bitcoin Holders Are Reacting To The Crypto Bear Market - Coinpedia Fintech News